The Era of Hard Work

The sun had just risen in the morning, and people went to the embankment of the Lujia Village section of the Qingzhao River one after another. Lu Dong rode his bicycle out of the village and went to the embankment as well.

The weather at the end of March is quite warm, and the poplar saplings planted during the Arbor Day have already sprouted new green shoots.

Most of the trees were cut down last year, and they were replanted in the village this year.

There is no need to mobilize the busy labor force, all the tree planting work is done by the children in the fourth and fifth grades of the elementary school.

The trees planted are mainly common trees in the north such as locust tree and poplar.

Lu Dong passed several big willow trees, with thousands of silk ribbons hanging down from the yellow-green crown.

These willows were also left in the village, not because they were old enough, but because few people want them. Whirling willows are easier to survive than sturdy trees.

Many mature trees have been cut down round after round, but the graceful willows still stand tall.

Beside the largest willow tree, several children were breaking willow branches, and one climbed onto the tree.

It's almost Ching Ming Festival, the old custom here is to plant willow branches at the gate of Ching Ming Festival.

Lu Dong stopped the motorcycle, looked up at the tree, and said to the boy above: "Nail, be careful!"

Nail broke a willow branch and threw it down, saying, "It's all right!"

A young child picked up a willow branch and ran over: "Brother Dong, give me a whistle."

They were all children from the old street, and Lu Dong did not refuse. He took the willow branch with the buds hanging on it, held it in his hand, and twisted the skin of the willow branch with his thumb and forefinger.

The bark of the willow branch turned, Lu Dong twisted it more than a dozen centimeters, broke the branch, bit the wood under the bark with his teeth, pulled out the white and smooth pole, turned off the flame, and took the counterfeit multifunctional knife hanging on the motorcycle key. Cut the skin into three sections, and peel off the outer skin of each section.

He took one in his mouth and blew hard.

"Woo———"

A whistle that was slightly duller than a sports whistle sounded.

"Brother Dong, give me one!" The child shouted, "Brother Dong, give me one!"

Lu Dong handed the remaining two whistles to the child, and said to the nail on the tree: "Be careful, go to school quickly, you will be punished if you are late!"

Teachers these days don't hold back at all when they beat students up.

In the elementary school in the village, there are two teachers who are very powerful. When dealing with naughty children around ten years old, they not only slap the face, but directly wrestle with their legs.

Under normal circumstances, children are beaten by teachers at school, and their parents beat them again when they come back.

Lu Dong walked north along the river embankment, and the outside of the river bank was dotted with mottled green. Several aunts and aunts were digging shepherd's purse and noodles, which are two kinds of wild vegetables that are often eaten in the countryside.

There are also bitter vegetables that are also turning green, and it is delicious to eat with sesame sauce and garlic.

Spring is here, everything is recovering, and it seems that bugs are waking up too.

Lu Dong looked at the wild jujube tree on the embankment, it hadn't sprouted yet.

When he came to the Triangle Dam, Lu Dong saw Lu Zhenlin and Accountant Li standing on the embankment, parked their motorcycles, and climbed up along the lower road.

Because the Qingzhao River was seriously polluted and the stench was once suffocating, Lu Dong didn't come here for a long time.

When we got to the embankment, we found that the river was not only dry, but even the bottom of the river was cracked.

"This year may be a little dry." Accountant Li said: "It rained last year."

After the Chinese New Year, there is no snow or rain on Qingzhao's side.

Lu Zhenlin looked at the sandbags that had been piled up last summer: "We can't take any risks. The old embankment won't be able to hold on to what happened last year."

Lu Dong took a step forward along the triangle dam and asked, "Third Grandfather, the report you typed up has not been approved yet?"

Lu Zhenlin shook his head slowly but firmly: "No, there has been no news from above. There should be no hope this year." He coughed and said, "It's already April, and the rainy season will be three months away. We can't wait."

Although Lu Dong had the impression that there would be floods comparable to last year's in the summer of 2019, who would dare to gamble with more than a thousand people in the village, old and young.

Lu Dong said: "We don't have the ability to tear down and rebuild, and we don't have the right to do so, but we can strengthen the areas that were not strong last year."

"I think so too." Lu Zhenlin's thick eyebrows were like sharp swords: "It's better to rely on ourselves than anyone else. I plan to advance 50,000 yuan from the dividends of the village committee shares of the food company this year..."

Lu Dong said directly: "My family's shares are also counted."

No one can stay out of this matter.

Lu Zhenlin nodded: "Okay! Next month, I will gather the manpower and try to finish the project by the end of April."

Lu Jianren came up from the embankment, just in time to hear Lu Zhenlin's words, and said: "We don't want the embankment to be able to withstand the flood for a long time, as long as it is better than other villages in the upper reaches. If there is a hole in the upper reaches, we will be safe gone."

No one present said it was wrong, not even Lu Zhenlin reprimanded him.

As the leader of Lu's Village, Lu Zhenlin's first consideration will always be Lu's Village.

Lu Jianren squatted on the edge of the triangular dam, looked into the river, and said, "When the water is dry, you can dig out a lot of loaches with a shovel." He turned to look at Lu Dong: "Dongzi, we two..."

Before he finished speaking, Lu Zhenlin scolded: "Old Qi, Mr. Tang is waiting for you to weld the equipment in the factory, so hurry up."

Lu Jianren got up and patted his buttocks, and said as he walked north, "Don't dig out these loaches and waste them! Dongzi, the sting is over, someday I will catch bugs and call your seventh uncle."

Listening to catching insects, Lu Dong held his face up hard, but couldn't help but look inside the river embankment, under the skin rammed with compound soil, and in those cracks, scorpions and centipedes could often be found.

Come another day to catch a few? Anyway, the earth scorpion, throwing it out and stinging people a dozen or twenty times is fine, at most it is a pain point.

The old embankment has been repaired, and Lujia Village has no ability to tear it down and rebuild it. Even if it has the ability, it can't do it. If there is no unified plan from above, you just tear it down and rebuild it. What do you want to do?

As for the elementary school, the children in the village have to endure another winter.

Difficulties have to be solved one by one, and we have to do it all at once, but in the end nothing can be done, and the food company that has finally gotten up has been dragged down.

Lu Dong went to the processing factory in the north again. The deal between the food company and Lao Du's family has been completed. All the equipment including two forklifts have been shipped back. The construction of two large cold storages is a priority, and the main body is basically completed.

When he entered the gate, he happened to see two refrigerated trucks delivering goods.

"Dongzi!" Li Mingxuan in the next car greeted Lu Dong.

Lu Dong asked loudly, "Where is this delivery?"

Before the car went far away, Li Mingxuan's voice came over: "Quannan, I have to make two trips today!"

Lu Dong turned around to see that it was not early, and rode his bicycle to the University City. When he was walking south, he passed by the Iron Rooster Gate. Looking inside through the open gate, the factory building of the chicken farm was also being expanded.

Uncle Tie and Aunt Tie's business doesn't seem to be bad.

At 9:30, Lu Dong arrived in front of the shop. After opening the shutter door for a few minutes, Gao Ming came over first, and the others came one after another before ten o'clock.

The business in the store is mainly for students, and after some people move into the residential areas such as Wenyuan of Xuefu, some people may also come to consume.

Today's Monday, compared to yesterday's hot opening, it will be class time, and the store is relatively deserted.

Qiao Weiguo led six people to work, mainly preparing the ingredients for noon.

Lu Dong moved a stool, and posted some promotional posters taken by Big Ivan and Natasha on the publicity column on the outside wall of the store.

Find a rag, and wipe the copper nameplate of the police-civilian joint construction unit.

There was a sound of reprimand not far away, and Lu Dong turned his head to see that Wang Chao and his people were chasing down those stalls that were not operating in the designated market.

After Lu Dong moved away, one of the three stalls in front was given to Lao Liu, and the two joints selling deep-fried dough sticks and tofu nao took over.

The latter two made up for the fees that Lu Dong had already paid.

There are also rumors in the market that the greenhouse market in the north has already started construction, and the temporary market here will be removed soon.

This is a small square in the planning. The developer of Xuefu Wenyuan had a lot of opinions on the temporary market after the store was officially completed.

There are five or six families who don't enter the market to operate, and when Wang Chao and others come, there will be a flurry of panic.

After a while, the market quieted down, and the law enforcement team was about to withdraw.

Lu Dong waved to the dynasty: "Brother Wang!"

Wang Chao took a look and led his three men over. Lu Dong was no different from before. He took out his cigarettes and scattered them in a circle, and stuffed the rest into Wang Chao's hands.

"Come in and sit down." Lu Dong invited.

Dynasty is very particular. Yesterday, I saw the sign of a non-smoking store written in the store, and said: "Let's talk after smoking."

Zhang Long walked to the poster, looked at the advertisement of Big Ivan and Natasha, and asked, "Lv Dong, you are so generous, did you invite a foreign star to advertise?"

Lu Dong smiled: "I can't afford to invite foreign stars in this small business. This is a shareholder who invested together, and a foreign teacher from the Provincial University."

Dynasty exhaled smoke and said, "You have too many ideas."

Lu Dong could hear clearly and could speak: "Brother Wang, I can't help it either. I can't just trouble you and my brother when something happens."

This sounded good to the ear, Wang Chao was also a sensible person, and said: "Lu Dong, you are right, you have to figure out what you can solve by yourself, your brother is in a critical stage of progress, you meet Please find him once, maybe it will make him more difficult."

There was a newcomer in the square, and he wanted to set up a stall at will. Wang Chao said to his subordinates: "Go and have a look, just drive them away, don't mess around."

Zhang Long and the others hurried over.

Lu Dong told the truth: "Brother Wang, there are not many with such a good attitude like yours."

Wang Chao smiled: "It's not easy for anyone in the village. Some people patronize me and scold me, so they don't think about it. If they want to eat, I have to eat too. Now the boss of the management committee is so strict that I want to lose money." It’s not as simple as driving people away after they get their jobs and get someone else to come over.”

On this point, Lu Dong believes that, as far as joint law enforcement is concerned, the Dynasty is definitely gentle and meticulous in doing things, regardless of the five big and three rough.

I've never seen him confiscate people's things.

Wang Chao said: "Too many factories have gone bankrupt in the county, and too many people have been laid off. There must be a way for people to survive."

After smoking a cigarette, Lu Dong invited him into the store for a while, but Wang Chao declined: "I just came here yesterday, so I won't go in. It's okay, it's time to go, I have to look at other places."

Lu Dong didn't say much, he took a bucket of mineral water from the store and handed it to Zhao Hu who came over.

Not for anything else, just because these few people work hard, it is worth it.

Huang Yong came out of the store on the north side, chatted with Lu Dong, and the supermarket on his side was about to open.

Lu Dong was about to enter the store, and a familiar person came out of the industrial and commercial building that was being renovated to the east.