Chapter 370: Returning to the County, Like a Lifetime Ago

Coming out of the mountains, Li Long felt it was even colder here than in the mountains—it was the kind of cold wind that could scrape into clothes and freeze the body through.

He was the most tired among these people, so everyone let him sit on the horse cart. Others walked or led the deer. Li Long sat for a while and then got off the cart. It was still more convenient to walk. At least walking wasn't that cold, and the body generated heat when the joints moved.

It was afternoon when he left the mountains. Passing through Qingshuihe, he could see cooking smoke and people occasionally appearing on the side of the road. These people were also curious when they saw their group. After all, even on the edge of the mountains, they could see yellow sheep, but these wild horse deer were very rare to see.

The doe followed along reluctantly. When it wanted to stop, Li Junfeng would whip it with a stick. The fawn was much more obedient. Although it jumped left and right from time to time, it always followed along.

This small horse deer was much bigger than the two fawns Li Long sold in the autumn, and it should also have been born at the beginning of the year.

When turning from Qingshuihe Township toward the county seat, the sun had already set to only a pole high. Li Long felt that if they walked like this, it would be dark by the time they reached the county. However, no matter what, they had already left the mountains. Having not lived on the plains for a while, Li Long still felt a bit fresh and uncomfortable with the undulating slopes and dark green pine forests no longer in front of him.

On the Wuyi Road, a cart would pass by from time to time, bringing a cold wind accompanied by snow powder on the road. Li Long said with a smile while walking:

"There are many more cars coming and going than last year. Last year, when Daqiang and I came here, we basically couldn't see any cars along the way. In a few more years, maybe someone in the team will buy a car."

"That's impossible, right?" Li Junfeng led the doe forward. The doe seemed to have accepted its fate and was very obedient, and Li Junfeng was also relieved. Hearing Li Long's words, he said, "In my hometown, not to mention the team, there isn't a single person in the whole commune who bought a car privately... can they afford it?"

"There will always be a time when they can afford it." Yang Yongqiang probably understood that Li Junfeng looked down on this side, so he replied, "Previously, that Dongfanghong 75 tractor was considered the team's property. Who could have thought that it would be bought by an individual in the end? If a tractor can do it, this car can also do it!"

So the two began to debate the difference between a tractor and a car.

Li Long smiled.

I'm afraid no one would have thought that in another twenty or thirty years, half of the families in the team would buy cars, and ten years later, some families would even have two or more cars.

Although they weren't good cars, in this era, who would dare to believe it?

The changes were too great, so much so that generation gaps were appearing at any time, and the time distance between them was still shrinking constantly.

This is a nation good at creating miracles. Looking at the long river of history, decades of vicissitudes are also everywhere.

Of course, the price paid is also huge. Ordinary people don't talk about feelings.

When the horse cart arrived at the county, it was already dark.

"Go, let's stay in the big courtyard today, and go back to the team early tomorrow morning." Li Long said to the others while leading the horse cart.

"Uncle Without Xiao Long, we won't stay. We'll just move the things into your big courtyard, and then we'll take the horse cart and the deer back." Li Junfeng said, "The big courtyard is not easy to stay in, and besides, what time is it now? It's dark, but we are all big young men, what are we afraid of? It's still more comfortable to sleep in the old horse pen!"

"Right, right." Li Junshan also nodded.

Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang all echoed.

"Fine. Then put the things down and you go back." Li Long didn't force them. There were many places to stay in the big courtyard, but other rooms didn't necessarily have stoves, and it would be quite troublesome to restart them, so let them go back. Ten kilometers of road wasn't much for them.

Passing by the big meat canteen, Li Long pointed inside:

"Go eat a meal?"

"Don't eat, it looks like it's about to close."

It's late in winter, actually it's only past seven now.

"Then I'll buy you twenty steamed buns to take with you." Li Long took out ten yuan and a few grain coupons from his clothes and handed them to Yang Yongqiang beside him, "Yongqiang, you go buy them, if I go in, I might not be able to get out."

"Fine." Yang Yongqiang took the money and grain coupons decisively, entered the big meat canteen, bought a bag of steamed buns, stuffed the remaining money and grain coupons back into Li Long's hand, and then began to distribute the steamed buns.

So five people each had a steamed bun in their mouths, eating and walking to the big courtyard.

The courtyard gate lock wasn't there. Li Long pushed it, and the door was bolted from the inside, so he patted the door and shouted:

"Xiaoxia, I'm back."

After shouting twice, Gu Xiaoxia's voice came from the courtyard:

"You wait, I'll come to open the door immediately." Then there were hurried footsteps.

The door opened, Gu Xiaoxia looked at Li Long with joy, then was a bit startled, and then became a bit shy. She pulled the whole big gate open and said with a smile:

"Are you just coming down from the mountain? Come in quickly, it's cold outside."

After Li Long and the others entered, Gu Xiaoxia asked again:

"Haven't eaten yet, right? I'll go cook. You go into the room to warm up first."

"Little Aunt, no need." Li Junfeng hurriedly said, "We'll just unload the things and leave, we still have to rush back to the team."

"Going back to the team now? It's already dark." Gu Xiaoxia was a bit surprised, and her expression was also a bit lost.

"They go back, I don't go back." Li Long said with a smile, "I hunted some meat in the mountains during this time, put a bag here, we'll eat it slowly. There are also some pelts, and when the time comes, I'll sell them to the purchasing station, and then put them down, and then they will go back."

"Then... fine, you unload first, I'll pour water for you." Gu Xiaoxia turned to the kitchen. At this time, Li Long also noticed that she wasn't wearing an outer coat, but a tight sweater, outlining a beautiful figure—she should have been reading or writing in the bedroom, and hurried over when she heard the movement outside and his voice.

Li Long and the others unloaded all the meat and all the pelts into the side room without a stove, and after drinking the tea poured by Gu Xiaoxia, Li Junfeng and the others drove the horse cart and led the deer away.

Li Long bolted the courtyard gate, turned around and looked at Gu Xiaoxia, and said with a smile:

"Go into the room, it's cold outside." "Yeah, you haven't eaten yet, right? I'll get you some..."

"No need, no need, I just ate a few steamed buns, I'm full." Li Long said, "Don't bother, it's so late."

The two walked side by side into the living room. Gu Xiaoxia walked to the master bedroom in front, saying while walking:

"It must have been quite hard in the mountains during this time, right?"

"Yeah," Li Long thought for a while and said, "It was quite hard. Hunting, you know, you have to turn around the whole mountain, find places with prey, and after catching them, you have to drag them back, and then skin and gut them. Let me tell you, this time I ran into a wolf pack..."

Li Long put the rifle away, sat on the chair, and began to tell the story of hunting the wolf pack. His eloquence was average, but he had watched many online jokes in his previous life and knew how to start, carry, turn, and combine, although the level wasn't high, it was still possible to set off the atmosphere and set off the climax. This story made Gu Xiaoxia feel nervous and excited at the same time.

The only uncomfortable thing was that this mahogany chair was too hard, making his butt ache when sitting.

"You put this on the chair." Gu Xiaoxia saw Li Long's discomfort, she smiled and stood up, took a cloth pad from the bedside, and handed it to Li Long, "I learned to make this from the big sister in our office."

Li Long took the pad and looked at it. It was a round pad with sharp corners pointing outward. Each sharp corner was a different piece of cloth, and he could feel that the cloth quality was also different. He said with a smile:

"It's made of old clothes and scraps of cloth that aren't used, right? Your hands are quite skillful."

"Hee hee." Being praised, Gu Xiaoxia was very happy, "During this time, I didn't have to work overtime after being busy. We had some free time. Several big sisters in the office were knitting sweaters, so I followed and watched, and learned occasionally."

"Are you still eating at Sister Yang's place every day recently?" Li Long asked, "How is her business?"

!.

"There are more stalls at the market now." Gu Xiaoxia faced Li Long, no longer nervous as at the beginning. She turned the chair and sat opposite Li Long, saying:

"Most of those who didn't want to pay the stall fee have come back. It's cold in winter, so there are more people who want to eat hot meals. Sister Yang's soup rice is quite popular. Sometimes she can sell three pots a day—usually two pots. I basically follow and eat. She will cook specially for me, rice, pulled noodles, and recently she learned to make pilaf... making me eat better than Han Fang, I'm embarrassed."

"Then bring some meat to her place tomorrow." Li Long said, "Tell her it's wild game meat from the mountains, just make it a bit more tender when cooking."

Gu Xiaoxia nodded.

"Have you been home recently?" Li Long asked again.

"I went back last week. There's nothing going on in the team, my dad is fine. I went to my big brother's house, and it's fine there too." Gu Xiaoxia blushed and lowered her head slightly.

The atmosphere became ambiguous.

"I'm going to take a bath." Li Long stood up, "Boil some water. These days in the mountains, I lived like a wild man. These clothes also need to be washed..."

"I'll wash your clothes if you take them off." Gu Xiaoxia followed Li Long to the kitchen, "It's pitch black, how are you going to take a bath?"

"Boil some water, I'll just make do and wash in the kitchen first." Facing the more beautiful and mature Gu Xiaoxia, it was impossible to say that Li Long had no thoughts. But now he was so sloppy, he didn't know how much dust he had accumulated, his hair and beard were messy, and he knew how bad his image was without looking.

Gu Xiaoxia knew Li Long's feelings for her. She didn't mind, but he minded.

"Then I'll find you clothes to change into." Gu Xiaoxia saw Li Long insisted on washing, so she went to the room where Li Long usually slept, turned on the light, found two sets of clothes to change into, and found underwear and underpants with shyness.

Carrying the clothes to the kitchen, Li Long was boiling water. The fire in the kitchen hadn't gone out, but the red charcoal that was still burning didn't have much left. Just now, Gu Xiaoxia used the water in the thermos to pour water for several people.

Li Long opened the stove door, used a fire poker to clear the ash inside, added some coal, and filled the pot with water.

Turning around and seeing Gu Xiaoxia looking at himself, Li Long smiled and said:

"Come, give me the clothes, and get me a towel."

Li Long's words of not treating her as an outsider made Gu Xiaoxia feel a bit sweet in her heart. She turned around to get two towels and said to Li Long: "These two were issued by our bureau. This one is for you to wipe your head and face, and this one is for wiping... your body."

"Your bureau still has benefits?" Li Long smiled, "Any news about the job transfer?"

"Yes. After the year-end summary, after the summary meeting is held next month, it will be almost done." When saying this, Gu Xiaoxia was full of confidence, "Vice Director Wang said, the leaders have basically met, just waiting for the meeting."

"That's good." Li Long took the towel and looked at it. The patterns of towels at this time were still relatively simple, but the material was really solid and very thick, "After that, you'll be a person in the bureau, and your former school leaders will have to flatter you."

"What are you saying?" Gu Xiaoxia rolled her eyes at Li Long, "I'm not that kind of person—the school still keeps a dormitory for me."

"Just a joke, fine, you go do your work, I'll wait here for the water to get hot, and I'll wipe and wash when it's hot."

"Yeah, if you have anything, call me..." Gu Xiaoxia was still quite reluctant, but she also knew that it wasn't convenient to talk like this at this time, so she said, "I still have a manuscript to revise."

Gu Xiaoxia left, Li Long closed the kitchen door and sat by the stove waiting for the water to boil.

The kitchen was cleaned very cleanly. There were no odds and ends on the stove. The wide cutting board was arranged very neatly. The steamer, frying pan, and the like were very clean. A bowl of chili oil was placed on the windowsill. Li Long stood up and smelled it, and it smelled very good. The storage room where things were kept was closed, so that the heat wouldn't get in.

The floor ash was also swept very cleanly. Coal was placed in a coal circle built with bricks by the side of the stove. Half was large coal, and half was small coal and coal dust that had already been knocked.

The pot lid gap was steaming. Li Long knew the water was about to boil. He got up to fetch a bucket, uncovered the pot lid, scooped half a bucket of water into the bucket with a horse spoon, and then connected more than half a bucket of cold water. Feeling the temperature was good, he carried the bucket, hugged the clothes, and went to the guest room.

The stove in the guest room had been lit. Li Long put down the bucket and clothes, went to get a basin and towel, and started to wipe and wash in the guest room.

A bucket of water was almost not enough. Li Long felt refreshed after washing, but also quite tired. He walked dozens of miles in the mountains today and did other things. After washing, he was too sleepy to move. After pouring out the water, he saw that Gu Xiaoxia hadn't turned off the light, so he said something through the door and went to sleep first. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 371 =====