Go back to the past to plant trees

On the first day, Feng Cheng and his group mainly worked on digging the underground cellars where they would sleep at night. With 10 people working, they were quite fast, taking turns digging the soil. In less than half a day, the first underground cellar was dug.

"You guys are working really fast," Xu Peng said as he walked over and saw that the first dugout had already been completed.

Feng Cheng laughed and said, "They're all farmers, so I can't say much else, but they're definitely strong."

“We’ll dig out the dugouts in the next couple of days, then you won’t have to live in tents anymore. You can live directly in these dugouts. Although the dugouts aren’t as comfortable to sleep in, at least they’re more spacious than tents.”

"I thank Section Chief Feng on their behalf. Being able to sleep better will give me more energy to work."

"you are very welcome."

"When will the sand, gravel, and cement be delivered?" Yesterday, several trucks came up carrying only people, tools, and daily necessities; the materials were not delivered.

Xu Peng said, "If nothing unexpected happens, the first batch will be delivered today."

"If the truck comes up, I'd like to go down to the county town with it later. I don't know if that's convenient. I need to report the material transportation to my supervisor as soon as possible."

Xu Peng said, "It's convenient. It's on my way. There's no inconvenience. I'm only staying here for a few days. I'll be going back to the county town often in the future."

Feng Cheng said politely, "Then I'll have to trouble you."

When Xu Peng and Feng Cheng first met, Feng Cheng wasn't the kind of person who was outgoing or particularly talkative, and Xu Peng seemed to be the same way. So after chatting for a while, they ran out of things to say, and Xu Peng went back to his construction site.

"Section Chief, are we going to move here next year?"

Sui Zhichao took a break from his busy schedule and came over to chat with Feng Cheng.

"What, you want to move here?"

Sui Zhichao nodded seriously: "Of course, living in a dugout can't compare to living in an apartment building."

Feng Cheng said, "We probably can't move here next year. It will take some time to build this place. Next year, many employees will be coming to the forest farm, and there won't be enough for them all, so we shouldn't even think about moving here."

"In two years, when housing isn't so tight here, you can move here. But by then you'll probably be married and won't be living in the dorms anymore. You can then spend money to build a small home here."

Sui Zhichao was stunned: "You have to pay for it yourself? Doesn't the forest farm provide housing?"

Feng Cheng laughed and said, "The forest farm has just been established and is short of funds. It can't solve the problem of family housing in a short time. At most, we can give you a dormitory. If you are willing to wait, you can probably get one in a few years. If you are not willing to wait, then you will have to pay for it yourself."

"Listen to me, if you really get married, ask the farm for a place to build a house. You don't want the dorm next door eavesdropping on you every night, do you?"

Sui Zhichao was shocked: "Ah, is that so?"

"So what do you think?"

Feng Cheng thought back to his university days. Back then, he and Tang Qi hadn't crossed that line because the times were still very conservative, and premarital sex wasn't fashionable. So no one overheard him. But it was a different story with the married professors at the university. If the professor next door was also married, that was fine. But if he was unmarried and happened to be a male professor, you'd better keep your mouth shut at night, or who knows how many people would discuss your gossip. Don't think that intellectuals are all dignified and composed. If you really count the proportions, the most lewd intellectuals are the majority.

Let alone the men of today who have never eaten meat, even in future generations, those who go for foot massages every day, if the neighbors are loud at night, see if they can hear them.

"I'm still a long way from getting married, no rush."

After chatting with Sui Zhichao for a while and resting enough, the two continued working.

In the afternoon, a truck carrying a load of bricks and a load of sand and gravel went up to the dam.

Feng Cheng chatted with the drivers for a bit and arranged a time to go down to the dam. These drivers wouldn't go back immediately; they only made one trip a day. If they went back too early, they might be assigned other jobs, so if they could get away with it, they would.

Around 2 PM, the driver had rested enough and was preparing to drive down the dam. Feng Cheng got into one of the cars.

He didn't go back to the camp to pack or anything. If nothing unexpected happened, he would be back tomorrow morning on the truck delivering building materials, or at the latest the day after tomorrow, so there was no need for him to go back to the camp.

"Sir, is your construction company busy right now?"

The road was bumpy, and the driver wasn't very familiar with the route, so the speed wasn't fast. Feng Cheng was bored, so he chatted with the driver. This driver would be running this route frequently in the future. For the people in the camp who wanted to go to the county town, taking this ride was much more convenient than riding a horse, so it would be beneficial to deepen their relationship.

"Not busy. There hasn't been much work for the past two years. Some organizations were planning to build houses and renovate dormitories, but those projects were all stopped, so we didn't have much work to do. We just did some repairs and maintenance."

"The establishment of your forest farm has been a huge help to our company. If we didn't have more work, we wouldn't be able to pay our employees' wages."

Feng Cheng said, "The hardest time is over, and things will get better and better from now on."

The driver replied, "Yes, things will get better and better. How could it get any worse than when we were fighting a war? We've survived those tough times, what's a little difficulty?"

"Master, did you participate in the War of Resistance against Japan?"

"I guess you could say I participated; I drove horse-drawn carts for the troops and delivered food, but by then the war was almost over."

"So how did you get the hang of driving? I heard it's really hard to learn."

"Hey, it was all luck. Back then, the army won a battle and entered the county town, and I came in with them. There was so much stuff in the county town, and the company commander asked us to help move things. I was somehow dragged onto a truck by a soldier who drove a truck, and I helped him haul grain, cloth, weapons, and stuff like that. At first, I was just helping to move things, but after we got to know each other, he taught me how to drive. I'm slow and clumsy, but luckily the army kept winning battles. After we finished hauling things from the county town, we went to haul more from the surrounding areas, and I went with them again. After driving around so much, I gradually learned how to drive. Later, the guy who taught me how to drive received orders to haul weapons south and asked if I wanted to come along. I was worried about my old mother at home, so I didn't go. If I had gone back then, I'd probably still be driving for the army now!"

"So you went back to the county town and then joined a construction company?"

"No, I originally went back to farming, but then I heard that the county was hiring, so I came out again. At first, I drove a car at the post office, and then the higher-ups transferred us to this construction company, where I've been working for seven years."

"Master, you've been doing this for so many years, you must have been to many places."

"That's for sure..."