On the morning of April 5, after breakfast, Li Long drove the Jeep to the entrance of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
Inside the Big Courtyard, two trucks stood ready. Some people had already climbed into the truck beds, while others were still below, smoking and chatting.
To Li Long's surprise, among the nearly twenty people were five or six women, some in their forties or fifties and some new colleagues in their twenties.
In those days, even people who worked in town knew what to do when going into the mountains or countryside to work. Many had spent time working in the countryside and had experience. They had changed out of their leather shoes into cloth shoes, and out of their everyday clothes into work clothes.
The Supply and Marketing Cooperative had also prepared gloves for everyone. Some had put on straw hats too. Dressed like this, they really did not look much like townspeople.
Li Xiangqian was talking to Zhou Yuan and several other section chiefs. Looking around, Li Long saw that, apart from one deputy director and one Security Section chief, practically all the cooperative's leaders were there.
"Xiao Li's here?" someone greeted him with a smile. After responding, Li Long went over to see Li Xiangqian.
When Li Xiangqian saw Li Long, he took two deep drags on his cigarette, tossed the butt away, and stamped on it twice. Once it was out, he said:
"Get aboard. Get ready to leave!"
Actually, one truck should have been enough for all these people. Li Long thought two trucks were more than they needed.
"That truck's carrying some supplies. We're going into the mountains to help them, and we're only working for a few days. We ought to bring something along, no matter what." Li Xiangqian got into