Go back to the past to plant trees

The next day at noon, Feng Cheng packed his things in the dormitory and prepared to return to Bashang.

The dog is still on the dam. Feng Cheng has to go back to take care of him. If he stays here any longer, the dog will starve to death. In addition, Feng Cheng also has to go back to choose a place for seedling cultivation and take the soil to the bureau to test the pH level to see if the place is suitable for seedling cultivation.

This round trip will take several days, and if there are any delays in between, it will take even longer. Therefore, Feng Cheng needs to go back as soon as possible so that he can prepare the work and sow the seeds sooner.

Just as Feng Cheng was packing his things, Yu Zheng came over.

"Are we going up to the dam?"

Seeing Feng Cheng's posture, Yu Zheng knew what he was up to.

Feng Cheng said, "Yes, Gouzi is still up there. I have to go back and take care of him."

Yu Zhenglai said, "If it doesn't work out, come down and stay for a while. There's not much to do on the dam right now. Bring the dog down with you."

Feng Cheng shook his head. "You know the situation in China right now. If I bring the dog down here, it probably won't last two days before it gets caught. It saved my life, and I can't let it take that risk. It's safer for it to stay on the dam."

Yu Zhenglai didn't say anything more after hearing this, because he knew this was bound to happen.

"Take this."

Yu Zhenglai took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Feng Cheng.

Feng Cheng didn't reach out to take it, but said, "Director, is this money or a letter? If it's money, forget it. I have a salary, and there's nowhere to spend money in Bashang."

"This is money, but it's not from me to give to you. It's compensation from Zheng Laosan and the others."

Yu Zhenglai explained, "Yesterday I had someone bring Zheng Laosan and the others back, but the Shaquan brigade has a lot of people and it took a lot of effort to bring them back. If I had sent them to the Public Security Bureau, they might have torn down the gate of the Forestry Bureau."

“You know that the villages in Bashang are very poor, and these people are the breadwinners of their families. If we send them there, their families will face great difficulties in the next few years.”

"Besides, if I send them in, I'm afraid their families will cause trouble for you. It would be very dangerous for you to be alone on the dam."

After Yu Zheng finished speaking, he looked at Feng Cheng with a serious expression, waiting for his reaction.

After listening to Yu Zhenglai's words, Feng Cheng lowered his head and thought about it for a while. He also felt that Yu Zhenglai's words made sense. He had previously thought that he should teach these guys a lesson, otherwise it would be too unfair to his injuries. But after Yu Zhenglai said this, Feng Cheng also felt that if he taught them too harshly, he would have trouble in the future.

"This is 50 yuan. It's compensation from Zheng Laosan and the others for your medical expenses and nutrition costs. They also promised not to cut down that tree again. Moreover, they will be responsible for protecting that tree."

“I think this matter should just be left as it is. You may feel a little uncomfortable, but we need to look forward. You are a college student and a cadre with a bright future ahead of you. Be more open-minded and don’t take it to heart.”

Feng Cheng was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, I'll listen to the director. But I won't take the money. Director, use this money to get me a gun. Now that you mention it, I feel it's a bit dangerous for me to be alone on the dam. Having a gun would make me safer."

Getting a gun was an idea Feng Cheng had yesterday. There are wolves in Bashang, and Feng Cheng often goes out there. If he encounters wolves, he'll be in danger without a weapon.

Feng Cheng had originally planned to find an opportunity to bring this up with Yu Zheng, but now that the time was right, he simply brought it up.

"It's just guns, the department has a lot of them, why would they need money?"

Yu Zhenglai pulled Feng Cheng's hand and stuffed the envelope into his hand.

"Come with me to the warehouse later and pick one out. We don't have any good guns, but we still have quite a few Hanyang rifles and old-style rifles."

"But this gun is for your self-defense. You can't use it to cause trouble. Also, you can't use it to hunt. Although there are few people in Bashang, there are still people. If you fire the gun everywhere, the bullets might hurt someone. If that happens, you'll be in big trouble," Yu Zhenglai said, not forgetting to give him a word of advice.

"Okay, I won't go hunting. I'll just use it to defend against wolves and thieves."

Feng Cheng patted his chest and assured him.

He thought this would be troublesome, after all, it was a gun. But seeing how relaxed Yu Zhenglai looked, he realized that this was the 60s, only ten years after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Bandits had just been eradicated in various places. At that time, there were many guns in civilian life, not to mention government agencies. If he wanted to take a gun for self-defense, wasn't that a very simple thing?

The thought of getting the gun soon filled Feng Cheng with excitement. He was very interested in this kind of thing, but he had never touched it in his previous life. Coming here, he finally had the chance.

Once I get to the dam, I'll definitely find a secluded spot and have a good fight. If I don't practice, I won't be able to fight back when I encounter wolves. What's the difference between that and a fire poker? As for the promise I made earlier, it was just talk. Does Yu Zhenglai expect me to be fearless just because I have a gun? It's obviously impossible.

"By the way, about the seedling cultivation in Bashang that you mentioned to Engineer Chen yesterday, I just discussed it in a meeting and it's been approved. You can start preparing after you go back to Bashang. Someone will go up there in a few days to work with you on this."

"It's approved? So fast?" Feng Cheng was surprised to hear this. He had only mentioned it last night, and it was approved in a meeting this morning. The personnel arrangements had already begun.

Is work efficiency really this high these days? Feng Cheng thought it would take ten days to half a month to go through the process.

Yu Zhenglai said, "Engineer Chen said that we should take advantage of the current time and start the work as soon as possible, otherwise we won't be able to plant the seeds this year."

"Also, Engineer Chen didn't mention your name in this matter..." Yu Zhenglai told him about Engineer Chen's concerns and his own worries, as he was worried that Feng Cheng's stubborn temper wouldn't be able to tolerate this.

But to his surprise, Feng Cheng didn't react at all and calmly accepted the matter, which surprised Yu Zheng.

For Feng Cheng, this was nothing. In his previous life, he was used to working for his boss, taking the blame for his boss, and earning credit for his boss. He was used to it all. After all, he was just a beast of burden, and earning some humiliation pay was enough. What did the rest have to do with him?

Feng Cheng knew that the seedling cultivation in Bashang had a high probability of success, but Yu Zhenglai and the others did not. Under these circumstances, they were willing to take responsibility, which was a form of protection for Feng Cheng. How could Feng Cheng possibly be dissatisfied with this?

As for what to do with Feng Cheng's contribution to the successful seedling cultivation in Bashang, as the person in charge of the specific implementation, Feng Cheng already had his own share of the credit. Furthermore, Feng Cheng did not believe that Yu Zhenglai and Chen Gong would embezzle his share of the credit.

Moreover, seedling cultivation in the dam area is only the first step. Seedling cultivation in the dam area must also be carried out under full sunlight so that the seedlings can survive in the dam area.

Feng Cheng didn't tell Engineer Chen about this, not because he didn't trust Engineer Chen, but because this was something he couldn't say. The first step was to go out and explore before proceeding to the second step. If Feng Cheng rashly proposed changing the traditional shading seedling cultivation method to a full-light seedling cultivation method, it would definitely provoke a lot of opposition. It would be better to get the seedling cultivation in Bashang up first. After all, he was the one who was in charge of the implementation, and he could decide which seedling cultivation method to use.

If the trees survive, Feng Cheng will deserve a lot of credit. When he explains the specific seedling cultivation methods, everyone will know how much effort he put into it.

Seeing that Feng Cheng had no objections, Yu Zhenglai breathed a sigh of relief.

“In a few days, someone will come up with seeds, fertilizer, and tools to help you. However, they will only be responsible for doing the preliminary work. After the seedlings are sown, they will come back down, and you will have to do the follow-up work.”

Feng Cheng nodded, "Okay."

Yu Zheng explained, "It's not that I don't want to arrange manpower for you, it's just that the situation in China is not good right now, and the bureau doesn't have enough manpower. But the higher-ups won't approve us to recruit anyone, so I can only ask you to do this. Don't worry, once the situation improves, I will definitely arrange manpower to help you as soon as possible."

Feng Cheng smiled and shook his head, "I'm fine. Anyway, this is just a small-scale experiment. I'll just do as much work as I can."

That's true. What Feng Cheng needs is to prove that full-light seedling cultivation can produce surviving trees. As for the scale, that's not the most important thing at this stage.