After the incident with the Dragon Suppressing Bell, when Xiao Xian returned to Ge Village the next day, she peered near the pond and saw its surface as calm as ever, with no sign that an Evil Flood Dragon could be lurking beneath.
Zhu Shijun returned ho and took out an inkstone and brush that had been dried for many years from two trunks brought from his house, and wrote a pair of spring couplets.
After watching on tiptoes for a while, Xiao Xian felt even more impressed with her grandfather’s brush calligraphy. The old man took the spring couplets with black characters on red paper to the Qian Family again as an act of apology. It was only when seeing Zhu Shijun’s brush calligraphy that Xiao Xian realized her grandfather dabbled in many skills and his writing was really quite good.
The Qian Family, having drunk the "golden water," was as if their fire had been extinguished—they didn’t say a word, let alone ntion anything about compensation. The next day, Qian Duoduo put up the couplets at the entrance of their house, and they beca Ge Village’s most impressive spring couplets for the entire year of 1997.
On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, the traditional Chinese calendar for 1996 had no thirtieth day, so the twenty-ninth was New Year’s Eve. The village feast was more lively than those in the city, with the village chief hosting a dinner and inviting Zhu Shi’s grandparents and grandchildren. Adults and children alike gathered around the table, warming up cold dishes and refilling the empty platters.
At midnight, a string of five hundred firecrackers, brought by San Gouzi, was set off, scaring the hens in the small mountain village so much that they all stopped laying eggs on the first day of the New Year. Because of this, San Gouzi got his ears pulled and was scolded by his mother for several days.
The next morning, Xiao Xian heard rustling on the window sill. Pushing the window open, she saw winter rain, hinting at the coming of spring, falling in the mountains. After the rain, the White Pear Tree behind the Zhu Family ho had shed its flowers. In just one or two nights, hundreds of small green pears had appeared on the branches, and it was still cold, so the overwintering birds had not yet witnessed this sight. However, it did draw many villagers of Ge Village to co and watch. The old villagers, who had lived there for generations, were shining their eyes and marveling, saying that the plot of land behind the Zhu Family was a blessed plot of Feng Shui, everything planted there thrived, and they all hoped that the rice planted by Zhu Shijun next to the pear tree would yield a good harvest next year.
Sister-in-law Lian was busy with visiting friends and relatives at the beginning of the year, and she had forgotten about the other plots that seed to need more attention. Only when the pears bore fruit did Sister-in-law Lian rember the three acres of land at the entrance of the village. After the rain that moistened the soil, to prepare for spring plowing, it was ti to turn the soil and add so ash from rice straw. Seeing the alfalfa starting to wither upon her arrival, the green stems had rotted into the soil, and the leaves and roots had begun to fernt. The red soil was covered layer upon layer with leaves turning from green to black, emitting a sour and sweet grassy scent.
Looking at the soil, there was no need for further plowing. It turned out the roots of the alfalfa planted by Xiao Xian’s hand were much more developed than ordinary alfalfa roots, resembling natural farming hoes. The three acres of land, covered with countless alfalfa plants, had interweaving roots that flourished throughout the winter, digging deep into the soil and leaving it full of tiny holes. The rain easily seeped into the ground, turning the color of the soil from brick red to a dark red hue. Even soone inexperienced like Sister-in-law Lian could tell that the fertility of the land had changed from the previous year.
Since spring plowing was still a while away, Zhu Shijun began to personally teach Xiao Xian her academics, and after returning from Guiyang, the old man not only felt physically better, but his mind had also broadened. He no longer stuck to teaching her the textbook knowledge but started talking to her about history, geography, agriculture, science, and various subjects, which made Xiao Xian more aware of the outside world. She learned that the Ge Village she was staying in was just a small village in the Southwest of China, and the ways people here could travel were not only by wheeled vehicles and trains. People here could also take to the skies but would need an "airplane," a tal bird. Outside China, there were many other countries, with oceans much larger than seas.
Under Zhu Shijun’s progressive education, Xiao Xian grew up just like a sponge absorbing water along with the sugarcane seedlings in the space. The childishness on her face gradually dwindled, and when listening to Zhu Shijun, she could even offer a few opinions of her own. In just a few short months, Xiao Xian learned more than she had in her previous ten plus years of life.
Occasionally, Zhu Shijun would play an English news clip for Xiao Xian to listen to. After hearing it many tis, Xiao Xian could roughly guess the content of the news. Zhu Shijun also had Xiao Xian practice writing, saying it was to prepare her to write alongside her classmates once she officially started school. Zhu Shijun wanted Xiao Xian to have a higher starting point than the other children, but school life was still sothing she had to experience.
Entering February, on one evening just before the spring plowing was about to begin, after Zhu Shijun had just finished telling Xiao Xian a story about the volcanic islands of Hawaii, located to the east of the east of China, the old master shared the idea he had been brewing for several months, "Xiao Xian, your grandpa and the village chief have discussed it, and once spring starts, how about letting his Little Hai take you to attend classes at the temple at the foot of the opposite mountain?" Actually, according to Zhu Shijun’s plan, he had intended to send Xiao Xian there in the second half of the year, but now the situation had changed. Zhu Shijun planned to go up the mountain with the village chief to survey the terrain right after the start of spring, to start with a rice field trial. If things went well, they would lead the entire village to develop agriculture, and this year, Ge Village was determined to shed the na of a "poor village."
"Attend classes at the temple? With Nasal Sea?" Nasal Sea was the village chief’s grandson, his parents were working in Shantou, and Little Hai was half a year older than her, but still can’t wipe his own nose to this day. Thinking about it made Xiao Xian utterly displeased. She didn’t want to sit in classes with a bunch of kids. Wasn’t her grandpa the best teacher she could have? "Grandpa, I don’t want to go to school, I’ll go up the mountain and farm with you," Xiao Xian whined. She didn’t have ti to go to school; she had to feed iron to the "sugarcane seedling" and plant aromatic rice. She didn’t have ti to mix with those kids.
"Children of a certain age have to go to school. That’s how they beco sociable," Zhu Shijun had heard Sister-in-law Lian praising Xiao Xian before for being sensible, doing laundry, combing hair, and being much better behaved than before. The more she praised, the more Zhu Shijun felt that his little granddaughter was living with this old man for too long, losing her childlike nature. Anxious, he beca determined to send her to school. Childhood should be spent with peers, not always following adults around.
Seeing that whining was ineffective, Xiao Xian picked up a stool and sat in the corner, not crying or making a fuss, just silently protesting.
"If you don’t go to school, I won’t let you farm those few acres at the head of the village, and I’ll confiscate the rice seeds you’ve hidden under the bed," Zhu Shijun said sternly, threatening Xiao Xian.
Upon hearing that her rice seeds would be confiscated, Xiao Xian imdiately waved the white flag and surrendered, "Grandpa, I’ll go, but I can go to school by myself; there’s no need for Nasal Sea to accompany ." She didn’t voice the rest of the sentence. Little Hai was so dark and dull, walking up a stretch of mountain road with him might just suffocate her.
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