Chapter 639: Just take this as a token of gratitude?

After Li Long left, Liang Wenyu excitedly headed out of the vegetable plot, preparing to go find some people.

He already had a few targets in mind; they were people he had good relations with and hung out with, so when there was money to be made, he naturally thought of them.

"Don't be in such a rush." Liang Donglou understood his son's mood and shouted from the vegetable plot, "Go, go wipe down the tractor, and grease it while you're at it. Think about it while you work—if you really go, what things do you need to prepare? It's best to write it down on a piece of paper so I can take a look."

Liang Donglou had also spent time in the mountains, though it was to find medicinal herbs, not for long stays. Even so, he had more experience than his son.

He could understand Liang Wenyu's excitement, but he was still somewhat dissatisfied with his son's rashness. After assigning Liang Wenyu his tasks, he finished hoeing the stalks in the plot and went inside.

Chen Xiuzhu was cooking in the house. Seeing Liang Donglou come in, she complained in a low voice:

"Can't you speak to Wenyu properly? Xiao Long gave him this job, and he was so happy, but you just poured a bucket of cold water on him. He must feel terrible."

"If I don't keep him in check, will he be okay? He's been so arrogant these past two days just because he has a tractor." Liang Donglou shook his head. "There's no way to pay Xiao Long back for the tractor yet, so we have to wait until the wheat harvest to see if it's really like what Xiao Long said. With his current temperament, how can he get by without some pressure?"

"But he needs a path to follow. Now that Xiao Long has given him a path, he's just at the point where he wants to show what he can do, shouldn't you encourage him?" Chen Xiuzhu and her husband disagreed on this matter, which was why she opposed him.

However, this was in private. Since Liang Donglou had already spoken, Chen Xiuzhu wouldn't contradict him in front of their son.

Liang Donglou also knew he might have been too harsh on his son and had set his expectations too high.

When did he start having these thoughts?

Liang Donglou vaguely felt it had something to do with Li Long. His son had always been more promising than Li Long, but in the last two years, Li Long had become a bit too successful, which instead made Liang Wenyu seem rather average.

In the past, Liang Wenyu was considered very outstanding among the young people.

This made Liang Donglou feel a sense of "hate that iron doesn't become steel" after making the comparison.

Subconsciously hoping his son could be as excellent as Li Long was naturally not a problem.

But it was truly impossible for Liang Wenyu to be like Li Long, so he occasionally felt a bit anxious.

Realizing his own problem, Liang Donglou began to adjust his mindset. After eating, he gave Liang Wenyu some pointers on what to bring into the mountains and advised him not to reveal too much when looking for those young men.

After all, Li Long had only spoken in general terms and hadn't confirmed anything. If Liang Wenyu made absolute promises and things changed later, it would be hard to back out.

After receiving the advice, Liang Wenyu was greatly inspired. It turned out some of his own ideas were incomplete; for instance, he wasn't clear on the skills of the people he wanted to recruit for the stretcher-weaving team, nor did he know if their families would be willing to let them go into the mountains.

All of this needed to be understood.

While Liang Wenyu was refining his plan, Xu Haijun was a man of action. After lunch, he went to find Xie Yun Dong.

Xie Yun Dong was already in the courtyard tidying things up.

The surface of the tractor was wiped clean, just waiting for a cloth to be draped over it for protection.

After enviously looking at the tractor, Xu Haijun looked at Xie Yun Dong and found him sharpening a sickle.

"Haijun, you're here." Xie Yun Dong greeted him while sharpening the sickle.

"Yeah, Brother Xie Yun Dong, there's no work right now, why are you sharpening your sickle?"

"It's almost time to weave stretchers. I don't know if Xiao Long can get the stretcher-weaving job this year. If he can, then I'll definitely be going into the mountains." Xie Yun Dong smiled, not hiding his thoughts.

Xu Haijun could feel a hint of pride in Xie Yun Dong's tone.

He didn't know what Xie Yun Dong was proud of, but since Xie Yun Dong was already prepared, he said:

"I might be going into the mountains to lead a stretcher-weaving team this year too. Brother Xie Yun Dong, I came to discuss this with you. I don't know who you usually take with you."

"Xiao Long said there might be more people needed this year, so I was thinking you could confirm who you plan to take, and then I'll go find others."

When he said this, Xie Yun Dong was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted.

But his mind worked fast, and he immediately understood that Li Long must have received the job, but the volume was quite large, which was why he was looking for more people to participate.

The meaning in Xu Haijun's words was also very clear: he would only look for other people after Xie Yun Dong confirmed his team members, clearly showing he didn't want to cause conflict.

Thinking this through, Xie Yun Dong smiled and said:

"Good, good, good. Then let me tell you who I took last year... By the way, this is your first time going into the mountains, right? I'll tell you what to prepare in a bit."

Xu Haijun could naturally understand the goodwill Xie Yun Dong was showing, and he was more than happy to accept it.

Xie Yun Dong put the sickle aside, then picked up a small stick and drew on the ground while naming the people.

He didn't intend to replace those people from last year; after all, they had all done a good job and got along quite well, much better than the year before.

Everyone was busy weaving carrying baskets to earn money and didn't get into any messy business, which made his management work comfortable.

Although weaving carrying baskets wasn't the most profitable work, there was an extra management fee, which made him feel quite satisfied.

Listening to the people Xie Yun Dong mentioned, Xu Haijun nodded.

Two of them were his cousins, and these two were originally in his plans; it seemed he would have to make some adjustments.

As for the things Xie Yun Dong said he would bring, and the subsidy for the master chef for weaving the carrying baskets, Xu Haijun naturally had no objections.

He couldn't very well bring people over and still have to cook for himself; that would be such a waste of time.

It would be better to go along with Xie Yun Dong and the others; in any case, four or five people wouldn't eat much more, and the master chef cooking would just mean adding two more bowls of rice.

In front of Xie Yun Dong, Xu Haijun didn't have the arrogance of a young man; he understood the other party's good intentions and wrote down one by one the things that needed to be prepared.

When he returned home, he would have to consider which people to take.

Regarding the uncertain personnel, Xu Haijun thought for a moment and decided to go find his cousin, the team leader Xu Chengjun.

Xu Chengjun was in the courtyard repairing a rake. Seeing Xu Haijun come over, he asked:

"Haijun, why are you here? Have you finished making the mud bricks on your side?" Xu Chengjun knew that Xu Haijun was preparing to build a small house. This young man was considered quite outstanding among his cousins, and he even planned to cultivate him well.

Although he had been demobilized and returned early, it didn't affect the good impression Xu Chengjun had of him.

"The mud bricks are enough," Xu Haijun said. "Li Long came over today and said he wanted me to prepare to recruit a few people to take into the mountains to weave carrying baskets..."

"Isn't Xie Yun Dong doing that work?" Xu Chengjun frowned. "Li Long even bought him a tractor to help him with the work. What does this mean?"

"Xie Yun Dong is still doing it on his side, but he said there's more carrying basket work this year than last year, so he needs to recruit more people."

"Heh!" Xu Chengjun laughed. "Hearing you say that, I even want to go... What does it mean? That Xie Yun Dong leads one group, and you lead another?"

"Yeah, I just thought of a few candidates, and it doesn't conflict with him. But I haven't been here for two years, so I don't know if they're suitable or not, and I wanted you to help me weigh in."

"Since you've asked, I'll definitely help. Tell me, who are the people you've called?"

"Huang Siping..." The first person Xu Haijun mentioned made Xu Chengjun frown.

"You'd be better off calling me than calling him." Xu Chengjun waved his hand. "Don't you know about him borrowing money from Tao Daqiang a while ago?"

"I don't know." Xu Haijun shook his head.

After Xu Chengjun told him about that incident, he continued:

"Huang Siping grew up with you all, but he's a bit lazy and loves to eat but hates to work. It's fine if you want to call him to go, but firstly, he might not necessarily go, and secondly, if he goes, he might not necessarily be able to endure the hardship. Do you remember your brother Li Jun? That guy followed Li Long to weave carrying baskets the first time, but didn't go the second time. Why? It was because he was lazy and kept causing trouble there..."

Because they had both been soldiers, Xu Chengjun was quite patient with Xu Haijun. For every person Xu Haijun mentioned, he would analyze that person's personality traits.

After helping Xu Haijun narrow down a list of about five or six candidates, Xu Chengjun sighed and said:

"To tell you the truth, if it weren't for being this team leader, I'd want to go into the mountains with you all."

Li Long went into the mountains several times a year, not only earning money but also earning a reputation, becoming a famous advanced individual in the autonomous region.

Xu Chengjun reckoned that if he encountered such an opportunity, he might not necessarily be worse than Li Long.

But as the village director, he certainly couldn't leave the village for a month.

He could only stay here; there were advantages, of course, but also disadvantages. Xu Haijun returned home feeling satisfied and began to calculate how to prepare supplies and how to persuade those people.

Actually, perhaps there was no need to persuade them at all; just telling them about this matter, they should be very happy to go.

It was just the person Huang Siping that Xu Haijun was hesitant about.

Xu Chengjun's meaning was that he couldn't take him; taking him might not necessarily lead to completing the task.

But among the group of people who played together back then, Li Long was already on a different level, Gu Ermao had been arrested, Tao Daqiang had started a family and had been following Li Long, drifting further and further away. Among the girls, Wu Shufen had married out of the village, and Qin Hongyan had married another young man in the team.

After he returned, only Huang Siping had come to see him and complained, so their relationship was still relatively close. If he didn't call him, it would be a bit unjustifiable.

After Li Long returned from the Liang family, he was tidying up things in the courtyard.

The time for weaving carrying baskets was also exactly the time for digging fritillaria.

The money earned from weaving carrying baskets last year wasn't as much as the money earned from collecting fritillaria, so Li Long planned to continue taking fritillaria collection as a main business this year.

For the carrying basket work, he would go collect them and bring them back every once in a while, while fritillaria could be collected every day.

Now that he had a jeep, it was much better than last year.

Looking one by one...

He planned to find time to go into the mountains to properly renovate his wooden cabin and store some supplies there.

This way, the small shop in the mountains that exchanged supplies could continue to operate. By the way, he also had to greet Bolati in advance, so the harvest would be even greater.

After returning from the mountains last year, he hadn't been in contact with Bolati, and this time going back, he didn't know if he would be there.

After the beginning of spring, there were more people at the free market, and the things Sister Yang sold became richer. Now there were wild vegetables outside. Besides making soup and rice, Sister Yang also sold leavened flour cakes, leavened cakes, and wild vegetable sandwiches—or rather, what would be called vegetable sandwiches in later generations.

At this time, the sales volume of meat sandwiches in the market wasn't estimated to be large, but the baked flour cakes split in the middle and stuffed with cold-dressed wild vegetables were still very popular.

Sister Yang recently heard that the market management department planned to build houses on both sides of the free market. This news made Li Long a bit surprised.

He vaguely remembered that this matter wouldn't start until two years later in later generations. Was this brought forward?

He remembered that at that time, the houses could initially be rented to those who set up stalls, or they could be sold. At the very beginning, almost no one bought them, and even those who rented were few. But later, as market management gradually became standardized and other free stall points were banned, that place became a real agricultural trade market.

The people who rented houses at the beginning became the first batch of people to get rich later. As for the people who bought houses, they were quite few at the time, and later, most of them were the people who rented the houses buying the houses they rented.

Of course, the house price was several times the price at the beginning.

"Sister Yang, if those houses are really to be built, let's buy a few." Although Li Long didn't think about relying on real estate to make a fortune, if he encountered meat at his mouth and didn't eat it, he would really be sorry for himself.

This also reminded him of the old street in Shicheng. He didn't know if they were building there. If they were, he could also buy a few.

If he didn't have time to go over to sell things, renting them out would also be fine.

The development idea of the old street in Shicheng was different from that in Maxian. That place was spacious, and although shops were built on both sides later, stalls were still allowed in front of the shops.

It was that free vendors and fixed merchants existed together.

If they were built there, he could also buy a few by the way. He thought they shouldn't be expensive now, right?

The next two days were spent tidying up things and picking up Gu Xiaoxia from work.

Gu Xiaoxia no longer rode a bicycle and walked to and from work every day. Anyway, the road wasn't very far, and walking was also quite good.

Because her nutrition had kept up, although Gu Xiaoxia's calves were currently a bit swollen, other aspects were still okay.

Because of the pregnancy, her face, which was slightly egg-shaped, had become a bit round, and a double chin had also appeared. Gu Xiaoxia was once worried about how to lose the twenty kilograms she had gained, but Li Long said that now was the best.

Then Gu Xiaoxia laughed. She remembered a saying: beauty is in the eye of the beholder; it should be like this, right?

She could see the sincerity in Li Long's words.

On Wednesday morning, Li Long was loading things into the jeep in the courtyard. He planned to go into the mountains for a trip later to put some things in the wooden cabin and could get back before getting off work in the afternoon.

No matter how many carrying basket tasks there were this time, he would definitely have to go into the mountains.

It was better to leave early than late; going over, he could also get some mushrooms to bring back to eat.

Although there were wild mushrooms for sale in the market now, and they weren't expensive, they were basically reed mushrooms.

To tell the truth, reed mushrooms that grew underground were more fragrant than grass mushrooms that grew out in the mountains—after all, in later generations, they had a very straightforward name: Chinese delicious mushroom.

Could they not be delicious?

However, having eaten too many delicious things, Li Long also wanted to change to other tasty ones.

From late April to early June, morels would appear in the mountains. Although Li Long always felt that this kind of mushroom actually tasted just so-so, it couldn't help that it was famous and expensive.

Of course, he planned to just get some ordinary grass mushrooms on this trip. Of course, white brittle porcini mushrooms were also no problem.

He wasn't picky.

Just as he was preparing things, he heard the barking of a puppy.

Then he saw Li Xiangqian pushing a bicycle into the courtyard.

The gate of the courtyard was closed. Sometimes when people came in and out, there would occasionally be a crack, but the two puppies, as well as the two roe deer, including those hedgehogs, were all quite obedient and didn't run out.

"Heh, you're raising dogs too? These dogs look really good!" As soon as Li Xiangqian came in, he saw the two puppies demonstrating against him.

Although the dogs weren't big, they already knew that this courtyard was their territory and their home.

They were still quite fierce to strangers.

Of course, it was just that there was no deterrent power.

Li Long put down his work, watched Li Xiangqian prop up the bicycle, and asked:

"Section Chief, why are you here? Is something up?"

"Something is up, something is up. The task from the state supply and marketing cooperative has arrived." Li Xiangqian's gaze still fell on the dog, and only then did he say to Li Long, "How about it? Four thousand carrying baskets, can you complete it?"

"Four thousand?" Li Long was startled. "So many?"

"Can't finish it? If you can't finish it, I'll give some to others..."

"Can, can, can, how could I not be able to?" Li Long said hurriedly. "It's just four thousand carrying baskets. By the way, how long?"

"Deliver by early June," Li Xiangqian said. "Time is a bit tight. Can you really handle it?"

"Definitely!" Li Long calmed down. "On average, one person can weave about one hundred and fifty carrying baskets a month. Subtracting the defect rate, let's count one hundred and twenty. Four thousand carrying baskets, that's just getting thirty-something people, and it's about right. I can still find thirty-something people."

"That's fine, I believe you." Li Xiangqian knew that Li Long didn't boast. Since he said so, this matter could be done.

"Section Chief, don't worry, the quality will definitely be no problem. I'll deliver a batch of goods every once in a while, otherwise I have no place to put them there."

"That's my idea too. Our warehouse over there can't pile up that much either. You bring a batch of three or five hundred, and we'll send them to the state once we gather one thousand," Li Xiangqian said.

This matter was settled just like that.

Neither of them mentioned Wei Zhuren. Since Li Xiangqian came to find Li Long, it showed that there was definitely no problem with Wei Zhuren's side.

"By the way, the price hasn't changed, still eight yuan each," Li Xiangqian said. "If the task is completed well, the state will return some money to our county, but don't think about this money."

"I definitely won't think about it," Li Long said with a smile. "With these four thousand carrying baskets, I'm satisfied."

"Then aren't you going to thank me?" Li Xiangqian said with a smile.

"Thank, definitely thank." Li Long didn't expect Li Xiangqian to take the initiative to mention it, and he immediately said:

"Section Chief, you say, what do you want?"

"That, give it to me." Li Xiangqian pointed to the little guy on the ground. "It just so happens my family is missing one, give this one to me."

Li Long was a bit dumbfounded. Li Xiangqian just wanted this? (End of chapter)