60s: I have a store

Chapter 563 This Village Will Disband Without Me
In August in Zhoujiazhuang, the threshing ground became a battlefield for the entire village. Except for those who were going to work in the feed processing workshop or doing other farm work, all the people gathered here.

At five o'clock in the morning, when the sky was just getting light and dew was still hanging on the grass leaves, the old party secretary's copper bell began to ring at the entrance of the village.

"Time to dry the grain--" The hoarse shouts broke the silence, and the sleeping village woke up instantly. The creaking of wooden doors, the shaking of carrying poles, and the yawns of children intertwined into a unique morning song.

The threshing ground is as big as two football fields. The rammed earth ground has been bleached by the sun and there are faded red flags planted around it, which are the marks left over from the collectivization era.

Villagers came in one after another, pushing wheelbarrows loaded with wheat, and the wheels made a "crunching" sound as they rolled over the gravel road.

Erzhu was bare-chested, with a sweat-soaked towel draped over his shoulders. He gritted his teeth and threw the hundred-pound bag of wheat onto the drying platform. The rough hemp rope left deep red marks on his palms.

"Be careful! Don't scatter the wheat grains!" The old branch secretary paced back and forth with his crutches, his cloudy eyes staring at every move, like an old hen guarding a treasure.

The sun rose higher and higher, and the air became hotter.

In the threshing ground, the rustling sound of bamboo rakes could be heard one after another. Xie Yumei, wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, bent over and spread out the wheat pile, and the golden wheat grains spread out like flowing silk behind her.

Every time you rake the soil, you must ensure that the thickness is uniform and cannot exceed three fingers' width. This is a trick passed down by the older generation.

Sweat flowed down her neck into her collar, leaving dark cloud patterns on her back, but she had no time to wipe it off. She just kept turning it over and smoothing it, fearing that some part would not be exposed to the sun.

The afternoon is the most dangerous time.

The scorching sun was like a furnace, causing waves of heat to rise from the ground. Even the ants in the cracks in the stone slabs fled in panic.

Zhou Zhiming and a few young people stood guard by the water pump and sprinkled water on the drying yard regularly.

The cool water droplets splashed on the scalding ground and instantly turned into white mist, bringing a hint of coolness to the scorching air.

"Don't water too much!" the old Party secretary shouted at the top of his voice, "Let the wheat grains absorb the sunlight themselves!"

He sat on a bamboo chair under the old locust tree, but his ears and eyes were always capturing the movements in the sky. If there was any disturbance, he would react immediately!

The weather changes faster than a woman's face.

One day, when we were enjoying the basking in the sun, dark clouds suddenly appeared in the northwest.

The old Party secretary stood up suddenly, his pipe falling to the ground with a clang: "It's going to rain! Hurry up and harvest the wheat!"

The gong sounded urgently, and the villagers who were taking a nap did not even have time to put on their shoes and rushed to the threshing ground barefoot.

Erzhu picked up two bags of wheat and ran away, not even noticing the pain from the wheat awns pricking his arms; Xie Yumei picked up Xiaobao and helped to gather the wheat while coaxing him.

Five minutes before the heavy rain came, more than thirty people covered all the wheat with rainproof cloth.

Raindrops as big as beans hit the plastic sheet. The old Party secretary wiped the rain off his face and smiled with a missing front tooth: "Good! Good! We in Zhoujiazhuang are full of fighting spirit!"

The threshing ground was still restless after nightfall.

The moonlight gave the wheat piles a silver edge, and the "knock-knock" sound of the night patrol's clappers echoed.

Zhou Dazhui was wrapped in a blue cotton jacket and paced around the field holding a lantern. Wherever the light passed, the wheat ears glowed with a soft light.

He squatted down from time to time and put his hand into the wheat pile to feel the temperature inside.

Once he noticed that the wheat in the corner was slightly hot, so he immediately called everyone to turn it over and dry it.

"Don't let it grow out of the ground!" The old branch secretary came over wearing a straw raincoat, his cloudy eyes shining in the night, "This is the lifeblood of the whole village!"

In this way, under the scorching sun, the sudden rainstorm, and the coveting of insects and birds, the villagers of Zhoujiazhuang guarded day and night for seven days and seven nights.

When the last grain of wheat reached the perfect dryness, the old branch secretary grabbed a handful of grains, put them between his teeth and bit them gently - "crunch". The crisp sound was the joy of the harvest and the result of the hard work of the entire village.

In the threshing yard, the cheers that came one after another scared away the sparrows that were roosting there. The golden wheat waves and people's smiling faces became the most moving scenery of this summer.

The scorching August sun baked the stone slabs of the threshing ground hot. After seven days of exposure to the sun, the wheat in Zhoujiazhuang was finally dry.

Now that the wheat has been dried, it is time to pay the tax, so Zhou Zhiming was called over.

When Zhou Zhiming learned that the old branch secretary was looking for him, he quickly put down his work and trotted all the way to the threshing ground.

"Old Party Secretary, are you looking for me?"

The old Party secretary got straight to the point: "Zhiming, drive your tractor to the grain station to pay your grain tax tomorrow!"

Zhou Zhiming agreed immediately: "Okay, old Party Secretary!"

After the two chatted about the details, Zhou Zhiming left the threshing ground.

The night before paying the grain tax, the old branch secretary walked slowly towards Zhou Yimin's home.

The setting sun stretched his shadow very long, and the sparks in his pipe flickered.

He thought to himself that the cadres at the grain station were difficult to deal with. If he could have two packs of good cigarettes to smooth things over, this year's grain inspection would surely go smoothly.

Before I even reached the door, the aroma of food filled my nostrils.

The old branch secretary lifted the bamboo curtain and saw Zhou Yimin's family sitting around the dinner table.

There were four dishes and a soup on the table, including shiny braised eggplant, stir-fried pork with green pepper, spicy and sour shredded potato, and a big bowl of seaweed soup with egg drops floating in it. The steaming hot air mixed with the aroma of soy sauce and chili made people salivate.

"Old Party Secretary! You've come just in time, let's eat together!" Zhou Yimin quickly stood up and greeted him. The old Party Secretary instinctively wanted to decline, but his eyes could not move away from the food on the table - since the wheat harvest, the village canteen has only served cabbage and radishes for every meal, and it has been a long time since they have seen meat.

As if possessed by some mysterious force, he nodded: "Then I'll shamelessly eat for free."

Zhou Yimin's grandmother immediately stood up, walked into the kitchen in small steps, and soon brought out a set of bowls and chopsticks.

The old branch secretary was not polite and sat down and picked up a piece of shredded pork with green peppers with chopsticks.

The shredded meat was tender and smooth, covered with a rich sauce, and had the crispness of green peppers when bitten. He couldn't help but squint his eyes: "Wow, this cooking skill is much better than the one in the canteen!"

At the dinner table, everyone was talking and laughing.

When the old man talked about the growth of wheat this year, the old branch secretary nodded repeatedly: "Thanks to Yimin for the high-yield seeds, otherwise there would be no such a good harvest."

Zhou Yimin didn't expect that the old branch secretary could actually guess it, but he would definitely not admit such a thing: "This has nothing to do with me!"

The old branch secretary did not pursue the issue any further. He knew that the village was the beneficiary, and if he did, he might end up getting Zhou Yimin's disgust.

Why do this thankless task?
After the meal, the old branch secretary wiped his mouth and finally told the purpose of his visit: "Yimin, can you give me two packs of good cigarettes? The village will go to hand in public grain tomorrow. You know, those people at the grain station..."

He didn't finish his words, but Zhou Yimin immediately understood what he meant.

Zhou Yimin said nothing and walked straight into the inner room.

The old branch secretary sat there, feeling very nervous.

He stared at the clock on the wall. The second hand was ticking, and every second seemed particularly long.

"Is this a difficult situation?" He secretly regretted that he should not have eaten the meal for free. Now it was even more wrong to ask for something.

Just as I was thinking about it, Zhou Yimin came out with two brand new packs of Zhonghua cigarettes in his hand.

The cigarette box shone with a reddish-gold luster under the light. The old branch secretary's eyes lit up and he quickly reached out to take it: "Yimin, thank you so much!" Zhou Yimin smiled faintly: "It's a small matter."

But in his heart, he couldn't help but sigh: "If I wasn't here, this village would probably fall apart."

At four o'clock in the morning, the tractor in Zhoujiazhuang roared to start in the mist.

The iron body of the car was covered in dew, the headlights pierced the darkness, and the vibration of the engine made the dogs within a hundred meters radius bark wildly.

Zhou Zhiming gripped the steering wheel tightly. The gears made a crisp clicking sound when he changed gears. The wheat bags in the car collided with each other as the car was bumpy, making a rustling sound.

Erzhu leaned out half of his body and looked towards the village entrance excitedly: "Wow, there are no other cars on the road!"

As the tractor moved uphill along the winding dirt road, the sky in the east began to turn pale.

Intermittent sounds of cowbells could be heard in the distance. Three ox carts loaded with wheat bags were moving slowly, and the axles were groaning.

The old man driving the cart, wearing a gray cloth turban, saw the tractor from Zhoujiazhuang coming with black smoke and hurriedly pulled the reins to avoid it.

"This piece of iron is really powerful!" the old man shouted at the top of his voice, his cloudy eyes staring at the wide tires of the tractor, "Our village's ox carts only weigh 2,000 kilograms when fully loaded. Your one trip is equivalent to three trips of ours!"

After turning the corner of the mountain, we met a donkey caravan from the neighboring village.

A dozen grey donkeys with drooping ears were carrying a mountain of wheat sheaves, and the young man driving the cart was dozing off at the back.

The roar of the tractor frightened the donkeys and made them restless. The "whoa" sounds mixed with the sound of the tractor engine.

The young man rubbed his eyes and jumped out of the car. He circled around the tractor and touched the hot exhaust pipe with his hand: "Brother Zhou, what does it feel like to drive this thing? Is it more impressive than riding a fast horse?"

Zhou Zhiming honked the horn proudly, causing the donkeys to neigh and cause everyone to laugh.

When we reached the fork in the road, the village chief of Lijiazhuang was directing the villagers to load grain onto the horse-drawn carriages.

Seeing the tractor in Zhoujiazhuang, he ran over in two steps, his coarse shirt soaked with sweat: "Old Zhou, why are you leaving so early?"

He reached out and patted the carriage, exclaiming, "Look at these wheat bags, they are stacked like a city wall! Our village was busy until late at night yesterday, and half of them have not been loaded yet."

I am very envious. If my village could have a tractor, we wouldn't have to work so hard using ox carts or donkey carts to pull wheat.

As the tractor drove across the stone bridge, there were exclamations one after another coming from Wangjiazhuang on the opposite bank.

A dozen women were squatting by the river washing clothes. When they saw the huge machine roaring towards them, they all straightened up and looked.

"Zhoujiazhuang is really capable!" one of them shouted at the top of his voice, "The strong laborers in our village are all in the fields harvesting wheat, and the transportation of grain can only rely on the women to carry it on their shoulders."

The girl next to her was holding a wooden basin, staring at the tractor with sparkling eyes: "This iron thing can run without eating grass. If we had one in our village..."

Near the grain station, the dirt road was crowded with teams transporting grain.

Ox carts and horse carts were lined up for half a mile. Some of the drivers were feeding the animals, while others were lying in the carts and taking a nap.

The tractors from Zhoujiazhuang honked their horns all the way, and wherever they went, people turned their heads to look.

"Make way! Make way!" Erzhu stood on the truck bed and waved his hands, and the wheat bags rustled with his movements.

A man from the next village sat on a bullock cart and said sourly, "Just show off! If our village had this tractor, we would have paid our taxes and rested at home!"

But before he finished speaking, he couldn't help but turn his head to look a few more times, his eyes full of envy.

Just after daybreak, the tractor from Zhoujiazhuang arrived at the grain station.

I thought I could win the first prize, but I didn't expect that there was already a long queue in the open space in front of the grain station.

Grain transport vehicles from more than a dozen villages were lined up in a row, and ox carts, horse carts, and tractors were mixed together, creating a spectacular scene.

"It's still too late!" Zhou Zhiming sighed and slowly drove the tractor into the team.

The people in the car jumped off to stretch their muscles, and Erzhu took out a cigarette from his pocket and distributed it to everyone.

The smell of burning tobacco mixed with the fragrance of wheat permeated the air.

After a while, several villagers from the nearby village came over.

The leader was a man in his forties. He smiled and said, "Brothers from Zhoujiazhuang, your tractors are really awesome!"

Zhou Zhiming handed over a cigarette and the two started chatting.

It turned out that the other party was from Lijiazhuang. The harvest this year was also good, but transportation became a big problem.

"Our village still uses ox carts, which can only carry a few hundred kilograms each time. I don't know how many times we have to go back and forth."

The man blew out a smoke ring, "Unlike you, one trip is worth several of ours."

Zhou Zhiming was very pleased after hearing this and enthusiastically introduced the performance of the tractor and the village's production experience.

As time went by, the line in front of the grain station grew longer and longer.

As the sun rose higher, the temperature also rose. Some villagers who were transporting grain took naps in the trucks, while others chatted in groups of three or five.

As dawn approached, the iron gate of the grain station was finally opened.

The staff came out with the registration book and began to check the public grain in order.

The old branch secretary had already told Zhou Zhiming to find an opportunity to give the cigarettes away.

As the staff member walked to Zhoujiazhuang's car, Zhou Zhiming quietly stuffed two packs of Zhonghua cigarettes into his hands: "Big brother, thank you for your hard work! Just a little gift."

The staff member was stunned for a moment, then smiled meaningfully: "Zhoujiazhuang, the harvest is good this year!"

He opened the registration book and carefully recorded the data, occasionally looking at the quality of the wheat with a critical eye.

Zhou Zhiming's heart was in his throat, afraid that something might go wrong.

Fortunately, with cigarettes paving the way, the acceptance process went smoothly.

The staff used wooden shovels to dig open several bags of wheat, carefully checked the dryness and impurity content, and finally nodded with satisfaction: "Not bad, it meets the standards."

Zhou Zhiming let out a long sigh and asked everyone to start unloading the truck.

Watching the bags of wheat being moved into the granary, Zhou Zhiming felt deeply moved. He never thought that paying grain taxes would one day become so simple.

If it were in the past, first of all, it would not be an easy task to collect so much public grain at one time, and the people at the grain station had very high requirements for public grain.

If there is anything you are not satisfied with, I will just ask you to take it back.

Zhou Zhiming and his team breathed a sigh of relief after they moved all the wheat on the tractor into the granary!

After saying hello to everyone, he drove the tractor towards Zhoujiazhuang!

(End of this chapter)