Li Long shouted:
"Here, Comrade Chen, come in!"
Chen Hongjun pushed the door in, looked at Li Long's posture, and asked with a smile:< br>
“Comrade Xiao Li, where are you shoveling the snow?”
“Yes Ah, that’s the bad thing about the big yard.” Li Long didn’t ask Chen Hongjun how he found the big yard. He said, “It would take a day or two just to clear the snow—these big piles of snow are enough for me. It’s been a while. It’s cold outside. Let’s go inside to warm up and drink some water.”
"No, no, I'm here to do business." Chen Hongjun didn't hesitate and asked directly: "I heard that you went to the buying station to sell leather this morning?"
"It's me." Li Long said with a smile, "I saw it was Friday today and thought you were here, but I met someone I didn't recognize..."
"Hi!" Chen Hong Jun also felt unlucky. What was originally a good thing was now messed up, "That man came from the state and stayed here for a while. It's the end of the year, and the superior unit has some ideas that are normal. He said you have Zhang Lynx here. Skin? "
"Yes, but it's gone now." Li Long spread his hands.
"Why is it gone?" Chen Hongjun sounded a little anxious, "Weren't you still there in the morning? It's only been noon..."
As soon as he went to work in the afternoon, he heard the man telling a joke that someone was selling fox skins as lynx skins. He found out and the visitor left in anger. Chen Hongjun felt something was wrong when he heard this and asked for clarification. After looking at the person's age and appearance, I immediately guessed that it was Li Long.
Lynx skin!
It is now the end of the year, the year-end summary, the adjustment of cadres and other things are about to begin, and Chen Hongjun also wants to make progress!
It is said that he has gained a lot this year, he has done a lot of good things, and his results are very solid, but who doesn’t want to add icing on the cake?
So Chen Hongjun found out where Li Long lived and ran over.
"I didn't sell anything in the morning, so I went to the supply and marketing cooperative. Our Section Chief Li heard that I had a lynx skin, so he came over to take a look at it. After seeing it, he bought it."
"Bought it? He How much does it cost?" Chen Hongjun was upset. Once it got into Li Xiangqian's hands, it would be difficult to get it out again!
"One thousand." Li Long didn't hide it either, he could tell this matter just by asking.
"It's okay... Based on your friendship, he doesn't take much advantage." Chen Hongjun sighed, then thought about it and asked:
"You just did it. A piece of lynx leather? Can’t find any other good leather? The price of leather has increased a lot. If you have any good leather, I’ll charge you a high price!”
Li Long almost told him about the snow leopard skin, but he stopped immediately.
Halimu and Yushanjiang gave the leather to herself and Gu Xiaoxia. If she told Gu Xiaoxia, she couldn't make the decision to sell it. In addition, Li Long feels that snow leopard skins will become more and more expensive and rare in the future. If he wants to sell them, he will at least wait until the price is higher.
“It’s gone, just a few wolf skins and a deer skin.” Li Long said, “Most of them are broken.”
“How many wolf skins? Did you carry the wolf den? "Chen Hongjun was a little curious.
“When you encounter a pack of wolves, they will fight to the death.” Li Long proudly told the story again, “The last pack of wolves is gone, but their skins are not very good.”
"Let me take a look!" Chen Hongjun thought that if he didn't eat the watermelon, he might as well get some sesame seeds, so he asked Li Long to bring the skin over and have a look.
Li Long opened the side room and showed Chen Hongjun the leather.
"Well, this deer skin is quite big, and the deer head is well preserved. The wolf skin - not bad, looks quite fresh - this one is not very well peeled, with a lot of oily skin on it. This one Not bad..."
Chen Hongjun commented one by one.
"Will you accept it from your place?" Li Long asked with a smile.
"Take it. The deerskin... fifty." Chen Hongjun evaluated each piece one by one. "This complete wolf skin is forty, and the one with bullet holes is thirty..."
A total of Two hundred and twenty dollars. Including the lynx skin, the total is one thousand two hundred and two, which is not bad for this trip.
Li Long followed Chen Hongjun to the purchasing station with the leather in his arms. The middle-aged man was still there. When he saw Chen Hongjun followed by Li Long, his face looked a little ugly and he asked directly:
" Have you seen it? It's not a lynx skin, right?"
"Sold." Chen Hongjun shook his head, "I had him cut off and sold it to Lao Li from the supply and marketing cooperative."
"What?" The middle-aged man still didn't believe it, "How is it possible? A thousand yuan for lynx skin is not expensive, but is it true?"
"Old Li's vision I can still believe it." Chen Hongjun replied and asked someone to issue an invoice and pay.
The middle-aged man's face turned red and white, and he gave up a great opportunity... If he could get this lynx skin, it would be a great achievement.
He did not think that it was his lack of eyesight, but instead blamed Li Long in his heart.
You young man, you knew that what you were holding was lynx skin, why didn’t you insist on it then? If you insist a little longer, maybe I'll believe you? Now that you are bringing Lao Chen here, are you here to slap me in the face? The young man is not particular!
But he can't actually do anything to Li Long. This kind of person is extremely selfish and timid at the same time, and can only say a few words in his heart.
After Li Long waited for Chen Hongjun to issue the ticket, signed and received the money, he jokingly asked:
"Comrade Chen, when are you usually here?"
"One, three, five, didn't I tell you before."
"Then you weren't here when I came to see you today, otherwise there would be no misunderstanding."
>
Of course I was joking. In fact, it was good to be like this today. If Lao Chen was here, Li Xiangqian wouldn't be able to sell the thing. In comparison, the relationship with Li Xiangqian is closer.
But usually they sell more things to buying stations, so Li Long wanted to ask clearly.
"Usually I'm here on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, oh - the most stable one is Wednesday. Sometimes I have a later meeting on Monday, and on Friday, just like today I sometimes go out to see the goods." Chen Hongjun understood Li Long. consciousness, said something.
Li Long nodded to show that he understood, and then left.
Chen Hongjun chased him out and shouted:
"If you have something in the future, bring it to me first."
"I know, I actually came to find you first this time." Li Long replied with a smile and went back to the courtyard.
His pace is very relaxed. This hunting activity in the mountains is basically over with the sale of these skins. The income is in line with my expectations, and I have added another amount to my savings.
Back in the big yard, Gu Xiaoxia hasn’t come back yet. Li Long found a trolley - an old one, a bit broken, and the wheels were barely usable. It was an old thing left by Comrade Ma, and started to push it. Pushing snow outside the yard.
Before last year, when I was pushing snow out with my elder brother and his family in the village, Li Long would often find an excuse to leave after working for a while. By the time he came back, the snow had been cleared.
After being reborn last year, Li Long spent most of his time making money and did very little snow clearing. Since the beginning of winter this year, there were a lot of people clearing snow at home or in the horse stable, and he couldn't do it. How much snow will be cleared?
So basically I have never felt the fatigue of clearing snow. It's different now. There's a whole yard of snow, even just in the front yard. Can't these five big piles of snow be used to push fifty or sixty small carts?
Ignore the backyard for now, I rarely go there in winter anyway.
Now Li Long understands a little bit why ancient courtyards require so many servants to enter the courtyard. Just sweeping the snow is a big job... I'm going too far, just to myself.
After all, you are working. If you don’t want to do something, it will be really tiring. Dispersing your thinking is beneficial to the integration of the brain and body.
Part of the snow was piled directly into the flower pond and vegetable garden in the yard. If the pile is higher, you can also make a snow sculpture. Some of the snow was pushed directly to the backyard, where there was a large open space and the terrain was lower than the front yard. Some of the snow was piled in each tree pit, and the trees were watered directly when spring began.
The remaining snow had no place to pile up, so it had to be pushed outside. There are tree fields on both sides of the road, where snow can be piled up. There are no formal snow clearing trucks now. The snow cleared on both sides of the street is basically like this. It is piled into the trees and fields. Every time it snows, it is piled on top. In the end, the snow in the trees and fields will become thick and almost like ice. stuff, and then wait until spring to slowly melt.
When Li Long pushed out a cart of snow, he saw that the policemen at the police station diagonally across the street were also clearing snow. Their yard was a little smaller than Li Long’s, but there were no vegetable gardens or flower fields inside. There are so many people and the snow clearing has come to an end at this time.
Officer Guo was also in the crowd and waved when he saw Li Long. Li Long also smiled and continued pushing the cart and snow.
After pushing two piles of snow, Li Long took a rest, and then suddenly had the idea to build a snowman out of snow in the vegetable garden.
Building a snowman is very simple. Just make a big snowball for the body, a smaller snowball for the head, two coal cores for the eyes, and using a carrot for the nose is a bit wasteful, Li Long I found a branch to use as a nose, and then found a leaf to paste under the nose to use as a mouth.
After looking at it, it was still a bit monotonous. He went to search in the side room and found a rotten straw hat to put on the snowman's head. He also made two branches as arms, and that was enough.
It looks quite clumsy, but it is very joyful and feels good about myself.
Li Long played for a while and then continued to push the snow.
A lot of snow quickly piled up in the tree fields on both sides of the gate. Seeing the snow in the yard getting less and less, Li Long felt quite accomplished.
But no matter what, the snow will never be cleared today. He regretted not leaving Li Junshan and the four of them behind yesterday. If you stay, will the snow in this yard still be considered alive?
While she was complaining silently, Gu Xiaoxia came back on her bicycle.
It’s time to get off work.
Looking at Li Long emptying the snow in the trolley outside the door, Gu Xiaoxia got out of the car and said:
"There's a lot more, right? Wait until I put the cart down and we'll do it with you."
Li Long poured the snow clean with a smile, knocked the bottom of the cart again and said:
"No, you can rest. I'll do it slowly by myself..."
Gu Xiaoxia didn't speak, but it was obvious that she had no intention of listening to Li Long.
As soon as she entered the yard, Gu Xiaoxia shouted in surprise:
"You also built a snowman?"
"Well, let's just leave the snow and build a snowman for fun." After Li Long pushed the cart in, he saw Gu Xiaoxia standing in front of the snowman. , looked at the silly big guy with curiosity and joy, and when Li Long came in, he said sincerely:
"Li Long, your hands are so skillful - why did you think of heaping up this big guy?" ?”
“It’s just a matter of laziness.” Li Long’s words were a little embarrassing, but they were true. “Do you want to modify them?”
< br>"I think..." Gu Xiaoxia obviously still had some ideas, but she turned to look at Li Long, and then said with a smile: "We'll talk about it after we finish the work."
After saying that, he came over and picked up the shovel to shovel the snow on the cart Li Long was holding.
Li Long had no choice but to take out a shovel from the side room to pack the snow. The trolley has two wheels and can hold more than half as much car as a flatbed trolley. The two of them filled it with snow in a few seconds. Li Long put down the shovel and came over to push it. Gu Xiaoxia was there to help push it. The two of them pushed the snow to the side together. Outside, it fell into the tree field.
It was the first time for two people to work together, but they had a very tacit understanding. This made Li Long truly feel the true meaning of "matching men and women, working is not tiring", and he enjoyed this process very much.
There were five large piles of snow in the big yard, two piles were piled into the vegetable garden and the flower field. Before Gu Xiaoxia came, Li Long had already cleared most of the piles, and the remaining two people cleared another pile and a half. The sky was completely empty. It got dark.
"I'll do the rest tomorrow." Li Long put the cart away, wiped his sweat and said, "Let's go back to the house. I'll cook..."
"You do it. I washed your clothes yesterday." Gu Xiaoxia did not refuse. She had eaten the food cooked by Li Long and it was no worse than her own.
Watching Gu Xiaoxia take off the coat she wore to work, she picked up the laundry tub that had been filled with clothes in the morning and went to the living room to wash clothes. Li Long went to the kitchen to cook.
Although it is dark, the time is actually less than eight o'clock. It is normal to go to bed at eleven or twelve o'clock in the evening in Northern Xinjiang, so it is a little late to make dinner now, but it is not too late.
Li Long used both stoves, cooking rice porridge and cooking vegetables at the same time. His knife skills are average and he can cut the potato shreds into large or small pieces, but he has a grater and can grate the potatoes into thin strips. Soak some spicy skin, and then bring over a piece of meat. There are no eggs in the kitchen, otherwise Li Long would want to make scrambled eggs with spicy skin.
One dish didn't quite meet his expectations, so he prepared to stir-fry pickles.
No way, in this era of scarce supplies, being able to cook two dishes is already pretty good, but there are no such high requirements for the variety of dishes. Li Long thought that if he stayed longer, he could use garlic to make some garlic sprouts or sprout some bean sprouts.
During that special period in the last life, not only urban residents who stayed at home, but also rural residents were developing various dishes and snacks that they could not cook before through platforms such as the Internet Xiaomoushu. .
Although the memory is a bit distant, I still know the general process.
The pickles need to be soaked in water, and the potatoes need to be soaked in water after cutting. I won’t go into the specific process. Besides, some people may have opinions.
Because she had been soaking in laundry detergent all day, Gu Xiaoxia was able to rub her clothes faster by hand. After rubbing them in the living room, she carried a bucket of water over and started rinsing them.
Li Long was faster here. When Gu Xiaoxia washed the clothes and hung them outside, Li Long's two plates of food were already on the table.
When washing clothes here in northern Xinjiang in winter, they usually put them outside first to control the water and keep them cold at the same time. Dry it hard when frozen, then take it back to the house and dry it by setting it up next to the fire wall. A wire is usually nailed to the sand and mud brick fire wall to hang things on.
Watching Gu Xiaoxia wash the clothes, Li Long scooped out the porridge, brought it to the table, then sliced the steamed buns, put the grate on the stove and baked them.
“It tastes so good——” Gu Xiaoxia looked at the dishes on the table, wiped her hands and said with a smile:
“I am really lucky, the eldest sisters in my office all say so, no need Cooking is very relaxing.”
"That's right." Li Long nodded seriously, "Well, you are really lucky to meet me!"
Gu Xiaoxia did not say that Li Long was shameless, she smiled and went over to look at the steamed bun slices, while Li Long took the chopsticks. , set up the bench.
Then the two of them happily ate together. (End of this chapter)