Chapter 25: Yang Chunlei’s Approach

"Chunsheng, are you planting so early? Why not wait until after the wheat harvest?"

"No point in waiting. Getting it done early will make things lighter when the wheat harvest comes. Otherwise, planting twelve acres after the harvest would be exhausting!"

Yang Chunsheng responded briefly to the villagers' questions without saying much more. Taking advantage of the sunset glow on the horizon, he walked for about ten minutes to return home.

Once home, Yang Chunsheng parked the cart in the courtyard. Yang Xingwen and his younger brother put away the farm tools and carried the seeds into the main room. Wang Zhaodi took their daughter to prepare dinner. The family each went about their assigned tasks without getting in each other's way; they had been living with this tacit understanding for many years.

At dinner that evening, Wang Zhaodi asked with some concern: "Father of the children, what if the neighbors follow suit and start planting too?"

"What can we do? If they want to plant, let them. It’s their land; we can't control that!" Yang Chunsheng was quite open-minded about the matter.

"Mother, those people are all busy selling wheat stalks right now; they don't have time to worry about the fields. The neighbors who came back from the fields just now were the ones who listened to advice. Even if they saw us, they might not necessarily follow our lead. If they do, it just shows they trust us, and it means they deserve to earn this money—there’s nothing wrong with us giving them a helping hand. Besides, even if they all plant corn now, the total acreage isn't much, and the competition won't be fierce. We won't lose anything, and we’ll earn a good reputation!" Yang Xingwu explained to his mother, easing her worries.

Hearing her son's words, Wang Zhaodi realized he was right. Compared to the increasingly competitive wheat stalk trade, not many people were paying attention to their farming. The neighbors who walked back with them were on good terms with the family; even if they did follow suit, it wouldn't cause any significant loss. After all, once the early corn was harvested, it wouldn't even be half a cob per person for the hundreds of thousands of people in the city. Her concerns seemed unnecessary. Thinking this, Wang Zhaodi stopped fretting and happily enjoyed her dinner.

With money and grain in the house, these days were the most comfortable they had ever experienced. After the meal and cleaning the pots, Yang Xiaolan went to the kitchen to fetch a small bowl of wheat bran to feed the chickens. Once everything was finished and darkness fell, the family climbed onto the *kang* to sleep.

...

The next day, before dawn, Yang Chunlei set off for the city with his wife and eldest son, pulling their cart.

By the time they reached the city, the sky was bright. After confirming the location of the machinery factory's residential compound, Yang Chunlei pulled their cart, half-filled with wheat stalks, straight toward it. Upon arrival, he saw that many breakfast stalls were packing up and the area was crowded with carts selling wheat stalks. Seeing another competitor arrive, the weary expressions on the faces of the others grew even heavier.

Yang Chunlei found a spot in the shade, parked the cart, and asked his wife and son to tidy up while he went to scout the situation nearby.

He walked up to a few vendors and asked, "Folks, where are you from? How is the wheat stalk business going?"

"Don't even mention it. We sold a bit the day before yesterday, but more than half is still here. Now, it's hard to even sell three stalks for a penny. We're just relying on the kids buying a few to roast themselves."

"Exactly! How many can a kid buy? People in this compound buy quite a bit, but they all say the person who sold them first made all the money. Man, one penny per stalk—that was a real profit! The most I’ve ever sold them for was two stalks for a penny, just enough to earn a bit of hard-earned money."

"Who isn't?"

Hearing their complaints, Yang Chunlei muttered a few words of his own before leaving. Returning to his cart, Zhang Guihua asked anxiously, "How is it?"

"The situation is very bad. It's hard to sell even three stalks for a penny now. They were here yesterday too, so it looks like they didn't go back!"

"It’s all just greed! Let’s set up quickly. Once we sell out, we'll just focus on our farming. Let's not be greedy anymore!"

"Right, okay!"

Taking his wife's advice, Yang Chunlei took out the pancakes they had made at home that morning. After all three of them ate a piece, they began to set up.

They set up six rows. The first row of wheat stalks was placed close to the marked line; as long as one wasn't greedy, a prize was guaranteed. The second row was one step—about 60 centimeters—behind the first, with two stalks. The third row had three stalks. The fourth row contained chicks, each in a small bamboo cage Yang Chunlei had woven himself. The fifth row held ten stalks, and the sixth row held a single rabbit, serving as the grand prize.

The first five rows were arranged in five-by-five squares, and the rabbit was placed about four meters from the marked line. Once everything was set, Yang Chunlei called his son over and gave him instructions. Yang Xiaojun nodded repeatedly as he listened.

He immediately picked up another rabbit from a cage and paraded it through the streets. Before long, he was surrounded by children. Seeing the rabbit in Yang Xiaojun’s hands, they all asked:

"Where did you get that rabbit?"

"Let us play with it?"

"There's a ring-toss game under the tree over there, and they have chicks too!"

Upon hearing this, the children ignored the rabbit and scrambled to ask about the ring-toss. "There's a ring-toss? Where? Where?"

"Why don't you take us to see?"

"Yes, yes! If we win something fun, we'll share it with you!"

Seeing that he had easily completed his father's mission, Yang Xiaojun readily led the group of children to the stall. The kids were thrilled to see the ring-toss. However, their faces fell slightly when they saw the prizes, until a sharp-eyed friend spotted the cage at the end.

"Look, there really is a rabbit! Look at that one at the back!"

"And chicks! Look at the third row!"

The group of children grew excited again.

"Hey, ring-toss man, how do you sell these rings?"

Seeing customers arrive, Yang Chunlei quickly explained: "Stand at the marked line to toss. Small rings are a penny each, mainly for the first five rows. Big rings are two pennies each; you can use them for the rabbit or the items in front. If you land one, it's yours!"

As he spoke, Yang Chunlei held up two rings to demonstrate. The kids discussed it and pooled their money to buy ten large rings for twenty cents, and Yang Chunlei threw in an extra one for free. Each child took a couple of rings and stood at the line, throwing them with all their might toward the back row. But as soon as the rings left their hands, they flew wildly. Before long, they had used all eleven rings and only managed to hook one wheat stalk from the second row.

Seeing this, they were unwilling to give up and bought more rings five or six times over. By the time their pocket money was gone, they still hadn't won the rabbit, only holding a dozen wheat stalks between them.

Seeing this, Yang Chunlei felt the children were having a rough time. He thought for a moment, took a chick from the cage in the third row, and handed it to them.

"Take a chick home to raise! The rabbit is too hard to catch."