Chapter 663: Knives Are Actually Very Popular

Yang Laoliu returned very quickly, half of which was out of fear.

It was fine to talk about it while drinking, but after finishing, he felt a lingering fear while walking back.

Although Li Long had said it very clearly, if the time was compared, the sacrifice of that person actually had nothing to do with him.

After all, he had left his job (was fired) at that time because of gambling and misappropriating funds.

But if it were really investigated, the one thing he had done couldn't be explained clearly.

The more he thought, the more afraid he became. By the time he returned home, he was covered in sweat, and the alcohol had been scared out of him completely.

The more he thought, the more panicked he became. Yang Laoliu had no sleepiness at all. He thought about it and felt that this young man, Li Long, was still not safe.

In this day and age, if there really was a chance to perform a meritorious service, there were even those who would destroy their relatives for the sake of righteousness, let alone he and Li Long weren't even relatives, just fellow villagers.

So Yang Laoliu really didn't dare to bet on whether Li Long would go and inform—he chose to leave.

After tidying up his things overnight, Yang Laoliu quietly went out, stepped on the funeral-announcing legs he had practiced at the Whampoa branch school, and quickly headed west.

Now he regretted showing off at Uncle Uncle Lao Luo's place, saying he was a colonel-rank staff officer.

It was useless, and it had become a handle.

He believed Uncle Uncle Lao Luo, but he had little contact with Li Long and didn't trust Li Long.

It was two days later when Uncle Uncle Lao Luo knew Yang Laoliu wasn't at home—Five-Guarantee households themselves had no relatives. Although Yang Laoliu's parents were from this county, they had passed away several years ago. Yang Laoliu had been married before liberation, but because of gambling and misappropriating public funds, he had angered his wife into running away and never married again, nor did he have children, always remaining single.

Later, because he was literate and had a high level of education, he became a literacy instructor after arriving at the Fourth Team, and many people in the Fourth Team were taught to read by him.

Later, he became a Five-Guarantee household and was only familiar with Uncle Uncle Lao Luo and others in the team.

He could also talk to Li Jianguo and the others, but not much.

He had told Uncle Uncle Lao Luo that before coming to the Fourth Team, he had actually been an instructor and custodian at the County Second Primary School, where he had also misappropriated public funds to buy a bicycle. As a result, the matter was exposed, and he had been locked up for several months; otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to come to the Fourth Team.

This trajectory was quite clear—it was also what he had told Uncle Uncle Lao Luo while drinking.

Uncle Uncle Lao Luo had joked at the time, saying fortunately Northern Xinjiang was liberated peacefully; otherwise, he would have had to fight Yang Laoliu.

As a result, it was two days after Yang Laoliu left that someone knew, and Uncle Uncle Lao Luo only heard about it then.

The land of Five-Guarantee households was contracted by the team to others to farm, and after the autumn harvest, they were given grain and oil, as well as some contracting fees.

So Yang Laoliu didn't have to farm.

As soon as Uncle Uncle Lao Luo heard that Yang Laoliu didn't know where he had gone, he reacted immediately.

He complained in his heart that Yang Laoliu didn't trust Li Long, but he was also worried about how this old companion would live outside—it was said he had two relatives in Shawan, and he didn't know if he had run there.

Just wait and see.

It was only a long time later that Li Long knew Yang Laoliu had been scared away, and he felt it really wasn't necessary.

However, for people who came from that era, having experienced a lot and coming from a "Military Statistics Bureau"-like agency like the Second Division, it was normal to be suspicious.

It was two months later when Yang Laoliu returned. Although he had left, he had never forgotten to inquire about the news here. Everything here had been calm, so he knew he had thought too much.

However, for this kind of thing, he naturally preferred to believe it existed; otherwise, he would have died immediately.

It was past eleven when Li Long returned to the large courtyard. After washing up in a hurry and going to bed, he quickly entered dreamland.

Gu Xiaoxia, on the other hand, didn't fall asleep so quickly. Seeing Li Long sleeping very soundly and even snoring a little, she knew he was exhausted, and suddenly felt a bit heartbroken.

Heartbroken but with no way to help, Gu Xiaoxia's mood wasn't very good.

So when she got up the next day, the circles under her eyes were slightly dark, and her mood wasn't high either.

When Li Long got up, he discovered it very quickly. After thinking about it, he roughly understood and comforted his wife with a smile:

"In half a week, I'll be done with my work here. After finishing this period, I won't go out anymore, I'll rest well at home, and I can rest until you give birth and finish your full month, how about that?"

"That's fine." Since Li Long had already said it, Gu Xiaoxia believed him, and her mood improved a lot.

After sending Gu Xiaoxia to work, Li Long went to the free market first. The jeep was parked outside the market; he walked out of the car and walked to the two ethnic minority people selling knives, facing each other north and south.

These knives were placed on wooden racks like bookshelves, standing upright, arranged in rows, one row with sheaths and one row without. If you wanted to see one, the boss would take it down for you.

At this time, those selling small knives were still very enthusiastic, and they wouldn't use a knife to threaten anyone. You could take it down to look at it, or ask for a sheath to compare; if you didn't buy it, it was fine, and the seller wouldn't force you.

It was different from twenty years later, and about the same as forty years later—forty years later, you already needed real-name registration to buy a knife.

Seeing Li Long come over, the ethnic comrade asked very enthusiastically:

"Adashi, which one do you want? Which kind?"

Basically, these were all small knives, straight-edged or curved-edged, single-edged, and daggers were almost non-existent.

"Don't you have sharpened ones? I'm taking them into the mountains; they don't have a place to sharpen knives, so they use them right away."

"Sharpened, sharpened," the knife seller took down a straight-edged short knife and showed it to Li Long: "Look, trimming meat and skinning are no problem," he tested the knife with his thumb and gestured to Li Long: "Look at this..."

Then he took the knife and cut a piece of cloth on the edge of the wooden rack; it was cut off very easily, and then he showed the small piece of cloth he had cut off to Li Long: "Look, is this okay? Very fast!"

"Not bad, not bad." Li Long pointed to the row on the rack and asked:

"Are they all sharpened?"

"All sharpened, all sharpened... how many do you want?"

"How much for one? I want a lot."

"Five yuan. If you want more than ten, four yuan and five mao."

"What if I want twenty?" Li Long thought to himself, since he was buying, he might as well buy more. Sun Jia Qiang and that woman collecting medicinal herbs both liked them, which meant most medicinal herb collectors should have the intention to buy one; it was convenient for life, and at the very least, it was something for self-defense.

"Twenty?" That ethnic brother was startled, and then he was pleasantly surprised: "If it's twenty, four yuan! Can't be lower, any lower and I'll lose money!"

"Okay, then take them." Li Long wasn't very picky. The quality of things at this time was basically up to standard. As for how much steel there was, he couldn't tell; only by using them would he know.

His testing was mainly to see if the knife and sheath fit well.

The handles of these knives were decorated with copper and colored plastic blocks, very beautiful. The blade was more than ten centimeters long; although not big, it was enough for self-defense and daily use.

The young man selling the knives was overjoyed. Usually, selling ten knives in a day was already very good; today, he had sold twenty in a single order. He thoughtfully took a cloth bag for Li Long to pack these short knives. Li Long took the bag, and his next sentence made him ecstatic, and he couldn't calm down for a long time.

"When I go into the mountains, if these knives are good to use, I'll come back to you to buy more later!"

After buying the knives, Li Long went to the transport team. He had to finalize the matter of pulling the carrying poles at night.

Captain Ma Chunlei was there, and he naturally welcomed Li Long, who often came to find him. Hearing that he needed a car at night, Captain Ma agreed readily, and the price didn't change.

Li Long requested that they drive the cars to Qingshui River Village after work, and there were no objections there either; the drivers were all familiar with it, and it was summer, so it was very convenient.

Coming out of the transport team, Li Long went to the department store to replenish his stock, and then drove toward the mountains.

This time he went directly to the wooden cabin, intending to let Sun Jia Qiang feel the joy of having his own short knife first.

When the jeep drove to the wooden cabin, Sun Jia Qiang had just completed this trade with a medicinal herb digger. He had a smile on his face—he really couldn't help but smile; this medicinal herb digger had brought eleven kilograms of fritillaria this time, which was rare in his trading history.

It showed that fritillaria was appearing in large quantities in the mountains, and of course, it also showed that his good luck was coming.

Seeing Li Long get out of the car carrying a cloth bag, Sun Jia Qiang greeted him with a smile:

"Brother Long, what did you bring this time?"

Sun Jia Qiang called him Brother Long for the first time this year, which made Li Long pause for a moment. He smiled and said:

"Didn't you want a knife? I brought the knife over." The person who traded the medicinal herbs hadn't left yet, and he was also curious about what Li Long had brought this time.

Seeing the knife Li Long said he brought, this person was also a bit curious.

Li Long walked up to Sun Jia Qiang, took a short knife out of the cloth bag, and handed it over:

"Take a look, will this work?" Sun Jia Qiang drew the knife and gestured with it. Just as he was about to say it would work, Li Long took out another one and handed it to him, "If that one doesn't work, take a look at this one; the style is a bit different, but actually, the knives are about the same..."

After changing three in a row, Sun Jia Qiang liked them all very much.

"Can you give me one?" The medicinal herb digger next to him suddenly interjected, "I don't want these noodles and this pair of shoes for now. I'll trade for a knife... how much is this knife worth?"

"Two kilograms of fritillaria." Li Long said.

"Okay, about right." That person immediately put down the rubber shoes and some noodles he had already traded for.

Li Long took out four knives for him to choose from. This person picked one at random, drew it to look at it, and after gesturing with it, left happily.

Li Long and Sun Jia Qiang moved the things from the jeep into the small room together, and then Sun Jia Qiang started washing the fritillaria.

The short knife he chose was placed on the side, and he would take it out to gesture with it from time to time, obviously very excited.

Read every line and every clause!

This reminded Li Long of the children in the Fourth Team.

Li Qiang and the others also liked knives very much. However, the knives that could be used at home, or rather, the knives that children could touch, other than the small knives for sharpening pencils, were those black folding knives that could fold the blade away.

Whoever had a knife like the one in Sun Jia Qiang's hand right now would definitely be the object of everyone's envy.

In this era where there was no money to buy toys and there weren't that many toys on the market, a suitable small knife was very important to a child.

Sharpening mud boards to make guns, sharpening wood to make slingshots, sharpening branches to make bows and arrows, etc., all required knives, and there was even a game called "stabbing the heart," which was played with a knife itself.

Two children would sit opposite each other and draw a vertical, eye-like pattern with two sharp ends on the ground, just like two brackets put together.

The two sharp corners were circled with small arcs to serve as the children's base camps, and then a horizontal cut was made in the middle of this pattern to serve as the boundary.

The two children would play rock-paper-scissors to see who went first. The one who went first would take the small knife and stab it into the ground, into the bracket. The knife couldn't fall over, and it had to be in their own area. They would alternate moving toward the other's base camp, and whoever reached it first would win.

At that time, if you could pull out a knife like this, even if you lost in the end, you were actually considered a big winner.

The subsequent facts proved that Li Long's guess was correct.

Every person who came to trade fritillaria for supplies couldn't help but trade for a knife.

Two kilograms of fritillaria wasn't much for them, but a knife was really very necessary for them to survive in the wild, whether for life or for dealing with possible dangers; a knife and a stick were equally important.

When preparing to go to Little White Poplar Gully for lunch, of the twenty small knives Li Long brought, other than the one for Sun Jia Qiang, six had already been traded away.

What was traded in return was more than ten kilograms of fritillaria—the next six medicinal herb diggers also brought nearly forty kilograms of fritillaria.

A significant amount.

Li Long was naturally very happy.

Sun Jia Qiang naturally still didn't go, waiting for Li Long to send it back. These tens of kilograms of fritillaria were enough for him to wash.

Li Long came to eat every day, and everyone was used to it. They greeted him as usual, and after eating, Li Long brought food for Sun Jia Qiang, went back to load the washed fritillaria, and went out of the mountains to Qingshui River Village.

Lunch had also been eaten here. He Yuqing and Meng Hai and the others had their lunch at the place where they were making the carrying poles, food sent by their families.

When Li Long came over, he saw many carrying poles on the threshing ground. He drove the jeep over, and by the time he reached the threshing ground, He Yuqing and the others had already seen him and came over together with Meng Hai.

When Li Long got out of the jeep, Meng Hai asked:

"Comrade Li Long, have you eaten?"

"Eaten, ate in the mountains."

He Yuqing said with some resentment:

"Why didn't you come before the meal? If you came before the meal, we could have eaten a meal with you. You coming after eating clearly means you don't treat us as one of your own."

"That's not it, I had things to do in the mountains, and there's a group of people making carrying poles over there too." Li Long explained with a smile, "We came here to do serious business; it's better to find you to eat and drink after we're busy."

"Fine, fine, fine, it's a deal." He Yuqing smiled, turned his head, and pointed to those carrying poles:

"Then should I have them bring the carrying poles over?"

"Okay."

Li Long took out his small notebook and pen, clipped the pen to his ear, and waited for those carrying poles to be brought up.

This time, everyone helped each other, first bringing all of one person's carrying poles, and then bringing the next person's.

Li Long was also familiar with inspecting these carrying poles; if they were qualified, they passed, and if they weren't, they were put aside. These people didn't have any objections because Li Long would also state the reasons for them being unqualified when inspecting.

Li Long discovered that the pass rate of the carrying poles inspected and accepted this time had increased again. Obviously, everyone's proficiency had come up, and the pass rate had increased.

It was a good thing for both him and these people.

Inspecting three or four hundred carrying poles also required some effort after they were finished. Fortunately, everyone was already proficient, and it wasn't yet time to get off work after the inspection.

Li Long then talked to He Yuqing about another matter, finding young men to help unload the car.

"No problem, no problem." He Yuqing agreed readily, "What's this? Isn't this what should be done?"

"No, it's mainly because there's another matter," Li Long had to make things clear, "After these carrying poles are unloaded at the supply and marketing cooperative, I have to ask everyone to go to my courtyard to load the several hundred 'ma-zi' (poles) there onto the cars and unload them at the supply and marketing cooperative too. For everyone who loads the cars, I'll pay a loading and unloading fee..."

"No need to pay, no need to pay!" As soon as Meng Hai heard this, he waved his hand directly, "I'll take people to go; you can rest assured about this matter. Why pay... we're already very grateful for this carrying pole matter, so isn't it what should be done to put in some effort? Fine, fine, we know, you don't have to say anymore."

Li Long actually felt it was better to make things clear and pay the money that should be paid, but unfortunately, these two people didn't give him another chance to speak.

Since the inspection of the carrying poles was completed, everyone was effectively resting. One by one, they sat on the edge of the threshing ground, smoking, chatting.

Li Long called He Yuqing and Meng Hai to the side and, according to custom, gave them the money first.

As for how they distributed the money to others, he didn't care.

The appearance of three cars broke the tranquility of the evening. Those who were originally sitting and resting all stood up immediately. They had already received the money for their hard work this week from He Yuqing and Meng Hai, and one by one, they were very excited.

If it weren't for the fact that they still had to load the cars, they would have happily run back home to show off and report the good news to their families by now.

Basically, everyone could get more than a hundred yuan, which was really quite a lot.

Therefore, the loading was also very fast, and He Yuqing and Meng Hai would also remind them from time to time to be careful and not break the carrying poles.

After loading the cars, Meng Hai and six of the people stayed behind, intending to follow the cars to the county to unload, and incidentally complete the task Li Long had entrusted to them.

Li Long felt it was troublesome and a waste of time for him to load the carrying poles tractor by tractor tomorrow. Since there were people here, it was very good for him to pay some freight and get it done in one night.

It was agreed with the supply and marketing cooperative that when the cars drove over to unload, the gate would open quickly, but other than the gatekeeper, there was no one else. The inspectors and warehouse keepers weren't there; after all, they had gotten off work, and Li Long was embarrassed to make them work overtime. They would come over early tomorrow morning to count and put them in storage. It was thought that the supply and marketing cooperative would also have to pull these things to the state tomorrow; otherwise, it would be troublesome to have so many things piled up in the large courtyard.

By the time all the carrying poles in the large courtyard were unloaded, it was already twelve o'clock. Sister Yang made noodles for everyone, and Meng Hai and the young men chatted and laughed while washing their hands and eating, all feeling that the treatment was not bad.

Li Long thought to himself, people at this time are really honest and willing to put in effort.

He had wanted to let Meng Hai and the others stay, but Meng Hai and the others thought about returning, so Li Long drove the jeep overnight and sent the car full of people back.

He could understand that urgent feeling of wanting to return.

However, by the time he returned, it was already past one o'clock.

The lights in the courtyard were on, making him feel quite warm. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 664 =====