Growing Corn

“How good do I look?” Xiaoguo was curious about what she looked like in Zhuang Zhuang’s eyes.

Zhuang Zhuang thought for a moment. “Well… just good-looking. Your eyes are big and round, and your skin is so fair. You look different from the others. When you smile you have the same holes on your face like me.” Zhuang Zhuang didn’t know what dimples were called. He only knew that his mother, like him, had exactly the same dimples when she smiled.

Listening to Zhuang Zhuang’s words, Xiaoguo was amused. She leaned forward and looked into the river. She could see her own reflection. To be honest, she was shocked when she saw what she looked like now.

There was a striking resemblance between Zhuang Zhuang and herself—even their height and weight were the same. As Xiaoguo had not been eating well for a long time, she was a little thin—though she wasn’t aware of that in the beginning. After she came, she had gained some weight after eating well for some days. With her weight gain, they both looked really alike now.

Even when she was showering, Xiaoguo checked out the mole below her chest. Zhuang Zhuang had the same mole, even the positions of the moles were the same!

After a while, Zhuang Zhuang went to look for the cows again. When Xiaoguo was done resting, she stood up and began cutting the grass. When she was done, she had a big basket on her back. This time, she cut more grass than the last time. Although these two little cows were small, they really ate a lot.

Once the basket was filled, Xiaoguo estimated that she should have enough for today and tomorrow morning. It was getting late, so she shouted for Zhuang Zhuang to go back for lunch.

Zhuang Zhuang happily put a rope around the calves and sang nursery rhymes as he went along. When they passed by the village entrance, everyone had already gone home.

Xiaoguo and Zhuang Zhuang had just reached the entrance of the village when a fat lady in the distance stopped Xiaoguo. She looked at the woman who was trying to catch her breath, and asked, “Auntie, what’s the matter?”

She was the village chief’s wife. They rarely spoke to each other. Xiaoguo wondered what she wanted.

The village chief’s wife walked up to Xiaoguo. “It’s so lucky for me to have bumped into you. This really saved me the trip of going to your house. Not that I want to say this, but your house is really too remote. One trip is…”

As she went on, Xiaoguo couldn’t help but interrupt. “Auntie, did you need me for something?”

The village chief’s wife let out a laugh. “Well, your father-in-law bought a piece of land from the village when he was alive. There was never any empty space all this while until now. There is finally a plot available.”

It turned out that when the late Mr. Jiang was alive, he had taken out his remaining savings to buy a piece of land. It was because one plot of land was not sufficient for the family of three. There was no available land at that time, and after so long, there was an empty plot now.

Xiaoguo took the title deed and looked at it. It was a piece of land not far from where they were now. Xiaoguo said goodbye to the chief’s wife and went home with Zhuang Zhuang. On the way, she happily put away the title deed. This piece of land had come at the right time. She was still worrying about having no space to plant the corn. She could now plant it at noon.

She hurried home with Zhuang Zhuang and quickly made lunch. After eating, she began to change into the dirty clothes that she hadn’t had time to wash. She wanted Zhuang Zhuang to wait at home, but when she saw that pitiful look in his eyes, she changed her mind and said, “Let’s go together.”

Zhuang Zhuang happily changed into some soiled clothes like Xiaoguo and went out carrying a small hoe. But before going out, he gave the little cows a bunch of grass so that they wouldn’t starve if he came back late.

Following the location written on the title deed, they came to the plot of land. Good. It was just as Xiaoguo had imagined. Two acres of land. The soil was fertile and moist. It was perfect for planting crops.

Just like how they had done before, Xiaoguo stood in front, tilling the soil while Zhuang Zhuang scattered seeds at the back. They worked from noon until evening. The sun was almost setting as they finished planting the last seed. Xiaoguo covered the seeds with soil and straightened her creaking back.

Fortunately, the sun rays were not so harsh now. The two of them sat on the ground and were not in a hurry to leave. Zhuang Zhuang was so tired that he could not walk another step. After recovering her strength, Xiaoguo carried Zhuang Zhuang on her back and walked home.

They didn’t see anyone on their way home. As they walked to their other plot of land, Xiaoguo looked hard at the soil. There was still some daylight coming from the setting sun. The wheat was already beginning to sprout. It would mature in a hundred days or so, and the corn would also be ready by then. This was good news. Xiaoguo carried Zhuang Zhuang happily and headed home.