By the time Li Long returned to the Li house, Tao Daqiang had already gone home, and the yard was empty.
Li Jianguo was cutting up the sheep.
"Are you going again tomorrow?" Li Jianguo asked as he skinned one.
Li Long stepped forward to help and said:
"I can't. All the team's horse carts have been borrowed."
"All of them?" Liang Yuemei was cutting up the sheep stomachs and other offal, planning to make another pot of Mixed Lamb Offal soup.
"Yeah. That's what the team leader told me when I went to see him." Li Long sighed. "Looks like some people got jealous."
"That's only natural." Li Jianguo sharpened his pointed knife on the whetstone beside him, then slowly continued skinning the sheep.
The sheep hadn't thawed completely, but its body had softened a little, making it easier to skin now.
The main thing was that they had already cut off a leg for Tao Daqiang before it thawed. Since they had started cutting it anyway, they might as well skin it.
"Then tomorrow's a good chance to rest," Liang Yuemei said. "You must be worn out after these past two days, Long."
"I'm not actually that tired," Li Long said with a smile. "I even had a meal of hand-eaten mutton at someone's house at noon today."
"That's wonderful." Liang Yuemei gave her brother-in-law a surprised look. She hadn't expected him to have become so good at getting along with people.
Thinking of what the women who had dropped by at noon had said, every one of them making Li Long sound so awful, who would have imagined he had changed this much?
"So what are you planning to do tomorrow?"
"If nothing else comes up, I'm planning to make a sled tonight," Li Long said. "Brother, do you know anyone who has a saw?"
"We have one ourselves," Li Jianguo said. "A sled? How big?"
"It doesn't need to be very big." Li Long gestured with his hands. "We'll pull it ourselves, so about the size of a table will do. Just put together a frame out of wooden strips. I'm planning to break a hole in the ice and catch some fish tomorrow, then take them to the county town early the day after to sell."
If he wanted to earn enough to buy a bicycle, he couldn't rely solely on trips into the mountains. He probably wouldn't be able to borrow a horse cart for the next few days, so he might as well make something himself.
A sled wasn't all that complicated. A few strips of wood and some proper work with a chisel would do. They already had the wood. It didn't have to look good, as long as it worked!
"That's easy. The two of us can finish it tonight," Li Jianguo said with a smile. "If you wanted a horse cart, we couldn't make that, but a little sled is no trouble."
In those days, every household did whatever work it could on its own. Few people were bad with their hands. Li Long still remembered the wooden rifle his older brother Li Jianguo had carved for Li Qiang. Once painted, it looked exactly like a real Type 56 semiautomatic rifle.
By the time Li Long and Li Jianguo had finished skinning both sheep, it was dark.
"Brother, let's make the sled tomorrow. Dealing with these sheep has been tiring enough today." Li Long really was exhausted. Those two sheep had been a lot of work.
"Sure," Li Jianguo said with a smile. "I'll go catch fish with you tomorrow morning, and we'll make the sled in the afternoon."
Li Long had no objections.
The Mixed Lamb Offal soup was nearly ready. The two of them sat on the kang, and Li Jianguo rolled a cigarette with Mohé Tobacco. Watching Li Juan and Li Qiang play on the kang, Li Long suddenly remembered the ankle bones he had brought back. He went to the East Room, dug them out, and brought them over to the head of the kang.
"Juan, here. You and your brother can play with these."
When Li Long scattered the ankle bones across the kang, Li Juan froze for a moment, then let out a delighted squeal!
"Ah-Uncle, are these for me?"
"Yes." Li Long smiled. "My friend in the mountains had lots at home, so I asked him for some."
"Uncle, you're the best!" Li Juan shouted.
Her squeal even brought Liang Yuemei over. Spatula in hand, she glared at Li Juan and scolded her loudly:
"What are you yelling for? You're so loud you'll blow the ceiling off!"
Normally, a scolding like that would have silenced Li Juan at once. Today, however, she held up the ankle bones and excitedly told Liang Yuemei:
"Mom, look! Uncle got these for us! So many... so many ankle bones! Gahua only has five, and she treasures them so much she won't even let us touch them! Now I'll show her what having lots really means!"
Liang Yuemei looked at the ankle bones, then at her daughter's face. Her expression softened, though she put on a stern face again.
"That can wait! Come over here, carry the bowls, and eat!"
Then she looked at Li Long and said in a mildly reproachful tone:
"Long, you're just going to spoil them!"
"They're my niece and nephew. Who else am I supposed to spoil?"
Li Jianguo chuckled, enjoying his Mohé Tobacco. What a comfortable life this was!
While they were drinking the Mixed Lamb Offal soup, footsteps sounded outside.
The moment Li Long heard those heavy steps, he knew Tao Daqiang had arrived.
He stood up and opened the door before Tao Daqiang could knock.
"Daqiang, you're here. Come on in."
"Brother Long, I won't come in." Tao Daqiang looked both anxious and angry. "I heard several families borrowed the team's horse carts. They're going into the mountains tomorrow..."
"I know." Li Long pulled him inside. "Sit down first."
Liang Yuemei got up and invited Tao Daqiang to sit at the table. Li Juan obediently gave him her seat and squeezed in beside her brother.
Seeing Liang Yuemei about to serve him some Mixed Lamb Offal soup, Tao Daqiang hurriedly declined:
"Auntie, don't bother. I've already eaten."
"Even if you've eaten, another bowl of soup won't hurt." Liang Yuemei ignored his protest.
Tao Daqiang addressed each of the Li brothers according to his own relationship with them. He called Li Jianguo Uncle and Li Long Brother. This was mainly because Li Jianguo had been among the first people to come to this Production Team. Although he had been young then, he had treated the older men as his peers.
"Then what are we..." Tao Daqiang looked at Li Long, hoping he could come up with an idea.
They had only just started bringing something back, and now others had cut in ahead of them. He really wasn't happy about it.
"We're going to break holes in the ice and catch fish tomorrow. Are you free?"
"Yes." Tao Daqiang's eyes lit up. "Once we catch them..."
"We'll sell them," Li Long said. "But don't tell anyone."
"Okay, okay, I definitely won't. Not even my dad or my brother!" Tao Daqiang took the Mixed Lamb Offal soup Liang Yuemei handed him, a jumble of emotions stirring inside.
The sheep leg he had brought home yesterday was already gone. His father hadn't said anything about cooking the leg he had just taken home, either. For dinner, he had been given cornmeal gruel, and it was cold.
If he hadn't enjoyed those few pieces of mutton at noon, he felt he might not even have had the strength to get up tomorrow.
He was burning through so much energy!
"Have another bowl." Seeing how quickly Tao Daqiang finished his bowl of Mixed Lamb Offal soup, Liang Yuemei offered him another. He hurriedly stood to refuse, but she had already taken his bowl.
When he took the bowl back and saw it filled to the brim with Mixed Lamb Offal, Tao Daqiang's eyes reddened, and tears nearly fell into it.
These people weren't even family! His own family didn't treat him as well as outsiders did!
Li Long could tell something was troubling Tao Daqiang, but every family had its own difficulties, and it wasn't his place to comment. After Tao Daqiang left, he washed up briefly and went to the East Room.
There was still quite a bit of money left. In his mind, part of it belonged to Tao Daqiang, but he couldn't give it to him just yet.
That would have to wait.
The urgent thing now was figuring out how to earn enough for a bicycle first.
After breakfast the next morning, once Tao Daqiang arrived, Li Jianguo, Li Long, and Tao Daqiang took Li Juan and Li Qiang with them to Little Haizi.
As they approached the lake, they spotted a horse cart leaving the village in the distance.
Only setting out now, and they still want to haul wood back from the mountains? They must be dreaming, Li Long thought.
Thank you to readers 161008195704931 and 20230112071150496 for your monthly votes, to reader Tianjie Xiaofeng for your tip, and to everyone for your recommendation votes and suggestions. I'll keep working hard on my writing. I also hope you'll continue supporting me, voting, and keeping up with the story-that means reading all the way to the latest chapter and scrolling to the very end! This really matters!
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