Although he really wanted to live in the big courtyard for a while, Li Long knew that there would be a big job next, and he still had to go back and prepare first.
After all, whether you can make a big profit before the end of the year depends on this opportunity.
Bicycle to the department store to buy some food, Li Long walked around and went home.
Wearing a cotton coat, a cotton hat on his head, a mask on his face, a scarf knitted by Gu Xiaoxia around his neck, plus big-toe shoes he got from Li Xiangqian on his feet, basically It's considered fully armed.
After passing the commune and turning east, Li Long saw that the water in Mohe Canal had stopped. The remaining pools of water at the bottom of the canal were also covered with thin ice. There is a gap between the ice and the remaining water below, and the vacuoles in the middle of the ice layer can be seen with the naked eye.
There were a few children playing near the ice, and one of them hit the empty bubble with a stone, and it seemed that he fished out some small fish or something from underneath.
Now that the water in Mohe Canal has been cut off, the next big event should be coming soon, right?
Thinking that there might be another big battle next, Li Long immediately accelerated his riding speed. When he arrived at the elementary school and saw that the students had finished school, he rode forward and found Li Juan in the crowd. Li Qiang and Li Qiang took them home quickly in the envious eyes of other children.
So far, there are no more than five bicycles in the entire village, and the total number of bicycles in the entire township will not exceed one hundred. Therefore, almost all the people you see on the road are on foot. Occasionally, there will be people leading horse-drawn carriages or donkey carts, or people pulling carts forward.
Back at Li's house, Li Long left part of the food behind, and then went to Gu's house. He left part of it here, told Gu Boyuan about Xiaoxia's situation, chatted for a few words, and then Just returned to Laomahao.
Tao Daqiang is waiting for him here.
"Brother Long, you are back." Tao Daqiang greeted with a smile, "You must have been exhausted during this period."
"Not bad," Li Long parked his bicycle. He greeted him and said, "Let's go into the house. It's cold outside."
< br>"It's okay, why is it cold here? It won't be cold in a few days."
"Daqiang, do you have any plans next?" Since Tao Daqiang didn't want to enter the house, Li Long stood outside and talked to him Chat, "How are you preparing for the wedding?"
"Well..." Tao Daqiang was a little embarrassed at this time, "It's almost done, just waiting for work."
"So do you want to be idle during this period, or do you plan to make some more money?" Li Long laughed and teased him, "Isn't it Do you date your partner every day? "
"No, no..." Tao Daqiang waved his hands hurriedly, his face turned red, "How can it be every day... two or three times a week? "
Okay, the kid is enlightened.
"Brother Long, can you still make money? Can you catch fish?" Tao Daqiang asked, "With so many people coming from your hometown, it's not easy to sell the fish. Go to the county..."< br>
Li Long did not explain directly, but asked him:
"Then do you want to make money? Don't worry, this time, even if you add a few more people, you can make money. But you have to endure hardships, tiredness, and coldness. It’s not ordinary, and it’s probably even harder than before.”< br>
"That's not scary." Hearing about coolie work, Tao Daqiang waved his hand, "What's there to be scared of? I didn't feel tired after breaking holes in the ice last year."
He subconsciously said I thought Li Long was going to expand the hole in the ice.
"Then just be prepared. Ask your father to prepare the donkey cart and use this one as well. Let's calculate the money together then."
Li Long just wanted to seize this opportunity and get a big one. Maybe he could earn a tractor next year!
Tao Daqiang got the confidence and happily prepared to go back. As soon as he reached the gate of the hospital, he turned around and asked Li Long:
"Brother Long, Yongqiang also asked me before , I want to do it with you, you see..."
"If he wants to do it this time, that's fine." Li Long really doesn't care about the number of people this time, the more people, the better.
"Okay, I'll tell him." Tao Daqiang left with brisk steps.
As the sky darkened, Li Long added some coal to the stove in Li Anguo's house and used some coal foam to suppress the fire, so that when they came back, they only needed to use a stove hook to penetrate the fire. stand up.
I put some lumps of coal here, and when the fire came up, the room immediately became warm.
Old Uncle Luo shouted outside:
"Xiaolong, are you waiting for them to come back to eat this meal?"
"No, let's eat first." Li Long opened the door and walked out, "They came back to eat the leftovers. They had a good stroll in the county today, so they probably aren't hungry."
Of course, Li Long was just joking. In the evening we had soup and rice. It's cold in winter now, and we don't work very hard, so it's normal to eat something thin. Besides, what we were eating was white flour. If anyone had any objections, Old Uncle Luo would probably hit him with a spatula!
Puffing the slices from a large bowl into his stomach, Li Long felt a little sweat on his back. He smiled and said:
"Uncle Luo, your cooking skills are amazing. It’s getting better and better!”
“Haha, just fooling around.” Old Uncle Luo said with a smile, “Just eat it yourself, just think about it little by little.”
Old Uncle Luo is very good. I am content, now I am doing my old job and I get paid. Although I still cook part-time - if I live alone, don’t I have to cook and eat too? Besides, with so many people together, the meal was lively. It was just a matter of putting in more rice and kneading more noodles when cooking - so what? Now the other old guys are envious of him.
After dinner, Li Long helped Uncle Luo clean up the dishes and then returned to his room.
He plans to go check on the situation tomorrow, and will keep an eye on it every day for the next few days.
There was nothing going on at this time. Li Long heard that Uncle Luo was feeding wild boars and deer outside, but did not go over to help. He turned on the light and took out a book from under the pillow. He has read almost all the novels from his eldest brother. Now this one was picked up from the county yard. It is a proper reactionary book "Dang Kou Zhi". If you haven't read "Water Margin" first, 》, it seems that you may be deceived.
It was getting dark, and the voices of Li Anguo and several others could be heard outside.
Li Long put down his book and walked out of the house. He saw that his eldest brother had left with the carriage, and his second brother Li Anguo and others came over carrying some things.
"Xiaolong, you are fast." Li Anguo said with a smile.
"Then riding a bicycle can't be fast." Chen Xingbang said enviously, "If we make more money tomorrow, we can buy one too, an old one will do."
" Uncle Xiaolong, try this chicken cake, it's delicious." Li Junfeng held the chicken. The cake was handed to Li Long, who took a piece, ate it and asked:
"How was your shopping today?"
"Not bad. The county is a bit small," Chen Xingbang said , "There are a few shops and few people. Nothing else."
"That's right, there are only as many people in a county here as there are in a town." Li Long said with a smile, "There are many people but few people in the land. What is lacking now is people. You should have seen it when you went to the market. All handmade things can be sold for money.”
“It’s true, there are so many opportunities. There don’t seem to be many people here who are good at crafts.” Li Anguo felt deeply, “That market. There are a lot of things for sale, so I was wondering, can anyone really buy that thing?"
"Come in, it's cold outside," Li Long said, "The stove is on. , you can use the stove hook to open it and it will be on fire."
"Uncle Xiaolong, can you let me learn about your bicycle tomorrow?" Li Junfeng asked hurriedly. . "It's okay tomorrow afternoon, I want to use it in the morning."
"Okay, okay, okay in the afternoon." Li Junfeng actually didn't care about morning or afternoon. After this trip, he had a bold idea: to earn more money, even if he stayed outside for half a year, he could buy a bicycle when he returned to his hometown. How great!
Li Junshan has been silent, feeling that something is on his mind.
Li Long didn't ask. He was not a psychological expert. He was an adult and couldn't control that much.
Li Long lives alone in a house, and four of them live in a house. At the beginning, Chen Xingbang and the others had objections, but now they have no more opinions.
Four people living in one house, although the smell is a bit unpleasant, is it lively? There are two juniors, Li Junfeng and Li Junshan, who don't need to take care of many things.
Li Long mentioned it to them when they finished pressing the reed handle. Han Benzhong and his family have returned. Now they have a vacant house. If they are too crowded, they can live separately. Anyway, the stove and coal are readily available.
What made Li Long a little confused was that the first person to object was Chen Xingbang, and the others had no objections. So Li Long didn't say anything more.
Fortunately, the houses in this horse house are built according to the layout of warehouses and offices. Each house is at least thirty or forty square meters, with a large protrusion. Four people can live there without being crowded.
After breakfast the next day, Li Long rode his bicycle and headed north.
Crossing through Lao Zhuangzi, we arrived at the second ration field assigned to our family, and rode along the road made by the carriage at the edge of the field until we reached the edge of Dahaizi.
The water in Dahaizi at this time was much less than when the net was lowered before. Some of the original shoals are now exposed to mud, and some of the troughs are also revealed.
There is some thin ice on the shore. Because the water recedes quickly, the ice is piled up layer by layer all the way to the water's edge.
At first glance, there was no one in Dahaizi. At this time, the temperature of the air has reached below zero, and no one will go into the water to catch fish at this time.
He pushed his bicycle around the perimeter of Dahaizi, wanting to go around to the north gate to have a look.
There used to be several small channels and rivers in the southeast, which were also the water source of Dahaizi. They were completely dry by this time, and there were still some cow and horse dung in the ditches.
Li Long did not ride. There were many camel thorns in this area. He was worried that he could not ride well and punctured the tire of the bicycle, which would be quite troublesome.
When we reached the eastern end, there was already a standard cement board blocking the front and earth behind the dam. The top of the dam was two meters wide, so riding a bicycle was no problem.
Riding along the dam to the gate, Li Long found that the gate was raised to the highest point, and the water in Haizi rushed down along the gate and flowed downstream.
Occasionally, you can see a fish jumping up and falling down from the gate.
You don’t need to distinguish between them to know that only silver carp can do this.
Li Long stayed at the gate and watched. Soon someone from the small house under the gate rushed over. When he saw Li Long, he shouted:
"What are you doing?"
" I'm in the village, let's see how the water is here."
"How else can it be? Let's release the water." Looking at Li Long riding his bicycle, the man's tone slowed down and said, "There's nothing to see here. Outsiders are not allowed to come up here. Please get off quickly."
"The water needs to be released." When?" Li Long wanted to verify the incident in his memory and asked.
"Do you care? Get down quickly." The man didn't want to say anything, waved his hand, then turned around and walked into the house.
This house is actually made of branches, wood, and mud. There is a little smoke coming out of it. It should be a stove. That person was most likely watching the gate, and was probably warming himself by the fire at this time.
Li Long pushed his bicycle to the door of this "shack", set up the bicycle, opened the half-open door and walked in.
"What are you doing here?" The man was stirring the stove, and there was a burning aroma in the room.
Li Long was happy when he saw the slightly burnt fish sitting next to the stove.
He took out the cigarette in his pocket, took out a cigarette and handed it over, saying:
"Come on, brother, have a smoke."
Taking the cigarette from Li Long, The man's expression softened a bit. He looked at the cigarette, twitched the corner of his mouth as if he was smiling, then took out the hook from the stove and lit the cigarette.
This man is in his forties, shorter than Li Jianguo, only about 1.6 meters tall. He doesn’t have much hair, his face is very tanned, and his clothes are also very dirty. He hasn’t washed them for an unknown period of time and exudes a stinky smell. A fishy smell.
The house is not big. There are two grilled fish hanging next to the stove. There is a wooden bed at the back. There are five or six fish weighing two to three kilograms in a basin next to the bed.
"Brother, there are quite a lot of fish here!"
"That's right, if the water is released every day, a fish will jump out from time to time. If you want to eat, take one away!" This man is also very generous. .
"That's no need. I just want to ask something - brother, does the water in this Dahaizi need to be drained? I think the water in Mohe Canal will not flow into it."
“Hey, that’s right!” When the man heard that Li Long had guessed it, he was furious He took a long puff of cigarette:
“We were holding our breath during the lawsuit (quarrel) between the downstream and upstream water management companies - anyway, we would do whatever the superiors asked us to do. We didn’t win, so we gave in out of anger. Let the water dry, then let it go..."
"Is there a reservoir under the water that was put down?" Li Long asked. There are actually a series of reservoirs below Dahaizi, but the farther north you go, the deeper you go into the Gobi Desert, and the more desolate it becomes.
"That's not the case...but it is said that it is not the case this time. When the water is put down this time, it will basically end up in the sandfield. A leader over there said that the sandfield will be opened next year, and now the water will be released. Soaking - isn’t that nonsense! If water seeps into the sand, there will be nothing left. What a waste!”
After chatting with this person for a while, Li Long understood the basic situation. , left the remaining half pack of cigarettes here, got up and prepared to leave.
The man felt sorry for himself, so he found a net bag and stuffed two fish directly into Li Long:
"Here, they just jumped out in the morning, they are alive, don't worry about eating!"
Li Long felt sorry for himself, so he took it.
Smoke is nothing to you, and fish is nothing to the other party. This can be considered a win-win situation.
Li Long rode his bicycle and did not return the same way. There is a county road here that goes directly around the west side of Dahaizi and leads to the commune. The road conditions are not bad as large trucks pass by from time to time.
Riding to the commune, Li Long turned east and rode back to Laomahao.
It was already lunch time, and Li Long felt a little relieved.
The next step is to investigate the situation every day. (End of this chapter)