After inspecting the last batch of reed handles, Chen Zhenming, wearing a cotton coat and leather hat, smiled and shook hands with Li Long:
"Comrade Li, happy cooperation! I have been responsible for inspecting these reed handles for several years. It has been the most pleasant to cooperate with you this year. There are few defective products, fast delivery, and no troubles. It is very good. I hope we can cooperate more often in the future.”
“Good luck. Okay." Li Long smiled, put the money away and shook hands with Chen Zhenming, "I also hope there will be more opportunities for cooperation in the future."
Waving the truck away, Li Long looked at the yard and said to Li Anguo. The others smiled and said:
"Second brother, brother-in-law, Junfeng Junshan, let's work harder and put this yard in place, and have a good rest tomorrow and the day after tomorrow!"
"Okay." I'm used to doing this, and I'm used to listening to Li Long's instructions. Although experts say that fifteen days is enough to develop a habit that is not easy to break, in fact, when they earn the first five yuan, the first ten yuan, and the first twenty yuan, they, even Chen Xingbang, , I became accustomed to listening to Li Long's arrangements in a short period of time.
Listen to the arrangement and make money.
That's enough.
Aren’t you here just to make money? Although this work is somewhat tiring, is it worse than being hungry? Impossible.
I have enough to eat every day and make money, so just be tired when you feel tired.
Stack the pulled out reed leaves together, press them together with the reed waist and tie them into bundles. The same goes for the remaining hairy reeds. After being bundled, they are stacked together with the unqualified reed handles and used as fire starters in winter. It’s also good to cook a pot in summer.
Han Benzhong and Zhang Laoshi left after breakfast. The money I earned this time was not as much as last time, but both families were very happy. They had more money, and at least their children would have less trouble finding a wife.
Han Dachun also told Li Long that he would trap rabbits in winter and would send some to Li Long.
Li Long just took it as a joke. He was also good at trapping rabbits, but it was just inconvenient to say it.
After the yard was cleaned up, Li Junfeng asked Li Long:
"Uncle Xiaolong, what are we doing next?"
"What are we doing? Let's rest for two days. We are tired enough these days. I have to bring back some charcoal quickly, otherwise there won't be enough to burn this winter. ”
After saying that, he seemed to think of something, He took out the money from his pocket, counted out four big unity cards, and gave one to each person:
“Second brother, brother-in-law, Junfeng Junshan, you have been very tired these days. Let’s face it. Said, everyone is the same, I treat them equally, you hand over the reed handle Just like others, because you are new, you are more unqualified and earn less than others. You must not be happy, but I said before that I have to do this. I'll do this to you, and those people in the team will be in control. Son, I have strict requirements, so they must not disobey. But in private, we are our own people, and I can't treat you badly. These ten dollars are for you, and I can't let you suffer. You can't make more money than others. A lot, right?”
Except for Li Junshan, the other three people really had problems with Li Long in their hearts. But when Li Long said this, the unhappiness in the three of them immediately disappeared. Yes, if you can’t manage your own people well, how can you be convincing in managing others? On the surface, they are treated equally, that's what they should be, but privately, they are relatives, so it's easy to say whatever they want.
"Xiaolong, look at what you said. Isn't this an exaggeration? We are not ignorant. I won't take this money..." Li Anguo was the first to react.
“Take it, take it, this time I made money, just think of it as a red envelope for my nephews, nieces, and juniors.” Li Long hurriedly pushed the money back, “Keep it, I’ll take you to the county tomorrow Come on, you can send a telegram home or send something."
"Okay, then we'll keep it. "Chen Xingbang saw that Li Long was so determined, so he said, "Second brother, take it. It's Xiaolong's wish."
"Well, you guys should rest first. I'll go out and take a look. Something happened." Li Long saw that they had accepted the money and the matter was over. He pushed his bicycle out of the horse's door and rode towards the countryside.
The team will soon be dividing the charcoal, but Xu Chengjun said that this is the last time. Next year, the household quota system may be implemented to contract all the land to farmers, so starting from next year, the team will basically not divide the charcoal again. Something.
As a man of two generations, Li Long is quite used to this situation of not distinguishing between things and things, but other people in the village are not so used to it.
Accepting new things always requires a process.
While passing by the preschool and the old team headquarters, Li Long found that the children in the preschool were playing games outside the yard at the moment. get out of class should have been over. The sunshine in early winter was still quite warm. Several children were basking in the sun against the south-facing wall. One after another, children joined in, squeezing desperately into the middle. Some children in the middle were unable to hold themselves up and were squeezed out.
The children who were squeezed out were not upset, and ran to the edge again laughing and joking, and continued to squeeze in, one after another, over and over again.
This kind of game does not distinguish between boys and girls. Everyone plays together until the teacher shouts "Class is on" at the door of the classroom, and then the children reluctantly enter the classroom.
The stove has been lit in the classroom. To be honest, ever since Li Long arrived here, he knew that Northern Xinjiang, or at least his village, attached great importance to education. At least the classroom didn't have the leaky weather conditions seen in rural classrooms in some places before he died in his previous life.
The preschool and the previously disbanded first and second grade classes are all together with the team headquarters, so the quality of the rooms will not be bad.
In preschool and the previous first and second grade, the stove in the room is the first to be lit, at least to prevent the children from freezing.
I remember that when Li Qiang was in the third grade, they built a new primary school, and the middle school classrooms continued to be used, and later they were changed to primary schools, but the buildings were often repaired.
Later, Li Long traveled to the Ili Valley and saw the most glamorous houses in the village. One was the village office and the other was the school. The two places where the national flags are hung can be seen from a distance.
Riding westward, we soon passed the Laozhuangzi residential area in the west, crossed the newly built bridge in Weigou, and looked at the thin ice forming on the water under the bridge.
Most of the reeds in the reed ditch have been beaten, and the remaining reeds are small pieces here and there, which are not long enough, high enough, or difficult to beat.
There are still such reeds left at this time. In two years' time, in early winter, there will be no such reeds left. Because at that time, every household basically had a donkey cart, and then they cut the reeds and took them to the paper mill. A bundle of reeds could be sold for one or two cents.
There are many ways to make money, but it’s still up to you whether you want to do it or not.
After passing Weigou, there is the next village. Tao Daqiang's partner is here. I don't know if Tao Daqiang went directly through Weigou or took the main road when he went on a date with his partner. Continue forward, ride for a while, and arrive at the primary school. The school was in session at this time, and in some classes, students could be heard reading the text in unison, occasionally frightening one or two passing sparrows.
Li Long smiled when he thought about how he took Li Juan and Li Qiang to catch the old bird in the twelfth month of last year.
When he arrived in the countryside, Li Long still felt a little cold - there was a guard in front of the electric bicycle in later generations. That thing looked ugly, but it was really practical. He was wondering if he would have one on the bicycle behind him?
At the crossroads in the countryside, Li Long slowed down and rode back and forth. Soon, he looked at a truck parked next to the sales department.
The truck was pulling a load of coal. On top were lumps of coal as big as two washbasins. You couldn't see the bottom, so they were probably small lumps of coal.
Li Long rode his bicycle to the side of the truck, reached out and picked out a piece of coal, and looked at it carefully. Yes, it was fine anthracite and had been burned.
He turned to the sales department, got out of the car, locked it, and pushed the door open.
Sales department manager Lao Zhang, Wu Shufen’s father-in-law, was listening to the radio. There is a pot of water boiling on the stove in the middle. It is not boiling, but the water vapor is emitting, which acts as a humidifier.
A twenty-seven-year-old man wearing a blue labor insurance suit was sitting by the stove smoking a cigarette without saying anything.
"What do you want?" Lao Zhang asked, not familiar with Li Long.
"I'm looking for this master." Li Long pointed to the man in the labor insurance suit and said, "Buy some charcoal."
"Not retail." The man waved his hand. , "This is for someone else to pull."< br>
"I won't buy it for zero." Li Long said with a smile, "How much do you have in this car? Do you have eight tons? I want them all."
"Do you really want them all? This A ton of charcoal is not cheap!”
The cheapest time for charcoal is in June and July. At that time, rural people did not buy charcoal. The charcoal dug out of coal mines was basically sold to thermal power plants or companies with boilers.
In early winter, charcoal prices rise, often about 1.5 times what they were in June and July.
In fact, it won’t rise much. After all, almost all of the Tianshan Mountains are covered with coal. The locals all know that there is a coal mine not far away from the Tianshan Mountains from Hami in the east, to Zhaosu Qapchar in the west, and then abroad.
And in Zhundong, that is, in the east of the Tianshan Mountains and the east of the Junggar Basin, there is the largest open-pit coal mine in the country. It was mined from that time until the last generation Li Long left. There are many thermal power plants built there to generate electricity on site.
After all, there is an open-pit coal mine that has been burning for more than a hundred years. It has been burning since the Qing Dynasty and was still burning when Li Long passed away in his previous life - think about how many there are Coal.
"How much does one ton cost?" Li Long asked.
“One ton and fifteen.” The driver shouted a number.
"What about all of them? Isn't it cheap?" Li Long asked again. Although in his opinion, this price is actually quite cheap. After all, one ton of coal can be burned for a whole winter by a family of three in this era - certainly not the open burning of later generations.
"If you want it all, it's one hundred per car." The driver saw that Li Long really wanted it, "But my car is not a dump truck, and I don't care about unloading."
"Okay." Li Long said, "Then come with me, I want this car."
The driver didn't believe it and asked:
"Which team are you from?"
"Xinhu."
The driver turned to look at Lao Zhang Zhang manager.
"From Xinhu? Whose family?" Lao Zhang has some friendship with the driver, so he must help at this time.
"Li family, Li Jianguo is my brother." Li Long reported his eldest brother's name. He believed that Lao Zhang should know his name.
"Are you Li Long?" Lao Zhang was stunned for a moment. He not only knew Li Jianguo, but also Li Long. After all, Li Long's affairs were quite public in the past year.
"Old Zhang, do you know him?"
"Yes. If it's Li Long, then you can follow him. This young man's family is not short of money." Lao Zhang's expression was a bit complicated.
Li Long didn’t know what Lao Zhang was thinking about. He said to the driver:
"Let's go, I'll lead the way on my bicycle. If you want to know our village, you can drive directly to Laomahao, and I'll ride behind."
The driver believed it when he saw what Lao Zhang said. , stood up and took a few puffs, threw the cigarette butt next to the stove, said hello to Lao Zhang, and went out to drive.
He said that not retailing was a gimmick, and he wanted to raise the price. Apart from the work unit, who can buy a whole truck of coal these days?
I didn’t expect there to be one!
These days, farmers don’t use more than one ton of coal at home. They buy some for emergencies and pay it for the coldest days of Jiujiu and Sanjiu, and burn the remaining wood for emergencies. At this time, after the other members of the team finished playing with the reeds, they went out one by one to dig up the tamarisk and Haloxylon ammodendron roots on the tamarisk beach.
Li Long is considered a different kind of person. (End of this chapter)