When the Earth Turns to Gold

Wang Xue-qin was a hardworking peasant. All year round, rising at dawn, he toiled in his field. While his neighbors plowed their land once, he did it twice, sometimes even three times. Although his field was not large, it somehow managed to provide for its owner.

However, Wang Xue-qin's sons were nothing like their father: they spent entire days idling around and had no desire to work. Their father repeatedly urged them to come to their senses, but they ignored his words and continued to laze about as before. Worries about them troubled Wang Xue-qin deeply. What would these lazybones live on when he was gone?

Then Wang Xue-qin fell ill. After a few days, his condition worsened, and he realized he would not recover. He called both of his sons and said to them:

"I fear my time is near, children. I have nothing to leave behind. However, on the four mu (a unit of area equal to 0.07 hectares) of land on the eastern slope, a little gold is buried. But to find it, you will have to dig deep and thoroughly."

And then he passed away.

"If we find the gold, we'll live in wealth for the rest of our lives," thought the brothers, and they decided to find the buried gold at any cost.

They went to the field and plowed the entire land, but they found no gold.

"Perhaps we didn't plow deep enough," said the elder brother.

So they plowed the field again, deeper this time, but still found nothing.

"Maybe we plowed too quickly and missed the gold," said the elder brother again.

And so the brothers plowed the field over and over, but they still found no gold.

"It seems our father deceived us!" the frustrated brothers concluded.

However, after such thorough cultivation, the soil in their field became very loose, and when the brothers sowed it, the crops grew splendidly. From their four mu, they harvested more than others did from eight. Only then did the brothers understand their father's words.

From that day on, they never idled again.

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When the Earth Turns to Gold

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