When the horse cart returned to the team's settlement, the sun was still high in the western sky.
Li Long told Tao Daqiang to head home on his own, then drove the cart back to the Li family courtyard. Liang Yuemei came out with the two children to help.
"Why did you buy so much?" Liang Yuemei asked, looking at the fully loaded cart.
"Some of it's for friends in the mountains," Li Long said as he unfastened the horse's harness.
"Qiangqiang, go bring me a stool."
Excited to have a job, Li Qiang immediately turned and ran inside, then struggled back out with a tall, square wooden stool.
"Don't we need to unload everything and put it inside first? You still have to return the cart later," Liang Yuemei asked.
"I'm not returning the cart yet, just the horse. If it weren't so cold at night, I wouldn't even return the horse." Li Long took the stool from Li Qiang and propped it beneath the cart shafts, then led the horse out and tied it to one side before saying:
"Yuemei, some of this stuff is for us. Let's put it in the spare room first."
"All right, tell me what to carry."
"Juan, there are two bags of fruit here. Put them on the table first. You and your brother can have some later." Li Long handed the fruit down to Li Juan, who had long been waiting for a task. "After that, you two go play."
"Xiao Long, you bought fruit again?" Liang Yuemei complained. "It's so expensive, and we've barely touched what you bought last time..."
"Juan and Qiangqiang are growing. They should have fruit now and then. We can't have them treating tomatoes as fruit like we did when we were little." Li Long smiled.