Chapter 416: The uncle who pits his nephew

When Li Long was walking back, he was thinking about Master Wang's words.

Now the country's policy encouraged everyone to get rich, starting from allowing stalls to sell things, and later it would gradually open up some private enterprise access systems. He vaguely remembered that the first private enterprise registered for industry and commerce had already been operating in the south, but in the northwest, it still needed a process.

However, it would definitely be possible to do it in the summer after the New Year. Li Long felt that he could try it then. Of course, management personnel and technical personnel needed to be found and cultivated. He couldn't do it himself.

The next morning, Li Long came to the repair factory again and saw three hand-held spot seeders placed there, made according to his statement, basically no problems, just the materials used, such as the steel pipe was a bit rusty, and the springs were also second-hand.

But it was not bad to have them. After all, this was not later generations. In later generations, people made mechanical products, and almost all parts could be searched on the Internet, and it was no problem to rub one by hand.

But now all kinds of materials were relatively scarce, and it was not bad to have second-hand replacements.

"Look, this pin below is to adjust the number of seeds dropped, and the handle on the hand is lifted, then the seeds fall into the soil. I specifically polished this sharp cone, it's very easy to drill into the ground, and after finishing, step on it or pull it, and the soil will cover the seeds, it's really convenient."

Master Wang explained to Li Long. Although he didn't farm much, he also felt that this thing was quite good.

All three were tested. Except for the spring's strength being slightly high, the handle needed some force when pinching, other aspects were no problem.

After Li Long paid the remaining money, he said:

"Master Wang's craftsmanship is good, I will come over to make things later when I need them."

"Alright." Master Wang took the money and smiled happily.

Except for the steel pipe, other things were leftovers. Even if the steel pipe was calculated in the material cost, it would be at most five cents, and the extra was all his own earnings.

This money came really fast!

If there were such business every day, it wouldn't be impossible for him to stay in this repair factory...

Thinking about it, he shook his head again. Such business might not come once in ten days or half a month. It was better to think about going to the agricultural machinery station. At least it was a fixed income, and staying here might not be able to pay wages later.

Li Long took the three spot seeders and clamped them on the back seat of the bicycle, and rode back home.

In his view, three were enough. As for how to do it later, talk about it later. After all, time was still long, no need to fight for this moment.

Back to the Li family, Li Long planned to put the three spot seeders in the vacant room. Li Jianguo came back after feeding the pigs, looked at the spot seeders Li Long was holding, and was quite curious. Li Long handed one over:

"Eldest brother, see if this works."

"Let me see." Li Jianguo took one, just looked at it and knew how to use it. First, Li Long had explained it before, and second, this thing itself was relatively easy to get started, without so many fancy things, one could understand it at a glance.

"Yeah, put seeds on top, stick the bottom into the soil, pinch this handle, and the seeds will fall into the pit dug out, not bad, not bad, no need to bend over, lift it up and wipe it with your foot, and the pit will be filled, it's really convenient. This is not as good as a seeder, but it's much faster than manual planting! It works."

"Try it when the time comes. This kind of vegetable is also fine, just toggle the pin below, up is dropping more seeds, down is dropping fewer seeds," Li Long explained again, "Like when dropping melon seeds, drop a little more, so that it's easy to set seedlings after they come out."

"Yeah, good." Li Jianguo nodded, and Li Long took the spot seeder and carried it into the vacant room.

In the next few days, every household prepared for the New Year, and some children who couldn't help it had already started setting off firecrackers sporadically.

At this time, there were no scattered firecrackers for sale in Northern Xinjiang. Those with a little spare money in their families bought the kind of one-yuan one-hundred-sound small firecrackers, took them apart and gave them to children to set off. That thing had less medicine inside, and even if it exploded in a child's hand, it wouldn't hurt anyone, at most it would numb the hand. And now children didn't have so many pranks, and wouldn't throw them into places with people or haystacks—Li Long had seen many people say in short videos and other platforms that they lit haystacks when they were children in his previous life, but he had never found it in the team, even if there were so many wheat haystacks on the wheat field in summer, he had never seen children go to light haystacks.

Really not.

And these children setting off firecrackers in winter was usually to show off, and they wouldn't really bomb people—they all held incense in their left hand, and small firecrackers in their right hand, lit them and threw them in, seeing who threw them high and exploded loudly, that was who was powerful.

They didn't bet on anything, just like that famous talk show, whoever throws high and explodes loudly is powerful, often because of such a sentence, children would steal and take apart the electric light firecrackers their family prepared to set off on the first day of the New Year, light them with the incense in their hands and throw them into the sky, that sound was actually really loud.

After all, what was used at that time was real materials.

It was just that the firecracker fuse burned too fast, and it was too easy to explode the hand. Electric light firecrackers exploding the hand couldn't be compared to small firecrackers, holding it in the middle of the firecracker, it could burn the hand.

Of course, the loudest was the two-kick, locally called double-sound, this thing was definitely something that could be held in the hand and set off, a show-off artifact, such a thick firecracker, held in the hand, calmly smoking a cigarette, lit, the hand holding the firecracker stretched to one side, turned the head and didn't look, held it falsely in the hand, and then could feel the fire spraying from the bottom of the firecracker in the hand, "bang" and it shot into the sky, and then exploded in mid-air.

This double-sound wasn't anything for adults, most adults came from the interior, and had seen this thing.

But most children in the village hadn't seen it. After all, in the past few years, the supply and marketing cooperative in Ma County didn't have double-sounds, let alone the kind of thunder firecrackers that opened the door, all were electric light firecrackers, small whips, and the only thing that could be fun was adding a sky monkey. So when Li Long held a two-kick and set it off for Li Qiang and the others, it attracted a lot of admiration.

Li Long gave the remaining three two-kicks in his hand to Li Qiang, Li Qiang shouted happily and ran to play.

The friends around him all chased after him.

Li Long smiled, turned and returned to the house.

The happiness of children now is really simple, and after twenty or thirty years, at that time, a considerable part of children's happiness was already in mobile phones, and these firecrackers could no longer attract them.

The Li family prepared materials for the New Year according to the customs of the New Year, and did a big cleaning. Because after the New Year, father and mother, second brother's family, brother-in-law and others were coming over, Li Long cleaned up the east room, and then went to the horse stables, cleaned up the large kang where Li Anguo and the others lived and the room next to it. The stove was cleaned, and a few stoves of charcoal were burned to bake the room, so as not to be damp when they first came. Because the second brother's family was coming to live, Li Long went to the county to pull a few bags of rice and flour, so that when the two nieces came, they couldn't let them eat coarse grain.

Li Long also thought about whether to take time to go to the mountains to hunt again, get some meat back, but was persuaded by Li Jianguo, who told Li Long that there were not many days before the New Year, wait until after the New Year, no matter what, it would take many days after the New Year for them to come over, no need to rush at this moment.

Li Long thought it was right, this year was busy enough, and it was already at the New Year's eve, so don't toss anymore.

He went back and forth between the eldest brother's house and the horse stables, usually eating at the eldest brother's house at noon, and returning to the horse stables to eat in the evening. Recently he was reading a book "Fiery Warrior", telling the story of our army and people stubbornly resisting the enemy during the War of Resistance Against Japan. At this time, radio dramas were often broadcast, and later adapted into movies and TV series.

The novel was written quite tragically, unlike the anti-Japanese divine dramas of later generations, not stupid, sometimes quite heartbreaking, sometimes quite enjoyable.

This day, when Li Long was walking to the eldest brother's house with the book, he saw Li Qiang and several slightly older boys in the village playing at the old team department. Li Long had good eyesight, and saw one of the boys who seemed to be called Erhai, was holding a rolled Mohe cigarette and smoking, his expression was very intoxicated, and several other children were still a bit envious—for example, Li Qiang, that expression was a bit envious.

Li Long saw it, Li Qiang wanted to try it.

At this time, many men smoked, and occasionally they would tell children about the harm of smoking, but they wouldn't say how serious it was.

Li Long suddenly had a playful heart, thought of a story he had heard, pretended not to see the children, and strode toward the Li family.

Arriving at the Li family, Li Long saw Li Jianguo was still watering the horses, so he went to find Mohe cigarette, and rolled a big cannon with paper, but he didn't roll the whole cigarette, but rolled a small whip inside, the fuse was just in front—as long as this cigarette was lit, the small whip could explode within three seconds.

This small whip was picked out from a string of small whips, pinched a bit flat, less medicine.

This thing anyway wouldn't hurt people, just scare, so Li Long wasn't afraid of any accidents. These children wouldn't pick up the cigarette and light it and swallow it into their stomachs, right?

He rolled it and went out, put the cigarette on the windowsill of the west room. The snow on the windowsill was cleaned, and a white paper-rolled cigarette on the gray-brown was quite obvious.

Next, it depends on good fortune. Li Long paid attention at first, but Li Qiang didn't run back until lunch time. Li Long noticed that when Li Qiang ran out, he stopped at the windowsill. He guessed that the cigarette was taken away by Li Qiang.

Usually Li Long ate after lunch, chatted for a while, and after doing some work with the eldest brother, he returned to the horse stables. There were also things there. Today Li Long waited until it was dark before leaving.

He was waiting for Li Qiang to come back.

Li Qiang saw the cigarette placed on the windowsill when he came back, and even pinched it, there were things inside, and it was rolled quite solid.

Li Qiang was secretly happy, thinking who would put this cigarette here?

The only one who smoked this cigarette in the family was Li Jianguo, so he didn't dare to move at first, and put the cigarette back on the windowsill when he returned to the room.

However, when his father came back from outside, he didn't move the cigarette. Before eating, Li Jianguo rolled a cigarette himself, which made Li Qiang feel that there was a chance.

When Erhai smoked, the smell of the burning tobacco was quite fragrant, and he didn't know if it was fragrant to smoke—at least Erhai said it was fragrant.

Li Qiang was at the age of curiosity. He originally planned to secretly take some Mohe cigarette, go out and roll it to smoke, and see if it was very fragrant. Now there was a ready-made cigarette, naturally he had to try it.

So after eating, he ran out quickly, took the cigarette and ran away.

Originally he planned to call Erhai and the others together, smoke it himself and show off to them, just like showing off the two-kick a few days ago.

!.

At that time, little uncle Li Long gave himself three two-kicks, and the expressions of envy of the little partners around him were really too wonderful.

However, Li Qiang only set off two of the three two-kicks, and hid one. Good things couldn't be used up at once, otherwise there would be none later. He was habitually saving some things, whether it was food or play.

At that time, he was also trembling and learning the gestures of his little uncle, lit it, stretched his right hand, held the firecracker in his hand—Li Long told him the trick, don't pinch it solid, when there was strength to rush up, let go.

Li Qiang was very smart, implemented it very well, and the two-kick exploded in the air from his hand, and Li Qiang also received envious and admiring eyes.

At this time, Li Qiang thought of that, so he wanted to try it. He had already heard Erhai say that when smoking, you should light the cigarette, then swallow a mouthful of smoke, and then spray it out from the nose. At first, you might be choked, don't worry, try a few more times and it will be fine.

Because he had to set off firecrackers these few days, Li Qiang had a box of matches in his pocket—actually he wanted a lighter like his little uncle, that was good, unfortunately his little uncle couldn't give it, and his father couldn't give it either. So he could only have matches—it was not bad to have a box of matches in his pocket at this time, and the little partners together only had one incense. After all, matches also needed money to buy, not every family was rich enough to let children play with matches.

Ran to the old team department, found a corner—Li Qiang knew the situation of these places well, he found this place relatively clean, no one defecated in this corner—after the old team department was abandoned, many people defecated inside, and if you were not careful in hot weather, you would step on it, which was disgusting.

After Li Qiang found the position, leaned against the wall, first put the cigarette in his mouth, then took out the matches, took one out, felt the wind direction, then rushed to the corner with his head, and immediately covered it with his hand after scratching, slowly approaching the cigarette butt in his mouth.

He was still a bit nervous, and a bit excited, thinking about swallowing a mouthful of smoke later, and had already prepared the idea of being choked—although Erhai said some powerful people wouldn't be choked when smoking for the first time, Li Qiang wouldn't think of himself like this.

When the cigarette was lit, Li Qiang hadn't smoked yet and felt that the fire and sound at the cigarette butt seemed a bit wrong. He hadn't had time to figure out what was going on, and heard a "bang", the cigarette butt in his mouth exploded, white light appeared in front of his eyes, and he smelled the choking smell of burning tobacco and gunpowder.

Several seconds later, Li Qiang reacted, there was a firecracker in this cigarette!

At this moment, Li Qiang was stupid.

What's the situation? Who made this prank? Who is this trying to harm?

He felt his mouth was numb, touched it with his hand, the result was the matchbox touched his mouth—there was still an unburned matchstick in that hand—just when the firecracker exploded, the fire on the match was also blown out.

At this moment Li Qiang was glad he didn't use the matchstick to touch his mouth.

At this moment Li Qiang wanted to cry, but he held it back, it was too shameful.

Fortunately, no one saw it.

Li Qiang felt that he was lucky he didn't call Erhai and the others over, otherwise, it would be a big shame.

He packed up the matches, touched his mouth, and felt it was swollen.

No bleeding, still okay.

Li Qiang wiped his eyes, looked down at the cigarette butt that he spat out and was broken and still had a tail, and thought that he would never want to smoke again in his life.

He didn't know, this was called psychological shadow.

Out of the old team department, Li Qiang didn't think about where to go—at this time he didn't dare to go

A child ran over from afar, shouting Li Qiang's name as he ran. He recognized it as Mao Dan's voice, so he went to meet him, and the two of them went to find other companions to play together.

Mao Dan didn't notice anything unusual about Li Qiang, which made Li Qiang feel a little more at ease; he didn't want to be laughed at by his companions.

Children at this time were still very concerned about saving face.

Li Qiang didn't return home until it was almost dark. By this time, his mouth was no longer swollen. In the meantime, Er Hai and the other children had all taken cigarettes, and Mao Dan very generously handed the cigarette he was smoking to Li Qiang, wanting him to try a puff. Li Qiang firmly refused.

When Li Qiang returned home, he acted as if nothing had happened, but everyone looked at him with quite strange expressions.

But no one said anything.

Not long after Li Qiang returned, Li Long got up and prepared to return to the horse corral.

In fact, when Li Qiang left to play, Li Long had already told his older brother, Li Jianguo, about the matter.

"You're just being reckless!" Li Jianguo said to Li Long, "It would have been better to just drag him over and give him a beating..."

"Big brother, a beating doesn't solve the problem; he would definitely try to smoke again later." Li Long knew this result for a fact, and he said with a smile, "Don't worry, that little firecracker doesn't have much gunpowder, it won't cause any injuries, it's fine even if you hold it in your hand. I put it in front of the cigarette, it explodes as soon as it's lit, at most it just gives him a scare. He'll have a psychological shadow, and he won't touch cigarettes again in the future."

"See how Qiang Qiang will hate you when he finds out later." Liang Yuemei said after watching Li Long demonstrate the little firecracker being lit and exploding in his hand, "You must not let him find out."

"Alright, as long as you don't say anything, he definitely won't know."

So although Li Qiang felt that the looks his family members gave him were a bit strange, he really didn't know why.

Liang Yuemei called him for dinner, and he obediently went to eat—still feeling a bit guilty. He didn't dare to ask, because he didn't know if it was placed by his family members on purpose or by someone else in the village. If it was placed by someone else... but regardless, he couldn't escape the fact that he was the one who took the cigarette and lit it. Smoking was bad; he was clear about that. So the matter was covered up.

This matter remained hidden for many years. It wasn't until a long time later, after Li Qiang exposed the incident himself, that Li Long confessed that the firecracker was set off by him, and he also explained the reason.

Only then did Li Qiang finally understand. (End of chapter)