Back To The 80s-Chapter 447 - 457: Set Up_1

"Has the baby come?" Gu Xiaobei quickly asked.

"Yes, yes, a big and fat eight-pound baby boy. I’ve slaughtered the chicken. You’ll help stew it later. Oh, and find some change of clothes for your sister-in-law. I’ll take them over later." Lu Songyuan said as he untied a chicken and tossed it into the henhouse, preparing to slaughter another one right away.

"Alright, I’ll start boiling the water now. An eight-pound baby boy, that’s fantastic." Gu Xiaobei smiled and went inside to pack some clothes for Bai Xiaolan.

She also got some cookies for the two children and placed them on the little table under the grapevine trellis, asking the two children to sit quietly and eat as she went to the kitchen to boil the water.

Bai Xiaolan stayed overnight at the hospital and returned home with the baby early the next morning.

Lu Songyuan pushed her back on a cart, with Wen Xiuqing helping to push from one side and Zhou Siping holding the baby.

Gu Xiaobei waited at the gate with the two children and watched them pushing the cart back. As they approached, she saw Bai Xiaolan looking rather miserable. Looking at her tightly swaddled body and the big flowered headscarf Zhou Siping hastily bought at the hospital entrance, tied into a knot under her chin, she looked just like Qiu Ju from The Story of Qiu Ju, and Gu Xiaobei couldn’t help but laugh. It was late July, and the breeze was hot. At this moment, Bai Xiaolan’s face was red from the heat, and sweat was dripping down.

As soon as Bai Xiaolan got into the house, she wanted to remove the headscarf, as it was making her scalp itch.

"You can’t take it off. Lay properly on the bed. If you let the wind in it will lead to more discomfort in the future." Zhou Siping hurriedly yelled from behind.

Wen Xiuqing, on the other hand, was more enlightened and said, "It’s alright to take off the headscarf inside the house as long as there’s no wind. Otherwise, you can get overheated easily."

Zhou Siping shook his head stubbornly, "No, we only have one child now. We have to take good care of her during her confinement."

Wen Xiuqing explained further, "Inside the house, as long as there’s no wind, it’s fine. Otherwise, if Xiaolan gets overheated, the baby might also get overheated from breastfeeding."

Zhou Siping hesitated, but still insisted, "You can undo the headscarf for a while to cool down, but you still have to wear it."

Bai Xiaolan looked at her mother-in-law and her mother, feeling aggrieved, "Mom, I’m really hot. Look at my sweat. Don’t suffocate me before my confinement is over."

Gu Xiaobei, watching Bai Xiaolan’s sweet burden with a smile, leaned over to look at the baby in Zhou Siping’s arms, "He’s so handsome. Look, his face is so smooth without a single wrinkle. His skin is also good. Xiaopang and Mo Wang were all skin and bones.".

Bai Xiaolan pouted, "He seemed quite ugly yesterday. He only became good looking today."

Xiaopang tugged at Gu Xiaobei’s clothes, "Mommy, sister, I wanna see my sister."

"It’s brother, not sister." Gu Xiaobei picked up Xiaopang to let her see the baby, then asked, "Have you named him?"

Bai Xiaolan exclaimed with delight, "I’ve thought of a nickname, Doudou. That sounds nice. I don’t know about his formal name yet. Xiangdong said we should ask Mr. Ji to name him." Bai Xiaolan seemed a little sad. She had given birth, but she still didn’t know when Ji Xiangdong would return.

...

At this point, Ji Xiangdong still didn’t know he was a father, and that his chubby son was waiting for him at home.

He was busy setting a trap for Bai Pingtian, so Bai could ensnare himself.

In the construction corps, many reclaimed areas were also used as seed bases.

Hundreds of acres of land were planted with corn, and during the corn tasseling period, the corn silks need to be removed to prevent cross-pollination. After several generations, this process would ensure the quality of the corn seeds and achieve high yields.

The regiment Bai Pingtian administered focused on improving corn seeds.

Ji Xiangdong knew Bai Pingtian was greedy. When the teacher department issued the 335 corn seeds, he saw Bai Pingtian’s calculating expression. As a result, he arranged for people to watch Bai Pingtian’s moves. Indeed, Bai secretly dealt with local people, exchanging high-quality 335 seeds for ordinary Yugoslav 773 seeds and making a profit from the price difference.

The two types of corn looked similar, but the improved 353 had higher nutritional value and a higher yield per acre.

Ji Xiangdong also kept an eye on where the corn seeds Bai Pingtian had swapped were being distributed.

Now in mid-July, it was time to remove the corn tassels. Ji Xiangdong knew that if some teams did not remove the tassels on time or deliberately delayed, there must be a problem.

Ji Xiangdong selected a few trustworthy workers in the team to stake out early.

Soon, feedback came that the Seventh Team, which was near the mountain, had not started removing the tassels yet.

At a later meeting of the teaching department, Ji Xiangdong deliberately praised, "Commander Bai, the corn you planted this year is very good. When I came to the teacher department meeting, I happened to see your Third Team workers removing tassels. This is another harvest year! Commander Bai, you are really good at managing farmland. I must learn from you."

Bai Pingtian was pleased but acted humble, "The main reason is the great support from the teaching department this year, and the workers are diligent. Bai can’t claim credit for it."

Ji Xiangdong was waiting for him to say that. He would make him slap his own face later. He smiled lightly and asked the Ninth Regiment commander sitting next to him, "Your regiment seems to be planting corn this year, too. How’s it?"

The Ninth Regiment commander was from the Northeast. He had a loud voice, a high-pitched tone, and was straightforward. "What can it be? It’s been raining a lot in our area this year. Even though we are so close, it always rains on our side. People can’t even get into the cornfields by now, let alone remove the tassels."

Ji Xiangdong remained silent and looked at Bai Pingtian with a smile. He knew he only needed to start the ball rolling, and then the gossipy people would help him carry it forward. Regardless of gender, everyone loves to gossip.

Sure enough, the commander of the Ninth Regiment asked in puzzlement, "Commander Bai, when I was coming, I passed your Seventh Team. There was no movement there. That’s not right. These few days are crucial for removing tassels. How could you guys delay it?"

Bai Pingtian was stunned. He cursed the Seventh Team commander in his mind for not removing the tassels from the corn by the road as he had repeatedly reminded him. Once done, no one would notice anything wrong. Then, on a windy day, they could water the cornfield, knock down all the corn plants, and reduce the yield, so no one would discover any problems.

Now, the Ninth Regiment commander’s question made Bai Pingtian awkward. He smiled and said, "Really? Maybe the corn by the road hasn’t been attended to."

Each regiment was already secretly competing with each other in terms of annual performance. Now that Bai Pingtian was being laughed at, there was no way they would let it slide.

The commander of the First Regiment proposed, "Comrade Commander, since we’re so close to Commander Bai’s regiment, why don’t we go visit and have him give us a demonstration? We can all learn from Commander Bai’s management plan."

The commander thought it was a good idea, and the Ninth Regiment commander, who had long been displeased with Bai Pingtian’s character, strongly requested to visit the Seventh Team.

Bai Pingtian led the group to the cornfield of the Seventh Team with a pale face. As they saw that none of the tassels on the hundreds of acres of corn had been removed, the commander’s face became grim on the spot.