Chapter 9 The Joy of Harvest

  "At first, I heard the old people in the village say so, but I didn't believe it. But one night, I got up to pee and saw four people, including my grandfather and grandmother, and uncle and aunt, burning paper and kowtowing behind the house. My grandmother and aunt were also crying softly. Then I knew it was true." said Chen Lan.

  "I and Song Quan have never seen our grandparents, uncles, or aunts since the day we were born. Luckily, Professor Nai came. Every time I think of my grandparents and uncle being burned alive by the Japanese, I want to cry, I want to kill! Damn it, when I grow up, I'll become a soldier, one who can fight. I'll be like Big Brother Hei, Little Brother Hei, Mother, and Little Auntie, killing all the invaders, avenging my grandparents and uncle!" Yu Songyuan said gritting his teeth.

  "Brother, I want to cry!" Song Quan said with tears streaming down his face. Chen Lan and Shu Tong were also in tears.

  "You can shed tears, but you're not allowed to cry out loud. Grandpa walked into the fire with Grandma smiling, and your uncles were as strong as iron, making the enemy tremble with fear. As their descendants, we should live like them!"

  "Brother, I won't cry anymore. I remember everything you said," Song Quan said. Chen Lan and Shu Tong also said, "We remember too."

  In the cold winter, the north wind howls, and water droplets turn to ice. People all hide in their homes, surrounding the brazier and not venturing out. The firelight shines out from under the eaves, and people in the distant village think it's a ghostly fire, scattered and sparse, with no one paying much attention.

  The next morning, Yu Songyuan led everyone to a place about 700-800 meters downstream and started building the downstream cofferdam. The river was narrower here, so the project was relatively easier. Yu Songyuan worked with Song Quan on the south bank near the grave, pushing soil into the river, while Chen Lan and Shu Tong pushed soil from the north bank. By noon, the cofferdam had been completed.

  After roasting a few sweet potatoes and eating them, they rested for a while before continuing to work. For the next half month or more, the four children gritted their teeth and persisted in pushing earth into the canal. Along the river course, every 60-70 meters, a cofferdam was built, and the intercepted river channel was divided into eleven sections by the cofferdams.

  A few people's courage gradually increased, and that illusion never appeared again.

  Even when he grew up, Yu Songyuan still couldn't figure out whether the middle-aged man in a Zhongshan suit was just an illusion. Was it really an illusion? Can four people have the same illusion at the same time? Or is there something else in this world?

  In fact, in these nearly twenty days of hard work, every night, Yu Xinhe, Yu Xinmin, and Chen Laoshi took turns keeping watch from a distance to prevent anything from happening to them. They never got close, nor did they let them discover their presence.

  "Big brother, please help them out, this project is too big. Those little guys are exhausted, the day before yesterday they finished pushing the soil at night, didn't even wash their feet, and squeezed together in a hole to sleep......" Teacher Chen's beloved student was anxious and heartbroken, his nose sour with emotion, unable to continue speaking.

  Yu Xinhe and Yu Xinmin exchanged a glance, gritted their teeth and said, "Let's wait a bit longer, let's talk after the fish comes out."

  Yú brothers insisted on waiting a bit longer, and Teacher Chen couldn't say anything more. He knew that the Yú brothers, who had experienced big storms, were intentionally tempering the courage of the four young ones.

  The most difficult and arduous irrigation project has begun.

  Yu Songyuan and three others washed the wooden buckets for carrying night soil, tied long ropes to both sides of each bucket, and then two people formed a group to start scooping water from the outer embankment downstream. Scooping water with large buckets was a skillful job, and they had already mastered it. Yu Songyuan was very capable and could do the work of two people by himself.

  Everyone who has scooped fish knows that once they start, they can't stop. The river bottom will produce water, and if you stop for a short while, the water will fill up again soon. For Yu Shi's four brothers, this is more physically demanding than pushing earth to build embankments. After all, they are still young.

  The river channel was about 60 to 70 meters long, and they worked for two days and two nights. All four of them were exhausted and almost collapsed. On the third day, just before dawn, when they were so tired that their hands and feet could hardly move, they suddenly saw fish. The joy of the impending harvest made them forget their fatigue, and they quickly became excited again.

  Only in the first section of the embankment, the water is less than half a meter deep, and the fish inside are often stirred into a ball. Often, fish swim along the water flow to the screen-like fence made of grass curtains, and there are already four or five catties of fish caught in the water basin. Yu Songyuan judged that this section alone would not have less than sixty or seventy catties of fish.

  On the morning of the day I met Yu, a new member joined us.

  It turned out that classmate Yu Qiaoyun came to visit them, heard that they went to Nan Yi Qu to catch fish, and hadn't returned home for 20 days, so she curiously found her way there. Qiaoyun was shocked when she saw the four of them working on such a large project, her mouth wide open in surprise, unable to speak for half a day.

  "My god, what a bunch of scoundrels! You even dare to stir up trouble in this vast land and rivers?"

  When they arrived at the first segment of the hot and lively river, seeing the fish jumping in the water, Xiaoyu immediately got excited, rolled up her pants, and was about to take off her shoes and rush into the water. Yu Songyuan, who was carrying a bucket with Chen Lan, shouted loudly: "What are you doing? Are you looking for death?"

  Chao Yun was not afraid of him and shouted back: "What are you yelling about, get out!" As he spoke, he took off his shoes and prepared to go down.

  Yu Songyuan said, "Auntie, please don't get in yet, listen to me finish speaking. We're not doing well, welcome you to join us. But you can't get in the water like this, minus seven or eight degrees, it will freeze you to death."

  "Don't scare me, you four little brats are all alive and well, how come none of you froze to death?"

  "Stinky girl, can't you see we're all sweating while drawing water? Of course, we're not afraid of the cold. If you want to go down, go to Young Master's house and bring back a pair of long boots to wear, hurry up!" Yu Songyuan stopped his work to explain.

  "How dare you scold me! I'll settle the score with you later, young lady!"

  Qiao Yun cursed and ran away in a gust of wind. She rushed directly to Yu Xinmin's house, urging Xie Wenshu to find her boots and take off immediately. Xie Wenshu chased after her and asked: "Girl, they've been out for twenty days without returning once, how are things going?"

  Qiao Yun picked up her boots and asked for a little more salt, but only managed to say one sentence, "Auntie, it's all gone, it's all gone, they're all fish!" After that, she hastily ran away without a trace.

  Back to the first segment, there was even less water, and the fish had begun to thrash about in the water like a boiling pot. Qiao Yun was so excited that she jumped up high, putting on her boots and preparing to get into the water. Yu Song Yuan said "Wait!" Then he pulled off her boots, stuffed them with dry straw, and only then let her put them back on, assigning her to guard the grass curtain and catch fish.

  Qiao Yun felt very comfortable and was quite satisfied, but still kicked Yu Songyuan's butt and said, "We're even now!" After that, he happily went to fetch water and pick fish.

  When the water was only a dozen centimeters left, it was already noon. The big basin had caught at least a dozen catties of fish. Qiao Yun was so happy that she couldn't stop laughing loudly, and her laughter echoed on the edge of the grave. Yu Song saw that she was so happy that she forgot about hunger, so he said, "Not a single fish can escape, we're almost starving to death, you go cook lunch first."

  "Five people, why should I be the one to cook?" Qiao Yun was so excited that she didn't want to leave, Yu Songyuan was angry and ignored her. Maybe thinking that she was the only girl, after a while, she skipped and jumped into the grass shed to cook.

  Chao Yun came into the thatched hut, lit a fire and started roasting yams. He then ran over to fetch five knife fish, cleaned them up, threaded them onto willow branches and roasted them. Finally, he boiled a small pot of water.

  The yams are cooked, and everyone comes to the thatched hut to have lunch. At this time, we feel the benefits of having women around - roasted yams and fish, it's too rich! Scrape off the charred skin of the fish, dip in salt or eat with pickled vegetables, although there is a bit of smokiness, but it's incredibly fragrant.

  Shu sighed in agreement, "It's still good that we have women around. We've been drinking cold water for the past few days. It's strange, this dirty water doesn't even give us diarrhea."

  Chen Lan said: "It's good to be good, but joining now is too advantageous for you. You don't know how much earth we've shoveled and water we've carried in the past half month."

  Qiao Yun didn't spare Chen Lan, punching him with one hand: "You're a Southerner from Jiangsu, really petty and narrow-minded. You're not even a man! That's because you guys never called me over, no wonder I'm angry. Besides, in the past, you guys often took advantage of me and Su Yun, this account will be settled sooner or later." As he spoke, his own face turned red first.

  This is the softest spot in the hearts of the four brothers, and once it was exposed, everyone immediately dared not to refute. After all, they are a bit older now, and boys and girls have begun to differentiate, but they still remember the games they played when they were young. Now thinking about it, at that time, they indeed took advantage of the girl a bit too much.

  After dinner, it's harvest time. When the water is almost drained, in the muddy water, piece by piece, all are fish jumping and flipping. Qiao Yun and Shu Tong, two people are responsible for catching fish, four large basins, all filled up, a total of **10 catties.

  After finishing the fishing, they carried it to the shed and Chen Lan and "Pang Duan" brought another bucket of clear water for a simple wash. Good heavens! Big knife fish, big red fish, big black fish, big mixed fish (Su northern dialect, big grass carp), big carp, four large basins were full. At this moment, the fatigue on the bodies of the four brothers disappeared without a trace.

  Qiao Yun laughed heartily, their joyful laughter and the joy of harvest also made them more determined. Before nightfall, Yu Songyuan had already started to cut open the second section of the embankment, using a grass curtain to block it, and began to release water.

  Chen Lan said: "Shu Tong, you and Qiao Yun go back to deliver the fish, and then let my mom make some delicious food to bring over for everyone to eat."

  The two of them agreed, and with great excitement, they pushed the two carts of fish back to Yu Songyuan's home. They were still far from home when Qiaoyun suddenly shouted loudly, "Grandpa, grandma, second grandpa, second grandma, it's done! Quick, quick, come on! The fish are here, the fish are here!"

  Everyone went out and took a look, and they were all shocked. So many? Yu Xinhe said, "Find the scale, divide it." Then, Yu Xinmin brought over the scale and started dividing the fish.

  Yu Yu then hugged Shu Tong's head, heart aching uncontrollably. Unexpectedly, Shu Tong, who was still excited, didn't show any appreciation at all, "Mom, don't be like this, I'm not tired at all."

  "Little turtle egg, I've been kissing up to you for so long, my lips have reached my waist! You're now a dark and skinny loach, yet you still say you're not tired? Don't try to deceive me!"

  The professor stroked Shu Tong's head affectionately and said, "I think it's really not tiring. Although you've lost weight and turned darker, you look more robust."

  The fish were delivered to each person's home, and the parents couldn't sit still. Yu Xinmin asked Shu Tong: "Just finished the first section of the dam, right?"

  Shu Tong said, "Yes, young master. It's easy to handle from now on. Drain half of the water and aerate for a night. By tomorrow noon, you'll be able to see fish in the second segment."

  Chao Yun's father Yu Xin-zhu said, "Big brother, little brother, Master Chen, it's time now. I'll go and help them tonight, you can all go tomorrow."

  Yu Xinmin also said, "The second dam can hold more than half of the water and cannot be stopped. If not, the river will overflow quickly, and our efforts will be in vain. Big brother, let's go together."

  Yu Xinhe also wanted them to temper themselves, at this time the professor said, "Yu Lao Da, the most difficult thing is building a dam in front of us to cut off the water, and the children have all done it. Now we can't waste our efforts, or else let the children waste their energy."

  Yu Xinhe said, "Alright, Professor, we four will go now."

  Yu Yuemonth and Wang Feng also wanted to go, but Yu Xinhe said, "You don't have to go, Qiaoyun doesn't have to go tonight either. There are still a dozen or so segments left tomorrow. Take your time, you just need to send some food and be responsible for selling fish."

  "Should we call Songjiu too?" Yu Xinmin had three sons, the eldest, Yu Songjiu, was already married and living separately, the second son, Yu Songming, was studying high school with Yu Xinghe's second son, Yu Songlu.

  Yu Xinmin said, "I think we don't need so many people, let's not call him for now, and wait until there are not enough hands to do it."

  Four men and Shu together pushed a cart, carrying dinner, rushing to reinforce with a loud noise.