Chapter 487

Returning from the supply station, Li Long took the money to buy things. This time, he didn't buy much; he could basically determine that the main focus for those digging fritillaria bulbs next would be exchanging them for money, so he needed to bring more cash up. Of course, the scissors, clippers, combs, and fine-toothed combs they needed at Xiao Bai Yang Gou were still necessary, as he was worried about them getting bugs in their hair—that is, lice, and their eggs, nits.

This thing was quite common in this era; it could often be seen on both people and livestock, and it wasn't easy to eradicate.

By the 2020s of the 21st century, many things of this kind had disappeared, but this thing could still occasionally be seen on children's heads.

In those days, dealing with this thing was also quite brutal. If you cared, you would just use Dichlorvos; smear Dichlorvos on the child's hair, wrap it up with a plastic bag, and in less than ten minutes, both lice and nits would be dead.

If you didn't care that much, then use a fine-toothed comb; that kind of very dense teeth could comb the lice out. As for those on the body, you could only take off your undershirt and find them one by one. This even became a kind of fun for some rural children after school.

Of course, at this time, it wasn't just people who got lice; pigs did too, especially in the hollows behind their ears, where a whole bunch could usually grow. Perhaps it was because it was easy to hide there and the blood vessels were relatively rich.

Of course, the fact that these things basically disappeared in the end must be credited to the Patriotic Health Campaign that lasted until the 2020s of the 21st century. The little cuties that disappeared weren't just lice, but also the parasites on chickens and ducks, and the disgusting, extremely tenacious bedbugs that could live for over a decade without eating or drinking, and so on.

Therefore, Li Long not only bought these things but also went to buy medicine. Not just snake medicine, but also medicine to prevent and treat these bugs. Children in later generations might only hear of medicine for preventing and treating the "Four Pests" like cockroaches, mosquitoes, and flies, but actually, at this time, what was truly more common was medicine for preventing and treating lice, nits, and bedbugs.

Incidentally, Li Long also bought some camphor balls, which were what people of this era called mothballs.

Because when he was tidying up the fritillaria bulbs today, he saw that snow leopard pelt.

This was a wedding gift given to him and Gu Xiao Yu by Bolati and Yushanjiang. At the time, he gave it to Gu Xiao Yu, but she didn't accept it and told him to put it away.

Once this snow leopard pelt was put away, Li Long forgot about it. It was only when he was tidying up the fritillaria bulbs and turned it out that he remembered. Although the pelt was still well-preserved, it was a pelt after all, and it was still possible for it to be moth-eaten, so he planned to buy some mothballs to put inside to prevent bugs.

The snake medicine was in tablet form. Li Long also wanted to buy sulfur powder or something similar for pest control, but the medicinal materials company said they didn't have any. That manager was considered familiar with Li Long, and the people inside saw him often, so the suggestion they gave Li Long was to wear rubber shoes or rubber boots, tie up his pant legs, and just be careful.

Alright, that was all he could do. Supplies were still relatively scarce in this era; it was impossible to be like forty years later, where if you wanted something and couldn't buy it in a physical store, you could just search online and find a whole bunch of all kinds, and they would be cheap, even if you were in Northern Tianshan, it would arrive in five or seven days.

Missing that era.

After sighing with emotion, Li Long drove the tractor back to the courtyard, took the mothballs to protect the snow leopard pelt, wrapped it up, and hid it away.

The three little roe deer in the backyard and the half-grown one were calling out from time to time. Li Long simply went over and let them out to frolic in the courtyard. The three little roe deer were used to it; as soon as the gate opened, they darted out. Li Long didn't think anything of it, but these three had already run to the small vegetable garden and started gnawing on the small green vegetables.

Li Long hurriedly came over to chase away the little roe deer—actually, they weren't small, they were ten kilograms—and the big one slowly wobbled out, curiously looking left and right, still a bit worried.

The three little guys were already used to sneaking a few bites of vegetables every time they came over, and they didn't have any objections when chased away; they called out to Li Long a few times and went elsewhere. There were some weeds in the cracks of the wall, and they would eat those too. It was actually quite pitiful not being able to eat fresh grass here every day.

Li Long thought about discussing with Gu Xiao Yu when she came back whether to put these four guys on the team, otherwise, they might suffer from malnutrition.

After all, just eating sugar dregs, wheat bran, and chaff, the nutrition might not keep up.

Don't know.

He tidied up the courtyard, and incidentally tidied up the things in the empty side rooms and the rooms facing south on both sides. There were some things Li Long originally thought about throwing out, after all, in his eyes, these things that hadn't been used for many years should count as trash. But since there was a mistress in the house, he would tidy them out first and wait for Gu Xiao Yu to come back and discuss it with her.

When Gu Xiao Yu came back, the sun hadn't finished work yet. Seeing the main gate open, she just rode her bicycle in. Li Long, who was still tidying up things in the south-facing room, heard Gu Xiao Yu humming "Young Friends Come to Meet," and knew that she must be in a very good mood today.

"... Ah, dear friends, to whom does the beautiful spring light belong? It belongs to you, it belongs to me, it belongs to our new generation of the eighties!"

"Singing well," Li Long clapped the dust off his hands and praised, "Have you been practicing songs lately?"

"No," Gu Xiao Yu propped up the bicycle, took the handbag from the handlebars, and said:

"When I passed by the market, I saw someone selling roasted melon seeds, so I bought some. Do you want to crack some?"

"Oil sunflower or flower sunflower?" Li Long asked, "Grab a handful for me."

"Flower sunflower." Gu Xiao Yu took out a large newspaper package, opened it, and grabbed a handful for Li Long. At this time, there weren't many who could roast flower sunflowers; the land was only divided last year, and everyone basically planted oil sunflowers because they had a high oil yield and were better for pressing oil. Flower sunflowers were usually only roasted to eat, and generally, in the countryside, at most, people would plant a few in their vegetable plots or private plots. There were few who planted them on a large scale—Li Long vaguely remembered that it seemed the first family on the team to plant flower sunflowers on a large scale was his own eldest brother, who planted two mu of land and sold them for more than a year before selling them out.

"What do you want to eat tonight? I'll cook." Seeing Li Long tidying up things, Gu Xiao Yu cracked a few melon seeds, rolled up her sleeves, and said:

"How are eldest brother and the others in the mountains? You put a roe deer in the pen two days ago, and I was startled when I went to feed them."

"Eldest brother and the others are fine, they are quite fulfilled every day, anyway, they are making money, it might be true that it's a bit hard outside." Li Long answered one question after another, "Do you want to go to the canteen to eat tonight? That roe deer was saved by me. At that time, there was a small group, one was shot and two ran away, this one ran into the swamp and was saved by me."

"No wonder they're called silly roe deer!" Gu Xiao Yu found it interesting and said with a smile.

"Are they annoying you here? Do you want to move them to the team?" Li Long asked that question.

"No need, no need. This courtyard is so big, and you are often not here, I let them out every day when I come back from work, at least there's a living thing." Gu Xiao Yu said.

"Sigh, wait a bit longer, wait until this work of making carrying poles is finished, the fritillaria season will be almost over too, then I will stay at home for a longer time. Let me tell you," Li Long walked closer to Gu Xiao Yu and lowered his voice:

"Just by making carrying poles and collecting fritillaria, I can earn about six thousand to eight thousand yuan this season. By then, let's buy two more televisions, one for here, one for your dad's place. How about we let dad and mom watch the one in the team's courtyard?"

"So much?" Gu Xiao Yu was startled, "Is it against the law?"

"Against what law? Not against it, not against it." Li Long said with a smile, "Money earned openly and honestly, how can it be against the law?"

He hadn't mentioned the value of those few gold nuggets and the two bags of things; these things were to be kept anyway, and not exchanged for money, so he wouldn't mention them.

When the money came down, he planned to put a portion in Gu Xiao Yu's hands; husband and wife are one, and it's the same if the money is in her hands.

Gu Xiao Yu was truly frightened. She knew Li Long could make money, but she never expected him to be able to make so much!

Her own salary was about forty yuan a month, and at most five hundred yuan a year. Her husband earned more than ten years of her salary in a month, how could they compare?

No wonder Li Long didn't go to work and wanted to do these "side jobs." If he really went to work, how many years would it take to get this money?

She suddenly became a bit anxious about gains and losses; with so much money, how to spend it? What if others targeted them? Was this money really all clean?

She looked at Li Long, feeling that at this moment, her husband had suddenly become a stranger.

Li Long read her thoughts from Gu Xiao Yu's eyes and said with a smile:

"Don't worry, the money is all clean. Besides, what does this count as for us? There are plenty of people richer than us. Don't look at me earning a lot of money, when buying things, I still have to think back and forth. Those truly rich people don't even blink when spending hundreds or thousands."

Li Long spoke exaggeratedly, and Gu Xiao Yu slowly calmed down; maybe it was true. In the office, listening to those older sisters chatting about who was rich and what they did, she listened to it as a story at first, but now it seemed to have become concrete.

It was as if she had suddenly touched a level she had never been in contact with before.

"Alright, let's go, let's go out to eat, don't cook tonight." Li Long clapped the dust off his body, went to the well to wash, and then changed his clothes.

Although Gu Xiao Yu wanted to object, thinking about Li Long saying he earned so much money, she didn't speak again.

Since the head of the house said so, then let's go.

The sun had set in the west, and the evening glow filled the sky. Neither of them rode their bikes, walking side by side towards the west. There were many people on the street, all people rushing home after work, most walking, a few riding bicycles, and occasionally a truck or tractor chugged past. There were also slower horse-drawn or donkey-drawn carts, which would leave a trail of dung after walking a distance.

"Starting a few days ago, tractors occasionally appeared on the road," Gu Xiao Yu said, "Two older sisters in our office also said that once the land contracting is opened up, bold farmers will immediately become rich."

She smiled suddenly when she said this, turned her head to look at Li Long, and continued:

"I really didn't expect that the person she said would become rich is us, is our family."

Li Long also smiled.

"It's good to be rich, being rich means we can live a good life."

The two went to the canteen; Zhong Guo Qiang wasn't there, he should have already finished work. Li Long ordered two dishes, braised pork and vinegar-flavored cabbage, and asked for two bottles of beer.

Gu Xiao Yu originally didn't want to drink, but Li Long said it was fine, so she drank a little.

Two bottles of beer really didn't count for much for two young people, but the braised pork was made well, and basically nothing was left.

After eating and drinking, they returned home in a slightly tipsy state, and the two rolled on the sheets without shame.

Both were young people, and their vitality was relatively strong, so it was understandable. The next morning, Gu Xiao Yu made breakfast, and after Li Long fed the roe deer, the two ate together.

"Going into the mountains later?"

"Hmm, now five hundred carrying poles have been made, after a while when they are finished, find the supply and marketing cooperative to send a car to pull them back, and this job will be settled." Li Long said while eating, "There are many good things in the mountains, it's okay to go into the mountains occasionally in the future, I've told you about the hot springs several times, wait until the weekend later to take you there to soak."

"Wait until summer vacation." Gu Xiao Yu said, "There will be fewer things then, maybe we can go."

Now it's all single-day rest, if it's one day off, going into the mountains is still a bit tight. Gu Xiao Yu has been into the mountains and still yearns for it, whether it's soaking in hot springs, hunting, or picking mushrooms and such.

After eating, Gu Xiao Yu went to work, Li Long tidied up the courtyard simply, then drove the tractor and locked the door to leave. He went to the city again to buy some eggs, fresh vegetables, and then went into the mountains. This time he bought a net bag, planning to find a stream and block the net bag when the water falls, using the water's drop to wait for fish; once the fish entered the net bag, they couldn't come out, which could be considered a way of catching fish by waiting for the rabbit.

It had been a long time since he ate fish, so he planned to have something fresh this time.

The tractor chugged across the Qingshui River and drove into the mountains.

Xiao Bai Yang Gou, at this time Li Jianguo and the others had already finished breakfast and started making carrying poles.

They were all adults, except for a very small number who would occasionally be a bit lazy, everyone was very clear. Coming out was to make money, if you were lazy, it would be better not to come. Therefore, basically, they climbed up as soon as it was dawn. When Lao Huang was preparing breakfast, someone had already waded through the dew to cut back a large bundle of strips, or cut back a few carrying poles, and prepared the preparatory work.

!.

This reminded Li Long of the season of manual cotton picking more than twenty years later. At that time, they also climbed up before dawn to cook, and cotton pickers also liked to start picking at this time because there was dew at this time, the picked cotton was heavy, and the dry cotton bolls that split open didn't prick their hands, and even if the dry cotton leaves stuck to them, they could be easily removed, unlike at noon, where as long as you touched them, they would shatter, and a handful of cotton would be covered with broken leaves.

Making money, how could it not be hard?

Some people took the initiative to greet, some lowered their heads to make carrying poles and didn't have time to look after. Li Long handed the two boxes of snake medicine to Xie Yun Dong, and handed two boxes to Li Jianguo.

"Everyone be careful." Li Jianguo took the snake medicine and said.

"Better safe than sorry." Li Long said, "It's best to be able to go back safely."

Li Jianguo nodded. Li Long saw that there were already five carrying poles in front of him, so he thought about checking again and collecting everyone's carrying poles.

Li Jianguo's was naturally no problem. Seeing Li Long finish checking, he took out the notebook and asked him to sign it, and a trace of pride appeared on the corner of Li Jianguo's mouth.

Must save face for the younger brother.

After checking all the carrying poles, some unexpectedly, one of Xie Yun Dong's carrying poles was woven a bit loosely at the very edge. Li Long pointed it out quietly, Xie Yun Dong blushed a bit and said:

"It was woven last night when it was almost dark, I was a bit anxious at the time... I'll redo it later, you can check this one again tomorrow."

"Good." Li Long smiled, this was actually quite normal. Xie Yun Dong had to help manage these people, multitasking, it was normal for the carrying poles to be woven a bit slowly and have some quality problems.

He took the clippers, scissors, and combs off the car and handed them to Xie Yun Dong, telling him to find time to fix them for everyone, while he drove the tractor towards the wooden house.

There was really someone guarding the wooden house here. Hearing the sound of the tractor, someone ran out from the side with a bag and waited.

Two people, they seemed quite familiar with each other, after Li Long turned off the tractor, they came up and took the initiative to greet.

"Boss Li, you've been gone for a long time, we've been waiting anxiously."

"That's right, what good things did you bring back this time?"

"They are all bits and pieces, you can see for yourselves, weigh them first?" Li Long took out the key to open the door of the small room and asked, "Want money or exchange for things?"

"Can you exchange a few eggs for me? In the mountains, we could originally dig up wild pheasant eggs, later there were only small wild pheasants, and they were hard to catch, it's been many days since I tasted the taste of eggs."

"Sure." Li Long said, "Twenty cents each, want to exchange?"

"Exchange." Although he knew Li Long had doubled the price, he still wanted to exchange, anyway, he wouldn't eat much.

Li Long took out the scale and weighed it for the two people, one was nine kilograms and one was seven kilograms, neither counted as much.

These two people both wanted most of the money, and then exchanged for some supplies. That vagrant who exchanged for ten eggs walked towards the mountains with a smile, it seemed he was preparing to make a meal at noon.

Li Long first set up the stove in the wooden house, burned water, and then went to wash the fritillaria bulbs. He was startled when he reached the edge of the spring, a snake was biting a mouse and swallowing it from time to time on the grass not far away, seeing Li Long coming, it slowly swam away into the distance.

Are there so many snakes now?

Li Long didn't care about this snake, he took a stick and knocked around in the grass, and then started washing.

Mainly worried about suddenly having a snake bite him while working, that would be unbearable.

People came one after another to sell fritillaria bulbs, this day Li Long collected seventy or eighty kilograms, not much, the sun hadn't set, he felt he could collect some more before dark.

At noon, he found a stream nearby and blocked it with a net, planning to wait until tomorrow morning to see the harvest. There weren't many fish in the small stream in the mountains, if you wanted to get enough fish to eat, it would take time.

Li Long planned to make dinner here. He ate rice at noon, and planned to beat two eggs to stir-fry the remaining rice at night.

Just as he was beating the eggs, three figures appeared in the mountain forest in the distance. Li Long smiled, sure enough, someone came.

It was just that what surprised him a bit was that these three people didn't carry bags—wait, why were two people supporting one person?

"Boss Li, help!" When they were relatively close to here, someone started shouting, "Help! My brother was bitten by a snake..."

Damn, is it such a coincidence?

Li Long hurriedly took the pot down, turned and ran into the house to take out the snake medicine.

Didn't know if this snake medicine worked or not.

When the people arrived, Li Long didn't wait for them to shout again, raised his hand and said:

"Snake medicine brought back from the county today, want to eat it?"

"Want, want." Someone hurriedly took it, and there was water, and fed it to this person.

Li Long saw the wound, the leg was swollen and shiny, he hurriedly said:

"Was the bitten place treated? What kind of snake bit it?"

"Just that kind of gray-white small snake." Someone next to him said: "Can it be saved?"

"Let's see." Looking at this situation, it had been a long time since the bite, didn't know if the snake medicine worked or not.

"Then... Boss Li, can you help send him down the mountain?" Another person couldn't help but speak, "I'm worried..."

"Right, right, right, we won't let you run for nothing, give money!"

"Sure." Li Long went to start the tractor, "Carry him onto the car." Couldn't really watch someone die here.

"Then how much money do you want?" One person asked.

"Five kilograms of fritillaria bulbs." Li Long subconsciously blurted out this sentence.

Still... really cheap. The other two people thought so. (End of chapter)