Chapter 29: Thorns in the Dark and Gaps in the Heart
# Chapter 29: Thorns in the Dark and Gaps in the Heart
The stench of decay from the old variety base hadn't yet dissipated when a figure appeared beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance. As Lin Xiaoman passed by, carrying an empty bucket, the figure was looking up to touch the tree's rough bark, the hem of his off-white windbreaker gently lifted by the wind. It wasn't until the figure turned around that Lin Xiaoman recognized it as Su Qing.
After not seeing each other for two years, Su Qing had grown thinner, with a touch of light brown eyeshadow on the ends of her brows. She wasn't as flamboyant as before, but her eyes were like cotton soaked in cold water, soft and covered with thorns. She took two steps towards Lin Xiaoman, her lips curved gently, and her tone was like chatting casually, "Ms. Lin, long time no see. A while ago, I heard from the convenience store owner in town that the old varieties in Qingxi Village have suffered from heat disease, and most of the leaves have died. I thought I might be able to help."
Lin Xiaoman tightened her grip on the bucket rope, but her fingertips did not pinch into her palm. She just said softly, "Thank you for your concern. We are already looking for a solution. We won't bother you." Her tone was calm, but she quietly took half a step back, keeping a polite distance.
"Don't be so formal." Su Qing pulled a dark blue folder from her bag and gently circled the cover of "Summary of Heat-Resistant Crop Cultivation Technology." "My dad's company was involved in agricultural research and development in its early years. This document even lists the specific parameters for soil moisture regulation and leaf cooling. It's more detailed than the agricultural manuals you use today." She paused, her gaze turning towards the base. Her voice lowered, with an earnest, "for the greater good" tone. "I knew back then how dedicated Chen Wang was to the old varieties. Now the seedlings are almost dead. We can't let his hard work go to waste because of our past problems, can we?"
Just as he finished speaking, Chen Wang rode over on an electric tricycle, pulling a sunshade net. The net in the truck bed was covered in mud, and a freshly printed soil test report hung on the handlebars. Seeing Su Qing, he stepped on the brake too quickly, and the report fell to the ground. "Why are you here?"
Su Qing bent down to help him pick up the reports. Her fingertips accidentally brushed the back of his hand, then she immediately pulled them back. She pretended to frantically tidy up her hair, her eyes rimmed with a faint red. "I just got out last week. I've been thinking a lot in there. I was too obsessed with things before." She handed him the folder and picked up the canvas bag at her feet with her other hand. "Here's a batch of brand new sunshade nets, leftover from my dad's company's warehouse. They have a high SPF. I'll give them to you for now, as an emergency measure. It's not really a favor, but just... atonement."
Lin Xiaoman, standing nearby, observed the "unintentional" touch and noticed the angle Su Qing had deliberately adjusted when handing the net—perfectly preventing Chen Wang from refusing with one hand. She said nothing, merely lowering her head to adjust the hem of her clothes. Her fingertips brushed against the pearwood ring her grandfather had left her, silently memorizing the detail.
Chen Wang took the folder and canvas bag, his fingertips clenching tightly. "Leave the information and the website behind you, and go. Don't come back again."
Su Qing didn't say anything more. When she turned around, she whispered to Lin Xiaoman, "Miss Lin, the old varieties have shallow roots. Don't water them at noon on hot days, or the roots will rot easily. Chen Wang always couldn't remember this before, so you have to keep a close eye on him." These words sounded like an ordinary reminder, but Lin Xiaoman heard the hidden meaning. She said "hmm" softly and didn't respond. After Su Qing left, she silently wrote the five words "Don't water at noon" in the blank space of her grandfather's notes.
Over the next few days, Su Qing's "repentance" was impeccable. She didn't visit again, but instead sent a batch of biofertilizer via courier from the town, with the note, "Suitable for improving soil in hot weather. Safety confirmed by friends at the Agricultural Science Institute." She even helped Chen Wang contact a senior expert at the county Agricultural Science Institute. Next to the expert's contact information on WeChat, she added, "Professor Li specializes in stress resistance research for established varieties. Remember to mention my name; he'll take note."
While Chen Wang and the experts were poring over materials in their makeshift office, Lin Xiaoman was leading villagers in clearing diseased plants and wrapping old pear trees with moisturizing cloths. Occasionally, as she passed by the office, she'd hear Chen Wang on the phone. His tone was polite: "Could you please reconfirm the ratio of the cooling agent... Okay, thank you." After hanging up, Chen Wang would mention, "Su Qing said Professor Li could send a technician next week." Lin Xiaoman simply nodded and handed him a glass of warm lemon water: "You have a weak stomach, so don't always drink iced water. Try freshly brewed water with some mint."
The disagreement between the two began with a discussion of an irrigation plan, but there was no tension.
That evening, Chen Wang sat on the edge of the field with his documents and several blueprints spread out beside him. "According to the parameters Su Qing gave me, we'll start using drip irrigation plus foliar spray tomorrow. This will reduce water evaporation. Professor Li also said this plan is feasible."
Lin Xiaoman sat down next to him, flipping through her grandfather's planting notes. Her fingertips pointed to a note on a page—a note written in red pen by her grandfather: "Old varieties, after being stressed by high temperatures, have weak root water absorption capacity. Foliar spraying needs to be controlled; excessive amounts can easily cause downy mildew." She whispered, "Look at what Grandpa has written. Our seedlings have just experienced a blight, and their roots haven't fully recovered yet. If we spray the entire greenhouse directly, it might be too late if something goes wrong. How about this: We start with two pilot plots, then check the leaves in three days. If there are no problems, we can gradually expand the practice."
Chen Wang stared at the comments in his notebook and was silent for a few seconds. "You're right, I was too impatient." He reached out to touch Lin Xiaoman's hair, then withdrew his hand and took a sip from the kettle. "As for Su Qing... I'll tell her not to rush the technicians and wait until the pilot test results come out."
Lin Xiaoman didn't respond, simply helping him straighten out the wind-blown drawings. She knew Chen Wang was anxious to save the old varieties, and she also understood that Su Qing's thoughtfulness was gradually closing the gap between them, but she kept it to herself—she was used to hiding her worries in the details, like quietly marking the two seedling beds in the pilot plot, checking them once every morning and evening to record the degree of leaf expansion.
The crisis arrived quietly on the morning of the fifth day. Lin Xiaoman went to check on the pilot seedlings as usual. As she approached the nursery, she was struck by a pungent, strange odor. She hurried inside and saw the seedlings in the tanks were black and rotten, their stems crumbling at the slightest touch. Next to them lay an empty bottle of cooling agent—the label had been torn, leaving only a pale green liquid clinging to the bottle. She squatted down, dipped her fingertip in the liquid, and sniffed it. It wasn't the mild scent recommended by the agricultural science institute, but rather a pungent, chemical odor.
Even more depressing was the discovery that most of the information Chen Wang had placed on his desk was missing, including crucial pages labeled "Coolant Ratio Adjustment" and "Emergency Disease Treatment." She remained calm, taking photos of the scene with her phone and carefully storing the empty bottles in a plastic bag before heading toward the village entrance. She knew Chen Wang had gone to see Su Qing early that morning to verify the vague parameters in the information.
When they reached the old locust tree, Chen Wang and Su Qing were standing by a stone bench. Su Qing was holding the missing information and pointing to a point on the blueprint. Chen Wang leaned forward slightly, listening attentively. Lin Xiaoman didn't approach immediately, but stood behind the tree, waiting for Su Qing to turn and leave before slowly approaching.
"Chen Wang," her voice was soft but firm, "There's a problem with the seedlings in the nursery. The cooling agent doesn't smell right, and the key ratio page in the documentation is missing. When you checked with Su Qing just now, did she mention the source of the cooling agent, or was there a missing page in the documentation?"
Chen Wang was stunned for a moment before he realized, "She didn't say there was a problem with the cooling agent. She just said there were a few blurry pages in the information and asked me to bring it over so she could help fill it in..." He looked at the plastic bag in Lin Xiaoman's hand, his face gradually darkening, "Did she do it?"
"We're not sure yet, but we need to find out." Lin Xiaoman handed over the photos on his phone. "Look at the degree of rot on the seedlings. It doesn't look like a normal disease, but more like they were burned by an overdose of pesticides. Let's send the remaining cooling agent for testing first, and then adjust the surveillance near the nursery. Don't jump to conclusions yet."
Her calmness reassured Chen Wang. As the two of them returned to the base, Lin Xiaoman reminded them, "Don't tell the villagers it might have been Su Qing's doing, or they'll panic. Treat it like a normal disease first: clean the diseased plants, disinfect the cultivation tanks, and wait for the test results."
In the evening, Grandma Zhang came running over with a miniature camera: "Xiaoman, I picked it up from the grass outside the shed when I was weeding. It's facing the cultivation tank!" Chen Wang quickly called up the video - in the picture, Su Qing was wearing a mask and pouring coolant. When she was taking the information, she "accidentally" rubbed it against the door frame, leaving half a lipstick mark, the color was exactly the same as the one she applied today.
The truth was before him, and Chen Wang's fists turned white. "I trusted her too much."
Lin Xiaoman patted his arm gently, her tone without blame, only understanding: "I know you are doing this for the good of the Miao, but Su Qing is so good at hiding her thoughts that she even used 'filling in the information' as a pretext. Now is not the time to blame yourself, we must quickly find a way to save the remaining Miao."
But before they could breathe a sigh of relief, Uncle Li suddenly shouted, "Look at the sky! Why is it so red?"
Dark red clouds drifted across the sky, like a layer of dirty glass. An agricultural expert called, his voice trembling with anxiety: "A strong band of ultraviolet radiation is arriving tonight! Older varieties can't withstand it, so quickly cover them with thick shade netting!"
Chen Wang and Lin Xiaoman hurried to move the sunshade netting that Su Qing had sent. Lin Xiaoman unfolded a piece and ran her fingertips over the coating on the netting. Suddenly, she paused. "Chen Wang, look here—" She pointed at the seams at the edge of the netting. "The coating seems uneven. The edges are thinner than the middle. Let's check a few more rolls and then add a layer of old netting in the corner of the shed to be safe."
Her meticulousness paid off; several rolls of netting had flaws in the coating around their edges. As the two of them busied themselves reinforcing the sunshade netting, Lin Xiaoman didn't say anything—when she'd touched the coating just now, her fingertips had gotten a bit of light green powder, a color similar to the cooling agent she'd used that morning.
On a distant hillside, Su Qing stood in the shadows of the trees, watching the two men busy at work at the base. Clutching her phone, she spoke calmly, as if describing the weather. "That batch of netting had a photosensitizer added to its coating. It will break down under strong ultraviolet light. It won't last more than two hours." She paused, then sent a text message to an anonymous number: "As planned, after the radiation belt passes, spread the news that 'Chen Wang misused inferior netting.'"
As the night deepened, dark clouds gathered even lower. Chen Wang and Lin Xiaoman sat on the edge of a field, hands clasped tightly together. The seedlings in the greenhouse, sheltered by two layers of shade netting, were temporarily safe. Lin Xiaoman whispered, "Whatever comes next, we'll investigate and handle it together." Chen Wang nodded and looked down at her. In the moonlight, her eyes were firm yet gentle. She clutched the bag of pale green powder in her hand, like the key to a mystery, quiet yet powerful.
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