Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

First of all, I want to apologize to everyone. I did make a mistake in the previous chapter. Thank you to many readers for your suggestions for improvement. I did indeed buy Kangmain before, and I have corrected it.

…………

Throughout the wheat harvest season, Li Long's biggest contribution was hauling two truckloads of watermelons to the threshing ground and his home.

Their own wheat was harvested using sorghum. After harvesting, they dumped it on the threshing floor, and Li Jianguo and Li Junfeng's father would take a break to winnow it, put it in bags, and then go to hand over the grain to the government.

Although the current harvesting situation in Commain will result in the loss of straw and wheat stalks after the harvest, in terms of efficiency alone, it is indeed much faster than traditional threshing.

As for wheat straw and wheat tails, the main uses for them in farmers' homes are: selling the wheat straw to paper mills, keeping the wheat tails for cattle and sheep to eat, or using them to build walls.

Neither of these two aspects mattered to the Li family, so they could simply let them go.

The main tasks this wheat season are harvesting wheat and plowing the fields, so making money is the priority.

The other members of the cooperative are in the same situation. They are too lazy to thresh the wheat, so they simply use maltodextrin to harvest it, which is convenient and saves them trouble.

Du Chunfang, the old lady, sat in the yard and grumbled, saying that setting up this cooperative had made everyone lazy. They didn't thresh or harvest the leftover wheat, and they hardly even went to the market.

They even get paid to work at the cooperative. This isn't like being a farmer! Even city workers don't have it this comfortable.

Hearing his mother's complaints, Li Long smiled and explained that farming would gradually become like this. He added, "We farmers aren't inherently inferior. Workers earn wages for a day's work, so why can't farmers?"
In the past, farmers carried their own food, built irrigation canals and reservoirs, and constructed farmland water conservancy facilities to support national construction.

I can't say I had no complaints at the time, but my contributions were absolutely enormous. Having contributed so much, it's time to enjoy the benefits of advanced technology.

Every time this happens, my mother glares at him and says, "I can't argue with you, so you're right, okay!"

After saying this, she sighed, "Back when you weren't born, your older brother was still young. Your father would carry dry rations to repair the reservoir, and he would be gone for ten days or half a month at a time."

You know I'm not capable; I only manage to get by thanks to the help of my relatives.

At that time, I genuinely thought that once the reservoir was repaired, life would be better. I didn't think I was any great; I just did whatever my superiors told me to do.

Looking back now, people were really competitive back then. There weren't nearly as many machines as there are now. Building reservoirs, dams, and digging canals all relied on manual labor. When your dad came back, his hands were covered in blisters, which eventually turned into calluses the size of beans. It broke my heart to see him like that.

Li Long remained silent.

Although he spoke up for the old farmers, he didn't actually do any of the hard work.

Anyone can say nice things.

However, his influence is limited, and now he can only help those around him to live a better life and allow the farmers around him to enjoy a life that is no less than that of city dwellers.

The wheat season ends by early August, by which time cotton has mostly finished flowering and it's time for the cotton bolls to ripen.

The amount of cotton that can be harvested from one acre is roughly determined when the cotton bolls have grown.

As long as there are no serious pests, such as bollworms, at this time, the harvest results are usually predictable.

In northern Xinjiang, especially in the Ma County area, natural disasters are rare in August and September, unlike some places where hail is common during this season. A hailstorm can leave some plots of land barren and result in a complete crop failure.

This can be considered a uniquely advantageous location.

After watering the cotton fields for the last time, everyone in the cooperative was very happy to see the numerous cotton bolls weighing down the cotton branches.

With so many cotton bolls, they felt confident about this year's harvest.

Of course, these people were still worried, especially as the situation approached and became more critical. So they would often walk around the field to check for spider mites or bollworms.

On August 16th, Li Long returned to the cooperative from the county to prepare for a meeting.

He called Xie Yundong the day before and told him about it, so when he arrived at the cooperative that day, Xie Yundong and the others had already prepared a table full of dishes, ready to eat and chat.

The dishes prepared included a young rooster caught this spring, crucian carp, shrimp, and crab from the small lake, and fresh vegetables from the garden.

When we sat down at the table, Xie Yundong introduced the animals: "The chicken was brought by Daqiang, the shrimp and crabs were caught by the Navy last night, the crucian carp were caught this morning by Dacheng and me, and these vegetables were brought by Weidong."

Li Long picked up his chopsticks and asked, "Who cooked these dishes?"

"My wife and Daqiang's wife," Xie Yundong said, "have a taste and see if it suits their taste."

Xu Haijun said self-deprecatingly, "I also wish my wife was as virtuous as me, but unfortunately she's not presentable. People say she's a working woman and can't come back to do this kind of work."

"You're so smug. You and Xiaolong are the only ones in this family who get government-subsidized grain rations," Xie Yundong said with a smile. "My wife isn't so lucky."

The group chatted as they talked, with several bottles of beer on the table. Li Long didn't ask who had brought the beer; he simply picked up a bottle and said, "The cotton harvest season is almost here, and this year looks pretty good so far. You've all worked hard, let's have a toast!"

The group clinked their bottles together, and Daqiang added, "Brother Long, you've worked hard too. This is the first time we've grown drip-irrigated cotton this year, and without you, we really wouldn't know how to do it."

To be honest, we knew a bit about cotton farming techniques before, but this drip-irrigated cotton crop is really nothing compared to what we used to grow. This one acre of land yields the income of two acres, and with your drip irrigation tape factory, you've reduced costs. This year, our crop is absolutely going to be a hit!

"How could it not be popular? I saw you on TV." Xu Haijun joked with Tao Daqiang.

“It’s like you didn’t even participate,” Tao Daqiang said, putting down his half-empty beer. “Anyway, we all tried our best, and no one was left behind.”

Xie Yundong also took a few sips of beer, put down the bottle and said, "Yes, we're the ones who do the heavy lifting, Xiaolong, you're the one who uses your brain. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to manage all of this. Our joint hard work has brought us the harvest that's about to arrive today."

Seeing that everyone had similar thoughts, Li Long smiled, picked up a piece of meat from the belly of the fish with his chopsticks, ate it, put down his chopsticks and said, "I called everyone together today to talk about something quite important."

As soon as he said that, everyone else put down their chopsticks and bottles and listened attentively.

“In the past two years, with our more than 1,000 mu of land, we could still manage to get by by going to the casual labor market to pick cotton every day.”

This year's yield, as everyone probably predicted, will easily be over 350 kilograms. With over 1,000 mu (approximately 67 hectares) of land, that's at least 400 tons, more than double last year's. At this rate, hiring casual laborers to pick cotton probably won't be enough. Have you thought about how you'll manage while the cotton is being picked?"

When he asked that question, the others fell silent. It was clear from the content that no one had really thought about it.

Or rather, everyone's idea was very simple: just do what they always do, go out and do odd jobs every morning.

Li Long anticipated everyone's reaction and continued, "Think back to when we were doing odd jobs last year. Although we could still be selective back then, after picking up dozens, even nearly a hundred, of odd jobs each day, there weren't many people left in the market."

Last year, cotton prices were high, so the area planted with cotton this year is much larger than last year, and there are also more plots of land needed for cotton picking. The number of casual laborers in the market may not be able to increase enough to meet the demand, so relying solely on casual laborers won't be enough to supply the market.

Xie Yundong and the others knew they were in trouble.

"Just think about it, if we grow so much stuff but can't harvest it all, wouldn't that be a waste?"

Xu Haijun couldn't help but say, "Then shall we go to Shicheng or other places to find odd jobs? The odd job market in Shicheng should be bigger than in our county, right?"

"Or should we bring people from our hometown now and hire them as long-term laborers?" Jia Weidong suggested. "Finding more long-term laborers might be enough to tide us over."

“Every year during cotton picking season, the casual labor market is basically in short supply,” Li Long said. “The casual labor market in Shicheng mainly supplies cotton-growing corps around Shicheng, and we can’t recruit many people.”

As for long-term laborers, we're short dozens, even hundreds. How many families would we need to bring in? Where would they be housed? Could the people we bring in guarantee efficiency? It's all hard to say.”

"Xiaolong, what do you suggest we do?" Xie Yundong asked. "You must have already thought of a solution, right?"

“I was thinking we should go to No. 1 Middle School and talk to them, see if we can invite one or two grades of students over.” Li Long picked up his chopsticks, took a bite of food, and said while eating, “It’s easier to manage students when they have teachers leading them.”

"High school students, seventeen or eighteen years old, are a good source of labor, but not many of them are malicious. If we can get them here, as long as we provide good food and accommodation, we should be able to bring them over."

“It’s true that middle school students do pick cotton every year, but they go to the Production and Construction Corps, right?” Xu Haijun asked.

"Yes, Qiangqiang and his friends pick cotton every year, and they go to the Sixth and Eighth Agricultural Divisions. They go for half a month or twenty days at a time, and it's quite hard work."

"The Corps must have been cooperating with them for a long time. How can we compete with them?" Xie Yundong had some concerns.

“I’ll talk to them about this,” Li Long said. “We’ll offer better terms, a slightly higher allowance for the school, better meals for the students, and instead of those trucks, we’ll use buses to transport them. As long as our terms are good enough, I don’t think they’ll refuse, right?”

"How do you set this price?" Xie Yundong asked.

"Last year, the first batch of cotton was picked for 30 cents a kilogram by odd jobs. I'll go and find out what price the school is getting from the Production and Construction Corps. We should raise it by a few cents, and that should be about right. After all, we have an advantage because we're close by."

After saying that, he looked at the others and asked, "What do you guys think?"

Although Li Long was used to making decisions unilaterally in the cooperative, he was not the manager after all, and he still needed to consult with others when necessary.

"I have no objection." Tao Daqiang supported Li Long as always, unconditionally.

"How many students are in a high school grade? My wife knows some leaders at the township middle school. Should we try to contact them? That would be more convenient." Xu Haijun subtly asserted his presence.

“How old are the junior high school students in the village? They certainly can’t pick cotton as efficiently as high school students,” Jia Weidong objected. “If we’re going to find people, we should find those who can pick together and pick quickly. For a yield of four hundred tons, we’d need at least one or two hundred people, right?”

"Junior high school students were assigned to pick 18 kilograms of cotton a day at the Production and Construction Corps, while high school students were assigned 35 kilograms a day," Xie Yundong said, sharing what he knew.
"High school students usually exceed the target, averaging about 50 kilograms a day. Junior high school students are just at the passing level. Junior high school students in grades 8 and 9 can do a little more, but the average is about 20 to 30 kilograms. It's not cost-effective for us to hire junior high school students."

Xu Haijun nodded, humbly accepting the answer.

"I'll talk to the high schools first. If we can get them, great. If not, we'll use the middle schools as backups." Li Long compromised.
“I’ll handle the negotiations with my mouth, so you guys need to make the arrangements here. Regardless of whether we can reach an agreement over there, this year’s cotton picking will mainly be done by students. Since we have a large yard here, we need to make room for them to stay.”

In the courtyard of this cooperative, we borrowed some wooden planks from the villagers to make a wooden bed. It would be best to make a wooden bed. If that's not possible, we should at least get some straw to spread on the ground.

A high school grade has five or six classes, more than two hundred people. Even if they live in a dormitory, there would still be about ten rooms.

“There’s definitely enough space,” Xie Yundong said, “but we need to clean it up properly. Cooking for more than two hundred people is also quite a hassle.”

"Let's divide the work and cooperate. We'll stick to our original plan. Our main tasks will be in the fields, weighing, transporting people back and forth, and delivering meals."

We need to get all the women in the family involved, and find some more people from the team to be mainly responsible for cooking. We also need to buy a few large pots, since we'll need them every year anyway.

Set up a few large stoves in this courtyard. The school's chefs can feed two or three hundred people during military training, so let's not be stingy. Even if we don't eat a whole sheep a day, after picking cotton for twenty days, we should at least get a few sheep to reward them properly.

As for staple food, we probably won't be able to supply steamed buns. We'll go to the county to buy steamer wraps, along with naan bread, two truckloads of watermelons, and some bowls and plates—things that can be reused.

I've outlined the main areas that need our attention; the rest is up to Xie Yundong and his team to consider together.

Fortunately, there is still time. From now until the cotton picking officially begins, there are at least twenty or thirty days left, giving the cooperative members ample time to discuss task allocation.

Li Long didn't drink much at noon. After lunch, he went back to the Li family courtyard to rest for a while. After sobering up, he drove back to the county. To sign the contract with the county's No. 1 Middle School, he needed to be fully prepared. Despite Li Long's confident demeanor when speaking to the cooperative members, his chances weren't actually that high; it was about 50/50 at the moment.

So after returning home, I discussed this matter with Gu Xiaoxia. Gu Xiaoxia was actually quite willing to participate in the cooperative's activities, so she took the initiative to ask around for information.

For the next week, Gu Xiaoxia went out for a walk every day, and gradually brought back some news.

"The Corps, especially Xinhu Farm, does have connections with the No. 1 Middle School in the county. In principle, the No. 1 Middle School goes there to pick cotton."

Conditions were naturally not very good. Students traveled in large carriages and slept on the floor in old offices with straw on the floor. Students brought their own bedding. Usually, a class or company would have one large dormitory bed for boys and one large dormitory bed for girls.

Each employee's family had five or six students, both boys and girls, and they ate at the employee's home.

Last year, when I went to the farm to pick cotton, the price the Corps paid to the school was 28 cents per kilogram. This year's price is uncertain, but it should be similar to last year's.

The school's academic affairs director is responsible for handling this matter, but the principal and vice-principal also have the authority to intervene. Of course, the education bureau could also get involved, but I've been away from the education bureau for a while and my influence is no longer sufficient.

Deputy Director Wang has already left the Education Bureau, so it won't be easy to find a breakthrough through her.

"It's already very good to have this information." Li Long praised Gu Xiaoxia with a smile. "Very impressive, very impressive. With this information, I will be much more confident when I go to the county's No. 1 High School to discuss this matter."

Li Long was telling the truth.

Knowing the other party's bottom line, all we need to do to show sincerity is raise the price.

Of course, there is also the advantage of being on home turf. The cooperative is located in the county, and it is naturally best for the school to organize students to do work-study programs and develop their labor skills in the county.

To be precise, the land belonging to Xinhu Farm is located within Ma County, and it is nominally leased to them. However, it is under the structure of the Production and Construction Corps and is different from that of local areas.

Gu Xiaoxia also learned that the No. 1 High School is currently conducting military training for its first-year students, and all the school leaders are present, so there's not much to do. If they want to discuss this cooperation, it would be best to go during this time; once school starts, things will be busier, and it will be harder to negotiate.

Li Long packed up and got ready, then went to the county's No. 1 Middle School.

The county's No. 1 Middle School is located south of the Wuyi Highway. Li Long often goes there to pick up and drop off Li Juan and Qiangqiang, but most of the time he only goes to the main gate or the side gate.

Today, as we were officially going to pay our respects, we naturally had to enter through the main gate. The old gatekeeper saw Li Long drive his car directly to the gate and came out to inquire.

Li Long went directly to the old man at the door and said he wanted to talk to the principal about cooperation. He revealed his identity as the company manager and representative. The old man at the door did not dare to neglect him and opened the gate to let him drive in. He also told him the location of the principal's office.

There were no designated parking areas on campus, so Li Long parked his bike by the wall to the left of the gate, seeing that there was a bicycle parking area on the right side of the gate. Then, carrying his bag, he headed towards the teaching and office building.

The principal, who was in the office, had already been notified. When Li Long arrived at the office door, the principal greeted him with a smile, shook hands, and then went inside to sit down. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Li Long explained his purpose.

The principal said that the academic affairs director had been handling this matter, and he asked Li Long to wait a moment while he went out to find someone to call the academic affairs director.

When the principal entered, Li Long solemnly explained the conditions on his side to the principal. Overall, they were more favorable than those on the farm. Finally, Li Long emphasized that since the county's No. 1 Middle School was affiliated with the county, it would be best to support the county's agricultural development.

As for the price quoted to the school, Li Long said it was 35 cents per kilogram, which was already a very reasonable price.

He also told the principal that his cooperative was a key project supported by the autonomous region, and that the county had held an on-site meeting in the cotton fields of the cooperative, showing that the county leaders were very supportive of it.

As the head of teaching affairs approached the door, Li Long said the last thing: "Our cooperative currently only has a little over a thousand acres of land, but we plan to contract more land to grow cotton in the future."

We're using drip irrigation to grow cotton, which is a first in the entire county and a key project receiving attention from the autonomous region. It's bound to be a long-term development. Although we've only been growing cotton for three years, our output value has increased year after year, and we believe we'll continue to develop it. We hope the principal will consider this.

The principal said he had heard and noted all of this, but he would need to discuss it with the academic affairs director, and the final decision would be made at a school meeting.

After the principal explained it this way, Li Long understood the general idea.

After the academic affairs director entered the principal's office, the principal introduced Li Long's purpose for coming, explained Li Long's identity and various details, and asked him to talk to Li Long.

The academic affairs director smiled and led Li Long to his office. While pouring water for Li Long, he said with a smile, "Mr. Li, I've heard so much about you. I run a company in the county, doing import and export trade. I didn't expect you to be running a cotton cooperative."

Li Long said, "I am essentially still a farmer, and my household registration is still in the countryside. I started this cooperative with the idea of ​​leading the villagers to get rich together."

The current situation is not bad, although we are also facing some challenges. That's why we've come to discuss cooperation with your school and talk about mutually beneficial development.

The academic affairs director then asked Li Long about his conditions.

He was indeed in charge of this matter, and he asked quite detailed questions. For example, how far was Li Long's cooperative from the county seat? If they were to go, who would be responsible for transportation? Would they eat communal meals or individual meals? What would the food allowance be? How would accommodation be arranged? How many days of cotton picking were they expected to do? And how many cotton fields did Li Long's team have? How many students were expected to go, etc.

They asked very detailed questions, and wanted specific figures to support each one.

If Li Long hadn't had that meeting with the cooperative members that day and talked a lot, he probably wouldn't be able to answer the question now.

The academic affairs director asked questions one by one, and Li Long answered them one by one. At first, he was a little absent-minded, but later he began to remember them one by one.

He could sense that Li Long's side was very well prepared, and compared to the conditions he had received from the military corps before, Li Long's side was also very sincere.

Of course, these are all just words; whether they can be implemented depends on concrete actions.

"We will also have a doctor accompany the students so that we can respond promptly to any issues they may have," Li Long concluded. "After all, we are only ten kilometers from the county seat. If any students have a headache or fever, it will be convenient for us to send them to the county or Shicheng No. 2 Hospital. Moreover, we will be using buses for transportation, so the conditions will definitely be relatively better."

After Li Long finished speaking, the dean of academic affairs said, "Mr. Li, we understand your situation. We need to discuss this kind of thing at a meeting. It would be best if you could put it in writing and report it to us so that we can make comparisons when we have the meeting."

Upon hearing this, Li Long immediately agreed, saying, "Then I'll go back and prepare, and send it to you as soon as possible."

After shaking hands and saying goodbye to the academic affairs director, Li Long went to the principal's office, said goodbye to the principal, and then went downstairs to drive away.

Back in the courtyard, Gu Xiaoxia couldn't wait to ask him about the outcome of the talks.

After Li Long explained the situation, Gu Xiaoxia said with some concern, "I'm afraid that some factors beyond these data might influence their decision."

Li Long smiled and said, "I'll do what we can do first, and then we'll leverage our connections. After all, we can also work on factors beyond just the data."

Gu Xiaoxia shook her head and said, "Sigh, things can't be too simple. If we could simply compare them according to the procedure, that would be much better."

“We live in a huge society based on human relationships. Some things are essential and unavoidable.” Li Long knew that his wife was sometimes a bit idealistic. He touched her hair and said, “Some things that have been passed down for thousands of years are deeply rooted and may take some time to break down.”

Don't worry, don't worry, things will always turn out for the better.

He returned to his desk and began writing the agreement.

I'm just a farmer who didn't finish junior high school, so writing this is very simple for me. It's all data on paper, things that are real and tangible.

After writing all this down, Li Long started making phone calls.

First, he called the county leaders. The county leaders' secretary had left their phone numbers at the end of the last cooperative meeting. Although Li Long felt that they might have been being polite at the time, he still had to call when necessary.

After the secretary answered the phone, Li Long skipped the small talk and went straight to the leader. He first reported the possible cotton yield for the year, and then explained his difficulties and thoughts.

The secretary said he would report to his superiors immediately and see what instructions the county leaders would give.

Li Long was thinking of waiting a day or two, but the secretary told him to wait five minutes before calling back. When Li Long called back, the secretary said that the county leaders would talk to the education bureau leaders about the matter and hoped to facilitate it.

Li Long thanked his superior and secretary, then hung up the phone.

Li Long called Director Qian again, greeted him, and then told him about his situation.

Director Qian laughed and said, "I knew you wouldn't make a phone call unless it's absolutely necessary. I'm quite a few levels removed from the principal in your county. Well, I'm quite familiar with Old Yu from the state education bureau. I'll give him a call and let him know."

By the way, Xiao Li, Lao Wang said he had a great time at your hot spring resort last time he came back, and that you're a good young man. It seems you left a deep impression on him. I want to thank you for that.

Even someone as difficult and discerning as Old Wang looks up to you so highly; you must have some strengths in that regard.

Li Longji quickly said a few words modestly. After Director Qian hung up the phone, Li Longji thought it should be fine.

After thinking it over, Li Long decided he couldn't leave Director Li behind. He hesitated for a moment before making the call, then simply drove to the supply and marketing cooperative and found Director Li and Zhou Yuan tidying up his Volga in the yard.

Seeing Li Long arrive, Li Xiangqian said with a smile, "This kid is here again to show off his flashy SUV!"

Li Long overheard this from inside the car. After getting out, he joked, "No way, Director, how about we switch? I'll drive your car, and you drive mine?"

“I wouldn’t dare to change. I heard your car is much more expensive than mine. If I drive it, won’t I get checked?” Li Xiangqian waved his hand and said, “My car is fine. I’m used to it and don’t want to change it.”

Li Long stopped bringing up the matter and chatted with them about everyday things.

Seeing that Li Long wasn't talking about anything practical, Zhou Yuan guessed that he must have something to do, so she said she was going to the restroom.

After Zhou Yuan left, Li Long told Li Xiangqian about his idea of ​​finding students from the county's No. 1 Middle School to pick cotton for him. He also mentioned that he had contacted county leaders and Director Qian, and asked Li Xiangqian to analyze the situation and see if it could be done.

"I think you don't want to take shortcuts. Actually, I think this matter is quite simple. You can try to talk to the principal and their academic director privately, and maybe that will work."

"But you can be a bit stubborn at times like this." Li Xiangqian pointed to Li Long's car and said, "When things are going well, you're more generous than anyone else, giving things away as if they're free."

"If something really happens, something that could be resolved by giving a gift, you don't want to, and insist on going through the proper channels. You're really a strange person."

"It's strange, I'm used to it," Li Long said with a self-deprecating laugh. "Director, do you think this will work out? Do I need to pull some strings?"

"No need. It's a trivial matter. Look how many people you've brought in. They were originally planning to 'study it out,' but you've completely overturned the plan, putting all the big names on the line. How are they supposed to compete? It's bound to work."

Li Long was relieved to hear that.

After chatting with Li Xiangqian for a while, Li Long went back. The next day, he took the draft agreement he had prepared to the county's No. 1 Middle School and handed it to the director of academic affairs.

At this point, the academic affairs director still had that nonchalant attitude of saying it needed to be discussed at a meeting, and Li Long didn't care, he just waited.

Two days later, Li Long received a call from the academic affairs director, who was very enthusiastic and asked Li Long to come over when he had time so they could sign a contract, saying that the matter had already been approved.

Because Li Long's conditions are excellent and he has thought things through very thoroughly, they plan to send about 240 students from the five senior high school classes to Li Long's cooperative to work and pick cotton.

Hey, it actually worked!

P.S.: The biggest damage caused by yesterday's black wind in the neighborhood was that it blew off the corrugated steel roof tiles of a farmer's house. (End of Chapter)