Back to 1978

Chapter 79 Oh my god! (Additional chapter by Alliance Leader Shen Mo)

When Xie Hushan jumped out of the car and looked around, as a time traveler, to be honest, he was a little frightened by everything in front of him. He had never seen such a scene in his previous life.

Or maybe it wasn't just him. The young militiamen from Zhongping might have never seen such a large-scale project before. Like him, they all opened their mouths and looked towards the construction site ahead.

Before the arrival of the Zhongping Youth Militia Brigade, a large number of people had already arrived at the Douzhuang Reservoir project site. At this time, shacks had been built on both sides of the dam, each with a red flag fluttering in the wind, making it look like a simple military camp.

Standing in the living area planned beside the dam and looking ahead, at least thousands of people have begun to walk around or work around the five-mile-long and more than ten-meter-wide dam and riverbed like ants, and there is a steady stream of new people arriving, and they are now standing in the living area observing the surroundings, eager to try and join in.

Those people looked a bit like the ants moving house that one often sees in one's own yard.

Or maybe, the dam is more like a giant dragon several miles long lying on the land. As people walk around, it seems to be injected with energy and ready to wake up.

"Are you from the Zhongping Brigade? Who is Comrade Xie Hushan?" As a group of Zhongping militiamen were looking at the construction site excitedly with their bedding on their backs, a middle-aged man, covered in dust, walked quickly towards them from a distance.

Xie Hushan turned around and looked at the other party: "Leader, I am Xie Hushan."

"I am Zhang Wenzheng, the director of the Zhongping Commune Supply and Marketing Cooperative! I've been waiting for our Zhongping team to come!" The man named Zhang Wenzheng did not look as glorious as the director of the supply and marketing cooperative at this time. He was covered in dust and had unkempt hair. He walked over and shook hands with Xie Hushan:
"Before the troops move, the food and fodder must go first. I, the food and fodder officer, arrived four days earlier than you. To make a long story short, Comrade Hushan, take your people and follow me to get the building materials and tools immediately. Build a shack first so that you have a place to sleep! The county has already planned the place to build the shack. I'll take you there to have a look."

More than 200 people followed the other side to a warehouse to collect supplies for building shacks. There are five main materials for building shacks: wood, straw, wheat straw, plastic sheeting, and mats.

Zhang Wen Zheng also gave some specific instructions on how to build the shack. In fact, it doesn't matter if he doesn't give any instructions. You can just look at the shacks that have been built nearby and you will be able to do it. It is about the same difficulty as building a chicken coop for your own home in the countryside.

In Xie Hushan's opinion, the shack was a bit like a vegetable greenhouse, with a frame made of wood, fixed with iron wire and nails, covered with plastic sheeting, and then covered with thick straw on the outside. There was only a small path in the middle for walking in the shed, and the two sides were similar to large bunk beds, but there was no kang. A thick layer of wheat straw was laid directly on the leveled ground, then covered with a layer of plastic sheeting, and on top was a single straw mat.

They were all flammable materials, so there were naturally no floor stoves or braziers for heating. Heating mainly depended on the firepower of more than 200 young men.

More than 200 people finished their work by spreading their bedding on straw mats. For the next three months, they would sleep in a shack that had decent warmth retention but poor ventilation and a bad smell.

"Let's take a rest today and walk around. There are still some militias from other brigades that haven't arrived yet. We should have more than 10,000 people assembled tomorrow and start working after the general meeting." Zhang Wen walked around the shack and checked it out. He said to the people who were laying out their bedding:

"If you smoke, you must pay attention to fire prevention. Don't smoke at night if you can avoid it. If you really have to smoke, go outside. The same goes for going to the toilet. Go to the simple toilet outside. Don't be lazy and go to the toilet in front of or behind the shack. Don't make yourself comfortable and smoke your comrades. Finally, I want to focus on the issue of eating."

When they heard about the issue of eating, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Zhang Wen Zheng. Zhang Wen Zheng laughed at their reactions:

"Why, are you still worried that you guys will starve? Don't worry, the emperor has no shortage of hungry soldiers! When it's time for dinner, the canteen will assign someone to deliver meals to the shacks of each brigade. Whether it's porridge or steamed bread, there's plenty of staple food. You can eat as much as you want. You can eat but you can't hide. No one cares how much you eat, but if you try to hide it secretly, you'll be fired immediately if you're found out. You'll be punished when you return to the commune! So don't do things like taking advantage of the public!"

But the vegetables... To be honest, we are not rich, so we can't provide everyone with a large bowl of vegetables. It doesn't matter if you eat a hundred steamed buns in one meal, but a hundred steamed buns only have one bowl of vegetables. So if you really feel that the vegetables are not enough, ask your family to bring you some pickles and soybean paste. "

"Also, in the past three months, our commune clinic has ensured that there is a doctor on duty here every day, and the commune post office has a deliveryman at the construction site every day to help everyone deliver letters to their homes. Our supply and marketing cooperative also has people here every day. The three parties form our Zhongping logistics team to ensure everyone's logistics supply. If you are sick, come to me! If you don't have enough to eat, come to me! If you miss home and your wife, come to me! If your tools are broken, come to me! No matter day or night, come to me anytime if you have any problems!"

"But there is one thing, I have to count on you to do the work! I, Zhang, and you have been here for three months, eating dirt and working hard to keep you well fed and clothed. I don't ask for anything else, but I ask all the young militia comrades in Zhongping to bring back a red flag for our commune, so that I can brag to my wife and children when I go back that my three months have not been in vain! We also contributed to the red flag that our commune snatched in the Hegong Workers' Battle!"

"On behalf of all the comrades in the logistics group of the Zhongping Commune River Engineering Command, I'm counting on you all!" After Zhang Wenzheng finished speaking and left, a group of people spread out their bedding and walked out of the shack to wander around. Just as Xie Hushan was standing outside lighting a cigarette, Li Hu's annoying voice rang out:
"Xie Husan'er, where is your company commander Ge Baosheng?"

Xie Hushan looked in the direction of the sound and saw Li Hu and two other men coming from a distance. Apparently, they were also arranged by the brigade to lead a team to open the river and had just finished setting up a shack.

"Captain Li, have you recovered from your injury so quickly?" Xie Hushan said, retracting his gaze.

Han Hongbing, Daxi and others who were not far away also slowly gathered around.

Li Hu looked at Han Hongbing and the others and smiled disdainfully: "Fuck, don't be afraid. If we really have to fight again, I will also look for your company commander."

"Our company commander Qiu Shou was injured and hasn't fully recovered yet." Xie Hushan looked at Li Hu with a cigarette in his mouth:

"If you want another fight, don't look for him, just look for me."

"I want to..." Before Li Hu finished speaking, Wu Shuanzi from Zhongping Production Team 3 suddenly shouted from a distance:
"Fuck! Girls! They are all girls! Come and have a look! They are so white! Oh fuck! Oh fuck…"

When Wu Shuanzi mentioned Zhenbai, there was no one in front of Xie Hushan. The two groups of people who were on the verge of a fight just now all formed a team and moved towards Wu Shuanzi's location at the fastest speed.

Only Xie Hushan was left standing there, smoking a cigarette.

It wasn't just the people outside. Some people in several shacks also heard Wu Shuanzi's shouting. Like mice coming out of a hole, they lifted up the straw curtains and came out one by one.

"Fuck!" This was Li Hu's shock.

Xie Hushan was disdainful, saying that the people in Lijiazhai were just like Wu Shuanzi, and had never eaten good pork.

"Fuck!" This was Chen Daxi's shock.

Xie Hushan was disdainful. He didn't care about raw or cold food and had no aesthetic sense.

"What the hell!" Han Hongbing exclaimed in shock.

His chief of staff still had some basic aesthetic sense, so Xie Hushan turned around and prepared to walk over to give him face.

"What the hell!" This was the voice of Zhang Wenzhen, the director of the supply and marketing cooperative, who had just come out of a shack.

Xie Hushan couldn't hold it in any longer and ran over quickly.

What kind of girl is she that can make a group of gentlemen of completely different identities give her such uniformly high praise?

(End of this chapter)