Chapter 937: Can an heirloom bracelet just be given away so casually?

While resting in the evening, Li Long said to Gu Gu Xiaoxia, "When we leave the day after tomorrow, let's take a sheep with us. I'll have it cut into pieces and bring it along. Once we get there, Xiao Yu can take a portion to your mother's side, and Xiao Yu can keep the rest to eat."

He said this because he was inspired by his chat with Yusufu today. Yusufu had said that once he went outside, he wouldn't be able to eat good mutton, so he might as well bring some along.

"Is that easy to bring?" Gu Gu Xiaoxia didn't quite agree. "We have to look after Ming Ming and Hao Hao, and Big Brother has to manage Li Juan and Li Qiang. It's definitely inconvenient with so many people, especially during the New Year. Besides, won't this mutton thaw once it's on the train? It'll take three or four days; won't it be rotten by the time we get there?"

"That's true." Li Long had overlooked the temperature inside the train. This wasn't the future, where one could use cold-chain transport. Unless he got a freight car to haul a whole load, it wouldn't be easy to manage.

Actually, Li Long had still wanted to persuade Yusufu to open a lamb skewer stall in the city. There had once been an *adashi* who donated a lot of money during the earthquake disaster; he was someone who had gone from Southern Xinjiang to the city to open a barbecue stall, using cumin from here, and because his grilling technique was good, he earned a lot too.

Of course, because Yusufu had already decided to stay in Wucheng, Li Long didn't bring it up.

"Don't think so much about it. That's Yanjing, how could there not be good mutton there?" Gu Gu Xiaoxia said. "It's better if we buy things after we get there. Even if we bring local specialties, it's better to buy things like raisins in Wucheng that are easy to carry."

Alright, after going in a circle, it came back to this point.

But thinking about it, why does everyone buy dried fruit? Isn't it just because it's easy to carry?

"We're leaving the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow, you take Gu Shu and Xiao Yu, hold Ming Ming and Hao Hao, and go take a photo," Li Long suddenly suggested. "Although we're one family, we're thousands of kilometers apart, and it's not convenient to make phone calls now. If you take a photo, it'll be easier for Gu Shu and Xiao Yu to look at it later."

"Hmm, why didn't I think of that?" Gu Xiaoxia slapped the bed. "Xiao Yu's mood was a bit low today, she didn't seem very happy, and Dad was the same... I'll take them tomorrow!"

After saying this, Gu Gu Xiaoxia looked at Li Long and felt more and more that her younger sister was right; the husband she married was truly the right one. He considered everything in advance and was very good at taking care of people—but did this make her seem a bit dull and lazy?

The next day after breakfast, Gu Gu Xiaoxia called her sister to go find Gu Bo Yuan to take a photo. Gu Xiao Yu also felt that taking a photo and having a picture was better. Although she might not necessarily be able to get it on this trip, her sister could mail the photo over later; how great that would be.

Li Long took a silver carp out of the storage room by the kitchen, took it, and drove to the Shicheng Sugar Factory, where he found Section Chief Hu's office.

This fish was caught the first time they cast the net. Li Long had kept it frozen here and hadn't eaten it, so it came in handy this time.

As soon as Section Chief Hu saw Li Long enter, he stood up and said with a smile, "Comrade Li is here, come, come, sit, sit, sit."

"Hello, Section Chief." Li Long greeted him, lifted the bag, and said, "This is a fish from the lake on our side. We caught some a couple of days ago, and today I brought one over to invite you to taste it."

"You're here, why bring things?" Section Chief Hu said with a smile. "Haven't seen you in a long time, what have you been busy with lately?"

"I started an acquisition station and have been busy acquiring things," Li Long said. "I used to think it was great when the public sector did this, but after doing it myself, I realized it's very troublesome."

"This should be very profitable, right?" Section Chief Hu poured Li Long a glass of water, sat down, and said, "Now that the country allows it, acquiring things from the common people and then selling them to merchants who acquire these things, acting as a transit channel, is very good."

"That's what I thought at the beginning, but I didn't know the trade. I acquired whatever people brought, and as a result, I acquired a lot of things but didn't know where to sell them, so they just piled up in the warehouse."

Li Long was telling the truth. Some of the things acquired were indeed just piling up. Some were antiques, and some were miscellaneous items.

"I remember you're an employee of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, right? The Supply and Marketing Cooperative should have channels, right?"

"Not all of them." Li Long smiled. "Some common people bring antiques, and we're laymen at this and can't appraise them. We can't just melt them all into copper, but if we want to sell them, no one is acquiring them, so let's just put them aside for now. By the way, Section Chief Hu, I heard you need mutton here?"

"Right. It's almost the end of the year. We cooperated well last year, and the quality of the beef and mutton you brought was very good, so our unit thought about getting another batch this year. On your side..."

"Definitely no problem. I have even more cattle and sheep raised this year, see how many you need."

"Preliminarily determined to need twenty cattle and one hundred sheep, do you have them?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Li Long nodded and said, "Not only do I have them, I have more. However, slaughtering and preparation will take some time, after all, there are so many..."

"That's definitely no problem. Do you think one week is enough?"

"Enough, enough." Li Long said, "Then one week later, shall I have Master Song come over to haul the cattle and sheep?"

"Fine, I'll have Song Ming bring another vehicle over to haul them then. Two vehicles might not even be enough. The price..."

"Section Chief, this price has to be a bit higher than last year," Li Long said. "The price of meat has risen a lot this year. Let's not talk about the market price, how about we calculate it based on the wholesale price?"

"Fine." Section Chief Hu said with a smile, "Rest assured, our big factory definitely won't let you suffer a loss. The quality of the beef and mutton you give me is good, so we definitely have sincerity regarding the price. How about this, I'll calculate the beef at 2.2 yuan and the mutton at 2 yuan, how's that?"

Prices had risen a lot last year, and one main reason was that some workers here had received wage increases, and it was said that they would rise again this year.

Or rather, from the eighties to the nineties, prices rose very quickly, and by the nineties, there was even inflation, and some things were hard to buy.

This was also why Premier Zhu was carrying out a soft landing for the economy later on.

This price looked much higher than last year, but if calculated based on actual purchasing power, it really wasn't high.

After all, it was almost the end of the year, and the market price was even higher now.

Li Long felt the price was no problem; it was slightly higher than the market wholesale price, which was Section Chief Hu's sincerity.

"Then good, Section Chief, I'll go back and prepare." Li Long stood up and said, "I'll deliver the goods on time in one week."

Section Chief Hu didn't keep Li Long either. After Li Long left, he looked at that big silver carp and nodded with satisfaction.

This fish weighed four or five kilograms, and its size was not small. Not to mention whether it tasted good or not, at least it looked big; taking out such a fish was very prestigious.

The sugar factory needed so much beef and mutton. Li Long knew that relying solely on the strength of the village, although they could finish processing it, to be honest, the time was a bit tight.

So he drove the jeep to buy some supplies in Shicheng, then turned into the mountains; he had to ask Halimu and the others for help.

In front of Halimu's winter camp, two children were wrestling in the snow, two black dogs were circling and wagging their tails on the side, occasionally barking, not knowing if they were cheering for the two children.

When Li Long's jeep arrived, Nasen and Tasken stopped wrestling, cheered, one hugged the black dog that was about to rush over, and the other ran towards the winter camp, shouting while running: "Uncle Li Long is here!"

The two children spoke good Chinese, not knowing if it was because they had deliberately learned it. After all, the current Uyghur schools and Kazakh schools didn't specifically teach Mandarin, and they couldn't be compared to thirty or forty years later.

Halimu came out of the winter camp, saw Li Long getting out of the car, and greeted him with a smile.

Li Long greeted him to unload the things, mainly grain and brick tea and such supplies. There were potatoes and onions for sale at the old street, and Li Long also bought some. It was better for herdsmen in winter to use this to supplement vitamins.

They couldn't just rely on tea.

After unloading the things, Halimu invited Li Long into the room to drink milk tea. Li Long didn't stand on ceremony either, and while drinking milk tea, he explained his purpose.

"No problem. We'll go down the mountain tomorrow, we have a tractor, it's very convenient." With the tractor, Halimu's confidence had really increased a lot.

"You alone won't be enough, it's best to call Brother Yushanjiang." Li Long said, "If not, we'll need Talihar and the others..."

"It's possible, it's possible, I'll go notify them in the afternoon. Rest assured, they also want to go down the mountain to take a look, watching the snow in the mountains every day is also quite boring."

Li Long smiled. He hadn't heard Halimu say this before. In winter, he had even watched them snatch sheep and race horses. Now with a tractor and a radio, their hearts couldn't be held back one by one.

Of course, this was also normal, after all, the times were developing, and herdsmen couldn't possibly stick to old traditions unchanged. In a few years, there would be people herding sheep on motorcycles.

With Halimu helping to notify, Li Long didn't have to worry. He told Halimu about his leaving, and let Halimu and the others eat and drink here at the old horse station when they went down the mountain to slaughter cattle and sheep, and remember to take a sheep back when they left.

"What are you saying?" Halimu shook his head. "*Dosma*, friend, helping, can't want, can't want."

Li Long didn't say anything more. At noon, he ate horse meat *narin* here at Halimu's place, and after eating his fill, he prepared to leave. "The mountains have been quite quiet during this period, two packs of wolves came over, I shot four, you take the wolf skins." Halimu took the wolf skins out of the next room and put them in Li Long's car. "When you come back, look at what I've caught."

"Fine, then I won't be polite with you."

"When you get to Yanjing, take a good look, and tell us about it when you come back." Halimu said, "Let me tell you, some old people in our tribe have always wanted to go to Yanjing to take a look, that riding a donkey to Yanjing, we've also been thinking about it."

Li Long could understand this kind of thinking. After all, the life herdsmen lived before liberation was too bitter, and the exploitation of them by the *bais* was no less than those heartless landlords, but after liberation, their lives were much better.

After Li Long returned to the county, he went straight to the Fourth Team.

Since he had invited Halimu, he had to settle their meals.

Fortunately, there had been such a trip last year, Uncle Lao Luo and the others had experience, and they shouldn't have any objections to Li Long's requirements. When Li Long arrived at the old horse station, they had already started building stoves in the middle courtyard of the horse station.

"The sugar factory needs twenty cattle and one hundred sheep, we have to slaughter twenty-five cattle and one hundred fifty sheep to prepare. When the time comes, put aside the excess and wait for me to come back before talking." Li Long said, "The cattle bought in autumn aren't enough, it's only because there were still cattle being raised last year, otherwise there would really be no way."

"Then how to handle collecting the money?" Uncle Lao Luo asked.

"When the time comes, I'll have Brother Xie Yun Dong and Daqiang follow along." Li Long said, "Let them collect the money. This matter... is a bit passive."

"Yes. It seems slaughtering sheep next year will have to be earlier." Uncle Lao Luo said, "Slaughtering early and freezing them, it's more convenient for whoever wants them to weigh them and take them away."

Li Long thought to himself that he wouldn't make temporary decisions to run outside next year. Although a place like Yanjing is good, it's impossible to go once a year; going once occasionally is fine.

After all, the round trip adds up to seven or eight days, which is tiring enough.

"Uncle Lao Luo, after the slaughtered sheep are taken away, let's keep one here at the horse station to eat, and Brother Xie Yun Dong and the others who helped, let each family take one back." Li Long said again, "Just say I said so when the time comes."

"Fine, that's no problem. People coming to help definitely need to be given a thank-you gift."

"Cook mutton at noon these few days, I'll bring some *naan* when I come to pick people up tomorrow, if you have time, stir-fry some vegetables, if not, just eat hand-grabbed meat and drink mutton soup, in this big winter, mutton is the most nourishing."

"Rest assured about this, we know how to do it."

After coming out of the old horse station, Li Long went to find Xie Yun Dong and Tao Daqiang, asking them to help escort the cattle and sheep when the time came, settle the accounts with the sugar factory, and told them the price; the two naturally had no objections.

"This matter of fattening cattle and sheep, it seems it can still be done." Xie Yun Dong calculated, "Live cattle are 1.2 yuan per kilogram, fattening for three months, now it's 2.2 yuan, even excluding skin and offal, it can still earn a lot of money."

"Hmm, that's indeed the case, actually the cattle and sheep you raised can also be slaughtered at this time, after slaughtering, haul them to Shicheng old street to sell, it will definitely sell very fast before the New Year. And the retail price is even higher than the wholesale price."

When Li Long bought cattle and sheep in October last year, Xie Yun Dong and the others followed to help, and also bought some to raise at home.

This raising was for eating meat, not for making money. But now seeing that fattening cattle and sheep is really profitable, then it can be done.

The market is big, Li Long is not afraid of competition, everyone making money together can make the market bigger and stronger.

Only then did Li Long return to the big courtyard.

He was tired enough from the day's running around.

The train is tomorrow afternoon, and tomorrow morning he has to go to the Fourth Team to bring his elder brother and the two children over.

So after returning and having dinner, and simply talking to Gu Bo Yuan about the acquisition station, Li Long rested early.

The next day, Gu Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiao Yu both got up early. Li Long packed up, started the jeep, ran in the dark to the *naan* shop, bought all the *naan* from the first pit, brought it back, and ate two in the morning.

Gu Bo Yuan also came over to have breakfast here, and by the way, stayed here to see them off.

Gu Xiao Yu's mood was a bit low. She had been living at her sister's house for the past two days and felt very comfortable. She liked this environment very much, and originally, she had a little bit of resistance to the concept of home.

But living here, she felt that the feeling of home could really be very warm, comfortable, and at ease, and the feeling of family being together could be without having to guard against or be careful.

However, she had only lived there for two days and had to leave, so Gu Xiao Yu was naturally reluctant.

But there was no way, she only had these few days of vacation.

"It's okay, you can come back again when you have summer vacation," Gu Gu Xiaoxia knew her sister's thoughts and comforted her, "The train arrives in a few days now, when the time comes, ask for more leave, and you can stay here for a few more days."

Gu Bo Yuan was also a bit reluctant to part with his youngest daughter. He was a bit sad when taking photos yesterday, wanting to smile but unable to.

"Dad, I'll write to you when I go back." Gu Xiao Yu saw her father like this and hurriedly comforted him, "Just like my sister said, when summer vacation comes, I'll ask for leave and come over, and I can stay for a few more days then."

"When summer vacation comes, we can go play in the mountains," Li Long also said with a smile, "When the time comes, our whole family will go, it'll be lively."

Seeing both daughters worried about him, Gu Bo Yuan also figured it out. Now, no matter how sad he was, he shouldn't show it, otherwise, both daughters would worry.

"It's okay, it's okay, anyway, communication is convenient now, we'll write letters when the time comes. By the way, your brother-in-law also said that when summer comes, private individuals might be allowed to install telephones, when the time comes, I'll install one there, your sister will install one here, and you'll install one in the house you bought, and we'll contact by phone!"

"Yes, yes, yes, just like that."

After eating, Li Long drove to pick up his elder brother and Li Juan and Li Qiang. Gu Gu Xiaoxia called Gu Xiao Yu into the bedroom, took out a small bag, and handed it to her, saying:

"We're leaving, keep these things well. Look, inside is a Hetian jade bracelet, this is for Mom... just say you bought it. This one is for you, this is what your brother-in-law brought back from Wucheng, saying it was made from seed material, I don't know much about it either. And take these two pieces of seed material to play with, if you're short on cash, find a place to exchange them for money."

There were many such things at home, Gu Gu Xiaoxia didn't care, these words were what Li Long told her to relay to Gu Xiao Yu.

Gu Xiao Yu was ultimately more knowledgeable. As soon as she saw the quality of this bracelet, she knew it wasn't an ordinary thing, and she hurriedly declined:

"Sister, this is too precious, I'll just take these two pieces of seed material. I'll accept the one for Mom on her behalf, but I don't want this one..."

"Precious? Not precious, your brother-in-law often brings these back..."

Often... brings back?

Gu Xiao Yu looked at her sister in surprise and asked tentatively:

"Sister, are you sure? Brother-in-law often brings them back? Do you know? This is Hetian jade seed material, and this is at least mutton-fat jade level, right? This bracelet, if placed on our side, would easily be over a thousand yuan..."

"Is it that expensive? Impossible, right?" Gu Gu Xiaoxia thought to herself, when her husband gave her the things, he didn't say this was very expensive?

"Don't worry about how much it costs, there are more at home, it's nothing, just take it." Gu Gu Xiaoxia was also surprised in her heart, but she didn't want to think so much at this time, let her sister accept it first.

It's just that thinking of the piles of things her husband brought back casually, one piece was worth over a thousand, this was really not showing off!

Gu Xiao Yu had the same feeling. Was her brother-in-law too mysterious? This kind of thing, if placed in an ordinary family in Yanjing, could be an heirloom, and it was just given away casually?

And said there were many at home?

Li Long didn't know what the two sisters were thinking about him at this moment. He drove to the old horse station first, put down the *naan*, then went to the Li family to pick up his elder brother and Li Juan and Li Qiang, and returned to the county.

From the county to the bus, he couldn't drive, fortunately, it wasn't far, and they didn't bring any big bags, so they arrived very quickly.

The most excited were Li Juan and Li Qiang. At this moment, their little faces were red, and they felt so beautiful in their hearts that they wanted to tell everyone they met: We are going to see Tiananmen! (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 938 =====