Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1197 Director Du's Wish Fulfilled, Construction at Qingshui River Hindered

Carrying the crabs, we returned to the courtyard with Mingming and Haohao. The two children were already asleep in the car.

Li Long turned off the engine, carried the two children to bed, and Gu Xiaoxia took off their clothes and shoes, covered them with a blanket, and then Li Long had already taken the crabs to the kitchen.

These crabs are quite resilient; they can stay in a bucket of water overnight without any problems.

Li Long brought back twenty or thirty of them; we can steam them for one meal tomorrow.

That night, before going to bed, Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia about the details of catching crabs, and Gu Xiaoxia was also a little tempted.

“We’ll go back next Saturday night, and I’ll take you guys with me to catch them,” Li Long said with a smile. “We’ll buy headlamps then, and we’ll all go.”

"What about Mingming and Haohao?"

"Bring them along too," Li Long said. "Bring more people, the older ones with the younger ones. There's a gentle slope on the Xiaohaizi West Dam line, the kids can go down without any problem, as long as they don't wander too far."

"Let's forget about it." Gu Xiaoxia had worked in the county for several years and had the mindset of a city dweller. She was much more careful in raising children than the more extensive approach used in rural areas.

Li Long was indifferent; as long as they could catch crabs now, it meant his idea was successful. He could release more crab larvae in the next year or two, and then the small lake would be rich in resources.

He didn't intend to enclose it for his own enjoyment; there was no need, partly because it was too big to be managed by others.

Anyway, since he put the things in there himself, and Xiaohaizi was nominally his own contracted area with a contract in place, and he was paying money to the team every year, it was perfectly legitimate for him to take things from there.

Li Long got up early the next day, mainly because he knew how to handle crabs.

When Sister Yang got up to prepare the meal, Li Long had already steamed the crabs and prepared the ginger and vinegar sauce. He would demonstrate it to the others when they ate later, so they wouldn't prick themselves.

"Her uncle, couldn't you have just told me?" Sister Yang said somewhat embarrassedly, "You had to come and do it yourself..."

"It's nothing, I was just steaming it." Li Long smiled. "I didn't do much work."

After Gu Xiaoxia helped Mingming and Haohao get dressed, wash their faces, and brush their teeth, the two children couldn't wait to come and see the crabs.

However, the crabs were all gone by then; they were all in the steamer. The children weren't too disappointed; they all stared at the steamer, wondering how to eat them.

At this age, children generally don't have the idea that "rabbits are so cute, how can we eat them?" They just think that anything edible looks better than being able to eat it.

Seeing that it was almost time, Li Long turned off the fire, lifted the lid of the steamer, and revealed the golden-yellow crabs.

"Dad, why has this crab changed color?" Mingming, with her sharp eyes, noticed it immediately.

Li Long recalled an advertising slogan he'd seen in his previous life: "What? Did someone boil you?"

Then he laughed and said, "That's how crabs are. When they're alive, they look bluish-black, but when they're cooked, they turn yellow. By the way, the same goes for prawns. We have prawns in our little lake now. When we catch them, I'll cook them for you to see."

Mingming Haohao has developed a strong interest in new things, so Li Long wanted to let them see more of them.

"...Look, crabs. The ones with rounder backs, or semi-circular ones, are female crabs, and the ones with pointed backs are male crabs." Li Long explained to Mingming and Haohao at the dinner table, while Han Fang listened.

"If you break it open, the female has roe inside, which is like fish roe and tastes delicious. By the way, there are no bones inside, but the meat is all wrapped in the shell, so it's a bit difficult to eat it."

Li Long didn't peel the meat for the two children. Instead, he demonstrated for them, letting them learn to remove the meat and then eat it with ginger and vinegar sauce.

"Xiaofang, let's eat together," Li Long said. "This is when they're freshest. Although these crabs are small, the shells are easy to peel when they're hot. There's only a little meat, but it's very fresh. Once they cool down, the shells and meat stick together and they become difficult to peel."

Li Long demonstrated by eating two before stopping and watching the little ones eat.

It was the children's first time eating this, and they were very excited. Sister Yang and Gu Xiaoxia also found it quite novel and slowly peeled and ate it with them.

It's really fresh, but there's too little meat; it's not satisfying to eat.

However, since it was everyone's first time eating it, they were all curious. Gu Xiaoxia even wanted to open the shell to see if Fahai was inside.

Since Mingming Haohao didn't know what the story was, Gu Xiaoxia told them the story from the Legend of the White Snake.

The meal was quite enjoyable.

Moreover, everyone raved about the taste of the crab, and soon several small piles of crab shells were stacked on the table.

It was a bit of a waste of time; if Gu Xiaoxia hadn't been driving, we probably would have been late.

Li Long, on the other hand, was quite relaxed. He carried a plate of crabs to the purchasing station for his father to try. Li Qingxia now ate breakfast at the purchasing station, sharing it with Liang Shuangcheng—mainly because he was too impatient to go to the main courtyard.

Li Qingxia really enjoys his current job. To be honest, the old man isn't highly educated; he's just well-informed because he's traveled around the country and has a broad perspective. Plus, he has the foundation laid by Li Long and Gu Boyuan, so he's very happy with his job here.

Every day, those middlemen flattered him, and although Li Qingxia wasn't so much arrogant as to become conceited and ignorant, he was still in a very good mood.

It felt like I was back in my hometown village, when I had money to play cards and the younger generation fawned over me.

Li Qingxia was well aware that these people were flattering him simply so that he could get a high score during the evaluation process. He was already quite experienced in this area, and sometimes he could easily lend a hand, but he didn't.

After all, the money earned belongs to her son, and she has a share too. To simply push her son's money away is unacceptable.

Of course, Li Qingxia was also a shrewd old man. When he spoke, he would first lower his voice and then raise it slightly. In reality, there was no loss, but to outsiders, it seemed that he had indeed shown leniency.

The old man was somewhat surprised when he saw the crabs Li Long brought over. He knew that Li Long had obtained crab seedlings, but he didn't think that these things could be raised here.

Even though she had been here for several years and knew that the living conditions here were actually not bad, in Li Qingxia's eyes, this was still a harsh and cold place. Growing melons and fruits was good, but raising crabs and shrimp was a bit difficult.

"It actually survived." Li Qingxia picked up a crab and examined it. "It's not very big..."

“However, the female has yellow inside,” Li Long said. “It will be big by September, and if it can survive the winter, it will be fine next year.”

"That's not easy. Winters in the northern border region are very cold. Crabs have to dig deep burrows to survive the winter. Most crabs can just dig a burrow to hide themselves, but those that dig shallow burrows will freeze to death in winter... It depends on how many survive."

Dad was telling the truth. This thing is a natural selection process. Every year, some die from freezing because they didn't dig deep enough holes. The remaining ones are becoming fewer and fewer, but they are also getting bigger and bigger.

"Dad, you try some first. I'll take care of things at the counter. Shuangcheng, Lao Sun, save a few crabs for you too, so you can have a taste," Li Long said.

"I won't eat it." Li Qingxia wasn't a gourmand and had no interest in crabs. When he was a child, there were crabs in the river at the edge of the village, but they were small and didn't have much meat, so he disliked them.

"Try it," Li Long said with a smile. "Huang'er is very delicious."

At Li Long's urging, Li Qingxia ate a female crab and found it quite delicious—it was a completely different experience from when she was a child.

However, they only tried one; the rest went to Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng. Sun Jiaqiang took a few home for Tielanhua and his children to try.

The phone rang, and Li Long answered it naturally.

"Director Du? I'm Li Long."

Hearing the familiar voice on the other end, Li Long smiled and said, "Judging from your voice, I feel like something good is about to happen."

"Hahaha, your suggestion last time was good. I thought about it and then went directly to the city leaders. The city leaders also took my actual situation into consideration and basically agreed to my request."

"So you've been promoted and are still holding the position of factory director? That's great, I'm quite happy about that!" Li Long naturally didn't want to replace Director Du, as he had a good working relationship with him.

Who knows what kind of change it will be? It's safer to stay the way it is now. "Haha, it's alright. It's the deputy director of the Municipal Agricultural Machinery Bureau. It's just an administrative rank, a nominal position. Anyway, I won't interfere with the work of the Agricultural Machinery Bureau. The main reason is that most of the things we produce are related to agricultural machinery, so it's a legitimate title."

Li Long and the other man both knew that the deputy director of the agricultural machinery bureau didn't live as comfortably as the factory director. After all, after the factory expanded, he managed one or two hundred people and more than ten production workshops. Every day, as soon as the machines started running, money rolled in.

More importantly, orders keep coming in, and there are always trucks queuing up to pick up goods at the factory gate. This scene is unique in the entire city.

It brings honor to the city! Sometimes, when the leaders of the autonomous prefecture meet with the city leaders, they will mention the agricultural machinery factory.

"That would be wonderful." Li Long had only mentioned it on a whim at the time, but the more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

However, he also understood that it would be extremely difficult to implement this.

Surprisingly, Director Du actually managed to make it happen.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know. Harvest season is almost here, and orders for combine harvesters are piling up, so I'm going to be busy again. Oh, and the spraying machines are still being shipped out, but orders aren't as many as before. The cotton plants are starting to be topped, so a lot of people might think spraying isn't as important anymore..."

"That's hard to say. As long as the cotton hasn't opened, spraying pesticides won't stop," Li Long said. "It's alright, it's a long-term business. As long as people grow cotton, there will always be a market for spraying machines."

“I believe that,” Factory Director Du agreed with Li Long’s view. “The production workshop has never stopped, but we will follow the actual orders. Anyway, the machines are all ready and the workers are all skilled.”

After chatting for a while, Director Du hung up the phone. He was busy at the moment, and the fact that he could take the time to talk to Li Long about future development showed his sincerity.

Li Long was quite happy, at least the dividends from the agricultural machinery factory were guaranteed.

As July arrived, the cotton fields began to be topped, and the wheat in the fields was also about to be harvested. The Li family had many members, so Li Jianguo led a group of people to work overtime for a few days to remove the tops from the cotton plants. After that, he and Li Junfeng started earning money by operating combine harvesters separately.

As for the wheat at home, it has already been harvested and brought to the threshing floor; all that's left is to wait for it to be winnowed.

Everything went smoothly for Li Long, but Meng Hai encountered trouble.

Li Long took away one of the trucks and the forklift that he had received from Liu Gaolou.

When the construction team arrived and the foundation was being cleared, some people began to obstruct the construction.

If it were just ordinary thugs, Meng Hai could easily beat them away. He wasn't just some nobody; at the grassroots level, some things really do have to be resolved with fists.

However, the people who came to obstruct the construction were several Kazakhs, which caused some trouble.

Although both are in Qingshuihe, Meng Hai's village is two villages away from the construction site, and he is not very familiar with it, so he stopped work for the time being.

The work stoppage will definitely affect the construction period, but the problem can only be solved after the cause is found.

When Meng Hai stopped working, Li Long drove his GAZ truck over to check on the situation and learned about the incident.

It was actually quite easy to solve, but Li Long didn't say so. From now on, Meng Hai would be in charge of the construction team's affairs; Li Long's involvement wasn't a good thing. For Li Long, this was a minor matter, and he figured it would be a good opportunity to see how Meng Hai handled it.

“These people are from a nearby village. This land, which is being prepared for building sheds, was indeed their pasture,” Meng Hai told Li Long, explaining the information he had gathered. “However, the township has already compensated them.”

According to my investigation, after taking the money, these people went drinking and betting on horse races. They lost all their money and, after being instigated by others, came to cause trouble.

"Doesn't the township care?" Li Long asked.

"Yes, I told the township government about it. They sent people to mediate and persuaded them to go back. But they must have taken money from someone else or listened to someone else's advice, because they came back later."

"So what do you plan to do?" Li Long knew that the township officials couldn't watch the construction site every day, and ultimately it would be up to Meng Hai and his team to solve the problem.

"I've made up my mind. Since they're using underhanded tactics, I'll use them in return," Meng Hai said with a sneer. "I won't touch the construction team. If anything goes wrong, they won't trace it back to me. I'm just a worker..."

"Them?" Li Long was somewhat surprised; it seemed Meng Hai had gathered quite detailed information.

"Yes, originally there were several construction teams in our Qingshuihe Township. Some were organized by outside bosses, and some were locals who acted as contractors. This work of building sheds was originally assigned to the township by the county livestock bureau. Usually, the township would recommend construction teams, or even organize and implement the work directly."

This time, however, the animal husbandry bureau directly contracted out the livestock sheds, so the township didn't have to worry about that. But several contractors who were hoping to make a quick buck from this project had complaints. They couldn't get the project, but they didn't want us to make money either, so they resorted to sabotage.

"what would you do?"

“That’s easy to handle. Building sheds is meant to improve the lives of herders. Those who obstruct the project don’t want those herders to move into their new homes sooner. Although some herders don’t care, most still want to move into new houses and have their cattle and sheep in new sheds…” Meng Hai said with a smile, “Even if I agree to stop the work, these people won’t agree!”
Comrade Li Long, just you wait and see, there's going to be some good stuff at the construction site in the next couple of days.

After a two-day break, Meng Hai was summoned to the construction site by Li Long.

Instead of going directly to the construction site, I parked my car on the side of the road and kept an eye on it.

There were workers at the edge of the construction site, not doing any work, and five or six horses were blocking the bulldozer from moving. Several ethnic minorities were sitting in front of the horses drinking, blocking the bulldozer's path.

"What are you looking at?" Li Long asked, puzzled. "Looking at why they won't let you do any work?"

“That’s definitely not it.” Meng Hai smiled. “Watch the show, don’t worry, it’ll be over soon.”

Sure enough, a few minutes later, a group of twenty or thirty people on horseback rushed over. After arriving, they dismounted, ignoring their horses, and charged at the group of people drinking with their whips.

Those people had been drinking, and although they sensed something was wrong, they were a bit slow to react. Only two of them got up, while the remaining three or four remained seated.

Then he was whipped with a horsewhip!
Those people were cursing and hitting each other in their ethnic language. Li Long could understand the gist of it, and then he laughed.

He said to Meng Hai:

"Treating someone in the same way they treat you—that's a good idea."

Meng Hai was looking for the herders who were about to be allocated livestock sheds. Most of these people were already prepared to move their cattle and sheep into the sheds once they were built, but now that someone was suddenly obstructing the construction, how could they be willing to accept that?

These people didn't care about anything else. Knowing that someone was deliberately preventing construction, and because they were ethnic minorities, the construction team couldn't do anything about it, so these herders "voluntarily" came to solve the problem.

Even if more than twenty people were holding back against five or six, by the time the villagers found out and came to mediate, the five or six people would already be bruised and battered.

Fortunately, it was just a minor injury, and those twenty-odd people didn't leave, each of them acting as if they were in the right.

If it were a conflict between Han Chinese and other ethnic groups, it would be easier to handle. But now it's a conflict between people from different ethnic groups, and they've made it very clear that they need to hurry up and drive their cattle and sheep into the pens—that's what the township is saying.

These people are bad people who sabotage the construction work, and bad people should be punished!

That's absolutely right!

The people from the township were helpless and could only report to their superiors. The deputy township head in charge of ethnic and religious affairs could only appease both sides and then send them away after mediating the situation.

What else can be done? On one hand, someone initiates the fight and is in the right, while on the other hand, the person being attacked is being unreasonable. In that case, the only option is to suppress it.

Li Long and Meng Hai watched it from beginning to end and found it very enjoyable.

"Old Meng, not bad, not bad! This was handled very well!" Li Long exclaimed. "If we handle things like this from now on, our construction team will be able to get up to speed very quickly."

"It's not over yet," Meng Hai shook his head and said, "This is just the first step, resolving the current difficulties. I don't intend to just let those who instigated these ethnic minorities to cause trouble get away with it. If they dare to do the first thing, I dare to do the fifteenth!"

Li Long was genuinely surprised; Old Meng had guts!

P.S.: Two chapters totaling 10,000 words will be delivered again. Considering I'm enduring this sciatica while sitting, please give me a monthly vote!

(End of this chapter)