Xia Lunong grew up in the city and was not very good at tying firewood.
Hao Juanlian taught him several times, but he was crooked and reluctant to do it. His bundle was ugly, but firm enough.
He was a little unwilling to give up. While the firewood transport team had not brought much firewood yet, he took great pains to take down the firewood he had just tied and tried to tie it better.
Hao Juanlian laughed at him while helping him, "It's okay as long as it can be tied firmly, why do you need to make it look so good?"
Xia Lunong said, "While there is not much firewood, I will practice more and see if I can tie it better and faster."
Hao Juanlian smiled and said nothing more.
Xia Lunong struggled for a while.
The firewood hoisting team shouted, "The firewood has been transported back, everyone work harder together."
Xia Lunong knew that this was shouted to him, so he stopped struggling and hurriedly dragged the firewood over and started tying.
The newly cut firewood was wet and very heavy, and there were all kinds of things on it - bugs, ants, wood thorns, and tree sap. If you were not careful, you would feel very uncomfortable if you were bitten or scratched.
Firewood also rubs your hands, and if you were not careful, your hands would be bruised.
Xia Lunong was unskilled and impatient, and he worked stumblingly for half a morning, with countless wounds on his hands.
Fortunately, he did not lag behind. Although the bundle was a bit ugly, it was fast and strong, a few points faster than Hao Juanlian.
The four people in the firewood fishing team used ropes and wooden hooks to hoist the firewood outside the wall, and then threw the firewood that Xia Lunong and his team had tied into the base.
On this side of the base, there was a large bamboo forest under the wall. The firewood was quickly caught after being bundled and thrown down, and there was basically no loose fire. After
the firewood hanging team had thrown down the firewood, they gave Xia Lunong a thumbs up.
Xia Lunong smiled at them and wiped the sweat off his face with the back of his hand.
The sun had come out early, and they were all sweaty and sticky under the sun, with their cheeks flushed from the heat.
Someone shouted, "Take a break and drink some water. Is there any problem down there?"
People outside the wall also shouted, "Not for now."
After hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, sat down on the ground, and each reached for their own water bottle to pour water to drink, and started rolling cigarettes.
Xia Lunong patted her waist and looked around.
Everyone had tiredness on their faces. They smoked and didn't chat much. They had to save their energy to work.
Not long after the break, someone shouted at them to work again.
Xia Lunong felt okay at first, but after the break, she felt even more tired. When she stood up, her steps were weak.
Hao Juanlian wiped the sweat off her face and started to bundle firewood with vines.
Xia Lunong was embarrassed to shout, but he gritted his teeth and persisted.
This job was very difficult. By the end of the work, he was almost unconscious, but he just gritted his teeth and kept going.
At noon, everyone returned to the city wall to eat dry food. After eating, they found a shaded place to lie down and sleep for a while, and then got up to work again.
Xia Lunong followed along, working with lifeless eyes, and in the end, her movements were completely mechanical.
Fortunately, the team members were very helpful. It was estimated that by two or three o'clock in the afternoon, today's firewood was collected and all thrown to the base.
Everyone packed up their things, shouted and went down the wall, threw the firewood down the mountain, threw it to the foot of the mountain, and carried it to the canteen again and again.
Xia Lunong had not said much since noon, and silently followed them one by one, trying not to fall behind.
Even so, the work he did was still relatively small.
Others could carry 150 to 200 kilograms at a time, but he could only carry 70 to 80 kilograms at a time. Others could run six or seven times, but he could only run four times.
After all the firewood was carried into the shed used to store firewood next to the canteen, Liao Quannan clapped his hands and asked everyone to disperse. He stayed here and waited for the people from the canteen to weigh it.
There were thirty of them, and they had to complete the task in three days. They had to chop 15,000 kilograms of firewood every day, and 45,000 kilograms in three days. The base was very strict and had to weigh and assess them.
Xia Lunong was busy for most of the day, and was so tired that his eyes turned black, his lips were dry, and his shoulders were hot and painful, with red marks from carrying firewood.
When he heard Liao Quannan say to disband, he mechanically walked out two steps, just about to leave, he turned back, licked his lips and said to Liao Quannan: "I'll stay and help count."
Now there is no calculator, and after weighing the firewood, he has to add and subtract by himself every time.
Liao Quannan was holding a pen and a notebook and was about to write it down. When he heard him say that, he looked up and asked, "Aren't you tired yet?"
"Tired." Xia Lunong blinked tiredly, went over and sat next to him, and directly handed over the pen and notebook, "You are tired too." Liao
Quannan smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "Good job!"
Xia Lunong's shoulder was stung by his pat, but she was too embarrassed to say it and just endured it.
Among the people who helped to weigh the firewood, someone laughed and said, "They are both the same brothers. They look gentle and polite, but they are very tough in their bones."
"Oh, that's true." Someone else said, "Speaking of toughness, I don't submit to anyone in this base except Deputy Captain Xia."
"Look at what you said, you don't submit to Captain Yan?"
"Go away, don't interrupt. It's not about toughness, we had it so hard back then. Deputy Captain Xia held up half of the base with one hand and took care of his sick brother with the other. Who in the base can do that?"
Liao Quannan interrupted, "Don't just talk big, hurry up, finish the weighing sooner so we can go back sooner, we are so tired."
"This is just the beginning. Last year we got up before dawn and carried bricks up the mountain, and finished work after dark. That's what we call tiring. Even the toughest men would be exhausted."
"Where is it hard?"
"Go away! Where is it hard?"
Xia Lunong listened, smiled faintly, and scratched on the paper with his pen.
He wrote the order of weighing on the left side of the paper, the first time, the second time, the third time... and so on, and wrote the weight weighed on the right side, which was clearly organized and convenient for review.
Liao Quannan leaned over to take a look and sat back with confidence.
Everyone was strong, so they used a floor scale when weighing, which could weigh 500 kilograms at a time.
The firewood was moved back and forth, and it was weighed in a short while.
Xia Lunong added up the weight obtained each time and said, "Today we have collected a total of 21,377 kilograms of firewood."
The people in the cafeteria leaned over to take a look and said, "I guess this is the number."
After doing the job for a long time, his hands are accurate and he can roughly estimate it.
Everyone came to the scene to confirm, and when they saw that there was no problem, they all signed their names for future inspection.
After the work was done, they could really go home this time.
Xia Lunong said hello to everyone, dragged his tired steps and walked out, intending to go home to get something and walk out.
Liao Quannan called him.
Xia Lunong turned around, and Liao Quannan took out something wrapped in leaves from a small basket in his hand and handed it to him, "These are the wild fruits I just picked, try them." Xia
Lunong had been watching him holding a small bamboo basket, but he didn't know that his basket was filled with wild fruits.
He stuffed a bag of things into her, and she was at a loss for words, not knowing whether to accept it or not.
Liao Quannan smiled, "Take it. You've worked hard today."
Xia Lunong didn't have time to thank him. After he took a few steps, he responded, "Thank you, team leader."
Liao Quannan waved and left with the basket.
Xia Lunong took the leaf bag in his hand. Looking at his back with big strides, he wiped the sweat off his face and walked home.
When he got home, he opened the leaf bag and found a bag of yellow fruit inside. The fruit was as big as a ping-pong ball and was made up of fruit particles. It looked like an enlarged version of a blackberry.
Some of the fruit particles were crushed, and the juice that flowed out was sticky on the leaves, smelling very sweet and sour.
Xia Lunong plucked a fruit particle and licked it carefully. Her eyes lit up. This enlarged version of a blackberry was actually very sweet!
Sweet and juicy, with a peculiar aroma!
Xia Lunong took it to the kitchen, washed one with water, wiped it dry and took a light bite.
As soon as his teeth knocked against the skin, the thin skin burst instantly, and the abundant juice flowed out, so sweet that he couldn't help but squint his eyes.
After eating a fruit, the juicy and sweet taste stayed on the tip of the tongue for a long time before dissipating.
Xia Lunong felt a lot more comfortable.
He sat there happily and savored it for a while, looking at the cranberries in the leaf bag.
There were four left in it, one of which was a little broken, and the remaining three were intact.
He pinched it carefully, and it was still hard. Judging from the freshness, it would not be a problem to store it for two or three days.
He picked out the one that was a little broken, and sent the remaining three to the kitchen, and carefully put them in the cupboard, hoping to keep them for his brother to come back.
He was reluctant to eat the remaining one with broken skin, so he kept it in the bowl, planning to eat it tomorrow.
Chopping wood was really tiring, even if he was mainly bundling wood today. He
went to the bathhouse to take a quick bath, got some food, and then went to sleep.
When he got up the next day, he couldn't even straighten his waist. He had to hold his breath and slowly straighten it little by little before he could stand normally.
He pinched his waist, and there was no problem with the bones. It was probably a muscle strain.
Looking at his shoulders again, both shoulders were purple and red, and there were big bruises, but fortunately it didn't hurt too much.
Xia Lunong let out a long sigh and went out to fetch water and food.
After breakfast, he felt a little better, and went to see Doctor Ou, who said that there were no broken bones and nothing serious. Then he carried the water bottle and sweet potatoes and went up the mountain again.
He was not feeling well today, and it was more difficult for him to bundle the firewood than yesterday.
His teammate saw that his face had turned pale, so after working for a while, he let him rest in the shade.
He did not rest for long, and continued to work after a little slowing down.
Hao Juanlian whispered, "You don't have to work so hard. Wait for your brother to come back and let him take over for you. It will be done soon."
Xia Lunong patted his lower back and smiled, "My brother is tired too."
Hao Juanlian shook her head and said nothing more.
More than 21,000 kilograms of firewood had been chopped yesterday, and today we only need to chop more than 23,000 kilograms.
Everyone wanted to finish the work today, so they did not rest much at noon and extended their working hours in the afternoon.
Fortunately, when they sent the firewood to the cafeteria for weighing at the end, everyone completed the task in excess and did not need to come again tomorrow.
Xia Lunong walked at the end, and waited until all the firewood was weighed and registered before saying goodbye to Liao Quannan and the others and going back.
Liao Quannan told him to take a good rest after returning, rest for two more days, and eat some delicious food to replenish his body, so that he would get used to it slowly.
Xia Lunong smiled at him and thanked him for his care.
As soon as he got home, he took a quick shower, ate a few bites of food, and climbed into bed to sleep.
This mission at the base was too tiring, and he relied on his willpower to get through it. He didn't expect that he would lie down for two days, and his brother caught him when he came back.