Back to 1984: I built a chicken farm on a barren mountain.

In mid-June, the weather was hot and humid, and the wheat had turned yellow; it was the wheat harvest season.

Chen Shouyi tidied up the oxcart, straightened the reins, and discussed with Wang Guizhi:

"Honey, should we also water the wheat when it turns yellow?"

The "wheat yellow watering" is to water the wheat thoroughly again after it has turned yellow during the grain-filling stage. Some people believe that watering it more often will result in a higher wheat yield.

Wang Guizhi said:

"We irrigated the wheat when it turned yellow the year before last, but we didn't irrigate it last year, and the yield wasn't much different. Irrigating it once costs several yuan. We're not irrigating it this year. I see that some people have already started harvesting their wheat. Should we wait a couple of days or start harvesting too?"

Chen Shouyi wiped the sweat from his face and said:

"We can't wait any longer. It might rain today, and the wheat will rot in the field, which would be a problem. I'll go to my cousin's house and bring back our ox. After we finish harvesting the wheat, we'll have to prepare for summer planting."

"Your cousin is really something. He used our family's old ox during the spring planting season and hasn't paid it back yet."

"He has chronic leg pain, doesn't he? He likes to go to markets and sell small general merchandise. Our cow is gentle, so he rides it when he goes out and doesn't have to work hard to walk on its own."

"Alright, it's only because he takes good care of the cows. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't want our cows to starve!"

......

The wheat harvest can be described in one word: "grab." For the men and women of Chenjiazhuang, it was a tough battle.

Because the wheat needs to be harvested, threshed, and dried quickly after it matures, we need to protect it from cloudy and rainy weather while also allowing time for summer sowing.

These days, agricultural mechanization is far from widespread, let alone in a small mountain village like Chenjiazhuang.

In addition, because Chenjiazhuang is located in a mountainous area, many fields are divided into small pieces, which makes it very inconvenient for mechanized work. Chen Wenfeng remembers that even after mechanization became widespread in the plains in his previous life, the fields in Chenjiazhuang were still mainly cultivated by manual labor.

The wheat harvest began when Chen Wenfeng, holding a sickle, cut down the first heavy ear of wheat.

Almost everyone in Chenjiazhuang pitched in, each wielding a sickle in their own wheat field. As the waist-high wheat was cut down, bundles were piled up in the fields, and these golden bundles of wheat were then transported out of the fields by wheelbarrows and oxcarts.

In previous years, wheat threshing was done by oxen or people pulling stone rollers to crush the wheat grains off the ears. Last year, the village got a small threshing machine powered by a diesel engine. It is indeed faster, but since everyone is using it, people have to wait in line.

With the help of Niu Da and Niu Er, Chen Wenfeng's family harvested the fastest this year.

Hou Laizi was originally going to keep his promise and come to help, but Chen Wenfeng told him that they had enough manpower and that he would be of great use later.

Because the Chen family harvested their wheat quickly, they soon found themselves in line at the threshing machine.

However, the wheat bundles need to be chopped again before threshing to shorten the straw portion as much as possible.

When everything was ready, Chen Shouyi covered his head with a turban and fed the wheat bundles into the mouth of the threshing machine. As the machine rotated at high speed, the wheat straw was sprayed out from the front, the wheat grains flowed out from below, and the chaff was blown out from the side.

Amidst the swirling dust, Chen Wenfeng handed the bundles of wheat to his father, while Wang Guizhi, along with Wenshui, used sacks to catch the overflowing grains, filling them one by one.

When the last bundle of wheat was threshed, the roaring threshing machine finally quieted down, and the dust and black smoke from the diesel fuel dissipated.

Even though the whole family was covered with headscarves, their faces, nostrils, and ears were covered in black, dirty dust, and when they blew their noses, the snot was black.

This is the result of hard work and sweat during the harvest. After two or three days of continuous day and night work, the task of rushing to harvest was finally completed.

While Chen Wenfeng was busy with his family, Zhou Zhiming kept bringing over news from Han Laosi.

Han Laosi got Li's mutton soup sorted out...

Han Laosi took over Zhang's Noodle Restaurant...

Han Laosi persuaded Xuexia to have breakfast...

Actually, all of this was within Chen Wenfeng's expectations. He had already taken time out of his busy schedule to go to the county town twice in the past two days, and it was he who persuaded Xuexia to accept Han Laosi's conditions for breakfast...

"Brother Chen, Han Laosi from your village came here today. Zhang's Noodle Shop also came several times. He promised to give us 50 yuan."

Shen Wanjun anxiously explained the situation to Chen Wenfeng. Seeing Shen Wanjun's distress, Chen Wenfeng smiled and said:

"Promise him that he should send the 50 dollars, which he has converted into 500 eggs, along with the goods he is supplying you."

"Brother Chen..."

Shen Xiaoxia stopped her panicked cousin and said:

"Do you have a solution?"

Chen Wenfeng replied:

"Don't worry, I have a way to deal with him. Did you say when you'd deliver the goods?"

"He said five days later, and then he said he would come back to confirm within two days."

"If he comes again, tell him to provide a total of 1000 eggs, including the ones given away for free. You'll all find out the details later!"

Although Shen Xiaoxia and Shen Wanjun didn't know what Chen Wenfeng was planning, they were relieved to see his confident demeanor.

Shen Xiaoxia suddenly thought of something and said:

"Zhang's Noodle Shop came looking for you; their situation is similar to ours. Li's Lamb Soup Shop didn't come looking for you."

"I'm going to Zhang's Noodle Shop now to let Old Zhang know. As for Li's Lamb Soup, you don't need to worry about it. I'll go to Jiuzhou Hotel to wait for the people from Li's Lamb Soup."

After saying goodbye to Shen Xiaoxia and Shen Wanjun, Chen Wenfeng hurriedly went to Zhang's Noodle Shop.

"Boss Chen, we've finally been waiting for you."

The owner of Zhang's Noodle Shop was a young, chubby man. Chen Wenfeng liked to call him Boss Zhang, and he would casually call Chen Wenfeng Boss Chen.

"Boss Zhang's face is rosy; he looks great!"

"Boss Chen, you actually have the nerve to laugh? I'm just anxious. We brothers get along well and have always had a great working relationship. But I'm a businessman; I believe in buying low and selling high. That Han Lao Si..."

"Boss Zhang, didn't that Han Laosi promise you 50 yuan?"

"Not only that, I think he meant that if he wasn't satisfied with 50 yuan, he would make a further reduction in the price."

"Boss Zhang, do you think Han Laosi is making a profit at this price?"

"Boss Chen, he definitely isn't making any profit, that's why I'm so worried! If it were really good quality and cheap, I'd accept it. But this price is clearly abnormally low."

"Let me tell you something. Han Laosi was the first person in our village to earn 10,000 yuan a month. He's a capable man, but he's tried many things, yet none of them lasted long. Why do you think that is?"

"You mean him? He's not a legitimate businessman?"

"Boss Zhang, Brother Zhang, you're doing business for the long term, not for a small profit once or twice. If you really care about that little bit of profit, I can let you have it. So, this time, just listen to me."

"Don't say anything more, brother, I'll listen to you, reject him!"

"No, you should say yes!"

"..."