Transmigration: Flirted with My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 293 - 292: Autumn Harvest, Don’t Look Up

Chapter 293: Chapter 292: Autumn Harvest, Don’t Look Up

As a buddy, Lin Nianhe felt it was necessary to comfort Sister Shumei.

She steadied Wang Shumei’s shoulders, stared into her eyes, and earnestly said: "Sister Shumei, I can understand how much you miss your family. As your good friend, your little sister, I’m very willing to help you out. So—from now on, you can think of me as your grandma, I won’t mind."

"I call you sister and you call me grandma, let’s stick to our own honorifics!"

Wang Shumei: "..."

"New Historical Records of the Ten Miles Team:

In the Yimao Year, Bingxu Month, the day of beginning the reaping. At dawn’s first light, two young women chased each other across the fields amidst unending cheers and brimming with vitality. Posterity hails this as a fortuitous omen for the Ten Miles Team’s bounteous harvest."

The above was forcibly written by Comrade Lin Nianhe, after being chased by Comrade Wang Shumei throughout half the village.

"Hey, Sister Shumei, really, isn’t the autumn harvest more important than hitting me? Look at me, work hasn’t even started, and I’m already wiped out."

Lin Nianhe sat on a little stool, nibbling on a steamed bun and grumbling at Wang Shumei.

Wang Shumei wasn’t faring much better herself. Hearing this, she glared back and hummed quietly: "You better not screw up. The students are all watching. They’ll laugh at you if they see their teacher being such a weakling!"

Lin Nianhe bared her teeth at her, stuffed the last of the steamed bun into her mouth, got up, and went into the house, tossing out: "I’m going to change my clothes."

Clothes need changing, but even more important—sunscreen!

She had heard quite a bit about the harshness of the autumn harvest, in her past life and recently. Especially the women in the village, whenever they talked about the harvest, they looked at her with such heartache and concern, as if they wouldn’t see her after the harvest.

Lin Nianhe shivered thinking of the cloudless, sunny skies.

She slathered sunscreen all over, took out her long-unused straw hat and work gloves, and after some thought, decided to also bring along the red scarf.

She filled her water bottle, stuffed a variety of snacks into her shoulder bag, and to avoid mishaps, she also organized a small first-aid kit, complete with alcohol wipes, gauze, adhesive bandages, and ten tubes of glucose.

She also took out a burlap sack and filled it entirely with mung beans and put it behind the door.

Fully prepared, Lin Nianhe stood in front of the mirror and pumped herself up:

"Go for it!"

"Make it back alive!"

Outside the door, Wen Lan, who had just raised his hand to knock, heard her and muttered: "Silly girl."

...

Autumn harvest signifies reaping, it means dividing the grain, and it implies the dread of the hard work yet to come.

Today’s harvest is not like in the future; there are no large harvesting machines or other auxiliary machinery. While wheat harvesting could partially rely on tractors, when it comes to corn...

Lin Nianhe specifically researched this some days ago. Corn harvesters and threshers only appeared in the 1980s. Now, they can only rely on hardworking hands.

Harvesting is a major event, not only because all the village’s old and young take part, but schools and various units also get harvest leave. Just as Lin Nianhe previously reminded Zheng Lirong, all the school students need to join in the agricultural work.

Lin Nianhe looked back at the obedient little kids lined up behind her and felt quite worried about the future.

"Fellow villagers, comrades! The rush to harvest is starting..."

Li Dahe, standing in the forefront, spoke through a rolled-up metal megaphone, visibly excited and speaking passionately for a minute. Then he jumped down, took the sickle wrapped in red cloth and sprang into the field, deftly cutting down a corn stalk.

He lifted the sickle, and with all his might, bellowed: "Begin—reaping!"

There are various methods to harvest corn, and they vary from region to region due to geographic factors. Some methods involve first breaking off the ears of corn into a carry basket, then later cutting down the stalks; others include breaking the ears of corn while simultaneously pressing down the stalks.

At Ten Miles Team, they first use sickles to cut the corn stalks at the base so they lie flat, then people follow to break off the corn ears, and thereafter transport them out.

The advantage of this method of harvesting is that everyone focuses on one task, speeding up the process without having to carry increasingly heavy baskets. Moreover, if the stronger laborers handle cutting the stalks, the process is faster. Older workers can break off the corn, and kids can help transport it back and forth. The whole village is mobilized, not a single person left out.

The village school’s teachers and students were assigned to the fifth squad because it’s a rush job. They can’t afford to waste skilled laborers helping the educated youth, so this time, the fifth squad’s composition is quite singular—aside from the educated youth, it’s mostly older children, with ninety percent counting as only half a laborer.

Li Dahe also took this into account and gave the fifth squad noticeably less land than the other squads.

Even so, looking at the endless cornfield, Lin Nianhe felt her morning’s wishful thinking was far too rash.

The squad leader looked at them and seriously said: "Everyone, be careful, especially the new educated youths, don’t get cut by the sickles. Students shouldn’t follow too closely behind the adults, and most importantly, don’t walk to the left of anyone. And remember one thing when you’re working—don’t look up!"

"Remember, don’t look up!"

"Let’s get to work!"

Upon the squad leader’s command, the educated youth started to wield their sickles and began to cut down corn stalks.

"Go, teacher, go!"

"Go, go, go!"

The students, not yet allowed to step into the fields to pick corn, had no idea what being tired meant, yelling their hearts out at the edge of the field.

Chopping cornstalks isn’t like harvesting wheat; there isn’t much to it, just chop them down. It’s just that cornstalks are taller and the leaves are wider, which blocks the view.

Lin Nianhe’s sickle, sharpened by Wang Dong, was so sharp that with one swing, two cornstalks snapped cleanly in unison.

Lin Nianhe: "This doesn’t seem too hard, I think I’ve got this!"

Sister Shumei beside her felt the same way and agreed, putting aside previous grievances: "Yeah, it feels manageable."

Wen Lan: "A pair of silly girls."

They’ve just started and don’t know what fear is yet!

Lin Nianhe swung her sickle, chopping and moving forward in a swooshing motion.

Gradually, it seemed like the only sound left in her ears was the snapping of the cornstalks.

The waist began to ache, the arms started to feel sore. Surrounded by a sea of corn, no breeze could penetrate; sweat swiftly trickled down her forehead, sticking grass clippings to her face, causing an unbearable itch.

Lin Nianhe felt like she’d been chopping cornstalks for a century.

She looked at her wristwatch—

Great, ten minutes had passed.

She sighed deeply, and as she straightened up to wipe the sweat from her forehead, she happened to catch sight of Wang Shumei, who also looked tiredly at her.

Without planning, they both forgot the bravado they had after the first cut and didn’t feel ashamed at all.

Together they turned their heads to look in Wen Lan’s direction.

No one there.

Lin Nianhe poked her head out for a look, and Sister Lan had already chopped a further ten meters ahead.

Lin Nianhe looked back to report: "Sister Lan is ten meters ahead."

Wang Shumei: "Is Xiao Lan even human?"

Lin Nianhe: "That’s hard to say."

After that, she punched her waist a couple of times and bent down to continue chopping cornstalks.

Swoosh, swoosh...

Another two centuries seemed to pass, and Lin Nianhe started seeing stars before her eyes.

She felt she must be nearing the end of these two rows and couldn’t help standing up on tiptoe to look—

An endless sea of corn, which might have reached the heavens if not for the mountains blocking the view.

Stunned for a moment, Lin Nianhe’s face fell. Her legs gave out, and she sat down directly on the mattress of freshly knocked-down cornstalks.

Wang Shumei, hearing the noise, looked back to see her in a state of utter dejection. Wiping sweat off her brow, she said, "Nianhe, take a rest if you’re tired, have some water."

Lin Nianhe looked back, shakily pointing forward, with tears in the corner of her eyes, "Sister Shumei, I—I thought I was almost there, I couldn’t help but take a glance..."

Wang Shumei startled for a moment then unconsciously looked ahead.

Under the sunlight, the sight gave her chills.

"Ouch, why did you look at it?" Wang Shumei complained while rubbing her arms, "Didn’t our team leader tell us not to look?"

Only then did she realize why the team leader had emphatically told them not to look ahead.

It truly induces despair.

Lin Nianhe finally understood why the aunties always looked at her with the "take a good look now for there won’t be many more" kind of glances.

She was truly at risk of not surviving this harvest season.

Just as she was despairingly contemplating whether to die now or after suffering, a familiar male voice suddenly came from behind her:

"Nianhe."