Chapter 174: Russian olive flowers, pungent, brother-in-law falls in love with

Li Long rode his bicycle out of Xiaobaiyang Gully and dashed quickly toward the county town. It was not easy to store this wild boar meat, so he needed to take it home as soon as possible to process it.

He rode to the township middle school. It was lunchtime, and Gu Xiaoxia was heating up food in the dormitory. Li Long rode over, and Gu Xiaoxia happily helped him hold the bicycle steady.

"It was killed in the mountains this morning. Do you want a leg or ribs?" Li Long said. "Put the meat in cold water to soak first, and stew it when you have time this afternoon."

"No, no, no, I don't want it. I haven't finished eating the two bottles and that piece of meat you brought last time."

"Why are you eating so slowly? Your nutrition didn't keep up before; you need to supplement it now."

"I can't eat anymore; if I eat more, I'll... get fat." Gu Xiaoxia said the last two words very softly, but Li Long heard them. He smiled and said:

"Where are you fat? Not at all... Besides, it's good to be a little fat; it means you have resistance."

Then, without allowing any refusal, he cut a piece of wild boar ribs for Gu Xiaoxia and placed it on the cutting board for her:

"You just need to soak it in a basin of water and deal with it in the evening. I have to hurry back to the team now; it's hot today, so I don't dare to leave it."

"Eat before you go!" Gu Xiaoxia hurriedly tried to stop him, but Li Long waved his hand and said:

"No, there's a pile of things back there, and I have to rush back to the mountains today. By the way, your father is doing quite well. I left a leg of this meat over there, so they can eat it too; don't worry."

After saying this, Li Long rode his bicycle away in a hurry.

"The young man is quite good." Teacher Wang only came out after Li Long had left. She said while holding her bowl of rice and eating:

"To be able to think of you from time to time and bring you meat, he truly has you in his heart. He can catch wild boars from time to time and earn money; there must be quite a few girls in your team who like him, right?"

Gu Xiaoxia thought of Wu Shufen and said with some confidence:

"He won't pay attention to others."

Teacher Wang smiled and didn't speak, but in her heart, she sighed that human hearts are easily changed.

When Li Long returned to the team, the Li family was also eating. Seeing Li Long bring back another wild boar, they were all somewhat surprised, but then they felt relieved.

"You guys eat first; I'm going to the Wei family. This small wild boar has one for their family." Li Long said while holding the sack. "The wild boar group was discovered by Wei Zhong Hua."

"Then send it over first; we'll save your food." Li Jianguo said. "Explain things clearly; do you want to bring some meat over?"

"Bring a piece; we made it clear in the mountains that it was just one small wild boar, but our family can't finish this meat anyway, so bring some ribs, pork belly, and such."

"Fine." Li Jianguo and Liang Wenyu both nodded, and then went to cut the meat.

"I'll cut another piece and send some to Uncle Lao Luo." Li Long said again. "By the way, send the remaining injured small wild boar over."

"Good, good, good. I went to the old horse corral this morning to see; Lao Luo is raising the small wild boars quite well, and they can all eat, but this guy doesn't grow well; it doesn't grow as fast as a domestic pig. By the way, those two small deer are still a bit wilted..."

"No way, we don't have the experience of raising this stuff. See if they can be raised, and if not, just slaughter them."

"Then let's raise them first." Li Jianguo shook his head. "Maybe they'll live."

Li Long carried the two small wild boars and two pieces of meat toward the old horse corral. Lao Luo was eating.

Li Long looked and discovered that the food he made was cornmeal mixed with steamed alfalfa, which was similar to the method of "Elm Money Rice" in middle school textbooks, and then a small dish of soy sauce was the side dish.

"Uncle Lao Luo, can you be okay eating this?" Li Long placed a piece of pork belly on his cutting board. "There's no nutrition."

"Eh, as long as I can be full, there's no need for so much trouble! Why are you bringing meat again? I stewed the meat you brought last time, and I haven't finished eating it yet."

"Then you have to eat it; you can't be reluctant." Li Long was between laughter and tears. "If you leave it for a long time, won't it go bad?"

"It won't go bad, it won't go bad." Uncle Lao Luo grinned, missing a front tooth, looking quite festive. "Do you want to eat some?"

"No, it's already done at home. It's also steamed vegetables. My sister-in-law picked thorn bud flowers by the edge of the ration field and steamed them to eat."

Although the Li family also had steamed vegetables, the side dishes were rich: stir-fried pickles, plus salted chives, and two boiled eggs, mashed into a bowl of egg garlic to eat with. That taste must be different.

Uncle Lao Luo didn't persuade him either, pointing at the sack in Li Long's hand and saying:

"Caught small wild boars again?"

"Yes, caught two this time. One healthy one is to be given to Wei Zhong Hua's family; the wild boar group was discovered by him. There is another one placed in our horse corral; it's injured, see if it can be raised."

"Let me see..." Uncle Lao Luo came over, opened the sack, looked carefully, and carried out the injured small wild boar.

"This should be crushed; look at the bruises on its body. Let it rest for two days first. Piglets are easy to live; those five are very lively now, eating whatever is given, arching and fighting every day, not idle at all..."

"Then let's put this one separately first, otherwise, let others arch the injured part, don't arch it to death." Li Long suggested. "Fine, Uncle Luo, you eat first; I'll go send the piglet to the Wei family."

"Good, good, good. By the way, those small deer..."

"Let's raise them first; if they can't be raised, there's no way." Li Long waved his hand. "Take it slow."

"Good, good, good."

Li Long went to the Wei family, and the Wei family was also eating. Wei Zhong Hua's wife, Cao Guixiang, was somewhat surprised to see Li Long coming. Wei Zhong Hua's son was in elementary school, and now she was the only one at home.

Li Long said to her at the courtyard gate:

"Sister-in-law, Brother Wei Zhong Hua discovered a group of wild boars in the mountains, and I dug a pit and caught two. One is yours, and there is also a piece of meat divided for your family. Take it."

Li Long's voice was very loud, and the old lady neighbor opposite came out quickly with small feet to see.

Cao Guixiang was somewhat surprised:

"Is it really mine? Can his father still find that?"

"Of course, I can't just give your family a small wild boar for no reason, right? By the way, this wild boar might run away, so you have to close it well. This thing is easy to raise; Uncle Lao Luo says it eats everything. If you don't understand anything, go ask him."

After Cao Guixiang was pleasantly surprised, she immediately found a basket and caught the small wild boar inside. Seeing it not stop for a moment in the basket, she believed Li Long's words.

After Li Long sent the wild boar and meat, he went home to eat easily. After eating, he took a nap, and only then did he get up, intending to go to the mountains—Halimu and the others were leaving soon, so he needed to buy them more batteries to take with them.

Li Jianguo and Liang Wenyu had both gone to work in the fields, and Li Qiang was also not at home. Li Long pushed his bicycle out, and a sweet fragrance floated in the air—the Russian olive flowers had bloomed.

At this time, quite a few Russian olive trees were planted in the tree fields on both sides of the road, as well as by the edge of the cultivated land. This thing is drought-tolerant and salt-alkali tolerant; it is the earliest greening tree species in the oasis and has considerable economic value.

After all, the brigade store used to sell a jar of Russian olives for five cents.

It was only later, because better economic tree species were planted, and Russian olives were choking to eat, plus they had thorns, and the trees couldn't become timber, that they were cut down and burned in large patches.

But no matter what, the sweet fragrance of Russian olive flowers is incomparable to other flowers, even the later best-selling gardening flower, lilac, cannot compare.

Every season, every family usually gets a wine bottle, fills it with a bottle of water, breaks off a branch of Russian olive flowers, inserts it, and places it in the room, and then the whole room is fragrant—even if the flowers are dried, the fragrance can still dissipate for a long time.

Li Long pedaled the bike toward the outside of the village with some reminiscence, and then he saw a group of children on the side of the road ahead, folding Russian olive flowers while shouting loudly: "Russian olive flowers, pungent, brother-in-law falls in love with sister-in-law..."

Damn it, Li Long actually saw Li Qiang in the group of children, shouting especially loudly!

He pedaled over quickly, braked in front of the group of children, and after getting off the bike, slapped Li Qiang on the head. He not only slapped Li Qiang but also slapped several other children:

"Speak properly, is this something you should say?"

Li Qiang was just about to get angry, but when he saw it was Li Long, he immediately wilted and pointed at Mingwa in the group of children with some grievance:

"I learned it from him! He taught us..."

Mingwa looked at Li Long with some fear, but his face still maintained a stubborn posture.

"Your father is the team leader, the village director, and a party member; he has to take the lead for the whole team. You teach them this; it would be strange if your father didn't beat you if he knew!"

Now Mingwa was scared. He said to Li Long with a crying voice:

"Uncle Qiangqiang, don't tell my father, I won't dare again..."

"Go play, if you don't shout, I won't tell your father."

!.

The children scattered in a rush, occasionally looking back at Li Long. He vaguely heard someone say to Li Qiang: "Your uncle is really amazing..."

"That's right!" Li Qiang answered very proudly.

Li Long pedaled the bike quickly toward the west.

When he arrived at the department store, Li Long bought four boxes of batteries. Just as he was opening the ticket, the big sister inside the counter asked him with a smile:

"Young man, buying so many batteries, are they for use at your unit? Which unit are you from?"

"No, no, no, I'm not from a unit, I'm just a farmer." Li Long said with a smile. "No unit."

"Farmer? Impossible, right? In this day and age, there aren't many farmers who can afford several radios, bicycles, and sewing machines." That big sister obviously didn't believe it.

Li Long said with a smile:

"That's because I am nominally a part-time purchaser for the supply and marketing cooperative, helping friends in the mountains with purchasing. Part-time, not receiving a salary, no worker status, and it's impossible to have one, so I'm still a farmer. Alright, here's your money, goodbye!"

After paying the money, Li Long left with the batteries.

Xiao Liu was there, looking at Li Long's back with a sense of loss.

"He really is a farmer..." That big sister also felt somewhat regretful.

When that big sister said Li Long bought so many things, he had already sensed the meaning in it. He even clearly felt a trace of tension in the expression of the young girl next to him at that time.

The relationship between men and women in this era is mostly relatively simple, so Li Long knew that he couldn't give the other party hope at this time. He directly said he was a farmer, and although the reason for the explanation was that he was a part-time purchaser, he had no worker status and was only nominal, which was a very positive rejection.

The other party should be able to understand this meaning.

That girl was indeed quite beautiful; I hope she can find a suitable partner.

Li Long didn't take this matter to heart and rode his bicycle into the mountains again.

By the time he arrived at Halimu's place, the sun was already slanting west, and Halimu and the others had almost finished packing. Quite a few things were placed outside the winter den, piled up in piles that looked like they should be classified and placed on different horses.

When Li Long arrived, Halimu was moving things out of the winter den.

"These are batteries." Li Long handed the two large boxes of batteries to him. "You should be able to hear radio stations in the summer pasture; you need to prepare more batteries, but still, use them sparingly."

"Good." Halimu accepted them readily and pointed to a small pile of things on the west side of the winter den, saying:

"Those are what they brought for you, take them away quickly. We'll leave tomorrow; you don't need to come to see us off. See you in winter!"

"Good, see you in winter."

Li Long didn't have any reluctance; anyway, it wasn't like they wouldn't see each other.

Li Long went over and used a sack to pack that pile of things and took them to the bicycle—it was a pile of jade and skins.

The jade was a bit dirty, so he couldn't look too carefully, but basically, he could determine that they were all seed materials—from the river.

The skins, however, could be seen to include deer skin, wolf skin, and roe deer skin. He felt there was also a piece that looked like wild goat skin.

The largest was the deer skin—half as big again as the wolf skin. Li Long guessed it should be an adult male red deer. This thing, when grown up, can truly grow to be about the same as a horse.

Riding the bicycle with the things back to his wooden house, the sun had already set, and the sky had darkened.

Li Long put the bicycle together with the things into the small house, intending to go to Xiaobaiyang Gully to look around early tomorrow morning after eating. If there was no fritillaria, he would take them directly back to the large courtyard.

Although this is a desolate mountain and wild ridge, no one can guarantee that there won't be any problems.

Locking the door of the small room, Li Long boiled some porridge, pulled a piece of air-dried meat, entered the large house, half-lay on the wooden kang, and slowly tore and ate it.

It felt quite leisurely.

Li Long was also thinking, Halimu and the others are gone, what about their winter den? What if someone comes and occupies it?

Thinking about it, he felt he was overthinking. This winter den has been there for decades without any problems. There are few people in the mountains to begin with. In summer, people enter the mountains, and occasionally staying in the winter den for one night is nothing.

Thinking and thinking, after finishing a piece of meat, he simply washed up, locked the door, and intended to sleep.

At this time in the mountains, the wind was not strong, and there was no movement outside, but the temperature was still a bit low. Li Long took off his outer clothes, got into the quilt, and quickly fell asleep.

I don't know when, footsteps and urgent knocking on the door came from outside. Li Long woke up from his confusion and asked:

"Who is it?"

"I'm picking deer antlers, got lost in the mountains, can I stay at your house for one night?"

It is normal for people to get lost in the wild. Li Long climbed up, draped his clothes, and asked while getting off the kang:

"How many people?"

"Just me..."

Li Long immediately stopped his actions, reached back, and touched the gun next to him!

Thanks to book friends Wukong Babujie, 20221128231805548, 20220321155702401 for the rewards, and thanks to everyone for the subscriptions, monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and comment support. Currently, the performance of this book is steadily advancing, but the recommendation for six consecutive weeks has ended. The data will rise very slowly later, but I think it's quite good. In the next few days, it's a holiday here in XJ, very lively. If you have time, you can come and see, but it will be very congested. As a local, I can only honestly stay at home and dare not go out.

Here, I wish the Adashis and Duosens a happy holiday!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 175 =====