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

The meal was undoubtedly expensive, but the taste of the food left a deep impression on everyone. It could be said that some of the dishes they ate today were the first of their lives they had ever tasted.

Compared to the dishes at Tao Tao's wedding banquet, the dishes at the restaurant were of a much higher standard.

The reason we didn't call Fang Tao today is because the young couple is newlyweds, and no one would want to disturb their honeymoon.

The whole family spent two more days in the provincial capital before returning to the team.

The house that Fang Tao was allocated was too small, just one room plus a kitchen and a bathroom. When guests came to visit, they could only sleep on the floor and draw curtains.

In Fang Ping's words, the room wasn't much bigger than a pigeon coop.

Fang Tingting returned to Xiangling City. She still had more than a week to study, and the regional cigarette factory also needed to write a performance review for her, which she would then take back to her original workplace.

Fang Wei returned to the team and called Zhu Minghui directly to tell him that Fang Tingting still wanted to return to the county cigarette factory.

“Then we will respect her choice. After she returns to the county cigarette factory, she will immediately start working in the quality inspection department and be given a ‘worker-in-charge’ status.”

Zhu Minghui didn't care; his words carried weight no matter where he was.

"Thank you, sir! The new tobacco variety is still under development, but we've already made some progress, so please rest assured!"

"Of course I'm relieved. There's no rush. We'll talk about the new tobacco varieties after the autumn harvest."

The two ended the call quickly, and Tingting's matter was settled.

Although he is currently on a temporary "work-for-a-cadre" basis, his transition to a cadre position is only a matter of time and is estimated to take no more than a year.

This is all Fang Wei can do for his niece; she will have to walk her own path from now on.

The next day.

Fang Wei got up a little later.

After getting up, I washed up and had breakfast before heading to the Yao village.

"Third Brother, the village has been hardly affected by this round of drought. I estimate that our rice yield will be fine, at least on par with last year, and the yields of other cash crops will not fluctuate much either."

Wang Songlin accompanied Fang Wei to the fields and reported on the production situation in the previous period.

Fang Wei nodded, and based on his analysis of the scene before him, it seemed to be roughly the same as what the other party had said.

Finally, the two arrived at the experimental field.

The experimental field currently only grows two tobacco varieties, [Yunyan 66] and [K326], and it's harvest time now. If it weren't for waiting for Fang Wei, the harvest would have already begun a couple of days ago.

"Come here, start harvesting the tobacco now."

There are specific techniques for harvesting flue-cured tobacco. First, harvest the tobacco leaves, and then wait a few days before harvesting the seeds.

Currently, the majority of the tobacco plants in the field are [Yunyan 66], with only a small portion of [K326]. However, the remaining [K326] plants are very robust, and the yield of tobacco leaves is estimated to be high.

More than 70 people had been waiting for a while. As soon as Fang gave the order, they rushed into the tobacco field and began to harvest.

The village has a long tradition of growing flue-cured tobacco, so they are all skilled at it and don't need anyone else to help with the harvesting process.

Fang Wei didn't wait any longer in the village; it would take at least a week to process all the tobacco and seeds. He stayed in the village for two days before returning to the brigade.

Since the completion of the Pancha Highway, the Yao village has been much more convenient to connect with the outside world, and it doesn't take much time to travel back and forth.

After returning to the team, Fang Wei went to patrol the mountain forest.

When the drought was severe, the team's afforestation work was effectively halted until the drought was relieved, at which point afforestation resumed.

At this time, many people were planting trees in the shelterbelt area, most of them were aware of the situation, and Chu Linlin was the leader.

Chu Linlin's leave to visit her family was only 20 days long, and she returned to her team after it was over. This was the last time she would spend in the area; she had to register at the school before the start of the semester, and she didn't know when they would meet again.

"Secretary, you're here for inspection again."

When Chu Linlin saw Fang Wei, she greeted him from a distance.

Now her emotions have stabilized, and she has kept her longing for this land hidden in her heart.

"Yes, come and see for yourselves how much impact logging will have on windbreaks."

Fang Wei responded casually with a smile, but he already knew in his heart whether it would have any impact or not.

The entire brigade has only a few hundred households, less than a thousand. How much timber could a family use to make furniture? The protective forest belt stretches for dozens of miles and is very thick, so it's impossible to tell that hundreds or thousands of trees have been felled.

Moreover, the team quickly replanted trees, and the educated youth and those who bought the timber replenished the saplings several times the number that had been felled.

The saplings were provided by the forestry team and have undergone at least a year of cultivation, making them taller and thicker than saplings sold elsewhere. It is estimated that in a few years, the protective forest will not only recover to its original state but may even become denser.

Fang Wei stopped and chatted with everyone for a while before going to the nursery.

The nursery is cultivating many kinds of saplings, mostly precious species. Currently, the mountain has yew, silver fir, golden nanmu, camphor wood, nanmu, wild tea trees, and more.

"Secretary Fang, what are your instructions?"

When the leader of the forestry team saw Fang Wei, he quickly ran over.

This guy used to be Fang Wei's friend, so he spoke casually, smiling as he talked while keeping an eye on Fang Wei's pocket.

"Instructing you my foot! Look at you, are you having another craving for a cigarette? Let me tell you, smoking is strictly prohibited in many areas of the forestry district. Don't be the first to break the rules."

Seeing the other person's expression, Fang Wei knew exactly what he was thinking.
He casually scolded the other person a couple of times, then took out half a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and offered one to the other person.

"No way! I only dare to smoke a couple of puffs in the nursery; I would never dare to start a fire in the woods."

Then, the guy lit a cigarette and began to report to Fang Wei on the work of the forestry team.

Besides their regular work, the forestry team's biggest achievement this year was successfully cultivating ancient tea trees.

The ancient tea trees on the high mountain are of excellent quality. After being cultivated by humans, the first batch of tea trees that have grown have begun to produce tea, and it is very popular.

Fang Wei is the biggest beneficiary. The artificially cultivated ancient tea trees are also of good quality. The taste and flavor of the tea produced are more than 95% similar to those produced by the ancient tea trees on the high mountain.

In other words, the subtle differences between the two are essentially negligible.

According to his estimate, this tea tree will be fully mature in another two or three years.

"Alright, you go ahead with your work. I'll go check out the chestnut grove myself."

Fang Wei then left the nursery and went to the chestnut grove alone to check on the growth of the chestnut trees and the condition of the understory herbs.

The chestnut trees are already laden with fruit; they will be ready to be harvested in a little while.

The herbs are also growing very well, and most of them, except for a few varieties, are available for sale.

Fang Wei walked along the mountain path to the camellia oleifera forest, and didn't go down the mountain to go home for dinner until evening.

This life is completely different from my previous one. There's no glitz and glamour, but it also lacks essential entertainment. Every day is almost the same, spent either working in the fields or in the mountains.

His only forms of entertainment were listening to the radio and reading newspapers; even a lot of money meant little to him.

To put it bluntly, these days people have money but can't spend it. Aside from daily necessities like food, clothing, and other necessities, they don't have many other needs.

But his spiritual world was not impoverished. Seeing that the lives of the commune members were getting better day by day under his leadership, and that adults and children often had smiles on their faces, he felt that everything he had done was worthwhile.

"Third Brother, I heard some news today that because the Qinghe No. 1 could not be sold, Chang Wenyuan resorted to some illegal means in the sales process, and as a result, he was caught."

During the meal, Pan Lianhua told a piece of gossip.

Chang Wenyuan, director of the Qinghe County Agricultural Breeding Base, was arrested by relevant local authorities for serious problems in the sale of rice seeds.

Her fate is definitely not good; it's a miracle she even survived.

Fang Wei shook his head, but not because he felt sorry for Chang Wenyuan's fate.

Chang Wenyuan is a capable man, but he's too daring and unscrupulous, so it's not surprising that he's ended up in this state.

However, despite his hard work, the Qinghe No. 1 rice variety failed to achieve significant breakthroughs under Chang Wenyuan's guidance, remaining only a semi-finished product to this day, which is truly regrettable. Of course, Fang Wei also bears some responsibility. To put it simply, it's precisely because he developed the Nanguang series of rice varieties that hybrid rice produced using conventional methods always falls short.

Either the yield is too low or the taste and flavor are not good, making it difficult to promote on a large scale.

Without comparison, there is no harm. With Fang Wei as such a benchmark, it is difficult for others' work to gain recognition.

He was powerless to change this matter; he couldn't possibly abandon the advanced rice varieties he had and turn back to cultivate varieties with low yields and poor taste.

He believes that someone will definitely be able to cultivate high-yield rice varieties using conventional methods in the future, but the timing is uncertain; it could be one or two years, or even three or five years.

"Chang Wenyuan has been arrested, so what will happen to [Qinghe No. 1]?"

Fang Wei put down her chopsticks and then asked a question.

"Who knows? I heard they're struggling to keep going, so maybe they'll introduce our 'Nanguang No. 2' second-grade rice variety."

These are all things I've heard, some true and some false, so how could Pan Lianhua possibly explain them clearly?

Fang Wei didn't take it to heart. In fact, he admired Chang Wenyuan's abilities, but it was a pity that the man eventually went down a path of no return.

After dinner, Fang Wei and Pan Lianhua took the two little ones out for a walk.

Xiao Bao will be starting daycare this September, and Da Bao will be starting elementary school soon. Time really flies.

The family of four went to the riverbank, gave their two children a bath, and then returned home. Pan Lianhua went to settle the children down to sleep, and Fang Wei had only been sitting down for a short while when they heard gunshots coming from outside the village.

"Damn it, this might be the work of wild boars again."

Fang Wei got up cursing. He was already furious, so he grabbed his rifle, flashlight, and hunting dog and headed straight for the direction from which the gunshots were coming.

"Report to Party Secretary Fang: Wild boars have come down from the mountain and are damaging the crops."

He was absolutely right; it was indeed a wild boar that had come down from the mountain that caused the trouble.

The patrol spotted wild boars and immediately opened fire, killing one boar while several others escaped.

"Wait a moment, we'll go into the mountains to hunt down the wild boars once we've gathered enough men. I'll go check first."

Fang Wei gave the order, and then, ignoring the militiamen's reactions, took two hunting dogs and followed the trail.

These two hunting dogs are not the original hunting dogs; they are descendants of the two original hunting dogs. Those two hunting dogs are old and gradually showing signs of aging; they are currently in a state of "retirement."

At this moment, Fang Wei's personal attributes were fully activated, especially his tracking and investigation abilities, which were of the greatest help to him.

Even at night, the tracks of wild boars could not escape his eyes.

An hour later, he finally caught up with the wild boars. There were five of them in total. They were probably tired from running and were resting under the shade of some trees.

Fang Wei told the hunting dogs to step back and keep some distance. The crazed wild boars were terrifying, and this was also to prevent them from getting hurt.

He found a suitable spot and locked onto his target using the dappled moonlight filtering through the trees. In reality, relying solely on the naked eye at night is unrealistic; it's more about instinct.

Fang Wei took a deep breath and then fired two shots.

“Pah.”

The two shots were fired very close together, and without any surprises, both hit their mark, killing the two wild boars instantly.

The other three wild boars were startled, and they reacted quickly, scattering in all directions.

The opportunity was fleeting, and Fang Wei activated his [Ultimate Kill] skill without hesitation, firing a shot entirely on instinct. This shot was like the Grim Reaper's punishment, utterly ruthless, and another running wild boar was killed.

Unfortunately, he didn't have any more chances; the other two wild boars had already disappeared.

Fang Wei didn't go to prepare the prey. He first called the hunting dogs back, and after waiting for a while without hearing any movement, he climbed down from the tree and began his journey home.

He hadn't gone far when he ran into Zheng Bao and his group.

"Secretary, are you alright?"

“What could possibly happen to me? I killed three wild boars in the woods not far ahead. You can take the boars back and we’ll go back into the mountains to hunt them down again tomorrow.”

Fang Wei was probably too focused just now, and now she's feeling a bit lazy.

He gave a few instructions and then left to go home and sleep.

Zheng Bao knew his abilities, so he didn't send anyone to escort him, and instead led his men to deal with the prey.

the next day.

All the members of the brigade and the educated youth enjoyed the dish of "wild boar stewed with taro." The wild boar meat was stewed until very tender and had a wonderful aroma.

Last night, Pan Lianhua disliked Fang Wei for showing off, so she punished him severely. He can eat more meat to replenish his strength.

"You've been eating and drinking well all day long, you've completely forgotten about me, haven't you?"

Fang Wei was enjoying her meal in the cafeteria when she suddenly heard Zheng Xianfa's voice.

He looked up and saw the other person standing right in front of him, Pan Lianhua already covering her mouth and chuckling for a long time.

Grandpa, my sister, and the little one didn't come. Fang Wei had already sent the food over, so only the two of them are sitting here eating.

Fang Wei was probably too engrossed in her meal to notice Zheng Xianfa's arrival. Pan Lianhua did see him, but she remained silent, wanting only to see the man make a fool of himself.

"Old team leader, you're saying that because you have no conscience. We've sent plenty of chicken, duck, fish, and meat to the commune during holidays. What's wrong? You're going to take advantage of us and then deny it?"

Fang Weicai wasn't going to tolerate the other person's behavior and continued eating and drinking while complaining.

Pan Lianhua got up and got Zheng Xianfa a meal. That's how it is with communal meals; everyone is treated the same, one dish and one serving of rice, and you can ask for more if you're not full.

“My little darling, you mustn’t talk nonsense. Every time you send someone to deliver something, you always pay them afterwards.”

Zheng Xianfa was startled. In this day and age, who would dare to eat and take for free?
When he and Huang Zhigang went to the countryside to inspect work, they had to pay for their meals with food coupons and money, and they dared not take advantage of the people in the slightest. Let alone take advantage of the collective, unless he wanted to quit his job.

"Yes, yes, yes, the money was paid. Lianhua, go back inside and get a pot of wine. Director Zheng and I will have a couple of drinks."

Fang Wei quickly finished his meal and was about to ask for more when Zheng Xianfa arrived. He decided to save his stomach for a few drinks with Zheng Xianfa.

Zheng Xianfa quickly waved his hand, indicating to Pan Lianhua that he didn't need to trouble himself, as he didn't drink.

"Young scholar, I'm leaving the commune. You must behave well from now on and not be too willful."

There weren't many people in the cafeteria at the time; everyone had taken their food home to eat, so Zheng Xianfa spoke without any restraint.

After he finished speaking, Fang Wei and Pan Lianhua were both stunned.

Don't assume that Fang Wei has always had a smooth life. In reality, Zheng Xianfa has been protecting him in the commune, shielding him from countless storms.

Why is the other person suddenly leaving?
"Director Zheng, are you kidding me?"

Fang Wei clearly did not believe it, or rather, did not want to believe it.

"I'm not kidding. After I left, Director Huang took over. He's been quite good to you, so you should take the initiative to build a good relationship with him in the future. Also, do you know where they transferred me? Damn it, they made me the director of the county breeding center."

Zheng Xianfa also had objections to this arrangement, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He was a cadre who rose from the countryside and had a low level of education. Transferring him to the county breeding base as director seemed like a completely mismatched decision.

But then he realized that they didn't actually like him; they just wanted to use him to keep Fang Wei by their side.

The county's move is an open strategy. For example, if Zheng Xianfa encounters difficulties in his breeding work in the future, will Fang Wei help him or not?
"Damn, that's a really vicious move."

Fang Wei quickly realized what was happening, but it didn't matter to him. He had originally hoped that the breeding base could grow bigger and stronger, but unfortunately, both directors of the breeding base were incompetent, turning a good situation into what it is now.

However, the county's move was suspected of moral blackmail, which still made him very unhappy.

"Young scholar, you must help me, otherwise I definitely won't be able to keep my position over there."

Zheng Xianfa stared expectantly at Fang Wei. He wasn't exaggerating; without Fang Wei's support, he really couldn't have succeeded. (End of Chapter)