Chapter 631

Number seventy-six was also quite happy to return to the Old Horse Station, shaking its head and wagging its tail. After unhitching the carriage, it automatically followed Old Uncle Luo to the horse pen that had been cleared for it.

Li Long had originally taken over this Old Horse Station because he liked that it was large. There were many pens, a courtyard, and quite a few rooms.

Although it was far from the county seat and the land wasn't valuable, this place was already built, with a large courtyard, and it was comfortable to live in no matter what.

Raising something could also be grounded and run around everywhere.

After chatting with Old Uncle Luo for a few words and greeting those five-guarantee households, Li Long pushed his bicycle out of the courtyard.

He didn't return to the Li family but went to Xie Yun Dong's home first.

Xie Yun Dong and his wife had both seen the new tractor at Tao Daqiang's home, and they were also full of envy when they returned.

Deng Guilan originally wanted her husband to work for Li Long and not take that risk.

Xie Yun Dong almost had a fight with her, but finally managed to persuade his wife.

The two of them had a daughter, over four years old, who could already run around and play.

At that time, they reached an agreement and were waiting for Li Long to come over in the spring to discuss the tractor matter.

To tell the truth, it wasn't easy for them to bring it up actively; after all, the tractor was bought with someone else's money.

Today, seeing Tao Daqiang's family drive the tractor back, although they almost made a fool of themselves when entering the courtyard, to tell the truth, even if they had knocked down the courtyard wall, it wouldn't have been anything—it was a tractor.

How many courtyards could one tractor be exchanged for?

Most families in the countryside didn't have the habit of eating a third meal. If they had the conditions, they might burn some milk or sheep's milk in the evening, and those with children might burn some porridge or boil some thin congee, similar to a late-night snack, not a main meal.

Deng Guilan was in the courtyard, muttering while burning the pot:

"The weather is clear, the land is dry, it's almost time to farm, and Daqiang's family's tractor has been driven back. We... his father, do you think you should go to the Li family and see?"

Xie Yun Dong was repairing an iron shovel. At this time, the farm tool used most by every family was the iron shovel; there were also hoes, but to tell the truth, they weren't used as much as hoes—the hoes at this time were called "paochu."

Almost every household had a good shovel, and it was the kind that wasn't lent out.

In the countryside, every family had times when farm tools weren't enough. Those with conditions would prepare a few more, such as sickles, iron shovels, hoes, etc.

But for tools with a very high frequency of use like the iron shovel, the owner usually had one that was particularly handy; after using it, they would clean the soil off it, put it away, and rarely lent it out.

It was mainly because usage habits were different; it wasn't that they were afraid of breaking it, but they were afraid of it being twisted or not cherished, and then it wouldn't be handy for them to use later.

At this time, a batch of square-headed iron shovels had steel edges, were quite heavy, and were particularly sharp after long use; a piece of wood as thick as a child's arm, if you lifted the iron shovel with one hand and chopped down hard, you could chop it directly in two.

Xie Yun Dong tidying the iron shovel was a habitual check to see if the nails on the handle were rusted, if it was firm, and if it needed a wedge.

"Not going, what for?" Seeing that this iron shovel was fine, he took the seed planter over and got familiar with it.

The land for planting watermelons had already been selected, and he had an idea of how to plant them; it was just that he hadn't used this seed planter before, so he was a bit unsure.

Just as he was fiddling with it, he heard a bicycle bell. When he looked up, Li Long had already gotten off his bicycle outside the courtyard and pushed it in.

You couldn't ride a bicycle into someone else's courtyard, and you didn't ride it out in the courtyard either.

"Yo, Without Xiao Long is here?" Xie Yun Dong stood up with a smile, holding the seed planter and saying, "Xiuxiu's mother and I were just talking about you."

"Hey, what were you saying about me? Was it about the tractor?" Li Long propped up his bicycle and said with a smile, "Look, I knew that once Daqiang's tractor was bought, you wouldn't be able to sit still. Isn't that right? I came over today to tell you."

"Hehehehe." Xie Yun Dong didn't speak, which was equivalent to admitting it.

Deng Guilan went to move a small stool and handed it to Li Long: "Without Xiao Long, sit, I'll go pour you some water."

"Good, good." Li Long took the stool and sat down, looking at the seed planter and asking, "Why, have you tried this thing yet? Is it easy to use or not?"

"Haven't used it yet, but it looks like it should be no problem." As soon as Li Long came over, Xie Yun Dong didn't care about the seed planter anymore; he was like a cat scratching, and seeing Li Long didn't mention the tractor, he brought it up himself:

"Without Xiao Long, I saw Daqiang's tractor was bought back, then we..."

"Tomorrow," Li Long didn't tease him, took a sip of the tea bowl Deng Guilan handed him, and said, "If you have nothing to do, follow me to the Shicheng Tractor Factory tomorrow and drive the tractor back directly."

"Sure. I have nothing here!" Xie Yun Dong said immediately, "When are we leaving tomorrow?"

"After breakfast, wait at my courtyard," Li Long saw Xie Yun Dong was quite anxious, so he said, "I'll go to Dacheng's place in a little while and tell him too; we'll go together, and then we can drive the tractors back together, so I don't have to make two trips."

Liang Dacheng could also drive a tractor, but his skills were a bit worse than Tao Daqiang's.

But Xie Yun Dong had a steady personality, and his tractor driving skills were fine; at least running back from Shicheng was no problem.

So Li Long planned to buy both tractors directly, saving himself another trip.

"Good, good, good, is there anything I need to prepare?"

"Nothing, just ride your bicycle tomorrow. We'll ride our bicycles to the county seat, then take a bus to Shicheng. When we come back, we'll put the bicycles on in my large courtyard—right, and the harvesters, we'll haul them back together."

"Good, good, good." Xie Yun Dong sat down, put down the seed planter, rubbed his hands, and didn't know what to say.

Li Long didn't say much more and left after finishing his tea. He still wanted to tell Liang Dacheng before dark.

When he arrived at Liang Dacheng's home, Li Long smelled a strong fishy smell.

Liang Dacheng was pinching fish in the courtyard, Liang Shuang Cheng wasn't there, and Liang Zhongcheng was fiddling with something at the pot head in the courtyard.

"Yo, quite a harvest today," Li Long pushed his bicycle into the courtyard and said with a smile.

Liang Dacheng and Liang Zhongcheng stood up to greet him when they saw Li Long.

Liang Dacheng's parents also came out of the house; Li Long greeted them and let them go back to the house to rest.

Liang Dacheng's parents were both in poor health, otherwise, the three brothers wouldn't be working outside doing everything to earn money.

"At noon, Zhongcheng said there was movement in the reed bushes in the ditch below the large canal gate in the east. We went to look in the afternoon. There was half a meter of standing water in the ditch, and there were quite a few large crucian carp inside. My brother and I worked for an afternoon and caught over ten kilograms."

Liang Dacheng said while pinching fish:

"The fish in spring have quite a lot of roe, and these fish look beautiful too. I originally thought about selling them, but we haven't eaten fresh fish for a long time, so we thought about fixing them and eating them. It just so happens you came; take some of these pinched ones back in a little while, boil a soup in the evening, and eat something fresh."

"Why take the pinched ones? Give me two kilograms of live ones that haven't been pinched," Li Long didn't stand on ceremony and said, "I'm not going to the county seat tonight; I'll eat in the front yard of Xinzhuangzi."

"Shuangcheng has already sent some to your eldest brother's place," Liang Dacheng said, "You might not have run into him."

"That's true, I just came from Xie Yun Dong's place," Li Long said with a smile, "You are thoughtful. By the way, I came to tell you, if you have nothing to do tomorrow, ride your bicycle and let's go to Shicheng. I plan to buy the tractor, and you can drive it back."

"Tomorrow? Hey!" Liang Dacheng didn't go to see Tao Daqiang's tractor today; he was catching fish all afternoon. There were quite a few reed bushes in that Liangli, and catching fish was quite troublesome, but there were fish to catch, so he wasn't picky.

When he came back in the afternoon, he heard about Tao Daqiang driving the tractor back. He was also envious, but not as anxious as Xie Yun Dong.

"Hmm, tomorrow. We'll haul the harvester back together, so my courtyard will be cleared out, and then I'll go to Kuitun in two days to haul another load over."

Liang Dacheng smiled, listening to Li Long.

"Long Ge, come, try this!"

Liang Zhongcheng handed Li Long a paper bag that was a bit burnt. He had another one in his hand.

Li Long took it and smelled a fishy fragrance.

Grilled fish.

In summer, every family's stove is in the courtyard, burning corn stalks, reeds, or sunflower stalks.

The red ash after burning doesn't go out for a while.

The Fourth Team's environment is unique; one can discover crucian carp in any ditch or trench with water. For children, if they catch few fish, they can't stir-fry them, so they grill them to eat.

Scrape off the fish scales, remove the internal organs, remove the gills, or just twist off the head—anyway, the head doesn't have much meat. Wash the processed fish, rub salt inside and out, add some chili powder if conditions allow, then wrap it in paper, wrap it with cotton thread, and after wrapping it tightly, soak it in water, then open the red fire ash under the stove, put it in, and bury it well.

Ten or twenty minutes later, the fish is grilled.

The thread is basically burnt off, but the paper won't be burnt up. Uncover the remaining paper, and the fish inside is cooked; pinch it with your hands and tear it to eat.

In summer, the fish is usually wrapped in sunflower leaves; this is considered using local materials and is environmentally friendly.

Li Long uncovered the paper bag; inside were two large crucian carp.

Liang Zhongcheng opened that paper bag; there were also two fish. He picked up one of them and handed it toward Liang Dacheng's mouth.

Liang Dacheng was pinching fish, and his hands were covered in blood; he couldn't eat it himself.

"You eat it, I'm not eating."

Liang Dacheng spoke, but Liang Zhongcheng insisted on sending the fish toward his mouth; anyway, it was the best meat on the ribs, large thorns, so he wasn't afraid of it pricking him.

The large thorns of the fish couldn't prick the people here; what they couldn't guard against were the fine, small thorns.

After checking one by one/p>

Li Long didn't stand on ceremony either; he quickly ate the two fish, made an appointment with Liang Dacheng to go to his courtyard for breakfast tomorrow, and rode his bicycle away.

Since Shuangcheng had already sent fish to his eldest brother's place, he didn't need to take any.

When he was riding his bicycle toward his eldest brother's courtyard, Li Long ran into Shuangcheng at the bridge of the large canal. Shuangcheng was happily humming a song while walking back; he was also a bit surprised to see Li Long.

"Shuangcheng, did you go to my brother's place?" Li Long asked with a smile, propping up his bicycle with one foot, "Why didn't you ride your bicycle?"

"I was carrying fish, afraid of getting the bicycle dirty, and also afraid of falling," Liang Shuang Cheng touched his hair and said, "I can't ride a bicycle steadily..."

Alright, understood. At this time, the bicycle was still a precious item and couldn't be dropped casually; at least for families with bicycles, except for those like Li Long, they basically valued them quite highly. Even when learning to ride a bicycle, there was someone supporting them from behind, trying their best not to fall.

Liang Shuang Cheng said goodbye to Li Long and hummed a song while walking back. When he walked back to his own courtyard, he saw the whole family surrounding his eldest brother, talking excitedly about something.

"What's wrong?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Tomorrow, tomorrow eldest brother will follow Long Ge to buy a tractor!" Liang Zhongcheng was the first to shout this out.

There was no need to hide it now; anyway, the tractor would be driven back tomorrow, so his voice was particularly loud.

"Really?" Liang Shuang Cheng's eyes lit up, and he looked at Liang Dacheng, "Eldest brother, really?"

"Really, we'll leave early tomorrow morning," Liang Dacheng said with a smile, "Don't pinch the fish for now. Pick the live ones and raise them in a basin, and tomorrow morning, get up early, carry them, and put them in Li Long's courtyard in the county seat."

"Hey, hey, hey, I'll go get another basin!" Liang Shuang Cheng ran off nimbly; this matter had to be done!

When Li Long returned to his eldest brother's courtyard, Li Juan was burning the fire, and Liang Yumei was putting the pinched fish into the pot; this was intended to stew fish soup.

Seeing Li Long arrive, Du Chunfang, who was sitting on the threshold of the courtyard, said:

"Eh? Without Xiao Long, why did you ride a bicycle back today?"

Li Qing Xia and Li Jianguo were planning this year's planting plan in the vegetable field; hearing Du Chunfang's words, they both looked over here.

Propping up the bicycle, Li Long said with a smile, "I drove number seventy-six back from Uncle Liang's place today and put it at the Old Horse Station."

"Number seventy-six was driven back?" Li Jianguo was puzzled, then reacted, "You drove the tractor you bought over there?"

"Hmm, the tractor and harvester were all moved over," Li Long went to the pot head and sniffed; there was no fragrance yet, only a fishy smell, so he left the pot head and went to the vegetable field, "I plan to buy the other two tomorrow and hand them over to Xie Yun Dong and Dacheng."

Li Jianguo agreed with Li Long's plan, which was somewhat similar to a primitive cooperative. He had also told Li Long that during the commune period, in order to produce more grain and explore suitable paths, the Fourth Team had walked the path of small group cooperatives.

But the cooperatives at that time were not exactly the same as the commercial cooperatives of later generations; they were based on small groups, mutual assistance and cooperation, working together, and helping each other when families in the small group cooperative had difficulties, somewhat similar to the feeling of early communism.

Of course, this kind of cooperative required a high degree of conscious action and a certain spirit of dedication, so it didn't continue later.

Li Long's cooperative was actually somewhat similar to cooperative management in essence, but the bulk was paid by Li Long, and the bulk was taken by him, a feeling of "those who work get more."

This matter was just mentioned in passing; the main thing later was the fish soup. The ice had just melted, and the water in the small lake was still very cold, so the matter of setting nets wasn't on the agenda for the time being.

Therefore, it was quite good to be able to eat fresh fish at this time.

Li Long was a bit hungry, so Liang Yumei took a steamed bun from the kitchen for him to soak in the fish soup.

Li Juan and Li Qiang followed suit.

Li Qing Xia and Du Chunfang just drank some fish soup and didn't even eat much fish meat.

Li Jianguo was different; he was happy today, so he poured a glass of wine for the two elders, and then he sat in front of the small table outside, slowly peeling fish meat to eat, occasionally drinking a small glass—it couldn't be more beautiful.

When Li Long returned to the west room of his own courtyard, what surprised him was that the room felt quite warm.

The stove felt warm to the touch, so a stove of charcoal must have been set up early in the morning.

Now in March, the ice and snow had melted, and the grass buds had just grown; if a stove wasn't set up in the room, it would still be a bit chilly.

It seemed that his room here was often looked after by people from his eldest brother's side.

Getting up the next day, he simply washed his face and went to his eldest brother's place in the back for breakfast.

Li Juan and Li Qiang had already finished eating and had ridden their bicycles to school. Just as Li Long was eating, Xie Yun Dong and Liang Dacheng rode their bicycles over.

Liang Dacheng was also carrying a bag, and there was movement inside; Li Long knew that was fish.

Truly thoughtful.

He finished his meal in a hurry, greeted his father, mother, eldest brother, and sister-in-law, then rode his bicycle, and went to the county seat with Xie Yun Dong and Liang Dacheng.

"Eating doesn't let people eat in peace..." Du Chunfang complained as usual, mainly because she saw Li Long finish eating in a hurry, and she didn't know if he was full or not.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yumei didn't speak, both wanting to laugh a little.

"Without Xiao Long must be full; that's doing serious business," Li Qing Xia said while eating, "You just eat more."

"I'm full," the old lady put down her bowl and chopsticks angrily.

Li Jianguo looked, and she really was finished. Anyway, the old lady didn't eat much each meal, so since she was angry, he didn't say any more to make her eat; her stomach couldn't take it.

Li Long went to the compound with Xie and Liang. Sister Yang was pushing her bicycle and preparing to go out. Li Long greeted her, put down his bicycle, went to the inner room to take his bag and money, and then locked the door with the two of them and went to the bus station.

Knowing Li Long was carrying money, Xie Yun Dong and Liang Dacheng were very nervous; one was observing if there were any thieves, and the other was staring at the black bag. On the contrary, Li Long wasn't nervous at all.

This wasn't the first or second time he had done this. He was thinking now that once these three tractors were bought, the thirty-three thousand plus yuan he had saved from selling harvesters would suddenly become over ten thousand and less than twenty thousand.

Still have to work hard to make money!

The tractor seller recognized Li Long and knew he was a big customer; today, two people were specifically accompanying them. At this time, there weren't as many tractors bought as five or six years later, and those who could come to buy tractors had solid family foundations, but like Li Long, who bought one yesterday and continued to buy, there really weren't many.

So even though this was a state-run factory, the treatment given to Li Long was different.

Li Long thought to himself that it was fine; they didn't treat him as a middleman vendor.

After the tractors were bought, Xie Yun Dong drove his own in the back, and Li Long sat on the fender, guiding Liang Dacheng to drive toward the fuel depot in front.

But his brain was already thinking about going to Kuitun tomorrow to haul harvesters. This money went fast, so he had to earn some back as soon as possible.

If the distance between the two sides wasn't quite far, Li Long would have thought about hauling twenty units at once and putting them in his own courtyard to sell slowly.

Otherwise, like this, it was too urgent.

But reality was like this, and there was no way. (End of chapter)