Chapter 988: It

After three or four days on the train, when Li Long stepped off at the Urumqi Railway Station, he stretched his body and felt as if he had come back to life.

Little Wang had booked him a lower berth, which should have been very comfortable. The train wasn't as cramped as a long-distance bus, and one could stand up in the corridor.

He had been eating food from the dining car the whole way; there was certainly no complaint about the treatment, but Li Long just felt uncomfortable staying in such a narrow space on the train. Now that he was off the train, even though the weather was very hot, he felt his body was stretched out everywhere, and his breathing was broad and open.

Carrying his bag and the local specialties Little Wang had prepared, he first went to the place where he and Yusufu had eaten before to have some lagman, properly compensating his stomach, and then went to find Yusufu to buy some dried fruits.

Although the Beijing Office also had lagman, he didn't know if it was the flour or the meat and vegetables that were wrong; anyway, he felt the taste wasn't that good. Only by eating a meal here did he feel it was authentic!

Raisins and red dates, although twenty or thirty years later, would be the least favorite snacks and dried fruits in the homes of residents in northern and southern Xinjiang, but at this time, the variety of snacks one could eat was still relatively small, so keeping them at home as a nibble was still quite good.

Yusufu was there and was very happy to see Li Long. His son wasn't there, and when Li Long asked, Yusufu said his son had gone to learn how to cook. He didn't want to set up a stall here like his father; he wanted to open a lagman restaurant.

That could be considered having his own goal; not bad.

"Adashi, you could display some jade to sell at your stall," Li Long chatted for a while and said, "There is a side door next to the Jade Carving Factory where you can buy some small jade carvings. People who travel here like this stuff. If you stock some and add a markup to sell them here, even if you sell just one a day, you'll have earned back your capital. Anyway, you understand jade and can chat with them about it. Selling only raisins, red dates, and walnuts doesn't earn much, right?"

"I can try it." Yusufu thought that if people coming to play or work wanted to take back local specialties, Hetian jade was indeed a good choice, but this was just his and Li Long's opinion. He had set up a street stall in front of the square before, and he didn't know if it would work to set up a stall like this now.

"Try it. Anyway, those apprentices' jade carvings aren't very valuable. Start with small pieces; you can try it."

Actually, some people were already interested in Northern Xinjiang now. Although there weren't many people coming here to play, there were some.

Some of the later wealthy people in the Northern Xinjiang region mostly started from doing small businesses at this time, so it was completely worth a try.

Leaving Yusufu's place, Li Long put the raisins, red dates, and so on into his backpack, then went to the consignment department to pick up the things he and Gu Xiao Yu had bought for their family, and then took the things to the passenger station.

Having been away for half a month, he was already impatient; he figured Li Xiangqian must be anxious too.

Although he had called from Yanjing to explain the reason, what Li Xiangqian cared about most was the current task.

Fortunately, when calling other places, the work of tying big brooms was going well. That was what they said, but Li Long had to see it to believe it.

Returning to the county, Li Long carried the things and walked back to the big courtyard with long strides. Sister Yang and Han Fang were in the courtyard accompanying Mingming and Haohao. On a small table near the kitchen, there were a few slices of watermelon covered with a mesh cover. When Mingming and Haohao saw Li Long return, they were stunned for a moment, then called out and ran over unsteadily, hugging Li Long's legs and refusing to let go.

Not bad, they still recognized him. Li Long had originally thought that after being away for more than half a month, they wouldn't recognize him anymore.

Putting the things down, he picked up the two children and kissed them, then answered Sister Yang's questions.

"The whole way was fine. Anyway, sitting in a sleeper was comfortable and not crowded. The food was good too; I feel like I've gained weight again." Li Long said with a smile, "Mingming and Haohao are heavier too; they must have gained weight in this half month."

"It's good to be fat." Sister Yang said with a smile, "Fat people have blessings..."

At this time, there weren't many fat people. Those who could get fat usually didn't have bad family conditions, which was why there was the saying "fat people have blessings."

Li Long, however, knew that children shouldn't eat too fat when they were young; it would be very hard to lose weight later. So he thought that after the work of tying big brooms was finished, he had to formulate an exercise plan for the two children; he had to turn the fat on their bodies into muscle.

Of course, it didn't have to be pure strength or endurance; even doing a few sets of Baduanjin every day to loosen up their bodies would be fine.

Knowing that Li Long had already eaten, Sister Yang told him about the recent situation and asked Han Fang to cut another watermelon.

"Just cut it open; I'll take half and eat it with a spoon." Li Long said, "I can still eat this half melon."

Han Fang smiled with her eyes narrowed, went over to hug a big watermelon, cut it neatly, hugged the sweet end with the stem over to give to Li Long, and then quickly went to get an iron spoon. Li Long took it and said with a smile: "Little Fang has grown into a big girl."

"Hehe." Han Fang just smiled there.

"She's a bit silly." Sister Yang also smiled, "Started school late, but her grades are okay, and she knows how to work hard..."

"That's not silly at all." Li Long said while eating the watermelon, "If she gets into a good school later and gets a job, you'll be able to enjoy blessings, Big Sister."

Seeing Li Long eating the melon, Mingming and Haohao immediately came over to join in the fun, and Li Long would feed them a piece from time to time.

"That person named Meng Hai came once," Sister Yang remembered something and said, "He came three days ago, saying that there were already over three thousand big brooms tied in their village and other nearby villages, asking when you would be back, and if you had time, to go over and inspect them and haul a load."

When Li Long left, he had left seven thousand yuan with Meng Hai, which was the money for two thousand big brooms. Now that there were over three thousand, that money certainly wasn't enough.

It was easy to talk to his elder brother; even if the money left wasn't enough, his elder brother and old father had money on hand to cover it. Even if they couldn't cover it, the people in the village could let the money be owed first.

In the Corps' company, there was already a relationship of trust with Wang Mingjun, and Zhao Zongming had taken the initiative to ask for it, so neither side had been given money.

But Li Long thought that since he was back, he would first collect the big brooms from these two places and settle the money for this part, so that at least the pressure on their side could be relieved a little.

However, he would rest for half a day first; no matter how he collected them, it would have to be tomorrow.

"Halimu and the others came and took the tractor away, saying they were going to mow grass. The things they left behind are still in the side room." Sister Yang pointed.

Li Long didn't have time to look now; he thought he would wait until he hauled away a batch of big brooms before talking about it.

In the evening, Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Bo Yuan were also very happy to see Li Long when they returned. Li Long took out the things he bought from Yanjing, including the things Gu Xiao Yu had asked him to bring.

The local specialties Little Wang asked him to bring were the most popular with the children, mainly some food that could be stored, such as preserved fruits and pastries.

And the clothes, hats, toys, and stationery that Gu Xiao Yu thoughtfully prepared for everyone were also good; both adults and children were very happy.

Gu Bo Yuan listened to Li Long talk about his conversation with that leader, and then sighed:

"Being able to talk with this leader, this trip of yours to Yanjing was truly the right one. Our acquisition station can be considered to have a real backer from now on."

Li Long also felt that way. Although it was just a simple meeting and the things they talked about were also very simple, what people outside thought wasn't like this.

Actually, Li Long also thought too simply. As a nationally commended advanced individual, it was normal for that leader, who had governed Northern Xinjiang for many years, to have noticed him during the commendation meeting. But being summoned to the office to talk for more than half an hour was different.

Interested people would soon learn of this information and then adjust their assessment and response to Li Long.

However, Li Long didn't need to worry about this. He thought that next time he went, he would bring that old gentleman some real local specialties—after all, the things he brought this time were too casual.

In the evening, Li Long called his elder brother and told him about his return. Li Jianguo was very happy and said that he had also collected over three thousand big brooms there. This year, everyone's enthusiasm for tying big brooms was very high; for the sake of cutting needle grass, some people even fought.

"Wenyu has also tied quite a few; there should be over a thousand, right?" Li Jianguo mentioned a situation Li Long had overlooked, "He asked me if you were still collecting this year, and I said yes, but that the quality still needed to be higher. He said no problem. What do you think about how to handle that side?"

"Of course we'll collect them." Li Long had truly forgotten about Liang Wenyu's side, mainly because there were no needle grass resources there, and plus Li Long had left in a hurry at the time, so he had overlooked it.

However, that he could remember to find his elder brother showed he had heart. Since they had tied them, they would certainly be collected.

"That's fine then." Li Jianguo said, "I'll let him haul them directly to me. It's better to transport them all away together then."

That was also right.

Li Long said: "Then let's do it this way. Let him haul them with a tractor. Tomorrow morning, I'll first take a vehicle to the Corps' company to inspect, accept, and transport them, and then return to our team the day after tomorrow or the day after that."

"You busy yourself with your work; look at your own plan." Li Jianguo said, "Any time is fine."

Hanging up the phone, Li Long saw that it was already late and it wasn't good to call Li Xiangqian again, so he thought about bringing some local specialties over tomorrow and mentioning the transportation matter by the way. ===== CHAPTER 989 =====