Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1009 has no title.
The Li family was preparing to eat when they heard the sound of a tractor, and Li Jianguo came out.

Seeing that it was Li Long driving the tractor, with a strange thing attached to the front, he said:
"Xiao Long, come inside and eat!" he called out to the inner room.

"Yueming, Xiaolong is back. Serve him some rice!"

"Xiaolong's back! Come in quickly." Liang Yuemei responded and hurried to serve Li Long rice—rice was served for lunch. Li Qingxia had gone with Tao Jianshe and the others to break ice holes and had brought back a few fish in the morning.

Li Long turned off the engine and said to Li Jianguo as he got out of the car:

"I drove back today on a tractor. It's loaded with a snowplow. I cleared the road leading to the residential area, which will make it easier for the kids to go to school later."

“Hey, that’s right. As soon as the snow stopped, everyone in our settlement cleared the roads, but nobody cared about the snow outside.” Li Jianguo shook his head. “Now people’s morale is low, and we can’t organize ourselves.”

Li Long smiled, brushed the snow off his clothes, and followed Li Jianguo into the house.

Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang had already arrived at the door and were smiling as they watched Li Long enter.

Both of them were a little hard of hearing, so they asked Li Long together why he hadn't come sooner.

Li Long explained why he had come, and Li Qingxia nodded. Du Chunfang, however, complained that the road should have been swept by the team, and Li Long didn't have to do it himself.

Li Long smiled but didn't say anything. Only after Liang Yuemei brought him a bowl of rice and everyone started eating did Li Long point to the stewed crucian carp on the table and say with a smile:

"It's been a while since I've had such fresh fish."

"Hey, there aren't many fish left in the small lake," Li Qingxia said, shaking her head. "I've been searching all morning and only managed to catch two or three kilograms of small crucian carp. I haven't seen a single big fish."

"Small crucian carp will do." Li Long picked up a crucian carp no bigger than his palm and placed it on his rice, saying as he ate, "There's still some oxygen in the water under the small lake, so the big fish can breathe and naturally won't appear. Once January comes and the ice is thick enough that the reed pipes can't let air through, the fish will have to find holes in the ice to breathe."

“But there are definitely not as many fish as before,” Li Jianguo said. “Xiaolong, when you first started breaking the ice hole, you could catch seventy or eighty kilograms of fish a day, enough to fill two sacks! Now you can’t even catch ten kilograms a day.”

“Think about how much money the fish in Xiaohaizi have made over the years,” Liang Yuemei said. “Big fish take many years to grow, and every one caught is one less. In winter we have to remove ice curtains, and in summer we have to use nets. No matter how many fish we have, we can’t keep up with this kind of fishing.”

Li Long knew there were still big fish underwater in the small lake, but there were definitely far fewer than before.

The idea of ​​getting rich by catching fish is no longer viable—as a pioneer, he has already reaped the best benefits.

During the meal, Li Long told Li Jianguo about the snowplow, and Li Jianguo nodded and said:
“That’s right. You’re a national model worker, so you have to be mindful of your image. When it’s time to do good deeds, you still have to do them. Junwazi is just lazy. Otherwise, if he organized the labor force in the team, what’s a little snow removal? If he doesn’t organize it, then the opinions of us village representatives won’t carry enough weight.”

Du Chunfang was still somewhat dissatisfied with her youngest son working for the government without pay, but now, hearing her eldest son say that her youngest son was a national model worker, she suddenly understood. Some things, once you have that title, become mandatory; so many people are watching.

"Don't worry, with this snowplow here, I'll drive my little four-wheeler to clear all the roads leading to the residential areas when it snows," Li Jianguo said with a smile. "It won't use much fuel. There's nothing to do in winter, and it'll give me a good reputation."

His younger brother became a national model worker and even took him to Beijing to buy a house. Li Jianguo's trip broadened his horizons; he realized some things can't be judged solely by immediate gains. Even though it was just a nominal title, it could still be useful when necessary.

After lunch, Li Long taught Li Jianguo how to use the snowplow. After teaching him, he unloaded the machine and installed it on Li Jianguo's small four-wheeled vehicle before driving the vehicle back.

The students haven't been dismissed from school yet. I imagine they'll be very happy when they return and see that the snow on the roads leading to their homes has been cleared.

Driving the tractor back to the yard, Li Long felt his legs were stiff when he got off. It was almost the winter solstice, and the outdoor temperature was already below -20 degrees Celsius during the day and even lower at night, dropping to -30 degrees Celsius. It was extremely cold.

When Sun Jiaqiang returned home for lunch, Tielanhua asked him how the sheep harvest was going.

“We can collect dozens of sheep every day. More and more people know about it, and we're collecting more sheep.” Sun Jiaqiang washed his hands and ate his meal. “This morning alone, we collected more than sixty sheep scions. We’ll probably collect quite a few this afternoon too.”

"Looks like buying sheep is profitable." Tie Lanhua, who had already eaten, said softly while watching her child sleep, "If Huihui weren't here, I'd be tempted to go buy sheep myself..."

“You should take good care of yourself and the baby first,” Sun Jiaqiang said, not wanting his wife to go out and work in the freezing cold. “I earn a good salary, and my boss gives me bonuses every now and then. It’s enough to support you and the baby.”

“Is this money too little? I’m thinking of hiring someone to take care of Huihui, and then I’ll go and collect things to sell at our recycling station. I’ll definitely earn more money than hiring someone. We can save the rest, and when our son is born, we’ll have to buy him a house…”

“How can we think that far ahead?” Sun Jiaqiang shook his head. “We still need to save up Huihui’s dowry first.”

He could sense that his wife was fixated on having a son. Having gone through so much, Sun Jiaqiang felt that having a son or a daughter made little difference. In northern Xinjiang, especially in Ma County, there wasn't such a strong preference for sons, and with the current national policy limiting births, he wasn't in such a rush to have a son.

But Tillandsia was different; she definitely wanted a son.

Tillandsia has a talent for business and is particularly sensitive to money, so Sun Jiaqiang thinks that his future wife will definitely be a strong woman.

Fortunately, she usually listens to him and respects him at home. More importantly, many of the decisions she makes are correct in Sun Jiaqiang's eyes. So, on the surface, it seems that Tielanhua is actually making the decisions most of the time.

However, Sun Jiaqiang definitely wouldn't agree to leaving his daughter behind to go out and collect sheep in the winter. The child was only a few months old, at the crucial stage of breastfeeding and growth; could she manage without her mother by her side?

Certainly not.

Seeing that Sun Jiaqiang insisted on not letting her go out, Tielanhua stopped talking about it and gently served him food and rice so that he could eat more.

During dinner, Gu Boyuan told Li Long that there were now more than 500 cattle and sheep in the warehouse, and one warehouse was no longer enough. He asked Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng to clear out another warehouse for them.

Li Long didn't have a better solution at the moment. Zhao Hui hadn't called back since taking the hides away, and he didn't know if they needed the beef and mutton from here. Li Long calculated that what he had collected so far was the limit of what he could sell in Ma County, Shicheng, and even Kuitun.

If they collect even more, I really don't know what to do next.

However, as the snowstorm continued to worsen, the number of cattle and sheep being bought by middlemen increased daily. Even though Gu Boyuan ruthlessly lowered the prices once, reducing mutton to 1.8 yuan and beef to 2 yuan, there were still many middlemen coming to sell cattle and sheep.

Clearly, many herders' fodder reserves are truly depleted. In previous years, the winter pastures could hold out for a while, but this year they are completely covered by snow. The grass in the pastures is covered by a meter of snow, making it impossible for cattle and sheep to dig. Even if people help dig, how much grass can they actually get out?

Therefore, it's best to simply slaughter the culled sheep and keep the breeding sheep, lambing ewes, and strong adult sheep to take good care of the lambs born this year, so that we can continue to develop next year.

Gu Boyuan told Li Long about it, and Li Long thought that since the words had already been spoken, he had no choice but to accept them.

Anyway, there's still more than a month until the Lunar New Year. If we continue for another half month, the impact of the snow disaster should be minimized. Then we can stop collecting and find somewhere to sell.

If all else fails and we don't make any money, we can have a big clearance sale before the New Year, which should be enough to sell them.

At this moment, Li Long thought, it doesn't matter whether I make money or not, the brand can't be ruined.

Two days later, Zhao Hui called. His people were quite interested in the mutton, but because the business they were negotiating with wasn't very strong, they didn't dare to order too much; they needed two hundred sheep and ten cows.

As for the price, it was a bit higher than Li Long had imagined. The mutton was 2.5 yuan and the beef was 2.8 yuan. Zhao Hui would pay for the transportation. He planned to bring a whole wagon full of hides when he came to pick them up at the end of December, thus saving on the cost of the wagon.

Li Long knew this was a trial run, but two hundred sheep were enough to clear out a significant portion of the inventory, so Li Long was still quite happy.

He made a small profit, but as he said, the key point was that he also helped small-scale herders solve their problems.

It was a double celebration. Huang Lei then called, saying that the amount of beef and mutton supplied to them from Inner Mongolia was less than in previous years. He had reached an agreement with the wholesalers there to supply a trial batch, and he also wanted two hundred Kelangzi sheep. Of course, he actually wanted whole sheep, including the offal.

According to Huang Lei, sheep stomach and intestines are also quite popular in their area.

However, Li Long found these things troublesome to collect, so he didn't take them.

Huang Lei offered a lower price than Zhao Hui, 2.4 yuan, but he was also responsible for transporting the sheep. According to Huang Lei, renting a whole train car by himself wasn't cost-effective; he shared with others, since two hundred sheep couldn't fit into a single car. The profit wasn't much, but with a significant portion of the inventory gone, Li Long felt much more at ease.

He figured that if either Zhao Hui or Huang Lei could open up the market there and continue buying sheep, it would be easier to manage his sheep here.

However, even after taking away 400 sheep and 10 cattle, the inventory here is still increasing. The winter solstice is approaching, and now nearly 100 sheep are being received every day, far exceeding Li Long's expectations.

At the end of December, another snow fell. Huang Lei and Zhao Hui had already taken away the sheep they wanted, but Li Long's inventory of sheep scions was still growing, exceeding one thousand.

There are fewer cows, mainly because cows are easier to feed than sheep. For example, sheep won't eat the flattened wheat straw, but cows will.

Therefore, when herders deal with culled cattle and sheep, they mainly deal with sheep.

Li Long has been so anxious lately that he's developed blisters on his lips.

He can handle 500, but if it exceeds 1,000, even if he has to sell them at a loss, he still needs a place to put them.

"If all else fails, we can take them to Beiting or Wucheng." Gu Xiaoxia couldn't bear to see her husband worrying like this every day. She said, "During the New Year, it's not just Shicheng that needs cattle and sheep; other places will definitely need them too. If we lower the price, there will definitely be people who want them."

Li Long thought that this was the only option left.

Because of the large volume, the current purchase price of beef and mutton is less than two yuan. Mutton has dropped to one yuan and seventy cents, and beef is one yuan and ninety cents to two yuan. If it is an old cow, it is one yuan and eighty cents.

Even so, every day, traders, and even herders themselves, bring their cattle and sheep roe to sell. Of course, some also bring offal, but Gu Boyuan doesn't accept it, mainly because it's difficult to store and handle. Things like liver can't be frozen at all; they'll spoil if frozen. Stomach roe can be frozen, but it's hard to negotiate a price for that, so it's more convenient to just buy the roe directly.

Li Long himself was also a bit overwhelmed. He had been busy dealing with the beef and mutton business and hadn't even had time to visit Halimu and the others in the mountains.

On December 27th, a phone call from Jia Tianlong gave Li Long a boost of spirits.

"Li Long, do you have a large amount of beef and mutton that you haven't sold yet?"

"Yes, there are indeed many, tens of thousands of kilograms," Li Long said with a wry smile. "This is a serious mess."

“I have good news for you,” Jia Tianlong said. “I have a client who buys medicinal herbs. After he heard about this, he contacted me to tell you that he’s going to come and take a look. Maybe he can buy all the beef and mutton from your area, but there’s a condition.”

"What are the conditions?" Li Long asked with a smile. "By the way, what's your friend's name?"

“His name is Sun Benchuan. His family specializes in making medicine. I sell a lot of the medicinal herbs I collect directly to him. His factory processes them and then makes them into finished medicines for sale.”

"Sun Benchuan? Is he Japanese? Why does that name sound so strange?" Li Long asked, puzzled.

"No, no, my surname is Sun, and I belong to the same generation. I'm not Japanese, I speak excellent Mandarin, and all my customs are our own, it's just that my surname is Sun."

Li Long thought about it and it made sense. He had read a book called "The Feud of Kuocang Mountain" before, whether in his previous life or this one. The main characters, the Sun brothers, were all surnamed Sun and belonged to the "Ben" generation. They were named Sun Benzhong, Sun Benhou, and so on.

You're overthinking it.

"Then tell me his conditions."

“This guy is very knowledgeable about jade. We talked on the phone recently, and I told him about that doll-shaped jade you have. He was amazed and wanted to go see it. Bye.”

"What? He doesn't have children either?"

"You already have one child, a daughter. I guess you want a son?"

"What's the big deal? Just come and pay your respects." Li Long laughed. "I trust the person you recommended."

Jia Tianlong laughed: "We're on the same side, and I'll tell you, this is my fault, I didn't keep my mouth shut. But if he really can take your cattle and sheep, that would be a good thing."

"Yes, that's definitely a good thing." Li Long thought to himself, if he could just take away all the cattle and sheep, he would be happy to have them come to worship every month.

That was settled. Because Jia Tianlong's wife was pregnant again, he wouldn't be coming this time. Instead, Sun Benchuan would lead his men to the northern frontier to find Li Long.

During dinner, Li Long shared the good news with Gu Boyuan and Gu Xiaoxia, and both of them were overjoyed.

"If that person can take all the beef and mutton, then we can really breathe a sigh of relief," Gu Boyuan said while eating. "Even if the price is a little lower, it would be fine."

The main difference is that beef and mutton are different from materials like hides and fritillaria. These materials, if handled properly, can be stored for a year or two without any problems.

However, once spring arrives, beef and mutton cannot be preserved unless they are dried.

Dried meat isn't so easy to make. With so much beef and mutton, why bother with all that fancy stuff?

Even if it's processed into dried meat, it still needs to be in demand; otherwise, it will result in a loss.

Now that someone is saying they might acquire everything, Gu Boyuan is naturally overjoyed. His psychological pressure during this period has been almost as great as Li Long's.

Gu Xiaoxia thought of a question:
"Should we keep some cattle and sheep? After all, we have to sell some to the sugar factory every year as a New Year's bonus."

"Let's wait for them to arrive before we talk about it," Li Long said with a smile. "We don't even know if we can reach an agreement yet. Right now, we just have another possible path."

“Yes, if the cooperation isn’t agreed upon and the sheep aren’t taken away, it doesn’t count for anything.” Gu Boyuan regained his composure. “We can’t lower our stance too much just to get rid of these beef and mutton.”

On the third day after New Year's Day, Sun Benchuan arrived in Ma County with an assistant and found the purchasing station.

Li Long had been spending all his time at the purchasing station lately, so when Sun Benchuan came looking for him, he happened to be there and immediately invited him to the meeting room.

Sun Benchuan was wearing a woolen overcoat, which he took off after entering the house, revealing a suit underneath.

This man, wearing glasses and with his hair neatly parted in a 3/7 ratio, looked to be around forty years old. He had a very refined appearance and seemed more like a university professor who had graduated and stayed on at the university than Gu Boyuan. He didn't look like a businessman at all.

His eyes are a bit small, and he squints from time to time. He's also not very tall, maybe 1.65 meters.

"Hello, you must be Comrade Li Long? This is Mr. Sun Benchuan," the assistant said. He was young but quite tall, about 1.75 meters. He introduced himself as Luo Liwei, a college graduate with a degree in business administration. "I came here specifically to see your jade stone, and also your cattle and sheep."

So you're only looking at jade? Are cattle and sheep just something to add on?

Li Long was somewhat surprised, but he still smiled and shook hands with Sun Benchuan: "Hello, Mr. Sun."

"Hello, hello, Comrade Li Long, it's a pleasure to meet you. Boss Jia praised you so much. I originally thought you must be a seasoned businessman, but seeing is believing. I didn't expect you to be so young. It's truly enviable." Sun Benchuan spoke with a smile, his expression and tone giving people a warm and welcoming feeling.

But Li Long felt it was a bit fake.

It looks like an act.

P.S.: It's still very hot today, but thankfully I managed to finish this chapter.

Thank you all so much for your concern. Some friends even offered to buy me an air conditioner, but I really don't need one; I already have one at home. It's just that I'm in a rather awkward situation right now. My air conditioner broke down a few days ago and stopped cooling, so I contacted customer service. They said the compressor was broken and they needed to ship a replacement from out of town—Chang'an—which wouldn't arrive until the 30th. So frustrating.

(End of this chapter)