The door of the courtyard house has been welded dead

Southern Anhui, Daguan Commune.

Since the land was distributed to individual households, every family in the village below has had more and more hope for the future.

However, during the rice harvest season, due to weather conditions, it is necessary to rush the harvest, and the road outside the agricultural machinery station is the most likely place for conflicts and disputes to occur.

With informants everywhere, although the harvesting order had been decided long ago, the villagers were all thinking about harvesting their own rice first.

The agricultural machinery station doesn't have many harvesters, so each village has to take turns. But there are always some who try to cause trouble, blocking the road and waiting for the harvesters to come out of the station. That's when all the troublemakers will try to stop them.

Relying solely on manpower, a strong adult male can only harvest less than two acres of land by squatting on the ground from dawn, wielding a sickle that sparks, all day long until dark. Moreover, by the end of the day, his back will be broken, and he will be unable to move while lying in bed at night.

The brigades (villages) under the Daguan Commune had as many as five or six thousand mu, and as few as two or three thousand mu. It was no exaggeration to say that it would take the commune members half a month or even a month to harvest the crops by hand.

Ten or twenty years ago, before combine harvesters existed, people were tired, but when it came to the grain, they had to grit their teeth and keep going. It was no exaggeration to say that after the harvest, they were exhausted.

Even schools had to close at this time. Young people and primary school students who couldn't go to the fields to harvest rice had to go back to the production team and be assigned tasks like carrying bundles and loading them onto trucks. If anyone in the team dared to slack off, the production team leader would get furious.

I'm afraid that it might rain suddenly during these twenty days, and apart from eating, drinking, relieving myself, and sleeping, I'll be working day and night to dry things.

But with combine harvesters, the harvesting was much faster. In the mid-to-late 1970s, the competition was fierce. Between different production brigades, the scheming over who would harvest first and who would harvest last was so intense that city dwellers would have to slip on their feet.

"Why is it always your team that gets to cut first? It's our turn by now, why is it always you guys every year?!"

“Our team has a more important task: to finish harvesting the grain as soon as possible and ensure the fattening and slaughter of pigs. This is a task assigned to us by our superiors. If we are delayed, I’ll ask you if your village will still need piglets next year?”

Faced with a woman throwing a tantrum like a shrew, the commune members on the harvester—no, they should be called villagers now—grabbed the handrail next to the door and stood by it, feeling extremely angry.

Before the land was distributed to individual households, other brigades would give them some face, just because their brigade had piglets every year, and at least during harvest time, the team leader would keep them in check and maintain restraint.

Now that the land has been distributed to individual households, everyone is looking out for themselves. Although the team leader still has the prestige he has accumulated in the past, he can no longer suppress those villagers who have their own agendas. Human nature, when faced with the interests of the collective and the individual, is no longer the same as before.

"Pigs, pigs, pigs! We don't raise any of the pigs in your village...!"

"Have you raised any pigs in your team yet? Have you had any meat for the New Year? Don't block the way here and delay the harvest. Let me tell you, not only will you lose piglets, but you'll also lose all the compost you've made. And if we delay the harvest by a day, the harvesters will arrive at your team's site a day later!"

After saying that, the villagers on the harvester started the machine. The onlookers on the side of the road sighed and then went over to pull the woman who was throwing a tantrum on the ground aside.

"Didi didi~!"

On the side of the road, a truck driver sitting in the cab watching the commotion honked his horn. After the crowd dispersed, he picked up a towel from his shoulder and wiped the sweat from his face.

City dwellers rarely see this scene, especially city workers, since they never run out of food rations every month. In the north, however, fights are often heard of when people fight over water resources.

The harvester went to another brigade, and we couldn't stop it.

The villagers could only go back to their own homes, either patiently waiting for the harvester to come to their team, or they could go to the fields to harvest on their own.

The villagers had rarely seen Hongyan off-road trucks, especially those without a nose, and they subconsciously glanced at the back of the truck.

Good heavens, there were two mules tied up in the truck bed, looking rather wilted and listless from the sun. A skilled driver would see good livestock as much as a beautiful woman. The driver steered behind the harvester, while the escort frequently glanced back at the two mules at the back of the truck bed.

After driving over a thousand miles from Beijing to Hefei, along National Highway 205, the driver would have been frustrated if he were carrying anything else, but since he was carrying live pigs, he practically slammed the accelerator into the engine.

Even in the city, it's not easy to get a bite of meat these days. What else can the factory do with the live pigs they bring back? They'll definitely slaughter them and eat them.

Why is there a truck following us?

The villagers sitting outside the harvester also noticed the noseless truck following behind, moving slowly and looking quite puzzled.

"They're probably hauling pigs. It's probably arranged by someone. Our village is a major pig-raising village now, so it's probably some leader who approved it!"

The production team leader, driving a combine harvester, had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, looking at the ripe rice on both sides of the road without paying any attention.

And so, one after the other, the harvester, accompanied by the truck sent by the Red Star Factory, drove directly to the village's threshing ground.

The villagers had been waiting here for a long time. Raising pigs could make them rich, but grain was more important than pigs. Seeing the harvester return intact, they felt relieved.

However, the village party secretary and other cadres noticed the truck without a nose. After arranging the harvest order in the village, they came over with cigarettes.

The driver and the escort jumped off the vehicle, looked around, and saw the row of pigsties not far away. The air was filled with the peculiar smell of pig manure.

"The pig farming demonstration team, this is the place! I told you to follow them, you can't go wrong!"

After greeting the village secretary and village officials, the escort took out a note from the factory. What Li Feng had previously asked the purchasing department to issue to Liu Qiang was a foster care certificate, but this was a pig purchase certificate, which the purchasing department still kept.

"We're from the Beijing Red Star Factory. The pigs our purchasing department was temporarily raising at Liu Qiang's house have to be taken back with us this time!"

"Also, these are the two mules belonging to your commune member Liu Qiang. We brought them back from Beijing on our way. Please inform them!"

When the entire Liu family arrived at the threshing ground after receiving the news, they saw a ramp set up behind the truck, and two mules and horses were being led down from it. They were incredibly excited.

The surrounding villagers were in an uproar. Everyone knew that Liu Qiang and Liu Lei, uncle and nephew, earned money in Beijing by each driving a cart. They wondered if this was the animal they were using to drive the cart.

what's going on?

Is he coming back?
That's true, after all, it's been twenty years since I left, it's time for me to come back!

The first family in the village to build a red brick house was Liu Lei's family, followed by Liu Qiang's family. When the pig farming policy was implemented, the whole village started raising pigs, and only then did every household build a brick house.

Among the various communes under Daguan Commune, their brigade was the richest and had the best conditions. All the matchmakers in the surrounding area were eyeing their place first.

"These are good animals, very good animals. Thank you for your hard work, you two comrades. My grandson called and told you that the pigs are all ready for you, ten pigs, each weighing about 100 jin!"

Compared to the two mules being returned, the Liu family was more concerned about their motorcycle. Returning the mules was fine too; in the countryside, people valued mules for their ability to work more than bicycles. (End of Chapter)