Xie Ming

Chapter 587: Melon Eater

The success or failure of the current situation is hard to control. No letter from the north, no field visit in the south.
September 9th is the Double Ninth Festival.

In the southern border of Suzhou Prefecture, there is a place called Changshu.

This is a great place to grow rice!

Of course, fruits and vegetables are also quite prosperous.

Wangzhuang watermelon is famous far and wide.

On this day, in the teahouse and melon shed built on the roadside between the ridges of the dirt road at the head of the village, at noon when the sun was at its hottest, a man came to rest and eat melons.

"Hey! Old man, cut two melons to eat!"

The man came riding a skinny horse, stopped in front of the melon stall, sat down, and shouted something towards the simple shed.

Not long after, a voice responded from inside.

When the man walked out, I saw that his temples were half white, and he was about fifty years old. He was wearing shorts and a short jacket, with a palm-leaf fan hanging around his waist.

Although he has white hair, his hands are still very skillful.

Snap, snap, snap——

After a few cuts, it was cut into eight pieces and then brought to the small table beside the road.

"Oh, okay."

"From your accent, you must be a local."

"These two, split-mouthed melons, may look ugly, but you can still eat them."

"We are from the local area, we eat this, it's cheap."

When the melon farmer handed the melon to the man, he took a quick look and realized that the man opposite him looked like a local countryman, dressed in a way that showed he was poor. So he was kind enough to help him and killed the cracked watermelons that were difficult for foreign merchants to sell.

Just treat it as your own home-cooked food.

"Haha, okay."

"If it doesn't crack, quenches thirst, and is sweet, then that's a good melon."

Those who came to eat melons were not picky. When they saw a melon coming, they picked up one and started eating it.

The melon farmer sat nearby on a bench. Although it was already September, the sun had been very hot in the past few days and the temperature between the ridges was high.

So, with the slightest movement, the sweat will start to flow down.

In order to relieve the heat, the melon farmer fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan, grinning happily and watching people coming to eat melons.

After a while, they started chatting again.

"This split melon is ugly, but you can eat it."

"But no one wants it. Well, we just eat it at home for fun."

"Hey, you said this melon is fine, why does it always crack?"

"I've been growing melons for 20 years, and I still can't figure it out."

"Especially for this late-maturing variety, no matter how well you take care of it, there will always be these cracked melons in the field every year."

“It’s so frustrating!”

The melon farmer was upset when he saw the unsold cracked melons piled up in front of the melon shed, so he started complaining to everyone he saw.

Hearing this, the man who was eating the melon did not show any impatience while swallowing, and spoke back.

"Hey, your melon has been fermented too much, what a pity!" the melon eater said casually.

"Huh? A lot of fat? No, no, that's impossible. I give it according to the dosage."

The melon farmer listened seriously and responded directly.

"Oh, for melons, the amount of fertilizer needed is different at different times."

"When the flowers are blooming, you should apply more manure, and the flowers will bloom more."

"But when it comes to fruit setting, you can't spread manure, you have to spread ash."

The onlookers talked in a very orderly manner.

Upon hearing this, the melon farmer raised his eyebrows.

"Haha, haha, from what you said, you must be an expert!"

"Does your family also grow melons?" the melon farmer asked casually.

“Well, I’ve planted it before.”

The melon-eater answered quickly and picked up another one to start eating.

"Ugh"

"You mention this. Normally, I loosen the soil and water the plants. I have never treated them unfairly. But why is it so stubborn? It won't be satisfied until it breaks." The melon farmer complained.

"Haha, there are so many watermelons in this field, you think you treat them all the same."

"Actually, it's different!"

"If you think you should water it, then water it."

"But some melons stay on the ground. You can't see whether the soil underneath is tight or not. When you water them, they fall there."

"Actually, it doesn't want you to water it." "If you insist on watering it, it won't even be able to breathe."

"The result is that it turns into a cracked melon."

"For this melon, its life is ruined."

The spectator spoke in a confusing and ambiguous manner.

The watermelon farmer listened, his mind and eyes were on the watermelon at his feet, but he seemed to understand something.

"Haha, this... your statement is novel. This is the first time I hear it. Yes, it does make sense." The melon farmer said.

Seeing that the other party was willing to listen, the bystander simply opened up and said something else.

"Hey, old man, have you ever seen wild watermelons?"

As soon as the question was asked, the melon farmer shook his head and listened quietly.

"The largest wild watermelon is about the size of an orange."

"It's small, like a walnut."

"It's not sweet at all, and it's not very tasty."

"But the fruit of this wild watermelon will never split."

The melon eater kept gesticulating while talking, and the melon farmer was fascinated by his words. When he paused, he just followed and asked.

"Then why?"

"Heh, this thing created by heaven and earth may not be so good."

"But there will be absolutely nothing wrong with it."

“And we humans planted it.”

"Alas, the more rules there are, the more problems there are."

As the spectator explained, a hint of sadness appeared on his face.

After saying that, he buried his head in the melon noodles.

"Well, then, there must be some rules."

"As the old saying goes, without rules there can be no order."

The old melon farmer is honest and his words are quite simple and sincere.

"Humph, there is a saying that goes, if the ruler wants his subject to die, the subject must die. Have you heard of it?" The onlooker suddenly argued.

"Oh, yes, I've heard of it." The melon farmer replied.

"Then if someone wants you to die, will you die?"

The melon eater suddenly dragged the topic into the issue of life and death, and the melon farmer was stunned for a moment. Obviously, he had never thought about this matter before, so he didn't know how to answer.

Look, the spectator started talking to himself.

"I used to raise a cow. It was different from other cows. It was a yellow ox that pulled the plow, but it was dark and thin and could not do any work."

"But don't be fooled by its small size. It can easily jump over a fence that's only one meter high."

"All day long, this cow doesn't want to stay in the pen, and doesn't like to come to the field."

"After eating, I hang out with the villagers."

"When he sees something happening, he imitates it and shouts."

"Sometimes it makes a little dog noise for you, sometimes it makes a duck noise."

"Besides, the crowing of a rooster is also good."

"He learned it so well."

"Because of this ability, the villagers often laughed at it and said it was not serious."

"You do those unworthy things all day long!"

“I have lost my duty.”

"later."

"Once it secretly imitated the crying noises of the baby in its arms."