Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The cooperative's final profit distribution has been determined. After deducting costs and reserving 500,000 yuan for rural procurement next spring, the remaining money will be distributed as dividends.

Li Long and his elder brother each received 200,000 yuan, while the others each received 55,000 yuan, which was 20,000 yuan more than last year's dividend.

"This time we're really going to have a prosperous New Year," Xu Haijun said happily. "I hope the dividends will keep increasing!"

Although the Li family received a larger share of the profits, they weren't envious. After all, the Li family had invested more initially. Although the initial investment was only in reclaiming saline-alkali land, at that time, no one knew that cotton could be grown on this saline-alkali land, and so well at that.

Now, if we want to cultivate more land, we can only go to other places. This large area of ​​land belonging to the cooperative, as well as the surrounding saline-alkali land, have all been cultivated by others.

However, there was still a lot of wasteland in the production team that had not been cultivated. Those who had received dividends were eager to start a second drip-irrigated farm next year.

“I think the important thing for us now is not to develop a second plot of land, but to see if we can consolidate the land that each family already has allocated for their own food rations,” Li Long suggested. “Think about it, right now all our energy has been put into this cotton field.”

Drip irrigation farming is inherently labor-intensive, and our plot of land is large, plus growing cotton is more complicated than growing grain.

If you have to manage cotton on one hand and other land for growing grain on the other, how can you possibly keep up?

“Yes, I think so too.” Jia Weidong shook his head and said, “My wife takes care of all the land where we grow wheat and corn. Although I earn more here, I can’t take care of the farmland at all.”

Fortunately, the wheat fields can be harvested with threshing oil; otherwise, just hauling the wheat bundles and threshing them would be exhausting. I was also thinking that if these fields were all planted with cotton, I could help manage them and avoid all this trouble.”

“I have even more trouble than you,” Xu Haijun complained. “My wife works in the countryside and can’t take care of the housework at all. I have no choice but to let my parents take care of my land. I feel bad about it and want to give them some money, but my parents scold me.”

Li Long started the discussion, and everyone else shared the same idea: they felt the land parcels should indeed be consolidated.

“Then let’s use the Li family’s land as the center and exchange land with others, even if we lose a little.” Xie Yundong made the decision decisively. “Xiaolong and his older brother’s land is relatively large. If we move towards that area, we can eventually form a large area, which will be more convenient when we carry out the renovation.”

No one else had any objections to this. As for rations and grain tribute, given the current situation, rations can be purchased directly, and grain tribute can be paid in lieu of payment.

Compared to the money they earned from these cooperatives, the food rations and public grain were really nothing.

Moreover, the members of the cooperative also discovered that after the saline-alkali land was reclaimed and transformed, it was actually the most cost-effective place to grow cotton because the cost was relatively low.

However, if they wanted to make changes, they couldn't bypass Li Long. Because repeated flooding was needed to wash away the salinity, the team's water release was planned; they couldn't release water specifically for a particular piece of land.

This kind of massive flooding is only suitable for Xiaohaizi, because as long as there is a flood, Xiaohaizi will be full of water. Since Xiaohaizi is contracted by Li Long, he can use it flexibly.

It is difficult for others to replicate this model.

Of course, you can also use flood irrigation during regular irrigation, but that would be a slower way to adjust the salinity of the land. For example, it takes three or four years for the land in a cooperative to adjust its salinity.

If it were adjusted in the usual way, it might take longer, perhaps five, six, or seven years, who knows.

Therefore, the people in the cooperative all knew that if they wanted to further reclaim the saline-alkali land and improve it for cotton cultivation, they couldn't do without Li Long.

Trying to do it on your own would take too long, and we might not be able to afford to drag it out.

After all, the contract for reclaiming saline-alkali land is only for three to five years at most. After three to five years, agricultural taxes and contract fees will have to be paid.

Therefore, Li Long's suggestion to consolidate the land allocated to each family into one area is more feasible. As for when to carry out the drip irrigation transformation after consolidation, we'll discuss that later.

Li Long's idea is to first consolidate the land in one area, and then carry out the renovations once the area is largely integrated. By then, the price of drip irrigation tape raw materials should have come down, reducing costs and making the renovations less complicated and expensive than they are now.

The other members of the cooperative took the money back home and then gathered at Xie Yundong's house to have a good meal.

Li Long did the same. He took his share of the profits back to his elder brother's house and gave him his brother Li Jianguo's share. However, his brother's idea was that Li Long should keep the money to offset part of the cost of the high-horsepower tractor and the profits from the cultivated land.

Li Jianguo's idea was that he would no longer participate in the cooperative's profit sharing, since he had already made a considerable amount of money this year with the several high-horsepower tractors and two Kangmain trucks that his younger brother had given him.

It's too much trouble to keep switching between the two parties and splitting the profits; it's better to just offset them.

Li Long was naturally unwilling. He told his elder brother that the dividends from these lands would increase in the future. Li Jianguo's reasoning was simple: with the current development speed of high-horsepower tractors and combine harvesters for plowing and harvesting wheat, the money earned throughout the year would far exceed his imagination.

Let's leave it at that for now; neither side wants the other to suffer a loss.

We had a meal at the Xie family's house that day, and several members of the cooperative drank alcohol, which has become an annual tradition.

The villagers had already spread the word that day about the amount of dividends each family would receive from the cooperative.

The two Li brothers received a dividend of 200,000 yuan, a staggering amount that has left the villagers numb to it.

To everyone's shock, each of the other members received a dividend of 55,000 yuan.

In this village where the average annual wage for workers is less than 5,000 yuan, even though the land area in Team Four is relatively large and the income of each household is relatively complex, a farmer's annual income is at most 10,000 yuan.

The cooperative continued operating in this way, and the annual dividend income of the five households was 20,000 yuan more than last year. How many people could remain unmoved upon hearing such a figure?
Although everyone thought the dividends might be higher after knowing the cotton yield, both the Li family and other members of the cooperative repeatedly emphasized that the investment in drip irrigation farming is very large, so the dividends might not be as much as last year.

The amount of dividends has decreased, but it is indeed much more than last year, so some people have started to get envious.

In the small shops of the three residential areas, there were just as many people making sarcastic remarks as there were people questioning the issues.

Li Long had anticipated this while they were drinking. He laughed and said that once the team members found out they were going to take out a loan to farm, they would probably quiet down.

Xie Yundong had never taken out such a large loan before, so he humbly sought advice from Li Long.

"If we take our cooperative's land contract, the cotton and linen company's receipt for purchasing cotton, and the cooperative's qualifications to the rural credit cooperative, we can get a loan."

However, this loan won't be available until after the New Year, and now is the end of the year when they're chasing after payments, so they definitely won't grant the loan.

The group drank themselves into a stupor that day; after working hard for the past six months, it was time to let loose.

Li Long slept in his own yard, partly because he had been drinking, and partly because he had an event with his team the next day.

Sure enough, the next day, when they learned that the cooperative needed a loan to start planting next spring, the public opinion in the team changed drastically.

“If you don’t have the skills, don’t plant so much. You’ve even learned to take out loans to farm. Isn’t that just putting on a show?” Ma Jinbao, who has always been at odds with the cooperative, said this.

Not many people agreed. But some of the older members of the team felt that taking out a loan to farm was not a good thing. It felt like borrowing money from landlords to buy seeds and fertilizer before liberation; the interest would be so low that the harvest wouldn't even cover the losses.

So some people went to the Li or Tao families and spoke earnestly to Li Jianguo and Tao Jianshe about this matter, asking them to advise the young people not to mess around with farming, but to be down-to-earth.

However, neither Li Jianguo nor Tao Jianshe commented on such remarks.

Young people may not be as experienced in farming as the older generation, but judging from the current situation, these old guys really aren't as adaptable as the young people.

Why not take out a loan to farm? With a cooperative of that size, taking out a loan of several hundred thousand yuan will make repayments at the end of the year a breeze.

Li Long had already told Li Jianguo about this when he took his share of the profits back, and Tao Daqiang had also told his father about it, so they were somewhat prepared.

The older members of the team were heartbroken to see that people like Li Jianguo and Tao Jianshe remained unmoved.

The main concern is that the older generation's traditions will be destroyed by them. The old man thinks that the way young people farm is simply ridiculous.

As the old saying goes, live within your means and do only what you are capable of. Trying to appear more capable than you are is not a good thing.

However, what they didn't expect was that as times change, what truly needed to change was themselves—those who clung to old ways of thinking needed to accept these new things and adapt quickly to the changes.

Otherwise, they can only wait to be eliminated.

The cooperative members naturally wouldn't concern themselves with these matters; they were still processing yesterday's wine and dividends. And the older generation wouldn't approach them about these things either, as there was a generational gap, and it wasn't appropriate to discuss them.

Early in the morning, Li Long saw that the fire in the stove was not completely out, so he blew out the ashes, pressed down some broken charcoal, and then went to the backyard to have breakfast.

Because there are no students in the family now, Liang Yuemei doesn't make breakfast so early in the morning. She makes cornmeal porridge, sliced ​​steamed buns baked on the stove, stir-fried meat with pickled vegetables, and cold lamb liver and lamb tripe salad.

As Li Long sipped his warm porridge and listened to his mother, Du Chunfang, quietly grumbling about not having eaten braised pork that morning, he couldn't help but chuckle.

Liang Yuemei clearly heard her mother-in-law's nagging, so she said she would make braised pork for her mother-in-law at noon.

Du Chunfang blushed a little in front of her youngest son. She was used to nagging and bickering with her eldest daughter-in-law like this, but with her youngest son here, she wanted to maintain her image as a mother. Now that she had been exposed, she couldn't hold back anymore.

After finishing the small piece of baked bread he had, he leaned against the fire wall and squinted.

Li Long didn't stand on ceremony at all. He ate seven or eight pieces of roasted bread by himself, and also finished off the stir-fried meat and pickled vegetables on the plate. He barely touched the cold offal salad.

His older brother and sister-in-law told him to eat more meat, but he said that pickled vegetables were more refreshing and he hadn't had them in a long time and was craving them.

After finishing his meal, Li Long was about to leave when his mother, Du Chunfang, reminded him, "Don't drink anymore. That stuff is bad for you if you drink too much." Then, remembering that she drank a glass every night, she added, "It's bad for you if you drink too much."

Li Long explained with a smile that he needed to talk to the captain about something. Li Jianguo asked, "What do you need the captain for? Is there anything you need his help with?"

"Regarding the land in our cooperative," Li Long said, "besides the few dozen acres of cultivated land that our family has contributed, the rest of our cooperative consists of newly reclaimed wasteland."

Both the township and the production team have regulations that newly reclaimed wasteland is exempt from taxes and grain taxes for the first three years, and taxes will be required from the third to the fifth year.

A few years later, this land will have to be handed over to the team, and the team will take it back and redistribute it.

I was thinking that when the team needs to take back this land, we should directly contract it out.

After all, the costs have been covered by the autonomous region's reforms, and the team can't just recoup them when the deadline arrives.

"Yes, yes, this must be discussed properly. It's been almost fifteen years since the household responsibility system was implemented. The original agreement stipulated a fifteen-year land contract period, and in 1997, the land was to be redistributed, starting a second round of land contracting." Li Jianguo, as a village representative, is quite knowledgeable about these policies. He said:
"You should talk to the team leader about this. This project of the cooperative is supported by the autonomous region, so he shouldn't take it back easily."

"No matter what, we need to let the team know. That way we can file a record. The policy is universal; we can't just take other people's land and not ours. Let's tell the team leader so that if anyone asks, we can explain it to him."

“That makes sense,” Li Jianguo nodded and said. “Soldiers are reasonable when they do things, but you have to respect them.”

Li Long didn't go there alone; he drove to Xie Yundong's house. Xie Yundong had already eaten and was pacing back and forth in the yard, waiting for him.

"Would you like to come in and sit down?" Xie Yundong asked after Li Long got out of the car.

"No, let's go straight there. The captain has probably just finished eating, so now is the perfect time to find him. I'm worried that if we wait, he might finish eating and then disappear again, which would be troublesome for us to find him."

"Alright, let's go now." Xie Yundong said, stomping on the cigarette butt in his hand and twisting it twice before getting into the car with Li Long.

When they arrived at the captain's house, just as Li Long had expected, Captain Xu Chengjun was putting on his clothes and preparing to go out.

Seeing Li Long and Xie Yundong approaching, he stopped walking towards the car and asked, "Why did you two come together? Is something wrong?"

Then, without waiting for Li Long and Xie Yundong's reply, he continued, "Your cooperative is getting better every year. This year's dividends were so high that many people are incredibly envious. But is it really feasible to use loans for farming? Will the rural credit cooperative lend to you?"

Li Long said with a smile, "Why not give it a try? After all, isn't the Rural Credit Cooperative supposed to serve farmers? If we need money for farming, it's only right that we borrow some from them."

Xu Chengjun stroked his chin and then said, "What you said makes a lot of sense. By the way, what brings you here?"

"Regarding the land contracting issue for those wastelands reclaimed by our cooperative," Xie Yundong said, "we've been farming this land for four years now, and this year it underwent renovation—a renovation project at the autonomous region level. You're familiar with this, team leader, aren't you?"

Xu Chengjun hurriedly waved his hand and said, "I know, I know perfectly well. You don't need to tell me more."

Li Long picked up the conversation and said, "Captain, this project renovation cost several hundred thousand yuan. Facilities like the pump room and filter pool are permanent, so it's unlikely that they can be moved."

In addition, I also spent money on the renovation of the branch canals and main canals. So we thought that the subsequent land contracting could not be done according to the team's plan. Our cooperative was thinking of contracting this land, mainly the wasteland, in the name of the cooperative, according to the team's evaluation standards. What do you think?

"Come on, let's go inside and talk." Xu Chengjun didn't answer directly, but pointed inside and said, "It's almost November, and it's still a bit chilly in the mornings."

The three entered the house, and Xu Chengjun said to Ma Hongmei, who was tidying up in the kitchen, "Mingwa's mother, Xiaolong and Lao Xie are here. Pour them some tea."

After the three of them finished speaking, they went into the inner room. After the two of them sat down, Xu Chengjun asked, "This matter is a bit difficult. You know that cultivated land exceeding fifty mu is, in principle, under the jurisdiction of the local land management office."

Your land, scattered here and there, adds up to over a thousand acres, but not much of it is cultivated land, is it? The reclaimed, uncultivated land, after five years, will have its contract rights revoked by the team and then redistributed.”

Li Long smiled and said, "Captain, as you said, that's in principle. Our cooperative has brought so much fame to the team this year. So many leaders from the county came to hold an on-site meeting. Captain, you must be very proud of us."

"One thing at a time," Xu Chengjun said, feigning seriousness, but he couldn't quite suppress a smile. That on-site meeting had really given him a lot of face in front of the township leaders; even now, when he goes to meetings in the township, leaders still bring it up.

“Look, this drip irrigation field renovation project is an autonomous region project, and we’ve also held an on-site meeting at the county level. If the land is divided up after these two things are done, wouldn’t that be a slap in the face to the team, or even the county?” Xie Yundong chimed in at the opportune moment. “Then it’ll be your reputation as team leader that’s lost face!”

Xu Chengjun took out a cigarette and offered it to Xie Yundong. Knowing that Li Long didn't smoke, he didn't offer it to him, but instead took one out himself, lit it, took a puff, and said:

"That's what they say, but some people are just jealous. If this contract is really extended to you, someone in the team will definitely go to the township to complain."

"Let them sue me then," Li Long said nonchalantly. "To tell you the truth, after I finish speaking with you, I'll definitely have to report it to the township government. The township leaders have been on TV because of this, so they can't just ignore it."

Ma Hongmei brought over a tray with three cups of tea. Li Long and Xie Yundong hurriedly greeted her. As she handed them the tea, Ma Hongmei asked, "What was on TV?"

"It's nothing, you go ahead and do your work." Xu Chengjun quickly waved his hand, telling her to go to the kitchen.

Ma Hongmei glared at him, then smiled and said to Li Long and Xie Yundong, "You two talk first, I'm going to the kitchen to get busy. We'll have dinner at home later. He ran into some trouble this morning and is in a bad mood, so please don't take it to heart."

"Sister-in-law, let's skip the meal. We just need to talk about one thing. We're leaving soon; we have business to attend to in the village," Li Long said hurriedly. "We're family, so don't stand on ceremony. There'll be plenty of time later."

"Alright, alright, you two talk then." Ma Hongmei went to the kitchen.

Xie Yundong asked Xu Chengjun, "Captain, what trouble have you run into?"

“Exactly, tell us what you think, maybe we can help,” Li Long said.

“Never mind that, just tell me, how many more years do you plan to contract this place? Let me tell you, it can’t go on for too long,” Xu Chengjun said.

"I heard the team is going to decide on distributing land in two units next spring," Li Long said. "How about we buy these lands by converting them into two units?"

The fourth team had the advantage of a large area. As the land was continuously reclaimed, the production team's mobility increased, and it was no longer feasible for the village to contract out land to others every year.

Therefore, in addition to the five mu of farmland allocated to each person in the first round, the village will carry out a second round of land allocation. It is officially called land contracting, but in reality, the extra plots are divided into 20 mu plots, with a 15-year contract fee of 3,000 yuan per plot, and farmers can decide whether to contract them.

That works out to one yuan per mu per year.

Villagers with the ability will definitely take on the contract, and some will even consider taking on two or three or more contracts.

However, some families with financial difficulties did not want the land.

Li Long wanted to convert the cooperative's land into this share, and then have the cooperative members buy it according to their shareholding ratio.

"That's impossible!" Xu Chengjun refused without even thinking. "Two units of land, one unit is twenty mu. How many units of land can your land be converted into? Fifty units or sixty units?"

The whole team only prepared fifty copies. Are you really going to handle all of them as a cooperative? If it were really like that, I wouldn't need to be the team leader; I could just get sued and win every time!

Seeing that this suggestion wouldn't work, Li Long picked up his teacup, took a sip of water, and said, "Then how about we extend the contract for another five years, until 1998?"

Xu Chengjun took a puff of his cigarette, thought for a moment, and said, "In principle, it's not allowed. But this is a special case for you. If you talk to the township, I'll approve it for you."

But the prerequisite is that you must let the township leaders know that if someone really causes trouble here, and I go to the township to seek an explanation, they at least have to acknowledge it.

Li Long immediately said, "No problem, we'll go to the township and talk to the township leaders about this tomorrow."

The second round of land contracting will clearly stipulate that the previous operating rights will remain unchanged and will be extended for another thirty years.

But now, virtually no one knows that such a policy will emerge in the future.

That's why Li Long set the timeline after 1997. As long as the contract was signed and the contract period was clearly extended to 1998, then the contract would automatically extend beyond 1998.

Although their contracted land couldn't truly last for thirty years, a few years later, the county issued a clear policy to reclaim the land within three years from the date the policy was implemented (excluding the land allocated to farmers for their grain rations).

By then, almost all the land in the village, or even the entire township, will have been converted to drip irrigation, and there will be no difference in contracting other plots of land.

Since the team leader had agreed, Xie Yundong wanted to strike while the iron was hot and get the contract for the contracted land signed as soon as possible, but Xu Chengjun said that they had to wait until the township had approved it.

Li Long also said there was no rush. He took another sip of tea, waved the smoke drifting in front of his eyes, and asked Xu Chengjun what trouble he had.

"What other trouble could there be?" Xu Chengjun sighed and said, "Someone in our team has been involved in gambling again. I have to go to the police station to get some study materials and then post them in the team."

I'm so embarrassed!

Things are different now. Those caught gambling in groups are arrested by the police and detained, but after the detention period, they are no longer taken back by the production team; they go home on their own.

Production teams, or rather, natural villages, no longer undertake these tasks, but the necessary education and guidance are still required.

“There’s a meeting in the township next month, and I’ll get criticized again. These guys…” Xu Chengjun felt a sense of disappointment and frustration.

"Whose house is it?" Xie Yundong asked.

"Hey, those guys in the back, they're the ones who made some money this year."

"Isn't there what happened with the Zhou family?" Xie Yundong said, somewhat puzzled. "How dare they still do this?"

"Hmph! The Zhou family was set up by others, and these few of them actually thought they could set up others themselves... They're truly bewitched!"

Li Long didn't say much. There are many smart people in this world, and many who think they are smart are actually just being clever in a superficial way.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind; it's hard to say who will have the last laugh.

He only wants to avoid getting involved with this kind of person; he has no intention of helping to solve the problem.

Now that their own problems were resolved, Li Long and Xie Yundong left the team leader's house and went to the Xie family's house.

At the Xie family's door, they ran into Jia Weidong, who was coming over. Li Long and Xie Yundong got out of the car and asked him what was going on. They learned that Jia Weidong was planning to invite a few people to lunch today.

"I've prepared some beer. Let's not drink too much, just chat and sober up a bit from yesterday," Jia Weidong said. "I'm taking my mother back to my hometown this winter, so I had to invite you all early."

Since that's what they said, Li Long and Xie Yundong didn't refuse and went to Jia Weidong's house with him.

Jia Weidong's house used to be quite dilapidated, but after he made money, he renovated it, turning the original mud-brick house into a brick-clad house, and the area was also greatly expanded.

Now that you go inside, it's much more spacious and quite nice.

Jia Weidong went to call the others. Li Long and Xie Yundong felt uncomfortable staying inside, so they went to the yard and talked about what Xu Chengjun had just said.

"Gambling is a killer," Xie Yundong sighed. "Why don't these people learn their lesson?"

Li Long shook his head and remained silent. Gambling is hard to quit; it's mainly due to wishful thinking.

Furthermore, you'll always hear about when gamblers win or are close to winning; they never mention when they lose.

So it's easy for people to think they're all experts, and even they themselves feel that what they lack is just a bit of luck.

And so, again and again...

Li Long didn't respond, so Xie Yundong changed the subject to another topic: taking out a loan to farm.

As the manager of the cooperative, he was primarily in charge of handling this matter, so he wanted to know more details.

In his previous life, Li Long had taken out loans, so he knew the procedures and that rural credit cooperatives would certainly be happy to lend to high-quality clients like their cooperative.

After all, there's a gross income of over a million yuan, and the contract for over a thousand acres is genuine.

In fact, in a few years, they won't care about your annual income at all; as long as you have a land lease contract, they will lend you money.

While they were chatting in the courtyard, Xu Haijun, Tao Daqiang, and the others arrived, and then they went inside to talk.

Actually, the sun has already risen, and it's fine to stay in the yard, but Jia Weidong said that a group of men in the yard would be too conspicuous, and besides, a stove has already been set up inside the house, so it's better to go inside to talk.

After entering the room and sitting down, Xie Yundong's first words were to tell everyone not to gamble, and he also mentioned the incident he had heard from the team leader—but without mentioning any specific person.

"Didn't we say that last year?" Xu Haijun said as he opened a pack of Ashima cigarettes on the table and offered them to everyone, "If you gamble, you have to leave the cooperative. Our cooperative is so good, who would want to leave?"

"Old Xie means that our cooperative has made money from dividends. Many people know how much it is, and he's worried that some people might try to lure you in. Think about it, it's tens of thousands of yuan. Those professional gamblers will definitely be envious."

"I'm definitely not going to get involved," Tao Daqiang said. "The money's already been given to my wife. Even if I wanted to gamble, I wouldn't have the money. And if I don't have money, they can't do anything to me, right?"

"That's hard to say," Xu Haijun said, taking a drag of his cigarette. "But how do you let your wife manage your money? Can a grown man like you be tough without money?"

"I can't manage things as well as my wife," Tao Daqiang said with a simple smile. "Anyway, my wife manages things, and things that need to be spent will be spent."

“I think it’s better for me to manage things myself. My wife has a salary, and I don’t take her money; she can spend it as she pleases.” Xu Haijun was a little smug, then turned to look at Li Long:

"Xiaolong, how much did your car cost? It looks much better than mine, beautiful and imposing!"

“It’s not cheap,” Li Long said. “Even if it’s a used car, I’ll still charge someone between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan to sell it.”

"Hey! That's really expensive!" Xu Haijun sighed. "I was hoping to buy one with this dividend... But Xiaolong, I've noticed that the cars at your place are getting more and more expensive!"

“The original car is expensive.” Li Long explained, “For example, I have a Mercedes-Benz W140. The original new car costs three to five million, but I sell it as a used car for one or two million. Big bosses from Wucheng often come to buy it.”

“Rich people…” Xu Haijun muttered, then fell silent.

A short while later, just as they were about to serve the dishes, a "poof" sound came from the loudspeaker. Several people stood up and went outside to listen to it in the courtyard.

"Hey, everyone in Team Four, listen up," Xu Chengjun's voice rang out, carrying quite far and sounding quite serious. "Recently, several cases of gambling have occurred in the township, and some members of our team have been involved."

I won't name names; everyone knows who it is. What I want to say is that gambling is a terrible thing, and we must never get involved…

After the broadcast was repeated three times, there was no sound, but everyone could tell that Xu Chengjun was quite angry.

Xie Yundong sighed and went inside first.

The group of people who sat back down at the table were all guessing who was gambling. Li Long and Xie Yundong didn't say anything, but they could sense that none of them were interested in it.

Hopefully, it can stay that way.

The next day, Li Long and Xie Yundong went to the township and talked to the township leaders about the land contracting.

The deputy township head in charge of agriculture took this matter very seriously. When Li Long and Xie Yundong offered to contract the saline-alkali land, which had only been improved for three or four years, at a normal contract fee, he praised their cooperative, saying that it had played a positive leading role in agricultural development.

"Because of your exemplary role, several villages have sent people to apply for the establishment of cooperatives in the past few days," the deputy township head said. "Many people have also inquired about drip irrigation farming. Although the timing is not yet right, overall, this attitude is very gratifying."

Farmers can't just plant blindly. It's a good thing that some people have taken the lead in using new technologies and methods, and others are following suit and learning from them. It's about promoting agriculture through science and technology. You've done a good job. I personally agree with this. No problem!
In addition, when you have some free time, our township might ask your cooperative to give a presentation to those who want to set up cooperatives, explaining your advanced experience so that those who come after you can learn from it and save themselves a lot of trouble. What do you think?

"No problem, we're available anytime!" Xie Yundong naturally had no objections. Giving a report was child's play compared to a live meeting!
That's how the matter was resolved.

Li Long also knew that the township needed the cooperative's name, so it was a mutually beneficial arrangement.

After returning from the village, Li Long felt relieved. Although Xie Yundong was still a little worried, Li Long reassured him that the loan would definitely be fine, and if he really couldn't get a loan, he would lend it to the cooperative first.

"If I really can't get a loan, I'll have to borrow from you." Xie Yundong finally felt relieved. "But this time we have to calculate the interest. I can't let you keep losing out."

“Sure, I’d rather not get the loan,” Li Long joked, but seeing that Xie Yundong was about to take it seriously, he quickly said, “No, no, no, I was just saying. Let’s go through the proper channels first, so it’ll be easier to explain when we’re preparing the report.”

Only after he said that did Xie Yundong give up that idea.

With the matter resolved, Li Long felt relieved and returned to the county. The team was mostly settled now, so he no longer needed to return frequently. He could now focus his attention on the purchasing station and foreign trade.

PS:

Here's a picture of the original saline-alkali land.
These are some of the remaining saline-alkali lands. (End of Chapter)