Chapter 115: Matters of the Tao family

The Li family's room was as warm as spring. Li Jianguo had put away the pine wood that Li Long brought back that could be used for timber, preparing to make some things in the spring, while those that were almost rotten, Li Jianguo had already chopped into firewood during the time Li Long was hunting, and used them to build a fire.

"Uncle, this gun is quite heavy." Li Qiang was on the kang, barely holding the small-caliber rifle, saying laboriously while swaying.

"This is considered light." Li Long was right beside him, guiding his nephew, "The muzzle cannot point at people, you can't pull it—I've turned off the safety."

Li Juan was on the kang, holding a doll, looking at the gun with some curiosity.

"You went to hunt a yellow sheep and brought back a gun?" Li Jianguo still couldn't believe it, "The team leader came over earlier and said so, I even said he was joking. How much is a yellow sheep worth? How much is a gun? I didn't expect you to really bring it back!"

"I hit four yellow sheep in total." Li Long explained, "Three males. They mainly wanted the yellow sheep horns to use as antelope horns, it was urgent. Besides, not just anyone can hit these yellow sheep, mainly because they are hard to find."

"That's the logic." Li Jianguo nodded, "Everyone knows there are yellow sheep on the Gobi Desert, but there are none in our team that can be hit. You're considered the first."

Li Long took the gun from Li Qiang's hand and handed it to Li Juan:

"Want to see?"

"Yay!" Li Juan happily put down the doll, picked up the gun, and aimed it at the window in a proper manner.

"This gun should be able to hit rabbits." Li Jianguo's eyes also had a trace of envy. He hadn't touched guns few times before. When the production team was first established, the first batch of people who came held old 79 rifles to guard the night and prevent wolves; later, the militia company was established, and they used 56-semis and 56-submachine guns.

But those guns were all public property, and the bullets couldn't be used casually. Now, this small-caliber rifle in Li Long's hand was considered Li Long's own, and that feeling was completely different.

"Hitting rabbits, snow chickens, foxes should all be fine, right, it can also hit badgers." Li Long said.

"Hitting badgers and foxes will damage the fur." Li Jianguo said.

Seeing that Li Juan couldn't lift the gun anymore, Li Long took it and handed it to Li Jianguo:

"Badger pigs and water rats can also be dug out, foxes are hard to handle, can only be hit."

Li Jianguo held the gun, skillfully opened the safety, pulled the bolt, and after it was stuck, looked at the gun chamber through the bolt hole, then asked:

"Are there bullets?"

"They gave two boxes, I plan to go to the Zhang Xin Hua Bookstore to buy a few more to keep."

From later generations until the gun ban, the Zhang Xin Hua Bookstore didn't sell small-caliber rifles, air guns, and sand guns, but small-caliber bullets were still placed on the counter, which made Li Long very strange. However, he didn't have a gun at the time, and he hadn't asked.

"Right, keeping more bullets is no harm." Li Jianguo fiddled with it for a while longer, then handed the gun to Li Long. He stood up, untied the keys from his waist, opened the five-drawer cabinet, and took out a satchel.

Li Long recognized that this satchel was originally Li Juan's schoolbag, and later after Li Long bought a standard schoolbag for Li Juan, this schoolbag was put away by Liang Yuemei.

"This is the bullets I got from the team these past few days. You need bullets for hunting, and those herdsmen friends in the mountains should also lack this. They helped you a lot, you can't be stingy, take it and use it, if it's not enough, I'll think of a way."

Li Long didn't decline either, took the satchel, felt it, and there should be at least one or two hundred bullets.

It would be very useful.

"And this." Li Jianguo took two knives out of the five-drawer cabinet and handed them to Li Long. These two knives were one long and one short, the long one was thirty or forty centimeters, the short one was ten or so centimeters, both with sheaths. Li Long took the knives and looked at them one by one.

"When you hunt in the mountains, you need good knives for gutting, skinning, and disassembling. These two knives were made by me finding someone to use artillery steel, they've been sharpened, very sharp." "Artillery steel? Where did the artillery steel come from?" Li Long asked, surprised, looking at the sharp knives flashing with cold light.

"Nanshan shooting range." Li Jianguo said somewhat proudly, "Doesn't our county artillery regiment have a shooting range in Nanshan? After they finish shooting there, the soldiers didn't clean the shooting range completely, and there was leaking artillery steel, someone picked it up. A blacksmith I know had a few pieces stored, a while ago I found him and asked him to make two knives."

Li Long was still using an old wooden-handled knife, the steel had been worn away. The reason why the roe deer skin was ruined was mostly because Li Long's technique wasn't good, and partly because the knife wasn't very good.

Looking at these two knives, unable to put them down, Li Long was really happy.

Li Qiang saw the knives and curiously wanted to come over to touch them. Li Long hurriedly put the knives into the sheaths and said to him:

"Qiangqiang, you can't touch these knives, one touch and it's a cut, very sharp!"

Hearing this, although Li Qiang was still a bit curious, he immediately retreated a few steps to the edge of the kang, he didn't want to get hurt.

Seeing Qiangqiang so careful and cautious, Li Long felt relieved.

"You haven't seen Daqiang these past two days, right?" Li Jianguo locked the five-drawer cabinet and turned to ask Li Long.

"No, I was even wondering, he used to run home every day, why haven't I seen him these past few days."

"His dad is sick." Li Jianguo said, "A problem with his lungs, Old Tian looked at it and said it could only be eased, if he wants to be cured, he has to go to the county hospital. Tao Daqiang wants to take his dad, but Tao Jian She refuses to go no matter what, saying it's his old problem, nothing big."

Li Long had nothing to say. In this day and age, medical conditions were not as good as in later generations, and it was really difficult for poor families to see a doctor. The barefoot doctors in the village did solve many people's troubles, but some major illnesses could only be treated in large hospitals, and the common people had no money.

!.

On the contrary, in later generations, the countryside had the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme. He remembered that several people in the team were diagnosed with cancer during physical examinations, then went to Wucheng for surgery and lived for many more years.

So although the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme was criticized by many, everyone in the team paid it very actively.

The older generation was used to suffering, and when they were sick at this time, they would resist if they could, at most they would get injections and take medicine. The matter of Sun Shaoping's grandmother counting painkillers in "Ordinary World" was not a fresh thing in the countryside.

Even until Li Long was gone in later generations, many old people in the team still believed in Analgin, Aspirin, and painkillers when they were sick. Although these two medicines had huge side effects, in the eyes of the old people, they were cheap and worked.

They were old, they couldn't think that far.

"I'll go take a look." Li Long took the knives and gun, preparing to put them in the east room.

"Xiao Long, put the things in the east room, you have to lock the door." Li Jianguo reminded, "These things are not cheap."

"I know."

"Bring something when you go. There are canned goods at home, sesame cakes, I'll cut you a piece of meat now."

"Good." There was no shortage of fish in the Tao family, but meat should be brought. No matter what, Tao Daqiang worked with Li Long, so he should go see him.

Tao Jian She was lying on the bed covered with a quilt, coughing once or twice from time to time. Tao Daqiang was washing clothes by the stove. He was a bit surprised to see Li Long come in. He stood up, a bit restrained, not knowing what to say.

Li Long sighed inwardly, this silly brother, he really was the same as before.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 116 =====