Chapter 68 Public Trading
The next morning, as agreed, Xu Qiang brought Erhu and Dahei Niu to Qinghe Village.

"How is it? Can that tractor be sold?" When he saw the old village chief, Xu Qiang said straight to the point.

"Did you bring the money?"

"Here's the money in my pocket: 4200 yuan, not a penny less." Xu Qiang said, patting his pocket.

"Come in." The old village chief waved his hand, signaling Xu Qiang to enter the brigade headquarters.

"By the way, I don't know your last name, Village Chief."

"My last name is Huang Wanliang. You can just call me Old Huang."

"Old Huang, I am definitely going to buy the thing, but I need to test the car first. What if I buy a broken tractor? That would be a problem," Xu Qiang said with a frown.

"Don't worry, I never do business that cheats people! Our team has only used this car for five or six years, and there is nothing wrong with it!" Huang Wanliang patted his chest and continued, "To tell you the truth, if it weren't for the big fuss among the team members, I wouldn't be willing to sell it..."

"Then let's give it a try." Xu Qiang insisted on test driving the car.

In fact, before coming, Xu Qiang asked Erhu to inquire through his relatives and found out that there was indeed no problem with the tractor in Qinghe Village. It had been in use before and had been well maintained in all aspects. It was an important asset of the village.

But Xu Qiang had to be cautious with such an expensive item. At the very least, he had to check whether the tractor could be used and whether there were any other problems with the machine.

"Okay." Huang Wanliang waved towards the door of the village committee, and a tall and thin middle-aged man walked out.

Afterwards, Xu Qiang followed Huang Wanliang and the driver to the backyard of the village committee.

The driver first started the diesel engine with a joystick, then sat on it, and with a rumbling sound of exhaust, he began to circle around the backyard.

The rear wheels of the Dongfanghong 28 are quite large. Because of this, with its powerful torque, this tractor can operate easily on all kinds of terrain. This is what Xu Qiang values.

Afterwards, Xu Qiang got in the car and tried it himself.

In his previous life, Xu Qiang naturally had a driver's license. Compared to driving a car, a tractor seemed to be easier. The only downside was that the vehicle was a little shaking, and it was definitely not as comfortable as the sedan in his previous life.

But even so, being able to drive such a tractor in these days is definitely as cool as driving a Mercedes-Benz sports car in later generations. No matter where you drive around, you will definitely be the focus.

Under the driver's command, Xu Qiang drove the tractor around the backyard several times until his butt felt numb, and then he got out of the car contentedly.

Because he had been using a diesel water pump recently, Xu Qiang confirmed that there was no problem with the tractor just by listening to the sound. As for other parts, none of them were critical and could be replaced at a small cost.

"Let me make it clear to you first. Even if you buy this tractor, you can't drive it right away. You need to take a driving test first." Huang Wanliang said to Xu Qiang.

"I know about this. Let's trade and transfer the car first, and you don't have to worry about other things."

Xu Qiang had already inquired about it. If you want to drive a tractor these days, you need to go to the agricultural machinery station for training. You can only drive after passing the test. In addition, you need to take another test to drive on the road, which is the same as the driver's license test in later generations. As for the transfer of tractors, in the early years, such tractors could not be sold to individuals, but now the country has relaxed the policy and allows individuals to buy them. You just need to go to the agricultural machinery station to transfer the ownership and record it, so that the vehicle can be completely transferred to your name.

"Then you go sit inside first. I'll go call everyone over." Huang Wanliang said, then turned and left.

After entering the village committee, a middle-aged man poured water and handed cigarettes to Xu Qiang and the other two. His attitude was very polite. After all, those who could afford to buy a tractor were not ordinary people. They might be the leaders or bosses of that place.

After a while, a large number of villagers gathered at the door. Seeing this scene, Xu Qiang and Erhu who came with him suddenly became nervous.

But soon, the two calmed down, and saw that all the villagers brought a small stool and sat in the front yard of the village committee.

"Everyone come and bear witness. Our village wants to sell this tractor today. Someone is willing to offer it for 4200 yuan. I want to ask if anyone in our village wants it. We can sell it at a lower price." Huang Wanliang shouted to the crowd below.

As soon as Huang Wanliang finished speaking, the scene fell into silence, and no one spoke.

Seeing this scene, a hint of disappointment flashed across Huang Wanliang's face, but he seemed a little unwilling, so he repeated what he had just said.

Obviously, as the head of the village, Huang Wanliang certainly hopes that this tractor can remain in the village and contribute to agricultural production.

However, from the moment the production team was divided, everyone had a selfish motive. Even though they knew that the tractor could help them with their work, compared to the cash that could be distributed immediately, almost everyone chose the latter. Compared with the interests of the group, people cared more about personal gains and losses.

So sometimes democracy is not necessarily a good thing. Huang Wanliang was wholeheartedly concerned about the overall interests of the village, but in the end he was unable to overcome the short-sightedness of most villagers and had no choice but to compromise.

The transfer contract was in duplicate. In full view of everyone, Xu Qiang placed 4200 yuan on the table. Then both parties signed and put their fingerprints on the contract, and the transaction was preliminarily completed.

The next step was to go to the agricultural machinery station to transfer ownership. Xu Qiang, the other two, and the village chief Huang Wanliang sat in the back of the tractor and slowly drove out of the village with the sound of diesel exhaust...

……

When Xu Qiang brought the tractor back to his village, the whole Shangzhuang Village was in a sensation.

No one expected that the Xu family, who had always been low-key, would buy such expensive agricultural machinery so ostentatiously and become the first family in Shangzhuang Village to own a tractor.

However, the villagers did not have too many doubts about why the Xu family had so much money to buy a tractor. The reason was very simple. On the one hand, Xu Qiang's father had worked in the Shengli Machinery Factory for more than ten years, and his wife worked on the farm at home and lived frugally, so they must have had a lot of savings.

On the other hand, Xu Qiang's father died in the line of duty, and the factory received compensation. In addition, the production team was split up some time ago... With all these added together, he should have enough money to buy this second-hand tractor.

"Liu Jun, you will be the driver of this tractor from now on!" Xu Qiang said to Liu Jun after returning to the village and seeing him.

"Really?!" Liu Jun's eyes lit up when he heard Xu Qiang say that. "Of course it's true, but you need to take a driving test first." Xu Qiang smiled and continued:

"I have already asked the leader of the Agricultural Machinery Station. Starting from tomorrow, you will have to go to the station for training every morning this week. You must cherish this opportunity and try to pass the exam in one go!"

(End of this chapter)