When Li Long walked back, he was thinking about Master Wang's words.
The current national policy encourages everyone to get rich. Starting from allowing stalls to sell things, the access system for some private enterprises will be gradually opened later. He vaguely remembered that the first private enterprise with industrial and commercial registration had already been in business in the south, but in the northwest, it still needed a process.
But it can definitely be done in the summer after the new year. Li Long thought he could give it a try then. Of course, managers and technicians would need to be found and trained, and he couldn't do it by himself.
Li Long came to the repair shop again the next day and saw three handheld jukeboxes there. According to him, there was basically nothing wrong with them, except that the materials used, such as the steel pipes, were a little rusty. , the spring is also second-hand.
But it would be nice to have it. After all, this is not the future generation. People in the later generation make mechanical products. If you search online, you can find almost all kinds of parts. You can make them by hand without any problem.
But now that all kinds of supplies are in short supply, it would be good to have second-hand replacements.
“Look, the pin below is used to adjust the number of seeds dropped. When you lift the handle on your hand, the seeds will fall into the soil. I have specially polished this pointed cone, and it goes into the ground. It's very easy to drill in. After you step on it or put it away, the soil will cover the seeds. It's really convenient."
Master Wang explained to Li Long. Even though he doesn't farm much, he still thinks it's pretty good when he looks at it.
I tried all three, except that the force of the spring is slightly stronger and you need to use a little more force when pinching the handle to turn it off, there is no problem in other aspects.
After Li Long paid the remaining money, he said:
"Master Wang's craftsmanship is good. I will come over to make things if necessary later."
"Okay." Master Wang took the money and smiled happily.
Except for steel pipes, everything else is leftover materials. Even if the steel pipe is included in the materials, it only costs 50 cents at most, and the extra money is all earned by myself.
The money comes so quickly!
If there is such business every day, then it is not impossible to stay in this repair shop...
I thought about it and shook my head. This kind of business may not happen once every ten days and a half, so I'd better go to the agricultural machinery station. At least the harvest there is guaranteed due to droughts and floods, but if we stay here, we may not be able to pay wages.
Li Long clamped the three jukeboxes on the back seat of his bicycle and rode home.
In his opinion, three is enough. As for what to do next, we’ll talk about it later. After all, there is still a long time, so there is no need to fight for this moment.
Back at Li's house, Li Long planned to put three jukeboxes in the spare room. Li Jianguo came back from feeding the pigs and looked at the jukebox that Li Long was holding. He was curious, so Li Long handed one over:
“Brother, let’s see if this works.”
"Let me take a look." Li Jianguo took one and knew how to use it just by looking at it. Firstly, Li Long had talked about it before. Secondly, this thing itself is easier to use. There are not so many fancy things. You can understand it by looking at it.
“Well, pour the seeds on top and pierce them into the soil below. As soon as you squeeze the handle, the seeds will fall into the pit. It’s not bad. You don’t have to bend down. You can lift it up and wipe it with your feet. It’s done. It’s not as good as a planter, but it’s faster than planting by hand!”
“Just try it then. This kind of dish is also good. If you push the pin at the bottom, the upwards will make more seeds, and the downwards will make less." Li Long explained again, "It's like when you hit melon seeds, there will be a little more, so you can wait for them to come out. It will be settled later.”
“Yes, okay.” Li Jianguo nodded, and Li Long took the jukebox and carried it into the free house.
In the next few days, every household is preparing to celebrate the New Year, and some children who can't help themselves have begun to set off firecrackers sporadically.
At this time, there were no loose cannons for sale here in Northern Xinjiang. If my family had some spare money, they would buy small firecrackers that cost one yuan and a hundred rings, and break them up for the children to set off. There is only a small amount of powder in that thing. Even if it explodes in a child's hand, it won't hurt anyone. At most, it will numb the hand. And today’s children don’t do so many pranks and won’t throw them where there are people or haystacks. In his last life, Li Long saw many people on short videos and other platforms saying that they lit haystacks when he was a child. He never did it in the team. I haven't noticed that even though there are so many wheat haystacks on the wheat field in summer, I haven't seen any children lighting the haystacks.
Not really.
And these children usually set off firecrackers in winter to be cool, and they really don’t know how to blow up people. They hold an incense stick in their left hand and a small firecracker in their right hand. After lighting it, they throw the firecracker in to see who threw it. The sound of high explosions indicates who is more powerful.
Nothing to bet on, it’s just like that famous talk show, whoever throws the bomb loudly is the best. Often, because of such a sentence, some children will demolish their homes to prepare for the New Year’s Day The electro-optical cannon was fired, lit with incense in hand and thrown into the sky. The sound was actually really loud.
After all, real materials were used at that time.
It's just that the gun twister burns too fast and can easily fry your hands. The electric light cannon can't blow up your hands like small firecrackers. If you can't hold it to the middle of the firecracker, it can blow up your hands and burn them.
Of course, the loudest thing is the double kick, which is called double kick locally. This thing is safe and can be held in your hand. It is equipped with a B artifact. Such a thick cannon can be held calmly in your hand. He took a puff of cigarette, lit it, stretched out the hand holding the cannon to the side, turned his head and didn't look at it, holding it empty-handedly, and then he could feel the fire spurting from the bottom of the cannon in his hand, and it shot into the air with a "bang" sound, and then It exploded in mid-air.
This double sound is nothing to adults. Most adults have come from the mouth and have seen this thing.
But most of the children in the village have never seen it. After all, in recent years, the supply and marketing cooperatives in Ma County have not even had a good start, let alone double rings. They are all electric cannons and small whips, which can be a bit more fun. Just add a flying monkey. So when Li Long took it in his hand and gave Li Qiang and the others a second kick, it attracted a lot of admiration.
Li Long gave the remaining three kickers to Li Qiang. Li Qiang screamed happily and ran to play.
His friends all ran after him.
Li Long smiled and turned back to the house.
Nowadays, children’s happiness is really very simple. By the time 20 or 30 years later, a large part of children’s happiness will already be in mobile phones, and these firecrackers will no longer be able to attract them.
Following Chinese New Year customs, the Li family began to prepare supplies and conduct general cleaning. Because my father, mother, second brother, family, brother-in-law and others were coming over after the New Year, Li Long cleaned the east room and then went to Ma Hao to clean up the Datongpu where Li Anguo and the others lived and the adjacent ones. The house was cleaned out. The stove was cleaned and some charcoal was burned to dry out the house so that it would not be damp when we first arrived. Because the second brother's family was going to live here, Li Long went to the county and brought back a few bags of rice and noodles. When the two nieces arrived, they could not be allowed to eat whole grains.
Li Long was still thinking about taking time to go hunting in the mountains and bring back some meat, but Li Jianguo persuaded him to stop. He told Li Long that the Chinese New Year was only a few days away, and he would wait until after the Chinese New Year. , no matter how much we celebrate the New Year, it will take several days for them to come over, so there is no rush at this moment.
Li Long thought about it, he had been busy enough this year, and it was already before the new year, so he didn't have to worry about it anymore.
He goes back and forth between his eldest brother's house and Ma Hao. He usually eats at his eldest brother's house at noon and eats back at Ma Hao in the evening. Recently he was reading a book "Fire King", which tells the story of our soldiers and civilians' tenacious fight against the enemy during the Anti-Japanese War. At this time, radio dramas were often broadcast, and were later adapted into movies and TV series.
The novel is quite tragic, unlike the anti-Japanese dramas of later generations, which are not intellectually subdued. Sometimes it is quite heart-wrenching to watch, but sometimes it is quite enjoyable.
When Li Long walked to his eldest brother's house with his books that day, he saw Li Qiang playing with a few older boys in the village at the old team headquarters. Li Long had good eyesight and saw that one of the boys, who seemed to be called Er Hao, was smoking a rolled Mohe cigarette with a very intoxicated expression. Several other children looked a little envious - for example, Li Qiang, whose expression was a little bit envious. envious.
Li Long saw it and Li Qiang wanted to give it a try.
At this time, many men smoked, and occasionally they would tell children about the disadvantages of smoking, but not in a serious way.
Li Long suddenly became playful and thought of a story he had heard before. He pretended not to see the children and strode towards the Li family.
Arrived at Li's house, Li Long saw that Li Jianguo was still drinking his horse, so he went to find Mohe cigarettes and rolled a cannon with paper. However, he did not roll the whole cigarette, but rolled a small whip. When you go in, the twister is just in front - as long as you light this cigarette, the little whip can explode in three seconds.
This little whip was picked out by Li Long from a bunch of small whips. It was a bit deflated and lacked medicine.
This thing won't hurt anyone anyway, it just scares people, so Li Long is not afraid of any accidents. These children won't pick up cigarettes, light this thing and swallow it, right?
After rolling it up, he went out and placed the cigarette on the window sill of the west room. The snow on the windowsill has been cleared away, and a cigarette rolled in white paper is placed on the gray-brown surface, which is quite obvious.
Then it depends on fate. Li Long was still paying attention at first, but it was not until lunch that Li Qiang came back. After dinner, Li Long and Li Jianguo were chatting about their father and mother. After Li Anguo and the others came, Regarding the placement issue, Li Qiang ran out. Li Long paid attention. When Li Qiang ran out, he stopped at the window sill. He guessed that Li Qiang took the cigarette away.
Usually Li Long would have dinner, chat for a while, and do some work with his elder brother, and then return to his horse. There was something going on over there, and Li Long waited until it was almost dark before leaving today.
He had to wait until Li Qiang came back.
When Li Qiang came back, he saw the cigarette placed on the window sill and squeezed it. It was filled with something and the roll was quite solid.
Li Qiang was secretly happy, thinking who would put this cigarette here?
Li Jianguo was the only one who smoked this cigarette at home, so he didn't dare to move it at first. When he returned to the house, he put the cigarette on the window sill.
However, his father did not touch the cigarette when he came back from outside. Li Jianguo rolled another cigarette before eating, which made Li Qiang think he had a chance.
When Erhai smoked, the smell of burning tobacco was quite fragrant, and he didn’t know if it was fragrant when he smoked it - at least Erhai said it was fragrant.
Li Qiang was at the age where he was curious. He originally planned to secretly take some Mohe cigarettes, roll them out and learn to smoke them to see if they smelled good. Now that there are ready-made cigarettes, it is natural to try them.
So after eating, he ran out quickly, took the cigarette and ran away.
Originally, I planned to call the second child and the others together, and show off to them by kicking myself, just like I showed off the second child two days ago.
At that time, my uncle Li Long gave himself three kicks, and the envious expressions of the friends around him were really wonderful.
Of the three double kicks, Li Qiang only released two, and asked him to hide the other one. Good things cannot be used up all at once, otherwise they will be gone later. He is accustomed to saving something, whether it is food or entertainment.
At that time, he also imitated his uncle's gestures cautiously. After lighting it, he stretched out his right hand and held the cannon in his hand - Li Long told him the trick, don't hold it firmly, and let go when it starts to move with force.
Li Qiang was very smart and executed it very well. The two kicks flew up from his hand into the air. After the explosion, Li Qiang also received envious and admiring looks.
At this time Li Qiang thought of that and wanted to try it himself. He had already heard from the second child that when smoking, you should nod your cigarette, then take a puff of cigarette, swallow it, and then blow it out from your nose. You might choke at first, but don't worry, just try it a few times and it will be fine.
Because there will be firecrackers these days, Li Qiang has a box of matches in his pocket - in fact, he wants a lighter like his uncle, that is the best, but it is a pity that his uncle cannot give it to him. Father It's impossible to give it. So he could only have matches - it would be nice to have a box of matches in his pocket at this time, and the friends he played with even only had one stick of incense. After all, matches have to be bought with money, and not everyone is rich enough to let their children play with matches.
Run to the old team headquarters and found a corner - Li Qiang was familiar with the situation in these places. The place he found was relatively clean and no one pooped in this corner - after the old team headquarters was abandoned, many People defecate in it, and if it's hot, they'll accidentally step on it, which is very disgusting.
After Li Qiang found his position, he leaned against the wall and put a cigarette in his mouth. Then he took out a match, pulled out a match, felt the wind direction, then rushed his head to the corner, and immediately covered it with his hands after rowing, and slowly moved it closer to his mouth. cigarette butts.
He was still a little nervous and a little excited, thinking that he would take a puff of cigarette later, and he was already mentally prepared to be choked - although the second child said that some powerful people smoked for the first time Then he wouldn't be choked, but Li Qiang wouldn't think of himself that way.
When the cigarette was lit, Li Qiang felt something was wrong with the fire and the sound at the end of the cigarette before he even smoked. Before he had time to figure out what was going on, he heard a "bang" sound in his mouth. The cigarette butt exploded, white light appeared in front of my eyes, and my nose smelled the smell of burning tobacco and gunpowder.
After several seconds, Li Qiang realized that there was a cannon in the smoke!
At this moment, Li Qiang was dumbfounded.
What's going on? Who pulled this prank? Who is this meant to harm?
He felt that his mouth was numb, so he touched it with his hand, and it turned out that the matchbox touched his mouth - there was still an unburned matchstick in his hand - when the cannon exploded just now, The fire on the match was also blown out.
At this moment, Li Qiang was glad that he didn't touch his mouth with a matchstick.
At this moment Li Qiang wanted to cry, but he still held it back, it was quite embarrassing.
Fortunately no one saw it.
Li Qiang felt lucky that he didn't call Erbao and the others over, otherwise, it would have been a big embarrassment.
He put the match in and touched his mouth, feeling that it was swollen.
No bleeding, okay.
Li Qiang wiped his eyes and looked down at the cigarette handle that he had spit out, which had been broken into pieces and still had some tail. He thought that he would never think about smoking again in his life.
He doesn’t know, this is called psychological shadow.
After leaving the old team headquarters, Li Qiang hadn't thought about where to go - he didn't dare to go home at this time, and he didn't know who set off the cigarette, and he didn't dare to guess whether his family knew that he wanted to try smoking, so he specially Teach yourself a lesson.
A child ran over from a distance and called Li Qiang as he ran. He recognized Mao Dan’s voice and ran towards him, and the two of them went to find other friends to play with.
Maodan didn't notice anything strange about Li Qiang, which made Li Qiang feel a little more at ease. He didn't want to be laughed at by his companions.
Children at this time are still very concerned about face.
Li Qiang did not return home until it was almost dark. By this time, his mouth was no longer swollen. The middle child and the other two children all took cigarettes. Mao Dan generously handed the cigarette he smoked to Li Qiang. Asked him to take a sip and try it, Li Qiang firmly refused.
When Li Qiang returned home, he pretended as if nothing had happened, but everyone looked at him strangely.
But no one said anything.
Soon after Li Qiang came back, Li Long got up and wanted to go back to the horse.
In fact, Li Qiang left to play, so Li Long told his elder brother Li Jianguo about the matter.
"Aren't you just kidding!" Li Jianguo said to Li Long, "It would be better to just bring him over and give him a beating..."
"Brother, if a beating doesn't solve the problem, he will definitely try to whip him later." Li Long truly knew the result. He said with a smile, "Don't worry, that little whip doesn't have much medicine, so it won't be damaged by the explosion." , it’s fine even if I hold it in my hand, I put it in front of the cigarette and it explodes. At most, it scares him. He has a psychological shadow, and he will never touch cigarettes again.”
"Let's see how Qiangqiang will hate you when he finds out later." Liang Yuemei said after watching Li Long demonstrate how he lit the whip and exploded it, "We can't let him know."
"Okay. , as long as you don’t tell him, he will definitely not know.”
So although Li Qiang felt that his family looked at him strangely, he really didn’t know why.
Liang Yuemei asked him to have dinner, so he went to eat obediently - still feeling a little guilty. He didn't dare to say because he didn't know whether his family had deliberately set it or someone else in the village had set it there. If someone else put it. But no matter what, you can't escape the fact that he took the cigarette and lit it. Smoking is bad, he knows that. So the matter was kept secret.
This matter has been concealed for many years. It was not until much later, after Li Qiang exposed the incident, that Li Long confessed that he had set off the firecrackers and also told the reason.
It was then that Li Qiang finally understood. (End of this chapter)