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The familiar crowing sound made the warm and cozy Yezhi turn over. She wiggled her bottom back until her back pressed against Aunt Zhou's feet, then smiled sweetly and returned to her dreams.
"Sister Ye, Sister Ye!"
Aunt Zhou hurried out from the kitchen. "Shh!" One Egg said knowingly, speaking softly, "Sister Ye, still sleeping in?" Aunt Zhou nodded, and One Egg thought to himself: Sister Ye is really a big lazy pig!
Aunt Zhou looked at One Egg's pouty face and chuckled, "You Sister Ye isn't going anywhere today! What's the rush?" One Egg actually wanted Sister Ye to take him up the mountain to see Wolf Child; time was precious, so of course he was anxious!
"Aunt, I'm hungry!" The sleepy Yezhi, with her little face flushed, stretched and walked out of her room. One Egg grinned widely and energetically called out, "Sister Ye!" This startled the still-drowsy Yezhi, who patted her pounding chest and said irritably, "One Egg, you little rascal! Don't you know scaring people can be deadly? Why are you here so early instead of going to class?"
One Egg laughed innocently, "Sister Ye, I missed you too much! I didn't see you yesterday!" Yezhi's initial annoyance melted away at his words; she felt warm inside and secretly pleased that One Egg was worth caring for.
"Girl, I made your favorite oat porridge. Let me serve you a bowl to fill your stomach," Aunt Zhou said before rushing back to the kitchen to get porridge for Yezhi.
Yezhi lazily sat in the rocking chair, just about to ask One Egg how he had been lately when he smiled ingratiatingly and said, "Sister Ye, after school this afternoon, let’s go up the mountain to see Wolf Child!" In fact, Yezhi had been thinking about it too but hadn’t considered taking One Egg along.
"Sister Ye, please! You don’t know when you’ll be back next time!"
"You little rascal! You want me to pretend I’m not going to take you up the mountain to see Wolf Child? Hmph! I won’t take you!" One Egg made a sad face and wailed, "Sister Ye, I really miss you! I'm worried about Wolf Child too! Sister Ye, please!"
"Girl, here. Be careful; it's hot." Aunt Zhou handed the rich-smelling oat porridge to Yezhi. Yezhi held the bowl with both hands and started eating on her own, ignoring One Egg.
"One Egg, I've prepared a bowl for you on the stove, you can serve it yourself!" One Egg, who was drooling from the enticing aroma, sighed to Aunt Zhou, "Aunt, you treat me well, unlike Sister Ye... bullying honest people!"
Yezhi choked for a moment, "Honest people! Where are they?" One Egg grinned, holding a bowl of porridge in one hand and pointing at himself with the other, "Girl, One Egg is a good kid. You haven't been here these past few days, and he's been coming to help me every day. What does he want from you? Don't make it hard for him." After hearing Aunt Zhou's words, Yezhi couldn't argue anymore; it was really unreasonable. "One Egg, go to class now. We'll go together in the afternoon!" One Egg got his wish and gratefully glanced at Aunt Zhou. Aunt Zhou smiled and nodded at him, "Then Sister Ye, I'm off to school!" After saying that, One Egg put down the bowl and disappeared in a flash.
After Yezhi and Aunt Zhou finished breakfast, they checked around the front and back yards. The two geese were there, but Black Treasure was nowhere to be seen. "Aunt, where's my Black Treasure?"
"Black Treasure went to the fields with the county leaders and the village head!" Aunt Zhou replied while washing the dishes. Yezhi thought to herself: Why bring Black Treasure along? Black Treasure can't even talk. "When the village head came to our house, you were still sleeping. Everyone said not to wake you up. I selfishly wanted you to sleep a bit longer, so I didn't call you. Black Treasure was brought by Director Yu; he said it would be fun."
"Aunt, then I'll go check the fields!" Since the guest was brought by Yezhi, she couldn't just leave it to Village Uncle without any care. Yezhi quickly walked toward the fields.
From a distance, she saw Director Yu crouched on the ground talking with Uncle Zhang and Village Uncle. Comrade Sun and Black Treasure were playfully interacting when Black Treasure stopped what he was doing and galloped towards Yezhi.
After greeting Black Treasure, Yezhi approached everyone nearby. "Uncle Zhang, Village Uncle, Comrade Sun." Uncle Zhang nodded kindly while Village Uncle looked at her as if he had found a savior: "Yezhi, you're just in time! Director Yu just asked me a bunch of questions that I couldn't answer!"
Yezhi pointed at Director Yu crouched on the ground and asked, "What's Uncle Yu doing?"
"The soil quality is good, but this type of soil isn't unique to Zhoujiatun; it seems we need seeds!" After thinking for a moment, Director Yu stood up from the ground, brushed off the dirt from his clothes, and turned around to see Yezhi approaching. He rushed over and shouted at her: "Yezhi, where did you get your cabbage seeds and radish seeds?" Director Yu was very excited; he had eaten quite a bit of radish and cabbage from Zhoujiatun last night and had seen even more this morning. Not only was the quality good, but the growth period was also very short with impressive yields. If such good seeds could be promoted in the county, it would truly be a blessing for farmers.
Yezhi felt cold sweat running down her back; how should she respond? Those words might work on villagers but would fall flat with an expert; it felt like they would be easily exposed. What should she do?
Everyone's eyes were focused on Yezhi; she wished she could faint right then but feared it would seem too fake. She licked her cracked lips and said, "I... don't know; I don't know where my uncle got them!"
"Yezhi, you really don't know?" Yezhi nodded repeatedly. "Then can you give me your uncle's contact information? I want to ask him personally." Director Yu looked at Yezhi eagerly while she internally wailed: Where would she find her uncle? The lie she casually told was poorly thought out!
"I... don't know where he... is," saying these words seemed to take the life out of Yezhi.
"Director Yu, Yezi really doesn't know. His uncle is busy with research and is hard to find. We want to thank him, but we can't locate him," Village Uncle's words greatly relieved Yezhi. After hearing this, Director Yu's face was filled with undeniable disappointment.
Secretary Zhang patted Director Yu on the shoulder, "Old Yu, we have news about Yezi's uncle. We can just go to him. Isn't there plenty of cabbage and radishes in Zhoujiatun for you to study and cultivate?"
Village Uncle admired agricultural technicians the most, "Director Yu, whether you need seeds or rice, radishes, or cabbages, we have enough stored for you to study and cultivate well, benefiting us Farmer Brothers."
Yezhi quickly comforted and changed the topic, "Yes, we also have rice fields for raising fish and ducks, Three-Dimensional Planting, which is worth your time to research, Uncle Yu."
What Yezhi said indeed sparked Director Yu's interest. The five of them and a bear rode in the Cart Master's Stagecoach to the rice fields after the harvest.
The rice fields were already wide open; except for the ten acres of rice fields used for fish farming that were filled with water to allow the fish to move freely, the duck shed beside the fields was also full of life. Aunt Ren Er, the duck commander, spent two-thirds of her day here guarding them. The horse racks on the ridges had been mostly dismantled, and six strong Young Men from the village took turns watching over the fish and ducks.
Yezhi's group arrived just in time for a meal. Director Yu and Uncle Zhang didn't mind sitting on the ridge with Everyone to share a communal meal. Zhoujiatun was not lacking in rice and vegetables; lunch was quite good—fragrant Bilo rice paired with sauced big fish, sweet white Vegetable Soup, and pickled vegetables from their homes. Yezhi held a large porcelain bowl and ate heartily. After finishing, she poured herself another bowl of white Vegetable Soup and rubbed her belly with satisfaction—ah! It felt so good!
After Everyone finished eating, Village Uncle led Director Yu, Uncle Zhang, Comrade Sun, and Yezhi for a stroll around the rice fields. Director Yu held black oily soil in his hands with shining eyes; Uncle Zhang also looked at everything before him with great interest. Only Yezhi felt she had digested well; anyway, Uncle Zhang had Village Uncle with him while she walked back to the horse rack. The wrestling Black Treasure was being pinned down by Thursday Brother. Upon seeing Mama Bear arrive, Black Treasure surged with strength and quickly turned the tables on Thursday Brother, pushing him down to the ground.
Yezhi laughed and shouted, "Black Treasure is mighty!" Black Treasure proudly clapped its paws together. The strong Young Men from Zhoujiatun were not convinced and took turns challenging Black Treasure to wrestle. Director Yu happily joined in as well; amidst all this commotion, Everyone burst into laughter. Yezhi remembered she had an appointment with One Egg in the afternoon and decided to leave first.
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