The Li family was just getting ready to eat when they heard a tractor, and Li Jianguo came outside.
Seeing Li Long driving the tractor with something strange attached to the front, he said:
"Xiao Long, hurry inside and eat." Then he called into the house:
"Yuemei, Xiao Long's back. Dish him up some food!"
"Xiao Long's back? Come on in." Liang Yuemei answered and hurried to serve him some rice. They were having rice for lunch. Li Qingxia had gone out with Tao Jianshe and the others to break holes in the ice, and they had brought back a few fish that morning.
Li Long switched off the engine and told Li Jianguo as he climbed down:
"I drove the tractor back today. That attachment is a snow-clearing machine. I cleared all the roads outside leading to the settlement, so it'll be easier for the children to get to school."
"Ah, exactly. After the snow stopped, every household cleared the roads inside our settlement, but nobody bothered with the snow outside." Li Jianguo shook his head. "People aren't united anymore. You can't get them organized."
Li Long smiled, brushed the snow off himself, and followed Li Jianguo inside.
Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang had already come to the doorway, both smiling as they watched Li Long enter.
Both were a little hard of hearing, and they asked him together why he had not come earlier.
Li Long explained why he had come. Li Qingxia nodded, but Du Chunfang complained that the Team should have organized people to clear that road in the first place. Why should Li Long have to do it himself?
Li Long merely smiled without answering. Once Liang Yuemei brought him a bowl of rice and everyone began eating, he pointed at the stewed crucian carp