Chapter 54 Don’t break your promise
When Li Long and the other two returned home with the rabbit, Liang Yuemei had already prepared all the food and placed it on the table, waiting for them to come back.
Li Jianguo also woke up and was waiting for them in the yard after washing up.
"Brother, are you still dizzy?" Li Long asked with a smile while holding the bag.
Li Jianguo was in high spirits yesterday. He drank a bottle and a half of Gucheng Daqu by himself. He was happy while drinking it, but fainted after he finished drinking it and slept from the afternoon until this morning.
"I'm not dizzy anymore," Li Jianguo blushed for once, and changed the subject: "How many rabbits did you catch?"
"Five!" Li Qiang shouted, "Dad, five rabbits! Two of them were alive, and one tried to kick my uncle, causing him to fall to the ground and die! I saw it with my own eyes!"
"Okay, okay, go wash your hands and get ready for dinner." Li Jianguo now feels that it was a wise decision to send his younger brother to Wucheng to work. Although he was fired after the trip, his younger brother seemed to be reborn when he came back. He knows everything without saying a word, and his personality has also changed, becoming much more mature.
After breakfast, Li Jianguo and Li Long worked together to prepare the rabbit. While skinning it, Li Jianguo asked Li Long:
"Xiaolong, can you be quiet for a few days? Tao Dayong and Gu Ermao have both been arrested. Although they have been released, it is embarrassing and they have to pay a fine. We can't go in!"
"Brother, don't worry. I won't sell things on the black market. There are too few buyers there." Li Long told his plan, "I plan to go to Wucheng first. I brought back two pieces of jade this time. I asked in the county and found someone in Wucheng who would buy them. Maybe I can sell them for a few hundred yuan.
When I come back, I plan to catch more fish and sell them in Shicheng. There are many people buying fish in the factory family compound over there. The New Year is coming soon, so fish will be easy to sell. I can make some money and wait until the spring comes..."
He lowered his voice and said:
"Brother, I heard that the land will be divided in the spring, and the things in the team will also be divided. We have to prepare early. We can't get a tractor, but we can get a horse-drawn carriage or something, at least it will be convenient to transport things!"
"Are you telling the truth?" Li Jianguo was immediately excited when he heard the news. "Are you really going to divide the land?"
"Really. I heard in Wucheng that many provinces in the mainland have divided the land. We will also divide it this time, but the first time, each person may get two acres of land..."
"Two mu is fine!" Li Jianguo is an expert in farming. "If we plant well, we can get several hundred kilograms of wheat. If we plant well, we can get even more kilograms of corn. Even if we deduct the grain tax, the remaining wheat can be ground into flour to feed the family..."
When the baby is growing up, he can eat fine grains every day. Which parent these days has not hoped for this?
Is it really going to come true?
"So, it's not enough to just borrow someone else's car. You have to have your own." Li Long took the opportunity to say, "Time waits for no one. I have to save more money now..."
"You can't go alone." Li Jianguo said, "I'll go with you, so I can take care of you."
"Brother, you can't go. If something really happens, one of you has to stay at home." Li Long waved his hand hurriedly, "I'll try to be careful, but if something really happens, I'll have to wait for you to get me out."
"Go away, what are you talking about." Li Jianguo patted Li Long, "Then be careful... I'll go fishing with you."
"Okay, then we'll go break some ice holes later. We'll catch some today. I'll go to Wucheng tomorrow and catch some more when I come back. Then I'll go sell the fish. We'll have to go into the mountains again later..."
Li Long found that his schedule was full.
But it's better this way, as there's something to do and money to earn, which is better than most of the young people in the team staying at home bored and gossiping about other people's affairs.
The two of them finished skinning the rabbit in a short while - rabbit skin is very easy to peel, just cut at the neck and tear it hard with your hands, the whole skin can be torn off directly.
Li Jianguo stretched the leather and nailed it in an empty house. If it could be sold, he would sell it. If not, he would make leather gloves.
While processing the internal organs, someone came over from the yard. The person who pushed the door open was Bai Fazhan, a 40-year-old from the team. He was an outsider who had only come here in the past two years. When he saw Li Jianguo, he smiled and said:
"Qiangqiang's father, I heard that you can exchange bullets for meat..." "Yes, five bullets for one kilogram of meat." Li Jianguo said with a smile, "But this wild boar meat is different from domestic pork..."
"I know. I've hunted in the mountains before and eaten it." Bai Fazhan smiled. "I'll exchange it for five kilograms."
Li Long stood up, took the bullet and went to cut the meat, and asked while holding the knife:
"Brother Bai, where do you want the meat?"
I borrowed the beam scale from the team and haven't returned it yet, so I need it now.
"Can you cut more ribs?"
"No problem." Li Long gave him six kilograms - this was enough to eat. But people didn't like bones these days, so it was okay to cut more, and then threaded it with a thin wire and passed it over.
Bai Fazhan looked at the rabbit and knew what Li Long had set out to do. He smiled and praised Li Long for his ability, then picked up the meat and chatted for a few more words before leaving.
In the morning, seven or eight people came one after another to exchange and buy meat, all of which were two or three kilograms. Some came to try it, and some did not raise pigs at home and planned to get some meat for the New Year.
Some people paid with money, which was one yuan per kilogram, and some people exchanged for bullets. In the end, Li Long calculated that he had exchanged for more than a hundred bullets!
That’s a lot!
At twelve o'clock, Li Jianguo and Li Long, together with Li Juan and Li Qiang, went to Xiaohaizi with tools.
According to their idea, they should dig two more holes in the ice. After they are connected, they will wait for fish to come out of the ice hole while using a scoop net to catch fish in the old hole.
When he arrived at Xiaohaizi, Li Long was surprised to find that there was no one there.
He thought about it and understood. It was probably because Tao Dayong and Gu Ermao were arrested that the people in the team were afraid. After all, the input-output ratio was abnormal. The money from selling fish was not enough to pay the fine, and it was embarrassing. Who would dare to go again?
It’s certainly not that no one wants to go to Shicheng to sell fish, but at that time, most farmers couldn’t find the family compound even if they arrived in Shicheng, and even if they did, they might not dare to ask for it.
In this era, those who can take the first and second steps will become millionaires early and reap the first dividends of the reform tide.
Li Jianguo asked Li Juan and Li Qiang to collect the hairy reeds, while he and Li Long were responsible for each ice hole.
Li Long shoveled away the snow on the ice next to the reeds, then took a pickaxe and started hitting the ice.
The ice surface felt much harder, and his hands were numb from the shaking. But once the small hole was made, it was easier to drill later. Now he missed the electric ice drill in his previous life. He didn't need to use any force at all. After starting it, it just rotated for a while and the ice hole appeared.
After knocking for nearly an hour, an irregular hole was finally knocked out of the ice.
Li Long used a shovel to remove the broken ice on the surging water surface, and saw that his elder brother Li Jianguo had already used a scoop net to catch fish in the old ice hole.
Apparently, he had already smashed the hole in the ice.
Li Long put down his tools and went to help, then he saw a big man walking towards the direction of the production team.
Tao Daqiang?
Why is he here?
(End of this chapter)
