Chapter 013: Modest Fortune

“Dad, Uncle Huang, here’s the plan! First, we’ve been using those large sacks that hold two hundred pounds of grain, which aren’t good for heat dissipation. Now, we can split each sack into two smaller ones, arrange them evenly, and leave a passageway as a ventilation channel to help with airflow and cooling. Second, I’ve figured out how to make moisture-absorbing desiccants. Let’s start by laying bricks under all the grain sacks, then place my desiccant packets in the gaps between the bricks, right on the ground. This will absorb moisture and mildew from below. If the rain lasts a long time, we can keep replacing the desiccants. That way, even if we store grain until the end of the year, it won’t rot!” Yang Tian strode forward and explained loudly.

“This idea is yours?” Yang Bao was astonished. He’d graduated from middle school and knew about desiccants, but didn’t know how to make them. He never expected his nine-year-old son to already be familiar with such advanced things.

“Oh, I just happened to see it in a book a few days ago!” Yang Tian replied softly. In order for both the Yang and Huang families to profit from this, he didn’t bother to hide too much.

“Hah, Tian is a good boy. Reading books really pays off. This is a great idea—I wonder why I didn’t think of it! Tian, what did you call those little cloth packets again?” Huang Biao laughed heartily.

“They’re desiccants, Dad!” Huang Juan chimed in, laughing quietly as she moved next to Huang Biao. Seeing both Yang Bao and Huang Biao looking at Yang Tian with approval, she and Yang Xuelin were all smiles.

“Desiccants? I get it—herbicide for weeds, insecticide for bugs, and desiccants to prevent dampness, right?” Huang Biao’s remark sent everyone into laughter, the atmosphere warm and cheerful, with the worries of the past days dissolving completely.

Yang Tian’s method worked. The flooding lasted for a month, but only a few loads of rice got moldy. This hardly mattered to the Yang and Huang families, because they could easily mix those few loads in with the good grain when selling—since the quantity was small, the city merchants wouldn’t notice.

As autumn approached, grain prices started to rise. Even though the government had set a protected price, early rice still went up to fifty-one yuan per load, late rice to forty-nine. After selling their grain, and deducting costs, transport, labor, and management fees, each family netted seven thousand yuan. This made both families ecstatic. Yang Bao and Huang Biao usually earned just over a thousand yuan a year from their hard work at the gate; suddenly making seven thousand was a small fortune for them.

Seeing both his own family and Huang Juan’s family so happy, Yang Tian kept a calm facade, but inside he was overjoyed. Bringing change and happiness to both families was his greatest wish since being reborn. He thought, this is just a small step; bigger blessings await them in the future.

With everyone profiting, they wouldn’t neglect their hero, Yang Tian. During the New Year, Yang Bao and his wife gave Yang Tian and Yang Xuelin each a hundred yuan as New Year’s money—a reward for Tian, while Xuelin benefited by association. The one rewarded smiled calmly, while the one benefiting danced with joy. In previous years, Xuelin’s New Year’s money never exceeded five yuan; this time, she got a hundred all at once, and as a child, she was over the moon.

She knew it was all thanks to her brother. So during the New Year, she never slept in her own room—every day, after playing with Yang Tian, she would fall asleep right on his bed.

Sometimes, she hugged the teddy bear Yang Tian had bought her; other times, she hugged him directly.

Yang Tian would gently hold her, stroking her hair and cheeks, occasionally gazing at her adorable sleeping face. All this was something he’d never enjoyed before his rebirth. Outwardly calm, he felt true happiness inside.

Huang Biao and his wife grew fonder of Yang Tian. On the first day of the New Year, when Yang Tian and Yang Xuelin visited the Huang family, Huang Biao and his wife gave them each a big red envelope—two hundred yuan for Yang Tian, a hundred for Xuelin.

Yang Tian had helped both families without expecting any reward, but when they gave him New Year’s money as a bonus, he didn’t refuse. After all, he desperately needed money to reinvent himself after being reborn. He wouldn’t ask for much; he could only save up bit by bit.

Xuelin was even happier, clinging to Yang Tian like a little tail every day, forcing him to secretly get up at night to train his arms and practice martial arts.

Huang Juan also looked at Yang Tian with worshipful eyes from time to time. Her parents gave her a hundred yuan for New Year’s, and Yang Bao and his wife gave her a two-hundred-yuan red envelope. All these changes were thanks to Yang Tian; otherwise, she’d never get more than fifteen yuan for New Year’s. Now, with three hundred yuan of her own, she could buy plenty of things she wanted.

On the second day of the New Year, she quietly slipped out to the village shop and bought Yang Tian a “Calabash Brothers” pencil case and a ballpoint pen decorated with Robin Hood. She secretly put them in his schoolbag when he came to Huang Biao to learn martial arts.

Clever Xuelin deposited her three hundred yuan with Li Xiuying, planning to buy her brother a special birthday gift.

Yang Tian spent all his money, buying a new pair of dumbbells. His previous set was the lightest, six kilograms; this time, he got a twelve-kilogram set and even bought a barbell, which cost over a hundred yuan.

He also bought basketballs, footballs, and badminton gear. Basketball and football he played alone, preparing for sports competitions in middle school, high school, and university. Badminton was for training Xuelin and Huang Juan.

As expected, both girls loved badminton. Once the rackets arrived, the three of them played every evening beneath the big jujube tree outside Huang Juan’s home, their laughter continuing until the western hills and nightfall.

Evenings became Yang Tian’s happy hours. With new equipment, he trained harder than ever.

Three years passed in the blink of an eye. After graduating elementary school, Yang Tian and Huang Juan both scored well enough to attend Victory Middle School in the city. Both families were delighted; Huang Juan smiled every day, while Yang Tian remained calm—after all, it was within his expectations.

What truly pleased him was that after three years of diligent practice, his martial arts had greatly improved, especially his punching power. Though only twelve, his punches were almost as strong as an amateur boxer’s.

As for fighting technique, he’d developed his own style. Naturally calm and thoughtful, he studied Chinese boxing, judo, Taekwondo, Muay Thai, karate, and French Savate, forming his own opinions. His training had one goal: to defeat opponents swiftly, ruthlessly, and effectively.

PS: Volume One ends here. Volume Two will start uploading this afternoon. Xiao Mo asks for some recommendation votes—if you haven’t bookmarked this book yet, please do so. Thank you, and happy reading to all!