Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

Xingbao jogged back to the river bend plot and saw his two older brothers pushing a millstone-sized rock towards the riverbank. Their faces were flushed, and beads of sweat streamed down their cheeks. The rock made a dull thud as it rubbed against the ground. His father, grandfather, and Uncle Youcai, Uncle Deng, Uncle Long, and others who had arrived later were already down to the riverbed, their trousers rolled up, hoes in hand, and beginning to dig the foundation for the stone embankment. The crisp sound of hoes digging into the soil and striking the rocks echoed from the riverbed from time to time.

After his older brothers carefully rolled the large rock to the riverbank and piled it up, Xingbao quickly ran over and called them aside: "Big brother, second brother, I just went to ask around the mountain area, and Uncle Wang and the others agreed to give us the soil they dug down from the mountain. They'll even help us haul it over once we've cleared the land!" Then, he explained his plan: "I'm thinking of gathering everyone to clear the rubble in the eastern part of the field first. There's a lot of rubble there, but no large stones, so it'll be easier to clear. Then, I'll leave a few of the older brothers here to turn over the larger stones and organize them for later when we build the stone embankment. This division of labor will be quick and won't delay things."

After listening, the eldest and second eldest brothers exchanged a glance and nodded. The second eldest brother wiped the sweat from his face and said readily, "That's a good idea! There are a lot of rubble on the east side. Clearing it out first will free up space, and it will be easier to transport soil later." The eldest brother also chimed in, "Let's do it your way. I'll go and rearrange the manpower right away."

The two immediately gathered the children who were helping and explained the new division of labor. The children all responded enthusiastically. Xingbao wasn't idle either; he joined in picking up pebbles, bending over and working alongside a group of friends in the field to the east. Before long, many more adults and children from the village, having heard the news, came with their tools to help, making the already bustling field even more lively. Sister Shanshan, her aunt, and Aunt Deng also arrived with water jugs and rough porcelain bowls, setting up a temporary tea stall by the roadside and loudly calling out, "Everyone, take a break, have some water, and then continue working!"

Many hands make light work! With everyone working together, the stone embankment at the bottom of the river was built solidly and completely filled in just three days. Not only that, they also built a path leading directly to the riverbed, making watering and fetching much more convenient. In the past few days, Uncle Wang and his team have also brought in many large stones from the mountain area to make the embankment even stronger. With these heavy and tiring tasks finished, the lighter work of clearing away the rubble and leveling the land was left to the children participating in the experimental field.

The eldest brother temporarily divided the children into two groups: in the morning, a few of the older children would lead the work, while in the afternoon, he, Xingbao, and the second brother and his siblings would personally lead them. Considering that they were all children, the eldest brother specially relaxed the requirements, allowing them to go home and rest whenever they felt tired after working for an hour, without having to push themselves too hard.

Xingbao hadn't been idle these past few days, spending every spare moment cultivating cabbage seeds in his spatial dimension. He knew perfectly well that the experimental field couldn't be left empty. The potato seeds wouldn't be planted until next spring, so planting a crop of cabbage now would not only keep everyone enthusiastic but also bring tangible benefits. The only problem was the fertilizer, but Xingbao quickly came up with a solution—the river mud piled up on the embankment was very fertile. Once the gravel in the field was cleared away, he would organize everyone to dig up the river mud, mix it with some burnt wood ash, and spread it on the ground; that would be enough to grow cabbage.

Today was the day to artificially pollinate the rice in Grandpa's field. After finishing one class in the morning, my eldest brother, second brother, and Dashan brother got together, each carrying two sticks they had prepared beforehand, and led the class to Grandpa's field. Grandpa and my uncle were already sitting in the kitchen waiting for them. As soon as they saw them arrive, they immediately got up to join them, and the group went to the field in a lively atmosphere.

Because they had been notified in advance, the children in the breeding field saw Xingbao and the others leaving and all rushed over; many adults in the village heard that they were going to artificially pollinate the rice and found it novel, so they also came to watch the excitement, and even Wang Jiachang came along with his water pipe.

The group arrived at the edge of the field. The eldest brother found a large, protruding rock, stood on it, cleared his throat, and announced loudly, "Uncles, brothers, and sisters, what we're going to do for the rice seedlings today is called artificial pollination. You might be unfamiliar with what artificial pollination is, but if I say 'flower tapping,' you'll definitely understand! Remember when you grew pumpkins? You've probably seen them bloom profusely but not produce any pumpkins. At that time, you'd pick a male flower and gently tap it a few times on the female flower, and in a few days, small pumpkins would appear. That's artificial pollination!"

He paused, then pointed to the rice stalks in the field: "Even pumpkin flowers, which are so big, might not be able to pollinate, let alone rice flowers, which are so small! If rice flowers aren't pollinated, they'll grow empty husks. Today, we're 'harvesting the flowers' to reduce the number of empty husks and encourage the rice to produce more plump grains, thereby increasing the yield!"

After the eldest brother's easy-to-understand explanation, the adults present nodded repeatedly, finding his words quite reasonable. Previously, they only knew that pricking the flowers of pumpkins would make them bear fruit, but they didn't understand the underlying reasons. Now, after hearing the eldest brother's explanation, they all understood. Everyone was eager to try it themselves, thinking about going to their own fields later, even if they missed the optimal time for pricking the flowers, it would be good to practice and familiarize themselves with the method! Grandpa and Uncle were also caught up in the excitement, quickly finding two sticks, rolling up their trousers, and going into the field to join the pricking team.

Xingbao stood on the ridge of the field, watching the figures moving back and forth, busily harvesting rice seedlings. A thought suddenly popped into his mind: If only there were smooth ropes! Then two people could each pull one end, dragging the rope directly along the ridge, without having to go into the field, which would be convenient, time-saving, and labor-saving. But then he thought again, the village only had rough hemp ropes. If he used hemp ropes, he might break the rice leaves and damage the seedlings, and then no one would want to harvest the seedlings anymore! Thinking of this, he had to suppress the thought for the time being. In the hearts of the villagers, as long as the fields could yield more grain, a little effort was nothing.

Two days have passed since Xingbao and his siblings removed the potato flowers from Grandpa's field. The reasons my older brother explained for removing the flowers were clear and reasonable, and given the excellent potato harvest in our experimental field, the villagers no longer thought Xingbao and his siblings were wasting their time; instead, they started learning from them. Whenever Xingbao and his family were busy in the experimental field, people would always come over to ask questions, inquiring about potato planting and flower removal methods. This genuine trust laid a solid foundation for Xingbao to promote good seeds and new planting methods in the future.