The Sweetness of the Seventies
Chapter 319 - 290: The Mother Tree, Chaos Again_1

Chapter 319: Chapter 290: The Mother Tree, Chaos Again_1

The outside was crowded, and He Jingyu didn’t want to discuss these matters in front of strangers.

"Let’s focus on planting the tree now. We can talk about the other stuff when we get back home," He Jingyu whispered, not wishing for his wife to become distressed in front of so many people.

He Tiantian held her mother’s hand and whispered, "Mom, don’t get worked up or sad. The most important thing right now is to find the best spot for this tree."

Encouraged by her husband and daughter, Wang Shuping calmed down, her eyes looking complicatedly at the mother tree.

"That’s right." Wang Shuping no longer allowed herself to wallow in sadness, took a shovel and went up the hill with the others.

Considering the terrain, sunlight, and the stream, Wang Shuping found an ideal location.

Upon seeing it, He Tiantian was stunned—it was not far from the mouth of a cave.

Fortunately, there was still a few meters of distance. Otherwise, it would have blocked the cave entrance, making it inconvenient to enter the cave in the future.

He Jingyu and Wang Shuping personally dug the hole, poured water into it, and then planted the mother tree!

The others, following the instructions of He Jingyu and Wang Shuping, placed the remaining peach trees into their pits, poured water, and added soil. To prevent the trees from falling over, some were even supported with bamboo poles or sticks to keep the newly planted trees stable.

One hundred peach trees weren’t many, and even at two years of age, they were only as thick as a child’s arm, which made them easy to plant.

He Jingyu, along with Village Chief Qi, accompanied Niu Peng to look around, while Wang Shuping went to the side of the mother tree, gently caressing it as if touching her own child.

"Mom, is this tree very precious?" asked He Tiantian. Her mother looked at the tree with the same warmth and love that she looked at her own daughter.

"Yes, very precious." Wang Shuping spoke softly, "Back when your father and I were in college, we followed our professors to Xiangdong County, the Hometown of Honey Peaches. Your father and I found a tree with peaches that were particularly sweet, but the fruit was unusually small, and the farmers didn’t like it and discarded it. We felt it was a pity, so we brought it back to our university and planted it in the agricultural science garden affiliated with our school. It was a side project your father and I were doing. After seven to eight years of cultivation, that honey peach tree started to produce slightly bigger peaches than before, but still smaller than those from other peach trees. Later, we tried grafting branches from that tree onto other honey peach trees with larger fruits, and the resulting peaches were both large and sweet. Your father and I saw hope. Honey peaches aren’t easy to preserve, so your father continued his research, and finally, he developed a good variety. Just as we were about to promote it, turmoil broke out in Nan City."

After a pause, He Tiantian, with a thoughtful look, extended her delicate finger and made a calculating gesture, "Mom, this tree is even older than I am!"

"Yes, it’s three years older than you," said Wang Shuping, "In your father’s and my heart, it’s our love-confirming tree, and it’s like our first child. But it’s getting old, its trunk is large, and moving it rashly..."

Wang Shuping didn’t finish her sentence, but He Tiantian understood.

As the saying goes, "People can move and live; trees can move and die."

This tree, nearing twenty years old with deep roots, might not survive the move!

In other places, it might die, but not in Qijia Village; here, the soil is fertile, the water is good, and there’s a spiritual energy.

"Mom, if we take good care of it and if it’s meant to be, this peach tree will continue to live," He Tiantian said. Just as her parents cared for the tree like their own child, He Tiantian had also come to regard the tree as a member of the family.

By noon, the workers had left, but Wang Shuping still didn’t want to leave.

"Mom, even if you want to watch these peach trees, you should wait until there is a wooden hut built here!" He Tiantian said. Right now, it’s just an orchard.

Wang Shuping looked around and nodded, "There shouldn’t be any problems, right?"

"No, don’t worry. This is a task assigned by the leaders above. If there is an accident, the leaders will definitely not let it go; they will investigate who’s causing trouble. So, as long as it’s not a fool, nobody would make trouble at this critical moment," He Tiantian said, "Besides, there aren’t any peaches yet. Even if they wanted to cause damage, they would wait until there are results to destroy."

Wang Shuping looked around again and said, "There aren’t any large beasts around here, are there?"

"No, there are very few wild animals behind Qijia Village, even the wild boars were hunted down last winter."

After having lunch, Wang Shuping and He Tiantian immediately headed to the back hill.

In the afternoon, after seeing off County Chief Niu, He Jingyu had drunk quite a bit, but he wasn’t in the mood to sleep and instead went directly to the peach orchard on the back hill.

"Dad, why don’t you go home and rest?" He Tiantian saw her father staggering up and quickly went forward to help He Jingyu.

Wang Shuping got up and let her husband sit on a clean stone.

He Jingyu was parched and his lips were a bit cracked; He Tiantian picked a few large leaves and went to the stream to scoop up some spring water for her father to drink.

"Dad, have some water," He Tiantian said, remembering how her father always needed to drink a lot of water after consuming alcohol.

"Glug glug..." He Jingyu drank the water in a few gulps; He Tiantian went back and forth twice more before he felt quenched.

Seeing her husband finish drinking, Wang Shuping asked, "Tell us what happened in Nan City?"

Upon hearing this, He Jingyu’s expression changed to a wry smile and said, "Ah, it was only after I returned this time that I learned the Agricultural Science Station had changed its leadership and was in disarray. Not just the Agricultural Science Station, but other places too are in chaos, almost like last year, or even worse. When I arrived, many projects at the station had been cut, and they were about to chop down these saplings! These are all my hard work, and that mother tree is also our effort; how could I just watch these things get ruined?"

Wang Shuping’s eyes widened, and she couldn’t speak for a while; her body began to tremble as she remembered the fear from last year.

"Mom, don’t be afraid!" He Tiantian whispered comfortingly to the timid Wang Shuping, hugging her mother’s shoulders to give her strength.

It took Wang Shuping a while to calm down, and then she said with great emotion, "Thank goodness we came to Huai City. If we were in Nan City..."

"Yeah, if it weren’t for Old Huo, we both would probably have suffered," He Jingyu said feelingly, "We owe Old Huo even more now."

Wang Shuping nodded and said, "Yes, no wonder before! Lifang told me to leave and was afraid we would think too much about it. They wanted the best for us. Coming here, though we are far from home, at least we have peace. And we can be near our daughter."

He Jingyu also felt comforted and said, "Having the family together is what matters. As for working, it doesn’t matter where we are."

"Dad, Mom, it’s actually quite nice here. At the animal husbandry team, there are your former colleagues, Professor Gu and Professor Wang. Because they had achievements before, they could apply to return to Nan City, but they don’t want to go back. They say there’s no point since the schools in Nan City aren’t operating; they might as well stay here and live a quiet life," He Tiantian explained, trying to console her parents, hoping they could put things into perspective.