If you don't consummate the marriage for three years and then marry a successful educated youth

Jiang Lie thought about it and agreed. His father needed to arrange work for the people in the brigade. If it was too hot, people would feel uncomfortable and their work speed would slow down. His father couldn't just ignore someone suffering from heatstroke.

Time is of the essence; we need to finish the busy farming season as soon as possible so that everyone can get some rest.

Otherwise, it will be very troublesome when the rainy season comes.

"Okay, I'll go talk to Dad. He should agree. If everyone doesn't get heatstroke, we can work faster and finish drying the grain sooner."

Wen Yao hummed in agreement: "How is it when it rains during the rainy season here?"

Jiang Lie thought for a moment and said, "It's alright, not as scary as in the south. It usually rains in the evening, so our grains don't get moldy as much. In the south, it's easy for grains to get moldy during the rainy season when it rains all the time."

"I'm going to check on things at home. Leave the vegetable garden there, I'll finish it when I get back."

"It's okay, I can do it."

Jiang Lie returned shortly afterward.

"Wife, Dad said you should do it as you see fit. This weather is really hot and makes people feel uncomfortable. They have no energy and work very slowly."

Wen Yao nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll go dig up some herbs to relieve the heat. You go to town and buy more salt. I want to add it to their cooling tea to replenish their salt levels."

"Sweating too much will cause salt loss, which needs to be replenished in time. Otherwise, you will feel weak and suffer from heatstroke. In more serious cases, you may faint, go into shock, or lose consciousness."

Jiang Lie nodded: "Okay, I'll go buy it."

The two got up before dawn and started brewing a cooling tea. A large bag of salt was poured into a big pot and started boiling. Wen Yao tasted it and found that a slightly salty-sweet flavor was best.

"Ah Lie, try it and see how it tastes. Tell me if there's anything that needs improvement. I want to make a delicious and effective summer tea so that everyone won't feel too uncomfortable drinking it."

Jiang Lie took a sip, but didn't feel anything.

"It tastes pretty good, and it's refreshingly cool."

Wen Yao laughed upon hearing this: "Okay, as long as it doesn't taste bad. After all, it contains medicinal herbs, so it's bound to taste worse than soda. As long as it doesn't taste bad and is effective, that's fine."

"It's dawn now, so we can take these two buckets to the fields and let them drink from them whenever they have time. They're very effective at relieving the heat."

"Okay, just stay home and don't get a tan."

"Okay, got it."

Jiang Lie delivered two buckets of refreshing tea to the field, picked up a sickle, and began to work.

The brigade leader used a loudspeaker to call out to those who felt unwell, telling them to go up and drink some cooling tea as soon as possible. He suggested that everyone carry some cooling tea with them and drink it whenever they felt uncomfortable.

People lined up one after another to get the cooling tea, and after drinking it, they felt much better, and their heads weren't so throbbing anymore.

After I stopped feeling uncomfortable, I was able to work much faster.

*

In the other courtyard

Wen Yao sat under the eaves sewing clothes. The weather was hot and she was sweating a lot, so the clothes were easy to tear and needed to be mended.

The door creaked open, and looking up, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: "Lin Fengjiao, what brings you here again? Are you looking for me or Jiang Lie?"

"If you're looking for him, he's working in the fields and not home."

Lin Fengjiao walked up to her, frowning as she looked at her: "Hey, I'm his ex-wife. Aren't you jealous at all for coming to see him? It's no use that you don't feel anything. You really don't care about him."

Wen Yao found it somewhat amusing upon hearing this. What did he mean? "He and I are husband and wife. Besides, he doesn't have feelings for you anymore. Why should I be jealous?"

"You're about to get married and move to the city, what are you always doing hanging around here? Shouldn't you be very busy?"

"There are quite a few things to prepare for a wedding."

Lin Fengjiao touched the gold necklace, looking proud: "No need, Qingshu said I don't need to prepare anything, everything is at home, I just need to go there."

"When the time comes, we'll set up a few tables at a state-run restaurant. It'll be much more impressive than setting up in the countryside. No matter how much you envy us, it won't matter."

Wen Yao: ...Speaking of which, when did she become envious?

"Hey, I'm talking to you. Look at this gold necklace of mine, isn't it beautiful? It was one of the betrothal gifts Qing Shu gave me. You're a pampered girl from the city, don't you have a gold necklace?"

"Jiang Lie isn't short of money, do you think I won't buy it for you?"

Lin Fengjiao continued talking to herself, her eyes full of pride.

Wen Yao smiled but didn't say anything. Ah Lie didn't buy the gold necklace, but he bought a gold bracelet that was more expensive than the gold necklace. But there was no need to compete with Lin Fengjiao in this regard.

She can show off if she wants; it's none of my business.

A dazzling display of gold appeared before her eyes. Lin Fengjiao took off her gold necklace and held it up in front of her, saying proudly, "Aren't you going to take a look? I'll have Jiang Lie buy you one later."

"If he doesn't buy it for you, it means he doesn't care about you at all. Did you hear what I said?"

Wen Yao nodded and said calmly, "Are you done? My relationship with him doesn't need your attempts to sow discord. Whether I buy from him or not, I consider him my husband."

"Do I need you to tell me how to prove what kind of man I am? If you have nothing else to do, you can go back. I don't want you to stay for dinner."

These words were quite blunt, and Lin Fengjiao's face twisted for a moment: "You..."

Wen Yao's gaze fell on the gold necklace pendant. She noticed something, then reached out and grabbed the pendant: "Hmm? There's an inscription of 'cloud' on it. Neither your name nor Shen Qingshu's name contains the character 'cloud'."

"How come there are these marks on this necklace? Looking at the wear and tear, it doesn't look like a newly bought gold necklace. Are you sure he just bought it for you?"

Lin Fengjiao's heart skipped a beat. She quickly took her necklace, examined it in her palm, and sure enough, she saw the character "Yun" in it. Neither Shen Qingshu's name nor her own name contained the character "Yun".

Whose "Yun" is this? What's going on? Wasn't it supposed to be one of the betrothal gifts given to her? Isn't it newly bought?

Thinking about this, I couldn't stay still any longer.

She glared at him fiercely: "My nickname has the character 'Yun' in it. What do you know? You don't even own a gold necklace, how dare you say mine is old?"

Wen Yao shrugged, her tone as usual: "I didn't say it was old. It's just that the engravings on it are a bit strange, and judging from the wear and tear, it's been worn for at least two or three years."

"If you don't wear it often, you won't have these marks, but you said it was one of the betrothal gifts given to you recently, which doesn't match the timing."

Lin Fengjiao gripped the gold necklace tightly, snorted, and turned to run away.

Wen Yao shook her head and continued mending clothes, unaware that the person who had drunk the cooling tea was already urging Jiang Lie to get some more, as the coolness would give them energy to work.

The busy farming season lasted for about ten days. Every day, Wen Yao would brew two large buckets of refreshing tea. The people in the brigade were also used to drinking this, and it was indeed much more comfortable to go back after a day's work.

I won't have a headache, and I can sleep well at night.

The brigade leader looked at the dried grain and couldn't stop smiling: "Our Xiangyang Brigade is doing great this year. We'll probably be the first brigade to finish harvesting our grain. That's wonderful!"