Chapter 168: Taking Xiaoxia into the Mountains

Pulling manure back to the team, Li Long went to the horse stable first, unloaded half the manure, and by the way, put the little deer in the back of the horse stable. Li Long gave Uncle Lao some instructions and left some vegetable seeds before returning home.

Passing by the reed ditch, he found that the water had decreased a bit, don't know if the Little Haizi upstream was blocked or the flood had decreased.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei weren't at home. Li Long unloaded the manure into the courtyard, sprinkled it evenly in the vegetable plot, and the rest wasn't his business.

This time he came back, he also brought back some wild onions, wild garlic, and wild leeks from the mountains, as well as some pepper wormwood, which is a very good seasoning vegetable for making fish.

For the sake of this fresh pepper wormwood, Li Long felt he had to go to the Little Haizi to get some fish back to braise.

Fish, this thing, he hadn't eaten enough in his previous life. After eating for two days, he wouldn't think about eating it again, feeling that maybe he wouldn't want to eat it for a month.

But as long as he stopped for three days, he would feel that eating another meal was quite good. If braised fish didn't work, then dry-fried small crucian carp, wrap it in batter, put it in a hot oil pot, fish it out to control the oil, let it cool, and eat it as a snack, that taste—

Can't do it, can't do it, bring the casting net, go to the Little Haizi!

When Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei returned from the fields, they saw Li Juan and Li Qiang surrounding Li Long, and Li Long was braising fish by the stove.

The unique fragrance of crucian carp, plus the smell of pepper wormwood, filled the whole courtyard. Li Jianguo sniffed and asked in surprise:

"Without Xiao Long, is this pepper wormwood?"

"Yes." Li Long said with a smile, "Wild in the mountains, grows very big, half a person high, a big cluster, just like wild wormwood."

"That big?" Li Jianguo still didn't believe it, "Is it pepper wormwood?"

"Can I recognize it wrong?" Li Long pointed to the one drying on the wall and said, "You smell it, this smell is different, I remember."

Li Jianguo put down the iron shovel, went over, grabbed a handful, smelled it, and smiled, "It really is... next time I come back, I'll dig one or two plants and plant them in the courtyard to see if they can live."

Pepper wormwood is common in the hometown, but currently, no one has planted it here. Li Long knew that his big brother was missing the taste of his hometown.

"Today I went to Shicheng old street, I saw people selling vegetable seeds, there are people selling Jingjie, I bought some, let's plant them when the time comes."

"That's great!" Li Jianguo was even happier this time, "After they grow, if we are missing egg garlic, pinch some Jingjie and put it in, clamp it with a hot steamed bun, superb!"

Seeing everyone was back, Li Long also served the fish and put it on the table.

"Juan and Qiangqiang came back early, I saw they were hungry, so I let them eat some, and used fish soup to soak the buns, I guess they aren't hungry now."

Li Long explained, and Li Jianguo said:

"Then don't set the table, go do homework, after homework is done, go play."

In the evening, Li Long prepared the gun and bullets. He planned to ask Gu Xiaoxia tomorrow if she wanted to go into the mountains this weekend. If she went, he would have to prepare.

"I'm going." Gu Xiaoxia heard Li Long's question and answered immediately, "I'm preparing for it. After we finish class on Saturday, I'll prepare the things for my dad in the afternoon, and we'll set off early on Sunday morning, how about that?"

"Good, I'll come pick you up then." After Li Long had the confirmed news, he said, "I'll go into the mountains today and tell your dad, let's not do any surprises, okay?"

"Okay." Gu Xiaoxia nodded hard.

Li Long rode his bicycle to Little Bai Yang Ditch, where the smoke of burning willow branches still permeated.

Some people were burning branches to weave carrying frames, and some were cutting branches.

Seeing Li Long come over, those present greeted him one after another. Li Long responded one by one, then stood his bicycle in front of the stove.

Gu Bo Yuan was preparing lunch. Li Long looked, lunch was cornmeal steamed cake, and the dish was stir-fried liver.

Li Long saw that the hearts, livers, and lungs he had brought back earlier had all been smoked, a bit black, but he knew that after being smoked, they were easy to preserve.

"Eat some together at noon?" Gu Bo Yuan said with a smile, "Don't look ugly, the taste is quite good, and it's oily!"

"Hmm, alright." Li Long said, "Gu Shu, this Sunday, Xiaoxia is coming to see you, I'll bring her over."

"What is she coming for?" Gu Bo Yuan was stunned for a moment, his hand shook, and the spatula for stir-frying directly knocked a piece of liver out of the pot. He hurriedly squatted down to pick it up, rinsed it in the water basin next to it, and threw it back into the pot, "Isn't her coming here making trouble?"

"What trouble, the daughter misses her dad!" Li Long said with a smile, "Anyway, she has nothing to do on Sunday, and the road isn't long, I'll just bring her over on my bike."

Gu Bo Yuan stir-fried the dish, soon served it, and then looked at Li Long and said:

"Just one day?"

"That can only be one day." Li Long said with pure eyes, "I'll pick her up at school in the morning, then we'll come over together, she'll see you, stay here for half a day, and we'll go back in the afternoon. She definitely has to prepare lessons at night, and has class on Monday."

"Also... fine." Gu Bo Yuan wiped his beard and said in a panic:

"Then do I need to shave my beard and tidy up my hair?"

"It's only been a few days, everyone is the same. If you shave your beard and tidy up your hair, wouldn't it seem that this cook is a bit unprofessional." Li Long smiled, "It's okay, I actually think that after a few days in the mountains, Gu Shu, although you are a bit darker, you are fatter and more energetic."

"That's for sure! Never eaten this well at home. Meat every day, not much effort, the environment in the mountains is also good..." Gu Bo Yuan counted the benefits of the mountains.

At noon, everyone stopped, and Li Long also checked the carrying frames woven in the past two days.

The quality was very good, even the ones woven by Xu Jianjun could pass. Although the quantity was still the last one, at least there were no defective products.

When eating, Li Long also took a piece of steamed cake. He hadn't eaten steamed cake for nearly a month, and the family ate fine grain every meal. At this time, he felt that eating steamed cake occasionally was not bad.

"Without Xiao Long, I saw a piece of ground that had been arched under the slope on the east side, don't know if it's wild boar, do you have time to take a look?" Tian Siping said while eating, "Such a large piece, the grass was arched into a mess, looks like it was arched in these two days."

"Alright, don't go over there first, I'll go take a look in two days, wild boars come out relatively early, they move out when the sky is just bright, and return to the mountains when the sky is bright." Li Long explained while eating, "When I hit a wild boar, I'll share meat with you."

"Alright." Tian Siping said with a smile, "When you hit one, I'll also get a leg for my family."

Obviously, the matter of Tao Daqiang discovering the roe deer was quite a stimulus to him.

"Huh? Gu Shu, is this liver not cooked? Why is there still blood?" another person asked.

"The fire was a bit big today, stir-fried a bit hurriedly." Gu Bo Yuan explained a bit awkwardly.

Li Long knew what was going on, he said with a smile:

"Eat it, foreigners eat steak at three or five percent cooked, eating it with blood, and say it's rich in nutrition."

After Li Long said this, others didn't say anything more.

After lunch, Li Long went to the edge of the mountain and dug a few small pepper wormwood plants, brought them with soil, wrapped them with tree leaves, and brought them back to the team in a sack.

The flood was still there, but it was much smaller. This snowmelt flood was also in bursts. Li Long planted the pepper wormwood in the vegetable garden, and the rest was up to God's will.

On Sunday morning, Li Long didn't eat breakfast and rode his bicycle to the school.

The sun hadn't risen yet, the temperature was cool, he was wearing long sleeves, but didn't feel cold, and his heart was quite excited.

Arriving in front of the teacher's dormitory, Li Long got off the bicycle. Before he could knock on the door, Gu Xiaoxia's door opened.

She was already prepared, carrying a cloth bag, a small bag, and two small braids, looking at Li Long.

"Then shall we go now?" Li Long asked.

"Okay."

Li Long turned the handlebars and asked: "I'm pedaling, can you get on?"

"Looking down on me, right?" Gu Xiaoxia was in a good mood and asked back, "Although I can't ride, getting on the car is no problem."

Li Long slowed down, then felt the car sway and become a bit heavier. He smiled and pedaled steadily out of the school.

"You haven't eaten breakfast yet, right?" Li Long asked, "Prepared so early."

!.

"Can't eat, quite excited, I haven't been into the mountains yet... I've read 'Tianshan Scenery', I remember everything in it clearly, but I haven't seen it for real."

"Then today I'll let you see everything." Li Long said with a smile, "But climbing the mountain is very tiring, let's eat breakfast first."

Although Li Long was carrying someone, he didn't feel tired at all. When he arrived at the county, he went directly to the meat canteen. After Gu Xiaoxia got off, Li Long locked the bicycle, carried the gun, and took her inside.

"Yo, Comrade Li, this is... bringing someone to eat breakfast? What do you want to order?"

Zhong Guo Qiang happened to be there. Seeing Li Long and then seeing Gu Xiaoxia, he understood immediately. He greeted with a smile:

"Signature meat buns, we have new porridge, pickles, and breakfast sets here, they are all on the sign."

The small blackboard had the dishes that could be ordered today. After Li Long asked Gu Xiaoxia, he ordered porridge, buns, pickles, and also had stir-fried green pepper and eggs.

"Don't order so much, two people can't finish..." Gu Xiaoxia said in a low voice.

"Don't worry, there won't be any left. We'll bring some meat buns into the mountains later. Although Gu Shu and the others have meat every day, those are too coarse, bring some fine grain to improve their lives."

"This is also..." Gu Xiaoxia had some concerns, mainly because the buns weren't cheap, three mao each. She felt that was it a bit too much?

"The task I took, acting as a middleman, they finished weaving the carrying frames, and there are benefits for me later, understand?" Li Long said in a low voice, "So this doesn't count as anything."

Gu Xiaoxia nodded as if she understood. She felt that compared to Li Long, she was like a fool, her worldly wisdom was like a blank sheet of paper, she didn't understand anything.

But then she felt at ease again, at least he didn't lie to her and was very good to her.

After breakfast, Li Long ordered twenty-five buns to be packed and brought, then rode his bicycle and took Gu Xiaoxia towards the mountains.

When the road was bad, Gu Xiaoxia asked in the back seat:

"Shall I get off? This is hard to ride."

"You sit comfortably, if you get off, we'll be even slower." Li Long actually felt this was quite good, the journey for two people, walking and talking all the way, increased understanding and also shortened the distance.

By the time they reached the mountains, it wasn't even ten o'clock yet, and the family members of the sideline team had also just finished breakfast. They actually got up quite early. Before breakfast, diligent people like Tao Daqiang and Xie Yun had already worked for an hour or two.

Earning money is inevitably hard.

Gu Bo Yuan had been looking at the ditch mouth for a long time. When tidying up the stove, he was absent-minded, not only did he not wash the pot clean, but he also dropped the bowls several times.

Seeing the bicycle at the ditch mouth, he finally felt relieved, and then felt a bit heartbroken. Arriving here at ten o'clock, they must have gotten up so early!

"Dad!" Gu Xiaoxia ran towards Gu Bo Yuan as soon as she got off the bicycle. Growing up, this was the first time the father and daughter had been separated for such a long time. Although Gu Xiaoxia's emotions had been relatively stable before, now she couldn't control it a bit, and her voice was choked with sobs.

Most of the others were watching. Li Long came over with a smile and said:

"Come, come, come, Xiaoxia, come over, brought meat buns for everyone, from the meat canteen, two for each person."

Others all came over to take buns with a smile. Although they had just finished breakfast not long ago, how could they refuse such delicious meat buns?

After distributing the buns, Li Long put the remaining five on the stove, signaled to Gu Bo Yuan, and went to find Tao Daqiang himself.

Tao Daqiang had cut enough willow branches and was burning them to weave carrying frames. There were ten carrying frames in front of his pit, the fastest one woven.

"Daqiang, you are capable," Li Long said with a smile, "Even if you don't work later, just weaving carrying frames can support yourself."

"That's impossible." Tao Daqiang shook his head, "Everyone knows how to weave this thing, besides those units that need it, who would buy it individually?"

"Then you know how to tie big brooms, right?" Weaving carrying frames is indeed not enough to support an individual, because in a few years, no one will use carrying frames.

But this job of big brooms is a very profitable handicraft until Li Long's previous life.

"Who doesn't know that?" Tao Daqiang asked Li Long while tying, "Brother Long, can this also earn money?"

"Yes." Li Long said in a low voice, "When autumn comes, I'll see if I can take a job of tying brooms. If I can, then I'll find you."

Li Long was guessing, but even if he guessed wrong, he wasn't afraid. Sweeping snow in winter, which unit doesn't need big brooms?

At this time, the supply and marketing cooperative was selling bamboo brooms from other places, but some people felt they weren't as easy to use as the ones made of needle grass.

Of course, this is just a personal observation. Until later generations, there were many bamboo brooms used by units, but individuals mostly used needle grass brooms.

After eating lunch here, Gu Bo Yuan took the initiative to say to his daughter:

"Alright, you've seen me, I'm doing quite well, you go around the mountains with Without Xiao Long, and then go back, work with peace of mind."

Gu Xiaoxia nodded reluctantly. Li Long said with a smile:

"When you miss Gu Shu, I'll just bring you over again, it's only a few hours back and forth."

The two rode their bicycles out of Bai Yang Ditch. Li Long stopped the bicycle and turned his head to ask Gu Xiaoxia:

"Now take you to tour the Northern Tianshan Mountains, okay?"

Gu Xiaoxia met Li Long's gaze, slightly shy and said:

"Okay!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 169 =====