Chapter Fourteen: Serving with Filial Piety

  "Pang Duan" stroked his round belly and sighed: "It's really sweet, next year I'll let my mom grow watermelon too."

  Yu Songyuan said: "My family and your family have many people, the self-retained land is just that much, not enough grain to eat, nonsense."

  The professor sighed: "You really understand, your grandma is happy for you, just let your aunt and Wang Feng's aunt grow big watermelons for you to eat every year, it's enough for several of you brothers to eat."

  "Yú Sōng Yuàn asked again: 'Auntie, the peach trees have all grown so tall, why didn't they bear fruit this year?'"

  "You don't understand, planting peaches is an art. If the tree is too small and bears fruit too early, it's easy to get hurt and affect future yields. Next year we can let them bear fewer fruits, and after another two years, when the tree grows bigger, they can bear more."

  "Peng Dun" excitedly asked: "Auntie, how many fruits can a tree bear at most?"

  The professor said: "In the past at home, there was one in the yard, and it could produce 100 to 200 kilograms a year." Everyone couldn't help but exclaim, so many, great!

  Last year, Yuèyuè returned home to pay respects to her late father-in-law and husband. On the way back, Shǐ Yuándōng accompanied her and brought back over a dozen peach saplings wrapped in soil. Yuèyuè told everyone that these were water peaches, with small bowls, no hair, and plenty of juice. The local peach trees produce hairy peaches, similar to apricots in size, but with more hair and not very tasty. So, several families planted the saplings in front of their doors. Now, the peach saplings have grown up, and last autumn, Yuèyuè began teaching everyone how to prune them.

  Yu Songyuan suddenly noticed that from time to time, someone would walk back and forth on the big road opposite the courtyard. With a bright red cigarette in hand, they were particularly eye-catching in the dark night. He asked: "Aunt, who is that?"

  Yu Yu said shamelessly: "Don't bother with him. A lazy toad, ignore him."

  Four people lay down, wanting to hear Grandma tell a story. "Xi Shi" looked up at the starry sky and asked: "Grandma, will these stars fall down? What's outside the sky?"

  "Some will, but most won't fall down. The Earth is actually a star too, and like these stars, it floats in the vast universe along its own predetermined orbit. Some small planets, affected by the Earth's gravity, will enter the Earth's atmosphere and land on the Earth, becoming meteors." The professor then taught them about astronomical common sense, the origin of the universe, the secrets of interstellar space, interstellar distances, humanity's future interstellar travel, Dongfanghong satellite, and humanity's exploration of the universe, letting their thoughts roam freely in the vast starry sky...

  At this time, Wang Feng walked over with a package. Yu Yuer said, "Wait, let the little ones listen."

  Yu Songyuan knew they were going to take a bath again. After the professor finished speaking, he coquettishly said, "Auntie, I'm too tired after working all day today, can we bathe tomorrow instead?"

  Wang Feng slapped him on the butt with a loud slap, "Alright, you stay here and keep Grandma company, continue listening to Grandma's stories. The three of them will accompany us."

  Yu Songyuan hastily said, "Alright alright alright, I'll go I'll go I'll go." Only then did Wang Feng burst out laughing.

  They each took a large banana fan and came to the upper reaches of the South Tide River. This place is farther away from the small bridge where men usually take baths, with fewer reeds on both sides of the river, and the shore is all oily mud, which is relatively hard and very suitable for bathing.

  Today it was Yu Songyuan and Chen Lan's turn to stand guard, so Chen Lan stood on this side of the riverbank, while Yu Songyuan took a fan and crossed over to the other side of the river, climbed up onto the shore, and walked up onto the riverbank. On one hand he used the big fan to swat at mosquitoes, on the other hand he stood guard.

  "Xi Shi" and "Pang Dun" first went down to the river to swim a circle, then stopped separately in the upper and lower streams, lying on the water's surface without moving, occasionally using a fan to swat at the mosquitoes flying back and forth above the water. Only after that did Yu Yue and Wang Feng take off their clothes and start doing pre-swimming exercises on the shore.

  The moonlight is like water, and both banks of the river are as bright as daytime.

  The moon is slightly higher, Wang Feng is slightly plumper, under the moonlight, two slender white female figures have perfect physiques, curved and beautiful, flawless. Everything is so perfect that the riverbank under the moonlight instantly becomes full of spring charm.

  After finishing their exercises on the shore, they dove into the river like two flying fish, with a beautiful diving motion. The two of them chased and played in the water, constantly changing their swimming strokes, freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly all with ease.

  They also taught Yu Songyuan and others standard swimming techniques, but Yu Songyuan was not used to it. Yu Songyuan's side stroke and diving speed were unmatched, so Yu Yueyue and Wang Feng didn't insist on it.

  After frolicking enough, the two of them walked to the shallow water area, washed their faces, and then washed their dirty clothes clean. Only then did they resemble two white fish, crawling up the shore, wiping their bodies dry, and putting on clean clothes.

  On the way back, Chen Lan asked Yu Songyuan, "Boss, who were you just fighting with?"

  Yu Yu and Wang Feng were shocked and asked, "Was someone just here? How come we didn't hear any movement?"

  Yu Songyuan said, "It's Fourth Uncle, sneaking around, really not a good bird, let me directly knock him down."

  "Yu Long Gao?"

  "Fatty" said, "Serves you right, damn it, almost choked me to death in broad daylight."

  Yu Yu and Wang Feng hastily asked in unison: "What's going on? Tell us quickly, what happened during the day?"

  Yu Songyuan briefly mentioned what had happened in the water with them during the day. Wang Feng said angrily, "The beam is not straight and the column is crooked, these few people have all been spoiled by Zhou Kun."

  "You can't teach an old dog new tricks. He can't even control his own wife, yet he's out here sneaking around and stealing from others. It's truly a case of reaping what you sow, losing face and embarrassing himself."

  Chen Lan anxiously asked, "Boss, I see you've got him all tangled up, you're not going to do anything to him, are you?"

  Yu Songyuan said with a scowl, "If he weren't also surnamed Yu, I'd have him castrated for life. But I won't let him off that easily either - within a year, he'll be separated from his wife. And tonight, he definitely won't sleep well, being fed to mosquitoes all night is warning enough."

  The four brothers all burst out laughing with gleeful mischief.

  Yu Yu and Wang Feng each gave Yu Songyuan a slap, with Wang Feng cursing, "You little scoundrel, you're really poisonous. But Auntie thinks you did the right thing."

  Yu Yu also said, "This kind of person, let him suffer a bit and it's well-deserved! But you guys be careful, absolutely don't really hurt them, they're all fellow villagers."

  "Xishi" said slowly: "Old Big, this trick of yours is indeed poisonous enough. There are so many mosquitoes by the river, and it's New Year's ahead of time. The daytime affair can be settled with him, but Bian Shaotian cannot escape."

  "Never mind, actually you guys didn't lose out during the day either."

  "Xi Shi" is done, "Mom, which side are you sitting on? We almost drowned them during the day, and you're saying we didn't suffer a loss?"

  Yu Yu lifted her hand and patted "Xi Shi" on the forehead, "I'm your mother, how can you sit there? They are tall and large, I'm afraid you'll be at a disadvantage in the water. You can't have any accidents..."

  "Mom, don't worry. During the day, we were just off guard. If we had fought back, they wouldn't have been a match for us!"

  The wheat has been harvested and the autumn crops have been planted, and the weather is very cooperative with a big rain. The seedlings in the paddy fields are also growing vigorously, and the production situation of the Sixth Small Team is very good. The Sixth Small Team has now become the red flag of the whole commune's agricultural learning from Dazhai, and Zhou Jianguo organized all the production team cadres to hold an on-site meeting at the Sixth Small Team, to learn from and promote the production experience of the Sixth Small Team.

  During this time, Bian Shaotian always deliberately avoided the four Yu brothers. The village was so small that Yu Songyuan had already issued a "Jianghu Pursuit Order", where could he hide? These little rascals were skilled and had a strong aura of evil, not knowing what was heavy or light in their actions, it's better to find their superiors and admit fault proactively, let's see if they dare to come back for revenge.

  Then he himself found Yu Xinhe and took the initiative to admit his mistake. Yu Xinhe was at home weaving a basket with Teng Liu, saw him coming, looked up and didn't respond to him, still seriously weaving the basket. It was She Wenfang who asked him to sit down and talk, and even poured him a bowl of boiled water.

  "Uncle Yu, Aunt Yu, I was wrong that day by the river and let your third child suffer a bit. I've come to apologize, you can hit me." Yu Xiner had no idea what this was about, so Bian Shaotian explained the whole thing, only saying it was mutual fighting instead of intentional revenge.

  Yu Xinghe is not someone to be trifled with, and he immediately understood. His face changed instantly, and he threw down the basket in his hand, slamming his fist on the table and standing up. "Bian Laore, you're also a father figure now, can you still bear to lay hands on those little rascals? Do you still have any dignity as a father?" As he spoke, he clenched his fists until they cracked with a loud noise.

  Xie Wenfang tightly hugged Yu Xinhe's arm, turned around and scolded Kao Shoutian, "You little rascal, you're thirty years old, have you eaten shit? You're on the same level as those little rascals, and you're driving them to death, aren't you afraid of being ruthless?"

  Kasho's legs went soft and he fell to his knees with a thud, wetting his pants.

  "Uncle Yu, Aunt Yu, I've eaten shit, my mind is muddled. I shouldn't have laid hands on the children, please scold me..." Kashaotian was so scared that his legs were like sieves, and he cried out for mercy.

  But Yu Xinhe still put down his fist, he let out a long sigh, "Those little things are stubborn, you've been wronged and I know you're angry, wanting to regain some face I can understand. You kids fight and make trouble, I never interfere, but you can't play with fire, it's going to cost lives. You're an adult, 'don't cheat the mountain but cheat the water' this principle, a few children don't understand, do you not understand either?"

  Yu Xinhe said, Bian Shaotian was really afraid. Yes, if he accidentally drowned the other family's child, wouldn't he have to go to jail? Even if he didn't go to jail, would he still have the face to live in the village? He kept apologizing and slapped his own mouth with both hands.

  "Go back and tell Zhou Kun, and also tell each of you ignorant little rascals. The four children don't understand what's going on, their parents will teach them a lesson. From today on, whoever dares to lay a hand on the kids again, don't blame me, Yu Mouren, for not being neighborly!"

  After Bian Shao Tian left, Yu Xin He thought about it more and more, he was afraid of what had almost happened. He couldn't not intervene anymore, he had to tighten the reins, no longer letting them run wild and do whatever they wanted.

  After dinner, he asked Yu Ya to find Yu Songyuan and the other three. The four brothers had just finished eating at Teacher Chen's house when Xie Wenfang hurried over in a flurry, holding Yu Songyuan's head and saying, "You guys cause trouble every day, you can't go three days without fighting, how are you going to get through this tonight?"

  Teacher Chen and Wang Feng also became nervous, at this time, Yu Ya came to call again. Xie Wenfang said, "Little ancestor, you will all say something soft in a while, Mom begs you, okay?"

  Yu Songyuan twisted his head, refusing to agree with his mother's plea. He thought he had always done well, respected the elderly, loved the young, studied hard and worked actively. He simply couldn't think of what he was wrong about. I'm not wrong, why should I apologize?

  Four people came to Yu Xinhe's house with a heavy heart, and when they saw it, the family rules had been taken out. The professor sat in the middle, Yu Xinhe sat on one side with an iron face, four stools were placed upright in front of him, Yu Xinmin sat on the other side with a cold expression holding a rolling pin, and three brothers Yu Songlu, Yu Songjiu, and Yu Songming stood behind with their arms around each other.

  Yu Songyuan was shocked, they've made their move, tonight is doomed...