Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

After inspecting the last batch of reed stems, Chen Zhenming, wearing a cotton coat and a leather hat, smiled and shook hands with Li Long:
"Comrade Xiao Li, it's a pleasure to work with you! I have been responsible for inspecting these reed handles for several years. This year is the most pleasant time to work with you. There are few defective products, the delivery is fast, and there are no troubles. Very good, I hope we can cooperate often in the future."

"Okay, okay." Li Long smiled, put the money away and shook hands with Chen Zhenming. "I also hope to have more opportunities for cooperation in the future."

Waving goodbye to the truck, Li Long looked around the yard and said to Li Anguo and the others with a smile:
"Second brother, brother-in-law, Junfeng and Junshan, let's work harder and put this yard in order, and have a good rest tomorrow and the day after tomorrow!"

"Okay." They were used to it, and also used to listening to Li Long's instructions. Although experts said that fifteen days was enough to develop a habit that was not easy to change, in fact, when they earned the first five, ten, and twenty yuan, they, even Chen Xingbang, got used to listening to Li Long's arrangements in a short period of time.

Follow the instructions and make money.

This is enough.

Aren't we here to make money? Although this job is a bit tiring, is it worse than being hungry? Impossible.

I have enough food to eat every day and I can make money, so I don’t mind being a little tired.

Pile the pulled out reed leaves together and press them together into bundles with the reed waist. Do the same with the remaining hairy reeds. After tying them up, stack them together with the unqualified reed stems and use them as firewood in winter and for burning pots in summer.

Han Benzhong and Zhang Laoshi's families left after breakfast. They didn't earn as much money this time as they did last time, but both families were very happy. They had more money, which at least reduced the problem of their children finding wives.

Han Dachun also told Li Long that he would trap rabbits in winter and send some to Li Long then.

Li Long just took it as a joke. He was quite good at catching rabbits, but it was just not convenient for him to talk about it.

After cleaning up the yard, Li Junfeng asked Li Long:

"Uncle Xiaolong, what are we going to do next?"

"What? Take a rest for two days. You've been exhausted these past few days. I have to bring back some charcoal quickly, or we won't have enough to burn this winter."

After saying this, he seemed to remember something, took out some money from his pocket, counted out four Great Unity notes, and gave one to each person:
"Second brother, brother-in-law, Junfeng and Junshan, you have been exhausted these past few days. Let's say openly that everyone is the same, I treat everyone equally, and the reeds you hand in are the same as others, because you are new, more unqualified, and earn less than others. You must be unhappy, but as I said before, you have to do this.

I treat you like this, and those people in the team have to hand over the reeds. I have strict requirements, so they can't disobey. But privately, we are family, I can't treat you badly. This ten yuan is for you. I can't let you suffer and earn less money than others, right? "

Except for Li Junshan, the other three people really had some problems with Li Long. But when Li Long said this, the unhappiness in their hearts disappeared immediately. Yes, if you can't manage your own people, how can you manage others? On the surface, you should treat them equally, and privately, they are relatives, so everything is easy to say.

"Xiaolong, look at what you said, isn't this being too formal? We are not ignorant. I won't take this money..." Li Anguo was the first to react.

"Take it, take it. I made some money this time, so I'll give it to my nephews and nieces, and other younger generations as red envelopes." Li Long hurriedly pushed the money back. "Take it, take it. I'll take you around the county tomorrow. You can decide whether to send a telegram home or send something. It's all fine."

"Okay, then we'll take it." Seeing Li Long was so determined, Chen Xingbang spoke up and said, "Second brother, take it. It's Xiaolong's good intention."

"Okay. You guys take a rest first. I'll ride my bike out to take a look and do some work." Li Long saw that they accepted the money, and the matter was over. He pushed his bicycle out of the stable door and rode towards the countryside.

The team will be distributing coal soon, but Xu Chengjun said that this is the last time. Next year, they may have to implement the household contract responsibility system, which means all the land will be contracted to farmers. So starting next year, the team will basically not distribute anything anymore.

Having lived two lives, Li Long is quite accustomed to this kind of situation where things are not distinguished, but other villagers are not so used to it.

Accepting new things always takes a process.

When passing by the preschool and the old team headquarters, Li Long found that the preschool children were playing games outside the yard. It should be the end of get out of class. The early winter sun was still quite warm. Several children were leaning against the south wall to bask in the sun. One after another, the children joined in and squeezed in desperately. Some children in the middle could not hold on and were squeezed out.

The children who were squeezed out were not angry. They ran to the edge again laughing and continued to squeeze in, one after another, over and over again.

This kind of game is played by both boys and girls, and everyone plays together until the teacher shouts "class is starting" at the classroom door, and then the children reluctantly enter the classroom.

The stove was already lit in the classroom. To be honest, since Li Long arrived here, he knew that Northern Xinjiang, or at least this village, attached great importance to education. At least the classrooms were not leaky like the rural classrooms he saw in some places before his death in his previous life.

The kindergarten and the first and second grades that were disbanded earlier were all together with the team headquarters, so the quality of the house must not be bad.

In preschool and the first and second grades before that, the stove in the room was the first to be lit, at least to prevent the children from getting cold.

I remember that when Li Qiang was in the third grade, they built a new elementary school, and the middle school classroom continued to be used. Later it was changed into an elementary school, but the room was also frequently renovated.

Later, Li Long went to the Yili River Valley for a tour and saw the most glamorous houses in the village. One was the village office and the other was the school. The two places where the national flags were hung could be seen from a distance.

Riding westward, we soon passed the old village settlement in the west, crossed the newly built bridge in the reed ditch, and saw a thin layer of ice on the water under the bridge.

The reeds in the reed ditch have been almost all beaten down, with only a few remaining patches here and there that were either not long enough or tall enough or were difficult to beat.

There are still some reeds left at this time, but in two years, when early winter comes, there will be no more reeds left, because by then every household will have a donkey cart, and they will cut the reeds and send them to the paper mill, where they can sell a bundle for one or two cents.

There are many ways to make money, it all depends on whether you do it or not.

After passing the reed ditch is the next village. Tao Daqiang's girlfriend lives here. I don't know if Tao Daqiang and his girlfriend went directly through the reed ditch or took the main road when they were dating. I continued to ride forward for a while and arrived at the primary school. At this time, the school was in class. I could hear students in some classes reading aloud in unison, occasionally startling one or two passing sparrows.

Li Long smiled when he thought about the time when he took Li Juan and Li Qiang to catch old sparrows last December.

When they got to the village, Li Long still felt a little cold. In later times, electric bicycles had a guardrail in front of them. It looked ugly, but it was really practical. He wondered if he should also put one on his bicycle.
When he reached the crossroads in the village, Li Long slowed down and rode back and forth. Soon, he saw a truck parked next to the store.

There was a cart of coal on the truck. On top were pieces of coal as big as two washbasins. You couldn't see the bottom, so they were probably smaller pieces of coal.

Li Long rode his bike to the side of the truck, reached out to pick up a piece of coal, and took a closer look. Yes, it was top-quality anthracite that was easy to burn.

He turned towards the store, got out of the car, locked the door, and pushed it open.

The sales manager, Lao Zhang, Wu Shufen's father-in-law, was listening to the radio. On the stove in the middle was a pot of water, not boiling, but emitting steam, which served as a humidifier.

A man in his twenties, wearing a blue work suit, was sitting by the stove, smoking a cigarette without saying a word.

"What would you like to order?" Lao Zhang, who was not familiar with Li Long, asked.

"I'm looking for this master." Li Long pointed at the man in work clothes and said, "Buy some charcoal."

"Not for retail." The man waved his hand. "This is for others."

"I don't buy in small quantities." Li Long said with a smile, "How many tons do you have in this truck? Do you have eight tons? I'll take them all."

"Do you really want all of it? This ton of charcoal is not cheap!"

The cheapest time for coal is in June and July. At that time, rural people did not buy coal, and the coal dug out from coal mines was basically sold to thermal power plants or companies with boilers.

At this time of early winter, the price of charcoal starts to rise, often about 1.5 times that of June and July.

In fact, the price can’t increase much, after all, the entire Tianshan Mountains are almost entirely covered with coal. Locals know that from Hami in the east to Chabuchaer in Zhaosu in the west, and then to foreign countries, there is a coal mine not far from the Tianshan Mountains.

Moreover, in Jungar East, which is the eastern part of Tianshan Mountains and the eastern part of Junggar Basin, there is the largest open-pit coal mine in the country. It was mined from that time until when Li Long left in the previous life. Later, a number of thermal power plants were built there to generate electricity on site.

After all, there is an open-pit coal mine there that has been burning for more than a hundred years. It has been burning since the Qing Dynasty and was still burning when Li Long passed away in his previous life - just imagine how much coal there is.

"How much is one ton?" Li Long asked.

"Fifteen per ton." The driver shouted a number.

"What if I want all of it? Isn't it cheap?" Li Long asked again. Although this price seemed quite cheap to him, after all, a ton of coal could be burned for a whole winter by a family of three in this era if they were a little frugal - of course, it was not the kind of burning that would be done freely in later generations.

"If you want all of them, it'll be 100 per truck." The driver saw that Li Long really wanted them, "But my truck is not a dump truck, so I won't unload them."

"Okay." Li Long said, "Then come with me. I want this truckload of charcoal."

The driver was a little unconvinced and asked:
"Which team are you from?"

"From Xinhu."

The driver turned his head and looked at Manager Zhang.

"From Xinhu? Whose company?" Lao Zhang has some friendship with the driver, so he would definitely help him at this time.

"Li family, Li Jianguo is my brother." Li Long reported his eldest brother's name. He believed that Lao Zhang should know his eldest brother's name.

"Are you Li Long?" Old Zhang was stunned for a moment. He not only knew Li Jianguo, but also Li Long. After all, Li Long's affairs had been quite publicized in the past year.

"Lao Zhang, do you know him?"

"I know. If it's Li Long, then you can go with him. This guy's family is not short of money." Lao Zhang's expression was a little complicated.

Li Long didn't know what Lao Zhang was thinking, so he said to the driver:
"Let's go. I'll ride my bike in front to lead the way. If you want to know our village, you can drive directly to the Lao Ma Hao and I'll ride behind you."

When the driver heard what Lao Zhang said, he believed it. He stood up, took a few deep puffs, threw the cigarette butt next to the stove, said hello to Lao Zhang, and went out to drive.

He said that not selling in small quantities was just a gimmick and he wanted to raise the price. Apart from the workplace, who could buy a whole truckload of coal these days?
I didn’t expect there really was one!
In those days, the coal consumption of farmers was no more than one ton. They would buy some for emergency use and use it for the coldest days of the ninth and third nineth days of the lunar calendar. The rest would be used for emergency use by burning wood. At this time, after the other families in the team had finished harvesting reeds, they would go out to the red willow beach to dig up red willow and saxaul roots.

Li Long, I guess he's an outlier. (End of this chapter)