When the pears are green

The two brothers hurriedly checked the melon field. Jiang Qingye, feeling heavy-hearted, sat weakly on the edge of the field with red eyes, rubbing his forehead with his hands.

"Qingye, don't be like this, there are only forty melon seedlings..."

Jiang Qingzhou, who wanted to comfort Jiang Qingye, was unable to continue speaking. He sat side by side with Jiang Qingye with his hands hanging on his legs, thinking about how to talk to Song Li when he got home.

"Da Hu, Er Hu, the ground is almost melting under the sun. Aren't you hot sitting on the ground? Why don't you go under the tree at the edge of the field?" The eldest brother of the Liu family, who was also picking wheat ears in the field, shouted at the Jiang brothers who were sitting on the ridge of the field without saying a word, from a distance of more than ten meters.

After Jiang Qingzhou heard this, he quickly stood up and responded with all his strength: "Brother Liu, I'll be there in a moment."

"Qingye, don't sit here. Go and take a rest under the tree. I'll go pick up the remaining wheat ears." Jiang Qingzhou lowered his head and pulled up Jiang Qingye, who was still angry. He pretended to be indifferent and patted the dirt off Jiang Qingye's body.

Jiang Qingye raised his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his forehead, picked up his basket and asked Jiang Qingzhou with a pout: "Brother, is this the end of the matter? Even though I don't know who it is, I'm going to curse him in every alley in the village."

"Qingye, who in our family is good at scolding people, you, me or your sister-in-law? Of course we can't just let this go. I want to catch this thief." Jiang Qingzhou said to Jiang Qingye as he bent down to pick up wheat ears.

Jiang Qingye lowered his head and asked how to catch the thief.

"Talk to your sister-in-law when we get home. We can't say that so many trees were stolen. Let's just say that only about ten were stolen."

"Then why didn't you hide it from your sister-in-law?"

Jiang Qingzhou raised his head and looked at Jiang Qingye meaningfully and asked, "Do you think you can keep it a secret?"

Jiang Qingye quickly shook his head. He turned his head to look at the two families who were fighting over picking wheat ears not far away, and continued to pick wheat ears beside Jiang Qingzhou.

The south wind continued to blow, but there was no trace of coolness.

After Jiang Qingzhou and Jiang Qingye returned home, they first poured the wheat ears in the baskets and backpacks onto the open space in the yard. Then, they stammered to Song Li, who was cooking, about the theft of the watermelon seedlings.

Song Li was not angry after hearing this, but said to the two people nonchalantly: "When we planted the melon seedlings, we thought that someone might steal our melon seedlings, so Qingzhou and Ping'an planted them more densely. When the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they have enough food and clothing, they know honor and disgrace. The villagers have a hard time, and there will always be people who want to do some sneaky things. However, we can't let people steal our things for nothing. Even if we can't catch the thief, we have to scare him. If we let it go now, someone will still be thinking about it when the melons are ripe."

Jiang Qingye asked Song Li with great anticipation how to catch the thief who stole the melon seedlings.

"We have no evidence, so we can't ask the head of the village for help. It would be useless except that we would owe him a favor. We can't search every house in the village. It would be fine if we find it, but if we don't, we can just move away. We can only wait by the melon field. If we are lucky, we might catch this damn thief on the spot. Alas, none of us three can swear. With the level of swearing in our family, we would be laughed at if we swear on the street." Song Li sighed after she finished speaking. Although she had lived here for more than two years and had seen women throwing tantrums and quarreling countless times, she still couldn't learn it.

After hearing this, Jiang Qingzhou immediately said that he would go to the melon field to guard it at night.

Song Li smiled and told Jiang Qingzhou not to be anxious, then asked what day it was today.

Jiang Qingye, who was sitting by the stove and taking over the fire from Song Li, quickly replied: "Sister-in-law, today is the sixteenth."

"No wonder I remember there was a full moon last night. Turns out today is the sixteenth. Qingzhou and Qingye will go to guard the melon field tonight and tomorrow night. Come back when the moon is about to rise to the zenith." Song Li leaned against the door frame, fanning herself and said to the two people who were busy in the kitchen.

Jiang Qingzhou put down the kitchen knife in his hand and asked Song Li why he only guarded for two nights.

Song Li continued to explain, fanning herself, "Because the moon is brightest on the 15th, 16th, and 17th nights of each month. Now is the busy farming season, and there will be villagers working in the fields from dawn to sunset. So I guess the thief most likely stole the melon seedlings from the fields last night under the bright moon. Today is a sunny day, and the moon must be very bright tonight. Maybe the thief will go there again tonight."

"Wow, sister-in-law is so awesome." Jiang Qingye couldn't help but applaud Song Li.

Song Li used a fan to cover the corners of her mouth that were raised and asked Jiang Qingye: "Qingye, you can learn this: The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name."

Jiang Qingye nodded quickly and said that this was what Yang Yu had just taught him two days ago.

"Then what does Qingye think the first path here means?" Song Li asked.

Jiang Qingzhou also turned to look at Jiang Qingye who was standing by the stove. Jiang Qingye scratched his head and replied in a low voice: "Master said that this is the law of the growth of all things."

"Master Yang is right. Tao is the law and the origin. Similarly, the changes in the phases of the moon also have their own laws. It's not that I'm great, but I just happen to know its laws. When Qingye and Xiaoxing are older, let you two go out to travel together, see the scenery outside the books, make friends outside the town, observe, recognize, and use what you see and hear, just like I used the phases of the moon just now." After Song Li finished speaking, she left the cooking to the two brothers, went back to her room to find some unwanted rags, and prepared to make a scarecrow, one to drive away birds, and the other to scare those who always want to get something for nothing.

After an afternoon of repeated operations, the three members of the Jiang family finally made a usable scarecrow.

Jiang Qingzhou looked at the scarecrow erected by Jiang Qingye in the dim light and couldn't help but shudder. It was indeed quite scary.

Jiang Qingzhou was afraid that the scarecrow would scare Song Li if placed here, so he quickly carried the scarecrow to the new house and placed it there.

After nightfall, Jiang Qingzhou and Jiang Qingye quietly left home with tinder, hemp rope, dagger and wooden sticks.

Song Li walked around the room with mixed feelings, sometimes looking at the dim room, sometimes looking at the bright moon outside the window, hoping in her heart that Jiang Qingzhou and Jiang Qingye could catch the thief tonight. This kind of heart-wrenching wait was the most difficult to endure.

Jiang Qingzhou and Jiang Qingye hid behind a sycamore tree at the edge of the field. The two brothers huddled together and stared at the path leading to the village.

Jiang Qingye was not as courageous as Jiang Qingzhou. He panted and nervously pulled Jiang Qingzhou's sleeve. He was frightened by the cry of a bird on the top of the tree and crawled into Jiang Qingzhou's arms.

In order to distract Jiang Qingye, Jiang Qingzhou asked him to watch the hare running in the moonlight.

"Brother, what's there to see? We are just sitting back and waiting for something to happen." Jiang Qingye muttered in dissatisfaction.

Jiang Qingzhou quickly made a gesture to Jiang Qingye to keep quiet. The fields were too quiet at night, and he was afraid that their conversation would cause unnecessary trouble.

Jiang Qingye quickly covered his mouth and continued to curl up in Jiang Qingzhou's arms.

Just when Jiang Qingye was drowsy in the warm embrace, a clear sound of "tat tat" footsteps came closer and finally stopped in front of the paulownia tree.

Jiang Qingye shuddered, and his originally confused consciousness became extremely clear.

Jiang Qingzhou handed the dagger to Jiang Qingye, and reached out to grab the wooden stick beside him. The two of them waited slowly behind the tree.

The footsteps sounded again. Jiang Qingzhou quietly stuck his head out from the tree and saw a young man in a gray short-sleeved shirt and black trousers walking along the ridge into the depths of the melon field.

Jiang Qingzhou was afraid that the young man would find out, so he quickly hid behind the tree again. When he looked again, the young man was already squatting on the ground, carefully digging the melon seedlings.

The Jiang brothers looked at each other, then rushed out from behind the tree and headed straight for the young man who was digging melon seedlings.

The young man looked at the Jiang brothers running towards him in disbelief and froze in his place. When he wanted to run, Jiang Qingzhou, who rushed over, kicked him to the ground.

Jiang Qingzhou first tied up the young man with a hemp rope, then grabbed the young man by the collar, wanting to see who the thief was who had stolen the seedlings at night.