Chapter 180

Li Long didn't intend to live in the dugout—living there was prone to rheumatism, and the space inside was small and very stuffy.

When he left, Tao Daqiang and the others had already finished work and were no longer weaving carrying poles, turning instead to lighting piles of fires around the dugout, then pressing wet grass on them to create plumes of smoke.

Li Long knew this was to smoke out mosquitoes—the mosquitoes in the mountains had already emerged.

Some mosquitoes here looked large but actually didn't bite people, while some mosquitoes were small but very poisonous.

Tao Daqiang and the others just pulled some green grass to put on the fire piles, mainly to generate smoke, while Li Long knew that mugwort could repel mosquitoes—surprisingly, he had seen this in someone else's home in the cartoon "Boonie Bears" in his previous life.

On the way, Li Long encountered mugwort, pulled a few handfuls, and didn't light it when he returned to the winter dugout, but put the mugwort directly into the bedroom.

As usual, he locked the bicycle in the small room, then entered the bedroom, preparing to sleep.

The things in the small room had been moved almost completely; the remaining bit of fritillaria could just be taken back by bicycle tomorrow.

Once the task at Xiaobaiyang Gou was completed, Li Long felt he could wander in the mountains every day—but that wouldn't work either; he had to catch some fish first. Wandering in the mountains every day during this period, the fish in the little Haizi must be lonely, right?

The next day, Li Long got up, made himself a relatively rich breakfast with the few things left here, and waited for a while. When no one came to sell fritillaria, he tied the fritillaria from the small room to his bicycle and rode toward Xiaobaiyang Gou.

When he arrived at Xiaobaiyang Gou, Xie Yun Dong and the others had already eaten breakfast, and their things were all packed and placed outside the dugout.

However, the atmosphere was a bit strange, which surprised Li Long. Before he could ask, Xie Yun Dong told him.

"Xu Jianjun ran out by himself last night, saying he wanted to pick up deer antlers. As a result, he didn't pick up any antlers but instead attracted wolves! Three wolves came last night... if it weren't for the fact that there were many of us and we lit torches together to scare the wolves away, Xu Jianjun would have been finished, and who knows if someone among us would have been bitten by the wolves!"

Li Long's face darkened instantly.

Was this Xu Jianjun really that disobedient?

He looked at Xu Jianjun, who was sitting in front of his dugout with an indifferent expression on his face.

"There's no way to deal with him now. The carrying poles are finished, and he also feels that we can't do anything to him, so you see... anyway, if there's a task next year, I definitely won't want him."

Xie Yun Dong was also very angry but had no way to deal with it.

Li Long's heart stirred. He walked to the front of the dugout, clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention, and said:

"Everyone has worked hard for this month or so. Today can be considered a successful completion of the task. Everyone remembers the number of carrying poles; there are more and less, but it's better than scratching for food in the fields, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes."

"That's true, twenty-some yuan a month is comparable to an apprentice."

"Eating meat every few days is much better than at home."

"That's all thanks to Xiao Long; Xiao Long, it's really all thanks to you." The one who said this was Wei Zhong Hua, whose family had an extra little wild boar, which was just beautiful.

"I also thank everyone for cooperating with my work. There might be work in the autumn, and I'll look for everyone then—of course, some individuals will be excluded; I can't afford to raise a master."

Once Li Long's words were spoken, most people were immediately excited—earning money twice a year, they could earn what was urgently needed at home.

Now that there was grain land, there was no problem with being full at the end of the year. If there was another way to earn money, wouldn't that be happier than a worker—after all, there was nothing to do all winter!

Xu Jianjun was listening indifferently; anyway, the work was finished, and the carrying poles he wove were qualified, so they couldn't deduct his money—if they deducted his money at this time, he would fight the one surnamed Li to the death!

It was just that he didn't expect Li Long's casual words to make Xu Jianjun's face look ugly.

Without needing anyone to remind him, he knew Li Long was talking about him.

If there really were such side jobs in the autumn and winter, and everyone else had them but he didn't, he would lose face!

The problem was, seeing others earn money while he couldn't, he felt miserable!

"Alright, let's wait a while longer; the supply and marketing cooperative's car will be here in a moment. Let's load these carrying poles onto the car, and when we return, everyone can follow the car back to the county, but you might have to return by yourselves later."

"That's very good, saving this stretch of road; once we reach the county town, the rest is just two or three hours of walking." Upon hearing that they could be sent to the county town, these people were all happy.

After about half an hour, the sound of car engines rang out, and immediately after, three cars appeared at the gully mouth and then arrived here.

Xiaobaiyang Gou was generally flat. After the cars drove over, they turned around and turned off the engines. The drivers didn't move, and two people, a man and a woman, got off.

"Hello, you're Xiao Li, right?" The man was very enthusiastic, smiling and taking the initiative to shake hands with Li Long, "I'm Wu Tianshan, the warehouse manager of our supply and marketing cooperative; you can just call me Old Wu. This is our warehouse entry clerk, He Fang."

"Hello, Manager Wu; hello, Sister He." Li Long greeted them actively, "Are we checking and loading now?"

"Alright, let's not waste time; let's check and load now."

Li Long then turned around and waved:

"From the inside out, help each other, carry the carrying poles over row by row, and when one person's is checked here, the next one will come."

The innermost one was Tao Daqiang's, which was also the most numerous.

The others chatted and laughed as they went over to carry Tao Daqiang's carrying poles over in stacks of five.

"The quality is good." Wu Tianshan checked the carrying poles one by one and praised, "They are woven very densely, the strips are well-chosen, and the handles are also suitable; very good, load them."

And then they loaded the cars.

After checking them one by one, it had already been over an hour since the three cars were loaded.

Finally, Wu Tianshan sighed while signing the documents:

"Xiao Li, the quality of the carrying poles you wove is really good. I won't be hypocritical since you wove them well; these are all qualified. Come, take this document, and you can go to the finance department to collect the money when you go back."

The last car had some empty space, and Li Long and Wu Tianshan had already agreed to let Tao Daqiang and the others bring their luggage onto the car.

"Daqiang, take care of Uncle Gu on the road." After sending them onto the car, Li Long said to Tao Daqiang.

"Don't worry, I know about this." Tao Daqiang nodded vigorously.

The cars drove out of Xiaobaiyang Gou, and Li Long also rode his bicycle and pedaled outward.

He also hoped to return to the county town as soon as possible, then go to settle the account and finish this matter early.

Li Long pedaled his bicycle to the county; it was already noon, and the supply and marketing cooperative was already off work, so he went to the meat canteen and ordered a bowl of mixed noodles.

Zhong Guo Qiang wasn't there. Li Long ate a bowl of noodles with peace of mind, added another bowl, and also asked for a bowl of free noodle soup.

After eating beautifully, he wiped his mouth and left. At this time, he went to the gate of the supply and marketing cooperative and waited for a while; it was time for work.

Li Xiangqian wasn't there, and Li Long didn't care about that much. He took the ticket issued by the warehouse manager and went to the finance office to settle the account.

"A total of one thousand eight hundred and forty-two yuan." The cashier skillfully counted out the money, asked him to count it again, and then asked him to sign his name in a small notebook.

Li Long looked at the notebook, which was similar to a receipt, and signed it. The amount of money was no problem; he put it away and said habitually:

"Thank you, comrade." Then he walked out.

"This young man is quite calm after getting so much money." The accountant sister next to him had been observing Li Long and said in a low voice.

"He must have seen large sums of money often." The cashier was more experienced and said, "People looked after by Section Chief Li shouldn't be simple."

Li Long didn't know the conversation between these two people. He put the money in his inner pocket, rode his bike back to the large courtyard, took out his own three hundred and seven yuan from that stack of money, packed the remaining one thousand five hundred and thirty-five, put the small-caliber rifle into the gun bag, left the large courtyard, locked the door, and rode toward the free market—he also wanted to try his luck to see if there were any stalls there.

What surprised Li Long a little was that there were actually people setting up stalls in the former black market, the current free market.

There weren't many stalls. Li Long guessed that these people were likely professional scalpers, the kind who buy low and sell high, but the scale wasn't large, so the office for cracking down on speculation hadn't arrested anyone.

Li Long walked over to take a look; they were mainly selling grain, eggs, and agricultural sideline products.

The weather was getting hot, and these stall owners had all moved their stalls under the shade of trees—in Northern Xinjiang, or the whole of Xinjiang, this point was very good; no matter how hot it was outside, it was quite cool under the shade of trees, and there was also a breeze.

Li Long walked to where eggs were sold, looking at the eggs of different sizes, some still stained with blood, some with chicken droppings. Thinking that chicken farms shouldn't have sprung up in this era, these were purely free-range eggs, so he asked:

"Sister, how much is an egg?"

The egg seller was in her thirties. Hearing Li Long ask the price like this, her face blossomed with a smile, and she said:

"Six cents each—if you want a lot, I'll give you a discount." She had been here for almost a day, and at noon she only gnawed on a dry steamed bun and didn't even drink a mouthful of water, almost choking to death; she really didn't want to stay anymore.

!.

Did the price of eggs drop? Li Long was a bit surprised; previously, an egg was eight cents! He remembered that in his previous life, he had an impression of egg prices two years later, when they were one dime, and this price of one dime lasted for several years.

"There's no way around it; there are still few people eating eggs now, and everyone doesn't have much money." The woman saw Li Long's confusion, "Can't sell them; look, I've been selling this basket of eggs for a day, and I've only sold half."

"How many are left?" Li Long asked.

"Thirty-three." The woman said quickly.

"Are they fresh?" Li Long asked again; he was worried about buying bad eggs.

"Don't worry about this! I go to fixed households to collect them every three to five days; it's impossible to have old eggs." The woman said immediately, "Why don't you take one and shake it..."

"Then I'll take them all." Li Long pointed to the basket and said, "Then this basket..."

"The basket can't be given to you." The sister shook her head immediately, "I bought this basket at the stall next to me some time ago."

"Then I can't pack them." Li Long habitually carried an old yellow satchel, which could hold twenty eggs at most.

"Then..." The woman was also in a bit of a dilemma. She gritted her teeth and said: "Then you have to add some money."

"Add five cents." Li Long looked at her basket and said, "This basket of yours is at least half a year old, and it's not woven well; the opening isn't finished well, look, the edges are all frayed."

"Then... alright." The woman naturally knew the problems with her basket; in fact, it wasn't bought by her, but a basket she grabbed from someone else's house when she was collecting eggs.

Thirty-three eggs were one yuan sixty-five cents, plus five cents for the basket, totaling two yuan fifteen cents, which came out to over seven cents per egg.

Li Long was very content.

Clipping the basket onto the back seat, Li Long left with satisfaction, and he went to the department store again.

There was already a bicycle shed here for storing bicycles, with a five-cent storage fee. Li Long locked his bike, carried his gun, and took the egg basket into the building.

Seeing fresh bagged egg cakes, two yuan a bag, Li Long bought six bags directly and asked the salesperson to pack them into two packages.

Thinking that his family didn't often come to the street, he bought some commonly used things—salt, sugar, and various seasonings, needles and thread. Thinking of the summer and that bad road, he bought a pair of rubber boots (rain boots) and a pair of sneakers for Li Juan and Li Qiang each, and a few pairs of socks.

As for his eldest brother and sister-in-law, thinking there was nothing to buy, he turned and walked out of the building.

Xiao Liu saw Li Long the moment he came in.

After Li Long bought the things and went out, the sister next to her said in a low voice:

"It seems it's true. The things he bought are all for daily life—maybe there's already a partner at home, don't keep thinking about it. How was the one the manager introduced to you a few days ago?"

"That driver... I don't like him." Xiao Liu shook her head, "He invited me to dinner, drank some wine, and his actions... were very rude..."

That sister sighed and didn't speak again.

Li Long pedaled his bicycle all the way to the township middle school. Gu Xiaoxia hadn't finished class yet. He waited for a while at the door of the teacher's dormitory. Gu Xiaoxia didn't come, but that Teacher Wang came back first.

"Xiao Li, right? Xiao Gu still has half a class left; do you want to sit here with me?"

"No, no." Li Long hurriedly waved his hand, thinking to himself, this lone man and woman, go to your dormitory? If Gu Xiaoxia saw that, it would really be unclear.

Teacher Wang was older. Seeing Li Long's appearance, she was really quite happy to tease him, opening the door while smiling and saying:

"Are you dating Xiaoxia? Let me tell you, Xiaoxia is very popular in our school; you must keep a close eye on her."

"I trust Xiaoxia." Li Long thought to himself, I know Gu Xiaoxia better than you; this girl is stubborn, and once she decides on something, she won't change easily.

Teacher Wang didn't expect Li Long not to take the bait and still look so determined, so she felt a bit bored, muttering "really can't be teased" and then went into the room.

Li Long still looked toward the direction of the classroom bungalow, not even looking at her open dormitory door.

Finally, he saw Gu Xiaoxia's figure, and Li Long happily waved at her.

Having lived two lives, having that kind of nervousness and excitement of falling in love, Li Long felt it was a bit strange.

Gu Xiaoxia saw Li Long, and a flash of surprise also crossed her face. She hugged her books and quickened her pace. When she reached Li Long, she said in a low voice:

"I didn't know you were coming..."

"I didn't tell you either. Alright, open the door." Li Long said with a smile, "You really have the look of a teacher."

Gu Xiaoxia blushed and lowered her head to open the door, and Li Long followed her in.

Teacher Wang appeared at her own door. She leaned against the door, a smile on her face, feeling a little envious.

This is the feeling of being in love.

(End of chapter)