When Li Long's tractor drove out of the Mountain Pass and reached the Qingshui River, the sun was only a pole's length above the horizon.
He estimated his travel time. If he went to Stone City now, the Sugar Factory would have finished work by the time he arrived.
He would just drive home, then.
People along the road were astonished to see Li Long hauling a whole load of dressed sheep carcasses. That was all mutton!
Most wondered where the sheep were being delivered. They thought the Food Factory was the most likely destination.
After all, an ordinary household could never eat that much meat.
Children were mostly just curious when they saw so many sheep, but adults usually felt envious.
Although farmland had been allocated to individual households by then, most families might have plenty of grain left at the end of the year, but very little money.
They still had to budget for planting the following spring, their children's schooling, and everyday necessities.
Of what remained, they would put a little aside for emergencies, then buy some cloth to make clothes for the family and a bit of meat.
Those living on the edge of the wilderness had it a little better. People in the Fourth Team, for instance, could get themselves some wild hares or fish.
The Third Team and Second Team did not even have anywhere to catch rabbits. They were surrounded by other villages, after all, and rabbits did not go there.
Fortunately, most households at the time raised a pig or a sheep or something, just so they could eat meat at the end of the year. Pigs were mostly fed forage then, with a little bran or chaff added.
Being able to add some oilcake was already very good.
With one pig