Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1250 Old Gu's Good Deeds Can Solve a Big Problem
Gu Boyuan did not go directly to the fourth team upon his return, but instead went to the purchasing station first.

Li Long and his father, Li Qingxia, were at the purchasing station, finishing up the last few days of work.

Originally, we planned to close the shop on the eve of the Lunar New Year and reopen on the Lantern Festival, but in the past two days, there have been so many people coming to sell things and buy agricultural supplies that we can't finish the work right away.

Gu Boyuan's arrival brought much joy to the purchasing station. Some of the veteran dealers recognized Gu Boyuan, and seeing their former manager drive into the station, they all came up to greet him and wish him a Happy New Year.

After everyone had left, Gu Boyuan went behind the counter and chatted with Li Qingxia for a few minutes. Then Li Long led him into the reception room and poured him tea.

"Uncle Gu, you must be exhausted from the journey."

"Hey, it's been two days," Gu Boyuan said with a smile. "It's not too tiring, just my butt hurts from driving."

Gu Boyuan set off early yesterday morning, driving all the way to Jinghe for a rest. He got up early this morning and drove from Jinghe to here, and it was already late afternoon when the sun was about to set.

Have you had lunch yet?

"We ate, we ate at the Kuitun military post," Gu Boyuan said. "Is Haohao here, or is he with the team?"

“I’m with the team,” Li Long said. “I’m having too much fun with Qiangqiang and don’t want to come back.”

“That’s good. There aren’t many kids to play with in the county. It’s better in the team.” Gu Boyuan said, taking out an account book and money from his bag. “This is the account book for the second half of the year, and your dividend.”

Gu Boyuan came back around the middle of the year, which was a break for him. He also brought back the first half of the year's dividends to Li Long. The second half of the year is next.

Li Long looked at the account book, while Gu Boyuan talked about the situation in Yili:
"Since we're not getting as many hides as before, I've applied for an agricultural supplies sales permit as well. Luckily, there are plenty of medicinal herbs in the mountains there, and the market wasn't really developed before. But lately, we've been advertising and visiting people in the mountains, and our brand awareness has greatly increased. Even in winter, people still come to sell our herbs."

The snow removal machine you made has been sold in Yili. I see it works very well, and it seems there are even imitations being made.

In Yili, Wu Yongbo originally planned to set up a purchasing station, but now that the hides are hard to find, he's given up on that idea. He's now driving around collecting medicinal herbs and local specialties, and has started doing what he used to do with Kazakh candies and other specialty products…”

Li Long glanced through the ledger, then looked at the stack of money and asked:
"Uncle Gu, is this... too much?"

"What's so much or little about it? After deducting all expenses, the net profit is 150,000. And I won't lie to you, I also take a portion of that as part of my salary," Gu Boyuan said with a smile.

"Take it. We're all family here. I'll keep the accounts straight, and I won't treat myself unfairly."

Li Long then accepted the 150,000 yuan.

After thinking for a moment, he added:
"Uncle Gu, don't drive alone with so much money in the future, it's very dangerous."

"I'm not afraid, I have a gun in my car," Gu Boyuan said smugly. "A shotgun! I even have a gun license, so I'm not afraid!"

Okay, it's hard to persuade you, let's talk about it slowly.

Even if you have a gun, it would be troublesome if people found out and you got surrounded.

Li Long took out his bag and put the money in it. Gu Boyuan then asked about the situation on the other side.

Although telephones existed, they were still highly valued at that time, and people generally didn't make calls unless there was a specific reason, unlike in later generations where people would make calls anytime and anywhere, whether there was anything to do or not.

Especially after Li Long's trip to Yanjing, Gu Boyuan was still very interested in learning about Gu Xiaoyu's situation.

Li Long recounted the situation here and Gu Xiaoyu's matter in detail, and casually mentioned:

“Uncle Gu, could you get a letter of introduction from the state government? If so, you could easily get one and fly to Yanjing to see Xiaoyu,” Li Long said. “It would only take half a day by plane.”

"I'm not going," Gu Boyuan waved his hand. "It's too much trouble to travel back and forth. Besides, if I go and run into their mother, it'll be incredibly awkward." He glanced at Li Long and said:

"Actually... during my time in Yili, I met someone... a teacher at the teachers' college, surnamed Song. We're talking about it now."

Li Long chuckled and said, "Uncle Gu, that's more like it."

After waiting for so long, Gu Boyuan has finally started to pay attention to his private life!
If this doesn't happen again, Li Long is worried he'll end up alone.

"It's fate that I met Teacher Song." Gu Boyuan took a sip of tea, smiled, and began to talk about the past.

The two were indeed destined to meet. They were originally strangers. Gu Boyuan was driving to run errands when he first encountered Teacher Song in Huacheng, Yili. She was riding her bicycle back to the teachers' college when it broke down halfway there.

“I happened to be there when I saw her struggling to push her bicycle, so I got off to help her. The chain had come off and was stuck in the chain box,” Gu Boyuan said with a smile. “It’s nothing for people like us. Luckily, I had some tools in the trunk, so I used a screwdriver to fix it.”

Li Long said with a smile:

"Uncle Gu, did you get out of your car to fix him because he's good-looking...?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Gu Boyuan hurriedly waved his hand. "I just saw that it was a hot day, and she was pushing a cart all by herself. The chain had fallen off, and it was making a lot of noise when she pushed it... so I thought I'd help her out."

Li Long was just trying to lighten the mood, so Gu Boyuan continued speaking.

After the car was repaired, Ms. Song thanked Gu Boyuan and asked for his contact information. At the time, Gu Boyuan really didn't expect anything in return, after all, one shouldn't expect anything in return for a favor.

So he drove away.

Unexpectedly, a few days later, when Gu Boyuan was driving to Hanren Street on business, he saw a thief stealing a woman's belongings. He shoved the thief away, and the woman became alert. When she looked at her bag, she found that it had been slashed.

Then Gu Boyuan was also very surprised to find that this person was actually Teacher Song, who had helped him repair the bicycle earlier.

"I never expected this place to be so small, or rather, it's such a coincidence that I've run into it twice in a row," Gu Boyuan remarked.

Actually, after recognizing him, Teacher Song insisted on treating him to a meal, saying that it wasn't a coincidence, but rather a result of Gu Boyuan's courage and kindness; otherwise, they wouldn't have met twice—once demonstrating Gu Boyuan's kindness and enthusiasm, and once demonstrating his courage and fearlessness.

"We exchanged contact information, which was basically just phone numbers. I knew she taught music at a teachers' college, and she knew I owned a company. She just couldn't understand how a college student could own a company."

Of course, that's what they say, but there were still coincidences in the subsequent developments. A few days later, when Gu Boyuan went to a family of ethnic minorities to collect their accumulated hides, he ran into Teacher Song again.

It turns out that Teacher Song came here to collect folk music. She came to gather information on traditional Kazakh music. The elderly woman in this family used to be a regular at the Aken singing and playing events and had a deep understanding of Kazakh folk music.

As the saying goes, things happen once, twice, but not three times. This was the third time already, so the two of them started contacting each other more often after that.

Gu Boyuan then learned about Teacher Song's past. Teacher Song was thirty-nine years old this year, had no children, and she and her husband had been sent down to Yili, where they later settled. However, her husband had always been in poor health and passed away eleven years ago, and now Teacher Song lived alone.

After her husband passed away, she was pursued by several men and introduced to potential partners, but for various reasons, none of these relationships worked out.

Her family originally lived in Nanjing, but her parents had passed away, though she had some relatives there. According to her, those relatives wanted her to go back, but she had already gotten used to living here, and there were no close relatives left to visit, so she simply decided to stay.

After learning that Gu Boyuan was also single, the two of them contacted each other for a while and then decided to deepen their relationship.

"Well, we're pretty much compatible in terms of personality," Gu Boyuan said. "Right now, we're both middle-aged, so we don't have many complicated feelings. We both want to have a family. The way we met was quite interesting. After going through so much, we believe it's fate. So we thought we'd get our marriage certificate sometime this summer and then be together."

"Great, great! It'll be summer," Li Long thought, he had no reason to bring Gu Xiaoyu over, and this just happens to be summer, maybe Gu Xiaoyu can meet her true love in Yili, "I heard the scenery there is the best in summer."

“Yes, the scenery is indeed beautiful,” Gu Boyuan said. “The grasslands in May are really beautiful. To be honest, when it comes to grasslands, this is the best I’ve ever seen… Of course, I haven’t traveled to many places.”

"How about we set it for June 1st?" Li Long said half-jokingly. "We can all go there then and join in the trip, how about that?"

"June 1st...that's fine too." Gu Boyuan thought for a moment and said with a smile, "She doesn't have any ideas about choosing a date, but we'll definitely have to discuss it...June 1st should be okay, she has quite a lot of free time, she spends a lot of time doing field research and teaching students."

"That's good then." Li Long smiled, relieved that one of his worries had been put to rest.

The reason is simple: last time we went there, we visited various universities to show Li Juan, Li Qiang, and their future children Mingming and Haohao where they were. That's how we saw it.
Gu Boyuan also said that he took some time to visit Khorgos.

"Well, how should I put it? As it stands, the area is still too small and development is slow. Moreover, this port is not as famous as Alashankou to the north, and there aren't enough vehicles coming and going."

I met Liu Gaolou there and was thinking about whether I could get a few cars to sell, but the paperwork was difficult to handle, unlike in Ma County.

The procedures over there are quite difficult to handle. I know you have connections, but there's no need to use them for this. If you can get it done, great; if not, then forget it.

Gu Boyuan still has the integrity of a scholar, and he is quite content, or rather, his mind is not entirely on this now.

He felt he had a solid foundation now, and he would do as much as his abilities allowed. Favors are useful, but they diminish over time and must eventually be repaid.

So when Gu Boyuan didn't want to use it, Li Long let him have his way.

After chatting for a while longer, Li Qingxia's side was empty, and it was time to close up shop.

Tielanhua wanted to invite Gu Boyuan and Li Long to dinner next door, saying it was to welcome Gu Boyuan back. Gu Boyuan declined, saying that there would be another opportunity later. He wanted to go back to the compound today to have a meal and see his daughter, and he had to hurry back to the team tomorrow to see Mingming and Haohao.

"Uncle Gu, it's arranged. Come over after the New Year. I'll prepare the things here." Sun Jiaqiang didn't insist. He had just returned and would definitely want to see his family first.

But Gu Boyuan had been with Sun Jiaqiang for quite some time, and their relationship was really special, so it was normal for Sun Jiaqiang's family to invite him to dinner.

Liang Shuangcheng was tidying up the things in the yard, while Li Long, Li Qingxia, and Gu Boyuan went to the main courtyard together.

During this period, Gu Xiaoxia didn't have to pick up Mingming and Haohao from school, so she came home a little earlier. When Li Long and the others entered the yard, Gu Xiaoxia was helping Sister Yang prepare dinner. Hearing the noise, she peeked out and was stunned for a moment when she saw Gu Boyuan. Then she smiled and called out, "Dad!"

It had been a while since they last saw each other, but they were all adults, so there was no need for them to cry. They just complained about why Gu Boyuan had only come back now, saying he should have come back a few days earlier.

“I have a purchasing station over there, I can’t just abandon the business and go back by myself,” Gu Boyuan said with a smile. “This is already like giving myself an early vacation.”

He told Li Long at the purchasing station that the station was also closed for the holidays, but the security guards they had hired were taking turns on duty, and they were paid triple wages for their shifts. The guards all seemed to enjoy their shifts.

Li Long suggested that he raise more dogs over there. In the Fourth Team's yard, dogs are kept by nailing a wire from the east end to the west end of the yard, with the dog chains threaded through the wire. This way, the dogs can run from the east end to the west end of the yard, have a large range of activity, and can take care of the entire yard.

Li Long's plan for the dogs kept at this recycling station is to keep them like this: with wires strung along the wall and near the warehouse, the dogs can run back and forth. When it's time to load or unload goods, the loops on the dog leashes are put onto the metal bars on either side, preventing the dogs from running away and ensuring their safety.

Dogs leashed like this don't need to be walked, get a lot of exercise, and are more aggressive.

He hadn't driven his car back from the recycling station, so he just carried a bag. After greeting Sister Yang, he asked Li Long to lead him into the house.

“Uncle Gu, we don’t have any guest rooms at home, so you’ll have to stay at Mingming and Haohao’s house for now. We’ll put on new sheets and blankets for you. They planted cotton last year, and the last harvest was great; they made several blankets from it,” Li Long said. “It’ll come in handy, and you can take a few with you when you leave.”

"Good, good, good! Homegrown cotton, hey, that's great!" Gu Boyuan was very satisfied.

During the meal, Gu Xiaoxia kept asking about the situation in Yili, and Gu Boyuan told her a lot of interesting stories and anecdotes.

He didn't mention anything about Teacher Song; it wasn't appropriate to discuss it with so many people around. Li Long planned to reveal it to Gu Xiaoxia that evening, and then let the father and daughter discuss the rest themselves.

During the meal, Gu Boyuan praised Sister Yang's cooking, saying that although he had also hired a master chef at other restaurants, Sister Yang's cooking was far superior.

Sister Yang was so embarrassed by the praise that she became shy.

After lunch, Li Qingxia walked back to the purchasing station. Gu Boyuan chatted with Gu Xiaoxia for a while, then went to rest. Driving all that way had taken a toll on his health.

After washing up, Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia about Teacher Song's situation.

To Li Long's surprise, Gu Xiaoxia wasn't particularly surprised. According to her, it was because:

“My dad should have found someone a long time ago. My mom has been married for several years and has a new life. My dad should have moved on by now. He was wrong about what happened back then, but later… As for my mom, well, I just can’t get close to her.”

"Instead of this, it's better to find someone sooner rather than later. Our companionship as children can never compare to that of a spouse. If what my dad says is true, then this Teacher Song is quite nice."

Li Long had only heard it from Gu Boyuan and couldn't comment, but his wife was right; Gu Boyuan did indeed need to find a partner. Someone else's introduction could never be as suitable as finding someone you yourself—and even if you find someone unsuitable, can you really blame others in the end?
Far away.

Li Long then mentioned the possible arrangements for things to be done in the summer, and Gu Xiaoxia frowned and said:
"Then...aren't we handling it here?"

“We definitely need to do it, right?” Li Long said. “We should do it on both sides, but even if we do it on both sides, it can’t be a big event. Teacher Song has a workplace over there, so we should definitely do it. We have relatives here, so we should also do it. Let’s make two trips. This is a big deal, we can’t be careless.”

Gu Xiaoxia agreed with this, as it was a major event for her family in recent years.

“Well, I need to tell Xiaoyu tomorrow so she can prepare in advance and take her leave early. We need to handle things on both sides, so we need to take a longer leave…” Gu Xiaoxia said, “Xiaoyu hasn’t come over in a long time; the last time we met was several years ago…”

Li Long thought to himself, "That's perfect. With Gu Xiaoxia as my older sister, Gu Xiaoyu definitely won't refuse. It's even better than if I said it myself."

Although Lao Gu was the main person in charge of this matter, Gu Xiaoxia, as the eldest daughter, naturally had to consider things more. That night, the couple went through all the details of what they were about to do, mainly the time and place to hold the event here, the people to invite, and who would go with them if they went there.

Gu Xiaoxia was quite excited that night because she had few things to worry about besides work, and it was her father's wedding. She kept planning and eventually turned on the light, got up, grabbed a notebook, and wrote down all the things she had in mind.

"...Look, me, you, Mingming, Haohao, and Xiaoyu definitely have to go. Oh right, I'll have to ask for leave too. Driving one car isn't enough, how about we each drive one car?"

“No, I’ll drive the minivan.” Li Long immediately rejected the idea. “You’ve never driven long distances before. The roads in Guozigou are particularly dangerous, and I’m worried about something going wrong. The minivan can seat more people, and it will be summer then, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”

"Well... alright then." Gu Xiaoxia knew this was true. Although she wanted to show off in front of her sister, safety came first in the end. After all, as Li Long said, the road over there was dangerous, and she couldn't risk her life.

“We need to prepare a gift for Teacher Song… um, Aunt Song. We don’t care about my dad’s side, we’ll prepare… how about a jade bracelet? We already have one at home anyway,” Gu Xiaoxia asked Li Long.

"Can't you write these things down tomorrow? The stove isn't hot enough anymore," Li Long couldn't help but interrupt, "you'll catch a cold if you do."

"I'm afraid I'll forget it by tomorrow." Gu Xiaoxia said softly, wearing the pajamas that Li Long bought for her in Yanjing. "I feel that what I thought about today is all good, but I don't know what I'll be thinking about tomorrow."

“Okay, the jade bracelet is definitely fine.” Li Long nodded and got up. He needed to add some coal to the stove, otherwise his wife would definitely catch a cold tomorrow.

Seeing that it was already past one o'clock, Li Long moved more gently, trying not to wake Lao Gu.

Fortunately, he heard Old Gu snoring; his father-in-law was truly exhausted.

Gu Xiaoxia didn't fall asleep until after 3 a.m. The next morning when she got up at 9 a.m., she was still quite excited. The first thing she did after getting up was to look through the things she had written down, with a look of accomplishment on her face.

Old Gu hadn't gotten up yet; he'd had a good sleep. Li Long guessed that Old Gu hadn't slept well the night before in Jinghe either, since he was carrying money and a gun.

Sister Yang was already busy in the kitchen. With Sister Yang around, Li Long's family was much less worried. Han Fang had spent a few days playing in the fourth team, and since Li Long didn't go there often anymore, she was able to settle down and do her homework, carefully studying some materials she had gotten from Li Juan.

In her own words, she wants to take Sister Juanjuan as her role model, study hard, get into a good school, and then get a good job.

They wanted to attend a vocational school, and Gu Xiaoxia had tried to dissuade them, but to no avail. Li Long didn't say much; everyone has their own ambitions, and these kinds of things are other people's family matters, so it's really hard to say.

To be honest, ever since Sister Yang took over the meat jerky business, she and her mother have entered the ranks of the wealthy. Every year, Li Long gives Sister Yang a dividend of at least ten thousand yuan—this year it even reached twenty thousand yuan. For an ordinary family, this is already a huge sum of money.

In addition to the wages that Li Long used to pay Sister Yang, Sister Yang had long since escaped poverty.

But the two of them just wanted Han Fang to start working as soon as possible, so what could they do?

There's no way to control too much.

After breakfast, Gu Boyuan and Li Long went to the purchasing station together, then started the car and drove back to the team.

In his words, he had no plans to move his household registration from the fourth team, and he would be shuttling between Yili and here from now on. In any case, he would have to come back for the Spring Festival. Now he was alone, but in the future there would be two of them.

“Hey, Uncle Gu lives such a carefree life,” Sun Jiaqiang said with a smile as he watched the car drive away. “He can drive back and forth in Yili like a shot, leaving whenever he wants.”

“Driving for two days is tiring enough,” Li Qingxia shook her head and said. “When will it be possible to get here in half a day? Two days is too far.”

Li Longxin thought to himself, "Forty years from now, there will be three highway routes, one railway, and one air route from here to Yili. If you take the G577, or if the Duku Highway isn't congested in the summer, it will only take half a day to get there."

Of course, it's too early to talk about that now. Having a car to drive around in these days is already quite an achievement, even though most roads aren't in great condition.

When Gu Boyuan arrived at the Fourth Team, he encountered a car coming from the east. The car honked at him, so he stopped.

Gu Boyuan recognized that Xu Haijun was driving.

Xu Haijun got out of the car and came over, and Gu Boyuan also got out of the car.

"Uncle Gu, you're back?" Xu Haijun said with a smile. "We cleared the snow from your yard a couple of days ago and were thinking of setting up the stove for you, but we didn't have the key, so we didn't."

“You guys…” Gu Boyuan knew that every year Li Long would take Tao Daqiang and the others to clear the snow in his yard. As for drying the house, Li Long didn’t do much of it, and he never asked for it.

"Yes, Xiaolong led us, along with Daqiang, Yundong, and the others. I joined Xiaolong's cooperative, didn't I?" Xu Haijun explained proactively, "We'll be together from now on."

Gu Boyuan understood.

Among the young people in the fourth team, Xu Haijun was considered one of the more outstanding ones, having joined the army at a young age. Back when the household responsibility system hadn't been implemented yet, Li Long hadn't yet distinguished himself, and Xu Haijun was the most prominent among them.

Unexpectedly, Li Long later became one of the best among these outstanding young people and even became their leader.

Ten years ago, probably no one in the four teams would have believed this.

"Hey, thanks a lot! It's almost Chinese New Year, come over for drinks!"

"Whether or not I drink is another matter, but I'll definitely be going to pay my respects during the New Year," Xu Haijun said with a smile.

Having roughly understood Xu Haijun's thoughts, Gu Boyuan chatted with him for a few minutes about everyday things, and then they each got into their cars and drove off at different times.

As Gu Boyuan drove, he thought to himself, "Li Long and his group have expanded."

But thinking about it, it makes sense. If you want to start a cooperative, the more land you have and the more people join, the greater the chance of it succeeding.

With more people and more land gathered together, the ability to withstand risks becomes stronger.

Aren't collective farms and large landowners common in other countries? The models are pretty much the same.

When the car was driven into the yard, it was discovered that the snow had indeed been cleared away.

Gu Boyuan got out of the car, opened the door, went inside, put down his bag, and the first thing he did was set up the stove.

Because I spend most of my time in Yili and don't cook much when I come back, my family doesn't dismantle the stove like other families do in the summer.

The stove was spotless. He laid out some dry grass, then added a layer of corncobs, and finally put in the coal. Gu Boyuan closed the stove lid, opened the door, took out a lighter, pulled out a newspaper and stuffed it under the dry grass, then lit the newspaper.

He had just lit it when he heard someone speak outside the door:
"Old Gu, you're back?"

Old Gu's hand trembled, and the flame licked his hand. He stood up, somewhat annoyed, and said:
"Old Wang, you walk without making a sound? You scared me!"

Rubbing the spot where the flames had licked him, Gu Boyuan went out of the house, grabbed a handful of snow from the wall outside and covered it with it, looking at Old Wang standing in the yard.

Old Wang's house was diagonally opposite Gu Boyuan's. His family had reclaimed too much wasteland to grow wheat. Later, they simply built a mud house on the edge of the reclaimed land, where the couple lived. It was convenient for them to work there, and they would only return after harvesting the wheat.

"You were too focused on it. You just arrived today?" Neither of them went inside. The house hadn't been lit for a long time, so it was damp and cold inside. Also, when the stove was first lit, the smoke didn't go directly into the chimney; it might linger in the house for a while, making it uncomfortable to stay in.

"I came back yesterday." Gu Boyuan took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, flicked one out and handed it to Lao Wang, and took one for himself.

At this time, none of the four groups had the habit of lighting cigarettes for others. If they ran out of light, they would at most light their own cigarettes and then pass them to others to light. If they had a light, they would hand the lighter or matches to someone else after lighting them.

Everyone is equal; there's no need to light cigarettes for others.

Gu Boyuan didn't smoke much to begin with, but he would smoke for social occasions, and it was just a habit for him to offer Lao Wang a cigarette.

"How's it going in Yili?" Old Wang asked casually. "You've gotten so fat. Is the climate there good for you?"

"It's alright," Gu Boyuan said with a smile. "It's not as hot as here in summer, and not as cold as here in winter, except for the heavy snow. Oh, and one advantage over there is that the fruit trees don't need to be weighed down, and they don't need any care in winter..."

"That's wonderful!" Old Wang exclaimed, moved. The area of ​​Team Four originally consisted of only one or two households, and it was basically created by the village's founding members like them.

They not only built settlements, but also constructed water conservancy projects, reclaimed wasteland, planted trees and forests, and so on.

Every family has planted fruit trees in their vegetable gardens. Unfortunately, except for apple trees which don't need to have their branches pruned, the others do, otherwise they won't bear fruit the following year.

Including grapes.

Pressing these things down in the fall is too much trouble. It's okay if the trees are small, but if they're big, it takes a whole day to do it—you have to be careful not to damage the trees.

Therefore, none of the elderly people in Team Four could help the fruit trees survive the winter without having to press them down.

This is the place I've always dreamed of.

“Rice can be grown there too,” Gu Boyuan thought to himself, recalling the land of fish and rice he had told Li Jianguo before, which was not only here, but also in the Yili region.

Moreover, the situation in Yili might be even better—at least in terms of fruit trees, it's better than there.

"I'd like to go take a look around when I have some free time tomorrow," Old Wang said. "Is the road easy to travel on?"

"It's alright. Well, there's the Guozigou Valley in the middle, and that section is difficult to travel for several dozen kilometers. The rest is flat road." Gu Boyuan knew that this geographical location limited the development of Yili.

There are advantages and disadvantages; without this geographical location, the climate would not be like this.

The two chatted for a while, and the stove in the house burned brightly, with smoke rising up the chimney. Old Gu then said:
"Come on, let's go inside and talk?"

"No, I just heard the noise and came to check. You go ahead and tidy up. Come home for a drink at noon!" Old Wang said. "I chased rabbits a few days ago, and I still have a few at home. I can stew them for lunch."

"Hey, okay then, I won't stand on ceremony." Gu Boyuan didn't stand on ceremony with Lao Wang, turned around and opened the car door, took out a bag of apples from the car and said, "Take this back for the kids to eat."

Old Wang is an arrogant man.

Old Gu was actually quite arrogant, but his arrogance was ingrained and not easily perceived by ordinary people. Old Wang's arrogance, on the other hand, was more outwardly apparent. He was also capable, having reclaimed hundreds of acres of wasteland early on and cleared out the fertile soil for growing bitter beans to plant wheat, which showed he had a good eye for talent.

There aren't many people in the whole team who can get Lao Wang to invite them to his home for drinks; Lao Gu is one, and Li Jianguo is another.

Some people wanted to drink Old Wang's wine, so they asked Old Wang directly, but Old Wang never gave them face and rejected them outright.

"You stew the rabbit, and I'll bring some wine over at noon. I came from Yili and brought a few bottles of wine from there. Let's have a taste then!"

"Okay, I'll do as you say." Old Wang then turned and walked back.

Gu Boyuan closed the car door and went inside. There was still a smell of smoke inside, which wasn't very pleasant, but it was better than being outside in the cold.

In early February, the daytime outdoor temperature in Ma County was below -20 degrees Celsius, and at night it could reach below -30 degrees Celsius. If you weren't dressed warmly enough, you would freeze to the bone in no time—that feeling of being cold from the inside out.

Actually, there wasn't much tidying up inside. He just took a quick look around and then went outside to unload some things from the car—smoked horse meat, smoked horse sausage, fruit wrapped in cotton cloth, dried fruit, dried chicken, and so on, as well as sugar and chocolate imported from Kazakhstan.

He's going to spend the Lunar New Year here, and he brought back all the New Year's goods he prepared in Yili, so he has to put them out during the holidays.

There was also alcohol.

After moving most of the things and the smell of smoke in the room had almost disappeared, he closed the door and began to sort and organize them, placing plates on the table and arranging the items.

There are still some things in the car that I need to take to my in-laws. I originally planned to take them today and have lunch with them, but Lao Wang invited me in advance, so I'll forget about it and go tomorrow. We can have a drink at noon and then I won't have to do anything in the afternoon.

Of course, you need to prepare the coal. Before drinking, put the stove down, and when you come back, add a shovelful of coal. This way, the room will be warm, and sweating will help you sober up quickly.

Finally, it's time to boil water. There's a hand pump in the yard; the pump head was put into the house when he last left, so we just need to take it out and install it now.

To use a hand pump, you need to draw water. Luckily, there was snow in the yard. I filled the teapot with snow, melted it on the stove, and then poured it into the hand pump. After pumping it a couple more times, the water came out.

The water was a bit cloudy when it first came out, but after pouring out half a bucket, the water became clear.

Gu Boyuan poured three buckets of water into his large vat, filling it about halfway. He felt that was enough, then put the pot on the stove, filled it with water, and started boiling it.

At home, you need to keep the thermos flask filled with boiling water and the teapot filled with tea; these are things you need to have ready at all times.

After the water boiled, he took out the honey he had brought back from Yili, made himself half a cup, and set it aside. He planned to drink it after he returned from drinking. He had heard in Yili that honey could help with hangovers, so he had to keep some on hand.

When you reach middle age, you have to take good care of yourself.

Just before lunchtime, Li Jianguo drove over and called Lao Gu over for dinner—it was Li Long who called his older brother to say that Lao Gu was back.

“I can’t go. Old Wang came over a long time ago to tell me,” Gu Boyuan said, spreading his hands. “I originally planned to go to your house first, but there’s no way around it.”

"Dinner's all ready... Okay, how about coming over tonight?"

"I don't even know if I'll be able to get up tonight," Gu Boyuan said. "Don't you know what kind of guy Lao Wang is? He'll definitely have to have a good drink with him."

"Alright, we'll see how things go." Li Jianguo didn't say anything more; this was an unexpected situation, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

"I brought some things back; you can load them into the car and take them back," Gu Boyuan said.

The two were talking, and hadn't even started moving their things, when Old Wang arrived. He'd come after hearing the car, and seeing Li Jianguo there, he smiled and said:

"I thought it was you who came, Lao Li. Don't leave either. It's no fun drinking with just Lao Gu and me. Come on over!"

"I came to call Lao Gu for dinner, how did I end up getting myself into this mess?" Li Jianguo waved his hand, "Dinner's ready at home..."

"I've finished mine, and it's nearby! Old Gu hasn't been around for a while either. It's been years since the three of us had a drink together, hasn't it? We've run into each other, haven't we? Let's go!"

Without pulling Lao Gu along, Lao Wang grabbed Li Jianguo's arm and started walking back.

“I have to let my family know…” Li Jianguo said. “The food is ready at home, I can’t just keep waiting.”

"You don't need to tell me, I'll have my son ride his bike there. Old Gu, what are you looking at? Close the door and let's go!"

"Okay, okay, I'll get the wine." Old Gu felt half relieved. With Li Jianguo, who could drink, around, his pressure was greatly reduced.

The meal lasted until almost sunset, and Gu Boyuan was already drowsy. He went home and fell asleep. Li Jianguo took care of him, adding coal to the nearly extinguished stove and pressing it down with foam before driving his own car home.

Old Wang had already drunk too much. His wife watched from the gate of the yard and saw that Li Jianguo was driving steadily without making any swerving, so she felt relieved.

Li Jianguo drove home, told Liang Yuemei, and then went inside and lay down to sleep.

Liang Yuemei took off his clothes and shoes, covered him with a blanket, and listened to his soft snoring before she felt relieved.

Li Jianguo always drinks like this: no matter how much he drinks, he remains sober on the spot, manages to get home, and then goes to sleep—this is the basic etiquette of the Li family after drinking.

He won't cause trouble when drunk; he'll just go to sleep if he drinks too much.

However, Li Long didn't have his older brother's ability; if he drank too much, he might black out on the spot—that was before he turned twenty. After he turned twenty, his alcohol tolerance increased, and he basically never got drunk, so he never experienced that.

Li Long called his elder brother's house that evening and learned about the matter. Gu Boyuan didn't have a phone in his yard, so he told his sister-in-law:
"Sister-in-law, could you have Junfeng drive over to Uncle Gu's house later to check on him?"

Gu Boyuan's alcohol tolerance was not as good as Li Jianguo's, so Li Long was naturally worried.

“Okay, I’ll tell Junfeng right now.” Liang Yuemei knew this was important, so she went to tell Li Junfeng after hanging up the phone. Because Li Long said it was evening, Li Junfeng didn’t go immediately. He waited until after 10 p.m., when it was already very dark, before he went over.

After driving there, Li Junfeng arrived at the Gu family's house. He opened the door, saw that the stove fire was working, and went into the inner room to turn on the light. He looked at Gu Boyuan lying on the bed and wondered if it was dangerous for him to be lying like that.

Then Gu Boyuan woke up.

He recognized Li Junfeng. He squinted to adjust his eyes to the light, and was about to speak when Li Junfeng said:
"Uncle Gu, Uncle Xiaolong told my aunt to ask me to come and check on you. Are you thirsty?"

"Thirsty." Gu Boyuan's voice was a little hoarse. He had drunk too much at noon. He got up, his head still a little sore, but not too bad.

"Then I'll pour you some water." When Li Junfeng came in, he saw a teapot on the stove and knew there was hot tea, so he went to pour some water.

"No need, no need," Gu Boyuan waved his hand. "I'm fine now. You can go back and call Xiaolong to tell him that I've sobered up and am fine."

“Alright then.” Li Junfeng didn’t stand on ceremony. Seeing that Gu Boyuan was indeed sober, he turned and left.

Gu Boyuan took the honey water cup, added half a cup of hot water, drank it all in one go, then went to the kitchen and rummaged around, taking out the few packets of instant noodles he had brought back this time, intending to make a packet to eat.

This thing is alright in an emergency.

(End of this chapter)