Chapter 110

The meal had just finished, and Li Long was planning to rest properly in the east room when he heard what sounded like his own name being called over the loudspeaker.

Li Long went out to listen carefully and heard Xu Chengjun shouting over the loudspeaker:

"Li Long! Li Long! Li Long from Li Jianguo's family, come to the team headquarters quickly after hearing the loudspeaker; there's a phone call for you!"

They called it the team headquarters, but it was actually Xu Chengjun's home; the loudspeaker was installed there for convenience.

"It must be about that call from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative earlier," Li Jianguo said as he followed out, having heard the voice too.

Li Qiang asked from behind:

"Uncle, are you going to help someone hunt a yellow sheep? Are yellow sheep easy to hunt?"

Li Long smiled and patted Li Qiang's head, saying:

"Easy to hunt, but not easy; it depends on luck."

"Uncle, you will definitely catch one!" Li Qiang looked up at Li Long with determined eyes.

Li Long laughed heartily, went inside to put on his clothes, slipped into his cotton rubber boots, and headed for the team headquarters.

"Little Long is here," Xu Chengjun said, greeting Li Long warmly with a smile. "You know people at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative? Not bad!"

"Not exactly know them; I just met them when selling fish and meat," Li Long said vaguely, then looked at the table and noticed the phone had been hung up. He asked, "Has the call ended?"

"They said they'd call back in ten minutes; wait a moment," Xu Chengjun explained, then turned to Ma Hongmei and said, "Mingwa's mother, go pour a glass of water for Little Long."

Ma Hongmei acknowledged and went to pour water, but Li Long called out, "Sister-in-law, no trouble needed."

"What trouble? You can't come and not even drink a glass of water," Xu Chengjun said, pointing to the kang bed. "Come, sit. Do you smoke?"

"No," Li Long waved his hand and sat by the table where the phone was placed. "I can't smoke."

"Good not to smoke," Xu Chengjun said with a smile, clearly much more polite today. "Little Long, you've made quite a name for yourself lately. Among the young people in our team, you're the standout."

"Not at all," Li Long smiled and waved his hand. "Haijun is the real one; he's well-educated, knowledgeable, and gets along well with everyone."

"That rascal, so disobedient!" Xu Chengjun cursed upon hearing Li Long mention Xu Haijun. "So stubborn! There's a better path for him, yet he insists on joining the army—I can't persuade him!"

A better path? Li Long's heart stirred, and he asked with a smile:

"Captain, has the school's recruitment notice come down?"

"You know?" Xu Chengjun looked at Li Long in surprise. "Do you have news from above?"

"I met someone from the Education Bureau while selling fish," Li Long said vaguely. "I heard about it."

"No wonder... I didn't expect you to know so many capable people just from selling fish," Ma Hongmei said, bringing the water over with a smile. "You've really made a name for yourself!"

Since the recruitment notice had come down, Gu Xiaoxia's situation should be secure. Li Long took the water and drank a sip. Xu Chengjun was about to ask more questions when the phone rang.

"You take it. This phone rarely rings once every three or five days, but it's rung several times today. It must be the one for you."

Li Long put down the cup, picked up the phone, and said, "Hello."

"You are... You're not Captain Xu; you're Li Long?" Li Xiangqian's voice came from the other end.

Although the old-fashioned telephone had some distortion due to excessive line switching, Li Long still recognized Li Xiangqian's voice. He smiled and said:

"Hello, Section Chief Li!"

Li Xiangqian had called just before getting off work; he truly had no other choice. Chen Hongjun had said Li Long could hunt yellow sheep, and that yellow sheep horns had the same effect as antelope horns. Li Xiangqian then remembered the young man who had sold him sheep.

Chen Hongjun had originally planned to bring this up when Li Long came to sell goods, but Li Xiangqian was in a hurry. He still remembered Li Long mentioning his location, so he took a chance and called the production team, unexpectedly finding Li Long.

"Comrade Li Long, you are indeed hard to find," Li Xiangqian said, truly out of options. He had asked around; among his acquaintances, only a few knew about yellow sheep, and almost no one knew where to hunt them. The only one, his second uncle, said there were many near the Yitai border, but that was at least five or six hundred kilometers away. Who had time to travel so far?

"Sorry, Section Chief Li. I just like running into the mountains whenever I have free time," Li Long explained. "Is there something you need, Section Chief Li?"

"I suppose your team has told you; I heard you've hunted yellow sheep?"

"Yes, I have."

"When?"

"Before the New Year."

"That's correct. This matter is quite simple; I'd like you to lead us in hunting yellow sheep once. How about that?"

"Sure," Li Long agreed readily.

Li Xiangqian hadn't expected Li Long to agree so readily, especially since there had been some unpleasantness when the sheep were sold earlier. But he quickly realized he was from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, an object of many people's flattery. Surely this Li Long wouldn't be an exception?

!.

However, Li Long's next words immediately showed him that this young comrade was different from most!

"Section Chief Li, if I lead you to hunt yellow sheep, what compensation will I receive?"

Hearing Li Long speak so directly, Xu Chengjun, who had been straining to listen nearby, was so angry he wanted to curse!

How could this boy be so obtuse? This is a perfect opportunity to flatter someone. If you flatter this section chief well, won't you have a chance to join the Supply and Marketing Cooperative as a purchaser later? That means eating state-allocated grain!

"Compensation?" Li Xiangqian was stunned by the question.

To be honest, since becoming the purchasing section chief, others had always begged him; he had never begged anyone. So when he called Li Long this time, he hadn't even thought about compensation—jokingly speaking, the Supply and Marketing Cooperative asking for help was doing you a favor; you wanted compensation?

But Li Long brought it up openly, leaving him stunned instead.

Li Long smiled.

Clearly, these official masters were accustomed to others serving them and hadn't really thought about compensation.

Let him think about it properly.

Li Xiangqian reacted quickly. After a whirl of thoughts in his mind, he asked:

"Then what compensation do you want?"

"You want to hunt yellow sheep; I know where they are. If you can provide guns, I can help hunt too. If we catch one, could you arrange a double-barreled shotgun for me?"

Xu Chengjun, listening from behind, wanted to curse again!

Are you dreaming? A double-barreled shotgun costs several hundred; how dare you even ask for that!

"That's impossible!" Li Xiangqian immediately refused from the other end. "A yellow sheep is worth so little; even several aren't worth a double-barreled shotgun. Young comrade, you're being a bit too presumptuous..."

He thought for a moment and said:

"Forget the sand spear; if you hit two, I'll get you an air rifle, how about that? An air rifle is worth nearly a hundred yuan; this reward is already very good!"

Li Long had no real interest in an air rifle at the moment; he shook his head and said:

"An air rifle won't work; it must be at least a small-caliber rifle, otherwise forget it. There should be quite a few people who know how to hunt Huang Yang; you can find someone else. Section Chief Li, goodbye!"

Just as he was about to hang up, Li Xiangqian on the other end hurriedly shouted:

"Don't hang up yet!"

Li Long smiled.

(End of this chapter)