Chapter 21 Xiaoxia comes to buy meat After drinking the mutton offal soup in the house and chatting about family matters for a while, Li Long felt that this was happiness under the kerosene lamp while listening to his elder brother Li Jianguo giving his nieces and nephews some questions, such as problems with chickens and rabbits in the same cage. Although poor, there is peace. Seeing that time was running out, Li Long stood up, said something to Li Jianguo, and returned to the east room. The stove in the east room was previously burning with coal. He poked the fire with the stove hook, and a burst of smoke and fire rushed up. After the smoke and fire broke out, Li Long hooked open the stove cover, put a few pieces of coal in it, covered the stove cover, and began to count today's harvest and plan for tomorrow's affairs. The proceeds from the deer antlers and water rat skins, minus the money used to buy sesame cakes, tea, and gloves for Tao Daqiang, plus the ten yuan he gave to his sister-in-law, now, with his own original money, he had less than ten yuan left. But with a bag of bullets given by his elder brother, Li Long was sure that he could exchange them for one or two frozen sheep tomorrow. He planned to buy some more tea, salt and the like tomorrow. Even if Halimu's family had enough, he could leave them with him and then exchange them for other things with other herdsmen. Although the herdsmen’s winter homes are not far from the foot of the mountain, they have more concerns and they have no spare money, so they seldom go down the mountain to buy things. But they have things in their hands, and Li Long can exchange these things and sell them for money at the purchasing station. Looking at the time, it was only ten o'clock and he was not sleepy yet. He was thinking about how to pass the remaining time.
These days, without radio or television, let alone mobile phones, it is really difficult to pass the time. Li Long was thinking about whether to go to someone's house to play poker. He vaguely remembered that Landlord was not popular in those days, there were only two games and fighting for the top. There were very few entertainment activities in the 1980s, otherwise Gu Ermao would not have asked Li Long to watch TV at other people's homes. Up to that point, the entire production team did not have a single television set—not even a regular power supply. Just as I was thinking about it, I heard dogs barking and footsteps outside. Li Long put on his clothes and went out. There was a person standing outside the gate, and it looked like a girl. Li Long shouted: "Who?" "Li Long, it's me, Gu Xiaoxia." The girl responded. Gu Xiaoxia? Li Long quickly realized that this was the daughter of Gu Boyuan, the only college student in the production team. According to his eldest brother Li Jianguo, Gu Boyuan brought his daughter to the production team more than ten years ago. When the team leader heard that this was a college student, he was shocked. In those days, not to mention college students, even junior high school students were considered intellectuals. Not many people in the production team knew why Gu Boyuan came to this place where even birds rarely shit. But since a talented person had come to the team and wanted to stay, he would definitely be welcomed. When Gu Boyuan came, his daughter was only three or four years old. Now she should be less than twenty years old. Due to special reasons, Gu Xiaoxia returned to the team after graduating from high school. In Li Long's memory, it seemed that in her previous life, Gu Xiaoxia married Gu Ermao because of his entanglement, and then divorced him because of domestic violence, and disappeared after that. "Xiaoxia is here. Is your dad okay?" Li Jianguo also opened the door and came out. Seeing that it was Gu Xiaoxia, he smiled and asked, "Come in." "No...no. Uncle Jianguo, I...I want to buy some mutton from your house. My father is sick and I want to nourish him." Gu Xiaoxia's voice was very low, and it could be heard that she was quite embarrassed when she said this. "Is your father sick? Has he taken medicine? What's wrong with him?" Li Jianguo asked with concern. He graduated from junior high school. Although he was not as educated as Gu Boyuan, he was one of the few "intellectuals" in the production team, and the two families had a good relationship. "I drank it. My dad said it was okay. I just caught a cold."
"Then wait, I'll cut a piece of mutton for you." Li Jianguo hurried back to the house and came out with a piece of mutton. However, he did not give it to Gu Xiaoxia, but handed it to Li Long: "Xiaolong, please take Xiaoxia back. It's dark and unsafe here!" Gu Xiaoxia did not refuse. Li Long went back to the house, put on his hat, and walked out carrying the mutton. Gu Xiaoxia followed him silently, and the two were about meters apart. These days, what people say is scary. "When did your father fall ill?" Li Long asked. "Yesterday. We were running low on firewood yesterday, and my dad was chopping wood in the yard. He sweated and caught a cold." "It's not serious. Just sweat it out and it will be fine." Li Long nodded. "Do you have any medicine at home?" "Yes." Gu Xiaoxia answered every time Li Long asked. She kept her head half lowered. Li Long thought it was boring, so he stopped talking. Big brother Li Jianguo said that it was not safe outside, and it was really not safe. Although this place was more than 20 kilometers away from the mountains, just a month ago, wolves appeared in the reed marshes outside the production team. The dogs raised in the team were not good either. At that time, the local dogs were relatively tall and fierce. What is even more dangerous are those second-rate people who don’t get a good rest at night and don’t get to vent their energy. Otherwise, it would not have been possible to carry out a severe crackdown in the past two years. The Li family was about 300 meters away from the Gu family. The moon had not yet risen, but the snow reflected the light of the sky, so the road could be barely seen. Li Long brought a flashlight, and although he didn't turn it on, he was always ready. Just when he was halfway through the walk and about to turn, Li Long heard footsteps not far away from him. Gu Xiaoxia leaned back behind him. He immediately reacted and shouted: "Who?" As he shouted, the flashlight had already been turned on and was shining towards the corner. A dark shadow ran quickly into the distance and soon disappeared behind someone's yard. A dog barked over there. "It's okay, maybe someone is passing by." Li Long turned to Gu Xiaoxia and said, "Let's go." Gu Xiaoxia was still frightened. She probably knew what the black shadow wanted to do, but she didn't expect that Li Long, who was said to be quite timid in the past, would be so fierce at this time? Li Long walked all the way to the door of Gu's house without saying a word. After entering the yard, Gu Xiaoxia took two quick steps and opened the door. Li Long walked into the room carrying the meat and saw Gu Boyuan lying on the bed. He was sleeping and heard nothing. Li Long saw that the room was still warm, so he said: "Prepare some warm water for your father. Drink more water and he will get better faster." After saying that, he put down the meat and turned to leave. "Here's the money!" Gu Xiaoxia chased out and shouted. "This is what my eldest brother said. It's free to treat your father's illness." Li Long waved his hand and went back. It seemed that Li Jianguo mentioned that the work points earned by the Gu family at the end of the year were less than his own family, and they not only did not get much money but also lost money. Fortunately, Li Long remembered that in the spring of next year, the production team would be changed to a village, and the village primary school would be opened. The village would only teach the first and second graders, and the third graders would go to the production team. By then, Gu Xiaoxia would be a teacher in the village primary school, and his family's life would be better. As he walked back, he thought about the dark shadow from before.
Who could that be? Looking at the figure, why does it look so familiar? (End of this chapter)