Chapter 72 The man who tills the land is not as good as the "egg".

"Building a textile factory on the island is a good idea, but the conditions are severe, mainly due to a lack of manpower." Representatives from the local committee, the Mingzhou Textile Factory, the military, and the textile school walked together on the island to select a factory site, discussing the feasibility of establishing a textile factory.

After selecting a factory site, the next step is to build the factory buildings. More importantly, it's about borrowing employees from various sources, which is a rather difficult task. It requires coordination from many different units and also necessitates that the workers volunteer.

The local committee wanted to build a textile factory on the island, but at present the island does not have a great need for textile factories. The most important task is to gather manpower and resources to build a cold storage facility. If the 10,000-ton cold storage facility is built, it will greatly help the freezing and preservation of seafood.

However, on the other hand, building an ice storage facility requires a lot of male labor, and usually a textile factory or similar factory is built near a machinery factory to facilitate the union of men and women in the two factories.

Building a textile factory would provide employment for many women, which would help solve the marriage problem, especially since there are many troops stationed on the island, making it easier to settle military dependents.

"There is a comrade named Qin Xiangxiang, who is a dependent of the naval forces. She was originally a textile worker in the fine yarn workshop of the Shanghai 316 Textile Factory. She is the daughter of textile workers and grew up in the textile factory. She has been on the island with the military for a few months and has not yet been assigned any specific work."

"We contacted the Shanghai 316 Textile Factory and learned that Comrade Qin had performed excellently in the spinning workshop. Her mentor's surname was Li, and his ancestral home was Mingzhou... They valued Comrade Qin highly and recommended her to the director of the Mingzhou Textile Factory."

"This experienced worker, Mr. Li, is willing to be seconded here for two or three years to help train the female workers."

...

"If that's the case, then the human resources problem will be solved. Moreover, Comrade Qin is excellent in every way, and the organization believes that she is capable of serving as the temporary factory director."

"If we can get the textile factory up and running, that would be a great thing."

"You should do some ideological work with Comrade Qin over there, so that she doesn't feel too burdened and can go for it."

Qin Xiangxiang was still resting at home during her pregnancy, unaware that she was about to be entrusted with an important task. Since her sister-in-law came, her life had become much easier. Her sister-in-law was efficient and took care of the house cleaning with Xiaopang, and kept the vegetable garden and chicken coop clean every day.

Qin Xiangxiang's main task is to cook to satisfy her own hunger. She is a picky eater and has to cook for herself. She can't cook dishes with a lot of oil and smoke, but she is good at preparing fillings and making wontons and buns.

When making braised dishes, she prepared the sauce, Li Jinling stir-fried the ingredients, and Qin Xiangxiang held up her nose with gauze while directing the cooking. At this moment, they had to thank Li Jianzhi for the exhaust fan, which was very effective. The two sisters-in-law worked together to cook, and the dish tasted pretty good.

"Sister-in-law, your cooking is really good!" Li Jinling finally understood why her nephew, Little Fatty, was so fat. It was because her sister-in-law's cooking was so good that he was eating emperor's meals every day.

Of course, Qin Xiangxiang, the sister-in-law, is indeed a picky eater. She won't eat this or that, and she eats very little herself. After a few bites, she says she's tired of it, and her older brother has to coax her to eat a few more bites. He often makes all kinds of delicious food, and the leftovers all end up being given to Xiao Pang and Li Jinling, the aunt and niece.

Qin Xiangxiang asked Li Jinling to keep an eye on Huang's brother next door. This young man was named Huang Risheng. He had gained a great reputation, but his character was not very upright. He was irresponsible and made people uncomfortable. Moreover, Huang's mother doted on him. Her daughter was pregnant and about to give birth, but she brought her son to bother her. Now, the family's focus was on Huang Risheng, and Huang's pregnant sister-in-law was neglected and ignored.

Qin Xiangxiang said, "I have a bad feeling about his appearance. Besides, Sister Huang is about to give birth, so I'm afraid something might happen. Could you keep an eye on him for me?"

"I suspect he's a petty thief, and I'm afraid he'll do something bad."

Li Jinling immediately agreed: "Sister-in-law, don't worry, I'll take care of this. You're pregnant, so don't do anything dangerous."

"I don't think this guy is any good either, and his mother isn't any better. Her daughter is about to give birth, and instead of helping, she's just causing trouble with her son. What kind of mother is she? Is her son more important than her daughter?"

Li Jinling's close monitoring actually uncovered something. Huang Risheng was secretly meeting with someone, and Li Jinling reported it to the patrol team. They were arrested on the spot, and a letter was intercepted, which contained a plan on how to forge a letter of introduction and escape across the border.

After Li Jinling made the report, she kept her merits hidden and had no idea what was found later. That night, they came to the family compound to arrest people and put handcuffs on Huang Risheng, shocking everyone in the compound.

"I heard that this younger brother surnamed Huang is heartless and crazy. In his letter, he told people that he not only forged a letter of introduction to cross the border and run away, but he also planned to plunder all the savings of his sister and brother-in-law's family before he left."

"Damn, is this my own brother? This is a poisonous snake!"

"Her mother isn't any better. Her daughter is about to give birth, and she brought such a poisonous snake with her. Could they be in cahoots?"

"It's better to sever ties with family members like that."

...

After her younger brother was arrested, Sister-in-law Huang was depressed for several days upon learning that he was going to persecute her. The children dared not make a loud noise, and the men were always sighing. Chief of Staff Zhang was afraid that such a brother-in-law would affect his future.

But since it happened, this was already considered a relatively good solution. Chief of Staff Zhang wouldn't even dare to imagine that the little brat's plan would have succeeded.

"What a misfortune for our family!"

Faced with this outcome, Qin Xiangxiang felt relieved. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that no matter what happened next, Sister Huang had escaped the fate of losing both her child and her unborn child.

It's mid-August, the tail end of summer. The island is the coolest place in the province during the summer. The sea breeze is blowing, and the mornings and evenings are quite cool. Only the midday and afternoon sun still has the lingering heat of the sun.

Li Yaowei brought his wife Liu Xiaoyun over for dinner to watch the commotion. He had heard that his sister-in-law, Li Jinling, had been here for a while and guessed that the relationship between the two sisters-in-law was not harmonious. In their family compound, there were always a lot of problems between sisters-in-law and mothers-in-law, and the young couple had argued about them countless times. Li Yaowei wanted to see how troubled Li Jianzhi was.

It's better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early; Lai Yiu-wai, a burly man, was conscripted on the spot.

Li Jianzhi: "Our vegetable garden is missing a hero."

Lai Yiu-wai: "??!!" He came to watch the fun, not to carry a hoe, but since he was already here, there was no reason not to get out of the field.

By August, the last harvest of fruits and vegetables in the vegetable garden had been completed. Tomatoes, loofahs, and cucumbers had all been picked, and the entire vegetable garden needed to be tilled and repaired again to rotate the autumn and winter vegetables and fruits.

The sun has been shining these past few days, so I turned over the soil, let it dry in the sun, and sprinkled quicklime on it for disinfection and pest control. I also need to clean and disinfect the chicken coop area.

The men tilled the land, while the women gathered to cultivate seeds and plan the crops to be planted in autumn and winter. The island has mild and humid autumn and winter seasons, and the winter temperature rarely drops below zero. Most cold-resistant vegetables can successfully overwinter, which means that as long as the vegetable garden is well managed, there will be fresh green vegetables throughout the winter.

“If we spend the winter on the island, we won’t have to eat radishes, cabbage, and potatoes!” Li Jinling was excited to hear that vegetables could be grown here in winter. After all, nobody wants to eat radishes and cabbage every day. “It was so cold back home at the beginning of the year. I heard that the coldest temperature was more than minus 20 degrees Celsius. We would shiver when we went out.”

"Sister-in-law, let's plant more."

Qin Xiangxiang said, "There's no need to plant so many. Everyone around us is a family, and we definitely can't eat all the vegetables we grow. We can share them with each other. There are so many varieties."

"Planting too densely can attract pests and also result in poor nutrition."

Qin Xiangxiang plans to plant some spinach, bok choy, romaine lettuce, radishes, peas, garlic, green beans, and other leafy greens. She says she will only plant a small amount, but she wants to eat quite a variety of things.

However, vegetables like bok choy, Chinese cabbage, and romaine lettuce can be sown and eaten continuously... You can sow a large batch of seedlings, and once they grow, you can pick out any misshapen or poorly growing bok choy or Chinese cabbage. Seedlings that have only grown for a few days are edible. You can pick some fresh ones every day to cook noodles or stir-fry some vegetables. You can sow them in batches, sow more when you're done eating them, and sow more when you're done eating them. You can even sow more in winter.

Li Jianzhi: "Let's take some photos after we've finished turning over the vegetable garden."

Lai Yiu-wai: "???"

Li Jinling: "???"

Li Jianzhi felt like he was playing a real-life version of Grain Story. The spring and summer crops had passed, and autumn and winter were approaching, beginning another chapter. This was an end, but also a beginning.

"No, no, no, I won't take pictures. I've long since given up my hoe. Don't take pictures of me carrying a hoe." Li Yaowei looked down at his mud-covered trousers, most of which were rolled up, wondering what he was getting out of watching the spectacle.

Li Jianzhi said expressionlessly, "If you're not going to take pictures, you're in charge of holding the camera. Film is expensive, so hold it carefully when you take the pictures."

"Think about it, come here, let's take a picture together as a couple."

Little Fatty: "Daddy, I want one too!"

Lai Yiu-wai: "..."

Lai Yiu-wai gritted his teeth: "No way, I'm going to shoot too! Kin-chi, how many frames of film do you have left?"

"New roll of film, sixteen photos."

"Brother! Brother! I want to take a solo photo."

Qin Xiangxiang was already showing her pregnancy, her belly was slightly protruding. Because she was thin, it was quite obvious, which made her look even more plump and beautiful, with a bright and elegant oval face.

By this time, her hair had grown long enough to be braided and hung down her chest, or pinned up. Her face had a beautiful shape, and when her hair was all up, revealing her entire face, she looked even better than with short hair or loose hair. Her pretty face was stunningly beautiful.

Li Jianzhi adored the way her hair was styled and wished he could comb it for her every day. However, his wife was too lazy. Every day when he got up to leave, Xianyu Xiangxiang was still sleeping in bed. Li Jianzhi couldn't bear to wake her, so he could only leave a kiss on her cheek before leaving.

The couple took several photos together. Li Yaowei took photos with the camera and told Liu Xiaoyun that he also wanted to save money to buy a camera. Liu Xiaoyun said that it was not necessary and that they could rent a camera from Zhuang Xiaoman in the courtyard.

"Mom! I found an egg!"

Qin Xiangxiang and Li Jianzhi were shocked: "!"

These hens are only four months old. Normally, hens don't start laying eggs until five or six months old. The couple estimated that they wouldn't be able to eat the eggs laid by their hens until at least September or October, but now the hens have started laying eggs ahead of schedule.

"Just one egg?"

"Flat and tiny egg."

"It really is a freshly laid egg!"

Qin Xiangxiang was overjoyed, holding the tiny egg in her hands. After waiting for months, she was finally getting an egg laid by her own hen! "Should we eat this egg? Or save it as a souvenir?"

Li Jianzhi said indulgently, "Let's take a picture as a memento."

Lai Yiu-wai, watching from behind, almost wanted to gouge his eyes out when he saw the couple taking two photos of an egg, since he had only taken one solo photo. Damn, people are inferior to "eggs".

"Li Jianzhi, you have new rolls of film?!"

Li Jianzhi: "I've always had some, I keep it in my pocket."

Lai Yiu-wai: "???!!!" He had just thought that there were only a dozen or so photos, and that he and his wife had taken up three of the other person's photos, but then, holy crap, this guy...

Li Jianzhi ignored him and said, "Wife, next time we register, tell the registrar that our family now has five members, so we can raise five chickens. We'll go buy a brood of chicks."

Qin Xiangxiang suddenly realized that Li Jinling was staying here temporarily and was registered as one person. In addition, her unborn child could also be counted as one person. So their family had five people and could raise five chickens.

They should buy some chicks again. Then they'll have five hens. If they can lay one or two eggs every day, they can collect more than a dozen eggs in two or three days.

"Our hen laid an egg, so let's celebrate with some scrambled eggs with chives."