– Digging Pond (2)

Qin Mian also went that way. The area of ​​the pond was marked with branches, and the workers were divided into two groups, digging from the waist of the “gourd” towards both ends. If one group’s progress was too far behind the other, it would certainly look bad for that group. Each took off their cotton-padded clothes and only wore a single unlined garment with rolled-up sleeves. They stepped on the shovels as they dug the soil, working in full swing.

Lei Tie stood not far away, glancing over the crowd without expression.

“Your idea?” Qin Mian came to his side and asked in a low voice.

Lei Tie nodded, “Has the matter of Uncle Fang settled?”

“En.” Qin Mian suddenly saw Lei Xiangren carrying a shovel on his shoulders and swaggering towards this side. He felt disgusted in his heart, “Why is he here again?”

Lei Tie’s eyes turned sterner, “No one called him.”

Lei Xiangren came over very quickly and chose a position before stepping on the shovel to dig the soil, seemingly to be full of energy.

It was just that, when he dug a shovel of soil, others had already dug three.

Not far from him, Second Uncle Deng happened to notice this and scornfully frowned.

Qin Mian raised his eyes to look at Lei Tie, and said in a low voice, “[I’m] upset.”

Lei Tie pressed on his shoulder and motioned him to watch again.

Lei Xiangren slowly dug the soil with his heart blooming happiness. He could earn more than 200 Wen if he mingled with these people for two or three days, just like picking up money.

At this time, he suddenly felt a pain in his right knee and fell to the ground.

“What’s wrong?” A villager next to him asked kindly.

“It’s nothing. It’s nothing.” Lei Xiangren rubbed his knee. Perceiving that there was nothing wrong with it, he quickly got up from the ground. Who would have known, he had yet stand firm, his knee felt numb and totally unresponsive, and his bottom sat on the ground once again.

Lei Xiangyi was perfectly clear of Lei Xiangren’s mind, so he said in annoyance, “Second Brother, if you’re not well, go home to rest.”

“I––fine. I’ll come to help the Eldest Brother some other day.” Lei Xiangren choked back his unwillingness, afraid that there was some hidden ailment with his leg. He had to use the shovel as a crutch as he left sluggishly.

A few villagers who were close to him breathed a sigh of relief. Although it was not them who paid the wages, if they did more and got the same wage as Lei Xiangren, who had done less, they would naturally feel uncomfortable.

“Did you do it?” Qin Mian approached Lei Tie with his eyes sparkled.

Lei Tie looked steadily forward and raised his hand to hold his head down.

Qin Mian looked at Lei Xiangren’s back. If Lei Xiangren dared to take advantage of his family again, he would set off1 Lei Tie!

Not wanting to make the workers felt that he and Lei Tie were not at ease and monitored them here, Qin Mian and Lei Tie intended to leave.

“Everyone, we’ll leave it to you here. Work in the morning until the beginning of the horse period2 and continue at the end of the horse period3. Take a rest when you’re tired. It doesn’t have to be too rushing.”It was two hours from the beginning of the horse period to the end of the horse period, which was enough for them to go home to eat and rest. All the villagers responded happily.

Qin Mian also told the two women who made tea not to cut off the tea supply and left with Lei Tie.

Nevertheless, even if they were not there, most people would not be lazy since Lei Xiangyi, Lei Xiangli, and the Deng family were all there.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie drove the oxcart to the town. Qin Mian wrote a list and asked Lei Tie to buy snacks and fruits that children liked to eat, to prepare for the coming little guests. Meanwhile, he went to Eating Savory Restaurant.

It was not the shop’s open hour yet. The tables had not been moved out and the door was half-opened.

Qin Mian entered the door and saw that Yue Dong was leading Zheng Liu, Wang Shun, and the others to wash vegetables, skewer food, and make food balls. In the past few months, the staff had become skilled; their movements were swift and quick. In particular, Chen Si and Shi Tou were the quickest. They put a ball of meat in their hands, closed their thumbs and index fingers, and a ball popped up and fell into the bamboo sieve. In a short time, they could make eight to nine balls. The speed was as fast as a snapshot.

With a smile in his eyes, Qin Mian looked directly at everyone, letting them see his satisfaction, “Everyone has been working hard all the time. Yue Dong, you’ll lead everyone to have dinner in the shop this evening before going off work. After you all finished with these, pick out the dishes you want to eat for dinner before opening the shop. In the evening, you’ll have a hot pot; eat till your stomach bursts. My treat.”

Wang Shun, Chen Si, Shi Tou, and Zheng Liu all stood up happily and said, “Thank you very much, small boss.”

Yue Dong also smiled, “Small boss can rest assured.” Qin Mian saying “My treat” was precisely that. However, he still needed to charge it on the account to make it easier later when he needed to balance the accounts.

Qin Mian raised his hand to signal them to continue working and went around the shop. The kitchen and the shop were very clean. It could be inferred that the staffs were not lazy just because he and Lei Tie reduced the number of visits to the shop. He became more satisfied and planned to appropriately increase their wages after a period of time.

He wrapped some freshly made food balls in oiled paper and let Yue Dong charge it into account, too. When Lei Tie finished shopping, they went home.

At noon, Qin Mian and Lei Tie treated Eldest Uncle Deng and his party to lunch. They also invited Lei Xiangyi and Lei Xiangli over. Qin Mian cooked a large hot pot and stir-fried five to six dishes. It was quite a sumptuous meal.

Deng Quan, Deng Zhong, and Deng Xiao were especially fond of hot pot. They kept dipping food into the hot soup and rarely moved their chopsticks to the stir-fried dishes.

After the food balls in the pot were gone, Qin Mian put in another sixty to seventy balls.

After drinking a mouthful of water, Deng Quan continued to clip the savory and spicy food ball to eat as he asked Qin Mian, “Brother Mian, did you invite Zhao Sifa and Zhou Erhao?”

“No.” Qin Mian used the serving chopsticks to serve Eldest Uncle Deng and Second Uncle Deng. “When we called people, they were just there. They’d spoken, so I couldn’t say no. Are they dishonest?” There was no surprise in his eyes.

Deng Zhong shook his head. “They’re more than dishonest. I think they purposely came to muddle along.”

Eldest Uncle Deng said slowly, “Brother Mian hasn’t thoroughly considered this matter. After living in the village for such a long time, you and Tiezi should have a general understanding of the villagers’ behaviors? You should find people in private.”

Lei Tie defended Qin Mian, “It’s me who asked my wife to call people directly.”

Eldest Uncle Deng glanced at him and said nothing more.

Second Uncle Deng however, did not think Qin Mian was such a careless person.

Qin Mian secretly patted Lei Tie’s thigh and helped Eldest Uncle Deng to clip a piece of flesh on the stomach of the fish. “Thank you for your concern. Actually, I deliberately said that I wanted to invite people to dig the pond in front of so many people today. Eldest Uncle, do you think that if I find people in private, will the uninvited villagers have any opinions about me and Lei Tie? The invitation is made public. Although there may be one or two people who are lazy and slippery, the initiative is in the hands of the villagers, and they can’t blame me and Lei Tie for not having a spot. The development of our house will not stay at this stage. In the future, the number of times we need to hire people will be more. As it happens, we can see who’re honest and dishonest. Anyone who is dishonest can be seen by others. If we’re going to invite people to do some work next time, no one will say anything if we don’t invite these lazy people. Our family doesn’t run a charity hall to let them take anything for free.”

The faint smile on Qin Mian’s face was full of self-confidence with the manner of having a card up his sleeve.

Eldest Uncle Deng slightly nodded his head and took a profound look at him.Second Uncle Deng laughed out loud and patted Qin Mian hard on the shoulder, “I knew you boy have a clever mind!”

Deng Quan and Deng Zhong looked at each other with a smile, “You can think so thoroughly, we can be less worried.”

Deng Xiao, whose mouth had not stopped as he engrossed in eating, only spoke at this time, “I’d said that Brother Mian and cousin can take care of their own home. Do you believe me now?”

Lei Xiangyi and Lei Xiangli were absorbed in thought and vaguely learned something from Qin Mian.

In the afternoon, Eldest Uncle Deng and his party continued to dig the pond. After Qin Mian and Lei Tie checked the progress, they went home and took hoes and baskets to work in the vegetable field.

There were some radishes and a lot of cabbages in the vegetable field. One person dug up and the other picked up the vegetables to transport home. When the weather was warmer, new vegetables would be planted in the vegetable field.

The red radish could be made into shredded pickled radish, and the cabbage could be made into pickled cabbage. These two dishes went well with rice. In particular, the pickled cabbage could be used to make dumplings with pork and pickled cabbage, boiled fish with pickled cabbage and chili, stewed meat with pickled cabbage, and even egg fried rice with pickled cabbage.

Lei Tie saw Qin Mian licking his lips with sparkling eyes –unbeknownst to him what delicious thing Qin Mian was thinking of– and he could not help but grab Qin Mian’s head and drop a kiss on his lips.

Qin Mian blinked his eyes and conveniently picked up a basket to cover their heads and separate from the eyes that might exist in the distance.

A fleeting smile flashed in Lei Tie’s dark eyes. He only intended to have a little taste but changed his mind and deepened the kiss.

After the kiss, they looked at each other in silence before lowering their heads and continued to work.

Eldest Uncle Deng and his party had dinner at Qin Mian’s house and were sent back by Lei Tie in an oxcart.

Eldest Uncle Deng said that he did not have to pick them up tomorrow. They would borrow two carts to take the children over, so Lei Tie did not have to run back and forth.

The next day after breakfast, Lei Tie went to the pond. At home, Qin Mian tidied up, took out all kinds of snacks and fruits, and put seven to eight plates on the table.

Two donkey carts stopped at the gate of the courtyard, and several children dressed in new clothes jumped out of the carts like dumplings. Deng Quan’s children were Xiya and Kunzai; Deng Zhong’s children were Manya and Yuanzai; Deng Xiao’s children were Xuanzai, Yuya, and Lanya. There were a total of seven children. The oldest was Xiya, ten years old; the youngest was Yuanzai and Lanya, both five years old. The children shouted at Qin Mian: “Cousin-uncle Mian!”

Eldest Uncle Deng and his party did not enter the house.

Second Uncle Deng said, “Brother Mian, the children are handed over to you. We’ll go there directly.”

“Rest assured, Second Uncle.” Qin Mian led several children into the house.

The children just arrived at a new place, so they were still a little shy and did not speak. When they saw the snacks on the table, they relaxed and the small children ran over to eat snacks. Xiya had the demeanor of an elder sister and spoke less. Her eyes had been paying attention to the youngest Yuanzai and Lanya.

Qin Mian carried Yuanzai and Lanya onto the chair and moved the snack plates towards them. He smilingly said, “Take whichever you like.”

“Thank you, Cousin-uncle Mian!” Yuanzai, who looked dignified and strong, said out loud.

Shoutout Corner: (*≧∀≦*) Thank you very much, McJohnston and Elaine!!! The sponsored chapters are now up to 82! ლ(´ ❥ `ლ) I’m glad you guys are enjoying it!

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Footnoteslike leash off your guard dog to bite the intruder.11 a.m1 p.m