Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

The next morning, the rooster, which usually crowed on time, was silent, so Xingbao woke up a little late. When he hurriedly got up, he found that his fellow students had already set off. Seeing his distress, his mother quickly comforted him, "Don't worry, your father has arranged everything. He'll have your fellow students walk to Yongfeng Town first, and then call a cart to take them to Changsha to meet up with the students there. Your father was still worried, so under the pretext of going to Yongfeng to buy goods, he personally escorted them to Yongfeng Town with a wheelbarrow and even brought a gun."

Hearing his mother say that, Xingbao finally felt relieved. The morning classes proceeded as usual. His eldest brother was teaching the students in the small classroom, and Xingbao, his second brother, and Guixiang were also listening to the lessons. The classroom was quiet and attentive.

In the afternoon, the older children at the breeding base, carrying baskets and bamboo rakes, went into the mountains in a large group to collect leaves—these leaves, once dried and burned into ash, would be excellent fertilizer for cultivating cabbages. Several of the more nimble children had already gone into the mountains that morning, collecting not only leaves but also a considerable amount of fresh mushrooms, and were now proudly showing off their harvest to their companions. However, having learned from their experience digging in the river mud, none of the younger children were taken along this time, not even Xingbao and Guixiang.

Since they couldn't go into the mountains, Xingbao didn't stay idle. He turned around and led a group of little ones around his age, carrying small hoes and winnowing baskets, to the open space next to the breeding field. The leaves they had collected that morning were piled up by the roadside. Since there were few pedestrians around, Xingbao temporarily occupied a small section of the road and directed everyone to get busy: first, spread the leaves quite thickly, then evenly cover them with a thin layer of soil; then, spread a second layer of leaves on the soil, and then a second layer of soil, piling up layer after layer of leaves and soil, just waiting for the older brothers who had gone into the mountains to return and pile up the leaves they had collected, so they could light a fire and burn them to ashes.

A group of little ones were full of energy, following Xingbao around busily. Although their movements were clumsy and they would occasionally spill dirt on their companions, no one complained. Instead, they were having a great time. Before they knew it, it was evening, and the prototype of a "pyramid" made of alternating layers of dirt and leaves had taken shape. It looked both neat and novel.

Fugui circled the "pyramid" twice, looking puzzled, and asked, "Xingbao, why go through all this trouble to burn leaves? Why not just pile them up and set them on fire?"

Upon hearing this, Xingbao immediately showed a terrified expression, staring at Fugui and saying, "Brother Fugui, do you know how big a fire will start if we just pile it up and burn it? We're all just kids, we can't control such a big fire at all. There's dry grass all along the roadside, and there's a forest on the other side. If the fire spreads, the whole mountain will be on fire. Not only will we all get beaten by our uncles, but the village elders might think we're unreliable and take this land back!"

Seeing Xingbao's exaggerated yet serious expression, Fugui scratched his head sheepishly and retreated to the side with a silly grin. The other little ones also obediently shut their mouths, and no one dared to say "burn it directly" anymore, probably all imagining the terrifying scene of flames soaring into the sky.

Just then, the older children who had gone into the mountains to collect leaves returned. Besides leaves, each of them had also brought some mushrooms. Together, they piled all the leaves from their baskets onto the "pyramid" and covered it with soil. A few of the older boys took matches and lit a ring of fire around the base of the "pyramid." The others quickly stepped back, watching the fire slowly ignite. This method of alternating stacking worked perfectly. Whenever the fire grew too large, the thin layer of soil on top would collapse and extinguish the flames, then ignite the leaves on top, preventing the fire from getting out of control while ensuring the leaves burned thoroughly.

Before long, the "pyramid" collapsed from the heat, billowing black smoke. Several older boys quickly grabbed long sticks and went over, occasionally poking at the pile of earth to let the uncooked leaves re-ignite. Just then, Dad returned from Yongfeng Town pushing his wheelbarrow, and Xingbao, Guixiang, and their second and eldest brothers rushed over. Dad glanced at the scene of burning ashes, only giving a few words of advice, "Be careful, don't get too close," before going home.

Everyone stood guard until it was completely dark and the leaves had mostly burned. Then they all went forward, gathered the still-warm embers of the wood ash into a pile, and covered it with a thin layer of soil. To help plant the cabbages as soon as possible, the eldest brother stepped forward and instructed the children gathered around, "Those who are free tomorrow morning, come and mix this wood ash into the seedbed. Use the still-wet river mud to cool the ash and prevent it from burning the seeds during planting." After giving these instructions, he and the others packed up their tools and the mushrooms they had picked that afternoon, and then went home in groups.

Three more days passed, and the river mud in the breeding field had almost dried up. The children participating in the breeding base gathered together again. The eldest brother stood on the rock by the small banyan tree as usual and announced loudly, "Today we have two tasks: first, to measure and divide the land; second, to lightly till the land again, breaking up and mixing the river mud mixed with wood ash and new soil. Tomorrow we can officially plant the cabbages!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the children got busy with their older brother and Xingbao. As the surveying work progressed, the plot's layout gradually became clear: the eastern corner was reserved specifically for fertilizer production; the western corner was preserved to provide ample growing space for the small banyan tree and also as a gathering place for everyone; a narrow path was specially left along the stone embankment for easy passage and watering; the remaining area was divided into six small plots of land, each about one-tenth of an acre in size, with drainage ditches dug in the middle to separate them, which facilitated drainage and prevented the plots from affecting each other.

After the plots were divided, the division of labor was also finalized. Although more than a hundred children signed up to participate, only about half of them were over ten years old and could actually do physical labor. Considering that there were classes in the morning, the eldest brother divided the children who could work into six groups, each with a few younger children. Each group was further divided into morning and afternoon shifts, so that they could take turns working in the fields, which would not interfere with their studies or affect the progress of the farm work.

The eldest brother also emphasized: "Heavy and crucial tasks such as digging, planting, making fertilizer, applying fertilizer, and harvesting need to be completed by everyone working together; as for light tasks such as recording the growth of the plots, daily watering, weeding, and pest control, we can arrange for people to take turns to be responsible for them."

With the land plots divided and the personnel assigned specific tasks, the breeding base in Jinxianpu has officially gotten on track.