After the divorce, he settled in Northwest China and became a Shennong (a legendary Chinese farmer).

Chapter 119 Exhausted, Substitute Players

The next day.

Gu Tong and everyone else arrived at the work site on the 2-mu grassland early in the morning.

He first confirmed the work route with Ai Kebai and the others, then ordered, "Get in the vehicle, let's begin work!"

Ai Kebai was walking with Dong Jun, Ma Dongwen, and Chen Liang when he suddenly turned to them and said, "Let's have a competition among the four groups today. The last place group will treat everyone to half a roasted lamb tonight."

Dong Jun smiled slightly and made an "OK" gesture.

Ma Dongwen readily agreed, laughing as he said, "You want some barbecue, huh? No problem, let's have a competition."

Chen Liang's expression suddenly froze. Among the group, he was considered a novice. Although he had made great progress in the past few days, he was still unsure of himself.

But he couldn't back down now, so he reluctantly said, "Then let's have a competition."

Gu Tong walked behind them and couldn't help but nod to himself as he overheard their conversation.

Aikbai's idea of ​​a group competition is great; the losing group only has to treat everyone to a barbecue. It's a good idea.

Ai Kebai and the others immediately notified their respective teammates, telling them to prepare for the challenge.

Aizezi is a member of Chen Liang's team. Despite his carefree and easygoing demeanor, he is determined not to lose and keeps trying to find solutions for Chen Liang.

"Old Chen, the people in our group are all quite skilled. Just keep a good command here. As long as we maintain our rhythm, we definitely won't be at the bottom."

"Yeah, I get it. Guys, get in the car, let's all work together."

Chen Liang boarded the car with a feeling of unease. After hearing Gu Tong's order, he also gave the group the instruction to start the operation.

The harvesters from the four groups moved forward in unison. Ai Kebai and the others were all veterans, and none of them were in a hurry to take the lead. Instead, they tried to keep the pace steady.

Chen Liang took a deep breath and began coordinating the work progress of the team members. However, his own technical performance was not stable; the more nervous he became, the more easily his movements would deviate from the expected pattern.

He was sweating profusely less than ten minutes into the assignment.

The entire group was also affected by Chen Liang, and their work rhythm fluctuated. If this continued, their group would definitely lose the competition.

"Team Leader Chen, what's going on? Don't let me down."

Aizezi's voice came through the walkie-talkie. Chen Liang turned his head and saw that Aizezi's operation was very stable, and he was the best performer among the four people in the group.

At that moment, a brilliant idea flashed into Chen Liang's mind, and he quickly said, "Everyone, pay attention! From now on, everyone should anchor themselves to Aizezi and follow his rhythm! Repeat..."

"receive!"

The team members didn't ask any questions and resolutely carried out Chen Liang's orders.

As the benchmark for the group, Aizezi immediately became extremely focused and led everyone to rediscover the rhythm.

Chen Liang wiped away his sweat, gradually regaining his composure. However, he didn't immediately replace the anchoring machine; instead, he made minor adjustments by issuing commands, and the team members' cooperation became increasingly seamless.

Gu Tong, who was in charge of the operation, did not belong to any group, but he could observe the movements of every group.

He had witnessed the changes in Chen Liang's team's strategy and he highly praised Chen Liang's decisive change of the anchor personnel.

Technical skills can be improved through practice, but some abilities are innate. Adaptability sounds easy, but not everyone can do it.

During the break, Gulixian came to the grassland. She said she would be returning to Nasu after lunch and came specifically to say goodbye to Gu Tong.

Are you going to have lunch at your uncle's house?

Gu Tong pulled the other person aside and then asked in a low voice.

"My uncle is so busy all day long, he never even comes home for lunch. My aunt has a meeting today, so I'll just have lunch with you all here. I'll leave after lunch."

Gulixian felt a little lost, and she couldn't even explain why.

"Wait for me a moment, I'll go to the county for lunch with you."

Gu Tong noticed the other person's slight mood and couldn't help but laugh.

He immediately made arrangements to accompany Gulixian to the county for lunch, partly to see her off and partly to thank her for her help.

"Sure, sure! But won't this interfere with your plans?"

Gulixian almost jumped up, but then she hesitated when she thought about Gu Tong's work pressure.

"These tasks can't be finished in one day, but don't worry, they won't cause any problems."

Gu Tong smiled, Yu Aoh shook his head, and then returned to the harvester first.

For the next hour, he went all out for the first time, increasing his work speed significantly. Not only Gulixian, but all the members of the four groups participating in the labor competition were dumbfounded.

Wang Qi asked Aikbai through the walkie-talkie, "Team leader, is this the boss's true strength?"

"The boss's abilities are unfathomable! Everyone concentrate on your work and don't get distracted. We need to get first place."

Aikebai didn't know where Gu Tong's strength limit was either. While feeling proud, he didn't forget about the competition.

An hour later, Gu Tong stopped doing her homework.

In that one hour, he operated a single harvester to harvest 14.5 mu (approximately 1.65 acres), which translates to 145 mu (approximately 26.5 acres) of work per day (10 hours of work), significantly exceeding the average daily harvest of 100 mu (approximately 16.5 acres) that everyone else harvests.

"Aikbai, I have to go out for a while. You'll be in charge temporarily. Call me if anything comes up."

Gu Tong gave Aikebai a brief explanation over the walkie-talkie, and then walked over to Gulixian's side.

Gulixian smiled radiantly and silently gave a thumbs up.

"Let's go eat in the county."

Gu Tong finished work early for the first time and drove to the county town with Gu Lixian.

The two found a nice restaurant, ordered a few dishes, and chatted while eating.

In Gu Tong's memory, this was the first time the two of them had eaten at a decent restaurant, and he felt somewhat guilty.

"You should eat more too, it would be a waste if we couldn't finish all this food."

Gulixian was in a good mood and ate more than usual.

Seeing that the other person had almost finished eating, Gu Tong then began to eat, quickly devouring all the food on the table.

"You...you have quite the appetite!"

Gulixian suppressed a laugh and complimented the other person.

Gu Tong didn't feel embarrassed at all. He had always had a big appetite, and if he ate freely, it would definitely scare people.

Afterwards, Gu Tong paid the bill, and the two left the restaurant together and got into the car.

Gu Lixian drove him home. After Gu Tong got out of the car, she repeatedly told him to be careful. Then she watched the car drive away and disappear at the end of the road.

in the afternoon.

Gu Tong was still going all out, determined to make up for the loss from going out to eat today.

He is the soul of the team, and he sets an example in many things, finishing tasks on the same day and never putting them off until the next day.

Perhaps inspired by him, the four groups also sped up their work.

Just as everyone was racing against each other, Gu Tong suddenly noticed that the harvester driven by Ma Dongwen had inexplicably slowed down, becoming slower and slower, and finally stopped in the field.

"Old Ma, what's wrong? Send someone to check on your team leader, is something wrong?"

Gu Tong knew something was wrong and quickly sent Ma Dongwen's team to investigate.

Later, feedback will come back saying that Ma Dongwen is unable to continue working due to physical exhaustion and a cramp in his right leg, but he refuses to rest no matter what.

Gu Tong stopped the car, then quickly ran over and pulled Ma Dongwen out of the car.

"Old Ma, don't push yourself, go and rest for a while."

"The competition isn't over yet, I can't rest, otherwise it wouldn't be fair to my team members."

While grimacing and rubbing his right leg, Ma Dongwen prepared to get back into the vehicle and continue his work.

Gu Tong grabbed the other person and said, "Old Ma, look, everyone has stopped doing their homework. I'll have someone start calculating the results now, and then calculate each group's competition score."

He felt that Ma Dongwen couldn't continue, as his body clearly couldn't withstand the high-intensity work.

So he decisively stopped the competition and asked Dong Jun and Ai Kebai to lead a team to calculate the daily workload of each group based on the current work area.

After a while, Ai Kebai and the others reported the competition results to him.

The first place went to the Aikebai team, which calculated a single-day operating area of ​​487 mu.

The second place went to Ma Dongwen's group, with a total of 479 mu. The third place went to Dong Jun's group, with a total of 471 mu. The last place went to Chen Liang's group, with a total of 465 mu.

Chen Liang stood to the side, panting heavily, not from exhaustion, but from a sense of resentment.

Their teamwork is getting better and better, and their work speed is steadily improving. If they work until the end of the day, their team might not necessarily be at the bottom.

However, his brother-in-law Ma Dongwen's body really couldn't take it anymore. Compared to a small competition, health was of course more important.

At this moment, Aizezi walked to Chen Liang's side and said, "Team leader, one failure doesn't mean anything. Every member of our team is a pro. As long as we practice together a few more times, we will definitely make great progress."

"Well, we'll have another chance to compete with them later."

Chen Liang led his team away and got into the car to continue their work.

Gu Tong told Aikebai and the others to go to work, while he helped Ma Dongwen to the edge of the field and let him sit down and rest.

"Old Ma, if your body can't take it anymore, just say so. Don't push yourself. We still have plenty of time to finish our work. It doesn't matter if you go a little faster or slower, but ruining your health is a lifelong problem."

"Sigh! Looks like I'll have to take it easy from now on. I'm fine now, Xiao Gu, you go ahead and do your thing. I can still move around after resting for a while."

Ma Dongwen's expression was complicated, but he also thought Gu Tong was right. Health is the most important thing, and he couldn't push himself too hard anymore.

When it was time to wrap up, Gu Tong tallied up the total amount of work done. Today, the four groups, including himself, harvested less than 2100 mu (approximately 140 hectares) in 12 hours.

Due to his personal matters and Ma Dongwen's health issues, he had to work overtime to complete the day's tasks.

"Starting tomorrow, let's maintain this workload, avoid working at full capacity, and try to keep individual working hours below 10 minutes per day."

Hours.

During dinner, Gu Tong announced a rule: no more rushing to meet deadlines.

Ma Dongwen's incident served as a wake-up call for him; even young people can't withstand long-term, high-intensity work, let alone these middle-aged people.

"good!"

Everyone responded loudly, saying that even if someone wanted to finish their work quickly and go home, they wouldn't openly contradict Gu Tong.

Afterwards, everyone happily ate pilaf and roasted mutton.

The barbecue was naturally on Chen Liang's team's payday. Chen Liang didn't mind spending the money, but if given the chance, he still wanted to win once.

After finishing their meal and returning to the hotel, Gu Tong called Ilyas.

"Old village chief, are there any young and strong farm machinery operators in the village? It doesn't matter if their skills aren't great, I have someone here who's not up to the task. It would be best if you could have a few replacements."

Having learned from Ma Dongwen's experience, Gu Tong plans to find a few "substitute players".

This is currently the most economical, convenient, and quickest way. Let's complete Tekos's task first, and then we can talk about other things.

"Haha, many of the young people in the village know how to operate farm machinery, but they don't have the machines themselves, and their skills are still lacking. They can even do without pay, as long as they have the opportunity to practice."

Upon hearing this, Ilyas burst into laughter.

He had a lot of worries about how to solve the employment problem for the surplus labor force in the village.

Some of the young people went to learn how to operate agricultural machinery, but they didn't have any at home. In the past, companies like Honghe only hired experienced people, and no one would hire half-baked people like them.

This means they learned the skill for nothing, with no opportunity to use it!

"You still have to pay me, old village chief. Help me pick out a few reliable young men. Their skills are secondary; they can be trained gradually. But their character must be impeccable."

Gu Tong was overjoyed and had a vague idea in mind, but she would have to wait until she got back to put it into practice.

"Okay, Xiao Gu, thank you!"

Ilyas sincerely thanked them and selected six young men to set off early the next morning.

He had given prior instructions that this trip to Tekos County would be unpaid; the purpose was simply to learn a skill from the locals. The village would cover food and lodging expenses, and anyone who didn't learn a real skill shouldn't come back.

Gu Tong chatted with Gu Lixian on WeChat for a while that evening, then went to bed early.

He then opened the panel, and information floated past his eyes.

[Influence expands, Shennong value +100]

[Effective task (mowing grass), Shennong value +500]

Shennong Value: 2882 points

The recent accumulation of live stream experience led to a surge in followers when promoting Aili Lamb, resulting in 1 new followers and bringing the total number of followers to [number missing].

66103.

This also brought Gu Tong an unexpected bonus of 100 Shennong points.

In addition, the mowing of 5000 mu of grassland has been completed, and he has also received 500 Shennong points, greatly increasing his Shennong points.

Gu Tong couldn't help but smile at the thought of even more Shennong Points to be gained later.

the next day.

While Gu Tong was working, Li Yong reappeared on the adjacent plot of land.

At this moment, Li Yong was in high spirits and even walked over to wave at Gu Tong, as if the two had a very good relationship.