Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1060 Jia Tianlong's Complaints and His Mother's Insistence

Jia Tianlong followed the same old routine: he first went to Li Long's courtyard and earnestly and devoutly worshipped the large jade stone before discussing serious matters with Li Long.

"Hey Li Long, you know, when there weren't any hundred-yuan bills, it felt so inconvenient to use ten-yuan notes, but now that we have larger bills, a hundred-yuan note doesn't seem to carry much weight. Why are people so contradictory?"

"That's just you being dramatic." Li Long bluntly exposed his thoughts. "Think about it, you didn't have much money back then. Even a ten-yuan note was something you wanted but couldn't get. Why didn't you say that then?"

"Yeah. It was only five or six years ago." Jia Tianlong wasn't annoyed at Li Long for revealing his little secret. Instead, he sighed, "It's just that we were born in a good time. Otherwise, I'd still be eating potatoes every day."

Actually, every time I go back to the village and see my old childhood friends now farming on the mountain ridge and eating potatoes, I feel really lucky.

"Didn't you lend them a hand?" Li Long asked, somewhat curious about Jia Tianlong's past.

He has become rich, and although he may not be as wealthy as Jia Tianlong now, he feels that he is not much worse off.

Li Long is quite proud that he has become rich and has taken advantage of the opportunities at hand to help the villagers get rich as well. Unlike before, when they still had debts to pay at the end of the year, the life of his team, Team Four, is better than that of other villages. Even though many people in the team still say bad things about him in private, this is a fact that he is proud of.

But outwardly, every family in the village has to give themselves a thumbs up.

Having made up for the regrets of his previous life, Li Long has achieved some success in this life, which makes him quite proud.

So he was curious about what people like Jia Tianlong did after they became rich.

After all, our country's core ideology states that some people should get rich first, and then those who get rich first will help those who get rich later.

He, Li Long, did it; what about others?

"Give me a hand? I tried, but I couldn't move him. You know the saying 'you can't make a wall out of mud,' right? Let me tell you, I've heard it, and I've seen it."

Upon hearing Li Long's words, Jia Tianlong gave a wry smile: "The mountainous areas around here are quite suitable for growing astragalus."

I got rich by buying medicinal herbs, so I thought I'd help the villagers out. I bought them astragalus seeds and seedlings, gave them free fertilizer, and hired technicians to teach them how to grow them. How about that, is that good enough?

"Not bad, not bad, it's definitely feasible." Li Long nodded. This was more in line with his impression of Jia Tianlong; he wasn't a two-faced person.

"Do you know how they repaid me?" Jia Tianlong continued, his voice laced with rage.

"What does that mean? Did they betray you?" Li Long's gossipy nature was piqued.

"What does 'backstabbing' mean?" Jia Tianlong asked.

"It's like you treat him like a brother, but he stabs you in the back." Li Long explained it in layman's terms. Anyway, if he told him it was some kind of skill in a game, the guy probably wouldn't understand.

Although I don't play games much, I have watched commentary online.

"Yes, that's how it is. I was betrayed." Jia Tianlong sighed. "When the astragalus was ready to be harvested, I went to them to buy it. At that time, I also had an order. The quality of the astragalus was good that year, and I thought I could use this batch of astragalus to complete the order."

As a result, the astragalus root the villagers brought me was all substandard. You know, substandard, right? It was all broken, cracked, misshapen, with forked roots and all that. Do you know what I felt when I saw most of the astragalus root they brought looking like that?

"All that enthusiasm was wasted?" Li Long added at the opportune moment.

“Li Long, you know you can be quite annoying sometimes. You just hit the nail on the head.” Jia Tianlong shook his head. “That’s exactly what I mean.”

"What's going on?" Li Long asked, ignoring his感慨 (feelings/reflections).

"What else could have happened? They dug up the astragalus, then listened to what others said and sold the good astragalus products to my competitors, leaving the rest to me. The reason is simple: my competitors spread rumors that I didn't have money to buy the goods and that I had to lower the price, and they believed them."

“It’s impossible for everyone to do that, right? I think, at least in our village, even if such a thing really happened, most people would still come to ask me about it.” Li Long analyzed rationally.

"No, less than a third of the people saved the astragalus for me."

"Sigh, I understand. If it were our village, at least three-quarters of the people would be waiting for my news." Li Long was quite proud. In his previous life, after watching those short videos and gossip news, he wondered why the countryside he described was like this.

Later, I gradually understood. There are many people in the area, and clan power is habitually entrenched there, so some outdated customs and bad habits have persisted.

Northern Xinjiang is a vast and resource-rich region with a small population. As long as people work hard, they can have enough to eat. As for getting rich, that requires luck, intelligence, and opportunity.

Therefore, relatively speaking, people's moral bottom line is higher.

So even though there are always a few individuals in the fourth team who cause trouble, hold Li Long back, or try to steal his business whenever he does something, overall it's still pretty good.

Even 30 or 40 years from now, the neighborly relations in the Fourth Team will still be very good. It's normal for multiple teams to help each other when one family is in trouble.

Of course, it also has something to do with the village cadres. At this time, Xu Chengjun had a strong positive guiding role. His prestige was there, and he could keep some people in check.

Even decades later, when Xu Chengjun was no longer the village head, both the successor and the outgoing Xu Chengjun would still scold and berate people when they encountered something that seemed amiss.

So overall, their moral standards are on point.

"So what did you do in the end?" Li Long asked, seeing that Jia Tianlong still had something to say.

"What else can I do? I'll continue to support those who believe in me, but those who don't are hopeless, and I have no intention of helping them. What angers me the most is that many of those hopeless people are my relatives!"

Li Long laughed. Yes, sometimes, the one who betrays you is the one you trust the most.

"Alright, alright, that's all ancient history. I don't care if those people eat potatoes now, take it or leave it. I won't care even if they come begging to my door."

Thinking of the incident involving "Brother Yi," Li Long asked, "Don't those people cause trouble for your family? Like, their ancestral graves or something?"

"They wouldn't dare!" Jia Tianlong sneered. "I donate money to the village every year to repair roads and such. I don't know how much the village loses, but if anyone is against our family, the village officials can go to their house and tear it down!"

Li Long smiled and thought it made sense. Jia Tianlong was able to build such a large business in just a few years; he couldn't possibly be ruthless. It was just a matter of whether he wanted to deal with those people.

"By the way, the chubby jade doll you gave me, I put it on display as soon as I got home. A lot of people in our village come to our house to worship it, it's so annoying, but I can't turn them away. The old people in our village even said that this jade looks just like jadeite."

"Yes, the finest jade from our Mahe River does indeed have a history of being considered jadeite."

Li Long thought for a moment and said, "Back then, when that guy surnamed Wang set up a puppet regime, he brought a jade screen with him on a visit to Japan. It is said that it was mistaken for jadeite at the time, and even the Japanese thought so. They even made a frame for the screen to protect it."

After the war was won, the screen was retrieved, and after testing, it was discovered to be jade, specifically Ma County jade.

"Is that so? Where is the screen now?" Jia Tianlong didn't expect that his casual remark would bring up a piece of history.

“The National Palace Museum in Taipei,” Li Long said, “was taken away by Chiang Kai-shek.”

“That’s a pity,” Jia Tianlong shook his head.

“What’s there to regret? There’s plenty of jade from the Ma River now, and the piece you have is of very high quality. There are private jade carving workshops in our county now, and I have some jade here too. If you want, you can get a few more pieces. This stuff isn’t expensive; you can exchange a kilogram of fritillaria for a large piece of good jade.”

"Yes, I have time. Let's take care of the important business first." When Jia Tianlong heard that it wasn't expensive, he wasn't in such a hurry anymore.

“You only brought one truck this time, which is a bit too little,” Li Long said. “Let me tell you, this time in my warehouse, there are more than three tons of fritillaria alone, several hundred kilograms of deer antler, several tons of licorice, as well as astragalus and other things. One truck can’t hold them all.”

"Why did you bring so much? I don't remember having this much stuff last year," Jia Tianlong asked, somewhat surprised. "How did so much suddenly appear?"

“The yield of things from the mountains has increased,” Li Long said. He had heard from Li Xiangqian that the fritillaria yield in Ma County was around 30 tons. After the reform and opening up, most of it was traded privately, with only a very small amount being bought up by pharmaceutical companies. In the past two years, thanks to the existence of his purchasing station, the fritillaria yield in the mountains should still be increasing, perhaps even reaching 40 or 50 tons.

How many tons have I collected? It's impossible to have a complete monopoly.

Currently, my purchasing station has received less than ten tons of fritillaria bulbs. I estimate that after this fritillaria bulb season ends, it will only be around ten tons at most.

There is still a lot of room for improvement compared to peak production levels.

"Nonsense, I went to Old Chen's place first. He's only collected about 300 kilograms of dried fritillaria bulbs recently, which is about the same as last time. How come there's no increase? He also told me that one of his colleagues in Beiting opened a purchasing station, but it went bankrupt in less than a month because of insufficient working capital."

Li Long smiled and said, "Do what you can within your capabilities. With a business like a purchasing station, you might not be able to succeed if you don't have enough money."

"It's alright, if I don't have a car, I'll just rent one from your county's transportation company. If that doesn't work, I can rent two," Jia Tianlong said casually. "Is that okay?"

“Okay, okay, you said it’s okay, how could it not be?” Li Long smiled and said, “Then let’s go check out the goods first.”

Jia Tianlong and Li Long went out together, with the truck following behind. When they arrived at the purchasing station and saw so many goods in the warehouse, Jia Tianlong decisively told Li Long to call the transportation company so he could rent a truck.

They rented another truck, and while waiting for it to arrive, both parties had people start taking inventory.

Both parties were aware of the multiple transactions, so Jia Tianlong and Li Long simply watched from the sidelines. This time, Jia Tianlong brought the people loading the truck with him, so neither of them had to lift a finger.

“Li Long, every time I come here and see your goods, I feel really good,” Jia Tianlong said with a smile. “The fritillaria bulbs are clean, the deer antlers are well-prepared, and the licorice is neatly bundled. I don’t have to worry about counterfeit goods. Let me tell you, right here in northern Xinjiang, some people use bitter bean roots to impersonate licorice. I didn’t recognize it once, and when the goods were transported to their destination, they were found out. It was so embarrassing.”

“These two things do look somewhat alike.” Li Long nodded. “Not to mention the roots, even the plants on the ground look quite similar.”

“Yes, otherwise how could I have made a mistake?” Jia Tianlong nodded after Li Long agreed. “That’s why I’ve been very careful when buying licorice since then. I don’t have to worry about it here. You definitely don’t sell fakes here.”

"Yes, I've checked everything." Li Long nodded seriously.

"Now Old Chen has learned your methods, and I believe his purchasing station will also succeed. It's just two years slower. If he had started earlier, it would be thriving now."

“It’s not too late,” Li Long said. “It’s never too late to trust Lao Chen. He’s a good person, so he deserves to make money.”

"That's because you're helping him. Otherwise, he would most likely end up like his colleague, struggling to make ends meet and going bankrupt."

“He was the one who helped me when I was at my poorest.” Li Long recalled that the antlers he got from Halim when he earned his first pot of gold were from Old Chen. “So it’s only natural to help him out.”

"People who value relationships and honors deserve to get rich." Jia Tianlong felt that he was one of them.

After packing everything up, we calculated the cost for each item.

"Li Long, every time you receive something, it's of top quality or better. It's hard to get a discount for you," Jia Tianlong said, looking at the data his subordinate had brought him.

"Fritillaria bulbs cost 398,163 yuan, licorice root costs 11,229 yuan, deer antler costs 6,180 yuan,..."

All things added up, Jia Tianlong had to pay Li Long more than 430,000 yuan.

When Li Long heard the number, he was momentarily stunned. Then, looking at the quantity and the calculated result handed over by Liang Shuangcheng, he confirmed that the data was correct.

"I thought having a hundred-yuan bill would make paying easier, but I didn't expect you to have so much stock. If I hadn't brought so much this time, I really wouldn't be able to pay." Jia Longtian pulled out stacks of hundred-yuan bills.

At this time, the hundred-yuan note wasn't red yet; it had the portraits of four great men on it. This was the second time in Li Long's life that he had held this money, and he was quite moved.

It is said that this money appreciated in value when it was taken out of circulation.

After paying, Jia Tianlong put the rest into his bag and said to Li Long:
"Let's go eat? It's so late, I'm starving."

This was one of the few times Jia Tianlong took the initiative to ask Li Long to treat him to a meal. Li Long smiled and took him to Tuanfenglou, ordered a table full of dishes, and invited him and the people he brought, including Liang Shuangcheng.

After the meal, Jia Tianlong said he had to hurry up and transport the two truckloads of goods to Wucheng before he could go to other places to pick up more goods.

According to Jia Tianlong, he is now trying to secure a supply of fritillaria from Yili, where the production of fritillaria is quite substantial. However, he arrived too late, and some people have already established connections there.

"Since there's still time, I'll go check it out first. Maybe someone will be willing to sell the goods to me." Jia Tianlong said and left.

Li Long drove Liang Shuangcheng back to the purchasing station in his jeep, while he himself took his bag to the bank to deposit money.

Most of the 400,000 yuan will be saved, while a small portion will be left to Gu Boyuan as working capital.

He didn't ask about the situation with Jia Tianlong and Chen Hongjun in detail. Chen Hongjun hadn't made a phone call, which meant things were probably normal, and since Jia Tianlong had gone to collect the goods, his working capital should be fine.

After depositing the money, Li Long checked the time and went to the team to pick up Mingming and Haohao.

Mingming and Haohao seem to really enjoy playing in the preschool class in the team. They learn things quickly, and although they are young, they have quickly become the center of attention because they look alike and twins are quite rare.

When Li Long arrived at the preschool, his mother, Du Chunfang, was dozing by the flower bed in front of the preschool.

The preschool was next to the old team headquarters. The flower beds were surrounded by cement that Li Long paid for, and the flowers planted in the middle were easy-to-grow varieties such as hollyhock, henna, and landmine.

The task of planting flowers is for the preschool children; the older children will water them.

Li Long not only bought cement to build flower beds, but also two cement ping-pong tables. It's hard to buy nets now, and those things aren't practical. When the team members have free time to play ping-pong, they just put bricks in the middle as the boundary.

The teacher was Qin Hongyan, a girl who used to play with Li Long and Xu Haijun, and now she was a mother. When Li Long arrived, she was organizing after-school activities for the children.

At this time, there were more children in the team than in the 30 or 40 years later, when there were 37 teachers and 36 students in the school. Qin Hongyan was now leading nearly 20 students by herself, so she simply divided them into three groups to play games like drop the handkerchief, jump rope, and eagle catches chicks.

The children were laughing and having a great time.

Li Long parked the jeep far away and walked over to his mother.

Hearing footsteps, Du Chunfang opened her eyes, saw Li Long, smiled, and said:
"Xiaolong is here? Look, I've already fallen asleep."

"You're not cold, are you? It's windy." Li Long asked with concern. "Mom, actually, you don't need to worry about the child since the teacher is watching him here. You don't need to watch him usually."

“How can that be? Hao Hao is so young. Besides, I didn’t watch you when you were little, and you came here after you grew up, so I have to watch your child too.” Du Chunfang was quite stubborn about this.

Just watch.

Mingming and Haohao had already seen their father coming, but they had learned to follow the rules, so after calling out to their father twice, they didn't come over and continued playing games in the group.

Li Long discovered that although Mingming Haohao was small, he could run quite fast.

Hmm, not bad, energetic!

　The reed gully is now completely devoid of reeds. The reeds in Xiaohaizi have almost stopped growing due to wetland protection measures; no one has cut or burned them year after year. However, things thrive in Dahaizi (my given name, it has another name), with three types of shrimp: grass shrimp, horse shrimp, and a type of green shrimp similar to a crayfish.

　　It's said that the river clams are quite large, some even as big as washbasins, but I didn't see any this time.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)