Chapter 647

These two people left behind more than three kilograms of fresh fritillaria bulbs and took away their things.

Li Long could tell that the middle-aged man was quite happy, while the young man was unhappy.

But it didn't matter; anyway, as long as he himself was happy, it was fine. Moreover, of those two people, the middle-aged man was the one in charge.

As for the young man, he hadn't experienced the harsh beatings of the Southern Mountains and didn't yet know how difficult it would be here in half a month.

Sure enough, just after entering the woods, the young man raised a question again:

"Uncle, you said more than three kilograms of fritillaria bulbs are worth at least ten or twenty yuan; wouldn't it be better if we went out of the mountains to the village outside to exchange for things?"

"They won't exchange with you." The middle-aged man patiently explained to his nephew, "The sales department in the village outside doesn't recognize fritillaria bulbs; they only recognize money. Do we have money? No, we don't.

Besides, we don't have a certificate or an introduction letter. If we run into someone with bad intentions in the village, they could tie us up with a rope and hand us over to the Forestry Team's forest rangers, and they'd even get a reward! How could we go there?"

"Then let's go to the county! Doesn't the county have a purchasing station? You said so!" The young man was always thinking about not letting Li Long make money; he felt Li Long was too black-hearted and earned too much.

If these fritillaria bulbs were taken out of the mountains, the things they could exchange for would definitely be double what they were now!

"It's more than thirty kilometers from the county to here, sixty or seventy *li*. A round trip takes more than two days. With these two days, how many fritillaria bulbs could we dig?" The middle-aged man was slightly impatient; when he first came out to dig herbs with people, there hadn't been so many things.

"Then isn't it dangerous here? You also saw that that person is very familiar with the forest rangers!" The young man asked again.

"It's precisely because he's very familiar with the forest rangers that I dare to come over to exchange things." The middle-aged man stopped and said to the young man in a solemn tone:

"Let me tell you, if you come to exchange things properly, even if the forest ranger is here, he won't arrest us. We carry the bags of fritillaria bulbs right here in the vicinity, and the forest ranger sees us and acts like he doesn't. Do you want to try other places?"

The young man stopped talking.

He didn't know Li Long actually had such power!

"Didn't you see what kind of car he drives? Would he use this bad intention to trick you into being caught by the forest rangers? He's doing long-term business; he's not that narrow-minded!"

After the middle-aged man persuaded the young man, he carried the things and walked into the mountains again; he had to put the things down quickly, as he could still dig some more fritillaria bulbs today to make up for the loss.

Young people, they just have shallow vision.

Li Long washed the more than three kilograms of fritillaria bulbs with a basin and then spread them out to dry.

There was no more space, so he put away a portion of the fritillaria bulbs he had previously spread out to dry, put them into a bag, and planned to take them home to dry.

He was determined not to put fritillaria bulbs here anymore; if they were really stolen, it wouldn't be worth it.

What made Li Long a bit surprised was that afterward, people came one after another to exchange things; in just half a day, the things in his jeep were exchanged clean.

Even the things he had taken back from the thief were basically exchanged by people.

The people who came to exchange things weren't picky; they exchanged for whatever was there, and if something wasn't there, they would just tell Li Long.

Li Long wrote them down one by one, planning to bring them when he came tomorrow.

He didn't even eat lunch, because the biscuits and sesame cakes he had brought were all exchanged by people.

The most popular things, besides matches, were dried noodles.

By mid-afternoon, in the trunk of his jeep, there were already two bags of fresh fritillaria bulbs weighing more than twenty kilograms, and seven or eight kilograms were being dried.

And in the small wooden cabin, including the things in the jeep, it was empty.

Even the steamed bun slices he had steamed earlier that hadn't been discovered by the thief were exchanged by people.

He couldn't exchange anymore; Li Long was currently hungry, waiting for the remaining bit of fritillaria bulbs to dry before planning to drive the jeep to Xiaobaiyang Gou.

He would eat something there and then go back. He had to return to the county before getting off work today to purchase all the things that needed to be purchased.

Seeing that the water droplets on the fritillaria bulbs were all gone, Li Long immediately gathered them up, put them in a bag, placed them in the jeep's trunk, then locked the door and drove away.

Not long after he left, someone came out of the woods, didn't see the car, shook their head, and left again.

The old herb diggers knew that Li Long came to drive the tractor or the car; if the car wasn't there, the person wasn't there either.

Most people were still law-abiding, or rather, they were worried. Stealing things also meant breaking a moral bottom line; of course, the heavy punishment was also one aspect.

After all, 1983 had just passed, and last year there were people who were directly caught and locked up for seven or eight years because of stealing things; these people were here to earn money and didn't want to go in for labor reform.

When Li Long arrived at Xiaobaiyang Gou, he found that there were more finished ones in front of everyone's pits for weaving carrying poles.

He didn't inspect them this time; after getting out of the car, he went directly to find his older brother, Li Jianguo.

"How is it?" Li Jianguo came out of the pit and asked, "What's the situation? If things are lost, they're lost; just don't put anything inside later."

"I caught that thief." Li Long smiled, "The things were also recovered, and I even collected the few kilograms of fritillaria bulbs he had dug."

"And the person?"

"I let Bolati take him away. Bolati was also very hateful; he dragged the person behind his horse and he fell several times, his face skin was almost worn away."

"That's good, that's good." Li Jianguo laughed, then said, "You still have to be careful later; among these people, there are also some with black hands (*ha*), so you have to be careful when dealing with them—Little Sun is a minority after all."

"Mm, I know, I'm carrying a gun." Li Long nodded, "I have to eat something; there were many people exchanging things for fritillaria bulbs today, and I haven't eaten yet."

"Can't you make some there?" Li Jianguo was a bit surprised, "Didn't you bring anything to eat?"

"It was all exchanged." Li Long pointed at the jeep's trunk and said with a smile, "Even the dried steamed buns I dried were exchanged."

"Then go find Old Huang quickly." Li Jianguo said, "He has cakes there."

Xie Yun Dong and Tao Daqiang also came over. Li Long told them about the matter while going to find Old Huang; they were relieved and went to weave their carrying poles.

Old Huang had quite a lot to eat there. Li Long took a piece of cake, ate a few mouthfuls with the leftover deer offal stir-fried at noon, then said goodbye to his older brother and the others and drove the jeep back.

Passing by Qingshuihe, Li Long vaguely saw blue smoke curling at the west end of the village; he thought they should be weaving carrying poles there.

Returning to the county, Li Long first went to the large courtyard to unload the fritillaria bulbs and put them in the side room.

He didn't even have time to spread out the fritillaria bulbs; he just greeted Sister Yang, who had already returned, and hurried back to the department store building.

There weren't many people in the department store building at this time; the customers inside added up to less than ten. Li Long's hurried appearance immediately attracted the gaze of most of the sales clerks.

This was a regular customer; the sales clerks all had an impression of Li Long.

Li Long first arrived at the food counter, pointed at the packaged biscuits, dried noodles, and other things, and said:

"This, this, and this, give me ten bags of each, and twenty bags of dried noodles. By the way, I want those dried noodles packaged in paper; I don't want the loose-weighed ones."

Dried noodles at this time were all packaged in paper, not plastic bags. This stuff could be stored for quite a long time; as long as it didn't get damp or moldy, it could be eaten even after a year or two.

At this time, people didn't pay much attention to the shelf life of food; they would judge whether things were expired or deteriorated based on taste and appearance.

Seeing Li Long buying things in such large quantities, the sales clerk at the counter thoughtfully found him a large cardboard box and recorded and packed the things he wanted into it.

Cardboard boxes at this time were quite large; liquor and beer boxes were all based on a standard of twenty-four boxes.

Li Long packed two large boxes of food, and then there was liquor.

Just when other sales clerks thought he was going to pay, he went to the daily necessities section.

Matches, gloves, rubber shoes—Li Long even bought a few packs of toilet paper.

Toilet paper at this time was that kind of very thin plastic-wrapped packaging, a pack the size of a towel, generally used by women.

Li Long hadn't seen any female herb diggers yet, but he felt that preparing some wouldn't hurt.

Four large boxes of things filled the jeep's trunk to the brim, and the money spent added up to less than one hundred.

In other words, if the fritillaria bulbs Li Long brought back today were sold, paying these bills would be more than enough.

Driving the jeep toward the Education Bureau, Li Long looked at the time; there were still more than twenty minutes before getting off work, so he was arriving just in time. Everything today was timed just right, which made Li Long feel it was quite good.

The depression and unhappiness of the wooden cabin being robbed had already dissipated. In May, the weather had already turned hot; Li Long took off his coat in the car, turned off the engine, and waited by the side of the road.

As it was about to be time to get off work, some people on the road were already walking or riding bicycles out of their units. Li Long just took a glance and then turned his gaze toward the Education Bureau.

There were also some people coming out of the offices there, gathering together to talk about something.

According to Gu Xiaoxia's usual way of saying it, it was almost time for the midterm exams, so the schools and the student union were relatively tense, but the Education Bureau side was fine.

Some staff members in the Education Bureau were also transferred to schools to teach, but there weren't many; it happened occasionally. Gu Xiaoxia said she didn't really want to go; she felt a bit guilty when teaching others before, after all, she hadn't graduated with a major in education and had learned very little in a targeted way.

Li Long was thinking about these messy things here, waiting until the Education Bureau got off work; Gu Xiaoxia was among the first batch to come out.

She came out with a female colleague; that female colleague was supporting her, and the two were walking slowly and chatting about something, and then Gu Xiaoxia saw Li Long's jeep.

Li Long started the car and drove to Gu Xiaoxia's side, opened the door, and got out.

Li Long recognized that person; it seemed her name was Tao Min, and she had been to the large courtyard before.

"Tao Min didn't ride her bike today." Gu Xiaoxia said to Li Long when she got in the car, "Shall we take her back?"

Please... collect_(!)

"Sure, it's just a matter of stepping on the gas." Li Long said with a smile.

Tao Min greeted Li Long, and then she and Gu Xiaoxia got into the back seat together.

After Li Long got in the car, he asked for the location of Tao Min's home, drove over, and sent her to Guangming Road on the west side; there was a vegetable market there, and Tao Min's home was near the vegetable market.

Tao Min was also quite curious in the car and was slightly nervous; after all, it was her first time sitting in such a high-class car.

By the time she got out of the car, she hadn't said many words; she greeted Gu Xiaoxia and Li Long, and as soon as she got out, she ran into an old neighbor lady.

"Yo, Little Tao, is this sitting in a leader's car to come back? Is your relative a county leader?"

The old neighbor lady liked gossip; this place was remote, and she had never seen a jeep come here.

"No, no, it's driven by my colleague's husband." Tao Min smiled, "He sent me back on the way."

"This isn't on the way; I saw that car drive and turn around—it was sent specifically to bring you back, right? Why, do you have connections you're not talking about? Little Tao, this isn't right of you..."

The old lady was chattering on, and Tao Min hurriedly found an excuse and hurried home.

However, she didn't feel troubled; instead, she felt a bit novel. Who could have thought that a jeep could make the neighbor directly change her view?

When it was just Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia in the car, he talked about the wooden cabin being robbed while driving back, as well as the process of how his "fiery eyes" found the thief and caught the person back.

"Then you must be careful!" Gu Xiaoxia said, still a bit worried, "In that place... those people seem to be quite bad."

"Not everyone who runs over is like Sister Yang." Li Long smiled, "But you can rest assured; I dared to chase because I was carrying a gun. If I saw the situation wasn't right, I would definitely have fired. Of course, I don't plan to spend the night there later; unless it's urgent, otherwise I'll rush back by night."

Hearing Li Long say this, Gu Xiaoxia was relieved.

The jeep drove back to the large courtyard; Li Long got out of the car and helped Gu Xiaoxia down. After Gu Xiaoxia got out of the car, she didn't let Li Long help her anymore and moved around by herself.

Li Long locked the car door and then went to the side room to spread out the fritillaria bulbs to dry.

When he was halfway through drying them, Sister Yang called out for dinner. At this time, Gu Bo Yuan also came over to help Li Long dry the fritillaria bulbs.

Looking at so many fritillaria bulbs, Gu Bo Yuan sighed:

"You've collected quite a lot today. Before, when I was with your older brother in the sideline production team digging fritillaria bulbs, it would take four or five days to dig this much."

"I've collected from several families too." Li Long smiled, "It was okay today; many people came to exchange things, and the things I prepared in the wooden cabin were all exchanged."

"Not bad, this business can be done." Gu Bo Yuan said with a smile.

The two finished drying the fritillaria bulbs and went over to eat. Gu Xiaoxia talked about the wooden cabin lock being pried again, and the others also told Li Long to be careful one after another.

Li Long told them about the follow-up and then said his own thoughts; Gu Bo Yuan and Sister Yang also nodded—it was a cautious idea.

For the next few days, Li Long went early and returned late, and in the middle, he asked for two more vehicles from the motorcade to pull the carrying poles from Xiaobaiyang Gou. This time he pulled back more than two hundred, which were truly filled to the brim.

Daqiang and Xu Haijun and the others also followed back, and the next day Li Long sent people into the mountains early.

For these few days, Li Long could still exchange for some fritillaria bulbs sporadically every day, but not as many as the first day. This was also normal; it was about the same as last year. When it first started last year, not many were exchanged either; it wasn't until later, when the supplies of those who entered the mountains to dig herbs were almost exhausted, that a large amount of exchange appeared.

Of course, it was also related to the forest patrol intensity of Bolati and the others.

When it had been about a week since the appointment with Qingshuihe, Li Long drove the jeep to the village and went directly to find He Yuqing.

He Yuqing wasn't at the team headquarters; the people at the team headquarters pointed to a field on the west side for Li Long and said:

"Over there, the captain and the militia company commander are all over there, taking people to weave carrying poles."

Good, the captain was also participating.

There was a road in the direction the person pointed; Li Long drove the jeep over and saw that on the west side of the village, there was a threshing floor. On the west side of the threshing floor was a canal, and along the canal were many large willow trees and poplar trees.

He Yuqing, Meng Hai, and the others were digging pits and lighting fires to burn the branches to weave carrying poles over by the canal.

Similar to those people in Xiaobaiyang Gou, these people right now all had black hands and black faces; the smell of burning branches permeated the threshing floor, and some children were playing nearby with unused branches.

Seeing the jeep coming, He Yuqing and Meng Hai both stood up hurriedly. Meng Hai even turned his head to wash his hands by the canal, then ran two steps quickly and followed He Yuqing to see Li Long.

"Hello, Comrade Li Long!" He Yuqing said with a smile, "Are you planning to take the carrying poles away today?"

"First inspect, then I'll bring the cars over to pull them later." Li Long said, "You should have woven quite a few in this week; I thought I had to come over once, otherwise it wouldn't be easy to pull."

"Yes, many people on our side are also thinking about when to take them away." Meng Hai said with a smile, "Old He and I are also under pressure; of course, we all believe in you—are you inspecting now?"

"Come now, there should be more than three hundred carrying poles; inspecting them one by one will take quite some time." Li Long said, "I brought paper and a pen; I'll record it here, and you record it together too."

"I have a pen, I have a pen." He Yuqing immediately took out a Hero fountain pen from his pocket.

Starting from the first one, Li Long had vaguely seen that person before; they might have handed in large brooms before, but he couldn't remember the name.

"Number one, Liu Dashu." He Yuqing reminded and introduced to Li Long, "Let's start from here... he wove... Dashu, how many did you weave?"

"Thirty-seven." Liu Dashu said.

That was quite a lot.

Li Long didn't inspect immediately; he looked at Liu Dashu and then at the others, and said loudly:

"Although I've told the captain and the company commander before, I'll emphasize it again now: the quality requirement for these carrying poles is particularly high, even higher than last year's large brooms. If they are unqualified and returned, I will explain the reason to you..."

"It's fine, Comrade Li Long, just inspect; the unqualified ones will count as our own, and if they don't meet the requirements, we'll admit it ourselves." Meng Hai took over Li Long's words.

Then start the inspection.

The large pile in front of Liu Dashu was divided into four stacks of carrying poles. Li Long inspected the first stack of nine and found two problems: one was warped, and one didn't have enough curvature.

The second stack of ten had one problem: the pole had a crack, and the crack wasn't small.

The third stack of nine had no problems, and the fourth stack of nine had four problems: three were warped, and one pole had a clear difference in thickness at the two ends.

The rate of this being unqualified wasn't high, less than a quarter.

However, Liu Dashu's face was still red; when the problems were inspected, he immediately took those with problems to the side. Li Long told him about some that could be modified, but those that were warped basically couldn't be adjusted.

"Comrade Li Long, rest assured, we will resolutely not let the unqualified ones be put in with the qualified ones!" Meng Hai guaranteed here.

The subsequent inspection also made Li Long feel quite touched; twelve people, the carrying poles they wove, the qualification rate was over eighty percent, even stronger than the old hands in Xiaobaiyang Gou.

It seemed they really had strictly required it.

Meng Hai let the qualified carrying poles be piled in the center of the threshing floor; he guaranteed to Li Long that before the cars came, he would watch here himself, and absolutely wouldn't let anyone steal them, and absolutely wouldn't let anyone replace them. (End of chapter)