He Yuyang: The tough eldest brother of the courtyard house

The June wind, carrying the scent of wheat, swept through the alley. Morning glories climbed half a wall in the corner, their purple and blue trumpets facing the sun, blowing merrily. On the old locust tree at the alley entrance, several cricket cages woven from wheat straw hung, their chirping a constant reminder that the summer harvest was not far off.

He Yuyang carried a half-basket of green beans he had just harvested from his spatial storage, walking briskly towards Old Li's grain shop. These green beans were half a finger longer than those on the market, emerald green and plump; they were a "common variety" he had deliberately chosen, showing no abnormalities except for their more regular shape. The crops in his spatial storage had been harvested batch after batch, supplying the restaurant and his own family, and he had accumulated quite a lot. Taking advantage of the relatively stable grain prices before the summer harvest, he decided to exchange them for some coarse grains to store.

"Uncle Li, busy?" He Yuyang called out from the shop entrance. Old Li was squatting on the ground, drying the newly harvested millet. Seeing him, he straightened up and smiled, "Oh, it's Yangyang. Did your dad send you?"

"No, my mother asked me to bring the leftover green beans from home to see if I could exchange them for some coarse grains." He Yuyang put the bamboo basket on the ground, and the fresh aroma of green beans immediately filled the air. Old Li leaned closer to take a look, and his eyes lit up: "These green beans are really good! How did you grow them? They're even more vibrant than the ones I picked from the countryside."

"My mother takes good care of them, watering and fertilizing them every day, which is why they're growing so well," He Yuyang replied with a smile, knowing full well that it was all thanks to the spiritual spring water. He had never dared to use the spiritual spring water from his spatial dimension directly on the vegetable patches in the yard, only occasionally mixing it into the water bucket. Unexpectedly, the vegetables in his yard were much better than those of other people, not to mention the "main force" in his spatial dimension.

Old Li weighed the bamboo basket in his hand, then picked a string bean and tasted it. It was crisp and slightly sweet. "Here's what we'll do," he said, "I'll exchange this half-basket of string beans for twenty catties of coarse grains—a mixture of millet, cornmeal, and sorghum flour. That should be enough for your family to eat for a while."

"Sure!" He Yuyang readily agreed. Twenty catties of coarse grain would normally cost a lot of copper coins, but exchanging it for green beans was a great deal. He helped Old Li carry the green beans into the back room, and watched him bag and weigh the coarse grain. The heavy cloth bags weighed down the bamboo basket, and he felt very at ease.

"Go back and tell your mother that if she has any extra vegetables, she should send them to me. I'll exchange them for you at the highest price." Old Li patted his shoulder. These days, vegetables are precious, especially fresh ones like these. There's no worry about selling them.

"Thank you, Uncle Li!" He Yuyang slung the grain sack over his shoulder and headed home. The sack made his shoulder ache a little, but he felt a sweet warmth in his heart. This twenty jin of grain would be enough for his family to eat sparingly for a month.

As soon as he entered the alley, he saw Liu Yan looking out from the doorway, clutching a rag in her hand. Seeing him return, she quickly came to greet him: "You've changed? You must be exhausted!"

"I got twenty jin, Uncle Li gave me the right weight." He Yuyang unloaded the grain bag, and Liu Yan quickly took it, weighing it and beaming with joy: "This is great! It'll last us until the summer harvest." She turned and called to He Daqing, "Honey, quickly open the cellar, let's divide the grain."

He Daqing came out of the house with a shovel in his hand and agreed to go and dig the cellar. The He family's cellar was dug a few years ago, right next to the stove. It was more than two meters deep, dark and dry inside, and was used to store grain and vegetables for the winter.

Liu Yan poured the coarse grains into a large winnowing basket, carefully picking through the sand and pebbles as she sorted, saying, "These eight catties of millet will be kept for Yangyang and Zhuzi to make porridge. The cornmeal and sorghum flour will be mixed to make steamed buns, which will keep longer. The rest..." She glanced at He Daqing, "...should we also store them in the cellar? The price might even go up before the summer harvest."

"I'll listen to you." He Daqing laid a layer of dry straw in the cellar. "Take that bag of refined flour down with you too. Eat it sparingly, and we'll steam white flour buns again for Zhuzi's birthday."

That bag of refined flour was a bonus He Daqing received last month; he couldn't bear to eat it and had kept it locked in the cupboard. Liu Yan nodded, carefully packed the divided grain into earthenware jars, and covered the mouths of the jars with a layer of oil paper before letting He Daqing carry them down to the cellar.

"Yangyang, don't you think our lives are getting better and better?" Liu Yan wiped the dust off her hands, looked at her son, and couldn't hide the smile in her eyes. Ever since He Yuyang came up with the idea of ​​"half-portion dishes," He Daqing's wages have increased, the family can eat their fill every meal, and her health has been getting better day by day. The dizziness that used to afflict her has not recurred in the past six months.

"That's right, Mother. It's better that you're feeling better than anything else." He Yuyang helped tidy up the winnowing basket. "After the summer harvest, I'll have Dad buy you a new piece of cloth and make you a jacket."

"Wasting money," Liu Yan complained, but secretly she felt a sweet warmth in her heart. Lately, she had also felt full of energy. In the morning, she could go to the morning market with He Daqing to help pick out vegetables, and in the evening, she could tend to the vegetable patch in the backyard, unlike before when she would be out of breath after walking just a few steps. She just thought it was because life was better and she was in a good mood, but she didn't know that this was all the result of He Yuyang secretly using spiritual spring water to regulate her body—every time he cooked, he would secretly add a few drops to the water tank, and imperceptibly, the health of the whole family had improved a lot.

As they were talking, He Yuyang suddenly remembered something: "Dad, shouldn't we repair our roof? I heard from Uncle Yan that there might be a lot of rain this summer, so we don't want it to leak."

He learned this from the "Simple Weather Forecast Knowledge" booklet, a monthly reward from the "Check-in System." The booklet had cloud charts and wind directions drawn on it, along with the proverb "If the north wind blows during the Grain in Ear season, it will rain continuously during the Summer Solstice." Considering the recent persistent north winds, he figured there would be plenty of rain this summer.

He Daqing was taken aback: "It does leak, but it's a bit old. Now that you mention it, it should be reinforced." He found a ladder, climbed onto the roof, and tapped it. "The rafters are fine, but the tiles are a bit loose. I'll find some mud and fill the gaps."

"I'm going to the alley entrance to borrow some yellow clay from Grandpa Wang," He Yuyang said, and started to run out. Grandpa Wang was a bricklayer, and he always had some mixed yellow clay at home.

"Wait, let your dad go by himself. Can you do me a favor?" Liu Yan called out to him. "Find that box of old clothes. I want to air them out. They'll be terrible if they get damp."

The box of old clothes contained cotton-padded jackets and trousers for winter, as well as He Yuzhu's swaddling clothes from when he was a baby. He Yuyang took them down and opened the box; sure enough, they were a bit damp and felt heavy to the touch.

"Mom, how about we make a few wooden chests? With lids, they can keep out some moisture," He Yuyang suggested. "I'll go ask at the carpenter's shop, they shouldn't be too expensive."

"Will this work?" Liu Yan asked hesitantly. "How about we put some dry straw underneath?"

"Straw can't keep out the dampness of the rainy season. If it gets moldy, we won't have anything to wear in winter," He Yuyang thought to himself. "I've saved up some copper coins, enough to make three boxes: one for clothes, one for tools, and one... for dry goods."

He had more and more dried sweet potatoes and dehydrated vegetables drying in his space, and hiding them under the bed wasn't a long-term solution, so he decided to make a wooden box and lock it up for better security.

He Daqing came down from the roof and heard this: "I'll go. You're just a kid, you can't reason with a carpenter." He patted the dust off his clothes, "I happen to know Carpenter Zhang in South Alley, I'll have him make it sturdy. I have some money here if I don't have enough."

"No need, I have money." He Yuyang took out a money bag from a hidden compartment in the kang (heated brick bed) and poured out a dozen or so silver dollars. "This is enough."

Liu Yan and He Daqing were both startled: "How did you accumulate so much?"

"I get tips from working at the restaurant, and I also earn money from selling vegetables," He Yuyang had already prepared his explanation. "I'm thinking of saving it up in case of any emergency."

He Daqing's eyes welled up as he looked at the silver dollars. He had never seen so much money in his life, and he never expected his son, at such a young age, to already know how to plan for the family. He patted He Yuyang on the shoulder: "Good lad, you've got it! You keep the money, Dad will pay for the trunk, consider it... Dad's saving for your tuition."

He had always wanted He Yuyang to attend a private school, but they didn't have the money before. Now that life is better, the idea has resurfaced.

"Dad..." He Yuyang felt a warmth in his heart, "Let's talk about it after the summer harvest is over."

The next morning, He Daqing went to see Carpenter Zhang and ordered three wooden boxes with locks. He also specifically asked that they be coated with tung oil twice to make them waterproof. When Carpenter Zhang saw that it was He Daqing, he smiled and said, "Your Yangyang is a clever child. He even helped my son fix a wooden top the other day. His skills are better than mine."

He Daqing beamed with joy upon hearing this. When he returned and told Liu Yan about it, Liu Yan became even more smug: "Our Yangyang is just like me, quick-witted."

The wooden chest was finished in three days, gleaming with a glossy sheen and rounded edges to prevent damage. He Yuyang sorted the dried goods from her space into the chest, locked it, and hid it under the bed, feeling much more at ease. Liu Yan, on the other hand, neatly folded her old clothes and put them in another chest, then lined the bottom with camphor to prevent moths.

"Now I can rest assured." Liu Yan looked at the three boxes. "Even if it rains for a month, our things won't get damp."

He Yuyang didn't say anything, but took advantage of the absence of others to wander around his spatial dimension again. The wheat in the dimension was already turning yellow, and it would be ready for harvest in a few days. He planned to grind some new wheat into flour to make a meal of white noodles for his parents and younger brother. In the herb garden by the spiritual spring, several ginseng plants sprouted new shoots. Although they were still small, they were full of vitality. This was his "trump card" for the future.

In the evening, after the restaurant closed, He Daqing brought back two jin of meat, saying it was a reward from the manager so the staff could improve their meals. Liu Yan was overjoyed and divided the meat into three portions: one portion was chopped into minced meat to make dumplings, one portion was kept for stewing, and the remaining small piece was given to He Yuzhu as a snack.

"Dad, try this." He Yuyang handed He Daqing a pair of chopsticks. The dumplings were fresh out of the pot, steaming hot. One bite, and the aroma of meat mixed with the fragrance of chives was incredibly delicious.

He Daqing took a big bite and mumbled, "Delicious! Even better than the ones at the restaurant." He looked at Liu Yan's rosy face and then at his two sons wolfing down their food, and felt a warm glow in his heart.

He recalled a few years ago when his family ate thin porridge every meal. Liu Yan was pale and thin, and He Yuyang and He Yuzhu were as thin as bean sprouts. At that time, he always felt that there was no hope for the future. But now, not only can they eat their fill and stay warm, but they also have money to save. His wife is healthy, and his son is sensible and capable. It seems that all of this started with Yangyang's idea of ​​"half a portion of food".

"Yangyang, you are truly our family's lucky star." He Daqing put down his chopsticks and said earnestly, "From now on, you should make more decisions about family matters. Dad trusts you."

He Yuyang was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "Dad, you should make the decision. I was just giving random ideas."

"No, you know what you're doing." He Daqing shook his head. He had lived half his life and seen all kinds of people. His son, though young, was thoughtful and more reliable than his father.

Liu Yan nodded: "Your father is right, Yangyang, from now on, your mother will listen to you."

He Yuzhu, holding up a meat dumpling, mumbled, "I'll listen to my brother too!"

The family laughed heartily, and the crickets outside the window chirped even more merrily, as if providing accompaniment for these increasingly better days.

As night deepened, He Yuyang lay in bed, listening to the wind outside the window. He knew that the calm before the summer harvest was only temporary; in turbulent times, any slight disturbance could stir up trouble. But he wasn't afraid. He had enough food stored, the roof had been reinforced, the clothes were protected from moisture, and his family members were in good health—these were the foundation to weather any storm.

He quietly circulated his internal energy, feeling the increasingly solid internal force in his dantian. He also thought of the small villa in the space and the grain in the cellar, and felt a sense of peace in his heart.

Tomorrow, he will go to the morning market to exchange some more salt and matches. The preparation of supplies before the summer harvest cannot be taken lightly.

Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the wooden chest beside the kang (a heated brick bed). The tung oil shimmered faintly in the night, much like the strength that was slowly gathering in this family—calm and steadfast, awaiting the upcoming summer harvest and every day to come.