Chapter 795: Professor Luo's students, each with their own thoughts

Li Long sent Ma Xiao Yan back to the county committee courtyard and hurriedly drove back to his own courtyard.

When he went on this trip, he brought one person, and when he came back, he pulled a carload of things. He still had to tidy up properly when he got home.

The sun hadn't set yet, but the unit had already finished work. The road was full of people hurrying home. Only some students were playing after school, making noise on the road and at the alley entrance, tireless, enjoying their happy childhood time.

Although materials were scarce, the children's spiritual world was very full, holding homemade wire slingshots or long, straight branches they had picked up, laughing and making noise.

Li Long was a bit envious, then quickly drove to the gate of the courtyard.

Passing by the acquisition station, he found no one there. Thinking that those who came and saw the large iron gate locked would know the owner wasn't there, they wouldn't stay here.

The jeep had just driven to the gate of the courtyard when he heard Han Fang's voice inside:

"My uncle is back, I heard the car sound... I'll open the door!"

Then came the sound of hurried footsteps, followed by the gate opening, revealing Han Fang's smiling little face.

Li Long smiled and nodded at her, driving into the courtyard. Gu Bo Yuan was standing by the bed-cart looking after Mingming and Haohao. After Li Long parked and got out, he smelled the thick aroma of stewed fish.

Fresh fish, the taste is just good.

"Not bad today, back quite early," Gu Bo Yuan nodded like a commentator, "Did you go into the mountains again?"

"Hmm, went into the mountains to see them wash the sheep." Li Long opened the trunk and let out the two small red deer. These two small red deer were slightly smaller than the two running in the courtyard, but they could already eat grass. At this time, suddenly arriving in a strange environment, they were still a bit scared, the two leaning against each other, looking quite pitiful.

Xiao Hei came over wanting to sniff, and the two little goats also ran over wanting to make new friends. The two little red deer were scared to death, thinking these were hunters, and simply spread their thin legs and ran directly, bringing the other two little red deer to run constantly. The courtyard suddenly became noisy.

"Hey, why did you bring two more? This thing is too noisy, so small and already knows how to butt people!" Gu Bo Yuan didn't pay attention when he entered the door earlier and let the small red deer butt him.

Li Long smiled and didn't answer. He moved the skins, deer antlers, and such from the trunk to the side room.

The originally empty side room was now basically full, classified by category. He also planned to make some wooden racks, like in the small wooden house in the mountains, to put things on the racks, which would be more convenient for collecting and storing.

Things were put away, and over there, Sister Yang shouted that it was time to eat.

Li Long went to wash his hands and change clothes to prepare for dinner.

After Gu Xiaoxia greeted him, she went out to the courtyard. When Li Long changed clothes, he looked at his wound again, confirmed that it had already formed a scar and was not inflamed or festering, and then truly felt relieved.

Although he was lucky this time, he still had to be careful in the future. Carry a gun, be careful when going into the mountains, carry anti-inflammatory medicine, and so on.

Coming out to eat, at Gu Bo Yuan's suggestion, they simply moved the dining table to the courtyard, right by the bed-cart, so that while Mingming and Haohao were playing on the side, the adults could also see them, not delaying the meal.

Freshly steamed buns, thick rice porridge, and stewed fish full of freshness divided into two plates.

Although there was only one dish, it smelled fragrant and tasted fragrant, which was enough.

Li Long was hungry, ate two white flour buns in a row, and the stewed fish was finished by others, and he finished the rest, soup and meat included.

He only drank half a bowl of porridge at the end, feeling full.

"You ate quite a lot today," Gu Bo Yuan teased in the courtyard, "Xiao Long, did you not eat much at noon?"

"I ate, ate at my eldest brother's place," Li Long said, "It's just that I ran to many places today, went to the team, went to the mountains, and helped wash the sheep. I did a lot of work, so I ate a lot."

"That's true." Gu Bo Yuan, after Li Long explained it this way, didn't tease anymore, saying with emotion, "When I was young and reclaiming land in the team, I could really eat then. Corn flour steamed cake, one person could eat half a cage! Now it's really not as good as before..."

"That's true. Now you don't do any work day by day," Gu Xiaoxia said while looking after the children, "Sitting in the shop every day, the amount of activity is less, naturally you can't eat as much."

After her daughter said this, Gu Bo Yuan's face was a bit embarrassed, but thinking about it, it seemed to be true. He didn't do farm work now, hid in the house in winter, and sat at the shop door in summer. If someone came, he sold things; if no one came, he read books and listened to the radio. Something was wrong.

"I have to move around later," Gu Bo Yuan was someone who could listen to advice, "Otherwise, if I keep getting fatter, I'll get sick."

Hey, that's right.

Gu Bo Yuan wandered around the courtyard for a while and went back to his courtyard. Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia held Mingming and Haohao and went into the house, and put away the bed-cart.

At the moment, the days were slowly getting longer, and the temperature was rising. Mosquitoes hadn't come yet, which was the best time. After a while, when the temperature rose further, it would be a bit hot, and there would be many mosquitoes, making it quite uncomfortable to stay outside.

The next day after eating, when Sister Yang took over Mingming and Haohao, Li Long drove the jeep to the acquisition station.

What made Li Long a bit surprised was that at this time, there were already people waiting with bags at the gate of the acquisition station.

Seeing Li Long come over, those people made way, their faces showing smiles.

Li Long opened the iron gate, let these people in first, then drove the jeep into the courtyard and parked it, only then going to open the room door.

"Line up, come one by one in the order of arrival, don't rush, we have time," Li Long said, "Wait for me to set things up."

He went behind the counter, put away the tools, and started collecting things.

"Boss, is there no fixed time for when you open the door? Some of us have been here several times..." asked the person in the second position.

The first one took out a stack of rabbit skins from the bag—Li Long frowned as he looked, flipping through the skins while explaining to the second person:

"I am also looking for a suitable person to watch the shop now. I have things to do and need to run outside often. Otherwise, I would watch the shop myself. Now I haven't found a suitable person, so I can only look at the time... I'll try my best."

"Look at me, how about it?" That person said with a cheeky smile, "I can help you watch the shop every day, the salary isn't high, just give me fifty a month."

Li Long didn't even lift his head, directly throwing out a sentence: "I'm not familiar with you."

He didn't wait for the second person to speak, and said to the first person:

"Your rabbit skins are spring skins. Look, the hair on them has started to shed. These skins are worse than winter skins. Two yuan per skin."

Originally, Li Long thought that person would bargain, but unexpectedly, he responded simply:

"Okay."

Twenty-one skins, big and small, were basically gray rabbit skins. Li Long gave forty-two yuan.

That person also took out four water rat skins from the bag. Li Long flipped through them and said:

"These are also spring skins, but water rat skins are more expensive than rabbit skins. Thirteen per skin, I won't distinguish the size, how about it?"

These four skins were two big and two small. The small ones were naturally not as valuable as the big ones, but Li Long gave an average price, just because the other party was so straightforward just now.

"Good." That person was also very straightforward.

"When you peel the water rat skin, there is a sac under the navel of the male water rat. Did you collect it?" Li Long asked.

"Didn't pay attention... Are you talking about the black dirty thing flipped out from there? I threw it away."

"This thing can also be sold for money. Next time you catch a water rat, bring this along. A bag of black stuff, I'll count it as ten yuan," Li Long said.

"Really?" That person couldn't believe his ears.

"Really." Li Long nodded seriously.

That person settled the account, took the money, and left quickly. Li Long felt that there might be many water rats where he lived, and he was in a hurry to go back and dig for water rats.

The second person brought a bag of licorice—this thing was relatively common during this period because of spring plowing, and some people started to have ideas about those wasteland areas.

Reclaiming wasteland also has its own rules—at the moment, there is too much wasteland, so those who know go to find places with a lot of licorice. There is no saline-alkali here, and after reclaiming, it can be directly planted with crops.

Unlike two years later, after cotton prices rose, everyone discovered that saline-alkali land had poor harvests or even total crop failure for other things, but cotton grew quite well, so they didn't pick the land then. As long as it was wasteland, it was contracted for reclamation.

At this time, there was a lot of wasteland, so those who wanted to plant more land picked and reclaimed, reclaiming those places where licorice and bitter beans grew. The soil quality in these places was quite good.

The licorice roots dug out were mostly ignored by the landlords who reclaimed the land, so some people went to pick them up to sell.

Li Long flipped through them, picked out some and put them aside, looked at that person and said:

"This thing, are you doing it on purpose or don't you know? This is bitter bean root, not licorice root. You bring this thing over, are you fooling me?"

Bitter beans and licorice look very similar when they don't bloom. Those who know can distinguish them. Bitter bean leaves are large, and licorice leaves are small.

"This isn't bitter bean root, right?" That person pretended not to know, picked it up to look, and said, "I think it looks quite similar... Let me tell you, these weren't picked by me, they were picked by my wife. Isn't it all the same?"

"You two take a look and see if they are the same!" Li Long pulled a licorice root and a bitter bean root for him to see. The skin of the bitter bean root was darker, and the taste was also different.

That person was a bit embarrassed, laughing and saying:

"I really don't know. If it's not licorice root, then pick it out. When I go back, I'll talk to that woman... How dare she do this... Isn't it making me lose face?"

"Your licorice root isn't dried. I'll count it as three mao five per kilogram. Weigh these... eight kilograms two, two yuan eight mao seven. Come, sign and take the money."

The first one took nearly a hundred yuan, and he only took two yuan and some change. That person's face couldn't hold it, and he lingered and didn't want to sign. Li Long pointed to the back and said:

"The price is like this. If you don't want to sell, then I'm sorry, take it to other acquisition stations. Let me tell you, my price, the whole county can't find a second one. I'll give you double."

Actually, everyone knew that Li Long's acquisition station gave a very fair price—or rather, before there was a comparison, it was hard to say. After the market's acquisition station opened, everyone was clear that this acquisition station's price was really good.

The people behind also said, if you don't sell, then hurry up and make room. That person had to sign, take the money, roll up his bag, and leave.

Li Long could see that this person was also someone who didn't work, his walking was floating, and he didn't look like someone who worked.

It felt a bit like Manyin, the brother-in-law of Shao'an in "Ordinary World," only wanting to pick up ready-made things.

It was just a flash of thought. Afterward, Li Long continued to look at things for people, grade them, weigh the goods, and calculate the money.

Since the winter of 1981, Li Long had been dealing with the acquisition station. The types of things sold were quite many. Thanks to Chen Hongjun, when the two chatted, he also had a general idea about the prices of things often collected by the acquisition station. Plus, he had seen a lot on the internet in later generations, so he could talk to those who came to sell things, and could chat a few sentences about anything.

Pretending to be an insider with half a bottle of water was no problem.

It was probably because he hadn't come to the acquisition station for several days, and the people who planned to sell things had accumulated quite a lot, so until it was almost two o'clock when he got off work, Li Long hadn't finished collecting things.

The things collected couldn't be loaded in one jeep.

He looked at the people behind and said:

"The big sister at the very back, help close the iron gate. We won't collect anymore after these people are done, come back in the afternoon, otherwise, no one will have lunch."

"Good, good, good," the big sister at the very back carried a basket, in which were several things, licorice roots, cynomorium, and half a basket of copper coins—this big sister was quite energetic.

Li Long's movements were fast, and his valuation wasn't stingy. He quickly collected the things of those people in front. Even the second to last one brought a stack of old thread-bound books, he collected them at five mao per book—the other party was also quite happy, as long as it was more expensive than the waste station.

That big sister happily watched Li Long collect things. When it was the last one, she couldn't help but say:

"This broken book is also collected? At that time, our family saved quite a lot, there were hundreds of them, all burned for fire."

"If you have them, bring them over, I basically collect them all." Old books, especially those from the Republic of China and early Qing Dynasty, Li Long felt still had some value.

Although he didn't understand them himself.

At this time, in the Agricultural College of Wucheng, Professor Luo was talking to several students he brought.

"Actually, you don't have to force yourselves. This is a brand-new topic. Although the school supports me in doing it, the funds provided are not much, and the place we are going to is in a village under the county. The conditions are certainly arduous. You can continue to attend classes at school until graduation. The courses I teach will be taught by other teachers..."

"Professor Luo, I have already made up my mind to follow you in researching this topic," a female student with two braids said seriously, "I think this topic has great research value and will play a great role in the agricultural development of our Xinjiang, so I will definitely go with you!"

"I'll go too. I'm not afraid of arduous conditions. My home is in Hotan. No matter how arduous it is there, can it be more arduous than on the edge of the desert? Northern Xinjiang is already much better. In Southern Xinjiang at this time, my parents are still eating sand outside!" a male student said with a hearty voice.

"That's right, Professor Luo, don't think we are delicate. What's a little hardship? We all think this topic has great research value. Being able to participate in such a topic with you is our honor!" another male student said, adjusting his glasses.

"Li Qingyuan, forget it. You are from Wucheng and have never stayed in the countryside. To be honest, you are not good at enduring hardship." Another female student with a ponytail teased him.

"He Lijuan, aren't you the same? Although you are from the county, your family conditions are so good. Living in a large dormitory in the village and eating coarse grains, can you stay?"

"I... if I can't, I'll bring some snacks, bring some money. If I can't eat, can't I buy? Besides, you can bear it, I can too!" This female student named He Lijuan was white and fat. It was obvious that this body shape in this environment wasn't something an ordinary family could raise.

He Lijuan's grandparents were old revolutionaries, and her parents were middle-level cadres in the county. Her family conditions were very good. She hadn't suffered much since she was a child. Actually, counting it up, this time Professor Luo was most worried about her.

"Xiao He, I think you should consider it carefully. The village we are going to this time is different from your family conditions, and we won't stay in the village for just a day or two, at least for a month. In such an environment, you really might not be able to bear it."

"Professor, you can't look down on me! I will definitely be able to do it!" He Lijuan said stubbornly.

Since the students all had confidence, Professor Luo didn't say anything more. He looked at his watch and then said:

"Then let's dismiss the meeting now, go back and pack your luggage, and bring your bedding. Tomorrow morning, the school will send a car to send us to the bus station. From there, we will be a small collective. Boys should help girls with luggage, and if there are difficulties, raise them and solve them together.

Of course, the most important thing is our topic. I already have a plan. We will adjust it when we see the actual situation. You can also put forward your ideas at that time. Alright, go pack your things!"

The five students left in groups. Professor Luo looked at their backs and was actually a bit uneasy. He didn't know if this decision of his was correct.

But years of experience, including his own intuition, told him that this was a very worthy direction to research, and he should go.

Li Long didn't know at this time that Professor Luo was about to come. He loaded part of the things into the car, drove out of the acquisition station, and when he locked the big gate, someone came over with a bag on their back.

"Closing the door first, brother," Li Long rolled down the car window and shouted at that person, "Come back in the afternoon, have to eat at noon."

That person looked at Li Long, then looked at the locked door of the acquisition station, hesitated for a moment, simply sat at the iron gate, and then took out a bun from the cloth bag he brought.

Li Long had already driven out a distance, a bit unbearable, and backed the car back, asking:

"Brother, what are you selling?"

"Is the acquisition station opened by you?" That person still had a bun in his mouth, asking vaguely.

"Yes, it's opened by me. Come, let me see your things, can I collect them."

"Skins. I have seven water rat skins here, and two badger skins." That person put the bun back into the cloth bag and took out the skins from the bag.

Li Long looked at the skins. The water rat skin was a bit old, estimated to be from last year. The badger skin was quite new, should have been killed just now.

"This water rat was killed last autumn, right? Under its stomach..."

"You mean the scent sac, right? Yes, yes, this litter has three with sacs." That person was actually someone who knew the goods.

Li Long was happy. Not bad, this last one, it can be considered a gain. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 796 =====