Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

The matter of the breeding land was settled. After the villagers gradually dispersed, a few village elders pulled the siblings aside for a few more words of advice. Guixiang, eager to show off to her great-uncle, ran to him with Snowball in her arms before the elders could finish speaking, looking up at him with her little face and saying, "Grandpa, thank you for giving us Snowball! It's so well-behaved, look!" As she spoke, she gently grasped Snowball's front paws and, imitating her brothers' earlier gestures, shook her paws at her great-uncle as if bowing.

Seeing that Gui Xiang was about to continue her antics, her mother helplessly stepped forward and pulled her away: "Stop fooling around, Gui Xiang. Your great-uncle has important matters to discuss with your brothers."

Uncle was amused by Guixiang and laughed heartily. He reached out and patted her head before turning to Xingbao and his brothers and asking, "Have you brothers figured out what to do with that piece of land by the river bend? If you need any help, just let us know."

At this moment, Xingbao stepped forward and said earnestly, "Grandpa, we've already thought about this. That plot of land has too many stones and a thin soil layer. If we want to grow potatoes well, we need to clear the soil layer deeper. I'm thinking of organizing everyone to clear away all the stones and dig a two-foot-deep layer of soil so that it can retain water and fertilizer. After clearing and leveling, we'll set aside a neat five-tenths of an acre for concentrated cultivation of improved varieties, making it easier to calculate yields later. The remaining land can be used partly for composting to solve the fertilizer problem, and the other part can be kept as small breeding plots to try different planting methods or other crops. Grandpa, do you think this idea is feasible?"

"Good lad!" Uncle patted Xingbao on the shoulder approvingly. "You actually thought of digging a two-foot-deep layer of soil! That's a huge project! You've probably already got the adults' help, haven't you? Maybe you even want them to lend a hand with building the stone embankment! But you've thought things through very well, considering fertilizer and water. The bend in the river is closer to the riverbank, making irrigation convenient. We don't have much to add, just do your best with this plan, the whole village supports you!"

After seeing off the village elders, Xingbao and his siblings couldn't wait to go and check out the plot of land by the river. Their father, grandfather, and uncle, worried about them, also went along to check. As soon as they reached the vicinity of the river bend, they noticed a group of energetic young men following behind them. Many of them were carrying their own small hoes, clearly having heard about the plan to cultivate the seedbed and had come to help.

The siblings exchanged glances, all seeing the smiles in each other's eyes. The eldest brother turned to Xingbao and said, "Since everyone's here, why don't we take this opportunity to get started?" Xingbao nodded, ran a few steps to a large, protruding rock, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Brothers and sisters, this land is ours from now on! Our goal is to make the crops grow better and more abundantly than the adults', so they'll fight over our seeds and prove we're better than the adults!" Seeing everyone's excitement, Xingbao pressed on, "Now that everyone's here, let's start by clearing away the pebbles! I'll divide the work among you. The stronger brothers will carry the larger stones to the riverside and pile them up, while the weaker brothers and sisters will collect the smaller stones and pile them along the roadside. The eldest and second eldest brothers will direct everyone, making sure no one crowds together and delays the work, and paying special attention to safety. Does everyone understand?"

"Xingbao, how deep should we dig this soil?" Xingbao had barely finished speaking when he heard Brother Hu leading Xiaohua over and asking.

Seeing that it was Brother Tiger who spoke up, Xingbao happily replied, "Brother Tiger, we don't grow rice on this land. Two feet deep is enough! If it's too shallow, it won't retain water and fertilizer, and the crops won't grow well; if it's too deep, we don't have that much strength, and there's no need to go to that much trouble. Enough is fine."

After Xingbao finished speaking, his two older brothers gathered the older children together to discuss the division of labor and leadership. They planned to divide the children into several smaller teams to make the work more organized. Xingbao then turned around and carefully examined the plot of land around the river bend: the eastern part, near the mountainside, occupied about a quarter of the entire plot. The surface only had some fallen pebbles; there shouldn't be any large rocks underneath, but it was all raw soil. It seemed that the topsoil dug from the mountain was buried at the bottom. Except for a small area near the roadbed, the rest of the land was only covered with a thin layer of soil.

After assessing the situation, Xingbao had an idea: first, lay the foundation for the stone embankment at the bottom of the river, build the embankment with large stones, and then dig out the soil and rocks two feet deep in the plot to fill the embankment. He glanced up and saw that not far away, the villagers were still using the method of heating with fire and pouring water to clear the mountain, with a lot of soil dug down from the mountain that hadn't been transported away yet. He thought to himself: this soil is perfect for filling the embankment, saving a lot of trouble.

Having made up his mind, Xingbao headed towards the place where the mountain was being cleared. Before he even got close, he heard a familiar shout from above: "Xingbao, get away! Get away!"

Hearing the voice, Xingbao didn't have time to think. He turned and ran back, stopping only when he reached the other side of the road. He looked up at the mountain. He saw that it was Uncle Wang from across the street from his grandfather's house. He and two other uncles, secured with new safety ropes, were hanging from the cliff, using crowbars to pry open a loose boulder. After a few attempts, the boulder tumbled down with a loud rumble, sending debris flying, before finally crashing heavily to the ground with a loud thud, kicking up a cloud of dust!

Although the falling rocks didn't hit the mound, the dust they kicked up still covered it. Xingbao secretly rejoiced: thank goodness he ran fast; if he had stayed there, he would have been covered in dust. Watching Uncle Wang and the other two climb up with such ease, he couldn't help but admire them: they'd really mastered the art of using safety ropes! The working people are never short of wisdom, they just lack a good idea!

Not long after, Uncle Wang and the others came down from the mountain and walked up to Xingbao. They asked, "Xingbao, what are you doing here? It's too dangerous here; it's not a place for children to play." Then, pointing towards the river bend, they asked curiously, "By the way, what's going on over there? Why are so many children running around doing that?"

Xingbao quickly explained, "Uncle Wang, the village elders decided to give us that plot of land by the river to use as a breeding ground. Everyone is helping to clear the stones from the land now." He then pointed to the mound of earth in front of him and asked cautiously, "Uncle, can we take this pile of soil with us?"

Uncle Wang looked in the direction Xingbao pointed and saw two of his own children among the group of children. He didn't react for a moment and casually replied, "We haven't found a place to dump this soil yet. We'll haul it away once we find one."

Xingbao's eyes lit up and he quickly said, "Uncle, could you please tell the foreman for me that we can have this soil? You don't need to go through the trouble of hauling it. We'll come and take it away ourselves in a few days once the land is prepared."

Only then did Uncle Wang come to his senses and ask with great interest, "Xingbao, tell me, how did you manage to get so many kids from the village to come and help you with the work?"

Xingbao then remembered that Uncle Wang and the others had been busy repairing the road and probably didn't know about the potatoes and the seedbed. So he recounted in detail the series of events: the amazing yield when the potatoes were harvested, the villagers scrambling for seeds, the village elders deciding to designate the seedbed, and now organizing everyone to clear the land. After finishing, he reminded Uncle Wang, "Uncle, what about the soil…?"

The two uncles with Uncle Wang were also from the same village, but they lived a bit far from Xingbao's house. Xingbao only recognized their faces but couldn't recall their names. One of the uncles, after hearing Xingbao's story, smiled and said, "You must be Xingbao from Dawei's family, right? I'm your mother's cousin. This soil is fine; we'll talk to the foreman later. If this isn't enough, there's a whole pile over there. You don't need to come and haul it; we'll take it over for you once you've finished preparing the land. I didn't expect you brothers to get such a big job without making a sound. Don't worry, we won't tell the foreman about the potatoes."

"Thank you, uncles! I'll leave this to you. I'll go tell my brother and the others first!" Xingbao quickly thanked them, then turned and ran back to the river bend plot to discuss the earthen mound and the embankment with his brother.