Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1030 Advising someone to give up a secure job? Are you crazy?
Director Qian liked it very much, but he didn't eat much. After tasting two pieces, he asked Li Long to wrap them up and put them in the cupboard. Then he asked Li Long about the greenhouse.

Before the Lunar New Year, Li Long delivered some fresh vegetables to Director Qian. At the time, because there were many people, Director Qian did not ask about the details.

“The original owner of the yard I bought had researched this,” Li Long said. “Back then, he built a glass greenhouse behind the yard. But he didn’t do a good job of it before he went to work in Shanghai. Later, his father sold the house to me, and I modified the glass greenhouse, thinking it would be nice to grow vegetables in the winter.”

At first, we could only grow small bok choy and the like, but we gradually figured it out and were able to grow regular vegetables. But to be honest, it was really troublesome. After all, we had to pull up the cotton curtains covering the glass greenhouse in the morning and lower them at night. When it snowed, we had to clear the snow, add coal to the stove every day, and tend to the flowers after they grew and flowered…”

It's a real hassle, but if this thing actually grows, it's a rare find.

Li Long still remembers the surprised expressions on his older siblings' faces when those vegetables appeared on the family's New Year's Eve dinner.

Being able to eat fresh vegetables in the dead of winter makes all the hard work worthwhile. Once the greenhouses are built in a few years, Li Long won't have to work so hard to grow them anymore.

However, it seems that this process will take a long time, since the large-scale popularization of greenhouse construction in northern Xinjiang will only be possible after the "vegetable basket project" becomes widely known.

Of course, this great project has been overlooked by many, at some point. The people-centered advantages of the socialist system are widely enjoyed, yet its greatness is often overlooked.

What a socialist overgrown baby!

Li Long had many thoughts in his mind, but he was quickly brought back to reality. What Director Qian was saying at this moment was about whether the greenhouse vegetable cultivation method was feasible for widespread application.

Li Long didn't say anything because that was something the leaders had to consider. This thing needed to have a cost-effectiveness ratio for its input and output; if it didn't reach a certain profit, it wouldn't be successful.

Right now, ordinary people may not be able to afford to buy fresh vegetables in winter, since the cost of growing them is quite high, and only large-scale production can reduce the cost.

This was a digression, since the supply and marketing cooperative wasn't primarily dealing with this person, so after pondering for a few moments, Director Qian started asking Li Long about other matters.

"How do you plan to process this dried meat? Retail or wholesale? It probably won't be cheap, will it?"

“We’ll do it all,” Li Long said. “We’ve already made one batch, and two partners in other places have ordered several hundred kilograms to see how the market reacts. I have a shop in the county market, and an older woman there knows how to make this. We plan to see if we can sell this on the side when we have some free time.”

The price is indeed not low; it's twelve yuan per kilogram when sold to the local vendors. However, this is considered a high-end snack, and we use genuine ingredients, so the higher price is understandable.

"Yes, it's pure meat after all. It takes several kilograms of fresh meat to make one kilogram of jerky. It's quite good that they can accurately target the market." Director Qian nodded approvingly.

Previously, the state cooperative tried every means to open up the market in the border area and sell some of the local specialties, even if it meant providing some subsidies, but it never really worked.

Now, with Li Long around, there are already several kinds of specialty products for sale, and Li Long has even created his own, which has already been sold as soon as it was made.

People can't really be compared.

He once jokingly told Li Xiangqian that Li Long was destined for great fortune. It was just a joke at the time, but now it seems that he might actually be right.

Li Long didn't stay long with Director Qian; Director Qian was busy and didn't keep him.

Back at the vehicle depot, the jeep had been almost fully serviced and filled with gas. After saying goodbye to Xiao Si, Li Long went to the Beiting City Supply and Marketing Cooperative to deliver some gifts to Director Wei, politely declined Director Wei's invitation to stay for dinner, and then went to find Chen Hongjun.

Knowing where Chen Hongjun's house was, and with it almost time to get off work, Li Long figured he'd just wait.

Sure enough, less than ten minutes after the end of the workday, Chen Hongjun arrived on his bicycle.

Chen Hongjun also saw Li Long beside the jeep, got out of the car with a smile, and shook hands with Li Long firmly:
"Xiao Li, it's been a long time!"

"Yeah," Li Long said with a smile, "Is Brother Chen busy lately?"

"I'm not busy, I'm so idle I'm getting sick... Let's not talk about that, you haven't eaten yet, have you? Come on, come on, I'll treat you to a meal—the food at home is definitely not enough, I'll go back and tell them, and we'll eat out."

“Perfect timing, I brought you some things, leave them at home, then let’s go out,” Li Long said.

At this time, family members usually cook according to the number of people, and not much more.

So if someone suddenly comes over for dinner, then one person is destined to not have enough to eat or even go hungry.

And this person is usually the female head of the household who cooks—unlike in later times. In later times, there is a lot of takeout, and every household has some food stored in the refrigerator. Stove is also convenient, so if someone comes over and wants to add some dishes, it's quick and easy.

Cooking was a hassle at that time, and the meals were mostly rationed. If you had to cook again, it would take a long time to knead the dough and steam the rice. Most people wouldn't store noodles or anything like that.

So when Chen Hongjun said there wasn't enough food at home, he was quite frank, and most people would understand.

Li Long could understand, after all, he had encountered unexpected situations before, and he didn't want to be an unexpected person in the Chen family.

If the leftovers can be heated up and eaten in the afternoon, what if that's not enough? Wouldn't I become the disliked person?
"You only need to bring the person, why did you bring anything else?" Chen Hongjun complained.

"I've come up with something new over there, so I'm bringing it over for you guys to try," Li Long said with a smile. "I guarantee you've never had anything like it before."

When they arrived at the Chen family's house, Li Long took out the items, which were indeed very attractive.

Forget about the dried meat, the tomatoes and chili peppers alone are tempting enough.

The Chen family originally had a very good impression of Li Long. Without Li Long, they would still be living in those bungalows a mile or two away. How could they possibly move into this big courtyard?
Although shoveling snow in the courtyard was a bit of a hassle this winter, it was still much better than living in a single-story house.

Each family member has their own room, which is comfortable, private, and spacious—how wonderful!
So when Li Long arrived, the whole family was very welcoming, including the children who had just finished school, who all greeted him as "Uncle" and poured him water.

Originally, Chen Hongjun's wife was going to serve Li Long a meal, but Chen Hongjun himself said that he was going to take Li Long out to eat and told his wife not to worry about them.

"Then let's eat something good. Don't just eat noodles. Order a few dishes. Although we can't drink much at noon, we can still have a few good dishes," Chen Hongjun's wife said.

"Okay, I understand," Chen Hongjun replied, and led Li Long out.

"Is this dried meat? It smells delicious." After everyone left, Chen Hongjun's mother's eyes fell on the bag of dried meat. "Come on, let's try some."

Chen Hongjun's wife, however, focused her attention on the vegetables, thinking how wonderful it was to be able to eat such fresh vegetables in the dead of winter.

As for dried meat, Li Long brought quite a lot, so he can savor it slowly.

Chen Hongjun took Li Long to the restaurant they had visited before. He asked Li Long to sit down while he went to order.

Li Long didn't insist on eating noodles. He could tell that Chen Hongjun wanted to talk to him. If they were eating noodles, they wouldn't have many minutes to chat.

Chen Hongjun ordered rice, braised pork, and spicy chicken, as well as a bottle of wine.

"Didn't you say you wouldn't drink at noon? You still have to go to work this afternoon, right, Brother Chen?" Li Long was a little surprised.

"It's okay, a little bit won't affect anything. These days, there's not much difference between working and not working. There's not much to do in the middle of winter anyway." Chen Hongjun said, taking the two freshly washed cups from the waiter. "You don't know, actually now... well, how should I put it, I just feel like this job is meaningless."

Li Long actually understood. After all, he had experienced so much in his previous life, how could he not know? In those news reports and anecdotes, leaders were idle and felt empty after retirement. And in his own team, after the cooperative was established, those who handed over their land to the cooperative had nothing to do all day but play cards and mahjong. Wasn't it the same thing?
In the early days of the cooperative, because mechanization was not yet complete, many people could still work in the cooperative—receiving dividends at the end of the year was part of the money, and working in the cooperative also earned them extra income, which was great.

But with the advancement of technology, the cotton-growing techniques in the cooperative became more and more advanced, and eventually there were no more jobs available. Some people who had worked for half their lives turned to other jobs, such as cutting bitter beans, picking wheat, and gathering corn. They could even ride electric tricycles for more than ten kilometers to pick up the leftover potatoes left in the fields after others had finished harvesting.

With large-scale planting and mechanized harvesting, there are actually a lot of crops left in the fields. As long as you are willing to work hard, you can harvest quite a lot in a summer and autumn.

Selling it for several thousand yuan is no problem.

Even if you don't sell them, the crops you collect are good for people to eat or for feeding chickens, sheep, and pigs. Some people can't handle hard work, so they play cards and mahjong in the village, and soon they get sick—once you give up on labor, it's hard to pick it up again.

On the contrary, those who have been working all the time seem to be in good health. Some are even over eighty years old and can still ride electric bikes to set up nets to catch fish... Okay, wrong topic.

Therefore, Li Long could understand this feeling. It is said that Chen Hongjun was originally the station manager of the purchasing station. He was the leader of the group, and he led everyone to collect goods and assign tasks. There was work to be done.

He also has a strong will.

Now that he's in the prefecture, he's doing office work, spending half the day with just a cup of tea and a newspaper—some people dream of such leisure, but for Chen Hongjun, it's a bit of a letdown, and he's extremely unaccustomed to it.

That's why he's in a bad mood.

“Have you thought about this?” Li Long joked, “Go out and do something else, and I guarantee you’ll be so busy you won’t even have time to think about these things.”

"Going out to do something?" Chen Hongjun was taken aback. "Going out to do what?"

"That depends on what you want to do." Li Long didn't touch his wine glass, but took a sip of tea and said casually, "There are many opportunities for development now. You can go back to your old business of running a recycling station, or you can start a small business. If all else fails, find some connections to get a license to collect scrap metal. If you open a scrap metal recycling station, you can earn a living of ten thousand yuan."

"Really? Is it really possible to make that much money?" Chen Hongjun's eyes darted around, showing interest.

Li Long suddenly realized that his joke had gone a bit too far, and Chen Hongjun seemed to have taken it seriously!
He looked at Chen Hongjun:

"Brother Chen, you wouldn't..."

"Tell me about it first," Chen Hongjun said, adding some tea to Li Long's cup. "Consider it clearing up my doubts. As you know, after returning from the county, I became a government employee. I know things are developing very fast outside, but I don't know much about specific opportunities, and I don't have many channels to find out."

Li Long suddenly thought of a word and tentatively asked:

"Leave without pay?"

"You know?" Chen Hongjun was a little surprised, then thought about Li Long's connections and laughed self-deprecatingly, "Yes, you're not the same Li Long you used to be, it's not surprising that you know these things. Yes, I have this idea... I haven't told my family yet."

"Are there any real things to do in order to make money?" Li Long continued to ask more probing questions.

“A little bit of both,” Chen Hongjun said. “My family isn’t exactly short of money, but to be honest, seeing everyone else making money makes me quite envious. Also, I really want to find something concrete to do; life right now is just… so boring.”

“Then I’m telling the truth,” Li Long said. “Take the purchasing station for example. If you’re going to do that, the initial investment is a yard and manpower. As for the paperwork, I think it should be easy for you, Brother Chen. Renting a large yard would only cost a few hundred yuan a year; as for manpower, finding a diligent person would only cost a few hundred yuan a year…”

All that's left is the initial working capital. A few thousand yuan should be enough to get things started. As long as sales are fast and cash flow is quick, it'll be a virtuous cycle… If you can get it up and running, even on a small scale, earning a few hundred or a thousand yuan a month, breaking even in six months, and then starting to make money is quite easy.”

He looked at Chen Hongjun and said seriously:
“Especially you, Brother Chen. You have the connections now, and everything you buy has a place to go. Plus, you have experience working under you, so you can tell the quality of the items you buy. The only thing you need to get used to in a short time is the price—the price is different now than before, but you can figure that out in half a day from me.”

After hearing what Li Long said, Chen Hongjun really started to consider doing it.

After all, Li Long's explanation was too simplistic, while Chen Hongjun genuinely possessed such connections and experience.

"Then... what about a scrap metal recycling station?" Chen Hongjun barely managed to suppress the idea of ​​opening a recycling station right away. He couldn't come up with the few thousand yuan of working capital.

I suppose it would be easier at a scrap metal recycling station?

"It's incredibly profitable," Li Long exclaimed. "It's just a bit dirty and tiring, and the reputation isn't good."

In later generations, not just anyone can open a scrap metal recycling station; the qualifications required for that thing will exclude the vast majority of people.

Thanks to the development of the internet, people now know that scrap metal recycling stations can make money, but many don't know how—it's simply a matter of buying low and selling high.

Li Long wasn't entirely sure, but he knew it was very profitable.

Chen Hongjun was indeed frightened by the shortcomings that Li Long pointed out.

Indeed, it doesn't have a good reputation.

"anything else?"

"Stationery stores, snack shops, clothing stores... as long as you're willing to work hard and seriously understand the market, you can make money by opening any of these stores now. To put it bluntly, in the current market, you can make money by simply renting a storefront in a high-traffic area and opening a small restaurant."

There are many people in the village, and there are many clashes of ideas. So, whenever there is a business opportunity that can make money, many people will think about it and try to do it, for fear that others will beat them to it.

Because of the small population and limited access to information in northern Xinjiang, even industries that have already made money and attracted a large influx of people, and have even become blue ocean markets, may not have become popular yet.

At this time, there are plenty of opportunities, but many people lack the capital and hesitate to take action, while others want to do it but lack the experience and ultimately fail.

Very few, really very few.

Chen Hongjun stood there in a daze, not even reacting when the waiter brought the dishes over. It was Li Long who took them and arranged them properly.

“Brother Chen, if you really want to do this, I think you should start a purchasing station.” Seeing that Chen Hongjun was really interested, Li Long said, “You have connections and experience. If you don’t have enough working capital, I have some. I can lend you some first.”

"As long as you recruit the people and complete the formalities, you can catch a wave of spring leather harvesting this spring. Zhao Hui will come to buy the leather then, and you can recoup your investment in less than a month... It's a very fast way to make money."

If Li Long were to give Chen Hongjun advice, he would genuinely hope that Chen would open a purchasing station.

Chen Hongjun also runs a business in Beiting, so there won't be much competition between them. He genuinely hopes that Chen Hongjun can succeed—otherwise, he will truly be overlooked.

If Chen Hongjun were to run a purchasing station business, he might not necessarily be better off than me, but he should at least be able to become a multi-millionaire in a year.

Li Long earned his first sum of money after his rebirth from Chen Hongjun, and later Chen Hongjun took good care of him at the purchasing station. When Li Long left Ma County to open his own purchasing station, Chen Hongjun even introduced him to some connections.

If we say that Li Long has the advantage of a rebirth, Chen Hongjun's help has played an indispensable role in this.

Therefore, Li Long felt that if Chen Hongjun really wanted to start a business, he would definitely lend a hand.

Chen Hongjun was still somewhat hesitant.

He always felt that staying in his current government office meant that the things he had to do all day could be finished in half an hour or an hour, and the rest of the time would be boring.

At first, I felt relaxed, but later I really felt like I was wasting my life.

He is still young and it's not time for him to retire yet. He also has his own ambitions. Since he can't do anything about getting promoted, he would rather make a breakthrough in other areas of his career.

But when it came to actually making a decision, Chen Hongjun hesitated again.

A secure job, something so many people dream of, are you really going to give it up like this?
Will my family agree? What will others think?
"If you're looking for people, I suggest you don't ask your former colleagues," Li Long continued, unaware of Chen Hongjun's thoughts. "You two were in a superior-subordinate relationship, but once you start your own business, you'll be in a boss-employee relationship. You might be able to adapt, but they might not. It's better to find some hardworking young men from the local area..."

Chen Hongjun could tell that Li Long's advice was all sound and reasonable.

His most important concern right now isn't any of that, but rather—can he make this decision?
　感谢书友书友20190116113038278、书友202508091137、书友20171009213952189、书友20250323094857358、埌边闲人、爱书如爱包子、轩辕文峰、书友20250317212913280等的打赏，感谢大家的订阅、月票和推荐票。

　　
　
(End of this chapter)