80s Transmigration: The Young Widow's Hustle to Riches

Chapter 395 - 393: Strength in Numbers

When Xiong Weicheng saw Lin Lan and the others return, he shot Lin Lan a vicious glare, then turned and ran home.

Lin Jun pointed at Xiong Weicheng. "Auntie, he pulled up all the potatoes in the vegetable garden."

Lin Lan and the others looked over and saw about ten potato vines strewn across the patch, with egg-sized potatoes still clinging to them.

"What a waste!" Wu Shufen sighed. "That kid from the Xiong family is just awful. Since Zhang Yazhen was taken away by the police, we’ve already caught him ruining things on our private plot twice."

Zhao Xiaohui huffed, "Exactly. His mom was arrested by the police for having sticky fingers. It’s not like we’re the ones who got her in trouble, but he still blames us."

This wasn’t the first time Xiong Weicheng had vandalized their private plot. He had developed this kind of personality entirely because Zhang Yazhen spoiled him rotten.

Lin Lan couldn’t be bothered to help Zhang Yazhen discipline her child. She said, "Forget it. When we’re done with work, we’ll cut some bamboo to reinforce the fence and buy a padlock for the gate."

Wu Shufen nodded. "Once the seedlings are all planted, I’ll have your brother and the others cut some bamboo to reinforce the fence."

The group washed their feet by the irrigation ditch, put on their shoes, and went home.

Zhang Xiuqing was kneading dough, while Zhao Xiaohui was busy mixing slop to feed the pigs.

Lin Lan grabbed a basket, planning to go to the garden and pick some pea shoots for the noodles.

Wu Shufen brought a clay pot out from the cupboard and said with a smile, "We brought back the leftover pork intestines we didn’t sell. We’re having intestine noodles later."

Lin Lan nodded, took the basket, and walked out of the kitchen. Just as she entered the vegetable garden, Little Douzi and Lin Qing came running from the direction of the chicken coop. They had unchained Wangcai. "Mama, I’m taking Wangcai to go get Uncle Xiangyang."

Lin Lan waved. "Go on! Run slowly, and don’t fall into the rice paddy."

"Okay!" Little Douzi replied, then ran off with Lin Qing toward the old lady’s house.

Not long after they crossed the stone bridge, they ran into an elder aunt from the Yang family. Little Douzi greeted her politely, "Great-Auntie, are you done with work for the day?"

"Oh, it’s Little Douzi!" The elder aunt beamed at him. "Did your mom come back to plant seedlings, too?"

Little Douzi nodded. "Yup! My Uncle Xiangyang is back too. He’s planting seedlings in the main paddy!"

The elder aunt glanced back at the paddy field behind the old lady’s house, then bent down to look at him. "Douzi, why haven’t you started calling him Dad yet? Is your stepdad not good to you?"

"He is! Uncle Xiangyang is really good to me!" Little Douzi saw the look in her eyes and felt a little annoyed. "I don’t like the word ’stepdad.’ I like Uncle Xiangyang. I hate the word ’Dad.’" With that, he tugged Wangcai’s leash and ran off.

Lin Qing chased after him and grabbed Little Douzi’s arm. "Douzi, these women are so annoying. My mom says they’re busybodies who just try to trick us into talking so they can go gossip about it with the other busybodies."

Little Douzi glanced at Li Xiangyang, who was bent over planting seedlings in the paddy, then turned back to Lin Qing. "Cousin Qing, I don’t like the word ’Dad.’ Dads hit moms."

Lin Qing nodded. "Your dad died a long time ago. My mom and grandma say your dad was a good-for-nothing. My mom also says this new uncle is a hundred times better than your birth father."

Little Douzi looked at him, troubled. "But all of you have dads. The kids in my class all ask me why I call him Uncle Xiangyang instead of Dad."

Lin Qing looked at him. "Then just call Uncle Xiangyang ’Dad’!"

’Lin Qing is so dense,’ Little Douzi suddenly thought. ’He doesn’t get what I’m saying.’ "I’m not talking to you anymore! I already told you, dads hit people."

Lin Qing chased after him. "You’re the dense one, Douzi! Your dad hit people, but our new uncle won’t. Look, my dad never hits my mom."

After hearing that, Little Douzi looked at Li Xiangyang in the field. ’He’s right. Not every dad hits people. Youngest Uncle and Uncle Dongzi don’t hit anyone. And Uncle Xiangyang has never hit anyone either...’

Seeing him quiet, Lin Qing ran to the edge of the paddy where they were planting and said to Lin Guodong, "Dad, how much longer until you’re finished?"

Lin Guozhu looked up at him. "A little while longer."

Lin Qing spotted a smooth-rimmed hole on the edge of the paddy ridge and exclaimed in delight, "An eel!" He kicked off his shoes, hopped into the paddy, and started digging at it.

On another paddy ridge, Little Douzi stood watching Li Xiangyang, who was focused on planting in the middle of the field. After a moment, he squatted down and hugged Wangcai, who was standing beside him. He was still wondering, ’If I call Li Xiangyang ’Dad,’ will he hit people later on?’

After a little while, Li Xiangyang worked his way back to a spot near the ridge. Little Douzi called out, "Uncle Xiangyang, are you almost done?"

Wangcai joined in the excitement, letting out a few barks.

Li Xiangyang turned to see the boy and the dog standing there and smiled. "Last section. Once this is planted, we’ll call it a day."

Little Douzi nodded. "I’ll wait for you."

"Okay." Li Xiangyang picked up a bundle of seedlings, untied the grass binding, and bent over to plant them quickly.

Lin Qing, butt in the air, dug for a while before yelling to Little Douzi, who was squatting on the ridge, "Douzi, quick! There’s a huge eel over here!"

"Coming!" Little Douzi ran toward the neighboring paddy ridge, with Wangcai trotting right behind him.

Over on the other side, Qiaohui and Tong Xinglan had met up in the middle of the paddy. Lin Changyou and the others were also nearing the ridge, with only about six or seven bundles of seedlings left to plant in the field.

A villager planting in the next paddy over said admiringly, "It’s great to have so many hands. We’ve been working all day and have only planted two mu, but Lin Lan’s family planted three mu in just half an afternoon."

"Well, what do you expect? They have nine able-bodied workers just for planting."

After finishing the last row, Li Xiangyang climbed onto the ridge. He saw Little Douzi and Lin Qing with their butts in the air, digging for eels, and walked over to give them both a light swat. "Stop digging. If you break the ridge, it won’t hold water for the paddy."

He said as he pulled them both up. After a look, he added, "You silly kids, the eel is long gone, and you’re still digging."

Lin Guozhu walked over too. "Xiangyang, let’s go eeling tonight."

Little Douzi grabbed his hand. "I want to go! I want to go!"

"Alright, you can go too." Li Xiangyang patted him and then smiled at Lin Guozhu. "Does the family have lanterns and eel tongs?"

"We do," Lin Guodong chimed in from the side. "Eldest Brother and I made a couple here last year."

Hearing this, Li Xiangyang was reminded of the time Liu Jinbao was stuffed into a burlap sack. He looked at Lin Guodong and grinned. "Didn’t you guys catch a pretty ’big eel’ that night?"

"A big eel?" Lin Guodong paused for a moment before catching the joke. He laughed. "I wasn’t there for that. It was Third Brother and Eldest Brother. They caught a really huge one."

"Second Brother, what are you talking about?" Lin Guozhu asked, not getting the joke. He pulled on Lin Guodong, asking for an explanation.

Li Xiangyang pulled up the bamboo slats used to mark the planting grid along the edge of the paddy and started packing up.

Lin Guoliang gathered the leftover seedling bundles into a basket and shouted over to Lin Changyou, who was inspecting the paddy ridges, "Dad, I’ve checked! No leaks."

"Coming," Lin Changyou replied. He squatted down to wash his hands, then walked over. "Shi Song, you two should go over and have a bowl of noodles before you head back."

Li Xiaofeng, thinking of how her two children had come to the door to look for them several times, said worriedly, "Uncle, the pigs at home haven’t been fed yet, and the children are waiting for us!"

Lin Changyou said to Lin Guoliang, "Eldest, go get Shi Song’s two kids as well. Bring them over to have a bite with us."

Qiaohui offered, "Uncle, I’ll go get them." With that, she ran toward the back door of the old lady’s house.