Harvest Festival

"Cheers"

The entire village was gathered in the fields, laughing drinking, and celebrating as today was the last day of Harvest and day of Harvest Festival.

All the older men were gathered by the last field of standing rice, drinking and cheering as the young man raced to harvest the most rice.

"Oh look at them go, look at Feng swing his the scythe!"

"No look at jin, may be slow but he mows a thousand stalks in a single swing!"

"But no one is better than Bao, look he is ahead of everyone. No doubt he will win!"

Adults and the older generation mingled, drinking rice wine and enjoying delicacies as they watched the youngest generation compete.

Zhen too watched this a little away from the field, while sitting with his mother among the gossiping ladies and annoying brats, and was not happy about it, not one bit.

He tugged at his mother's sleeve, "Mama, why can't I participate?"

Before she could answer, Aunty Lin, their neighbor answered, "Eh Zhen look at your arms, you are so skinny that one swing of the scythe is all you could have done."

Zhen glared at her with all his might but given that she was seeing him as an eight-year-old, it was not threatening at all. His mother laughed at his antics and pulled him towards her. Pulling at his cheeks, she answered, "If Zhen participated, then Bao Bao would not be the one to win. You can do that for your brother, don't you?"

Zhen almost laughed, and mock seriously nodded his head, internally wondering how true she was. If he wanted to win the Harvest race, no one here would have been his match.

The ladies surrounding him laughed but his mother merely smiled. Just then howls and cheers attracted their attention and Zhen turned to see his Elder brother proudly raising his Scythe. Bao had won the Harvest Race.

"Ok ladies, it's about time to start the Feast."

Ladies made a beeline towards the common kitchen, and Zhen ran towards his brother and joined in the celebrating.

Soon it was evening and came the event every villager looked for fooked up for the entire year, the feast.

Zhen watched as every man in the village sat down as women place large clay pots of various dishes in front. He too sat down beside Bao, who could barely control his drool from leaking. Bao was born with divine strength, same as their father, and had to eat a lot to compensate for it. But the food available in the village is barely enough for everybody and most beasts in the forest were inedible because of their Demon Qi. For most of his life, he had to struggle with hunger so much so that Zhen thanked his stars that he did not inherit it from his father, a little bit of strength would not have worth it.

So the chance to eat as much as you can, he dreams of the feast every day.

The village chief, a balding old man with a good physique got up and stood in front of the gathering. Zhen could feel he was at peak of the Qi gathering.

He couched to get the attention of everyone before starting, "This year had been a great year. Ancestors had blessed us with ample harvest. The rice when harvest today is sweet and ample, enough to last us the whole winter. By ancestors grace, this is the third year in a row where Harvest was enough for a whole year."

Murmurs rose among the gathered, people thanking ancestors for their grace.

"Also thanks to our Ancestors, for the second year in a row no Beast had attacked our village and no one had lost their lives to those dwelling in the forest"

Zhen resisted the urge to roll his eye, 'You are thanking the wrong party.'

Chief went on and on, talking about the contribution of each village resident, and thanking the Ancestors again and again. But Zhen was far more focused on the large pots behind the chief. And looking around, he was not the only one.

After long last, the chief finally ended his speech. He spread his arms and shouted, "By the grace of Ancestors, let the feast begin."

And the feast began with gusto. Villagers piled up as much food in their leaf palates as they can. Today was the only day everyone can eat without limit and no one was shy about it.

Bao looked happiest of them all, filling his palette with enough food to feed five households and gulping it down. Zhen too was eating as much he could. His entering the skin forging realm had increased his appetite, but still, the food he ate was nowhere near Bao.

Soon Zhen was done along with most of the people and only a few like Bao were still filling their palates. The older generation brought out their homemade beer and were enjoying a good laugh, cheering for the good harvest and the ancestors.

Zhen looked at the large pots and frowned. They were very large, big enough to fit Bao inside them and every one of them was filled to top with food.

"Isn't it waste to cook this much food for the feast? The whole village could barely eat half of it."

His mother turned to him, and explained with a smile,"It is all the grains from the previous harvest. All that is left from the previous year is cooked for the feast."

"But won't it be better to just save it for next year?"

She shook her head, "What is left becomes offering for the ancestors. And in return ancestors protect our harvest of the year, the grains, and the village from plague or anything like that. But the protection lasts for just a year, from one harvest festival to another."

" So feast because it is the last day before the blessing ends. But what if there are no grains left by the end of the year? Would ancestors not bless us then?"

Her gaze became serious and she answered him, "This is not a transaction where you buy blessings by offering food. Ancestors are family, no matter how distant and in our tribe, Family take cares of their own."

'Family takes care of their own, huh'