Chapter 845: Professor Luo is leaving, Sun Jia Qiang joined the job in advance

The next day, Li Xiangqian came to the supply and marketing cooperative with a glowing face. Procurement Section Chief Zhou Yuan arrived at the office early. Looking at Li Xiangqian riding a bicycle into the large courtyard from the window, he immediately took a rag and walked to the door. When Li Xiangqian came over, Zhou Yuan greeted him with a smile:

"Director is here? Coming quite early today!"

This was almost the inevitable procedure every day during normal working hours.

Zhou Yuan just finished greeting, and suddenly found something different. He pointed to Li Xiangqian's head and asked:

"Director, your hair, why is there a small patch of white?"

Li Xiangqian was not surprised. He said with a smile:

"Nothing, nothing, blood heat, just a bit of blood heat."

At this time, people's hair volume was generally quite large. Although Li Xiangqian's head couldn't be said to have a head of black and beautiful long hair, it definitely exceeded the average hair volume of people in their thirties in later generations, but now there was a patch that turned white, which was quite eye-catching, a bit like the later generation's highlights.

Zhou Yuan didn't know the reason, but Li Xiangqian himself understood that this was caused by that sip of wine yesterday. That thing was too strong, although he took measures after going back, the wine still turned a patch of his hair white.

Of course, compared to the benefits brought by this sip of wine, this patch of white hair really didn't count for anything.

Li Long was really thoughtful, Li Xiangqian walked to his office and sighed. It's just that the amount of that bottle of wine was a bit small. According to the amount of his sip yesterday, it was enough to drink ten or twenty times. I don't know if I can get some more later.

Li Xiangqian was quite satisfied here, and Director Qian and Director Wei had similar thoughts.

Some things don't need to be said too much. Middle-aged people understand everything. Not to say that the heart is not enough, but it is definitely not as good as when they were young.

Practice is the only criterion for testing truth. For Li Long's alternative way of thanking, both leaders could accept it.

Early in the morning, while eating, Li Long told Gu Bo Yuan that he planned to go into the mountains today, pick up Sun Jia Qiang, settle him at the acquisition station, and help Gu Bo Yuan.

Gu Bo Yuan naturally had no opinion. He had been very busy during this period. Although Li Long helped, Gu Bo Yuan also knew that Li Long had several stalls of things and couldn't always guard the acquisition station.

If he could find a helper for himself, that would naturally be the best.

Gu Bo Yuan had heard about Sun Jia Qiang. Li Long had tested this young man for two or three years and he was quite reliable.

Li Long drove the jeep to the mountains. There was nothing in the car this time. He planned to bring some things from the mountains back. Passing by Qingshuihe, Li Long found that there were fewer people active in the fields. He guessed that a considerable part should have followed Meng Hai to the mountains to cut poles.

Thinking about it, there were not many jobs in the fields now, and there were quite a few idle people. Cutting a pole earned 50 or 60 cents, and earning 20 or 30 yuan a day was no problem. Looking closely, one could see that there were quite a few poles piled up in the courtyards of some families. There were also some old people who were not convenient to go to the mountains to cut, so they sat in the courtyard to shave the poles straight, peel the skin, and carry out later processing.

Meng Hai was a good leader. The rural areas in this era needed such people to come forward and lead everyone to get rich.

Li Long didn't stop here, drove the car directly into the mountains. At the wooden house, Sun Jia Qiang stood by the case, turning and drying Fritillaria bulbs.

Seeing the jeep coming, Sun Jia Qiang was quite happy. He waved at Li Long in the jeep and then continued to be busy.

On the wooden floor in front of the wooden house, the wide case was drying Fritillaria bulbs, cleaned very cleanly, looking like a piece of white pearls.

After Li Long got off the car, he asked Sun Jia Qiang by the case:

"How are these two days? The Fritillaria bulb season is almost over, the number of people coming to exchange Fritillaria bulbs should be relatively small, right?"

"Yes, these two days basically one or two people or two or three people every day." Sun Jia Qiang nodded and said, "Those old regular customers have all come to say hello, saying that they are preparing to go down the mountain together at night recently, so they are not afraid of wolves, and don't worry about being caught by forest rangers."

"That's a good way." Li Long nodded. Wolves in the mountains are generally rarely in large groups. Three or five people together, with a stick in their hands, are not afraid of wolves. There are many wild animals eating grass in the mountains. Under normal circumstances, wolves will not be enemies with the crowd. Unless it is winter and they really can't find food, wolves rarely attack people. After all, two-legged beasts are also very dangerous to wolves.

"Then let's go down the mountain." Li Long said to Sun Jia Qiang, "Go down the mountain and take you to the barbershop, clean up your head, change your clothes, and then go to my acquisition station to work. As for your household registration, it can be handled in these two days."

"Really? Then don't wait two more days?" Sun Jia Qiang couldn't believe his ears. Can he really go down the mountain and work steadily?

Although the work of collecting Fritillaria bulbs in the mountains was relatively easy and the food was quite good, to be honest, after staying in the mountains for a long time, Sun Jia Qiang felt that he was a wild man.

At the beginning, he was worried that those who dug Fritillaria bulbs would harm him. Every time someone came to exchange Fritillaria bulbs, he would take a knife or a stick.

But after a long time, Sun Jia Qiang even began to look forward to those people coming. When they came, there was someone to talk to him, chat, proving that he was not the only one in the big mountains.

If it weren't for Li Long coming to deliver supplies every now and then, Sun Jia Qiang really wouldn't necessarily be able to persist.

Now that he finally suffered and tasted sweetness, Sun Jia Qiang hesitated again.

"Boss, do I need to wait two more days? Now that the Fritillaria bulbs are starting to bloom, but there must still be people digging in the mountains. I think they should be able to exchange some more Fritillaria bulbs

"Boss, should I stay for another two days? Although the fritillaria has started to bloom now, there must still be people in the mountains digging for it. I feel that I should still be able to trade for some more fritillaria, and the supplies in the small cabin haven't been fully traded yet..."

"No more waiting." Li Long waved his hand. "We aren't short of that little bit. The amount of dried fritillaria the purchasing station receives every day is over one hundred kilograms. Although the price is high, those fritillaria have basically been cleaned, and the source of goods is relatively stable. You are helping my father-in-law at the purchasing station; no matter how you look at it, you're a worker, the job is respectable, and it's better than being here."

"Then what if someone else comes to trade for things?" Sun Jia Qiang's sense of responsibility was still quite strong.

"It's simple. Once the door is locked, we'll just hang a sign here and write it clearly that we aren't trading anymore this year." Li Long said. "We can't wait until everyone stops coming and then close the door. We can't afford to waste that time."

Since Li Long had already decided, Sun Jia Qiang no longer worried. He immediately went into the room, took a urea bag, and began to rake in the fritillaria that hadn't been dried yet.

Li Long also began to pack up the supplies in the small wooden cabin. There wasn't much left that hadn't been traded: half a bag of rice, half a bag of flour. The dried noodles, canned goods, sponge cakes, and sesame cakes that had been placed here were all gone.

After moving the supplies onto the jeep, those fritillaria were also placed in the trunk, and finally, it was Sun Jia Qiang's personal belongings.

Li Long didn't touch the bedding; he felt that if he had time later, he would still have to go up the mountain. The stove, pots, and such in the big room were also left behind, and the jar of pickles in the corner was left untouched.

When Sun Jia Qiang picked up his bag and got into the car, he turned his head to look at this wooden cabin, feeling a bit sentimental. After a month here, he had developed an attachment to the place.

Li Long sat in the driver's seat and joked, "What, you can't bear to leave? If you can't bear it, you can come back next year when it's time to trade for fritillaria."

"Heh, if I come, I come." Sun Jia Qiang wasn't sure if Li Long was joking or serious, but he didn't think coming here to trade for things was a bad job.

What to trade for, how to trade, and how much to trade were all decided by himself. Although the real boss was Li Long, the control over these degrees was left to him, and the autonomy was particularly strong. Sun Jia Qiang actually quite liked this feeling.

Most of those who came to dig fritillaria to trade for things had to listen to him. A small number of people were a bit stubborn or could be considered troublemakers, but it wasn't as if they couldn't be reasoned with.

Once he got to the purchasing station, it definitely wouldn't be this situation; at that time, he would need to have a service mindset. Li Long didn't need to remind him of this, and Sun Jia Qiang knew it too.

"You've worked here for a month. I roughly calculated it; the dried fritillaria traded in should be around seven or eight hundred kilograms. I'm giving you a salary of four hundred yuan. Take this money, get yourself a good outfit, and buy some personal living supplies after you get to the county.

From now on, your basic salary will be fifty yuan. If you do well, there will be a bonus, but the amount of this bonus isn't fixed. If you receive a lot of goods and everyone's evaluation is good, the bonus will be high; conversely, it will be low, or even non-existent.

I'll strive to get your household registration sorted out in these two days, but I'll say this upfront: I can only get you a rural household registration, and it will be one without land.

The main content of your job is to help my father-in-law purchase various supplies. My father-in-law knows the prices of various things, so you will mainly be assisting.

When it's busy, you'll be responsible for receiving goods; when it's slow, you'll process the things that have been received. For instance, fritillaria needs to be cleaned, and hides and such need to be combed.

My father-in-law knows this in his heart; just listen to him. He went to university when he was young and understands quite a lot. If you have any issues, ask him for advice.

There are rooms to live in at the purchasing station, and there are beds; you'll live there. For the first two days, I'll send your meals over, but after that, you'll have to cook for yourself at the purchasing station."

Li Long didn't intend to let Sun Jia Qiang eat at the big courtyard. Sun Jia Qiang was different from Yang Da Jie and the others; he was his first formal employee. This relationship had to be made clear and couldn't be handled in a messy way.

Sun Jia Qiang listened to every point, and he didn't have a single objection.

Previously, he had told Li Long that if he could resolve his household registration, he would work for free for this month. Now that Li Long had promised to resolve the registration, given him this month's wages, and arranged a long-term job with a decent salary, what else could he ask for?

It would be hard to find such a deal even with a lantern!

When leaving the mountains, Li Long could see people cutting poles in the gullies. He didn't bother with them, and the jeep quickly drove out of the mountains. He was still thinking about letting Sun Jia Qiang get himself cleaned up in the morning so he could help Gu Bo Yuan work in the afternoon.

After arriving at the county seat, Li Long took Sun Jia Qiang to a state-run barbershop. Before entering the shop, Li Long first stuffed one hundred yuan into Sun Jia Qiang's hand and told him that the next part was for handling his own affairs, and after everything was handled, he should go to the purchasing station to start working.

The remaining three hundred yuan would be given to him after Sun Jia Qiang was settled.

Sun Jia Qiang certainly had no objections. After getting off the jeep and seeing the passing pedestrians, the rows of houses, and the cars that occasionally drove by, he felt sentimental that he had finally returned to the human world.

A haircut, a bath, and buying clothes.

One hundred yuan really didn't go far. Before lunch, Sun Jia Qiang arrived at the purchasing station carrying several bags—the county seat was only so big, and after asking around, he found the location of the purchasing station.

When he saw people lining up to buy things in the courtyard of the purchasing station, Sun Jia Qiang understood why Li Long had wanted to bring him over in advance.

If business was this good every day, one person really couldn't handle it.

"Make way, make way, let me go in first." Sun Jia Qiang shouted while squeezing inside.

"Everyone is lining up to sell things, why should we let you?" Someone shouted back, dissatisfied.

"I'm the new clerk," Sun Jia Qiang explained, "I'm not here to sell goods."

Everyone skeptically made way. Sun Jia Qiang arrived at the door, saw the person receiving goods inside, and immediately greeted him:

"Gu Shu, right? Boss Li asked me to come over and report to you."

Boss Li? Gu Bo Yuan naturally knew about Sun Jia Qiang. Seeing that he was dressed quite neatly, he smiled and said:

"Come in. The second room on the east side inside is your dormitory. Put your things away, tidy up, and then come over to help. You arrived quite early, didn't you?"

"Alright, alright, I'll put my things down and come over immediately." Sun Jia Qiang carried his bag, quickly went to the dormitory, threw the bag down, and then came out to start helping.

Although Sun Jia Qiang hadn't worked at a purchasing station before, he had at least been tempered at the small wooden cabin for over a month, and with the experience from last year, he didn't make any mistakes while helping Gu Bo Yuan receive goods.

Li Long had already said that Sun Jia Qiang was there to assist Gu Bo Yuan. Sun Jia Qiang kept this in mind, not trying to steal the spotlight. He did whatever Gu Bo Yuan told him to do. When there was nothing to say, he helped on the side, weighing goods, packing goods, and occasionally singing in harmony with Gu Bo Yuan to help suppress prices.

In less than half an hour, Gu Bo Yuan could see that this Sun Jia Qiang was quite capable. Even if he couldn't handle things alone yet, at least he was no problem as a helper.

"Come, everyone line up, don't rush. Those in the back will have to wait a while before it's their turn. There's tea by the wall, you can come over and drink a bowl.

It's hot, let's be more understanding of each other."

Sun Jia Qiang looked outside while helping. When the work at hand lessened, he would go out to maintain order. Those who came to sell things and were mischievous were in the minority. Most were quite orderly. A few who had been waiting for a long time and had resentment suppressed their anger after hearing Sun Jia Qiang shout like that.

The service attitude here was much better than those state-run enterprises, and the prices were also good. Wasn't that the whole point of coming from so far away?

Lunch was delivered to the purchasing station by Li Long. He carried two aluminum lunch boxes; half of each box was filled with rice, and the other half was stir-fried vegetables.

Celery stir-fried with meat, chives stir-fried with eggs. Although it was already May and the weather was getting hot, those were the only vegetables available in the vegetable garden. Mao celery and chives had been there since last year and had grown as soon as spring arrived this year. Baby bok choy was eaten as a cold dish, usually in the morning.

Other vegetables couldn't be eaten yet; they were all seedlings and hadn't bloomed.

Li Long had already eaten. He handed the two lunch boxes to Gu Bo Yuan and Sun Jia Qiang respectively, and he took over the work of purchasing supplies.

At this time, there weren't many people left. At noon, those in the back saw that they wouldn't be able to get their turn, so they simply went to eat early, planning to come back after eating to find a good spot.

Sun Jia Qiang hadn't had a proper meal in a long time. He didn't need to wolf down this full lunch box of rice and vegetables; he finished it in ten minutes, let out two loud burps, went to the bucket by the wall to scoop half a lunch box of tea, rinsed it, and gulped it down.

It felt a bit like being fully satisfied with tea and food.

"Boss, let me do it." After Sun Jia Qiang went to wash the lunch boxes clean, he came over to replace Li Long.

"You're still assisting me." Li Long said, "How is it? Can you adapt?"

"No problem." Sun Jia Qiang was quite confident, but feeling that he had spoken a bit too boldly, he turned his head to look at Gu Bo Yuan and said, "It also depends on whether Gu Shu approves of me."

"Little Sun is still quite capable." Gu Bo Yuan was eating slowly. He didn't have the stomach of a young person. Now that life was better, Gu Bo Yuan also wanted to live a few more years and take good care of his internal organs, so he chewed every mouthful of food a few more times. After swallowing the food in his mouth, he said:

"Quite capable, I have no objections on my end."

"Alright, then that's settled." Li Long said while receiving goods, "You get one day off a week. Salary is paid at the end of the month, how's that?"

"With such good conditions, I certainly have no problem." Sun Jia Qiang said with a smile, "As long as you, Boss, don't go back on your word in the future, I'll keep working here."

The matter was settled just like that.

With Sun Jia Qiang joining, the work at the purchasing station entered the right track. Plus, the fritillaria season had ended. Although there were still quite a few people coming to deliver fritillaria every day, looking at Gu Bo Yuan's ledger, the amount of dried fritillaria received every day was gradually decreasing, from one hundred to ninety, then to eighty.

When Sun Jia Qiang was free, he would also clean the local fritillaria received, picking out the dirty dregs, screening them, and then putting them in the backyard of the purchasing station to dry.

Li Long would send lunch and dinner to the purchasing station every day; Sun Jia Qiang had to solve breakfast himself. There were stoves, pots, and tap water at the purchasing station, so it was quite convenient to cook porridge or something similar.

There was baby bok choy at the big courtyard, and Li Long got some pickles for Sun Jia Qiang. Sun Jia Qiang would go to the naan stall himself to buy a stack of naan and put it away.

This was already very good.

Anyway, Sun Jia Qiang was very content. Regarding the matter of his household registration, Li Long went to the supply and marketing cooperative and said a word to Li Xiangqian. Li Xiangqian naturally had no objections; it was just a matter of saying a word. Of course, Li Long also gave the money needed for gifts. The money given to Sun Jia Qiang was already less than what Li Long had planned, and a portion of it was for handling the household registration.

So when Sun Jia Qiang learned that he would possess a formal Maxian household registration in half a month, his excited mood was beyond words.

He had tossed and turned for several years himself, but when it came to Li Long, it felt like a matter of a few words.

If he had known, why bother looking for those unlucky relatives?

The real Buddha was right in front of him, and he didn't know how to worship.

Li Long didn't bother with these sentiments of Sun Jia Qiang; he had other things to do. The most important thing at present was that Professor Luo and the others were about to end this saline-alkali land improvement research and were leaving. (End of chapter)