“Aunt Minghua is at home. She won’t be back in town for another two days,” Wu Jinban replied.
Southwest picked up Duoduo and ran towards Village Chief Ma's house. From afar, they could hear Ma Minghua's hearty laughter. It seemed she had married well.
"Ma Minghua, Ma Minghua!" Southwest called out.
"Who called me? Ah, it's Brother Southwest! What brings you here? Please have a seat." Ma Minghua was delighted to see it was Southwest.
"Brother Southwest, when is Nan Nan coming back? I miss her so much."
“Nan Nan came back before the New Year, but couldn’t find you, so she went back. Call her more often when you have time. I’ll give you her phone number later. Do you have a job now?” Southwest asked.
“Okay, I don’t have a job. I’m just a peasant, I have no education and no skills, who would want me?” Ma Minghua was a little annoyed. If she had known this would happen, she would have studied hard.
"Brother, I need your help with something. Can you take care of Duoduo for me? I'll give you twenty yuan every month, and I'll bring the baby's food too. Is that okay?" Southwest asked somewhat nervously.
"Twenty yuan is too much. My husband, a skilled worker, only earns thirty-eight yuan. No, no, that's too much," Ma Minghua refused outright.
What a kind and innocent child! Southwest was moved: "Duoduo is a bit difficult to take care of, so you'll have to put in a lot of effort. Just make sure he doesn't get hurt or lost. Help your brother out, I'm so busy right now I don't know what to do."
“Okay, but I need to take Duoduo to town and come back once a week, okay? Otherwise, my husband won’t have anything to eat.” Ma Minghua also wanted to earn money; her husband wanted a child, so she had to save money.
“Okay, when are you going back? I’ll give Duoduo to you. By the way, Duoduo, Dad is busy with work. Would you like to go to town with Aunt Minghua and come back to see Dad every week, okay?” Southwest played the role of the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
"Okay, I like Auntie." Duoduo agreed immediately.
Southwest finally felt relieved. Two days later, Wujinban started school, and Duoduo had someone to take care of her, so she could focus on building the house.
Aunt Ma's eyes sparkled. Everyone says that bringing a child will bring your own child along. Minghua and Duoduo are destined to be together, so Minghua's child will come soon.
Southwest prepared a lot of food for Duoduo, including plenty of white rice and flour, as well as some fabrics, all prepared by Cuihua. Since she didn't know how to make clothes, she let Minghua do it.
When Minghua saw so much fabric, she realized that Duoduo couldn't possibly use it all. She immediately understood what Xinan meant: all this fabric must be for his future children.
Looking at the warm smile on Xinan's face, Minghua felt that being able to be friends with the Yan family was the greatest blessing God had given her, and she must cherish it.
Two days later, Ma Mingchun loaded the things onto the tractor. He was going to take Minghua back to town and pick up Xu Da and the others along the way.
After carrying Duoduo into the car, Duoduo sat in Ma Minghua's arms, smiling and waving to Southwest: "Goodbye, Daddy."
Can we still keep this child from the southwest?
"Dad will take you to town, Duoduo, do you want to go?" Southwest asked with a smile.
Duo Duo laughed even more heartily, nodding repeatedly. She was very happy to have her dad bring her.
After seeing Minghua and the child off, the two arrived at the train station. The train arrived on time, and Xu Da waved excitedly when he saw Xinan. Xinan was also happy; the logging team had finally arrived.
As everyone walked out of the station, they laughed when they saw the tractor. There were definitely too many people for the tractor to fit. The people readily agreed, tossing their things into the tractor before preparing to walk.
The wide asphalt road served as a landmark; they could enter Mushroom Village simply by following this road. Ma Mingchun had to drive the tractor back first, while Southwest led Xu Da and the others back to Mushroom Village on foot.
Along the way, Southwest told those people about the local customs and other matters of Mushroom Village. As newcomers, he wanted them to at least know the structure of the village.
Before leaving, Bei Nan had already cleaned up all the houses in the old courtyard. The house where Nan Nan used to live is now where Bei Nan and Xin Nan live with their two children. The other rooms are temporarily for the lumberjacks to live in.
It was a bit crowded with so many people living together, but there was nothing that could be done about it. Xu Da didn't care at all; everyone was there to work, not to go on vacation.
Village Chief Ma and the old bachelor were both extremely busy, especially the old bachelor, who was always the first to rush to help whenever it came to the Yan family.
During his time in the capital, apart from Yan Xiaoqiang, no one was willing to help him. Therefore, as long as the Yan family needed him, he was willing to go through fire and water for them.
Everything is ready. Tomorrow is the auspicious day, and the groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow morning. Everyone is nervously checking everything, fearing that anything missing might affect tomorrow's groundbreaking.
The next day, the weather was perfect, with sunshine everywhere. Village Chief Ma waved his hand, and the old bachelor immediately had firecrackers lit. Instantly, firecrackers went off in unison, and Southwest stood in the middle amidst the swirling smoke.
"Today, we are holding the groundbreaking ceremony for the logging team's buildings and warehouses. We wish them all the best and hope that this project will be successfully completed. Thank you all."
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Southwest team walked to the foundation bed and held a groundbreaking ceremony. The old bachelor waved his hand and firecrackers went off again. It was a pity there was no band, otherwise the scene would have been even more exciting.
Everyone applauded enthusiastically. At that moment, Yan Xinan stood tall, a sense of pride he had never felt before growing within him. "I, Yan Xinan, will succeed!"
The bulldozers and pile drivers at the construction site had long been adorned with red ribbons. Since red flowers were unavailable in winter, they were made from red ribbons and tied to conspicuous places on the bulldozers and pile drivers.
As the groundbreaking ceremony concluded, firecrackers exploded, and the small pile driver began operation. The villagers of Mushroom Village cheered, believing that with the Yan family in charge, Mushroom Village would surely be led to prosperity.
Ma Da Sao and her group of women began distributing candies and snacks. Everyone who received a candy or snack was genuinely grateful to the Yan family, for they were never stingy when it came to building houses or cooking meals.
After the groundbreaking ceremony, all the logging team members gathered together to receive specialized logging training. Logging is a high-risk profession, and for their own safety, they must be trained in accordance with regulations.
When Yan Xiaonan asked Xu Da to find people, he specifically requested that they be people who had previously participated in logging work. Xu Da did not disappoint. Of the eighteen people he found, three had worked in logging before joining the army.
He appointed these three people as the leaders of the logging team. The eighteen people were divided into three groups, and the three group leaders were responsible for providing technical guidance on logging.
Logging requires skill. Each group consists of six people, and the group leader further divides the six people into two smaller groups of three: one person with a chainsaw, one person with a pole-setting tool, and one person with a hacksaw.
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