Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

After arriving in Shicheng, Li Long relaxed. The road ahead was familiar to him. Besides, there had been two rounds of strict cleanup activities this year. In this area, no one dared to block the road and rob people openly like they did last winter.

The old street is not far from the south side of the Wuyi Highway. When Li Long arrived at the old street, he simply drove in. After parking in the parking lot, he got off the tractor and went to Keyum's milk tea shop.

There were no customers in the milk tea shop at the moment. After Ke Yumu poured a bowl of milk tea for Li Long, he sat opposite him and asked:

"My friend, why are you here at this time?"

"I went to Kuitun," Li Long said honestly, "and I just came back. I came to your place to rest for a while."

"Kuitun, I heard it's a nice place." Keyumu looked yearning, "I haven't been there yet."

"You're already pretty good," Li Long said with a smile, "Some of my friends in the mountains have never left the mountains or Ma County in their entire lives, and they just live like that."

"Haha, it's good to come out and take a look." Keyum nodded in understanding. "Some of my relatives are the same. They have stayed in the mountains all their lives and have no idea what's going on outside. Some of them even thought the old man was still alive. They asked me about it when I went back."

Li Long nodded, this is normal.

After drinking milk tea, Li Long went to Chen Xingbang's stall to have a look. Chen Xingbang bought a pig today and was selling pork. Several people gestured to him to cut the pork belly. Chen Xingbang saw Li Long nodded and smiled, and took care of the business first.

After these people finished weighing themselves, Li Long chatted with him for a few words and told him about his second brother Li Anguo.

"Are you going to be regular employees? That's good." Chen Xingbang was also happy for Li Anguo and his friends. "Once you're regular employees, you'll be regular workers and eat commercial grain. Once you're settled in Kuitun, you can bring your wife and children to Kuitun, and live a peaceful life in the city."

The Northwest is a bitterly cold place, and the cities are not as prosperous as those in the Central Plains, but it is still a city after all. Being able to take root here and eat commercial grain is much better than living in the village of my hometown with only an acre and three mu of land that can barely provide enough food.

Not only them, in two years, most of the young people in my hometown village will go out to work, because they want to get rich, and they really can't build a temple by guarding that little piece of land.

After chatting for a while, someone came to buy meat, so Li Long said goodbye and left, returned to the parking lot, paid the money and signed, drove the tractor out, turned onto the Wuyi Highway, and headed east.

When they returned to the compound, the sun was still high in the sky and Gu Xiaoxia had not come back yet. However, the roe deer and the fawn heard the noise and started calling first.

Li Long felt a little tired, so he closed the door and went to change food and water for the little guys. When he passed by the wall, he saw a big hedgehog holding something in its mouth and sneaking into the crack of the wall.

Li Long ignored him and went to replace the sugar residue and feed for the roe deer. The roe deer and the fawn were quite picky eaters, and a lot of the sugar residue was pushed out and spilled everywhere, so Li Long deliberately put less food. Since he didn't want to eat, he should eat less. Anyway, he looked obviously fatter.

After finishing, Li Long did not let them go. He closed the door and went back to the front yard. He was too lazy to cook dinner, so he rode his bike out and bought ten meat buns from the canteen and brought them back.

He was already hungry, so without waiting for Gu Xiaoxia to come back, Li Long ate four buns first, drank some water after finishing, and put the remaining buns in a bowl and waited for Gu Xiaoxia to come back to eat them.

He changed his clothes and went into the house to lie down.

We drove for several hours and my ears were filled with the rumbling sound of machines.

After lying down for less than an hour, he heard noise outside. Gu Xiaoxia came back from get off work.

Li Long got up and walked out of the room. Gu Xiaoxia was holding up the car with a smile. When she saw Li Long, she asked with concern:
"When did you come back? Is everything okay over there?"

"I've been back for an hour. My second brother and the others are all fine over there."

"What's in your truck bed? It's so big?" Gu Xiaoxia closed the gate and walked inside with her bag, her eyes still on the harvester in the tractor bed.

"A wheat harvester," Li Long explained. "When the wheat is ripe in July, we'll use this to harvest it. It's much faster than people, one acre in five minutes. We'll use this to see if we can earn enough money to buy a tractor."

"That's unlikely." Gu Xiaoxia said, "Is it really that easy to make money?"

"We'll see. We don't know the situation yet. We'll know when the time comes."

After dinner, the two of them watched TV and chatted about family matters in the bedroom.

"The county's commendation document has come down, and your name is on the list of advanced individuals in ethnic unity," Gu Xiaoxia said. "You're listed as a supply and marketing cooperative employee. I saw a notice that a commendation meeting will be held the day after tomorrow. Maybe you'll be asked to attend then?"

"The day after tomorrow? Then I have to pull the harvester to the team tomorrow and then make some preparations." Li Long said after thinking for a while.

"If you have nothing to do these few days, go to the supply and marketing cooperative more often. I heard from our Director Wang that your case has a great impact, not only in the county, but it is also possible that you will be on the list of advanced individuals in the state."

"No way?" Li Long was a little confused. "Normally if a county has it, it won't be repeated in the state, right?"

"Your case may be special." Gu Xiaoxia was also very proud. Her husband was not even on the payroll, but just a temporary worker. Now he was directly reported in the newspaper of the autonomous region and was also named an advanced individual in the county. What a great thing!
Sometimes she regretted that Li Long was not in the system. But after thinking about it, if Li Long wanted to join the system, he would definitely be able to join, but he would not have the freedom he has now, and he would not be able to earn as much money.

Moreover, Gu Xiaoxia could clearly see that Li Long really did not intend to be bound by the system, so he decided to do as he pleased.

She became an employee of the Education Bureau and a state cadre, and gradually she became disenchanted with eating commercial grains and was not as superstitious as before. After all, the money a cadre or a worker earns in a year is not as much as what Li Long earns in a few days. No matter who encounters such a thing, their worldview will be impacted.

"Since you are going to attend the meeting, why don't you buy some cloth to make a new set of clothes tomorrow?" Gu Xiaoxia said, "You are going to show your face in front of the people of the whole county, and it is not good to wear old clothes."

"Nothing wrong with it." Li Long waved his hand. "My shirt isn't old now, so I just need to wash it and wear it clean. We don't need to go through so many formalities, and this isn't an important meeting. I think it's just a formality."

Li Long insisted, so Gu Xiaoxia said nothing more.

The next day, Gu Xiaoxia went to work. Li Long fed the roe deer with food and water, then drove the tractor out to the team.

Walking north towards the sun, and then east, when passing by primary and secondary schools, the schools have already started classes, and you can even hear the sound of students reading outside the primary schools.

When he returned to the yard, his mother and second sister-in-law were picking up nets in the yard. Li Long drove the tractor into the yard, turned off the engine, and got off the tractor.

"Are you back? How's things in Kuitun?" asked my mother Du Chunfang.

Although the second sister-in-law Chen Lirong didn't say anything, she looked at Li Long and waited for his answer.

"My second brother and the others are all fine," Li Long said with a smile, "There's no problem with their regularization. In a few days, the transfer letter to their hometown will be sent back, and they will be officially transferred to workers. Then my second brother and the others will take leave and come back."

"Okay, okay." Du Chunfang nodded. "Okay, that's good. That's good. From now on, you will be a worker and eat commercial grain. Xueqin's mother, from now on, you can take your children and follow An Guo to Kuitun, and you will be a city dweller."

Chen Lirong blushed and nodded without saying anything.

"Where are my elder brother and his wife?" Li Long asked.

"We went to work in the fields. There was weeds in the melon field, so your elder brother and his wife hitched a horse-drawn carriage to the field, saying they were going to clean up the weeds."

Well, Li Long couldn't unload the harvester by himself, so he had to wait for his father and Tao Daqiang to come back. He originally wanted to help pick up the nets, but Du Chunfang drove him away, saying that he didn't need his help and asked him to go to his room to rest.

Li Long smiled and went to the front yard.

The yard is still clean, and there are no weeds in the vegetable garden. The only vegetables that can be eaten are still leeks, celery and Chinese cabbage. Beans, peppers and eggplants are growing well and are about to bloom, but it will take another half a month to a month before they can be eaten.

He opened the door and normal air came out without any musty smell.

This should be ventilated frequently. Li Long lay on the bed and thought about what to do next. Meetings had to be held, but money also had to be earned. He planned to drive the tractor to the construction site more often, pull sand and bricks, and earn some pocket money.

When the wheat is ripe, we will first harvest the land that the team is willing to harvest, and then spread it out. If this machine is good, then we will see if we need to buy another tractor and a harvester. When the time comes, the tractor will be given to the eldest brother, and the horse-drawn carriage can be eliminated.

I was planning in my mind, and then fell asleep unknowingly.

He was woken up by Tao Daqiang.

"You guys are back from selling fish?" Li Long rubbed his eyes and got up. "How is it?"

"It's about the same as before, I can make 20 to 30 yuan a day." Tao Daqiang said with a simple smile, "But I can't catch them in the next few days. I have to be busy in the fields for a few days, and I can catch them after I'm done."

There was nothing I could do about it. Tao Daqiang had started a family, so he couldn't just follow me and focus on my side job like before. The mainstream view in the team was that no matter how much money you made from your side job, you were still a farmer and you had to plant the land first.

Although Tao Daqiang earns more money from selling fish than from farming, if he leaves the land idle, no matter how much money he earns, people will think he is not doing his job properly.

It has nothing to do with how much money you make, it's just a matter of occupation. Or maybe it's the concept that has been passed down for many years that won't be easily broken.

Li Long got up and left the yard, and went to his eldest brother's yard with Tao Daqiang.

"Brother Long, is this a harvester?"

"Yes." Li Long and Tao Daqiang worked together to lift the iron thing down and put it in the shed on the east side of the house. This is a shed for storing carriages and farm tools.

"Is this useful?" Li Qingxia looked at the iron thing curiously.

"It should be easy to use. It only takes five or six minutes to cut an acre of wheat." Li Long said, "After cutting, just tip it over and leave the rest in bundles."

"That's great." Li Qingxia thought this was indeed convenient.

"Commaine is more convenient." Li Long added, "Wait two years to save up enough money and buy a Commaine. When you harvest the wheat, you can directly store the grains in the warehouse without threshing."

Li Qingxia had never seen a combine harvester in his hometown and was somewhat surprised:
"so good?"

"Well, the straw is wasted because it can't be made. I wonder if there will be more advanced machines in the future to harvest the wheat and make the straw into bundles."

"Impossible." Tao Daqiang had seen Kangmain twice and knew that this thing was powerful, but most people couldn't afford it. He felt that Kangmain was already very powerful, so it was impossible for it to be more advanced, right?
Li Long didn't argue with him. The development of machinery was changing with each passing day, and ordinary people could not even imagine it.

Li Qingxia found a bag to cover the harvester, and went to talk to Chen Lirong, asking her to tell the two children not to touch this big thing.

Chen Lirong nodded hurriedly.

Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang took over the job of picking up the nets, while Chen Lirong and Du Chunfang went to the kitchen to cook. The two women from the mainland were now able to skillfully make XJ's noodles. Chives were blanched, chili peppers were rolled in meat, and celery was blanched and cut into small pieces. This kind of noodles was quite popular among families in this area.

The popular noodles in the three eastern counties are Toksun noodles, and the popular noodles in the Yili River Valley are the old brand noodles. To the west of Beiting, in Hutubi, Ma County, Shicheng and even Kuitun, this kind of noodles made with blanched leeks and celery and a bowl of boiled spicy pork is more popular. Even forty years later, there are still many self-service vegetarian noodles restaurants.

Li Long wanted to help pick up the nets, but Li Qingxia told him not to get involved. He wanted to go to the kitchen, but Du Chunfang also drove him out. Well, Li Long felt that he was now an idle person.

He added water to the tractor and then peeled some garlic. While he was peeling, his eldest brother and his wife came back driving the horse-drawn carriage.

The cart was loaded with grass, which could be used as pig food. Li Long brought back a lot of sugar residue, and Li Jianguo and his team were quite frugal with it, bringing back some pig grass or grass for the horses every day when they went to work.

After helping his eldest brother unload the carriage and pile the pig grass next to the stove used for cooking pig food, Li Long told Li Jianguo about the situation with his second brother.

"Then go and tell Yongqiang's family after dinner, so they won't worry." Li Jianguo thought carefully, "Yang Hua has asked me twice."

Li Long knew that he had indeed been a little negligent. He nodded and planned to go over and talk to Yang Hua after he finished eating.

Du Chunfang wanted to give the first dish of noodles to Li Long, so Li Long pushed it to his father. Tao Daqiang rode his bicycle back before the meal was ready, and he refused to stay even when asked to. Li Long did not force him to stay, after all, he had a pregnant wife at home, so it was normal.

Li Long ate noodles in an enamel bowl, mixed them with vegetables, added garlic, and poured a little vinegar on them, then wolfed them down in big gulps.

After finishing the noodles and drinking a bowl of noodle soup, Li Long put down the bowl, wiped his mouth, and rode his brother's bicycle to the back.

When they arrived at Yang Yongqiang's house, Yang Hua and his wife had just finished cooking and were about to eat. When they saw Li Long entering the yard, Yang Hua smiled.

"Uncle Yang, are you eating?" Li Long greeted.

"Well, let's eat together?" Yang Hua was holding a bowl filled with noodles that looked quite thick.

"No, I just ate." Li Long smiled, "I went to Kuitun yesterday and met Yongqiang."

"Did you see it? What happened?" Yang Hua asked, his eyes lighting up.

Yang Yongqiang's mother also came out of the house, holding the bowl, and listened carefully without saying a word.

"Yongqiang is doing very well there and will soon be promoted to a full-time worker. I think he looks a little dark, but he has gained a lot of weight." Li Long said, "He said he plans to go to night school to learn a skill and become a technician. Then he will no longer be a worker but a cadre."

"Hey, let him do what he can!" Yang Hua listened with a smile on his face, but he was still complaining about Yang Yongqiang's faults, "With his grades, he still wants to learn technology..."

"Yongqiang is eager to learn. Now that he has started working, he has become more mature and knows the importance of learning, which is a good thing." Li Long said with a smile:

"The team here should have received the letter of transfer, and the team will definitely be able to handle it. The next step is to become a regular employee. After that, he said he took a leave and came back.

Now I am still a temporary worker, I get paid for each day I work. When I am converted to a regular employee, I will have formal leave and my salary will not be deducted. "

"Hey, just work hard there. It's only been a few days? Less than three months, why rush?" Yang Hua said with a smile, "Not bad, you've been promoted to a regular worker in less than three months... Xiaolong, it's all thanks to you. I'll ask him to thank you when he comes back!"

"Why thank me? Yongqiang is also my brother. This shouldn't happen." Li Long waved his hands hastily. "Just eat your meals in peace. The work there is a bit tiring, but he gets paid, has a canteen, and a good place to live. When he becomes a formal employee in the future, he can queue up for a yard. It's pretty good anyway."

"Okay, okay, we're not worried." Yang Hua nodded repeatedly. His son originally thought that he was the same as everyone else in the team. He was grateful to work with Li Long and have the opportunity to eat commercial grain. How could he complain about being tired? Many young people in the team wanted to have this opportunity but it was impossible.

After Li Long left, Yang Hua and his wife began to wonder when their son would be able to return to work. It was impossible for them to say they didn't want to, because now that their son had good news at work, they were looking forward to his return to see what had changed.

Li Long returned to the yard, drove the tractor to the stable, chatted with Uncle Luo for a while, and then returned to the county.

In the afternoon, he went to the supply and marketing cooperative, and Li Xiangqian told him about attending the county commendation meeting.

"Cut your hair in advance. You shave quite often. It's normal if you think about it, since you're married now. But don't you need to change your clothes? You're going to participate in the county commendation ceremony! Director Wei will also represent the commune to attend the commendation ceremony. It's not good if you look too shabby!" Li Xiangqian nodded.

"What's wrong with that? Just dress neatly and cleanly." Li Long expressed his opinion, "If you wear something too new, what if you steal the limelight from your leader?"

"Hey, you are so shameless. You want to steal the limelight from your leader? Haha, that's not the case." Li Xiangqian smiled and let the matter go.

Li Long was really preparing for the meeting. He recalled what he had said to reporter Zhang Xinhua. If someone really interviewed him, or suddenly called him to speak, he would have to say a few words. (End of this chapter)