Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

After seeing his senior brothers off, the master composed himself and led Xingbao and Guixiang into the house. He first carefully tested the siblings on their recent studies, examining everything from textbook knowledge to practical skills. Then, the siblings asked him about any parts of their reading they didn't understand. Since his disciples had so willingly come to him, the master naturally didn't want to let the opportunity slip by. He patiently and meticulously taught them, from morning until evening, afraid of missing any points. His wife sat on a small stool nearby, watching the three of them with a smile, occasionally getting up to refill their tea or peel some fruit, her face full of loving kindness.

As the sun set and its afterglow filled the courtyard, the master finally "released" the siblings. He carefully lifted Guixiang onto Heitan's back, then instructed Xingbao to hold the reins tightly. Although Heitan was quite obedient, he was still a bit mischievous, and since Guixiang didn't have a whip, it was worrying to leave her unattended. Xingbao led Heitan slowly down the mountain, while Guixiang, sitting on the donkey's back, would occasionally turn back to look at her master and mistress standing at the door, waving her little hand enthusiastically. Only when they reached the road at the foot of the mountain and could no longer see their master and mistress did the siblings turn their gaze away and quicken their pace home.

My master has two sons and three grandsons, but they all live in Baoqing Prefecture and rarely come back. I only saw them once, on the day I became his disciple. My fellow disciples had mentioned wanting to bring my master and his wife to Shaoyang City to enjoy a comfortable life, but they preferred the quiet and peaceful life in the mountains. Besides, there were no other doctors in the village, and if they left, the villagers would have to go to the township to see a doctor, so they had never agreed. It was precisely because of this that my master devoted more of his energy to his two disciples, Guixiang and me.

The weather was exceptionally fine for the next few days. As usual, before dawn, Xingbao and his three siblings followed their father to the fields to help their grandfather harvest rice, their steps shrouded in the cool dew. The late-season rice at their grandfather's house was fully ripe; the golden ears of rice weighed down the stalks, and when the wind blew, the rice fields rippled and swayed, carrying the sweet aroma of the grain, filling everyone with the joy of a bountiful harvest. Because Xingbao had helped the adults harvest rice during the double-cropping season and had some experience, his father specially gave him a small sickle this time. Guixiang, seeing this, was unhappy. She pouted and snatched the sickle from Xingbao's hand, bending down and grabbing a few rice stalks like the adults. But being so young, she was afraid of cutting her hand with the blade. She kept the sickle far from the base of the rice stalks, so the stalks weren't under pressure. She had to saw back and forth several times before she could barely cut them, leaving a tall stubble in the field. The little girl didn't seem to care. She held up the few cut rice stalks to Xingbao, proudly shaking her head, then put them aside and continued cutting. After cutting several stalks, Guixiang realized she was cutting slowly and unevenly, so she reluctantly handed the sickle back to Xingbao, her big, round eyes wide as she watched intently how he cut. Xingbao's hands weren't big, but his movements were very skilled. He first used his arm to tightly grip a clump of rice seedlings, gathering the stalks together, then brought the sickle close to the ground and pulled hard, cutting the entire stalk cleanly. Guixiang's eyes lit up, and she immediately grabbed the sickle and tried to cut like Xingbao. After a busy morning, everyone had only harvested half an acre of land. After breakfast, Dad thought this was too inefficient, so he borrowed a yellow bucket (a tool for threshing grain) from Uncle Deng next door, and together with Grandpa's own, they had two yellow buckets. With two yellow buckets working at the same time, the threshing speed increased significantly.

In less than three days, the rice harvest at my grandfather's house was complete. Immediately afterwards, everyone busied themselves spreading the rice out on the threshing floor to dry completely. Then, they borrowed a winnowing fan from Fugui's family to blow away the light, fluffy chaff and impurities. Finally, they weighed it – good heavens, it weighed a whopping 1080 jin (approximately 640 kg), almost 1100 jin! My grandfather and eldest uncle looked at the scale and grinned from ear to ear, their wrinkles crinkling at the corners of their eyes. My grandfather's rice paddy was less than three mu (approximately 0.2 acres), but even if we calculate based on three mu, the yield per mu would be 360 ​​jin (approximately 180 kg). The actual area was only two and a half mu, averaging a full 385 jin (approximately 120 kg) per mu! Although there were still some chaff in the rice, it was at least half less than in previous years, resulting in a 20% increase in total yield. The key to this increase was simply that they threshed the rice a few more times than others. The news that they harvested nearly 200 jin more grain from just three mu of land caused a sensation throughout the village!

The first to arrive were several familiar villagers, carrying their own baskets. They stopped Grandpa, who was about to put the rice into the granary, insisting on seeing it for themselves. Some even went home to fetch a new scale and weighed the rice again; others grabbed a handful of dried rice, chewed it, and confirmed that the rice was indeed dry and plump. Soon, more and more villagers arrived, crowding the threshing ground. The baskets of rice were lifted and set down repeatedly, and everyone tasted the rice, handful by handful. Looking at the small pile of chaff, the villagers were finally convinced of the Song siblings' skill. It's worth noting that this year, the best late-season rice yield in the village, besides Grandpa's family, was from Wang Jiachang's family, whose yield was only 332 jin per mu. In previous years, the highest yield per mu in the entire village was only 350 jin!

Wang Jiazhang pushed through the crowd and strode up to Xingbao's father, his face beaming with barely concealed excitement, his eyes gleaming with hope, and his tone tinged with a hint of flattery: "Dawei, could you have your son Yanbang explain this trick for increasing rice yield by removing the pollen from the rice plants again? Our village has very few paddy fields, so our grain production has always been low. This method doesn't require much effort and can increase rice production by 20%, so everyone in the village should benefit from it! Even if it doesn't guarantee everyone will have enough to eat, at least it will prevent them from going hungry for a few days. This is a tremendous benefit!"

Father had never seen Chief Wang speak to him so humbly before—Chief Wang, though not harsh to the villagers, always maintained a certain air of authority, only showing this demeanor when facing tax collectors or the township head and village chief. Father quickly waved his hand, replying politely, "Old Wang, what are you saying! The children devised these methods precisely to help the villagers earn more food; why would we hide anything? It's just that before, without tangible results, even if we spoke up, we were afraid no one would believe us. Now everyone has seen the results with their own eyes, and you've personally spoken up, so what's wrong with that! How about we set a time for everyone to gather together, and I'll have Yanbang and his sister explain it to everyone properly, so that everyone doesn't have to come and ask questions one by one, and it will also allow Yanbang to organize his thoughts beforehand, clarify the key steps, and not miss any important details."

Wang Jiachang looked around the threshing ground and then at the few other farmers harvesting rice in the distance. He said, "Let's set it for the evening of the fifteenth of this month! By then, everyone should have finished harvesting and storing their rice, and people will be more relaxed, making it easier to gather together."

"Okay! We'll do it your way! I'll go back and have Yanbang and his sister prepare." Seeing that Wang Jia had set a time, the father quickly agreed. Then he called Xingbao and the other children to come home with him first so that they could prepare in advance to explain the tricks of flower making to the villagers.