Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The person who stopped Li Long was the big brother who had come out of the agricultural machinery factory earlier and told Li Long that he could not buy a harvester.

The man was in his thirties, wearing a half-worn cotton hat. He was parked at an intersection outside the farm machinery factory. He was surprised to see Li Long driving a tractor over.

He hurriedly got off the tractor and stopped Li Long.

"Hey, little brother, I thought you would come out soon, so I stopped you to go find that Li Long from Ma County, but you came out with so much. Tell me, how did the farm machinery factory sell it to you?"

The big brother also took out a box of Hongshan cigarettes, took out one and handed it to Li Long.

Li Long turned off the engine and got off the tractor. At this time, it didn't matter whether it blocked the road or not. To be honest, no one cared and there were not many people on the road.

"Because I am Li Long." Li Long took the cigarette, lit it, took a puff, and said with a smile.

"What did you say?" The older man looked incredulous.

"Because I am Li Long." Li Long said happily, "So they sold it to me!"

"Then... why?" The old man still looked unconvinced, "Why should I buy it from you?"

"Because I invented this harvester," Li Long explained. "I told them that I would sell the harvesters in Ma County and Shicheng, and I would not be responsible for other places."

"Why?" The older brother was persistent and got to the bottom of the matter.

"Let me tell you this, brother, where are you from?"

"Shicheng," the elder brother said, "but I'm not from the Corps, I'm from Shicheng Township, and I also farm. I learned about this good thing when I read in the newspaper before the Chinese New Year, and I wanted to get one."

"That's right." Li Long took a puff, but the smoke didn't smell good, so he stopped smoking and just held it. "Because I have set up a cooperative here, we want to slowly harvest the wheat fields nearby."

"So that means I can't buy it?" The elder brother said in a bad tone.

"Why can't we buy it? It's fine." Li Long waved his hand and said, "What we mean is that it's best to unify the purchase price, otherwise, it will form a malicious price-cutting situation.

In addition, you also need to have a general understanding of the harvesting range. For example, if you are harvesting in Shicheng Township, that is fine. But if someone else comes to buy from Shicheng Township in the future, I have to ask clearly which villages they are from and tell them that someone has already harvested in certain villages in Shicheng Township, so let’s not duplicate them.”

"That's... not bad, pretty good." The elder brother understood and his expression eased. "Then how do you guys set the price?"

"Two plots per acre."

"Two dollars? This price..."

"Think about it. It takes a strong laborer three hours, or even longer, to mow one acre of land in hot weather. You can finish it in five minutes, which saves a lot of trouble." Li Long explained, "I have thought carefully about these two dollars. We mowed several thousand acres of land last year, and everyone can accept it."

"Okay then." The elder brother pointed to the harvester on the tractor and said:

"Then sell me one and I'll unload it and load it onto the truck right now."

"Okay, by the way, you didn't ask the price?"

"Yes, yes, yes, how much?" The man was stunned for a moment before he realized, "If it's too expensive, I can't afford it."

"Six hundred for one unit." Li Long said, "Last year's first generation machine was five hundred and fifty, and this year it's the second generation. I fixed some minor problems I found when I was harvesting. Take it back for trial use. Come to me if you have any problems."

"Six hundred per unit, are you sure? Not bad." The elder brother was happy, "I thought it would be at least a thousand!"

The two men threw away their cigarettes, untied the ropes together, unloaded the harvester, and lifted it in front of the big brother's tractor.

Li Long showed his elder brother how to install it and how to start it.

The elder brother was also well prepared. He took out a pencil and a notebook and wrote down every word Li Long said.

"When you get home, you can put the harvester on and run it idle to try it out," Li Long said. "If you have any questions, come to Ma County to find me."

"Okay, okay, okay." After leaving Li Long's address, the eldest brother happily paid the money and drove away on the tractor.

Li Long was also driving the tractor, ready to go back, but then he came to his senses, turned a corner, and ran to the agricultural machinery factory to buy another one from Director Du.

"Comrade Xiao Li, you are really good. You have sold one before leaving Kuitun. It seems that the prospect of this harvester is really good!"

"Maybe ten years." Li Long said, "In ten years, the harvester market will still be very good."

"What about ten years later?" Director Du still took Li Long's words seriously and asked, "Will this harvester be no longer usable after ten years?"

"By then, there will be more new types of commemorative harvesters, and they will be cheaper. Or some farmers will become richer and will not buy harvesters, because they still have to thresh the crops. Commemorative harvesters are more convenient than this one."

Director Du nodded, that's the truth.

"It's a pity that our factory can't produce such complicated agricultural machinery in a short time." Director Du's originally happy face showed a bit of bitterness, "It's too complicated. The technical force and machine workshop required are not what we can afford."

Li Long smiled:

"Big has its advantages, small has its advantages. Just like this harvester, you see, in the past ten years, the profit you made from selling harvesters may not be worse than that from selling tractors. Your factory can also develop into small agricultural auxiliary machinery."

"That's the truth." Director Du pondered.

Li Long didn't explain it clearly. Today's incident made Li Long trust Director Du even more, but there were some things he couldn't say here.

Now is not the time.

When Li Long pulled a group of five harvesters back to Ma County, the sun was already setting.

When Gu Boyuan came over for dinner, he and Li Long unloaded the harvester and placed it at the foot of the wall. Li Long then found something to cover them.

"I will go to Kuitun twice tomorrow and bring back a few more trucks." Li Long said during dinner, "During this period, there have been seven or eight people who came to me to place orders. These five trucks are not enough. And we have to keep a few trucks in our team."

This is a serious matter, so naturally no one will object.

Only Gu Boyuan couldn't help asking:

"Did you encounter any herds of gazelles on your way there or back?"

Apparently, he still remembered what happened last time he went hunting.

"No, not a single one." Li Long shook his head and said, "Maybe they have finished migrating and their activity range is fixed now. Or maybe they will not leave the mountains and head to the desert Gobi in the north until spring."

Gu Boyuan was obviously disappointed, but there was nothing he could do.

After all, this kind of thing cannot be changed by human will.

"Then you should be careful," Gu Xiaoxia said, even though Li Long had run past there many times. "You have to pass through an uninhabited area there. Who knows if there will be bad guys there?"

"Okay, I understand." Li Long responded.

Xiaoxia is a pregnant woman, so Li Long won't say that he has a gun and protection. Just agree to her instructions and remember them.

After breakfast the next day, Li Long was unable to go.

He added hot water into the tractor and added charcoal underneath to heat up the fuel tank and engine. Just as he was shaking the tractor, there was a knock on the door.

Someone came to buy a harvester.

The people who came here were not from other places, but from Letuyi, east of Ma County. In the 1980s, this place was the richest town in Northwest China, and its per capita income was the highest in Northwest China at one time.

Of course, during this special period, the per capita tractor ownership was also the highest in the county.

Today, a farmer from this township who owns a tractor came to buy a harvester.

Li Long naturally welcomes customers when they come to his store, but this uncle, who is nearly fifty years old, is very attentive.

He drove his tractor to the door, explained his purpose, carefully checked the harvester that Li Long had lifted down for him, and then asked Li Long to help him get it on his tractor. Every step was recorded.

Including screwing, belting, starting, stopping and so on.

After completing these processes, he also asked Li Long about parts that are prone to breakage and after-sales issues.

Li Long answered them one by one, and the uncle wrote them all down in a notebook.

Then asked the price.

When he heard that it was 600 yuan per unit, he tried to bargain with Li Long. Li Long refused to bargain, so the uncle said that 600 yuan was actually quite cheap.

After paying the money, Li Long wrote a receipt, which completely concluded the transaction.

Li Long looked at the time and found that two hours had passed.

Fortunately, he couldn't come back on the same day after going to Kuitun, so after sending the old man away, he drove his tractor out of the gate again. At this time, Sister Yang and Han Fang were pushing the tractor over.

Li Long didn't lock the door, signaled to them, and then drove the tractor westward.

When he arrived at the Kuitun Agricultural Machinery Factory, Li Long found that there were a few more harvesters, making a total of five. When Director Du saw Li Long, he complained:

"I was thinking of calling the customers who placed orders these two days and asking them to come pick up the goods, but you just cleared out my stock."

"When will I come next time?" Li Long asked with a smile.

Director Du couldn't do anything about him, so he said:

"At least until the end of February. Some of my customers who have placed orders long ago must get the harvesters first. After all, some of them have already paid deposits."

"Okay, then I'll come back at the end of February after I take this trip away."

Li Long thought that he would only need to come once every two weeks. The production level of the agricultural machinery factory should be two to three machines a day, which is barely enough for the current market.

Director Du also said that they would recruit temporary workers after the spring to expand production capacity. Harvesters are products that have been proven to have broad market prospects, and there is no reason for them not to occupy this market as soon as possible.

Li Long was also very happy. He had made the harvester in advance. It was convenient for him and the people around him would be able to make money together. At the same time, it also solved the problems for many large farmers in advance.

After pulling the harvester, Li Long did not go to look for his second brother Li Anguo, but went to the KT City Guesthouse, where there was a yard and it was safer to park the tractor inside.

The next day after having breakfast at the guesthouse, Li Long drove his tractor back to Ma County.

In mid-to-late February, in less than ten days, all of Li Long's ten harvesters were sold out.

Net income of more than two thousand.

This income rate is a bit fast.

On February 28, when the middle school had already started but the elementary school still had to wait two days, Li Long went to the Kuitun Agricultural Machinery Factory again and brought back five harvesters.

Two days later, he made another trip and brought back five more.

That’s it, I’m still unsure.

By this time the snow on the road had begun to melt. The situation in the city was better, at least the road was paved, and at worst it was gravel.

But the road in the countryside, such as the road from the fourth team to the township, is completely a dirt road.

The snow melted and the road became mud.

Li Long also couldn't remember when this road was paved with gravel. At least gravel roads don't get so much mud on shoes when walking on them during snowmelt or rainy days.

At times like this, Li Juan and Li Qiang couldn't ride their bicycles to school because the mud would quickly clog the bicycle wheels and they would become unable to ride.

Just walk.

And the flood is coming soon.

Li Long went to the mountains again and brought the furniture that he had ordered last time to Halimu's place.

To be honest, the trip he made with his tractor was almost as fast as the trip that the four teams took to the village on bicycles.

It was better when we crossed Wuyi Road from the county to the intersection of Qingshuihe Township. However, going up from the intersection, it was a muddy road. When the tractor passed by, mud spots flew everywhere. The leaf board could not completely block the mud spots, and they were thrown all over the tractor. Li Long himself was not spared.

Fortunately, he had anticipated this and covered the furniture with plastic sheets in advance, otherwise the furniture would have been covered with plastic sheets as well.

The tractor drove all the way to Qingshui River and then went up. When it was almost entering the mountains, things got better.

The snow on the mountainside had not melted much, so there were no mud spots when the tractor drove past. The snow on the road slowly washed away the mud on the tractor tires. When Li Long drove the tractor to Harimu's winter nest, the tractor's tires were already clean.

But the mud spots on the truck bed, the front of the truck, and even on Li Long's body were still there, and some of them had already dried.

Halimu was grazing cattle and sheep near the winter den. When he saw Li Long's appearance, he couldn't help laughing.

Li Long also knew that his head, face and body must be covered with mud. He smiled, took off his hat when he got out of the car, wiped his face, and moved the furniture down with the help of Nathan and Susken.

The furniture was covered with plastic sheeting and was intact. After Li Long unloaded the furniture, he went to the small stream at the bottom of the slope and began to wash his face.

The water was icy cold, even a little bit chilling, but what surprised Li Long was that he saw small fish at the bottom of the water.

These little fish are really tenacious.

Right now the ice at the small lake has not melted completely, so we can't catch fish yet, and the laying of water pipes here cannot proceed.

Judging from the melting of ice here, it will be at least late March.

Li Long was not in a hurry. Anyway, the materials (water pipes) at the supply and marketing cooperative were complete, so he just waited for the right time. After the ice and snow melted, he had to wait until the ground was dry before he could start construction.

It would be impossible for Halimu and his team to move to the summer pasture immediately, so it was still early.

You can wash off the residue on your face and hands, but you can only scrape it off your hair. It’s impossible to wash your hair here with such cold water.

Fortunately, Li Long was used to having a short flat head and his hair was not long, so he just scraped off the hard mud that had caked on his hair and it was considered clean.

There’s nothing you can do about the stains on your clothes, just go back and wash them.

Halimu called Nathan and Susken to go herd the sheep. He rode his horse back to the winter den, shook hands with Li Long, and took him into the house.

I drank milk tea as usual, the milk skin on top was very fragrant.

As the saying goes, it is not cold when it snows, but when it melts. The temperature is not low at this time, but everyone is slowly taking off their clothes. The sun is very exciting to watch. The sun is much higher than in winter. You can feel the temperature of the sun even if you lean against the wall.

But when you stretch your hand outside and there is a slight breeze in the air, it feels very cold, a gloomy feeling.

"Talihar is much better." Halimu told Li Long the good news, "He encountered a wolf while herding sheep a few days ago. He killed it and he is much better after that."

"That's good, that's good." Li Long smiled, "As long as he's feeling better."

Li Long had actually always been worried about this young man. Now that he heard that he was getting better, he was naturally happy.

"I will have the furniture taken away tomorrow. Will you come over tomorrow?"

"I won't come." Li Long shook his head. "Look, I'm almost covered in mud after coming here. It's too difficult to walk. I'll come back when the road is open."

"Okay. By the way, the leader of our animal husbandry team said that the harvester you helped us harvest grass last year was very good. He is thinking about whether he can buy one so that he can harvest grass in our small tribes in the fall."

"Okay." Li Long said, "That harvester is not expensive, just a few hundred dollars."

"Well, I'll talk to them, and when I want to buy it..."

"Just come to me. I'm the only one who can buy it in Shichengma County." Li Long smiled, "I took over the job of buying harvesters for that factory here."

"Good good."

The matter was settled.

Li Long thought that the leader of their animal husbandry team had a good vision. He just didn't know if he knew that person.

Halimu's mother said something and Halimu translated it. The meaning was that Li Long should take off his coat and wash it for him.

Li Long hastily refused. Are you kidding? If I want to wash it, I will probably have to stay in the mountains tonight. He smiled and said:

"I'll change it and wash it when I get home. I'll be back soon. Besides, I'll have to wade through the mud again when I get home, so it's better not to wash it."

This is true. Everyone laughed and it passed.

It was already afternoon when he returned to the county. Li Long originally planned to go to the county to look for the propaganda worker Ma Xiaoyan, but the mud spots on his body made him give up the idea.

The next day, after sending Gu Xiaoxia to the Education Bureau, Li Long went to the county.

When we found Ma Xiaoyan, she was writing materials related to the meeting.

As a propaganda officer, she not only has to write news releases, but also some publicity and educational materials.

Li Long explained his purpose. After learning the details of the process, Ma Xiaoyan readily agreed and asked Li Long to tell her in advance before leaving.

The matter was settled like that.

After coming out of the compound, the original sense of mystery in Li Long's heart disappeared a little.

It’s similar to an ordinary government agency.

When I returned to the yard, I met a stranger waiting there.

Li Long guessed that he was here to buy a harvester again. (End of this chapter)