Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1147 The whole team will grow cotton

The lunch was the real family reunion dinner. Although people kept coming to pay their respects, another table was set up in Li Jianguo's house at noon because of the arrival of Li Anguo and Li Xia's families.

In previous years, we would have a simple lunch on the first day of the Lunar New Year, which might be leftover dumplings from the morning or leftover dishes from the family reunion dinner the night before.

But since it was now a formal family reunion, a large feast was prepared for lunch, and the sturgeon meat received unanimous praise.

The main reason was that Li Long gave some "guidance" when his sister-in-law Liang Yuemei was cooking fish. She said that the fish meat was not very good when cooked using the same stewing method as Liang Yuemei used for crucian carp. Instead, it would be better to use garlic or spicy methods.

Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang arrived in the morning, though at different times, but they ended up sitting together and planning to have a get-together that evening.

According to Xie Yundong, he is the oldest, so the gathering should be held at his home.

Tao Daqiang meant that he had been with Li Long the longest, and Li Long should have eaten at Tao Daqiang's house during the Chinese New Year, since he was not at home at all.

Liang Dacheng and Jia Weidong remained silent, as if they had no right to speak.

Since he had been with Li Long for quite some time, he just watched the two of them argue with a smile.

Unable to reach an agreement, they simply let Li Long decide. Li Long actually hated being asked to make a decision when things were unresolved; he felt it was difficult to say one thing and another, and it was easy to offend people. So he smiled and said:

"No need for all that trouble. You two can just play rock-paper-scissors or rock-paper-scissors, and whoever wins gets to stay at their house."

Xie Yundong wanted to play a finger-guessing game, but Tao Daqiang shook his head and said:
"I'm not falling for your tricks. You know I'm slow-witted and can't win at rock-paper-scissors. Let's play rock-paper-scissors instead."

Xie Yundong won.

Li Long could tell that Xie Yundong had used his brain, while Tao Daqiang was just playing randomly, so naturally he was no match for his opponent.

After agreeing to have dinner together that evening, Xie Yundong and the others left. After the family reunion lunch, Li Long gathered the children together and gave each of them a piece of Hetian jade carving.

"Keep this safe. If you're worried about losing it, give it to your parents. This thing is only worth a few dozen yuan now, but in twenty or thirty years, it can buy you a color TV!"

When Li Long gave them the jade pebbles, he did so in front of the adults. The adults didn't seem to care at the time, but when he said this, Li Jianguo and the others were relatively calm, while Li Anguo and Chen Xingbang were quite surprised.

"Will this jade be worth that much in the future?" Chen Xingbang was a little skeptical.

“It’s good material,” Li Long said with a smile. “It’s a first-grade white jade pebble from the Hotan River, and the skin is beautiful. This kind of thing will definitely become increasingly rare in the future. Back in 1982, I bought this kind of material for two or three yuan a piece.”

A piece of this material now costs at least forty or fifty yuan. It's increased twentyfold in just a few years; imagine what it will be like in another twenty years!

Upon hearing this, Li Anguo immediately said, "Then Xiaolong, don't give it to him. This thing is worth more than money."

Chen Xingbang chimed in, "Yes, yes, Xiaolong, you've already given him New Year's money, how can you give him this?"

"It's alright, I collected a lot of these things back then." Seeing the children's hesitant expressions, Li Long waved his hand and said, "Keep them all. They're from your uncle, so just take them."

Since he started collecting these, Li Long has accumulated two sacks of small, varied stones, not counting large pieces. He initially bought them from Yu Sufu, and later from Engineer Liu.

Although top-grade materials like first-class white mutton fat jade are only a very small minority among so many jade pebbles, the total amount accumulated over time is still quite considerable.

Now, after listening to Li Long's advice, Yu Sufu has put jade on display again when he sets up his stall at Wucheng Railway Station. Every time Li Long goes there, he buys away the good pieces that Yu Sufu has stored away.

He's no longer interested in ordinary materials; the more he hoards, the less potential they have for appreciation. It's better to keep some top-quality materials.

Li Jianguo also has quite a few, all of which Li Long has given him from time to time over the years. His parents also have some, but the older folks only have finished products, such as a hand-held piece that Li Qingxia habitually plays with, and a jade bracelet that Du Chunfang wears on her wrist, both of which are of the mutton fat jade grade.

Li Long thought that in future generations, jadeite would appreciate in value even faster than other types of jade, so he decided to take some time to get some good pieces from Engineer Liu and keep them for himself.

Although he didn't understand the difference between ice and glass jadeite, Engineer Liu did.

Seeing that everything was alright in the afternoon, I told my family and then drove to Xie Yundong's house.

When we went, we brought some sturgeon meat that we had chopped up from my older brother. Each family only took a little, about two or three kilograms, just enough to try and show our appreciation.

Li Long thought the banquet would start at seven or eight o'clock, and he arrived at six o'clock, which he thought was early. However, when he arrived, everyone else was already there.

"Hey, everyone's here, that's perfect. Come on, one piece each. This is sturgeon caught from the Ili River, it's really good stuff. Take it back and make it into spicy fish or garlic fish, it's delicious."

Li Long distributed a piece to everyone, and they all accepted it without hesitation.

Jia Weidong was meticulous; since he didn't know how to do it, he asked Li Long for the recipe.

Li Long then explained it to him, and everyone else listened carefully as well.

After taking the items, these people, who were originally playing cards at Xie Yundong's house, stopped playing cards and simply took the items back home.

"Let's eat before we go back," Xie Yundong called out, carrying the fish.

"Tch! We're going to drink tonight. After we finish, I don't know if this fish will still be mine," Liang Dacheng replied before hurrying away.

"You still don't believe me!" Xie Yundong said to Li Long, sounding quite aggrieved. "These guys, humph! I'm not going to cook for them!"

Li Long said with a smile:

"Here's another one. You can keep this one for yourself and keep the other one."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I was just kidding." Xie Yundong immediately felt embarrassed. He was genuinely joking; he had brought the fish with him intending to cook them.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, it's okay, hurry up and do it. I know you're generous, but there's not much fish, so you can keep that portion for your family to try."

In fact, Li Long knew that if Xie Yundong only had one serving, he would definitely make it, and he might not be able to leave any for his family to eat; he would probably put it all on the dinner table.

People care about saving face at this time, and fish is a good way to do that.

Therefore, Li Long brought an extra piece, saying they could eat it together.

When Tao Daqiang and the others returned, the dishes were already on the table. Deng Guilan, wearing an apron, said, "You all eat first. The dishes will be served one by one, and you can eat them while they're hot."

"Leave some food for the child," Li Long said. "We can't let the child eat the leftovers."

"Don't worry about him, he's probably off playing somewhere, he won't go hungry." Deng Guilan waved her hand, "When he comes back, he can just eat a bite of whatever's left."

"That won't do," Li Long waved his hand. "We should stay. Most of us drink, we can't eat much."

Everyone else said the same thing, so Deng Guilan took a plate and set aside some food.

The stove was hot, and the group sat down at the table, taking off their coats. Without any formalities, Xie Yundong poured everyone a full glass of wine, raised it, and said:

"Come on, it's New Year's Day, let's have a drink!"

They were already familiar with each other, and after drinking some wine, even Jia Weidong, who wasn't usually very talkative, gradually became more talkative.

However, when Xie Yundong raised a crucial question, everyone stopped talking.

"Xiaolong, how much cotton does your family plan to plant this year?"

Li Long was holding chicken with his chopsticks when he heard the question. He put the meat down in his own bowl, put down his chopsticks, and said:
“I was telling my older brother last night that I plan to plant 100 mu this year.”

"So many?" Tao Daqiang was surprised.

"Can we manage to plant them?" Liang Dacheng was worried about the lack of manpower.

"Do you own that much land?" Jia Weidong was thinking about the land plots.

Xie Yundong remained silent, waiting for Li Long to continue.

“This is what I’m thinking,” Li Long said. “We’ll bring some people from our hometown to help with the farming. We had some people come last year, so we’ll find more this year. We can definitely farm a hundred acres.”

As for the lack of land, my older brother cleared a lot of wasteland last year, right? We'll use that land for planting now, and as for the harvest, we'll have to see how it goes after we've harvested it.”

Unexpectedly, Li Long had such a bold idea, and the others started to make plans. They all owned combine harvesters, and they could earn some money by harvesting wheat in other places during the wheat harvest season.

But now that more people own small four-wheeled vehicles and harvesters, it's not so easy to make money anymore, so people are thinking of going back to the fields to grow some cash crops.

At the end of last year, it was agreed that we would grow cotton with Li Long. Li Long could provide the technology and had all the necessary machinery, so we decided to go ahead and grow it, as it was at least safer than reaping watermelon seeds.

I never expected the Li family to cultivate 100 acres of land at once!

"Is this cotton really that safe?" Jia Weidong asked a question that everyone else wanted to ask.

"It's hard to say." Li Long didn't give a definite answer. He picked up some chicken from his bowl and put it in his mouth, saying as he ate, "When cotton is planted, just like other things, there will definitely be problems such as uneven seedlings, needing to replant, pests, and boll drop."

Moreover, the technology required to grow cotton is more refined and advanced than that required for other crops.

But cotton is expensive, and there's a cotton and linen company in the county, so there's no worry about finding buyers.

He couldn't force others to grow cotton; he was just trying to influence those around him.

"I originally planned to plant 20 mu, but now I think I'll plant 30 mu instead," Tao Daqiang said.

“Thirty mu? Your family might not be able to manage that,” Li Long said. “Growing cotton is much harder than growing wheat or corn.”

“Hey, if it doesn’t work out, we’ll just hire temporary workers,” Tao Daqiang said. “We’ll see how it goes. I’ll plant 30 mu this year to try it out. If it works, I’ll plant more next year and bring people from my hometown to help with the planting.”

Xie Yundong's plan to plant 20 mu remained unchanged. Liang Dacheng, thinking that his younger brother had already bought a house in the county and his burden was lighter, also decided to plant 20 mu.

Jia Weidong's family had the fewest able-bodied workers. Originally, Li Long thought he could just try planting ten mu, but unexpectedly, he wanted to plant thirty mu all at once.

"I also plan to call relatives from my hometown over. With two people helping with the planting, it should be fine."

“Alright, I’ll come back when we start planting, and I’ll explain every step to you then.” Li Long nodded.

Li Long drank quite a bit that night, but he was still quite sober. When he got back, Hao Hao was already asleep, but Gu Xiaoxia was still awake. She took care of him until he fell asleep before turning off the lights.

The next day, Li Longyuan planned to go to Lao Gu's place after breakfast, but before he knew it, Captain Xu Chengjun arrived.

"Hey, I was planning to come yesterday, but some people came to visit and wouldn't leave. We drank until dark, and I almost couldn't get up this morning." Xu Chengjun rode his bike over and explained the reason first. After all, it's the second day of the Lunar New Year, a time for visiting relatives, and he couldn't disturb them too much, so he needed to explain.

"I only have two things to say, it won't take up much time, I'll be leaving right away." Xu Chengjun stuffed ten yuan into the hands of Mingming and Haohao, who were already dressed, saying, "Here's a New Year's gift, keep it."

Mingming Haohao looked at Li Long, and Li Long said, "Take it, thank you Uncle Xu."

"Thank you, Uncle Xu!" Mingming said loudly, and Haohao repeated after him.

“Okay, you guys get in the car first,” Li Long said. “I need to talk to your Uncle Xu.”

He followed Xu Chengjun to the door, where Xu Chengjun said:

Do you still have that car?

"Yes, but they don't come in at that cheap price anymore," Li Long said. "The first batch came in as scrapped cars without any paperwork. The ones that came in later all have proper paperwork, and they're more expensive, and of course, in better condition."

Xu Chengjun gave a wry smile and asked, "You're not going to accept those scrapped cars without proper documentation anymore?"

"Okay, they're not sending it over there anymore."

"Sigh, I thought since I was driving in the village or township, whether I had the permits or not wouldn't be a problem. But you don't have any now. So what kind of cars do you have? How much are they worth?"

"A new Lada, if you want it, is 40,000. A semi-new Volga is 50,000. We just got four GAZ-69s, the kind my brother drives. They're cheaper, the newer ones are 30,000, and the semi-new ones are around 20,000."

The brand-new one was given to Wang Mingjun, and Li Long didn't mention it. The main thing was the four new ones that were brought back. Li Long planned to charge between 30,000 and 20,000 for these four.

"It's so expensive." Xu Chengjun felt it was still too expensive.

He could still come up with 20,000 yuan, but he had inquired privately and found out that Xie Yundong and his group's cars were all bought for around 10,000 yuan. Now, the price had suddenly increased so much, much more than he had expected, so he hesitated.

It's unlikely that Li Long would specially bring over an old car just because Xu Chengjun wanted it, so he didn't say anything.

"Let's talk about something else first. You're planning to plant cotton this year, right? I see some people in the team are thinking of following your family's lead. They might ask you about the technical aspects of planting cotton, since they don't know much about it."

“No problem. If you ask me, I’ll tell you everything I know.” Li Long nodded and said, “I asked other people too. In our county, Liuhudi and Beiwucha both grow cotton. If you have relatives in the team there, you can ask them. Oh, and the Production and Construction Corps grows a lot of cotton there too, you can ask them there as well.”

Li Long meant that I should say what I know, and if I don't know something, you can ask others. Don't expect me to ask you a question and then go to the agricultural college to ask me.

Xu Chengjun laughed: "Of course, if you know something, you'll tell everyone. If you don't know, we can't force you to learn, right? That's the idea. Alright, I won't keep you from going to see Lao Gu. I'll think about the car thing some more."

Xu Chengjun left, and Li Long drove to Lao Gu's place.

The three-day Spring Festival holiday passed quickly. When Li Long drove Gu Xiaoxia back to the county compound, Mingming and Haohao still stayed with the team.

They get along well with their older siblings and don't want to go home yet.

Li Long figured that since kindergarten would be starting in ten days anyway, he'd let them relax for a few more days.

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Li Long's courtyard welcomed two groups of guests.

The first to arrive were He Yuqing and Meng Hai, who came to offer their New Year's greetings.

“I knew you’d be going to the team during the three-day holiday, so I came here specifically on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.” Meng Hai, who was driving the tractor, and He Yuqing, who was on the tractor, got off together and took out slaughtered and frozen chickens, fish, and some dried vegetables from the truck bed.

When they went inside for a drink of water, Meng Hai also mentioned wanting to buy a car. After listening to Li Long's recommendations, he also took a liking to the GAZ-69 motorcycle.

"Twenty thousand? I'll take it!" Meng Hai had made some money with Li Long in the past two years, and he could still come up with twenty thousand yuan if he tightened his belt.

He Yuqing could only envy him; he couldn't afford it.

Qingshuihezi Village doesn't have many side businesses, and the village's collective income is low. Because he has to stay in the village, unlike Meng Hai who can make money with Li Long, he can only be envious.

Fortunately, Meng Hai joked that Lao He could drive his car if anything happened, which made He Yuqing feel a little better.

Since Meng Hai wanted to buy it, Li Long let him drive one of the GAZ-69 trucks away. It was just sitting there anyway, and as for the money, Meng Hai said he'd bring it over in a couple of days.

Not long after Meng Hai left, Wang Mingjun arrived.

This time, he came with Zheng Xiangyang, driving a tractor and hauling a load of hides.

"Old Wang wants a new car, but I don't have that much money. A used one will do," Zheng Xiangyang said. "Old Chen said your used one costs 20,000 yuan. Can you take a look?"

"Take a look," Li Long said, pointing to the remaining three cars. "These two cost 30,000, and this one costs 20,000."

If Zheng Xiangyang pays first, then we'll wait for the next truck to be loaded for Lao Chen. If he doesn't have the money right now, then we'll see who pays first.

"This car? Can I try it out?" Zheng Xiangyang naturally preferred the newer one, but he couldn't bear to spend an extra ten thousand.

“Okay, but you have to boil the water yourself. I need to help Company Commander Wang with the leather.”

The purchasing station is currently deserted. Liang Shuangcheng hasn't returned yet, and Old Gu doesn't want to come back either, so only Li Long is there. The Sun family next door are also gone; nobody knows where they went.

Zheng Xiangyang naturally had no objections. He had arrived early, so he went to boil water. The stove had been set up by Meng Hai when he drove the No. 69 truck away, because he needed to boil water to warm up the truck.

"This time I brought 150 hides," Wang Mingjun said. "More than 60 are whole hides, and the rest are damaged hides. Take a look at the prices."

According to the previously agreed price, a full hide costs 120 yuan, and a damaged hide costs 80 yuan. The hides that Wang Mingjun brought are worth more than 14,000 yuan.

"Hey, just one more load, and I can pay the rest." Wang Mingjun was quite excited. While Zheng Xiangyang was boiling water and testing the 20,000 yuan 69 truck in the yard, he lifted the canvas and looked at the truck that was about to belong to him, quite excited.

(End of this chapter)