Chapter 228: Li Long's gold-lettered signboard cannot fall

Unloading the wooden poles, Li Long led the horse cart home, rested for a while with Li Qing Xia, and incidentally trimmed the meat and rendered oil with Du Chunfang.

The wild boar meat had quite a lot of fat at this time, better than during the Spring Festival, and the rendered oil was plentiful and looked very beautiful.

Li Long and Li Qing Xia raced against time and returned to the mountains. They unharnessed the horse, Li Qing Xia went to cut poles, and Li Long led the horse and also went to the same gully as yesterday.

There were trees on both sides of the gully; the south side was pine and cypress trees, and the north side was shrubbery and wild fruit trees.

Li Long led the horse to a tree at the bottom of the gully, tied it up, first took a tree branch and beat around the vicinity to see that there were no "spicy strips" (snakes) present, and then went to cut poles with peace of mind.

When Liang Yumei returned home, she smelled the aroma of meat in the courtyard and felt a bit strange.

Li Juan and Li Qiang had both returned, each holding a bowl and eating the meat rendered with oil, their mouths oily.

Seeing her mother return, Li Juan immediately used chopsticks to pick up a piece of meat and stretched it to Liang Yumei's mouth:

"Mom, you eat! This is wild boar meat that Grandpa and the others brought back today, Grandma rendered it, it's so fragrant!"

"Good, good, good," Liang Yumei couldn't refuse, ate a piece, and it was indeed quite fragrant.

"Mom, you eat!" Seeing that her mother had eaten what her sister fed her, Li Qiang also immediately picked up a larger piece of meat and stuffed it into Liang Yumei's mouth: "So fragrant!"

"Hey!"

Liang Yumei ate two pieces of meat, and while chewing, she unloaded the bundle of grass she was carrying on her back and asked Du Chunfang:

"Mom, are Dad and the others back?"

"Back, brought back one and a half wild boars' worth of meat, and some hearts, livers, and such. The meat is being rendered, how should we handle these internal organs?"

"Are there many?"

"Two boars' worth." Du Chunfang was both happy and worried. Being worried because there was too much meat to eat and not knowing how to process it, this was truly a happy trouble.

Living to sixty years old, she really hadn't expected there would be such a day.

"Then braise some, boil some. Cooked meat is easier to store. Doesn't our family have two stoves? Take one stove out, specifically for boiling meat, burn it to a boil every half day, that way it can be stored for a longer time. Also, send some to people." Liang Yumei thought for a while and said, "Xiaoxia, that is, send some to the father of Little Long's partner, Daqiang..."

"Daqiang's family has meat, your dad and Little Long and the others sent it over." Du Chunfang hurriedly said.

"Then send some to the neighbors, we can't let it rot at home." Liang Yumei said.

"Then tomorrow morning, you don't go to work first, send some to Juan and Qiangqiang's maternal grandfather's side." Du Chunfang said, "We can't be eating meat while they have nothing over there... Little Long has told me many times, all these years, his maternal grandfather's side has often sent things over, now that we have some, we can't be stingy..."

"Hmm!" Liang Yumei was very gratified and very happy. Her mother-in-law could think of her maternal home, which made her feel that her mother-in-law really treated her as one of the family.

The next morning, Li Juan and Li Qiang went to school, Du Chunfang was busy with vegetable garden matters at home, and Liang Yumei carried a pig leg and some pork belly and hurried toward her maternal home.

Liang Wenyu was working in the fields, Liang Donglou was sharpening a sickle in the courtyard. Seeing Liang Yumei hurry back, he asked:

"Why did you come back? Did something happen at home?"

"No, Juan's dad, Little Long, and my father-in-law went up the mountain to cut shovel handles, and look, yesterday they hit two wild boars and sent them down, so I brought some meat over..."

"What meat are you bringing? We have everything at home!" Liang Donglou said with dissatisfaction, "Did you send it over yourself?"

"No, my mother-in-law asked me to send it over, saying there was a lot of meat at home, and this side has often taken care of the family all these years, so she asked me to send some over..."

"A daughter sends meat over, look at you with your nose not like a nose and eyes not like eyes!" Chen Xiuzhu walked out from the door and glared at Liang Donglou, "Why are you like interrogating a prisoner?"

"I'm not worried that she sent the meat over herself, that whole family is there, isn't this causing conflict? She married into the Li family, so she should think more about the Li family's affairs. Your mother and I aren't old, and Wenyu is also an adult, it's not like we can't take care of ourselves?..."

"That's true..." Chen Xiuzhu nodded, turned her head and said to Liang Yumei, "Your dad and I are both doing fine, you just live your own little life well. How are Juan and Qiangqiang?"

"Very good, half a head taller than children of their age, and very sturdy," Liang Yumei said with a smile, "Eating meat every day, how could they not be good."

"Good is good." Liang Donglou's expression softened, "Then with Jianguo and the others in the mountains, the work in the fields all depends on you. I won't keep you, let your mom pick some tomatoes for you to take back. We planted them early in our courtyard, and now there are ripe ones, just right to take back to stir-fry."

"Alright." Liang Yumei didn't refuse either, and followed Chen Xiuzhu to pick vegetables.

In the vegetable garden, Liang Yumei quietly stuffed ten yuan to Chen Xiuzhu and said:

"Mom, you take it, use it if anything comes up."

"That won't do, you are the one in charge at home, this money can't be given to me..."

"Mom, don't worry, our family has quite a lot of money now. Little Long gives Jianguo money from time to time, he buys everything for the family, there's nothing to spend money on at home..."

"That still won't do. Little Long is at the age to start a family, you have to save some money for him. His parents have been in their hometown for years, and this matter of starting a family still has to be arranged by Jianguo and you..."

"Mom, don't worry about that, I have a count in my heart. All these years, the money Dad and you gave us has been several tens, now that the family has money, we have to return some to you... This is also Jianguo's intention. Mom, don't worry, the family really has money, Jianguo is now a professional pig raiser, and the commune even awarded a bicycle..."

"... Then alright, I'll accept this money." Chen Xiuzhu nodded, "You all are living well, we can rest assured."

Liang Yumei returned to the Li family with a dozen tomatoes, and Chen Xiuzhu handed that ten yuan to Liang Donglou.

"Why do you want her money?" Liang Donglou had a big temper and got angry again, "Her family just started to improve, and you take her money? Now her father-in-law and mother-in-law are still there..."

"Didn't she say it, now Little Long often gives Jianguo money, that fishing brings in money every day, and Yumei has nothing to spend money on, saying this is considered returning the compensation we gave their family all these years..."

"Then what parents would want their money?" Liang Donglou still felt it was inappropriate.

"Wenyu also needs to find a partner, we can't not prepare for that, right." Chen Xiuzhu said in a low voice, "Wenyu is also grown up, in the team, those his age all have partners, and there are quite a few who are married..."

"Then... alright." Liang Donglou also knew this was a fact. In order to make his married daughters not live too poorly, he often subsidized his two daughters, and both daughters' families were living quite well now, which gratified him, but his own family wasn't living as brightly.

At noon, Li Long cut a bundle of poles and returned to the wooden cabin. After putting down the poles, he began to cook.

Actually, the meal was still relatively simple now. The braised yellow sheep internal organs hadn't been finished yet. Before leaving in the morning, Li Long had leavened the dough, intending to steam some buns.

The dough was already leavened. Li Long directly took the wooden table to the spring water to wash it clean. After bringing it back, the scorching sun dried the table in a while, and then he sprinkled flour and began to knead the dough.

Having lived two lives, Li Long was quite good at steaming buns. He knew that to steam buns well, there was only one secret, and that was kneading!

Knead the dough well, knead it a few more times, and the steamed buns would be quite good.

Of course, it wasn't the kind of "puffed bun" with enough baking powder—in the nineties, when machine-steamed buns first came out, students on work-study programs ate those; they were convenient, simple, and cheap.

Students called them steam buns—they looked beautiful, but when you squeezed them, they were just a small lump, not solid. The buns Li Long steamed were very solid.

Because he didn't bring a steamer, he could only steam one layer in the pot, which was relatively simple.

While the buns were steaming on the stove, Li Long started stir-frying the meat sauce in the pot.

The braised meat was very dry and oily, but had no flavor. Li Long wanted to add chili powder, salt, and other seasonings to the meat and stir-fry it again. That way, after the buns were steamed, eating the buns with this meat sauce would be incomparably fragrant!

Li Long stir-fried a full enamel basin of meat sauce, a full two or three kilograms of meat. If Li Jianguo saw this, he would definitely say that doing so was a waste.

Li Long didn't care. Now he was doing physical labor, going out early and returning late every day, how could he not replenish his energy well?

And he had calculated that these three thousand poles would bring in fifteen hundred yuan, which was more than three hundred yuan per person for the four of them. How much meat could that buy?

So no matter how he ate now, it wasn't excessive!

He calculated the time, the buns were almost steamed, so he withdrew the fire, intending to wait a few minutes before uncovering the pot.

This kind of bun steamed directly in the pot without a steamer had a circle of bun skin against the edge of the pot that would be roasted to a charred yellow by the iron pot, and the taste was excellent.

Li Long felt he could reward himself with one such bun later.

No, two!

Just as he was thinking about beautiful things there, a person riding a horse in the distance ran over quickly.

!.

Li Long was a bit surprised looking at that familiar figure.

Halimu carrying a gun on his back!

Why did he come over?

Halimu rode his horse over, arrived in front of Li Long's wooden cabin, and stopped.

He jumped off the horse, and somewhat excitedly extended his hand to Li Long:

"Duosen, are you doing well!"

"Doing well, doing well!" Li Long shook his hand, pulled him over for a hug, and also asked somewhat excitedly:

"Why did you come over? Is something wrong in the mountains?"

Halimu looked dusty and travel-worn, and it felt like there must be something wrong, having hurried over all the way.

Li Long remembered him saying that the summer pasture was several days' journey away from here, so he must have suffered quite a bit.

Look at his horse, it was covered in sweat.

"I, indeed, have an urgent matter." Halimu's face was full of smiles. He also didn't expect that he would run into Li Long upon running over; it was truly a coincidence, too magical!

Halimu was tanned very dark, his skin looked rougher than before, and he felt like he had spots on his face, but for a man, this didn't count for anything.

"Tell me, what's the matter, I'll definitely handle it for you here." Li Long said, taking full responsibility.

"Batteries, need to buy many, many batteries!"

"What? Buy batteries?" Li Long didn't expect Halimu to say something that surprised him.

"Yes." Halimu smiled, his smile a bit shy, likely also feeling embarrassed that they had used up so many batteries so quickly over there, "Not my family, all... all the radios, the batteries are gone, there's no electricity."

Li Long remembered bringing them quite a few batteries, how could it be so fast?

"That place—is relatively damp, the batteries very quickly... went bad." Halimu tried hard to explain.

"When buying batteries later, find a box or something to wrap them in, try your best not to let them get damp." Li Long said, "Then I'll go buy batteries for you all."

"Hmm, the more the better." Halimu untied a large bag from the horse's back, squatted down, and untied it, saying:

"These things, exchange for money to buy batteries."

"Don't be in a hurry, I have money here, come, drink some water." Li Long said, "Eat something?"

"I have naan with me." Halimu waved his hand, "I ate on the road just now."

Alright, forgot that this was a nation on horseback, eating while hurrying on the road was a very normal thing.

However, when Halimu opened the bag and took out an item, Li Long was still startled!

A skin with black and white patterns.

Snow leopard skin!

"This snow leopard, ran into the pen at night to steal sheep, when we chased it, it didn't run, so it was beaten to death." Halimu explained, "The skin should be worth some money."

Not just worth some money, although Li Long hadn't asked, he knew this thing was extremely valuable!

"There are also some jade stones." Halimu said, "In the summer pasture, there are jade mines, left over from a long time ago. These jade stones, look very beautiful, but they are from the mountains, not from the river, don't know if they are worth money or not..."

Li Long looked at the seven or eight jade stones the size of a bowl, and found that at least four of them had black spots of jasper invisible to the naked eye.

Although they were mountain materials, the delicate jade flesh was not a bit worse than the few seed materials sold earlier!

They were also good things!

"By the way, there are also snow lotus flowers. I saw them when grazing, so I picked some back." Halimu took out six snow lotus flowers.

Li Long took them, feeling cool in his hand, and a faint, elegant fragrance wafted into his nose. These snow lotus flowers were cut from the flower stalk, not pulled out by the root. Li Long knew Halimu was an expert.

"That's all these things, the rest are some naan." Halimu said with a smile, "You... how many batteries can these things exchange for?"

"You want as many as you want to exchange for." Li Long thought to himself, is this a joke! This one snow leopard skin, no matter what, has to sell for several hundred yuan! That box of batteries has ten, only five or six yuan, one hundred boxes?

"No no no, Li Long, I don't want that many, twenty boxes is enough." Halimu said with a smile, "We will definitely preserve them well this time."

"Then are you resting here, or returning to your winter den? Someone moved things there, I simply tidied it up, and then used a stick to block the door, don't know if anyone else entered..."

"I went there, the door is still being blocked by a stick, I guess that's what you did!" Halimu said with a smile.

At this time, Li Qing Xia and Li Jianguo walked back together carrying poles, and not long after, Tao Daqiang also returned.

Seeing Halimu, they were all a bit surprised. After Li Long introduced him, Li Jianguo and Li Qing Xia were very enthusiastic again.

"Not eating meat, can eat steamed buns, right!" Li Qing Xia heard Li Long say that the first sum of money he earned was obtained from Halimu here, so he was very friendly to this Kazakh person.

Halimu was a bit unaccustomed to it.

Fortunately, Li Long quickly helped him out of it, let him eat, and go to the winter den to rest.

Li Long rode his bicycle, returned to the county, and bought batteries.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 229 =====