Chapter 85: Capturing Su
“Brother-in-law, dragon and phoenix soup.” Shi Tou ladled a bowl of soup and placed it in front of Lu Chengjing, with three pieces of chicken meat inside, “Sis specially caught the snake and pheasant to nourish your body.”
Lu Chengjing had no appetite, but upon hearing Shi Tou say that, he still picked up the spoon and lowered his head to drink the soup, without touching even one piece of chicken.
Xiao Huan said: “After the rain stops, I’ll go to the Li Family to return the bamboo basket. I heard from Xiao Shan that the Lin Family went to the field to pick vegetables and got into an argument with several aunts, almost coming to blows.”
“Why did they argue?” Shang Wan bit into a steamed bun.
Xiao Huan said: “They said it was because of the disaster relief grain, but I don’t know the specifics of how they argued.”
She took a sip of soup and added, “Just after it started raining, Xiao Shan was running home and saw the two Lin brothers driving a donkey cart toward the village entrance, with quite a few things loaded on the donkey cart.”
Shang Wan chewed on the steamed bun thoughtfully.
The scale of today’s rain was clearly not small at first glance; they had to go out in the rain—what were they going for?
Shi Tou spat out a chicken bone, somewhat gloating, “In such heavy rain, even with a donkey cart, they’ll definitely get drenched like drowned rats.”
In fact, not only did the Lin brothers get drenched like drowned rats, Lin Jianshui almost lost his life.
The news was sent by people from Xiao He Village; the two brothers were at the barefoot doctor in Xiao He Village, asking the Lin Family to hurry over.
Shi Tou went around the village and inquired about the matter in detail.
The nearby villages all relied on the mountains; the earthquake a few days ago caused the mountain rocks to loosen, and today’s downpour made it even worse.
People from Xiao He Village were all avoiding it, but the two Lin brothers were unaware and happened to pass by the mountainside when there was a loud rumble—a few large stones mixed with mud came crashing down, nearly burying the two inside.
In the heat of the moment, Lin Jianshui pushed Lin Jianshan out; Lin Jianshan only suffered minor injuries, but Lin Jianshui was covered in wounds, with a big gash on his head, and fell into a coma.
Chen Guifang heard that her man had nearly died and fainted on the spot; it was Liu Shi who pinched her philtrum to wake her. Lin Dajia stayed home to care for the two children, while Village Chief Lin and the three people followed the Xiao He Village folks to see the brothers.
Some villagers who had a decent relationship with the Lin Family before came forward—three people went along, in case something really happened, they could lend a hand.
Shi Tou sighed, “Our village has good feng shui; it backs against the big mountain but hasn’t had mudslides like the other villages, nor any mountain rock collapses—it’s like the mountain god is protecting it.”
Shang Wan, the mountain god, glanced at him and thought to herself that relying on gods is not as good as relying on oneself.
If she hadn’t gone into the mountain beforehand to handle the hazards, the mountain god would surely have buried a few unlucky ghosts.
Days passed peacefully, and in the blink of an eye, it was the day agreed with the brick kiln to pick up bricks.
“Sis, I know the way.” Shi Tou sat on the ox cart, gripping the reins tightly, “You rest at home; I can go by myself.”
“No need, I’ll go.” Shang Wan pushed the boy down from the driving position.
Shi Tou clung to the ox cart, unwilling to let go, “Sis, take me with you.”
Shang Wan saw through the boy’s little scheme clearly and mercilessly pried his hand open, “Who was it a few days ago who rushed to plant the field? Don’t think that if you go pull bricks, I can help you with land reclamation.”
Shi Tou pulled a long face; how was he supposed to know land reclamation was so tiring?
Yesterday he huffed and puffed digging soil, so tired his back couldn’t straighten, and he got blisters on his hands. After sleeping a night, his back was still sore; he completely didn’t want to touch the hoe.
“How can you give up halfway when doing things?” Shang Wan waved at Shi Tou, “Go on, young man; as long as you’re willing to work hard, that wasteland at the foot of the mountain will all be yours.”
Shi Tou whined, “Sis, my dear sis!”
Shang Wan ignored the boy’s pleas and coldly drove the ox cart away.
Shi Tou: “…”
Whimper whimper whimper, he didn’t want to do land reclamation!
“Su!” Yuan Yuan rode over on Xiao Hui, her little meat hand patting him, “Su!”
Shi Tou sniffed, lowered his head to look at her, “What’s up?”
“Wo!” Yuan Yuan patted herself with her small hand, her big eyes sparkling, “Help Su!”
Shi Tou: ??? What does that mean?
After staring at each other for a moment with big eyes and small eyes, Yuan Yuan decisively directed Xiao Hui to go find her own daddy.
Lu Chengjing put down his book and acted as the bridge for their communication.
Yuan Yuan excitedly waved her short arms, occasionally blurting out a few words from her mouth, trying hard to express her meaning.
Even Lu Chengjing watched for a good while, guessing and fumbling before understanding what Yuan Yuan wanted to say.
He said to Shi Tou: “Yuan Yuan probably means she can help you with land reclamation.”
Shi Tou: “Ha?”
Yuan Yuan puffed out her little chest, “Wo! Help Su!”
Her small hand pointed to the distant wasteland, her little milky voice resounding, “Zou!”
Xiao Hui received the order and immediately carried her running over. Seeing this, Shi Tou hurriedly grabbed the hoe and followed.
Lu Chengjing was curious what his daughter would do; Xiao Huan was also curious and quickly pushed the wheelchair over to join in the fun.
This plot of land at the foot of the mountain was some distance from the entrance to the mountain forest; even reclaiming it for planting vegetables wouldn’t affect the villagers coming and going. It was neither too far nor too close to the riverside, making fetching water fairly convenient.
After Shi Tou asked Old Man Liu, the experienced farmer, to check it out, he said the soil here had accumulated rotten leaves for years, with sufficient fertility; it should be good for growing crops. But there were many weeds and shrubs, making cleanup quite laborious.
Old Man Liu euphemistically suggested that the villagers were all reclaiming land on the north slope; if Shi Tou really wanted to reclaim land, he could check there—it would be much easier than here. With villagers looking out for each other, they could help out depending on the situation.
Shi Tou rejected it on the spot.
His sis said relying on others is not as good as relying on oneself; he had to follow his sis’s example.
The north slope was far from home, and fetching water wasn’t as convenient as here; he couldn’t count on villagers helping every day.
It was just more weeds and stones; worst case, it’d take more days to clear them up.
Seeing Shi Tou choose to tackle the challenge, Old Man Liu even praised him a couple times, which made Shi Tou feel great inside.
Thinking back now, the tears flowing now were all from the water that got into his brain when choosing the land back then.
Whimper whimper whimper…
According to the standard, Shang Wan had marked out two mu of land for him. The mu on the right remained untouched, while about a quarter of the mu on the left had been turned over, every inch of soil sprinkled with Shi Tou’s hard-earned sweat.
Seeing the two pieces of wasteland made Shi Tou anxious; he propped up the hoe and turned to ask the confident little dumpling, “Yuan Yuan, how are you planning to help me?”
Yuan Yuan glanced at him and reached out her small hand toward him.
Shi Tou: ??
Lu Chengjing reminded from the side: “Milk bottle.”
“Oh oh.” Shi Tou quickly took the milk bottle from Xiao Huan’s hand, opened the lid, and handed it to Yuan Yuan.
Yuan Yuan satisfactorily drank two mouthfuls of milk, straightened her little body, and began clapping her small hands, “Come! Come!”
A pair of big black shiny eyes gleamed with excitement.
The three people present tacitly chose to ignore Yuan Yuan’s abnormality, turning their heads to look around.
Last time monkeys came; what would it be this time?
In no time at all, rustling sounds came from the surrounding bushes.
The three people’s expressions sharpened—it’s here!
Yuan Yuan’s clapping slowed a bit, her soft milky voice continuing nonstop, “Come! Come!”
Lu Chengjing and the other two held their breaths slightly, staring intently at the increasingly shaking bushes.
