In late September, cotton entered picking season, and Ma County's Day Labor Market grew busy. Odd Jobs became highly sought-after, and some of the quicker-witted ones had already learned to bargain with cotton growers.
Yes. Supply at the Day Labor Market had always exceeded demand. Everyone scrambled for work, and even then, some people could wait all day without finding any.
So whenever work was available, they generally did not bargain. They accepted the going rate, or even a little less. After all, it was better than having no work.
Things were different now. As the number of cotton growers increased, so did the demand for cotton pickers. The few dozen people who arrived at the Day Labor Market early each morning were clearly not enough to go around.
Vans, small four-wheel tractors, and even ox carts came to collect workers. Before dawn, everyone who had arrived early had already been snapped up. Those who came later could only wait-cotton growers usually collected their workers early and took them out to the fields.
If workers came late, the landowners no longer wanted them-it was too much trouble, unless the cotton in their fields had opened so thickly that they had no choice but to pick it.
Li Long had no objection to Odd Jobs bargaining. They held the advantage, so naturally they had bargaining power. The price he had agreed on with the truckload he collected today was twenty cents, the standard rate.
Mainly, it was because Li Long had come early. He lived in the county town, got up before dawn, and went straight to the Day Labor Market without even eating.
Li Long was the first to arrive, so although one man wanted twenty-five cents, he simply waved a hand. "I'm from the cooperative. We have over a