Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1156 Making Two-Way Preparations

When Li Long heard Liu Shanmin say this, he knew he definitely wouldn't be able to leave today.

Liu Shanmin didn't waste any time. After expressing his gratitude, he took Li Long to see the things he had brought back.

“I heard from Gao Lou that the GAZ-69 trucks are quite popular over there, so I got three more. One is relatively new, it’s been driven for three years, and the other two are converted for civilian use, the kind that were first brought back, they can be used for everyday driving.”

Li Long nodded as he looked at the GAZ-69 truck being pulled on the truck.

Generally speaking, one of the three vehicles is painted in military green, while the other two are civilian vehicles, with the upper half being off-white and the lower half being light yellow. The shells are no longer made of canvas but have become hard shells, just like cars.

This looks more normal, but I don't know if my customers will like it.

"There are still quite a few pelts, but now that spring has arrived, some of the people who used to hunt have gone to herd livestock. This is the last batch of relatively large pelts, five thousand in total. If there are any more in the future, the quantity will not be this much."

"There are quite a few antelope horns. Some were hunted, and some I had people pick up. The people here don't care much about them. They can get them by paying a little money, and it's quite profitable."

Liu Shanmin introduced the truck in a very casual manner. When he mentioned the last truck covered with a tarpaulin, he simply said, "I won't tell you what's inside. I used it to complete my mission. Anyway, I made quite a bit of money this time."

Li Long understood what he meant. Although China had relatively little foreign exchange reserves, it was still very generous when it came to buying scarce and urgently needed items.

Liu Shanmin's requirements for domestic financial rewards are not high. He only needs to purchase some supplies on the way back and forth, and he can earn several times his initial investment.

You can't expect a horse to run without feeding it. Principles and flexibility must be used in combination at this point.

Moreover, judging from Liu Shanmin's current state, he is quite satisfied with the degree of freedom given to him by his superiors. It is likely that his superiors are also satisfied with his current situation. They do not need much assistance from above; just a few policy incentives are enough for him to deliver satisfactory results and get what he needs in return.

How good!

"Let's have dinner together tonight, and I'll introduce you to some of my friends. Although you do business at the border, to be honest, what you said to me back then was quite inspiring to them, so they'd like to get to know you too."

Li Long thought to himself, "If others know who I am, they probably just want to get along with me. I'm just an excuse."

Since they had already arrived, he didn't say anything and went to rest first.

When Liu Shanmin took Li Long to rest, he also loaded a large bag of things into his car, all of them specialties from Kazakhstan and the Soviet Union. Because Khorgos was a relatively large port, although its influence was not as great as Alashankou to the north at this time, it was still considerable.

Therefore, some Central Asian goods also pass through here, and it is also easy to buy from Kazakhstan, such as goods from Türkiye and other countries.

Although he wasn't particularly fond of the country, Li Long still quite liked these local specialties.

Of course, it's not really that he likes them, but his family does. For example, the candies and chocolates that he finds cloyingly sweet, the red wines whose names he can't recognize, the colorful silk scarves, the delicate carpets and cushions, and the large sausages—he can't eat them, but the child at that age really likes them.

There are hotels in Khorgos, and the one Liu Gaolou arranged for Li Long is quite nice. He used to stay in Liu Gaolou's courtyard, but Liu Shanmin is currently entertaining guests there, so it's inconvenient for Li Long to go there and he hasn't gone.

Li Long was happy to have some free time. After parking his car and putting his things away, he simply started driving around Khorgos.

Not far from the hotel was the border gate, and nearby was a sentry post. There was also a border defense company in the town, less than a kilometer from the sentry post. At the sentry post was a watchtower, and Li Long could see the sentries on the opposite side using binoculars.

At that time, the border gate was not so grand. With Li Long's eyesight, he could see the border guards inspecting the border and the cars passing through.

In other words, vehicles entering and leaving the country undergo triple checks here: border guards, border armed police, and customs.

Knowing that he couldn't enter from there, Li Long wandered around the area and found some shops operating under the guise of the border, selling things that claimed to be imported from abroad. As for whether they were genuine or not, there were probably more genuine ones at that time.

Of course, the most common establishments are restaurants, car repair shops, hotels, and so on. Oh, and there are also some barbershops that look somewhat dubious.

Early in the morning, with the sun shining brightly, Li Long even spotted some ethnic or exotic faces.
Because there are both ethnic Russians from within China and Russians from abroad living here, it's hard to tell them apart.

After wandering around for a while, Li Long rejected several offers from the hairdressers he had been approaching and returned to the hotel.

He thought these people were quite dedicated, getting up so early to start their business.

I got a buzz cut myself, which most barbers these days can't handle.

Liu Gaolou was waiting for Li Long in the courtyard of the hotel. Seeing Li Long enter, he smiled and said:

"Mr. Li, where have you been wandering around?"

"Just wandering around," Li Long said casually. "Have you finished dealing with things with your second uncle?"

"Not yet. They said there's a new deal. I'm not involved, so I came out. By the way, let's get together tonight and leave tomorrow. My second uncle said so, right?"

"I already said so," Li Long said. "Should we call Revolution Buick and tell him to come over tomorrow? Or should we go pick him up?"

"I called him and told him to go to Qingshuihe tomorrow morning and wait for me."

Since Liu Gaolou had already made the arrangements, Li Long didn't say much more, but he still offered an explanation:
"Mr. Liu, my jade is just ordinary jasper. Let's not talk about that anymore, okay? I regret joking with you about it back then."

"Alright, alright, I got it," Liu Gaolou said with a smile. "It's only because we have a good relationship with Buick that I wouldn't have said anything to others. Besides, this is a good thing; who knows, it might actually come true?"

“It can’t be true.” Li Long waved his hand. “What time is it? We have to believe in science.”

That's what he said, but he himself wasn't entirely sure.

Otherwise, what's wrong with me?

"Some things can't be explained by science, like aliens and qigong," Liu Gaolou joked. "Alright, I won't go into the rest. By the way, when you came back this time, you still had white sugar in your stool."

“No problem.” Li Long smiled. “I didn’t expect there to be such a shortage of sugar over there. Actually, the Kazakhstan Union is so big, we can just plant some sugar beets and produce sugar.”

“The light industry here is not good, there are not enough people, and although there are sugar factories, the output is not enough,” Liu Gaolou explained. “It’s not that there are no factories, there are, but not enough.”

There are too few people, and even with a sugar factory, it's not enough.

These words together seem a bit confusing, but Li Long knew the general situation there, so he didn't go into details.

Lunch was just a simple bowl of noodles, but dinner was a bit more luxurious. It was in one of the larger restaurants in the area, in a big room, where the dishes were already being served on an octagonal table.

Besides the Liu family uncle and nephew, Li Long, and two other people.

“This is Section Chief Yang from the Customs,” Liu Shanmin introduced to Li Long, “and this is Boss Tong, who does border trade business here.”

After the introductions, he also introduced Li Long to the two people:

"This is Mr. Li, who came from Ma County. You may not know Ma County, but you must know Shicheng. Ma County is about ten kilometers east of Shicheng, and it is famous for its jade."

Don't let Mr. Li's young age fool you; he's quite wealthy, even more so than you, Old Tong. But young Li is also very dedicated to public welfare and has been recognized as a nationally recognized outstanding individual, even by the autonomous region.

The last sentence, which seemed to be praising Li Long, was perceived by Li Long as a reminder to the other two.

This Section Chief Yang was in his thirties, tall, with a slicked-back hairstyle. When he sat there, you couldn't tell he was a section chief at customs—maybe he wasn't wearing a uniform.
What impressed Li Long was that his face looked very much like that of a Uyghur, but according to Liu Shanmin's introduction, he was Han Chinese.

That's weird.

As for this Boss Tong, he's of medium build and dresses somewhat similarly to the singer surnamed Cai, perhaps trying to emulate the image of a Confucian businessman. He's quite handsome, though not very tall, but he's very witty.

After Liu Shanmin introduced Li Long, both of them said they were "very happy to meet Boss Li." Li Long could sense that this was because of Liu Shanmin, and he said the same polite words.

Having run a purchasing station for several years, he knew how to exchange pleasantries. Over dinner and drinks, Li Long had assumed Liu Shanmin would discuss some business. After all, besides himself, the two people he'd invited represented their respective interests.

To his surprise, Liu Shanmin only chatted idly from beginning to end. Both Section Chief Yang and Boss Tong were just keeping him company, genuinely welcoming him.

Li Long wasn't afraid of drinking. Even Section Chief Yang, who had initially boasted about his drinking capacity, reluctantly praised Li Long's drinking ability in the end.

As for Boss Tong, he had already fallen asleep on the table. Li Long knew he was faking it to some extent, but after all the charade, the boss had drunk more than half a bottle of Yili Special Qu liquor, so his alcohol tolerance wasn't bad.

Li Long thought that he would take two boxes of Yili Special Qu liquor back with him when he left tomorrow, so that his trip wouldn't be in vain.

The next day, after breakfast, Li Long went to the shop next door and bought two bottles of Yili Special Qu liquor. These were still white porcelain bottles, produced in 1984. Seeing how many Li Long had bought, the shop owner was quite pleased.

Li Long put the wine in the car, squeezed it in, and managed to fit it in, but there was no more room for anyone else.

There are mostly leather goods. Yesterday, Liu Shanmin stuffed a large bag of local specialties into the bag, and today we have these two cases of wine.

Fortunately, the leather was wrapped in cloth sheets and bags, otherwise the car would have smelled terrible.

After Li Long finished tidying up the place and gave the car a quick wipe, he saw Liu Gaolou coming over.

"Oh, wiping the car now?" Liu Gaolou said with a smile as he watched Li Long's actions. "I've never seen you do this before."

"I felt a little embarrassed that those kids wiped my car yesterday," Li Long said. "By the way, where's your second uncle?"

"He's off on business," Liu Gaolou said. "He said we don't need to wait for him, we can just take the stuff away. He has other things to do, so he won't come to see us off."

Have you had breakfast? If you have, let's go straight there.

"Not yet, have you eaten? Then wait for me. I drank a bit too much yesterday, I need to find a place to eat some sour soup noodles, otherwise I'll suffer on the way here."

In the end, Liu Gaolou couldn't find the sour soup noodles either, mainly because the shop he frequented was closed. So he knocked on the door of a beef noodle shop and asked the owner to make him a bowl of noodles with extra chili and vinegar. After eating, he left with Li Long and the others.

When the car arrived at Qingshuihe, Li Long saw the Revolutionary Buick couple standing at the three-way intersection. To his surprise, Wu Yongbo was also there.

The convoy parked on the side of the road, attracting the attention of many people.

Although Qingshuihe is located on a major transportation route, with roads leading east to various counties in Yining, south to Khorgos, and north to Guozigou leading out of the Ili River Valley, long convoys like this are rarely seen even a few times a day.

Li Long could tell that Qingshuihe was more prosperous than Horgos.

"Old Wu, are you planning to come with us?" Liu Gaolou greeted Revolutionary Buick and then asked Wu Yongbo.

"I'd like to go with you and learn from Mr. Li's business experience," Wu Yongbo said with a smile. "If it's feasible, I'll start collecting fritillaria bulbs when I get back and then sell them to Mr. Li."

"Oh, right, about the fish we caught that day, you all left afterwards. Fish doesn't keep well these days, so my friend dried some of it. The dried fish tastes pretty good."

Li Long then noticed that Wu Yongbo had two black canvas bags at his feet, and he gave one to Li Long and one to Liu Gaolou.

Li Long didn't refuse, and took it with a smile, saying:

"I can fit this bag in, thank you Mr. Wu. But my car is already full of leather, so there's no room for anyone to sit down."

"It's alright, it's alright, I can drift anywhere, even a large carriage," Wu Yongbo said with a smile.

“How could I let you ride in the big truck? Revolution Buick and the other two will sit in the back of me. You can either squeeze in with them or sit in the passenger seat of the truck behind.” Liu Gaolou was also quite interested in the dried fish. After taking the fish, he arranged the seats.

In the end, Wu Yongbo chose to sit in the back of the Volga and squeeze in with the Revolution Buick and the others, saying he would have a good chat with Boss Liu and the others on the way.

Liu Gaolou was driving a Buick. Although he felt better after eating breakfast, it still affected his driving.

The convoy headed north, then east after passing Sayram Lake. They were in a bit of a rush today, driving all the way to Usu before finally stopping in the dark.

Li Long still remembered the goji berry seedlings he had bought. Coincidentally, there was still some space in the trucks of the convoy, which mainly came to pick up white sugar, so he simply borrowed the truck and took the goji berry seedlings with him, since it was on the way.

Liu Gaolou knew Li Long's plan and naturally had no objection. He said it was also his first time staying in Wusu, and he wanted to take a look at the night view of this northern border military city.

At that time, the Northern Xinjiang Military Region, a military hospital, and several units under a Red Army division were located here, with a considerable number of soldiers.

To be honest, you couldn't really see anything at night, and everyone was exhausted. They found a place to stay; the hotel had a yard and dogs, which made them feel more at ease.

The hotel owner recommended a place to eat, and they quickly finished their dinner and went to rest. Li Long was quite alert in the middle of the night, but there was no noise in the courtyard. He didn't know if it was because the place was inherently safe or if the hotel owner was just being cautious.

The next day, after breakfast, when I went to collect seedlings again, I truly understood the meaning of "Bingcheng" (military city). Among the passersby, I frequently saw people in military uniforms, both men and women, looking quite dashing and imposing.

Last time he went there, Li Long's attention was on the goji berry seedlings and he didn't pay attention, but this time he did.

However, it was mostly just for looking around; the main purpose was to take an empty truck to the nursery to buy seedlings.

The boss was quite happy to see Li Long arrive. He first pointed out the location of the seedlings to Li Long, and then said that he would find someone to dig them up right away.

Fortunately, the seedlings weren't too big, so they were easy to dig up; almost one or two shovelfuls were enough to get one.

He recruited many people, and in just half a morning, he had prepared more than 10,000 seedlings.

When paying the bill, Li Long felt it was quite cheap; the seedlings that cost over 10,000 yuan only came to a few hundred yuan.

With the seedlings on board, the convoy continued its journey without stopping, arriving in Ma County in one go.

Li Long led them directly to the purchasing station. The trucks had to be driven inside and unloaded—except for the one carrying the seedlings, of course. They unloaded the leather from the GAZ-69 truck, and then took the men to eat.

During dinner, Wu Yongbo asked Li Long:
"Mr. Li, does that whole courtyard belong to you?"

“Yes, that’s my purchasing station. It used to be state-owned, but after it was shut down, I first rented the yard to start collecting supplies, and then I bought the yard,” Li Long said. “I mainly collected medicinal herbs, hides, and the like.”

Wu Yongbo nodded thoughtfully.

"After you finish eating, I'll take you to the guesthouse to stay. I need to get the seedlings to the team first," Li Long said while eating. "Revolutionary Buick, don't worry, I'll let you go take a look at that jade tomorrow. Then I'll find you a prescription, and you can get the medicine and brew it."

Since they had come all this way, Li Long figured he couldn't let them waste their time. He saw the jade as nothing more than a comforting thought; he had the notebook Liang Donglou had given him, which seemed to contain a recipe for getting pregnant.

Li Long wasn't sure if the prescription would work, but at this point, it was a matter of taking a chance, and doing something was better than doing nothing.

Revolutionary Bek nodded hastily.

"You go ahead and do your thing, don't worry about us." Liu Gaolou was quite familiar with the area. "We're not too tired, we'll just unload the cargo from the truck today. Tomorrow, Revolution Buick is handling his business, and you and I still need to go talk about the sugar."

"So urgent?" Li Long asked.

"It's mainly because my uncle arranged the work, telling me to hurry up and get this sugar back. Sugar prices are high right now, so every little bit helps," Liu Gaolou said without hiding anything from them. "They're in dire need of it right now."

Li Long nodded, indicating that he understood.

Let's get to work!

(End of this chapter)