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Chapter 64: Robbery of the Driver

Yang Liming sat under the shade of a tree at the edge of the field, with pickles in his left hand and a steamed bun in his right hand, eating with relish.

Completely ignoring the small pile of smelly manure in the field not far away.

Now, his delicate skin has become dark and rough, his back is bare, with a half-smoked cigarette tucked between his ears. The blisters on his hands are gone, replaced by a layer of newly grown calluses.

After most of the Autumn Harvest Campaign, his behavior was no different from that of a real production team member. Perhaps only his glasses reminded everyone that he was an educated person from the county.

Now the corn has been harvested, the wheat stubble and the sweet potatoes have also been harvested, and even the land has been plowed over, the corn stubble has been cleared, and the manure has been piled on the ground. Only winter wheat remains to be sown.

After the wheat is planted and the public grain tax is paid, the autumn harvest and planting of Production Team 3 this year will be completely over and the slack season will begin.

"Brother Yang! Where are my third brother and my brother?" Han Lao San ran towards the field in the noon sun and shouted at him from afar.

Yang Limin took a sip of cold water and swallowed the steamed bread: "What's the matter? They took advantage of the lunch break to go to the fish pond to take a bath."

"The seed drill, Team Nine wants to grab the seed drill! My third brother asked me to keep watch next to the agricultural machinery station. I overheard it. Our team was supposed to use the machine to seed in the afternoon, but the on-site cadre and the production team leader of Team Nine went to give cigarettes to the driver..." Han Lao San wiped the sweat from his forehead and shouted.

Yang Liming's anger suddenly rose!

If he had heard of this kind of thing before, he might not understand why rural people would fight over machines, or even cause bloodshed. He would only think that rural people are barbaric and insist on fighting when the problem can be solved by just taking a step back.

But now that he has worked with Production Team 3 for so many days, he has understood the importance of grabbing machines. If you don't grab machines, you will have to rely on manpower.

Relying on manpower meant that Yang Liming and the members of the third team had to work in groups of two, leading animals and using old plow carts to plant wheat. The work that a machine could finish in one day and one night might not be completed in three days using a combination of human and animal power!

It means that after finishing the work, you are so tired that you lie on the kang and don't want to move at all.

"Fuck!" Yang Liming was embarrassed to call out this nickname in the past, but now he can blurt it out without any hesitation.

Cao Ma, who was climbing a willow tree not far away to find a suitable willow branch to make a whip, slid down and said, "What are you doing, Brother Yang!"

"Let Hu Saner take your brother and the others to the agricultural machinery station to prepare for the fight! I'll go first!" Yang Liming finished two bites of the half-cooked steamed bread in his hand, stood up, pushed his bicycle and rushed towards the agricultural machinery station.

Han Laosan ran two steps and sat on the back seat.

Arriving at the commune's agricultural machinery station, Yang Limin dumped his bicycle in front of the wheels of the seed drill in the yard, and then ran straight to the duty room: "Who is on duty at the seed drill today? Come out!"

In the duty room, the captain of the ninth team and the cadres on duty were chatting and laughing with the agricultural machinery driver. Suddenly, someone shouted outside the door, and then the door was pushed open. Yang Limin, shirtless and wearing myopic glasses, with a rather avant-garde look, rushed in from outside:
"Our three teams have already piled up the manure in the field! Why haven't the machines come over yet?"

The young cadre from the ninth team who came down with Yang Liming almost failed to recognize Yang Liming. If he had not seen the familiar glasses, he would never have believed that this tanned, shirtless guy was his companion who had come to the Zhongping Brigade with him.

His impression of Yang Liming is that of a young man wearing a white shirt, blue pants, glasses, with fair skin and a gentle smile.

But the guy in front of him with bare chest and half a cigarette stuck in his ear looks like a bandit who just came down from the mountains. The glasses make him at most a master among the bandits.

"Benefit the people?" he asked tentatively.

Yang Limin ignored him and stared at the farm machinery driver:
"Team Three has completed the preliminary work for sowing and is waiting for the machines to arrive in the afternoon. What's going on? Why is Team Nine here? How is your duty sowing plan arranged?"

The agricultural machinery driver originally thought that it was a young member of the third team. When he heard the other party questioning him, he was about to ask the other party to leave. As a result, the captain of the ninth team lowered his voice and introduced Yang Liming's identity in time. He immediately lowered his head and dared not say another word.

The captain of the ninth team did not dare to face Yang Limin, and could only smile and wink at the cadres in his team. Only leaders can deal with leaders. He did not expect Yang Limin to show up. He thought that if Ma Laowu or someone else came, the leaders in his team would speak in an official tone and scare them back. Or the one who came should be the very easy-to-talk Yang Limin described by the leader. But this image is obviously different from the mild-tempered, non-arguing cadre described by him.

What exactly did this leader Yang experience in Production Team 3?

"Limin, why did you make such a special trip for such a small matter?" The cadre of the ninth team obviously did not participate in the labor. His skin color was several shades lighter than Yang Limin's. At this time, he took out a cigarette and handed it to Yang Limin, saying with a smile:

"Team Nine has a special situation. They spread the manure yesterday. They thought it would be fine if they spread it early because it would be sunny all the time. But the old farmer in the team judged today that it would rain in the next two days. If they don't plant the manure and wheat seeds in time, the manure will be weak after the rain. So can we..."

"No!" Yang Limin didn't take the other person's cigarette, nor did he wait for the other person to finish explaining the reason:
"That's your team nine's personal reasons. Team nine is afraid of rain, but our team three isn't afraid? Let me tell you, the people who will be spreading manure in front of the seed drill in the afternoon have already been arranged, and the work has been recorded. They will spread and sow at the same time. Even if the Queen Mother is waiting to plant wheat today, the seed drill will have to finish sowing the land of team three before leaving!"

Considering that the Ninth Team arranged for fried eggs every day to improve their meals, even though they could hear Yang Limin's dissatisfaction, the cadres still carefully considered their words and spoke up for the Ninth Team:

"Limin, we are all county cadres, especially you, who is still working in the county party committee. You should show your style in this matter and not be as fussy as the peasant comrades. Team 3 and Team 9 are both Zhongping Brigade. It's just a matter of order. If you nod, Team 3 can still..."

"During the stay, I was the political captain of the third team. I will talk about carrying forward the style after I finish my stay and return to the county. Dozens of members of the third team have been arranged and are waiting to work. Just because I say carry forward the style, I have to wait until the ninth team finishes planting before I can continue to work? If I nod, dozens of people will have to wait in vain? I can't nod this head!" Yang Limin pushed the other person away and pointed at the driver:
"You, come out, fill up the seed drill with gas now and follow me to the field of Team 3. If I find out that you dare to use the state-owned agricultural machinery for personal gain, I will go back to the county, change clothes and talk to your station chief! Come out!"

Seeing that Yang Limin showed no sign of relenting, the cadre from Team Nine didn't dare to say anything more. He was a clerk from a subordinate unit, while Yang Limin was a clerk from the county party committee. This time they were on the spot, it was the other party who was responsible for coordinating the several of them. Besides, there was no need to fall out with Yang Limin over trivial matters of a production team. He would return to the county after the autumn harvest. A few meals of scrambled eggs were not worth it for him to offend Yang Limin.

The farm machinery driver obediently stood up and walked out the door. When he passed by Yang Limin, Yang Limin shouted, "Stop!"

Then he took out two boxes of Beidaihe from the other person's pocket and held them in his hands: "Where did you get them?"

“……” The driver opened his mouth but said nothing.

"Knowing that I like to smoke this cigarette, you specially prepared it to give it to me when I went to the third team to sow seeds?" Yang Liming smiled and said to the driver.

The driver immediately took the opportunity to nod and said, "Yes, sir, I prepared it for you."

"Let's go. I'll take the cigarettes. I'll see how you perform when sowing. If you do well, I'll forgive you for the two boxes of cigarettes. If you dare to be perfunctory, I'll talk to your stationmaster about giving me two boxes of cigarettes." Yang Limin put the two boxes of cigarettes into his pocket and looked at the ninth team's cadres who were holding up cigarettes to give to him.

"Keep it for yourself. I'm smoking the one he gave me."

After saying that, he turned and walked out of the duty room.

In the courtyard, Xie Hushan, Han Hongbing, Chen Daxi, Ma Saner, Wu Shuanzi and others, whose hair was still wet, were holding pickaxe handles and looking at Yang Limin. Xie Hushan asked with a smile while holding the pickaxe handle:

"Do they respect their leaders? If they don't, we'll go in and teach them a lesson."

"You're not going to teach me anything. Go back." Yang Limin threw two boxes of cigarettes at them.

"Leave a few for me and share the rest. They are gifts from the lovely driver of our commune's agricultural machinery station."

Han Hongbing opened the cigarette box and said:
"Tsk tsk, look at this, Xie Siling, at most you asked a few of us to coordinate the cigarettes for the projectionist or Old Feng and Old Zhang, but Old Yang, he robbed the commune's agricultural machinery station in broad daylight, and then the other party had to grovel and say it was a gift."

"It would be great if Lao Yang was in charge of Team Three. How could Ermianfei have the courage to do that? Damn it, I sent Cao Ma to deliver a letter to him, but he hasn't shown up yet." Da Xi also said.

Xie Hushan looked at the driver, whose smile was uglier than crying, and then looked at Yang Limin, who was staring at the driver as he started the engine:
"It's not impossible. I'll think of a way to get Old Yang to come over."

(End of this chapter)