Country Love: Xie Dajiao, 37, is pregnant!

Time flies and the autumn harvest begins. The late summer heat lingers, making people's faces oily from the sun. In the cornfields, the wind rustles and swirls.

This year, the crops are generally bare at the tips, the corn is shorter than in previous years, with only a few grains left on the tips, and the rice ears are sparse and drooping.

Since the beginning of autumn, there hasn't been a single thorough rain. The autumn harvest has been delayed, and the grouting process hasn't been completed properly. Experienced farmers can tell at a glance that this year's yield is bound to be reduced.

Beside Xie Guangkun's cornfield, the two hired helpers were working hunched over. Xie Guangkun squatted in the shade of the old poplar tree at the edge of the field, fanning himself with a tattered straw hat, chatting with Liu Neng and Zhao Si who were taking a nap nearby.

Xie Guangkun spat, the spittle landing on a clod of dirt at his feet:

"This year is a terrible year. Look at these corns, they're a section shorter than in previous years. We'll harvest much less per acre. This autumn drought is really bad."

Liu Neng smoked a cigarette, wiping his hand on his trouser leg:

"That's right, my family's crops were also ruined. I estimate that we lost about 100 to 200 kilograms per acre. All that effort in the first half of the year was wasted."

Zhao Si squatted down beside him, not even looking up, and said:

"Not only is production down, but grain prices aren't going up either. Yesterday, the grain buyers came and offered only 63 cents a pound for freshly harvested corn."

"What? Only 63 cents?"

Xie Guangkun immediately became anxious:

"Last year it was only 68 cents! This is ridiculous! Fertilizer and seeds have skyrocketed in price this year. A bag of urea has gone up by more than 20 cents. After deducting the cost, you'll only get 200 or 300 yuan per acre, which isn't even enough to cover the labor costs!"

"What can we do? We've farmed all our lives, what can we do but stop? We can't just let it go to waste."

Just then, a red combine harvester sped past on the village road, its roar audible from afar.

"Take a look..."

Liu Neng raised his chin and gestured with his chin in the direction the car had gone:

"I heard that the newly established agricultural machinery cooperative in town charges 45 yuan per mu (unit of land area), and can harvest dozens of mu a day. People don't even have to lift a finger; they can just stand at the edge of the field and wait."

Forty-five? That's robbery!

Xie Guangkun curled his lip, his face full of displeasure:

"How much does it cost to harvest an acre manually? I'm not going to waste my money. It's slower, but I can do other things with the money I save."

"What's the rush? The sooner we finish harvesting and sell the grain, the more at ease we'll be. I'm thinking that with my small plot of land, if it's not enough, we'll just hire a machine to harvest it, so we don't have to go through all that trouble."

As we chatted, the topic somehow veered towards black ant farming.

Xie Guangkun immediately perked up and straightened his back:

"I'm telling you, you're all so stubborn, clinging to a few acres of land to make a living. What can you possibly achieve by toiling your whole lives? We save three thousand more than others every year!"

Liu Neng nodded his head like a pecking at rice:

"Well... that's right. I've already told my husband that this year, we'll use the money from selling grain to make enough for living expenses, and then put the rest into this. This stuff is a hundred times better than farming!"

"Well... I heard from someone the other day that they said the interest payment for this month was two days late, I don't know why."

"What's the big deal about being a couple of days late?"

Xie Guangkun waved his hand dismissively, his face showing no concern.

"Is it normal for big companies to be a few days late in their cash flow? It's not like we're not going to give it to you. Fourth brother, I think you're destined to be poor. You hold onto any money you have for fear of losing it. You'll never make a fortune in this life."

Liu Neng also looked at Zhao Si with disdain:

"Exactly, once we've got the money in our pockets, you can stop making sarcastic remarks."

Zhao Si pursed his lips, remained silent, and then lowered his head to draw grass stalks on the ground.

He didn't have much spare money and hadn't planned to invest in the first place. He just felt uneasy about it, and when he tried to persuade him, he got scolded, so he simply stopped talking.

During the autumn harvest season, the area in front of the village's Big Foot Supermarket is the liveliest place. People taking a break or selling grain gather there to smoke and chat, forming a row of squatting against the wall.

Accountant Xu started chatting with everyone:

"Have you heard? The two agricultural machinery cooperatives in Yemin Town organized more than a dozen harvesters to go to Heilongjiang to harvest land. They say the land there is very fertile, and they can harvest 60 yuan per mu. They go out for a month at a time, and each truck can earn tens of thousands of yuan."

"Wow, that's how much money they make?"

"No wonder people are buying combine harvesters. They can not only harvest their own crops, but also go out and find other jobs."

"It's hard-earned money. Driving and staying up all night every day, it's not that easy."

Xie Guangkun walked over and said with a disdainful look:

"Can making money be as comfortable as raising ants? You can sit at home on your kang (heated brick bed) and money will come to you automatically. Let me tell you, I've already done my research. I'm going to invest another 20,000 yuan, and with compound interest, it'll be equivalent to a small business in a few years."

Just then, a villager came over to buy a bottle of iced water, unscrewed the cap, gulped down a big mouthful, wiped his mouth, and complained to everyone:

"Don't even mention it. The Zhang family and the Li family were fighting over half a row of corn this morning. They both claimed it as their own and were scrambling to harvest it. They even got their heads banged. I just got back after I finished mediating their fight."

"Is it really necessary? The corn is only worth a hundred or two hundred yuan, is it worth getting into a fight?"

"That's right, it's all because of poverty."

The man took another sip of water:

"If there are other ways to make money, who would care about that half-row of land?"

Xie Guangkun became even more smug upon hearing this:

"That's why people need to be more discerning. If you just stick to those few acres of land, you'll never amount to anything. Look at Lin Chen, he doesn't farm, he makes a fortune in business. But I think he's just so-so. He's too timid. He didn't even dare to touch such a good ant-raising project, what a waste of all that capital."

"Yes, yes, yes, so rich, yet they don't even dare to invest ten thousand. I think the richer they are, the stingier they are, and the more timid they are!"

Everyone chimed in, saying that growing grain was a dead end, and raising ants was the right path.

No one thought about it too deeply; how could such a windfall happen to them?

After finishing work in the evening, there was a calculator on the kang table in Xie Guangkun's house, and Yongqiang's mother brought out two bowls of steaming corn porridge.

Xie Guangkun sat cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed), eating porridge with pickled vegetables and talking as he ate:

"This year, our corn will sell for 63 cents a pound, which will bring in less than 8,000 yuan. As for the rice paddies, let's say we'll sell 5,000 pounds at 90 cents a pound, which will bring in 4,500 yuan."

"Seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, I spent 1,800 this spring, hired someone to harvest the land, that cost 600... Hmm, that's enough money, I'm planning to invest another 10,000!"

Yongqiang's mother frowned as she sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) wiping the table.

"Are we just going to dump everything in? Aren't we leaving some money for crossing the river? Just in case something goes wrong..."

"What do you know, you old woman!"

Xie Guangkun glared:

"Investing this money is equivalent to farming for half a year! What are we going to do with it? Have babies?"

"But... what if something goes wrong?"

Yongqiang's mother was still a little apprehensive:

"I always felt that making money without doing anything was a bit too risky."

"What's so suspicious? Their company has such a large storefront in the city, with its business license and certificates of honor hanging on the wall. How could they run away? I saw them collecting interest with my own eyes. Besides, what era are we living in? You're still clinging to old ideas. Wang Dana makes a fortune in business. We don't have that ability, but we can at least raise ants, right?"

He became increasingly smug as he spoke:

"Once the money comes back at the end of the year, I'll take a walk around the village and show Zhao Si and Wang Laoqi what I'm doing. I'll make them regret not investing. I'll also show Lin Chen what projects he wouldn't dare invest in—we've made money!"

"Lin Chen doesn't care about this little bit of money," Yongqiang's mother muttered, bowing her head to clear the dishes.

"Who doesn't care about money?"

Xie Guangkun shook his head like a rattle drum:

"Not knowing how to make money is foolish; being timid will never lead to great wealth!"

Yongqiang's mother couldn't persuade him otherwise, so she could only sigh and let him go.

Five or six days later, Liu Neng rushed to Xie Guangkun's house early in the morning and barged in, almost bumping into the soy sauce jar in the yard.

"Guangkun! Guangkun! This is bad!"

Xie Guangkun was husking corn in the yard, sitting on a small stool, and glanced up at him:

"What happened? Did a dog chase you?"

"No...no...that's not it!"

Liu Neng, panting, leaned against the wall to catch his breath:

"I just got a call from three of my relatives. They said their Ant Financial interest payment for this quarter is almost a week late. The company said it's due to cash flow issues and they need to wait. You know... something can't be wrong, right?"