Chapter 71
After the New Year, Chen Shengqing's hands and feet were finally almost recovered and the plaster bandages could be removed.
Ji Mingchen examined him and said, "It would be best for you to stay at home for a while before doing anything else."
"Got it." Chen Shengqing agreed readily, then turned around and harnessed the carriage to send Yang Qiujin to work, and took Chen Tianyou to hunt rabbits.
The last time Chen Tianyou opened fire and robbed someone, it left some rifts between the father and son. Chen Shengqing felt it necessary to take the child to hunt rabbits to repair the relationship between father and son, so he agreed with Chen Tianyou early in the morning to take him to the Gobi Beach near the farm to hunt rabbits.
But when Wang Songyang came to play with Chen Tianyou, and heard that Chen Tianyou was going to hunt rabbits, he also said he wanted to go together. Similarly, Li Dadan, Li Sanni'er, Wang Songyue and a group of other children also clamored to go together.
So several children sat on the horse rack. In order to prevent Benying from having one horse unable to pull so many people, Chen Shengqing also harnessed his warhorse Zhuifeng as well.
A group of people arrived at the farm. Yang Qiujin went to the office for a meeting, while Chen Shengqing took the children and the three dogs, Lightning, Black Panther and Black Tiger, and the group walked towards the Gobi Beach.
The weather in northern Xinjiang is still cold in February, but compared with the winter before the Chinese New Year, it doesn't snow all the time now. Many hares and voles on the Gobi beach are ready to move in their holes.
The climate in northern Xinjiang in winter is no warmer than that in southern Xinjiang. Before Professor Zheng and others proposed building greenhouses for planting, the entire northern Xinjiang land was covered with ice and snow in winter. The winter wheat had finally grown to half a leg high, but was eaten by wild rabbits and voles who dug holes and ate the roots. The farm workers hated them so much that every winter they would organize people to catch rabbits and voles. If they caught too many rabbits and voles, they would be counted in centimeters.
The snow on the Gobi Desert is still very thick. Chen Shengqing, holding a rifle in his hands and wearing a pair of army green boots, walks forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow, following the lightning that is exploring the way ahead.
The children followed behind him, with Black Tiger and Black Panther walking on the left and right ten meters away from them, forming a triangle with Lightning who was leading the way in front.
In this way, if there is any emergency, they can attack the beast enemy in time and protect the children well.
Black Panther and Black Tiger are both large dogs. Wang Songyue saw them baring their teeth from time to time, revealing their sharp fangs. She followed Chen Tianyou fearfully, "Tianyou, are these two raised by your mother in a farm? They are so scary."
"Don't be afraid, they are smart and won't bite us. They will only protect us. Besides, if they really want to bite, I have a gun in my hand and will protect you."
With Chen Shengqing's permission, Chen Tianyou walked majestically behind his father, holding a gas gun in his hand, and the other children looked at him with envy.
Li Dadan said with envy, "Your father is really nice. He allowed you to open your breath and shoot. Unlike my father, he said that I was born in a military compound and I should be self-reliant, learn military boxing, learn to deploy troops, and serve the motherland in the future. But he only made a wooden gun for me to play with. It's not interesting at all."
Children in military compounds are influenced by their parents who are soldiers. Most boys like to imitate their fathers from childhood to adulthood, making one or two wooden guns, calling a bunch of friends, and playing a game of chasing the enemy.
For example, the gas and gun in Chen Tianyou's hand are only allowed to be used by children over 17 or 18 years old. The main reason is that they are afraid that their young children will be unable to control themselves and accidentally hurt others with gas or guns, causing unnecessary trouble.
Chen Tianyou said generously: "Okay, when I kill the rabbit, I will let you shoot twice to satisfy your pleasure."
"I want to have some fun shooting too." Wang Songyang said, raising his hand.
"I want one too. I want one too." Li Erni'er, Li Sanni'er, Li Tiedan and Li Goudan all said.
Chen Tianyou said: "Shoot, shoot. Each person can only shoot one gun. You cannot shoot at anyone, otherwise you will be disqualified from shooting."
The five children of the Li family rarely went out to play with other people. They were all very excited and said in unison: "One shot, one shot."
They soon arrived at their destination, an endless Gobi beach covered with thick snow, which looked no different from the outside.
Chen Shengqing stood there, looked in one direction for a while, then turned around and said, "Tianyou, in this case, can you see the rabbit hole and the vole hole?"
Chen Tianyou looked around and said, "Dad, I can't see."
"I'll teach you a method." Chen Shengqing pointed to a slightly higher snow pile in the east and said, "Rabbits don't hibernate that long. After the New Year, their fat is used up and they need to come out to look for food, so they push the snow in their holes outward. The irregular ones that are slightly higher than the normal snow are rabbit holes. The same goes for voles."
He paused and continued, "Of course, it's not easy to find a unique rabbit hole in the endless snow. At this time, we can use external forces."
"Let Lightning and the others go find it?" Chen Tianyou was very smart.
"Smart."
Chen Shengqing bent his little finger and whistled. The lightning that was originally heard in the snow piles everywhere pricked up their ears and looked at Chen Shengqing.
Chen Shengqing pointed to the east and said, "Go."
Lightning barked and ran out as fast as an arrow. Soon he stopped in the direction Chen Shengqing pointed. He sniffed the snow with his nose and started digging at the snow with his paws.
"Lightning has found its prey." Chen Tianyou was shocked and ran over with his gun raised.
Wang Songyue and a group of children also ran over.
When Chen Tianyou and several children ran to the location, they saw that it was difficult to clear the snow due to lightning, so all the children knelt in front of the snow and cleared it vigorously.
Chen Shengqing walked behind them and watched them gradually clear a hole. "Your movements are too big. The rabbit will be frightened and will not come out through this hole."
"What should we do, Uncle Chen?" Wang Songyue asked in a soft voice.
"It's easy. Just find some dry grass to start a fire and smoke the hole."
But there is a vast Gobi Desert with snow everywhere. Where can we find dry grass?
Chen Shengqing probably saw the children's confusion, smiled slightly, stamped his feet and said, "Next."
"Hey, there are dry grass under the snow? Is it true?" Li Dadan didn't believe it.
"My dad is right." Chen Tianyou dug directly into the snow next to the rabbit hole without any doubt.
After digging a pile, there was no dry grass, only some tender green grass. Chen Tianyou was a little disappointed and looked up at Chen Shengqing, "Dad, there is no dry grass down there?"
"This is the first lesson I'm teaching you today. Don't just believe what others say. You have to learn to judge and think for yourself. You can't assume there is dry grass underneath just because I say it is." While repairing the rift between father and son is important, the most important thing is that Chen Shengqing wants to use this incident to educate his child.
Chen Tianyou pouted and said, "But you are my father, the closest relative to me besides my mother and grandmother. If I doubt every word you say, won't you be sad?"
Chen Shengqing was stunned for a moment. "You are right. What Dad really wants to say is, don't trust others easily. Even if you are very familiar with this person, you should have your own thinking and judgment."
Chen Tianyou patted the snow on his hands and said, "Dad, you don't have to be like Li Dadan's father, who has to teach them everything before he feels that he has taught them well. Although I am a child, I know everything I should know. I will no longer be naughty and make trouble, and then let my mother clean up the mess and get angry and sad. I have grown up and know how to do things. You don't have to go to so much trouble to educate me. As long as you treat my mother well and make her happy, I promise you that I will never cause trouble for the family, okay?"
Chen Shengqing didn't expect that his thoughts were exposed by Chen Tianyou. He didn't feel angry at all. He just looked at Wang Songyang and other children who were digging snow and looking for dry grass nearby and said, "Don't cause trouble only when you have the ability to solve the problem. You are still a child. There are many things you can't solve by yourself. If you encounter a situation that you can't solve, you must tell your parents. Don't take it on yourself, so as not to cause a bigger problem."
"Got it." Chen Tianyou watched his friend digging the snow vigorously. He didn't have the heart to expose his father's lie. He turned around and looked at Chen Shengqing and said, "Dad, do you know? Every time you left home, Mom didn't say anything on the surface, but she was like grandma. She tossed and turned all night. I heard it all. During the time you were missing, Mom cried almost every night, and pretended to be a baby the next day. I feel so bad that you are taking care of me and grandma as if nothing has happened. Dad, I have seen how much my mom has devoted to you over the years. I dare say that no lesbian has devoted as much as my mom, and no one has suffered as much as my mom. You must be good to my mom. I only recognize my mom, not you. If you dare to betray my mom and bully her, I will definitely protect my mom with all my life and fight you. "
Chen Shengqing wanted to teach his son a lesson, but he was taught a lesson by his son instead. He immediately lost interest. "Even if Dad lets down everyone in the world, he will never let down your mother. She is my wife, your mother. I love her so much, how could I do something to let her down? I don't think there is any danger in this desert. You can hunt rabbits by yourselves. Be careful not to run under the feet of the world, and don't aim your anger or gun at others."
Chen Shengqing felt unhappy that his son did not support him, and he looked forward to the child in Yang Qiujin's arms more and more.
Everyone says that daughters are sweet little cotton-padded jackets, thoughtful, sensible and obedient. Wang Jianjun's daughter Wang Songyue next door is the best proof of this. He really hopes that Yang Qiujin can give him a daughter who will be considerate to him, an old father.
On the other side, after the meeting, Yang Qiujin was mysteriously dragged by Yu Cong onto a tractor and driven to the farm.
The wind on the road hurt my face. The tractor was shaking on the melting snow. Yang Qiujin covered her already pregnant belly with one hand and covered her face with a scarf with the other hand and asked, "Where are you taking me? Why are you being so secretive?"
"You'll know when you get there." Yu Cong said without turning his head.
The tractor rumbled along, heading towards the farm. When it was almost at the farm headquarters, Yu Cong turned a corner, drove the tractor down, and drove along the even more muddy melted snow road for about half an hour before stopping at a place where a large plastic greenhouse had been built.
Yang Qiujin got off the tractor and looked at the greenhouse planting area covering about five acres in front of her. She was a little surprised: "Why did you bring me here?"
"Someone wants to see you." Yu Cong smiled and tilted his head towards her, "Come with me."
Seeing that she didn't move, he sighed and said, "Go ahead. Are you afraid that I will sell you out?"
Yang Qiujin sneered, "You, dare you betray me? Let's not talk about how I will deal with you, just my husband, Secretary Zhai, they will not let you go."
"That's right. Secretary Zhai treasures you very much. Without your recommendation, the planting output of Tianshan Farm would not have doubled in just four years and achieved quantitative profits. He thinks highly of you. Your husband is a notoriously ruthless man. If I dare to make a hair fall off your head, they can skin me alive. I dare not mess with you." Yu Cong lifted the curtain of the entrance to one of the greenhouses and said with conviction.
Yang Qiujin followed him in and looked around the greenhouse.
Last year, she heard Professor Zheng say that he planned to learn the technology from Japan and develop greenhouse cultivation in the border areas. In this way, off-season fruits and vegetables could be produced in the border areas, so that the border workers could have fresh vegetables to eat in winter. They would no longer be unable to eat fresh vegetables for several months as before, and had to eat the storable, dry radishes, cabbages, onions, potatoes, etc., which would make their mouths blister.
She thought the farm would not support Professor Zheng's approach, but she didn't expect Secretary Zhai to not only support Professor Zheng's approach, but also build such a large greenhouse.
When we went in, we saw that the greenhouses were built with steel frames, which are rare these days. They are more than three meters high and covered with thick plastic film imported from abroad. There are air vents at the bottom to prevent the temperature in the greenhouse from being too high and suffocating the crops. At the same time, there are thermal insulation felts hung outside to keep the crops warm after nightfall.
The greenhouse they entered was used to grow off-season crops such as cucumbers, tomatoes, and beans.
The crops inside have reached maturity. Long bunches of green beans, red tomatoes, and cucumbers as thick as children's wrists are hung heavily on racks supported by willow branches. Several gray-haired professors are standing inside, holding scissors and capping the crops.
Seeing Yu Cong and Yang Qiujin coming in, one of the professors, who was wearing glasses and had gray hair, saw Yang Qiujin and called her happily: "Little Yang, you are here. It's been a long time since we last met. Your belly is so big now? How many months have you been pregnant? Come here and try the greenhouse tomatoes we grew."
As he spoke, he picked a palm-sized tomato, broke it in the middle, revealing the red and sandy tomato flesh inside, and handed it to Yang Qiujin, "Try it."
"Professor Zheng, long time no see. My baby is five months old now, and I'm a lot heavier than before." Yang Qiujin took half a tomato from Zheng Jitong, took a bite, and nodded. "It's delicious, sweet and sour, and has a fine sandy texture. It's just like the tomatoes grown outside in the summer."
Zheng Jitong smiled and said, "This is the second crop of tomatoes we have grown in the greenhouse. We have improved the original seeds to make them more suitable for greenhouses and more cold-resistant than the previous seeds. We sold a batch of greenhouse fruits and vegetables before, and some people always said that the taste was not as good as those grown in the open field, so we asked Deputy Director Yu to bring you here to try the taste and listen to your opinions."
On the other side, Professor Cai Zhengmao, who was in better shape and stronger than before, picked a green cucumber from a cucumber rack and handed it to Yang Qiujin, smiling and saying, "Little Yang, try it. It's not sprayed with pesticides. It's safe and good."
Behind him, several professors from various fields, with different heights and ages ranging from 40 to 60, were looking at her eating the cucumber with anticipation.
Yang Qiujin ate two bites of the cucumber and said impartially, "It tastes good, crisp and tender, with a slightly sweet aftertaste. I think it tastes better than the cucumbers grown outdoors before. Why do some people say they don't taste good?"
The professors looked at each other. Zheng Jitong pushed his glasses and sighed, "Xiao Yang, do you know? Secretary Zhai's age is there, and his term is about to end. There is news that the higher-ups may transfer him and transfer a new secretary from another place.
As you know, Secretary Zhai is a man with a tough mouth but a soft heart. Back then, he took the risk, listened to your advice, and transferred a group of us old bones to the frontier from afar to carry out scientific research on the farm, and he has always treated us well.
This has caused many radical elements to be dissatisfied with us, and they always try to make trouble for us and Secretary Zhai, saying that the fruits and vegetables grown in our greenhouses are not tasty, which is just one of their excuses. They just want to force Secretary Zhai to give in and drive us old bones to the cowshed. "
Professor Cai continued, "Xiao Yang, we can give up the preferential treatment and live in the cowshed forever, but the farm's research cannot stop. We are already developing a better cotton variety. If the experiment is successful, our cotton production can double next year, which will allow the farm to earn more profits."
Yang Qiujin suddenly felt that the cucumber in her hand was no longer fragrant. "Professor Zheng, Professor Cai, let's be frank. Tell me, what do you want to do by calling me here?"
Professor Zheng coughed uncomfortably, looked at Yu Cong who was standing at the entrance of the greenhouse, quite far away from them, and said, "I heard that Deputy Director Yu's father has a lot of say in the leadership team of the capital. Xiao Yang, can you ask Deputy Director Yu to talk to his father and ask the people above not to transfer Secretary Zhai for the time being, so that we old people can contribute to the farm for a few more years. After we make some achievements, we can do whatever we want."
Professor Cai said, "There is another point. There are too many radical elements in our farm. The situation outside has gradually calmed down, but the radical elements in our farm always catch those low-class people in the cowshed and criticize this or judge that. This has a great impact on our work and constantly destroys the experimental fields, making it impossible for us to work normally."
Another professor with a hunched back said, "It doesn't matter if we suffer a little, but we are really upset that our experimental results have been delayed and destroyed. Comrade Xiao Yang, we have no choice, so we asked someone to ask Deputy Director Yu to bring you over so that you can help."
Yang Qiujin also understood that Professor Zheng and his colleagues had special status, and if the farm treated them a little bit better, some people would become jealous and start to cause trouble, trying to force away Secretary Zhai, who supported Professor Zheng and his colleagues.
To be honest, Yang Qiujin didn't understand what was in the minds of those radical elements. It was obvious that Professor Zheng and his colleagues were making selfless contributions to Tianshan Farm and even the entire border planting industry. The increase in seed production would benefit everyone.
However, those people only cared about the immediate interests. For example, they saw Secretary Zhai let the professors live in caves, which were slightly more comfortable than living in cow sheds. They often secretly gave them small stoves, and some food, such as rice and flour, and some mutton, eggs, milk, etc., to help them replenish their bodies.
These people were furious. They felt that Professor Zheng and his colleagues, as people of the lowest class, should live in a smelly cowshed every day, eat black-faced steamed buns that everyone despised and could not be used for defecation, and should do the hardest, dirtiest and most tiring work such as collecting manure and digging canals, instead of living in a cave and doing experiments in a laboratory.
Professor Zheng and his team had deliberately gone to her in a roundabout way to ask for her help, probably because they knew that she could persuade Yu Cong and had a close relationship with Han Yongxin and his wife from the Armed Forces. Asking her for help was better than them jumping up and down and trying to clear their names.
Yang Qiujin asked, "How did you get in touch with Deputy Director Yu and ask him to bring me here?"
Professor Zheng said, "He has been pursuing Comrade Long Yanli recently. Comrade Long has helped us before. I know that his father and I are from the same school and he is close to me, so he helped to invite Deputy Director Yu."
That playboy has taken a fancy to Long Yanli...
An idea flashed through Yang Qiujin's mind. She did not directly agree to Professor Zheng's help. She just said, "I will try my best to persuade the deputy director. Professor Zheng, don't have too much hope in me. Be prepared for the worst."
"Comrade Xiao Yang, I'm so sorry to have caused you trouble again. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Don't strain yourself no matter whether you succeed or not. If this road doesn't work, we can think of other ways." Professor Zheng said with a smile.
"Don't say I'm causing trouble. You guys are also trying to make the farm better, so it's reasonable for me to help." Yang Qiujin waved her hands at them and said, "Keep a low profile recently and don't accept anything beyond your status. If nothing unexpected happens, the farm will be in chaos during this period."
The professors looked at each other and nodded solemnly, "We will, Comrade Xiao Yang."
Yang Qiujin held a bunch of fresh fruits and vegetables picked by Professor Zheng and others, and patted Yu Cong who was standing at the door of the greenhouse, "What are you doing? What are you looking at with your eyes wide open?"
Yu Cong was startled by her and shook his head in denial, "I didn't see anything."
"Guess whether I believe you or not." Yang Qiujin walked out of the greenhouse and looked at the two female educated youths walking by in the distance and said, "They are not as pretty as Long Yanli, so how can you like her? Long Yanli can be said to be the prettiest and best-looking female educated youth in the entire farm. If I were a man, I would only stare at her."
Yu Cong followed her and asked, "From your tone, it seems like you are very familiar with Long Yanli?"
"Whether I'm familiar with her or not, just follow me to Long Yanli's place and you'll know." Yang Qiujin gave him half of the fruits and vegetables in her hands, asked him to hold them, and motioned him to follow.
Yu Cong was shocked and followed him eagerly, "Why, when did Director Yang become so kind as to help me find a partner?"
Yang Qiujin rolled her eyes at him and said, "I'm not that kind-hearted. Everything I do has a purpose."
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