Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1046 Farming good land can lead to wealth.
When Li Long arrived at the fourth production team, the sun was already setting. He really just wanted to check on the state of his family's land. After all, his household registration was still in the countryside, he still owned land, and his true identity was still that of a farmer.

Although he handed over all the land to his elder brother, and stopped caring about what to plant last year, he is still a country person at heart and felt it was necessary to come back and take a look.

When the jeep drove into the yard, my mother, Du Chunfang, was sitting in front of the stove, tending the fire. Steamed buns were being made on the stove in the yard, with steam rising slowly from the three-tiered bamboo steamer.

Du Chunfang grinned when she saw the jeep return.

After Li Long got out of the car, she asked:

"Xiaolong, why did you suddenly decide to come back now? Haohao clearly isn't back yet?"

"No, I came back to see what everyone's busy with at home. Is my older brother plowing the fields? Where's my dad?"

"Yes, Juan's dad went to plow the fields. Your old man went to Xiaohaizi to cast his net. He still has the net with him. If you come back a little later today, you should be able to bring back some fish."

As they were talking, Liang Yuemei, the eldest sister-in-law, came out of the house carrying a prepared dish. Li Long saw that it was shredded potatoes, scallions, garlic, and other ingredients.

"Sister-in-law, are you getting ready to make dinner?" Li Long asked.

"Yes, your older brother didn't eat much at noon before rushing off to plow the fields. I'll steam some buns and stir-fry some vegetables, then ride my bike to deliver them to him."

If you're free, you can have dinner here.

"Then I'll just deliver it to my brother," Li Long said with a smile. "A Jeep is definitely faster than a bicycle. Is my brother this busy right now? Can't he even eat properly?"

“People are urging us every day,” Liang Yuemei said helplessly. “Wang the miser is reluctant to buy a new machine. His tractor breaks down several times a day when he’s plowing the fields.”

The machine you bought for your brother is new, it's not broken. Your older brother is very reliable at plowing, he plows as deep as people tell him to, so everyone in the team comes to him. Now it's the crucial time for sowing, and the whole team's two or three thousand acres of land are counting on this machine..."

"Have we planted all our land yet?" Knowing that his sister-in-law was going to cook, Li Long went to light the fire under the other stove and sat in front of the pot, asking as he tended the fire, "We have quite a bit of land."

"They've planted everything. Corn, sunflowers, watermelons, you name it. Your brother said with you here, the watermelon seeds should fetch a good price."

"Our team has more land per person, unlike back home. If we farm hard, we can make money and live a good life."

That makes sense.

Liang Yuemei finished cooking the dishes, and the steamed buns were ready to be steamed as well. She and Du Chunfang both told Li Long to finish his meal before sending the food over, but Li Long said he wasn't hungry and urged his sister-in-law to pack the food up so he could send it to his brother right away.

Liang Yuemei wrapped four large steamed buns in a cloth, then filled a porcelain basin with more than half a basin of stir-fried potato shreds, covered it, and tied it tightly with the cloth. She also took two pairs of chopsticks and a plastic tea basket, and put all of these into a willow basket. Li Long took them and put them on the back seat of the jeep. He said goodbye to his mother and sister-in-law, and drove to the fields.

According to Liang Yuemei, Li Jianguo was sowing seeds in the field by the seed ditch to the east at this time. The roads to the east of the village were all dirt roads, and Li Long didn't dare to drive too fast, for fear of splashing the vegetable juice in the enamel basin.

When we arrived at the field, we could see the tractor roaring and billowing black smoke as it pulled the seeder forward from afar. In early spring, the vegetation hadn't fully grown yet, and the soil was very dusty, making it look like a little demon riding a whirlwind from Journey to the West.

When the tractor, carrying the seeder, returned to the field after making a round, Li Long saw his older brother, Li Jianguo, looking disheveled in the driver's cab.

He was truly covered in dust and dirt; his hair, eyebrows, and unshaven beard were all covered in fine dust particles. There were two black spots below his nostrils, which were dust particles that had been inhaled and stuck to his skin when they protruded.

The landlord operating the seed drill behind him looked exactly the same, almost indistinguishable from the real person. Li Long looked closely and realized it was Old Man Qin from the team.

Li Jianguo stopped the tractor, saw Li Long wave the basket in his hand, then got up from his seat, leaned out of the cab, and shouted:

"We'll finish the broadcast after one more round. Come back for dinner when it's over!"

Li Long waited at the edge of the field, and when the tractor returned more than ten minutes later, the land was considered cleared.

The tractor pulled up to the side of the road, and Old Qin gathered the remaining half-bag of seeds from the seeder, tied it up, put it on the back of his bicycle, said goodbye to Li Long and Li Jianguo, and left.

Li Long originally wanted to invite him to eat together, but he didn't expect the guy to run away so quickly, probably because he wanted to go back and wash up as soon as possible.

After Li Jianguo got out of the car, he pulled out half a cage of water from the driver's cab and said to Li Long:
"Xiaolong, come and pour me some water, I'm going to wash my face."

“It’s time to wash it,” Li Long said with a smile as he took the cage and poured water. “If we don’t wash it, it will look like a terracotta warrior, covered in dirt.”

"What can we do? This is the job we do." Li Jianguo smiled, bent down to get water, and washed the dirt off his face and eyebrows. "There's nothing else, just dirt."

"In a couple of years, we'll be able to buy a high-horsepower wheeled tractor. The cab is well-sealed, so even if there's a sandstorm, the dust won't get in," Li Long said as he slowly watered the tractor. "We have them now, but they're too expensive; they're all imported."

"This is good enough." After washing up, Li Jianguo took the towel that Li Long had prepared, wiped his hands, and said, "Wang the money-grubber wants our tractor, but he can't get it."

"It's not that you can't get it, it's that you're unwilling to spend the money to buy it, right?" Li Long felt that Wang Caimi had definitely earned enough money in the past few years to buy it, but having enough money to buy it and being willing to spend the money to buy it are two different things.

The two brothers ate their meal on the hood of the jeep, chatting as they ate.

“The team has cleared nearly a thousand acres of wasteland from last year to this year,” Li Jianguo said while eating. “You can only make money if you have more land. Everyone is gradually understanding this principle. I want to clear more wasteland. Anyway, as long as it doesn’t exceed fifty acres, the team can make a decision. I’m thinking of clearing several dozen acres after these lands are ready for planting.”

"You have so much land at home, can you manage to cultivate it all?" Li Long asked with some doubt, since it's not fully mechanized yet, and with so much land, a lot of manual labor is needed.

Unlike forty years later, cotton cultivation has largely abandoned manual labor. Even herbicides are specially formulated; after application, the cotton plants survive, but all other weeds die. Spraying is done either in large tanks or using drones.

During harvest, cotton pickers are used directly, and there are even specialized machines for threshing the cotton stalks.

Those who initially contributed their land to the cooperative could work there and earn double the money. But in the end, they could only tend to their own vegetable gardens, or raise sheep, chickens, or pigs. Otherwise, it felt like they were just waiting to die, as there was no more farm work they could do.

Even in northern Xinjiang, farming is still considered a labor-intensive occupation, requiring a large workforce to solve various problems.

"Most of the time we use tractors and small four-wheelers. We're very busy, so we find a few short-term workers directly from the team or the county."

Old Wang's family, who owns the most land in our team, has even started hiring farmhands in the last two years.

Li Long's attention has been focused on the purchasing station for the past two years, and he is unaware that reclaiming wasteland has become fashionable in the team.

The Wang family, who reclaimed the most land, applied directly to the township government last year and this year, each time for two or three hundred acres.

The land was being reclaimed in an area far from residential areas, where there were no roads or water. He used Li Jianguo's tractor to plow out a ditch and create an irrigation canal.

They built a small house directly on the wasteland, where people lived and worked.

Those plots of land were more than two or three kilometers away from the residential area, which was too far, and mainly because there was no road access, so Li Long didn't take a liking to them.

Unexpectedly, the Wang family was quite bold; after clearing the land, they planted winter wheat directly at the end of last year.

"How's the wheat growing?" Li Long asked while eating.

"It's pretty good," Li Jianguo said with some envy. "Those fields used to grow bitter beans and licorice. The land is good, but it's too far away. It's quite troublesome for tractors to get there. Last year when he asked me to plow the land, he even charged me extra."

After the reform and opening up, many people's desire to get rich became open. Rural people don't really have many ways to make money and get rich. The biggest advantage of the Fourth Production Team is that it has a lot of wasteland, and there are quite a few people who want to make money from it.

Before the two brothers had finished their meal, another family who were going to plant seeds arrived in a donkey cart loaded with seeds and fertilizer. Li Jianguo quickly stuffed the steamed bun in his hand into his mouth and swallowed it. He told Li Long to tidy up the place, and then went with the landlord's family to load the seeds and fertilizer into the planter.

Li Long didn't tell his older brother, Li Jianguo, about dealing in beef and mutton because his brother's mind was entirely on farming. With that Dongfanghong 75 tractor, they practically monopolized the land in the fourth production team, earning quite a bit each year.

Of course it will be a bit tough. Also, in Li Long's opinion, his older brother's personality is not suitable for doing business. He is too concerned about his image and can't stand being praised by others, so he should stick to his old profession.

It was already dark when they returned to the county. In Li Long's jeep, there was a half-basin of peeled crucian carp. These were caught by old man Li Qingxia from the small lake; he wanted Li Long to take them back and fry them.

Li Long didn't really like fried crucian carp, so he thought he'd just stew the fish when he got home that night. Stewing would be so much tastier!

Of course, the most important thing is that I need to go to the transportation company early tomorrow morning to rent a car and then take it to the forestry team to pick up goods.

"What? No vehicles?" Li Long was a little surprised to hear the reply from the transportation company. They didn't realize that there was a shortage of vehicles here!
"Since the beginning of spring this year, our company has been in short supply of vehicles. We have been hiring vehicles to transport goods every day, and there are also various tasks assigned by the county. Today, most of the vehicles were booked before yesterday. There is really nothing we can do."

Li Long is a long-time customer. They had already established a relationship when the transportation company first expanded into private business. Li Long's response to Li Long was polite, and his explanation was quite detailed.

There were no cars available, so Li Long had no choice but to call the supply and marketing cooperative after thinking for a while.

He didn't want to use the official vehicle for personal purposes unless absolutely necessary, but he had made a promise to someone at this point, so he couldn't do anything about it. Fortunately, the supply and marketing cooperative still had two trucks. Li Xiangqian symbolically charged twenty yuan for the rental fee and sent one of the trucks to Li Long.

Driving from the county to the forestry team, Li Long could clearly feel that the road conditions were much better than before. A section in the middle had been paved with asphalt, and most of the rest was covered with gravel. On the walls of some houses along the road, there were slogans painted that read, "To get rich, build roads first; have fewer children, plant more trees."

Putting everything else aside, we really should get this road repair done.

To Li Long's surprise, Captain Ai Li of the forestry team was waiting by the roadside and waved vigorously when he saw the truck.

Obviously, Polati told Airi about this yesterday, and Airi started making preparations in advance.

After Li Long got out of the car, he shook hands with him, and Ellie said with a hint of complaint:
"Comrade Li Long, you've made money, but you've forgotten your friends? You're not coming here anymore? This won't do!"

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," Li Long explained with a smile, "I've been busy since last winter, I've hardly had a moment to spare. I haven't even been able to farm my land, I've just been so busy..."

"Alright, alright, what can we do when we're friends?" Ellie was just joking, and it's normal to have a little grumbling, but her approval of Li Long was genuine.

They brought Li Long to the warehouse, where Li Long saw that the door was already open and several young men were waiting at the entrance. As soon as the captain gave the order, they started moving things out.

Li Long's sense of smell had become increasingly acute; he detected a strong musty odor emanating from the warehouse. Some items were probably already rotten, and he felt a pang of regret.

This is my own fault, I can't get rid of it. Who told me to forget about this place and not come here for so long?

"There are 154 pieces of various kinds of hides, including 44 whole hides and more than a dozen hides that are moldy and rotten. The most valuable hide is a lynx hide, but it is only partially damaged. There are 340 kilograms of dried fritillaria bulbs, and more than 50 kilograms of them are moldy."

One hundred and twenty-seven kilograms of dried Codonopsis pilosula, of which thirty-five kilograms were moldy and unusable; twenty-one deer antlers, weighing forty-six kilograms, and several sacks of dried wild mushrooms…”

The forestry team's warehouse was full of miscellaneous items, with bags and bundles of things being carried out and piled up in a large area on the open ground in front of the warehouse.

There were so many moldy, rotten things that were unusable, and Li Long felt a pang of heartache looking at them. He wished he had done it last year, but honestly, he just hadn't had the time.

"Let's just throw away these rotten things. We haven't cleaned up properly all winter, so let's take this opportunity to clean up the warehouse as well." Ellie didn't seem to regret these things at all, and Li Long thought he was probably just used to it.

Or perhaps these things were confiscated in the first place, a business with no initial investment, so I naturally wouldn't feel regretful about any sacrifices made.

Li Long meticulously calculated the costs for him, listing each item one by one, and then loaded them onto the truck. In the end, all of these items added up to 38,000 yuan, which greatly satisfied Ai Li.

In his view, he had both cleared out the warehouse and made a considerable amount of extra money. Actually, it wasn't that no middlemen came to him, but the prices they offered didn't meet his expectations.

Moreover, he subconsciously felt that Li Long's price must be the highest, since these people would most likely sell to Li Long's purchasing station after they bought the goods.

As expected, Li Long's offer did not disappoint him. Ellie also held onto Li Long, not wanting him to leave, and prepared to treat him well at noon.

Li Long brought them two boxes of wine, two bags of rice, two bags of flour, and a lot of oil, five baskets of which weighed fifty kilograms.

For lunch, they ate hand-pulled mutton, made from lamb slaughtered fresh in the morning. The quality of the meat was excellent, but Li Long's favorite thing to drink was the mutton soup.

He's been eating a lot of mutton lately, so his stomach is quite oily, and he's become picky about what he eats.

Well, upon reflection, considering the current average living standards of the population, I haven't reached the point of being picky about food yet, so I shouldn't be too fussy.

Actually, Ellie wanted to have a good drink with Li Long, but Li Long thought that he still had to unload these things when he got back and clean them one by one, so he said he wouldn't drink.

The captain was very unhappy about this, feeling that Li Long wasn't a good friend. Friends, business is business; they hadn't seen each other in a long time, they should have a drink.

Li Long could only suggest that they wait until next time he came over to drink, and that he would invite Polati along so they could have a proper drink together.

On the way back, Li Long reflected on himself and realized that he hadn't really treated Captain Ai Li as a friend like Xie Yundong; it was more of a transactional relationship.

Since they consider you a friend, you really need to reflect on your actions.

Back at the purchasing station, after unloading the truckload of supplies, Li Long saw that Liang Shuangcheng was the one tidying up things in the warehouse today, so he told him that the two of them would be responsible for clearing out these things in the next two days.

Liang Shuangcheng is now quite skilled. He knows how to handle the hides, medicinal herbs, and deer antlers just by looking at them. He confidently told Li Long that they would be able to clean, dry, and sort all the items in no more than a week.

The fritillaria bulbs in the greenhouse in the backyard were already being washed, and there were also many fritillaria bulbs drying on the racks. This work is relatively easy. Last year, the Tillandsia bulbs were still being dried for a while, but this year it is not necessary.

Li Long seemed to have heard that Tie Lan Hua was going to collect her things and that the child was going to be handed over to a daycare center. He felt this was a bit cruel, but he didn't try to dissuade her.

This is their family matter, there's nothing I can say about it.

Back in the courtyard, Li Long saw Sister Yang picking alfalfa, with Mingming and Haohao obediently helping her.

"When I took them to the market, I found some people selling alfalfa, so I bought some to steam and eat this afternoon," Sister Yang explained as she picked out the alfalfa.

"That's good, that's good," Li Long said with a smile. "Do you still have any chili oil at home?"

"There's some left."

“Okay, I like to eat steamed alfalfa with chili oil and a little less vinegar.”

Sister Yang knew Li Long's taste and said with a smile that his taste was quite unique, as others usually ate it steamed.

Li Long knew that he had developed a weak spleen and stomach in the latter half of his previous life, which led to his fondness for strong flavors. He didn't expect that although he no longer had this problem in this life, he still hadn't changed his taste.

It's fritillary bulb harvesting season now, and Jia Tianlong will likely be coming over soon. Even if Li Long wanted to do something else, he wouldn't dare wander off. After all, nearly half of his annual income comes from this season, so he has to make the most of it.

I was even thinking of taking some time to stay in the cabin for a couple of days and reopen the exchange point there.

After all, exchanging goods can indeed yield a considerable amount of fritillaria bulbs at a low cost, making it a very good business opportunity.

(End of this chapter)