Go back to the past to plant trees

The next day, Zheng Erqiang returned, bringing with him news of a job opening. He had recruited five people, all of whom had visited before. They were to bring their supplies and start working the next day.

Hearing this, the college students looked relieved. They had been exhausted from digging the holes these past few days. Yan Xiangli even complained in public that Wu Yansheng wanted too many saplings. If there were only three thousand saplings, they wouldn't have had to work so hard.

Despite the complaints, the work still had to be done, so everyone could only dig, one hoe at a time, with their exhausted bodies.

You can imagine how happy everyone was to hear that workers had been hired, especially since Zhao Tianshan had told them that the workers were there to help dig the holes, and they would just be responsible for planting the seedlings.

Qin Xuemei looked at the blisters on her fingers. Both hands, all ten fingers, had blisters. At first, they were burning painful, but now she couldn't feel them anymore because it wasn't just her fingers that hurt. Her whole body ached. She had been doing too much physical labor, and her body couldn't take it anymore. Every day when she got home, she was too tired to move.

"Xuemei, take a break, I can't do any more."

Meng Yue threw the hoe on the ground and sat down directly, not caring whether it was dirty or not.

Shen Mengyin had long wanted to quit, and seeing that Meng Yue was resting, she put down her hoe and sat down as well.

"Are we going to keep working like this forever?" Shen Mengyin felt that her future in Saihanba was extremely bleak.

Qin Xuemei comforted her, saying, "No, Saihanba is going to build a mechanized forest farm. Planting trees will be done by machine, so we don't need to wield hoes and dig holes."

"I don't believe it. Mechanical afforestation is selective about the location. Most places here are not suitable for mechanical afforestation. We'll still have to use hoes to dig."

Shen Mengyin is a specialist in pest and disease control and is very knowledgeable about mechanized afforestation. Although many areas in Saihanba are flat, there are also many places where machinery cannot be used, and those places definitely need to be dug up manually.

Qin Xuemei comforted her, saying, "Actually, you don't need to worry about this. It's just this once. You are a specialist in pest and disease control, while Meng Yue and I are specialists in seedling cultivation. Once the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm is established, Meng Yue and I will be working in the nursery and laboratory, and you will be the same. After the seedlings are planted, you will have to solve the problem of pest and disease control for the seedlings. So even if we have to dig holes to plant trees, it won't be us who do the planting."

"Ha, that's good," Shen Mengyin breathed a sigh of relief.

"Shen Mengyin, have some water."

At this moment, Sui Zhichao came over carrying a bucket of water.

"Didn't we run out of water? Where did you get more?"

"Jin Quan is here; he brought it over."

"Zhao Jinquan, has he finished baking the oven?" Shen Mengyin perked up immediately when she heard that Zhao Jinquan was coming. She had been thinking about Zhao Jinquan's bread, oh, not just bread, but also cakes and tofu.

Sui Zhichao laughed and said, "I just asked him, and he said he only came over after he finished making it. He promised to make bread for us tonight, so of course he had to get the oven ready!"

"That's good, that's good, we'll have bread for dinner tonight."

When Meng Yue and Qin Xuemei saw Shen Mengyin's appearance, they could only shake their heads with helpless smiles. She was clearly a child from a wealthy family who had never experienced hardship.

“Shen Mengyin, what’s so good about bread? Don’t you like coffee? I’ll have someone send some from Beijing, and I’ll grind some coffee for you then,” Wu Yansheng couldn’t help but show off again when he saw Shen Mengyin like this. He didn’t like Feng Cheng and Zhao Jinquan being the center of attention.

"really?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Mengyin's eyes lit up instantly. She had drunk coffee a few times and liked the taste. Of course, the main reason was that coffee was a very popular drink among the wealthy in Shanghai.

"Really, I'll write to you in the next few days. At most, you'll be able to drink freshly ground coffee from Beijing."

Wu Yansheng enjoyed Shen Mengyin's adoring gaze. It was an experience he couldn't get from Qin Xuemei. Perhaps having a relationship with this woman would be a good experience. Of course, marriage was out of the question. Her family background was not good, and marrying her would affect his future.

"Wu Yansheng, thank you so much."

"You're welcome. We're colleagues, it's only right to help a colleague."

Seeing Shen Mengyin like this, Sui Zhichao was filled with hatred for Wu Yansheng. This guy, didn't he like Qin Xuemei? Why is he flirting with Shen Mengyin again?

Wu Yansheng was completely oblivious to the change in Sui Zhichao's expression. He had regained his confidence. He found it again in Shen Mengyin, just like when he returned to school, where he was admired and noticed.

Although coffee beans are a bit hard to come by, it doesn't matter. It's just a matter of spending a little more money. It's not like I can't get them. Once I get the coffee, I can invite everyone to try it. This is something foreigners drink, much better than that cheap bread that's everywhere.

"Xuemei..."

Meng Yue nudged Qin Xuemei beside her, looking at the two in the distance with some concern.

Qin Xuemei picked up a hoe and said, "Let's get to work. We're already slow at work, and if we don't speed things up, it will affect the planting of the saplings."

Meng Yue stared at Qin Xuemei's face for a moment, and seeing that her expression was normal, she shook her head helplessly. This Wu Yansheng, really... doesn't he even consider his own situation? Going to flirt with Shen Mengyin now, isn't that just reckless?

For the rest of the time, Wu Yansheng didn't do much work and spent the rest of the time chatting with Shen Mengyin, making her laugh heartily. This laughter completely ruined Sui Zhichao's mood.

After finally finishing work, Sui Zhichao picked up his hoe and followed Zhao Jinquan. Before, he disliked Wu Yansheng, but now he had gone a step further and upgraded to hating him.

"Jin Quan, do you think our trees can survive?"

"Ah, it can be planted, right? Weren't you very confident?" Zhao Jinquan asked with some doubt.

"What confidence do you have? I don't know anything about planting trees. This is what Wu Yansheng said himself. Who knows if he can even grow trees?"

“Didn’t Feng Cheng plant trees in Bashang before, but they didn’t survive?”

Zhao Jinquan said, "Yes, Brother Feng tried to plant them twice, but they didn't survive. So he stopped planting them and started cultivating seedlings."

"If Feng Cheng couldn't grow them, then Wu Yansheng definitely won't be able to either. I've figured it out now; this is just a showy facade, all looks and no substance."

Zhao Jinquan understood why Sui Zhichao was so angry. Everyone knew that this guy liked Shen Mengyin, and Wu Yansheng was actually chatting and laughing with Shen Mengyin, acting as intimately as a boyfriend and girlfriend. Anyone would find this unbearable.

If Wu Yansheng and Meng Yue were that close, Zhao Jinquan wouldn't be able to stand it either, and might even punch him a couple of times.

Back at the camp, after dinner, Zhao Jinquan started making bread, with Sui Zhichao helping him.

"So you just put it in and bake it like that?"

Looking at the simple oven, Sui Zhichao asked with some skepticism, "Is this oven really that rudimentary?"

"Don't worry, this oven is definitely fine. The one that Brother Feng and I used before was even worse than this one."

Zhao Jinquan and Sui Zhichao were busy when Ji Xiurong arrived.

"Are you done yet?"

"No, it will take another ten minutes or so," Sui Zhichao said, noticing that he was alone. "Where's Shen Mengyin? Didn't she really want some bread? Why hasn't she come over?"

“Him,” Ji Xiurong said, “when I first arrived I saw him go to Wu Yansheng’s dungeon, but I don’t know what he was doing there.”

Sui Zhichao pursed his lips, suddenly realizing that he had asked the wrong question.