Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1001 The snow is getting heavier; this winter is going to be tough.

After driving the Jeep into the courtyard, Li Long was still a little scared.

Guns aren't hard to come by these days. If those two men had guns instead of short knives and steel pipes, I'd probably be done for.

You really need to be careful; you can't be so reckless again.

Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Boyuan hadn't returned yet. Li Long emptied the water from the jeep and played with Mingming and Haohao for a while. When he heard the front door open, he went out to see what was happening and found that Han Fang had returned.

Later, Gu Boyuan and Gu Xiaoxia returned one after the other. Sister Yang had also prepared the meal, so they ate together.

Li Long didn't mention being robbed and focused on eating. He planned to wait for the police station's investigation results before making any decisions. He wasn't sure if it was specifically targeted at him or if the two men were just randomly waiting to rob someone.

If it's the former, then have I been a bit too high-profile these past two years?

It can't be that bad, can it?
When I woke up the next day, it was cloudy outside. The weather forecast wasn't very accurate back then; yesterday it said cloudy, but this morning it was overcast. Not long after I finished breakfast, it started snowing.

The snowflakes were quite large from the start, falling gently and quickly covering the ground. After finishing tidying up the kitchen, Sister Yang looked at the sky, somewhat worried:

"It's started raining again. It's only been a short time, and there have already been three games. This one looks particularly big."

"I estimate it will be even bigger than the last one." Li Long said as he led Mingming and Haohao to the greenhouse after they got dressed, "Sweeping snow is still a hassle."

The production process at the agricultural machinery factory, based on its own design drawings, is not always smooth sailing. Although the factory has written down as many key components and materials as possible during the design phase, the debugging and production of this equipment requires a step-by-step approach.

The production technology of the 1980s cannot compare with that of 20 or 30 years later, so there is no rush. In the short term, snow removal will still have to be done by individuals.

However, the snow was falling slowly, so Li Long, Mingming, and Haohao mainly went to the greenhouse to take care of things there. The seedlings had already grown, and after each snowfall, Li Long would clear the snow off the glass roof to let the sunlight through. At night, in addition to burning the stove and the heating system, they also added a layer of mats on top of the glass greenhouse to keep it warm.

This thing was often used in greenhouses in later generations. A long cotton or straw mat was tied to a rope. It was rolled down at night to cover the greenhouse for warmth, and pulled up during the day to ensure that sunlight could shine into the greenhouse.

Of course, there were also electric integrated models later on, but we can't work on those for now.

Seeing that it was snowing, Li Long didn't lower the curtain. He simply turned on the lights in the greenhouse, put the stove back on, and watered the several plots of land that were dry.

The snow was falling heavier and heavier. After finishing his work in the greenhouse, Li Long went to the front yard and let Mingming and Haohao go in. He planned to shovel the snow.

The two children refused to go inside and wanted to stay with Li Long. So Li Long gave each of them a small broom and let them do whatever they wanted, while he started sweeping snow in the yard.

When Sister Yang returned from buying groceries, she saw Li Long shoveling snow and wanted to come and help. Li Long told her to focus on the kitchen work and not worry about this.

"The snow is so heavy..." Sister Yang was a little worried.

"It's alright, let's sweep some first, then it'll be easier to sweep the rest. Anyway, I don't have anything to do right now, so this is a good opportunity to get some exercise," Li Long said while sweeping. "And it'll also give Mingming and Haohao some exercise."

"What kind of exercise is it for a child who's not even three years old?" Sister Yang complained, but seeing that Mingming and Haohao were sweeping quite well, she didn't say anything more and went into the kitchen to prepare a meal.

After Li Long swept the thin layer of snow in the yard, he and his two children became snowmen.

He led the child up the steps to the main house entrance, told the child to wait, and went to get a towel to clean the snow off the child and then cleaned the snow off himself. Once inside, he immediately felt much warmer.

Mingming Haohao was also tired. After changing his clothes, he quietly played chess in the room—not playing chess, of course, but just slapping the chess pieces together.

Li Long had barely settled down when someone knocked on the door. Although there was a door between them, Li Long's hearing was excellent, and he immediately went out to see that Sister Yang was already calling for the person outside to come in.

Guo Tiebing.

Upon seeing Li Long, he greeted Sister Yang and then walked over.

"Is it convenient? Shall we go inside and talk?" Guo Tiebing asked.

"Let's go inside and talk," Li Long said, telling Sister Yang to continue preparing his things, while he led Guo Tiebing into the inner room.

Upon seeing Guo Tiebing, the two children paused for a moment, and then Li Long said:

"Say hello to Uncle."

"Hello, uncle!"

"Hello, Uncle!" It was rare for both children to speak so clearly. After greeting him, they continued playing.

Li Long led Guo Tiebing into the inner room.

“We’ve already interrogated them and found out they were after you,” Guo Tiebing said. “They were two fugitives who robbed two people in Beiting and fled to our area. They found out you were one of the wealthier people in the county and often went to the Fourth Squad in the winter, so they were waiting for you there.”

"They were waiting specifically for me? Where are they staying?" Li Long was somewhat surprised. "They can't be staying under a bridge, can they?"

"Yes, they lived in a dilapidated kiln, right by the roadside," Guo Tiebing said. "We've already searched it; they found the bedding they stole there. These two men caused one death and one injury during their robbery in Beiting; it was a heinous crime."

"But those two were too cautious. After committing the crime in Beiting, they immediately fled to our county. Here, they engaged in petty theft, gathered intelligence, and eventually set their sights on you."

"I never expected this..." Li Long never thought that such a thing would ultimately happen to him.

"But it was also luck that you ran into both of them, and you managed to take them down and bring them back. They had no accomplices; they were just itinerant criminals who got caught in your hands."

Guo Tiebing smiled and continued:
"They were just unlucky. They thought that someone as rich as you might be more willing to risk their lives, and they had heard about your deeds and thought you might be kind, so they pulled this stunt. They didn't expect you to be so observant and take them down so easily."

This is a big case. Our leader said they should thank you. However, if there's a reward, we won't announce it publicly to avoid causing you trouble.

Furthermore, our Public Security Bureau took this matter very seriously and reported it directly to the county's top leader. The county was quite surprised and said they would conduct a major investigation soon—you are an extraordinary representative figure in our county, and yet you're being targeted for this? How can that be allowed?

Li Long nodded. This must be the special treatment celebrities receive.

Is it possible to make a big fuss by conducting a large-scale investigation?
"It's not just because of you. Just think, only three years have passed, and some people are already making trouble. How can this be allowed? If we don't curb their arrogance, the lives of ordinary people will not be easy."

Li Long immediately understood. His own incident was just a starting point; the more important thing was to clean up the social atmosphere in Ma County. He had recently heard from Sister Yang that thieves had reappeared on the streets, and there were occasional group fights at the market. It wasn't as peaceful as before.

After Guo Tiebing finished explaining, he left. Li Long, meanwhile, played with Mingming and Haohao while thinking about the matter.

It's only because you have good eyesight, are alert enough, and are stronger than the average person that you could easily fall for it.

We need to be extra careful from now on.

Just as dinner was about to start, the phone rang. Li Long answered it, and Li Xiangqian's voice came from the other end:

"Xiao Li, I heard you were robbed? How did it go? I see the county is taking it very seriously."

"It's nothing, it's nothing. I just went back to the village yesterday afternoon and ran into them. It's nothing, I just caught them."

“Okay, come over this afternoon and we’ll discuss it in detail,” Li Xiangqian said.

After lunch, Mingming and Haohao fell asleep. Gu Xiaoxia went to work, and Li Long waited for Sister Yang to finish tidying up. After handing Mingming and Haohao over to her, he drove to the supply and marketing cooperative.

I thought driving would be too conspicuous, otherwise I wouldn't have attracted those two guys, but I figured it was unlikely that anything would happen in the county, so I continued driving.

It's mainly because I'm used to driving, and it's so cold, with snow falling. When Li Long arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, it was quite quiet; several offices were almost empty. When Li Long went to Li Xiangqian's office, Zhou Yuan was reporting something.

Seeing Li Long come in, Zhou Yuan said a few more words. Li Long listened and realized it was about the winter supplies. He didn't pay much attention to it, greeted the two people, and poured himself some water.

After Zhou Yuan finished his report, Li Xiangqian gave him a few instructions, and then Zhou Yuan smiled at Li Long and left.

“You’ve really blown this up,” Li Xiangqian said to Li Long. “The county’s top two leaders held an emergency meeting and called in all the heads of various units to emphasize that they must be strict in their management. Although the focus is on the police, each unit must organize a joint defense team to take control of any suspicious persons they discover and then hand them over to the police for processing.”

“I heard from the police that the two men who robbed me have murder cases on their hands,” Li Long said. “That’s probably why they’re taking it so seriously. Come to think of it, if such vicious people were to roam the streets, it would cause a lot of panic and negative impact.”

“It’s time to do something about it. If you ask me, the situation in 1983 should happen again.” Li Xiangqian also agreed. “There are always petty thugs running around on the streets. I don’t know where these guys get so much energy. Don’t their parents care?”

"I guess they can't control it."

After chatting for a while, Li Long asked again, "Director, I don't see many people in the office. Where did they all go?"

"Off to shovel snow," Li Xiangqian said irritably. "The snow this year is too heavy, it's been falling every few days, and it's always so thick. Our supply and marketing cooperative has more than just this one yard; the snow in other warehouses and other places also needs to be cleared. So I simply sent everyone out to various places to wait and shovel snow."

Li Long knew that the supply and marketing cooperatives had many businesses. Or rather, many of the departments that initially existed in the cities of northern Xinjiang had considerable businesses. With social reforms and the abolition or merger of some units, these businesses would gradually be transferred or taken back.

However, because those original units existed in the city from the very beginning, when the city was relatively small, some units seemed to be located on the edge of the city.

However, with the development of urbanization, even the last periphery has become the center in the 21st century. In particular, during the reform of state-owned enterprises, some industrial disputes have emerged.

The most typical example is the military sub-district people's armed forces departments in various cities. Initially, they were basically located on the outskirts of the city, but decades later, they became the city center. However, because some areas were military properties, the local authorities did not treat them like the properties of other units.

There were a lot of arguments and disputes.

“I recently designed two snow removal machines,” Li Long said. “I’ve given them to an agricultural machinery factory in Kuitun to produce. Once they’re manufactured, we’ll get a few of them for our commune to use.”

"Good, good, it's good that you have the intention." Li Xiangqian knew that Li Long had designed and invented harvesters and tillers, which were very useful, so he said, "Once they are produced, get a few over as soon as possible."

Although our supply and marketing cooperative has a large workforce, it covers an even larger area, and clearing snow in the dead of winter is a major problem.

Li Long nodded and then explained the principle of his snow removal machine design. Li Xiangqian, who was also knowledgeable in the field, commented that this would definitely become a hit.

Because the supply and marketing cooperative also needed to conduct joint prevention and control inspections, Li Xiangqian asked Li Long about the specific situation, which was also a way of expressing his condolences to Li Long. Afterwards, he went to find someone to follow up on the matter.

In the following days, the streets became quieter, and there were noticeably more police officers and community security personnel. Many of the thieves and petty thugs who used to run around were arrested, and the situation at the market improved significantly.

This can be considered a good thing.

On his way back to the compound from the purchasing station, Li Long ran into Guo Tiebing, who told him that the two men had been handed over to the Public Security Bureau. People from Beiting had also come to inquire about the two men. Finally, Guo Tiebing said:
"Given the current situation, the lightest sentence would be life imprisonment. You committed murder, and then you committed robbery, so the death penalty is the most likely outcome."

After he said that, Li Long felt relieved.

After all, we've heard of all sorts of bizarre judgments in later generations. On the contrary, the current sentencing seems to be more in line with the common people's universal values: a life for a life, especially since it was intentional homicide.

Li Long didn't know how some rape cases involving intentional homicide could be sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in later generations.

Are you stupid?
The snow fell for a day and a night, and the snow was more than 40 centimeters deep, almost 50 centimeters. All units in the county mobilized together and it took them half a day to clear the snow from all the roads in the county. Afterwards, each unit also had to clear the snow from its own premises.

Because Li Long swept the snow every now and then, the snow in the yard wasn't so troublesome.

In Li Long's memory, there didn't seem to be this much snow in the winter of 1986 in his previous life.

Has anything changed? Is it different from my previous life?
Regardless, this year may not be a good one for the herders in the mountains.

Li Long wondered if he should drive his small four-wheeled vehicle into the mountains to clear a path once the snowplows were ready.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be easy to get into the mountains.

“It’s not just the snow in northern Xinjiang that’s heavy; the whole north has seen heavy snow this year. I heard that there’s already a snow disaster in Mongolia, with large numbers of cattle and sheep freezing to death, and the same is true in Inner Mongolia.” Gu Xiaoxia said while eating, sharing the news she had heard from her workplace. “Some of the units I’ve been in have already organized donations for some herders in Inner Mongolia.”

It turns out it was a nationwide, or rather, regional, snow disaster.

Li Long suddenly remembered that around this time in his previous life, one spring, Li Qiang's school donated hay to the herders, and each elementary school student had to bring a bundle of hay as a task. Li brought a bundle of corn stalks, the kind with the leaves still on.

Is it because of this snow disaster? I heard that they even asked for donations of grass seeds at the time, saying that there was not only a snow disaster, but also a locust plague, so it was quite serious.

Perhaps it was around this time, when he remembered Li Qiang was in elementary school, that it happened just once.

Fortunately, Halim and his team cut more grass this year. When Li Long went into the mountains, he heard them say that they cut about a third more grass than usual.

At least we have grass to eat. However, the remaining grass in the winter pastures has definitely been buried by snow, so it's uncertain whether this extra third of grass will be enough.

If that's not enough, then we'll get another batch of cattle and sheep from them.

Anyway, Li Long's old horse stable had plenty of hay, more than enough. At the time, he tried his best to get Uncle Luo to collect wheat straw and corn stalks. Firstly, as a reserve of fodder, and secondly, to increase the income of the villagers.

Unexpectedly, this turned out to be a lucky accident.

The situation unfolded similarly. When Ms. Yang went to the market to buy vegetables and other groceries, she said that the prices of beef and mutton had dropped significantly, even falling below what they were at the beginning of winter.

Li Long guessed that some herders who had already moved back to their original pastures had started slaughtering and culling sheep because they didn't have enough fodder. Otherwise, if there wasn't enough fodder after the New Year, all the sheep, big and small, would have problems.

At the end of November, just as Tielanhua was finishing her postpartum confinement, Jia Weidong called Li Long through Li Jianguo's phone, telling him that the Jia family was going to slaughter a sheep at the end of the month and everyone would get together, and asked Li Long to come back when he had time.

Li Long naturally had no objections. When he received the call, he also had an invitation in his hand—Sun Jiaqiang's daughter, Sun Minghui, was about to turn one month old, and they were planning to hold a one-month celebration at home, so they invited Li Long's family, including Gu Boyuan and Sister Yang.

Fortunately, the time zones are different on both sides, so I was able to make it over.

Having learned his lesson from that previous experience, Li Long placed his gun in the passenger seat when he returned to the Fourth Squad this time. He also informed Gu Xiaoxia in advance that he wouldn't be coming back that night if he drank too much.

He didn't want anything to go wrong, so he had to be careful in everything he did from now on.

Gu Xiaoxia simply told him to drink less and not to move around too much if he drank too much.

Before going to Jia Weidong's house, Li Long bought a piece of braised beef from a cooked food shop in the market and picked a large handful of bok choy from his own greenhouse to take with him.

The snow had been compacted along the way, but the road surface was extremely slippery. Li Long thought this kind of road would be a favorite of children, as they could slide all the way home. Of course, it would also be very easy for them to slip and fall.

Fortunately, the children were dressed very warmly at this time, and it was rare to hear of them falling and getting hurt on the way there and back—falling was inevitable, but they generally wouldn't get seriously injured.

When we arrived at Jia Weidong's house, I handed him the things and said with a smile, "This bok choy is my first batch this winter, and this is the first time I've eaten it, so you have to be careful."

"Hey, it's a real treat to be able to eat this in the dead of winter," Xie Yundong said with a smile as he followed in. "We really have to give it a try!"

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It's getting hotter and hotter, everyone please take precautions against heatstroke when going out. It's almost 40 degrees Celsius here in Yining, it's unbearable.

(End of this chapter)