Chapter 51

For a long time after, those who attended this "wild boar feast" at the Li family's would praise it endlessly. In the past, at other people's pig-slaughtering feasts, cutting meat was normal, but usually there was little meat and many vegetables, mostly dried vegetables, and what little meat there was, was mostly lean.

At this wild boar feast at the Li family's, there were many slices of fatty meat; everyone who attended ate until their mouths were oily, and the two steamed baskets of cornmeal buns were eaten clean. When they left, many people even took leftovers—in this day and age, no one would dislike taking these leftover dishes back; on the contrary, they would be very happy.

After all, there is a lot of oil in this; taking it back to stir-fry with other vegetables is also a delicacy.

Borrowing tables from the Lu family, the Li family had one table in the east room and one in the west room, while the women ate at a small table in the kitchen—it wasn't that women didn't sit at the table, there was no such rule here, it was just because the women still had work to do later, and had to help the Li family render the lard and fat meat.

Although wild boars don't have as thick a layer of fat as domestic pigs, these two pigs weren't lean either, and rendering the oil required a lot of effort.

Of course, when the women finally left, each of them would also take a bowl of rendered oil and cracklings back, which was equivalent to their pay.

Throughout the process, Li Long was actually quite relaxed; the important work that required technical skill was all done by others. At this time, no one would slack off; they worked diligently so that they could eat with a clear conscience when it was time to eat meat later.

Even after the meal, there was no need for the Li family to clean up; the women helping in the kitchen nimbly cleaned up the plates and bowls—actually, cleaning up was simple because there wasn't much oil left in the plates, as the vegetable juices had all been mopped up by people using buns.

In this day and age, people are truly lacking in oil and fat.

And the Li family gained a reputation for generosity because of this meal of meat dishes that was enough for everyone. The rumor that Li Long had been arrested vanished completely amidst the big slices of meat.

After eating, seeing that the sun was only slanting to the west, Li Long didn't want to be idle either. He wasn't actually tired, so he took the dozens of wire snares he had made earlier, put on his padded clothes, wore his hat, and walked toward the snowy land to the southeast.

The production team is located at the very east end of the entire brigade, and further east there is a large stretch of wasteland. The wasteland reclaimed by the production team now accounts for about one-seventh or one-eighth of the entire wasteland.

Twenty years later, those reed ponds, alkaline flats, and red willow flats will all be reclaimed by people, and the village's total land area will rank first in the entire township, and the land contracted by each family will also be large enough.

Now these wastelands grow various weeds and shrubs, and when summer comes, they grow various medicinal herbs. Like the Cynomorium that costs dozens of yuan a piece in later generations, it is everywhere under the Nitraria on the alkaline flats here; you can dig up a sack in a morning without even looking for it.

This kind of wild medicinal herb, which is very expensive in later generations, is not even really collected by the medicinal herb company now; at most, they only pay thirty to fifty cents per kilogram, and that's for dried goods.

By the two years before Li Long died in his previous life, the wasteland had been reclaimed, and the Cynomorium no longer had an environment to grow in, and could only occasionally be found on the edges of some cultivated land.

The place he is going to is the red willow flat, where there are many wild rabbits, but it is troublesome to walk; the top layer of snow has frozen into a crust, but it can't support a person. If you step on it, you sink directly in, and underneath are coarse snow particles like sand; it is very difficult, sinking with every step.

When Li Long walked panting to the edge of the red willow flat, he suddenly heard a "fluttering" sound. He looked up toward the location of the sound and saw a large eagle flying into the air with half a rabbit in its beak.

This guy, its wingspan is so long, it must be at least two or three meters!

Li Long thought to himself that wild animals are truly growing rampantly at this time—grow well, grow well; in a few more years, it won't be easy to grow.

He entered the red willow flat; the red willows here are three or four meters high and as thick as two arms. In another ten years, the red willows here will be cut down almost completely, and the remaining ones won't be taller than a person; later on, they will be turned into cultivated land.

By the roots of the red willows, rabbit footprints crisscrossed, and Li Long identified them carefully.

In his previous life, when he first started setting rabbit snares, he would set them randomly as long as he saw rabbit prints, without any method. Of course, the final result was that apart from accidentally catching one unlucky rabbit, he had no other harvest.

After failing many times and communicating with others, he knew that this thing also required technique. You have to find relatively fresh routes that rabbits often run on, and you have to find places that rabbits must pass through, such as between two bushes. Before setting a rabbit snare, you can't step on the rabbit prints, otherwise the rabbit won't take this path. Li Long had experience, so he searched carefully, trying not to go into the middle of the red willow flat, nor close to the edge—at the edge, even if you caught a rabbit, if you couldn't take it away in time, it would soon become a delicious meal in the belly of an eagle, badger, or fox.

After circling a large area and setting more than twenty wire snares, Li Long walked out with the remaining snares. It was a bit cold, so he set the remaining snares quite randomly.

If the others in the team saw this, they would scold him for being a spendthrift. Since these snares were set in places quite randomly, it would be troublesome to find them. Now, no family is extravagant enough to "play" with this kind of thin wire.

Li Long returned home. He didn't go to the west room—the west room was now full of women helping to render lard, and he couldn't help even if he went over.

When it was almost dark, Li Long was in the room helping Li Qiang process the wild boar tusks—Li Qiang wanted to use them as toys, and Li Long planned to wrap a handle for him using thin wire and thread pulled from a tire, when he heard a series of footsteps in the courtyard.

He thought it was the women finishing their work and leaving, but it didn't sound right, because there was no sound of the east room door opening, and then the door to his side opened.

Five or six young people poured into the room.

"Xiao Long, what are you busy with?"

Seeing these people come over, Li Long understood.

In winter, the nighttime entertainment life of the production team is very monotonous, so these young men and women around twenty years old basically form a group to visit each other, and often the first place they go is to the team's popular figures.

!.

Two days before Li Long was arranged by Li Jianguo to enter the factory, these people also came to his room; at that time, there was Gu Ermao and Wu Shufen, and Wu Shufen also agreed to date him at that time.

Now Gu Ermao is not here, and Wu Shufen—Li Long was surprised to find that Wu Shufen was actually in the crowd, just not daring to look at him, appearing a bit awkward.

The one speaking was Xu Haijun, the cousin of team leader Xu Chengjun, who is one character away from that future Olympic champion. He is considered quite capable of organizing among these young people in the team, and is also quite active.

"Making a toy for Qiangqiang." Li Long raised the tusks in his hand and said, "Come, come, sit."

There weren't enough stools in the room, but everyone wasn't polite, and no one minded, sitting directly on the heated brick bed—now everyone's situation is about the same, and no one will look down on anyone else.

"Xiao Long, you're amazing now," Xu Haijun sat down and said with a smile, "Two wild boars, an ordinary person couldn't do this, right? I heard you also exchanged meat with others, five bullets for one kilogram, can I exchange for two kilograms? I've never eaten wild boar meat, want to taste it."

"No problem." Li Long smiled, "There's plenty of meat, feel free to come and exchange."

Everyone could see that Li Long had changed; he wasn't as vain, and was much more down-to-earth.

The gazes of two girls fell on Wu Shufen.

(End of chapter)