Chapter 23 The Shy Man

After get off work, Xu Qiang had a meal and then continued to rush to the peat field.

Seeing Xu Qiang coming from afar, Erhu immediately led a man to greet him.

"Uncle, this is the Niu Tao I was talking about." Erhu patted the man's shoulder and said, "This is our boss Xu Qiang. You can just call him Boss Xu from now on."

"Yeah." The man nodded dully.

"What a big guy..."

Seeing the man nicknamed 'Big Black Bull', Xu Qiang couldn't help but be a little surprised. This man was at least 1.9 meters tall and had a very sturdy and strong build, like an iron tower. If he stood in the crowd, he would definitely stand out like a crane among chickens.

Yesterday, I heard from Erhu that this man injured six people in a fight and even hospitalized one of them. Xu Qiang was always a little skeptical, after all, a good man cannot defeat four hands, and a hungry tiger cannot defeat a pack of wolves. But after seeing the real person, he seemed to believe it a little.

"Hello!" The next moment, Xu Qiang extended his hand to him.

"Ah, hello." Seeing this, Da Hei Niu hurriedly shook hands with Xu Qiang.

But when their hands were clasped together, Xu Qiang felt that the other person's palm was as hard as an iron clamp, and was covered with thick and hard calluses. It seemed that he must have done a lot of farm work in his daily life.

"It's like this..." Xu Qiang took his hand back and pondered for a moment, then said, "Has Erhu told you about my situation?"

"I told you, Erhu said that if he came here to work, he could earn money, which is better than working in the village."

"Yes, that's the situation." Xu Qiang nodded and continued, "My stall has just started. Our principle is that more work, more pay. The minimum salary is 20 yuan per month. If you do a good job, there will be bonuses."

"Okay, you give me money and I'll work for you." Big Black Bull nodded.

"Here's a 10 yuan advance for you." As Xu Qiang spoke, he took out a big unity banknote from his pocket, handed it to Niu Tao and said, "I'll give you the rest of the money at this time next month."

"Thank you, boss." A hint of joy appeared on Da Hei Niu's face at this time. After taking the money, he looked at it carefully, and then gently put it into his pocket.

"Then let's get to work." Xu Qiang glanced at Niu Tao and said.

Afterwards, Erhu and Niu Tao picked up their buckets and began to fetch water from the ditch below and carry it to the reservoir above.

The peat field has now begun to take shape. Two days ago, the three of them built two more rooms and surrounded it with a simple fence made of branches. Erhu also built a nest for his dog and put some hay in it.

Having worked an extra night shift, Xu Qiang felt a little unwell today, so he did not jump into the water. Instead, he was alone in the yard, grinding the dried peat bricks with a sieve.

When it was almost time for lunch, Xu Qiang put down his work and began to prepare lunch for the day.

Pickles and fermented tofu are regular dishes for three meals a day at the peat field. There are also some potatoes and a bag of rice in the house, all of which were bought by Xu Qiang.

Whether it is Xu Qiang, Erhu or Liu Jun, they all have lived through hard times in the village and are not picky about food, as long as they can eat enough. Xu Qiang's situation is much better off, at least he can eat in the factory canteen, and with his salary level, he can eat meat every meal without any problem if he doesn't save money.

But in fact, although the factory workers have high incomes, most families cannot eat meat every meal. There are many places where money is needed, such as buying clothes, honoring the elderly, saving money to buy electrical appliances... Life still requires careful budgeting. Considering that the peat field is a place where people do heavy physical work, Xu Qiang also bought two pieces of bacon from the town. In that era without refrigerators, meat was all about bacon. Occasionally, a few slices were added when cooking, and the taste was already memorable for the three of them.

As Xu Qiang shouted "Dinner is ready!" outside, Erhu and Niu Tao, who had been busy all morning, put down their work and came into the house.

Shredded potatoes, fried bacon with pickles, fermented bean curd, egg soup... Looking at the three dishes and one soup steaming on the table, their eyes suddenly lit up.

"Thank you for your hard work, brother." Xu Qiang filled a large bowl of rice and handed it to Niu Tao, saying with a smile.

In the morning, Xu Qiang made a special observation and found that the newcomer Niu Tao was indeed a good worker. Erhu, who was with him, could only carry two buckets of water at a time, while Niu Tao could carry four buckets at a time. He also walked very fast on the mountain roads, and he deserved to be called Big Black Bull.

In fact, whether in the countryside or on a construction site, work requires "evenness" and "steadiness". It may seem slow, but people can work for a long time without stopping. At the end of the day, they can get a lot of work done without feeling tired.

In addition, on construction sites, those who look thin often have amazing endurance, while those who are bigger are more likely to suffer from back pain.

However, you can't see any fatigue on the face of this big black bull. Although he does more work than the two tigers, the strange thing is that there is not a drop of sweat on his body.

"Thank you, boss." After taking the bowl, Niu Tao thanked him and started eating.

Erhu and Xu Qiang also filled a bowl, and the three of them sat around on the earthen kang and started today's lunch.

A mouthful of pickles, two or three mouthfuls of rice, when Xu Qiang and Erhu had not finished half of their bowls, Niu Tao had already started his second bowl.

Seeing that Niu Tao had such a big appetite, the two looked at each other, and then subconsciously pushed the plate of food towards him.

This guy worked as hard as two people and was the same when it came to eating. When he finished his fifth bowl, he looked at Xu Qiang subconsciously, as if a little embarrassed, and then scraped the rice in the bowl clean with chopsticks, not leaving a single grain.

"If you can eat, eat as much as you can. If it's not enough, I'll make more for you." Xu Qiang smiled and continued, "There's no reason to go hungry when you work for me."

"Enough is enough!"

Niu Tao smiled shyly, and that expression formed such a sharp contrast with his physique that Xu Qiang couldn't help but smile.

Xu Qiang didn't realize at all that this was a prisoner who had spent five years in prison. He even thought he was a little cute.

In any case, with the addition of Big Black Bull, Xu Qiang Peat Farm has temporarily solved the problem of staff shortage. In the days to come, the goal is to produce as much humic acid fertilizer as possible.

This afternoon's task is to widen the sedimentation pond over at the peat field so that it can produce more humic acid each time.

Since there is no temperature-controlled water tank, the peat can only be refined for acid and alkali at noon when the temperature is highest. There is only one opportunity a day, and 400 kilograms of finished products can be produced each time. If the sedimentation tank is widened this time, the output can be increased to about 500 kilograms.

Xu Qiang's plan is to stabilize the monthly output of the peat field at around 15 tons, and then gradually realize semi-automatic production by machines after making money...

(End of this chapter)