Chapter 19: Has the spendthrift become promising?

When Li Long and Tao Daqiang led the horse cart to the county town, it wasn't even time to get off work yet.

"Daqiang, let's go to the acquisition station to sell the deer antlers first, and then buy some things to take home."

"Okay." Tao Daqiang naturally had no objections; he also wanted to know how much the deer antlers could sell for.

The two arrived at the acquisition station. Tao Daqiang watched the horse cart outside, and Li Long took the deer antlers into the acquisition station.

Chen Hongjun was already tidying up his things, preparing to get off work.

Seeing Li Long walk in, he was a bit displeased. Who was so blind to come right at the time to get off work?

However, after seeing what Li Long was holding in his hand, a smile immediately appeared on Chen Hongjun's face.

"Little comrade... eh? Didn't you come by this morning?"

"Yes, comrade, hello. I'd like to ask, do you accept deer antlers here?"

"Accept, accept, accept." Chen Hongjun thought to himself, there were still some tasks left unfinished this winter; didn't goods just arrive?

"These deer antlers—collected in the mountains?" Chen Hongjun let Li Long place the deer antlers on the counter, and he picked up the complete one to examine it. "Not bad, this one is quite complete, this one... is a bit lacking."

"How much do you pay per kilogram?" Li Long asked for the price anxiously first.

"These deer antlers should have fallen off last autumn, the quality is not bad." Chen Hongjun said, "I'll give you three yuan per kilogram, that's not little."

"Fine." This price was much higher than what Li Long had in mind, so he nodded and said, "That's the price."

Chen Hongjun weighed them and said, "Six point seven kilograms, let me calculate, three sevens are twenty-one, three sixes are eighteen, twenty yuan and ten cents. Come, take the money."

Li Long counted the money and put it away.

"Young man, if you have any good things in the future, bring them over, I'll give you a good price." Seeing Li Long about to leave, Chen Hongjun hurriedly said, "I'm here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays."

"Okay." Li Long agreed readily and then walked out.

Walking to the horse cart, Li Long took out a five-yuan note and handed it to Tao Daqiang:

"Daqiang, this is your share. When we go back, we'll unload some more wood for your family."

"Brother Long, I can't take it." Tao Daqiang immediately pushed the money back. "I just came to help; how can I take your money?"

"Take it, this is what you deserve." Li Long didn't intend to give Tao Daqiang half; that wouldn't be helping him, but harming him.

"Brother Long, I really won't take it..." Tao Daqiang refused very firmly. "If this money is in my hands, my dad will definitely take it away in the end."

"Then I'll buy you some things." Li Long thought that was true, so he changed his mind. "If I buy things, your dad can't take them away, right? By the way, you don't have gloves; look at the chilblains on your hands. Let's go, let's go to the department store to buy you a pair of gloves. When you go back, just say I bought them for you, don't let your dad give them to your brother again."

The two led the horse cart to the department store. Seeing it was almost time to get off work, Li Long couldn't pick anymore. He took a pair of cotton gloves with a string, not divided into four fingers, and took out four yuan to buy them before coming out.

"Wear these gloves, don't give them to anyone else." Li Long gave the gloves to Tao Daqiang. "When you go home, take a kilogram of sesame cakes and unload some more wood, so your dad won't scold you."

"Okay." Tao Daqiang put on the gloves and felt warm.

When the two led the horse cart back to the production team, the sun had already set.

Before the horse cart reached the Li family, many people saw it and followed to watch.

"Yo, Li Long really hauled the wood back!"

"This cart of firewood is not little!"

"Looks like there must be several hundred kilograms; it should be enough to burn for a month or two, right?"

"Didn't expect this kid Li Long to have become promising?"

"Look, that wood is all pine; it's a pity to burn this wood!"...

Li Qiang was playing with an old spinning top on the road. Seeing Li Long and Tao Daqiang driving the horse cart back, he rushed over to follow the cart. Li Long took out a sesame cake from his pocket and gave it to him, then told him to run back and report to Li Jianguo.

"Dad, Dad! My uncle is back! He hauled a cart of wood!" Li Qiang rushed into the house with the sesame cake he had taken a few bites of. "Many people are following!"

Li Jianguo hurriedly walked out and saw that Li Long had already driven the cart to the courtyard gate. He waited for Li Long to drive the cart into the courtyard and asked:

"Was everything smooth along the way?"

"Very smooth." Li Long said with a smile, "There were other harvests."

"Other harvests?" Li Jianguo looked Li Long up and down, then looked at Tao Daqiang, and didn't find that the two were injured, so he felt relieved. "What harvest?"

"Got a frozen sheep back." Li Long handed the horse reins to Tao Daqiang and pointed to the horse cart. "Can eat meat for a few days."

"Frozen sheep?" Li Jianguo still wanted to ask, but seeing many people surrounding the courtyard, and some had already entered to watch the excitement, asking Li Long one after another where the wood was hauled from and how it was hauled, he greeted them:

"Don't ask for now, help unload the wood first!"

Many people came, and everyone helped out. Soon, the wood was unloaded. Li Long took the opportunity to hand the bag containing things to Li Qiang and told him to take it back to the house.

Li Qiang had seen Li Long take the sesame cakes from this bag earlier, so he immediately carried the bag into the house and handed it to his mother.

!.

The wood was unloaded in the corner of the courtyard where firewood was stacked. Li Long shouted:

"Leave three pieces of wood; they need to be hauled to Daqiang's house."

"Still giving to Daqiang, Li Long is quite righteous."

"Eh? Is that a sheep?" Someone with sharp eyes saw the frozen sheep under the wood.

"Hmm, a sheep. Found a frozen sheep in the mountains." Li Long said.

"Found?" Sister-in-law Lu exclaimed: "This luck is too good, right? But wouldn't this be a sheep poisoned to death?"

"Hard to say."

Many of the onlookers showed envious and jealous gazes, while some maliciously speculated about the cause of the sheep's death.

The sheep wasn't big, so it wasn't easy to distribute to every family. Li Jianguo let Li Long and Tao Daqiang go into the house to rest, and he put the horse cart away first.

Li Long shook his head and said:

"Brother, I'll take the wood to Daqiang's house first, and then return the horse cart."

Li Jianguo knew this was the right thing to do, so he didn't stop him. He still had to deal with that frozen sheep.

Others saw there was no excitement to watch, so they dispersed one after another. Li Long entered the house, took out a kilogram of sesame cakes, stuffed them into Tao Daqiang's hand, and then they walked out together.

After unloading the wood at Tao Daqiang's house, Li Long went to the horse stable alone to return the horse, and only then did he return home.

"Little Long, was this sheep really found?" Li Jianguo asked worriedly.

Li Juan and Li Qiang were both staring at the bag of sesame cakes and didn't pay attention.

"No, I sold the skin of a water rat, bought tea and salt for five yuan, and went to the mountains to trade with the herdsmen." Li Long whispered, "This sheep froze to death at the herdsman's place two days ago when it snowed heavily in the mountains. It's only been dead for three or five days, it's perfectly fine!"

"That's good." Li Jianguo felt relieved. "When it thaws, I'll skin the sheep, and we must take some meat to Daqiang's family."

"Hmm, just take a leg." Li Long nodded. "That family of his... a leg is enough."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 20 =====