There's a trick to loading bricks into the truck bed. After the tractor stops close to the top of the bricks, the height of the truck bed is still less than the top of the bricks, so three people can stand directly on the top of the bricks to load the truck.
As her father carried bricks to the other side of the truck bed, Su Wei said, "Dad, loading like this is too strenuous. Load from the middle of the trailer, and after it's half full, I'll turn the truck around and load the other half."
Su Wei's method of loading the truck saves a lot of effort. The tractor's trailer is more than two meters wide, and if it is filled to the brim at once, it is too difficult to carry bricks to the other side of the trailer.
With the bricks in hand, you can turn around and take half a step to put the bricks on the truck, making loading much easier.
Su Wei first placed a row of bricks at the front and back of the truck. Loading the truck from the middle wouldn't be possible without a helper; the front and back rows of bricks were like that, to prevent the truck from not being able to fit the door at the end, or from not having enough space to fit a row of bricks – that would be really bad luck.
It was summer, and Su Wei and her parents' clothes were soaked with sweat in no time.
After loading several rows of bricks, the top of the bricks will be lower. At this point, you can stand under the truck and load the bricks directly onto the truck. Three people get off the truck and stand under it to load the bricks. They can load fifteen bricks at a time. When the first fifteen bricks are loaded, half of the truck is full. This way of loading the truck is really labor-saving.
After the truck was half full, Su Wei opened the door, got on, started the tractor, drove around the brick factory, turned the tractor around and drove back, opened the door in advance, got on, parked the empty side of the truck close to the top of the bricks, and then continued loading bricks.
Thirty bricks in one truck is no joke. It took until sunset to fill the truck. The three men were exhausted after loading the truck. If they had followed their father's loading method, it would have taken until dark to load a truck full of bricks.
After opening the truck door and paying the factory manager, Su Wei first let her parents get on the truck and sit in the back berth. Then she got on the truck, started the tractor, and drove home.
On the way, the father asked, "Wei'er, how much of your salary did your boss give you in advance?"
When Su Wei first asked her second uncle to designate a house for her, her father asked, "Daughter, what's the use of designating a house for you? Do we have the money to build one?"
Su Wei said, "My boss agreed to give me a year's salary in advance. Our old house is really uninhabitable. I'm really afraid that if it rains heavily, the house will collapse and crush my whole family inside."
Su Wei's eyes were filled with tears when she finished speaking; only those who have experienced it know what fear is.
Every time it rained heavily, the rain poured down in the yard and then drizzled inside the house. We filled basins everywhere in the house to catch the water. When the basins were full, we would pour the water out into the yard and then put them back into the leaky spot. At night, when it rained, the whole family was too scared to sleep. We would just stay inside the house and use basins to catch the rainwater, because we were really afraid that the heavy rain would cause the house to collapse.
That's why the father and son asked about the advance on wages today. Su Wei said, "It wasn't an advance on wages, it was a gift from the boss. My second uncle helped Dongqing a lot this time, and he gave the family 20,000 yuan today so we could build a house."
My mother said, "Your boss is a really good person. Work hard for him from now on."
Su Wei nodded after listening to her mother's words and continued driving.
Before Dong Damei left work, Dong Qing and Li Yuzhu walked into her office. She said, "I'm about to leave work and go home. Is there something you need?"
From Dong Damei's words, it's clear that Dong Hui didn't call. If he had, she wouldn't have asked that question. Dong Qing asked, "Didn't Uncle Dong Hui call?"
Dong Damei said, "I didn't answer the phone. Is there something you need him for?"
Just then, the telephone on her desk rang. Dong Damei picked up the receiver and said, "Finance Department of the Machinery Factory."
"My dear niece, it's your Uncle Hui. Is your brother home?"
"Oh, it's Uncle Hui. My brother just arrived. Please wait a moment."
After Dong Damei finished speaking, she handed the microphone to her younger brother, who took it and asked, "Uncle Hui, how is it? Are there any problems with the 2,000 piglets?"
Donghui said, "No problem. I've already ordered 2,000 piglets for you. You can withdraw the money from the bank tomorrow morning, and I'll take the piglets back to you with me tomorrow afternoon, and bring the money back to the pig farm."
Dongqing said, "Thank you, Uncle. You've been a great help this time."
Donghui said, "Nephew, you're too kind. We're from the same village, and besides, we had a special relationship when your father was alive. I'll help you out whenever I can."
They chatted for a while longer before ending the call. Dong Damei asked, "Why did you buy another 2,000 piglets?"
Dongqing said, "Half of the soybean residue from the soybean processing plant can't be used to feed piglets. I can't handle the soybean residue if I don't buy it from the piglets. I think you understand what I mean by that."
Dong Damei said, "So that's how it is."
Dongqing said, "I just informed my second and third sisters. Today is the start of construction at the site, which is a joyous occasion. Our family will go to a restaurant for a meal."
Dong Damei glanced at her watch and said, "I should get off work now, let's go."
Su Wei drove back to her house and parked in front of the gate. There was a forklift parked there. Seeing Chen Hong and his younger siblings coming out of the yard, Su Wei got out of the car and asked, "When did you arrive?"
Chen Hong said, "I just got off work and came over. Your clothes are soaked with sweat. I brought some watermelons with me on the way here. Go home, rest for a while, eat some watermelon, and then unload the truck!"
Su Wei asked, "Did you drive this forklift here?"
Chen Hong said, "Yes, I borrowed it from the machine factory. Unloading with a forklift makes it much easier."
"Thank you!" Su Wei paused for a moment and said, "Let's eat the melon when we get back. You drive the forklift behind my truck, and we'll unload the truck first!"
Chen Hong nodded, greeted Su Wei's parents, got into the car, started the forklift, and drove towards the east end of the village.
The tractor and forklift arrived at the homestead one after the other, and Su Wei drove the tractor into the field and parked it.
The two men jumped off the truck, opened all three doors, and Chen Hong got on, started the truck, raised the forks, and began unloading from the rear of the tractor's cargo box.
Chen Hong moved the forklift's double forks onto the platform and then pushed them forward with force.
He took a two-meter-long double-pronged plug from the factory, and pushed and knocked it over. When he was halfway through, the bricks on the plug slid down the steel plug and under the car.
Unloading the truck is really fast this way; a whole truckload of bricks can be pushed under the truck in less than ten minutes.
Two people got into the car and threw the loose bricks off the vehicle.
After unloading, the two jumped off the truck. Su Wei said, "Unloading with a forklift is so much easier, thank you."
Chen Hong said, "You're welcome. The forklift is usually not needed since it's parked at the factory. You can haul enough bricks for the construction in one day, so I'll leave the forklift at your house tonight and deliver it to the factory tomorrow after you've finished hauling the bricks."
"I won't be hauling bricks tomorrow. I'm going to be hauling feed to the pig farm for my boss." Su Wei paused for a moment and said, "Besides, I don't know how to drive a forklift, so I'll just take the truck back."
"Dongqing wants to make sure the pig farm can use the forklift for hauling feed too. Send the forklift to the pig farm tonight, and drive it back tomorrow after you're done. If you don't know how to drive it, I can teach you."
After Chen Hong finished speaking, he asked Su Wei to get in the car, explained the operating procedures to her, and then asked her to start the car.
She already knew how to drive and learned very quickly; she only needed to master the double-fork lift, tilt forward, swerve left, and swerve right.
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