Lijiapo Brigade is famous now!

Every day, the fields of Lijiapo Brigade were filled with the rumbling and whirring of machines. People from other villages had already spotted the harvesters. Moreover, every family in the nearby villages had distant relatives, so the news spread to almost the entire commune and even the whole county!

Many farmers simply don't believe such a thing exists in the world, or at least not in Huichuan County!

But his relatives were extremely smug, saying, "Our brigade needs manpower to dry wheat right now, otherwise would I have time to come here to collect wheat stalks?"

That's very convincing. Everyone's so busy during the wheat harvest that they don't have time to visit relatives!

The news spread quickly, eventually reaching Hu Shusong of the commune and Zhang, the deputy director of the county.

Deputy Director Zhang urgently summoned Hu Shusong to his office and immediately asked, "Did your commune buy a harvester?"

Hu Shusong hurriedly replied, "No, no! If you can't even do it, how could I possibly have the ability!"

As soon as Hu Shusong said this, he knew he had made a mistake. Deputy Director Zhang couldn't even get a harvester, but a small village in their commune did. Didn't that mean Deputy Director Zhang wasn't as capable as Brigade Leader Li Jin?

Sure enough, Deputy Director Zhang's face fell. "I'm not as capable as you!"

Hu Shusong quickly slapped his own mouth and said with a forced smile, "What are you saying? It's all my fault for speaking without thinking. I deserve to be punished!"

"Alright! Let's get down to business!" Deputy Director Zhang snorted, meaning he had forgiven him.

Hu Shusong breathed a sigh of relief. "I investigated and found that it was driven back by the second son of the Lijiapo brigade leader. There are two of them in total!"

"Who is this person? How could they manage to get two of these machines at once?" Deputy Director Zhang asked curiously.

Hu Shusong smiled wryly, "He's just an ordinary country boy, only fourteen years old this year!"

"Oh? So young?! That's rare. Such a promising young age!"

Upon hearing from Hu Shusong that Li Xiangdong was just a rural kid with no connections, Deputy Director Zhang breathed a sigh of relief.

"Shusong, after all, this is under your jurisdiction. Go and talk to them. The reporters from the provincial capital will be here the day after tomorrow. Tell them to stop for now! Send the harvesters to the commune first, and then they can come with us to Longshui Village to harvest. It'll be a good photo opportunity!"

"This is a major event concerning the entire county! We must take it seriously!"

"Tell them not to worry about the gains and losses of individual households, but to prioritize the overall situation!"

Longshui Village is the hometown of Deputy Director Zhang. The wheat there is his main focus. He uses the best wheat seeds and the most advanced fertilizers, and it is growing the best this year!

When the reporter came to take pictures, he wanted two harvesters to harvest the wheat in Longshui Village at the same time!

He wanted to set a benchmark that the peasants could never reach before they came to the county to take office, so that the county, the city, and even the province could see it!

Upon hearing this, Hu Shusong immediately agreed, "I'll go right away! Don't worry, I guarantee I'll complete the mission perfectly!"

Deputy Director Zhang nodded in satisfaction.

Upon returning to his office, Hu Shusong sent a messenger to Lijiapo Brigade to fetch Li Jin.

As a result, Guo Daming, Liu Changhai and Li Xiangchao were all absent today for various reasons, so Li Jin had to operate the harvester himself!

When the messenger arrived, it took him a long time to find Li Jin in Dakaiwa.

The correspondent said that Director Hu was looking for him. Li Jin paused for a moment, but didn't say he wouldn't go. He just said that harvesting wheat was the most important thing, and he would go as soon as someone could replace him!

Hu Shusong waited and waited in the office for Li Jin to come over, but Li Jin didn't come. Finally, the messenger returned and said that Li Jin was busy!

Hu Shusong cursed Li Jin in his heart for being ungrateful, but the reporters were coming soon. Longshui Village was more than 80 miles away from the county seat, and he had to arrange for harvesters to wait for the reporters in advance. This matter could not be delayed!

Hu Shusong had no choice but to go to Lijiapo Brigade to find Li Jin himself. Li Jin was furious when he was interrupted twice!

Now, only a little over 200 mu of land in Lijiapo Brigade remains to be harvested. Yesterday, his second son, Li Xiangdong, solemnly reminded him that there would be a heavy rainstorm the day after tomorrow! He must finish harvesting the wheat before the day after tomorrow!

Forget about whether the machine gets hot or not these past two days, it's been running non-stop!

Therefore, Li Jin was very impatient with Hu Shusong's arrival. "Why did you have time to come over, President Hu?"

Looking at Li Jin's expression, Hu Shusong suppressed his dissatisfaction and said with a forced smile, "Captain Li, you're a very busy man! Busier than me, the commune chief. You don't have time to see me, so I have to come to see you!"

As a result, when he said all these sarcastic remarks, the other party didn't respond at all, let alone show the fear and trepidation he had imagined.

Li Jin didn't speak, just stared at him expressionlessly, as if to say, "Spit it out if you have something to say, I'm busy!"

"I heard your brigade bought two Dongfeng brand combine harvesters? Take me to see them!" Hu Shusong got straight to the point.

"It's fine to open your eyes, but it wasn't bought by the brigade, it was bought by my son!"

Hu Shusong choked for a moment, then sneered, "How old is your son? How could he have so much money? How could he be so capable? Let's not beat around the bush, there's no need for us to hide anything from each other!"

Li Jin was impatient to engage in this verbal battle with him, since they had been at odds for a long time anyway!

"Go ahead and investigate!"

One sentence killed the conversation.

If someone were thin-skinned, they would have left after saying this much, but Hu Shusong is clearly not that kind of person!

He laughed heartily and affectionately put his arm around Li Jin's shoulder, "Brother, take me to see him!"

Li Jin, with a blank expression, led Hu Shusong to see the harvester.

...

"Not bad, not bad, this is really good stuff!" Hu Shusong patted the front of the car. "Captain Li! Let's drive it to Longshui Village today!"

"What?"

"Why should we drive over there! This is our brigade's machine!"

"Yes, we haven't finished collecting them yet!"

Before Li Jin could speak, the surrounding villagers became unhappy!

The brigade leader said it's going to rain soon, so we have to harvest the wheat all night!

You think you can just drive away like that?

Who do you think you are? Don't think we don't know your background. You used to be a small-time hoodlum. You made your fortune by being a live-in son-in-law, but as soon as your father-in-law passed away, you dumped your wife. You still think you're something special!

Even emperors are afraid to meet fellow villagers!

No matter how high your status or how much wealth you accumulate later, once the villagers have seen how you used to urinate and play in the mud, they won't have any respect for you.

Hu Shusong hated hearing the words "son-in-law who lives with his wife's family" more than anything in his life. He angrily pointed at a group of villagers and cursed, "You're all troublemakers!"

"You're a Japanese devil! Our country's officials wouldn't call us troublemakers, but back then, the Japanese translator pointed at us and called us troublemakers!"

Someone in the crowd said something that caused everyone to burst into laughter!

Hu Shusong fled in disarray amidst the ridicule of his fellow villagers.

Li Jin didn't laugh. Hu Shusong certainly wouldn't give up on getting the harvester away, so he quickly told everyone to stop laughing and get to work!