Chapter 19: The Prodigal Son Has Finally Made Something of Himself?

When Li Long and Tao Daqiang arrived at the county town with the horse carriage, it wasn't yet time to clock off.

"Daqiang, let's go to the procurement station to sell the antlers first, and then buy some things to take home."

"Okay." Tao Daqiang naturally had no objections; he also wanted to know how much those antlers would fetch.

Once they arrived at the procurement station, Tao Daqiang stayed outside to watch the carriage while Li Long took the antlers inside.

Chen Hongjun was already tidying up his things, preparing to finish work for the day.

Seeing Li Long enter, he felt a flicker of annoyance—who was so blind as to show up right at closing time?

However, once he saw what Li Long was holding, a smile immediately spread across Chen Hongjun's face.

"Young comrade... eh? Didn't you come by this morning?"

"Yes. Hello, comrade. I wanted to ask if you buy antlers here?"

"We do, we do, we do." Chen Hongjun thought to himself that he still had some quotas to meet for the winter, and here came the goods.

"These antlers—did you get them from the mountains?" Chen Hongjun had Li Long place them on the counter and picked up a complete one to inspect. "Not bad. This one is quite intact. This one... is a bit chipped."

"How much per kilogram?" Li Long asked the price urgently.

"These antlers were likely shed last autumn; the quality is quite good," Chen Hongjun said. "I'll give you three yuan per kilogram. That's not a bad price."

"Deal." This price was considerably higher than what Li Long had expected. He nodded and said, "Let's go with that."

Chen Hongjun weighed them and said, "Six point seven kilograms. Let me calculate... three times seven is twenty-one, three times six is eighteen... that's twenty yuan and ten cents. Here, take your money carefully."

Li Long counted the money and put it away.

"Young man, if you have anything good in the future, bring it over. I'll give you a good price." Seeing that Li Long was about to leave, Chen Hongjun added hurriedly, "I'm here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays."

"Alright," Li Long agreed readily and walked out.

Walking up to the carriage, Li Long pulled out a five-yuan note and handed it to Tao Daqiang.

"Daqiang, this is your share. When we head back, I'll help unload some wood at your house as well."

"Brother Long, I can't take this." Tao Daqiang immediately pushed the money back. "I only came along to help; how can I take your money?"

"Take it. You earned it." Li Long didn't intend to split half the profit with him; that wouldn't be helping him, it would be harming him.

"Brother Long, I really can't..." Tao Daqiang's refusal was firm. "If I keep this money, my dad will definitely end up taking it away."

"Then I'll buy you some things instead." Li Long thought it over and changed his mind. "Your dad can't take away things you've already bought. Oh, right, you don't have gloves. Looking at the chilblains on your hands... come, let's go to the department store to buy you a pair of cotton gloves. When we get back, just say I bought them for you, so your dad doesn't give them to your brother again."

The two of them took the carriage to the department store. Since it was almost closing time, Li Long didn't have much time to browse. He picked out a pair of thick, mitten-style cotton gloves with strings, paid four yuan, and left.

"Put these on, don't give them to anyone else." Li Long handed the gloves to Tao Daqiang. "When we get home, take a kilogram of sesame cakes and unload some more wood. That way, your dad won't scold you."

"Okay." Tao Daqiang put on the gloves, feeling the warmth.

By the time the two men drove the carriage back to the production team, the sun had already set.

Before the carriage even reached the Li family home, many people had spotted them and came over to watch.

"Oh! Li Long actually brought the wood back!"

"That's quite a load of firewood!"

"Looks like several hundred kilograms. That should last a month or two, right?"

"Who knew that kid Li Long would make something of himself?"

"Look, that's all pine. It's a waste to burn wood like that!"

...

Li Qiang had been playing with the old ox on the road. Seeing Li Long and Tao Daqiang returning with the carriage, he rushed over to follow them. Li Long pulled a sesame cake from his pocket, gave it to him, and told him to run back and inform Li Jianguo.

"Dad, Dad! Uncle is back! He brought a whole carriage of wood!" Li Qiang burst into the house clutching the half-eaten sesame cake. "A lot of people are following him!"

Li Jianguo rushed outside. Seeing that Li Long had already driven the carriage to the courtyard gate, he waited for him to pull it inside before asking

"Was everything smooth on the road?"

"Very smooth," Li Long said with a smile. "And I have another harvest."

"Another harvest?" Li Jianguo looked Li Long up and down, then glanced at Tao Daqiang. Seeing that neither was injured, he relaxed. "What kind of harvest?"

"I managed to get a frozen sheep." Li Long handed the reins to Tao Daqiang and pointed to the carriage. "We can eat meat for a few days."

"A frozen sheep?" Li Jianguo wanted to ask more, but seeing the crowd gathered outside the courtyard—some of whom had already entered to watch the spectacle and were clamoring to ask where the wood came from and how it was hauled—he called out

"Stop asking for now! Help unload the wood first!"

With many people helping, the wood was quickly unloaded. Li Long took the opportunity to hand the bag of goods to Li Qiang and told him to take it inside.

Having seen Li Long take the sesame cake from that bag earlier, Li Qiang immediately carried it into the house and gave it to his mother.

As the wood was piled in the corner of the courtyard where they kept firewood, Li Long shouted

"Leave three logs; those need to be taken to Daqiang's house."

"Giving some back to Daqiang? Li Long is quite a loyal fellow."

"Eh? Is that a sheep?" Someone with sharp eyes spotted the frozen sheep beneath the wood.

"Yeah, a sheep. Found a frozen one in the mountains," Li Long said.

"Found it?" Sister-in-law Lu exclaimed. "That's incredible luck! But... it couldn't be a sheep that died of poison, could it?"

"Hard to say."

Many onlookers cast envious or jealous glances, while some began to maliciously speculate about the cause of the sheep's death.

The sheep wasn't large, so it wasn't practical to distribute it among every family. Li Jianguo told Li Long and Tao Daqiang to go inside and rest while he dealt with the carriage first.

Seeing that the excitement had died down, the crowd dispersed. Li Long went inside, took out a kilogram of sesame cakes, stuffed them into Tao Daqiang's hands, and then they walked out together.

After unloading the wood at Tao Daqiang's house, Li Long went alone to the stables to return the horse before finally heading home.

"Xiao Long, did you really just find that sheep?" Li Jianguo asked, still uneasy.

Li Juan and Li Qiang were staring longingly at the bag of sesame cakes, paying no attention.

"No. I sold the water rat skin and used the five yuan to buy tea and salt, then went into the mountains to trade with the herders," Li Long whispered. "The sheep died from the heavy snow in the mountains a couple of days ago. It's only been dead for three or five days; it's still good!"

"That's good then," Li Jianguo said, relieved. "Once it thaws, I'll skin it. We should bring some of the meat to Daqiang's family."

"Yeah, just bringing a leg will do." Li Long nodded. "His family... one leg is enough."

(End of Chapter)