Chapter 505

The mutton was quite fatty. Li Long tried his best to choose meat without oil, while others were the opposite.

Eating mutton with naan, that feeling was really too good.

The old lady and Yushanjiang's wife brought a plate of onions over. Li Long picked up a piece and ate it, and others followed suit.

Deputy Captain Adili also helped just now, so he didn't leave when eating. He held a rib in his hand and walked to Li Long while eating, found a clean place to squat down, and said:

"The work here should be finished today."

"Hmm, here today, tomorrow go to Yushanjiang's yard." Li Long said, "Fix the yard better, and it will be comfortable to live in."

The current houses are all earth-made. The difference between the houses here at the animal husbandry team and the Fourth Team is that they are lower, use more wood on the top, and then spread a thick layer of reed grass, and finally apply mud to the roof.

Because of long-term disrepair, plus being relatively close to the mountains, with much wind and rain, the roof was covered with a layer of grass.

When applying mud to the roof, you have to pull out these grasses. The young guys in the team were quite surprised to see grass growing on the roof at first, and looked around, it turned out everyone was the same. The wind here is strong, some grass seeds are blown onto the roof, and with a rain, it sprouts. Some roofs not only have grass, but also small trees.

Pull out the grass on the roof, sweep the garbage clean, and then use a trowel to smooth the mud brought up, especially the holes dug out by mice, which must be filled, so that it won't leak when it rains.

The work done in the morning was these. The mud on the roof had been applied, and some pits on the house wall had been smoothed. Li Long's plan was to simply apply the front wall directly in the afternoon to avoid it looking bad—after all, if it was filled directly, the traces of the patches would be very obvious.

The courtyard wall also had to be repaired. The courtyard wall here is rammed earth. After a long time, the soil at the root of the wall was eroded and fell off, and the wall was very dangerous, with the possibility of collapsing at any time. What needs to be done is to reinforce the root of the wall with soil.

There was still time in the afternoon. Li Long planned to finish applying the house wall, reinforce the courtyard wall, and in the remaining time, shovel the weeds in the yard, repair the ground in front of the house to be flat, fill it, and press it with a tractor, at least to make the open space in front of the house better.

If it weren't for the old lady and Yushanjiang's wife not being good at planting vegetables, Li Long even planned to clear the yard for them—in the eyes of Han people, having such a big yard and not planting vegetables is really a pity.

Several children were in front of the pot, scrambling to let Yushanjiang's wife fish out the hind leg bones. They all wanted the bone with the kneecap. But there were only two bones, and finally Li Long came forward, letting them decide the winner by rock-paper-scissors, the winner took the bone, and the loser didn't lose out, the bone marrow smashed out of the bone later belonged to the person without the kneecap.

Li Long and the others ate, the old lady and Yushanjiang's wife also ate two mouthfuls simply, and then Yushanjiang's wife carried a bucket and went out.

After a long while, she carried a bucket of water back—it turned out she went to fetch water to eat.

Tao Daqiang hurriedly went over to take the water bucket and poured it into the vat.

Li Long turned his head and asked Adili:

"Captain Adili, where is the well for drinking water in your team?"

"Where is there a well? We drink water from the river on the west side. Water, just boil it and it will be fine."

Li Long looked at this piece of land, thoughtful.

After eating, Li Long announced a half-hour break. The people working one after another found a place to lean or lie down. Tao Daqiang and Xu Dejun even argued about who would get on the tractor. Xu Dejun moved fast, got on the seat first, Tao Daqiang had no choice but to get on the car bucket. There were still some wheat tails not used up on this, and lying on it was not bad, just pay attention not to let the wheat tails get into the clothes, otherwise that feeling would be very stimulating.

Li Long leaned against the wall and half-lay down to close his eyes for a while. Today was physical labor, and he was also quite tired, but very fulfilled. Looking at the roof and the mud on the side wall slowly drying, the places that were originally missing corners and pieces had been tidied up, and he felt a sense of accomplishment.

Because the mud was mixed in the morning, the work in the afternoon was much smoother. Four people went to repair the courtyard wall, two people applied mud to the house wall, and the remaining one went to shovel the grass in the yard and fill the uneven places.

After eating mutton, everyone was full of energy, talking and laughing. Yushanjiang's wife went back to her own home, the old lady boiled tea, put the teapot in the yard, and whoever was thirsty used the enamel basin Li Long distributed to pour water to drink.

The pot for boiling mutton was also in the yard, the fire below hadn't completely gone out, and the mutton soup was also hot, with mutton inside. If you want to drink mutton soup, you can also go and scoop it yourself.

When the sun was still a pole high in the west, the work in the yard was finished. Li Long looked at the acceptance one by one, the yard was filled very flat, and when pressing flat with a tractor, several young guys scrambled to drive the tractor, so Li Long could only stipulate that each person would come for two round trips. They didn't know how to reverse, so they could only move forward and press over, and Li Long drove back.

Although troublesome, the young guys were tireless. Not only was the yard repaired flat, but the section from the door to the big road outside was also well repaired. Li Long looked at each item, and several young guys took the naan left at noon, each scooped a small piece of mutton, or scooped a bowl of mutton soup and continued to eat.

This was dinner.

"Not bad, not bad, the work done today is not bad." Li Long looked at the quality of these works and felt it was very okay. The young guys didn't slack off, and they were as solid as working in the team. At least looking at this yard now, it was completely different from when they came over in the morning.

"Go back, rest well, we'll come again tomorrow." Li Long saw that everyone had finished eating, so he greeted everyone to get on the car. The old lady came over and held Li Long's hand and said something. Adili wasn't there, and Li Long couldn't understand, so Xie Yun Dong came over and translated two sentences:

"She said thank you, thank you all. Didn't expect that when her son wasn't there, her son's friends could repair the house for her. She said that when Halimu comes back, she must thank us well and treat us to a good meal."

"Haha," Li Long smiled when he heard it, and said to Xie Yun Dong: "Brother Xie Yun Dong, tell the old lady, just say we are like brothers with Halimu, doing this is what we should do."

Driving the tractor, like winning a battle, they rushed to the county against the wind all the way. Arriving at the county, Li Long stopped and asked if they needed to buy anything. Everyone shook their heads, so he continued to drive to the township.

Arriving at the township, Li Long stopped for a while. He went to the blacksmith shop to find the master, spent thirty yuan to make two pressure well heads, and told them to rush the work and take it tomorrow morning. The master got the money, and the answer was very straightforward:

"I'll have it done for you tonight!"

With money to earn, what else is there to say?

Yes, Li Long planned to hit two pressure wells in Halimu and Yushanjiang's yards. Even if the water hit has a bit of alkaline taste, it's better than running so far to drink water in the river, right?

After arranging the pressure well head, Li Long drove the tractor to send people back to the team, and then went to the eldest brother's yard.

Hearing the sound of the tractor, Li Qing Xia arrived at the yard gate first. Li Long parked the tractor on the side, and the family knew that he would have to return to the county later.

"Dad, where is my eldest brother?"

"Feeding the pigs." Li Qing Xia said, "These little piglets are too able to eat, they need a lot of pig food a day. I see that in a few days you still have to go and pull a car of sugar residue back."

"That's no problem." Li Long nodded and went to the pigsty.

Li Jianguo was pouring pig food into the pig trough. Because there were piglets, the pigsty was now covered with an additional one, divided into two pens, the sow with the piglets in one pen, and other pigs in one pen.

The piglets had grown to seven or eight kilograms, very lively, calling and eating, and grabbing.

"Back after finishing?" Li Jianguo asked, "How is it?"

"Two families, one family finished. I see that water is difficult over there, so I thought about hitting a pressure well. Today I found a blacksmith shop in the township to make a pressure well head, and tomorrow I'll go to the five-hand-in-hand store to buy pipes. I came over to ask, eldest brother, you tell me in detail how to hit this pressure well, so that we can handle it tomorrow."

"Hitting this pressure well, it's actually very simple." Li Jianguo put down the pig food bucket, squatted down, and gestured to Li Long on the spot, "You have to find a place that is easy to produce water and also easy to put a pressure well. Generally, grass grows well, so there must be water below. But to hit a pressure well in the yard, you generally choose a place that doesn't get in the way, right? It can't affect walking, it's best to be against the wall, just like our yard..."

Li Long nodded, his mind was already replaying Halimu's yard, where should it be hit?

"Hitting a pressure well, you've also seen it, then it's very easy, first dig a pit, dig one or two meters, look at the soil quality, the soil below is wet and soft, there are signs of water production, then dig a smaller pit next, and then take steel bars and insert them down. The shallow water layer in our county can produce water in two or three meters, that is, the water produced has alkali. If you want to drink good water, you have to continue to tie deeper. They have an advantage living by the mountains, that is, the deep water layer is usually not too deep, three or five meters is about enough."

Originally Li Long thought about hitting directly to the shallow water layer, as long as there is water to drink. After all, it's troublesome for the old and young to go to the river to fetch water every day. Now hearing what the eldest brother said, then hitting to the deep water layer and letting the two families drink good water is not impossible.

"I have a lot of work here, otherwise I would have followed you." Li Jianguo sighed.

"Eldest brother, you are busy with yours. Many people are staring at that watermelon field, let's manage it well this year, and when the time comes, collect more, and let those people see how cash crops earn money."

Li Jianguo also meant this. The piglet slaughter has to wait until the end of the year, this can definitely earn some money, but his eyes are still on the watermelon. Raising pigs is troublesome, if watermelon earns money, expand operations next year, and then the scale of raising pigs can be reduced. Farmers, after all, still have to rely on farming.

Li Long asked some details again. Li Jianguo said that after feeding the pigs, he would find the tools for hitting the well, and Li Long could pull them away directly tomorrow.

After getting this matter settled, Li Long prepared to leave. Li Qing Xia followed Li Long and asked:

"Without Xiao Long, how many more days will you work?"

"It will be finished tomorrow."

"That's good, that's good." Li Qing Xia smiled.

"Why, Dad, can the small lake set nets?"

"Heh, I saw it today, the flood stopped, if it weren't for Daqiang not being there, I would have set nets today." Li Qing Xia was addicted to setting nets, the point is that there is income every day after setting nets, these few days without setting nets, it feels like he lost a lot of money.

"Tomorrow, tomorrow finish the work in one day, the day after tomorrow Daqiang should have time to set nets." Li Long smiled, "You can find him to talk about this tomorrow when he comes back."

Du Chunfang came out of the vegetable garden and asked:

"Dinner is almost ready, don't you eat a mouthful before leaving?"

"Ate when working, Mom." Li Long said with a smile, "I didn't eat badly, mutton soup."

"That's okay." Du Chunfang smiled, "Alright, alright, go back."

Li Long drove the tractor to the old horse station. What surprised him a bit was that Old Uncle Luo really bought a donkey cart.

!.

Seeing Li Long coming, Old Uncle Luo, who was holding grass from the donkey cart, said with a smile:

"Without Xiao Long is here? Come, come, come, look at the donkey I bought. Three years old, female donkey, the year is just right, and the teeth are also good. Now there is little work, if it doesn't work, it can also be matched to have a donkey baby. This donkey and cart is less than one hundred yuan, and there is still a lot left, I will give you the money."

"Old Uncle Luo, you take the money first. For a while, I won't pay you, deduct it from that money first." Li Long said with a smile, "Why didn't you buy a horse?"

"A horse is too delicate to feed, not as easy to use as a donkey." Old Uncle Luo said with a smile, "We just cut grass and pull grass, no need to spend that effort, a donkey is enough."

Old Uncle Luo is an expert, Li Long nodded.

"Old Uncle Luo, then you are busy first, I'll go back to the county first."

"Good, good, good." Old Uncle Luo said with a smile, "You go back. I'll watch here, keep it safe."

When Li Long drove the tractor to the county, the sun had already set more than half, the sky in the west was red, and it felt very beautiful. There were no clouds in the sky, only red light. The students had already let out of school, there were not many pedestrians on the road, Li Long drove very fast, the tractor with black smoke proceeded on the road, and when he turned to the township, he already needed to turn on the lights.

Once the light was turned on, not long after walking, there were jumping mice running in front, running and running, couldn't run past the tractor, and were pressed underneath.

Li Long simply turned off the light, fortunately his vision was good, although the sky was slightly dark, he could still see the road clearly, and he could see if there was anyone dozens of meters in front.

When he was about to arrive at the county, he had to turn on the light. Fortunately, there were no such small animals at this time. He increased the throttle all the way and drove back to the big yard, finding that the lights were already on here.

Gu Xiaoxia is at home.

The next day as usual, after breakfast, one went to work, one went to the village to pull people. Li Long went to the township to pull the pressure well head, and when he arrived at the village, he found that Tao Daqiang and the others had already gathered at the old horse station.

"Get on the car first, I'll go to my eldest brother's place to get the things for hitting the pressure well." Li Long said, the young guys got on the car one after another. This time Tao Daqiang grabbed the position on the fender first.

Went to Li Jianguo's yard to pull the steel bars and ropes for hitting the pressure well, and went to pull half a car of wheat tails, Li Long drove the tractor and turned to the outside of the village.

With that experience yesterday, Li Long thought that slaughtering a sheep today should be no problem. He also went to buy naan, and rushed to the animal husbandry team all the way.

Went to Yushanjiang's yard first. After arriving, Li Long was a bit surprised. Yushanjiang's wife had already built a stove in the yard, and was currently boiling water, with a small case on the side, on which were carrots, rice, mutton, etc.

Looks like she's going to make grab rice.

Okay, it seems this sheep doesn't need to be slaughtered.

Seeing Li Long and the others coming, Yushanjiang's wife smiled and continued her work.

Those who were used to working yesterday didn't need to be told today, everyone knew what to do. After Li Long unloaded the wheat tails from the tractor, he went to pull water first. After pulling more water back, he and Tao Daqiang drove the tractor to Halimu's house.

Ran into the old lady on the way, the old lady carried a bag of naan, obviously planning to come to Yushanjiang's side to help. After seeing Li Long, he was a bit puzzled. Li Long couldn't gesture well, so he pointed to her house and gestured to continue working.

The old lady walked back.

Tao Daqiang hadn't done this well-hitting work either, but he had seen it. He usually had self-knowledge about technical projects, so he was only responsible for working. Li Long already had the position of hitting the well in his heart. After arriving, he unloaded the things, and then in the southeast corner of the yard, pointed to let Tao Daqiang dig a pit.

Of course, he also dug.

A pit 1.5 meters long, 1 meter wide, and 1 meter deep was dug out, and there was water seeping out below. The water layer here is very shallow. Li Long dipped his finger and tasted the water, it had a salty taste, it was indeed saline-alkali water.

If it were this era in the previous life, in fact, this water was already not bad, much better than river water and lagoon water.

But Li Long felt that since he was doing it, he should do it better. Picked out the place where water came out fast and continued to dig down. When digging down half a meter, the water had already begun to seep up at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The old lady looked a bit surprised, saying something in her mouth. Li Long now regretted a bit, having dealt with Halimu and the others for more than a year, why didn't he think about learning the Hal language well?

Next is to use steel bars to insert down, to open the path for the water pipe. It's okay to insert this distance of less than one meter, after all, it's all mud, and further down, it hit hard objects, it should be Gobi stone.

Li Long and Tao Daqiang together took steel bars and poked down hard. Every time, although it only inserted a little, progress indicated that it could be hit down.

The only uncertainty now is not knowing how thick this Gobi layer is.

While hitting the well, Li Long caught a glimpse of the girl who wrote things with a pen yesterday coming over again. She stood outside the yard and looked, then tentatively walked in.

Looking at Li Long and Tao Daqiang working, the girl whispered a few words to the old lady, and then walked towards Li Long and Tao Daqiang.

She watched for a minute or two on the side, and then suddenly asked:

"Excuse me, are you hitting a well?"

Li Long raised his eyes and looked at her. This is a very beautiful ethnic girl, about eighteen or nineteen years old, with two braids, and very thick and dense eyebrows.

"Yes, we are hitting a well."

"This is... a pressure well." The girl saw the pressure well head placed on the side at this time, and then exclaimed:

"I originally thought you were preparing to dig a cellar well, this hitting a pressure well—really good!"

Li Long smiled, it seems this girl should have gone to school and seen these things. Is this going to interview him? (End of chapter)