Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1140 Arriving excited, things accomplished, with a slight surprise

In truth, Li Long had no feelings for Huang Yufei's family. Ever since Gu Xiaoyu learned that his mother-in-law didn't intend to have any dealings with her father-in-law, Lao Gu, and his wife, Xiaoxia, Li Long had treated everyone in the family except Gu Xiaoyu as strangers.

A simple greeting is the greatest courtesy one can show; one should not let others think that Gu Xiaoxia married a rude person, that's all.

Hearing Huang Yufei being so polite, Li Long immediately waved his hand:

"No need, no need. We're not that close. Just say what you need to say."

His words made Huang Yufei even more embarrassed.

Under normal circumstances, if Halim and his group were Han Chinese, they would roughly understand what was going on and would definitely go into the courtyard to avoid the situation. You would have to resolve your own issues, as some of them are private matters and may require discretion.

But Halim and his group were different. They felt that judging from Li Long's current attitude, Huang Yufei might be here to cause trouble, so they stood aside, thinking that if Li Long needed help, they would help resolve the issue.

As for Dorsen, I have to help him when he's in trouble.

Huang Yufei hadn't expected Li Long to be so ruthless. He smiled, still wanting to try and take the item from Li Long, but seeing the look in Li Long's eyes, he knew that continuing might lead to a complete breakdown in relations, so he had no choice but to reveal his purpose:
"Brother-in-law, oh no, Comrade Li Long, actually I came here because I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Go ahead," Li Long said, handing the things in his hand to Halim and gesturing for them to go inside first.

After all, it's part of a family matter, so it's not something to be taken too seriously.

Huang Yufei noticed that Halim and the others looked at him with some hostility before they went in, and thought to himself, "What are these country bumpkins from the harsh border region looking at?"

After Halim and the others went inside, Huang Yufei said:

"I actually want to do jade business with you. You have the raw materials, and I have the customers. If we partner up, this business will definitely be a hit..."

"So, you stole Xiaoyu's business?" Li Long nodded, realizing he had guessed correctly. It seemed that this person, or this family, had seen Gu Xiaoyu making some money selling jade and were envious, so they wanted to take over the business.

They probably talked to Gu Xiaoyu directly, but it likely didn't work out, since these people hadn't dealt with him directly. Now that Gu Xiaoyu won't agree, they've simply come knocking on his door.

That's quite an achievement, managing to find this place.

“It’s not robbery at all,” Huang Yufei immediately shook his head to disclaim responsibility. “You know Xiaoyu is a university teacher, she has a respectable job. Wouldn’t doing this be beneath her dignity—it’s beneath her—meaning she’s not suited for this.” Huang Yufei explained.

“I’m different. I’m just an ordinary worker with no special status, but I know a lot of people. In the last two years, the men who have made money like to wear gold chains, and the women like to wear jade or emeralds. If we can cater to their tastes, we can make money!”

Li Long didn't expect Huang Yufei to have some business acumen, but he didn't like the person.

So he shook his head and said:
"I've only discussed this with Xiaoyu. If she wants to do it, then she can; if she doesn't, then I won't ship any more jade from my side here. Remember this: with Xiaoyu around, I know you; without Xiaoyu, you're just a stranger, and we have nothing to do with each other, understand?"

"You can't say that." Huang Yufei had come to Li Long after being rebuffed by Gu Xiaoyu. Seeing Li Long about to enter the courtyard, he quickly grabbed his arm and explained:

"My stepmother is still your mother-in-law, isn't she? We're family, after all..."

“Family? Ask your stepmother if she treats Xiaoxia like her daughter!” Li Long got angry as soon as he heard this. “She doesn’t even acknowledge her as her daughter anymore, so why should I treat her like my mother-in-law?”

After saying that, he swung his arm and went into the yard.

Huang Yufei was about to go in and explain when Li Long slammed the door shut, almost hitting him in the face.

Although Huang Yufei was furious, he knew he couldn't start cursing at this moment. He hadn't achieved his goal yet, and he hadn't given up.

Gu Xiaoyu can get a jade carving for a cost price of one or two hundred yuan, but she can resell it for five or six hundred or even seven or eight hundred yuan.

If you run into those nouveau riche, they can tell you a story about this jade carving and sell it for a thousand or two without any problem. They can make money like it's nothing, so why bother going to work?

He borrowed two jade carvings from Gu Xiaoyu on credit because of his stepmother, and the price he made from selling them was equivalent to his annual salary!

He gave one-fifth to Gu Xiaoyu, and kept the rest for himself!
How could Huang Yufei possibly give up such a highly profitable industry? He was determined to take control of the source of this jade, no matter what!

Li Long is now basically certain that something has happened to Gu Xiaoyu, and he doesn't know how to handle it.

After all, Gu Xiaoyu is not like Gu Xiaoxia, who has her father to take care of her and herself to protect her, so she will not suffer any grievances.

Gu Xiaoyu's mother remarried, leaving her almost completely isolated and helpless. She received little care from her mother and had to endure the hidden exploitation from her new family.

Severing ties with family members is a serious matter these days, and Gu Xiaoyu hasn't reached that point yet. However, if she were to rebel against her mother's decision, she would face accusations of being unfilial, which would be detrimental to her work, career, and family life.

So after learning the truth, Li Long decided to just give up on the jade business to avoid trouble.

After entering the courtyard, Li Long let the children play by themselves, while he and Halim started cooking.

When the meal was halfway through, there was a knock on the door. Ye Erjiang peeked through the crack in the door and saw that it was Gu Xiaoyu, so he quickly opened the door.

"You guys are cooking? I also bought some things..." Gu Xiaoyu greeted Ye Erjiang and went to the kitchen. Seeing Li Long and the others cooking, she smiled and said, "That's perfect, I can eat something ready-made."

She had eaten pilaf when she went to northern Xinjiang, and she was really looking forward to it now.

"It's edible, I guess," Li Long said modestly. "It'll be ready soon. Go wash your hands and prepare the dishes."

He didn't intend to be polite with Gu Xiaoyu here; there was no need for it.

He privately thought that Gu Xiaoyu might be the one who took care of all the relationships in his mother-in-law's new family. That's why his father-in-law, wife, and even himself were all very good to Gu Xiaoyu, but indifferent to others.

He didn't even mention his mother-in-law.

Gu Xiaoyu prepared the bowls, set out the chopsticks, and even brought out a spoon.

After finishing these tasks, Gu Xiaoyu saw that Li Long and Halim had already lifted the lid of the pot and were stirring the rice and meat inside. Judging that it should be almost done, she went to call Ye Erjiang and the others.

The pilaf was a little dry, but because of the generous amount of oil used, each grain of rice was thoroughly soaked, giving it a translucent appearance. It was delicious and very fragrant when chewed.

The same goes for meat. At that time, sheep farming was not so widespread, and the sheep brought from the grasslands were basically grass-fed, not too fat, but with some oil, and the lean meat was not too dry.

Although there's an old saying that it's better to have a medium-fat and a medium-lean diet than a medium-fat and a lean diet, at this time the cattle and sheep generally don't have much fat because they eat less concentrated feed, and a lot of oil is used, so it's not a big deal.

"Brother-in-law, your pilaf smells delicious!" Gu Xiaoyu said between bites. "It's much better than the pilaf I had in Wucheng."

“You probably ate pilaf from a big pot,” Li Long explained as he ate. “To save costs, those people make vegetarian pilaf and then put a few pieces of meat on top. If you want vegetarian, they’ll give you a vegetarian portion; if you want meat, they’ll put a piece or two of meat on top.”

“Yes, yes, that’s right.” Gu Xiaoyu nodded repeatedly. “In my opinion, that pilaf was really bland and tasteless, I mean compared to yours. But I thought it tasted pretty good at the time.”

Li Long smiled but didn't say anything.

The first meal of pilaf he ate was made by his older brother, who told him to use plenty of oil.

Back then, families still used sesame oil. As the group leader, Li Jianguo had the authority to decide what his group would plant. Because oil crops were relatively expensive and the group had a lot of land, he would try to plant more cash crops in addition to meeting the grain quota and the food needs of each family in the group.

Oilseeds and safflower are among the things he grows, which has indeed brought in more income for the group.

When Li Long first arrived, his older brother's family used a lot of oil in their cooking, and that's how they made pilaf back then, which is how he learned to make it.

He still remembered the mutton used to make pilaf, which was delivered by Liang Wenyu. At that time, Liang Donglou raised a few sheep and would occasionally help his daughter and son-in-law's family.

After all, every year at the end of the year, Li Jianguo's family has to send a portion of the money they receive back to their hometown as retirement funds.

Halim and the other children ate quite heartily. Of course, part of the reason was that they had walked a lot that day and were tired, and they hadn't eaten much in the morning because they were excited.

So at this point, everyone was wolfing down their food.

Fortunately, Li Long cooked a lot, so there wasn't a shortage of food. "I took the afternoon off to take you guys out for a walk," Gu Xiaoyu said. "Where did you go this morning?"

"We watched the flag raising!" Nathan was the first to speak, almost spitting out the grains of pilaf in his mouth, which he quickly covered with his hand.

"We also went to the museum," Sasken said, no longer so reserved, and continued the conversation.

“There are so many things in the museum. Uncle Li also told us those stories, like Pangu creating the world and Nuwa creating humans,” Yerjiang continued.

Ganaguli didn't speak; she was trying hard to tear off the skin from a piece of lamb chop and put it in her mouth.

"How about I take you for a stroll along Wangfujing Street this afternoon? It's quite lively there even though it's winter."

Yes, unlike in later generations, when people visited Beijing back then, they mainly came for the ancient sights, such as the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Great Wall. But now, even locals in Beijing mainly recommend bustling commercial areas like Wangfujing.

The main reason is that this type of commercial venue is rare across the country, and now it has become like a city landmark, which is introduced to many people.

“You take them,” Li Long said. “I have an appointment this afternoon, it’s very important.”

“Okay, I’ll take them there.” Gu Xiaoyu nodded. “Let’s eat and rest for a bit before we head over.”

"What is Wangfujing for?" Ye Erjiang asked at the dinner table, voicing the questions that had been posed by the others.

“A place that sells things,” Gu Xiaoyu said after thinking for a moment. “It’s a very big place, with lots of people and it’s very lively.”

Gu Xiaoyu's explanation piqued the children's curiosity, and they agreed to go to Wangfujing, with Halim naturally going to follow.

In the afternoon, Li Long went to see Secretary Zhang on his own. Under Secretary Zhang's arrangement, he met with the leader, talked for about forty minutes, and then left.

When Li Long returned to the courtyard, the gate was still locked, indicating that Gu Xiaoyu and the others had not returned yet, but it was clear that Xiao Wang had been waiting there for a long time.

"Oh, Comrade Li Long, you're finally back!" Xiao Wang, also known as Wang Pengcheng, greeted Li Long as he hurried over.

"Director Dai is back. After I gave him the things, he said he'd see if he could get in touch with you in the afternoon so we could meet and talk, but you haven't come back yet. What's going on...?"

"I just got back from the boss's office," Li Long said with a smile. "Is the director in his office now?"

“Yes, yes, shall we go over now?” Wang Pengcheng asked.

"Wait a minute, let me put these things down to avoid any misunderstandings." Li Long pointed to the things he was carrying. "Someone was just delivering something to the boss, and he handed it to me."

"You got this from your boss?" Xiao Wang was quite surprised. "Then you have to put it down. I'll wait for you here, hey!"

Li Long opened the courtyard gate, took the box of pastries and two bottles of liquor he was carrying, put them back in the bedroom, and then came out.

The items weren't particularly valuable, but the leader wasn't in good health and certainly wouldn't drink alcohol, while the beef cubes Li Long sent were a favorite of the leader, who jokingly called it an exchange.

At least Li Long felt that the exchange was quite worthwhile.

Li Long and Xiao Wang hurriedly arrived at the Beijing office of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission. Director Dai was on the phone, so Li Long and Xiao Wang waited in the conference room for a while until the noise on the other end subsided before they went to the office door together.

When Director Dai saw Li Long, a smile immediately appeared on his face:
"Comrade Li Long is here? Look at this, what bad timing! I'm usually free, but I had to go out yesterday. Come, come in quickly, Xiao Wang, pour Comrade Li Long some water, we need to have a good chat."

Li Long guessed that Director Dai must have learned through other channels that he had already met with the leader. Sure enough, after Xiao Wang finished pouring the water and left, Director Dai exchanged only a few pleasantries before inquiring about the leader's situation.

Li Long simply recounted the details of the meeting, and Director Dai did not inquire further.

There are some things you shouldn't pry into too much.

In fact, Li Long explained the purpose of his trip: to bring his Kazakh friends and children to watch the flag-raising ceremony, to learn about the textbook reform, and to discuss some business matters with the Kazakh side.

The man didn't say much to the businessman, but he was very satisfied with what Li Long said about the textbook reform.

However, he also said that vigilance is still needed, as some people will certainly not be content with this, and he told Li Long to pay close attention and let him know if there are any further changes.

Li Long naturally had no objections.

Director Dai asked Li Long about his own affairs, and Li Long also talked about doing business with the Kazakh side, but he kept it brief, mainly saying that he would exchange some things for those medicinal herbs and special products, otherwise it would be difficult to explain the origin of those Soviet special products.

“That’s a good idea.” Director Dai naturally had no objections and said with a smile, “To be honest, European and American products are quite popular here, but back home, we’re more familiar with Soviet products. There’s a lot of heavy machinery and trucks from there.”

Li Long thought to himself, "This Director Dai knows quite a lot. That's all Liu Shanmin does."

It seems that at a certain level, this kind of thing is not a secret.

Li Long also wanted to get some information from Director Dai, hoping it would make making money easier.

However, he only had that thought for a moment before dismissing it. He wasn't the kind of person who could make money based on just a few pieces of information, and he was quite satisfied with the speed at which he was making money, or rather, the speed was already beyond his own comprehension, which was great.

He feared he might lose control if there were any more.

When a person suddenly acquires a huge amount of wealth that they cannot control, it often brings misfortune rather than happiness.

Li Long chatted with Director Dai for over an hour before leaving. He asked Director Dai to continue taking care of his three courtyards (one of which belonged to his elder brother), and Director Dai readily agreed.

Anyway, he can't leave here anytime soon. Li Long's existence is a very meaningful thing, and can even be said to be a bridge. What he needs to do is very small, so why not?

Most people are happy to do favors that go smoothly.

Li Long went to Xiao Wang's office and chatted with him for a while before leaving.

So far, we've accomplished more than half of our purpose for coming to Yanjing. All that's left is to show Halimu and the others around the local attractions, and then we can end our trip.

With some time to spare in the afternoon, Li Long went to the train station and bought a return ticket for three days later.

Three days is enough.

When Li Long returned to the courtyard from the train station, Gu Xiaoyu and the others had not yet returned, so Li Long decided to go and check on the other courtyards.

Although the three courtyards were a bit far apart, it was no problem for Li Long's long legs. He only spent less than two hours looking at the remaining two courtyards.

Similarly, both courtyards were spotless, with fires burning inside, and there was no musty smell. Of course, the blankets were still cold, since no one could possibly live there.

Each courtyard has been furnished with some furniture, all of which look quite old.

These things aren't particularly difficult to find right now, but it will take some effort and money.

Li Long thought he should leave Gu Xiaoyu some more money before leaving, so that she wouldn't run out.

He brought some US dollars with him this time, intending to see if he could buy anything.

After all, keeping so many US dollars is a waste.

Li Long's idea was either to buy some antiques to take back, or to wait for that big country next door to collapse and then go there to bring back some good stuff.

Both are acceptable.

When he finished exploring both courtyards and returned to the courtyard where he was staying, Halim and the others had already returned, but they told Li Long some news that surprised him.

“There was a middle-aged woman waiting for Gu Xiaoyu here, and then they left together when we came back,” Halim said.

Li Long thought to himself that this might be bad; it must be his mother-in-law coming over.
(End of this chapter)