Manor Romance

Chapter 2 Harvest Potatoes

Yun Li also couldn't remember when he fell asleep.At night, he had a strange dream. He dreamed that there was a grand ceremony in the manor, and everyone he knew came. Just as everyone was celebrating and dancing, the sky suddenly flashed and thundered, and a group of big white birds flew straight up. They rushed towards themselves, and together they lifted him up into the thundercloud.

He didn't have any power to resist, and he was at the mercy of the birds. The people below were in a mess, anxious, crying, indifferent or mocking, and expressions appeared in his mind.

Early the next morning, Yun Li woke up in a daze. When he was about to recall the fragments of his dream last night, he was interrupted by the sound of a locomotive outside the house.

After Yunli finished washing up, a group of people with various farm tools stepped up 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.

"Mr. Yun, aren't you used to getting up so early?" Among the crowd, a short middle-aged man walked towards Yunli and said with a hearty smile.

"Morning, Director Xu." Yun Li greeted with a smile.

This middle-aged man is Xu Ping, the village director of Shanglu Village. He is less than 40 years old, has a small body and fair skin. Standing with other farmers, he can be easily distinguished.

When Yunli contracted Xiaolu Mountain back then, it was also Xu Ping who facilitated it, and the two were old acquaintances.The other people who came were all farmers in the village, and Yunli asked Xu Ping to recruit them for help. Today is the day of potato harvest.

"When will the supplier's car come?" Xu Ping asked.

Yunli took out his phone and looked at the time: "It should be here soon, the appointment is 06:30."

Xu Ping nodded: "Then let's wait first, and you should hurry up and get something to eat. All you will do later will be physical work, so you can't do it if you don't have any strength."

After finishing speaking, Xu Ping called everyone to rest on the spot, and took out a pack of cigarettes, distributed them to the men, and lit them one by one, but he himself did not smoke, and only chatted about trivial matters among the crowd.

Ever since he was a child, Yunli has never had the habit of eating breakfast. Every day he wakes up and drinks a cup of hot water, and he can handle the whole morning without any problems with his body.But today is a special day, so he warmed up two leftover potatoes from last night for breakfast, but after two bites, he couldn't eat any more.

It's not that the potatoes are too ordinary, which makes him lose his appetite, but the habit of many years, which is really difficult to change.

In less than a cigarette's time, the supplier's truck arrived at the foot of the stone steps. Under Xu Ping's command, the farmers took off the baskets on the truck, carried them to the direction of the potato field, and started today's work. Work.

"Old Luo, it's you and sister-in-law running this trip!" Xu Ping obviously knew the people in the car, and greeted them warmly. Yun Li followed him and went up to him.

"Isn't it? I haven't been to your village for a long time. The last time I came was at the end of last year." The man named Lao Luo looked slightly older than Xu Ping, with a short crew cut and a little fat.

"Director Xu, recently I heard that there is a college student who contracted Xiaolu Mountain. It should be the one in front of you." On the other side of the car, a middle-aged woman got off. Cross-pack, the voice is very loud.

"Yo, this is it." Xu Ping gave way and introduced to both parties:
"This is Director Luo of the purchase station. Just call him Lao Luo. This is Mrs. Luo. The two of them used to be from the village. Later, when their careers grew, they moved to the town to develop. In a few years , should be able to develop into the county."

Yunli shook hands with the two of them respectively, which was considered a preliminary acquaintance.

"Haha, it would be nice to be able to make a living in the town, why not go to the city." Sister Luo denied it with a hearty smile, but Xu Ping's words still made her feel very comfortable.

"I heard from Qiangzi that Brother Yun's acres of potatoes are extraordinary, and today I can see them with my own eyes." Lao Luo echoed.

"No, come along. You have to finish the work quickly before the weather is too hot. If it is delayed until the afternoon, the gods will not be happy." Xu Ping joked, and led Lao Luo and his wife to the field.

"Director Xu! Director Xu!"

They didn't take a few steps, when a silver bell-like shout came from behind, Yun Li turned around and saw a young woman wearing a bamboo hat, riding a bicycle older than his, arrived In front of the stone steps, he looked out of breath, obviously he came here in a hurry, and he didn't know why he was in a hurry.

"Isn't this Ah Ci? What's the rush?" Xu Ping asked.

The young woman placed the bicycle, walked quickly to several people, and explained:
"I heard that workers and potatoes are recruited here. I wonder if you can count me in?"

"This... We have already recruited enough people, you should go back, we will find you next time we have a chance." Xu Ping hesitated for a while, but quickly rejected the young woman's request.

"It doesn't matter if you pay less, can you?" The young woman didn't give up. The bamboo hat was so wide that it covered most of her face, and her expression couldn't be seen clearly.

"Hey, you go back, we're about to start work, and the sun is going to rise above our heads." Xu Ping still insisted, turned around and left after speaking, as if he didn't want to make any more entanglements.

When the young woman first appeared, Xu Ping had already hinted at Yunli, telling him to keep quiet and let him handle the matter.

In Yunli's eyes, Xu Ping has always been a measured person, he must have his reasons for resolutely rejecting the young woman's request, but after he saw the young woman's eyes, he no longer remained silent:
"It's ok, one more person is more helpful, not to mention the weather is so hot, with one more person helping, everyone can relax, right?"

"Well, since the employer has already spoken, let's follow." Yun Li's actions surprised Xu Ping, he shook his head, turned around and continued walking into the field.

"Thank you, you guys go first. I'll get the tools in the car and I'll be here soon." Things turned around, and the young woman finally had a smile on her sad face. After thanking her, she hurried back to pick up the tools.

"Isn't this the girl from the Lu family?" Aunt Luo couldn't help asking after they walked a long way.

"It's her. She lives in Mrs. Chen's old residence now." Xu Ping replied.

"She seems to be called Lu Ci. I heard that she was studying in a prestigious university before. If something like that happens, she probably won't be able to turn around in her life."

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

Yun Li followed the three of them, listening to what they said about the young woman, he 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 distance was not far, and when Yunli and the others came to the potato field, the farmers had already started working in twos and threes.At this time, Lu Ci also arrived with tools, and naturally, she and Yun Li followed Xu Ping to start today's harvest.

In order to facilitate harvesting and growth, potatoes are planted on long mounds of soil. The mounds are in the shape of a round arch, more than ten to twenty centimeters above the flat ground, very similar to the usual long loaves of bread.

I saw Xu Ping holding a long pointed iron rod in his right hand, and a flat agricultural iron catalpa in his right hand. He fiddled with the potato seedlings a few times with the iron rod, found a spot, thrust it down sharply, and shook it a few times. The mound will reveal a long crack.

After shaking until the long gap was big enough, Xu Ping stuffed the flat iron tree into the long gap. The iron rod was placed underneath as a lever, supported by his upper foot, and then the iron tree was shaken upwards vigorously. All of them fell apart, and the potatoes buried in them showed their original shape one by one.

The geology here is dominated by sandy soil, which is also suitable for the growth of potatoes. With a light shake, the sandy soil adhering to the potatoes will fall off.

"It's really not bad. Such a good quality can catch up with the ones grown in the greenhouse."

Xu Ping bent down, picked up the potatoes that had just been dug out, looked at them carefully, and couldn't help admiring.

"The land is good, and we need everyone's help." Seeing the production of Tudou, Yunli was naturally very happy, and replied with a smile.

After admiring, Xu Ping continued to dig the soil, while the woman named Lu Ci followed Xu Ping with a basket, and put all the potatoes into the box, and at the same time used a small shovel to turn over the large pieces of soil to check if there was any leakage. fish.

Although he had dug potatoes before, it was all foolishness, without any skills at all, so Yun Li had to learn to rummage through potatoes with Lu Ci.

Other farmers also use the same method to dig potatoes, and 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 crop, the joy of harvest shines in everyone. The smiling faces of simple farmers.

What's more, when the seeds were first planted, many people here came to help. Seeing that the bean sprouts they planted had grown into clusters of rich fruits, no one could hide the joyful touch. Very strong.

After harvesting a basket of potatoes, the farmers will lift the whole basket of potatoes to the edge of the field and pour them out. Lao Luo and his wife have been waiting there for a long time, with several large baskets behind them, sorting the potatoes into different categories. basket.

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

After Qiangzi went back that time, he kept boasting to them how good and high-quality these potatoes were. Lao Luo knew Qiangzi's character very well. The person who talks nonsense, I don't know if he is being favored by others, so he keeps helping to sell.

Since he became the director of the purchasing station, Lao Luo rarely went to the village to purchase agricultural products in person, but after hearing Qiangzi's description, and because he had nothing important to do recently, he made a trip in person today.

Seeing the potatoes brought up by the farmers, he really understood that Qiangzi's words were not exaggerating at all. The quality of this batch of potatoes is surprisingly good. In Xu Ping's words, they can even catch up with those grown in the greenhouse.

The harvesting work was proceeding in an orderly manner. Yunli observed carefully, and found that the progress of each team was about the same, and the collocation of personnel was also very particular. The work of digging and picking was allocated according to the situation, making the work very efficient.

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

(End of this chapter)