A gust of wind carrying the fetid odors of muddy grass suddenly swept across He Qing's face.
She stood there, dazed, with a clearly bewildered expression—
This was the pond not far from the entrance to the village, wasn't it?
The pond had been abandoned. In some forgotten year, a villager had brought back a basket of aquatic plants and put them in the pond, intending to grow water hyacinths or duckweed. Once they grew, the plan was to harvest them, chop them up, and cook them with corn, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes to feed the pigs. But, in the end...
In just one summer's time, the pond was overrun with dense water hyacinths and duckweed, rendering it useless.
After all, pigs eventually stopped eating that aquatic plant. Since the pond no longer served any purpose for the village, it was neglected. Year after year, day after day, especially in the summer, the pond was covered in a thick layer of dark green.
