Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Tao Daqiang refused the job that Li Long offered him. After Li Long drove away in the jeep, Yang Pingping came over with the child and asked:

"Why don't you go?" In fact, when Li Long told him about this job and Tao Daqiang refused, Yang Pingping wanted to persuade Tao Daqiang.

But Yang Pingping knew her husband's character. Tao Daqiang was closer to Li Long than to his older brother Tao Dayong, and usually Tao Daqiang would not object to anything Li Long proposed.

And this time Li Long also wanted to take Tao Daqiang with him to make money, and Yang Pingping actually wanted Tao Daqiang to go.

But since her husband had made the decision, Yang Pingping respected it. She didn't say anything at the time, but only asked about it afterwards.

"That job requires living outside, I don't want to do it." Tao Daqiang shook his head and said, "Our family is not short of money now, and there is a lot of work in the fields recently. My father and Long Ge's father have been fishing recently and have made a lot of money. They go out early and come back late, and they are very happy.

We have to do the work in the fields. I don't want you to carry the baby to work in the fields after I leave. Besides, I stayed for more than 20 days in the summer when weaving the bamboo strips, and I missed the child very much!"

Yang Pingping smiled and handed the child in her arms to Tao Daqiang.

That's right. My family is one of the best in the fourth team. We have enough food and clothes, we have a tractor and a bicycle, my husband treats me well, and I don't have a mother-in-law to control me.

It's time to be content.

Let others earn that money.

After Xie Yundong received Li Long's letter, he immediately started packing. Knowing that he might live outside, he had to prepare bedding. Deng Guilan did not stop him this time, but turned to the kitchen to knead dough and prepare dry food for her husband.

Regarding driving a tractor and a harvester to harvest wheat, her previous option was to work for Li Long, as there was little risk. However, Xie Yundong objected and chose the option of being self-financing.

As a result, after harvesting wheat this season, my family earned several thousand yuan, which is much more than what they could earn from working as a weaver.

I feel like if I work one more season next year, I’ll be able to earn enough to buy the tractor.

Deng Guilan was shocked by the speed at which the money came. She also felt that her husband's choice was correct and that Li Long took good care of their family.

So this time she didn't express any opinions, but just made preparations and ensured the logistics.

"This time we won't stay as long as we did when we were doing the work of weaving the grass." Xie Yundong said as he packed his bedding. "It's just grass cutting. That family has 300 to 500 acres. We'll stay for two or three days at most, and then we'll move on. Although the price is not as high as last time, the quantity is large. Before the melons are ripe, we can make a good profit again!"

Deng Guilan looked at her husband's face, which was still dark from harvesting wheat, and sighed:

"Look at your face. You haven't recovered yet and you have to go out to get exposed to the sun again."

"As a farmer, how can you not get some sun exposure? Look at all the people in the team, how many of them want to get some sun exposure like this? Aren't we the only ones who can do this job?"

"That's right." Deng Guilan smiled. "The speed at which I make money is... terrifyingly fast. Three years ago, I would never have thought that I could earn several thousand dollars in this quarter! I remember that at the end of the year, when the work points were calculated, my family only got a little over seven yuan..."

"Now it's more than seven yuan, and you can earn that much by driving the tractor for an hour." Xie Yundong agreed, "Life is getting better and better."

He didn't know what the Matthew effect was, but he knew that since he started working with Li Long, it seemed like it had become much easier to make money. He could just take on any job and earn as much as other people's families would do in several years.

Incredible!

The situation is similar in Liang Dacheng's family.

Only Li Jianguo's case was a little troublesome. He had to drive a tractor. On the one hand, he had to go to Tao Daqiang to get the harvester, and on the other hand, he also had to get a complete means of transportation for his family.

So, Li Jianguo went to the Laomahao again and asked Uncle Luo to bring back carriage No. 76.

Number 76 actually worked for Uncle Luo. Besides feeding wild boars and deer, Uncle Luo would lead Number 76's horse-drawn cart around the village to collect grass and prepare fodder every day. Otherwise, the sugar residue left in the stable would not be enough to feed the livestock in that circle.

The three families who owned tractors in Team 4 were all preparing, and the news soon spread throughout the village.

The envious are still envious. You can calculate how much money a tractor with a harvester can make by harvesting wheat. In one wheat season, you can only harvest dozens of bags of wheat, while others can earn thousands of yuan.

Next, I have to prepare for harvesting corn and sunflowers, and others will go to make a lot of money again. At this moment, the air above the fourth team was filled with a strong smell of vinegar.

After returning to the compound, Li Long parked the jeep and turned off the engine, and Sister Yang brought out the meal.

Li Long left in a hurry before and didn't tell the details. Now while eating, he told Gu Xiaoxia everything.

"This is a good thing." When she heard that Li Long had found work for her eldest brother and Xie Yundong, Gu Xiaoxia smiled and said while helping the two children drive away mosquitoes, "There should be more jobs that can earn money like this."

As the daughter-in-law of the Li family, she naturally hopes that her family will live better and better, including Li Long's eldest brother's family and eldest sister-in-law's parents' family.

"This is the only big job we have to do this year." Li Long said as he ate, "But after I finish this job, my brother and the others can spend the New Year comfortably."

This year, I led my eldest brother and others to make bamboo baskets, harvest wheat, and cut grass. I can earn at least ten thousand yuan (Li Jianguo did not deduct any money for making bamboo baskets). Later, I may also be able to make brooms and reed baskets, plus the money from picking melons. My eldest brother can make a net profit of ten thousand yuan a year, which is enough.

At least it's considered top-notch at the township level.

It is late August, which is early autumn. There is dew on some grass leaves in the morning. The temperature difference between morning and evening is large. Some people have to wear coats when they get up early, otherwise they will feel cold.

Just after breakfast, Li Long heard the rumbling sound of a tractor outside.

He hurried over to open the door and saw three tractors parked outside. Li Jianguo turned off the engine and got out, followed by Xie Yundong and Liang Dacheng who were holding the cranks.

"Let me see Mingming and Haohao." Li Jianguo was still holding the fish in his hand - these were the fish that Li Qingxia and his team caught with the net yesterday. After taking the net out this morning, he hurriedly picked out some of the crucian carp and a big carp and brought them over.

Gu Xiaoxia heard the noise and came to the door of the main house. When she saw Li Jianguo, she greeted him hurriedly.

"Is the child sleeping in there?" When he heard no sound, Li Jianguo handed the fish to Sister Yang who came to pick it up and asked.

"I'm not asleep yet, I'm playing on the bed." Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile.

"Then let me take a look." Li Jianguo walked over, and Xie Yundong and Liang Dacheng followed behind him, and then greeted Gu Xiaoxia.

The children were in the inner room. Li Long had someone specially made a crib for them. It was quite wide, and the two children were lying on it, playing with the rag dolls that Sister Yang had sewn for them.

Hearing the noise, the two children tried hard to look towards the door, but they were unable to sit up yet.

Li Jianguo stood at the door of the inner room and did not go in. He was worried that the coldness on his body would affect the baby.

After looking at it with a smile, he turned around and walked out. Xie Yundong and Liang Dacheng behind him also looked at it at the door, praising it as "so good".

Very well behaved indeed.

Li Long said something to Gu Xiaoxia, then drove the jeep out and led the way.

It takes two or three hours for the tractor to reach the mouth of the Tassie River.

When he walked a few hundred meters further into the mountain pass, Li Long saw Tursun riding a horse here.

There were three herdsmen beside him. When they saw Li Long's jeep and the tractor behind it coming, smiles appeared on their faces.

When Li Long's jeep stopped in front of the horse, Tuersun stepped forward and shook hands with Li Long with a smile:
"It came pretty quickly."

Actually, it was already morning, but people nowadays know that it is not easy to go out. Driving a tractor like this and arriving here in the morning meant that they went out quite early.

"Are we going to the grassland now?" Tursun asked after Li Long introduced Li Jianguo and others to him.

He only communicated with Li Long, and shook hands and nodded with others.

"Let's go now, it won't waste time." Li Long said, "Let's finish the fight sooner and get it over with sooner."

"Okay, let's go inside and go to the first one first."

Tursun didn't even introduce the three herdsmen to each other. He just got on his horse, said hello and ran away.

Then the tractor continued to rumble along following the jeep.

Entering the three-story mountain, there is a fork that Li Long had not reached before. There is a relatively gentle wave on the other side of the creek.

Fortunately, the river is relatively gentle and the tractor can drive across it.

Tuersun rode his horse to the edge of the pasture and got off. He said to Li Long who got off the horse right after him:
"They came this morning and marked out the big rocks inside."

Li Long looked up the slope. This grassland was more than 300 mu in size. It was quite long overall, and the corners were irregularly shaped because of the mountain. There were people walking around in the grassland, probably looking for those stones.

The tractors all drove over, and Li Long asked before leaving whether his elder brother and his team would work on each family separately, or use all three tractors to work on one family at a time.

Li Jianguo suggested that the three tractors work together - mainly because Xie Yundong knows Uyghur and can talk to the herders, so any troubles or difficulties can be solved easily. If the three parties work together, the money can be divided equally, which Li Long thinks is also good.

So he said to Tursun:
"How many acres is this pasture?"

"About 260 mu," Tuersun said. "I asked him, and he said that 260 mu was given when the land was divided."

Li Long took a quick look and found that they were roughly the same. He thought that Tursun would not go too far in this regard.

After all, this can be measured. If there is a problem, everyone will be embarrassed.

"Then let's take 260 acres, which makes a total of 390 yuan, right? Do we have to exchange it for something?" Li Long asked.

"Well, let's exchange things." Tursun no longer talked about handing over the things after the harvest. The tractor had already arrived, so it didn't matter. He went to talk to one of the herdsmen, and the herdsman took a sack from the horse's back and came to Li Long with it.

The sack was bulging, and Li Long opened it and looked carefully.

Three wolf skins - judging by the skins, they must have been there for quite some time. These three skins took up most of the space in the sack.

Then there was a deer antler. Li Long picked it up and took a look. It felt like it weighed more than one kilogram.

There was a black stone at the bottom of the sack. Li Long bent down, picked it up and took a look. It was a piece of black jade.

There is very little jade on this side of the Tashi River. The main production area of ​​jade is in the upper reaches of Ma County, which is the mountain pass where Halimu and his team are.

Li Long looked at the black jade and couldn't estimate its value.

I looked into the bag again and found a stone at the bottom of the bag. It was slightly larger than an adult's fist, but very red in color.

Li Long put down the black jade and took out the red stone.

Bloodstone.

Especially the red kind, very bright.

In his previous life, Li Long saw a piece of bloodstone at a domestic booth in the China Jade Garden. It was bigger than the one in his hand, but the red color was not as bright as this one, it was darker, and there was not as much bloodstone as this one.

At that time, the owner of the booth said that the stone was worth hundreds of thousands. Li Long thought that the man was exaggerating, but even if it was reduced by ten times, it would be worth tens of thousands.

This piece is almost entirely bright red, and feels oily to the touch. It should be much better than that piece.

It should be a good stone. Li Long weighed it and said:

"Okay, that's it."

Tursun was originally worried that Li Long would say it was not enough. After all, in his opinion, these things were far from enough for three hundred and ninety yuan.

But Li Long just agreed to it, which made Tuersun feel that Li Long had poor vision.

But being able to save money for my people is also a good thing.

Apart from this piece of chicken blood stone, the rest of the wolf skin and deer antlers added up to less than 300 yuan. But Li Long knew that this piece of chicken blood stone was not simple, so he held it up and said to Li Jianguo and the others:
"Brother, I'll take the things and exchange them for money. The harvesting fee is 390 yuan, and I'll share it with you after I get the money. You have to harvest these nearly 300 acres of land for a day. I'll come back in the afternoon and see how it goes. If we haven't finished harvesting, we'll stay here. If we have, we'll go to the next house."

Three hundred and ninety yuan, one hundred and thirty yuan a day per person - this money... is so easy to earn!
"Don't go too fast when you're mowing. Even though they've marked the rocks, you still have to be careful. Do you have the harvester's tool kit with you?"

All three of them nodded.

"There are blades inside. If one of the blades is broken, just remove it and replace it. But if one or two blades are missing, it won't affect the weeding. You don't have to be too strict about weeding. It's different from harvesting wheat."

"Okay, go and do your thing." Li Jianguo waved his hand, "We have to get to work."

Li Long was about to leave, and Tuersun was about to ask the other two herdsmen to leave. But one of them ran to Li Long's jeep, pulled the door and gestured.

Li Long didn't quite understand.

Tursun came to translate:
"Do you want that red stone?"

"Yes." Li Long thought, could he have one too? This thing can't be so easy to pick up, right?

"I have some at home, can it be used to pay for cutting grass?"

"I'll go to your place tomorrow or the day after tomorrow to check the condition of the stone. If it's this red..." Li Long took out the stone and gestured, "That's good."

Li Long drove away in a jeep. Li Jianguo and the other two discussed it and decided to split up and work separately. The three tractors on the left, middle and right started together. The scene was quite shocking - at least it was like that in that era.

Watching the tractor rumbling along, the grass fell down and was arranged neatly. The herdsmen watching were really amazed.

Although Tursun had seen it before, he was shocked again when he saw three tractors moving together.

This money should really be earned by others.

If you use a sickle to cut grass, how long will it take to cut grass like a person running around? At least several days, right?
Tuerxun didn't understand why Li Long wanted the red stone. It was neither jade nor a gemstone, just a brightly colored stone. It was actually a stone and was not worth anything at all.

The purchasing stations don’t want it.

He thought about it and felt that Li Long was young and inexperienced, so he thought he had found a treasure.

Still too young!

Forget it, never mind. It’s none of my business anyway. It’s his choice.

"If you can find a red stone like that tomorrow, give it to him. But the thing can't be too little, otherwise he might regret it tomorrow. The red stone is not worth much." Tursun said to the second herdsman.

"What about me?" asked the third herdsman.

"Wait a minute, go pick up the stones and wooden blocks in your pasture, don't damage the harvester." Tuerxun ordered, "Go back and tell everyone that they can harvest. You can see that the grass is cut very quickly, don't worry."

The two herdsmen rode their horses to their own pastures, while Tursun went to the pastoral team.

He has his own things to do and can't stay here for too long.

It was already noon when Li Long's jeep returned to the county. Gu Xiaoxia, Gu Boyuan, and Sister Yang were having lunch.

They were quite surprised that Li Long came back. Sister Yang hurried to serve Li Long food - rice for lunch.

"I'll be back after things are settled." Li Long washed his hands and ate, explaining as he ate.

"Are your brother and the others okay there?" Gu Boyuan asked, having already learned what had happened from Gu Xiaoxia.

"No problem. Brother Yundong knows Uyghur and can communicate with them. When I go there tomorrow, I just need to bring a few barrels of oil to them. I will then solve any difficulties they have."

Li Long had to run back and forth this time, but that was okay. The jeep ran fast anyway, and although the road conditions were not very good, it was much better than driving a tractor.

And make money.

He gave all the money from cutting grass to his eldest brother and the other three at the set price - but he could make a lot of money by reselling this stuff.

For example, this piece of bloodstone may not be able to be sold right now, but after a few years, it will definitely fetch a good price.

It’s not a loss anyway.

After dinner, Li Long took the skins and antlers he had taken from Halimu and his friends a few days ago to the purchasing station together with today's goods.

Chen Hongjun happened to be there, and after Li Long sold the leather, he talked to him about the bloodstone.

"We definitely don't accept bloodstone, and we don't accept jade either." Li Long was not surprised at Chen Hongjun's reply.

"But bloodstone is a good thing. If the blood color is bright and full, it is priced by gram." Chen Hongjun also knows a little bit about it. "Some people buy it, but there are not many people who play with it here."

Li Long nodded and said, "Let's keep it for now and sell it when the opportunity is right."

It's a profit anyway.

Just today, these skins plus the antlers and velvet are worth a lot - he didn't sell the bear skin and snow leopard skin, they are useful.

Very useful. (End of this chapter)