Chapter 825

If Li Long's goal three or four years ago was just to live a good life and not end up with nothing like in his previous life.

Then now he wants to strive for a better life. Even if Li Long is humble, he knows that he is almost a benchmark figure for the Fourth Squad now. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he is the richest man not just in the whole village, but in the whole township.

He is now a role model for many people, and many are imitating his path to wealth. Just like some people who didn't get to weave lifting poles, they will go fishing at Little Haizi to sell in Shicheng, and some will even boldly run into the mountains to dig for fritillaria.

At this moment, relying solely on farming to get rich is very difficult; side businesses are the biggest source of cash.

Most people imitating Li Long's path might earn some pocket money selling fish, might earn some hard-earned money entering the mountains, and some will be caught by the forestry team, returning empty-handed.

But there are always a few lucky ones who, through hard work, earned unimaginable wealth.

So more and more people know that they can't just keep their heads down and dig for food in the fields. If they want to earn money and live a good life, they have to find other ways.

If working in the fields, just planting grain is not enough; they have to plant cash crops, which the Li family has already paved the way for; if they don't want to work in the fields, they have to find the right path, which Li Long has also set an example for.

Li Long himself also knows that in the next forty years, if you want to get rich by farming in the Fourth Squad, only those ten years are the golden decade.

If you grab the opportunity in those ten years, and your hands can hold a lot of land, no matter what, you can get rich.

Just like what people often say on the internet in later generations, if you step on the wind, even a pig can fly.

What he needs to do now is to accumulate early capital. When the wind comes, at least he will have enough cash to buy those machines and contract that land.

When the golden age of land arrived in his previous life, it wasn't that no one could see this point. At that time, the saline-alkali land in the team was divided into strips, and tens or hundreds of mu were contracted out.

Some people had their eyes on the land early, but they suffered from not being able to pay enough rent.

After all, only a few people can borrow a large amount of funds from the bank.

Many people watched the opportunity to get rich slip away before their eyes, but they were powerless.

Li Long doesn't want this—at that time, it wasn't long after the second round of land contracting, and saline-alkali land could grow cotton. The contracting time for a piece was basically 15 to 20 years or even longer, and the contracting fee was also between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands.

Ordinary rural families couldn't afford it.

So even though he earned a lot of money from fritillaria this time, Li Long feels he needs more. He has grasped this opportunity for fritillaria, and at least no one can beat him on this track at the moment. He also hopes to grasp more opportunities later.

The next morning after breakfast, after Sister Yang took over Mingming and Haohao, Li Long cleaned up the jeep simply. There were many sundries in the car, and he had to pick up five university students today, so the trunk had to be emptied, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to sit.

After cleaning up the jeep, Li Long put the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle at home. Today he was only active in the team and the county, so it wasn't suitable to bring this.

Then he drove the jeep to the Fourth Squad.

Outside the Old Horse Station, Yang Laoliu was raising his whip to drive the cattle and sheep out of the pen, preparing to go to both sides of the large canal in the south to graze. At this time, water had been released into the large canal twice, and the weeds on both sides of the canal grew quite well, suitable for cattle and sheep to eat.

Seeing Li Long's jeep coming, he raised his whip and waved at Li Long. Li Long honked the horn to signal him, and then drove the jeep into the courtyard.

The people here had also just finished breakfast. The university students were helping Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu and the others clean up the dining table and kitchen, chatting and laughing, which was quite lively.

Professor Luo had already told them yesterday that they could go to the county for a stroll today, and several university students were very excited.

They had been in this small village for almost half a month, digging soil and doing experiments every day. Although the food was very good and the accommodation was also quite good, after a slightly longer time, they were definitely still a bit unaccustomed.

With the warnings from Xu Chengjun and Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu and the others, people in the village who were interested in the university students could only watch from the outside at most, not daring to get close again.

These students didn't have many entertainment activities; at night, they just played cards and read books.

Now that they could go to the county town, they were still quite happy.

Li Long saw that these students had all changed into new clothes, obviously already prepared.

After getting out of the car, Li Long went to tell Professor Luo, and then went to ask Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu and the others what they needed.

Ordinary daily necessities could be bought at the village's retail department.

Uncle Uncle Lao Luo said just let Li Long bring back a few packs of chicken cakes, and a set of Chinese chess.

The Chinese chess they originally played with, the chess box had long been rotten, and recently two chess pieces were missing—they were wooden chess pieces themselves, and the old people made a big noise when playing chess. When they slapped the pieces on the chessboard, they broke two, one horse and one chariot.

"Alright, I'll bring you two boxes." Li Long said with a smile.

"Why bring so many of those things? They can't be eaten." Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu waved his hand and said, "One set is enough."

The five university students had already assigned their seats. He Lijuan sat in the passenger seat, Zhu Yuechan, Zheng Zhiguo, and Li Qingyuan sat in the back row, and Hu Dongfeng, as the group leader, sat in the trunk.

At this time, since you are a leader, you must have the role model effect of a leader, and a group leader is also a leader.

The students all got into the car. Li Long greeted Professor Luo and drove away.

"Professor Luo, actually you should also go out for a stroll." Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu and Professor Luo were at the entrance of the Old Horse Station, watching them leave. Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu said a sentence.

"Nothing good to stroll, with this time it's better to directly get some materials and mix with this soil. I feel I'm about to research results." Professor Luo said with a smile.

"Hey, you guys are still powerful. To be honest, I saw some fertilizer you applied to that piece of sugar beet seedlings, and I can feel that the seedlings grow differently from other places." Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu sighed and said, "This saline-alkali land, if it can be improved, how much more land will our Fourth Squad have in the future."

"We try our best." Professor Luo didn't dare to guarantee. Salinization of land exists all over the country. This topic is very large, and there are many difficulties, which are not so easy to solve.

When they first got in the car, several students didn't talk much—they had little contact with Li Long and didn't know what to say.

The jeep drove on the road to the county town, the windows were all rolled down, and the university students looked at the scenery retreating rapidly outside, and their moods were particularly good. He Lijuan even sang in the passenger seat, and soon others responded. After a song was sung, the atmosphere in the car became relaxed.

Because there was still a person sitting in the trunk, Li Long drove as steadily as possible, and the speed was not that fast. After reaching the township and getting on the asphalt road, the speed increased.

"Comrade Li Long, how far is it from the Fourth Squad to the county?" He Lijuan asked curiously from the side.

"About ten kilometers," Li Long said, "reaching the township government area is just halfway."

There were very few cars on the road, and occasionally they could meet someone riding a bicycle or walking.

When they arrived at the county town, Li Long slowed down, and they said:

"Where do you plan to stroll?"

"We don't know much about this side, Comrade Li Long, can you introduce it to us?" Zheng Zhiguo behind said.

"This is a small county town. If you want to buy things, one is to go to the department store building, and the other is to go to the free market. If you want to see cultural relics, there is a Great Buddha Temple in the south, and a Shaanxi Guild Hall in the east."

"Then let's go to the department store building first?" He Lijuan said from the side, she needed to buy many small things, and felt that she lacked a lot of bits and pieces.

"Alright." Others had no opinion, so Li Long drove the jeep directly to the department store building.

Because it was a workday, there were not many people in the department store building. After the university students got out of the car, they immediately ran to their destinations, different counters.

Li Long went directly to the cultural supplies counter, bought two boxes of Chinese chess, and four decks of playing cards.

This is a consumable, buy more, no problem.

Then he went to the counter to buy chicken cakes, one pack for each old man, and one pack for Professor Luo.

After buying, he returned to the car and sat in the car waiting for others.

He Lijuan and Zhu Yuechan discussed together what things they should buy. Female students buy things, even if it's a one-cent or two-cent clip, they will compare whether black is good or gray is good.

The procedure for boys to buy things is relatively simple, take out money and go directly to the destination, pick things, pay, and leave. Their eyes don't even squint, very rational.

Ten minutes later, three male university students came out of the department store building. After another twenty minutes, the two girls came out while talking, holding headbands and face oil in their hands, discussing the pros and cons of these things.

The things here, whether in variety or quantity, were obviously less than in Wucheng, but it didn't reduce the desire of the two girls to shop. They had quite a lot of things in their hands. Li Long glanced at it and found that in addition to cosmetics and hair accessories, there were also snacks.

After getting in the car, Li Long drove to the market.

Compared with the department store building, the market here was obviously much more lively. This year, the market management also made flexible adjustments, learning from the old street in Shicheng, shops can do business, and stalls can also be set up on the road in front of the shops.

After this adjustment, the flow of people was obviously much larger. Although those who rented shops or bought shops to do business in this shop had complaints, there was no way.

Li Long actually feels that this is also a win-win thing. There are many scattered stalls, so there are many people recruited, and the flow of people is large, so the transaction volume will increase.

The jeep parked in the parking lot outside, and the five university students immediately went inside to stroll. They didn't separate, meaning they would advance and retreat together. Li Long thought it should be because they felt it was safer?

Li Long walked in slowly, scanning the acquisition station first, wanting to see the situation here.

There were two or three people queuing at the entrance of the acquisition station, holding bags and baskets preparing to sell things, and someone inside was bargaining with the person receiving the goods.

After listening to two sentences, one could hear that it was mainly a price and quality problem. The person receiving the goods inside obviously lacked some experience in this regard and couldn't convince the public.

Li Long just listened to a few sentences and then walked slowly inside.

The business of this acquisition station has never been very good, and I don't know why the person receiving the goods just doesn't change—as long as the price is raised slightly, there will definitely be more people coming.

Eighty percent of the shops in the market are operating, but most of the shop owners are relatively conservative, sitting and waiting for guests. A few will enthusiastically greet people at the door, and on the surface, the difference is not very big.

Sister Yang's shop is still closed, and someone wrote a few sentences on the door. Li Long walked over and looked closely. What was written on it was asking if this shop is for rent?

Quite a few people are asking, and some have even left contact information.

Li Long smiled. The location of this shop is very good, and there must be quite a few people who want to rent the shop. These people are quite direct.

He strolled forward again and found that there were already people selling rice in the market. However, in the whole market, there was only one shop selling food, and the business was not very good.

Now the state-run canteen no longer collects grain coupons, and the things are also good and cheap. Unless the price has a considerable advantage, or it is very distinctive, otherwise the advantage of private canteens will not be great.

On the contrary, the business of pushing carts to sell snacks is quite good. Li Long saw several university students buying sugar cakes from the cart, each holding one, eating while strolling.

The market is not big. After walking to the end, the entrance is the road, and across the road is the Cultural Palace. Li Long vaguely remembers buying various tickets from a young man here.

I don't know how that young man is doing now.

Several university students went out of the market and crossed the road to the Cultural Palace. Li Long wondered if they were going to watch a movie?

He followed.

Several university students went up the steps, looking at the movie news written on the blackboard—there were no posters at this time—at least not here. After two years, I don't know if there will be movie posters, but there will be video posters.

Just when Li Long thought they were going to watch, these university students turned back and went down the steps. After seeing Li Long, Hu Beifeng said with a smile:

"Comrade Li Long, let's go, let's change a place to see."

"You don't watch the movie?" Li Long was a bit puzzled.

"Don't watch, these films have long been shown in Wucheng," He Lijuan explained, "We have all seen them, so we don't watch them."

Li Long suddenly realized. That's right, at this time, it's not a nationwide simultaneous release, or it might be simultaneous, but there are only so many films that can be publicly shown in a year. Now the team shows open-air movies, and sometimes there are war movies from the 60s and 70s.

Normal, cultural entertainment activities are very lacking at this time, otherwise "Shaolin Temple" wouldn't have sold so many tickets at once, and wouldn't have thought of introducing so many foreign film and television programs.

The five people went out of the market again. Li Long found that when they strolled out, everyone had an extra hat in their hands.

That hat is a bit old-fashioned, not like something these students would wear.

Next, the students went to the Shaanxi Guild Hall to take a look, and they were ready to return without going to the Great Buddha Temple.

Li Long originally wanted to treat them to lunch in the county, but was rejected by the students—their statement was that the food at the Old Horse Station felt better, and they were used to eating it.

Alright, Li Long didn't expect this point.

Driving the jeep, sending the students to the Old Horse Station, the food here was almost cooked.

After getting out of the car, the students carried their things, and as Li Long thought, those hats were gifts from the students to Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu and the others.

"Sigh, sigh, sigh, why buy this for us? Spending money randomly, you are still students..." Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu and the others were both happy and complaining, "Keep the money to buy food to supplement your body..."

"We are all adults." Hu Dongfeng said with a smile, "We are embarrassed to let you take care of us every day. This is a gift we students give you together, thank you."

"Alright, alright, alright, then we accept it... This hat... is really good."

Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu and the others put on the hats.

It fits quite well.

"Is there none for me?" Professor Luo pretended to be dissatisfied, "You didn't forget me, did you?"

"How could we forget you?" Li Qingyuan said with a smile, "Look at this."

What he took out was an exquisite notebook:

"Professor, look at your notebook, it's full, we thought it was time to use a new one. How about this hard-cover notebook?"

"Alright, alright, alright, it came really in time." Professor Luo smiled, "You guys observe quite carefully."

"Comrade Li Long, this is for you." He Lijuan took a small photo frame and gave it to Li Long:

"I heard from Uncle Uncle Lao Luo that you and your sister-in-law also gave birth to twins. I don't know what is better to give, so just this photo frame. Put the family portrait in, it must be very good-looking."

Li Long didn't expect to have his own gift, it was really an unexpected joy.

Not bad, he likes it quite a lot. (End of chapter)