Chapter 248: Memories of old times

Gu Xiaoxia went to work, and she told Li Long that she would render the meat left in the large courtyard after she came back, and told Li Long not to touch it again.

The bowls and chopsticks were washed by Gu Xiaoxia, and she also didn't let Li Long touch them. It was quite good for the two of them to scramble to do the work.

At the dining table, Gu Xiaoxia also told Li Long about Wu Shufen's situation. Li Long actually knew about the news that the village primary school was going to be downsized this year, but when Gu Xiaoxia told him, he was still slightly surprised.

There were quite a few people eating the banquet yesterday, and the brigade master's craftsmanship was impeccable. For the Li family, eating meat wasn't a rare thing; they ate it every day. But for most people in the village, eating the banquet was a rare time to satisfy their appetite, so many people went, and it was very lively.

The leftovers from the banquet wouldn't be wasted; they would be poured into a large basin, and then the host would keep the majority, and the women who came to help would each take a small basin home.

Looking at it now, these leftovers are considered very unhygienic, but in that era, they were a rare delicacy. After all, meat could still be picked out from them. Housewives would heat these leftovers, and the whole family would have a "feast" again.

When Li Long was riding back, he saw the cart selling melons at the intersection again, but this time it was someone else.

Most of the wheat fields on both sides of the road had been reaped, some wheat bundles had been taken away, what remained in the fields were wheat stubble, and some wheat bundles were still distributed relatively evenly in the fields.

Someone was picking up wheat ears in the fields, there were also horse-drawn carts in the fields, and someone was carrying wheat bundles.

Li Long suddenly thought of his scoundrel self in his previous life. At that time, he went to help others carry wheat bundles, while the wheat bundles in his own fields were done by his eldest brother and sister-in-law with Li Juan. Li Juan was only ten years old, and she was already holding a wooden fork and working with the adults.

At that time, he was really not a thing.

Looking at the fields where the wheat bundles had already been harvested, there were still people carrying a basket or a urea bag, picking up wheat ears. This must be what "Grain to the Granary" in the primary school textbook was talking about.

And the clay figurines molded by Clay Figure Zhang.

Messy thoughts surged and dissipated in his mind. It wasn't until Li Long saw the students returning home by the road that he realized he had already passed the primary school.

He slowed down, looked all the way, and soon found Li Juan, who was happily talking with her classmates.

"Juan, do you want me to take you back?" Li Long asked with one foot on the ground.

"Yes." Li Juan smiled and said goodbye to her classmates.

Fortunately, Li Long had thought of this point when he tied the meat beforehand; the meat was tied on both sides of the bicycle in two bags, and a sack was placed on top. It was just right for Li Juan to sit on it.

The girl was older, and it was no longer convenient to sit on the front beam.

Bringing Li Juan back home, Li Qing Xia and Du Chunfang were there, and Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei should have gone to reap wheat.

Although Li Jianguo earned a lot of money by going into the mountains to cut poles, the two of them didn't give up participating in the brigade's public work because of this; reaping wheat, threshing, etc., were all fully participated in.

It was the same in previous years. This year, with Li Qing Xia here, although Li Long didn't work, he could help, and Liang Yuemei was already very satisfied.

This life was already much better than last year.

Life has something to look forward to, so there is energy to work.

From the entrance of the Li family, one could see the situation of the wheat field in the south. Li Long had already seen many wheat bundles piled up there.

Because they were the ration fields distributed to each family in the spring, they couldn't plant wheat, so this wheat was the brigade's public property. After it was threshed and cleaned, it was mainly for paying public grain, and after paying it, it was for the brigade's retention and distribution to each family.

The things planted in the public fields were roughly like this. Paying public grain didn't just mean paying grain; oil sunflowers, flax, corn, etc., were all included.

Of course, the things planted in some small plots were decided by the brigade itself and didn't need to be paid; they were mainly for the brigade's public use, or distributed to each family. For example, the safflower planted in front of the residential area.

The grain bureau definitely wouldn't collect this thing, but because it was a medicinal material and could be used to extract oil, the acquisition station definitely collected it. It could be sold for money, and it was planted on wasteland, so it was considered a source of income for the brigade.

There were already people working on the wheat field. Li Long originally wanted to go and see, but thinking of the meat in the sack, he forgot about it.

It's important to work first.

"What's in this sack?" Li Qing Xia asked when he saw Li Long enter the courtyard. He was chopping pig feed there—the Li family had two people go to work, and Li Qing Xia actually wanted to go and show off his wheat-reaping skills, but Li Jianguo wouldn't let him go.

He could only go all over the place to find pig feed, then cut it back and chop it to boil pig feed.

Although there was still quite a lot of feed Li Long bought back and sugar residue they pulled back from the sugar factory at home, in Li Qing Xia's eyes, these things that could be kept should be kept first. He had hands and feet, so just eating without working wouldn't do.

"Yesterday I went to the hot spring in the mountains, saw traces of wild animals, and when I went over this morning, I shot two. One roe deer, one small wild boar." Li Long said, "This isn't it, I brought the meat back—I left some on the street side, and I'll send some to Xiaoxia's dad later. We need to process the rest."

"Then render it." Du Chunfang was burning fire in front of the stove, preparing to boil pig feed, and after hearing Li Long say this, she casually took a sentence, "It's midsummer, and meat isn't easy to keep."

"That's it." Li Long unloaded the meat, and Li Juan had already taken a large basin from the kitchen, then squatted on the side, curiously watching Li Long dismantle the meat.

Although eating meat wasn't a rare thing in the Li family now, and they could eat it every day, looking at these large pieces of meat bones, she was still quite happy.

Li Long picked out the bones, piled the meat on one side, the bones were to be boiled later, and these pieces of meat had to be cut into small pieces before they could be rendered in the pot; the pieces had to be very small, otherwise the oil inside wouldn't be squeezed out.

"Juan, go and hug a bundle of firewood over." Li Long assigned work to Li Juan, "Is your homework finished?"

"Finished." Li Juan stood up and ran towards the firewood pile, saying, "Little Uncle, is one bundle enough?"

"Maybe not enough." Corn stalks and oil sunflower stalks were bundled into bundles, one bundle was one bundle, 20 or 30 pieces. It really wasn't enough for boiling bones and rendering meat.

Li Juan hugged two bundles of firewood over, her hair was stained with grass leaves, and Du Chunfang shouted at her:

"Juan, there's grass on your head, hurry and remove it..."

Li Juan didn't understand why her grandmother was so panicked when she saw grass on her head, but she still quickly smoothed her hair, took the grass off, and threw it away.

Li Long explained with a smile:

"In ancient times, selling things meant inserting a blade of grass on them to express it. Isn't there an idiom called 'inserting a sign to sell one's head'? In ancient times, when selling people, they also inserted a blade of grass on their heads, so your grandmother saw grass on your head and felt it wasn't a good omen, so she told you to remove it quickly."

Li Juan hadn't learned "Fan Jin Passes the Exam" yet, so she didn't know this allusion.

Du Chunfang laughed after hearing Li Long's explanation.

Although Li Juan already understood her grandmother's meaning, she didn't really care much; after all, the things taught in school now had already made her understand many principles.

Li Long cut the meat into small pieces, and after finishing, he brushed the pot and started rendering the meat first, then boiling the meat.

At this time, Li Qiang shouted and ran back from the outside. He held two handfuls of things in both hands, and after seeing Li Long, he shouted in surprise:

"Little Uncle, you're back?"

"Back. Are you on holiday?"

"On holiday." Li Qiang held up the things in his hands to show off to Li Long:

"Look, Little Uncle, sheep horn horns! They are all tender! Uncle, you eat!"

"I won't eat, my hands are busy." Li Long smiled; this thing's scientific name is Cynanchum chinense, it climbs all over the walls of every house, its leaves are a bit like Polygonum multiflorum and Aristolochia, and the fruit it bears is a slender horn, a bit like a green bean pod, with seeds with fluff inside. It can be eaten when tender, and when old, it flies away directly. "Sister, you eat!" Li Qiang directly stuffed a handful of his left hand to Li Juan who was burning fire, and then peeled one and handed it to Li Long on tiptoe:

"Uncle, you eat one!"

"Fine, fine, fine, I'll eat." Li Long ate that sheep horn horn from Li Qiang's hand.

Quite sweet.

"Um, not bad, quite delicious." Li Long praised while eating.

Li Qiang was very proud, peeled two more, gave one to his grandmother, and one to his grandfather.

Li Qing Xia and Du Chunfang were overjoyed.

To tell the truth, they hadn't enjoyed such treatment in their hometown. Although Li Long's second brother also had a son, that sister also had two children.

When Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei returned home, the whole courtyard was filled with the fragrance of meat.

Two pots of meat had already been rendered, one basin had been served, and there was another pot cooling.

"Xiao Long, did you shoot something again? What is it this time?" Li Jianguo asked while taking a towel to pat the wheat awns on his body.

！.

"Roe deer and wild boar." Li Long said, "They also soak in hot springs, I got them at the hot spring."

"Rare, these animals also soak in hot springs!"

Li Long knew that it seemed like the monkeys in the small days also soak in them in later generations, which was quite famous.

"Sister-in-law, you serve the meat later, and boil the bones. I'm going to Xiaoxia's house now to send some meat to her dad."

"Fine." Liang Yuemei agreed readily, "Take more meat, Xiaoxia doesn't come back often, you take more meat, his life can be better."

"Good." Li Long said, "I'll take two legs, and some ribs."

Li Long took the meat and went to the Gu family. Gu Bo Yuan had also just returned from the wheat field—their family wasn't in the same residential area as the Li family, and the location of the wheat field was also different. Gu Bo Yuan participated in collective labor twice this year, and earned quite a few work points by weaving lifting handles and tying brooms, but he didn't stop participating in the brigade's public work because of this, but instead participated as much as possible.

Li Long guessed that Gu Bo Yuan should want to earn more money and didn't want to affect Gu Xiaoxia—Gu Xiaoxia would definitely give him money, but with Gu Bo Yuan's character, he wouldn't necessarily want it.

"Uncle Gu, this is the wild boar and roe deer meat I shot today, do you see if it should be rendered, or boiled directly?"

"Then it must be rendered, and the bones boiled." Gu Bo Yuan looked at the meat Li Long brought over and said with a smile: "You got quite a lot!"

"The wild boar and roe deer aren't big, I left some at the county courtyard, Xiaoxia is probably rendering meat now too, and my side just finished rendering. It was a coincidence today, when I went to the hot spring, I didn't expect those animals to go soak in the bath too..."

"Really or fake? These animals also soak in hot springs?" Gu Bo Yuan was also hearing it for the first time and asked, "Are there many?"

"Many, groups of wild boars, roe deer are also several, and other animals..." Li Long described the scene at that time.

"According to what you said, if there were three or five people, the harvest would be great!" Gu Bo Yuan was also quite interested, and then shook his head, "Not now, no time. During the busy farming season, no family has spare time... but after autumn, it's possible."

"No." Old Luo said with a smile, "Wait until there's enough money, just buy me a radio."

"Then let's get a few more guns at that time, and we'll all go into the mountains to experience it."

"Fine, fine, fine." Although Gu Bo Yuan was considered a scholar, hunting, and it could improve the food, he was definitely willing to participate.

Li Long didn't put down the meat and leave. Old Gu couldn't handle boiling bones and rendering meat alone, and now it was getting a bit late, so Li Long, as a prospective son-in-law, naturally had to help.

So when he came out of the Gu family, the sky was completely dark.

Electric poles had already been erected on the side of the road, and wires had been pulled to each house, and light bulbs and such had been installed, but the electricity hadn't been sent yet.

Li Jianguo heard from Xu Chengjun that the township's busbar transformer and such hadn't been done well yet.

But it was soon.

When Li Long walked out of the Gu family residential area, he saw someone squatting on the side of the road.

He shouted:

"Who?"

"Brother Long, it's me." Tao Daqiang's voice rang out.

"Why are you squatting here?" Li Long was a bit puzzled, "What happened?"

While talking, he walked forward. When he walked to Tao Daqiang, Li Long was startled!

"What's wrong with you? Were you beaten?"

Looking at Tao Daqiang, who was bruised and swollen, Li Long was really surprised. Tao Daqiang was also considered a strong man in the brigade, how could he be beaten like this?

"No, no, I was stung by a hornet while reaping wheat..." Tao Daqiang was a bit embarrassed, "I also went to reap wheat today. When I reaped more than a mu of land, I didn't notice there was a large hornet's nest on the wheat stalk. I didn't see it until I cut the wheat stalk down, and as a result..."

Li Long couldn't help but want to laugh, and felt it was a bit immoral, but this matter—it's really easy to laugh!

Hornets aren't like honeybees; honeybees sting people once, the person is in pain, and the honeybee dies. Hornets don't have barbs on their stings and can sting several times in a row.

"Did you wipe it with vinegar and soapy water? That can disinfect?"

"No, just used some saliva..." Tao Daqiang really didn't know much.

Li Long knew that this was considered a "folk remedy," saying that saliva can eliminate bee venom, and there was even a disgusting saying that nasal mucus can disinfect.

Actually, it's either vinegar or soapy water, because one is vinegar and one is alkali. As for which one specifically, try it and you'll know.

This wasn't easy to comfort, so Li Long said:

"Then hurry back and try vinegar and soapy water, that really can disinfect."

"... Fine. Brother Long, then this trip back, when are you going to catch fish again?" Tao Daqiang asked his heartfelt words.

"That... has to be in a few days." Li Long thought to himself, I'm hiding from reaping wheat, and seeing you like this, I have to hide even more, "There are still some things in the mountains that aren't finished, I have to go tomorrow."

"Then... then fine, I'll find you when you come back." Tao Daqiang was a bit disappointed, but he also knew that Li Long couldn't come back specifically to catch fish for him.

"If you don't want to reap wheat, take the net from my house and set it yourself, then go to the county to sell it." Li Long looked at Tao Daqiang's somewhat lonely back and said, "Anyway, you also know how to set the net. Look at Meng Zhiqiang who can sell fish, you can too. If it really doesn't work, use the money distributed to you to buy a bicycle, it's convenient..."

Tao Daqiang was stunned for a while, stood for a while, and walked away again.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 249 =====