After breakfast the next day, Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei went to work in the fields, while Li Juan and Li Qiang went to school. Li Long tidied up the house, then hitched up the wagon and drove to Old Ma's Place.
Uncle Lao Luo was feeding the pigs. To Li Long's surprise, several young men had already arrived. Tao Daqiang was tending a fire under the stove, burning wood he had found somewhere. The large pot held bones chopped into fist-sized chunks, tumbling in water that had already come to a boil.
Seeing Li Long arrive, the young men gathered around. Tian Siping, on good terms with Li Long, said with a grin:
"Xiao Long, that venison looks nice and fatty. We'll make sure we do a good job for you today. Just tell us what to do!"
"It's simple." Li Long pointed inside the stable. "The stable used to be laid out for keeping large livestock. We'll be raising pigs and deer here, so we need to divide it into separate pens. As for this Big Courtyard in the middle, Uncle Lao Luo wants half of it for vegetables, and the other half will give the deer and roe deer room to move around. We'll need to build a wall down the middle..."
"But there aren't enough adobe blocks." The speaker was Wei Aihua, Wei Zhonghua's younger brother. He knew how to build walls, making him the skilled worker among them. Frowning, he said, "We won't have time to mold fresh ones!"
"We don't need to," Li Long said. "I've already spoken to the team leader. We can use the blocks from the walls at the Old Brigade Headquarters. It's abandoned anyway. They're just sitting there. All we need to do is mix mud here, take the blocks