Chapter 812

Li Long went to return the tractor and hadn't returned for a long time. Meng Hai and the others were working quite smoothly at Talihar's winter pasture. After finishing in the afternoon, seeing there was still time, Li Xiangqian pointed in the direction, let them take the tools, carry those materials, and go to Bieke's winter pasture.

The food was good, the wages weren't low, and they could bring meat back. Meng Hai and the others were honest and felt that the remaining time shouldn't be wasted, so they did a bit more.

People who are lazy and slippery usually slack off at this time, but Meng Hai and the others wouldn't. In the words Meng Hai said privately to a few people, the host treats us well, the treatment in all aspects is quite good, so we can't do that kind of immoral thing.

Li Xiangqian also moved things forward together, saying while moving:

"Let me tell you, Li Long must have gone hunting, and he will definitely be able to bring some meat back today—even if he can't bring it back, there will definitely be meat for dinner."

"Director Li, you have such confidence in Li Long?" Ma Xiao Yan followed and asked, panting.

"That's for sure, can I not know the people under my command?" Li Xiangqian stopped, let out a long breath, wiped his sweat, and said with a smile: "Let me tell you, this Li Long, his brain is active, he has ideas for everything he does, but he's just a bit lazy and doesn't like doing physical labor.

If you ask him to work honestly with us, that's impossible. He can definitely think of different ideas for you—but to be honest, in terms of brains, I haven't seen anyone better than him."

Li Xiangqian said this not just to praise Li Long; he had real, solid experience.

When he first met Li Long, Li Long was still bringing sheep carcasses from the mountains to sell. At that time, he had rejected him casually—of course, it could also be considered that they didn't know each other before they fought.

And later, he asked him to take Section Chief Qian to bag yellow sheep. What was Li Long doing at that time? Li Xiangqian didn't think much of him anyway.

After all, as a section chief of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, how could he casually take a fancy to a middleman?

But unexpectedly, in just these three or four years, Li Long had grown step by step from the angle he looked down on to the present—

Not to mention that Li Xiangqian was looking up to him now; in fact, he had already regarded Li Long as an equal. He could drive the jeep he hadn't driven, and Section Chief Qian, who was originally his old superior's connection, now felt that his relationship with Li Long was closer than his own.

Of course, Li Long borrowed this relationship of his to get many jobs in the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and earned a lot of money, but if he didn't have that brain and that ability, these jobs would definitely have been messed up.

After all, these jobs were also assigned to many people before, but what was the result? There were quite a few things to clean up for these jobs every year.

It could be said that these jobs helped Li Long, and Li Long also helped him.

And among the leaders who came into contact with Li Long, who didn't praise him? Section Chief Qian wouldn't even mention it, and when Director Wei left, he was still saying that if he were in Beiting City, having a Li Long under his command would make things so convenient!

That's why Li Xiangqian praised Li Long here, because he was worth praising.

Hearing that Li Long had gone hunting, Meng Hai didn't have much to say, but those who were working were very happy. They ate deer meat for two meals yesterday, and at noon today, it became dry naan with pickles; this gap was a bit large.

If Li Long went hunting, would they be able to eat something good for dinner again?

"We would rather Comrade Li go hunting every day." A bold villager opened his mouth and said with a smile, "Not to mention bringing meat back every day, even if he can bring it back once every two or three days, we'll be satisfied!"

A four or five-kilogram yellow sheep leg should be worth at least six or seven yuan, right? Plus the good lunch, calculating it this way, the daily wage was twenty, right?

It wasn't worse than weaving carrying poles!

While talking, they arrived at Bieke's winter pasture.

According to Meng Hai and the others' thoughts, they would tear down the roof of the winter pasture today, and tomorrow morning they would be able to finish the remaining work, and then transfer to the next winter pasture.

However, just as they arrived, they discovered that someone was living here.

A young man was holding a basin and fetching water at the water pipe. Seeing Meng Hai and the others come over, he screamed and ran back carrying the basin.

Meng Hai and the others were also stunned here, not knowing what to do.

They also didn't know clearly if the person living here was the original owner of this winter pasture.

Li Xiangqian reacted very quickly. He immediately understood that these should be the people who came from the interior to dig fritillaria and herbs in the mountains, who hadn't dug a dugout and directly occupied this winter pasture.

After all, this winter pasture had a door and a roof, and there was a wooden kang inside; wasn't living here more comfortable than a dugout or a mountain cave?

Moreover, in these deep mountains, forest rangers patrolling the mountains generally didn't come over, so it was very safe.

Li Xiangqian had many thoughts in his mind. He felt that he couldn't provoke these people; after all, there were two winter pastures over there that had just been renovated. If he angered this group of people and they went to destroy those two winter pastures, what would happen? Wouldn't they have worked for nothing?

He was still thinking of countermeasures when four or five people suddenly came out of the winter pasture, each holding knives, sticks, and the like, guarding the door and confronting Li Xiangqian and the others.

Meng Hai and the others also raised their tools in defense.

Li Xiangqian hurriedly stepped forward and said with a smile:

"No rush, no rush, you are the ones digging medicine living here, right? We aren't patrolling the forest. I'm friends with the original owner of this winter pasture, and taking advantage of their transfer, we came over to renovate this winter pasture..."

"Really?" The leader was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a gray Zhongshan suit, with a Mediterranean hairstyle, a clean-shaven face, and looking a bit scholarly, but his eyes were flickering, not looking like a decent person.

When he spoke, he habitually smoothed his few hairs and asked vigilantly and suspiciously:

"This winter pasture is quite sturdy, does it need renovation? Let me tell you, don't try to fool us. We still have seven or eight people who went out and will be back in a while... We are definitely living in this winter pasture and won't move."

"No..." Li Xiangqian was just about to say no need to move, no need to move, as long as they let them renovate it.

However, before he could even finish his words, Ma Xiao Yan spoke up from behind:

"Why not move? This isn't your place, is it? Besides, if you don't move, how can we renovate it?"

Li Xiangqian sighed. This silly girl really didn't know how sinister the human heart was and how cold the world was. Forget it, forget it, this matter probably couldn't be solved easily.

"Why should we move? You say it's your friend's, so it's your friend's?" That middle-aged man certainly didn't want to move. There was fritillaria in seven gullies nearby. These people used this winter pasture as a base and didn't need to fight guerrilla warfare like other medicine diggers. The fritillaria in these seven gullies alone could let them earn a large sum in one fritillaria season!

"We aren't discussing it." Li Xiangqian didn't want to solve it with force. If he were ten years younger, maybe he would have already rushed up waving a shovel at this time. But as the director of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, he had to consider many things, and according to this middle-aged man, they had other people outside, so he couldn't act easily.

After all, if they fought at this time and knocked these people down, what would happen if they were ambushed halfway?

Looking further ahead, if they knocked these few people down and then renovated this winter pasture, what would happen if a fish that slipped through the net came to cause destruction? Leave a mess and ignore it?

That certainly wouldn't work.

"No discussion!" Li Xiangqian's attitude was regarded as weakness by the other party. The middle-aged man waved his hand: "Let me tell you clearly, we are living in this winter pasture for at least this month, and we won't move. You want to renovate? Fine, talk about it in a month. After the fritillaria season ends, we'll leave, and you can come again."

He looked at Ma Xiao Yan in the crowd, then looked at Li Xiangqian, and suddenly said with a smile:

"Of course, you can come over here to renovate the winter pasture, you must be very rich, right? Give us one... no, five hundred yuan, and we'll move. How about that? It's very cost-effective!"

"You are blackmailing!" Ma Xiao Yan couldn't bear it anymore. She had worked in government agencies for many years, and even when she went to the countryside, she was received by people, and the attitude was very good. She had never encountered such a rascal before.

That middle-aged man smiled lewdly at her:

"Blackmail? How could it be blackmail? Didn't this person just say it? We are discussing it; this is a discussion. Since the discussion doesn't work, then you go; we won't move."

Just as they were talking, there was movement in the forest on the eastern hillside, and then five people came one after another, all holding tools for digging fritillaria in their hands.

"Old Uncle, what are these people doing?" The leader was a sturdy man, at least one meter nine tall, with messy hair and stubble, looking like a gorilla. After he came down, he asked the middle-aged man.

"They are asking us to move, saying they want to renovate this winter pasture." The middle-aged man replied.

"We won't move!" This big guy was Guo Dali. He hadn't suffered less since he followed the middle-aged man into the mountains to dig medicine. His brain wasn't very flexible. When looking for a mountain cave, others could crawl in, but it was very difficult for him. Where others could lie down and sleep, he could only curl up his body. Even when digging a dugout, he had to dig a larger piece than others.

Now that it was hard to have a winter pasture where he could rest comfortably, he wouldn't move.

Guo Dali was the nephew of the middle-aged man Nie Chengwei, and he was also the force responsible for suppressing these people.

As soon as Guo Dali and the others arrived, Nie Chengwei and these people immediately became arrogant—there were many people, plus Guo Dali, this heavyweight figure, so they were even less afraid.

Li Xiangqian didn't want to fight, mainly because he didn't bring a gun, Li Long wasn't there, and there was a female secretary, so they didn't have the upper hand here!

Just at this moment, Li Long arrived.

"You won't move, right?" Li Long listened for a while and understood the process of the matter. When he walked forward, he casually took a shovel from a worker, came to Li Xiangqian's side, and said coldly to Nie Chengwei:

"I'll warn you all, it's best to cooperate with our actions, otherwise, bear the consequences yourself!"

Actually, Li Long also wanted to follow Li Xiangqian at first, stabilizing these people first. These people were too mobile and too vengeful. If he really angered them and didn't catch them all, this winter pasture would be troublesome later.

But Ma Xiao Yan directly lifted this strategy of stabilizing them, so he could only come hard.

"Who are you?" Nie Chengwei didn't expect a sudden sturdy man to pop up, and he suddenly became tough. He was a bit unaccustomed, "Can you make the decision?"

Before Li Long could reply, he said to Li Xiangqian:

"You are the one in charge, right? This young man isn't reliable. Where do they have the right to interrupt when adults are talking? Can't you discipline him?"

These words were extremely impolite, and there was already a feeling of the guest usurping the host's role.

Li Long came, and Li Xiangqian really let go of more than half of his heart, but looking at the shovel in Li Long's hand, he said with some dissatisfaction:

"Why didn't you bring a gun?"

"To deal with such people, there's no need." Li Long stuck the shovel into the ground and said to Nie Chengwei:

"I'm in charge here for the time being, it's not worth my leader coming to manage it. You are stealing fritillaria, right? Your matter has been exposed! Drop the things in your hands and surrender!"

Nie Chengwei and the others listened to Li Long's words, first stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter.

"Look at your size, you've read too many novels, right? And surrender?" After Nie Chengwei laughed a few times, he pointed at Li Long and said loudly:

"Dali, go and pin him down and teach him a lesson, let him know who is in charge in these mountains!"

"Alright!" Guo Dali was the most obedient to his little uncle. Looking at Li Long, who was a bit shorter than himself, he threw down the bag of fritillaria, strode forward, and was about to grab Li Long's shoulder, intending to throw Li Long down.

Fighting between reckless people was basically the prototype of wrestling: pulling, dragging, and throwing.

Li Long looked at this reckless big guy walking over, and suddenly swung the shovel and slapped it on the other party's calf. That Guo Dali let out a miserable scream of "Ow," and knelt down on the spot!

Who is still fighting one-on-one here?

Li Long was thinking of a quick decision, catching these people in one net!

When Guo Dali fell, Li Long shouted:

"Meng Hai, lead the people up, don't let a single one go!"

Meng Hai, who had been a militia captain, was already prepared when Li Long appeared and spoke. Catching the thief first catches the king; he stepped forward with a shovel and knocked Nie Chengwei down.

The remaining people reacted slightly slower, but they were still faster than the other party—working with Li Xiangqian and the others, these people were nothing to say. Now being mocked by the other side, each of them couldn't stand it anymore. But in this situation, Li Long wasn't there, so Li Xiangqian was in charge, and they could only listen to Li Xiangqian.

But these strong laborers still liked Li Long's style: just do it, why so much nonsense?

The one with the highest combat value, Guo Dali, was slapped down by Li Long with a shovel, and the leader, Nie Chengwei, was pinned down and tied up by Meng Hai. This group of people had no leader and could only passively cope, wanting to leave but reluctant to part with the fritillaria they had recently obtained, as well as their family belongings.

While hesitating, they were knocked down one by one—their own fighting spirit wasn't high, and they couldn't win.

Li Xiangqian also didn't expect Li Long to be this fierce, coming over and knocking people down directly.

Ma Xiao Yan even took a photo out of professional habit!

Li Long watched them tie these people up one by one, and then took that Guo Dali to the side for interrogation.

He took out his work ID and shook it in front of the other party. Taking advantage of the fact that the other party's brain wasn't very good, he scared and threatened him, and then Guo Dali spoke.

They only had this many people, no more.

Now Li Long was relieved.

Actually, Li Long didn't have any ill will toward people digging medicine in the mountains. If Nie Chengwei and these people were more polite, then living here would be living here.

As a result, people like Nie Chengwei were insatiably greedy, not only wanting to live here but also wanting to manipulate Li Xiangqian and the others, threatening to ask for money.

Could that be tolerated?

"What to do with these people?" Li Xiangqian asked.

"Easy to handle. We'll go down the mountain later, and I'll send them to the Forestry Team. This is their business, just right."

"Then their things..." Li Xiangqian asked.

"Hand them over together."

"Fine, not bad, principled." Li Xiangqian nodded. Li Long's execution ability was still very strong, and he wasn't greedy in the face of right and wrong; he was a good seedling.

It's a pity he didn't want to work in the system, liked freedom, it's really a pity.

Meng Hai and the others also didn't expect to solve this trouble so easily. Of course, they also knew that this was mainly thanks to Li Long.

"Old Meng, call someone to follow me and take the people away. I want to take them to the Forestry Team. You all help first, take their things, mainly the bedding and the fritillaria they dug, tie them with ropes and hang them around their necks. Yes, tie their hands in front, tie them tightly, don't let them loosen in the middle."

Li Long arranged for these people to tie them up one by one. There were eleven people in total, and the fritillaria dug here had to be over two hundred kilograms, both dried and fresh. As for the bedding, it was much simpler, and there were quite a few odds and ends, which Li Long didn't care about.

He only asked Meng Hai to search for dangerous items on these people, such as small knives, so they wouldn't cut the ropes halfway.

One person cried with a mournful face, saying he couldn't walk, and Li Long gave the other party a stick, and he immediately became honest.

Obediently following and walking forward—actually, this method of stringing people up with ropes and bringing them back was a bit inappropriate, but Li Long had no other way at this time.

Who made them have few people? Who made these people arrogant?

"You all keep working, tear down this roof, gather their things into a pile, and bring them back when you return. I bagged roe deer and am boiling them at Yushanjiang's winter pasture. Go back and eat something good!" Li Long finally responded, and let Li Xiangqian and Ma Xiao Yan go back with him while escorting these people.

When they were about to arrive at Talihar and the others' winter pasture, someone suddenly shouted:

"I want to pee! Can we stop for a moment?"

"Pee in your pants." Li Long was unmoved, "Either hold it, or just pee like that."

"That... how can that work?" Seeing Li Long unmoved, others who still had small thoughts also extinguished these thoughts.

This person is really ruthless!

After resting for ten minutes at Talihar's winter pasture, Nie Chengwei and these people looked at this renovated winter pasture, only then knowing that these people were really doing it.

Nie Chengwei regretted it extremely. If he had known, he would have agreed to the other party. If he had agreed, his group of people wouldn't have been caught, and they could still dig fritillaria. In one fritillaria season, the people he controlled could offer him at least one thousand yuan!

It's a pity, it's a pity!

Nie Chengwei still wouldn't give up. He saw that Li Long was a bit hard-hearted, so during the rest, he quietly said to the villager from Qingshuihe who was watching him:

"Old fellow, you quietly loosen my rope later, and I'll give you one hundred yuan! The money is on me, sewn into my underwear. You do me a favor, I'll give you the money now!"

Dong Dahai looked at him, and then turned his head and said loudly to Li Long:

"Comrade Li, this old rascal wants to bribe me with money to let him go!"

Nie Chengwei was dumbfounded at that time.

Why is this person so straightforward? He just said it directly!

This is one hundred yuan, the wages of an ordinary worker for two months! (End of chapter)