Chen Cuihua was worried about the ox. It wasn’t fully grown yet, and she feared that if it worked nonstop without rest, she might overwork it. While some families couldn’t bear to leave the fields even at midday, Chen Cuihua and her family of three didn’t head home until late afternoon.

In less than two days, the three mu of land were plowed. All three mu of dry land were planted with wheat. Wei Hu borrowed a seed drill from Carpenter Ma’s family, and on the day of sowing, the whole family got up early to go out to the fields to work.

Since they now had an ox, the farm work went much more smoothly this year. Song Ning didn’t have to exert much effort; there was no need for him to do heavy labor—he just had to lend a hand from the sidelines.

It was his first time witnessing spring plowing in the countryside. The weather was sunny and mild, and every field was bustling with people—even young children were out working the land.

Today was the day to sow the seeds. Chen Cuihua was up front guiding the oxen to keep them moving in a straight line, Wei Hu was pushing the seed drill from behind, and Song Ning was in charge of scooping up the wheat seeds and pouring them into the drill.

Song Ning was delighted to finally be able to help. The soil had just been plowed and felt soft and springy underfoot. Standing at the edge of the field, he would rush over to pour wheat into the seed drill whenever he saw the seeds running low.

Chen Cuihua looked at the newly sown field with great satisfaction. “Having an oxcart really makes things so much easier.”

Neighbors working in the fields nearby would stop by to watch Wei Hu sowing during their breaks. Seeing the oxen plowing the fields, they looked on with envy—having oxen to do the farm work really saved a lot of manpower.

“Cuihua, once you’re done sowing your own seeds, could you help us sow our wheat? We’ll pay the going rate—twenty copper coins per mu.”

Old Zhao, who lived next door to Chen Cuihua, wanted some help sowing his wheat. His family had a lot of land but few people; they didn’t have enough strong laborers. With seven mu of land, just plowing it was exhausting enough, but the money they’d saved wasn’t enough to buy a beast of burden to help out.

Chen Cuihua knew full well that there were very few draft animals in the village. During the busy farming season, some families would borrow animals to help with the fields, but with so few animals to go around, it was simply impossible to borrow enough.

Twenty copper coins per mu was a fair price, but her family’s ox was still only half-grown, and Chen Cuihua was afraid it would be overworked. “Uncle, look—my ox isn’t fully grown yet. What do you think, Huzi?”

“It’ll be fine if we work in intervals, but we can’t compare it to fully grown oxen.”

Hearing Wei Hu say this, the Zhao family’s faces lit up with joy. “Then please help sow my family’s field. The soil will be plowed in a couple of days—it’s loose and soft, so it won’t tire the ox.”

Wei Hu agreed. Cattle and mules were scarce in the village, yet in high demand; during the busy farming seasons, they were often impossible to rent.

The village chief owned a sturdy yellow ox. During the busy farming seasons, he rented it out to plow fields, sow seeds, and thresh rice. With two busy seasons a year, he could earn two or three taels of silver. He was very protective of his ox, so whenever he rented it out, he made sure the workload was light—if the ox got too tired, it wouldn’t be worth the trouble.

Now that they’d bought an ox, Chen Cuihua had naturally considered getting into the ox-rental business. But their ox wasn’t fully grown yet—she never expected that just a few days later, someone would come asking to rent it.

Song Ning, listening nearby, blinked in surprise. “Brother Wei Hu, can our ox really help others with their work?”

“Sure. Sowing seeds is the easiest job—twenty copper coins per mu. Rolling out the grain with a stone roller is thirty copper coins per mu. Plowing is the hardest work—forty copper coins per mu.”

Song Ning let out a gasp, walked over to his family’s big ox, and patted it on the side. “I never thought our ox could help us earn copper coins too.”

They finished planting their three mu of land in just the morning. In the afternoon, the whole family went out to the fields to build ridges. With a straw hat perched on his head, Song Ning worked with real dedication.

With the farm work done and no urgent tasks left, the weather was just right—neither too cold nor too hot. After enduring the long winter, everyone could finally stretch their limbs and relax.

Now that they’d bought their own ox, Song Ning wasn’t in such a rush anymore. In his spare time, he’d read a book or practice calligraphy, living a leisurely life.

The house had been bustling these past few days, with many families coming by to ask if they could rent the ox. Chen Cuihua was worried about overworking the family’s ox, so she only accepted work from a few households, limiting the ox to plowing eight mu of land a day—working in intervals with breaks—for fear of exhausting it.

Song Ning would often head to the back mountain with a small bamboo basket to gather some grass, picking out the freshest and tenderest blades to bring home so the ox could have a good meal when it returned.

As for Wei Hu, every day after breakfast, he would lead the ox to help others sow seeds. He covered four mu in the morning and four mu in the afternoon—it was definitely faster than having a man pull a seed drill. By the end of the day, he could earn about 160 copper coins, which was actually more than he usually made from hunting.

After working for five or six days, he had actually earned nearly a tael of silver. Chen Cuihua was so delighted she patted the ox and praised it as a fine beast.

Other families in the village wanted to rent the ox, but Chen Cuihua told them the ox wasn’t fully grown yet and had already been working for several days—she was afraid it would get worn out, so she wouldn’t rent it out anymore.

Another family in the village had a fully grown ox that could earn two or three hundred copper coins a day. It had been plowing fields for others since the start of spring plowing—working for over ten days straight until it was panting with exhaustion. Who would treat an ox like that? They didn’t care about the animal at all.

“Cuihua, Cuihua, are you home?”

All three of them were free at the moment. Song Ning was sitting under the shade of a tree, reading a book, with the little fox cub lying at his feet, its eyes comfortably half-closed. Hearing someone approach, Song Ning stood up. “Who are you looking for?”

The visitor was a middle-aged man. Upon seeing Song Ning, he broke into a broad smile. Hei Dou and Hua Dou, noticing the stranger, began barking at him from the doorway, startling the man so much that he stood frozen at the entrance, too afraid to step inside.

Song Ning didn’t recognize the man, so he called out toward the backyard, “Brother Wei Hu, someone’s here!”

The man spoke to Song Ning with a smile, “You must be Huzi’s Fulang. I’m Huzi’s maternal uncle.”

Chen Cuihua wasn’t home at the moment. Taking advantage of the fine weather, she had taken out the winter clothes to wash them. After breakfast, she’d carried a wooden basin to the village entrance to do the laundry.

As soon as Wei Hu heard the dog barking, he put down what he was doing. Seeing the man at the door, he frowned. “What are you doing here?” “Is Huzi home? Is your mother home? I haven’t been to your place in a long time. I just came by to see your mother.”

“Get out. If you don’t leave, I’ll let the dog loose,” Wei Hu said coldly.

Song Ning stood by silently. Since she’d married into the family, she hadn’t seen any relatives come to visit, and she certainly hadn’t heard Wei Hu mention having an uncle.

The man’s face hardened. “I’m your own uncle! Is that any way to talk to your uncle?”

The man tried to maintain his air of authority as an elder, but Wei Hu wasn’t buying it. He tugged at Hei Dou. “Go to the village entrance and bring my mom back.”

Hei Dou obediently ran out. When he reached the doorway, he barked twice at the man, startling him so much that he stumbled backward, nearly tripping over his own feet.

“You wanted to see my mom, didn’t you? Just wait.”

Wei Hu crossed his arms and wouldn’t let the man into the yard. After all, he was an elder, and if Wei Hu laid a hand on him, people would surely gossip about it. But if his mother showed up, that man wouldn’t get off easy either.

Song Ning whispered to Wei Hu, “Brother Wei Hu, is that really your uncle?” 

“Yeah, he’s no good.”

Wei Hu’s voice wasn’t exactly quiet, and Uncle Chen outside the gate heard every word clearly. After all, he was an elder, and he was so furious he wanted to curse, but he’d come today with a favor to ask, so he had to swallow his pride.

Chen Cuihua soon returned carrying a wooden basin. From a distance, she saw someone standing at her doorstep. Upon approaching, she realized it was her selfish older brother, though he didn’t look pleased. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard Huzi got married. Why didn’t you say a word to your family back home? I, your uncle, had to hear about it from someone else.”

Uncle Chen was carrying a basket filled with tender spinach. Chen Cuihua rolled her eyes at the sight of it. He’d come all this way just to bring a gift, and this is all he brought? It’s like a weasel paying a New Year’s visit to a hen—he’s up to no good.

“Spit it out. What’s on your mind?”

Uncle Chen gave a chuckle. “Cuihua, I heard your family bought an ox. Since the chores at home aren’t finished yet, could you lend your big brother here the ox for a bit?”

“Pfft!” Chen Cuihua was so furious that her eyebrows shot up. “You’re awfully well-informed, aren’t you? We just bought the ox a few days ago, and you already knew about it. Now you want to borrow it—where were you all this time? Back when I went to your house to borrow some rice, you wouldn’t even lend me a single grain!”

Song Ning hurried over to take the wooden basin from Chen Cuihua’s hands. “Mom, why get worked up over someone like that? Just shoo him away—he wouldn’t dare come into our house anyway.”

Chen’s eldest uncle didn’t dare snap back at Chen Cuihua, but he had no qualms about taking a dig at Song Ning. “Who do you think you are, butting in? Cuihua, just look at the fine fulang you’ve found for Huzi. Even if Huzi has a bad reputation, you shouldn’t have picked someone so ill-mannered!”

“Hei Dou and Hua Dou, go!”

The two hunting dogs took off running and lunged at Uncle Chen. The man was so startled that he dropped the basket he was holding, let out a scream, and ran for his life. Hei Dou and Hua Dou chased him a long way, but the man kept yelling, “How dare you set your dogs on your own uncle! You deserve to be a wife-killer!”

Chen Cuihua planted her hands on her hips and fired back, “You know we have an ox, but you didn’t know that Huzi doesn’t bring any bad luck to wives—he even asked to borrow it from me! I’d lend you a turtle’s leg instead!”

Unable to borrow the ox, Huzi’s eldest uncle grumbled and muttered as he left.

Chen Cuihua returned to the courtyard and quickly hung up the pieces of winter clothing from the basin to dry. Song Ning pitched in to help hang them up and advised, “Mother, don’t get angry with people like that.”

“I’m not getting angry at him. He just wants to take advantage of us. He knows we have an ox from so far away—hmm, he wants to borrow our ox? He’s dreaming! Pfft, what a piece of work!”

Seeing that both his mother and Brother Wei Hu disliked this man, Song Ning could guess that back when Brother Wei Hu was struggling, this so-called uncle probably wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help.

“Ning-ger, we don’t have many relatives. From now on, don’t let anyone into the house. If your brother Huzi and I aren’t home, just call out to Hei Dou or Hua Dou.”

“Okay, I got it, Mom.”

“Tomorrow is the Third of the Third. There’s a temple fair in town. Now that the farm work is all done, I’ll have your brother Huzi take us into town for a stroll tomorrow.” 

“Hey! Mom, can I bring Qiu-ger along?”

“Sure, we can always bring a couple more people along.”