After coming out of the buying station, Li Long went back to the compound to drive the tractor and prepare to buy things.
Li Long himself estimated that during the next period of Fritillaria season, most of those who dig Fritillaria would do so in exchange for money. Main goal.
The nearly 2,000 yuan I have can be exchanged for 600 kilograms of fresh caladium, or almost 100 kilograms of dried caladium.
Based on the current area of Nanshan's own sphere of influence, on average, we can receive more than 100 kilograms of caladium every day, and the money can last about five days - I still need to buy some supplies.
The time is about the same. Five days later, the number of people carrying the handle is almost over 500.
While he was thinking about it, he drove the tractor to the department store. The daily supplies you need to buy here are mainly salt, sugar, sesame cakes and other dry food. There are still a few pairs of rubber shoes left at the wooden house, so there is no need to purchase them for the time being. Li Long bought five razors, but he didn't know if he could sell them by then.
But it doesn’t matter. If you can’t sell it, just take it to Xiaobaiyanggou. Brother, they can definitely use it. There is no need for denim clothes. Almost all the fritillary diggers have changed their clothes. The rest are very economical and do not need to be changed.
In the department store, Li Long specially bought a black bag, which contained matches, a lighter, a bag of salt, a bag of sugar cubes, a kilogram of sesame cakes, and a knife. He planned to give these things to Liu Shanmin. After all, this man had helped him a lot by staying in the cabin for the past two days. He also stuffed ten dollars into his bag as a favor.
After buying these things, Li Long went to the market and bought a few bags of rice noodles and corn noodles. He vaguely remembered that a blind streamer told him that there was no need to put so much rice and white noodles. Everyone was poor and came here to find money, not enjoyment. Baogu noodles are pretty good.
Well, grant their wishes.
You should also buy some eggs, so that you can eat them yourself. Li Long saw leeks, onions and garlic being sold and bought some too. Then I went to the winery of the food company to buy some bulk wine. Forget about the bottle of wine, there is still some left in the wooden house, let Sun Jiaqiang take it over, no one will probably want to drink the rest.
Originally, Li Long wanted to tell Li Xiangqian about taking the lead, but since Li Xiangqian was not at the supply and marketing cooperative, the matter was dropped.
He went to the oil depot, filled up the tractor with oil, bought two 25-liter bottles of diesel, and drove towards the mountains.
This time because Liu Shanmin was leaving, Li Long didn't stay long. Fortunately, he planned to go down the mountain in two days, so he stopped meeting Gu Xiaoxia. When she saw the roe deer, she would have known to go back.
The tractor was still chugging quickly on the road, and Li Long calmed down. He was still a little sorry for Liu Shanmin's departure, but it was expected. He has something going on, and it's obvious that he is not an ordinary person, so he definitely can't be kept. Being able to stay here for a few days is already considered a good relationship.
After crossing the Qingshui River and walking into the mountains, Li Long saw two people walking forward in the tamarisk forest. After hearing the sound of the tractor, he quickly hid behind the tamarisk trees.
Li Long guessed that the two men might be digging caladiums. He didn’t know whether they had just entered the mountain or if they had left the mountain and sold the caladiums and came back. He didn't care, didn't slow down, and drove forward suddenly.
By the time the tree arrived, the sun had already moved westward.
Liu Shanmin is drying those caladiums in front of the wooden house. The bedding he slept on lay in the sun on the grass.
"You're back? You ran very fast this time." Liu Shanmin said with a smile.
"It's nothing serious. I just sent the fritillaries down and bought some things." Li Long said smoothly, "Have you eaten for lunch?"
"Not yet. I don't have much appetite."
“Bullshit.” Li Longcai didn’t believe him He said, "I'm hungry. Put the things down and I'll cook."
Liu Shanmin also knew that his cooking was not delicious. He smiled and said:
"I'll cook the food." Come and move, you do it.”
Li Long didn't say anything. Food and other items were quite heavy, so he had no intention of squeezing Liu Shanmin, a lightly wounded person.
Took the black bag out of the cart and handed it over:
"Here, this is for you. Help me for a few days, I can't let you do it in vain."
"This..." Liu Shanmin was a little embarrassed. He felt that he would owe Li Long even more.
"Put it away quickly, don't be a bitch." Li Long stuffed the black bag into Liu Shanmin's arms and went to unload the things.
After unloading the things, Li Long stuffed a few coals into the furnace in the house, then sat in a pot to boil water to stew rice. Hot water was boiling on the stove outside. Li Long took out one of the pots and prepared to stir-fry.
He has already thought about the dishes. You can fry one of the newly bought leeks and eggs. Now go find some straw mushrooms on the grass and fry some mushroom meat. Two dishes will be enough.
Li Long first selected the leeks, went to the spring to wash them and cut them for later use. Putting eggs aside for the time being, he ran around in the nearby turf and picked up half a kilogram of fresh, freshly opened mushrooms.
The straw mushrooms are different from the reed mushrooms near Team Four. Reed mushrooms do not open their umbrellas when they are fresh and tender in the ground. Once they open their umbrellas, they have an aging feel, similar to round mushrooms. Straw mushrooms have umbrellas when they grow out. If insects eat them, they are mature and aged.
Run the wild mushrooms at the spring, and don’t cut them when you put them on the table. Tear them into small pieces and put them on the plate for later use. Then go to the cabin to get the meat.
When the water in the house was boiling, Li Long put rice into the pot and said to Liu Shanmin who wanted to help:
"Just keep an eye on it. When the water boils again, just pour out the soup."
Stir-fry. It was up to him to do the cooking. He was worried that Liu Shanmin would ruin the dishes if he added too much salt.
It only takes twenty or thirty minutes to wait for the meal to be ready. In addition to drinking rice soup, Li Long is also in the mood to make some salty soup.
While eating, Liu Shanmin said:
"Actually, I admire you a lot. It's quite good to live alone. I've seen some people who seem to want to cook less and less when they are alone. They just mess around and make do with food."
"Fill your own belly. If you don't make a good meal when you have so much time, you would be irresponsible to yourself." Li Long thought to himself, if there were smartphones and network signals here, or even all day long We all have TV signals. Do you think I would do this?
During lunch, as usual, someone would come over to sell caladiums. Wu Benzhong, who had not been here for a long time, came here carrying a bag of caladiums. Li Long was wondering if he made a special trip like this every time. Beating the autumn wind. Do you have to wait until lunch?
Fortunately, Li Long made a habit of doing more. Just like he entertained Li Zhengtang and the others the day before, since he had food, he would treat them to a meal.
Wu Benzhong was not embarrassed to eat for free, and made it clear that Li Long should pay less for one kilogram of caladium. This time he brought nearly thirty kilograms of caladiums, and he didn’t know how they were dug out.
Li Long even wondered if this guy was just trying to take advantage of others. After all, this speed is a bit exaggerated.
But Li Long would not ask about the source of the caladium. He waited for Wu Benzhong to finish eating and then weighed him. This time Wu Benzhong wanted twenty-five kilograms, which is seventy-five yuan, some rice noodles, a pair of shoes, and three liters of wine.
Li Long gave it to him. After watching this person leave, Liu Shanmin went to wash his own dishes, put away the pots and other things, folded the bedding and put them together, and said to Li Long :
“ Boss Li, I plan to leave now."
"Okay." Li Long was a little surprised, but thinking about it, it was normal. It didn't make any difference to him if he was half a day early or half a day late. But Liu Shanmin was so anxious. There must be a reason.
Watching Liu Shanmin leave the wooden house and walk toward the southwest with his bag and sticks, Li Long sat in front of the wooden house and watched him disappear into the forest before standing up and starting to wash the caladiums.
Liu Shanmin stayed here for less than a week. To Li Long, he was just an unexpected passerby. It was normal for him to live alone, so there was no worry about gain or loss or any other emotions.
After washing the fritillaries and drying them, Li Long took his ax and went to the forest in front to chop wood. He planned to chop the eight pieces of wood for the tractor's frame today. Then the shelves will be put up tomorrow.
Even if you don’t use it now, you will still need it when the team behind you is pulling wheat.
A piece of wood with a diameter of fifteen centimeters and a length of three meters. Li Long quickly found the target in the forest. I don’t have a chain saw, but I have the strength. After looking at the target, he started chopping, and soon a tree was cut down. After picking off the branches, Li Long took the ax in one hand and dragged the tree with the other and walked towards the wooden house.
He didn't plan to cut it all at once, he had to do it slowly. Anyway, there is plenty of time.
Drag the tree to the wooden house. After Li Long put it down, he measured the length and then cut off the head.
The cut off section was not wasted. Li Long threw it on the east side of the shed and kept it for later use. Even if you don’t need to do anything with it, it’s okay to cut it into small pieces and dry them in the sun for chopping firewood.
While cutting the third piece of wood, two Fritillary sellers came over. They saw no one in front of the wooden house. Just when they were wondering, Li Long shouted from the south.
After seeing Li Long, the two people calmed down. Then the two people watched Li Long dragging a piece of wood this way. They discussed it, put down their bags and came to help.
Li Long did not refuse their help. He dragged the wood to the wooden house and began to weigh the fritillaries. These two people have been here before, but Li Long never asked for his name, and they wouldn't tell him. One weighed a little over 16 kilograms, and the other weighed a little over 15 kilograms. Li Long gave in a little and took out the whole thing. Both of them were very happy.
They all asked for fifteen kilograms of money and exchanged the rest for other things.
After taking the money and things and leaving quickly, Li Long sighed and washed the fritillaries first.
In the past few days, the Fritillaria has become obviously dirtier than before, and Li Long did not lower the price. I already make a lot of money, so there is no need. He poured the fritillaries into a big basin and went to the spring to wash them. While he was washing, another man came to sell the fritillaries.
Li Long asked while weighing the scale:
"Don't you usually come here in the morning and evening? Why did you come here in the afternoon? Didn't you delay digging the fritillaries?"
"Oh, they were all taken away. Damn it." The man sighed, "There are forestry team members who guard the ditch mouth in the morning and evening. They also imitate the rape. The horse rushed to hide in the forest and waited for us in the morning and evening. The fritillaries we dug for a day were harvested. This was a day or two of hard work for us! We might as well come here at a different time, in the morning or afternoon. Come here, it will take less time to dig, but you will lose less.”
Okay, this can be regarded as a battle of wits and courage.
Li Long thought that Wu Benzhong might have chosen the best time. At noon, the forestry team members also had to eat. At this time, they could have the greatest chance of avoiding the forest patrols.
After he weighed it, he continued washing the fritillaries.
As a result, he cut three logs today. Until night, people kept coming to sell caladiums. He collected more than 200 kilograms that day, which was a record.
The result was that nearly a third of the money was gone, a quarter of the things were gone, and not enough wood was cut.
I can’t go to Xiaobaiyanggou either, so I’ll go there tomorrow morning.
In the evening, Li Long gathered up the dried caladiums and put them in a small room. Li Long now regretted not leaving a few handfuls to dry the caladiums here. More than two hundred kilograms were spread on the wooden floor in front of the house in a thick layer, so that it would not dry in the sun for a short time.
It's quite troublesome to collect it, but making money, how can it not be hard work?
There are still wolves howling here at night, but there are no roe deer or Liu Shanmin outside, so there is no need to worry.
I don’t know where Liu Shanmin has gone now.
Then Li Long fell asleep in a daze.
Li Long was woken up by Bolati knocking on the door the next morning.
Li Long opened the door with his clothes on and saw Polati carrying two bags full of fritillaries. He excitedly said to him:
"Change money, these can be changed into money!"
Okay, Li Long knew this but didn't know which unlucky egg was confiscated.
The two bags of caladiums should be piled together from several bags. The difference in cleanliness can be clearly seen when they are poured out. The total weight was 43 kilograms, and Li Long gave him 130 yuan.
"Haha, get busy, I'm leaving." Polati also left two freshly baked naans for Li Long, then got on his horse and left.
Holding the still warm naan, Li Long thought it was pretty good. Isn't this breakfast already?
After breakfast, Li Long drove his tractor to Xiaobaiyanggou, and he actually brought two boxes of razors.
Smoke is already floating in Xiaobaiyanggou early in the morning. Some people didn't use up the slivers they chopped yesterday, so after eating in the morning they started roasting the slivers and braided them.
Seeing Li Long coming, they just said hello briefly.
Li Long gave one of the two razors to his eldest brother Li Jianguo and the other to Xie Yundong. At this time, there is no need to pay so much attention. It is normal for several people to share a razor. At most, it is enough to wash it after use.
"This thing is great!" Xie Yundong was the first to use it. "I didn't feel it at home. After coming here, my beard feels like it's growing every day, and now it's so long!" He gestured.
Li Long looked at it and smiled. In fact, it was not long, just over one centimeter. But for Han men, it is unimaginable to have a beard at this age.
At least this time. Except those who are showing off their personality.
Li Jianguo also started using it, which caused everyone to not only watch the excitement, but also lined up one after another after Jia Weidong shouted "Thank you, I am second".
In order to avoid being robbed of their order, they stopped making excuses and stood next to Li Jianguo and Xie Yundong waiting.
Li Long smiled, regretting not bringing more with him. He felt that squeezing was not an option, so he called those at the back of the queue to check the ones compiled yesterday first.
There are fewer and fewer unqualified ones. After all inspections, only one unqualified one was found today, or it was barely unqualified.
The people who were inspected were not embarrassed. They reworked it according to Li Long's request, which only took ten minutes.
After shaving, two people shaved a little too hastily and even bled. Despite this, everyone was still very happy. They touched their chins from time to time and felt different.
"Xiaolong, please bring the clippers over next time you come over. Our hair has grown too long and it's time to trim it." Xie Yundong took the opportunity to make a request to Li Long.
"Okay, I'll bring it to you in two days."
This is not a big deal, so Li Long agreed directly.
Sun Jiaqiang went to dig fritillaries, but no one was there. Li Long didn't wait for him, took a few handles and put them on the tractor, chatted with Li Jianguo for a few words, and then drove away.
People here are happier than him, so he won’t bother.
When the tractor drove back to the wooden house, as soon as Li Long stopped, a man came out from the west side of the wooden house. He was startled, and he subconsciously pointed his gun at him.
"No, no, no! Don't shoot, don't shoot!" The man didn't expect Li Long to react so quickly and immediately raised his hand:
"I'm just here to sell Fritillaria..."
Li Long looked at it and seemed to have some impression. He cursed:
"It scares people to death." Do you know? Can't you come out normally?"
"There is a snake!" The man was also very aggrieved, "I wanted to wait for you to come back, but I was afraid of touching it. The patrolman hid beside this house. Who knew there were poisonous snakes there..."
Poisonous snake?
Li Long was also shocked. There were poisonous snakes in front of the house he lived in. Wouldn't that be very troublesome?
He immediately found a stick and asked the man to point it out to him.
On the west side of the wooden house, there is indeed a small gray-white snake coiled there. Li Long estimated that the snake was at most twenty or thirty centimeters long, but the end looked quite scary, with a triangular shape and a thinner body, the size of a thumb.
“That’s it, it’s a poisonous snake, it can bite people to death!”
Seeing the two people approaching, the poisonous snake was still eager to attack.
Li Long would not give it a chance to attack. He knocked it down with a stick, and the snake flew away to the side. Li Long had expected it, and the stick also turned in the direction and hit the snake.
The snake's skin was very tough, and it was not killed at once. Li Long knocked it a few more times, and the snake's head was flattened. He felt relieved that there was no way he could survive again.
It seems that we have to be careful next, and we have to remind the people over at Xiaobaiyanggou to avoid being bitten.
Should we bring some snake medicine back next time we go back?
This man brought more than eight kilograms of caladium. Li Long weighed it and gave him the money. The man left in a hurry. After Li Long washed the caladium, he went to continue chopping wood.
By the afternoon, I had finally chopped enough wood, and collected more than 100 kilograms of caladium.
There are really rich things in the mountains. Li Long feels that if this continues, he can earn thousands of dollars in this fritillary season! (End of this chapter)