Chapter 83

After tidying up the dishes on the table, Li Dong washed up and went to sleep. Although the day was a bit easier than cutting rice, he didn't have a moment to rest and fell asleep as soon as he lay down.

He started work before six o'clock. Fourteen work points were not easy to earn. Li Dong thought about not going to work early and settling for eight work points, but he was afraid of angering the unreasonable and violent Han Guofu and his group.

Sigh, it's really tough. Fortunately, his body has changed a lot; he's younger and recovers well. After just one night, he felt fine. If it were before, Li Dong thought he wouldn't last five days, let alone one.

"Brother Li is here."

"Here."

Han Weiguo and the others all gathered around. Li Dong was happy; this way, he could do a bit less work.

"Li Dong, you lead the ox to thresh the field."

"Sure thing."

This was a relatively easy job, and Li Dong immediately ran over. Han Guofu didn't intend to give Li Dong an easy job; he mainly feared that Li Dong, being lazy, would set a bad example for the young people in the village.

"Guobing, Guofu, Weijun, you are responsible for threshing the rice. I'll go to the commune and talk to Secretary Gao to get some good things."

Han Guofu let Han Weihé carry him, as the team leader couldn't ride a bicycle, but he liked to brag, and without a bicycle, it wouldn't work.

Han Guobing took over the work, arranged the groups, and led the team. The threshing field had five or six small groups, one of which was responsible for cutting the rice stalks, with about ten scythes lined up.

"Weijun and you, Qiujun, are responsible for the scythes."

"Weiguo, you are responsible for delivering the rice bundles."

The tasks were assigned, and Li Dong was put in the threshing group. There were three oxen, four donkeys, and two mules. He led the animals, tied the stone rollers, and got to work.

Weiguo and the others delivered the rice bundles to the scythe group. Men were responsible for the scythes, and women for delivering the rice bundles to the scythes. The men used their strength to cut the rice stalks with one stroke.

The cut rice stalks were put into baskets and transported to the threshing field, where they were spread out. Now it was Li Dong's turn to start threshing the rice.

He thought this would be an easy job, but after a few rounds, he found himself struggling to stand. Oh no, I'm about to faint.

"Whoa, whoa."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just a bit dizzy from the spinning."

"Ha ha ha."

The old threshers laughed and said, "You, you're wrong. How can you not get dizzy when you follow the animals around in circles?"

"Ah, what should I do?"

"Learn from us."

Han Weiqun, with a bit of pride, led the mule and pulled the stone roller, demonstrating to Li Dong. Li Dong understood; he should lead the animals in circles while staying relatively still, unlike how he had been running around with the animals.

This couldn't help but make him dizzy. Li Dong was speechless. Why didn't Uncle Guofu mention this before? Learning from Han Weiqun, he managed to control the animals without getting too dizzy, but mastering the art of threshing wasn't something that could be learned in a short time.

After an hour or two, Li Dong was still very dizzy and needed to rest. If he continued, he would really faint.

"Brother Li, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just need to rest."

"But what about the rice?"

"Leave it for now."

Threshing isn't easy. Being a farmer is really tough. Just as he was reflecting on this, the sound of a motorcycle caught his attention. What's that? A motorcycle, someone from the village is here.

The noise was so loud that everyone heard it and looked towards the village entrance. What's that?

"Is a vehicle coming?"

When they saw clearly, it wasn't a motorcycle but a tractor, a four-wheeled rubber-tired tractor, known as a large tractor in later times.

Han Guofu sat on the hood of the rear wheel, puffing on a cigarette, with a broad smile. Han Weihé rode a bicycle behind him, and a group of children eagerly ran up, as few of them had ever seen a tractor.

"Go away, don't block the road."

Han Guofu waved his hand to drive away the children, so as not to block the driver's path.

"Comrade Hao, just park the tractor at the threshing field."

"Sure."

The tractor stopped at the edge of the threshing field, and everyone gathered around.

"Is it really a tractor? Where did it come from?"

"Team leader, what's this tractor about?"

"I fought for it. From now on, our village will have a tractor." Han Guofu was proud, very proud. Thinking about how Bijiavillage only had a small diesel engine, he started to brag.

Han Guofu boasted about how he argued his case, and the commune gave one of the three tractors to Han Village. He even had a showdown with Secretary Gao over this.

"Uncle Team Leader, you're amazing!!" Li Dong saw that everyone was listening to the story and not cheering, which wasn't a good audience.

"Ha ha ha!"

Han Weihé lowered his head, embarrassed. Don't mention it, this tractor, no other village wanted it. In the mountains, a tractor wasn't very useful, and no one knew how to drive it.

Moreover, it was an old tractor from the 1950s, which consumed a lot of fuel, and people thought it wasn't worth it.

Comrade Hao just smiled and, taking advantage of Han Guofu's boasting, said he needed to return to the commune as he had more work to do.

"Weihé, ride the bicycle to send Comrade Hao."

"Sure, Da."

Comrade Hao left, and Han Guofu's boasting grew even more. He said there were only a few tractors in the entire county, and it was a big deal for a production team to get one.

"Uncle, can you drive it?"

This question left Han Guofu speechless. He slapped his thigh.

"Comrade Hao."

"Uncle Guofu, he's already far away."

Now they were in trouble. Han Guofu couldn't drive it and hadn't even asked how to. The others were at a loss, what to do? This tractor was just a useless piece of iron.

"What should we do? Should we ask him to come back?"

Li Dong walked around the tractor, thinking he had driven one before. "Let me try."

"You?"

"Can you do it, Li Dong?"

"Don't touch it, you might break it."

"Let me try, I've driven one before."

Li Dong got on the tractor and said to the crowd, "Stay back, I'm a bit rusty, don't want to hit anyone."

"Can you really drive it?"

"Who knows?"

"Let him try, no one else in the village can."

Han Guofu and the others called for everyone to move back. Li Dong had a reputation for being lazy and unreliable, so they didn't want him to cause any accidents.

Li Dong started the tractor, which was similar to a manual car.

After a bit of fiddling, he felt it was manageable. He pressed the clutch, shifted gears, and pressed the gas. The single-cylinder tractor roared to life, its loud noise and vibrations startling the animals, which started to run around.

Han Guofu and the others shouted, "Quick, hold the animals, move them away."

The animals were important tools for the production team, so they quickly held them, untied the stone rollers, and moved them to a safe distance.

"This thing is really loud. If it enters from the east end of the village, the west end can hear it." Li Dong glanced at the tractor, which was from the 1960s.

It was an old antique, and Li Dong doubted Han Guofu's claim. Would anyone want this? The fields in the mountains were small, and this tractor wasn't suitable for plowing. A smaller tractor would be better, but this one was too big and couldn't work in the paddy fields.

The tractor started to vibrate and move. Li Dong drove slowly, getting familiar with it, and gradually increased the speed, circling the threshing field.

"Headache, bumpy ride." Li Dong muttered and stopped after a while.

"You can really drive it."

"Great."

"Quick, attach the stone roller and try it."

"Sure, tie it up, I'll give it a try."

Li Dong became the tractor driver, and his status soared. The young people, including Weiguo, looked at him with admiration.

The people weeding in the cornfield and the elders heard the children shouting and ran over.

"Xiaojuan, Xiaojuan, come back and see your father driving the big vehicle."

"It's not a big vehicle, it's a tractor, making a 'tutu' sound."

"What's that?"

Li Chunhua, holding a hoe and weeds, walked over, wondering why the children were running around.

"Xiaohei, go see what's happening."

"Sure."

Xiaojuan followed, and a group of children turned and ran down the hill to the threshing field. Li Dong was driving the tractor, pulling the stone roller, and everyone was watching in amazement.

Han Weiqun puffed his cheeks; this iron monster was faster and more efficient than the mules. Everyone realized for the first time how good a tractor was. Look, the rice was threshed in no time.

"Stop cutting, spread out the rice bundles."

Han Guofu squatted down and noticed that the rice was cut, but the grains weren't separated, which wouldn't do.

Instead of cutting the rice bundles, they were spread out on the field. Li Dong parked the tractor, and a group of children, including Han Xiaohao and Xiaojuan, ran over to circle the tractor.

Especially Xiao