Chapter 781: The Understanding Xu Haijun, the Confident Liang Wenyu

After Xu Haijun got the news from Li Long and returned to the Xu family's family banquet, he didn't reveal the news. And after Xu Jianjun's tossing and turning, the Xu family's wine couldn't be drunk anymore.

After all, except for him, everyone else had benefited from the Li family to some extent. Xu Dejun and Xu Haijun had organized the *taibazi* (a type of manual labor team), not to mention Xu Chengjun, who directly took the watermelon seeds, planted twenty *mu*, sold them after the harvest, and became one of the few people in the team to buy a tractor.

Even Xu Jianjun himself had organized the *taibazi* following Li Long, but he was unconvinced, which was why the current problem existed.

Everyone couldn't openly criticize him, but listening to him criticize the Li family, the wine was drunk very awkwardly. In the end, Xu Chengjun couldn't listen anymore and drove him away.

The wine party broke up.

It was the New Year, and after drinking such a meal, to be honest, several people were not very happy. Xu Dejun wanted to ask Xu Haijun what he had said to Li Long, but was too embarrassed to ask, intending to ask in private later.

Xu Haijun stayed to help clean up the table and didn't leave. After cleaning up, Xu Chengjun asked:

"Speak, what's the matter?"

"Brother, can you lend me your tractor for two days?"

"What for? What method did Li Long teach you?" Xu Chengjun knew as soon as he heard it that this matter was related to Li Long.

It was definitely impossible to hide it. Xu Haijun told Li Long's idea directly and then said his own thoughts: "I think we can try it. Anyway, there's still some time before planting, and it will take ten days or so for the snow to melt, so we might as well go and see.

Even if we don't run into Mongolian gazelles, we'll just waste some fuel money. If we run into a large herd, we'll get a few hundred yuan somehow!"

In 1985, a few hundred yuan was equivalent to more than half a year's income for an ordinary farmer.

It was very worth it. At this time, a small four-wheeled tractor could run about seventy kilometers on a tank of fuel, an eight-liter fuel tank. Running a trip to the north, back and forth, would only use two or three tanks of fuel.

At the current fuel price, it was less than one yuan per liter, so a trip would cost less than twenty yuan in fuel. According to what Li Long said, as long as they hit one Mongolian gazelle, they would have earned it.

"How do you plan to hunt? It can't just be you alone, right?"

"Then who else could it be? Call a few among the brothers?"

Xu Haijun didn't want to say he wanted to call the people he had called when he organized the *taibazi* initially; this good thing had to be the turn of his own family anyway.

"What about the guns?"

"Borrow from someone... Brother, can you get them?"

"Semi-automatic?"

"I want to get a submachine gun. If we can really run into a large herd, then short bursts are better than semi-automatic shooting one by one. The bullets are powerful, and if you hit them, they basically can't run."

"Alright, you've thought it through quite thoroughly. I'll participate in this matter, I'll solve the guns and bullets. We'll leave on the fourth day of the New Year, how about that? People... you, me, call at most two more, otherwise, we won't hit anything and it will easily lead to arguments."

"Good!"

Xu Haijun understood, that was him and Xu Chengjun, and each would call one more person. Next, it was to do the preparatory work.

It wasn't a blind run, they had to find people who had been to the sand dunes in the north to inquire. Li Jianguo and Li Long had definitely been there, but they couldn't ask, so they would find others in the team; there were always people who had been there.

On the second day of the New Year, Li Long went to the Gu family, while Xu Haijun went to Old Tian's house in the team.

Old Tian was an old party member and could be considered to have traveled north and south, so he was the clearest about the situation in the vicinity.

Xu Chengjun went to the third team on the third day of the New Year, and went to the township in the afternoon. When he returned, several guns had already been prepared at home.

Then he had Mingwa call Xu Haijun and the others to his house, and they started cleaning the guns.

On the second day of the New Year, Li Jianguo drove the tractor, pulling Liang Yuemei, Li Juan, and Li Qiang to the Liang family. At home were the two elders, Li Jianguo's family, and Chen Xingbang's family. The two women cooked, and lunch was also a drink.

Chen Xingbang had earned a lot of money this year. When selling beef and mutton, he could always get something good for himself, so the whole family ate very well. On the contrary, Li Jianguo's family was slightly worse off, but fortunately, the sense of comparison that Chen Xingbang had just stirred up was suppressed by Li Qing Xia.

In front of the elders, the foundation of the second son and the daughter's family didn't count for much! Not counting the eldest and the youngest, his own family foundation was thicker than both of these families.

"If you can work, work. If you can't, then come over, find a way to get your household registration in this team. Let's not talk about Xiao Long, look at your eldest brother, how well he lives! Eating meat every day, if he wants, he drinks every day. As long as you exert some strength, you can earn money every day!"

The old man spoke firmly and slowly changed his concepts, mainly because Li Long and Li Jianguo's lives made him understand that iron rice bowls, worker indicators, and the like, really weren't necessarily better than farmers.

Although Chen Xingbang had the heart to refute, he had no way to refute. After all, every word the old man said was the truth.

Although he was better off in Shicheng than in his hometown and earned money, and the family ate well, compared to his brother-in-law, he was truly busy, busy all year round, with almost no rest time.

Li Jianguo was different. He was busy in spring, summer, and autumn, and rested in winter. This winter in Northern Xinjiang could last four or five months, half a year!

Busy for half a year and idle for half a year, and this life was better than his own, what could he do?

So he smiled and toasted the old man while saying: "That's still better than in the hometown, being able to eat one's fill, being able to eat meat, no one bullying us anymore, life is already very good."

"Exactly, exactly, life is already very good." Li Jianguo thought it was the same, and at the same time, he made a decision for himself.

Li Long gave him money to change to the big courtyard. He had looked at it during this period, but hadn't made up his mind yet. Last night, Chen Li Rong had unintentionally said that the house in this village was indeed bigger and more convenient than the one they lived in. Li Jianguo now thought that he should indeed change to a courtyard.

He was even thinking that he was also idle in winter, so should he find other odd jobs to do when he was idle next winter, so as to earn an extra salary and make life better?

At the Liang family, this year was as lively as in previous years. Although Du Haihua used to look down on Li Jianguo and would sarcastically criticize him from time to time, the relationship between the children was very good.

Du Tengyuan was younger than Li Juan and older than Li Qiang. Last year, Liang Xingmei gave birth to another daughter, so this year's lunch was cooked by Liang Yuemei and her mother Chen Xiuzhu, who had rushed over early. Liang Xingmei was holding her daughter, Little Yu—her formal name was Du Tengyu—watching and chatting on the side. Li Juan, Li Qiang, and Du Tengyuan ran outside to play.

Du Tengyuan was from the village and usually played with the children in the village, but unlike others, he didn't have siblings—his younger sister Little Yu was still small and couldn't be brought out at all.

Today there was an extra older sister and younger brother, and he was showing off outside.

The men were chatting in the inner room. Today Du Haihua was very low-key, and Li Jianguo of course didn't take the initiative to speak much, so it was Liang Wenyu's home court.

In the past, Liang Donglou helped his two sons-in-law, and also hoped that when he got old, his two sons-in-law could help his son.

Liang Wenyu wasn't the type who was strong and powerful. After graduation, he was in the village, and his father had high prestige, so he was basically under protection. Therefore, if there were really arrogant people bullying him, he didn't have the martial power or the courage to protect himself or his family.

But last year, Li Long took him to organize the *taibazi* and let him take a few people. Just this one thing gave Liang Wenyu an opportunity, not only calling the few young people he had the best relationship with to earn money, but also establishing prestige among the young people in the village.

When organizing the *taibazi*, his own courage was also trained. When he came back, his actions became much more confident.

Although he wasn't tall and his figure wasn't strong, the momentum in his speech and actions slowly appeared, which made Liang Donglou very happy to see.

Plus, having a tractor, he earned a sum of money harvesting wheat in July and August, and just like that, he directly became a first-tier family in the village.

Usually, he had confidence when speaking, and Liang Wenyu also became more confident. In winter, the Liang family became a gathering point for girls and boys. This kind of change was something Liang Donglou was happy to see.

He only occasionally told his son not to be too ostentatious and to communicate more with his eldest brother-in-law and the others when he had nothing to do. In the eyes of the young people in the village, Liang Wenyu was considered first-class, but it was hard to say once he left the village.

Liang Wenyu himself of course knew this, so this time when Li Jianguo came, he wasn't just speaking, he was also asking.

"Eldest brother-in-law, are we still organizing the *taibazi* this year?"

"We should be. However, Xiao Long said that in the last two years, handcarts have started to appear in big cities, like those two-wheeled carts. The *taibazi* won't be able to be woven for many more years." Li Jianguo said Li Long's words.

"Sigh, then we'll see later."

"Wenyu, if we still organize it this year, call me then." Du Haihua interjected, "When I was young, I was also very fast at weaving that thing."

"That's no problem." Liang Wenyu said, "It's just that the requirements are strict, don't say I don't show affection then—it's not easy for Xiao Long to get this work for us. If the quality of the weaving is not up to standard, I have to return it without Xiao Long saying anything, otherwise, it will be embarrassing if it's not up to standard when handed over."

In the past, Liang Wenyu wouldn't have spoken to his second brother-in-law like this—but he knew that ugly words had to be said first.

Before Du Haihua could refute, Liang Donglou spoke up:

"How are you talking to your brother-in-law? When the time comes, explain the quality requirements well. Doesn't Tengyuan's dad know what to do? Family supports family, the requirements are definitely according to the requirements, Wenyu, your words don't sound good."

Alright, Du Haihua understood. He could go, but don't even think about wanting to rely on his brother-in-law's relationship to mix money.

However, there was little land in the team here, and unlike the fourth team which had a small lake, it was really not easy for villagers to get rich. Last autumn, after the watermelon seeds were harvested, he found Liang Donglou, wanting to get watermelon seeds to plant this year, but Liang Donglou said that planting them this year would definitely lose money.

Du Haihua didn't believe it, so now he asked Li Jianguo again.

"Eldest brother-in-law, can we really not plant watermelon seeds this year?"

"You can definitely plant them, but you won't be able to sell them after planting." Li Jianguo shook his head and said, "This year, there are nearly a thousand *mu* of watermelon seeds prepared to be planted in our team alone. How much can be harvested? The nearby state-owned and private roasting factories can only handle the production of two or three hundred *mu* of land at most. What to do with the excess?

If you want to sell them, you have to be cheap. The problem is that this thing isn't like grain, which you can eat as long as it doesn't spoil. What's the use of keeping these watermelon seeds? Unless you take them to other big cities to find a market, but we don't have this channel..."

Du Haihua gave up, and then felt a bit resentful toward Li Jianguo. Clearly, there was an opportunity to get rich with him last year, but he gave the seeds to the Liang family and didn't give them to him.

He didn't think about how he usually squeezed Li Jianguo. When Li Jianguo gave the seeds to the Liang family, he actually thought that if Du Haihua knew the news and took the initiative to ask him for watermelon seeds, he would share some with him.

But Du Haihua had a big ego and wanted to wait for Li Jianguo to send them over, but ended up waiting for nothing.

By the time he went to ask for seeds, it was already too late, and Li Jianguo didn't have any seeds left either.

This was awkward.

Liang Xingmei complained that Du Haihua had lost the opportunity to earn money for the sake of that bit of face. If their own family could also plant a crop of watermelon seeds, they could also afford a tractor this year and follow Liang Wenyu to harvest wheat and earn money.

Now everyone understood that as long as there was a small four-wheeled tractor and a combine harvester, money would roll in—after all, at this time, the mainstream was still planting wheat, corn, sunflowers, etc.

After all, they had to pay public grain. Now farmers hadn't reached the point of buying wheat to pay public grain like ten-plus years later; everyone's public grain was planted by themselves to pay.

After planting wheat, harvesting was a big problem.

Those who hadn't harvested wheat really didn't know that kind of bitterness. Those who had harvested it, I'm afraid, would never forget it in their lifetime, and would never want to suffer that kind of bitterness again in their lifetime.

So combine harvesters were definitely profitable. In this way, money would be earned more and more, a ten-thousand-yuan household in one or two years, how good, how beautiful!

"Then what are you preparing to plant this year? What about Xiao Long's side?"

"Most of Xiao Long's land is given to me to plant. Besides grain, I plan to plant some sunflowers, which are easier to sell than watermelon seeds." Li Jianguo also spoke the truth, "Xiao Long himself has a piece of saline-alkali land. He invited a professor from the agricultural college to guide him, saying he plans to try planting sugar beets."

"Planting sugar beets? They are easy to sell, but they aren't worth much." Du Haihua also knew about sugar beets. After all, the sugar factory was right there.

"He plants sugar beets just because he doesn't want to waste that land. After all, he has a horse corral, raising so many cattle, sheep, deer, wild boars, etc., so he can just feed what he grows to these guys."

"Then I'll also plant sunflowers, what about the seeds?"

"Look for them on the market, or buy them in each village. I don't have many here. If the county seed company doesn't have them, you can go to Shicheng to see."

Li Jianguo could offer ideas, but he wasn't a nanny. If he had them, he would naturally share them if a relative asked. If he didn't have them, the relative would have to arrange it themselves.

"Then I'll also inquire. We'll also plant sunflowers this year!" Liang Wenyu immediately followed up, but then he realized he had spoken out of turn. He turned his head and glanced at his father Liang Donglou. Liang Donglou didn't refute, but nodded and said:

"Plant, plant five *mu* of land."

The village here went by head count, and each family also had five *mu* of ration land, but there was much less land that could be contracted. The Liang family competed to contract fifteen *mu*, and there was surplus land.

Plus, having a tractor, there was no worry about planting land. Unlike some families who didn't even have a donkey cart now, the grain they planted had to be pulled by borrowing other people's carts.

"Preparing to eat." Liang Yuemei carried a plate of dishes over and said, "Jianguo, tidy up the table..."

"How can I let the eldest brother-in-law tidy up? I'll do it, I'll do it!" Liang Wenyu took over the conversation and said with a smile, "Today you are guests, I feel embarrassed to let you cook, eldest sister..."

"Then hurry up and find a wife. Look, Xiao Long already has two sons..."

"How can I compare to him?" Liang Wenyu felt a bit dejected when he heard this. He really couldn't compare to him in anything.

However, he had long since extinguished the thought of comparing.

That night, Chen Xingbang's family slept in the room where Li Juan and Li Qiang used to live. Squeezing into a big bed wasn't anything.

When eating breakfast the next day, Li Long said he would send the second brother's and sister's families away before coming back to pick up Gu Gu Xiaoxia, but Li Jianguo refused.

"You guys go back later, I've already warmed up the tractor, I'll just drive the tractor and send them to the bus station together in a while."

Li Jianguo couldn't bear to see Li Long running back and forth and being tired. The second brother and the younger sister could be considered to have come here with great difficulty, and it was indeed hard work, but Li Long running back and forth from time to time was also hard work.

To put it bluntly, in the last two years, it was almost Li Long who was paying, giving this one and giving that one, and several brothers and sisters were enjoying the benefits he gave. It was impossible to always let the younger brother be tired.

Although Chen Xingbang was a bit dissatisfied, he couldn't say anything. The brother-in-law had spoken, what could he say?

Li Long knew that the eldest brother was feeling sorry for him, so he didn't refute anything. He actually also wanted to leave later.

Returning to the big courtyard, Aunt Yang and Han Fang immediately rushed up, each holding one, and hugged Ming and Hao down, kissing them incessantly.

"It's only been three days." Li Long got out of the car and said with a smile, "So close?"

"That's for sure." Aunt Yang said while carrying the child into the room, "Not to mention three days, I miss them even if I don't see them for one day! Hurry into the room, the meal is already cooked, prepare to eat!"

The next day, Gu Gu Xiaoxia went to work, and Li Long rested at home. He planned to go into the mountains in two days to tell Halimu and the others about the snow lotus matter, and incidentally send them some vegetables.

The vegetables that could be bought on the market at the moment were the hoarded radishes, cabbage, onions, potatoes, and the like. Anyway, everyone ate like this.

As a result, before he left, on the sixth day of the New Year, Xu Haijun drove Xu Chengjun's tractor over.

When knocking on the door, Li Long was still wondering who had driven the tractor over. Opening the door and seeing it was him, he was a bit surprised. Then smelling the skins in the tractor's bucket, Li Long understood.

"Not bad, the New Year hasn't even passed yet, there are still people setting off firecrackers outside, and you guys have already hunted once?"

"Hmm, better early than late." Xu Haijun was very excited, turned his head and pointed to the skins in the tractor bucket and said:

"Hit seventeen, take a look and give a price."

He was very excited. According to Li Long's previous statement, the worst was twenty-one, and this trip meant each person could share about one hundred.

Of course, he and Xu Chengjun had to share more, mainly because one came up with the idea, and the other provided the car and the gun.

"Drive it in, drive it in." Li Long opened the big gate and said, "Come in and I'll calculate it for you. Are there any full skins?"

"What full skins?" Xu Haijun asked while driving the tractor.

"That is, skins without gun holes, the kind hit on the head or neck. That's expensive, forty-five each. Those with gun holes on the body are residual skins, twenty or thirty."

"Full skins... seems like there are two, one hit by me, one hit by my brother." Xu Haijun was a bit regretful, but there was no way. If he wanted to hit full skins, he definitely couldn't hit so many.

Thinking about it, it was already enough.

There was also Xu Dejun on the car, who was there to guard the skins.

The car entered and stopped, turning off the engine. Xu Haijun and Xu Dejun carried the skins down, and Li Long looked at them one by one.

There were not only skins on the car, but also two Mongolian gazelle *kelangzi* (a term for the stomach/intestines).

"The gazelle is a gift for you. If it weren't for you coming up with this idea, I wouldn't have been able to earn this money." Xu Haijun said sincerely.

Fine, quite sensible. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 782 =====