Chapter 563

Li Long put the things away, and after repeatedly instructing Nasen and Sasken about the pressure well, he prepared to leave.

The old lady wouldn't have it; she was already cooking.

Narin.

The meat was the air-dried meat Halimu had sent this time, and the noodles were the dried noodles Li Long had brought last time.

Although the old lady was old, making narin was no problem for her. The air-dried meat was cut into small pieces and used with onions.

Narin, generally speaking, is meat on top of soup noodles. There are two ways to make it: some people boil the meat separately, take it out after it's cooked, boil the noodles in the meat broth, scoop the noodles out into a large platter, and then spread the sliced cooked meat on top of the noodles.

The family eats around the large platter; some are used to using their hands, though others use bowls and chopsticks.

Similar to mixed noodles, with raw onions added.

Some people like it with soup, which means cutting the meat into small pieces and boiling it with onions, then adding noodles after it's cooked. When eating, it's served in bowls, each person getting a bowl, or it's served in a large platter.

However, in this case, the noodles and meat are mixed together, feeling a bit mushy.

This is good for the stomach.

Of course, it's high in sugar.

But at this time, no one would think about that; the "three highs" were still very unfamiliar to ordinary people.

The old lady also knew Li Long was used to using a bowl and chopsticks, so she served him a bowl of narin directly.

Li Long could tell as soon as he took it that there was a lot of meat inside; it must have been served specifically for him.

The old lady, Nasen, and Sasken ate together from a large platter; after serving, they let it cool and used their hands.

Li Long picked out a few pieces of meat from his bowl and put them on the platter in front of Nasen and Sasken.

The two children ate happily.

They already regarded Li Long as a close elder, the kind without any barriers.

The old lady watched and smiled.

It tasted quite fragrant.

After finishing a bowl, Li Long went to the pot to scoop a bowl of soup for himself; after drinking it, his body felt warm.

After eating and resting for a while, Li Long left.

When he started the tractor, Nasen and Sasken both came out to watch.

Li Long thought to himself, don't embarrass yourself, it's best to start it on the first try.

Fortunately, the water tank hadn't frozen yet, and his strength played a role. After cranking it a few more times, the tractor's chimney puffed out bursts of black smoke, and it actually started.

Li Long drove the tractor away from the outpost. When the tractor left, Captain Adili finally rode over on his horse, but Li Long had already driven the tractor far away.

Li Long didn't know Captain Adili had chased him for a stretch; he was just thinking about driving back to the county as quickly as possible. Driving this tractor in winter was truly too cold.

The military cotton hat had a nose guard on the side; taking it down and placing it across the face and fastening the buttons could block the nose from the wind.

But if one was walking or standing still, it was fine; with the tractor driving so fast and the wind whistling, this thing wasn't quite enough.

By the time Li Long drove to the county, the front of his military cotton hat was already covered in white frost.

Li Long thought about asking Gu Xiaoxia to make a hat similar to the "robber hats" of later generations, with only the eyes and mouth exposed, so at least his face could be protected.

He went to the free market again. Now that the household contract responsibility system had been in place for two years, every family had surplus grain, and there were many vehicles driving tractors or horse-drawn carts to the countryside to collect grain in the autumn.

Some of this grain was resold to other places, and some was processed and sold at the market here to earn a processing fee and some hard-earned money.

At this time, farmers weren't that bitter yet; at least various agricultural supplies weren't that expensive.

There were several stalls selling grain in the market, with prices slightly higher than the Grain Bureau, but no coupons were needed.

Grain coupons would continue to exist for a long time. Someone in the team was admitted to university in the nineties, and their family still prepared a thick stack of grain coupons for them.

Whether they could be used in the interior, he didn't know, but they were still needed here sometimes.

Children didn't understand it deeply, but adults truly had deep experience.

This time, Li Long didn't buy any coarse grain at all, buying only rice and flour, mainly flour. After all, Halimu and the others ate more naan.

After buying more rice and flour, Li Long drove the tractor back to the courtyard.

He drained the water from the tractor's water tank and took a canvas to cover the rice and flour on the tractor to prevent the night chill from soaking into them.

After doing this, Li Long went to the kitchen and started cooking.

The courtyard was a bit desolate; those roe deer and deer had been moved to the old horse station. The group of small hedgehogs led by the big hedgehog had all found places to hibernate before it snowed. Li Long wondered if he should raise chickens in a place in the courtyard?

He thought about it and shook his head.

Raising chickens in the countryside is quite cost-effective because chickens can find their own food in the courtyard. They can eat vegetable leaves, bugs, and so on. They need to be fed in winter, but it's easy to feed them with wheat bran and the like.

Raising chickens in the city is really not cost-effective if calculated by cost. After all, at this time, there weren't as many complex feeds as in later generations; some feed was bran or chaff, and others were corn flour. Corn flour was still the staple food for many people at this time, and it would take another two or three years before it could be replaced by rice and flour.

So feeding chickens in the city is quite troublesome. If you want to eat eggs, it's easy to buy them at the free market, and the same goes for eating chicken.

Forget about raising chickens; it's troublesome.

Gu Xiaoxia didn't have any dietary restrictions yet, her appetite was good, and her food intake was slightly larger than usual. Li Long planned to stir-fry some salted vegetables with meat, soak some dried mushrooms, and stir-fry some mushrooms with meat.

He didn't make dried mushrooms to sell for money this year; he didn't have time. But he took the time to pick some tiger paw mushrooms and dry them for his own family to eat.

After soaking the dried wild mushrooms, they still tasted very fragrant, with the unique aroma of mushrooms.

Two stoves are quite convenient; one for boiling porridge and one for stir-frying. In winter, the stove is burning, so there are steamed buns warming on the pot in the room. Slicing and roasting them would cause "internal heat."

When Gu Xiaoxia returned, Li Long had already prepared the meal and was waiting for her.

The lights were already on in the courtyard. The electric lights in this large courtyard were installed early, and after Li Long moved in, he pulled another line and hung a large 100-watt light bulb in the courtyard. To prevent it from being rained or snowed on, he specifically added a cover on top.

The two of them ate and chatted in the dining room next to the kitchen.

!.

The stove fire was still burning under the stove, and the heat gathered in the room from cooking hadn't dissipated, making it very warm.

Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia talked about fixing the pressure well today.

Pressure wells would gradually become popular in the countryside in a couple of years, but at this time, even in the Fourth Team, only a dozen families had them.

In other villages, having three or five in a team was already considered a lot.

So, although Gu Xiaoxia knew the principle of using a pressure well, she didn't know how to fix it, so she listened with great interest.

"Tomorrow I'll go to the department store to buy some things, and then I'll haul them to the mountains," Li Long said, explaining his plan. "After I come back from the mountains, there won't be much to do this year.

Next, I'll occasionally go to the team to get some fish or trap some rabbits, and the rest of the time I'll stay at home with you."

Gu Xiaoxia smiled, which made her feel much more at ease. After all, she was the only one in the large courtyard right now, and if Li Long wasn't there at night, she would be quite worried.

Even now, that small-caliber rifle was still placed by Gu Xiaoxia's bedside.

"Tomorrow I'll tell Sister Yang and ask her to come and live here," Li Long continued, "otherwise I'm worried about you being alone."

Li Long had thought all of this through, which made Gu Xiaoxia feel quite happy.

"Then where will Sister Yang and Han Fang live when they come?"

"Live over there," Li Long pointed to the room next to the one he lived in before he and Gu Xiaoxia were married. "I'll tidy it up when the time comes and set up the stove."

Li Long knew that once he entered the mountains, he wouldn't be able to make it back that night, even though he wanted to.

Sister Yang couldn't be allowed to live in the room he used to live in; there were many things hidden in there.

The matter was settled. After eating, Li Long cleaned up with Gu Xiaoxia, and then the two of them turned off the lights and went to the bedroom to watch TV.

After Gu Xiaoxia left the next day, Li Long went to pick up Sister Yang. There wasn't much to tidy up in that room; it was just setting up the stove. Sister Yang was quite satisfied with this courtyard.

Li Long gave her the keys to the main gate and the room they would live in, told her she could use the bicycle in an emergency, and then drove the tractor to the department store.

Li Long was considered a major client of the department store; he bought many things every time he came, and the sales clerks all remembered him.

Today, Li Long bought quite a lot of things. Besides daily necessities like brick tea, salt, and sugar cubes, he also bought some batteries and a dozen pairs of cotton-padded rubber shoes.

Halimu and the others wore felt boots in the mountains, which were fine for outside, but inconvenient in the winter camp. So Li Long planned to bring them cotton-padded rubber shoes, which would be more convenient.

There was also liquor. Honestly, Li Long didn't really want to buy it, but he knew they would ask for it if he didn't, so he bought some; after all, most of it would be drunk in his own winter camp.

As for who got what, he would let Yushanjiang and Halimu distribute it.

After filling the tractor's hopper with things, Li Long covered it with a canvas and chugged toward the mountains.

When the tractor arrived at Halimu's winter camp, Li Long didn't expect so many people to be gathered there.

"I knew you would come today, Duosen, you're doing well!" Halimu hugged Li Long happily.

"I went to the pastoral team's outpost yesterday, and Nasen said you came and fixed the pressure well. I guessed you would definitely come up the mountain today, so I called everyone over."

"Perfect, I've hauled all the things here, you can distribute them to everyone." Li Long was also quite happy; with so many people gathered together, it was just right to distribute the supplies, saving him from running back and forth later.

"Hmm, that's not urgent. Since you're here, we can have the winter slaughter. I plan to slaughter a cow today, and now that you're here, we can take action!"

Before Halimu could finish, Yushanjiang squeezed him aside, hugged Li Long, and said:

"Great, you're here, we were waiting for you! Halimu is slaughtering a cow today, I'm slaughtering one tomorrow, come to my place tomorrow, and the day after..."

"The day after tomorrow is me!" a young man raised his hand excitedly, "The day after tomorrow is our family's turn!"

Li Long recognized him; this was Talihaer, who had killed more than a dozen wild goats at once.

"The day after that is me!" another young man raised his hand.

Li Long thought to himself, if this continues, will he not have to go down the mountain for the next week or even longer? (End of chapter)