Chapter 624: First time visiting the in-laws: quite a novelty

This family banquet broke up before dark.

Li Jianguo had drunk too much, though he hadn't completely lost consciousness.

Chen Xingbang had simply vomited in the room; he certainly couldn't drink any more.

Li Long stood there with a look of apology, glancing at his sister, Li Xia, who was supporting Chen Xingbang.

"I didn't even expect that brother-in-law would be a bit..."

"Don't worry about him, drinking too much is his own business." Li Xia said to Li Long, "Let's go, you need to help me support him. Today, we'll sleep in the east room of your courtyard."

The east room of Li Long's courtyard was the one where Chen Li Rong used to sleep with Xueping and Li Xue Qin.

Before the twelfth lunar month, there were still many frozen fish stored there; could people sleep there?

"It was cleared out this morning. Your sister's family will stay there, and your second brother and the others will go stay at the Old Horse Corral. You send your brother-in-law to your side, and I'll push the cart to send your second brother to the corral side." Li Jianguo said, "After you finish sending them, you should rest too; you drank quite a bit today as well."

Of course he drank quite a bit; there were six 500-gram liquor bottles on the ground, and when Li Long returned, they had only finished one and a bit.

That is to say, after Li Long returned, he drank more than four bottles with them.

Li Long alone had drunk more than two bottles—over two jin, more than a kilogram of liquor.

Calculating it this way, Li Long felt his tolerance wasn't bad—after all, before returning, he had already drunk some at the Old Horse Corral and a few other households. Although they were all just two or three cups each, it added up to quite a bit.

But at the moment, he was still very clear-headed.

He helped his sister Li Xia put the coat on his brother-in-law and put on his hat. Under his eldest sister-in-law's reminder, he also put on his own coat and overcoat, put on his hat, and then supported Chen Xingbang as they walked outside.

Chen Xingbang had completely lost consciousness and was dead weight. Anyone with experience in supporting a drunk person knows that if they are sober enough to cooperate, it's a bit easier.

If they have no consciousness at all, supporting them is quite troublesome.

Fortunately, Li Long was strong, and even with the nutrition Chen Xingbang had been getting for the past half year, he was only about seventy kilograms. Li Long simply tucked him under his arm and headed toward the front courtyard.

Midway, Chen Xingbang wanted to vomit but couldn't.

Li Long quickened his pace. When they reached the east room of his courtyard, he found that a stove had already been set up, the clutter had been cleared, and the large bed was made quite neatly. He then helped Chen Xingbang onto the bed and took off his coat before he collapsed.

Li Xia hurried over with the children and said to Li Long:

"Xiao Long, you go back to the west room to rest. I see Xiaoxia is about to come out. I'll settle your brother-in-law here."

Li Long patted Hongqin's head and went to the west room.

Gu Xiaoxia had already draped a garment over her shoulders and opened the door.

Seeing Li Long at the doorway, she asked:

"What's wrong?"

"Come inside to talk."

"You've been drinking?" Gu Xiaoxia moved aside from the doorway. She smelled a very strong scent of alcohol and immediately turned to pour water for Li Long. Seeing the honey on the kitchen windowsill, she scooped a spoonful, thought about it, and added another.

When Li Long took off his overcoat in the inner room, Gu Xiaoxia had already brought a cup of thick honey water to his lips.

Li Long took it and drank it in one gulp, immediately feeling much better in his stomach.

Actually, when drinking earlier, there was a hot fire wall behind him. Li Long's sweat hadn't stopped, and he had been drinking tea continuously.

Although he had drunk the most, the heavy sweating had carried away the alcohol in his body. Plus, being young, his physical strength and endurance were much stronger than the average person, so despite drinking so much, he wasn't actually drunk.

Gu Xiaoxia went to the bedside to make the bed and said to Li Long:

"How much did you drink? Why don't you lie down for a while?"

Li Long waved his hand, moved the stool, and leaned against the fire wall. With his back against the fire wall, his sweat-dampened thermal shirt immediately warmed up, and his body felt a wave of comfort.

"Today, after I came back from paying New Year's calls..." He recounted the process.

Seeing her husband's thoughts were clear, Gu Xiaoxia felt relieved and said with a smile:

"You're quite wicked."

She went to get a basin, scooped some cold water, mixed in some hot water, put a new towel in to soak, wrung it out until half-dry, and came over to gently wipe Li Long's face.

"Who told them to be so arrogant? Just because they eat state-supplied grain, they really don't know the height of the sky and the depth of the earth?" Li Long smiled, "My breath smells strongly of alcohol; you go to the other side of the bed, don't let it fumigate you."

"What's there to fear?" Gu Xiaoxia shook her head, "Close your eyes, I'll wipe around your eyes for you..."

Li Long closed his eyes and enjoyed it.

In the north courtyard, Li Jianguo pushed his bicycle and sent Li Anguo to the Old Horse Corral.

At noon, Li Long had drunk liquor there, but at that time, Li Jianguo hadn't brought Li Anguo and the others back yet.

By the time they were brought back, Li Long had already gone to the western residential area. When Li Jianguo arrived, he told Old Man Luo, and they cleared out a room together. Old Man Luo set up the stove, preparing for Li Anguo's family to stay temporarily.

It's good to have many houses.

In this day and age, ordinary families don't really dare to have distant relatives visit; it's hard to accommodate them, really hard. Some families have distant relatives visit, and they don't even have enough quilts.

Not to mention beds.

It's fine to arrange in the summer, but it's difficult in the winter.

Chen Li Rong and the two children followed Li Jianguo and the others to the Old Horse Corral. This place had wooden plank platforms; they had stayed here before, and coming back now, they felt a bit of novelty.

Li Jianguo had drunk quite a bit of liquor, so he didn't ride and pushed his bicycle back instead.

When he returned home, the room had already been cleaned. The place where Chen Xingbang had vomited was first covered with stove ash, then swept, then scrubbed with stove ash, swept again, sprinkled with water, and the door was left open to air out the smell; it was fine then.

The things on the table had been moved to the kitchen, the table had been returned to its place, and there was still a bit of alcohol smell in the room, but it wasn't heavy anymore.

"Heh, I really didn't expect Xiao Long to be able to drink so much today." Li Jianguo took off his coat, took the tea handed over by Liang Wenyu, took a sip, and sighed, "He's grown up."

"He has grown up; Xiao Long was really impressive today." Liang Wenyu said with a smile.

She knew her husband understood what she meant.

"We're all family, sigh." Li Jianguo was still quite tolerant toward his younger brother and brother-in-law.

"Xiao Long is family too." Liang Wenyu didn't tolerate any sand in her eyes, "Technically, since we're all family, the two of them shouldn't have said those things."

Li Jianguo didn't speak. He thought for a moment and said:

"Tomorrow we'll go see Juan's maternal grandfather, and Xiao Long and Xiaoxia will go see Old Gu. Are the gifts prepared?"

"That goes without saying, they were prepared long ago." Speaking of Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia, Liang Wenyu smiled and said, "Two bottles of liquor, two cans of fruit, rock sugar, pastries, plus fish and meat—is that enough?"

"Heh, Old Gu shouldn't have anything to say then." Li Jianguo smiled, "About the meal tomorrow, did you tell Xia and the second brother's wife?"

"I told them." Liang Wenyu said, "They said they'd come over in the morning to cook."

"That's fine then." Li Jianguo nodded, "Why haven't the two children come back yet? Where did they run off to play?"

"Probably went to set off firecrackers. Xiao Long brought back quite a few yesterday, and he gave a small half to Juan and Qiangqiang, which made them very happy. Xiao Long also gave them extra money; I saw the small change in Juan's hand today, and when I asked her, she said it was given by her uncle."

"This Xiao Long." Li Jianguo said about Li Long, "He just spoils the children too much."

"Those are his niece and nephew; he's been spoiling them for two or three years, it's not just now." Speaking of this, Liang Wenyu was full of gratification, "Xiao Long, heh, this uncle... he's really good!"

When they got up for breakfast the next day, Li Long, Li Anguo, and Chen Xingbang had all basically recovered to normal. Although Chen Xingbang still had a slight scent of alcohol, his speech and actions were no different from usual.

Both of them understood what yesterday's drinking was about. When they got up in the morning, Li Xia and Chen Li Rong had actually complained.

Having achieved a little success, they ran to their eldest brother's place to show off, only to be taught a lesson by their younger brother, which was a bit embarrassing.

So everyone tacitly didn't mention this matter.

Because on the second day of the New Year, both the eldest and the youngest had to visit relatives, so after breakfast, both sides prepared. Li Long drove the jeep to Gu Bo Yuan's house; it wasn't far, but he was carrying gifts and didn't want to walk.

Li Jianguo also got up early to boil water and even set up charcoal fire under the tractor tray to roast it a bit.

Driving a tractor to visit the Liang family, although not as good as a jeep, was still considered showing off in this day and age.

On the second day of the New Year, people basically don't pay New Year calls; married couples visit the wife's parents, and children who have been adopted as godchildren go to their godparents' house. Chen Li Rong's parents were in their hometown, so they couldn't visit and just stayed here.

Although Kuitun is also a place to spend the New Year, how could it have as many acquaintances as here?

When Li Long drove the jeep to Old Gu's house, he met many people from the team on the road, and he greeted them one by one.

When they arrived at Old Gu's house, the jeep drove into the courtyard. Old Gu opened the door and came out. Looking at the jeep and seeing Li Long get out, he laughed and scolded:

"You don't even want to walk these few steps."

"That's right," Li Long said while carrying the gifts, "Why walk when there's a car?"

Gu Xiaoxia got out of the car from the other side, greeted her father with a smile, and then walked into the house.

She entered the house and first looked at her room; it was cleaned very neatly, and the furnishings hadn't changed.

Although they said they were visiting relatives, there wasn't much to talk about. After all, they ate together every day, spending even more time together than with the eldest brother and the others.

Gu Bo Yuan asked Li Long what plans he had after the New Year.

"After the New Year, I have to go to the furniture factory. I have furniture ordered there; I'll see if it's finished. If it is, I'll load it up and send it into the mountains." Li Long said, "I can't let the people in the mountains wait too long."

"Hmm, that's the right thing to do."

"After the snow melts, I still have to lay water pipes for them so that it's more convenient for them to use water in the future." Li Long shared his plans for his friends in the mountains.

Original text is reading!

"Isn't it better to drill a deep well?" Gu Bo Yuan asked.

"That's good too. But they mostly live on the hillsides, and I don't know how deep the water table is. If it's too far, it's not as good as diverting water. There are basically streams and springs near the winter quarters, so diverting water is better.

Thick plastic pipes buried in the soil aren't easy to rot. As long as the intake is handled well and sand isn't allowed in, they can be used for a long time."

Seeing that Li Long had a plan, Gu Bo Yuan didn't say much more.

Near noon, Li Long wanted to cook, but Old Gu stopped him. He didn't let Gu Xiaoxia cook either and went into the kitchen himself.

He said that today Li Long was a guest and Xiaoxia was pregnant, so neither could enter the kitchen.

Gu Bo Yuan had, after all, worked in the collective canteen as a cook. Before long, he brought out dishes one by one—actually, not many, four dishes, two cold and two hot, plus liquor.

"Yesterday Li Long drank quite a bit with his second brother and brother-in-law. Why don't we skip the liquor today?" Gu Xiaoxia looked at the liquor and said with dissatisfaction.

"We won't drink much, just one bottle between the two of us, is that okay?" Gu Bo Yuan said, "I only drink this much all year round..."

"That's not true!" Gu Xiaoxia said, "Today you drink with Li Long, tomorrow and the day after you'll be drinking with those people in the team, maybe tomorrow you'll go find the eldest brother to drink..."

"That's true, I have to have a drink with your eldest brother." Gu Bo Yuan said with a smile.

Regardless, the liquor bottle was opened, and Li Long accompanied Old Gu, chatting and drinking.

It was mainly Old Gu talking and Li Long listening. He told stories about when they were reclaiming wasteland and building the village here. For example, the sorghum the villagers planted turned out to be sweet stalk seeds. After planting, when someone was tired from working and went to the edge of the field to rest without bringing water, they had nothing to do and broke off a stalk to chew, not expecting the stalk to be so sweet.

This story spread.

For example, the story of Li Jianguo and the others plowing up a coin cellar—at that time, there weren't that many villages, and now that location is no longer the land of the Fourth Team—

It was quite a sensation in the whole village at the time, and people were quite envious because Li Jianguo and the others sold the usable copper coins and bought a cow to slaughter and eat. The meals for the whole group for those days were like the New Year, making other groups very envious.

Some people, when free, went there to pick up copper coins. Families in the team with many copper coins mostly picked them up from there.

And when the team was first built, someone passed away. The team sent three people to dig a pit. After digging, one of them said this pit wouldn't do, it wasn't long enough, the person who passed away was tall and wouldn't fit.

One of them said this pit was quite good, and if he passed away in the future, he would be buried here. Then that afternoon, when this person went to the commune to handle affairs, he was hit by a startled horse and died, and he was indeed buried there.

As he spoke, Old Gu said:

"There's another thing. There was someone in the team, I don't know where he came from, his hometown was Shanghai. When the team was just built, he got dysentery and passed away.

His belongings were a notebook and more than ten yuan. When he was dying, he entrusted me to take them back to his hometown. I looked twice, but I couldn't find his hometown... the address was wrong."

It was a pity.

Most of the people who came here at that time were youth supporting the border, but there were also those who ran over from their hometowns. After all, in the sixties, life in the interior wasn't as easy as in Northern Xinjiang; at least here, one wouldn't go hungry.

At that time, people who arrived here mostly went to the county, and then the county divided those who wanted to stay into various units. There were no villages yet; they just went to measure those wastelands first.

Actually, according to the conditions, these people could basically meet the conditions of the later "May 7th workers," after all, they had worked in various units. For example, Li Jianguo had worked in the well-drilling company and the surveying team.

It was just that later, after these temporary jobs ended, some entered state-owned units, and some stayed in various villages and became the main force in building the villages.

But where these people came from, even those who lived in the same dormitory only knew a general idea and didn't necessarily know the specifics.

People as familiar as Li Jianguo and Gu Bo Yuan only knew that Gu Bo Yuan was a college student and the general province and city of his home; they didn't know much beyond that.

And the background checks at that time weren't reliable, otherwise, Li Anguo's political review materials wouldn't have been written in such a mess.

Li Long had heard some of these things from Li Jianguo, some he had heard in later generations, and most he hadn't heard at all.

Regarding the sweet stalk story, the person in the story had told it many times on different occasions. What he told was different from what Gu Bo Yuan said; he said he discovered it when he went to the sweet stalk field to relieve himself.

Gu Xiaoxia listened as if it were a fairy tale. At least Li Long could hear some from Li Jianguo, but she hadn't heard any of it at all.

So she was quite curious.

This chat lasted until the afternoon.

When Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia came out of the Gu house, the sun was already less than a pole high.

Returning to the large courtyard, Li Jianguo and the others had already returned.

Gu Xiaoxia and Li Long both went to greet the family first. Yesterday, Gu Xiaoxia hadn't had a good talk with Li Xia and Chen Li Rong, and this morning she left after breakfast without saying much, so they chatted a bit now.

Li Jianguo looked at Li Long and said with a smile:

"Juan's uncle also asked why you didn't come over. I said you were married and had to go to your wife's family."

Li Long responded with a smile: "Eldest brother, didn't you urge him to find a partner and get married quickly?"

"Before I could urge him, Juan's maternal grandfather had already said it, telling him to hurry up, don't drag it out, and if he drags it out any longer, he'll introduce one to him."

"Haha, then he must be panicking." Li Long laughed.

This year, he would help Liang Wenyu buy a tractor so he could get his life over there started too.

On the third day of the New Year, Li Long drove the jeep back to the county. Li Jianguo also drove the tractor and sent Li Anguo's family and Chen Xingbang's family to the county bus station.

On the fourth day of the New Year, Li Anguo and Chen Xingbang both had to go to work. Also arriving at the bus station was Yang Yongqiang. He was already a formal employee of the construction and installation company and would definitely settle down there in the future.

When Yang Yongqiang arrived at the Li house this morning, he chatted with Li Long for a while. He was very grateful to Li Long, but in his words, he still carried a bit of superiority.

It wasn't directed at Li Long, but at the other young people in the village.

It's very normal; young people, being a bit flamboyant is normal.

As long as it wasn't directed at himself or his family, Li Long had always been very tolerant.

The house hadn't had a fire for two days. Upon returning to the large courtyard, Li Long first went to set up the stove in the main room.

The one in the glass room wasn't urgent. The edible vegetables had all been picked this time, more than half were brought to the eldest brother's house, and the rest were placed in the storage room. As for the chives, they were covered with several layers of burlap sacks, so there shouldn't be a big problem.

When the fire in the room's stove was lit, Li Long went to set up the stoves in the kitchen and the glass room.

Very quickly, the cold air in the room and the dampness that hadn't gathered yet were driven away by the heat brought by the stove fire.

"Thinking about having to go to work tomorrow really makes me annoyed." Gu Xiaoxia said with annoyance beside Li Long, "I just don't really want to go to work."

"What's there not to want to go for? Your Bureau Chief Wang should have made arrangements for you, right? They certainly won't let you do heavy work."

"That's true. It's basically all paperwork, business trips, and going to the countryside, which they don't let me do anymore." Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile.

"Then isn't that it?" Li Long smiled, "You have to go if you have to go. Having something to do is better than having nothing."

"Then are you going to the furniture factory tomorrow?" Gu Xiaoxia asked.

"Hmm, I'll go see the situation tomorrow." (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 625 =====