Chapter 10 – Labour
Xia Lu Nong had grown up in the city and wasn’t very skilled at bundling firewood.
Hao Juan Lian showed him a few times, and although his attempts were crooked and awkward, they were at least secure.
Unhappy with the results, Xia Lu Nong took advantage of the slow pace, before the transport group brought more wood, to untie his bundle and try again, hoping to do a better job.
Hao Juan Lian laughed as she helped him, “As long as the bundle holds, what does it matter if it looks good?”
Xia Lu Nong replied, “While there’s not much wood yet, I want to practice more and see if I can get faster and better.”
Hao Juan Lian smiled and said nothing more.
Xia Lu Nong continued working for a while.
Then someone from the hoisting group called out, “The wood is here! Let’s all pick up the pace!”
Xia Lu Nong knew that the shout was directed at him, so he stopped fussing with the bundle and started tying up the new wood.
The freshly cut wood was heavy and damp, covered in all kinds of things — bugs, ants, splinters, tree sap. A single careless move could get him bitten or stung, leaving him uncomfortable for the rest of the day.
The firewood was rough, and if you weren’t careful, your hand could easily get pinched, leaving it bruised and sore.
Xia Lu Nong, inexperienced and impatient, struggled through the entire morning, accumulating countless small injuries on his hands.
Thankfully, he didn’t slow anyone down. Even though his bundles looked messy, they were quick and secure, and he worked even faster than Hao Juan Lian.
The team responsible for hoisting the firewood worked in groups of four, using ropes and hooks to lift the wood from outside the wall, then tossing the bundles tied by Xia Lu Nong and the others into the base.
On the base side, there was a large bamboo forest below the wall. When the firewood was thrown down, it was mostly caught by the bamboo, so the bundles rarely broke apart.
After finishing their work, the hoisting team gave Xia Lu Nong a thumbs-up.
Xia Lu Nong smiled back and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
The sun was already out, and they were all sweating under its heat, sticky and uncomfortable, with flushed cheeks from the exertion.
Someone called out, “Take a break, have some water. Everything’s clear down below, right?”
The people outside the wall replied, “Nothing so far.”
Hearing this, everyone sighed with relief, sat down on the ground, took out their water bottles, and began to drink, some even rolling their cigarettes for a smoke.
Xia Lu Nong stretched his aching back and looked around.
Everyone looked exhausted. Even as they smoked, there wasn’t much conversation — they were conserving their energy for the work ahead.
The break didn’t last long before someone shouted for them to get back to work.
Xia Lu Nong had felt okay before the break, but afterward, the exhaustion hit him harder. When he stood up, his legs felt unsteady.
Hao Juan Lian wiped her sweat and was already grabbing vines to start tying the firewood again.
Xia Lu Nong, not wanting to complain, gritted his teeth and kept working alongside her.
The task was incredibly tough, and as the day went on, Xia Lu Nong’s mind began to blur. He kept going only through sheer willpower.
At noon, everyone gathered back on the wall to eat some dry rations. After eating, they found a shady spot to nap for a while before getting back to work.
Xia Lu Nong joined them, his eyes glazed over, moving mechanically by the end.
Thankfully, the others in his group were strong, and by around two or three in the afternoon, they had finished the day’s quota of firewood, all of it piled on the base side of the wall.
Everyone packed up their things, shouting as they descended the wall. They carried the wood down the mountain, trip after trip, and left it at the foot of the mountain, from where it was transported to the cafeteria.
Xia Lu Nong hadn’t spoken much since noon, silently going back and forth, trying his best not to slow down the others.
Even so, he hadn’t carried as much as the others.
While the others could carry 150 to 200 pounds of wood in one trip, he could only manage 70 to 80 pounds. Where they could make six or seven trips, he could only make four.
By the time all the firewood was piled up outside the large storage shed near the cafeteria, Liao Quan Nan clapped his hands and told everyone they could leave. He would stay behind to weigh the firewood for the cafeteria staff.
They had three days to complete the task, with a goal of 15,000 pounds of firewood per day, making a total of 45,000 pounds over the three days. The base was strict and required everything to be weighed and accounted for.
Xia Lu Nong, having worked hard for most of the day, was so exhausted that his vision blurred, and his lips were dry and cracked. His shoulders were burning with pain, covered in red marks from the straps digging into them.
Hearing Liao Quan Nan announce the end of the workday, Xia Lu Nong took a few steps toward the exit, then turned back, licking his dry lips. “I’ll stay and help with the counting.”
Without a calculator, they had to do the math by hand every time they weighed the firewood.
Liao Quan Nan, holding a pen and notebook, was about to start writing when he looked up and asked, “You’re not tired?”
“Tired,” Xia Lu Nong replied, blinking wearily as he sat down next to Liao Quan Nan and took the pen and notebook from him. “But so are you.”
Liao Quan Nan laughed, patting him on the shoulder. “Good man!”
Xia Lu Nong winced in pain from the pat on his sore shoulder but didn’t say anything, enduring it quietly.
One of the workers helping with the weighing chuckled, “Those two brothers are the same. They look gentle and scholarly, but they’ve got a stubborn toughness inside.”
“True that,” someone else added. “When it comes to resilience, I’d say no one in this base can beat Vice-captain Xia.”
“Well, what about Captain Yan?” someone teased.
“Ah, don’t start that. We’re talking about toughness here. Back in the day, when things were rough, Vice-captain Xia practically built half this base while also caring for his sick brother. Who else could manage that?”
Liao Quan Nan cut in, “Enough chit-chat. Let’s finish this up quickly so we can go home. I’m dead tired.”
“This is nothing. Remember last year, we were hauling bricks up the mountain before dawn and didn’t stop until after dark? Now that was hard work — even the toughest guys ended up skinning their hands.”
“Hauling what?”
“Come on, you know what I mean!”
Xia Lu Nong listened with a faint smile, scribbling on the paper.
On the left side of the page, he wrote the order of the weigh-ins: first, second, third, and so on. On the right side, he recorded the weight for each batch. It was clear and organized, making it easy to review later.
Liao Quan Nan glanced at his notes and, satisfied, sat back.
Everyone was strong, and with the use of a large platform scale, each batch could be weighed at 500 pounds at a time.
Before long, the weighing was done.
Xia Lu Nong added up the weights and said, “We’ve got a total of 21,377 pounds of firewood today.”
One of the cafeteria workers looked over and said, “That’s about what I guessed.”
After working long enough, you develop a sense for these things.
The others came over to confirm the total, and after seeing no issues, they all signed their names, ensuring everything was properly recorded for future checks.
Once that was done, they were finally free to head home.
Xia Lu Nong said goodbye to everyone and, dragging his exhausted body, started walking toward home to grab his things.
But Liao Quan Nan called out to him.
Xia Lu Nong turned around, and Liao Quan Nan pulled something wrapped in leaves from a small basket he was carrying and handed it to him. “I just picked these wild fruits. Try some.”
Xia Lu Nong had noticed the small bamboo basket in Liao Quan Nan’s hand but hadn’t realized it was filled with wild fruit.
Now, holding the bundle, he felt awkward and unsure whether he should accept it.
Liao Quan Nan smiled and said, “Take it. You worked hard today.”
Xia Lu Nong hadn’t had a chance to thank him. It was only after he had walked a few steps that he snapped out of it and called out, “Thank you, Team Leader.”
Liao Quan Nan waved his hand and walked away with his basket.
Xia Lu Nong held the leaf-wrapped bundle in his hand. Watching Liao Quan Nan’s brisk, long strides disappearing into the distance, he wiped the sweat from his brow and started heading home.
When he got home and unwrapped the bundle, he found a bunch of yellow fruits inside, about the size of a ping-pong ball. They were clusters of small berries, resembling an enlarged version of raspberries.
Some of the berries had been squished, and their juice had oozed out, sticking to the leaves with a sweet and sour fragrance.
Xia Lu Nong carefully picked off one of the berries and cautiously licked it. His eyes lit up — this oversized raspberry was surprisingly sweet!
It was sweet, juicy, and had a unique aroma!
He took it to the kitchen, scooped some water to wash one, and after drying it, gently bit into it.
As soon as his teeth pressed against the thin skin, it burst open, and the abundant juice flowed out, so sweet that it made him squint in delight.
After finishing the fruit, the refreshing, sweet taste lingered on his tongue for a long time.
Xia Lu Nong felt much better. He happily sat there, savoring the aftertaste, and looked at the remaining fruits in the leaf bundle.
There were still four left, one of which was slightly damaged, while the other three were intact.
He carefully squeezed them, finding that they were still firm and fresh. Judging by their freshness, they would last another two or three days.
He took the slightly damaged one and stored the other three carefully in the kitchen cupboard, hoping to save them until his brother returned to enjoy together.
He didn’t eat the slightly damaged one right away either, leaving it in a bowl for tomorrow.
Cutting firewood had been exhausting. Even though he had only been tying bundles most of the time, he still felt worn out.
After a quick bath in the communal showers and grabbing a meal, he went straight to bed.
The next morning, when he got up, he could barely straighten his back. He had to hold his breath and slowly stretch inch by inch to finally stand up straight.
He felt his waist; there was no bone problem, likely just muscle strain.
Looking at his shoulders, both were purple and red, with swollen bumps from where the wood had rubbed. Thankfully, they weren’t too painful.
Xia Lu Nong breathed a sigh of relief and went out to fetch water and grab breakfast.
After breakfast, feeling a bit better, he went to see Dr. Ou, who confirmed there was no bone injury and said he was fine. Only then did he strap on his water bottle and sweet potatoes and head back up the mountain.
His body wasn’t doing well that day, making bundling firewood even more unbearable than the day before.
Seeing how pale he looked, his team members told him to rest in the shade after a while.
He didn’t rest for long though, and after catching his breath, he continued working.
Hao Juan Lian quietly said to him, “You don’t have to push yourself so hard. When your brother comes back, let him take over, and you’ll finish quickly.”
Xia Lu Nong patted his lower back and smiled, “My brother is tired too.”
Hao Juan Lian shook her head but didn’t say anything else.
Yesterday, they had already cut over 21,000 pounds of wood. Today, they only needed to cut 23,000 pounds to be done.
Everyone wanted to finish today, so they didn’t rest much at noon and worked late into the afternoon.
Thankfully, when they weighed the wood at the end, they had exceeded their quota and wouldn’t need to return the next day.
Xia Lu Nong was the last to leave, staying until all the firewood had been weighed and recorded before saying goodbye to Liao Quan Nan and the others.
Liao Quan Nan told him to rest well when he got home, to take a few extra days off, and to eat something good to recover. He’d eventually get used to it.
Xia Lu Nong smiled at him, thanking him for his care.
When he got home, he quickly took a bath, ate a few bites of food, and climbed into bed to sleep.
The base task this time had really worn him out, and he had only made it through by sheer willpower. He didn’t expect that this time, he would be so tired he ended up lying in bed for two days, right until his brother came back and caught him resting.
Thanks for the chapter