Chapter 544: Good labor hired

The tractor stayed in the field for the whole afternoon, and Li Long and the others took turns pressing the Da-melon seeds.

At first, they felt it was quite fun, taking turns, while others picked the Da-melons and put them by the pot or in the cargo bed.

Du Chunfang sat at the edge of the field, holding a small Da-melon, and knocked hard with a small stone. Li Long happened to be off duty, saw it, and went over to squat down:

"Mom, want to taste it? I'll smash it open for you!"

"That's fine." Du Chunfang smiled.

Li Long raised his fist and smashed the Da-melon with one punch.

Du Chunfang said with a pained heart, holding the stone:

"Use a stone to smash it, it hurts your hand!"

"It's fine." Li Long saw the Da-melon crack open at the sound. He was actually holding back his strength, otherwise, the Da-melon would have been shattered.

He broke it open and looked; it had yellow pulp. Li Long handed half to his mother:

"Mom, you taste it!"

"Alright," Du Chunfang pointed to the other half and said:

"You eat too, this melon pulp looks quite good."

Li Long then scooped out the melon pulp from that half and started eating.

The taste was indeed not bad; although it wasn't as sweet as a watermelon, it had a fragrance that a watermelon didn't have.

Da-melon skin was thick. If you picked a few and put them in a cool room, they could be preserved until November or even December. While watermelons were at most until the end of October; by November, they would either be rotten inside or empty, with the pulp becoming fibrous.

People from the team passing by to work saw the Li family squeezing melon seeds in the field, and some were eating melons, so they would come over from time to time to greet them and taste the Da-melon.

Some liked it, some felt it didn't taste as good as watermelon, and would leave after opening one and taking a bite.

Chen Li Rong didn't find it annoying. After people left, she would go over and collect the seeds from the melons and put them into the large pot.

They squeezed this stuff for a while, and when they were tired, they would take turns. The cargo bed was already full of Da-melons. Looking at the field, what had been pulled away and what had been squeezed was actually only a small part.

"What should we do with these squeezed ones? We can't pull them all," Liang Yumei worried.

"Throw them in the field. We can't let the pigs eat this all the time; the pigs can't take it either," Li Long said. "Letting them rot in the field can also fertilize the land."

There were thousands of melons in one mu of land, and tens of thousands in ten mu. It was impossible for the pigs to eat them all; the pigs really couldn't take it.

When the sun was about to set, Li Long and the others stopped squeezing melon seeds. They took bags and scooped the melon seeds out of the large pot with a strainer, poured the remaining melon juice directly into the field, took the pot, and placed it upside down on the cargo bed, with people on both sides supporting it.

They squeezed two large bags of melon seeds this afternoon. Li Long calculated that if they were dried, there would be twenty or thirty kilograms?

This was only a small piece of land, and it was still a long way from finishing.

Returning to the courtyard, Li Juan and Li Qiang had already returned from school. Li Qiang was feeding the chickens in the courtyard, and Li Juan had brought back pig grass in a bag and was chopping it in the courtyard, preparing to cook pig feed later.

Hearing the tractor sound, Li Juan and Li Qiang, including Xueping and Li Xue Qin who were helping in the courtyard, all ran to the gate and then made way.

Seeing the full cart of Da-melons, the four children were very excited.

Although they could basically eat watermelon every day, Da-melons were still very rare for them, and they had a strong desire to taste them.

They got off the car, took the bags down, Liang Yumei and Chen Li Rong prepared dinner, and Li Long and Li Jianguo unloaded the Da-melons.

Li Long handed a Da-melon to Li Juan and another to Li Qiang:

"Go open them, the four of you take half each, scoop them out and eat them yourselves. If they don't taste good, come over and exchange them, pick them yourselves."

The Da-melons were unloaded quickly, and a pile of melons soon formed in the corner of the courtyard. Anyway, since this stuff was placed here, they could eat it as they pleased.

Li Long's idea was to put a pot in the house, leave two people to squeeze it from time to time. Then take two pots to the field, pick the melons, squeeze them directly in the field, and pull a cart back after squeezing.

There wasn't enough manpower. Li Long's idea was to find a few young people from the team to do it. Giving a few yuan in wages a day, he thought there would be many people willing to do it now.

The few children were scooping out the melon pulp there, eating happily. In Li Long's opinion, the pulp that didn't taste good was also eaten happily by them.

After unloading the melons, Li Long was just about to tell his sister-in-law and the others how to press the seeds when he saw Lu Tie Tou from across the street walking back hurriedly with his head down, not daring to look this way.

"Tie Tou!" Li Long shouted.

Lu Tie Tou's body shook, he stopped, and turned his head to look this way.

His expression was a bit fearful; this was because he was scared of being beaten by his dad.

"Come over, hold two melons and take them back to taste," Li Long pointed to the Da-melon pile. "The melons are ripe, not as sweet as watermelon, but the taste is not bad."

Lu Tie Tou waved his hand hurriedly:

"No, no, no, I won't eat." Saying this, he ran toward his own courtyard as if fleeing.

"Qiangqiang, hold two melons and send them to Tie Tou's house," Li Long said. "Put them down and come back."

Li Qiang wiped his hands on his clothes and then went to hold the Da-melons. It was too late for Li Long to remind him.

Well, at this time, don't expect children's clothes to be worn cleanly for three days.

Li Qiang hurriedly held a melon and went over, and Xueping and Li Xue Qin also joined in the fun, holding melons and following behind, swaying.

Lu Yingming was in the house, and seeing Li Qiang holding a melon and coming over, he was a bit surprised.

"My uncle said this melon is ripe," Li Qiang said loudly, "It's edible, not as good as watermelon, the taste is different, let you taste it. Uncle Lu, we're leaving."

Saying this, he led the two little ones and ran away.

Lu Yingming was stunned for a moment, then looked at Tie Tou in the house.

Tie Tou shivered, fearing that his old dad would remember that incident and give him another couple of lashes with the leather belt.

"Taste it, they said it's ripe." Fortunately, Lu Yingming was not the kind of person who would settle old scores. It had already been dealt with at the time, and the Li family had forgiven him, so the matter had passed.

"Remember to send the seeds back to them after eating," Lu Yingming added.

The two children confirmed that Lu Yingming was not joking, and immediately started opening the Da-melon.

Originally, there was basically no habit of eating three meals a day in the countryside; eat thin when idle, eat thick when busy. Usually, when working, porridge in the morning, noodles at noon.

Because the Li family had children (Li Long was also considered a child at the time), for a period of time, they pulled a few ewes from Liang Donglou's side, then squeezed sheep milk, and boiled a pot of sheep milk at night for the children to drink.

Li Long was reborn and developed the habit of eating dinner at home. Because he had brought back many things from the beginning, from drinking fish soup at night to eating more formally later.

Then the Li family developed the habit of eating three meals a day.

Because there was a tractor, Li Long planned to return to the county after dinner and come over tomorrow morning. Anyway, the tractor was fast, ten kilometers "putt-putt-putt" and it would arrive in about half an hour.

The next day, Li Long had breakfast in the courtyard, drove the tractor "putt-putt-putt" back to the team. He didn't rush to his brother's courtyard, but went to Liang Lao Da's house first.

Liang Lao Da was picking up nets in the courtyard, and Liang Hu Hu Lao Er and Liang Ma Lao San were helping. Hearing the tractor sound, the three brothers turned their heads to look at the courtyard gate.

Tao Dayong's wife was about to give birth, and he couldn't leave for a moment. Although many villagers laughed at him for being henpecked, he didn't care about these things and just stayed at home, even if he didn't go fishing to earn money.

Like the Liang brothers, they had earned a lot of money fishing last year and this year, but they didn't buy bicycles, and they didn't see any other places where they spent money. In short, it felt like the money couldn't come out once it entered their house.

Li Long had a good relationship with the Liang brothers. Since Tao Dayong couldn't get away, he came to find them.

The three of them greeted Li Long actively, each with their own form of address. Liang Lao Da called Li Long directly, while Hu Hu Lao Er and Ma Lao San called him Long Ge.

"Are you preparing to go set nets?" Li Long asked after responding.

"No, tidy up the nets first. Fishing doesn't sell for a good price in the county right now, we plan to wait a while before fishing."

"Long Ge, when will you collect fish again? We think selling fish to you is the most cost-effective!" Liang Ma Lao San said the truth, and Liang Lao Da glared at him.

Li Long understood, this was thinking about when he would fish to earn money again.

The Ma County market was only so big. If there was too much fishing in the village, the price would naturally have to drop, otherwise, it wouldn't sell.

If the price dropped too much, fishing to earn money wouldn't be cost-effective.

Or, like his own dad and Tao Dayong, they would go to Shicheng to sell fish, where the fish price was high.

But without a bicycle, in this hot weather, walking or taking a horse cart to Shicheng early in the morning, unless you got up before dawn, you wouldn't arrive until mid-morning.

Once or twice was fine, but doing it every day, not many people could endure that hardship.

Unless it was winter, anyway, no matter how you went, it was frozen fish, so it didn't matter if you were early or late, that was fine.

It was just that Li Long couldn't figure it out. Based on the money earned by the Liang brothers in the past two years, it was more than enough to buy two bicycles, so why didn't they buy them?

He didn't ask much about this, but brought up another proposal:

"My Da-melons are ripe at home, and I'm short of labor to press seeds. I want to ask if you want to go? Ten yuan a day per person. But the work is quite tiring." "How to press seeds?" Liang Lao Da asked.

Li Long explained the principle of pressing Da-melon seeds with large pots and boards, and Liang Lao Da nodded and said:

"Alright, I'll go, my second brother can go too. Third brother..."

"I can go too!" Liang Ma Lao San nodded hard, "I can go!"

"Forget it." Liang Lao Da waved his hand, "You are not old enough, not strong enough, you won't be able to use your strength if you go, it won't work."

Liang Ma Lao San was dejected.

"Ma Lao San, if you have nothing to do, follow our cart to pick up Da-melons and load them, five yuan a day, how about that?"

Li Long thought that since he had already called Lao Da and Hu Hu Lao Er, it wouldn't be good to be short of one.

Simply call Ma Lao San together, five yuan, it's not like he's short of that little bit.

If one mu of Da-melons could really harvest one hundred eighty to two hundred kilograms of Da-melon seeds, paying twenty or thirty yuan in labor costs wasn't much.

After all, one kilogram of Da-melon seeds had to be one or two yuan no matter how you calculated it. At that time, when asking the roasted snack factory, they said they would collect them for two point five or three yuan.

!.

Having agreed with the Liang family, Li Long drove the tractor, "putt-putt-putt," pulling the three brothers toward his brother's courtyard.

The Li family was a bit surprised to see Li Long pulling the three brothers over, and Li Long explained that he had hired them to press Da-melons.

The Li family was obviously a bit surprised. Li Long explained:

"Since these Da-melons are ripe, they must be harvested as soon as possible. These melons are left in the field, talking about you taking a few today and him taking a few tomorrow, if the time drags on, the loss will not be small."

Since Li Long had already called people over, the Li family couldn't do anything even if they didn't understand. Now that there were people, the next step was to adjust.

Li Qing Xia, Du Chunfang, Liang Yumei, and Chen Li Rong stayed at home; pressing melons and pressing melon seeds could both be done.

Li Long, Li Jianguo, and the Liang brothers took two pots to the field, pressing while picking melons and pulling them back.

Both sides started working together, the work was done quickly, and the melon seeds could be sorted out as soon as possible.

There were chickens in Li Jianguo's courtyard, so if the melon seeds were to be dried, they would be put in Li Long's courtyard. It happened that the courtyard there was flat. After sweeping it clean, spread the plastic paper, put the pressed melon seeds on it, and dry them quickly in the hot sun.

Li Long and the others drove the tractor, loaded with large pots and boards, "putt-putt-putt," and went toward the Da-melon field.

By the time they arrived, there were already people eating melons in the field.

Seeing Li Long and the others arrive, the people didn't panic. They had come yesterday, stood up, and greeted them with a smile.

Li Long and the others didn't say anything either, moved the large pots down, and started pressing melon seeds.

Liang Lao Da and Li Jianguo were in a group, Li Long and Liang Hu Hu Lao Er were in a group, and Liang Ma Lao San sent the melons to the cargo bed.

"Can we eat these melons as we please?" Liang Ma Lao San asked from time to time.

"Eat as you please, just leave the melon seeds in the melon. You can hold a few and take them back to eat when you return, just bring the melon seeds over tomorrow," Li Long said.

Liang Ma Lao San wanted to open a melon to taste, but Liang Lao Da scolded him:

"Work first! We took the money!"

At this time, the contract spirit of the vast majority of people was still very strong. If you took someone's money, you had to work well. Moreover, being lazy in front of the host, did you not want to work anymore?

Liang Ma Lao San hurriedly held the Da-melon and ran to the cargo bed. Li Long laughed, but didn't persuade him.

It was indeed as Liang Lao Da said, since money was given, work had to have the appearance of work.

Pressing melon seeds was indeed very simple; after knowing the trick, it was just a matter of physical strength.

Li Long was a bit worried at first that they wouldn't be willing to do it for ten yuan, but it wouldn't be worth it if he paid too much.

In fact, ten yuan a day for work at this time was already a very high price. It was just because Li Long had given a few big jobs in the Fourth Team, and everyone earned more on average every day, so ten yuan didn't seem so conspicuous.

In fact, if this price were put in other teams, there would be plenty of people scrambling to do it.

The four men worked quickly. Yesterday, they were just playing around pressing seeds in the field, but today they were working seriously in the field. By mid-morning, the melon seeds in the large pot were full. Li Long felt that with the melons from half a mu of land yesterday, it had been cleared.

During this time, several groups of people came to taste the Da-melons. Some were passing by, and some were obviously coming specifically—these people's fields were not nearby, so it was impossible for them to be passing by.

With people in the field, they ate the Da-melons by eating the pulp and leaving the seeds. Li Long guessed that if there were no one in the field, they would likely hold two and take them back to let their families taste them.

Use a strainer to scoop the melon seeds out of the large pot, pour the melon juice away, and there were two and a half bags of melon seeds in total. There were nearly two hundred kilograms wet, and there should be one hundred kilograms after drying, right?

The cargo bed was already full of Da-melons. Liang Lao Da and Hu Hu Lao Er helped Li Long load the melon seeds, and Li Long said to them:

"You rest for a while, taste the Da-melons, I'll pull the Da-melons back."

The tractor "putt-putt-putt" drove away, and Liang Lao Da looked toward Li Jianguo.

"What are you looking at me for? Look at which melon is good, and eat that one. Before the tractor comes, let's rest. I'm really tired and thirsty," Li Jianguo picked up a Da-melon at random, smashed it open, and started eating.

The three Liang brothers immediately followed suit, found the Da-melons they had their eyes on, and started knocking.

Liang Ma Lao San cheered. The one he knocked open was a yellow-pulp Da-melon, which looked very beautiful. He looked up to see how Li Jianguo ate it; he had to learn.

Li Jianguo didn't have so many scruples at this time, reached out and scooped out a large mass of melon pulp, put it to his mouth, and started gnawing. Liang Ma Lao San immediately followed suit and felt the taste was very good.

Li Long drove the tractor to his brother's courtyard. After stopping, he first took the bag containing the melon seeds down.

"Hey, you young people work really fast!" Li Qing Xia laughed. "The cart of melons here hasn't been pressed out yet."

"How can that be the same?" Li Long laughed and said, "It's not urgent here. After the field is finished, we can slowly do the ones at home."

There were quite a few melon seeds, so Liang Yumei and Chen Li Rong had work to do, and Du Chunfang also joined in. She couldn't do heavy work, but squinting her eyes to pick out the warped melon seeds inside was no problem.

By noon, two more bags of melon seeds were produced, and a large area in the field was emptied.

Lunch was eaten in the field. Li Long pulled the Da-melons and Da-melon seeds home, and then brought the food from home to the field. Large white steamed buns, two stir-fried dishes, both with meat, not minced meat, but piece by piece of meat.

The Liang brothers couldn't eat such dishes usually, so they ate them all at once. Li Long and Li Jianguo ate normal portions, and the rest was finished by the three brothers.

The Li family didn't treat them badly in terms of food, so the Liang brothers worked with all their might. They didn't rest at all after lunch, and started working as soon as they finished eating. It was Li Long who forced them to rest for half an hour to avoid stomach aches from working immediately after eating.

As a result, they did more in the afternoon than in the morning, producing six bags of melon seeds.

Li Long estimated that today, nearly two mu of land had been finished.

At most six days, these Da-melons would be harvested.

Before leaving the field, Li Long settled the money for the three brothers. This work was paid daily, and Li Long didn't have the habit of delaying other people's wages.

On the last trip, he drove the tractor "putt-putt-putt" into the village, first sending the three Liang brothers home.

Originally, Li Long's intention was to pull them directly to the Li family, eat dinner, and then go back, but Liang Lao Da refused to do so.

Then send them back first, and by the way, let them unload a few Da-melons for their family to taste.

After the Liang brothers got off the car, Liang Lao Da said to Li Long:

"Li Long, no need to come and pull us tomorrow, we will go to the Da-melon field ourselves."

"Alright," Li Long responded and drove the tractor back.

The three Liang brothers held the Da-melons and entered the house. They didn't have the habit of eating dinner at home, at most drinking some sweet soup, which was considered a late-night snack.

"Brother, here's the money," Hu Hu Lao Er said.

"Mine is also for you," Ma Lao San also handed the money over.

Liang Lao Da was very gratified.

He put the twenty-five yuan together, thought for a while, took out ten yuan, put the remaining fifteen yuan on himself, and then took these ten yuan into the house and handed them to his father:

"Dad, this is the money we earned from working, I'll save the rest."

"Alright," Old Man Liang took the money, looked at it, and put it into his pocket.

Someone outside shouted:

"Is Dacheng there?" Liang Lao Da was called Dacheng, Hu Hu Lao Er was called Shuangcheng, and Ma Lao San was called Quncheng.

Not many people called their formal names, because since they were young, their family called them Lao Da, Hu Hu Lao Er, and Ma Lao San, and others followed suit.

The person outside was Xu Jianjun.

Liang Lao Da was a bit unhappy. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 545 =====