1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 9 Leisurely
Two days later.

The 152 drilling team's operation base was still very busy, and Sun Jian, who was short and strong like a wild panda, was shouting into the walkie-talkie with bubbles on his mouth:

"Attention, crane. Look at my hand signals... lift!"

"Pay attention to those bastards up there, keep your feet steady, and lend a hand when the mud pump comes up!"

“Fuck! Who the hell was responsible for fixing this diesel engine before? How can it be connected to the mud pump in this state? Crane, crane, stop immediately, don’t lift the mud pump up for now!”

"Hu Yongbo! Hu Yongbo! Where the hell have you been, you bastard? Hurry up and take the people to the derrick. There's a problem with the diesel engine's fixed position. The southeast corner of the drilling platform also needs to be rebuilt. Fuck you! You've wasted another whole day getting in and out!"

"Jiang Tao, what are you laughing at, you bastard! Hurry up and get back to the inclinometer of Well No. 1! If you dig the well off track, I'll skin you alive!"

………………

After four hours of busy work, team leader Sun Jian finally had a chance to eat a hot meal during the lunch break.

Sun Jian took the rice bowl from his apprentice, and didn't even bother to wash his greasy hands. He wolfed down a mouthful of spicy chicken, rudely spat the chicken bones on the ground, looked around the construction site cafeteria, frowned and asked, "Where are the two new college students sent by the agency? Why don't they come to eat?"

He hadn't seen Yang Mo and Tu Lili much in the past two days, which made him a little uneasy - whether he liked these two rookies was one thing, but if something really happened to these two guys on his territory, he would be in big trouble.

You have to know that the present is different from the future. The various dangers that may be encountered when working in the wilderness may be criticized if they are written down - and one of the two people happens to be a delicate and pretty girl, so the risk factor is more than doubled.

The young disciple who was wiping the mud off his face with a wet towel curled his lips in disapproval when he heard this: "Master, are you a little too sensitive? This is the territory of Yucheng, not those other plots of land. How can it be so easy for something to go wrong? Besides, the little girl herself said that she is originally from the nearby Xiaomei Village, and she has a 1.8-meter-tall silly guy by her side. Why are you worried... Look, she can't get used to our food. For two consecutive days, she only took a few steamed buns and went somewhere else to solve her lunch. Isn't that okay?"

Anyone who does heavy physical work prefers a diet that is high in oil, carbohydrates, salt, and flavor.

In fact, if it were just these, Yang Mo and Tu Lili would not care, but the problem is... the drillers at the drilling company are basically from the three southwestern provinces, and in addition to heavy oil and salt, the food is also filled with a lot of chili.

This was going to be the end of them. In that era when Sichuan cuisine had not yet become popular across the country, the two native Sichuanese were already doing their best to put two spoonfuls of chili in the noodles. How could they possibly resist those dishes that were more like meat fried with chili than fried meat?
Following his apprentice's arm, Sun Jian saw a small wisp of green smoke not too far away, and he was relieved. Fortunately, since he was a local and not far from the construction site, it would not be easy to cause problems.

but……

Can't stand this little bit of chili?

Bah, these college students are so pretentious!

After stuffing a mouthful of chicken-mixed erjingtiao into his mouth, a guy who looked like a wild panda gave the two of them a big contempt in his heart...

………………

And this moment.

Tu Lili, who had completely resigned herself to her fate, was squatting beside the small fire pit, completely ignoring the three big steamed buns that were licked by the flames from time to time, and wholeheartedly tending to the pile of small wild beans on the stone slab.

Following the sound of clattering footsteps, classmate Yang Mo, holding his stomach and looking worried, walked over.

Fanning her nose in disdain, Tu Lili said unhappily: "Remember to return me a roll of toilet paper when you get back... I really don't know what's the point of having such a big body. I'm a little girl and nothing has happened to me, but you're the first one to poop!"

Yang Mo sat down on a dry grass mound with a frustrated look on his face, and then started to fiddle with the bunches of grasshoppers beside the fire. "I didn't mean to do that. Who would have thought that after traveling all over China and eating all over China, I would get into trouble after just a few bites of Sichuan pepper fish fillet... Not only was my mouth swollen all night the night before yesterday, but my anus is almost ruined these past two days!"

Hearing what this girl said was disgusting, Tu Lili spat fiercely: "You said you have eaten half of China? With your level of spicy food, I guess you can only dare to go to Guangdong Province when you go to the south!" Hearing that this girl actually compared Guangdong's spicy food tolerance with his own, Yang Mo seemed to feel greatly insulted. He wanted to argue with her, but after thinking about it, he could only admit defeat obediently - there was no way. At this moment, his body has not yet been baptized by Shuangqing hot pot and various spicy foods including Hunan cuisine. His resistance to spicy peppers is still at a level that makes people cry.

He picked up the grasshopper that had just changed color in a depressed manner, lifted it up by the head, twisted it gently, pulled it out, and pulled out the head and the black intestines. Then he put it next to the fire again.

Tu Lili looked at the grasshoppers, which had lost at least 2/3 of their weight, with a look of pity: "Hey, Yang Mo, why didn't I realize you were so picky before? Those things are all edible, okay? We have very little food now, and you're wasting it like this... Well, I think you want to go back to the staff canteen to suffer from the spiciness!"

It's no wonder that Tu Lili complained. The various insects in the saline-alkali land were what they had been eating since they were young. They had always roasted them and eaten them whole. Why were there so many particularities?
What's even more infuriating is that this guy refused to let me eat the oil-thief (a large green grasshopper with a pointed head), saying it is poisonous - God have pity, this thing is very easy to catch, and the meat of one oil-thief is equivalent to three or four small grasshoppers. If I could have a dozen skewers of grilled oil-thieves and eat them with steamed buns, it would be a sumptuous insect feast!

Yang Mo curled his lips and said, "If you want to go to the hospital, you can eat these grasshoppers with their internal organs... In other years, it would be fine for you to eat this stuff, but this year... I advise you to be cautious!"

Tu Lili looked puzzled: "Toxic? But this is all saline-alkali land where crops cannot be grown. No pesticides have been used!"

In the 1960s and 1970s, many children were sent to the hospital for emergency treatment because they accidentally ate fruits and vegetables that had just been sprayed with pesticides. Therefore, when Tu Lili mentioned poisoning, the first thing she thought of was pesticides.

Yang Mo shook his head: "It's not pesticides, but the toxins in the grasshoppers, that is, the locusts themselves."

Tu Lili looked at him as if he were a fool: "I've been eating this since I was a child... and you're telling me that grasshoppers are poisonous?"

Yang Mo was too lazy to argue. He picked up a burnt wild bean from the stone slab and held it in his hand. He squeezed it gently, and a few beans that were only half the size of ordinary green beans slipped into his mouth.

After the slightly bitter taste and strong bean smell dissolved in his mouth, Yang Mo frowned and said, "Friendly reminder, as long as they don't eat a lot of crops sprayed with strong pesticides, generally speaking, locusts themselves are not toxic... or the toxicity is very low and has no effect on the human body."

"However, as an insect that the scientific community has not yet fully understood, locusts, once they gather in large numbers, will release a certain pheromone between each other, causing group mutations in a very short period of time. The larger the group, the greater the degree of mutation... These mutations include rapid increase in body size, darker color, obvious serrations and barbs on the legs, increased wing area to make them more suitable for long-distance flight, and so on."

"Of course, these are not the main points. The main point is... after the locusts mutate in groups, they will not only become more difficult to eat, but also produce some kind of neurotoxin... It is speculated that this is an ability that they evolved in a short period of time in order to avoid birds disturbing their migration... Legend has it that once the number of locusts exceeds 10 million, their taste and the toxins contained in them will make even ducks unwilling to eat them!"

"You know, if you don't take into account the size difference, most birds are much more resistant to toxins than humans. The neurotoxins contained in a dozen mutated locusts can make these birds live a life worse than death... I don't think we humans will be much better off by then."

After hearing this explanation that was no different from that of mountain foxes and ghosts, Tu Lili looked at Yang Mo in surprise... Can you come up with any more nonsense?

And she didn’t know if it was an illusion, but she always felt that Yang Mo was not simply talking about locusts.

However, as a woman who had not had enough to eat for several days, Tu Lili's attention at this moment was obviously more focused on food.

Although she didn't quite believe what Yang Mo said, after taking a look at the grasshoppers in the saline-alkali land, which were obviously more numerous than in previous years, and the barbs on the legs of the skewers next to the fire, which were vaguely sharper than she remembered, Tu Lili thought about it and ultimately didn't dwell on the issue.

Just when the girl was about to discuss with Yang Mo where to get some more food to go with the steamed buns since the amount of grasshoppers had been drastically reduced...

As the sound of rustling footsteps was heard, Yang Mo immediately grabbed the wrench on the ground and quickly stood up, keeping a posture for a surprise attack.

The construction site was on their left, and the transport vehicles were moving in a left-right direction, but the sound came from behind... In other words, the person coming was unlikely to be from the drilling company.

Although according to past experience, there have been basically no accidents during field operations in Yucheng, and it is now broad daylight, but in this era... anything is possible.

Just as Yang Mo was approaching the direction where the sound came from with the slowest steps,
A thin and small figure crawled out from the dirt pit behind the foxtail grass...

(End of this chapter)