The Farm Life Of a "Fool"

Chapter 42

He thought that as long as they made more ash by burning, they would have enough fertilizer when the time came.

Now their uncultivated fields were full of withered weeds, and their new sprouts had not come out yet, so they could be cut and burned directly. "Let Tangtang and Guoguo burn the weeds and get the ash," Xu Ran thought.

When he told Liu Tong about his idea, he got his approval. Raising two pigs was no problem for him now that he didn't have much work to do. There were plenty of uncultivated fields around their home, and cutting pigweed for pigs was easy.

"In this case, Tongtong, go and ask if any family has piglets, and we can buy two and bring them home. But few people in our village have chicks and ducklings. Then we can buy them in town," Xu Ran said.

"OK," Liu Tong nodded. "Then let me go to the village and ask about it first. You tell Tangtang and Guoguo, but they are still young. If they can't do it, we'll have to do it ourselves."

"OK, I see. They are my sons. I won't let him get tired," Xu Ran said with a smile.

Ignoring him, Liu Tong turned around and went outside.

Tangtang and Guoguo were outside playing with the dog in their arms when Xu Ran arrived. The two children were very lonely. Other children were probably pulling weeds in their fields with their parents or doing something else mischievous. They had to play with their dog because they couldn't find someone else to play with.

"Tangtang, Guoguo, come over. I have something to tell you."

As soon as they heard Xu Ran's words, they put down the dog in their arms and rushed to him.

"What do you want to tell us, dad?" Guoguo asked Xu Ran while blinking his big shiny eyes.

Xu Ran took out copper coins from his chest, counted a hundred coins, and gave them to Tangtang. "Tangtang, Guoguo, I'm going to grow strawberries, but there are no fertilizers or ash now. I want your help. Can you help me?"

Tangtang had to hold the one hundred copper coins with his two hands. After holding them for a while, he felt tired, so he gave half of them to Guoguo. Then he listened attentively, trying to figure out the help Xu Ran was asking for.

"It's like this. We can get ash if we burn more firewood and dried grass, but your daddy and I have other things to do and don't have time to burn the weeds, so we'd like you to do it. My reward for you is one hundred copper coins. You can either burn the weeds and keep the money, or you can hire someone to help you with the money. Are you willing to do it?"

The two kids did not nod immediately. Instead, Tangtang asked Xu Ran, "Dad, how much ash will we have to get by burning? Is the ash left after cooking the meals at home not enough?"

Xu Ran touched Tangtang's head and said, "We need so much. At least, we have to fill up the thirty mu of fields of our family."

The two of them didn't know how many fields were thirty mu, but Tangtang knew how many fields their family had. Thinking about the work to fill up such a wide land, the two kids instantly became bitter-faced, thinking, "Don't know how long it will take to burn the weeds."

For a while, they had joy on their faces; for another while, they became distressed. Yes, their expressions changed quite fast. Seeing that, Xu Ran was amused and said, "You only have half a month or fifteen days. Would you like to do it, Tangtang, Guoguo?"

How could they bother about "like" or "not like" when they worked for their family? Although the job was a little tough, Tangtang and Guoguo still nodded and agreed.

Tangtang pulled Guoguo, and the two kids began to murmur. Consciously, Xu Ran covered his ears with his hands, showing that he wouldn't eavesdrop.

The two kids lifted their heads after a moment, and Xu Ran put his hands down. Xu Ran, Tangtang said, "Dad, we've decided to spend our money on hiring people, but we can only afford to hire children because adults are too expensive. But, Dad, we'll do our best to burn as much as we can. Please don't chastise us if it isn't enough."