The growth system comes at the age of 30

Chapter 274 Nuclear-Powered Donkey Mode, Activated! (4.3K)

Chen Jingle knew that there was a drought during this period, and based on his own experience and the scattered information he had gathered online, the situation was not optimistic.

However, he only truly realized the severity of the drought after leading his team to visit the rural areas and conducting on-site investigations.

The last time I went to the countryside for on-site investigation was in December. Nearly three months have passed, and the drought in the countryside has not been alleviated, but has become more and more serious.

It's spring planting season right now, but look at the paddy fields in the village, how much water is there?
Even if there is water, it is all pumped from canals and streams several kilometers away, because the village's own ponds and reservoirs have all been drained. If this continues, the canals and the lower reaches of the Jiujiang River will dry up sooner or later, and the banks are filled with pumps running day and night.

In some small villages severely affected by the drought, even drinking water has been cut off.

Villages with running water are slightly better off, but those without have to walk several kilometers to other villages to fetch water.

Who would have thought that something like this would still happen in 2025?

It sounds like a fairy tale.

While some people are debating whether an eyebrow pencil costing 79 yuan or an egg tart costing 28 yuan is expensive, farmers in some rural areas are drinking muddy water.

The sugarcane fields in Hengtang District were the most severely affected.

The sugarcane seeds planted after the beginning of spring have sprouted, but due to lack of water, the leaves have withered, and the sugarcane field has cracked open with furrows three fingers wide, densely packed like a spider web.

They have more wrinkles than the old farmer's face.

Not to mention the slopes, where sugarcane seeds have been planted for two months, and only a few scattered plants have sprouted so far. You can't even get a speck of mud on your bare feet when you walk on them, making them comparable to weathered deserts and Gobi.

Taking Xinyang Village, where Chen Jingle is currently located, as an example, the village and the township have both submitted reports, but the replies from above all say that there is no water, the reason being that the reservoir is almost dry and there is no water coming, and that the people below should find their own solutions.

Grass! !

For the first time, I personally experienced the despair and helplessness of humanity in the face of natural disasters.

God is trying to kill me.

"Data from the meteorological bureau shows that since October last year, the average rainfall in the entire Xijiang and Jiujiang river basins has decreased by more than 10% year-on-year, making it the lowest rainfall since 1961. At the same time, the descending airflow of the subtropical high pressure has blocked the transport of moisture from the western Pacific Ocean, so the first half of this year is destined to be a severe drought."

Chen Jingle spoke these words with a heavy heart.

He, a non-smoker, was extremely agitated and uncomfortable. He needed something to calm his nerves, so he looked around, plucked a blade of grass, and put it in his mouth.

Those behind him also looked grave upon hearing this.

Everyone knows how serious the situation was back in 1961. If rainfall doesn't return to normal levels, it will affect more than just crop growth; it will likely severely impact daily life in rural areas as well.

Chen Jingle guessed that there was probably no other way, the most obvious sign being that even in March, the family was still troubled by static electricity.

In my 31 years of life, I've never seen anything so bizarre.

This is the hot and humid Lingnan region, with humidity levels often exceeding 90%. As a result, I get static electricity every day, which has caused me to develop static PTSD. I have to discharge the static electricity before touching the doorknob.

"Another issue is water conservancy facilities."

The young village cadre standing next to Chen Jingle looked worried: "I don't know about other areas, but in the rural areas of Hengtang, most of the water conservancy facilities built in the 50s and 60s are still in use. Many of them have been demolished or abandoned, and no new ones are being built. In the past, if you wanted to transport water from the canal, you could use artificial elevated canals, but now many of these canals have been demolished, and there are no new water conservancy projects to replace them."

To bring water from the canal to our Xinyang Village, it would have to pass through four villages: Huangyao, Xinzhuling, Gouzaiwei, and Jinadou. If any of those villages had their own outlets, no water would ever reach us.

Xinyang Village is small with few paddy fields, and its residents mainly rely on growing sugarcane, potatoes, and sweet potatoes for a living. Hongqi is the villagers' largest business partner, and they have always maintained a good cooperative relationship.

This village official had only arrived last year. Although there were many trivial matters in the village, he thought he had adapted to life at the grassroots level. However, this was the first time he had encountered such a serious situation, and he was immediately at a loss.

Chen Jingle was furious and wanted to curse, but he didn't know who to curse.

In some places, roads are repaired every year and every month, while in other places, irrigation canals collapse, but no one cares.

Speaking of elevated irrigation canals, the situation is similar in his hometown of Niujiaoling.

All the old elevated water channels have been demolished. The problem is that these water channels are still in use and do not affect the construction of surrounding roads. I don't know why they were demolished.
If there were new water conservancy facilities to replace them, that would be fine, but the problem is there aren't!

Furthermore, in many places, road construction has blocked the original water pipes, leaving the irrigation ditches between villages and within villages completely abandoned.

What kind of thing is this?

Once the village's ponds and reservoirs dry up, where will the water come from?

If we can't even get water, how can we grow anything? Do you really think drones can solve everything?!
Have we forgotten the incident in the 90s where villagers fought each other over water, resulting in deaths?

Furthermore, many farmers in the Jiangbei region, whether growing cash vegetables or orchards, still use traditional, outdated, purely manual planting methods and do not even have ordinary drip irrigation equipment.

The answer is that it's a waste of money and unnecessary to do that.

It's all thanks to God's blessing.

Chen Jingle remembered that it was like this 20 years ago, and it is still like this 20 years later. The technology outside is changing rapidly, but this place is still stuck in the past. He was so angry that he wanted to laugh but couldn't, and he felt that he was stuck in his chest when he wanted to sigh.

Don't know what to say.

Finally, he managed to stammer out, "Be prepared to hire someone to dig a well!"

In this situation, the only option is to hire a drilling team to pump up deep groundwater to irrigate the crops and ensure their survival and growth.

Don't spout stupid things like pumping groundwater will cause land subsidence. Let's focus on surviving first!

Currently, the price of drilling rigs ranges from tens to hundreds of yuan per meter, depending on factors such as the drill hole width, well depth, the rock strata from which water is produced, and whether plastic or galvanized pipes are used.

In most areas north of the Yangtze River, the groundwater strata are not very deep, and the cost of drilling wells is within an acceptable range.

But given the situation this year, it's hard to say.

Hopefully, they won't take this opportunity to raise prices.

……

With the nuclear-powered donkey mode activated, Chen Jingle spent four days running around non-stop, covering most of Jiangbei.

For the past four days, he has been leaving early and returning late, eating, drinking, and using the restroom outside. He only sends a few words to his parents and Teacher Li every day to let them know he is safe.

Fortunately, Li Beixing knew he was busy with work and didn't get upset.

Upon returning from outside, Chen Jingle immediately compiled his observations and experiences into a new investigation report and submitted it.

Aside from the contracted areas under Hongqi, the biggest problem lies with the growers who have long cooperated with Hongqi, as well as those in nearby villages.

Although Hongqi only plays the role of a buyer, a complete crop failure would not benefit Hongqi at all.

Hongqi's core market is in Jiangbei, with a small presence in a few nearby counties. If it can't acquire local products, its market share will shrink, severely impacting its ambitious market expansion plans.

Chen Jingle was hoping to deliver a relatively perfect performance in the first quarter.

If revenue shrinks, it's hard to guarantee that no one in the company will question his strategic decision-making direction.

They don't care about the reasons, they only care about the results.

There are always some people who lack the ability to do things properly, but are first-rate at doing bad things.

Therefore, he suggested using Hongqi's connections to send a message to the municipal government to see if it was possible to sign loan contracts on a village collective basis through low-interest bank loans and municipal subsidies. Then, they could contact drilling teams and seek expert guidance from the province to carry out large-scale well drilling for drought relief in the disaster-stricken areas throughout Jiangbei. Let's get through this year first.

With such a severe drought, the municipal government certainly can't shirk its responsibilities; any official with a modicum of sense would know to prepare as soon as possible. It just so happens that banks currently have so much money they don't know what to do with it, constantly begging for loans. And then there's the opportunistic response to the higher-ups' call for increased spending.

Isn't this killing several birds with one stone?
The key point is that Chen Jingle noticed that during the severe drought in southern Yunnan two years ago, some cities and counties achieved outstanding results in drought relief. Their coping strategies had some overlap with his own ideas, which could be used as a reference, indicating that they were feasible.

Such a proposal should have a chance of being approved.

If it passes smoothly, the next step is to consider the implementation.

Farmers are a very contradictory group of people.

If you asked him to dig a well to irrigate his orchard or other crops, he would most likely refuse, feeling that it would be a waste to use it only once and not often at other times.

I can't bear to waste that money.

Asking him to dig a well to satisfy his own needs while also providing it for the villagers is even more impossible; he would undoubtedly be at a great disadvantage.

Why?
However, if the village collective reaches a consensus to hire someone to dig a well for everyone's use, and the price is then divided equally among each household, the price won't be too high and will be within the farmers' affordability range. In this case, most people would agree.

If a disaster-stricken village has a deep well with a sufficient water output, it can at least weather the storm.

Often, all it takes is for someone to step forward and act as a leader; others, seeing the benefits, will naturally follow suit.

The municipal government needs to take the lead in this matter. After all, Hongqi is just a private company. Even if it wants to help out, it cannot overshadow the main event.

It all depends on the actions taken by the Jiangbei authorities.

Based on the climate conditions in Jiangbei, even if it doesn't rain in April, it should be able to enter the rainy season and flood season in May.

The difficulty lies in the period of March and April. If not handled properly, it could lead to a complete crop failure and even loss of life.

The drought didn't just start in March and April; it began as early as October of last year. However, it was during the winter dormancy period, and spring plowing hadn't started, so water usage was low.

Now that spring plowing has begun, the predicament of having no water available has become glaringly obvious.

Of course, the city may not agree to this, what if it rains in a while?
Right? Right?

There will never be a shortage of people who think this way.

……

The more Li Qiguang read Chen Jingle's report, the deeper his frown became.

I haven't been to the planting area for only a month, and I didn't expect the situation to have become this troublesome. It's really a headache.

"How long do you think the drought will last?" he asked thoughtfully.

After thinking for a few seconds, Chen Jingle replied, "I've analyzed the data from the meteorological bureau, which covers several surrounding cities. At least in March, there's no hope of any rain to alleviate the drought. The presence of the subtropical high pressure system prevents moisture from the Pacific Ocean from reaching us. Even if it does come, it will be snatched up by the eastern cities first, who are also short of water and need to start spring planting."

If we're lucky, there might be some rain around the Qingming Festival in April, but heavy rain is unlikely. This is due to the delayed flood season, which is at least 15 days later than usual this year. Rain should come in May, but there's a possibility of both drought and flooding, so we need to be prepared for that.

How confident are you?

"About 70-80%, I wouldn't dare say more."

"Then do it!"

Li Qiguang gave the final approval to Chen Jingle's plan.

Chen Jingle added, "If the bank doesn't agree to lend money to the village collective, we'll find people to drill wells ourselves. At least we need to ensure that the company's contracted planting areas won't have their crop yields affected by the drought this year. If we're worried about spending money, we'll build small wells, just enough to irrigate the crops."

"Fine, you..."

Li Qiguang originally wanted him to continue in charge of this matter, but seeing his tired face, he swallowed back what he was about to say and changed his words to: "I will have someone do the accounting for this matter. You should go back and get some rest."

"Okay, then I'll go back first."

All Chen Jingle wanted to do now was go back, take a shower, and get a good night's sleep.

too tired.

He is a quiet person who prefers to be active, but due to his job and his desire to help his father-in-law, he has to spend a lot of time and energy on this.

Only he could summarize and organize the collected information in a short period of time and produce such a detailed report.

Others might not be able to finish it in ten days or half a month.

Don't underestimate the difference; in today's efficiency-driven world, a few days is enough to change a lot.

After returning home, Chen Jingle forced herself to take a shower. Before her hair was even completely dry, she was so tired that she lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

……

At that moment, Li Beixing happened to drive over.

She knew that Chen Jingle had been busy conducting field research these past few days, barely having time to breathe. He checked his WeChat steps every day and they were in the tens of thousands. While she was worried, she also felt a little resentful.

"Is that lousy consultant from that company really worth all your trouble? He only makes a pittance."

Of course, this shouldn't be said aloud. Women should support men's work and acknowledge their achievements. Sometimes, not saying anything or making judgments is already a form of help.

The car drove into the yard.

Li Beixing opened the car door and got out, only to find the gate tightly closed. He wondered, "He should be home, by all accounts."

She had messaged Chen Jingle not long ago; the car was parked in the yard.

After thinking for a moment, she took out her key, opened the door, and went inside. Seeing the things on the coffee table, she knew that Chen Jingle should be home.

So I went upstairs.

When Li Beixing opened the bedroom door and saw Chen Jingle fast asleep on the bed, he was surprised.

I tiptoed over, peeked inside, and saw that she was sleeping soundly, her breathing calm and deep.

But why is he frowning?
Did something unpleasant happen in your dream?
Li Beixing reached out her fingers and smoothed his furrowed brows.

I thought for a moment, then pinched my nose, but it didn't wake me up. I pinched my mouth, but it still didn't wake me up.

"You're sleeping so soundly! Even a pig can't sleep as long as you!"

Li Beixing muttered a few words to himself, then couldn't help but smile.

I just lay there on the edge of the bed watching him. After a while, I got tired and climbed onto the bed to lie down next to him.

This was a rare occasion when Chen Jingle was asleep while she was awake, and she couldn't resist taking out her phone to snap pictures of him sleeping.

At the same time, I'm glad I was wise back then. The biggest advantage of finding someone handsome is that at least I don't have to worry about being scared by the face of my bedmate every time I open my eyes.

(End of this chapter)