Chapter 528

In the gaps between harvesting wheat, Li Long went to look at that courtyard. He felt it was quite good, mainly because the storefront was well-kept. It must have been used for selling goods before, and it only needed a simple layout to be used.

The total price of the courtyard was four hundred and fifty yuan. Although it was smaller than Sister Yang's courtyard, the location was good. Plus, the prices of courtyards in the county were indeed rising, so all things considered, it wasn't bad, and Li Long bought it.

The owner had two courtyards in the county and had some family matters, so they were selling one. Some things inside would be moved away. Li Long actually thought it was fine for everything to be moved away. When he went to the lower brigades to harvest wheat, he passed by the township's woodworking factory and had a set of furniture made.

The small courtyard was often lived in, so it basically didn't need renovation. But it was normal for people to take their furniture, so it had to be replenished.

The courtyard the Gu family had in the team definitely had to be kept. Li Long didn't think about having Gu Bo Yuan move the furniture from there over. For one, it wouldn't fit, and for another, it wasn't necessary.

The furniture in that courtyard was something Gu Bo Yuan had saved up bit by bit; it was a hodgepodge of everything, similar to Li Jianguo's family, where the eight-immortal table and the stools weren't a matching set.

Not only did he need to have furniture made, but he also needed to have some cabinets made to use as displays in the store. Li Long had seen plenty of these, so naturally, he designed the styles very easily.

Right now, there was no time to go into the mountains to haul wood. Anyway, the carpenter's shop had wood, and they were quite happy to do the work with materials included.

After finishing, hauling it to the courtyard over there, and setting it up, the next step was applying for licenses and such.

Right now, this type of work was actually quite easy to do. Gu Gu Xiaoxia wasn't that busy, so the matter was handed to her. With her public status, some things were easier to handle. Li Long also found Li Xiangqian here, and then pulled in a friend in the industrial and commercial department, so the license was easily obtained.

Next was stocking up.

Since he wanted the prices to be lower than the county agricultural materials company, he couldn't stock up from the county. It was best to stock up directly from Wucheng or Oil City; only then could he get low prices.

This point couldn't be rushed.

Li Long originally planned to solve this matter when the wheat harvest came to an end, but after Gu Bo Yuan knew that the storefront had been chosen, he simply came to the county and took charge of the matter himself.

"Since I'm going to be watching the store later, then the matter of stocking up is for me to handle. If you guys handle everything, wouldn't I just be a door god?" Gu Bo Yuan didn't know if he was stimulated by Li Long and Gu Gu Xiaoxia and had motivation, or if he really intended to get some exercise, and then he took a sum of money and went to Wucheng.

Two days later, he returned from Wucheng, bringing back a batch of seeds and pesticides, as well as authorization from the seed company under the Wucheng Agricultural Department.

Next, Gu Bo Yuan made another trip to Wucheng. By this time, the North Xinjiang Fertilizer Plant had been established for more than ten years, producing fertilizers such as synthetic ammonia, urea, and ammonium nitrate, which were generally sold to state-run departments.

Gu Bo Yuan didn't know what method he used, but after going there, he really managed to get back ten or so tons of fertilizer.

Although the shipping cost wasn't low, the total price was much lower than the county's.

Once these things were all gathered, he picked a good day and opened for business directly.

He didn't tell the people in the village, and the opening was very plain. According to Li Long, they should have promoted it properly, but Gu Bo Yuan still had concerns, worrying that policies might change, so it was better not to promote it.

The big sign for the agricultural materials store was simply a large wooden board, painted with white paint, with the four big characters "Agricultural Materials Store" written in blue pigment; it was very simple.

Then, on the first day, a customer came to buy pesticides. Although it was only one bottle of pesticide, it still made Gu Bo Yuan quite excited.

That counted as opening for business.

Li Long continued to harvest wheat, basically finishing the entire wheat season.

The last wheat harvested was the wheat of the westernmost brigade, which grew not only wheat but also rice. After harvesting the wheat, the landlord even asked Li Long if he could come over to harvest the rice when it was ripe later.

Li Long looked at the paddy fields, one plot after another, shook his head, and said:

"I can harvest it, but it's too much of a hassle to harvest like this. With plots of two or three mu each, if the ridges aren't dug open, it's not easy for my tractor to get in and out."

It could be an option, but if he really went to harvest, Li Long might refuse unless the ridges were dug open.

But this was another major project.

Li Long didn't have the patience to take on such small jobs, didn't give a definitive answer, and then drove the tractor back.

He returned to the big courtyard.

Gu Gu Xiaoxia wasn't there. Li Long tidied up a bit, and then it was time for inventory.

Because the wheat harvest season was over. Now, people in the county were already driving donkey carts, horse carts, or tractors to the Grain Bureau to pay the public grain.

The small notebook didn't have a plastic cover and was carried on his person every day, needing to be taken out from time to time, so the cover was already frayed and curled at the edges.

From the first day of bookkeeping, starting with Tao Daqiang's family's land, there was a summary every day, either one hundred mu or ninety mu.

The busiest day was the day before yesterday, when he harvested one hundred and forty mu from morning till night; when he returned to the big courtyard, he could even see the stars.

The slowest day was still when he was in the team, harvesting less than eighty mu a day.

Summarizing every ten days, he harvested for a total of twenty-seven days, totaling two thousand nine hundred and forty-five mu.

Among them, three hundred and twenty mu were paid in grain, using wheat as collateral. After Li Long got the wheat back, he gave it to his eldest brother.

The remaining two thousand six hundred and twenty-five mu were paid in money, totaling five thousand two hundred and fifty yuan.

One tractor in hand.

In terms of expenses, it was mainly the eighty yuan for making the furniture. The money for the courtyard was paid by Gu Gu Xiaoxia using her money, including the money for Gu Bo Yuan to pick up the goods, which was also taken by Gu Gu Xiaoxia from her savings.

Having earned money and with the wheat season over, Li Long wasn't very happy; it was mainly because he was tired.

It was much more tiring than harvesting fritillaria in the mountains.

But in everyone's eyes, this job was truly profitable.

Li Long planned to order another harvester next year. By the end of this year, people from other townships also came to visit, mainly because the article written by Jiang Zhiyu had appeared in the state newspaper. With the newspaper's promotion, many large grain growers wanted to come and see the situation of the harvester harvesting.

It was just that it was a bit late, so they didn't make it in time.

It's expected that someone will buy a harvester next year, and people from other townships will also come to find Li Long to harvest wheat.

After all, a tractor is a big item that not everyone can afford.

Next, Li Long was going to rest for a few days. During this period, he harvested wheat morning and night. Although he wore a straw hat and a face towel, he was truly exhausted.

Gu Gu Xiaoxia also felt sorry for him, getting up early every day to make him breakfast and returning early in the evening. Li Long rested well at home for a few days.

Young people recover quickly. After three to five days, Li Long couldn't sit still again.

Gu Gu Xiaoxia went to work at the Education Bureau during the day, and he drove the tractor to Xiayedi and brought back a cart of watermelons.

He put some of this cart of watermelons in the big courtyard, some in Gu Bo Yuan's agricultural materials store, some at Sister Yang's place, and then drove to the animal husbandry team and put some for the families of Halimu and Yushanjiang.

The rest were all hauled back to his eldest brother's house in the team.

When he drove the tractor back to the big courtyard again, when Gu Gu Xiaoxia returned in the afternoon, Li Long discussed it with her.

"I plan to go into the mountains tomorrow."

"Hunting, or what?" Gu Gu Xiaoxia asked with some doubt.

"No, Halimu and Yushanjiang and the others have returned from the summer pasture and are cutting grass in the mountains. I've been to the place where they cut grass; the tractor can go up there. I'll take the harvester and help them cut the grass directly."

"Good." Gu Gu Xiaoxia didn't object. Gu Gu Xiaoxia understood that her husband's relationship with the herdsmen in the mountains was very good.

Li Long had also recovered over the past few days, so she wasn't worried.

Li Long actually thought about just loafing around at home, getting fat like the protagonist in Wang Shuo's "Stewardess" who was supported by the stewardess.

But he couldn't.

There were many things that needed him to do, one after another. It's just that this winter, he didn't plan to work like he did last year. He wanted to rest well.

Spring growth, summer development, autumn harvest, winter storage; when winter comes, one should store. Before, it was out of necessity, but now that he had the conditions, why work so hard?

Of course, he didn't dare to say for sure.

After Li Long and Gu Gu Xiaoxia finished talking about this, they started preparing.

Gun, bullets. Satchel, matches. Fertilizer bags, harvester. Dry rations, and oil drums. And so on.

The next day, Gu Gu Xiaoxia went to work, Li Long went to Gu Bo Yuan's agricultural materials store, told Gu Bo Yuan, and drove the tractor towards the mountains.

Gu Bo Yuan ate breakfast and dinner in the small courtyard. He rode his bicycle to Sister Yang's place for lunch. At first, he was a bit unaccustomed to it, but after a few days, he got used to it.

Li Long drove the tractor, passed by a watermelon stall pulled by a cart, bought two sacks of watermelons, and then went "chug-chug-chug" towards the mountains.

When he was making the harvester, he had thought about the harvester's use—actually, it could be used to cut grass in the mountains.

Li Long knew the place where Halimu and the others cut grass. After all, he was the one who got the scythes for them.

Although those places where they cut grass had slopes, they weren't steep, and it was easy for the tractor to go up. As long as there weren't things like dead tree stumps in the grass-cutting area, the tractor could cut grass much faster than people using scythes.

Due to the terrain, even if he couldn't cut one hundred mu a day, being able to cut fifty or sixty mu was still much faster than human labor.

Halimu and the others needed to cut grass for half a month, and he would only need two or three days to get it done.

Driving the tractor across the Qingshui River and entering the mountains, Li Long didn't head towards his own wooden cabin, but first went to Halimu's winter shelter.

There were indeed signs of habitation at the winter shelter, and there was fresh horse manure in the pen next to it, but there was no one there.

Li Long unhitched the tractor's trailer and left it there, then drove the tractor with the harvester towards Halimu's pasture.

The "chug-chug-chug" sound echoed in the mountains. Many small animals in the mountains immediately darted into the forest upon hearing the sound.

That behemoth was back!

Before Li Long's tractor even reached the pasture, Halimu, who was holding a scythe and cutting grass, heard it.

Can a tractor drive over here too? Is Li Long planning to come over to help cut grass?

It was just a fleeting thought, and then he stood up his scythe and looked in the direction Li Long was driving from.

The tractor bumped along the mountain gully without a main road and arrived below the pasture. Li Long looked at Halimu and then drove up.

!.

Halimu saw Li Long and smiled.

Li Long waved at him and stopped at the edge of the grass-cutting plot.

Halimu carried his scythe and walked down, coming to the side of the tractor.

"Dorsen, are you doing well?" Halimu asked.

"Doing well, doing well, how about you?" Li Long shook hands with him and said with a smile, "I knew you were going to cut grass, so I came over."

"That thing of yours..." Halimu pointed at the tractor.

"Harvester, it can cut grass," Li Long knew they spoke directly, so he didn't beat around the bush. "As long as you watch out for no tree stumps or stones, this harvester can cut grass directly; it's very fast!"

"Then I'll watch in front." After Halimu figured out how to operate this thing, he quickly accepted Li Long's kindness, took his scythe, and walked forward, "You cut in the back."

After Li Long got on the tractor, he drove forward.

Halimu walked quickly, looking left and right. Actually, he was very familiar with this pasture because he had been cutting grass here for years, and some of the original tree stumps inside had been cleared by him.

Where there were stones, he would mark them out for Li Long.

Turning his head from time to time, Halimu also saw the power of the harvester.

"Chug-chug-chug," as the tractor moved forward, the harvester cut the one-and-a-half-meter-wide grass directly from the roots and then laid it uniformly to one side; it was much neater than cutting it with his scythe.

And he had to speed up; the tractor's forward speed was much faster than his walking speed.

Cutting all the way to the top of the slope, Li Long circled in another direction, and Halimu also stopped.

"This is too fast!" He couldn't help but exclaim, "So effortless!"

Li Long smiled proudly: "Mechanization, that's how it is. The only worry is if something is blocking it. If not, it's very fast!"

Halimu was just curious, so he immediately walked down again. Li Long followed and cut where he had walked.

In Li Long's view, this speed was actually still slow, but there was no way around it. If he didn't clear the obstacles and something went wrong after looking, the harvester would be broken.

Better to be careful.

After cutting for more than an hour, Li Long stopped; the grass on this side of the slope was mostly cut.

"If I cut it alone, this area would take five days." Halimu sighed.

"Let's go back and eat," Li Long said. "Did you bring naan?"

"Yes."

"At the winter shelter, I brought some watermelons. Let's go back and eat, then come back after eating. Anyway, with the tractor, cutting grass is very fast."

Halimu agreed.

At noon, there wasn't really anything good to eat. When Halimu and the others came to cut grass, their staple food was naan and some dried meat. To say it was hard, it was indeed quite hard. It's also possible that people cutting grass together could get something good to eat, or if they went hunting and caught a sheep or a wolf, they would roast or boil it.

But usually, it was just dry naan and brick tea.

Li Long brought watermelons. The two of them arrived at the winter shelter, cut open a watermelon, each took half, and then ate it with the dry naan.

The dry naan was a bit hard, so they broke it and soaked it in the watermelon, which could be considered a unique flavor.

Li Long didn't mind, but at this time, he was thinking that after finishing cutting the grass in the afternoon, he would ask Halimu, or get up earlier tomorrow morning and go to that mine cave to see if he could get a small deer, roe deer, or wild goat to improve their diet.

Otherwise, just eating this really had no nutrition.

He was used to a life of luxury and wasn't used to the current life. On the contrary, Halimu and the others felt that this kind of life was normal.

After all, cutting grass was to deal with the entire winter, so they couldn't be sloppy.

However, right now, with Li Long's tractor, it seemed that this task could be shortened by many days.

The two of them each broke off a piece of naan and ate it, breaking more naan if it wasn't enough. Watermelon could quench thirst, but it wasn't easy to get full; after all, it was gone after one pee.

While eating, Li Long asked:

"How many people came down this time?"

"Twelve," Halimu said. "Yushanjiang also came down; they are all people you've met."

"Are there many grass slopes like yours? Is it easy for the tractor to go up?"

"There are two families where it's not easy to go up; the slopes are steeper," Halimu thought for a moment and said. "There are more shrubs, the others are about the same as mine."

"That's good. I'll cut the ones that are easy to go up, and you guys can cut the others together." Li Long thought this arrangement was more appropriate. They all came down together, from the same tribe, so it was just a matter of convenience.

Moreover, seeing them sheep-grabbing and horse-racing last winter, and his own wooden cabin was built by them, this favor had to be returned.

After eating the watermelon, Li Long chatted with Halimu for a while, then drove the tractor, followed Halimu who was riding a horse, and continued into the mountains.

Like a sweep, Li Long felt a bit like a thug.

Driving the harvester, sweeping through this forest.

The pasture where Halimu was located was quite large and also quite close to his winter shelter. After arriving at the location, Halimu tied up his horse, took his scythe, and scouted the path in front, while Li Long drove the tractor behind, "chug-chug-chug," sweeping through.

Patches of grass were cut down and laid to one side, neat and tidy. Looking from the top of the mountain from afar, it looked like someone had gridded the hillside.

Occasionally, rabbits would be startled from the grass and dart out, and pheasants would also flap their wings and fly into mid-air, struggling and flapping towards the forest in the distance.

Li Long didn't have time to pay attention to them; right now, cutting grass was the most important thing.

In less than an hour, the grass on this hillside was finished. Halimu gave Li Long a thumbs-up on the hillside, and Li Long laughed out loud while sitting on the tractor.

Then continued.

When the sky darkened—actually, the sun had just set, and there was still some time before it got dark—the two of them stopped working.

The mountains were different from outside; as soon as the sun disappeared, the temperature dropped immediately. Li Long drove the tractor "chug-chug-chug" back to Halimu's winter shelter, hitched the trailer here, and then went to his own wooden cabin.

By the time he reached the wooden cabin, it was already completely dark. Li Long felt that this trip was still a bit late, and he had to come back earlier tomorrow.

He opened the door of the wooden cabin, lit the oil lamp in the dark, then cleaned out the stove, went outside to find dry grass and firewood, came back, set up the stove, and boiled water.

Watching the red flames rise in the stove, Li Long finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Alright, for the next few days, he would be living here.

Cutting grass, after all, wouldn't take as long as harvesting fritillaria, and he could go hunting in between, which could be considered a kind of relaxation after the wheat harvest.

Of course, it was also a return to Halimu and the others; after all, they owed each other a lot, so he would help if he could.

Who told him to be their Dorsen? (End of chapter)