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

They hadn't planned to go this far, so they only brought some dry food to fill their stomachs before heading off to pick swan mushrooms.

This season is the best time to pick swan mushrooms. Like some precious wild mushrooms, their growing period is very short. There are generally only two picking opportunities a year, each lasting about 20 days.

This harvest coincided almost exactly with the team's harvest time.

Neither of them were greedy; they each picked a little before embarking on their journey home. Once home, they each ate a bowl of rice noodles before regaining their strength.

the next day.

Fang Wei called Zheng Bao and the others to his office and assigned them the tasks of clearing roads and cleaning up the picking area.

"Try to bring as many people as possible. Clearing the way is very difficult, and it will be very hard if there are too few people."

"Okay, Party Secretary, I guarantee I'll complete the task."

The next day, Zheng Bao led about a hundred militiamen into the mountains to clear a road. Once the road was clear, he would gather even more people to clean up the picking area.

The wild forests in the mountains once provided the Second Team and later the entire Brigade with a considerable amount of cash income, as well as a large quantity of tea oil. Without the existence of the wild forests, life would have been even more difficult in previous years.

Everyone is now used to the harvest season activities, and no one complains about the hardship or fatigue.

Taking advantage of this free time, Fang Wei went to the Yao village.

He was astonished by the accelerated growth of the flue-cured tobacco. The selected K326 variety had been revitalized, exhibiting excellent resistance to various diseases. The plants were robust and upright with a glossy color, clearly indicating that it was a very good tobacco variety.

This batch of flue-cured tobacco can be harvested after the harvest season ends.

"Third Brother, what kind of special variety is this that we selected? I've never seen a flue-cured tobacco with such a short growth cycle in my entire life. If we can successfully cultivate it, we can plant two seasons a year."

Since Fang Wei became the chieftain, he has witnessed all sorts of amazing abilities of the other party.

Take [K326] for example. When it was first planted, it wasn't well-regarded. This variety of tobacco has poor resistance, and after traveling across the ocean to this place, it clearly didn't adapt well.

During the first harvest, only a small number of [K326] plants met the requirements. It was these few plants that, after further cultivation, displayed a variety of amazing properties.

First, its growth rate has increased significantly. Second, the traits it exhibits are fundamentally different from the original [K326].

“Experimental fields and large-scale production are not the same thing. In the future, the large-scale planting of this tobacco will definitely not be as fast, but it will still be much faster than ordinary tobacco varieties.”

Fang Wei didn't say much. The mutated varieties that were induced by the attribute bonus were inherently difficult to explain.

Therefore, her breeding path is something that others cannot learn from, let alone follow.

After inspecting the experimental field, Fang Wei went to the terraced fields to check on the rice seeds. Everything was normal, so he returned to the team.

a few days later.

Fang Wei gathered a large group of people to start picking wild chestnuts first, and wild rapeseed second.

As for wild loquats, the militia company ensured everyone's safety, and whoever picked them kept them; they didn't need to be handed over to the brigade, and were considered personal extra income.

Fang Wei and his wife, along with his elder brother and sister-in-law, went into the mountains to pick some loquats. These fruits were mainly used to make loquat syrup, which was in high demand during the winter.

He wasn't really doing it for the money; you don't make much money from it anyway. The main thing was that everyone was used to buying loquat syrup from the infirmary. And the loquat syrup at the infirmary was naturally provided by Fang Wei.

After the loquats were picked, the members of the commune and the educated youth shared them among themselves, with each household keeping about ten or twenty catties. These things aren't suitable for eating in large quantities; it's just for tasting.

No one took the remaining loquats to the market to sell, as they were worthless and difficult to preserve.

"Third brother, eldest brother has handed over all the loquats to the team and would like to ask you to teach everyone how to make loquat syrup."

The villagers were too lazy to sell loquats, but that didn't mean they were willing to waste them.

Therefore, everyone wants to make loquat syrup from loquat fruit, partly because it is easy to preserve and partly because its value will be greatly enhanced.

"That's no problem. Once the loquat syrup is made, we'll distribute some to everyone, and the rest can be sold to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. They buy a lot of it every winter."

Fang Wei readily agreed, believing that resources should be utilized to the fullest extent, rather than being ignored.

Next, Zheng Hu organized a group of people to learn how to make loquat syrup from Fang Wei, and they quickly finished processing the loquat fruit.

[Harvesting wild camellia seeds, points +187000]

[Picking wild chestnuts, points +218000]

[Picking wild loquats earns you +262000 points]

Total points: 17147470.

The entire team worked for more than half a month to complete the task of picking fruits and vegetables in the mountains.

The team distributed wild chestnuts according to an average of 9 jin per person, totaling 1.8 jin. The remaining 20 jin of wild chestnuts were sold for 7.5 yuan, resulting in only average profits.

The camellia seeds will be kept for oil extraction later, and the wild loquat fruits will be made into loquat syrup. The total is 32750 catties.

Loquat syrup can sell for 4.2 to 5.8 yuan per kilogram, depending on its grade.

Because honey and rock sugar need to be added when making loquat syrup, and it takes about 8 catties of loquat fruit to make 1 catty of loquat syrup, plus the investment of experience and skills, it is normal for the price to be relatively high.

It's just a bit troublesome.

After resting for two days, everyone went to the team's woodland to pick chestnuts and camellia seeds.

This task was relatively easy, as the journey was short and the picking conditions were good, and the harvesting was completed in just a few days.

Harvesting camellia seeds, points +216800

[Picking chestnuts, points +394200]

Total points: 17758470.

34200 jin of chestnuts were distributed to everyone, averaging about 17 jin per person. The remaining 36 jin were sold to a purchasing station, generating 11.52 yuan in cash.

Next came the oil pressing. The two batches of harvested camellia seeds totaled 403800 jin, yielding 133254 jin of camellia oil.

The tea oil was distributed according to an average of 50 jin per person, resulting in a total of 10 jin of tea oil. The remaining 33254 jin of tea oil was put into storage.

This marks the end of the annual harvest season.

There's still some time before the autumn harvest, and Fang Wei was planning to take a few days off when the team suddenly received a document from the county forestry bureau.

"Third Brother, do you think the Forestry Bureau is just bored and has nothing better to do? We've been going into the mountains to pick fruit for years, and now they want to stop us? We haven't offended them at all!"

The document arrived suddenly, and Fang Wei immediately convened a meeting.

At the meeting, Zheng Hu became very agitated and angrily denounced the head of the Forestry Bureau as inhuman.

According to the document, the Xiatang Brigade will no longer have a "picking season," and collective picking in the mountains will not be allowed. The reason given is that it would damage the growth environment of wild forests and illegally harvest resources from state-owned forest land.

“Yes, besides our brigade, no one else can go into the mountains to pick them. Are we just going to let these resources go to waste?” In recent years, the wild forest has not only not been damaged, but its area has also been expanding.

Therefore, many team leaders believe that this reason is completely untenable and that the Forestry Bureau is deliberately causing trouble.

But there wasn't much else to do. After all, the forest land in the mountains belonged to the state, not the brigade collective. People started to take it seriously, and it was no longer possible to organize people to go into the mountains to pick the fruit as before.

“From now on, the brigade will no longer organize members to go into the mountains to pick fruit. Individuals are a different matter, and we will not interfere with them either. Although the Forestry Bureau is in the right, it seems to be targeting us. I will go and ask them about it myself.”

Fang Wei told everyone to calm down. From the perspective of the brigade level, the Forestry Bureau's document must be followed and implemented, otherwise it would cause trouble for the team.

However, the team won't interfere with individual behavior. If they're so capable, the forestry bureau can send someone to the mountains to help. Otherwise, how can they control individuals picking fruit? In essence, picking fruit and illegally logging trees are different in nature.

There are no protection laws in this era, so many things are difficult to define.

Despite everyone's complaints, the team decided that they would no longer organize group picking trips into the mountains.

Fang Wei then went to the county and found the head of the county forestry bureau.

"Director Chen, we went into the mountains to pick fruit in previous years without any problems. Why did you suddenly issue this document? What's the explanation for this?"

“Secretary Fang, it’s not that we want to cause trouble, but look at what we’ve said all these years. This time it’s really just a coincidence. On the one hand, someone reported your Xiatang Brigade’s behavior, and on the other hand, the higher authorities required us to strengthen the supervision and management of state-owned forest land.”

Director Chen of the Forestry Bureau looked helpless. The bureau had received similar complaints before, but had not taken any action.

After all, the act of picking itself is difficult to define, so it's better to avoid trouble.

But this time it's different. The local forestry bureau issued a document requiring all localities to strengthen the supervision of state-owned forest land, which included a strict ban on large-scale organized picking activities.

At this point, he had no choice but to take action, otherwise he would be unable to deliver on his promise.

"Oh, I see. Thank you for clearing up my confusion, Director Chen. The team has already held a meeting and will not organize any more group picking activities, so please don't worry."

"That's good, that's good! Secretary Fang, we had no choice, please don't blame us."

Director Chen clearly didn't want to offend Fang Wei, and the two of them were very polite to each other in the end.

Fang Wei left the forestry bureau and put the matter behind him. Even if he stopped going into the mountains to pick fruit, it wouldn't have much impact on the team's income, much less on everyone's standard of living.

Chestnut trees are planted in the team, and so are camellia trees. The planting area can be further expanded in the future.

The commune members had no shortage of cooking oil; the rapeseed oil alone was enough to last them a year, not to mention the tea oil that the team could also distribute. This matter had to end there, since it was state-owned forest land, not the team's.

Fang Wei then went to Wu Yaoyang's office.

"Secretary Fang, it's been quite a while since you've come to visit me. I've already eaten all the cured meat at home."

When Wu Yaoyang saw Fang Wei, he couldn't help but laugh, and then made a joke.

He knew that Fang Wei had just gone to the Forestry Bureau, and he also knew why Fang Wei went there. He felt that the regional Forestry Bureau had not understood the situation.

There was nothing wrong with the Xiatang Brigade going into the mountains to pick fruit. Resources should be used rationally. Would those fruits be more valuable if they rotted on the ground? The key is that it was the Xiatang Brigade's afforestation efforts that created the entire mountain forest.

Now there are rare trees everywhere in the area, and the forestry department is only now jumping out to strengthen supervision. Why didn't they do this earlier?
However, Wu Yaoyang couldn't say these things, since, according to regulations, the forestry department was not at fault.

"I brought you cured meat and dried goods, enough for you to eat for a while."

After Fang Wei finished speaking, he placed a large bag on the coffee table.

Wu Yaoyang laughed heartily, stepped forward, opened the package, and found cured meat, dried mushrooms, and dried bamboo shoots inside. He accepted it without any hesitation.

Neither of them mentioned the Forestry Bureau's "ban." After chatting for a while about breeding work, Fang Wei got up to take his leave. After all, Wu Yaoyang was always busy, and he wouldn't take up someone's time for no reason.

Back in the team, he told everyone the whole story.

Honest people sighed and lamented, while young cadres like Zheng Hu had their eyes darting around, seemingly plotting some wicked scheme.

"Alright, let's leave it at that."

Having said what needed to be said, Fang Wei got up and returned to her office.

This was just a minor incident; there's no need to dwell on it.

The next day.

Fang Wei took her grandfather to the Yao village, where the [K326] rice in the experimental field on the mountain was ripe.

"Third brother, you go ahead and do your work, I'm going to rest at home for a while."

Upon arriving at the village, Grandpa went home to rest, telling Fang Wei that she didn't need to stay with him.

Knowing that someone would take care of Grandpa, Fang Wei quickly walked over to the experimental field.

The brother in charge of taking care of the experimental field reported to him, and he nodded before walking into the experimental field to carefully examine the tobacco's condition.

"Harvest all the slightly inferior flue-cured tobacco, and then pay attention to collecting the high-quality flue-cured tobacco seeds."

Fang Wei assigned them tasks, and they began harvesting tobacco according to the requirements.

This is actually the final selection process, because by this season, the differences between the individual plants are very small, which means that the traits of the [K326] variant are becoming stable and it has good resistance.

The new herb variety is nearing completion, and success is in sight.

After the harvest, you can rush to plant another crop; the 80-day growing period is quite fast.

At this moment, Wang Songlin, having received the news, rushed over.

"Third Brother, is this going to work out?"

Wang Songlin pointed to the experimental field and then asked with a smile.

"Almost there, it should be close to success. Songlin, after they finish harvesting, we need to carefully screen the collected seeds before continuing to plant them."

Fang Wei nodded and then gave the other party instructions.

If this experimental field is planted with flue-cured tobacco for another season, it will have to be moved to a different location next season to avoid damaging the soil.

Planting flue-cured tobacco continuously in the same field can cause soil compaction and make the plants more susceptible to disease.

"I understand, I'll make the arrangements."

Wang Songlin readily agreed and then followed Fang Wei to visit his grandfather.

Fang Wei stayed in the village for one night, and returned home with his grandfather the next day. Now the transportation between the two places is very convenient; it only takes an hour to go up the mountain by tractor.

Taking Grandpa to stroll around the village regularly is good for his physical and mental health. (End of Chapter)