Chapter 154

Passing by the middle school, Li Long saw that the school was in class, and there wasn't a single student in the campus, so he gave up the idea of looking for Gu Xiaoxia. Passing by the primary school, seeing that the students hadn't finished school yet, he didn't look for Li Juan either and rode all the way back to the village.

Before entering the village, Li Long found that the water in the reed lake had already risen, and he guessed that the flood should be coming down soon. He didn't know if the preparations made with the public work he paid for this year would have any effect?

Returning to the Li family, it was almost noon. Li Jianguo and Liang Yumei had already returned, and Li Qiang was feeding the chickens in the courtyard. What surprised Li Long a bit was that he was holding some crickets, and Li Long couldn't help but ask:

"Qiangqiang, did you go to catch crickets?"

In the local dialect here, crickets are called "jumpers." Usually, after clearing the canals, when the dug-up soil dries, crickets hide inside. Lifting a piece of soil will reveal many. Of course, it's also possible that after lifting it, what comes out isn't a cricket, but a scary mole cricket, a scorpion, or a small centipede.

"Yes! Mom said, feed the chickens more insects, and they can lay more eggs!" Li Qiang said seriously, and then asked:

"Little Uncle, what's moving in the sack you brought back this time?"

"Small wild boars." Li Long stood the bike up and said as he untied it.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yumei came over to help, unloading the sack of wild boar cubs together, and then that half-rack of wild boar.

"Did you get this yesterday?" Li Jianguo asked in surprise while moving the wild boar, "In just that little while, you got so many?"

"After you went back yesterday, I rode my bicycle west, wanting to go to my friend's place to say hello, but halfway there I saw traces of wild boars rooting, and hoof prints of small wild boar cubs, so I thought about seeing if I could trap them..."

"These small wild boars are really good-looking!" Li Qiang opened the sack mouth and looked inside, saying in surprise.

At this moment, a small wild boar probably saw the daylight, so it suddenly arched out, which startled Li Qiang. His hand loosened, and the sack mouth fell to the ground. Two quick-reacting small wild boars arched out directly and then started running around in the courtyard!

Li Long was quick-eyed and fast-handed, lifting the sack mouth to prevent the other three small wild boars from running out. After simply tying the sack mouth, he immediately went to chase the small wild boars.

These small wild boars might have been starving; after running out, they ran straight to the chicken feed basin, grunting while eating.

Li Long stepped forward, squatted down, grabbed the hind legs of a small wild boar, and lifted it up.

Another small wild boar ran straight out of the gate. Li Jianguo dashed over and blocked the front. The small wild boar wanted to dash out from under his legs, but Li Jianguo reached out and grabbed it.

"These small wild boars are quite lively." Li Jianguo smiled happily, "They're quite strong, fiercer than domestic pigs!"

"Five of them, but they can't be raised together." Li Long could see that these small wild boars couldn't be put together with domestic pigs; they were more aggressive than domestic pigs.

"Then what should we do?"

"Put them at Master Luo's place first. Put some of the feed I brought back last time over there; it should last for a while." Li Long thought for a moment and said, "When I asked for that courtyard at the time, I told the captain that I had to raise some things. Now these small wild boars can be put over there."

"That's fine." Li Jianguo was a bit reluctant, but he knew this was the only way. There was only one pigpen at home; it was fine for domestic pigs, but if wild boars were put in, the two sides definitely couldn't be together.

Li Long put the small wild boars into the sack, tied the mouth, went to load some feed, and then said to Li Jianguo:

"Eldest brother, you guys clean up the pork first, I'll take this to Master Luo."

"Cut a piece of meat to take over," Liang Yumei said, "Master Luo can't get meat there, it's quite pitiful."

After Li Long cut a piece of pork belly and brought it, he rode his bike to the horse stable.

Master Luo was cleaning up forage in the horse stable. Seeing Li Long come over, he smiled happily and said:

"Little Long, you finally came. If this goes on, I won't know what to do."

"Master Luo, I knew you were bored, so I brought you work. I caught a few small wild boars in the mountains; see if you can raise them."

"Small wild boars!" Hearing the small wild boars squealing from time to time, Master Luo was also a bit surprised, "Never raised this thing, don't know if they can be raised."

"If they can be raised, raise them; if they can't, there's no help for it." Li Long looked at it openly, "By the way, take this pork belly and stew it yourself. It's wild boar meat, not much fat."

"That's better than no meat. Thank you, Little Long." Master Luo was very happy, "Put the feed here, hurry up and put the piglets in the pen. This large pen is fine; let them run around first, otherwise, this squealing can call the whole team over."

In fact, the piglets were squealing miserably all the way, which really attracted many people to watch. Li Long thought these little guys really had spirit; squealing all the way from the mountains, their throats were actually quite good.

Carrying the sack to the large pen, seeing Master Luo close the door tightly, he poured the piglets down one by one.

"Is one of the piglets injured?" Master Luo had sharp eyes; he took the meat and leaned over to look inside and asked.

"Yes, I trapped them with a snare; the wire snare was tied too tightly, and the leg was injured."

"That shouldn't be a big deal; it'll be fine after raising it for a few days." Master Luo said, "Then I'll feed them the pig feed I make for domestic pigs."

"Fine." Li Long said, "No need to eat too finely; anyway, they eat everything in the mountains, even grass roots."

"That works." Master Luo was happy, "With these little guys, I have something to do."

"Then Master Luo, you get busy, I have to go to the mountains after eating."

"Go, go." Master Luo's eyes were all on the small wild boars, and he felt his movements were more agile than before.

Old people are afraid of having nothing to do; when they have something to do, they are spirited.

Li Long rode his bike back. On the way, he met people from the team asking, and he didn't hide it, saying directly that he had caught a few wild boar cubs and asked Master Luo to help raise them.

Many people from the team went over to watch the fun, and this matter soon reached Xu Chengjun's ears.

"This Little Long from the Li family really caught something to raise." Xu Chengjun actually gave Li Long the constraint that the horse stable must raise things as a pretext. He himself knew clearly that if Li Long hadn't bought the horse stable, it would likely have been demolished, then turned into construction waste, and in a few years, nothing would be left.

Now at least the things are still there, the team has increased income, and Master Luo has something to do—three birds with one stone, a good thing.

Just didn't expect Li Long to still remember this; he felt Li Long was really not bad.

Don't know how his cousin is doing in the mountains, and if he caused any trouble.

The Li family stewed red-braised meat at noon, using wild boar meat. Although it was a bit lean, it was fresh meat after all, and the taste was really good. Li Qiang ate two bowls of rice with the red-braised meat and ate several pieces of red-braised meat, which made Liang Yumei complain for a while, mainly worrying about him getting diarrhea.

After Li Long finished eating and rested for a while, Li Jianguo and the others were going to harness the horse-drawn carriage to work in the fields, so Li Long said to him:

"Eldest brother, I'll pull some wood back in a few days, preparing to make some furniture like tables and chairs. I'm building a winter camp in the mountains and need to fix it up." "What?" Li Jianguo didn't quite understand, "You built a winter camp in the mountains?"

"Yes, my herdsman friends helped me build a winter camp with wood, which is two rooms. I plan to get some furniture in our style inside." Li Long was a bit embarrassed, "They only know how to build wooden heated beds, and I think it's better to get some cabinets, tables, and such."

"You..." Li Jianguo didn't know what to say. He looked at Li Long seriously and felt he needed to get to know his younger brother again.

In these few months, what exactly had he done? He actually got those herdsmen to build him a house!

Li Jianguo had also dealt with those herdsmen, and it wasn't as easy to communicate as ordinary people thought.

"I just help them bring some things, take out some things they don't need to sell, and I earn some money in between, and they think I'm quite honest..."

Having said this, Li Long was still a bit embarrassed; he really wasn't honest.

But Halimu and Yushanjiang and the others just insisted on thinking so.

When Li Long felt guilty, he would have a compensatory psychology and would find ways to get them more good things. Halimu and the others felt Li Long had suffered a loss, so they would find him some resources in the mountains—and thus, a cycle was formed.

A virtuous one.

"Fine, there's a carpenter in the township who does good work. I'll pull the wood to you in a few days. Actually, Carpenter Zhang in our team also does good work, but he went to Wucheng to work two days ago, saying it was a construction job introduced by someone else, and it pays well."

Li Long knew Carpenter Zhang; he was a man with big ambitions, unwilling to live in the village, and often ran to Wucheng and Shicheng. He also looked down on Li Long's small tinkering. Later on, he directly found a big job in Wucheng, and after making money, his whole family moved there.

!.

Compared with such people, Li Long felt he was really content with small wealth.

"Make a table, five or six stools, and then make a cabinet and a chest of drawers." Li Long thought for a moment and said, "Just two rooms, smaller than our house—eldest brother, do we need to make some furniture for our house too?"

"Wait until I'm free in a few days, I'll dismantle the heated bed, install the bed, and then make it." Li Jianguo said confidently, "We'll dismantle this fire wall too. Don't worry about these things; just be busy with your things in the mountains."

Ever since Li Long gave Li Jianguo 300 yuan last time, Li Jianguo hadn't regarded what Li Long did as idling. Two brothers, one struggling outside and one farming and raising pigs at home—that was quite good.

Everyone knew the changes Li Long had brought to the family in these few months, and Li Jianguo also knew that Li Long was impatient to deal with those trivial matters, so he wouldn't bother Li Long with these things.

Li Jianguo and the others went to the fields. Li Long took Li Qiang to preschool on his bicycle. After putting Li Qiang down and watching him enter the classroom, he turned and rode toward the county.

Passing by the middle school, Li Long took a look; the school was still in session, so he continued to pedal toward the county.

After school, Gu Xiaoxia came out of the classroom and habitually looked at the highway by the school, and then looked at the entrance of her dormitory. There was no one, and she was slightly disappointed.

Li Long rode to the large courtyard, put the bike away, closed the door, and let out a long breath; he could finally rest for a while.

Weeds had already appeared in the cracks of the blue brick floor in the courtyard, and the jujube tree in the front yard was thick and had sprouted, but Li Long knew that if this jujube tree wasn't pressed, it wouldn't bear jujubes.

Another one was an apple tree, which had also bloomed with white flowers. Li Long didn't know what variety this apple was, or if it was delicious.

With nothing to do, he simply took a large broom to sweep the fallen leaves in the courtyard, while thinking about some things.

Halimu, Yushanjiang, and those people were building a winter camp for him, so when it was built, according to the customs here, he had to invite everyone to "warm the house," which was actually to thank these enthusiastic Adashis.

According to this time, he had to make preparations today and start tomorrow or the day after.

Since Halimu said that drinking white liquor would make some Adashis behave badly, he would prepare some other drinks, such as beer, small champagne, and red and white wine.

Li Long didn't have any liquor coupons in his hand. The liquor he bought earlier was exchanged for black market liquor coupons at the morning market. It seemed he had to go to the morning market once before entering the mountains tomorrow. If there was still grain there, he would buy some more, and then exchange for some coupons.

There weren't many things that could be bought in the department store. At this time, Wusu beer hadn't appeared yet, and Li Long didn't know what kind of beer he could buy, but small champagne was available.

As for food, besides sesame cakes, sugar, melon seeds, peanuts, etc., considering their living habits, perhaps they would only accept drinks, liquor, and sugar.

It was quite a headache.

Forget it, that's it.

Sweeping the fallen leaves together, Li Long put down the large broom, rode his bike, and went out.

In his previous life, he had a very bad habit: many things were done at the last minute. For example, the plan just now—if it were his previous life, he would go to the department store tomorrow morning after exchanging for coupons.

This led to him easily being passive, but he never changed it in his whole life.

After being reborn in this life, Li Long was much more active. Now he planned to go to the market to take a look, go to the department store to take a look, and also go to the Cultural Palace to take a look. Because there were movies shown at the Cultural Palace, there were usually people selling melon seeds and peanuts.

And if it really didn't work, he would find Li Xiangqian. Li Long felt that finding Li Xiangqian for such mutually beneficial things was nothing.

Only with give and take can you be called friends.

Riding his bicycle to the market, Li Long found that by this time, there were still people setting up stalls here, but the things sold were relatively simple: iron farm tools, willow weaving tools, cured meat, and dried fish.

He looked around and didn't find the dealer who sold coupons last time. Feeling somewhat disappointed, he turned toward the Cultural Palace.

Here, Li Long met a girl selling melon seeds and peanuts, five cents a paper cup—this paper cup was folded by herself, the kind with a pointed bottom and a triangle. Li Long bought a cup to taste; it was fried well, so he bought all the remaining few kilograms of fried melon seeds from the girl.

It was a pity there were no peanuts, and these melon seeds were oil sunflowers, which would make the mouth black if eaten too much. The advantage was that they were fragrant.

Carrying a bag of melon seeds, Li Long looked around for a while, and then found a dealer suspected of selling coupons.

It's him.

(End of chapter)