Chapter 25 Now that's what you call technology and ruthless work! Well then, I'll huff and puff and start swinging...

"Don't they come to work on Mondays?" An Fusheng muttered to himself as he looked at the company's closed door. "They're so lazy. No wonder the company is so small and there's only one employee. No, now there isn't one at all."

An Fusheng had been feeling uneasy on his way here after being warned by the security guard that he might be scolded by his boss. However, he was surprised to find that his boss did not come to work.

Although it was good to avoid being scolded, he was very disappointed that he had come all this way only to find it was a wasted trip.

At this moment, in An Fusheng's eyes, his former boss had become a very unambitious person.

The unambitious person had already spent the entire morning negotiating business and had gone through several rounds of tea.

"Achoo!" He didn't just cover his nose, "Excuse me."

"Mr. He, you have a cold?" the other party asked with concern.

"No." He sniffed, his nose clear.

"Perhaps someone is missing Mr. He," the other person joked.

It's more than just noncommittal.

"Then let me continue to introduce our factory's core technologies to you..."

...

Unable to determine when He Zhi would return and without his phone number, An Fusheng had no choice but to return to the security office and ask the security guard for a notepad to write a message for He Zhi. He couldn't leave for too long, as there was no one to look after his children at home.

An Fusheng wrote a message, stuck the note on the door, and after making sure it was firmly attached, hung the bag containing the fermented duck offal on the doorknob.

"If he doesn't come today, won't the duck offal spoil by tomorrow?"

An Fusheng thought for a moment and then took the duck offal back.

The note included the address of the orphanage and Wen Min's phone number. If He Zhi saw the note and wanted to find him, he could call Wen Min or go to the orphanage to find him. However, An Fusheng felt that He Zhi had no chance of finding him. The most direct purpose of the note was probably to let He Zhi know that his only employee had resigned and was looking for a new employee. Therefore, An Fusheng wrote the resignation very clearly.

An Fusheng said goodbye to the security guard and took the bus back to the welfare home.

Back at the orphanage, the two children had just woken up and were sitting on the bed, looking completely bewildered.

An Fusheng changed Wen Xingrui's diaper and took the two children to play on the ground floor. He then found a hoe and went to the backyard to till the soil. He had bought some seedlings that morning and needed to plant them that afternoon, otherwise they would wilt by tomorrow.

Apart from the small vegetable patch that had been cleared before, the weeds in the backyard were waist-high. An Fusheng asked Wen Min yesterday if he could clear the land, and Wen Min said it was fine.

An Fusheng had no concept of area units, but he felt that the wasteland behind him was very big, about the same size as his own field of ten dan of grain[1]. He could grow vegetables on one-fifth of it and still not finish them all year round.

However, he decided to gradually cultivate all the land. This year, he could use some of it to grow vegetables, and fertilize the rest to grow crops next spring.

"Such a large piece of land, there are so many good things to plant, how can it be left barren?"

As a rural resident, An Fusheng couldn't bear to see any piece of land left uncultivated.

An Fusheng carried a hoe to the wasteland behind the elevated floor and said, "Let's start here. We can dig and watch the kids at the same time."

Perhaps to prevent the children from running into the bushes and causing them danger, railings were installed on the side of the elevated floor next to the wasteland. Wen Xingrui sat on the ground, holding the railings with both hands, looking at An Fusheng through the gaps in the railings, while Wen Xinghe stood quietly behind the railings.

"You two play in the back, don't run around," An Fusheng said.

Wen Xinghe: "Okay."

Wen Xingrui: "Hehe."

The fleabane, smartweed, and cocklebur were growing wildly in the field, which showed that the land was quite fertile. It was autumn now, and most of the wild grasses had matured. Like people in their forties, they were full of resilience. Their roots were firmly planted in the soil. An Fusheng tried to pull up two of them with brute force and almost pulled himself upside down.

"I originally planned to pull it up by the roots and loosen the soil at the same time, but since it's not easy to pull, don't blame me for using technology and hard work." An Fusheng rubbed his hands together and picked up the hoe.

An Fusheng stomped on a tall, sturdy fleabane plant, raised his hoe high, and then brought it down at the root. "Hey!"

The hoe blade landed on the roots of the fleabane and bounced off.

"Huh? That's impressive?" An Fusheng raised his hoe again, gathering strength in his arm. "Take this second strike!"

The force of the stem rebounding from beneath my feet suddenly vanished, and the sturdy fleabane was severed from its roots.

"Hmph, a mere flying tumbleweed, how could it possibly trouble me, the third-thousandth generation successor of Shennong?"

As soon as Wen Min woke up, she heard the sound of "hey ha hey ha" outside. She walked to the window, pulled back the curtains and looked down. At first glance, she saw only swaying weeds. Upon closer inspection, she found that there was another person. Who else could it be but An Fusheng?

"What are you doing, Fu-zai?"

An Fusheng looked up and shouted, "I'm cultivating the vegetable garden."

"You're using a hoe to dig up grass this tall? Why don't you use a lawnmower?"

“Herbic acid? Isn’t it bad to spray it on the ground?” An Fusheng shouted.

Wen Min: "It's better than digging with a hoe, which is more time-consuming and laborious. Your hands will get blisters if you dig too much."

An Fusheng: "But it's unhealthy to spray pesticides in vegetable gardens."

"What pesticide?" Wen Min realized he might have misunderstood and explained with a laugh, "It's a weeding machine, not pesticide. It should be in the storage room behind the kitchen. Go and take a look."

An Fusheng put down his hoe and went to the storeroom.

The storage room was full of things, including several machine-like objects. An Fusheng had never seen a lawnmower before and had no idea which one it was.

"The one on your right, below." Wen Min came in from behind.

An Fusheng pointed to the object covered by the snakeskin bag in the lower right corner, "This?"

"right."

An Fusheng lifted the dusty snakeskin bag, dragged out the machine, and asked Wen Min, "How do I use this?"

“Didn’t you use it often before? How come…” Before she could finish speaking, Wen Min suddenly remembered that An Fusheng was in a state of amnesia. She said, “Sorry, I forgot that you have amnesia. But I’ve never used it either. You used to be in charge of mowing the lawn. But it shouldn’t be difficult. Let’s study it.”

The two squatted down next to the machine to study it.

An Fusheng: "It probably won't break from not being used for too long."

Wen Min: "Impossible. We use it every year, and we take care of our backyard regularly."

An Fusheng looked at the overgrown yard and asked, "Do you take care of it regularly?"

Wen Min smiled sheepishly, "It's because you were busy graduating this year and didn't come back, so these weeds have become a bit too rampant."

After studying it for a while, the two finally managed to turn on the machine.

The lawnmower chugs along as An Fusheng pushes it across the wasteland. Wherever it goes, weeds fall to the ground. Wen Xingrui, watching from the side, can't help but applaud.

Wen Min, holding a plate of pickled plum duck offal, ate it on the elevated floor while nodding, "This is what you call technology and ruthless work."

An Fusheng: Then what about the big hoe that I swung around with all my might?

The power of technology is immense; in less than an hour, not a single weed in the entire backyard was spared and was completely felled.

"Not bad, the ground floor is much brighter now." Wen Min had finished eating everything on her plate, and reluctantly licked her fingers. After a while, she said, "Oh dear, I should go to the hospital now. Aunt Lou will be late picking up the kids from school."

An Fusheng stopped tidying up the lawnmower. "Aren't you going to eat dinner?"

"I'm not eating anymore, I'll eat at the hospital. By the way, do you have any takeout containers? I'll bring some pickled plum duck giblets to the hospital to eat, and make the neighbor's kid cry with envy."

An Fusheng: "...Yes, there is a packaged box in the bag on the counter."

"Very good!"

Wen Min ran to the kitchen, grabbed the packaged fermented duck, and happily went out the door.

"How come you don't even have time to eat all day long?" An Fusheng whispered.

After putting the lawnmower back in the storage room, An Fusheng used a hoe to gather the fallen grass into a pile. He planned to burn it as ash to fertilize the land after it dried in a few days.

Today, An Fusheng decided to dig up the vegetable patch he had previously cleared. Don't ask why; the reason is that the other patches are too difficult to dig because the weeds and roots are intertwined underneath.

Wen Xingrui curled his head up and tried desperately to see An Fusheng through the gap in the railing. The grass had all fallen over, so even though they were far apart, An Fusheng could still see him.

Seeing his appearance, An Fusheng recalled the first time he met him and couldn't help but laugh: "Luckily, the gap in this railing is small, otherwise you would have stuck your head in again. There can't be a hidden switch here, can there?"

A well-cultivated vegetable garden is easy to dig. An Fusheng skillfully wielded his hoe and in less than half an hour, he had turned over the entire vegetable garden and even dug the planting holes.

August and September are the perfect season for planting vegetables. From the moment they are planted, they grow in an environment with a large temperature difference between day and night and plenty of sunshine. After another month or two, the vegetables grow bigger, and just as the weather gets colder and there are a few frosts, all the vegetables become very sweet.

This morning, Anfusheng bought seedlings of lettuce, romaine lettuce, garland chrysanthemum, and mustard greens, as well as seeds of garlic, radish, spinach, cilantro, and rapeseed. The land is too small right now, so he'll use it to plant the seedlings first, and then grow the rest later.

The sun was still shining in the field, so the vegetables couldn't be planted yet. An Fusheng washed his hands, filled a plate with pickled plum and duck offal, and took it to the elevated floor to feed the children.

The group ate with great enthusiasm, taking turns taking bites.

"Squeak—"

The door was opened.

Lou's mother held the door open to let the children in, saying softly, "It's okay, we should give others a chance too."

The children walked silently into the front yard with their schoolbags on their backs.

"What's wrong?" An Fusheng asked, a large duck claw dangling from his mouth.

"You didn't get a red flower for eating properly today," said Mrs. Lou.

"Huh? What little red flower?" An Fusheng stopped gnawing on a duck foot and asked sincerely, "What's the use of this little red flower?"

No one answered him.

"So it's useless?" An Fusheng said indifferently, "Then what's the point of having it?"

An Shisi was initially dejected, but upon hearing this, he looked up at An Fusheng, and his large eyes quickly welled up with tears.

Lou's mother glared at An Fusheng.

An Fusheng silently lowered his head and continued to gnaw on the duck feet.

Wen Xingmou's eyes lit up when she saw An Fusheng eating: "Big brother, what are you eating?"

"Oh... I'm eating pickled plum duck feet. Do you and Fourteen want some? They're really delicious." An Fusheng waved the half-eaten duck feet in his hand. "They're sweet and sour, and everyone who's tried them says they're delicious."

"Big brother, I want to eat!" Wen Xingmou said.

Helpless, Lou's mother took the children's schoolbags away, saying, "Go eat at your eldest brother's place."

An Fusheng took a duck wing from the plate and handed it to Wen Xingmou, who ran over, "Here, have a big one."

"Thank you, brother."

Wen Xingmou took a bite of the duck wing, shook her head excitedly, and mumbled, "Delicious!"

An Shisi's eyelashes trembled slightly.

An Fusheng picked up another duck wing and said in a drawn-out voice, "This is so big! Who should I give it to? Why isn't anyone asking for it? I wonder if Fourteen would like it?"

An Shisi walked up to An Fusheng and said, "Shisi wants to."

"Then give it to Fourteen." An Fusheng readily handed the duck wing to An Fourteen.

"Oh, there's a big one too. Give this one to Xinglin."

"Thank you, brother."

Not long after.

"It's so delicious!"

"After I finish this, I want to eat another paw."

"I want the slice that Sister Xinghe ate."

"I want that too."

Lou's mother, who had just put down the schoolbag, said, "You're eating so heartily. Did you wash your hands before eating?"

Everyone: "..."

-----------------------

The author has something to say: [1] The fields in the southwestern mountainous areas vary in size and shape. In many places, the land area is not calculated in mu (a Chinese unit of area, approximately 0.165 acres), but based on the approximate harvest of millet planted in the three years before the land was reclaimed. Once the millet is about 120 jin (a Chinese unit of weight, approximately 50 kg), the harvest of fields in different geographical locations is different, so the area of ​​each dan (a Chinese unit of weight, approximately 50 kg) of millet is also different. For example, the area of ​​a dan of millet in a field that is always flooded will be smaller than the area of ​​a field on the mountaintop that is not flooded. Of course, with the planting of hybrid rice, the harvest of rice is getting better and better, and the actual harvest of a dan of millet in a field may reach three times or more (thank you Grandpa Yuan Longping).

An Fusheng's family's ten-dan grain field was not a field with sufficient water (because fields with sufficient water are more resistant to drought and are more precious, so they are usually divided into small plots so that everyone can get some), so the area was a bit large, roughly equivalent to two mu of land.