Go back to the past to plant trees

"Zhang Jinquan, this bread is delicious! Please make some for us again next time you have time!"

"Sure, just let me know whenever you want to eat it and I'll make it for you."

After the bread was made, Zhao Jinquan called everyone to the canteen and gave each person two pieces of bread.

"Zhao Jinquan, didn't you say you could bake cakes? Make a cake next time," Shen Mengyin said while eating bread.

Zhao Jinquan shook his head, "No, the cake needs a lot of eggs. Just for the two of us, Brother Feng, we need six or seven eggs. With so many of us, we'd need at least twenty or thirty eggs. That's too wasteful."

"So many eggs? Really?"

When they heard that they would need twenty or thirty eggs, everyone was a little incredulous.

"It's true, cakes are meant to be made with eggs. If there aren't enough eggs, the cake won't taste good. I've made cakes with fewer eggs before, and they weren't very tasty."

“Do you want to eat it? If you do, we can each contribute a little and then make it once to try it out,” Shen Mengyin suggested.

She did have some money, but there were too many people in the camp, and he couldn't possibly treat everyone to a meal. Besides, twenty or thirty eggs would cost several dollars, and she wasn't that generous.

Qin Xuemei said, "Let's talk about it after the trees are planted! If everyone still wants to eat some then, we can chip in."

"Row."

It's the crucial time for planting trees right now, and no one has time to buy eggs and make cakes, so we have to postpone it.

"Feng Cheng, the tree planting will start in the next couple of days. Would you like to go and take a look?"

After finishing their bread and as they were about to leave, Qin Xueni suddenly asked Feng Cheng a question.

Feng Cheng turned to look at her, and seeing that he didn't seem to be being polite, he smiled and said, "The nursery needs someone to look after it, and I can't get away. You can plant them yourselves. Planting trees is actually quite simple."

Feng Cheng spoke softly, but his words sounded extremely harsh to everyone, because although no one said it outright, they all thought the same thing to some extent.

Feng Cheng left after speaking, leaving behind Qin Xuemei with a strange expression.

"Xuemei, why bother calling this kind of person? He just got lucky and managed to grow a few trees. If they can grow them, so can we. We'll show him what real expertise looks like."

When Wu Yansheng saw that Qin Xuemei's invitation had been rejected, he quickly stepped forward to comfort her and reprimanded Feng Cheng.

Qin Xuemei glanced at him and said calmly, "What if the tree doesn't survive?"

After saying that, Qin Xuemei left without waiting for Wu Yansheng's reply.

Wu Yansheng's face instantly turned ugly, not because Qin Xuemei said he couldn't grow trees, but because Qin Xuemei's attitude towards him suddenly became cold, something that had never happened before.

During their three years of university, even if Qin Xuemei treated him badly, it was just a bit of impatience, but she wouldn't give him the cold shoulder. But just now, the way Qin Xuemei looked at him was like she was looking at an ordinary person.

"Feng Cheng".

Wu Yansheng roared inwardly. In his opinion, it must have been Feng Cheng's words that upset Qin Xuemei, and then Qin Xuemei took her anger out on him.

“Wu Yansheng, I believe you can definitely grow trees successfully, even without Feng Cheng,” Shen Mengyin came over to comfort him.

"That's for sure."

Wu Yansheng composed himself and put on a smile again.

...

The next day, people from Shaquan Brigade came. This time, because there weren't many people, they were directly assigned to Huang Qiang and Wei Fugui's dugout, and the two of them didn't move over.

The day after the migrant workers arrived, the bureau also delivered the saplings.

After receiving the saplings, the college students started working enthusiastically.

I don't know if it was Feng Cheng's words that day that spurred some people on, or what, but everyone was working very hard.

It took the college students three days to plant all the trees. This time, because they dug the holes in advance, they planted them much faster than Feng Cheng had done.

"Finally finished with all the work, now I can finally take a good rest!"

Shen Mengyin looked at her hands covered in mud and said happily.

Meng Yue said, "Not yet. After planting the seedlings, we need to nurture them, water them, and check their growth. It's the same work that Zheng Erqiang and Huang Qiang are doing now."

Shen Mengyin said, "Huang Qiang and Zheng Erqiang alone can see more than 7,000 trees, but we only have 5,000 here. We don't need everyone to come and see them together!"

Wu Yansheng walked over and said, "I've already thought about the nurturing work. We'll take turns, two people per group. The saplings don't need to be watered every day. When it's time to water them, we can come together to water them. That way, it won't be too tiring."

“That works. Everyone can take turns resting. Anyway, the tending work isn’t difficult. We just need to check on the growth of the saplings.”

"Okay, then let's arrange the duty shifts when we get back."

“I’m in a group with Meng Yue,” Qin Xuemei said as soon as Wu Yansheng finished speaking.

“I’ll be paired with Yan Xiangli. Yan Xiangli, is that alright?” Ji Xiurong said directly, making the decision.

"Then Wu Yansheng, I'll team up with you!" Shen Mengyin said to Wu Yansheng with great joy when she saw that Qin Xuemei had teamed up with Meng Yue.

Wu Yansheng glanced at Qin Xuemei and, seeing her gaze fixed on the saplings with some displeasure, said to Shen Mengyin, "Okay!"

Seeing that everyone had made arrangements, Sui Zhichao could only approach Da Kui, "Da Kui, you won't look down on me, will you?"

Da Kui said nonchalantly, "I'm fine with anything, I don't mind."

"That's fine."

If Zhao Jinquan and Zhao Tianshan were not involved in the entire process, they were from the nursery. After planting the trees, they would return to work at the nursery. Zhao Tianshan was the same. Qu He had told him that the work at the nursery was the most important thing, so he would definitely prioritize the work at the nursery.

"Now that the work is done, everyone can go home!"

"Oh, if only we had a camera, we could take a picture for a few seconds. This is the result of our hard work!"

Looking at the saplings covering the mountains and fields before him, Wu Yansheng said with a sense of regret.

Shen Mengyin comforted her, "We can do it next time too. After the trees survive this time, we'll plant more trees next time. We can just borrow a camera next time."

Wu Yansheng smiled but didn't reply. He said, "Next time? If the trees survive this time, then I'll have made a contribution here. With that contribution, getting a job transfer will be easy."

Wu Yansheng didn't want to stay in Saihanba, this harsh and cold place, where there was nothing to be had, the leaders didn't value him, and there was someone he didn't like. Staying here would only bring him suffering.

He wrote a letter a few days ago and asked Xiao Pang, who delivered the saplings, to take it down and mail it. He believes that once his family knows his idea, they will definitely find a way to help him. He is confident that it won't be long before he can leave Saihanba.

The problem is with Qin Xuemei. He's not sure what to do. If they were in a relationship, he could try to persuade her, but now their relationship has not only not progressed, but has become somewhat distant, which leaves Wu Yansheng at a loss.

All of this stemmed from Feng Cheng, but Wu Yansheng was powerless to do anything about him. Although his family was powerful, they weren't part of the forestry system. In addition, Feng Cheng was currently favored by Qu He and Yu Zhenglai. If he hadn't made a mistake, no one could really do anything to him.

What Wu Yansheng found most unacceptable was that Feng Cheng was his direct superior. The thought of being ordered around by such a person made him furious and want to curse.