novelraw Chapter 75 She plans to give this group of people a crash course in driving.
Chapter 75 She plans to give this group of people a crash course in driving.
"I don't have time to listen to your arguing! If you want to learn how to drive a tractor, come with me to the brigade leader's house. You can discuss the procedures with him, and I'll be responsible for teaching you."
Tong Yuheng ignored them and left first. Who would want to learn without paying any price? That's impossible!
When they arrived at the brigade leader's house, there were two male educated youths, Tan Suyun, and three young men from the village, making a total of six people.
The brigade leader was puzzled as to why so many young people had come. Had they gotten into another fight? The educated youth settlement had been in turmoil for the past two or three years since it was established!
Upon hearing that they wanted to learn how to drive a tractor, and that Tong Yuheng was willing to teach them, the brigade leader immediately agreed, allowing each of them to contribute two work points to the team every day, plus an additional two cents a day to subsidize the brigade's fuel costs.
Indeed, he didn't ask for much. The brigade leader just wanted to recoup some of the car rental costs. He was very meticulous in his calculations! Then he also squeezed in the party secretary's youngest son, who was also his cousin.
Tong Yuheng didn't waste any time, telling them to immediately gather at the village's threshing ground, and to bring paper and pen as she needed to write things down. She was planning to give this group a crash course in driving!
"Um, Tong Zhiqing, I don't have any money. I... I want to use grain to pay the two cents a day..." Tan Suyun blushed a little. She always said that being poor was glorious, but at this moment she was really ashamed because she was penniless.
"Hehehe, why didn't you tell the brigade leader earlier? This money isn't for me! Go talk to him and ask him to deduct a couple more work points, okay? But what if you don't have enough food if you have fewer work points?"
"No, it's okay. The weather will get warmer, and I can go fishing in the reeds, and also catch shrimp and quail..."
"You're really capable. Go get some paper and pen, see you in a bit!" Tong Yuheng couldn't refuse a girl who was ambitious and showed him kindness.
Tong Yuheng went home for lunch first and told Yuyao about the plan to teach everyone how to drive a tractor. He asked Yuyao to come and help keep an eye on things, because it must be tiring for one person to be an instructor!
Yuyao quite enjoyed participating, and Linglong immediately wanted to join in, wanting to learn too. Yuyao immediately scolded them: "Why are you two getting involved? When you come with me to the brick factory to help out sometime, you can learn whatever you want. If you insist on going now, are you going to pay work points or money?"
"Okay, let's not study now, let's just go and watch the fun."
When they arrived at the threshing ground, the group of people who wanted to learn how to drive the tractor were there. Tong Yuheng began to explain to them the different parts of the tractor, which parts could move and which could not. Then he demonstrated how to start it by hand, drive it a short distance, and then turn it off.
Then she sat next to the driver's seat and let everyone get in the car one by one to familiarize themselves with the gear lever, clutch, accelerator, steering wheel, etc., so that they could touch and move around to get used to it.
"You come here!" she commanded from the side, pointing to someone: "Start the engine, stow the crank! Get in!"
The young man was Chen Hongxue, the youngest son of Party Secretary Chen. He was the oldest in the group, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, so everyone let him go first. Starting the bike was no problem, but once he got on, his hands gripping the handlebars began to tremble.
"Depress the clutch, shift gears! Release the clutch, accelerate!" He mechanically followed the commands, and the tractor actually started moving! His heart soared!
"Hold on tight, look ahead! Slow down and accelerate! Turn left!" Seeing that he couldn't tell left from right, Tong Yuheng quickly reached out and steered him in the right direction!
"Ease off the accelerator, slow down! Depress the clutch and shift to neutral at the same time! Apply the brakes!" Seeing that he couldn't coordinate his clutch and shifting gears, Tong Yuheng directly stepped on his foot to help him complete the shifting and braking!
"Uncle Chen, you've learned very well! Now you can go down, and someone else will come up! You stand aside and watch, think carefully about what just happened, and then try to simulate it yourself without any equipment!"
Seeing is not as good as doing it yourself. At noon, everyone got on the bus twice, and then it was time to start work in the afternoon.
Tong Yuyao drove the tractor to plow the field, and Tong Yuheng talked to them about their problems again. They agreed to come back here to continue practicing driving after dinner after work.
These past few days, Tong Yuheng and Tong Yuyao have been taking turns being instructors, sitting aside and watching the apprentices, teaching them how to drive a tractor step by step. With so much land waiting to be plowed, they certainly couldn't be left idle; they had to get to work right away, learning through practice!
One person would plow one acre of land first, while the others would gather crop stubble behind them, waiting for their turn to plow. They would earn four or five work points a day, which would just cover their tuition and fuel costs. However, their frequent switching between tasks wasted some time, which made the brigade leader somewhat displeased with them.
"You've already learned how to drive, why are you joining in the fun? Do you guys have too many work points? Wouldn't it be better to save some?"
Actually, he wanted to try driving it himself; he had just learned and was really looking forward to getting hooked on driving a tractor. If only he could harvest more grain and earn more money, he could buy one for his team!
"Captain, we haven't really mastered it yet. We can't do it without our two mentors. We need to practice more!" Ren Hongmin said hurriedly. He didn't care about the few work points. The two educated youths from Tong taught him much more than just how to drive a tractor.
"Big brother, don't worry about us! Don't fret, we won't delay the team's work!" Chen Hongxue was his brother and dared to speak up more than others. Seeing that he had no chance to practice, Captain Chen could only shake his head and walk away.
At noon and in the evening, Tong Yuheng and Tong Yuyao continued to teach them inspection, maintenance, and upkeep. They explained to them in detail some common minor problems with the tractor and how to solve them, as well as how to clean and replace small parts. They even let them disassemble and assemble the tractor themselves. The four work points they were paid for that day were truly well worth it.
The young men in the village with only primary school education were far less capable of learning repair, while Ren Hongmin, Tan Suyun, and another educated youth, Yuan Guodong, were much more outstanding. Their notebooks were almost full, filled with drawings and annotations; they had truly put in a lot of effort.
Several other villagers, including Chen Hongxue, sought their advice, feeling a little embarrassed as they kept asking the two young Master Tongs. The key issue was that Tong Yuheng was rather aloof; even without being reprimanded, they were still somewhat intimidated.
However, this improved the relationship between the villagers and the educated youth. At least these few people got along well, breaking the long-standing estrangement between the two sides.
Ten days passed quickly, and all seven young men were able to drive the tractor steadily. All the fields in the village had been plowed. This saved everyone a lot of work, and they were much more relaxed than before. Unfortunately, the brigade leader couldn't find any manual labor assigned by the higher-ups, and his idea of earning money fell through.
At this moment, Tong Yuheng was thinking about how to go to Yan City. She already had too many fruits and vegetables in her space, and her storage space was almost full!