Chapter 948: Learning: Going there once is really useful

"Qiangqiang, go out and play!" Outside the courtyard, a few children shouted.

"I'm not going, you guys play," Li Qiang came to the door and said to the little friends, "I won't play until the New Year, I have things to do these two days."

"Alright," the little friends left a bit disappointed.

Li Qiang was particularly excited in the first two days after returning. He took the things he saw in Yanjing and the toys he brought back to play properly with his little friends. From the third day, he didn't go out anymore.

Li Juan didn't go out again from the second day. When partners from the village came to play at home, they saw her writing homework and reading books.

Li Qiang didn't pay attention at first, but later, somehow, he followed his sister to study.

Liang Wenyu was a bit surprised to see this situation and asked Li Jianguo at night:

"They... this change is a bit big. Going to Yanjing once, is it really that useful?"

"About the same," Li Jianguo sighed. "University, actually there's nothing much to see during the holiday. But Mingming's aunt went to university in Yanjing, so when visiting the university, she told Juan and Qiangqiang about things in the university, and Juan and Qiangqiang became interested,"

Listening to the two children reading over there, Li Jianguo nodded: "Regardless of whether it's fishing for three days and drying the net for two days, just looking at this energy now, it's useful."

"Looking at it this way, buying a courtyard might really be useful," Liang Wenyu said happily, and then patted Li Jianguo, "Li Long paid the money, so when Li Long comes back, you have to give him the money.

This courtyard money is not a small amount, you, the elder brother, can't take advantage of your younger brother."

"How to pay it back?" Li Jianguo smiled bitterly. "The name on the certificate is mine, but Li Long spent foreign money, US dollars. Where can I find that money? The bank doesn't exchange it for us either?"

Liang Wenyu thought it was also true, and she didn't know what to do.

"Then... pay it back later, find time to ask about how foreign money and our money are exchanged. In any case, we can't really take that courtyard for nothing. Otherwise, I, the elder sister-in-law, will be embarrassed to see Xiaoxia."

"Don't worry, how can we take it for nothing?" Li Jianguo took out a cigarette, wanted to light it, but finally put it down. "Pay it back slowly later. Isn't that Dongfanghong still driven by me? After making money, we will just share less."

"Why don't you smoke?" Liang Wenyu discovered her husband's strange action and asked.

The family had money, and after hearing what Li Long said, Liang Wenyu didn't let Li Jianguo smoke Mohe tobacco, saying it was too harmful to the lungs. Although boxed cigarettes were also harmful to the lungs, they would be better.

"Smoking is not healthy," Li Jianguo waved his hand. "Quit slowly, I smoked too much before, it was choking."

Liang Wenyu felt that her husband had undergone quite a few changes after going to Yanjing once. She was thinking, is Yanjing so powerful that it could change her husband so much? Of course, the biggest change was the two children.

Even if it was just serious for these few days, the feeling was worth it.

"That courtyard..." Liang Wenyu remembered again and said, "What exactly is it like?"

"Wait until Li Long develops the photos in two days, and you will be able to see it," Li Jianguo said. "The courtyard is smaller than Li Long's in the county, but it's a courtyard house, so there are rooms on all four sides, and the courtyard is not small, it's just that you can't plant vegetables, mm, the environment is not bad...

By the way, I told Juan and Qiangqiang not to tell outsiders about buying the courtyard. You don't tell it either. We went to Yanjing once, and some people in the team are already jealous. Now if we say we bought a courtyard, I don't know how those people will be jealous of us."

Li Jianguo said so, and Liang Wenyu felt it should be like this. Fortunately, things about Yanjing were all said by Li Jianguo in these two days, and she just listened and didn't say much.

The TV sound wasn't loud. The two children over there weren't reading anymore, but they could hear Qiangqiang asking Juan about solving problems.

Liang Wenyu felt this was quite good, a kind of emotion called happiness growing in the bottom of her heart.

Li Long pulled the local specialties back to the large courtyard, and the next day he took a set and a half to the supply and marketing cooperative.

A portion of pastries was given to Zhou Yuan, and a set of local specialties was taken to Li Xiangqian's office.

"Hey, you came back quite early this time, earlier than the expected time," Li Xiangqian looked at Li Long putting the things on the table and smiled: "How is it, is it smooth?"

"Quite smooth," Li Long went to connect water himself, took a sip, and said: "Hey, still used to the water here. The water over there, I really can't get used to drinking it."

"You just pretend, isn't the water in the capital better than ours? You even praised our saline-alkali water here," Li Xiangqian laughed at Li Long. "Really, the child in the mountains can't eat fine grain!"

"Really not. The water over there, I really always feel a smell of disinfectant. The one in our river here is saline-alkali water, but this one you are drinking is deep-layer water hit down forty or fifty meters. This will be mineral water in the future, the water quality must be good, right?"

Li Xiangqian thought Li Long was joking. Who knew what he said was the truth? Twenty or thirty years later, a certain mountain spring specially ran to the mountains south of Maxian to take water and make it into mineral water to sell. At that time, the village here used tap water, and the water source was introduced from the mountains, not much worse than those pure waters.

"Tell me, how is the situation over there?" Li Xiangqian had nothing to do now, so he wanted to hear about Li Long's situation.

Li Long told him about the trip to Yanjing, seeing Tiananmen, the memorial hall, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall, etc.

"Then how is the courtyard you bought?" Li Xiangqian asked. "Is it easy to buy?"

"Not easy to buy," Li Long said truthfully. "Outsiders are not allowed to buy, and there are tenants in many courtyards. After buying, you can't live in, and you are not allowed to drive the tenants away, or those tenants are not easy to drive away, which is troublesome."

"There are tenants in the courtyard?" Li Xiangqian was quite surprised about the situation in Yanjing and asked, "What does it mean?"

"Many courtyards over there were private before the Great Movement. During the Great Movement, they were distributed or rented to those who had no houses. The rent is especially low.

Now the original owner wants to sell the courtyard, those tenants are definitely unhappy and don't want to move out. If they want to increase the rent, they are also unwilling, so this matter is more troublesome."

"There is such a thing?" Li Xiangqian felt it was quite unexpected. Maxian didn't have this matter because there were few houses and few people.

"How is the university over there? Is it easy to get admitted?" Li Xiangqian asked the question he cared about.

"How would I know? We went when it was on holiday, and the university was seen, it was quite good. As for whether it's easy to get admitted... it's definitely not easy to get admitted," Li Long smiled. "But how to say it, give the children a direction to move forward."

"What did you bring back?" Li Xiangqian looked at the boxes with solid packaging on the table and asked.

"Pastries from Yanjing time-honored shops, roast duck, and some patent medicines," Li Long said. "Went there once, no matter what, I have to bring some local specialties back."

Li Long spent quite a bit of money on this trip, but if he really talked about those calligraphy and paintings, he felt he earned more.

Of course, those paintings would have to wait until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse to be cashed out, so he didn't count on it in the short term.

"You already know about the representative meeting, right?" Li Xiangqian talked about the main business. "It will be held after the New Year, and the time is quite tight."

"Know," Li Long took another sip of water and said, "I'm thinking about the proposal."

"It's nothing, you can think about things in the countryside, things in the market, including things about herdsmen. Although it was our system that elected you as a representative, what proposal you make is up to you," Li Xiangqian touched his hair and said, "No restrictions."

Coming out of the supply and marketing cooperative, Li Long returned to the large courtyard for lunch, and then drove to the Fourth Team.

He first went to the old horse number. Uncle Uncle Lao Luo and the others were playing cards in the room. After hearing the car sound, they went out of the door and were quite happy after seeing Li Long.

Li Long carried the specialty box into the room. The old people didn't play cards anymore, and they talked about selling sheep one after another.

Li Long could hear that the slaughter and sale of cattle, sheep, and deer were quite good, including the heads and hooves of cattle and sheep, which were mostly bought by people in the village, including the Second and Third Teams. The skins were waiting in the warehouse for Li Long to handle.

"People in the team have money, and they are picky about eating meat," Yang Laoliu said indignantly: "Some people even dislike that there is little meat on the hooves... don't think about it, a few years ago, everyone snatched this to eat..."

Also, the changes in the team in these few years were relatively large, at least the average living standard was much higher than other villages.

"This is a good thing," Uncle Uncle Lao Luo must have argued with Yang Laoliu, "Having money to eat meat, isn't that a good thing? Those who don't want to eat heads, hooves, and offal are just too lazy to clean them. Look at us, clean them up, marinate them, and drink two cups of wine, how good it is!"

This topic was not easy to proceed, so Li Long talked about his observations in Yanjing.

Knowing that Li Long went to see the old man's memorial hall, Tiananmen, and took photos, these old people asked Li Long to develop the photos as soon as possible, saying they wanted to see them.

"If there is a chance in the future, I will take you to Yanjing to see," Li Long smiled. "You have to be prepared."

"If we can really go, then we have to save money properly..." "Money is nothing, the most important thing is that you have to keep your body healthy," Li Long smiled. "You have to have a good body to climb the Great Wall."

"Don't worry about this, Little Long! Although we old brothers are old, our bodies are very good!"

Coming out of the old horse number, Li Long first went to Tao Daqiang's home. Tao Daqiang wasn't there; he and Yang Pingping went to his father-in-law's home. Li Long then handed the box of pastries to Tao Jian She, chatted with him for a few sentences, and then went to Xie Yun Dong's home.

Two days ago, when Li Long returned, Xie Yun Dong wasn't there; he went to help his father-in-law. After he went to Li's house to find Li Long, Li Long had already left.

Li Long parked the car outside the courtyard, carried a box of pastries into the courtyard, and saw Xie Yun Dong clearing snow. He also saw Li Long and said with a smile:

"Little Long is here? Just right, the money for selling cattle and sheep is still kept here. Since you are here, just let you see it."

Li Long smiled and said: "No rush, no rush. This is the pastries I brought back from Yanjing, the time-honored shop over there, a shop that has been making pastries for hundreds of years, just right for you to taste."

"Alright, alright, alright, things from Yanjing, not easy," Xie Yun Dong stood the wooden shovel in his hand against the wall, pushed the door, and let Li Long in.

Deng Guilan was tidying up the kitchen and greeted Li Long with a smile.

"You pour water for Little Long, I will show Little Long the accounts and money for selling cattle and sheep," Xie Yun Dong said, and then took Li Long into the inner room.

Li Long saw Xie Yun Dong take a rolled-up package from the top of the fire wall. After opening it, inside were stacks of money and a notebook.

"Cattle and sheep were sent to the sugar factory according to the price and quantity you said. Then, that Section Chief Hu also wanted three deer, male deer. You weren't there, I thought since people wanted them, then let's slaughter them. This matter couldn't be told to you at that time..." Xie Yun Dong said.

"No problem, no problem, it was me who didn't explain clearly," Li Long thought to himself how he forgot this matter.

"Later, there were people in the team and people from other villages who came to buy cattle and sheep heads, hooves, and offal. The accounts are all here, you take a look."

Li Long flipped through the notebook, on which every income was recorded.

Regardless of the three large accounts of over 20,000 sold to the sugar factory, or a cow head for 15 yuan, four sheep hooves plus one sheep head for 5 yuan—the price rose this year, and Xie Yun Dong didn't give the welfare of 3 yuan last year.

"Our team people don't lack this little money," Xie Yun Dong explained. "Ma Jinbao's side is 6 yuan for a pair of sheep heads and sheep hooves. We wanted less, some people didn't feel grateful and said strange things, so I set the price at 5 yuan."

Li Long smiled and said: "Mm, it should be like this."

The total account was on the last page. All the things sold were 26,188.4 yuan.

Li Long counted the money seriously, and then took out 100 yuan from it and handed it to Xie Yun Dong:

"This is for you, this matter is thanks to you."

Xie Yun Dong didn't push it away and said with a smile: "Then I will accept it."

This matter was revealed. Xie Yun Dong asked about some things in Yanjing city, and Li Long picked what could be said and said some.

Then he went to Liang Dacheng and Jia Weidong's homes to send pastries, chatted for a while, and finally returned to his elder brother's home.

Li Juan and Li Qiang ran out immediately after hearing the jeep sound.

"Come, come, just right, move these specialties into the room, you have been waiting anxiously, right?" Li Long smiled. "Didn't eat properly over in Yanjing, this time brought them back, can eat properly."

Li Juan was a bit shy, and Li Long just smiled.

"Don't just look, come, move together! After moving in, let's have a good meal today, I didn't eat properly either."

Li Long separated the specialties brought back and let the two children hold a few boxes each and go to the room. Li Qing Xia and Du Chunfang came out of the east room after hearing the commotion. Li Long took a few boxes and went over to put them in their room.

"Old mother, you put these pastries by the bedside, and eat a piece when you think of it," Li Long exhorted Du Chunfang. "Pastries are a bit sweet, don't eat too much at once."

Life was good, but Du Chunfang didn't change the habit of liking to eat snacks. Li Long would buy some and put them in her room from time to time. Sometimes when the snacks were finished and Li Long forgot, Du Chunfang would ask Li Qing Xia for money to buy them herself.

Li Long knew she would still be embarrassed, and when she went to the door shop to buy snacks, she would tell people it was for her own grandchildren.

The little old lady was quite cute sometimes.

"Alright, alright, alright, can't eat those," Du Chunfang looked full of joy. "One box is enough, you take the rest home to eat."

"There are some at home," Li Long smiled. "Mingming's aunt is in Yanjing, if you want to eat, just mail them over. Don't worry, eat."

Saying this, he said to his old father again:

"Old father, you eat too. This is famous, Yanjing famous shop, time-honored shop, opened for hundreds of years."

"Alright, alright, alright, I will taste it." Li Qing Xia didn't eat snacks much, but this was bought specially by his youngest son from Yanjing, so no matter what, he had to taste it.

When Li Long went to the west room, a box of pastries had already been opened in this room. The Lu couple sat on the sofa, each holding a piece in their hands—this box of pastries contained some of each style, and the two had pastry crumbs on the corners of their mouths. Seeing Li Long, they were a bit embarrassed.

"Lu Big Brother, Lu Big Sister-in-law, you are here," Li Long greeted. "How is the taste? It's said to be a time-honored shop, a shop that has been open for hundreds of years. Whether the taste is good or not, the fame is not small."

"Good, good, good, delicious," Lu Yingming said hurriedly. "Much better than the sesame cakes and noodles we have here."

Northern Xinjiang was generally better in living conditions, but after all, it was only shortly after getting rid of subsistence, and the cultural heritage and such were far worse than inside the pass. Just like the pastries and snacks here, at least they didn't appear much on the market.

Ordinary common people could buy few varieties in the store, and homemade ones were limited by cultural inheritance and lack of materials, which were hemp leaves, sugar cakes, and fried dough twists. Compared to inside the pass, they couldn't compare.

It was only after a few decades that the tourism industry flourished, and ethnic pastries began to be familiar to the public.

So what Lu Yingming said was also correct. These pastries were very good in terms of color and taste.

"Take a box back to eat later," Li Jianguo smiled. "Let the children taste it too."

"We will just take two pieces, how can we take a box," Lu Big Sister-in-law said hurriedly. "This thing is not cheap."

"Don't care if it's expensive or cheap, went to Yanjing once, no matter what, have to bring some local specialties back?" Li Jianguo waved his hand. "Take it, there are still some."

Lu Big Brother and Big Sister-in-law were a bit embarrassed, but thinking of the two children at home, they agreed.

Lu Big Brother came to ask about Li family's planting plan for next year.

Last year, Li family said that planting melon seeds wouldn't work, but planting sunflowers would work, after all, the market acceptance was high.

In the end, it was proven that sunflowers indeed earned more than melon seeds, but those who planted melon seeds also made money.

How about this year?

"Can plant melon seeds this year," Li Long answered this question. "Someone inside the pass collected them, melon seeds have a market. Although it's more troublesome, the money should be able to earn more."

The Lu couple looked at each other, and their eyes shone.

They had already tasted the sweetness of planting cash crops, so they came to ask what to plant. Actually, they also thought about whether melon seeds might be popular, but they weren't sure, so they came to ask.

Now that there was a definite answer, they had a spectrum in their hearts.

It was estimated that in two days, the whole village would know this news.

With two or three fried goods factories inside the pass as support, Li Long was quite confident about melon seeds.

Of course, this was temporary. After all, melon seeds were only snacks. Later, it still had to depend on cotton. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 949 =====