Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

A group of people arrived at Xiaohaizi with their tools and found that no one had been there for a long time.

The thick snow covered the entire ice surface. There were small animal footprints on the snow, and some birds had landed there before flying away.

Tao Daqiang said with emotion, "Life is better now. Every household has meat to eat and has spare money to buy big fish. No one is willing to put in the effort to break the ice holes to catch fish anymore."

Li Long had already chosen a spot and said as he walked forward, "It's not like it was two years ago. Two years ago, even if you put in the effort, you could catch fish and make money. Now, many people are afraid to put in the effort, but they still can't catch any fish."

As Tao Daqiang followed Li Long forward, wading through the snow, he nodded and said, "Yes, there aren't as many big fish in the small lake as before."

Both of them recalled the scene of catching fish back then. They both knew very well that the reason they were able to catch so many big fish by breaking the ice hole was because no one had done it before, and there were many big fish accumulated in the small lake.

In the 10 years since then, the Li family, the Tao family, and many other families in the village have caught tons of big fish from this small lake.

Big fish need time to grow; if you catch too many, there will be fewer left.

However, they are here purely for fun right now, and they don't really care how many they catch.

Two adults waded through the snow in front, with the children following behind. Li Long quickly selected a spot, used his feet to clear the snow from the ice, and prepared to break the ice.

In the past two years, no one has been cutting the reeds on Xiaohaizi Lake anymore, mainly because cutting reeds is not as profitable as it used to be.

In the past, we earned very little money throughout the year. A bundle of reeds was worth only a few cents, and the accumulation of small amounts was very tempting.

Nowadays, farming and other jobs are more lucrative, so harvesting reeds isn't as cost-effective.

Furthermore, since Xiaohaizi was contracted by Li Long, other people felt embarrassed to come here to harvest reeds and make money, and Li Long also felt that there was no need to do this.

Therefore, the plants grew more luxuriantly in that area of ​​the small lake.

As Li Long was chiseling ice with an ice pick, Tao Daqiang, wielding an axe, asked while chopping, "Brother Long, should we burn some of the reeds here? If we don't burn the old reeds, the new ones won't grow well."

Li Longtou replied without looking up, "Let's wait until next spring. If we burn the reeds now, the birds hiding inside will die. If we burn the reeds in spring, they'll fly to other places and won't freeze to death."

The reeds in Xiaohaizi can be burned because they grow in clumps, with large clumps covering hundreds of square meters and smaller ones covering tens or even a few square meters.

These reeds are spaced several meters, tens of meters, or even hundreds of meters apart, with large areas of water in between. Burning one large clump does not affect the others.

As long as there is no wind, it will burn if it burns. As the old poem says, "Wildfire cannot burn it all, the spring breeze brings it back to life." If this stuff is not burned often, the old reeds will dry up in the first year, and it will affect the growth of the new reeds the following year.

Li Long rarely came here in the past, so he didn't pay much attention. But as soon as winter came, he noticed that the reeds were noticeably shorter than before.

After the old reeds dry out, they are weighed down by the snow and show signs of collapsing. If new reeds want to grow next year, they will have to break through the snow, which will be very difficult.

As Tao Daqiang chopped, his speed slowed down.

Li Long's hand, holding the iron chisel, continued to chisel steadily downwards, scattering ice fragments. He quickly broke through the ice and continued chiseling.

"Dad, you're amazing!" Mingming, who had been watching from the side, saw that Tao Daqiang was resting and that his father had already made a breakthrough, so he immediately praised him loudly.

Tao Daqiang looked up and realized that he was much slower than Li Long. His face flushed, and he immediately sped up.

But his breathing became heavier.

Li Long said with a smile:

"Daqiang, you haven't been doing much work these past two years, and you're not as strong as you used to be."

Tao Daqiang said with shame, "Yes, these past two years, with the cooperative, I've been leading people to do more work and doing less myself; I usually drive a car when I go out, and I rarely drive the small four-wheeled tractor anymore, so my strength is really not as good as before."

Li Long didn't feel that way. Although he did less work than Tao Daqiang, he was still strong.

"Your eldest daughter is in school now, right?"

“Yes, she’s in third grade,” Tao Daqiang said. “I wanted her to come and play with Mingming and Haohao, but she didn’t come. I felt bad because Mingming and Haohao are more fashionable, and I was afraid she would be laughed at.”

“We won’t laugh at her!” Mingming interjected. “She wants to play with the girls and says we’re too noisy.”

Tao Daqiang gave an awkward smile.

Li Long knew what he was thinking. They had a good relationship among their generation, including Xie Yundong, Jia Weidong, and others.

Xu Haijun's child is still young, which is understandable, but Liang Dacheng just got married and doesn't even have a baby yet.

But these people all share this idea: the adults have a very good relationship, and they hope that their children can continue that kind of relationship.

But it's hard.

The intention was good, but children have their own ideas, and it's impossible for them to follow the adults' ideas completely.

Let alone friends like them, even siblings' children would probably find it difficult to maintain a good relationship like the previous generation if they didn't spend a lot of time together.

The two of them worked together to chisel a square hole in the ice, then trimmed the edges to make it more rounded, and then removed the broken ice.

Mingming was about to try using the net when Li Long told him there were definitely no fish left. He and Tao Daqiang walked to another open ice surface, intending to make another ice hole.

Since we're going to catch fish, we should at least get some results, otherwise we'll feel embarrassed going back.

The ice on Xiaohaizi Lake is about 30 centimeters thick, so it's not particularly difficult to chisel it out.

Both of them were quite strong, and they quickly chiseled another hole in the ice. When they turned around, they saw Li Qiang there, using a net to try to scoop things out of the ice hole, while telling the two children to stay away from the water.

Hmm, he's doing a good job as an older brother.

"Qiangqiang, bring the net over, let's scoop out the ice here," Li Long called out. "Did you catch any fish?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Hao Hao shouted eagerly this time, "There are seven or eight small crucian carp, the small ones are really small, about the size of a five-cent coin."

Feeling embarrassed, Li Qiang picked up the net and, with his two younger brothers, followed in the footsteps of Li Long and Tao Daqiang.

"Listen to your brother Qiangqiang," Li Long told Mingming and Haohao, "Stay away from the water, don't fall in, it will be dangerous if you fall in."

Fortunately, Mingming and Haohao were very obedient and nodded vigorously.

Tao Daqiang had already taken the net from Li Qiang and scooped away the floating ice fragments above the ice hole.

Li Long then looked at the small fish in the plastic bag in Hao Hao's hand. The largest was only the size of a palm, and the smallest was a little bigger than a fingernail. They were already frozen solid.

They are all crucian carp.

Looking at the two children's flushed faces, Li Long asked:

"Aren't you two cold?"

Although Hao Hao was sniffling and wiping his nose with a handkerchief every now and then, he still insisted that he wasn't cold.

Li Long felt a pang of heartache. This time, he didn't care whether there were any birds in the reeds. He took a lighter and set a small clump of reeds nearby on fire.

Although it didn't have a significant effect, the fire and smoke from a clump of reeds did raise the temperature around us a bit.

The reeds grew densely, and hadn't been cut or burned for several years, so the fire burned particularly fiercely.

A few people gathered around a large fire—the kind where you stand about seven or eight meters apart—and chatted.

No birds flew out, which Li Long thought was pretty good.

Qiangqiang whispered to Mingming and Haohao about his childhood, when their father, Li Long, took them fishing, and how he and his sister, Li Juan, burned reeds.

The two children looked on with longing—Juanjuan and Qiangqiang had come to fish with their father when they were so young!

Only then did Tao Daqiang have time to tell Li Long about his visit to Li Long.

“My older brother wants to join our cooperative,” Tao Daqiang said somewhat embarrassedly. “I’ve already told him that our cooperative isn’t accepting new members for the time being. He asked me to talk to you and see if we could consider his family first if the cooperative were to accept new members.”

Tao Daqiang's older brother, Tao Dayong, was originally a terrible person. His sister-in-law, Ma Chunhong, was also a "brother-supporting demon," and initially kept Tao Dayong completely under her thumb.

At that time, Li Long brought back a lot of things and money with Tao Daqiang, which Tao Dayong took back, and then Ma Chunhong took it back to her parents' home.

Fortunately, Tao Dayong changed his ways later. He learned from his mistakes and started to take better care of his wife and get back to work.

Ma Chunhong originally wanted to act like a shrew, but after being beaten by Tao Dayong, she became docile.

After that, Li Long stopped paying attention to their family, as his business was expanding outwards.

As for the cooperative's recruitment, this was indeed something Li Long had decided from the beginning, meaning that no one would be recruited in the short term.

Even Xu Haijun had to ask several people to plead his case before he was barely allowed to join.

Li Long thought for a moment and said:
"We won't be hiring anyone at least next year. Our cooperative is currently using drip irrigation to grow cotton, which is a technical skill."

Firstly, it's uncertain whether we'll make money next year; secondly, I went through a lot of trouble to get this project approved, and I don't want to add more people for now, to avoid having to deal with those kinds of relationships.

Although Tao Daqiang was a simple-minded man, he could understand.

If his older brother Tao Dayong joins, will others be allowed to join as well?

For example, Lu Yingming's family, who had been waiting for a long time, were all veterans. And the others who asked for favors were all people with whom they had good relationships.

Therefore, Li Longhui said it was quite troublesome.

If someone rejoins, the shares must be recalculated, and it must be clear how much money the new member pays, how their land is converted into shares, and so on.

Very troublesome.

Tao Daqiang understood this and nodded, saying:
"That's good. It'll also help him save more money so that he won't be short of funds when he wants to join the cooperative."

His older brother's child was spoiled when he was young, and now that he's in middle school, he's already spending money extravagantly.

Tao Dayong had dealt with this matter several times, but unfortunately, there was Ma Chunhong who held him back. After Dayong had hit the child, Ma Chunhong would secretly slip him a few yuan to appease him.

It's about to become useless.

Thinking of his nephew, Tao Daqiang immediately thought that although his youngest son was still young, he must not spoil him—look at how sensible the two children in Brother Long's family are!

I need to talk to my dad when I get back. We can't let the kids get away with spending money like that!
Although the matter wasn't resolved, Tao Daqiang felt relieved, at least he could give his older brother a reply.

After the fire burned out, Mingming and Haohao were still very curious. They walked to the fire and looked for the reeds that hadn't burned completely, and tried to light the reeds that were still sticking out of the ice and had embers.

Li Long then took the landing net to the first ice hole and began trying to catch fish.

One network, two networks.

When this group of people returned to the Li family courtyard, somewhat exhausted, they all had happy and satisfied smiles on their faces.

"How was it?" Liang Yuemei and Gu Xiaoxia came out together to ask.

"Hey, we do have fish, but none of them are big." Li Long opened the bag to show them. "They're all small crucian carp."

"There are fish this small?" Gu Xiaoxia looked at the fingernail-sized fish with surprise. "Why don't you put it back?"

"When we scooped them up with a net and put them on the ice, they were already frozen solid. Putting them back in would have meant they'd die anyway," Li Long explained. "The size of the catch is still a bonus."

The fish had already been divided up while they were on the ice. Tao Daqiang took more than a kilogram of fish back with him, saying he wanted to make fish soup.

Li Long has more than three kilograms left, the largest being a grass carp weighing a little over a kilogram, and the rest are mostly crucian carp.

"I can make a huge pot of soup," Li Long said with a smile. "In the dead of winter, crucian carp soup is guaranteed to be incredibly delicious!"

"We need to send some over to Xiaoxia's dad's family," Liang Yuemei said. "There are only two people there, and they don't have much at home. We can't let them have a bad New Year."

"Okay, I'll have Mingming and Haohao send it over later," Li Long said with a smile. "We'll try again tomorrow; there should be a big one then."

The next morning, Gu Boyuan arrived with Teacher Song.

As soon as the Li family finished eating, Gu Boyuan entered the house and asked:

"When are you guys going fishing? There's nothing to do staying at the team's place, we're thinking of going with you to check it out."

Li Jianguo was amused. Gu Boyuan was taking care of his wife and was trying to keep her occupied.

Since they were just killing time anyway, they decided to turn on two cameras and go together. Even Li Juan enthusiastically wanted to join in the fun, leaving Du Chunfang and Liang Yuemei at home to look after things.

Actually, Li Jianguo originally planned to go later, but Li Long thought that if they were going to go, they should go earlier, otherwise someone else might snag the spot.

Literally, people must have known they went fishing yesterday.

If we go late today, someone from the team might get there first and start fishing at the ice hole in Xiaohaizi.

This kind of thing happened several times in later generations, so we must be careful.

When the two cars arrived at Xiaohaizi, someone poked their head out from the village entrance, then quickly withdrew.

The two men said dejectedly, "Let's go back, let's go back. The Li family has gone to Xiaohaizi, we can't get any benefits from them."

Everyone knows there are fish in the small lake, but everyone also knows that the snow there hasn't been cleared, the ice is thick, and breaking holes in the ice is exhausting.

Moreover, on the first day of breaking the ice hole, not many fish were caught because the ice curtain didn't let much oxygen into the water, so the fish weren't paying much attention at first.

But as time goes on, the fish can sense that there is more oxygen in the ice hole, so they will slowly gather there. Even if the ice refreezes, at least this part of the water has more oxygen than other places.

So the fish will stay here, which is why you don't catch as many fish on the day you break the ice hole as you do on the second day.

Of course, if the ice surface remains frozen for too long, that's a different story. At that time, any big commotion will attract the fish.

These two people knew that someone from the Li family had broken a hole in the ice yesterday, and they wanted to come and take advantage of the situation today, but they didn't expect that the Li family would arrive early as well.

Miscalculated.

There is more than one group of people like them.

When Li Long and his group arrived at Xiaohaizi, they went straight to the ice hole. The ice hole they had broken into was now sealed again, but the ice was thinner and could be easily broken open with an axe.

After removing the ice shards, Li Long began scooping up the net.

Gu Boyuan held another net and showed it to Teacher Song at another ice hole, looking just like a peacock spreading its tail feathers.

Unfortunately, Old Gu's health had deteriorated over the past two years, and he became breathless after catching a few nets, so he had to hand the nets over to Li Jianguo.

While they were making the copy, some unsuspecting people arrived, but by the time they saw the tire tracks, it was too late.

When they got to Xiaohaizi and saw Li Long and the others, they felt a little awkward.

Li Jianguo knew what was going on when he saw that none of them had brought axes.

Fortunately, the Li family didn't intend to catch many fish; it was just for fun, and they wanted to get some fresh fish for the New Year—the fish soup from last night was really delicious!
But there's no need to let others use the ice hole we made ourselves. Besides, neither the adults nor the children had enough fun, so we might as well pretend we don't know anything.

Those who came up were in an awkward situation, unsure whether to stay or leave.

By the time the Li family left, it was almost noon, so there was no point in trying to make any money.

Seeing the Li family leave with so many big fish in high spirits, I was truly envious.

As the Lunar New Year approaches, Li Long begins calling acquaintances one by one to wish them a Happy New Year in advance.

He couldn't do anything about it. The main problem was that he didn't know the phone numbers of some people's homes. When the Lunar New Year came, he could only call Director Qian and other people he knew. He couldn't call anyone else.

I definitely need to call Secretary Zhang; I need to greet him beforehand and let him know how he is doing.

I chatted briefly with several professors from the College of Agriculture and Director Dai from the State Ethnic Affairs Commission's Beijing Office.

When he arrived at the machinery factory, Director Du, in addition to chatting, also told him about the current progress of the scientific research.

"The technology for cotton cleaning equipment is less difficult, and we expect to master it by the first half of this year. However, the technology for this cotton harvester is more difficult. Our team, including Daman, feels that it cannot be mastered in a short time and we need to be prepared for the long term."

Li Long was prepared for this. After all, cotton harvesters are not like ordinary tractors; they are technologically advanced. It took machinery factories in later generations several years to improve them, and it was practically impossible for them to be made here in just one year. Even with Daman's help, it was still impossible.

take it easy.

Li Long wasn't in a hurry; right now, he was thinking about getting the drip irrigation farming project sorted out first.

After all, you have to eat one bite at a time and do one step at a time.

"There's something else," Director Du said. "The Production and Construction Corps knows that we're also developing cotton harvesters and cleaning equipment, and they're interested in collaborating with us. What do you think?"

Li Long was about to refuse, but he stopped himself from saying it.

The cotton harvester was first used by the military corps in the previous life.

The cleaning equipment comes as a set, and naturally it is the same.

Li Long is now working on this with the joint machinery factory mainly because he doesn't want to be controlled by others; he doesn't care much about the market.

Director Du and his team care a lot about the market, but their technical reserves, even with the addition of Daman, may not be as strong as those of the Corps.

After all, the Corps had been working on tractors and other equipment for a long time, and the Shicheng Tractor Factory was quite famous.

The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has consistently been at the forefront of agricultural mechanization development.

Li Long thought that even though he now had the equipment for cleaning cotton, he wouldn't be able to open his own cotton ginning factory in the short term.

However, the county cotton and linen company may not be willing to use such cotton cleaning equipment.

If the Production and Construction Corps takes it, then we can sell the machine-harvested cotton we produce here to them.

Since it's all state-owned enterprise acquisition anyway, what difference does it make who we sell to?

"Old Du, you can decide for yourself. I think it would be good to join forces. We can get this cotton harvester out as soon as possible, and at the same time, we can also develop a more advanced one. Of course, we need to discuss how to cooperate properly."

"Of course, although they are all state-owned, there are still differences between us and them. Don't worry, I will take the initiative." Director Du was very confident.

After hanging up the phone, Li Long didn't want to think about it anymore; he still had to call other people.

For example, Section Chief Hu.

Knowing too many people can be quite troublesome. Li Long flipped through his small phone book, checking each one in turn. Some were suitable for him to call, while others he would have to wait until after the New Year to receive a call from them.

Now he's someone with a certain status.

The year went by very quickly. I felt like I was busy and fulfilled every day, and then it was over in a flash.

The good thing is that after Gu Xiaoxia took a job at the primary school, she no longer only had three days off as she did when she was in the Education Bureau, and she could stay in the fourth team for a few more days.

Staying in the county, Li Long is the pillar of his family, and he has to think about everything.

But it's different in the fourth team. As the youngest in his family, he seems to have returned to his childhood state, where he doesn't have to worry about anything and can just play.

This year, just like during the Mid-Autumn Festival, his second brother brought a trunk full of stuff. Li Long could tell that he was much more low-key in his words and actions than before.

The refinery is progressing normally. Every day, the by-products produced are sold out, and there is basically no inventory in the plant.

Moreover, we are currently in a period of rapid economic development, and these industrial products are in short supply. According to Li Anguo, even if we had another set of oil refining equipment, we could still sell an extra 100 tons of crude oil per month!
He had this idea, but Li Long didn't intend for him to pursue it.

Keep it small and simple. If you go too far, it's easy to run into trouble and attract unwanted attention.

The second brother, Li Anguo, doesn't have the same boldness as his eldest brother. It has little to do with personality. The eldest brother started making his way in the world when he was just over ten years old; his boldness was something he developed through experience. The second brother, on the other hand, has his father to rely on at home, so he's used to depending on others.

Although he can now stand on his own, he's doing alright by following the established procedures, comparable to Liu Gaolou.

If we let him expand the market and grow the business, things are likely to go wrong.

So Li Long completely suppressed his little scheme.

Just do it this way, you can earn hundreds of thousands a year, be content!
My brother-in-law, Chen Xingbang, didn't have the same resentment as last year during this year's Chinese New Year.

Li Long guessed that he had probably figured it out by now. Staying at the Shicheng Food Factory was not bad; he was a team leader, it was comfortable, he didn't have to do heavy work or put in much effort, and the benefits were good.

My sister Li Xia expanded the scale of her breeding business in the second half of the year, including the winter. She mentioned it to Li Long once. She used to be able to haul a truckload of sugar residue every week, but now she hopes to be able to haul a truckload every three days.

Li Long naturally had no objections. The sugar factory produces dozens of truckloads of sugar residue every day, but he only needs less than five truckloads a day, which is nothing.

Given his current situation of purchasing sugar from the sugar factory and exchanging it for US dollars, even if he doubled the amount, Section Chief Hu would still do it without batting an eye.

If brother-in-law Chen Xingbang is unwilling to give up this worker's job and benefits, then he can't blame anyone else.

During the Spring Festival period, more people from the team came to visit the Li family to offer New Year's greetings. Most of them would ask about cotton planting, drip irrigation farming, and whether the cooperative was hiring.

Li Long also vaguely heard rumors that the price of cotton in 1992 might rise further, perhaps reaching an average price of three yuan or even higher.

Because of this rumor, some people have become restless, and the price of agricultural supplies is slowly rising.

Well, that's just how the domestic market is. Whenever there's the slightest hint of trouble in society, businessmen immediately treat it as solid news and raise prices on favorable items first.

Salt prices rose, vegetable prices rose, and even when the government later provided subsidies for childcare, the prices of infant and toddler products also increased.

I wonder if there are any such cases among the government's subsidies for home appliances.

Subsidies for agricultural machinery, on the other hand, seem to be doing a bit better.

Li Long had already discussed the situation with the cooperative members; cotton could be grown, but it was more tiring than other crops.

The cooperative isn't hiring yet; we'll talk about that later.

As for the news of cotton price increases, I haven't heard of it and don't know.

He knew it was highly unlikely that prices would rise, much less rise that high. Having grown cotton for decades across two lifetimes, he had only seen one year when cotton prices reached eleven yuan, and the following year managed to maintain a rise to nine or ten yuan. In every other year of significant cotton price increases, the price never managed to stay above that level for two years.

In the end, certain capitalist companies joined forces and refused to allow cotton prices to rise at all!

Anyway, they don't want farmers to make money or get rich.

With Li Long's answer, the villagers understood that if they wanted to make money and get rich, they should first find their own way.

Those who understand the situation can empathize with Li Long and the cooperative members' thoughts. After all, this is the first year of drip irrigation farming, and they don't know what the actual situation will be like, so how can they guide others?
If you make a profit, that's fine, but if you lose money, you'll definitely attract a lot of criticism.

Don't be fooled by the fact that many people are praising the Li family now. If you actually bring them along but don't make them rich, a significant portion of these people will definitely change their tune!
After the New Year, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Gu Boyuan and Teacher Song reluctantly headed towards the valley. They were accompanied by four large trucks carrying dozens of tons of canned goods and sugar.

This was something Gu Boyuan and Li Long had agreed upon; the trading company on the other side of the valley was going to explore new business opportunities.

These things can be sold locally anyway, though the profit margin might not be high. It would be even better if they could be sold across the border.

In that case, the company in the valley wouldn't seem like a branch office here, but rather like a sister company.

Doing wholesale with Liu Shanmin here and retail at the port there, there's nothing wrong with that.

In March, as everyone was preparing supplies for spring plowing, Xie Yundong told Li Long when he went to the county to buy things that nearly half of the land in the village was going to be planted with cotton.

"Sigh, when cotton prices went up last year, everyone couldn't resist," Xie Yundong said. "With fertilizers and improved seeds, wheat yields have increased year by year. Right now, planting just a little is enough to pay the grain tax and for our own harvest."

Everyone's now thinking about how to make money from the land—last year, including our three cooperatives, we all made money growing cotton, and the others couldn't resist trying.

That makes sense, really. While wheat prices have risen a bit, they're still far lower than cotton prices. But in terms of yield, the difference between the wheat harvest from one acre and the cotton harvest from one acre isn't that significant.

Cotton is not picky about the soil and can be grown in saline-alkali soil, unlike wheat, which hardly grows in saline-alkali soil.

Moreover, cotton is many times more expensive than wheat. Even if the cost is higher, the overall income from cotton per acre is much higher than that from wheat.

If it weren't for the national regulations requiring the payment of grain taxes and the need to keep some for personal consumption, many people would probably have simply decided to grow cotton on all their land.

"Because cotton can be grown on saline-alkali land, some people in the team started reclaiming wasteland again this spring," Xie Yundong added. "Your older brother and the others had work to do as soon as spring started."

Not only our team, but the other teams are in similar situations. It seems that this year's cotton yield will be much higher than last year's!

Xie Yundong was somewhat worried, but Li Long was not. In the following years, the price of cotton generally rose steadily, or at least remained above two yuan.

Therefore, as long as production increases, higher costs are manageable.

However, he still gave Xie Yundong a heads-up: "This year we're using drip irrigation to grow cotton, so the yield will definitely be high, but you still need to carefully consider cost control."

I also want to tell everyone that although our cotton yield may be particularly high this year, the money we earn may not necessarily be much more than last year.

"Don't worry," Xie Yundong said to Li Long with a smile, "Everyone knows the truth. Even if it's not as good as last year, even if it's just the same as the first year, that's still great."

If we don't even have this much awareness, then we shouldn't join this cooperative.

Li Long was finally relieved.

He and his father were at the purchasing station dealing with people who came to buy agricultural supplies. Even though his father, Li Qingxia, controlled the distribution channels and had already stocked up on several truckloads of supplies, they couldn't keep up with the enthusiasm of the customers. A truckload of plastic film for planting cotton sold out in just one morning!
Li Qingxia urgently made a call to transfer the supplies from Wucheng. Fortunately, the distance was not far, and it would only take two hours to arrive.

Li Qingxia then had another batch of pesticides and improved seeds transferred over. After arranging all of this, he said to Li Long:

"I never expected there would be such a rush for this kind of land. With things like this, won't cotton prices drop this year? Are you even going to plant it?"

Li Long hurriedly said, "Don't worry, it won't fall. There's a lot of this kind of cotton, and the demand is huge."

For example, the clothes and shoes exported to Kazakhstan now have to be made of cotton.

We're still trading clothes for cars and airplanes, so the more cotton we have, the better!

"You can change planes?" Li Qingxia was a little skeptical. "How is that possible? Those planes are so expensive, how could you possibly change your clothes back?"

"Eight hundred million shirts for one airplane." Li Long recalled a news story and said with a smile, "As long as there are enough of them, how could we not get them back?"

While agricultural supplies were being sold at a feverish pace, Halimu was already driving hundreds of cattle and sheep to their winter pastures.

The snow in the mountains hasn't completely melted yet, but the cattle and sheep are already finding it hard to stay in the production team's courtyard.

Halim and his wife then divided the work: he drove some of the cattle and sheep up the mountain, while his wife and some hired people took care of the ewes and lambs at the production team's site. They would meet again when spring came and it was time to move the sheep to the summer pastures.

Before leaving, Halim came to see Li Long and told him that he no longer needed to send a truckload of sugar residue every day; one truckload every three days would suffice.

Li Long told him to be careful while he was alone in the mountains, but Halim showed Li Long the gun in his car, which reassured Li Long.

Li Long did not tell Halim that he had received a call from Liu Shanmin about the herders who had gone to Kazakhstan.

In early March, Liu Shanmin called and said that someone had contacted him through a Kazakh person he knew before, seeking his help.

From here, Li Long learned about the families from the past.

The three families found relatives and reunited with people of the same tribal totem, and they felt very close.

Two families then stayed there with the tribe, because the grazing there was mainly in the plains, and the pastures were large enough to accommodate them.

The heads of these two households were quite old and still preferred the traditional herding methods. One of the main reasons they left was that they did not want to live a settled, pastoral life, as it would disrupt their traditions.

However, the male head of the other family was relatively young. They did not want to stay in the pastoral area and wanted to go to the city to live the life of city dwellers. So they accepted the Kazakh side's arrangement.

According to Liu Shanmin, the initial resettlement was quite good; the men were sent to work in factories, and the children were enrolled in schools.

However, this was the worst period for Kazakhstan's economy. The man had only worked in the factory for a few days before it closed down, leaving him with no choice but to take odd jobs.

At that time, Kazakhstan's unemployment rate reached a new high, and there were too many unemployed people. As an outsider, he had no competitive advantage and would be ostracized.

The money they brought from China was becoming increasingly worthless, which panicked the family. They somehow found out about Liu Shanmin and came looking for him.

Li Long was helpless; after all, he had already changed his nationality. What could he do? Obtaining citizenship here was much more difficult than going abroad.

He suggested to Liu Shanmin that he tell that person to go to the ranch and see if they could arrange for him to return to the ranch.

Although working on the ranch is tough and tiring, it's still better than staying in the city and not having food to eat.

Liu Shanmin only had a relationship with Li Long. As for this herdsman's family, he had no intention of meeting them if they hadn't mentioned Li Long.

Liu Shanmin also responded to Li Long's suggestion, saying that it would be quite difficult because they had already made arrangements for it.

If you go to the tribe now, even if they accept you, they won't be able to settle you down. At most, they'll accept you as a hired worker, unlike the previous two families who could share pastures and livestock.

I won't comment on Li Long's decision; it's his own choice, and I don't need to interfere.

However, since the person was from the Yushanjiang tribe, Li Long still went to Yushanjiang and told them about it.

After listening to what Li Long said, Yu Shanjiang remained silent for a long time.

“I tried to persuade them,” Yushanjiang said after more than ten minutes. “I don’t know what they think is so good about that place. Isn’t it good to be here?”
Everyone feels that life here is getting better and better; the food and daily necessities are much better than before.

And now that I'm doing this, I'm making more money, I own a car, and I have all the good food and nice clothes I need.

What's there to be dissatisfied about? Judging from the things you sell there, they must be very poor!
Besides, although those people are relatives, we haven't been in contact for so many years, some of them we've never contacted at all. How much can they really help?

He looked at Li Long and asked, "Can you bring them back?"

Li Long shook his head and said, "It's impossible. Tens of thousands of people went out in the 1960s, and most of them were assigned to mining, manual labor, or herding. They regretted it then."

Do you realize now that at the border, not only are there people coming to do business, but also families wanting to return home, and not a single one of them can be processed?

Yushanjiang sighed again and fell silent.

Finally, he shook his head and said, "Forget it, if I can't control him, I won't. If he's leaving the province and going to other parts of the country, I can still help him. But if he goes abroad, he's no longer a citizen of our country, so I won't bother with him."

With Yushanjiang's statement, Li Long was relieved.

He was worried that Yushanjiang might feel sentimental about the past, which would be quite troublesome.

He could actually tell that although Liu Shanmin was already there, he still didn't get along with those who had voluntarily come to him.

People can go there, so let's follow their policies. Don't let people go there and then regret it, remember the good things about this place, and want to come back—it's your own path, so just walk it yourself.

This was just a minor incident, a tiny ripple on the water caused by the wind, which quickly passed.

That night, after lying in bed and being intimate with Gu Xiaoxia, Li Long told her about it as gossip.

Gu Xiaoxia paused for a moment and then said:
"Xiaoyu has a boyfriend."

Li Long didn't know why she was bringing up something so unrelated, but Gu Xiaoyu's relationship was indeed good news, so he smiled and said, "That's great!"

"The man was a professor at the school. He talked with Xiaoyu for a while, and then went abroad on a government scholarship. After that, he lost contact with her."

Li Long immediately understood why Gu Xiaoxia brought this up—it was all because of going abroad.

“From now on, our children, Mingming and Haohao, will stay in China and won’t go abroad,” Gu Xiaoxia said, hugging Li Long. “If they go too far away, we won’t be able to see them when we miss them.”

"Yes, I completely agree! They can travel abroad, but if they want to settle down abroad, I'll break their legs!"

Gu Xiaoxia objected again, shaking Li Long's arm and saying, "How can that be? You can't be so fierce!"

Li Long said helplessly, "Look, nothing works for you, so what should I do?"

As he spoke, he rolled over and pinned Gu Xiaoxia beneath him, whispering:

"Why don't we just ignore them and have another one?"

Gu Xiaoxia blushed and said, "Get lost... unless you don't want me to go to work!"

Li Long suddenly realized, "Actually, it's possible!"

P.S.: My desire to grow cotton has resurfaced this year. They say there's a war, so cotton prices might rise again. However, the government has limited the area that can be planted, so it's difficult to grow a large amount... (End of Chapter)