Chapter 510: Second Brother is coming back

"That's how it is." In the office, Li Xiangqian said to Li Long, "That guy surnamed Liu didn't dare to say anything directly afterward. He was so arrogant... Hmph! The Director said, when you come, go find him; he wants to see you. This time you gave our cooperative face. The county notice has also come down; there are both an advanced unit for ethnic unity and an advanced individual for ethnic unity. They rewarded you with twenty yuan. The Director's meaning is, for the money you spent repairing houses and building wells for people, the cooperative will reimburse you!"

"I didn't get a receipt at the time." Li Long waved his hand, "The things I did myself, I won't trouble the cooperative..."

"How is this troubling!" Li Xiangqian said in a low voice, "If the cooperative reimburses it, then the cooperative has a share in participating in this matter, do you understand? The matter is a good thing; it can't all be on your head, right?

Now you are a famous person. When the big reporter wrote it, she kept you in mind and hung our unit's name on it. That matter is equivalent to giving the cooperative honor. If the cooperative does nothing, wouldn't it be gaining this reputation for nothing? It doesn't sound good to say it out loud either!

So you get the money reimbursed. When the Director talks about this matter later, he can also be firm. At least our cooperative paid money and truly supported it, understand? Alright, go to the Director's place first; be humble."

"Okay, okay, I know."

Li Long was actually just free and came over to chat with Li Xiangqian; he didn't expect to run into this matter.

He also didn't expect the newly arrived Deputy Director would take him as a target to take his first three steps of authority.

No one would have expected that this matter would be such a coincidence—that a temporary worker with no background would suddenly appear in the Autonomous Region's newspaper and be an advanced model for ethnic unity!

This May is Ethnic Unity Education Month.

Is it saying this young man is smart and grasped the timing accurately, or is it saying the person is lucky and just happened to catch it?

If you set aside the factor of ethnic unity, this matter actually isn't a big deal. After all, repairing a house and building a well pump for a good friend really isn't much. It might just be that the money spent was a bit more, a matter of a hundred yuan or so.

But it just happened to catch this critical moment. To say the person had no luck, or to say the young man had no background—who would believe it?

Liu Sheng Li didn't believe it either.

That day, the meeting was interrupted. He also went to get the newspaper and read it, and then his face turned ashen—this carefully designed first fire was extinguished.

Afterward, in the afternoon, he received two or three phone calls in succession, all from the Prefecture. There were leaders from the Prefecture Cooperative telling Liu Sheng Li to go see Li Long when he had time, saying they had once hunted with Li Long. There were also leaders from the Prefecture telling him to go tell Li Long that their own child still remembered the specimen he had made for them.

These phone calls made Liu Sheng Li's scalp tingle. It turned out he had felt this Li Long had no background; the person just didn't show it! The figures on the other end of these phone calls were people he couldn't afford to offend; even his own father had to speak politely when talking to them.

Where did this monster come from, having such great energy, and why did he insist on being a temporary worker? If you have such great energy, isn't getting a formal position very easy? Are you fooling a fool here, or are you fishing?

Liu Sheng Li was full of frustration but had no way to resolve it. These past few days, he felt that whoever looked at him was looking at a joke, so he simply asked for leave.

He had no face to see people.

Li Long himself wouldn't have thought that reporter Zhang Xin Hua's work efficiency was so high, directly sending this draft to the headline of the second page of the Autonomous Region Daily.

He hadn't entered the organization and didn't understand that this daily newspaper was equivalent to the organ newspaper of the Autonomous Region organization. To be able to be on the headline, the content had to be very solid. Because of this, he immediately entered the sight of quite a few leaders.

And some people who had had intersections with him remembered this young man, which was why they called Liu Sheng Li.

Combining all this, Li Long felt that his luck slot seemed to have exploded again!

Wei Zhuren was reading the newspaper. The newspaper of the day. The newspaper Li Long was in, he had already had people cut out and pressed under the glass plate of his desk. Not only that, he also took another complete newspaper and placed it on the right side of his desk; when people from outside came, they could look at it.

Now he was reading today's newspaper. Before, he read the newspaper when he was free; now, reading the newspaper was an important matter. Because it was still Ethnic Unity Education Month, there were many advanced deeds in this regard in the Autonomous Region and Prefecture newspapers recently, but Wei Zhuren felt no matter how he looked at it, none were written as well as Li Long's.

"Little Li, come, sit." Wei Zhuren was very enthusiastic. After letting Li Long sit down, he went to pour him water himself. "Just came from Old Li's place, right? I know you are Old Li's person, but every time you come to the cooperative, if you have time, come to my place too. Young people have active thoughts, so communicate more with us old people."

After that draft was published, someone from the Prefecture not only called Liu Sheng Li but also called Wei Zhuren.

There were those reporting good news, those asking about Li Long's situation, and those telling him that the Prefecture's commendation this year would likely be given to them.

Wei Zhuren knew that a flower sedan chair is carried by many people; this was a good thing.

Li Long was not simple; it could be said that this time the cooperative benefited from him. However, Wei Zhuren also knew clearly that Li Long's ambition was not in the cadre position, so let him do it freely. Judging from the work of the past year or so, Li Long was not the kind of person who didn't know the height of the sky and the depth of the earth; he knew his limits, knew how to work, had ability, understood the big picture, didn't cause trouble, and was very good.

"Wei Zhuren, where are you old? You are in the prime of your life." Li Long said with a smile as he took the water. "Usually, I just thought the Director was busy, so I didn't come. In the future, I will come often to ask for your advice."

Look, how well this young man speaks!

Secretly comparing him with Liu Sheng Li in his heart, the smile on Wei Zhuren's face became even brighter:

"Little Li, I heard you bought a tractor?"

"Yeah. Starting last year, I took on several big tasks from our Supply and Marketing Cooperative and earned some money. Because I often go into the mountains and have to haul things, I pooled money to buy a tractor. It's more convenient than a horse-drawn carriage, hauls more, and runs faster."

"Good thing, good thing." Wei Zhuren nodded. "Young people should dare to break through and fight. If there's anything, we old people are behind you to cover for you. You did this matter very well, and I also told Old Li, you can't both provide the effort and the money. The cooperative will approve one hundred yuan for you; is that enough?"

"Enough, enough, more than enough." Li Long said hurriedly.

It was truly enough. Two well heads were thirty, adding the pipes was less than forty yuan, plus a sheep totaled sixty-five. Even if you counted the labor for the people working, as well as that meal of mixed noodles, it wouldn't cost one hundred.

"As long as it's enough. If there are such things later, tell Old Li in advance. As long as it's reasonable, our cooperative will approve it. You are doing a good thing, a major matter concerning ethnic unity; the cooperative definitely supports it vigorously."

"Thank you for the cooperative's support!"

"I heard you are already married? Where is your wife from?"

"A cadre in the Education Bureau."

"Not bad, not bad, both are young and promising. Is it time to have a child?"

"Planning for next year." Li Long said with a smile.

"Hmm, work hard. Alright, nothing else, go get reimbursed. I've already talked to the finance side; just sign and collect the money. By the way, you have a tractor, right? I told your Section Chief Li, there's a job. If you are free, you can go do it and earn some pocket money."

"Okay, okay, thank you, Director."

"Own people, why be polite."

Coming out from Wei Zhuren's place, Li Long went to finance, signed, and collected one hundred yuan, and then returned to Li Xiangqian's office.

"Did you get the money?" Li Xiangqian asked.

"Got it, this money..."

"Go spend it yourself. You gave the cooperative face; this is a deserved reward. There are definitely those who are envious, but everyone knows clearly that this is becoming famous in the Autonomous Region's major newspaper, and it directly labeled our cooperative. Such things don't necessarily happen once a year. Wei Zhuren's smile hasn't disappeared these past two days; this is a good thing!" Li Xiangqian said with a smile, "I can see it, you are the lucky general of our cooperative. The Director said, the civil affairs side is building a welfare home, and they need to haul sand from Mahe. If your tractor has nothing to do, you can go do this job. Hauling a trip seems to be five yuan? Hauling seven or eight trips a day is top of a month's salary."

Li Xiangqian told Li Long the specific location and let him go take a look; if he could do it, he should do it.

With such words, Li Long naturally wouldn't let it go. He came out of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, drove the tractor, and went to the new site of the welfare home in the south of the city.

The person in charge of the construction site was surnamed Tang. Seeing the tractor drive over, he smiled and arranged work for Li Long.

"The place where we haul sand is on the south bank of the Mahe River. There is a county construction company's sand field there. After you go, just say it's work for the welfare home. Someone will specifically load sand for you. Pay by the cart, five yuan a cart, no problem, right?" "No, no." Li Long naturally had none. This round trip, the oil money was at most one yuan; being able to earn four yuan, only a fool wouldn't do it.

Li Long saw that there wasn't much time in the morning, so he talked to this Team Leader Tang and prepared to haul one cart in the morning and haul a few more trips in the afternoon.

The tractor drove to the side of the Mahe River, took the small road south, and after one kilometer, he saw a huge sand field.

After the reform and opening up, although the development speed here was far from comparable to the coastal areas, it was also developing. Various infrastructure constructions were underway, so a large amount of building materials was needed.

Li Long went to find the person in charge, saying he was hauling sand for the welfare home, and someone pointed out a location for him. There was a place with a winch to load sand, some people were loading it, and the only old shovel truck was also loading. However, most of the sand hauling was done by animal-drawn carts; there were horse carts and donkey carts, and there were also two tractors, one new and one old. There were no big carts; it looked like it was still quite tight.

The place Li Long went to was sand loading by winch. He parked the tractor in place, the winch started, someone on that side loaded sand up, and the sand here was lifted and poured into the cart. That side used less effort, and this side was automated, which would be more convenient.

Ten-plus minutes later, a cart of sand was full. Li Long drove the tractor out of the sand field and drove toward the county.

Waiting until the welfare home construction site, Li Long stopped, opened the rear carriage board, walked to the front, pulled out the carriage fixing pin, lifted it hard, and the carriage was lifted, the sand pouring down, and a carriage of sand was poured out quickly.

"Young man, you have quite a bit of strength!" Team Leader Tang watched Li Long unload a cart of sand all by himself, came over, and exclaimed, "If everyone had your efficiency, my work would be easy to do. You're only hauling this one cart this morning, right? Finance is over there, go settle the account. Coming back in the afternoon, right?"

"Coming." Li Long thought to himself, earning money so refreshingly, how could he not come?

!.

Going back for lunch at noon, he told Gu Xiaoxia about this matter, and Gu Xiaoxia was also quite happy. Li Long doing this was equivalent to working normally.

The report on Li Long in the Autonomous Region Daily also caused quite a reaction in the Education Bureau. After all, as the unit where Li Long's wife worked, some people in the Education Bureau also felt it was quite good. Especially the two colleagues who had been to Li Long's house praised Li Long even more, praising Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia as a golden boy and jade girl.

This made Gu Xiaoxia a bit embarrassed. Someone in the bureau even proposed letting Li Long give a report on ethnic unity to the education system, which Gu Xiaoxia rejected.

Just kidding, the protruding rafter is the first to rot. Gu Xiaoxia knew Li Long definitely wouldn't agree.

Fortunately, the bureau didn't really make plans in this regard, so Gu Xiaoxia felt relieved.

She believed the aftermath of this matter would slowly dissipate, and she could also see that Li Long didn't have too many thoughts about this matter, feeling as if he were standing outside the matter.

In the afternoon, Li Long went to the construction site to continue hauling sand. He hauled five carts in the afternoon, directly hauling enough sand for the whole project.

However, what surprised Li Long a bit was that Team Leader Tang introduced him to another construction site in the east of the city, where a middle school was to be built.

This project was much larger than the welfare home. Li Long thanked this Team Leader Tang, and Team Leader Tang said he was an old friend of Wei Zhuren, telling Li Long not to be polite.

The next day, Li Long went to that school's construction site, also five yuan per cart of sand; it seemed this was the market price. Li Long hauled four carts in the morning and five carts in the afternoon, earning forty-five yuan a day. This time it was settled by the day, and there was no delay; it was quite good.

After working for a week, the school's project ended. Li Long settled the account and took more than three hundred yuan, feeling very satisfied.

That afternoon, there was no work. He went back to the team once, intending to see the situation, and then planned to go to Shicheng to haul a trip of sugar dregs.

The meaning of coming back was thinking that if his old man had set the net, then don't go by bicycle; tomorrow morning, take his tractor over.

When the tractor returned to the team, Li Long saw Li Qing Xia and Tao Daqiang returning from the small Haizi.

Sure enough, they had gone to set the net.

Li Jianguo was also at home. Seeing Li Long return, he handed him a piece of paper.

A telegram.

Li Long thought it was about his hometown, but looking at the sending address, it was from Kuitun.

"Your second brother sent it, saying he's coming back in these two days. Also, in these two days, the construction company over there is going to send a letter of inquiry for political review, asking for this side, and the hometown side, to fill it out."

"Second brother is officially joining the job?" Li Long asked with surprise. After asking, he hurriedly looked at the telegram.

"Should be, otherwise they wouldn't do a political review, right?" Li Jianguo also had a smile on his face. This second brother also had a good future; he, as the big brother, was naturally happy.

The telegram was very short, just saying one was coming back, and the second was to pay attention to the letter of inquiry matter.

Li Long simply said:

"Then don't wait for them to come this way. Tomorrow I plan to go to the sugar factory to haul a trip of sugar dregs. After hauling, the day after tomorrow I'll go to Kuitun once, on one hand to see the wheat harvester I made earlier, and on the other hand to see second brother's situation."

"Okay." Li Jianguo thought about it and agreed. This was indeed a good idea.

Li Long's appearance in the newspaper was not known to the Li family. Li Long himself didn't say it either. Such things weren't worth showing off. Perhaps one day when Xu Chengjun was free and flipping through the newspaper, he would flip it out, and then he might say it. However, at present, he didn't have this energy. Although the team had contracted to households and the land had been contracted out, as the village director, he had quite a few things to do. He had to plant his own land; before, he organized everyone to work, but now he had to take care of the team's affairs and also watch his own land, feeling even busier.

Listening to the sound of the tractor, Xu Chengjun, who was hoeing grass in the field, also envied that kid Li Long. Tossing and turning east and west every day, he had actually tossed out quite a family business.

Actually, he also had the idea of buying a tractor, but the money he had saved wasn't enough yet, and he wasn't prepared to be the second one to buy. After all, as the village director, he had indeed saved some money, but taking it all out at once was a bit too conspicuous.

Wait until someone else in the team buys a tractor, and then he buys it; it shouldn't be so conspicuous then.

He even suspected that the second one to buy a tractor should be Tao Daqiang, who followed Li Long. This guy hadn't stopped catching fish since the beginning of spring. His father followed Li Long to weave carrying poles and earned a sum; it was said to be several hundred.

The money saved over this year or so was definitely enough to buy a tractor.

Quite a few busybodies in the team had made bets at the department store when they were free, just waiting to see who would buy the second tractor.

Correctly speaking, it was the third one, but Wang Cai Mi's Dongfanghong 75 tractor, which was bought on credit from the team, broke down all the time, and it had problems from time to time during plowing and sowing, so it had been excluded by everyone.

Everyone actually knew Wang Cai Mi definitely earned quite a bit all year round. But firstly, the bulk of the money had to be returned to the team as the tractor purchase payment, and part of this money had to be handed over to the township. Secondly, repairing the car and buying parts also cost quite a bit of money, so everyone defaulted to the second one being a new product.

Li Long didn't know these things, nor did he care. He ate dinner at his big brother's courtyard and rested in his own room.

Mosquitoes started appearing at night. He lit mosquito coils in the room and simply didn't turn on the light, resting early.

The next morning, Li Long went to take the net with his old man. It had been a long time since he went to the small Haizi, and he found that there had been some changes here. When taking the net, he could see water rats popping their heads in the water and then drilling back in.

The water was a bit muddy, indicating it was still affected by the flood. The water level was also quite high, with water birds calling in the reed bushes, and occasionally he could see wild ducks swimming.

There were quite a few other families setting nets, and they were also taking nets at different locations. Some people also used tires and went down to the deep water.

Tao Daqiang sat on a tire to take the net. Li Long had sharp eyes; from the first net taken up, he could see that this year's fish were clearly not as many as last year.

Was it that there were more people setting nets, or were there fewer fish in the small Haizi? (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 511 =====