Chapter 13

In the future, Gu Ermao would rely on this shameless persistence to marry a beautiful wife, but it was a pity he was not upright and didn't live a proper life. Every few days he would beat his wife and gamble, and in the end, his wife ran away.

Then he continued to drift through life. Because everyone in the village was allocated a fair amount of land, he also managed his parents' land. When the rent for contracted land went up, Gu Ermao rented out the land for ten years all at once, and the over one hundred thousand yuan in rent he received was lost in a single night.

In the two years before Li Long passed away, Gu Ermao lived a life of feast or famine. The village working group wanted to help him out of poverty, but this guy belonged to the type that couldn't be helped.

He died of illness in his own earthen house a few years earlier than Li Long.

Now looking at that face, Li Long was truly annoyed. He slapped his hand away and said:

"I have serious business; I don't have time to mess around with you here. Move aside."

Gu Ermao withdrew his hand, tucked both hands into his sleeves, and said with a cheeky grin:

"Why are you angry? I'm just joking with you! Zhao Changjiang's family in the township bought a television. I just got the news and came specifically to invite you to go watch it. That's a television! A home cinema! You can watch whatever you want. Wu Shufen is going to watch it too; hurry back and get ready!"

As he spoke, he also glanced at the fish in Li Long's hand.

These fish were really big and beautiful!

Every time he mentioned where Wu Shufen was going, Li Long, even if he didn't want to go, would definitely change his mind.

Although he heard that Wu Shufen had already broken up with Li Long, surely Li Long wouldn't be willing to accept that, right?

He heard that Li Long caught a frog-chicken last night and caught fish again today. This guy must have learned some skills after going to Wucheng. Although Gu Ermao had already made up his mind yesterday to give Li Long a hard time, thinking about Li Long's ability to catch things and eat meat, Gu Ermao decided he still couldn't break off his friendship with him.

Otherwise, where would he go to eat meat?

"No time." Li Long waved his hand, completely ignoring the matter of Wu Shufen. "I have things to do. If you want to watch it, go see it yourself."

After saying this, Li Long bypassed Gu Ermao and walked toward team leader Xu Chengjun's house.

Gu Ermao shouted several times from behind, but Li Long pretended not to hear.

Living a second life, there was no need to maintain some meaningless relationships. He had lived truly stupidly in his previous life.

Xu Chengjun's house was also lit with a kerosene lamp, the style of the lamp being the same as Li Jianguo's.

Li Long knocked on the door, and Xu Chengjun's child, Xu Mingwa, opened it. Mingwa was nine years old; he looked up at Li Long and turned his head to shout into the room:

"Dad, Uncle Li Qiang is here! And he's carrying fish!"

Xu Chengjun was demobilized from the army. He first served as the militia captain in the production team. Because he was in his prime and decisive in his actions, he took over the position of team leader after the old team leader resigned after five years as militia captain.

After becoming team leader, he also acted decisively. Using his comrades' connections, he organized a sideline team to dig fritillaria and codonopsis in the mountains to sell to the county purchasing station, which could distribute some cash to each household in the team every year, so he was very much supported by everyone.

"Little Long is here." Xu Chengjun was listening to the radio on the kang. In this day and age, a radio could be considered a big-ticket item. Hearing his son say that Li Long was carrying fish, he got off the kang, shuffled his shoes, stood up, and said with a smile:

"You're here, so you're here; why bring fish? I heard you're not working at the factory in Wucheng anymore?"

"Yeah, my ability is limited. I didn't go to school much, my knowledge level is limited, and there are some jobs I can't do, so I came back. These are carp caught from the small lake today; I brought two over for you to taste."

"These fish aren't small!" Xu Chengjun's wife, Ma Hongmei, looked at the two fish, her face blooming with smiles. "It couldn't have been easy to break the ice hole."

"It was alright, we're young." Li Long handed the fish to Ma Hongmei and said to Xu Chengjun, "Team leader, I have something to discuss with you."

"What is it? Tell me." Xu Chengjun pinched out his cigarette. In this day and age, men smoking basically didn't avoid children, and there was no such thing as the harm of secondhand smoke. "I'll help you with whatever I can within principle." "Team leader, you also know my family's situation. Since I've returned, the coal and firewood my brother prepared aren't enough. I want to borrow the team's horse cart to go into the mountains to haul some firewood back."

"That won't work, right?" Xu Chengjun shook his head slightly after hearing this. "Not to mention how far the mountains are and whether you, being unfamiliar with the place, can find firewood. The situation in the mountains is so complex; if you go and get lost and can't come back, how would I explain it to your brother?"

"Team leader, I know what you mean." Li Long smiled. "One of my coworkers is from Qingshuihe. We have a good relationship, and he came back with me. I'll go to his house first this trip, and I won't go deep into the mountains; I'll just get some unusable wood from there."

"Is that so..." Xu Chengjun pondered for a moment and then said to Li Long, "Since that's the case, I won't try to persuade you, but official business is official business. We only have these few horses in our team; if the cart goes out, work points will be calculated."

"How many work points?" Li Long had long known about this item, so he wasn't surprised.

Seeing that Li Long was neither surprised nor argumentative, Xu Chengjun thought a little higher of this young man. He had thought that since Li Long brought fish, he would definitely argue when he mentioned work points.

Quite sophisticated. The young man has matured after training in Wucheng for a few months.

"For an ordinary person, it's one work point a day in summer and two in winter. A horse's work is ten times that of a person, which is twenty work points. Now we calculate the average work point, and one work point is eight cents, so a horse is 1.6 yuan a day. I won't charge you work points for the cart, how about that?"

"Fine." Li Long took out the money on the spot.

Xu Chengjun didn't hesitate either. Li Long handed him the money, and he wrote a note for Li Long.

!.

"Hereby granting our team member Li Long the loan of one horse and one horse cart. Team leader Xu Chengjun, Year X, Month X, Day X."

"Alright then, team leader, you all rest early. I'll go to the horse stable now to take a look and say hello to Uncle Luo in advance."

"Good." Xu Chengjun didn't keep him, and after Li Long went out, he closed the door.

"This Li Long has really made something of himself." Ma Hongmei sighed after Li Long left.

"I heard Li Qiang say that they ate frog-chicken for lunch at their house today, and it was also caught by his uncle." Xu Mingwa stared at the two fish and then wiped his nose with his arm, imagining the taste of the fish.

"Yeah, he looks different from before. The city really trains people." Xu Chengjun nodded. "It's just a pity he was fired."

"Never mind him, these fish are good; we'll cook fish to eat tomorrow."

Li Long returned home, took another fish, and went to the horse stable.

The horse stable is where the production team keeps horses, and there are people specifically to feed them. The horses are here in both winter and summer. The person who raises the horses is surnamed Luo; Li Long didn't know his full name, so he just followed the villagers and called him Old Luo.

Old Luo was a bit hunchbacked, looked to be in his fifties, and lived in a small house next to the horse stable. There was also a kang built here, and a stove.

Seeing the fish Li Long brought and having Xu Chengjun's note, Old Luo smiled and promised Li Long that he would definitely prepare the best horse for him.

When Tao Daqiang returned home excitedly, he found that no food had been left for him.

His heart instantly turned cold.

(End of chapter)