Go back to the past to plant trees

Zhao Jinquan returned the next day. The horses at the camp had been sent back to the Forestry Bureau, so he had to walk back.

After Zhao Jinquan left, Feng Cheng also took a shovel and his mother's urn and went out. He wanted to take his mother's urn and bury it with his father.

Under the big tree, Feng Cheng didn't know exactly where his father's remains were buried, so he just found a spot, buried his mother's urn, and then moved a stone over to mark the spot.

"This is your hometown, so you've returned to your roots. You were husband and wife in life, so let's be together in the afterlife!"

“I will come here every year during Qingming Festival to burn paper money and incense for you. I can’t guarantee anything else, but at least you won’t lack incense offerings before I die.”

Feng Cheng bowed to the trees a few times, then picked up a shovel and left with Xiao Liu.

For the next two days, only Feng Cheng and Xiao Liu remained at the camp. Feng Cheng did not set a vacation for Zhao Jinquan; he could come back whenever he wanted. Anyway, there was nothing to do at the camp now; everything that needed to be done had been done, and it wasn't time to store the seeds yet.

Two days later, it started to snow lightly on the dam, but it wasn't heavy; it only lasted for half a day and stopped before the ground was completely covered.

However, the temperature started to drop noticeably, and Feng Cheng added more firewood to the kang (a heated brick bed), so it became a little cold in the middle of the night.

Bored, Feng Cheng took out his accordion.

"Little Six, come here, I'll play you a tune."

What should we talk about?

"I've got it! Although the setting isn't suitable, a cheerful song will do."

"Kikujiro's Summer" is a very cheerful song. Feng Cheng didn't know the name of the song; he just searched for "Kikujiro's Summer" when he listened to music.

Feng Cheng also likes this piece very much; its cheerful melody makes people feel completely relaxed as soon as they hear it.

Feng Cheng shook his head and slowly began to find the rhythm. It was a piano piece, and Feng Cheng didn't know what it would sound like to play it on an accordion. However, he didn't have a piano, so he could only play it on an accordion.

After several attempts, Feng Cheng managed to find the correct score and began playing a complete piece.

“From now on, this piece won’t be called ‘Kikujiro’s Summer’ anymore, let’s call it ‘Little Six’s Summer’!” Feng Cheng said happily, reaching out to touch Little Six who was sitting next to him.

Xiao Liu didn't seem to understand Feng Cheng's words. He just sat there, squinting his eyes, tilting his head back, and enjoying Feng Cheng's caresses.

After finishing the piece, Feng Cheng made some minor adjustments, feeling that playing it on the accordion was just about right; to truly replicate the original, he would have to use a piano.

"Lying down, he resembles a drawn bow; standing, he stands like a pine tree; sitting still, he is as firm as a bell; walking, he is like a gust of wind..."

After finishing one piece, Feng Cheng started playing randomly, singing whatever came to mind.

"My heart is broken since you left. White tung blossoms flutter in the wind, and the fallen flowers seem to have feelings, even in this season!"

"Let's learn to meow together, meow meow meow meow..."

"I should be under the car, not inside, watching you two being so sweet..."

With Zhao Jinquan not here, Feng Cheng sang freely, singing whatever came to mind without worrying about being heard.

When Zhao Jinquan was around, Feng Cheng was afraid that Zhao Jinquan would learn to hum along, so he usually wouldn't sing. He would just play some tunes, since Zhao Jinquan couldn't remember them anyway. He would just play whatever he wanted, and Zhao Jinquan would only listen to the melody.

Now that Zhao Jinquan is gone, Feng Cheng can finally sing his favorite songs freely. Although he is only accompanied by an accordion, Feng Cheng is very happy. His voice is much better than his previous life's. It's a pity there is no karaoke here, otherwise he could become a karaoke king.

After making a ruckus for more than an hour, Feng Cheng's hands were tired and his throat was a little dry, so he stopped.

“A performance without an audience is destined to be short-lived, because there is no applause.”

Feng Cheng sighed and then put the accordion away.

In the afternoon, I went to the nursery to check on the saplings. The overwintering treatment has been completed, but Feng Cheng couldn't say how many saplings would survive until next spring.

Before Feng Cheng went to Beijing, he had already tilled the land for the expanded nursery next door. In a couple of days, when the weather gets a little colder, Feng Cheng will till it again and bury the base fertilizer in the soil so that he can directly sow the seeds and start seedling cultivation next spring.

This year's work should be relatively easy, but next year will be much harder. I'll have to take care of the new nursery, look after the old one, and tend to the vegetable garden. Next autumn, Feng Cheng will also need to take some seedlings from this nursery to plant. After planting the seedlings, I'll have to look after them. All of this is work.

This year, the work was relatively easy for two people to do, but it won't be the same next year. Two people will definitely be very tired, and they might not even be able to take care of each other.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to manage everything, Feng Cheng still wanted to expand the nursery, because only by expanding the nursery would there be enough seedlings to plant when the mechanized forest farm was established.

Of course, with several hundred people in the forest farm, a little over an acre of saplings is not enough, but at least there can be a certain number. This way, the forest farm can quickly achieve results after the factory is built, and avoids the situation in the drama where a large number of saplings, manpower, and resources are wasted, and in the end, nothing is gained.

Feng Cheng felt that when the mechanized forest farm was established, he must communicate with Yu Zheng. They could not accept too many seedlings from outside. The seedlings sent from the dam could not survive, but the ones transported from other places could.

Even if the higher-ups are eager for results, they cannot blindly launch large-scale projects and plantings that end in utter failure. This would be very damaging to their confidence, especially since the mechanized forest farm is newly built and the staff are all from all over the country. It would affect morale, and some people would consider leaving.

Although Feng Cheng had considered offering advice, he wasn't sure if it would work. Perhaps it would have some effect; perhaps the higher-ups were eager for the Saihanba Forest Farm to succeed in its afforestation efforts and were pressuring the farm to undertake large-scale operations. Yu Zhenglai, unable to withstand the pressure, would have no choice but to follow orders. This was also quite possible.

But no matter what, with his more than one acre of nursery and at least 40,000 to 50,000 saplings, if 80% of them survive, then he can give an account to both the higher-ups and the lower-ups. Although he failed, he found a way to succeed. The previous failures were just accumulating experience. This is why Feng Cheng plans to open another acre of nursery. In the spring of the year after next, Feng Cheng will expand the nursery. However, he doesn't know if Yu Zheng will give him more seeds and fertilizers when he comes.

Oh, by the way, Yu Zhenglai will be transferred to the prefecture next year, and Qu He will take over his position as the director of the county forestry bureau.

Director Qu He? Feng Cheng couldn't help but scratch his head at this thought. Although he had been trying to repair his relationship with Qu He, he didn't know what Qu He's attitude towards him was.

Moreover, there was already a nursery of more than one acre in Bashang at that time. If Feng Cheng wanted to expand the nursery, the others in the bureau would probably not agree. After all, Feng Cheng had not yet achieved any results. Without results, it would be difficult to convince the bureau to continue investing money here.

After thinking for a long time without finding a solution, Feng Cheng finally sighed and said he could only take it one step at a time. There's always a way out, and maybe Qu He will agree in the end? It's possible.