Chapter 521: Preparations

When the wheat was about to be harvested, Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia, and then drove the tractor back to the big courtyard.

These few days, Li

Preparatory work is quite tedious. Before harvesting wheat by hand, one must sharpen sickles, beat reeds to make reed ties (reeds tied together to serve as rope for bundling wheat), ready the horse-drawn and donkey-drawn carts, and level the ridges at both ends of the wheat field as well as those in the middle—

When watering the wheat earlier, it was necessary to build up ridges in areas with steeper slopes to ensure that every part of the field could receive water.

Of course, clearing and leveling the threshing floor beforehand, and having each family clear out the space for stacking their wheat, are all things that need to be done.

Farmers are very devout when it comes to harvesting grain; there is not the slightest bit of sloppiness in these preparations.

Although Li Long has already bought a harvester and all of the Li family's wheat will be harvested by machine, Li Jianguo still took advantage of his free time to sharpen all three of the family's sickles. If the harvester's performance isn't ideal, they will still have to use manual labor to harvest.

What Li Long needs to do is work with Tao Daqiang to mount the harvester to the front of the tractor, secure it, and connect the belt. After this is done, the wooden frame for the cart bed must also be tied on.

Every year after the wheat is harvested, the work of hauling the wheat bundles is also a very exhausting task. At this time, one can often see donkey carts and horse carts piled high with wheat bundles on the roads leading from the village to the fields, pulling them toward the threshing floor.

Occasionally, a cart that hasn't been loaded properly will tip over on the side of the road. No matter who sees such a thing, they will feel terrible. Because one has to unload the wheat bundles one by one and then reload them—it can drive a person to despair.

The level of misery is similar to a web novel author being asked by an editor to revise every single chapter of a million-word novel.

Even driving the cart back to the field to reload it would be easier to bear than that.

The tractor bed isn't very large, and it can't carry many wheat bundles, but once the two-tiered wooden frame is added, the number of bundles it can haul increases significantly; one load can equal the capacity of three or four horse carts.

Moreover, because the built wooden frame is square, it is easier to place wheat bundles on it than on the long, narrow horse carts, so it is very popular with everyone—of course, this is the first year, and many people don't know about it yet. Once the hauling is finished, everyone will realize it then.

I imagine the desire for others to buy tractors will be much stronger by then.

The frame is tied with thick iron wire. Li Long checks them one by one, not letting the ends of the wire stick out, otherwise, they could easily scratch people.

"Brother Long, when do we start harvesting?" Tao Daqiang asked while using pliers to snip off an end of wire and then hammering it into the wood.

"Tomorrow," Li Long said. "Tomorrow we'll start with the wheat on our side of the East Ditch. Let's see how long it takes to finish those twenty mu—Daqiang, how many mu can you harvest in a day?"

"In a day? Maybe four or five mu?" Tao Daqiang thought for a moment and said, "It's not certain. If it's too hot, we can't harvest at noon, but we can harvest more in the early morning and evening."

Li Long nodded.

"Then how many mu can the harvester do in a day?" Tao Daqiang was also curious about this question.

"It can do over a hundred mu, I suppose." Li Long gave a casual number. Under normal circumstances, over a hundred mu is achievable.

"That many?" Tao Daqiang was stunned for a moment. "Then..."

He wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn't.

Li Long could guess what he wanted to say, but now was not the time. Even if Tao Daqiang bought a tractor now, it would be too late because there was no stock of harvesters.

Tomorrow, when they go to the field, the whole Li family will go, except for Mother Du Chunfang, who will stay home to prepare meals. Liang Yumei prepared a large bundle of reed ties.

She was a bit skeptical when she heard Li Long say that the twenty mu would definitely be finished in one morning, but the reed ties were fully prepared. If it really could be finished, then it would be bundled up in a day regardless.

According to the previous pace of wheat harvesting, twenty mu would take a family three to five days, including harvesting, bundling, and transport. After all, carrying wheat bundles is also a skilled and physically demanding job.

In the years before tractors, it was normal for wheat bundles to be left in the field for a few days after being tied. After all, the number of bundles each horse cart could carry daily was limited, and the speed was slow.

Not everyone could understand Li Long saying that the twenty mu would be finished in one day tomorrow; some things are better seen with one's own eyes.

They rested early that night, and everyone got up early the next day. Liang Yumei and Chen Li Rong first boiled a large pot of water, put brick tea broken into small pieces into a teapot, poured the boiling water over it, and set it on the courtyard wall to cool.

By the time they finished eating, the water was around fifty or sixty degrees. They poured it into a plastic basket and carried it to the field.

Today's breakfast was steamed buns, boiled eggs, eggs stir-fried with chili, pickles, and rice porridge. It looked quite sumptuous.

After all, they had to do physical labor and couldn't eat poorly.

Li Juan and Li Qiang finished eating and left early for school, and Li Xue Qin and Xueping also went to preschool. Li Long watched the four children leave, his mind filled with emotion once again.

In my previous life, I really was a piece of trash. Li Juan is only ten years old now. In my previous life, at this time on the weekend, Li Juan would follow Li Jianguo to the wheat field to carry bundles, while I ran off to help other people... It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call myself an animal.

Well, I don't know how I ended up with that kind of temperament in my previous life.

Damn it.

Eating the steamed bun in large bites, Li Long shook his head slightly. Forget it, I won't think about it. Living a second life, I'll just live according to this one. At least it counts as a prodigal son returning home.

After eating, the men prepared the tools, and the women quickly tidied up the kitchen, put on headscarves and jackets, and then all climbed onto the tractor.

Wooden forks, iron forks, sickles, reed ties, a tea basket, and a bag of steamed buns—in case anyone got hungry in between and needed a bite.

It was very hot, but everyone was dressed quite thoroughly. There was no help for it; the wheat awns were too sharp. Whether harvested by machine or by hand, the final bundling of the wheat still had to be done manually.

When those wheat awns brushed against the back of the hands, arms, feet, and any exposed skin, they would inevitably leave red welts.

Summer is hot, and when sweat touched those red welts, it burned with pain. After all, those wheat awns have tiny serrations, like little saws. The red welts they cut are actually wounds of varying depths, and sweat contains salt. Just imagine the feeling of washing a wound with salt water...

"Is everyone seated?" Li Long cranked the tractor and asked toward the cart bed.

"Ready." Li Jianguo didn't hitch the horse cart today; he sat in front of the cart bed and said, "Let's go."

Du Chunfang stood at the doorway, bending over and smiling as she watched. The harvest season, though tiring, signifies that after a whole year, there is finally a time for reward.

Li Long got on the tractor, stepped on the gas, shifted gears, and then, with a "putt-putt-putt" and a puff of black smoke, drove out of the courtyard.

Actually, he didn't want to use such a high throttle, but his family liked it, saying that's what makes it an "Iron Ox"—it has to have a loud sound to have presence.

Fine, it's nothing more than a bit more power under the foot; it's no big deal.

The tractor left the house heading north, reached the main road, and then headed east all the way, "putt-putt-putting" toward the wheat fields.

Some people followed on bicycles, some walked briskly, and others had already gone ahead. Most of the men wore straw hats, and the women basically all wore headscarves to resist the intense stimulation of the sun.

Walking takes half an hour, a horse cart takes twenty minutes, but the tractor reached the edge of the field in just ten minutes.

To Li Long's surprise, seven or eight people were already waiting at the edge of the field.

In the past two days, Li Jianguo and Li Qing Xia had already come over to clear the grass at the edge of the field, clearing out an open space where the tractor was now parked.

Among those people were Xie Yun Dong, Jia Weidong, and Tao Daqiang, who had ridden over on his bike. To Li Long's surprise, the team leader, Xu Chengjun, was also there. "Why are you all waiting here? Watching the fun?" Li Long didn't turn off the engine; he got off the tractor and joked.

"What watching the fun? We just want to see how your harvester does. If it harvests well, my wheat field will be handed over to you," Xu Chengjun said frankly. "If it doesn't harvest well, you'll have to hurry up and send the tractor back to the factory for adjustments."

"That's for sure," Li Long smiled. "Daqiang, come over and help me unload the cart bed."

Naturally, one can't drive with the cart bed attached while harvesting. Tao Daqiang came over to help Li Long remove the cart bed with the frame.

"With this frame added, one load can carry quite a bit, right?" Xu Chengjun came over, patted the wooden frame, and asked.

"For the wheat on these twenty mu, maybe three or four loads?" Li Long said casually.

"Whoa, that's really a lot!" Xu Chengjun praised offhandedly.

It's a tractor, an "Iron Ox" after all; it should be able to pull a lot. Of course, this frame is good; when he buys a tractor in the future, he'll have to make one too.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yumei took the reed ties off the cart bed. There was standing water in the nearby canal, so they used it to soak the reeds. When they bundled later, it would be sturdier and less likely to break.

There were three sickles; Li Jianguo, Liang Yumei, and Chen Li Rong each took one. Li Qing Xia held the wooden fork, preparing to toss the bundled wheat together to make loading easier later.

Without further ado, Li Long went to the front of the tractor, pulled out the pole on the left side of the harvester and set it aside, then got on the tractor and drove to the far left of the plot.

!.

There were ridges in the middle of the plot to serve as markers, separating one family's land from another. Wheat was also planted nearby, with similar seeds and management models, so the growth was about the same.

After calibrating the tractor, Li Long slowed down and drove toward the leftmost row of wheat.

He was silently calculating in his heart: this strip of land is about four hundred and fifty meters long, and the harvester's width is one point five meters, so one pass is just about one mu of land. Harvesting wheat has to be done in circles; after harvesting this side, you have to drive to the far west of the plot after reaching the south end before harvesting the row on the west side. You can't just harvest right here on the edge, or the wheat won't be able to fall over.

The harvester had been idling for a long time, and at the moment it touched the wheat, Li Long's mood was also tense.

The sound suddenly became substantial. Li Long tried his best to keep his back straight, eyes looking forward, watching as the harvester cut the wheat and sent it from right to left to be laid down on the far left, then continued to harvest without stopping.

On the left side of the tractor, a row of wheat lay neatly on the ridge. Li Long's heart settled, and he slightly increased his speed, moving forward all the way.

Very good.

Very good indeed!

Very smooth!

No wheat was jammed, it was cut very neatly, and it fell to the left very neatly. There were no cases of it not being placed correctly, and the tractor didn't run over the wheat. This harvester was a great success!

The people watching from behind also had their mouths wide open.

If such a row of wheat were harvested by hand, it would take at least two or three hours to finish, right?

It's nothing like this now; the tractor moves forward, and the wheat just falls to one side. It feels truly magical!

And it falls neatly, just waiting there as if asking to be bundled.

"Hey, that's really good!" Not until the tractor had driven thirty or forty meters did Xu Chengjun exclaim, "How satisfying is this wheat harvesting? Why would anyone harvest by hand in the future? Harvesting for half a day isn't as good as the tractor driving for five minutes..."

Everyone nodded one after another. At this speed, Li Long finished this mu in five minutes. The rest is just bundling—isn't that much simpler than harvesting?

Li Jianguo had already picked up the reed ties and the sickle, striding toward the harvested wheat. A smile he couldn't suppress was on his lips.

Li Long had described it well when the harvester was brought back.

But except for him, no one had ever seen it. It wasn't that everyone didn't believe Li Long, but things one hasn't seen with one's own eyes still require a process of acceptance.

Alright, now they believe it.

How exciting it is to harvest wheat with this thing!

Li Jianguo placed the reed tie on the ground and spread it flat, reached forward with the sickle, hooked it back, and with his left hand, scooped it up. A bundle of wheat was gathered, placed on the reed tie, the sickle set aside, the two ends of the reed tie taken, tightened, and crossed. He stepped on it with his foot to press the bundle firm, pulled hard, wrapped it, and tucked it in. A bundle of wheat was tied.

The second bundle, the third bundle.

An old farmer has a good eye; each bundle was about the same weight, and he quickly bundled his way to the front.

"Alright, alright, no need to watch anymore." Seeing that Li Long's tractor had already reached the end of the field and turned to the west row to continue harvesting, Xu Chengjun shouted:

"I've made it clear to you all: tomorrow we harvest our family's wheat. Line up well. As for who is third and who is fourth, discuss it among yourselves. Did Xiao Long say how much it costs to harvest one mu?"

"Two yuan," Tao Daqiang said.

"Two yuan... Alright, saving a few days of time, not bad." Xu Chengjun felt the price was quite good. "You guys discuss it; I'm going back to prepare. Brother Li, my family is second, tell Xiao Long!"

"Will do!" Li Jianguo straightened up and replied.

"I'm third." Tao Daqiang also knew to fight for a good spot for his family. Next were Lu Yingming, Xie Yun Dong, Jia Weidong, and others.

Actually, they didn't care much about the order. With only these few families, if they really followed Li Long's speed, they could finish everything in a day. After all, it only needs harvesting, not hauling, so it doesn't make much difference who is first or last.

Besides, they were the first to stand up and support Li Long, so they couldn't appear too utilitarian at this time.

When Li Long drove the tractor over after finishing the west row, the people waiting there had already dispersed, leaving only Tao Daqiang, who then told Li Long the order for harvesting.

"As long as you've discussed it, it's fine. We still have to bundle after finishing this morning. If we really follow this order, we can go over and harvest later; anyway, we can only haul the bundles in the afternoon."

Tao Daqiang thought for a moment and said:

"Then why don't you finish your family's wheat here and then go harvest ours? Anyway, our land is not far from here; we can just harvest it directly without running around."

Li Long thought that made sense, so he drove the tractor to continue harvesting. By this time, Liang Yumei had already taken a sickle and started bundling wheat where it had been harvested on the west side, while Chen Li Rong waited on the east side, starting to bundle as soon as Li Long opened up the field.

Tao Daqiang rode his bicycle quickly back to the team. He had to tell his father to hitch the horse cart and come over to prepare for bundling wheat. Once the wheat is harvested, it's best to bundle it as soon as possible; as for hauling it away after bundling, there's no need to be in such a hurry. In this day and age, wheat bundles basically don't get lost, and people wouldn't go stealing others' wheat for one or two bundles.

Li Long's tractor moved very fast. In less than two hours after finishing the twenty mu here, Tao Daqiang had already arrived at the edge of the field on his bicycle, and Tao Jian She had also arrived with the horse cart, currently clearing the ridges at the edge and inside the field.

The Tao family's land was on the east side, less than a hundred meters from the Li family's land. Li Long drove the tractor over, watched Tao Jian She and Tao Daqiang leveling the ridges in the field from east to west, and then started harvesting with the tractor.

Li Long still drove the tractor "putt-putt-putting" from the far east. His speed was very fast. When he passed Tao Jian She's side, Tao Jian She came out from the edge of the field, stood on the ridge, and looked north.

Watching the neatly harvested wheat, Tao Jian She sighed and said:

"This harvests so fast and so well, who will ever use a sickle to harvest in the future?"

"That's hard to say," Tao Daqiang said while leveling the ridge. "It's two yuan per mu. Twenty mu for one family is forty yuan. Although Brother Long said we can pay after selling the wheat, some people will definitely be reluctant."

"That's true, forty yuan isn't something you can just pull out all at once," Tao Jian She knew the bitterness of having no money.

"But think about it, the money for ten-plus kilograms of wheat per mu saves the hardship of harvesting. Those who think it's worth it will let the machine harvest, and those who don't think it's worth it naturally won't. Actually, if you calculate it, it's just over one cent per kilogram of wheat..." (At this time, the yield per mu of wheat is over a hundred kilograms, and over two hundred kilograms for good land).

To each their own. The Tao family has three people's land and two laborers; Yang Pingping is pregnant and can't do heavy work. Now that Tao Daqiang can earn the cost of this machine harvest in a day or more by catching and selling fish, he is definitely willing to pay it.

By the time Li Long finished harvesting the Tao family's wheat, it was already lunchtime. Li Jianguo and the others hadn't finished bundling the wheat yet, but calculating it, they would be mostly done by the afternoon.

Mounting the cart bed, everyone got on, and Li Long drove back. Today was the first day, and now people in the village already knew about the harvester on a small scale. I imagine that by the afternoon or evening, people will come to find him to line up for wheat harvesting.

Li Long is very confident about this. Not to mention other villages, in his own village, he thinks at least half of the wheat field owners will let the harvester harvest, and others who are wavering may also change their minds after seeing the real results.

The days of making money have arrived. (End of chapter)