Chapter 524: This money isn't something everyone can earn

Jiang Zhiyu was quite moved.

After Li Long sent her to the township compound, she still wanted to say a few words of thanks, but didn't expect Li Long didn't even wait for her to speak, turned the tractor, and went back.

The chugging sound was very loud, and Jiang Zhiyu shouted twice, but Li Long didn't hear it.

Of course, it was also possible he heard it but didn't reply.

Li Long purely felt it was really unsafe. After all, from the Fourth Team to the township, except for two schools, there were no residential areas—residential areas were at least several hundred meters away from the main road.

It was really unsafe for a young and beautiful girl to walk the night road. In this era, news was not smooth. In the previous life, in this era, Gu Xiaoxia encountered similar things, and decades later, one would often see news about missing children and women being raped on internet platforms.

It was better to be careful.

But also because Jiang Zhiyu was beautiful, Li Long didn't plan to say anything to her.

He was a man with a wife, so he had to pay attention to the influence.

Returning home, he ate dinner in a hurry, and then went to rest.

It was quite tiring.

Du Chunfang looked distressed, and her mouth was also muttering:

"What kind of family is that? Working so hard for others, and they didn't even give a bite to eat..."

Li Qing Xia smiled and said to her:

"We earned the money, so why eat? They were heartbroken when they gave the money. Rest assured, Xiao Long won't treat himself badly; he is very smart. Besides, didn't his big sister-in-law leave him food? Our family isn't without food, so why care whether others leave food or not?"

Du Chunfang naturally wasn't convinced after hearing this and bickered with the old man for a few more sentences. Li Jianguo and the others in the courtyard listened with smiles and didn't interrupt.

At this time, there were still quite a few people watching TV in the old man's room at night. The Li family would watch sometimes, and sometimes they were too tired and wouldn't turn on the TV, and other families understood. After all, during the busy farming season, most of those who could run over to watch TV were children, and if they couldn't see it, they couldn't see it.

Returning to his own courtyard, Li Long washed in a hurry and then went into the room and lay down.

He earned quite a bit of money in one day, but to be honest, it was much more tiring than collecting fritillaria, and the money earned wasn't that much.

Earning over two hundred yuan in one day—if it were at today's speed, he could earn four or five thousand in this wheat season. After deducting costs, he would earn about three thousand net.

It was about the same as weaving carrying poles.

But after experiencing the matter of collecting fritillaria, Li Long's heart grew bigger, and three thousand wasn't really in his eyes anymore.

It was just that there were no other opportunities to earn money now, and the harvester job could continue, lasting for ten or twenty years.

Until the end of this century and the beginning of the next, when domestic combine harvesters were popularized, the harvester would slowly exit the stage of history.

For this kind of job that could earn money continuously, no matter what, Li Long had to hold onto it.

He even thought that after this wheat season ended, when he had time, he would go to Kuitun to order two more harvesters, so he could get another tractor to work together in next year's wheat season.

Li Long's long-term idea was to get two cotton pickers, two combine harvesters, and one high-horsepower tractor, then hire a few people to drive them, and he would just lie at home and collect money.

Of course, the best thing was to contract hundreds or thousands of mu of land from the public during the second round of land contracting, and then contract it out when the time was right. The land price here wouldn't be lower than one thousand yuan per mu thirty years later. At that time, Li Long would think about contracting the land out directly or joining a cooperative. Wouldn't it be good to just divide the money every year?

How comfortable that would be!

Thinking was thinking, but original accumulation still had to be done. The second round of land contracting was in 1997. At that time, he had to contract more land in the village. Anyway, when the state land survey was finally done, the total cultivated land area of the whole village, legal and illegal, added up to ten thousand mu.

The legal ones were those reported to the county water conservancy bureau and the township water management station, which were the lands that paid water fees according to the mu every year.

The illegal ones were those that were hidden, directly using the water of the small Haizi and the machine wells they dug themselves to irrigate the land.

Of course, after the state land survey, these lands were not allowed to be planted, the private machine wells were also pulled out, and some lands needed to be left fallow and rotated.

In his previous life, Li Long didn't participate in it, just knew a probability. In this life, he planned not to be a bystander or a pawn, trying to see if he could be a chess player.

To be a chess player, one naturally had to have the confidence of a chess player, so earning money was the most important thing right now.

Thinking about these things in his mind, Li Long slowly fell asleep.

Driving a tractor to harvest wheat was indeed quite tiring.

Of course, it was still much better than harvesting wheat by hand in the field.

Early the next morning, Li Long ate breakfast in his big brother's courtyard, added water and oil to the tractor, and then prepared to continue harvesting wheat.

To his surprise, when he went out, Jiang Zhiyu had already arrived on her bicycle.

"Thank you for yesterday. Today I want to conduct a follow-up interview with you." Jiang Zhiyu said loudly to Li Long.

Li Long was a bit helpless, but couldn't say anything, so he drove the tractor chugging away.

He had harvested less than half of the wheat fields in the team, some were still queuing, and some planned to harvest by hand this year, not spending that money, but spending some effort to save the money.

This was also very normal.

These people were about one-third, and the area of wheat fields was about less than four hundred mu.

Not much.

In two more days, the wheat fields in the team that had been queued would be harvested, and then it would be the outside villages. The Third Team's land currently queued added up to less than one hundred mu. If no new people came to find him in three days, he estimated he would have to stop.

However, Li Long was still quite optimistic. The harvester matter could reach the township propaganda officer, and those farmers who planted wheat would naturally know.

Jiang Zhiyu rode her bicycle wearing a straw hat and followed Li Long to the wheat field. The landowner had already flattened the edge of the field and was clearing the stubble. After Li Long arrived, he greeted the landowner in the field and began to harvest.

This was the first time Jiang Zhiyu had watched Li Long harvest from the beginning. She immediately propped up her bicycle, then ran quickly to the front, preparing to take a photo of Li Long from the front.

It was just that the tractor drove relatively fast, and she didn't catch up after chasing for over a hundred meters, so she had to stop.

In fact, she had shouted at Li Long just now, but she didn't know if Li Long didn't hear it or heard it but didn't respond; anyway, he didn't stop.

"Xiao Long, who is that?" Halfway through, the landowner, Liang Lao Da, asked Li Long while holding an iron shovel. "What is she doing?"

"The township's propaganda officer, probably wanting to write news about the wheat harvest. My tractor makes a lot of noise, maybe she wants to take a few photos?" Li Long said and continued to drive forward.

When Li Long circled around, Jiang Zhiyu immediately ran to the west end of the field, and when he came over, she hurriedly raised her camera and started shooting.

After taking several photos, Jiang Zhiyu felt she should be able to find suitable photos from them, so she put down the camera.

Seeing that Li Long couldn't stop for a while, Jiang Zhiyu went to interview Liang Lao Da.

"Harvesting with a harvester is naturally fast, saving time and effort." Liang Lao Da had a good relationship with Li Long, so he naturally spoke well. "Everyone who has been a farmer knows that harvesting wheat is too bitter and tiring. With a harvester, it's much easier.

Besides, isn't our country talking about the Four Modernizations? Using a harvester to harvest wheat should be considered agricultural modernization, right? Even if it's not, it's taking a step forward, right? I think it's quite good."

Jiang Zhiyu didn't expect this Liang Lao Da to be able to say such coherent words. She hurriedly recorded these words, then smiled sweetly and praised Liang Lao Da:

"You said it really well!"

After Jiang Zhiyu finished the interview, she went to the nearby fields to ask others who were harvesting wheat by hand for their thoughts. Liang Lao Da looked at her back and thought to himself, this cadre is really beautiful; could he be a matchmaker for the second son?

Liang Lao Da himself had a partner, so he wasn't in a hurry. The second son was about the right age, and looking at the one in front of him, she was quite good.

Of course, he was just thinking about it. She was a national cadre, and his own second son didn't have Li Long's ability. He estimated she wouldn't look down on him.

The Liang family didn't have much wheat land, fifteen mu. Their ration fields were quite a lot, but the contracted land was only twenty mu. The three brothers caught fish to sell all year round and earned quite a bit of money, so they were actually a bit resistant to farming.

How fast was it to catch fish and sell fish?

Like today, the eldest came, but the second and third didn't come. The parents in the family were cleaning the ground on the threshing ground. The wheat pulled back by other families on the threshing ground had already started to be threshed, and every family had to send people to help on the threshing ground.

Liang Hu Hu Lao Er and Liang Ma Lao San went to sell fish in the morning and would only come to the field to bundle wheat after returning.

According to them, the money earned from catching and selling fish today was enough for half of the harvesting fee.

Fifteen mu of land, Li Long finished harvesting in a little over an hour. After harvesting, he rested at the edge of the field, chatted with Liang Lao Da for a while, and let the tractor cool down.

Jiang Zhiyu had finished the interview and planned to talk to Li Long again, and then return to the township. She had already collected enough materials and planned to write the manuscript today.

At this time, a chugging sound came over.

The three of them looked to the west.

Dust was flying on the road. One could see it was a tractor driving over, carrying a trailer, and it was clearly aimed at this place.

Li Long pulled up his face mask.

Driving a tractor to harvest wheat was actually a very troublesome thing. The dust in the wheat field was quite large, choking people. The wheat awns were very prickly and fine, which was also troublesome. The sun was too poisonous, which was also troublesome.

So Li Long drove the tractor wearing a straw hat and covering his face with a face mask—the kind of silk scarf similar to Atlas silk bought from the ethnic store, folded in three folds and tied on his face like a masked bandit.

After all, the masks at this time were thick gauze, which was fine in winter, but a bit too much in summer.

Seeing this tractor driving over with dust all over the sky, he had to cover his face with a face mask.

Jiang Zhiyu had already retreated far away into the field with a look of disgust.

!.

Only then did she feel that Li Long driving the tractor was actually very civilized. Although his attitude wasn't very good, at least he didn't drive the tractor like that and make such a big commotion.

That tractor drove to the edge of Liang Lao Da's field and stopped, just blocking the road Li Long wanted to go out.

Li Long frowned. Was this person looking for him?

It looked like the visitor was not good!

The person who got off the tractor was a middle-aged man in his thirties. Li Long first glanced at that tractor; it was quite new, similar in appearance to his own, and should also have been bought from the Shicheng Tractor Factory.

"You must be Li Long, right? I'm Wei Tianxing from the First Team." The middle-aged man was tall and spoke with a smile. He glanced at Jiang Zhiyu, who was hiding in the wheat field, then walked toward Li Long's tractor, carefully examining that harvester, and then continued to say:

"I know your big brother, and I've seen you before, but I didn't expect you to have grown so tall now. By the way, where did you buy this harvester?"

"Kuitun." Li Long wasn't afraid of others asking. This kind of thing couldn't be hidden, and there was no need to hide it. Jiang Zhiyu asked this question earlier, and Li Long also said it clearly.

But now hearing Li Long say it so directly, Jiang Zhiyu was quite surprised. In this era, when people had a way to earn money, most of them covered it tightly so others wouldn't know.

After all, there were few ways to earn money. If you got it, wouldn't I earn less?

"So far away!" Wei Tianxing naturally knew Kuitun. He frowned and thought for a while, then asked:

"Is this harvester easy to use or not? Has it ever broken?"

"No." Li Long frowned and replied. He didn't want to deal with this person; the tone of his questioning was quite annoying.

"Li Long, how much did you buy this harvester for?" Wei Tianxing seemed not to see Li Long's expression and asked again.

"Five hundred." Li Long told a lie. Anyway, the Kuitun Agricultural Machinery Factory didn't plan to continue production, so it didn't matter how much he said.

"So much?" Wei Tianxing was a bit surprised, then understood.

After all, it was agricultural machinery. Although it wasn't as big as a tractor, it was still agricultural machinery. Looking at those triangular knife heads, gears, and chains on it, it didn't look ordinary!

A tractor cost four or five thousand, and this harvester was only five hundred, not expensive, right?

"Look, how about this? I'm not familiar with Kuitun, and you've used this harvester for a few days. Sell it to me at a 30% discount, and you go buy a new one, how about that? You've harvested quite a bit of wheat these days, so the money should be about enough, right?"

The idea Wei Tianxing proposed made Li Long quite surprised.

Was this an idea a normal person could think of?

"Not selling." Li Long was too lazy to pay attention to him, greeted Liang Lao Da, and was about to leave.

"Don't go yet." Liang Lao Da glanced at Wei Tianxing and was also a bit surprised. Did this guy have a problem with his brain?

He took out three large unity notes from his pocket and handed them to Li Long:

"Harvesting fee."

"Alright." Li Long took the money and put it in his pocket, then asked casually: "Are you bundling the wheat alone? Where are the second and third?"

"Went to sell fish, they'll be back in a while. These two don't want to work, just want to earn quick money, troublesome."

"Alright, alright, as long as there is money to earn." Li Long smiled and got on the tractor.

Jiang Zhiyu watched the dust on the road dissipate and also rode her bicycle away. Before leaving, she also glared at that Wei Tianxing with disgust; this person really had no quality.

Seeing Li Long say two words and then ignore him, Wei Tianxing felt he had lost face, so he raised his voice again and said:

"Li Long, I said I'd give you three hundred and fifty yuan, you earned it! After all, you've harvested quite a bit of land these days, and this harvester must have wear and tear, right? You take the money to buy a new one and can continue to harvest... I have a friendship with your big brother."

"I'll give you three hundred and fifty, and you get me a harvester?" Li Long absolutely didn't believe this guy had a friendship with his big brother. Knowing each other might be true, but saying there was a friendship was hard to say. After all, he basically knew everyone who had a friendship with his big brother.

Hearing Li Long say this, Wei Tianxing was blocked and had nothing to say.

He had actually been to the county agricultural machinery factory, and the Shicheng Agricultural Machinery Factory, but there was no harvester. People hadn't even heard of it.

That's why he came to probe Li Long's words, but didn't expect Li Long to say it so realistically.

He hadn't been to Kuitun and didn't understand, so he thought about buying a ready-made one.

After all, Kuitun was also a city, and he might not be able to find the place even if he went.

Of course, that's what he said. If he really went all out, he might be able to find it.

However, people all have laziness, especially people like Wei Tianxing. It's okay to order others to do things, and they speak very generously, but if they are asked to do it themselves, they don't have that courage.

Going to a strange place, they will become very cautious, and even afraid.

Coward.

Li Long didn't pay attention to him anymore. Anyway, the Liang family's land was harvested. Li Long got on the tractor, drove around a little bit, scraped the rear tire of Wei Tianxing's tractor, and then drove away.

Wei Tianxing saw it was too late to call him to stop. When Li Long left, he hurriedly went to look at the tire—a black mark, which made his heart ache.

But he couldn't blame Li Long—to be honest, now there were no more than five people in the whole township who could drive a tractor.

Wei Tianxing had the capital to be proud, so he basically drove rampantly along the way, occupying the middle of the road, and didn't slow down when seeing people. Dust filled the sky, and passersby being blinded wasn't in his consideration.

Driving to the edge of the field was also the same virtue, occupying the middle of the road; anyway, he was the biggest.

It was just that he didn't expect Li Long not to give him face, and he scraped it when he went out.

Wei Tianxing wanted to shout, but Li Long had already run far away.

Seeing Liang Lao Da holding a sickle and looking at him with a smile that wasn't a smile, the words he wanted to scold were swallowed back.

Only then did he react that this was someone else's territory.

However, his goal wasn't achieved, and Wei Tianxing didn't want to give up. He got on the tractor, turned a corner, and drove toward the residential area.

If he couldn't find Li Long, he would find his big brother. He really knew Li Jianguo; maybe finding his big brother would work.

Li Long went to harvest in other fields again. Before lunch, he harvested two more pieces of land. One paid forty yuan, the money for twenty mu of land. The other was directly stated that it would be paid at the price of fifteen kilograms of wheat per mu, and the wheat would be sent to the Li family within half a month.

Li Long naturally agreed. According to last year's price, the public grain wheat was 0.12 yuan per kilogram, and the wheat sold after paying the public grain was 0.18 yuan per kilogram. Li Long took the average value of 0.15 yuan per kilogram, and fifteen kilograms of wheat was 2.25 yuan, which was about right.

After all, the wheat he received really had to be cleaned if he wanted to sell it, so this price was just right.

Since Li Long announced that he could accept wheat to lower the harvesting price, more families came to him for harvesting. According to this trend, three-quarters of the wheat in the whole village would be harvested by him.

There would be about eight hundred mu. That would be sixteen hundred yuan.

The outside villages currently added up to less than two hundred mu, but looking at the trend of Wei Tianxing coming to find the harvester, it should increase.

Then when he went home for lunch, he saw Wei Tianxing outside the courtyard.

Hey, this lingering guy! (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 525 =====