After transplanting the seedlings, Agricultural Class C found themselves without any planting tasks and began worrying about how to earn points. The freshman welfare period had ended, meaning they now had to cover their meal costs. Even the cheapest meals would cost at least 300 points per day.
Like many other students, Zhao Linong turned to the school forum to find tasks. Although she had earned more points last semester by growing high-quality crops, her expenses were equally high. She had transferred 50,000 points to Feng He, and purchased onion seeds, agricultural tools, a three-wheeled motorcycle, and a short saber. Without new tasks, she realized she might soon run out of points.
The forums were quiet, as the autumn sowing had just begun, and few tasks related to agriculture or horticulture had been posted. When the Forestry Department posted tasks, they were snapped up instantly. Zhao Linong, like her classmates, waited eagerly for any new task opportunities.
In the Agricultural Class C group chat, Mr. He, a fellow student, shared a tip:
Mr. He, who knows everything: [Rumor has it that seniors from the Animal Husbandry class will post tasks at 2 p.m. today. Be ready to grab them!]
Life is important: [Thank you, Mr. He!]
AAA Farmer Xiao Zhao: [Thanks, Mr. He!]
When the time came, Zhao Linong, along with her classmates, anxiously refreshed the forum. A few minutes before 2 p.m., the seniors posted the task. Zhao, recalling the speed she once used to register for college courses, managed to snag one of the tasks.
The task read:
[Recruiting Milkers: Work for one week, three times a day at 5 a.m., 12 p.m., and 7 p.m., at the 6-15 dairy farm in the East District. Total reward: 19,999 points.]
Although she had visited a large dairy farm before with her tutor, it had been for a project, and most of the milking was done by machines. This time, it would be manual labor, which made her a bit nervous.
Mr. He, who knows everything:[Which task did you get?]
AAA Farmer Xiao Zhao: [One-week milking job.]
Mr. He: [Why is it always this task? I got it too.]
AAA Farmer Xiao Zhao: [You accepted it too?]
Mr. He, who knows everything: [Of course! Almost 20,000 points, and it’s not even farming.]
AAA Farmer Xiao Zhao: [But we’ll have to get up early.]
Mr. He, who knows everything: [Just get up! I’ll pick you up in my car tomorrow.]
The next morning, at 3 a.m., He Yuesheng arrived in his pickup truck to give Zhao Linong a ride.
“Let’s go.”
Together, they drove to the dairy farm in the East District, which was much larger than Wei Li’s chicken shed. When they arrived, they found that most of the students chosen for milking were from their class.
This time, the jobs of the cattle farm were booked by their class.
“First, let me tell you about milking.” A senior student stood in front of the crowd and said, “You need to clean the cows’ udders, massage them, and milk them quickly. You
have to do it in one go. You can’t drag out the milking, otherwise it will affect the cow’s milk production.”
“We will guide you through it.” The senior student held up a communication code, “Scan me to join the group, note your name and class, and you will be paid when you’re done.”
Everyone joined the group one by one and entered the dairy farm.
The senior looked down at the class name and muttered to the classmate next to her: “Why are all the people from Class C of the Agricultural Science freshmen?”
“Zhao Linong’s class?”
“Who, do you know her?”
“No, I’ve heard of her name, the freshman who shared her information.”
The senior suddenly realized, then swiped the members in the group and pointed to a name: “Is it her?”
The classmate next to her leaned over and looked: “It’s this name, do you remember what she looks like just now?”
“I remember, a very thin and tall girl, not like a student in Class C.” The senior said, “At first I thought someone from above came to inspect.”
So she looked at Zhao Linong’s name a few more times.
After saying this, the classmate next to her also remembered that she saw someone when she came out: “Is it that gentle girl?”
Zhao Linong didn’t look like a farmer. She speaks and acts slowly, without rushing or slowing down, and has a literary air, as if she was born to be a researcher.
On the other side, He Yuesheng and Zhao Linong had already entered the dairy farm. There were pens of cows standing on both sides, and gentle music was playing inside.
Everyone was divided into several groups and followed the seniors to watch and learn how to milk.
“First, wet the towel with warm water to clean the breast, then rinse and wring the towel, and wipe it dry. Be sure to clean it thoroughly to prevent contamination during the milking process.” The senior squatted next to the cow and said while doing it, “Then massage, you can use both hands. After the stimulation, start milking immediately, but don’t collect the first two times.”
He did it again, and then let this group of people start to learn to do it.
Because the force of mechanized milking is difficult to control, it will cause harm to the cows, and a certain extent, it may increase the probability of mutation in the cows, so manual labor is now mostly used.
Animal Husbandry students usually have other research to do. Because Zhou Qianli was here, they had to learn more than the students in the agricultural department, so they just directly issued the task of milking.
“Alright, you can start now. Remember to come three times a day, and don’t miss a session,” the senior reminded the group.
He Yuesheng and Zhao Linong were placed in the same group along with two other students. After greeting each other, they got to work. While He Yuesheng seemed comfortable and quickly got into the rhythm of milking, Zhao Linong found herself hesitating.
Despite her skills in farming, this was her first time working so closely with animals. As she crouched beside the cow, cloth in hand, she felt a wave of uncertainty wash over her.
From behind the cow, He Yuesheng noticed her hesitation. He looked at Zhao Linong from behind the cow’s butt: “Why aren’t you doing it?”
Zhao Linong was silent: “…”
She was inexplicably a little afraid .
Even though Zhao Linong was young, she was used to being calm, so she remained calm on the surface: “Right away.”
Zhao Linong put on gloves, held her breath, and began to clean and massage the cows with clumsy movements. She fell into a mechanical motion. Her hands were still moving, but her soul had already left her body. Zhao Linong had never found herself afraid of this before. At least when facing mutated plants, she could even calmly analyze what family the mutated plants belonged to and what value they had.
After milking a few cows, most agricultural students gradually became proficient. Zhao Linong had no problem milking. She was always a fast learner, but when she got up and walked, she was very clumsy with her hands and feet. When everyone finished their morning milking tasks and left, He Yuesheng finally found that something was wrong with Zhao Linong.
“What’s wrong with you?” He Yuesheng asked, staring at Zhao Linong’s stiff limbs.
Zhao Linong quickly moved away from the cows in the pen and calmly made an excuse: “It’s okay, maybe I’m hungry.”
He Yuesheng took out a hard fruit candy from his pocket and threw it to her: “Cantaloupe flavored.”
Zhao Linong took it subconsciously and spread out her hands to look at the candy. The cantaloupe pattern was printed on the green plastic package, which looked very sweet.”Thank you…”
She hesitated for a moment and didn’t eat it immediately.”Eat it.” He Yuesheng spread out his other hand, raised his eyebrows, and said proudly, “I have more.”
He tore open the package himself and threw the green cantaloupe-flavored candy into his mouth.
Seeing this, Zhao Linong opened the package and put the candy into his mouth.
The two walked out of the dairy farm side by side. Zhao Linong moved his fingers and felt the strange soft touch on his fingertips gradually disappear. Only then did she gradually breathe a sigh of relief and return to normal.
“Let’s go to the cafeteria to eat first, and we’ll be back at noon.” He Yuesheng said, “Remember to bring something to eat when you go out tomorrow morning.”
“Okay.”
The two got into the pickup truck and drove out. Not long after, they met a man desperately chasing a wild cat on the way, shouting at the top of his lungs: “My fish! Save my fish!”
“Stop.” Zhao Linong suddenly spoke.
He Yuesheng didn’t understand what she meant, thinking that she had dropped something, so he immediately stepped on the brakes.
Before the car completely stopped, Zhao Linong quickly got out of the car, and the wild cat just bumped into the side.
She bent down and picked up the wild cat’s neck, and the wild cat immediately struggled wildly. Zhao Linong quickly snatched a fish from its mouth, and then let go of the wild cat.
The wild cat hissed at Zhao Linong until the man chased after it from a distance. It realized that it could not eat the fish, and ran away.
The man who chased after the cat was wearing a one-piece raincoat and rain boots, which made him clumsy. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Zhao Linong had the fish.
Zhao Linong handed the fish to him: “It’s not dead, the scales have fallen off a little.”
It was not comfortable to hold the fish like this, but Zhao Linong was not as nervous and stiff as when he was milking the cow before.
The other party quickly reached out to take it and thanked him: “Thank you, without your help, my graduation results would have been ruined.”
Zhao Linong: “It’s just a piece of cake.”
In the beginning, the experimental field of her graduation thesis was also destroyed, and she could understand the other party’s feelings at the moment.
This outrageous and embarrassing situation is something that will make people laugh when talking about it to outsiders.
But for graduates of the Agricultural College like them who write papers based on experimental data, that moment was probably a bolt from the blue, and they were angry that their work failed.
“The window was not closed properly, and the wild cat took the opportunity to come in.” The boy in the white coat was still frightened, “Fortunately the fish is still there.”
“Senior, you have to put the fish back into the water as soon as possible.” Zhao Linong reminded.
“Yes, I’ll go back now.” The boy in the white coat nodded repeatedly, and before leaving, he said, “Junior, thank you so much this time.”
…
“Are we leaving?”
At some point, He Yuesheng got out of the car and stood by waiting for Zhao Linong.
Zhao Linong came back to her senses: “Let’s go.”
She got back in the car.
He Yuesheng in the driver’s seat tilted his head to look at her for a moment, then took a bottle of water from the side and handed it to her: “Your hand is scratched, rinse it with water first, I’ll take you to the hospital.”
“Thank you.” Zhao Linong opened the car door and turned sideways to rinse the scratch on the back of his hand.
“What are you thanking me for? You may become a researcher in the future.” He Yuesheng sighed, “I’m just trying to curry your favor in advance.”
Zhao Linong closed the car door and smiled.
On the way, she looked at the scenery of the fields outside the car in silence.
The series of incidents that happened today reminded Zhao Linong of the incidents that happened in the old world.
At that time, she was standing on the ridge of the field, looking at a messy experimental field. All the things planted in it were destroyed, and the murderer left only piles of cow dung.
