Capítulo 21: Denial

Then, Xue Da looked toward Xue Yan, "Xue Yan, you once told Grandpa, as the teacher taught you, 'Gifts from elders must not be refused.' You are educated and understand manners. Whatever Grandpa has given you before, you always accepted it courteously. What's wrong today?" Xue Yan was helpless. Jiang Yue was quite surprised. This grandfather was actually quite clever. Having no choice, Xue Yan put his hands together in the same respectful manner as before, and after making a polite bow to Xue Da, he took the piece with both hands. This was the first time Jiang Yue had seen Xue Yan bow. Though he was young, he did it with proper etiquette, just right - not too much, not too little - his body straight and proper, and it was a pleasure to watch. Xue Da then looked at Jiang Yue with the same cajoling tone he might use with a baby, "Yue Bao, look, your Brother Xue Yan has already accepted it. You're even younger than him, aren't you...?" The old man's face was full of anticipation, his cloudy old eyes surprisingly bright. Jiang Yue had no choice but to also accept it. "Good, good, good." Seeing that they had both accepted, Xue Da was extremely happy. "Grandpa, you eat too," said Jiang Yue and Xue Yan, each breaking their pieces of red date cake in half and stuffing one half into Xue Da's mouth. With his mouth full, Xue Da looked up, laughing so much that he couldn't close his mouth, "It's still you who knows how to be kind to Grandpa. It's still you who knows how to be kind to Grandpa." Seeing the old man so happy, both Jiang Yue and Xue Yan also showed smiles and began to eat the other halves of the red date cakes in their hands. Although it was called a red date cake, it was only slightly sweet, clearly not much sugar had been added. After staying with Xue Da for a while, Jiang Yue and Xue Yan finally went back. By the time they had returned home, Liu Guixia was already preparing dinner and Yu Hongyan was sitting at the mouth of the stove, poking firewood into the fire with a firestick. The sun had not yet set. Cooking at this time meant that they could finish their dinner before it got dark and then wash up and go to bed. 'Work from sunrise to sunset' - that's what it meant. It was also because they wanted to avoid the trouble after dark and save on lamp oil. A farming family saves wherever it can. Seeing them return, Liu Guixia immediately smiled and said, "Xue Yan, I forgot to bring back the hoe. I think it was left in the ditch next to the wasteland. Your father and the others probably don't know about it. Could you go fetch it for me? And while you're there, tell them that your second sister-in-law and I have started cooking so they can come back. Don't let it get too late, it's not good when it's dark." "Okay, I'll go now," Xue Yan responded and prepared to leave. Jiang Yue thought it would be a good opportunity to see where the wasteland was and what crops were planted on the family's land to see if she could replace them with the high-yielding crops from her space, so that this family's harvest wouldn't be so poor anymore. After all, this was ancient times, and no matter what, even during a great harvest, the yield was not high, completely incomparable to those of the same crops in the later generations with all kinds of high-tech. So, Jiang Yue silently followed behind. Xue Yan noticed and paused, turning back, "Why, are you also going?" "Mhm, just to have a look," she paused, then added, "to see our family's land." Xue Yan didn't ask anything else and just nodded his head. Together, the two of them went to the uncultivated land. The wasteland was opened up on the left side of the mountain nearest to Locust Village. The face of the mountain that faced the village and the right side had already been put to use; now if anyone in the village wanted to clear land, they could only start from the left side. On the way to the wasteland, Jiang Yue learned from Xue Yan that over the years, Xue Dafu's family had cleared a total of five mu of wasteland. The family owned no paddy fields; the paddy fields that were farmed were rented from the landlord in town.