Qi Zheng and Chen Yonggui made an agreement, and they were in a good mood for a while.

Several people were talking and laughing, and when they passed through a forest area that was being mowed, Qi Zheng's smiling cheeks slowly sank.

I saw a group of old people dressed in coarse cloth clothes and wearing liberation shoes in the forest area ahead, many of whom were gray-haired old men, who were "clicking" pruning a one-person-tall jatropha tree.

Whether it is a fruit tree or a jatropha tree, pruning and leaf pruning is a must for better fruit production. In particular, saplings need to fork and cut off one branch, and multiple branches will grow again next to the retained half of the branch, which is also conducive to ventilation and insect control. Cut branches can also rot to be used as natural fertilizer.

The question is, when did Jiagu recruit such an old employee?

"What's going on?" Qi Zheng's tone was quite unkind, and he looked at Ma Dingwen, the head of the forestry business group, with a serious gaze.

Before Ma Dingwen could speak, Zhang Bofei, the manager of this forest area, also saw Qi Zheng and the others, and hurriedly trotted all the way over.

"Xiao Zhang, you can explain. Ma Dingwen saw that the initiator was coming, waved his hand and ordered.

Zhang Bofei didn't expect the big boss to sneak here, sweating for a while, and explained: "Dong Qi, Mr. Ma, these old people are all residents in the neighborhood and volunteered to come to help manage the forest area. ”

"Voluntary, meaning they're not even temporary employees of the base?" Qi Zheng's tone couldn't tell whether it was good or bad.

Zhang Bofei was very nervous, before he was thinking about seeing the big boss, should he behave neither humble nor arrogant, or should he enthusiastically express his admiration for the boss?

He couldn't tell whether what he was doing was right or wrong, hesitated for a long time, and said honestly: "The children of these old people are basically regular employees of the energy forest base. They were uncomfortable at home, and they came over again and again to help, and we agreed......"

Qi Zheng's face was expressionless: "How many such old people are there in the energy forest base?"

Zhang Bofei whispered: "Two or three hundred." ”

"So many?" Qi Zheng turned his head in surprise. At a glance, there were dozens of people working in front of him, and he thought it was too much.

Zhang Bofei was so anxious that he scratched his ears and cheeks, and hurriedly said: "They are too positive, we can't stop them, and besides, their movements are quite sharp......

Qi Zheng almost laughed angrily, is this a matter of whether the action is quick or not? To put it mildly, this group of old people is safe and sound, if something happens in the base, who is responsible?

But he didn't say a word, and walked over on his own.

I should have explained everything honestly, but I didn't get a response, Zhang Bofei was dumbfounded all of a sudden, and thought: Dead or alive, you give me a good time.

Catching up and asking, Zhang Bofei didn't dare, so he could only ask Ma Dingwen next to him in a low voice: "BOSS, is this recognition or disapproval?"

Ma Dingwen couldn't judge it, but he didn't want to show his timidity, and said in a chattering voice: "What do you think?"

"Is that angry?"

"It's hard to say. Ma Dingwen patted him on the shoulder and said, "Shall we go over first?"

Afraid that he would continue to ask, Ma Dingwen chased after him in three steps and two steps, followed by Chen Yonggui, who was in the fun.

Qi Zheng went straight to an old man with gray hair.

The old man, who had a dark face and calluses on his hands, dressed as a peasant, used pruning pliers to neatly cut off the clusters of branches before turning his head to look at Qi Zheng.

Qi Zheng asked gently, "Old man, how old are you this year?"

"Exactly sixty years old. ”

At the age of sixty, Qi Zheng cautiously asked, "Are you here to be a worker?"

"Hahaha, I used to be a miner, but I'm retired, and now, well, how do I put it...... Voluntary labor, yes, we are all voluntary labor. The old man said with a smile, and at the same time looked at Ma Dingwen, Zhang Bofei and others who followed behind.

"No pay?"

"Hey, let's not get paid. Besides, we are not working in vain, the base gives us a charter fare, and also helps everyone with a physical examination, we are very satisfied. The old man said angrily.

"Why are you willing to come without money...... What about voluntary labor?" Qi Zheng was indeed curious.

Jiagu has low-paid interns, and Qi Zheng knows it. But sixty-year-old retirees, not to mention teasing their grandchildren at home, even if they want to subsidize their families, they should not come to help Jiagu "do day jobs", after all, with their age, no matter how many day jobs they do, it is impossible to be hired.

The old man glared: "We're not so careful." This leader, you don't know, we have been digging mines for decades, and we have been injured by pneumoconiosis, arthritis and other diseases, and it is even more uncomfortable after being idle. Originally, I just wanted to move my muscles and bones, but I didn't think that after working in the forest area for a while, my life was full, my mood was broadened, my body became relaxed, and I had hope for my life. Really, we're not lying, you see so many of us, a lot of us are getting older, and our bodies have gotten better through voluntary labor......"

Everyone was silent, looking at your energetic appearance, no one dared to disbelieve it.

Qi Zheng's heart moved, and he guessed something.

It is not false to say that proper labor is good for health, but if you want to say that helping to prune and prune leaves will prolong life, what do you tease me?

What really works should be the Spirit Array, and only the Spirit Array.

"Green Bamboo Lark Array" - In order to make the energy forest project start, Qi Zheng provided a thick golden finger to the energy forest base in Jin Province. This is one of the reasons why the energy forest base has exceeded expectations.

Thinking about the characteristics of the super jatropha tree "feeding on coal", the spirit array is estimated to have a lot of moisturizing effect on the old workers who have been with coal for most of their lives, and the more sick the elderly, the more obvious the moisturizing effect on the body.

Of course, the elderly who feel that their bodies have become lighter will only feel that their lives are fuller, their mood is brighter, and they are less sick.

Qi Zheng guessed the reason, but he couldn't explain it, so he had to say gently: "Even so, at your age, it's not easy to climb over the mountains and mountains, climb up and down......"

"Easy? Who can be easy in this world?" said the gray-haired old man, pointing to a middle-aged employee next to him and said: "He Xiao Zhao, originally a second-generation miner, has a 70-year-old father who has worked in the coal mine all his life, and two years ago uremia made the old man unable to walk on the ground, relying on dialysis three times a week to maintain. And the children who are in the third year of junior high school are also at the critical juncture of going to school. Dialysis costs 3,000 yuan a month, and the child's various tutoring classes are ...... Is it easy for him to put on the pressure of providing for his family?"

"There is also Xiao Du, who used to be a coal driver, and he is also burdened with old and small families...... His son, who is in high school, and his elderly mother, both need his care. Is it easy for him?"

Qi Zheng and a few others found that they were already surrounded by old "volunteers" and strong regular workers.

"In the past two years, the general environment of the coal industry has deteriorated, like Xiao Zhao and Xiaodu, they are the first batch of laid-off miners, if there is no job provided by the forest area, it is suddenly no livelihood. ”

"Those of us who have children in the family are all working in the forest area, and we all hope that the forest area will continue to do better for a long time. We still have the strength, and we also hope to do our best for the children in the family, until we can't move. Leader, don't blame my kid for making his own decisions, he can't resist us. The old man raised his head towards Zhang Bo.

Qi Zheng glanced at Zhang Bofei, whose face was flushed, and was surprised that his old father was also among them.

"Here, you employees have said a word, I think it's very right - this is the 'green bank'! We have left the former 'golden rice bowl', and now we will build a new 'golden rice bowl', and we are naturally motivated, everyone is right?"

"Yes!" the roar resounded through the woods, startling a flock of birds.

The regular workers were flushed with excitement as if they had been beaten with blood, and the elderly "volunteers" also recalled the glorious past, and their necks were raised higher than those of young people.

The old man was proud and said with a smile: "Look, this is the voice of the masses." Instead of worrying about us old guys, you should have a variety of energy trees, so that more families have a livelihood, better than anything else. ”

"You're right. Qi Zheng nodded honestly.

Qi Zheng knows that since 2012, the coal industry has been struggling, and so far, it is early to get out of the "sea of bitterness".

Coal prices are falling, the state has taken the initiative to reduce production and strictly control new production capacity, which also means that coal miners will leave the former "golden rice bowl", or calmly face the transfer and diversion, or take the initiative to find a new way out.

The coal industry is the pillar industry of Jin Province, and if coal is not good, all industries will wither. It is not only coal miners who have lost their livelihoods, but also people from all walks of life who depend on the upstream and downstream of the coal industry chain for survival.

Now, many coal companies or coal miners are still holding on. As a coal miner, who once lived a well-off life because of coal, although wages have been declining, there is still a glimmer of hope that the coal industry will be able to get out of its predicament in a short time.

But hundreds of thousands of coal workers, and even millions of unemployed people in the industry, are destined to face cruelty.

Most of the workers in the energy forest base in Jin Province have been transformed from mines to plant trees.

They are lucky and happy.

Planting trees at the base of the energy forest is a completely different feeling from underground operations - this is from a dark, humid world, full of loneliness and fear, to a warm, bright new space, the beginning of a new journey!

Their eyes lit up.

Whether it was Ma Dingwen, who planned and implemented the construction of energy forests, or Chen Yonggui, who joined in the fun, they were shocked by this shocking scene.

For the first time, they looked at Jiagu's energy forestry business not from the perspective of interests, but from the perspective of people's hearts.

Qi Zheng has seen a similar ray of hope on the faces of thousands of other members of the Jiagu Cooperative, but every time, he is still moved.

What is our business? What is the business of Jiagu?

Perhaps, it is to give the people in the whirlpool a new choice.

If he was a little unserious about the energy forest plan of Jin Province before, now, the weight of the voice of the masses fell on his heart, like a hammer, crushing his last bit of disapproval.

......