Chapter 87

While the Li family was selling sheep offal one by one, Li Long and Tao Daqiang had already driven the horse cart to the meat canteen.

Li Long told Tao Daqiang to wait outside, and he went in to find Zhong Guoqiang, who was greeting customers there.

"Hello, Manager Zhong." Li Long stepped forward and said, "I've hauled the fish and sheep offal here, look..."

"Alright, I'll be right over," Zhong Guoqiang said with a smile. "Little Comrade Li, you're very fast. You must have gotten up very early."

"Well, it's for money, getting up early is nothing," Li Long replied and walked out of the canteen.

Zhong Guoqiang followed him to the horse cart, looking at the sheep offal frozen together on it.

"Mm, looks good," Zhong Guoqiang was also an expert, looking at the offal and saying, "It's a simple cleaning, right?"

"Yes, when it thaws, you'll definitely still need to wash it carefully. It was cleaned on the mountain, so there's no way to clean it too cleanly," Li Long explained. "So the price isn't expensive, six yuan a set."

"Six yuan—that's indeed not expensive," Zhong Guoqiang weighed it casually. "It's quite heavy, working out to forty or fifty cents a jin. Alright, I'll take three plates."

Zhong Guoqiang also wanted five large carp and paid twenty-eight yuan.

"Let's go, let's go to Shicheng." The business had a good start, and Li Long was very happy. He bought six large meat buns, and while eating with Tao Daqiang, he led the horse cart away.

"Brother Long, why don't we sell fish at the black market in our county? We haven't been there for a long time, we should be able to sell it, right?"

"No, the risk is too high. You don't want us to be arrested together, do you?" Li Long said while driving the cart. "If we get arrested now, it won't just be us who get detained; it'll also be the team's horse and cart."

Tao Daqiang finally understood that although Li Long looked bold in doing business, he was actually very cautious.

When the two arrived at the old street in Shicheng, it was almost twelve o'clock, just the time for people to get on and off the bus. Old customers were already familiar with Li Long, who sold fish. Seeing that he was dragging not only fish but also sheep offal on the plastic sheet, they immediately gathered around.

Tao Daqiang was still waiting in the distance with the horse cart. Li Long had no worries and set up a stall there, shouting:

"Selling fish, large fish for two yuan, fifteen small fish for two yuan, sheep offal for six yuan a set, it's cheap!"

When he was shouting at the stall, people gathered around, and Li Long also discovered that he wasn't the only one doing business here.

There were people carrying baskets selling melon seeds and peanuts, people holding plates selling buns, people selling fried dough twists, etc., basically all focused on food.

It seemed that everyone could see that the time for change was coming, and their courage had grown quite a bit.

"Can the sheep offal be cheaper?" Someone made an offer.

"No," Li Long said with a smile. "The sheep were slaughtered yesterday, and it was cleaned in this icy weather. When you take it back and thaw it, you can just wash it simply and cook it. Look how heavy this is, it works out to less than one yuan per kilogram, and there's so much fat, it's very cheap!"

"That's true, look, this plate fat is good." Someone with sharp eyes saw the plate fat inside and immediately squatted down to look carefully.

"Everyone come and see, sheep offal with plate fat, six yuan a set, very cheap... first come, first served!"

Soon, someone carried a set of offal and left after paying.

There were only five sets of offal on the stall, and people knew that if they didn't buy them, others would.

Li Long thoughtfully threaded thin iron wires onto the offal to make handles, making it convenient to carry, so buyers didn't need to find something to put them in.

Soon, the five plates of offal were sold out. Some others left in disappointment, while others started looking at the fish.

After half an hour, the fish were almost sold out. Li Long went back to the horse cart, dragged the remaining three plates of offal and fish over, and shouted again.

Before two o'clock in the afternoon, the fish and offal were sold out. Li Long had earned over a hundred yuan. He and Tao Daqiang got on the horse cart and headed back. "Daqiang, we won't sell fish anymore, we'll talk about it after the New Year," Li Long said on the cart. "We've been working hard for half a month, let's rest well for the remaining few days and get a good night's sleep."

To tell the truth, since he started hauling wood into the mountains, Li Long basically hadn't had a good night's sleep.

Even if he was young, he couldn't stand this kind of exhaustion. If it weren't for the meat and fish at home now, and the good food he was eating every day, he probably wouldn't have been able to hold on.

"Mm." Tao Daqiang nodded, still feeling a bit empty.

Since Li Long called him to partner up, there was something to do every day, and he didn't have to stay at home in a daze, which made him feel that life was quite meaningful.

But now that there was suddenly nothing to do, Tao Daqiang didn't know what to do for the next few days.

Li Long could understand Tao Daqiang's thoughts, but didn't say anything to him. Life's path needs to be walked by oneself, and Tao Daqiang also needed to use his brain properly.

When the two arrived in Maxian, Li Long went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a few locks, then went to his newly bought large house, locked some doors, and changed some locks.

This place would be very useful in the future, so it was more convenient to use his own locks.

Driving the horse cart to the horse stable to hand it over to Old Luo, Li Long and Tao Daqiang parted ways.

When he was almost at the Li family, Li Long saw someone carrying sheep offal walking out.

!.

It was the team accountant, Chen Qiang. Seeing Li Long, he said with a smile:

"Little Long, are you back from selling fish?"

"Yes, Brother Chen Qiang, are you heading back?"

"Yes, I got some offal, need to go back and wash it, preparing to render oil today. I was fast, I got the last plate, if I were any later, it would be gone—Little Long, is there any more sheep offal later?"

"No." Li Long said, "There won't be any for a while."

"Then I'm really lucky." Chen Qiang carried the offal and returned lightly.

In the courtyard, Li Jianguo was washing his hands. He also didn't expect that the dozen or so plates of offal left at home would sell out so quickly.

Over a hundred yuan in less than a day—this money was really earned fast!

Seeing Li Long return, Li Jianguo felt the money in his hand was a bit hot, so he hurriedly handed it to Li Long:

"Little Long, here, you take this money."

"I'll take sixty, Big Brother, you keep the rest," Li Long said. "There will be plenty of places to use money at home later."

Li Jianguo didn't want to take the money at all. Li Long felt he should leave it for his older brother. In the end, Liang Yuemei came forward, Li Long took eighty, and Li Jianguo kept the rest.

Even so, Li Jianguo felt he had taken advantage of his younger brother.

Li Long didn't think that much—in previous years, he only ate and didn't contribute, now it was time to pay it back.

Staying at home for two days, on the 22nd of the twelfth lunar month, the day before the Little New Year, Li Long brought enough bullets and drove the horse cart into the mountains again.

He was preparing to go hunt Mongolian gazelles.

This was the last time he planned to enter the mountains before the New Year. Whether he caught the Mongolian gazelles or not, he wouldn't come again until the New Year.

He had to rest comfortably for a few days and recharge his batteries.

(End of chapter)