Chapter 93

Whether you have money or not, get a haircut for the New Year.

At this time, very few people in the countryside had the habit of going to a barbershop. Instead, three or five families usually had a manual clipper.

At this time, "Ordinary World" hadn't been published yet, and Hu Delu of Shigejie Commune hadn't designed a trendy hairstyle. The hair of the Li family was all trimmed by Liang Yuemei.

Li Juan and Li Qiang also had new clothes, just waiting for the New Year's Eve to pass, and then they would change into them.

At this time, even if the family was poor and couldn't afford cloth to make new clothes, they would wash the children's clothes clean and wear clothes with as few patches as possible for the New Year.

As New Year's Eve approached, one could occasionally hear sporadic firecracker sounds.

Li Qiang was the most glorious child in the team these two days—Li Long took apart the 100-shot small firecrackers he bought in Wucheng, let him take a handful at a time, and then lit a jasmine incense in his hand to go out and set them off.

At this time, whether boys or girls, the pursuit of firecrackers was very persistent. The gunpowder charge of that 100-shot small firecracker was very small, so Li Long dared to hold it in his hand to set it off, so he didn't worry about being blown up.

On the contrary, the electric light cannons that had to be set off when making dumplings on the first day of the New Year were quite loud, so one had to be careful at this time.

This New Year, many families were thinking about the kindness of the Li family—thanks to Li Long, many families in the team could add one or two more hard dishes to the table for the reunion dinner this New Year.

Whether it was wild boar meat, Mongolian gazelle meat, or sheep offal, including fish, they were all rare in previous New Years. But now, there was more or less some.

Even if they went to the small lake to break the ice and catch fish, it was Li Long who started it first. Other families, although they didn't go to sell, or didn't dare to sell, at least they would eat fish, and they had fish to eat.

Having a large carp on the table for the New Year's Eve dinner was very respectable.

Quite a few young people came to Li Long's place to visit these days.

Xu Haijun envied Li Long for a long time after seeing the leather jacket in Li Long's room—this leather jacket cost more than forty yuan in the department store, which was a month's salary for an ordinary worker, and it was really hard for ordinary people to afford.

But the outside was otter skin, the inside was processed fluffy fur, plus a fur collar, it looked fashionable and was indeed warm.

"Little Long, you say you've really changed a lot during this period," Xu Haijun said with emotion while sitting on the kang, "Not to mention earning money, you've seen a lot outside, and the way you speak is different."

Today Xu Haijun came alone, and he brought twenty more bullets to exchange for four jin of Mongolian gazelle meat.

Li Long naturally had no opinion; the family had nothing else, just plenty of meat.

"Why say 'a tree moves and dies, a person moves and lives'?" Li Long said with a smile, "If you go out and look around, you'll naturally be different when you see more."

"I haven't been out, I don't really dare. I go around the county at most, unlike you, going around Wucheng and Shicheng at will."

"Then I haul fish, someone in Maxian catches me, what can I do if I don't go to Shicheng? People are forced out, if you don't force yourself, how do you know you can't?"

There were no other entertainment facilities in this era, so Li Long could only read books to pass the time. This made him miss the days of brushing videos and novels on his phone in his previous life.

"By the way, I heard Wu Shufen and Gu Ermao broke up again, didn't she come to you to get back together?" Xu Haijun asked with an ambiguous tone.

"Get back together what?" Li Long waved his hand, "A good horse doesn't eat the grass it has already passed, it's impossible for her to come, and it's impossible for me to go."

"Why? She's so beautiful, you don't like her anymore?" Xu Haijun was a bit surprised.

"Then she's so beautiful, why don't you chase her?" Li Long asked back.

"She's beautiful, that's true, but her mother is also difficult to deal with," Xu Haijun now regarded Li Long as a confidant and told the truth.

"My mind isn't on this," Li Long shook his head, "Making money is the most important thing now. I've figured it out, as long as you make money, whether you're a worker or a farmer, you're a hot commodity."

"You're really right," Xu Haijun said with a smile, "My sister-in-law has been saying she wants to introduce a good partner to you these two days." "Forget it," Li Long smiled, "My standards are high now, I can't look at ordinary ones."

It was already dark when Xu Haijun left. Li Long knew that Xu Haijun was quite arrogant. He went to high school, although he didn't graduate, his vision was different from ordinary young people in the team. He always had a kind of arrogance of "everyone is drunk and I am sober," and then he really went to join the army.

At this time, it was still March conscription. Xu Chengjun was the team leader, and Xu Haijun had gone to high school, and there was nothing wrong with his body, so he was sure to join the army.

However, Xu Haijun's words reminded Li Long. These two days, his sister-in-law was also saying from time to time that the aunts and sisters-in-law in the team were really trying to introduce partners to Li Long, all of whom were their relatives.

Li Long had an impression of most of them, but he pushed them away without even seeing them. Although he wasn't a "face dog," he at least had to be able to look at them.

Amidst all kinds of messy things, New Year's Eve arrived.

The Li family's habit was to worship ancestors on New Year's Eve. He and Li Jianguo went to the main road outside, picked a crossroads, circled in the snow, drew an opening on the southeast side, and then burned paper in the circle.

"When I was a child, I went to the ancestral grave to burn paper on New Year's Eve, but now I can only do it here," Li Jianguo sighed, "I don't know if the ancestors can receive it."

After burning the paper, the two brothers went home. Lunch on New Year's Eve was dumplings.

Before eating dumplings, paste the spring couplets.

!.

Because of Li Long's capability, the Li family made two kinds of dumplings this year: wild boar meat and cabbage filling, and mutton and cabbage filling. Li Jianguo also found a few brand-new fractional coins from the five-drawer cabinet, washed them clean, and Liang Yuemei wrapped them into the dumplings, saying that on the first day of the New Year, they would see who could eat them.

After eating dumplings, Li Qiang couldn't wait to let Li Long dismantle a pocket of small firecrackers, and then took a stick of jasmine incense and rushed out.

"Look at him!" Liang Yuemei couldn't help but say, "I don't know what's so good about setting them off."

"Male children, running around is nothing," Li Jianguo said with a smile.

New Year's Eve dinner, according to Li Long's proposal, braised meat, cold dishes, hot stir-fried dishes, the whole family talked and laughed, and in this life, Li Long drank alcohol for the first time.

The famous wines sold here were Gucheng and Baiyang. Li Long only drank two glasses and stopped. He still remembered to go out to set off the opening firecrackers when it hit zero.

Li Qiang insisted on following. He barely stayed up until twelve o'clock with Li Long, then put on new clothes and followed Li Long to the door.

Li Long first lit a two-kick firecracker and threw it out. After hearing two sounds of "bang—pop" outside, they walked out.

Li Long lined up four two-kick firecrackers in the courtyard and said to Li Qiang:

"You light the two on the west, I'll light the two on the east, be sure to light them, rest assured, they won't blow you up."

Seeing such thick firecrackers, Li Qiang was a bit nervous.

But boys, at this time, they couldn't be cowardly. Seeing that Li Long had already gone to prepare to light the firecrackers, he immediately came to the firecracker on the far west, squatted down, nervously reached out, and used the incense in his hand to reach the fuse of the firecracker.

After finally lighting it, he turned and ran, but seeing Li Long lighting the second one, he had to return.

"Bang—bang—pop—bang—pop..."

Continuous sounds exploded in the night sky.

The New Year has arrived.

Li Qiang looked nervously at the two-kick firecrackers exploding in the air, thinking that he could brag well to his little friends tomorrow.

He actually set off such thick firecrackers!

Li Long thought, he had been here for almost a month, hoping that everything would go smoothly in the New Year!

(End of chapter)