At three o'clock in the morning, Lu Li sat up, grabbed a small coat and put it on, and after washing up, he woke up Xu Yunjian and Zhang Qing, went out first, sat on the bench and began to sharpen the sickle. The knife is made of good steel, and the crescent-shaped blade reflects the cold light, and the skin on the belly of the finger is slightly tightened with the thumb - this is okay.

Put the knife away, pick up another one, dip it in water and push and pull on the whetstone, "Xiaoxiao, you're up?" It was Xu Yunjian's voice, he rubbed his eyes and stood on the door frame, "Hey, you are really energetic, you were tired like that yesterday, why don't you sleep for a while today?" If you don't sleep, I won't be able to sleep. ”

"Xu Yunjian, you don't fart less, are you still tired? The little brother asked you to open your hands, and he went to the ground for you, and now he is not tired, but you are making trouble? ”

"Just say me, you Zhang Qing didn't open it?"

"Get out of the way!" Zhang Qing pushed him, "Good dogs don't get in the way." ”

The two of them each fetched water to wash their faces, and Luli ignored them, sharpened a few sickles, stood up and stretched. He also really felt a little tired, from the summer grain harvest, the villages and towns began to be busy, every day from four o'clock in the morning to ten o'clock in the morning, from four o'clock in the afternoon to seven or eight o'clock in the evening, more than ten hours of work a day, it seems that there is nothing, but the harvest of grain is not more than others, once it starts to dry, it is not to think of being able to straighten the waist, completely hunched over, hands and feet are constantly operating, the kind of hard, people who have not experienced it personally, can not understand it.

In addition to this physical exertion, there is also a mental burden, nearly 10,000 acres of wheat fields in the merchant forest, and the golden wheat fields look so beautiful in the movie, but when people are in it, there is absolutely no poetic feeling. The wheat field is endless, and the psychological impact is great! It makes people feel a sense of fear: when will it take to finish so much wheat?

Fortunately, the summer grain harvest is the first major event in the countryside, regardless of men, women and children go to the battlefield together. And not only because the rainy season in the north is just around the corner – once the wheat is soaked in the rain, it will sprout quickly, and it will be all wasted! also because it is necessary to make way for the sowing of autumn grain; There is no delay in both.

After breakfast, carrying a few huge plastic buckets and going out with a sickle, there were already farmers and educated youths like them on the road in the village, and when they saw it, they all nodded, but they didn't speak—not that they were rude, at this time, they were all half tired to death, and no one had the strength to speak. Taking advantage of the hazy starlight to the west end of the village, the shoes on his feet were wet with dew, he took off his outer clothes, wore only a small coat, and walked into the wheat field, Luli spat twice into the palm of his hand, grabbed the sickle, bent down, grabbed the wheat with his left hand, waved the sickle in his right hand, and a piece of wheat fell into his hand, threw the wheat at his feet, followed the step, waved the sickle for the second time, and dried.

The most taboo thing about cutting wheat is that the sickle is used in the wrong direction, and it is easy to plunge into the soil downward, damaging the precious blade; It doesn't work inward, it's easy to hurt yourself - the scythe is extremely sharp, and when it hits the leg, it is a big hole, and the correct direction should be to draw an arc on the wrist, so that the blade will float outward after cutting the wheat. Of course, in the case of the familiar old peasants, there was no such problem, for the sickle had become a part of their body, and it was a pleasure to watch them do it: it was fast, steady, and without any effort, and the large swath of wheat fell behind them.

It rained like rain on Luli Khan, and the movements of his hands became all mechanical labor, and he didn't think about anything in his head, just blindly retracted, cut, retracted, and cut. "Xiao Lu, can you rest for a while?"

Lu Li gasped like a bellows, straightened up, and looked back, it was Shang Jiacheng! He was also sweaty, took off the straw hat he was wearing, and fanned the wind, seeing that his work efficiency was still higher than himself; It was already nearly a hundred meters ahead of his position.

Before the two of them came out of the New Year, they drank a meal of wine under the mediation of Shang Anti-Japanese, ostensibly letting go of the fight, but in fact, they both knew each other that there was still a pimple. Did he take the initiative to say hello to himself today?

"Okay, Xiao Lu, it's not easy." Shang Jiacheng said with a smile: "No wonder the secretary looks up to you, among you group of educated youths, you are considered to have taken the lead!" ”

Seeing the other party give a thumbs up, Lu Li smiled kindly, "Still...... Not as good as the captain...... You. ”

"Nonsense, how many years have I been doing it? You've only been a few years? Hey, this is your first time doing this, right? There's a lot of energy! ”

Luli was so tired that he almost collapsed, and he didn't even have the strength to open his eyes, so he wanted to lie down and sleep beautifully! "How many ...... are there now? Ordered? ”

Shang Jiacheng looked up at the sky - people who have worked in the countryside have such a skill, looking up at the sky, they can estimate the time almost perfectly, "It's almost nine o'clock." Let's go, take a break. Dry it later. ”

As far as the eye could see, the field was shrouded in the sun, and the two men threw their sickles and turned backwards. The women in the brigade quickly put the cut wheat on the bales and transported them to the tractor parked next to them, and when they were full, there was also the follow-up work of threshing, drying and putting them into the warehouse. I didn't bother to leave, just leaned in the shadow of the tractor and rested for a while.

"One?"

"No, I...... No. ”

"This thing is the most boring." Shang Jiacheng was not reluctant, and ordered one by himself, "Look at Xiaoxu and them, they have all learned, why can't you learn it?" ”

Luli picked up the plastic bucket and filled it with enough water, "Captain, how many are there this year?" ”

Shang Jiacheng stretched out his finger and made a 'six' gesture, "Six million catties!" ”

"So many?" Zhang Qing's voice suddenly came from the top of his head, "Captain, how much can we share?" ”

Shang Jiacheng laughed at his words, "This is all to be handed over to the public, and you don't have much left." Besides, you think that's a lot? The yield per mu is less than 600 catties. ”

"That's right, I heard that when the big (leap) progressed, the yield per mu was hundreds of thousands of catties! We have more than 10,000 acres of land, and we have to have more than a billion catties of grain, right? ”

Shang Jiacheng coughed a few times, and spit out a mouthful of phlegm, "Huh! ”

"What's wrong? Am I not right? Zhang Qing folded his fingers and calculated, "That's right, it's more than a billion catties." ”

Shang Jiacheng looked back and saw that Lu Li was leaning on the tractor's car, already drowsy, "Come down, boy, I'll talk to you." ”

Calling Zhang Qing, Xu Yunjian, Luo Yaohua, Lin Antixiu, Hu Chusan, Meng Xiaobiao, Li Haijun, Zhao Yongmao, and Fan Meidi to him, Shang Jiacheng smoked dry tobacco for a while, and only after a while did he speak: "That year, it was really miserable to say." Do you know the way, the neighboring Changli in Hebei Province, more than 4,000 people died, do you know how the Tao died? Starve to death! ”

Everyone was shocked, "How come?" Socialist countries, can they still starve to death? ”

"Why not? Do you know why? Just for the sake of a yield of more than 100,000 catties per mu! ”

The young people all came to the spirit and leaned forward one after another, "What's going on?" Captain, can you tell us about it? ”

"Wheat, the yield of seven or eight hundred catties per mu is on the top, no matter how high it is, it can't be high. If you have to say that the yield per mu is more than 100,000, isn't this fucking bullshit? Do you know how it came about? Pile together a hundred and ten acres of wheat, and Leng Chong is produced by one acre! He snorted viciously, his tone full of curses, "Wheat can lie on the flute for a child, you say, isn't this nonsense?" ”

"That'...... That means nonsense, so that people will not starve to death? ”

"We farmers grow grain, we have to pay public grain to the state, take our merchant forest as an example, you think about it, one acre of land is more than 100,000 catties, our merchant forest is more than a billion catties, how much public grain do you have to pay? If the brigade and the commune have to turn over all the surplus grain, this is not enough, what should we do? I had to take the grain from the peasants' homes - they said they were taking, but in fact they were robbing! Think about it, when the food is gone, don't people starve to death? ”

Zhang Qingsi sucked in the cool air, as if he had a toothache, he really didn't dare to ask the following questions, "Then, what about our merchant Lin?" How many died? ”

"Hey! None of the merchants are dead! ”

"Why?"

"Because of the old man Shang, this old man ......" Shang Jiacheng raised two thumbs, "...... Serious all your life. I don't want to tell nonsense, I can do as much as I should, and no one will come! And guess what? ”

The children all attracted all the spirit of his words, and consciously asked, "How is it?" ”

"In the whole of Tangshan, people in the province can't hate to get the merchant Lin Lai, why don't you know why?"

"You're fed, aren't you?"

"Hey!" Shang Jiacheng nodded heavily, "Not only have they fled from various places, but there are also many cultural people who have come to us...... What are you doing? We don't understand that, it seems to be called...... What to pick...... Wind? In fact, who doesn't know, just to eat a full meal! ”

"Huh?" Everyone suddenly said, "What about then?" ”

"Later, the old branch secretary was dismissed. Damn, tell me, such a good person, don't you want to do it? Bastard or not? He slapped his hand on the shoulder, knocking him awake from his dream, and his body tilted, "Huh? Yes? How...... Finish? ”

Everyone chuckled, "Xiaoxiao, get up, call it a day." Go home and sleep. Come back in the afternoon. ”

Luli rolled over and lay down again, "Don't ...... Trouble, I'll sleep for a ...... Something about it. ”

Seeing that his face was full of tiredness, and he was no longer in good spirits, Xu Yunjian was all distressed. They looked at each other, "Why don't you let him sleep here?" ”

"How's that going to work? Wait a while for the car to drive away, how sunny is this? Wait to get him back. ”

Xu Yunjian squatted down decisively and shook him awake indiscriminately, "Xiaoxiao, I'll take you back to sleep, come, I'll carry you." ”