Chapter 52

Xu Haijun immediately took out twenty bullets. Li Long didn't decline, went out directly, took him to the kitchen, and pointed to the pork that had already been cut into pieces:

"Which part do you want?"

"Of course, fatty meat." Xu Haijun said as a matter of course.

There was a borrowed scale tray in the kitchen. Li Long weighed more than four kilograms of fatty meat for him, cut a piece of thin wire, threaded it through to make a handle, and handed it to him.

"Don't go back yet; let's go to your room and chat."

"Pian Chuanzi" meant chatting. Li Long naturally had no objections.

"Li Long, tell us about your hunting," another girl, Qin Hongyan, asked curiously.

Wu Shufen sat on the heated brick bed with her head down, looking at her shoes. She hadn't intended to come, but when Qin Hongyan called, she actually agreed.

But coming made it awkward, so she, who was originally the most lively in this group, became a silent gourd.

Li Long pretended not to see her. Hearing Qin Hongyan's question, he continued making the pig tusk "dagger" and said:

"Actually, it's very simple, no different from the militia target practice we participate in. Hide near where the wild boars are active in advance and wait for them to come out. There were more than a dozen wild boars in that group. When they arrived and started rooting for grass roots, just aim and shoot."

"So simple?" Xu Haijun asked in surprise, "Don't you need to find dogs to chase them like in stories, and prepare for wild boars to ambush you?"

"I didn't encounter that. But this wild boar was quite fierce." Li Long raised the tusk in his hand, "But no matter how fierce, can it be fiercer than a gun? After it was shot by my friend, it charged at us, but then I shot it, and it fell."

It was said very simply, and everyone felt it wasn't enough, so they asked Li Long to tell it in more detail.

As Li Long's former girlfriend, Wu Shufen keenly discovered that Li Long had truly changed. Before, if something happened, Li Long could turn a three-point story into a seven-point one. But this time, despite it being a very prominent event, he finished it in a few understated sentences.

This wasn't like Li Long!

Just at this moment, there were footsteps in the courtyard, and a knock on the door sounded.

"Come in." Li Long was a bit surprised; who was so polite?

The person pushing the door was Gu Xiaoxia. She was also startled to see a room full of people, paused for a moment before reacting, and said to Li Long in a low voice:

"I heard your family trades meat for bullets, and I want to trade some..."

"Okay." Li Long nodded and said, "Follow me."

Wu Shufen watched the two leave, close the door, and was stunned for a moment.

For a time, no one spoke.

Xu Haijun coughed lightly, wanting to break the silence, and another man said with a smile:

"If it's really as simple as Li Long said, I'm tempted. Anyway, guns are easy to find. If it doesn't work, Haijun, shall we go into the mountains in a couple of days?"

The person speaking was Huang Siping, nineteen years old, just the age of not fearing anything.

"It's not that simple." Xu Haijun had heard his cousin talk about things in the mountains. Although he hadn't been in, he knew there were many unknown dangers in the mountains, so he shook his head and said:

"Li Long might not want to be flashy, or maybe he doesn't want..."

"Doesn't want us to be as flashy as him?" Huang Siping sneered, "The mountains aren't his family's; if he can hunt wild boars, we definitely can too."

"Then you have to know where the wild boars are, right? We aren't hunters; how do we find the location of the wild boars? Where to ambush? When do the wild boars appear? Who knows this?" Xu Haijun was, after all, more steady, and after a series of questions were thrown out, Huang Siping stopped talking. "Think about Gu Ermao and Tao Dayong," Xu Haijun said, "Li Long is different from before. Anyone who treats him like a fool is the fool themselves. I think it's right to have a good relationship with him."

Li Long took Gu Xiaoxia to the kitchen and weighed four kilograms of pork belly for her. Gu Xiaoxia could read the scale and hurriedly said:

"I don't have that many bullets, just two kilograms."

"The extra is for your father. Your father took such good care of my brother at that time; what's a little meat." Li Long hung the meat with wire and handed it to her, "By the way, how is your father now?"

"Much better." Gu Xiaoxia couldn't refuse, took the meat, and handed a paper package of bullets to Li Long:

"These are the bullets, you take them, I'm leaving."

It wasn't dark yet. Li Long just sent her to the gate, watched her leave, and returned to his east room.

"Xiao Long, what do you plan to do next?" Xu Haijun asked with a smile when he saw Li Long come in.

"I plan to go to Wucheng in a couple of days. Also, I want to go to Shicheng to take a look." Li Long was telling the truth; anyway, he had to borrow a horse cart, so this matter couldn't be hidden. Tao Dayong being arrested for selling fish gave him a wake-up call. Anyway, the consumption ability in this county was limited, so it was better to go to other places to expand the market.

It was almost New Year. After the New Year, spring would come quickly, and it was estimated that the land division would be decided soon. It would be too late to prepare then.

He had to earn enough money before the land division, so he could only make a few more trips. Work hard before the New Year, and it would be easier later.

"You're still running?" Huang Siping was a bit surprised, "Gu Ermao and Tao Dayong were both arrested; aren't you afraid?"

!.

"What's there to be afraid of?" Li Long smiled, "They were arrested because they couldn't see the situation clearly. Why wasn't Daqiang arrested? I told Daqiang before I went into the mountains that if he found something wrong while selling fish, he should run. He'd rather lose the fish than be caught. Look, Daqiang ran away, while his brother was stupid enough to guard the fish..."

The details of Tao Dayong's arrest had already spread in the team. Li Long could only say that this fool brought it on himself.

Fifty yuan—how much fish would he have to sell?

Looking at Li Long's confident expression, the others stopped talking.

Li Long didn't say much; basically, he answered one sentence for every question asked. In the middle, he went to the east room to get a teapot and bowls to pour water for them. At this time, there were no disposable cups, and even glass cups were rare, so they used bowls to drink water.

Li Long was very thoughtful as a host, but everyone still felt it was quite dull, and finally, they left before ten o'clock.

Li Long was truly hoping they would leave early because he was thinking about getting up early tomorrow to check the rabbit snares.

After these people left, Li Long went to the west room.

The oil rendering wasn't finished yet. Li Jianguo was happy today, tired after a long day, and had drunk alcohol, so he had already fallen asleep. Li Long originally wanted to discuss some things with his brother and sister-in-law, but seeing this, it wouldn't work, so he simply turned and went back to the east room.

This night, the Li family became the center of discussion for the entire team.

This night, Tao Daqiang lay on the heated brick bed, feeling extremely annoyed. If he hadn't agreed to his father, hadn't broken away from Li Long, and hadn't gone to sell fish with his brother, would these unlucky things have happened?

This night, Gu Xiaoxia hesitated about whether to make that decision.

This night, Wu Shufen was also hesitating about whether to go to Li Long to reconcile—she discovered that the few people she dated later, although they were all workers, none of them were like Li Long today, calm, but with a lot of—temperament, yes, that word was temperament.

(End of chapter)