Go back to the past to plant trees

Yu Zhenglai and Chen Guangji left. Until the moment they left, Chen Guangji did not mention his health, and Yu Zhenglai did not tell Feng Cheng. It seemed that this trip was really just to check on the situation of the nursery. But Feng Cheng did not know why, he just felt very bitter and disappointed.

"Jin Quan, let's have a couple of drinks tonight!"

Zhao Jinquan was somewhat surprised: "Brother Feng, why do you suddenly want to drink?"

Feng Cheng laughed and said, "It's nothing, I just suddenly felt like having a drink."

Zhao Jinquan also sensed something was off about Feng Cheng's emotions. He didn't know why, but he simply nodded in agreement.

Zhao Jinquan felt uneasy. He wondered if it was because Yu Zheng had said something to Chen Guangji and Feng Cheng that had made Feng Cheng feel down.

Zhao Jinquan's biggest fear was that Feng Cheng would go down to the dam, and then the nursery on the dam would no longer need to be maintained, and he wouldn't need to stay there anymore.

Feng Cheng didn't notice Zhao Jinquan's unease. That night, Feng Cheng drank quite a bit, downing more than half of the only bottle of wine he had. The two didn't play any games; Feng Cheng just kept drinking glass after glass.

This situation made Zhao Jinquan even more uneasy, because Feng Cheng's mood was very strange today, and Zhao Jinquan had never seen anything like this since he arrived at the camp. So Zhao Jinquan couldn't help but think about it, but he didn't dare to ask too much. He could only pray in his heart that it was not because of the seedling cultivation in Bashang, and that it would not involve his work.

Feng Cheng didn't pay attention to Zhao Jinquan's feelings. After getting drunk that night, he calmed down and focused his energy on taking care of the nursery.

Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the natural order of life; they are unavoidable and cannot be changed. All Feng Cheng can say is that he will try his best to fulfill Chen Gong's long-cherished wish: to plant living trees on Saihanba, to revitalize this land, and to bring it back to life, returning it to the royal hunting ground of a hundred years ago, where water and grass were abundant, forests were lush, and birds and beasts thronged.

After worrying for a few days, Zhao Jinquan finally calmed down, because nothing had happened. Feng Cheng continued to take care of the nursery as diligently as before, and there was no news from the bureau about the camp in Bashang.

In May, Feng Cheng returned to the county town. He stayed there for two days and assembled the transistor radio. The county town supply and marketing cooperative didn't sell soldering irons, but through Yu Zhenglai's connections, Feng Cheng got a used soldering iron from the county power supply station. Although it was old and not very good, it was still usable. Feng Cheng spent half a day assembling the radio.

The transistor radio was much better than the crystal radio. Even in the dam area, the signal reception was very strong, and many programs could be received, which made Zhao Jinquan happy for a long time.

Unfortunately, radio parts were unavailable in the county town, so Zhao Jinquan's plan to assemble one himself fell through. However, Zhao Jinquan was not disappointed. He planned to ask Xiao Pang, the driver who delivered supplies, to help him buy them. Xiao Pang frequently traveled to the region and county town, so it was relatively easy for him to buy these electronic parts.

However, it's not necessarily true that you can buy them all. After all, there are quite a few components for a transistor radio, and it's hard to say that you can buy them all at once unless you go to buy them yourself. After all, Xiao Pang doesn't know much about radio.

"Brother Feng, what are you doing?"

That evening, Zhao Jinquan saw Feng Cheng unfold a piece of paper and doodle on it with a pencil, so he curiously stuck his head over.

Without looking up, Feng Cheng said, "I'm drawing a map of Saihanba, marking some places I've been to. It might come in handy later."

"By the way, since you're always running around, could you draw a map of the road back to your home, and also draw all the places you know?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jinquan scratched his head and said, "I don't know how to draw a map either. I only know how to get around."

Feng Cheng said, "Then you tell me, and I'll draw it."

"Row."

"To get there, you have to cross two mountains..."

"What's on the mountain?"

"It's nothing, just some bushes."

"And what happens after we cross the mountain..."

"Flat land, with some grassland, but mostly yellow sand."

Following Zhao Jinquan's description, Feng Cheng began drawing a map of Saihanba. This was something he suddenly remembered. It was already June, and the advance team would be coming up next year, along with the college students. One of the main tasks of the advance team would be to draw a topographical map of Saihanba and record the actual conditions of various places, such as water, soil, climate, and ecology.

Feng Cheng wondered if they could start this work ahead of time. A large-scale survey was definitely out of the question, since it was just Feng Cheng and Zhao Jinquan. But organizing and recording the places they had been to was no problem.

Feng Cheng and Zhao Jinquan had basically covered the area within a ten-kilometer radius of the camp. Although they couldn't recall any particularly vivid details, they could still remember the general information.

Feng Cheng also planned to ride out on horseback to conduct an on-site investigation after the simplified map was drawn, and to get more detailed information about everything.

Feng Cheng created this purely on a whim. He thought that after three years in Bashang, he should at least have a better understanding of the situation there, and this map was a small achievement he made during those three years.

As June arrived, Saihanba began to experience frequent rainfall. This year's abundant rainfall made Feng Cheng's work much easier.

With more free time, Feng Cheng and Zhao Jinquan started making small gadgets, such as pen holders and small boxes for storing things out of wood.

One day, on a whim, Feng Cheng and Zhao Jinquan set up a kiln to fire some ceramics, such as bowls, jars, and vats. However, due to their poor skills and insufficient kiln temperature, the finished products were either too ugly, too brittle, or full of cracks.

After a few days of trying, Feng Cheng and Zhao Jinquan lost interest and gave up on the idea of ​​firing ceramics. Unlike cooking, this thing takes too much time. They can only do it once a day, and they have to be busy from morning to night, and it also consumes a lot of firewood.

Although they continued experimenting, hoping to produce something better later, neither Feng Cheng nor Zhao Jinquan had any ideas.

If he could make a ceramic water cup as beautiful as those of later generations, Feng Cheng wouldn't mind trying harder. But no matter how hard he tried, all he could make was earthenware, so Feng Cheng really had no interest in it.

Instead of spending the time to fix it, you might as well just spend some money and buy a new one.

Of course, if you get bored someday and have some free time, you might want to try it again, but that's hard to say. After all, when you have free time, what you want to do or not do is entirely up to your own mood.