Chapter 571

The morning after Li Long returned from the Liang family, he went to the team.

There really was nothing to do in the team during winter. Right now, except for the occasional person catching fish in the Little Haizi, or people with nothing to do going to the Red Willow Beach on the east side to snare rabbits, everyone was basically hunkered down at home.

After all, with such heavy snow, there was nothing to do.

When Li Long passed by the Reed Lake, he found that even the reed stalks were gone from the Reed Lake.

Anything that could be sold for money had been cut away. The people of the Fourth Team were still very persistent about making money to improve their lives.

Driving the tractor back to his own courtyard, Li Long opened the door and went in, finding the house quite warm.

There was a fire in the stove, and it was burning quite vigorously.

At this time, Li Jianguo had already walked over. Entering the house and seeing Li Long standing by the stove, he said:

"Dad said to set up a stove every day, and your sister-in-law comes over to set it up. Burning one stove a day, at least the house won't be damp when you come back to live."

Although they had made full preparations when building the house, it was truly due to the environment; if no one lived in this house for a whole winter, by the time spring came and the house was opened, it was highly probable that alkali would grow on the ground.

Li Long said to Li Jianguo:

"I plan to go and talk to Xie Yun Dong and Liang Dacheng. Plus Daqiang's tractor, we will have five tractors in this area. I think Brother Xie Yun Dong and Liang Dacheng will agree. That's all for now; it's not easy to pick out others who can be trusted."

"Mm, even if you wanted more, there wouldn't be that much money," Li Jianguo was already surprised by Li Long's financial resources. Calculating it this way, supporting his father-in-law's family, plus buying two new tractors, and having to buy five combine harvesters, that would cost at least nearly 20,000 yuan.

His younger brother's foundation was really solid.

But in any case, he had spent almost everything this time.

He planned to pay for his own combine harvester himself.

After all, Li Jianguo had some foundation, and he could handle it without his father's money.

Li Jianguo suddenly felt a bit emotional; he hadn't expected that in just two years, he and his younger brother would be talking about things involving thousands or even tens of thousands.

Two years ago, how much money did the whole family have in a year? When Li Long went to work at the factory in Wucheng, part of the money sent through others at the time was borrowed.

Changes were too fast; he was a bit unaccustomed to it.

After Li Long went to the backyard to see his father and mother, he went to find Liang Dacheng first.

He didn't know if Xie Yun Dong was willing, but he guessed Liang Dacheng would definitely be willing.

Sure enough, after Liang Dacheng heard Li Long's idea, he immediately said:

"Xiao Long, you have to trust me, I'll take on your tractor. My grandfather's family is in Red Star Commune, and we brothers are all familiar with that side!

When the time comes, I'll go there to harvest wheat. As you said, I'll harvest two or three thousand mu of wheat in one wheat season. At two yuan per mu, I'll give you one!"

With Liang Dacheng making such a statement, Li Long smiled and said:

"That's fine. We are our own people, so there's no need to write any contracts. I'll buy the tractor next spring. It will be up to you then. I guarantee you'll be able to pay off the tractor and combine harvester in three years!"

Li Long told Liang Dacheng five years. The active life of a combine harvester was nearly ten years. In fact, five years later, combine harvesters would have already begun to enter the fields of ordinary farmers. By then, Li Long would have new money-making tools.

And Liang Dacheng wouldn't lose out either; in these three years, besides using the tractor for free, he could also earn quite a bit of money. Such a good thing was something one couldn't even ask for.

Li Long also believed in Liang Dacheng's character. These things were all done step by step, and in the process of dealing with Liang Dacheng over the past two years, Li Long felt he was worth trusting.

Xie Yun Dong's side was slightly troublesome.

It wasn't that he wasn't willing, but Li Long couldn't talk to him alone, so Xie Yun Dong and his wife had a disagreement over the mode of cooperation.

Xie Yun Dong leaned toward the second mode, but his wife was timid and cautious, feeling that the mode of working for Li Long to earn money was better—earning money for every day worked, without taking any risks. If the tractor had problems, Li Long would go fix it, and their family only needed to provide labor.

How good that was!

In the end, Xie Yun Dong was nagged by his wife until he lost his temper and scolded her directly. Xie Yun Dong's wife, Deng Guilan, couldn't save face in front of Li Long and went back to her maiden home crying.

Li Long was a bit embarrassed; this matter was caused by him.

"Brother Xie Yun Dong, I'll go back first, why don't you go find your wife?" This whole thing was a mess, making it seem like he had deliberately come to destroy their marital relationship.

"Xiao Long, no need. Women have long hair and short insight, don't mind it," Xie Yun Dong said. "She's used to being timid and just wants to live a peaceful life, but I can't. You've handed me this opportunity to get rich, and if I don't take it, what am I?"

"Sister-in-law isn't wrong either," Li Long pointed out first. "What women want is just for the family to be safe and sound. Xiaoxia is the same; every time I go into the mountains, she is also worried..."

"That's different," Xie Yun Dong shook his head. "Xiao Long, I know you have ability, and you have ability and a conscience. You are willing to help us, and I really thank you in my heart. You didn't treat me as an outsider.

Let me tell you, if this opportunity you mentioned were released, out of a hundred families, ninety-nine would choose the second one. This isn't just about working together to make money; you are dragging me onto the path of wealth. If I don't take it, I'd really be blind.

I know that since you've given this opportunity, in the future, this Fourth Team—or rather, not just this Fourth Team, but the whole township—our lives might be among the best.

In the future, the looks others give us will be different. If I let such an opportunity go, I would regret it for the rest of my life."

Since Xie Yun Dong was so firm, Li Long didn't worry about his relationship with his wife anymore.

He hadn't thought that much himself. To put it bluntly, the ancients had the habit of "when one person attains the Dao, their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven." Since he was rich, it was normal to bring the people around him to get rich together, right?

Otherwise, standing out from the crowd wouldn't look good, would it?

He also hoped that the people in the team would know that he would definitely not treat those who sincerely followed him badly.

After Li Long left, Xie Yun Dong was still in a state of excitement.

He was actually saving money too, thinking that by the year after next, he would have saved enough to buy a tractor.

So although he had earned some money following Li Long over the past two years, to be honest, he hadn't spent much, and his family's life wasn't even better than other families'.

Fortunately, Xie Yun Dong's wife didn't complain about anything. Her husband had ability and goals, and she supported him.

It was mainly that the conditions Li Long put forward today scared her; things that were too good were easily suspicious.

After Li Long left, Xie Yun Dong planned for a while in his mind. Since Li Long was buying the tractor, he could use a little of the family's money to improve their lives.

This way, his wife and children could live a little better; otherwise, he would really be letting her down.

Near lunchtime, Xie Yun Dong prepared the ingredients for cooking, intending to go to his father-in-law's house to bring his wife back. His wife was from the same village, and his father-in-law had a good relationship with Xie Yun Dong's father, so they had arranged the marriage.

Although he wasn't wrong, a man still had to show some responsibility; admitting a mistake to his wife at his father-in-law's house wasn't shameful.

Just as he stepped out, he saw his father-in-law leading his wife over. His father-in-law was still lecturing his wife as they walked:

"After you go back, apologize to Xie Yun Dong properly. What a good opportunity this is! How could they harm you? They are helping your family get rich!

Your narrow-mindedness only sees two meters in front of you! It's fine if you live a hard life, but what about my grandson? Are you planning to let him go to school wearing patched clothes?..."

Deng Guilan lowered her head and didn't say a word. She had probably come to her senses too. What could Li Long harm you for? Being careful was never wrong, but one should always try to live a better life, and one should always seize opportunities when they arise.

No one was wrong; it was just that their positions were different.

Xie Yun Dong's father-in-law, Deng Baoqing, didn't see Xie Yun Dong and continued to say:

"... A person might only have a few opportunities to turn their life around in a lifetime. If you seize one, you might suddenly live much better than others. Right now, this is such an opportunity for your family. If you don't seize it, you two will regret it for the rest of your lives..."

Xie Yun Dong suddenly felt that his father-in-law was a sensible person.

He immediately stepped forward. Deng Baoqing saw Xie Yun Dong and was about to speak, but Xie Yun Dong spoke first:

"Dad, I was just about to go pick up Weiwei's mother. I made her unhappy today..."

"You weren't wrong!" Deng Baoqing was about to say, but Xie Yun Dong hurriedly stopped him:

"No, no, regardless of right or wrong, I shouldn't have lost my temper with her at the time. I've prepared the meal ingredients, come on, let's go inside and talk..."

"I won't go. Since it's been cleared up, you two go back and cook. I have to go home; your mother has cooked the meal there, and I originally thought about coming to call you to go eat together."

Deng Baoqing saw that Xie Yun Dong was sincere, so he nodded. The most important thing for a family was harmony. At this time, he didn't need to emphasize that Xie Yun Dong was right. As long as the two had no conflict, the rest was a matter between husband and wife. Turning around to walk back, Deng Baoqing actually envied his son-in-law quite a bit. Being trusted and willing to be supported by Li Long, Xie Yun Dong really had good fortune.

Li Long was already at Tao Daqiang's house, having chatted for a while.

He didn't mention the cooperation to Tao Daqiang, just indicating that he would provide a combine harvester for Tao Daqiang so he could find a township to earn money harvesting wheat during the wheat season next year.

"Your child will be a bit older next year, easier to take care of," Li Long looked at Yang Pingping holding the baby, with Tao Daqiang sitting on the side listening to his words, and said, "You'll be able to go harvest wheat and earn money then too."

"Mm, okay." Tao Daqiang nodded vigorously.

"Have you saved enough money for the tractor? If not, take some from me?" Li Long said again.

"Enough," Tao Daqiang smiled honestly, "just waiting for spring to buy the tractor."

Yang Pingping saw the child looking at Li Long curiously and smiled, saying:

"Brother Long, do you want to hold her? Look, Xiuxiu has been looking at you."

Xiuxiu was the nickname of Tao Daqiang's child, and her face looked quite delicate.

"No, no, no," Li Long hurriedly waved his hand, "I don't dare to hold her... she's too small, and my arms and legs are clumsy, I'm afraid of hurting her."

!.

"Hahahaha..." Tao Daqiang laughed; he hadn't expected Li Long to have such an awkward moment either.

"As for harvesting wheat, besides me, my eldest brother, there are also Brother Xie Yun Dong and Liang Dacheng," Li Long told Tao Daqiang the bottom line. Among these people, besides his own family, they were the most trustworthy, so there was nothing he couldn't say:

"I plan for each person to be responsible for one township, finding townships where their own relatives or friends are. This way, working in sections makes it easier to earn money."

"Good." Tao Daqiang also felt this was better. He was even thinking about what it would be like when a row of tractors drove out of the production team during the wheat season next year.

Tao Daqiang and Yang Pingping both wanted to keep Li Long for a meal, but Li Long said his eldest brother's side had already prepared it, and he had things to do when he went back. After greeting Tao Jian She, he walked out of the Tao family's door.

Li Jianguo's side had really prepared the meal, so Li Long ate as soon as he returned.

Liang Yuemei made pulled noodles and specifically cooked soft noodles for her mother-in-law, Du Chunfang. Du Chunfang ate the soft noodles with a small plate of salted vegetables and meat, muttering with a smile:

"Making me a separate meal, what a bother..."

Liang Yuemei brought out a plate of noodles and, hearing this, said with a smile:

"What's the bother? It's just rolling the dough a couple more times. In this deep winter, besides cooking, it's feeding the pigs, and there's no work, so it's not a waste of effort."

Du Chunfang laughed.

Li Long also laughed. In this life, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship between his mother and sister-in-law was much better.

Thinking about the bad relationship in the previous life, it was mainly because of himself, right?

After eating, Li Long planned to rest for a while before returning to the county. Things here were going very smoothly, so he thought about getting the next step of work done as soon as possible.

However, after Du Chunfang finished eating, she pulled Li Long to talk. Yesterday, Du Chunfang and the others mainly went to see the pregnant Gu Xiaoxia and talked more with her.

Today, what Du Chunfang said was mainly emotional. Watching the family members all become successful one by one—the eldest and youngest both bought tractors, the second became a worker, and even the daughter and son-in-law became city dwellers.

Who would believe such a life if told back in the village in their hometown?

And eating meat every day? Back in their hometown, eating meat once every half a month was something one could proudly tell many people about.

Li Long thought that since he was free anyway, he would just chat with his mother. His mother usually didn't talk much, and since she was talking more for once, he couldn't spoil the fun.

Just as they were talking, someone pushed the door and came in. Li Long took a look; it was Wang Cai Mi.

The Li family was somewhat surprised. Li Jianguo's first reaction was that their family's machine plowing fee had already been paid, so what was this guy here for? He wouldn't be trying to collect it a second time, would he?

"Xiao Long is back." Wang Cai Mi was all smiles. "Are you back to prepare for slaughtering the New Year pig?"

Some people in the team had already begun slaughtering New Year pigs. Although it was still quite a while until the New Year, some families raising pigs didn't plan to feed them anymore. Feeding pigs in winter was troublesome, and the pigs didn't eat well; the water fed to them would be wasted by the pigs and then freeze into ice.

Li Jianguo actually had plans to slowly get rid of those pigs after getting the tractor. Becoming a specialized pig-raising household had indeed brought quite a bit of income to the family, but compared to the tractor, it didn't count for much.

After all, the two of them had limited energy and couldn't take care of both sides.

Families slaughtering pigs now were usually short of meat, but the Li family wasn't, and they had plenty of pig feed, so Liang Yuemei's idea was to slaughter them later. Otherwise, having no work to do all winter and just staying at home sewing shoe soles was really uncomfortable.

To use a common saying, it was just that they couldn't stay idle.

In later generations, grandmothers in their eighties or nineties in the team, as long as they could move, still wanted to work in the summer, move around, and really couldn't stay idle.

"No, slaughtering the pig will be a few days later," Li Long said. "Why did you come over?"

"Nothing, in winter, if there's nothing to do, you just visit around. Hearing the tractor sound, I thought you might be back." Wang Cai Mi found a stool and sat down, saying:

"I heard you plan to do a big job next year, getting more tractors. Have you thought about getting a crawler tractor?"

Li Long immediately understood Wang Cai Mi's meaning.

This guy was nervous; he must have heard that he had found Liang Dacheng, Xie Yun Dong, and others to help them buy tractors to do a big job, and he was worried that he would get another crawler tractor to steal his plowing work.

He really thought highly of himself!

A new Dongfanghong 75 cost at least 70,000 or 80,000; where could he afford to buy one?

Hmm—what if it were an old one?

But Li Long wasn't considering it; that thing had too much uncertainty, so he shook his head and said:

"I can't drive a crawler tractor; the only one in our team who can drive it smoothly is you. Right now, I'm not stealing your work; I'll just focus on harvesting wheat."

Wang Cai Mi didn't notice that Li Long said "right now." Hearing that Li Long was just focusing on harvesting wheat, he smiled and said:

"Good, good, good. Actually, plowing the land is really tiring. Don't look at how much money I earn; basically, it all goes into repairing the tractor. This year, this old tractor broke down in the fields more than thirty times, tiring me out..."

Although he said he was tired out, Wang Cai Mi's face was full of pride:

"Fortunately, it was all repaired later, otherwise the whole team's land wouldn't have been plowed."

"Then how many mu of land does the whole team have now?" Li Long had been too lazy to ask before, but now with Wang Cai Mi here, it was the best time to ask. His tractor had plowed, harrowed, leveled, and sown all the team's land, so he was the clearest about the acreage.

"Hey, you asked the right person. Now, no one in the whole team knows better than me how much land there is." Wang Cai Mi seemed to have been scratched in the right spot by Li Long, cleared his throat, and said:

"The registered land for the whole team is 2,432.5 mu, but there are actually 2,610 mu. The extra is what was newly opened up this year. They didn't report it; anyway, I just collect the money, and I don't care."

Those who could reclaim land were basically those whose allocated land was on both sides of the strip fields, so they could expand a bit to both sides, and everyone basically didn't care.

Who let their allocated land be right there?

The Li family had some too.

Wang Cai Mi knew Li Long wasn't buying a tractor, which put his mind at ease, and then he told Li Long that his younger brother's family was slaughtering a pig the day after tomorrow, and asked Li Long to come help if he had time.

Calling it helping was actually just eating the pork feast. In this day and age, those called to slaughter pigs were still familiar people; after all, if you barely invited people to eat their fill, you wouldn't want to benefit outsiders.

Li Long said he would see when the time came; he might not have time, and Wang Cai Mi didn't mind.

This was the goodwill he released, and it was enough for Li Long to receive it.

Li Long planned to wait until he went back to rest for two days, then go to Kuitun.

He didn't know if Factory Director Du had really started production. If not, he would have to make him work overtime to produce the combine harvesters he needed before next year's wheat season.

Wang Cai Mi came out of the Li family, very happy.

No one was competing with him for the plowing business; he was truly happy thinking about it.

He had earned quite a bit this year!

Several tens of thousands!

Although the tractor was really expensive, it earned a lot too! (End of chapter)