Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

With all ten rice transplanters completed, the heavy burden on the family's hearts was finally lifted, and Xingbao returned to his usual routine. Just as dawn broke, before the sun had even risen over the mountains and the summer heat had begun, he went with his older brothers and the other villagers who had helped out to check on the crops in the fields.

The potatoes in the breeding base are growing well, with vines climbing densely and leaves thick and green. Although the brothers have been busy making rice transplanters these days and haven't had time to tend to the fields, there isn't a single weed or pest in sight. It's clear that the brothers take good care of the potatoes and haven't been negligent at all.

The rice paddies at my grandfather's house and the experimental fields were planted on the same day. Now the seedlings are in the mid-stage of tillering, and the water level in the fields is maintained at about three centimeters, strictly following the water control methods Xingbao had taught him. Xingbao also learned from his friends that this batch of machine-transplanted rice seedlings turned green two days later than traditionally hand-transplanted seedlings. However, after the seedlings turned green, everyone applied tillering fertilizer in time, using compost accumulated at the breeding base, and their growth was just as good.

Xingbao was secretly pleased. Now, his partners not only knew how to cultivate the land according to the methods, but also learned to observe crop growth and make planting comparisons, laying the foundation for becoming agricultural technicians. However, when the topic of composting came up, his partners mentioned a troubling issue: one of the compost pits at the base was empty, and the excrement from the public toilet was being taken away by adults from various families for composting, leading to an argument. In the end, the adults with children who had joined the base banded together, pushing aside the others, and finally managed to divide the excrement from the public toilet equally.

Xingbao didn't dwell on it too much, but he felt he had to remind his elder brother that in the future, they should prioritize ensuring the supply of compost to the breeding base to meet the needs of the crops. Only after that could the surplus be distributed to the villagers. This way, they could avoid disputes and ensure that the breeding at the base would not be affected.

Seeing that his companions were already proficient in using the methods he had taught them to cultivate the land, Xingbao felt a great sense of relief. He had taught everyone most of his agricultural knowledge, and his main task from now on was to gradually and rationally utilize the high-quality seeds cultivated in the spiritual spring space to improve the planting conditions at home and in the village.

Back at the shop, there were no new orders after the rice transplanter was finished. After several busy days, Xingbao had just regained the busy and fulfilling feeling he had when he was working in his previous life, and suddenly having nothing to do felt a little strange. He sat by the counter, silently reviewing the details of this job, and after thinking it over, he realized that he had forgotten about the straw for packing the rice.

Last year's old straw had been accumulating for over half a year, covered in dust and smelling foul; this year's newly harvested straw was only about twenty days old, and there were concerns that it wasn't completely dry and would easily become damp and moldy after being packed. Whichever option was chosen, preparations had to be made early. Dad and Uncle might think a little dust was insignificant, but these rice transplanters were a gift for a distinguished person, who was very particular about cleanliness, and this small detail couldn't be allowed to ruin the impression. His past experience in the workplace told him that doing the details well didn't guarantee praise, but doing them poorly would certainly lead to criticism; he couldn't let this small matter diminish the value of all the hard work he'd put in these past few days.

Thinking of this, Xingbao quickly got up to find his father, reminding him urgently, "Dad, we haven't prepared the straw for packing the boxes yet! We need to find dry, dust-free new straw. We don't want anyone to smell a dusty odor as soon as they open the boxes, which would spoil the important person's mood."

Dad slapped his thigh, suddenly realizing, "Xingbao, if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have completely forgotten about it! Come on, let's go to your maternal grandfather's house now and see if we can find any suitable straws."

The father and son, along with their two older brothers, rushed to their maternal grandfather's house. After searching for a while, they were stumped: no matter how much they beat the old straw from last year, the dusty smell wouldn't dissipate unless they washed and dried it, which was too time-consuming; the new straw from this year had been harvested earlier, and the core was still a bit damp. Finally, the eldest brother came up with a solution: cut off the coarse, hard roots of this year's new straw, leaving only the tender, dry parts, and then dry it in the sun for three days, and it would be completely dry and wouldn't have any dusty smell anymore.

Everyone agreed that this method was feasible, and they immediately got to work, pulling out the outermost, completely dried straw and cutting off the thick roots. Since Grandpa's family didn't have enough dried straw, they borrowed some from the neighbors. After all, it was only for filling ten wooden boxes, so the required amount was small, and they quickly gathered enough. Everyone spread the prepared straw out on the threshing floor to dry fully in the sun.

The weather was perfect; the next few days were sunny and scorching hot. Before we knew it, it was the afternoon of the fourth day after the rice transplanter was coated with oil. The tung oil had completely dried, leaving a glossy, smooth, and non-sticky finish. Dad, along with my two older brothers, began wrapping the rice transplanter in cloth and packing it into a box.

This time, the cloth didn't need to be wrapped as tightly or thickly as during the trial assembly. Just wrap it securely to protect the machinery. After all, the box would be filled with a lot of dry straw to effectively cushion the impact and prevent damage to the machinery. Xingbao didn't ask how much coarse cloth was left over. According to his method, he only used about half of the requested cloth. The remaining cloth was enough to make quite a few new clothes for the family.

He deliberately stayed in the main room, keeping Gui Xiang entertained Xiao Weibao or playing the flute with her, preventing her from going to the backyard. The fewer people who knew about this, the better, to avoid letting it slip, making outsiders envious, and causing trouble.

By evening, everything was ready. The eldest brother went to the village head's house to deliver a message and made an appointment with the village head to go to the township together early the next morning to deliver the ten completed rice transplanters.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Father saw off the guests who had stayed overnight at the inn, and immediately got to work with his two older brothers. The three of them worked together to lift the ten wooden boxes containing the rice transplanters onto the four-wheeled cart one by one, arranged them neatly, and then tied them tightly with thick hemp rope to ensure that they would not shift or bump on the bumpy road.

This four-wheeled cart was custom-made to fit the length of the wooden crate. The body was 1.2 meters wide, and with the wooden wheels on both sides, the overall width reached 1.4 meters, which was wider than ordinary carts in the countryside. Fortunately, the Song family's backyard was originally used for parking vehicles and keeping livestock, so the side gate was made exceptionally spacious. Even so, the excess parts at both ends of the axle had to be sawed off so that the cart could barely squeeze through the gate frame and squeeze out of the backyard.

When pushing the cart out onto the road, the whole family pitched in, each with their own task. Xingbao led the way, holding onto the little black charcoal, firmly controlling the direction of the cart; Dad and his two older brothers pushed hard from behind, keeping the cart balanced; Mom held little Weibao and Guixiang on either side of the door frame, carefully watching the distance between them, loudly directing their movements, afraid that the cart would scrape against the door frame or damage the wooden box. After adjusting it several times, and with tremendous effort, they finally managed to push the cart safely out the side door and park it steadily in front of the bamboo house.

The group wiped their sweat, exchanged wry smiles, and realized that they had only focused on fitting the wooden crates to their dimensions and length when building the truck, completely forgetting about the width of the side doors, which almost caused a blunder. If they had discovered this problem before loading the truck, they could have simply lifted the empty truck out and loaded the crates, avoiding this ordeal.