Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Chapter 1149 A Different Day
Before they even reached the gate, Wang Dazhu suddenly stopped his four-wheeled vehicle and said:
"We're running low on diesel. Should we get two more barrels?"

Wang An thought for a moment and said:
"Let's make one bucket first and use it for now. We can make another one next spring."

Diesel fuel has a higher octane rating and is more expensive in winter, so it's completely unnecessary to stock up on so much diesel now.

As he spoke, Wang An jumped out of the car, walked to the warehouse, and threw an empty oil drum onto the car. Only then did Wang Dazhu shift gears again, step on the gas, and drive straight to the county.

In October, the temperature in Northeast China in the morning is quite cool, of course, that's how it feels when you're wearing thick clothes. If you're wearing thin clothes, it's not just cool, it's very cold.

Wang An originally wanted to drive, since the person in the driver's seat of a four-wheeled vehicle is the one who gets the coldest.

Because no matter how strong the cold wind blows, the driver has to look straight ahead and face the cold wind head-on without any shelter.

Even with a hat and scarf, the cold wind still managed to get right into my clothes.

However, after Wang An made the suggestion twice, he was rejected by Comrade Wang Dazhu both times, on the grounds that Comrade Wang Dazhu was willing to drive.

So Wang An stopped bringing it up.

More than an hour later, Wang Dazhu drove the four-wheeled vehicle into the town. Looking at the various shops that had sprung up along the street, he exclaimed with great admiration:

"Sigh, this county town changes every day. Before we built our houses and were hauling cement, there weren't so many businesses. But now, all of a sudden, there are so many more."

Wang An smiled and said:

"Yeah, it'll definitely be fast. Wait two years and you'll see the changes in this county are even greater than this."

It must be admitted that China's infrastructure construction speed is definitely the fastest in the world.

Wang An clearly remembered that when he left the county town in his previous life, many buildings had already been built. However, these buildings were mainly office buildings built by various units, and very few private individuals could afford to build their own buildings.

Wang Dazhu nodded upon hearing this:
"Yeah, it's only been less than half a year since I last came here, and things have changed so much. The changes will definitely be even greater next year."

The father and son chatted, and Wang An would occasionally explain the various places in the county town to Wang Dazhu.

Although Wang Dazhu had been to the county town a few times before, the number of times was very limited. Apart from the market and the supply and marketing cooperative, Wang Dazhu had never been to any other places.

It's important to understand that DJ County is, after all, a county town, and it also has various factories, so in terms of area, it's actually quite large.

And so, the father and son soon arrived at the agricultural machinery company.

To be fair, if China wants to develop a certain economic sector, it can do so at an incredibly fast pace.

At this time, due to the food problem, China had to vigorously develop agriculture. In addition to improving seeds and building water conservancy projects, mechanization was the most crucial aspect of agricultural development.

Just like planting rice seedlings, planting rice seedlings by hand and planting rice seedlings by machine are completely different concepts.

Therefore, there is a great shortage of hand-held tractors in the spring, and now there are at least thirty or forty of them parked in the yard of the agricultural machinery company.

Even the small four-wheeled vehicles that Wang An bought had two parked there waiting to be sold.

To put it simply, as long as someone wants to buy, there will be hand tractors available.

Besides these, small household harvesters have also appeared. Unfortunately, these harvesters are for harvesting corn, not wheat or rice; otherwise, Wang An would have bought one no matter what.

However, starting next year, apart from planting less of some miscellaneous grains and beans, and a small amount of wheat, Wang An's family plans to only grow rice on their farmland.

The reason is simple: thanks to the legendary Yuan Longping, rice is incredibly productive.

It's important to know that this year, Wang An's family's rice yield per mu was more than double that of wheat per mu, and the price of rice was slightly higher than that of wheat flour. Therefore, if they were to plant wheat under these circumstances, it would truly be a disrespect to the land.

After parking the car in a place where it wouldn't get in the way, Wang An and his companion walked towards the area where the chaff cutter was located.

Just as Wang An said at home, there are mainly two types of chaff cutters nowadays: one is ordinary, and the other is wind-driven.

The wind-powered one looks much more high-end than the ordinary one because it has a hair dryer and a bend in the grass outlet.

Pointing to the chaff cutter, Wang An laughed:

"How about it, Dad? Doesn't the one delivered by the wind look decent?"

Wang Dazhu nodded and said:
"Yeah, I just don't know how much the price difference is between these two things. If the price difference isn't big, I'd say it's a freebie with the purchase. But the thing is, after hearing you say that, this thing is so convenient."

Wang An said with a smile:

"Almost, almost. As long as it's convenient, it's fine. Anyway, I'll have to spend the money once, so I might as well go for it the first time and save myself the trouble of thinking about it later."

Wang Dazhu blinked and said:
"That makes sense, huh? Then I'll just buy the one delivered by the wind."

Having decided what to buy, Wang An led Wang Dazhu straight to the office.

In this day and age, if you want to buy something, especially from a government agency, there's absolutely no such thing as proactive service. It's basically a take-it-or-leave-it situation.

Upon entering the house and asking, I learned that a regular chaff cutter costs 760 yuan, while a wind-driven one costs 980 yuan, a difference of 220 yuan.

Under Wang Dazhu's pained gaze, Wang An handed the money over to the accountant.

Paying the money, getting the receipt, picking up the goods, loading them onto the truck—it all took half an hour to complete all of these steps.

It's worth mentioning that the agricultural machinery company also gave away two extra sets of blades when we bought this chaff cutter. So, including the blades that came with the chaff cutter, this chaff cutter has three sets of blades.

The "set" mentioned here refers to three blades, but these blades are all the same length, and there is no need to distinguish their positions when using them.

After loading was complete, Wang An tentatively asked the warehouse manager:
"Brother, how much does diesel cost per kilogram in winter here?"

Upon hearing that Wang An wanted to buy diesel fuel, the warehouse keeper's expression immediately changed. Previously, he had maintained a stern demeanor, but now he smiled like a eunuch, asking Wang An in a very friendly manner:
"Young man, you want to buy diesel fuel?"

Upon hearing this, Wang An calmly replied:
"I'm thinking of asking around. If it's cheaper here, I'll buy from you. Otherwise, I'll have to find someone to buy it from the supply and marketing cooperative."

The warehouse clerk glanced at the oil drums on the truck and knew Wang An really wanted to buy them. His eyes lit up, and he said:

“We’re definitely cheaper than the supply and marketing cooperative. Here’s the deal: the supply and marketing cooperative is selling it for 57 cents a pound now, but I’ll give you 54 cents, that’s 3 cents cheaper a pound, how about that?”

(End of this chapter)