Chapter 55: The First Fruit, Joy

The setting sun broke through the clouds, casting its warm, golden glow across the canvas of the greenhouse.

Looking at the ten recovered seeds, then at Su Wan, who was sobbing softly, Lu Xingchen suddenly said, "Aunt Wan, come and help us. Let's take care of the seedlings together. They still need someone to watch over them."

Su Wan instantly raised her head, looking at Xingchen through tear-blurred eyes, then glanced at Su Yao.

Su Yao smiled at her and said, "Yes, many hands make light work." A gentle breeze swept through the greenhouse, causing the leaves of the seedlings to rustle softly, as if in agreement. Su Wan wiped away her tears and nodded heavily. The weight that had pressed upon her heart for so long finally lifted.

The morning after the heavy rain carried the sweet scent of moist soil in the air. As Lu Xingchen pushed open the greenhouse canvas, he was almost left speechless by the sight before him. In just a few short days, the tomato seedlings seemed touched by magic; their vines climbed high along the bamboo stakes, and the emerald leaves were dotted with tiny pale yellow flowers, resembling a handful of stars scattered among the greenery.

"Mom! Come quick! They're blooming!" he turned back and shouted, unable to suppress the excitement in his voice.

Su Yao hurried over carrying a watering can, quickening her pace upon hearing the call. Seeing the entire trellis covered in little flowers, her eyes lit up. "These flowers are blooming so vigorously. It looks like a good harvest this year." Setting down the watering can, she pulled a writing brush from her cloth pouch. "Come, Mom will teach you how to pollinate. That way, the fruit will grow evenly."

Xingchen leaned in, watching as Su Yao gently brushed across the flower stamens, catching the pale yellow pollen on the tip of the brush like sprinkled gold dust. "Why do we use a paintbrush? Can't the bees help?" he asked curiously, his fingers instinctively brushing against a petal, soft as velvet. Su Yao smiled and handed him the brush. "There aren't many bees in the greenhouse, so we have to act as 'artificial bees.' Look, if we gently brush like this, transferring the pollen from this flower to that one, the tomatoes won't grow crooked."

Imitating her, Xingchen meticulously brushed the stamens, afraid of accidentally knocking off the tiny blossoms. Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the canvas, casting dappled light spots upon the petals while a faint floral fragrance drifted through the air. He suddenly remembered Professor Zhang's words about "space seeds blooming early," and now, it proved to be completely true.

Over the next few days, the greenhouse buzzed with life, resembling a miniature garden. Every morning, Lu Shihan brought her small watering can to water the plants, a tomato blossom tucked into her braids, humming a little nursery rhyme she made up herself: "Little tomato, yellow flower, growing red and big and sour-free. Brother picks, sister tastes, so sweet it makes our lips turn up to the sky."

Lu Suisui was cradled in her arms, her tiny hands reaching out to grab a flower, only to be gently patted back by Shihan. "No grabbing, or else we won't get any tomatoes."

Su Wan also came frequently, taking charge of tying the vines and securing the wandering stems to the bamboo stakes. Her movements were gentle, and the ties she made were neither too tight to hurt the vines nor too loose to prevent them from climbing upward.

"Aunt Wan, look right underneath this flower. Are there little fruits starting to form?" Xingchen pointed to a spent blossom, where a mung-bean-sized green sphere rested like a miniature emerald.

Su Wan leaned in closer, inspecting it with a smile in her eyes. "Indeed there are. They're growing so fast, this is wonderful." Her voice was much louder and clearer now than when she first arrived, no longer keeping her head bowed all the time. Ever since returning the seeds after the heavy rain, she seemed like a different person. She came to the greenhouse every day to help, recording the condition of the seedlings and tying the vines, working with more dedication than anyone else.

Whenever Lu Zhanye returned from the military base, he never failed to make a detour to the greenhouse. The slender bamboo stakes he brought and drove into the soil became the finest support for the tomato vines. "When they bear fruit, I'll invite my comrades over to taste them and let them witness our space tomatoes for themselves." Squatting in the dirt, looking at the growing green fruits, he could not hide the smile on his face.

Days passed by, and the small green fruits gradually swelled, growing from the size of mung beans to fingertips, and then from fingertips to ping-pong balls.

Every day, Xingchen measured their dimensions, filling a small notebook with recorded data: "Fifth day after blossom drop, diameter 0.5 centimeters"; "Tenth day, 1 centimeter"; "Fifteenth day, 2 centimeters." Looking at those plump green fruits, his heart felt sweeter than if he had eaten honey.

On this particular morning, Xingchen went to the greenhouse as usual. The moment he lifted the canvas, he froze—the topmost cluster of tomatoes already showed faint blushes of red, resembling a shy young girl's cheeks. Rubbing his eyes for fear of misseeing, he leaned in closer. There was no mistake; they had turned red! This was the taste of happiness.

"Mom! Dad! Come quick, the tomatoes are turning red!" He turned and ran toward home, forgetting he was still clutching the measuring ruler in his hand. The ruler slipped, hitting the ground with a sharp clatter.

Running to the courtyard entrance, he bumped right into Su Yao as she brought out breakfast. Grabbing his mother's arm, he urged, "Hurry! Come and see! The topmost cluster has two red ones!"

Su Yao's bowl nearly slipped from her grasp as Xingchen dragged her toward the greenhouse. Lu Zhanye and Su Wan followed closely behind. Even Widow Li, who was busy feeding the pigs, heard the commotion and came running while wiping her hands. "Where are they? Where are they?" Widow Li's booming voice echoed inside the greenhouse, startling a few buzzing bees into flight.

Pointing at the topmost cluster of tomatoes, Xingchen was so excited he could barely form his words. "Right, right there, look, they're red!" Following the direction of his finger, everyone saw two thoroughly reddened tomatoes standing out vividly among the emerald leaves, resembling little lanterns hanging from the branches.

"They grew so handsomely!" Widow Li praised clicking her tongue. "Much redder than the ones bought at the market." Su Wan also stepped closer to look, her eyes filled with pleasant surprise. "I never thought they could grow this well; they look so much more vibrant than regular tomatoes."

Xingchen fetched a pair of small scissors and cautiously snipped off the cluster of tomatoes. His hands trembled slightly, fearful of damaging them. The thoroughly red tomatoes were round and heavy in his fingertips, carrying the warmth of the sun. Holding them out to Su Yao, he said, "Mom, you taste it first. It's going to be delicious."

Looking at her son's expectant eyes, Su Yao took a gentle bite. Sweet juice spread across her mouth, carrying a refreshing fruity fragrance far sweeter than any tomato she had ever tasted before.

"Delicious!" she said with a smile, her eyes curving into crescent moons. "Much sweeter than regular tomatoes, not sour at all."

Xingchen hurriedly took a bite as well, the sweet juice trickling down the corner of his mouth before he even had time to wipe it. "So sweet! Sweeter than candy!"

Lu Zhanye took the remaining half, chewed slowly, and nodded. "Indeed very good, with a unique fragrance."

The news spread like wildfire, quickly sweeping through the entire village. Villagers came to the greenhouse in twos and threes, eager to see what these space tomatoes looked like and how they tasted. Erzhuzi had just returned from the fields with his hoe on his shoulder, rushing over without even wiping off the mud. He accepted a small piece of tomato from Xingchen and popped it into his mouth. "Hey! So sweet! If this gets widely planted, our village will become wealthy!"

Hearing that the tomatoes had ripened, Professor Zhang specially had the health worker drive over from the county town. Waving a small instrument to test the tomatoes, he smiled and said, "The sugar content is thirty percent higher than regular tomatoes. Wonderful, wonderful, all our hard work wasn't wasted." Surveying the trellis full of green tomatoes, he added, "These others will ripen in a few days too. When they do, we'll pick some and send them to the county town so the leaders can taste them as well."

Watching the villagers chat and laugh around the tomato seedlings, Su Yao calculated in her heart: once this batch of tomatoes was harvested, she would save some seeds; once the scutellaria roots were gathered, she would head to the county science committee to apply for expanded cultivation, allowing every household in the village to grow space tomatoes and scutellaria roots. By then, everyone's lives would surely flourish and grow increasingly prosperous.

Lu Yuxuan returned from the stationery factory and, upon hearing that the tomatoes had ripened, made a special trip over. Holding a newly crafted tin box lined with soft cloth, he said, "I made this specifically to hold the tomatoes so they won't get bruised." Gazing at the deeply reddened tomatoes, he suddenly asked, "Can I use the tomatoes as a pattern to print on pencil boxes? We could call it the 'Space Tomato Pencil Box.' It's bound to sell well."

Su Yao nodded with a smile, "Of course you can, these are our very own produce."

Xingchen added from the side, "And we must write 'Lucun Space Breeding Base' on it so everyone knows it was grown in our village."

The sun sank toward the west, casting golden afterglow through the canvas onto the tomato trellises, dyeing both the red and green tomatoes in warm hues of yellow.

Gradually, the villagers dispersed, still talking about the sweet taste of the tomatoes and discussing whether their own plots could support such crops. Su Yao looked at the laden trellis of tomatoes, then at her busy family members and Su Wan beside her, feeling completely at peace.

Xingchen carefully placed the two small red tomatoes into the pencil box Yuxuan had crafted, treating them as if they were the most precious treasures. "Tomorrow we must take these to Professor Zhang so he can taste them too." Looking at the remaining tomatoes on the vines, he suddenly declared, "When we grow even more in the future, we'll host a Tomato Festival and invite all the villagers to come and eat tomatoes in our village."

Su Yao stroked her son's head, her eyes filled with a distinct sense of anticipation. Both she and he knew this was merely a glorious beginning, and the good days ahead were still very long.