Chapter 81
Planting seedlings
Early in the morning, He Lanshan took Gao Xiaobing to the farm to help with the spring planting.
Her family has a small car, so they don't need a large truck for the refinery. After getting in the car, Gao Xiaobing said, "It's so annoying, mom, why are we going to the farm for no reason? I get a headache when I go there."
He Lanshan drove the car himself and said, "Xiao Bing, your father is now in the twelfth level position, with the eleventh level treatment, but your grandfather and great-grandfather are all veterans who sacrificed their lives for the Republic. The higher-ups are interested in training him, and he is willing to work hard. In the future, he may be promoted to the fifth or sixth level, or even a higher position. His career is now our top priority."
"So, I heard that Beijing has sent reporters to interview you, so you should go to the farm to show off and try to take two photos that can be published in the newspapers and seen by them?"
"That's only half of it. The other half is that I just can't lose to Chen Lina." Director He said bluntly.
"Come on, Mom. Aunt Chen deliberately lost to you in picking cotton. You are really strong enough." Gao Xiaobing shook her head helplessly. After thinking for a while, she said, "Hey, it's the weekend today. Maybe Nie Weimin will also be at the farm. My aunt sent my dad the book "Galaxy Empire Base and Empire" from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I have to bring it to him."
"Be careful of the impact, Nie Weimin, and don't let anyone know."
"Okay, Mom, I get it. Can you please stop being so cautious?"
As a result, the car was blocked halfway.
Well, the one who came was Gong Hongxing, the leader of the revolutionary work group who was parachuted in from Hongyan.
"Director He, I don't know what's wrong with your entire mining area. It's not proactive at all. Now, I'm waiting for you to stand up and report Chen Lina." Gong Hongxing said straight to the point.
After all, she had done ideological work on He Lanshan many times. He Lanshan was just like Gao Feng, a snake with a weak tail and passive resistance. He was as hateful as the Minister of the Armed Forces Gao Dayong.
"Let me tell you this, Comrade Xiao Gong. Did you see the hat and gloves on my back seat? Director Chen works on the farm himself, and so do I. We fight for the stomachs of all people in the Republic, and we are not afraid of anyone's denunciation. As for you, you said you want to criticize Chen Lina, but you have to understand her, her work, and her ideological awareness. You haven't even entered the farm, but you're looking for people to criticize her. Isn't that funny?"
After all, the family is both famous and professional, so He Lanshan is not afraid of Gong Hongxing. He steps on the accelerator and drives away.
"Mom, don't you always compete with Aunt Chen? Why do you want to form a united front now?" Gao Xiaobing didn't understand.
"Lina and I are just masters fighting each other. We respect each other and compete for supremacy within the same organization. Externally, of course, we have to share a common hatred of the enemy. You must remember this in the future. If you want to compete, you must do it openly. Someone like Gong Hongxing, who is vulgar and petty, is doomed to achieve nothing." He Lanshan said with great disdain.
In the farm, when Chen Lina saw He Lanshan, she welcomed him with both hands.
"Congratulations, Director. I will personally make you stretched noodles at noon with a sauce of tomatoes, onions and carrots. You must eat two bowls of stretched noodles." said Chen Lina.
He Lanshan came to Guo to show off. He got on the tiller himself and said, "Okay, Lina, I just want to ask you where the reporter is. I was also sent down to the countryside and drove a tractor in Yili. Of course, this tiller is no problem for me. However, you have to ask the photographer to take two more photos for me."
"See those three acres of spring fields? Sun Duoyu, the model farmer on our farm, is competing with you. No matter who wins or loses, I promise that you will both be in the newspaper. Is that okay?"
"Okay, remember to take good care of my Xiaobing. If Weimin is here, ask him to go play with her." Director He said as he picked up two bags of wheat seeds, asked two women who were watering the wheat seeds to follow him, and went down to the fields.
As for Sun Duoyu's life, of course there were also women who followed him to sow wheat.
The fields were filled with the unique smell of phosphate fertilizer, similar to the smell of laundry detergent. Chen Lina waved goodbye to He Lanshan, turned around and saw Gao Xiaobing still standing behind her, so she asked her, "My daughter is going to the corn field to plant wheat seedlings today, do you want to go?"
Gao Xiaobing is not as impulsive as her mother. She likes to be a strong woman. She curled her lips and said, "I'm afraid of getting tanned."
Chen Lina smiled and said, "My family's guards are here too."
"Really? Doesn't he hate farm work? Why would he go to the corn fields?"
Oh my god, Chen Lina can no longer suppress her desire for gossip.
In his previous life, Nie Weimin must have loved reading. After all, he was an educated gangster. According to tabloids, several comrades in the task force that interrogated him actually brainwashed him.
Well, he must have had contact with Gao Xiaobing in his previous life because of borrowing books. She is the daughter of a senior cadre and a street thug. And Gao Feng will go to Hongyan to become a sixth-level cadre and the top leader in the future.
What happened between the two of them?
I took the little girl onto the tractor and drove along until we reached the corn field.
After putting Gao Xiaobing aside, Chen Lina of course had to do other things.
She will not interfere too much in the ethical drama of the next generation, and of course she will not deliberately try to stop it.
After all, they are still children, and District Chief Gao has a bright future. She doesn't care how the children develop in the future, but she wants them to have a good relationship with Gao Xiaobing, which will be a rare network of contacts in the future.
Many of the corn seedlings planted early in March have already broken through the soil film and grown to a full finger high.
However, many seedlings are planted by machines, and after they emerge, they are pressed under the soil film. Children have to manually use their small hands to carefully pick them out.
Liu Xiaohong can be said to be the king of the children on the farm. Although she is small, she is bold and hardworking.
To be honest, she even dared to slap Gao Xiaobing in the face, let alone these furry kids on the farm.
Look, she is leading a group of children and planting corn seedlings.
The children in the farm were all naughty. Sandan was the youngest and the clumsiest. He was working very hard with his butt sticking out. Suddenly, one of the children reached out and touched Sandan's pants. "Oh, this one is still naked, without even any underwear."
To be honest, these days, children on the farm are lucky to have pants to wear. But in the summer, when it is the hottest, there are still children as young as five or six running around barelegged.
But the farm manager's son is different. Nie Weimin is dressed neatly in a military uniform, but his younger brother doesn't even have shorts. Wouldn't a naughty child like to bully Sandan?
This child was the son of Wang Guanghai, the team leader. His name was Wang Xiaobing. He was very mischievous and loved to bully other children.
Sandaner still hasn't worn a pair of shorts. As soon as he took off his pants, his round, white and tender bare buttocks were exposed.
"You're looking for death by bullying my Dandan, are you?" Erdan said, raising his fist.
Wang Xiaobing said, "Ahhh, Erdan has ruined the seedlings, Erdan has ruined the seedlings."
One corn seedling will produce two or three large corn cobs in the future. If any of the children steps on one, he will not be able to work from the next day.
Not being able to work meant that they could not use their work points to exchange for delicious cucumbers and tomatoes, or even strawberries, mulberries, and grapes from the farm.
Erdan was so angry that he clenched his fists, but he didn't dare to move.
Wang Xiaobing made a face at Erdan and turned around to run, but he only took two steps before he was stopped by Liu Xiaohong. "Wang Xiaobing, stop right there. I want to ask you, why are you bullying my brother?"
"It's just a joke between kids, the manager won't get angry. Liu Xiaohong, why are you angry? You don't like Nie Weimin, do you?"
Nie Weimin was far away, about a mile away, helping the old professor cut the seedlings and carry out grafting.
Although he was small, he had delicate hands and was steady, accurate and ruthless in his work. When grafting young seedlings, even the slightest mistake could lead to a huge loss.
When he was grafting, Professor Qiu Hua, reporter Guo, Mr. Tian and others were watching with bated breath.
Don't blame a kid who is only in the first grade. After all, they are already eight or nine years old. Liu Xiaohong is pretty, and these naughty boys can't beat her. Every time, it is found that she will blush and get shy when talking about Nie Weimin.
Who would have known that today Liu Xiaohong had no shame at all. She stepped down and directly crushed a rice seedling in front of her, and said, "You, Wang Xiaobing, crushed the corn seedlings. You are no longer qualified to work with us. Get out."
"It was obviously you who stepped on it, Liu Xiaohong. If you dare to do that again, I will yell Nie Weimin, Nie Weimin, huh, Nie Weimin, did you hear me? Liu Xiaohong likes you."
Liu Xiaohong crushed two plants and said directly, "Wang Xiaobing, you crushed all of these. Not only will you not get any work points today, but I tell you, your father will beat you to death tonight."
"You are crazy. You trampled so many seedlings."
"Erdan, Sandan, Gousheng, Xiaohuahua, who do you think trampled on the rice seedlings?"
All the children said in unison, "It's Wang Xiaobing."
"That's it, get out of here." Liu Xiaohong said, and pushed Wang Xiaobing out of the corn field.
Although Wang Xiaobing didn't understand the saying "A single word can make a fortune, and three people can make a tiger", he had seen how ruthless Liu Xiaohong was. If the kids really insisted that he was the one who stepped on the girl, then his father would beat him to death tonight.
Dejected, he left.
"Xiaohong, you stepped on the seedlings. Although Wang Xiaobing was punished, my mother would be angry if she knew. Besides, if there is a mark on the nest, won't this place be empty from now on?" Erdan was most worried about this. "My mother said that if one corn seed is missing, three pounds of food will be missing, and I will have to go hungry for three days."
"Don't worry, I have a way." Liu Xiaohong said, and she ran a few steps quickly, searching carefully among the corn seedlings. After a while, she suddenly bent down, and when she ran across most of the corn field, she came back with several corn seedlings in her hands.
"Xiaohong, where did you move these from? You moved the seedlings from other places, so how do you fill that place?" Erdan asked.
"A tiller can't guarantee that there is only one seedling in each nest. If you walk a few more steps, you will find that some nests have two seedlings. Can't we just move one over?" Liu Xiaohong rubbed Sandan'er's head and said, "I recently used straw braids to weave a hat. I'm just going to ask someone to exchange some cloth for me. Then I'll make you some shorts, okay?"
"Okay." Sandaner thought for a moment and said, "Make one for my eldest brother, his pants are torn too."
"Ah, really, Nie Weimin's trousers are really torn?" Several children behind him suddenly burst into laughter.
"No, no, my mom found him a sunflower and filled the gap a long time ago." Erdan explained quickly.
This time, even Liu Xiaohong burst into laughter.
On the other side, Gao Xiaobing, holding the book, went to find Nie Weimin.
Little Nie Weimin's favorite and most obsessed science fiction book is "Galactic Empire". From a distance, he saw her carrying a military green schoolbag with only half of it exposed. The boy's heart was pounding and he almost couldn't control himself. He was about to cut a corn seedling.
After finally helping Professor Qiu to plant the seedlings, he flashed out of the field.
"Sister Gao, why don't you stay here tonight and stay at my aunt's house? Reporter Guo brought a telescope and said he would take me to see the stars. I will take you with me too." Nie Weimin said excitedly.
Gao Xiaobing quickly shook her head and said, "No, there are lice in the farm and I won't live there." Besides, she didn't really like reading, and her interest in astronomy was certainly not as strong as Nie Weimin's.
Watching the stars in the middle of the night, the spring breeze is so cold that it gives people a headache. It is not fun at all.
"Forget it then. I'll go find my sister and watch it together."
"Ni Weimin, who is your sister?"
"Liu Xiaohong, she is my sister. My cousin." Nie Weimin said innocently, "She probably doesn't like looking at the stars, but she will help me take care of my brothers."
"Hmph, then you go and read it with her. I'm going home with my mother." Gao Xiaobing said angrily, snatched the book from Nie Weimin's hand, turned around and left.
The hot-tempered Liu Xiaohong once slapped her in the face for a bowl.
Gao Xiaobing became angrier and angrier as she thought about it. She added, "Just wait, we will never lend you any more books from our house, humph!"
Nie Weimin looked bewildered. "If you don't want to give it to me, then don't give it to me. Sister Gao, why are you so angry?"
Chen Lina first inspected the entire farm, and then at noon she personally took care of distributing 85% flour steamed buns and cabbage and mutton noodle soup to the educated youth who came to help or do odd jobs, the mining area agencies, and many family members who were idle at home. She actually went to Chen Lili's home in the cave, kneaded the dough herself, and stretched it, using the finest wheat flour to make a bowl of pulled noodles for He Lanshan.
With some leftover noodles from frying twisted dough sticks during the Chinese New Year the previous year, he was able to stretch out the noodles with such skill that his three children were stunned. A pot of ramen noodles came out of the pot and was topped with a topping made of tomatoes, carrots and beef.
He Lanshan ate two large bowls of rice in a row, and after eating, he went back to the fields without even taking a lunch break.
Of course, Master Jin also took several photos of her and Sun Duoyu from various angles.
In short, the shutters were clicking, and Comrade He Lanshan had a bright smile and was full of energy. If this were published in the newspaper, it would be great publicity for both the mining area and District Chief Gao.
Turning back, she saw the man who hadn't smiled for a long time standing behind her. He was actually smiling a little smugly. Chen Lina immediately went over to him and asked, "Why don't you go back to the cave to eat lunch at noon, but have to eat the cabbage stewed with casserole in the cafeteria? Do you think my cooking is not tasty?"
"The princess cooks for him personally, how dare I? But Miss Chen, I understand why you kept reporter Guo, but when the New Youth Daily comes to interview you, you should be the one to take the spotlight, why do you have to push He Lanshan out and let her take the spotlight? Are you trying to help Gao Feng climb higher?"
"He has a career path in the government, and he will be a high-ranking official in the future. Since he is useful to me, why don't I lend him flowers and offer him a ride? Besides, if Director He wants to be in the limelight, let her do it. Anyway, I can't be in the newspapers."
"Why can't you be in the newspaper?" Nie Gong was quite angry. "You deserve to be in the New Youth Daily." Otherwise, he would not have stayed up late to look up agricultural data, coordinate the information of professors, and write a press release just for his lover to be in the newspaper.
"Have you forgotten that I am a stinking ninth? Although Secretary A and District Chief Gao discussed with the outside world that my file was burned.
But Old Nie, my parents are right here on the farm. If you investigate me through them, wouldn’t it be easy to find out everything? You know, Gong Hongxing is Nie Guozhu’s wife, and she knows everything about my background.”
"So, looking at you like this, you don't seem to be that scared."
"Be low-key in life, high-profile in work, and serious about production. Since He Lanshan has helped me gain fame, it is her job to help me avoid disasters. Don't you think so?"
"You are not a little princess, you are the Empress Dowager Cixi. If you ask me, the current "Cixi" is probably as scheming as you." Nie Bozhao felt a little regretful. "Let me ask you, if you really had a previous life, how could you be bullied by such a fool like Nie Guozhu with your clever mind?"
"How do you know that Nie Guozhu bullied me? We were in love. It was only later that I became more open-minded and no longer liked him that we got divorced."
"Impossible. You have always been a kind-hearted woman who knows how to repay kindness. You look at Nie Guozhu like a dog. Unless he has broken your heart, you would never do this."
The lover hated her husband in the previous life very much, and she couldn't hide her hatred no matter how hard she tried.
So Nie Bozhao is gradually not jealous anymore, really not jealous at all, he just feels especially sorry for his lover, even to the point of not knowing how to comfort her.
"So, I want to compensate you on his behalf. Tell me what you want, lipstick, high heels, perfume or cosmetics. As long as you want it, I will try to get it for you."
"What's the point of all that, Aunt Xiang, I'm tired of it in my last life. It's enough if you can just make me happy on the kang. So, can't we do it whenever we want instead of always following a rigid rule?" Chen Lina asked back seriously.
Nie Bozhao was drinking water from a military water bottle and was almost choked to death by the first sip.