Chapter 861: Found another money cellar?

When Li Long drove back to Maxian, the sun had already set.

At this time, there were more cars from Wucheng to Shicheng and Maxian, and because the Wuyi Highway runs through Maxian, even though the direct bus to Maxian stopped selling tickets at six in the afternoon, Li Jianguo and the others bought tickets to Kushi—getting off halfway is fine, and they bought the Maxian ticket price, which is quite good.

After Li Long dropped Gu Xiaoxia and the others at the big courtyard, he drove the jeep to the bus station to wait. After waiting for more than half an hour, he waited for Li Jianguo and the others.

It seems that the driver of the afternoon bus also drove quite fast. It is mainly because there are few cars on the road now, and passengers don't have high requirements for the riding experience. Generally speaking, people sitting in the back are very bumpy, but they basically admit their bad luck.

The 80s and 90s should be considered the era when drivers were treated the best. Later, well, downhill.

Li Long drove Li Jianguo and the others back to the big courtyard. Sister Yang had already prepared the meal—and it was a super large amount. She knew that this big family would definitely be hungry when they came back, so she made preparations in advance.

"Sister Yang, you are really capable." Liang Yuemei said sincerely, "I see that this family of Without Xiao Long and Xiaoxia can't do without you."

"Hehe, that's nothing, what am I? Without Xiao Long has the ability to make money, and Xiaoxia is a national cadre, and the money given to me is a lot, so doing this little work is nothing..." Sister Yang was praised, pulled her apron, and was a little embarrassed.

Actually, she knew very well that in this big family, looking at Du Chunfang, she is Gu Xiaoxia's mother-in-law, but she doesn't manage things, and her contribution is almost invisible. Her eyes are completely on her son and grandson. Liang Yuemei is more like a substantial "mother-in-law". Getting her affirmation, Sister Yang is also quite proud.

After the meal, the sky was already dark. Li Jianguo started the tractor and wanted to take the family back. Li Long wanted to drive the jeep to send them, but was stopped by Li Qing Xia:

"You have been driving for a day, don't move for this little distance! It's cool for us to sit on the tractor and blow the wind! You don't move!"

Although they don't drive, they know that driving must be tiring. Li Long has been busy all day, taking care of others, can he not be tired?

They are all family, everyone is not blind, it is impossible not to see it, so after Li Qing Xia said this, even Gu Bo Yuan said:

"Without Xiao Long, you just stay honestly in the courtyard. Don't you trust your eldest brother driving the tractor? When he was driving the tractor, you were still peeing and playing with mud?"

This made Li Long blush, but he couldn't refute it.

On the contrary, Li Qiang said loudly and seriously:

"My little uncle wouldn't do that! My little uncle is powerful..."

Fine, Li Long has an extra little fan, which can be considered to have saved some face—in Li Qiang's mind, Li Long wouldn't do such low things. Look at the things his little uncle did when he came back from Wucheng that year, they were all big things, things he wanted to do but couldn't do because of his age.

As soon as Li Qiang said this, everyone laughed, and Li Long didn't insist anymore. To be honest, he was really a little tired.

The two children were also tired today and are now asleep in bed.

Watching Li Jianguo drive the tractor away, Gu Bo Yuan sat on the fender and happened to be taken by Li Jianguo to his small courtyard. Passing by the purchasing station, looking at the lights inside, Sun Jia Qiang should be there.

"Without Xiao Long said he wants to buy a crawler tractor?" Gu Bo Yuan asked.

"Hmm, he said he bought it for me to drive. Our team has a lot of land, so the money for plowing, etc., can't let Wang Cai Mi earn it alone." Li Jianguo laughed.

"You have a good brother, enjoy the blessings in the future." Gu Bo Yuan sighed.

"Isn't that half a son to you? You are still taking advantage!" Li Jianguo retorted, "Look at how much you are enjoying now! How many people in the team envy you! That Sun Xiu's mother is so regretful now..."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Gu Bo Yuan turned his head to look at the few people behind, his expression a little flustered, "I have nothing to do with her..."

"I know you have nothing to do with her. If you did, she would have come to the county to find you long ago. Those few in the team are just regretful. They felt that you were a burden with Xiaoxia, but now... go regret it!"

"Hehe." Gu Bo Yuan knew it was like this, so he was relieved. Seeing the small courtyard arrived, Li Jianguo slowed down, and Gu Bo Yuan said:

"To tell you the truth, it's like a dream... Alright, work hard, there are long good days ahead!"

"Right, there are long good days ahead!" At this moment, Li Jianguo was full of fighting spirit. His brother is capable, is he just eating for free? Isn't it just driving a tractor? What's so difficult about it? It's not like he hasn't driven one.

After returning to the Fourth Team, the whole family was exhausted, so they washed up and rested. Li Juan and Li Qiang still have to go to school tomorrow.

In the big courtyard of the county, after Gu Xiaoxia and Sister Yang finished cleaning up, they went to the room and took out two things.

"Sister Yang, this is a pair of sandals we bought at Tianbai, a gift for you. Let Xiao Fang, this is a new school bag, your Uncle Li bought it for you, and there are pencil cases, fountain pens, and a set of colored pencils for drawing."

"Ah, auntie, uncle, how can you spend so much money?" Sister Yang said hurriedly, "I have shoes, and Let Xiao Fang has a school bag..."

"Buy it and use it. Now is not the era when you don't buy new ones if the old ones aren't broken." Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile, "You heard the eldest sister-in-law's words just now, she praised you, you did a good job, so you can't just say it. We are like a family. We went out this trip, you didn't go out, so we have to bring you some things back, right?"

Sister Yang didn't refuse anymore. To tell the truth, she had long regarded Li Long, Gu Xiaoxia, Mingming, and Haohao as her own family.

Han Fang watched her mother accept the shoes, then took the school bag and said thank you to Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia.

That full joy could be seen from the smile on her face.

Can children not like new school bags and new pencil cases? But she knew that some things could not be accepted casually.

Wang Cai Mi didn't recover for a long time after hearing the news from Li Jianguo that Li Long wanted to buy a new tractor.

The next day, Li Jianguo didn't go to work in the fields. After breakfast, he went to Wang Cai Mi's house. Wang Cai Mi and his younger brother had also finished eating and were cleaning up the parts in front of that old Dongfanghong 75 tractor.

Now there is still more than a month before it is used heavily. After the last sowing, Wang Cai Mi put the tractor here and repaired it from time to time. This tractor has big problems, and small problems are constant.

It can barely be maintained when working, and sometimes it breaks in the field, so it can only be repaired temporarily.

In the past two years, Wang Cai Mi has earned a lot of money, but most of it has been invested in repairs. He has also scavenged many spare parts from all over the neighborhood. It is these parts that allow Wang Cai Mi to ensure the operation of this tractor through repairs.

Actually, the Dongfanghong 70 crawler tractor has played a big role on this large piece of land in Northern Xinjiang in the past two or three decades. When Li Jianguo and the others developed the Fourth Team, there were only a few dozen acres of land and three or four households here.

When they first came, they used the primitive plow of two oxen carrying a plow, and later they had horses and used horses to pull the plow—there were relatively few oxen at that time.

The speed of reclaiming wasteland by manpower and animal power was extremely slow, and the efficiency was very low. There was no way to do this.

Later, there was the Dongfanghong 75 tractor improved from the Dongfanghong 54 tractor, and the speed of reclaiming wasteland increased. Many of the lands near here were originally swamps or shallow swamps, and wheeled tractors were inconvenient, while the Dongfanghong 75 tractor is crawler-type, which is just right for this muddy terrain.

So those lands of the Fourth Team were reclaimed, the farmland increased year by year, and finally only some saline-alkali beaches were left.

This Dongfanghong 70 tractor can be considered the meritorious tractor of the Fourth Team.

It's just that after these decades of hard work and tossing, it is full of injuries and illnesses, and it should be retired.

It's just that it has only been a few years since the household contract responsibility system, and currently, apart from Li Long, no one in the team has the financial resources to buy a new one.

Not to mention now, even in the previous life, this tractor continued to work for nearly ten years before it completely withdrew from the historical stage and became scrap iron.

Sturdy, absolutely sturdy.

"Hmm," Li Jianguo stood by the tractor, looking at the stunned expression on Wang Cai Mi's face, still a little confused and resentful, nodded and said, "In the future, there will be more and more land in our team. The saline-alkali land improved by Without Xiao Long near the old horse number has been improved. Without Xiao Long said that he will reclaim more saline-alkali land in the future. This tractor is mainly for our own family to use, but if others in the team want to plow, sow, etc., then I will definitely go to do it."

Actually, Li Jianguo didn't have to make this trip. There is no rule that the Fourth Team can only have one tractor, and no one stipulates that after the Li family buys a tractor, they cannot plow other people's land.

"Old Brother Li, are you saying that your family bought a tractor mainly for your own use?" Wang Cai Mi's younger brother Wang Dagui put down a crawler block he was holding and asked.

"Mainly for own use." Li Jianguo said, "But if others ask my family to plow, you say I won't plow? That's pushing money out, and I'm not stupid."

The two families have a friendship, which is why Li Jianguo came to tell Wang Cai Mi. But this friendship is not enough to make him give up the benefits at hand. If there is money to be earned, and it is bright and upright, why not earn it?

Most of the land in the countryside is collectively owned. The regulations of the Fourth Team are that the reclamation of more than 50 acres of wasteland is decided by the township, and less than 50 acres is decided by the village.

So Li Jianguo and Li Long had already discussed that they would reclaim those small pieces of saline-alkali land along the main canal and convert them into their own contracted land. Anyway, there is no agricultural tax for reclaiming wasteland within three years, which means no public grain is needed, and it is not the full amount after three years.

These lands are reclaimed and improved, and after three to five years, they will be mature land.

According to Li Long, five years later in the previous life, the Fourth Team had already started planting cotton—and even in the previous life, the first family in the Fourth Team to plant cotton had a yield of only a little over 100 kilograms per mu, but the price of seed cotton was 2 yuan, which was more profitable than planting grain from the start.

Wang Cai Mi won't be lost, but regret is certain.

Speaking of which, since the household contract responsibility system started in 1982, the tractor debt fell on his head, and until now in 1985, the gross profit earned in a few years is at least several tens of thousands.

But most of this money has been spent on repairing the tractor one after another.

If he gritted his teeth and saved some money to change to a new tractor, could he compete with the Li family?

However, at the moment, he only has a little over 10,000 yuan in cash, and it is still a fixed deposit—even if he takes it out now and borrows some from the bank, he can buy a new one, but he is reluctant to part with that interest.

In 1985, the interest on bank deposits was quite high, and Wang Cai Mi was really reluctant!

This interest money is much higher than the income of a family of several people planting land for a year, so if it is taken out in advance, it will be gone.

When he hesitated, Li Jianguo had already chatted with Wang Dagui, mainly chatting about the use and repair of the tractor.

In just a few words, Li Jianguo already understood that Wang Cai Mi's tractor is really making money, and it is also really spending money.

In these few years, not only has Wang Cai Mi's family added several large items, but don't look at the dilapidated earthen house outside, but the inside has already changed greatly.

Even Wang Dagui's family has had new changes. "My brother gives me 1,000 a year!" Wang Dagui said proudly—before, his brother gave him less money, and he was dissatisfied. In the past two years, Wang Dagui has become proficient in driving the tractor and can work with Wang Cai Mi, so the wages his brother gives him have increased.

1,000 net income, this is much stronger than most people in the team planting land.

So Wang Dagui is very content.

"Then... you bought that tractor, can't you just work for your own land? Your family has earned a lot of money in the past two years, right?" Although Wang Cai Mi was a little embarrassed, he still had to say this. Originally, his family worked for the team to plow and sow, and others had to beg him.

After all, there is only one tractor in the team. Whose family plows first and whose family sows later is not his word?

Spring plowing is not always possible. "People delay the land for one day, and the land delays people for one year." Sowing is really critical. Not to mention a difference of one day, even a difference of half a day, the situation when the seedlings come out is different, and there may be differences when harvesting.

His broken tractor might drop halfway through sowing, and then repair for half a night.

Others can only wait. However, Wang Cai Mi is not in a hurry at all. Anyway, everyone in the team has to beg him—even if Xu Chengjun comes over, he has to line up.

Now that the Li family suddenly wants to buy a tractor, he knows very well that his good days are about to end.

Then can he not struggle?

"Look at what you said, if others beg at the door to let me plow, you say I won't plow? Isn't that pushing money out? Besides, everyone is a fellow villager. I am also sharing your burden—every spring and autumn sowing, how many people are not scolding you for being slow behind your back? Now my family wants to buy a tractor, then two families plow and sow, isn't it faster?"

Li Jianguo came to notify Wang Cai Mi, not to seek his opinion, and went back after speaking.

After Li Jianguo walked away, Wang Cai Mi glared at his younger brother: "Why did you say so much just now? He will grab our plowing money in the future, and you are still so polite to him?"

"Then even if I don't say it, people should buy it, right?" Wang Dagui felt aggrieved, "Brother, why don't you buy a new one too? Our old machine can't compare with others?" Wang Dagui is not stupid, knowing that once the Li family buys a new machine, there will naturally be fewer people looking for his family to plow.

He worried that his eldest brother would earn less money, and the money he shared would also be less.

"Buy a new machine? It's easy to say! Doesn't it cost money? It costs tens of thousands, where to find it? You give it to me?" Wang Cai Mi sprayed again, making his younger brother speechless.

Sigh.

Returning home, seeing Liang Yuemei washing clothes. That single-cylinder Weili washing machine was running with a rumble in the courtyard, and two large washbasins were placed on the side.

A single-cylinder washing machine can only wash or rinse, not spin-dry, so every time it is washed, after the machine stops, the clothes must be taken out and manually wrung out, and then water is added for reuse.

Even so, it is much more convenient than hand rubbing. The washbasin is so big, and washing bed sheets, quilt covers, quilt linings, and those clothes in winter is so tiring!

Now it's good, pour water into the washing machine, pour laundry detergent, put in clothes, plug in the power, twist it, and wait.

Liang Yuemei always had a smile on her face. She completely felt the benefits of the washing machine—her hands were liberated by more than half.

"How is it? Did Wang Cai Mi say anything?" Liang Yuemei asked when she saw Li Jianguo come in.

"What can he say? Want me not to plow for others, is that possible?" Li Jianguo laughed, helped Liang Yuemei wring out the bed sheet that had just been fished out, and then pointed to the front courtyard and said:

"You wash first, I'll go to the front courtyard to clean up. When the tractor is bought back, it must be parked over there. Without Xiao Long's courtyard is large and can be parked."

"Okay, you go." Liang Yuemei nodded, "I can do it myself here."

Li Jianguo went to clean up the front courtyard. There were not many sundries there, but he had to plan how to park the tractor and supporting facilities.

Li Jianguo thought that after the wheat was harvested, it would mainly be plowing. At that time, the five-furrow plow and the tractor would definitely be put outside, while the things for leveling and harrowing would need to be put inside. These would have to wait until October when winter wheat is planted.

Also have to buy a few barrels of diesel back. The Dongfanghong 75 tractor is powerful and can not only be a tractor but also carry a bulldozer.

But it also consumes oil. Diesel burns like drinking water, so it must be prepared first.

Li Jianguo knows how to drive a tractor, but after this is bought back, he must be familiar with it. Thinking that there is a large piece of saline-alkali beach in the southeast of the residential area, he can drive the tractor there to be familiar with it.

In the afternoon, Lu Yingming heard the news and knew that the Li family wanted to buy a tractor, so he immediately came to find Li Jianguo.

"Old Li, does your family really want to buy a large tractor?" Lu Yingming was obviously a little excited, "Is it just buying a tractor or the whole set?"

"That must be buying the whole set." Li Jianguo laughed, "Can't just want a tractor head and go to Wang Cai Mi to borrow the rest, right?"

"That's not cheap!" Lu Yingming sighed, "Without Xiao Long buys it?"

"Hmm, Without Xiao Long earned some money from that purchasing station this year and felt that we must have a new tractor, otherwise farming will be delayed every year, which won't work."

"Hmm, Without Xiao Long thinks right." Lu Yingming nodded, sighing, "You say Without Xiao Long is really powerful. It's only been a few years, look at your family, the small four-wheelers have them, Without Xiao Long's jeep has it, and this is about to get a big tractor, hey!"

"Then don't you have a small four-wheeler too." Li Jianguo laughed, "This household contract responsibility system, everyone's life is better."

"Then when your tractor comes, you drive, and I'll press the plow for you!"

"Okay." Li Jianguo actually thought about it a long time ago. If Lu Yingming didn't come, he would go to find him.