Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

"You are already a role model, and now you are praised so highly, you should be careful in what you say and do in the future." After being happy, Gu Xiaoxia began to worry again. Although she had experienced that era before, she was still young and did not feel it deeply.

It was only after I arrived at the Education Bureau and studied a large number of documents that my awareness gradually improved and my understanding of some things became different than before.

Being a role model has many advantages, but it also has disadvantages. Being watched by everyone, even the slightest mistake will be magnified infinitely. Envious people will keep an eye on it, and bad people will find every opportunity to ruin your reputation.

After all, no one is perfect. These people are role models in some aspects, but they are not saints. Naturally, they make mistakes and have shortcomings, but others don't care.

The role model set up at this time should be a perfect person in the eyes of others and should be excellent in all aspects.

Otherwise, you don’t deserve this role model.

"Don't worry." Li Long smiled and said, "I know. The higher you praise someone, the more likely you are to fall and get seriously injured. But I don't care about this. It's something that others have imposed on me. If I don't care, then others won't catch me—"

He didn't finish his words, but Gu Xiaoxia understood. Li Long was not the kind of moral role model that is more common nowadays. Such role models would be blackmailed, but Li Long would not.

He didn't care about that. Being a model was an accident, and there would be no loss if he didn't. As long as he didn't break the law, there was nothing to be afraid of.

There is a popular saying in later generations, "I have no morals, so I am not afraid of moral kidnapping." Some bad old people often use moral kidnapping on young people on buses and subways to make them give up their seats, and gradually people spread this saying.

People's moral standards are still very high these days, but if you really don't want to save face, others really can't do anything to Li Long.

While watching Huo Yuanjia together, Li Long asked Gu Xiaoxia about some things at school.

He was wondering if Li Juan and Li Qiang could be admitted to key high schools elsewhere after they graduated from junior high school.

After all, today’s rural middle school students don’t know that if they get good grades when they take the high school entrance exam, they can get into famous schools such as the state’s No. 1 or No. 2 middle schools.

In rural middle schools, students usually only know three options: high school entrance exam, technical secondary school entrance exam, and normal school entrance exam. They don’t know that they can choose the school after high school entrance exam.

In Li Long's opinion, since he has to live on campus anyway, wouldn't it be better if he could get into a better school?

Gu Xiaoxia only found out about this policy after she arrived at the Education Bureau, but it was still a bit far-fetched for them at the moment. After all, Li Juan was in fifth grade this year and would not enter junior high school until after graduation (she was not yet in sixth grade at that time), and Li Qiang was even older.

The next day, Li Long did not go to Qingshui River, but returned to the team pulling a cart of poles.

The Achnatherum splendens used for the brooms delivered yesterday by Qingshui River was cut and saved by some villagers. Li Long's standard requires that old Achnatherum splendens cannot be used, so these people have to cut it fresh. After cutting, clean the leaves and dry them in the sun, which takes at least two days.

So don't rush for now.

On the contrary, the village had brooms tied up and delivered every day, and Li Long needed to provide poles. Of course, there were still some poles left from the last trip, and he wanted to see if Zhang Qiang would give in this time.

When we returned to Li Jianguo's yard, Li Qingxia was still there, struggling with the pole.

Sharpen the pole and insert it into the base of the broom, then bang it hard against the ground to drive the pole in.

This kind of work can be said to be a technical job, or a physical job.

After all, it has to be aimed correctly, and the pole cannot be planted crookedly, otherwise it will be useless - it is easy to put the pole in, but it is not easy to pull it out.

"Are my elder brother and sister-in-law still harvesting melons in the field?" Li Long asked when he saw that only his father and mother were in the yard.

When Du Chunfang saw Li Long coming back, she walked into the house on her small feet, then carried out a watermelon with great effort, with a knife in one hand.

Li Long hurried over to take the watermelon and the knife, cut the watermelon in half on the handlebars of the tractor, and then cut one half into pieces.

Young people and children like to eat half of a watermelon, but most old people like to eat it bite by bite. For example, Du Chunfang can eat two bites of this watermelon.

Li Qingxia didn't care. He took the watermelon handed over by Li Long and ate it while saying:
"Yes, they said the melon vines had aphids, so they went to spray pesticides."

Nowadays, the sprayer used for spraying pesticides is still carried on the back. The principle is similar to the spray bottle with a rod on top that some people use to grow flowers to press down to inflate the air. The left hand keeps pressing to ensure that the air pressure inside is sufficient, and the right hand holds the spray rod to control the direction of the nozzle.

Ten years later, when Li Qiang was in junior high school, he was still using this sprayer. Li Long remembered that when he graduated from junior high school and was going to attend a class reunion, Liang Yuemei didn't want him to go, so she gave him a task, asking him to spray pesticides on 18 acres of cotton fields before going. She wanted Li Qiang to give up and forget it.

Li Qiang was only fifteen years old at that time. He was very strong-willed and insisted on carrying the sprayer to spray pesticides. He finished spraying the 18 acres of land in the morning, and his shoulders were left with blood marks.

My sister-in-law was heartbroken afterwards.

At present, it is naturally the eldest brother and his wife who are carrying the sprayer to apply pesticides. Li Long is thinking about whether he can develop the pesticide tank in two years, when tractors are relatively common, so that he can make some money by selling the tank, and it will really save trouble for farmers.

After all, carrying a sprayer to spray pesticides is okay if you have a few plots of land, but if you have a lot of plots of land, especially when growing cotton, you have to spray pesticides quite a few times during the season, which can really make you tired.

Because the weather was too hot, there were several cases of people being poisoned while spraying pesticides in the fields and could not be rescued.

Du Chunfang took the watermelon handed over by Li Long and ate it with a grin. The watermelon now has been improved, very sweet, sandy, and comfortable to eat.

Li Long took a knife and cut the watermelon into pieces, then put them into his mouth with the tip of the knife inserted.

"Be careful not to prick your lips..." Du Chunfang reminded.

"Yeah, I noticed it." Li Long smiled.

After eating the watermelon, he took down the poles.

There was still a lot of Achnatherum splendens in my eldest brother's house, and most of them had been dried. The main task now was to pick the ones in the melon field, and the rest was to make brooms. Li Jianguo could make five or six every day during this period, and Liang Yuemei didn't know how to make them, so she was responsible for feeding the pigs and other tasks. Chen Lirong had nothing to do anyway, so she followed to help.

Li Qingxia did try to learn how to make the ropes, but he couldn't master the job all at once. The ropes he made were not up to standard and the ropes were wasted, so he just followed and helped.

It is possible to catch fish, but Tao Daqiang has been taking care of Yang Pingping during this period and has not even had time to use the broom - the due date is approaching and Tao Daqiang is becoming impatient.

In fact, rural women are quite casual about giving birth at this time. They don’t go to the hospital but give birth at home, or they are still working when they are about to give birth.

Because Tao Daqiang's family was wealthy and he often heard Li Long talk about it, he took this very seriously and even made some of his sisters-in-law laugh at him.

But Tao Daqiang didn't care. He had a child, which was better than anything else. He just ignored what others said. He thought those who said that might be because they were jealous of his family's good life.

Tao Daqiang didn't go fishing, so Li Qingxia didn't catch much fish by himself. He didn't want to go to Shicheng alone, and his family didn't want him to. But he couldn't get a good price in Ma County, so Li Qingxia simply stopped fishing. Or he would just eat the fish he caught occasionally.

Although Du Chunfang doesn't have a big appetite, to be honest she really likes eating fish, especially small crucian carp. She has similar habits to Liang Donglou. They eat fish for the taste and after chewing, they spit out the meat and bones together.

This is good, at least her family doesn’t have to worry about her throat being stabbed.

Li Long was unloading the poles when Xu Chengjun came over on a bicycle.

He carried a large bundle of seven or eight large brooms on the back of his bicycle. He made these brooms himself, and he wanted to make money.

It's normal for a captain to work hard to earn money these days.

Even forty years later, when village cadres already received subsidies (salaries), and they were not low, Liang Wenyu, who had become one of the first village party secretaries to become a civil servant, was still farming.

"Hey, the captain is here. How many brooms do you have this time?" Li Long asked as he helped to unload the big broom.

"Six of them. You can pick them out if they are not up to standard. I will take them home and use them myself."

Li Long gave it a symbolic check and passed them all.

Six shots cost fifteen yuan. Li Long paid the money, then took the pole and started pushing it in.

Xu Chengjun also followed suit, and Li Long joked:

"Captain, you can go back after you are done. Even if you are a stickler now, I won't give you any extra money."

"Hey, I'm helping you, okay?" Xu Chengjun knew that Li Long's status was different now, so he joked with his brother, "You can't just look at me and think that I only care about the money, right?"

Li Qingxia pointed at the watermelon on the tractor's handlebars and said to Xu Chengjun, "Captain, eat the watermelon."

"Okay, old man, don't worry about me. I'll eat right after I get the injection."

Xu Chengjun helped Li Long tie up the six large brooms, then he clapped his hands and took a piece of watermelon to eat.

While eating watermelon, he asked Li Long:

"What do you think about Zhang Qiang's matter?"

"What else can I think? He wants to make some money from this, why should I give it to him? If I were in the county, he would have collected the broom and sent it to me, and I would have given him some money. But now that he is in the village, he is just trying to steal my money. How can I indulge him?"

"Do you mean you don't want to accept it?" Xu Chengjun actually just wanted to ask about Li Long's attitude.

"In five days, he has to bring me the brooms. I can charge two dollars and a half for the qualified ones. After five days, if he brings them, I can only charge two dollars for the qualified ones. After ten days, even if he brings them, I won't charge him. He can use them slowly!"

"Hey, more than 2,000 brooms, will he use them until his next life?" Xu Chengjun was amused. Knowing Li Long's attitude, it would be easier for him to deal with it. He would not favor anyone. We are all adults, and we have to take responsibility for this kind of thing. As the team leader, he could only coordinate.

After saying hello to the two elders, Xu Chengjun pushed his bicycle out and rode away.

Li Qingxia asked with some concern:

"Xiaolong, can we do this?"

"What's so terrible? He cut off my beard, and I didn't even deal with him." Li Long waved his hands, "I've already given him a way out. If he really insists on doing this, then I can't do anything about it.

It's okay, even if he smashes the broom in his hand, he can still slowly set up a stall in the market to sell it. At most he will make less money. "

The market in Ma County is not big, but there is still a big market for big brooms in Shicheng. It depends on whether Zhang Qiang can see through this. Li Long believes that he will eventually, after all, he has been to Wucheng once, even if he is greedy for small bargains, he should still have a vision.

As he was talking, someone from the team came over to deliver a broom, and Li Long checked it and paid for it.

Although Zhang Qiang cut off Li Long's beard, Li Long was still strict in checking the brooms. Those that did not meet the standards would not be accepted. Some people still had some opinions about this.

But now Zhang Qiang is not accepting them anymore, so these people have no choice but to do it more seriously.

At noon, Li Jianguo came back and listened to what Li Long said to Xu Chengjun. He nodded approvingly:

"That's right, don't be afraid! Everyone can see what's going on in this team. If he wants to make money, he should learn from Xiaolong and find jobs outside to make money. Right now he's just cutting off Xiaolong's beating, what kind of ability is that?

Those cowards really don't know what's good for them. Xiaolong did so many great things for the team last year, and let everyone enjoy so many benefits? These guys just wanted to get the money earlier, so they gave the big broom to Zhang Qiang! Well, if we really know who they are, they will have a hard time in the future!"

Li Long smiled. In fact, fence-sitters are the majority. Most people only care about their own interests. Unless it is a matter of right and wrong, they don't mind watching two capable people quarreling.

Li Long asked his elder brother about the melon-beating incident, and Li Jianguo was quite happy:
"The melons are getting big now and look like they're about to ripen. At this rate, they can be harvested in early September. I cracked one open today and saw that the seeds were still white in the middle and some hadn't turned black. The melon flesh doesn't taste good now."

"Then let's wait a little longer." Li Long did everything he could, and the rest depended on his elder brother and sister-in-law's field management.

In the afternoon, Li Jianguo stayed at home to make a big broom, and Li Long came to help. Li Jianguo drove him to the front yard, saying that this job did not require help from others.

Li Long drove the tractor to the front yard to collect the brooms and take a rest at the same time.

The tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in the vegetable garden are ripe, but beans are out of season. Du Chunfang and Chen Lirong dried a lot of sword beans and cowpeas. My mother asked Li Long to take these dried vegetables to the big yard in the county to eat. There are still a lot left at home.

Tomatoes are in the right season for making sauce. Li Long thought that when he returns to the county, he would take time to buy some glucose bottles used for hospital infusions, as well as those soft rubber stoppers. These things are essential for making tomato sauce.

Li Long collected more than 200 large brooms today, filling up a cart. He had to use a rope to brake it, otherwise it would fall off.

Before the sun set, Li Long drove his tractor away from the team and headed for the county.

Zhang Qiang has already found out the conditions offered by Li Long from Xu Chengjun.

He calculated the time and found that Li Long had to go to the Supply and Marketing Society to clean up in about ten days, so he scoffed at this condition:
"Are you kidding me? You want me to work for him for free? Are you dreaming? If you don't have two dollars and eighty cents, don't even think about taking the broom from me!"

Xu Chengjun also heard what Zhang Qiang said, and he felt relieved.

The message had been delivered, and what happened next was out of his control. This was like a matter of one willing to fight and the other willing to be beaten, it was all voluntary.

Li Long returned to the county, unloaded the broom, and went to cook dinner.

When Gu Xiaoxia came back in the evening, Li Long told her about making the tomato sauce bottle. Gu Xiaoxia smiled and said:
"Leave this matter to me. The husband of one of my colleagues works in the county hospital, and they have plenty of these bottles."

Gu Xiaoxia likes to cook with tomato sauce made in the summer in winter, but Gu Boyuan himself doesn't know how to make sauce and doesn't like to tinker with these things, so she has no choice but to go to other people's homes to exchange it.

What could they have at home? Just dried vegetables. Dried vegetables were rare in winter.

After moving into the compound last year, Liang Yuemei made tomato sauce all winter long, and she liked it very much. Now, of course, she wanted to contribute to this matter.

At this time, most people are still unwilling to eat for free or owe favors to others for nothing.

With Gu Xiaoxia's promise, Li Long felt relieved. He went to Qingshuihe Township early the next morning.

In fact, I know that not much brooming can be done here, and I came here mainly to reassure the people here and let them know that Li Long will come here often.

Sure enough, when we arrived at the team headquarters, the captain had already stored some large brooms, and they had been checked.

Li Long checked carefully again and found that there was no problem at all. Li Long praised the captain again and loaded the 23 large brooms into the car.

He drank some water at the team headquarters, declined the invitation to stay for dinner, and drove the tractor into the mountains.

There were more poles on this side of the wooden house. Li Long shook his head. He didn't go to the pasture of Halimu and the others. He just pulled up the poles and left.

I returned to the county in time for lunch, and when I arrived at Sister Yang's yard, Gu Xiaoxia and the others had already started eating.

Five days later, Li Long collected some more big brooms from the team. The number of big brooms in Qingshuihe Township began to increase, and more than two hundred were collected in one day!

Zhang Qiang was a little panicked, because Li Long had already announced that he would not collect any more brooms from the village after the next 500!

Did he really find another place to tie the broom?
This thought just flashed through Zhang Qiang's mind before he rejected it.

Who can trust whom these days? He doesn't believe that Li Long can find someone who trusts him somewhere else!

He still felt that Li Long was cheating him, so he told other people in the village that the price of the broom in his hand had increased, not 2.8 yuan, but 3 yuan! He would never sell it for less than 3 yuan!
When Li Long heard this, he could only think that Zhang Qiang was crazy.

Is there something wrong with this guy? With so many brooms piled up in his yard, isn't he worried that he won't be able to sell them?
After all, those big brooms cannot be eaten or drunk, and even if you sell them, it will take a long time to get the money back.

As a farmer, doesn't he still farm?

But it doesn’t matter. If a person wants to die, it’s useless for others to remind him.

Besides, Li Long had no intention of reminding him.

When they heard that Li Long was going to collect another 500 brooms, the team members started to speed up their work. On that day, Li Long received more than 300 brooms from the team, and he guessed that the maximum number would be the same tomorrow.

The reason he said this was because the broom in his eldest brother's house was almost broken.

There is still plenty of time. As long as Qingshui River maintains its speed, he will definitely be able to complete the task ten days before the deadline.

As for Zhang Qiang, go eat the broom! (End of this chapter)