Since Ma Xiaoyan insisted, Li Long stopped refusing. He only warned her that it might be tiring, since they would have to drive so far into the mountains.
"You're underestimating me," Ma Xiaoyan said, feeling slighted, a hint of challenge in her voice. "The farthest I've gone for rural inspections was into the sandbanks at North Wucha. I've traveled tougher roads than that. Don't worry, I won't hold you back."
And that settled it.
After donating the books at the school, Li Xiangqian and the others all went to the Old Lady's courtyard. By then, Li Junfeng and the others had started scattering wheat chaff into the soaked mud, ready to mix it and get to work.
The other Supply and Marketing Cooperative staff were clearing weeds in the courtyard. Li Long sent Adili to find a tractor, while Li Xiangqian helped by assigning a few people to go with it to fetch sand and gravel from the river.
With everyone assigned work, Adili wanted to invite Li Xiangqian and the others to sit at the Team Office. Li Xiangqian declined, rolled up his sleeves, and joined the others pulling weeds.
Li Long kept busy too, mixing mud with Li Junfeng and the others. As he worked, he asked:
"How is it? Getting used to this work?"
"What's there to get used to?" Li Junhai said with a smile. "Before we came here, we were planning to work on construction sites, like Junshan and Junfeng used to.
"This work is a breeze, isn't it?"
"Good," Li Long said. "Make sure you do a nice job. Plenty of people are watching, and they're taking photos too. Don't embarrass yourselves."
"Don't worry about that, Uncle. If we can't even do an easy job like this properly, none of us would have the