Although Wen Ruan was only staying at the brigade for one day, Song Yan didn't want to mistreat her.
Fortunately, the nearest town wasn't far away, and at their speed, it would only take about an hour to go back and forth. So Wen Ruan embarked on that road that was driving her crazy again.
When they reached that dreadful path, Wen Ruan suddenly remembered what she and Zhou Shengsheng had discussed before they arrived, and asked Song Yan, "With this path like this, aren't people coming to buy the fruit tomorrow? How are we going to transport all that fruit out?" Wen Ruan had some questions.
Large vehicles cannot pass through such a road. Even bicycles must be pushed slowly and carefully to get through. The road conditions are very poor.
"We can only rely on manpower." Song Yan sighed, reached out to support Wen Ruan's hand, and kept his eyes on the soles of Wen Ruan's feet.
"Huh? Manpower?" Wen Ruan found it somewhat unbelievable.
Looking around, the terrain of this road is very complicated, with rugged and winding mountain roads. In short, there is only one feeling: after every turn, there are always mountains; and at the end of the road, there is still another road.
As Wen Ruan walked, she sometimes felt that this road was cruel, with endless mountains and rivers and countless bends stretching for miles.
"Well, there's no other way but to rely on manpower. When the fruit trees were brought here, it was all the able-bodied men in the village who carried them back bit by bit."
Wen Ruan gasped in shock. Song Yan had mentioned before that, in order to generate profits as quickly as possible, the county allocated funds to purchase saplings that were in their growth period and expected to bear fruit within two years. In other words, the large fruit tree planting area she had seen before, with about six or seven hundred orchards, was transported back by manpower, trudging through the rugged mountain road.
"Why not build a road?" When she asked the question, Wen Ruan already had the answer in her heart.
"It's a deficit. We don't have the money to repair them. Those few fruit trees were transported back with great difficulty after I asked around for a long time. We haven't even paid the full amount for the goods. The county has only paid one-third of the cost. We can only make up the rest after they start generating revenue." Song Yan said helplessly.
"Then why choose this location? Shouldn't we choose a region with relatively convenient transportation? That would make it easier to transport the fruit trees beforehand and to transport the ripe fruit out of the area later?"
Song Yan sighed: "We've considered everything. There aren't any places with convenient transportation in this county. Road construction is a must, but without money, it's all for nothing."
"Are there any relatively convenient places? Of course there are. The county is so big, there are quite a few, but are they suitable? No, some don't have the right soil conditions, and some don't have the right terrain. It took a long time to finally determine this place."
"There will definitely be difficulties, but we can only solve them one by one. Sooner or later, we will be able to eliminate them all!" Song Yan was very optimistic.
Wen Ruan, who was listening from the side, felt very distressed.
"Don't worry, everything will be alright. There's always a process like this." Seeing that Wen Ruan seemed a little upset, Song Yan smiled gently and comforted her in a low voice.
"Is it hard?" Wen Ruan had already walked this road twice, and she didn't even want to walk it a third time.
But given Song Yan's personality, he must have walked this road countless times, traveling to various parts of this county.
Song Yan smiled and said, "What's so hard about it? What isn't hard? You were studying away from home, weren't you? It's the same thing, all the same."
"As long as the hard work is worthwhile, then it's not hard work. These past two days, during the harvest season, seeing the fruits hanging heavily on the branches, I felt that all the hard work was worth it," Song Yan said honestly.
The two chatted all the way and finally arrived at the town. The environment of the town was somewhat different from Wen Ruan's expectations. It was far worse than the town where Song Yan had taken her to the market before. If Song Yan hadn't told Wen Ruan that this was a town, she might have thought it was just an ordinary village.
There were no markets or department stores in the town, only a tiny supply and marketing cooperative.
The supply and marketing cooperative was nearly deserted. Wen Ruan went inside and looked around for a while before finally picking out a toothbrush, toothpaste, towels, and other daily necessities.
According to the only salesperson in the supply and marketing cooperative, "You're lucky, this is the last set of dental kits."
Without waiting for Wen Ruan's response, he continued to sigh to himself, "After so long of stocking up, it's finally almost sold out..."
Wen Ruan felt a little uncomfortable after hearing this.
This small supply and marketing cooperative didn't have White Rabbit milk candy or anything like that. Song Yan and Wen Ruan bought two jin of fruit candy and two cans of fruit. They didn't have anything else there.
Those things were gifts they were preparing to take with them when they went to the brigade leader's house for dinner that night and when Wen Ruan stayed overnight. In those days, every family had a hard time, especially when it came to food rations, which were extremely precious.
Wen Ruan also planned to slip a grain coupon to the team leader's wife when she left, and Song Yan did not object.
Logically speaking, with the "reform and opening up" underway, life should only get better and better. However, through today's experience, Wen Ruan gradually realized that this requires a process, especially for county towns far from cities. It will take a long time before the benefits can reach these areas.
Of course, we can't just wait passively. Everyone here needs to make an effort. Whether it's Song Yan, Zhou Shengsheng, or everyone in the team, we all need to keep moving forward on this road called the pursuit of a better life...
Afterwards, the two of them went to the brigade leader's house with the things they had bought. Although they tried their best to refuse, Wen Ruan and the others insisted on giving them the food, saying they couldn't just eat someone else's food for free and bother them. Helpless, the brigade leader's wife had no choice but to accept it.
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