Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

"Important notice. I'm Li Long. Starting today, I'll be buying reed bundles for 20 consecutive days. Each bundle costs 1.5 cents. The standard is 2.5 meters long, with 10 reeds in each bundle. The reeds must be thick, not hairy. They must be tied with three thin wires. The quality must be good. You will be paid on the spot after passing the inspection. Remember, I'll only buy for 20 days! I'll say it again, important notice..."

After notifying three times, Li Long turned off the microphone.

"Xiaolong, you're right. It's only for 20 days. I guess some people are probably ready to go out with sickles. 1.5 cents, you can make a lot of money in these 20 days!"

"So, first come, first served. I have to hurry back to the horse stable, otherwise, I might not be able to catch the reeds sold by others."

Li Long's guess was correct. When he arrived at the stable, two families in the team had already come over with reed bundles.

"Xiaolong, is it really 15 cents each?"

"It has to be qualified." Li Long said with a smile, "Brother Cai, as long as it is qualified, I will take whatever you send. Pay now."

"Okay, okay." Old Cai unloaded the reeds from the cart and said:
"Just look at it. You can take as many as you pass."

Li Long did not dare to be careless and checked them one by one. Li Anguo and a few others also came out to watch the fun. Chen Xingbang asked Li Long:

"Is this the reed handle? How did you make it?"

"Brother-in-law, I'll tell you later. Let me check their goods first." Li Long said as he checked.

Old Cai brought in 27 reeds, five of which were substandard, and Li Long paid him three yuan and thirty cents. Old Cai was very happy, and helped Li Long put the qualified reeds in the stable, took the money, and took the rest away.

Li Long collected the reeds of another person. This person collected more reeds, more than 50, but there were also more than 10 that were not up to standard. After collecting and paying the money, Li Long said to Li Anguo, Chen Xingbang and the other two:

"This reed stalk is made by cutting reeds from the reed ditch, then pulling out the reed leaves, pressing them tightly with pliers, and tying them into a reed stalk with thin wire. Finally, measure the length and chop off the head, and that's it. I'll take you through the process of tying a reed stalk later, starting with pulling out the reeds.

In the afternoon, I will ask my eldest brother to take you to cut reeds. After you understand the whole work, you can see who wants to do what.

This work is usually done by a family, so that it is easier to divide the work. After all, it takes several procedures to form a group. One person has to cut the reeds, pull the reeds, and press the group, which is very troublesome.

Once you are familiar with the process, you can decide which one you want to do. You can work together or separately. If you work together, I will pay you according to the number of reeds you get at the end, and you can decide how to divide it.

If you want to do it separately, you can cut a bundle of reeds for one cent, and pull the reeds and press a reed bundle for five cents. You can do it yourselves."

Chen Xingbang rolled his eyes and said with a smile:

"Xiaolong, why bother yourself with that? We are all family. It's really troublesome for you to collect so many reeds by yourself. Why don't we help you collect them? You can pay as you see fit."

Li Anguo and Li Junshan were a little surprised. They didn't expect Chen Xingbang to say this. They turned their heads to look at him. However, Li Junfeng's eyes lit up when he heard it and he was very interested in this proposal.

"Brother-in-law, this won't work." Li Long shook his head, "You can't do this job."

"What's so difficult about it? I saw that when you checked just now, you just looked at the length and the reeds inside. This job can be done by anyone." Chen Xingbang felt that Li Long had lost his face, so he spoke in a unpleasant way.

"If you say so, anyone can do that job." Li Long was not angry. Having lived two lives, he knew the character of these relatives very well. He smiled and said:

"A few days ago, there was a man in the team who was collecting reeds for the supply and marketing cooperative like me. He was paid 1 cent for each reed. As a result, the supply and marketing cooperative came to inspect and found that more than 1,000 out of 5,000 were substandard.

"I'm not saying I won't give you face. I'm telling you the truth. If I really let you check it, will you be responsible if there is a problem or am I responsible? You are all laymen. This is your first time to touch the reed handle. Do you know what is qualified and what is unqualified?"

"We don't know, so you won't tell me?"

"Brother-in-law, don't be so stubborn. Do you think you can do it if I tell you? If that's the case, all the students would have scored 100 points." Chen Xingbang's non-cooperation made Li Long a little angry this time. "If I really let you check, will you be responsible if there are problems? He had 5,000 reeds, and more than 1,000 of them were defective, and he had to pay for it himself. Now there are 30,000 reeds, and if you check and find 5,000 of them are unqualified, you have to pay 1,000 yuan when you hand them in. Will you pay? Can you afford it?"

Chen Xingbang was killed with just one sentence.

Chen Xingbang's face was gloomy and he stopped talking.

Li Anguo hurriedly tried to smooth things over:
"Xiaolong, your brother-in-law didn't mean that. He just wanted to help. We are all family. If family members don't help each other, how can we call each other family members? I think it must be tiring for you to check so many things by yourself..."

"Second brother, don't say that. It's not that I don't like my people. Otherwise, I wouldn't care if you came. To make money, you either use your strength or your brain. If you don't want to use anything, then is the money picked up?"

After hearing what he said, Chen Xingbang got annoyed and wanted to lose his temper, but Li Long ignored him and continued:
"When my father came over, I took over other jobs. He earned money by going to the mountains with me and my elder brother to cut poles. Where did he get the money? Didn't he also make money by cutting poles one by one? If you want to make money, you have to be prepared to work hard!

It's okay if you don't want to work. I'll support you with food and drink. We're all relatives. I won't chase you out, but don't be jealous when you see others making money! Why can I get the job when others can't? It's because there won't be any problems with the quality when I deliver the goods to them. People trust me! If I let a bunch of laymen like you help me check the quality, I'll lose a lot of money on these 30,000 reeds!"

After Li Long finished speaking, no one else said anything.

Although the words are harsh, the logic is correct.

It's better to talk to everyone openly than to deal with it hastily when the time comes. Anyway, he is putting on a red face here. You are relatives, yes, so I can support you, and you don't have to work. But if you want to make money, either go out and find a way yourself, or follow me.

If you follow me, you have to listen to me. I guarantee that you can make money if you listen to me. I won't stop you if you want to go out and find your own way. As I said, at least I can guarantee that you can have a meal, so I've done the most I can do.

Chen Xingbang's face still looked ugly until Li Jianguo came over with the carriage.

"Xiaolong, are you alive? I came here when I heard the voice from the loudspeaker. Tell me, what should we do?"

"Brother, I want to let the second brother and the others see the working process. They can either form a partnership like Brother Han or work on their own. If they work on their own and bring back bundles of reeds, they will get one cent for each bundle. If they pull out the reeds and press the bundles, they will get one and a half cents. If they haven't done it before, they should go through it once. Or you can take them and show them how to do it?"

"Okay." Li Jianguo said with a smile, "I'll take them to cut reeds first, and call Brother Han and the others. There's work to do. We have to tell them as agreed before, right?"

"That's right. The house is still reserved for them." Li Long pointed to the other two rooms. "Now all three rooms have stoves, so we don't have to worry about freezing in the next two days. If our clothes get wet while cutting reeds, we can dry them when we come back."

"Well, okay."

The matter was settled like that.

After the two brothers finished speaking, Li Jianguo looked at Li Anguo and the others.

I didn't say anything, but my meaning was very clear: if you have any objections, just say it directly; if you don't have any objections, just follow me.

"Okay, let's go see how to cut the reeds," Li Anguo agreed. Chen Xingbang wanted to refuse, but he didn't say it.

If you can't endure hardship when you first arrive, then you're not going to make any money.

Although he wanted to take it easy and use his brain to make money, he really hadn't found an opportunity at the moment.

Then just suffer for a while and see how things turn out.

Li Long gave everyone a pair of cotton gloves to avoid blisters when cutting reeds.

Li Jianguo took people and tools and drove a horse-drawn carriage to Wei Lake. Along the way, he saw many people, most of whom were walking there with tools.

Now most people in the team don't have large animals like horses or donkeys, but there are many carts that can be pulled by people. Some people borrow animals from other families, and those with good relationships will borrow them, while those with average relationships will rent them or exchange them for things.

As soon as the loudspeaker came out, everyone in the village knew that they could make money, so they were all very happy.

Li Anguo and his friends were quite nervous at first, after all, they had never done such work before. But now, seeing that everyone on the road had smiles on their faces, they felt relieved. After all, seeing that everyone was so happy, cutting reeds should not be a hard job, right?

Li Jianguo led Li Anguo and his friends to the Reed Lake, walked a little further, and stopped at a relatively dry spot. Li Jianguo said to Li Anguo and his friends who had already come down:

"The reeds growing outside are hairy. I'll cut them off for you, leaving a gap. Then we'll use the tall reeds inside. Xiaolong said that the reeds need to be at least two and a half meters tall, so we have to cut them from the roots. If we cut a bundle of reeds that is as thick as an arm, we can tie two reeds into it."

He demonstrated as he spoke, and neatly cut a pile of hairy reeds less than two meters high on the outside, clearing a path and revealing the tall reeds inside.

"There is water inside, but it's not that cold now. It's okay if your shoes get wet. You can go back and dry them with the stove. It's definitely not that easy to make money," said Li Jianguo.

Li Anguo and his friends thought it was simple, so they all came over to try it.

"If someone asks you where you are from, just say I brought you here." Li Jianguo said, "Don't be afraid of anyone who dares to mess with you. Xiaolong and I can still have a say in the team. You can harvest first, and then tie up the bundles. After tying them up, carry them out and put them outside. Then my carriage will come and take them away."

"Then where are you going, brother?" Li Anguo asked.

"I'll go find those fellow villagers in the Corps and see if they're willing to do it. If they are, I'll hire them. There's a lot of work here, so we need to find more people."

Li Jianguo left, and Li Anguo and his men began to cut the grass. (End of this chapter)