Passing through the outermost part of the town, past the clusters of thatched huts belonging to farmers, Todd, in the afterglow of the setting sun, saw patch after patch of verdant fields separated by narrow paths.
Dejected and weary farmers passed by the priest, some bowing their heads, others bending their knees. Todd made the sign of the cross above their heads, uttered a few words of prayer, and then turned to walk back into the church.
The faint sound of weeping in the distance caught his attention. Todd walked to the side of the path and parted the grass.
A farmer in his early twenties and his wife sat on the ground in their field, weeping bitterly. Beside them, the seedlings of sword beans and chickpeas were yellowed, withered, and drooping towards the earth.
As the priest drew closer, the farmer, who guessed his identity from his clergy attire, quickly pulled his wife up and made her kneel down.
Ignoring them, Todd first squatted down, turned over the soil beneath him, glanced at the coastline at the end of his field of vision, and then at the lifeless seedlings, and roughly understood what had happened.
Muxi Town is close to the sea, and seawater can seep into the surrounding land through groundwater, making most of the land around the town saline-alkali land. It's okay to grow some alkali-tolerant plants, but if you grow crops that prefer neutral soil, you will naturally get no harvest.
The priest looked at the large expanse of withered seedlings in front of him, sighed, and said to the couple, "Replace the crop with wheat, and while there's still time, turn the soil over and start over as soon as possible."
“Father, we are out of money. These seedlings are what we borrowed from the landowner by mortgaging our last possessions.”
The farmer's words startled Todd. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "How many other farmers like you have suffered a complete crop failure in the spring?"
The couple exchanged a glance and gave Todd an answer that took him by surprise.
Almost all of them.
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