The next day, Gu Xiaoxia had breakfast and went to work. Li Long finished cleaning up the kitchen and yard, and then drove the tractor out to the team.
He went directly to the captain Xu Chengjun’s home.
Xu Chengjun had already had breakfast and was smoking a reed in the yard wearing rotten gloves.
Li Long got off the tractor and looked at the piles of tied reed handles piled on the south wall of their home, half covered with snow, and shook his head.
"Hey, Xiaolong is here?" Xu Chengjun stood up with Mo Heyan in his mouth and said:
"How's it going? Can you still do this reed job?"
"You can do it."
"Hey, as long as you can do it, everyone is waiting." Ma Hongmei is over there. When he came back from feeding the pigs, he held the pig food bucket and said with a smile. :
“How many do we need this year? I see that there are more lifting brooms and large brooms than last year. Do we also need more reed brooms? The price can be higher, right?”
Li Long waved his hand and said:
"Captain, sister-in-law, the standard of this reed handle has changed. The one you tied up at home cannot be used."
"Why can't it be used?" Xu Chengjun was a little panicked after hearing this, "Hurry up and tell me? New What is the standard? "
"Twenty reeds, three thin wires have not changed, and the length of two and a half meters has not changed."
"Twenty pieces..." Xu Chengjun murmured. murmured.
“What about the price?” This is what Ma Hongmei cares about most.
"I charge 30 cents a piece." Li Long said.
He received a kickback of two cents, which was quite satisfactory. Last year, the street price of reeds collected from villagers was 10 cents. There are more material requirements this year, but the price has also increased, and there are more requests. I think everyone will be satisfied.
"Okay, Sanmao is good." Ma Hongmei immediately estimated that the reeds she currently has in her family can be used to make less than a thousand reeds. Now most of the reeds have been drawn. , or it will be finished in less than half a month.
It’s worth two to three hundred yuan in half a month!
"Captain, I will use the loudspeaker to inform everyone." Li Long said again.
"Okay, you go and inform. Do you know how to open it?" Xu Chengjun was still thinking about the reed handle becoming a standard. How to use the reed handles tied up at home?
Li Long entered the room, sat at the table and turned on the switch of the loudspeaker, knocked it with his hand, felt the echo, blew on it, and then the whole team heard the sound:
"Puff, puff! Puff! Comrades, I am Li Long, I am Li Long! Let me tell you something..."
Li Long seemed to feel no response. He turned to see Ma Hongmei at the door and asked:
"Sister-in-law , is there any sound?”
"Yes, yes!" Ma Hongmei said hurriedly.
This conversation was also broadcast through the loudspeaker, causing many people who heard the sound to laugh.
"This Li Long, there is still some spoon."
"Are you kidding me."
Li Long didn't know, and he wouldn't care if he knew, he continued Said:
"I want to inform everyone that the job of reeds has been taken down, 20,000..."
As soon as the voice came out, there were large piles of reeds piled in the yards, and many families who had already taken them out were laughed.
Although it is snowing now, Wei Bazi's life has not come out, and many people's hearts are still hanging in the air.
Now when Li Long said that Wei Bangzi’s mission was coming next, smiles immediately appeared on everyone’s faces.
Now you can make money.
To be honest, the members of the four teams are more confident than the other teams when they go out because they earn more money every year and live better than the other teams.
This makes it easier for the young people here to find a partner than the young people from other teams.
After all, the number of bicycles ranks first in the township, as does the number of tractors.
Everyone still understands this truth. No matter how much they despise Li Long, at this time, everyone is still very grateful to Li Long. After all, he is the one who brought these profitable words to the team.
Xu Jianjun looked at the piled reed handles piled high in the yard and simply gave up. He planned to wait for Li Long to finish talking and then load them into the truck and take them to Li's house. I will get my money back immediately.
Xu Jianjun was not very friendly to Li Long, but he knew that Li Long never had any problems with paying bills. As long as the items are up to standard, the money will be very satisfying.
"...This year's standards have changed. Each reed handle requires twenty reeds, three wires, and a length of two and a half meters..."
Twenty reeds?
Xu Jianjun’s smile froze directly on his face!
He looked at the ten reed handles tied with six to seven hundred reeds on his side, and then turned to look at his wife.
He felt that he had heard wrongly and wanted to seek confirmation from his wife.
However, the wife was also in disbelief:
"Why did it turn into twenty reeds? What's going on here? Why bother people like this? There are so many reeds at home. What should I do with the reeds? "
This complaint is not made by just one or two people. Many people are saying that after all, they want to get the reeds out first and make more money.
But the mistake was that they bet on the wrong thing. This thing is not something they can decide.
Farmers have been like this since ancient times. In ancient times, they could not decide by themselves the land rent and the price of rice and wheat. Now they cannot decide by themselves the prices of agricultural inputs and ultimately the pricing power of grain.
Li Long can't help it. The standard-setter for this thing is above, not him.
He remembered clearly that one year before his death in his previous life, the international cotton price was very good. At that time, until mid-September, the ginners did not dare to raise prices to collect cotton.
There was a cotton ginner in southern Xinjiang who couldn't wait any longer and quoted a purchase price of ninety-seven yuan. The cotton farmers were very happy. Although this is not the highest price in history, it is also a rare high price.
Although this price is lower than the international cotton price, it is still higher than the subsidy price provided by the state. Farmers can make more money than in previous years.
However, the cotton gin factory removed the price offer sign the next day, and then came the news that the cotton gin factory was shut down for rectification and banks stopped lending.
Then more cotton ginners offered prices, eight and a half yuan.
Although this price is profitable, it is much lower than psychological expectations.
Many people on the live broadcast then called on cotton farmers to put their cotton on the ground and not sell it, waiting for a higher price, saying that prices would definitely be raised after the Double Festival.
However, the price was not mentioned until it snowed heavily.
Many people suffered huge losses.
As for why the cotton gin that started quoting was shut down for rectification and the bank refused to grant a loan to collect the cotton, we don’t dare to say, and we don’t dare to ask.
That’s it anyway, it’s too difficult for farmers to make money.
Li Long didn't know that many people in the team had begun to complain and even curse. He continued to speak into the loudspeaker:
"A new reed handle costs thirty cents a piece. ! Thirty cents a piece! High quality and strict standards are required. Once it is done, go to my yard and pay if it passes the on-site inspection.
Okay, I'll notify you again..."
After Li Long made the last two notifications, most of those who originally made a fuss stopped.
Although they had guessed at the price I would have mentioned some, but I didn’t expect that I would actually mention it. And it adds up to a lot!
This immediately dispelled many people’s resentment.
After all, most people don’t draw most of the reeds directly like Xu Jianjun. They are all tied with reeds.
Those who didn’t get pricked felt lucky, and those who didn’t prick were even happier. After all, having something to live for now is much better than having no life at all.
The sound of the loudspeaker passed through the reed ditch and reached the ears of the third team. Most of the people in the third team were envious.
The fourth team has a capable person who can lead everyone to get rich. Can you not envy this?
Yang Pingping’s younger brother was smoking reeds in the yard of her brother-in-law’s house. The third team does not have Weihu. Although the Weihu separates the two teams, the ownership of Weihu belongs to the fourth team.
This is recognized. Normally, it would be fine for Team Three to occasionally cut some reeds for home use, but cutting reeds on such a large scale as now was not possible.
After Weihu is contracted out in two years, there will be fewer such things.
So Yang Pingping's younger brother Yang Yun was smoking reeds in Tao Daqiang's yard. Tao Daqiang told him that he would give him some money when the reeds were sold out.
Yang Yun is a few years younger than Tao Daqiang. He is a young man of 17 or 18 years old, just when he needs money. If you don’t have it at home and you don’t come here, then you can earn it yourself.
After Li Long finished shouting, he spoke to Xu Chengjun, then drove the tractor towards his yard.
It’s getting cold now, and it’s difficult to move the tractor. The water needs to be heated, and after two days, the water tank and the base of the engine must be roasted over fire, because the oil will also freeze.
Fortunately, Li Long is strong and is not afraid of shaking the tractor.
On the way, several people stopped and asked Li Long about the specific situation, and Li Long explained it. There was no need to say more.
The tractor drove to the edge of the eldest brother's yard. He saw that the eldest brother and sister-in-law were pulling reeds, and his father was also helping. My mother was sitting on the pot head cooking pig food. "Xiaolong is back." Liang Yuemei greeted with a smile, "The reed job is over now? Fortunately, our family didn't tie the reed in advance, otherwise we would regret it to death?"
"That's right." Sister-in-law Lu, who rushed over after hearing the sound of the tractor, also said, "Thirty cents, I can make a lot more this time!"
Lu Yingming earned more than 300 yuan from his job and bought a bicycle. Zha Dasao also made a profit of two to three hundred for his family. Besides, this reed boy should be able to earn about the same amount of money.
In one year, this income alone amounts to one thousand yuan, which is much more than a formal worker!
In addition, the rice, flour, and oil are all produced in the fields, and even the vegetables can basically be provided in the own vegetable fields.
What else do you want?
The Lu family also has a lot of reeds. It is no problem to tie hundreds of reed handles. The Li family had more reeds. Liang Yuemei estimated that a thousand reed handles would be enough, and there might be more.
Li Long came back and said hello to his family. He first set up the stove in his house, and then came over to help his eldest brother and the others draw reeds.
He is not very good at tying reeds. Pulling reeds is not considered a technical job, but he can still do it.
Du Chunfang saw him sitting on a wooden pillar, so she found an old mat and put it under his buttocks.
Li Long smiled and obeyed. It is indeed a bit cold to smoke reeds outside. Fortunately, I was wearing thick clothes. Northern Xinjiang itself produces cotton. Not to mention making cotton-padded jackets, at least I was willing to use cotton.
Li Long has put on cotton-padded shoes, which have thick soles and are made of cotton, making them warm.
Of course, young men have strong firepower. In addition, they eat venison, roe deer, roe, roe, and wolf meat all year round, so their firepower is much stronger than that of ordinary people.
So I’m not afraid of the cold.
Li Long was smoking reeds at his eldest brother's house. People still kept coming here to ask about the situation. The main reason was that they didn't give up and wanted to know if there was any solution to the tied reeds.
Li Long answered unanimously, no.
He can't say yes. If he says yes, these peasant-like cunning people will inevitably lower his ideas to a lower standard. If he doesn't accept it, they will still say yes. He taught it.
Not all people in rural areas are simple, and not all people in cities are high-quality, for the same reason.
After all, people are complex.
It wasn’t until I had eaten at noon and started working again in the afternoon that I calmed down a bit.
Those people probably know that there is no good solution. Most people untie the tied reed handles, put the reeds of the two original reed handles together, and then tie them again with thin wires. good.
Of course, you need to use tools, and hand pricking is definitely not possible.
Xu Jianjun didn't do that. He felt this was too much trouble.
Isn’t ten reeds turning into twenty reeds?
Easy!
Can’t we just take ten drawn loose reeds and wrap the original reed handles? They are all ten reeds anyway.
However, he found that there were still problems with this practice. Some reeds are thick, and ten reeds can still wrap up the original small reed handle; some reeds are thin, and the wrapping is not tight.
There will be a gap.
He was too embarrassed to ask Li Long, so he thought of pricking dozens of them like this first and sending them directly to them in the afternoon. It would be best if they passed the test, and if they didn’t, we would worry about it later.
The main reason is that there are too many reed handles tied up in them. If they are all removed, a lot of thin wire will be lost. After all, thin wire also needs to be bought now.
Last year Li Long provided thin wire and gloves, but this year there is nothing.
But everyone must still remember his love.
Before Li Long started collecting the reeds in the afternoon, someone came looking for him.
He came on a bicycle, wearing a Chinese tunic suit, with his hair parted in the popular three-seven style, without a cotton hat, and his hair was so long that it even covered his ears.
"Comrade Li Long, right? Then this is Comrade Li Jianguo, right? Hello, hello! My name is Wang Dongsheng, and I am the director of Fuqiang Roasted Seeds Factory in our county..."
"County roasted seeds and nuts factory?" Li Long was stunned upon hearing this. After a moment, he immediately realized, "You run your own business?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" That Wang Dongsheng took out a cigarette from his pocket to light it for Li Jianguo and Li Long. Li Long pointed to the surrounding reeds. Ye Zi waved his hand:
"It's better to stop smoking. Is there something wrong with Director Wang?"
"Of course there is something." Wang Dongsheng said with a smile, "I just heard that you planted melons this year and harvested a lot. You don’t need to beat melon seeds, right?”
“Yes,” Li Jianguo said.
Liang Yuemei brought tea. Anyone who comes is a guest no matter what, so they can’t be too shabby.
Wang Dongsheng wore a little thin clothes to show off his face. It was really cold now. He took the hot tea and took a sip.
"Let's talk inside." Li Jianguo said, "It's cold outside."
"Okay, okay." Wang Dongsheng said with some gratitude.
"This is what happened." After entering the room, he sat down and drank the tea. Wang Dongsheng offered the cigarette again. Li Long refused, and Li Jianguo picked it up.
Li Long took a look at the big front door.
“My roasted seeds and nuts factory just opened this year. At the beginning, it was roasted sunflower seeds and some peanuts and soybeans. It was originally supplied to county stores and some scattered merchants.
I received an order this fall. The Corps knows that the goods from our roasted seeds and nuts factory are good, so they want us to supply them with some roasted seeds and nuts on a monthly basis, and they will distribute them to each company of each Corps. "
Li Long and Li Jianguo looked at each other and felt that this had nothing to do with them?
Wang Dongsheng continued:
"Later I heard He said that you planted the melon seeds and harvested a lot of melon seeds. I originally wanted to come over to discuss cooperation, but I didn’t expect that you sold the melon seeds to Shicheng Roasted Seeds Factory. ”
“Don’t give me a high price. "Li Long smiled.
He didn't believe that Director Wang had already thought about cooperating with him. He guessed that he probably got the idea after reading the newspaper.
But it doesn’t matter, since there are no melon seeds left, it’s useless for him to say anything now.
"I won't give you a low price." Wang Dongsheng said, "We are from the same county, and I am also a farmer. I know the hard work of being a farmer. Can I lose you?"
Li Long curled his lips and said that he didn't mention the price for a long time, which was in vain.
"We have no more seeds this year." Li Jianguo felt there was no need to delay, so he said, "We will definitely not be able to cooperate."
"I know, I know. In fact, I came here to see if we can cooperate next year. You must also plant melon seeds next year, right? You will definitely expand the scale, right?
How about next year, I will plant your melon seeds. Receive them all, as long as the quality meets the standard, it’s two and a half yuan per kilogram. If the quality is particularly good, three yuan per kilogram is not a problem!”
Wang Dongsheng said it very boldly, but Li Long shook his head slightly.
Empty talk.
Li Jianguo was a little moved. Next year I will plant more melons, and many people in the team will also plant them. He was worried that the Shicheng Roasted Seeds Factory might not be able to eat so many melon seeds.
It's better to keep in touch with Factory Manager Wang. If you really want to collect it then, two and a half yuan is not a bad idea.
Li Long saw that his eldest brother was interested, so he didn't say anything and let his eldest brother talk to the other party.
Wang Dongsheng just made a promise and nothing else.
Li Jianguo asked them carefully about the location and scale of their roasted seeds and nuts factory, and whether their main business was other than melon seeds, peanuts and soybeans.
Director Wang saw that Li Jianguo had objections and was very happy. He had a good chat with him about the details of the cooperation before leaving.
In fact, both parties know that this cooperation is only preliminary.
Everything will have to wait until next year's harvest is completed. If we can really cooperate then, then we will have taken the real first step.
In fact, Li Long is quite supportive of this order-based planting, but it is obvious that Director Wang is a bit empty-handed and wants to trap the white wolf.
So he did not promote this matter. Instead, he felt that he could remind his elder brother appropriately when the time came.
For farmers, more often than not, no wad of money is real. Wait until Wang Dongsheng really accepts it. If he doesn't accept it, then there's really no need to talk about it.
Of course, the most important thing right now is Wei Bazi.
Someone has already come to deliver reeds.
To Li Long's surprise, the first person to give him the reed was Xu Jianjun.
Li Long frowned when he saw the reed pulled by Xu Jianjun. (End of this chapter)