"Kid wake up"
"wake up you freeloader"
an old man shouted at a young guy lying beside him.
"Let me sleep"
Henry used to wake up late since he was in his vacations.
"Wake up or else I will kick you out"
the old man got serious and pulled the blanket which was being used by Henry
"No"
Henry clenched the blanket tightly and refused to let it go.
The old man lost his patience, he went out and brought back a bucket full of water
"Ssshhhh"
He poured it on sleeping, Henry.
Henry jolted out from his sleep, sat up while spreading his legs, he l with glared angrily at the old man Luo.
"Stop glaring at me in such a way kid, I told you that you have to help me the fields if you want to live with me"
"Come on, hurry up and stand up we have to reach the plots "
Henry helped himself to stand up and then he did exit the home
seeing that even the sun did not rise,
damn old man.... he cursed inwardly but he still let himself to be dragged by grandpa Luo to the plots.
The agriculture plots lie towards the west of the village about around 6km away,
Henry struggled to walk 6 km, when Henry finally reached the agriculture plots he fell down to the knees to take a short break, alas he could not take rest as the grandpa Luo went inside a hut situated between the plain field bringing back a pickaxe, handed it to Henry.
"Kid, look at this land. It is a plain , now you need to farm it"
Henry was surprised since he thought that he would help old man Luo, he never expected that he need to do all work alone without any help from anyone?
"Senior, I don't have any experience in it"
Henry said as he wanted to skip doing all these damn work, so he indirectly refused Luo.
"You kiddo, No one is born in this world experienced, You will gain experience once you start working, so stop slacking off, and get to the work"
grandpa Luo paused for a while and then continued
"I will monitor your progress from time to time, don't you dare to be lazy ?"
"Wait, It means are you not staying here?"
Henry questioned as soon as he heard those words from grandpa Luo
"Why should I stay here?, I have got other lands to take care off"
then grandpa Luo waved goodbye to Henry, walked away.
Henry was left alone in the empty field,
Henry did not know how should he even start farming even though he read about irrigation and farming during his schools days in biology, but he was not much interested in it, so he learnt it temporarily only for the sake of examinations, and never had any practical experience on it like his grandma who was a farmer and his sister who did help her.
Henry decided to observe other fields around, and learn from them, so he wandered the neighbouring fields but the neighbouring fields are not plain lands like his, instead, they were lush green with different kind of plants there were people in the fields.
some were watering the lands, some were just roaming while looking at each and every plant, some were just lying under trees and there were also children who were running and playing.
looking at such a peaceful village environment
Henry felt relaxed, and he finally felt much better. He was enjoying the sensation of peacefulness and lost the sense of time.
At the afternoon, the sun was brighter than ever in the day.
"Kiddo looks like you are enjoying quite well"
Henry nodded and then he felt the voice to be familiar.
"Senior ..."
Grandpa Luo appeared behind Henry without making any sounds.
"Kiddo, I left you here to make the land fertile but you are wasting time, I think you don't want to stay at my home anymore"
with a smile on his face said Luo.
"No, Senior no...."
Henry stood up as refused the statement of grandpa Luo.
"Then why haven't you started work at all? It has already been noon, I have left you here in the morning"
The grandpa still had a smile on his face as he questioned.
"Senior, this junior is ignorant of farming, so I was roaming around to learn how to start my work"
Henry reasoned.
"Did you learn anything then?"
grandpa Luo was not showing any mercy towards Henry.
hearing the last question from the grandpa Luo, Henry did not have an answer to it so he stayed quiet
"look at how paled you are, you did not learn anything and wasted time, such a useless guy you are."
grandpa was really cruel with his words,
Am I really useless? No!
but grandpa is not wrong so I might be really useless
Henry began to doubt himself.
"kid, I will give you one last chance, hurry up cultivate this land for me, you need to successfully produce paddy here or you are going to be kicked out in a month, remember that you have got only a month to do so"
Henry was shocked he did not expect to hear such a cruel condition from grandpa Luo
while pointing under a tree grandpa Luo said: "I will be going then and you can sleep there at night".
"wait.."
grandpa Luo started to walk away
"wait..wait you damn the old man"
grandpa Luo long has gone while ignoring Henry
Henry found himself in a difficult position since he had not got any prior experience or knowledge in growing crops, he resumed to observe the nearby fields to learn to cultivate crops
he searched and finally, he found a plain field like his, he went into the field and started his research, he noticed that the field looked to be plain on the surface but it retained the traces of being ploughed.
Henry searched around for the owner of the land but he could not find anyone so he gave up and went back to his farm and while carrying the pickaxe.
Henry could not go back to the village to sleep so he found a suitable place under the tree and cleaned the area where he decided to sleep and laid down there.
"Cooo coooo"
"Cock a doodle doo"
The birds were chirping, the cocks were roosting and amidst of these sounds, Henry woke up.
It was still early, the sun had not risen yet.
Henry approached the nearby river, He saw a lot of people on the side of the bank
some were bathing, some were washing their farming equipment and some were trying to dig a tunnel on the surface level to take water to their fields. It was a lively atmosphere there.
Henry did not want to involve himself with these old fellas especially his ego does not allow him to do it, In earth Henry only interacted with people of his calibre that's other engineers and scientists apart from his family members he never interacted with other poor and uneducated people as deep down he found their occupation below his.
Henry took a bath then wore the same clothes and went to check out the other empty field apart from his field which was found yesterday.
When Henry appeared in the empty plot he saw a familiar small figure and he was pulling the plough by using brute force on the plot.
Isn't he one of the kids that followed Zen? What is he doing? why is he pulling the plough by using bare hands? I thought it should be pulled using cows.
Henry's mind ran through several questions but there was only one way to know the answer so Henry approached the kid.
similarly, the kid noticed Henry's presence but did not greet him,
"Hello kid, Aren't you Zen's friend?"
Ivar nodded but did not utter a word out
"My name is Henry and may I know your name?"
Henry introduced himself while asking for other's Identity
Ivar was expressionless as usual
After not getting an answer from Ivar for some moments Henry doubted his approach but at this moment
"I am Ivar"
Ivar introduced himself.
"that's a good name"
Henry complimented but Ivar was cold as usual
"Why are you doing this?, Where are your parents? how could they allow you to work alone?"
Ivar did not reply and as usual neither he did show any expression on his face and continued to pull the plough
Henry did not go further in his enquiry and he paused his questions
"At least let me help you"
Henry pushed Ivar aside and put the plough on one his shoulder and held the hand of the plough with both hands (I am using hand for the plough which is usually tied to cows and leg is the sharp part of the plough used to make the ground suitable to sow seeds)
"Look at me, I am going to do it in no time"
Henry boasted then tried to pull the plough
"Ahm.."
.....
....
seeing the seriously observing boy
why can't I pull it? No, I refuse to give up
"Aa ..Aa...."
Henry put much force
but still was not able to move the plough an inch
"Aaa...Aaa"
Henry tried again since he did not want to lose face especially he could not accept the fact that his physical strength could not even amount to the kid.
Henry struggled and struggled and finally, he was able to pull it an inch and then he dropped to the ground out of exhaustion.
Henry thought Ivar would laugh at him or even make fun of him but Ivar did not do anything similar like that instead, he brought a glass of water for Henry.
Henry was astonished and gladly accepted the water
The silent Ivar opened his mouth and said "Farming is not easy as you consider it to be"
Henry did not refuse his words rather he found the wisdom and mindset of a kid behind the words
He is mature, Henry thought.
Henry did not stay there after having the small rest instead he came back his plot and began to try to plough the land using pickaxe instead of the plough.
It was as hard as using plough but Henry messed up many times using a pickaxe,
Noon arrived Henry was sweating crazy so he stopped the work and sat under a tree for a while, when Henry was relaxing he still remembered the incident at the morning so he went to check on Ivar.
When Henry arrived at the plot owned by Ivar he saw a scene which he would never forget for the rest of his life.
The kid was still pulling plough under the scorching sun, his clothes long turned wet due to the sweat but he still continued to pull it.
Henry felt ashamed of himself while thinking about his weak resolution.
I would not lose to a kid, Henry promised himself.
Henry went back but he did not use pickaxe now, but began to pull the plough.
Henry continued to struggle and finally was able to pull the plough to some extent until he could not pull it any longer, after being exhausted he sat on the ground.
"kid you are working hard"
following the voice grandpa Luo appeared,
"Senior, to be frank, I don't want to be farmer, I wanna be a Battle Master, I think I don't need to do this shit"
Henry clearly expressed his opinion on farming and he stated his goal to grandpa Luo.
"Hahaha...kiddo,you want to be a battle master,that's quite a dream you have got
I will check wether you are qualified or not,spar with me tomorrow morning here if you defeat me you are free to do whatever you wanted to do but if you can't defeat me just close your mouth and farm the land"
grandpa Luo looked to be furious he disappeared while living behind a mud pot filled with rice
Henry took the pot and had the rice then continued to pull the plough after taking rice, as if Henry acquired energy he was able to pull the plough with fewer efforts than the efforts he used before.
Time passed the noon became evening Henry somehow able to pull the plough continuously, Henry stopped as night approached, and when he checked on his progress, he was terrified as he found he couldn't even plough 1/64th of the land
Henry's hands were shaking, his neck was aching so he did not dare to think too much about farming, he went under the tree and took some rest.
after having enough rest, He went to Ivar's farm to check on his progress
It has almost been dark but still, Ivar was pulling the plough
"Ivar"
Henry shouted loud.
But Ivar's focus seemed to be somewhere else and he continued to pull.
"Ivar, stop you are overdoing it"
Henry called out Ivar again but Ivar did not stop and continued with his work
Henry rushed towards Ivar and pushed him to the ground then Henry pulled his arms and checked his palms
Henry's pupils were out seeing the red palms of Ivar
"Ivar, why are going too far? Is it really necessary ?"
Henry questioned but Ivar was silent as usual but he slightly nodded.
Henry was used to his responses but seeing him nodding,Henry stood there like a statue.
Ivar freed himself of Henry and went towards the plough to pull again but at the moment a man appeared a few meters afar from them and shouted
"Ivar, your mother is calling you, she said that to not to put too much pressure on yourself and asked you to come back home immediately"
Ivar ran towards the guy and joined the group of villagers leaving for the village.
The group of villagers left towards the direction of the village along with Ivar, but this guy appeared in front of Henry
"Are you alright?"
The stranger asked Henry.
"I am "
Henry came back to senses.
"Where is Ivar? Where did he go?"
Henry asked the stranger
"He went back to the village and you might be the new guy Henry who joined the village as said by my brother"
Henry nodded.
"Well I am Gen, the brother of the village chief and you can call me uncle Gen"
Gen said about himself and continued
"Ivar is such a poor and unfortunate child, I know how you feel"
"Why? and what's wrong with Ivar?"
Henry when he saw he can finally know the reason behind Ivar's stubbornness he asked the question as quickly as possible..
"So you don't know anything"
Gen was astonished but he regained his composer
"Of course you would not know anything, after all, you are new here"
"Hahhhaaaa"
"Just remember that Ivar lost his father in the battle of woods three years ago and his mother lost her legs making her a cripple"
"They used to have a maid, the maid took care of them but no one knows what has actually happened recently she left them so now all the responsibilities fell on 7-year-old Ivar"
"The villagers provide food for them but still there seemed to be a part of Ivar's personality which does not like to take help, So this is how he turned out"
The tone narration about Ivar is crystal clear when it was narrated by Gen.
"What's battle of woods?"
Henry wanted to know about this battle which created such a tragedy
"Ahm..
why don't you ask about it directly to Ivar's mother?, I have to leave, goodbye kiddo, see ya later"
after giving the suggestion Gen departed.
Henry returned to the tree where he lived and found a mud pot with rice placed there, Henry ate the rice and laid down.
Henry wanted to sleep but he could not as his mind was filled with various thoughts about Ivar for a while before he closed his eyes.