A Willing Mistake, My Lady – Chapter 111
by Little PandaModern AU Extra 5
Returning to the Countryside
Mid-October, the air crisp and cool, the sunlight bright and mild, yet the mornings and evenings carried a chill that forced people into long sleeves and trousers, navigating streets carpeted with fallen leaves.
Every year around this time, Shen Hetang had to take leave and return to her hometown, because it was time for the autumn harvest. The two elderly folks couldn’t hire enough help on their own, so she always had to make arrangements in advance.
She scrolled through the contacts on her phone—various aunts and relatives from the village—and started making calls. At the market rate of 150 yuan per day, she hired labor for two days, bringing on fifteen people for a total cost of 4,500 yuan.
She also needed to hire two agricultural trikes to transport the grain back. Each trike cost 500 yuan per day, totaling 2,000 yuan for two days.
Her time was limited. Ideally, on the third day, when the bulk of the grain was brought into the courtyard, she would have the grain merchants come and buy it directly after threshing.
Though the price wouldn’t match later-season rates, the grain’s high moisture content made it weigh more, and with no proper labor at home, speed and convenience were the priority.
Two days wouldn’t bring in all the grain—a small patch was left for the two elderly folks to keep working. Otherwise, they would feel empty and purposeless without their livelihood.
The scheduled dates happened to overlap with a holiday. She packed up and prepared to head home.
“Take me with you, won’t you? I’m pretty bored!” When Jiang Chenyu heard she was going back to the countryside, she kept hovering around her, eager to stick close.
Shen Hetang looked at the girl with her high ponytail, hair slightly wavy and voluminous. Sunlight fell across her face, making her as beautiful as a pink rose in full bloom, vivid and alluring.
She raised an eyebrow. “I’m going back to do manual labor. Are you so bored you want to go do hard labor?”
“Mhm. As long as you take me, even hard labor is fine.” The girl smiled sweetly, completely unaware of what kind of grueling work awaited her.
“All right then, if you want to go, I’ll take you. But we’re leaving at five tomorrow morning. Can you get up?” She remembered they also needed to transport the cotton back, which meant departing at first light, riding together with the cotton.
“Five o’clock? Doesn’t that mean getting up at four?” A flicker of fear crossed Jiang Chenyu’s eyes at the hour, but she didn’t back down.
“Correct.” Shen Hetang watched her hunch her shoulders, feeling quite amused, smiling faintly at the conflicted Jiang Chenyu.
“It’s fine. I’ll definitely go to bed early tonight.” Jiang Chenyu instinctively fiddled with the zipper pull on her jacket.
Shen Hetang lowered her gaze to the slender, clever fingers playing with the hem—fingertips tinged a pale pink that made her want to grab them and squeeze.
“Do you want to stay at my place tonight?” The words slipped out before she knew why, and once said, she didn’t find anything wrong with it. It was cold—what was the big deal about sharing warmth?
“Okay! How many days are we going? Should I go prepare some things?” Once it was settled that she would accompany Shen Hetang back to her hometown, Jiang Chenyu’s excitement was visible to the naked eye.
“Just bring toiletries. You won’t need much else.”
“Then can I just use yours? The toothbrush I opened at your place last time is still there. I won’t go back to my own home.” She didn’t want to go back—she would have to deal with Wu Ma’s nitpicking again.
A phone call would be enough to notify her. It wasn’t like Wu Ma could come drag her back. That settled it.
“Aren’t you going to change clothes?” Seeing her still in her school uniform, Shen Hetang worried it would be ruined beyond recognition by the time they returned.
“I can buy new ones.” Her eyes brightened like a child about to go on a spring outing.
“No need to buy any. Just wear mine when we get home. Once we’re in the countryside, you’ll probably need to change anyway.” Otherwise, even walking to the fields would be uncomfortable—wind and sun bearing down relentlessly.
Shen Hetang made time to visit the furniture market, where cargo trucks were available for hire. She negotiated a price of 300 yuan and arranged for the truck to come early tomorrow morning to load the cotton and transport it to the countryside.
Her grandmother had already placed the order for the cotton. Each sack weighed 50 jin1, and at market rate, premium cotton went for 35 yuan per jin.
Since they were selling to fellow villagers who were old acquaintances, her grandmother had set the price at 25 yuan per jin. After deducting her own cost of 10 yuan per jin, she earned 15 yuan per jin.
Of course, this was the family price Second Great-Uncle gave his own sister—not making money, practically subsidizing it.
After the busy harvest season, the village women with time on their hands would make a couple of new quilts—for their own use or to give to their children. After all, handmade was still more comfortable, and such quality was hard to find in the city.
A full 500 jin of cotton would be transported back with them at dawn tomorrow. Otherwise, she worried there wouldn’t be another chance with her schedule.
That night, Jiang Chenyu was as excited as a little child, unable to fall asleep no matter what. In desperation, Shen Hetang lay beside her counting sheep, but it had little effect. Eventually, she simply turned off the small lamp and patted her slender back, telling her the stories her grandmother had told her as a child.
Like the story of the Tiger Auntie2 who ate children—told in a calm, eerie tone. When she reached the part about eating children’s fingers, she even grabbed Jiang Chenyu’s fingers and gnawed on them twice…!
“Ahh… I’ll go to sleep, I’ll go to sleep right now!” Terrified, she buried her head under the covers and didn’t move a muscle. But her hand still gripped Shen Hetang’s, refusing to let go.
At least she stopped chattering like a little bird. Finally, some peace.
In the early hours, when the sky was just barely light, Shen Hetang got up and went to the kitchen. At this hour, no one could stomach a real meal, but riding on an empty stomach would make them uncomfortable. They needed to bring food along.
The rice cooker had been set on a timer the night before, so the rice was still warm. She scooped it out and set it aside to cool.
She prepared seaweed, sausage, cucumber, egg strips, carrot, and salad dressing, quickly rolling several sushi rolls. She sliced them and placed them in an insulated lunch bag.
Because she was bringing Jiang Chenyu along, she had also bought snacks specifically for her—orange juice, chocolate, mini cakes, fruit gummies, Wahaha drinks, and small packets of spicy braised snacks.
Not a lot of each, but a wide variety. They would be in the countryside for three days, and she didn’t want her to get bored.
She checked the time—4:30. It was probably time to wake her, since the truck would arrive downstairs at five.
Jiang Chenyu wore Shen Hetang’s jeans, a bit long so she cuffed them twice, paired with an orange cropped hooded windbreaker, her hair tied in a bun, looking vibrant and full of energy.
Shen Hetang wore the same style of jeans—she had two pairs because of a buy-one-get-one deal. Over that, she threw on a khaki-green utility jacket, her hair gathered loosely behind her head, revealing a bright earring stud on one ear.
She negotiated with the driver—adding 80 yuan for him to help carry the cotton downstairs and load it onto the truck.
After the phone call, the driver was already on his way up.
“Wait inside. Once we’ve finished moving everything, we’ll go down together!”
“You’re going to carry it too?”
“Of course!”
“Didn’t we pay extra for the driver to carry it?” Jiang Chenyu asked, puzzled.
“We only paid for the help—it’s not much. We can’t let him carry it all alone. If I weren’t worried about time, I could haul it all down by myself.” Seeing her looking like a naive girl who knew nothing of the world’s hardships, Shen Hetang explained patiently.
“It just looks heavy—it’s not actually that many jin.” Seeing her skeptical expression, Shen Hetang added reassuringly.
“Not that many jin? You’re lying.” She couldn’t even push one.
“It’s fine. I can handle it.”
While they were talking, the driver arrived at the door.
Shen Hetang moved each sack of cotton to the entrance one by one.
“Stay here and watch the door. The driver and I will carry them downstairs first.”
“Okay.” After checking the water and electricity and securing all the windows and doors, Jiang Chenyu slung on a backpack and stood guard at the entrance.
Shen Hetang and the driver, a man in his forties, each hefted a sack wider than their own bodies, making trip after trip until the cotton was loaded onto the truck. The cargo bed was nearly full.
“Here, climb up first.” The truck’s step was a bit high. Shen Hetang supported Jiang Chenyu from behind as she climbed aboard.
The smell inside the truck cab made Jiang Chenyu a little uncomfortable, but thinking about going to the countryside—Shen Hetang’s hometown—her heart still fluttered with excitement. She could endure this much.
Shen Hetang caught a whiff of cigarette smoke in the cab. Nothing to be done about it. But neither of them had eaten breakfast yet, and they would need to eat on the road. Jiang Chenyu probably wouldn’t be able to stomach food in here.
“It’s about an hour’s drive. Once we’re past the city, the road won’t be as smooth. I’ll move to the back to keep the cotton from bouncing out. Do you want to come with me?” She and Jiang Chenyu sat behind the driver. Seeing that his passengers were two strikingly pretty girls, the driver had become more chatty, though still well-meaning.
“Okay.” Jiang Chenyu nodded happily.
Outside the window, high-rises and office towers streaked past. Shen Hetang made calls on her phone, arranging the day’s harvest logistics.
Jiang Chenyu looped her arm through Shen Hetang’s, leaning her soft body against her, occasionally glancing out the window to see if they had reached the suburbs yet.
After hanging up, she asked the driver to pull over, and the two of them climbed into the truck bed, squeezing in among the cotton.
“Be careful! Don’t bounce out. Stay safe!” the driver called from the front.
“We will. Thank you!” Once they were settled in the truck bed, Shen Hetang signaled the driver to go.
Her main concern was that the bagged cotton, without any cover, might bounce out over the bumps.
Once out of the city, the roadsides gradually gave way to fields, trees, bridges, and rivers. The air was exceptionally fresh—but very cold.
The two of them sat on a bale of cotton, soft and springy, bouncing gently with the truck’s motion, which was rather fun.
She checked the time—5:20. The sky was just beginning to brighten. The sun had not yet risen, but a band of light had already dyed the horizon orange-gold.
“Are you cold?” Though there was no wind today, sitting in the open truck bed meant they were bound to catch the breeze.
“A little.” The chill had chased away her early-morning drowsiness.
“Wait a moment!” Saying that, she used six bags of cotton to build a three-sided wall around Jiang Chenyu, shielding her from the wind.
“Hehehe, this is much better.” The cotton wall came up to her neck, leaving only her head exposed to take in the scenery.
“There’s sushi in the bag. Once we get home, there might not be time to eat.” Because so many families were rushing their harvest and labor was scarce, everyone worked against the clock, heading to the fields at first light.
They would arrive home around six, then go straight to their own fields. By six-thirty, the real work would begin.
“But you don’t have to come with me. You can wait at home for me to come back. The fields are all sand and dirt—when you come back, you could shake two ounces of sand out of your clothes.”
“But I’d be bored staying at home. I’ll come along. I’ve never seen the autumn harvest before!”
“All right. If you strongly request a labor reform experience, of course that can be arranged.” Shen Hetang looked at the girl rubbing her fists in anticipation, thinking that she had better not cry about her aching muscles tomorrow.
With the itinerary settled, Jiang Chenyu opened her backpack to avoid slowing things down later. She pulled out the insulated lunch bag—the sushi inside was still warm.
Because of the wind, she popped an entire sushi roll into her mouth, cheeks puffing out like a squirrel’s as she ate, not showing the slightest hint of delicacy.
Shen Hetang sat down beside her and ate a few pieces as well. Later, she would need to call the supermarket in town to have them deliver vegetables after they opened.
Her grandmother would prepare some food, but feeding more than twenty people for lunch—if they didn’t make enough, that would be awkward. They had to make sure there was plenty.
The two of them sat in the truck bed facing the sunrise, watching the sun inch its way above the horizon. The sky flushed golden, casting its warm, brilliant glow over the cold morning.
The cold wind tangled their loose strands of hair together, intertwining naturally. Jiang Chenyu leaned against her side, watching the sunrise with full concentration, feeling the freedom of her heart.
0 Comments