After breakfast the next morning, before leaving for work, Gu Xiaoxia dug a pair of leather knee guards out of the bedroom and told Li Long to put them on when he drove the tractor.
"I made these from the sheepskin you left behind. Driving into the wind this early in the morning must be cold. Keep something over your knees so they won't ache later from the wind getting in."
The knee guards looked a little rustic and ugly, but Li Long didn't mind at all. He put them on in front of Gu Xiaoxia, moved around a little, and found them quite comfortable. He smiled and said:
"All right, off to work with you. I might be back tomorrow."
After Gu Xiaoxia wheeled her bicycle out, Li Long first replenished the food and water for the roe deer and the fawn, then swept the yard before driving the tractor out.
He had a long journey ahead, so he went to the Oil Depot to fill up and took along another two cans of fuel before heading west along the Wuyi Highway.
He drove to the Old Street market but didn't see Dad or Tao Daqiang. After greeting Chen Xingbang, he bought two freshly baked nang, still hot to the touch, from Ke Youmu's shop, put them in the tractor, and continued west.
Li Long wasn't afraid to travel alone.
Beneath the sacks in the trailer lay the Type 56 Semi-Automatic Rifle. A machete was tucked under his seat. If anyone foolish enough tried anything, most of the land to the west was deserted anyway. He wouldn't mind doing something an outlaw would enjoy.
He headed west, passing the 143rd Regiment, Wulan Wusu, Shawan, and Anjihai.
Along the way, Li Long stopped in an uninhabited stretch to rest, relieve