Chapter 2178: Chapter 1855: On the Road
In the evening, the rain finally stopped.
As they say, the pavilion closest to the water gets the moonlight first. Doctor Xiaoguo was watching at the clinic entrance, sticking his head out to feel the weather several times even before the rain had stopped. Now that it finally had, he enthusiastically shouted:
"Let’s go! Pick some sweet melons!"
The employees were a bit hesitant: "It’s not time to clock out yet..."
"Oh, come on!" Doctor Xiaoguo assured them, "It’s team building, team building! Team building isn’t supposed to be during rest time!"
He checked his phone again: "There’s more than an hour until we finish work, isn’t there? Come on, let’s go to the field!"
He waited for a bit, then hurried back to grab some plastic bags, recalling Song Tan’s special message saying the soil in the field had become soft from the rain, so it was best to put on double-layer plastic bags to avoid dirtying their shoes.
The employees reluctantly accepted the plastic bags, feeling a bit amused.
— It seemed like they were leaving work over an hour early, but at 4:30, they had just finished eating.
Rain made farming inconvenient, but the necessary tasks still needed doing. Therefore, the cafeteria’s dining schedule hadn’t changed back, so at 4 o’clock everyone leisurely went up the mountain for a meal, and after barely doing any work, they were off to pick sweet melons again...
This was a farm leisure project, it sounded so interesting.
Kind of like, altogether, today they’d only worked half a day?
For workers, that was perfect.
After the rain, the evening air carried a slight duskiness, with a misty haze enveloping the surroundings due to the prolonged rain, even the stifling warmth had dispersed quite a bit, and the temperature wasn’t high.
Everyone just casually strolled up the mountain.
On the way, they asked, "How many sweet melons can we pick from Boss Song’s field? Can we eat while picking?"
If they picked too many, would that be inappropriate?
"Ah?" Doctor Xiaoguo thought for a moment:
"You can eat, free to eat as much as you can, just worried rainwater might make it unclean."
In the past, she would have explained about parasites.
But after living in the countryside for a long time, aside from necessary professional work, other aspects of Doctor Xiaoguo’s life had also become slowly rougher.
"This time it’s specially arranged for you, don’t pick the perfect melons, those are for sale."
"Also, don’t pick the ones with deep cracks, just choose those with slight surface cracks. They’re clean and safe to eat, they should keep for one or two days. Stuff yourself at this meal, estimate how much you can eat in the next couple of days and pick that amount."
Oh.
Though no one was very passionate about sweet melons, having one or two at most.
But since she put it that way, picking five or six was a must...
Thinking about it, it seemed strange for the boss to officially lead them on a farm leisure project but restrict them to such a few sweet melons...
It’s not surprising they didn’t realize how good Lao Song’s family ingredients were.
Occasionally, a bit of white fungus soup and tea dust could be tasted in the cafeteria, but that was only tried twice at the start of their job, and what relationship could those things have with sweet melons?
They were so busy every day at the clinic, feet barely touching the ground, working intensively as soon as they punched in, and when it was over, utterly exhausted, just wanting to rush back home.
The mountain scenery was something they glanced at during meals.
Alas! They had thought a rural clinic would be a leisurely job, never imagining they’d be just as busy as rotating among the various hospital departments.
Anyway, the boss was kind enough to choose team building during work hours.
As long as it’s not working during work hours, doing anything was enjoyable.
Even just strolling leisurely up the hill was pleasant.
The three of them exchanged glances, a mutual understanding was there.
They were pretty carefree, not having yet reached the mountain when suddenly hearing the roar of a vehicle behind them—
Oh, it was Secretary Xiaozu and the new President Chen, who was into rural design, on their electric scooter!
"How nice!" A doctor envied, "They have a vehicle when they arrive." They needed to plan to buy a second-hand one themselves, proving their skill was somewhat lacking!
Getting closer and hearing this admiration, Vice President Chen: "..."
He looked at the second-hand electric scooter he was riding, not knowing how to respond.
But Secretary Xiaozu took pride too—bringing a second-hand electric scooter to the cash-strapped countryside was something that took her a lot of effort to arrange.
How is that not skill?
Looking at Doctor Xiaoguo again, she wondered: "Don’t you guys like sweet melons? You’re going up the hill empty-handed."
A male and female nurse quickly took out plastic bags from their pockets: "We brought them!"
Secretary Xiaozu: ...
"I meant, after you pick, are you just going to carry them down the mountain like that? Aren’t you planning to pick a few more?"
There’s no limit, as long as you don’t waste, as long as you can eat, you could pick as many as 100.
The three employees were a bit taken aback: They weren’t exactly weak, carrying ten or eight sweet melons wasn’t a problem.
Tch, tch, tch.
Secretary Xiaozu slightly shook her head, deciding these new young people were just too shy to pick more.
But no matter, Vice President Chen had already rushed to describe a few rough sketches to her. Although the details weren’t finalized, Secretary Xiaozu was beyond delighted, now was truly the time to show sincerity!
"Let’s go, President Chen!" She sounded like they were about to charge and win a third-class merit:
"Let’s go pick the first batch of good ones!"
Vice President Chen felt a bit stifled; he thought his reputation and skill were solid, but how come in the village they were portrayed as insignificant?
However, those were the first batch of sweet melons.
He still hadn’t managed to get into Lao Song’s family’s inner circle.
So he kept a stern face, maintained a high-cold image, then twisted the handle—
"Buzz..."
The electric vehicle impatiently drove far away.
Doctor Xiaoguo was also slightly regretful: "Oh, I kept thinking I could pick whenever I wanted, forgot about you guys."
"No worries, if you do want to pick more, later on I’ll borrow a tricycle from the kitchen for you."
The employees hastily waved their hands: "No need, no need..."
Just as they were talking, a roar came from afar again.
This time it was an SUV.
Ning City’s license plate.
The employees suddenly felt anxious: Recently, anyone coming from outside was basically a patient, could it be another work issue during the team building?
But the vehicle drove straight along the road they were walking towards the mountain, slowing down as it approached, rolling down the window, revealing a dark face:
"Doctor Xiaoguo."
Doctor Xiaoguo was slightly surprised: "Wu Lei? You’re here for sweet melons too? Perfect timing, Song Tan asked you to deliver some ointment she made for her grandfather."
Wu Lei nodded: "Sure, I brought my friend over for some melons, he hasn’t tried them before."
You know, it was the ex-girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend who came during the Laba pig-killing feast, twisted relations jumbled countless times in Lao Song’s family affairs.
Their unanimous belief:
Wu Lei, a fool with dumb luck!
And the driver turned to greet her too:
"Doctor Xiaoguo, I’m staying with Wu Lei for a few days, tomorrow could you check my pulse for a favor—by the way, want to ride with us?"
He also repeated to Wu Lei:
"I’ve had watermelon before. You forgot, the first time we met..."
Oh dear, thinking about that time, Wu Lei squatting on the ground, bawling and struggling to hug a watermelon, though dark too, didn’t seem as dark as now.
Thinking about it was quite amusing.
Wu Lei obviously remembered it too, now he sat back quietly, hearing outside Doctor Xiaoguo insist it wasn’t far and not needing a ride, prompting Zhang Chen to press the gas, he suddenly murmured:
"I’m really nice."
"?"
"You even called me a male ’third wheel,’ yet I’m still friends with you."
"...Damn you, Wu Lei, then you are quite magnanimous, but go to your green senior..."
"How can you swear? My cousin said if she heard swearing she’d hit me..."
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