Chapter 560: There are plenty of people who want to make money!

"Little Long, how is it? Am I fast?" Xu Jianjun pointed to the reed bundles on the donkey cart and said with a smile, "According to the standard you said, twenty reeds, two point five meters, three iron wires, no problem."

Li Long could tell at a glance that a considerable number of the reed bundles tied on this donkey cart looked very strange.

He walked to the donkey cart to take a closer look. Xu Jianjun hurriedly untied the rope tying the reed bundles and asked:

"How is it? Where should I unload them?"

"Don't be in a hurry, you have to check these reed bundles carefully." Li Long didn't want him to unload them all. It wouldn't be easy to load them back up after unloading.

"Then you check." Xu Jianjun looked like he wasn't afraid of being checked.

"Pull them to my front courtyard first," Li Long said. "It's not convenient to pile these in my eldest brother's courtyard."

Right now, the sun hadn't set yet, and Li Jianguo and the others were still pulling reeds and tying reed bundles.

Xu Jianjun led the donkey cart and followed Li Long, saying as he walked:

"Little Long, let me tell you, look at this job of yours, it still depends on everyone in our team to support it. Otherwise, this job of yours might not necessarily be completed."

"There are more places with reeds than just this area of ours," Li Long understood what Xu Jianjun wanted to express. "This job of mine does indeed rely on everyone to complete, but our team is not the only place that produces reeds. If I don't want to do it, and someone else takes this job, then it's not certain whether it will fall to our team."

Xu Jianjun also understood Li Long's meaning and chuckled dryly.

He didn't dare to refute, naturally not wanting to lose this job. Every winter, just relying on this job, he could earn a year's salary of an apprentice worker; only a fool wouldn't do it!

The donkey cart was pulled into Li Long's courtyard. The snow in the courtyard had been cleared. Li Long waited for Xu Jianjun to park the donkey cart and said directly:

"Jianjun, some of your reed bundles are unqualified. Do you want to unload them all and I'll check them one by one, or will you take them off the cart and I'll look at them below?"

"Unload them all." Xu Jianjun intended to have a good theory with Li Long. So he felt that he should be able to win then, so even if there were unqualified ones, there shouldn't be many.

He untied the donkey's halter, lifted the shafts of the donkey cart, and all the reed bundles rolled down.

Li Long stepped forward and began to flip through them.

He could tell at a glance that Xu Jianjun had used large reeds to wrap the original reed bundles with ten reeds.

This was also a way, showing that Xu Jianjun still had some small cleverness.

It was just that the ten-reed bundles weren't thin. Thick reeds could wrap the original small reed bundles, but thin reeds couldn't wrap them, so there would be gaps. Li Long only picked out the ones that were well-wrapped, consistent in length, and where the thin iron wires were tied in similar positions.

There were seventy or eighty reed bundles on this donkey cart pulled by Xu Jianjun. Li Long took more than ten minutes to pick out the qualified ones, which were less than one-third, twenty-something.

"These are qualified, take the rest back. Let me tell you, just untie the thin iron wires of the small reed bundles inside and retie them—"

"Little Long, you're not right here. I completely followed your requirements. Three iron wires, right? Two point five meters, right? Twenty reeds, right? Look, which one has a problem?"

Li Long was amused by the anger.

This guy was actually here lecturing him on standards.

It wasn't easy to have such a slippery guy in this day and age, right?

He waved his hand and said:

"Jianjun, I'm talking to you so calmly right now. I also know that you tied reed bundles in advance, and as a result, the standard changed, and it's not easy for you to handle.

But I have no way either; this is the standard given from above. Right now, taking shortcuts or talking about whose responsibility it is has no meaning. You only have to minimize the loss as quickly as possible.

The method I gave you is the best method I can think of. Of course, you can also think about whether there are other methods. Don't waste time here, take these things away. I've accepted the qualified ones."

"No, either you accept them all, or I'll take them all away!" Xu Jianjun felt that he had lost face because of Li Long and started arguing.

"Then take them all away." Li Long also got angry. He was threatening him? Did he really not know who was who?!

Xu Jianjun himself was speaking in anger and didn't expect Li Long to top him to the wall, leaving no way out.

Actually, if he had said a soft word at this time, it would have passed, but Xu Jianjun always felt that Li Long had walked on dog shit luck to have this, so he always looked down on him.

Now, being topped by Li Long like this, he really got angry. He lowered his head, hugged all those reed bundles, piled them on the donkey cart, and when he led the donkey cart away, he even said to Li Long:

"Li Long, let me tell you, with this attitude of yours, it would be strange if you could collect enough reed bundles this year!"

Saying this, he led the donkey cart away.

The momentum was very sufficient, but unfortunately, the reed bundles weren't placed well on the donkey cart, and Xu Jianjun also forgot to tie the rope, causing the reed bundles to fall off from time to time, making him very embarrassed. Picking them up wasn't right, and not picking them up wasn't right either.

Li Long shook his head. He really didn't take the threat of this kind of guy to heart.

Anyone who listened to him would be a fool.

Zhang Qiang's matter had only passed for a few days; did he really think others had no brains?

Sure enough, not long after Xu Jianjun left, someone else came to send reed bundles.

It was the same operation as Xu Jianjun, and Li Long gave the same persuasion.

This one was relatively willing to listen and took the unqualified ones back.

What was the use of getting angry? Turning reed bundles into money early was the right thing to do!

On the first day, Li Long received more than five hundred qualified reed bundles. He loaded them onto the tractor, tied them with ropes, and returned to the county big courtyard.

It wasn't completely dark when he arrived at the courtyard. Gu Xiaoxia had just finished work and was setting up the stove. In winter, the stove went out relatively quickly. Li Long parked the tractor and went to help.

They were used to eating dinner, but dinner wouldn't be too sumptuous.

"Any reaction today?" Li Long asked while setting up the stove. "It's almost the end of the year, will it be too busy?"

"It's okay, not very busy. Right now, people in the unit don't know I'm pregnant, so work is as usual.

But there's nothing too busy right now. There's a lot of textual work. After all, it's winter, and we have few cars, so it's not easy to run to far places."

Gu Xiaoxia said softly while watching Li Long busy. She always felt that she was happy. When she heard colleagues complaining that their husbands didn't talk to them, earned little money, didn't do housework, etc., Gu Xiaoxia would laugh when thinking of Li Long.

Over time, colleagues also knew that Gu Xiaoxia's husband could earn money and would do housework together. Although he didn't have a formal establishment, he was also a celebrity in the autonomous region.

With such a husband, what other higher requirements could there be?

There couldn't be any more.

Li Long set up the stove and started boiling water. Two stoves had this advantage: boiling porridge on one side and stir-frying vegetables on the other. As for the stove in the room, that could be used to steam buns.

"I have an idea," Li Long said while cooking. "The fire wall of the stove inside, when we don't set up the stove next spring, let's dismantle a piece in the middle and insert an oven. That way, we can roast things to eat in winter."

"That's fine." Gu Xiaoxia liked discussing these small things that could change life with Li Long, which showed that both of them were working hard to improve the quality of life at home.

After eating, they watched TV while talking about each other's daily life.

Gu Xiaoxia was very satisfied. This was much better than summer. Li Long was in the mountains for half the time in summer. At that time, she was alone, and there was no one to talk to at night.

For the next few days, Li Long went to the team to pull reed bundles during the day and returned at night as usual.

After a few days, there were more than two thousand reed bundles piled up in the courtyard, but Li Long clearly felt that the number of reed bundles sent was less than last year.

Or rather, the daily average was less.

Could it be that Xu Jianjun really had the ability to urge some people not to send reed bundles to him?

Not very likely, right?

He still wanted to inquire when Li Jianguo told him.

"There have been several fires in the team these past two days. The reeds of two families were burned, and when the reeds of two other families caught fire, they were seen and put out."

"What? Four families' reeds caught fire? This is too coincidental, right?" Li Long thought of Xu Jianjun for the first time.

"Exactly. One can tell at a glance that some people want to make trouble," Li Jianguo said. "These days, people are watching the reeds at night, and they have no energy to work during the day.

Besides, it's getting colder and colder right now. This reed tying is later than last year, and working has to be done outside, so the speed is naturally slower."

Li Long nodded; things could only be like this.

Fortunately, Li Xiangqian gave a thirty-day deadline, and he only hoped that everyone could be faster later.

Of course, it would be best if the arsonist was also caught; otherwise, it would always be a hidden danger later.

"Then how is our family's reeds watched?" Li Long asked.

"Me and your sister-in-law," Li Jianguo said. "We put some things outside the reeds and get up from time to time at night to look. Watching all night, that's unbearable."

It was indeed unbearable. One or two days were fine, but tying the reeds of the eldest brother's family into reed bundles would take at least ten days, and ten days definitely couldn't be persisted.

Li Long felt that if it was Xu Jianjun, he would still want to set fire to his eldest brother's reeds eight out of ten times. After all, if he wanted revenge, he would only take revenge on the main target in the end.

Li Long had to haul reed bundles to the county every day, so he couldn't watch them, so he could only target Li Jianguo.

He told Li Jianguo his analysis. Li Jianguo thought for a moment and said:

"If it really is him, then it's easy to handle. You don't have to worry about it. I'll find a way for this matter!" This was where the role of this veteran in the team was shown.

Li Long thought, he was still too far behind.

Being able to earn money and having his current achievements over the past two years mostly stemmed from his "foresight," and a small part stemmed from his efforts.

And his eldest brother being able to reach this step was all his own efforts.

It was different.

Li Long collected reed bundles every day as usual, not in a hurry even if there were fewer. After all, for this kind of thing, he had no way to grow eight hands to help people tie reed bundles.

The job of tying reed bundles, like the job of tying large brooms, required special tools.

The tools for tying large brooms were relatively common, but the tools for tying reed bundles were relatively rare.

After all, the growth range of wild reeds was very wide, and families in the countryside using wild reed large brooms were also relatively common.

But places where reeds grew on a large scale were relatively few.

!.

This was the difference.

He could go to the village of Qingshuihe to find people to tie large brooms, but he might not necessarily be able to find other places to tie reed bundles.

It wasn't that there weren't any, but Li Long still wanted to leave the work to the team for a while.

After all, the people in the team were indeed working hard, and there was no one like Zhang Qiang making trouble in the middle.

And Zhang Qiang was still going to Shicheng to sell large brooms every day, almost doing it rain or shine.

Li Long suspected that this guy should have earned money, so he was so persistent. Did he pit him once, and then pit him onto the right path?

Another three days passed. When Li Long drove the tractor to his eldest brother's house in the morning, Li Jianguo smiled and said to him:

"Caught! It's this guy Xu Jianjun!"

"Caught? He didn't set fire to other people's reeds again, right?" Li Long didn't expect it was really this guy.

"No, he just wanted to set fire to our family's reeds, and then my old man and I pressed him down. We found a lighter and a gasoline bottle on him. He still argued, and I beat him up last night and sent him to the team headquarters."

"Hey, won't those people whose reeds were burned ask him for compensation?"

"Definitely," Li Jianguo said. "Someone went to his house early this morning. His wife said he managed all the money. Xu Jianjun ran away as soon as he came out of the team headquarters in the middle of the night yesterday. Team leader Xu Chengjun said he was responsible for asking Xu Jianjun for the losses of those families."

Now, the money Xu Jianjun earned this year would probably all be lost.

It was really self-inflicted and couldn't be lived.

Li Long didn't pay too much attention to this matter. Xu Jianjun didn't work well from the beginning when he followed him to weave the first carrying pole, always thinking about fishing for money.

Such a person, even if he didn't fall here this time, would fall in other places later.

In his previous life, there were several similar people in the team. They had small cleverness, narrow minds, and always thought that others had good things because of luck, and they didn't get them because they were just unlucky.

Because the Fourth Team had a lot of land, after the state carried out land irrigation engineering transformation, most families made money using the high prices of agricultural products in those one or two years, and then became various arrogant, and finally several families failed.

Human nature is like this; unless one can realize it and consciously change it, it is inevitable.

In the following days, the speed of everyone tying reed bundles became faster. First, the worry of fire was avoided, and second, Li Long also clearly said that the number of tasks was only so many, and it wouldn't be enough if collected.

Originally, everyone wasn't in a hurry, feeling that the quantity this year wasn't small. Now that it was said like this, some families naturally became anxious. After all, tying a few more would earn a bit more money.

Or to put it the other way around, if others tied a few more and earned money, the money they earned would be less.

In fifteen days, Li Long collected a total of seven thousand-something reed bundles; this quantity was a bit small.

He felt that if it really went on at this speed, it really wasn't certain that these twenty thousand reed bundles could be collected in a month.

Then someone unexpected came.

He didn't recognize him either.

"Li Long, right? My name is Wang De Long, from Xiahai Village," the person wasn't tall, even slightly shorter than Li Jianguo, and the accent sounded like it was from the Hunan and Hubei area. "I heard you collect reed bundles, so I sent some over. Can you see if it's okay?"

Xiahai Village was the village north of the Big Haizi.

Reeds were also produced there, but the output wasn't as much as the Fourth Team here.

Li Long looked at the reed bundles piled high on the horse cart led by this person and asked strangely:

"How did you know I collect reed bundles here?"

"Someone from our team married into your team, and it's easy to inquire about this matter," Wang De Long didn't hide it and said with a smile. "How is it, collect or not? The reeds I harvested were sold to the paper mill too cheaply, so I thought about earning more money."

"How many are these?"

"Three thousand!" Wang De Long said. "We've been tying them for quite a while."

"My standard isn't low," Li Long said. "I can collect them, but I won't collect unqualified ones."

"No problem." As soon as Wang De Long heard Li Long wanted to collect them, he was really happy.

The reed bundles were unloaded. Li Long checked them one by one. The quality of these reed bundles wasn't high. Among the three thousand-something, more than two thousand three hundred were qualified, and the rest were unqualified.

Li Long didn't hide it and told all the reasons for being unqualified. This made it convenient for Wang De Long to go back and change them.

Wang De Long received the money, tied the remaining reed bundles to the cart, and pulled them away. When he left, his face was full of smiles.

Earning more than one thousand yuan from these reed bundles was really much better than selling them to the paper mill.

Li Long collected Wang De Long's reed bundles, which directly made some people in the village unable to sit still.

Some people were earnestly tying reed bundles, while some felt it was cold and would hide in the room to rest after tying a bit.

After all, in their view, the one who should be anxious was Li Long, not them.

They were like the cold-crying bird, saying they would tie when it was a bit warmer, but it was only early winter right now, and it would only get colder in the future; how could it get warmer?

The Fourth Team had more money than other teams, and life would be more comfortable.

But those who didn't seek progress felt that it was fine like this.

Without too much pursuit, the motivation was insufficient, so naturally, they wouldn't be too rushed to make money.

In their view, anyway, the reeds in everyone's courtyard were already fixed, just so many. If others tied fast and the reeds were finished, the remaining tasks would still fall on them.

Two stacks of reeds were burned this year, so Li Long's twenty thousand reed bundle task was a bit tight.

Speaking of this, it wouldn't be good if Li Long increased the price, or those who had finished tying but still wanted to make money would have to buy reeds from them.

Lazy, and the abacus was calculated very precisely.

However, Wang De Long's appearance directly stunned them.

Other teams also had reeds!

And he sent three thousand down at once; who knew how many would be sent next time?

They became anxious, and the reed tying speed also became faster.

Otherwise, if that guy surnamed Wang sent reeds two more times, the reeds piled up at home by those who tied slowly would be wasted.

Some people were anxious and rushed to tie reeds, while some ran to Li Long here, hoping he wouldn't collect reed bundles from outsiders anymore.

"Little Long, you are a person of the Fourth Team. If you have work, you should definitely prioritize the Fourth Team. This collection of outsiders' reed bundles makes outsiders earn the money, and people in our team will have opinions, saying you are turning your elbows out!"

Li Long laughed when he heard this.

"My task will be finished in less than ten days. Now the number of reed bundles sent by people in our team is getting fewer and fewer. In this way, if I can't complete the task, will the team pay the fine for me?"

That person shut his mouth at that time.

Damn it, just wanting others to think for you, then have you thought for others? (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 561 =====