The family’s iron plow was also taken by the Tartars a few years ago. For years, they haven’t been able to afford a new plow and have had to rent one instead. After tallying up several rounds of rental fees, The Bell Family felt a deep ache in her heart. She had even considered giving up on using oxen and a plow, and instead having the family use hoes to till the land, but Henry Carter vetoed the idea—never mind the exhaustion, who knew how many years it would take to finish?

The Bell Family had already arranged the rental of the ox and plow with the village head, Andrew Harris. After dinner, Henry Carter accompanied his mother to the Harris household, but Andrew Harris was not at home—he had gone to the county seat, leaving only his family behind. They collected the ox and plow; Henry Carter carried the plow and drove the ox, The Bell Family carried the wheat seeds, and Grace Bennett followed closely behind the mother and son, carrying two baskets of manure. She had spent a whole year collecting that manure.

Although it was still early, people heading out to work were already appearing on the main street and in the alleys. When they saw The Bell Family, greetings like “Good morning, Fourth Aunt!” rang out from time to time. Compared to Henry Carter, The Bell Family had a much better reputation and relationships in Xin Village.

Some people, upon seeing Henry Carter behind The Bell Family, instinctively wanted to make fun of him. But when they saw Henry Carter’s cold expression, the words died in their throats, and they secretly wondered why this “big fool Wang” had been acting so strangely lately.

Just as they were about to leave the village, a young girl hurried past the three of them. People pointed and whispered about her. The girl held her head high, as if disdainful of others’ gossip, but her pale face and the trace of fear in her eyes betrayed her inner weakness and unease.

Behind Henry Carter, Grace Bennett whispered softly, “Sister Xu is really pitiful…”

This girl was the one who had almost bumped into Henry Carter the day before. Henry Carter knew her name was Julia Scott, the daughter of the village chief Paul Scott, eighteen years old, considered quite pretty in the village. She had been about to get married, but all that ended last month.

On July 23rd, after the Jin army captured the Bao’an county seat, the troops split up to loot the surrounding areas. Julia Scott didn’t make it back to the village in time and was captured by the Jin soldiers, but managed to escape two days later. However, the villagers gossiped, saying that once a girl was taken by the Tartars, how could she possibly have escaped unscathed? She must have been violated.

With such rumors swirling, the groom’s family quickly came to break off the engagement, not even wanting the betrothal gifts back. Her father, Paul Scott, was furious. He was a man of some standing in the village—how could he endure such humiliation? He spent his days at home cursing Julia Scott for bringing shame on the family, telling her she should just die. The cold stares and harsh words from the villagers soon wore down this once-proud girl, but in front of others, she seemed to hold her head even higher.

Hearing the whispers and jeers around them, Henry Carter snorted and said, “A man who can’t protect his wife and children, and then takes out his anger on a weak woman—what kind of man is that?”

Hearing Henry Carter’s words, Grace Bennett widened her eyes in confusion, but The Bell Family looked back at Henry Carter with approval.

Chapter 006: Beacon Fires

The Carter family’s fields were located in the southeast of Xin Village. Because irrigation was inconvenient, the land there was relatively barren.

Only in the northwest and southwest of Xin Village, where the land was close to the river and crisscrossed by canals, was the soil more fertile. But most of the fields there belonged to the Thompson family and other wealthy households in the village.

It was the season for winter wheat cultivation, and many villagers were busy in the fields—turning the soil, watering, spreading fertilizer, sowing seeds—a scene of bustling activity.

Henry Carter followed his mother to their own fields. The dry earth gave off a certain smell. In his previous life, Henry Carter had worked in the fields, and with the skills inherited from this body, farming was no problem for him.

He drove the ox and pushed the plow, deep-tilling and turning the soil in their wheat field. His mother, The Bell Family, followed behind, using a harrow to break up and smooth the soil. His young wife, Grace Bennett, went to fetch water for irrigation. Because of the drought in recent years, the soil moisture was insufficient, so they had to irrigate to ensure the wheat would sprout well.

The nearest stream was two li away. To irrigate, they had to fetch water from there. With over twenty mu of land to water, all relying on Grace Bennett to carry the water, the hardship was obvious. Her small frame bore two heavy buckets as she walked back and forth in silence, working desperately hard, her little face growing paler and more delicate with each trip.

In fact, there used to be some ponds and canals in the southeast of Xin Village, built during the Wanli era for irrigation. But after so many years, most of them had silted up and could no longer hold water. Cleaning and repairing them would require a lot of labor and money—unless the government or the whole village mobilized, it was impossible. Right now, Xin Village simply didn’t have that capacity, and with the current breakdown of the village’s administrative system, there was no organization to make it happen.

With the rivers, ponds, and canals unreliable, many families in Xin Village dug wells for irrigation and for drinking water for people and livestock. But with the drought, those simple wells that cost two or three taels of silver, or the small brick wells that needed seven or eight taels, were producing less and less water—digging them was almost pointless.

As for the deep brick-and-stone wells, just the materials and labor cost eight or nine taels of silver, and even deeper wells could cost more than ten taels. A waterwheel would cost another ten taels or so, and would need animal power to operate. All told, the cost could reach over twenty taels of silver. But such deep wells could irrigate more than twenty mu of land each. If a family had enough able-bodied men and was well-off, digging such a deep well was still worthwhile.