Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1191 The Butterfly Effect Started by Li Long

After evening self-study ended, students left the classroom one after another, some empty-handed and some carrying books, heading back to their dormitories.

Li Juan was with her classmate, Ma Zhiying, who lived in Heiliangwan, Baojiadian. Ma Zhiying was Li Juan's roommate and shared a bunk bed with Li Juan. Ma Zhiying's academic performance was slightly worse than Li Juan's, and she always regarded Li Juan as her role model.

At that time, relatively few people could pass the high school entrance exam. Forty years later, the saying in cities was that half to 60% of junior high school students would pass the high school entrance exam, while the rest would go to vocational high schools.

At that time, it was estimated that no more than five students from each class in rural middle schools could get into high school, vocational school, or teacher training college.

Therefore, those who can get into high school are either very diligent or very talented.

Ma Zhiying is of average talent but extremely diligent. This diligence was fine in junior high school, but it became a bit difficult in high school. So she set her sights on Li Juan, doing whatever Li Juan did, mainly by imitating her.

She learned from Li Juan because Li Juan ranked seventeenth in the class when she entered the school, which was considered average. By the end of the semester, her grades had risen to second in the class, which was quite fast. She felt that Li Juan's diligence was the reason.

Li Juan is diligent, but her natural talent is even greater, so although Ma Zhiying tried to imitate her, the results weren't very good. Li Juan advised her that everyone should summarize and develop their own learning methods, but Ma Zhiying lacked the ability to do so and couldn't.

However, their relationship improved.

"Will your grandfather come to pick you up tomorrow?" Ma Zhiying asked.

Tomorrow is Saturday. There are no classes during the last period in the afternoon, so boarding students can go home early.

"I don't know, maybe," Li Juan replied, her mind still replaying the English words she had just memorized.

I started learning English in junior high school. The school's English teacher had an accent problem, so I learned "mute English" and could only memorize some texts at most.

But when I got to high school, I found that the students from the county's No. 1 and No. 2 high schools could already introduce themselves in English and have simple conversations.

She was immediately discouraged. Fortunately, she soon discovered her strengths. The materials her aunt's sister sent from Beijing helped her gain a broad knowledge base and improve her problem-solving skills, placing her among the top students in her class.

As for English, in the beginning, she was a little shy to speak in some English classes, or she would stand up and not know what to say at all. But her determination to get into Peking University and her indomitable spirit made Li Juan start asking her classmates for help. She would often ask questions like "How are you?" to "The weather was very wet and cold."

As her grades improved, her confidence naturally returned, and Li Juan made more friends.

"Then... if your grandfather comes to pick you up, could I... borrow your bicycle for a bit?" Ma Zhiying's voice became softer.

"Sure," Li Juan said, feeling quite sorry for her classmate. Getting into high school was difficult enough, but even tougher challenges lay ahead.

Ma Zhiying's family was not well-off. When she first came here, her father would take her to school. When her father left, he would ride his bicycle back home. If she wanted to go back on the weekend, she would either walk or ride with other students from the same brigade.

That was a male classmate. Whether he was afraid of being laughed at or for some other reason, he was unwilling to go with Ma Zhiying. Li Juan knew that Ma Zhiying had walked back several times.

Autumn, spring, and summer were alright, but in winter it was late, and by the time school ended it was almost dark. It was about ten kilometers to Heiliangwan, and by the time I got home it was pitch black.

So this spring, Li Qingxia took Gu Boyuan to the purchasing station, and when he went back on the weekend, he would take Li Juan with him. Li Juan kindly lent her bicycle to Ma Zhiying.

Ma Zhiying doesn't borrow money often; she only borrows it when she has an urgent matter and needs to go home, trying her best not to trouble Li Juan.

After borrowing the bicycle, Ma Zhiying would bring Li Juan some food from home, such as a jar of pickled vegetables or some pancakes baked by her mother.

Back in the dormitory, the students washed up quickly and went to bed. There were still late-night chats, but they weren't as open as in later years. They mostly talked about interesting things from each class. There weren't many girls living on campus. Each dormitory had four or five bunk beds, housing eight to ten people. There might not even be that many girls living on campus in a whole class.

Li Juan straightened her quilt—she and another girl were the only ones in the entire dormitory whose quilts had covers.

Duvet covers were a rarity at that time. The quilts commonly used now have two layers outside the mesh cover: a duvet cover and a duvet lining. The lining is made of white cloth, while the duvet cover is made of colorful materials such as satin, usually in bright red and green, with dragon and phoenix or peony patterns.

The quilt was getting dirty, which would be quite troublesome to take apart and wash. Li Long thought it was too much trouble, so he simply tore off some fabric and had his sister-in-law sew a quilt cover onto it using a sewing machine.

For ordinary households, this thing uses up a lot of fabric, but it's easy to disassemble and wash. Although it's not easy to buy zippers at this time, you can just leave a gap on the side and it doesn't necessarily have to be zipped up.

Washing the quilt at least once in a while saves you the trouble of taking it apart, washing it, and sewing it again.

For a family like the Li family, buying more cloth is no big deal.

So when Li Juan brought such a quilt to boarding school, it immediately caught the eye of her classmates. However, after they learned that she needed to put an extra layer of cloth on top, the others just looked on with envy or complicated expressions and said nothing more.

Only one female classmate from the plain forest farm returned a week later, and when she came back, she brought the same quilt as Li Juan.

Her family was well-off, and she praised Li Juan highly, learning it quite quickly.

Li Juan knew that this thing was made by her uncle. In fact, she was already used to Li Long coming up with novel things all the time.

By the way, my uncle is an inventor, so it's normal for him to make these kinds of little gadgets.

During their late-night chat, the conversation gradually turned to gossip, and suddenly one of the girls said:
"Li Juan, I saw that Peng Guifang from Class 2 asking about you. Do you two know each other before?"

"I don't know her," Li Juan shook her head.

At this time, schools were quite strict about early romantic relationships, and students prioritized their studies. Although they had already been exposed to novels and movies and still had aspirations for youth, most of them had strong self-control and focused their minds on their studies.

Girls usually mature earlier than boys at this age, and Li Juan could feel some strange looks on her, but she pretended not to notice.

My aunt explained it very clearly, and she also thinks it's right.

Your goal should be to go to Yenching University. Once you get there, you'll meet all sorts of outstanding boys, so don't rush things.

At that time, social customs were bizarre and varied, but the small county town in the Northwest was still relatively conservative, and the students affected by this were generally not very willing to date.

Of course, this only applies to the majority.

Li Juan simply replied, making her stance clear. She didn't know if the other person was just casually gossiping or testing the waters on behalf of someone else, but regardless, her attitude remained the same.

Interpersonal relationships in high school are not as simple as in junior high school. Li Juan misses the carefree days in junior high when she only cared about studying, but she can't go back.

As she was falling asleep, she thought about how her family had planted cotton this year, and that when the cotton came in the fall, they might make her a new cotton quilt.

The next day after school, Li Juan went to the school gate first. After seeing her grandfather's car, she went over and told Li Qingxia, then went back to the garage, asked the garage manager to take out her bicycle, and handed it to Ma Zhiying who was waiting there.

Then, amidst the envious glances of the other students, Li Juan got into the back seat of the car and drove away. Li Qiang had already gotten on his bicycle and was riding home with his classmates. Every Saturday after school, he would secretly compare whether he or his grandfather would get home first.

Unfortunately, my classmates had a lot of questions today. One minute they were asking about Li Qiang's family's big horsepower tractor, the next they were asking about Li Qiang's family's car, and then they were asking about how the cotton they planted this year was doing.

The two were on the same team. Li Qiang pedaled his bicycle hard, occasionally replying, but he wasn't impatient.

In the end, Li Qiang got home first. As if he had won a battle, he hurriedly threw his schoolbag on the bed and then went to the front door to wait for his grandfather and sister to come back.

This is a routine activity every weekend.

By mid-to-late June, the busy period at the purchasing station came to an end, but the work in the team increased.

This was the first time the production team had planted cotton. The Li family fared well, but the other families often encountered problems. The more diligent ones would rush to the Li family's house to inquire about anything that seemed amiss. If Li Long wasn't around, Li Jianguo would call him if he didn't understand something. If Li Long was around, things would be even better.

As for those who aren't very diligent, like Wang Sanwa, although he suffered a loss from spider mites once, he still has the same personality. He always thinks that his land is on the very edge and is unlikely to have any problems—and if there are problems, they'll be with other people first.

So after several insect infestations—spider spiders—not long after, swarms of cotton aphids appeared in their field, and honeydew insects gnawed some cotton leaves until they were shiny and glossy. By the time he noticed, it was almost unstoppable.

Liang Dacheng was so angry that he cursed. It was really bad luck to live next to Wang Sanwa's family. His cotton plants were infected and he had to spray pesticides again. Moreover, he listened to Li Long and used some yellow plastic to stick the pesticide on to attract insects.

Growing cotton is much harder than growing other crops, so some people have started to complain and regret their decision. After all, the results aren't visible yet, but each application of pesticides requires investment. Initially, you need to buy seeders and sprayers, and you also need to cultivate the soil.

Those with money bought all the machines, while those who didn't borrowed them from others, incurring many favors in the process.

As a result, some people regretted not planting watermelons or other crops.

It's too late to regret it now, so I'll just have to grit my teeth and persevere.

Li Long was unaware that many people were complaining behind his back about his insistence on getting involved with the cotton.

Human nature is what it is.

During the Dragon Boat Festival in May, both Li Anguo's and Chen Xingbang's families came to the team.

Both families happily gave Li Long some money, and they drove back home.

The two cars, one a Lada and the other a Moskva, weren't exactly high-end vehicles, but they were still cars, after all.

Li Long didn't ask for much; the amount with the paperwork was 10,000 yuan. He told them to pay part of it first, and the rest could be paid back in installments.

Li Long felt it was a bit unreasonable that his own family and his eldest brother's family both owned cars, and his grandfather also had his own car, while his second brother and sister's families did not.

In general, the "philanthropy" in his personality, which he carried over from his previous life, hasn't been completely eliminated.

He only hoped that his second brother and sister's families could come and visit their parents more often. Although his parents didn't say it, they were happiest when their children and grandchildren gathered together.

Li Long was kind-hearted; whenever someone genuinely came to him for advice, he would tell them how to handle it. Having grown cotton for so many years in his previous life, he still had some experience. Now, the team was planting cotton for the first time, and they were encountering mostly basic problems.

Basically, there won't be a situation like the last ten years or so, where some insects were impossible to kill no matter what you did.

So the problems are all quite easy to solve.

And that's why his nickname "Hot Secretary" returned, but this time it's a compliment; everyone genuinely praises him. When Jiang Zhiyu heard about it, he even came to interview him and wrote a short article titled "Our Team's 'Hot Secretary'," which was published in the state daily newspaper.

However, there were some advantages. People would occasionally bring things to the Li family, such as lively crucian carp, fresh chives, a basket of eggs, and so on.

The happiest person was Du Chunfang. Her youngest son was so popular, and she felt truly proud.

Li Long himself didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He didn't care about those who didn't ask, but he felt obligated to explain to those who took the initiative to ask him for advice, since those people had listened to him or followed his lead in planting cotton.

Fortunately, apart from a few, the other problems are not too serious.

The spraying machine truly stood the test. Because of the large amount of spraying, two more companies asked Li Long to buy spraying machines in Shicheng in June. Factory Manager Du also called to say that the sales volume of spraying machines in May and June was approaching a thousand units.

Although it can't compare to harvesters and snowplows, this thing has just come out, and the cotton boom hasn't arrived yet, which means good things are yet to come!

Li Long was naturally happy; the more machines they sold, the more profit he would receive. However, something else that Director Du mentioned surprised Li Long.

"Because I've done a good job these past two years, the city leaders talked to me and wanted to transfer me to a bureau as deputy director..." Director Du's words made Li Long's face darken. Could it be?
A new emperor brings a new court. Although he had signed a contract with the factory, he still trusted Director Du as a person.

If Lao Du leaves, it's hard to say whether the new leader will recognize the contract he signed with the factory!

"Which bureau?" Li Long asked.

"The Industry Bureau, although I am the deputy director, I am given the salary of a section chief."

"What rank is the factory manager of such a large factory?" Li Long asked with some confusion.

He doesn't understand these things very well.

"Deputy section chief, huh?" Director Du used to care a lot about this level of promotion, but after the agricultural machinery factory cooperated with Li Long and its development flourished, he gradually stopped caring so much.

When I cared, I didn't receive it; when I didn't care, I received it.

But Li Long could tell that Lao Du didn't want to leave the factory either.

"Is there a way to have the best of both worlds, such as you being the deputy director and concurrently the factory director?" Li Long felt that such a situation might have occurred in later generations, but it seemed rare now.

"Is that possible?" Director Du had never heard of it before. He had always thought that one could not have both, and that one had to give up one to gain the other. But after Li Long said that, he felt that he could talk to the leaders about it.

After so many years of hard work and dedication, surely there's some room for negotiation?

Go talk!

Li Long was unaware that his butterfly had already changed the fate of too many people.

(End of this chapter)