Go back to the past to plant trees

The students didn't stay in Weichang for long, only two days. As soon as the supplies were ready, Qin Xuemei clamored to go to the dam. Although Wu Yansheng was reluctant, he didn't object.

The group boarded the truck bed and began their journey towards Saihanba.

Once outside the county town, the population began to sparse. At first, the students were still hopeful, but as time went by, the land outside became increasingly barren, with sparse vegetation and swirling yellow sand. This scene gradually made their hearts sink.

"Da Kui, you're from Chengde, is this how it is in Saihanba?"

Yan Xiangli asked Da Kui, who was standing to the side, with some unease.

Na Da Kui said, "I don't know either. My home is near Chengde, which is quite far from here. But I heard this place used to be very beautiful."

"Is this what you call beautiful?" Yan Xiangli couldn't help but complain. "If you didn't know better, you'd think it was the edge of a desert."

“This place was ravaged by the Japanese devils. They cut down all the trees and left us with a wasteland. But now that we’re here, as long as we work hard, this place can definitely be restored to its former state,” Ji Xiurong said, looking at Yan Xiangli with an eager expression, her eyes open and undisguised.

"Yan Xiangli, as long as we work together, we will definitely be able to build up this land of Saihanba."

"Him? He's such a sissy. He's supposed to be building Saihanba. It'll be good enough if he doesn't drag the project down," Na Da Kui said with a displeased look at Yan Xiangli. He had always considered Ji Xiurong as his girlfriend, and seeing how well Ji Xiurong treated Yan Xiangli made Na Da Kui very uncomfortable.

"Da Kui, what do you mean by this? He's a college student. Do you think he's like you, all brawn and no brain? He uses his brain to do things, not like you who likes to wrestle and fight all the time."

That Da Kui was big and burly, and he looked intimidating, but that was someone else. Ji Xiurong wasn't afraid of him at all; she had never been afraid since she was a child.

When Da Kui met Ji Xiurong's aggressive gaze, his imposing manner unconsciously diminished.

"Da Kui, you're a grown man, don't argue with girls."

Seeing this, Wu Yansheng also spoke up, which was considered as giving Ma Daikui a way out.

"I'm not going to stoop to her level," Da Kui muttered a few words and then fell silent.

The atmosphere fell silent again. The conversation had made everyone realize that Saihanba might be even more difficult than they had imagined, which cast a shadow over the hearts of several people who had grown up in the city.

After a four-hour drive, just as everyone's patience was reaching its limit, they finally arrived at their destination.

"We've arrived. Everyone, please get off the bus!"

After Qu He came down, he knocked on the car frame and called the students down.

After Qin Xuemei and her group came down, they saw several banners that read "Saihanba Welcomes College Students".

The yellow sand beneath their feet, the houses half-buried in the distance, the roofs covered with withered grass—these were places the few people who had grown up in the city had never seen before. For a moment, they all fell silent.

"Old Zhao, Zhao Tianshan..."

Yu Zheng got out of the car and started shouting at the top of his lungs.

“Woof woof woof woof…”

Zhao Tianshan wasn't called over, but Xiao Liu was.

Yu Zhenglai knew Xiao Liu, so when Xiao Liu came over wagging its tail, it didn't bark at the students behind it.

"Go, call Feng Cheng and Zhao Tianshan over," Yu Zhenglai patted Xiao Liu's head and sent him back to find Feng Cheng.

“Several times I came over but didn’t see him, so I had to ask this guy to go and call him back for me.”

After sending Xiao Liu back, Yu Zheng turned around and said to the students with a smile, "This dog is very smart and a great guard dog. You are safe here with it watching over you."

After speaking, Yu Zhenglai gestured for everyone to look at the campsite behind them:

"How does it feel? Not bad, right? I had it repaired specifically; it's all newly built."

Yu Zhenglai looked at the college students with a happy expression and said.

Everyone looked a little off. They had expected life on the dam to be bad, but they hadn't expected it to be this bad.

Wu Yansheng was in an even worse mood. Upon hearing Yu Zheng's words, he couldn't help but say, "Not good."

Hearing this, Qin Xuemei couldn't help but shout, "Wu Yansheng, we were prepared for the harsh conditions here. Now that you've signed up, don't say anything strange."

Qin Xuemei's loud shout made Wu Yansheng realize he had misspoke. Seeing Yu Zhenglai's displeased expression, he quickly tried to salvage the situation: "Xuemei, what are you thinking? What I meant was, I originally thought that as soon as we got to the dam, we would encounter the kind of strong winds that Director Yu described, with yellow sand blocking out the sun, and you could grab two ounces of sand with your hand, unable to open your eyes or even stand up. You female students are so thin and weak that you could be blown away by the strong winds at any time. That way, we could show our manly spirit, and Da Kui and I could protect you. But when we got here, the sky was blue and the clouds were white. The conditions were much better than I had imagined. That's why I said, it's not that great!"

Yu Zhenglai knew that Wu Yansheng was just saying that to appease him, but he couldn't press the matter further at this point. So he simply went along with it and said, "Alright, Comrade Wu Yansheng's revolutionary optimism is something we should learn from." After saying that, he turned around and walked into the dugout.

Just then, Zhao Tianshan and Wei Fugui walked over, and Yu Zhenglai said somewhat irritably, "Where have you been? Aren't you guarding the camp?"

Zhao Tianshan quickly explained, "Director Yu, we were just busy in the vegetable garden when we saw Xiao Liu coming over. I thought someone from the camp might be here, so I came back immediately."

"Where are Feng Cheng and the others?"

Qu He followed behind and also asked.

"We're at the nursery. The seedlings were just planted not long ago, and we need people right now. The others are at the afforestation site, where the newly planted trees also need someone to watch over them. It's just me and Wei Fugui at the camp. We were originally staying here to receive you, but we didn't see you come up for several days. So Wei and I were thinking of going to the vegetable garden, where there's some work to do. Who knew you would come up here right away? It's really unfortunate."

"Alright, stop with the nonsense. Come over here and help move things, unload the lab equipment and the students' luggage."

"okay."

Zhao Tianshan and Wei Fugui quickly went over to help carry the luggage.

"There are six dugouts here, two for boys and one for girls. We'll go up to the two on the dam first. The last one is the laboratory you need, and that shed is the canteen."

While carrying his luggage, Zhao Tianshan introduced himself to everyone, "I'm the camp leader, Zhao Tianshan. You can come to me with any questions about daily life, anything is fine. Of course, don't ask me about technical matters, I don't know anything about them either. But we have someone here who does. He's a college student like you, and he's been on the dam for three years. He's now figured out a way to grow trees on the dam, but he's not here right now. He's busy at the nursery. You'll see him when he comes back later."

"Captain Zhao, where is the nursery? May I go take a look?"

Upon hearing Zhao Tianshan's words, Qin Xuemei couldn't help but ask.

Yu Zhenglai said, "Student Qin Xuemei, there's no rush to see the nursery. First, move your luggage into the dugout, tidy up, and rest for a while. The nursery is right there; it won't run away. You can go see it later."

"Xuemei, let's move the luggage first!" Meng Yue was quite helpless with her enthusiastic classmate and best friend.

"Ok."

"Captain Zhao, I'd like to ask, why do you guys have two dorm rooms, and Ma Daikui and the other boys also have two dorm rooms, but we girls only have one dorm room?"

Qin Xuemei fell silent, but Ji Xiurong had a problem.

"Yeah, why do we girls only have one dormitory?" Shen Mengyin asked as well.

“Well, it’s like this,” Zhao Tianshan stopped what he was doing and explained, “There’s a reason why the girls only have one dormitory. One is for your safety. There are wolves that often roam around here in Bashang. If two girls share a dormitory, it’s not so easy for them to look after each other. If the four of you share a dormitory, then no matter what happens, you won’t be without someone to help you.”

"Another reason is that we've been busy with work in Bashang lately and don't have time to prepare extra dugouts for the time being. You can stay here for now. If you don't like the living conditions and want two people to share one, we can prepare one for you later. It won't take more than a few days."

"Da Kui, Sui Zhichao, Yan Xiangli, let the four of us share a dorm room and give our room to the girls."

Wu Yansheng took the opportunity to demonstrate his magnanimity and thoughtfulness.

“Okay, no problem,” Da Kui agreed immediately.

Sui Zhichao: "I'm fine with it too."

"I...am...okay."

Seeing that everyone had agreed, Yan Xiangli had no choice but to agree as well.

Seeing this, Zhao Tianshan also felt that it was a bit difficult to handle. In the end, he could only say, "How about this, we will spare a cellar for you, and we men can squeeze in for the time being."

“No need, let’s all stay together. It’s all out in the middle of nowhere, so having more people around will be good for us,” Qin Xuemei said, then looked at the three people beside her: “What do you think?”

"Let's all stay together, so we girls won't have to trouble you."

The girls talked as they carried their things toward the nearby dugout.

The girl left, so the conversation naturally came to an end.

"Two dorm rooms for boys? Then Da Kui, we'll share one!"

Over the past few days, Wu Yansheng has come to understand that Sui Zhichao is all talk and no action. Moreover, after being fooled by him once, the guy has become somewhat wary of him. Yan Xiangli, on the other hand, is listless, indifferent to everything, and keeps his distance from him.

On the contrary, Da Kui was simpler in mind. Although he had some friction with him, Wu Yansheng felt that he could control him.

"OK, no problem."

Da Kui didn't really care who he shared a dorm with; to him, it didn't matter who he slept with.

Seeing that Wu Yansheng and Na Da Kui were sharing a dormitory, Yan Xiangli reluctantly walked up to Sui Zhichao and asked, "Old Sui, you don't snore at night, do you?"

Sui Zhichao glanced at him and said, "They're hitting each other really loudly. Why don't you stay with the two of them and I'll have a room by myself?"

Yan Xiangli glanced at Sui Zhichao, then looked at his bag, and said, "It's okay, my sister brought me a lot of medical cotton balls. I can plug your ears if you snore."

Sui Zhichao rolled his eyes at him, "Let me tell you, I've never snored in my entire life."

"That's great," Yan Xiangli said happily.

Sui Zhichao ignored him, picked up his things, and went into the dugout.