Meow Meow Meow

Chapter 150: Spring Planting

Although I didn’t know why mother-in-law had come here, I still quickly walked forward with Xiang Qing to salute. I respectfully asked if she was well.

Mother-in-law gently put down the cup in her hand and with sincere and earnest feelings, she asked Xiang Qing, “Qing-er, do you know what today is?”

Xiang Qing stared blankly at her after hearing her question, and then shook his head in puzzlement.

“This child is dull-witted and asks mother to state her meaning explicitly.”

(T/N: I couldn’t express this in English, but his words are very respectful and not how an average person speaks to their mom. His words sound like dialogue from a palace drama.)

“Today is Jingze (3rd term of the 24 East Asian solar terms or March 6th to 20th)! Jingze!” Mother-in-law seemed as if she couldn’t believe him. She emphasized the word by saying it twice.

What was jingze? I saw that her face wasn’t happy, so I quickly pushed down my curiosity. I didn’t dare to ask what jingze was.

At this moment, Xiang Qing suddenly realized and said, “Oh, so it’s the time to sow seeds. Does older brother need help? I’ll visit him soon.”

“Who asked you to help him?” Mother-in-law scolded him, and then she explained, “Did you forget that you had your own fields? Aren’t you going to cultivate them now that its jingze? Or, are you going to neglect the fields?”

I didn’t understand her words until she explained to this point. Xiang Qing did indeed have fields of his own. He had two fields that had previously been under the care of his family. Now that Xiang Qing had returned home, elder brother-in-law had returned them to him. There were also the three fields that had been purchased together with the house. In total there were five fields. It wasn’t too few or too many. But, these fields weren’t useful to us.

Yin Zi had planted half a field of fruits and vegetables for himself. Xiao Cha had planted some morning glories for fun. She also wrote in an observation diary. But she used that diary to write down observation about Yin Zi instead of morning glories…

Xiang Qing also now understood the reason for mother-in-law’s visit, so he said with a smile, “I was sent to Mao Mountain as a child and grew up there. My farming skills aren’t very good and Miao Miao doesn’t know how to farm either. Why don’t I give this to elder brother to use instead? Anyways, I earn enough money putting away demons. I don’t need to depend on farming to live.”

“Nonsense!” Mother-in-law was a bit angry. “Do you want the people in the village to say that your elder brother is petty person who takes his younger brother’s fields?”

“This son doesn’t have this intention.”

Mother-in-law slightly cooled down her anger, sat back down, and after drinking tea, she continued, “Even if your elder brother was willing, his family only has two people and me. He doesn’t have enough people to work your land too, so you should cultivate this land yourself.

“But… I really don’t have skill to grow plants.” Xiang Qing was in a very difficult position.

Mother-in-law angrily said, “I don’t care if you don’t have the skill. Farming is the lifeblood of rural people. If you rely on your hands to grow food, you won’t go hungry as long as there aren’t any natural disasters. How could you forget your roots? Absolutely disgraceful! Even if your wife was pampered and spoiled from childhood, she should follow our customs after coming to the village. She should more or less do some farm work, so that people won’t gossip that our Xiang family has a daughter-in-law that’s not virtuous.