Chapter 173: A Spring Emerges on the Mountain

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If one had to name the happiest thing happening in the village lately, aside from every household fertilizing its fields and looking forward to a bumper harvest, it would be that the Wen family had begun hiring workers again.

Compared with the previous two occasions, the number of people applying this time was especially high. Everyone knew by now that work for the Wen family was not too hard, and the pay was decent. More importantly, they provided meals. Even if it was only one meal a day, it still included genuine meat—the communal pot always had something worthwhile in it.

But the Wen family did not need so many people to clear the wasteland. After the final selection, they chose only twenty workers, most of whom had previously helped build the house and dig the pond.

Old Man Wen left the fields in the care of Second Uncle Wen and took charge of overseeing the reclamation of the wasteland himself.

Clearing the wasteland was nothing like working the fields. Although this hill was not truly a mountain, it was hardly small, either. Weeds grew thickly across it, and the trees were tangled and disorderly. The weeds had to be cleared, the trees chopped down, and the flatter sections turned into farmland.

Apart from spending the first two days shut in his study planning the reclamation, Wen Xiuyi was dragged up the hill by Old Man Wen to work alongside everyone else. Not one of the three Wen brothers managed to escape.

After several days, Wen Xiuyi felt as though his aging arms and legs were about to fall apart. But when he saw everyone else working with such enthusiasm, he did not dare slack off too much. After all, slacking meant getting a beating from the sole of Old Man Wen’s shoe.

“Scholar Wen, lending a hand again?”

That day, as usual, Wen Xiuyi carried a hoe up the hill. A plaster bought by Wen Yao was stuck to his shoulder.

He had barely reached the hillside when someone called out to him.

Looking at his current appearance, then at the calluses worn into his hands, Wen Xiuyi even began to wonder whether “Scholar Wen” was really meant for him.

“Ah, yes.” Could he not come? The old man was watching from not far away.

Several large stones were half-buried in the ground before him. Their task for the day was to level this section and see whether the stones could be removed.

Wen Xiuyi let out a deep sigh and resignedly began swinging the hoe in his hands.

Once the weeds in the area had been cleared, the remaining work was simple enough. Everyone had taken Wen Xiuyi into consideration—after all, he was the employer—so they assigned him the part around the large stones where there were the fewest weeds.

At first, everything went smoothly. But after finishing this section and preparing to circle around to the other side of the rocks, he failed to notice the raised stone beneath his feet. It caught him squarely, sending him sprawling face-first into the dirt.

“Good heavens, Scholar Wen!”

The workers nearby cried out in alarm and hurried over to see whether he was hurt.

Seeing a crowd gather, Old Man Wen came rushing over as well. He was just about to shout and ask who had started slacking off when he saw his eldest son sitting on the ground, covered in mud, with a large lump swelling on his head.

“What happened?”

Old Man Wen was extremely anxious. His eldest son’s mind was working so well these days—what if the fall had damaged it?

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“How did you get such a huge lump? Come on, come on, stop working for now. Let’s take a look.”

Old Man Wen reached out to help Wen Xiuyi up.

Wen Xiuyi remained seated on the ground. His head was buzzing, and it took him a long while to recover. When he touched it, he felt the lump.

He shook his head. “I’m fine, Father. I just need to sit here and recover for a bit.”

Then he looked at the tip of the stone, which protruded only about four inches from the ground, and cursed it inwardly with all his heart. It had hurt terribly.

Seeing that Wen Xiuyi was speaking normally, Old Man Wen finally breathed a sigh of relief, though he was still worried.

“Go home first,” he said.

Rubbing his head, Wen Xiuyi truly wanted to go home and lie down. But when he glanced at the stone standing by itself, he worried that someone else might trip over it later.

He said, “There’s no rush, Father. Let’s chisel this stone out first, or someone else might trip over it.”

Old Man Wen looked at the culprit and nodded. “Then let’s deal with this first. You’re really all right?”

“I’m fine, Father. My head’s just a little dizzy. I’ll be fine after resting for a while.”

As he spoke, Wen Xiuyi touched his head. He hoped he had not given himself a concussion. Fortunately, he had fallen toward the level ground and struck a small stone. If he had fallen toward the large rocks, his skull might have been split open.

At Old Man Wen’s command, someone immediately brought over a hoe and began clearing the soil around the stone. They dug and scraped to determine how large it was. If it was not too big, they would break it apart and remove it. But if they dug down half a meter and still found nothing but stone, then it might be connected to the mountain itself. In that case, they could only flatten the top so it would not obstruct the path.

Fortunately, they had not dug even half a meter before reaching the bottom of the stone.

The men fetched their tools and began prying at it.

With rhythmic grunts of effort, the stone slowly began to loosen.

“Be careful. Don’t let it roll down the mountain and hit anyone.”

Old Man Wen watched for a moment before moving out of the stone’s path.

Since the stone was loose, the matter was easier to handle. To prevent it from rolling down the mountain and injuring someone, they would have to break it apart while it was still on the slope.

Another round of heavy blows rang out. The stone shattered into countless pieces, which were gradually moved aside. All that remained was to fill the hole with the soil they had dug out.

“Wait—look!”

The man preparing to refill the hole suddenly cried out.

Everyone gathered around. In the large pit where the stone had just been, the soil was slowly growing damp.

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Old Man Wen understood at once what was happening.

“Keep digging.”

As more and more soil was removed, it became increasingly moist. Before long, they could see water.

Finally, when they dug close to the large rock, the water began welling up in greater quantities, accumulating in the pit.

“We’ve struck a mountain spring!” someone exclaimed in astonishment.

Old Man Wen was equally stunned. He had lived here for so many years, yet he had never heard that there was a spring in the wasteland behind the mountain. During the rainy season, a few thin streams sometimes trickled down the slope, but they disappeared as soon as the rains ended.

For all these years, no one had ever imagined that there might be a spring on this mountain.

Old Man Wen grew excited. With a spring, could this mountain still be called wasteland? Water would bring it to life.

In the short time they had spent standing there in a daze, quite a pool of water had already gathered in the pit.

“Most likely, that stone was pressing directly on the spring outlet. Once we removed it, the outlet was freed, and the water began to flow,” someone suggested.

Everyone could not help looking at Wen Xiuyi.

The man had tripped and somehow managed to uncover a spring.

That was fate.

If the spring had been discovered earlier, this mountain could never have been called wasteland.

Before long, word spread across the hillside that Old Man Wen and the others had uncovered a spring while removing a stone. Everyone came running to see the sudden spring for themselves.

The pit had already filled with water. It was clear and cool, with the bottom visible through it. Someone, curious, took a sip. The water was sweet and icy cold. On a day like this, one mouthful left the entire body feeling refreshed.

Strangely enough, once the pit was full, the spring stopped flowing. But when someone scooped out the water, it began to emerge again, continuing until the pit filled and stopped once more.

The villagers marveled at the phenomenon. Even Wen Xiuyi, a highly accomplished professor, could not explain it. After all, he was a farmer, not a geologist.

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