Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn-Chapter 14 - 13 Busy tilling the fields behind the house

Zhu Shijun got busy in the following days. After coming down from the mountain that day and returning to the village, he had Sister-in-law Lian hire four sturdy men with nothing to do in the village and paid each of them twenty yuan. Together, they went up the mountain again with eight woven hemp bags.

When they came down the mountain, each man's shoulders bore securely wrapped sacks of mountain soil.

This quickly became talk of the village. In the late nineties, labor wasn't as expensive as now; a cement worker would only earn so much in a day. To carry two bags and be paid such high wages was equivalent to more than half a month's income for an ordinary person. No wonder the village gossips were green with envy.

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"Spending eighty yuan to gather eight big bags of soil, could the old man have lost his mind?" The men at the entrance of the village said that soil was the least valuable thing in the mountains. The entire area around Leigong Mountain was full of red acidic soil, not very fertile, and the crops grown there were small. For Zhu Shijun to spend money to transport soil, wasn't that just foolish?

Dongnan Miao Village was located halfway up Black Mountain, at an altitude of four to five hundred meters. To get there from Ge Village, one had to cross the dilapidated rope bridge over White Dragon Pond. Once Zhu Shijun got busy, he forgot to have Xiao Xian apologize to the people of Miao Village.

"Mr. Zhu is still quite deft with his hands, as good as the village craftsmen," said Sister-in-law Lian, snapping bean pods and watching the old Zhu Shijun working behind the house, chatting with Xiao Xian.

The plot of land behind the Zhu Family's home, one mu and three fen, had been completely transformed. When Mr. Zhu first moved in, he couldn't let go of the affairs in Jing City, and seeing his little granddaughter struggle with mountain life, he couldn't focus on the wasteland at the back. It wasn't until he saw that tough old Water Fir on the mountain, that he had an epiphany. He had experienced highs and lows in his lifetime, bearing the cold from high places, he should also endure the inner turmoil of low points.

The old loofah scaffolding was taken down and the unrotted bamboo fences were sorted out. Mr. Zhu also borrowed some tools from the village chief's house: hammers, saws, nails, hoes, laid out across the ground. The White Pear Tree was growing well, so Mr. Zhu couldn't bear to cut it down, and used some of the better bamboo fences to enclose a piece of land, turning it into a pear orchard.

"Xiao Xian, come and give your grandfather a massage. These old bones aren't much use anymore." Mr. Zhu had been busy for three days straight, dismantling the loofah rack and turning over the soil in that mu of old farmland with a hoe. After resting, he picked out the useless stones from the field, preparing to use the soil accumulated from Water Fir leaves as base soil, and only then the revitalization of the one mu of land was considered complete.

Sister-in-law Lian quickly fetched a basin of water for Mr. Zhu to wash his hands and brought a ladder, just in time to pick the last few pears from the White Pear Tree before they became too ripe to hold onto. Xiao Xian brought a stool for Mr. Zhu to sit, then with small fists, rhythmically gave Zhu Shijun a satisfying punch on the back.

"Grandpa, you've been tired for so many days, why don't you let Xiao Xian help you out?" Since the incident with Li Ye, Sister-in-law Lian had been keeping an even closer eye on Xiao Xian, who was stuck in the small room all day.

"Our Xiao Xian has grown up too, she can help Grandpa pick out the stones from the field," Zhu Shijun saw that Xiao Xian had really improved a lot these days, she wasn't picky with her food anymore, and she'd get up early every day with a small basin and a small tooth cup, totally different from when she was in Jing City, so he confidently let her start working in the field.

"Okay," without a word, Xiao Xian found two sticks outside the house and began picking up stones in the plot of land.

The sun was dazzling, Zhu Shijun felt dizzy and stood by the wall for a while, waiting for the scenery in front of him to return to normal, before he opened his eyes again.

Sister-in-law Lian, who had just picked some pears, was looking at the few pears in the basket, "Mr. Zhu, come take a look, these pears seem different."

On the white pear tree, there were still dozens of difficult-to-harvest pears a few days ago. Sister-in-law Lian, seeing that the Zhu Family's grandfather and grandson did not fancy the bland wild pears from the mountains, did not rush to pick them. Somehow, those pears, which even the birds could barely peck at, would diminish by five or six every evening. One morning, the earliest riser, Xiao Xian, even claimed to have seen about a dozen sparrows perched on the tree, pecking at some of the pears.

Zhu Shijun fished out his reading glasses from the breast pocket of his shirt and casually took a pear. Among the pears picked by Sister-in-law Lian, only a rare five or six were untouched by birds, and the one he held looked rather presentable. The fruit was undamaged, its skin had turned to yellowish-brown, and it appeared very full. Zhu Shijun gently pinched it with his fingernail, and clear pear juice flowed out. The fresh aroma of the pear immediately burst forth.

"Sister-in-law Lian, was this white pear picked from the pear tree?" Even someone like Zhu Shijun, an old man who had grown accustomed to eating exquisite fruits, was tempted by the refreshing and sweet pear scent; he took a bite. The pear flesh was extremely juicy and firm between his teeth, and after several bites, the core was still nowhere to be found. The fatigue Zhu Shijun had been feeling vanished after eating this pear.

"It was picked right from the pear tree. I don't know if it's just my eyes playing tricks, but the fruits from the same pear tree somehow look different. The sizes are almost the same, but when you weigh them in your hand, they feel much heavier." Sister-in-law Lian placed the pears next to her and started to wash them one by one.

Zhu Shijun was still holding the pear core in his hand and did not immediately throw it away; instead, he strolled behind the house.

He had just intended to look at the pear tree when his attention was drawn away by the bustling small figure nearby.

Zhu Shijun had never seen Zhu Xiaoxian with such a serious expression before. The little leather shoes she brought from Jing City were carefully placed in a spot where the dirty soil couldn't reach, shaded from the sun. Xiao Xian, barefoot, holding two wooden sticks in her hand, secured them between the thumb and index finger at the tiger's mouth of her right hand, bending at the waist, eyes wide with concentration. As she shifted her fingers, the two sticks moved like lively snakes emerging from their holes, nimbly turning over the soil and picking out stones, more adeptly than Zhu Shijun could manage with his hands.

The soil in Ge Village was mountain soil, and in past years, there had been several mudslides in the mountains, mixing a good amount of small rocks into the soil. There were many of them, and it would normally take at least a whole day to sort them out neatly. But she had already neatly picked them out, piling them into a small mountain next to her, and judging by the progress, she was already more than halfway done.

"Xiao Xian, stop and take a break," Mr. Zhu's throat tightened as he watched, bringing over a pear, peeling it, and suggesting that she rest.

He felt responsible for overworking his little granddaughter; at her age, Xiao Xian should be like other little girls in Jing City—wearing brand-new princess dresses, being coddled in the arms of their parents.

"I'm not tired. This bit of work is nothing compared to what I used to do," Xiao Xian was accustomed to running around Yunteng Mountain every day, picking up much more stones than she did today. Just as she was about to take the pear, she glanced at it, her hand stopped, her mouth agape, "Grandpa, this pear?"

(Requesting tickets, collections, and comments. How does this text really feel? There's no reaction and I'm anxious. This is a change in style for me, a bit anxious. Also, thank you to Shui Ren for the reward, I've always forgotten to express my gratitude, bowing.)