Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

When Li Long turned his head, he found that the person who called him was Yusup, the dealer who sold Hetian jade.

Yusup did not run over. He was setting up a stall on the roadside over there. He just walked a few steps towards this side, looking back from time to time at the things on the stall.

Li Long walked over to Yusup, smiled and stretched out his hand and said:

"Hello, hello, brother Yusup, why are you setting up a stall here? Didn't you sell all your jade to the jade factory before?"

Yusup shook hands with Li Long, sighed and said:
"People like us make a little money by dealing between jade farmers and factories. Recently, a state-owned factory has opened a mine in Hotan, and the jade carving factory directly gets materials from the state-owned mine, and gets less materials from us. Besides, it's winter now, and fewer jade farmers are digging for jade. We can't collect jade, so we can only sell the inventory, and there are fewer people collecting jade. Now, there is no other way. I plan to sell the jade on hand, and then buy raisins to sell in the south..."

Li Long found this a bit absurd - after all, selling jade is better than selling raisins, right?
But then he reacted.

It is 1983, and the former richest man in the autonomous region started his business by selling raisins. At that time, many people carried a sack of raisins and a bag of naan, took the train to the south to sell them, and then bought the fashionable things from the south and sold them here.

These people keep struggling back and forth, and as long as they are not caught, most of them will soon become the first batch of millionaires here, and then start to tinker with other industries, and step by step become outstanding wealthy people in various states.

The Hetian jade at that time was really cheap. Not to mention it, even in the 1990s, the Qinghai material, which was quite expensive in later generations, was sold for several thousand yuan a truckload - in another ten or twenty years, you could only buy one piece for several thousand yuan a year.

It is said that someone in Baiyu River got a lot of first-grade white jade ore and put it in his basement and sealed it with cement. No one knows whether it is true or not - if it is true, then if he keeps it for 20 to 30 years, he will definitely be a billionaire.

Of course, it's just hearsay, just like the imperial green jadeite that can be found in gambling on jade, it's all a legend.

"Then let me see your jade." Since he was here and had come across it, Li Long wanted to take a look. Anyway, this thing will definitely appreciate in value after a few years of purchase, and it will continue to appreciate. After all, jade culture is engraved in the bones of the Chinese people. It is unique in the world that there was a jade culture era before the Bronze Age. This thing is already in the genes.

"Okay, okay." Yusup called Li Long to stop him for the same reason. This young man was younger than him and had been selling jasper seed material when he first came. Although Yusup did not look down on Li Long, he still felt a little superior.

But as they met and interacted with each other again and again, he discovered that this young man was very capable, at least more capable than him. He was not only dealing with jade, but also doing other things. It seemed that he made more money and faster than himself.

"You have good eyesight. You recognized me even from such a distance." Li Long said with a smile while looking at Yusup's stall.

"There's nothing we can do." Yusup smiled. "For people like us, doing business requires good eyesight. If you want to sell things here, you have to have good eyesight. Otherwise, if you can't see people who want to buy things, you won't make much money that day."

Li Long nodded and said nothing more, but began to look at the jade on the stall.

Yusup's booth is not big, with a blanket that is about 1.2 meters long and 1 meter wide, on which are placed jade stones of all sizes. The front row is full of small pieces, with or without skin, but the smallest ones are the size of a fist, and the largest ones are the size of a football.

These jades are basically seed materials, including white jade, green jade, and black jade, but the main one is white jade. After all, white jade has the highest price these days.

Li Long immediately fell in love with a piece of white jade weighing two or three kilograms. It was covered with a piece of gold-sprinkled skin. The image looked a bit like a person sitting cross-legged, which was very beautiful.

Li Long once suspected that the leather might be fake?
He picked up the jade and looked at it. It felt very delicate and a little cool. The leather looked intact, with no signs of any processing.

He felt that his idea was a bit ridiculous. Yusup was in a hurry to sell the house but couldn't, so how could he still think of making fake ones?

"How much is this?" Li Long looked up and asked.

"This one is 120 yuan. You can take it." Yusup said, "I didn't give you a bad price. This jade used to be sent to a jade factory for at least 160 yuan. But now jade factories only accept large pieces of jade. They don't like small pieces like this."

Li Long thought that 120 yuan was also OK. After all, even if he was a layman, he could tell that this was real mutton-fat jade. Even if it was not top-grade, it was still very good.

"Yes. But you have to give me some small materials, not the ones on your stall, the small ones in your bag will do." Li Long knew that Yusup must have those small materials in the sack beside the stall. The factory would not accept such small materials, and jade farmers usually would not cherish them when they dug them out, and middlemen would also take some when they bought jade.

"Okay, okay. Take a look and see if you want anything else. I have a lot of good things here." After the order was completed, Yusup was very happy.

Li Long picked out a few pieces of seed material weighing less than one kilogram. They all looked good, but they were not big. The price given by Yusup was also cheap. All the money added up made up two hundred yuan.

Of course, there were quite a few deals. Yusup took out a handful of small seeds as big as finger eggs, quail eggs and even pigeon eggs from the bag and stuffed them into Li Long's bag.

"I can only give you one piece of business in a day, that's enough." Yusup took the money from Li Long and said happily, "Alas, business is too difficult now. The factory doesn't want this jade, and ordinary people don't buy it. It's too difficult."

Li Long has a use for his money, otherwise he would have bought up all the seed materials from Yusup.

But the truth is that it is not that easy. He estimated that all the jades added together would cost at least one or two thousand yuan. Firstly, he did not have that much cash, and secondly, he was not a jade dealer, so having some would be enough.

"Adasi, what are you doing in Wucheng this time? You are not here to sell jade, are you?" Yusup carefully put the money into his inner pocket, patted it gently, and asked Li Long.

"No, I don't sell jade, and I haven't found any good jade recently." Li Long packed the jade and said to him:
"I'm going to the seed company to ask if they have any melon seeds."

"Picking melons? I don't know. Which seed company are you going to?" Yusup was in a good mood now and asked proactively.

"Which one? How many?"

"There are two big ones. The Corps' seed company and the autonomous region's seed company." Yusup knew Wucheng very well, at least better than Li Long. Although Li Long had worked as an apprentice here before, he had visited few places, and most of them were places selling goods.

"I want to go and see both of them." Li Long said after thinking for a while.

"Then the Corps is in Tianshan District, and the Autonomous Region is in Sha District. If you want to go there, take different buses." Yusup gave him instructions, "Go early if you want to go. The two places are quite far apart. If you go too late, you won't be able to return to your county today."

Yusup told Li Long how to take the bus, which made Li Long very grateful.

"No, no, I'm very grateful that you bought my jade." Yusup said with a smile, "As Adasi, we should help each other. Okay, go and do your thing."

Li Long waved at him and left with his bag. Just then a bus came and Li Long ran over and got on it. When the bus passed by Yusup's jade stall, he waved at Li Long in the bus.

Following Yusup's instructions, Li Long easily found the Corps Seed Company.

This is a two-story building. There is a store on the first floor and the windows on the second floor are open. Li Long guessed that it should be an office. After taking a look at the wooden sign of the Bingtuan Seed Company, Li Long pushed the door and walked in.

It was still an old-style wooden counter, and a woman in her fifties was sorting out the various seeds behind the counter.

"Hello, comrade. I would like to ask if you have any melon seeds here." Li Long asked proactively.

"Playing with melons?" The aunt glanced at Li Long and asked:

"Do you want to grow melons? Not many people ask this question, and even fewer know about it."

"Yes." Seeing the curious expression on the aunt's face, Li Long explained, "Our village started to contract production to each household last year. This year, we may have to contract out the land. Planting ordinary grains is not very profitable, so I want to try growing melons."

"It's a good idea, but do you know how to grow melons? The soil, fertilizer, sowing method, field management, including water use, are all different from those of ordinary grain crops."

"I remember, it should be sandy, right?" Li Long was a little like a primary school student being asked a question. The key point was that this auntie's temperament was really like a professor or lecturer. Although it was just a normal question, Li Long subconsciously stuttered and spoke like a student:

"The sand is right." Auntie gave an appreciative feedback.

"Then, let's plant it on demand," Li Long thought for a while and said, "It should be similar to the planting of watermelons. In addition, it is best to make ridges so that the watermelons will not be soaked when watering..."

That was all he could remember.

"It's OK, I know a little bit, but not everything." Auntie nodded, then shook her head and said:
"To grow melons, we must use sandy soil and cultivated land with little salt and alkali. We sow seeds in a hole, three or five seeds in each hole. We need one and a half to two kilograms of seeds per mu of land. We must frequently weed and till the soil to prevent weeds and melon seedlings from competing for fertilizer. The seeds must be dried before planting, and then soaked in water for a day to make them easier to germinate..."

The female comrade explained everything to Li Long word by word, and Li Long now regretted that he did not bring a pen and paper to write it down.

"... Well, that's about it. To be honest, there aren't many people who grow melons in Xinjiang, but the price of melon seeds is quite high. You can imagine that you have a unique vision. We have some melon seeds here, not much, about 20 kilograms... you see..."

"Yes, I want it!" Li Long said hurriedly. "You want it without asking the price." The aunt smiled and said, "It's not cheap. But if you plant it well, you can get a harvest from one acre of land. We also collect melon seeds here, but of course the quality has to be better."

"Okay, okay, then how much is one kilogram?" Li Long started to take out the money.

"Seven dollars and a half," the woman said. "How many kilograms do you want? Let's make it clear first. We won't charge that much when we buy it. Three dollars at most."

"Got it. I want them all." Li Long said excitedly, "Can I come and ask you for advice when I have time?"

"Haha, I don't deserve your advice, but I will probably stay here for a while." The aunt said with a smile, "Of course, not sure how long, maybe a year, or maybe less."

"Where are you going?" Li Long hesitated and asked. Obviously, the man in front of him should be a great man, and it was indeed a waste of his talent to stay in this small seed company.

"I used to be from the Bayi Agricultural College, and maybe I will go back there in the future," said the aunt with emotion.

He is indeed a powerful person!

Li Long felt that he was lucky today.

"How do you plan to sow the melons?" the man asked while weighing the seeds for Li Long.

"On-demand seeding." Li Long said, "I plan to go to the farm tool factory and ask someone to make a tool for on-demand seeding. It's the kind with a tube in the middle and a mechanism on top. There are seeds inside, and a pointed opening at the bottom that is controlled by the mechanism on top. You poke the ground and press the mechanism, and the pointed opening will spit out a few seeds. Then, release it and the pointed opening will close. This will make planting more convenient..."

This is the tool that Li Long bought from Laojie when he was planting cotton and corn in his later life. There is also a hand-pushed wheeled seed drill. No need for a machine, just push it manually, which is more convenient, faster and more efficient than the seed drill mentioned earlier. At that time, I bought this to make up for the seedlings. After all, the strong winds in the early spring every year will cause a lot of seedlings to be lost during sowing. The cost of reseeding is too high. It is difficult to control the reseeding with a machine, so I do it manually.

This thing is very suitable now when mechanization is not yet popular, and the principle is very simple. Li Long believes that this thing should be of great use.

"You're really... you came up with this idea yourself?" The aunt understood after a brief thought. She asked with some surprise, "This is really a good thing! Have you worked in an agricultural machinery factory?"

Li Long was embarrassed, but since the real inventor hadn't come out yet, he might as well claim the title first. He nodded and said:
"No, I'm just a farmer, and I just thought about it. After all, manual seeding is OK for one or two acres of land, but it's too troublesome for more than ten acres, so I thought of this thing, but I haven't put it into practice yet."

"It will definitely work." The man nodded. "In fact, you can cooperate with the agricultural machinery factory. You teach them the method and let them manufacture it for you. After they sell it, they can give you a share of the profits. After all, it was your invention..."

It is now 1983, and people are no longer as secretive about talking about money as before. The country encourages everyone to get rich, so it is legitimate to make money based on your own ability.

Li Long hadn't really thought about it so much, but now that he thinks about it, he feels that this is really a good way.

Originally, he thought he could just go to the farm machinery repair shop in the village and ask someone to order one. But now it seems that the farm machinery repair shop in the village is a bit small. At least it should be an enterprise like the Dongfanghong Tractor Factory in Shicheng. The one in Wucheng is not bad. After all, ordinary wheat and corn sowing can be mechanized with special sowing machines. But some cash crops are not sown with such sowing machines.

For example, for cotton, special seed drills and drill row machines were later introduced.

This kind of thing is considered a mechanized supplement and has a very large market.

"Here, I'll weigh it for you." Auntie weighed the bag of more than 20 pieces of sunflower seeds on the scale. "Twenty-one and a half kilograms, enough to grow ten acres of land. I'll give you an invoice."

Li Long took out the ticket to pay, looked at the bag, and then looked at the bag he brought, which seemed to be too small. He didn't expect to be able to buy it directly, and the black bag he brought was a little small, mainly to ask.

"Just take the bag. We only have this much stuff anyway." After counting the money, the aunt opened the drawer and put the money in. She smiled and said:

"If you have any questions, you can come and ask me. By the way, if I'm not here in the future, you can come to the Bayi Agricultural College to find me. My name is Wu Shuyi."

"My name is Li Long, thank you! Goodbye!" Li Long wrote down the name, picked up the bag and turned to go out. When he reached the door, he suddenly stopped again, took something out of his bag, turned around and put it on the counter, and said a little embarrassedly:

"Comrade, this is for you, thank you!"

After saying that, he hurried out with the bag.

Wu Shuyi was stunned for a moment, then looked at what Li Long placed on the counter.

It was a piece of Hetian jade seed material, slightly smaller than a fist, with a reddish-brown skin, and looked very beautiful.

"This young man is quite interesting." Wu Shuyi picked up the seed material and looked at it carefully. She didn't think the jade was valuable, but she felt that Li Long was really different from the customers she had met before.

Then he put the jade into his pocket and continued to organize the seeds on the counter.

Work one day at a time and take responsibility for that day.

Li Long went out of the door, feeling a little nervous. He looked back, fearing that the aunt would chase him out, and then he smiled.

Okay, today’s trip ends here. We don’t need to go to the other seed company. These 20 kilograms of seeds should be enough for the trial planting.

After all, you can't do too much at the beginning.

Go back.

Li Long carried the bag of seeds and went to the bus stop.

While waiting for the bus, Li Long smelled the aroma of rice, and then he remembered that it was almost afternoon when he arrived here and he hadn't had lunch yet.

hungry.

Following the smell, he turned his head and saw a canteen not far away. Seeing that there was no sign of a car approaching, he turned towards the canteen.

There weren't many people in the cafeteria. It was not meal time anymore, so two or three people were eating. They had soup, rice, and noodles.

Seeing garlic on the table, Li Long ordered some fried pork noodles, paid the money and ticket, sat at the table and started peeling garlic.

When the noodles were served, Li Long subconsciously compared them with those in Ma County and Shicheng.

The noodles here are a little thinner and the meat smell is a little stronger, but it is acceptable.

"Two with noodles." Li Long stretched out his hand and gestured, "One with noodle soup."

Then he put the peeled garlic into the noodle bowl, poured the vegetables on top, stirred it with chopsticks, and started eating with big mouthfuls.

In less than a minute, two bowls of noodles were served. Li Long poured the two small bowls of noodles into the noodle bowl, stirred them a few times and continued eating.

Eating voraciously is just like that.

Noodles cannot be eaten in batches. They taste better when eaten together. The second bowl will never be as delicious as the first, so just eat the first bowl forever.

After eating a big bowl of noodles and drinking some soup to relieve the greasiness, Li Long felt that life could not be more satisfying than this.

He doesn't want to move anymore.

After a while, he stood up reluctantly, wiped his mouth, and walked out holding the black bag in his left hand and the bag of melon seeds in his right hand.

As soon as he went out, he saw a bus parked at the bus stop. It was the bus he wanted to take, so he immediately quickened his pace and rushed over. The bus driver had already started the bus, but when he saw Li Long, he stepped on the brakes and stopped.

Li Long was happy. He was really lucky today! (End of this chapter)