Chapter 21

“Reading a book? This one is talking about the common pests that affect fruit trees and how to treat them,” said Wu Xiaoxiao.

“Ah, the book talks about that too? But I can’t read books, they give me a headache,” Wu Hua exaggerated, pointing to his head. He’d rather help his dad with picking soil or pruning branches in the orchard than read books.

“You can’t avoid reading, Xiaohua, how old are you this year?”

“13. My birthday’s small, but I’ll be 14 soon.”

“At your age, you should be going to school.”

“Eh, our village’s middle school doesn’t even have proper classes. They just make us do labor every day, so it’s better to work in our orchard.”

Wu Xiaoxiao shook her head. Over the years, since the school couldn’t teach properly, children like Wu Hua could barely recognize a few characters. They hadn’t learned any real knowledge.

“But if we only use physical strength every day, there’s so little we can actually achieve. Xiaohua, like in this book, it talks about several kinds of agricultural machinery. Not to mention, you and Uncle Changfa are always pruning fruit trees. Isn’t it difficult to prune the tall trees?”

Wu Hua nodded. “Yes, those really high places are hard to reach. Actually, the trees grow so tall that they don’t bear many fruits. When they do bear fruit, it’s too high to reach, and the birds eat them, so it’s a waste. Sometimes Dad has to climb really tall ladders and even go up the tree to prune, which is dangerous. Mom and I always worry about him.”

Wu Xiaoxiao said, “Exactly. You can use a ladder like the one in the book. It would be much safer. Or, as the book suggests, when the trees are smaller, we can graft and prune them to keep them from growing too tall. This way, it will be easier to pick the fruit later and avoid the problem of not being able to reach the high fruits.”

While holding the book, Wu Xiaoxiao explained to Wu Hua. Sometimes she even took a notebook to draw some diagrams for him. It was strange—Wu Hua usually dozed off when reading, but now he listened attentively to Wu Xiaoxiao’s voice.

Before they knew it, half the afternoon had passed. He had no idea that books contained so much knowledge and such interesting things.

—-

The teachers at school had never taught this, and his parents and grandparents had never mentioned such things. Were the things in the book really useful? Wu Hua thought to himself and asked out loud.

“Of course! Look, today after reading the book, I’ve figured out several methods. We can ask Uncle Changfa to buy the pesticides we need, and we can try to get rid of the pests in our orchard.”

“Can it really be done like this? That’s great!” Wu Hua jumped up happily. Recently, he had seen his father worrying about the pests in the orchard, and he was also anxious. The pests had damaged several old fruit trees, affecting this year’s fruit yield. Worse, if the trees were hurt, they might not bear fruit for the next few years.

“Dad! Dad! Xiaoxiao said she has a way to deal with the pests!” Wu Hua rushed out to find his father.

Wu Xiaoxiao smiled as she folded up the notes she had written and stuffed them into her pocket, then headed out. Right now, Uncle Changfa should be working on the mountain with the Chang brothers. She needed to find him soon so they could go to the town tomorrow to buy pesticides.

She had heard that there was a way to treat the pests on the fruit trees. Uncle Changfa was eager to head out right away, but Auntie stopped him. By now, it was almost time for dinner, and even if they made it to the town, the place that sold pesticides would be closed.

“Alright, then we’ll go first thing tomorrow. By the way, Xiaoxiao, are you staying here tonight, or are you going home first?”

Actually, Wu Changfa would prefer for Xiaoxiao to stay over. This way, they could leave earlier tomorrow. But since it was Xiaoxiao’s first day at the orchard, she might not be used to it and might want to go home and look around a bit more.

Wu Xiaoxiao thought for a moment and said, “How about I stay here? That way we can leave early tomorrow. When we come back, I’ll go check on my mom and bring some more things with me.”

The situation with the fruit trees at the orchard was a bit serious, and she was anxious about it. She needed to stay at the orchard for a while and take good care of it.

“Alright, that sounds like the best plan.” Wu Changfa grinned widely. “Auntie’s already cleaned up the room for you. Oh, and if you feel like you’re missing anything, take a look tonight and write it down. We’ll buy it together tomorrow when we’re in town.”

Wu Changfa’s words reminded Wu Xiaoxiao that she should check what things were available for purchase in town.

At this point, most things still needed to be bought with ration tickets, though she wasn’t sure if there were things that could be bought with just money. However, right now, she had neither tickets nor money to spare. Her mother had given her five yuan as pocket money, but it was best not to spend it carelessly.

This was the first night Wu Xiaoxiao had ever spent away from her own home since coming to this world. Her head rested on a soft pillow, and a fragrant thin blanket covered her. Yet, surprisingly, she wasn’t falling asleep as early as usual. She couldn’t help but wonder how her mom was doing at home. Although she had only been in this world for a little over half a month, she felt a deep bond with her mom already.

Having not seen her mom for most of the day, she felt a bit anxious, wondering if her mom had eaten a good lunch. She had steamed a big batch of buns for her in the morning, and there should still be enough left for the next few days. As for the family’s small plot of land, the fruits and vegetables she had used her powers on would gradually grow bigger in the coming days.

She also wondered how her mom managed with the weeding today. Whenever she weeded, she left a trace of her abilities in the soil, which should slow the growth of the weeds, hopefully easing her mom’s workload a little.

Tomorrow, when they reached the town, she planned to carefully look at what was available for purchase. It would be great if she could find a way to make some money. Right now, money was the most pressing need for the two of them.

Her mom was saving up to ensure she had a proper dowry for her, while Xiaoxiao herself thought that although it seemed like everyone was living off the production team’s communal meals, this kind of life wouldn’t last forever.

Even in these days of shared meals, people like Uncle Changfa, who were quick-witted and willing to take on responsibility, could live better by managing an orchard. They even had extra ways of making money. Xiaoxiao knew that they needed to start preparing for the future changes.

Otherwise, when an opportunity came, if they didn’t have the resources to seize it, it would be a huge missed chance.