Qin Yao wiped off the red paint on her face haphazardly with her palm and stood up to check the freshly sun-dried wheat.
Liu Dafu's family had already sent someone to take away their rent portion, leaving more than eleven hundred pounds of wheat that still needed to be husked, some stored in grain bins and some in bamboo baskets.
The empty wheat stalks were piled on the flat ground at the entrance of the courtyard. Da Lang, after washing his face, walked over to Qin Yao and said:
"The village head has instructed us to take this year's straw to the fields and burn it clean. No family is allowed to keep it. This is the directive from the Lord County Magistrate, who also assured everyone not to worry about this year's pest threat. We should complete the spring plowing, and everything will be handled by the government."
"The Lord County Magistrate?" Qin Yao was a bit surprised.
