Chapter 3 Thatched House

Chapter 3 Thatched House

The contrast was so great that everyone fell silent.

The deputy captain Mao, who had just disliked Tao Nanfeng's delicateness, was named Mao Peng. When he saw that she was strong, his attitude immediately changed. He completely forgot that he had just said that this girl was a spendthrift and not a hard-working person. He grinned and poked Xiangbei: "It's good to be strong. If you are strong, you can work. It's worth giving you ten work points."

The teammates excitedly poked their heads out and wanted to get closer to Tao Nanfeng, but were stopped by Xiangbei with his eyes.

"Since you're so strong, you should join the road construction team." Xiangbei strode up to Tao Nanfeng and handed him the shovel in his hand.

The action heading north represented acceptance, and all the members of the road construction team cheered. These men were all straightforward. No one asked Tao Nanfeng why she was so strong, and no one questioned her identity and origin.

"Tao Zhiqing, you are awesome!"

"Welcome to join our road repair team."

"The road construction team needs young people like you who are educated and strong."

Tao Nanfeng took the shovel, and his rapidly beating heart finally settled down. He thanked him again: "Thank you."

Xiangbei's mouth corners slightly raised, pulling the scar on his face, making it twisted and hideous. His originally heroic and handsome face looked somewhat scary.

When Xiao Aiyun saw the scar on his face, he muttered to himself: You'd better not laugh, it's too scary when you laugh. He moved his body involuntarily and hid quietly behind Tao Nanfeng.

Mao Peng waved his hand and said, "Let's get started~"

"Oh..." The members of the road construction team quickly dispersed, picked up the measuring instruments they had just put down, and began to continue the surveying work under the command of Engineer Yang. However, after work, they would still sneak a peek at Tao Nanfeng from time to time.

Click, click——

In less than half an hour, the other half of the rock stuck in the mountain was cut off by Tao Nanfeng, and everyone worked together to push it down the mountain.

As the rumbling sound echoed through the valley, everyone looked at Tao Nanfeng with admiration in their eyes.

The mountain breeze brought bursts of coolness, and everyone's happy eyes were burning. In the cold and heat, Tao Nanfeng's chest was cleared of the depression. The corners of his mouth curved, his eyebrows and eyes were smiling, like the bright spring day.

Being recognized and accepted, and being able to work with everyone, I finally took the first step towards adapting to farm life.

Only after actually participating in the road construction team's work did Tao Nanfeng realize the hardships of field operations. Even with a straw hat to block the sun, my back still hurt. The exposed skin felt like it was burned by fire. The soil on the ground emitted bursts of hot air that hurt my eyes.

After long periods of repetitive physical labor, my muscles gradually became sore, my arms could be raised slower and slower, and my legs were struggling to move forward step by step. My throat was smoking and my stomach was growling with hunger. Suddenly, a warm current flowed out from my palms wrapped in the gauze scarf, quickly flowing through my limbs and relieving the discomfort in my body.

Tao Nanfeng straightened up and looked at his left hand thoughtfully. The heat flow came from the black tooth mark. Could this be the supernatural power mentioned in the dream about the end of the world?

“Pu La La…”

A pheasant flew out from the dense grass on the southern hillside. Its long tail feathers flashed with colorful light, creating beautiful colors in the sunlight.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" The members of the road construction team shouted happily, put down their instruments, crouched down and rushed up the hillside, laughing and joking about catching pheasants.

"Hurry, hurry! Such a fat pheasant will be delicious when cooked."

"You go up over there, and I'll go up here."

"Get your weapons, get your weapons!"

“…”

Tao Nanfeng straightened up and looked at the pheasant flying in front of him. In an instant, all the hardships were thrown behind him, and the first sentence that came to his mind was.

——Like a bird, it flutters; like a phoenix, it flies.

When I read this line of poetry describing the magnificence of the palace, I didn't understand why the palace's eaves were compared to a pheasant spreading its wings in flight. Now that he saw it in person, Tao Nanfeng suddenly understood.

The pheasant's feathers are extremely gorgeous and really beautiful. The curved lines carry a breathtaking sense of power, and it is very appropriate to use them to describe the magnificent palace.

The men of the road construction team all went into battle. As they watched the pheasants being chased all over the mountain by a group of people, a clear eagle cry was heard in the sky.

"Whoosh!" A strong wind blew.

He yelled to the north, "Get down!"

Everyone subconsciously lowered their heads and crouched down. A huge eagle swooped down, grabbed the pheasant in its talons, and soared into the air.

The sky was startled and the clouds stopped, then disappeared in an instant.

The eagle flew away, and the people below stamped their feet and cursed the guy who stole their food.

"Damn it, he was about to be caught. I could have improved my life tonight, but he got robbed by this unethical guy."

"It's over, everything is lost..."

"Egg?"

Everyone's eyes lit up and they shouted, "Hurry, hurry, find the pheasant's nest." Everyone scattered and searched for the pheasant's nest in the grass.

“Here, here!”

"One, two, three... I'm so lucky, there are twelve eggs in this nest!"

"Bring me a straw hat for the pheasant eggs."

When Tao Nanfeng heard them shouting on the hillside, there was a light of excitement in his eyes. A city child had never seen such a scene before: pheasants, eagles, pheasant eggs... This half day was so rich that she was dazzled.

It was lunchtime, the sun was scorching the earth, and the road construction team members hid in the shade, sat on the ground, and lifted the blue cloth covering the bamboo basket.

There were a dozen square aluminum lunch boxes neatly arranged. When the lids were opened, the aroma of food filled the air. Tao Nanfeng couldn't help but take a quick glance.

——This should be the lunch prepared by the road construction team members early in the morning. It is inconvenient for them to return home at noon while working in the field, so they bring the lunch with them to build the road. Food is scarce now. Rice, oil and vegetables are all limited. I just joined the road construction team today and have not prepared anything. It seems that I will have to starve.

"Wow! Today we have scrambled eggs with garlic sprouts."

"Sweet potato rice, so delicious."

"Aunt Xiang's fried pepper sauce goes best with rice, and the fried eggplant is really delicious."

It has been four days since they set out from Jiangcheng and had not had a hot meal. Hearing the conversation among the road construction team members, Tao Nanfeng lowered his eyes and sat down quietly aside.

Suddenly, a pair of big hands and a lunch box appeared in front of me.

When Tao Nanfeng raised his head, he met Xiangbei's face.

Xiang Bei bent down and placed the lunch box in front of her: "You and Xiao Zhiqing share one." After that, he turned and left, sharing lunch with the other members of the road construction team.

After getting up early in the morning, they only ate a piece of egg cake brought from home and drank a glass of spring water. Their stomachs were already growling with hunger. Tao Nanfeng and Xiao Aiyun held the lunch boxes together and scooped a large spoonful of rice into their mouths with a spoon.

Mmm...sweet and delicious.

Only people who are extremely hungry can experience the happiness of eating a hot meal. Tao Nanfeng felt a warm feeling in his heart.

Xiao Aiyun was so moved that she wanted to cry, and she chattered while eating.

"This is the first time I've felt that sweet potato rice is so delicious. Before, I only thought that rice was delicious at home."

"What kind of chili sauce is this? It has a burnt aroma and goes well with rice."

"What is this white thing that looks like a garlic head? It smells so good when fried with eggs..."

The teammates beside him all laughed: "Xiao Zhiqing, the food cooked by the captain's mother is very delicious. You will know in the future how right it is to be assigned to our road construction team. This is radish, which grows wild in the fields. You city people have never seen it."

After finishing the hot meal, Xiao Aiyun found a large bunch of small red fruits in the mixed woods to the north. The fruits were in clusters and clumps, the size of thumbs, hanging on the thorn trees. The lush green leaves made this wild fruit called "Shanlihong" look juicy and lovely.

Xiao Aiyun is the third of five siblings in her family. She has two powerful older sisters, a willful younger sister, and the youngest is her darling younger brother. The family conditions were not good, and she was not usually able to enjoy the delicious food. Seeing fruits all over the mountains, Xiao Aiyun felt like he had become rich overnight. He ate two himself and stuffed one into Tao Nanfeng's mouth, feeling extremely excited.

"Tao Nanfeng, this fruit is sour and sweet and really delicious."

"Tao Nanfeng, this fruit is ripe and sweet. You can have it."

"Tao Nanfeng..."

Tao Nanfeng's family is well-off and he can eat seasonal fruits every now and then, but this is the first time he has seen fresh wild fruits in the wild. He found them very fresh and nodded as he tasted them.

Seeing that the two of them liked it, the young man from the road repair team took off his straw hat and helped pick two large handfuls: "Take it back and eat it slowly. There are a lot of these things on the mountain, but be careful of the thorns when picking them."

As soon as five o'clock in the afternoon arrived and the whistle sounded, the road construction team collectively finished their work.

The young men carried measuring instruments, walked into the sunset, and sang "The sun sets in the west, the clouds are flying, the soldiers return to the camp after shooting practice", and happily surrounded Tao Nanfeng and Xiao Aiyun as they returned to the field office.

When they arrived at the site, disputes arose again.

Luo Xuan looked at the work points record sheet given by the road construction team and said in a pretentious tone: "How can these two female educated youth get ten work points? Road construction is a physical job, and female comrades can only get seven work points."

Xiao Aiyun lived in a room with her two older sisters and a younger sister, and fighting and quarreling were common occurrences among them. When she heard this, she got furious and put her hands on her hips and cursed back.

"When you were assigning tasks, you said women hold up half the sky, but when you were assigning work points, you said road construction is physical work and women get paid differently for the same work. You are so inconsistent. Is there any leader like you?"

Luo Xuan didn't expect Xiao Aiyun to be so eloquent. He was speechless for a moment and could only slam the table heavily: "What's the use of being so good at talking? Female comrades only get seven work points. This is the rule of the farm!"

Tao Nanfeng stood beside Xiao Aiyun and mustered up the courage to express his dissatisfaction: "This is not fair!"

Luo Xuan glanced at her and sneered, "Fairness? You newcomers dare to ask for fairness?"

Engineer Yang Xianyong came over to smooth things over: "Director Luo, they did a lot of work today and they worked very hard. It is reasonable to give them 10 work points."

Several other members of the road repair team also chimed in: "Yes, Tao Nanfeng is very strong, and Xiao Aiyun is efficient, and they have done just as much as we have."

Luo Xuan glanced at Tao Nanfeng and said sarcastically, "Why, just because the girl is pretty, you use the farm's money and food as a favor? I'm telling you, no way!"

He added fuel to the fire by saying, "Being efficient is possible, but being strong? Haha, hehe, you are flattering too much."

"Tao Nanfeng, since Director Luo doesn't believe that you are strong, then just show it." Mao Peng's slightly sarcastic voice sounded from outside the door, with Xiang Bei standing beside him.

Xiangbei said nothing, but carried a big iron pot on his shoulder.

The iron pot was about seventy or eighty centimeters in diameter and extremely heavy. Xiangbei, who was carrying the iron pot, was sweating all over, and his tall figure gave people a strong sense of oppression.

Luo Xuan was shocked and stood up suddenly: "Xiang Bei, why did you take the iron pot from the cafeteria?!"

Xiangbei ignored Luo Xuan with an indifferent expression.

Mao Peng smiled and said to Tao Nanfeng, "You have a stove but no pot in your educated youth camp, so you can't cook. If you want this pot, go ask Director Luo for it."

Tao Nanfeng looked at Xiangbei and blinked. Her beautiful big eyes seemed to be saying: Do you really want to show me my strength?

Facing Tao Nanfeng's clear eyes, Xiangbei nodded slightly.

Xiao Aiyun shouted excitedly: "Tao Nanfeng, show us your skills and bring the iron pot over."

The other people who had experienced Tao Nanfeng's strength also shouted, "Yes, show us your skills!"

Continue read on readnovelmtl.com