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Chapter 21 Come Play with Me
The setting sun dyed the fields golden. Xie Hushan was sitting in the field, smiling flatteringly at Ma Laowu who had just returned from being scolded:

"Uncle, Fifth Uncle..."

"I'm not your uncle, you are my uncle, you are my grandpa, my living grandpa!" Ma Laowu wiped the sweat from his forehead, but he felt that after wiping off one layer of sweat, another layer would appear.

My goodness, Xie Hushan was so bold. He went to the military camp and said that the school was going to have a party. He then went to the school and said that the commune armed forces department was organizing a party. He then went to the commune armed forces department and said that the school was going to have a party. Then, without the knowledge of the three parties, he managed to make this happen and tricked the fifteen truckloads of manure from the military camp back to the team.

What's even more terrible is that this wicked boy took a group of children to the county town and used military tactics just like he was going to war. He relied on a female teacher to trick people into opening the door and took away all the manure. In the end, he let the children blackmail the people for a meal and then asked them to send a car to send the children back. How can this be a human thing to do?
No wonder no matter how I asked yesterday, Xie Hushan refused to tell me where he collected the manure.

It was not until Han Hongbing came back yesterday afternoon that Ma Laowu learned that fifteen of the trucks were from the military camp and were exchanged for tofu, vermicelli and popsicles. Later, he was so busy organizing the unloading of the trucks that he forgot to ask where the other dozen trucks came from.

Now the case has been completely solved. Xie Hushan went to the county town to cheat people. What makes Ma Laowu even more sad is that now the whole commune knows that it was him, Ma Laowu, who arranged for Xie Hushan to do this. After all, more than a dozen old women who were scolded away by him have spontaneously publicized for him outside, and no one will believe him even if he denies it.

Even Han Laogou knew about this matter. He had just called him to the brigade office and criticized him, saying that he was a production team leader, but for a little farm fertilizer, he didn't even care about his face. The people of Zhongping Village were upright wherever they went, so how could they do such a thing as cheating and blackmailing people in the county? Although the county didn't care, at the next Zhongping Production Brigade General Members Meeting, Ma Laowu must go on stage to make a self-criticism, and this kind of unhealthy trend must not be allowed to appear in Zhongping Brigade again.

Now, no matter which production team I go to, let alone visit, even if I just pass by, people will spit on the ground in front of me when they see me.

Yes, this time there was no fool in his third team who didn't even know how to collect manure, but he felt it would be better to have a fool. Now it would be more conspicuous. Wherever he went, people would say: See, that's Ma Laowu, the production team leader of the third team who dared to cheat the government and the army for a little manure!

All the dogs within a radius of fifty miles know about this!

I have been a farmer for most of my life and have had a clean reputation in the village for decades, but it was all ruined by this kid next to me. He also said that people look up to him wherever he goes, what a fool!

Xie Hushan saw that Ma Laowu took the initiative to raise his seniority, and if he refused, it would be ungrateful, so he patted Ma Laowu on the shoulder and said:
"Then let's put it this way. When there's no one around, you call me nephew. When there's a lot of people around, I'll call you grandson. We can talk about our own affairs..."

"Get out of my way! Go to the fields and work quickly, don't let me see you! I don't have time to talk nonsense with you!" Ma Laowu shook Xie Hushan's hand away, hugged his head with both hands, wishing he could bury his head in the ground, and said in an irritable voice.

When Xie Hushan heard that this guy wanted to send him to work in the fields, his face changed. "You are a jerk, but you are killing me after I have done my job. You don't want to admit it? I agreed to collect the manure, but you let me join the work of our team's sideline group. Are you not going to admit it?"

Ma Laowu raised his head and glared at Xie Hushan: "Who dares to let you do a side job? I didn't let you do a side job before, but I just collected manure for the team, and you made me review in front of the whole team. If I really let you do a side job, won't you send me to a public trial and get shot?"

"No, I'm not... I, I'm doing this for your own good, don't worry about outsiders, look at the guys in Team 3, they like you now, everyone used to call you Captain, everyone was Laowu, Laowu, but after you got mad today, everyone is calling you Captain, and they do whatever they ask them to do." Xie Hushan sat next to Ma Laowu, hugging his knees with his hands:

"If someone outside of us scolds you, that's bullshit. The respect of the people on our team is the most important thing to you. When the time comes, you will be asked to make a self-criticism at the meeting. If someone outside of our team dares to laugh at you, it will be over if the people on our team don't fight with them."

In fact, Ma Laowu was not stupid. He knew that he had acted arrogantly today so that the members of Team 3 would look up to him. However, he had to get up early every day to attend meetings at the brigade headquarters, and the leaders of other production teams would have to listen to strange words from him every day:
"It's easy to say. You don't have to show up in public every day, but I have to run to the team every day. How can I feel good when I'm stabbed in the back in front of you?"

"So you have to hurry up and start a side business, and use the money to help the team upgrade their guns and cannons, and replace their mules and horses with machines. Let's put it this way, when the time comes, they will walk to the brigade headquarters for meetings every day, and our team will use a tractor to take you to the meeting in the morning. Who dares to say another word? They will all kneel down and beg you to give them a hand during the autumn harvest." Xie Hushan continued to persuade him.

Ma Laowu turned his head to look at Xie Hushan, then looked at the busy members in the fields in the distance, thinking about what Xie Hushan said. It would be great if his team really had a walk-behind tractor. When farming, the animals need to take a break, and machines are not needed. A field that takes three days to be plowed by oxen and horses can be plowed in one day by a machine. The tractor can then pull stones to help the team make money, and the price of that will be twice as high as that of a mule cart.

Xie Hushan's brain makes him waste his talent by farming. He should help the third team to do a side job and find a way to earn a tractor! "How much is left of the 150 yuan?"

"Fifty pounds of black flour, priced at 1.40 a pound by the brigade's mill, costs seven yuan. Ten bundles of vermicelli cost ten yuan, ten plates of tofu cost five yuan, popsicles cost ten yuan, and the children's meals cost seventeen yuan and fifty yuan. Hiring a cart costs seventy-eight, a total of one hundred and twenty-seven yuan and fifty cents, with twenty-two yuan and fifty cents left." Xie Hushan took out the remaining money from his pocket and reported everything to Ma Laowu.

Ma Laowu used a stone to scratch numbers on the ground and slowly calculated the accounts. He asked several old farmers in the team about the 39 carts of pure manure that Xie Hushan brought back, and they all said that they could exchange it for at least 60 carts of first-class manure that was suitable for manure pits.

According to the original production plan, thirty trucks of first-class manure would cost one hundred and twenty-seven dollars and fifty cents, which is equivalent to four dollars and twenty-five cents per truck. This is already a great bargain. For this reason alone, Xie Hushan has made a contribution and saved the team a total of twenty-two dollars and fifty cents.

The other thirty carts were sold at a price of five yuan per cart, which was equivalent to the team having an extra hundred and fifty yuan worth of farm manure. If they were sold to other production teams, it would be like they had gotten thirty carts of first-class manure for free and made a profit of twenty-two and a half yuan.

Public is public, private is private. Although Xie Hushan has ruined his own reputation, he has indeed brought tangible benefits to the production team. So I have to do what I promised him.

Besides, with his brain in a sideline business, Han Laogou is still worried that Xie Hushan will be cheated when he goes to the glass factory to do business? He has to worry that Xie Hushan will sell the factory director Ma Da's head as a product!
"Hu San'er, Uncle Wu is a man of his words. There is no problem with you joining our team's sideline group." After Ma Laowu settled the bill, he took the money from Xie Hushan and said in a regretful tone:

"Uncle Wu took the blame for you this time, but we must never do such things again, blackmailing others for a meal. If you agree, I will let you join the sideline group."

"Agree. I really want to help our team save some money. I will never make this mistake again in the future." Xie Hushan said quickly when he saw Ma Laowu agree.

Ma Laowu asked again: "Which sideline group are you going to try out?"

"Shaobing and wontons." Xie Hushan spoke without any hesitation. He couldn't just go out to collect vermicelli and grind tofu. Setting up a stall to sell wontons was an opportunity to meet more people who were not in the team and collect more information.

Ma Laowu's facial muscles twitched a few more times. "You... I'm warning you, don't think you can eat wontons for free. There are accounts. The team will deduct the amount from your dividend at the end of the year based on how much you eat. I don't let you go because I'm afraid you can't control your mouth and eat up the wife money that your grandma saved for you for three years in just three days."

"I'm not in a hurry to eat. Let me take a look first." Xie Hushan squatted down, hunched his back and took out the cigarette box from his trouser pocket, and said perfunctorily.

Ma Laowu took a puff of his pipe and said, "Then come with me tonight to find Widow Han and her mother-in-law who are in charge of setting up the stall at the market. I'll let them take you with me and teach you how to set up the stall at the market. When you are familiar with it, I'll arrange for them to do something else in the tofu workshop. Alas, setting up a stall at the market is not an easy job. It should be done by a man."

"A widow?" Xie Hushan stopped taking out his cigarette and looked at Ma Laowu with his butt sticking out:

"And your last name is Han? Why don't I have any impression of that?"

"They have to go to the market and set up a stall at around 4 o'clock in the morning. After the market is over and the stall is closed in the second half of the day, they have to prepare dough for the next day at home. They don't show up in the team, so you can have an impression of them..."

Before Ma Laowu could finish, a loud voice suddenly sounded in the distance: "Hu Saner, after work tonight, come and play with me!"

(End of this chapter)