Xu Xiaoyan stretched out her hand and touched Yan Xiaofei's forehead, then frowned and touched her own, "Yan Xiaofei, you aren't really foolish, are you?"
Others called Yan Fei a fool, but Xu Xiaoyan, who had played with him since childhood, never thought he was foolish, except when he sometimes acted like an idiot. Normally, his mind worked just as fast as anyone else's.
Xu Xiaoyan's full name was Xu Xing. No one called her Xu Xiaoyan except for Yan Fei. As a child, people said she was the fool's adopted daughter-in-law. Later, for some reason, Yan Fei started calling her Xu Xiaoyan, and to this day she didn't know why.
Seeing Yan Fei's serious expression, she was really a bit scared, "Could he really be foolish?"
Yan Fei looked up and saw her frowning, timid expression. He suddenly chuckled and grabbed his chopsticks to eat the scrambled eggs vigorously, "Hurry up and eat, if you're slow, there won't be any left. I was just kidding with you."
Xu Xiaoyan nodded, took a few bites, and then looked up seriously, "When you were little, you used to call me 'Auntie'!"
With his mouth full of scrambled eggs and still drinking his medicine water, Yan Fei mumbled back, "Who said that? You're only five years older than me. Can I call you 'Auntie,' okay?"
Xu Xiaoyan laughed, "Let's hear you say it!"
Yan Fei put down his empty bowl, "Auntie, eat slowly, I'm going to wash the dishes..."
He got up with the bowl and ran off, while Xu Xiaoyan stomped her foot and scolded him from behind.
After fooling around and finishing their meal, Yan Fei sat alone in the room, starting to seriously think about how to make money. Without realizing it, he needed to find something to do to keep himself from thinking about turning into a dinosaur.
After a while, he felt something was wrong.
Why was he so hungry?
These days, other than dinosaur eggs, there were only dinosaur meats, and nothing else to eat, so with determination, he ran back into the cave and brought back the leftover meat.
He thought about it while making the fire and eating the meat.
He unconsciously finished all the meat, surprising himself.
Without thinking about why he suddenly could eat so much, he continued to think about how to make money.
It was less about thinking of a solution and more about daydreaming. After a long while, he decided to go ask someone for advice.
The only relatives in the town besides Uncle Ming, who had given him money last time, were a cousin in the police station. Speaking of family ties, these weren't very close, but having interacted more often, over time they felt even closer than some nearer relatives.
These days were quite hot, and people were easily irritated.
The policemen at Sancha River town's police station were no exception. On such a hot day, an urgent notice came from above. The old station chief was practically in semi-retirement due to illness, and the new deputy chief, who lacked experience, frantically directed everyone in the station in response to the urgent notice.
Lin Baoguo was the same. He'd gotten up early in the morning, took care of his heavily pregnant wife, and after a bit of breakfast, he rode his bicycle down to the villages. He covered three villages in one go and couldn't even eat his lunch, just drinking cold water until he was full.
In the afternoon, just as he was preparing documents, Yan Fei breezed in.
Yan Fei entered the house, poured himself a cup of cold water, and sat there watching him busily writing and drawing.
After a while, Lin Baoguo sensed something was off: this kid was too quiet today, could there be something serious?
Seeing Yan Fei lost in thought, Lin Baoguo grew worried, "Xiao Fei, come here, is there something the matter?"
Yan Fei, finally seeing Lin Baoguo put down his pen, immediately snapped back to reality, "Uncle Baoguo, what would be good if I want to make some money?"
Lin Baoguo finally understood. As he stood up pulling something from his pocket, he said, "Oh please, you making money? Did you squander all your cash on extravagant eating and now you're here for more? Here, take five yuan for now, and if you run out, come back for more."
Yan Fei was still thinking why this sounded so familiar when suddenly five yuan was stuffed into his hand.
Holding the money, he finally realized why it sounded so familiar – had he not spent the five yuan Uncle Ming gave him?
"I'm really trying to make money, not just messing around." An indignant Yan Fei retorted.
"Alright, alright, I believe you," Uncle Baoguo said, as he prepared to dismiss him. "Making money is easy. Go back to your grandpa's place and open up some wasteland to plant sweet potatoes! I am busy here, the whole city is after a fugitive! It's extremely hot, so don't run around. Either stay at home or go soak in the river."
Plant sweet potatoes?
That actually didn't sound like a bad idea.
Yan Fei felt like he might have a new idea as he stood up, slightly contradictorily muttering, "The workload in the police station must be really light. Even catching a beggar is treated like a big deal, as if beggars offended you..."
As he watched him walk out, Lin Baoguo was at a loss for words.
Just outside the police station, a kid about the same age as him came from the opposite side. He spotted Yan Fei from a distance and ran over shouting, "Yan Fei, Yan Fei, are you going to watch the video tonight? I heard there's a Shaolin ancestor on tonight, and it's going to be very intense!"
Without even thinking, Yan Fei responded, "Yes, I'll wait at home for you to call me tonight. I'll treat you to the show."
Hearing this, the kid hastily replied, "No, no, my mom said not to let me spend your money. Let me treat you. My dad gave me some money secretly again yesterday!"
Yan Fei didn't stand on ceremony, "Alright, it's just fifty cents anyway. By the way, Yang Qian, where are you headed now?"
Yang Qian answered, "I was actually headed to your place to hang out, but your house was locked."
Yan Fei waved his hand dismissively, "I'm heading back right now, let's go have some fun."
Yang Qian was an only child with both parents working, his father often away on trips and his mother too busy with her job to look after him. They hadn't played much together in the past while in school, but they met a few days ago at the video hall and had started to become friendly.
As for why they got friendly, it was because the video hall had just started showing a martial arts film in the evening, and started showing adult-only movies afterward, ejecting the younger children, including them.
Their friendship, forged by being kicked out together, had grown strong in just two days.
As they walked, Yang Qian shared excitedly, "Did you know? I found out what movies they play after we leave at night. It's that 'What's-the-name Plum Blossom' with women wearing half outfits..."
Yan Fei was dismissive, "Big deal, not like you can go in and get breastfed."
This made the usually stoic Yang Qian burst into uncontrollable laughter.
They were just curious kids, clueless about matters concerning boys and girls!
Back at his house, Yang Qian rummaged through the kitchen and asked curiously, "Yan Fei, what are you planning to do?"
While rummaging, Yan Fei replied, "I'm planning to plant sweet potatoes!"
Yang Qian was puzzled, "Is this season right for planting sweet potatoes? Even though we don't have a piece of land, I know you can already eat sweet potato leaves now!"
They chatted aimlessly while Yan Fei finally managed to gather a pile of sweet potatoes from the kitchen.
These were brought by his grandpa on his last visit, and Yan Fei hadn't bothered to eat them since he was eating meat daily, and some of them were starting to spoil.
With new sweet potatoes nearly ready, it was time for rural households to clear out their cellars to make room for the new crop.
After separating the good potatoes from the bad ones and tidying up for a while, Yang Qian swaggered into the store wielding a butcher knife, and then switched to a watermelon knife for more dramatic gestures.
Having finished with the sweet potatoes, Yan Fei watched him, worried as Yang Qian had fun pretending, making sounds and wildly waving the knife, "You should stop playing with that. It's dangerous. That's not how you use knives."
Yang Qian, now more focused, dropped the knife and asked, "Do you know how? I heard you practiced martial arts as a kid."
Yan Fei was embarrassed, "I do know a few moves, but it's been so long since I practiced."
Seeing the admiration in Yang Qian's eyes, Yan Fei got excited, "Ever heard of the Tanghe County's Shanglin Knife?"
Yang Qian nodded.
Yan Fei boasted proudly, "The Shanglin Ghost Head Knife, scares the enemy away. It refers to the big knife from our Shanglin Village, my grandfather's hometown."
Getting excited, he stood up, adopted a pose, and started demonstrating, "This is the Shanglin's Liuhe Fist, the basic Kung Fu practiced by kids here. Officially, it's Xinyi Liuhe Fist."
While talking, he displayed the moves, and shortly finished, reaping a basket of admiration from Yang Qian.
After basking in Yang Qian's praises, Yan Fei continued, "Actually, I learned fistfighting, but the famous skills from there are the knife techniques. There's the Daguan Knife and the Ghost Head Knife. The Daguan Knife is similar to the one used by the saintly warrior Guan Yu in legends, and our village even has one that weighs 120 catties, rumored to have been used in battle. Ordinary people can't even lift it; it's incredibly powerful."
The two fantasized for a while about the heroic times during the war when the Shanglin Ghost Head Knife was used to behead enemies. Excited, Yan Fei made a few gestures, but unfortunately, he barely knew any moves.
A while later, Yang Qian hurried back home, and soon after eating, he ran back.
Yan Fei ate quickly and then rushed to the video hall with him, watching Hong Xiguan wield a variable-length spear, striking awe in all directions. The two boys were so pumped up that they didn't want to leave even after the movie ended, but soon the owner chased them out.
In the small town, the video hall stealthily played some adult-only content, watched by the young guys. Kids like Yan Fei and Yang Qian were strictly not allowed to stay, as any word getting out could spell doom for the owner and trouble for those who had watched.
That night, back at home, Yan Fei embarked on his "path to riches."
Near a small pond at the center of the island, Yan Fei picked a spot where the sunlight hit and decided to break new ground there.
He dug a hole, placed a whole sweet potato in it, and covered it with soil.
Then another hole, another sweet potato, another covering of soil...
Ideally, he'd cover them with plastic film, but Yan Fei just found some old plastic at home and loosely covered them, like a cat covering its droppings.
This wasn't exactly planting sweet potatoes yet, just nurturing the seedlings.
Waiting for them to sprout and separate, that's when it could be called planting.
Soon, he had buried them all and then marked the perimeter with wooden sticks and branches for little actual benefit, but more as a boundary marker. As for keeping the "dinosaurs" away, Yan Fei already had plans in place.