Go back to the past to plant trees

A few more days passed, and Zhao Jinquan went home and brought the carriage back with him. Judging from the estimated time, the thatched roof was probably finished.

The rainy season is almost here, and the thatched roof issue needs to be resolved as soon as possible, otherwise the two of them will really be sleeping in the water.

After Zhao Jinquan returned, Feng Cheng tidied up the room. There would definitely be a lot of thatch dust and powder falling when the thatched roof was replaced, so Feng Cheng put the things in another place in advance so that he could start working immediately when he came.

After packing his things, Feng Cheng went to the vegetable garden the next morning and picked a large bunch of lettuce. He felt he should invite people to stay for a meal since they had come to work, even though life was difficult for them.

After a month of growth, the vegetable garden has produced some produce, and the lettuce was ready to be picked and eaten a few days ago.

However, due to the lack of fertilizer, the vegetables in the garden did not grow very well. But Feng Cheng did not care. As long as they grew, even if they looked like weeds, he could just use them to feed the chickens or horses. It would not be a waste.

These past few days, Zhao Jinquan has been telling Feng Cheng that he wants to grow more crops, such as sweet potatoes and corn, mainly because the two men eat a lot and the supplies from the bureau are not very sufficient.

Feng Cheng agreed with his suggestion and told him to go back and ask his family what could be planted this season, and to plant some of what could be planted.

Zhao Jinquan's trip back wasn't just about hauling thatched roofs; he also wanted to find some seeds.

Around noon, Zhao Jinquan drove his horse-drawn cart back, carrying a load of woven thatch.

"Thank you for your hard work, thank you for your hard work."

"Sixth Uncle, Jinquan, have some porridge first! You must be tired after traveling such a long way."

Zhao Jinquan parked the carriage to the side and called out, "Sixth Uncle, let's go have a bowl of porridge first, then we can get back to work and finish this job in one go."

Uncle Liu tidied up his pipe and nodded, saying, "Alright, you'll have the energy to work after you eat."

Feng Cheng parked the carriage at the entrance of the dugout, then untied the horse and led it to the stable.

Zhao Jinquan and Uncle Liu went to eat, and Feng Cheng was also busy. He hadn't taken off the old thatched roof earlier because he wasn't sure if Zhao Jinquan would come back today. Now that the new thatched roof had arrived, the old one could be taken off.

This isn't the future. In the future, if you paid someone, all the work would be done by the workers themselves. But in this era, even if you hire someone, you still have to lend a hand. Unless you're really too busy, don't expect to just stand there watching with your hands behind your back.

Feng Cheng wasn't working fast, mainly because the original thatched roof was tied too tightly, and he didn't know the trick, so it was difficult for him to untie it.

"Brother Feng, let me do it! You've never done this job before, so you're not familiar with it. I've done it more often."

After drinking two bowls of porridge, Zhao Jinquan saw Feng Cheng working and immediately ran over.

"You come here. This thing is really hard to deal with if you don't know how to solve it."

Feng Cheng also took the opportunity to step down and give his position to Zhao Jinquan.

Zhao Jinquan had indeed done this kind of work before; he quickly untied a piece, and in no time, he had dismantled half of the thatched roof.

When Uncle Liu finished eating and came out, the original thatched roof of the dugout had been almost completely removed.

"Xiao Si is still as quick and efficient as ever!"

Uncle Liu nodded in satisfaction when he saw Zhao Jinquan busy at work.

"That's right. When you used to replace roofs for other people, you always asked me to come. You paid me five cents to work half a day. I was young and naive back then, which is why you fooled me for so long."

"You can't blame me for this. I only gave you two cents for your wages, and the rest went to your mother. I wouldn't dare give you all my money."

"Fine, you still didn't give it to me."

As he spoke, Zhao Jinquan completely removed the original thatched roof.

"Alright, you can bring those up and load them now."

Upon hearing this, Feng Cheng also came over and, together with Uncle Liu, lifted the thatched roof up.

“College student, if you want the eaves to extend outward by one meter, then you have to fill that meter with soil, otherwise it will be suspended in the air, and if it is suspended in the air, the thatch will collapse in no time.”

Feng Cheng: "So you mean we need to shovel soil over this one-meter radius around here to raise the area, right?"

Uncle Liu nodded, "That's right. Actually, you could use wood to build it up, but that would waste wood. You're not in a room, so there's no need to waste wood."

"Okay, I'll go get the shovel."

As Feng Cheng spoke, he returned to the dugout and soon came back with two shovels. Zhao Jinquan and Uncle Liu were busy installing the thatched roof, while Feng Cheng was digging the irrigation ditch along the roof and filling the dugout with soil.

Feng Cheng is doing a decent job now; he can manage to do this kind of high-intensity work for half a day.

After helping out on the roof for a while, Zhao Jinquan came down to help Feng Cheng shovel dirt.

With Zhao Jinquan's help, the work speed increased instantly. However, laying a meter-wide layer of soil around the house was a considerable amount of work, and Feng Cheng estimated that it would be impossible to finish it today.

After all, people aren't excavators; there's a limit to how fast they can go, and the longer they work, the slower they become.

Feng Cheng and Zhao Jinquan worked until after 4 p.m., and there was still a third of the work left to be done.

"Sixth Uncle, let's call it a day! I'm too tired to do anything else. I think Jinquan can handle it, so let him take care of the rest."

Feng Cheng glanced at the sky, estimated the time, and then stopped the work.

He couldn't continue; both his arms were sore, and he still had to cook dinner later. After dinner, Uncle Liu had to go back, so he couldn't finish work too late.

Uncle Liu glanced at the remaining work and agreed with Feng Cheng, "There's not much work to do. You and Jin Quan can handle it tomorrow."

"Anyway, the room is already set up. All that's left is this meter protruding. Even if something goes wrong, it won't affect your room."

"Alright, Jinquan, pack your things, let's go downstairs and cook!"

Zhao Jinquan was also exhausted. He had wanted to stop working for a long time. Although he was hardworking, he couldn't withstand physical fatigue. Once his strength was used up, it was hard to keep going.

After packing his things, Feng Cheng went straight to the chicken coop and took out the hen. This hen had been kept at the camp for almost a month and had contributed more than a dozen eggs to Feng Cheng and Zhao Jinquan.

Feng Cheng originally intended to keep it, but unfortunately there was nothing in the camp to entertain guests, so he had no choice but to let it be sacrificed.

When Zhao Jinquan goes back next time, Feng Cheng will tell him to buy two more. He just received his salary a couple of days ago, so he can splurge a little.

Kill the chicken and pluck its feathers.

When Uncle Liu saw Feng Cheng and Zhao Jinquan killing a chicken, his eyes lit up. These days, things are tough enough as it is; let alone chicken, it's hard to even find sweet potatoes or potatoes to fill your stomach.

"Jin Quan, the food you're serving is amazing!"

Zhao Jinquan said, "What's so good about it? I only have this one chicken. If it weren't for you, Uncle Liu, I wouldn't have been willing to kill it. I eat potatoes and sweet potatoes every day. Do you think I have any good food?"

"It's all the same. We're lucky if we can even get food. I've heard people are starving to death in many places! It's just a good thing your dad is the commune secretary and can't let them report things wrong, otherwise we don't know what would have happened to our team."

"What can we do? It's already difficult enough. Everyone knows how tough it is in Bashang. You want to launch a satellite? Aren't you trying to kill people? You've been criticizing my dad. If it really came to that, you'd probably dig up my family's ancestral graves. He's just a brigade leader. It shouldn't come to that."

"Yes, yes, that's right. We'll just live our own lives and not get involved in those things."

Feng Cheng listened to their conversation without interrupting. He wasn't really clear about the situation outside, or rather, he didn't want to know. He couldn't bear to see others suffer, and he was afraid that if he saw it, he wouldn't be able to help but do so, even though he couldn't do much to help.