Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1186 Some people are bad, some are stupid, and some are both bad and stupid

In the evening, before it got dark, Mingming and Haohao were playing in the yard after dinner. By this time, they didn't need anyone to accompany them anymore. The two children were very familiar with the yard and were playing a fighting game with two little white goats.

Li Long turned on the TV and watched the news broadcast.

When he first started watching TV, he hated watching the news. Back then, he couldn't wait for the news to end so he could watch TV dramas.

You can only watch two episodes a day, and there are only two channels. Although you can receive the Ma County TV station, it's sometimes on and sometimes off, so you have to rely on luck.

But after his rebirth, he developed a liking for watching the news, not just the national news broadcast, but also local news.

Not only did he read them, but he also listened to the radio without changing the channel when the news came on. There was a lot of information in the newspapers at that time, but Li Long felt that listening to them was more comfortable than reading them.

Like many people in later generations who prefer listening to novels to reading them, the main reason is that it doesn't interfere with other things; one can listen while doing other things.

Gu Xiaoxia sat at her desk, carefully cutting out the articles about Li Long from the newspapers he had brought back. She then glued them to her homemade scrapbook and wrote down the newspaper name, date, and page number in her neat handwriting.

"If only this were the front page, the Farmers' Daily!" Gu Xiaoxia exclaimed as she cut the paper, a hint of regret in her voice.

“It’s already good enough that I can get the job. There are so many farmers across the country, what am I?” Li Long said dismissively. “There are many who do better than me.”

"That's not necessarily true. In my opinion, what you've done is the best. The corps' mechanization is quite impressive, right? But it might not even be as good as what you've done."

As Gu Xiaoxia cut, she explained, "After cutting and pasting them all, and adding notes, I carefully wiped away the excess glue with a towel, then smiled and said:"

"Hey, this scrapbook is almost empty. I can't believe it's only been a few years...hehe..."

Scrapbooks were something many cultured people enjoyed making at that time. It wasn't difficult; you could simply buy a few large sheets of paper from a store, cut them into smaller pieces (A4 or A16), and then bind them together.

Many people in later generations no longer know what a large sheet of paper is, but in the 1980s and 1990s, most small shops had it. A large sheet of paper is actually a sheet of paper called "one kai" (一开). Fold it in half and it becomes two kai, fold it in half again and it becomes four kai, and fold it in half again and it becomes eight kai or sixteen kai.

That's how 16K paper came about. People who frequently work with printing should know that 16K is slightly smaller than A4 paper; it's our country's own standard.

Literature enthusiasts will cut out and paste their own articles as a memento; or they will cut out and paste their favorite articles to study frequently.

Some thrifty people like to buy large sheets of paper, cut them into smaller pieces, such as A4 size, and bind them together to use as scratch paper for students. This is cheaper than buying notebooks from a store.

Some people in Li Qiang's class did just that. People at that time didn't have such a strong sense of snobbery, and they wouldn't look at those who couldn't afford notebooks with disdain.

"I'll buy two more sheets of paper tomorrow and make a scrapbook. When Mingming and Haohao start elementary school, let's see if we can collect two scrapbooks by then." Gu Xiaoxia put the scrapbook away, saying happily, "This will be our family heirloom!"

"Trying to pass this off as a family heirloom?" Li Long laughed. "Won't people think you've gone mad? Anything we randomly pull out of our cellar is better than this, isn't it?"

“That’s different,” Gu Xiaoxia said, shaking her head. “Those things can at most be exchanged for money, but these things can’t be bought with money. I don’t have any special skills, but you’re the pillar of our family. You not only make money, but you also receive so many honors. How amazing is that!”
"When we're old, let our children and grandchildren know that you were once featured in a national newspaper and received national recognition."

Gu Xiaoxia spoke very seriously, which made Li Long a little embarrassed, then a little smug and proud.

Hey, what man wouldn't be smitten if his beautiful wife praised him like that?

Li Long just smiled foolishly.

Mingming Haohao came in from outside and saw Li Long laughing there. Mingming asked:

"Dad, what are you laughing at?"

"I'm happy, and when you're happy, you naturally smile."

Although Mingming and Haohao didn't know why Li Long was happy, they were both happy because their parents were happy, so Haohao shouted:

"I'm happy too, I took down both lambs by myself!"

"Hmm, Hao Hao is really strong, and Mingming is too, right? By the way, did the big sheep not lift you up?" Gu Xiaoxia asked with concern.

"No, Big Black is watching it." Mingming said proudly, "Big Black is helping us."

After Mingming and Haohao fell asleep, Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia about Gu Boyuan's situation over there. Knowing that her father had found several retired reconnaissance soldiers to help, Gu Xiaoxia felt relieved. She couldn't help but ask again:

"You're saying those reconnaissance soldiers are foreign special forces?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia some things he had heard in his previous life. "When there are international special forces competitions, our country sends reconnaissance soldiers to participate. So you see, these reconnaissance soldiers are special forces, right?"

“That should be it.” Gu Xiaoxia suddenly asked, “Then…would you like to invite a few people here too?”

"No need, no need. Your dad doesn't know anyone there, so of course we have to invite him. Ma County is our own territory. Think about it, the police station is right across the street, and the Public Security Bureau isn't too far away either. We also have guns..."

By the way, the gun ban hasn't been issued yet, but it's not as convenient for militia training to use guns as it used to be. However, Li Long's guns all have gun licenses and are legal. He won't hand them over until at least the 1990s when guns are confiscated.

If we were to send a few people to protect you like Lao Gu did in Yili, people would laugh at us.

How can you be so smug with just a few dollars?

Gu Xiaoxia thought about it and agreed, then smiled.

She drives to and from get off work mainly to make it easier to pick up her child. Even so, people at work still talk behind her back, saying that she's flaunting her wealth.

So you can imagine how much criticism Lee Yong would receive if he hired bodyguards.

On May 24th, Huang Lei came again, but this time Li Long picked him up in Wucheng.

At Wucheng Railway Station, Huang Lei was too tired to talk after making a phone call to Li Long. If he hadn't met two enthusiastic people from Shicheng on the train, he might not have been able to unload his belongings intact.

The items were still the same shrimp and crab seedlings that Li Long had requested, but this time Huang Lei took a larger quantity. Since most of them were already alive when he brought them over last time, he wanted to get more this time.

As a result, I exhausted myself. Two huge buckets!
When Li Long drove the Volga to Wucheng South Railway Station, Huang Lei had already eaten and was sitting at the entrance of a small restaurant, nodding his head, almost asleep.

"If you don't come soon, all those seedlings will die from the sun." These were Huang Lei's first words after being shaken awake by Li Long.

Of course, they couldn't be dried out by the sun. When Huang Lei was eating here, he had already instructed the owner to put those two big buckets of seedlings in the kitchen and let them cool with some water.

The colder it gets, the more likely these seedlings are to survive—not referring to sub-zero temperatures, of course.

"Thank you for your hard work," Li Long said with a smile. "Shall we find a place to rest, or should we get in the car and leave directly?"

"Get in the car! Get in the car!" Huang Lei stood up and said, "I don't want to stay here anymore. Let's get to Ma County quickly, find a room at the guesthouse, and I need to sleep!"

This second batch from Huang Lei wasn't the second batch Li Long received. A couple of days ago, when Zhao Hui came to collect crab skins, he also brought Li Long a batch of crab seedlings, but they weren't managed well, and most of them died.

Ultimately, it was someone who had worked hard, and Li Long was quite grateful.

Zhao Hui left with three trucks. Although the spring hides Liu Gaolou brought twice weren't as good as the winter hides, the quantity was enormous. Li Long offered him the same price as for the winter hides, mainly because the other party gave him trucks and antelope horns at a lower price—a fair exchange.

Zhao Hui said that spring pelts have gone up a bit, but not as expensive as winter pelts. All things considered, Li Long can earn about fifty or sixty yuan per pelt.

So, just from those hides, Li Long made nearly 500,000 yuan, which somewhat recovered his losses and made up for the money he had invested last time. Jia Tianlong came over again and took away three and a half tons of dried fritillaria bulbs, leaving Li Long with a transfer of more than 400,000 yuan.

Li Long spent the rest of his time paying back taxes—the taxes were very heavy.

He didn't want to evade taxes and was determined to be a law-abiding citizen. Moreover, there were no professional talents available, no way to avoid taxes, and he didn't put any thought into it, so he earned a lot but also paid a lot of taxes.

However, these were all minor details. After Huang Lei left, the crab and shrimp seedlings he brought had almost adapted to the local climate, so Li Long took them to Xiaohaizi. He wanted to give the creatures in Xiaohaizi more companions.

Li Long believed that these little guys would grow up very well here.

Li Long smiled as he poured the crab and shrimp larvae into the water and watched the little guys swim away in a panic.

The surface area of ​​Xiaohaizi is probably several hundred acres? Anyway, it's definitely less than one square kilometer.

Currently, a quarter of the water surface is covered by reeds. These reeds and the duckweed that grows floating in them support aquatic life such as fish, barnacles, and water chickens, and also quite a few toads.

At this time, the water source of Xiaohaizi was mainly a large canal that flowed from a tributary of the Mahe River, as well as the floods in spring and summer, and a spring that Li Long had always felt existed but had never been found.

Two thousand years ago, the groundwater level was very high, and there were quite a few springs and artesian wells in the area.

However, after the fourth team started planting cotton, they vigorously developed groundwater, drilling more than a dozen wells, and the same was true in other places.

As a result, the groundwater level kept dropping, and eventually all the springs disappeared.

The water source of Xiaohaizi became mainly floodwater. Every year, the floodwater brought a large amount of silt and sand, which raised the water level. In addition, since it was left unmanaged, it gradually turned into an above-ground reservoir.

Then, at some point, cattails started growing inside. This thing was definitely an invasive species here, and it completely overwhelmed the reeds. Nearly forty years later, four-fifths of the small lake was now covered by vegetation, three-quarters of which was cattails and the remaining quarter was reeds.

Because this area has been designated as a wetland reserve, the reeds are left unharvested in winter, and fires are prohibited. As a result, by summer, the old reed stalks press down on the new stalks, preventing them from growing, and the reeds gradually wither.

Li Long thought to himself that things were going well for now, but things definitely wouldn't be like they were in later years. Since he had nominally taken over the contract, there would definitely be cleanup to be done later.

Seeing that the crab and shrimp larvae had disappeared, Li Long got up and drove his car. Since there was still some time before dinner, he decided to go check on the cotton field.

As time went on, the cotton grew faster and faster. This plant likes heat; the hotter the weather, the more it grows, and of course, it also likes water. At this stage, watering cotton about five times is enough, but later, when drip irrigation was switched, some people watered it seven or eight times.

By this time, the cotton plants had grown to knee height, with lush leaves that covered the gaps in the ground. Now, as far as the eye could see, the ground was full of dark green leaves, which was very pleasing to the eye.

A few days ago, it was still possible to see that some cotton plants were missing seedlings, but now it's impossible to spot them.

Li Long was very satisfied.

However, the soil next door didn't seem to be in good condition. The leaves looked a bit reddish-brown, so Li Long didn't go any closer. He knew that it was infested with spider mites.

The discolored area was about one or two hundred square meters. Li Long planned to talk to Xu Haijun later. It was Xu's land, and he needed to get him to spray pesticides quickly, otherwise it would spread to the whole area and even to his own house.

Just as he was about to leave to look at another plot of land, he suddenly saw a person coming from the east. Judging from his appearance, he intended to cross the cotton field and walk to the farm road in the northeast corner of the cotton field.

To the east of the cotton field was a large area of ​​alkaline wasteland. Li Long vaguely remembered that this area of ​​alkaline wasteland was 260 mu (approximately 17 hectares). After the second sudden increase in cotton prices, this land was leased out for 280,000 yuan, and the lease term seemed to be 15 years?
The saline-alkali land was covered with many tamarisk and saxaul trees, as well as some unnamed small grasses adapted to the saline-alkali environment. Li Long also knew that there would be many small insects on these grasses.

Next to the Li family's cotton field, there are two other families growing cotton. Both are long, north-south oriented fields, each about four or five hundred meters long, and if you were to cross them, it would be about two hundred meters long.

Li Long squinted and recognized her as a woman; she was Li Xincheng's wife from Dongzhuangzi. Li Xincheng was a little younger than her older brother Li Jianguo but a little older than Li Long, in her thirties. She had arrived at the fourth team later than Li Jianguo but earlier than Li Long.

"Hey! Sister-in-law! Don't walk through the cotton field! You'll easily catch bugs." Li Long didn't know what Li Xincheng's wife's name was, mainly because they rarely interacted, including in later generations. When chatting, they would at most mention Xincheng's wife.

It felt right for him to call her "sister-in-law," at least he should be polite.

However, the man looked up at Li Long, then continued walking with his head down, and had already reached the cotton field.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Don't walk through the cotton field!" Li Long shouted again. He was sure the man had heard him but wasn't listening, so he wasn't going to be polite anymore and raised his voice a few decibels, "Don't bring the bugs in..."

The person paused for a moment, then resolutely stepped into the cotton field, beginning to cross the rows of cotton plants. Because of her short stature, walking was a bit difficult. And where she was walking, not far ahead, were the places where red spider mites had already begun to sprout.

Li Long got angry and, while rushing towards the cotton field to intercept him, shouted:

"Are you deaf? I told you not to leave, but you insist on going anyway. What are you trying to do?"

The woman didn't expect Li Long to rush into the field to chase her away, so she stopped abruptly. However, she continued walking slowly and carefully but firmly. By the time Li Long intercepted her, the woman had already entered the area inhabited by the red spiders.

What the hell!
Li Long wanted to curse and hit someone!
"Go back!" Li Long pointed angrily at the way they had come and said to her:

"You can't go any further! There's a pest infestation in this area, and you've already brought the bugs with you... Go back the way you came!"

Li Long could have given a proper explanation, but he noticed that there was a long trail where the woman had walked, with the cotton leaves turned upside down, running through the entire cotton field—meaning this wasn't the first time she had walked like this.

She's walked this way more than once! Otherwise, the cotton leaves in the cotton field wouldn't be so obviously turned up!

That's why Li Long got angry!

"I just wanted to be closer..." Facing the tall and burly Li Long, the woman didn't throw a tantrum, but tried to explain, "I was really tired after finishing work, and I didn't bring any water with me... I wanted to get home quickly to drink some water..."

"Didn't you hear me calling you? These cotton fields get infested with bugs so fast! If they spread, the cotton will be ruined!" Li Long didn't know if this person was stupid, dumb, or just stubborn. He took a deep breath and explained:
"You're covered in bugs right now! I don't care if you want water or work, get out of the field right now and go back!"

The man tried to explain further, but Li Long glared at him and shut him down.

She had no choice but to awkwardly retreat again, and then go around to the north end of the land—you see, she actually knew that the north end was closer and easier to walk than the south end.

Seeing the woman hurrying towards the residential area, Li Long abandoned his idea of ​​continuing to other cotton fields and drove to find Xu Haijun first.

Xu Haijun wasn't home, and no one was there either, so Li Long went to find Xu Chengjun and relayed the story to him.

"Do you think she did it on purpose?" Xu Chengjun asked, knowing the woman.

"I don't know either. But I do know that if we don't spray pesticides now, the Navy's land will lose at least 20 to 30 kilograms per acre this year. If we don't spray them, the cotton will be ruined."

The leaves that were eaten by spider mites dried up completely. Without leaves, how can cotton grow?

“I need to hurry up and notify the other two families, and then go to my brother’s place to drive a tractor with a sprayer to spray pesticides,” Li Long said. “She’s definitely made more than one trip back and forth, so we probably have spider mites in our field too.”

One of the two houses next door belonged to Liang Dacheng. Upon hearing what Li Long said, Liang Dacheng started cursing and preparing to spray pesticides—his land was adjacent to Li Long's, and he listened to Li Long.

The other family's land is on the very edge, belonging to Wang Sanwa from the team. He's about the same age as Li Long and has already separated from the family to live independently.

However, after listening to Li Long's explanation, Wang Sanwa smiled and said:
“My family and the Navy family are separated by two plots of land from your family and the Liang family. You can fight first and see if I can avoid fighting.”

Li Long didn't care about all that. He had already done more than enough by notifying them; whether others fought or not was their own business.

So the sprayer started to play a role in the fourth team for the first time.

(End of this chapter)