A Farm Girl: Three Acres of Fertile Land Can Be Exchanged for a Country

Wutong released Shan's hand and explained, "I feel a little sad, so I'm going for a walk."

Her great-aunt came over and put her arm around her shoulder, saying, "Now is not the time to be sad. How is the digging of your mother's grave going?"

Wutong said, "We haven't even started yet."

"Haven't you made a move yet?" Auntie paused in her steps.

Wutong hummed in agreement, not wanting to say too much to her, feeling that her intentions weren't entirely pure.

Ruolan, who was inside the house, heard the noise and came out to greet them. She was also taken aback when she saw her aunt and greeted her, "Auntie is here."

Her great-aunt didn't even look at her. She walked to the courtyard gate, grabbed the door, and started crying: "Oh, my dear sister, you died so tragically today, and I couldn't even find the time to come and bury you. I'm so sorry to leave you lying here suffering like this..."

Their expressions immediately turned ugly.

The houses in the village are all close together, so you can hear the slightest noise.

Today, it was their family that suffered the most, but now that their aunt is crying like this, others will think they are unfilial.

Wutong frowned and said to her, "We will give Mother a proper burial, you don't need to rush us."

The great-aunt glared, pounded her chest, and stamped her feet, saying, "Is that so? So I was wrong to interfere? Should I have come to ask about your family's affairs? Does this mean you're disowning me as your great-aunt now that my sister is dead? Sister, wake up and see what your daughter is saying..."

"Auntie, you've misunderstood. That's not what Wutong meant..."

Ruolan winked at Wutong, signaling her to go inside, and then gently persuaded her aunt, taking quite a while to convince her to go home.

When I returned, Wutong was squatting in the kitchen starting a fire, with three ladles of water and a handful of rice in the pot.

She was starving today and really wanted to eat more, but there was hardly any rice left in the bag, so she just grabbed a handful and threw it in.

Ruolan lifted the pot lid and stirred it. Seeing that Wutong's face was covered in soot from starting the fire, she smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work."

Wutong rolled her eyes at her: "You still have the nerve to advise her? That person doesn't look like she has any good intentions."

Ruolan remained noncommittal: "Even if she has ill intentions, she is still my great-aunt, the only relative in this family. We don't know how long we'll be staying here, so we can't just start a fight right away."

Do I have to appease her if I don't break off relations?

Wutong was unwilling, but she also felt that Ruolan's words made some sense. She was burning with anger and kept throwing firewood into the stove.

After dinner, it was already dark, and there was nothing in the house to provide any light.

The two carried their mother's body into the main room, wrapped it in a straw mat, and then, in the dark, closed the door and huddled under the covers to whisper to each other.

Wutong asked, "What do you think of this place?"

Ruolan said, "The village has few villagers, and most of them are not well-educated, so they probably can't see the changes in us."

Wutong nodded: "Indeed..."

Ruolan asked, "Didn't you go to see the land today? How was it?"

"It's quite big, but nothing's grown here, and we don't know how to farm. I guess it'll just lie fallow in the future."

“We don’t know how, but we’re sure someone does. If we have more men in the family who can farm, we won’t have to worry about not having enough to eat.”

"A male?" Wutong was slightly surprised. "You don't mean you're thinking of settling down here, do you?"

This place is so remote, how come they are from the 21st century and can adapt to this backward life?

Ruolan said, "I was just saying it casually, but we don't really have any chance to go out, there are mountains everywhere and we can't even see a road."

Wutong recalled what she had seen during the day and said, "That's not necessarily true. Didn't someone ride in on horseback today? And do you know that there's a landlord family in this village? They must have ways to communicate with the outside world."

Ruolan said thoughtfully, "Is that so? Then we should pay more attention to them in the future..."

Both of them were exhausted after a long day. Ruolan fell asleep soon after, but Wutong tossed and turned, unable to close her eyes.

The village's conditions were indeed poor, but what made her most uncomfortable today was the villagers' reaction when she was at the bottom of the dam.

Everyone was gathered around, but only my aunt spoke up. The others just watched without offering any help or even a word of comfort.

We're all from the same village; such behavior is truly disheartening.

Did their family have some kind of conflict with the villagers in the past?

Looking at the bright full moon outside the window, Wutong sighed deeply.

She absolutely did not want to stay here.

The kang (heated brick bed) was hard, and neither of them slept well. They got up early the next day and carried their mother's body to their father's grave to bury it.

The father's grave was outside the village. When they were being carried out, several villagers crowded behind to watch them, whispering among themselves.

"She couldn't even have a son in her whole life, she must have been too ashamed to face her ancestors and went to commit suicide..."

"It's better for this kind of person to die young. She killed her husband at such a young age. She's probably a jinx. If she doesn't die, she'll bring bad luck to our whole village."

"Her two daughters might also be jinxes..."

"A jinx? I think she's a vixen. Look at her appearance... tsk tsk, I just don't know why she doesn't get married."

"Without a brother to back her up, and no dowry to offer, who would dare to marry her? Not even as a concubine."

"Looks like she's just like her mother, incapable of having sons..."

Buzzing, buzzing, buzzing, like flies buzzing around my ears, impossible to shake off.

Wutong's hands, gripping the edge of the straw mat, bulged with veins, and his face turned ashen.

She thought this place was isolated from the world and had simple and honest people, but she never expected that people could be so vicious!

Another sarcastic remark reached her ears, and Wutong stopped in her tracks, wanting to turn around.

These ignorant and despicable scum! She'd give them a good beating, even if it cost her her life!

"Wutong..."

Ruolan reminded her, shook her head, and frowned slightly.

Their current situation doesn't allow them to act recklessly.

In modern times, if something happens, you can go to the police to resolve it, but here you can't even find a government office. If a fight breaks out, they'll suffer a lot.

The wutong tree was well aware of these things, but it simply found them unbearable.

She took a deep breath, determined to ignore those words, and walked forward expressionlessly.

The two men painstakingly buried the body, then knelt before the grave and kowtowed three times, not to mourn, but to apologize.

After all, they have taken over the place where the soul originally resided in the body.

The waist-high weeds left scratches on their arms as they carried their shovels back, their coarse clothes soaked with dew.

As if a bug had been installed, my aunt rushed over as soon as I got home and peered out from outside the gate.

Wutong saw it but pretended not to, and continued brushing the mud off her shoes.

Ruolan wiped her hands, stood up with a smile, walked over, opened the door, and asked, "Auntie, is there anything I can help you with?"

The great-aunt's yellowish, cloudy eyes held a hint of anxiety: "Your mother has already been buried?"

Ruolan nodded: "Yes."

"That's wonderful, that's really wonderful..."

The great-aunt breathed a sigh of relief and then asked, "So what are your plans for the two girls from now on?"