Chapter 1000

"Hey, this pilaf is tasty." Gu Bo Yuan said with a smile while eating, then added a supplementary remark to Sister Yang: "Xiao Fang's mom, I'm not saying yours isn't delicious, it's just that Mingming's dad's skill is enough to open a shop. The method is different from yours; it's a different flavor."

"I know, I know." Sister Yang also said with a smile at the dinner table, "I know his uncle makes it well. I can't make this rice; I don't have that skill. I have to learn from his uncle when I have time."

"It's just that there's a lot of meat and a lot of oil." Li Long said while eating. He had an advantage in cooking: he could eat what he made himself, whether it was pilaf, soup noodles, or other things; unlike some master chefs who couldn't eat after smelling the oil fumes once they finished cooking.

"Yeah, that's right, learn it when you have time. When you open a restaurant in the future, if this rice is served, I guarantee people will like to eat it." Gu Xiaoxia was also saying.

Li Long smiled and didn't speak again. His cooking skills were quite good, not to say excellent, but he just occupied the advantage of having seen more and innovated more in later generations. He would also study it himself when he had nothing to do. In those few years when he couldn't go out and could only study cooking in his own yard, he really did make something out of it.

After a meal was finished, those who had to go to work went to work, and those who had to go to school went to school—in the end, only a little scorched rice remained in the pot. Li Long's intention was to eat porridge in the evening and stir-fry two vegetable dishes, which would be enough.

After all, the lunch was oily and meaty, so he had to coordinate in the evening, otherwise it wouldn't be digestible.

At dinner, Gu Bo Yuan mentioned one thing.

"Mingming's dad, Sun Jia Qiang said that Tie Lanhua is about to give birth. Right now, no one from the Tie family is coming to help, and his own parents can't come either, so he has to invite someone to help take care of her, and he himself has to run around... so he has to ask for a month's leave."

"It's fine, let him ask for it, I'll find someone else." Li Long thought for a while and said, "People are going to have children, we can't just let them be; we can't be without human touch."

"That's what I said, he was still worried that if he asked for leave, you wouldn't let him work later." Gu Bo Yuan said with a smile, "I said that's impossible, you would definitely let him work. By the way, who do you plan to find?"

"There's no work in the team in winter, I'll go back and see who has nothing to do and can be free, then I'll bring them over to live and work at the acquisition station, and then you'll have a companion too."

"Hey, if someone comes, maybe I'll just live in my own little yard..." Gu Bo Yuan said this first, then shook his head again, "Forget it, let's just live here. Sweeping snow in winter is troublesome, and two people can look after each other. Then what will they do for meals?"

"What else can they do? Eat with us." Li Long said, "If they come, it should be one of those few families. We can't let the whole family come. If one person comes, how would they cook for themselves?"

"Yeah, that's a troublesome matter." Gu Bo Yuan said, "Let's find someone first."

Tie Lanhua was going to have a child. Li Long had considered this matter before, and he recommended Sun Jia Qiang to invite someone—it was impossible for the Tie family to help him. In this year, the Tie family had gone to look for Tie Lanhua twice, but they were all scolded away by Tie Lanhua—because they went to ask for money.

According to Sun Jia Qiang's nature, no matter what, they were family, and since his own conditions were slightly better, it wouldn't be impossible to help out his in-laws. After all, he felt that Tie Lanhua might slowly still value family affection.

It was just that he didn't expect Tie Lanhua to be so resolute, so he naturally supported his wife.

Both families were so heartless that it was naturally impossible for the Tie family to come and take care of Tie Lanhua's postpartum period, and it was even more impossible for Sun Jia Qiang's parents to come, or rather, Sun Jia Qiang didn't want them to come either.

A messy family relationship.

In the end, they could only invite an outsider. She hadn't given birth yet, but Sun Jia Qiang must already be looking for someone, or perhaps Tie Lanhua might have already found someone.

This kind of thing didn't need Li Long to worry about; he only needed to quickly find someone to replace Sun Jia Qiang.

So the next day after breakfast, Li Long drove the jeep back to the team.

The team was relatively quiet now. Winter was approaching, and every household was preparing supplies for the winter, or those who had already prepared them had set up their stoves in advance and had already started to hibernate.

In the past few years, with the household contract responsibility system and side-line production, the living standards of the villagers in the team had risen significantly, and winter was much easier to get through.

Li Long still remembered clearly when he had just been reborn. That winter, because of him, his eldest brother's family didn't even have enough coal for the winter. If it hadn't been for Li Long thinking about going into the mountains to get wood to buy coal, that winter would have been difficult.

And now? Every household in the village didn't lack coal. Basically, every family had to pull a few more tons, just to burn it in excess, because crushing coal would leave coal dust, and there was no habit of making honeycomb briquettes here, so that coal dust would eventually be wasted.

Li Long drove the jeep to notify Xie Yun Dong, Tao Daqiang, Liang Dacheng, Jia Weidong, and others one by one, asking them to go to his house.

When he arrived at the Li family yard and saw no one in the yard, Li Long went to the front yard.

Sure enough, as he thought, the stove in the front yard had already been set up. Because it wasn't very cold outside yet, there was only a little coal in the stove, mainly to warm up the house.

There was also a large teapot on the stove, and the tea inside was warm. Li Long went to the kitchen to find a few bowls to put on the table, preparing to pour water for the few people.

The first to arrive was Xie Yun Dong. He came by bicycle. After arriving at the yard, he shouted, and after hearing Li Long's voice, he pushed the door and entered.

Next were Tao Daqiang, Jia Weidong, and finally Liang Dacheng.

Several people sat in front of the table and started chatting. Although they were all in the village, they didn't actually gather, or if Li Long wasn't there, basically only two or three people would meet, and it wasn't easy to gather together.

But there was still a lot to talk about when they were together, for example, Liang Dacheng's family was still catching fish, Tao Jian She was also catching fish, and they caught a water rat two days ago. Or for example, Xie Yun Dong heard that Xu Haijun was looking for a gun again, planning to go to the sand dunes in the north to hunt Mongolian gazelles and sell their skins after it snowed.

"Xiao Long, are skins going to be more expensive this year?"

"They are going to be more expensive." After Li Long finished pouring water for everyone, he also sat down, "The price rises every year. It is said that there will be an animal protection law next year. By then, Mongolian gazelles might not necessarily be allowed to be hunted, and the price will be even more expensive."

"Not allowed to be hunted next year?" Several people were very surprised.

"Yeah, the country is issuing an animal protection law, and these wild animals will all be protected..."

"What about wolves? They eat people, and they still need protection?" Tao Daqiang asked somewhat puzzled.

"That's what they say, but if they really bite people, they'll be killed if they're killed." Li Long smiled, "It's said to be protection, but it's impossible to watch them every day. If you really hunt them, no one will care if no one is watching. Establishing this law is just to tell the common people that if this stuff is hunted on a large scale, it will soon become extinct."

"Just like our Northern Xinjiang tiger, that stuff was still very common over a hundred years ago, but now it's basically gone."

He said it without changing his expression, and others were convinced.

"I called you over today because there is a job and I want to see who is willing to do it." Li Long said, "At my acquisition station, that Sun Jia Qiang's wife is about to give birth. His wife is Hui, and she has conflicts with her family, so her family doesn't care."

"This Sun Jia Qiang came from inside the pass, and his parents can't come over from their hometown, so he has to invite someone to take care of her, and he himself has to be busy at home, so I plan to find someone else to work at the acquisition station."

"Long-term or short-term work?"

"If it's you guys, it can only be short-term work. Can you leave home for a long time?" Li Long said with a smile, "I definitely want to invite someone long-term. There are many odd jobs at this acquisition station. See who among you is free, or you can recommend someone."

These people didn't speak and looked at each other.

Actually, they were all a little tempted, but thinking about how they had been busy for more than half a year, they also wanted to rest well at home and accompany their families.

"I say, if you want to do long-term, why not let our Shuangcheng go." Liang Dacheng suddenly said, "Shuangcheng is not married. If you say he's capable, it's not necessarily so, but he's obedient, especially obedient to you. You remember that winter he fell into the ice hole and it was you who saved him, right? Since then, he has regarded you as a role model."

Li Long's heart stirred; this was indeed a good candidate.

In the Liang family's three brothers, there was no lack of labor. The first few years were spent working desperately to earn money, and now they had recovered.

The men in the other families were the pillars of their homes and couldn't leave for too long.

"That's fine, Shuangcheng can work long-term." Xie Yun Dong said immediately, "As long as he is obedient, the money will definitely not be little in the future. Xiao Long won't treat him badly."

"Yes, yes, yes, Shuangcheng can do it." Tao Daqiang also said with a smile, "Better than me, smarter than me."

Others also said so, so Li Long asked Liang Dacheng:

"Then is Shuangcheng willing?"

"Willing, why wouldn't he be willing?" Liang Dacheng saw that this matter was so easily accomplished, and immediately said with a smile, "He is dying to do it. Receiving a salary every month, isn't it better than staying at home? Besides, he said long ago that he wanted to start another yard and build a house. If he can work for you long-term, when he has money, he can buy a yard in the county. Isn't that better than being in the team?"