Shen Song still thought it was just that his recovery ability was good, and he was happily thinking that he could go work in the fields again in a bit.
He even planned to tell his parents in advance that if he fainted, they shouldn't worry—he could just lie in the field and sleep for a while and recover, without delaying the work.
Shen Song perked up again, cheerfully getting ready to go work.
Just as he sat up, he noticed a familiar energy circulating inside his body.
When Shen Song realized what it was, his eyes went wide. He slowed his breathing and focused all his attention on sensing the energy in his body.
After a good while, he confirmed it—his earth-element ability was actually still there!
Then why hadn't he been able to sense it before?
Could it be because he had been too hungry?
But he was still very hungry right now.
As he thought about it, he remembered that he had worked in the fields today, then collapsed from exhaustion. When he woke up, not only were his injuries healed, but his body no longer felt awful. He pinched his fingers—they didn't hurt anymore either.
Shen Song thought it over and concluded that working in the fields today must have activated his earth-element ability.
He hurriedly checked his ability—and one look gave him quite a shock.
The ability had indeed been activated, but its energy was pitifully small.
He couldn't use any ability techniques at all. His mental energy, however, could keep his body healthy and make his recovery power extremely strong.
Even without an ability, Shen Song had already been planning things out—under limited conditions, he had even come up with ways to plant crops faster and go out to work and earn money.
Now that he'd discovered he had awakened an ability, and that his mental energy made his recovery power so strong, Shen Song felt like he had endless energy.
He scrambled off the bed, wrapped himself tightly in his tattered hemp clothes, and put on his worn straw sandals with exposed toes and soles worn clean through.
"Sanqiu, I'm heading back to the fields to work!"
Shen Song called out to Shen Sanqiu, who was cleaning wild greens in the thatched shed, then waved to his four nephews and nieces sitting on a rock sunning themselves, and darted out of the fenced yard in a flash.
By the time Shen Sanqiu stood up holding the wild greens, he was already far away.
Where did his little uncle get all that energy? The man had been completely worn out, yet after a short sleep he was bouncing around again.
The yellow earth was covered with bits of broken stone and hard clods of dirt.
With the soles of his straw sandals worn through, the ground made the bottoms of Shen Song's feet hurt a little.
Yesterday he hadn't walked much, so it was fine, but this morning's journey to the field and the work itself had hurt. At the time, Shen Song had been busy admiring the scenery and ignored the pain in his soles. Later he was busy working, and that little bit of pain didn't matter anymore.
Now that he was aware of the pain, he simply started running.
The faster he got there, the less time he'd spend hurting.
The adults of the village were all busy in the fields now, so only young children were playing and wandering around the village.
Quite a few children, seeing Shen Song from far off, scattered quickly, afraid that if he came near, he would pass his poverty-luck on to them.
Hutou and his two companions worried every day about how to get rid of the poverty-luck passed to them, staying home all day and never coming out to play.
Even when they did come out, the other children didn't dare play with the three of them.
Shen Song paid no attention to those children. He just ran along on his own, admiring the scenery as he went.
The sky was blue, the clouds white, the flowers fragrant, the grass green, the trees lush.
What beautiful scenery!
When he reached the field, the Shen family members working there all froze at the sight of him.
They had all been busy working, and only noticed him when Shen Song came down into the field and walked up to them.
Liu Chunxia asked in surprise, "Song-ge’er, why have you come again?"
Shen Song patted his chest. "I've recovered, I can keep helping with the work. Oh, and Ma, if I faint again, don't send me back home. Just let me lie down and rest a bit—I'll recover in no time."
"These next couple of days I'll get familiar with the work, and after that I'll definitely be faster. If we finish the spring plowing early, I can even head to town or the county seat sooner to work and earn some copper coins."
Shen Song's words dispelled Liu Chunxia's thoughts of sending him home. Hearing this, she felt quite pleased—her ge'er had sense now and knew how to get by in life.
From here on, she would have less and less to worry about for this child.
Xu Hongmei stood behind watching. Seeing her mother-in-law let Song-ge’er stay yet again, she sighed and bent down to continue working.
Who knew why this young ge'er was so stubborn, always pushing himself.
If something really happened to him, wouldn't the family still have to spend copper coins on him?
Shen Song kept doing the same work as before. His father, Shen Dashu, found him another sturdy tree branch that fit his hand well, and Shen Song bent down and got to work.
After working a while, his strength gave out and he fainted again.
Liu Chunxia hurried over to help him to the edge of the field to rest, but Shen Song, not yet fully unconscious, said, "Ma, leave me be."
His voice was so weak that Liu Chunxia's heart ached listening to it.
Ah, if the family had money, things wouldn't have to be like this.
At the very least, feeding one extra mouth for a lifetime wouldn't be a big deal.
Liu Chunxia could only tell Shen Song to lie down and rest well, then went back to work.
About a quarter hour later, Shen Song opened his eyes and quietly got back to work.
That's how he spent the entire day—working, fainting, waking up and working again, then fainting once more.
Just like that, he made it through the whole day.
Apart from the first time he fainted and was sent home by Shen Yi'an, he never made a sound afterward, just kept working hard.
The two old Shen couple genuinely felt sorry for the young ge'er, but the child had truly persevered to the end.
On the way back, Xu Hongmei glanced at Shen Song limping along.
Fainting and waking up so many times—it was remarkable he could hold out until the end.
He hadn't helped much, but he hadn't held them back either.
The Shen family's dinner was once again boiled wild greens, the same amount as the night before.
After eating, Shen Song felt very drowsy and wanted to sleep.
"Song-ge’er, your sister-in-law will line your straw sandals with dry grass. Once it's padded in, walking won't hurt as much—it'll be more comfortable."
Xu Hongmei called out to Shen Song just as he was about to lie down, already holding the dry grass for the sandal soles.
Shen Song's eyes lit up as he watched Xu Hongmei carefully layer in the dry grass, explaining that you couldn't put in too much or it would affect wearing and walking, but you couldn't put in too little either, or it wouldn't do any good.
How much or how little to pad in was a skill in itself. Only through doing it many times could you learn where that perfect amount was.
Shen Song listened quietly, thinking his sister-in-law was truly remarkable—she had even figured out the knack for lining straw sandals, doing it quickly and well.
Xu Hongmei set the finished sandals on the ground. "Try them on."
Shen Song put them on immediately and walked a big loop outside before coming back.
His eyes sparkling, he said to Xu Hongmei, "Sister-in-law, your hands are so skilled—my feet really don't hurt anymore. On the way back tonight, I felt like I was going to die from the pain. With these sandals you lined, my feet definitely won't hurt tomorrow. I'll be able to work even faster!"
Seeing how much Shen Song treasured the sandals she had lined, and how useful he said they were, Xu Hongmei felt waves of happiness listening to him.
Her brother-in-law's head was clear now. Look at that—didn't he know just how to say things that warmed people's hearts?
"Sister-in-law, you worked hard today. Go get some sleep. Once I've adjusted a bit more, tomorrow I'll be able to do more and really help share the load."
Shen Song knew that compared to everyone else in the family, what he'd done today was nothing.
Even what Sanqiu did around the house was far more tiring than his work in the fields.
What he did barely counted as work, and he was that exhausted—let alone how tired everyone else must be.
Xu Hongmei was genuinely taken aback for a moment and said instinctively, "Oh, that's just how it is for farming families. What's there to be tired about or not?"
They were farm folk, common people.
From as far back as they could remember, they had to help out around the house, and once they were a little older, they had to work in the fields.
Was it tiring?
Yes.
At first she'd cried herself hoarse from exhaustion, but crying didn't help—if anything, the more she cried, the more tired she got.
Hearing "you worked hard today"—that was truly a first for Xu Hongmei.
Everyone had gotten through it this way. Everyone worked hard, and everyone was used to it.
Because it was so ordinary, that hardship had simply become invisible.
Even as she lay back down on her bed board, Xu Hongmei was thinking: Song-ge’er really is different from before.
The next day, before dawn, Shen Song opened his eyes and woke.
The moment he opened his eyes, he noticed his mental energy had grown stronger.
Last night when he'd lain down, his back and waist had ached, and even slightly moving his legs had been painful. Now his whole body felt light.
He put on his straw sandals padded with dry grass and gave a little bounce—a good fit.
Now that he seemed to have become a Divine Farming Physique, he'd have to work even harder today!
After another full day of work, Shen Song didn't faint this time. Big progress.
After a night's sleep, sure enough, his mental energy had grown quite a bit stronger again.
When Shen Song headed out that day, he made a grand declaration: he was going to do real farm work.
So Shen Dashu brought along the stone hoe the family no longer used.
He planned to give Shen Song his own iron hoe and use the stone one himself.
Shen Jing stopped him—he didn't want his father, at his age, using an awkward stone hoe.
He took the stone hoe for himself and gave his iron hoe to Shen Song.
"Xiao Ba, you're not strong yet, and it's your first time. Use your big brother's iron hoe."
Xu Hongmei glanced at Shen Jing and said nothing.
Liu Chunxia, on the other hand, was a bit stunned. She'd thought her eldest daughter-in-law would say a word or two—she'd even been ready to swap hoes with her eldest son herself.
Shen Song understood his big brother's thoughtfulness. He tilted his head up and smiled brightly in thanks: "Big brother, you're so good to me! Xiao Ba thanks you!"
Shen Jing felt a little embarrassed by Shen Song's words. What was there to feel good about—they were family. He grinned bashfully and said, "Get to work. Big brother's off to his tasks."
Doing serious farm work for the first time, Shen Song, thanks to his mental energy, didn't faint.
He cried from exhaustion.
The spring breeze brushed his face as he stood against the wind, silently shedding tears.
Seeing tears streaming down his little face, the Shen family all urged him to go rest if he was tired, not to force himself while wiping his eyes.
Shen Song felt that crying from exhaustion was truly embarrassing.
After all, he was now technically someone with a supernatural ability, yet he was still so worn out he couldn't hold back tears.
Everyone else in the family was fine. Comparing himself to them, his face flushed a little, and he stubbornly insisted he wasn't crying—just yawning from sleepiness.
The Shen family couldn't hold back their laughter at him.
Fine, fine—whatever the child says goes.
When they got home that day, Shen Song devoured a big bowl of boiled wild greens like a whirlwind, then flopped straight into bed, too lazy to move even a finger.
Though the previous day had been exhausting, Shen Song discovered that his mental energy had grown even more than it had the previous two days.
It seemed his mental energy growth really was connected to his working.
After confirming this, Shen Song worked even harder over the following days.
He would work himself until he passed out from exhaustion, then get up and keep working once he woke. If he wasn't exhausted to the point of fainting or crying, he would wipe his tears as he worked—either way, his hands never stopped.
The whole family urged him to rest, even Xu Hongmei and the three older brothers who had previously been unwilling to let Shen Song work in the fields.
Shen Song thought to himself that he couldn't rest—if he did, his mental energy would grow more slowly.
He wanted to be able to use his supernatural ability soon.
His earth-element ability was perfectly suited for farming.
If he could use the Blessed Land Technique, the crops would grow fast and healthy, and the harvest would be abundant.
With an abundant harvest, they could earn lots of copper coins at the summer harvest, and wouldn't he finally be able to eat his fill?
Though Shen Song collapsed from exhaustion several times, he simply refused to give up.
"Father, Mom, brothers, sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, you really don't need to worry about me, I'm fine. If our whole family works hard, we're sure to have an abundant harvest this year!"
The Shen family all laughed at his words.
An abundant harvest was every farmer's wish. They knew Shen Song had never farmed before and didn't know how difficult a bountiful harvest was.
But hearing the words "abundant harvest," their hearts felt happy all the same.
If they truly had an abundant harvest, they could have a proper New Year celebration this year.
Through Shen Song's diligent farming, his mental energy had grown to the point where he could use the Blessed Land Technique.
Shen Song was eager to try it, but there was nothing growing in the family's fields—if he tried now, he would have to wait until crops sprouted to see the results.
As it happened, the family had run out of wild greens and needed to gather more.
Liu Chunxia and her daughters-in-law and sons-in-law were going to dig for wild greens at the foot of the mountain, and Shen Song said he wanted to go too.
Seeing that Shen Song was in good spirits, Liu Chunxia agreed, telling him to carry a basket and keep up.