Chapter 24: Farming

Yang Chunlei and Zhang Guihua showered Yang Xingwu with thanks before leaving with the remaining bamboo strips.

Back at home, seeing that it was still early, Yang Chunlei asked his children to help him shape the rings. Having played at Yang Xingwu’s house for a long time, the three children were deeply intrigued by the task. As they helped, they chattered away, peppering their father with questions.

"Dad, Brother Xingwu is amazing! Every time I looked at those rabbits, I just wanted to ring them, but I just couldn't get the strength right!"

"I know! I threw several, but I couldn't reach that far. Sigh! I wonder when I’ll be able to throw that far!"

"I can reach that distance, but I can't even get close to the target!"

Yang Chunlei listened to his children while splitting the bamboo, occasionally interjecting with a comment. Hearing how obsessed they were with the ring-toss game, he felt increasingly confident about tomorrow’s venture. With confidence came motivation. By the end of the morning, the family had crafted several hundred small rings. Remembering Yang Xingwu’s advice, they also made a few larger ones, each about the diameter of two palms.

After making them, Yang Chunlei had the children test the large rings. He discovered that while the rings looked bigger, they were actually harder to throw accurately. This eased his worries; he no longer feared that people would win the rabbits too quickly and cause him a loss. In fact, he could even charge a bit more for the larger rings.

After seeing off the family, Yang Xingwu took advantage of the quiet morning to review his English textbook. The English in the high school curriculum didn’t contain overly complex sentences. As long as one mastered the 3,500 common vocabulary words, various set phrases, and the basics of subject-verb-object structure, scoring eighty points wasn't particularly difficult.

Especially now, with foreign languages having only recently been introduced to the college entrance exam and a shortage of qualified teachers, what had been a subject he struggled to pass in his past life—taking the CET-4 exam four times before succeeding—now seemed to be an area of advantage. Fate could be truly strange sometimes.

Yang Xiaolan, hearing her second brother muttering to himself, crept closer and realized he was saying words she couldn't understand.

"Y-o-u-n-g, young, meaning youthful!"

As Yang Xingwu whispered the word, he suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia. He remembered when he was in the fifth grade of elementary school; whenever the English teacher stepped into the hallway, the class representative would lead the reading, and the word they always recited was "young." They had read it that way for two years. Even after entering middle school, that word remained his most vivid memory. He hadn't expected to encounter it again after all these years.

Immersed in these reflections, he felt a sudden surge of emotion. When he looked up, he caught Yang Xiaolan’s gaze. She hadn't expected her brother, who was so focused on his studies, to suddenly look up, and she appeared momentarily flustered.

Seeing his younger sister, Yang Xingwu knew how much she loved to read, but given their family's poverty, she had stopped school after the second grade. Even so, Yang Xiaolan was considered an educated person in the village; many girls there never had the chance to set foot in a classroom, and her two years of schooling were a sign of their parents' partiality toward her.

Yang Xingwu knew she loved books, and whenever he finished his own, he would leave them for her. Yang Xiaolan kept them in pristine condition. Sometimes, he would even teach her what he had learned. Seeing her evasive eyes, Yang Xingwu smiled.

"Want to learn?"

"No, I just wanted to listen to you recite."

Hearing her insincere reply, Yang Xingwu said nothing more. He made a silent vow: once he passed the college entrance exam, he would make sure his two sisters were sent back to school to get a proper education, no matter what. He didn't speak of it now simply because he lacked the influence to sway the family. A person of little standing finds it hard to persuade others. He knew that the weight of his words would be very different once he had the success of university behind him.

With that thought in mind, Yang Xingwu pushed aside his distractions and focused on memorizing his words. Seeing that her brother didn't chase her away, Yang Xiaolan sat quietly to the side, resting her chin in her hands, listening to his recitation and hoping to pick up a thing or two.

Yang Xingwu recited until noon before stopping. Seeing that he was tired, Yang Xiaolan quickly brought him a bowl of prepared malted milk. He didn't stand on ceremony and drank it down.

Before long, Yang Chunsheng returned with his eldest son. Yang Xingwu looked up and asked, "Dad, Big Brother, where have you been?"

"We went to check the fields. The temperature has been good these last two days, so the corn seeds should sprout quickly once we plant them!"

"Then let’s go plant them this afternoon!"

"Alright! If we plant them early, the corn will be up to our knees by the time we harvest the wheat!"

When Yang Xiaolan saw her father and brother return, she quickly went to the kitchen to fetch water for them to wash up. After the family ate lunch and rested on the kang until mid-afternoon, all six of them headed out to the fields.

Since the soil had already been turned, the three men simply measured out the rows. Each took a hoe to dig the holes, while Wang Zhaodi and her two daughters followed behind to sow the seeds. They dropped two to three corn kernels into each hole. Yang Xiaohong dropped the seeds, while Wang Zhaodi and Yang Xiaolan followed, covering them with soil and lightly tamping it down—not too firmly, or the corn wouldn't sprout well.

Planting corn was relatively simple agricultural work. There was no need for a nursery; you just dug a hole, dropped the seeds in, and checked on them in a few days. If they didn't sprout, you replanted; if they sprouted too densely, you thinned them out.

Yang Xingwu hadn't farmed in over twenty years. Before he started, he worried he wouldn't be able to handle it, but it turned out he had overthought it. In this place, one didn't need to worry too much; you just had to remember the twenty-four solar terms. During *Xiaoman* (Grain Buds), you could eat wheat kernels, and during *Mangzhong* (Grain in Ear), it was time to harvest the wheat. With his modest historical knowledge, he knew that the twenty-four solar terms had been calculated by their ancestors on this very land.

Lost in thought, Yang Xingwu walked along with his hoe, digging a hole with every step. Before long, he had finished a row, then turned around to work his way back. Repeating this, the family managed to plant two acres in half an afternoon. Another full day of work tomorrow would finish the remaining four acres.

After planting, the busy work of weeding and fertilizing would begin. Nowadays, they mainly used farmyard manure. Every household had a pit in the courtyard used for storing and composting waste, as fresh manure could damage the crops; only fermented fertilizer was suitable for use. Beyond that, they could also spread wood ash, which was an excellent source of potassium.

The family worked until dusk. They loaded their tools and the remaining seeds onto the cart and headed home. On the road, they bumped into other villagers returning from the fields. Everyone chatted as they walked home under a sky painted with the orange-red glow of the sunset.