Go back to the past to plant trees

“Uncle Liu, you always give me so many things every time I come down here. Last time when Lao Zhao came down, you only gave him some to take up. You gave me more this time. I can’t accept it. If you keep doing this, I won’t come next time.”

Feng Cheng spent a day at the dam, and then prepared to go back. Old Liu knew that Feng Cheng was coming down, so he prepared a lot of things for him.

"Just some snacks, they're worthless, take them."

Feng Cheng shook his head firmly, "I can't take it even if it's worthless. If I take it, I'll be too embarrassed to come here again."

"Hey, you rascal," Old Liu cursed helplessly, "Fine, if you don't want it, then don't!"

“Uncle Liu, I know you’re good to me, but this is putting me in a difficult position. It’s not like I’m starving, my salary isn’t low, and I live alone. I’m doing just fine.”

"Fine, fine, I can't argue with you, you're so stubborn."

After cursing a couple of times, Old Liu asked Feng Cheng, "Hey Feng Cheng, I heard from Director Qu that the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm will be established next year, and the bureau will be transferring some employees there. I'd like to ask your two older brothers to go there. What do you think?"

Feng Cheng asked, "Uncle Liu, is this your own idea, or the idea of ​​my two older brothers?"

Old Liu said, "This is what I thought. I think the conditions in Saihanba are so harsh that no one would be willing to go. I'll send these two guys over to help you build Saihanba."

Upon hearing this, Feng Cheng immediately shook his head. "Uncle Liu, it's best if you don't make the decision or get involved. Saihanba is too tough. My older brother has a wife and children. If they go to the dam, will their wives and children go with them? If they go, they'll suffer together. If they don't go, they won't see each other more than a few times a year. Why bother?"

Old Liu retorted, "This is a time for national needs, not for personal feelings. A country must come before a family can exist. How can we just focus on our own little bed when the motherland hasn't been built up yet?"

Feng Cheng felt somewhat helpless. The spirit of dedication of the older generation couldn't be dispelled with just a few words. Suffering was nothing to them; contributing to the country was the most important thing.

Feng Cheng continued to persuade him, "Uncle Liu, you'd better not get involved in this. Your son is all married with a wife and children. If you keep arranging this and that for him, it's fine if he listens, but if he doesn't, won't that just increase family conflicts?"

"Besides, making contributions doesn't necessarily mean going to Saihanba. As long as you work hard to complete the tasks assigned to you by the country, that is making a contribution to the country."

Old Liu still couldn't convince him, and said, "I'll go back and find an opportunity to talk to them and see what they think."

Feng Cheng was at a loss with this stubborn old man, but this was also a quality of his generation. Without the selfless dedication of their generation, the country would hardly have been built up so well; without the foundation laid by their sweat and toil, there would be no future prosperity.

Feng Cheng chatted with Old Liu about his situation in Baba, and unsurprisingly, Old Liu started pressuring him to get married again, even saying he would introduce Feng Cheng to someone. This left Feng Cheng feeling somewhat helpless, and he could only vaguely say that he would talk about it next year.

Seeing that it was almost time, Feng Cheng said goodbye, mounted his horse, and headed towards the camp on the dam.

...

Back at the camp, Feng Cheng told Zhao Tianshan that he had received a mission.

"We need to go out and check in the next couple of days to find a suitable place to build the living quarters for the forest farm."

Zhao Tianshan said, "When I was surveying the terrain before, I saw a place with a water source, flat terrain, hard soil, and no waterlogged areas, which was quite suitable for building a residential area."

“Then we’ll go take a look tomorrow. If it’s suitable, we’ll have the director and the others come and take a look. Once it’s confirmed, we’ll recruit people and start construction as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the more things there will be to do at the camp. If we delay any longer, we won’t be able to get any work done over there.”

"Row."

"By the way, how do we find manpower to build the living area?" Zhao Tianshan asked.

Feng Cheng said, "This is building brick and tile houses. The people from Shaquan Brigade can't do this kind of work. We need to find a construction team from the county. But in addition to brick and tile houses, we also need to dig a lot of dugouts and scaffolding. We can have them come and do that."

“Okay, Jinquan needs to go back for a few days. Let him go back and let us know first, then we’ll make the arrangements and find the people to come and work.”

Feng Cheng and Zhao Tianshan arranged the work in just a few words.

“Old Zhao, you need to come with me to follow up on the construction of the living area. There’s nothing much going on at the camp. Let them handle the minor issues themselves.”

“No problem. There’s really nothing going on at the camp. I’ll ask Qin Xuemei to keep an eye on things. If anything comes up, just come find us. It’s close by, we can get there in no time on horseback. It won’t take much of our time if anything happens.”

Feng Cheng nodded and didn't continue the conversation. The work arrangements would be discussed after the living area was confirmed and established. Not only Feng Cheng and Zhao Tianshan, but also Zheng Erqiang, Huang Qiang, Na Da Kui, and Sui Zhichao would be going. There was nothing to do at the camp now, and they were just sitting around doing nothing, so they might as well go and help build the dugouts. Even if they were just going to dig holes and haul soil, it would at least provide more labor.

The day after returning to Bashang, Feng Cheng and Zhao Tianshan went to see the place he had mentioned.

After taking a stroll around, Feng Cheng nodded with great satisfaction.

"This place is nice. It's high up and flat. It rained a couple of days ago, but there was no standing water and the ground didn't get soggy."

Feng Cheng didn't know how to choose a residential area, but he knew some common sense: the terrain should be higher so that rainwater could flow out, and it should be flat so that it would be easier to build houses without digging too much space. Also, the area should be large so that it would be convenient to expand the residential area in the future.

Zhao Tianshan said, "Then let's settle on this place?"

"Let's set it here for now. We'll confirm whether it's the right place after the director and the others come up."

This kind of thing definitely needs the approval of the leadership to be confirmed. This isn't like cooking a meal; anyone can make travel expenses.

"Let's walk around this area a bit more and see if there are any other places we can consider."

"Row."

Feng Cheng and Zhao Tianshan strolled around the neighborhood and didn't return until it was getting dark. They had tentatively decided on three places, but the first one was still the most suitable. Although the other two were also good, the first one was still the best overall.

After everything was confirmed, Zhao Tianshan went down to the dam to inform Yu Zheng and the others. Feng Cheng had gone down there a couple of days ago, and he didn't want to go down again; his crotch was almost chafed raw and he was shaking so much he felt like he was going to fall apart.

The frequency of going down to the dam is getting higher and higher, and with the increase in work, it may be necessary to go down to the dam every two or three days in the future. The camp can now have stable communication with the outside world.