Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1076 Lü Youcai is not from ancient times
Li Long lived at his elder brother's house. Before going to Wucheng, he often listened to his elder brother talk about the situation in various places in Ma County.

However, he didn't pay much attention to it at the time, always feeling that those were old stories and there was no need to care.

Now that he thinks about it, Yongfeng is a familiar place, so when he was looking for this place, the first person he thought of was his older brother.

The next morning, after breakfast, I drove Mingming and Haohao to preschool in my jeep, said hello to my mother who had come over, and then went to my older brother's house.

Now my mom comes to the preschool every day to look after Mingming and Haohao, just like going to work, which is quite interesting.

Li Long didn't object to this; in fact, he supported it. When he left, he left his mother a cloth bag containing three jars filled with warm tea.

My mother stays here for half the morning, and even when she's thirsty, she doesn't want to go back for a drink; that wouldn't be good.

Three bottles. One is for my mother, and the other two are for Mingming and Haohao. Mingming and Haohao are using the same screw-top canning jars. The labels on the jars haven't been removed; they say "Mingming" and "Haohao" on them respectively.

Since insulated water bottles weren't available on the market yet, Li Long temporarily used this as a substitute. At this time, canned food jars or beer bottles were the mainstream choice for bringing water for children.

Most canned food jars sold on the market nowadays are made of pressed tinplate and are disposable. Screw-top jars like Li Long's are relatively rare. Li Juan and Li Qiang used to bring water to school in beer bottles, and after pouring in tea from home, they would add two or three grains of saccharin.

The beer bottles use the same rubber stoppers used for medical intravenous drips; the diameter is universal.

Some children simply don't bring water; the school has hand-operated wells and artesian wells, so they drink well water directly. These children are easier to raise.

Mingming and Haohao's two children can already read and know how to write their names, so they won't make mistakes.

When Li Long arrived at his elder brother's house in his jeep, Li Jianguo had just started the tractor and was pulling back the rope that was pulling the tractor motor.

Seeing Li Long approach, he asked:
"Is something wrong?"

"Well, there's something I need to tell you. Brother, do you know where Yongfeng is?"

"Yongfeng? In the Northeast, it's the current Liuhudi."

"Yongfeng is Liuhudi?" Li Long was somewhat surprised. "Isn't Yongfeng an old name?"

“Yongfeng is not, Liuhudi is the old name.” When Li Jianguo was young and unmarried, he had stayed in many places in Ma County, and he also worked in the county surveying team for a period of time, so he was quite familiar with the place names of various places.

“Places like Lanzhou Bay, Liangzhouhu, Suzhouhu, Liuhudi, and Letuyi are all old names that were used during the Qing Dynasty.” Li Jianguo squatted down and used a stick to demonstrate on the ground.

"As for Yongfeng, which you mentioned, it was originally called Liuhudi. After it was renamed Yongfeng, it became a production brigade. During the Qing Dynasty, there were only six households in that area: Zhou, Wang, Zhu, Chen, Shi, and Dou. They jointly petitioned the county government to distribute water and grain according to the six households, so it was later called Liuhudi."

Li Long had vaguely heard of the place name Liuhu, but he never expected it to date back to that time.

"Back then, there were few people in Ma County. They were scattered here and there, like Lanzhou Bay. At first, there were only three families from Lanzhou, so it was named that. For example, the abandoned Gan Family Village to the east of our team was actually just one family with the surname Gan."

Li Jianguo sighed, "Back then, there were really few people. They were scattered here and there. I was a messenger in the team for a while. When we had to call meetings with the locals, we had to ride horses, notify each household from one place to another, and we also had to carry guns."

"Our new village isn't here yet; it's just a reed bed. Slowly, one family after another comes, and more and more people arrive."

Seeing that his elder brother had gone off on a tangent, Li Long hurriedly pulled him back: "Brother, is Yongfeng a new name?" It seems that he had guessed wrong in the mountains. This Lü Youcai was not from the Qing Dynasty. In fact, he had only been gone for more than 20 years.

"Well, it was the 1960s, the time when we were learning from Dazhai in agriculture and wanted to produce on a large scale. So many places changed their names, like Yongfeng, Yongjin, Hongxing, and so on. By the way, actually Yongfeng, Yongjin, Hongxing, Guangfeng, and Xinhu all belonged to Beiwucha Commune."

Later, a farm was built in Xinhu, and Yongfeng was changed back to its original name, Liuhudi. Guangfeng first belonged to Xinhe Commune, and then to Guangdongdi Township. By the way, Guangdongdi was named after a few families who originally lived there from Guangdong.

Some say those men were soldiers brought by Zuo Zongtang, but that's probably not the case. They were likely soldiers who fled after the Taiping Rebellion. Why can we grow rice here? It's because of the techniques brought by people from that time.”

Hearing his elder brother rattle off these place names like the back of his hand, Li Long hurriedly asked about the crucial matter:
"Brother, do you know any families with the surname Lü in Liuhudi?"

"The surname Lü? There aren't many in the Liuhudi area, are there? Originally, there were only six families that developed there. Later, there were more families with the surnames Du and Ma, but fewer with the surname Lü."

The surname Lü is common in Ma County, but it's more prevalent here, in Lanzhou Bay, Liangzhou Hu, and other counties; it's less common in the north.

I didn't expect my older brother to actually know some things.

Having asked enough questions, Li Long knew he would have to find out the rest himself. He asked his older brother what he was doing starting the tractor, and Li Jianguo replied:
"The Wang family said they found another piece of land near Dahai Lake, Jijitan, and they want to develop it. Anyway, I don't have much to do right now, so I'll drive the tractor there. I won't come back for lunch. The area isn't big, maybe twenty or thirty acres, but the round trip is quite long, and the tractor is slow."

"Then you'd better ask him carefully, ask him if he reported to the team, and if the procedures are complete. Don't let him get away with it because his procedures are incomplete and cause trouble."

"I know that. By the way, why did you ask about Yongfeng?"

"Someone asked me to do something, so I went to find out what happened."

“I don’t know much. It’s not far for you to get there. It’s only 30 kilometers from the township to Liuhudi. Your car will get you there in an hour,” Li Jianguo said. “You still have to go there to find out more about what’s going on. I didn’t go there much when I was younger.”

"Okay, I understand." Li Long said goodbye to his older brother, then went to the yard to say a few words to his father who was picking up nets, before driving the jeep westward. When he reached the township, he turned north and headed along the road from the county town toward the production and construction corps.

Li Long had traveled this road many times, including when he went to Wang Mingjun's company. However, there was a fork in the road halfway to Liuhudi, and he could turn at the road sign without getting lost.

Li Long thought he should find some time to visit Wang Mingjun and the others. With the implementation of the Animal Protection Law this year, there might be less hunting, and he wondered if they had saved up any pelts before.

Unfortunately, the Corps is located in the north, right next to the desert, so it doesn't really have any special products.

Turning to Liuhudi, Li Long was somewhat surprised to see cotton growing in the field!

He was surprised to find that cotton had already been planted on a large scale here.

In the past, when going to Wang Mingjun's place, he would take the main road directly without turning this way, so he was unaware of the situation here. What Li Long didn't know was that at this time, Liuhudi was already the township with the highest per capita income in the entire county. Although Letuyi was the richest, its per capita income was still lower than here.

There were people working in the field. At this time, the cotton was not covered with plastic film yet and was planted as upland cotton. Li Long only glanced at it and then paid no more attention. He thought that since he had come here, he should ask someone.

He didn't intend to go to the official authorities, as that could easily cause trouble. He just wanted to find out the specific location directly, then see how things went. If he could give the money directly, he would give it to them; if not, he would simply throw the money in when no one was around and be done with it.

The main reason is that later generations were influenced by certain social trends, wanting peace of mind but not wanting to cause trouble.

Driving around Liuhudi Township, he soon found a target.

An old shepherd.

He was about the same age as Ma Jinbao, but the forty or fifty sheep he herded looked to be in good condition. He wasn't the kind of person who was lazy and good-for-nothing, so he should be able to find out what was going on.

Li Long parked the jeep on the side of the road, took two packs of cigarettes, and went downstairs.

The old man was grazing his sheep on the wasteland by the roadside. The sheep loved to eat the reeds, clover, and thatch on this wasteland, making grazing quite convenient. Li Long looked at the land and sighed that the location was really good; this wasn't a saline-alkali wasteland, and once reclaimed, it would become good land.

As the old man saw Li Long approaching, he asked:
"Young man, what's up? Are you asking for directions or something?"

Li Long hadn't expected the old man to be so proactive, but he quickly understood. Herding sheep alone must be quite tedious and boring; he'd be happy to have someone to talk to.

"Brother, you've been in this Liuhu area for quite a while now, haven't you?" Li Long offered the old man a cigarette, which he took. Li Long then lit it for him and asked.

"That's right, my surname is Zhu, and I'm an old resident of Liuhudi. This Liuhudi originally belonged to six families." The old man was quite proud.

"Then I've come to the right person," Li Long said with a smile. "I have something to ask you. Are there many families with the surname Lü among these six households?"

"The surname Lü, if you're talking about the whole township, there aren't many," Old Man Zhu said. "If you're talking about families that moved here a few years ago, there were only two or three. But in the last two years, more families have moved here." "Do you know anyone named Lü Youcai?" Li Long continued to ask. "He must have moved here a while ago."

"Lu Youcai? Let me think," Old Zhu took a puff of his cigarette, then suddenly picked up a clod of dirt from the ground and threw it from a distance, cursing as he did so.

"You son of a bitch, Blackhead! If you run into the field again, I'll kill you when I get back!"

Li Long smiled when he turned his head to look. Old Zhu had smashed a black-headed goat with long horns. While the two were talking, it secretly ran to the edge of the field, intending to sneak into the cotton field and steal a few cotton leaves.

The clod of dirt hit the black-headed sheep right on the head. The black-headed sheep was obviously a repeat offender. It turned around and ran away, leaping into the flock in a few bounds, making it difficult for Old Man Zhu to throw down the other clod of dirt he had just picked up.

This sheep is quite cunning.

“Lu Youcai, I remember you.” Old Zhu threw away the clod of dirt and said to Li Long, “There was this person a few years ago, but I don’t know what he did later, he’s gone now.”

Young man, let me tell you, you only know this because you asked me. Otherwise, very few people would know!

This Lü Youcai came here in the 1960s. Whether you call it "supporting youth" or "migrant workers," he settled down here and married a local girl. That girl had a younger brother. After marrying Lü Youcai, they had a son.

Later, Lü Youcai said he went into the mountains with the team's sideline production group and then disappeared, never to be seen again. Because he went with the sideline production group, the team gave his family a subsidy.

However, it's ultimately difficult for a woman to raise a child alone, and Lü Youcai's brother-in-law is a kind-hearted man who often helps his sister's family.

"And now? How are Lü Youcai's family doing?"

"What else can happen?" Old Zhu shook his head. "The first few years were definitely tough, but things are better now. Lü Youcai's son has grown up, gotten married, has land, and is supporting his mother."

Li Long nodded. That's just how things are these days; the majority of people are ordinary and normal, while those who have extraordinary experiences or suffer extremely tragic fates are a minority.

Li Long then shoved the entire pack of cigarettes in his hand into Old Man Zhu's hand and asked:
"Brother, do you know how to get to the Lü family's place?"

"Of course I know." Old Zhu said with a smile, seeing that the pack of Snow Lotus cigarettes that Li Long had just handed him had been opened. "Let me tell you, drive north along this road, turn west at the second intersection, and the village is not far ahead."

As for which family it is, I've forgotten. Just ask around the village and you'll find out; there's only one family with that surname in that village.

Li Long thanked Old Man Zhu, walked back to the road, and drove away.

Old Zhu watched the jeep drive away and shook his head.

He didn't ask any further questions. Anyone who could drive a Jeep couldn't be an ordinary person. Could it be that Lü Youcai hadn't disappeared, but instead gone off to do some secret work?

It's been twenty or thirty years, and they're only coming back now? That doesn't make sense.
However, it has little to do with me. This person must have an extraordinary background. Asking too many questions might cause trouble, so it's better not to ask.

"Yellow Head! Are you trying to be like Black Head, so I can slaughter you tonight?" Old Zhu turned his head and saw another yellow-headed goat had already darted into the cotton field, munching on cotton leaves. He quickly picked up a clod of dirt and threw it at it. "Looking for death, are you?"

Yellow Head was clever; before the clod of dirt even hit its head, it had already turned and run into the flock of sheep. However, its mouth was full of cotton leaves, indicating that its trip hadn't been in vain.

Old Zhu was furious. He stuffed the pack of cigarettes into his pocket, ran over quickly, and lashed the whip hard at Huang Tou's head. Huang Tou hurriedly dodged.

This is the norm for herding sheep. Old Zhu is used to it, and the other sheep are used to it too, calmly grazing and watching the commotion.

Following Old Man Zhu's directions, Li Long arrived at that village.

Upon hearing about the Lü family's plight, Li Long changed his mind. He felt there was no need to complicate things so much; he should just tell them what had happened directly.

After entering the village, I asked an old lady who was sunbathing against a wall, and that's how I found out where the Lü family lived.

The Lü family's house was relatively dilapidated, and it looked like it had been built some years ago. However, such houses are normal in the village; they are all made of adobe.

Li Long envisioned that in twenty or thirty years, Liuhudi would be the first place to conduct an experiment in centralized rural housing, where two apartment buildings were constructed and the farmers were housed together.

I don't know why, but any new ideas are tested in Ma County. People live here in concentrated areas, and they are not allowed to plant all the land. Only 40% of the land is allowed to be planted, and the remaining 60% is left uncultivated for rotational planting.

In any case, one idea from an expert has caused ordinary people a lot of trouble.

According to later residents, living upstairs was extremely uncomfortable. Moreover, these apartments weren't free; residents had to pay for the land and rent before they could move in. Each farmer was allocated a plot of land for vegetables, but raising chickens and pigs was troublesome, and there was no easy way to store farm machinery.

Chicken feathers all over the place.

The Lü family's yard was quite tidy. When Li Long got out of the car and entered the yard, he saw a woman in her fifties working in the vegetable garden. Several chickens were running around in the yard, and there was a doghouse in a corner near the back, but there was no dog.

"Who are you looking for?" The woman heard the noise, straightened up, and asked in a thick Mandarin accent.

"Is this Lü Youcai's home?" Li Long asked.

"Lü Youcai?" The woman suddenly became excited. "You know Lü Youcai? Where is he? You're so young, how could you know him?"

The woman was somewhat incoherent as she quickly came out of the vegetable garden and into the yard, but then seemed a little lost and helpless.

"What...what do you want with him?"

"Are you Lü Youcai's wife?" Li Long asked again. "I need to find out more details before I can say that."

“Yes, yes, my name is Wang Xiangyu,” the woman nodded hurriedly. “My husband’s name is Lü Youcai. He disappeared after going into the mountains in 1961, twenty-six years ago! The team can vouch for me, please tell me!”

"Alright, I understand." Li Long took the strip of cloth out of his bag and handed it to Wang Xiangyu, saying, "This is a note left by Lü Youcai. He must have been panning for gold in the mountains when he was murdered by someone."

"What? You were harmed by someone else?" The woman took the strip of cloth, plopped down on the ground, and her gaze immediately became unfocused.

Li Long regretted it then and there. He could imagine that this woman had persisted for so many years, believing that her husband was missing and might reappear one day.

He had done something cruel, directly shattering her hopes.

Now that he had already said it, Li Long knew there was no use in regretting it. He just wanted to finish what he had to say and leave this place as soon as possible.

Although he knew he was running away, he couldn't help it; he was really bad at handling the aftermath of this matter.

“Your husband, Lü Youcai, panned for gold in the mountains and left behind some placer gold. This is some money he got in exchange.” Li Long took out two thousand yuan from his bag and handed it over. “Take it.”

The woman slowly recovered from her dazed expression, looked up at the two thousand yuan Li Long handed her, grinned, and said with a wry smile:

"Thank you... You're a good person. After getting the items, you still brought the money back to us..."

Li Long felt somewhat ashamed, as he had deducted some money from the total.

But since we've come this far, there's not much more to say.

The woman took the money without counting it. Just as she was about to speak, Li Long turned his head and saw a man and a woman walking in, both carrying shovels.

He guessed that these must be Lü Youcai's son and daughter-in-law.

Sigh, I'm afraid this is going to be troublesome again.

(End of this chapter)