Chapter 48

Chen Hongjun was warming himself by the fire. Seeing Li Long come in, he was somewhat surprised.

"Little comrade, it's you!" Chen Hongjun recognized Li Long and stood up with a smile. "Haven't seen you for several days. What good things did you bring today?"

When they were changing shifts, he heard his colleague Xu Lili say that someone from the mountains had come to sell deer antlers. He had originally wanted to buy them cheaply, but didn't expect the person to know their value and refuse to sell them cheaply, so she had to raise the price to three yuan.

At that time, Chen Hongjun guessed it was most likely Li Long.

It was just unexpected that this young man hadn't come to sell the antlers at his shift change time. Was it because time was tight, or was the friendship not enough?

"Hello, hello." Li Long smiled and said, "I don't know if you'll buy what I brought today."

"Let me see." Chen Hongjun naturally couldn't make any guarantees.

Li Long placed the jade he had gotten from Yushanjiang on the counter.

"Stones?" Chen Hongjun frowned, looked at them carefully, and then asked in surprise:

"Is this... Mahe nephrite?"

"Yes, raw jade." Li Long smiled; at least the person knew their stuff. If they really treated them as stones, he would have no choice but to pick them up and leave.

"This... we really don't buy this here." Chen Hongjun shook his head. "We buy local products and medicinal materials. This jade is a good thing, but we don't buy it here."

"Then do you know where they buy it?" Li Long was a bit disappointed, but he wasn't discouraged. Such good things only become more valuable the longer they are kept. If he weren't short of money now and needing to buy some things, he would have just put them at home and taken them out after twenty or thirty years.

"This... usually places that process handicrafts buy it." Chen Hongjun reminded him, "Our county is small and doesn't have such units. Shicheng might not even have them. If you want to find one, you can only go to Wucheng."

Li Long cupped his hands to the other party:

"Thank you! Then I won't disturb you anymore. Goodbye!"

"Alright, alright. If you have other things like deer antlers or medicinal materials, feel free to bring them over. I won't give you a low price here."

Li Long suddenly thought of the things in his carriage and, thinking of what he had seen in novels before, asked:

"Do you buy wild boar stomachs?"

This was also a medicinal material, and it was said to be quite good for treating stomach problems.

"We do." Chen Hongjun was a bit surprised, but thinking of the deer antlers Li Long had brought last time, he guessed that the other party most likely lived near the mountains, and said with a smile:

"We do. Depending on the size and the age of the wild boar, it's usually three to five yuan each. Do you have them with you now? Let me see?"

Li Long was a bit disappointed; it seemed these things still couldn't sell for much money. He pointed outside and said:

"I have two wild boars, but their stomachs haven't been removed yet. It'll take a couple of days; I'll have them after I go back and process the pigs."

"What?" Chen Hongjun was a bit surprised. "You got two wild boars? Really or fake?"

He bought things every day, but what he received were finished products. He had seen many deer antlers and had also seen velvet antlers, but he hadn't seen many red deer, let alone wild boars.

"Want to see?" Li Long smiled. This time, it was his turn to broaden someone else's horizons.

Chen Hongjun followed Li Long out. Li Long removed the wood and grass covering the wild boars. Chen Hongjun walked over curiously, and at a glance, he took a liking to the tusks in the big wild boar's mouth.

"This wild boar is really big!" He had seen domestic pigs, and this wild boar was really not small in comparison.

"Yeah, it took three shots to kill it; it was very fierce."

"This wild boar of yours... are you selling it? I want to buy some wild boar meat to taste." Chen Hongjun had a sudden whim and asked.

"It hasn't been processed yet, so there's no way to sell it." Li Long waved his hand. "I can't just cut a piece and sell it to you, right? Besides, if this wild boar isn't processed well, it's not tasty. To be honest, Comrade Chen, this meat really isn't as good as domestic pork."

He would have to deal with this person often in the future, so Li Long wouldn't cheat him. "Is that so." Chen Hongjun was a bit disappointed, but his curiosity outweighed his taste buds, and he said:

"When you go home and finish processing it, bring me a piece, and I'll buy it to taste. I've never eaten it and want to try it once."

"Alright." Li Long readily agreed. "I'll bring it over in a couple of days—you work on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes. Don't forget to bring the wild boar stomach over then."

"Alright." Li Long covered the wood and grass, tied the rope, led the horse, and left.

At this time, the Li family was already in chaos.

Because the eldest sister-in-law of the Lu family had come to the Li family and told Li Jianguo and Liang Yumei that it was rumored in the village that Tao Dayong and Tao Daqiang had both been caught.

There were also rumors that Li Long had been caught selling things at the black market.

This scared Li Jianguo and Liang Yumei to death!

The whole village knew about Gu Ermao being caught, but Tao Dayong being caught had only just spread, and many people didn't know yet.

By the time Tao Daqiang returned home, the county had already called the township, and then it was transferred to the team. Xu Chengjun went to find Tao Jianshe in a rage, just in time to run into Tao Daqiang, who had run back.

"Fifty yuan! Your Tao Dayong has been caught, fined fifty yuan. Hurry up and scrape the money together, and come with me to pick him up! By the way, Daqiang, how did you run back?"

"People with armbands came, and we got separated..." Tao Daqiang was still in shock and was mumbling unclearly.

!.

Xu Chengjun didn't count on him either. Tao Daqiang had a low presence to begin with, and in the eyes of others, he was also stupid. Both Tao Jianshe and Xu Chengjun thought he was just lucky.

Tao Jianshe was still dreaming of getting rich in a day, but he was doused by Xu Chengjun's words.

"How could he be caught?" Tao Jianshe muttered to himself in a daze. The Li family's second son had sold fish several times and hadn't been caught; how come when it was his own family's turn, they got caught?

"Where is there time to talk about this here?" Xu Chengjun understood and shouted loudly: "If you don't go now, who knows how badly your Dayong has been beaten!"

When Tao Jianshe heard this, he immediately climbed up and ran into the inner room, fished out a handful of loose money, and said with a mournful face: "I only have eleven yuan here..."

"I have five yuan here." Tao Daqiang fished the money out of the inner pocket of his cotton-padded jacket. "I'll go borrow..."

"Then hurry up and borrow it. I'll go find your sister-in-law. Dayong has been caught, I have to tell her..."

Tao Daqiang came to the Li family and told Li Jianguo what had happened.

"How much are you borrowing?" Li Jianguo asked readily. "I have twenty here."

He took twenty and gave it to Tao Daqiang. Tao Daqiang took the money, lowered his head, and felt a mix of emotions in his heart.

Many families in the team wouldn't earn twenty yuan in a year, but Li Jianguo took it out in one go.

He knew this was for the sake of his relationship with Li Long. And he had just broken up with Li Long; was what he was doing honorable?

"Hurry home." Li Jianguo urged him. "Your father should still be waiting for the money to pick up your brother."

Tao Daqiang returned home, and after a while, Tao Jianshe returned. Looking at the twenty in Tao Daqiang's hand, he thought to himself that it was finally enough.

Ma Chunhong only took out fifteen yuan, saying it was all the money they had.

In this way, they hadn't made any money, both families' savings were gone, and they still owed twenty yuan!

When Xu Chengjun and Tao Jianshe went to the county to pick up the people, the matter of Tao Dayong being caught fermented in the village, and more people were spreading rumors that Li Long had also been caught!

I'm rushing the new book list these two days. Although I'm in the 70s or 80s, at least there's a label. Everyone who has tickets, please vote. Monthly tickets and recommendation tickets are both fine, they are all very useful, thank you! There will be an extra chapter today.

(End of chapter)