Wei Tianxing had come for just one reason: he wanted Li Jianguo to persuade Li Long, or rather, tell Li Long to sell him the harvester.
"Old Li, you know the reasoning without me having to spell it out. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Your Li Long-or your whole family, really-has already drawn plenty of attention.
"Those Taibazi, Big Brooms, and reed bundles last year were all your Li Long's doing, weren't they? Made plenty of money, didn't he? Do you know how many people talk about your family behind your backs?"
With a faint, ambiguous smile, Li Jianguo said,
"What? Our family isn't allowed to make money now? What are they saying?"
"They say your family's hogging everything." Wei Tianxing slapped his thigh and said loudly, "There's nothing wrong with making money, but your Li family can't keep all the good things to yourselves!"
Li Jianguo gave Wei Tianxing a couple of looks as though he were an idiot, then walked over, patted his shoulder, and pointed outside.
"Old Wei, come on, let's talk outside. There are elderly people in the yard. Don't frighten them."
Thinking his words had intimidated Li Jianguo, Wei Tianxing felt rather pleased with himself. He followed Li Jianguo's lead toward the gate, talking as he went.
"Old Li, I'm really saying this for your own good. Do you realize that a few years ago, this sort of thing would have got you arrested and thrown behind bars? You might even have been shot..."
Actually, when Wei Tianxing had come chugging up on his tractor as though he owned the road, the Li family had been quite happy.
In those days, having a visitor was usually a happy occasion.
There were no mobile phones or high-speed trains, and ordinary people couldn't afford