Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 232: Li Long's Humor on the Field
After Li Long left, Gu Xiaoxia hurriedly finished the meal in her bowl and prepared to clean up.

Teacher Wang walked to the door and asked with a smile:

"he's gone?"

"He left." Gu Xiaoxia said with a red face, "He brought some dried mushrooms here. Teacher Wang, I'll give you some..."

"No, my cooking isn't good, and it would be a waste to keep it. I smell your cooking...Huh? What is this?"

Her eyes were fixed on the half basin of wild strawberries.

"He said it was wild strawberries from the mountains, and they're delicious." Gu Xiaoxia brought the bowl to Teacher Wang, "Try it."

Teacher Wang picked up a pill and tasted it, his eyes lit up:
"Hey, it's really delicious. He really put a lot of thought into it."

"There's still half a bowl of fried dough sticks. Teacher Wang, would you like some?"

"Eat, I'll eat." Teacher Wang didn't feel embarrassed. She and Gu Xiaoxia had a good relationship and often shared food with each other. "I originally planned not to eat today, but then I smelled your food. I was about to come over, but when I heard his voice, I didn't come over."

Gu Xiaoxia scooped up some rice and brought it to Teacher Wang. Teacher Wang took a bite, saw the pickles on the table, picked up a piece of pickled vegetables, mixed them, took another bite, nodded with satisfaction, and said as he ate:

"Have you identified him?"

"Ah."

"What about Vice Principal Wang's son?"

"I clearly rejected him." Gu Xiaoxia said, "I told him that I have a partner."

"He's not a pushover and won't give up easily." Teacher Wang raised his eyebrows and said, "He works in the village, which is close to here, so he may come to see you often."

"Then I won't see him." Gu Xiaoxia was very determined and didn't take the matter seriously. "If he comes again, I will directly refuse him in front of many people. If he has any shame, he won't come again. If it really doesn't work, I will go to their unit... I don't believe that he doesn't care about the impact at all?"

"You... don't say it. I believe you can do it." Teacher Wang looked at Gu Xiaoxia carefully and said with a smile, "This Li Long is really lucky."

"Actually, I think it's my blessing." Gu Xiaoxia blushed, but her tone was firm. "If it weren't for him, I would be harvesting wheat in the shaded field at home now... Teacher Wang, you don't know how tiring it is to harvest wheat. I bend my waist all day, and by the evening, I feel like my waist is not my own..."

"It seems that you have really suffered."

"We didn't suffer much. My dad and Li Long's brother were the ones who really suffered... They're used to it, but I'm not... If it weren't for Li Long, I might have stayed in the village my whole life." Gu Xiaoxia said as she sat on the bed, "So, I know he really wants my best..."

"But this is not love." Teacher Wang said while eating, "If it's for your own good, you can repay it. If you don't like him..."

"I like him!" Gu Xiaoxia interrupted Teacher Wang, and then she was surprised by her own answer.

Can these words be spoken?
"That's good, that's good." Teacher Wang smiled, "I was just worried that you couldn't tell the difference between gratitude and love... Well, the soup and rice you made were good."

Gu Xiaoxia blushed, lowered her head and said nothing.

When Li Long returned home, Li Juan and Li Qiang were both waiting for him.

"Come here, Juan, Qiangqiang, these are wild strawberries. Bring them to your grandma and mom to have a taste." Li Long got off his bicycle and saw the two children looking at him eagerly. He smiled and took the basin of wild strawberries and handed it to Li Juan.

Li Juan took it, and Li Qiang also came over and grabbed the edge of the basin, and the two of them went to find Du Chunfang with the basin in their hands.

Du Chunfang was sitting in the yard, watching Li Juan and Li Qiang coming over with basins, and said with a smile:

"Okay, okay, give it to your mother. I don't want to eat it."

"Grandma, you eat!" Li Qiang said loudly.

"Okay, okay, I'll eat it." Du Chunfang was very happy, grinning. She reached out and took a few wild strawberries, then pushed the basin away, "Give it to your mother."

Li Long put down the bike, took down the dried wild mushrooms from the back of the bicycle, found a basin and poured some of them out, and said:
"I'll take these dried mushrooms to Lao Luo... I'm too tired, I'm going back to sleep."

"Okay, okay, go back and rest."

Li Jianguo was washing his face by the water pump. As he finished, he wiped his face and said:

"Da Qiang came over to ask if we can go online today..."

"How can he be so energetic? He won't work for the next two days." Li Long said, "He needs to have a good rest for two days."

Back at Lao Ma Hao, Lao Luo was feeding the fawn with freshly cut grass. Li Long saw that the fawn was quite happy, but the big roe deer was a little wilted, and the little wild boar weighed 20 to 30 kilograms, but it was still howling. It was dark at this time, and it was because there was no residential area near Lao Ma Hao, otherwise someone would definitely come over to say something.

"Uncle Luo, these are the dried mushrooms I brought back from the mountains. This is a Codonopsis pilosula. It's not very full. I'll dig up more full ones in the fall and bring them back to you." Li Long said.

"Wow, this Codonopsis is really big..." Uncle Luo was also shocked when he saw it, "Isn't this good to have?"

"There are a lot of them in the mountains," Li Long said with a smile, "You can make them into boiled water or boiled to drink, it replenishes your energy."

Most of the elderly people these days believe in traditional Chinese medicine, so they believe in replenishing qi and blood.

The next morning when we were having breakfast at home, Li Jianguo said at the table that it was time to shade the wheat field.

Because the wheat is about to be harvested.

In previous years, this work should have started half a month in advance. This year, the whole village urgently accepted the task of making big brooms, and now all the strong laborers are making brooms, so this work has not started yet.

Now that the Li family is back, this work can begin.

In fact, when the production was divided at the beginning of the year, Xu Congjun had already made it clear that the threshing grounds that originally belonged to the public were now owned by nearby private individuals. The public still used these grounds for threshing wheat, and if private individuals threshed wheat, they would use their own threshing grounds.

Wheat fields are usually relatively fixed, because the selected place must firstly be close to residential areas, secondly be flat, and preferably not far from the land.

In those years, wheat harvesting, threshing, sunflower harvesting and corn drying were all done in the threshing floor. When harvesting wheat, some people would even sleep in the threshing floor at night to watch over the wheat.

At this time, children usually like to play on the soft wheat straw - the wheat straw is pressed very soft by the roller during threshing, and it is not prickly at all. It is very comfortable to lie on it, the kind that you can sink into.

Children who like to play hide-and-seek like to dig a hole in the straw pile and crawl into it, then pull up the straw to block the hole. Generally speaking, they will not be found this way.

Of course, the most likely possibility is that the person hiding in the cave came out on his own, either because he couldn't stand the heat inside and came out, or because the people who were looking for him couldn't find him and finally went home and came out on their own because no one was looking for him.

Li Long remembered that in his previous life, there was a child playing hide-and-seek. He dug a hole in a pile of straw and hid himself in it. He blocked the hole with straw and fell asleep in it (lack of oxygen?). Then, when it got dark, he didn't return home. Everyone in the community came to look for him. Finally, the child was woken up by shouting and came out.

Of course he couldn't avoid being beaten.

At this time, the most common warning given to children in the village is not to play with fire.

Fortunately, the children are quite obedient in this regard. In the past life, I have never heard of any haystacks catching fire in the ten or so wheat fields in the three residential areas of the village.

"Then let's go ahead. There's not much work to do on the field anyway." Li Long said, "It will be done in half a day."

"I'll go call people later." As a member representative and now a village representative, Li Jianguo still has some initiative - or it can be said that they, the founders of the village, are the ones who are most proactive in their work.

The sense of ownership is very strong.

After Li Jianguo visited several houses near the settlement, he came back and said:
"Let's go. Each family can provide one or two laborers. Dad and Mom, you don't have to go. Juan's mom, you and I can go..."

"Sister-in-law, don't go. I'll go with you, brother." Li Long said, "I won't be involved in the wheat harvesting in the team in a few days. I'll just show up in the shade field today."

"Okay, okay, okay." Li Jianguo said with a smile, "Just be lazy."

Li Qingxia could tell that the two brothers were joking. He smiled and turned to look at Du Chunfang. Du Chunfang wanted to say a few words to defend Li Long, but Li Qingxia pulled her back and signaled her not to say anything more.

They are two good brothers, your words are unnecessary.

Li Long and Li Jianguo carried shovels to the wheat field. The eldest sister-in-law of the Lu family had already arrived, bringing an iron head with her.

Others arrived one after another and the work had already begun.

It is called a shade field, but in fact it is a whole set of work, of which the shade field is only one of them.

After the wheat field is used for the first year, because the ground is compacted, there is not much grass on it, but only garbage. So you have to clean up the garbage first, and then use a shovel or hoe to turn up the top three to five centimeters of soil.

Li Long didn't know the principle at that time. He saw the explanation on a short video in his previous life. It said that it was to cut off some capillary phenomenon so that when it rains, rainwater on the surface will not seep down and moisture underground will not rise up.

After shoveling this layer, water it. After watering, cover it with wheat straw - this step is called shade field.

After the ground under the grass has dried up, all that's left is to use animals to pull the millstone to roll over the threshing floor. The ground will be compacted until it becomes firm enough that water doesn't seep through.

Next, each family will divide up and prepare to pile up their own haystacks around the threshing ground - threshing in the order agreed upon in advance. Usually, everyone comes together to help during threshing, and this is the most lively time.

Of course, the subsequent work of winnowing and loading the wheat were all done separately.

It was only in later times, with the scarcity and increasing value of land resources, that villages and teams were merged, three settlements became one, and mechanized harvesting became the norm, and the wheat fields disappeared.

Later, if they wanted to dry the crops, they could only do it on the asphalt road, which greatly affected the movement of people and vehicles.

Li Long remembered reading the news in his previous life, which said that people in the mainland were drying grain and straw on the road, causing a large number of poles to be caught under the bottom of an oil tanker. Then when the tanker entered a gas station to refuel, the straw spontaneously combusted and ignited the oil tanker, causing the gas station to explode and many people to be killed and injured.

Finally, the whole country seemed to have strictly cracked down on the phenomenon of drying grain on the roads, and such incidents became less common.

Later, the team harvested corn and dried it on the roadside, because the corn harvested by the combine harvester was too wet and grain merchants would not accept it. It had to be dried before it could be sold. But without a wheat field, the only way to dry the corn was on the road.

Later, we were not allowed to dry the corn on the road anymore, so what should we do? We could only let the corn stay in the field for a sufficient time before harvesting it, and then sell it directly regardless of the moisture content.

Later on, they stopped growing crops and turned to growing cotton instead.

In the previous life, when Li Long suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, the authorities notified that 60% of the land must be used to grow grain to ensure food security, so they started planting wheat again.

The villagers were actually quite happy working together. There was not much pressure on everyone, and they were talking and laughing. The eldest sister-in-law of the Lu family even teased Li Long:

"Xiaolong, you're old enough now. I introduced a few people to you, but you didn't like them either. Later I found out that you and Xiaoxia were dating... How far have you two progressed? When will you have your wedding banquet?"

Women are usually very interested in talking about these topics, and the fire of gossip burns fiercely, and usually the guys can't resist it at this time.

But Li Long was not an exception. He said as he was shoveling the grass on the field:
"We have to wait for a while. It's time to talk about dating. We have to talk about dating first. We haven't talked enough yet!"

"Oh, Xiaolong is different now," said Aunt Chen from the backyard with a smile, "It looks like good things are coming soon. The team has divided up land this year, and Xiaolong has brought two big jobs to the team. Everyone has some money in their hands, so Qiuli, you guys should get the job done, and I'll give you a gift!"

Old Chen's family is also making brooms. So far, they have made 60 or 70 brooms. The team offers 1.5 yuan per broom, which is more than 100 yuan! (The team provides the wire and broom handles.)
She was sincerely grateful to Li Long. Otherwise, although the value of work points in the team had increased several times throughout the year, it was hard to say how much money she would get by the end of the year!
According to the team, the money used to buy this big broom is real money!
Li Long smiled and said:
"Don't worry, Auntie. When we are going to hold the banquet, we will definitely let you know. It doesn't matter if you don't come. As long as you have presented the gift..."

"Hahahaha!"

"Xiaolong is quite good at joking..."

Li Long's joke made everyone laugh, and the atmosphere in the wheat field suddenly became cheerful.

Li Long was still working when the loud speaker in the team rang:
"Puff, puff! Li Long, Li Long, if you hear the broadcast, come to the captain's house quickly. There's a call for you, an emergency call! Li Long, Li Long, if you hear the broadcast, come to the captain's house quickly. There's an emergency call for you!"

Li Long was a little surprised when he heard this, and Li Jianguo hurriedly urged him:

"Go quickly, it's an emergency call, maybe it's from the supply and marketing cooperative..."

Li Long ran away with a shovel in his hand. Li Jianguo said hurriedly:
"Put the shovel down. What are you doing with that?"

Li Long finally reacted, ran home, and rode his bicycle to the captain's house.

Xu Chengjun was waiting anxiously.

Because he could tell that the person who called was the section chief of the supply and marketing cooperative, and his voice sounded quite urgent.

I hope something didn’t go wrong with this mission…if that were the case, we’d be in big trouble.

After all, I have already made so many big brooms!
(End of this chapter)