Wheat harvest season: modern wheat harvesters chase their gold rush dream
□ Evening News reporter Liu Yongqi
"Take advantage of the rain these past few days and hurry up to give the combine harvester a thorough overhaul, so that once the weather clears we can really show what we can do."
As a "modern wheat harvester," for 5 years Liang Qing has driven a combine harvester, enduring hardship and scorching sun, traveling from south to north, following the rhythm of the wheat ripening and chasing the footsteps of the harvest, exchanging his hard sweat for a generous income. Unlike most harvester operators, Liang Qing does not like to work with others; he takes his family and drives his combine harvester far and wide. He says he likes this kind of life.
Liang Qing takes out a palm-sized notebook, densely filled with the phone numbers of agricultural bureaus and large grain growers from various places. Relying on this contact book, Liang Qing's family travels far and wide: every May they start harvesting wheat from Henan, heading all the way north to Hebei and Gansu. At the farthest, their footprints once reached the final stop of the entire "harvest season" - Heilongjiang.
"Harvesting wheat is extremely hard work. When the harvester is running, it kicks up dust all over the sky. Because there is so much dust, you cannot even see your face; only your eyes and teeth are white." Liang Qing said that when out harvesting wheat, they start bustling at the first faint light of dawn every day, and at night they just find a random spot in the field to make do and rest for the night. Only when they come across large grain growers might they get to "enjoy" the treatment of meals and lodging included.
Liang Qing told the reporter, "Harvesting wheat is like fighting a fire." The wheat ripening period is short, the harvest timing is highly time-sensitive, and during the summer harvest season the weather changes very frequently, with a rain shower or two coming from time to time, so they must seize every favorable opportunity to rush the cutting and rush the transport. "Once in Hebei, to race against time, my son and I took turns driving the combine harvester and worked for 30 hours straight, harvesting more than 200 mu of wheat. Although we were quite exhausted, we also earned a lot of money." Speaking of this, Liang Qing is very proud.
"As long as you work hard, earning over 100,000 yuan a year is easy, but it is dirty and tiring, and most people cannot stand this hardship." For Liang Qing, what makes him feel happy amid the hardship is that the whole family can travel together: his 30-year-old son is the "operator," Liang Qing is responsible for contacting business and repairing the machine, and his wife is responsible for logistics and finances. Liang Qing, now in his 50s, says he plans to work for another two years and then "retire." By then he will use his saved money to buy another combine harvester and rent it out to others, to earn even more money.