Chapter 98: Conspiracy

Ning Weiyi and friends followed the group of kids to the mountain. Along the way, they were shown again how clever Little and Big Light were. They didn’t eat anything planted by the villagers, and they only grazed the grass by the roadside.

Xiao Xiaohui drove Little and Big Light to the mountains.

Ning Weiyi and his two friends discovered more interesting things when they reached the mountains. They found bird nests on trees, wild berries, and mountain fungus.

“What mushroom is this? It’s so beautiful!” Ning Weiyi noticed a bright red mushroom. “It’s like a ruby. Can I eat it?”

Xiao Xiaohui rolled his eyes. “If you want to die, then you can eat it!” His young eyes filled with disdain, “Don’t you know that the more colorful the mushrooms, the more poisonous they are? Are you really my third cousin’s classmates? How can you not know this common sense? Were you sleeping in class?”

Ning Weiyi felt a heavy blow being lectured by a child. Ning Weiyi defended himself, “You brat, of course, I knew that. I… I was only testing you!” Xiao Xiaohui didn’t believe him. “Why would you test me with common knowledge? City people sure are shameless!”

Kang Le immediately extricated himself from this matter. “Little Loach, I know about the bright mushrooms. I’m not in the same camp as him.” Kang Le then looked down on Ning Weiyi, “Yi, how can you not know that? It looks like you’ve returned everything to our teachers. Shame on you!”

Yang Baolin echoed from the side, “That’s right. The brighter the color, the stronger the poison. This is common sense. Yi, you must remember this in the future.”

Ning Weiyi felt so humiliated. He pointed at them and said, “Alright, you two, how can you abandon me at a time like this? We’re not friends anymore!” He turned to Xiao Lingye and said, “Ye, from now on, we’ll strike out on our own. We’ll ignore them!”

Xiao Lingye said, “I won’t be friends with a fool!”

Ning Wei, “…”

Everyone, “…”

“Haha…”Kang Le and Yang Baolin laughed so hard that they felt like peeing.

“You people… I’m going to unfriend all of you!” Ning Weiyi’s shout reverberated through the trees, scaring away all the birds.

…

Xiao Chengbang’s wife, Zhou Yan, went to the field to look at the tomatoes.

She saw a patch of tomato which was growing particularly well. The fruits on the stalk were larger and redder than the others. Zhou Yan was attracted to them immediately. She picked a tomato and took a bite. As soon as she did, her eyes lit up.

“How come this tomato tastes so delicious?” Zhou Yan was confused. “It has the right amount of sweetness and tanginess. It also has a light fragrance that improves one’s appetite!”

Zhou Yan thought about it and moved to the other side of the field. She picked a tomato from another stalk, wiped the skin, and took a bite. She frowned instantly, “This tomato tastes normal.” She took another bite before she returned to the prettier stalk and grabbed another fruit. She took another bite. “Why do they taste so different?” She looked at the tomato field with a puzzled expression. “What’s going on?”

She examined the field and saw a cow’s footprint on the ground. She frowned. ‘Is it because of the Xiao Family’s calf?’

Zhou Yan quickly picked all the tomatoes from the pretty stalk, put them in the basket, grabbed her hoe, and ran. Those who didn’t know better would think she was a thief.

“Chengbang, Chengbang…”Zhou Yan shouted as soon as she returned home.

Xiao Chengbang, who was woodworking in the yard, heard his wife’s anxious calls. He put down his tools and ran out worriedly. His wife was already running towards him.

Xiao Chengbang asked, “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Yan didn’t answer him. Instead, she took out a tomato from the basket and handed it to Xiao Chengbang. She ordered, “Eat this!”

Xiao Chengbang looked at the tomato suspiciously, and he asked with a surprised expression, “You ran home in such a hurry to have me eat a tomato?”

Zhou Yan urged, “Just eat it!”

Xiao Chengbang opened his mouth and took a bite. Following that, his eyes widened, and he looked surprised. He stuttered, “This… this taste…”

“It tastes excellent and very different from our previous batches, right?” Zhou Yan finished for him.

Xiao Chengbang wolfed down the rest of the tomatoes. He asked impatiently, “Yan, where did you get such a delicious tomato? We’ll go buy their seeds to plant!”

Zhou Yan smiled, “This is not a new batch of seed. The tomato is from our field.”

“Our field?” Xiao Chengbang was confused. “That’s not right. When did our tomatoes become so delicious? Honey, you’re not lying to me, are you?”

Zhou Yan huffed, “Why would I lie to you? These are indeed grown in our field! However, only a particular stalk can grow this delicious variant of tomatoes. I examined the soil and noticed the stalk is close to where the Xiao Family’s cow defecated.”

Zhou Yan whispered with speculation. “Honey, do you think the calf’s manure caused this change?”

Zhou Yan’s words made Xiao Chengbang frown. Then, he instructed, “This is just a guess. Don’t make it public yet.” Then, he thought and said, “Later, I’ll go to Zhengyang’s place to borrow the calf. We’ll have it roam our field, and then we’ll see!”

…

In the afternoon, Xiao Chengbang went to Xiao Zhengyang’s house.

However, Xiao Zhengyang was not home. Mother Xiao was home.

Xiao Chengbang greeted, “Big Sister.”

Mother Xiao smiled, “Chengbang, it’s you. Are you here to look for Zhengyang? He’s not home yet. He’s at the village chief’s house.”

Xiao Chengbang smiled and shook his head. “I’m not here to look for Zhengyang.” He coughed and said, “Big sister, can I borrow your family’s calf for today?”

Mother Xiao was confused. “But my calf is too young to plow the field.” Little Light was only three months old, so he was too young to work the field.

Xiao Chengbang smiled and said, “Big Sister, it’s not that. I’m not borrowing your calf to plow the field. I just wish to bring him to walk around my tomato field.” Xiao Chengbang really wanted the calf’s manure.

Mother Xiao smiled, “Oh, that’s fine. I’ll go grab Little Light for you!”