Go back to the past to plant trees

"The conditions on the dam are tough, Lao Zhao, you'll have to get through it."

For dinner, since winter had just ended and most of the stored food was gone, and no new crops had been planted in the vegetable garden, the supplies delivered by the bureau consisted of only some staple foods.

Feng Cheng made a few steamed buns and a dish of pickled vegetables for dinner tonight, which solved the problem for the two of them.

"This is already quite good. When I fought in the Korean War, I didn't have enough to eat for several days, but I still made it through. Feng Cheng, I have to criticize you here. Don't think that I'm being taken care of just because I came here. I also come from a poor family. It's just that I'm doing better now. When I was a child, we didn't know where our next meal would come from. We ate a lot of wild vegetables, roots, and tree leaves."

Zhao Tianshan was very dissatisfied with Feng Cheng's attitude, as if he couldn't eat cornbread or pickled vegetables?

“Old Zhao, I’m not saying you can’t handle hardship. I just want you to have a clear understanding of the situation in Bashang. More people will be coming later. Just because you can handle hardship doesn’t mean others can. You’re the team leader, so you need to be prepared for this. Otherwise, what if the director recruits people in a few days, and everyone thinks it’s too hard here, and they don’t want to work here after a few days and then they all run away?”

Feng Cheng realized he had said the wrong thing and quickly tried to make amends.

“I’m not worried about that. If they run away, they run away. What’s the point of forcing someone who can’t take hardship to stay? It’s like the military. What kind of soldier are you if you’re afraid of dying? If you can’t take hardship, then go back to where you came from. Isn’t Jinquan’s team in Bashang? At worst, we can recruit a few more people from their team. I don’t believe that no one is willing to do this job.”

“Feng Cheng, let me tell you, city people are all spoiled. If you really want to find someone to do the work, you have to look for someone from the countryside. Our army doesn’t like city soldiers. They’re too pampered. They can’t endure hardship and they can spout a bunch of high-sounding principles that will drive you crazy. Country soldiers are much better. They can endure hardship and are obedient. The leaders and us veterans all like them.”

Feng Cheng smiled and said, "You're looking for migrant workers. You should wait for those college students to come and see if you still dare to say that. If you dare to send them back, Yu Zheng and Qu He will skin you alive."

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore, let's eat," Feng Cheng picked up his chopsticks and changed the subject.

The next day, Zhao Tianshan got up early and had already prepared breakfast by the time Feng Cheng got up.

"Old Zhao, you didn't go to exercise today?" Feng Cheng was somewhat surprised to see him like this.

Zhao Tianshan said, "I'm not going. You're right. Working in the fields is enough to train me. There's no need to get up early to exercise."

Zhao Tianshan also overworked yesterday. After not working for a long time, he overdid it and his hands and feet are a little sore.

"That's right. It's fine to exercise in your spare time, but there's no need to do it when you're working. Working is tiring enough, so why would you need to exercise?"

After breakfast, the two picked up their tools and went to the nursery.

After working for a while, Feng Cheng saw Zhao Jinquan coming over with tools.

"Didn't you say? When is Erqiang coming?"

Upon seeing Zhao Jinquan approach, Feng Cheng asked.

"He'll pack his things today and come to work tomorrow."

"So fast?"

“His grandma urged him to come over, afraid that something might happen. Besides, there’s only so much work in the team, and the work points are recorded every day. If he doesn’t want to do it anymore, he can just tell the brigade accountant. That’s what I did before.”

"That's fine."

Hearing their conversation, Zhao Tianshan stopped what he was doing and said, "Feng Cheng, now that we have an extra person, shouldn't we get the vegetable garden ready first? It should only take us a day to finish it. Once it's ready, we'll have vegetables to eat. If we wait until all the other work is done before we start working on the garden, it'll be May, and we won't have vegetables until at least June."

Feng Cheng: "You can arrange it as you see fit, as long as it doesn't interfere with the work at the nursery or the spring tree planting."

"Okay, then let's set aside a day tomorrow to tend to the vegetable garden and plant some seasonal vegetables."

"Jin Quan, what kind of seeds are in the camp?" Zhao Tianshan asked him.

"Ah, there aren't many seeds left. We used them all up last year. We don't have the habit of saving seeds. They're all seeds that my family got. If I want to plant vegetables, I'll have to go home and get them."

"That's it."

Zhao Tianyun was also at a loss. He thought there were vegetable seeds in the camp, but he didn't expect there wouldn't be any seeds saved here.

Feng Cheng then said, "Then go back again tonight! Bring over some vegetable seeds, and also help Zheng Erqiang with his luggage."

"it is good."

Zhao Jinquan was somewhat reluctant to run around, but he couldn't bring himself to refuse.

“Feng Cheng, if more people come up later, your dugout might not be able to accommodate so many people. We need to take some time to tidy up the dugout next door.”

During breaks from work, Zhao Tianshan also chatted with Feng Cheng about things at the camp.

He is now starting to adapt to his role as captain and is also considering some of the situations the camp will face in the future.

Feng Cheng said, "My place can accommodate six or seven people. If we squeeze in, we can stay there for a while. But we still need to build the underground cellar next door. If we invite the villagers to come and plant trees in a while, they will also need a place to stay. We can let them stay in the other underground cellar then."

"It's alright with the villagers. If they don't have a place to stay, they can set up a tent for a while. After all, it's only for about ten days. I'm just worried that we don't know how many more people will come later. We can't all be crammed into your dugout forever!"

“That dugout over there leaks. It’s okay when it’s not raining, but when it rains, it’s uninhabitable,” Zhao Jinquan chimed in. “If people want to live in that dugout, they’ll have to replace the thatched roof. It’ll probably cost fifteen or sixteen yuan.”

Feng Cheng shook his head and said, "We can talk about this later. It's only early spring now, and there's not much rain. Just make do with where you are for now, and we can deal with it when we're less busy."

“However, Lao Zhao, you need to apply to the director for this funding first. We’ll talk about when to do it later. Otherwise, when we have time, we’ll have to go down and apply for the funding, which will be a waste of time,” Feng Cheng said to Zhao Tianshan.

"Okay, I'll apply next time I go down to the dam."

Zhao Tianshan felt that being the team leader wasn't easy; there were too many things to consider. And this was only for three people; once there were more, there would be even more to consider.