When the pears are green

Chapter 124 Those who wish take the bait

Song Li hung the washed clothes on the rope, turned around and couldn't find Jiang Qingzhou. She asked Jiang Qingye who was feeding the pigs in some confusion: "Qingye, do you know where your brother went?"

"Sister-in-law, my brother went to the riverbank. He said he wanted to check on the mulberry seedlings." Jiang Qingye said, and continued to pour pig feed into the wooden trough.

Seeing Jiang Qingye say this, Song Li stopped asking questions and went to water the vegetable garden in the yard. Although it had rained four days ago, the sun was too scorching and it was already a bit dry.

Song Li tied the bucket firmly to the hook rope. She bent down and put the bucket into the well, then turned the wooden handle connected to the wheel clockwise. With a "clang", the bucket continued to sink and began to become heavier.

"One, two, three... ten." Song Li counted the number of rope turns left on the wheel. According to her experience, when there were ten turns of rope left on the wheel, it would be just enough to fill a bucket of water.

Song Li increased the strength of her hands and rotated the wooden handle counterclockwise, and the bucket filled with water slowly rose to the mouth of the well.

"Sister-in-law, let me help you." Jiang Qingye quickly put down the wooden bucket in his hand. He first washed his hands with the water in the wooden basin, then walked to the well and lifted the bucket hanging at the wellhead to the ground.

Song Li thanked Jiang Qingye first, then she loosened the wooden handle and put the wooden board back on the wellhead.

"Swish, swish, swish..." Song Li poured the water into the wooden barrel that originally contained pig food. She asked Jiang Qingye to take the barrel to the sun to dry, and when it was warm, pour it into the wooden trough in the pigsty for the pigs to drink.

After watering the vegetable field, Jiang Qingye pointed to the watermelon vines that had grown quite a bit and asked Song Li, "Sister-in-law, when will the watermelons grow?"

This watermelon was grown from the melon seeds that Song Li saved last year. Song Li planted the seeds after the Qingming Festival with the mentality of giving it a try, and unexpectedly, a few sprouts really grew.

"We planted it during the Qingming Festival, and it will be mature in July or August." Song Li replied to Jiang Qingye with a smile.

Jiang Qingye carefully separated the tangled watermelon vines. He wanted to take good care of them so that they would produce more watermelons.

Song Li took off the leaves covering the chrysanthemum seedlings. The leaves of the chrysanthemum seedlings had unfolded again, looking much better than the drooping leaves when they were first brought from the Song family.

Song Li sat quietly in the yard, looking at the chrysanthemum seedlings and watermelon vines beside the vegetable field and lost in thought. She was thinking that if Wu Mingde could pass the examination to become a scholar in August this year, she would let Jiang Qingzhou slowly take back the land from the lease next year and use it to grow watermelons and chrysanthemums.

It can be said that the happiest person about the engagement between Song Yue and Wu Mingde is probably Song Li, besides Song Yue. There are not many scholars in a town. If Wu Mingde passes the examination, with Wu Mingde as her future brother-in-law, even if someone is jealous of her mulberry fields, watermelon fields, and chrysanthemum fields, she has to be careful. This is the reality.

Just when Song Li was in a daze, Jiang Qingzhou came in carrying a sickle and some reeds. He smiled and asked Song Li, "Xiao Li, what are you thinking about? You are so absent-minded."

Song Li finally came back to her senses. She looked at what Jiang Qingzhou was holding and asked with a smile, "I was a little sleepy just now and didn't react. Didn't you tell Qingye that you were going to see the mulberry fields? Why did you go out with a sickle?"

"There are almost no people selling fish in town at this time, so I thought of catching a few for you so that you can taste." Jiang Qingzhou put the reed stalk on the ground, then squatted down and cut off the end of the reed stalk with a sickle.

Song Li looked at Jiang Qingzhou's actions and asked in confusion, "Did I say I wanted to eat fish?"

"Didn't you ask me yesterday if we could catch fish in the river? I thought you wanted to eat fish." Jiang Qingzhou raised his head and looked at Song Li.

It turned out that Jiang Qingzhou had misunderstood. Song Li smiled and lay on Jiang Qingzhou's back. She whispered, "I'm just asking casually, but how do you fish with this reed pole?"

Jiang Qingzhou reached out and held Song Li's hands. He explained, "It's used for Kongming fishing. People in the village fish this way. I've seen others do it."

"Kong Ming's fishing method can catch fish as soon as you listen to it. When it's done, let's go and try it to see who can catch more fish." After Song Li finished speaking, she put her chin on Jiang Qingzhou's hair.

The two of them whispered to each other for a while, and Song Li got up from Jiang Qingzhou's back. She sat aside and watched Jiang Qingzhou cut reed poles.

"Just the tender parts, boil them in boiling water for a few minutes, and dry them in the sun. The bamboos we moved this spring can be used." Jiang Qingzhou pointed to the bamboos under the window of the east room, which were moved from Rongxing Book House before the Qingming Festival. At that time, because the bamboos by the wall of the book house grew too dense, the teacher dug out some of them and let the students in the book house take them home.

While the two were talking, Jiang Qingye came out of the room. He asked Jiang Qingzhou in surprise: "Brother, do you want to go fishing?"

Jiang Qingzhou nodded, and Jiang Qingye jumped up happily.

"Brother and sister-in-law, Li Yi has a picture book called 'The Story of King Wu's Conquest of King Zhou'. It tells the story of a wise man named Lu Wang who was fishing by the Wei River, but he used a straight hook hung on the surface of the river to fish." Jiang Qingye told Jiang Qingzhou and Song Li what he had read in Li Yi's picture book.

Song Li smiled and asked Jiang Qingye: "Qingye, what happened next?"

"Li Yi only lets us read a little each time, and then the library is closed for the holiday." Jiang Qingye spread his hands and said helplessly.

Song Li smiled and told Jiang Qingye: "Later, King Wen heard about this incident. He went to the Wei River in person and asked Lü Wang: "Old man, how can you catch fish without a hook?" Lü Wang replied: "The one who is destined to take the bait will be caught." King Wen thought Lü Wang was a talented person and took him under his command. Lü Wang later assisted King Wu in defeating King Zhou. The decisive battle was fought at Muye. Emperor Xin was defeated and burned himself on the Lu Tower. After the fall of the Shang Dynasty, Lü Wang was granted the title of Duke of Qi and was the founder of the State of Qi. Lü Wang is also known as Jiang Taigong. There is a proverb that goes, "Jiang Taigong fishes, and those who are willing will take the bait."

Jiang Qingye looked at Song Li with admiration, and Song Li told him that this was the story he had heard from a storyteller in the county town during the Mid-Autumn Festival last year. He could be taken there this year, but he didn't know if the storyteller would still tell this story.

"Sister-in-law, you can say anything. I want to go too." Jiang Qingye said to Song Li in a somewhat coquettish manner.

Song Li smiled and nodded in agreement.

Jiang Qingzhou went to the kitchen and took out a kitchen knife to chop a few bamboo branches. He first cut off the joints of the bamboo branches, and then used the knife to sharpen the ends of the bamboo branches. He made several in a row and put them in a bamboo basket beside him.

In a silver shop in the county town, Wu Mingde and Li Yun'an were carefully selecting silver hairpins.

"Mingde, just buy something simple and elegant. You can only wear it when you get married. It's too ostentatious to wear a silver hairpin in the village on weekdays. It's better to buy some silk flowers for Miss Song. It will be more practical." Li Yun'an expressed his opinion to Wu Mingde while choosing.

Wu Mingde pondered for a moment and felt that what Li Yun'an said was right. In the end, the two of them chose a silver hairpin with a lotus pattern.

The hairpin was very heavy, and Wu Mingde asked with some concern: "Mingde, is it a bit heavy?"

"How could that be? The heavier it is, the deeper your feelings are." Li Yun'an answered confidently.

The waiter looked at Li Yun'an and Wu Mingde with a bit of hesitation. He thought that men's and women's perspectives are different. Ever since this hairpin was brought into the store, many women disliked it for being too heavy, yet it was still sold.

"Gentlemen, the total is one tael, two qian and ten wen. Since you are new customers, we will charge you one tael and two qian." said the waiter with a smile.

After Wu Mingde paid the silver, he carefully put the silver hairpin into the shoulder bag he was carrying.

After the two came out of the silver shop, they went straight out of the county town. The head of the village would come to inform Wu Mingxuan personally.

After a day of exposure to the sun, the reeds have been dried.

After dinner, Jiang Qingzhou cut the reeds into several small pieces. He smiled and told Song Li beside him: "Tomorrow, I will take you fishing."