Chapter 30 – Driven Away
I busied myself as soon as I reached home. In a village corner, there was a corner with fruit tree saplings. I didn’t let this slip by, and without any care for what type of fruit tree it was, each and every fruit sapling was collected by me.
Grandpa noticed that I was rushing around in the house busy with something, and immediately asked out of curiousity: “Yang Yang, What are you up to again.”
“He is growing fruit trees. He said that he wants to turn this place into Mount Huaguo. He wants to act like ‘Great Sage the Equal of Heaven’! ” Teacher Lin couldn’t stop chuckling.
[TLNote: Mount Huaguo a.k.a. Flowers and Fruit Mountain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Huaguo; ‘Great Sage the Equal of Heaven’ is the self-proclaimed title of Monkey King Sun Wukong from the Journey to the West]
“Ah, haha, that sentiment is good, My grandson will become Sun Wukong.” Grandpa was also quite cheerful.
I paid no heed to what others were saying, I just continued to go about in accordance with my own ideas.
Grandpa said laughing: “Yang Yang, where did you get the fruit trees?”
“Aren’t these everywhere? Wherever I saw them, I dug them up and brought back.” I stuck out my buttocks while exerting all my strength to dig, the hoe caused the soil to fly high, and very quickly, soil settled on my own head, causing it to be covered entirely with mud. I didn’t mind it in the least.
“Foolish boy, don’t toil about in vain. These peach trees that you have dug up and brought back, are all our local wild peach trees. They grow on the roadside and bear peaches, which nobody would eat even if given for free. The plum tree dug up by you is called pig blood plum. It looks attractive but tastes bad. This pear tree, is also of wild variety, and the pears it bears are all made of wooden slags to the core and are absolutely not edible. Moreover, this persimmon tree, it is definitely a wild persimmon, it’s does not grow big. Even if it ripens, it still gives a tarty taste. Furthermore, this grape tree, is capable of bearing grapes that can make one’s urine run acidic….” Grandpa listed off a big pile of defects.
“In any case, I will grow fruit trees.” I wasn’t willing to give up.
“How about you let Grandpa buy some fruit tree saplings for you to bring home and plant?” Grandpa asked.
“No, Buying them would require spending money.” I couldn’t bear to spend money recklessly.
“Uncle, actually it doesn’t matter that much if these fruit trees are wild; in the future, they can be grafted.” With Teacher Lin being literate, this issue was also solved by her as easy as a bamboo splitting upon meeting a knife’s edge.
Huang Shulang, upon seeing me planting rows of fruit trees all around our house on the sloped land, quickly ran back to his house, intending to go replicate the scene in their house’s surroundings. Who could have imagined that as soon as he started digging, his father Huang Kui beat him till he was satisfied. After which he came crying to our house.
“Huang Jingyang, I suspect that I am an adopted son of Huang Kui.” Huang Shulang said to me while crying.
In fact, I had also begun to suspect for a while that I am not the biological son of my father and mother, and rather had been adopted. Otherwise, how is it that my father and mother had no concern regarding me. In these several years, they haven’t returned even once to come have a look at me. Earlier I was ill, but now I have gotten better, yet they are still treating me like this.
All of a sudden, Huang Shulang felt to me as a companion in a similarly miserable situation. I could even feel the plumpness of Huang Shulang look pleasing to the eye.
“How did you come to know that you were adopted?” I asked out of curiousity.
“When I returned home, I spoke of wanting to plant fruit trees, barely had planted a peach tree when that bastard Huang Kui beat me up. That old son of a bitch really acted ruthlessly, and beat me till my head grew a big swelling. You tell me if there still remains possibility of being a biological child?” Huang Shulang suddenly revealed the injury on his head, while continuing to sob spasmodically.
“Didn’t your house’s sloped land have vegetables? Then why plant peach trees?” I thought there to be something amiss.
“Right. But those kinds of vegetable plants can only be eaten once. If next year one thinks of eating again, then have to plant it nicely. Isn’t this too expensive? I straight away used my shovel to uproot those vegetables to make way for fruit trees. You plant Fruit trees once, and then you can eat well for many years. You tell me, am I not clever?” Huang Shulang forgot about the scars and the pain that he was feeling until a moment ago. When he spoke of this, an immense sense of pride came over him.
I was wondering, if it were not for him being a natural son, I was afraid that he would actually have been beaten to death before his father’s anger could get resolved.
“Huang Jingyang, let me help you plant trees, later when it bears fruit, let me eat my fill, ok?” Huang Shulang had come running to my house to show-off his innate business sense.
I somewhat worriedly looked at Huang Shulang’s great belly, but after pondering the gains and losses for a bit, I finally nodded. At the same time, in a remote place impoverished people. It is only natural, that my primary thought was that my pace would be faster with someone to help me.
Huang Shulang, hearing me agree, immediately began preparing to help me. From this moment onwards, the relationship between Huang Shulang and I became a lot stronger, after all, we were two people digging together in the same hole.
My actions of digging also spurred on my peers in the village, with each and every one going to dig in the surroundings of their houses. This resulted in the sounds of scolding to never stop for several days.
However, my way of planting was different from others, as I had a technique which ensured safety of the tree. After the tree is brought and planted, it needs to be watered. Other people go fetch water, I directly used the 水 (Water) seal script character, using primordial qi to turn it into rainwater to irrigate the tree. Regardless of the conditions, the fruit trees planted by me would grow lively.
However, the trees planted by me managed to make Li Shaoqing come straight down from the mountain top.
One day when I reached home after school, I saw Li Shaoqing walking all around the place that would become our house’s Mt. Huaguo in the future. Returning home together with me, Black Bean immediately pounced, only Li Shaoqing stopped not far from there.
“WangWang, WangWang!” Although Black Bean expressed his anger at Li Shaoqing in the first moments, at the same time, it maintained cautious vigilance against Li Shaoqing
“What are you doing here?” Since I first met him, I had always had a feeling of rejection against Li Shaoqing.
Huang Shulang filled with a sense of brotherhood, also rushed forward: “You must not destroy this place, I will shout and call down all the people in the village to come break your legs!”
Li Shaoqing laughed: “We frequently go do our shopping in your village, we even buy meat from your house everyday. When your father Huang Kui comes later, do you think he’ll break my leg, or give his kid a beating?”
Li Shaoqing’s words made Huang Shulang not dare to speak anything.
“What are you doing here then?” I was naturally aware that Li Shaoqing had come for me.
“The matter regarding which I have come, you should know very well. We have come across some trouble over there, and I’m thinking of taking your help. As long as you help me this once, I won’t ever again come trouble you. Moreover, I won’t have you toil for free. I can tell you, that the great tomb on your Ba Jiao Mountain’s main peak is a tomb of a cultivator. There are many good things inside. If you are willing to lend me your assistance, I can let you have some of the things inside which are a cultivator’s necessities. An ancient cultivator’s tomb can have a lot of good things inside.” Li Shaoqing wanted to entice me. Unfortunately, he had no idea that I was definitely not a serious cultivator. I had very little awareness of the cultivation things. Moreover, I didn’t have much of an interest towards cultivation. The things told by him, I definitely didn’t find them noteworthy.
“The historical relics at that place, all belong to the Country. You want to deceive me, no way. Moreover, don’t think of coming here again, otherwise you will regret it.” I was covertly condense primordial qi into a 雷 (Thunder) seal script character. As long as Li Shaoqing dares to act rashly, I would straightaway throw the 雷 character at him.
Li Shaoqing was annoyed, but he could only leave straightforwardly. He wouldn’t dare continue in a deadlock with me. I was a child, if indeed got angry, who would be able to prevent me from throwing out the 雷 (Thunder) character.
This character still hadn’t been stimulated, but it was already putting tremendous pressure on Li Shaoqing. How could Li Shaoqing still dare to stay in that place, as he promptly broke into a run to get away.
I also already knew the danger if I were to lose control of 雷 (Thunder) character. So, I promptly walked several steps, and finally reaching an open area away with no people around to be seen, I threw out the 雷 character at once. Moreover, at the same time, I stimulated the primordial qi 风 (Wind) character, to blow the 雷 character far away.
It was also Li Shaoqing who was unlucky, he hadn’t gone far, when he unexpectedly felt a huge threat approaching him from behind. He ran as if his life was on the line, but where could he go hide from the wind? Thunder and Lightning emerged from the empty sky and struck directly at Li Shaoqing.
“Ah!” Li Shaoqing screamed before directly falling down onto the ground. After a while, he let out a snort.
I noticed far in the distance Li Shaoqing being struck by Thunder and Lightning. It also gave me a scare, out of fear that if Li Shaoqing were to die, that would be really troublesome, as homicide was punishable with death. I didn’t want to die.
Fortunately, after lying on the ground for a while, at last Li Shaoqing woke up.
“Huang Jingyang, look quickly. That damned fellow was hit by thunder and lightning. Serves him right, indeed. Unexpectedly, dared to have ideas on our Mt. Huaguo.” Huang Shulang came skipping. He was really not afraid of getting into trouble and enjoyed watching a bustling scene. If anything, I was feeling really uncomfortable.
Li Shaoqing managed to get up crawling, there was still some static electricity in his hair, making them stand erect on his head. He gave off the appearance of a God of Thunder. After managing to scramble up from the ground, Li Shaoqing just scrammed.
“Truly, a bad person lives for a millennium. Even after being struck by thunder and lightning, he didn’t die. Really troublesome.” Huang Shulang said while feeling extremely regretful.
I let out a sigh of relief: “It was not fatal in the end.”
Teacher Lin, due to having to help the detained students with school assignments, returned later than us. Seeing Huang Shulang and me at the back of the house talking in whispers, immediately walked up and said: “You two still haven’t returned, what are you doing here?”
Huang Shulang at once ran away: “We didn’t do anything.”
Not afraid of godlike enemies, but afraid of pig-like teammates. This sentence is really true. Teacher Lin immediately began examining me closely.
“If I said we didn’t do anything, would Teacher Lin believe it?” I said.
“What do you think?” Teacher Lin broke out into a smile.
When women are happy, they will laugh, when they are unhappy, they will also laugh. Making me, a child, distinguish between them, isn’t that just plain bullying?