Chapter 56: Self-inflicted Trouble
That farce, played out before the entire village, was like a whirlwind of chicken feathers and rotten vegetable leaves; after it passed, the West Courtyard completely withered. Knowing they were in the wrong, and frightened by Chen Kangbo's desperate ruthlessness, the Qian and Li families carried their son back to town in disgrace that night, never daring to visit again.
Chen Kangnian and his wife, Chen Kangshu, had become the latest laughingstock in Pingjiang Village. Qian's pink bellyband, in particular, became the perfect fodder for gossip among the village women. Even Chen Kangshu's head seemed to glow with a faint green light.
The door to the west courtyard had been tightly shut for several days, and suppressed quarrels and sounds of thrashing could be heard from inside from time to time.
In sharp contrast to this is the vitality of the East Courtyard.
Chen Kangbo and his daughters were incredibly motivated. With the family's concerted efforts, the canal, which brought water from the back mountain, took shape in just three to five days. Cool mountain spring water gurgled along the newly dug earthen canal, irrigating the fifteen acres of land that had been trampled and now had been re-cultivated.
In the fields, Feng Lan and her daughters carefully sowed the radish and cabbage seeds they had bought from town. She treated the sweet potato vines like treasures, shoveling them one by one into the moist soil. The villagers, upon seeing this, were still buzzing with discussion.
"Boss Chen, is he determined to grow vegetables in this muddy land?"
"What can we grow from planting this now? It's a waste of time."
"I think they really don't have money to buy food, and they're relying on these vegetables to get through the winter. Poor thing."
Feng Lan and her family ignored all the gossip. They just buried their heads in their work, watching the once lifeless land regain its vitality under the nourishment of the spring water. Everyone's heart was filled with hope.
On the other side of the wall, in the west courtyard, the atmosphere was gloomy and gloomy, and they finally welcomed the reality that they had to face - the autumn harvest.
"Get up, everyone! Go harvest the rice!"
Early in the morning, Old Man Chen would knock loudly on his sons' doors with his pipe. His face, wrinkled like a dried bitter melon from days of shame, anger, and frustration, was etched in his bones.
Chen Kangzhong and Chen Kangshu got out of bed reluctantly, looking very reluctant. Chen Kangnian hid in the house, saying that his wrist had been bitten by his niece a few days ago and he needed to rest, refusing to go out.
In previous years, Chen Kangbo had handled almost all the work on these thirty acres of land by himself. At most, his brothers would just hang out in the fields during harvest time, slicing a few handfuls of rice and considering themselves doing their best. As for the subsequent threshing, drying, and storing, they had nothing to do with it.
Now that Chen Kangbo, the big enemy, is gone, it is their turn to fight on their own, and each of them acts as if they want to kill themselves.
Finally, amid the angry curses of Old Man Chen, Chen Kangzhong and Chen Kangshu, each carrying a broken sickle, lazily walked to the edge of their own field.
But when they saw the scene in the field, they were both dumbfounded.
"This...what's going on?" Chen Kangshu rubbed his eyes and looked at the scene in front of him in disbelief.
The rice fields they had so painstakingly tended for over six months were now sparse and leaning. The rice ears were shriveled and thin, many were even empty shells. The wind blew, and they seemed poised to fall to the ground at any moment. Their growth was so vigorous that even the untended weeds by the roadside seemed more vigorous than the fertile fields in the village.
"Damn it! He looked fine last month, how come he became like this after just one month?" Chen Kangzhong kicked the ridge of the field beside him, furious.
The two walked around the field, their fear growing. Even if they harvested all the thirty acres of land, the harvest wouldn't even be enough to pay the rent, let alone feed a family of more than a dozen people.
A thought arose in both of their minds at the same time.
"It must be the boss and his gang!" Uncle Chen Kang slapped his thigh and said viciously, "When we divided the family property, the land was fine. Now our land is like this, and their land is in full swing, with water diversion and renovations! They must have come in the middle of the night and tampered with our rice!"
"Yes! That must be it!" Chen Kangzhong also felt that he had found the reason, and he immediately became excited. "That woman in their family is very cunning! She must be holding a grudge and secretly doing bad things to us! Let's go! Let's settle the score with them! If they don't pay a hundred or eighty taels of silver, this matter will not be over!"
The two brothers threw away the sickles in their hands and rushed towards the east courtyard with great momentum.
"Open the door! Chen Kangbo! Feng Lan! You two black-hearted bastards, get out here!"
Chen Kangshu's loud voice once again broke the tranquility of the village.
The door to the east courtyard opened, and Feng Lan stood at the door with a calm face, looking at the two furious "Gods of Wealth" in front of her without even raising her eyebrows.
"What's up with you so early in the morning? Is the toilet at home clogged again?"
"Stop playing dumb with us!" Chen Kangzhong pointed at Feng Lan's nose, spit flying. "What are you two up to? You stayed up in the middle of the night and came to our fields to cause damage! You destroyed all our rice! You have to pay for it!"
"Compensation? Compensation for what?" Feng Lan felt like she had heard a huge joke.
"Compensate for the grain! Compensate for the silver!" Chen Kangshu yelled. "Our thirty acres of land were about to yield a good harvest, but now you've ruined everything! If you don't compensate us, we'll report you to the authorities! We'll sue you for intentionally destroying other people's property!"
The commotion here soon attracted many villagers who came to watch the fun.
Among them was Aunt Zhang, who had just delivered eggs to Feng Lan's family a few days ago. She was a quick-witted person, and when she heard this, she couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Uncle Kang, what you said is a bit unreasonable." Aunt Zhang folded her arms and leaned against her door frame. "How many times have you two been to your fields since the beginning of spring? Except for the day we split up, I saw your shadows in the fields. I haven't seen any of you go to the fields in more than a month. But your old man is always sighing alone in the fields."
Another villager chimed in, "That's right! There was a pest plague a while ago, and every household was busy getting rid of them, so I didn't see any movement in your west yard. Then there was a drought, and everyone was carrying water to irrigate the fields, but I didn't see you move. If you don't take care of this crop, how can it grow into a golden nugget on its own?"
"You...you know nothing!" Chen Kangshu's face turned red and white. "Our land is fertile, there's no need to treat it like that!"
"Wow, there's such a treasure in Pingjiang Village? How come we didn't know about it?"
The crowd erupted in laughter.
Chen Kangzhong and Chen Kangshu were bullied by the villagers, their faces turned purple, but they couldn't say a word in rebuttal.
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