Chapter 428: All the way west

On the third morning, Li Long started the tractor and prepared to set off.

The cart was paved with thick wheat straw, and Li Anguo, Li Junshan, and Yang Yongqiang sat on the frame on the side of the cart with their bags and bedding rolls. Wooden boards were paved on the frame, and sacks were padded, so it would be more comfortable to sit.

Because they were leaving now, everyone was sitting. After driving out, several people would definitely sit inside the cart. The wheat straw here was very soft, and sitting on it was much more comfortable than on the car frame.

There were also two ten-liter plastic buckets in the car, which contained diesel. A water bucket was hung on the lifting frame behind the tractor's back seat, which was convenient for adding water halfway.

A very important aspect that a tractor driver needs to pay attention to on a long-distance trip is to remember to add water. After driving for a period of time, the water will be boiled, and then it will be constantly reduced. If the tractor driver forgets to add water, after the water is burned dry, the engine will be overheated and die—locals say "pulling the tile"—of course, there are many reasons for pulling the tile, and lack of engine oil will also cause it.

Because it was still early, the land allocation hadn't been finished yet, but it hadn't started now. After Li Jianguo sent them off, he still had to go to the meeting. Yang Yongqiang had already said goodbye to his family at home, and it wasn't certain that he would stay there, so his family didn't come.

Chen Li Rong and Li Anguo had already talked, and at this time, she just looked at her husband. Although she was a bit sad, she tried her best not to show it. The two children had already gone to the preschool class. They weren't particularly sad about their father's departure—they had left once before and had experience.

And this time, their father also said that he was going to work in a big city, and after working for a period of time, he would come back, or pick them up, so Li Xueping and Li Xue Qin were playing happily in the preschool class at this time.

"Alright, don't talk anymore, don't delay time, let them go quickly, more than two hundred li of road, it will take most of the day, hurry on the road early." Li Qing Xia finally set the tone, "Xiao Long, you go."

Li Juan and Li Qiang were also in the tractor cart. Occasionally, they would hitch a ride on Uncle Without Xiao Long's bicycle to school before, but this time it was good, they directly hitched a ride on the tractor to school. Both of them were very excited, didn't want to sit, grabbed the guardrail in front of the cart, and prepared to "go for a ride."

"Then good, we are leaving." Li Long shifted gears and stepped on the accelerator. The tractor made a "tut-tut-tut" sound and drove out of the village along the road.

The sound was very loud, making people along the way look at it. The Li family also kept waving their hands. Du Chunfang muttered in her mouth:

"I don't know when I can come back..."

It would be fine if she didn't say it. Once she said it, Chen Li Rong's eye sockets turned red.

"What are you saying?" Li Qing Xia said to his old companion, "Isn't this a good thing! It's going to be a worker later! Xiao Long didn't want to go, now Anguo can be a worker, that's a great thing! Later, he will eat commodity grain, and Xueping and Li Xue Qin can also live in the city! What's there to say? There is a car back and forth, didn't you hear what Xiao Long said, it takes a day for a round trip by car, if you want to see it, just take a car and go see it!"

Du Chunfang rolled her eyes at Chen Li Rong, and also knew she said the wrong thing, but she was a mother-in-law, so it was not easy to apologize, so she borrowed Li Qing Xia's steps and said:

"Then good, look at Anguo settling down over there, let's also go to the city to turn around!"

Liang Yuemei pulled Chen Li Rong:

"Xiao Rong, I'm picking seeds here and plan to plant a vegetable plot, you come and help me. Pick more, and then plant Xiao Long's courtyard too." Chen Li Rong knew that this was her eldest sister-in-law helping her relieve her distraction, so she nodded and followed.

"Go, let's go to the vegetable plot. After the vegetable plot here is finished, we will tidy up Xiao Long's side. Xiao Long wants to buy fruit trees, so we have to plant them in a good place." Li Qing Xia couldn't stay idle. Originally, he planned to catch fish in the small Haizi in these two days, but Li Jianguo said that the meltwater flood might come down, so he didn't let him go, so he could only stay at home.

Li Jianguo went to the team department to continue engaging in land matters, and Chen Xingbang didn't want to return to the horse corral alone, so he followed Li Qing Xia to work in the vegetable plot.

Li Long drove the tractor, facing the wind, "tut-tut-tut" running west. The wind in the early morning was still a bit cold. He wrapped himself in a cotton-padded jacket. Although young people had strong fire, they still had to protect what should be protected. He also wore cotton-padded trousers on his legs, planning to take them off after passing Shicheng and warming up.

Li Juan and Li Qiang were not afraid of this wind at all. Li Qiang even opened his mouth and let the wind blow into his mouth. This move was stopped by Li Anguo—it would cause stomach pain.

Both children were very happy. They met many classmates along the way, but there were quite a few people in the cart now, plus a lot of luggage, so Li Long didn't stop—except for children with good relationships like Ming Wa, he didn't intend to give others a ride.

When children go to school and meet the tractor in the village, they usually chase it. If they can catch up, they will climb up from behind. If they can't catch up, they will shout and follow for a while. At this time, Yang Yongqiang would shout from behind not to chase anymore, saying that there was no room to sit.

When they arrived at the primary school, Li Long stopped the car and let Li Qiang and Li Juan get off—at this time, there were quite a few children squeezed into the cart. Children at this time ran very fast. Climbing onto the car was like hitching a ride for them, and it was also a kind of showing off.

After all, they had heard the story of the Railway Guerrillas since they were young, which was equivalent to paying tribute to heroes.

Li Long remembered that Li Qiang once said that he had chased the tractor in the next village. That tractor often pulled things to the township in the morning. He had hitched a ride several times, and others had hitched a ride. At first, when they hitched a ride, the tractor would slow down when it reached the primary school to facilitate them getting off. Once, Li Qiang and another student hitched a ride, and the tractor didn't slow down when it reached the primary school, running forward at fifth gear speed. They couldn't not get off, and as a result, they fell when they ran down, and their faces were scratched.

Since then, he never hitched a ride on that person's tractor again.

It was considered a lesson.

It was hard to say whose fault it was, but Li Long couldn't do such a thing. Since children had hitched a ride, slow down when reaching the school to let them get off. There was no need to teach people a lesson, and it wouldn't be good if the children were hurt.

The road from the primary school to the junior high school was a bit better. The speed was fast, and there were still junior high school students running to climb the car, but seeing people in the car, they gave up again.

When the car arrived at the township, it took more than ten minutes. Yang Yongqiang sighed:

"Before, it took at least an hour to walk from the team to the township, and it would take half an hour even if riding a bicycle. This tractor is fast, and it was delayed in the middle, and it arrived in ten minutes..."

Li Long heard this when turning, thinking that when you drive a car later, it will take a few minutes, and then there will be nothing to sigh about.

The road was still not good, otherwise, it could arrive faster at the speed of the tractor.

The road from the township to the county was a bit better. He could meet people riding bicycles, driving horse carts, or walking to the county. After arriving at the county seat, Li Long and the others didn't stop, turned west, and drove directly to Shicheng.

Driving all the way to Shicheng, Li Long looked at his watch, an hour and a half.

Now he wasn't hungry, but the tractor's water tank was boiled. He parked the tractor outside the old street, didn't turn off the engine, and said to Li Anguo and the others:

"The tractor needs to rest for a while. This is the old street, and there are quite a few stalls now. Let's turn around and rest for a while."

"You go turn around, I won't turn around." Li Anguo waved his hand. He could see that there were quite a few stalls on the old street, but the money in his hand was not much, and he had to save it for use. He earned quite a bit of money before the year, but left quite a bit to Chen Li Rong, and the money in his hand was small, so he wanted to spend as little money as possible.

After all, he hadn't earned a salary yet, and the money in front of him was spent one less.

"Then good, you watch the tractor, I'll go turn around." Li Long got off the tractor and said, "Junshan, wait for seven or eight minutes and turn off the fire."

"Good." Li Junshan agreed, got off the car, and sat on the front seat of the tractor.

Li Long felt that his legs were numb from the vibration, and he had to move around well. Although Yang Yongqiang often came to the old street to sell fish, he was selling things himself and turned less, so he also got off the car and prepared to go turn around. Li Long told him to be careful, there were thieves here. Yang Yongqiang responded and left quickly.

Compared with before the year, there were more stalls selling vegetables on the old street now. Wild vegetables and wild flowers that could be eaten, such as alfalfa, dandelion, and thorn buds, were also available. There were also quite a few early spring leeks, celery, and coriander grown at home. Li Long listened to the stall owners shouting, and the price wasn't expensive, but there was no need to buy it now. He thought that if there were still some when he came back, he could buy some.

There were more stalls selling food from pushcarts. He saw someone selling roasted sweet potatoes, so he bought four, wrapped them in newspapers for heat insulation. Sweet potatoes were sold by size, large ones were two dimes, small ones were one dime. It was quite expensive to say it was expensive, but it was just eating something fresh.

There were also roasted cakes, porridge, and hot steamed buns.

Varied.

It seemed that Kelyumu's milk tea shop and naan shop were going to be challenged.

What made Li Long a bit puzzled was that the milk tea shop still didn't open.

He turned around again, bought a few roasted cakes, and walked back.

When they came over, they brought a plastic cage of five-kilogram size, which contained tea water burned in the morning, and it was still hot now. Li Long planned to let everyone eat something to pad their stomachs, and then continue on the road. As for lunch, he planned to eat in Shawan.

At this time, Shawan's big plate chicken hadn't come out yet. Shicheng was about sixty kilometers away from Shawan. At the road condition of the Wuyi Highway, it would take more than two hours to run, and it would be just right to eat lunch when arriving there. When Li Long came back, Yang Yongqiang hadn't come back yet, so he greeted everyone to eat roasted sweet potatoes.

"I don't eat it." Li Anguo had the same idea as Li Jianguo, "What's good about it? In my hometown, I was tired of eating sweet potato dried slices."

"Then you eat roasted cakes." Li Long handed the cakes over, "It's still hot."

Li Junshan had already turned off the fire, and he didn't hate sweet potatoes, so he took it and ate it.

Li Long also found an enamel jar and poured tea water from the plastic cage to cool it. He couldn't let everyone drink water in turns with their mouths against the plastic cage—although this was a common thing, he felt it was better to drink with a jar.

A roasted sweet potato wasn't finished when Yang Yongqiang came back. He held a newspaper bag in his hand, arrived at the tractor, and said with a smile:

"I saw someone selling leek boxes, leek and egg filling, I bought four, come, one for each person!"

No one refused this. Leek and egg could be considered a good dish for ordinary families in this era. It wasn't that every family was as generous as the Li family eating meat every meal. Being able to eat eggs was already quite good for some families.

This made the original plan to pad the stomach, and after eating these things, he felt a bit full.

After eating and drinking, moving around on the spot, Li Long shook the tractor and drove out of Shicheng, continuing west.

Yang Yongqiang originally wanted to drive for Li Long halfway, but finally didn't open his mouth. Now he was on the road, and occasionally he would meet large trucks back and forth. If he didn't handle it well, it would cost his life. Li Long didn't intend to let others drive, and he wasn't at ease letting others drive.

!.

Driving all the way in fifth gear, the light sound of "tang-tang-tang", Li Long felt that the tractor's speed could now reach forty kilometers. The road condition was generally good, the wind speed was quite large, and he felt that his face had the meaning of being blown dry, but it wasn't cold.

After passing Shicheng was the 143rd Regiment and Wulan Wusu. Li Long remembered that the flat peaches of the 143rd Regiment were very famous in later generations, but at present, there was mainly winter wheat on both sides of the road, and there was also a part of empty land, not knowing what it was preparing to plant.

In the middle, he met an artificial canal. Seeing water in it, Li Long stopped. Without turning off the engine, he directly took off the water bucket. At this time, Yang Yongqiang had already jumped off the cart. After Li Long took water from inside, he took over the water bucket. And Li Junshan was a bit slower, but he didn't stay idle either. He stepped on the front wheel of the small four-wheel tractor with one foot and the bottom plate of the driving position with the other, turned his head, took the water bucket handed over by Yang Yongqiang, and poured it into the water tank.

The three people cooperated tacitly, poured a bucket and a half of water into the water tank, and it overflowed.

Li Long moved around on the spot, and then drove the tractor forward.

Along the way, he met several oil tankers. Yang Yongqiang and Li Junshan were guessing what this was for. Li Long was sitting in the front driving, and the tractor's noise was very loud, but he still heard it, and while driving, he explained loudly:

"That's an oil tanker. To the west of Kuitun is Karamay, which is the oil city. There is an oil refinery there. This oil in the oil tank is refined oil, pulling towards Wucheng."

Karamay itself means "black oil" in Uyghur, and there is a famous scenic spot called Black Oil Mountain. The petroleum usually mentioned in Shen Kuo's "Dream Pool Essays" was naturally overflowing, and there was one here.

As early as the end of the Qing Dynasty, the commercial bureau of Xinjiang drilled the first oil well in the Dushanzi District of Karamay, which was a very early commercial industrial application of petroleum.

And from now on for a long period of time, Karamay became rich because of petroleum. The wages, treatment, and benefits of workers there were very good, and it was once an object of yearning for many people.

Listening to Li Long saying loudly about the good treatment and benefits of workers there, several people in the cart were quite envious. If they could get into it, it would be good—it was a pity, just thinking about it, it was really difficult to get into it.

The tractor arrived in Shawan at noon. Li Long parked the tractor at the door of a small restaurant on the side of the road. There were already two large trucks parked here, so the food should be good.

Because the luggage was all in the car, Li Junshan volunteered to stay on the tractor to watch the car, and Li Long and the three walked into the restaurant.

In Li Long's view, the restaurant was quite simple, which was two mud-brick houses. The area was not small, one door, the inside was the kitchen, and the outside was the dining hall. Two tables of people were eating mixed noodles.

The restaurant wasn't very clean, and flies were buzzing, but in this era, he couldn't be so particular.

The three people sat down. Yang Yongqiang first grabbed the teapot and poured water, while Li Long asked the waiter:

"Is there spicy chicken?" Now the big plate chicken hadn't come out yet, so Li Long wanted to ask about others.

"What chicken to eat?" Li Anguo hurriedly waved his hand, "Just eat noodles. We still have to hurry on the road, and stewing chicken takes half an hour? By the time it's done, we'll have finished eating and left."

The waiter was also quite honest and said:

"There is chicken, but it has to be slaughtered on the spot. If you can wait, I will go slaughter the chicken now."

"Then forget it, four oil-fried meat noodles." Li Long waved his hand, "Two extra noodles for each."

"Good." Hearing that they ordered oil-fried meat noodles, the waiter was also quite happy. The two tables of people over there ordered shredded meat noodles, which were cheaper.

Oil-fried meat noodles could naturally earn more money, and of course, the ingredients would be more solid.

The sound of oil exploding vegetables soon came from the kitchen, and in another pot, someone should be cooking noodles. It wasn't one person operating.

Li Long drank a bowl of hot tea, went out to the tractor, and he was already sweating in his cotton-padded jacket. He planned to change his clothes, but didn't expect Yang Yongqiang to come out too.

"I'll change clothes, you stay inside, eat the noodles as soon as they come." Li Long said.

From the current point of view, it was quite safe along the way, and there were no car bandits or road bullies blocking the way, which made him feel quite good.

After changing clothes and moving around, Li Junshan urged Li Long to go in. When he went in, he found that Yang Yongqiang had already started eating, and the action of eating was very fast. The noodles felt like they hadn't been chewed before entering his stomach.

"Eat slowly," Li Long sat down and mixed his noodles while saying, "Junshan doesn't have to rush for a while. Eating like this is not good for digestion and is not good for the stomach."

"It's nothing, I'm used to it." Yang Yongqiang swallowed the noodles in his mouth and said with a smile, "This dish tastes quite good."

Li Long tasted it and felt it was really good. The noodle bowl was also large, and the quantity was sufficient. He felt that one extra noodle was enough—mainly because he had eaten some things in Shicheng, and his stomach wasn't empty yet.

Seeing the waiter carrying four extra noodles, he immediately said:

"Trouble telling the master inside to have one less extra noodle." He turned his head to look at Yang Yongqiang and the others.

"I still want two." Yang Yongqiang added noodles for himself.

"I also want one." Li Anguo's appetite wasn't that big, and he also reduced one. Li Long then said to the waiter: "Reduce two."

The taste of this oil-fried meat noodle dish was good, and the noodles were also chewy, and it only charged money, without needing extra tickets, which changed Li Long's prejudice against restaurants on both sides of the road.

In the past, he traveled by long-distance bus and had prejudice against restaurants on both sides of the road, feeling that one was high-priced, and the second was that the quality of food wasn't good. Basically, it was a one-off deal, and he could "pit" one if he could.

Now it seems that he was shallow.

After eating and drinking and resting for a while, they continued to move forward.

After another two hours, in the afternoon, the big sign of Kuitun was in front of them. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 429 =====

After eating and drinking some noodle soup and resting for a while, they continued forward.

After another two-plus hours, in the afternoon, the large sign for Kuitun appeared before their eyes. (End of chapter)