Chapter 122

After Gu Xiaoxia and the others returned from the exam, Li Long took Tao Daqiang to catch fish for two more days, went to Shicheng to sell them once, and then didn't plan to catch fish anymore. For one thing, the ice was very thin now, and there were fewer fish to catch in the ice holes; for another, there were more people selling fish in Shicheng, and the price couldn't go up. Li Long felt it was better to slow down for now.

With nothing to do here, and Li Long not wanting to go into the mountains for the time being, he just checked the rabbit snares every day and carried his small-bore rifle to roam around Hongliutan to hunt.

He had sold that fox pelt at the purchasing station for twenty-eight yuan last time, which made Li Long feel that hunting foxes wasn't bad either.

Unfortunately, he didn't encounter any more foxes in the following days. He did encounter two rabbits, but his marksmanship wasn't great; he hit one, and one ran away.

This day, Li Long was reading in the east room. He had already finished the previous book, "The Ranger of the Great Tang," and had now switched to "Seven Swords Descending from Mount Tian." He was very fascinated by Ling Weifeng of the Mount Tian Sect and the Mount Tian Divine Rays in his hands, when he heard Xu Chengjun's voice ringing out from the loudspeaker.

"Attention, attention! Pfft, attention, attention! Now announcing two things. One is about the people in our team who took the county exam. I'll announce who passed now..."

As soon as this announcement sounded, eighty percent of the households in the team opened their doors. Men and women came out of their rooms, looking up at the loudspeaker from different directions, listening carefully to the voice inside.

"... Gu Xiaoxia..."

Hearing that Gu Xiaoxia had passed, Li Long let out a long breath; she really hadn't let him down!

"Only two people passed the county exam: Gu Xiaoxia to the commune middle school, and Zhao Chengyang to the central primary school. Next, announcing the people who passed the township exam... Wu Shufen... those who passed the commune exam will teach first and second grade in the team..."

Wu Shufen's destiny hadn't changed in its general direction; she was still teaching first and second grade.

According to what Li Long knew, the people teaching first and second grade now would still have the opportunity to enter the central primary school to teach after the team was dissolved a year later, but they would still need to take exams and interviews.

Wu Shufen hadn't seized that opportunity back then.

That was not something Li Long needed to consider.

"Attention, attention! Next, announcing the second thing. All team representatives, come to the team headquarters now for a meeting; there are important matters to discuss!"

Li Long knew that the history of the production team was about to come to an end.

Gu Xiaoxia stood blankly in the courtyard. Although there was no more sound from the loudspeaker, she didn't want to go inside.

Although she didn't make any move, Gu Xiaoxia's heart was extremely excited at this moment!

Now, she was a middle school teacher!

In other words, she was about to shed her status as a farmer and eat commodity grain!

This was like a dream—in just over a month, going from barely having enough to eat to being about to eat commodity grain and receive a salary, this was a earth-shattering change!

"Go inside, it's cold outside." Gu Bo Yuan reminded her at the doorway, "Find time to thank the Li family. If it weren't for their Little Long, you might not have passed."

"Hmm." Gu Xiaoxia nodded vigorously and returned to the room.

Gu Bo Yuan looked toward the direction of the team leader's house again. He had a premonition that something big was about to happen. The team representatives hadn't held a meeting for a long time. There was still some time before spring, so it wasn't time to work. In previous years, even if they worked in spring, it was just a few cadres in the team meeting up to make decisions.

Now that they were holding a meeting, it shouldn't be a small matter.

At the Li house, after Li Jianguo finished listening to the announcement, he went inside, hurriedly threw on a coat, and went out. Seeing Li Long still outside, he said:

"I'm going to the meeting, you stay at home."

"Hmm." Li Long replied.

He knew that the meeting was likely to discuss dividing the land and contracting production to households. He didn't know if there would be any changes to the two mu of land per person, but that had nothing to do with him anymore. Ten mu of land for the family was more than enough for his eldest brother and sister-in-law to handle.

Li Long was lost in thought in the courtyard, while Gu Xiaoxia was a bit flustered at the moment.

After hearing that she had passed the teacher exam, quite a few women in the team had come to visit her house.

"I just said Xiaoxia doesn't look like a rural girl; even when she works, she has the air of a city person! Look, she passed, and from now on, she'll be eating commodity grain!"

"Exactly, once she gets to middle school, it'll be so leisurely, staying indoors every day, no need to work, and there are two holidays a year, plus a salary. It'll be as comfortable as can be!"

"Does Xiaoxia have a partner? My Dagang has always wanted to talk to you about a partner. Do you think it's suitable?"

"What's your Dagang worth? Xiaoxia will be eating commodity grain from now on; would she look at your Dagang? Xiaoxia, my nephew is an apprentice at the county leather factory and will become a regular worker in the summer. Do you want me to introduce you two..."

Because of some reasons that were hard to talk about back then, the Gu family usually didn't have many visitors, and the father and daughter were used to a quiet life. Apart from a few families like the Li family who had a good relationship with the Gu family, the relationships with others in the team could only be described as very average.

Gu Xiaoxia, let alone Gu Bo Yuan, found this lively scene today a bit overwhelming. After all, they were all women, and as a man, it wasn't easy for him to interject. It wasn't until the loudspeaker announced that Gu Xiaoxia should go get her introduction letter that they were freed from the awkward situation.

Li Jianguo returned home in high spirits and then had Li Qiang call Li Long to the west room.

!.

"Big Brother, is the land being divided?"

"Yes." Li Jianguo said with a smile, "The land is being divided. Not only is the land being divided, but a lot of things were said at this meeting. One, our commune has been changed to a township, the production team has become a village, the brigade has been abolished, and there will be no more brigades in the future."

This was a big change. The brigade had always been a buffer and bridge between the commune and the production team. Now that the brigade was gone, the production team, or rather, the village, would deal directly with the township in the future, which would give many village cadres a long period of adaptation.

But this had nothing to do with Li Long, and he didn't intend to be a village cadre.

"When will the land be divided?" Although Liang Wenyu had heard Li Long mention it before, she was still very excited now that they were truly going to have their own land. She asked.

"It will be divided as soon as the snow melts, so it won't affect planting."

"Which piece will be divided?" Liang Wenyu asked immediately.

"The large piece in front of the residential area. We'll draw lots for the order, two mu per person." Li Jianguo rolled a cigarette and said to Li Long with a smile:

"The team leader said that since you can get sheep, when the land is divided, bring a sheep over first, and the team will pay for it. Then we'll have a big boiled mutton feast, and divide the land!"

"Okay, tell me the time in advance, and I'll go into the mountains to pull a sheep." Li Long said with a smile.

This was definitely a great thing, and he imagined the team members, or rather the villagers, wouldn't have any objections.

Although each person would only get two mu of land this time, it was enough to give everyone a very bright hope. He imagined that from now on, picking up manure would definitely become the top priority in everyone's minds.

Li Long was calculating whether he should borrow the team's horse cart to pull a few more loads of manure when he went to pull the sheep?

(End of chapter)