Transmigrated as A Farm Girl Making Her Family Rich

Chapter 36: Chapter 36 Eating Honey

Ye Shuzhen, seeing her mother in the courtyard that afternoon, did not bring up switching tasks with Daya anymore.

In the afternoon, with Mrs. Lai helping out, the pace of threshing the rice quickened slightly. Mrs. Lai, who rarely engaged in such work, felt her back and waist ache after just half an hour.

Feeling unable to straighten her back, she used one hand to pound her plump backside, feeling soreness in her hands.

“Mother, now you know how hard we worked in the morning, don’t you?” Seeing her mother’s exhausted state, Ye Shuzhen was devoid of sympathy, instead harboring a mocking thought.

“Now mother must know, and from now on, she’ll finish the chores at home before helping elder sister, don’t you think, Mother?”

Ye Shuzhi vented the resentment she had been holding inside, saying thus to her mother’s face. She knew that in this home, if her mother did not work, more of it would fall on her and her sisters.

...

The thought of marrying the boss and not having to do these agricultural labors made Ye Shuzhi yearn for her wedding day to come sooner.

She had already forgotten the feelings she had upon seeing the guard; now, she felt that as long as she didn’t have to farm, what did it matter if her husband was not very handsome?

“You really are my good daughters! Was it easy for your old mother to raise you? Is it just a bit more work? Shouldn’t your old mother at this age enjoy some blessings?”

In this moment, Mrs. Lai, who usually favored her daughters, found them utterly infuriating today. She glared at them angrily, then could only work intermittently, frequently glaring resentfully at the two children’s rooms.

Shiqi had eaten her fill and played with Siwa for a while; the noisy commotion outside did not affect her sleep as she lay in bed.

Siwa lay down to sleep as well, occasionally puffing air, completely undisturbed by the clattering sounds from outside.

Shiqi woke up again, looked out the window of her room, and happened to see Mrs. Lai glaring at their room.

She innocently shrank her neck. Grandmother glaring at them; she surely didn’t expect them, so young, to work as well?

Shiqi glanced at her elder sister sleeping beside her. She was sleeping soundly, her mouth even blowing bubbles.

Unable to sleep, bored, she thought of something to do and remembered her “space”.

Checking her “space,” Shiqi saw the plants and flowers thriving, busy little bees gathering nectar, and noticed a bee building a hive with a honeycomb inside containing honey. Though there wasn’t much honey, she couldn’t help but drool.

The rice grains scattered on the ground had sprouted and were lush; it seemed they would soon bloom and produce rice grain.

Shiqi calculated, realizing two hours were enough to sprout rice into seedlings; perhaps one could harvest the rice once or twice a day.

The area for planting rice wasn’t large, but if one could harvest twice daily, it might yield several tens or even a hundred catties of rice grains.

The thought of having rice grains in her “space” brightened Shiqi’s mood, thinking that from now on, she wouldn’t have to eat watery meals.

Craving the honey, she mentally cut out a piece of honeycomb with honey attached, eating it like a snack.

The sweet taste stirred Siwa, who was asleep. His nose twitched, he opened his eyes, clambered up, looked around, and discovered the source of the scent was in his sister’s hands.

“Honey… Qing, elder sister wants some too…”

Seeing Siwa’s longing drooling face, Shiqi found it endearing. She couldn’t move or avoid the crowd; this elder sister was the first to discover her secret, and she had to keep it confidential.

“Shh…” Ye Shiqi couldn’t articulate more words to make Siwa understand, she could only gesture for silence with her fingers, then pointed outside.

“Qing, elder sister understands; we can’t let grandma and the second and third aunts know about the tasty treats, otherwise we’ll have none, I get it.”

While speaking, Siwa patted her chest as if guaranteeing it, her eyes firmly fixed on the honeycomb in Ye Shiqi’s hands, drooling as she spoke.

Caught eating alone, Ye Shiqi had no choice but to turn away from the honeycomb in her hand, splitting it in two and giving half to Siwa.

Siwa, holding the piece of honeycomb, carefully licked the honey inside with her tongue, eating it slowly as if it were candy.

“Mmm, so sweet, it’s really good.”

Siwa smiled happily, having never tasted anything sweeter than candy. She knew about honey and honeycombs because their picture books had stories that taught them to read and understand through illustrations.

Their father had once told them this story, explaining that it was a honeycomb formed by bees collecting nectar and that it contained lots of honey, even sweeter than sugar.

Ye Shiqi didn’t eat as slowly as Siwa; after finishing the honeycomb in her hand, she licked her fingers, still craving more, but she dared not cut more honeycomb right in front of Siwa.

Ye Shuzhen was doing a little work and a little slacking when suddenly, she detected a sweet scent floating around the yard.

She sniffed the air and said to Ye Shuzhi, who was also skiving off from work:

“Second Sister, do you smell a sweet scent in the yard?”

Ye Shuzhi’s first reaction was to retort, “Third Sister, isn’t it just the smell of sweat? Where’s the sweet scent coming from? Do you think you applied rouge powder? Can you afford the expensive kind? You must be buying the cheap kind, how strong can that fragrance be? You’re not putting on rouge while working, are you?”

Faced with her elder sister’s misunderstanding, Ye Shuzhen didn’t know how to describe her thoughts effectively but said honestly, “Sister, I don’t have the money for that kind of rouge powder, and it’s useless to put it on today with all this dust. Don’t you think it smells like honey?”

“Honey? Did mom buy honey yesterday?” Ye Shuzhi glanced at their mother, who was bent over working and hadn’t noticed their conversation.

“Second Sister, are you suggesting mom bought honey back home and didn’t tell us? It’s possible; she often keeps goodies to herself.”

“Then, should we sneak into mom’s room and look around, maybe steal a bit of the honey?” Ye Shuzhi winked at her sister, a favorite mischief among the siblings.

“Good, let’s take this chance to see how much money mom has hidden,” Ye Shuzhen giggled and, on tiptoes with her elder sister, approached their mother’s room, gently handing over the wooden door.

The lock on such wooden doors was very simple, and a piece of wire could even serve as a key. Ye Shuzhen, unable to turn the lock, looked back at Ye Shuzhi stomping her foot.

“Second Sister, what do we do if the door is locked?” @@novelbin@@

“Silly, haven’t we learned to pick locks?” Ye Shuzhi and her sister, often at home, hadn’t learned much else but had learned the craft of lock-picking from their father and brother.

Woodworkers, some of whom also mastered lock fitting, all doors, big or small, needed locks, and they could easily create and pick these simple locks.

People of this trade were typically honest and didn’t turn to theft even though they knew how to pick locks.

The two sisters had learned this skill but never dared to do anything bad outside, though they still brought trouble home.