"It may be tough, but it's just these three years. If I grit my teeth and get through it, I can get into a good university and that will be enough to secure my future."
Zhang Shuzhen and the others didn't understand those things; all they knew was that getting into university meant being assigned a job and having a good future.
“Hey kid, you’d better study hard too. Let me tell you, if you dare to cause trouble at school and not study properly, I’ll beat you to death.”
Sheng Liancheng turned to look at Sheng Xitai and gave him a special warning.
"Okay, Dad."
After finishing his meal, Sheng Xitai went to do his homework. Middle school is not like elementary school; there is a lot of homework, so he has to make the most of his time.
Many families in the forest farm bought radios this year, so fewer people came to the Sheng family's house to listen to the radio.
Especially after Hua Hua brought her son back, apart from Wang Jianshe and a few others who occasionally came over to play, other people generally didn't come to the Sheng family to listen to the radio anymore.
As a result, the house became much quieter, and Sheng Xitai was able to study properly in the evenings.
Around seven or eight o'clock in the evening, Sheng Liancheng and his son Sheng Xiping would take a stroll around their own field with flashlights.
Even if the bear that was robbing the corn is killed, who knows, some naughty brat might still come into the field and break off corn cobs.
Especially in the forest area, not every household picks up small plots of wasteland to cultivate.
Some families don't grow corn, but they crave green corn at this time of year, so they inevitably have to go out and look for some.
The father and son wandered around outside until almost ten o'clock. When they had nothing else to do, they went home to sleep.
Qianchuan Forest Farm is located in the mountains, near Changbai Mountain. The temperature drops earlier in autumn than in other places. It was only early September when the temperature started to drop.
The soybeans in the field quickly turned yellow, and a few days later, the leaves fell off.
Once the soybean leaves fall, you have to cut them back down quickly. Otherwise, if the pods are dried out by the wind for a few more days, they will burst open at the slightest touch, and the beans will fall all over the ground, which will be a hassle to pick up.
This year, the logging area of the forest farm is adjacent to the same area as last year, so there is basically no need to move it too far, and the roads do not need to be repaired much.
So Sheng Xiping didn't go up the mountain; he stayed home with his father, prioritizing the land acquisition.
The Sheng family only had two or three acres of small wasteland, where they planted some soybeans, corn, sweet potatoes, millet, broomcorn sorghum, and the like. They didn't have much of anything, but they had a little of everything.
Sheng Liancheng and his son harvested the crops one by one from the field, while Zhang Shuzhen slowly tidied up the produce at home.
A few days later, a base was laid out on both sides of the Sheng family's gate with poles, and bundles of bean stalks brought back from the fields were stacked on top.
After a while, when the bean pods are completely dry, we can transport them to the basketball court, or run them over with a cart, or beat them by hand with a flail, either way is fine.
A trellis was also set up in the garden, and Zhang Shuzhen removed the outer layers of corn from the corn cobs, leaving only the innermost two layers.
Then tie them together in pairs and hang them on a rack. This way, the corn can dry quickly and is less likely to attract mice.
Sorghum stalks have many uses; the thicker section at the top can be used to make a pot mat, while the thinner section can be used to make a lid mat.
After removing the sorghum ears, the grains can be used to make brushes and brooms. This type of sorghum is quite hard, so it is rarely eaten by people and is mostly used to feed chickens and pigs.
The purplish-red sorghum, golden millet, and foxtail millet were all bundled up and hung on the stalks.
There were a dozen or so large, round pumpkins piled up in the corner, and a bunch of sweet potatoes over there.
Although there wasn't much of anything, the sight of such a bountiful harvest still brought immense joy to Sheng Liancheng and his wife, who came from farming backgrounds.
"Next year, let's pick up some more small, undeveloped plots, and plant a variety of different kinds of things. Wouldn't that be great?"
When Sheng Liancheng returned home after a busy day, he stood in the yard and looked around, feeling incredibly happy.
The father and son worked for several days to gather everything from the field.
Just then, the forest farm's youth league organization issued a call to action, calling for the collection of seeds to support Gansu Province in response to the requirements of higher authorities.
This means organizing all the young people and members of the Youth League to go up the mountain to collect tree seeds and provide free support for seedling cultivation and tree planting in the desert areas of Gansu Province, in order to carry out the construction of the Three-North Shelterbelt Project.
Qianchuan Forest Farm is a pure forest area, and the Northeast and Northwest regions are roughly at the same latitude, so it is likely that many tree species will be easier to cultivate and promote successfully.
For this event, the forest farm's youth league organization created a blackboard bulletin board on the blackboard at the farm headquarters, with all four blackboards filled with related content.
At the same time, slogans and banners were posted in many prominent locations in the forest farm.
"Collect more seeds, collect better seeds, and let each seed carry deep affection."
"Let youth shine on the new Long March and contribute to supporting greening efforts."
Whether it's blackboard bulletins or slogans and banners, most of them were created by Chen Weimin, allowing the people of the forest farm to once again witness Chen Weimin's talent.
With the strong support of the forest farm leaders, all the young people in the farm actively went up the mountain to collect tree seeds.
To ensure safety, the forest farm has a specific rule prohibiting people from climbing tall trees to collect seeds, such as larch and red pine.
At most, they can climb short, arborescent trees like sugar plum trees.
Sheng Yunfang and Sheng Yunfei are both members of the Youth League, so naturally they should respond to the call. But they both have classes, so how could they have time to go into the forest to collect tree seeds?
Therefore, Sheng Xiping had to take care of their share.
Including Sheng Xiping's own, he would have to pay thirty catties of tree seeds.
So, after finishing his own harvest and before the winter sports season started, Sheng Xiping, carrying a basket on his back, went into the forest with Wang Jianshe and others to collect tree seeds.
There are plenty of trees in the mountains, and many different kinds of trees. Broad-leaved trees include locust, maple, maple, sugar plum, and so on, while coniferous trees include spruce, fir, larch, and so on.
Sheng Xiping and his group went into the mountains without caring about anything else. They picked whatever they came across and shoveled it all into their baskets, planning to sort it when they got home.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
