I Raised an Obsessive Servant - Chapter 154

No matter how much he pulled, the weeds still remained plentiful. It wasn’t a particularly large field, so why were there so many weeds? Tom wiped the sweat flowing down his face with his dirt-covered hands.

Even though sweat and dirt had mixed to cover his face, he didn’t care. The only thing on his mind was those weeds.

“Tom, Tom!”

Only after Aunt Marie, who couldn’t stand seeing him like this, grabbed his hand was he able to regain his senses.

“Oh my, how can you do this with your bare hands, without even wearing gloves! Look at this blood.”

Tom slowly blinked his eyes as he looked at his own hand caught in Aunt Marie’s.

He had never pulled weeds before. His mother had often pushed him to help with the field work when they were short of hands, but whenever he actually went to the field, his father would become angry and send him back home.

“I want to help, too.”

Whenever Tom would say that, his father would get angry and say, why would he want to suffer from now when he would have to do it anyway when he grows up.

“We’re not so short of hands that we need your help. What could you possibly do with those hands of yours?”

Then he would silently work in the fields by himself. His father’s hands became rough and rugged, but Tom’s hands remained as soft and shiny as if he was a noble child.

All the other children in the neighborhood got cuts and dirt under their nails from helping in the fields.

His tender hands were scratched by the rough soil and stones, and he started bleeding. Only after seeing his ruined hand did Tom feel the pain in his fingers.

“It hurts.”

Tears welled up in his eyes. What’s the big deal if his fingers hurt a bit? His father did it every day.

But the tears that began to fall one by one fell in torrents every time he blinked.

* * *

You must live diligently. Only by living diligently can you grow up to be a great person.

Ever since he saw the luxuriously growing weeds, his father’s habitual words were deeply engraved in Tom’s mind.

From then on, Tom woke up in the morning, washed his face vigorously, and ate all the food that Aunt Marie prepared for him. Although the taste of the food was a bit awkward and he didn’t even know what it tasted like, he gulped it down in order to live.

After filling his stomach, he put on the straw hat his father used to wear and went to the field to diligently weed out the troublesome weeds. At first, he couldn’t distinguish between weeds and crops, and he pulled out even the sprouts, but with the help of Aunt Marie, he gradually learned about farming.

The weather was getting hotter, and sweat poured out like rain every time he squatted down and dug into the soil under the burning sun, but Tom persistently went to the field every day.

“Wow.”

As Tom cautiously dug the soil, he exclaimed at the sight of a potato poking its head through the soil. It was much larger than his fist, proof of his daily watering efforts.

‘I should boil and eat the potatoes today.’

He salivated at the thought of the soft texture of the potatoes. He should boil a lot and give some to Aunt Marie. He always felt sorry for only receiving, but now he felt happy that he could return the favor.

At the same time, he grew impatient. Tom moved his hands diligently in order to dig up more potatoes before the sun set.

Thanks to his diligent efforts, he was able to harvest a basket full of potatoes. Tom placed the basket in a corner of the kitchen and first started to kindle the firewood while puffing for air.

He thoroughly washed the potatoes until they were squeaky clean and began to boil them in a pot filled with water.

He remembered what his stepmother used to do and added a spoonful of salt. He thought the amount of salt wasn’t enough compared to the water, so he added two more spoonfuls.

The sound of the bubbling water was comforting. Tom huddled on the sofa and enjoyed a peaceful time for the first time in a long time. As the potatoes were cooked and started to smell good, he felt as if he had returned to the days before his parents passed away.

His father was chopping wood for fuel, and his stepmother was busily preparing dinner in the kitchen.

To help his parents, he went out to the yard and gave his father a cool drink, then he went back to the kitchen to taste the food, and brought out the dishes. Those monotonous daily routines.

He didn’t realize how precious those insignificant days were at the time. If he had known, he would have lived more gratefully.

“Ugh.”

His eyes quickly became wet again. Tom roughly wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and ran back to the kitchen. White smoke was seeping out of the pot, and the kitchen was filled with heat.

“Ah, it’s hot!”

Tom, who hastily opened the lid, quickly put his finger on his cold earlobe. It was what his stepmother used to do when she cooked and it was hot.

After cooling down his finger a bit, he searched the kitchen, put on gloves, and opened the lid again. When he pricked a potato with a fork, the fork went in smoothly without any resistance.

“It’s done.”

Tom took out the well-cooked potatoes, with their skin bursting open, and put half on a plate that Aunt Marie used to bring food, and half on a plate he had at home.

He wanted to eat potatoes right now, but he had to bring them to Aunt Marie first. He struggled to take his eyes off the potato and walked out the door.

“My God, what is all this?”

“It’s boiled potatoes! I dug up and boiled it today!”

Aunt Marie immediately blushed as she saw Tom smiling brightly. Tom didn’t notice it and held the plate a little higher to her eye level.

“I haven’t tried it yet, so I don’t know the taste, but our homegrown potatoes are usually delicious, so they will be good!”

“Sure, they look tasty. You’ve boiled them well.”

Feeling the touch of Aunt Marie’s hand stroking his head, Tom giggled and laughed.

“Since you’re here, would you like to come in and eat with us?”

“That’s okay! I have lots of potatoes at home. I’ve boiled a lot! I can eat them when I get home.”

“Well then, I’ll give you some soup to take and eat with them.”

“Yes!”

Tom, who came home shuffling with the soup and bread that Aunt Marie gave him, ran toward the plate left on the living room table. White steam was still coming out from the still hot potatoes.

Tom blew on the potatoes in the plate to cool them down. When the potato had cooled down enough to hold, he carefully took a bite without even peeling the skin.

“Hot, hot!”

His mouth and even his face were heated in an instant. Opening his mouth and inhaling felt like flames were shooting out of his mouth like a fierce dragon.

Not knowing what to do, Tom stamping his feet ran into the kitchen and gulped down cool water.

“I thought I was going to die from the heat.”

“You can even burn your throat if you eat baked potatoes wrong. You have to cool it down and eat it. I wonder who he takes after to be so careless.”

“Huh?”

It seemed like he heard his father licking his tongue somewhere.

Tom swallowed the potato that had cooled down rapidly thanks to the cold water, blinking his eyes. He looked around, but of course, there was no one there.

Sniffling, Tom returned to the living room. This time, he waited until the potato had definitely cooled before taking a big bite.

The mealy potato seemed to melt and crumble on his tongue. The potato was savory, perhaps the salt had permeated well.

“The potatoes are delicious, father.”

These potatoes were lovingly planted and taken care of by his father. All Tom did was water the ground so it wouldn’t dry out and waited until the harvest season. Even in this single potato, there were memories of his father.

“It’s really delicious.”

He wasn’t sure whether the lingering salty taste in his mouth was the taste of the salt or the taste of his silent tears. In that way, sitting there, Tom ate four of the savory potatoes.

* * *

Thanks to his diligence over the past few days, he was able to harvest all the potatoes even though he was alone.

Tom decided to sell the rest of the potatoes in the market, as his father did, leaving only a little in the barn to eat until next year.

When he proudly told Aunt Marie about it, she looked worried.

“Let’s go together.”

“That’s okay! It’s not too heavy so I can do it myself!”

Seeing him insisting seriously with determination in his eyes, Aunt Marie clicked her tongue.

“Being alone might mean you won’t get a fair price. Listen to me.”

Tom rolled his eyes, chewing on his lips.

“But… I feel too bad.”

“There’s no need to feel like that. I was thinking of going to the market soon anyway.”

Tom hesitated once again, then finally nodded slowly.

* * *

Aunt Marie’s foresight was great.

“That’s too little.”

Tom frowned as he unfolded the money bag handed over by the vegetable shop lady. He hadn’t properly learned how to price vegetables from his father, so he had no idea how much to sell the potatoes for.

‘But this is way too little!’

When his father had sold a bag of potatoes before, he received much more money than this. Only then did he realize why Aunt Marie had said he shouldn’t go alone.

Because he would clearly get duped! It felt like being cut off at the nose despite his eyes being wide open.

The shopkeeper, looking down at Tom’s dissatisfied face, crossed her arms and chuckled.

“That’s too little? The potatoes are too small. I’m giving you this much because it’s like looking at my son. You won’t even get this much at other stores.”

“That’s not true!”

Tom argued, looking at the dirt-covered potatoes in the bag. His father may not know much, but he always bragged that their home-grown potatoes were the biggest and tastiest in the area.

Even to Tom’s eyes, his potatoes seemed much bigger and more delicious than those from Aunt Marie or Uncle Jackson from across the river. The potatoes harvested this year were about the same size as usual, so saying they were small was an absolute lie!

“No, they’re not. Look at the size of the potatoes. They’re just a bit larger than your tiny fists.”

“That’s not true! That’s not true!”

Tom put his two fists together and showed them to the shopkeeper.

“Look! They’re this big! I brought only the big ones!”

Relatively smaller ones, which were less attractive, were left in the warehouse, and only the larger and rounder, prettier ones were picked. Among them, some were even larger than when he put his two fists together. The owner, taken aback by Tom’s boisterous voice, coughed awkwardly.

“Anyway, I can’t give you more than that. It’s the same everywhere else.”

“Oh, are you trying to rip off a kid? I can’t even bear to pay more for this little one’s hard work!”

Aunt Marie, who had been watching from a distance, approached. She had initially left Tom alone to handle it himself, believing that helping him would hinder his social development.

She hoped it would work out, but it seems like she expected too much.

Aunt Marie pulled out a potato from her bag.

“Don’t you have eyes? Have you ever seen a potato of this size around here? In my opinion, you should pay double for this.”

“No… the potatoes are wilted…”

Overwhelmed by Aunt Marie’s vigor, the owner’s voice became quieter.

“Wilted? How can a freshly harvested potato be wilted?”

Tom cheered for Aunt Marie in his mind, whose face was red. You’re the best, ma’am!