Chapter 249: Meeting a ruthless guy again
The woman hugged the girl and looked at Li Long warily.
Li Long felt that there was no need to be a bad guy, so he explained:
“Sister, I just came here on a bicycle, and your child came over from there and almost hit me... …Look, is there anything wrong?”
I haven’t said that yet. The child was not allowed to be seen by Li Long just now, and Li Long could not tell whether the child was twisted or not.
"Then..." The woman hurriedly looked at the child, touched it up and down, and then asked the child in a low voice.
The clothes both of them wore were in tatters. They were originally patched and patched, but now they have several holes.
The hair of both of them has not been washed for several days, their faces are covered with gray, and the cloth shoes on their feet have holes. This summer is fine, but in winter...
Li Long is not good I stopped thinking about it.
"My Ni'er is okay." The woman finally said, "Brother, are you...are you okay?"
"It's okay, I'm okay too." Li Long waved his hand, "Your child is picking wheat, right? The ears of wheat are still on the road, you can take them back."
Since it's okay, Li Long will feel at ease. . He turned back to the road and started picking up the fallen vegetables.
The woman came to the roadside with her child and was not in a hurry to pick up the ears of wheat. The girl stuffed her fingers into her mouth and looked at a tomato falling on the ground, her eyes full of longing.
Li Long noticed it and felt a little sorry, so he picked up the tomato and said:
"Child, I gave it to you."
The child's face was happy at first, then he looked at Li Long warily, and then looked at his mother.
The woman's face showed guilt, vigilance, and uneasiness. She whispered:
"I... have no money. I... can I exchange wheat for it? I have some over there. "Mai!"
"No, no, no one is in trouble." Li Long smiled, "Why don't you eat a foreign persimmon?" What the hell. Has this child not been able to eat well for a few days? Let me leave some vegetables for you."
As he said this, Li Long took some eggplants, peppers, cowpeas and the like. Put it on the roadside, put the tomato on it, nodded to the mother and daughter, and left.
He did this simply to show that he had no ill intentions.
I didn’t add the sword beans, because if they are not cooked well, they will be poisonous.
After watching Li Long leave for a long time, the mother and daughter immediately ran over. The girl grabbed the persimmon and put it to her mouth, then took it off and handed it to her mother's mouth:
< br>"Mom, you eat!"
"You go ahead and eat." Mother turned her head and held back her tears, "Mom won't eat - Mom still has to pick up the ears of wheat, you eat, eat quickly. Come on, take these dishes under the bridge after eating.”
The child stubbornly put the persimmon into his mother's mouth. The mother had no choice but to take a small bite. It was so delicious!
Li Long walked far away, but the mother and daughter were still in his mind.
He must have come from his hometown to stay with relatives and friends, but he probably didn’t find anyone. This kind of thing has been happening since the 1950s and 1960s, but I didn't expect to encounter it now.
Li Long left the food because he was pitiful and because the accents of the mother and daughter seemed to be from their hometown. I don’t know how many counties they were away from, but they were not far away.
It’s time to accumulate virtue.
After riding to the big yard, Li Long put the vegetables into the kitchen and put them in categories - Lao Ma's kitchen had a small storage room with wooden shelves on which many things could be placed.
It’s shady here, so you can store things for several days.
Looking at the time, it was still more than an hour before get off work, so Li Long started to work hard, planning to make a simple note.
Not much meat is used this time, just spicy eggplant and tomatoes, the most old-fashioned way to eat noodles in summer.
After mixing the noodles, Li Long cut the long eggplant into thin slices without throwing away the eggplant legs. These were called vegetarian chicken legs in this era and were usually eaten by pampered children at home. It is said to have medicinal value.
Chili peppers and tomatoes were also cut, and a head of garlic was peeled and cut into half. Because he had read the book (Kuocang Mountain Enmity IV), Li Long must add garlic when cooking eggplant dishes. The remaining garlic will be eaten raw with noodles later.
After all, if you eat noodles without garlic, the flavor will be reduced by half.
First stir-fry, pour oil into the garlic pot and stir-fry. After the fire starts, pour some water to force the water out of the tomatoes to form a sauce-like liquid, then simmer for a while, add salt, Turn off the heat and serve.
The aroma filled the kitchen, and Li Long felt sweat starting to appear on his forehead, but it was nothing. It was normal on a hot day.
Brush the pot, pour water and continue to boil it, then get a watermelon and cool it in the water, and then start kneading the dough and kneading ingredients.
When Gu Xiaoxia entered the yard, Li Long was digging into the pot. Seeing her coming in, Li Long said:
"Wash your hands, and you can eat after washing your hands."
Gu Xiaoxia smiled and said:
"It's great, you can eat it when you enter the house." Ready-made meals——"
Actually, she wanted to say that Li Long was pampering her a little bit. But she liked this feeling very much, and it was hard to say such words.
After setting up the car, Gu Xiaoxia carried her bag into the bedroom and came out after a while, washing her hands and helping Li Long.
"Do you want hot noodles or cold noodles?" Li Long asked habitually. Hot noodles are not taken out directly from the pot, as they tend to become lumpy when eaten like that. Instead, the noodles are taken out and soaked in cold water, commonly known as "stimulating" them, and then put in hot water again in the pot.
Noodles that are cold are naturally “flavored” noodles.
"It's cold," Gu Xiaoxia looked at Li Long's noodles and said with a smile: "Your noodles are very good, so thin."
"Thin and chewy, our noodles are It’s made from winter wheat, it’s chewy and easy to use.”
Thinking about the last life, there was a time when all the county grew were two red and one white - cotton, tomatoes and grapes. There were very few food crops; the flour we ate could only be bought from the supermarket.
At that time, some high-gluten flour and the like had already begun to be separated. Anyway, in the understanding of villagers like Li Long, some things in the flour were taken out. After all, some "wheat germ" products had begun to appear on the market. ” product.
At that time, the flour used to make pulled strips was not as easy as before.
For a while, everyone believed what was said on radio and television, to only buy flour processed in regular factories and not to buy flour from small processing factories, as the flour there is prone to mold...
But after eating it for a while, I felt that neither the noodles nor the rice were as fragrant and delicious as before.
Later, the higher authorities mandated that part of the land must grow food to ensure food security. Along with this incident, some small flour mills that had been banned came back to life. The flour processed here is not widely circulated in the market, but people nearby who know it will buy it.
Li Long’s family also bought it. The price is not expensive, but to be honest, the steamed buns steamed with this flour will have a wheat flavor again.
It’s not easy.
While Li Long was serving noodles, Gu Xiaoxia served two people a bowl of noodle soup. Both of them put their noodles in the enamel basin. Li Long took another bottle of vinegar and explained:
"I pour vinegar out of habit."
"I eat it too." Gu Xiaoxia didn't find it strange, "Especially when frying leeks, I poured more. My dad said that when I was a child, I could occasionally eat noodles, and I would just put them in the noodles. I mixed it with vinegar and ate it, which shocked him greatly!”
“That’s really scary...” Li Long didn’t expect that the person in front of him was still a “vinegar bottle”.
"Then you can't laugh at me." Gu Xiaoxia lowered her head to mix the vegetables, "At that time... my father took care of me. I was young and ignorant, and sometimes I would make him angry. When my father was angry, he would do You can eat whatever you want, I..."
Gu Xiaoxia couldn't continue, she lowered her head.
Li Long reached out and patted her head and said:
"Everything is fine. You have a good job now and can help the family. I went to see Uncle Gu yesterday and talked with him. Quite a few. He said that he is quite comfortable living alone now, so he asked you not to worry about him..."
"My dad is like that, he keeps everything in his mind... In the future...can you Do you go to see him often?"< br>
“It’s better for me to go than for my eldest brother to go.” Li Long shook his head and said with a smile, “If my eldest brother goes, I can still quarrel with him, but if I go, I can only listen to your father’s past. My identity taught me... Fortunately, I think I am quite good and can catch your dad's eye."
Listening to Li Long bragging, the sadness in Gu Xiaoxia's heart disappeared unconsciously. Went.
"Eat quickly, the noodles are going to be lumpy." Li Long pointed to the noodle bowl and said, "You have to go to work in the afternoon. After eating, you can take a rest..."
The two of them laughed and ate their meals. . Li Long also talked about the mother and daughter he met on the road, and Gu Xiaoxia felt quite pitiful.
After dinner, Gu Xiaoxia rushed Li Long to the bedroom to rest. She said that Li Long had been busy for several days and must not have had a good rest, so she would wash the dishes.
Li Long smiled and went to the house.
After squinting after a short nap, Gu Xiaoxia had already gone to work, so Li Long pushed his bicycle out of the yard, locked the door and headed for the free market.
When he arrived at the market, he saw exactly what he wanted - someone setting up a stall selling watermelons and melons.
In local people’s mouth, “melon” refers to the green-skinned cantaloupe. Others have their own names. For example, the cantaloupe is called "Huangdanzi", the small white melon is called pear melon - this is considered a standard name, and there are also Hualansi and the like, but now the names have been changed and it is difficult to find them.
The Xizhou Honey and Laohan Melon, which are more famous in later generations, have no trace at this time - at least not in this market.
"How to sell watermelon?" Li Long asked, "Where do you get it?"
"From Pingyuan Forest Farm." The stall owner was very polite, "Three cents per kilogram, the price is the same."< br>
"Where are the melons?" Li Long asked again, looking at a small pile of melons nearby.
“A dime... It’s a bit expensive, but it’s very sweet!” The stall owner said, obviously his melons were not selling well.
“Let’s weigh five watermelons and two melons.” These melons are big, one must weigh six or seven kilograms. In his last life, Li Long saw this kind of melon being sold on a market in southern Xinjiang on a short video platform.
This kind of melon remained popular until the first ten years of the next century. After that, because it was too big for the whole family to eat, almost all the melons were two or three kilograms in size. .
It's even, but it really doesn't feel like before.
Li Long still remembers that once at Wucheng South Railway Station, a Uighur fellow sold such large melons, each weighing five or six kilograms and costing one yuan each. They were ripe ones. Li Long bought four of them and carried them there. Get on the bus at Bayi Guesthouse.
Although there are yellow eggs growing in the ground at home, this melon is a different kind of sweet.
It was delicious when I got home, and I still remember the taste.
Put the watermelon into a sack and put it on the back seat of the car. The melon is tied up and placed on the front handle of the car. After paying, you ride back to the compound, put down a melon, and then leave again.
This time I really went into the mountains with my gun on my back.
The lock on the cabin is still intact. It seems that there should be no idle people in the mountains now. Li Long rolled all the watermelons into the small room, then put a watermelon in the sack and went to find Lu Dafeng with a gun on his back.
Lu Dafeng was washing clothes by the stream. When he saw Li Long coming, he stood up with a smile and said hello.
"I bought a few watermelons in the county and brought one here for you." Li Long poured the watermelon out, "It's cold in the mountains. Although this watermelon is big, it can hold it."
"Thank you!" Lu Da Feng said with a smile, "Let's go, bring the jar of honey back?"
"No, no, no." Li Long waved his hand hurriedly, "I didn't even bother to eat what you gave me last time. No more. , I went to pick up mushrooms.”
"Okay, thank you!" Lu Dafeng's voice floated behind him.
Mushrooms can be sold for money, and so can fish. Li Long came here to adjust his life. After all, since you are living your life again, let’s make your quality of life better.
Li Long was already familiar with the nearby ravines. He walked directly eastward, climbed over two hillsides, and entered a ravine densely covered with pines, shrubs and grass.
After getting in, Li Long quickly found the first piece of black tiger palm fungus and a small piece of boletus mushroom. He didn't pick it up, mainly because there were inedible things among the porcini mushrooms, and he couldn't tell them apart. This mushroom looks like a big white crisp, but who knows if it is?
It’s better to be careful.
He picked up seven or eight kilograms in one piece, and the sack felt heavy. Li Long was quite satisfied.
It’s just that the grass in the forest is very deep and the moss is a bit slippery, so it’s not convenient for Li Long to walk.
The forest is very quiet, and you can occasionally hear birds chirping. Li Long likes this feeling. I watched too many short videos in my previous life. When I first came to this life, I was a little uncomfortable with it, but now I feel pretty good.
In life, there is no need to be so anxious. Short videos often show some originally long things in just ten or dozens of seconds, which is good, but it also makes people lose the fun of exploring slowly.
Looking at a big fungus under the moss in front of him, Li Long just reached out to pick it up when he heard a sudden sound in the grass in front of him. When he looked up, a gray wild rabbit ran out.
Li Long didn't use his gun, so he couldn't make a draw.
The hare ran out seven or eight meters and then stopped, stood upright and turned to look at Li Long.
The sample is so provocative!
Li Long was so happy that he lowered his head to pick up a stone or something and hit it. However, when he picked it up, he found that the rabbit had become someone else's prey.
And that "other" turned out to be a lynx with pointed ears!
This time Li Longshi really saw it clearly. The lynx was holding a rabbit and horse in its mouth, and it stared at Li Long warily with a fierce look.
Li Longxin said, I didn’t intend to hit you. Isn’t it bad for you to look at me like this?
Then he saw two little heads popping up next to the lynx...
It turned out to be a family!
To be honest, looking at that furry little guy, Li Long was really moved!
It’s exciting to raise this thing!
(End of this chapter)