Go back to the past to plant trees

"Feng Cheng, don't leave yet, sit down for a while."

Just as Feng Cheng finished eating and was about to leave, Yu Zheng, who had just gotten his food, called him back.

"Director."

"Sit down. I just heard from Lao Qu that you went down to the dam. I was just about to ask you about seedling cultivation. Now that we've run into each other, it's a good opportunity to chat."

Upon hearing this, Feng Cheng could only sit back down at the table.

"Old Qu said the seedling situation is not ideal?"

Feng Cheng nodded, "It's not ideal. The germination rate is only about 50% now. Even if there are no pests or diseases, the germination rate will only be 20% or 30%. If there are pests or diseases, the germination rate will be even lower."

Yu Zhenglai asked, "With such a low germination rate, have you looked for the reasons?"

Feng Cheng replied, "There are a few guesses, but it's hard to say exactly what caused it; perhaps all of them are possible."

After a pause, Feng Cheng continued, "One reason is the harsh climate in Bashang, as you know. Another reason might be the nursery. In principle, the nursery should have the land tilled and the base fertilizer laid before the previous winter, but we started in a hurry and skipped this process. I suspect that because of this, the soil fertility is not good enough, and there are still some viruses and insect eggs that have not been completely eliminated, which has resulted in a low germination rate."

"Another issue is the seeds. Our seeds are all urgently sourced from other places, resulting in inconsistent germination times. Also, the seeds provided by others are the leftovers. While not all of them are bad, most are definitely not very good, which is one of the reasons for the low germination rate in the nursery."

Yu Zhenglai stopped eating as he listened to Feng Cheng's words.

"Hmm, I thought you couldn't find the reason, and I was even thinking of taking Engineer Chen up there to take a look and help you find the reason! Now it seems that you are quite clear about the situation."

Feng Cheng smiled, but there was a hint of embarrassment in his smile. He had made up all these reasons. Were these factors involved in the low sapling germination rate? Yes, but they weren't the only reasons.

The main reason was that he chose to raise seedlings under full sunlight. Although he was diligently monitoring the nursery and constantly watering to lower the temperature of the seedbed, most of the weak seedlings inevitably died at this stage. This was unavoidable and a loss. After all, it was his first time raising seedlings, and he lacked experience, not knowing how to handle or prevent many issues.

"By the way, Director, I would like to request some funding from you."

Feng Cheng thought of the thatched roof incident and spoke to Yu Zheng about it.

"Funding? What funding? Do you need to purchase anything?"

"Here's the thing, it rained on the dam a couple of days ago, and my dugout has been leaking. That thatched roof is no good at all. It's raining heavily outside and drizzling inside, so I was thinking of replacing it. After all, it's already summer, and the rainy season is coming soon. I can't let the house flood every time it rains. After it rained that day, I had to heat the kang (a traditional heated brick bed) for several hours to evaporate the moisture in the room. I can't let it happen like this every time it rains!"

"So I thought I'd replace that thatched roof. It's been used for several years and can't be repaired. It's only good for burning firewood."

"Tell me, how much do you want!" Yu Zhenglai did not refuse Feng Cheng's request after hearing it. He understood that Feng Cheng's request was reasonable. The dam area was already hard, and the dugouts were damp. If the houses were flooded every time it rained, it would be really unacceptable.

Feng Cheng said, "It cost about 10 yuan. I asked Zhao Jinquan to find someone from his team to do it. They only did it for my one. No one lives in the other one, so we'll leave it for now."

"Ten yuan? That's expensive for just a small dugout?" Yu Zhenglai frowned. "Feng Cheng, you can't be lying about this!"

"How could that be? Besides, it's only 10 yuan, which is practically nothing. How much could I possibly overstate?"

"Director, you have to think about it. I live in Bashang. It takes people more than two hours to get here, and a round trip takes half a day. Add in the cost of materials and labor, and this price is really not expensive."

“Okay, you’re right,” Yu Zhenglai didn’t dwell on the matter. He roughly knew how much a thatched roof cost. Just like Feng Cheng said, it would only cost 8 yuan in total, maybe a yuan or two more. He believed that Feng Cheng wouldn’t do anything wrong for a yuan or two.

"When you go back tomorrow, go to the finance department. I'll talk to them later, and you can just go and get the money."

"Okay, thank you then, boss."

Feng Cheng originally intended to pay for this himself, but after seeing Yu Zheng, he suddenly felt that he didn't need to spend the money at all. This wasn't his own house, and he was doing things for the government. Why should he pay for things for the government?

In his previous life, when he went on business trips, Feng Cheng would even get his bus fare reimbursed. He didn't want to pay even two yuan, let alone 10 yuan in this era. That was equivalent to one-sixth of his salary, enough to buy ten or so kilograms of pork and three or four chickens. Wouldn't it be better to use that money to improve his meals?

Let alone dedication, Feng Cheng has already made enough of a sacrifice by coming from Beijing to Saihanba, a place that even the locals don't want to go to. He can confidently refute anyone's doubts.

I chatted with Yu Zheng for a few more minutes, mainly to comfort him and tell him not to worry so much about the seedling cultivation in Bashang. There's no other way; before the results are in, if you want to get the support of the leaders, you can't rely on connections, so you can only rely on your words.

Fortunately, although Yu Zhenglai attached great importance to planting trees in Saihanba, he was also tolerant of the results, so he could accept Feng Cheng's failure.

Of course, this can't be considered a failure, since the saplings in the nursery haven't all died yet. At most, this is just a minor setback.

After dinner, Feng Cheng returned to his dormitory. The nights in the county town were just as boring as those in Bashang. He didn't know anyone here, nor could he find anyone to chat with, so he could only go back to his dormitory to read.

On the other side, Yu Zheng returned to his office after having lunch. He had been busy with the spring afforestation work and had now barely finished. He looked it over from top to bottom and was generally quite satisfied. The afforestation tasks of the major forest farms had been basically completed.

Now we just have to wait a few months to see the survival rate of the saplings. But this isn't Saihanba, so planting trees isn't that difficult. The survival rate of the saplings is basically over 95%.

The leaders of the local forestry bureau are preparing to retire. Yu Zheng has heard some news that he seems to have a chance. His former leader has also hinted that he should be more active in the area recently.

Although Yu Zhenglai wasn't particularly enthusiastic about this, he still needed to make progress when the time was right, because it wasn't just his business; if he progressed, those below him could move up.

Moreover, Yu Zhenglai also had an idea: once he arrived in the region, he could strive for more policies and funding for Saihanba. The fact that trees could not be grown in Saihanba was a thorn in Yu Zhenglai's side. When he was a child, Saihanba was not like this. Although logging was also very serious back then, there were still many trees in Saihanba. But after more than ten years of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Japanese had cut down all the trees in Saihanba.

Yu Zhenglai desperately wanted to restore Saihanba to its former state. It was the place where he fought and his hometown, but now it had turned into a thousand yellow sands, which pained Yu Zhenglai greatly and made him very uneasy.

"Old Yu, haven't you gone back yet?"

As soon as Yu Zheng entered the office, he ran into Qu He, who was about to leave.

"I still need to look at some documents, I'll go back later!"

"Take it home and see!"

"Come on, those kids at home are making a ruckus. They even came home to look at documents. You believe me, they'll just tear my documents up in a minute."

“Your kids are definitely noisy, mine are better, they’re a girl,” Qu He said, patting his chest. “They’re thoughtful.”

Yu Zhenglai laughed and said, "So thoughtful. I'll tell my son to work harder so he'll be thoughtful of me in the future."

"Go away, your son is dreaming. My daughter wouldn't even look at him."

When Qu He heard Yu Zhenglai say this, he pretended to be angry and said...

"By the way, I just chatted with Feng Cheng. He's quite familiar with the nursery," Yu Zhenglai changed the subject, telling Qu He about his conversation with Feng Cheng.

"As long as he knows what's going on."

Qu He nodded, not paying much attention to the matter. He just felt that the survival rate was a bit low, so he mentioned it to Yu Zheng and asked him to take a look.

"However, Feng Cheng's attitude towards me today wasn't as aggressive as before, which is good."

Qu He recalled the conversation he had with Feng Cheng earlier that day. Feng Cheng was quite respectful of him, unlike before when he was like a gun on fire, constantly berating people without saying a single kind word.

Yu Zhenglai said, "Young people always grow up. You know what his situation was when he first came here. Now that he's been here for a while, he's come to terms with it, and his emotions have naturally dissipated. He's a good kid, and I've always thought so."

"I don't know if it's good or not, but this change is indeed good. I hope he can successfully plant trees on the dam!"

"Yes, trees can definitely be planted on the dam." Yu Zhenglai was very confident about this.

"Alright, I'm going back now. Don't work too late. You can do your work tomorrow, it won't make a difference if you stay up a day or two."

"Row."