Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

"Hey, your factory is pretty good!" Liu Gaolou looked at Li Long's nearly new factory and then at the brand-new equipment, and said with admiration, "This set of equipment must have been expensive, right?"

"It's not cheap. All the money I've made in the last two years has gone into it," Li Long said, half-jokingly. "One set of equipment costs over two million... I really took a gamble this time!"

"I guarantee we'll make it back!" Liu Gaolou said with a smile. "There's a huge demand for canned goods over there right now. As long as you can produce it, I can sell it!"

"Come on, let's take a look at the finished products." Li Long led Liu Gaolou to the warehouse to see the newly produced canned goods.

Currently, the main product is braised beef, and a stable source of pork has not yet been determined, so canned braised pork has not yet been developed. However, Ms. Yang is already looking for sources in this area.

This requires a stable supply source; otherwise, production will be interrupted intermittently, requiring changes to the molds and adjustments to the ingredients, which is quite troublesome.

"Is this the finished canned food? Let me try some..." Liu Gaolou saw the cans laid out, picked one up casually, and followed Li Long to the front office area.

Li Long led him to the reception room, took out an enamel plate, and let him open it himself.

"The lid of this can is too tight. It keeps the food fresh well, but it's a hassle to open," Liu Gaolou said as he opened the can.

"I'd like them to come up with something more convenient, but I don't know if it'll work." Li Long was thinking about the kind of easy-to-open devices from later generations, similar to aluminum cans, and planned to bring it up with the equipment factory when he had some free time to see if they could make some improvements.

Don't underestimate this small change. Simply modifying the hard-to-open can lid will definitely boost its popularity from three points to eight!

Think about the canned fruit available nowadays. The lids are made of sheet metal and sealed glass jars. Adults can open them, but if a teenager tries to pry them open with a screwdriver (Phillips screwdriver), they can easily break the glass and injure someone.

They changed the bottle cap to a screw-on cap, and the original pressure-sealed cap immediately stopped selling – it was disliked.

After all, who would want to eat canned food without having a bottle open at hand?
He didn't expect to receive any great benefits from providing this idea; he just wanted his equipment to be modified.

Liu Gaolou had already opened the can, looked at the meat inside, and exclaimed in admiration, "Hey, Lao Li, this can of yours is really substantial, it's full of beef! Just one can like this must cost at least three or five yuan, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Li Long nodded. "Take braised beef as an example. One kilogram of fresh beef yields half a kilogram of braised beef. Ours is braised with gravy, so one kilogram can yield seven or eight hundred grams. Add in labor and other costs, so it's a bit more expensive than before, but as you can see, the ingredients are top-notch."

Actually, it's not that expensive; after all, a kilogram of beef only costs about three yuan now. But how can I not raise the price when selling it to neighboring countries, given how much effort I put into acquiring the equipment worth over two million yuan?
Liu Gaolou picked up his chopsticks, took a bite of beef, and nodded. "Hmm, it's better than the canned beef from Russia. Their canned beef is just meat and salt, nothing special. Ours is much better... It tastes good!"

He ate another piece, then put down his chopsticks and asked Li Long, "How much can you produce in a month now?"

"A dozen or twenty tons," Li Long said. "We're just starting out on trial, so the output is low. Once the raw material supply is stable and we're more proficient at the operation, producing a few tons a day won't be a problem."

"Alright then," Liu Gaolou said with a smile. "Like I said, I'll take as much as you have. This stuff... is in much greater demand than white sugar!"

Right now, most farmers are small-scale, free-range farmers, like Halim. When market demand increases, penned cattle and sheep farming will emerge, and Yushanjiang and his family are currently developing in that direction.

The snow on the mountain should have melted by now, so Halimu and the others should have moved down by now, right?
Liu Gaolou arrived yesterday. After unloading the supplies he brought, he rested for a while. Today, after hearing from Li Long that he had set up a cannery, he insisted on coming to see it.

Besides leather and antelope horns, Liu Gaolou brought five cars and some Central Asian specialties that Liu Shanmin had purchased from there, such as matryoshka dolls, chocolates, and wood carvings. According to Liu Gaolou, Liu Shanmin brought these over as a way of thanking Li Long for reminding him to take out a loan.

Liu Shanmin has already borrowed over two million US dollars, and he is still accumulating more.

Logically, with such a large loan, he should be facing restrictions from the banks. However, Liu Shanmin was able to continuously provide supplies and had a strong network of connections to support him, so he was still able to secure some loans from different banks.

Moreover, even though the Soviet Union has not yet collapsed, he has already made a lot of money during this period, based on the exchange rate of the ruble to the dollar.

So I was in a good mood, and of course I was thinking of thanking Li Long for his reminder.

Business continued as usual. Li Long loaded all the canned goods he had received from the state supply and marketing cooperative onto Liu Gaolou's truck, along with sugar and cement. Spring had arrived, and infrastructure construction could resume. Although the economy in the Soviet republics of Kazakhstan had suffered a severe downturn, it wasn't like they had given up entirely.

The buildings that need to be built and the facilities that need to be repaired will still be carried out.

This time, Liu Gaolou didn't rush to leave. After learning that Li Long had set up a cannery, he stayed there for two days, collected a ton of canned goods of the two flavors made by Sister Yang, and then took two thousand bags of packaged lamb offal before returning to Khorgos.

Sister Yang devoted all her energy to the cannery. She could only cook breakfast in the courtyard, and it was unlikely that she could cook lunch. So, Gu Xiaoxia and Li Long took turns cooking lunch, whoever was free would cook.

At the dinner table, Sister Yang said apologetically that once she sorted out the matters at the cannery, she would be able to cook at home normally again.

Li Long, however, said:
“Sister Yang, cooking isn’t just your responsibility. You’ve been cooking and doing housework at home for the past few years, and although we haven’t said anything, we’re very grateful to you. Now that you have your own career, you can focus on your work, and anyone can cook.”

Gu Xiaoxia felt the same way. In recent years, with Sister Yang taking care of the family affairs, Li Long having his own career, and not needing her to worry too much about the children, she herself had said that she had been too comfortable. Now that things were back to normal, she would take better care of the family.

This was something that had to be done, because Li Long had to be busy with both the cooperative's affairs and the drip irrigation experimental fields, and he often couldn't come back at noon.

On March 31st, Professor Yang arrived from Wucheng and moved into the dormitory of the Agricultural Broadcasting School with his students. Principal Yang called Li Long and asked him to come over as soon as possible.

Li Long was at the purchasing station talking to his father about the plans to buy fritillaria bulbs in April when he received a call and quickly drove to the Agricultural Broadcasting School.

Principal Yang and Professor Yang were chatting in the office, while several students who were helping Professor Yang tidy up their dorm rooms. Hearing a car outside, Professor Yang smiled and said:

"Just watch, Comrade Li Long is coming."

The Land Cruiser came to a stop, and Li Long got out of the car. He saw the two Yangs coming out of the office. Li Long went over and shook hands with Professor Yang, saying, "Professor, you're being too polite. You came all the way to Ma County without even informing me. This puts me in a very awkward position."

"Haha, you're the boss, unlike us researchers who are so focused on one thing. I heard you also run a cannery?" Professor Yang said with a smile. "It's not good to keep bothering you."

"My cannery isn't even fully operational yet, and the news's already reached you?" Li Long was somewhat surprised.

“I told him,” Principal Yang said with a smile. “Our county TV station reported it, so everyone knows. Your factory is quite large; I heard the equipment alone is worth over two million? Heh!”

"Yes, the county did send reporters to cover it." Li Long remembered that it happened a few days ago. A reporter from the county TV station went there with a camera. Li Long didn't show up; he asked the reporter to interview Sister Yang.

“Our county is small, but your matter is quite significant. There are only a handful of companies this big in the entire county, which is quite remarkable,” Principal Yang said. “You have a lot of things to do there, and Old Yang told me he was coming over, so I told him to come directly to the school. I’ll bring people to pick you up from the county.”

"But I still need to trouble you. I heard from the principal that you were mainly in charge of leveling the land, building the pump house, and laying the main pipelines?"

“Yes, these things were all conceived by the principal and me last year, so I’m quite familiar with them.” Li Long said without any politeness, “Although I’m not in the fields every day now, I’m still quite professional when it comes to farming.”

Both Yangs laughed, and Principal Yang said, "Shall we go take a look at the land?"

“Sure,” Professor Yang said. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. Let’s see how you’ve prepared the land. We’re going to plant it in April, so we need to check on things.”

The two Yangs boarded Li Long's patrol car and headed to the fields.

The pump house at the edge of the field has been built, and the drilled well is right next to it. There is also a water filter tank next to the pump house. The water pumped from the well doesn't need to go into the water filter tank; it goes directly into the pump house and connects to the pump.

The purpose of the water filter tank is to filter the water in the canal when the well malfunctions and needs to be irrigated.

You can see vertical branch water pipes in the field, and these pipe ends will connect to the capillary tubes and then to the drip irrigation tape.

The water is pressurized from one end of the pump to the main pipe, then to the branch pipe, and finally to the drip irrigation tape—after all, this plot of land is more than 300 meters long, and it is impossible to pressurize the water completely from one end to the other; several stages of pressurization are needed in between.

Looking at the arrangement of the field, Professor Yang nodded and said:
"Indeed, it's pretty much as your report said."

“That’s right. Since we’ve submitted a report and it’s been approved, we’re definitely going to follow the report.” Principal Yang said with a hint of pride. “Of course, this was mainly done by Comrade Li Long, who knows what he’s doing.”

Li Long truly understands.

He squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil from the ground, checked the soil moisture, then sprinkled the soil away, stood up, clapped his hands, and said, "It will be a few more days before we can sow the seeds; it's a bit early to start now."

"You haven't planted any seeds on your cooperative's land yet, have you?" Professor Yang suddenly asked.

"No, that used to be saline-alkali land. I just watered it again these past two days, flooding it to flush out the alkalinity," Li Long said. "Let's sow again in about ten days. The weather in early spring is unstable; I don't know if there will be a cold snap this year."

"That's true, the late spring cold snap is a problem for farming. Oh, and we don't know if there will be any strong winds this year, that's another problem."

“Of course there are,” Li Long said. “This strong wind happens every year. There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains. The wind blows from the Ta’a region. Even though it’s much weaker here, if the cotton mulch isn’t properly covered, it will still be blown away.”

After inspecting the land, they returned to the school, where the students had already made their beds and were watching from the schoolyard.

"This time I'll stay until you finish sowing and the seedlings emerge successfully before I leave," Professor Yang said. "By the way, shouldn't the seeder also be improved?"

Principal Yang is looking at Li Long.

Li Long said, "Of course we need to change it. But it's not a big change. We can just add a trailer with small wheels to the current on-demand machine and lay the drip irrigation tape under the film."

We've already started using wide film. Two drip irrigation tapes are laid on either side, overlapping the sowing area. The plant spacing and the spacing of the drip irrigation tape holes just need to match.

"And then?" Professor Yang asked, as if testing Li Long or asking for his advice.

"Then connect the capillary tube. The drip irrigation tape needs to be connected to the branch pipe through the capillary tube, so that the water can be forced from the branch pipe into the drip irrigation tape, and then drip through the small holes to the side of the seeds."

These were all common sense to Li Long; he knew them without even having to think about them.

Professor Yang was very satisfied to see that Li Long really understood this, and then introduced him to his students.

There were both men and women, and they were also very curious about Li Long.

These young students, still somewhat naive, reminded Li Long of the students Professor Luo had taught back then. Those students should be working by now, right? Some of them might even have very good positions.

He could also see a hint of arrogance in the eyes of these students. After all, they were all college students, so it was normal for them to be a little arrogant. They were all top students in the past, so it was no surprise that one of them would be dissatisfied with the other.

Li Long didn't pay much attention to them. Given his age and experience, he was interacting with Professor Yang, while the students were like children.

Those students were genuinely curious about Li Long. Although Professor Yang had applied for this project, they could tell that Li Long had been in charge from beginning to end, knew everything, and could answer any questions they had.

After finishing his conversation with Professor Yang, Li Long didn't linger. He told the two Yangs (Professor Yang and Professor Yang's parents) and went back. Principal Yang asked him to come back tomorrow. He had already purchased the on-demand machine, and the reason for asking Li Long to come tomorrow was to bring the machine directly for modification.

Li Long is definitely going to participate; he said he'll be here first thing tomorrow morning.

Professor Yang will be staying at the Agricultural Broadcasting School and won't be leaving for a while, so some things aren't urgent. He still needs to investigate the cotton planting situation in the nearby farmland and visit some cotton farmers to understand their enthusiasm for planting cotton this year.

There are many things to do, and I'm trying to manage them all.

Li Long returned to the courtyard and began preparing a meal, all the while recalling the details of the drip irrigation machine. He had used it extensively in his previous life and knew its structure, but if he wanted to modify it, he needed to think more carefully, lest he tell the repair shop and they modify it according to his suggestions, resulting in a mess.

By the time the idea of ​​a drop-irrigation machine with a drip irrigation system took shape in his mind, he had almost finished cooking.

When Sister Yang came back in the evening, she was quite excited. She carried a bag of things and put it in the kitchen.

Gu Xiaoxia asked her what was wrong. Sister Yang smiled and said, "We bought a pig yesterday and tried making braised pork. The canned pork turned out pretty good today."

As she spoke, Sister Yang took two cans out of her bag, opened them with great effort, and said, "We need to heat them up. They're all soaked together, so they don't taste good. Once they're heated up, the flavor will come out, and we can have a good taste."

Li Long went into the kitchen and saw the braised pork on the plate—the pork belly was quite prominent, and it looked very appetizing.

Mingming and Haohao were also very curious and came over to take a look. Sister Yang smiled and said, "Mingming and Haohao, wait a minute. I'll heat it up in the pot, and the braised pork will be ready soon."

A few minutes later, Sister Yang brought up a plate of braised pork and placed it on the dining table.

Gu Xiaoxia moved the braised pork to the center of the table and said with a smile, "It smells so good!"

"Come, come, have a taste," Sister Yang invited. "Uncle, would you like to try a piece?"

Li Qingxia smiled and said, "Okay, I'll try it."

He casually picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. The meat was already warm, but not too hot; the temperature was just right.

"It smells amazing, just the right flavor, perfect for us," Li Qingxia exclaimed. "You should eat some too, you should eat some too."

Gu Xiaoxia put a piece of meat on Mingming's plate and Haohao's plate, and Mingming and Haohao picked up their small bowls and started eating. The two children are not picky eaters, and they especially love meat, so they did not resist the braised pork at all, and could even eat the fatty parts.

Seeing that everyone thought the braised pork canned food was good, Sister Yang was quite happy. At least from her perspective, the canned food trial was a success.

During the meal, Sister Yang said that since things are going well and the feedback is positive, they plan to produce a batch first. Some of the products will be taken by Liu Gaolou to sell, and the rest can be placed in the market to see if anyone will buy them.

Li Long told her that the main focus should be on export, selling on shelves, as the market for this product here is not large.

Sister Yang nodded. After all, Li Long was the boss, and she was Li Long's partner in the meat processing business, but in the cannery, she was just the factory manager who received a salary.

With an investment of over two million, she simply couldn't acquire a share.

But Sister Yang still really likes this job. Judging from her current dedication, it's clear that she truly treats it as a career.

The next day, after breakfast, Li Long took Mingming and Haohao to kindergarten and then went to the rural agricultural extension school.

Principal Yang and Professor Yang were already in the courtyard looking at the brand-new cotton seeding machine. These things are easy to buy now, since more and more towns in the county are growing cotton, the demand is high, and the sellers can naturally see this, so they increase their purchases.

“My idea is this.” Li Long gestured behind the drip irrigation machine with a stick. “Look, the film is laid down from here. Adjust this downward stick up so that the film passes over it—adjust the stick to this position, about half a person’s height, and then add the frame for dragging the drip irrigation tape in this gap.”

It's much clearer to explain when you have real objects to show the details:
"The end of the drip irrigation tape and the end of the film are pressed together at the edge of the field. The stick goes through the tube in the middle of the drip tape bundle. When the seeding machine moves, the drip irrigation tape bundle will rotate, and the drip irrigation tape and film will be laid down together and fall under the film."

Li Long explained it very clearly, and the two Yangs and the students listened attentively and understood it.

"Wow, it's so simple! How come I didn't think of that?" one student exclaimed in sudden realization.

"Not only did you not think of that, but I bet even the people who designed the drip irrigation system couldn't have imagined it yet," Professor Yang chuckled. "What Comrade Li Long said is a bit ahead of its time. After all, we're currently in an experimental field; large-scale drip irrigation planting isn't really realistic yet..."

"So this can't be rolled out right now, but once our experimental project is successful and the price of drip irrigation tape comes down and it can be widely adopted, this kind of seeding machine will be ready to be launched." "Shall we go and modify it now?" Principal Yang was a little impatient. "It doesn't seem complicated to me. The local agricultural machinery repair station should be able to handle it."

“It should be possible,” Li Long said. “It’s mainly about welding and materials; the whole process is indeed quite simple.”

The agricultural extension school also had small four-wheeled tractors, and immediately a teacher volunteered to drive the tractor, with the seeding machine attached, to the repair station. Li Long and the others followed.

After learning about the needs, the experienced mechanic at the repair shop confidently assured him that it would be very easy and could be done in less than an hour.

Li Long and the others watched from the sidelines, occasionally pointing out areas that needed adjustment. The master craftsman was very humble, showing no disdain, and followed his instructions completely.

Sure enough, in less than an hour, the enhanced version of the on-demand machine was successfully made. Principal Yang was very excited and was about to go to the field to try it out.

Li Long didn't say anything, so they went to the agricultural extension school and brought the plastic film and drip irrigation tape to the experimental field.

According to Li Long, without adding seeds, they were just trying to see how the drip irrigation tape would be pressed under the film and travel together.

Two students held plastic film in their hands and stepped on drip irrigation tape. When the tractor pulled the seeding machine away, both the plastic film and the drip irrigation tape were dragged up. The plastic film was pressed down by the soil pushed by the parts next to the seeding machine, and the drip irrigation tape was naturally pressed down by the plastic film.

Li Long took a look and noticed that the holes on the irrigation tape and the nozzles on the irrigation tape didn't align, so he called a halt and told them to remove the irrigation tape and repeat the process.

After a few tries, they'll be able to align the nozzles of the irrigation pipes with the eyelets of the drip tape; it's a process that requires practice.

"Hey, farming is really not easy." Principal Yang looked at it one last time. He squatted down in the field, pulled open the holes in the plastic film, and looked down at the holes of the drip irrigation tape nearby. He sighed with relief, "I'm in agriculture, and this is really... well, it requires skill. I'll have to do it several times."

Li Long smiled but didn't reply. In his previous life, there were no cooperatives. When that project came down, which company didn't go through many rounds of testing before it was qualified? If some people were lazy and didn't align themselves, then the cotton wouldn't grow as well as others.

Because the fertilizer also comes out through the drip irrigation system, the fertilizer dissolves in the water and can be precisely applied to the roots of the cotton plants, resulting in better absorption. If it doesn't reach the correct location, or if it's applied off-center, the amount absorbed will be insufficient, and the plants will naturally not grow as well as others.

The reason is very simple: it relates to the growth of cotton, the number of bolls, and whether each acre can earn a few more yuan. Farmers understand this very well.

After finishing that, Li Long returned to the courtyard. Professor Yang and the others had other things to look at, so these matters didn't need his attention.

There are two things happening in the team on the fourth day of the fourth lunar month. One is that Yang Yongqiang is getting married on April 6th - not on a Sunday. The main reason is that this Sunday is April 8th, which is not a double-numbered day in the lunar calendar.

The event will be held in Team 4 on April 6th, and then the following week, on April 15th, it will be held in Kuitun.

At that time, although the two places were more than 100 kilometers apart, which would be just over an hour's drive in later generations, it was easy for the bride to be picked up from the two places.

However, in 1990, the distance of over 100 kilometers became quite troublesome. The parents of both sides discussed it and decided to hold the event in both locations, with each side hosting their own people.

The person who came to the Li family to deliver the invitation was Yang Yongqiang's father, Yang Hua. He was very happy because of the joyous occasion in the family.

Of course, only the Li family and a few other families received invitations that he personally delivered; the other villagers had their invitations delivered by the young man.

Yang Yongqiang's job was arranged by Li Long, and the Yang family will always remember this kindness.

"Marriage is great," Li Jianguo said with a smile as he poured tea for Yang Hua. "Now that Yongqiang is married, you two shouldn't have any major problems, right?"

"Yes, there is. We need to prepare a dowry for Yongli," Yang Hua shook his head. "Yongli didn't get into university after high school and went to work in a factory. She's not young anymore."

Yang Yongqiang's younger sister, Yang Yongli, also did well in her studies when she was in junior high school and successfully passed the entrance exam for high school.

But after entering high school, his grades were not so good. He failed the college entrance exam and repeated a year but still failed. So he went to work in a factory in Shicheng. At that time, it was relatively easy to find a job with a high school diploma.

“Yes, yes, Yongqiang’s sister isn’t young anymore. Does she have a boyfriend?” Liang Yuemei asked from the side. “She should have one, right?”

"Yes, he has a girlfriend, but they're dating now. She's a colleague from her factory." Yang Hua's face lit up. His son was a worker, not a cadre, but he received government-subsidized food rations, which made a difference.

My daughter is also a worker. Although she's not a permanent employee, she's now a team leader in the factory and is said to have a chance to become a permanent worker.

Our own family isn't much worse off than the Li family's!
Yang Hua was quite proud in the village; there were very few families that met his standards.

There were three invitations, one for Li Qingxia, one for Li Jianguo, and one for Li Long.

"I won't send Xiaolong's document to the county separately. Could you take a look and let them know?" Yang Hua said.

In the eyes of Yang Hua's generation, Li Long was considered a junior—at least in terms of opinion; in reality, they were of the same generation. After all, with Li Jianguo sitting there, who would dare to say he was younger?
However, the prevailing impression is that Li Long belongs to Li Jianguo's faction, since he was raised by Li Jianguo. But now Li Long's achievements are quite remarkable, so it's impossible not to give him a separate post.

If I give it to them, it will go through Li Jianguo's channel, and that way I'll feel more at peace.

With the Yang family celebrating a happy occasion, Yang Hua took care of all the arrangements. The team was also in a lull during this time, as they hadn't started planting yet and the agricultural supplies were almost ready. Since they were just sitting around doing nothing, they decided to have a feast to celebrate.

Yang Yongqiang returned on April 5th. The 5th was Qingming Festival, but since the Yang family ancestral graves were in their hometown, there was no need to worship there. They stayed overnight, held a banquet the next day, offered wine on the third day, and then the whole family went to Kuishi on the fourth day.

Some people feel that this is a bit disrespectful to customs, while others think it's fine, so that everyone can come and go quickly and not delay anything.

When the banquet started, Li Long also came over. When Yang Yongqiang toasted him, he emphasized to his wife that although he had already mentioned it during the New Year, he wanted to emphasize it in front of everyone to show that he was truly grateful to Li Long.

Yang Yongqiang also wanted to invite Li Long to attend his wedding in Kuishan on April 15th, but Li Long declined.

There was no other way; there was another banquet to attend on April 15th, Xu Haijun's wedding day.

Yes, Xu Haijun is finally getting married—this outstanding young man from the fourth team, a veteran, has lofty ambitions, but ultimately has to face reality.

He met a female cadre hired by the township through an introduction, which can be considered a blind date (this is questionable). The woman was three years younger than him and was quite satisfied with him, after all, her family was well-off.

The woman is considered older and works mainly in the township. Although she is not a formal cadre, she still has a certain status. Those with better conditions don't want her (because she is not a formal cadre), and those with worse conditions don't want her.

Xu Haijun was able to drive a car, and as one of the original members of the cooperative in the fourth team, he was quite well-known in the village. So, after getting to know him, the woman was quite satisfied, and that's how the deal was made.

Xu Haijun also wanted to get this done before planting, otherwise he would have to wait until winter, which would take too long.

He's not young anymore.

Therefore, Li Long did not go to Kui City, but instead gave Yang Yongqiang a large red envelope separately. After all, Yang Yongqiang used to be his younger brother, and now that he was getting married, he should give him what he deserved.

Xu Haijun's wedding was much more lively than Yang Yongqiang's. The bride's family lived in the countryside, and when Xu Haijun went to pick up the bride, he brought along everyone from the cooperative who had a car. Li Long drove a Mercedes-Benz from the purchasing station as the lead car, which stunned all of the bride's relatives.

Although I've never driven one, I've seen them. With such a big logo, it's definitely not an ordinary car.

So when Li Long and his entourage were picking up the bride, someone came over and asked if they would take on any more jobs in the car, offering to pay them for the service.

This couldn't be arranged, Li Long didn't allow it. After all, when the car arrived to pick up the bride and stopped in front of the bride's house, a naughty kid tried to throw firecrackers onto the car. Luckily, Li Long reacted quickly and pushed the kid away, otherwise, something bad would have happened—if a firecracker exploded on the car, the kid's family couldn't afford to pay for the damage.

The brat cried and went to an adult to complain. Apparently, the girl's cousin was the one who found Li Long. After Li Long explained the situation, the brat got a double beating.

At this time, most parents were not so indulgent towards their children and could distinguish right from wrong.

Overall, the wedding procession went smoothly. The groom's side gave the bride a lot of face, while the bride's side, who initially felt a bit superior because the groom was a farmer, were speechless when the line of cars arrived.

After all, at this time, having a Santana for the wedding procession was already a great honor.

After the two meals were finished, the sowing work of the fourth team began.

The wheat had been green for a long time by this time, and was lush and green. Because of the need to deliver grain to the state and reserve rations, the four teams were willing to use manure and chemical fertilizers to grow the wheat, so the wheat was growing well.

The crops to be planted are corn, sunflowers, and cotton.

This year, many more people are planting cotton. Now, with the reclaimed wasteland, the total land area of ​​the fourth team has exceeded 4,000 mu, although not all of it is registered.

Many people register for 40 or 50 mu when reclaiming land, but they often reclaim more land on the edges and even expand the land on the edges of plots. So the actual number of mu is more than the registered number.

This is something everyone knows.

Nearly half of the land in Team Four is planted with cotton, which is unimaginable for a production team that has only been growing cotton for two years—after all, some townships only have so many plots of land for cotton cultivation.

Of course, the other villages in the township planted less cotton this year; all of them combined didn't plant as much as the fourth team.

Li Junhai and his team, who came from the port area, started working at the end of March. Only by working can they earn money. This year, the Li family has three high-horsepower machines, plus two combine harvesters in the autumn, requiring a lot of manpower, but the number of people coming from the port area remains the same six.

Everyone has their own job, so when it comes to distributing money at the end of this year, the difference won't be as significant as it was two years ago.

Li Jianguo continued to lead the new recruits in plowing and sowing, after all, not everyone can drive a high-horsepower tractor.

Li Long then began shuttling between the two places, checking on the planting at the agricultural extension school and also keeping an eye on the cooperative.

Xu Haijun got married, but didn't get a wedding leave. He was also there planting cotton in the cooperative's fields, and Li Long joked with him, saying that he looked radiant, which was a happy occasion, but he had dark circles under his eyes, which meant he had overdone it.

Xu Haijun wasn't annoyed; he just chuckled.

Xie Yundong, Jia Weidong, and a few other older men were making crude jokes and teasing Liang Dacheng, the only unmarried man among them.

Liang Dacheng wasn't annoyed. He joked that after the planting was finished, he would find a matchmaker to introduce him to someone, and then he would treat everyone to drinks so that he wouldn't be the only unmarried one and stand out from the others.

Liang Dacheng spoke frankly, so the others didn't dare to joke with him. Xie Yundong then said that he would ask some of his wives to find him a suitable one.

After all, every family owns a car, so their family's financial situation is definitely not a problem. To put it bluntly, they are the ones who are picky about other people's cars.

Although the agricultural extension school only has twenty mu of land, and only ten mu are planted with drip irrigation, sowing is more troublesome than in the fourth team.

The main reason was that these students lacked understanding of how strong winds could blow up cotton films, and they didn't press the soil down properly. Li Long told them to pay more attention to this aspect.

Some students were skeptical, but without Li Long saying anything, Professor Yang directly told the students to listen to Li Long.

"Don't think that just because you learned theoretical knowledge in the agricultural college, you know how to farm," Professor Yang said sternly. "Li Long actually grew something and proved that he was successful. You need to learn from his experience seriously, don't take it lightly!"

With Principal Yang and Professor Yang backing him up, Li Long's words will soon be put into practice.

Because the land is divided into two plots, ten acres are not covered with drip irrigation tape while the other ten acres are covered with drip irrigation tape, and ridges need to be erected in the middle to separate them, which involves a lot of labor.

The main force of the work was still the students and trainees. Compared with the students brought by Professor Yang, the trainees from the agricultural extension school were quite happy. Although they were only provided with one meal, for people like them who often worked in the fields, what was a little work?
After the seeds were sown, Li Long demonstrated to them how to attach the capillary tube connector.

Fortunately, it's only ten acres, so the workload isn't too heavy.

After connecting the capillary tube, all that was left was to wait. Since there wasn't much physical work to do in the short term, Li Long didn't stay there and went to the cooperative.

Professor Yang is going to lead the students to record data. These data will be valuable information for the experimental field in the future, so we can't be careless at all.

During this period, Li Long encountered Xu Haijun several times when he brought his wife to work in the township. At first, he would stop and say a few words, but later he simply honked his horn and drove past.

At the cooperative, Li Long oversaw the planting, and the rest was no longer his concern. Learning from last year's experience, everyone was paying close attention to soil compaction this year.

Not only them, but the other two cooperatives did the same thing—they completely followed Xie Yundong's management model, even in planting.

Although people like Ma Jinbao in the team would still gossip, the two cooperative members acted as if they didn't hear it at all.

When we first started the cooperative, the most important thing was to cultivate the land and make money.

As for other people's gossip, does it mean I won't make money because of other people's gossip?

What can those few words do to a person?
Just treat it like a fart.

It must be said that some people have pretty strong hearts at this point.

It took a week to plant the cotton. By late April, strong winds began to arrive, and there were even two rare yellow winds.

Li Long judged that the frequent yellow winds were due to the large amount of wasteland reclaimed in the past two years, coupled with the severe deforestation of tamarisk and saxaul trees in the Gurbantunggut Desert to the north.

In later generations, this kind of weather was more common in southern Xinjiang, but rarely seen in northern Xinjiang (Ma County).

At this point, Li Long's instructions became crucial. In some villages near the township government, the plastic film covering the cotton plants had been blown away, but Principal Yang went to check the experimental fields immediately after the wind picked up, and the film was firmly pressed down without any problems.

Those students now understand that with such strong winds, it would have been quite troublesome if they hadn't weighed it down properly.

After two gusts of wind, there was a rain, and then the weather turned sunny and calm. The cotton seedlings gradually emerged from the soil and grew without anyone noticing.

Professor Yang is still quite busy, as he has to lead his students in calculating the germination rate and also replant seedlings.

Unlike home gardening, the seedlings being replanted here are naturally cotton. But that's not the main point; the main point is the comparison after drip irrigation and fertilization.

During this period, Li Long focused on the cooperative and the experimental fields of the agricultural extension school, leaving the cooking at home to Gu Xiaoxia. Gu Xiaoxia also intended to share the housework and planned her time well each day.

As a teacher, she could only come home at noon every day, so she would get up early in the morning to prepare some of the food for lunch.

The experimental canned food that Sister Yang occasionally brings back can also be used as a dish. Although it's a bit rushed, it doesn't lower the quality of life by much.

By the end of April, Sister Yang reported on the cannery's situation, and the daily output had reached about three tons of canned food, which had basically stabilized.

This made Li Long quite pleased. He was the one who sourced the beef, but Sister Yang herself sourced the canning shells. She already possessed the basic qualities of a female entrepreneur—very impressive! (End of Chapter)