Chapter 1047

The things here at Li Long's place ultimately weren't given to Jia Tianlong—the other party didn't want them either.

However, Li Long had thought about it himself; he couldn't take Old Jia's things for nothing. He planned to pick a piece of jasper with good quality from his own harvest when he was free in a few days, then take a few photos of the jade stone Old Jia was worshipping, and take the jade stone and photos to Master Liu Gong, asking him to carve it according to the original, as a miniature version.

When the time came, he would give this jade stone to Jia Tianlong. Even if the other party knew clearly that this jade stone was carved and not natural, at least it was a memento, right?

It wasn't about how much the jade stone was worth; it was mainly that Old Jia had an obsession with this piece of jade, and since he couldn't give it to him, he would give him a miniature version.

Of course, this was just what Li Long thought; he hadn't told Old Jia.

Jia Tianlong's original intention was just to come and worship this piece of jade to seek good luck and peace of mind for himself.

However, after worshipping the jade stone, Jia Tianlong's wife was particularly enthusiastic toward Mingming and Haohao, and even asked them to guess whether she was carrying a boy or a girl in her belly.

"A little brother!"

"It's a little brother!"

Although Mingming and Haohao didn't say it in unison, their answers were the same, which surprised Jia Tianlong and his wife endlessly.

Jia Tianlong had already given the gifts he brought to Li Long. Hearing this, he felt as if he had received some kind of revelation, and immediately took out a thick stack of large-denomination bills from the black bag he was carrying, divided them into two stacks, and stuffed them into the hands of the two children, saying with a bit of excitement:

"When your aunt gives birth to a little brother, Uncle will come back and give you a big red envelope!"

Li Long thought to himself that this shouldn't be; he hadn't taught the two children to say this, and it was highly likely Sister Yang wouldn't teach them either, as Jia Tianlong's arrival was a bit sudden.

But the children said it together—and what they said was the same.

Could children this young really see something?

It wasn't until Jia Tianlong's family left that Li Long seriously asked Mingming and Haohao, and the two children replied that they hadn't seen anything at all; they just guessed that this Uncle Jia and Auntie really wanted a baby, so that's why they said that.

"How did you know they wanted a baby?" Li Long thought to himself that their performance wasn't obvious either? What could a three-year-old child see?

"When they were worshipping that jade stone, I heard it," Mingming said.

"I heard it too!" Haohao also raised his hand.

Alright, it seems the two children really inherited his good hearing. This... is it good or not?

It should be quite good, right? It's just that he would have to be careful about any actions he and his wife had in the future.

Before leaving, Jia Tianlong also tasted the meat jerky Li Long made, but he didn't have much interest. Just by doing the medicinal herb business, he had already earned a fortune, so he had no interest in getting involved in other things—the biggest thing right now was to take good care of his wife's pregnancy and see if it was really as Mingming and Haohao said, giving birth to a baby boy.

Li Long packed a bag of meat jerky for him to take, telling him to take it back, whether to eat it himself or give it to others, it was a rare item after all.

Jia Tianlong didn't decline and left with it. Before leaving, he just chatted with Li Long for a few words, and then said that in a while, when the fritillaria was ready, he would come back.

At the moment, both Li Long's procurement station and Chen Hongjun's procurement station actually had some medicinal herbs, but they hadn't reached a scale, and Jia Tianlong wasn't interested in collecting them.

Li Long was guessing whether it was because of Sun Benchuan's matter that Jia Tianlong's sales channels had some problems, so he wasn't in a hurry for now.

However, Li Long didn't think this was a big problem. Reform and opening up had been going on for nearly ten years now, and China was in a period of great development. State-owned pharmaceutical companies were also developing rapidly, and abroad, especially in China's surrounding areas, the demand for traditional Chinese medicinal herbs in Japan and South Korea had increased greatly.

So there was no worry about selling.

After Jia Tianlong left, Li Long officially had time. After eating breakfast, he drove the jeep into the mountains.

Li Long didn't drive fast on the road from the Ma River to Qingshuihe, observing as he drove.

The green grass on the roadside had already grown out, and the road surface was completely dry, so there were no difficult sections.

No one was working in the fields yet, but from time to time there were people or horse-drawn carriages on the road, likely heading to the county town.

When Li Long was almost at Qingshuihe Village, he ran into Meng Hai driving a tractor.

The jeep and the tractor stopped almost at the same time, moved to the side, and both stopped on the edge, leaving the middle of the road clear to avoid being blocked if someone passed by later.

"Comrade Li Long, I was just about to go to the county to find you. Are you... heading into the mountains?"

"Yes," Li Long got out of the jeep and shook hands with Meng Hai. "You're looking for me about the road repairs?"

"Yes. It's already completely dry outside. I took people into the mountains for a trip these past two days, and it's almost dry in the mountains too. Most of the roads we repaired withstood the test of winter, but a small portion was washed away by the spring snowmelt floods and needs to be repaired and reinforced."

"Old He and I were thinking of taking advantage of the fact that the ground temperature hasn't risen yet this spring to just repair them first; otherwise, when it's time to plow and sow, the team won't be able to spare so many people."

"You've already checked?" Li Long was a bit surprised; Meng Hai was more proactive than him in doing this.

"Checked, not only did I check, but Old He and many people in our team went to check too," Meng Hai said a bit embarrassedly. "Since spring has arrived, people in the team were thinking of repairing the roads before sowing, which could also earn some money to cover the cost of agricultural supplies, so that when it's time to farm, things won't be so tight."

Li Long laughed; this was very normal.

At this time, everyone wasn't used to borrowing money from rural credit cooperatives. Later, when there was more land, every spring, or even around the Spring Festival, some people had already started going to rural credit cooperatives to take out loans to buy agricultural supplies, and then pay the money back after the autumn harvest.

Even after the market economy spread, the Grain Bureau and some cotton processing plants were directly connected to rural credit cooperatives. When the cotton was sold, the farmers could only get a white slip, and the money went into the rural credit cooperative's account.

The rural credit cooperative would directly deduct the money they had lent out at the beginning of the year along with interest, and the rest would remain in the farmer's bank card.

Cycle after cycle, it always felt like farming all year round, and a considerable part of the money earned turned into interest.

But the price of agricultural products was low and couldn't be sold for a good price, which was something that had to be done.

Unless in a certain year the price of cotton suddenly rose without warning, and the money earned that year was very large, not only could they pay off the loan and interest, but they could also have a considerable amount left over.

Then the next year, they basically wouldn't need to take out loans to buy agricultural supplies.

But most people were never satisfied, thinking that since the cotton price was high the previous year, even if it wasn't as high the second year, it wouldn't be much lower, so they simply contracted more land with the money they earned, and in the end... one can imagine the result.

So at this time, although the Fourth Team, Qingshuihe, and other villages lived better than other rural farmers because they followed Li Long in doing some side businesses, it was still quite difficult when it came to buying agricultural supplies in the spring.

Every bit they could earn more was better.

"In that case, then get ready," Li Long thought to himself that it was indeed time to repair the roads. "I'll go into the mountains today to see and deliver some supplies to the mountains. If the mountains are indeed as you said and there are no problems, then we can repair the roads in the next day or two."

"Old Meng, you still lead the team, count the number of people, the wages remain the same, paid on the spot every day, and your management fee is the same as last year."

"Hehe, how could I be embarrassed to take that?" Meng Hai rubbed his hands, laughing with a red face. "We've already taken quite a bit of your money."

"What's there to be embarrassed about?" Li Long patted him. "As long as the road is repaired well, then it's nothing to be embarrassed about. As for the road being washed away by the flood, that's very normal. The flood this year is unusual; not to mention once in a hundred years, at least it should be once in ten years."

Some roads and bridges repaired by the public sector in the county were washed away, and the ones you repaired were mostly preserved, which is already very good."

Li Long didn't blame them for the road situation but instead comforted them, which moved Meng Hai. He patted his chest and said:

"Comrade Li Long, don't worry! In these two days, I will organize the core strength to repair the damaged roads, and at the same time continue to expand into the mountains! Since we already know where it's easy to be washed away, we will learn our lessons well when repairing later, striving not to have similar situations happen again!"

Meng Hai's tractor also had some local specialties brought for Li Long's family, mainly cleaned and gutted small river fish, eggs, and live chickens in bags.