Chapter 15: Harvest

Just as Su Chunfeng had predicted, after that crazy incident, the situation where anyone in the class or the dormitory could easily make fun of him for their own amusement, whether they had a reason or not, no longer occurred. Most classmates now had a whole new understanding of him in their minds…

This guy might go crazy at any time, so it’s better not to provoke him.

As a result, even the classmates who usually came to him to copy song lyrics became much fewer.

Of course, this did not mean Su Chunfeng could become an unrivaled school bully that no one dared to mess with. He hadn’t thought about being that kind of hateful bad student either. He just wanted a good, undisturbed study environment.

Ah, youth truly was a wonderful time.

Su Chunfeng enjoyed this peaceful and happy life, feeling utterly content. For the vast, dangerous, yet thrilling and exciting world of the martial arts community, Su Chunfeng no longer had any passion, nostalgia, or yearning. He only wished to live his own quiet, uneventful days and life like this with his family and friends, handling and encountering many small events, and perhaps there would still be many occasional little entanglements that would bubble up like foam and then disappear…

In the blink of an eye, it was time for the wheat harvest, and the school went on holiday—rural primary and middle schools had a fifteen-day busy farming holiday every May during the agricultural season.

…

A fierce sun hung high in the sky, angrily pouring down scorching light and heat, baking everything on the earth.

In the fields, a golden sea of wheat stretched as far as the eye could see.

Simple wheat harvesters mounted on small tractors roared across the vast, endless wheat fields, cutting down swaths of wheat. Wheat threshers were set up in the fields. Simple, hardworking farmers busily gathered the cut wheat into piles. The wheat threshers roared, separating the grains and blowing the crushed straw into small, hill-like stacks. On the narrow paths between fields, farm vehicles shuttled back and forth…

It was a scene of busy harvest.

Su Chunfeng and Li Zhichao were both in the wheat fields, helping out their childhood playmates. They were tired, hot, and sweaty, but enjoying the busy work.

Their own families’ wheat fields were not in urgent need of harvesting, so they went to help out their buddies’ families.

Su Chunfeng’s own family had a Combine Harvester, so naturally, they wouldn’t spend money and effort on manual labor. Even Su Chunfeng’s uncle and his aunt’s family in the neighboring village were waiting for their own Combine Harvester to return for the harvest. As for Li Zhichao’s family, they were also waiting for the Combine Harvester driven by Su Cheng to come back. Usually, when Su Cheng occasionally contacted home from outside, he would call Li Sheng’s house, and Li Sheng’s family would pass on the message. Therefore, they had also learned from Su Cheng’s calls about the benefits of the Combine Harvester. So Li Sheng, whose family was well-off and whose Feed Factory was quite busy, didn’t bother managing their few acres of poor land. They would just wait for the Combine Harvester to return and get it done in a short while. How convenient was that?

Actually, many households in the village had asked Chen Xiulan about when the Combine Harvester would be back, how much it cost per acre to harvest, and so on.

However, farming families all emphasized seizing the right time.

When the weather was good, they hurried to harvest the wheat, thresh it into grains, dry it, store it, or sell it for money. This was because if they encountered rainy or overcast weather, it would delay the harvest. If they were unlucky enough to have strong winds and heavy rain, the mature wheat would lie flat on the ground, causing significant yield losses.

Because of this, many families couldn’t wait and hurried to harvest.

Of course, there were also some people who didn’t quite trust the new and not-yet-widespread Combine Harvester. They heard that thing would miss many grains…

When the busy farming holiday was almost over, Su Cheng’s Combine Harvester finally returned.

Without even taking time to rest at home, the Combine Harvester went straight to the fields to start harvesting—first, the fields of the villagers who had been waiting for the Combine Harvester to return.

Driving the Combine Harvester was Su Chunfeng’s uncle, Chen Shunhe.

As for Su Cheng, he hurried home, took out the collection of postal remittance slips and withdrawal notices that his wife had kept safe, called his son, and together they rode bicycles to the township post office.

On the way, Su Chunfeng saw his father was clearly overworked, with dark circles under his eyes, bloodshot eyes, and looking a whole lot thinner. He couldn’t help but feel a pang of heartache. But he knew that no matter how tired his father was, his mood was good. He didn’t want to spoil his father’s good mood, so he said cheerfully, “Dad, you must have earned quite a bit, right?”

“You little rascal…” Su Cheng laughed happily. “After the busy farming season is over, I’ll buy you a new bicycle.”

“Mhm.”

“You have to study hard from now on.”

“Just wait and see my results in the Final Exam.”

“Oh ho, big talk!”

Father and son chatted and laughed all the way to the township post office. Because the remittance amount was a full forty-two thousand yuan, which was considered a large sum in those days, it took quite some trouble to withdraw the money. Then, the father and son hurriedly rushed to the township Credit Cooperative to deposit the money.

When the director of the township Credit Cooperative, Liu Pingdong, saw this sum of money, he was also greatly surprised. He never expected that one Combine Harvester could earn over forty thousand in less than a month…

“Chengzi, you’ve hit the jackpot this time!” Liu Pingdong said, both envious and happy for his comrade-in-arms.

Su Cheng said happily, “It’s all thanks to you for giving the loan.”

“Alright, when you’re done with this busy period, you’re buying me drinks!”

“No problem at all!”

…

After the Combine Harvester returned, it didn’t even enter the village. It worked in the fields for two days, harvesting the wheat fields of the fellow villagers and the relatives in the neighboring village, and then set off northward to Central Hebei Province.

This time when they left, Su Chunfeng’s cousin from his uncle’s family, Su Changhai, also got on the vehicle.

The two people on the vehicle were just too busy. They ate and slept right in the fields, working day and night without proper rest. Su Cheng and his brother-in-law Chen Shunhe had worked for over half a month, getting tanned so dark they looked like they had just returned from Africa, and both had lost a whole lot of weight.

If they kept working this hard, they would surely fall ill from exhaustion!

So, at Su Chunfeng’s strong suggestion, an extra hand was added to the Combine Harvester.

Su Cheng paid his brother-in-law Chen Shunhe a wage of fifty yuan per day, and his nephew Su Changhai forty yuan per day.

Don’t think this was little money!

In these days, a skilled laborer working themselves to the bone on a construction site for a whole day earned at most a bit over twenty yuan, usually just over ten yuan. So, even though it was tiring and hard work, the high wage of forty or fifty yuan was very satisfactory for both Chen Shunhe and Su Changhai.

Moreover, when it came to harvesting their own family’s wheat fields, they didn’t pay a single cent, saving over two hundred yuan.

There was another expense for the Combine Harvester: when working in other areas, they would find a locally respected person to help them arrange the plots for each household and resolve any potential disputes. This kind of person was paid a commission of two yuan per acre.

After the rural wheat harvest was finished, it was time to plow and level the land, then prepare to plant the autumn corn…

Naturally, this meant another half month of busy work.

Originally, after detaching the Combine Harvester and attaching the Rotary Tiller, they could start rotary tilling. But rotary tilling obviously didn’t earn as much money as harvesting wheat. So, Su Cheng informed his family, friends, and fellow villagers: those willing to wait could wait for him for ten days to half a month; those unwilling could go ahead and plow their land.

By this time, Su Chunfeng had already started the new semester.

He had thought about following the Combine Harvester to help his father, but he never even brought it up.

Because he clearly knew his parents would absolutely not agree—a student should focus on their studies. What his parents hoped for was his progress in learning!

Therefore, Su Chunfeng studied even more diligently at school, preparing for the Final Exam.

Although he had been studying hard since his rebirth over two months ago, learning was a matter of persistence over time. Wanting to make rapid progress and take the top spot in just over two months, given a not-so-solid foundation, was clearly very difficult.

The days passed one by one. In just two more days, the exams would begin.

That evening, near the end of the night self-study session, while Su Chunfeng was reviewing his lessons, he heard the geometry teacher on duty, Guo Fa, come in and call out, “Su Chunfeng.”

“Here.” Su Chunfeng stood up.

“Go outside for a moment. Teacher Zuo is looking for you.”

“Teacher Zuo?” Su Chunfeng was somewhat surprised and peeked towards the classroom door. He saw Zuo Hongbin, the physical education teacher for the third year, standing outside. Zuo Hongbin was only twenty-four this year, assigned to teach at Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School the year before last. It was said he came from a military academy background. He was handsome, tall, and straight-backed, quite admired by all the girls in the school. As Su Chunfeng walked out, he wondered with full confusion, “What does he want with me?”

Outside the classroom, Zuo Hongbin smiled and said, “Come on, let’s go to my office to talk.”

“Oh.” Su Chunfeng grew even more puzzled.

When they arrived at Zuo Hongbin’s office, Zuo Hongbin sat down grandly by the desk and said with a smile, “Su Chunfeng, I heard you write very good penmanship?”

“Ah, it’s alright…” Su Chunfeng showed an embarrassed smile and scratched his head.

Zuo Hongbin pointed to the textbooks and a blue-covered lesson plan book on the desk and said, “Help me write some teaching plans.”

“Teaching plans?” Su Chunfeng was stunned for a moment and quickly said, “I don’t know how to write those.”

Actually, by now, he had already figured out what was going on—in those days, most primary and middle school teachers in the countryside had long memorized what to teach each day and were used to it, so they were usually too lazy to prepare lesson plans. It was only when the county Education Bureau notified them of an upcoming inspection that they would hastily copy out some rather formalistic teaching plans to deal with the inspection from the higher-ups.

In his previous life, Su Chunfeng often helped teachers copy teaching plans because his penmanship was good.

Back then, he didn’t study properly. He saw helping teachers copy teaching plans as a way to curry favor with them. It was also something he could show off in front of his classmates, and he could rightfully skip classes.

But in this life, he wanted to study hard!

Especially now, with the Final Exam approaching, he was thinking of intensifying his last-minute studying to try to get good results to make his parents happy. So where would he find the time and spare energy to help a teacher who hadn’t even taught him yet copy teaching plans? He knew this wasn’t a small matter like helping a classmate copy a few song lyrics. Copying half a semester’s worth of teaching plans would almost fill a thick lesson plan book. And it wasn’t as simple as just copying directly from the textbook; he had to extract and compile it according to the writing method and format of teaching plans.

Completing one lesson plan book would take at least a whole day!