Yunli couldn't remember when he fell asleep. In the night, he had a strange dream, that the manor was having a grand ceremony, and that all the people he knew were coming, and just as everyone was dancing together, the sky suddenly thundered, and a flock of great white birds rushed straight at him, and together they lifted him into the thunderclouds.

He had no power to resist, he was at the mercy of the birds, and the people below him were in a mess, anxious, crying, indifferent or mocking, and expressions came to his mind.

The next morning, Yunli woke up in a daze, and when he was about to recall a fragment of last night's dream, he was interrupted by the sound of a locomotive outside the house.

After Yunli finished grooming, a group of people holding all kinds of farm tools stepped on the steps one after another, men and women, all dressed as farmers, came to the front of the small building and gathered under the big banyan tree.

"Teacher Yun, you're not used to getting up so early, are you?" In the crowd, a short middle-aged man walked over to Yunli and said with a hearty smile.

"Morning, Director Xu." Yunli greeted with a smile.

This middle-aged man is Xu Ping, the village director of Shanglu Village, who is less than forty years old, with a small body and fair skin, and it is easy to distinguish him from other farmers.

At the beginning, Yunli contracted Xiaolushan, which was also facilitated by Xu Ping, and the two were old acquaintances. The other people who came were all farmers in the village, and they were recruited by Yunli to help Xu Ping, and today was the day of the potato harvest.

"When is the supplier's car coming?" Xu Ping asked.

Yunli took out his mobile phone and looked at the time: "It should be almost there, it's about half past six." ”

Xu Ping nodded: "Then let's wait first, you also hurry up and eat something, what you will do later is all physical work, you can't do it without some strength." ”

After that, Xu Ping beckoned everyone to rest on the spot, and took out a pack of cigarettes, distributed them to the men, and counted them one by one, but he himself did not smoke, only talked about trivial matters in the crowd.

Since he was a child, Yunli has not had the habit of eating breakfast, and he can cope with the whole morning by waking up and drinking a cup of hot water every day, and there is no problem with his body. But today was a special day, so he warmed up two leftover potatoes from last night for breakfast, but after two bites, he couldn't eat anymore.

It's not that potatoes are too ordinary and make him lose his appetite, but it's a habit that has been used for many years, and it's really hard to change.

In less than a cigarette, the supplier's truck came to the foot of the stone steps, and under Xu Ping's command, the farmers took off the baskets from the truck, carried them and walked in the direction of the potato field to start today's work.

"Lao Luo, this time it's you and your sister-in-law who are running!" Xu Ping obviously knew the people in the car, and greeted him warmly, and Yunli followed him and greeted him as well.

"No, it's been a long time since I've been to your village, and the last time I came was at the end of last year." The man named Lao Luo looks slightly older than Xu Ping, has a short flat head, and is a little blessed.

"Director Xu, I recently heard that a college student contracted Xiaolushan, it should be the one in front of you." On the other side of the car, a middle-aged woman came down, about the same size as Lao Luo, pinned a black cross-body bag, and her voice was very loud.

"Yo, this is it." Xu Ping gave up his body and introduced the two sides:

"This is the director of the acquisition station, just call him Lao Luo, this is Luo's sister-in-law, the two of them used to be from the village, and then their careers became bigger, so they moved to the town to develop, and in a few years, they should be able to develop into the county."

Yunli shook hands with the two of them separately, which can be regarded as a preliminary acquaintance.

"Haha, it's good to be able to eat in the town, and go to the city." Sister-in-law Luo denied it with a hearty smile, but Xu Ping's words still made her feel very comfortable.

"Listen to Qiangzi, Brother Yun's acres of potatoes are not ordinary, and you can see it with your own eyes today." Lao Luo chimed in.

"But no, come along, while the weather is not yet hot, you have to finish the work quickly, if it is delayed until the afternoon, the gods will not be happy." Xu Ping quipped, and led Lao Luo and his wife to the field.

"Director Xu! Director Xu! ”

Yunli turned around and saw that a young woman wearing a bamboo hat, riding a bicycle older than his, came to the stone steps, and looked out of breath, obviously rushing over, I don't know why it was urgent.

"Isn't this Ah Ci, what's so urgent?" Xu Ping asked.

The young woman placed her bicycle and walked quickly to the men, explaining:

"I heard that I am recruiting workers to collect potatoes here, I wonder if I can count me as one?"

"We've recruited enough people for this, you better go back, and we'll look for you next time we have a chance." Xu Ping hesitated, but quickly rejected the young woman's request.

"It's okay to get paid less, right?" The young woman did not give up, the bamboo hat was wide, covering most of her face, and her expression could not be seen clearly.

"Well, go back, we're going to get to work, and the sun will rise overhead." Xu Ping still insisted, turned around and left, as if he didn't want to entangle more.

When the young woman first appeared, Xu Ping had already hinted at Yunli and asked him not to make a sound, and the matter would be handled by him.

In Yunli's eyes, Xu Ping has always been a measured person, he resolutely rejected the young woman's request, and there will definitely be his reason, but after he saw the young woman's eyes, he was no longer silent:

"Yes, one more person can do more, not to mention that the weather is so hot, one more person can help, and everyone can be more relaxed, right?"

"Well, since the employers have spoken, let's keep along." Yunli's actions surprised Xu Ping, he shook his head, turned around and continued to walk towards the field.

"Thanks, you guys go first, I'll go to the car and get the tools, I'll be here soon." Things came to a turn for the better, and the young woman's sad face finally got a smile, and after thanking her, she hurried back to get her tools.

"Isn't this the girl from the Lu family?" Several people walked for a long time, and Sister-in-law Luo couldn't help but ask.

"That's her, she now lives in Mrs. Chen's old house." Xu Ping replied.

"She seems to be called Lu Ci, I heard that she was still studying at a prestigious university before, and after that incident, it is estimated that she will not be able to turn over in this life."

"It's a pity, it has nothing to do with her."

Yun Li followed behind the three of them, listening to their conversation about the young woman, and felt more and more that this woman named Lu Ci was not simple, and he didn't know whether his rash decision just now was right or wrong.

The journey was not far, and when they came to the potato field, the farmers were already working in pairs. At this time, Lu Ci also arrived with tools, and naturally, she and Yunli followed Xu Ping as a group to start today's harvest.

In order to facilitate the harvest and facilitate growth, the potatoes are planted on a long mound of earth, which is in the shape of a round arch and is ten or twenty centimeters higher than the flat ground, which is very similar to the loaf of bread that is usually eaten.

I saw Xu Ping holding a sharp long iron rod in his right hand, holding a flat agricultural iron pole in his right hand, using the iron rod to pluck the potato seedlings a few times, find a place, thrust it down, shake it a few times, and a long slit will be exposed in the mound.

After shaking to the long seam is big enough, Xu Ping stuffed the flat iron catalpa into the long seam, and the iron rod was set up below as a lever, and supported it with his upper foot, and then shook the iron catalpa upwards vigorously, back and forth a few times, the sand and soil were all scattered, and the potatoes buried in it also showed their original shape one by one.

The geology here is mainly sandy soil, which is also suitable for the growth of potatoes, and the sand that adheres to the potatoes will fall off with a slight shake.

"It's really not bad, such a good quality, you have to catch up with the greenhouse."

Xu Ping bent over, picked up the freshly turned potatoes and looked at them carefully, and couldn't help but admire.

"It's all good land, and I have a lot of help from everyone." Seeing the production of potatoes, Yunli was naturally very happy and replied with a smile.

After the admiration, Xu Ping continued to turn over the soil, and the woman named Lu Ci dragged the basket behind Xu Ping, put all the potatoes into the frame, and at the same time used a small shovel to turn over large pieces of soil to check if there were any fish that had slipped through the net.

Although he had dug potatoes before, he was all foolish, and he didn't have any skills at all, so Yunli had to work with Lu Ci to learn to pick up potatoes.

Other farmers also use the same way to turn potatoes, the efficiency is quite high, when digging a particularly large potato, there will be exclamations from the crowd from time to time, although it is not their own crops, but the joy of the harvest shines on the smiling face of every simple farmer.

In addition, at the beginning of the planting, many people here came to help, and when they saw that the bean seedlings they planted grew into clusters of fruitful fruits, no one could hide the touch of joy, and they were very energetic to work.

After the basket of potatoes is full, the farmers will carry the whole basket of potatoes to the edge of the field and pour it out, and Lao Luo and his wife have been waiting there for a long time, with several large baskets behind them, and the potatoes are sorted into different baskets.

As early as a week ago, someone from the purchasing station came to check the quality of potatoes, and the person sent at that time was an employee of Lao Luo's staff, named Qiangzi.

After Qiangzi went back that time, he praised them about how good and high-quality these potatoes were, Lao Luo is very clear about Qiangzi's character, although he is very young, but he still has a certain sense of proportion in doing things, he is not the kind of person who likes to talk nonsense, and I don't know if people have given him benefits, so he helps sell.

Since becoming the director of the purchasing station, Lao Luo has rarely gone to the township to buy agricultural products in person, but after listening to Qiangzi's description and his recent lack of important business, he only made a trip in person today.

Seeing the potatoes brought up by the farmers, he really understood that Qiangzi's words were not exaggerated at all, the quality of these potatoes was surprisingly good, and in Xu Ping's words, they could catch up with the greenhouses.

The harvest work is carried out in an orderly manner, Yunli carefully observed, the progress of each team is about the same, and the collocation of personnel is also very particular, and the work of turning over the soil and picking up is deployed according to the situation, which makes the work very efficient.

From this detail, it can be seen that Xu Ping selects workers reasonably according to the workload, which also makes Yunli feel very admired.