Today, after returning home from school at noon, I grabbed a handful of soybeans and prepared to soak them. Before pouring the water, I carefully observed the soybean round, like a small pearl. I put the soybeans into a small bowl, caught some water and stirred, covered with a piece of gauze on the stovetop.

Saturday, September 19th

When I got up this morning, I picked up the bowl and lifted the gauze to see that the round soybeans had soaked up, grown longer, and gotten bigger. I poured the water out of the bowl and covered it with wet gauze. By the time I visited in the afternoon, the beans had sprouted little white germs.

Sunday, September 20

Today was the third day of soaking the soybeans. In the morning, I got up and looked, yikes! The beans had sprouted about 2 centimeters long, and the buds had become curved, not straight like yesterday. I took some water and swished the bean sprouts around, and put gauze wet with water on top of the bean sprouts.

Monday, September 21

The bean sprouts got longer and longer and more curved. I measured them with a ruler and they were 4 centimeters long! I also changed the water for the bean sprouts and covered them with wet gauze, like I did yesterday.

Tuesday, September 22

Today is the fifth day of bean sprout growth. I measured the bean sprouts with a ruler and surprisingly, they have grown to over 7 centimeters. The roots of the bean sprouts are getting thinner and thinner, and there are some small white shoots growing, and the skin of the beans is coming off.

Wednesday, September 23

The beans have slowly turned green and the skins have mostly come off. The beans have also separated. The little sprouts are now growing longer and longer and turning into many little roots. I measured them with a ruler, and the longest bean sprouts are now 15 centimeters, and the shorter ones are 7 or 8 centimeters.

Thursday, September 24

Today is the seventh day. The roots of the bean sprouts have turned black and dried up. In the middle of the two petals of the bean, small tender yellow leaves have grown.

It is amazing how much a bean can change in seven days. If, however, it is planted in the ground, it takes root, sprouts, blossoms, bears fruit, and grows many beans. This is the life of a bean.