A Tale of Two Cities Supporting Xinjiang

So, Aihmaiti Tursun picked up the phone and called the village party secretary: "Secretary Aini Abdusay, could you take some time to accompany Cadre Li to Jiulian Village? He wants to learn about farming."

After hanging up the phone, Aihmaiti Tursun looked at Li Chao and said, "Alright, Aini Abudusai will be waiting for you at the entrance of Jiulian Village. Let me make this clear: the villagers are afraid of new varieties and technologies now, so don't try to persuade them otherwise."

"Don't worry, I'll go find out what's going on!"

Li Chao put his notebook in his pocket and drove towards the entrance of Jiulian Village.

Secretary Aini Abdusay was a man in his fifties, a native of the Ninth Company, and a man of few words.

Upon meeting, Li Chao took the initiative to engage in a warm conversation with him, while Aini Abdulsay simply nodded politely.

He understood Li Chao's purpose and led him to the herdsman's home.

The first house they knocked on was Uncle Simayi Maimaiti's door. The old man was sitting on the threshold smoking a cigarette. When he saw Li Chao and Aini Abudusai, Uncle Simayi Maimaiti merely glanced at them.

"These are cadres sent to Xinjiang to provide assistance; they want to learn about the fruit tree planting situation."

Aini Abdusay introduced Sima Yi Maimaiti.

Before Li Chao could speak, Sima Yi Maimaiti exhaled a smoke ring, "What's there to talk about? You've been farming all your life, what new things can you come up with? In this awful weather in Jiulian, you can only grow the same few things over and over again. You won't starve, but you won't get rich either. It's a complete waste of effort."

"Uncle, I heard you lost money trying to grow fruit trees last year?"

Li Chao thought that having done his homework beforehand would help him build rapport, so he tried to be as gentle as possible and said, "If you have any cold-resistant fruit tree saplings, would you be willing to give them a try?"

These words were immediately refuted by Simayi Maimaiti: "Cold-resistant? What variety can survive the winter of our Ninth Company? Minus thirty degrees Celsius! Even rocks can crack from the cold, let alone seedlings?"

A few years ago, the government promoted apple trees, promising them amazing results. I painstakingly planted them in the fall, only to have them all freeze to death in the winter! Half an acre of land, plus the money for seeds—all gone down the drain!

Li Chao quickly explained, "Uncle, I'd like to introduce cold-resistant seedlings cultivated by our Dalian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Our winters are also cold, so they should be suitable for the climate of Jiulian..."

Stop spouting nonsense!

Simayi Maimaiti interrupted him directly, "Foreign varieties are all delicate! Our Ninth Company's soil and weather don't tolerate them. I can't afford to mess around anymore. I'll just honestly grow some wheat to make a living. I'm not hoping to get rich, I just want stability!"

After saying that, Sima Yi Maimaiti turned around and went into the house, leaving Li Chao standing there dumbfounded.

Aini Abdusay, who hadn't spoken since they met, was starting to get restless. He sighed and said, "Officer Li, you've seen it too. The villagers of Jiulian have all suffered losses. Someone tried to sell them peach seedlings before, saying they could benefit from being from the hometown of peaches, but they still got frozen and disappeared."

This is just the situation at one company; the situation at others may be different.

"Secretary, how about we go check out the next one?"

Seeing that Li Chao was determined to go, Aini Abdusa did not stop him and took him to the house of Aunt Gulijamal Abdu next door.

Gulijamal Abudu squatted in the yard feeding the sheep, while several sheep in the sheepfold were grazing with their heads down.

Seeing Li Chao and Aini Abudusai enter, Aunt Gulijamal Abudu stopped what she was doing and wiped her hands.

Upon hearing that Li Chao had come to promote cold-resistant seedlings, she shook her head repeatedly, her face full of difficulty: "Officer Li, it's not that we don't want to cooperate, it's just that we're really scared."

A couple of years ago, someone came to promote greenhouse vegetables, saying that greenhouses could keep the vegetables warm and make more money. I gritted my teeth, borrowed money, and built a greenhouse. But then a cold snap came, and all the vegetables inside froze and rotted! I didn't even make back the money I spent building the greenhouse. I was so heartbroken that I couldn't sleep for several nights.

"Auntie, if there were more advanced insulation technology, coupled with special cold-resistant varieties, would you be willing to give it a try?" Li Chao pressed, wanting to try again.

Gulijamal Abudu couldn't help but complain: "All the boys in the family have gone out to work, leaving only us old men and women at home. We can't afford to make any trouble, and we can't afford to lose!"

"You'd better not bother. The weather in Jiulian is completely unsuitable for planting trees; it'll be a waste of time no matter what you plant."

He visited two households, and it seemed like they had planned everything meticulously. However, Li Chao didn't give up. Even if planting was impossible, he felt that finding out the specific reason for the problem was still a valuable experience.

Over the next few days, Li Chao followed Aini Abudu to visit more than a dozen fellow villagers in the Ninth Company, including Brother Abduwaili Aihmaiti Tursun, Uncle Reheman Yushan, Aunt Minawa Aizezi, and others. They covered most of the company, but the responses they received were all pretty much the same.

Some villagers, upon hearing that it was about promoting seedlings, shouted "No time!" over the courtyard wall and wouldn't even open the door; others gave perfunctory replies and then used the excuse of "having to work in the fields" to kick them out; the most common things they said were the same: Don't mess around, planting anything in Jiulian's weather is a waste of time, we've tried enough, we don't believe it anymore.

Uncle Reheman Yushan was even more direct, holding Li Chao's hand and saying in a heavy tone: "Cadre Li, it's not that we don't trust you, it's that we're really afraid of trusting you!"

Every year, people come to Jiulian to promote new varieties and technologies. They all sound very promising, but in the end, we always end up losing money and effort for nothing. Who would dare to try it now?

Aunt Minawar Aizezi chimed in, her eyes a little red: "That's right. Last year, my neighbor listened to advice and tried planting grapes. They spent a lot on seedlings and fertilizer, hoping they would bear fruit, but they all died in the winter! Now, we're all terrified when we think about planting trees."

Listening to everyone's feedback and seeing the disappointment and resistance in the eyes of his fellow villagers, Li Chao's heart grew heavier and heavier.

Moreover, Li Chao didn't have any tree species worth recommending. He was just learning about everyone's situation and didn't have any further in-depth discussions.

Back at his apartment that evening, Li Chao immediately made a video call to Professor Zhang, an old colleague from the Dalian Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

As soon as the video call connected, he couldn't wait to speak: "Professor Zhang, I'm in a bit of a predicament. The winter temperatures in the Ninth Company of the 143rd Regiment in Shihezi can drop to minus thirty degrees Celsius. The villagers have tried planting fruit trees before but failed repeatedly, and now they don't dare to try again."

He told Professor Zhang everything he had learned in the past few days in Jiulian, and finally pleaded, "Could you send over a batch of the cold-resistant fruit tree seedlings you cultivate there to try? Even if it's a small number, it would be fine, just to do a small-scale pilot project in Jiulian first."

Professor Zhang's tone immediately hardened, "Li Chao, have you thought this through? The lowest temperature in Dalian in winter is only minus fifteen degrees Celsius, which is far worse than Jiulian. Our cold-resistant seedlings are cultivated for the climate of Dalian. If they are brought to Jiulian, they may not adapt well, and the survival rate is really hard to say. The risk is too great."

"I know there are risks, but we can't just stand by and watch the villagers in the Ninth Company barely make ends meet by growing wheat, can we?"

Li Chao still expressed his thoughts: "I want to try it out first, plant a small amount. If it succeeds, it can help the villagers of Jiulian regain their confidence; even if it fails, we can still accumulate some experience, which is better than doing nothing."

Professor Zhang hesitated for a long time before finally nodding: "Alright, I'll get you a batch of the most cold-resistant crabapple seedlings. There aren't many, but you can try them out in Jiulian first."

But I must remind you, you must ensure proper insulation during transportation, and strengthen protection after planting. Don't let your guard down; the climate in Jiulian is no joke.

"That's wonderful, thank you so much, Professor Zhang!"

Li Chao finally felt half relieved.