Xu Changqing stayed at school a little longer than usual after class today. The last ray of sunset was fading from the western sky by the time she finally rode her bike into Baizigou.
「At the village entrance.」
Xu Ergen tapped the bowl of his pipe. He took a thick needle from his tobacco pouch and, while cleaning out the grime and blowing it clear, glanced ahead.
"Second Great-uncle, what are you doing here?" It was no wonder she found it strange. Although it was the slack season for farming, her second great-uncle hadn't been idle at all; the old man had his sights set on fodder.
During this period, as long as it wasn't raining, there was always fodder laid out to dry on the ground wherever her second great-uncle was, being prepared for the livestock for winter.
But here he was, in a spot with no fodder laid out to dry, and at a time when all the dried hay should have already been bundled and stored in the shed.
