Chapter 24 This is the age of tickets With the money, Li Long didn't care about the woman's feelings. He had other things to do. Rushing to the department store, Li Long asked Tao Daqiang if he needed to buy anything. "No." Tao Daqiang shook his head and said, "I don't need anything." "Do you want me to buy you a pair of shoes?" Li Long pointed at Tao Daqiang's feet. "Your shoes won't last two times. How about I buy you a pair of cotton-rubber shoes this time?" "No, no, no, that's not necessary." Tao Daqiang shook his head and waved his hands vigorously: "No need to buy it. Brother Long, I didn't do anything when I was there, so just give me some wood when you get there. This wood is pretty good, and I'm thinking about making some furniture for my home in the spring of next year." This is indeed a serious matter. The wood that Li Long and Tao Daqiang pulled was basically pine wood. Except for a few branches as thick as arms, most of them were wooden stakes as thick as a man's embrace. These woods, which are easy to pick up in the mountains, are great for making furniture outside the mountains. There are very few ready-made furniture for sale these days. The furniture used by every household is made by carpenters, and most of the wood is self-provided. Li Long remembered that in his previous life, his brother Li Jianguo had prepared some pine boards for Li Qiang to make furniture for their wedding. Pine wood is considered the best wood here.
However, after the 1990s, furniture factories began to flourish, and gradually even people in rural areas began to buy ready-made furniture. When Li Long died of a cerebral hemorrhage, those wooden boards were still kept in the spare room of his sister-in-law's house. But these days, if anyone can make a set of pine furniture, they will definitely be looked at differently by others. I didn't expect Tao Daqiang to have such an idea, not bad! It seems that Tao Daqiang is not stupid at all. Li Long thought it was no big deal, at most he would make two more trips, and then he could replace the furniture in his eldest brother's house. After all, his eldest brother's house only had a chest of drawers and a high and low cabinet, which were made more than ten years ago, and the paint on them had fallen off a lot. The cost of making furniture is not high nowadays. If you make a couple of trips to the mountains, you can not only get money for the furniture, but you may also be able to buy a sewing machine or a bicycle. After entering the department store, Li Long first bought a kilogram of fruit hard candy from the food cabinet, which was for Li Juan and Li Qiang, and then two bags of sugar cubes and two canned foods. All these together cost less than ten yuan. He then asked about bicycles and sewing machines. A 28-inch heavy-duty Forever bicycle cost one hundred and sixty-seven yuan, and a sewing machine cost eighty-five yuan, both of which required tickets. Li Long didn't have a ticket. He remembered that the Commercial Bureau seemed to issue tickets to the commune every year, and each production team could get one or two tickets. If there was a ticket, it could only be from Xu Chengjun. Originally, Li Long wanted to buy some fine grains like flour and rice, but he didn't have any food coupons. After going out and asking Tao Daqiang to wait, he ran to the black market in his memory, which was located on the outskirts of the city. It not only sold flour and rice, but also some meat, both domestic meat and meat from wild animals. But when I got there, the place was a mess and there was nothing there. But looking at the footprints, blood marks and traces of something pressed in the snow, Li Long had a clue in his mind. There must be someone here, but it might be an early market, very early, and the market has already closed. He returned to the department store and saw Tao Daqiang looking a little nervous. He smiled and said: "Let's go back." On the way back, Li Long said to Tao Daqiang: "This time we brought back two sheep, I'll give you half of them..." "No, no!" Tao Daqiang waved his hands hastily, "Brother Long, I'm really not being polite to you. If you take this mutton back, I won't be able to go out with you next time. My dad…my dad wanted my brother to follow you, but I refused. I said you only let me follow you. My dad also told me to remember the way and to go up the mountain with my brother…” Li Long looked at Tao Daqiang with some surprise.
He was not surprised that Tao Jianshe came up with this idea, but that Tao Daqiang would say it. But he was relieved, and felt that he had not misjudged him. Tao Daqiang is a stubborn person. He thinks Li Long treats him well, so he will not betray Li Long unless Li Long betrays him first. Why didn't Li Long take Gu Ermao with him? Because after he took him with him once, Gu Ermao could leave him alone and go to the mountains to pull things the next day. However, when Li Long was doing this, he had already anticipated that someone might follow suit. "It's okay, Daqiang. You should take the sheep. I can't let you follow me for nothing." Li Long thought for a while and said, "Then I'll give you a leg of lamb. I'll leave you some more wood, okay?" "Okay." Tao Daqiang smiled, "Brother Long, I'll follow you!" "Okay." Li Long nodded with a smile. The two men drove the carriage back. The people in the production team were also guessing what they could bring back from this trip. There aren't many entertainment activities now. Li Long being fired from the factory was a big news, and he broke up with Wu Shufen the day after he came back, which became another big news. When the women in the team talked about family matters together, there were really a lot of new topics. Li Long's going into the mountains to pull things became their latest topic of discussion. At first, everyone said, like the eldest sister-in-law of the Lu family, that Li Long couldn't do it, but when Li Long pulled back wood and sheep from the mountains, the discussion immediately split into two groups. Li Long went into the mountains again today, which made many people start to speculate again what he could bring back. Even the captain Xu Chengjun's wife Ma Hongmei was speculating: "Do you think that kid Li Long can pull the wood back this time?" "Of course I can." Xu Chengjun had led people into the mountains before. Although the road on the mountain was difficult to walk on, he knew that Li Long was able to pull back the wood for the first time, which meant that this kid had mastered the correct way to enter the mountains. He had seen the situation in the mountains more than many people in the village, so he naturally knew that the frozen sheep could not have been "picked up". That meant that the other party must have connections in the mountains. "Then do you think he can pick up another sheep today?" Ma Hongmei was still thinking about the lamb leg. Although lamb meat was not as fat as pork, it tasted really good! "Of course." Xu Chengjun nodded and said, "Maybe there is more than one." "Will you give us another leg? Or half a sheep?" "What are you thinking about?" Xu Chengjun glared at him. "What's your relationship with him? Why did he send you so many things? He borrowed the carriage and gave you the lamb leg. What else do you want?" "I just thought that this boy from the Li family is quite sensible..." Ma Hongmei said embarrassedly. "You should be more sensible if you are sensible! Giving us a leg of lamb is a gift, but giving us a sheep? Why? Pigs are superstitious, why don't you give them some of your meat?" Ma Hongmei's face flushed red, but she still whispered: "I was just thinking...if there's more mutton, I can get some from my dad." "Then ask your brother to come early tomorrow morning to harness the carriage and go to the mountains. If you can get it, it's luck. If you can't, there's nothing you can do!" Xu Chengjun said while rolling a cigarette, "Don't just watch others eat meat. They have connections, so don't be jealous." "Then my brother doesn't know how to get there either." Ma Hongmei said in embarrassment. "I'll take him there." Xu Chengjun said without even raising his head. "I know the entrance to the mountain, but I don't know if I can get any sheep. However, it would be nice to get some wood. I think the wood the Li family kid got is all top-quality pine wood. It will be great for making furniture in the spring!" In fact, many people are thinking about this. (End of this chapter)