Chapter 305

When he returned to the reed ditch in front of the team, Li Long saw that some people were already cutting reeds here.

Seeing Li Long passing by, someone shouted:

"Without Xiao Long, where have you been?"

Li Long saw that the person shouting was Tie Tou's mother, Sister-in-law Lu, so he stopped his bike and said:

"I went into the mountains. See, I just finished and came back."

"Then this matter of the reed bundles, isn't it handled by you?"

"No. But I'm going to handle it on my side too." Li Long responded. Seeing them continue to cut reeds, he rode his bike home.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yumei were at home feeding the pigs. What surprised Li Long was that they hadn't gone to cut reeds.

"You're back?" Li Jianguo asked with a smile. "Look at this bag of yours... quite a harvest."

"Large Codonopsis." Li Long said with a smile. "Keep some at home, and when the time comes, send some to Dad and Mom. This should be quite good for replenishing Qi."

He unloaded the sack, took out a few Codonopsis roots from inside, and gave one large one to his eldest brother and one to his sister-in-law:

"When the time comes, take some to Uncle Liang and the others. Uncle Liang's lungs aren't very good, and he coughs a lot. I don't know if this will work."

"Good, good... How many years old must this Codonopsis be! It grew just like a radish!" Liang Yumei was also amazed. "So big... these two roots must weigh half a kilogram, right?"

"About that, it's good stuff." Li Jianguo weighed it in his hand and asked, "Is that all that's in your sack?"

"There's also some air-dried meat. I snatched a roe deer caught by who knows what and made some air-dried meat."

"You're living well in the mountains, eating meat every day." Li Jianguo said with a smile. "Two days ago, Jun Wa Zi was looking for you like crazy... You should know by now, right?"

"I guessed. The reed bundle matter." Li Long said. "Now the team is already cutting reeds. Does that mean they've already taken someone else's job?"

"You know it's someone else's job too?"

"How could I not know? It was originally a job from the supply and marketing cooperative. I was in the mountains at the time, and Section Chief Li had no choice but to distribute a portion out."

"Then what are you planning to do?"

"I took a job for ten thousand reed bundles, I just don't know how many people in the team can work for me."

"Probably not many. Earlier, Jun Wa Zi announced at the meeting, voluntary participation, ten thousand reed bundles, ten cents each, 2.5 meters in height, ten reeds per bundle, whoever works more gets more money..."

"Then the conditions are the same." Li Long said. "Most of the people in the team should be doing it, right?"

"There might still be some." Li Jianguo said. "Da Qiang didn't do it and even ran over to ask. Yang Yongqiang didn't do it either, and there are a few other families... but I guess there shouldn't be many."

"That's quite troublesome. If it doesn't work, I'll go to the Third Team." Li Long said. "There shouldn't be a shortage of people who want to work and earn money."

"Don't be in a hurry." Li Jianguo waved his hand. "Let's see how many people in the team are following us first. After calculating, see how many people are missing, and then look at the situation."

Hearing Li Jianguo say this, Li Long had a thought: had his eldest brother already figured things out?

He then asked:

"Eldest brother, then why didn't you go cut reeds and tie reed bundles?"

"Hey, those guys were talking in a weird, sarcastic way, and they want me to work for them? No way!"

Li Long hurriedly asked for details. Li Jianguo didn't want to say, so Liang Yumei said it instead.

"The person who took the job found two people in the team to be in charge of this. Those two people don't get along with your eldest brother. The first two times when we were lifting bundles and tying large brooms, weren't those jobs you handled? Your eldest brother also showed off a bit in the team, and those two people weren't convinced.

This time they are in charge. When they held a meeting in the team, they were being all sarcastic toward your eldest brother. Your eldest brother gave them a scolding, and then your eldest brother quit. This kind of thing depends on the individual anyway. Our family isn't doing it; whether the people in our group do it is voluntary, no need to consider our family. Your eldest brother even told people that, so many people followed them to work."

Li Long understood. It's about earning money, right? Who cares who you work for? Getting the money in hand is what's real.

Now it's just a matter of seeing how many people he can find on his side.

While he was still considering this, Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang came to the Li family together.

"Brother Long, you're back." Tao Daqiang said with a smile. "How was it staying in the mountains?"

"It's fine, Daqiang. You know how to ask questions now, you've made progress." Li Long replied with a smile. "The mountains are nice. I dug up some Codonopsis. Take two roots back later. Yongqiang, you take one back too. In winter, slice it up to stew chicken for your dad, or slice it and drink it as tea. This is good stuff."

"Hmm." Yang Yongqiang didn't refuse either.

"Brother Long, this matter of the reed bundles..."

"Did you two do it?"

"No." Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang said in unison.

"We were waiting for you." Tao Daqiang added.

"Alright then. You two go and inquire in the team later to see who intends to work on my side. Fifteen cents per reed bundle, but the quality must be good. I provide the thin iron wire and the gloves for pulling reeds." "Really? Then the people in the team will probably all want to work for you." Yang Yongqiang said with a smile.

"Probably not. Those people who are currently cutting reeds and pressing reed bundles have probably already made agreements with the team and Hu Lao Er and the others, and they have to tie hundreds of bundles." Tao Daqiang inquired quite thoroughly. "If you don't tie enough, you have to pay compensation; if you tie enough and it passes inspection, then you get paid..."

"Then let's see who hasn't made arrangements with them and can tie reed bundles for our side. Calculate it. Those who can come, come to the Old Horse Corral tomorrow to pick up iron wire and gloves. Once the reed bundles are tied, send them directly to the Old Horse Corral. Money is settled daily." Li Long had a task here; for him, it only counts when the goods are in hand.

"No need to ask, I roughly know. There should be less than ten families that can be brought over." Yang Yongqiang seemed prepared. "Some don't get along with Hu Lao Er and don't want to work. I've also heard some think this isn't very reliable, and they think you can definitely get this job, so they're thinking of working with you. There are also two families that have things to do at home... I have to go ask if they can do it."

"If a family works together, there must be at least one or two people cutting reeds, one person pulling reeds, and then pressing the reed bundles..." Tao Daqiang calculated there. "If three or four people work together, they can produce about sixty or seventy reed bundles a day, right?"

"It depends on the situation." Hearing this, Liang Yumei spoke up from the side. "Cutting reeds and sending reeds is heavy work; it's best to have two people for this. One person cuts, one person bundles them up and sends them to the cart, and that's about it for transporting them back. Another person pulls the reeds, and once pulled, they can be pressed directly. If they work fast, one group of people can produce one hundred bundles a day."

"In that case, there should be enough people." Li Long said.

"It's okay, I'll go find you some more strong laborers." Li Jianguo suddenly said. "Tomorrow morning, I'll ride my bike to find people. I can find seventy or eighty people no matter what... but these people have to live here."

"Then live in the Old Horse Corral. Clean up those idle rooms, spread grass on the floor in the rooms, and they just need to bring their bedding."

"Then your ten thousand reed bundles, is that enough?"

"Section Chief Li said, it depends on the quality. Once these ten thousand are finished, if the quality is good, we can get other jobs."

!.

"That's fine." Li Jianguo said. "It's a bit late now, I'll go find people tomorrow morning."

Li Long was a bit puzzled and asked:

"Eldest brother, where are you going to find people?"

"Don't worry about that for now. Daqiang, you guys go ask first, and confirm which families are willing to tie reed bundles for Without Xiao Long's side."

"Alright, I'll go ask now." Daqiang isn't afraid of hard work.

Yang Yongqiang followed him.

"Your eldest brother is definitely going to the Corps, to the regiment farm to find people." Liang Yumei revealed Li Jianguo's secret at this time. "He has fellow villagers there, and he even almost got shot by someone's gun."

"What's the situation?" Li Long became interested and asked with a smile.

"When this team was first established, I was holding an old Type 79 rifle watching the reed lake." Li Jianguo smiled, a little embarrassed:

"At that time, every team was pulling people in. To get people to come, you had to build houses. Even if you couldn't build a house, you had to build a shack or dig a dugout, and all of that required reeds.

The team's land hadn't been fully opened up yet, and reeds were a resource. No one else could touch them, and especially no one could use fire. I held the old Type 79 mainly to defend against wolves, and mainly to watch so that no one would light a fire in the reed lake. Otherwise, if one was lit, hundreds of acres of reed lake would all be burned.

One day I was cooking in the shack, and I heard movement by the reed lake, so I took my gun and went over, thinking that if it were a wolf, I'd have to shoot one to improve our diet. But instead, when I went over, I saw two people. When they saw me pointing the gun at them, they were so scared they sat on the ground on their butts."

Li Long thought, wouldn't they sit on the ground? The old Type 79 rifle uses 53 rifle ammunition, which is actually 56 heavy machine gun ammunition. The bullet head is 7.62 caliber, but it has more gunpowder and the shell is relatively large. Who wouldn't be afraid if that thing was pointed at them?

"I just asked them what they were doing. They said they had just arrived at the Corps from their hometown to settle down, wanted to build a house, had no reeds, and wanted to cut some reeds. When I heard they were fellow villagers, and asked again, they were from the same county as us, so let them cut. I helped them cut a cart of reeds, and that's how we got to know each other."

"Then I haven't seen you guys interacting in these few years?" Li Long asked suspiciously.

"Then how do you know we don't interact? You were often running around in the team for the first two years, and you were often in the mountains this year." Li Jianguo teased Li Long. "Every time Old Zhang came over, you weren't there."

"Does he let people come over from the Corps side?"

"Why wouldn't he? They manage the produce in the fields, not the people. Now that the busy farming season is over, the winter wheat is planted, and the water has been irrigated. The grain and money they can get their hands on all year round isn't as much as ours, and they are tight on money right now. Not to mention fifteen cents per reed bundle, even ten cents would make them come over to work with you."

"That's fine then." Li Long said with a smile. "I'll go clean up the Old Horse Corral later, spread some grass, and they can bring their bedding over. When the time comes, let Uncle Lao Luo cook more when he cooks—or one of them can help cook."

"Hmm, let's settle it this way."

Li Long put down the Codonopsis sack, took out most of the Codonopsis inside and gave it to Li Jianguo, put some of the air-dried meat in the kitchen, and packed the rest to take away. Later, he would give a portion to Gu Bo Yuan and also leave some for Uncle Lao Luo.

Since he got them, he should keep some. The elderly are the builders here, the meritorious officials; there's nothing wrong with eating more good things.

When passing by the preschool, Li Long heard Li Qiang playing games with a group of people, shouting, "... let out a fart, it blew to Moscow, drifted to Italy, the King of Italy is watching a play..."

Li Long laughed. How many years had it been since he heard this nursery rhyme? It sounded quite fun.

Arriving at the Gu family, Gu Bo Yuan saw Li Long and also asked about the reed bundle issue. They were all their own people, so Li Long didn't hide anything and told him the whole story.

"That's fine, tomorrow I'll go cut reeds with your brother and the others. Your family has a horse cart, so the reeds I cut can just be transported away."

"Alright," Li Long said with a smile. "Uncle Gu, then I'll wait for you tomorrow. First, let me give you a pair of gloves; cutting reeds is hard work."

"Don't worry, no need for you to remind me. Back then, your eldest brother and I cut plenty of reeds, and your sister-in-law also cut reeds in the reed lake that was waist-deep. People of this age in our team often do this; we're not inferior to you guys."

Li Long really didn't know his eldest brother and sister-in-law had this history. He returned to the Old Horse Corral with a head full of questions.

There was still a pile of work to do. (End of chapter)