With eight people, including adults and children, eight pairs of hands worked quickly. In less than half an hour, most of the eight baskets were half full.

Chen Hong first carried one of Director Jin and Mrs. Guan's baskets to Xiao Yun's side, gently poured the grapes from the baskets onto the grass, and then returned the empty baskets to them.

I prepared an empty basket for Xiaoyun. "Xiaoyun, put the grapes you picked into the basket. I'll carry both baskets home first."

Xiaoyun also comes from a rural background. She often did farm work with her older sister when she was young, so she knows how to do it as soon as she hears it.

While watching Nini, he filled the basket with grapes, picking out and throwing away weeds, leaves, and bad ones.

Chen Hong carried over several half-baskets of wild grapes and dumped them on the grass, which soon piled up into a small heap.

Seeing that Xiaoyun had already filled two baskets, Chen Hong picked up a carrying pole and carried them down the mountain.

She walked very fast by herself, and returned home in twenty minutes. She took out a large plastic box from her spatial storage and poured all the grapes into it.

I was about to head out with my basket on my back when I thought better of it. The distance from the foot of the mountain to my home was quite far, and it would be too much of a waste of time to make several trips.

Chen Hong opened the gate, threw the basket into the back of the pickup truck, put a large plastic box on the truck, and drove the truck directly to the mountainside.

When they reached a point where the car could no longer go any further, they stopped, turned around, and parked the car on the mountain road.

It's not harvest season now, so nobody travels this mountain road, and it doesn't matter if cars get stuck on it.

Chen Hong picked up her basket and quickly went up the mountain, returning to the vineyard in ten minutes.

Hearing Chen Hong's voice upon returning, Director Jin couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Chen Hong, you're quite fast! We've only picked less than half a basket!"

"Are we working too slowly, or are we not efficient enough?"

Chen Hong laughed and said, "I can definitely run fast on mountain roads by myself. I'm used to it. You can't compare to me."

Nowadays, people walk less on the streets in the city and travel by car most of the time.

Oh, I drove the car up too, and parked it halfway up the mountain. That cuts the distance in half, so it's much faster.

As Chen Hong worked, she picked up another pair of baskets and said, "You guys keep picking, I'll take them down the mountain first, and then I'll help you pick some more."

Don't rush, take a break if you get tired. The weather has been great these past few days, so if you can't finish picking today, you can continue tomorrow.

"It's just over a pound, and with so many of us working, we really don't have to worry about not finishing it."

Watching Chen Hong effortlessly carry two bamboo baskets weighing over 100 pounds of wild grapes down the mountain, Fang Xiaoying couldn't help but exclaim in amazement:

"Oh my god, Sister Chen Hong is so capable! I can't even lift this basket."

Sister Chen Hong carried two baskets like it was nothing, she's amazing! I'm completely impressed!

Guan Tao said somewhat embarrassedly, "I secretly tried it, and this basket weighs at least seventy pounds. I can carry one basket."

I couldn't transport two baskets weighing 140 or 150 pounds at once.

I even got a membership and go to the gym every day, but I can't even keep up with Sister Chen Hong, who's a woman. It's so discouraging!"

Xiaoyun laughed and said, "If you want to compete with my sister in strength, you should just lie down and rest!"

My sister was able to carry over 100 kilograms of crops all over the mountains when she was twelve years old.

That's why the basket is only this big. Even if it were half again as big and filled with over 200 pounds, my sister could still carry it down the mountain easily.

The crowd in Beijing exclaimed in unison, "A strongman!"

Xiaoyun proudly shook her head: "I don't know about strongmen or not, but among the people I know, there really isn't anyone stronger than my sister!"

When my sister was around ten years old, there was a period when her appetite increased dramatically. She could eat seven or eight pancakes by herself, which was equivalent to my appetite of three or four.

Back then, every family was short of food. My sister's ration was only two pancakes per meal. She wasn't full, but she didn't complain. She went to the mountains every day.

They dug up wild yams, searched for wild chestnuts, and dug up medicinal herbs to sell for money to buy dry food to supplement their rations.

Let me put it this way, even if you threw my sister into a primeval forest, she wouldn't go hungry. She's incredibly brave and has a sharp eye for finding food.

Guan Tao's eyes lit up. "Sister Chen Hong is a hidden legend! Why didn't she join the army when she was young? She's definitely a special forces prospect!"

Xiaoyun pouted, "Do you think the family hasn't thought about this? We ordinary people don't have any connections!"

Only one or two soldiers leave our entire town each year, and sometimes even if they pass the inspection, they can't leave.

The spots were either reserved by higher-ups long ago or taken by others through connections.

It's not as easy for rural people to join the army as they might imagine; there are many intricacies involved!

Director Jin and Mrs. Guan both fell silent. This kind of phenomenon is common even now, let alone in the 1980s and 90s.

Does hard work always guarantee success? Not necessarily! How can one person's efforts compete with the accumulated connections of several generations?

The term "occupying a position without performing its duties" is not a recent invention; ancestors in the Eastern Han Dynasty understood the origins of this corrupt phenomenon.

How do incompetent people rise to high positions? Isn't it all the result of mutual protection among officials and the exchange of resources?

It's really tough being an ordinary person. Hard work doesn't guarantee success, but without hard work, there's even less chance of success.

Only by rolling up our sleeves can we have a chance to compete for those meager opportunities for success.

If you don't work hard, you'll only live at the bottom of society for generations, giving your all in terms of physical and mental strength to earn a meager wage just to support your family.