Three days later, Li Xiangqian sent a large truck to haul away the five thousand reed bundles they had finished. It took three trips.
The people sent by the Supply and Marketing Cooperative counted them on-site, issued the paperwork, and paid.
Li Xiangqian did not come. Li Long guessed he might have other business. Things were different now from how they would be in the future; there was not actually so much need to avoid the appearance of impropriety in handling this sort of business.
Li Long received one thousand yuan for the five thousand reed bundles. The inspector was very satisfied and said with a smile:
"Young Comrade Li, you really do have experience in this, and you're very responsible, too. I've collected reed bundles all over Northern Xinjiang, and yours rank at least among the top three for quality! Very good, very good. If more work like this comes up, I'll definitely recommend you!"
Li Long was delighted, too. From those words, he could tell that this man did not just work around the County Seat. He most likely traveled throughout Northern Xinjiang. With his approval, any future work would very likely come Li Long's way.
After the reed bundles in the yard were hauled away, quite a lot of unprocessed reeds remained piled there. Fortunately, Han Benzhong and the others worked quickly, and the stripped reed leaves were soon cleared outside the Stable. They also took care with how they stacked things here to prevent fires.
The weather grew colder. Li Long heard that a thin layer of ice covered the water at Reed Lake in the mornings when they went there to cut reeds, so he had the young men spare two people to help him set up stoves in the two rooms.
The rooms had