"Get up!"
"Dinner's ready! Red-braised pork knuckles, poached sea bass, whole roasted lamb, whole stewed ox, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, scrambled eggs, roast goose, beggar's chicken... Is there anything you want to eat?"
A clear, resonant voice rang throughout the mountain village.
At that moment, the Small Mountain Village, which had slept for countless years, suddenly seemed to come alive.
"That was such a comfortable sleep..."
Inside a stone house, Second Uncle woke bleary-eyed, stretched, and rose to leave. But the sight outside left him stunned.
"Eh? What's going on... It's only been a few days. How did the weeds grow so thick they swallowed my courtyard?"
Second Uncle stood there dumbfounded. The courtyard, once clean and tidy, was now overgrown with weeds. Even the roof had sprouted a great many plants.
"What happened? It looks like this land hasn't been plowed for years. Is this any way to live?"
By the roadside, Uncle Zhang also came out. Holding his whip, which was nearly rotten through, he said:
"Old Zhao, what's going on? Did something filthy come to the village again?"
It wasn't only them. That day, the village's assorted aunts and uncles, old and young alike, all awoke from their dreams.
"The sun's out! Get up and come play!"
Wang Xiao Er, Er Ya, and a group of other children ran out from the wild grass.
"Oh no, the vegetable plots are all overgrown! What are we going to eat..."
Aunt Wang stared at the unrecognizable vegetable plots and cried out in dismay.
"The water in the ditch has all dried up, and the fields are completely parched. What are we supposed to do..."
"Well, all the fruit trees I planted have died..."
Faced with the vastly changed Small Mountain Village, the villagers all sighed miserably.
"Overgrown fields