The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

Chapter 98 Melons on the Market

After the mobilization meeting, the classes left in an orderly manner, and students discussed their choices of majors in twos and threes along the way.

"Class monitor, what major are you planning to apply for?"

"I haven't decided yet, but it'll probably be civil engineering, mechanical engineering, or mechatronics! What about you guys?"

Upon hearing the students' questions, Liu Zhenhua explained that at the mobilization meeting, the principal encouraged them to apply for these three majors, and as contemporary members of the Communist Youth League, they should of course actively respond to the call!

"We are in the same boat. Our country's industrial foundation is weak, but now with the 141 projects aided by our Soviet big brother, we can quickly complete industrialization. As long as we work together, catching up with the Soviet Union and surpassing the United States is not a problem!"

"Excellent! With the support of our Soviet big brother, our socialist camp will definitely surpass those capitalist countries!"

"Hey! Haitao, what about you?"

"Me? I plan to study science and engineering. The country is in dire need of talent! We young people should not refuse!"

"Okay! Let's work together!"

Zhao Shi'an followed his classmates back to the classroom, listening to their discussions about filling out college applications. He noticed that most of the students were talking about science and engineering majors, while agricultural and medical majors seemed to have been forgotten, except for a few girls who said they would study medicine.

The admission brochure clearly stated the importance of majors such as breeding and agronomy, but I haven't heard anyone discuss these majors.

I remember my homeroom teacher persuading me to be given priority in being assigned to agricultural and forestry schools and remote teacher training colleges during the transfer process. It seems that neither of these majors is popular!

If this is the case at No. 11 Middle School, it must be even worse at other schools.

Zhao Shi'an understood his classmates' choices very well.

Most of the students at No. 11 Middle School come from the area near Longxugou and the surrounding suburbs.

In most people's eyes, applying for an agricultural or forestry major is basically equivalent to working on the land after graduation. While this is indeed the case, perhaps that's why no one wants to apply!

Anyone who has actually done farm work knows that farming is by no means easy. Now that there is an opportunity to escape rural life, people naturally will not think about going back to farming. This was true even before the emergence of the urban-rural dual structure, let alone afterward.

In people's stereotypes, farmers should love the land. But if you've watched the documentary "China in the Countryside," you'll know that what Uncle Du said is the reality.

Farming is a choice made out of necessity for farmers; if they had any other option, they wouldn't choose to farm.

Whether in modern times or this era.

Zhao Shi'an has been in this era for two months and has written a total of four articles. He earned 78 yuan from submitting the first three articles and another 35 yuan from reprints. He earned more than one million yuan from just three articles. The fourth article has been selected, but he has not yet received the payment.

After the land reform, his family grew vegetables for four years, and his parents did odd jobs during the off-season. With his scholarship, they only managed to save a little over one million yuan in total. This was even when the agricultural tax was only 10% to 15%.

Back in the 1980s and 90s, farming offered absolutely no future.

In addition, agricultural breeding requires a long time for selection and breeding, and there is no guarantee of results. Over time, most people have a respectful but distant attitude towards learning agriculture!

Seeing this situation, Zhao Shi'an became even more determined to study agriculture. If everyone goes into industry, who will take care of agriculture?

Since someone has to make the sacrifice, why can't it be him? With a spatial cheat that allows him to flow ten times faster than others, he will succeed more easily, and that is his greatest asset!

Having made his decision, Zhao Shi'an walked with increasing composure, occasionally joining in the discussion with his classmates.

The following Sunday, Zhao Shi'an went to the school for a physical examination.

After everyone arrived, Li Zhankui said to the group, "Students, it's our school's turn for physical examinations this morning!"

This physical examination covers height and weight, facial features, vision, hearing, oral cavity, and skin.

Internal medicine examinations include auscultation of the heart and lungs, palpation of the liver and spleen, and blood pressure checks.

There is also mandatory chest X-ray, mainly to prevent tuberculosis; this test was included in last year's college entrance examination.

If there's a misdiagnosis, we'll have to do a second check, so don't worry! Okay, let's head to the Fourth People's Hospital!

After saying this, the sports committee led everyone off. The Fourth People's Hospital is the designated physical examination hospital for college entrance examinations in Chongwen District.

The No. 11 Middle School is not far from the Fourth Hospital; it's about a ten-minute walk away.

Upon arrival, the students began with routine checks.

After Zhao Shi'an measured his height and weight, he was speechless when he heard that he was 154 cm tall and weighed 45 kg. He was as thin as a bamboo pole.

Before he transmigrated, he was over 16 meters tall when he was 16 years old. He never expected to be so short in this era. Unfortunately, two months was too short to make him grow taller.

If I hadn't been eating eggs every day and meat every few days for the past few months, I probably would have lost a lot more weight. Fortunately, I'm still young, and if I get enough nutrition in the future, I'll still have a chance to grow taller. I don't expect to grow to 1.8 meters, but growing to 1.75 meters shouldn't be a problem.

After all the tests were completed, Zhao Shi'an was relieved to see that his blood pressure and other vital signs were normal.

When it came to the last X-ray examination, he was a little nervous, but when he saw the machine from this era, he couldn't help but chuckle.

The machine used by the Fourth People's Hospital was an old-fashioned vertical fluoroscopy machine from Siemens in Germany, which was a wartime stockpile from the 1930s and 40s.

The structure is relatively simple, with a fully manual crank lifting body, and no automatic time limit or precision limit.

In addition, the tube overheats severely, requiring the machine to be stopped and cooled down every three or four shots. Furthermore, there is no lead shielding tube, resulting in serious X-ray leakage.

In addition, the protection was poor. The lead plates on the walls of the examination room were thin, and students were not given lead aprons for their physical examinations. Only the doctors wore heavy lead aprons.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Shi'an quickly used his mind to create a protective shield to protect himself.

After a long wait, it was finally his turn for the examination. He took off his shirt and stood shirtless in front of the machine for more than half a minute before he heard the end signal.

Upon hearing the sound of the X-ray being taken, he immediately raised the protective shield and secretly compared the effects to those of modern times, discovering that the dangers of X-rays in this era were dozens of times greater than those in modern times.

No wonder my classmates said they felt nauseous and dizzy after an X-ray. I initially thought it was just scaremongering, but now I realize the radiation levels were seriously excessive! After all, taking an X-ray while naked is quite harmful.

After getting dressed, Zhao Shi'an quickly walked out of the examination room. Hearing his classmates say that he had passed, he felt much relieved.

After the medical examination, he went straight home.

"Boss, how are you? Are you alright?"

"Shi'an, are you alright?"

"It's alright! It'll definitely be alright! Shi'an, good people are always protected by heaven!"

"That's right! Our Shian is incredibly capable."

Upon seeing Zhao Shi'an return, Zhao Youtian, Liu Guiying, Zhao Youliang, and Sun Cuilan were very nervous, while Liu Hehua and Tian Fusheng praised him highly!

When Liu Guiying learned that tuberculosis would be tested during the college entrance examination, she became somewhat frightened!

People living in Longxugou who contract this disease will recover within a few years.

At first, she was relieved! Her family had never had this disease in all these years, so she was sure it would be fine now. But when she learned that the incubation period for this disease could be as long as several years or even more than ten years, she couldn't sit still anymore. Her son was so promising, and if he was ruined by a disease, she didn't know how she would live!

"Auntie, Uncle, Aunt, Uncle Tian, ​​Aunt Tian, ​​I'm fine, I passed the medical checkup!"

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Zhao Shi'an quickly announced the results.

"Thank goodness! It's alright! Thank God!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Guiying felt much relieved!

"What did I say? Our Shi'an is just a lucky person, blessed by heaven!"

"that is!"

"Ha ha!"

Upon learning that Zhao Shi'an had passed the physical examination, the hospital instantly became lively.

After lunch, Zhao Shi'an checked on the growth of the melons in the yard.

After May Day, the female flowers of the melons began to open one after another, and my family immediately carried out artificial pollination.

Now, more than twenty days later, the melons are in a rapid growth phase. To ensure both taste and yield, Zhao Shi'an has specially sprinkled fermented chicken and duck manure and wood ash from the space to ensure sufficient fertilizer.

The melon in front of me looks about the size of an adult's fist. An unsuspecting person would think it's ready to eat, but picking it now would obviously result in a huge loss. It would be best to wait about a week before picking it.

"Big brother, the melon smells so good! I can smell it, is it ready to eat?"

"Big brother, I want to eat some melon!"

When Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Xiaole saw their older brother's actions, they immediately ran over and acted coquettishly.

Long before the melons started bearing fruit, they had been counting down the days to eat the smaller melons, but the adults had always forbade them from eating them. Now that they saw their older brother there, the two little ones sneaked over.

"Don't worry, you two, the melons aren't ripe yet. They'll be ready to eat in another week!"

Seeing his two younger sisters' greedy expressions, Zhao Shi'an couldn't help but chuckle and pinched the two little ones' cheeks.

"Not cooked? No way! I can smell the aroma!"

Zhao Xiaoyue couldn't believe it when she heard this.

"Exactly! Big brother's lying! The melons I ate before were just like that! How could they not be ripe?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xiaole felt that her older brother just didn't want her to eat it, since this little melon was about the same size as the one she ate last year!

"You guys really know a lot. These little melons are different from the ones you've eaten before. You'll see when we pick them in a few days."

"Wait a few more days, and your brother will definitely make sure you have a good meal, okay?"

"Oh well!"

Hearing their elder brother's words, Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Xiaole reluctantly agreed.

For the next few days, the first thing the two little ones did every morning was run to the yard to check on the baby melon.

At first, the two little ones thought their older brother was just teasing them, but after watching for two days and seeing that Xiaogua was growing bigger and bigger, Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Xiaole were overjoyed!

They had never seen such a big melon before, and the thought of their older brother saying that they could eat it in a week made them even more excited.

Time slipped away quietly as the two little girls counted on their fingers, and before they knew it, it was May 30th.

In the morning, Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Xiaole got up early, and Zhao Shijie, Zhao Shixiong, and the Tian siblings also got up early when they learned that they would be picking melons today.

Zhao Shi'an got up and washed up. Looking at the string of people following behind him, he said with a smile, "Don't rush! We'll pick the melons after we eat. Everyone, go home and eat first!"

"Big brother, I'm not hungry! We'll pick them after you've eaten!"

"Big brother, I'm not hungry!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Xiaole shook their heads vigorously, like rattles.

"You have to eat, even if you're not hungry. Anyone who doesn't eat will not get any melon later!"