The sound of the tractor attracted the attention of many people around the stall. Chen Xingbang, who was cutting meat, looked up and saw Li Long. He smiled and waved his knife at Li Long. Li Long stepped on the brake to stop, pulled up the handbrake and got out of the car to the stall. He said:
"Brother-in-law, this sheep has just been brought back from the mountains. Give me the key and I will unload it into the yard."
"Okay, I will close the stall here and go over." Chen Xingbang pulled out of his belt. He untied a bunch of keys and handed them to Li Long.
"You don't have to worry about it. I'll open the door and unload it myself. You can sell your meat with peace of mind."
"Young man, are all these sheep pulled from the mountains?" An old man was asking.
"Yes, they were just brought from the mountains. These last batch of sheep will be transferred to the mountains tomorrow and the day after tomorrow." Li Long pointed to the sheep in the car and said, "If you want to eat, buy more in the next two days. Otherwise, if you want to eat the sheep in the mountains, you will have to wait until autumn."
He followed what Chen Xingbang said. Li Qingxia relayed what Chen Xingbang meant, and Li Long understood.
"Come on, young man, weigh two kilograms of ribs for me, and two kilograms of meat, please be fatter." The old man immediately shouted to Chen Xingbang.
Several people also joined the ranks of "rush buying".
Although there are still a lot of sheep on the tractor, who knows how many days they will be sold? It’s real now that you can get it.
However, some people did not buy. As they watched, Li Long guessed that they wanted to wait two days for Chen Xingbang to sell the new batch of sheep he pulled before buying.
After all, it’s better to eat everything fresh.
Li Long took the key and drove the tractor to the yard he rented.
There are a few sheep in the yard. They look lonely. When they hear the sound of the tractor entering the yard, the sheep turn their heads and look here.
Li Long parked the tractor in the yard, turned off the engine, opened the rear panel, took the sheep down one by one, then untied the rope and put them into the yard.
Those sheep were tied up in the tractor and couldn't move for a long time. Some of them could still stand up after entering the yard, and some simply lay on the ground to slow down. Li Long didn't care. Yushanjiang and the others were tied with skills, so they probably wouldn't be able to do it. Broken.
By the time the last sheep in the carriage were put into the front yard, the first few sheep had already slowed down and started to graze in the yard.
Because these sheep were ready to be killed, Li Long didn't bring any grass with him this time. He didn't care what they ate before being slaughtered. Let Chen Xingbang find a way.
After unloading the sheep, Li Long put the carriage boards in place, gathered the ropes together, and then sat on the flower wall of the yard to rest.
A few minutes later, Chen Xingbang came back with the cart. He smiled and said to Li Long:
"Xiaolong, you have helped me a lot. If this car of sheep hadn't come, I would have no sheep to slaughter in two days."
"I think your business is good, these eighteen A sheep can’t be slaughtered for more than a few days.”
“That’s okay. , I have been looking around for some pigs in the past two days. I plan to buy live pigs and sell them after the sheep are sold. Although it makes less money, it is convenient."
Since Chen Xingbang already has one. Li Long didn't say much as he had his own thoughts.
"How much does a sheep cost? I'll give you the money." Although Chen Xingbang is not rich now, he still has capital.
"Fifteen." Li Long said, "Two hundred and seventy yuan." Last time the sheep helped, but this time they had to settle the score.
Chen Xingbang now had a total of more than three hundred yuan in his pocket. He counted out two hundred and seven and handed it to Li Long, and then said:
"Let's go to dinner. Dad and Daqiang Yes, the fish should be sold out soon , let’s go over and take a look. I’ll take you to dinner after everything is sold.”
Although he doesn’t have much money left in his pocket, he still has the confidence to treat guests to dinner, and Chen Xingbang is confident that he can bring these eighteen sheep. It sold for four hundred yuan.
It doesn’t take half a month!
I earn about a hundred yuan this time. Think about it, in my hometown, I don’t have such a good income even in a year!
Li Long was also tired, so he parked the tractor in the yard and waited for Chen Xingbang to put down the carriage and put grass for the sheep, and then they went to the market together.
Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang's stalls were set up next to each other this time, and the distance between them was relatively close. The fish on the two stalls together now weighed less than ten kilograms. Li Long and Chen Xingbang followed suit and shouted for help. In twenty minutes, the fish will be sold out, the stall will be closed and people will leave.
Although it was still a little early for lunch, everyone was very tired and very happy, so they went to eat.
"Dad, can you ride here every day?" Li Long thought about the electric bicycle that was available a few years later in his last life, but it was a real electric bicycle, a tripod with 28 large bars. A motor was added in the middle, and this motor was used to drive the front and rear wheels. However, it only appeared for a very short time. I don’t know whether it was because the technology was immature or because charging was inconvenient. Anyway, Li Long seemed to have only seen one or two of them.
If the old man can barely ride, are he thinking of getting an electric one?
"What's the point?" Li Qingxia has always been dissatisfied with his elders. He patted his leg and said with a smile, "Where am I now? I ride a car and earn more than ten or twenty yuan a day. Sometimes I can earn thirty yuan. Where can I find such a good job compared to when I was young, pushing a cart on two legs and selling ginger and garlic? It’s much better. Not to mention having a car, with this income, even if I don’t have a car, I can just get up two or three hours earlier and come here!”
Everyone has the motivation to live a good life, but I just couldn’t see it before. Hope, now that we can see hope, and those who work hard can get tangible benefits, who can not work hard?
Even people like Tao Daqiang are working hard for a better life and thinking about giving their future children a better living environment, not to mention Li Qingxia?
The four of them arrived at the restaurant. Chen Xingbang wanted to order two hard dishes, but Li Qingxia stopped him.
"Just serve four noodles. It will be solid and filling. We have chicken, mutton, etc. at home, so we don't need to be so polite."
Chen Xingbang knew that the old man was saving money for him, so he Instead of pretending to be fat, I ordered four fried pork noodles, then added noodles and noodle soup.
After paying the money and food stamps, Chen Xingbang came over and poured tea for the three people, and said slightly excitedly:
"The market in Shicheng is huge. Doing business here is better than doing business in Ma County is much better. Dad, do you want to move here in the future? "
"I don't," Li Qingxia said clearly, "How good is your brother's village? There is rice and fish, and Xiaolong often gets all kinds of meat. Why should I move here? You slaughter sheep? You can make money here, but life is too frustrating.”
Chen Xingbang sneered, too. This is a good place to do business, but if you want to catch fish and loaches freely like the old man, this is definitely not possible.
"Are you Xiaolong? Just stay in the county?" Chen Xingbang asked Li Long.
"Well, Xiaoxia works in the county, so I won't go far away. You can get my sister to settle down behind here. Anyway, it's not far away. I really want to go here then. Moving is easy, just buy a yard. "
Li Long said it in an understatement. The waiter who served the meal curled his lips. These people looked like old farmers. This is quite a big statement. Just buy a yard. That yard is Is it a good buy? After she came back as an educated youth, she always lived together with her family. A family of five or six children crowded into three rooms. Although it was not as crowded as a big coastal city, it was not spacious either.
Although it is relatively easy to arrange work here, how can she, a girl, do manual labor in factories such as tractor factories, sugar factories, and bone glue factories that require labor? How embarrassing it is to be with those men with bare arms!
Although the money I earn from running restaurants here is not much, it is better than stability. I hope to save money in a few years and buy a small courtyard in the suburbs.
This is already a very powerful plan, but in the eyes of these farmers, is it so easy to buy a yard?
Brag!
The noodles were served quickly, and Li Qingxia ate them first. Li Long clearly felt that something was wrong in the waiter's eyes, but he didn't care so much, and left after eating, and there was no interaction. , why do you care so much?
As soon as the noodles were served, I poured the extra noodles onto the plate. After mixing them, no one said anything and they started eating hungrily.
After eating the noodles and leaving the restaurant, Chen Xingbang asked:
"Xiaolong, will you come back directly later?"
"No, I'm going to the sugar factory to pull a cart of sugar residue." Li Long Said, "We need some at home, in the horse stable, and in the big yard. Pull them back and put them away." After we get off, I'll go to the mountains."
"Okay, let's go back to the yard together. I have to kill another sheep today."
"I will. The two of us will go to the sugar factory with you and pack up the sugar residue before leaving," Li Qingxia said.
"Okay." Li Long said, "After you install it, you don't need to ride anymore. Just put the bicycle on the frame of the truck. You sit on the tractor and we will go back together. Stop riding. It will take another two hours to ride back. I'm so tired." . ”
The matter was settled. I went to Chen Xingbang's yard to pick up the tractor and waved goodbye to him. Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang picked up the bicycle and put it on the tractor. The two of them held the bicycle in the truck bed while Li Long drove towards the sugar factory.
I didn’t wait long at the back door of the sugar factory when I saw Song Ming and his apprentice driving out in a car pulling a cart of sugar residue.
Song Ming stopped immediately when he saw Li Long sitting on the tractor.
He poked his head out of the cab and asked with a smile:
"Comrade Xiao Li, are you making sugar residue?"
"Well," Li Long said with a smile, " The sugar residue is gone at home, so I thought about taking a cart back."
"Hey, you should have gone directly to the factory. It doesn't matter, Xiao Zhang, you take Comrade Li to the yard and get him a few more sacks, just like Section Chief Hu said. Comrade Li, you follow Xiao Zhang to the yard and load it directly. It's more convenient that way. I'll do it. The car can't be parked here for too long. Let's talk later."
"Okay, you're busy." Li Long waved his hand.
As the car drove away, Song Ming's apprentice Zhang Xueliang smiled and got on the fender of Li Long's tractor. Holding the seat bag, Li Long started the tractor.
"Brother Li, you are awesome! I bought a tractor just now. This thing is awesome, it's very expensive!"
"It's not expensive, it costs a few thousand yuan, right? , I also scraped it together," Li Long said while driving. He said, "It's far worse than you driving a car."
Zhang Xueliang smiled, with a bit of pride in his eyes, and said:
"Well, my master said, in another month I will also Almost able to drive alone.”
"Then you are awesome. Being able to become a master means that you can drive and repair cars." Li Long was really surprised. At this time, most of the driver masters were repairing cars and driving. Even if you go to a driving school to learn driving skills in another two years, you still need to learn how to repair the car together, which usually starts in half a year. Unlike later generations of cars with more electronic equipment, there is no need for ordinary drivers to learn to repair cars.
The two people chatted and entered the back door of the sugar factory. The tractor drove to the door of the workshop. Li Long stopped. Zhang Xueliang got out of the car and directed Li Long's truck bucket to approach the discharge port.
Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang put down their cars and parked them aside. When Zhang Xueliang went to get seven or eight sacks, they had already found shovels and were waiting for the sugar residue from the outlet to come out. Finally, start loading on the car.
In fact, the cart bucket cannot hold too much. The main thing is to put it into a sack and then press it on top of the sugar residue in the cart bucket.
Lastly, leave a few extra sacks and put the bicycle on them so that people will not get wet when sitting on them.
After finishing here, Song Ming came back in his car.
Li Long and Song Ming chatted for a few more words. Knowing that Li Long was in the mountains now, Song Ming said:
"Bring me some caladiums if you have time, we are here I need some too. My mother has a chronic cough problem. . ”
“No problem.” Li Long can do this easily. “I can deliver it to you tomorrow.” I’ll go back and get some later. Just ask Tao Daqiang to deliver it tomorrow.
“Really? That’s great.” Song Ming was overjoyed, “Not too much, just a small handful is enough.”
"Okay." Li Long didn't say much. The sugar residue in the tractor bucket here was already leaking. "Let's go first. It's not good for the water to get here."
"Okay, okay, you go. "Okay, are the sacks enough?"
"That's enough." Li Long waved his hand with a smile and quickly left the sugar factory yard.
There were cars and people on the road, but there were relatively few of them. The cars were driving very fast. When crossing the Mahe Bridge, Li Long saw that the water in the river was very strong, and there must be snowmelt floods coming down. There is also a glacier at the source of this river, but it is too deep and no one has ever been there. After all, the widest part of the Tianshan Mountains is 600 kilometers, and the narrowest parts are only 100 or 200 kilometers. Some places have never been walked by anyone, making them a paradise for wild animals.
There are no adults looking for jade by the river anymore, but there are a few children digging for something in the sand. Li Long remembers that it is recorded in the county annals that there is a placer gold mine in the Mahe River. Harimu and the others gave My own gold nugget also proves this. It's just that the gold mine is said to have been cleaned up later, and there are only sporadic ones. I don't know if I will be lucky enough to pick up gold nuggets on my own in the future.
After crossing the bridge, it felt like there was still a long way to go to the county. Think about future generations, Ma County and Shicheng are connected together, with a bridge in the middle, and there are already bungalows and factories on both sides of the bridge. It seems that the city is right next to the river. The development in the next few decades will be really fast.
The tractor drove into the big yard first. Gu Xiaoxia was not there. Li Long and the others unloaded two sacks of sugar residue, which were food for the deer. Li Long got half a kilogram of Fritillaria from the side room, divided it into two parts, packed it in a cloth bag and gave it to Tao Daqiang, asking him to give it to Song Ming when he sells fish tomorrow. Dried caladiums are very light, half a kilogram is a big package.
I didn’t stop here, and drove directly back to the team. I put six sacks of sugar residue at the horse number, unloaded another sack for Tao Daqiang’s house, and took the rest to Li Jianguo’s yard. The sows have already given birth to nine cubs. This professional pig farmer is truly established.
Li Long has been coming back from time to time these days, and Du Chunfang is very happy every time she sees her youngest son. But Li Long didn't have time to stay longer. He unloaded the sugar residue, chatted with his parents for a while, then filled up the oil and the oil drum. After filling the tractor with water, he drove the tractor and left.
“Every day comes and goes in a hurry. When will it end?” Du Chunfang was very dissatisfied.
"You can't make money then." Li Qingxia took a broad view. "Otherwise, how could there be so much meat to eat? How could there be TV to watch?"
Du Chunfang has been going to Li Long's house at night these days. Watch TV, and then go back to the east room here to sleep. After hearing what Li Qingxia said, she blushed and stopped talking.
"Wait, I'll be free in the winter. But I'll probably have a baby by then, right? Can you still take care of his kids?" Li Qingxia joked, "Can't you? "
"I do want to take care of it, and my daughter-in-law must let me take care of it," Du Chunfang admitted generously, "We look at children differently from people in the city. My daughter-in-law is a cadre, so how can I be willing? ?”
That’s too far.
Li Long stayed in the big courtyard that day and went into the mountain early the next morning.
Although I am in a hurry every day, to be honest, I am still quite happy, and Gu Xiaoxia is also very happy. At least it doesn't feel like living apart. It's a little surprising to see Li Long come back occasionally.
A breakup is better than a wedding!
Not much has changed here in the wooden house. There were only a handful of people who stole things in the first few days. After all, in such a big mountain, there were very few blind flows evenly distributed.
After Li Long took a rest at the wooden house while driving the tractor, he took a shovel, packed some bags in the bucket of the tractor, started the tractor, and set off.
He planned to dig some coal and come back.
There is no way to drive directly to the place where the coal is produced, but Li Long already knows the nearby terrain and can drive to a ditch less than a hundred meters away from the coal seam.
After driving there, he planned to dig coal into a bag and carry it on the tractor. Let's get a dozen bags first. A dozen bags of coal will be enough for him to burn for a whole summer.
The churning sound of the tractor broke the tranquility in the mountains. Some people heard it, and some birds and animals heard it.
Although he could drive faster, Li Long did not drive very fast. There are many ravines here that do not have real roads, but some parts are relatively flat, so the tractor can go over, but if you drive too fast, it may overturn. possible.
The speed is very slow, not even ten kilometers per hour, but Li Long is not in a hurry, whatever he can get today is whatever he can get.
When the tractor drove to the nearest ravine, Li Long stopped and turned off the engine. He took the shovel and sack from the bucket, carried a 56 semi-automatic rifle on his back, and walked towards the coal mine. .
Arrived at the coal mine, Li Long put down the sack and pulled apart the broken coal, preparing to get some lumps of coal first.
At this time, there was a lot of noise in the ravine to the east, including screams, howls, and the sound of kicking grass. Li Long hurriedly dropped the shovel and put it on his back. He took off the five-sixth half, opened the safety, pulled the trigger, loaded the bullet, and looked over there with his back against the coal seam.
A few minutes later, a big roe deer sprang out from the mouth of the ditch, followed by a gray wolf. The gray wolf would scurry and bite the back of the roe deer's hind legs from time to time. Then two more roe deer sprang out, one big and one small, followed by one or two wolves. After that, a half-grown roe deer sprang out and was knocked down by a wolf. The wolf bit him. At the roe deer's neck, the roe deer struggled desperately, but unfortunately he died in the end.
Then, the gray wolf discovered Li Long. (End of this chapter)