At the north end of the forest farm, there is a small ditch, and behind the ditch is a marshland, which the locals call Laowadianzi.
Beyond that low-lying area, there was a row of loess hills, on which stood a row of individual or connected self-built houses.
Old Hu's family lived at the far east end of that area, in a self-built two-and-a-half-room log cabin with mud and straw.
There are fewer residents here, so the place is more spacious. Old Hu's yard is bigger than Sheng's.
When Sheng Xiping arrived, smoke was already billowing from Old Hu's chimney, indicating that they were cooking.
There was a person squatting in the vegetable garden, doing something. As soon as Sheng Xiping saw the figure, he knew it was Captain Lao Hu.
"Uncle Hu, what are you busy with?" Sheng Xiping coughed and greeted Old Hu in the vegetable garden with a smile.
Old Hu was thinning seedlings in the celery field when he heard a noise and turned around. He saw it was Sheng Xiping.
"Oh, it's Xiping! What brings you here so early in the morning?"
Old Hu quickly got up, patted the dirt off his hands, and walked out of the vegetable garden with a smile.
"Uncle, these are the fish I caught this morning. I brought some to you."
Sheng Xiping chuckled and placed the enamel basin in front of Lao Hu.
Old Hu was overjoyed when he saw this. "Oh my, you've been catching fish again?"
If you ask me, among all the young people in the entire Qianchuan Forest Farm, you are the most capable.
They can hunt in the mountains, catch fish in the river, and bring anything home.
Brother Sheng is truly blessed to have raised such a capable son like you.
Sheng Xiping used to hunt and fish frequently, as everyone in the forest farm knew.
Not to mention, the news of pheasants and snakes has already spread far and wide these past two days.
"Old woman, come quickly. Xiping brought us some fish. Find something to put them in the pot."
Old Hu shouted at the top of his lungs, then grabbed Sheng Xiping's hand and led him into the house.
"Boss, are you up yet? Hurry up and boil some water to make tea for your brother Xiping."
All they do is be lazy, sleeping in until dawn every morning.
Look at your brother Xiping, he got up early this morning and caught a lot of fish.
Old Hu has a really loud voice; he woke up all the kids who were still sleeping inside.
Hearing the commotion, Old Hu's wife quickly came out of the house. When she saw Sheng Xiping carrying things, she smiled broadly.
"Oh dear, it's my nephew Xiping here."
Look, our family has benefited a lot from your influence. Come on, come in and sit down.
Old Hu's wife took the basin from the fish, quickly found a utensil on the cupboard, and poured the fish in.
Then he grabbed a handful of dough starter, thoroughly wiped the Sheng family's basin, and scalded it twice with hot water to clean it.
While working, Old Hu's wife called to her daughter to hurry up and squeeze the fish's belly.
Then he called to his second son, "Go to the tofu shop and get two large pieces of tofu. We can stew some tofu with river fish this morning."
Upon hearing that there was something delicious to eat, the Hu family children were all quite quick, hurriedly getting out of bed, washing their faces, and getting to work.
Sheng Xiping was pulled by Lao Hu to sit down in the east room, and the two of them sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) and chatted.
"Xiping, you had breakfast at your uncle's house this morning."
You heard what your aunt said, right? This morning she had some small fish stew with tofu, and we're having a couple of sips."
Old Hu's words were mostly polite.
What family that lives a decent life would drink so early in the morning?
Sheng Xiping brought this gift, and Lao Hu didn't know how to express his gratitude, so he said he wanted to invite Sheng Xiping to stay for drinks.
"Uncle, I still have a lot of work to do at home, so I won't eat at your house this morning."
"I'll definitely come to my uncle's house for dinner another day when I'm free."
How could Sheng Xiping possibly eat at Lao Hu's house? He quickly made up an excuse to decline.
"Uncle, I'm here. I have something to ask you."
The first round of clearing the saplings on the mountain has been completed. I thought I'd come over and ask what kind of work our educated youth team did today.
Shouldn't we turn over the soil to prepare for planting radishes?
It is generally said that radishes are best eaten during the first ten days of summer and vegetables during the second ten days of summer, but Qianchuan Forest Farm is located in the Changbai Mountain forest area, which is a high-altitude and cold mountainous region.
The high altitude, low temperature, short frost-free period, and early freezing in autumn mean that vegetables need to be planted ten days to half a month in advance.
The main crops grown by the forest farm's family members are radishes, cabbages, and potatoes, ensuring the supply of autumn vegetables for the forest farm.
At the same time, a small amount of seasonal vegetables, as well as corn, soybeans, sweet potatoes, etc., are grown to supply the canteen and the few pigs raised by the family team.
The corn and soybeans have sprouted quite tall. I just finished weeding the whole field a while ago, so I'm not too busy right now. But I should get ready to plant radishes and cabbages in the vegetable garden.
"Yes, it's about time to plow the land. We've reserved over two hundred acres in the back area, and there are a few other plots in the west area as well."
We'll have to plant a lot this year, so let's get started early to avoid being overwhelmed later.
The agricultural team has 500 mu of land behind the mountain. They previously planted some corn and beans, as well as a lot of late potatoes. The remaining 200 mu will be planted with radishes and cabbages.
In addition, the forest farm also has many other scattered plots of land in other places, which add up to about one or two hundred acres.
With so much land, we have to turn it all over. The family teams don't raise any livestock, so we have to rely on people to dig with pickaxes. Of course, we have to prepare in advance.
"Then let's go to work on the back of the earth today. Anyway, we're in a hurry, so you don't need to rush. Just take your time."
Old Hu valued Sheng Xiping highly and knew that these young people had been shoveling saplings for nearly half a month and were quite tired.
So he told Sheng Xiping to let them take it easy and not push themselves too hard.
"Okay, I'll do whatever Uncle says."
This is exactly what Sheng Xiping wanted. Although Hou Dadi is close to the foot of the mountain, it is still close to the forest farm.
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