Chapter 522: You have your stratagem, I have my ladder over the wall

After finishing lunch, Li Long drove the tractor back to the wheat fields in Donggou. Before he had even unhitched the trailer, Xu Chengjun had already chased after him on his bicycle.

"Xiao Long, I heard from Daqiang that you finished harvesting over there this morning and even did their family's field? Is it clear over here? Will it take a while to finish bundling the wheat? Come on, let's go harvest my fields. I was thinking of waiting until tomorrow, but if we can get it done today, that would be perfect. I've gathered the people, so let's go to my fields right now. Once it's harvested, I can bundle the wheat today."

"Alright." Li Long readily agreed.

"My family has thirty-five mu in total, two yuan per mu, right? I'll pay you once it's harvested." Xu Chengjun added, then rode his bike toward the west. His family's land wasn't in Donggou, but in another large stretch of strip fields; those fields were longer, though the yield wasn't as high as here.

Li Long unhitched the trailer. Li Jianguo and the others continued bundling wheat, while he drove the tractor head with the harvester attached, following Xu Chengjun toward their fields.

The winter wheat had been planted around the same time, so the wheat in the fields was already ripe, and some families had already started harvesting by hand. A field next to Xu Chengjun's belonged to Ma Jinbao, who was herding sheep while his wife and children harvested wheat.

The Xu family members that Xu Chengjun had called, including his wife Ma Hongmei, were waiting at the edge of the field. Bundles of reeds were laid out there, along with sickles and wooden forks. Aside from the people who went over to clear the stubble, the others didn't move.

Ma Jinbao's family didn't know that Xu Chengjun had hired Li Long to use a harvester. Seeing the Xu family sitting around idly, they whispered among themselves, saying the Xu family was lazy.

"Being lazy while working during the days of the communal pot is one thing, but being lazy now? Isn't that just asking for trouble from the heavens? If the wheat isn't harvested for a few days and we end up with wind and rain, and the wheat falls over, then we're in trouble—a whole year's work wasted!"

Not just now, but even thirty or forty years later, wheat lodging remained a major problem. If a heavy rainstorm with strong winds came through, the wheat could easily fall over before it had even turned yellow. If it was already yellow, a heavy rain lasting two days could cause the wheat to sprout right on the stalks.

Although such things were rare, it didn't mean they hadn't happened.

Ma Jinbao's family was considered quite marginalized in the village. Because of Ma Jinbao's character, the family's reputation in the village wasn't very good, so not many people interacted with them.

This was one of the few occasions where they could mock others.

Then they saw Xu Chengjun arrive, and the discussion at the edge of the field stopped immediately. They knew Xu Chengjun's temperament; to put it bluntly, sometimes in the eyes of most people in the team, Xu Chengjun had a streak of stubborn recklessness.

If you offended him, you could really be dealt with to the bitter end.

Then they saw Li Long driving the tractor, and the strange-looking machine in front of it.

There was no time for them to guess; after Li Long exchanged greetings with the others, he began the operation.

A row of wheat was cut neatly as the tractor chugged along. By the time they regained their senses, Li Long's tractor had already reached the center of the field and was chugging toward the edge.

Over here, the Xu family had already started bundling the wheat.

Ma Jinbao's family looked on, a bit stunned. So fast!

No wonder... earlier, when they were resting, there was naturally a reason for it.

They looked at the wheat they had harvested themselves—less than fifty meters in over half an hour—while the tractor over there had already started turning. In the five-hundred-meter-long strip field, one row was already finished, and it was already harvesting back down the other side.

The speed was truly fast!

"Should we also ask Li Long to harvest for us?" Ma Jinbao's son-in-law whispered to his son. "The sun is so scorching, and just now I got stung by a wasp. Look, my eye is already swollen..."

Wild wasps often built nests on wheat stalks. Although they weren't large, if you weren't careful while harvesting, you'd get stung, and it hurt a lot.

"I'll go ask." Ma Jinbao's son, Ma Chenyang, was also very envious and tempted. He carried his sickle and walked toward the edge of the field. When Li Long chugged past, he shouted loudly:

"Li Long, how much do you charge to harvest a mu of wheat?"

"Two yuan." Li Long didn't even stop, tossed out the two words, and drove away.

He had no intention of doing business with this family. Ma Jinbao didn't seem like the type who would pay. If he really agreed, the wheat would be harvested, and it would be troublesome if he couldn't get the money. Of course, if Li Long really used his methods, he could get the money, but he didn't live in the team's town, and his older brother was still in the team; he didn't want to make things too ugly.

Of course, if he really did harvest it and Ma Jinbao tried to welch on the payment, he had his own ways.

As soon as Ma Chenyang heard two yuan per mu, he immediately stopped talking.

The money in his family was all managed by his old man. Two yuan per mu meant sixty yuan for the thirty mu of wheat. Not to mention that his old man couldn't cough it up, even if he could, he probably wouldn't.

Dejected, he returned to the field and told his wife the price. His wife also stopped talking and buried her head in continuing to harvest wheat.

Harvesting thirty-five mu was a bit slower, but Li Long was much more proficient now than in the morning. It took nearly three hours to finish. Once finished, Xu Chengjun paid Li Long seventy yuan directly.

Li Long saw that the time was about right and drove the tractor chugging toward his own fields. Over there, Ma Chenyang watched the Xu family bundling wheat quickly and leisurely, then looked at his own seemingly endless wheat field, and his heart to have Li Long harvest the wheat became active again.

Li Long drove the tractor to his own fields and saw that quite a few wheat bundles had already been tied. His old man had picked up quite a few bundles and stacked them in piles of three or five. Now, the wheat field looked quite like a harvest.

He lifted the trailer, hooked it behind the tractor, and drove it up to the wheat bundles.

"Xiao Long, don't rush. I'll finish bundling here, then I'll get on the trailer to stack them, and you can pitch them from below." Li Jianguo shouted from afar.

"Big Brother, don't worry, I know how to stack." Li Long smiled, then signaled his old man to pitch the wheat bundles up.

It wasn't that he was showing off; he really did know how to stack.

Of course, he hadn't known how to stack wheat bundles before, but after all, having lived two lives, he had acquired this skill in his previous life, so he certainly knew how now.

Moreover, his technique in this regard was definitely better than his big brother's. After all, his big brother was okay at stacking wheat bundles on a horse cart, but with this tractor with a wooden frame added, no one in the whole team could stack better than Li Long.

Li Qing Xia came over to pitch wheat bundles onto the cart. The old man had self-awareness and knew that if this thing wasn't stacked well, it would be a huge problem if it tilted or fell over later.

Four bundles of wheat were placed directly into the trailer. Li Long stood on the side of the cart, receiving them one by one, then placing them in the appropriate positions.

By the time Li Jianguo hurried over, Li Long had already filled the first layer on the wooden frame.

Li Jianguo watched from below, then climbed onto the tractor's fender to take a look. Seeing that Li Long was stacking with great method, he felt slightly relieved.

Only slightly relieved, because stacking the wheat bundles higher was the real technical work. Previously, there was the wooden frame to constrain them, so as long as the bundles were placed in the right position and didn't shift, it was fine. But the higher it went, without the restriction of the wooden frame, the test of eye and hand strength became very strong.

Just like with a horse cart, often at this time, if the person stacking had laid a good foundation, then the subsequent layers would usually not shift.

But if the foundation wasn't laid well, a little bit of deviation at the bottom would lead to more and more deviation at the top, one side light and one side heavy, or one side more and one side less. Once there were enough layers on top, they would use a rope and a tightening stick to pull the rope tight, and then move forward.

Currently, the field roads were mainly dirt roads, and bumps were inevitable. If a horse cart or donkey cart hit a few bumps and the cart tilted a few times, a poorly stacked wheat frame could directly collapse.

Li Jianguo's worry was not superfluous; after all, one could see donkey carts or horse carts with wheat bundles collapsed on the side of the road several times every year.

Donkey carts and horse carts carried relatively less; this tractor frame carried much more. If it collapsed, a lot of wheat would be lost, and the people sitting on the cart could even get hurt.

He was a bit worried, but Li Long was already stacking up there, so he couldn't just call Li Long down. He pitched wheat bundles with Li Qing Xia, occasionally jumping onto the fender to look up.

Li Jianguo's expression slowly changed from grave to relaxed.

Not bad. Seeing Li Long stacking the wheat bundles in an orderly fashion, one pressing on another, not shifting in any direction, and just stacking them up according to the size of the frame—looking from the front, looking from the back, or standing on the fender, it was all square and had a bit of aesthetic appeal to it.

Li Jianguo felt relieved.

With Li Jianguo there, Li Long didn't need to get down from time to time to drive the tractor forward. When a pile of wheat bundles was loaded and they moved to the next pile, Li Jianguo would drive it over directly.

With a heavy load on top, Li Jianguo drove steadily, at a slow speed, about the same as walking. After all, the rope wasn't on yet, and with many layers of wheat on top, it was easy to shake it crooked.

Watching the wheat bundles on the cart frame getting higher and higher, and the wheat bundles in the field getting fewer and fewer, when they were about a third of the way through the field, Li Long shouted from above: "Big Brother, that's enough, let's load this much for today. The sun is about to set, let's finish tomorrow?"

"Alright." Li Jianguo made the final decision. "Let's finish loading this pile, and then we'll head back."

Li Long knew that a pile was about three to five wheat bundles. Being at the very top, he started to narrow the area for stacking the wheat bundles.

Li Jianguo didn't let Li Qing Xia pitch the last few bundles up. Now, the height of the wheat bundles plus the height of the tractor trailer was over four meters. Li Jianguo was afraid Li Qing Xia would strain his back when throwing them up. He stopped the tractor, picked up a wheat bundle with a wooden fork, turned his back to the tractor, and shouted:

"Hey!"

With a burst of strength in his arms, he pitched the wheat bundle up and swung it directly up. Li Long, who was prepared with a fork up there, quickly extended the fork and caught it when the wheat bundle was almost parallel to his waist.

"One more bundle!" Li Jianguo shouted from below, then swung it up. The two brothers cooperated, and the last five bundles were stacked up.

After Li Long finished stacking, Li Jianguo took a roll of rope from the tractor's seat, straightened it out, and threw it up.

Li Long caught the rope up there and threw it to the back. Li Jianguo tied the rope tight at the front of the trailer, then went to the back and used two sticks to tighten the rope.

Li Long stepped hard on it up there. The tighter the rope was tightened, the less likely the wheat bundles would fall off on the way back.

Those who know, know.

!.

At this time, Liang Yuemei and Chen Li Rong had already arrived at the tractor.

Looking up at the high "wheat stack," Liang Yuemei said: "We have to bring the horse cart tomorrow and ride the horse cart back directly. It's too troublesome to get up there—"

It was indeed troublesome; one needed to be at the back of the cart, step on the tightening stick of the rope, and climb to the top of the wheat stack while pulling the tightened rope.

The front of the tractor could seat two people, but it couldn't seat everyone.

"Alright, let's hitch the horse cart tomorrow morning." Li Jianguo felt that was indeed the case. The tractor could carry more, but it was troublesome to get up.

Li Jianguo didn't let Li Long come down. He drove the tractor, Liang Yuemei sat on the side, and Chen Li Rong and Li Qing Xia pulled the rope to climb to the top of the wheat stack.

The tractor chugged along, emitting black smoke, heading west.

By the time the tractor reached the threshing ground, only a red face of the sun remained, pressed against the horizon.

The threshing ground had already been tidied up long ago. The place the Li family occupied last year hadn't changed this year; a large patch of grass had been cleared there. Li Jianguo parked the tractor on the side and prepared to unload the wheat bundles.

Untying the rope knot, loosening it circle by circle, after the force was released, he pulled out the tightening stick and threw the rope up. At this time, Li Qing Xia and Chen Li Rong had already come down. Li Long caught the rope, threw it down from the front of the cart, and shouted to those below:

"I'm unloading!"

Li Jianguo responded from below, and Li Long started pitching the wheat bundles down.

If it were a horse cart, at this time, one would just need to unhitch the horse, take off the rope, and tilt the cart backward, and all the wheat bundles would fall down. The tractor couldn't do that; the wheat bundles were several times more than a horse cart, so pitching the ones on top down first was the proper way.

By the time the wheat bundles were unloaded and the tractor was driven home, it was almost dark.

Dinner was already on the table, and to Li Long's surprise, Tao Daqiang was also there.

"I'm paying you for the wheat harvesting; I didn't load it this morning." Tao Daqiang said.

Li Long didn't stand on ceremony, took the forty yuan, and put it away. Tao Daqiang rode his bicycle back. They had pulled two donkey carts of wheat bundles in the afternoon and were also exhausted.

"We can finish pulling everything tomorrow in one day. Then, Xiao Long, you continue to harvest wheat with the tractor, and I can pull the horse cart to thresh." Li Jianguo said with a smile. "Our family is pulling the fastest this year. How good is that, how fast!"

"Hey, this Iron Ox is really different!" Li Qing Xia was also full of emotion. "Harvesting a hundred mu of land a day, two yuan per mu—this wheat season can earn quite a bit!"

"That's only if you have an Iron Ox and a harvester." Du Chunfang was also full of pride; her youngest son was capable, and she had face.

Chen Li Rong didn't speak, but in her heart, she had already compared. This Northern Frontier had a lot of land, produced a lot of grain, and the money earned from farming was more than back home. In fact, even if one didn't become a worker, being a farmer in the village was better than back home.

The family finished dinner while chatting and laughing, and then Li Long returned to the front courtyard. Although using the tractor to harvest wheat didn't have much impact, he had still been pricked quite a bit by the wheat awns while loading the bundles, and he was quite tired, so he planned to rest early.

The next day, after breakfast, Li Jianguo and the others hitched the horse cart to go to the fields, while Li Long went to harvest wheat for the families of Lu Yingming, Xie Yun Dong, and others. He also carried a small notebook and a fountain pen, ready to keep records. Some families could pay on the spot, while others might owe, so he would record it first and talk later.

The families of Lu Yingming and Xie Yun Dong had sixty mu of wheat combined, and they finished in one morning. Both families paid in cash.

After harvesting, Li Long pulled the trailer to his own fields to load wheat. After pulling one cart back, he went to harvest for Jia Weidong's family in the afternoon, and after finishing, he went to harvest the wheat for his father-in-law, Gu Bo Yuan.

Gu Bo Yuan didn't plant much—ten mu of wheat, mainly to pay the public grain and for his own family to eat. Li Long finished harvesting in less than an hour, then told Gu Bo Yuan to bundle it slowly, and Li Jianguo and the others would come to help tomorrow.

"Help with what? Can't I bundle ten mu of land myself? Just come over to help me pull it back when you're free." Gu Bo Yuan didn't stand on ceremony with Li Long; bundling wasn't necessary, but pulling was still needed.

That evening, many people in the village came to the Li family, starting to make appointments for Li Long's harvester to help harvest wheat.

They had all inquired beforehand: two yuan per mu. It might be a bit expensive, but it really saved time and effort. The Tao and Xu families had harvested wheat the day before and had already pulled it all back today. The Xu family had already started arranging to thresh—how fast!

That evening, eight families came to the Li family to make appointments, totaling over a hundred mu of land.

Li Long clearly stated the order of harvesting. Those who came calculated it; it was all tomorrow, and a little earlier or later didn't matter, so they had no objections.

After these people left, Li Jianguo said to Li Long:

"Don't pull the remaining wheat in the fields; I'll pull it back with the horse cart. You just focus on your harvesting. This harvester wasn't cheap to get back, and now that it can earn money, just focus on earning money."

"Exactly." Liang Yuemei also said, "There's a horse cart for threshing. Tie Tou's family's wheat has also been pulled back. Tomorrow, our family's remaining bit can be pulled back in one go with the horse cart. You don't need to worry about threshing; just earn money as you should."

Li Long nodded. In fact, today someone wanted Li Long's tractor to help pull wheat bundles and asked him to set a price. Li Long said he would consider it, but in fact, he couldn't set a price. If he set it too high, people wouldn't pay; if he set it too low, it wouldn't be worth it for him. After all, loading wheat bundles was time-consuming and laborious. Wouldn't it be better to harvest a few more mu of land in that time?

He planned that if someone asked tomorrow, he would charge fifteen per cart. After all, loading and pulling one round trip took at least an hour, and in an hour, he could harvest over ten mu of land and earn over twenty yuan.

Currently, his plan to earn money with the harvester was basically laid out. In these two days, he had basically recovered the cost of the harvester, and what followed was basically pure profit.

From the current look, the harvester had no problems, and he hoped it would continue to be so.

If he could continue to connect later, earning the cost of a tractor in one harvest season should be no problem.

He didn't expect that the next day, someone would want to take advantage of him.

Of course, it wasn't that easy.

Early the next morning, Li Long followed the list in his notebook, drove the tractor with the harvester attached, and went to find people to harvest—he didn't know the plots, so he could only follow them.

The first family was Tie Lao Bang from the team, Ma Jinbao's in-law.

After cutting the wheat, Tie Lao Bang told Li Long straight out:

"I don't have any money at home."

PS: There's something going on at home, and I'm exhausted from the hassle. Please rest assured, everyone; I don't intend to switch to one chapter yet. I still hope to maintain two chapters and ten thousand words a day. After all, everyone likes to read them, and I can earn a little, so it's a win-win. It's a bit late today because of some things, but I finally managed to rush this chapter out. Alright, I won't complain anymore; you all don't like to hear it anyway. Just one sentence: I will work hard to update. (End of chapter)