Chapter 459: None of them are fuel-efficient lamps

After sending that person away, Hearing Li Long looked at the air-dried meat hanging on the rope and decided not to go out today; he would properly fix up the wooden cabin first.

The wind in the mountains is strong. When Yushanjiang and the others built the cabin, they considered this and added a layer of mud to the outside of the logs. After living there for these past few days, Hearing Li Long discovered that the mud was not thick enough to provide good insulation, so he prepared to mix some mud and apply another layer, mainly on the west and north sides. The cold wind blew from those two directions.

Of course, if time permitted, he also planned to reinforce the other sides.

Mixing mud is actually a bit of a technical task; it's not as simple as children peeing and mixing mud. One must first find good soil. The surface layer of humus soil near the spring wasn't very easy to use; it wasn't sticky and would easily fall off once dry. Besides, it was black mud, and it looked a bit like feces when applied, which Hearing Li Long didn't like.

Therefore, he needed to dig away the top layer and use the hard clay underneath. Of course, it would be even better if he could find yellow clay, but unfortunately, that required luck. Hearing Li Long dug two pits near the spring and didn't find any yellow clay, so he didn't force it. He used ordinary black sandy hard soil, mixed it with bits of grass, and it could also be used to plaster the wall. It was just that without a trowel and a large shovel, the wall might not necessarily be smooth.

Anyway, he was the one living in it, and no one cared, so there was no need to be too particular.

He dug the soil out of the pit shovel by shovel, found a flat piece of ground near the wooden cabin to pile the soil, dug a nest in the middle of the pile, raised the surroundings, and then brought a few basins of water to pour into the nest. He slowly waited for the water to soak the soil, sprinkled grass bits on it, and began to mix the mud. At this time, he used an iron shovel to turn the wet soil over shovel by shovel. After turning it a few more times, it became mud, and those grass bits mixed in acted as the tendons and bones. This was now hard labor.

Back then, when his eldest brother's family was plastering the roof, watching those people working with great enthusiasm, it was very lively. When he built his own house, those people also mixed mud happily and full of laughter. Why was he alone now, and even though the workload was less than one-tenth of that time, why was it so tiring?

Just as he was mixing, a person walked over from the east and greeted Hearing Li Long from afar:

"Boss Li, what are you busy with?"

Hearing Li Long put down the iron shovel in his hand, recognized the visitor as Sun Jia Qiang, and said:

"Mixing some mud to plaster the wall. The wooden cabin is still a bit drafty at night and not warm."

"It's already very good, okay?" Sun Jia Qiang, who was carrying a bag, said, "If you say that, how are we people living in earth pits supposed to live?"

Hearing Li Long chuckled.

"You've gotten a lot of meat again. Where did you hunt it? You haven't gone to the place I told you about yet, have you?" Sun Jia Qiang had long seen the air-dried meat hanging on the rope and asked.

"I went to the mountains to get coal yesterday and ran into a pack of wolves attacking a roe deer. I happened to have a gun with me, so I shot the alpha wolf and picked up a roe deer," Hearing Li Long said. "Meat in hand must be kept, of course. I can't finish it in a short while, so I thought about air-drying it for preservation."

"You really live a good life," Sun Jia Qiang sighed with emotion. "You can eat meat so easily. I've set traps for two days and haven't caught anything."

After speaking, he glanced at the coal pile that Hearing Li Long had covered incompletely with tree branches and sighed again:

"There are treasures everywhere in these big mountains. Is the coal area you mentioned something that can be dug in the open? Tsk tsk, this is an open-pit coal mine!"

"Yeah. It's just far away, otherwise you could carry some back too. Why not carry a few pieces from here?" Hearing Li Long kindly suggested. Sun Jia Qiang was able to help him catch that thief, and the bruises on his face hadn't fully faded yet. This person was not bad and worth befriending.

"No, no need. There is wood everywhere in the mountains; carrying that is too much trouble. I dug up some fritillaria yesterday and came over to trade it with you for some things. I originally wanted to trade for snacks, but I might as well trade for some meat."

He set down the bag and opened the mouth for Hearing Li Long to see, his tone still carrying a hint of pride:

"Look, I brought all this for you. I picked and washed it all before bringing it over. Clean, right?"

Hearing Li Long leaned over and took a look; it was indeed very clean.

He weighed it in his hand and said:

"There must be five or six kilograms here. You're doing well. To be able to dig up this much in two days at this time of year—when late April and May come, won't you be getting seven or eight kilograms a day?"

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare, how could that be?" Sun Jia Qiang hurriedly waved his hands in modesty, but his tone still held a hint of pride. "Getting three to five kilograms a day is already a lot. If I dry half a kilogram, I can sell it for ten yuan or so."

"Then you have to save it," Hearing Li Long said. "It's a waste to trade for snacks. Don't you need to save money to go back and get married?"

"I don't want to think about that much anymore. Life here is more carefree than back home. I don't even want to go back. If I haven't been caught by the time I finish with the fritillaria, I'll just find a job outside the mountains. Money is easy to earn here; I'll see how it goes."

This fellow lived a free and easy life.

"Then pick whatever meat you want from over there." Five or six kilograms of fresh fritillaria could be traded for a sheep, which is why Hearing Li Long let him pick whatever he wanted.

"Do you have any wolf teeth? Could you give me one? How about trading half a kilogram of this fritillaria for one wolf tooth?" Sun Jia Qiang didn't know where he had heard that wolf teeth could ward off evil, and knowing Hearing Li Long had gotten a wolf, he asked this.

"I'll give you one." Hearing Li Long reached into his pocket, took out a wolf tooth, and handed it over. The wolf tooth hadn't been polished; it was grayish-white.

"Thank you so much. You're not mixing the mud well like this; why don't you take off your shoes and step on it?" Sun Jia Qiang took the wolf tooth and looked at it for a while, unable to put it down. Seeing Hearing Li Long continue to mix the mud, he couldn't help but say.

"I don't dare step on it, I'm afraid of getting something stuck in my feet." Hearing Li Long was telling the truth.

In his previous life, when he was young, he went to play in the water at a fish pond—the kind where you take off your shoes—and a thin wire got stuck deep into the sole of his foot. Because he was nervous when pulling it out, he couldn't get it out for a long time. It really hurt.

Ever since then, when going into the water or working, Hearing Li Long would never put his feet in a dangerous position, even when stepping in mud like this.

"Heh, look at how delicate you are." Sun Jia Qiang told Hearing Li Long to move aside. He was about to take off his shoes and get in, but Hearing Li Long hurriedly waved his hands:

"No, no, no. Once you've finished trading, hurry up and get back to your business. Earning money is what's important for you guys. I'm just idling here with nothing to do, so I'll take it slow."

"What are you saying? You've been good to me; how can I just leave when I see work here? Come, come, come, watch me." Sun Jia Qiang kicked off his shoes and stepped directly onto the mud, saying as he stomped:

"See that? Stomp like this, stomp a lot. Break up the hard soil that hasn't been soaked through by the water, and the mud will be good to use. When you smear it on the wall later, there won't be any big lumps, and it will be smooth."

Fine, Hearing Li Long had nothing to say. Then he looked down and saw Sun Jia Qiang's shoes, which were broken beyond recognition.

Thinking that there were still several pairs of yellow rubber shoes he had brought this time in the cabin, he asked:

"Old Sun, what size are your feet?"

"Forty. Why? Planning to get me a pair of shoes?"

"I bought a few pairs of yellow rubber shoes from the county department store. I'll give you a pair."

"You have rubber shoes? Boss Li, you're not being honest! Why didn't I see such good things before?" As soon as Sun Jia Qiang heard there were yellow rubber shoes, he became excited and started complaining. "Quick, quick, quick, bring them here, bring them here! I don't want the meat anymore, I want a pair of shoes! These shoes were made by my mom, thousand-layer sole cloth shoes, but while they're comfortable to wear at home, they're really miserable in the mountains. Once they get wet, they never dry, and my feet have rotted from the damp!"

Listening to his complaints, Hearing Li Long smiled, went into the cabin, took out a pair of yellow rubber shoes, placed them by the mud pile, and said:

"The meat should be traded as agreed. Since you're helping me work today, these shoes are a gift for you."

"How can that be? It's not easy for you to bring them from outside the mountains." Sun Jia Qiang was also very honest. "The cost that should be collected must be collected."

"Alright, alright, don't be so polite. Come wash your feet and try the shoes first. I have socks here too; you should put those on as well."

"No, no, no, just trying the shoes is enough." Sun Jia Qiang hesitated for a moment, but couldn't resist the temptation of the new shoes. He went to the spring to wash his feet, came back, sat on the wooden floor, wiped his feet with his clothes, and happily put on the new shoes.

The laces of the new yellow rubber shoes weren't threaded yet. He tried them on, stepped carefully on the ground, and said:

"They fit perfectly!"

"Then just wear them," Hearing Li Long said with a smile. "In the mountains, these are indeed more convenient."

"More than just convenient!" Sun Jia Qiang was strongly dissatisfied with Hearing Li Long's description. "There's simply nothing better than these. They don't get wet from the morning dew, and you don't have to worry about getting hurt by hard branches. These big-headed boots in winter and yellow rubber shoes in summer are the toughest things ever!"

He took off the shoes, started threading the laces, and after finishing, set them aside. He also put the socks Hearing Li Long gave him to the side, then quickly ran back to the mud pile and started stomping again, very energetically.

Hearing Li Long thought to himself that you don't know that in a few years, hiking boots will come out; those are the real good things in the mountains. Right now, these yellow rubber shoes wouldn't even be fit to carry someone else's shoes back then.

Of course, for ordinary people entering the mountains right now, yellow rubber shoes are indeed good things. While he stomped the mud, Hearing Li Long went to get grass clippings and find tools.

Two people working is faster than one. By the time Hearing Li Long had the tools ready, Sun Jia Qiang had already stomped the mud well enough. After resting for a while, they started working. This pile of mud was barely enough to finish smearing two walls.

"Are we not smearing the other two sides? Should we continue in the afternoon?" Sun Jia Qiang's desire to work was quite strong, but Hearing Li Long hurriedly waved his hands:

"No, no, no. After we eat lunch, you should go get back to your own business." Hearing Li Long didn't want Sun Jia Qiang to keep working here; he wasn't Tao Daqiang, and he couldn't delay someone else's way of earning money.

"Alright then, what are we eating for lunch?"

"A plate of sliced marinated heart, liver, lungs, intestines, and tripe from yesterday," Hearing Li Long said. "How about stir-frying a plate of wild celery and steaming some rice?"

"Do you have steamed buns? I'm not used to eating rice." Sun Jia Qiang waved his hand. "You steam your rice, just give me a steamed bun."

"Alright then, we won't steam rice, I'll just reheat the buns." Hearing Li Long followed his suggestion. "You go wash up, I'll handle the food."

"I'll help, I'm most familiar with building a fire." Sun Jia Qiang didn't want to eat for free. After putting on his new shoes, he happily ran off to get firewood and build a fire.

Hearing Li Long felt that having a companion like this in the mountains was actually quite nice, but as he said before, he couldn't delay someone else from working and earning money. He had money to earn while idling here, but this fellow was different—he was taking risks.

Hearing Li Long went to the spring to find some wild celery. This stuff looked relatively ordinary, similar to the celery grown at home (not western celery or small celery), but it grew tall. There was another type that looked quite similar to this that was poisonous; some people couldn't tell them apart and were prone to poisoning.

!.

After getting the wild celery, Hearing Li Long cut the vegetables and marinated meat on the outdoor cutting board, while on the stove inside, he built a fire to steam the buns.

Sun Jia Qiang, while lighting the fire in the outdoor stove, said:

"Boss Li, I ran into another fritillaria digger yesterday. I told him you could trade things here, but he didn't believe me. He said how could there be such a good thing, and said you must be from the forestry team, here to set a trap to catch us."

"It seems there are quite a lot of people digging for fritillaria in the mountains this year." Hearing Li Long didn't answer this question, and there was no need to. If that were really the case, Sun Jia Qiang would already be in the slammer.

"There are quite a lot. I've run into several these past few days. Many people have come over from the other side; they can't find good work, or they're afraid of being caught, so they just come into the mountains." Sun Jia Qiang got the fire going, and on the two stoves, one was boiling water and the other was preparing to stir-fry. Seeing Hearing Li Long cut a plate of tripe and intestines, he leaned over, picked up a piece to taste, and then showed a satisfied expression:

"Meat is still the best."

That goes without saying!

Young people have big appetites. Both of them started with two steamed buns, and the large plate of marinated goods wasn't enough, so Hearing Li Long temporarily cut another plate. The stir-fried wild celery, however, had a little left over.

After eating, neither of them moved. There was too much in their stomachs, and standing up was too tiring.

The radio was playing the storytelling of *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* by the old master Yuan Kuocheng. Hearing Li Long listened, fascinated. The old masters' skill in telling these stories was truly extraordinary; it was captivating, as if one were on the scene.

"Time to go, time to go." After a good while, Sun Jia Qiang stood up and started walking east:

"Can't stay any longer. If I stay any longer, I'll feel like I'm not living a human life."

"Take the bag, pack some meat." Hearing Li Long hurriedly got up to get him a bag to pack the air-dried meat. "Should I pack some marinated goods for you too?"

"No, no, this meal was already plenty... well, maybe pack some tripe?" Sun Jia Qiang ultimately couldn't resist the temptation of meat, and left with the air-dried meat and marinated offal.

Hearing Li Long started cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks. After finishing, he rested for a while, preparing to go to the back to dig out the pit for the toilet first.

He planned to build the toilet with arm-thick logs, similar to building a wooden raft—placing logs of similar thickness side by side and nailing them down, then clamping the top and bottom sections with wood, tying or nailing them. There were no bricks here, and it wasn't easy to make mud bricks, so this was more convenient.

Actually, in the eyes of many, building a toilet in the mountains is redundant. After all, there's plenty of space here, and no one around, so you can just find any spot to go. But in Hearing Li Long's view, a toilet is also a symbol of civilization. Of course, that's speaking broadly; speaking narrowly, in a while, poisonous insects, snakes, and ants will all come out, so it's better to find a clean, safe place to go to the toilet.

Halimu had told him that in these years, at least two of his family's horses had been bitten by snakes, and even more sheep had been bitten. Most of the snakes in the mountains are poisonous; if bitten, they basically don't survive—or rather, horses are usually bitten on the legs. Horses sleep standing up and don't like to lie down; once a leg is injured, the horse is basically useless.

After digging the pit, he cleared the grass around it and leveled it. He laid wooden boards over the pit, which made it more convenient to step on. To make it more stable, he also shoveled away some of the soil under the wood, effectively embedding the wood into the soil, making it sturdier so it wouldn't wobble when squatting.

There weren't enough wooden strips here. Hearing Li Long planned that after the air-dried meat outside was ready in a day or two, he would drive the tractor to haul coal and take the opportunity to cut some more branches to bring back, and then he could build the toilet.

After finishing these things, Hearing Li Long carried the iron shovel back to the front of the cabin, set it down, and returned to the small room to spread out the fritillaria.

There was quite a lot of fritillaria, and the small room couldn't hold it all, so Hearing Li Long took some of it out and spread it on the outdoor wooden floor to dry first.

Sun Jia Qiang, carrying the bag of meat and wearing his brand-new yellow rubber shoes, walked happily back to the dugout where he lived.

He didn't throw away the thousand-layer sole cloth shoes his mother had made; he could find tools to sew them later and still wear them. He hid the meat from the bag, then took the cloth shoes to the stream, preparing to wash them. Without a brush, he found a small stick, cleaned the mud off the soles, and then slowly rubbed the shoes in the water with his hands.

His clothes were also torn. Since Hearing Li Long could get shoes here, he wondered if he could ask Hearing Li Long to get him a set of clothes next time. He had been wearing this set for a long time. Although he could wash them during the day when it was sunny, he didn't dare wash them too often. This was the only set he had; if they didn't dry, he would be the one suffering.

After washing the shoes until they were mostly clean, he left them by the dugout to dry, then packed his things into a bag and carried them to a nearby gully to dig for fritillaria.

Although he was laughing and joking at Hearing Li Long's place and didn't want to leave, Sun Jia Qiang was still very clear about what he should be doing in the mountains.

Only by digging up more fritillaria could he trade for money to make his life better. His current security was that he had gained Bolati's approval, and he could trade for things at Hearing Li Long's place, so his safety and supplies were basically not a problem, which was much better than the other fritillaria diggers.

Sun Jia Qiang entered a gully and had only dug up a dozen or so fritillaria when he heard someone calling him from ahead:

"Hey, fellow villager, you're a bit late today."

He looked up at the person whose clothes were even more tattered than his, whose hair was longer, and whose beard had grown out quite a bit, and said:

"I went to trade for shoes."

"Trade for shoes?" That person was stunned for a moment. "You traded fritillaria for shoes? What kind of shoes?"

"Look, yellow rubber shoes." Sun Jia Qiang proudly kicked his leg to show the person.

That person came over carrying a bag, saw the shoes on Sun Jia Qiang's feet, was stunned for a moment, and then said with an envious look:

"You can really trade for them? You're not lying to me?"

"Heh heh." Sun Jia Qiang didn't want to waste any more breath. He had said fritillaria could be traded for supplies, and this guy didn't believe him, so he wouldn't say anything more.

"I didn't just trade for shoes, I also traded for some meat," Sun Jia Qiang said with a smile. "Marinated cooked meat, it's delicious."

He thought to himself, I'm going to make you die of envy!

That person licked his lips and asked suspiciously:

"It's not meat from something that died, is it?"

"The person himself eats it too, how could it be meat from something that died?" Sun Jia Qiang retorted. "I just ate a meal with that person at noon. Alright, enough said, you hurry up and dig for fritillaria too, you're not interested anyway."

That person was ten meters away from Sun Jia Qiang. He hesitated at this moment, and finally couldn't help but say:

"Can you... trade your shoes to me? Those shoes only cost a few yuan outside, I'll give you a kilogram of fritillaria?"

"Get lost." Sun Jia Qiang was angry. "Say that kind of nonsense again, and I'll hit you." Sun Jia Qiang had been eating well these days and had nutrition. Although he hadn't beaten that person before and still had bruises on his face, he could still beat this thin, small person in front of him.

That person was startled. Seeing that Sun Jia Qiang's expression wasn't fake, he had no choice but to mutter and leave. (End of chapter)