Chapter 15 Can a prodigal son have a future? It was generally acknowledged in the production team that Li Long from the Li family was a prodigal son. He didn't work hard at home or in the team, but he was very enthusiastic when other people had something to do. His brother Li Jianguo couldn't get him to do anything, but if he told his friends or his girlfriend Wu Shufen, they would start working very quickly. No wonder the eldest sister-in-law of the Lu family came to tell Liang Yuemei about this matter. In fact, she had the idea of watching the fun. In the past, when Liang Yuemei heard this, she would usually blame her brother-in-law, but this time Liang Yuemei excused Li Long: "Xiaolong really intends to bring back some wood this time. If he has this intention, we must support him, right?" Mrs. Lu was a little surprised. Why did Liang Yuemei change her personality? "Your brother-in-law has been fired from the factory, and the money you spent wasted, and you are still acting like nothing happened." The eldest sister-in-law of the Lu family shook her head. "If it were me, I would have scolded him a long time ago!" Liang Yuemei smiled as she was sewing the soles of her shoes: "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. It's OK as long as you can correct them and make progress. I feel that Xiaolong has changed a lot this time. It's a good thing that he was fired. Don't the old sayings always say that every failure makes you wiser?" She thought to herself that the quacking chicken that Li Long caught the day before yesterday and the fish he caught yesterday would make quite a bit of money if they were sold.
Besides, I went to borrow a carriage yesterday, and I did a great job. I am not like the prodigal son I used to be. I am so happy about the change, what else do I need to say? "Brother-in-law, sister, I'm here!" A voice came from outside. Liang Yuemei stood up excitedly and responded: "Wenyu, come in quickly!" he said as he went to open the door. The person who came was Liang Yuemei's younger brother Liang Wenyu. He came in with a bag in his hand, put the things against the wall, took off his cotton hat, smiled at the eldest sister-in-law of the Lu family, and then asked Liang Yuemei: "Where's my brother-in-law? I heard Li Long is back? He's quitting?" Liang Yuemei didn't expect the news to spread so quickly. With outsiders present, she couldn't say much. She nodded and said: "Well, your brother-in-law is busy in the east room. Why are you here?" "My parents asked me to come and see you and bring some things." Liang Wenyu said, "By the way, where are Juan and Qiangqiang?" "It's also in the east room, you can go and take a look." Liang Yuemei said. The eldest sister-in-law of the Lu family actually wanted to see the excitement. Although Liang Wenyu was young, he was the eldest son of the Liang family and was quite strong. He had always looked down on Li Long, and the eldest sister-in-law of the Lu family, who was a neighbor, had also heard about this. But now that the Li family had visitors, she couldn't stay any longer, so she got up, said hello to Liang Yuemei, and went home. After the people left, Liang Wenyu said: "My father asked me to bring some flour and twenty yuan. When Li Long comes back, your family won't have enough charcoal to burn. My father wants me to buy some from the team first and wait until we get through this..." Liang Yuemei could tell that her brother was resentful. She smiled and said: "No need. Li Long has gone to the mountains to fetch wood and will be back today. With the wood, our family will have enough firewood to burn for the whole winter. By the way, let's go to the east room and see your brother-in-law is preparing fish. Bring a few back when you come back." "Fish? Where did the fish come from?" Liang Wenyu's eyes lit up when he heard about fish. His production team was in the southwest, and the water used for irrigation came from the wells that were drilled by the county's well-drilling company. The production team had a small plot of land, no lakes or rivers, and no fish to eat. Li Jianguo's production team was in a unique location, with fish almost everywhere with water, so Li Jianguo often sent fish to his father-in-law's house, and Liang Wenyu ate the most. "Li Long took your brother-in-law to the small lake to break ice holes and caught quite a few." "That's the fault of him! It's so cold, Li Long can think of this." Liang Wenyu said as she followed her sister to the east room, "He only knows how to play." Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei knew that Liang Wenyu had a problem with Li Long. After all, Li Long was really useless before. Liang Wenyu and Li Long were of similar age, and basically could take on the responsibilities of the family. But Li Long was still like a child who hadn't grown up, lazy and incompetent, and only cared about eating. After entering the east room, Liang Wenyu was surprised to see so many fish in the laundry tub: "Brother-in-law, you guys have too many fish!" "Wenyu is here!" Li Jianguo was cutting a fish, Li Juan and Li Qiang were helping. When they saw Liang Wenyu behind Liang Yuemei, they greeted her.
"These fish were caught by Xiaolong when he dug a hole in the ice. I didn't expect that digging two holes in the ice in winter could yield so many fish, and they're so big! When Xiaolong left, he said he would send some to you when he came back. Oh, and there are also two quack chickens." "You said this was done by Li Long? And there's also the Gua Gua Chicken?" Liang Wenyu couldn't believe his ears. The one who can’t accomplish anything, Li Long? "Yeah." Li Jianguo looked at Liang Wenyu's expression and felt like laughing, but also a little proud. "Although he was fired this time, he has changed a lot." "Uncle, the quacking chicken was really caught by my uncle, it's delicious!" Li Qiang wiped his nose and said loudly. He is different from Li Juan. Li Juan still remembers that she had to help with housework, but Li Long didn't. Li Qiang only remembers that his uncle roasted old sparrows, caught chickens and fish for him, and also the fun glutinous rice paper. "Okay." Liang Wenyu, with a lot of questions in his mind, squatted down and cleaned up with Li Jianguo. With the whole family working together, the work was much faster and the fish was cleaned up before lunch time. "Wenyu, take ten back and make fish soup for your parents in winter." Li Jianguo said, "We will make another one before the New Year and send it to you during the New Year." "Ten - this one is not small, it's hard for me to hold it." Liang Wenyu said so, but he didn't refuse. There were thirty or forty fish weighing more than one kilogram, and there were even more crucian carps as big as a palm, so he didn't hesitate. Li Jianguo put the fish in the snow to freeze, and then the family washed their hands and went to the west room. Liang Wenyu asked: "Brother-in-law, Li Long went to the mountains to pull wood? Is that okay? There are few people in the mountains and there are no good roads. It can't work, right?" "He said one of his co-workers was from Qingshuihe Commune and lived near the mountain." Li Jianguo sat on the kang and rolled a cigarette, took a deep puff, and said after he felt better: "Xiaolong has changed a lot this time. He borrowed the carriage himself and planned everything well. Let him do what he wants. There's nothing to do in winter anyway." "Okay, it's a pity for that job." Liang Wenyu sighed. In fact, he also wanted to work in Wucheng, but as the eldest child in the family, he naturally had to stay with his parents. He just felt that the job was a pity. "It's not a pity." Li Jianguo smiled, "It's enough if a job opportunity can be exchanged for Xiaolong to learn a lesson." "He has lost his job, will his partner be okay?" Liang Wenyu asked again. "It's blown." Li Jianguo shook his head. "The word spread in the team that he was fired. That girl came to Xiaolong and told him it couldn't happen. It won't happen, let's talk about it later. There's no rush." Li Jianguo is still quite confident in his younger brother. Of course, the team members didn’t think so. In just one day, word spread in the team that the prodigal son of the Li family had borrowed the team’s horse-drawn carriage to pull wood from the mountains by paying work points. Many people were waiting to see Li Long make a fool of himself. (End of this chapter)