After finishing the meal, I quickly tidied up the kitchen, checked that the fire in the stove was out, and turned off the main power switch before setting off.

It took three and a half hours to reach Liujiatun, and it was almost noon. As soon as the car stopped in front of the brigade headquarters, Liu Maocai, Wang Hongxi, and more than ten others arrived.

Seeing the large truck behind them, everyone finally felt relieved.

The driver jumped out, and Wang Hongxi greeted him warmly. "Comrade, go home and have a meal and rest first. You should be going back tomorrow at the earliest."

"Thank you, fellow villager. I've already eaten, but I'm very tired. I'll stay here tonight."

"How could that be? You've been working so hard for us. Come on, I'll take you home to rest."

"Fellow villager, you can unload the truck tomorrow, there's no rush."

"No need, we'll unload tonight and start planting tomorrow morning. We'll have to unload sooner or later anyway."

Zhang Hongmei came over and asked, "Comrade, is this fertilizer a base fertilizer or a top dressing?"

"Three tons of base fertilizer and two tons of top dressing, all labeled with numbers. Twenty bags per ton, a total of one hundred bags."

"Okay, thank you, comrade. You should go and get some rest. Driving such a long distance by yourself these past two days must be tiring, and you have to drive again tomorrow."

Wang Hongxi took the driver back to her home, where everything was arranged.

Zhang Hongmei took the flashlight from Liu Maocai's hand. "Uncle, let me help you light the way. Let's separate the two types of fertilizer by hand so we don't use the wrong ones later."

"Alright, I was going to ask your third aunt to come over, but she can't read, so you can come instead. Hongmei, aren't you tired?"

"I'm not tired. I waited in the car all day today and didn't dare to move, for fear of missing the fertilizer plant's truck."

Then another dozen or so people arrived, and these twenty-odd people finished unloading the truck in an hour.

Zhang Hongmei refused Liu Maocai's offer to take her home. When she arrived, Wang Ying and Wang Xinyi were waiting for her. Seeing that she had returned safely, they went to sleep.

The next day at four o'clock, we heard the bell. Because we were unsure last night whether the fertilizer would arrive, we hadn't decided whether to plant the crops that day. In order to save time, we could only ring the bell in the morning.

Zhang Hongmei didn't delay, and Wang Ying and the other woman quickly arrived at the edge of the field.

Almost every household sent someone over, and everyone gathered together. Zhang Hongmei didn't hear anyone complain.

“I asked the people at the fertilizer plant last night, and they said that the base fertilizer won’t damage the seeds. Just plant it like you would when planting sorghum. But we’ve never used it before, so we agreed to use as little fertilizer as possible, even less than when planting sorghum. You can try this job first, Maocai’s family. The people who used to lead the animals can still lead the animals, the people who used to hold the plow can still hold the plow, and the people who planted the seeds can still plant them. It’s dawn now, so let’s start. The cooks should be delivered before 7:30.”

After Wang Hongxi finished assigning the tasks, Zhang Hongmei looked up at the sky. "It's not even dawn yet!" she thought. "You're the leader, whatever you say goes."

The old farmer was really experienced. Once the fertilizer and seeds arrived, he would harness the old ox and the harvest would be ready soon.

Zhang Hongmei and several other women followed Li Cuihua, watching her spread fertilizer. At first, she was a little clumsy, but she became very skilled after walking just one row.

Then the remaining two cows were followed by the fertilizer spreaders. The seed planters also immediately followed.

Seeing that there was nothing for her to do here, Zhang Hongmei pulled Wang Ying and the other woman to the cafeteria, where they would just be doing odd jobs.

With only three old oxen, it's unrealistic to expect them to work quickly. Soon, the people standing nearby will have to cover the soil and pull the rollers. There are no idle people in farming.

"Wang Ying, let's go pull the rollers in a bit. We can do this job."

"OK."

It wasn't even seven o'clock yet. The fertilizer delivery driver came looking for us.

"Comrade, have you rested enough? Please sit down. I'll serve you some rice. After you finish eating, the accountant will bring you the money, and then you can go home."

"Thank you, comrade."

"We should be thanking you. It's such a long way, and the road is difficult to travel, yet you still managed to deliver it on time. That's the greatest help you can give us. Please don't be so polite."

This morning's breakfast was steamed buns made with freshly made dough. Although the bran hadn't been removed, it was still dough. The steamed buns looked dark, but they were very fluffy and had a pleasant wheat aroma.

Mixed wild vegetables, pickled red vegetables, and stewed dried pumpkin.

"Wang Ying, go to the field and find the accountant. Tell him that the comrades from the fertilizer plant have woken up."

"I understand," Wang Ying said and left.

"Comrade, the food in your village is pretty good, isn't it? There are even steamed buns to eat."

"Hehe, not bad, no one starved to death. This isn't flour made from freshly harvested wheat; it smells delicious."

"Yes, I've been to many places. Although there was rain in the second half of last year, many places didn't have wheat seeds, so the supply of wheat flour this year won't be too much."

"I see. What kind of grains are grown in other places?" Zhang Hongmei was really curious. Didn't the government distribute grain seeds?

"There's not much of anything. The seeds the government distributed haven't even been planted. In some places, people are starving and are eating whatever they can find. You can't blame them, though; you can't just stand by and watch them starve to death, can you?"

"Sigh! It's tough for everyone. Our village is the same, but our village chief is very strict, which is how we managed to save our grain crops."

"Comrade, could you tell me how many bags of wheat you can sell me? Don't worry, I'll just keep them for my own family to eat."

"Okay, I'll go and talk to them. I also need to ask you for a favor. Could you please take two bags of wheat back to the leaders of your fertilizer factory for me? It's free; it's a token of our village's appreciation. Thank you for agreeing to give us fertilizer."

"Okay, then give me two hundred catties, I'll pay eight mao per catty, it's already one dollar and fifty cents on the black market now." The young man was a little embarrassed after saying that, and then said, "If you don't like it, I'll pay one dollar per catty."

"Hehe, I can't make that decision. When the accountant arrives, you can collect the money first, and I'll go ask for you right away. You'd better eat your fill and don't be shy!"

After Zhang Hongmei finished speaking, she went to the old lady's house, where the old lady was practicing Tai Chi in the yard.

"Grandma, how come I didn't know you knew Tai Chi?"

"You know everything? I get up at five every morning to practice Tai Chi, and you've never seen it, so how would you know?"

"That's true. By the way, Grandma, the driver said he wanted to buy 200 jin of wheat, and I told him to take 200 jin back to the leaders of the fertilizer plant as well."

“Okay, let’s do it this way. After Changlin pays the money, Maocai will weigh out four hundred catties of wheat.”

"Grandma, the driver just said that there's a very low wheat harvest this year. Do we still have to pay that much?"

"We'll see how things go. We'll try to keep our production figures a secret if we can, but there's nothing we can do if we can't hide them."