Chapter 744 - 740: The Norm of Life

Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang had been through hard times, so they understood how precious food was. But what was even more admirable was that even though their lives had improved, the two children never wasted a single bite.

On the contrary, they cherished their current lives where they had enough to eat. Even though Gu Jiaojiao also thought the griddle cakes and winter melon stew didn’t taste great, she still ate every last bite.

That afternoon, not only was the corn planter finished, but also the waterwheel, water pump, and threshing machine.

By the time they were done, it was already evening.

「The next day, it was time for work.」

The brigade leader had made an announcement over the loudspeaker beforehand. He had something to tell everyone, so he asked them not to start working just yet, but to gather at the edge of the fields first.

Everyone gathered at the edge of the fields at the usual time. Aunt Leng and Li Hongmei exchanged a look. Each of them had rallied a number of people to their side. Today, they were determined to make the brigade leader give them an explanation as to why Gu Jiaojiao didn’t have to work.

Sun Yeshu claimed she was having complications with her pregnancy, so she stayed home. But other pregnant women, even five or six months along, were still out working in the fields.

Only Gu Jiaojiao, with nothing wrong with her at all, was shirking her work.

Everyone waited and waited, until the brigade leader finally sauntered over.

Not only had the brigade leader arrived, but so had the few strong laborers who were missing yesterday. They were pushing a few small contraptions, leaving the crowd completely baffled.

The brigade leader walked forward, beaming, with a spring in his step. Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought he’d found money on the road.

But right now, the brigade leader felt even happier than if he had.

Earlier that morning, when he’d arranged for everyone to gather, he had already taken the little corn-planting machine out for a test run.

’This thing is incredible.’

The most tiring parts of planting corn were digging the holes and dropping in the seeds. The first required a lot of strength; digging holes all day was back-breaking work. The second involved bending over to place the seeds, which made your neck ache after a while.

But with this little machine, you could load the corn seeds right into it. You step on a pedal, and a triangular cone at the bottom sinks into the earth to the perfect depth for planting. A mechanism on top then opens, dropping a few kernels of corn. With just one press of the foot, the seeds fall directly into the triangular hole. Then, as you pull the cone up, the hole automatically fills itself in.

This way, what used to be a two-person job could now be done by one. Not only was it extremely fast, but most importantly, it was effortless.

Aside from having to endure the hot sun, the job wasn’t tiring in the slightest.

The brigade leader stood before the crowd. After a few opening remarks, he pushed forward the miraculous corn-planting device and began to demonstrate it on the spot.

Seeing how easily the corn was planted, a few skeptical villagers went right over and dug up the freshly filled hole.

The kernels had been planted just as deep as even the most experienced farmers in the village could manage.

The brigade leader explained, "The depth was set beforehand. It can even go a little deeper."

But there was no need for that when planting corn; if the seeds were too deep, they wouldn’t sprout properly.

"What a treasure! This thing is a real treasure!"

With a tool like this, the busy season would be so much easier. For starters, the most exhausting jobs could now be done by older kids.

The brigade leader didn’t hurry everyone off to work. Instead, he brought out another object.

Everyone stared at the small object, wondering what it was for.

"Brigade Leader, what is that?"

The object was made of sheet metal, and they couldn’t see the inner workings clearly. But whatever it was, it certainly didn’t look like a piece of farm equipment!

The brigade leader let out a hearty laugh, deciding to keep them in suspense. "This is another great tool. You’ll see what it is if you just follow me."

This was the first time ever that the brigade leader wasn’t rushing them to work when the time came. Instead, he seemed perfectly content to let them all enjoy the show.

They were all dying to see what on earth the brigade leader was showing them.