Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 19: The prodigal son has succeeded?

When Li Long and Tao Daqiang arrived at the county town pulling the carriage, it was not yet time to get off work.

"Da Qiang, let's go to the purchasing station to sell the antlers first, and then buy some things to take home."

"Okay." Tao Daqiang naturally had no objection. He also wanted to know how much the deer antlers could be sold for.

The two men arrived at the purchasing station. Tao Daqiang was watching the carriage outside, while Li Long entered the purchasing station with the deer antlers.

Chen Hongjun has already packed up and is ready to go off work.

Seeing Li Long coming in, he was a little displeased. Who is so blind as to come here after get off work?
However, after seeing what Li Long was holding in his hand, Chen Hongjun immediately smiled.

"Little comrade... Eh? Were you here this morning?"

"Well, hello, comrade. I want to ask if you guys buy these deer antlers?"

"Collect, collect, collect." Chen Hongjun thought that there were still some tasks that had not been completed this winter, so now the goods have arrived, right?
"Your antlers - collected from the mountains?" Chen Hongjun asked Li Long to put the antlers on the counter. He picked up the intact one and looked at it. "It's okay. This one is quite complete. This one... has some missing parts."

"How much is one kilogram?" Li Long asked the price anxiously.

"This antler should have fallen off last autumn, and it's in pretty good condition." Chen Hongjun said, "I'll give you three yuan per kilogram, which is not a small amount."

"Okay." This price was much higher than what Li Long had in mind. He nodded and said, "That's it."

Chen Hongjun weighed it on the scale and said, "Six kilograms and seven, let me calculate it for you, three times seven is twenty-one, three times sixty-eight, twenty yuan and ten cents, here, take the money."

Li Long counted the money and put it away.

"Young man, if you have anything good in the future, bring it here and I'll give you a good price." Seeing Li Long was about to leave, Chen Hongjun hurriedly said, "I'll be here Monday, Wednesday and Friday."

"Okay." Li Long agreed readily and walked out.

Walking up to the carriage, Li Long took out a five-dollar bill and handed it to Tao Daqiang:
"Da Qiang, this is for you. When I go back, I'll unload some more wood for your family."

"Brother Long, I can't take it." Tao Daqiang immediately pushed the money back, "I'm just here to help, how can I take your money?"

"Take it, this is what you deserve." Li Long didn't think of giving half to Tao Daqiang, because that would not be helping him but harming him.

"Brother Long, I really don't want to take it..." Tao Daqiang refused firmly, "If you put this money in my hands, my dad will definitely take it away in the end."

"Then I'll buy you something." Li Long thought about it and changed his mind. "Your dad can't take the things away after I buy them. Oh, you don't have gloves. Look at the chilblains on your hands. Let's go to the department store and buy you a pair of gloves. When you go back, tell them I bought them for you. Don't let your dad give them to your brother again."

The two men pulled the carriage to the department store. Seeing that it was almost time to get off work, Li Long had no choice but to pick a pair of cotton gloves with strings and no four-fingered design, paid four dollars and left.

"Put on these gloves and don't give them to anyone else." Li Long gave the gloves to Tao Daqiang. "When you go home, take a kilogram of sesame cakes and unload some wood. That way your father won't scold you."

"Okay." Tao Daqiang put on the gloves and felt warm.

When the two men pulled the carriage back to the production team, the sun had already set.

Before the carriage arrived at Li's house, many people saw it and came over to watch.

"Wow, Li Long really pulled the wood back!"

"This is a lot of firewood!"

"It looks like it weighs several hundred kilograms. It should be enough to burn for a month or two, right?"

"I didn't expect that Li Long would be successful?"

"Look at those woods, they are all pine wood. It would be a pity to burn them!"...

Li Qiang was playing with an old cow on the road when he saw Li Long and Tao Daqiang driving the carriage back. He rushed over to follow the carriage. Li Long took out a sesame cake from his pocket and gave it to him, then asked him to run back and tell Li Jianguo the news.

"Dad, Dad! My uncle is back! He's pulling a cart of wood!" Li Qiang rushed into the house holding a sesame cake that he had taken two bites of. "So many people are following him!"

Li Jianguo hurried out and saw that Li Long had already driven the car to the gate of the courtyard. He waited for Li Long to drive the car into the yard and asked:

"Everything went smoothly along the way?"

"It went smoothly." Li Long said with a smile, "There are other gains."

"What else did you get?" Li Jianguo looked Li Long up and down, then looked at Tao Daqiang. He was relieved to find that no one was injured. "What did you get?"

"I got a frozen sheep back." Li Long handed the reins to Tao Daqiang, pointed to the carriage and said, "We can eat meat for a few days."

"Frozen sheep?" Li Jianguo wanted to ask more, but saw many people gathered outside the yard. Some had already come in to watch the fun. They all asked Li Long where he got the wood and how he pulled it, so he called out:
"Don't ask yet, just help unload the wood!"

There were quite a few people coming, and everyone worked together to quickly unload the wood. Li Long took the opportunity to hand the bag of things to Li Qiang and asked him to take it back into the house.

Li Qiang had seen Li Long take the sesame cakes out of the bag before, so he immediately took the bag into the house and handed it to his mother.

The wood was unloaded to the firewood pile in the corner of the yard, and Li Long shouted:

"Leave three pieces of wood and take them to Daqiang's house."

"Give it back to Daqiang. Li Long is quite loyal."

"Huh? Is that a sheep?" Someone with sharp eyes saw the sheep frozen to death under the wood.

"Well, sheep. I picked up a frozen sheep in the mountains." Li Long said.

"Picked it up?" Mrs. Lu exclaimed, "This is too good luck, isn't it? But could this sheep have been poisoned to death?"

"Hard to say."

Many of the onlookers looked envious and jealous, while some maliciously speculated about the cause of the sheep's death.

The sheep were not big, so it was not easy to share them with every family. Li Jianguo asked Li Long and Tao Daqiang to go into the house to rest while he parked the carriage first.

Li Long shook his head and said:
"Brother, I will deliver the wood to Daqiang's house first, and then return the carriage."

Li Jianguo knew that this was the right thing to do and did not stop him because he still had to deal with the frozen sheep.

Seeing that there was nothing exciting to watch, the others dispersed. Li Long went into the house, took out a kilogram of sesame cakes, stuffed it into Tao Daqiang's hand, and then walked out together.

After unloading the wood at Tao Daqiang's house, Li Long went to the stable alone to return the horse before returning home.

"Xiaolong, was this sheep really picked up?" Li Jianguo asked worriedly.

Li Juan and Li Qiang were staring at the bag of sesame cakes and didn't pay attention.

"No, I sold the skin of the water rat and bought tea and salt for five yuan, and then went to the mountains to exchange them with the herdsmen." Li Long whispered, "This sheep froze to death in the mountains when it snowed heavily two days ago. It has only been dead for three or five days, and it is fine!"

"That's good," Li Jianguo was relieved. "I'll peel the sheepskin after the water melts, and I'll give some of the meat to Daqiang's family."

"Well, just take a leg." Li Long nodded, "His family... one leg is enough."

(End of this chapter)