By March 24, all the snow in the fields had melted. Even around Harimu and the others' winter camp, no snow remained. Only the distant mountains still wore white caps.
Zhao Shijie arrived at the Fourth Team to carry out the final phase of the project upgrades.
He had called Li Long before coming, so by the time he arrived, Li Long had already brought over an excavator and a loader from Meng Hai.
This time, Zhao Shijie came with trucks. He had brought two truckloads of main pipes and branch pipes for the drip irrigation system from Wucheng, along with another truckload of pumps and supporting equipment.
The pumps, equipment, and pipes were unloaded straight into the cooperative's big courtyard. Li Long had arranged for people to wait there in advance. After unloading, they ate lunch, and the truck drivers headed back. Zhao Shijie planned to stay a few days to finish the remaining work.
Li Long had wanted Zhao Shijie to rest for the afternoon and start tomorrow, but Zhao Shijie disagreed. He said,
"Once I finish your project, I have to hurry over to Qitai. There's another project there that needs supervising."
Since Zhao Shijie insisted, Li Long stopped trying to persuade him. After lunch together at Old Ma's Place, he took the workers and hauled the main pipes by tractor to the edge of the cooperative's fields.
Quite a few villagers gathered to watch. In particular, people from the other two cooperatives, such as Huang Xinping and Wang the Miser, stuck close to Zhao Shijie, watching how he directed the workers.
The ground had not fully warmed yet, so when the excavator dug into the headland, some places beneath the topsoil were still noticeably frozen hard.
Digging by hand might have been difficult, of course, but