Go back to the past to plant trees

After inspecting the saplings, Yu Zhenglai, Li Zhong, Qu He, and the others went down to the dam. Because they had spent a long time inspecting the saplings, it was almost 4 p.m. when they finished, so they didn't linger and went straight down.

After they went down, only Feng Cheng, Zhao Tianshan, and Zhao Jinquan remained in the camp.

"Jin Quan, come here, let me introduce you."

"Zhao Tianshan is a retired soldier who served for eleven years and fought in the Korean War. He will be our captain from now on."

“Zhao Jinquan is from the Shaquan Brigade nearby. His father is the brigade leader of Shaquan Brigade. He has been with me on this dam for two years.”

"Speaking of which, you two both have the surname Zhao. You're from the same clan. You might even have been family five hundred years ago."

"Hello, Captain."

"Hello, Comrade Zhao Jinquan."

The two greeted each other, and Feng Cheng continued, "Jin Quan, tidy up and get ready to make dinner!"

"Making dinner?" Zhao Tianshan glanced at the sky. "Isn't it a bit early?"

Feng Cheng said, "It's getting late. It's your first day here, so we should treat you to something. Besides, there's not much work to be done at this hour."

After hearing this, Zhao Tianshan didn't say anything more. Although he was the team leader, it was his first day here, and he didn't know anything about what was happening on the dam, so he didn't feel comfortable saying more.

Upon hearing Feng Cheng's words, Zhao Jinquan turned around to prepare to cook. Seeing this, Zhao Tianshan said, "I'll go help out too, just to get acquainted with the cooking area."

Seeing the two of them go to the kitchen, Feng Cheng smiled and went back to his dugout.

"Comrade Zhao Jinquan, what are we going to eat tonight?"

Zhao Tianshan followed him into the kitchen, looked around, and asked with some curiosity.

"Make a cabbage stew with glass noodles, then kill a chicken, make chicken and potato stew, then fry an egg, and make a vegetarian cabbage dish."

"So rich?"

Zhao Tianshan was surprised, then said, "Just make something simple, there's no need to make it so fancy, I'm not picky."

"Actually, it's not so bad. We have a vegetable garden here, where we grow cabbage, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and all sorts of things. We also raise our own chickens. Although we don't usually eat this well, we can still have a decent meal every ten days or so."

"You have a vegetable garden?"

"Yes, this place is too far from the county town. Supplies are only delivered once a month, and they only deliver staple foods. Vegetables are not delivered. Even if they do deliver, it's only enough for one or two days, because if they send too much, it won't keep. So Brother Feng and I set up a vegetable garden here. We can grow whatever we want to eat."

"The vegetable garden is quite large, and we grow potatoes and other vegetables. It's just that we don't have enough manpower. Otherwise, we would have planned to grow some staple foods like oats and wheat to be as self-sufficient as possible, so that the bureau can send us fewer supplies."

"Self-sufficiency, that's good," Zhao Tianshan agreed with Zhao Jinquan's words. He had done the same when he was in the army, running his own farm, growing his own food, trying his best to be self-sufficient and not cause trouble for the country.

"Now that I'm up here, I can expand the vegetable garden so that we won't need the bureau to send supplies to the dam area anymore."

Zhao Jinquan shook his head. "This probably can't be done in a short time. There's a lot of work to be done at the camp right now. The nursery needs to sow seeds and transplant seedlings. It'll probably keep us busy for a long time. By the time we finish, it will be May, and by then many things won't be suitable for planting. At most, we can only plant more fruits and vegetables."

Zhao Tianshan said, "Planting more fruits and vegetables is also good. We will have more people coming up later, so it would be good to solve the problem of food rations. This way, the bureau can send less and reduce the burden on the bureau."

"Ah."

Zhao Tianshan chatted with Zhao Jinquan about some things at the camp. There were only two people at the camp, and not much to do, so in the time it took to cook a meal, Zhao Tianshan roughly understood the work that needed to be done next.

"Brother Feng, how about a couple of drinks tonight?"

After serving the dishes, Zhao Jinquan asked Feng Cheng with some anticipation.

"There's no more alcohol, is there?"

During the nearly six-month winter, the dozens of kilograms of wine stored up before the winter hibernation had long been consumed by the two of them. They didn't buy any more on this trip, mainly because there were too many other things to buy, and wine is not a necessity, so they forgot about it for a while.

Zhao Jinquan said, "I brought a few kilograms from home yesterday, enough for us to have a meal."

Zhao Jinquan was overjoyed to be promoted from a temporary worker to a permanent employee. For him, this was a life-changing event, and how could he not celebrate such a happy occasion? So when he came from home, Zhao Jinquan not only brought an old hen, but also the few kilograms of loose liquor he had left, thinking that he would have a good drink with Feng Cheng when he came up.

"Since there's wine, let's have a couple of drinks. It's also Captain Zhao's first day here, so let's treat him to a welcome feast."

Zhao Tianshan quickly replied, "You're too kind, you're too kind. There's really no need for that. I'm just a simple man, I don't stand on ceremony."

That's what he said, but Zhao Tianshan was still very happy. Feng Cheng and Zhao Jinquan's behavior made him feel valued, which made him look forward to the future even more.

"Actually, this isn't a special welcome party for you," Feng Cheng smiled and explained, "Jin Quan has been with me on the dam for two years, eating sand. The bureau was going to assign some people to our area, so they made Jin Quan, this temporary worker, a permanent employee. From now on, he'll be a member of the working class just like us. This is something to celebrate."

“Oh, then we should celebrate,” Zhao Tianshan said to Zhao Jinquan. “We should have a good drink later.”

“No problem,” Zhao Jinquan said, patting his chest.

"By the way, Captain Zhao, how's your alcohol tolerance? How much can you drink?"

"Hey, don't call me Captain Zhao. I'm a few years older than you. If you don't mind, just call me Old Zhao, or Brother Zhao. I'll call you Jin Quan, just like Feng Cheng does."

"Okay, Brother Zhao."

“That’s right, it’s less formal this way,” Zhao Tianshan said, quite pleased with Zhao Jinquan’s form of address. He then replied:

"As for my alcohol tolerance, I'm not really sure, but I rarely get drunk. When I was in the army, I was always the last one to clear the table when drinking with others. To be more specific, I can definitely handle two or three jin of Erguotou."

"sharp."

Zhao Jinquan gave a thumbs up, showing an expression of admiration.

How much can you drink?

“I only have a little over a pound, while Brother Feng has about seven or eight ounces.”

"Then you guys need to practice. With this level of alcohol tolerance, you wouldn't even be able to sit at the table in the army."

Feng Cheng laughed and said, "Alcohol is just something to add a little something to life. There's no need to fight over it. Drinking too much is bad for your health and will affect your work the next day. So Jin Quan and I usually control our intake and don't drink too much."

"What you said makes sense."

"Let's stop chatting. Come on, let's all have a drink together. From now on, we'll be comrades-in-arms working together. There are over 600 million people in the country, and we've all come together. It's truly fate. Cheers to our destiny!"

"Cheers to fate."

Zhao Tianshan said, "Thank you to the new China, thank you to Chairman Mao. If it weren't for him leading us to liberate the new China, we wouldn't have had the chance to meet each other."

"Correct."