CHAPTER 119: 119 ENVY

Ma Changshun nodded, "If it really works, I’ll do it this way next year too."

Although he is the group leader, he still has to do his share, and his family also has one hundred acres of land.

"You’re not thinning the seedlings?"

"We paid extra attention when planting. So we didn’t thin them, there’s just too much land."

Ma Changshun had a look and found this method worked. Even though they were just two kids, their crops were better than anyone else’s.

He really didn’t expect it, and he was pondering that the remaining fifty acres they have together might not even get planted.

After bidding Ma Changshun farewell, the two began weeding, as this chore couldn’t be avoided because the land still wasn’t considered top-notch farmland. There were particularly a lot of wild grasses.

Everyone knows that these wild grasses can’t be easily weeded out, but they have to go bit by bit, given that these two hundred acres need to be weeded stroke by stroke.

This way, their daily routine became regular, weeding during the day and cultivating at night.

But half the time, Su Yuanyuan would just sleep, feeling that this was what true rest was.

Tan Shaoting was now also relaxed. Knowing he couldn’t make any breakthroughs, he just stuck to his daily cultivation, and he also tried talisman painting, but never succeeded.

By the end of July, the corn stalks had grown over a meter tall, so they stopped weeding and instead dismantled the mulch from the potato and sweet potato ridges, fearing that during the three hottest periods, the plants would suffocate and die from the heat.

Next door lived a family of four, with the two kids being about eight or nine years old.

They looked on in confusion as the two were removing the mulch. They thought they’d do it the same way next year, so why were they taking it off?

The pair even weeded the grass under the mulch. It took half a month before they finally finished with all the potatoes and sweet potatoes.

At night, they watered the fields, and now Su Yuanyuan realized that the water pit, being seven or eight meters deep, didn’t have much water left.

"It’ll be the same next year," Tan Shaoting shook his head and said.

"This year, we’ll give half the harvest to the farm and sell the rest?"

Tan Shaoting looked at the excited little girl and nodded with a smile.

"Sure, let’s go outside. This time the disaster is widespread."

Su Yuanyuan nodded. If they didn’t stay home during winter, there wasn’t much to do anyway. They used to think they could cultivate, but now they saw it wasn’t doable. Their current cultivation was probably the highest it could go, and they truly couldn’t progress further.

In the yard, the chives were cut batch after batch, and the greens were also collected. They could all be converted to money.

They still went through the motions, fetching water daily to water the crops.

That day, they ran into the neighbor family by the water pit.

"Little girl, is your family’s crop growing so well because you water it often?"

Su Yuanyuan smiled. It was the neighbor woman talking to her, around forty years old, dark and thin-fleshed, looking devoid of youth and spirit.

"Auntie, I water it every day, and our land is close to the water pit."

Jia Xiaojuan nodded, also feeling envious. She had to walk much further than the girl to fetch water.

"From the looks of your crops, it seems there won’t be any decrease in yield."

Su Yuanyuan didn’t know how to respond. The truth was, there wouldn’t be a decrease, but since others weren’t getting any harvests, she feared others might be jealous if hers didn’t decrease.

Just then, the man of that family came over with water buckets. Seeing them chatting, he stopped as well.

Su Yuanyuan nodded in greeting. They were neighbors but hadn’t gathered to chat like this.

"Where’s Xiao Tan?"

As neighbors, they knew two kids were living together.

But no one said anything. Given the difficulties here, it wasn’t surprising that two people would live together.

"He’s weeding. The wild grass in the soybean field is too much. It must be done now."

The three of them each carried their water buckets, climbing up bit by bit since it was a pit. To fetch water now, they had to walk down a bit.

Su Yuanyuan noticed there were fish in the water, but since there was plenty in the space, she didn’t want to fish. It wasn’t that she was acting like the Holy Mother; she just thought she didn’t have to compete with this family for it.

When she came back the second time, she saw the two kids from the Tang family casting nets here.

And indeed, there were some fish in their bucket, though small, which was understandable since casting nets wouldn’t catch big fish.

The two were around Su Yuanyuan’s age, and when they saw her coming, they didn’t speak, possibly fearing she’d want some.

Su Yuanyuan carried her water away, not wanting to see this guardedness against her.

The bucket of water was carried directly into the yard. After watering the vegetables, she didn’t go back over.

Thinking they were eating fish as well, she brought out a five to six-pound big fish, sat in the yard to clean it. The weather was too hot, not wanting to eat braised, and boiled was too spicy. Looking through the spices in the space, she decided to make pickled fish.

The main dish would be cornbread. That would be delicious.

Today, Ma Changshun came over to deliver receipts, and as soon as he stepped into the yard, he smelled the rich aroma.

Su Yuanyuan was picking vegetables in the yard and heard the greeting from outside, quickly went to open the door.

"Group Leader Ma."

"Hmm, these are your receipts." Normally, other groups would collect receipts from the leader’s place, but Ma Changshun thought delivering them himself allowed him to check on everyone’s condition. So he delivered them every month.

"Thank you, Group Leader Ma. Come in, rest, and have a drink."

Ma Changshun had never entered this yard, and seeing it he was envious; the yard was about an acre, lush green, unlike the withered fields outside.

He followed her into the yard. Su Yuanyuan hurried to pump out a bucket of well water.

This pump well had been deepened by Tan Shaoting and her. Otherwise, fetching water now would be a problem.

"Group Leader Ma, have some water."

"You’ve really organized this yard nicely."

"I water from the pit every day," Su Yuanyuan said, pointing to the eggplant she just watered.

Ma Changshun nodded, "Yes, as long as you’re diligent, even in this weather, crops can do well."

"Group Leader Ma, our chives and cucumbers are doing well too, take some when you go. It’s quite far for you to deliver receipts each time, it’s really kind of you."

Ma Changshun shook his head, "No need, we have our own."

Su Yuanyuan just smiled; seeing that, soon Tan Shaoting should come back to eat. This matter should be left to him.

She saw that Ma Changshun was indeed envious of the vegetables in the yard.

Of course, they admired them. Their own yard grew vegetables too, but they were all withered, yellowish, completely incomparable to those in people’s yards.

"From what I see, your fields are the best-growing ones on our farm. People will likely not have much left after meeting this year’s quota."