Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The small lake was still a little chilly in the early morning. Li Long watched Tao Daqiang dragging back the eight nets. He stood by the water, bent down and lifted up the two bags.

"There aren't many fish today."

"Not bad." Tao Daqiang said with a smile, "Since April, the fishing has been like this. Eight nets can catch 40 to 50 kilograms, which is already good. Last year, one net could catch 10 kilograms, but this year it's basically gone."

Li Long thought about it and realized that he had caught several tons of fish from the small lake last year. Many people in the village had been fishing all winter. Even if there were a lot of fish, they would have to grow over time and it was impossible for them to be caught endlessly.

"Not bad, the fish looks big." Li Long opened the bag to take a look and said with a smile, "It can be sold for dozens of dollars."

"Yeah." Tao Daqiang smiled innocently.

"Let's go, we have to pick fish when we get home." Li Qingxia urged. He was never idle. When Tao Daqiang took the net, he also took his own "net" and used a basin to catch several kilograms of dogfish. This fish has always been popular in the market, and Li Qingxia always uses this to open up the market.

The three men returned to the yard carrying bags and tires. The whole family was there, and they began to select fish.

Li Juan and Li Qiang have already eaten and are now reading aloud. This is the study method that Gu Xiaoxia mentioned when she came back last time. She asked them to get up early in the morning and read the text carefully several times, which would be beneficial. Liang Yuemei attached great importance to this. Every day after the two children got up, if the meal was not ready, she asked them to read the text first.

Because Li Long is driving a tractor to school today, the two children are also waiting and will ride the tractor to school later.

With so many people, the fish were picked quickly. Eight nets picked out more than 40 kilograms of fish, but some were small and injured. The fish were packed in three urea bags, and Li Long took out three small plastic bags and picked two fish weighing more than one kilogram each, intending to give them to others.

Li Juan and Li Qiang sat on the tractor early with their school bags on their backs. Ni'er from Lu Yingming's family also sat on the tractor, holding on to the railing of the tractor bucket tightly and whispering something to Li Juan.

After putting the fish on the tractor, Li Long said hello to his eldest brother, started cranking, and after Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang sat down, he shifted the gear and drove out of the yard.

Li Long drove very fast. Some children on the road heard the sound of the tractor and ran to the sides, then looked at the tractor. There were many children in the village, so Li Long did not stop, otherwise it would be bad for who pulled and who did not.

The tractor drove to the primary school, and after dropping the three children off, Li Long stepped on the accelerator and drove towards the county.

When they got to the county, Li Long wanted to stop, but Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang said that they shouldn't stop. The tractor was fast anyway, so they might as well drive directly to Shicheng first. The sooner they got there, the sooner they could sell out and get down to business.

Li Long turned west and arrived at Shicheng Old Street in less than an hour. The old street was bustling at that time, and some retired elderly people were looking for things they liked at the stalls.

Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang took the fish down and started looking for a stall.

"Xiaolong, go do your own thing, and come pick us up when you're done." Li Qingxia quickly found the stall. At this time, the stall was still relatively spacious. Some vendors had to eat breakfast before coming and planned to stay for the whole day, while some who came early had already sold their own vegetables and were about to leave.

"Okay." Li Long said, "Then I'll leave."

It's just time to go to work now, so I think Song Ming should be at the sugar factory.

When Li Long drove the tractor to the sugar factory, the machines were already rumbling, and the air was filled with the sweet aroma of syrup and the damp fragrance of boiled beets.

Li Long drove the tractor to the back door, ready to wait for Song Ming to come out.

There was also a guard at the back door. Seeing Li Long waiting here, he guessed that he was waiting for the sugar residue, so he came out and said to Li Long:
"If you want to pull sugar residue, go to the big pit by the river in the back. There's no point waiting here."

Li Long smiled, took out a pack of Yaochi cigarettes, took out one and handed it to the guard, saying:

"Comrade, I'm waiting for Song Ming here."

"You know Xiao Song." The guard took the cigarette and put it to his ear, smiling and said, "It will take a while. The machine has just started, and it will take a while for the slag to come out. Since you know Song Ming, why don't you drive in? You can drive a tractor, so you have a job, right?"

"Yes." Li Long took out the work permit issued by the supply and marketing cooperative and handed it over.

"Okay, I'll make a note of it for you and you can go in. If you don't have a work permit, you can't go in." The guard was very easy to talk to. He went over to register and let Li Long in.

Li Long thanked the security guard and drove the tractor to the slag discharge outlet, where he saw Song Ming and his apprentice smoking and chatting.

"Hey, Comrade Li." Song Ming heard the sound of the tractor and saw that it was Li Long. He smiled and took two steps towards him. After Li Long stopped the tractor, he stepped forward and shook hands with him:
"How come you, a busy man, have time to come to our place?"

"What a busy man! I'm busy for nothing. We're running low on sugar residue at home, so come over and get some." Li Long smiled and shook hands with both of them, then asked, "Is this okay?"

"No problem, no problem, definitely no problem." Song Ming said with a smile, "Even if others have problems, you will definitely have no problem. Section Chief Hu mentioned you last time."

"That's perfect. I brought a few fish this time. Here, this is yours, Master Song. This is yours. Master Song, please give the other two to Chief Hu."

"Comrade Xiao Li, Section Chief Hu is here right now, you can go by yourself. The Section Chief has already said that if a celebrity like you comes, he must let you go upstairs." Song Ming said with a smile, "I'll pack the sugar residue for you, you can go to the Section Chief."

Li Long guessed and asked:

"This is... have you read the newspaper?"

"I took a look." Song Ming said with a smile, "You are amazing. You can't tell at other times, but now you are directly on the newspaper of the autonomous region. It's amazing! The section chief said that we should learn from you."

Li Long's face was a little hot. He really didn't expect the follow-up to be like this. Originally, the matter of repairing the house for Halimu Yushan Jiang's family was done. What he owed others and what others owed him could no longer be explained. What he said to Zhang Xinhua was basically what he thought.

Just like brothers, what they do is what they should do, and they don't think it is great or meaningful. As for the interviews with reporters, Li Long feels that it is over and it is just a newspaper report.

I didn’t expect there would be a follow-up and such a wider impact.

He felt a little ashamed.

"Go quickly. The section chief will be very happy to know that you are here." Song Ming said with a smile.

Well, since people have said that, Li Long just carried the bag containing the two fish and walked towards the office building.

Section Chief Hu was reading a newspaper in his office. When Li Long arrived at the door, he heard footsteps. He looked up and saw that it was Li Long. He was stunned for a moment, then smiled and stood up:

"Comrade Xiao Li is here. What a rare guest! You are a famous person now. Come on in!"

Li Long raised the bag of fish and said:
"Chief, this is the fish I caught this morning. It's still alive."

"Hey! You're here now. What fish do you want?" Section Chief Hu took the fish and put it on the chair with a smile. He asked Li Long to sit down and poured it for him. As he poured it, he said:

"I read about your deeds in the newspaper. I never expected this, Comrade Li. It's great! What you said is so good. Brothers of all ethnic groups should hold each other tightly like pomegranate seeds. That's great!"

The more he said this, the more ashamed Li Long felt. He was plagiarizing. But there was nothing he could do. As long as those experts hadn't said this, he would be the original author.

Embarrassing enough.

"Some people say it's not you, but when I read the stories written in it, I know it's definitely you. After all, we ate the sheep you pulled from the mountains." Section Chief Hu handed the water cup to Li Long, "Come, drink some water."

Walking back to his seat, Section Chief Hu smiled and sat down and asked:
"Are you here to collect sugar residue this time?"

"Well, I wanted to come over and pull a car."

"No problem. I said before, as long as you come, you can do whatever you want."

In fact, Li Long also thought about taking over the sugar residue from the sugar factory. This stuff is very good feed after drying. It can be eaten by large animals such as horses and donkeys, as well as pigs and chickens raised at home. If you really want to set up a small factory, it would be a good business to specialize in drying feed.

However, the breeding industry has not yet taken off, and if you rashly engage in feed processing, you will most likely have to hold back goods and lose money in the early stages. But after the breeding industry takes off, the sugar factory will have realized the value of sugar residues, and then it will not be their turn to do this business.

In fact, many businesses have not yet been started, and it is the right time to enter the market, such as seeds, agricultural materials, small agricultural machinery and other industries.

Even mechanization in the village is a big industry. If you start planning now, as long as you are not too greedy and ensure quality, you can basically achieve a monopoly later. When the real cotton industry takes off, it will not be a problem to earn seven or eight figures a year.

But Li Longku had no suitable candidate at the moment, and he had his own business. His eldest brother had his own plans, his second brother was almost a worker, and his brother-in-law had already started another business. If his brothers and relatives couldn't do it, he would have to think carefully about finding an outsider.

But now is not the time to think about this, he smiled and said:

"Thank you very much, Chief."

"What are you thanking me for?" Section Chief Hu said with a smile, "I heard that the autonomous region may commend you as an advanced individual in ethnic unity. How about giving a report to our factory?"

“No, no, no.” Li Long waved his hands hastily. He put down the water and said with a wry smile: “Section Chief, others may not know, but you don’t. I am just an ordinary farmer. Even if I work in the supply and marketing cooperative now, I am still a temporary worker. I think what I did was what I should do, but I didn’t expect it to be reported in the newspaper. I thought it would be over after it was reported in the newspaper, but I didn’t expect there would be a follow-up.”

"Tsk tsk!" Section Chief Hu gave a thumbs up. "This is what an advanced model should be like. You are not arrogant or impatient. You just do what you should do. I admire people like you. Okay, if you don't want to do it, then don't do it. We know each other well. I am very happy that you have become an advanced model. If you want to pull sugar residue in the future, just come here. As I said, the door of the sugar factory is always open for you."

Li Long was really grateful to Section Chief Hu. After saying a few more words, he left the office building.

By the time we got to the dump, the sugar residue had already been loaded. Not only was the truck loaded, but there were also a number of sacks filled with sugar residue, and a few empty sacks.

"Thank you so much for troubling you." Li Long said to Song Ming and his apprentice, "Thank you, thank you."

"Why are you being polite?" Song Ming said with a smile, "Okay, hurry up and leave. This sugar residue is leaking. If you drive away, we can flush it."

Li Long had no choice but to stay any longer, so he drove the tractor, waved to the two people, and left the sugar factory.

He knew very well that Section Chief Hu might not necessarily want to get something from him. It was just because they already had a certain relationship. Now he was talking to him to a large extent to congratulate him on his fame.

When pulling the sugar residue back to the old street, Li Long saw that his father Li Qingxia had not sold all the fish yet, and the same was true for Tao Daqiang not far away.

He parked the tractor in the parking lot, took the sign and went to Keyum's milk tea shop and ordered three bowls of milk tea, three naan, and honey.

"Boss, my old man will come over to eat later. Put the milk tea here first when it's ready." Li Long said to Keyumu.

"Alright, alright, go ahead. I'll watch over you." Keyum spoke with an eastern Henan accent. "I know your old man too. You don't need to remind me."

Li Long smiled, paid the money and went to his father's stall.

"Dad, I'm going to look after the stall. Go drink some milk tea to warm yourself up first."

Since getting up early in the morning, the old man has not eaten anything. Young people can handle it, but my father is old, so he still needs to be careful.

"What do you want to eat? There's not much left. I'll sell them all first before I eat." Li Qingxia still had to hold on.

"I've already ordered it." Li Long pointed over there and said, "The milk tea won't taste good if it gets cold. You should go over there quickly."

Li Qingxia no longer insisted. To be honest, he was indeed a little hungry.

Li Long replaced Li Qingxia's position and shouted loudly.

It has been a long time since I felt this way, and Li Long still misses it a little.

An old man heard Li Long's shouting, walked over, looked at him carefully and said:
"Hey, young man, you haven't come to sell fish for a while! What's the matter? What were you doing before?"

"Into the mountains." Li Long said with a smile, "I'm here again, uncle, what kind of fish do you want? Just because you're a regular customer, I'll weigh it high for you today!"

"Okay, give me a kilogram of pike and two kilograms of crucian carp."

"Good!" Li Long took the scale and weighed the fish for the customer. It was good and his movements were quite skillful.

The price of fish is higher than last year. Although there are fewer fish, the money earned in the end is not small.

Li Long and Tao Daqiang finished selling fish and closed their stalls to drink milk tea. The two washed their hands with a small kettle outside the milk tea shop. While washing, Li Long asked:
"Da Qiang, if I get a big tractor and a plow later, will you help me?"

"Sure." Tao Daqiang agreed without thinking, "You can make money by plowing the land."

Yes, plowing the land makes money. Of course, Wang Caimi hasn't made any money yet, after all, the big tractor owes the team a lot of money.

But plowing the land is really profitable.

In the past, the land belonged to the team, and plowing the land was free. Now, the land is contracted to each household, and the land is yours, so you have to pay for plowing the land. Although one mu of land is not much, only two yuan, but the entire team now has at least 2,000 mu of land.

Farming is not just about plowing, it also requires harrowing, leveling, cutting and sowing. This series of tasks adds up to a lot.

The land in the team increased year by year, reaching its peak of almost 7,000 acres. At that time, the land in a team could support three big tractor drivers.

So agricultural machinery is also a way to make a fortune. Of course, Li Long's real plan is not to compete with Wang Caimi for business, but to harvest. Now he is harvesting wheat, and then he can use a combine harvester to harvest corn and sunflowers, and finally machine-pick cotton. This is the general trend.

It’s just that Li Long is a bit lazy. He always thinks of buying the machine and letting others operate it, and he just collects the money.

We are all making money together, wouldn’t it be nice to just sit back and get the dividends?
So Li Long didn't say anything more. He looked down on crawler tractors and preferred high-horsepower wheeled tractors. Currently, the only tractors on the market were the Dongfanghong 28 wheeled tractors, which had less horsepower than the Dongfanghong 75 crawler tractors and were not enough to accomplish the task Li Long wanted, at least not in terms of plowing.

Let’s start with the harvester for harvesting wheat. Small tractors can make as much money as large tractors.

The milk tea tasted as good as always. Li Long asked Keyum:
"You've been running this business for two years. You must have made a lot of money. Have you built a house in the city?"

"Where can we build it?" There are few customers now, Keyum shook his head, "We don't have a city hukou, it's good enough to be able to sell milk tea here."

"It will get better and better." Li Long smiled. Later, this place was gradually expanded into the city, and those who had houses here gradually became urban residents. It was almost the same for my brother-in-law Chen Xingbang.

He looked through the window towards his brother-in-law. Chen Xingbang was still selling meat and had no time to come over.

After drinking milk tea and eating naan, Li Long went over to say hello to Chen Xingbang and told him about Li Anguo. Chen Xingbang was also very happy. He did not regret his choice. Now the money he earned in three days was equivalent to a worker's monthly salary. He could not work honestly in the construction company.

Seeing that Chen Xingbang was still busy, Li Long strolled around the market, bought some things, and drove back on the tractor. Tomorrow he planned to go to Kuitun to see his second brother and take a look at the design and production of the harvester, so he had to go back early today.

After sending Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang back to the team, Li Long drove the tractor back to the county.

When I got home, Gu Xiaoxia and her colleagues, as well as several children, were still in the yard. They were looking at the naughty deer. There was even a child chasing after a hedgehog and shouting. It was very lively.

Seeing Li Long coming back on the tractor, the children were a little scared. They all ran back to their mothers and secretly looked at Li Long.

Li Long greeted them with a smile and told the children to play by themselves and not to be afraid.

Li Long thought it was good that Gu Xiaoxia could get along well with her colleagues.

In the evening, he told Gu Xiaoxia that he was going to Kuitun tomorrow. Gu Xiaoxia told him to be careful and not to rush. If he couldn't come back tomorrow, he could come back the day after tomorrow. (End of this chapter)