Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

Gui Xiang rambled on, recounting almost everything she had seen, heard, and done in the fields over the past six months. Li Guangsheng and the four female students, the audience, were all pampered young ladies and gentlemen, completely ignorant of farming. In their view, these heavy and tedious tasks were the adults' responsibility, with children merely helping out. Therefore, they assumed Gui Xiang was exaggerating the adults' hardships to prove she had also put in considerable effort. As for the unusual high-yield seeds, they assumed they were either accidental finds or the result of considerable effort, just like Gui Xiang's earlier description of searching for rice seeds. Later, Gui Xiang excitedly showed them her crookedly drawn crop growth records, which further convinced them of this assumption. Although they still found such a high-yield variety too incredible, the world is vast and full of wonders, and it was reasonable that it could be discovered and cultivated by chance. The group did not ask any more questions, but their eyes showed more approval as they looked at Gui Xiang.

In fact, Xingbao was quite happy to have Guixiang tell them these obvious things. He had already planned that these young masters and ladies, who knew nothing about farming, would fill in the details in their minds after hearing Guixiang's account, and then spread these stories, thus quietly patching up the biggest loophole: the origin of the seeds. However, he was on tenterhooks the whole time, afraid that Guixiang would get carried away and reveal family secrets or the true origin of the seeds. So he stood silently by her side, his eyes always on Guixiang, paying close attention to her words. Sure enough, just as Guixiang was getting into the swing of things and was about to bring up family matters and reveal the secret of the seeds, Xingbao quickly and subtly interrupted, saying with a smile, "Sister, have you forgotten? Last time we harvested the rice flowers, it also increased the rice yield in the fields!" Guixiang was taken aback for a moment, then realized Xingbao's intention and quickly followed up on his words, not mentioning the previous topic again. Then another time, when Guixiang was talking about the details of composting and was about to touch on a sensitive topic, Xingbao coughed lightly again, subtly reminding her to talk about the fun things that happened when catching insects. After these two timely diversions and reminders, Guixiang finally realized what was going on, put away her smugness, and dared not let anything slip again. She only continued to tell the others about the fun and hard work in the fields.

Gui Xiang had just finished her story when the roasted sweet potatoes in the stove were perfectly cooked. A rich, sweet aroma wafted out from the cracks in the stove, instantly filling the entire kitchen. Gui Xiang's eyes lit up, and she quickly squatted down, carefully using tongs to remove the sweet potatoes and place them on a clean stone slab to cool. Once the sweet potatoes were no longer too hot to handle, the group picked one up, gently patting off the ash they had left, just like Gui Xiang had done. Peeling back the charred skin revealed an enticing orange-red interior, exuding a rich sweetness and a soft, chewy texture. Previously, they had looked down on these simple, unsophisticated foods meant to fill their stomachs, but now they ate them with relish, constantly praising them. Xing Bao was confident that they would remember this day whenever they saw sweet potatoes again.

After lunch, Guixiang couldn't wait to call the village children to fulfill her promise to brew medicine for frostbite. In no time, a dozen or so little kids rushed into the kitchen, chattering excitedly – ​​this was only because the adults had kept the older boys away, allowing only the younger ones; otherwise, the kitchen would have been too crowded. Seeing this, Xingbao took the initiative, putting the herbs he and Guixiang had prepared that morning into a teapot, adding water, and starting a fire to brew the medicine. After it was ready, he carefully poured the warm liquid into a large wooden basin. Watching the children chatter and play around the basin, Guixiang excitedly explained how she had obtained the herbs from her master and how she and Xingbao had prepared the medicine together. Seeing the admiring looks from her friends, she became even more smug, proudly patting her little chest and promising, "As long as you all listen to me from now on, I'll definitely not forget you when there's something good!" She looked like she was about to recruit new members. Xingbao watched from the side, shaking his head helplessly and amusedly, then turned and went back to his room to continue reading the books Li Guangsheng and the others had brought, cherishing this rare learning opportunity.

Time flies. The winter solstice has passed, and the coldest period of winter is approaching. The wind is even more biting, and before we know it, it's the morning of the five students from Sanmin Middle School to set off. Yesterday, Dad made a special trip to Yongfeng. He not only successfully rented a sturdy horse-drawn carriage but also bought many items needed for the New Year—red paper, firecrackers, several feet of thick coarse cloth, and a ream of smooth white paper. The white paper came at just the right time. These days, we've copied many books brought by Li Guangsheng and his friends, and taught the village children to read and write, which has used up a lot of paper. Plus, my eldest brother will be going to school next year, so our stock is already running low. Looking at the increasing number of books in the house, Dad and Mom are very happy. In their spare time, they'll pick up a book and read for a while. In this chaotic era, passing down knowledge and literature is a common pursuit for many families.

Xingbao hasn't been idle these past few days. He not only memorized all the math, physics, and chemistry books he brought, but also reviewed the Chinese texts his older brother hadn't finished copying. He even specifically chose to learn English and Japanese. He's determined to get back up where he fell. In his previous life, he couldn't remember English vocabulary, resulting in a severe imbalance in his studies and ultimately causing him to miss out on university, leaving a deep regret. In this life, heaven has given him the special ability of photographic memory, and he's determined to seize this opportunity to fulfill his university dream. As for choosing Japanese, firstly, Xingbao had studied with his colleagues for a while when he worked for a Japanese company in his previous life, so he had a basic foundation; secondly, he knew that Japanese contains many kanji characters, the shapes and meanings of which are similar to Chinese, making it relatively easy to learn, like a dialect of Chinese. As for other foreign languages, he had no foundation whatsoever; the pronunciation and grammar were completely unfamiliar, making them too difficult to learn, so he hadn't considered them for the time being. Moreover, he knew that in a few years, the flames of war would spread to this land. Learning more Japanese might come in handy then, even if he could only understand a few words, it would give him more confidence to protect himself.

Gui Xiang was busy in the kitchen early in the morning, making breakfast and even roasting a few sweet potatoes, carefully wrapping them in a clean cloth, and giving them to Li Guangsheng and the others to take on their journey. Since the journey was not far, only half a day, and the coachman her father had hired had recently been to Sanmin Middle School and knew the way well, the five of them were not in a hurry to set off. They waited until the sun rose and the temperature warmed up a bit before boarding the carriage and slowly setting off, with Xing Bao's family bidding them a reluctant farewell.