Go back to the past to plant trees

The next day, Feng Cheng got up early to go to the bus station to catch a bus.

Around nine o'clock, the bus departed on time. There weren't many people on the bus; only about two-thirds of the seats were occupied. In those days, most people going to Beijing were on business trips; very few were traveling long distances to visit relatives for personal reasons. A letter of introduction and national food coupons were enough to deter 99% of people.

Feng Cheng arrived early and found a window seat at the front. The roads in this era were in terrible condition and very bumpy. The original owner had experienced the road conditions when he came from Beijing before. It could shake your lungs out, so sitting in the front would be better and less bumpy.

Sitting next to Feng Cheng was a middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in a Zhongshan suit. Judging from his expression, he had the air of someone who spent most of his life sitting in an office, and probably held some kind of official position.

"Young man, which company are you from? Are you going to Beijing on a business trip?"

After the car left the city, the middle-aged man next to Feng Cheng couldn't help but start a conversation. The journey was quite boring, and there wasn't much to pass the time, so people usually chatted with the person next to them.

Feng Cheng was stunned for a moment before realizing that the other person was talking to him, and quickly said, "Oh, right, I'm on a business trip. I'm from the Forestry Bureau."

"From the Forestry Bureau?"

The middle-aged man was somewhat surprised by Feng Cheng's answer, and looked at him repeatedly, "I'm also from the Forestry Bureau, how come I don't know you!"

Feng Cheng was also somewhat surprised. Was the world really that small? He could run into people from his own department just by going on a business trip.

Although surprised, Feng Cheng still answered the question honestly: "I'm from the Weichang Forestry Bureau. You must be a leader in the region. It's normal that you haven't heard of me."

"Oh, I see," the middle-aged man said with a look of realization, then asked, "Your name is Feng Cheng, right?"

"Oh, right, boss, you know me?"

The middle-aged man smiled: "Old Yu has been praising you to me, saying that you have a hard-working and simple revolutionary spirit. Although you are an intellectual, you can endure hardship. As soon as you came here, you took the initiative to apply to work on the dam and stayed for two years. Many people in the bureau do not have your spirit of settling down and doing things."

Upon hearing the man's words, Feng Cheng immediately straightened up. A celebrity who could address Yu Zhenglai as "Old Yu" must either have a very good relationship with Yu Zhenglai, be Yu Zhenglai's superior, or even both.

"Director Yu is praising me too much. I haven't achieved anything in the past two years in Bashang. I have let him down."

The middle-aged man waved his hand and said, "I know about the situation in Bashang. If it were so easy to grow trees there, it wouldn't have been barren until now. Before you came, your county, region, and even province sent people to investigate the situation there and offered some solutions, but none of them worked. The situation there remains the same."

"By the way, I heard from Lao Yu that you're cultivating seedlings in the dam area now, saying that the seedlings from below the dam can't adapt to the environment there?"

Feng Cheng nodded, "Yes, actually I'm not sure if this method will work. The main thing is that the bureau has already tried many planting methods in Bashang, but none of them have succeeded. I was thinking, maybe the planting method itself isn't wrong. After all, there are only a few planting methods. No matter how you change them or how many experiments you do, you're just making minor modifications within the framework. Even if the method is a little wrong, it shouldn't be that the survival rate is only 3% or 5%. That's not scientific. Other forest farms also ask the surrounding villagers to help plant trees during the afforestation period. Those villagers have only received simple training, and the seedlings they plant certainly aren't planted entirely according to the standards. But even so, they still have a survival rate of over 95%. This makes me a little suspicious. I was thinking, is the planting method the problem, or is it the seedlings that are problematic?"

Upon hearing Feng Cheng's words, the middle-aged man couldn't help but nod. "You've thought about this seriously; you're not just copying from the book."

"What do you think is the success rate of planting trees by cultivating seedlings in the Bashang area?"

Feng Cheng shook his head: "It's hard to say. I've tried too many methods, and every time it's failed. I can't guarantee that mine will succeed. After all, so many experts have seen it. How can someone like me, who is a novice, compare to them?"

The middle-aged man was somewhat dissatisfied with Feng Cheng's answer: "Young people should be energetic and confident. If you don't even have confidence in yourself, how can you grow a tree?"

Feng Cheng revealed an honest expression. He was very confident, but from the conversation just now, Feng Cheng had already realized that this man was very clear about the situation in Bashang. How could Feng Cheng boast in front of him at this time? If the man made a promise later, wouldn't that put him in a very difficult position?

Although Feng Cheng knew his method was correct, success also had its standards. What if his survival rate was too low? Only 30%? 40%? If he raised the leader's expectations at this point, and then disappointed the leader, wouldn't that diminish his achievements?

Feng Cheng didn't know this leader, nor did he know what kind of person he was. Who knew what his definition of success was? Besides, he had given his own assurances to his superior's superior, so where did that leave Yu Zhenglai? A county magistrate is not as good as a county magistrate. Yu Zhenglai was his superior for the next ten years or so. Offending him would not end well.

Even if Yu Zheng doesn't care about this, what about Qu He? What about the other leaders in the Forestry Bureau? Won't they mind?

Feng Cheng had read about workplace taboos and knew that reporting to a superior without authorization was the most unacceptable thing. So, he figured it was okay to talk to this man and explain the situation, but he'd rather not talk about anything else.

Feng Cheng spoke with great restraint. What kind of person was this middle-aged man? He had been in officialdom for decades, so how could he not understand Feng Cheng's thoughts? However, he was not dissatisfied. On the contrary, he admired Feng Cheng. Young people of this age all have a strong desire to perform. Being able to suppress this desire shows that this young man has a very mature mentality. Maturity is a basic quality that a manager needs to have. If you have this quality, you may not be able to do a lot of things, but at least the probability of causing trouble is very low.

Especially for units like the Forestry Bureau, following the proper steps is the most correct way to do things. Because it takes ten years to grow a tree and a hundred years to cultivate a person, planting trees requires patience and patience. You can't rush it, and you can't expect to achieve the same results as planting grain, or try to force growth by pulling up seedlings.

The middle-aged man had a good impression of Feng Cheng, so he chatted with Feng Cheng along the way, mainly about things in Bashang, asking about the specific situation in Bashang, and also about some forestry-related matters, such as the development of the forest farm and the economic situation of the forest farm.

Although Feng Cheng wasn't in this line of work in his previous life, he had access to a lot of information and had a general understanding of some solutions, such as the understory economy. However, Feng Cheng restrained himself from saying anything, as he didn't want to attract too much attention, especially in front of people he didn't know well.

We chatted and stopped along the way, and the journey of more than 200 kilometers took almost eight hours. We didn't arrive in Beijing until after 5 p.m.

"Young man, hurry up, or we'll miss the last bus to the ministry's guesthouse. If we miss it, we'll have to walk there, which will take more than an hour."

After getting off the car, the middle-aged man beckoned Feng Cheng to go to the forestry ministry's guesthouse.

"Um, sir, my home is here. I'll find a hotel nearby to stay in tonight. I need to go home tomorrow and then go to the ministry to take care of some business."

Feng Cheng politely declined the middle-aged man's invitation, mainly because he didn't want to be with him. What if he asked Feng Cheng to share a room with him at the guesthouse? If they stayed together too long, Feng Cheng would eventually get some things out of him that he didn't want to say.

I experienced this in the car just now; Feng Cheng can't outsmart this old fox.

"Oh, I was just saying I wanted to talk to you some more," the middle-aged man said, somewhat disappointed by Feng Cheng's words.

Feng Cheng smiled and said, "There will be another opportunity next time."