Chapter 5

As Wang Xiaoqiang was excited and agitated, he heard the sound of a tricycle engine approaching from a distance.

Turning around, he saw Huang Chunsheng from the village driving his family’s motorized tricycle, with his wife Feng Yuexian sitting on the back.

Huang Chunsheng had two brothers; his younger brother was named Huang Qiusheng. The Huang family was not well-off, and Huang Chunsheng dropped out of primary school. Like Wang Xiaoqiang, he did not go out to work and instead contracted fifty acres of land at home.

Huang Chunsheng’s land was adjacent to Wang Xiaoqiang’s.

Huang Chunsheng stopped the motorized tricycle at the edge of the field, and while helping his wife unload the pump from the vehicle, he greeted Wang Xiaoqiang: "Xiaoqiang, the fields are so dry they’re on fire. Why aren’t you planning to water them?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiaoqiang understood that the couple had come to water the fields.

It was mid-summer, and it hadn’t rained for half a month, so the fields were indeed showing signs of drought. However, due to the previous heavy rain, the crops in the fields didn’t seem to be too short of water.

"What’s the rush?" Wang Xiaoqiang responded as he walked over to help unload the hose from the vehicle. "Maybe it will rain in a couple of days!"

Huang Chunsheng, after unloading the pump, patted the dust off his hands and took out a pack of "Hongqiqu" cigarettes, which cost five yuan, lit one, and while puffing away, lectured Wang Xiaoqiang in a condescending tone: "A scholar is a scholar, but you don’t understand farming. The current corn seedlings are like growing children; they can’t go a moment without water. Otherwise, they won’t grow tall, and the harvest will definitely be poor."

After saying this, Huang Chunsheng turned to his wife with a self-satisfied smile.

Wang Xiaoqiang retorted, "What you said makes sense, but it’s a bit exaggerated..."

"What? How is it exaggerated?" Huang Chunsheng, feeling that he had made a good point and even showed off to his wife, was taken aback by Wang Xiaoqiang’s dismissive attitude. This made him lose face, and he immediately started to argue with Wang Xiaoqiang.

Wang Xiaoqiang calmly replied, "You compared the crops to growing children. Now, let me compare the crops to you and your brother Qiusheng. You are the elder brother, three years older than your brother. As far as I know, when you were young, you always let your younger brother eat first. So, you definitely didn’t eat as much or as well as your brother, but you grew taller than him. Why is that?"

Huang Chunsheng was embarrassed and couldn’t think of a response.

Wang Xiaoqiang continued, "Although Qiusheng isn’t as tall as you, he is stronger. This is like corn; the taller ones don’t necessarily have bigger ears!"

Indeed, as Wang Xiaoqiang said, the Huang family had always been poor, especially when Huang Chunsheng was young. They often lacked food and clothing. As the elder brother, he had to let his younger brother eat first. However, despite eating better, his brother wasn’t as tall as him, and Huang Chunsheng, though taller, wasn’t as strong as his brother.

"Haha... That makes sense!" Feng Yuexian, Huang Chunsheng’s wife, laughed, revealing her two large front teeth. She looked at Wang Xiaoqiang with admiration: "A well-educated person is different; they understand many principles!"

"Go away... If you laugh again, I’ll knock out your front teeth..." Huang Chunsheng, unable to refute Wang Xiaoqiang and seeing his wife’s obvious admiration for him, felt embarrassed and angry. He glared at his wife.

Frightened by her husband, Feng Yuexian immediately stopped laughing, but her lips couldn’t hide her large front teeth.

Seeing that he had intimidated his wife, Huang Chunsheng puffed out a mouthful of smoke and said to Wang Xiaoqiang in a conciliatory tone, "Xiaoqiang, let’s water the fields. You don’t have a pump, and I happen to have one. If you help me water the fields, I’ll charge you less for the pump. What do you think?"

Huang Chunsheng was a gambler; whenever there was no urgent work in the fields, he would be at the gambling table. His suggestion for Wang Xiaoqiang to help him was simply to get the work done quickly so he could go gambling.

However, Wang Xiaoqiang shook his head and said, "I’ll wait a bit longer."

Wang Xiaoqiang then walked towards his own field.

"Hey... You..." After all the effort he had put into persuading Wang Xiaoqiang, seeing him refuse, Huang Chunsheng felt frustrated and helpless. He grumbled angrily, "Fine, let your crops die from drought!"

Wang Xiaoqiang didn’t hear Huang Chunsheng’s grumbling. He went straight to his own field, which he had also contracted, covering more than fifty acres. This field was planted with autumn crops, including corn, sesame, and soybeans.

Sesame and soybeans are drought-resistant, but corn is not. Under the scorching sun, the knee-high corn seedlings had slightly curled leaves, clearly showing signs of drought.

Since he had contracted the land, his livelihood for the year depended on the crops in the field. Wang Xiaoqiang was well aware of this. Huang Chunsheng’s words weren’t without reason; the current corn seedlings were most afraid of a lack of water. However, he still wanted to wait, as contracting the land was for profit, and watering the fields was costly. If it rained within three days, he could save that money.

Wang Xiaoqiang squatted at the edge of his corn field, reaching out to touch the slightly curled and wilted corn leaves, as if an old man affectionately stroking his grandson’s head.

As his fingers glided over the smooth leaf surface, the mysterious "object" inside his body quickly moved to his right palm, releasing a cool sensation. When this cool sensation emerged from his fingertips, it appeared as five black streams of energy.

Although he had experienced something similar before, Wang Xiaoqiang couldn’t help but feel excited and amazed. He stared intently at his five fingertips, watching as the five black streams of energy flowed into the leaves of the corn seedlings beneath his fingers. Soon, the wilted corn seedlings, as if bathed in a gentle breeze and nourished by sweet dew, immediately unfurled and regained their vitality, looking even more vibrant than if they had been watered.

As the corn seedling under his hand regained its vitality, the five black streams of energy radiated outward from it, like five black lightning bolts, striking the surrounding four corn seedlings. Then, from those four seedlings, the energy spread to another eight, and so on, until all the corn seedlings in Wang’s field, nourished by the black energy, unfurled their leaves and regained their vitality, looking fresh and green.

Wang Xiaoqiang looked up and saw that the corn seedlings were all connected by black streams of energy, forming a dense web, like a fishing net.

The large web of black energy only covered Wang’s corn field, stopping at the boundary with Huang’s field. It seemed to understand the principle of "fertilizer not flowing to others’ fields," just as one wouldn’t water others’ fields when watering one’s own.

Seeing the corn seedlings nourished by the black energy, each one looking as if bathed in sweet dew, with their curled leaves unfurled and their vitality restored, Wang Xiaoqiang withdrew his hand. The black energy connecting the corn seedlings instantly disappeared. In less than five minutes, the once-dry corn field had regained its vitality.

Can this really water the fields? That’s too amazing!

Surprised, Wang Xiaoqiang turned his head and glanced at Huang Chunsheng and his wife, who were already operating the pump. They were wearing rubber boots, braving the scorching sun, and working hard with the hose, sweating profusely. At this rate, they would have to work for more than two hours in the sun.

Moreover, even after spending money and effort, they couldn’t guarantee that all the water from the hose would reach their own field.

Seeing the hard work of Huang Chunsheng and his wife, and then looking at himself, Wang Xiaoqiang smiled happily.