Even though Lin Sanqi was a city kid, he still had some basic common sense.

As for land, the thicker and looser the soil is, the better.

For example, the black soil in Northeast China is so thick that you can squeeze out oil from it, which is why the yield of crops is so high.

Looking at the land of Xiaogongmen, it is okay to see stones in the fields, but the key point is that when a northwest wind blows, a miniature "sandstorm" will form on the loess, which is obviously soil erosion.

The land is barren and the grain yield is low.

There are stones in the fields, so mechanized farming is impossible and we have to rely entirely on manual labor.

Among the workers assigned to the farm, many will be elderly people who have difficulty walking, and it will be very difficult to ask them to work in the fields. This will only lead to the death of the old men.

For a moment, Lin Sanqi felt that this farm was not as simple as he had thought.

"Chief Yang, why did our hospital choose such a piece of land? Did someone cheat us?"

While chewing a chicken leg, Section Chief Yang pointed to several villages not far away and said:

"We are lucky to have such a piece of land in the suburbs of Beijing. Look, to the west is Taiping Village, to the south is Wanlu Village, and to the east is Huyu Village. They have already occupied all the good land here. This piece of land was given to us out of wasteland.

If you want good land, you have to go to the Northeast. They say there are vast tracts of black soil there, all vacant and uncultivated. We can give you a few acres if you want, but are you willing to go to the Northeast? If you go there, you'll never come back."

Lin Sanqi thought that there were still many smart people, and no one was willing to go to the Northeast.

But a few years later, a group of passionate young people rushed to the Great Northern Wilderness with high morale and turned it into a huge rice granary.

Of course, no matter how beautiful their words were, they ultimately voted with their feet. As soon as they had the chance to return to the city, they all ran away. This shows that the Great Northern Wilderness is far from being as beautiful as advertised.

Lin Sanqi looked around again and asked with some concern:

"Hey, Chief Yang, where's the water source here? I don't see any well."

Yang Shaohua pointed to a ravine at the foot of the mountain and said:

"Noisy! Behind the dormitory building we're building is the Xingfu River, but there's no water right now. The hospital has asked the construction team to dig a well by the river. From now on, we'll have to use well water for both daily life and production."

Lin Sanqi was skeptical: "Can you pump out water?"

Yang Shaohua laughed and said, "It would be terrible if we can't get any water. See? Then we'll have to go to the Ming Tombs Reservoir, eight miles away, to get water. Then we won't have to do anything else but carry water every day."

Lin Sanqi thought to himself that he was not a Shaolin monk, and he could not practice martial arts while carrying water. If he really had to carry water, he could forget about getting any harvest from the land.

Despite the cold wind, Lin Sanqi was not afraid of the harsh conditions. After all, no one could suffer, and as long as there was a door, he would never die of hunger or thirst.

Lin Sanqi looked into the distance and pointed to an ancient building in the east and asked:

"Chief Yang, whose royal relative's grave is that?"

"Well, that's the Siling Mausoleum, the tomb of Emperor Chongzhen, who was hanged on Coal Hill. It's the smallest of the Thirteen Tombs. I think it was originally a concubine's tomb. After Chongzhen was hanged, Dorgon cleaned it up and buried her there."

Lin Sanqi picked up his camera, took a few photos of the distant view of the Ming Tombs, and then wrapped himself tightly in his military coat.

"Section Chief Yang, please accompany me for a walk around the surrounding villages."

Yang Shaohua wiped his hands, carefully wrapped up the uneaten chicken and put it in his pocket, then stood up contentedly.

"What are you going to do in the village?"

"This is a task assigned to me by the hospital leadership. I was asked to buy some agricultural products to give to the staff for the New Year. Pork, eggs, grains, anything is fine. Whatever you have is fine."

Yang Shaohua scratched his head and said, "Is there anything to eat in the countryside now? Let's go and take a look."

Lin Sanqi had seen what the rural areas in the south were like when he returned to his hometown in Huadu before. This time, he wanted to see how the rural areas in the north spent the winter.

As for whether it was possible to buy a fat pig in the village, Lin Sanqi already knew that it was impossible.

Yang Shaohua and Lin Sanqi were both wearing thick military coats, wrapped tightly in them. They also wore glasses and looked very polite. At first glance, they looked like leading cadres.

So the two of them walked into Taiping Village in a very open manner, and no one came out to stop them, or asked them in a threatening manner what they were doing.

There are dirt roads in the village, and the houses are mostly made of mud walls, but there are also many blue brick walls. It is obvious that the living standards of farmers in the capital are much better than those in the rural areas of Huadu.

Lin Sanqi still held the camera and took a few pictures from time to time. He was determined to hold a photography exhibition.

"Chief Yang, why are there so few people in this village? Where have all the people gone?"

Yang Shaohua laughed when he heard it:

"Xiao Qi, you southerners don't understand. In the south, you guys stay outside in the sun to keep warm in the winter because it's even colder at home. So when winter comes, everyone goes outside to have fun.

In the north, the temperature is usually around -10 to -20 degrees Celsius in winter. Look, it's -11 degrees Celsius today. If you let the villagers bask in the sun outside, they'd probably freeze into popsicles. Hahaha."

Lin Sanqi also laughed. This is the difference between the north and the south, which often causes jokes.

The two of them strolled slowly, Lin Sanqi's eyes darting around. There were no dogs in the village, as he hadn't heard any barking. There were no chickens either, and the farmers' yards were all spotless.

Not to mention raising pigs.

Seeing Lin Sanqi looking around like a Japanese soldier entering a village, Yang Shaohua joked:

"Xiao Qi, what's going on? Are you looking for an older girl? Hey, I remember you're not married, right? But with your status, it's not okay to marry a country girl. Even if your parents are open-minded, they won't agree."

Lin Sanqi was looking for a big white pig, not a young girl, but when he heard Yang Shaohua's words, he probably understood what he meant.

Yang Shaohua was half-seriously giving him a shot of prevention.

Young unmarried men in the city are often "love-brained". When they first arrive in a new place, they are easily attracted by the pretty girls from the countryside, and then they have sex with them and end up getting pregnant.

There’s a song that goes: There’s a girl in the village called Xiaofang. She’s pretty and kind, with big, beautiful eyes and long, thick braids.

Rural girls are just born into bad families and are restricted by their status, but their beauty cannot be restricted, and city girls are not necessarily prettier than rural girls.

But the biggest disadvantage for rural girls is that they don’t have a “city hukou”. Not having a city hukou means no food quota, which is fatal.

In 1959, the food supply for urban residents was rationed. The amount of food you were given each month was only enough to ensure one person's survival.

If a young man from the city marries a girl from the countryside, there is no legal restriction, but the girl will have no food supply after moving to the city, and the family cannot be supported by the food rations of her husband alone.

Moreover, the state has regulations that a child’s household registration must be with the mother, which means that no matter how many children are born to the next generation, they will all have rural household registration and will not have food rations.

So from a realistic point of view, city guys will not marry rural girls. Even if the boy is in love, his family will strongly oppose it.

However, this is not absolute. For example, there may be a second-rate guy in the city who has a bad reputation and no one dares to marry him; or he may be a disabled person with dementia; or he may have a bad background and have made serious mistakes before liberation.

Even if these ugly guys in the city go to the countryside to pick girls, they can still pick the most beautiful and charming girl as their wife. It's really infuriating.

At that time, rural girls didn't care whether the man was a human or a ghost in order to marry into the city.

Just like in the TV series "Love in the Courtyard", the white lotus Qin Huairu is beautiful, otherwise she would not have attracted so many men in the courtyard to cause so much trouble for her.

Her sister Qin Jingru is equally pretty, but the men the two sisters married are the worst in the courtyard. Even so, they still make people envious when they return to the village.

Lin Sanqi will come to work on the farm next year. Apart from the staff of the farm, the people he will interact with the most are people from the surrounding villages.

If one day Lin Sanqi is fascinated by a beautiful young girl or young wife passing by, falls in love at first sight, and insists on marrying her, then the Lin family will make a mess of the hospital.

So Yang Shaohua kindly gave a reminder in advance as a precaution.

Lin Sanqi chuckled and said, "Don't worry, Chief Yang, I have no plans to get married for the time being, so I won't do anything rash."

Yang Shaohua nodded, looked around to see if there was anyone around, and whispered:

"If you really can't help it, just find a pretty young widow from the countryside. Just give her some food from time to time. You can do whatever you want. They won't bother you, and it won't affect your chances of getting married in the future. Do you understand?"

Lin Sanqi coughed lightly: "Chief Yang, I am a serious doctor..."

Yang Shaohua chuckled: "Young people don't know the benefits of women, and mistakenly regard young girls as treasures. What do you young people know? Oh, here comes Li Sanzhu, the village chief of Taiping Village."

Lin Sanqi saw a middle-aged man running towards him, smiling as he ran, looking very flattering and humble.

"Section Chief Yang, haha, what brings you here? Why didn't you tell me in advance?"

Yang Shaohua put his hands in his sleeves with no intention of taking them out to shake hands. He made a gesture with his mouth:

"Village Chief Li, let me introduce you to Comrade Lin Sanqi, the head of the purchasing department of our Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. This time, I came to your village to take a stroll and get to know the neighbors."

When Village Chief Li heard this, the smile on his face turned into a wry smile:

"Hey, Chief Yang, I thought you were here to recruit workers for our village."

"I've already recruited 20 people from your Taiping Village, and it's still not enough."

"Not enough, not enough, how can it be enough? Working at the Chinese Medicine Hospital construction site can earn me enough to eat and eat. If I don't work, I'll just starve at home every day. I wish Section Chief Yang would recruit workers from our entire village."

The Chinese Medicine Hospital Farm needed to build housing and dormitories, and they needed a lot of construction workers. They were basically hired from nearby villages; they were cheap and easy to work with. Even if they were only given a few steamed buns a day, they would work like crazy and rush to do the work. (End of this chapter)