Go back to the past to plant trees

Feng Cheng drove the carriage back. While he was with his uncle's team, someone asked him a few questions, and he replied that he had come back to pick up some things.

Because he had lived here for a while, everyone knew that he was Li Tieniu's nephew, so after asking a couple of questions, they didn't ask any more.

He didn't bring much, so the return trip was quite fast. It took him a little over an hour to get back to the camp before noon.

After moving the things back to the dugout, Feng Cheng came out again, washed the table clean, and threw it aside to dry.

After everything was finished, Feng Cheng went to the kitchen to eat something. Zhao Jinquan had left him some food. While eating, Feng Cheng looked at the ingredients next to the stove. The sugar hadn't decreased much, but the bottle of vinegar was almost empty.

Seeing this, Feng Cheng smiled and shook his head. This guy must have been trying to make sparkling water all along.

However, this stuff can't be made here. None of the methods Feng Cheng knows can be done right now. But Zhao Jinquan can try to find ingredients for making cola when he goes back. As for pine needle Sprite, Feng Cheng thinks that's a bit unreliable, so let's leave it for later!

Since I'm just killing time and don't know what to do, I might as well try making some food.

After lunch, Feng Cheng went to the nursery, where Zhao Jinquan was watering the plants. The sun was still very strong that day, and the nursery needed to be watered constantly.

Feng Cheng went over to take a look. The land had already been watered once, but there was still half a row left to be watered. Feng Cheng didn't go up to help, but squatted down to look at the saplings in the nursery.

Whenever Feng Cheng comes to the nursery, he basically has to inspect everything, just in case something goes wrong, or if he's not careful, all the seedlings will die.

"Brother Feng, you're back so soon."

Zhao Jinquan worked quickly and finished in no time. As he walked over, he called out to Feng Cheng.

"I didn't do anything special, I just picked up some things and came back after I finished tidying up."

"Then, Brother Feng, I'll go home tonight."

Feng Cheng nodded, "Okay, have a couple more days. By the way, you can take some time to go to the bureau to collect your salary during your two days off. Last time I wanted to give it to your supervisor, but they said I had to go in person to sign and put my fingerprints."

"However, you'll probably only get one month's salary this time. The statistics for this month haven't been released yet, so it'll probably take another week or so before you can get it. If you're not in a hurry, you can wait a while and get both months' salary at once."

"I'll go down in the next couple of days! It's only one month, and I'm short of money right now, so I'll collect this month's payment next time."

Zhao Jinquan replied without hesitation. He had worked hard for so long and was eager to get his wages. Only money in hand is real money. Besides, he wanted to go back to meet up with his friends from the team. How could he do that without money? How could he buy groceries and drinks without money?

"Then I'll go back tomorrow!" Zhao Jinquan said after thinking for a moment. "I'll go to the county town first, collect my wages, and then go home."

Zhao Jinquan thought that since he would have to go back tonight and collect his salary in the county town tomorrow, he might as well just take the money back with him tomorrow.

"By the way, when you go back this time, buy me some spices, dried tangerine peel, cinnamon, and coriander seeds. You don't need to buy too much, just a little of each."

"Brother Feng, are you buying all this stuff to make stew?" Zhao Jinquan asked, somewhat puzzled, when he heard what Feng Cheng was planning to get.

“You’ll know when you buy it,” Feng Cheng didn’t answer him. He was afraid that if this guy knew what he wanted, he wouldn’t be able to stay at home and would come over in half a day.

"Oh."

Seeing that Feng Cheng did not explain, Zhao Jinquan had doubts but did not ask any further questions.

After finishing work that evening, Zhao Jinquan walked through the underground cellar and saw the jar of wine that Feng Cheng had brought back. "Brother Feng, why did you bring a jar back? Are you planning to make sauerkraut?"

“That’s a jar of wine. My uncle bought it sometime ago, and he’s not home. It’s no use keeping it with him, so I brought it back. We can have a few drinks with it sometime.”

“That’s great,” Zhang Jinquan said happily. “I won’t be bored anymore, and I can have a few drinks whenever I have free time.”

Feng Cheng said, "Drinking is fine, we can drink whenever we want. The problem is that we're worried about not having enough food. We can't just drink with potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cornbread. We need some meat or vegetables, otherwise what's the point of drinking?"

"That's true. But it's easy to eat meat. I'll bring back a chicken this time. There are also wild pheasants around here often. I'll go out and see if I can catch a few when I have time."

"You can also catch ground sheep here. By the way, Brother Feng, do you eat ground sheep? They're a type of rat!"

Feng Cheng nodded, "Eat, what's there to not eat? I'll eat any meat."

In his previous life, he worked in Guangzhou and had eaten all sorts of strange and unusual things. He had eaten field mice, bamboo rats, mountain rats, snakes, centipedes, and insects. However, these things were all too expensive, the rarer the better, so Feng Cheng didn't dare to eat them often.

"Eating is fine. Then I'll go look for the Earth Sheep Cave in the fall. These things stay still in winter. We'll take shovels and dig them up. We'll find them every time, without them running away," Zhao Jinquan said with some anticipation.

Feng Cheng smiled and said, "Then my wine won't last very long. I only have about 20 jin, which won't be enough to last until winter."

"It's alright, we'll buy it later, I'll pay for it," Zhao Jinquan said generously, patting his chest.

Feng Cheng looked at him and felt that this guy was also a heavy drinker, but he didn't know how well he behaved when he was drunk.

Actually, many men these days are alcoholics. One reason is that they're too tired from work, and a few drinks can relieve their fatigue. Another reason is that they're too bored. Many people can't sit still, especially during the winter when they're cooped up on the kang (a heated brick bed). If you don't have anything to do, those months are very hard to get through.

Unlike later generations, where you can easily spend a day playing games, reading novels, or watching TV series with just a mobile phone or computer.

There are already few forms of entertainment in this era, and even fewer suitable for adults. Gambling is out of the question because people don't have the money, and everyone knows it's bad, so drinking is the only option left.

If you drink it like this every winter, you'll get used to it, and eventually you'll become addicted.

Feng Cheng guessed that Zhao Jinquan must have drunk a lot with his family and teammates in the past, otherwise he wouldn't have reacted so strongly after drinking.

Feng Cheng doesn't really like drinking, mainly because the feeling after getting drunk is too unpleasant. He feels uncomfortable all over the next day. His friends are the type who won't let you leave the table until you're completely passed out, so Feng Cheng always feels terrible after drinking.

Furthermore, everyone is busy with work, so there's already little time to get together. Plus, many people have families, so the time to gather is even less. This leads to fewer and fewer drinking parties, and with less drinking, there's less interest in alcohol.

"Alright, go cook! This wine won't run away if you leave it here. We'll drink it again when you get back."

Feng Cheng sent Zhao Jin to cook. After glancing at the jar of wine, Feng Cheng moved it to a safer spot.

With a table on the kang (a heated brick bed), it became much more convenient for Feng Cheng to read and take notes at night, as he no longer had to lie on the kang to read as before.