Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The dredging was completed on March 20th. After the dike, which was built with soil from outside, was opened, a large amount of water flowed into the bottom third of the reservoir that had been dredged. Meng Hai originally thought that was enough, but Li Long asked him to dig up the dike on the south side and pull out the soil that had been filled in.

Meng Hai was a little confused. Li Long told him that the flood would come in two days. The flood would be huge and could very likely wash away the cofferdam when it rushed in. The soil left in the small lake would negate the effect of dredging.

So the excavator spent another day or so dismantling the cofferdam and dumping the soil outside.

Li Long had trucks haul the silt out during dredging and unload it onto the field. Then, tractors equipped with bulldozers leveled the silt. After it dried in the sun, the silt could be turned into the ground when plowing and cutting the soil.

After all the work was finished, Li Long had Old Ma slaughter two sheep to treat the workers who had worked there, and then Meng Hai led them back to the company's headquarters.

On March 24th, the first wave of floodwaters arrived, and the unrestrained floodwaters completely filled Xiaohaizi.

After two dredging operations, the carrying capacity of Xiaohaizi increased significantly, so the first wave of floodwater did not impact the bottom dam of Xiaohaizi. However, Li Long still led his men to open the sluice gate of the bottom dam, allowing the floodwater to pour down and rush into the reed ditch.

The impact of the flood was indeed very strong. The remaining two cofferdams, especially the one in the northwest, were breached by the flood, each of which was about ten meters wide. These breaches will need to be filled in during the final dredging in the fall.

Because the water release was controlled and the bridge over the reed ditch allowed for smooth water passage, the floodwaters rushed from Xiaohaizi to Dahaizi without any obstruction or damage.

Originally, many people in the village settlement west of the reed ditch were holding shovels on the bank, worried that the flood might be too big and could damage the settlement. But it turned out that it was not even a false alarm.

A day later, the second wave of floods struck again. This time, everyone was more experienced. Although there were still people guarding the Weigou Bridge, only two people were on duty. If there was any situation, they could go directly to the team to call for help, without needing more people to guard the area.

During this period, Li Long and his men would frequently check on the sluice gate. When the water level was high, they would raise the gate slightly, and when the water level was low, they would lower it slightly. In short, there was always water rushing down, which ensured that the small lake had sufficient water storage without affecting the safety of the dam.

The flood lasted until early April, when it subsided. Li Long then completely closed the sluice gates of Xiaohaizi, filling the reservoir with enough water for his needs.

Because there is more land this year, the preparations for spring plowing and sowing are quite extensive, so Li Long goes to the village every day to coordinate and help Xie Yundong and the others with the work.

Of course, most of the work is done by guiding the young people who have been recruited; the people in the cooperative mainly provide guidance.

Li Long only visited Xu Haijun's side twice, thought he was doing a good job, didn't interfere, and even gave him some encouragement.

Because the second and fourth teams were not far apart, there was no special warehouse for agricultural supplies there. When the floods occurred in late March, Xu Haijun had already called the two high-horsepower tractors from the Li family to go there to plow the fields.

They plowed, cut, and leveled the land, built canals, and diverted water for irrigation. At the same time, they called in a small team from Menghai to build a pump house and dig a filter pond, making preliminary preparations for drip irrigation farming.

The reason for starting this work in late March is to ensure that it does not affect the sowing in early to mid-April, while also completing the preparations as early as possible.

When Li Long went to watch Xu Haijun operate the system, he found that Xu Haijun had specially prepared a plan. Xu Haijun explained to Li Long that this was a system he had adopted from the military.

It turns out that when he participated in operations and training in the army, the company would have similar plans, and he could just follow the plan after making reasonable arrangements.

Li Long thought this was pretty good. He glanced at the schedule and felt that the arrangement was quite reasonable.

So they didn't really manage things here, letting Xu Haijun do whatever he wanted.

According to the cooperative's plan, cotton will be planted on this 1,000 mu of land this year using the old method. Since this is the first year of reclaiming wasteland, Xu Haijun, as the person in charge, will receive an extra bonus of 5,000 yuan if the yield exceeds 100 kilograms per mu, and an extra bonus of 10,000 yuan if the yield exceeds 150 kilograms per mu, provided that expenses are reasonable.

This extra reward was proposed by Li Long, and everyone agreed. Xu Haijun said with a smile that just for this extra reward, he would work hard and try to earn enough money to buy a Land Cruiser as soon as possible.

“In the future, our cooperative will expand more and more outwards. As long as you want to go out and do well, you will be rewarded.” Li Long set this as a rule, and the others naturally had no objections.

Everyone who goes out to work wants to achieve results and earn more money; otherwise, if it doesn't matter how much or how little they do, then no one will put in the effort.

The snow melted early this year, and many elderly people said that there would be a cold snap in April. Many people in the village grow cotton, but most people, including those from the two cooperatives, decided to postpone the sowing time and wait until the cold snap arrives.

Li Long and his cooperative had also discussed this matter. Xie Yundong and Liang Dacheng shared similar thoughts with the others: to wait and see.

“I think we should go to the fields to check the actual soil temperature and moisture levels. If we can sow earlier, we should sow earlier.” Li Long was the only one who directly disagreed. “Our cotton fields are large. Sowing a day earlier will allow the cotton to bloom several days earlier.”

We use drip irrigation for farming, and our cotton bolls are more than twice as many and better as others. Because we planted late, many cotton bolls didn't open until late October or even November, resulting in significant losses.

Last year, our overall yield was only a little over 300 kilograms per mu, a significant portion of which was due to the cotton bolls forming but ultimately failing to open.

This year, we need to learn from last year's experience. If the soil temperature and moisture are sufficient, then we should sow the seeds.

As a key technical member of the cooperative, Li Long's words are certainly worth listening to.

So the people from the cooperative drove to the fields to check on the situation.

Last year, a significant portion of the silt dredged from Xiaohaizi was taken to individual farmland and not distributed to the cooperative's 1,500 mu of land.

This year, the silt was directly dredged into the newly acquired 500 mu of land. The salinity improvement of these 500 mu is not as good as that of the original 1,500 mu, so they need more fertilizer.

Moreover, before the flood came, Xie Yundong had arranged for people to flood the 500 mu of land, washing away the surface salt and alkali. Now, a layer of silt from the small lake has been laid on top, which can be considered as two rounds of transformation in the spring.

After stopping the car at the edge of the field, Li Long saw Tie Tou and his men laying the main pipeline in the dug trench, so he signaled them to continue.

This year, the 500 mu of land will also be planted using drip irrigation, so the main pipeline definitely needs to be laid before sowing.

The pump house and filter bed have been built, but they are not yet operational. The newly constructed canal is paved with cement slabs, which are not yet fully dry.

In fact, if we were to use them reluctantly, the three pumping stations could barely support the additional 500 mu of land, since this 500 mu of land is not a single piece, but rather an area surrounding this 1,500 mu of land.

However, Li Long felt that things should be done carefully. Before the land was sown, he had Meng Hai withdraw a small team to build a pump house and dig a filter pond, starting construction at the same time as Xu Haijun's land.

Tao Daqiang took a shovel from the car, walked more than twenty meters into the field, and dug a hole. He walked another forty or fifty meters and dug another hole.

Li Long and the others followed behind.

He looked into the first pit. It was about twenty or thirty centimeters deep, and the soil was damp. He reached out and touched it, feeling that the temperature wasn't high, but it wasn't cold either, indicating that the ground temperature had risen. He called Xie Yundong and the others over to take a look, and the others, after looking at it, thought it was about the same.

Then, when they reached the second pit, Li Long was surprised to find that Tao Daqiang had actually dug out several insects.

"I feel the soil temperature is okay, so planting now shouldn't be a problem." Everyone who works in agriculture can tell the situation in the field at a glance.

Just to be on the safe side, they selected about ten locations to measure the 1500 mu of land. They also checked four or five locations on the newly added 500 mu. After reviewing the data, they unanimously agreed that sowing now or in a couple of days, around April 10th, would be fine.

Because they had made ample preparations at the beginning of the year and purchased a relatively complete range of agricultural supplies, after merging the 500 mu of land and Xu Haijun confirmed that he would contract the 1,000 mu of land, Xie Yundong and his team purchased some more agricultural supplies.

At present, the sowing work is ready and can start at any time.

However, after returning to the cooperative's meeting room, Liang Dacheng and Xu Haijun still raised their concerns, mainly worried that if they encountered a cold snap after sowing, the newly sprouted seedlings might freeze to death.

Not only will it require reseeding, but it could also cost a large sum of money. Cooperatives are not small businesses; the cost of a single planting is calculated in tens of thousands of yuan.

However, Li Long also shared his thoughts. He said, "In previous years, the late spring cold snap has generally occurred in mid-to-late April. The weather has been sunny these past two days, and I think if we start broadcasting on April 10th, the seedlings will have sprouted by around the 15th."

As long as the temperature doesn't drop below 0°C, these seedlings will definitely survive. Of course, there's another very important issue we need to consider: when sowing, it's not just a matter of late spring frosts, but also a high chance of encountering strong winds.

"If we sow our seeds earlier, the seedlings will grow sooner, which will prevent losses in this kind of weather. If we sow during those days and it happens to be windy, the chances of reseeding are much higher than if we sow now."

Tao Daqiang naturally supported Li Long's statement unconditionally.

Xie Yundong recalled that the timing of the strong winds and cold snaps in the early years seemed to correspond to what Li Long had said, both occurring in mid-to-late April.

Everyone was pondering when Li Long offered another reason for prioritizing planting. He said, "Right now, no one is planting; everyone is waiting for the late spring cold snap to come. But nobody knows exactly when it will come."

My worry is that when the cold snap really comes through in spring, there will be too many planting plots clustered together. We won't have enough seeders then. This year, our village has decided to plant cotton on at least 2000 mu (approximately 333 hectares) in addition to our 2,000 mu (approximately 133 hectares).

Everyone's rushing to plant within those two days; the competition is too fierce. Although the seeder belongs to my older brother, and he can give our cooperative priority, there's bound to be gossip. Rather than waiting, it's better to plant now and avoid trouble later.”

What Li Long said made perfect sense, and everyone else nodded in agreement.

Therefore, the cooperative unanimously agreed to start sowing on April 10th.

The news that the cooperative was going to plant ahead of schedule spread quickly. Some people wanted to see them fail, while others thought that the young people in the cooperative were being too bold and had become arrogant after making some money in the past two years.

After Li Long returned to the Li family, his elder brother Li Jianguo asked with some concern, "Xiao Long, is it really okay that the cotton field was planted ahead of schedule?"
What if we sow the seeds and then encounter a late frost right after they sprout? Wouldn't they freeze to death and we'd have to resow? Should we sow in rows instead of by-sowing, and wait until the cotton has grown and we're sure there won't be a late frost before transplanting the seedlings?

"No need, just use on-demand, it'll grow faster that way." Li Long was very confident. The windy and cold snap weather in the fourth team's area usually occurred around April 20th.

People don't remember it much now, mainly because cotton has only been grown for a short time. People will remember it more when it's been grown for a longer period of time.

Of course, there was another reason why Li Long was so certain: the area around Team Four was considered auspicious. Every year when weather changes easily caused hail, hail would occur in the land to the south and north, often just missing out on the entire township, including Team Four.

Since Li Long had already made his decision and the cooperative had reached an agreement, Li Jianguo didn't say anything more.

In terms of cotton cultivation techniques, everyone agrees that Li Long is second to none, not only in the team but also in the entire township. After all, when experts from the Autonomous Region Agricultural College come, they discuss things with Li Long rather than giving him instructions.

In the village shop, Ma Jinbao drank cheap liquor and started spouting strange tales again. He said:
"I think these young men in the cooperative are too arrogant. They've made some money in the last two years and they don't know who they are anymore. This late spring cold snap is so powerful; a single frost can kill all the newly sprouted seedlings."

They think their money is nothing, huh? I'm just saying, wait and see what happens to them! If they throw this in and have to replay it, they'll lose tens of thousands. Let's see if they'll feel the pain then.

Normally, when Ma Jinbao spoke ill of the cooperative, several people would agree with him and share his views. But today, not a single person listened to him.

Old Zhang from the store laughed and said, "Old Ma, in the past, whenever the cooperative made any big decisions, you always disagreed with them, but in the end, they were the ones laughing. Everyone was just laughing at you."

"You'd better not be so sure this time. Maybe in the end, the cotton seedlings will grow up and won't affect them after the spring frost. Wouldn't that be embarrassing for you?"

Ma Jinbao took a sip of his drink, glanced at the small amount left in his glass, hesitated, and ultimately didn't finish it. After putting the glass down, he wiped his mouth and said:

“We’re all experienced farmers, and this year’s situation definitely means a cold snap in spring. I don’t need to elaborate on how severe a cold snap can be. When the frost comes, even if the seedlings have grown, they will be wiped out.”

If another strong wind comes and blows off their plastic sheeting, the losses will be even more severe. Let me put it this way: what I said before was a misjudgment, but this time, I'm absolutely certain I won't be wrong. Just you wait and see, those young men at the cooperative will be crying then.”

Seeing how confident Ma Jinbao was, some of the people next to him nodded, while others pondered.

Seeing that people were starting to support him, Ma Jinbao became very proud. He stood up, leaned over, grabbed a handful of peanuts from behind the counter, peeled them, ate them, and then finished the rest of his wine. Amidst Lao Zhang's laughing and scolding voices for his greed, he turned and left.

These past two days, other cotton growers in the village have also been hesitant.

Wang Caimi's cooperative is also holding a meeting to discuss whether or not to join Li Long's cooperative in planting cotton first.

Wang, the money-grubber, figured he should just follow Li Long's lead. He said, "They have two thousand acres of land, using drip irrigation for farming. They're not afraid of investing so much. What are we afraid of with just a few hundred acres?"

The earlier you plant cotton, the earlier it will sprout, and the sooner it will flower in the fall, allowing you to harvest more cotton and earn more money.

If we keep waiting for the late spring cold snap, we might miss a good opportunity. If the cold snap doesn't arrive until the 20th, then sowing will be late. Every day the seedlings are delayed means ten days later harvesting the flowers, and our losses will be considerable.”

Although Wang Caimi was somewhat greedy, he was always reliable in his work. He expressed his desire to start planting cotton with Li Long and the others, and while some others were hesitant, most were prepared to follow suit.

But another cooperative is different. They plan to wait and see, thinking it would be safer to wait until the late spring cold snap has passed before sowing.

When Lu Yingming arrived at Li Jian's house, he saw Li Long tidying up some things next to the high-powered tractor. He came over and asked, "Xiao Long, are you going to sow now? Are you sure the soil temperature and moisture are right? What are you thinking?"

Li Long explained his idea to Lu Yingming, who then said, "Alright, I'll start sowing early with you. My thirty mu of cotton isn't a lot, but it's not a small amount either. I think you're the most skilled in our village. If you think it's okay, then we'll follow you."

At Tao Dayong's home, he was also packing up agricultural supplies such as plastic film and seeds, preparing to plant cotton with the cooperative.

Their family's farmland, divided into two plots, totaled fifty mu (approximately 2.7 hectares). He kept ten mu for wheat and sunflowers, and planted the rest with cotton. Fifty mu of cotton fields required a significant investment for spring planting, putting considerable pressure on their family.

Tao Dayong's wife, Ma Chunhong, did not agree with his decision. While stopping him from moving agricultural supplies out of the vacant house, she said:

"Most of the team thinks that planting now will definitely result in a cold snap in spring. The seedlings will be damaged by the frost as soon as they sprout. Only your brother's cooperative is full of stubborn cowards throwing money away. Are you still going to follow him? Are you out of your mind?"

I've never argued with you before, no matter what you said. You're a man, you care about your pride, so I haven't said anything. But this time, what you've done—aren't you trying to break up our family?
We've worked so hard to earn this money, and you're going to invest it all in agricultural supplies? What if a sudden cold snap in spring wipes it all out? Where are you going to get the money to buy more agricultural supplies then?

You think the money we earn isn't real money, don't you? You think it's easy for us to make money, don't you? Let me tell you, if you're going to plant these seeds, then I'm quitting, I'm going back to my parents' house!" Actually, Tao Dayong's family situation wasn't as bad as Ma Chunhong wanted to make it out to be. It's just that in the early years when Ma Chunhong was in charge of the household, she always tried to take money from her own family. Later, Tao Dayong had a fight with her, and starting from planting and harvesting melon seeds, the family's financial power was transferred to Tao Dayong's hands.

Ma Chunhong had to ask Tao Dayong for money for everything she wanted to do or buy. Every time she asked Tao Dayong how much money the family had, Tao Dayong would only give her a number, leading her to believe that the family's situation was not very good.

After all, with the money earned from growing watermelons and later cotton, Tao Dayong would buy things for the family and give her money from time to time to buy things for her parents' home. Their life was considered above average in the team.

Therefore, Ma Chunhong felt that after buying agricultural supplies at the beginning of the year, the family wouldn't have much money left. Tao Dayong also wanted to improve their lives, so he patiently explained to Ma Chunhong:

"Li Long and his team have invested so much and dare to plant now, which means they are confident. Our family doesn't know much about technology, so we'll just follow the lead of those who know what they're doing."

If you want to grow new cash crops to make money, but are constantly suspicious and relying on old experience, you'll only miss opportunities.

But Ma Chunhong wouldn't listen. She always felt that Tao Dayong had always been dominating her younger brother, and now that her brother Tao Daqiang had joined the cooperative, Tao Dayong was always following behind him, which made her lose face. So she refused to plant now. In the end, this angered Tao Dayong, who simply ignored Ma Chunhong, prepared the agricultural supplies, and went to the Li family to make an appointment.

Ma Chunhong said she was going back to her parents' home, but it was just talk. Now that she saw her husband was ignoring her, she sat down on the ground and started crying.

Li Long and his team were unaware that the decision to sow the seeds ahead of schedule would elicit different reactions from each household in the team.

Because an additional 500 mu of land was added this year, and it wasn't a single plot added in one go, Li Long was involved in the entire planting process and supervised the work. He also accompanied Xu Haijun and his team when they were planting their 1,000 mu of land.

The old seeders were used on those thousand acres of land, so they were relatively slow. Whether it was the team's two thousand acres of land or the second team's one thousand acres of land, there were always many people watching, pointing and talking.

Li Long and his team naturally didn't care about all that; their focus was on the sowing process. Fortunately, the 500 mu of land had been consolidated and prepared in advance by Xie Yundong and his team, so the sowing and drip irrigation tape installation went relatively smoothly.

Next comes laying branch pipes and connecting capillary pipes, something the cooperative has experience with. Although some of the idle people in the team gossip, they get paid on the same day they do this work, so quite a few people participate.

Two thousand acres of land were all connected with branch pipes and capillary pipes in just two days, an exceptionally high efficiency. Now, the cooperative members also experienced the benefits of planting at different times than other team members.

After Li Long and his cooperative finished planting, families like Lu Yingming and Tao Dayong also started planting one after another. Some people stood at the edge of their fields saying they wanted to see them fail, while others hesitated, wondering whether to follow suit.

By April 15th, the cotton seedlings in the cooperative's fields had already sprouted. From a distance, they looked like a green line; up close, they were just scattered dots.

Li Long and the others are in the field checking, mainly looking at the germination rate. From the 10th to the 15th, the temperature continued to rise, and the weather remained unchanged, so the overall germination rate was over 85%, which is quite good. They don't even need to replant.

However, Li Long remembered what Li Qiang had said when he was picking cotton last year, so he decided to plant some watermelons in the areas where the seedlings had fallen out.

In the next day or two, the cotton in Wang Caimi's cooperative, as well as in Lu Yingming and Tao Dayong's fields, sprouted and the seedlings were growing well.

Some of the people who were still hesitant decided to come and ask Li Long and his family if the seeds were suitable for sowing, while others simply found the seed planter that came with Li's high-powered machine and sowed the seeds.

When someone came to ask Li Longtong, his answer was that it was best not to sow now. Because if they sowed now, there was a high probability that the seedlings would be hit by a late spring frost as soon as they sprouted.

Whether it's a windy day or a drop in temperature, they'll suffer. Of course, if the plot is small, row sowing is still an option, since there's a plastic film to protect the seedlings, and they won't be bothered by a temperature drop once they emerge.

However, the troublesome thing is that cotton sown in rows needs to be fully developed, which is a rather troublesome thing.

Those who planted the seed without asking questions regretted it after learning what Li Long had said.

But it's too late to say all this now, because the seeds have already been sown. They can only pray that this year's late spring cold snap will come later, or not at all.

At this point, the people who were sowing seeds went to find Li Long again. Li Long suggested that they thicken and densify the soil covering the plastic film. This way, if a cold snap or strong winds came, at least the film wouldn't be blown away.

On April 19th, the cotton in the cooperative had grown to a height of one stalk, with three leaves emerging, and looked very robust.

The weather changed from sunny to cloudy that day, and the temperature began to drop significantly. The national weather forecast after the 7:30 pm news broadcast indicated that there would be strong winds, rain, and a drop in temperature in northern and central Xinjiang.

After the 8:00 PM news broadcast on Ma County TV, the weather forecast immediately showed a 10°C temperature drop, with a low of 1°C, very close to zero. Northwesterly winds of force 7-8, reaching force 9 or higher in some areas, are expected; those near mountainous areas and in northern regions should be wary of frost. Clearly, a cold snap is truly on its way.

During this period, Ma Jinbao kept a close eye on the weather forecast, and he couldn't even watch the TV dramas broadcast on CCTV continuously.

Although his family had objections, they couldn't change the situation. However, the weather hadn't changed during this time, so Ma Jinbao became anxious and stressed, developing several blisters on his upper lip.

When he heard the weather forecast announcing the weather changes today, he laughed happily inside the house, then stood up and walked outside, his steps getting faster and faster until they almost turned into a jog.

When he got to the store, he didn't care how many people were there. He shouted at Old Zhang behind the counter, "Give me 100 grams of bulk liquor and 200 grams of roasted peanuts!"

As Old Zhang poured him some wine, he chuckled and said, "Hey, Ma Jinbao, you penny-pincher, you actually bought peanuts today? What good thing happened?"

Ma Jinbao sat confidently in front of the counter and said smugly, "What did I say a couple of days ago? I said there would definitely be a cold snap in spring this year, and those who planted early would definitely suffer. Look, the cold snap has arrived!"

"The weather forecast said the temperature wasn't below zero." Old Zhang also has a TV at home, and he watched the weather forecast.

“That’s right, there’s no frost as long as it doesn’t drop below zero,” Wang Caimi, who was sitting next to him, added. “Without frost, it won’t have much of an impact on the seedlings that have already sprouted.”

"That's hard to say!" Ma Jinbao took the glass of wine, took a sip, frowned, and after getting used to the spiciness of the liquor, continued, "Didn't the weather forecast say that we need to be careful of frost in areas near mountains and in the north?"

We're located north of the county seat, aren't we? Who knows how far the frost will spread? Besides, this estimate is just from our county; it might not be accurate!

The CCTV weather forecast said that this strong wind and frost will cover almost the entire northern Xinjiang region. How could we possibly escape it?

"Then let's just wait and see." Although Wang the Money-Grubber was a little worried, he was determined not to lose face at this moment, and said without changing his expression:
"The weather will change in a day or two. Anyway, the seedlings in our cooperative have already grown, so even if they freeze, they won't die."

The plants we should be wary of now are those that have just been sown and whose seedlings have just sprouted; if they get frostbite, it will be a real problem.

"You greedy wretch, have you forgotten? There are also gales of level seven to eight, or even level nine or higher!" Ma Jinbao said smugly while rubbing peanuts. "With your newly sprouted seedlings, after a strong wind and rain, it's hard to say how many will be left!"

Wang Caimi remained silent, mentally assessing how much damage this weather change might cause to the cooperative's land.

At this moment, Xie Yundong and the others were in Li Long's courtyard, discussing this matter. They had already predicted the change in weather.

Currently, thanks to drip irrigation, the cotton seedlings in the cooperative are growing very well, so Li Long is not worried about any potential losses due to weather changes.

However, Xie Yundong and his group were still a little worried, so Li Long had to patiently explain to them the differences between their land and other lands.

Upon hearing this, Xu Haijun became worried. He said, "The thousand acres of land I manage in the second team don't have drip irrigation, and the crops aren't growing as well as those here. If there's a frost, it'll be a real problem."

Li Long smiled and said, "Don't worry, there's a high chance there won't be any frost this time. Besides, your area is near the river, and there are so many things to cover the riverbank, plus a lot of trees, so it shouldn't be a big problem."

All the people from the cooperative were staying at Li's house, and many people in the team knew this, so gradually, those who had already sown and sprouted seeds gathered over, including Wang Caimi and his group.

Li Long explained to them one by one, and then told them that if the soil covering with the plastic film was not enough, it would be best to cover it again today; if the soil covering was sufficient, then there was no need to worry.

After hearing Li Long's words, these people felt reassured and went back.

Xu Haijun was very confident about sealing the soil around the cotton plants, because Li Long had repeatedly emphasized this point before. Some cotton growers had suffered losses in the first few years, so he paid extra attention to sealing the soil around the 1,000 mu of land planted in the second team.

The next morning, the sky was already hazy. When the sun came out, it looked like a poorly pickled salted egg, appearing as if viewed through several layers of gauze.

At first, a light breeze blew from the northwest. Later, the sky felt increasingly veiled, and the air smelled of dust. The wind picked up, and then large, dark clouds were swept in from the northwest.

The wind began to carry dust and fine sand. Li Long thought to himself, this is what later generations would call dust storm weather. Although it hasn't reached the level of a sandstorm, it's still quite difficult to breathe.

Around noon, the sky darkened, and a few raindrops began to fall, stinging quite a bit when they hit me.

The wind picked up, and even the newly sprouted elm seeds were blown away. Occasionally, you could see plastic bags being blown into the air, or scarves that someone hadn't had time to put away.

The cooperative members gathered in the cooperative's courtyard. The six of them sat at two tables, playing cards and eating sunflower seeds. Beer was placed on the side of the table legs, and anyone who wanted a drink could help themselves.

However, no one touched the beer, but a layer of sunflower seed shells had fallen on the ground.

Everyone kept glancing at the weather outside, feeling the room getting darker and darker. Li Long simply turned on the light. Seeing that the others were somewhat distracted while playing cards, he smiled and said:
"Don't worry, at most a few leaves will be blown off. After the first drip irrigation, our soil has hardened into clumps. Even a gale-force wind of level 10 might not be able to blow those films off, let alone a level 7 or 8 gale."

His words made everyone laugh. It would be a lie to say they weren't worried, but since they'd come this far, they'd just have to wait and see how it went.

Around one o'clock, the wind started to pick up. Dry branches were blown off the trees and flew everywhere. There was practically no one around outside.

In each yard, some unsecured items rattled loudly in the wind. Further on, the wind grew stronger. Some unstable trees along the roadside were blown down.

Dust, fallen leaves, and withered branches on the ground were constantly being swept into the air by the wind and then fell back down. This scene lasted for a full half hour, during which time it was almost impossible to see anything more than ten meters away from outside; the field of vision was extremely limited.

Half an hour later, the wind subsided a bit.

Then, raindrops—large raindrops—came down, stirring up dust on the ground and intensifying the earthy smell in the air.

However, after only half a minute, the smell of soil disappeared, as the rain poured down, washing away all the dust.

The chilly raindrops caused the air temperature to drop sharply. People standing under the eaves could clearly feel the cold.

A cold snap has arrived in early spring.

The fire inside the cooperative building was burning brightly, preventing the cold outside from getting in.

"Hey, thank goodness we got the stove back up these past couple of days, otherwise we'd be in real trouble today," Liang Dacheng said with a laugh. "You're all in the same boat, right?"

"That's right, we prepared it a long time ago. We lit the stove as soon as the weather changed this morning," Tao Daqiang said. "It'll be burning for two or three days."

There was a pot on the stove in the room, with fish stewing in it and flatbreads stuck to the side of the pot.

These people decided to have lunch here.

The rain outside was heavy, and water quickly accumulated on the ground, flowing towards the low-lying areas.

Xu Haijun was still quite worried about his thousand acres of land, and couldn't help but ask, "How long will this rain last?"

Li Long glanced at him and said, "The weather forecast already said that the rain will last for half a day and then stop tonight."

There will be light rain in some areas tonight, but in most places it will only rain for half a day. We can check on the fields tomorrow.

The rich aroma of fish filled the room. The fish were caught this morning by Tao Daqiang's father, Tao Jianshe, who had cast the net last night.

Tao Daqiang brought over four kilograms of crucian carp, cleaned and gutted them, and sent them over. We stewed the fish and then made cornbread with it. By this time, the fish was flavorful enough.

So he put down his cards, went over to get a bowl, and while ladling fish soup, said, "Come on, stop playing, stop playing, let's quickly drink some fish soup to warm up."

Drinking fish soup and eating flatbread is a very comfortable thing to do in this slightly chilly weather.

After they finished eating, seeing that it was still raining outside, they continued playing cards and chatting about random things.

The people in the cooperative all knew what Ma Jinbao said in the store.

Knowing that he didn't get along with the people in the cooperative, Li Long and the others didn't care. However, Liang Dacheng said that once this cold snap passed, he would go to Ma Jinbao's door and give him a piece of his mind.

"This guy takes advantage of his age and doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut. He says all sorts of nonsense, which is really infuriating."

"You don't even need to scold him. After this cold snap passes, just go to the store and tell him, 'Look, our cooperative hasn't suffered any losses at all.' That'll infuriate him," Jia Weidong said with a smile.
"He's the kind of person who can't stand seeing others doing better than him. He gets angry as long as we're doing well."

“That’s right!” Li Long said. “The more money we make, the more uncomfortable he will feel. The better we do our own work, the more money we make, the fewer people will listen to him in the future, and he will eventually suffocate himself.”

"It's raining so hard outside, what are we going to do now?" Tao Daqiang asked, looking outside after tidying up the dishes and chopsticks.

"With rain this heavy, what can we do? Those with children should hurry home to pick them up. The students will be getting out of school soon, and we can't let them brave the rain and wind to come back!" Li Long stood up and walked outside. "I have to hurry and pick up Mingming and Haohao!"

At this moment, the potential damage that the late spring cold snap might cause to the fields is far less important than picking up Mingming and Haohao.

P.S.: When I went to Xiaohaizi to retrieve the fish traps, I smelled the fragrance of oleaster flowers. I didn't expect them to bloom so quickly. They smell so good! (End of Chapter)