Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 944 Learning: A trip there really was useful!
"Qiangqiang, go outside and beat up the old ox!" Several children shouted from outside the yard.

"I'm not going, you guys have fun." Li Qiang said to his friends as he walked to the door, "I'm not playing before the New Year, I'm busy these next few days."

"Okay." The group left somewhat dejectedly.

Li Qiang was especially excited for the first two days after he returned. He played with his friends, sharing his experiences in Yanjing and the toys he brought back. However, he stopped going out on the third day.

Li Juan didn't go out again after the second day. When her friends from the village came to visit, they saw her doing her homework and reading.

At first, Li Qiang didn't pay attention, but later, for some reason, he started studying with his sister.

Seeing this, Liang Yuemei was somewhat surprised, and that evening she asked Li Jianguo:

"Those two... they've changed quite a bit. Did their trip to Yanjing really work that well?"

"Pretty much," Li Jianguo said with a sigh. "Universities, actually, there's not much to see during holidays. But his aunt went to university in Beijing, and when she visited the university, she told Juan and Qiangqiang about things at the university, and Juan and Qiangqiang became interested."

Hearing that the two children were still in school, Li Jianguo nodded: "Whether they work hard for three days and rest for two, just look at their current enthusiasm, then it will be useful."

"Looking at it this way, buying a courtyard might actually be useful," Liang Yuemei said happily, then patted Li Jianguo on the shoulder. "Xiaolong paid for it, so you have to give him the money when he comes back."

This courtyard is worth a lot of money; as the older brother, you can't take advantage of your younger brother.

"Then how do we pay it back?" Li Jianguo smiled bitterly. "The certificate has my name on it, but Xiaolong spent foreign money, US dollars. Where am I supposed to find that money? The bank won't exchange it for us."

Liang Yuemei thought about it and agreed; she didn't know what to do either.

"Then...then pay it back later. Find out how foreign money is exchanged for our money when you have time. We can't just take that courtyard for nothing. Otherwise, I, as the elder sister-in-law, will be too embarrassed to face Xiaoxia."

"Don't worry, I won't take it for free." Li Jianguo took out a cigarette, thought about lighting it, but then put it down. "I'll pay it back slowly later. I still own Dongfanghong, so if we make money, we can just take a smaller share."

"Why did you stop smoking?" Liang Yuemei noticed her husband's strange behavior and asked.

Now that the family had money, and after hearing Li Long's advice, Liang Yuemei stopped letting Li Jianguo smoke pack cigarettes, saying they were too harmful to his lungs. Although boxed cigarettes were also harmful to the lungs, they were less so.

“Smoking is unhealthy.” Li Jianguo waved his hand. “Quit it slowly. I used to smoke a lot every day, and it was very irritating.”

Liang Yuemei felt that her husband had changed a lot after his trip to Yanjing. She wondered, was Yanjing really that powerful that it could change her husband so much? Of course, the biggest change was in their two children.

Even if it's just for a few days, it feels worth it.

"That courtyard..." Liang Yuemei remembered again and said, "What exactly does it look like?"

"You'll be able to see the photos in a couple of days when Xiaolong develops them," Li Jianguo said. "The courtyard is smaller than Xiaolong's in the county, but it's a traditional courtyard house, with rooms on all four sides. The courtyard isn't small either, it's just that you can't grow vegetables there. Hmm, the environment is nice..."

"Oh, right, I told Juan and Qiangqiang not to tell any outsiders about us buying the courtyard, and you shouldn't tell anyone either. After our trip to Yanjing, some people in the team are already envious. If we talk about buying a courtyard now, who knows how jealous they'll become."

After hearing Li Jianguo's words, Liang Yuemei felt that it made sense. Fortunately, Li Jianguo had been the one talking about things in Yanjing these past two days, and she had just listened without saying much.

The TV wasn't very loud, and the two children had stopped reading, but you could hear Qiangqiang asking Juan about solving a problem.

Liang Yuemei felt that this was quite good, and a feeling called happiness was growing in her heart.

Li Long took the local specialties back to the courtyard, and the next day he took a set and a half to the supply and marketing cooperative.

A pastry was given to Zhou Yuan, and a set of local specialties was taken to Li Xiangqian's office.

"Hey, you're back pretty early, earlier than expected." Li Xiangqian looked at Li Long as he put the things on the table and said with a smile, "How was it? Did it go smoothly?"

"It went smoothly." Li Long went to get some water, took a sip, and said, "Sigh, I'm still used to the water here. I'm not used to the water over there."

"You're just being pretentious. Isn't the water in the capital better than ours? You're praising our saline water," Li Xiangqian mocked Li Long. "You're just like a mountain kid who can't handle fine food!"

"No, it's not. The water over there always tastes like disinfectant. The river here is saline water, but the water you're drinking is from a depth of 40 or 50 meters. It'll be used as mineral water from now on, so the water quality is definitely better."

Li Xiangqian thought Li Long was joking, but little did he know he was telling the truth. Twenty or thirty years later, a certain mountain spring specially traveled to the southern mountains of Ma County to collect water and process it into mineral water for sale. At that time, the village in the Fourth Team area had access to tap water, which was drawn down from the mountain and was not much worse than those purified waters.

"Tell me, how's the situation over there?" Li Xiangqian didn't have much to do right now, so he wanted to hear about Li Long's past experiences.

Li Long then told him about his trip to Yanjing, where he saw Tiananmen Square, the Memorial Hall, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall, and so on.

"How's the yard you bought?" Li Xiangqian asked. "Was it easy to buy?"

“It’s not easy to buy.” Li Long said frankly, “Out-of-towners are not allowed to buy, and many courtyards have tenants. If you buy one, you can’t move in, and you can’t evict the tenants, or rather, it’s difficult to evict those tenants. It’s troublesome.”

"Are there tenants in the courtyard?" Li Xiangqian, unfamiliar with the situation in Yanjing, asked, "What do you mean?"

"Many of the courtyards over there were privately owned before the major movement, but during the movement, they were allocated or rented to those who didn't have houses. The rent was extremely low."

Now that the original homeowner wants to sell the yard, the tenants are definitely unhappy and don't want to move out. They also won't agree to a rent increase, which makes the situation quite complicated.

"Is that so?" Li Xiangqian was quite surprised. This kind of thing doesn't happen in Ma County because there are few houses and few people.

"How are the universities over there? Are they easy to get into?" Li Xiangqian asked, voicing his concerns.

"How would I know? We went during the holidays, and the university was quite good. As for how difficult it is to get in... it's definitely not easy." Li Long smiled. "But, well, it's good to give the child a direction to move forward."

"What did you bring back?" Li Xiangqian asked, looking at the well-packaged box on the table.

"Pastries from time-honored brands in Yanjing, roast duck, and some traditional Chinese medicines," Li Long said. "Since we went there, we should at least bring back some local specialties."

Li Long spent a lot of money on this trip, but when it comes to the calligraphy and paintings, he feels he earned even more.

Of course, it's hard to say when those paintings will be monetized; it's not something to look forward to in the short term.

"You already know about the National People's Congress meeting, right?" Li Xiangqian got down to business. "It's starting after the New Year, so time is pretty tight."

“I understand,” Li Long said, taking another sip of water. “I’m thinking of a proposal.”

"It's nothing. You can think about things in rural areas, markets, and even the lives of herders. Although our system selected you as our representative, you can make any proposals you want," Li Xiangqian said, touching his hair. "There are no restrictions."

After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, Li Long went back to the courtyard for lunch, and then drove to the Fourth Team.

He went to Old Ma's place first. Uncle Luo and the others were playing cards inside. They came out after hearing the car and were all happy to see Li Long.

Li Long carried the box of local specialties into the house. The old folks stopped playing cards and started talking all at once about selling the sheep.

Li Long could tell that the slaughtering and sale of cattle, sheep, and deer were going quite well. The heads and hooves of the cattle and sheep had been almost sold out by the villagers, including the second and third teams. The hides were still in the warehouse waiting for Li Long to process them.

"Now that the team has money, they're picky about the meat they eat," Yang Laoliu said indignantly. "Some people even complain that there's not much meat on this hoof. They don't even remember that a few years ago, everyone was fighting over this..."

Indeed, the team has changed a lot in recent years; at least the average standard of living is much higher than in other villages.

"This is a good thing." Uncle Luo must have argued with Yang Laoliu. "We can afford to eat meat now, isn't that a good thing? Those who don't want to eat the head, trotters, and offal are just too lazy to clean them. Look at us, we clean them up, braise them, and have a couple of drinks with them, isn't that great!"

This topic became difficult to continue, so Li Long then shared his observations and experiences in Yanjing.

After learning that Li Long had visited the old man's memorial hall and Tiananmen Square and taken photos, the elderly men asked Li Long to develop the photos as soon as possible, as they wanted to see them.

"I'll take you to Yanjing sometime when we have the chance," Li Long said with a smile. "You'd better be prepared."

"If we can really go, we'd better start saving up..."

"Money is nothing, the most important thing is that you guys take good care of your health," Li Long said with a smile. "You need to be healthy to climb the Great Wall." "Don't worry, Xiao Long! We old guys may be getting on in years, but we're in great shape!"

After leaving Lao Ma's place, Li Long first went to Tao Daqiang's house, but Tao Daqiang wasn't there; he and Yang Pingping had gone to his father-in-law's house. Li Long then handed the box of pastries to Tao Jianshe, chatted with him for a few minutes, and then went to Xie Yundong's house.

Two days ago, when Li Long returned, Xie Yundong was not there; he had gone to his father-in-law's house to help out. By the time Xie Yundong went to Li's house to look for Li Long, Li Long had already left.

Li Long parked his car outside the yard and carried a box of pastries into the yard. He saw Xie Yundong clearing snow, and Xie Yundong saw Li Long too, smiling as he said:

"Xiaolong is here? Perfect timing. I still have the money from selling the cattle and sheep with me. Now that you're here, I can let you take a look."

Li Long said with a smile, "No rush, no rush. These are pastries I brought back from Yanjing. They're from a long-established shop there, a place that's been making pastries for hundreds of years. You should try them."

"Good, good, good. Good stuff from Yanjing. It's not easy to come here." Xie Yundong propped the wooden shovel against the wall, pushed open the door, and let Li Long in.

Deng Guilan was tidying up the kitchen when she saw Li Long coming over, and greeted him with a smile.

"Pour some water for Xiaolong, and I'll show him the accounts and money from the sale of the cattle and sheep," Xie Yundong said, then led Li Long into the inner room.

Li Long watched as Xie Yundong took a rolled-up bag from the top of the firewall. Inside were stacks of money and a notebook.

"The cattle and sheep were delivered to the sugar factory according to the price and quantity you mentioned. Then, Section Chief Hu also wanted three deer, male deer. Since you weren't here, I figured since they wanted them, we should just slaughter them," Xie Yundong said. "I couldn't tell you about this at the time..."

"It's alright, it's alright, it's my fault for not explaining clearly." Li Long thought to himself how he could have forgotten about this.

"There are more people from the team behind, and people from other villages come to buy cattle and sheep heads, hooves, and offal. The accounts are all here, take a look."

Li Long flipped through the ledger, which recorded every single income item.

Whether it was the three large sales to the sugar factory totaling over 20,000 yuan, or a cow's head for 15 yuan, or four sheep's hooves plus a sheep's head for 5 yuan—this year prices have risen, and Xie Yundong didn't give out the same 3 yuan welfare payment as last year.

“Our team isn’t short of money,” Xie Yundong explained. “Ma Jinbao’s place sells a sheep’s head and trotters for six yuan. If we ask for less, some people will be ungrateful and say bad things, so I set the price at five yuan.”

Li Long smiled and said, "Yes, that should be the case."

The total is on the last page. The total cost of everything sold was 26,188.40 dollars.

Li Long carefully counted the money, then took out one hundred yuan and handed it to Xie Yundong:

"This is for you. I owe you a lot for this."

Xie Yundong didn't refuse and said with a smile, "Then I'll accept it."

That was the end of that matter. Xie Yundong asked about some things in Yanjing City, and Li Long told him what he could.

Then they delivered pastries to Liang Dacheng and Jia Weidong's homes, chatted for a while, and finally returned to their elder brother's house.

Li Juan and Li Qiang ran out immediately after hearing the sound of the jeep.

"Come on, come on, perfect timing! Let's move these local specialties inside. You must have been waiting impatiently, right?" Li Long said with a smile. "We didn't get to enjoy them properly back in Yanjing. Now that we've brought them back, we can eat them to our hearts' content."

Li Juan was a little shy, while Li Long just smiled.

"Don't just stand there, come on, let's move it together! Let's move it inside and have a proper meal today. I haven't had a proper meal either."

Li Long divided the local specialties he had brought back into the house, letting each of the two children carry a few boxes. Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang came out of the east room when they heard the commotion, and Li Long followed them with a few boxes, placing them inside their room.

"Mom, just keep these snacks by your bedside. Grab a piece whenever you remember," Li Long instructed Du Chunfang. "The snacks are a bit sweet, so don't eat too many at once."

Despite improved living standards, Du Chunfang didn't change her habit of snacking. Li Long would occasionally buy some and keep them in her room. Sometimes, when the snacks were finished and Li Long forgot about them, Du Chunfang would ask Li Qingxia for money to buy more herself.

Li Long knew she would still feel embarrassed, so when she went to the store to buy snacks, she told the store staff that she was buying them for her grandchildren.

The old lady can be quite adorable at times.

"Okay, okay, you can't eat that much." Du Chunfang looked on with delight. "One box is enough. You can take the rest home to eat."

“We have some at home,” Li Long smiled. “Mingming’s aunt lives in Yanjing. If she wants some, she’ll send it over. You can eat it without worry.”

Then he said to his father:

"Dad, you should eat too. This is famous, a well-known restaurant in Beijing, a time-honored brand that has been open for hundreds of years."

"Okay, okay, I'll try some." Li Qingxia doesn't usually eat snacks, but this was specially bought back from Yanjing by her youngest son, so she had to try it.

When Li Long arrived at the west room, a box of pastries had already been opened. The Lu couple were sitting on the sofa, each holding a piece in their hand. The box contained various kinds of pastries, and the two of them had pastry crumbs on their lips. They looked a little embarrassed when they saw Li Long.

"Brother Lu and Sister-in-law Lu, you're here." Li Long greeted them. "How's the food? They say it's a time-honored brand, a shop that's been around for hundreds of years. Whether the taste is good or not, it's certainly famous."

"Yes, yes, yes, it's delicious!" Lu Yingming said hurriedly. "It's much better than our sesame cakes and river noodles."

Although living conditions are generally better in northern Xinjiang, it has only been a short time since it was free from poverty, and its cultural heritage is far inferior to that of other regions. For example, pastries and snacks are not commonly found in the market here.

Ordinary people can only buy a limited variety of products in stores. Homemade items, limited by cultural heritage and insufficient materials, are mostly things like hemp leaves, sugar cakes, and fried dough twists, which cannot compare to what they eat.

It wasn't until a few decades later, with the rise of tourism, that ethnic pastries began to become known to the public.

So Lu Yingming was right; these pastries are excellent in both appearance and taste.

"I'll take a box home to eat later," Li Jianguo said with a smile. "The kids should try it too."

“We’ll just take two pieces, we can’t take a whole box,” Sister-in-law Lu said hurriedly. “This stuff isn’t cheap, is it?”

“Regardless of price, after going to Yanjing, shouldn’t we bring back some local specialties?” Li Jianguo waved his hand. “Here, there are more.”

Brother Lu and his wife were a little embarrassed, but after thinking about their two children, they agreed.

Lu Yingming came to ask about the Li family's planting plans for next year.

Last year, the Li family said that growing watermelons wouldn't work, but growing sunflowers would be better, since they have a higher market acceptance.

In the end, it was proven that sunflowers did indeed earn more than watermelons, but those who grew watermelons also made money.

How was this year?

“We can plant watermelons this year,” Li Long answered the question. “There are buyers in the village now, so there’s a market for watermelon seeds. Although it’s a bit more troublesome, we should be able to earn more money.”

The Lu couple's eyes lit up at first glance.

They've already tasted the benefits of growing cash crops, which is why they've come to inquire about what to plant. They've actually considered that watermelon seeds might sell well, but they're still unsure, hence their inquiry.

Now that we have definite news, we feel more at ease.

I imagine that in a couple of days, the whole village will know about this news.

With the support of two or three roasted nut factories in the village, Li Long was quite confident about making melon seeds.

Of course, this is temporary. After all, making melon seeds is just a snack. In the future, we'll have to see how the cotton develops.

(End of this chapter)