In early March, the village bustled with the fervor of planting season.
The first task was cultivating their own seedling fields.
Rice undergoes four stages from sowing to harvest. First comes soaking the seeds, followed by planting.
Before sowing, the seeds were wrapped in rice straw and soaked in water. Once sprouted, they were scattered densely into the finely tilled, muddy paddy fields—termed seedling beds.
After the seedlings grow tall in the nursery field for about a month, they are uprooted and transplanted into other paddy fields.
After transplanting, the rice matures in autumn and is ready for harvest.
The third lunar month is the prime time for sowing.
Qin Xiaoman and Du Heng scattered the sprouted rice seeds into the seedling field. This year’s warm weather ensured a high germination rate, with nearly all the soaked seeds sprouting.
Preparing an acre of seedling paddies took less than half a day.
Sowing the seedlings wasn’t laborious, but the worry was that the weather might turn cold after sowing, and there was also fear of insect damage.
These days, there was no plastic sheeting to cover the fields, to keep the seedlings warm and prevent birds from hopping in to eat them.
Especially in the days right after sowing, when the rice had just sprouted its tender white shoots, birds would peck at them.
At such times, people had to stand guard, shooing away approaching birds. But humans couldn’t stay in the fields forever. So, across the open fields, many scarecrows appeared. Standing in the earth, swaying in the wind, they scared the birds away.
“Man Ge’er, with the seedlings you two cultivated this year—enough for an acre—you’ll be planting quite a few fields. If my seedlings aren’t sufficient later, I might have to borrow some from you.”
“My husband says even after thinning them out, we’re not sure if there’ll be enough to transplant. We won’t be able to plant that many fields.”
“One acre’s worth of seedlings can be transplanted across twenty or thirty acres. Your family has twenty acres, right? That should be more than enough. Besides, you can’t plant the seedlings too densely when transplanting them. Otherwise, they’ll shade each other out, and with insufficient soil fertility, the harvest won’t be good.”
The middle-aged man who’d chimed in grinned sheepishly. “You’re not just making excuses to avoid lending seedlings to your uncle, are you? I was only joking. You’re taking things too seriously, kid!”
The middle-aged man chuckled, tilting his chin up slightly.
Watching the young couple finish transplanting the seedlings and then busily working the field beside the paddy, his sharp eyes immediately spotted the sacks of rapeseed. Barefoot, he walked over from the field.
“This is Uncle Kong.”
Though annoyed by the approaching middle-aged man, Qin Xiaoman still introduced him to Du Heng.
Du Heng greeted him politely.
“Well, well, isn’t this our scholar? Never thought you’d be working the fields.” Kong Zhaoxiang edged closer. “Planting rapeseed again this year? That’s quite something.”
He grabbed a handful of seeds from the sack. “Wow, these seeds look great! Did you buy them in town or save them from last year?”
“Bought them in town,” Du Heng replied honestly. A man with any sense of decency wouldn’t ask for someone else’s seeds.
Kong Zhaoxiang ignored him, and as he spoke, he tried to slip the seeds he’d grabbed into his own pocket. “We’ve never grown rapeseed at our place. I’ll scatter a couple seeds this year and see how it goes.”
“If you want to plant some, Uncle, you’d better hurry and buy some seeds. If you miss the season, it won’t grow.”
Qin Xiaoman swiftly grabbed Kong Zhaoxiang’s hand and wouldn’t let go.
Kong Zhaoxiang’s hand was pinched painfully, forcing him to grit his teeth and drop the seeds back into the bag.
Only then did Xiaoman release his hand. Kong Zhaoxiang quickly shook his hand free: “You’ve got a grip like an ox! I was just teasing to see how serious you are. We’re family, or at least neighbors—and you’re being so stingy!”
The man grumbled as he retreated back to his own rice paddies to continue working.
Du Heng frowned. “So this is the stingy, penny-pinching uncle you mentioned earlier?”
“That’s him for sure. And he lives so close to our place—annoying as hell. We’d better keep a close eye on our fields. Who knows, he might come steal our seedlings.”
Du Heng chuckled at the sight of the puffed-up lad: “I don’t believe it.”
“That’s because you haven’t witnessed their family’s behaviour. They’re lazy and always looking for a bargain,” Qin Xiaoman grumbled. “Everyone else is busy sowing rice seeds, yet he’s still there harrowing the paddy field.”
“Just look at their paddies—barely any water in them. You couldn’t even call them paddies, more like dry fields. Every year when the harvest’s poor, they just grumble and complain, never stopping to think why it’s poor.”
Du Heng stroked Qin Xiaoman’s back. “There, there. Don’t get worked up over others. I’ll prepare the soil so you can sow the vegetable seeds.”
“Mm.”
Qin Xiaoman scattered the seeds, and Du Heng covered them with a layer of fine, light soil.
They finished their work later that day and headed home.
After spring began, the days grew longer. Qin Xiaoman urged Du Heng back to the house early to sleep. Once the fieldwork was done, there was still plenty to occupy the couple.
Two days passed, and one night a spring rain fell. It drizzled steadily for over an hour.
The next morning, Qin Xiaoman awoke as the light streamed through the window.
“The piglet we reserved before the New Year is ready to leave the pen. I’ll go fetch it today.”
Qin Xiaoman said to Du Heng as she dressed that morning.
Du Heng yawned, giving her waist a gentle pinch. “Drive the oxen to haul it then. It can’t be that heavy.”
Qin Xiaoman drew back slightly, catching Du Heng’s slender hand. “My back still aches. Last night was only marginally better than before.”
“Is that so? Some people last night didn’t say the same.”
Qin Xiaoman didn’t argue. His eyes darted around before he nuzzled against Du Heng’s chest. “Next time, I’ll be on top.”
“Eh?”
Du Heng sat up at the sound, studying Qin Xiaoman’s earnest expression. After a moment’s hesitation, he curved his lips into a smile.
Seems he’s tasted the sweetness of it, this lad.
“Eh what? Just say yes or no.”
Du Heng pinched Qin Xiaoman’s cheek. “Yes.”
Qin Xiaoman, delighted by his agreement, planted a kiss on Du Heng’s forehead. “Get up!”
After breakfast, the pair drove their oxcart to a villager’s home and purchased a pair of suckling piglets, spending nearly a thousand cash coins.
“Raise these two piglets until New Year, fatten them up, and sell them. Not only will we recoup our costs, but we’ll make a tidy profit too. ”
In previous years, he’d only kept one pig. This year, with more land cultivated and additional livestock, he felt rather pleased with himself.
“You could make some more sausages for the New Year. Second Uncle mentioned he bumped into our cousin in town recently, and he said the sausages we gave him at the start of the year were delicious.”
“Very well.”
As they spoke, Du Heng noticed the water in the field beside the main road had risen slightly since the rain. “I’ll go check on our rice seedlings.”
“Yesterday’s light shower won’t cause any trouble.”
Though Qin Xiaoman said this, he still halted the oxen and followed Du Heng to inspect the seedlings.
“Good heavens! How did the water in the field become so shallow!”
Qin Xiaoman cried out before even reaching the field’s edge. From afar, he saw the water in their paddy was so shallow it barely covered the mud. Unconvinced, he quickened his pace to the embankment and realised he hadn’t mistaken it.
“It rained last night, yet how come the water in the field isn’t more, but less instead!” ”
“Well, that’s because your field had too much water and washed away the embankment.”
A voice called out. Qin Xiaoman then saw a couple emerge from the bend of the field below, sowing rice seeds. They were his aunt and uncle.
Qin Xiaoman noticed their field was still waterlogged, at least three knuckles deep.
“You dug a hole in my embankment, letting water flow into your field!”
Du Heng stared at the gap where the water was escaping, hastily shovelling mud to plug it. Though he couldn’t tell if it had been deliberately breached by human hands or washed away by the water, that little spring rain certainly wasn’t enough to collapse the embankment.
While he was inspecting the embankment, Qin Xiaoman had already turned red in the face and neck. Rolling up his sleeves, he leapt down into the lower field.
“How dare you dig my embankment! I shan’t let this rest!”
“Hey! You lad, you’d better have proof for what you’re saying. Did you actually see me digging your embankment!?”
The couple, who had been so fierce moments before, instantly backed down at the sight of Xiao Man leaping into the field. They scrambled backwards. “Brother Man, you wouldn’t dare hit us! I… I’m telling you, if you lay a finger on us, I’ll… Du Heng, Du Heng, grab your brother Man!”
“Xiao Man, don’t do it!”
Du Heng hurried round to the field, wrapping his arms tightly around the lad’s waist. The boy was seething, brimming with pent-up fury. Had Du Heng not held him fast, fists would surely have flown.
Seeing Qin Xiao Man looking like a red-eyed calf, the couple were genuinely unsettled. Fortunately, the rice seeds had been sown, providing them with a convenient excuse to leave swiftly.
“What sort of people are these, resorting to violence against their own kin? Come, let’s be off.”
Qin Xiaoman watched the couple depart, then wrenched free from Du Heng’s grasp. “What are you doing? It’s plain as day they’re the ones behind this! If we don’t teach them a lesson, they’ll only grow bolder!”
Du Heng took Qin Xiaoman’s hand and explained patiently, “If you really punch them, they’ll turn it around on us. We might even end up paying their medical bills.”
“I’m just furious! People like that deserve a good thumping!”
Qin Xiaoman swung his foot, kicking the air several times in the direction the couple had gone.
“What goes around comes around. Diverting water to their own fields won’t necessarily be a blessing.”
Du Heng guided Qin Xiaoman up the embankment. The oncoming wind chilled their faces.
The paddy field held deep water. The scattered rice seeds hadn’t fully settled to the bottom. The gusts rippled the surface, gathering the seeds into piles where they lay.
Qin Xiaoman stared blankly, then glanced sideways at Du Heng.
“If he hadn’t stolen water from our fields, he wouldn’t have suffered this disaster,” Du Heng chuckled. “Let them fret about it.”
He climbed up to the next terraced field and cut a small opening in their own plot.
Fortunately, both fields belong to us, and the seedling bed is on the lower one. If water is scarce, we can divert it from the upper terrace.
Otherwise, we’d have to fetch water from the river. The Kongs really are spiteful.
“Hold your horses. Ours were only sown at sunset; the roots haven’t taken hold yet.”
“I made the opening at the very edge; it won’t wash away the rice seeds.”
The pair watched as the water slowly flowed into the seedling field, filling it to a knuckle’s depth before sealing the opening.
The Kongs weren’t among the village’s most industrious farmers. When no rain fell in the two or three days after sowing, they spotted Qin Xiaoman and Du Heng erecting three or four scarecrows in the seedling field and adjacent plots.
Du Heng’s scarecrows were lifelike, draped with scraps of lightweight cloth that fluttered high in the slightest breeze, deterring even sparrows from venturing near.
Taking advantage of this, the Kongs didn’t check on their seedlings until four or five days after sowing.
Upon reaching the field’s edge, he bellowed: “Why on earth have our seedlings grown like this?!”
Villagers hoeing and tending their plots heard the coarse shout and saw Kong Zhaoxiang leaping and screaming atop his own field ridge, looking every bit a mad beast.
The crowd exchanged puzzled glances. “There’s been no rain or scorching sun. What on earth is Zhaoxiang shouting about?”
The village headman, sowing seeds nearby, paused his hoe and asked, “Zhaoxiang, what’s the matter?”
The man had no mind to answer, stomping his feet incessantly before his own field ridge.
“What on earth is this?”
Seeing no response, the village head dropped his tools and went to investigate. The villagers, seeing their leader approach, hurried over to join the commotion.
“Good heavens! Zhaoxiang, why are your rice seedlings all bunched together? Did you not scatter the seeds evenly?”
Villagers crowded the field embankment. In the waterlogged hollows of the Kong family’s paddy, clusters of rice seedlings had formed. Springtime seeds, already sprouted, took root swiftly in the mud. Now, four or five days on, the young rice plants had sunk deep into the soil.
While vigorous growth was generally welcome, such dense clustering hindered the seedlings’ development and would complicate transplanting later.
Kong Zhaoxiang stamped his foot in frustration. “Even if my hands were shaking, I couldn’t have scattered them this unevenly!”
“That’s not necessarily true, you know.”
Qin Xiaoman came to inspect his own seedling field. Spotting a crowd gathered on his uncle’s embankment from afar, he knew Kong Zhaoxiang had finally noticed the irregular growth in his own seedlings.
He hurried over, dragging Du Heng along, afraid of missing the commotion.
“It’s you! You’re the one who ruined my seedlings!”
Kong Zhaoxiang watched Qin Xiaoman approach with his arms folded, looking like he was here for the show. He lunged forward, intent on grabbing Qin Xiaoman.
“Zhaoxiang, what on earth are you doing?”
The village headman barked, as two strapping young men seized Kong Zhaoxiang to restrain him.
Du Heng instinctively grabbed Qin Xiaoman too. Not that he feared Kong’s son might lash out at her, but rather that Xiaoman might fly into a rage and give him a proper thrashing.
Xiaoman showed no fear: “I’d love to have the skill to make you look like that! How else would I gather the scattered rice grains in the field? Surely not by raking them up one shovelful at a time?”
The crowd agreed it was implausible. Even if there were genuine grievances, who would waste time during the busy farming season on such pointless mischief?
For a moment, all eyes turned reproachfully towards Kong Zhaoxiang. Man’s temper was notoriously foul, and for an elder to quarrel thus was hardly becoming. Besides, this matter had nothing to do with Xiao Man.
It was Uncle Wufu, the village’s seasoned farmer, who finally spoke, squatting on the field’s edge and stirring the water with his hand. “Zhaoxiang, the water in your seedling field is far too deep. Was it windy when you sowed? Likely the seeds didn’t settle properly during broadcast sowing. The wind churned the water, gathering them all together.”
“What?”
Hearing the old farmer’s words, Kong Zhaoxiang broke down in tears: “What about my seedlings then?”
“Why not use a fine-toothed rake to separate the clumped seedlings? It’s only been sown recently.”
“That won’t do! They’ve already taken root in the mud. Though not deeply, the rake will damage the roots. Even if separated, they might not grow back.”
The villagers chattered away, offering suggestions for ages without reaching any conclusion.
The seedling field was crucial for spring ploughing, but since it wasn’t their own trouble, everyone merely offered useless advice without genuine concern.
Seeing Kong Zhaoxiang wailing alone, Uncle Wufu finally said, “It’s probably hopeless. We can’t risk disturbing the seeds in this field. Since there’s still time, we’d better hurry and sow another field with rice seeds.” “It’s likely a lost cause. We dare not risk disturbing the seeds already sown in this field. Since there’s still time, we should quickly prepare another plot for broadcasting seeds.”
“Never mind that we have but a few acres available. Preparing a new field for broadcasting seeds will cost money, and we have so little rice to spare.”
The village head chimed in: “Who told you to flood the seedling field so heavily? The weather’s been unfavourable for sowing too.”
“Besides, it’s been days since sowing began. Why only notice it today? You never bother to keep an eye on things.”
Kong Zhaoxiang knew he’d been wronged, feeling both regretful and heartbroken, yet unwilling to concede: ” Man, you come to check your own paddies every day. Seeing my seedlings in trouble, you didn’t say a word. You don’t treat me like family!”
Qin Xiaoman sneered coldly: “Uncle, are you being reasonable? Whose field is this anyway? You can’t look after your own properly, yet you blame others. Farm work’s been hectic lately—I barely glance at my own seedlings. Who’s got time to watch over yours?”
“Quite right, Zhaoxiang. Even in your haste, you shouldn’t speak like that. No one’s obligated to guard your fields.”
The villagers, unusually, sided with Qin Xiaoman for once.
After much persuasion from the others, Qin Xiaoman squeezed in to offer a couple of insincere words of appeasement.
Seeing Qin Xiaoman only made Kong Zhaoxiang’s anger flare further, but with everyone present, he couldn’t very well say anything.
Not only would this season’s rice crop be lost, but it would likely delay the planting season.
Bai Lan had nowhere to vent his frustration, so, urged by everyone, he went to open new fields to sow more seeds.