聚宝盆1

The old man bent over the rice plants struggling to grow in the muddy rice paddy.

“ I guess I shouldn’t mind that Wang Bapi keeps taking more of our land, ” he said to his grandson Lu.

“ The bigger the farm, the more we have to work. And the more we have to give the magistrate. But I wish we had more rice. ”

“ Me too, ” said Lu. “ I’m tired of us being hungry. ” Lu’s real name was Zhang Lu, but everyone called him Lu for short.

As they walked back to the house, Grandpa Zhang stepped on something hard. “ I think it might be a big piece of rock salt, ” he told Lu.

“ That would explain why the rice has been dying. ” They tried digging it up with their hands.