1968: Started from breeding

Chapter 333 He's also someone who can be addressed as Director Su!
night.

The canteen was brightly lit inside and out, and the steaming heat carrying the sweet aroma of steamed buns wafted through the air.

The employees, who were wolfing down their food, couldn't help but show happy expressions on their faces.

Wait until dinner is over.

When Su Wenchen returned home, feeling somewhat tired, the moon was already high in the sky.

Sitting down at a slightly old wooden table, Su Wenchen took an envelope out of his pocket.

Looking at the delicate handwriting on the envelope, a look of longing unconsciously appeared on her lips.

Since arriving at the branch farm, he has spent the last few months writing letters to his wife.

This somewhat outdated and reserved way of communicating actually made Su Wenchen and his wife feel like they were dating again, which he found quite wonderful!
Then Su Wenchen tore open the seal and unfolded the letter.

"To Comrade Wenchen: It is as if we are meeting in person."

"At three quarters past midnight yesterday, our revolutionary cause finally gained a new recruit, but unfortunately it didn't go as you wished; it was a robust and chubby boy."

"My older sister said that when the baby was born, his cry was loud and clear, just like yours back then."

"As for the name, I leave the important matter of naming the child to you. However, I gave him the nickname 'Seven Jin' because he weighed seven jin and two liang at birth. The delivery was exhausting for me."

"However, I am currently recuperating in the hospital, and my mother and eldest sister are helping to take care of me, so you don't need to worry about me!"

"I will follow the doctor's advice and get my body back in shape before returning to work."

"Are you doing well at the farm? You're very busy with work, so please take good care of yourself."

"I am enclosing a lock of my child's first hair with this letter. It is wrapped in red paper. If you miss your child, you can take it out and look at it when you have some free time to ease your longing."

"In a few days, I'll have someone take a picture of the child, and then I'll show you our little farm soldier."

Wife: Jiang Li
June 21, 1971.

After reading the letter, Su Wenchen immediately picked up the envelope on the table and took out a folded piece of red paper from it.

Su Wenchen carefully opened it and looked inside at a small, sparse lock of baby hair.

A strange feeling inexplicably welled up inside me.

he!
Do you have a child?

For some reason, just looking at those few fine hairs on his hand gave him a soft, squishy feeling.

They've even started imagining what the child will be like.

Do you cry a lot too?
Can Ali take care of everything by herself?

Then a feeling of guilt arose, and even an eagerness to go back immediately.

Taking a deep breath, Su Wenchen suppressed his various emotions.

Then, she carefully wrapped the hair in red paper, and carefully opened a drawer to store it.

He slowly unfolded a sheet of paper, picked up a pen, and began to write.

pear:

Show Xin'an.

I just finished reading your letter, and I feel both happy and guilty.

I am overjoyed that our "little farmer soldier" was born safely, but I feel guilty that I was not by your side when you gave birth. I am really an incompetent husband.

"Seven Jin is a good name; it sounds very sturdy!"

"As for the name."

Su Wenchen paused and thought for a long time before slowly continuing to write.

"After thinking about it for a long time, I decided to name him Su Mingze—growing up in a family like ours, I hope he will have an upright character and a benevolent heart that spreads kindness far and wide."

"Everything is going smoothly at the farm. The yield in the experimental field has exceeded 500 jin per mu, and the farm workers are full of energy."

"It just so happens that Director Lu brought people to inspect the area today, and the expansion of the saline-alkali land has been preliminarily finalized. I also talked to the leaders about sending a deputy over."

"Once the land issue is initially settled, I should be able to leave this branch farm around September!"

“I have received the baby hair you sent. Looking at those few strands of hair, I can’t help but imagine what the little guy looks like.”

"Once the photos arrive, I'll carry them in my pocket every day. Whenever I'm tired from work, I can take them out and look at our little farm soldiers!"

"Finally, you must take good care of yourself. Don't rush back to the commune to work. Once this busy period is over, I will definitely go back as soon as possible to take care of you and the two of you personally."

文宸
June 29, 1971, night.

After finishing writing, Su Wenchen put down his pen, walked to the window, opened it, and looked at the moon's reflection in the sky.

His thoughts, like the moonlight that appears and disappears intermittently, drifted in and out of focus.

Su Wenchen believes that times really do change people.

In just a few years, he has almost completely integrated into this era without even realizing it.

Especially after he learned he had a child, the era he remembered seemed to be getting further and further away from him.

Some of the less vivid memories, he simply couldn't recall at all.

Su Wenchen didn't know whether this was good or bad for him, but no matter what, he could only continue to fight.

Whether for himself, for his family, or for his country, Su Wenchen felt he had to keep going.

I hope that with my participation, the country will be better and the people will be happier!
The weather cooperated remarkably well for the next few days.

The sun still blazed high, but a gentle breeze occasionally swept across the drying yard, creating waves of wheat.

The workers get up before dawn, spread out the wheat grains while the morning dew is still wet, and then collect them basket by basket and store them in the warehouse as the sun begins to set.

Su Wenchen finally breathed a sigh of relief after working tirelessly until the last grain of wheat was stored in the warehouse.

Watching several strong employees forcefully and slowly close the heavy iron gate.

Yang Zhenye, who was standing to the side, finished counting the items in his notebook and said with emotion.

"Director, the 12,600 mu of improved farmland has yielded a total of 2.8 million jin of wheat. With this batch of wheat, we finally don't have to worry about anything this year."

"Director, you have no idea how panicked I was when I was leading people to reclaim wasteland in the first half of the year, watching the grain being consumed like water from the granary!"

Su Wenchen joked with a smile.

"Are you not panicking now?"

"The land will continue to be reclaimed in the second half of the year, mainly to plant Suaeda salsa and alfalfa for feed."

"In addition, the canals also need to be repaired, but they don't need to be repaired as densely as before. However, the main canals used for irrigation and flood prevention still need to be repaired!"

"I feel like there's a lot of rain here once summer arrives. These days, what I'm most afraid of is that the weather won't cooperate."

Yang Zhenye couldn't help but agree.

"That's right! We used to have an old saying here: 'White in winter, watery in summer!'"

"That's what they mean when winter comes, the whole field is covered in a white expanse of salt crust."

“In summer, there is a lot of rain, and our area is the lowest in the vicinity. There aren’t many irrigation ditches yet, so it’s easy for the land to flood. That’s why so much land used to be left uncultivated.”

"Without proper irrigation, even if the salinity of the land is reduced to some extent, production will still decrease if the weather doesn't cooperate."

“I’ve been worried these past few days. I’ve been worried about this almost every year around this time. Sometimes the weather is uncooperative, and we have to distribute the wheat to the families of each production team so that the members can dry it on the kang (heated brick bed).

"It's just that in the past, when production was low, this method was still acceptable. But if the weather doesn't cooperate this year, we'll be lucky to maintain even half of this production."

Su Wenchen nodded.

"Indeed, we will need to increase the use of various machines for threshing in the future, while planting can be done manually."

"If we're rushing to harvest, we have to race against time; the shorter the time, the lower the risk."

Just as the two were talking, a clerk on a bicycle rushed over at high speed.

After riding up to a short distance from Su Wenchen, he immediately braked and shouted at Su Wenchen.

"director!"

"director!"

"Two people who said they were there to report for our event have arrived!"

"However, we don't know if it's true or not; the person is already waiting in the reception room!"

Su Wenchen's eyes lit up when he heard this.

"Reporting in!"

"Wow, the leader has already chosen the right person so quickly!"

"Old Yang, let's go back to the field. He should be the deputy director sent by the ministry. Let's go and get to know him!"

Yang Zhenye was startled upon hearing Su Wenchen's words.

He really had to be careful in dealing with the deputy position assigned to him by his superiors.

However, although Su Wenchen wouldn't deliberately waste time, he also wouldn't rush over.

So when he and Yang Zhenye returned to the farm headquarters, they had to wait quite a while.

However, when he entered the reception room, he discovered that one of the two people who came was actually an acquaintance.

Upon seeing Su Wenchen, the other party immediately approached him enthusiastically! "Haha, Director Su, it's been months! You've gotten even darker!"

Su Wenchen responded with a smile.

"In this sweltering heat, you're rushing to harvest? What do you think?"

However, a look of doubt then appeared on his face.

"But Comrade Xiangyang, is that you?"

"Did the ministry send you here?"

Guo Xiangyang saw Su Wenchen's expression and immediately felt sad.

"Director Su, you've really hurt my feelings."

"You don't believe in my abilities!"

"Director, I promise to cooperate fully with your work. I'll do whatever you tell me to do!"

He pointed to a person standing upright beside him and said.

"And this is Comrade Zhou Qiang, the security personnel specially assigned to you by the higher-ups, mainly responsible for your travel safety and such."

After Guo Xiangyang introduced them, the other party immediately walked towards Su Wenchen.

"Hello, Director, my name is Zhou Qiang! I'll be in charge of your security from now on!"

Su Wenchen was momentarily stunned upon hearing this.

However, he still reached out and shook hands with this seemingly taciturn comrade.

"Hello, Comrade Zhou Qiang!"

"However, at my current level, I probably don't qualify for having my own security personnel!"

Guo Xiangyang explained.

“Normally there is none, but you are an exception, Director. After the start of the year, another group of people were arrested in Guangzhou. They revealed that if they didn’t have the chance to get rabbits this time, they would inquire about researchers.”

"That's why we sent Comrade Zhou Qiang over, mainly just in case."

“We usually stay inside, and strangers generally can’t get in, so you don’t need to worry, Director.”

“You’ll be used as a driver most of the time, and Comrade Zhou Qiang, like me, has also been transferred to our station.”

"I'll have to trouble you to take good care of me from now on, Director!"

Su Wenchen unconsciously touched his chin.

He wasn't exactly terrified, but he was now assigned security personnel.

So, have I become that important?
Shaking his head, Su Wenchen cleared these messy thoughts from his mind.

"Taking care of things is no problem, but I can understand Comrade Zhou Qiang. Weren't you doing a good job in the conference affairs office of the political work group of the ministry?"

"Why did you come here to work as a deputy?"

"Did he offend someone? Was he banished?"

After all, in his view, the other party was originally an office director who was on the same level as him.

It might not seem like much in Beijing, but coming to a local area to serve as a deputy is clearly a low-level position.

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, Guo Xiangyang smiled and shook his head.

"What unlucky things are you saying!"

"It's not that I've been relegated, it's that you've been promoted!"

"Congratulations! Sigh, it's true what they say, comparisons are odious!"

As he spoke, he took out a file folder sealed with kraft paper from the table.

"Na!"

"Your appointment document is inside!"

Su Wenchen frowned upon hearing this.

Promotion?

Where would he be promoted now?
Could it be that this kid is trying to steal his thunder?
However, he still took the file folder, unsealed it, and took out the documents to read.

Then Su Wenchen's expression became increasingly strange as he looked at it.

Because the transfer to another department wasn't what he had just thought of.

Instead, the goal is to establish a comprehensive saline-alkali land management demonstration zone in this branch area.

He also serves as the director of this demonstration zone.

The deputy director is Guo Xiangyang; there are only two of them in the entire department.

This left Su Wenchen somewhat confused; he didn't quite understand what the ministry meant.
The main problem is that the document doesn't specify the exact requirements.

However, one thing made Su Wenchen very happy was that he was promoted another level, officially entering the administrative level 13.

By future standards, he has officially entered the ranks of deputy director-general level officials, and he is now someone who can be addressed as "Director Su"!

Guo Xiangyang looked at Su Wenchen's slightly upturned lips and congratulated him with a smile.

"Director Su, I'll be working under you from now on! Please take good care of me!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wenchen snapped out of his daze and responded with a smile.

"No problem, no problem at all. There's definitely more work to be done here!"

"But what is this comprehensive saline-alkali land management demonstration zone for?!"

Guo Xiangyang immediately explained.

"Actually, what the higher-ups mean is that we should first establish a benchmark and specific standard procedures."

"This way, there will be a sample for subsequent saline-alkali land treatment as a reference and for supervision and auditing."

When Su Wenchen heard Guo Xiangyang say this, he understood a little.

The goal is to make this area a model for Yellow River flood control!
Then should other places follow their method?

It's not necessarily a bad thing for him!
Because such model projects often receive some extra support.

"And what about the land?"

"Has everything been agreed upon?"

Guo Xiangyang shook his head with a wry smile.

"Director, the communication with the higher-ups has been completed, but the specific details and land allocation will definitely require us to set up a special team to negotiate with the local departments bit by bit!"

"How could the higher-ups possibly manage such details!"

"However, the authorities are indeed willing to facilitate this matter, firstly because our farm department has a heavier grain procurement task than the local area."

"The second reason is that local governments are currently unable to invest heavily in the management of the Yellow River floodplains."

"However, we still need to communicate with each other to figure out the specifics, such as how many acres to cover and what their requirements are."

"After all, it involves so much land and so many people; it can't be resolved just by banging on the table!"

Su Wenchen agreed, and said so directly.

"Alright, you've come at the right time. We just finished storing our summer grain, and we were planning to hold a meeting this afternoon to report on the results of the summer harvest."

"This is a good opportunity to introduce you two to everyone!"

"However, Comrade Xiangyang, let me be frank with you from the start: the things we handle down here are much more complicated than those in the ministry."

You need to be mentally prepared!

"If you're just going to coast along, then I'm telling you upfront, this is pretty bad news!"

Su Wenchen wanted people to come down to help him share the workload. If they were the kind of people who didn't do any work but wanted to claim credit, he definitely wouldn't agree!

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, Guo Xiangyang naturally understood.

He quickly assured her.

"Director, don't worry about that. I was mentally prepared before I came down here! If I were really afraid of hardship, I wouldn't have volunteered to come down here."

“If there’s anything I did wrong, just tell me directly. The minister and Director Lu both talked to me before I came down.”

"My task is to assist you in completing the construction of our branch and demonstration areas."

For Guo Xiangyang, although the journey ahead is tough, it also means that he is more likely to achieve good results.

Especially after learning that the higher authorities planned to develop this area into a demonstration zone, this was a golden opportunity for him!
After all, having connections can at most make it easier for you to get started and raise your ceiling a bit.

However, to truly succeed, one must produce tangible and convincing results.

Therefore, he was naturally aware of his own limitations when facing Su Wenchen, who had a stronger background and greater abilities than him!

Seeing Guo Xiangyang say this, Su Wenchen nodded.

"Let's go! Let's go to the conference room."

"Let's discuss a plan and see how to negotiate with the local authorities!"

(End of this chapter)