Chapter 1031

In Li Jianguo's east room, Du Chunfang was muttering by the fire wall:

"They come empty-handed one by one, and leave with big bags and small bags. They really have the nerve..."

Li Qing Xia said indifferently:

"Didn't the second one bring you sesame cakes? By the way, there's also the peanuts and vermicelli that Xia brought over... you saw that too, didn't you."

"Which one of those can I eat?" It would have been better if he hadn't said anything; once he did, Du Chunfang was even angrier, "Don't they know my teeth aren't good? Can I bite into those? Couldn't they be like Without Xiao Long and buy me some sponge cakes?"

"Well... maybe they forgot." Li Qing Xia found it hard to explain. How to put it? Coming over for the New Year, Li Anguo and Chen Xingbang's families came purely with smiling faces. They didn't bring much when they arrived, but they certainly left with big bags and small bags.

"What? They became city people and eat state-supplied grain, so they've become precious?" Du Chunfang was full of resentment. It was the New Year, so it wasn't good to flare up on the spot, so she just said to her old man in the room, "And all the things Without Xiao Long bought for the children; and the clothes the eldest's mother-in-law made for the children.

What about them? Is that how they act as elders? Even if Juan and Qiangqiang are grown up and don't need them, what about Mingming and Haohao? Such small babies, and they didn't even know to bring some things over... did they forget how they became city people?"

It was the first time Li Qing Xia had seen his old woman lose her temper like this.

The whole family of relatives had actually been quite happy during the New Year, so why was his old woman dissatisfied after they left?

"Then could I have flared up to their faces?" Du Chunfang had her own logic, "Those two ingrates, I don't care how they live, but they shouldn't make the eldest's and Without Xiao Long's families unhappy during the New Year, right? Later, I'll tell Without Xiao Long that if they come again, he can't buy them so many things; it's purely feeding dogs!"

"You can't say that!" Li Qing Xia felt it was serious, "They are all our children, why curse our own?"

Du Chunfang thought about it and agreed, changing her words:

"Just pretend, just pretend!"

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

As a man, Li Qing Xia actually saw things quite openly in this regard. He said:

"Don't worry so much about this. Look, Without Xiao Long's life is so good; the money he earns in a year is worth decades of what the second one and Xia's families earn. The eldest's life is also good; he plants a lot of land and drives a tractor. How many people in the team come to him for help?

The eldest and the youngest are living well, so the second one and Xia's families probably feel unbalanced. We live here, so naturally, we lean towards this side, and I don't know if those two families have any difficulties. If we can't help, then don't think too much about it..."

Saying he couldn't help was a lie, but there was no way to help. Li Qing Xia had money, but most of it was earned by following Li Long and Li Jianguo.

If Li Anguo and Chen Xingbang's families couldn't go on, he, as their father, would definitely have to help.

Not only would he help, but he would also make his eldest and youngest sons help too.

But now, the second one and the daughter's families were both eating state-supplied grain. To say their lives were already upper-middle class on a national scale was an understatement; they didn't need help.

It was just that they couldn't compare to the eldest and the youngest. He had no reason to give them the money in his hands, and he wouldn't.

What would it count as if he gave it? Taking money from the eldest and youngest's families to subsidize those two? They were both still living at the eldest's house!

There was no such logic.

So Du Chunfang would complain, which he could understand, but as a father, he could also understand the feelings of the second one and the daughter's families. Just let it go with the flow; it wasn't a big problem, don't take it to heart.

Du Chunfang was just complaining to her old man; she knew the big picture, and it would be a joke if she said it out loud. And she also knew that the eldest's and youngest's families didn't care about these things.

In the eldest's eyes, he was the eldest and should take care of his younger siblings. As for whether his younger siblings would reciprocate, that wasn't in his consideration.

As for Li Long, Du Chunfang felt he was also like the eldest—a different kind of eldest, capable, helping all his brothers and sisters, but he was clear-headed and knew who was close and who wasn't, he just didn't show it.

She was just feeling unfair for Mingming and Haohao—they were clearly two cute babies, why didn't they catch the eyes of those two families? If they had any brains at all, they would be nicer to Mingming and Haohao, and in the future...

Forget it, some people just can't see far.

In the west room, Gu Xiaoxia was helping Liang Yuemei tidy up things after the New Year. Mingming and Haohao had already been taken out to play by Li Juan and Li Qiang.

"Yesterday when we went to Juan's grandfather's house, her grandfather and grandmother said they hadn't seen Mingming and Haohao for a long time and missed them." Liang Yuemei said with a smile, "Her grandfather said, think back to a few years ago, Without Xiao Long followed us to pay New Year's visits, and he even gave Without Xiao Long lucky money. Now he has babies of his own, it's really fast!"

"Ah?" Gu Xiaoxia really didn't know, "Mingming's dad also received lucky money?"

"He did." Liang Yuemei said with a smile, "He wasn't big then, ten or so, just a big kid. Juan's grandfather said, he's just a child, not grown up yet, so give him lucky money... but it wasn't much then, just a yuan or two."

Gu Xiaoxia really didn't know Li Long had such a past, and she was very curious, continuing to ask.

Although the two families were in the same village and could be considered to have grown up together after the age of twelve or thirteen, at that age, both girls and boys already knew the difference between the sexes and wouldn't specifically play together.

Liang Yuemei picked some things that could be told to Gu Xiaoxia, making Gu Xiaoxia laugh out loud from time to time.

The old couple in the east room heard the movement in the west room, looked at each other, and both smiled.

Look, this is the best sister-in-law relationship; they really are one family.

In the front courtyard, the interview was still ongoing, and Li Long spoke eloquently:

"Designing and inventing the snow-clearing machine was simply because the snow was too heavy this year. Our Northern Tianshan region is vast and sparsely populated, and when the snow is heavy, it greatly affects everyone's work and life. I just thought, if I could come up with a tool driven by machinery to clear snow, it would greatly save manpower and material resources, and the market would definitely need it."

"In other words, your initial design was to facilitate everyone's movement, and to save manpower and material resources, right?" Jiang Zhiyu asked while taking notes.

"Of course, it's not just that." Li Long smiled, "I'm not that great. I saw that this invention and design has a market, which means that once invented, as long as it's convenient and efficient, it has prospects and money to be made."

Jiang Zhiyu frowned slightly. With Li Long saying it like that, the significance of inventing the snow-clearing machine was downgraded by a notch.

Li Long understood what Jiang Zhiyu was thinking as soon as he saw it. He sighed inwardly. The propaganda mouth had been like this for decades; it was truly a bit rigid, always wanting to mold those typical figures into something lofty, as if they didn't eat or drink like normal people.

Who doesn't know who? Everyone is human, eating grains and cereals; who doesn't have shortcomings, who doesn't have selfish motives?

When reporting these things, just be specific, talk about the matter at hand, and don't lean towards the big picture. A brave act is a brave act; don't drag in other things. Donating money is donating money; don't talk about other events. Invention and creation should be about invention and creation, talk about what benefits it has, what advantages it has, don't talk about big principles.

Otherwise, it's easy to flip the car.

It was like this decades ago, it's like this now, and it will be like this twenty or thirty years later.

Sigh.

Rigid.

"Our general line, isn't it to encourage some people to get rich first, and then have those who get rich first lead those who get rich later?" Li Long had to bring this out, "Doing this, I feel there's a market, and it can fully explore the production capacity of the farm machinery factory.

And we have cooperated several times, there is a foundation of trust, and I also believe that my invention and design will bring me corresponding returns after the product becomes popular."

Jiang Zhiyu's expression became more pleasant. Clearly, Li Long's words had helped her find a suitable angle to write this.

"Mm-hmm, not bad, not bad. By the way, I heard that after you made the snow-clearing machine, you also led people to clear the road into the mountains. Is that true?"

"Yes." Li Long nodded and said, "Friends in the mountains hadn't come down for a while, so I was wondering if the road down the mountain had been blocked by the heavy snow.

Although there aren't many herdsmen in the mountains, I always feel that even if there's only one household, they should have the right to come down the mountain. So I found some people and led them to clear the road into the mountains—"

"This idea of yours is really good. The road is cleared, those herdsmen must be very grateful to you, right?" Jiang Zhiyu asked again.