Chapter 896: The old are old, the young are young; old experience is still useful

Captain Xu Chengjun suppressed the matter. He had Xu Haijun divide his harvested Jiji grass and bundle half of it for Ning Dawei.

Xu Haijun felt extremely wronged, but Xu Chengjun's prestige within the clan was too high, so he had no choice but to comply.

Apologizing was out of the question. Xu Haijun also made his stance clear: the Jiji grass could be given, but not because he was willing to give it, but because the captain had spoken. As for apologizing, it was absolutely impossible; even if he didn't stay in this production team anymore, he would not apologize.

This matter became very tense, but in the eyes of others in the team, they just listened to it as gossip and a joke.

After all, the Xu and Ning families were relatively large clans in the team, with several households sharing the same surname. In these production teams in Northern Tianshan where people lived mixed together, these counted as large clans.

Other surnames had at most two or three households with relatives, at most. So watching it was just like watching a joke; in any case, the matter wasn't big.

Even old villagers like Li Jianguo, who had seen much, felt this was just children acting out of spite; it was nothing. They might reconcile in a few days, after all, they saw each other every day.

Li Long didn't pay much attention to it either, and then asked Li Jianguo about the situation with binding the large brooms.

"I told them to bring over the ones they've bound every day, so in these five days, we've collected over seven hundred, and returned a few dozen that were unqualified."

If calculated by the five-day average, it wasn't much, but the first two days were for drying the Jiji grass and preparing the poles, so in reality, they had only been binding for three days. This speed was okay; at least producing five or six thousand in a month wouldn't be a problem.

Li Long went over to check the quality of the ones Li Jianguo had inspected.

The large brooms were piled under the shed against the east side of Li Jianguo's backyard. When Li Long arrived, Li Qing Xia was organizing these large brooms, trying to keep the Jiji grass of the large brooms from being crushed, with some placed crosswise and some standing upright.

Li Long randomly inspected a few, and the quality was very good. He felt that his older brother's inspection standards were even stricter than his own.

This was fine.

Li Long left fifteen thousand yuan here with Li Jianguo to use first, because the large brooms collected every day had to be paid for on the spot, so this money was spent quickly.

The Li family wasn't binding large brooms this year. Actually, Li Qing Xia originally couldn't sit still, but when he rode his bike out for a spin, he extinguished this thought—mainly because in all the places he could see, the Jiji grass had already been harvested by others.

One large broom was three yuan and fifty cents, and binding seven or eight in a day meant twenty-something yuan; that was fast money!

Some people were counting on this money to do serious business. This year, the quantity requirement for large brooms was high, so the people in the village were naturally enthusiastic about harvesting Jiji grass; regardless of how many they could bind, they harvested them first.

So by the time Li Qing Xia belatedly went to harvest Jiji grass, there was basically none left around the village.

After finishing looking at the large brooms Li Jianguo had collected, Li Long said:

"Wait for Song Ming to bring the sugar dregs over in these two days, and I'll have him take the large brooms to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. It's just right to take them every few days."

Song Ming still brought a truckload of sugar dregs over every week. Now, there were quite a few sugar dregs stored in the old horse stable, but most of them were eaten by the cattle, sheep, deer, and wild boars in the stable.

After all, there were many animals being raised, and one truckload of sugar dregs looked like a lot, but with so many livestock taking a bite here and there, they ate quite a bit in a week.

Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu and the others were still trying to find ways to store some forage. After all, when winter came, it was impossible to just let the livestock eat sugar dregs; grass was also necessary.

Because sugar dregs were also considered concentrated feed, the cattle and sheep in the horse stable were much fatter than those raised by others. Every so often, when someone in the team had a matter at home that required slaughtering cattle or sheep, they would go to the old horse stable to buy one.

In the past, such matters were handled by finding Ma Jinbao, but this year, basically no one wanted Ma Jinbao's cattle and sheep. If he wanted to spend money, he could only wait for sheep dealers to come down to collect, or slaughter the sheep and go to the county market to sell them—after the county's free market changed its storefront, there were also people on the outskirts of the city who spontaneously organized a small morning market. It didn't last long; in winter it was basically gone, and in summer they sold some seasonal vegetables and the like.

Because Li Long still had to go see the situation on Liang Wenyu's side, he didn't eat lunch at his older brother's house.

Du Chunfang still nagged, but she knew her youngest son had serious business to do, so she didn't stop him.

When Li Long drove the jeep to the old horse stable, Xu Haijun also arrived there driving a tractor and blocked him.

Xu Haijun was also depressed enough. The Jiji grass matter really wasn't started by him, and that grass wasn't taken by him either, but in the end, Xu Chengjun sacrificed him.

He couldn't tell others, and knowing Li Long had returned to the team, he came over to find him.

This year, Xu Haijun was only dealing with raw materials for binding large brooms. He led people to cut several thousand poles, and now people came to his house every day to buy them.

Poles were needed, and Jiji grass was also needed; this was the work he had done in advance. He thought that just by selling raw materials, he could earn the money.

It was just that he didn't expect there were quite a few people in the team who thought the same as him. He had only harvested a little over a hundred kilograms, which was twenty or thirty bundles of Jiji grass, and then he couldn't find any more.

Now, except for some "big households," the Jiji grass of each family wasn't considered much. Xu Haijun knew this was an opportunity, but because of the matter with Ning Dawei, he was in a very irritable mood.

"You tell me, this clearly wasn't my business, but the captain insisted on making me give Ning Dawei half a bundle of Jiji grass. Isn't this slapping my face!" Xu Haijun could only say this to Li Long.

"Half a bundle of Jiji grass, calculated, it's just a matter of a few kilograms, adding up to less than ten yuan." Li Long said with a smile, "Is it worth it?"

"It is worth it. Mainly because it wasn't done by me, and with this happening, how many people in the team are watching me make a fool of myself!" Xu Haijun felt money wasn't the big issue; the main thing was the grievance.

"Is the Jiji grass in the team that tight?" Li Long asked, "Then go harvest it outside. Anyway, you didn't plan to bind large brooms, so go harvest more Jiji grass, and when the time comes, people will be begging you."

Li Long said this mainly to divert Xu Haijun's attention: "Think about it, there's a lot of work for large brooms this year. If you bring back a tractor bucket full of Jiji grass, will those people still watch you make a fool of yourself? It's definitely impossible; one by one they'll have to accompany you with smiles to buy Jiji grass from you!"

The logic was that logic, but Xu Haijun hadn't been able to turn the corner in these two days; mainly he still felt aggrieved.

However, in Li Long's view, what was grievance? Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Xu Haijun was just used by Xu Chengjun to balance everyone's thoughts. This matter couldn't be investigated clearly, so it was directly suppressed. In any case, Xu Haijun had earned quite a bit of money using poles, and there were definitely quite a few in the village who were jealous.

Then push him out, and those jealous people would laugh and it would pass.

Let Xu Haijun be aggrieved for a bit; who told him to earn money?

Whether there was any matter of beating Xu Haijun, Li Long wasn't clear.

However, in Li Long's view, the pattern in the village wasn't big; if one wanted to do things, one should do them outside the village.

Actually, Li Long had also told Tao Daqiang and the others about this matter. But Tao Daqiang and the others had harvested wheat for more than half a month some time ago, and were exhausted. Now feeling that the money was enough to spend, they didn't want to earn anymore.

Their reply to Li Long was that they would do the work of binding large brooms, but running far away to harvest Jiji grass and cut poles, forget it. It was better to work leisurely in the courtyard; if they wanted to bind, they would bind a bit, and if they didn't want to bind, they would rest a bit.

Li Long didn't force them either.

Although Tao Daqiang was the first to follow him, he couldn't push him forward all the way. Xie Yun Dong wanted to, but the child was uncomfortable during this period, and he couldn't get away either.

So Li Long simply gave Xu Haijun a hint; this guy had ambition and the ability to act, so let him earn this money.

Of course, before Li Long gave Xu Haijun the hint, Liang Wenyu had already been driving a tractor north to harvest Jiji grass for many days.

They didn't have this grass on their side, and if they wanted to bind large brooms to earn money, they had to look for resources outside. The south side was occupied by the Qingshuihe village side, and to the north, the land was large and there was plenty of Jiji grass, so they went that way.

Li Long persuaded Xu Haijun, and Xu Haijun drove the tractor to call people—he had been to the north last winter to hunt Mongolian gazelles. At that time, he could see the Jiji grass beach there, and although the road was a bit far, well, it was earning money, so what was the harm in running a bit further?

Li Long then entered the old horse stable and told Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu about the matter of letting Song Ming come to his older brother's place to collect Jiji grass next time.

When the time came, Li Long might come over, and if he didn't come in time, he would let Song Ming collect it directly. "Rest assured, that young man Xiao Song works very enthusiastically; even if you don't come, he can still take the large brooms to the county." Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu was already very familiar with Song Ming now. Sometimes when Song Ming brought sugar dregs over, Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu would also ask him to bring some things from Shicheng or the county.

Li Long was happy to see that the relationship between Song Ming and Uncle Uncle Lao Luo Shu and the others was good. Because of the distance problem, many people in the team couldn't go to the county town a few times a year, let alone Shicheng.

Because of Li Long's influence in this life, there were many more tractors in the team now than at this time in the previous life, and bicycles too. But even so, going to Shicheng was still a rare thing for many people in the team.

Having Song Ming come to the team frequently actually made the people in the team not feel that rare about things in Shicheng.

To use the words of later generations, it was a bit disenchanting.

After saying this, Li Long drove the jeep to Liang Wenyu's house.

There were a few young men in Liang Wenyu's courtyard, and he was distributing Jiji grass to a few young men; this Jiji grass was weighed before being given. Clearly, after the harvested Jiji grass was dried, it was sold by the kilogram. When the jeep arrived, the few young men had already hugged the Jiji grass and were preparing to leave.

It seemed there were young men who went to weave Tai Tai Ba Zi this year among them. Li Long greeted them with a smile, and after the young men left, he went over to greet Liang Donglou, who was binding large brooms, and then asked Liang Wenyu:

"How is it, how many large brooms have you collected?"

"The first two days were mainly for harvesting Jiji grass and cutting poles; now we've collected just over a hundred. In these few days, I've been going north to harvest Jiji grass every day, and I feel that just by harvesting this Jiji grass, one can earn quite a bit of money in this month."

"How much do you sell a kilogram of Jiji grass for?" Li Long asked curiously.

Binding a large broom used just over a kilogram to less than two kilograms of Jiji grass. Li Long guessed that this kilogram or so of Jiji grass was just about fifty or sixty cents.

"Fifty cents." Liang Wenyu said, "Fifty cents a kilogram. A large broom uses seven or eight cents worth of Jiji grass. I'm keeping accounts here, and when the time comes, we'll bind the large brooms and then settle the money."

This was actually quite good.

Li Long went over to check the large brooms Liang Wenyu had collected. It was obvious that the quality of these collected large brooms was not as good as those inspected by Li Jianguo.

The problems were mainly concentrated on the poles; the bark wasn't completely scraped off, there were tiny cracks, and the number of red willow branches added was a bit small.

Among the hundred-plus large brooms, there were seven or eight that Li Long picked out because of problems.

Liang Wenyu wanted to explain, his face flushed red, but in the end, he didn't say anything.

"Wenyu, I know you might be because your face is thin; these people binding large brooms are all your friends, and some that could pass or not pass, you let pass. But I'm telling you, these large brooms are being sent to the mouth by the Autonomous Region side, so the quality must pass."

"Of course, maybe I mainly emphasized the tightness of the Jiji grass before; the Jiji grass of these brooms is indeed bound tightly, can't be pulled off, very good. But other details must also be paid attention to."

"Okay, I will definitely pay attention!" Liang Wen didn't seem unconvinced either; Li Long pointed out the problems one by one. Ever since he followed Li Long to weave Tai Tai Ba Zi, Liang Wenyu knew that Li Long was a bit nitpicky in pursuing quality.

But the person succeeded; according to Li Long's saying, it relied on quality, and there was nothing to say about this.

Fortunately, except for the two where the number of red willow branches wasn't enough, the others could reach the qualified standard after being repaired, so the loss wasn't big.

As for those two unqualified ones, Liang Wenyu planned to keep them at home for his own use.

Li Long also left ten thousand yuan with Liang Wenyu as acquisition funds. He felt that Liang Wenyu could collect three thousand qualified large brooms in this month, and that would be enough.

Liang Wenyu wasn't polite either; after taking the money, he turned it over to Chen Xiuzhu to put away.

Li Long still had to go to Qingshuihe village, so he ate a tomato and left in a hurry.

After he left, Liang Wenyu looked at Liang Donglou with a flushed face: "Dad, you were really right."

"Learn from your mistakes." Liang Donglou said while binding a large broom, "Now while those people of yours are still binding few, hurry over and tell them. You know who bound those few brooms, right?"

"I remembered when you reminded me these two days." Liang Wenyu went to push the bicycle, and said while pushing, "I'll go tell them now."

It turned out that when Liang Wenyu was collecting large brooms, his father Liang Donglou had already seen that his requirement for standards was a bit low, a bit like a "Mr. Close Enough."

Liang Donglou had watched Li Long grow up in these two years, and had also studied his growth process, knowing that his requirements for quality were very strict, so after Liang Wenyu collected large brooms on the first day, he reminded him.

Liang Wenyu was a bit dismissive, feeling that it didn't affect the use of the large brooms. Liang Donglou didn't persuade him anymore. Sometimes, outsiders' words were more useful than family members' words.

Liang Wenyu rode his bike out of the courtyard gate, his mind still thinking about his father's words from these two days.

He actually knew that his old man's life experience was richer than his own, but when a fledgling bird grew up, it would always think about flying in its own way. Only when hitting a wall would it suddenly realize that the life experience the elders had spoken of before was actually used here.

With the tiger bone wine Li Long gave, Liang Donglou's body was very sturdy, and his work was as agile as ever. In terms of binding large brooms, he was much more powerful than the young people Liang Wenyu found.

Of course, now there were not only young people binding large brooms; Liang Wenyu found young people, but the main work was still being done by the elders in these young people's families, and the young people also did it, but the qualification rate wasn't high.

Li Long returned to the large courtyard just in time for lunch. After finishing lunch, he hurried to Qingshuihe village again.

Meng Hai's house was already piled with many large brooms, and he was piling up the large brooms collected today, ensuring that the large brooms wouldn't be deformed due to piling and crushing.

Seeing Li Long get off the car and walk over, Meng Hai stood up with a smile to greet him.

"How many have you collected?" Li Long asked while looking at the collected large brooms.

These large brooms were obviously more than those on the Fourth Team side; it seemed Qingshuihe had prepared early and prepared sufficiently.

The quality of the large brooms was no problem; the poles were all peeled and dried, with no cracks. Red willows were densely bound in a circle on the broom head, and thin hemp ropes bound the Jiji grass in small strands to fix it, so the Jiji grass wouldn't scatter too much, and it wouldn't be easy to break.

"Now there are over thirteen hundred." Meng Hai said, "Comrade Li Long, if you can take them, take a batch away. Mainly because our courtyard is small and can't hold too many; if there's a spark or something, it'll be troublesome."

Li Long said while inspecting:

"Okay, I'll bring a car over this afternoon and take the large brooms here away."

The quantity was a bit small, and putting them in the Supply and Marketing Cooperative wasn't worth it, so put them in the acquisition station first.

He wanted to leave backup money for Meng Hai, but Meng Hai didn't need it, saying that the large brooms collected here hadn't been paid for yet, and were being kept on account.

"People in our village trust you; wait until you come to take them away, then pay." Meng Hai said with a smile, "This isn't urgent."

As long as it wasn't urgent, that was fine.

The large brooms at Meng Hai's place basically had nothing unqualified, which made Li Long very gratified.

It could be seen that Meng Hai's requirements were strict, which made him feel at ease. Being a bit older was indeed more attentive than young people like Liang Wenyu. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 897 =====