Change

The spring plowing season is approaching, and the village distributes seeds as usual.

Early that morning, the threshing ground was bustling with people. Villagers lined up early, their faces filled with anticipation for a good harvest.

Chen Bozhou helped his father and brother move bags of seeds from the warehouse and distribute them to households. As he worked, he would occasionally glance into the crowd, searching for that thin figure.

"What are you looking at?" His brother Chen Boyuan noticed his absent-mindedness and said, "Focus and don't scatter the seeds."

Chen Bozhou smiled awkwardly and was about to speak when he saw Yunwu approaching from a distance. He was still wearing his washed-out clothes, carrying a bamboo basket on his back, and quietly standing at the end of the line, completely out of tune with the noisy crowd around him.

"Brother, you take care of this place first. I'll go maintain order." Chen Bozhou made an excuse and walked towards the back of the team.

The seed distributor was the village clerk, wearing reading glasses, who slowly checked the list and distributed the seeds to the villagers one spoonful at a time. Shen Bozhou pretended to be casually inspecting the area, but his eyes never left the clouds.

When it was Yunwu's turn, the old clerk adjusted his glasses, found the Yun family's name on the roster, and slowly scooped out a spoonful of seeds from the bottom of the bag. Chen Bozhou noticed with his sharp eyes that the seeds in that spoonful were obviously drier than the previous ones and mixed with a lot of impurities.

"From the Yun family, take it." The old clerk poured the seeds into the cloth bag handed over by Yun Wu, his tone flat.

Yunwu looked down at the seeds, his lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he accepted it silently and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Chen Bozhou rushed forward, stopped Yunwu, reached out and grabbed a handful of seeds from his bag and examined them carefully. "These seeds are no good. They are shriveled and poor quality. How can they germinate?"

The old clerk frowned. "Bozhou boy, what do you know? The seeds are all sorted uniformly. How can there be a distinction between good and bad?"

"Then take a look at this!" Chen Bozhou turned around and grabbed a handful of seeds from his own bag that had not yet been distributed. Comparing the two, the difference was immediately apparent. The seeds from the Shen family were plump and golden, while the seeds in Yunwu's hand were shriveled and dark.

The surrounding villagers gathered around and whispered.

"The seeds distributed by the Yun family are indeed inferior..." someone whispered.

"Could it be that the old clerk saw that no one in the Yun family was stepping forward and deliberately gave him a bad grade?" another guessed.

The old clerk's face flushed. "Nonsense! The seeds all came from the same warehouse. Maybe there were some impurities at the bottom of the bag. What's the big deal?"

Chen Bozhou ignored him and walked straight to his own seed bag. He scooped a full spoonful of plump seeds and poured them into Yunwu's cloth bag without saying a word. He also poured Yunwu's original inferior seeds back into the public bag.

"What are you doing?" The old clerk was so angry that his beard was shaking.

"Since the seeds are from the same warehouse, there's no harm in exchanging them." Chen Bozhou said loudly, "The Yunwu family has less land and needs better seeds. My family has more land, so we don't care about this little bit."

As he spoke, he winked at Yunwu and lowered his voice: "Put it away quickly, don't let anyone take it away again."

Yunwu stared at him blankly, the cloth bag in his hand heavy with seeds gleaming golden in the sunlight. His lips trembled slightly, and he wanted to say something, but no words came out.

"Let's go. I'll take you back." Chen Bozhou patted his shoulder naturally, completely ignoring the old clerk's gloomy face and the surprised eyes of the villagers behind him.

The two men left the threshing ground one after the other, and only after turning the bend in the village road and making sure that no one saw them did Chen Bozhou slow down his pace and walk side by side with Yunwu.

"Thank you." Yunwu said softly, her voice almost inaudible.

"What are you thanking me for?" Chen Bozhou grinned. "Those seeds shouldn't have been given to you. The old clerk is a bully. Seeing that my father and brother are here, he doesn't dare to do anything bad to my family, so he only picks on the weak."

Yunwu looked down at the seeds in her arms, her fingers gently stroking the plump grains. "Actually...it's been like this in previous years."

Chen Bozhou paused. "What do you mean? They also gave you seeds in previous years?"

Yunwu nodded gently: "Grandma said that our family has little land, and the harvest will not have much impact on the village. The good seeds should be left to those with more land."

"What kind of logic is this!" Chen Bozhou said angrily, "When you have less land, you need better seeds. No wonder your harvest is always bad..."

He suddenly stopped, realizing he had said the wrong thing. Yunwu lowered his head even more, and his ears turned red.

"That's not what I meant..." Chen Bozhou hurriedly explained, "I meant that as long as I'm here, no one will bully you again."

Yunwu raised her head, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes: "Why are you so nice to me?"

Chen Bozhou was startled by the question, then he scratched his head and smiled: "You are my friend, if I don't treat you well, who else can I treat well?"

Friend. This word came out of Chen Bozhou's mouth again, more naturally and more firmly than the last time.

Yunwu was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "I know a piece of wasteland with excellent soil, but it's far from a water source, so no one is willing to cultivate it. If we could bring water there, the harvest would be good."

"Really? Where is it?" Chen Bozhou became interested.

"It's at the foot of the back mountain, not far from your sloping land." Yunwu said, "I'll take you there tomorrow."

"Great!" Chen Bozhou was overjoyed. Isn't this exactly the opportunity he had been looking forward to getting along with the clouds and fog?

After sending Yunwu home, Chen Bozhou walked back humming a little tune. As soon as he entered the house, he saw his father sitting in the yard with a gloomy face.

"I heard that you were in the limelight in the threshing ground today?" Village Chief Shen said coldly.

Chen Bozhou's heart tightened, but he pretended not to care: "Who is so talkative? Is this a small matter worth complaining about?"

"It's a small matter?" Village Chief Shen raised his voice. "You contradicted the old clerk in front of the whole village and changed the seeds without permission. You call this a small matter?"

"That seed isn't fair!" Chen Bozhou was unconvinced. "The Yun family gets nothing. Why?"

Chen Boyuan came out of the house and interrupted, "Bozhou, the old clerk is a village elder. It's really inappropriate for you to embarrass him in public. As for the seeds... maybe there were a few impurities at the bottom of the bag. It wasn't intentional."

"Brother, even you say that?" Chen Bozhou looked at his brother in disbelief. "You all know clearly that it's because no one in the Yunwu family stands up for them that you keep bullying them, an orphan and a widow!"

"Shut up!" Village Chief Shen slammed the table and stood up. "What do you mean by bullying? Every household in the village gets the same amount of seeds! The Yun family has less land, so naturally they get less. That's the rule!"

"The rule is to give people inferior seeds?" Chen Bozhou refused to give in.

The father and son were facing each other in a tense standoff. Chen Boyuan quickly tried to smooth things over, "Dad, calm down. Bozhou was acting out of kindness and was just upset." He turned to his brother and said, "But Bozhou, you have to be methodical. How will the old clerk cope with life in the village if you do this?"

Chen Bozhou pursed his lips and fell silent. He knew his brother was right, but the thought of Yunwu silently accepting the inferior seeds made him feel gloomy.

"I think you've been bewitched by that Yun family kid!" Village Chief Shen stood up, flicking his sleeves. "From now on, don't go to the west end of the village anymore!"

"father!"

"No need to say more!" Village Chief Shen interrupted him and turned to go into the house.

Chen Boyuan patted his brother's shoulder and whispered, "Dad is just angry, he'll be fine in a few days. But Bozhou, that Yunwu... you've really been too close to him. There's already gossip in the village that you've fallen for a man. How can that be?"

Chen Bozhou suddenly looked up: "Who is gossiping?"

"You don't have to worry about this." Chen Boyuan sighed, "Anyway, be careful."

That night, Chen Bozhou lay in bed, tossing and turning. He thought of Yunwu's cool features, the glint in his eyes when he took the good seeds, and the calm tone in his voice when he said, "I have no friends."

"Who cares about the gossip?" Chen Bozhou muttered to himself, having already made up his mind.

At dawn the next day, Chen Bozhou slipped out of his house and headed straight for the west end of the village. Yunwu was already waiting there, and when she saw him coming, she asked no questions but silently led him towards the back mountain.

After passing through a bamboo forest, the view suddenly opened up. It was a gentle slope facing the sun, the soil was dark and fertile, and the sound of a stream could be heard in the distance.

"Right here." Yunwu squatted down, picked up a handful of soil and twisted it in his hands. "Look, this is excellent humus soil. Everything you plant will grow well."

Chen Bozhou followed his example and grabbed a handful of soil. It was indeed soft and fertile. "How could such good land be left barren?"

"It's inconvenient to get water." Yunwu pointed to the stream in the distance. "We have to go around that rocky beach. It takes an incense stick of time to carry a bucket of water."

Chen Bozhou looked around and thought quickly in his mind: "What if we dig a small canal from upstream to bring water in?"

Yunwu's eyes lit up slightly. "I thought so too. But it's a big project, and I can't do it alone."

"Don't you still have me?" Chen Bozhou patted his chest, "Let's do it together!"

Yunwu looked at him. In the morning light, a clear smile finally appeared in her eyes that were always calm and peaceful: "Okay."

At that moment, Chen Bozhou felt that his father's scolding and the gossip in the village were no longer important.

He squatted down, planning the canal's route with the clouds and mist. The two young men's heads were almost touching. The sunlight fell on them, stretching their shadows very long, as if they were closely connected.

Behind the bamboo forest not far away, Chen Boyuan, who came to look for someone on his father's orders, watched this scene quietly. Finally, he sighed, turned around and left quietly.