Summer Harvest

Fang Chang'an’s family owned five and a half mu of land in total: two mu in the north of the river, over one mu in the north of the village, over one mu in the south of the village, and two or three fen in the southeast of the village. Among these, there was a pear orchard in the south of the village, covering about half a mu.

In previous years, they would usually choose one of the plots north or south of the river to grow watermelons, as in most cases, watermelons brought in more money than wheat.

However, setting up trellises, pollinating, watering, and harvesting watermelons were not tasks one person could manage alone. With Fang Lujun away from home and Cong Rong being rather "clumsy," the family had planted wheat on nearly all five mu of land this year.

By this time, harvesters were no longer a rare sight, but because they cost money, most families still kept the tradition of harvesting wheat with sickles. If it had been left to Cong Rong alone, she might not have finished even by the time others had already packed their wheat into bags.

Fang Lujun had called, urging her to hire a harvester, but Cong Rong could not bear the expense. Instead, she called upon her maternal grandfather, grandmother, and Fang Luyong’s family to help. Naturally, she had to run around helping others in return, as was common during the busy farming season.

When Fang Chang'an returned home for the weekend, it happened to be the harvest of the last plot in the south of the village. He had originally wanted to invite a classmate to help—mainly so Shen Mo could gain some experience and see how wheat was harvested—but he worried the scorching sun would tan or burn her skin, which was as fair and clear as snow, so he dismissed the idea.

At the end of the month, the three-day high school entrance examination took place on the 24th, 25th, and 26th. Starting the following Monday, Fang Chang'an and his peers began their final exams, which also lasted four days. The first-year students tested in the morning, and the second-year students in the afternoon, with the summer break starting on the morning of July 1st.

On the night he returned home, Fang Lujun called again, saying he had spoken with his boss. There was an empty room next to the one he slept in, which had been promised for their use throughout the summer vacation. He told Cong Rong to just bring the three children.

Cong Rong was still hesitant, but Fang Chang'an and his younger siblings chimed in, arguing that they wouldn't just be going there to play. With nearly two months of vacation, their mother could also find a job and easily earn a thousand yuan, which would be better than staying at home.

This reasoning convinced Cong Rong, and the matter was finally settled.

The next morning, after breakfast, Cong Rong went to the front yard to ask Fang Luyong for help, having him drive the tricycle to load the harvested wheat and take it to the town to sell.

Fang Chang'an went along, sitting with his mother atop the bags of wheat that filled the cargo bed, and they traveled to the grain station in town.

Seeing the tricycle arrive, a staff member of the grain station quickly walked out. He had them unload a bag, untied the opening, reached his arm deep inside to grab a handful of wheat, and rubbed it between his fingers. "Quite dry," he noted with some surprise.

"Of course," Fang Luyong said. "It’s been drying for days."

Another staff member came over, grabbed a handful to inspect, and said, "Yours is pretty good. Sixty cents."

Cong Rong was naturally unwilling to accept whatever price they offered and tried to negotiate with Fang Luyong's help, but the deal was eventually struck at sixty-two cents. Sack after sack of wheat-filled burlap bags was weighed, totaling over 2,640 jin.

The total came to 1,636.8 yuan.

This was the entire income produced by the family's land for the first half of the year, before deducting the costs of seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, and the like.

Fang Chang'an watched from the side, feeling a mix of emotions he couldn't quite articulate. He only knew that to protect domestic production, the government actually subsidized the purchase of crops like wheat and corn; according to international grain prices, it would have been even cheaper.

After receiving the money, Fang Chang'an got back on the vehicle with his mother, and Fang Luyong drove the tricycle toward the train station. On the way, Fang Chang'an asked, "Mom, is this all the wheat the family has?"

Cong Rong nodded and added, "There are a few bags left, kept for milling into flour."

There was a small flour mill in the village. Milling wheat into flour and using the bran to feed pigs and chickens was more cost-effective than buying flour, so families usually kept some wheat for their own consumption.

Fang Chang'an nodded, then asked, "How many train tickets should we buy?"

Thanks to consistent exercise and proper nutrition, Fang Chang'an had grown significantly this year, reaching nearly 1.65 meters. Fang Yanran was still quite short and should be eligible for a free ticket. Fang Changming was about the same height as Fang Chang'an had been the previous year; according to regulations, since he was over 1.5 meters, he had to buy an adult ticket.

Cong Rong clearly didn't agree. "Two tickets will be enough."

Fang Chang'an persuaded her, "Mom, Changming is almost 1.6 meters tall. According to the rules, he should have a full-price ticket. Why don't we buy two adult tickets and one child ticket? That way, if anyone asks, we have a reasonable explanation. If we only buy two tickets, even if we argue for a long time, we'll likely end up having to pay for a half-price ticket anyway."

"The train will be crowded. Arguing for a long time will just be a waste of effort, and we’ll probably lose our seats. It’s better if we just buy the half-price ticket now; it’ll be easier to talk our way through."

In his previous life, Fang Changming and Fang Yanran had started traveling later, and on the bus, Cong Rong would still argue with the conductor for a long time over whether the two younger ones should get free or half-price tickets.

She was naturally shy. At first, she would force herself to act tough, but she would often lose her words after a few arguments, yet she would still try to hold her ground. Later, she gradually became accustomed to it, but as Fang Yanran grew taller, she naturally felt more and more in the wrong.

Back then, Fang Chang'an would often remain silent, his face burning with shame, feeling as if everyone were looking at him with strange eyes. He felt deeply embarrassed for his mother—why argue for so long over a dollar or fifty cents when, according to the rules, a ticket should be bought?

Now, Fang Chang'an could understand her helplessness and bitterness, the grievances and miseries that were hard to speak of or even show. Because of this, he was even less willing to see his mother force herself to do things she also found shameful.

Cong Rong certainly knew the rules, but because everyone else looked for ways to dodge fares, those who dutifully paid seemed like fools who spent extra money. Plus, she was truly reluctant to spend the cash and wanted to try her best to save whatever she could.

A train ticket was over 150, nearly 160 yuan, and a half-price ticket was nearly 80. If she could save that, how many things could she buy?

However, what her son said made sense. The train ride would take fifteen or sixteen hours. Having an extra seat would definitely be more comfortable than two. She could stand, but there were three children.

Cong Rong hesitated for a moment and asked, "Do half-price tickets come with seats?"

Fang Chang'an replied, "According to the rules, child tickets are the same as adult tickets. If you can buy a ticket with a seat, then you have a seat."

Cong Rong thought for a few more seconds. Ultimately, she felt that since all three children were traveling for the first time on such a long train ride, having an extra seat was better than not, so she nodded.

Upon arriving outside the train station, Fang Luyong parked the vehicle. Fearing his uncle might ask him to watch the tricycle, Fang Chang'an jumped off nimbly. "Uncle, wait here. Buying tickets won't take long."

Fang Luyong had indeed intended to ask Fang Chang'an to watch the vehicle. Seeing his line stolen, he asked with some surprise, "You're going too?"

Fang Chang'an smiled. "I haven't seen how to buy train tickets yet, so I’m going to take a look."

Fang Luyong had no choice but to wave his hand. "Alright, alright. Don't run off and get lost."

"Got it."

The town train station was very small. The ticket window, the waiting hall, and the exit hall were all in one space. It wasn't large; to the Fang Chang'an of his previous life at that age, it might have seemed like a big hall, but to the current Fang Chang'an, it only looked backward and cramped.

There was a middle-aged man buying a ticket at the window. Cong Rong waited for him to finish before approaching. Fang Chang'an followed, and before his mother could speak, he called out to the plump woman inside the window, "Big sister, are there seats available on the train from the city to Wenzhou?"

Having grown quite a bit, Fang Chang'an already possessed the air of a young man, still fair-skinned and handsome. The ticket seller looked at his pure, cute appearance and a smile broke across her otherwise wooden face. "Yes, what day do you want?"

"The eighth," Cong Rong said.

The ticket seller checked the computer and asked, "How many tickets?"

Cong Rong now understood her son's intention and asked, "Do they all have seats?"

"Yes."

"Then I’ll take three: two adult tickets and one child ticket."

The ticket seller had probably never seen anyone proactively buy a child ticket and was a bit surprised. She glanced at Fang Chang'an, thinking, *He can't possibly still qualify for a child's ticket, can he?*

Fang Chang'an laughed. "Big sister, the child's ticket is for my younger brother; I’ll be using an adult ticket."

The woman smiled and said to Cong Rong, "That will be 392.5 yuan."

As Cong Rong counted the money, the ticket seller looked at Fang Chang'an. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. Then she took the 400 yuan Cong Rong handed over and laughed, "Your younger brother is so cute!"

Cong Rong froze for a moment, but Fang Chang'an already corrected her with a smile, "Big sister, this is my mother. I am her son."

The woman turned bright red and quickly apologized. She looked at Cong Rong and added, "You look so young; I thought you two were siblings."

Cong Rong did indeed look young, but she usually interacted only with acquaintances and had never encountered something like this before. Beyond finding it amusing, she felt a measure of happiness in her heart. She smiled at the woman, took the tickets, checked them carefully, and walked out of the hall with her son.

Fang Chang'an also looked at the tickets. They had a reddish-pink background and felt a bit thin. They only had the train number and seat information printed on them, with no names or ID numbers, which looked a bit strange.

Back home, Cong Rong carefully put the train tickets away. Without identification, there would be no way to replace them if they were lost.

The next day, they visited the maternal grandmother’s house. The 3rd had already passed; they would go to get their report cards on the 7th and leave for Wenzhou the next day, leaving only four days left.

In the evening, Fang Chang'an called Shen Mo. Hearing a "hello" on the other end, he said politely, "Hello, may I speak to Shen Mo?"

It was a gentle female voice on the other end, sounding like Shen Mo’s grandmother. She laughed, "Is that Chang'an? Mo Mo has gone back to her parents' place."

Fang Chang'an was stunned, and the grandmother added, "How about this: I'll give you their home number; you can write it down."

"Alright, thank you, Grandma."

Fang Chang'an felt a secret sense of gratitude, as she hadn't asked what he needed—otherwise, he really wouldn't have known how to answer. He wrote down the number and thanked her again before hanging up.

But he didn't call.

Because he didn't have any real reason to. He just wanted to ask if she wanted to come over to catch fish since the weather was hot and the river didn't have much water. It would have been plausible if she were coming from town, but coming all the way from the city to catch fish... no matter how thick-skinned he was, he was too embarrassed to say that.

"She has to come to get her report card, right? Surely she wouldn't just say goodbye like that?"

Fang Chang'an recalled the scene when they parted after the exams; there was nothing special about it, just waving goodbye. It didn't even have the same emotional weight as when they parted at the end of the previous semester.

Perhaps that day, everyone had assumed it wasn't time to say goodbye yet?

With a hint of indescribable melancholy, Fang Chang'an walked out of his parents' room, took a basin to the west room, mixed wheat bran and feed for the pigs, and then helped his mother build a fire to cook.

With Fang Lujun away, no one dared to turn on the television under their mother's watchful eye. During dinner, Fang Changming glanced at his younger sister, Fang Yanran glanced at her second brother, and after a while, they both inadvertently glanced at their eldest brother.

Fang Chang'an found it amusing and said, "Mom, can I watch some TV?"

Cong Rong looked at him, then at the two younger ones, whose expressions were a mixture of nervousness and anticipation. She nodded. Before Fang Chang'an could move, Fang Changming had already darted out, shouting happily, "Eldest brother, I'll go turn on the TV for you!"

Fang Yanran also put down her bowl and stood up. "Eldest brother, I'll help you too!"

Fang Chang'an scolded them, "Help my foot! Wash your own bowls after you're done eating—how many times do I have to tell you?"

"Ring-a-ling! Ring-a-ling!"

The telephone in the inner room suddenly rang. Fang Chang'an’s heart skipped a beat. The designated operator, Fang Yanran, had already rushed over to answer it, responding in her small, milky voice, "Hello—"

Then she shouted, "Eldest brother, it's Big Sister Mo Mo!"