Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 946 Good intentions must be accepted by others: Roads may not be repairable

Once Halim confirmed that Li Long wanted to build a road, he decided to take him with him to see Yushanjiang.

Since Li Long had already come all this way and brought gifts for Yushanjiang, he figured he might as well go and visit him.

Yushanjiang was scattering hay for the cattle and sheep when he heard the sound of the jeep. He quickened his pace, untied the two remaining bundles of hay at his feet, picked them up, and threw them into the sheep pen. Then he put away his pitchfork and waited for the jeep to arrive.

Li Long drove the jeep to the flat ground in front of the winter shelter—a platform was specially built in this area last year when the winter shelter was being repaired, making it convenient for parking.

The tractor is now parked on the flat ground. The space is quite large, and there's enough room for a jeep.

When Li Long and Halim came down, Yushanjiang came over, shook hands and greeted them, and then led the two into the house to drink milk tea.

"You said you want to build a road? A road leading to the summer pasture?" Yu Shanjiang didn't show any surprise when he heard Li Long's words; instead, he looked somewhat troubled.

Li Long was greatly puzzled. Earlier, when Halim listened to his words, although he felt it would be difficult, he at least thought that building this road was a very good thing, only that the road construction was difficult to manage.

Li Long assumed that Yushanjiang also felt that building the road was too difficult and impossible, so he explained further:
"We'll build this road slowly. I'll mobilize as much machinery as I can, and we can first open up the roads connecting the winter shelters to the outside world, so that at least tractors can get to each of the winter shelters. This way, we can accumulate experience and make life more convenient for everyone."

“That’s not what I meant,” Yushanjiang shook his head and said, “There are still some elderly people in the tribe who can’t fully accept new things. Take this tractor for example. The three of us bought tractors. Halimu and I are okay with it, since we’re the ones in charge at home. As for Talihar, his grandmother is okay too, but someone has already gone to tell her that this thing is breaking our traditions, that it’s not good, and that it shouldn’t be driven into the mountains.”

Li Long was a little dumbfounded. He suddenly understood what Yu Shanjiang meant and realized that he had been wishfully thinking.

Slogans like "To get rich, build roads first" or "To get rich, have fewer children and plant more trees" have been plastered all over rural areas for decades, leading Li Long to believe that to get rich and live a good life, building roads is the top priority. Only with roads can the good things from the mountains get out. Even for ethnic groups like the Kazakhs, who will maintain their nomadic lifestyle for the next forty years, better roads will make their migrations easier.

However, he overlooked one thing: even if he was willing to build a road for the other party, would they accept it?

Doing good deeds is a good thing, but if you do it under the guise of doing it for the other person's good without considering their wishes, then it's not doing good deeds, but rather just putting on a show.

Li Long felt somewhat depressed and disappointed.

This had happened once before, two years earlier, when he brought radios to the tribe. Fortunately, it wasn't a big deal then, and since the radios could be broadcast in Kazakh, the elders in the tribe gradually accepted it.

Now, regarding the road repairs and tractors, Li Long's plan was exactly the same. First, he would repair the road leading to the winter settlement, and then gradually buy tractors for each household. At least hauling hay, coal, and other supplies would be much more convenient than simply using horses.

But why do they insist on keeping things the way they are and using horses?

Although forty years later, the elderly people eventually chose to accept it. For example, in his previous life, Li Long watched a broadcaster named "Adasi," a Uyghur young man who broadcast content about his daily life with his partner Taier and his grandfather doing farm work.

The farm work he does is similar to what Li Long did in the 1980s, and many people enjoy watching it.

There's even a Uyghur girl named Xiaota who's imitating this content.

The grandfather in that story was very open-minded; he was allowed to ride motorcycles and drive tractors.

Therefore, Li Long subconsciously felt that once the elderly experienced the convenience of life, they would be more likely to accept new things.

But just like in "My Altay", if everything changes, then will the tradition be lost?

This is a rather contradictory situation. How can we balance both aspects?

Li Long suddenly realized that the grandfather inside was only in his seventies. Subtracting forty years, wouldn't that be the same age as Yushanjiang?

In other words, the older generation of herders may not accept it until their generation passes away, and then the next generation gradually accepts it.

Li Long was truly disappointed that his project, which had finally come up with a way to make life easier for the herders and also allow him to realize his own plans, had suddenly stalled.

"Don't be discouraged," Harim said, patting Li Long on the shoulder. "Most people in the tribe are open to new things. Especially the young people. Think about it, which of the young men and strong men who come here in the fall to cut hay don't want more tractors and hay cutters to come to the tribe?"
In the past, cutting hay was so tiring. Not only was cutting the hay tiring, but bundling it up and transporting it to the winter shelter by horses was also a hassle. Now, with harvesters and tractors, cutting hay is a piece of cake, so convenient!
Take our three families, for example. With tractors, hauling coal, goods, and people is much faster than with Marco! Although the older folks have their complaints, the able-bodied young people are still the ones doing the work, and everyone still wants to repair roads and buy tractors.”

Upon hearing Halim's words, Yushanjiang noticed Li Long's mood and smiled, saying, "I only said it's difficult, but I don't mean it's insurmountable. Let me put it this way, everyone in our tribe has seen what you've done."

Regarding road construction, we won't let you do it alone; every family in our tribe will contribute. As for whether it can be built, I'll gather everyone to explain the situation. It will definitely be built. Everyone knows that a well-built road will make things much more convenient for everyone. Some elderly people might object, but I'll talk to them.”

Hearing Yu Shanjiang say this, Li Long felt a little better. He knew Yu Shanjiang must be under a lot of pressure, so he said, "Let's see how things go. If it really doesn't work out..."

"We must repair it even if it's absolutely necessary!" Halim, representing the younger generation, said firmly. "The road to the summer pasture is in such bad condition. It was one thing before we didn't have the means, but now that we do, we support you in repairing it! Of course, you can't be the only one repairing the road. Our tribe also needs to contribute money and labor. Although we don't have bulldozers, we have manpower. We can gather the able-bodied men together to cut down trees and move stones."

Li Long laughed and said, "Don't worry, you'll definitely have a lot of work to do then."

Returning from the mountains, Li Long felt somewhat conflicted, realizing he had been making some assumptions.

Right now, we need to celebrate the Chinese New Year first, then hold meetings. There's still more than a month until spring. We'll see how things go then. If things don't go well, we'll put the plans on hold for now.

A notice was posted outside the purchasing station announcing a holiday on February 4th, which also happens to be the beginning of spring. In other words, this Lunar Year of the Tiger will not have a spring at either the beginning or the end.

Firecrackers occasionally went off on the street, accompanied by children screaming or laughing; it was unclear whether it was a prank or they were frightened by the firecrackers.

On the eve of the Spring Equinox, Gu Boyuan couldn't wait to go back to the team, but Li Long persuaded him to stay, saying that even if the stove was lit, the house wouldn't get warm and would be cold if he went back today.

Gu Boyuan reluctantly agreed. Li Long, worried that he might run away, even took him back to the purchasing station to stay before returning himself.

"You're such a grown-up and you still cause me so much trouble," Gu Xiaoxia complained.

“Your dad has wanted to go back for a long time. Think about it, he made a lot of money last year, but he couldn’t tell us. Sun Jiaqiang knows, so who can he brag to? He has to go back to the team and tell everyone properly.”

"My dad can't reveal all about our family's history, can he?" Gu Xiaoxia couldn't sit still any longer. "I have to remind him..."

"Don't worry about that. Your dad will probably just tell others how many kinds of things he's collected and how much knowledge he's gained. He knows how much money he's made, but he won't say the exact amount." Li Long smiled. "Right now, he just needs to find people his own age to chat with, and we don't have anyone around here."

Gu Xiaoxia nodded, thinking about it, and agreed.

Li Long has colleagues at work every day and is always on the go, so he's not in a hurry at all. His father, on the other hand, has stayed in the village for nearly twenty years. Now that he's suddenly out here, he only chats with Sun Jiaqiang a few times a day, so he's definitely anxious.

The next morning, Gu Boyuan rode his bicycle to the compound, knocked on the door, saw Li Long, and simply said, "I'm leaving," before riding off without even entering the gate.

Li Long looked at his bicycle, which was packed full, and it was clear that he had prepared a lot of New Year's goods.

Sun Jiaqiang is taking a few days off and is peacefully preparing for the New Year in his own courtyard. Tielanhua, who used to not celebrate the New Year, is now actively helping Sun Jiaqiang with the preparations.

After they got married last year, Tielanhua rode her bicycle around collecting goods during the winter. Gu Boyuan told Li Long that in just over three months, Tielanhua had collected more than 100 to nearly 200 hides, earning at least a thousand yuan.

The Tie family really lost out by cutting ties with this daughter.

Of course, this was a huge profit for Sun Jiaqiang.

Before the purchasing station closed down, Li Long took stock and bought Sun Jiaqiang a bag worth 300 yuan as a year-end bonus.

Sun Jiaqiang was very grateful. He told Li Long that Tielanhua was pregnant and that by the autumn of 1986, they would be a family of three. Li Long congratulated him.

These days, although the country has a family planning policy, it seems that it is very easy for young couples to get pregnant after marriage.

Watching the people around him have children of their own, Li Long thought to himself, "Time flies!" He already has two sons!

It's a pity about Gu Xiaoxia's status; otherwise, even if she had to pay the fine, she would have had one or two more children.

Next, Li Long started busily preparing for the New Year. His family would naturally still be going to the village for the holiday, so Sister Yang and Han Fang took some time these past few days to clean and dry the house in the yard in front of Wuyi Road. They would be spending the New Year there.

Since Hao Hao can already walk, taking care of the child is not as troublesome as before. Although someone needs to accompany him, Li Long doesn't have that many things to do now, so he takes him along.

He and Gu Xiaoxia also discussed that when Mingming and Haohao are a little older and can be sent to daycare, they will let Sister Yang go on to do her own business.

Although having an older sister at home makes life very convenient, you can't keep her tied down for life.

So these past few days, Li Long has spent most of his time taking the kids shopping. Luckily, there aren't many people on the streets right now, and Mingming and Haohao are quite well-behaved in the car, not moving around too much.

As the smell of gunpowder grows stronger in the air, the New Year is drawing ever closer.

In the mountains, Yushanjiang also began to gather people and prepare for a large meeting.

Because this road construction project concerns the entire tribe, Yushanjiang asked as many people as possible from each family to participate. He figured that if only the head of the household came, the older folks would likely not agree.

Therefore, we need to bring in more people, at least those who go down the mountain to cut grass every year. These people will definitely support road construction. Only they know that once the road is open and they can get on tractors, cutting and hauling grass will be much easier.

He and Halim went door to door to inform everyone that the meeting was scheduled for February 9th, which was the day the Han Chinese celebrated the New Year... Yushanjiang didn't know that this was the Han Chinese New Year; he just randomly chose the date and mentioned it when he notified everyone so that they could be prepared.

Although the tribe holds meetings every year, most of them take place during Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, or Nowruz, mainly to celebrate the festivals together.

It's rare for a festival to be celebrated in winter like this, so the herders in the tribe are quite happy.

After all, there's really not much entertainment in the dead of winter, it's incredibly boring. Even with a radio, humans are social animals, and just being face-to-face with the family every day can get really tedious.

When a meeting is about to start, everyone, young and old, pulls out their best clothes and prepares to attend.

The meeting was to be held outside Yushanjiang's house, but his winter hut couldn't accommodate so many people. So, Yushanjiang had called Halim, Talihar, and several other able-bodied men to his house early in the morning. They shoveled the snow, gathered firewood, lit a campfire, and set up a stove. The sheep needed to be slaughtered that day and cooked immediately after slaughter, so it would taste better that way.

While Li Long was tidying up, someone came to wish him a Happy New Year in advance.

Meng Hai.

"Knowing that you all go back to the village every year, we came early." Meng Hai drove his tractor over the day before New Year's Eve. "We also came to buy some New Year's goods."

Meng Hai brought Li Long a skinned wild boar, a basket of eggs, and four plucked and gutted roosters.

"The wild boars were hunted at the end of last month. A group of them wandered into the fields. I guess they couldn't find any food in the mountains, so I led some men to hunt them down, leaving one alive. These chickens and eggs are from our own farm, so please don't mind them."

"How can we complain?" Li Long invited Meng Hai into the house, but Meng Hai didn't want to stay. He said he was in a hurry to buy New Year's goods later, as there were still people in the village waiting at the department store.

Li Long then took a box of pastries from the house and handed it to him, and then went to the greenhouse behind to pick some spicy eggplants, wrapped them up, and gave them to him to take.

"Hey, Comrade Li Long, this is a rare treat! To be able to eat fresh vegetables in the dead of winter... hey, I've really struck gold this time!" Meng Hai was thrilled when he saw the fresh chili peppers and eggplants.

“We set up a greenhouse at home and stored some snacks,” Li Long explained. “Those snacks were brought back from Yanjing; we’re taking them back for the children.”

"Yanjing? Comrade Li Long, you went to Yanjing?" Meng Hai was greatly surprised. "When did that happen?"

"We went there in mid-to-late January to take the kids to see Tiananmen Square."

"Hey, I'll have to come over and listen to your story when I have some free time." Meng Hai was in a hurry today, so he said, "Then I'll wish your family a Happy New Year in advance. I'm off now."

After saying that, he wrapped the things in a cloth bag, especially the chili peppers, which he couldn't let freeze.

After the tractor drove away, Li Long let Mingming and Haohao play in the yard while he moved these things into the storage room.

Gu Xiaoxia had a holiday on New Year's Eve. Although she was supposed to be working on this day, there was actually not much to do. After half a day in the morning, everyone left.

Sister Yang and Han Fang had already gone to the south courtyard, so Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia loaded their things into the car, drove off, locked the gate, and went to the fourth team.

The continuous sound of firecrackers announced the approaching New Year. People's lives are getting better and better, and the New Year celebrations are becoming more and more lively. Passing through villages, I saw some children already wearing new clothes, and heard the firecrackers. Small firecrackers were becoming less common; there were more electric sparklers and sky rockets. Occasionally, a single firecracker would attract a large crowd.

Li Long and his men arrived at the Fourth Team from the county town amidst the sound of firecrackers.

The firecrackers from the fourth production team were especially loud. The villagers had made a lot of money last year, so they were quite generous with their firecracker purchases for the New Year. At this time, it wasn't just the boys setting off firecrackers; some girls followed the boys watching, and some even lit them themselves.

Groups of children were playing on the main roads of several residential areas. Today was different; no more children were playing with oxen or sliding blocks, they were all setting off firecrackers.

When Li Long and his group arrived at the Li family compound, they saw several children coming out of the yard, their expressions not very good.

"Mingwa, what's wrong? Where's Qiangqiang? Why isn't he playing with you guys?" Li Long asked after parking the jeep.

"Qiangqiang said he needs to study hard for college entrance exams and that he doesn't want to come out and play anymore." Mingwa's voice was quite loud. "His dad said he could come out and play today because it's a holiday, but he won't..."

Every year, Li Qiang's family has the most and the most abundant firecrackers. Li Long can bring a lot of new fireworks from Wucheng every time. In the eyes of these children, Li Qiang is unmatched, at least in terms of toys and firecrackers.

Their enthusiasm immediately waned as Li Qiang wasn't showing up today.

"I'll tell him that we should have some fun today." Li Long didn't expect that Li Qiang's persistence in studying wasn't just a passing fad; it had been at least ten days now, and he was still studying!
He quite admired his nephew.

I suppose Li Juan is studying together too?
Upon hearing Li Long's words, Mingwa and the others immediately became happy.

The children's pockets were bulging, indicating they had made quite a haul today.

Upon hearing Li Long's voice, Li Jianguo opened the door first, followed by Liang Yuemei, who was wearing an apron. They then hurriedly carried Hao Hao, who had just gotten out of the car, and Gu Xiaoxia carried Mingming. The two of them went into the house one after the other.

Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang also came out of the east room. After Li Long greeted them, he asked his elder brother:
"Juan and Qiangqiang are still studying? It's New Year's Eve and they're still not relaxing? Let them go have fun."

"Neither of them are going," Li Jianguo chuckled. "They're both capable, one of them can handle it!"

“I’ll go tell them that studying also requires a balance of work and rest.” Li Long entered the room and saw Li Juan and Li Qiang studying.

“I told Qiangqiang to go play, but he refused!” Li Juan spoke first.

"You all go together, change into your new clothes and go play," Li Long commanded. "Studying isn't something that happens right now; there's plenty of time later."

The two children actually listened to Li Long and changed their clothes to go play.

"My words as a father aren't as effective as yours as yours as an uncle's," Li Jianguo joked.

Li Long laughed.

(End of this chapter)