Chapter 698: Not a Pixiu, send what should be sent

One day in late August, a few days after Li Long returned from the mountains, he finally drove out again.

In less than half a month, Gu Xiaoxia would go out, and the melons at home were about to be harvested. Li Long estimated that the job of weaving big brooms in September might also come down.

Taking advantage of this gap, he had to go out for a trip to handle the things that should be handled, so as not to be in a hurry and unable to take care of both when the time came.

Gu Xiaoxia also knew that Li Long was busy all year round. Although she was already a national cadre, her thinking was still slightly more traditional. A man was a rake for raking money, and earning money outside wasn't it justified?

So she supported Li Long going out to handle things. Li Long also made it clear to her that he would be back in three days at most. If things went smoothly, he would be back tomorrow or the day after.

Compared with the road conditions of the Wuyi Highway, Li Long wanted to complain about the road from the township to the Fourth Team.

The road was a dirt road, with ditches on both sides. In some sections, there would be mud in normal times, but walking was a bit better, and winter was also better.

The most uncomfortable was the rainy day. If the rain was small, it could barely walk normally. If the rain was big, the road was full of mud. One step down could stick two kilograms, and students going to school could only walk in the ditch, otherwise, the speed would be greatly reduced.

Not to mention the car. If the tractor was driven out from the team on a rainy day, by the time it reached the township, both people and the car would become mud figurines.

Although the jeep performed better and was considered more advanced in people's eyes, the ending of walking this road on a rainy day was the same.

Sunny days wouldn't be too good either. The car drove past, and dust flew behind. At this time, the car's sealing wasn't good, and there was a lot of dust in the car.

Only after a few years did the township start to pave the roads leading to the major brigades with gravel, and it would take more than ten years to pave them with asphalt.

And driving on the Wuyi Highway, although there wasn't the pleasure of the Lianhuo Expressway thirty or forty years later, driving on this road at this time was really very comfortable. The road was flat, there were few cars, few people, and no traffic jams.

Li Long's first stop was Beiting.

The income from weaving handles alone was over ten thousand yuan. Li Long naturally knew that the number of handles was approved by Section Chief Qian.

Section Chief Qian was now in a high position with heavy power. A little bit leaking from his hands was enough for Li Long to eat until his belly was round.

Li Long naturally knew that Section Chief Qian did this, most likely because of that tiger skin, feeling that the favor hadn't been returned enough.

But in Li Long's view, that tiger skin could only gather dust if placed here, and exchanging it for this jeep that played a big role was really considered cleared.

Each took what they needed.

People now gave him such a big benefit, no matter what, Li Long had to go over and thank him.

At the beginning, Li Long wanted to take tiger bone wine, but later thought, forget it.

It was said at the beginning that he didn't take the tiger bones himself. Now taking tiger bone wine over, wasn't that slapping his own face?

So he brought the snow leopard skin brought by Halimu and the others this time.

There were two snow leopard skins at home. One was brought by Halimu and the others when they got married last time, and one was brought down from the mountain by Yushanjiang and the others this time.

Li Long brought this hide, and also brought other things that were kept.

It was about one hundred kilometers from Maxian to Beiting, about the same distance as going to Kuitun. Driving all the way, Li Long found that large areas of wheat fields hadn't been plowed, and the crops that could be seen on both sides of the road were sunflowers and corn, and there were few economic crops.

At present, this side was about the same as Maxian, and what was planted in large areas was still mainly grain.

Some wheat fields still had wheat grass that hadn't been pulled away, and some wheat fields were drying zero-star crops planted elsewhere. When passing through villages, occasionally a few dogs would rush out and follow behind the car barking and chasing, but they would soon be left behind, and then sullenly turn back.

There were more cars on the road than before, but it was still far from later generations. In this era, there were basically no private cars here. Drivers were still a high-paying profession that made people envious.

The car drove into Beiting. Li Long still parked it in the open space diagonally opposite the State Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and then took his work permit to enter the door to find Little Si.

The last time he looked for Little Si was in the car class. Li Long knew the location. The gatekeeper saw Li Long's work permit, although a bit curious about this new face, he still let him in.

Li Long went straight to the car class after entering. He planned to contact Little Si to see if Section Chief Qian had time. If he had time, he would go to visit. If he didn't have time, he would entrust the things to Little Si and go handle other things himself.

"Little Si? Went out. Today the leader went to the state to handle things, yesterday..." The other driver in the car class saw Li Long looking for Little Si, stopped the action of wiping the car, and said to Li Long, "You come over in the afternoon, he should be here in the afternoon."

"Good, thank you, comrade." Li Long looked at the gasoline barrel next to him, didn't take out a cigarette, thanked him, and turned to go out.

Since Section Chief Qian and Little Si weren't there in the morning, his plan had to be adjusted. He would stay in the city for a while longer, and by the way, buy some things.

After rebirth, Li Long had been to Wucheng several times. Although he had been to Beiting, he basically hadn't walked around much.

Just taking the opportunity to walk around.

As the state capital, Beiting's prosperity was definitely stronger than Maxian, and even stronger than Shicheng at this time.

Many storefronts on the street had opened, some were public, some were private, and there were already people pushing carts and carrying poles to sell things along the street. Li Long wanted to ask about the market here, asked a few people, it was said to be on the east side of the city, Li Long didn't figure out the road, so he didn't go.

He drove the jeep and walked slowly along the road in the city, thinking about walking wherever he could.

Passing by a park, he saw an old-fashioned fighter plane inside, don't know if it was a J-something or an earlier one, most likely a model for people to visit.

Different from the roads in Shicheng Old Street, the roads here were all horizontal and vertical, square and upright. Li Long turned twice and came to a small market.

The market was in the northern suburbs, the scale wasn't big, and the people who carried poles and occupied stalls here were also coming and going, and there were quite a few people looking, shopping, and buying things on both sides of the road.

Li Long parked the car on the side of the market, got out, joined the crowd, and started looking for the things he wanted to buy.

It was similar to the market in Shicheng Old Street. Those selling chickens and eggs, selling apples and watermelons, selling baskets and hampers, and some second-hand dealers, pushing carts to sell needles and threads, electronic watches, and calculators.

Once upon a time, these things would have been checked and capped, but now the market was open, and everyone could sell them openly.

Halfway through, Li Long saw someone carrying a pole selling peaches and stopped.

Honey peaches, the size was about the same as Gu Xiaoxia's fist, and the quality looked very good.

The one selling peaches was also quite good at arranging. He padded some peach leaves in the basket, and the peaches were stacked layer by layer on top, like a pagoda. The top one was a peach tip that was bright red and the peach body was pink and white, looking festive.

There were quite a few people asking for the price, but Li Long could see that few people bought them.

"One yuan and fifty cents per kilogram... why don't you go rob? This kilogram of peaches is worth more than half a kilogram of meat. If I have this money, I don't know to cut meat to eat?"

"That is, these peaches are not expensive things, how can they be sold so expensive?"

"Comrade, sell it cheaper, if we all buy it, how about five mao per kilogram?"

Li Long was a bit stunned, this bargaining was a bit ruthless!

These peaches had good quality, he could smell a faint fragrance, and also saw that the peach leaves padded underneath were fresh, should be picked early in the morning.

"Cheaper is not possible." The boss hesitated for a while and insisted, "My peaches are counted in this area. From the beginning of sprouting, I carefully served them, and the effort put in is not small. This one yuan and fifty cents is a conscience price—if you think it's expensive, look over there, there are hairy peaches for sale, seven mao per kilogram, that's cheap."

"That hairy peach is so small, walnut-sized, still green eggs, how can it be as good-looking as yours?" The onlookers were quite picky, wanting good ones and wanting to pay less.

This was also normal. After all, in this era, except for those who could card bugs like Li Long, few people had too much spare money on them.

And it was such a small market, most of the people who came here to shop were nearby, and most of those with money went to shop in malls and big markets, and couldn't come here.

Li Long leaned forward, and the person in front turned his head and complained to him:

"Young man, what are you squeezing for? Didn't you see someone in front?"

Li Long originally wanted to join the fun. As soon as he heard the voice, he heard that this was the one who had been bargaining and wanted to buy peaches for five mao. He wasn't happy in his heart, so he opened his mouth and said:

"Then are you buying or not? If you are not buying, let me go, I want to buy."

This person was in his thirties, with parted hair, looking a bit like a hooligan. Hearing Li Long's words, he was a bit unconvinced and pushed Li Long, but didn't push him.

Li Long wasn't polite either, reached out and pushed him to the side, then took a step forward to the position he "let out", lowered his head and asked the boss:

"Comrade, how many kilograms are these peaches in total?"

"I weighed it before picking it over, two baskets, thirty kilograms," that person answered very briskly. "That's good, if I want all of them, can you wipe the zero? How about forty yuan?"

The peaches were good, Li Long had also walked around Maxian and Shicheng, to tell the truth, he really hadn't encountered such good peaches—later generations' honey peaches were bigger than this, but even if Li Long hadn't tasted them, he knew they definitely didn't taste as good as this.

There was no technology and ruthless work in this era.

"You want all of them?" the one selling peaches asked happily, "Fine, fine!" If he sold all, deducting five yuan, it was equivalent to less than two mao per kilogram, of course, it was cost-effective.

Hearing Li Long wanted to wrap it all, some people were unhappy:

"Young man, you can't be like this, if you buy them, what do we buy?"

"Then you didn't buy them either," Li Long wouldn't get used to them. Such good peaches, missed this village, there wouldn't be this shop, he didn't want to miss it.

The one selling peaches wouldn't get used to others either, took out the scale pan, hung it on the basket, and weighed it for Li Long:

"Look here, my scale is a fifteen-kilogram scale, and it's fifteen kilograms high with the basket, how about it?"

"Fine." Li Long said while taking out money:

"I didn't bring anything, you carry it over, my car is over there, help me put it in the car."

(Note: The text contains a repeating filler phrase here, which is ignored in translation.)

"Good, good, good." The one selling peaches put down the scale, hung it on the basket, bent down, hooked the pole on the basket handle, and was about to leave.

Those who originally wanted to buy peaches grabbed the basket and wouldn't let him go. The one selling peaches was unhappy:

"What's going on? Still want to buy and sell by force? I tell you, I will carry two more baskets over in the afternoon. You can come over when you want to buy. But the price won't drop much, you have also seen it, there are those who know the goods!

I tell you, in order to bear good peaches, I buried so much oil dregs fertilizer under this peach tree, that's all money... Alright, alright, let go, don't delay me earning money!"

Hearing the one selling peaches say this, those people were embarrassed to pester anymore and let go of the hands grabbing the basket.

Li Long walked to the car with that person, took out two bags, and carefully put the peaches into the bags one by one.

When he took them, he pinched them lightly and was a bit surprised that these peaches were actually hard.

"We grow crispy peaches at home," the one selling peaches explained when he saw Li Long's action, "They will slowly become soft after being placed at home for two days. They are quite sweet now, but they will be sweeter after being placed soft.

But if they are too soft, they can't be sold, and they will rot if touched slightly..."

"Good, good, good, just like this is just right." Li Long put the peaches into the bags one by one, then took out money and asked while taking out money: "Where is your home? Do you sell peaches here every day?"

"Yes, I've been here these few days. We have seven or eight peach trees planted in the vegetable garden at home, planted five or six years ago, and they are in the fruiting period. My old father used to study agronomy and understands this. Our peach trees have been grafted and are different from ordinary hairy peaches."

No wonder, the taste of these peaches was indeed good.

Li Long thought about buying some more when he came back, but was afraid he wouldn't run into him, so he counted out forty yuan and handed it to the other party, and at the same time said:

"Then where is your home? If you are not here, where can I find you?"

Seeing Li Long driving a jeep, the one selling peaches had already classified him as the leader's driver. Being able to talk to such a person felt quite honored. Seeing Li Long ask about his home, he immediately said:

"My home is in Guangdong Household, the third house on the right when entering the village, you just ask for Lu Ma Lao Si's house."

Li Long knew the specific location, so he didn't worry anymore.

After buying the things, Li Long drove the jeep and lost the thought of walking around. He found a state-run restaurant, went in, asked for a bowl of noodles with stir-fried meat, and also asked for an extra portion of noodles and noodle soup.

Money and food stamps were still needed here. After giving them, he found a seat and sat down, and started peeling garlic.

The new garlic had come down. Li Long peeled four or five cloves of garlic, crushed them in the eyes of several diners, put them into a tea bowl, and then crushed them.

He looked left and right. Most people ate stir-fried noodles, *jiupianzi* (a type of noodle), and plain mixed noodles, and there were also those who ate meatball soup. Like him, there were two people eating stir-fried meat noodles.

He could have felt a bit of superiority before, but today he wouldn't.

Maybe because there were few people who ordered stir-fried meat noodles, so his noodles were served quickly, followed by extra noodles

Amidst the envious gazes of several people, Li Long poured the extra noodles into the wide-mouthed bowl, covered them with the vegetables, added the garlic he had fished out of the tea bowl, and began to mix and eat.

It was a classic case of wolfing down food; he picked up a mouthful of noodles, relying on his young and sturdy stomach, chewed twice, and swallowed them whole before going in for another.

The large bowl of noodles was empty in an instant. Li Long scraped up the remaining vegetables, poured the noodle broth into the bowl, set down his chopsticks, and swirled the bowl to catch the vegetable juices from the sides. Once it had cooled enough not to burn, he drank it all in one go.

Finally, he took a sip of tea to rinse his mouth, and the meal was finished.

Back in the jeep, Li Long felt he could have eaten more, but he didn't plan on having any more noodles. He could have finished another serving if he'd ordered it, but he was mainly worried about having bad breath when he went to see Director Qian in the afternoon.

After thinking for a moment, he pulled a peach from one of the bags, wiped the fuzz off on his clothes, and started munching on it.

It had a sweet, fresh fragrance with a faint, barely perceptible hint of tartness; overall, the flavor was excellent.

After finishing the peach, which was slightly smaller than his fist, Li Long felt satisfied.

After resting in the jeep for a while, Li Long drove to the open space where he had parked that morning. After stopping the jeep and getting out, he carried a black canvas bag containing the snow leopard skin in one hand and the bag of peaches in the other, then walked toward the Prefecture Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

The guard was the same one from the morning. Seeing Li Long, he waved him through without waiting for him to speak, clearly recognizing him.

Li Long smiled and carried the bags toward the vehicle fleet office.

Xiao Si must have heard from his colleagues that morning that Li Long was coming, as he was already waiting outside. When Li Long approached with his things, he smiled and walked over to greet him:

"Hello, Comrade Li Long!"

He led Li Long to his jeep, and the two began to chat.

"I came by this trip to see Director Qian and you." Li Long had already observed that there was no one else around, so he pointed to the black bag and said, "Inside is a roe deer skin for you. There are also some peaches I just bought; you keep some, and I'll take some to Director Qian."

"The Director is in, you should go up and see him first," Xiao Si said with a smile. "Don't worry about the things."

"Alright then." Li Long took the roe deer skin out of the black bag and handed it to Xiao Si, then took out some peaches. Xiao Si grabbed a water bucket and filled it with three or four kilograms of peaches before stopping.

Li Long carried the rest and walked toward the office building.

Director Qian already knew Li Long was coming, so when Li Long knocked on the door, he stood up with a smile.

Every day, Director Qian met many people—from the Autonomous Region, from the Prefecture Cooperative, and from related units in the prefecture.

But today, his smile upon seeing Li Long was more sincere.

After entering the office, Li Long set down the bag, shook hands with Director Qian using both hands, and exchanged greetings.

Someone came in to pour tea for Li Long and then left.

After a few pleasantries, Li Long stated the purpose of his visit.

"My friends in the mountains were down cutting grass, and I went to help. They gave me a snow leopard skin. I have no use for it, so I brought it to give to you. I saw these peaches at the market today and they looked good, so I bought some as well..."

This mismatched pair of gifts made Director Qian laugh; this young man was truly honest.

"I can't take your skin for nothing," Director Qian said, feigning seriousness. "Although this snow leopard skin isn't as..." He didn't finish his sentence, but Li Long understood.

"Even if it isn't as expensive as that, it's not cheap either," Director Qian said earnestly.

"This is to thank you; I definitely won't take money," Li Long said, his attitude firm. "It's more useful with you than it is with me." (End of chapter)