Era: I was a farmer at the foot of Yaoling Mountain

morning.

Fang Wei was planning to visit the construction site of the winding mountain road in the Yao village, and he met Chu Linlin just after leaving the village.

"Chu Linlin, why are you here?"

"The picking season is over, and they said a group of people coming for study and exchange will be coming today. I'm responsible for receiving them, so I'm waiting here."

After Yu Hao was transferred to the bamboo factory, Chu Linlin became the person in charge of reception work.

This girl has changed a lot in recent years. She has become more and more beautiful and her work ability has become stronger and stronger.

"Oh, there's no need to wait foolishly. Let's talk about it after the person arrives. Also, how is Jiang Xia feeling lately?"

"Xiaoxia seems fine these days, nothing seems to be wrong. I'll go back first. I don't know when they will arrive."

The two chatted for a few words and then parted at the village entrance. Fang Wei rode his bicycle straight to the Yao village.

When we arrived at the construction site, we still saw a bustling construction scene.

After the picking season ended, the team sent thousands of people to provide support again. Combined with the voluntary labor organized by the commune, it seemed that there were crowds of people everywhere.

"Third brother, are you here?"

Wang Songlin emerged from the crowd and walked up to Fang Wei to greet him.

Then, whether it was the people from the brigade or the Yao village, or even people from other brigades, they all shouted, "Hello, Secretary Fang."

"Hello everyone! Thank you for your hard work."

"It's not that hard, it's just that the weather is too hot. Fortunately, there is mung bean soup every day."

Fang Wei chatted with everyone for a while, and then walked up the mountain with Wang Songlin.

"Songlin, how's the progress of the road construction project?"

"The progress is very fast. Because there are so many people involved, the entire project is divided into several sections and started simultaneously. The current completion rate is about 37%."

Wang Songlin introduced that the current project progress has exceeded one third.

The project will be suspended for a period of time before and after the autumn harvest, and will be put into full swing after the autumn harvest. It is expected to be completed before next year's spring sowing.

To be more precise, this winding mountain road in the Yao village should be called a "renovation and expansion" project. The construction foundation is good, otherwise it would not be completed within a year.

Another thing is that a lot of human resources were invested. At the peak, there were nearly 3000 builders. When it comes to building a road, it can be called a human wave tactic.

Before the construction started, the technicians suggested taking advantage of the road construction to directly pull the power transmission lines and telephone lines to the village. When the county's power transmission lines and communication lines arrived, they could connect them at the foot of the mountain and complete the work, thus avoiding the need for construction later.

Wang Songlin adopted this suggestion and it didn't cost much more.

"You're making quite a bit of progress! Can the food in the village hold up? If you're running low on food, tell me and I'll take care of it."

Fang Wei nodded, feeling very satisfied with the progress of the project.

However, with so many people involved in the campaign, food consumption was considerable. Wang Songlin had borrowed 30 kilograms of rice from the Xiatang Brigade, which would last him three and a half to four months at most.

Wang Songlin wanted to hold on until after the autumn harvest, but now it seems impossible.

"We still need some. Could you lend us some more rice?"

"No problem. You can arrange for someone to go to the brigade and get it, and then lend the village another 30 kilograms of rice."

While talking, Fang Wei and Wang Songlin inspected the entire construction site.

Then he rolled up his sleeves and joined in the labor. This action had more symbolic significance than practical significance, but it gave a shot of confidence to the people working.

Everyone was full of energy and wanted to perform their best in front of Secretary Fang.

Fang Wei has to take care of the affairs of Xiatang Brigade and the Yao village, and he simply cannot do everything by himself.

He did not gain prestige by such a work style. His greatest strength was that he had established an image of omnipotence in everyone's mind. Everyone felt that as long as they followed in his footsteps, they would be able to live a good life.

Fang Wei was busy at the construction site until the afternoon before returning home.

"Third brother, what are you doing? You look like you were fished out of the mud."

When Pan Lianhua walked into the house and saw his appearance, she couldn't help laughing out loud.

Fang Wei's clothes had been soaked with sweat countless times, his body was covered in mud, and his face was as dirty as a mud monkey.

"I went to the road construction site to take a look. I worked with everyone for half a day, and the result is like this. I'm going to go wash and change clothes."

Fang Wei also laughed, quickly went to wash up and changed into clean clothes.

When he finished washing and returned to the main hall, he saw Pan Lianhua scolding Xiaobao. Xiaobao had just gone out to play, and he didn't know what he had done, but he was all dirty.

"You two, father and son, are simply terrible. Neither of you is a worry-free person."

Pan Lianhua angrily pulled Xiaobao to change clothes. Grandpa watched all this with a smile and found it very interesting.

Fang Wei touched his nose and found that his wife had been in a bad mood recently, which might be related to the pregnancy.

Naturally, he wouldn't care about such a small matter. After sitting down, he drank a bowl of tea and told his grandfather about the road construction situation.

Grandpa was very happy after hearing this. The project has progressed more than one third and the final opening to traffic is just around the corner.

Later.

My sister prepared the meal and the family had dinner happily.

Xiaobao and Pan Lianhua seemed to have forgotten what had just happened. They were talking and laughing. Xiaobao even asked the other whether the baby in the belly was a boy or a girl.

"Xiaobao, do you want a brother or a sister?"

"My brother is disobedient, and I want my sister."

Fang Wei asked curiously, and the child's answer made the whole family laugh again.

After dinner, Fang Wei took Xiaobao and Lianhua out for a walk. When they reached the river, it suddenly started to rain.

The three of them hurried back. Fang Wei was afraid that his wife would catch a cold from the rain, so he took off his clothes to shield her from the rain, then ran back with Xiaobao on his back.

Fortunately, it was not far, and the family of three returned home quickly.

"Didn't the weather forecast say it would rain?"

Grandpa looked at the three people coming back in the rain and felt a little confused.

Every day, besides reading the newspaper, he listens to the radio, and the weather forecast program is a must-listen.

"The weather forecast isn't always accurate. It's nothing serious, just a little rain. Lianhua, you and Xiaobao should change your clothes quickly to avoid catching a cold."

Fang Wei didn't take it seriously. The weather was changeable and sudden showers were normal.

But at night, the rain got heavier and heavier, and when I woke up in the morning, it was already raining heavily outside.

Heavy rain is not common in this season. After breakfast, Fang Wei put on his raincoat, rain boots and hat and hurried to the brigade headquarters.

"Huzi, you need to arrange for people to patrol the riverbank. No one knows how long this rain will last, so it's better to be cautious."

Upon arriving at the brigade headquarters, Fang Wei immediately called a meeting of team cadres to arrange flood prevention work.

The weather forecast this morning said that the area will be covered by rain clouds for the next few days, with heavy to torrential rain predicted.

This kind of thing cannot be neglected, and plans must be made in advance.

"Okay, I'll notify the captains of each team immediately."

Zheng Hu responded and then sent someone to call the captains of each production team to come to the brigade headquarters for a meeting.

Fang Wei continued, "The militia company should prepare sandbags and be ready to reinforce the riverbank at any time. Also, the agricultural machinery team should prepare pumps to drain the water. All study and exchange personnel should be evacuated to the county seat."

As he issued one order after another, the Xiatang Brigade took quick action.

With such heavy rain, the road construction project was naturally suspended. The members and educated youth of each team were on standby at all times. Once a flood occurred, everyone had to be pulled up.

Fang Wei personally stayed at the team headquarters and did not go home for three days and three nights. All his meals were delivered from the canteen.

The rain had been heavy for the past few days, and dangerous conditions arose at nightfall on the third day. All the strong men in the brigade went to the riverbank to defend it.

Fang Wei and Zheng Hu were directing the efforts on the riverbank. All the brigade and production team cadres were at the forefront of the flood control efforts, and no one backed down.

"Third brother, luckily the brigade has purchased enough pumps, otherwise it would be difficult to drain the water."

"The problem of draining farmland is not a big one. The key is to preserve the riverbanks. Otherwise, all the pumps will be useless."

During the break, Jiang Xia and Chu Linlin brought ginger soup with the logistics staff.

Fang Wei and Zheng Hu sat down and chatted for a while while drinking ginger soup. The current situation was still under control, but if the heavy rain continued, it would be hard to say what would happen next.

"Reporting to Secretary Fang, the river water level is about to break the warning line."

The two men had rested for less than twenty minutes when a militiaman came running over to report that the river water level was rising and was about to reach the warning level.

"Notify everyone to raise and reinforce the riverbank and eliminate hidden dangers in advance. Go ahead."

Fang Wei immediately stood up and threw himself back into his busy work.

The wind and rain were getting stronger and stronger, and the raindrops hitting my face were very uncomfortable. But at this time, no one complained or felt tired. Everyone was doing their work silently.

Sandbags were piled on the riverbank, slowly increasing its height.

This is the last line of defense of the dam. Once the dam collapses, the surging river water will flood all the farmland and villages.

"Third brother, the people in the low-lying areas have been evacuated."

At this time, Zheng Hu ran over. He received news that each team had completed the evacuation and transfer of personnel.

In order to deal with extreme situations, personnel transfer must be arranged in advance, otherwise it will be too late when the danger is discovered.

"Well done! Everyone, hurry up and reinforce the riverbank. We must ensure its safety at all costs."

Fang Wei praised and then loudly encouraged the people around him.

The 12 production teams needed to strictly guard more than just this section of the river embankment, but the section where Fang Wei was located was the most prone to danger.

Everyone was busy until late at night, when the rain gradually subsided.

Fang Wei asked everyone to take turns to rest. They could not relax at this time. He took the security director to patrol the river bank until dawn.

The weather gradually improved from the morning and the rain stopped. Fang Wei finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He then asked the people who had persisted all night to withdraw and replaced them with some people to patrol the river bank. He himself was also very tired, so he went home and fell asleep immediately.

I slept for a total of 20 hours until the next day.

"Third brother, you're finally awake. Go wash up and come to eat quickly."

Pan Lianhua felt very distressed when she saw her man so tired.

In the morning, she asked her sister to cook rice and a few dishes. She guessed that the man must be very hungry.

Fang Wei washed up, then sat down and ate three large bowls of rice before he felt full. He hadn't slept much in the past few days, and his appetite hadn't been good either. Fortunately, the crisis was over.

After dinner, Fang Wei went to the riverbank

At this time, the rain has stopped and the sky is clear. The sun is shining on the earth and the air is full of the smell of moisture.

"Third brother, you're here? I asked them to remove the sandbags. There are several exposed potential danger points, and they are now being repaired."

Zheng Hu did not disappoint Fang Wei. When he arrived at the river bank, the other party had already arranged everything in detail.

"Just make the arrangements, and I'll go to the brigade headquarters."

Fang Wei didn't say much and turned to go to the team headquarters.

In times of crisis, he was the stabilizing force of the entire brigade, but after the crisis, he became a hands-off boss. Even Wu Yaoyang said that Fang Wei, the branch secretary, was extraordinary, having reached a level of skill that others could never achieve.

Some documents were delivered this morning, along with a pile of newspapers.

Fang Wei sat in the office and looked at the documents for a while, then flipped through the newspaper.

You don't know until you see it, and it's shocking. This rainstorm swept across half of the province, causing many river embankments to collapse and the direct economic losses caused by the flood amounting to tens of millions of yuan.

Fang Wei felt very fortunate. If he had not defended the riverbank, the damage caused by the dam collapse would have been equally huge.

Later.

Fang Wei got up and left the team headquarters, and went to check out the fields and experimental fields of the second team.

Because the second team had completed various water conservancy facilities early on, and high-power pumps were working day and night, this heavy rainstorm did not have much impact on agricultural production.

Speaking of this, we have to thank Tang Ze. During his era, the county vigorously promoted the construction of farmland water conservancy facilities, which greatly enhanced the ability of each production team to defend against natural disasters.

Tang Ze took up a sinecure in the region while recuperating from illness, and we haven't been in touch for a long time.

In the following days, Fang Wei inspected all the production teams under the brigade and felt relieved only after he had a grasp of the entire situation.

A week later.

Fang Wei took his equipment and walked into the mountains.

The forest, watered by rain, looks full of life. However, walking in it can feel a bit hot and humid, and there are a lot of mosquitoes.

But he didn't care about these things. He made his own insect repellent and snake repellent. As long as he sprinkled them on his body, mosquitoes and poisonous snakes would not dare to approach him.

However, the vegetation on the mountain was too dense, and we often had to use machetes to clear the way, which affected our progress.

This was his last time going into the mountains to collect herbs before the autumn harvest. This period was a relatively leisurely time. The winding mountain road to the Yao village had not yet resumed work, and there was nothing else to do in the team.

It's only right for him to take a few days off during this break.

This time, when he went into the mountains to collect herbs, he headed straight for several other concentrated herb growing areas. These four areas were all very close together, so Fang Wei combined them and named them the No. 2 Herb Cultivation Base.

This area is a little far away, and at his speed he would not reach his destination until around noon.

Fang Wei's purpose in going into the mountains to collect herbs today was clear: to collect the wild polygonatum in this patch. Polygonatum isn't a rare herb, but this patch has some old, large specimens that can fetch a good price.

Polygonatum sibiricum is obtained from the rhizome of the plant, so it is called digging. It requires digging this thing out of the soil, so the labor is naturally quite a lot.

He first ate a little food and drank some water to replenish his strength, and then started to work.

This is when the benefits of personal attribute growth come into play. The small shovel flies up and down in his hand, and he can soon dig out a complete Polygonatum sibiricum.

With the help of the identification and detection properties, the Polygonatum hidden in the soil has nowhere to hide.

There had been a heavy rain a few days ago, and the soil in the mountains was very soft. This was also an important reason why he chose this time to go into the mountains to collect herbs.

Two hours later, Fang Wei had filled two sacks with wild Polygonatum, weighing at least 300 kilograms. He then put away his tools and set off on his journey home, carrying the two sacks of harvest.

Carrying a 300-pound load and walking on a mountain road would be very difficult for an ordinary person, but for him it was as easy as walking on flat ground.

The next day, we went much faster into the mountains. We didn't need to see a clear path and reached our destination in just over two hours. After collecting Polygonatum, we returned home and had time to visit the team in the afternoon.

There were breaks in between. Fang Wei was busy for half a month and collected more than 3000 kilograms of wild Polygonatum.

Then comes the processing. Wild Polygonatum needs to be steamed and dried nine times, which is quite laborious. However, the weather has been very good since the rainstorm, with mostly sunny days, so the process went smoothly.

Fang Tao prepared a large amount of firewood for him before school started. In addition, Zheng Hu and others would also send some firewood over when they saw him steaming Polygonatum in the yard every day.

On the fifth day after the Panshan Kilometer project resumed work, Fang Wei finished processing this batch of wild polygonatum. After processing more than 3000 kilograms of polygonatum, 2000 kilograms remained.

While attending a meeting at the commune, he called Section Chief Jia.

When the other party heard that Fang Wei had high-quality wild Polygonatum, he immediately became interested. Coincidentally, he was not busy at that time, so he went to Xiatang Brigade with the buyer.

"Secretary Fang, your Polygonatum is truly top-grade. I will purchase it at the highest grade."

Section Chief Jia saw the processed wild Polygonatum sibiricum at Fang Wei's home. He and the purchasing agent went forward to check it out and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

He offered a high price of 5.8 yuan per kilogram of Polygonatum, a total of 11600 yuan. This was Fang Wei's largest income since he started picking herbs.

Fang Wei treated Chief Jia and his team to a meal at his home. They said they would return to Xiatang Brigade in a month to purchase herbs grown under the forest. The volume was expected to be large, so they had to make preparations in advance.

"Thank you, Chief Jia! Don't worry, we have enough manpower to handle everything three days in advance."

After dinner, Fang Wei sent Chief Jia to the car and stuffed a bag of mountain products into the car.

Section Chief Jia did not refuse. He smiled and waved his hand, and the vehicle drove away from Xiatang Brigade.

The family is no longer short of money. This money is prepared for Pan Lianhua to have a baby. It is estimated that it will not be spent until the child goes to nursery.

It is not that expensive to raise a child now, otherwise every family would not have two, three, or even three or four children.

the next day.

Fang Wei went to the Yao village and took a look around the road construction site.

After resuming work, the project progress began to accelerate, and it took only one week to overcome the three major construction difficulties.

However, the project had to be suspended before the autumn harvest, and the Yao village, including the Yao village, had to devote all its efforts to the autumn harvest. (End of this chapter)