Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 951 If we buy another Dongfanghong 75 tractor, who will drive it?

It was already dark in Yanjing by then, and Gu Xiaoyu had already finished get off work. She went to the post office to make the call.

After buying a house and furnishing Li Long's two yards with the money she had, Gu Xiaoyu didn't have enough money left to install a telephone.

She didn't even consider installing a telephone, since that was too much of a luxury for her at the moment.

"Xiaoyu? This is Li Long. Your sister hasn't gotten off work yet," Li Long said after answering the phone and confirming it was Gu Xiaoyu.

"It's alright, brother-in-law, I have something to tell you first," Gu Xiaoyu said. "I cleaned up your two yards. Some of the clutter inside was too old to use, so I disposed of it as garbage. Then I went to the consignment shop and bought some simple furniture to put in, so that when you and my sister come over, at least your yard will be habitable."

"Hey, thank you so much! This must have been quite a hassle, right?" Li Long felt a little bad. Asking a young woman to tidy up two not-so-small courtyards was just too much trouble.

Although Gu Xiaoyu took the initiative, he certainly couldn't just accept it so easily, he said:
"Give me your number and I'll call you. Long-distance calls aren't cheap."

Gu Xiaoyu said no, but Li Long insisted, so she hung up the phone.

Li Long dialed the number, and after it connected, he said:

“You have a job now, and you're busy enough with all this work, so I can't let you pay for the furniture. I'll wire you some money tomorrow, so don't rush to refuse. You've already bought your own yard, right? When you buy some daily necessities, buy our yard's too.”

I'll reimburse your transportation costs—remember, when you're buying things or renting a car, it's best not to do too much heavy work, especially if you're a young lady, otherwise you'll get really tired, and your sister will definitely complain to me.”

Li Long's words seemed normal to him, but to Xiao Yu, they conveyed a sense of concern.

“Brother-in-law, now I know why my sister is so happy. It’s rare to find a man as considerate as you. Don’t worry, I’m not a delicate Lin Daiyu. Although I’ve never done farm work, I still have some strength. By the way, if you have any requests for the two courtyards, just let me know, and I’ll take care of them when I have some free time.”

"I don't have any special requirements, as long as it's habitable. Anyway, I don't plan to live in this courtyard permanently, so you can do whatever you want with it." Li Long genuinely didn't plan to decorate it properly. He suddenly remembered something and said, "By the way, when buying furniture, go to those consignment stores and buy second-hand items."

It's the same principle: we don't need new furniture, and it'll just get old anyway. Secondhand wooden furniture actually holds its value quite well. Who knows, we might find a relatively intact old piece that could potentially recoup all the expenses associated with this yard later.

"Let me tell you, if your requirements for your yard aren't too high, the same thing will do. Go to a consignment shop and buy some usable used wooden furniture, preferably made of good quality wood, like rosewood, sandalwood, or other mahogany. Even if it's a bit old, it will definitely appreciate in value over time."

Although she didn't know where her brother-in-law got his confidence from, she knew that he must have some reason and ability to earn so much money at such a young age, so Gu Xiaoyu obediently agreed.

At this moment, Li Long heard Gu Xiaoxia and Sister Yang talking outside, as well as Mingming and Haohao calling for their mother. Li Long hurriedly said to Gu Xiaoyu, "Wait a moment, your sister is back. I'll let her talk to you."

Li Long put the microphone on the table and went out to call Gu Xiaoxia over.

Knowing that her sister had called, Gu Xiaoxia didn't even bother to wash her hands before hurriedly putting Mingming and Haohao down and rushing into the house.

Mingming and Haohao wanted to go inside, so Li Long quickly picked up the two children and took them to play in the yard.

After playing for a good ten minutes, Gu Xiaoxia finally came out of the house and said to Li Long with a smile:
"Xiaoyu said she has also bought her yard and is decorating it now. She even decorated our yard as well."

"Well, so I mean I'll wire her some money tomorrow. She can't be expected to contribute both money and effort."

"Okay." Gu Xiaoxia smiled. Her husband had arranged everything so well that she seemed a little clumsy and useless, but she liked this feeling.

There's no need to try to show off your usefulness or do things that seem clever to you.

The next day, Li Long went to the post office and wired 1,000 yuan to Gu Xiaoyu. He had actually considered sending more, but since it was going to Gu Xiaoyu's workplace, he was afraid it would have a bad impact.

Li Long's idea was that once Gu Xiaoyu moved to her own courtyard and had a fixed address, it would be more convenient to wire money.

At least it won't cause any trouble.

Gu Xiaoyu was somewhat surprised to receive the money. She had bought so many things, but the total cost was only two or three hundred yuan. Even with the transportation fee, it wasn't much.

So she called Li Long that day to tell him that she had transferred too much.

Li Long's idea was that since his second courtyard was quite large, if Gu Xiaoyu found any nice old furniture when she went to the store to look at things, he could help her buy it and put it in the courtyard. Buying more wouldn't hurt.

Gu Xiaoyu was finally relieved and learned about her sister's family's wealth.

Spending a thousand yuan to buy used furniture is something an ordinary person definitely wouldn't do.

February 24th and January 16th are auspicious days for marriage.

On this day, Gu Xiaoyu's stepbrother, Huang Yufei, got married. His wife was a teacher at a nearby school. Gu Xiaoyu already had a job and lived in the dormitory, so she gave her stepbrother 100 yuan as a wedding gift—in those days, 100 yuan was more than a month's salary, and even for family members, it was a considerable amount.

The Huang family, including her mother Fan Wenli, had no objections. They all guessed that Gu Boyuan should give Gu Xiaoyu extra money, but they didn't ask directly.

However, after Huang Yufei's wife, Lin Xuemei, learned about this, the way she looked at Gu Xiaoyu changed.

My sister-in-law is amazing.

Huang Yufei told Lin Xuemei about the actual situation, and Lin Xuemei's gaze towards Gu Xiaoyu changed even more. One day when Gu Xiaoyu returned home, Huang Yufei and Lin Xuemei were also there. After dinner, Lin Xuemei quietly asked Gu Xiaoyu if she still had that kind of jade, saying that she could buy it with money.

"The main problem is that the Guanyin pendant that Yufei is wearing doesn't suit me. People say that men should wear Guanyin and women should wear Buddha," Lin Xuemei explained. "If you can buy one, ask how much it costs. They also have them in Yanjing, but I'm afraid I won't be able to tell the quality of the jade... It's safer to buy from family."

Gu Xiaoyu was still hesitant about this matter. After her mother, Fan Wenli, found out, she also asked her to ask Li Long if he had any and send him a piece.

"We'll just give them the money anyway."

Gu Xiaoyu found it hard to refuse, but after this incident, she became somewhat distant from her mother's side. She always felt that it was natural for her mother's side to make demands on her family in the northern border region, as if the people there were naturally obligated to help her.

Gu Xiaoxia didn't think much of it when she called her sister to tell her about it. She didn't even tell Li Long, and sent her a jade Buddha that Li Long had given her to play with before.

Apprentice. Even if Gu Xiaoxia was a bit naive and innocent, she could tell from her sister's difficulty and reluctance.

So the product doesn't need to be too good, just good enough to get by.

"Sister, how much does this jade Buddha cost?" Gu Xiaoyu asked Gu Xiaoxia on the phone after receiving the item.

“Tell them it’s a gift. If they really feel bad about taking the money, then give them fifty,” Gu Xiaoxia said. “If they really give you money, then take it. I’m telling you the truth, you just need to know it yourself. There are a lot of materials like this at home, but your brother-in-law said that they’re only worth a dozen or so yuan now. But if you keep them for seventy or eighty years, this jade Buddha might be worth over a thousand.”

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiaoyu really couldn't bear to give it to him.

I don't know why, but she really trusted Li Long.

“It’s fine since they gave it to us. We have plenty more at home.” Gu Xiaoxia seemed very generous at this moment. “After all, it wasn’t easy for the Huang family to support your schooling over there. No matter what, you can’t give up over there.”

"Just tell me what they want, and we'll provide whatever we have here. They've already moved out, so you can just go over to Mom's at night... but you won't see them."

Gu Xiaoyu thought about it and realized that was the case.

Gu Xiaoyu felt that her stepbrother Huang Yufei hadn't changed much, but she sensed that her sister-in-law was not a good person, so it was better to have less contact with her.

Li Long was unaware of these matters. In early March, Zhao Hui came and took away a batch of pelts. Among the pelts given to Li Long by Yu Shanjiang and the others, he sold a bear pelt with a bullet hole, a snow leopard pelt, and more than three hundred yellow sheep pelts and more than twenty red deer pelts from the purchasing station.

He kept the remaining two snow leopard pelts, one bear pelt, and one lynx pelt—all complete hides. These pelts would more than double in value in two years.

In this transaction, Zhao Hui took the hides, leaving Li Long with nearly 30,000 yuan. Excluding the few special hides, the net profit was approximately 7,000 yuan.

Li Long told Zhao Hui that they could come again before the snow completely melted in April, and they should still be able to collect winter bark then.

Winter leather is expensive, but the quality of the leather is excellent; everyone knows that.

Li Long also sold nearly four hundred sheepskins, nearly one thousand rabbit skins, and fifty or sixty cowhides to the county leather factory, which was also a source of income, although the profit was not large.

After all, a sheepskin is only worth about fifteen yuan at leather factories these days, while a rabbit skin is worth less than five yuan.

After the hides were sold out, a large portion of the purchasing station's warehouse was empty. Li Long left half the money with Gu Boyuan as working capital and gave his father-in-law a dividend of two thousand yuan, which Gu Boyuan accepted. After giving Gu Xiaoyu ten thousand yuan, he didn't have much money left.

Men need money in their hands to feel confident.

Li Long then went to the fourth squad to pick up his older brother, and then drove to the tractor factory in Shicheng.

This time, he planned to buy the Dongfanghong tractor and drive it into the mountains as soon as the snow started to melt, otherwise the mountains would become muddy and the tractor would be difficult to drive up after the snow melted.

Li Jianguo happened to be free, so he went with Li Long.

The price of the Dongfanghong 75 tracked tractor hasn't increased. With the bulldozer and plow, the total cost is less than 50,000 yuan. The bulldozer is placed in front, and the plow is pulled behind. After refueling at the oil depot, we drove back.

After refueling several times along the way, we finally reached the mountains in the afternoon and parked at Halimu's winter camp.

The snow in the county was starting to melt, but the snow in the mountains was still quite thick. Seeing this big vehicle arrive, Halim and his family, including their two black dogs, were very curious.

"Is this what we're going to use?" Halim asked Li Long after greeting Li Jianguo.

“Yes, we’ll use this one.” Li Long pointed to the bulldozer attached to the front of the tractor and said, “It’s very powerful. Although it’s slow, it’s enough to push the road to the winter hut.”

He planned to give the money to Meng Hai in a couple of days so he could buy a few barrels of oil. The Dongfanghong 70 tractor was powerful, but it consumed a lot of fuel. He could also have Halim haul the oil, but Halim would definitely not want money, so Li Long thought it was better to have Meng Hai do it.

Halim and the others didn't expect Li Long to be so efficient; the snow in the mountains hadn't melted much yet, and the tractor had already come up.

"Once the snow melts and we can start work, I'll bring some people up and clear the road," Li Long said. "This tractor here won't be a problem, will it?"

"It won't affect anything, it won't affect anything," Halim said hurriedly. "It's fine, it won't affect anything at all."

He has already sent his two children and mother to the livestock team's designated area. There are only two people at home, so it definitely won't have any impact.

The next day, when Li Long and Meng Hai drove their tractor up to the winter camp with four barrels of diesel oil, Li Long was surprised to find a large crowd gathered around the Dongfanghong 75 tractor.

He knew most of these people; they were young men from the tribe who had gathered together when they were cutting grass, and the remaining few were their family members.

The day after Li Long left, Halim rode his horse to Yushan Jiangdongwozi to inform him of the matter.

Yushanjiang felt it was necessary to let everyone know the progress of the matter, so he rode his horse to tell the others about it, and then these people came together today to see the big tractor.

Although some people had seen the Dongfanghong 75 tracked tractor at the livestock team's post, everyone knew that this one was different. This tractor was brought over specifically to repair roads for them.

Therefore, when they saw the tractor, these young men were quite excited and felt a sense of familiarity.

Although after that meeting, and after everyone collected things and sent them to Yushanjiang, everyone knew that the road repair would begin after the snow melted.

However, they were still somewhat surprised that Li Long had driven the tractor used for road construction into the mountains so quickly.

When Li Long found Meng Hai, Meng Hai was also somewhat surprised.

In his opinion, Li Long had done enough for the herders in the winter pastures, so there was no need to buy a new tractor specifically to repair the road.

He even thought that it was a waste to use such a tractor for bulldozing, and that it would be better to get a few second-hand ones.

After all, the price of a new tractor can buy several used tractors. The new tractor even comes with a plow, so it would be a real waste not to put it in the village to plow the fields.

Of course, he only thought this to himself and wouldn't say it aloud. Li Long found him and asked him to drive a tractor to a nearby oil depot to fetch four barrels of diesel fuel to the mountains, promising him twenty yuan for the fare.

Meng Hai meant that he wouldn't take the money, since Li Long had helped them a lot.

Li Long said that one thing is one thing, and those who need his services will still do so in the future, but he will definitely have to pay for this oil haul.

When Meng Hai saw so many people gathered around the tractor, curiously touching it here and there, and watching Li Long explain the road construction plan to them, he understood the significance of Li Long buying a new tractor—the impact of having a brand-new tractor here versus a second-hand tractor on these herders is different.

When they arrived at Qingshuihe Village on their way back, Meng Hai stopped Li Long and asked him about the road construction.

“Road repair will definitely require a lot of people.” Knowing what Meng Hai was thinking, Li Long told him directly, “If you need people, and your village isn’t too busy, I’ll have you gather people to go into the mountains to work. You’ll be paid by the day.”

"Alright, alright, Comrade Li Long, don't worry. As long as there's work, it doesn't matter when. There must be plenty of idle laborers in our village." Knowing that Li Long was recruiting people to work and that the wages he was offering were not low, Meng Hai readily agreed on behalf of the villagers.

He already knew that Li Long planned to build a road leading to the winter pasture after completing the road to the winter hut. That was a huge project. Even if he and the villagers only took on one-tenth of it, they would earn enough money to have a prosperous New Year.

Although Qingshuihe Village is not far from the mountains, the villagers don't get much wealth from them.

In the past two years, thanks to Li Long, the living standards of the villagers in Qingshuihe Village have been significantly better than those in other villages in the township. However, if they want to continue to develop, they must continue to have a livelihood.

Making large brooms is possible, but the villagers aren't satisfied; they want to earn more. Li Long has already told them that there's no work making brooms this year. The land in their village isn't suitable for growing cash crops like watermelons, and with so little land, they definitely can't get rich by farming.

They had to think of other ways. With such a big project in front of them, Meng Hai certainly couldn't let go.

The road will take at least several years to build, which means that as long as I take on part of the project, I can make a living for the villagers I lead for at least the next few years.

As for the hardship of road construction, that wasn't even on Meng Hai's mind. What isn't hard work these days? If you want to make money, why be afraid of hard work? Some people can endure hardship but still can't make money.

So when Li Long agreed, Meng Hai was really happy and immediately told his wife to kill a chicken to treat Li Long, but Li Long quickly stopped him. He didn't plan to eat here. Even though Meng Hai's family was better off, the chickens were about to lay eggs in the spring, and it wouldn't be good to kill a chicken at this time.

Seeing that he couldn't stop Li Long, Meng Hai didn't want to keep him any longer. He just told Li Long that he must stay for a meal next time he came, so that he could at least show his appreciation.

After Li Long left, Meng Hai went to find Captain He Yuqing and told him about it.

"This is great news! If I weren't the team leader and couldn't leave, I would definitely be involved," He Yuqing said with some regret. "Old Meng, I'm leaving the task of organizing the work to you. Make sure you do a good job. Comrade Li Long trusts us and gives us opportunities to make money every year; we can't let him down!"

"Old He, don't worry about this. All the able-bodied men in our village are counting on this to live a few more prosperous years. Anyone who dares to hold us back will get a beating!"

Then the two of them discussed together which people to choose to do the work.

Although the household responsibility system has been implemented and individuals are now looking out for themselves, the organizational strength of Qingshuihe Village is still quite strong.

Meng Hai believed he could keep those young men in check.

(End of this chapter)