Even in the height of summer, farm families were always busy. Before the rice ripened, there was a constant stream of odd jobs to tend the crops, like weeding the shanyu and corn or working in the vegetable gardens. There was never an idle moment.
One day, Laixi came to visit, bringing his aunt a basket of vibrant red peaches and a smaller one filled with golden-yellow apricots. He explained that a merchant passing through Xiatang Market had unloaded some to sell, but only the wealthy families in town bought any. With so many left over, the merchant couldn't be bothered to haul them back onto his boat and dropped the price, so Laixi bought a large batch.
Juhua was sitting by the door with Liu Xiaomei, doing some needlework and chatting idly.
Mei had come to give Juhua some cushions. Her second brother wove all sorts of them from wheat straw. They were cool to sit on in the summer and kept you from getting a cold bottom in the winter—simple yet practical household items.
