Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

This morning, before dawn, with the eastern sky just beginning to lighten and the world shrouded in a thin mist, everything appeared somewhat hazy. In this tranquil moment, Gui Xiang was already awake. She blinked her big eyes, jumped out of bed, and woke Xing Bao, because today was the first day of school at the private academy!

Guixiang gently pushed open the door and entered the kitchen, where she saw her mother busily preparing breakfast. Guixiang stood obediently behind her mother, quietly watching her busy figure, her heart filled with anticipation.

As soon as her mother finished her chores, Guixiang immediately flew into her mother's arms like a cheerful little bird, pleading, "Mother, can you braid my hair?" Her mother looked at Guixiang with some surprise, then laughed and said, "Did the sun rise in the west today? Usually, when I try to braid your hair, you always run away like a little rabbit. Why the sudden change of heart today?"

Gui Xiang blushed slightly upon hearing her mother's words and said shyly, "Mother, I want to dress up nicely for school today." Her mother was amused by Gui Xiang's adorable appearance. She gently patted Gui Xiang's head and said, "Okay, okay, Mother will braid your hair now."

Gui Xiang stood obediently before her mother like a little wooden puppet, not moving an inch. Her mother carefully combed her hair, dividing it into two sections, and then skillfully braiding them into two beautiful braids. Her mother's movements were gentle and practiced, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

"Our Guixiang has grown up." Her mother murmured softly as she braided Guixiang's hair. Her eyes revealed a sense of joy and emotion at Guixiang's growth.

Finally, her mother tied two bright red ribbons around Guixiang's head, which stood out vividly against Guixiang's black hair. Guixiang looked at herself in the mirror with great joy; her two braids looked like two butterflies fluttering in the air, making her look even more playful and adorable.

Gui Xiang was as excited as a little sparrow, shaking her head incessantly, feeling her braids fluttering around her ears. She couldn't wait to show off her new braids to her friends. Whenever she met someone, Gui Xiang would stop and proudly flaunt her new braids, as if they were the most precious treasure in the world.

On the other side, Xingbao Zhaolie completed his daily task of distributing spiritual spring water. Taking advantage of the absence of attention, he sat alone in the backyard, his consciousness sinking into his spatial dimension. He carefully turned over the sweet potato vines, which had grown to about a meter long, to prevent them from growing roots haphazardly—in a few days, he could cut the vines for cuttings and propagation. The tea tree had begun to branch out, growing much better than the one his second brother had planted in the vegetable garden. The pumpkin, loofah, and bean vines had also grown a bit, and the orange tree's leaves had spread out larger, presumably having taken root. Several grapevines showed no visible changes yet, but on a whim, Xingbao pulled one up and discovered that it had already grown white roots about a centimeter long. Since it had roots, he would transplant it to the backyard. He carried the grape seedling out of his spatial dimension and went back to his room to find a small shovel.

He was caught by Gui Xiang as soon as he stepped out the door. "Xing Bao, where did you run off to? Let me show you the little braids Mommy gave me!" she said, shaking her head, the braids swinging with the movement. "Isn't it pretty? It even has a red ribbon on it, much prettier than Sister Xiao Hua's!"

Xingbao nodded quickly and continued walking towards the backyard. Guixiang was still admiring her pretty little braids, shaking her head as she followed behind Xingbao.

Reaching the side gate of the backyard, Xingbao found a sunny corner, squatted down, dug the ground, and planted the grapevines in one swift motion. To ensure the transplants would survive, he secretly watered them with some spiritual spring water. Just as he stood up, he saw the rooster leading several hens clucking and rushing towards him—only then did he remember the spiritual spring water's immense attraction to chickens. Xingbao quickly waved his small shovel, trying to shoo them away. However, the chickens seemed unfazed, instead clucking even more excitedly and continuing to charge towards Xingbao.

Just then, Gui Xiang also noticed something was wrong. She quickly grabbed a small stick and joined in driving the chickens away. The siblings waved their tools and shouted, "Go away! Go away!" Thanks to the nourishment from the spiritual spring water these past few days, the siblings had become much stronger, and their shovels and sticks whistled through the air. The chickens dared not approach easily, only clucking anxiously around the two of them.

"Have you two gotten yourselves into some kind of feud with chickens? You're always making such a ruckus, can't you just shut up for once!" Mother said with a laugh as she walked over.

"Mother, the chickens are trying to eat the grapevines we planted! Please come and chase them away!" Gui Xiang cried out anxiously.

Seeing this, the mother quickly grabbed a bamboo clapper used for herding chickens and started banging it hard on the ground, making a "smack smack" sound. However, the chickens still surrounded the ground and refused to leave.

The lively scene drew the attention of the eldest brother, the second brother, and their father, who all came out of the house curiously, wanting to see what had happened.

Xingbao shouted, "Second brother, help me bring the basket over here."

After covering the grapevines with the basket, Xingbao finally breathed a sigh of relief. But looking at the rooster's current expression, he still felt it wasn't safe enough and called out, "Brother, help me put the tofu-making stone on top of the basket." After doing all that, Xingbao came to his senses and felt pain in several places on his body—it turned out that Guixiang had accidentally injured him, her "ally," while chasing the chickens.

"Alright, everyone go back and have breakfast. The children will be coming to class soon! After breakfast, I'll build a fence around the grapevines!" Dad urged everyone to go back and eat, not forgetting to look back at the flock of chickens still circling the grapevines, his face full of doubt.

"Dad, we need to cover the top of the fence too, the rooster flies so high!" Xingbao pleaded with his father earnestly.

Gui Xiang nodded in agreement, and her second brother chimed in—they had all seen the rooster fly up the wall before, and it had pecked at the vegetable leaves in the garden a lot these past two days. Fortunately, it had also eliminated a lot of the insects in the garden, otherwise it would have been slaughtered and eaten long ago.

"I don't know what this chicken ate, it's so restless!" Mother complained as she led the two children to wash their hands. Xingbao, who was following behind, felt a chill run down his spine when he heard his mother's words, but pretended not to hear anything and dared not say anything more.

Before they had even finished breakfast, uncles and aunts arrived one after another with their children. Father and eldest brother could only hastily shovel a few mouthfuls of food before hurriedly getting up to greet and arrange for everyone. After a flurry of welcoming and seeing off guests, it was nearly mid-morning. At this time, several more children had appeared in the courtyard, all wearing the same open-crotch pants, all around four or five years old. Especially Long Zhixing, who was still snotty-nosed. Almost all of them usually played with Xingbao and Guixiang! Seeing this, Xingbao couldn't help but wipe a cold sweat from his eldest brother's brow—it looked like the private school was almost turning into a daycare center! At the same time, he looked down at his own pants, which were the same style as the other children's, and wondered if he could use this as an excuse to ask his mother to sew them up.

Then came the seating arrangement: Sister Shanshan and several girls, along with Deng Xuewen, sat in the second row; Second Brother and several children under ten sat in the third row; Brother Dashan and several children around ten years old sat in the last row. The eldest brother even specially arranged for the three of them to be platoon leaders for their respective rows. Xingbao, Guixiang, and eight other children under six years old all sat in the first row, and they were told that whoever behaved best would be the platoon leader.

After everything was arranged, the eldest brother took out a stack of papers, each with a child's name written on it, and distributed them to everyone so they could familiarize themselves with their names. Amidst the lively chatter in the classroom, the eldest brother's teaching career thus began!

Since there was no timer, and seeing the children getting restless, the eldest brother announced the end of get out of class. During recess, the little girl, as usual, eagerly pulled her friends aside, excitedly recounting her "glorious deeds" of battling the chickens with Xingbao to protect the grapevines. No sooner had she finished speaking than several of the bolder children couldn't contain themselves and rushed to challenge the rooster's authority, only to be chased all over the yard. Luckily, the second brother and Dashan came to their rescue, otherwise they would have certainly been pecked a few times! The older children gathered together, continuing to discuss the contents of their uncle's letter, filled with longing for the outside world.

The second lesson was math. The eldest brother divided the children into two groups: those who could count stayed in the classroom and he personally taught them to recognize numbers; those who couldn't yet go to the yard to learn to count with the second brother.

There were no classes in the afternoon, so Guixiang dragged Xingbao and a few friends out to play. The group chased each other around, and before they knew it, they had reached the original site of the old banyan tree at the village entrance. Looking at the pit filled with yellow earth, where no trace of the old tree remained, a touch of sadness lingered on the children's faces. Just as they turned to walk back, Xingbao suddenly noticed a section of banyan branch stuck in the mud nearby—its leaves, covered in mud, still held a tenacious green. He quietly went over, carefully dug the branch out of the soil, and, when his friends weren't looking, planted it in his little space. Perhaps this way, he could preserve a sliver of life for the old banyan tree.

After dinner, Mother asked my eldest brother, "Yanbang, those little ones need someone to accompany them to the outhouse, and they can't even count. Why did you bring them into the classroom? What were you thinking?"

The eldest brother slowly closed the book in his hand and gently placed it on the table beside him. With a smile, he patiently explained to his mother, "Mother, you see, since the children have already been brought here, we can't let them take them back. That wouldn't be good! Besides, Xingbao and Guixiang are also studying there. I've already spoken with the uncles and elders; let the children try it out first. If they can sit quietly in class, then they can stay and continue learning. Don't worry, it's only for a few days. Children are only interested for a short time; at first, they might just be curious, but after a couple of days, they'll get bored and won't want to come anymore."

After hearing her eldest brother's explanation, Mother seemed a little relieved. She nodded and said, "Hmm, I understand now. But our Guixiang and Xingbao are so clever! They can count to one hundred in just one day!" As she spoke, Mother hugged Guixiang and Xingbao into her arms with a look of satisfaction and affectionately patted their little heads.

At this moment, Guixiang suddenly raised her head, her big eyes blinking as she looked at her mother, and said in a coquettish tone, "Mother, please ask my eldest brother to make me the platoon leader, I did the best job! Xingbao only counted to ninety-nine, and I even helped him count to one hundred. Mother..." As Guixiang spoke, she hugged her mother tightly and shook her repeatedly, as if trying to get her mother to agree to her request in this way.

Sitting to the side, Dad watched this heartwarming scene, his face beaming with happiness. The firelight from the stove reflected on his face, making his smile even brighter. His voice was filled with pride: "Haha, looks like our family is going to have two more bright students!"

While everyone was in high spirits, Xingbao quickly seized the opportunity to speak up, "Mom, look, we're already in school now! So, could you help me sew up the crotch of these pants?" As he spoke, he pointed to his pants.

"Oh my, this is only the first day of class, and you little rascals are already making demands! If you go to school for a few more days, won't you want to pluck the stars from the sky?" Mother hugged Guixiang, a doting smile on her face, and teased Xingbao.

"Mother..." Xingbao drawled out, his tone clearly tinged with grievance. He inwardly groaned; heaven knows how unbearable it was for someone with the soul of a forty-something to still be wearing open-crotch pants!

"Alright, alright, your good mother will sew one for you to try out first." Looking at Xingbao's pitiful appearance, the mother couldn't bear to refuse in the end, so she readily agreed, her face full of loving affection.

"Mother, Mother, what about what I said?" The little maid Guixiang looked up at her mother with hopeful eyes.

The mother looked helplessly at her eldest brother. The eldest brother rubbed his nose and said to Guixiang, "Alright, if you perform well again tomorrow, I'll make you a platoon leader."

"Xingbao, you're not allowed to compete with me!" Guixiang began to suppress this powerful rival.

Xingbao, who was happily thinking about finally getting rid of the open-crotch pants era, was stunned for a moment when he heard his sister's words, but immediately made up his mind: "I'll listen to my sister."