Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Li Long didn't expect Section Chief Hu to call him, and Section Chief Hu himself didn't expect to find Li Long in the end.

This year's Chinese New Year is in February, so Section Chief Hu is not in a hurry to purchase benefits for factory employees during the Chinese New Year. He just raised the idea at the factory's shift handover meeting two days ago.

Then the factory manager made a joke and said that the batch of mutton they got last year was very good and the elderly people in his family liked it very much.

This may be said as a joke, or it may mean nothing at all.

But Section Chief Hu still wrote this sentence down.

He did remember Li Long, the clever young man. After all, they had dealt with each other more than once. They had eaten mutton once, and the Dragon Boat Festival rice dumplings, glutinous rice and red dates were also good.

But to be honest, with a sugar factory of this size, a logistics section chief must have too many connections. It is easy to find a supplier who can provide year-end benefits, especially after a few years of reform and opening up. Now everyone's vision has been opened up, and it is not too difficult to get something economical, affordable, good-looking or fresh.

But it is impossible for Section Chief Hu to really follow his own ideas. After all, the leader's ideas are very important.

On the same day, Xiao Song, who was delivering the sugar residue, brought over two beautiful big carps, saying that they were sent by the person who brought the mutton during the Chinese New Year last year. This made Section Chief Hu think more about it.

The shift handover meeting had just started here, and I had just mentioned the issue of year-end benefits. The leader over there casually said something, and then the young man sent a carp. What's the connection between them?
Don’t blame Section Chief Hu for thinking too much. Some coincidences may seem like coincidences to ordinary people, but Section Chief Hu would rather think more about it. What if there is any connection among them?

If not, then just think of it as overthinking. If so, will you miss something if you don’t think about it?
After thinking about it, I decided that we have to provide welfare anyway, so I might as well let this young man do it this year.

So the call was transferred through layers of connections, from the Shicheng Sugar Factory to the Hongqi Commune in Ma County. Oh, it should be the fourth team of the Xinhu Brigade in Hongqi Township, where Xu Chengjun is.

After Xu Chengjun asked someone to call Li Long over, he cursed with a smile:
"You kid, this phone of mine has almost become your exclusive phone. I receive almost as many calls as you in a year."

Of course it's a joke.

Those who can call these days are basically not ordinary people. Xu Chengjun still has some ideas about Li Long answering some calls from time to time. After all, Li Long has received many calls before, which have brought benefits to the team.

"Xiao Li, right? I'm Section Chief Hu from the sugar factory. Thank you for the two fish. They're great!"

"Hello, Chief Hu. I'm Li Long. Is the fish edible? Okay, I'll send you a few more when I have time. We have quite a few varieties of fish here."

"No, no, you're so thoughtful. I'm calling you this time because I have something to tell you. The New Year is coming soon. Can you give our factory some more New Year's welfare items this year? Mutton is a must, thirty sheep. What else do you have?"

"We have fish and rabbits here..." Li Long was a little excited and hurriedly introduced them. After thinking for a while, he said, "I also have wild boars in my pen..."

"Oh, that's a lot of stuff. Well, of course I want sheep. It'll take about half a month. No rush. Just send it to me before the end of January. Rabbits, wild ones, right? Get me a hundred. Proportionate ones. Otherwise, it'll be hard for me to share them. As for fish, I don't care about the size. After all, they're wild fish. They're 800 kilograms to a ton. My family should get at least 10 kilograms, right? Wild boar... For now, I don't want them. The meat is coarse."

Big business!

"Okay, okay, I'll get ready now..."

"The price is a little lower than the market price. After all, I want a large quantity, so you have to give me a wholesale price, right?" Chief Hu joked. Of course, he didn't care about the money. It would be fine if he calculated it according to the market price. In this day and age, whoever can get the supplies is the most powerful. Before the New Year, ordinary people may not be able to buy meat even with money and meat coupons.

"Okay," Li Long thought quickly and said, "The market price of mutton is 1.3 yuan now, how about I charge 1.1 yuan? The market price of fish is 1.1 yuan, I charge 1 yuan. We usually sell rabbits for 5 yuan each, how about giving them 4 yuan?"

"Not bad, not bad, Xiao Li. I find that you are really suitable for doing business. With your brain, it would be a waste if you don't do business. Okay, it's settled. Come over when you have time and let's sign the agreement. I will remind you that everything else is easy to negotiate, but the mutton must be the same as last year. How about that?"

"no problem!"

After hanging up the phone, Li Long breathed a sigh of relief. He guessed that the main reason why Section Chief Hu called him was to ask him to get these welfare supplies for the New Year. Of course, confirming that he was in the village was another main reason.

After all, the village name I reported at the time can be checked. If it can be checked, it means that my background is clean, so that when Section Chief Hu does this, he will have no scruples, after all, he is not a traveling merchant.

He hopes to sign an agreement himself, which means that everything is done in a formal way and can put his mind at ease.

After all, preparing such a large amount of supplies requires a lot of money. If the other party refuses to accept it, it will be bad.

This Section Chief Hu is quite nice!

Li Long naturally didn't know that Section Chief Hu's expression of goodwill was actually a precautionary measure.

Since Section Chief Hu said so, it means there will be no problem with this purchase, so the next step is to prepare the things.

There will most likely be no problem with the fish and rabbits, the main issue is the sheep - Li Long knew that he had to go to the mountains as soon as possible and finalize the matter with Halimu and the others.

Thirty sheep is not a lot for Halimu and his team, but they still need to prepare in advance. Li Long wondered if other factories also needed year-end benefits since the sugar factory needed them.
Since I am planning to make some money by reselling, can I open a few more factories?

Li Long felt that it was necessary to ask Li Xiangqian. It would be no problem for him to find a factory in Shicheng to sell the products himself, but it was unlikely to work. After all, the situation was different every year.

For example, this afternoon, Section Chief Hu met another person in the office.

"Old Zhao, it's not that I don't give you face. I didn't refuse the sheep you usually sent me, and the price was fine. But this time is different. As for the year-end benefits, the factory director has said that the mutton you got from the food company's channels is not tasty!"

Lao Zhao used to be an employee of Shicheng Food Company. Later, he left the company due to some complicated matters and started to run his own channels, commonly known as a middleman.

In the past, we did things in a low-key, quiet, gray area. Now, with the market economy, the state allows it, as long as it does not involve speculation, such things are still allowed.

He used to work in a food company and had these connections. He was an old acquaintance of Section Chief Hu and his colleagues. Every year, he could get beef and mutton from the food company's sheep flocks and sell them to the logistics departments of various factories and mines, making a profit from the difference.

After all, the food company's supply is relatively planned, giving priority to the needs of government agencies, troops and the masses. People like Lao Zhao are more flexible.

But Section Chief Hu is a wise man. He knows that the mutton that Lao Zhao gets from the food company is strictly controlled. The food company has its own flock of sheep, and there are employees who graze them. They regularly pick out some weak and unfertile ewes from the flock, bring them down the mountain to be raised in a pen, and feed them with feed to fatten them up. In the market, they are usually called feed sheep. The current price of feed sheep is the 1.2 yuan per kilogram that Li Long mentioned. Because of the commodity economy, the price will naturally increase.

Lao Zhao recently got a batch of fodder sheep and planned to sell them to various companies before the New Year to make some money.

I didn't expect Section Chief Hu would not give me face.

"Chief Hu, this mutton is pretty good!" Old Zhao was a little puzzled. In fact, it was really good. At this time, the feed was still grain feed, which was generally good.

But sheep are animals that are eaten alive, so why do some people like sheep necks? Isn't it because they move more? Sheep that often graze in the mountains, like Halim's flock, are driven out to graze even in winter, and their food is different. The taste of mutton is better than that of mutton.

no way.

The difference between garden ginseng and wild ginseng. Oh, maybe not that big, it should be the difference between garden ginseng and forest ginseng.

Lao Zhao was a little puzzled, but Section Chief Hu naturally couldn't let the factory director's words go out, so he had to leave. He also had to quickly go to other factories to check, so as not to have this batch of mutton stuck in his hands.

"Xiaolong, is there anyone who wants to buy rabbits?" Xu Chengjun asked hurriedly after Li Long hung up the phone.

"Well, it's a factory in Shicheng. It's almost the New Year, so they want to make some gifts. I thought we have rabbits here..."

"If you get it, where will you keep it?"

"Collect them." Li Long was actually ambiguous, but since the captain had spoken, he might as well collect them. There were a hundred of them, and he had to catch them all by himself. He couldn't catch many. After all, he still had to go to the mountains to catch the sheep, and he had to let Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang keep an eye on the fish.

"How much do you want?" Xu Chengjun just heard Li Long talking.

"Captain, you heard me. I quoted the actual price just now, but I have to take the risk and put money in it. I will buy it. The big rabbits are three dollars, and the small ones are two dollars and fifty cents. I won't buy those that are less than three kilograms."

One rabbit can earn more than one yuan! Xu Chengjun first thought that Li Long was a shady person - but after thinking about it, it was normal. He had his own way, and it was normal for him to make money. Besides, Li Long also said that he would take the risk. If the other party really regretted it in the end, then the rabbit would be in his hands. Can he eat it every day?

"What about the fish?" Xu Chengjun thought of the fish again.

"If I buy it, it'll be 60 cents per kilogram. I won't buy anything smaller than that." Li Long gave a quote.

"Do we need to use the loudspeaker to shout?" Xu Chengjun asked.

"No, I'm afraid that if hundreds of rabbits are sent to me at once, I won't be able to accept them all." Li Long smiled, "Just let a small group of people know about it."

After leaving Xu Chengjun's house, Li Long first went to his elder brother Li Jianguo.

"Collect rabbits? You want me to collect rabbits?" Li Jianguo was a little puzzled.

"Yes. I promised the sugar factory that they would give me some welfare during the New Year. Last year I got them some sheep, and they thought the sheep were good. This year they want more, rabbits, fish and sheep. I have to go into the mountains to get the sheep, so you have to take care of collecting the rabbits. As for the fish, I'll let Daqiang and Yongqiang get the fish, and collect them, but they'll all be with you."

Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang can both be trusted, but they are outsiders after all. The one who can make Li Long most trust is his eldest brother, so if he leaves, then the overall matter will have to be handled by his eldest brother.

"Okay." Li Jianguo agreed readily, "You just set up the rules and I'll do the work."

"In less than half a month, about ten days, one hundred rabbits. The captain knows, and his relatives may send them. I set up traps near Dongdagou, and Daqiang and Yongqiang also know the place, so we should be able to collect some every day. For rabbits, the big ones are three yuan, the small ones are two yuan and fifty yuan, and those under three kilograms are not accepted." Li Long said:
"The price for fish is 60 cents per kilogram. We'll take any size. But we don't want small crucian carps. We can't give them away."

"Row."

Li Long took out a thick stack of Great Unity and handed it to his elder brother:

"Brother, here's 800 yuan. Use it first. If it's not enough, you can pay for it first."

One rabbit costs three yuan, one hundred costs three hundred. One kilogram of fish costs sixty cents, and one ton costs six hundred, but in reality, they can't collect that much. Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang can get at least two or three hundred kilograms of fish and at least twenty or thirty rabbits in ten days.

So the money should be enough.

Li Jianguo did not refuse and took the money.

When Li Long was talking to his elder brother, Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang also came over. They came back with Li Long after getting the rabbits and were about to go to Xiaohaizi to catch fish when Li Long received a call and went to the captain's house. The two of them did not go to Xiaohaizi first, but waited at the horse shed. In the end, they did not wait for Li Long to come back, so they came here.

"I'm going to the county this afternoon. For the next few days, you guys should go trap rabbits every morning, then go to the small lake to catch fish, and then bring the fish here. The same goes for rabbits. Just write it down every day."

"Brother Long, this is... coming back to life again?"

"Well, there's a job at the sugar factory." Li Long smiled, "Go to Xiaohaizi and tell the Liang family to send the fish to my brother later. The price has increased, 60 cents per kilogram."

"Then if other people want to give it to you, will you accept it?"

"Collect." Li Long said, "Collect all."

What he knows more than others is that materials are more valuable than money now. He also has more connections and channels than others.

The villagers kept these things but couldn't sell them for money, or they just traded them on a small scale in Ma County. Zhao Laoshi did go to Shicheng, but he was not prepared and was beaten and robbed.

Not many people can accumulate enough capital and expand their network of contacts to a large enough scale in such a short period of time like Li Long.

There are such people, but they simply left the team early and settled in Shicheng or Wucheng instead of staying here.

After all, in the dualistic social environment at that time, city dwellers were superior.

This is also the reason why many people don’t understand Li Long - with his current wealth, he can obviously live a very good life in the city.

After arranging this matter, Li Long had lunch at his eldest brother's house and then rode his bicycle to the county.

There were two rabbits and two bags of fish on the back of the bicycle, some of which were for Gu Xiaoxia and the others, and some for Li Xiangqian.

So Li Long rode his bike to the big yard first, put his things down, and then went to the supply and marketing cooperative.

Li Xiangqian was playing poker with two colleagues in the office. There was nothing much to do in the supply and marketing cooperative in winter. There was nothing to do during normal times. Now there was no need to clear the snow. They either read newspapers or played poker. To be honest, no one cared about such a unit.

"Xiao Li is here? Sit down first, and wait for me to finish this fight." Li Xiangqian pointed at the wooden row chairs after seeing Li Long and said, "What are you talking about?"

"We caught wild rabbits and a few fish over there. There's a small lake to the south of the village. We usually break holes in the ice and catch some fish."

"Not bad, not bad." Li Xiangqian said casually, "It seems that you are living a good life."

"Haha, so-so."

Li Long sat down and started looking at the cards without saying anything else.

After playing a hand, Li Xiangqian got to the top. He happily mixed up the cards and said:

"Okay, let's not fight today. I have something to do here. You guys go and do your own things."

After the two of them left with their cards, Li Xiangqian asked:
"Xiao Li, what are you doing lately?"

"Not really idle. After sending them away last time, I went home to catch some rabbits and fish." After Li Long sent Qi Jingyue and the others away last time, he went straight home without coming to Li Xiangqian. He felt that something was wrong.

"Well, last time those three young men went back and praised you to their masters. You did a good job." Li Xiangqian didn't care and said with a smile:

"Okay, I'm so proud of you. They called and said they wanted to thank you very much. They said the three young men had changed a bit after returning home and were no longer arrogant. I guess you've beaten their arrogance away."

"Hehe, it's not that exaggerated. I just led them to hunt a few wild animals." Li Long said modestly, "They also wanted to hunt big guys, but they just didn't encounter them."

"Don't be modest. It's a good thing to be more capable. Let those people in the states know that there are also capable people in our small place." Li Xiangqian said:

"What business do you have in this county?"

"Well, the Shicheng Sugar Factory wants some sheep, and I plan to go to the mountains to ask those friends. Do you want any here? If not, I'll get you one just for the New Year. It's much better than the mutton from the food company."

"Just get one. The welfare of the commune is handled by the logistics department, I won't interfere. This year, the food company approved a truckload of sheep early. I know the sheep you have are good, so I didn't take them. I'm waiting for your mutton."

"Okay, I'll get you one when I get back from the mountains." Li Long said with a smile, "Mountain lamb is more fragrant."

"Okay." Li Xiangqian said, "Go and do your thing. I'll call your team if I have any news."

After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, Li Long returned to the big yard. It was a bit late to go to Shicheng now, so he planned to go there early tomorrow morning. There was a short-distance bus at the bus station, so it would be more convenient to take that one.

Before Gu Xiaoxia got off work, Li Long had already built a fire, thawed the frozen rabbit, and started to prepare it.

He planned to make a spicy rabbit for Gu Xiaoxia to try. (End of this chapter)