Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Kuitun used to be a military city, located five kilometers north of the Wuyi Highway. There is a relatively large military station at the corner, which is also a relatively busy military station. Military vehicles, supplies, or the transfer of new and old soldiers coming from Wucheng usually stop here to rest.

There were once several troops stationed in KT city, but later in several major troop reorganizations, some were disbanded or relocated, and in the end there were not many left.

Li Long breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the military station while driving the tractor.

He drove the tractor out from home. Although he took some rests along the way, the constant vibration of the tractor still made him feel as if his whole body, including his internal organs, was shaking. It would take him at least an hour to recover.

They are almost at their destination, so he will naturally be happier and will have a good rest tonight!
The tractor turned right and entered the road leading to KT City. Relying on his memory, Li Long drove directly to the north of the city, where KT City First Construction and Installation Company was located.

Of course, this place is close to the suburbs at present, and farmland is to the north. But decades later, this place is actually in the middle of the city. To the north, there are many units and residential buildings of the Seventh Agricultural Division, and later some parks and scenic spots.

The vegetable farmers who used to grow vegetables in the suburban area north of the construction and installation company have all become rich after their greenhouses were demolished. Farmers who used to grow vegetables here were looked down upon, as they were mostly outsiders, but later they became the envy of everyone.

So, the world is wonderful.

Li Long drove the tractor to the door of the construction and installation company. Seeing that it seemed that the company had already closed for get off work, he parked the tractor aside.

"Are we there yet?" Li Anguo asked first. He was a little excited and a little nervous, nervous about his future.

"We're here, but don't get off yet. I'll go over and scout the way." Li Long said, "Let's find Section Chief Ma first."

Ma Aihong was the section chief of the construction and installation company. Li Xiangqian didn't elaborate on what she was in charge of, and Li Long didn't want to ask. He planned to inquire at the place.

"Okay, then go ask first." Li Anguo and the others admired Li Long's social skills. If you can't do it yourself, then let someone who can do it go.

Li Long picked up a black bag from the tractor and walked towards the door.

The entrance to the construction and installation company is in a small alley. There is no special guard post here. An old man is sweeping the yard. It seems that he is about to close the iron gate after sweeping. Li Long went up to the old man and handed him a cigarette. The old man looked at Li Long and shook his head to indicate that he did not smoke.

"Uncle, I'm from the Ma County Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Our section chief is a friend of your section chief Ma, and he asked me to help deliver some things. May I ask if he's in there now?"

"Section Chief Ma?"

"Well, it's Section Chief Ma Aihong." Li Long explained.

"You are talking about Aihong. They are off work." The old man stopped sweeping the floor. Li Long looked at the large broom made of reed grass and felt that it looked so familiar.

"After get off work?" Li Long looked embarrassed. "What should I do after get off work? This is my first time here, and I don't even know where their house is..."

"Aihong's family doesn't live far away. Look," the old man pointed the way to Li Long enthusiastically, "Go out of our company gate, walk about fifty meters forward, turn right and walk in. Walk less than a hundred meters, turn right again and there is an alley. The second road on the left, the third house is Ma Aihong's yard. His family should be having dinner now."

"Well, thank you, sir." Li Long repeated the route the old man had just given him. After getting the old man's approval, he took out a piece of dried meat from his black bag and handed it over:
"Uncle, this is the dried wild boar meat from our area. Try it. I'm leaving now."

Before the old man could say anything, Li Long turned around and hurried out the door.

"Hey, this young man is quite generous." The old man smiled when he smelled the meat. Although he had a salary here, it was not easy to eat meat. Even a piece of dried meat weighing more than one kilogram would take two days of work to buy.

Li Long arrived at the tractor, cranked the engine, and said as he prepared to drive:
"Section Chief Ma has gone home to eat after get off work. Let's go to his house, deliver the things, and then ask about the situation."

"What about tonight?" Li Anguo thought further ahead, "Should we find a place to stay first?"

"Don't do that yet." Li Long said as he drove, "Ask clearly if you can get in and the company can arrange a place for you to stay, then find a hotel tonight. If the company can't arrange a place for you, then rent a yard."

Li Anguo and Li Junshan both nodded. It seemed that Li Long had thought things through.

pretty good.

Following the path pointed out by the old man, Li Long and his team drove the tractor to the entrance of the alley where Ma Aihong lived. The tractor could not enter here, so he stopped on the side of the road. After turning off the engine, Li Long carried the bag, and Li Anguo, Li Junshan and Yang Yongqiang all got off. Then Li Junshan got on the tractor and said:

"You guys go ahead, I'll wait here. Our luggage is all here, we can't lose it."

"Okay, you just watch first. I'll go ask about the situation. When you mention the people, just say there are three of them."

Li Junshan nodded and sat in the truck.

Li Long took Li Anguo and Yang Yongqiang to the gate of Ma Aihong's courtyard.

There are rows of courtyards here - the courtyards are not very large. Looking at the outer walls, each one is only about 7 or 8 meters wide and about 10 meters deep, which is the depth of the courtyard and the house together. Although he has not entered yet, Li Long guessed that vegetables cannot be grown in this courtyard, and at most some things can be placed.

He could hear the sounds of radios and televisions in some people's homes, as well as children crying and adults scolding. Occasionally, he could even hear the crowing of chickens, which surprised Li Long a little.

Can I still raise chickens?

The iron gate was closed and Li Long knocked on it.

There were voices inside, and Li Long could hear footsteps walking out, and a woman was asking:

"Who?"

"Hello, we are here from the Ma County Supply and Marketing Cooperative to look for Section Chief Ma."

Li Long believed that Li Xiangqian should have contacted Ma Aihong over the phone. He explained their whereabouts and the other party should know their purpose.

The iron gate opened, and a middle-aged woman looked at Li Long and the others with some surprise:

"You guys are from Ma County? Are you here to look for our old Ma?"

The woman's hair was permed and dyed, which looked a bit fashionable. She had an ordinary appearance and spoke Mandarin, which surprised Li Long.

"Yes, our Section Chief Li is a friend of Section Chief Ma." Li Long said with a smile, "Let us bring some things to Section Chief Ma."

The woman immediately looked at the black bag in Li Long's hand. The black bag was quite large and looked quite heavy. It should contain a lot of things, right?
"Let him in." A man inside spoke.

"Come in, come in." A smile appeared on the woman's face.

Li Long then walked in sideways, followed by Li Anguo and Yang Yongqiang.

The corridor was a bit narrow, with a small house on the left, a small courtyard inside, and the main house inside. Li Long just glanced and seemed to see a cement-built single room against the wall in the corner, which was smaller than the toilet. There was a curtain hanging at the door, and a black-painted oil barrel was placed on the single room. He immediately realized that this was a homemade solar shower.

Not bad, not bad, quite clever.

As soon as you enter the house, you will see the combination of the living room and the dining room. A man in his thirties is sitting at the table eating, and a little girl of seven or eight is looking at Li Long and his friends curiously. At this time, both men and women have a lot of hair, and it is rare to see bald heads - really rare.

"Hello, Chief Ma, my name is Li Long, and I'm an employee of the Ma County Supply and Marketing Cooperative," Li Long introduced himself, "This is my brother Li Anguo, this is my friend Yang Yongqiang, and outside is my nephew Li Junshan, who is looking at the tractor..."

"You drove a tractor here?" Ma Aihong's face was calm at first, but when she heard that Li Long drove a tractor here, her eyes lit up and she asked, "Is it your own tractor? What kind? A hand-held one or a small four-wheeler?"

"It's mine, a small four-wheeler with twelve horsepower." Li Long smiled.

"Not bad, not bad!" Ma Aihong's expression suddenly became lively. "Young people are quite capable. When Xiang Qian told me this, I didn't quite believe it. Now it seems that we shouldn't underestimate people."

"Section Chief Li asked me to bring you something." Li Long took out a wolf skin from his black bag and said:

"This is a wolf skin. Section Chief Li said he hadn't seen it for a long time. Since I'm here, please ask me to bring it to you. There is also a bag of dried meat. It's wild boar meat I got when I hunted in the mountains in winter. It tastes pretty good. This is a bag of dried salted fish. We caught it in the village reservoir. They are all wild. Give it to the children as a snack."

"Haha, Xiang Qian would never give me this. This was your idea, right? Your name is Li Long, right? Young man, you really made your section chief proud." Ma Aihong saw through Li Long's trick at a glance, "Not bad, not bad."

Ma Aihong's wife was watching from the side. When she saw the dried meat and fish, her eyes lit up. Looking at the two large bags, each bag must be at least five or six kilograms, which is not a small amount! The dried meat can be steamed and cut into small pieces for cooking. It can be eaten for a long time!
"Hurry up and sit down." The woman asked Li Long and the others to sit down. "You haven't had dinner yet. I'll make you some food."

In fact, the house itself is not big, if you want to sit, you can only squeeze together and sit on the sofa. The Ma family has an old-fashioned cloth sofa, but Li Long and his friends didn't dare to sit on it, fearing that the sofa would be broken by three young men.

"No, no, no," Li Long put away the empty bag and said with a smile:

"Sister-in-law, you go about your business. We'll be leaving soon." He didn't dare let the woman really cook for them. Three grown men, if they really ate enough, could eat as much as the Ma family would eat in three days.

Hearing what Li Long said, Ma Aihong smiled and said:
"That's fine. There are a lot of you, so I won't keep you any longer. The company is looking for temporary workers this time, and they want a lot of people. I heard from Xiang Qian that some of you have done heavy work before, right?"

"Yes," Li Long nodded quickly.

"Well, skilled workers have advantages and are the talent we urgently need. This year, the construction and installation work here is very large, and the company will also expand in the future. You came at the right time... Xiao Li, you have a tractor, right? Are you interested in working with us?"

"I... I'm an employee of the supply and marketing cooperative." Li Long smiled bitterly, "I have to go back there."

"How about this?" Ma Aihong said with a smile, "I can't force you to stay here. But you can help me for a few days. There are not many trucks transporting sand and gravel here, and most of them are animal-powered trucks, so you can help me transport sand and gravel for a few days.

Look, I won't let you work for nothing. How about 10 yuan for one truck? And you just need to haul the materials, you don't have to worry about loading and unloading. If you haul the materials like this, I can arrange work for your relatives and friends, and I can also have something to say to the boss, how about it?"

He has said this now, what else can Li Long say?

But he still had to ask the key question, so he said:
"Captain Ma, does your company provide dormitories for my second brother and his family, or do they rent a house outside?"

"Come over tomorrow when you go to work. I'll bring people to recruit workers at the gate and arrange accommodation for you first. You have a tractor, so your treatment will be better than theirs. I can arrange accommodation for you in a guesthouse for a symbolic fee. They live in dormitories with bunk beds. How about that?"

"That's great." Li Long smiled. "Thank you, Chief Ma. We won't delay your meal. See you tomorrow! Kids, see you tomorrow! By the way, kids, this is a wolf thigh stone. It can ward off evil spirits. Give it to you to play with." Li Long took out a wolf thigh stone and placed it on the table, then left with Li Anguo and the others.

"The young man is pretty good." The woman saw Li Long and the others off, closed the iron gate, and came back to happily look through the dried meat and salted fish.

"It's pretty good." Section Chief Ma looked at the wolf skin, then at the wolf thigh stone on the table, and said with admiration:

"Who would have thought that Li Xiangqian would have such a capable person under his command? If I had this person here, my job would be much easier!"

"Then why don't you keep him here?" the woman said, "How could he not want to work in the city? If he's willing, why don't you just tell Li Xiangqian?"

"No, no, no." Ma Aihong shook her head and said, "No way. Li Xiangqian said that this guy doesn't want to be a worker, and he doesn't want to get paid to eat commercial grain. He hunts in the winter and sells fish in the summer, and he makes more money than us - you just heard that he drives a tractor, but it's not the company's, he bought it himself! The most I can let him stay and work for a few days... Alas, what a good seedling."

Ma Aihong is the head of the engineering department. Because it is a state-owned unit, their projects are arranged by the higher-ups, so they don't need to run around for projects. But when they are working, they involve many brother units, which requires coordination. He is good at directing people to work, but he is not very good at coordinating relationships. Seeing Li Long's behavior and words when he came in just now, he felt that if he let Li Long coordinate the relationships between the units, he would definitely be able to do a good job.

This person's words and actions give people a very comfortable feeling. What's the word for that? "Like a spring breeze" means this.

Ma Aihong thought about keeping Li Long for a few days and offering him a higher salary to see if she could keep him. Of course, the chances of this happening were slim, after all, the salary she could offer was not high. But Li Long had relatives and friends working here, so he might come here often in the future. Who knows?
After Li Long and the others went out, Li Anguo and Yang Yongqiang both showed excitement on their faces. This first step was a solid step!
Li Junshan looked at the three people coming over with a smile and asked:

"How? Can it work?"

"It's OK. Just wait at the company gate tomorrow morning." Li Long said with a smile, "Not only you guys are here, but I have to stay for a few days too, and do some work first."

It's good to earn some money. Anyway, I'm in Ma County now and there's not much work to do, so I can relax for a while.

Of course, the time cannot be long. We still have to arrange furniture in the house and prepare for the wedding. Many things have to go on.

"Let's go find a place to stay." Li Long waved his hand, "Then find a place to eat. I'm starving."

"I'm hungry too!" Li Anguo said with a smile, "I didn't feel anything before, but now that this matter has come to fruition, I feel hungry all of a sudden."

There was a hotel nearby, and Li Long and his friends found a four-person room. Originally, they needed a letter of introduction, but Li Long took out his certificate to register, and the other party didn't say anything more. He also took the initiative to explain that there was hot water for washing feet at night.

After Li Long and his companions put their luggage and the tractor's crank in, they went to the front desk to ask where they could find a place to eat nearby. They enthusiastically pointed out that there was a state-owned canteen near the 131 Party School, which was serving food.

Li Long and his friends hurried over.

The food was average—or, to be more precise, similar to the food in the canteens in Shicheng and Ma County.

In fact, compared with many restaurants in later generations, it is much better. The ingredients are natural, not overcooked, the taste is good, and the portion is large. Except for Li Long, everyone else is quite satisfied with the meal.

After dinner, they strolled back to the hotel - this meal was paid for and stamped by Li Anguo, who insisted on treating Li Long, and Li Long did not insist, as it was only a matter of a few dollars.

It was already dark. At this time, the city did not have the various night scenes of later generations. The only lights that could be seen were from the windows of each household. Although they were not very bright, the light of the incandescent lamps slowly shone through, occasionally one by one, which was quite warm.

Back at the hotel, we chatted for a while, then soaked our feet. Li Long was the first to fall asleep - he was too tired after driving all day. It was mainly because of the vibration - but we had to get used to it, after all, when we harvest wheat in the summer, it takes at least an hour to thresh it.

It was even more of a test under the scorching sun at that time.

Li Anguo and the others fell asleep one after another, but Yang Yongqiang couldn't fall asleep for a long time.

Do I really want to stay here and work?

Being a worker was once Yang Yongqiang's dream, but now that the opportunity is right in front of him, he hesitates.

Maybe it would be better to stay in the village, catch fish and trap rabbits with Li Long, and go hunting in the mountains. You can make a lot of money and live freely.

Which one to choose? (End of this chapter)