Number 76 was visibly happy to be back at Old Ma's Place, shaking his head and swishing his tail. Once unhitched from the cart, he readily followed Uncle Lao Luo into the Horse Pen cleared out for him.
Li Long had originally taken over Old Ma's Place because of its size. It had plenty of pens, a courtyard, and quite a few rooms.
Although it was far from County Town and the land was cheap, having buildings already standing and a big courtyard made it comfortable to live in.
Any animals they kept could run around freely on the ground, too.
After chatting with Uncle Lao Luo and greeting the residents receiving the five guarantees, Li Long pushed his bicycle out of the courtyard.
He did not return to the Li family home, but went to Xie Yundong's first.
Xie Yundong and his wife had gone together to see Tao Daqiang's new tractor, and both had come home full of envy.
At first, Deng Guilan had wanted her husband to work for Li Long rather than take that risk.
Xie Yundong had nearly argued with her over it, but had finally managed to persuade her.
They had a daughter, a little over four, who could already run around and play on her own.
Having reached an agreement then, they had waited for Li Long to come discuss the tractor once spring arrived.
Honestly, they felt awkward bringing it up themselves. After all, he was the one paying for the tractor.
Today, they had watched Tao Daqiang bring his tractor home. Although he had nearly embarrassed himself driving into the courtyard, honestly, even knocking down the courtyard wall would have been nothing. This was a tractor!
How many courtyards could one tractor buy?
Most rural households did not have a habit