Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

The two brothers reappeared at the breeding field a quarter of an hour later. They stealthily carried a small basket together, covered with a tattered cloth, glancing back every few steps, afraid of being discovered by their family. They quickly walked to the small banyan tree at the edge of the breeding field, gently placed the basket on the ground, and carefully uncovered the cloth.

As soon as the sweet potatoes were revealed in the basket, the children who had gathered around exclaimed "Wow!" in unison. The sweet potatoes were round and plump, just as Deng Xiwu had said, a size larger than the children's heads, with smooth skin and a fresh reddish-brown color. Several of the younger children's mouths watered at the sight, and they couldn't resist squatting down to reach out and touch them.

Like protective mother hens, the brothers Deng Xuewen and Deng Xiwu immediately spread their arms to block the basket, stopping each outstretched hand. Actually, when they secretly took the sweet potatoes, they had deliberately lined the bottom of the basket with soft straw, afraid of damaging them; they treasured them dearly. "You promised you could only look, not touch! You have to keep your word!" Deng Xiwu shouted, then turned to his drooling little brother and said, "Look at you, drooling all over you! Get away! My parents said these sweet potatoes are for seed; they'll rot if they get wet or damaged!"

Thankfully, most of the children withdrew their hands after hearing this, only lingering around the basket curiously, occasionally whispering among themselves. Only a few of the younger children remained, reluctant to leave, staring intently at the sweet potatoes. Fearing their family would discover their mistake if they waited too long, Deng Xuewen and his brother quickly covered the basket with the rag again, picked it up, and headed home, shouting as they went, "You all saw it! We weren't bragging! We have to take it home now, or we'll get a beating from our parents if we're late!"

As soon as the two brothers left, everyone swarmed around Xingbao, bombarding him with questions: "Xingbao, Xingbao! Are all the sweet potatoes you dug up this big?" Their eyes were full of curiosity and anticipation as they stared intently at him.

Xingbao, seeing the eager gazes around him, knew he couldn't hide it anymore and there was no point in hiding it, so he told the truth: "No, that was the biggest one. Uncle Deng and Uncle Long helped us dig sweet potatoes that day, and we picked out a few of the biggest ones to give them as a thank you gift." He paused, then added, "But even the small sweet potatoes at our house weigh two or three pounds. I don't know about other people's, but the biggest sweet potatoes at my maternal grandfather's house only weigh one pound."

At this point, Xingbao raised his voice, his tone resolute: "As long as every household plants this kind of sweet potato next year, everyone will have enough to eat! Look how well the cabbages we planted this year are growing thanks to everyone's careful care! Although we planted them late, they're already as big as the ones planted earlier, and they'll definitely surpass them in a few days! When it's harvest time, everyone can take a few home, and then we can compare and see if the ones grown at our breeding base are bigger and tastier!"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over each of his friends, and continued, "We established this breeding base to cultivate higher-yielding seeds so that no one will ever go hungry again! This year, we're planting cabbage just to keep the land from going to waste; it's a practice run—first, to let the adults see our results, and second, to build our own confidence. Next year, with sweet potatoes and potatoes, that's when we'll truly shine!"

Upon hearing these words, the previously somber-looking children instantly regained their usual energy. Their eyes lit up, and they cheered enthusiastically before rushing into the vegetable garden to continue watering and weeding. Xingbao was about to follow when he discovered that Guixiang, his older brothers, and his second older brother were already standing beside him.

Gui Xiang walked over to Xing Bao, tugged at his sleeve, and whispered, "Xing Bao, I just heard that Xiao Hua and Brother Xiao Hu's family is almost out of food. Could you give them some fruit?"

"No way!" Xingbao refused without hesitation, secretly reminding himself: How could he easily give away the fruit from his spatial storage to outsiders? Especially at this time of year, the fruit outside was either all eaten long ago or dried into nuts. Taking out such fresh fruit would surely arouse suspicion and cause trouble! As he pondered, he secretly calculated: The sweet potatoes and potatoes cultivated with spiritual spring water in his spatial storage could only be eaten secretly by himself and absolutely could not be shown to outsiders; but besides that, it would be too conspicuous to use all the non-spiritual spring water-cultivated fruits as seeds, making it difficult to explain their origin and taking up space. So he could share them. So he changed his tone and softened his words: "But there is a way. We can take them to roast sweet potatoes and potatoes. They'll be hot and filling."

"Yay! Let's roast sweet potatoes tonight!" Gui Xiang's eyes lit up instantly. She stopped pestering Xing Bao for fruit and skipped off to the vegetable garden, calling out to her dog Xueqiu who was squatting nearby.

After Gui Xiang ran off, the older brother walked up to Xing Bao and patted him on the shoulder, asking with a hint of doubt, "Xing Bao, you said you were going to plant sweet potatoes next year, why didn't you tell me before?"

Xingbao turned around and earnestly explained his plan: "Brother, it's not about planting sweet potatoes, it's about cultivating sweet potato seedlings! Originally, I was thinking of planting potatoes in the spring, so that the villagers could use the seeds we provided to plant another crop in the second half of the year. But you saw what happened today. If everyone in the village can plant this high-yield sweet potato next year, when food is scarce, even if someone is really struggling, they can cut some sweet potato vines and eat some wild vegetables to tide them over. After cultivating the sweet potato seedlings, we'll continue planting potatoes. By the year after next, the villagers will be planting two crops of potatoes and one crop of sweet potatoes a year, and they should never go hungry again!"

"Two more years?" The older brother frowned, muttering to himself with a hint of worry in his voice.

Seeing this, the second brother quickly interjected, "Xingbao, don't we still have rice? Why didn't you mention the rice?"

A hint of helplessness crossed Xingbao's face as he slowly replied, "Second Brother, our rice trial failed this time. The villagers saw it with their own eyes, so naturally they won't want to follow suit. Besides, we haven't even found a good early rice variety yet; the last one we found was only a late rice variety. To successfully cultivate the rice variety and let the villagers see the results, even if everything goes smoothly, it will take at least two or three years! And this is just the first generation of rice varieties; it will probably take about ten years to obtain a fully stable and mature variety! Moreover, our experimental field is too small, so the actual time required will probably be even longer." He paused, then looked at his eldest brother with earnest eyes, "I want you to take some time to discuss it with Grandpa, hoping that he can give us that low-grade field at the foot of the opposite mountain to cultivate. That field is narrow and lacks water, which is perfect for cultivating the mutant rice variety we need—even if the seedlings are flattened, it won't matter; most of them will fall onto the ridges. The water-scarce environment can actually help select drought-resistant varieties." After saying this, Xingbao stared intently at his eldest brother, awaiting his decision.