Chapter 226

The horse cart overtook those people and arrived at the county seat.

Li Qing Xia suddenly said:

"Don't you think those people could just earn money properly? There are so many good things in the mountains; just digging a little would earn a lot of money... why do they have to be thieves, murderers, and robbers?"

"Because that money is easy to earn, because of uneven distribution of spoils, because human nature is greedy and can never be filled. Since it can't be filled, some people work hard to earn money, while others resort to crooked paths..."

Li Long was just speaking from feeling, and after finishing, he suddenly laughed:

"Dad, didn't you encounter this when you were doing business in your youth?"

"At that time... I encountered it, but no lives were lost. People would hold a gun against you—that kind of crude, single-shot gun—you'd have to obediently hand over the money... but it also depends on the person. If they were five steps away from me, I wouldn't be afraid. That thing isn't accurate from a distance... I didn't grow this big for nothing..."

Li Long just listened to his father bragging there and drove the horse cart to the collection station first.

Chen Hongjun of the collection station was chatting with a colleague under the shade of a tree outside. Seeing Li Long driving the horse cart over, he walked forward two steps with a smile and asked:

"Yo, Comrade Li, are you back from the mountains? Did you bring any good things?"

"The house in the mountains was stolen, and I happened to catch them in the act. He ruined all the things in my room, so I took some of their things to offset the debt." Li Long explained clearly, "Deer antlers, fritillaria, and codonopsis, but this codonopsis might not be very good, so I won't sell it. It's mainly the deer antlers and what should be fritillaria here."

After explaining, he introduced to Chen Hongjun:

"Comrade Chen, this is my father, who came from the interior a while ago."

"Yo, Uncle Li, hello! Uncle Li, your health looks quite good!"

"Haha, not bad." Li Qing Xia had already become a bit accustomed to Li Long's connections and responded with a smile, not saying much, fearing he would show his ignorance.

"Then Comrade Li, take the things inside, let's take a look."

"Okay." Li Long tied the horse to a tree by the side of the road, then unloaded the sack from the back and dragged it into the collection station.

Li Qing Xia hesitated for a moment and didn't follow him in; he was afraid something might happen to the cart.

"Dad, come in, your two deer antlers are there too." Li Long greeted him at the door.

"You just watch it." Li Qing Xia waved his hand.

"It's fine, the door is open, you can see everything at a glance." Li Long said with a smile, "It's broad daylight, nothing will happen."

Only then did Li Qing Xia enter the room.

Chen Hongjun was already looking at the deer antlers there.

"This pair of deer antlers is not bad..." He was looking at the deer antlers Li Long had swiped from those two people, "Newly shed this year, large size, and good quality. The price is good now. I'll calculate it at six yuan per kilogram. Let me weigh these two... twelve point one kilograms, seventy-two yuan and sixty cents."

Li Long didn't feel anything, but Li Qing Xia was startled!

These two things that looked like firewood were worth over seventy yuan!

That was two months' wages for a worker!

Was the stuff in the mountains too profitable?

"This antler is large, but the quality is a bit worse. If it were a pair, it would be better. Now these deer antlers can not only be boiled into glue, but some people also like to take them home and put them in the room as decorations..." Chen Hongjun explained to Li Long while looking at them, "Calculated at five yuan and fifty cents per kilogram... this branch is not small, nine point eight kilograms, that's fifty-three yuan and ninety cents. The two together are one hundred and twenty-six yuan. Let's look at these two..."

He went to take the two branches Li Qing Xia had picked up.

"These two branches are old antlers, they should have been shed last year or the year before. The horn quality isn't very good, how about I calculate it at four yuan and fifty cents for you?"

Li Long turned his head to look at Li Qing Xia.

"Fine, fine!" Li Qing Xia naturally had no objections.

"Then let's weigh them, this pair of antlers... seven point nine kilograms, thirty-five yuan and fifty-five cents, um, that's the price."

Li Qing Xia was also very happy. Although it wasn't as expensive as Li Long's antlers, it was still a month's wages for a worker!

He could get so much money just by picking up some things in the mountains?

Li Long thought to himself that he should educate the old man later to avoid him having unrealistic fantasies.

"This fritillaria..."

"It's better to pour it out and take a look." Li Long saw Chen Hongjun going to look at the fritillaria and said, "I got it from their earth shelter, and I didn't open it to look. You should check it carefully."

"Okay," Chen Hongjun found a basket, poured the fritillaria into it, rummaged through it, and said: "This fritillaria is a bit dirty—eh, why is there a mushroom? Morel? This stuff is here too..."

"Do you collect these morels?" Li Long saw Chen Hongjun pick out a few leaves from the pile of fritillaria and pick out a small dried morel, so he asked: "I saw them in the mountains."

"We collect them, but they aren't expensive. One kilogram of dried goods is only twenty or thirty yuan."

"That's not cheap either." Li Qing Xia couldn't help but say, "This stuff... is also so expensive?"

"Uncle, this is a precious mushroom species," Chen Hongjun explained with a smile, "Your son should know that this stuff only grows for a month or two in the mountains, and it's gone after the season... and dried goods are very hard to dry. Seven or eight kilograms of fresh goods only yield one kilogram of dried goods."

"No wonder it's so expensive..."

"I won't pick them this year." Li Long said, "We can pick a little in the mountains for our own family to eat. We'll talk about it next year. By the way, Comrade Chen, do you collect those black tiger palm mushrooms?"

"We collect them." Chen Hongjun nodded and said, "But they haven't grown out yet, right?"

"It should be soon." Li Long nodded, "How do you collect those?"

"About twenty for dried goods, and the price can be higher if the quality is good."

"Then I'll have to stay in the mountains for a good while after a period of time."

"Um, that's possible. They grow in large patches, and unlike these morels, they aren't so small and hard to ship."

Li Long nodded.

Finally, these fritillaria were collected at thirty-six per kilogram, mainly because the impurities weren't removed and were included in the weight.

In total, Li Long's batch of goods brought in nearly three hundred, and although Li Qing Xia only had thirty-plus yuan, he was also happy.

After leaving the collection station, Li Long took Li Qing Xia to the Meat Canteen to buy a few steamed buns, and the two walked back while eating.

"Xiao Long, what is that black tiger palm mushroom you mentioned?"

"A type of mushroom." Li Long gestured, "Bigger than a palm, the pattern on it is black stripes, looking like a tiger's claw from a distance... by the way, ordinary mushrooms don't have strips underneath, but that one is fuzzy, which is quite special."

"Is it easy to find?" "Easy to find. A big one can weigh half a kilogram. Once you find the place, you find a large patch." Li Long had picked them when he went into the mountains to play in his previous life. At that time, he didn't know what kind of mushroom it was, and it was also popularized by others. Later, he saw it on short videos.

"Then after this work is done, let's pick these mushrooms in the mountains," Li Qing Xia said with a smile, "That would earn a lot of money."

"Alright." Li Long naturally had no objections. When the time came, he would stay in the mountains, and it would also be a good time to check on the wooden cabin and the winter shelters of Halimu and the others, to avoid them being destroyed again.

Li Long drove the cart directly to the brigade leader's house.

Xu Chengjun wasn't at home. When Ma Hongmei saw Li Long pulling a cart of poles, she hurriedly ran out to call Xu Chengjun. She knew that Xu Chengjun had also been worried about this pole problem for the past two days.

Xu Chengjun came back running. Looking at the cart of poles, he panted heavily and then smiled. He asked Li Long:

"These poles... not bad, your efficiency is quite high!"

"Then how are the brooms being tied in the brigade?" Li Long also asked back, "How many have been tied? Is there enough Jiji grass? Is the quality up to standard?"

"You can rest assured about that!" Xu Chengjun's voice was loud, "The day you left, I called people to make a dozen more planting stakes (tools for tying brooms). Everyone in the brigade was sent to cut Jiji grass, and now the Jiji grass is almost ready to be used... of course, your family didn't go, but your family doesn't lack this, right? By the way, I asked the accountant to buy dozens of kilograms of thick iron wire and asked Old Gu, Gu Bo Yuan, to distribute it to each household. You can't find that many iron rings, but iron wire works too."

"Then the quality of the large brooms must be guaranteed." Li Long knew that Xu Chengjun deliberately pointed out Gu Bo Yuan to let him understand that he understood. He nodded with a smile and then said, "Outside the broom..."

"Rest assured, red willow twigs will definitely be woven around it." Xu Chengjun took the words before Li Long finished, "I'm also thinking about taking this job every year in the future. I wouldn't dare to be careless about this."

!.

"Alright then. This cart has six hundred poles. We'll pull more down in a couple of days. Let's unload them first..."

"No need, no need, wait a moment, people are coming immediately... they're here." Xu Chengjun was very polite to Li Long now. He would definitely be polite to someone who could bring major jobs and big money-making jobs to the brigade!

Five or six young men walked over hurriedly from outside. They greeted Li Long and Li Qing Xia with smiles and then started unloading the poles without waiting for orders.

After the cart of poles was unloaded, Xu Chengjun asked Li Long in a low voice:

"Xiao Long, the distribution of these poles..."

"That's your business." Li Long said with a smile, "I'm only responsible for cutting the poles and the final inspection."

"Alright, alright." Li Long didn't care about so many things, and Xu Chengjun was very happy. "Then have you eaten at noon..."

"We ate in the county seat. Now we're going back to rest for a while, we still have to hurry into the mountains."

"Then I won't keep you. I've recorded the number of poles, shall we calculate them together later?"

"Of course we'll calculate them together." Li Long said and went home with Li Qing Xia.

The sun had already begun to slant westward. When Li Long and Li Qing Xia returned home, Du Chunfang was chopping sugar beet leaves under the shed.

"Yo, you're back?" Hearing the sound of the horse cart, Du Chunfang raised her head. Seeing Li Qing Xia and Li Long return, she hurriedly stood up, wiped her hands, and said:

"Are you tired? I'll pour you some water..."

"Mom, don't move, we'll do it ourselves." Li Long tied the horse cart and said, "We have to leave in a while."

"Why so urgent?" Du Chunfang asked, "Can't you eat dinner and leave tomorrow?"

"Can a money-making job not be urgent?" Li Qing Xia said, "The whole village is waiting for these poles to tie brooms, how can we wait?"

As he spoke, he took out a handful of bills, counted out twenty, and handed them to Du Chunfang:

"Here, take it. I found deer antlers in the mountains. If it weren't for Xiao Long's reminder, I wouldn't have known this could be sold for money... this money is really easy to earn!"

"Dad, it's not that easy to find deer antlers in the mountains." Li Long interjected, "You were lucky, it won't be easy later. Think about those two I hit; they were in the mountains for so long and only found those three."

"That's true." Li Qing Xia laughed, "Anyway, being able to find them is a windfall. If we can't find them, cutting poles also earns money. By the way, Xiao Long is amazing. He hit a Mongolian gazelle this time, and we also brought back some braised meat."

Du Chunfang smiled; her son was just amazing!

Liang Yumei had gone to the fields to pull weeds and wouldn't be back for a while. Li Long and the others drank water, rested for a while, fed the horses some feed, and drove the horse cart toward the mountains.

When they returned to the mountains, the sun was already on the top of the western mountains. Li Long saw two bundles of poles piled up beside the wooden cabin. These should be the poles Li Jianguo and Tao Dayong carried back at noon.

"Dad, you rest here in the room for a while, I'll go cut some poles."

"Alright, then you go." Li Qing Xia knew his son was concerned about him, so he didn't say much. After all, he wasn't as familiar with this place as his son, and if he really ran into wolves or something, it would be hard to say.

Li Long found a gully nearby. There were no willow trees in the gully, so he went directly to the forest on the slope and started cutting the branches of those large trees. Such branches were also thick enough, and there was no problem using them as broom handles.

By the time it got dark, Li Long had cut a dozen poles and carried them back to the wooden cabin.

Li Jianguo had already returned, and Tao Dayong was carrying poles from afar and walking back.

"Dayong is really capable of enduring hardship." Li Jianguo looked at Tao Dayong's figure and said, "Cutting over a hundred poles a day, his hands are blistered, but he doesn't complain."

"He is capable of enduring hardship." Li Qing Xia was adding fire beside the stove. He was boiling rice soup, and a plate of braised liver, tripe, and other things was on the wooden table. Li Jianguo swatted at the flies trying to crawl over from time to time, and Li Qing Xia continued: "This kid is willing to work."

Tao Dayong didn't know everyone's evaluation of him. He came over carrying the poles, put them down, went to the spring to wash, and then came over to see if there was anything he could help with.

Over the next two days, Li Long honestly went to cut poles. The four of them exerted effort together and cut nearly a thousand. In the evening, Li Long said:

"Get up early tomorrow morning, I'll go see if there are any wild boars. If I can hit one, I'll hit it. We'll keep some to eat and take some home."

"Then I'm going too!" Li Qing Xia hadn't found any deer antlers for the past two days and was a bit disappointed, so he said: "Can I use that small-caliber gun?"

Li Jianguo heard this and asked with a smile:

"Dad, can you hit the target with that gun?"

"That... no."

"Then you'd better not use it." Li Jianguo said, "Dayong and I have both received militia training, so we can use it. You can't hit the target, wouldn't that be a waste?"

"Alright." Li Qing Xia knew this was the truth, so he didn't insist on using the gun, "But I still want to follow."

"Then let the four of us go." Li Jianguo said, "If we can hit one, we hit it—if we can't, we'll treat it as exercising our bodies."

Li Long couldn't laugh or cry. Exercising the body by getting up two or three hours early? Are you saying you're not tired from working?

But he also wanted to see if the place he had seen earlier still had wild boars.

If they were really there, hunting would also be a way to adjust the tense rhythm of life.

Early the next morning, the four of them climbed out of bed, brought their equipment, and set off.

(End of chapter)