Chapter 150: Castrating Pigs

The person who came to find Li Long was Xie Yundong. He was in a hurry, and after seeing Li Long in the courtyard, he said:

"Little Long, you're back—I've been waiting anxiously."

"What's up?" Li Long asked while carrying the basket, intending to put the piglets into the pigpen. "Is there any trouble?"

"No trouble. The people from the sideline team are all ready to go into the mountains, so I need to communicate with you."

"Which gully are you planning to go into?"

There were many gullies in Nanshan, such as the Big and Small Baiyang Gullies, Pine Tree Gully, Elm Tree Gully, and the common Bear Gully, Coal Gully, etc., found everywhere.

"Small Baiyang Gully. There's a place by the water inside that's quite flat, the terrain isn't low, it's flood-proof, and it's convenient for water. We dug earth shelters there before, and this time we can reuse them. There are also many willow trees by the water there, and the miscellaneous trees growing in the gully—the branches can all be used."

"That works." Li Long thought for a moment. Small Baiyang Gully was east of Halimu's winter nest, near Hongshanzui, about three kilometers away from the winter nest he was about to form, so he could fully look after anything that happened.

"Alright then, we plan to set off tomorrow. I'll gather the people this afternoon, and the team leader will speak then. You should also give everyone a talk," Xie Yundong said. "Your eldest brother will also go tomorrow. Your family's horse cart will follow to pull supplies into the mountains and earn some work points."

"That's fine, come call me then." Li Long had originally planned to load the grain and go into the mountains after lunch, but now it seemed he had to stay for another half day. However, things in the mountains weren't urgent for a moment, and these three hundred carrying poles were currently an important task.

Xie Yundong got Li Long's promise and left in a hurry. As the team leader, he had too many things to be busy with. Some people were going into the mountains for sideline work for the first time and didn't know anything, so he had to remind them one by one, otherwise, if they lacked this or that, they would still come to him for trouble in the end.

He hadn't put the piglets in the pen for long when Li Jianguo, Liang Yuemei, and Li Juan returned from the fields. Seeing Li Long by the pigpen, Li Jianguo asked:

"Little Long, did you catch piglets again?"

"Caught four," Li Long said. "Three boars and one sow."

"Let me see." Li Jianguo put down his hoe and came to the pigpen.

Li Juan was carrying a basket full of pig grass. She also came to the pigpen to take a look, then smiled and went to the stove to put down the basket, took a broken kitchen knife and a cutting board leaning against the wall, and began chopping the pig grass.

"I bought some wheat bran and chaff back, it's better to boil them with the pig grass," Li Long said. "These piglets are growing right now and can eat a lot."

"These piglets are a bit bigger," Li Jianguo said with a smile, then suddenly thought of something. "No, the boars must be castrated, otherwise the meat won't taste good later."

Li Jianguo was a man of action. He went into the room, brought out a razor blade, a small bag of medicinal powder, and a pack of cotton thread. He laid them out one by one by the pigpen, went to get a basin of water, and then said to Li Long:

"Catch a boar out."

Boars were male pigs. Li Long went in and caught a black and white spotted boar. The pig squealed miserably, as if it were about to be punished, and the sound was particularly piercing.

He laid the boar flat. Li Jianguo felt for the position with his hand, told Li Long to hold it down, washed the area, and then used the razor blade to make an incision. The little pig's squealing became even more miserable.

Li Jianguo squeezed the contents out of the incision, wrapped it a few times, tied it with cotton thread, then used the razor blade to cut off the testicles, and poured medicinal powder on it—Li Long had already smelled it; it was sulfonamide, a commonly used anti-inflammatory drug in rural areas. The other testicle was also cut off, and then it was time to sprinkle the medicinal powder.

The incision wasn't large and didn't need stitching. The weather wasn't very hot at this time, so it wouldn't get maggots, so he simply put the pig into the pigpen and moved to the next one.

In less than an hour, all four boars had undergone "surgery." Li Jianguo washed his hands in the basin and put the things away one by one.

Liang Yuejuan had already finished cooking by this time. Li Qiang also consciously returned. Seeing Li Juan, he shouted loudly:

"Sister, sister! I have copper coins and chicken feathers here, can you make me a shuttlecock?"

"Where did you get the copper coins?" This was Li Jianguo asking.

"Where did you get the chicken feathers?" This was Li Long asking.

"The copper coins were given by Little Uncle." Li Qiang looked at his father and answered his question first, then looked at Li Long and said:

"The chicken feathers were plucked from Mingwa's family's chicken. He said that after making the shuttlecock, he should let him play with it too."

Plucking feathers from a live chicken!

The children nowadays were also incredible!

"Did you not kill the chicken?" Li Jianguo asked angrily.

"No, they have five chickens in their family, just plucking a few from one is enough," Li Qiang said. "We aren't stupid!"

"Stupid" here meant silly.

"Alright, you aren't stupid. Just wait and see Mingwa get beaten by his mother tomorrow."

"Eat, eat," Liang Yuemei shouted. "There's still work to do this afternoon."

At the dinner table, Li Jianguo asked Li Long:

"Leaving together tomorrow?"

"No, I have to go to the county this afternoon, and I have to buy some grain to transport in tomorrow morning. The place Yundong brother chose is not far from my friend's place. I'll go into the mountains first tomorrow and find you at Small Baiyang Gully then."

"Dad, I want to go too!" Li Qiang suddenly said.

"You have to go to preschool tomorrow, and you'll be in first grade in a few months, so you can't go." Li Jianguo immediately rejected Li Qiang's idea—the current preschool actually taught first-grade content, and Li Qiang would be over six and a half in September, so he could go to school.

Li Juan actually wanted to go too, but she knew she definitely couldn't, and school was the most important thing. Last time, Little Uncle helped her weave the carrying poles and reinforced the big broom, which made their group show off quite a bit—

"Little Uncle, the other big brooms in our class have all lost their grass, but ours didn't," Li Juan couldn't help but say. "Our teacher praised our group!"

"Why?" Li Jianguo didn't know about Li Long helping Li Juan and the others weave the carrying poles, so he asked.

"When I came back that afternoon, I saw them weaving carrying poles on the playground, so I thought about bringing Li Juan back and just helped weave them," Li Long explained lightly.

Liang Yuemei smiled while eating.

She thought it was quite good—in the past, Li Long was quite solitary and would never have thought of helping Li Juan. In these few months, the change had been too great.

After the meal, Li Jianguo stuffed a stack of money to Li Long and said:

"This is the money for the piglets. By the way, send twenty yuan to your parents on the street. It's the lean season in the hometown, and it's not easy." "I've taken the money for the piglets. I'll pay for the money to be sent," Li Long took out twenty and gave it back. "I collected some deer antlers in the mountains these past two days and earned some money."

"Alright." Li Jianguo didn't argue; it wouldn't look good to bicker about this.

In the afternoon, Li Jianguo and the others went to the fields to weed. Li Long waited for Xie Yundong to come over and then went to the team leader's house.

The people had already gathered. Li Long saw Gu Bowyuan, Tao Daqiang, Xu Jianjun, and others. He greeted them one by one.

"Little Long is here too, so let's not waste time." Seeing Li Long arrive, Xu Chengjun threw the cigarette butt he was holding onto the ground, stepped on it, and said:

"This time, Li Long helped us fight for the sideline work in the mountains. You are the experts in weaving carrying poles in the team. I won't say much more; the standard for the carrying poles has been emphasized to you. Once you are in the mountains, you must listen to Xie Yundong. He is the team leader. Whoever doesn't listen, not only won't get paid when they come back, but will also be fined work points!"

Having said this, he looked at Li Long:

"Little Long, you come and say a few words to everyone."

More than a dozen pairs of eyes looked at Li Long. Li Long looked back at them one by one. He could see Gu Bowyuan's encouragement, Tao Daqiang's respect, and others' gratitude.

Of course, not all of them; he could also see some people wanting to see him make a fool of himself—not everyone could speak completely in front of a crowd.

"Since the team leader asked me to speak, I'll say a few words." Li Long walked to Xu Chengjun and said, "These three hundred carrying poles are a task given to us by the supply and marketing cooperative. As the coordinator, I only care about one thing: the quality of the carrying poles.

!.

Let's be the villain first and the gentleman later. I'll say the ugly words here: if the quality doesn't pass, don't talk about handing it over to the supply and marketing cooperative; even I won't pass it. Either send it back to be redone, or destroy it. In any case, unqualified ones cannot be taken out to lose face.

Of course, if you encounter any trouble in the mountains, I will also coordinate to solve it—the premise is that you don't actively cause trouble. The mountains are not like before. After the forestry team was established, the mountains were divided into zones, and there are people from the forestry team specifically responsible for managing the zones. Some things that could be done before cannot be done now.

So when you get to the mountains, it's best for everyone to concentrate on cutting branches and weaving carrying poles. After all, one carrying pole is one yuan. For those of you with good skills, weaving one, two, or three a day is faster than a worker.

After talking about public affairs, let's talk about private matters. When you get into the mountains, if you have any difficulties, you can also find me. I will try my best to coordinate and solve them. Alright, that's all I'll say. I will go into the mountains one step ahead of you tomorrow. You do your work, and I'll come find you when I'm done."

After Li Long finished speaking, Xu Chengjun nodded approvingly and said:

"You all heard it, right? Behave yourselves in the mountains and don't lose face for our team! The mountains are not like before, and the team's introduction letters aren't as useful. Remember to find Little Long if you have trouble—but if you actively cause trouble, then it's hard to say whether Little Long can stand up for you. Weigh things carefully before doing them, don't learn from Tao Dayong and Gu Ermao!"

Xu Chengjun's words were very heavy, and these people were all thinking.

After the people dispersed, Xu Chengjun kept Li Long and said:

"Little Long, I heard from Yundong that you are going into the mountains ahead of time?"

"Yeah, this time I have other things to do in the mountains besides the carrying pole work."

"That's fine, but since people from our team have gone into the mountains, you still have to look after them more. You have the cooperative's note, so many things are easy to solve. I'm just afraid that these guys will throw what was just said to the back of their heads after entering the mountains, digging fritillaria or something. That would be troublesome if they get caught."

"Hmm, I'll try my best," Li Long nodded. "I haven't seen the people from the forestry team either. I'll see the situation then. I think even if they get caught, it will be at most a fine or confiscation of goods."

Li Long spoke lightly, but Xu Chengjun gave a bitter smile. Who could have any spare money in this day and age? It seems he has to give Xu Jianjun a good talking-to later! Among these people, he is the hardest to manage.

But since he is his cousin, it's impossible not to take care of his own family.

Li Long returned to the courtyard, saw there was nothing to do, got on his bike, left the village, and hurried to the county seat. There was still time in the afternoon, and he planned to go to the old street in Shicheng to see if there was any grain for sale. If there was, he would buy some and send it into the mountains together tomorrow.

Li Long thought while riding: Yushanjiang and the others were building a winter nest for him, but he hadn't shown his face even once. Would they be angry?

No, he must go over and take a look no matter what tomorrow.

While lost in thought, he arrived at the old street in Shicheng. Li Long found that there weren't many stalls here, but there were quite a few people.

Not only was there grain for sale, but there was more than one stall. Li Long went over to take a look and found that the grain here was even cheaper than at the county morning market.

Rice was 0.65 yuan, flour was 0.42 yuan—it was a bit darker, and corn flour was 0.18 yuan; this was the asking price.

However, the grain at several stalls was packed in half-bags. Li Long guessed this was out of worry, fearing that if someone confiscated it, the loss wouldn't be too great.

Thinking about the amount he could carry tomorrow, Li Long found a stall with a decent amount, bought all the rice and flour, paid, tied it up, and rode his bike back.

Arriving at the gate of the big courtyard, he found two uniformed staff members from the police station across the street watching this area, which made him feel a bit at ease.

Entering the courtyard and closing the door, Li Long rested for a while and began to move the grain bags.

He sorted the grain bought twice into three bags, tied them up, and planned to put them on the bike early tomorrow morning and go into the mountains.

At this moment, the work at the winter nest where Li Long was staying had already been done for the day. The mountain body serving as the back waist wall had been neatly cut with a hoe, the foundation had been tamped, and some wood had begun to be put up.

When they used wood to build the winter nest, they didn't just stack it up; they would drill holes at both ends and in the middle, and insert wooden squares to ensure stability, similar to the simple mortise and tenon structure of the Central Plains.

Yesterday, Halimu distributed the things Li Long brought to them one by one, which made these young men and middle-aged men very happy. Most of them couldn't speak Chinese, so it was very difficult to communicate and exchange things with people outside. Now that they had these things, their family life could be improved a bit, which was good no matter how you looked at it.

Some young men were already thinking about how to trade for more things, to be ahead of the transfer to the summer pasture and ahead of other boys competing for girls.

This was a rare opportunity. After all, Yushanjiang had introduced that Li Long was a true Adashi; trading with him was the right choice!

Li Long didn't know that in the hearts of the young men, he had already been promoted to someone who could be trusted.

Early the next morning, Li Long didn't cook. After having a beautiful meal at the meat canteen, he returned to the big courtyard, loaded the grain on the back seat of the bike, and rode toward the mountains.

With over 150 kilograms of goods, although the bicycle could handle it, the road up the mountain wasn't easy to walk. Li Long knew this was a difficult journey.

Thanks to book friend Changyang Shaonian for the tip, thanks to book friend Langbian Xianren for the tip, thanks to book friend 20240523124618067 for the tip. This book friend, your tip has whole numbers and fractions, did you take out all your coins? Thank you, thank you!

Also thanks to everyone for the subscriptions, monthly tickets, and recommendation tickets. I'll also say here that because the writing hasn't been so smooth recently, and there are more comments, I can't reply to them one by one. In some places where there is controversy, I will explain when I feel it is necessary. Some comments were brushed past and I didn't see them, so I might not have replied. Regarding the issue of prices, some people say it's a unified national price, after all, it's a planned economy, but I want to say that those with experience should know what negotiated grain is, what "there are policies above and countermeasures below" means, and what regional differences are. In such a large country, it's impossible to be completely unified.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 151 =====