Chapter 638

In the latter half of April, the busy farming season began, with land leveling, sowing, and watering following one after another.

The busiest person in the Fourth Team was Wang Cai Mi, who had completely turned the team's old crawler Dongfanghong-75 tractor into his own.

For the past two years, he had plowed, sown, leveled, and harrowed all two or three thousand mu of land in the village, charging for every task.

In the last two years, the team had contracted production to households, and with the few times a year they could earn cash following Li Long, everyone didn't owe him those machine cultivation fees.

However, while he earned a lot, he spent a lot too. A single tractor cost tens of thousands, plus the plows, seeders, harrows, and so on; after all that, almost all the money Wang Cai Mi earned in two years was poured into it.

The most troublesome thing was that the tractor broke down too easily. Nobody knew how many years old the machine was; it would break down as soon as he started it, and once broken, it had to be repaired. It was fine if it could be fixed, but if not, he had to replace parts, and parts cost money.

People in the team knew Wang Cai Mi made money driving the tractor and all said he was a ten-thousand-yuan household, but only he knew the actual bitterness. He really didn't live as carefree a life as Li Long.

But everyone had their own path, and he had nothing to complain about. Right now, he only had one thought: save up money as quickly as possible to buy a new tractor.

He had had enough of this old Dongfanghong-75 that was probably older than he was.

Of course, he couldn't say this; if he did, others would curse him to death.

Although Wang Cai Mi's family earned money, their life remained the same. The clothes they wore weren't patched, but they weren't new either. They hadn't even bought a bicycle; the children still walked to school, and the family courtyard hadn't been properly renovated.

This made many people think he was too stingy, earning so much money and not knowing how to improve his life.

Although some mocked him, Wang Cai Mi just smiled and didn't reply.

He did his work as usual and repaired his vehicle as usual. If others spoke, he just smiled at those he knew well, and ignored those he didn't.

Li Long quite admired this guy; his inner strength was truly immense.

Even later, when he had probably earned over a million, he still wore those same ragged work clothes, and his home still looked just as messy.

You couldn't tell at all that he had such high net worth.

Later, the Fourth Team's land grew from three thousand to four thousand to five thousand mu, and the team added another dilapidated 802 tractor.

Before the high-horsepower tractors came out, Wang Cai Mi's tractor was always the main force for plowing in the team, and that 802 seemed to have even more problems than the Dongfanghong-75.

He earned the big money, and when idle, he earned the small money too. When Li Long returned and ran into Wang Cai Mi, he half-jokingly asked Li Long if he could call him next time they wove carrying poles.

Li Long refused, saying jokingly: "When it's time to weave carrying poles, where would you find the time? Don't you have to properly repair your set of tractors, plows, and such? Otherwise, when it's time to plow later, will your tractor even move?"

Wang Cai Mi stopped talking.

Every year after the sowing season passed, he had to give the tractor a major overhaul and check all the agricultural machinery to ensure they were barely functional by the time autumn came.

Li Long was right; he was never idle during the farming off-season.

He sighed; there was no other way.

Li Long returned to the team to discuss the candidates for going into the mountains with his older brother.

Listening to Li Xiangqian's implication, there might really be three thousand carrying poles to weave this year, so ten people definitely wouldn't be enough.

It wasn't that he didn't want his own people to earn more money, but the season was just that short—only one month. Otherwise, it would delay farming work, which people couldn't handle, and besides, whether it was the prefecture cooperative or the county cooperative, there were time limits for this task.

He didn't know much about who in the village could do the work and who couldn't, so he had to consult his older brother.

In fact, after Li Xiangqian said he could decide the number of carrying poles, Li Long, after his excitement, thought about whether he could expand the weaving work outside the village.

He could call Liang Wenyu over, or call people from Qingshuihe Village.

It wasn't that he didn't want the people in his own village to earn money. Regarding the people weaving carrying poles, Li Long's intention was to prefer quality over quantity.

He knew very well what kind of character some people in the village had. There were quite a few who would push their luck, who didn't know their own limits, and who wanted to earn money without wanting to put in the effort.

He wouldn't indulge these people.

The benefits brought to the team in the last two years were obvious, and most people were quite grateful for Li Long's "righteous deeds," but some always thought Li Long couldn't get work done without them.

Li Long felt that some people just needed to be kept in check.

In the courtyard, Li Jianguo was tending to the vegetable garden. The family's ration land and contracted land had all been planted, and the last to be sown was the watermelon.

After the field work was done, the next tasks were in the courtyard. Anyway, in the countryside, as long as you wanted to work, there was never an end to it.

Li Long arrived at the vegetable garden ready to help, but Li Jianguo hurriedly told him to get out:

"Don't step on it. That's a row of Chinese mustard planted there. The seeds were brought back from our hometown by Father; we forgot about them last year, and only remembered when we were going through our luggage this year."

At that time, vegetable seeds naturally weren't as comprehensive or convenient as in later generations. The things planted in vegetable gardens were basically seeds saved by the families themselves. Although agricultural supply companies or specialized seed companies had seeds, there weren't many.

Otherwise, there wouldn't have been the matter of the seed company asking Li Long to help save watermelon seeds.

Fortunately, Li Long knew that the situation would get better and better.

Li Long felt a bit awkward; he hadn't done much farm work in the last two years, and he was a bit rusty with things in the vegetable garden.

He simply stopped working, squatted at the edge of the field, pinched a chive leaf, and while pulling at it, stated his thoughts.

Li Jianguo put down the rake, thought for a moment, and said:

"If you're talking about people in the team who can weave carrying poles, gathering them all together, getting thirty or fifty people wouldn't be a problem. But you're right; if you really gather so many people, they certainly won't all listen to Xie Yun Dong. Some people just don't listen, and there's nothing you can do about that."

"So I was thinking, let's have two groups in the team, twenty people at most, and for the rest, let Wenyu find five people from their team, and I'll find a few from Qingshuihe, so that thirty people can go into the mountains."

"Each of their groups will have someone in charge, and I'll just be in charge of collecting the carrying poles. I won't get involved in the management; how about that?"

"Hmm, management." Li Jianguo thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "Then besides Xie Yun Dong, who else are you going to have lead in the team?"

"Daqiang? Dacheng?" Li Long thought of two people.

"No, Daqiang can't keep them in line, and Dacheng can't either." Li Jianguo shook his head.

"Then older brother, you lead?" Li Long joked.

"I'm not managing anything. If I go, I'll just weave; I'm not doing the leading... You'd be better off asking Haijun to lead."

"Haijun... Haijun is back?" Li Long was a bit surprised. Soldiers at this time served for three years or more, and those who extended their service or became volunteers served even longer.

Xu Haijun had only been gone for two years.

"I don't know the situation, but he's back and staying at home. You should go find him. Although he hasn't been in the team for two years, those young people still listen to him." Li Jianguo gave Li Long this suggestion.

Actually, if possible, team leader Xu Chengjun would be the best candidate, but Xu Chengjun couldn't possibly go.

Li Long himself could command respect, but he clearly didn't want to pick up this troublesome task, so he had to find someone else.

Since Xu Haijun was back, Li Long really intended to go find him. If he was willing, that would naturally be the best.

Xu Haijun was stacking mud bricks in the courtyard. He was wearing the white undershirt with red characters issued by the military, sweating quite a bit, and wearing his green military cap backward, looking quite cool.

Not having seen him for two years, Xu Haijun was clearly more robust than before, but one could also see that he seemed to struggle a bit when moving the mud bricks.

But that was normal; after all, the molded mud bricks were as heavy as three or four red bricks, and one had to be careful not to break them when moving them.

"Haijun," Li Long greeted him from outside the courtyard.

Xu Haijun turned his head to see Li Long, first feeling a burst of joy, then revealing a bitter smile.

When he left the team for the military, he was full of ambition, wanting to achieve great things in the army.

He didn't expect to return early after only two years, and only after returning did he realize that the team had undergone tremendous changes.

Li Long, whom he had initially looked down upon and later saw some changes in, had actually become the core figure stirring up this storm. Right now, not only had he bought a tractor, but he was also driving a jeep.

And he had married Gu Xiaoxia, who had become a state cadre, and had become a city dweller.

Even Tao Daqiang's family, whom they had looked down upon, had bought a tractor, married a wife, and had children.

And what about himself, the core figure among this group back then? He had instead become a marginal figure. After returning, Xu Haijun chatted with a few peers from back then and heard mixed reviews about these two people.

People like Huang Siping, because they hadn't borrowed money, were naturally dissatisfied and full of complaints about the two.

There were also many fair evaluations from others; after all, it was Li Long who led the team to earn a lot of money.

Xu Haijun learned in detail about the changes in the team over the past two years from his family and friends, and about the things Li Long had done, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart at these accomplishments.

He really had seized every node; the money earned was truly satisfying.

But after sighing, he still had to strive for his own little life.

Xu Haijun was the eldest in his family; he wasn't married yet, and had a younger brother and a younger sister below him. His younger brother had already stopped going to school and was following him to work, also thinking about joining the army, while his younger sister was learning tailoring after graduating from junior high.

He hadn't felt it before, but upon returning, he felt there wasn't enough living space, so he took advantage of the end of sowing to mold some mud bricks, intending to build a small room next to his family's main house to live in himself.

When Li Long came over, he was moving mud bricks and preparing to call someone to mix mud.

Even if Li Long hadn't come to find him, he had intended to find the Li family. Building a house required wood, and he wanted to make a trip into the mountains to get some. Right now, several families in the team had tractors, but Li Long seemed to be the only one who could get wood from the mountains.

At a glance /p>

At present, horse-drawn carts and donkey carts were the main transport for each family in the Fourth Team, but everyone envied the tractors and wanted to own one too.

Xu Haijun had returned from the military thinking his horizons would certainly be much broader than those of the villagers, and that even if he were discharged early, he would definitely be able to show his talents and accomplish something great.

But after returning, he discovered that the team had already undergone tremendous changes, changes that even made him feel a bit outdated.

Even in his development plan, it would only be possible to buy a tractor in two or three years.

He didn't expect that after returning, he would find that even Tao Daqiang, whom he looked down upon, had already bought a tractor.

So, facing Li Long, Xu Haijun's feelings were very complicated.

The two chatted for a while; Li Long talked about the process of how he earned money, and Xu Haijun talked about his life in the military.

"You know, I had high aspirations, wanting to take first place in everything in the army, but I trained too hard and ended up injuring myself. I couldn't stay anymore, so I had to come back."

Sitting on the mud bricks, Xu Haijun said with a bitter smile:

"I was in the reconnaissance company; if you really want to talk about it, the training was truly exhausting." Xu Haijun complained, then sighed, "But to be honest, it really tempered people; everyone who came out of there was... an expert."

Li Long believed this.

At that time, there was no such thing as special forces in the military, or rather, the scouts of that time were the predecessors of special forces. After all, until the end of the century, many people represented domestic troops in world scout competitions.

Special forces training, could it not be exhausting?

It was normal to be exhausted. At that time, there was no such thing as scientific training; if it didn't kill you, you trained until you died—that was the saying, right?

Li Long felt this topic wasn't suitable to continue, so he brought up his purpose:

"I'm going to be collecting carrying poles again soon. Are you interested in finding a few people to go into the mountains together?"

"Me? Find people?" Xu Haijun didn't understand Li Long's meaning.

When he went to join the army, Li Long didn't have such great capabilities yet; he was just catching and selling fish and doing small business.

"I'm considered a staff member of the supply and marketing cooperative," Li Long explained, "and the cooperative has a task to collect carrying poles. My meaning is, you find a few people in the team you think are suitable and know how to weave carrying poles, and go into the mountains to weave them. I'll go find you periodically to collect them; of course, the quality must be up to standard."

"I heard you used to look for Xie Yun Dong, didn't you?" Xu Haijun had also inquired about some news.

"There are many tasks this year; Brother Xie Yun Dong is going to lead one team, and I was thinking you could lead one too. Of course, you have to find people you think are suitable and whom you can manage, and you have to stay in the mountains for at least a month; I don't know if you can stay that long."

"That's naturally no problem. When we were training, ten days or half a month in the wild was a common occurrence." Xu Haijun waved his hand:

"I also know how to weave carrying poles, though my craftsmanship isn't great."

"You can manage them while they weave," Li Long said. "If the quality control is good, I'll give you extra money separately."

"Then how much for one carrying pole?" Xu Haijun asked another key question.

"Four yuan each last year," Li Long said. "It's not certain this year, but it won't be less than that."

"Can one weave... four or five a day?" Xu Haijun calculated; that was quite a bit of money!

His monthly allowance was only a dozen yuan!

If this was woven well, one day would equal his monthly allowance!

"Hmm, my older brother could weave five or six a day last year." Li Long said with a smile.

Although Xu Haijun was discharged and had a discharge fee, it really wasn't enough if he wanted to build a house and had other plans.

"I'll do it, I'll do it." Xu Haijun gritted his teeth.

"Then you'd better consult with Brother Xie Yun Dong so you don't call the same people," Li Long said. "In addition, the quality of the carrying poles must be strict, otherwise it won't look good for anyone if they are returned."

"You can rest assured about this; if I don't understand, I'll just go find Xie Yun Dong directly." Xu Haijun knew.

The matter was settled just like that. Li Long told Xu Haijun to contact people first and then prepare things. If he didn't know what to prepare, he should go ask Xie Yun Dong.

Now that the shoots in the mountains had grown out, Li Long guessed that this work should come down very soon.

Watching Li Long drive away in the jeep, it was impossible for Xu Haijun not to feel envious.

After all, in his unit, only regimental-level leaders could ride in this kind of jeep.

He felt a bit regretful that he hadn't asked Li Long how he got this car.

Thinking about it, he smiled bitterly again. Why think so much? He didn't even have the ability to buy a tractor, let alone a jeep.

But thinking that if he led people to work this time, earning a few hundred yuan in a month, at least buying a bicycle would be more than enough.

And getting some wood back to build a house along the way shouldn't be a problem, right?

Thinking of these things, Xu Haijun felt much lighter when moving the mud bricks.

Li Long didn't stop and drove the tractor to the Liang family.

After telling Liang Wenyu about the matter, Liang Wenyu was very interested, but he didn't agree immediately, turning his head to look at Liang Donglou, who was working in the vegetable garden.

"Go... you can go." Liang Donglou knew this was Li Long creating an opportunity for his son to earn money, and of course, it wasn't just about earning money. Since Liang Wenyu had become the village Youth League secretary, tempering him was also one aspect; wasn't management ability tempered just like this?

Of course, he also had concerns.

"But Wenyu isn't skilled at weaving carrying poles."

"That's fine." Li Long smiled. "I want Wenyu to go; for one, I'm thinking about management. I might need a large quantity of carrying poles this time, and the people in our team might not be enough. Of course, this is just talk for now; if the quantity comes down and it's not that large, this matter might stop."

"I know, I know." Liang Wenyu knew Li Long was playing it safe and immediately indicated he understood.

"Then let's talk about the possibilities." Li Long watched the puppy run over and rub against his feet, so he squatted down to pet it and continued:

"Wenyu just needs to find suitable people, people he can manage, and then supervise them while they weave. Last year, one carrying pole was four yuan; if Wenyu goes this year, I'll give him five yuan each, and you give them four yuan, taking a one-yuan cut in the middle. Calculate it, and after a month, it won't be a small amount earned."

Taking a cut as an intermediary was a very normal thing. Even ten or twenty years later, those who organized people from the interior to pick cotton in Northern Xinjiang still took cuts.

So it sounded normal right now.

"One person can weave over a hundred in a month? Then if I lead five people..."

Liang Wenyu calculated and was startled.

This was no small number.

"Let's calculate it like this for now." Li Long smiled. "Wait for my news; as soon as the quantity is confirmed, I'll come to notify you. You find people in the team yourself; you know in your heart what kind of people to find for this. If there isn't that much quantity, I'll come to tell you too."

Liang Wenyu indicated he understood.

Li Long didn't go to tell Meng Hai in advance, as there was no exact number right now.

He didn't intend to let anyone else in the team know about him finding outsiders.

Otherwise, there would definitely be people in the team cursing him. Although he didn't care, if he could avoid it, it was better to avoid it.

He was also thinking about dividing the people into three gullies, where they wouldn't see each other; that would be best. (End of chapter)