Chapter 24 The Big Meeting

Chapter 24 The Big Meeting

Seeing Tang Yuan so understanding, Feng Chen secretly breathed a sigh of relief; he was also worried about wasting a day.

Clearing land in the mountains wasn't easy, and time was precious.

Tang Yuan held back again and again but still didn't ask him where he was going to clear the land.

In a few more days, when they were more familiar with each other and had a deeper friendship, she could jokingly mention that she found a small plot for clearing, no bigger than a palm, which only got two hours of sunlight a day, probably not enough for crops to grow.

Then, she could casually ask if he knew any good places for clearing land.

With Feng Chen around, their journey went smoothly.

During the day, with bright light, Tang Yuan discovered white worms in the ground while digging for yams.

She explained cunningly, "These are larvae of the Japanese beetle, quite troublesome. They specifically gnaw on young stems and roots, creating holes in tubers, and once they finish one plant, they move on to another."

She picked a foxtail grass stem and threaded the larvae onto it to take home and feed to her chickens.

Feng Chen, who knew nothing about farming in his previous life and hadn't gained much experience since coming here, immediately became interested when Tang Yuan mentioned this.

"How do you deal with them?"

Tang Yuan's heart skipped a beat: Here it comes, the expert is testing me!

She pretended to be casual, "This type of worm has a two-year lifecycle from egg to adult. When planting, you need to mix pesticides with the seeds. Um..." What pesticides were available in this era? Most modern pesticides only became popular after the 1990s.

She recalled an old pesticide name, "Dimethoate. Mixing this with the seeds can kill some underground pests."

Feng Chen memorized the name, "Wouldn't pesticides harm the seeds?"

Tang Yuan replied, "Indeed, it's not suitable for yams, sweet potatoes, or potatoes, but it works for wheat, peanuts, soybeans, and cotton."

She glanced at Feng Chen, noticing his expression remained neutral, making it hard to tell if he was satisfied or not.

Feng Chen asked, "Are there other methods besides mixing pesticides?"

Tang Yuan gathered her spirits, as if preparing for a civil service interview, "There are many ways. For example, this area isn't large, so you can deeply plow the land and pick out these worms. If you don't want to pick them, bring a couple of chickens to eat them. The chickens will catch the worms and till the soil, achieving two goals at once. For larger areas, spread straw in late autumn or early winter, sprinkle quicklime, then deeply plow the land to bury the lime. The heat from the lime will kill underground pests, and those that surface will be frozen to death by the cold."

As she spoke, she continued digging for yams, occasionally stealing glances at Feng Chen. Seeing the mysterious look on his handsome face, she knew he was pleased with her explanation.

In her previous life, she had dealt with many leaders and learned a few patterns.

Feng Chen nodded slightly, silently encouraging her to continue.

Tang Yuan added, "Of course, crop rotation and fallowing are essential to reduce pest and disease problems and allow the land to rest. Also, intercropping, relay cropping, and mixed cropping are necessary."

Feng Chen listened intently and probed, "For example?"

Tang Yuan explained, "For example, our production team harvests winter wheat in May, then plows the land and waits for rain to plant corn, sweet potatoes, or beans. Soybean roots have nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which can fix about fifteen pounds of nitrogen per acre, equivalent to nearly thirty-five pounds of urea, so growing soybeans enriches the soil."

Feng Chen exclaimed, "!!!"

She knows so much!

Alright, let's plant beans.

Fertilizers were extremely difficult to obtain in this era, and even production teams couldn't get enough, let alone individuals.

Tang Yuan opened up, treating Feng Chen like an inquisitive farmer seeking knowledge.

Mainly, it was awkward for a man and a woman to dig yams in silence, and choosing the wrong topic could also be awkward. Talking about farming was the best option.

"Harvesting sweet potatoes after frostfall allows the land to be deeply plowed and rested for spring planting next year. Corn and soybeans harvested early can be followed by planting winter wheat, which helps reduce crop diseases and pests. However, winter wheat needs sufficient base fertilizer and regular top-dressing. Without adequate fertilizer, yields won't exceed a hundred pounds."

In the pre-mechanical agricultural era of the 1970s and 1980s, conditions were similar to ancient times.

Even with farmyard manure and some chemical fertilizers, wheat yields in the 1980s barely reached two hundred pounds.

When Tang Yuan arrived, the wheat yield was around one hundred twenty to one hundred thirty pounds.

Lack of fertilizer, insufficient pesticides leading to more pests, and reliance on weather conditions—drought, flooding, and wind damage—all contributed to reduced wheat yields.

Feng Chen had a good memory and silently noted everything Tang Yuan said.

Although there was no concept of paid knowledge in this era, he was accustomed to paying for knowledge in his previous life and mentally calculated the compensation for Tang Yuan.

Since she could raise wild chickens, he would catch a few more and give them to her—those that could be raised would be kept, and those that couldn't would be eaten.

Noticing Tang Yuan had finished speaking on one topic without continuing, he asked, "Earlier, you mentioned intercropping with what crops to prevent the larvae?"

Tang Yuan responded, "Sunflowers. Their root systems effectively suppress the appearance of larvae. After several rotations, the effect is significant."

Initially, she thought Feng Chen was just testing her, but seeing how seriously he listened and asked questions, the feeling of being tested faded, and the conversation became more natural.

Thus, the supposedly silent and uncommunicative Feng Chen asked questions one after another, listening intently to Tang Yuan's answers.

While digging for yams, Tang Yuan talked until her throat was parched.

Seeing her lick her lips frequently, Feng Chen thought for a moment and handed her his metal water bottle.

Tang Yuan didn't hesitate, unscrewed the cap, wiped the mouth of the bottle, and drank heartily.

Ah, having a water bottle is truly wonderful.

Her family didn't have a water bottle, not even a canned fruit jar.

They did have a soup pot, but that couldn't be brought into the mountains.

Feng Chen wanted to tell her to drink slowly and be careful not to choke, but Tang Yuan started coughing right away.

He lowered his head in time to avoid making Tang Yuan feel awkward.

Tang Yuan had her fill of water. It was cold, but it felt refreshing.

She handed the water flask to him. "There's still a little more than half left."

Feng Chen: "It's fine. We can refill it with spring water from below."

Though he was also thirsty, he held back, thinking it wouldn't be proper to drink right after she did.

Tang Yuan's lips were now moist from drinking, and she continued digging for yams while answering Feng Chen's "examination" and probing him about clearing land.

"I originally planned to find a spot in the mountains to clear some land quietly, but I only found a tiny patch, which wasn't useful at all."

She glanced at the expert, but he didn't respond.

Well, he doesn't want to share the land resources.

Before they knew it, they had finished digging up that patch of yams. There were originally more, but most had gone bad.

Tang Yuan didn't dig them all up, leaving the fine roots attached to the vines buried so they could continue growing.

They could come back and dig again by late autumn.

Thanks to the unique location, with large rocks blocking the wind and thick soil providing good insulation, the yams would otherwise rot during the winter.

She gathered nearby fallen leaves, filled the deep pit where she dug the yams, and then pressed the soil back down.

This way, after the rain soaks through, it would become natural fertilizer in about twenty days to a month.

After covering it, she stomped on the ground to compact it.

"Alright, we can go down now. I'll take the fish home, and you can do whatever you want."

She hoped the expert would invite her to help clear land, but doing so secretly in this era was illegal, and if discovered, everything would be confiscated.

She definitely wouldn't say that villagers were simple and kind; even a few envious ones could report her, leading to severe consequences.

No one would easily reveal their secrets to others.

So it made sense that the expert didn't invite her.

No worries, she'd keep coming back and look for small patches of land.

For example, she could bury some yam pieces in suitable spots.

Once she got home, she would prepare the seeds for sprouting, and then plant them both in her plot and in the mountains.

After descending the rocky mountain, they arrived at where Tang Yuan had set her fish traps.

Today there were fewer fish than yesterday. It seemed the dry season affected not just the water levels but also the number of fish.

She couldn't overfish; she needed to wait a few days until after the wheat harvest to continue fishing.

She casually cut some grass and wildflowers and tossed them into the water as feed for the small fish.

She pulled out all six of her fish traps and said to Feng Chen, "I won't set the traps anymore. They'll just go to waste. You can take them."

She knew he had suitable spots deeper in the mountains to set the traps.

Feng Chen looked surprised but quickly understood.

He didn't refuse. "Sure, I'll bring you some fish when I have the chance."

Tang Yuan immediately smiled brightly. "Thank you... thank you."

She almost said "thank you, expert."

~~

~~

Since she wouldn't set the traps for the next few days, she decided to keep the last batch of fish alive, eating one every two days to make them last longer.

The wild chicken had adapted well and showed no signs of weakness. Tang Yuan untied the rope, and it leisurely wandered around the livestock shed, looking for insects to eat.

With protein-rich feed, it laid an egg every day, which was quite delightful.

Wild chicken eggs were slightly smaller than domestic chicken eggs but contained richer nutrients like glutamic acid and active calcium, making them more flavorful.

After Feng Chen escorted her out of the mountains that day, Tang Yuan didn't see him for several days, guessing he had gone deeper into the mountains to clear land.

She didn't dare venture too far into the mountains alone, so she stayed near the outskirts, gathering herbs and wild vegetables, picking elm seeds and locust flowers.

By the time the sun hadn't yet set, she could return to the village and check her plot of land along the way, familiarizing herself with the land conditions in Tangjia Village.

Tangjia Village was near the mountains, and the flat, large plots were used for farming. Only the corners unsuitable for plowing were given to the villagers as their own plots.

As for vegetable gardens, they were scattered around houses, slopes, foot of hills, and along roadsides, each a tiny patch.

Tang Yuan surveyed her family's plot and vegetable garden, planning what to plant. She wanted to leave some space for yams.

For the past few days, whenever she went into the mountains, she brought back humus soil, which she buried in the vegetable garden and watered for fertilizer.

After preparing dinner today, she continued selecting yam pieces for sprouting.

Any piece without blemishes or fungal spots was cut into ten-centimeter segments, coated with wood ash on both ends for preservation, and placed on a sunny windowsill to dry.

Only when both ends dried and shriveled would they not rot or get damaged. Fresh cuts would rot if planted directly.

Her family only had a quarter mu of land. Her father and mother each had three-tenths of a mu, and she, being underage, had only one-tenth.

To supplement their food supply, Dad and Mom planned to plant sweet potatoes.

In Tang Yuan's view, at this time, sweet potatoes weren't particularly cost-effective.

Although they had a higher yield, fresh sweet potatoes couldn't be stored for long and most needed to be dried into raw sweet potato chips.

Four pounds of fresh sweet potatoes yielded one pound of dried.

Moreover, sweet potatoes were not only low in calories and nutrition but also didn't fill you up well.

The commune members all said that after eating a meal of sweet potatoes, you'd feel full, but by the time you got to the field, two trips to the bathroom later, your stomach would be empty again.

Eating too many could also cause heartburn and stomach pain, which was detrimental to health.

At this time, the sweet potato varieties weren't as good as those that came later, such as chestnut sweet potatoes or smoked sweet potatoes with secret techniques.

Locally, there were only two types: one with yellow flesh and red skin, and another with yellow skin and white flesh, both called sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes had a bit more sugar and were usually stored in cellars after being harvested post-frost to be eaten in winter, or cooked and dried into sweet potato dates.

White potatoes had a higher starch content, produced more when dried, and could also be made into vermicelli and white potato flour.

They were better suited as pig feed.

Most of the food ration after the family split consisted of sweet potato chips dried in autumn, which Tang Yuan found particularly unpalatable.

However, the plot of retained land was small and lacked fertilizer, so planting wheat, corn, or millet wouldn't yield much; they could only grow sweet potatoes.

In this era, farmers grew large quantities of sweet potatoes because they required less fertilizer and water than other crops and had a slightly higher yield.

Tang Yuan thought that although yams had a lower yield per acre compared to sweet potatoes, they still had a higher yield than other crops and were more nutritious.

~~

~~

Soon, the work whistle sounded, and after a while, Dad Tang and Mother Tang returned.

Mother Tang told Tang Yuan that they would go to Grandma Tang's house early tomorrow morning to get sweet potato seedlings and then head to the retained land to water and plant a few rows of sweet potatoes.

Since they had just split from the family, they didn't have seeds and needed to get them from the main household.

If it was sweet potato seedlings, it didn't matter, but if it was beans, peanuts, or corn seeds, they would need to return them.

Even though Tang Yuan didn't work in the fields, Dad and Mom would tell her about the family's plans every day, a habit they had cultivated since she had come here.

Tang Yuan talked to her parents about planting yams, "The Fish Immortal said the rabbit meat and wild eggs I gave him were delicious, and he taught me how to plant yams. Yams are more nutritious than sweet potatoes."

Over the past few days, Dad and Mom had noticed that yam fish soup not only tasted good but also made them feel more energetic.

Dad Tang glanced at his daughter and then secretly gave his wife a look, signaling her to agree with their daughter.

After the family split, with Tang Yuan providing meat and wild vegetables to supplement their food, the three of them ate better than before, and recently, all three had gained some weight.

Especially Tang Yuan—her originally thin, rough, and slightly yellow face had become more lustrous.

With a bit more flesh on her face, her cheeks now had a natural rosy glow, making her look more delicate.

Dad Tang was very pleased with his daughter's recovery.

As long as her condition was stable, he didn't mind planting yams or even fish.

During dinner, Tang Bingde walked down each street with a metal megaphone, shouting, "Everyone, hurry up and eat your soup and dinner. After dinner, go to the threshing ground for a meeting."

He repeated this several times and then went to other areas to shout the same message.

The production team generally held meetings every three to five days to summarize recent labor activities and conduct criticism and self-criticism.

Team leaders would announce the labor records, highlighting who performed well, who took the most leave, who slacked off, who stole things, and so on.

They would also review individual work points, and if there were discrepancies, they would communicate with the scorekeepers.

After dinner, Dad Tang went to the threshing ground first, while Mother Tang washed the dishes and then poured the dishwater for the livestock to drink.

Tang Yuan tidied up and went to the meeting with her mother.

The village's threshing ground wasn't far from the livestock yard, and they arrived after a brief chat.

Uncle Tang and another squad leader had already arrived and were chatting with a group of men about farming and the commune's policies.

Liu Laizi and a few others were huddled together, laughing loudly and drawing attention.

When they saw Tang Yuan following Mother Tang, they remembered her previous outbursts and instinctively fell silent, fearing they might trigger her again.

They weren't afraid of her, but they were afraid of Tang Bingde's scolding.

Tang Yuan walked with her head held high, showing no sign of embarrassment.

While they sneaked glances at her, she openly observed them.

Ah, truly a poor village within a poor village, where even veteran poverty alleviation officials would be overwhelmed.

Men, women, and children were all dark and thin, with children running around naked and adults barefoot.

Working hard all year round, eating seven or eight-tenths full was considered good, let alone having meat.

The village had no electricity; apart from two radios and three bicycles, there were no other machines.

Grinding grain relied on a millstone, telling time depended on the sun and the team's whistle.

Minor illnesses were endured, major ones led to death.

...

In her previous life, even the poorest families she helped were better off than these people.

After the entire society achieved a well-off standard of living, even if there were a few poor households, scavenging for trash could still earn money.

Now?

No matter how capable one was, without resources, it was all for nothing.

In the original text, Tangjia Village was always dilapidated and impoverished. The protagonist, after going to the capital, did not want to return, and no matter what the original character did, they couldn't make any money.

Tang Yuan held her forehead, feeling frustrated and not wanting to speak.

Soon, the militia leader came over with a radio that was a foot long and half a foot high, conducting the routine political study on behalf of the secretary. "Come listen to the radio, everyone. Expand your horizons; you won't know what's happening in the world if you don't go out. Our country's technicians who supported the construction of the Agra Mill Textile Factory in Afghanistan have returned. The construction of the factory buildings and installation of equipment were all guided by us, which shows our technical..."

"Feimaotui, where is Afghanistan?"

"What's Agra? That name is really strange."

Everyone laughed heartily.

The militia leader was the nephew of Secretary Liu of the Tangjia Village Brigade. Following the village's habit of giving nicknames, he was called Feimaotui because he had long legs and ran fast.

"Let's listen to something we can understand."

The production team meeting was also a good opportunity for everyone to listen to the radio.

Only Secretary Liu and Captain Tang's families in Tangjia Village Brigade had radios.

Feimaotui started tuning the radio, and a high-spirited female voice came through: "Promote revolution and production. We must thoroughly implement the spirit of Dazhai, vigorously and quickly develop agricultural production..."

Feimaotui raised his arm and shouted, "Learn from Dazhai, promote production!"

Only two of his subordinates echoed him, while the other villagers laughed at them, saying, "Stop being so embarrassing; it sounds like singing opera."

The city was engaged in revolutionary movements, but rural people, lacking education, were not enthusiastic about such activities.

After all, everyone was more concerned about how much food and money they would receive.

They were not interested in the slogans posted by Feimaotui and others, such as "Study the revolutionary theories under the dictatorship of the proletariat and promote the construction of Dazhai County" or "Live to work hard and strive to build Dazhai County."

Mostly because most people were illiterate and the slogans were often mangled when learned.

Feimaotui was enjoying his moment as a leader when Tang Bingde arrived. He had his hands behind his back, a smoking pipe in his mouth, and a serious expression on his face.

If Secretary Liu filled his meetings with nonsense interspersed with a few serious words, then Tang Bingde had no nonsense.

First, he conveyed the spirit brought back from the county meeting by the secretary, which was essentially about promoting revolution and production, learning from Dazhai, planting more crops, increasing grain production, fulfilling public grain quotas, and selling surplus grain.

Secretary Liu used to be passionate about speaking at meetings, but the villagers were not impressed.

When people couldn't even fill their bellies, talking about selling surplus grain was pointless.

If you asked to borrow some grain to survive, they would say it was the brigade's emergency reserve and couldn't be touched, or else there would be punishment.

Yet, they kept urging people to sell surplus grain.

Was that selling?

It was practically giving it away.

Outside, people would pay one yuan per catty of grain, but here, you'd only get twelve fen.

Whoever sold it was a fool.

After a few times, Secretary Liu got frustrated and stopped attending meetings, only holding small meetings with the brigade committee members.

The villagers were actually happy about this.

As night fell, Feimaotui lit a lantern and hung it on a tree branch, illuminating Tang Bingde's position.

Next came the time for praise and criticism.

Tang Bingde named Liu Laizi for criticism. "A lazy donkey makes excuses. He's either going to the toilet or claiming stomachaches. How can he earn eight points? Let's reduce it to six points and see how he performs. Does everyone agree?"

Liu Laizi protested, "I disagree! Why should I?"

But his voice was drowned out by the agreement of the other villagers.

Liu Laizi's mother wailed, completely lacking the vigor she showed when fighting with Old Lady Feng.

Tang Bingde sternly commanded, "Silence! Anyone who causes trouble will leave now!"

His frown deepened as he scolded.

Liu's wife gasped and held back her breath, not daring to argue with Tang Bingde.

The others criticized also saw Liu Laizi's silence and dared not cause trouble, especially those who had secretly transported manure from the pigsty to their own plots.

After the criticisms came the praises.

"Tang Fulin and his family of three live in the livestock shed, helping to feed the animals early in the morning and late at night. This year, the livestock has gained weight, hasn't it?"

The rich peasant followed the squad leaders in agreeing.

He wasn't jealous; there should have been two to three feeders working shifts, but the production team assigned only him to save labor points.

Normally, the brigade should give twenty points to the feeders, but he only received seven.

He had to rely on family members for tasks like chopping straw, and even with early mornings and late nights, he couldn't manage feeding the livestock alone.

Moreover, praising Dad Tang wouldn't actually increase his work points; it was just verbal encouragement to prevent people from gossiping about the family living in the livestock yard.

Tang Bingde didn't mention increasing Dad Tang's work points, but he did bring up building a house for Tang Yuan's family next spring.

Though it was still a year away, the cooperative members were quite envious.

After all, saving materials to build their own houses might take them ten years.

The rest of the meeting involved verifying work points and assigning production tasks to each team, such as manure hauling, composting, cotton planting, peanut sowing, and more.

Tang Bingde also convened an extended meeting with the deputy team leader, squad leaders, and several experienced cooperative members.

The main topic was the problem of pests in the spring fields.

"In the past two years, there weren't so many pests. Why have they suddenly appeared in such large numbers?"

Especially the wireworms, each as big as a thumbnail, could quickly devour young seedlings.

Dad Tang: "They were small before, and we couldn't see them. Now they've grown."

Pests don't appear out of nowhere.

When the larvae are small, the damage is minimal, causing no significant harm, so people don't pay much attention.

Now that they've grown, it's troublesome.

Uncle Tang glanced at his younger brother, signaling him not to speak out of turn—correct answers would steal the team leader's thunder, while wrong ones would be embarrassing.

Seeing his older brother giving him a look, Dad Tang lowered his head and remained silent.

After some discussion, they still couldn't come up with a solution.

In winter, deep plowing could help freeze the pests, but now, with the rising temperatures of spring, the pests were even more active.

Using pesticides?

They could only buy two or three bags of pesticide powder a year, which was designated for spraying cotton.

There wasn't enough left for treating seeds.

Treating seeds with pesticide powder can only prevent small pests; it doesn't work against larger ones.

Someone suggested, "Why not ask Director Liu for advice?"

Director Liu is Secretary Liu's son, working as a department head in the County Agriculture Group, responsible for overseeing agricultural policies in the communes and brigades below.

Since the establishment of the People's Commune, farmers no longer had control over their land. What to plant and how to plant it were all decided by superiors, with county and commune officials coming down to provide guidance.

If they encountered experienced farmers, it was fine, but if they got unlucky with inexperienced officials, they would suffer from misguided directives, leading to reduced yields and insufficient public grain quotas, resulting in the whole brigade going hungry.

Over time, many farmers stopped thinking and learning about farming, merely following the captain's instructions mechanically.

What should they do now with the increased pest population?

What could they do?

The older generation had no better solutions; they could only go to the fields to catch the pests, or leave it to fate if they couldn't catch them.

Someone couldn't help complaining, "Where are the commune officials? They always show up during harvest season to watch us deliver public grain, but where are they when it comes to planting?"

Seeing the conversation turning into a complaint session, Tang Bingde gave a timely glance to stop it.

Just as everyone was at a loss, a clear voice came from behind Dad Tang, "One method is to burn the fields with lime, then deeply plow them, and plant summer crops two months later. For smaller plots, you can till the soil and let the elderly and children lead chickens to search for pests. After removing the larger pests, intercrop sunflowers with the crops. After harvesting, remember to burn the fields with lime in late autumn, and continue intercropping sunflowers every year..."

Uncle Tang's mind buzzed; what madness was this girl spouting!

He immediately interrupted and signaled Dad Tang to take the crazy girl away.

However, Tang Bingde gave him a dissatisfied look and turned to Tang Yuan, speaking gently, "Yuan, where did you learn this?"

Tang Yuan immediately put on an innocent yet mischievous expression, placing her hands on her hips proudly, "Of course, I learned it from the Fish Immortal!"