Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

That morning, just as dawn was breaking, Xingbao and Guixiang went to check on the experimental field near the gate as usual. They were stunned as soon as they stepped outside—all the rice plants in the field had fallen to the ground, leaning precariously, their leaves still glistening with dew, a truly jarring sight. Guixiang rushed over anxiously, tenderly trying to prop up a seedling, but it toppled over as soon as she let go, unable to stand upright. Frustrated, she shouted, "Xingbao, quickly go find some sticks to tie them up!"

Xingbao wanted to say it wouldn't matter if they fell over, but seeing Guixiang's anxious and distressed expression, he swallowed his words. Anyway, it was only a few dozen plants, so tying them up wouldn't take much time. As long as his sister was happy!

When Xingbao brought out a bundle of firewood, his older brothers followed to help straighten and tie up the rice seedlings. Xingbao squatted down and moved some of the fallen rice stalks. The busy farming season was approaching, and the early-maturing rice would soon be harvested. There were fewer pedestrians on the road than usual recently, as everyone was busy preparing for the harvest. He had a little free time and could start looking for new rice seeds. With an idea in mind, he turned and headed home. He found his father and said earnestly, "Dad, you see, the rice in the experimental field has fallen over. Everyone says the rice seeds I found before weren't very good. I want to go to the nearby fields and find some new rice seeds to try cultivating again."

Dad was organizing accounts behind the counter. Hearing Xingbao's words, he put down what he was doing, pulled him to sit on the stool next to him, and asked with a gentle smile, "Oh? It's good that you have this idea. Tell Dad, what kind of rice seeds are you looking for?"

Xingbao sat up straight, his eyes resolute, and said, "Dad, as you know, the rice I cultivated before did have a high yield, that's for sure, but it couldn't withstand wind and rain and was prone to lodging. This time, I want to specifically find a type of rice that doesn't lodging easily and cultivate it again; I'm sure it will succeed."

Upon hearing this, Dad nodded, looking at Xingbao approvingly: "So you have a clear direction now? Since you've decided to look for lodging-resistant rice, do you have a specific idea of ​​what kind of rice you're looking for?"

Xingbao immediately chimed in, sharing his thoughts: "I'm looking for rice with thick, sturdy roots and stems, and the plants don't need to be too tall; shorter plants are less likely to be blown over by the wind. Also, it would be best if they had many branches, so that the yield in the later stages can be guaranteed. That's the kind of rice I'm looking for."

"Yes, first look for the ones that aren't fallen, then look for the ones with more branches. Your thinking is clear, as long as you have a goal." Dad responded with satisfaction, then added, "I'm just worried that you won't have a clear direction and will wander around aimlessly in other people's fields like headless flies, causing annoyance. You siblings have really been bored at home lately. Since there's something important to do, go together, so you can look after each other."

At lunchtime, when school let out, the older brother specifically mentioned to his classmates that he was going to the fields to find rice seeds that afternoon. He also told everyone that if they had time, they could come and help. He also asked his classmates to pass on a message to the other brothers at the breeding base, asking them to come and lend a hand as well.

After lunch, the four siblings said goodbye to their parents and went out to search for rice seeds in the paddy fields. As soon as they arrived, they saw dozens of people already gathered. The eldest brother walked straight to a rock and addressed the crowd loudly, "Thank you all for coming to help us find rice seeds! Most of you have probably seen the rice paddies in front of our house. Although they have high yields, they are prone to lodging. So our goal this time is to find seedlings that are less likely to lodging, specifically those with thick roots and short stature. Ideally, they should have many branches." Seeing everyone nod in agreement, he continued, "You can split into groups of a few to search. Don't pull out the seedlings that meet the criteria yet; wait for us to come back and confirm before making any decisions. Also, a reminder: children who are too young or not even as tall as the seedlings shouldn't go into the fields; be careful not to slip and fall into the ditch or river."

Over the next few days, groups of children could be seen carefully searching for rice seeds throughout the fields, and some adults also joined in. After a search, they found a few seedlings that barely met the requirements, but Xingbao was not very satisfied with them and only kept them for the time being, continuing his search.

However, this search for rice seeds brought Xingbao an unexpected reward: it turned out that rice seedlings had a high chance of mutating under specific environmental conditions. For example, he had once found a slightly better-growing rice seedling in a cold, waterlogged field with a water inlet—the surrounding seedlings were either short and had few tillers, or they didn't tiller at all, their ears of grain were sparse, and their growth rate was much slower than the seedlings further away. Only this one stood out from the crowd, seemingly completely unaffected by the cold, waterlogged environment. Although this unique seedling wasn't the superior variety with lodging resistance that Xingbao was desperately seeking, he still didn't hesitate to negotiate with the landowner, carefully dug it up, and secretly planted it in his own space, secretly thinking that perhaps one day it would play some important role!

As time passed, everyone's patience gradually wore thin. Just as they were hesitating about whether to give up the search and simply dig up the few rice seedlings they had initially set their sights on, an unexpected voice broke the deadlock—that noon, Uncle Hunchback burst into the kitchen! His face beaming with excitement, he went straight to his father, panting, and shouted, "Dawei, I heard your rascals have been leading people around the fields searching for rice seeds these past few days? I happen to have a precious seedling hidden in my field, exactly as your son described! What do you think? Should we send them over to take a look?"

Upon hearing this, Dad immediately stood up and said excitedly, "Brother Tuo, thank you so much! You've really helped our family a lot! My boys are still in class, I'll go call them right away. You sit down and rest for a while, have a bowl of water." As he spoke, he poured Uncle Hunchback a bowl of hot tea, said goodbye to Mom, and hurriedly ran to the backyard.

Inside the small classroom, the eldest brother was having everyone do exercises. Dad stood at the door and waved to his brother. When the eldest brother reached the door, Dad quickly said, "Yanbang, your hunchbacked uncle is here. He says he has the rice seed we're looking for in his field."

The older brother looked up at the sky and, seeing that it was almost noon, turned and walked back to the classroom. He said to his classmates, "Classmates, Uncle Hunchback said he has a rice seed we're looking for in his field. We'll dismiss school early today and go take a look!"

The hunchbacked man, nicknamed Zhang the Hunchback, was actually named Zhang Chengtuo, but he wasn't truly hunchbacked. His family owned over ten acres of paddy fields, and the newly built road in the village had requisitioned part of his land. All the fields a few hundred meters west of the village, along the road, belonged to his family. The group followed the hunchbacked man westward along the road, and soon arrived at an earthen embankment. The hunchbacked man pointed down the embankment and said, "Yanbang, we're here. It's right below here."