Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

That afternoon, Lu Yingming and Tao Jianshe gathered at Li Jianguo's home to discuss setting off early the next morning.

Li Jianguo thought that since he had to go, he should leave early, clean up the winter den, dig holes and cut strips. Maybe by dark tomorrow, he could weave two or three bands.

"I'll drive Xiaolong's tractor. Tomorrow morning after breakfast, Lao Lu, you bring your luggage over. Then the two of us will go to Lao Tao's house to load your luggage, and then we can go to the county to buy some things to prepare."

I have been there several times, so I am familiar with the procedures.

"Okay, let's go pack up now." Lu Yingming and Tao Jianshe just listened to the message. They actually wanted Li Jianguo to send tractors, which would be more convenient.

Why are the Li family so appealing? It’s not just because Li Long can bring money-making jobs to the team, and it’s not just because Li Jianguo is a village founder. There is another very important reason: they are not stingy. If there is any problem, they will really help if they have tools and supplies.

After the two of them left, Li Jianguo began to pack his things. He knew what to take, and so did Liang Yuemei. They were only gone for ten days, so there was no sadness. Li Qingxia said in the yard:

"Go, go, I'll do the farm work. Don't look at my age, I can still do the weeding and other work."

"I know you're capable." Du Chunfang muttered, "Then don't catch fish anymore, just work hard in the fields... I'll go too."

"Then what are you going to do? You have to cook at home?" Li Qingxia said, "...Okay, you can go too. We can come back early to cook."

Li Qingxia realized what Du Chunfang meant and had to avoid suspicion.

While Li Jianguo had packed up his things, Li Long had already rushed back from Qingshui River. He picked up Li Jianguo and took him to the county.

Gu Xiaoxia hadn't gotten off work yet. Li Jianguo looked at Mingming Haohao, then frowned at the four little red deer, two little goats, Xiaohei's dog, and a few little hedgehogs sneaking around the wall, and said,
"You can open a zoo here, will this affect Mingming Haohao?"

"They are so happy." Li Long said with a smile, "It's even more fun to have the little animals playing with them than with us."

"Well... okay." Li Jianguo thought about it and it made sense. It was obvious that Haohao was not in the county as he was in the countryside. There weren't so many children here to play with. The child would definitely be lonely here, so it would be good to have some small animals to keep him company.

He drove the tractor back to the team and loaded the things on it when he got home.

When Lu Yingming heard the noise, he came out and saw Li Jianguo driving the tractor back, so he loaded his packed luggage on it.

"It's great that you have two tractors." Lu Yingming was really envious. "You can go wherever you want."

"Hehe." Li Jianguo smiled. He had a hard time in the first twenty years, especially when he was with Li Long.

Li Long was sent here by his father when he was 11 or 12 years old. He was at the age when he had a big appetite, and the young boy was eating his father out of money. The food rations in his hometown were scarce, otherwise Li Long would not have been sent here.

But this was a production team, and that was also the era of the collective. At the end of the year, the grain distributed to each family was enough to eat, but it had to be a combination of coarse and fine grains.

As the eldest brother, Li Jianguo wanted to take care of his younger brother, so he fed Li Long the same fine grains as Li Juan and Li Qiang. What to do if there was not enough fine grains at home? He would exchange coarse grains with others.

What to do if the coarse grains are not enough in the end? Then you can only do some side jobs within a reasonable range.

Although Li Long seemed to be a familiar figure when he went to Shicheng to set up a stall, in fact, when Li Jianguo was setting up a stall, he was still enjoying himself at home. There was no money to buy seasonings, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar at home, so Li Jianguo picked celery and coriander from his own vegetable garden, washed them, tied them into small bunches, and ran to Shicheng to set up stalls in various family compounds before dawn.

A handful of five cents, hard-earned money.

He and Gu Boyuan had done the same thing in the past: catching fish to sell. During the slack season, they would get a large sack, find a wet canal, block both ends, pour out the water with a basin, and pick up the fish inside.

One person carried half a sack of fish to the county - it was too heavy to go to Shicheng, so he went from street to street to sell fish. At that time, people were poor, and it was impossible for them to earn dozens of yuan at a time like Li Long did by selling fish - at the end of the day, earning three or five yuan was already a very happy thing.

In the 1970s, three or five dollars was a lot.

Then we dug licorice and followed the sideline team to dig Fritillaria. We went through all kinds of hardships.

When Li Jianguo saw Li Long's expression later, he once thought that he might have done something wrong. He doted on his younger brother too much, causing him to lose track of inside and outside.

Now it seems that Li Long has repaid double what he had paid before. Isn't it partly because of his younger brother that he has such a good life now?
The luggage had not been packed yet when Xie Yundong came over on his bicycle.

"Uncle Li, we plan to leave early tomorrow morning. I heard that you guys share a tractor. Do you want one?"

"Are you leaving tomorrow morning too?" Li Jianguo was a little surprised.

"Well, I plan to go there early and get the dugout ready so I can start cutting strips in the afternoon."

Li Jianguo smiled. It seemed that Xie Yundong wanted to go with him.

"Okay, let's go together. We'll set off after breakfast tomorrow. We'll go to the county to buy some things."

"Yes, yes, yes. I told Lao Huang that we need to buy some things. I'll pay for it first, and we can share the money later."

In the past, someone had to cook, and it was always Lao Huang, and that was good enough.

After Xie Yundong had discussed it, he rode his bicycle home. When he passed by the Lao Ma Hao, he saw Xu Haijun pushing his bicycle out. When Xu Haijun saw Xie Yundong, he hurriedly called out.

Xie Yundong rode his bike to Xu Haijun, stopped and asked with a smile:

"What, is it done?"

Many people have actually seen what Xu Haijun's intention is in helping here. Some people have nothing to do during the day and just stand around the horse house to watch the fun.

"No, I talked to Professor Luo today and I won't come tomorrow. I have to go into the mountains to weave the handles tomorrow."

"Then here... that college student... there is no progress?" Xie Yundong's question was a bit confusing, but Xu Haijun understood. He blushed and then said:
"What progress can we make? But I calculated that they will still be here after I finish the editing. I will come back then."

Xu Haijun was very decisive. He made a choice in just half a day.

Chasing college students is a very important thing, but making money is a more important thing.

Otherwise, with his current family background, even if he really succeeded in getting He Lijuan, her family would not agree - and she would not be able to live with him in the countryside.

So he must have a certain amount of financial strength - now he has figured it out, no wonder both these college students and Cadre Jiang are asking about Li Long.

If I had Li Long's family background and strength, it probably wouldn't be so difficult to pursue a college student.

A jeep can make these college students ignore the gap between farmers and college students - don't underestimate this 212, it is not much worse than the later Mercedes-Benz and Rolls-Royce.

"How are you going to get there?" Xie Yundong asked, "We'll drive two tractors there tomorrow."

"I'm going to go back to the captain and borrow his tractor now," Xu Haijun said. "When we get there and drop off our stuff, he'll drive the tractor back."

He was still confident about this - after hunting the yellow sheep in winter, Xu Haijun became the most promising young man in the family in Xu Chengjun's eyes.

Young people who are smart, good at planning and decisive will definitely have a bright future.

"Okay, then we'll go together." Xie Yundong said, "Meet at the Lao Ma No. tomorrow morning."

"it is good."

After Xu Haijun responded, he got on his bike and rode to Xu Chengjun's house.

"Have you thought it through?" Xu Chengjun asked after hearing Xu Haijun's plan. "If you have, I will replace you with someone else to supply the Mahao. When you come back, I won't be able to replace you again."

"I've thought about it." Xu Haijun gritted his teeth and said, "I can't say whether I can catch up, but this job of making money only comes once a year, and I don't want to miss it."

"Okay, come and drive over tomorrow morning - do you still need to talk to the Germans?" "Yes, I'll go and talk to them now." Xu Haijun also wanted to gather a group of people he was going to win over.

What he plans to do next will still require the assistance of these people in the team. There is strength in numbers, and this is not in vain.

After breakfast the next day, the three tractors of Team 4 gathered together and drove towards the county, making a lot of noise.

After breakfast, Li Long also went to the department store, where he bought some common supplies, then went to the grain store to buy rice, flour and oil. Finally, he ran to the ethnic young man who made naan, wrapped the twenty naan beside the naan pit and loaded them into the car. Then he drove the jeep into the mountains.

Since we are going to form a group, the exchange point in the wooden house and the engineering team on the Qingshui River must be prepared.

Of course, the first two items are the key points. After setting up the exchange point and seeing that the work of organizing the group in Xiaobaiyanggou is done, he will have to find Li Xiangqian to discuss going into the mountains to renovate the houses for the herders.

When the jeep passed Qingshuihe Village, Li Long did not stop, but he had already seen that blue smoke was now rising from behind the wheat field where Qingshui River flowed from Biantaibazi last year.

It is obvious that the efficiency here in Qingshuihe Village is very high and they have already started burning the strips.

Well, that's good.

After the jeep entered the mountain, it turned in the direction of the wooden house. Li Long planned to put down his things, fix the stove, and dry the bedding inside. Whether he would live there or not, he had to make preparations.

The grass on the ground was not very tall, and you could occasionally see mushrooms in the grass. Some shrubs had small yellow flowers, and on the hillside, old garlic, that is, wild tulips, were blooming in patches.

The scenery is beautiful and the mood is good.

When the jeep drove up to the wooden house, Li Long was surprised to find that the place had already been cleaned.

After killing the bear last time, Li Long came to clean up the place. It had been a few days, so there was bound to be some dust and grass leaves here.

But now it seems that the wooden floor in front of the wooden house is clean, and some places on the wall where the mud has fallen off have been repaired. The two stoves that were originally a little damaged have also been repaired at this time.

He hurriedly got out of the car to check and found that the door locks of the two rooms were intact and had not been damaged.

What's happening here?
Li Long turned his gaze to the wooden shed to the east of the wooden house, and then he saw a blanket roll and a bag of things there. There was grass under the blanket roll, and it was obvious that someone usually lived here.

Is it Sun Jiaqiang? Li Long guessed.

He is probably the only one who can maintain the wooden house so proactively.

Li Long was still thinking about how to set up this exchange point when the time comes. Isn’t there a ready-made person here?

He used the key to open the door of the cabin, took out the bedding inside and put it out to dry, then put the things in the car into the cabin, arranging them neatly according to categories.

He had originally planned to go directly to Xiaobaiyanggou after finishing this here, but now he has changed his plan and plans to wait here until Sun Jiaqiang comes back and explain the situation clearly before going there.

While waiting, Li Long picked some mushrooms and pulled some wild onions and garlic. This time he brought some rice, flour, oil, and dried meat with him to ensure that he would have meat to eat before he caught the prey.

I went to the spring to wash the mushrooms, wild onions and garlic, then cut them on the big table. I also cut some dried meat to go with it. Then I took the pot out of the big house, washed it, and started stir-frying.

There are naan and freshly cooked dishes, so this lunch is not simple.

Li Longtou had just finished cooking one dish of stir-fried meat with mushrooms. Before he put the second dish of stir-fried meat with wild garlic sprouts into the pan, Sun Jiaqiang came out of the woods with a bag. When he saw the jeep, he cheered and ran over.

When Li Long heard the noise and saw Sun Jiaqiang, he also smiled.

The two of them had developed a friendship while living in the mountains. Although their relationship was not as deep as that with Tao Daqiang, it was already very good compared to ordinary people.

"Hey, Boss Li, I was thinking you'd come over these few days." Sun Jiaqiang said with a grin, "I've been waiting here for two days, thinking I'd definitely see you!"

"Go wash your hands. You can eat soon. Have you not had a good meal these days?"

"Well, I bought some dry food before entering the mountain, but I finished it a long time ago. I've just been making do with it for the past two days. I thought if you didn't come, I might have to leave the mountain again - look, this is the Fritillaria I dug."

Li Long took a look and said with a smile:

"Not bad. It seems that the Fritillaria is growing well this year."

"Well, a lot of Fritillaria have grown in the ditches that were dug last year. When I went into the mountains, I found that there were many people coming in. Now the forest patrol team has also started to take action."

"So what are you going to do? Are you interested in continuing to help me guard here?"

"Sure." Sun Jiaqiang didn't hide his thoughts at all, "Of course it will work. I've been waiting for you to say this - don't worry, I don't ask for much, and I don't want a commission like last year, I just want a decent salary in the end. You treated me well last year, I'm not greedy."

After hearing what he said, Li Long began to look at this man with a new respect.

The price of Fritillaria has been rising, and Sun Jiaqiang must know this. If he bargains with him at this time and raises the price, Li Long will agree after considering it.

Unexpectedly, Sun Jiaqiang did the opposite and took the initiative to ask for a reduction in salary. This shows that he has some ideas.

"Do you need help from me?" Li Long served the dishes, took out chopsticks from the house and handed them to Sun Jiaqiang. He broke off a piece of naan for him and asked, "We have known each other for two years. If you have anything to ask, just tell me. I will definitely help if I can."

What I mean is, if your request is too much, I can't do it, so please don't make it difficult for me.

"...I actually wanted to finish this season before I said that." Sun Jiaqiang didn't expect Li Long to guess his purpose from these two sentences, but since Li Long guessed it, he didn't hide it and said:

"Actually... I want to settle down in our Northern Frontier. I know you are very capable and talented. Can you help me... I can even work for free this season!"

Hey, this was beyond Li Long's expectation.

"Come, eat first, and tell me about your situation first." He did not agree rashly, but wanted to hear about the situation on Sun Jiaqiang's side first.

To be honest, if it was just about settling down, Li Long could ask Li Xiangqian to get Sun Jiaqiang settled in Nanyuanzi. Since they don't need land, this shouldn't be a big problem.

Li Long was mainly cautious and felt it necessary to understand the situation clearly before making a decision, so as not to set a landmine for himself.

Of course, we can only listen to Sun Jiaqiang's one-sided statement, and there is no way to verify it.

"Well, to be honest, if the family conditions are good, who would be willing to leave their hometown and come here to make a living?" Sun Jiaqiang sighed, "My family conditions are not good, I earn some money every year, and I take it back to buy things for my family.

My family thought I could make money, so they wanted me to earn money here in northern Xinjiang every year. I wanted to bring my family over to work with me, but they said they couldn't do it.

Last year I told you that I have a relative here. After digging for Fritillaria in the past few years, I have been working for that relative. My relative has always told me that if I work hard, they will help me settle down later, but in the past few years, it has been just verbal talk without any actual action. I work for them, but they don't pay me much.

When I came here this year, I asked them about settling down. I thought that at most I could just pay some money. But they told me that I had to pay 3,000 yuan and still not get land... I thought they were fooling me, so I came here."

Li Long didn't expect that this was also a miserable child.

He said:
"I can help you get your permanent residence, but I want to see how you perform," Li Long said. "I helped an older woman get her permanent residence last year. She's now helping me take care of my kids at home, and I've even got her a shop. If you do a good job, I can help you get your permanent residence—you won't have land, but I can find you a job that pays you."

"Really?" Sun Jiaqiang was delighted. "If you can really give me a place to stay, I, as a Fritillaria thunbergii, don't ask for any money as long as I can have enough to eat. I will do whatever you ask me to do!"

He had inquired beforehand, and it was really not as easy to settle down as it was two years ago. He really had to pay money - although not as exaggerated as 3,000, but it was not less.

That does require connections - otherwise you wouldn't be able to find the temple gate even if you were carrying a pig's head.

Therefore, if Li Long can give him a place to stay, even if it’s free during this Fritillaria season, it’s worth it!
Besides, Li Long also promised to find him a job, so isn't that a long-term meal ticket? (End of this chapter)