Chapter 44

Lin Qiangsheng arrived at the Red Flag Commune, and as usual, his sister Lin Xiang prepared a table full of good dishes. He ZhenGuo accompanied Lin Qiangsheng for a small drink, each of them having only two or three cups.

After drinking, He ZhenGuo pulled out a cloth bag from under the quilt and said, "Qiangsheng, count the cloth coupons this time! I got these from a distant place, a total of 356 market inches. How about that, enough, right?"

Lin Qiangsheng nodded and said with a smile, "This time, there really are more!" Usually, He ZhenGuo could only give around 40 to 50 market inches of cloth coupons, which was already quite good. Today, he actually took out more than 300 market inches!

"Qiangsheng, this time you must get us more good coupons, don't let ZhenGuo lose out!" Lin Xiang said after clearing the table to Lin Qiangsheng.

Lin Qiangsheng smiled and looked at his sister, asking, "What? Sister, you two aren't even married yet, and you're already protecting him!"

Lin Xiang replied, "Nonsense! It's not that I'm protecting him, but ZhenGuo really put in a lot of effort this time. He made several trips, spent money, and even treated people to drinks to get these cloth coupons. ZhenGuo has already traded away the good things he earned from you earlier, even the bicycle and watch coupons!"

He ZhenGuo scratched his head and said with a simple smile, "Qiangsheng's matters are my matters! Getting more cloth coupons is the most important thing!"

"Qiangsheng, these cloth coupons are about to expire, that's why I managed to get them. You need to act quickly and spend these cloth coupons as soon as possible!" He ZhenGuo continued.

Lin Qiangsheng nodded solemnly.

He ZhenGuo even traded away his cherished bicycle and watch coupons, showing how much he cared about Lin Qiangsheng's matters. Lin Qiangsheng felt he owed him a favor.

Moreover, with over 300 market inches of cloth coupons, buying cloth from the store and reselling it would yield a profit of four to five times, nearly 2,000 yuan. Lin Qiangsheng was already excited just thinking about it.

The prices in this era were extremely cheap. A big meal at a restaurant only cost three to four yuan.

Several thousand yuan could be equivalent to a ten-thousand-yuan household in a few years!

He remembered that in his previous life, when he worked at an auto repair factory during this period, he only earned about 20 yuan a month for two to three years.

Lin Qiangsheng smiled and said, "Don't worry, sister. I promise to make you and ZhenGuo the first ten-thousand-yuan household in the future!"

He ZhenGuo smiled, not knowing what a ten-thousand-yuan household was. Honestly, in the countryside, they didn't spend much money. They didn't have much of a concept of money. Even if they wanted to buy something, having money didn't guarantee they could get it. Lin Xiang, however, said unsatisfied, "When is the future? Give us a definite answer! You can't forget about us with the money you earn from these cloth coupons. He even traded away his watch and bicycle coupons. Do you still have any left?"

Lin Xiang had long known that her brother was trading coupons and making money. Although she thought it wasn't right, she was still happy that he came from so far away each time.

At the same time, she thought that such business should be mutually beneficial, and He ZhenGuo shouldn't be at a disadvantage, otherwise, her brother's business wouldn't last long. So, her behavior was also for Lin Qiangsheng's benefit.

Lin Qiangsheng nodded and said, "I'll go back and trade for watches and bicycle coupons! How about a Shanghai brand watch? Phoenix or Forever bicycles, okay? Do you want a pen? A Hero brand pen!"

Lin Xiang nodded happily, "Sure, sure, that's great! These brands are all good! Hehe..."

He ZhenGuo smiled and waved his hands, "No, no! Qiangsheng, don't get such good watches and bicycles, and pens, they would be wasted in the countryside!"

The three of them laughed. He ZhenGuo hesitated and said, "Actually, I didn't plan to buy watches or bicycles. They're not really useful in the countryside. I can walk to nearby places, and for far places, I can take a ride, which is very convenient. I don't really need a watch. I don't need to check the time at home, and I can ask others outside, which isn't troublesome!"

Lin Xiang complained, "If Qiangsheng gives it to you, just take it. How can you let him do all the hard work and lose out? If this continues, even the best relationship won't last!"

Lin Qiangsheng patted his leg and nodded in agreement, "Sister is right! Even the best relationship needs to be maintained. Always thinking of taking advantage is no good! How can I come again? Besides, I'm not that kind of person! Right, Brother ZhenGuo?"

He ZhenGuo smiled and nodded. Then he thought of something and said, "Actually, there's another reason I don't want bicycles or watches. I have an uncle who went to the city for work when he was young. In 1962, his whole family was forced to return and start farming again. He was already very skilled, just a step away from becoming a master. Later, he said that if he had been given a certain title, he could have officially become a worker with the same待遇 as city workers. Alas, it was a pity!"

Lin Qiangsheng nodded and asked, "What did your uncle do?"

He ZhenGuo said, "He made watches!"

Lin Qiangsheng coughed and asked in surprise, "What kind of watches?"

He ZhenGuo scratched his head and thought, "I think it was pressure gauges or something, I don't really understand!"

"What does that have to do with bicycles and watches?" Lin Xiang asked, puzzled.

He ZhenGuo smiled and said, "I think if he can make pressure gauges, he can definitely make watches. Maybe he can even make bicycles. I don't think it's that difficult!"

Lin Qiangsheng was extremely interested in He ZhenGuo's uncle's skills and said eagerly, "I want to visit your uncle, how about it?"

In this era, encountering something new was very rare. Life lacked color, and perhaps this was how the excitement of novelty was formed.

"Sure..." He ZhenGuo hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

Lin Xiang naturally didn't go, but she gave her brother some instructions. Lin Qiangsheng and He ZhenGuo then went out.

The Red Flag Commune was a relatively large place. It had merged several smaller communes in the area and gradually became a well-known place under the provincial capital. The remaining communes were mostly unknown, not even found on maps.

Outside the commune, there were vast fields stretching as far as the eye could see, with no end in sight! The wheat in September was already very tall, looking very promising.

"Does this year's drought affect the harvest? It seems pretty good here," Lin Qiangsheng asked He ZhenGuo with a smile.

He ZhenGuo nodded heavily and said with a smile, "Yes, we put in a lot of effort this year! We dug new drainage channels and built new reservoirs. The city even sent soldiers to help water the fields. Fortunately, we managed to save the fields!"

Lin Qiangsheng nodded sincerely, looking at the vast fields, and said, "Seeing this bountiful land, I'm really happy! If there could be such a harvest every year, your life as farmers would definitely be better than city dwellers!"

He ZhenGuo smiled and didn't know how to respond, finally saying, "Actually, after the public grain is collected, there's not much left. With some storage losses, farmers' lives are quite tight!"

Lin Qiangsheng thought for a moment and nodded, thinking to himself, "In the future, I saw news that farmers could earn millions of yuan a year from farming, with several large Nordic agricultural machines at home. It turns out they were also very poor in this era!"

Lin Qiangsheng looked at some farmers still working by hand and said, "With such vast fields, can they manage to weed and protect the crops just by hand?!"

The fields in the Sanjiang Plain were indeed vast. Compared to nature, humans were like grains of sand, like ants!

"Well, there's no other way! Our ancestors did it this way, and they managed to survive. Do what you can, and that's enough. Actually, it's just about getting by; no one can manage such large fields," He ZhenGuo smiled, thinking Lin Qiangsheng was making a big fuss.

This once again overturned Lin Qiangsheng's impression. According to his knowledge, domestic agriculture should be intensive, not as rough as He ZhenGuo described! Moreover, he saw that the farmers were indeed working in a cursory manner, not very carefully. He nodded, realizing that the fields and farmers in his hometown were different from the traditional education and propaganda in the country!

Lin Qiangsheng looked at the vast fields and imagined the mechanized agriculture of the future, with planes sowing seeds in the sky, large agricultural machines operating on the ground, and seeds specially cultivated by large biotech companies.

Farmers would be like industrial workers, clocking in and out, and even doing their work from home using computers.

Lin Qiangsheng became more and more excited, thinking this was the industrial era he envisioned, where farmers didn't have to crowd into cities or become migrant workers. They could farm in the countryside, engage in special breeding if they had no land, and drive to the city for leisure activities like shopping and watching movies, with a wide range of entertainment options!

The market was vast, and all it needed was a brain ahead of its time!

Lin Qiangsheng excitedly shared his ideas with He ZhenGuo, explaining in detail the things he didn't understand.

He ZhenGuo thought for a moment and asked, puzzled, "Industrial farms? Clocking in and out? Computers?"

"Qiangsheng, I understand the large agricultural machines, but what is a computer? And if farmers become workers, who will do the work arranged by the commune?!"

"There will be surplus people, not everyone can be an agricultural worker. There will always be some people left to do the work! Computers will take at least ten years to appear, you won't see them for now," Lin Qiangsheng said.

He ZhenGuo nodded and smiled, "Okay, Qiangsheng, you can talk to my father and see if the commune will let people go."

Lin Qiangsheng smiled and said, "Sooner or later, the commune will let people go. The path is made by people, and there are many ways to go!"