Amidst laughter and chatter, a commuter bus pulled by an internal combustion engine arrived, and everyone boarded.
The shuttle bus took everyone out of the forest farm and sped towards the work area, taking everyone to their respective work sites.
The area is at a high altitude and has a large temperature difference between day and night. Even though it's summer, it's still quite cool in the forest in the early morning.
The morning sun shines through layers of branches and leaves, casting dappled light and shadows in the forest.
Dewdrops clung to the leaves and tips of the grass, shimmering with iridescent colors under the bright morning sun.
The early birds in the woods chirped and twittered, their voices so melodious and pleasant.
The group strolled along the forest path, breathing in the fresh forest air and listening to the birds' melodious songs, which was quite a pleasure.
Soon, the group arrived at the woodland they had visited the day before.
First, everyone hung up their food bags, and then Sheng Xiping assigned tasks for the day.
"Our work at this site is almost finished, and we'll definitely complete it today."
This morning, we've been working hard. If we've finished, during the lunch break, if any of you are willing to move around, I'll take you for a walk in the woods. Who knows, we might find something.
If you go further in, there's a big meadow where the jujubes and other fruits should be ripe; you can go and pick some.
By this time, the gastrodia elata should be emerging from the ground. If you happen to come across any, digging up a few would be quite a good idea.
Everyone was delighted to hear this, especially the female educated youth, who were quite interested in picking jujubes.
The key issue is that there's not much good food these days. Every family used to plant a couple of fruit trees, but they were all cut down a few years ago.
There was a field of orchards behind the main field, which was planted by the family team to sell. It was collectively owned and the orchards could not be picked casually.
These past few days, the wild fruits have just ripened, and some mischievous kids from the forest farm have tried to steal them, so the family teams have arranged for people to go and keep an eye on them, chasing away anyone who comes near.
Girls love to snack, but they don't usually have the opportunity. So when they hear they can pick jujubes, they all get really excited.
There's not much work today, just one long row per person.
Those who wanted to go for a walk in the woods in the afternoon would seize the time to work, shoveling grass without even looking up.
Of course, some people are careless when they work, just scribbling aimlessly here and there with their hoes.
Take Sun Yunpeng and others, for example; they all came to the forest farm just to coast along.
Moreover, they weren't interested in anything like gastrodia elata or jujubes, so they were too lazy to even move.
The staff knew that these people were difficult to manage and had poor work skills, so the forestry technicians assigned them with numbers.
When Sheng Xiping led people to work, he followed the markings, and he kept a record of who worked on which row.
When the forestry technicians come to inspect the work, whoever's work is substandard will have to redo it alone; expecting help from others is impossible.
By around 11 o'clock, many people had only the edge of their furrow left.
Chen Weiguo and the others suggested that they might as well eat later and finish the rest of the meal, so that they could have an easier time in the afternoon.
Sheng Xiping didn't object, and everyone else agreed. So, they persevered and finished all the remaining work before going back to eat.
"Qinglan, this is some mushroom and vermicelli soup that my mom brought me. It's made with the pheasant from yesterday. Take it and have some."
Sheng Xiping took his lunch bag down from the tree, took out the lunchbox, and handed it to Zhou Qinglan.
Zhou Qinglan blushed, a little embarrassed, "Your aunt brought this for you, how could I accept it?"
These days, life is tough for every family, and people aren't eating well.
Zhou Qinglan knew that the Sheng family had six children and many people to eat. The pheasant wasn't very big, and the Sheng family wouldn't even have enough to eat. How could she possibly want it?
“It’s okay. My mom said that the food in the cafeteria is bland and tasteless.”
Home-cooked meals are at least a bit oilier than cafeteria food, so eat more to nourish yourself.
Sheng Xiping ignored all that, shoved the lunchbox into Zhou Qinglan's hand, and turned to leave.
"Then, how about we eat together?" Zhou Qinglan asked, biting her lower lip as if she had made a big decision.
Sheng Xiping smiled and said, "Okay, I also brought some radishes, green onions, soybean paste, and other things. That should be enough for us."
So, Sheng Xiping placed the hoe horizontally on the ground, and the two of them sat on the handle of the hoe.
Zhou Qinglan took out the food she had brought with her. "I bought this from the cafeteria. It's two kinds of flatbread and some pickled vegetables. Don't mind it."
In those days, every household in the forest farm relied on government-supplied grain, and no one had enough to eat.
Although Zhou Qinglan lived in the Tang family's house, she couldn't always eat with them, so she usually ate at the forest farm's canteen.
In the mornings, the canteen only served flatbread, pickled vegetables, and porridge, so Zhou Qinglan could only bring flatbread and pickled vegetables up the mountain.
Anyway, most people bring their own food when they go up the mountain these days, and nobody thinks it's a big deal.
Sheng Xiping smiled and opened the lunchbox, which was full of mushrooms, vermicelli, and a few pieces of meat.
The weather was warm, so the food wasn't too cold; it still had some warmth left.
I left in a hurry this morning and forgot to bring chopsticks.
This didn't stump Sheng Xiping, who casually broke off two willow branches and handed them to Zhou Qinglan.
"Here, try my mom's cooking, it's delicious."
Zhou Qinglan took the makeshift chopsticks, picked up a small piece of mushroom and put it in her mouth, her eyes immediately lighting up.
"Mmm, it's delicious. Auntie's cooking is really good."
Having been at the forest farm for so long, Zhou Qinglan had long been fed up with the bland and tasteless food in the canteen.
In addition, Zhang Shuzhen's cooking skills were indeed excellent. The chicken stew with mushrooms and vermicelli was incredibly delicious. In Zhou Qinglan's eyes, wasn't it an absolute delicacy?
"Eat more if you like it." Sheng Xiping looked at Zhou Qinglan and couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
It's not easy for a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl to leave her parents and suffer in this mountain valley.
As Sheng Xiping spoke, he used a willow branch to push the food from the lunchbox toward Zhou Qinglan.
Unexpectedly, this discovery revealed the chicken leg hidden beneath the vermicelli and mushrooms.
That was something Sheng Xiping had specially set aside for Sheng Xitai yesterday, but unexpectedly Zhang Shuzhen put it in her lunchbox.
"Here, there's a chicken leg here, you can have it."
Sheng Xiping understood his mother's intentions, so he placed a chicken leg on Zhou Qinglan's plate. "Eat more meat to nourish yourself."
"No, no, you eat it. I don't like meat, but the mushrooms and glass noodles are delicious."
Zhou Qinglan hurriedly shook her head. She was already feeling embarrassed enough from eating with Sheng Xiping, and there were only a few pieces of meat in total. How could she possibly eat chicken legs?
"Eat up. When I'm less busy, I'll go for a stroll in the woods. Who knows what kind of prey I might encounter?"
In previous autumns, my master and I would go hunting in the mountains, and we'd encounter wild boars, bears, and the like.
Sheng Xiping smiled and placed the chicken leg on the pancake in Zhou Qinglan's hand.
For him, he had eaten all sorts of delicacies, so there was nothing new.
It's just a chicken leg; if he wants more, he can just go get another one.
"My cousin told me you can hunt, that's amazing."
Zhou Qinglan turned her head and looked at Sheng Xiping with admiration, her bright eyes seeming to hold a sky full of stars.
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