Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1042 Ever since the supply and marketing cooperative cadre found the jade in the mountains...

Li Long is overthinking it.

As Li Xiangqian walked towards his bicycle at Beishanjiao, he told Li Long that he didn't need to prepare anything, as the supply and marketing cooperative here would provide support in all aspects.

He only needed to coordinate with the herders, including providing lunch and drinks, tools for work, contacting propaganda personnel, vehicles for work, and personnel coordination.

Li Long was immediately delighted, as it saved him a lot of trouble.

He had no intention of being sidelined or not being given important responsibilities; the less he had to do right now, the better.

Li Xiangqian was unaware of Li Long's thoughts. Perhaps worried that Li Long wouldn't understand, he specifically explained a few words to Li Long when he secured the ibex horns to the back of the bicycle:

“It’s not that we don’t need you to do these things. There are so many people in our supply and marketing cooperative, we can’t just make you stand out. Of course, everyone knows you are capable, but everyone has their own responsibilities. You just need to play your role as a liaison for ethnic unity.”

Li Long was naturally happy to have some free time. He said goodbye to Li Xiangqian and drove his jeep back to the compound.

As Li Long passed by the purchasing station, he noticed that there were more people there. He figured they were probably doing something similar to Meng Hai and the others: taking out things they didn't need from their homes and houses to exchange for money, and then using the money to buy agricultural supplies.

Gu Boyuan had told him about this, so the agricultural supply store in the purchasing station reopened. Gu Boyuan was in charge of collecting goods, while Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng worked at the counters of the agricultural supply store, selling goods and keeping accounts.

For this reason, Gu Boyuan reconnected with his old connections and specially sent several truckloads of agricultural supplies. He is now very wealthy, and agricultural supplies have a long shelf life, so he is not worried about any problems with storing them.

Those who come to sell their goods are happy to save themselves trouble, mainly because they are from the county. After selling their goods, they immediately buy agricultural supplies without having to travel far.

Gu Boyuan mainly listened to Li Long's advice in order to increase foot traffic, so he earned little money and had low profits in the agricultural materials sector, but he did build up the reputation of the purchasing station.

So now there's a long queue for selling things, and a long queue for buying agricultural supplies. It's not just people selling things who are buying agricultural supplies; other people are also buying them.

Li Long only glanced at it and didn't go over to help. He had his own things to do—he had worked hard all morning and could finally rest.

Two days later, when Li Long drove his Jeep to the supply and marketing cooperative to meet up, he found that Ma Xiaoyan was already there.

When Ma Xiaoyan saw Li Long get out of the car, she took the initiative to go up to him, greet him, and ask about the situation in the mountains.

Upon learning that 30 kilometers of road had already been repaired, Ma Xiaoyan was visibly surprised. She truly hadn't expected Li Long to organize the road repair efforts so quickly!
After her initial surprise, Ma Xiaoyan asked about other things, including the supply of meat to Yanjing in winter.

“I was studying in Wucheng at the time, and I found out about this a bit late. What a pity, such great material!” Ma Xiaoyan lamented. She thought that if this article could have been written, it would definitely have been published in the Northern Xinjiang Daily, and might even have made the front page.

The power of the front page is immense; if I had actually made it, I might have even been promoted a level—what a pity.

Her gaze towards Li Long kept changing, but she never expected that Li Long would cause such a big incident while she was at training.

So the previous idea was correct: the closer the connection with Li Long, the more news material there would be.

This was an official task, so Li Xiangqian contacted her superior directly. The superior knew that Ma Xiaoyan had been following this matter, so he assigned it to her.

Li Long watched as some logistics staff loaded things onto the truck—tools, naan bread, pickled vegetables, and the like—and others came out to sign in. It seemed that the process of going into the mountains was becoming more and more organized.

It's just unclear whether these people went there willingly or were on a mission.

Li Xiangqian asked a few people about their positions, and after everyone had arrived, he gave a brief pep talk and then organized them to board the bus.

After taking a few photos, Ma Xiaoyan got into Li Long's jeep. After Li Xiangqian got in, Li Long drove them into the mountains.

When they entered the mountains, Li Long saw the tracks left by the Dongfanghong 75 tractor on the road. He wondered if Meng Hai and the others had already entered the mountains and started working.
Halim and his group were still washing sheep, which was their main task for the past few days. When Li Long arrived with two trucks, Halim and his group were not surprised. Yushanjiang and his men came over to welcome their friends from afar.

Li Xiangqian and Ma Xiaoyan both knew where to stand at this moment, to take photos when necessary, and to speak when appropriate.

Because the road had already been built 30 kilometers into the mountains, Li Xiangqian and his group only made a brief stop here before continuing their journey.

Before setting off, Yushanjiang had already told Li Long:
"That Meng Hai has already gone to repair the road with his men, there are about thirty or forty of them."

"Let's slaughter more sheep today," Li Long said. "Let's slaughter four sheep."

It's impossible for the people from the supply and marketing cooperative to eat mutton while the people from Qingshuihe Village eat dry bread at lunchtime, is it?
“Okay.” Yu Shanjiang naturally had no objection and said with a smile, “The place where you are working is too far away. I will ride a horse and take people there to slaughter sheep and make meat later.”

“Sure, this time Director Li and the others brought big pots, so we can cook the meat right here at the road construction site,” Li Long said. “Should I come back and bring the sheep over?”

"No, let's not. Your cart is for carrying people; if you're carrying sheep, the smell will be too strong!" Yu Shanjiang waved his hand. "We'll ride horses over later!"

As the convoy drove into the mountains, Li Long saw that there were indeed some places along the way that had been washed away by floods and then repaired.

Clearly, Meng Hai and his team acted swiftly.

When they caught up with Meng Hai and his group, about 20 kilometers from Dongwozi, they got out of the car and were repairing a section of road that had been washed away by the flood. The roadbed was on the riverbank. Although it had been raised and thickened, it was located in a river bend, and the flood was so strong that it washed away the repaired roadbed, leaving it less than a meter wide.

This is a huge project, so Meng Hai and his team haven't finished it yet.

Li Long saw two small four-wheeled tractors parked ahead, and he understood why so many people could come and drive so fast.

The Dongfanghong Seventy Fang should have arrived earlier; right now, bulldozers are being used to push Gobi stones across the dry riverbed after the water has receded.

"Alright, alright, get down and get to work!" After getting out of the truck, Li Xiangqian looked around and knew that the work wouldn't be finished anytime soon, so he simply shouted to the supply and marketing cooperative cadres and employees who were still waiting on the truck, "Hurry up! We're not here for a vacation!"

His shout immediately brought everyone down, and each person grabbed a tool and got ready to work.

The section of roadbed that was washed away is thirty or forty meters long. Tractors can push the stones and sand from the riverbank over, but leveling and repairing it still requires human labor.

Li Xiangqian's organizational and coordination skills are definitely not a problem. Seeing that the villagers of Qingshuihe Village were working in sections, he immediately directed his people to start working from another direction, rushing from both sides to the middle.

The Dongfanghong 75 tractor stopped briefly, and Meng Hai poked half his body out from the driver's door. Li Long waved to him and shouted:
"Let's get to work first, we'll talk about it later!"

Meng Hai heard this, nodded, and went back to driving the tractor.

There are tractors pushing stones and sand, and the main job of the workers is to level the ground and shape the road.

There were also twenty or thirty people next to the supply and marketing cooperative. Although some of them worked in offices, most of them had been trained in the countryside. Not to mention going to the countryside or anything like that, Ma County itself is a small county, and many departments deal with rural areas a lot.

So these people are no strangers to these jobs. Although their movements are not as skilled as those of the people in Qingshuihe Village, they at least do them properly.

In less than an hour, the roadbed was completed, and everyone put down their tools. At this moment, Meng Hai got off the tractor and greeted Li Xiangqian and the others.

We had worked together last year, so some of the staff and villagers knew each other. They greeted each other and chatted.

Some female employees went to the river to wash their hands, and at that time they were quite concerned about their image.

Ma Xiaoyan was still busy at this time. She wanted to film the scene of Meng Hai talking with Li Xiangqian and Li Long, which would be used as material.

Whether it will be useful or not is another matter, but I'll take a picture and save it for later.

What if it comes in handy?

“Ahead, there are a few more sections that have been washed away like this, but none of them are as badly damaged,” Meng Hai said. “You guys go ahead first, I’m going to use a tractor to compact the road here, so it’s flat and solid, and then you can follow.”

“Let’s focus on repairing these roadbeds today,” Li Long said. “We don’t need to rush, we need to ensure quality. But don’t put too much pressure on yourself; this road is being built on a riverbank, so these kinds of situations are inevitable.” “If we put more large stones along the roadbed on this side of the river to protect it, the damage will be less when floods come,” Li Xiangqian suggested. “There are still some large stones nearby.”

"Then let's pick them up later." Meng Hai thought this was a good suggestion.

Li Long looked around; it wasn't the place where he had found the large jade stone. Thank goodness.

If it's there, then the large jade stone I found is probably doomed. It seems I'll have to find time to take it out, transport it away, and store it away.

Otherwise, if that thing is right by the roadside, it's bound to be easily spotted.

Li Xiangqian called over several section chiefs and assigned them tasks.

Meng Hai suggested that these people only needed to move the large rocks to the riverbank, and he would handle the rest with his tractor.

Li Xiangqian did not refuse; if there is mechanical power, then human power should not be wasted.

Anyway, we just need to provide some oil here—the truck already has a barrel of diesel on it.

Soon, the cadres, staff, and villagers, who had rested for a while, began searching for large stones with laughter and chatter. Many of them weighed over ten kilograms, and the people who found them carried them directly to the roadside.

For the larger ones that were too difficult to carry, they were pried out with crowbars, rolled onto the riverbank, and then pushed to the roadside by Meng Hai in a tractor. They were then arranged by hand and placed on the roadside.

There were many stones on the riverbank, and some were in the shallow water. Whether they were cadres, workers, or villagers, no one minded going into the water; they simply waded through the shallow water and moved the stones out.

Some female employees even rushed to move stones in the shallow water because it was closer. Otherwise, they would have had to go to the more distant riverbank to move them—at this time, the atmosphere for working was quite good, with a sense of urgency.

"Ouch!" Suddenly, a female employee cried out in surprise, and the stone in her hand fell into the water, splashing up a spray of water.

"Xiao Li, what's wrong?" Zhou Yuan called out and quickly walked over.

Li Fengxia, an employee of the supply and marketing procurement department, is a vocational school graduate who was assigned here last year.

"I think... I found a piece of jade!" Li Fengxia, blushing, pointed to a two- or three-kilogram stone in the river, realizing she had made quite a commotion. "I don't know if it is..."

Others gathered around, and Li Long, who was nearby, walked over, took a look, and said with a smile:

"Luckily, a standard Mahe jade, very good!"

It's a relatively ordinary piece of jade with black spots, and about one-third of it has its outer skin. Because it's half submerged and half exposed, and has been soaked in water for years, the outside isn't dirty, so it's clearly visible.

"Xiao Li, you're incredibly lucky!" another employee exclaimed. "This piece of jade must be worth at least a hundred yuan, right?"

"Exactly! That's jade!" another person exclaimed enviously. "I wish I could find some..."

"Me too... it's a coincidence..." Li Fengxia was a little at a loss. She was of average appearance and work ability, and was basically invisible in her workplace. Now that she had become the focus of attention, she was obviously a little uncomfortable.

"Alright, alright, get back to work. Xiao Li, pick up your jade and put it in Li Long's car. You can get it back on the way back." Zhou Yuan came over to help her subordinate out of the predicament. "Everyone, get to work quickly. You can also go to the river during your lunch break; maybe you can find some there. Now, get back to work!"

As Li Xiangqian's right-hand man, Zhou Yuan's words carried considerable weight. After he said that, the others had nothing more to say and slowly dispersed.

Li Fengxia picked up the jade stone, rinsed it in the water a few times to remove the sand, and then walked towards Li Long.

"Comrade Li Long, I'll have to trouble you..."

"It's alright, give it to me." Li Long took the jade and put it in the car.

Li Fengxia is really lucky. She made a profit on the first day of work this year. Isn't that a good omen?
Because someone found jade, everyone had an idea, and more and more people started moving stones to the riverbank. Some even braved the danger and went into the water, which was knee-deep, before being scolded by Li Xiangqian and brought back.

The villagers of Qingshuihe Village were also whispering among themselves. They had heard that such a stone was worth a hundred or so yuan, and they were obviously thinking about whether they could pick one up.

Pick up a piece, and most of the agricultural supplies for the spring will be taken care of.

To the disappointment of these people, no one else discovered the jade until this section of the roadbed was completely covered by large stones as a retaining wall.

So they had no choice but to continue forward.

The next section of roadbed to be repaired is about 500 to 600 meters away. The damaged section is relatively short, and less than a third of the roadbed has been washed away. Li Long and his team discussed it and decided to leave some people here to work while the others continued forward.

Li Long continued forward, or rather, the people from the supply and marketing cooperative continued forward, while Meng Hai and his men followed behind.

Nearly a kilometer ahead, the gap was even smaller, and it wasn't washed away by floods on the riverbank, but by floods coming down from the other side of the mountain.

If constructed according to standard procedures, a bridge, a culvert, or a concrete pavement should be built here for flooding.

But none of that is realistic right now.

Li Long and Li Xiangqian discussed it, and then Li Xiangqian led his men to build a makeshift flood-crossing road here.

The area above where the water flows was dug into the shape of a ditch, so that if water comes again, it will flow directly through the ditch.

Here, a gentle slope and shallow trough are pressed into the middle of the road surface and protected with large stones. This way, even if a large torrent of water rushes down from the mountain, it won't wash away the mud and sand of the roadbed. With the large stones acting as a buffer, the water flow is slowed down and then flows away along the shallow trough.

If the shallow section is widened, it will resemble a concrete flood-prone road. This way, although the road will have a slope, at least when water comes down, it won't be washed away.

To Li Long's surprise, while digging ditches on the hillside, another worker unearthed a piece of jade—this piece was smaller, about the size of an adult's fist, but of better quality.

This discovery excited the staff even more, and they worked even harder, digging more carefully, all wondering if they would be the next lucky one.
However, even after Yushanjiang and his group arrived on horseback with sheep, and after they finished repairing the road, no one else found any jade. But one villager found a piece of agate the size of two fists in the riverbed. Although the quality wasn't very good, it was still quite nice.

Watching Yushanjiang and the others skillfully skinning sheep on the riverbank, while the logistics personnel and a few villagers gathered firewood to build a simple stone stove, the topic of conversation among the workers shifted from jade to lunch.

The work is tiring, but it's nice to be able to have a good meal when you're tired.

Four sheep, that's an average of one sheep for thirteen or fourteen people—can they possibly finish eating that many?
I'm going to have a delicious meal today!

The happiest people were naturally the villagers. They could get paid and eat good food to fill their bellies. How could they not be happy?
They worked even harder.

Li Long had been observing the area the whole way. He found the place where he had previously discovered the jade. The roadbed there was stable and had not been damaged.

It shouldn't be discovered anytime soon.

So we'll talk about that later.

Meng Hai drove the tractor at the very back, making sure to press down the repaired sections and the parts that hadn't yet withstood the test, so that the road could at least serve a purpose when Halimu and his men moved their farms.

According to Li Long, the relocation will take place in half a month. In the next half month, they don't know if they can build a 10-kilometer road into the mountains.

Hopefully it will work.
"Alright, everyone put down your tools, wash up, and get ready to eat!" When the meat was cooked, Li Xiangqian looked at the sky; it was almost lunchtime.

He was getting tired, so he stopped insisting and gestured for Zhou Yuan to shout something.

Some people are even reluctant to put down their tools—they are currently digging sand and gravel in the riverbed, who knows if the next shovel will unearth a piece of jade?

(End of this chapter)