Chapter 307

"Without Xiao Long, you look really relaxed, doing nothing, just squatting at the horse station, and people just bring things to you. This is all money," Xu Chengjun said sincerely.

"That's also quite difficult," Li Long said while stacking the reed bundles. "My task is ten thousand, and relying on this piecemeal work is far from enough. I still have to find people to do it properly, otherwise, I won't be able to hand in the task on time."

"I think you can definitely hand it in. You can offer a price of fifteen cents per reed bundle, so most people in the team want to work with you. You just happened to go into the mountains during those most critical days..."

"I didn't want to either. In the past, reed harvesting was half a month later. Who knew it would be early this year?" Li Long also smiled bitterly. "If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have gone into the mountains. I could have taken on those twenty thousand reed bundles."

He already knew that Wang Tiancheng's cousin-in-law was a deputy director of the county supply and marketing cooperative, so this job was originally Li Long's, but Li Long was not there, and the other party guaranteed that the task could be completed, so naturally, they had to share a portion.

Li Long could get the remaining work partly because of Li Xiangqian's efforts and partly because of his credit guarantee for completing the task earlier. In fact, there was another very important aspect: the commendation notice sent by the special investigation team to the supply and marketing cooperative for the Shicheng major case.

To protect Li Long's information, the notice was only shown to a few people in charge. This was a great honor for the supply and marketing cooperative. Precisely because of this, the leaders felt proud, so when Li Xiangqian said he would leave some work for Li Long, the leaders agreed.

So, based on this face, if Li Long could have come back a few days earlier, he could really have taken on all the work.

It can only be said that the luck slot was not full enough, there was no way.

"Most of the people in the team are harvesting reeds for that person surnamed Wang, and you here..." Xu Chengjun was a little worried.

"My brother will find some people from other places to fill in first." Li Long did not mention that if this task was completed well, there would be subsequent work. He said: "Anyway, for strong labor, as long as they are not afraid of hardship, there must be many people who want to come for the money-making work."

"That's the truth. You offer such high wages, even I want to come." Xu Chengjun waved his hand. "Enough said, I'll go harvest reeds first. I must finish the task on Hu Lao Er's side quickly. If you haven't finished here, I'll come over to harvest reeds for you."

"Okay."

Li Long also saw that the more honest families basically followed the rules. Since they had signed papers with Hu Lao Er earlier, they honestly harvested reeds for that side first.

On the contrary, those who were usually more cunning and only cared about making money secretly sent the harvested reed bundles to his side, getting the money first.

Li Long didn't care about that much. He had to wait for Li Jianguo to bring people over, arrange them, and then go to the county to buy grain and other things.

After all, if ten or so people really came, the daily grain consumption would be quite a lot. Although the radishes, Chinese cabbage, and potatoes harvested in the autumn in the big courtyard of Uncle Lao Luo were definitely enough, the main thing was the staple food.

By the time it was almost noon, Li Long's steamed buns were already done, and the big pot of potato slices was ready to be stir-fried. Voices and a burst of footsteps came from outside.

They were here.

Uncle Lao Luo was stir-frying vegetables, and Li Long went out to greet them. Then he saw about ten people walking over with bedding on their backs. Li Jianguo was pushing a bicycle in the middle, talking to a man in his forties as they walked:

"This is it. The living conditions are a bit poor, so just make do. Can you smell it? The meal should be almost ready. You can eat as soon as you arrive, and you can work in the afternoon. This work is paid by the piece. It's best for your three families to combine together. In the end, we'll calculate the money based on how many reed bundles are pressed. How about it?"

"Okay, okay." The man had no objections at all. "Old Li, let me tell you, since you provide food and housing, don't talk about fifteen cents, ten cents is fine. We are all fellow villagers. You treat us well, and we are not obsessed with money. The people I brought are all strong laborers, and the daily food cost is not low. We have calculated it, so let's settle it like this, ten cents per reed bundle..."

"The price is another matter, but the quality must be guaranteed, otherwise, if my brother doesn't accept it, you can't argue..."

"You can rest assured about this! We work with a conscience! You set the standard, and if what we make doesn't meet the standard, we'll dismantle it for firewood!"

While talking, they had already arrived at the entrance of the old horse station. What surprised Li Long was that there were three women among them. A middle-aged woman of thirty-four, a woman of twenty-seven or twenty-eight, and a girl of about twenty.

This made living arrangements a bit troublesome.

"Come, come, Old Han, let me tell you, this is my younger brother, Li Long. The job I told you about was brought by him from the supply and marketing cooperative, and he is the one who pays when the goods are delivered in the evening..."

"Your brother is really young. What do you call this? Young... has. Has... promise, yes, that's the word!" Old Han said with a smile.

"Hello, Brother Old Han." Li Long came over. "Welcome, welcome. Come in first, put your things down, and we'll eat right away."

"Yo, white flour steamed buns, this food... Old Li," Old Han looked at the steamed buns that had been revealed after the steamer was uncovered, and turned to Li Jianguo, "This meal is a bit too much, we feel a bit embarrassed."

"Don't worry about this, your task is to work. Whatever we eat, you eat." Li Jianguo felt proud that Li Long had prepared so well. "Since it's the first day, we must eat something good. There are plenty of steamed buns, and there is meat in the vegetables, otherwise, where would you get the energy to work?

Of course, if you have to eat corn cakes and drink corn porridge later, you have to accept it. Whatever Without Xiao Long and the others eat here, you eat too. Is that a problem?"

"What problem could there be? With this food, if anyone among us is lazy, I'll be the first one to disagree!"

The three families, the middle-aged men and young men put their bedding in the room next to Li Long's, and the women's room was in the innermost part. Although it was close to the deer pen, it was the safest here.

After the bedding was laid out, the middle-aged men and young men talked and laughed inside. The curiosity and anxiety when they first arrived were replaced by joy and happiness. For the first meal, they ate white flour steamed buns. The host would definitely not treat them badly.

After all, even at the reclamation area, how many times a year could one eat white flour steamed buns in this day and age?

There was a time when the quality of life in the reclamation area was not as good as in the local areas. After all, after the local areas implemented the household contract responsibility system, regardless of how much money they earned, at least the quality of food improved suddenly.

"Come, come, let's eat." Li Long shouted at the kitchen door. "The steamed buns are here, take them yourselves. There are three cages of steamed buns, take as much as you eat. One person comes out to serve the vegetables. Did you all bring your rice bowls? Don't serve too much at once, serve more after finishing. Also, there is vegetable soup in the pot, drink some after eating to smooth your throat. There is warm boiled water in the big teapot and the basin in the kitchen. When you work in the afternoon, those who have water bottles can fill them up..."

After Li Long explained things clearly, he was pulled aside by Li Jianguo.

"There are three families here this time, all related by blood or marriage. The one I was talking to just now is Old Han, the one I told you about before, who didn't know each other until we fought. That sister-in-law is his wife, who brought two sons. There is another family, a husband and wife with a girl, surnamed Zhang, who is also eighteen or nineteen. There is another family, a father with two sons, ten people in total."

"Okay, it's just right to calculate the numbers by family, so there's no need to argue about money."

Brother Old Han's name is Han Benzhong, his wife's name is Zheng Xiumei, and his two sons are named Han Da Chun and Daciao. These names are really down-to-earth. The one surnamed Zhang is Zhang Laoshi, in his thirties, who is Zheng Xiumei's cousin, his wife's name is He Ping, and his daughter's name is Zhang Min.

The other family's father is Zheng Songlin, and his two sons are Zheng Dagang and Zheng Xiaogang. This is Zheng Xiumei's relative, a cousin.

They are all related, life in their hometown was not good, so they ran to the northern border to make a living, and then settled in the reclamation area.

"Without Xiao Long, don't worry about the cooking later. Your sister-in-law and the two women will pull reeds and press reed bundles here, and they will cook by the way." Han Benzhong said to Li Long while eating steamed buns, "You prepared too well here, and made too much, we are embarrassed to take the money."

"Okay, okay," Li Long said with a smile, "I'll give you the gloves later. You need gloves for pulling reeds and harvesting reeds. The thin iron wire is in the courtyard, you can take it as you use it. There are two pliers for pressing reed bundles here, you can take turns using them, I'll see if I can find another one..."

"No need, no need, two are enough. Just take turns using them." Han Benzhong didn't want to trouble Li Long anymore. "We are all our own people, we won't fight, don't worry about the rest."

Li Long agreed with a smile.

Li Jianguo also ate here, because after the meal, he had to take Han Benzhong and others to the reed lake to indicate the location for reed harvesting. At the same time, it was also to remind other reed harvesters in the team that these people were brought by him, so don't let the team members bully the newcomers.

After Li Long finished his meal, he drove the horse cart, loaded the wood, and went to the county to buy grain. This time, he not only bought grain but also had the wood at home cut into wooden boards. It was fine for these people to live on the wheat straw floor for the time being. If there were reed bundle jobs later and they had to live for a long time, they would need wooden beds. After all, the ground would be cold and damp in early winter.

They also needed to buy two stoves to put in the house, otherwise, it would be too cold. It would be best to get a fire wall or something—we'll see then.

After Li Long left, Han Da Chun whispered to his father:

!.

"Dad, this... this... the food is really good... I didn't expect to eat so well... it's just this... this... this place is a bit broken, and we have to live... live... live on the ground."

He was a stutterer, and his speech became incoherent when he was excited.

"Alright, stop being picky." Han Benzhong slapped him. "White flour steamed buns can't even block your mouth!"

"That... that... Daciao ate three steamed buns... more... more... more than me." Han Da Chun was a bit dissatisfied. Why did his younger brother eat silently, and his father didn't care, but he got slapped just for saying one sentence.

"Your younger brother doesn't talk, you talk, isn't it bad for people to hear?" Han Benzhong was frustrated. "The host treats us well, so we should work hard! Don't be lazy when harvesting reeds later, or I'll beat you to death."

At this time, Han Benzhong no longer had the smiling face he had when talking to Li Jianguo and Li Long. These two brothers from the fellow village were honest people, so he couldn't lose face, he had to win face for the fellow villagers. Li Jianguo explained things clearly on the way. Because there was competition in the team, not many people took this job, so they looked for external aid.

According to Han Benzhong's calculation, a family of three or four could make a hundred reed bundles a day, and one was fifteen cents, that was ten or so yuan... Such a good thing, if it could fall to him, it was really a great blessing, how could he not try his best?

This was also the reason why the people he called were all relatives. He knew the relatives well, and if he, the leader, spoke well, the relatives could work hard. If it were someone else, if they didn't work hard and were lazy, he really wouldn't be able to manage them.

When Li Long pulled a pile of wooden boards, four big bags of grain, and two iron stoves from the county, the three women here were already pulling reeds in the courtyard of the old horse station. A lot of harvested reeds were piled up—Li Long guessed that they were all carried back by people.

This road was not close!

No way, there were few transportation tools in this day and age, not to mention horse carts and donkey carts, even handcarts were few, and human labor still accounted for a large part.

He hurriedly greeted people to unload the things, and then when Han Benzhong and the others brought the reeds over again, he handed the horse cart directly to them.

Li Jianguo and the others were also harvesting reeds together, but Liang Yuemei did not participate. Li Jianguo's side was like a friendly sponsorship, as for the money, Li Long would calculate it separately later.

Just by bringing these people, for an ordinary relationship, this intermediary could also extract a lot of money per head.

That evening, when those who sent reed bundles in the team came to see, the courtyard of the horse station was already bustling with activity.

On the first day, the reed bundles made by the three families led by the Old Han family were not many, after all, they had just started, about dozens.

And the people who came with Tao Daqiang and the others in the morning sent over more than two hundred reed bundles after a day.

After Li Long checked, he paid cash one by one.

Old Han and the others really didn't have a single unqualified one. And those in the team had a few unqualified ones, but those people didn't struggle, and happily took the unqualified ones back.

And there were more than a hundred reed bundles sent secretly in the end, among which there were more unqualified ones. Li Long didn't say anything, picked them out and let them take them back.

Nearly five hundred reed bundles were received that day, and the money Li Long paid was more than a hundred, mainly because there were grain and stoves.

This was all worth it.

Li Long was quite happy here, but Hu Lao Er's side was not very happy.

Since yesterday, the number of reed bundles he received had obviously decreased. Li Long came back, and the completion of the reed bundle task would definitely be affected. He was mentally prepared for this.

But he had inquired, Li Long didn't look for those who had signed with him, but looked for those who hadn't agreed to him, and also brought people from outside, which made him unable to use means.

People were doing it openly and honestly, and even if he was itching with hatred, there was nothing he could do.

But Li Long directly raised the price of a reed bundle to fifteen cents, which made him very angry.

Wasn't this forcing his own people to defect?

He, a lackey, couldn't make the decision, so he had to rush to the commune to find Wang Tiancheng.

In this matter, only Wang Tiancheng had a way to crack it—in Hu Lao Er's view, as long as Wang Tiancheng also raised the price, this matter would definitely be solved. (End of chapter)