Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 954 You just take action, leave the rest to others.
After less than an hour's rest, some people had already stood up and started working on their own initiative. One after another, without Li Long having to call them, everyone returned to their respective "work posts" and started "working".

Because of this initiative, the road leading to another winter shelter was completed in the afternoon, when the sun was still high in the sky. Meng Hai drove the tractor from the entrance of Talihar's winter shelter all the way to the foot of Buick's winter shelter, and then to the entrance of the third winter shelter, Yersin's.

At this point, the Dongfanghong 75 tractor was no longer a bulldozer, but rather served as a road roller.

After compacting the ground twice, Talihar drove his small four-wheeled tractor along the road twice. Li Long stood in the back of the tractor, holding onto the side rail, and could feel how easily the small tractor traversed this road.

Of course, such a road will also have some problems, because half of it is built in a ravine. When there is a heavy rain, there may be mudslides. He is thinking that after the whole road is built, a drainage ditch will be dug out on the side of the road in the ravine section.

Just like the drainage ditches along the Duku Highway, diverting the water away prevents it from washing away the road.

Of course, the advantage here is that the vegetation in each gully is very dense, making it difficult for mudslides to occur.

When the road was repaired, everyone cheered. Some sang songs, and some shouted work chants.

"Alright, alright, stop shouting, let's get ready to eat." After Li Long returned on his small four-wheeled tractor, he didn't get off after the tractor came to a complete stop and turned off the engine. Instead, he stood on the tractor's side and shouted loudly:

"Everyone remember to take your own big bowl. In the afternoon, we'll have mutton soup and naan. Go back after you finish eating—hurry up, follow the order from this morning, don't get confused."

It's called mutton soup, but the mutton is almost cooked into the broth. Each person's soup has a large piece of meat, some fatty and some lean. The bones are stewed until soft, and each bite is a mouthful of crumbs. The marrow inside is even more delicious.

After finishing a day's work ahead of schedule, a delicious bowl of mutton soup is truly refreshing and satisfying.

"I'd be willing to work like this for a month," Zhou Yuan joked. "Eating so well, I bet my stomach will complain tomorrow."

"No way, you're only as energetic as you are now. By the time you get back from the long ride, the food in your stomach will be mostly digested, and you'll fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow that night. I guarantee you won't even get up during the night," another section chief said with a laugh.
“I have experience with this. Working like this will make you sleep well at night, but you’ll see when you wake up tomorrow, your arms and legs will definitely be sore.”

"Come on, come on, there's still beer here. Anyone who wants a drink after they've finished eating, come and get it." Someone carried two cases of beer down from the carriage and placed them by the stove for anyone to take.

A case of beer contains twenty-four bottles, enough for one bottle per person. However, some people will definitely not drink, and most people could drink two bottles without any problems—even if the beer is eleven degrees.

Someone went over and took a bottle of beer, and then someone else went to take it.

Among those taking beer were employees and herdsmen; some even used their teeth to crack open the bottle caps and bumped them against each other.

Having a beer to relieve fatigue is a good thing, since this amount of alcohol won't make you drunk.

By the time we finished eating and cleaned up the mess, the sun had already set behind the mountains, and the mountain wind suddenly turned cold.

"Alright, pack your things, herders go home, workers get on the bus, let's head out of the mountains," Li Long shouted again.

The herders insisted on seeing Li Long and his group down the mountain before returning, so Li Long didn't insist. He took them on board, counted the number of people, and then drove away.

Herdsmen rode their horses up the hillsides on both sides of the road, chasing after the trucks and whistling as they ran, as if to see them off.

Although the horses could no longer catch up, when they looked back, they could still see the herders watching the caravan from the high hillside.

At first, the people in the truck waved to the herders and called out their names. When they could no longer see them, someone started singing, singing "We Workers Have Strength". After that, someone sang "Unity is Strength", and someone even led the singing of "Returning from Target Practice". For a while, the truck was noisy. The two trucks sang together at first, but then they each sang their own songs and started singing in a row!
"It's been so long since it's been this lively." Sitting in the jeep, Li Xiangqian wished he could jump into the carriage and sing along with everyone. He sighed, "We really need to get out more often."

"Once a week, we should try our best to get every employee out and working. That would be better." Li Xiangqian felt that the employees' spirits and energy had returned to the days of mass production. Putting aside everything else, just their enthusiasm was much better than the current lifeless feeling.

Moreover, they are more united.

Ma Xiaoyan recorded the employees singing, the herdsmen riding horses to see them off, and even Li Xiangqian's reflections. She felt that she had gained a lot today.

Back in the county town, it wasn't dark yet. Everyone was sent home. The employees dispersed in twos and threes outside the gate, while Li Long hurried back, as he had to go into the mountains again the next day.

Ma Xiaoyan worked overtime that night, writing a 5,000-word news article in one go, then proofread it again before finally going to rest, satisfied.

The next morning, as soon as Ma Xiaoyan arrived at her workplace, she delivered the manuscript to the executive vice president.

"Hey, Xiaoyan, your skills are getting better and better! This draft is publishable. I'll sign it, you take it to get stamped, and then send it out as soon as possible." The executive vice president praised repeatedly after reading the draft, "Not bad, not bad, it should be published."

Upon receiving the praise, Ma Xiaoyan even felt it was deserved, as this was the most fluent and satisfying piece of writing she had done in many years.

She immediately rode her bicycle to the post office and sent it by registered mail.

"The mail truck departs for Beiting at 11:00 AM, and arrives in Wucheng from Beiting at 3:00 PM. They should receive it by tomorrow at the latest," a post office worker who recognized Ma Xiaoyan said to her. "It's very fast."

Ma Xiaoyan nodded. It was only because of work that she was thinking of taking the bus to Wucheng herself to deliver the manuscript.

After having breakfast, Li Long drove his jeep directly into the mountains.

Mingming and Haohao also wanted to go along. A while ago, they rode in a jeep back to the Fourth Squadron, and the two children had a novel experience of riding in a car.

Li Long had to go to work this time, so he could only try to persuade the child.

Fortunately, the second-generation offspring of the dairy goat attracted Mingming and Haohao's attention—the little lamb ran over and ambushed Mingming and Haohao—the dairy goat is very fertile, and after the Spring Festival, it gave birth to three in one litter, and because it had enough milk, they all survived.

Two lambs ambushed Minghao Hao, and one of them even tried to headbutt Li Long, but after standing up, it probably feared that Li Long was too big and then shrank back.

Mingming Haohao kept shouting "Bad sheep! Bad sheep!" and chased after Li Long to take revenge, which allowed Li Long to leave.

Today, the employees of the supply and marketing cooperative didn't have to work. Li Long drove directly to the naan shop and bought all the naan in the shop. However, because he arrived a little late, one-third of the first batch of naan had already been sold.

The Uyghur young man making naan said with a smile, "In a little while, I'm sure another Adasi will come to complain that I'm out of naan."

While packing the naan, Li Long replied, "Since you're up so late to eat naan, let's wait for the next batch. They don't care anyway."

"Hahahaha." The young man was very happy.

Sure enough, before Li Long even got into the car and started the engine, two people came over to buy naan. When they heard that there was no naan left, they immediately started complaining.

He didn't swear; he just said, "How come someone bought all the naan again?" and told them to come earlier next time.

Li Long smiled, drove straight out of the county town, and went into the mountains.

As they passed Qingshuihe Village, a boy of about half a year was waiting by the roadside. Seeing Li Long's jeep approach, the boy shouted loudly. Li Long quickly stopped, and the boy ran to the car and said to Li Long:

“Chang’an’s dad… oh, Uncle Meng asked me to tell you that he’s already driven his tractor and taken people into the mountains.” Li Long smiled and said, “I know.” He rummaged in the car and pulled out a handful of candy from the glove box, handing it to the boy: “Here, take this and eat it.”

The boy took the candy, and Li Long drove away.

After entering the mountains, Li Long drove all the way into the mountains. When he arrived at Yushan Jiangdongwozi, he saw that the cattle and sheep were still in the pen, but the people were not there. Li Long was a little puzzled.

He continued driving and, upon arriving at the place where he had worked the day before, found Yushan Jiang talking to Meng Hai.

Meng Hai pulled a tractor with about ten people, who were waiting there with their tools to be assigned tasks.

Upon seeing Li Long's car approaching, both Yu Shanjiang and Meng Hai stopped what they were doing.

As Li Long walked over, Yu Shanjiang said:
"I plan to gather the other herders here..."

"No need, no need." Li Long waved his hand. "Meng Hai and the others can do the work. They can help prepare some tea and hot food wherever they work. You are all busy right now, and there aren't many people to begin with, so you should finish your work as soon as possible."

“Yes, yes, Comrade Li Long is right. I heard him say that you have to shear sheep, wash sheep, and prepare for the migration. There’s a lot to do,” Meng Hai said. “Leave the work to us. I brought ten people today to check things out, but maybe twenty tomorrow.”

Yushanjiang looked at Li Long.

Li Long nodded and said, "You should hurry up and get busy too. When I came over, I saw that your cattle and sheep hadn't been let out yet. Your sheep farm had taken the baby to the guard post. You're all alone here. It must take you more than half a month just to shear the sheep."

Yu Shanjiang smiled but didn't say anything, which meant he agreed.

"Alright, alright, leave this to us. Just tell everyone which house the road repairs reach and ask them to help cook lunch. Simple meals are fine, like pilaf, noodle soup, or naren. Share the leftover meat from yesterday's slaughtered sheep with these families; it won't keep anyway, so don't waste it."

Yu Shanjiang looked somewhat hesitant, but Li Long smiled and said, "This is fine. They come here to work and earn money, not to eat or drink. It's different from the supply and marketing cooperative yesterday. If you make it too good for them, they'll feel embarrassed to take the money..."

What was said in jest was also the truth.

Yu Shanjiang then went to arrange these matters. Li Long then spoke to Meng Hai about the upcoming work tasks.

Because there weren't many people, they weren't divided into many groups. Meng Hai led two people to drive a tractor and mainly push soil to widen the original "horse track" into a tractor track. The rest of the people either moved stones to fill the pits or used sickles and axes to clear shrubs and saplings.

The supplies brought by the supply and marketing cooperative yesterday were all left behind, including two boxes of explosives, a large roll of fuse, and dozens of detonating rings. Meng Hai is the militia company commander, so tinkering with that is no problem for him. As for the other supplies and tools, everyone can take them as needed.

The wages were also agreed upon, eight yuan per person per day, which was a pretty good price. It was mainly physical labor, and the work was done gradually, so the ten people Meng Hai first selected were experienced young and strong men.

What he said earlier wasn't wrong. We can try it today, and if it goes well, we can bring twenty people over with a tractor tomorrow. Right now, the village is full of able-bodied young men, so bringing out twenty people won't delay the preparations for spring plowing.

The roar of tractors filled the air as road repair work continued.

Li Long remained the overall coordinator, running around doing everything he could to put out fires and resolve difficulties at any time.

For lunch that day, they ate pilaf, made from leftover meat bones from the previous day. The villagers from Qingshuihezi who came to work were actually a little embarrassed; not only was the pay good, but the food was also so good—they had to work incredibly hard!
Everyone's wages were settled that very evening.

Sure enough, the number of workers increased to twenty the next day—a tractor brought twenty people, and people stood on the tractor deck and the middle trailer. Li Long thought it was dangerous, but these people didn't think it was a big deal.

They worked like this for four or five days. Although there were fewer people than the first day, the progress was not slow. Basically, they repaired the road leading to a wintering ground in two days.

While Li Long was working, some people at the Ethnic Affairs Commission of the Autonomous Region were discussing his affairs while holding newspapers.

"See that, Lao Tu? I told you, this Li Long is definitely not simple. You're not going to say his background is too weak this time, are you?" The speaker was a middle-aged Han Chinese man in his forties, wearing a Zhongshan suit, with a square face and thick eyebrows.

"Hehe, I really didn't expect that. Sigh, if I had seen this report earlier, or even if I had known about this earlier, I wouldn't have hesitated back then." The one who answered was a middle-aged Uyghur man with a thick stubble, shaved black. After looking at the newspaper, he had a slightly embarrassed expression on his face, followed by some dissatisfaction. "Don't call me Old Tu, call me by my full name, Tursunjan!"

"Okay, okay, Lao Tu, this is still a problem in their county. Sigh, it can only be said that when the county was compiling these statistics, they probably didn't even go to the individuals themselves. They just took out the materials from previous years, compiled them, and handed them over to us. It's really a bit bureaucratic."

"It's fortunate that you overruled the objections and reported him to the National Ethnic Affairs Commission, otherwise it would have been our dereliction of duty. This Li Long is really something, repairing houses, laying water pipes, and building roads. He's a real man of action."

"Yes, there aren't many people like him, which is why we need to report on him nationwide so that more people can know about him and learn from him."

"Old Song, I'm just worried about those older comrades..."

"What's wrong? They still have something to say? Tell them to come find me!" Old Song, a Han Chinese, said with dissatisfaction. "Isn't it just because I selected a Han Chinese comrade this time? But who says that advanced individuals reported for ethnic unity must be ethnic minorities?"

Besides, of the three candidates submitted, one is a Uyghur who has adopted more than a dozen lonely elderly women, and the other is a Kazakh youth who jumped into the river to save someone. Why can't there be a Han Chinese candidate?

"Old Song, don't be angry, don't be angry. I support your idea, otherwise Li Long wouldn't have been able to get the nomination. However, we also need to consider the feelings of the older comrades, after all, Li Long's deeds didn't seem that outstanding to begin with..."

"Perfect timing. Have Xiao Liu contact the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and tell them we have new materials about their deeds, so please supplement them as soon as possible. This is a very important matter, of great significance..."

"Is it really that significant? I don't see it that way," Tursunjan said.

"Think about it. Look at how Li Long helped this Kazakh tribe in the past. He helped them get through the snow disaster, bought supplies, helped them install water pipes and repair winter shelters, repaired their houses, cut hay, helped them buy tractors, and so on. These are all ordinary good deeds."

The material states that Li Long himself also gained some wealth through this matter. According to ordinary people's thinking, as long as he performed his role as a middleman well, he would continue to obtain mountain specialties from the herders and earn money.

But he didn't. He built the road directly. Didn't he know that once the road was built, the herders could drive their tractors down the mountain to sell their local products, bypassing him?

He must have known, but he still did it anyway. What does that mean? It means that in his mind, improving the lives of the herders is more important than making money for himself! So, that alone makes it exceptionally significant!

“That’s right, I understand now. I’ll have Xiao Liu compile these materials and submit them immediately. By the way, I noticed that the supply and marketing cooperative is involved. Could it be an action taken by their organization?”

“You see, these newspapers all report on supply and marketing cooperatives, but if you look at the timeline, there were no supply and marketing cooperatives at the beginning. It’s highly likely that Li Long, as a temporary worker at the supply and marketing cooperative, brought the cooperative along and gave it some recognition in this matter.”

Actually, it's clear that Li Long was the mastermind behind everything. Not bad at all! To have such ideas, to become good friends with the herders, and to consistently help them improve their living conditions for several years, working together towards a modern life—this kind of person deserves recognition!

"Okay, I'll take care of it now. It should be in time."

Tursunjan called over his assistant, Xiao Liu, and asked her to quickly reorganize Li Long's materials, contact the publicity department of Ma County if necessary to verify the authenticity and details of the materials, and then submit them to the State Ethnic Affairs Commission as soon as possible.

Li Long was unaware that what he was doing was being submitted in writing to the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, thus entering the process of selecting outstanding individuals for national ethnic unity.

Whether or not a candidate can be selected depends on the richness of their outstanding achievements in their application materials.

(End of this chapter)