As soon as Li Xiangdong entered the village, he heard everyone talking at once about how, under the leadership of the brigade leader, they had driven Hu Shusong away. As soon as he got home, he asked Li Jin if it was true.
Li Jin felt relieved after confronting Hu Shusong today, but after calming down, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
With Hu Shusong's petty nature, he'll definitely make things difficult for me in the future!
He puffed on his pipe, his body enveloped in white smoke.
Li Xiangdong frowned as he opened all the windows, carried Li Yan to another room, and let her play with the big tabby cat.
"I've told you so many times, don't smoke in front of your younger siblings. It's secondhand smoke, and the kids will get poisoned if they inhale too much!"
Li Xiangdong spoke bluntly about Li Jin.
Li Jin has been spoiling Li Xiangdong lately, so he wasn't angry when he heard this. Instead, he asked in a gentle tone, "You're back?"
Li Xiangdong picked up a large palm-leaf fan and vigorously fanned away the white smoke in front of him, asking gossipily, "I heard you shut Hu Shusong up today?"
Li Jin looked distressed. "This time we've really offended someone!"
"So what? Dad, even if you don't offend him today, he won't say a good word about you, and he won't agree to let you be the pumping station manager just because you're an honest person who listens to whatever he says!"
"What kind of good person is Hu Shusong? He's the kind of guy who'd squeeze a toad dry!"
"He'll just think you're an easy target, someone he can take advantage of in the future! Remember this: compromise doesn't earn respect!"
"Truth lies only within the range of cannon fire!"
"The harvester belongs to us. It has nothing to do with the commune or the county. What's wrong with not letting him use it? Is he going to try to forcibly take it away like in the old days?"
Li Xiangdong offered a long string of words of comfort, "Besides, the new leader who came to Huichuan County is a real man of action. Let's see how long these two can keep up this act!"
The last sentence greatly comforted Li Jin.
However, both Li Xiangdong and Li Jin understood that they definitely couldn't give up. Could they keep refusing after being rejected once or twice?
"What's the big deal? We'll finish harvesting our land soon, and the harvesters are just sitting around doing nothing anyway, so let's take this opportunity to make some money!"
So, after being thoroughly scolded by Deputy Director Zhang, Hu Shusong came again.
This time, Li Jin didn't refuse as firmly as he had the first time. Instead, he talked about the difficulties of purchasing a harvester.
This was bought with borrowed money! We, as the brigade, will certainly use it for free. But to use our people and vehicles for other brigades to harvest wheat, is it really appropriate to do so for free?
Upon hearing this, Hu Shusong thought there was a chance. "It's just a matter of money, right?" he thought. "I'll just give the Lijiapo Brigade ten yuan in compensation!"
Li Xiangdong was amused.
"President Hu, this truck needs diesel. Do you know how much diesel costs per liter? And what about our drivers? Are they working all day for nothing? Are we supposed to pay for their work points and subsidies ourselves? And most importantly, I borrowed money to buy this truck!"
Hu Shusong's face turned pale. When did it become the turn of a child to bargain with him?
And they still want an exorbitant amount!
"Li Jin, you let such a young child come out and talk to me?"
Li Jin helplessly shrugged, "This car belongs to my son, not me, nor to the brigade. Is there a problem with him telling you this?"
Hu Shusong, suppressing his anger, asked, "How much do you want?"
Li Xiangdong mimicked his father by shrugging, "One yuan per mu!"
Currently, a pound of refined flour costs two or three mao (0.2-0.3 yuan), and the normal flour yield is 70-80%, so one and a half pounds of wheat can produce one pound of flour.
Wheat yields are not high now, but there are always more than 200 jin per mu, so one yuan is acceptable.
Hu Shusong calculated that Deputy Director Zhang's hometown, Longshui Village, had more than 3,000 mu of land. If all of it were harvested, that would be more than 3,000 yuan, which was no small sum!
If it were a thousand or eight hundred, the commune could cover it, but with so much money, it's hard to balance the books!
"I'll go discuss this with Deputy Director Zhang!"
Hu Shusong stormed off after saying that.
...
The compound of the Huichuan County Party Committee.
Deputy Director Zhang slammed the teacup down on the desk with a loud "thud," and Hu Shusong's heart skipped a beat.
"You troublemaker! You're an absolute troublemaker!"
Deputy Director Zhang was so angry he spun around in circles.
Suddenly, he smiled. "Give it to him! After the wheat harvest, I'll make him pay it back with interest!"
...
However, in the end, the money didn't come from Longshui Village or the county; it came from Hu Shusong himself.
That evening, at Hu Shusong's house.
Hu Shusong and his brother-in-law Pan Dachun were drinking alone, saying, "It's not that I can't afford three thousand yuan, but what does it have to do with me?"
Pan Dachun poured his brother-in-law another glass of wine, saying, "What does Li Xiangdong, that little brat, know? He was all taught by Li Jin behind the scenes. Letting a kid stand up for you is shameless!"
Hu Shusong's tongue was slurred with drink. "I'll have to teach them a lesson sooner or later."
“Yes, Li Jin is ambitious and has high aspirations. He wants to be an official all his life. Brother, we can’t let him become the station chief of the pumping station! We should also remove him from his position as brigade leader and make him toil in the fields for the rest of his life. He’ll be miserable to death!”
If Li Xiangdong saw Pan Dachun like this, he would definitely say to those who spread rumors that Pan Dachun obeyed his brother-in-law's orders, "When did you all go blind?"
Pan Jiwen chimed in from the side, "It's just three thousand yuan! Uncle, I'll cover it for you!"
Pan Dachun glared at his son, thinking, "What an idiot son of yours!"
Pan Jiwen wasn't afraid of his father; his uncle treated him so well!
"Uncle, Brother Wang told me that Old Man Yan told Li Xiangdong to get whole Rehmannia glutinosa roots and tails, and the pharmaceutical factory will buy them at a high price! I'll have them dig up more and make up the money for you!"
Pan Jiwen patted his chest and gave his assurance.
Pan Jiwen's mother, Hu Shuli, looked at her son with joy, "My son is truly promising!"
Li Xiangdong didn't expect Hu Shusong to agree so quickly, and he gave him three thousand yuan.
Just then, the wheat harvest in Lijiapo Brigade was finished, leaving only a few scraps of land that could be finished by hand.
Li Xiangdong had already discussed it with the team leadership. Of the three thousand yuan, after deducting fuel costs and driver subsidies and work points, Li Xiangdong would only keep one thousand yuan; the rest would belong to the team!
As soon as these words were spoken, Li Tang and Liu Changhai immediately disagreed.
"You're at a huge disadvantage this way!"
"It's already generous of us to let our brigade use it for free; we can't let you suffer such a huge loss!"
Li Xiangdong smiled slightly, leaving the room for Li Jin to make his own decisions.
Li Jin sincerely told everyone, "When the big river is full, the tributaries are full; one family being rich doesn't mean being rich; only when the whole village is fat can the kang (a traditional heated brick bed) collapse."
He reiterated that it was only right for Li Jin's child to make some contributions to the villagers.
Everyone's eyes welled up with tears after hearing this. What kind of spirit is this! We can't even compare to a child's magnanimity!
So, before the harvesters even set off for Longshui Village, Li Jin and Li Xiangdong's reputation in Lijiapo Brigade had already reached its peak!
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