Chapter 16: Be prepared to enter the mountains
Li Long didn’t know what the people in the village thought of him now, but he didn’t care either.
Getting on the carriage and trying to drive five hundred meters, he became proficient.
I did similar work in my previous life. Although Li Jianguo was one of the first people in the team to be able to afford a tractor, in the years before buying the tractor, the family's main means of transportation was a donkey cart.
Li Long can not only drive a donkey cart, but also ride a donkey. Before he passed away in his last life, he once thought about raising donkeys. After all, donkeys are less sick and easy to feed, so the price is getting higher and higher. .
"Brother Long, when did you learn to drive a carriage?" Tao Daqiang sat on the straw bales on the carriage and said enviously.
"This is nothing." Li Long said while sitting on the carriage stand, "The road is so flat. The horses in our team are docile. As long as you don't irritate them, you can pay attention to them from time to time. Just move forward.”
Of course, it sounds simple, but it’s actually not that simple. It's just that Li Long didn't think it was necessary to go into detail.
All the way to the countryside, there were not many people on the road. There was already a layer of white frost on the brim of the two people's hats, on their eyebrows, and on the hair that had just grown up and down their lips.
The sun rose and the temperature rose slightly, but Li Long felt that his feet were numb from the cold. He got out of the car and drove the carriage along the road towards the county.
The road from the village to the county is much better. Trucks pass by and the road is relatively wide. Occasionally, you can see donkey dung and horse dung. Li Long remembered that when he was walking to the county in winter, he would kick these things out of boredom. The best ones were camel dung eggs, which were round and could roll very far when kicked. Donkey dung eggs and horse dung eggs are both oval and flat, kicking and rolling along irregular paths.
Then I saw an old man carrying a dung basket picking up dung.
This is rare. Because of the large land area in Northern Xinjiang, chemical fertilizers have been used on a large scale. Picking up manure is common in Li Long's hometown, but he has never seen it here.
When the carriage arrived at the county, both the horses and the people were already white. Li Long found the buying station, drove the carriage to the side of the road, took out a few handfuls of grass from the carriage and let the horses eat there. He told Tao Daqiang:
"Daqiang, you are watching the carriage here, I Go in and see how much the water rat skin costs.”
"Okay." Tao Daqiang nodded vigorously. He felt that he was finally of some use.
Li Long pushed the door into the purchasing station with a bag wrapped in water rat skin, and saw a middle-aged man behind the counter sitting on a chair reading a newspaper.
This man was wearing a blue tunic suit, his hair was parted four to six, and he looked very energetic - he looked like a cadre of that era.
There is a stove set up in the purchasing station. The fire is very strong and makes a rumbling sound. You don’t need to look at Li Long to know that the stove must be filled with coal-what a luxury!
"Comrade, I would like to ask if you can accept this." Li Long took out the skin of the water rat and placed it on the counter.
Chen Hongjun looked Li Long up and down, then stood up slowly, glanced at the leather, and asked:
"Do you know what kind of leather this is?"
Winter at the Acquisition Station Basically there is no business, so everyone here works in shifts, one person per day, just like on duty.
Finally someone came to deliver something, and he didn't seem too cold.
“Water rat skin, by the way, this thing is also called muskrat, right?”
"Yes. The young man knows a lot." Chen Hongjun nodded, touched the leather, picked it up and looked at it, and asked: "New leather?"
"Well, I took it out yesterday, it's considered a new one. It’s unexpected. This thing is easy to do in the spring, but now it’s just good luck.”
"The leather is good, I'll give you five yuan for this one." Chen Hongjun put the leather away, "If there are any later, let's pay this price - you should know that this is a high price."
The price is indeed high. It will take another two years for it to rise to ten yuan a piece.
"Okay." Li Long was already very satisfied.
After taking five yuan, Li Long walked out of the purchasing station. He felt a little regretful and should have let Tao Daqiang come in to warm himself up.
But there are still things to do next, and there are still opportunities. "How much did it cost?" Tao Daqiang asked immediately when he saw that the bag in Li Long's hand was much thinner.
“Five yuan.” Li Long gestured and said with a smile:
“Let’s go to the department store. Let’s buy some food before we leave.”
"So expensive!" Tao Daqiang's eyes suddenly lit up, "Then I really need to get a few more..."
"It's spring. Xiaohaizi is covered with ice now. If you can get one, you're lucky. It's over." Li Long collected the uneaten grass, put it in the car, and hurried to the department store.
Arrived at the department store, Li Long took out the five-yuan steelworker's note and said to Tao Daqiang:
"Daqiang, go in first and buy a kilogram of sesame cakes and two bricks of tea. , and then come out and change for me after a while."
"I...I don't dare to go." When Tao Daqiang asked him to go shopping, he stuttered:
"Brother Xiaolong, you better go."
"I'm letting you go because I want you to warm up. We can't go in at the same time. There is no need to negotiate the price to buy this thing. Just pay for it and get it." ”
After Li Long urged twice, Tao Daqiang took the money and left hesitantly. After going in, he walked out in less than five minutes, carrying a bag of things to Li Long:
"Brother Long, I bought it. Sesame cake is 28 cents a piece, and brick tea is 9 cents. This is what I found." The money came.”
Li Long took the money, put the things on the carriage, and walked in again.
The department store is much larger than the shopping mall, with three floors. The first floor sells food, tobacco, alcohol, and household needlework.
Li Long bought another kilogram of sesame cakes, thought about it and bought a bag of salt, walked around, warmed up and went out.
Tao Daqiang was circling beside the carriage. Li Long untied the horse and said:
"Let's go, now go into the mountain!"
"Okay! "Tao Daqiang also got on the carriage. Li Long waved his whip, and the carriage rushed towards the mountains.
More than an hour later, they arrived at Qingshuihe Commune.
"Brother Long, do your coworkers live here?"
"Yes." Li Long said vaguely, "But let's not go there yet, let's go directly into the mountain."< br>
As for Li Long going directly into the mountain, Tao Daqiang didn't ask why, it was just what Brother Long said.
If ordinary people come here and want to enter the mountain, they have to ask the locals, otherwise they may not know the way into the mountain.
But Li Long had been to the mountains many times in his previous life, and he was very familiar with the road. He drove the carriage through Qingshuihe Commune, then turned onto a small road, and entered the mountain pass with many twists and turns.
Further forward, although there are still ruts, the snow is thicker and it is more difficult for the horse to walk. Both Li Long and Tao Daqiang got out of the car. When they encountered the thick snow, Tao Daqiang was still behind. Push the car.
There are several roads in Nanshan. Ordinary people will see that the outermost layer is a dirt mountain with basically no vegetation. Walking two layers further in, you will see sparse shrubs. Going further in, the mountains will become continuous. When you get up, there will be grasslands, pine forests, shrubs, etc. on the mountains.
By the time Li Long drove the carriage to the mountains with pine trees, another hour had passed.
He stopped panting, and then began to look for the target.
Soon, behind the pine forest, he saw the target he was looking for: Dongwozi.
(End of this chapter)