Chapter 30

The matter that the two brothers were discussing was absolutely something they couldn't let their father know about.

If he found out, who knows what kind of trouble it would cause.

Xiaofei instructed his sister Xiaoyan to take care of their father at the hospital, gave her some money, and told her to go out and buy some food from a restaurant in the market later. Then, he left the health center with his brother.

Wanting to pull out all the cotton from six acres of land in one night was a very arduous task, and the two of them definitely couldn't finish it alone.

The brothers discussed and went to Qian Village to find Qian Guangwen.

"Hey? Why are you two here?" Qian Guangwen was quite surprised to see Xiaofei and Xiaoyang.

"We need your help with something," Xiaoyang said.

At that moment, Qian Guangwen's family was eating in the courtyard. His parents warmly invited the two to join them, as they were the brothers of his girlfriend, and naturally, they wanted to be hospitable.

Of course, the two brothers declined, saying they had already eaten, and pulled Qian Guangwen to the street.

After offering him a cigarette, they started talking.

"What's up? So urgent?" Qian Guangwen looked at their faces, feeling uneasy, not knowing what their purpose was.

"Help us find ten people from your village to do some work," Xiaoyang said.

"What kind of work?" Qian Guangwen's eyes widened, "Is it a fight? Right?"

In Qian Guangwen's mind, the two of them were acting mysteriously, even a bit suspicious, and asking him to find so many people at once. He naturally assumed they wanted him to find people to help in a fight.

At that time, the trend of working away from home hadn't started yet, and young people were hanging around in the village, with excess energy and no wives to manage them. Fights and brawls often occurred.

"Fight? No, I want you to find some people to help me pull out the cotton from our six acres of land," Xiaoyang said irritably.

"Huh? Pull out the cotton?" Qian Guangwen was very surprised, "Why pull it out? If you do that now, you won't have any harvest this season."

"Even if we don't pull it out, there won't be much harvest. The cotton bolls aren't growing well, and there won't be any cotton to pick in the fall," Xiaofei said with a smile.

Qian Guangwen scratched his head.

Actually, he was a smart person and naturally knew how bad the situation in the cotton fields had become.

Most farmers had also seen this.

But they still harbored a glimmer of hope.

Having a little harvest was better than no harvest at all, right? Few people were willing to cut off their own flesh to treat a wound, and could only watch as the wound on their body slowly rotted away.

In other words, few people had the decisiveness to take such a step.

It was only Xiaofei, with the advantage of being reborn, who fully understood the tragic outcome in the future. So, he gritted his teeth and decided to cut out the rotting wound in the cotton field.

"Do your parents know? Do they agree?" Qian Guangwen asked.

"You don't need to worry about that. It's not your responsibility," Xiaoyang said.

Qian Guangwen understood. It seemed that the decision to pull out the cotton from their fields was something the two brothers were doing without their parents' knowledge. He was in a dilemma.

If he helped, he was afraid that Xiaoyan's parents would blame him.

After all, his relationship with Xiaoyan was still uncertain. If Xiaoyan's parents found out that he had found people to pull out the cotton from their fields, would they hate him and interfere with his relationship with Xiaoyan?

If he didn't help, how could he refuse when Xiaoyan's brother and younger brother came to him?

This would offend them.

Xiaofei knew what Qian Guangwen was worried about and said with a smile, "Qian Guangwen, don't worry. My parents are fair people. The idea to pull out the cotton is mine, and I will take full responsibility. They won't blame you. Also, I can guarantee that I will arrange for you and my sister to become engaged this year."

Qian Guangwen really didn't believe that Xiaofei could make such a guarantee.

Whether Xiaoyan could marry him was ultimately up to her parents and her own attitude, which was still uncertain.

If Xiaoyang couldn't find a wife, the idea of exchanging Xiaoyan for a wife for her brother would eventually be proposed.

He was very troubled.

He genuinely liked this girl.

"Alright, I'll help you find people," Qian Guangwen said, gritting his teeth. He decided to take a chance, since Xiaofei had said it so confidently.

"I won't let the ten people you find help for free. I'll give each of them 20 yuan tonight," Xiaofei said.

"That's too much," Xiaoyang and Qian Guangwen said almost simultaneously.

"Just a favor, no need to pay. If you really want to, give each of them a pack of cigarettes," Qian Guangwen said.

In the countryside, labor wasn't worth much. When finding people to do work, it was all about helping out, and providing meals and cigarettes was enough.

"Alright," Xiaofei also realized that his thinking hadn't fully adapted to the times.

Next, Qian Guangwen quickly found about ten young men from their village. Xiaofei bought two cartons of Silk Road cigarettes from a small shop in Qian Village and distributed them.

Immediately, the mood of these people became very high.

They rode their bikes and, in the dark, returned to Xili Village, finding Xiaofei's cotton field.

Qian Guangwen looked at Xiaoyang and said, "Really going to pull it out?"

"Of course!" Xiaoyang answered firmly.

Qian Guangwen looked at Xiaoyang again and pointed to his clothes, "Wearing such nice clothes to pull out cotton, aren't you afraid of getting them dirty or torn? You should go change."

Xiaoyang was taken aback, then realized he was still wearing the new clothes he had bought in the county town.

"No need, I'll take them off now," Xiaoyang quickly stripped down to his underwear, barefoot, and waved his hand, "Let's start!"

The group pounced on Xiaofei's cotton field like a pack of wolves.

They were all strong young men, full of energy, and worked competitively, almost like a race. It took only two to three hours to pull out all the cotton from Xiaofei's six acres of land.

The cotton plants were thrown into the ditches at the edge of the field, filling them completely.

While Xiaofei and Xiaoyang were leading people to pull out their own cotton, many people in Xili Village were still burning fires and holding torches in their cotton fields to catch the cotton bollworm moths.

They saw a group of people rush into Xiaofei's field and start pulling out the cotton plants, and were very surprised.

Especially when they learned that it was the Xiaofei brothers leading the effort, they all shouted, "Wastrels! Are these two brothers crazy?"

Pulling out the cotton now truly meant no harvest at all.

Only someone with water in their head would do such a thing.

These villagers came to ask what was going on.

Xiaofei told them that the cotton this season was beyond saving, and he planned to pull it out and plant some sweet corn. He also advised them to destroy their cotton fields and plant other crops while they still had time, or it would be too late.

Hearing Xiaofei's words, no one in the village believed him.

What right did someone who hadn't done much field work have to say such things?

Saying that the cotton was completely beyond saving was something the villagers didn't want to hear. They thought it was still early in the season, and there was still much potential.

Even with the cotton bollworms causing a significant reduction in yield, each acre could still bring in three to four hundred yuan, which was the hope of the whole family!

As for Xiaofei's suggestion to replant, almost all the villagers thought it was a joke.

Planting anything now would be too late, and it wouldn't mature, just a waste of effort.

This Xiaofei must be crazy. When Old Xiao finds out that his cotton has been pulled out by his wastrel son, he might be so angry that he dies. Many people thought this with a sense of schadenfreude.