When Dong Sanshu heard Gu Qingyu mention his name, and since he was newly appointed and naturally wanted to make a good impression on the villagers, he opened the notebook and pen he carried with him. He nodded and said, "That's right. Yesterday's total was one hundred eighty-two bundles, which filled up two entire rows perfectly. Today, we started on the third row. Let me count what we have here… Five bundles, ten bundles… one hundred sixty-five bundles… plus the eighteen outside, that makes one hundred seventy-three bundles. That's nine fewer than yesterday, but don't forget, everyone, there are still two hours until we knock off for the night. At this pace, hitting two hundred and twenty bundles today will be no problem at all!"
Dong Sanshu's words seemed to put the villagers at ease. They then turned to look at Li Siming and Wang Dadan, as if to see what else they could possibly say.
