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墨書 Inktalez
In many remote old villages, there are still some houses made of adobe bricks. The main reason is that these old houses are troublesome to repair, and adobe houses tend to leak when it rains. With the progress of society, most people have built brick houses or even two-story buildings, so no one wants to fix up adobe houses for living anymore.
Most of these adobe houses have been turned into firewood storage, and some that are too dilapidated have simply been abandoned by their owners. After all, repairing these adobe houses requires a significant expense, and when everyone calculates the costs, they find it easier to give up. In the countryside, there is plenty of land available anyway.
Zhang Zhong and Tian Guifang took full advantage of this situation. In Dong Village of Zhangjia Village, there is a household with an adobe house that has collapsed halfway; it is considered a high-risk building with the potential to collapse at any moment. The owner of the house has long since stopped coming here. Moreover, that place is somewhat remote from both families, making it unlikely for anyone else to think about it.
Their method of communication usually involves Tian Guifang writing a letter and placing it in a specific spot inside the adobe house. Zhang Zhong would then go at night to retrieve it and follow the instructions in the letter.
Zhou Miao took a bite of the apple his wife had given him, crunching on its crispness. He noticed Zhang Zhong sneaking out from the adobe house, looking like a cat that had stolen fish, which left Zhou Miao feeling frustrated. While others enjoyed wild delicacies, why should his family cat only watch? Zhou Miao felt a mix of envy and resentment towards Zhang Zhong and thought about how to deal with it.
Recently, Yu Tian had noticed that Zhou Miao and Li Yan were acting suspiciously. However, after asking them a couple of times without getting any answers, he didn't pay much attention. Ever since Zhang Liang's incident, Yu Tian had lost interest in village affairs. He often went with Li Ming to explore their space, where there were many books on planting. With nothing else to do, he ended up reading quite a bit.
It was unclear whether it was due to the space's influence, but Wonton and Dumpling seemed to have made a significant leap in intelligence; they even started acting cute. Li Ming was tricked into giving away quite a bit of beef jerky because the little friend didn't like it much—he found it too tough—but this could be seen as mutually beneficial.
As July came around, due to climatic reasons, this year's canola flowers bloomed particularly late; by the end of July, they finally opened up like shy mimosa flowers across a vast area. Although fewer families were planting rapeseed now, it did not affect the busy bees.
Wild bees particularly liked to nestle in the cracks of adobe bricks. Many children in the village enjoyed taking glass bottles and placing canola flowers inside them before aiming the bottle neck at the fine cracks in the adobe walls to catch bees for fun. One time, Li Ming's little friend saw this and insisted on playing at home; Li Yan actually got him a large glass bottle filled with canola flowers, which made the child carry it around all day.
Zhou Miao's eyes sparkled with ideas as he relayed this information around. He deliberately took out several fun-shaped glass bottles from his space and often went out with Li Yan to catch bees. He claimed that someone in the city was buying wild bees for five yuan each.
Initially, many people laughed at Li Yan and his group; however, after they caught bees for five or six days straight—coming home early and returning late—it didn’t seem like they were just playing anymore. Chinese people love to join in on fun; soon enough, many adults and their children from the village joined in catching bees as well. Regardless of whether it was true or not, what if it was? That could mean money!
Zhang Liang had been stuck at home these days due to injuries on his legs and arms, making it impossible for him to engage in buying or selling properties. Feeling bored at home while listening to his wife’s complaints only added to his frustration. Watching his son come back and forth several times each day made him unable to resist asking about it.
Initially, I thought this matter was uncertain, but unexpectedly, someone came to the village to inquire about prices, and it even rose to seven yuan each. However, they didn't just buy one; the minimum purchase was twenty. Upon hearing this, the villagers immediately became lively. They said that the outside world is currently facing many troubles and various diseases, and honey has always been a good thing. Moreover, everything related to bees is also valuable. With city folks preferring green and pollution-free products, this time it surely wouldn't go wrong.
More and more villagers began catching bees, until eventually, they couldn't catch any at all. After all, in this season, how many determined bees could there be? Those that survived were already weathered by storms. With so many people trying to catch bees every day, how could they possibly succeed?
Zhang Liang set his sights on the earthen brick house in Dong Village. That house had fallen into disrepair over the years; a few years ago, someone mentioned that the place was unclean, leading to even fewer visitors. Eventually, it reached a point where hardly anyone went there even during the day.
Zhang Liang didn't want to go during the day either; mainly because his hands and feet weren't fully healed yet, he feared he wouldn't be able to compete with others. Additionally, given the peculiar nature of this place, Zhang Liang was also worried that people would think he was crazy for wanting money. When it became dim outside, Zhang Liang had his wife support him and took their son along to take a look.
In summer, it gets dark relatively late; bringing a flashlight was sufficient. As they approached, Zhang Liang's eldest son spotted a white shadow from afar, causing Zhang Liang's wife to scream in fright. Zhang Liang slapped his hand down but his voice trembled. "What are you screaming for? It's only a little past six; if there really is something, it would only come out at night. You unlucky woman, you don't even have this little bit of sense."
Zhang Liang's son pouted but remained silent; he felt that his father lacked knowledge. After all, he had seen on television that some things could indeed appear during the day.
Li Yan and the others had been squatting there for a long time; Zhou Miao had specifically worn a white tank top. From a distance, the silhouette looked somewhat similar to Zhang Zhong.
They had been waiting for quite some time and finally got what they were hoping for. As Zhang Liang's family approached, Zhou Miao deliberately made some noise and quickly hid aside. Zhang Liang was already feeling anxious and uneasy; his legs felt weak as he walked. However, the commotion caused by that white shadow was too loud—if something really were there, how could it make such a big noise?
"Who? Who's there?" Zhang Liang shouted with his hoarse voice in the eerie emptiness. His wife was so frightened that she wished she could run away immediately; if it weren't for their son still being there, she wouldn't care about Zhang Liang at all.
"Dad, is there something under that stone?" Zhang Liang's son had sharp eyes and noticed that where the white shadow had flashed by, some earthen bricks were scattered chaotically.
When they approached, they indeed found a piece of paper. This place hadn't been visited for a long time; how could there be a brand new piece of paper? Zhang Liang's wife insisted on not opening it, saying it might have been intentionally placed there by someone and could carry some "meaning." If they opened it, it might lead to trouble.
Villagers are superstitious; many families like to write something on a piece of paper when their children are sick and have the village "immortal" perform a ritual before throwing it in an unfrequented place, claiming it can ward off illness.
Zhou Miao and Li Yan exchanged a glance and couldn't help but smile wryly; they really hadn't thought of this. Fortunately, Zhang Liang didn't listen to her and insisted on opening it.
The light from the flashlight illuminated the letter, and each word brought joy to Zhang Liang. With something like this in hand, there was nothing more to say; Zhang Liang simply stated, "Let's go home."
"Dad, aren't we going to catch Bees?" Zhang Liang's son, being young, was still scared but had a playful spirit.
"Of course we're going to catch them! But I have something more important to do right now!" Zhang Liang's previously dry and lewd face was now beaming with sunshine.
...
Sure enough, early the next morning, Zhang Liang went to find Zhang Zhong. Li Yan wasn't in a hurry; with someone as greedy as Zhang Liang, Zhang Zhong wouldn't have a chance to turn things around.
Life for the Li family continued as usual. By August, the weather was getting hotter by the day. Every morning, Li Ming's first task was to measure the air temperature. This had been his habit; the temperature in the greenhouse needed to be kept constant.
However, even though the thermometer read forty-three or forty-four degrees, the weather forecast lady still smiled brightly and reported temperatures in the thirties. Anyone with clear eyes could see it was a government measure to appease the public. Nevertheless, many schools still chose to take a break, which most parents accepted since children were precious and no one wanted them to suffer from heatstroke at school.
The pressure on electricity was immense; the village could only have power in the mornings and after one o'clock in the afternoon. This rendered refrigerators completely useless, but fortunately, Li Yan and her family had space, so it wasn't a big issue.
The only problem was water. The water levels in the ponds were decreasing rapidly; the farms relied on irrigation, and after a few days, some rice crops had wilted.
Zhang Agou saw that things were not looking good and consulted with others in the village. Li Yan and Zhou Miao went as representatives. There were at least two hundred people from several villages; Zhangjia Village's fields were in a low-lying area and needed water from upstream.
But now the problem was that there wasn't enough water. The people upstream were blocking the dam to prevent water from flowing down, which angered those from Zhangjia Village. They couldn't just let you live while starving us.
The situation at home with corn cultivation was somewhat better, but those who planted rice were crying out in despair. After a few words were exchanged, a fight broke out. Even the police came, but such matters are beyond even the highest authority; farmers need water for their fields, and without it, they are left without a means to survive.
In the end, Zhang Agou discussed with the village chief from the neighboring village that the dam could not be completely blocked. The people of Zhangjia Village could go to the upper village to fetch water. They didn't really want to cut off anyone's livelihood; they thought as long as their own rice could grow well, it was fine for them to fetch water.
Zhangjia Village naturally would not sit idly by; they directly diverted water from the river pond to irrigate their rice fields. Families like Li Yan's with fewer fields managed, but those with more struggled.
By the end of September, a major incident occurred in the village: the seemingly fair and just Zhang Zhong was found to be having an affair. The object of his affair was none other than Tian Guifang from the same village. Zhang Zhong's wife, who could be described as a fierce woman or a shrew depending on one's perspective, grabbed Tian Guifang by the hair and dragged her through the village.
Tian Guifang was petite and stood no chance against Zhang Zhong's wife. Zhang Zhong himself seemed deflated and didn't leave his house for several days.
Li Ming's little friend was witnessing infidelity for the first time and found it amusing, munching on a fried snack while watching the drama unfold. Li Yan took the child home, mainly worried that exposure to such events might have a negative influence on his own child.
Yu Tian instinctively glanced at Zhou Miao and Li Yan, feeling that this matter somehow involved them. Of course, without direct evidence, everyone remained innocent.
Then rumors spread that Zhang Liang was the one who exposed Zhang Zhong and Tian Guifang's affair. It was said that to silence Zhang Liang, Zhang Zhong had given him many benefits, even gifting him two sheep from his family. Because of this incident, Zhang Zhong's wife cursed at Zhang Liang daily without repeating herself. Tian Guifang also lost face and packed her things to return to her parents' home three days later; most people just watched the drama unfold.
In rural areas where leisure time is already scarce, this incident spread for over a month; whenever one stepped outside, they would hear snippets of gossip.
It wasn't until November that everyone realized there were more important matters at hand—because there was no water left.
The author has something to say: Mei Mei has been allergic these past few days and has been receiving IV fluids daily; she won't be able to celebrate the New Year properly. Please forgive any delays in updates. She can only promise to do her best.
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