Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

For the next ten days or so, everyone worked methodically: repairing the remaining walls and roof of the outhouse, digging a compost pit, and building a rain shelter around the outhouse. Without the help of the adults, progress was much slower. The walls of the outhouse alone had to be dismantled and rebuilt because the rattan weaving at the joints wasn't tight enough. Fortunately, the children were very persistent, adjusting little by little, and thankfully, nothing too serious went wrong.

The outhouse was successfully put into use on the fifth day, and it was even specially divided into men's and women's sections. Xingbao specially wrote the words "male" and "female" on the wooden signs at the two entrances respectively, and also drew simple sketches of a girl with braids and a boy with short hair from memory, so that the illiterate little one could distinguish them. The bluish-gray rammed earth floor covered with tile dust, although not as smooth and even as the cement floors of later generations, was already the most decent ground in the village, much better than the mud floors of other households.

This novel and clean outhouse attracted many children from the village to secretly come and use it. Seeing this, the eldest brother specially arranged for the children on duty each day to prepare split, soft yellow sticks in advance and place them in the outhouse for easy cleaning after everyone used it.

However, to Xingbao's slight regret, his suggestion to modify the paved area was not approved. Nevertheless, to his relief, his parents didn't completely reject the idea, but said they would discuss it again after his mother gave birth and when household chores lessened. This gave Xingbao a glimmer of hope, and he temporarily put the matter aside, dedicating himself fully to managing the breeding base with everyone and carefully tending to the experimental field.

In his spare time, Xingbao would often quietly enter the space to tend to the crops. At this moment, the rice in the space's observation area had already been planted six times, and without exception, all of them had collapsed. The second crop of rice in the inspection area was almost ready for harvest, and the situation was slightly better, but only a few plants had not collapsed! Xingbao pondered that perhaps the seeds from the third crop in the inspection area could be taken outside for trial planting—after all, the environment outside was not as good as in the space, the rice could only obtain limited nutrients, and the rice ears would not grow as heavy, so the probability of them collapsing should be much lower.

The sweet potatoes and potatoes in the breeding area were also planted six times. Each plant could produce six or seven large ones, which were four or five times the size of the original ones. Xingbao estimated that this was probably their current growth limit. He just didn't know how many more times they would need to be cultivated to break this limit.

The fruit trees in the space had blossomed again. Looking at the few remaining fruits in the thatched hut, Xingbao had no choice but to grit his teeth and start hand-pollinating them once more. Although this work could train his mental strength, it was a meticulous task requiring long periods of concentration, tedious and mentally taxing. He secretly hoped that he could buy bees next spring, which would save him a lot of trouble. The vegetables in the space were only enough for his family. Although there had been many guests lately, the output from the two vegetable plots was clearly insufficient to meet the demand. His father had to buy from his maternal grandfather or a few familiar families to supplement their supplies. The items in the space couldn't be easily given away to others.

The medicinal herbs in the herb field were also harvested once, and were planted again in two batches: one batch was only watered with well water from outside, intended for sale or use by others; the other batch was watered with spiritual spring water, to be kept for him to use in the future when he had mastered medicine, to formulate special medicines. Just like the white medicine he hastily made for his uncle last time, he knew that Panax notoginseng could treat internal injuries, but he did not understand how potent Panax notoginseng watered with spiritual spring water would be, so he dared not make it for internal use, and could only make it for external use as a wound medicine.

Space was limited in the thatched hut, but the yields of sweet potatoes and potatoes were so high, plus two seasons of rice. Each harvest from each crop and each plot of land had to be stored separately, taking up a lot of space. Xingbao could only keep a small amount for seeds, and the rest would be gradually used for his family. Looking at the thatched hut, which was already more than half full, he thought to himself that he needed to build some shelves inside the hut and have his mother make some small bags to pack the harvested crops and label them. Otherwise, over time, crops from different batches and plots would definitely get mixed up.

In the experimental field in front of the gate, the rice has already begun to fill out. The heavy ears of rice bend the stalks, and judging from the situation, they may collapse at any moment. This scene has already been noticed by the villagers. Every now and then, someone will gather at the edge of the field, pick up a rice ear to examine it closely, count the grains on the ear and marvel at the considerable yield, while shaking their head in regret, saying that the rice variety was not well selected and it is a pity that it is so easy to collapse!

Autumn is the harvest season. These days, villagers from both the north and south, living in the mountains, carry loads full of fruits and mountain goods, making their way to Yongfeng Town or Yaodu Town to sell them along the still-unfinished roads. Although the roads aren't fully repaired, the section leading to Yaodu Town is already passable by handcarts, making travel much easier. More merchants from Changsha, the provincial capital, and Xiangyang County are also coming to Yaodu Town to buy medicinal herbs, making the shops incredibly busy.

The eldest and second eldest brothers simply moved into the completed two-story bamboo house (it had walls and partitions, so it was no longer a bamboo hut), and the empty rooms were used as guest rooms. During the day, apart from teaching the children, the eldest and second eldest brothers spent all their time at the counter of the shop and the bamboo house, keeping accounts, greeting guests, and tidying up tables and chairs. They were so busy that they barely had time to drink water.

Xingbao and Guixiang, however, hadn't been really interested in working these past few days. They often sat at their doorsteps, books in hand, lost in thought. With the completion of the fertilized pond, the village's boys had more free time. They would go up the mountain in groups to pick wild fruits and dig for wild vegetables, or go down to the river to catch crabs, soft-shelled turtles, and loaches. Every time these children took turns on duty at the breeding base, they would chatter and boast—about which mountain had the sweetest wild fruits, who had caught a soft-shelled turtle the size of a palm, and who had accidentally gotten their finger pinched by a crab, making a ruckus.

Hearing these lively conversations, Xingbao and Guixiang were already restless and filled with envy. But when they turned around and saw their mother slowly walking towards them, supporting her back, her belly growing bigger every day, her body becoming heavier and heavier, requiring extra care even to walk, she couldn't do without someone to look after her; their older brothers were busy with work in the fields and at home, never having a moment to spare to take them out to play. The two exchanged a glance and could only quietly suppress their little desires, obediently staying at home, occasionally helping their mother with light chores like picking vegetables and sweeping the floor, or going together to the seed breeding base at the edge of the village to squat on the ridge and carefully observe the growth of the seedlings. Such days inevitably became somewhat dull.