Go back to the past to plant trees

Time flies, and another week has passed in the blink of an eye since I had a drink with Xu Peng.

The construction team has been working hard these past few days. The foundation is done, and they've started laying bricks.

Feng Cheng and his team worked quickly, and the underground pits were almost finished being dug. However, Feng Cheng assigned them some more work: digging drainage ditches. After the office building was completed, a drainage ditch needed to be dug next to it to facilitate drainage during rain and snowmelt; otherwise, the area around the office building would flood.

We need to dig in other places too, but those places haven't been built yet, so there's no need to rush. We can wait until they're built before digging.

"After you finish the work here at the construction site, you can come and help me prepare the land. It's not far, only a 20-minute walk from here."

Before the work on the construction site was even finished, Feng Cheng assigned Zhao Jinsheng and the others the next tasks.

Zhao Jinsheng happily agreed. Twenty days were almost up, and at 65 cents a day, that would be 13 yuan, which was not a small amount of money for a rural person.

"Brother Feng, will there be any work like this next year?"

"Yes, there will be this kind of job every year from now on, it just depends on whether you want to do it or not."

"Of course I want to, I definitely do. With this kind of pay, who wouldn't want to work?"

Feng Cheng glanced at Zhao Jinsheng meaningfully, and Zhao Jinsheng clearly understood the meaning behind his words.

The construction work started to get on track, and Feng Cheng didn't have so much to do. Every day he just followed everyone to dig the dugouts and then put up thatched roofs. Speaking of which, Uncle Liu has made quite a bit of money this year. The first six, plus the current twenty, have made at least several tens of yuan in profit.

However, this is manual work, and you can't envy it because most people don't know how to do it.

By the end of July, the work on the construction site was basically finished, so Feng Cheng led a few people to prepare the land and dig holes in preparation for planting trees.

Zhao Jinsheng and his group continued to stay at the construction site because it was not far from where they were going to plant trees, at most half an hour, which was the same distance from the camp, so there was no need to change their accommodation.

By the end of July, the construction team had completed the first floor of the office building, and the cement floor had also been laid.

"Captain Xu, we'll need to rest for a few days before we can start building the second floor!"

"It will take three to five days, until the cement has hardened enough, then we can continue to build on top of it."

Feng Cheng said, "That's quite fast. I think it will be completed in another ten or twenty days."

Xu Peng nodded, "Pretty much, barring any unforeseen circumstances."

"After finishing the office building, what's Captain Xu's next project?"

Xu Peng laughed and said, "How can I decide that? It's all up to you, Section Chief Feng."

"Let's set up a warehouse first. A lot of things will be delivered at the beginning of the year, and we need a place to put them."

Fertilizers, pesticides, and grains can't be stored just anywhere; they need to be stored in designated areas. Other places might be urgent, but not as urgent as this.

The dorm has underground shelters now, so we can manage for a while. We can also cook in the open-air canteen; meals are only eaten briefly, so it's bearable if we can manage.

As for stables, needless to say, if people can't even live there properly, how can they possibly take care of the animals?

"Okay, I'll arrange for the materials for building the warehouse to be prepared in the next few days."

"Then I'll have to trouble Captain Xu."

...

Everyone was working hard, and Feng Cheng was also leaving early and returning late every day to check on the construction progress, to see Zhao Jinsheng and the others preparing the land, and occasionally to come back to check on the nursery to see if there were any problems.

Soon, it was mid-August, and the supplies everyone had been eagerly awaiting finally arrived.

"Oh, right, this is your letter. Director Qu asked me to bring it up for you."

After parking his car, Xiao Pang handed a stack of letters to Zhao Tianshan.

"Okay, I'll send it to them later."

Zhao Tianshan was used to this, because he would often help collect mail when he went down to the dam. He collected mail for everyone, but Meng Yue's mail was the most. He could get it almost every time he went down, while the others would only get one mail occasionally.

"Captain, let's have a nice meal tonight!"

Zhao Jinquan, carrying the ten jin of pork, said to Zhao Tianshan beside him.

"Okay, let's have a good meal. You've all been thinking about it for so long."

"Oh, and remember to keep that sheep in a good pen, or it might get eaten by wolves, and then we won't have anything to eat."

"Don't worry, I'll definitely mark it well."

Xiao Pang arrived at noon, unloaded the goods, drank some water, and then drove off.

Zhao Tianshan took a stack of letters, but seeing that none of the recipients were there, he simply took them back to the dugout.

In the evening, Wei Fugui was busy in the kitchen, and Zhao Tianshan, seeing that everyone had arrived, began sending letters.

“Da Kui, you have a letter,” Da Kui stepped forward and took the letter, sighing, “It’s probably another one urging my wife… sigh,” as he spoke, Da Kui glanced at Ji Xiurong.

"Ji Xiurong, you have two letters."

Ji Xiurong happily accepted the letter: "It's a letter from my eldest and second eldest sisters. I've been here for so long, and they haven't written to me at all. I thought they had forgotten about me."

"Sui Zhichao, here's one."

Sui Zhichao took the letter, glanced at the cover, and said, "My mom gave it to me."

"Yan Xiangli, two letters."

After Yan Xiangli took the letter, Ji Xiurong leaned over and asked, "Who wrote this to you?"

Yan Xiangli forced a smile and said, "My mom and my sister."

"Shen Mengyin, one letter."

"Ah, there's one for me!" Shen Mengyin jumped up happily upon hearing this.

Seeing her excited expression, Zhao Tianshan smiled helplessly, looked at the envelope in his hand, and continued reading:

"Qin Xuemei, one letter."

Qin Xuemei was stunned. "I have one too?"

"Yes, yours. Your name is written on this."

Qin Xuemei took the envelope with a puzzled look, hesitated for a moment, then opened it and took out the letter. Inside was a group photo of her and Wu Yansheng taken at the Summer Palace.

Upon seeing this group photo, Qin Xuemei was suddenly overwhelmed with inexplicable emotions, and her heart felt heavy.

Zhao Tianshan paid no attention to Qin Xuemei's response to the situation and continued reading the envelope.

“Mengyue, seven seals.”

Ji Xiurong made an exaggerated expression, "Meng Yue, your boyfriend loves you too much! He writes you more than a dozen letters a month. In the three months you've been in Bashang, you must have received at least 50 letters!"

Shen Mengyin chimed in, "At least fifty letters, no less. Every time the captain goes down to collect the letters, she's the only one who gets them."

"Alright, stop chatting, let's get ready to eat. Put the letters away for now, we can read them later when we get back."

Zhao Tianshan interrupted the discussion and called everyone to eat.