Chapter 669: One piece of good news and one piece of bad news

Returning to the large courtyard, Gu Xiaoxia had already finished work.

As the due date drew closer, her lower abdomen grew more and more prominent. At Li Long's strong insistence, she had taken leave from work before the end of May.

However, Gu Xiaoxia still wanted to finish the remaining days of work in May.

In fact, Director Wang at her workplace had spoken with her privately; work at the unit wasn't very heavy right now, and her current situation was considered special, so she should just take the leave.

Women's work during this period was still quite well-handled; on one hand, female comrades strongly demanded to work just like the male comrades, and on the other, the care provided for female cadres was quite thorough.

Therefore, it wouldn't have been impossible for Gu Xiaoxia to take leave now. Current work wasn't as cumbersome as in later generations and focused more on practicality.

When Li Long returned, Gu Xiaoxia had already walked a few laps in the courtyard before sitting down.

Han Fang opened the main gate to let the jeep in, and Gu Xiaoxia slowly stood up.

Seeing Li Long park the jeep near the east wing room, kill the engine, and get out, she asked with a smile:

"Did everything go smoothly today?"

"Very smoothly." Li Long responded, walked over to take a careful look, and feeling that Gu Xiaoxia was perfectly fine, he then said:

"Big Brother and the others will be digging for fritillaria in the mountains for one more day tomorrow, and they'll be back early the day after. That will completely finish the business of weaving the carrying poles.

We can still collect fritillaria for a few more days. By the time you go on leave, my work in the mountains will be mostly finished, and I'll be able to stay home every day."

With his own work finished by the end of May and Gu Xiaoxia giving birth in June, Li Long naturally intended to stay by her side.

In this day and age, the importance placed on women giving birth wasn't as high as in later generations; everyone usually only saw the success rate of those births. In rural areas, even just a few years ago, most children were still born on their own family's kang.

After chatting for a few moments, Li Long went to take out the morels from his backpack, soaking a portion of them, preparing to wash them clean and stew them into soup.

He prepared to dry the other portion to keep and eat slowly. Over the next few days, Li Long planned to bring back a little every day; this way, he wouldn't need to set aside a specific block of time to go get them, but he could still bring back these nutritious and delicious things.

Gu Xiaoxia was no longer unfamiliar with morels. Seeing them, she only sighed, wondering when she would be able to go into the mountains to properly pick mushrooms.

"There will always be a chance. Once the baby is born and they're a little older next year or the year after, I'll drive you all into the mountains to soak in hot springs, pick mushrooms, and gather ground-cherries," Li Long said while tidying up.

"Uncle Li, can I go then?" Han Fang, who was helping on the side, asked with a sense of longing as she listened to what Li Long was saying.

"What are you joining in the fun for?" Sister Yang, hearing Han Fang's words from the kitchen, couldn't help but poke her head out to scold her.

Han Fang stuck out her tongue, though she wasn't angry.

"Yes, you can go next year or the year after. This July... we'll see then." Li Long had originally thought about saying July would be fine, as Han Fang would be on break then. But thinking about it, Gu Xiaoxia would only just be finishing her month of confinement in July; even though there would be people to help take care of her, he might have to go harvest wheat then and wouldn't be free.

He didn't say anything more about it, and Li Long began to carry the fritillaria from the back of the jeep to put into the wing room.

These fritillaria were already half-dried and could be sold after drying for three or four days. Moreover, those people had originally intended to take the fritillaria to the county to sell, so they had cleaned them quite well, and Li Long didn't need to wash them again.

In fact, Li Long was also guessing whether the fact that he washed the fritillaria clean at the spring every time he collected them had influenced those who dug them, so that when they were finally ready to come out of the mountains, they would also set aside time to wash the fritillaria clean, at least so the grading would be higher.

Li Long guessed that by the end of this fritillaria season, he might end up harvesting seven or eight hundred kilograms of dried fritillaria.

Even if the total price wasn't quite forty thousand, it would be close.

Excluding costs, his final profit would be over twenty thousand.

Much more than last year.

Of course, the profit from the carrying poles was also much higher; after all, the number of carrying poles this year was much larger. Li Long thought that when he had the chance, he still had to thank Director Qian; if it weren't for him, he wouldn't have been able to get such a large share of the carrying poles.

Of course, it was also good that the carrying poles this year were completed on time and with quality, so he hadn't let down Director Qian's trust.

After dinner, Gu Xiaoxia was walking in the courtyard to digest her food, and Li Long went to the wing room to gather the fritillaria he planned to sell tomorrow.

Right now, he could basically gather some fritillaria to sell every day. The fritillaria collected last year could be dried at the wooden cabin, but now that Li Long had to return every day, it wasn't safe to leave the fritillaria there.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Sun Jia Qiang, but mainly that if a large amount of fritillaria were left there, in case someone took a risk and gathered three or five people to rob the cabin, Sun Jia Qiang would be in danger.

No one could guarantee anything about that.

Gathering a batch of fritillaria that had been drying at the same time, Li Long casually picked one up and squeezed it with his fingers; the fritillaria crumbled into several pieces.

He looked at it carefully; it was quite dry.

Li Long nodded with satisfaction.

He casually picked up another one, and after crushing it, found the dryness was about the same, so he put all these fritillaria into a bag.

This bag had over forty kilograms; if they were all counted as first-grade, they could sell for two thousand yuan.

This way of making money, even forty years later, was something many people couldn't do, let alone now.

Every time Li Long went to sell fritillaria, he could feel the complex emotions in the eyes of those around him who were selling things at the acquisition station—envy, jealousy, hatred, all of it.

Of course, Li Long didn't care. In this day and age, making money was slowly becoming a very glorious thing; with economic construction as the center, people with some insight could say a few words about letting those who get rich first lead those who get rich later.

Flipping goods as a middleman was no longer a profession that was discriminated against or arrested; many people became rich because of it, and being a merchant slowly became a legitimate profession, and because they became rich, they would even be envied.

The lights in the courtyard turned on, flickering a bit. Sister Yang said the neighborhood committee had notified them that the transformer in this urban area was going to be replaced, and in the future, the electric lights would get brighter and brighter, and the circuits would become more and more stable.

This reminded Li Long of the electricity usage process in the Fourth Team.

Although electricity had been connected last year and they had used electric lights and televisions after it was connected, in reality, the power would often cut out, and the kerosene lamps at home hadn't been completely phased out.

He vaguely remembered that the power outages seemed to have lasted until the nineties, when the power plant in Maxian was completely built, before they were considered eliminated.

Although it was said that after the thermal power plant in Maxian was built, the main electricity was transmitted to Shicheng and Wucheng, at least the electricity usage in the county town and villages became normal.

The thermal power plant in Maxian was considered the largest and most influential state-owned enterprise in the county. Recruitment at the time was quite lively, and many people were proud of having family members working at the thermal power plant; it was said that the staff quarters at the factory there had free hot water all year round.

This water was water from the thermal power plant's cooling tower.

As for the benefits, it was said they were also very good.

"Anyway, life will get better and better," Li Long said, sitting on the steps and looking up at the stars in the sky.

In the future, the stars would become harder and harder to see. Although Maxian didn't have much industry and remained an agricultural county even forty years later, in the winter forty years later, it would be truly difficult to see stars as clear as this at night.

He didn't know where so much pollution came from.

He looked toward the west.

The next day, after dropping Gu Xiaoxia off at her unit, Li Long returned, packed that whole bag of fritillaria onto his bicycle, and went to the acquisition station.

Li Long arrived early and was third in line. Seeing Chen Hongjun in the courtyard, he nodded and greeted him.

Chen Hongjun saw him almost every day, so he just smiled and nodded.

When Li Long placed those forty-two kilograms of fritillaria on the counter, the purchaser inside took the fritillaria, poured it into a large basket, examined it, graded it as first-grade, and then said:

"According to the notice, the acquisition price for fritillaria has increased since yesterday afternoon. First-grade is fifty-two; your total is two thousand and eighty-four yuan."

Li Long was truly pleasantly surprised; the fritillaria season had actually seen a price increase!

After getting the receipt, signing, and receiving the money, he walked out amidst the envious gazes of the people behind him. Seeing Chen Hongjun looking at him, Li Long walked over.

Chen Hongjun said with a smile:

"You've earned quite a lot this fritillaria season."

Li Long smiled, didn't take the bait, and asked:

"Why did the price go up?"

"There are many people coming from the interior to buy, and our fritillaria quality is good, so the price went up." The smile on Chen Hongjun's face faded. He turned his head to look at the people continuing to pour in at the entrance and said to Li Long in a low voice:

"Try to get more this year; it'll be easier to talk about next year."

"What's wrong?" Li Long felt a shock in his heart. "Will there be any changes next year?"

In his previous life, he was still a loafer at this time and had never dealt with these things, so he had no impression in his memory of any changes.

"This acquisition station will be closed next year—to be precise, it will be closed by the end of this year," Chen Hongjun said in a low voice. "The acquisition stations in each county will be slowly phased out—"

"What?" Li Long was shocked, his expression changing. "Then where will we sell things after we collect them?" If the acquisition station closed, it wouldn't just affect him; how many people in the county were taking advantage of the slack farming season to do some side jobs and sell to the acquisition station to subsidize their household expenses?

"The market is opening up; in the future, there will be specialized buyers coming to collect this," Chen Hongjun sighed and said. "The state won't be able to provide a safety net for people for this in the future.

Medicinal herbs are fine; the medicinal herb company in our county will buy them. With your volume, they will definitely give you a discount. Leather and such, the county leather factory will also buy. As for the others, we can only see what happens then."

"Then you all?" Hearing that the medicinal herb company would buy and the leather factory would buy, Li Long felt slightly relieved. Although it was a bit troublesome, at least there were places to sell. He then remembered Chen Hongjun; if this acquisition station was gone, where would they go?

"Back to the prefecture. We will undergo restructuring there. It's not very clear how it will be handled in the end, but we won't be unemployed, right?" Chen Hongjun smiled, though the smile looked a bit bitter no matter how one looked at it.

Li Long nodded; that was indeed the case.

Current employees weren't as easily laid off as they would be in a dozen years. Even if there was restructuring, they would be given a place to go.

After all, it was a period of great development, and everywhere needed people. That was why technical secondary school graduation was so popular, because at eighteen, you could work and start accumulating seniority.

It was the state needing so many talents to quickly enter the increasing number of positions to drive an industry.

Later on, as talent in various industries gradually became saturated, technical secondary school graduates slowly became less popular, and university students became common.

(No errors in the content, read on!)

"After a while, when I have time, I'll introduce a few people to you," Chen Hongjun said. "At that time, they will be collecting some materials here. Once you know them, you'll have a place for those things you accumulate.

Although they will definitely earn some money as middlemen, at least the things you get will be able to be sold."

Li Long thanked Chen Hongjun, chatted for a few more moments, and then returned to the large courtyard.

Sister Yang had already gone out to sell food. After putting the money away, Li Long drove the jeep to the free market to sweep up some goods, took a turn around the department store, and only then headed toward the mountains.

The people in Xiaobaiyang Gully were up very early today. Like Li Jianguo, after getting up, he went to the nearby gully with Lu Yingming.

Because there were many people here, even if there were fritillaria in the nearby gullies, generally very few people came.

People who specialized in digging medicinal herbs in the mountains were very vigilant and would stay away from strangers.

Therefore, there were actually quite a lot of fritillaria in these gullies. Last year, the fritillaria here was dug by Sun Jia Qiang. This year, Sun Jia Qiang went to help Li Long, so the fritillaria in these gullies was left behind.

By the time Old Huang shouted that it was time to eat, Li Jianguo and Lu Yingming had already brought back quite a lot of fritillaria.

These fritillaria hadn't been washed and were still covered in fresh mud and some leaves.

However, the weight looked quite substantial.

"You dug quite a lot!" Xu Haijun came over to take a look. "Uncle Li, you're amazing."

Everyone calculated their own shares. Xu Chengjun could call Li Jianguo "Old Brother Li," but Xu Haijun had to call him "Uncle"—there was no help for it; his father had worked with Li Jianguo when the village was first founded.

"It's alright," Li Jianguo smiled with slight restraint. "There are quite a few fritillaria in this gully; we can dig some."

This was less than a kilogram, but it wasn't far off. The only slight regret was that this gully wasn't long enough for the two of them to dig for a whole day.

The branch gullies nearby varied in size; some could stretch for several kilometers, while others might only be a few hundred meters long.

After breakfast, everyone took their tools and scattered in groups of three or five into the various gullies to dig for fritillaria.

Yesterday, after these people returned from the gully where Halimu was, they began to survey the nearby terrain.

In fact, some locations had already been seen when they were cutting strips. But at that time, except for people like Li Jianguo and Xie Yun Dong who had been in the mountains before and knew to pay attention to fritillaria, others, especially those young people, wouldn't pay attention at all.

So yesterday afternoon, they had essentially worked overtime to find the gully they were going to today.

Some were genuinely wanting to dig some fritillaria, while others were just treating it as play. After all, they had basically been doing high-intensity labor for nearly a month before; now that they were finally relaxed and about to get their money, the remaining fritillaria was just icing on the cake—it didn't matter if they earned it or not.

So some people were genuinely wanting to earn a little more, while others were just here to "soy sauce" (just tagging along).

Li Long arrived in the mountains and went to the small wooden cabin first.

Sun Jia Qiang hadn't had much of a harvest today; when Li Long arrived, he had just received the first batch of fritillaria, a little over three kilograms.

Sun Jia Qiang was a bit unimpressed; mainly because the other party had too many demands, wanting to exchange for bits and pieces of things, which took up a lot of time.

When Li Long came over, that person had just left. After Li Long arrived, Sun Jia Qiang complained while washing the fritillaria.

Li Long smiled and asked about the situation last night.

"It was fine. I locked the door early and stayed in the room reading and sleeping by myself," Sun Jia Qiang said. "It was very comfortable."

Li Long left the oil lamp and books for Sun Jia Qiang; for someone in the wilderness, those novels were no less than the television in the county town.

Very interesting.

"How did you eat breakfast?" Li Long asked with concern.

"Didn't we get some morels yesterday?" Sun Jia Qiang poured out the water from the first wash and went to scoop more water, saying as he scooped: "This morning, I made a soup with the morels and grilled some steamed buns."

"Not bad."

Li Long stayed here for a while, chatted, unloaded some things, then locked the jeep and headed toward the southern mountains.

He planned to go get some more morels; anyway, he was idle.

After walking over two hundred meters and reaching the edge of a forest, Li Long stopped.

"Who's there?" he shouted toward the forest.

The rifle on his back slid into his hands very skillfully. If the other party didn't answer, Li Long was prepared to chamber a round.

The incident Bolati mentioned last time made Li Long clear that there was truly no shortage of desperate people in these mountains.

Li Long's hearing and vision were far superior to ordinary people; just now, he had heard two people in the forest, their breathing a bit rapid.

Seeing that the two people didn't respond, he directly opened the gun's safety, pulled the bolt to chamber a round, and aimed into the forest:

"Come out! If you don't come out, I'm going to shoot!"

Those two people panicked and then made completely opposite moves.

One person stood out with their hands raised, shouting:

"Don't shoot, don't shoot!"

The other person scrambled up and ran into the forest!

Li Long had originally thought about scaring the two people; he actually didn't think there was anything truly wrong with them, and even felt that these two people were just waiting here to see the situation and then prepare to exchange for fritillaria.

That person running away, however, made Li Long feel something was wrong, and he fired a shot, "Bang!"

He was aiming above that person, just wanting to scare them, so he shouted as he fired:

"Stop! If you don't stop, I'm going to shoot at you this time!"

The forest was sparse, and Li Long's vision was good; he could see that the person wasn't running very fast.

The person who surrendered knelt to the ground upon hearing the gunshot, then lay down, not daring to move at all.

They kept begging for mercy there.

The person who ran away ran even faster upon hearing the gunshot. Li Long was also angry, aimed at that person's lower leg, and fired a shot, "Bang!"

"Ah—"

With a scream, that person fell to the ground, rolled twice, and then lay there holding their lower leg and howling loudly.

Li Long kicked the kneeling one with his gun:

"Go over there and bandage him."

He was also worried that a shot would sever that person's blood vessel; what if they died? Although he was a forest ranger, he didn't intend to kill someone on the spot.

Even if this person clearly looked a bit guilty.

"Okay, okay, okay." Seeing Li Long dared to shoot, the kneeling person had even fewer other thoughts.

The two of them went over, and after bandaging the injured person, Li Long began to question the uninjured one.

This questioning was truly shocking! (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 670 =====