First, my apologies to everyone. I did misremember in the last chapter. Thanks to all the readers who suggested corrections. The combine had indeed already been purchased, and I've corrected it.
Li Long's biggest contribution throughout the wheat harvest season was hauling two truckloads of watermelons to the threshing ground and home.
Their own wheat was harvested with the Kangmaiyin. Once it was dumped on the threshing ground, Li Jianguo and Li Junfeng's father found time to winnow it, bag it, and deliver the grain quota.
Although harvesting with the current Kangmaiyin meant losing the wheat straw and chaff, in terms of efficiency alone, it was far faster than traditional threshing.
As for wheat straw and chaff, their main uses in farming households were selling the straw to the paper mill and keeping the chaff to feed cattle and sheep or to make adobe blocks for walls.
Neither mattered much to the Li family, so they could do without them.
The main work this wheat harvest season was harvesting and plowing, so earning money came first.
Most of the cooperative's other households were in the same situation. They could not be bothered with threshing either and simply harvested their wheat with the Kangmaiyin. It was convenient and saved trouble.
His mother, Du Chunfang, sat in the courtyard grumbling that setting up this cooperative had made everyone lazy. They no longer threshed or collected wheat chaff, and hardly even went to look at the threshing ground.
They even got paid for working at the cooperative. What kind of farmers were they? Even city factory workers probably did not have it this easy.
Hearing his mother's complaints, Li Long smiled and explained to her that farming would gradually become like this. Farmers were not born inferior to anyone. Factory workers earned