Professor Yuan asked, "When can it be delivered to the greenhouse?"
Qian Duoduo said, "It should be in the next few days."
Liang Kun walked around and came back, saying, "This place is really big!"
Qian Duoduo said with a smile, "This is my first time doing this, so I don't dare to make it too big."
Liang Kun widened his eyes in surprise and said, "This isn't big? This is such a big shed, and you've set up four of them. What do you mean by big?"
Qian Duoduo said, "This is the stuff of four battalions, several hundred people. If we compare it to that, four such large sheds aren't that many, are they?"
Liang Kun thought it made sense and nodded.
A few days later, Lu Jinghuai found Qian Duoduo in the greenhouse. He looked around and saw that Qian Duoduo was all alone, so he asked, "Why are you all alone? Where are Yang Bin and Du Lang? Is Xie Jun not here either?"
Qian Duoduo said with a smile, "I came over to check the temperature inside the greenhouse and found it to be pretty good, so I asked Yang Bin, Du Lang, and Xie Jun to go back and get some tools, and also brought over a plate of chili seedlings to try it out."
Hearing Qian Duoduo's words, Lu Jinghuai's eyes lit up. If they could successfully grow these chili seedlings, it would be a great achievement! He immediately nodded, rolled up his sleeves, and said, "Is there anything you need? I can help you with that."
Qian Duoduo said, "Wait a bit, the tools will arrive, let's get started!"
Lu Jinghuai glanced at them. Last time, they took the tools after finishing the work, not even a pickaxe. They left so cleanly. But it didn't take long before Du Lang and Yang Bin came in with their tools. They immediately saluted Lu Jinghuai: "Battalion Commander."
Lu Jinghuai nodded, took the pickaxe from Yang Bin's hand, and directed the people around him to start working. Xie Jun walked over, carrying a large basin filled with lush green rice seedlings.
Lu Jinghuai looked at it and immediately asked Xie Jun to bring it over. Looking at the thriving rice seedlings, he felt a sense of happiness. He looked at Qian Duoduo and asked, "Where should this be planted?"
Qian Duoduo said, "Look, the sunlight here is pretty good. You can plant wherever you want!"
Lu Jinghuai laughed like a fool and said, "Hehe, then let's plant it here. I think this place is just fine!"
Qian Duoduo smiled and said, "Yang Bin, bring Du Lang and Xie Jun to my room and bring all the vegetables I've grown. I guess it'll only be enough for about this much." She gestured to a small patch of land in the greenhouse and said with a smile, "It'll be about this big!"
Lu Jinghuai smiled as he looked at the large area Qian Duoduo was gesturing over and said with a laugh, "Then you still haven't filled it enough!"
Qian Duoduo smiled: "My place is so small, this is the most I can do."
Lu Jinghuai smiled and saw Qian Duoduo holding a pickaxe and starting to dig a hole very skillfully. Then he said to Yang Bin, who was planting rice seedlings, "Yang Bin, you and Xie Jun go to the river over there and get a few buckets of water."
Yang Bin nodded immediately, and he and Xie Jun picked up the iron bucket and carrying pole and went out. Not long after, they came back in carrying two buckets of water. Behind them were the battalion commander and political instructor, and seven more people came in. Qian Duoduo smiled as he watched the two people in front of him.
When Lu Jinghuai saw the Third Battalion Commander, he smiled and said, "What brings you here, kid? And you even sent your cooks?"
The battalion commander said with a smile, "Isn't it because I saw you coming?"
Lu Jinghuai smiled and said, "Come on, let's do some work together."
The battalion commander was a straightforward man; he said to the others, "Get to work."
Qian Duoduo had already started cultivating rice seedlings. The Third Battalion Commander asked, "Comrade Qian, don't we need to dig holes and cover these with soil?"
Qian Duoduo took out a cloth bag and said, "Give this to the Third Battalion Commander. This is corn, the kind the Third Battalion Commander was talking about. Dig a hole, bury some soil, count one, two, three, four, five, plant your melons and you'll reap your beans."
When the battalion commander heard Qian Duoduo's words, he laughed out loud: "Comrade Qian, how many of these do you think you can win?"
Qian Duoduo said, "Then it depends on how much the Third Battalion Commander wants to plant."
The battalion commander tossed the bag in his hand to the political instructor and said, "Hey, political instructor, keep a close watch."
Qian Duoduo didn't mind. She said, "Third Battalion Commander, I suppose you have vegetables here too, like the carrots you usually use."
The battalion commander smiled and said, "Can we plant them now?"
Qian Duoduo nodded and said, "Of course."
The battalion commander smiled and said, "Alright, I'll organize the construction company to go farming right away."
Qian Duoduo said, "Do we need so many people?"
The battalion commander smiled and said, "It's alright, we've all been waiting for this day."
Qian Duoduo said with a smile, "I have some vegetable seeds here, everyone can share them."
Looking at the seeds Qian Duoduo had taken out, Lu Jinghuai couldn't help but swallow hard: "You have quite a lot of seeds!"
Qian Duoduo said, "These are some vegetables that are not commonly seen or not available in Xinjiang Province. Let's plant some and see if they can grow."
Lu Jinghuai nodded; he naturally knew the purpose of Qian Duoduo and the others' visit to Xinjiang Province.
So soldiers from all four battalions were sent to farm. Although most of the crops were vegetables they usually ate, they also planted cucumbers, green beans, eggplants, celery, cabbage, pumpkins, winter melons, loofahs, chives, and other green vegetables that Qian Duoduo had brought.
When the fourth battalion commander saw that he hadn't received much, and knew that it was sent from Qian Duoduo's hometown, everyone expressed their gratitude to Qian Duoduo.
The Third Battalion's cooking squad demonstrated their exceptional skills, improving the meals for Professor Yuan, Qian Duoduo, and Liang Kun. Professor Yuan, eating a hand-grabbed lamb chop, said with a smile, "It would be even better if there were some chive blossoms in it."
Liang Kun smiled and said, "Although I often eat mutton, this hand-pulled mutton tastes really good. The cooks in this Third Battalion are quite good!"
Qian Duoduo smiled: "Mmm, it's delicious. If I have the chance, I really want to bring some mutton back with me!"
Professor Yuan smiled and said, "Yes, if I had the chance, I would have the same idea!"
Seeing the newly renovated greenhouse, Qian Duoduo once again praised the soldiers' workmanship. The work was clean, neat, and excellent; even those back home who worked in the fields year-round might not be able to do it this well. Looking at the furrows, it was as if they had been measured; their straight lines reminded Qian Duoduo of the soldiers' neatly folded blankets.
Yang Bin smiled and said, "Is there anything else you need?"
Qian Duoduo shook her head and said, "The rest can only be left to time."
Yang Bin nodded and followed Qian Duoduo back to Professor Yuan's place. When Professor Yuan saw Qian Duoduo, he said, "Duoduo, it's going to snow in the next couple of days. Is your greenhouse alright?"
Qian Duoduo shook her head and said, "I can't say for sure, after all, this is the first time!"
Yang Bin felt a silent worry in his heart when he heard Professor Yuan's words!
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