Chapter 46
A week later, the Ava Corps approved the farm plan proposed by Yang Qiujin.
Secretary Zhai told Yang Qiujin the news, and she was so happy that she almost jumped up.
Secretary Zhai said: "Don't be too happy too soon. Our farm has limited funds. The funds allocated to you for running a farm are not much. You have to weigh and estimate the cost of running a farm yourself."
"Secretary Zhai, how much money did the farm give me?" Yang Qiujin asked tentatively.
Secretary Zhai stretched out his finger and made a sign, "One thousand yuan."
Yang Qiujin calculated in her mind what she could get with one thousand yuan. Nowadays, a piglet that is over sixty days old costs about twenty yuan. There are few pigs raised in border areas, so if she wants to raise pigs, she has to import them from other places. When the transportation fee is included, it will cost at least twenty-five yuan per pig.
Fortunately, the cooking company of the border defense department raises pigs. When the time comes, we can just buy four pigs from the border defense department without having to pay extra money. It costs 80 yuan to buy a pig.
Chicken, duck and goose eggs cost about 6-7 cents each, live roosters cost 0.6 cents per pound, hens cost one yuan per pound, and live ducks and geese cost 0.55 yuan per pound. Yang Qiujin planned to buy breeding eggs and old hens to hatch chicks, ducks and geese. Breeding eggs cost one cent each, and old hens are more expensive than ordinary live chickens. According to the market price of 0.12 cents per pound, an old hen weighing about five pounds costs six yuan. She planned to buy one thousand breeding eggs to hatch them herself, which cost her three hundred yuan.
The market price of freshwater fish is 0.25-0.4 per pound, depending on the species. You can buy a large bucket of fish fry for ten yuan and put it in the pond. She plans to buy four or five buckets, and the fish fry will cost about fifty yuan.
It cost 430 yuan to buy these, and there was 5t70 yuan left, which was not enough to build the farm. Bricks cost one cent and tiles cost three cents. It would cost at least one thousand yuan to build a breeding greenhouse, not to mention hiring workers to repair the greenhouse and dig an artificial pond.
After thinking it over, Yang Qiujin's brows furrowed tightly.
Secretary Zhai seemed to see what she wanted to say, and said bluntly: "The farm's harvest has not been very good in recent years, so don't think this one thousand yuan is too little. The manpower for building the farm will be the responsibility of the farm militia. You just need to choose a good location and they will go over to build it for you. Now everyone's conditions are difficult. If you want to build a farm, just use clay to build a mud house. When you make money, it won't be too late to use the money to build a better red brick farm."
The intention is to obtain the maximum profit with the minimum cost, and the wool comes from the sheep.
Yang Qiujin had no choice but to ride around the site, and finally she picked a high hillside location near the Tianhe River and said to Secretary Zhai, "This is it."
Secretary Zhai gave an order and summoned two companies of militiamen, who rushed straight to the river. Under the guidance of Yang Qiujin, they were divided into two groups. One group was responsible for digging clay and building a row of wide, square pig pens, chicken pens and goose pens. The pigpen walls were only 1.5 meters high, and wooden and thatched houses were built on the walls to facilitate ventilation.
The chicken and duck pens were built as a whole, with ventilation windows on all four sides. Then, about 100 meters away from the pig pen, five earthen houses were built for the workers' accommodation.
The other part was to dig a pond of about ten acres, dig a ditch and build a canal next to the pond to bring water into the pond, and then lay power lines to provide electricity for the farm.
More than 200 people were all commanded by Yang Qiujin. They were all controlled by her and had no complaints, because if the farm made a profit, they would also be the beneficiaries.
There is strength in numbers. The farm was completed in less than two days. Now all that is left is recruiting employees and purchasing chickens, ducks, goose eggs and the like before work can begin.
Farm workers came to Yang Qiujin one after another and asked her to recruit their family members. Yang Qiujin said bluntly: "Secretary Zhai has given me a limited amount of money. I can't recruit many workers at the moment. If I want to recruit people, I have to recruit hardworking people. The salary is calculated as temporary workers, about 20 yuan per month. When the farm makes money, the salary will be increased to that of regular workers. If your family members really want to work here, you can ask your family members to come to my place to take the exam around 8 o'clock tomorrow morning."
Working at a farm only paid temporary workers and required passing an exam to be hired. Many people backed out, and fewer and fewer people came to Yang Qiujin.
Yang Qiujin didn't care. She counted on her fingers how many days it would take for Professor Zheng, Professor Cai, Yang Qiuyue and others to arrive at the border after receiving the letter.
Three days ago, Professor Zheng and Professor Cai received a letter from Yang Qiujin. When they saw the farm's permission to move to the border, they cried excitedly.
They had been labeled as rightists since the 1950s and had been tortured in the Vanguard Brigade for more than ten years. Now they could finally leave here and go to the distant frontier to prove their abilities. After crying without caring about their image, the two of them immediately took their certificates to the brigade to get a certificate of permission to move out.
The team leader and other cadres ran back and forth between the commune with suspicious looks, and called the Tianshan Farm on the border. After receiving a positive response, the team leader said, "You are lucky," and reluctantly stamped the official seal and issued the certificate to the two people.
The two of them trembled as they put away all the certificates and took their few luggages. They went to the county to meet up with Yang Qiuyue who was also planning to go to the border. The three of them boarded the train to the border together.
Yang Qiujin's mother-in-law and mother also received Yang Qiujin's letter. Yang Qiujin asked Li Xiu'e when she would go to the border, and Chen Tianyou missed her very much.
Li Xiu'e was illiterate, and as she listened to the team leader reading the letter, tears streamed down her face. She had been separated from her grandson and daughter-in-law for nearly half a year, and she missed them more than anyone else.
But she also knew the unit's policy on accompanying the troops, and didn't want to cause trouble for her son and daughter-in-law now, so she wiped her tears and asked the captain to help her write a reply letter, saying that she was reluctant to leave her hometown and her old man, and would not leave for the time being. She also said that the eldest brother and his wife had been very good to her recently. Not only did they not make things difficult for her, but the eldest brother's wife also cooked a meal for her for the first time when she saw that she accidentally sprained her ankle a few days ago.
In the end, he repeated the same old thing, asking his son and daughter-in-law to work harder and give birth to another child for Tianyou to keep him company. If Yang Qiujin became pregnant, he would clean up and take care of her.
After receiving her daughter's letter, Wu Shulian's reaction was completely different. When she saw that her daughter had become the director of the farm, she was extremely happy and praised her daughter's success to everyone she met. As for her daughter's advice to her to divorce, she just pretended not to see it.
When Yang Chenghua heard that Yang Qiujin had made progress, he pouted and asked Wu Shulian to write a letter to Yang Qiujin, asking her to give her more allowance every month instead of just mailing her three or five yuan every month. Even if he scrounge it out, it was not enough to fill his stomach.
Since entering the frontier, Yang Qiujin discussed with Chen Shengqing and began to mail ten yuan each to Liu Xiu'e and Wu Shulian every month as living expenses.
Ten yuan was enough for a family of four to have good food and drink for a whole month. In order to prevent Wu Shulian from being gullible and letting Yang Chenghua squander her money, Yang Qiujin would mail the money to Wu Shulian's personal passbook every time and let Wu Shulian tell Yang Chenghua that she would only give her five yuan a month for living expenses.
Wu Shulian was relatively obedient on this point. She knew that after Yang Qiujin left, there would be no one to support her and she had to live on her own. She also kept telling Yang Chenghua that she only had five yuan.
After hearing what Yang Chenghua said, the good-tempered Wu Shulian rarely quarreled with Yang Chenghua.
The eldest daughter was far away in the borderland, living a hard life with her back to the sun and her face to the Gobi Desert. The second daughter followed her to the borderland. This middle-aged man still wanted to exploit his two daughters. If she didn't show him a little resistance, he would really think she was easy to bully.
On the other side, after the farm was built according to Yang Qiujin's requirements, Yang Qiujin rode back to the troops and went to the border defense department to buy piglets.
The quartermaster took Yang Qiujin to the Border Defense Department's breeding farm at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains and said, "Comrade Yang, you are really lucky. Last month, an old sow we raised gave birth to ten piglets, seven of which survived, including one sow and six boars. The boars were all castrated. If you want to buy a sow, it's not impossible, but the price of a sow may be higher."
"It's okay if it's a bit higher. I want that little sow. Chief steward, when your sows give birth to piglets in the future, please remember to leave me a little boar. We can use it for breeding in our farm." Yang Qiujin knew that if it weren't for the relationship with Chen Shengqing, the chief steward would never sell the piglets to outsiders, so she didn't bargain.
The quartermaster was also a straightforward person. "Okay, I'll leave one for you when the time comes."
In the border areas at the end of July, it is the season with green grass, blooming flowers and fiery red maple leaves.
Yang Qiujin followed the quartermaster and saw wild flowers of various colors all over the mountains and countless bees and butterflies flying among the flowers. She marveled at the beauty of the desolate frontier. She stepped carefully on the half-calf-high weeds for fear of stepping on the beautiful flowers.
The border defense department's pig farm is right next to the horse farm. It is a red brick pigpen with about ten rooms, each of which houses two pigs. When the fat pigs heard someone coming, they thought there was something to eat and started grunting in the pens.
Yang Qiujin followed the quartermaster and stopped in front of a pigpen about 1.5 meters high. In the pen, a white-skinned red pig was lying on its side, and seven little piglets were lying on it, grunting and eating milk.
The little guys were very energetic while drinking milk. Yang Qiujin looked at them from the pig pen and asked, "Chief Steward, what breed are they?"
"It is a new breed of white-skinned red pigs introduced from Europe and other places, and then crossed with our local black pigs. It is called Harbin Fourth Generation White-skinned Red Pigs for short. Because it has been improved after four generations of crossbreeding from Harbin, it is easier to raise than our black pigs and grows more meat. More than ten years ago, we specially introduced this pig breed from Harbin."
"I see. I'll give you the money. If you have time, can you ask the army's transport team to help me deliver the piglets, as well as the chickens, ducks, geese, eggs, and old hens I bought from you, to our farm? The transportation price is negotiable."
The border defense department raised poultry, but not many. Yang Qiujin was only given about 100 eggs of each kind, and there were only five old hens. This was far from the number Yang Qiujin wanted to buy. She planned to buy some eggs from the wives of soldiers who raised chickens and ducks in the family compound after returning to the compound. If that was still not enough, she would go to the homes of ethnic minorities in the town or nearby to buy them.
Yang Qiujin gave the money readily, and the quartermaster was not one to shy away, so he immediately agreed to have the military truck of the Logistics Department send the money to Tianshan Farm early the next morning.
After the deal was done, Yang Qiujin was about to go back when the quartermaster called her, "The horse ranch is not far from here. Captain Chen is training new cavalry at the ranch. Why don't you go and take a look?"
During this period, Yang Qiujin was busy dealing with farm affairs. She was busy from morning to night and had no time to spend with her husband and children. She basically left at dawn and returned home at dark. After washing up, she fell asleep.
After hearing this, she also wanted to see what men look like when they are working, "Can outsiders watch them when they are training?"
The quartermaster replied: "It's not regular training, just horse riding training. You are a military wife, not an outsider, so you can watch."
Yang Qiujin finally felt relieved, for she was afraid that she would be caught as a spy if she went to watch the troop training without permission.
The quartermaster led Yang Qiujin over a small hill and came to a wide and vast horse ranch surrounded by railings.
At this moment, there were more than fifty soldiers with guns on their backs riding on horses in the stable. They held the reins with one hand, urging their horses to gallop on the green grass, while with the other hand they quickly turned the gun to the front of their bodies, pulled the trigger, aimed, and shot at several human targets standing at the edge of the stable.
They were heroic and fired in one go. Yang Qiujin put her hands over her eyes to block the scorching sun and squinted to find Chen Shengqing.
After watching for a long time, I found Chen Shengqing on the red horse at the back. He seemed to be observing the riding and shooting proficiency of the new recruits in front.
There were new recruits who had just joined the company and did not know how to ride horses very well. The horses galloped and jumped everywhere, trying to throw off the people on their backs. The new recruits were unable to control the horses and were in danger on their backs.
When he saw it, he immediately rode Zhuifeng and drove side by side with the recruit, then jumped off his horse with a thrilling move, jumped onto the recruit's horse, held the reins tightly, helped the recruit tame the running horse, and waited until the horse calmed down before he got off the horse.
Yang Qiujin was sweating for Chen Shengqing. Just when she was about to call him, another recruit got into trouble. It was his first time firing a gun, and his hands were shaking, so he didn't aim at the target. The bullet grazed the face of an old squad leader, scaring the old squad leader and several horses nearby, who jumped around in panic. Chen Shengqing couldn't help but do his "tricks" again, jumping back and forth on the horse's back.
By the time Chen Shengqing had finally calmed the frightened horses and pulled the new recruits down to the field, he had been scolding them for a long time, and Yang Qiujin was almost dizzy from the sun.
Chen Shengqing seemed to have finally noticed her presence. He tilted his head to look at her and walked towards her step by step.
He was wearing a military officer's uniform, black leather boots, and had a gun slung across his back. He had handsome features, and a pair of thick sword-like eyebrows that set off his dark and deep eyes. As he walked towards her step by step, the sharp edge in his eyes was so intense that Yang Qiujin felt her heart tremble. She always felt that in the next second, he would scold her like he was scolding a new recruit.
"Why are you here?"
Sure enough, the man walked up to her and spoke coldly.
Yang Qiujin crossed her arms and snorted, "I came to buy some piglets and to see you. What's the matter? I can't come to see you?"
Today she was wearing a light blue short-sleeved, slanted-collared dress and morning glory-patterned trousers of the same color. Her hair was tied into a ponytail and she wore a willow straw hat on her head. She was standing next to a horse stable surrounded by flowers and grass, her clothes and trousers fluttering in the wind. She looked as graceful and charming as the flowers blooming everywhere on the horse farm.
Chen Shengqing's eyes softened. "The sun is so scorching. If you are not afraid of the sun, you can look at me as long as you want."
For several months, Yang Qiujin had been applying all kinds of whitening creams and sunscreens desperately. No matter how hot it was, she would wear long sleeves and a gauze scarf around her neck to keep her skin white and tender.
However, now is one of the hottest times of the year, and Yang Qiujin really doesn't want to wear long sleeves and sweat all over, so she wears short sleeves and a hat during this period, but her skin doesn't get much darker.
Under the fiery red sunlight, Yang Qiujin's fair skin was tanned and flushed, her full forehead was covered with sweat, and a few strands of her hair were wet with sweat and stuck to her face. Her little face, which was flushed by the heat, looked like a red apple.
Yang Qiujin fanned herself with her hands and said, "Then I'd better go home. I'm the chief of a field now and have free time to move around. The weather is so hot. I'll make a pot of mung bean soup with cold water, and you can drink it when you get home."
In this situation, she still wanted to make mung bean soup for him. Chen Shengqing's eyes became even gentler. "Be careful on your way back."
"Well, see you at home."
As soon as Yang Qiujin left, several new soldiers came up to her, "Captain, that's my sister-in-law. She's so pretty, she looks like an 18-year-old girl."
"That's right. If we didn't know that my sister-in-law is about the same age as the battalion commander, who would know that my sister-in-law has given birth to a child?"
"If I had a daughter-in-law like my sister-in-law, I wouldn't want her to run around in the hot sun. It would be better for her to stay at home and take care of the children."
The recruits were talking fearlessly, and the squad leader who was in charge of leading them was raising his eyebrows. Don’t these fearless guys know that Captain Chen is known as the Cold-Faced Devil?
Normally, he trained his soldiers like dogs, and all the soldiers in the battalion were afraid of him.
These recruits dared to talk about his family in front of him. They must be tired of living.
As expected, Chen Shengqing turned around, looked at this group of ignorant recruits, and said sternly, "You guys are free, right? Get on horseback and practice archery for another two hours."
"ah?"
The recruits were stunned and wailed.
They had already been riding on horseback for a long time, and their thighs and buttocks were rubbed so hard by the saddles that they were in great pain. If they had to continue riding for another two hours, it would be the end of them.
Yang Qiujin rode Benying back to her family compound. It was still early and the house was quiet. She tied up the horse and looked around. When she didn't see Chen Tianyou, she called out across the wall, "Xueqing, is my Tianyou at your house?"
The school has been on summer vacation for more than half a month. Yang Qiujin and Chen Shengqing are both busy, and there is no one to take care of the children during the day, so they are basically entrusted to Liang Xueqing next door and Zhao Erfeng, who is also entangled with the children and cannot get away.
Liang Xueqing heard the sound and came out of the house. Seeing her, she shook her head and said, "He was doing homework with Songyue and the others at my house in the morning. In the afternoon, he went out to play with Songyang and a few children from Zhao's family. He hasn't come back yet."
Yang Qiujin was not surprised. "Boys can't sit still. As long as they don't leave the army and don't do bad things, it doesn't matter if they run around."
Liang Xueqing thought the same. "I don't know why, but Songyang has a completely opposite personality to his sister. His sister stays at home doing homework and looking at little people, but he is just like Tianyou, restless and running around. I looked around but couldn't see them."
Yang Qiujin said, "Among the girls in our family, Songyue is the most sensible and obedient. If I had a daughter as worry-free as Songyue, I would wake up laughing in my dreams."
Liang Xueqing smiled and said, "That's not easy. You and Captain Chen are still young. You should hurry up and have one or two children. If you have a daughter, maybe she can be like Songyue."
Yang Qiujin thought that was too difficult. She had deliberately teased the man many times in recent days, and many times the man had already pulled out his gun, but he still refrained from touching her. She didn't understand what he was insisting on. Recently, she had given up teasing the man and let him do whatever he wanted.
As the two were chatting, a group of muddy children came running back from the main road of the courtyard.
As soon as they saw Yang Qiujin and Liang Xueqing standing and talking outside the door, two of the rascals turned around and tried to run away.
"Chen Tianyou, stop right there!" Yang Qiujin grabbed Chen Tianyou's slippery arm and said through gritted teeth, "Didn't I tell you to stay in the family yard and play with Dadan, Songyang and the others? Where have you been to end up like this?"
"We went to the Tianshan River in the north." Chen Tianyou was too guilty to look at her directly, and he pushed the muddy clothes in front of her. "Look, mom, these are wild duck eggs I found by the river. Big Brother Dan said they are delicious if fried."
Li Dadan was standing behind Chen Tianyou, his clothes also covered in mud, holding a bag of wild duck eggs. "Auntie Yang, these wild duck eggs are so delicious when used to make cakes and dishes. I go there every year and my mom never says anything to me."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Erfeng came over from the east in a hurry and stretched out his hand to pinch Li Dadan's ear. "You little bastard, it's fine if you go to the river to touch wild duck eggs by yourself, but why do you bring Tianyou and Songyang with you? The water of Tianshan River is fast and fierce, and there are so many hollow grass bushes by the river. What if they miss a step and fall into the water? I will beat you to death, you bastard. I won't take the good ones with me, but only the bad ones."
"The boys in our border defense force go to touch wild duck eggs every spring, summer and autumn. Tianyou and Songyang are children from our military compound. If they don't have the courage to go with me to touch wild duck eggs, they will be laughed at by other boys. I am doing this for their own good." Li Dadan cried out in a groaning voice, looking unconvinced.
"Hey, you little bastard, you still think you're right!" Zhao Erfeng slapped Li Dadan on the butt. "How old are they? If they fall into the river, it's impossible to save them, and you're still arguing with me."
She raised her hand to hit him again, but Yang Qiujin grabbed her arm and said, "Okay, Sister Zhao, boys are naughty. It's summer vacation now, and they can't stay idle at home. Tianyou can go if he wants. Just be careful."
Liang Xueqing also said: "Yes, sister-in-law, don't hit Dadan, he means well, at most you can just not let Songyang go next time."
Chen Tianyou and Wang Songyang both wanted to refute, but Yang Qiujin glared at them fiercely and said, "Stop talking nonsense and come home with me to take a shower, or I will punish you."
Zhao Erfeng said embarrassedly, "I'm sorry, both of you. I'll take good care of the kids when I get home and make sure he doesn't take your kids to the river again."
Yang Qiujin smiled and did not respond. Children are grown up and are out of control. Their legs are on their bodies. The more you restrict them, the more they want to go. It is better to talk to the children about the dangers and let them remember. Then they may go less often.
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