Chapitre 13: Chapter 011: Harvest
By the time everyone in the village had left, it had already turned dark.
"Mom, I'm going to sleep for a while," Li Xiaobao said listlessly as he glanced at Luo Guiying and walked into the house. He had been dispirited since returning from the village committee, mainly because he had planned to lease the village's vacant land, but now found he couldn't.
"Xiaobao, come out and eat," Zhou Cuihua gently knocked on Li Xiaobao's door after finishing cooking.
"You guys eat, sister-in-law, I'm not hungry," Li Xiaobao said as he turned over in bed upon hearing Zhou Cuihua calling him.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Cuihua pushed open the door and saw Li Xiaobao lying on the bed.
"It's nothing, sister-in-law, I just don't feel like eating," Li Xiaobao said as he sat up, seeing Zhou Cuihua enter.
"That won't do, you know, humans are iron and food is steel, how can you not eat?" Zhou Cuihua said, pulling Li Xiaobao out of the room.
"Xiaobao, what's the matter with you?" Looking at Li Xiaobao's listless appearance, Luo Guiying and Li Detian were also puzzled. Xiaobao was now the pillar of the family, and just this morning had made one hundred thousand, so why did he seem unhappy?
"Xiaobao, what's really the matter?" Li Detian, usually wolfing down his food, now looked completely out of spirits. He lit a cigarette and couldn't help but ask.
"Yeah, Xiaobao, if something's bothering you, just tell us, we'll all think of something," Zhou Cuihua said, worried as she looked at Li Xiaobao.
"Dad, sister-in-law, we can't lease the village committee's vacant land," Li Xiaobao said as he shook his head helplessly looking at Li Detian and Zhou Cuihua.
"How come? As far as I know, no one has leased those empty plots from the village committee for over a decade. Why can't we lease them?" Li Detian took a hard drag on his cigarette.
Li Detian had initially objected to Li Xiaobao leasing the village's vacant land because he felt that Li Xiaobao didn't know how to farm and also because the family didn't have the money.
Now that Li Xiaobao had money, Li Detian knew that leasing those lands wouldn't cost much, at most a few thousand dollars.
Most importantly, Li Detian believed that Li Xiaobao's decision to lease the land wasn't reckless this time, as he apparently had some unique farming techniques.
Everything was ready, only the east wind was missing. Who would have thought that the east wind wouldn't come?
"Why don't you explain to your sister-in-law exactly what's going on?" Zhou Cuihua looked at Li Xiaobao and frowned, sensing something fishy about the situation.
"Uncle Lai Cai mentioned that some document had come down from above, apparently forbidding leasing," Li Xiaobao said helplessly.
"A document? I haven't heard about any documents, and besides, are those few acres of poor land in the village even worth a document?" Li Detian expressed his doubt upon hearing this.
"Yeah, Xiaobao, did Uncle Lai Cai say anything else?" Zhou Cuihua continued to inquire.
"He also said something about making an exception, suggesting I ask my dad," Li Xiaobao repeated Zhang Laicai's words, and Li Detian smoked even more fiercely.
"Dad, what do you think Uncle Lai Cai is implying?" Zhou Cuihua truly supported Li Xiaobao's leasing of the village land and looked anxiously at Li Detian.
"What does he mean? Isn't it obvious what he means? He's upset because Xiaobao didn't give him a gift," Li Detian said as he fiercely stubbed out his cigarette.
"What? How could Zhang Laicai be like that?" Li Xiaobao, upon hearing this, was suddenly filled with anger, remembering Zhang Laicai's gesture of rubbing his fingers together.
"Alright, calm down, when is giving gifts not a part of getting things done nowadays?" Li Detian said, looking at Li Xiaobao resignedly.
"So, are we still renting it or not?" Zhou Cuihua looked worriedly at Li Xiaobao.
"Rent what? Forget it," Li Xiaobao said angrily, and then he added, "Wait until the rice in our fields is ripe, I'll experiment in our own fields."
"Alright, I support you," Li Detian nodded heavily.
"Sister-in-law supports you too, come eat before it gets cold," Zhou Cuihua lovingly offered Li Xiaobao some dishes.
And so, the matter of Li Xiaobao leasing the village's vacant land was put aside.
A few days later, Zhou Cuihua got up in the morning and had just gone out to the fields when she hurried back quickly.
"Cuihua, what's going on?" Seeing Zhou Cuihua's hurried appearance, Li Detian and Luo Guiying, who had just gotten up, were puzzled.
"Dad, you better go check the fields quickly. The rice is ripe and ready to be harvested," Zhou Cuihua said as she grabbed a glass of water from the table and started drinking.
"That can't be right, Cuihua, isn't the rice in the fields still a month from being ripe? Are you sure you didn't see it wrong?" Li Detian asked incredulously.
"It's not a mistake, Dad, I thought the rice in the fields still had a few months to go, but when I went out this morning, it was already ripe. If we don't harvest it now, it will spoil in the field," Zhou Cuihua replied.
If it were anyone else, Li Detian might not have believed it, but he believed Zhou Cuihua. Although he didn't understand what exactly had happened, he rushed inside and woke up Li Xiaobao. They both hurried to the fields together.
"Ah?" Seeing the golden rice in his own fields, Li Xiaobao was stunned. He had also hoped for a good harvest this year, but had not expected it to mature a month earlier than others' crops.
"Harvest!" Li Detian commanded, and they all started to get busy. By this time Li Detian's leg, which Li Xiaobao had been massaging continuously, had almost recovered, and he could engage in some light farm work.
"Detian, how come your family's rice can be harvested now?"
"Yeah, tell us, your family's rice not only matured a month early but the yield has doubled compared to previous years."
"Detian, exactly how did you plant your field?"
As Li Xiaobao and Li Detian were harvesting the rice in the field, many villagers had already gathered around, whispering among themselves.
"It's all because of Cuihua," Third Elder Zhao said, a bit resentful as he listened to the people talking around him.
"Hehe, Uncle Zhao, you got that wrong. This really has nothing to do with me; it's all Xiaobao's accomplishment," Zhou Cuihua said, laughing, upon hearing Third Elder Zhao's words.
"Xiaobao? He knows how to farm?" The people around, hearing Zhou Cuihua attribute the success to Li Xiaobao, looked at him with disdain.
"Hehe, whether I can or not, aren't you seeing it now?" Li Xiaobao's retort silenced everyone.
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone