Chapter Forty-One How Many Mu

  Qin Hai was gone for four or five days, without a word. Ning Mo and the others didn't know what Qin Hai had gone to do, they waited anxiously, like lovesick people pining for their first love.

  In these few days, Xiao Dongping was also anxiously waiting for the test results from Yongfeng Farm. Counting on his fingers, a week had already passed, and at a cultivation speed of about 100 mu per day, the 700-mu test boundary should have been reached.

  "Ding ding ding ding……"

  The phone on the sales desk suddenly rang, and Xiao Dongping quickly picked up the receiver, praying desperately in his heart: It should be Lao Hua's call, please don't let it be those annoying business calls from those rural enterprises! These past few days, Xiao Dongping had scolded these harassing calls countless times.

  "Hello, who is it?" asked Xiao Dongping into the phone.

  "Lao Xiao, it's Hua Guo Ying." The voice of Xiao Dongping, whom she had been thinking about day and night, finally came through the phone.

  Xiao Dongping almost choked at this moment: "Old Hua, you finally called, how's the test result? Did it exceed 700 mu?"

  "It's all over, it's all over." Huaguoying laughed on the phone.

  "Amitabha!" Xiao Dongping subconsciously muttered a Buddhist phrase, and the stone finally fell to the ground.

  "How about it, Old Hua? Have you informed Lin Anbao or not? Has he prepared the wine and banquet for me to go over and start the celebration?" Xiao Dongping asked loudly into the phone with a great mood.

  Huaguoying said: "Old Xiao, don't be in a hurry yet, there's another situation. After you hear it, you might not feel so smug."

  "What's going on?" Xiaodongping's heart skipped a beat.

  "Hey, don't you remember? This experiment was conducted with two types of blades, half were yours and the other half were from Hongxing Factory."

  "Remember, how..." Xiao Dongping knew where the problem lay. That damned Lin Anbao had given himself a double insurance policy. When measuring the quality of Qingfeng Factory's blade, he not only used the 700 mu standard but also compared it with Hongxing Factory's blades. According to Hua Guoying's meaning, it seemed that although Qingfeng Factory's blades had been used for 700 mu, they were still inferior to Hongxing Factory's blades. The latter's blades hadn't worn out yet, while Qingfeng Factory's had already been ground down.

  "I don't care about that. Lin Anbao and I made a bet on whether our factory's blades can be used for 700 mu, whoever compared with Hongxing Factory." Xiao Dongping argued.

  Huaguoying said, "I don't know about that, I'm just a witness. What's your bet? It's none of my business. Anyway, the trial of the knife is over, hurry up and go to Hongze. Whether it's Old Lin treating or you treating, this drink I will definitely have."

  "Of course Lin Anbao is treating, this was agreed upon!" Xiao Dongping emphasized, then hung up the phone and ran to the finance department to fill out a loan slip, before rushing off to Hongze.

  Lin Anbao, the manager of the agricultural materials company's sales department, also received a call from Hua Guoying. He immediately wanted to go and check the results of the experiment, but was politely declined by Hua Guoying over the phone. Hua Guoying said that as a notary public, he had to show the results of the experiment when both parties were present at the same time. If Lin Anbao saw it first, what if Xiao Dongping didn't admit it?

  "You two are both businesspeople, cunning and deceitful. I, a farmer, can't be cheated by you." Flower Guo Ying said to Lin An Bao.

  Lin Anbao had to stay in the market department and wait for Xiao Dongping. Fortunately, Pingyuan was not far from Hongze, so before noon, Xiao Dongping arrived panting.

  "Hey, Old Lin, why didn't you wait at the restaurant? Is the wine table ready?" Xiao Dongping asked in surprise as soon as he saw Lin Anbao.

  Lin Anbao shot back without hesitation: "Oh no? It's clear you lost, so shouldn't it be you treating me instead?"

  Xiao Dongping said: "Lao Hua has already said on the phone that my blade has been used for 700 mu. As long as our blades can be used for 700 mu, you will treat us to dinner, is this what you said?"

  "This land and that land are not the same, Old Hua deliberately let water out, chose a good land to test, what's the big deal if it passed 700 mu. Your knife blades have been worn out, others' knife blades are still brand new, you also dare to ask me to treat?" Lin Anbao said with a sneer.

  Xiao Dongping was annoyed: "Lin Anbao, can't you make up a more convincing story? What do you mean our knife blades are worn out, who told you that?"

  "Who cares who said it, let's just go and see for ourselves?"

  "Just take a look, I don't believe Red Star Factory's blades can be stronger than ours!"

  Two people quarreled all the way and arrived at Yongfeng Farm. Hua Guoying was already waiting for them with a jeep at the farm entrance, and as soon as they arrived, she beckoned them to get in the car and then rushed towards the large field.

  "Lao Hua, I knew you and Lao Xiao had a good relationship, so you deliberately let me down. Tell me, did you specially choose 700 mu of soft land to plow, just to make the knife blades from Qingfeng Factory barely pass the 700 mu?" Lin Anbao continued to interrogate Hua Guoying in the car. That the knife blades from Qingfeng Factory could plow over 700 mu was beyond Lin Anbao's expectations. He knew that Hua Guoying was not a person who would cheat, but he still wanted to take advantage of the situation by speaking.

  Hua Guo Ying's attitude was exceptionally good, and he did not argue with Lin Anbao's accusations. He just nodded repeatedly and said, "Don't be in a hurry, what is it? When we get there, won't we know once we take a look?"

  Xiao Dongping didn't say anything else, his heart was also burning with anger. His own knife skills were ultimately inferior to others, although the 700-acre standard had been reached, but Lin Anbao just played a trick and made himself embarrassed, this was really too annoying. If... if... alas, how many ifs are there in this world?

  The jeep arrived at the head of the field, and a tractor had already been pulled out of the ground and placed on the side of the road, waiting for the three of them to inspect. Hua Guoying led Lin Anbao and Xiao Dongping down from the car and walked to the tractor, asking the operator: "What's going on? You explain it to these two leaders."

  "Yes!" The operator responded and walked forward, saying: "The two leaders please take a look, this is the rotary tiller that Director Hua asked us to experiment with last time. Two brands of blades were used on it. The experiment tilled 734 acres of land, one set of blades showed more serious wear and tear, and can no longer be used, so we stopped the experiment."

  "Did you hear? Did you hear? It's 734 mu!" Xiao Dongping shouted at Lin Anbao like a fierce rooster.

  Lin Anbao's face looked a bit unsightly, he walked up and took a look at the knife on the rototiller, and asked the operator: "What's the difference between the test plot you're using and other plots?"

  "The operator said: 'There is no distinction.'"

  "Didn't you hear? Didn't you hear? It's not some soft ground, it's just an ordinary plot of land!" Xiao Dongping caught the logic again and prepared to take advantage of his victory to launch a counterattack.

  Lin Anbao said, "Old Xiao, what are you so happy about? Take a look, your knife blades are all worn out, while others' are still in good condition. You're far inferior to them when compared. I reckon this is because the machine plowing technique is more advanced and the blade wear is lower. If we use Red Star Factory's knife blades for all of it, maybe 1000 mu can be plowed."

  "Go ahead and boast!" Xiao Dongping said, walking forward and bending down to take a look at the two blades. Indeed, one of the blades was already worn out and needed to be replaced. The other blade wasn't as good as Lin Anbao had said, it was just a little short of being worn out, with only a few dozen acres of life left in it.

  "Lao Lin, you don't have any common sense. With this kind of blade, it can at most be used to plow 50 more mu, and it will definitely be completely worn out. Its lifespan is basically just 800 mu, let alone 1000 mu. You really know how to brag." Xiao Dongping said disdainfully.

  "Even 800 mu is better than your 700 mu." Lin Anbao said.

  "Are we good for 734 mu?"

  "That's Old Hua letting water."

  "Lao Hua, you tell me, did he let up?" asked Xiao Dongping, turning his head to ask Hua Guoying.

  Hua Guo Ying walked up, chuckling and said: "You two are really interesting, you haven't even figured out the situation yet, but you've already started arguing. I didn't explain clearly on the phone, just to see your funny side."

  "What joke? What's so funny?" Lin Anbao was momentarily stunned.

  Xiao Dongping was stunned for a second, then suddenly thought of something. He squatted down, not minding the dirt, and stretched out his hand to desperately wipe off the mud stains on the rotary tiller blades, wiping one after another. When he wiped the fifth blade, he couldn't help but burst into loud laughter: "Haha haha haha, I'm so damn happy! Lin Anbao, you little bastard has your day too!"

  "What does it mean?" Lin Anbao was laughed at by Xiao Dongping, he followed Xiao Dongping and squatted down to take a look, and couldn't help but be stunned. It turned out that on those blades that had not been ground bald, the logo of Qingfeng Factory was prominently printed, while the ones that had been ground bald were actually the blades from Hongxing Factory.

  "You two fools!" Hua Guo Ying was so pleased with his own prank that he laughed and said: "The biggest fool is Old Xiao, your blade quality is so good, but you don't even have this bit of confidence. I discovered it early on, the blades from Red Star are worn out, while those from Qingfeng Factory can at least be used for several dozen acres."

  "What's a few dozen mu, at the very least it can be used for 200 mu, isn't that good!" Xiao Dongping immediately forgot what he had just said and added more than 100 mu of empty words.

  "You just said 50 mu yourself, can you still change your words?" Lin Anbao retorted.

  "Even if it's 50 mu, we already have 800 mu, which is much stronger than the 700 mu of Dogshit Red Star Factory..."

  "Their family has 734 mu of land!"

  "That's Old Hua letting water!"

  The operator watched as two middle-aged men swapped speeches in an instant, like two shameless kids, and couldn't help but laugh until his belly hurt.