Chapter 807

Li Long only found out about this incident two days later.

He truly hadn't expected that his own words would become a prophecy; he had just been worried about it, and it happened right there.

Seeing that Ma Ming was about to grab her hand, Zhu Yuechan hurriedly took a step back and then screamed.

Hu Dongfeng and the others who were digging soil in the saline-alkali land, as well as Uncle Lao Luo and Professor Luo inside the old horse corral, all heard this scream.

The first to run over was Uncle Lao Luo, who had been preparing to feed the wild boars at the entrance of the pigpen; he was still holding the stick used to drive away the small wild boars.

As soon as Ma Ming saw Zhu Yuechan scream, he immediately panicked and came over to cover her mouth, wanting to stop her from making a sound. Zhu Yuechan was also quite brave; she took the basin she had just finished dumping wastewater from and smashed it against Ma Ming.

Ma Ming was relatively strong, and when he grabbed the basin, he caught Zhu Yuechan's wrist, all the while saying, "Don't scream, don't scream, I just want to make friends with you..."

Uncle Lao Luo happened to see this scene as he rushed out. He was furious, ran over, and used the stick to strike Ma Ming on the back, cursing as he hit him:

"You animal! You've got some nerve, coming here to cause trouble! See if I don't beat the crap out of you today!"

Uncle Lao Luo was truly using all his strength. This strike landed on Ma Ming's back, and Ma Ming jumped up in pain, let go of Zhu Yuechan, and turned to flee.

At this moment, Hu Dongfeng, Zheng Jia Wei Guo, and Li Qingyuan, who were carrying shovels, also ran over and happened to block Ma Ming, who was trying to escape.

The three university students were also very angry; they pulled and dragged Ma Ming until they pinned him to the ground.

"Tie him up and send him to the team headquarters!" Uncle Lao Luo said angrily, "You are committing a sin! You are ruining the reputation of our team! Let's see if the team leader doesn't beat you to death!" As he spoke, he lashed out at him with the stick a few more times.

Seeing Ma Ming squealing under Uncle Lao Luo's beating, Professor Luo, though also very angry, stopped him:

"Brother Lao Luo, let's just hand him over to the team. It'll be troublesome if he gets beaten too badly."

Uncle Lao Luo nodded and then asked Zhu Yuechan:

"Little Zhu, are you... are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Zhu Yuechan, still shaken, relaxed, "He just said he wanted to be friends with me, tried to grab my hand, and when I refused, he tried to grab me..."

Knowing that Zhu Yuechan was fine, everyone felt relieved.

Xu Chengjun found out about this incident very quickly. His face turned livid with anger, and he rode his bicycle to the old horse corral.

Seeing Ma Ming, who was tied up and sitting by the wall with a look of grievance, Xu Chengjun stepped forward and kicked him over, cursing as he kicked:

"You animal! If you're in heat, go to the pigpen! Let me tell you, the nature of what you've done—two years ago, they would have dragged you off to the execution ground!"

Xu Chengjun's words were very harsh, but Ma Ming knew he was speaking the truth. At this moment, Ma Ming also regretted it; why did he listen to the instigation of those few people and run over here to harass the university students?

After dealing with Ma Ming, Xu Chengjun went over to Professor Luo and Zhu Yuechan to offer a sincere apology.

"This has nothing to do with you, no need to apologize." Professor Luo said seriously, "Fortunately, no serious consequences occurred."

"Sigh, since it happened in our village, I definitely have a responsibility. Young lady, I'm sorry." Xu Chengjun said to Zhu Yuechan.

"It's alright, I didn't suffer any harm. Thanks to the reminder, if I encountered such a situation, I was told to scream. As soon as I screamed, Uncle Lao Luo came over and beat him."

While Xu Chengjun was still comforting Professor Luo and Zhu Yuechan, at the entrance of the old horse corral, Ma Ming's parents, his sister Ma Chunhong, and his brother-in-law Tao Dayong had all arrived.

"Look at the good deed your Ma Ming has done!" Xu Chengjun didn't give this family any pleasant looks, "I'm telling you, if this had happened two years ago, your Ma Ming would have been dragged off to the execution ground! Even though the female student didn't suffer any loss, this is hooliganism! The nature of it is very serious! This is losing face for our entire team! If this gets out, our team's reputation will be ruined! I'm telling you, I must handle this matter strictly!"

The Ma family was in the wrong and could only offer apologetic smiles, promising there wouldn't be a next time.

"You dare to have a next time? Next time, I'll break his legs!" Uncle Lao Luo said fiercely.

"Exactly, let me tell you, you brat, don't come near the old horse corral in the future. If you dare to come over, I'll dare to deal with you!" Yang Laoliu bared his teeth and said, "Old Ma, keep your son in check. You know what I did before the liberation; don't give me a reason to take action!"

Ma Ming's father wasn't afraid of Uncle Lao Luo, but Yang Laoliu's words terrified him.

"Old Yang, Old Yang, don't worry, I'll deal with him when I get home..."

Xu Chengjun pulled Professor Luo aside and said in a low voice:

"Professor Luo, I am truly sorry, I have a responsibility in this. Now, regarding the handling of the matter, I want to take him to the police station for a few days of detention to teach him a good lesson, but I'm also afraid that if this blows up, it won't be good for the reputation of our female student. What do you think..."

Professor Luo also hesitated. Indeed, although it was the era of reform and opening up and thinking wasn't as conservative, people didn't care as much about these things as before. But as the victim, Zhu Yuechan certainly couldn't be allowed to suffer secondary harm.

Professor Luo thought for a moment, called Zhu Yuechan over, and Xu Chengjun explained his thoughts to her.

"He didn't cause me any substantial harm." Zhu Yuechan's emotions had completely stabilized by now, "You all beat him up pretty badly, I think he should have learned his lesson. It's fine not to send him to the police station, but I don't want to see him again."

"That's fine, we'll keep this matter within this small circle and not let it out." Xu Chengjun breathed a sigh of relief, "I'll have his family buy some things tomorrow to come and apologize to you. As for this Ma Ming, I'll first lock him up at the team headquarters to teach him a lesson and let him reflect properly."

Xu Chengjun was definitely not going to let Ma Ming off easily; this kind of situation had just reared its head, and now was the time to kill the chicken to scare the monkey. Xu Chengjun even wanted the Ma family to compensate Zhu Yuechan one hundred yuan, but Zhu Yuechan refused no matter what.

Things were fine at the old horse corral. At dinner, Zhu Yuechan's emotions had completely returned to normal, and she even joked at the dinner table:

"Thanks to Li Long reminding me to scream at the time, I feel that the sound of me screaming at that moment directly scared Ma Ming, otherwise he wouldn't have been so afraid that he wanted to cover my mouth."

"If it were me, I wouldn't have known what to do." He Lijuan was a bit worried, "There shouldn't be any more incidents like this later on, right?"

"There won't be." Uncle Lao Luo said, "From now on, the few of us will guard the entrance of the old horse corral every day and watch you work. Don't worry, whoever dares to come near, we'll go straight at them with sticks."

"No need, no need, it's not that serious." He Lijuan hurriedly said, "You are all getting on in years, and you have your own work..."

"It's fine, it's fine, your safety is the most important thing!" Uncle Lao Luo said seriously.

Ma Ming was taken to the team headquarters by Xu Chengjun and given another beating, and then it was interrogated out that it was a few idle old bachelors in the village who had instigated Ma Ming and the other lazy young men to go to the old horse corral to try their luck, saying they might be able to take advantage of the situation.

After Xu Chengjun finished the interrogation, he took the militia that same night, knocked on doors one by one, and gave these people a good thrashing.

That night, the team was in an uproar and very lively. Many people heard the commotion, but basically, no one figured out what was going on. When they asked those who had been "visited" by Xu Chengjun, these people were also evasive and wouldn't say.

It wasn't until the next day that gossip spread in the team: someone had gone to the old horse corral to make lewd remarks to those students and had been caught, and these old bachelors were the instigators.

As a result, these people all became like rats crossing the street.

The work Professor Luo and the others had come to do had long since spread through the aunts and sisters at the entrance of the village. Everyone knew that this was a great thing that was very beneficial to the village. If done well, the saline-alkali land wouldn't be shunned anymore; if each family could reclaim dozens or hundreds of acres of wasteland, wouldn't their income rise again?

Everyone was grateful to Professor Luo and the others, but there were people who had to go and act like demons—were they even human?

At first, it was those more sharp-tongued aunts and sisters who would either satirize or mock those old bachelors. Later on, some children followed suit; whenever they saw these people, they would shout, making it so these people couldn't even show their faces.

Some people tried to defend themselves by saying they were just joking, but immediately, women would scold them, "Why don't you go joke with your own mothers and sisters?"

The feelings of the common people are simple, and sometimes even short-sighted.

But they are very genuine.

They know who is good to them, and they know what is beneficial and what is harmful.

In the end, the moral constraints accumulated over thousands of years still had some effect.

The next day, Xu Chengjun released the limping Ma Ming and had Ma Ming's parents come to collect him.

Although they felt heartache seeing their son like this, they also knew clearly that at least he hadn't been locked up in the detention center, so Ma Ming's parents accepted it with red faces. Then they brought the things they had bought to the old horse corral to apologize to Zhu Yuechan.

Peace was restored to Professor Luo and the others. Uncle Lao Luo guarded the entrance of the old horse corral in the morning, and Yang Laoliu guarded it in the afternoon. Strangely enough, when they were guarding it, there were no idle men coming to watch the excitement.

For the sake of Zhu Yuechan's reputation, the handling of this matter was secret; not many people knew what the "bad egg" Ma Ming had done.

Of course, Ma Ming himself didn't have the face to talk about it. For the first few days, he stayed huddled at home and didn't dare to go out; of course, it was also because his leg was a bit lame, and he was embarrassed to come out.

Two days later, when Li Long found out about this, he stormed into the Ma house, slapped Ma Ming a few times, cursed him to high heaven, and almost beat Ma Ming's father, who was trying to stop him. Ma Ming knew he couldn't hide anymore, so he simply left the Fourth Team and went to seek refuge at a distant relative's house.

After Li Long returned from the old horse corral, he found a wooden board in the courtyard, painted it with ink from home, and ran to the entrance of the acquisition station courtyard to hang it on the iron gate, on which he wrote the information that it was open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

This way, those who brought things to trade wouldn't be unaware and make wasted trips.

The next day, Li Long wasn't in a hurry. He finished his meal in peace, pulled the cart into the courtyard to watch the children, and waited for Sister Yang to finish cleaning the kitchen and come to relieve him before he drove the jeep to the acquisition station.

There were already two people waiting at the entrance of the acquisition station. Li Long got out of the car to open the gate, then let people move aside, drove the jeep in, got out to lock the car doors, and then opened the room door to start receiving items.

Not many things were received in the morning. By nearly one o'clock, seeing there was no one left, Li Long closed the door early, loaded the received items into the jeep, and drove them to the supply and marketing cooperative first.

Li Xiangqian was reading a newspaper in the director's office. Seeing Li Long come in, he said with a smile:

"Xiao Long, you're doing great, you're in the newspaper again."

Li Long knew this was about him inviting Professor Luo and the others over, so he explained a bit.

"Not bad, not bad. Young people nowadays really have flexible minds and know how to come up with ideas to get things done. Unlike us when we were young, we didn't know anything, we only knew how to listen to orders and work."

"It's the same, really," Li Long smiled, "Director, I plan to take people over to renovate the herdsmen's houses tomorrow, what do you think..."

"Sure, I've been waiting for this."

Li Xiangqian stood up, took his mug to pour some water, and said while pouring:

"Let me tell you, these past few days I couldn't help but want to talk to you and ask when it would start, but in the end, I held back. I knew you must have your own plan. It's alright, at least as it looks now, it's not too late."

"Then I'll go find Clerk Ma later, and come pick you up in the car early tomorrow morning?"

"Sure. By the way, what supplies need to be prepared?"

"Wood, cement, tools for building walls, etc. Our cooperative needs to provide a truck; my jeep can't carry that many people."

"That's no problem. We aren't bringing much this time..." Li Xiangqian was slightly dissatisfied.

"Then let's load half a truck of bricks; we'll renovate their houses to be a bit sturdier."

"Oh, that works. Okay, okay, I'll arrange it immediately!"

Watching Li Xiangqian call people to arrange the work, Li Long had nothing else to do, so he drove the car to the county committee compound.

Ma Xiao Yan had also been waiting for this news. After seeing Li Long just before getting off work, she immediately went to find her leader.

The deputy minister, who had just finished work and was about to walk out of the county committee compound, heard Ma Xiao Yan's report and approved it immediately.

In less than half a month, it would be the Ethnic Unity Education Month, and having such an activity at this time was very meaningful.

Worth following up on!

After lunch, Li Long unloaded the things from the jeep and put them into the side room. He drove the car to Qingshuihe Village and talked to Meng Hai about this matter, and Meng Hai went to contact the few people who had been confirmed earlier.

The matter was agreed upon; they would go into the mountains to renovate the houses, wouldn't need to live in the mountains, would leave early and return late, and would be paid daily.

For Meng Hai, compared to weaving carrying poles, this was less money earned. But for the others, this was a good job.

Five yuan a day was much more than what those workers earned.

With all aspects of the relationships smoothed out, Li Long drove the jeep back to the acquisition station to continue receiving items.

As far as the current situation goes, the largest bulk item that could be received was still fritillaria.

Obviously, more people were going into the mountains to dig for fritillaria; these people used various methods to transport the fritillaria out of the mountains and then sell it at the acquisition station.

Although the price at which Li Long acquired fritillaria wasn't as high as the state-run acquisition station last year, for these people, even if the price dropped further, it was still better than having it rot in their hands or going to Shicheng or other places to sell it.

More people came to sell things in the afternoon. Li Long kept receiving items, and when the sun set and it was time to close the door, the received items couldn't even fit into one jeep.

He had to make two trips.

Fortunately, the jeep was quite fast, and the distance from here to the big courtyard wasn't far. Otherwise, he would have had to use a tractor—that thing could carry more.

The next day, after breakfast, Li Long went to pick up Clerk Ma and then arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative.

In the courtyard of the supply and marketing cooperative, a large truck was already parked there, and Li Xiangqian and several leaders of the cooperative were chatting in the courtyard.

The truck was loaded with a full load of supplies; at the bottom were bricks and wood, on top was cement, and there were also several large baskets containing some tools.

Li Long seemed to also see wrapped naan and other food.

Alright, it seems they had also prepared lunch.

After seeing Li Long arrive, Li Xiangqian smiled and stepped forward, shook hands with Clerk Ma who had gotten out of the car, chatted for a few sentences, then got into the car and set off.

Also going along were the deputy director of the supply and marketing cooperative and Section Chief Zhou, who was taking over Li Xiangqian's position.

Li Long's jeep was in the front, with Li Xiangqian, the deputy director, Ma Xiao Yan, and Zhou Yuan sitting inside, and the driver followed behind in the truck.

Originally, Li Xiangqian wanted to sit in the truck, but Li Long persuaded him over.

Meng Hai and the others could just sit in the back when the time came.

Arriving at Qingshuihe Village, Li Long saw Meng Hai and the others waiting by the side of the road; they were all carrying tool bags. The bags were a mix of new and old, with the tool handles sticking out.

Li Xiangqian got out of the car and shook hands with Meng Hai and the others one by one:

"Starting today, I'll have to trouble you all!"

Ma Xiao Yan knew that this matter was slightly irregular, but it didn't count for much; as long as the supply and marketing cooperative took the lead in providing supplies, and as long as it helped the herdsmen renovate their houses, then this matter was worth reporting.

She had also seen the report in the State Daily about Li Long inviting professors from the August First Agricultural College to the production team for soil improvement, and she was a bit resentful that Li Long hadn't told her about such a good news lead.

But she couldn't say anything explicitly; after all, Li Long had taken the initiative to tell her about this news lead, which was more important and more in line with the development of the era, so he was already being a good friend.

Therefore, Ma Xiao Yan would also do her best to report on this matter, and she even thought about whether she should beautify it a bit when the time came.

When the jeep led the truck into the mountain gully, turning this way and that, and arrived at Yushanjiang's winter shelter, Ma Xiao Yan immediately started taking photos. She felt that there was no need to beautify it—after all, the current winter shelter was truly dilapidated.

As long as she stayed here for a day and took photos of the situation after the winter shelter was renovated, comparing the two photos would be enough to show the results of the supply and marketing cooperative helping the herdsmen do practical things.

The deputy director meant for Li Xiangqian to say a few words, but he waved his hand and said, "Why bother with that empty stuff? Come, come, come, let's get to work. We can't do technical work, but moving things is still fine. Let's unload the bricks!"

As he spoke, Li Xiangqian was the first to climb onto the truck and started unloading bricks. The deputy director and Zhou Yuan immediately followed to work together, and the driver didn't stay idle either, stepping forward to help.

Meng Hai and the others also wanted to step forward to help, but Li Xiangqian said to them:

"You are the skilled workers now, you are the technical personnel. You discuss with Li Long how to renovate the houses."

Meng Hai and the others looked at Li Long.

Li Long smiled and said:

"Alright, then Old Meng, come, let me tell you how to renovate these houses."

Six people followed Meng Hai to Li Long's side.

"The main structure of this winter shelter is still quite sturdy, but the mud on the roof has been there for a long time, and it will leak when it rains. You all see if it needs to be dismantled and redone, or if we should just add more roof mud. Of course, now that we've brought good materials, let's use the best plan. It's best to replace the wood directly, re-apply the roof mud, and then patch up the walls. By the way, for the key parts, don't be stingy with the bricks, and the cement, all of it can be used."

"Don't think about saving materials." Li Xiangqian, who was unloading bricks over there, said, "We will bring materials every day when we come into the mountains. There will be enough supplies, you just need to fix the houses well!"

Upon hearing this, Meng Hai and the others were immediately full of confidence.

Li Long smiled and said:

"Alright, you all start working, I'm going to go do my own thing too."

The engineering team started, and everyone had their own position. Li Long took his gun from the jeep and walked into the mountains.

There were many people working here; one more didn't make a difference, and one less didn't either. He didn't really want to show his face in the camera, so he thought about seeing if he could hunt something to improve everyone's food.

The wages couldn't be high, after all, the work was just like that, so improving things from other aspects was always fine, right? (End of chapter)