Chapter 3: Sixth Uncle

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Yu Yang bid farewell to the two clerks and returned home with his eldest brother. The once spacious courtyard looked as if it had been ransacked by thieves. Not only had the three ancient jujube trees disappeared, but even the roof of the main hall was gone.

“Did the debt collectors come and ransack our place?”

“Second brother, why didn’t you stop them?”

After calling out, Yu Yang turned to see his second brother wielding an axe, chopping down the beams from the roof.

“Oh, so you’re the one demolishing it? Then it’s fine.”

Then, to his delight, he noticed that his second brother had knocked through the east wall of the main hall and extended the heated kang bed and chimney from the east room.

[Improved Farmland: Basic Level, area 0.03 hectares (20 square meters). Can accelerate crop growth. Currently planted with soybeans. If sunlight is sufficient, estimated maturity in 30 days.]

“Well done!”

Even more remarkable was the fact that the long chimney did not require a fan.

But the problem was, with no roof, how would they manage when it snowed?

Unfortunately, his eldest and second brothers showed no concern and continued to build the chimney, seemingly planning to convert the entire courtyard into a heated kang bed.

Yu Yang glanced at the remaining earthen walls of the main hall, then looked up at the dim sky, suddenly recalling the plastic greenhouse.

“Looks like tomorrow I’ll need to buy some bamboo strips and plastic sheets to build a canopy.”

“Also, firewood is running low; I should buy some charcoal.”

Yu Yang took a notebook and carefully listed the items he needed.

After finishing the preparations, he pulled out a steaming meat-filled bun and, while eating, pondered over his situation.

Starting with two farmers and a single field felt somewhat like a game of Civilization, Warcraft, or Age of Empires.

The commands were somewhat similar.

So…

“Recruit farmers!”

[Population limit reached. Please build more houses to accommodate additional population.]

Farmers: 2/2, skilled in agriculture and construction, consume 20 units of food daily but can also sustain themselves.

Note: You must have enough houses to recruit this unit.

“Build houses!”

[You have not obtained a town center and cannot perform further actions.]

“No wonder something felt missing—there’s no town center.”

“But where do I find one?”

Yu Yang glanced around, looking at his eldest and second brothers.

“I wonder if building houses ourselves can increase the population limit.”

He pondered silently.

A familiar voice called from outside the courtyard.

“San Yuan!”

Yu Yang looked up and was surprised to see his sixth uncle, whom he had met at the market.

“Hey, Sixth Uncle, what brings you here?”

“Come on, come home for a bit.”

“Ah? I’m quite busy right now.”

“No worries, I brought your two younger brothers to help.”

Without waiting for a reply, Sixth Uncle grabbed Yu Yang’s arm and led him into the alley, straight to the southern courtyard. Before even entering the main hall, he shouted, “Let’s eat!”

At his command, Sixth Aunt appeared from the kitchen carrying a large basin of shiitake mushroom chicken stew. Behind her followed two younger cousins, one carrying a tin wine jug in his left hand and several small wine cups in his right. Another cousin brought peanuts, cold lotus root slices, and stir-fried pork with garlic scapes, fingers clutching a pack of “General” cigarettes.

Yu Yang glanced briefly but was quickly seated on a long bench by Sixth Uncle.

The same eight-immortal table, the same rammed-earth old house—no different from his own home.

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However, Sixth Uncle’s main hall was adorned with a half-length portrait of a great leader, with walls lined with congratulatory banners and certificates of merit. Beneath the beams sat a bucket-shaped honeycomb stove.

The orange glow of the electric bulb illuminated the room, and a thick iron chimney pipe stretched across half the room, connecting to a window covered in plastic sheeting, yet it couldn't keep out the chill seeping in from outside.

Only then did Yu Yang realize that October in this time and place was rather cold.

Elsewhere in the room, the food was arranged, and Sixth Uncle asked his two cousins to help while pouring warm white liquor from the tin jug.

Seeing this, Yu Yang quickly took it from him.

“You’re the elder, this is my job.”

“Nonsense, today you’re the guest,” Sixth Uncle refused and changed the subject.

“San Yuan, am I really your uncle?”

“Of course!”

The Yu family had eight brothers — eldest Yu Jiandang, Old Yu Yu Jianjun, Third Uncle Yu Jianguo, Fourth Uncle Yu Jiefang, Fifth Uncle Yu Yuanchao, Sixth Uncle Yu Yuejin…

As Grandpa used to say, their family was a living chronicle of modern Eastern history.

Unfortunately, the seventh and eighth uncles died in South Vietnam.

The eldest and third uncles stayed in the southern borderlands.

The fourth and fifth uncles moved to the northern wasteland.

Only Sixth Uncle and their father returned to the Yu family village after retiring.

“As long as you treat me as your real uncle, we can talk.”

Receiving affirmation, Old Yu’s face crinkled into a smile.

“Look, your two younger cousins only finished junior high and stayed home. They farm during busy seasons and do construction work when idle. If they keep at this, what future do they have?”

“Didn’t my father want them to go to technical school so they could become accountants?”

“The brick kiln collapsed. Where would they find accounting jobs? Besides, they’re not cut out for it.”

Sixth Uncle raised his wine cup.

“To that!”

Then he added, “Here’s my thought: let them grow bean sprouts with you.”

“Growing bean sprouts is easy. We have a heated kang bed in the kitchen; just soak some soybeans and they’ll sprout.”

“Don’t be so formal with your uncle,” Old Yu squinted, offering them cigarettes.

He had inquired at the market for a long time, initially believing bean sprouts were a rare delicacy sent to the capital.

But when he came back and checked the roof—astonishingly, the back courtyard beams had been stripped to build a heated kang bed, and through the east room’s skylight, the kang bed was covered with lush green bean sprouts.

Clearly, these precious things were cultivated here.

In theory, since their home had a heated kang bed, they could do the same.

But as a farmer, Old Yu knew very well that soaking and sprouting bean sprouts required skill.

Otherwise, the roots would rot, insects would infest, growth would be slow, and germination uneven...

And growing bean sprouts in winter was even harder.

So making a profit from this wasn’t something anyone could just take on.

That’s why Old Yu thought of the “technician” Yu Yang had met at the market.

Wasn’t this an opportunity?

As the saying goes, a nephew is like half a son; no need for beating around the bush.

Old Yu spoke plainly, “San Yuan, to be honest, I want to make big money.”

Yu Yang understood that Sixth Uncle had certainly discovered the bean sprouts growing on the kang bed in the front and back courtyards.

But those sprouts were a secret product, the process hidden from view.

However, the farmland under the care of farmers could speed up crop growth.

Without farmers, the crops would grow at a normal pace.

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This was the conclusion Yu Yang reached after telling his second brother to stop in the morning.

For the sake of appearances, if they gave Sixth Uncle a plot of farmland and occasionally let a farmer “inspect” it under the pretense of technical support, controlling the bean sprouts’ growth to about three to five days—similar to soaked sprouts—Sixth Uncle wouldn’t notice anything.

So, one kang bed full of bean sprouts could sell for three hundred yuan, harvested ten times a month, bringing in three thousand yuan. After deducting costs and discounts, a minimum monthly income of two thousand five hundred yuan.

In an era where average income was six to seven hundred yuan, this was definitely high income.

By then, charging Sixth Uncle a thousand yuan a month for technical fees wouldn’t be unreasonable, right?

Or simply give him a field, which rarely needed a farmer, and still earn a thousand yuan a month from him.

Yu Yang took a drag from his cigarette and leisurely said, “Sixth Uncle, you’ve met the man I took to the market.”

“Mm.”

“He’s a technician I hired at great expense.”

“I understand. Skilled workers are valuable.”

“I pay him a thousand yuan every month.”

“That much?”

“To be honest, the bean sprouts I sold today were grown in just three days, bringing three hundred yuan.”

“Wow... so after paying the technician, we could still make two thousand a month?”

“Not quite. Costs have to be deducted too. Net is about fifteen hundred yuan.”

“Let’s do it!”

Old Yu raised his cup and drank it down.

Then motioned Yu Yang closer and whispered, “San Yuan, we need to be shrewd. It’s best to learn the technique yourself and then kick out the technician. That way, we could earn two thousand five hundred a month.”

“Makes sense!”

Yu Yang raised his cup and also whispered, “We have to pay that thousand yuan salary upfront every month.”

“Upfront?”

“If we don’t pay, he won’t work.”

Having to pay a thousand yuan before making any money pained Old Yu deeply.

But thinking of the profitability of the bean sprouts, he immediately pulled out ten blue banknotes featuring the great leader from his cabinet.

Yu Yang hadn’t seen this edition of currency in a long time and grew increasingly delighted holding it.

Old Yu was getting a little tipsy.

“San Yuan, when do we start?”

“When the money’s ready, the people will be ready.”

With that, Yu Yang ran home and called his eldest brother to prepare an improved basic farmland for Sixth Uncle.

With the heated kang bed as a foundation, construction was swift.

The feast lasted until 9 p.m., and a “skylight” was opened in the kang bed room.

By 10 p.m., the kang bed was covered with soybeans.

By dawn, the improved basic farmland was completed, and the soybeans had sprouted...

At that moment, Old Yu grasped Yu Yang’s hands excitedly.

“San Yuan, I’m entrusting your two younger brothers to you.”

Hearing those familiar words, intoxicated and bathed in the hazy light, Yu Yang felt as if he had returned to another time and place.

That year, Sixth Uncle was gravely ill and had called the engineer Yu Yang to his side, holding his hands tightly.

“San Yuan, I’m entrusting your two younger brothers to you.”

Yu Yang’s heart ached. “My dear Sixth Uncle, please don’t go.”

“???”

...

“Big Brother, what did I do last night?”

“You cried over your Sixth Uncle. He wasn’t upset, actually quite happy, but your Sixth Aunt thought he was hiding an illness and rolled on the floor crying.”

“Quit drinking!”