Chapter 398: A New Beginning

He originally planned to do something with the help of the wine, but he didn't drink, and just recalled the things of this year.

The last few sentences made Gu Xiaoxia shy. She chased Li Long into the room and cleaned up the kitchen herself. The sky was already very short now, and it was dark outside. Li Long also felt itchy in his heart.

After Gu Xiaoxia cleaned up the kitchen and entered the room, seeing Li Long take off his coat and sit in the living room, she felt a little nervous, always feeling that something might happen today.

"Is the work in your bureau busy recently?"

"Not busy." Gu Xiaoxia shook her head, went over to relieve the tension by cleaning up the stove fire, and said while cleaning:

"Although the year-end summary has ended, the leader said that the work of the new year is about to begin, but in fact, everyone knows it, and the mentality is like that. Only after the New Year is truly over can it be considered the beginning of the new year. Anyway, the school hasn't started yet, and the opportunities for superiors have all been summarized. The thoughts of those people are about the same as ours, so it's not busy. People in the office are thinking about how to get more supplies for the New Year."

"Then you don't issue benefits for the New Year?" Li Long let Gu Xiaoxia point this out, and immediately became curious.

The administrative units in the county were small in size, and doing business with them was basically not worth it. Moreover, these units basically didn't have any money except for the supply and marketing cooperatives that controlled materials. Gu Xiaoxia's unit was basically a clean temple, and it was basically impossible to want good benefits.

"Issuing, a pair of thread gloves, a bag of washing powder." Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile, "I'm not good at participating in their discussions. They mainly discuss wanting to cut more meat before the New Year, get a fish, and so on. The meat supply of the food company is limited, and the idea of those big sisters is to go to the market to buy. Some people even asked me, I'm not good at saying that there are all of them at home."

"If you say so, if I really slaughter a pig and sell it in the market before the New Year, it can still be sold." Li Long touched his chin, "There are extra sheep at Big Brother's place, it's not impossible to take one out to sell..."

The meat food at home was enough. He had left meat from hunting and slaughtering pigs before, and the meat and offal left this time were not few. He thought his big brother couldn't sell them all, and it wouldn't be a problem to eat until after the New Year or even early spring. So, should he set up a stall in the county when selling fish and rabbits later?

Thinking about it, forget it, go to Shicheng. The size here was small after all, and there were people in the village selling fish. If he set up a stall again, the competition would be fierce, and it might not be sold out.

Still focus on the Shicheng market.

Gu Xiaoxia looked at Li Long thinking about things there, and secretly sized up this young man who was about to become her man.

Very handsome, especially when thinking about things, that expression really attracted her.

Gu Xiaoxia's heart was thumping, she felt a bit hot, so she stood up, went to get a broom to sweep the stove ash, and by the way, shifted her thoughts.

There were still people in the unit introducing objects to her, but Gu Xiaoxia had clearly told them that she already had an object and had already been engaged. But when they learned that her object was from the countryside, some people still hinted at hoping to introduce a city person to her, and even secretly told her that she should find a worker or a cadre.

If it wasn't for Vice Bureau Chief Wang specifically talking about this matter at a meeting, some people would really be playing ideas on her.

She compared the education bureau cadres who played ideas on her with Li Long. Although Li Long wasn't a cadre, to tell the truth, he wasn't worse than those people, and even much better than them.

Can earn money, has ideas, has a good temperament, and can cook a good meal.

Although it is said that men and women are equal, in the discussion of family division of labor in the unit, it is mainly based on men outside and women inside, as if it is natural for women to cook and bring up children.

There is almost no one like Li Long who will take the initiative to cook when he is free and waiting for her to come back!

At this time, Gu Xiaoxia didn't know there was a word called "warm man." She just knew that Li Long took good care of her, and could even be said to spoil her.

She enjoyed this feeling very much, and of course, she also knew that she shouldn't just enjoy it. Except for normal expenses, most of her salary was saved, preparing to add things to her small home when getting married. She wouldn't let Li Long support the home of two people alone.

"By the way, I bought you a scarf." Li Long suddenly remembered, took out the scarf in the room, walked to Gu Xiaoxia, "Come, I'll wrap it for you to see."

Li Long walked so close, making Gu Xiaoxia a bit at a loss. She lowered her head, held her hands together, her fingers twisting, her heart thumping.

Li Long lowered his head, wrapped it for Gu Xiaoxia in the way he impressed in his previous life, then took a step back to look, and said with a smile:

"Not bad, not bad, really good-looking!"

The scarf was white. Although this era was usually based on dark colors because dark colors were dirt-resistant, Li Long felt that young people, light colors were better.

"Look in the mirror." Li Long handed a round mirror to Gu Xiaoxia.

"Yo, this wrapping method is really special!" Gu Xiaoxia was immediately attracted by the method Li Long used to wrap the scarf for her. Because it was cold, the usual method of wrapping the scarf was to wrap it around the neck in circles, protect it, not let the cold wind drill in, and finally tie a knot.

Now this method of wrapping a circle and putting it on the neck, although it didn't count as warm, it was really good-looking.

"Good-looking, right," Li Long said with a self-satisfied smile, "Learn it, wrap it like this tomorrow."

Gu Xiaoxia didn't answer, slowly untied it, prepared to learn it, but didn't know how to do it after wrapping a circle.

Li Long looked anxious, went up to teach her, taught her hand-in-hand, and the hands inevitably touched together, and the atmosphere suddenly became ambiguous.

Although Li Long didn't drink, his heart was hot. He always felt that he should do something, and couldn't help but hold Gu Xiaoxia's hand.

Gu Xiaoxia lowered her head, feeling the hot breath spraying on her head and neck, her heart was messy.

"Bang!"

At this moment, a sound outside shocked both of them.

"Gunshot!" Li Long reacted immediately. He pulled Gu Xiaoxia into the bedroom, then turned off the light, and whispered:

"You hide on the bed, don't make a sound. If there is movement, if it's not me, don't move!"

After speaking, he went to the east room, took the 56-semi into his hand, opened the safety, pulled the gun bolt to load, and leaned against the window to listen carefully.

Just as he leaned over, he heard the sound of an explosion again from outside:

"Boom!"

Damn! This is going to war!

Li Long heard it very clearly. This is the sound of detonators and explosives!

The location was in the front right of the big courtyard, the distance should be about two or three hundred meters, not far, not close.

"Li Long, don't go out!" Gu Xiaoxia suddenly spoke in the west room, "I don't know what's going on outside yet. It's dark and blind, don't go out, in case..."

"Good." Li Long responded.

Gu Xiaoxia was right. He didn't know what was going on. Wasn't going out looking for excitement? In case something really happened, wouldn't he be looking for death if he got a stray bullet?

He soon heard the movement from the police station outside the courtyard. Some messy footsteps ran towards the sound of the explosion, and some people were giving orders in a low voice.

Li Long sat on the floor, listening carefully to the movement outside.

In less than ten minutes, those messy footsteps came back, but this time the footsteps were much softer, and he could even hear people talking:

"This kid is too bold!"

"That is, scared me!"

"Lock him up for a night... and he'll be honest!"

"This big night doesn't let people rest well..."

Although he didn't hear specifically what happened, from these words, Li Long understood.

It wasn't a big deal, it should be a misunderstanding.

He turned his head and said to Gu Xiaoxia:

"The police from the police station outside are back, it should be no big deal, I'll go ask, you don't come out first."

After speaking, he carried the gun, opened the door, and went out.

Li Long moved fast. When he went out of the big courtyard gate, the people from the police station hadn't fully entered yet, and he could vaguely see that they were escorting someone.

There was someone behind who was quite familiar, Officer Guo. Li Long hurriedly shouted:

"Officer Guo?"

"Xiao Li?" Officer Guo stopped. Li Long saw that he was holding a Type 54 pistol and was happy.

"What's the situation? No big deal, right?"

"No." It wasn't so strict at this time, and it wasn't a big deal. Officer Guo let his colleagues go back first, and after Li Long came over, he smiled and said, "Actually, it's just a big kid who had nothing to do, stole his family's gun and fired a shot, and then lit the detonators and explosives his father hid, saying he wanted to hear a sound for the New Year... Heh, I guess half the county was alarmed."

"Is his father in the mine?" Li Long felt relieved and guessed.

"No, in the armed forces department." Officer Guo shook his head, "Cough..."

"Then no matter what, there might have to be a punishment." Li Long also shook his head, "It's good that it's a misunderstanding. I'm going into the room. Scared me, thought someone came to rob with a gun..."

"That's impossible." Officer Guo was happy, "You think quite a lot. How can our county be so chaotic? Alright, go to sleep, we still have to work on this case overnight." Well, people are busy too, Li Long said goodbye and left.

He went back, took out the bullets, closed the safety, put the gun away, and only then told Gu Xiaoxia about this matter.

"It's good that it's okay, this kid... sigh." Gu Xiaoxia is also in the system now, knowing that this matter will likely leave a stain on the child's father's future, so she sighed.

Bear kid, there are some in every era.

It's just a pity, the good atmosphere just now... Li Long deeply felt that his year was unfavorable.

No atmosphere, no mood, let's rest separately.

The next morning, he ate leftovers, Gu Xiaoxia heated them. After eating, Li Long told her, then harnessed the horse cart and led it out of the courtyard, rushing towards the team.

What surprised Li Long a bit was that there were slightly more people on the road than when he came. Was it to prepare New Year goods? Was it a bit early?

He didn't care much, drove the horse cart leisurely towards the team, and returned to the enjoyable atmosphere again.

The road from the county to the township was relatively flat. When turning from the township to the village, it was a bit bumpy, but it didn't matter to Li Long. Sitting on the horse cart, under his butt was a soft grass cushion, and the bumps were actually more comfortable.

The weather wasn't too good, not a clear sky, a bit of thin clouds, occasionally sunlight could be sprinkled down. When there was no wind, it felt quite warm. When the sun was blocked, it would be a bit cold.

At this time, the elderly liked to sit by the windows of the sunny room. The sun shone in and they could feel warm. When there was no sun, the fire wall in the room could also provide heat. Even the chickens in the courtyard knew to lean against the sunny wall, basking in the sun while blocking the wind.

!.

After crossing the reed ditch, Li Long was freed from the state of squinting and dozing off. He first drove the horse cart to the old horse stable. Old Luo Shu was still listening to the storytelling, and after hearing the movement, he opened the door and came out.

"Yo, got sugar residue again? This is not a little! Can eat until early spring!" Old Luo Shu was in charge of feeding the livestock, so he was very welcome to the sugar residue.

"And this." Li Long took two bags of sponge cakes and handed them to him, "Old Luo Shu, your teeth are not good, these sponge cakes are soft, delicious, and easy to digest."

"Why buy me this thing, just spending money!" Old Luo Shu complained, but his face was smiling as he took the things.

The older generation was used to false politeness. Most of them weren't hypocritical, but they were really used to hard days, knew the importance of money, and felt in their bones that money should be spent in key places, having the consciousness of saving money. As for their own enjoyment, for them who had suffered, current life was already enjoyment.

Like Old Luo Shu, while complaining that Li Long spent money, he was actually enjoying the happiness of someone thinking about them. The quantity and value of the things didn't matter; as long as there was this heart, they were already very satisfied.

"We earned money, so spend it. Earning money is for spending, saving it has no meaning." Li Long said a bunch of crooked reasons he thought, and took down the kelp, hairtail, and other things for this side and put them in the kitchen. At this time, Old Luo Shu had already started unloading the sugar residue.

Li Long followed to unload six bags, and the rest were to be hauled to the Li family.

"Old Luo Shu, I won't come back for lunch at noon, I'll come back in the evening." Li Long said to Old Luo Shu, and drove the horse cart towards the Li family.

"I'll eat two sponge cakes at noon, then I'll make you something delicious in the evening!" Old Luo Shu shouted at the courtyard gate of the stable.

Li Long waved his hand and walked away.

"Old Luo, what are you shouting? In this middle of winter, showing off your loud voice?"

The speaker was Old Qin in the team. He carried a manure basket and picked up manure all over the team.

Old Qin's family lived here. He came to Northern Xinjiang early. He had worked in other places before. It was only a few years after the team was established that he came here through fellow villagers. Although he was old, his seniority in the team wasn't old.

"Shouting to talk to Without Xiao Long." Old Luo and Old Qin had an average relationship. After speaking, he turned and entered the stable.

"You say you are an old man, following that young man every day, why are you sticking your hot face to someone's cold butt?" Old Qin felt that Old Luo's life as an old man was a bit humble.

"What hot face sticking to cold butt?" Old Luo sneered, "Without Xiao Long earned money, bought me sponge cakes, bought me hairtail, the fish caught, the meat hunted, I can eat whatever I want. Is that a cold face? Your son separated the family, is that how he treats you? Do you dare to go to your son's house and take things to eat?"

Two sentences choked Old Qin so he couldn't speak.

Is Li Long so good to Old Luo?

"Don't believe it?" Seeing his expression, Old Luo guessed it, turned and went into the room, took out a bag of sponge cakes and shook it, "See that? Just bought it! And that radio, he also got me one. I listen to storytelling every day, it's so good to listen to!

You say you, your son also earned money this year, did he show filial piety to you with one?"

Old Qin heard this, his face turned green!

Of course he wanted a radio. This year, his son earned some money by making reed bundles and big brooms in the team. He also wanted his son to show filial piety to his old father. After all, he and his old wife had been bringing up children for them.

But this sentence just wouldn't be said.

Old Luo looked proudly at Old Qin who was choked, turned and returned to the room.

Humph!

Li Long drove the horse cart to the Li family. The fragrance of rice had already drifted out a little.

Looking at the watch, it was time for a meal. Li Long said in his heart that he came back at the right time!

Hearing the movement, Li Jianguo opened the door and walked out.

"Without Xiao Long is back," Li Jianguo said while coming over to help unload the goods, "Is this sugar residue?"

"Yes, and bought some things." Li Long moved the big bags and boxes containing things down. He was afraid the small champagne would freeze, so he wrapped the box directly with a quilt.

"Little Uncle, why didn't you come back yesterday?" Li Qiang ran out and asked.

"Came back late from Shicheng." Li Long explained, "Did you do your homework?"

"Doing it." Li Qiang smiled.

"Good." Li Long moved the things in, saw sister-in-law Liang Yuemei stir-frying, and said:

"Sister-in-law, bought you a scarf."

"Why buy that? Spending money randomly!" Liang Yuemei said.

"Heh, money is for spending." Li Long put the things down, and then took them out one by one:

"Without Xiao Long, your pencil box, this is a small pistol!"

"Wow! Little Uncle, you are so good! Hahahaha!" Li Qiang was happy crazy.

"Juan, this is the fountain pen for you, and a Rubik's cube, you can think about how to play."

"This is a Rubik's cube?" Li Juan took the Rubik's cube curiously, tried to twist it, and then quickly restored it. She knew this toy, someone in school had mentioned it, but this was the first time she saw it.

"Big Brother," Li Long handed the big-headed shoes to Li Jianguo who walked into the room after hearing Li Qiang's movement, "This is for you, it's warmer to wear than cotton rubber shoes."

"Heh, why spend that money!" Li Jianguo had the same attitude as Liang Yuemei.

"Money is for spending." Li Long gave the same answer, "I'm going to unload the sugar residue."

"Go." Li Jianguo also walked out, and when he went out, he turned his head and looked at the big-headed shoes.

"I'm going too!" Li Qiang shouted holding the small pistol, and then was grabbed by the collar by Li Juan:

"Do your homework! There are still two math problems left, must finish before eating!"

Li Qiang's face immediately collapsed, the suppression of the sister's bloodline!

Li Long and his big brother unloaded the sugar residue. Li Jianguo went to settle No. 76. Li Long pulled the horse cart to the shed. This trip was officially over now.

Although it was possible to go sell fish and rabbits tomorrow or the day after, that was another way of saying it.

"Big Brother, let me collect the fish and rabbits next." In the courtyard, Li Long waited for Li Jianguo to settle No. 76, and said to him, "This trip is considered finished. I won't give you much money. This remaining offal will be your income this time. I'll give you another 100 yuan, this is the money for the remaining rabbits and fish collected these two days."

"No, no!" Li Jianguo hurriedly waved his hand, "Selling this offal is not a small amount of money, and there's that sheep..."

"Not only did you put in effort, but there's also the horse cart's share." Li Long said.

"If it weren't for you, could I have gotten that horse cart?" Li Jianguo glared at him, "Alright, alright, don't calculate so clearly. How about this, that 100, you send it to Dad and Mom, how about it?"

"Good." Li Long felt it was also good.

This matter was settled like this. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 399 =====