Riding the wind of rebirth

"What can you come here for? You just want to improve yourself." Mom scoffed, then turned around and saw Mai Xiaomiao getting off the bus, as well as Feng Xueshan and Yang He in the bus behind: "Xiaomiao is getting prettier and prettier! Oh my, Xiaoshunzi, come and let Grandma hug you! Your skin is so tender and smooth, just like Xueshan's."

"When harvesting rice, you have to peel the husks," Yang He said with a simple, honest smile.

"Nonsense!" Mom slapped Yang He first, then took Xiao Shunzi from Feng Xueshan's arms: "He's so well-behaved! If you ask me, the government should give you special permission. Such a well-behaved child should be allowed to have another one! Hey, who are these two..."

“These two are our colleagues from the group’s security department. Starting today, they will provide close protection for Xiao Miao and Zhouzi when they go out,” Feng Xueshan introduced. “This is Brother Ma Bing, and this is Brother Lu Wei.”

Seeing her father frown slightly, Feng Xueshan quickly added, "This is a requirement of the state."

"It was Xiao Miao and me who submitted an industrial development plan proposal to Hu Gong." Zhou Zhi had no choice but to explain along the lines: "Recently, the country has also listed the information industry as a pillar industry, right? The proposal just happened to come at this crossroads and attracted attention."

"Is that so? Then you'd better be serious, responsible, humble, and cautious." Dad got straight to the point right from the start.

Zhou Zhi nodded vigorously, "Yes, yes, yes..."

Mom, however, saw something else and said to Ma Bing and Lu Wei, "Both of our kids have good personalities. If they cause any trouble or offend anyone, it's definitely unintentional. Just point it out and let them correct it. We'll rely on you two to take care of them in the future..."

This sounded a bit like a parent asking a teacher to transfer guardianship within the school. Ma and Lu didn't dare to take the bait. Ma Bing quickly said, "We will definitely serve you two leaders well in accordance with the requirements of our superiors and the standard procedures. Please rest assured about that."

Zhou Zhi had no choice but to quickly interrupt their misunderstanding: "Where is Grandma? I'll go see her first."

"She's upstairs picking flower branches," Mom laughed. "Come on up, she'll be so happy to see you."

"Then come inside for tea. Let them go upstairs to visit their grandmother," Dad warmly invited Ma Bing and Lu Wei.

“You don’t need to worry about us,” Ma Bing said to Lu Wei. “You stay here and I’ll scout out the surrounding terrain and transportation routes. I’ll switch with you in half an hour.”

"Yes, sir!" Lu Wei instinctively stood at attention, then quickly switched to standing at ease.

When we got upstairs, Grandma was sitting in her wheelchair, carrying a winnowing basket, and pinching off the tips of the cucumbers and loofahs in the rooftop vegetable patch.

“I didn’t believe you before, that was my fault.” Zhou Zhi smiled as she picked up the winnowing basket and continued working. “Later, I consulted a professor at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Liangshan Prefecture and learned that this is called the technique of pinching off the top to control height and pinching off flowers to increase yield. Grandma, if you had been able to promote these two techniques back then, you probably would have become a scientist at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences!”

“You’re all back! Yang He looks even fairer and more refined now, and he’s even wearing glasses, he doesn’t look like a country boy anymore.” Grandma was indeed very happy to see the children return: “Your grandma can’t even read many words, and she calls herself a scientist? Little Miao will laugh at her.”

“These two technologies really exist.” Mai Xiaomiao smiled and said, “Grandma, he didn’t just make things up. Grandma Liu from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences praised you after hearing about it, saying that the wisdom of the working people is the greatest.”

The rooftop garden is meticulously maintained. It's currently the season for fruits and vegetables, and many plants are laden with fruit, especially tomatoes, loofahs, cucumbers, and cowpeas.

The most amazing thing is that these plants are strictly controlled for apical dominance. Excess branches, leaves, flowers, and small fruits are removed, and all the nutrients are supplied to the remaining fruits, which actually make them grow better.

The best part is that the plant's height is controlled, so Grandma can operate most of it even while in her wheelchair. "Grandma's only disadvantage is that she can't read. But Grandma loves listening to you read." Grandma took the little seedling's hand: "Little seedling, you haven't gotten any fatter, has the pork knuckle been good to you?"

"If I really get fat, then she'll be the one mistreating me. Grandma, please forgive me." Elbow joked, "These loofahs are growing so well. How about we pick a few to make white oil loofah? And cucumbers too, I haven't had cucumber salad with fish-fragrant vegetables in ages."

"And the bitter melons and eggplants, all the ones that needed to be picked have been picked." Grandma directed meticulously, then asked Feng Xueshan, "Where's Xiao Shunzi? Didn't he come back with you?"

“My mom is holding me downstairs and won’t let go,” Zhou Zhi said with a smile. “You’ll see her when you come downstairs in a bit.”

"How long will you be staying this time?" Grandma asked.

"I really can't stay for long." Zhou Zhi said a little embarrassedly, "I still need to go to Yuzhou to see Sister Xiao Juan and talk to her about something. But I'll come back and stay for a few more days after that."

“After that, Zhouzi and I will be staying in Chengdu for at least half a year. Grandma, the road to Chengdu is all repaired now. When we come back, we will take you to Chengdu for a while,” Mai Xiaomiao said.

"Grandma's legs aren't very strong, and I don't want to cause you any trouble." Grandma gently patted Xiao Miao's hand again.

“No trouble at all. Your youngest son’s mansion has changed again. The clear water river in front has been renovated, and the large park in the back is also being planned for demolition.” Zhou Zhi laughed. “If you don’t go and take a look, it will change drastically in a few years, and you won’t be able to see the original state of the property when he bought it.”

"A hundred years of wealth is like a candle in the wind, all glory vanishes in a dream. If it weren't for your determination, that house would never have been found. Let things change as they will." Grandma said, "Knowing my grandson's capabilities, it doesn't matter whether I look or not."

Although Grandma was illiterate, she had listened to a lot of books and had a good memory and comprehension. She often recited poems off the cuff without exception, which surprised Zhou Zhi again: "This sentence is good. Let's find out where it comes from in a while."

"Let's cook dinner first." Feng Xueshan put the cucumbers and loofahs she had picked into the winnowing basket Zhou Zhi was holding. "Grandma's way of growing vegetables is so convenient for harvesting. Why don't you and Yang take this method back with you and teach it to your family?"

“There’s no need for that,” Zhou Zhi laughed. “Grandma is just planting for fun. The land is small, so she’s cultivating it meticulously. The Yang family has a total of eight mu of land now. If they were to cultivate it like that, it would exhaust my elder brother and sister-in-law.”

"However, I think dwarfing technology can be introduced for fruit trees such as citrus, lychee, and pomelo. I can talk to my dad about this. If the county has this idea, we can help contact teachers from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences for guidance."

"It's not that easy." Dad had already arrived at the door. Hearing this, he shook his head and said, "The model you implemented in Lianhe Township might not work in Baimi Township."

Why is that?

Dad chuckled coldly: "Because Lianhe Township is far from the capital, people didn't take you seriously at first. The local area is weak, and the administrative power is especially poor. Basically, it's a one-man show by the clan chief of the township. Once you've convinced him, you can start putting it into practice."

"When we moved to Jiachuan County, the county's control over the townships was top-notch. The townships' economic production, administrative implementation, and planning could not be easily disrupted. There were countless people watching from top to bottom, and no one dared to take on such responsibility without approval."

"You, as someone from the county, don't know about the dwarfing and high-yield technology for fruit trees? The peach base in Longquanshan, Chengdu, has been using this technology for a long time. But if we want to promote it to Manzhou, it's impossible without a top-down vertical drive. If we want it to spread spontaneously from the bottom up, it's a long and arduous journey."

"Grandma Liu often says the same thing," Mai Xiaomiao nodded. "The most typical example is the high-yield cultivation technique for root crops in ridges, which is very difficult to promote in Liangshan." (End of Chapter)