Chapter 278

Early this morning, after returning from taking the nets from the reservoir, Li Long said to Tao Daqiang while picking fish:

"Daqiang, after selling the fish today, we won't set the nets in the afternoon. We'll wait until we finish harvesting the oil sunflowers and corn during this period before catching fish."

"Alright." Tao Daqiang nodded. "My family has little land, after I finish harvesting, I'll come over to help your family harvest."

Although the Li family has many people, and Li Jianguo and his wife are capable, there are several pigs to feed, and the two children still have to go to school, so it's impossible for Li Long to really act like he doesn't see anything and not do anything.

He really couldn't participate in cutting wheat, after all, it was the team's work, but he could still do the harvesting of oil sunflowers and corn.

During this period when going to sell fish, Li Long would take Li Juan and Li Qiang along, at least for the road to school, they could save a lot of time.

Before leaving, Li Long gave Tao Daqiang five yuan, and the accounts for this period were settled.

On the road, Li Long saw people from the team walking to the county carrying wet urea bags, he greeted them when passing by, and rode past them.

The old street in Shicheng was still lively, Li Long found an empty spot to set up his stall and shouted loudly. In less than an hour, the fish were sold, and Li Long packed up the stall and went to eat breakfast.

Recently, the amount of fish caught every morning was not as much as before, eight nets could catch the amount of six nets before, and quite a few small crucian carp less than a palm wide could be hung in the small-eyed nets, which should be the crucian carp fry from spring that had grown up.

Although there were many fish in this little sea, it was impossible for them to grow infinitely, so Li Long was considered to be in a closed fishing season for the next period of time. Although others caught fish, firstly, there were few nets, and secondly, they could only wander around the edges, which had little impact on the fish in the little sea.

After breakfast, he went to the Shicheng Department Store to buy some snacks, Li Long saw that there were even mooncakes for sale, but he didn't buy any. There were still more than ten days until the Mid-Autumn Festival, if he bought them back now and ate them during the Mid-Autumn Festival, there would be no sense of ritual.

Festivals, in fact, are all about a sense of ritual.

At noon, he ate with Gu Xiaoxia in the courtyard, and Li Long mentioned this matter.

"I won't come over for the next few days, I'll come after the oil sunflowers and corn at home are harvested. I'll also go over to help you harvest yours then—by the way, hasn't your household registration been moved to the township yet?"

"Not yet."

"Then don't move it for now," Li Long said. "Don't worry, you are still being borrowed by the Education Bureau here, if you can be confirmed to stay formally, then we'll talk about it. If you can't stay and have to return to the township middle school, then move it to the township."

He was talking about uncertainty, but in fact, Li Long still had a little bit of a plan. If it's not moved now, then when the land is divided in a while, Gu Xiaoxia will still be divided some land. Later on, it will be land contracting, and at that time, whoever has the ability will contract it, basically regardless of population.

In the countryside, there is land, so no matter how you mix in the city in the future, at least there is something to rely on when you come back.

Although Li Long finally bought an apartment in the county relying on the dividends from the cooperative, he knew himself that he was always a rural person, and without land, he was really nothing.

Gu Xiaoxia was very willing to listen to advice in this regard, understanding that Li Long was doing it for her own good.

Before going to work, Gu Xiaoxia took out two bags of things and put them on the back seat of Li Long's bicycle:

"These two bags are fruits and some food I bought. Put the small bag at my dad's place, and take the big bag back."

"Alright." Li Long responded with a smile. Gu Xiaoxia was now trying hard to adapt to the identity of Li Long's fiancée, which is a good thing.

Returning to the team, Li Long went to the Gu family first, seeing that Gu Bo Yuan was not there, he turned back.

There was no one in the courtyard, Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei should both be busy in the fields. Li Long saw that the nets had been tidied up, which should have been done by Tao Daqiang in the morning.

He stood the bicycle against the south wall so it wouldn't be exposed to the sun. Then he let the air out of the big tires used for setting the nets and carried them to the idle house. The way of civil and martial arts is to relax and tighten, in fact, tires are the same. If they are inflated for too long, they will be fatigued, just like that, so they should be deflated appropriately to return to a natural state.

The pigs in the pigsty heard the human voice and were grunting. Recently, the temperature hasn't been that high, the pigs are eating fiercely and growing very fast, Li Long is thinking about whether it's time to go to the sugar factory to get some sugar dregs again. The feed for the wild boars at Uncle Lao Luo's place also seems a bit insufficient.

Li Long didn't go to set the nets in the afternoon, first got a big bundle of pig grass, chopped it up and boiled it with feed to feed the pigs, and then prepared to make dinner.

Li Juan and Li Qiang came back together. After putting down their schoolbags, Li Juan followed to do chores and tidy up the courtyard. Li Qiang was holding a mud-carved pistol and playing "biubiubiu" there.

The reason why it is said to be mud-carved and not mud-molded is because there is a characteristic phenomenon here. In some low-lying areas that have been watered, after the water seeps away and evaporates, when the top layer of soil is not completely dry, the ground will crack into pieces, as big as a large 32-page book.

If you are careful, you can peel off the top layer of soil, forming a neat mud slab. It is about as big as an 80s large 32-page language textbook (the "Guardian of Montmaral" to be published soon is also this big).

After the children full of martial virtue lift off this mud slab, they will use a pencil-sharpening knife to draw a simple design on the mud slab, and then slowly cut and carve it.

Those with good craftsmanship and good moisture level of the mud slab can easily carve out a pistol.

Usually, what children like most is the Mauser pistol, which they call the "two-boxer." And the most difficult thing to carve is to carve the whole gun, and finally dig the trigger hole. Usually, at this time, it is very easy to crack the mud slab, and finally all previous efforts are wasted.

So when children leave school, if they encounter a suitable place, they will sit directly in this low-lying area to carve. A better one can carve a gun with one or two mud slabs, and a worse one might need seven or eight mud slabs to barely carve out a mud gun similar to a Type 54 pistol.

Of course, if you have patience, you can fold a Mauser pistol with paper, and use chopsticks or straight wooden sticks as the barrel, which will make your status among children rise straight up.

In this era, chain guns and gunpowder guns have not yet appeared—after all, bicycles have not yet been popularized, and bicycle chains are still relatively rare things.

Li Long saw the mud gun and thought that next time he goes to Wucheng, he should see if there is that kind of small firecracker toy gun, if there is, he will bring one for Li Qiang.

In the evening, Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei came back, and Li Long asked:

"Big Brother, are we pulling oil sunflowers tomorrow?"

"Hmm, pulling sunflowers tomorrow. You busy yourself with your own things, don't worry about this, those points, your sister-in-law and I will finish it in a few days." Li Jianguo drank porridge, waved his hand and didn't care at all.

"It's okay, I told Daqiang, I won't go catching fish these two days, let's finish the work in the fields first." Li Long said, "I don't really want to cut wheat, but I can still do this."

"That's fine too." Having one more person to work is naturally a good thing, finishing early saves trouble.

After dinner, Li Long went to the Gu family to send those things over. Gu Bo Yuan was gnawing on a steamed bun, with a bowl of cold boiled water on the table, and a plate of chili mixed with vinegar and salt.

Li Long felt a bit sad, with Gu Xiaoxia away, the father-in-law-to-be's meal is a bit simple.

"Don't look at me like that." Gu Bo Yuan glared at him. "I'm just too lazy to make it. There is meat you brought, there is rice and flour at home, and there are vegetables in the garden, one person is just a bit lazy."

"Then you eat something good." Li Long opened the small bag and took out the chicken cake and sesame cake inside, "Eating steamed buns and drinking water, you've become a dry ghost. If you were like this, Xiaoxia wouldn't have the heart to go to work."

"You have too many things." Gu Bo Yuan complained, "You just don't tell her... are the nets set?"

"Not setting nets today. The sunflowers and corn in the fields need to be harvested. I'll stay at home for a few days, and then go after harvesting these." "That's right. Money must be earned, but the crops in the fields must also be harvested—you don't need to worry about me here..."

"How can I not worry? We harvest fast over there, you don't need to be in a hurry here, I'll harvest it back for you when the time comes, you can slowly tidy it up in the courtyard."

"That's fine too." Gu Bo Yuan didn't treat Li Long as an outsider, he said.

The next day, he got up normally, ate breakfast, Li Juan took Li Qiang to school, Li Long stuffed them with a yuan, which was for them to buy popsicles at noon. Food is not allowed to be sold here in primary school, unlike middle school, so they all bring steamed buns and water at noon.

Li Long remembers that in his previous life, in order for the students to have a sweet taste when drinking water, parents basically put saccharin in the water—at that time, no one cared whether this thing was harmful to the body, after all, it was done like this when popping popcorn. This is considered the earliest homemade food additive.

This year, Li Long didn't let them, Li Juan and Li Qiang no longer used wine bottles, but water bottles that Li Long specially bought for them. No saccharin was added to the water, but square sugar was added directly.

Li Jianguo and the three of them wore straw hats and sat in the horse-drawn carriage to their own fields.

On the road, they saw many people carrying bags to the fields one after another. When the season comes, everything that should be harvested must be harvested. The advantage of Northern Xinjiang at this time is that once autumn comes, most of the time it corresponds to the saying "autumn is high and the air is crisp," there are very few cloudy and rainy days, even if it rains, it usually passes in a while.

Getting up early, there was still a bit of coolness in the air, the sun had already risen, but it was not hot. There were still dewdrops on the grass at the edge of the field.

Li Jianguo unharnessed the horse-drawn carriage, Li Long led the horse to find a place with more grass by the ditch at the edge of the field, and tied the horse down.

This is considered local slang. The end of the rope for tying the horse is tied to an iron stake, pointed, and inserted directly into the ground, so the horse can only graze in this area, which is called tying down.

!.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei had already started pulling sunflowers—two rows for each person, this is the space left when the seeder sows, the two rows are tighter, and the interval between the two rows and the other two rows is wider, with a width of sixty or seventy centimeters, just enough for one person to walk through.

Li Long first unfolded the urea bag against the wind, placed it virtually on the ground, cut off an oil sunflower head with a sickle and put it in, then cut down the stalk, and started to go deep into the field.

The length of this strip field is generally several hundred meters, like this piece of land is almost four hundred meters or so.

Li Long's technique is still a bit clumsy, when he pulled half a bag, Li Jianguo had already returned to get another bag, when Li Long saw Liang Yuemei not taking the bag for a long time, and looked up to the front, it turned out that the sister-in-law had already prepared two bags there, had already pulled one bag, and the second bag was also half a bag.

And after they finished pulling the oil sunflowers and cutting the stalks, they also cut some extra grass in the field and put it separately, which is intended to be horse grass.

Li Long didn't have such a strong desire to win. In terms of work, he was far worse than his brother and sister-in-law.

The sun rose, looking at the time it was almost twelve o'clock, which is considered half of the morning's work. Li Long pulled three bags, Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei both pulled five or six bags, and half of the oil sunflowers had been finished.

If you work hard, you can finish all the oil sunflowers this morning.

Faster than Li Long imagined.

But it's also uncomfortable. When walking inside, tall grass and oil sunflower leaves that haven't completely dried will scratch white marks on exposed skin such as the neck and arms.

Looking at it, it's just a mark, not injured. But when the sweat on the neck flows down, those white marks will sting with pain.

"Xiao Long, rest for a while, drink some water." Li Jianguo carried a bag and held a bag of sunflowers and walked back, greeting Li Long when passing by.

"Alright." Li Long responded. His bag was still a bit full, he planned to go back after it was full.

Liang Yuemei also carried two bags and walked back, looking at Li Long working there, and said with a smile:

"Xiao Long, the speed is not slow."

"Far worse than you two."

"We have been doing it for so many years." Liang Yuemei said with a smile, "Don't worry."

Finally, Li Long also carried two bags of oil sunflowers and walked back, at this time he felt the power of the sun, which was scorching hot.

Some people in other fields were resting in the shade of trees, and some were still working in the fields.

When Li Long arrived at the edge of the field, he found five or six pear melons in front of Li Jianguo. He put down the bag and asked in surprise:

"Big Brother, where did the pear melons come from?"

"I planted them in the cornfield. When thinning the seedlings, I saw places where there were missing seedlings, so I planted watermelons, muskmelons, and pear melons. The watermelons didn't grow, the muskmelons were a bit late, couldn't catch the sun, and weren't ripe yet, but these pear melons can be eaten. Come, this one is ripe, I just pulled it off just now, it must be sweet!"

Li Long took it with a smile, wiped the dust on the surface, didn't need to wash it, smashed it open with his fist and gnawed on it.

Really sweet!

Not just because he was thirsty, it was really sweet.

Melon ripe and stem falling, refers to muskmelons and pear melons. In the early years, in the 80s and 90s, when going to the field to pick muskmelons to eat, the melon had to be truly ripe to be in line. What is called truly ripe, is to touch the melon, if the melon rolls off directly from the melon vine, that is called melon ripe and stem falling, it is truly ripe.

The melons now are all picked when they are half-ripe, and then put to ripen, although they are sweet, some are not sweet enough, and some have used things.

Only this kind of naturally ripe melon is the real delicacy.

Of course, by the end of the 20th century, you slowly won't be able to eat such melons.

Must cherish it. If you have land in the future, plant melons yourself, and you must eat ripe ones.

After eating the melon, drinking some water, and resting for a while in the shade of the tree at the edge of the field, Li Long really wanted to go to sleep at this time, but let's continue to work, after all, the work is not finished.

The three of them entered the field again with bags, and the efficiency of the next was obviously not as high as before. Fortunately, there was not much work left in the field, and at two o'clock in the afternoon, the last bit of oil sunflowers was finally harvested.

When carrying the bags back, Li Long felt relaxed, twenty or thirty bags of oil sunflowers were placed on the horse-drawn carriage one by one. Li Long and Liang Yuemei threw them up from below, and Li Jianguo arranged them on top. This is a technical job. Now the road is not easy to walk, full of potholes, if not arranged well, it will scatter halfway.

After arranging, it must be fixed with a rope, at this time no one can sit. Fortunately, this land is not far from the threshing floor, Li Long and Liang Yuemei followed behind the horse-drawn carriage, all the way to the threshing floor, and unloaded the cargo.

This threshing floor is shared by several families, the first time to unload their own things, at this time there is a peasant-like cunning, whoever unloads first, whoever can occupy a relatively good place. After this place is occupied, it is basically considered a convention, and it will be this position in the future.

At this time, the wheat in the team was harvested, and the wheat straw had not been pulled clean. The Li family directly occupied the place on the west side of the threshing floor.

It is convenient to winnow here. (End of chapter)