Chapter 306

Xu Chengjun returned home with reed fuzz all over his body, leading the horse cart.

When the horses in the team's horse corral were divided by drawing lots, he didn't get one, but one family got one and didn't have money, so he bought the horse along with the cart.

Actually, with Xu Chengjun's family background, buying the tractor in the team wouldn't be a problem, but he couldn't buy it. For one, he didn't know how to drive it, and for another, it was too flashy.

Wang Tiancheng from the township came over this time to handle these reed bundles, and he was full of unwillingness—because Wang Tiancheng didn't give this job to the team, or rather, didn't distribute money to the team, but just gave him fifty yuan personally, asking him to help shout and call for people.

Section Chief Li Xiangqian of the supply and marketing cooperative also called him to find Li Long, but Li Long was in the mountains, so how could he be found so easily? At the time, things were urgent, and going directly into the mountains to find him was too late, so this matter could only be handled by Wang Tiancheng.

The job belonged to someone else, and Xu Chengjun had no choice. But he couldn't block the way for people in the team to earn money, so he followed Wang Tiancheng's wishes, called the group leaders of each village group, and let Wang Tiancheng take Hu Lao Er to explain the matter.

Ten cents for a reed bundle isn't actually a low price; it was about this price in previous years.

But based on the experience of cooperating with Li Long these two times, Xu Chengjun knew that this Wang Tiancheng must have earned a lot of money from it.

But there was no way; the job belonged to someone else, and not doing it wouldn't work either.

Xu Chengjun also needed to earn money. Today he also cut reeds for a day, cutting forty or fifty bundles. One bundle had twenty or thirty reeds that could be used to tie reed bundles, and the rest were some hairy reeds.

Cutting the reeds down, bundling them, and then transporting them back to pull off the reed leaves all required a lot of labor.

There were relatively few people in the team itself, and now most of them were participating, all for the sake of earning that ten cents per bundle.

Pulling reeds is usually done by women and children. They sit on the ground, put a bundle of newly cut reeds on the left with the reed fuzz end facing them, untie the reed waist tie, pull over a reed, pull the reed fuzz end forward with the right hand, and smooth the reed leaves off with the left hand along the reed stalk, leaving a bare stalk. This can then be taken directly to the press to be pressed into a bundle.

The press is like a large walnut cracker, only as big as a guillotine, with a hollow middle and a fixed platform underneath. Place ten reeds in the middle position, press the upper handle, and the ten reeds will be pressed tight, then just wrap them with thin iron wire. A reed bundle usually needs to be wrapped in three places with thin iron wire, so the consumption of thin iron wire is also quite high.

After these reed bundles are transported away, their main function is to build houses. When building civilian houses at this time, a layer of reed bundles needs to be laid on top of the wood for rafters and purlins. The reed bundles are laid very densely, and a layer of house mud is applied on top, which neither leaks rain nor maintains ventilation.

Xu Chengjun was cutting reeds outside, and Ma Hongmei was pulling reeds and pressing reed bundles at home. After a day, the family could produce fifty or sixty—Ma Hongmei also had to cook, and she wasn't very nimble at work.

So now there are many reed bundles piled up outside the Xu family courtyard that haven't been untied yet.

Xu Chengjun knew his wife's ability and didn't say anything. He found a towel to pat the reed fuzz off his body and then went to wash his face.

"Li Long from the Li family is back." Ma Hongmei walked over and said while picking the reed fuzz off his head, "Tao Daqiang is asking house to house, asking those who didn't follow Hu Lao Er to work, whether they want to tie reed bundles for Li Long. Fifteen cents per reed bundle, should we..."

"Fifteen cents? That dog-son Wang Tiancheng is really black-hearted!" Xu Chengjun threw the towel into the washbasin with a "slap." "That Hu Lao Er is no good either, just uniting with outsiders to pit our own people!"

"Then should we send the tied reed bundles to the Old Horse Corral tomorrow? Tao Daqiang said Li Long pays cash on the spot, as long as it passes inspection, tie it and get paid!"

"That... no." Xu Chengjun thought for a while, shook his head and said, "We signed a contract with Hu Lao Er and the others. Although it's just a piece of paper, it says if we don't deliver the goods, we have to pay compensation. This guy made such a piece of paper, it's really disgusting!"

"Then let's work faster. It's just a few hundred reed bundles. Work hard for a few days, finish it, and then go work for Li Long. Fifteen cents, five cents more for one, five yuan more for a hundred... that's over ten yuan!"

Ma Hongmei was unwilling, but there was no way.

"This Li Long too, wouldn't it have been better to come back a few days earlier?"

"Exactly." Xu Chengjun also sighed. If Li Long had come back a few days earlier and handed this job to the team, the team could have distributed five cents... Sigh, this Li Long, I have to have a good talk with him!

Li Long returned to the Old Horse Corral, handed a few Codonopsis roots to Old Luo, and told him about people coming to live there, and also asked him to help cook. Of course, he would pay extra.

"What extra pay?" Old Luo's eyes widened. "Isn't this Codonopsis worth money? I take your things for free, and then ask you for more money, what would that make me? Isn't it just more people eating? I can cook big-pot rice too. I might not cook it well, but they can eat their fill! It's just the grain..."

"I'll bring back some corn flour and white flour tomorrow, and get some rice. We definitely can't just eat fine grain; so many big guys will eat us poor!" Li Long said with a smile. "Get some of everything and mix them."

"Good."

Li Long began to clean up the rooms. There were still some unsold Cynomorium piled up in one of the rooms, and Li Long also cleaned it up and put it in the storage room. This way, two rooms could be cleared out. Spread grass inside; if it's just for living, ten or so people won't be a problem. Anyway, it's just a shared bed. They aren't coming here to go to school, so they won't consider that much.

Twenty years later, middle school and college students went to the Corps to pick cotton for work-study programs, or cotton pickers from the interior came to pick cotton, and many lived in such large shared beds. Those with better conditions could have wooden beds, and those with worse ones just used wheat straw on the ground, with bedding directly on top, one meter apart, bed next to bed.

Basically, no one complained. After all, they got up early to eat and then work, ate in the fields at noon, and didn't return until dark. After eating, those with energy could stroll around nearby, and most just washed up and went to sleep. It's about the same now.

Li Long cleaned up the rooms and went to get some wheat straw to spread it well. The rest would be left to the young guys who might come over later. After all, once they come over, they can't go directly to work; cleaning up their own living space is also one of the tasks.

While he was still in the process of cleaning up, there were voices at the entrance of the Old Horse Corral.

It was already dark. When Li Long went to look, he found it was Tao Dayong, driving a donkey cart with a pile of reed bundles on it.

"Without Xiao Long, I heard from Daqiang that you are collecting reed bundles, fifteen cents each?"

"Yes." Li Long thought to himself, it wouldn't be delivered already, right?

"Then do you collect this cart of mine?"

"Yes." Li Long didn't have such strong moral cleanliness; he didn't care if these reed bundles were ordered by others. But ugly words must be said first. He said to Tao Dayong, "Dayong, my price is high and I pay cash, but I also have to make it clear: the quality must be guaranteed. Otherwise, I won't take them here."

"No problem. You see which ones are qualified, and I'll unload them for you. If they are unqualified, I'll take them away."

Li Long found a wooden ruler to measure the size first. Basically, they were all 2.5 meters, which was no problem.

Then he looked at the thickness of the reed bundle ends and whether there were thin hairy reeds. That kind would be considered unqualified quality.

!.

Most were thick reeds, which was not bad. Li Long pulled out four and put them back on the donkey cart, and kept the remaining twenty-six.

"Three yuan and ninety cents, keep it well." Li Long said. "Dayong, you sent these reed bundles over, then Hu Lao Er's side..."

"Without Xiao Long, you don't need to worry about that. You just wait to collect the reeds." Tao Dayong happily spat on his fingers, counted the money, and said to Li Long with a smile, "I'm leaving. Without Xiao Long, you are the best!"

He gave a thumbs up.

Tao Dayong led the donkey cart away humming a song. Old Luo walked over, shook his head, and said:

"I heard they all signed that paper with Hu Lao Er. If they really don't follow what's on the paper, I don't know..."

"Doesn't matter." Li Long shook his head. "Most are probably still afraid. But if the majority don't believe that piece of paper, Hu Lao Er probably won't be able to make a scene. This matter, it depends on how you say it."

At this time, the legal system was not yet sound. If Wang Tiancheng and Hu Lao Er really wanted to make a scene, it would depend on the specific situation.

Li Long didn't intend to participate in anything; he would just quietly collect reed bundles.

He admitted that he started a price war, which is normal. He earns a little less, lets the people in the team earn a little more, and can also suppress his opponents. Why not do it?

That night, not only did Tao Dayong come to deliver reed bundles, but seven other families also sent reed bundles. The last time was already past twelve o'clock when someone pulled the reed bundles over.

Li Long spent more than ten yuan that night, and more than one hundred reed bundles were piled up in the corral courtyard.

Worth it.

The next morning, when Li Long and Old Luo were eating breakfast, Tao Daqiang and Yang Yong came over. Although it wasn't hot all day now, there was no need to get up early like picking cotton to avoid the heat of the day.

But people who work still like to get up early so they can do more in a day. After all, in late autumn, the days are short and the nights are long.

"Come, come, come, pick up gloves here, pick up thin iron wire there." Li Long shouted. He distributed gloves, three pairs per family, mainly because gloves are needed for cutting and pulling reeds. Uncle Lao Luo was responsible for distributing thin iron wire, half a kilogram per family. Of course, it was estimated, after all, not much thin iron wire is used to tie reed bundles. One reed bundle uses less than one meter.

After these people picked up the things, they left quickly and went directly to the reed lake or reed ditch to cut reeds. This usually depends on where their own family is. In the Old Village on the west side, they go to the reed ditch; those in the East Village go to the reed lake; those in the New Village might go to the small Haizi, so they have to find shallow places to enter the water.

Li Long had to wait for the people Li Jianguo picked up to come, so he sat in command at the Old Horse Corral.

Li Jianguo's people hadn't come yet, but Xu Chengjun came over.

He came to complain to Li Long.

Of course, in Li Long's view, the complaint was fake, and building a relationship was real. (End of chapter)