Chapter 96 Mountain Home Hearth 96

Chapter 96: Hearth and Home in the Mountains 96

In September, the air was crisp and clear. Many old trees in the village had shed their vibrant green, gradually taking on the weathered hues of yellow, yet the ancient banyan tree by the large threshing ground remained lush and verdant.

The threshing ground was laden with various grains—both rice and golden corn kernels. The busy autumn harvest meant fewer people gathered to chat under the banyan tree, leaving just a handful.

The rice in the paddies had turned golden, their heavy heads drooping low, creating shimmering waves of gold across the fields.

"My goodness! Unbelievable, truly unbelievable! Liu Geer, your rice has grown so well! The grains are so plump! Good heavens, how many pounds will this yield!"

"Ah! His family used that special fertilizer this year. Everyone in the village laughed at them back then! But look at the results now… truly impressive!"

"I always knew Liu Geer was destined for great things! Let’s see who dares to laugh at him now!"

…

Though it was harvest day, a crowd had gathered around the Qin family’s fields. Everyone wore work aprons and held sickles, but instead of tending to their own fields, they eagerly watched the Qin family’s land.

The Qin family had two adjacent fields, but Liu Guyu, trying his hand at making fertilizer for the first time this year, had only tested it on one.

The difference between the two fields, side by side, was stark: one had sparse rice plants, while the other was dense with plump, heavy ears.

Liu Guyu, Banban, and Qin Rongshi had changed into old work clothes, tying their sleeves and pant legs with rough cloth strips, and stepped into the fields with sickles in hand.

Chen Sanxi was also there. Liu Guyu had hired him again to help with the harvest, offering the same pay as during the spring transplanting season.

With the seasonal break for winter clothes preparation, Qin Rongshi had returned home to help with the autumn harvest.

Liu Guyu was truly unaccustomed to fieldwork. The sharp rice leaves quickly chafed his palms, leaving them red and sore.

He shook his hand, straightened up, and called out to the villagers, "Aunties and Uncles, our rice will take a while to harvest! Please tend to your own fields first! You can come back later to see!"

Despite his words, the crowd remained, unwilling to leave, their eyes fixed on the fields.

Only those with neighboring fields could harvest their own rice while occasionally straightening up to watch the excitement.

They were too curious to leave, all wondering just how much rice this fertilizer-treated field would yield.

Seeing that he couldn’t persuade them, Liu Guyu bent down again to continue harvesting.

Qin Rongshi and Qin Banban, having grown up in the village, were no strangers to farm work. Though not as skilled as some, their rice-cutting speed was impressive.

Grasping a handful of rice, they pressed the sickle against the base and sliced through with one sharp motion—one cut after another, one handful after another, their movements swift and efficient.

Chen Sanxi was even faster.

Working alone from the left corner, he quickly cleared a significant section of the field.

"Wow, so much!"

"I’d say it’s at least a hundred *jin* more than previous years!"

"That’s an exaggeration! In past years, one *mu* of land yielded only about two hundred fifty *jin* of rice! Another hundred *jin* would make it over three hundred! I’ve never heard of anyone harvesting over three hundred *jin* from one *mu*!"

"That does sound a bit much! I’d say an extra seventy or eighty *jin* would already be impressive!"

"Oh, come on, can't you see? Look carefully! The Dazhu family harvested about the same amount, but their pile looks only half the size of the Qin family’s! I’d say a hundred *jin* is an underestimate!"

…

Amid the villagers’ chatter, Liu Guyu felt utterly exhausted—his back, hands, and neck all ached. He occasionally straightened up to rest briefly, but seeing Qin Rongshi and Qin Banban, both younger than him, still working diligently, he had no choice but to bend down and continue.

This work was truly grueling; he’d rather set up a stall for a day!

Liu Guyu thought to himself.

On the other side, Qin Rongshi glanced over and happened to see Liu Guyu rubbing his reddened palm, then trying to switch the sickle to his left hand. But finding his left hand less agile, he pouted and switched back, pretending nothing had happened.

Qin Rongshi secretly smiled and was about to call out for Liu Guyu to take a break on the ridge.

Just as he opened his mouth, Cui Lanfang approached briskly, carrying a bamboo basket.

Lucky, now a fully grown dog, ran ahead, pausing every few steps to turn back and wait for Cui Lanfang. When she caught up, he’d run ahead again, bounding playfully all the way to the rice field.

Someone called out, "Liu Geer, Qin Rongshi, your mother is here!"

As they spoke, Cui Lanfang arrived. She lifted the basket and called out to the field, "Come up and rest for a while! I’ve made pumpkin and mung bean soup. Have a bowl to cool off!"

Hearing Cui Lanfang’s voice, Liu Guyu let out a huge sigh of relief and immediately dropped his sickle, scrambling up the ridge in quick strides before wrapping his arms around her.

"Mom! I love you so much!"

Cui Lanfang laughed, both amused and slightly embarrassed. She poked Liu Guyu’s forehead and said with mock exasperation, "Aren’t you too old for this? Even Banban doesn’t cling to me like this anymore!"

As she spoke, she took out empty bowls from the basket and ladled out the pumpkin and mung bean soup from a clay pot.

Liu Guyu didn’t hesitate, taking the first bowl and drinking a large gulp with satisfaction.

"Ahh, refreshing!"

Qin Rongshi and Qin Banban also came up, leaving only Chen Sanxi still harvesting in the field.

The boy was being polite again. Cui Lanfang quickly called out, "Sanxi, come up and rest! There’s no rush!"

Hearing this, Chen Sanxi walked over with his sickle, accepted the last bowl of mung bean soup from Cui Lanfang, thanked her, and drank half of it in one go.

The onlookers crouched outside the ridge, plucking a section of rice ear and rubbing off the husk with their thumb and forefinger.

"Whoa! So big!"

"Indeed! Much larger than ours! Plump and round!"

"This fertilizer really works! Liu Geer, what exactly did you use? The results are amazing!"

The villagers chattered endlessly. Liu Guyu listened while drinking his soup. After finishing two large bowls, he finally told everyone:

"You guys don’t worry. I’ll share the fertilizer recipe with the village head. Everyone can come and learn."

His words surprised and delighted the crowd. Some asked in disbelief:

"Really?"

"Liu Geer, you’ll really teach us?"

Liu Guyu continued, "Yes, I’ll teach everyone. But you must follow my method exactly. If anyone messes up because they didn’t learn properly, or gets greedy and changes the fertilizer ratio and ends up damaging their fields, I won’t be responsible."

Everyone responded:

"That's fair! That's fair!"

"Absolutely! If anyone dares to try to trick you, none of us will stand for it!"

"Wow! Liu Geer, you're such a good person! So kind-hearted! If anyone ever speaks ill of you again, I'll definitely slap 'em silly!"

"That's right, that's right!"

After they'd had their soup, the four of them went back to the paddy. The villagers who had been watching couldn't wait any longer, and upon hearing that Liu Guyu was willing to teach them the fertilizing method, several volunteered to help out in the paddy.

Some took sickles to cut the rice, while others brought threshing baskets to help with the threshing.

They say many hands make light work—and it's true! One paddy was completely cut and threshed by the afternoon.

Without Liu Guyu having to lift a finger, everyone was eager to know the weight of the rice. They had already helped bag the threshed grains into sacks and brought over a steelyard balance to weigh them.

Only the village head's household had a steelyard balance, so Chen Qiaosheng was also alerted.

"F-four hundred *jin*!"

"It's four hundred and eighteen *jin*!"

"Holy cow!"

At these words, even the village head was so shocked he almost dropped his pipe.

He had been lazily sitting under a tree, knocking his pipe against a stone to clear out the tobacco ash. Upon hearing the news, he excitedly shot upright and asked in astonishment, "How many *jin* did you say???"

His son-in-law Fang Wu had also arrived, rubbing his hands excitedly as he replied, "Father! It's over four hundred *jin*!"

Chen Qiaosheng brushed past Fang Wu, gripped his pipe, walked up to the steelyard balance, and stared blankly at the measurement marks.

...It really was over four hundred *jin*.

The next moment, Chen Qiaosheng was thrilled. He stared at Liu Guyu and asked, "Liu Geer! I heard them say you're willing to teach everyone the fertilizing method? Is it true?"

Liu Guyu said, "Of course it's true. We're all from the same village—I want all our folks here to do well!"

Chen Qiaosheng got emotional all over again and crouched in front of the steelyard balance for a long time, unable to collect himself.

Shanghe Village had many households: some were well-off, living in brick-tiled houses and able to afford sending their sons to school; others were poor, struggling to get by with one or two meager fields, never sure where their next meal was coming from!

But with this fertilizing method, everyone would be able to eat their fill from now on!

Thinking of this, Chen Qiaosheng was even more overcome, his eyes already brimming with tears.

The villagers were also excited and happy. Filled with joy and enthusiasm, they helped transport the Qin family's harvested rice back home and stood around chatting at their doorstep awhile before leaving.

The whole family was exhausted today. Cui Lanfang threw together a simple supper, and everyone ate early to rest sooner.

The night was deep, the wind clear, and the moon bright. After washing up, Liu Guyu returned to his room.

He had washed his hair and was now sitting by the bed, drying it with a cloth, slowly wringing it out.

Liu Guyu rarely washed his hair at night because, in ancient times, there were no hair dryers, and it took forever to air-dry. But today, he was too tired—he had worked in the rice paddy for most of the day, baked under the sun, and his hair was dirty and greasy. He just couldn't take it anymore.

While he was drying his hair, there was a sudden knock at the door.

Only Cui Lanfang or Qin Banban would come to his room, so Liu Guyu didn't bother looking up. Rubbing his head vigorously, he said, "The door isn't latched. Just come in."

After he spoke, there was a moment of silence outside, then someone pushed the door open and walked in.

Liu Guyu sat barefoot on the bed, using the cloth to dry his hair strand by strand, his feet swaying left and right. When Qin Rongshi entered, he saw Liu Guyu with a bird's nest of hair, still making a mess of it with the cloth.

"Huh? Why aren't you saying..."

The person who entered remained silent, so Liu Guyu looked up in surprise and asked.

"Er... Erlang?"

"What are you doing here?"

Qin Rongshi lowered his gaze, a hint of laughter in his eyes, soft as willow catkins gently falling on Liu Guyu.

He said, "Your hands got rubbed raw. I asked Banban to make some ointment. This'll help'em heal up quicker."

Liu Guyu raised an eyebrow and turned his palms over to look. Sure enough, the centers were bright red.

He smiled and teased, "Look at you, being all thoughtful!"

Qin Rongshi didn't answer. Holding a small medicine bowl, he walked closer, reached out to turn Liu Guyu's palm over, and used a cleaned bamboo stick to scoop out green ointment, slathering it on thick to Liu Guyu's hand.

He lowered his head, focused on applying the medicine, and said softly, "There's still one *mu* of paddy left to cut. Sanxi and I will handle it tomorrow. You and Banban rest at home."

Liu Guyu tilted his head and smiled, deliberately wiggling his fingers playfully. He hummed and said, "What? Worried I'll hold you back?"

Qin Rongshi glanced up at Liu Guyu, then silently pressed his wiggling fingers down.

He said, "Your hands are already injured."

Liu Guyu tilted his head to the right this time and continued wiggling his other fingers. "It's nothing serious. It'll be fine by tomorrow."

Qin Rongshi stopped applying the ointment, looked up at him with a neutral expression, and retorted, "And then you'll add new injuries tomorrow?"

Liu Guyu shrugged and said nothing.

Qin Rongshi sighed softly, lowered his head to check Liu Guyu's medicated palms, and stood up once he saw they were properly treated.

Finally, he said, "Just do as I say."

Qin Rongshi's expression was calm, but his eyes were unusually serious and earnest, like an adult's.

Liu Guyu couldn't help but laugh, bobbing his head repeatedly. "Okay, okay, I'll listen to you."

Qin Rongshi frowned slightly, thinking that Liu Guyu, with his messy bird's nest hair, had no right to laugh at him when he hadn't even laughed at Liu Guyu.

He gave Liu Guyu another look and said before leaving, "Rest early."

Liu Guyu didn't reply. Instead, he lifted the quilt with a flourish, patting it down as if preparing to sleep immediately.

Qin Rongshi was amused by the gesture, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly as he turned and left the room.

After the other had gone, Liu Guyu chuckled to himself, "That kid... pretty thoughtful..."

Then he pressed his pillow and turned to lie down, but the next moment, he pulled out a long strip of cloth from under the pillow.

Huh?

Liu Guyu immediately raised a hand to his forehead—it was bare, nothing there.

He had forgotten to wear his forehead band again!

"Hey, why didn't that little stiff react today!"

Liu Guyu was muttering to himself again.

The next day, Qin Rongshi and Chen Sanxi worked together to harvest the rice from the remaining *mu* of land, then took a good day's rest.

Over these two days, many villagers heard the news that the Qin family had harvested approximately four hundred *jin* of grain, and they all came to inquire, which made things quite lively.

After resting for two days, the family regained their energy, and Liu Guyu was back to bustling with the stall business.

It was September, and the rouge plum trees in Hongmei Village had ripened.

Liu Guyu brought along Qin Rongshi and Qin Banban, his two little helpers, to Hongmei Village to gather the plums.

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Author's Note: Almost forgot to update!!!