Chapter 26.2

Translated by Aviana

Carrying a large wicker basket on her back, Lin Qingwan bent at her waist and picked up the fallen wheat heads.

As the wheat was harvested in a long strip of rows, it was inevitable for a few of them to fall in the fields. Wang-shi’s and her task was to follow behind the people harvesting and pick the fallen wheat heads, whereas Yao-shi with a sickle was harvesting along with the men.

With her hands wrapped in a glove, Lin Qingwan picked up the wheat heads, and after collecting a handful of them, she threw them in the basket behind her. Wang-shi was also picking not far from her.

Wang-shi wiped her sweat as she picked the wheat heads, and not long after, she was tired to death. She sat her butt down on the ground, not caring about making her clothes dirty.

“Second dimei, you are really pampered. Wrapping yourself so tightly like that, are you afraid of getting tanned.” Unable to bear the heat, Wang-shi had long removed the cloth on her face. It was too hot and stuffy, drenching her completely in sweat.

弟妹 (dìmèi): younger’s brother’s wife

“Where have these two stinky brats Dalang and Erlang, had run off to, making this old mother tried to death…” Without paying heed to her, Lin Qingwan continued to pick.

She was also actually very tired and was disinclined to speak, fearing that she would lose her strength if she spoke and would also have to collapse on the ridge like Wang-shi.

“Those hand gloves, you didn’t even think of making a pair for your eldest sao, truly a miser.” Sitting there, Wang-shi fanned her face with a cloth and said without caring if Lin Qingwan was ignoring her.

Still ignoring her, Lin Qingwan rolled her eyes. Wang-shi was very much covetous of other people’s things. She would always explicitly and implicitly mention it to you. And if you don’t give it to her, you are narrow-minded.

In the beginning, Wang-shi had demanded quite a few pieces of fabric from her. At that time, she wasn’t yet aware of Wang-shi’s character. When one’s eldest sao opens her mouth to say that her family’s child didn’t have fabric to make clothes, and further added that this fabric’s colour would very much suit her family’s kids, can one even say that you can’t give it to her?

As such, the first time she gave it to her. Second time, Wang-shi changed it to another kid and asked again, so she once again gave it. When she came again for third time, Lin Qingwan finally got furious and pulled her face to say that she also didn’t have any clothes to wear, how about eldest sao give some fabric for her. Listening to this, Wang-shi just resentfully turned away and left…however….

However, not long after, seeing that she had made a new set of clothes for Yang Tiezhu from coarse cotton fabric for work, Wang-shi again came to ask if she had any excess fabric. So that she also can make a set for Yang Tieshuan…

Sometimes, Lin Qingwan wondered if Wang-shi, this person belongs to the family of cockroaches. No matter how many times she refuses her, next time, so long as she sees something with you, she would once again come to ask you as if nothing had ever happened….

Lin Qingwan didn’t understand what kind of person Wang-shi was till this moment.

To describe it in previous life’s everyday used words, Wang-shi was just like a toad crawling over your foot. It wouldn’t do anything to you, but it might nauseate you to death.

Wang-shi got up from the ground with one of her hands on her waist as support and walked over to the water jar placed under the tree shade.

“Aiya, I’m very thirsty. I’ll go drink some water.”

Lin Qingwan still didn’t pay her any heed, letting her talk to herself. Finally, when she couldn’t persist anymore, she sat down on the ground, gasping for air. After sitting for a good while, she stood up and once again continued to pick.

Suddenly, she recalled that she hasn’t heard Wang-shi speak for quite a long time, she turned in the direction of a tree with a water jar in its shade, but there wasn’t even a shadow of a person there.

Wang-shi also seems to have run away, Lin Qingwan whispered in her heart.

After continuing to pick up for a good while, Lin Qingwan felt as if her hands have stopped listening to her.

At this moment, Yao-shi unexpectedly walked over and called her out.

“Second sao, don’t pick up anymore. Quickly go and have a rest.” Lin Qingwan straightened up and gazed to the front, only to see all the men coming back. Breathed a sigh of relief, she stood firm, waiting for the feeling of dizziness to wash away.

Suddenly, she was held into a person’s embrace when Lin Qingwan’s eyes went dark for a while; only then did she find that the person holding her was Yang Tiezhu.

“Wife, are you alright? Are you tired?” Yang Tiezhu didn’t care if others were looking at them. He only knew that his wife seemed to be unsteady when standing up, so he hurriedly held her and walked to the shade of the tree.

Lin Qingwan also didn’t have the strength to struggle and let Yang Tiezhu carry her. After reaching the shade under the tree, she quickly let herself from his arms.

“I’m alright. It’s just that I have been bending down for long. Thus my head is a bit dizzy, and my eyes are a bit blurry.”

“That’s good then. Quickly come and drink a bit of water.” Yang Tiezhu took the water jug and handed it to her.

Looking at the man’s suntanned face and dry lips, Lin Qingwan pushed the water jug to him.

“You drink first.”

She untied the cloth covering her face before taking out a kerchief to wipe the sweat on herself. Her whole body was drenched with sweat, making all the inner clothes stick closely to her body.

After wiping herself, she helped Yang Tiezhu wipe. The sweat on Yang Tiezhu’s face was actually not that much at all, as all of it had already dried under the sun forming white patches on his skin.

Lin Qingwan was aware that it was actually salt in the sweat forming a layer after the sweat had evaporated and completely dried off. She secretly decided to give him a jar with boiled saltwater later.

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