"call……"
A gust of wind blew by, and Lu Fangfang immediately felt much cooler.
Seeing Zhuang Mingcheng fanning himself vigorously with a palm-leaf fan, she said with a smile, "Alright, we appreciate your kindness, but you should go out now, or you'll end up getting heatstroke yourself."
"It's okay, you go about your business, I can handle the heat."
Zhuang Mingcheng shook his head and continued to fan the two of them vigorously.
Fifteen minutes later, Lu Fangfang and Wang Shufen were no longer sweating much, and the two quickly picked out the fertilized eggs.
Well, as for Zhuang Mingcheng standing to the side, he was already sweating profusely.
Hearing the sound of sweat dripping down her face, Wang Shufen felt a little embarrassed. "Xiao Zhuang, you should go out now. My sister and I don't feel hot anymore."
"It's okay, I can handle the heat."
Zhuang Mingcheng wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and continued to be stubborn.
Lu Fangfang rolled her eyes, stood up, and pushed her silly husband out.
Heatstroke is no small matter, and this person was fanning themselves so hard; it's no wonder they got hot.
Standing at the door, she stretched out her hand to the foolish man, "Don't try to be a hero, give me the palm-leaf fan."
Zhuang Mingcheng smiled and left the two palm-leaf fans to his wife.
He was soaked to the bone, so he went to wash himself in the stream, and then came back to think about connecting the electrical wires.
If the farm had electricity, my wife and sister-in-law Shufen wouldn't have to work so hard.
After a while, Hao Dazhuang returned on his bicycle, carrying a wooden box on the back.
Zhuang Mingcheng called out to the soldiers to eat popsicles, took a few for himself, and quickly went to the incubation room.
"Sister Shufen, Fangfang, take a break before you continue. I've asked someone to go to the commune to buy popsicles and ice cream."
Lu Fangfang's eyes lit up, and she quickly took it.
These were indeed tough times, but popsicles and ice cream were still available, something she had almost forgotten about.
She took a lick and realized it was a creamy ice cream bar with a very strong milky flavor, probably made with real cream.
Across from them, Wang Shufen also took a bite, but neither of them seemed inclined to stop, their hands never ceasing their work.
"Mingcheng, how much is this ice cream?"
"Yours is a large cream ice cream, so it's a bit more expensive, one cent a stick."
Lu Fangfang licked it and thought it was alright. If this were in later times, it would cost at least ten yuan.
She glanced at Zhuang Mingcheng's hand and asked curiously, "What about the popsicle you were eating?"
"A large popsicle with white sugar, three cents."
Zhuang Mingcheng licked the popsicle, a faint sweetness lingering in his mouth.
Lu Fangfang smiled and shook her head. She chased Zhuang Mingcheng away, licking her ice cream as she continued picking out the hatching eggs.
With ice cream in her mouth, she felt much cooler and didn't feel so uncomfortable staying indoors.
...
At noon, Gao Dajiang came to take a look at the incubation room.
Seeing the two of them working so hard in the hut, selecting hatching eggs, he said with emotion, "Sister-in-law, Comrade Lu, you two have really worked hard."
"It's nothing, it's just a hot topic, nothing strenuous."
While the group leader was there, Lu Fangfang mentioned that she was recruiting Sister Shufen to be an egg-hatching technician at the breeding farm.
Wang Shufen looked at Gao Dajiang nervously from the side.
"Comrade Xiao Lu, you can make the decision about the farm yourself."
"Commander, what about the salary..."
Gao Dajiang hesitated for a moment before speaking, "The farm hasn't been set up yet, so the wages won't be much. How about twenty yuan a month for now?"
"Okay, okay, okay."
Wang Shufen nodded quickly; she was already very satisfied with the twenty yuan salary.
Lu Fangfang was also very happy to hear this.
The salary was only twenty yuan, which was the treatment of an apprentice, but she believed that things would get better and better once the farm was established.
Gao Dajiang stayed for a while before leaving the incubation room, as it was too hot inside.
Instead of rushing back, he took another stroll around the construction site.
The adobe bricks made a few days ago have now dried in the sun, and the soldiers are using them, mixed with yellow mud, to build up the breeding sheds.
A breeding shed that is 15 meters long and 5 meters wide is quite a sight for this day and age.
"Xiao Zhuang, make sure it's built solidly. It's cold here in winter, so make the earthen walls thicker and leave a flue in the middle for heating. We can't let the quails get cold, and we need to do it quickly so as not to delay next month's training."
"OK."
Zhuang Mingcheng nodded and agreed.
...
In the incubation room, Lu Fangfang and Wang Shufen didn't finish picking out more than 500 quail eggs until after 1 p.m.
Including the eggs they had kept at home over the past few days, they had collected a total of more than three hundred fertilized eggs.
They didn't even bother with lunch. The two lit the earthen stove, and once it was hot, they replaced it with coal briquettes to burn slowly.
Lu Fangfang laid a cotton quilt in the incubator, and then took a thermometer and measured the temperature on the quilt.
"Thirty-nine degrees, Sister Shufen, let's release the eggs."
Wang Shufen took a closer look. She was a little uneasy about this new thermometer, so she reached out and touched it herself.
The temperature on the blanket was just right.
She nodded, picked up a basket of quail eggs, and carefully placed them on the quilt.
After a while, the two of them spread out more than three hundred fertilized eggs evenly.
This incubation tool is quite large; it's not even fully covered with three hundred quail eggs. Lu Fangfang estimates that it can incubate a maximum of around five hundred eggs.
She picked up the quilt and covered herself with it, then brought in the coal stove from outside.
She had left a smoke vent in the room beforehand, so she put the stove in and then checked the thermometer on the wall.
It was already hot inside, and with the addition of two stoves, the indoor temperature soared to over 30 degrees Celsius. Anyone who stayed there for too long would definitely get heatstroke.
Lu Fangfang pulled Wang Shufen along and quickly went outside.
"Sister Shufen, you go back and eat first. I'll stay here and keep watch."
"Okay, sis, I'll take your place later."
Feeling uncomfortable from being soaked in sweat, Wang Shufen wiped her brow and headed towards the family compound.
Lu Fangfang went to the river to wash her hands, and then went back to the incubator to take a look.
The temperature in the incubator was almost forty degrees Celsius. Lu Fangfang quickly sprinkled some water on the quail eggs and then took out a piece of coal from the stove below.
Seeing that the temperature remained at 38 degrees Celsius, she finally felt relieved and went outside.
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