In the early morning, the silvery singing of birds woke up the sleeping earth. The little rooster that was in the back courtyard raised its head and puffed its chest before it valiantly stretched out its neck to crow, ‘cock-a-doodle-doo’. At the front and back of the house, all of the deep green leaves on the vegetables in the garden had shimmering drops of dew shining on them.

In between the rows of vegetables, there were a few matrons dressed in plain, patched clothing. They were picking the vegetables industriously and using clean water to wash the dirt off before placing them in bamboo baskets. These baskets would later be loaded onto carts that came from town.

At a corner in the front courtyard next to the residence, there was a grapevine twined onto a wooden frame with bunches of grapes heavily hanging. There were a few bunches that had ripened early and the deep purple fruits seemed to glitter like crystals and emitted a sweet aroma. The sight of these grapes made the matrons tsk in wonder and one of them commented, “Madam Liu, your family’s soil is really very good. Anything you guys plant turns out well and even ripens early. Like these grapes for example. Anyone else planting them can only harvest them at the start of autumn to eat. Your rack of grapes will probably be ripe in a couple days ah?”  

“That’s right ah! Are these grapes a new variety that ripen...