Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

"Dad, is it really that serious?" The second brother walked over from the backyard at this moment and couldn't help but interject when he heard this. "Didn't the army pass through here a while ago? They were all fine. At most, they just had a bowl of herbal tea in the shop and nothing happened."

"What do you know, you brat!" Father's face darkened, his tone becoming serious. "The army has discipline. Even if some soldiers are disobedient, at most they won't pay for their meals or take a few fruits from street stalls for free. But the security forces are different. They're used to running rampant in the countryside and have no regard for rules. If we don't treat them well, or if they see something good, they might just barge in and rob us!"

The eldest brother then came out from the inner room and calmly said, "Dad, I think the village head has already received the news. If the security regiment is going to host a feast in our village, the village head will come to inform us soon and have someone bring over grain and buy vegetables in the village. But I reckon he won't delegate it to anyone else—he'll definitely use this opportunity to ask for more from everyone and embezzle some money for himself. Tomorrow I'll leave school early, and my brothers and I will take Heitan, help Guixiang carry Xueqiu, and then carry the chicken coop to hide in the ravine behind the mountain. We'll come back after they leave."

"Honey, should we tell the villagers so they can prepare?" Mother was still worried and asked again.

Father waved his hand, his tone resolute: "I'll mention it to Father-in-law later. Tomorrow, keep the chickens in their coop and don't let them out. Don't worry about the others. Tomorrow, when Yanbang and the others carry the chicken coop and lead Heitan towards the back mountain, someone will naturally see them. The villagers are shrewd; those who know, know, and those who don't will come to ask. By then, the news of the security regiment's arrival will have already spread, so it won't cause any trouble for Qianjin—he's the messenger, and if people find out he leaked the information, he might be implicated. Tomorrow, still put out tea and sweet potatoes at the door as usual. Make sure you do everything properly, and do everything else as the eldest brother said."

Gui Xiang seemed to understand but not quite, only knowing that she had to hide Xueqiu. She quickly picked up the puppy and headed to her room, saying, "I'll find Xueqiu a cloth bag now so I can take it to the back mountain tomorrow!" Xing Bao, seeing that the family matters had been discussed and there was nothing else to do, eagerly picked up the cloth bag containing the medicinal seed and hurried back to his room. He closed the door behind him and even made sure to bolt it shut.

He took a deep breath, and with a thought, instantly entered the spiritual spring space. The space contained a complete variety of vegetables, though not in large quantities, enough for his family's daily needs. The fruit trees and tea trees had a stable yield, so Xingbao wasn't greedy; enough was enough. Walking to the open space reserved for the medicinal herb planting area, he carefully opened the cloth bag and counted the seeds. He found that Manager Wang wasn't too stingy; except for the fresh three-seven-headed seed, which was a little smaller than he had imagined, he had given five of each type of seed. "Manager Wang isn't too stingy," Xingbao muttered with a smile, an idea forming in his mind: first, he would cultivate a new batch of seeds in the space to expand the planting scale. Once they grew strong, he would transplant a few to the experimental field outside as cover. This way, he wouldn't have to worry about anyone discovering the secret of the space, and he could openly grow medicinal herbs.

Without further ado, Xingbao first cleared a small patch of soft soil in the medicinal herb planting area, separated nearly a hundred seeds by type, and planted them evenly one by one. He then scooped water from the spiritual spring and carefully watered the soil. Through frequent use of the space during this period, Xingbao's mental strength had greatly improved, and he could perform such meticulous planting operations several more times without feeling tired.

After planting the medicinal herb seeds, Xingbao went to the rice observation area—the rice here had already been planted three times: the first harvest yielded similar results to the breeding area; the second yield dropped significantly; the third yield was slightly lower than the second, and the grains were smaller than before. He squatted down, gently parting the rice ears, pondering: how many plantings would it take for the yield to stabilize? And once stabilized, how much higher would it be than the original ordinary rice? How should the experimental fields outside be planted, ensuring both research value and expedited progress, while also providing cover for the rational promotion of stable-yield rice varieties? Time! Rice cultivation requires a gradual process; otherwise, all records will be useless paperwork! What to do?

Xingbao suddenly had a headache. If they planted both types of rice once a year, it would take at least eight to ten years to see results! By then, the Japanese devils would have surrendered! That's it! Expand the experimental field! Once we see results this year, we can plant several batches of rice in his grandfather's field next year, reducing the time by more than half! If we involve more people, not only can we better conceal our activities, but we can also speed things up even further!

Just then, he heard his mother calling him to eat from outside the space. Xingbao quickly mentally exited the space, checked that there were no oversights, and then opened the door and went out.

After lunch, Dad got up and called Xingbao to the kitchen. He brought over a small stool, stood on it, and reached for the cured pork hanging from the beam. It was pork that Grandpa had sent over a while ago, five pieces in total, along with four smoked rabbits and two pheasants—the most prized meat in the house. He carefully took the meat down piece by piece and handed it to Xingbao beside him: "Be careful with these. Put them in your 'place' so no one finds them."

Xingbao nodded, took the cured meat with both hands, his fingertips touching the cool oil. With a thought, he sent the cured meat, smoked rabbit, and smoked chicken into the thatched hut in his space. He breathed a sigh of relief as he watched his meat father disappear. He then hung the remaining two pieces of smoked wolf meat back on the beam. The meat was a bit tough, but it was perfect for making a show of things.

Time flew by, and it was already the next morning. Just as dawn was breaking, Xingbao was awakened by the commotion in the yard. He rubbed his eyes and went out of his room, only to see his eldest brother, second brother, and Ding brother gathered in a corner of the yard, excitedly chatting about something, occasionally making punching motions with their hands, their faces full of excitement.

Xingbao walked over curiously and leaned close to his second brother, asking, "Brother, what are you talking about? You seem so happy that you forgot to eat breakfast?"

The second brother turned around, his eyes shining brightly, and said to Xingbao with a hint of pride, "Xingbao, you didn't need to practice your boxing this morning, so you didn't see what happened just now! When Dad was boxing this morning, his fists were flying and making a sound!"

Xingbao waved his hand dismissively: "What's the big deal? Don't you guys make noise when you're boxing?"

Brother Ding quickly shook his head, explaining urgently, "That's different! The sound of our boxing is the sound of our arms moving through the air, but Dad's sound is like... that's right, like the 'crack' of a whip striking the air, very crisp!"

The second brother chimed in quickly, "That's right! This morning Dad practiced Bajiquan. At first, it was the same as usual, but then he got faster and faster, his fists were flying so fast they were blurry, until the last punch exploded with a loud 'crack' before he stopped! After Dad finished, we rushed over to ask him, and he said he'd stepped into the threshold of martial arts, and his strength and speed would increase even further!" He then looked on with envy and longing, clenching his fist and saying, "If I could be like Dad, I could protect my family!"

Xingbao was momentarily stunned, wondering to himself: Looking at the army's meager equipment, and knowing Dad had been holding back his anger for so long, and then the security corps incident spurred him on, he'd broken through? But then he thought, it made sense. After a month of nourishing the spiritual spring water, everyone in the family had shown noticeable changes—Dad and Mom's wrinkles had lessened, making them look several years younger; his eldest and second eldest brothers were much stronger, had grown taller, and had improved memories; even his second eldest brother, who used to dislike studying, could now concentrate on reading a few pages of a textbook; and even Guixiang hadn't fallen in a long time, and had memorized the introductory verses and formulas in no time! So, it seemed that Dad's breakthrough in boxing under pressure was a natural progression.

Xingbao felt a pang of longing—what boy doesn't dream of being a martial arts master? In his past life, he had watched countless videos about breathing techniques, stances, and even practiced the basic moves of Bajiquan and the slow movements of Tai Chi. But now he was too young; his bones and muscles weren't fully developed yet. If he rashly started practicing, he might injure his bones. Besides, he couldn't even control the heat generated by drinking the spiritual spring water. "I'll wait until I'm six," he thought to himself, trying to be patient. "I can't rush into practicing; it would be terrible if I turned into a monster." Time! Why couldn't he control time? As a child, time seemed to pass too slowly; he wanted to grow up quickly. Now that he was older, time seemed to fly by! Life is a constant struggle against time!