Chapter 27: Design to drive away the nagging neighbor
That night, the air was unusually hot and humid, as if the whole world was shrouded in a layer of dullness.

After Liu Xihua washed Jiang Xiaoxiao clean, she let her sleep alone on the small wooden bed.

The small wooden bed was sent by Liu Xihua’s family, the Liu family, on the day Jiang Xiaoxiao’s full moon.

It can keep her sleeping until she is five years old.

The crib is equipped with sturdy railings all around, one of which is movable so that when Jiang Xiaoxiao grows up, she can get in and out of bed easily.

If you hang up a small mosquito net, it will be a wonderful place to live.

The small bed was placed next to the south window of the bedroom. Jiang Xiaoxiao listened to the chirping of katydids outside the window and soon fell asleep.
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The next morning, Jiang Xiaoxiao was awakened by the Jiang family members who got up early.

There was a noisy sound of talking coming from the outer room, and everyone was reminding each other to get their tools and get ready to go out.

Aunt Jiang, who was frightened by Liu Xihua, also asked where her hat was and complained that the sickle was not big enough and not convenient to use.

Liu Xihua pushed open the bedroom door and walked in.

She turned on the light, put the basin in her hand on the shelf, and then took Jiang Xiaoxiao out of the crib to change her diaper.

"Everyone is getting ready to go out. Xiaoxiao, why don't you go to the fields with your mother today?" Liu Xihua held Jiang Xiaoxiao in one hand and wrung out a small towel with the other hand to wash Jiang Xiaoxiao's mouth and face.

Although Liu Xihua's movements were very gentle, Jiang Xiaoxiao had been adapting for more than two months and was still not used to it.

She still wants to do it herself.

The days of waiting to grow up pass so slowly.

After cleaning up, Liu Xihua began to feed Jiang Xiaoxiao.

Outside, Aunt Jiang urged Liu Xihua, "Xihua, hurry up, you are so slow! The sun is almost coming out!"

"It's coming, it's okay, Xiaoxiao still has a mouthful of milk."

"He's so slow in feeding. He'll definitely be slow in doing things when he grows up!" Aunt Jiang complained.

Jiang Xiaoxiao snorted in her heart, she would not be a slow person when she grows up!

After drinking the last mouthful of milk and washing the bottle, Liu Xihua filled another bottle with boiling water and put some milk powder in the basket, then carried Jiang Xiaoxiao and went out with everyone.

The bottle now contains boiling water, which will become warm water in two hours, just right for making milk powder again.

When we arrived at the cotton field, the sky was just getting light and the weather was cool, perfect for work.

Aunt Jiang pulled her hat low and stood behind Uncle Jiang.

She was worried that people on the street would recognize her.

I have lived for fifty-five years, and I have done farm work so many times that I cannot count them with my hands.

Although she kept hiding, when the sun came out and she was standing in the thigh-high cotton field, Aunt Jiang's face could still be recognized from a distance.

Grandma Gui, who was picking vegetables in the field, saw her and laughed, "Hey, Daguo's mother, the sun is rising from the west today? You are working in the field too? Aren't you the second daughter of a landlord? What field are you working in?"

Aunt Jiang looked embarrassed and said nothing.

But Grandma Gui refused to leave and even walked to the Jiang family's field. She watched Aunt Jiang clumsily cutting the weeds along the edge of the field and mocked her for being a rich lady who did things that looked good but was useless.

Gui Po's husband's surname is also Jiang, and he is a relative of the team leader Jiang Guoping.

Aunt Jiang's family is a distant relative.

Because of this relationship, Gui Po has always looked down on Aunt Jiang, who only dared to act arrogantly at home and never argued with anyone in the team, and who pretended to be a landlord's daughter for decades and refused to go out to do farm work.

What's more, the two families are neighbors, and Aunt Gui would come and make fun of Aunt Jiang whenever she had the chance.

"What kind of era is this? There are still landlords. Don't put labels on me!" Aunt Jiang muttered.

Aunt Jiang dared to jump up and scold her family members, but she did not dare to scold Grandma Gui loudly, and could only refute in a low voice.

But how could this scare Gui Po? Gui Po still said in a sarcastic tone that Aunt Jiang was a young lady and should go home to enjoy her life. The work in the fields was for the lower class, not for the upper class like Aunt Jiang.

Grandma Gui is ten years older than Aunt Jiang, and even the fierce Aunt Jiang is afraid of her. She keeps nagging here, and others dare to chase her away.

If it were any other time, Jiang Xiaoxiao would ignore Grandma Gui and Aunt Jiang chatting, but now is the busy farming season, and Grandma Gui coming to chat, isn't that a delay?

Besides, Aunt Jiang had finally gotten the chance to work in the fields, so she couldn’t let that old lady Gui scare her away.

Jiang Xiaoxiao frowned and began to think of an idea.

She counted and thought on her little fingers, and suddenly, she thought of something important.

[Mom, there will be a heavy rainstorm after noon, go home and collect your clothes! ]

[Mom, the rapeseed and rice drying in the yard outside our house need to be brought into the house quickly. If they get wet in the rain, we won’t be able to pay the public taxes.]

Among the Jiang family’s responsibility fields, there were several acres of rapeseed fields.

The bean pods were full and about to burst. After the responsibility plots were divided on the 31st, Jiang Daguo and Uncle Jiang immediately went to the fields and rushed to harvest.

As for the rice that was dried in the sun, it was a little food that was harvested from the private plot last year. I planned to dry it out to get rid of the moldy smell and then take it to the rice mill to be milled in the afternoon.

If these two crops are exposed to rain, the losses will be huge.

When Jiang Xiaoxiao thought about this, she kicked the basket anxiously.

Liu Xihua heard Jiang Xiaoxiao's thoughts and looked at the sky in confusion. It was almost ten o'clock now, and the sun was shining brightly in the sky. Would it rain heavily in two hours? It didn't look like it was going to rain.

Seeing that Liu Xihua didn't respond, Jiang Xiaoxiao kicked the basket again anxiously.

[The weather in June is like a baby’s face, it changes at any time. Last night it was hot and humid, and there were many clouds in the sky, which are all signs of rain.]

[Mom, persuade Grandma Gui to leave as well, and tell her to go home and collect her clothes.]

Liu Xihua looked at the eastern sky again, and sure enough, the colorful clouds from earlier had turned a bluish-gray color.

"Grandma Gui, it looks like it's going to rain. Why don't you go home and collect the clothes?" Liu Xihua said as she put away her hoe.

Grandma Gui raised her chin and said, "Why are you collecting clothes in such a sunny day?" She thought to herself, hey, is Liu Xihua trying to get rid of her and help her mother-in-law?
Stupid, her mother-in-law bullied her, but she actually helped her mother-in-law.

Grandma Gui ignored Liu Xihua's words and continued to ridicule Aunt Jiang.

When Aunt Jiang saw that Grandma Gui was not leaving, she changed her mind and said, "Xihua, hurry up and pack up, and come home with me to collect clothes and grain."

If that damn old lady Gui doesn't leave, she will leave!
She took two steps at a time, ran up the field ridge with the hoe, and ran home in a flash.

Liu Xihua thought her mother-in-law also saw that it was going to rain, so she said to Jiang Daguo, "Daguo, it's almost time to cook. I'll go back and help."

"Well, go ahead, dad, Meihua and I are on the field," said Jiang Daguo.

Today is Monday, Jiang Meilan went to school, so there is one less person to do things.

Liu Xihua also went home carrying her load.

Grandma Gui thought that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were afraid of her, so she became even more proud and went to her own field with the basket.

When I got home, the sun was still shining as usual.

Liu Xihua put down her burden, took Jiang Xiaoxiao out and put her to sleep on the small bed, then hurriedly found a snakeskin bag and a broom, and started sweeping up the grain that was drying in the yard in front of the gate.

Aunt Jiang was sitting at the door to rest. Seeing that she was going to harvest grain, she couldn't help asking, "Why are you harvesting grain in such a hot sun?"

"Mom, it's going to rain heavily in an hour, we have to collect it quickly."

"Nonsense, that's impossible!" Aunt Jiang raised her eyebrows.

(End of this chapter)