Chapter 200

The next day after breakfast, Li Jianguo and Liang Wenyu went to work in the fields, Li Juan and Li Qiang went to school, and Li Long tidied up the house before hitching up the horse cart and heading to the Old Horse Corral.

Uncle Lao Luo was feeding the pigs, and to Li Long's surprise, several young men had already arrived. Tao Daqiang was setting up a fire to burn the stove, using wood he had found somewhere to keep it going. The large pot was filled with bone chunks cut to the size of fists, and the water was already boiling, churning up and down.

Seeing Li Long arrive, several young men gathered around. Tian Siping, relying on his good relationship with Li Long, said with a smile:

"Xiao Long, this venison looks fatty. Everyone is sure to do a good job for you today. Tell us how to do it!"

"It's very simple." Li Long pointed inside the corral and said, "The old layout of the corral was for raising large livestock. Later, we need to raise pigs and deer, so we need to partition it into individual stalls. Then, for this large courtyard in the middle, Uncle Lao Luo will grow vegetables on one half, and the remaining half will be for the deer and roe deer to move around in. We need to build a wall in the middle..."

"But there aren't enough mud bricks." The speaker was Wei Aihua, Wei Zhong Hua's younger brother. He knew how to build walls and was considered a technical talent among these people. He frowned and said, "There's no time to make new mud bricks!"

"No need to make new ones." Li Long said, "I've already spoken to the team leader. The mud bricks on the wall of the old team headquarters can be used. Anyway, the old team headquarters has already been abandoned, and it's just sitting there. Now we just need to mix mud here, and after tearing down the bricks over there, we can transport them over by horse cart."

"Then that's no problem." Wei Aihua kicked the bricklayer's trowel and large shovel at his feet and said, "This is easy work. As long as the bricks are supplied, we can definitely finish it in one day."

"Then let's divide the work. Aihua, the wall building here is up to you. Siping, Daqiang, Lu Tie Tou, I'll leave you to..."

The Lu family's Lu Tie Tou wasn't very old, but he wasn't in school anymore. Li Long calling him over this time was actually just to let him have a share of the meat—it was very normal for children this big to work in the team.

Li Long took the remaining two people and pulled the horse cart to the old team headquarters to tear down the wall, and also told Wei Aihua that when more people came, he should have them go to the old team headquarters side.

Four people on each side was quite reasonable—Wei Aihua responded and had already started ordering people to dig up soil and take wheat tails to prepare for mixing mud.

There were still quite a lot of wheat tails around the threshing floor now. Usually, besides feeding cattle and sheep, this stuff was only used for mixing mud. At the current stage, there was no large-scale sheep farming, so there was quite a lot left over every year. In another year or two, let alone wheat tails, even the wheat straw wouldn't be left over at the edge of the threshing floor.

Li Long led the horse cart to the old team headquarters—the actual distance from the Old Horse Corral was no more than two hundred meters. At this time, the preschool class was on break, and Li Long saw many children lying on the low wall of the old team headquarters, digging out sparrow nests inside.

The preschool class only had one female teacher, surnamed Zhang, and she didn't care about these children—unless they climbed onto higher walls, at which point she would roar once to make the children come down.

In this day and age, children running high and low was a very normal thing, and no one cared.

It was also rare to hear about anyone getting injured or having any accidents. Even if they bumped and bled, the children usually grabbed a handful of fine soil, smeared it on the wound, and then continued playing.

If it were Li Qiang, he would be more careful. He had heard a lot of miscellaneous knowledge from his father, Li Jianguo, so if he got hurt, he would go to the side to find those grass leaves with thorns on the edges, then tear off the thorns and smear the juice squeezed from the leaves onto the wound—this stuff stopped bleeding.

What was it called again?

Next to the preschool class was the first and second-grade classroom. Li Long knew that Wu Shufen was here—this girl who had been reduced to a passerby had not appeared for a long time. Li Long had actually forgotten about her, and only remembered when he arrived here.

"Let's park the horse cart there." Li Long said, "One person goes up to tear it down, one person receives it below, and another person loads it onto the horse cart."

"Then Xiao Long, you go up, and I'll load it by the horse cart." Xie Yun Dong said with a smile, "Chenggang, you receive it below."

The other person was called Zhao Chenggang, one year younger than Li Long. He didn't talk much, but he worked steadily, comparable to Tao Daqiang. It's just that although this person was silent, he wasn't as easy to bully as Tao Daqiang. If anyone really provoked him, he would truly fight.

"Okay." Zhao Chenggang just responded.

Li Long took a bricklayer's trowel and climbed onto the wall, first shoveling off the wall skin on both sides, and then tearing down the mud bricks one by one and passing them down.

It had to be said that the quality of the mud bricks used when building the team headquarters was very good. After so many years, shoveling away the mud on the top and bottom, they were still very sturdy and looked very thick, without any traces of cutting corners.

While tearing it down, Li Long saw little birds chirping in a hole in the wall.

There were sparrows flying around nearby, and then he tore open the wall skin and saw a nest of naked, blind sparrows in the nest.

This stuff wouldn't survive.

Li Long had a little bit of pity, but it wasn't strong. He casually picked up the bird nest and put it aside—even if he didn't tear it down, these little birds wouldn't survive five days. With the energetic primary school and first and second-grade children nearby, let alone little birds, even old birds could possibly be caught and played to death.

The destructive power of children at this time was very astonishing.

"Uncle Qiangqiang, can you give me that bird nest?" A child shouted under the wall, "Uncle Qiangqiang..."

As soon as this child shouted, another child also ran over, and after a while, a group of children surrounded them.

Li Long waved the bricklayer's trowel:

"Stay away, we're working here! If the mud bricks fall down later and hit you, it'll hurt!"

Xie Yun Dong below also shouted for the children to leave.

The children were unwilling to leave. At this time, Wu Shufen shouted at the classroom door:

"Hurry up and get to class, if you don't come over, you'll be punished by standing!"

Li Long subconsciously turned his head to look, just meeting Wu Shufen's gaze. She turned her head haughtily and entered the classroom.

Students were afraid of teachers, and they all ran toward the classroom in a swarm.

It was just a small episode. To Li Long, this person was truly a passerby.

In half an hour, a horse cart of mud bricks was torn down. Xie Yun Dong drove the horse cart to the corral, while Li Long and Zhao Chenggang continued to tear down the mud bricks.

Sparrows liked to build nests in such holes. In less than an hour, Li Long had torn down three sparrow nests.

Except for the sparrows in the first nest which were bald, the sparrows in the other two nests had already grown feathers, but they wouldn't survive either, so Li Long put the nests on the wall head.

After pulling five carts of mud bricks, the sun had already risen to mid-air. Li Long saw that the preschool class was about to be dismissed, so he said to Xie Yun Dong:

"Brother Xie Yun Dong, after pulling this cart, let's go over and eat."

"Okay." Xie Yun Dong said, "Put in some effort and finish as soon as possible."

Li Long saw Li Qiang walking back with his schoolbag on the wall head, so he shouted to him:

"Qiangqiang, go to the Old Horse Corral to eat meat with your uncle later. You go home first and tell your parents."

"Okay—wow—!"

Hearing about going to the Old Horse Corral to eat meat, Li Qiang, who actually didn't lack meat, let out a shout and ran home with his schoolbag on his back.

He just liked to join in the fun. Other little friends mostly envied Li Qiang. Li Long smiled and continued to tear down the wall.

All morning, they tore down one wall of one of the four rooms of the team headquarters. The workload was neither big nor small, but it was a bit tiring.

The horse cart pulled the mud bricks, and Li Long and Zhao Chenggang followed behind. When they arrived at the Old Horse Corral, Li Long was surprised to find that the wall in the middle of the courtyard had already been built more than halfway, and someone was using stones to lay the foundation for the part that hadn't been built. The horse corral side was also being renovated, and some of the torn-down mud bricks were used directly for building the wall.

The courtyard was filled with a rich aroma of meat. Li Long washed his hands and went to check the kitchen. A large basin full of meat had already been served, and Uncle Lao Luo was burning fire to steam sponge cakes—a layer of sponge cakes and a layer of steamed buns. This was what Uncle Lao Luo and Li Long had discussed beforehand.

They couldn't just eat steamed buns. It wasn't that there wasn't enough white flour, but doing it this way at least looked like something on the surface. In the future, when people hired others to plaster walls or build walls, even if they compared it to Li Long's place, there would be a saying—the Li family steamed corn flour sponge cakes.

"Uncle Lao Luo, how much longer until the sponge cakes are out of the steamer?"

"Five." Uncle Lao Luo said, "Very fast, we can eat immediately."

"That's fine, I'll go shout and let everyone stop and wash their hands."

People were all there. Li Long shouted in the courtyard, and everyone stopped their work with laughter. Only Wei Aihua was the last to come—he had to finish plastering the last shovel of mud and set the mud bricks on it, otherwise, the mud would dry out in a while, which would be a waste.

Technical personnel at this time were so persistent; they didn't want to waste even a shovel of mud.

!.

While others were washing their hands, Li Long unhitched the horse from the horse cart, led it into the corral, tied it up, wiped off the sweat, and then gave it forage. Number 76 was quite excited after entering the horse corral; after all, it had been living here all along.

After everyone finished washing, Uncle Lao Luo distributed the food in the kitchen:

"Everyone take a piece of meat first, serve a bowl of soup, take a piece of sponge cake, don't waste it, take more after finishing. There is plenty of meat today, you all saw it, eat until full..."

Li Long lined up to eat like everyone else. He took a piece of venison neck meat and gnawed on it there. He also served a small basin of venison soup and ate it with the sponge cake.

Corn flour sponge cakes naturally had a bit of sweetness when eaten, and it tasted quite good when eaten occasionally.

Then he saw Li Qiang run over, obediently lining up at the end. When it was his turn, he said to Uncle Lao Luo:

"Grandpa Luo, give me a small piece... I can't finish a big one."

"Okay, I'll give you a leg bone to gnaw on. You can smash the bone marrow after finishing." Uncle Lao Luo picked a small leg bone for Li Qiang. The meat on it was not little at all. Li Qiang happily held the bone and went to gnaw on it.

"Everyone pay attention when eating. This venison strengthens blood and Qi, if you feel something is wrong, don't eat it, don't get a nosebleed!" Uncle Lao Luo joked at the kitchen door.

Everyone laughed along. Tian Siping carried his bowl to Li Long's side and said while eating:

"Xiao Long, I heard from Daqiang that you hunted quite a lot of things in the mountains?"

"Not too many." Li Long pointed to the corral and said, "One roe deer, this red deer, and one half-grown wild boar. There are many things in the mountains, but the mountains are also big. Sometimes you run for a whole day and don't encounter anything."

"That's true." Tian Siping nodded in agreement and asked again, "Are there many people digging for fritillaria in the mountains? I heard there's a lot of fritillaria too?"

This time, it was naturally impossible for Li Long to call Xu Jianjun, but the matter of fritillaria had spread. Tian Siping was there at the time, and to be honest, he had ideas at the time, but seeing Xu Jianjun fined, he gave up. Now that he came to ask, he actually mainly wanted Li Long to lead him.

Li Long didn't hide it either, saying while eating:

"Same as when we were weaving carrying poles at the beginning, some were dug by the forestry team themselves, and some were dug secretly. Don't I have the proof from the supply and marketing cooperative? So I can collect them, and others can't control it. It's still the same now. If individuals go in to dig, if they aren't caught, then they've earned it. If they are caught by the forestry team, it's at least a fine—in this day and age, the mountain tops are like the land on our side, all divided into plots."

In front of others, Tian Siping couldn't say he wanted Li Long to take him into the mountains to do these small actions, so he nodded and didn't say anything else.

After eating, these people rested for half an hour, lying down or sitting. Xie Yun Dong got up to hitch the horse. Li Long shouted:

"Get up and work!"

The young people slowly stood up. The sun was still quite poisonous at this time, but they couldn't rest for a long time, otherwise, they would be even less motivated to work.

Probably because of the venison, the efficiency of working in the afternoon was even higher than in the morning. Before the sun set, the renovation of the various corrals of the horse corral had been completed, and a 1.5-meter-high wall had been built. These people even repaired some of the dilapidated parts of the Old Horse Corral. Finally, the remaining mud was simply used to plaster the houses they lived in.

Looking at the renovated horse corral, Li Long was very satisfied.

"Xiao Long, there's quite a lot of venison left in the kitchen, what should we do?" Uncle Lao Luo asked.

"Is one piece enough for one person?" Li Long asked.

"Enough."

"Then stir-fry two dishes. Those who want to eat this venison can eat it directly, those who don't want to can distribute it to everyone, and they can take it back to eat." Li Long said, "Today was physical labor, we must let everyone eat well."

"Okay." Uncle Lao Luo nodded, "With this horse corral fixed, we won't need to move it for three to five years."

After everyone finished their work, they tidied up the tools and washed them. Uncle Lao Luo shouted to eat again.

"Stir-fried dishes and steamed buns for dinner. There's still some meat left from noon, those who want to eat it can eat it, those who don't can take a piece back per person, and those who want to take meat soup can also take a basin back." Uncle Lao Luo shouted, "Come over to serve the food!"

There were quite a few enamel basins prepared by Li Long here, and everyone could have one to eat.

Two meat dishes, and one meat bone, although it was still sponge cake, it was already very good.

Everyone chatted and laughed, Xie Yun Dong came over and asked Li Long:

"Xiao Long, this task of the carrying pole is completed, are there any others later?"

"Let's see in autumn," Li Long said vaguely, "Let's see if we can take on some other work in autumn."

"As long as there is, it's good." Xie Yun Dong's eyes lit up, "Don't forget our brothers then."

"That's for sure." Li Long said with a smile, "When there is work, the first ones I think of will be you."

After eating, Tao Daqiang stayed behind to help tidy up, and most of the others carried meat or soup home. They had eaten well, but their families hadn't eaten yet. Not to mention the meat, there was also quite a lot of minced meat and oil in the meat soup. Taking this back, adding water and boiling it again, adding some leafy vegetables or noodles, that would be another delicious meal!

Li Long and Tao Daqiang tidied up the place, and then led the horse cart home.

A major event was handled, it was time to ask the eldest brother when the father and mother would come over.

(End of chapter)