Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 694 Collective Life and Labor
Men’s friendship is very strange. They can be classmates, have a relationship with each other, share spoils, or climb walls. As long as one of these is true, they are a close relationship.

To put it bluntly, those who have the above relationships know each other well, and if they do the dirty work, they are considered to be in the same boat.

Stirring the manure pot is definitely the dirtiest job among all the dirty jobs.

With his colleagues from the escort department around, Tang Zhitong did not use any plug-ins to cheat.

Although the whole process was done carefully enough, it was inevitable that some spots would splash on the body.

The winter in Sijiu City is very cold. The excrement accumulated over the winter was boiled this morning. Water was added during the boiling process for easier stirring.

After boiling, use a large ladle to scoop it into a bucket and pour it on the ground little by little.

The smell was very pungent. The employees of the escort department were not paying enough attention when they were watering the ground, and did not notice what Tang Zhitong had done to the ground before.

By noon, the last pot was finally finished, and Fang Yuan invited all the employees who participated in the work to go to the bathhouse to take a bath.

"Hey, two years ago, I read about this method in the newspaper. Does it really work?" After doing dirty work together, they unconsciously became much closer. Someone who was soaked in the water began to question it.

There was a movement the year before last, and everyone who knows about it knows about it. Although the newspapers have repeatedly clamored for high production, after experiencing last year's austerity rationing and this year's supply shortage, some people began to waver.

"It is useful. In the early years, many dung masters did this to save time on composting. It is also done in rural areas." It is not clear whether a retained employee who is about to retire is speaking just based on the facts or has some hidden meaning.

Tang Zhitong did not participate because Fang Yuan was chatting with him: "You made quite a big move this time. The Science and Technology Commission contacted you through the Municipal Bureau. A few days ago, a man named Ding Hui came to the Escort Department. I told him to contact your school, and he verbally agreed. Did he contact you?"

"Ah? No, why isn't this matter over yet?" Tang Zhitong was very surprised after hearing this. He thought that Ye Zhijuan had helped him to refuse and the matter was over.

"What? Have I looked for you before?" Fang Yuan was even more surprised.

"Well, it's a long story. I made a little gadget before, which might be of some use. Finally, it was reported to the Science and Technology Commission, and they called me over and questioned me for a long time." Tang Zhitong did not hide it from Fang Yuan, but he did not explain it in detail.

"Invented something new? Send it to the army. Old He will be so happy that he will die." Fang Yuan knew that Tang Zhitong had been commended and won the second-class merit for his invention, so he made a subconscious suggestion.

"That thing is not suitable for sending to the army. Thank you, Brother Yuan. I will pay attention to it later. Can I rub your back?" Tang Zhitong smiled and let the matter go.

"Okay, I haven't had my back rubbed for a while. I always feel that I can't get the feeling of a Northeast bathhouse by rubbing my back here." Fang Yuan didn't argue and turned around quickly, showing his back to Tang Zhitong.

Today the bathhouse opened a pool of water specifically for these night soil stirring workers. They can wash and soak in it as they please, but they have to rinse it clean again later, otherwise the people after them won't be able to use it.

After scrubbing and showering, I feel refreshed, but when it comes to putting on clothes, I feel like I’m back to square one.

My body is clean now, but the smell on my clothes cannot be dispelled in a short time. However, there is nothing I can do but wear them with my nose held.

Not only do you have to wear it, you also have to wear it to eat in the cafeteria.

Although Tang Zhitong said that they could save a meal at noon, everyone ate the lunch.

Perhaps it was because the color of the steamed bread served in the canteen today was somewhat similar to the color of the dung soup, so some comrades found it difficult to eat.

"Eat, eat, it's nothing. One time I was on an escort mission and we stopped at Changsha Station. It was lunchtime and the local comrades opened their lunch boxes to eat. Wow, I was shocked by the stench. Can you guess what it was?" Fang Yuan saw that some employees didn't want to eat and recalled what he saw when he first came to the escort department.

"What? It can't be gold juice?" someone asked curiously.

Tang Zhitong didn't say anything, but almost couldn't hold it in. Changsha, that must be stinky tofu, famous for its unique smell. However, due to the limited production of soy products, it is not popular nationwide. It may be available in some offices in the inner city.

"How could that be possible? No matter how hungry I am, I can't drink the golden juice. The local comrades said it was their specialty, called stinky tofu, and they insisted that I try it. I was not afraid on the battlefield, but I was afraid that time. I couldn't eat it when I smelled the smell." Fang Yuan openly shared his embarrassing story with everyone.

"Did you taste it in the end?" Tang Zhitong couldn't help but ask.

"After trying it, I have to say it's true. It smells bad but tastes delicious. If I have the chance to go again, I will definitely try it again." Fang Yuan smacked his lips, looking like he was savoring the taste.

"Is it really smelly?" asked an employee.

"It's true! I can smell it from ten meters away!" Fang Yuan swore.

"I heard that the smell is really bad. A friend of mine went there on a business trip and mentioned stinky tofu when we met a while ago. His reaction when he saw it for the first time was the same as Director Fang's." Tang Zhitong had eaten stinky tofu before coming here, but he couldn't talk about it, so he made a friend out of nothing.

The old man also ate it when he went to Changsha two years ago, but this incident was not reported in the newspapers and not many people here know about it.

"People can smell that smell every day and they don't say they can't stand it, so what's this for us? Eat quickly, you still have work to do in the afternoon." Fang Yuan took the opportunity to encourage him.

Tang Zhitong took the opportunity to nod in agreement. It was simply because he couldn't buy durian. If he could, he would let his colleagues in the escort department see how to wolf down the stinky yellow stuff!

As a human being, as long as there are others who are worse off than you, your own difficulties don't seem to be that much of a difficulty.

Fang Yuan said that after eating the stinky ones, the steamed bread in his hand became tasty...

After the meal, Fang Yuan asked everyone to take a short rest as they had to continue tending to the potato plants in the afternoon.

Tang Zhitong returned to the Finance Department. Because he smelled, he deliberately made a detour to stay away from Ma Wei to avoid smelling the stink.

"Chief, the Municipal Bureau has approved my salary increase. Thank you!" Ma Wei was the first to thank Tang Zhitong when she saw him.

"Why be polite? It's all you deserve. You haven't finished eating yet? How about I go out first? I smell." After seeing that there was still half a steamed bun left in Ma Wei's lunch box on the table, Tang Zhitong felt embarrassed. He didn't expect that it was almost time to go to work and Ma Wei hadn't finished eating yet.

“No, no. I can’t smell it at all.” Ma Wei waved her hands repeatedly. “I’ve been smelling it all morning and I’ve lost my appetite. It has nothing to do with the section chief.”

"We have to germinate the potatoes in the afternoon, so open the doors and windows to let the smell go." Seeing that Ma Wei didn't plan to eat anymore, Tang Zhitong didn't try to persuade her. He turned around and put his bag on the desk. The smell coming from the bag was similar to that of stinky tofu, so he picked it up and hung it on the back of a chair, deciding to just make do with it.

"Okay, I'll go out and work when the time comes." Ma Wei nodded. Although she was a little spoiled, she also knew the suffering of the people. Not working normally doesn't mean not working now. "Okay, follow the practice and gain experience." Tang Zhitong responded without thinking. There was only one acre of land in total, and there were about a few hundred kilograms of potatoes to plant. There were many people in the escort department, and each person would not get much, so there was no such thing as being tired.

"Chief, there is some progress on the farm. My dad said there is hope." Ma Wei informed Tang Zhitong of the latest developments in a timely manner.

"Really? That's great!" Tang Zhitong said happily. At this critical juncture, the importance of the farm is unquestionable. The one acre of land at the escort department cannot be compared with a farm at all.

"My father said that the negotiations with Daxing Commune have almost been concluded, and we will send people to work there when the time comes."

"Labor is good, labor is glorious. The food you grow yourself tastes better!" Tang Zhitong doesn't care about labor. Before joining the postal system, when did he not work?
Although they are going to work now, Tang Zhitong feels that it is impossible to be full-time. It would be enough for each person to work for ten days or half a month every year. By then, everyone can get some subsidized grain or grain coupons, and the family will be much better off.

"This matter hasn't been finalized yet, so I didn't tell Director Fang."

"It's okay, don't worry, we just have to wait for the notice. I don't know if they will grow watermelons over there this year. The watermelons over there are delicious. We can go there to work when the watermelons are harvested, pick a watermelon and spend a day in the well. When we get off work, we can cut a piece. It will be so refreshing, I can't tell you how great it is." Before anything was finalized here, Tang Zhitong had already started to miss the watermelons in Daxing.

There is no way. Although Sijiucheng produces fruits, there are very few famous and delicious ones at present, such as the dates from Langjiayuan, the watermelons from Daxing, and the Jingbai pears from Mentougou. As for the peaches from Pinggu, they are all hairy peaches at present. It was not until the 1970s and 1980s that the development of new varieties began.

Forget about the dates from Langjiayuan this year. Given the current supply situation, they will be picked before they can fully ripen.

The only thing we can look forward to is the watermelons from Daxing.

"Now that you've mentioned it, I feel like eating." Ma Wei didn't eat much at noon. As she listened to Tang Zhitong's story, she began to saliva.

"Well, think about it. There is everything in dreams, hahaha." Tang Zhitong has some watermelons in his space, but he can't take them out because it's not in season. However, when the watermelons are off the market, he can give two to Ma Wei as a snack.

After Tang Zhitong interrupted her, Ma Wei also smiled, as if the stench around her had faded a lot.

While Tang Zhitong was talking, his hands were not idle. Ma Wei had already placed the recently accumulated documents on his desk, waiting for his signature.

Just after signing and handing it over to Ma Wei to settle the account, I heard Sister Chen outside calling her colleagues from the escort department to go out to work.

There is strength in numbers, and this is not just talk.

As long as everyone has a common goal, unites and works together, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished.

Sister Chen divided the work among the personnel. Some female comrades were responsible for cutting the potatoes into pieces, while other female comrades were responsible for wrapping the potatoes with wood ash. The men were responsible for carrying, building stoves and other rough work.

"Sister Chen, can I cut potatoes too? My knife is sharp!" Gao Lide disagreed. He was wearing an apron and holding a kitchen knife, and it was obvious that he had just come out of the kitchen.

"Okay, then Master Gao will be responsible for cutting." Gao Lide's reasons were very convincing, and Sister Chen accepted them immediately without any leadership airs.

Next, everyone did their job. The men lined up in a long queue with a distance of more than one meter between them, passing bricks one by one into the greenhouse. These bricks were to be used to build stoves to create a more suitable temperature for the potatoes to sprout.

While Tang Zhitong was handing bricks inside, he was listening to Sister Chen telling the female comrades and Gao Lide how to cut potatoes and how to leave a few "eyes".

He explained it in great detail, and it was obvious that he had done the work and was not just giving blind orders.

Blind command is all too common these days, and it gets more serious at the grassroots level.

In the past two years, due to many reasons, a large number of cadres were transferred to grassroots units. In addition to reform, the original intention was also to sort out the grassroots atmosphere.

Those who were not sent down could not leisurely drink tea and read newspapers, because there was a document at that time called "Decision on Cadres' Participation in Physical Labor". As long as they were cadres, they had to participate in physical labor.

I don’t know if Sister Chen learned this skill with potatoes at that time.

"Be careful, this wood ash is hard to come by. If Section Chief Tang hadn't brought it from home, there would be no wood ash for this year's potatoes." Sister Chen saw someone accidentally spilled wood ash, and while reminding people, she also pointed out Tang Zhitong's contribution to the Escort Department.

"It's nothing. I'm so happy that I can do something for our department. I'll save a little more this year and bring more next year when I plant potatoes." Tang Zhitong responded without stopping when he heard Sister Chen mentioned him.

"Thank you for your kindness, but I'm afraid we won't be able to grow potatoes next year. Potatoes need to be rotated, otherwise the yield will be reduced and the disease will be very serious." Sister Chen may feel a little discouraged after saying this, and added: "Don't worry, everyone. If we can't grow potatoes, we can grow other things. Last year's pumpkins were very good and the yield was very high. During the Chinese New Year, my family made dumplings with the last pumpkin. Oh, the smell was so delicious, I still can't forget it."

"Sister Chen, now that you mention it, I'm greedy." Tang Zhitong said cheerfully. Although he had also received some pumpkins at the beginning, he had to take care of Chunshu Hutong as well, so they were gone before the New Year.

"Are you greedy? Hehe, there are still a few pumpkins in the cafeteria. How about we have a collective life after working today and make dumplings? But you need food coupons." Gao Lide was cutting potatoes on the side. He turned his head to look at Tang Zhitong and asked Sister Chen.

Gao Lide is in charge of the canteen and he has the final say on what is served every day. As long as the food is not short of quantity, no one has any objection.

“Eat dumplings!”

"Thank you, Master Gao!"

"Master Gao, you still have the pumpkin? I thought it was all eaten!"

"How can I finish it all in one go? I have to arrange everyone's meals reasonably." Hearing everyone's thanks and compliments, Gao Lide felt very honored.

"It's just you. If it were any other unit, they would have run out of food by now." Tang Zhitong turned around and gave Gao Lide a thumbs up.

"You can make dumplings, but the male comrades who have been working in the morning should not participate. You must be tired after working hard for a whole morning. Take a break and have a cigarette. Let us female comrades have a chance to show our skills." Sister Chen exchanged glances with Fang Yuan and said.

"Okay!" Everyone supported Sister Chen's proposal. Few men were willing to make dumplings, and the female comrades did not object. The smell on the men had not completely dissipated, and it was a bit dirty to participate in making dumplings with a smell on them.

Amidst laughter and joy, the employees of the Escort Department worked willingly as assigned, without a single complaint. Everyone was thinking about the good harvest in a few months and were full of energy, because they were working for themselves!

If the potatoes didn’t need to be germinated, Tang Zhitong felt that he could have finished planting them this afternoon.

(End of this chapter)