Chapter 166: Scythes Are Hard to Buy

The next morning, after Li Long finished eating, he rode his bicycle out of the village. After taking Li Juan to primary school, he continued to ride towards the county.

There were no scythes in the county supply and marketing cooperative store, which made Li Long a bit disappointed.

He went to the department store again.

In the department store, the hardware category only had some common tools, not even sickles. Li Long wondered if he had been too smooth recently, so his luck slot was empty now?

"Comrade, what do you need to buy?"

A crisp voice rang out.

Li Long turned his head and saw a slightly familiar face. Soon he remembered that this was the salesperson who sold radios.

Huh? The salespeople nowadays are quite enthusiastic, not bad, not bad.

Little Liu saw Li Long turn around the counter twice and was about to leave without buying anything. Guessing that he probably hadn't found what he wanted, she couldn't help but take the initiative to ask.

"Scythe, I want to buy a scythe..." Li Long replied, thinking the girl probably didn't know what a scythe was, so he explained: "It's the big sickle that herdsmen use to cut grass."

"We don't have this kind of tool here," Little Liu thought for a while and said, "The supply and marketing cooperative has more hardware items, over there..."

"I've been there." Li Long smiled bitterly, "They don't have it either."

"Then you can only go to the regional side." Little Liu said, "Or Shicheng is fine too. The department store and supply and marketing cooperative there are of a higher level, and things will be more complete than ours here."

Li Long actually thought so too, he said:

"Then thank you, I'll go over and take a look now."

Buying scythes for the herdsmen in the mountains was the top priority, Li Long didn't want to waste time, said goodbye to Little Liu, and left.

Little Liu regretted a bit, why didn't she ask his name and what he did?

But girls were thin-skinned, how could she be embarrassed to ask?

"Little Liu, next time this young man comes over, do you want me to help you ask?" The older sister next to her had long seen Little Liu's thoughts and said with a smile, "The young man looks good, speaks properly, looks like his family background is quite good, don't know which unit he's from..."

At this time, salespeople were default to looking for those with public units. Little Liu was pretty and educated. If she found someone from the countryside, she would likely be laughed at. Of course, those from the countryside weren't in the ranks of those introduced to her.

When Li Long rode his bicycle towards Shicheng, he was already thinking in his heart that if Shicheng didn't have them, he would go to the county to find a blacksmith shop to forge them. The forging time would be longer, hoping to finish before Halimu and the others transferred pastures.

In his previous life, Li Long had seen the transfer of a million livestock in the Guozigou pasture of the Ili pasture road in short videos. At that time, the scale of both summer and winter transfers was particularly large. It was said that in the past, vehicle traffic would be restricted because of the transfer. Later, after the expressway was opened, the transfer became much more convenient, and it was even broadcast live by CCTV and appeared on the News Broadcast.

The scale of the Nanshan herdsmen's transfer was much smaller, but it would also be ahead of time. After all, summer came earlier here. The herdsmen's summer pasture was in the deep mountains on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains, where the water and grass would be better in summer. After the transfer, the grass in the winter pasture could grow rapidly to facilitate the livestock to eat here in winter.

Hope it's in time.

Riding to the old street, Li Long found that it was much more lively than the morning market in Bima County, and there were many more stalls than before. There were several stalls where he used to set up a stall to sell fish, and everyone was shouting to sell things.

Li Long had no mind to browse the stalls and went to the department store first.

As expected, although there were more items in the department store than in Bima County, there were no scythes either.

Li Long asked the salesperson for the location of the supply and marketing cooperative store, and the salesperson really told him.

Going out and riding his bicycle to the supply and marketing cooperative, Li Long found that there were quite a lot of people here, unlike Bima County where there were only a few people occasionally.

There was a bicycle shed on one side of the supply and marketing cooperative store door. Li Long put his bicycle in and locked it, then entered the store.

This store was also much larger than Bima County's. There were four salespeople behind the counter. Li Long picked an older one wearing glasses. He subconsciously felt that this person looked kind, and this person was patiently introducing the usage of a sprayer to an old farmer at this time.

Li Long waited patiently behind the old farmer, and the salesperson wearing glasses glanced at him and continued to explain.

After the old farmer finished listening and finally said that the price of the sprayer was a bit expensive and he wouldn't buy it, the person didn't say anything and then looked at Li Long.

"I want to buy a scythe—the big sickle that herdsmen use to cut grass." Li Long was worried that this person didn't know, so he explained.

"A scythe," the person thought for a while and said, "I remember a batch was brought in before, it never sold, and later it was processed at a reduced price. It seems there's still a little left, how many do you want?"

Hearing that there was stock, Li Long was overjoyed and said:

"I want fifteen."

There were seven or eight young men building the winter shelter, plus Yushanjiang and Halimu, that made ten. Li Long prepared to prepare a few more so that it would be easy to distribute.

"I'll go take a look, you wait, there might not be that many." The salesperson said, "We don't have many herdsmen here, and there are few who want this thing."

After waiting for a while, the salesperson hugged a bundle of things and put them on the counter with a wooden frame and glass top. The counter made a crisp sound.

"Come, take a look, is this the scythe you want?" The salesperson said with a smile.

These things were wrapped in kraft paper and then tied together with rope, tied quite tightly.

The salesperson untied the rope, opened the kraft paper, and revealed the metal objects inside.

It was indeed a scythe, with a blade length of about seventy or eighty centimeters—Li Long touched the edge, it had been sharpened, and felt very sharp.

"Need to add a wooden handle yourself," the salesperson said, "I remember it seems that a small frame needs to be nailed diagonally on the wooden handle, haven't used it, just seen it."

This person is quite knowledgeable, Li Long looked at the other party, then counted, fifteen.

"Comrade, are there any more?" He felt that if this thing was taken over, Halimu and the others would definitely like it.

"No more, these fifteen are the last stock." The salesperson said with a smile, "We are clearing the bottom. If it weren't for you wanting them, they might have been returned in a few days."

"Alright, then how much for one?" Li Long knew he couldn't ask for more, finding them was already a surprise.

"We are clearing inventory, the original price was four yuan seven, these scythes are given to you at cost price, three yuan each."

"Good." Li Long counted out forty-five yuan and handed it over:

"Please wrap it up for me." "No problem, please go over and open a ticket."

Hugging the wrapped scythes, Li Long felt a big stone in his heart fall to the ground. At least these scythes could fulfill the task.

Originally he thought about going into the mountains now to give the scythes to Halimu and the others, but thought better of it. Better to hitch up the horse cart and go again, bring the little deer back, and bring a cart of manure back by the way. Vegetables also needed to be planted in the courtyard.

After finishing the work, Li Long turned back to the old street again. This time he could take a good look. He saw people selling fish, so he paid special attention to it.

There were three stalls selling fish, one specifically selling big silver carp, and the remaining two were the same as he used to be, selling all kinds of fish, but the quantity of fish was not large. Don't know if it was because time had passed, and most of the fish had been sold.

The price of fish was a bit cheaper, which made Li Long a bit surprised. Although the small crucian carp were not as beautiful as the ones he caught in the small sea, the price was seven to eight mao, and the big carp and grass carp were nine mao to one yuan. There were still quite a lot of people buying fish.

Li Long guessed it should be because the weather was hot, and fish were easy to catch, so the price dropped.

Ninety percent of the stalls on the old street were selling handmade items and agricultural products, and the prices were not low.

Li Long thought of the suggestion he made to Qin Hongyan, weaving baskets to sell.

There were several stalls selling baskets, both big and small, and there were also pot racks and hexagonal bun plates made of sorghum stalks (broom millet), most of which were one or two yuan.

Xinjiang is vast and sparsely populated, and labor has always been more expensive than in the interior. Especially at this time, the country's light industry had not yet developed, and many tools and utensils were made by hand. The same thing sold for five mao in the interior, but here it might sell for one yuan. After all, there were few people, but there were many things that needed to be used.

!.

So in the next few years, a large number of people came from the interior to find work here.

Li Long remembered a quite famous question on the internet in later generations: why do people from Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia go to the mainland to work less—naturally because there are more local job opportunities.

Of course, if you talk about the upper-level channels and those particularly high-paying positions, that naturally cannot compare to the mainland. After all, development is slower.

Standing from Li Long's level, he couldn't think that high. He only knew that until he had a cerebral hemorrhage, the countryside, especially the Corps, was constantly needing people from the mainland to come and work.

Li Long saw people selling vegetable seeds, so he bought some. The tomatoes at this time tasted much better than the various so-called fruit tomatoes in later generations. He decided that he must save seeds in the future, so as not to have to buy seeds from seed companies when planting vegetables in the 2010s. Although they bear more and grow more beautifully, the taste is never as good as in the 1980s.

Li Long once thought it was just because he missed the taste of his childhood. After all, food wasn't rich at that time.

Until one time when traveling in the mountains, in a farmhouse courtyard, he saw a few tomatoes that didn't grow well but were already red in a tomato field that wasn't planted well. He picked one and tasted it, and then he knew—this damn thing is the taste of childhood.

Unfortunately, after he ate it, others who came to travel with him followed suit, and soon the ripe tomatoes were picked and eaten, making his plan to save seeds fall through.

Regretted it for a year afterwards!

Why was he so greedy at that time?

After buying vegetable seeds and walking around, finding nothing else needed, Li Long stopped when he reached the Mahe Bridge on his bicycle.

The water in the Mahe River had already risen, the flood was surging, and the waves were hitting the bridge pillars, making a loud sound.

What made Li Long a bit surprised was that he actually saw people on both sides of the upper reaches of the river looking for something with their heads down.

Looking for jade?

Are people starting to engage in jade at this time?

Obviously, there is more than one smart person at this time. There are many opportunities, and many people grasp them.

After resting for a while, he continued to ride towards the county. He arrived at the courtyard, put the scythes down and put them away, and then planned to see if he should plant some vegetables in this courtyard too.

There were two small places in the courtyard, each about less than a hundred square meters. Li Long thought about just planting tomatoes and chili peppers. Tomatoes, chili peppers, and eggplants are the most common dishes for eating pulled noodles in the rural areas of Northern Xinjiang—if there is meat at home, adding some braised meat inside, the taste is superb.

Tools were standing by the courtyard wall. Li Long took a hoe, opened grooves in the two pieces of land, then buried the seeds in the grooves, and then used his feet to fill the groove soil flat and step on it firmly.

When he was planting, a knock on the door rang out.

"Come in." Li Long shouted, continuing to plant the land—who would come at this time? Is it someone collecting water and electricity bills?

The person who came in was Police Officer Guo Tiebing, which made Li Long a bit surprised.

"Comrade Li, are you planting vegetables?" Guo Tiebing was also a bit surprised to see Li Long holding a hoe, "What vegetables are you planting?"

"Tomatoes and chili peppers." Li Long put down the tools and said with a smile:

"Is Police Officer Guo doing a household visit?"

"Household visit?" Guo Tiebing was a bit unfamiliar with this term. He shook his head and said, "No, I'm here to inform you about the handling of that thief last time. It has been found out. He came all the way from the interior, stole from seven households, and also snatched some supplies on the train, injuring three people. After we contacted our counterparts in the interior, we determined that he also had an injury case over there. Now the person has been taken away by the counterparts in the interior, and it is conservatively estimated that he will be sentenced to more than ten years."

"That's fine." Li Long didn't expect that the person he encountered was actually a quite serious criminal, and he still had lingering fears. If he hadn't taken the gun that day, it would likely have been a double injury.

"You don't live here often." Guo Tiebing asked after informing him of the situation, "Haven't seen you for several days."

"I'm a part-time purchaser for the supply and marketing cooperative, running around everywhere." Li Long explained, "Just purchased a batch of supplies from Shicheng, to be sent to the mountains, and then need to pick up a batch of supplies from the mountains. There is also a task of weaving carrying frames over there, and I often have to keep an eye on it."

Actually, Guo Tiebing already knew about Li Long being reported for speculation, and he also understood that Li Long was a part-time purchaser for the supply and marketing cooperative, just feeling that this person was not simple.

After Guo Tiebing left, Li Long finished planting the vegetables and watered them. With nothing to do, he wandered around the courtyard again.

This courtyard was definitely more "luxurious" than the winter shelter, but it always felt not as intimate as that side.

He wandered along the wall, and then discovered that there was something in the seams of the blue brick wall!

The wall seam was a bit small. Li Long went to find a small knife and slowly dug out the fine things in the wall seam.

Money!

Looking at the words "Bank of Communications" written from right to left on it, as well as the traditional characters of "Republic of China National Currency", Li Long immediately determined that this thing was "fiat currency"!

No wonder it was stuffed in the wall seam.

Li Long suddenly became interested, looked for it seam by seam, and soon had a stack of fiat currency and gold yuan coupons in his hand. What surprised him a bit was that he actually found a Yuan Datou!

This was really an unexpected joy!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 167 =====