Chapter 440: Go See the Left-Behind Children of the Pastoral Team

Ten mu of land sounds like a lot, but this field was long, almost four hundred meters from end to end. A round trip for the three of them would cover almost six mu of land. Although the speed of sowing couldn't compare to a sowing machine, it was much faster than imagined.

Moreover, this kind of sowing didn't require bending over; it just required lowering the head and using force with the hands, occasionally paying attention to whether the seeds in the funnel above were enough. It was actually quite easy.

Li Long didn't have the opportunity to build that kind of roller-type seed planter; otherwise, the speed would be even faster.

This was already quite good. When they turned back to plant, there were already people watching at the edge of the field.

The news that the Li family was going to plant melon seeds had already spread throughout the village. Melon seeds, at this time, were something most people in the village didn't even know what they were.

After being popularized by knowledgeable people, these people knew that this thing was the same as a watermelon, except that the seeds were used.

Li Long didn't care much about the spread of this news, and even intentionally fueled it, because melon seeds weren't the same as watermelons. Watermelons were mainly for selling the melon, while melon seeds were mainly for selling the seeds. This thing wasn't as delicious as a watermelon, at most it could quench thirst. For those who wanted to eat the melon, Li Long welcomed it with both hands, as long as they left the seeds behind when the time came.

For the villagers in the team, melon seeds weren't easy to crack, so taking them back was useless.

Everyone came over at first just out of curiosity to see what the melon seeds the Li family planted looked like. Now it seemed that more attention was placed on the seed-planting devices in the hands of the three of them.

Tao Daqiang and the others also came over. He knew about the seed-planting device and had used it, so he popularized it for everyone.

Right, it was popularization. This term was taught to him by Li Long—scientific popularization, letting everyone know what science was. The principle of this thing could also be considered a kind of science. Tao Daqiang had a sense of self-awareness as a teacher.

"That seed-planting device is quite good." Someone saw the trick and praised it.

"It's not convenient for large fields, but it's quite good for planting vegetables in the home garden."

"It's also good for private plots. It's good for planting these things that can't be sown on a large scale. Since there's no specialized sowing machine, don't you have to use this?" Someone was already thinking about where to use it later if they borrowed it.

By the time they finished a round trip, the sun had already risen to noon.

The original plan was to go home for lunch after sowing, but now it seemed there wasn't much left, less than a round trip for two people. Li Jianguo said:

"Xiao Long, you drive the tractor back to bring the food over. Let's finish before going back."

"Why go back to get food?" Li Long waved his hand, "The three of us are fast. You start from that end, I'll start from this end, and we'll meet in the middle. Let's finish and go back to eat. Why run an extra trip?"

Li Qing Xia and Du Chunfang had been following behind their planting. After they finished planting, the two of them would step on the position where they planted to compact the soil on top of the seeds, which was conducive to the germination of the melon seeds.

Hearing Li Long's words, Du Chunfang also said:

"Exactly, why run that trip? Everyone chew a piece of dried bun to pad their stomachs, drink two sips of water, and it'll be done in a while."

Li Jianguo knew that his mother unconditionally supported Li Long in almost everything. He looked at Liang Yuemei.

"Let's finish before going back." Liang Yuemei also said, "It's not worth eating before finishing the rest."

Li Jianguo looked up at the big sun and said:

"That's fine." Then he turned his head to Li Qing Xia and Du Chunfang and said:

"Father, Mother, you two go to the shade behind the tractor to rest."

"What's this sun?" Du Chunfang waved her hand, "Come, everyone eat a piece of bun to pad your stomach, finish quickly, and after finishing, we still have to plant vegetables when we go back."

Liang Yuemei laughed when she heard this. She knew that her mother-in-law was most concerned about the vegetables in Li Long's garden. For the past two days, her mother-in-law had occasionally said that her own vegetable garden was taken care of, but Li Long's courtyard was often empty, and the vegetables weren't taken care of, so she had to go look at that side often.

Liang Yuemei didn't have any objections. What her mother-in-law said was the truth, and she was also happy to see the vegetables in both courtyards grow well. They definitely couldn't finish eating them, but whether they could finish eating them was one thing, and whether they could plant them well was another. The women in the village were still comparing them openly and secretly. Living well, planting vegetables well, managing children well, and having a man who could earn money were all objects of comparison.

Liang Yuemei actually compared last year, but this year she didn't have the heart to compare. Her brother-in-law could earn money, which brought their family's life to the top of the whole village, and there was no one who could compare.

Her husband could farm, had high aspirations, could raise pigs, and had won honors from the township, which was enough for her to hold her chest high and speak confidently and handle things among other women.

It was normal for her mother-in-law to favor her brother-in-law, after all, there was such a long period of time she hadn't taken care of him. But Li Long was more concerned about her family. Although he was married now, a person's nature wouldn't change so quickly.

Even though there were urgent matters in the mountains now, Li Long still insisted on finishing the melon seeds here before leaving. Just this point made Liang Yuemei know that Li Long was still the same Li Long and wouldn't become distant from his eldest brother and this family just because he was married.

Several people each chewed on a piece of dried bun and gnawed on it hard with tea. Li Long regretted not getting some pickled mustard or red bean curd; even a bowl of pickled chives would have been good.

However, there weren't so many rules here. They chewed the dried bun until it made a crunching sound, drank a mouthful of tea to moisten their throats, and then continued to work.

The onlookers had long since dispersed; they were just looking for something fresh. From sowing to harvesting, it would take four or five months, so there was no rush, and no need to rush. When the melons were formed, if they wanted to eat, they could just come over. He thought the Li family wouldn't refuse.

The sun in early April wasn't very scorching, but Li Long already had sweat on his head, though he didn't feel tired. After all, many things he had experienced and many jobs he had done in the past year were more tiring than this. Occasionally experiencing the life of farming wasn't bad. At least it kept him from forgetting his roots.

When Li Long and the others finished their work and drove the tractor home, Chen Li Rong was already a bit anxious.

Li Xueping and Li Xue Qin, the two children, had already eaten and didn't want to rest at home, so they held hands and went to the preschool. Although the preschool hadn't started classes in the afternoon yet, several children had already gathered there to play, and they soon joined in.

The two children were slowly changing to speak Mandarin with a Xinjiang accent. Children learned languages much faster, and they integrated into this environment much faster. Even when they heard from their mother's scattered words that they might go to school in the city later, they had reluctant thoughts.

After all, it was so fun here, and no one looked down on or bullied them. As outsiders, they were treated differently.

Hearing the sound of the tractor and seeing the tractor turn around at the end of the road, Chen Li Rong breathed a sigh of relief, waved her hand, and then hurriedly returned to the room to start serving the food.

She wasn't very good at braising rice in a pot, so she steamed buns, stir-fried vegetables, and made soup for lunch.

The tractor drove into the courtyard. After turning off the engine, Li Long got off and went to the back to help his father and mother down. Chen Li Rong had already prepared water and towels for several people to wash.

Working in the fields in spring, it was inevitable to be covered in dust. By the time of harvest in autumn, one would be covered in leaves or insects, which was all a habit.

After patting off the dust on their bodies and washing thoroughly, they ate. They were starving, so they wolfed down the food, including Du Chunfang, who was eating in big mouthfuls.

Li Long thought that in the future, he should let his mother do less of this kind of work. His mother had a small amount of physical activity and a small appetite throughout her life, but she lived to be over ninety. She always looked sickly, but actually, she never had any major illnesses.

Now that her lifestyle had been changed, was it not very good?

Thinking wildly in his mind, Li Long finished eating quickly.

"There's no big work in the fields. Xiao Long, you still have things to do in the mountains, right? Go." Li Jianguo said while eating, "It's fine to come back occasionally."

"Right, Xiaoxia is in the county, don't let the two of you live like you're separated." Liang Yuemei also said while eating, "Marriage is different from not being married. If you can be together, don't separate. Even if you have to work in the mountains, you have a tractor. Come back every few days to communicate with each other. Living life, especially just married, it's not right for one to be in the east and one in the west."

Li Long deeply agreed.

After eating, he added water and oil to the tractor, checked that other things that needed to be handled were done, handed the house key to his mother, put the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle in the tractor bucket and hid it well, brought some changes of clothes, and drove the tractor toward the county.

Although he told Chen Xingbang he would leave the day after tomorrow, he could go to the county now, purchase grain and such tomorrow, and go to the pastoral team to see Halimu and the others' children by the way, and go into the mountains the day after tomorrow.

Hmm, let's do that.

The tractor drove fast, and fifth gear was very easy. The tractor seemed to be able to feel Li Long's urgent mood, the "tut-tut-tut" sound, running forward without even emitting light smoke. There weren't many people on the road, and even if there were, they would avoid to the roadside when they heard the sound of the tractor from afar, and then look at the tractor curiously.

There were no more than ten private tractors in the whole township now, so it was still quite rare.

Driving all the way to the county, Li Long saw that it was still early, so he went to the market. The grain sold here was higher in price than the grain store, but it had the advantage of not needing coupons.

Li Long bought two bags of rice and two bags of flour. It could be seen that these whole bags of rice and flour were also likely to have flowed out of the grain store, as they hadn't been opened. It was a few cents more expensive per kilogram than the grain store, which was worth it.

He went to the department store again and bought notebooks, pens, schoolbags, pencil boxes, erasers, and other school supplies. Thinking that Yushanjiang's children were already older and should be using fountain pens, he bought two fountain pens and four bottles of ink. At this time, students were still using sky-blue ink, or what was called pure blue ink.

After buying the things, Li Long saw that there was still time, so he simply drove the tractor "tut-tut-tut" toward the pastoral team.

The location of the pastoral team wasn't far from Qingshuihe, running parallel to the foot of the Southern Mountains, but it was still a few kilometers away from the Southern Mountains.

The road was newly built, paved with sand and gravel. The houses in the residential area were new and old. After Li Long arrived, the first thing he saw was the school with the national flag flying.

The school wasn't a new building either, but it occupied a large area. There were children playing football on the playground, and the shouting was very loud. It seemed that from this time or even earlier, these herdsmen's children liked playing football.

Li Long checked the time; school should have been dismissed by now. He originally intended to find someone to ask about Halimu's home, but now he changed his mind and drove the tractor to the elementary school.

The "tut-tut-tut" sound of the tractor attracted the children on the playground. Li Long stood up, stepped on the page board, and tried hard to search among the group of children to see if he could find Nasen.

He was a bit face-blind. Although these children weren't wearing the same clothes, their face shapes looked about the same, and the distance was a bit far, so Li Long couldn't tell.

!.

He was a bit disappointed. When he got down and intended to start the tractor to find someone to ask, a child suddenly ran out and shouted loudly:

"Uncle, Uncle!"

Subsequently, another one who was relatively big also rushed out.

When he ran to the front, Li Long recognized him. Wasn't this Halimu's other son, Sasikan?

And another one, that should be Yushanjiang's child. Li Long remembered he seemed to be called Yerjiang?

"Have you finished school?" Li Long asked with a smile.

"Finished, finished. Uncle Li Long, are you here to see us?" Sasikan climbed onto the back of the tractor and asked.

"Yes, I didn't know where your home was."

"I'll take you there." Yerjiang shouted loudly.

"I can take you too!" Sasikan also scrambled to say.

"One by one, one by one. Whose home is closer?"

"My home is closer!" Yerjiang's voice was very loud, full of pride.

Li Long remembered that Yushanjiang's son still had a somewhat honest and thick-headed personality and didn't talk much. Was it different after arriving at the pastoral point?

"Are you in junior high school?" Li Long asked.

"Yes, I started from the first year of junior high." Yerjiang's age could actually be in the third year of junior high; it should be that the previous courses needed to be made up.

Under his guidance, Li Long drove not far before arriving at Yushanjiang's courtyard.

It was an old courtyard, quite large, but quite dilapidated. Thinking about it, it was normal. After all, the pastoral point was only re-established last year, and some things needed a period of time to recover. Li Long thought that if he had time later, he would have to get this place up and running.

There was no gate. Li Long simply drove the tractor into the courtyard. At this time, hearing the movement, the people in the room had already come out. Yushanjiang's wife and her daughter, Jiana Guli.

Seeing Li Long, their expressions were also very surprised. They should not have expected Li Long to come over.

"Haode ne ma," Li Long got off the tractor and greeted, "I heard you were here, so I came to see, and brought some things by the way."

Yerjiang helped move the rice, flour, and other things in the tractor bucket.

"You've started school. These schoolbags, one for each of you. Inside are pencil boxes, pencils, ink, notebooks, etc. These are gifts for you."

Li Long gave Yerjiang and Jiana Guli a schoolbag each. He also bought some brick tea and rock sugar, which were necessities for herdsmen, one portion for each family, and moved them down as well.

"Thank you, thank you!" Yushanjiang's wife knew Li Long. At this time, she reacted, hurriedly said thank you, and then invited Li Long, "Come into the room and drink some milk tea!"

"No, I still have to go to Halimu's home, and then I have to rush back to the county." Li Long waved his hand with a smile, "It's not far from here. I'll come to see you when I'm free. If you need anything, tell me in time."

The family of three watched Li Long drive the tractor away, all quite moved.

Their family had just moved here, and the only acquaintances they knew were Halimu's family.

If you want to say they lacked things, they definitely lacked them. However, they were used to it in the mountains; if they lacked it, they just wouldn't use it. But it was different here from the mountains. After all, the children had to go to school, so they couldn't have nothing. When they first arrived, Yushanjiang also brought some things to buy, and basically had the necessities, but they still lacked some odds and ends.

Now that they saw Li Long had come, they had a bottom line in their hearts.

This was a friend who could be trusted.

Sasikan pointed the way, and Li Long soon drove to his home.

Halimu's courtyard was similar to Yushanjiang's, both quite dilapidated. However, at the entrance of his house, two pieces of wood were erected, and then two pieces of wood were clamped horizontally to block it as a gate. Although it couldn't stop thieves, it indicated that there were people at home.

The sound of the tractor also startled Halimu's mother and Nasen, who was playing in the courtyard. When they saw it was Li Long, Nasen's exclamation was full of surprise.

Li Long parked the tractor on the roadside. After greeting Halimu's mother, he began to move things down.

Sasikan had already received his schoolbag. Li Long handed the other schoolbag to Nasen and let him open it to see the school supplies inside.

"Better than mine, much better than mine!" Nasen looked at the schoolbag and shouted loudly, turning his head to his grandmother, "Apa, Apa! Look, the schoolbag Uncle bought for me! There's also a good-looking pencil box inside..."

Grandmother laughed happily, while Li Long moved the rice and flour down and put them into the room.

This room was also quite dilapidated, and it looked like it could barely be lived in. This made Li Long even more determined that he would bring people over in a while to repair this place properly. Living like this wouldn't do.

After putting the rice and flour away, Li Long moved the other things in the tractor in. After entering the room, he chatted with Nasen and the others for a few sentences, and greeted the old grandmother through Nasen's translation. Nasen's grandmother wanted to cook, but Li Long refused, saying he had to return to the county at dark, and said he would come often in the future, telling them to tell him directly if they had anything.

When Li Long drove the tractor away, many children had already gathered outside the courtyard. Many of them were the ones who had just played football. Nasen, Yerjiang, and the others were already showing the gifts Li Long gave them to their friends.

This made the other children envious. Most of them had parents grazing in the mountains, and they themselves were either following their grandparents or their mothers in the pastoral team, which could be considered the first batch of left-behind children. They also hoped that someone would come to see them and bring them gifts.

When Li Long drove the tractor back to the county, the sun had completely set for a while. Gu Xiaoxia should have already finished work. Li Long bought a bag of steamed buns and a few buns at the big meat canteen, packed two portions of vegetables, and drove the tractor toward the big courtyard excitedly.

He looked a bit impatient.

Hmm, understandable.

When the tractor arrived at the entrance of the big courtyard, Gu Xiaoxia had already heard the movement. When she opened the door and saw Li Long, she was startled first, and then showed a smile. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 441 =====