Chapter 30

This area was a growth ground for reed grass. Reed grass is a good thing for tying big brooms. Li Long remembered that in his previous life, until the early 21st century, people would come to the village to collect it, and one kilogram of reed grass was worth two yuan. When he was selling fish, he once asked an old man next to him who was selling brooms made of reed grass, and the old man proudly told him that by relying on this reed grass, he had bought an apartment in the county town for his two sons and had quite a bit of savings.

At that time, after the land was joined into cooperatives, people in the village would start side businesses when they were free, and things like bitter beans and reed grass could all be sold for money.

Now, no one wanted reed grass; it grew as tall as a person, and the snow couldn't cover it at all.

And flocks of grouse would lie down at the roots of the reed grass to avoid the wind and keep warm.

Although Li Long didn't turn on his light, the sky was still quite bright, and he could vaguely see black lumps next to the reed grass.

That should be them, right?

He walked over slowly and flashed his flashlight.

Sure enough, many grouse were huddled together at the roots of the reed grass to keep warm.

Although the flashlight light startled the few grouse that were looking in this direction, they had no intention of flying away; they just shook their bodies and continued lying down.

Li Long stepped forward, squatted down, and gently covered them with the landing net.

This one scoop covered four of them; if it weren't for the reed grass blocking it, he could have covered more!

Once inside the net, the grouse immediately panicked. Li Long hurriedly reached in from under the net, grabbed the grouse, and stuffed them into the urea bag.

The grouse outside the net had already started to get up, but because of the reed grass blocking them, they couldn't fly up immediately and could only run away from Li Long.

The snow was very deep, and walking with deep and shallow steps was inconvenient, which meant that before many grouse could run away, Li Long's next scoop had already covered them.

Just like that, as the flocks of grouse were startled and flew off in all directions, Li Long had already caught eleven grouse.

A bumper harvest!

Carrying this six or seven-kilogram harvest, Li Long headed back happily.

Although the road back was long, he felt very comfortable in his heart.

If he kept a few grouse at home tomorrow and took the rest to sell along with the fish, he should be able to sell them for a good price, right?

After all, it's wild game!

It was already forty minutes later when he returned home. Li Long was panting with exhaustion; he thought it would be better to go directly to the reed grass next time and not take the long way around, otherwise, walking so much extra distance wasn't worth it.

Back in his room, Li Long tied the mouth of the grouse bag and placed it in the corner, changed into cloth shoes, and was just taking off his clothes to warm up when he heard a knock at the door.

Looking up, it was Zhang Qianjin from the Zhang family in the team.

Zhang Qianjin was about thirty years old. Even though he wasn't much older than Li Long, he still had to call Li Jianguo "Uncle." Of course, because people moved here from all over the country, calling Li Jianguo "Uncle" was also because Zhang Qianjin's father, Zhang Guangzu, was also one of the people who came with Li Jianguo to build the team.

So, like Tao Daqiang, they each used their own forms of address. Seeing Li Long, he said with a smile:

"Xiao Long, what have you been doing? I came over just now and saw you weren't here."

"Couldn't sleep, went out for a turn." Li Long wasn't familiar with Zhang Qianjin, so he said while changing clothes, "Something up?"

"There is something." Zhang Qianjin hit a soft nail but wasn't annoyed. He was familiar and sat on the kang, saying with a smile:

"Today I borrowed the team's horse carriage, intending to learn from you and go into the mountains to haul some wood back for firewood. As a result, when I got to Qingshuihe, I didn't know how to go the rest of the way. I barely led the carriage to the mountain pass, but couldn't find where there was any wood, and in the end, I just picked up some branches and came back."

Li Long said "Mm" and didn't speak. Zhang Qianjin was a bit depressed. According to Li Long's previous warm-hearted nature, he would naturally have taken the initiative to point out how to go the way at this time.

He had spent one yuan and sixty cents to borrow the carriage today, just like Li Long, and because he was unwilling to give up, he had spent another one yuan and sixty cents to borrow the carriage for tomorrow.

If he couldn't haul back anything of value, wouldn't those three-plus yuan be thrown down the drain?

So although Li Long's lukewarm attitude made him a bit embarrassed, he still bit the bullet and said:

"Look at you, as soon as you made a move, you hauled back so much wood and even picked up a frozen sheep. As for us, three carriages went, and only the team leader's carriage, with his brother-in-law, managed to haul back some pine wood because they found a way into the mountains.

I see that wood can only be used for firewood; there's no way to use it as material. You, Xiao Long, are still the capable one!"

Zhang Qianjin praised Li Long because he remembered that Li Long used to be very vain; if he received someone's praise, he would surely spill everything like beans from a bamboo tube, saying what should and shouldn't be said.

However, today, after hearing his words, Li Long still gave a lukewarm "Not at all, not at all" and then had nothing else to say.

Zhang Qianjin heard something fluttering in the corner behind the door, but his mind was entirely on how to extract the way into the mountains, so he didn't think about anything else.

In fact, he and the other drivers all felt that even if they didn't know the way into the mountains, they could find the place just by following Li Long's carriage tracks.

But they forgot that there is wind at the mountain pass. Li Long and the others did indeed enter the mountains from Qingshuihe, but firstly, the way Li Long entered the mountains was relatively remote, and secondly, the wind at the mountain pass was strong; the wind blew the snow and covered the tracks of Li Long's carriage that very night.

!.

That's why they had an unsuccessful outcome.

Seeing that Li Long wouldn't say anything no matter what, Zhang Qianjin had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask:

"Xiao Long, then can you tell me how to go that way? If you tell me, when I haul the wood back, how about I give you a load of wood?"

Li Long thought to himself, that's not good at all!

Your dad is the type who likes to take advantage, and you're the same. These cheap words sound nice, but when it comes to doing things, it's not like that at all. Besides, why should I tell you the route?

"I just entered the mountains from Qingshuihe." Li Long pointed to the south, "That mountain pass is so big, just follow the direction, how could you not find it?"

"But I just can't find it! There are so many gullies there, and canals, and there are so many shrubs growing outside the production team, there's basically no path at all; we had to force our way through!"

Zhang Qianjin showed Li Long his hands, which had many small cuts, all from being pricked by shrub thorns when they were forcing their way through.

"Then I don't know." Li Long said, "That's just how I went; entered Qingshuihe, then turned a few times, and followed the direction of the mountain pass to get through."

He wasn't trying to keep it all to himself; it was mainly that these few people were a bit excessive, which was equivalent to cutting off his path.

You've already cut off my path, and you still expect me to point out a path to wealth for you?

Zhang Qianjin couldn't get anything out of Li Long and had to leave in a huff.

On the way, he hardened his heart: I don't believe that without you, Li Long, I can't find the way into the mountains? When I pick up a frozen sheep and come back, see if I don't shame you!

After Zhang Qianjin left, Li Long quickly took off his clothes, blew out the lamp, and got into the quilt. He believed that if he kept the light on, someone would definitely come over to ask again.

With a tacit understanding, the light in the west room was also quickly extinguished.

When Li Long got up the next day, he was startled again!

Thanks to book friends heidiww, 20220308131935841, and Li Xiaobai for the monthly tickets, and thanks to everyone for the support of recommendation tickets. Both the follow count and collection have been growing these past two days, thanks again! May Day is coming soon, I wish everyone a happy holiday!

(End of chapter)