When the pears are green

Chapter 227 Oil Extraction

Jiang Fei stood beside the grass pile, holding the straps of two backpacks in one hand and rubbing the wrinkled corners of his clothes with the other hand. He asked Jiang Qingzhou with an embarrassed look on his face: "Brother, is this time okay? My family has to plant crops these two days, so we really can't spare an earlier time than this."

Jiang Qingzhou subconsciously glanced at Song Li, who replied uncomfortably: "Why are you looking at me? I'm asking you!"

Jiang Qingzhou chuckled and retracted his gentle gaze. He touched his nose and told Jiang Fei that it was okay. He also said that if he was too busy, he could wait until after the busy farming season to deliver the goods, but he would have to increase the number of baskets corresponding to the number of days of delay.

Jiang Fei thanked him again and again with an excited expression, and his already bent waist became even more bent without him noticing.

Jiang Qingzhou put down the winnowing basket in his hand, stood up and wanted to see off Jiang Fei who was leaving with the backpack.

Seeing this, Jiang Fei waved to Jiang Qingzhou and quickly ran out of the Jiang family's gate, disappearing around the corner of the alley like a gust of wind.

Jiang Qingye stood at the gate of the yard with a broom in his hand, looking again and again, and asked Jiang Qingzhou, who was holding the dustpan again, worriedly: "Brother, aren't you afraid that he will default on his debt?"

After hearing this, Song Li nodded quickly, indicating that she had the same question.

Jiang Qingzhou smiled and said to Jiang Qingye and Song Li who were staring at him, "Of course I'm not afraid. This matter has been made clear to the village head. If he doesn't send it, I can go to the village head to seek justice. Stop staring at me. Let's hurry up and try to pack all the rapeseed into the sacks before dark."

Song Li and Jiang Qingye made faces at Jiang Qingzhou at the same time. Jiang Qingzhou smiled and tapped their foreheads with his fingers. The two were unable to dodge and could only cover their heads and continue to do their work.

When the last ray of light between heaven and earth was about to disappear, the moon climbed up to the horizon.

Jiang Qingzhou beat the last few rapeseed seeds in the winnowing basket into the cloth bag held by Song Li, tied the mouth of the bag tightly with a thin cloth strip, and then carried it into the main room and put it away.

After making tofu in the early morning, Jiang Qingzhou led Song Li and Jiang Qingye to the melon field to plant scarecrows.

Song Li stood on the edge of the field and looked around. There were already many villagers working in the fields with their families. The adults and the children who were able to work were working hard with their heads down, while the children who were unable to work could only be tied to the tree trunks at the edge of the field and play with leaves or cry loudly.

As the sun slowly rose higher, the fields became more and more lively.

"Hey, auntie, do you think the county magistrate in the city is picking wheat ears?"

"Everyone from our village to my mother's home is picking wheat ears. The county magistrate in the city should be picking wheat ears as well. However, he should not use a broken basket like us. He should use a new one."

"The county magistrate should have used a silver basket."

"Gold, right?"

……

Several people put down their work and gathered together to argue. This action soon aroused the dissatisfaction of their men, who yelled at them to work faster.

Song Li squatted on the ridge of the field and covered her mouth, wanting to laugh but feeling sad. These women rarely left the village, and even rarely went to town. Perhaps in their minds, everyone was like the villagers in Jiangjia Village, circling around the stove and the fields.

Don't laugh at others for being frogs in a well, because we are all in the same mountain.

After planting the scarecrow, Jiang Qingzhou turned around and found Song Li squatting on the edge of the field with her head down. He quickly handed the shovel in his hand to Jiang Qingye.

Jiang Qingzhou ran quickly to Song Li, stepping on the prickly wheat stalks, and asked softly what was wrong.

Song Li looked up at Jiang Qingzhou, who was worried, and smiled, telling Jiang Qingzhou not to worry, as she was just looking at the ants.

Jiang Qingzhou was afraid that Song Li's legs would get sore from squatting here for too long, so he quickly pulled her up, and then told Jiang Qingye, who was still staring at the scarecrow, to go home quickly.

After returning home, Jiang Qingzhou first cut 15 kilograms of tofu for Jiang Chen and Jiang Ming who came to get tofu, and then hurried to deliver the goods to the restaurant.

During the busy farming season, the tofu business in the village is much better than usual. Even the most stingy women will take out a few cents to buy some tofu or meat to improve their lives.

After noon, Jiang Qingzhou took Song Li to the oil mill in town to press oil.

Jiang Qingzhou parked the donkey cart in front of a small courtyard facing the street at the north gate of the town. On the left side of the gate stood a wooden board half a person's height with the words "Li's Oil Mill" written in sloppy handwriting with a brush.

A strong aroma of oil wafted in the air in front of the courtyard, while bursts of "Yo-ho-yo-ho" shouts of men and the crisp sound of rocks hitting wooden wedges continued to come from a large wooden house on the west side of the courtyard.

Jiang Qingzhou first helped Song Li off the donkey cart, then walked forward and knocked heavily on the gate.

As the "yo ho yo ho" sound in the wooden house disappeared, a middle-aged man with bare chest and sweat all over his body opened the gate.

Song Li consciously covered her eyes with her hands, and looked at the man's muscular body in surprise through her slightly opened fingers. Whether it was his abdominal muscles or biceps, the lines were clearly visible, and they all exuded a fascinating aura in the sun.

Jiang Qingzhou helplessly looked at Song Li's slightly open lips and the growing gaps between her fingers. He smiled, closed Song Li's fingers, and pulled Song Li to stand behind him.

When the man saw that there was a woman around, he apologized to Jiang Qingzhou and Song Li awkwardly, then turned back to his room to put on his clothes.

Jiang Qingzhou turned around and asked the somewhat disappointed Song Li: "Xiao Li, does it look good?"

Song Li held Jiang Qingzhou's hand and replied with a smile: "Not as pretty as Qingzhou."

"I don't believe it. You were so engrossed in what you were watching just now." Jiang Qingzhou questioned Song Li with a look of grievance on his face.

Smelling the sour smell, Song Li hurriedly shook Jiang Qingzhou's hand and acted coquettishly: "I'm just curious..."

Jiang Qingzhou felt goose bumps all over his body when he heard Song Li speak in such a coquettish voice for the first time, and he quickly reached out to cover Song Li.

Song Li opened her eyes wide and looked at Jiang Qingzhou, who seemed a little disgusted with her, with a smile overflowing from her eyes.

The man who had gone back looked at the young couple who were cuddling in front of his yard, frowned and asked Jiang Qingzhou: "Little brother, do you want to press oil?"

Jiang Qingzhou quickly released his hand that was covering Song Li, walked quickly to the donkey cart, took out half a bag of rapeseed, put it next to the man and said, "My wife and I are here to press oil today. We harvested rapeseed this year."

The man picked up the cloth bag easily and motioned Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou to enter the yard together.

The man weighed the rapeseed in the cloth bag in the yard, a total of 62 kilograms.

"It should be possible to squeeze out 14 kilograms of oil. As for the wages, I'll charge you 20 cents. You can come and pick it up tomorrow morning." After the man said this, he left Jiang Qingzhou's name and address in the account book and asked Jiang Qingzhou to pay a deposit of 10 cents first.

Jiang Qingzhou took the copper coin handed over by Song Li with a smile and handed it to the man next to him.

The man enthusiastically sent Jiang Qingzhou and Song Li to the door. At this time, an ox cart slowly stopped in front of the oil mill, and the man hurriedly walked towards the masked woman who got off the ox cart.

"It has been squeezed as instructed. Please go to the yard and wait." The man said, and respectfully invited the masked woman into the yard.

The masked woman shook her head, and a clear voice came from under the silk cloth covering her face: "No need, go get it quickly."

The man bent over and nodded, then trotted into the cabin.

The masked woman inadvertently made eye contact with Song Li who was sitting on the donkey cart, and they both hurriedly looked away.

The masked woman was wearing a plain crescent-colored gown and a light green skirt, with a white silk cloth covering her mouth and nose, revealing only a pair of emotionless eyes and a scarred forehead.

The man quickly came out with a small bucket of rapeseed oil. He handed the bucket to the masked woman and said, "This is ten kilograms, a total of sixty cents."

The masked woman took out sixty cents from her bag and handed it to the man, then picked up the oil barrel and got back on the ox cart.

After the ox cart left, Song Li curiously asked the man about the masked woman.

"This is the new kitchen manager of Mr. Liu's family. I heard, and I heard it from other servants of the Liu family, that she has a special relationship with Young Master Liu." The man said with an expression that everyone understood, and walked into the yard with a laugh.

Song Li looked up at the dazzling sun, picked up the fan and placed it above her head, urging Jiang Qingzhou to go home quickly.

Jiang Qingzhou turned around and saw Song Li sitting obediently on the reed mat, waving a whip to drive the donkey cart towards home.