Chapter 399: New Year Wine Talk

At noon, Liang Yuemei stir-fried an extra dish, and Li Long took out the Moutai he bought back.

"Sauce-flavored? That yeast smell is so heavy, what's to drink? You bought this wine at a loss!" Li Jianguo slapped his thigh when he saw the wine, "This wine isn't cheap, right? Can it be returned? If it can be returned, return it. What's to drink in this wine?"

Sure enough, the big brother at the counter was right.

"This wine is a famous brand." Li Long said with a smile, "Don't want to drink and taste it?"

"Don't want to drink, don't want to drink, drank it before, the yeast smell is too heavy, not used to drinking it." Li Jianguo turned and took out a plastic cage from under the bed—it was actually that kind of flat square plastic pot. The volume of this pot was one liter, three liters, five liters, and ten liters.

Since there were things like this for sale in the retail department, the common people really liked it—farmers took it to the fields to bring water, used it to hit bulk wine, and also used it to pour honey. Herdsmen would also use it to hold homemade sour horse milk.

It was almost an all-purpose pot.

Li Jianguo took out a five-liter pot, which contained more than half of the things. Li Long guessed it was wine.

"If you want to drink, drink this. Don't look at yours being bottled, this is bulk. This is proper grain wine, produced by the food company's winery."

"Big Brother, when did you buy it?" Li Long was a bit strange, it seemed he hadn't seen his big brother buy this wine, but to tell the truth, his big brother Li Jianguo's drinking capacity was really not ordinary.

"Buy? Didn't buy, someone sent it." Li Jianguo sat down, opened the cage, and Li Long went to take three cups and put them on the table.

Li Juan and Li Qiang also put down the things in their hands at this time, came over, and prepared to eat. The cage mouth opened, and the smell of wine drifted out. It was really fragrant.

Not to mention how it tasted, but this smell was really fragrant.

"Dad, can I drink?" Li Qiang asked boldly.

"Can't drink, you can't drink until you get to university." Li Long said first, "This wine can be drunk by adults, children will burn their brains if they drink it, and can burn people stupid!"

"Then I won't drink!" Li Qiang held his head, "I don't want to become like Big Spoon!"

Big Spoon was a fool in the village, it should be said that he was mentally disabled, didn't bully people, a bit like the village guardian in the legends of later generations. Of course, his name was set when he was born, so his younger brother was called Little Spoon. His younger brother wasn't stupid at all. After his parents passed away, he had been raising his brother—after the township nursing home was dissolved, Big Spoon lived in his younger brother's house.

There were two mentally disabled people in the whole team, and one mentally ill person. The two mentally disabled people had the IQ of seven or eight-year-old children, could communicate, one was congenital, born like this, one was burned stupid by fever when he was young.

That mentally ill person—Li Long suddenly thought of a thing, that woman was usually quite good, maverick, didn't communicate with others, seemed to suddenly get sick more than ten years later, and used an iron shovel to chop a child to death—should he remind her then?

Liang Yuemei brought the rice, Li Juan followed her mother to distribute bowls and chopsticks.

"Drink two cups?" Liang Yuemei saw the wine glass and asked with some surprise.

Usually, drinking was in the evening because it didn't hinder work. After all, if you drank at noon, if there was anything in the afternoon, it would be delayed.

"Doesn't matter, everything that should be done is done." Li Jianguo said with a smile, "You drink one too. The Moutai Xiao Long brought has too heavy yeast smell, I'll take out the wine sent by the food company to drink two cups."

"Wine sent by the food company?" Li Long was even more surprised, "Can they send wine to us?"

"Haha, don't know, right." Li Jianguo waited for everyone to sit down, and he said to Li Juan and Li Qiang, "You eat, I'll drink two cups with your uncle, you play after eating."

Li Juan and Li Qiang nodded, buried their heads and ate.

"I'll go rake two more dishes." Liang Yuemei stood up and said.

"Don't, sister-in-law, this is enough." Li Long hurriedly said, "Enough."

"Don't get it." Li Jianguo also said, "Not outsiders."

After speaking, he said to Li Long:

"Isn't our team planting rice? After this rice is milled into rice, the remaining rice bran, the food company's winery wants to take it to make yeast, so they have to have a good relationship with us?"

There is such a saying?

Li Long really hadn't paid attention before.

"Don't look at this being bulk wine, it doesn't look as good as the one in your bottle, but it's delicious." Li Jianguo poured three cups of wine while holding the bottom of the plastic cage, then put down the cage and covered it, saying:

"There are two wineries in our county, one in the plain forest farm, one in the county food company, both are brewed with grain, the wine is good, unlike the several kinds of wine from the hometown, those kinds use sweet potato, that is, red potato dried brewed white dry, that wine is really not good! Headache! We call it headache big yeast!"

"White dry?" Li Long remembered the famous brands of later generations and asked: "Which white dry?"

"Seems to be Dan County? Right, and that Gujing Gong, also headache! Yanghe Big Yeast, Shuanggou Big Yeast are better, but we live here, if you really want to drink bottled wine, you still have to drink Yilite, Kuitunte, of course, Santai, Bai Yang, Gucheng are also good. But that wine is expensive when bottled, still this bulk wine, sent by people, that tastes good!" (This is the evaluation of wine by people in the past, not representing now)

Saying that, Li Jianguo raised his cup to signal Li Long, then drank it in one gulp.

Li Long knew Li Jianguo's habit, he was the younger brother, he definitely couldn't toast him, Li Jianguo had a large drinking capacity, it didn't matter if there was food in his stomach, drinking a cup directly didn't matter—even if this cup was fifty grams.

Li Long raised his cup, smelled it, it was really fragrant, but as soon as the wine touched his mouth, he felt the spiciness, knowing he couldn't be cowardly at this time, looked up and drank it down.

Fortunately, it didn't feel cold but felt hot.

That was it.

Li Long had a habit of drinking. Once the first sip of wine felt cold, he couldn't drink it, otherwise, he would definitely have a blackout later, and would vomit all over the place.

But it was still spicy, he hurriedly picked up chopsticks to pick up dishes and eat, to suppress it.

Liang Yuemei didn't move the cup, she waved her hand:

"You drink, I'll have this cup, I have to eat something before drinking."

"Look, this entrance is spicy, the aftertaste is fragrant, different from that red potato dried wine." Li Jianguo lifted the cage again, took off the lid, and carefully poured it for the two people.

The cage was big and the cup was small. If not careful, it was easy to spill.

After a cup of wine, Li Long felt hot all over, his mouth was spraying wine gas, he ate while asking:

"Big Brother, our county's wine has no name?"

He vaguely remembered that many wineries in later generations were closed, but in his memory, it seemed that every county had a winery, but he really had no impression of the wine in the county. Was it always bulk wine?

After all, this was also an ancient city. The name of the ancient city was used by Qitai, of course, the ancient city of Beiting had a much longer history and much greater fame. But Maxian wasn't much worse, right?

"No. Both wineries make bulk wine," Li Jianguo straightened his chopsticks, picked up pickled vegetables and ate a bite, wiped his mouth and put down his chopsticks, saying:

"Bulk wine doesn't have such high costs, and there are not so many troublesome procedures. After making it, it can be sold directly to the retail department. Just like people in our team also recognize this wine, herdsmen in the mountains also recognize this wine, isn't that enough? Making it into a brand requires bottles, adding trademarks, not to mention increasing costs, our county winery doesn't have such a large output..."

Alright, is this small wealth and peace or short-sightedness?

Li Long ate two more bites of dishes, raised his wine glass to Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei, and said:

"Big Brother, Sister-in-law, it's almost New Year, let's drink a cup. Last year, no matter what, it was better than previous years. I didn't understand things before, last year I felt it was okay, later we will be better!"

"Heh," Li Jianguo was happy, "Xiao Long is okay, the words are getting better and better."

"That's right!" Liang Yuemei also raised her cup, "Last year thanks to you, this year, meat was eaten no less. Juan and Qiangqiang have grown fat, and have become picky eaters. Life at home is also better. Pushing forward two years, who could think of this? Fine grain didn't dare to let children eat every day!"

Liang Yuemei's words didn't leave eating, which was actually the most intuitive reflection of farmers' lives. Before last year, without dividing fields to households, the grain was divided at the end of the year at a ratio of two to eight, eight parts coarse grain and two parts fine grain, fine grain could only be eaten by children, Li Long also ate.

But two parts fine grain were not enough at all, and Li Long had a big appetite.

Not knowing the price of firewood and rice without being the head of the family, a clever woman couldn't cook without rice, so Liang Yuemei was the most difficult.

Last year, there was a turning point starting from the New Year. Li Long went to haul wood and brought back frozen sheep, then later engaged in fish and money to buy fine grain, then later...

Could eat meat every day.

Such a life, even some small landlords in the old society couldn't do it.

So Liang Yuemei would say so.

The three people drank the wine, and their hearts were filled with emotion.

Life now is really too good. "Later, it can be better." Li Long suddenly said, he took the cage from Li Jianguo, poured the wine himself, and said while pouring, "After the New Year, it should be land contracting. At that time, we contract more land, not only plant grain, plant some economic crops, relying on planting land, we can also slowly become rich."

Being able to become rich is being able to become rich, but one is scale, that is, many plots of land, and two is planting the right things. Li Long had been thinking about this matter. With his relationship with his big brother, his big brother couldn't always work for him, that would have self-esteem no matter what.

His big brother's strength is planting land, and the first round of land contracting is about to start in 1983. The unique condition of the Fourth Small Team is that there is a lot of land, much more land than other small teams, and when contracting land, as long as there is money, it can be contracted.

He vaguely remembered that when land was contracted, it was based on output, for example, a first-class land output of 200 kilograms, 20 mu of land per share, initially contracted for 15 years, 3,000 yuan per share, actually this contracting fee was very cheap.

After 15 years, it was 1997 or 1998, when the second round of land contracting was re-contracted, it could continue to be contracted, and then it wouldn't move land later. That is to say, you have contracted the second round, and when the next round of land contracting is only verbal, in fact, the land is not moved.

It doesn't show up at first, but when it reaches the 2020s of the 21st century, whoever has more land makes money, and it is like this in Northern Xinjiang.

The annual contracting fee per mu of land has reached 1,500 in Maxian, and expensive ones have reached 1,800. Even if you don't plant land, purely contracting it out, a family has 100 mu of land, and the net income is more than 100,000 a year, isn't it fragrant?

Of course, the vast majority of families didn't have that much land at that time.

Because planting land in the early stage really didn't make money. From the early 1980s, the price of wheat went from two or three cents to three or four yuan in the early 2020s of the 21st century, which was considered to have risen more than ten times. In fact, what about other things? Houses have risen by more than a hundred times!

Farmers in Northern Xinjiang are actually considered good. Others, can't mention.

"That contracting fee is not cheap..." Li Jianguo sighed, "Our family has saved some money, can contract some, other families are hard to say..."

!.

This is also the first round of land contracting. Most families basically contracted a share of land, and some simply didn't contract.

Can't afford to contract.

The land is still the team's, of course there are many contracts, until later, families contracted some one after another. After all, land carries the hope of farmers' lives.

"Then what is good to plant?" Liang Yuemei asked. Wheat and corn must be planted, after all, public grain must be handed in. Rapeseed must also be planted. Oil sunflower is planted less now, and the output is not high. Planting these is mostly for handing in public and for home consumption.

Wanting to make money, you can only plant economic crops.

"Sugar beets are fine," Li Long thought for a moment and said. "The Shicheng Sugar Factory buys them, it's just that growing them is labor-intensive. It's troublesome when digging them up. Besides that, you can plant oil-seed melons."

"Oil-seed melons?" Liang Wenyu was stunned for a moment.

"Oil-seed melons, I've grown them before," Li Jianguo coughed lightly and said. "I grew them in the Production and Construction Corps before, for the seeds. But picking the seeds out is troublesome! The seeds are expensive, though, several yuan per kilogram!"

"So expensive?" Liang Yuemei asked.

"Yes, that's the black melon seeds," Li Jianguo said, "One mu of land can get more than 100 kilograms of melon seeds if managed well, at that time one kilogram of melon seeds must be two yuan? Maybe it's more expensive now?"

"Three yuan, at least three yuan." Li Long vaguely remembered the price and said, "There is actually a way to pick the seeds. We raise pigs at home; for these oil-seed melons, the seeds can be picked out, dried, and sold, while the melon skin and pulp can still be used to feed the pigs, just like with sugar beets."

"If you can pick seeds well, this thing is also okay to plant." Li Jianguo nodded.

Li Long told the method he knew in later generations.

"Can it work?" Li Jianguo was a bit doubtful.

"Guaranteed to work, try it next year, plant a few mu and you'll know." Li Long said with a smile, "Shicheng stir-fry factory will definitely collect it, wait until early spring to ask the seed company, maybe they will also collect it, they should also have seeds for sale there."

Li Long felt that the two things planted for the time being were relatively feasible.

In fact, in later generations, because the plots here were large, everyone tried planting various crops. For example, watermelon, sweet melon, tomato (used for making sauce, not the kind for stir-frying, commonly known as canned foreign persimmon), grapes, edible flower sunflower, millet, dry rice, etc.

In the end, the most planted were cotton, then tomatoes and grapes, which almost swept all the land nearby, and the scale of cotton planting in Maxian reached one million mu.

Once something reaches a scale, it is very difficult to change it, such as the cotton here, the chili in Anjihai, the wolfberry in Jinghe, etc.

"As long as it is determined that there is collection, then we will plant!" Liang Yuemei said, "We are not afraid of work, just afraid that the things planted will not be wanted by anyone and rot in the ground. Xiao Long, you ask more later... I'll drink another one!"

The three people touched a cup together, Li Long poured wine, at this time Li Juan and Li Qiang had already finished eating, took the bowls and chopsticks to the kitchen, and then went to play.

"This wine tastes really good." Li Long sighed. He didn't drink much before, and didn't have much idea about wine in his previous life, just felt it was spicy. Chatting and drinking like this today, it felt quite good.

"That is, brewed with grain, not adulterated, and nothing bad." Li Jianguo wiped his mouth, said with a smile, "As long as it's not drunk to death, drink some, even if drunk, just sleep and it will be fine."

"Then some people sleep, some don't." Liang Yuemei didn't drink anymore, complained, "Like Old Zhang in the team, after drinking, he makes a fool of himself, taking raw fish and stuffing it into his mouth..."

Alright, not everyone goes to sleep after getting drunk. The Li family is like this, other families are not necessarily, people who play drunk are everywhere.

Li Long sighed, let's restrain drinking in the future. After all, it hurts the brain, and it's not good for anyone to drink too much.

This year has passed, Li Long felt that he had done a lot of things, and he was actually quite proud. Not only changed his own life, but also made the lives of his big brother's family, his parents, including Tao Daqiang and others, change in a good direction.

This is really quite good. Li Long considered his ability not strong, but with these changes, he would become more confident. Every decision made later might affect a person's life, but he would be very cautious, and the decisions made had a bottom line.

With money in his pocket, he wouldn't panic in his heart, and he would have confidence in doing things, and even if he failed, he would have the ability to turn over again.

Li Long didn't drink anymore after three cups of wine, picked up the rice bowl and started eating.

Li Jianguo didn't persuade him either, drank two more cups himself, tasted the wine beautifully, and then covered the plastic cage and put it under the bed, and started eating.

"This life, really beautiful!" Li Jianguo sighed suddenly while eating, "Think about when Juan was young, meat could only be eaten once or twice a year. Fish was often eaten, but that's different from meat. Now, hehe..."

He didn't finish, but everyone understood the meaning.

After eating, Li Long leaned against the fire wall and chatted with his big brother for a while. After feeling better, he carried a few bottles of small champagne, put on his coat and went out.

His head was slightly dizzy, this wine was still quite powerful, feeling the alcohol content was at least fifty. He planned to go back to the stable to sleep, rest and rest before talking.

Thinking about Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang should also be home eating now, would they go to the small Haizi to get fish in the afternoon?

This was just a flash, he planned to give them money when the two came over in the evening.

Thinking about it, the two should also be quite looking forward to it, right?

To say tired, he was tired, they were also tired.

All were running towards a good life, having this effort, only then could they be worthy of this harvest.

Arriving at the old stable, after saying a word to Old Luo Shu, Li Long entered the room, closed the door, and fell asleep.

When he woke up, the sky outside was a bit dark. Li Long looked at the watch, slept for two hours. Climbed up, rubbed his eyes, still slightly dizzy, but it didn't have much impact. He moved, went out to release water, went to the pen to look at the wild boar, deer, and roe deer, all were quite good.

Old Luo Shu was stir-frying in the kitchen, Li Long also smelled the smell of fish.

Seems to be the kind of fish he had made before and eaten after crushing it?

Should be, right?

When Li Long was guessing, he saw Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang walk into the gate of the stable together.

"Dragon Brother, is this trip smooth?" Yang Yongqiang asked after seeing Li Long.

"Smooth, just right, go, go into the room, I'll split the money for you." Li Long smiled and entered the room first.

Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang walked into the room full of expectation.

Full brain thinking: how much can be split? (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 400 =====