Chapter 273
At five in the morning, the group of four was brutally dragged from their dreams by a piercing whistle.
"Get up! Assemble!"
Tang Mi shot up from her bed, her hair looking as if it had been struck by lightning. Before she could even fully open her eyes, her stomach began to rumble in protest.
"I... I'm going to starve to death..." she clung weakly to the edge of the bed, looking as though she might breathe her last at any second.
Zhou Shiyu curled up under her quilt. "Just five more minutes... just five minutes."
Si Lin and Hai Chang'an were not faring any better. The two of them had been dreaming about gnawing on chicken drumsticks all night, and now their stomachs were so empty you could hear an echo.
However, when they rushed to the cafeteria, they were greeted only by empty food trays and the cold, stern face of the person in charge, Lao Ma.
"Where's the breakfast?" Si Lin's voice cracked.
Lao Ma, a cigarette dangling from his lips, slowly blew a smoke ring. "You stole a car to run away last night, violating discipline, so your breakfast was docked. What, didn't Engineer Rong tell you?"
The four of them were speechless.
Rong Yu had certainly told them, but they thought she was just joking around.
They had barely eaten their lunch on the plane yesterday and even threw up. After arriving at the base, they couldn't stomach dinner, and now they had no breakfast. Were they being tortured?
Tang Mi clutched her stomach. "This is abuse! I'm going to sue you!"
Zhou Shiyu held onto her last shred of dignity and sneered, "Heh, I'd rather not eat this lousy breakfast anyway! It looks terrible at a glance!"
Si Lin stared at the meat buns in the bowls of the researchers at the next table, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed hard. "Indeed, it looks far too greasy."
Hai Chang'an's stomach growled again. He weakly supported himself against the table. "I'm actually... not that hungry either..."
Lao Ma crushed out his cigarette. "Get in the car with me, time to start work over there."
The four dragged their famished bodies and followed him to the base's nursery area. Rows of tender green saplings were neatly stacked on the sandy ground, with hill-like piles of nutrient soil and tools nearby.
Lao Ma said strictly, "Your morning task is for each person to move two hundred saplings to the designated area."
"What?" Tang Mi's eyes widened. "Why don't you just say two thousand, or twenty thousand! We're humans, not camels!"
Zhou Shiyu immediately raised her hand. "Besides, we are girls. The boys should do more of the physical labor."
Before Lao Ma could speak, Rong Yu's cold voice came from behind. "Don't you shout about gender equality and advocate for women's rights in your livestreams every day?"
Zhou Shiyu stiffened. She turned around to see Rong Yu standing not far away with her arms crossed. Dressed in a neat and crisp work uniform, she exuded an overwhelming aura.
She stammered, parting her lips, "How is that the same? This is physical labor, and girls naturally aren't good at physical labor."
"Moving a few saplings is considered physical labor?" Rong Yu chuckled. "When the female engineers on the research team carry equipment alone for miles and work back-to-back night shifts, why doesn't anyone say that it's physical labor and men should do it?"
Zhou Shiyu choked on her words. "I..."
Rong Yu's voice was light. "You're full of righteous indignation when demanding privileges, but you hide in the back when it comes to taking responsibility. Is this the gender equality you want?"
Zhou Shiyu's face flushed red, unable to squeeze out a single word.
Si Lin and Hai Chang'an stood to the side, wanting to chime in but not daring to. After all, they couldn't even save themselves, starving as they were.
Lao Ma said coldly, "If you don't finish, your lunch will be docked too."
The four of them were speechless.
Ruthless, truly too ruthless!
Half an hour later, with the desert sun beating down, the four of them swayed like zombies as they carried the saplings.
Tang Mi cursed with every step she took. "Why are such small saplings so heavy? There are so many people in the Tang family, why did it have to be me sent here to suffer? It's unfair, so unfair!"
Zhou Shiyu cried as she moved her load. "My face is going to get sunburned, how am I supposed to livestream in the future, boo hoo hoo..."
Hai Chang'an muttered, "Just carry them, hurry up and finish. I'm really starving to death."
Si Lin gritted his teeth. "Hang in there, we can't let Rong Yu look down on us."
Although Hai Chang'an and Si Lin were also raised pampered and spoiled, they worked out in their free time and often got into fights, so they naturally had more strength. By almost eleven-thirty, they finally huffed and puffed their way to completing the assigned task.
The two quickly found a shaded spot to lie down.
In the distance, Tang Mi and Zhou Shiyu were still struggling in the sand.
"Hahaha, look at them." Si Lin laughed loudly. "Aren't they usually so talkative? Now they can't even figure out how to carry a tree."
Hai Chang'an rubbed his sore shoulders. "So slow. At their pace, they can forget about having dinner too."
"It seems you are very satisfied with your own performance."
Rong Yu had just stepped out of the car and overheard this conversation.
Her face was expressionless as she walked over coldly. This demeanor made Hai Chang'an a little scared, and Si Lin didn't dare to laugh anymore.
"Do you know why they are slower than the two of you?" she asked coldly. "The saplings you two carried are all damaged to some extent. Either the roots are damaged, or the leaves have fallen off. This will reduce the survival rate of the saplings by at least twenty percent."
She pointed into the distance. "Take a good look at how Tang Mi and Zhou Shiyu are completing the task!"
The two followed her gaze.
Tang Mi held a few saplings, squatted down first, and then carefully set them down. The entire process was very slow.
Zhou Shiyu even picked up a watering can nearby and sprinkled water on the leaves before starting her next trip.
"They are taking their work seriously, which is why they are slow," Rong Yu sneered. "Rather than half-assing the job and then hiding in the shade to mock their companions."
"The four of you are a team." Rong Yu's voice wasn't loud, but every word struck the two men's hearts. "Here, there is no such thing as your task or my task. There is only our task."
Si Lin and Hai Chang'an stood stunned for a long moment.
Hai Chang'an was the first to recover. He strode over, snatched the three saplings from Tang Mi's arms, and hoisted them onto his own shoulder.
Tang Mi stared at him blankly. "W-what are you doing?"
"Teamwork." Hai Chang'an marched forward. "Don't just stand there looking dumb, hurry up and keep going."
Si Lin also walked over and said to Zhou Shiyu, "Don't you advocate for gender equality? I'll carry them, and you take charge of receiving them and spraying water to ensure the saplings' survival rate. Can you do that?"
Zhou Shiyu smiled. "Of course."
The shadows of the four gradually overlapped under the scorching sun. Their sweat mixed together, and sand covered everyone's pant legs, but no one complained anymore.
Rong Yu stood watching from a distance, the corners of her lips turning up imperceptibly.
When the last sapling was transported to the planting area, Lao Ma walked over to inspect it. He gave a rare nod. "Barely passable."
The four let out a massive sigh of relief, collapsing onto the ground in exhaustion.
"What are you still slumped there for!" Rong Yu honked the car horn. "If you dawdle any longer, there won't even be soup left in the cafeteria!"