Chapter 13: Even When Borrowing a Carriage, Wages Must Be Paid

In his later years, Gu Ermao relied on that very same thick-skinned, shameless attitude to marry a beautiful wife. Unfortunately, he was dishonest and lacked discipline; he beat his wife and gambled every other day, until eventually, she ran away.

Then, he simply continued to drift through life. Because everyone in the village was allocated a significant amount of land, and he managed his parents' land as well, when the rent for leased land began to rise, Gu Ermao suddenly leased land for ten years. He took the hundred-odd thousand yuan in rent and lost it all in a single night of gambling.

In the two years before Li Long passed away, Gu Ermao lived a life of feast or famine. The village work group tried to provide him with poverty alleviation assistance, but he was the kind of person who was "unhelpable mud"—no matter how much effort you put in, he wouldn't rise.

He died in his own earthen house a few years before Li Long.

Looking at that face now, Li Long felt a genuine sense of loathing. He swiped the hand away and said

"I have serious business to attend to. I don't have time for your nonsense. Move."

Gu Ermao withdrew his hand, tucked them into his sleeves, and said with a grin

"Why are you getting angry? I was just joking! Zhao Changjiang from the township bought a television; I just got the news and came specifically to invite you to go see it. It's a television! Home movies! You can watch whatever you want! Wu Shufen is going too, so hurry up and get ready!"

As he spoke, he glanced at the fish in Li Long's hand.

That fish was truly huge and beautiful!

Every time he mentioned Wu Shufen going somewhere, Li Long would change his mind, even if he didn't want to go.

Although he had heard that Wu Shufen had already broken up with Li Long, he figured Li Long surely wouldn't be willing to let go, right?

He had heard that Li Long caught some "guagua" chicken last night and caught fish again today. It seemed that going to Wucheng had actually taught this man some skills. Although Gu Ermao had previously resolved to teach Li Long a lesson, considering Li Long's ability to catch things to eat, Gu Ermao decided he couldn't afford to sever their friendship.

Otherwise, where would he go to get free meat?

"I don't have time," Li Long waved him off, completely ignoring the mention of Wu Shufen. "I have things to do. If you want to watch it, go watch it yourself."

With that, Li Long bypassed Gu Ermao and walked toward the home of the production team leader, Xu Chengjun.

Gu Ermao shouted several times behind him, but Li Long pretended not to hear.

Having lived a second life, there was no need to maintain meaningless relationships. He had lived quite foolishly in his previous life.

A kerosene lamp was also lit in Xu Chengjun's house, of the same style as Li Jianguo's.

Li Long knocked on the door, and Xu Chengjun's child, Xu Mingwa, opened it. Mingwa was nine years old; he looked up at Li Long, then turned and shouted into the house

"Dad, Uncle Li Qiang is here! And he's carrying fish!"

Xu Chengjun was a veteran who had been demobilized from the army. He had first served as the militia captain for the production team. Because he was in his prime and decisive in his actions, after serving five years as militia captain, he took over the position of team leader after the old leader retired.

Since becoming the leader, he had been decisive in his management. Utilizing his connections with former comrades, he had organized a side-business team to dig Fritillaria and Codonopsis in the mountains to sell to the county collection station. This brought in cash for every household in the team every year, making him very popular.

"Xiao Long is here," Xu Chengjun said. He was sitting on the *kang* listening to the radio. In this era, a radio was considered a major luxury item. Hearing from his son that Li Long had brought fish, he climbed down from the *kang*, stood up with his shoes dragging, and said with a smile

"Come on in. Why did you bring fish? I heard you aren't working at the Wucheng factory anymore?"

"Yes, my abilities are limited. I didn't go to school much and my knowledge level is low, so there were some jobs I couldn't do, so I came back. These are carp I caught from Xiaohaizi today; I brought two for you to try."

"These fish aren't small!" Xu Chengjun's wife, Ma Hongmei, beamed as she looked at the two fish. "It couldn't have been easy to break through the ice, could it?"

"It was alright, we're young," Li Long said, handing the fish to Ma Hongmei. He turned to Xu Chengjun and said, "Captain, I have something I'd like to discuss with you."

"Whatever it is, just say it." Xu Chengjun stubbed out his cigarette. In this day and age, men generally didn't avoid smoking around children, and there was no such thing as the concept of secondhand smoke. "As long as it's within my power, I'll get it done for you."

"Captain, you know my family's situation. Now that I'm back, the charcoal and firewood my brother prepared aren't enough. I want to borrow the team's horse carriage to go into the mountains to fetch some wood."

"That won't do, will it?" Xu Chengjun shook his head slightly upon hearing this. "Setting aside how far the mountains are, you're unfamiliar with the terrain—how do we know if you can even find wood? The mountains are complicated; if you get lost and can't come back, how am I supposed to face your brother?"

"Captain, I know what you mean," Li Long smiled. "One of my former coworkers is from Qingshui River. We are on good terms, and he came back with me. I'll go to his house first. I won't go deep into the mountains; I'll just get some scrap wood from their area."

"I see..." Xu Chengjun thought for a moment, then said to Li Long, "Since that's the case, I won't dissuade you, but we'll do this by the book. Our team only has a few horses; if you use the carriage, it has to be accounted for in work points."

"How many work points?" Li Long had known about this rule beforehand, so he wasn't surprised.

Seeing that Li Long was neither surprised nor argumentative, Xu Chengjun's respect for the young man grew slightly. He had expected that if Li Long brought fish, he would surely protest when the topic of work points was raised.

*Quite calculating. This boy has matured after a few months of training in Wucheng.*

"A regular person gets one work point a day in summer and two in winter. A horse's work is ten times that of a person, which is twenty points. Calculating the average now, one point is eight cents, so a horse is one yuan and sixty cents a day. I won't charge you for the carriage itself, how does that sound?"

"Deal." Li Long produced the money on the spot.

Xu Chengjun didn't dally. Once Li Long handed him the money, he wrote a note.

"Permission granted to Li Long of our team to borrow one horse and one carriage. Team Leader, Xu Chengjun, [Date]."

"Alright then. Captain, you should get some rest. I'll head to the stables now to give Uncle Luo a heads-up."

"Alright." Xu Chengjun didn't press him to stay, and closed the door after Li Long left.

"Li Long has really made something of himself," Ma Hongmei remarked after Li Long had departed.

"I heard Li Qiang say that the 'guagua' chicken they had for lunch today was also caught by his uncle," Xu Mingwa said, staring at the two fish and wiping his nose with his arm, imagining the taste.

"Yes, he looks different than before. The city really builds character," Xu Chengjun nodded. "It's a pity he was let go."

"Who cares about that? These fish are great. We'll make fish for dinner tomorrow."

Returning home, Li Long took another fish and headed to the stables.

The stables were where the production team kept the horses, and there were dedicated people to feed them. The horses stayed there through both winter and summer. The man in charge of the horses was surnamed Luo; Li Long didn't know his full name, so he just called him Old Luo like the rest of the villagers.

Old Luo had a bit of a hunchback and looked to be in his fifties. He lived in a small house next to the stables, which also had a *kang* and a stove.

Seeing the fish Li Long brought and the note from Xu Chengjun, Old Luo smiled and promised Li Long that he would prepare the best horse for him.

When Tao Daqiang rushed home excitedly, he found that no food had been left for him.

His heart instantly sank.

(End of Chapter)