Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1215 Don't Always Think of Yourself as a Small Person

Li Long quickly made a decision: to donate a Lada to the village. He had originally planned to donate a Volga, but since he had previously donated a Lada to the supply and marketing cooperative, donating a Volga to the village now would be a bit inappropriate.

Sending a GAZ-69 truck to each of the two police stations is no problem.

The last time I went to the police station to report a case, the police officers from the township police station responded by bicycle.

Although there is a 212 in the village, to be honest, it's not as good as the one I've been driving for several years; it's very old.

The two leaders from the township each had a car, and that car would break down from time to time.

After all, it was a car that had been discarded by other departments.

Having made the decision, Li Long quickly put it into action. He first called Jiang Zhiyu and explained his idea to her.

"Comrade Li Long, you're really not being fair!" Jiang Zhiyu was quite angry when she heard Li Long's idea. "When I was in the countryside, you didn't give me a car. Every time I went to the countryside, I had to ride a bicycle. It was okay in the summer, but it was so cold in the winter!"
Now look what's happened! You send me a car as soon as I leave. Do you have a problem with me?

Upon hearing Jiang Zhiyu's words, Li Long suddenly realized that his actions could easily lead to misunderstandings.

But that's not what he really meant, and he quickly explained:
"Comrade Jiang, it's really not like that. We used to have a good relationship. When you were in the township, I mainly went to you to deal with things in the township. I was used to it. Now that you've left, I realize that there are some things that should have been done a long time ago. Your departure reminded me of that."

Li Long's statement at least indirectly shows that Jiang Zhiyu is still very important, so her dissatisfaction subsided somewhat. She complained to Li Long a couple more times before giving him her contact information.

“You should probably go directly to the top leader about this kind of thing,” Jiang Zhiyu said. “To be honest, the township really should have a better car.”

That beat-up car of mine breaks down after driving less than twenty kilometers. By the way, what kind of car are you planning to send to the village?

"A Lada, a sedan."

"Sigh, it's a pity I won't be able to take the seat." Jiang Zhiyu has already been transferred. Her transfer wasn't one of the large-scale annual transfers; it was an exception.

Li Long didn't respond to that. He couldn't very well offer to drive Jiang Zhiyu home if she needed anything, could he? His older brother had already been reminding him that Jiang Zhiyu wasn't married yet, and it was best to be careful, given the circumstances.

Li Long originally intended to go directly there, but it's better to communicate beforehand. So he called the head of the township.

After giving his name and explaining that he wanted to donate a car to the township, the township's top official was very pleased and thanked Li Long for his kindness.

Li Long also explained over the phone that the car he gifted was a second-hand car, but of course, it was in excellent condition.

"It's better than our 212, isn't it? You're an entrepreneur who came from our hometown, and you still care about your hometown. We're more than grateful to you, how could we possibly look down on you? Comrade Li Long, when are you planning to come? We'll make preparations in advance and give you a warm welcome!"

“Tomorrow, I think I’ll go tomorrow,” Li Long said. “There will definitely be a lot of things to do in our township at the end of the year, so the sooner the car is delivered, the better.”

Actually, one advantage of this township is that the township government is located in the center of the township. The township is roughly square in shape, like a large mound. It has four production teams, which are located in the four cardinal directions of the township government. Therefore, the township government is not particularly far from any of the villages, with the furthest being only four or five kilometers away.

Unlike some townships, where the furthest village is more than ten or twenty kilometers away from the township seat, making travel very inconvenient.

The next morning, Li Long drove a relatively new Lada, while Liang Shuangcheng drove Li Long's GAZ-69. The two cars arrived at the township government together.

After hearing the commotion, several township leaders came out and gathered in the township government courtyard.

Li Long was somewhat surprised when he got out of the car; there was actually a banner there.

"Welcome to Comrade Li Long, an outstanding entrepreneur from our township, for his guidance!"
The red banner remained the same, but the words were cut from white paper and pinned to the red cloth with pins. The propaganda department still had capable people back then.

Hey, I've become a successful entrepreneur!

Li Long felt somewhat flattered. He nervously stepped forward to shake hands with several leaders from the township before being led into the meeting room.

"Comrade Li Long, as an outstanding entrepreneur and advanced representative of ethnic unity in our township, is the pride of our township and the pride of the entire county!" The township leader set a very high tone from the start, making Li Long feel a little overwhelmed—was he really that great?
The meeting started off very formally, but thankfully it got better later. The two main leaders of the township, the deputy township head, and the deputy secretary who succeeded Jiang Zhiyu all started talking about practical issues.

For example, some details about cotton planting, and the situation of Li Long's construction company.

The township head also mentioned that next year the township plans to pave the gravel road leading to the fourth team into an asphalt road, and intends to apply for funding from the county. He will see if Li Long's construction team can participate.

Li Long immediately rejected the idea, saying that his engineering company was only good at small-scale projects, such as repairing water canals and sluice gates, but had no experience in building such a long asphalt road, and shouldn't ruin a good thing.

However, once the county's funds are allocated, he will also contribute his modest efforts to improve the township's transportation.

The township head immediately became happy.

After talking for about an hour, the leaders mainly focused on Li Long's rise to wealth, his current assets, and whether he could drive the development of local businesses.

This is truly unsolvable, because even when Li Long passed away in his previous life, the village didn't have any noteworthy businesses.

There was no other way; it was too close to the county seat and lacked any distinctive industries. Adding to this were some special circumstances: even though the entire township grew cotton, not a single cotton ginning factory was ever established locally.

In the end, a few companies came from outdated production capacity companies that were supposedly being phased out, such as aluminum plants and chicken farms that were extremely polluting and had a terrible stench.

In this case, Li Long could only vaguely gloss over the situation, unsure whether to agree or not.

Fortunately, it was just a discussion. After chatting for a while, the publicity officer had already set everything up, and then came the car donation ceremony.

When Li Long came out, he found that the Lada car was decorated with red ribbons and had been parked under the banner, with a sign placed on the hood.

The words "A car given away free" were written in large yellow advertising paint on red paper.

"Comrade Li Long, in a little while you and the township head will hold this sign together, and we'll take a picture to commemorate this moment," the secretary said to Li Long with a smile. "This is a big deal for our township. With this car, we can solve many practical problems."

In any case, at least when I go to meetings in the county, I won't have to worry about pushing the cart beforehand or on the way.

At noon, the township officials treated Li Long to a meal, with several leaders taking turns to serve him—it was a car, after all, worth it!

Li Long's alcohol tolerance was getting better and better, but he couldn't withstand so many people taking turns drinking with him, and eventually he passed out drunk at the village guesthouse.

Fortunately, he woke up quickly, before the sun had set in the afternoon, and then Liang Shuangcheng drove the GAZ truck back to the county.

At lunchtime, the head of the township police station was also there. When Li Long met him, he quietly mentioned his plan to send a car to the police station. The head immediately abandoned his plan to give Li Long three cars, though he couldn't hide the excitement on his face.

The next day, Li Long and Liang Shuangcheng drove two GAZ trucks to the police station again and gave away the newer one.

The police station also wanted to treat Li Long to lunch, but Li Long declined, saying he wasn't feeling well. The station chief said that they should save the meal for Li Long and treat him when he was free.

Just kidding, if he drinks again, even if he's in good health, he'll have to kneel down.

In the afternoon, another GAZ truck was delivered to the police station across from the compound. Guo Tiebing is now the deputy director of the police station, and Li Long's delivery of the truck to him was also a surprise to him.

The two have known each other for quite a long time. They met when Li Long bought the yard in 1982, and they would send some New Year's gifts to the police station every Spring Festival.

Even so, the fact that Li Long directly gave away a GAZ truck this time was a great surprise to the police station, and everyone in the station was happy.

Although the area under the jurisdiction of the police station is not as large as that of the township, it is fine in the summer, but in the winter, who is willing to ride a bicycle around looking for clues?
Having a car makes all the difference.

Actually, Li Qingxia suggested to Li Long that they should directly send a car to the county public security bureau.

Li Long ultimately decided not to deliver the package. Firstly, he rarely dealt with the Public Security Bureau and had little contact with them. Secondly, the Public Security Bureau didn't seem to lack vehicles, unlike township and local police stations, which typically didn't have many cars.

To be a little selfish, offering help in times of need is much better than adding to someone's success, and it's more memorable.

Li Long has always considered himself a farmer, and although he has established two companies, they are both small-scale operations.

Although he has earned more money in the past two years, exceeding one million, he still has a small-farmer mentality at heart.

But in other people's eyes, he is already a true entrepreneur. After all, how many people who have started businesses in the county have his wealth?
Li Long's series of car delivery incidents have caused quite a stir; it's just that the Ma County TV station hasn't produced a news program about it yet, otherwise it would definitely be on TV.

Even Li Xiangqian called him over to ask about the situation. After learning that Lada and GAZ trucks had been delivered to the township and police station, Li Xiangqian was satisfied. "Hmm, not bad, you handled this well. Becoming an entrepreneur should benefit the township. With this statement, people's opinions of you will be better, both officially and privately."

Although Li Long has established his own company, the supply and marketing cooperative has not removed his temporary worker status and still keeps him under the cooperative's name.

In this way, no one had any objections to him doing the big broom job.

Li Long himself was well aware that he was essentially an outsourcing contractor, having taken on outsourcing tasks from the supply and marketing cooperative and simply doing the work himself.

However, now that his business is large and established, he doesn't have as much motivation as before. As the influence and business scope of the supply and marketing cooperative gradually shrink, Li Long's focus naturally shifts away from it.

However, he still respected Li Xiangqian and Director Qian. Li Long knew very well how he had grown up.

When Li Long came over, he brought Old Li a big bag of goji berries and several branches of codonopsis, which Old Li scolded him for. However, Li Long said that these were grown on his own land, so Li Xiangqian put them away and said he would soak them in water when he got home.

"Not only soak it, but also put some in chicken soup or something, and add some ginseng or something, it's very good."

Li Xiangqian never refused the medicinal herbs that Li Long brought him. As a middle-aged man, he knew exactly what was good for him.

Just like in later generations, most people may criticize or disbelieve in traditional Chinese medicine when they are young, but when they get to middle age, in their forties or fifties, they will naturally add some goji berries or Vitality Four Treasures Tea to their everyday drinks.

There's no other reason than this: the root of the problem lies in the environment, and that thing isn't truly useless.

After returning from the supply and marketing cooperative, Li Long settled back into his peaceful life, and then received a call from Liu Gaolou.

Now Liu Gaolou is acting as a mouthpiece for him and Liu Shanmin. Judging from the information Liu Shanmin has sent over in the second half of the year, the situation of the grassroots people in that big empire next door is getting worse and worse.

Liu Gaolou called to ask Li Long if he wanted to buy an excavator.

Li Long was stunned for a moment.

Buying an excavator in the dead of winter?
These kinds of machines aren't cheap these days.

"There's no other way, it's hard to find work for this kind of thing over there. With no work in the dead of winter, and these people need to eat, we have no choice but to sell the machinery." Liu Gaolou now understands the situation quite well. "Food comes first. If you can't even afford food, what's the point of worrying about the future?"

It's like some people in later generations discussing with people who eat instant noodles whether eating them continuously is healthy or not.

Please, I'm so poor I'm eating instant noodles, why would I care about health?

Of course, there are even poorer ways, like cooking noodles, but you still need a pot and a place, right?

The conditions are different.

"What kind of excavator? How much does it cost? Can you drive it over? Do you have all the necessary paperwork? What's the condition of the vehicle?"

Li Long had actually considered buying an excavator, since he was starting an engineering company and needed to prepare some equipment in advance.

If you don't have an excavator, you can use manual labor and other equipment to replace it, but having one will save you some trouble.

"German-made, good stuff, but not cheap, $5,000 a unit. There are only two in good condition right now, and it's hard to say what will happen in the future."

Li Long thought to himself, five thousand US dollars... that's not too expensive. After all, this thing is considered high-end equipment right now. State-owned companies have it, but private enterprises, at least in Ma County, don't have it.

Moreover, it would be good to dig out the silt from the small lake later.

"Can I only pay in US dollars? Is RMB acceptable?"

Li Long felt that he didn't have enough US dollars in stock, but he had saved up quite a lot of RMB, and there didn't seem to be any particular place where he could spend the money right now.

“RMB is fine too, but the exchange rate will be higher than what we agreed on before, it will be 30,000 yuan.”

"Hey, I'll take them, both of them!"

Thirty thousand is really not expensive for Li Long. The construction of this thing is charged by the hour!

Since it's a German product, it should at least be relatively durable, so Li Long felt that he could definitely recoup his investment and even make a profit before it broke down.

"Alright, I'll get back to my second uncle. By the way, should I get you a car or a truck this time?"

"Trucks, I have plenty of cars here, and quite a few haven't been sold yet," Li Long said. "A lot of people are asking about trucks right now."

From the eastern Tianshan Mountains all the way to the western Tianshan Mountains, there are numerous coal mines at the foot of the mountains.

Therefore, with several coal mines operating around Ma County, the demand for coal transport drivers has never decreased.

Buying a truck to haul coal is very profitable, and it works for transporting other goods as well.

At that time, overloading was not strictly checked, and truck driving was a very lucrative profession.

So even Li Long's truck, which he used at the recycling station, was being asked about.

In addition, Li Long did not actively promote the business, so he still has several cars sitting unsold at his purchasing station.

Now that Liu Gaolou mentioned it, Li Long remembered that he could easily place an advertisement on Beiting TV and in the Beiting Daily. If he did that, the cars would probably sell out in just a few days.

By the way, I can also advertise my needs, and then those small businesses that produce cotton shoes can contact me. Although the production of leather coats has been contracted out to Hongguang Factory, the shoes are only from the Bai Xiuming batch, and it's not possible to get more in the short term.

Li Long felt that he knew too little about the small workshops and businesses in northern Xinjiang, so he decided to advertise them to broaden his reach and save himself from searching blindly.

“Then this trip will be much more comfortable. I’ll have my second uncle bring in five or six trucks, and then another five or six cars. All we need to do is hire people.” Liu Gaolou was quite happy. “The second-hand trucks are still at the old price. Do you still want to pay in RMB? Then it’ll be 15,000 RMB per truck.”

At a very low price, Liu Gaolou not only sold to Li Long, but also to Yili.

However, Li Long is a major client, so he'll take on as many clients as come in. Liu Gaolou hasn't found a suitable replacement for the Yili area yet.

Although Wu Yongbo wanted to be a middleman, he didn't have enough capital, so he could only try it out on a small scale for now.

After discussing it, Liu Gaolou said that he could deliver the things to Li Long in about a week.

Li Long was also quite happy. With these things in hand, he was even more confident in repairing the mountain roads before the migration next year.

After all, excavators and loaders are wheeled, so they can drive faster into the mountains.

Liu Gaolou hadn't arrived yet when Jia Tianlong called.

The price of antelope horns has gone up again, and he hopes to buy a batch of antelope horns from Li Long.

According to Jia Tianlong, he is currently experiencing cash flow problems, and one of his previous distribution channels has been cut off. He needs this batch of antelope horns to get out of his predicament.

When Jia Tianlong was in trouble, Li Long naturally wanted to help. After learning that the other party needed about 1,000 kilograms of antelope horns, he asked Jia Tianlong to come and haul them away without even asking the price.

Anyway, it can't possibly cost less than 200 yuan per kilogram.

The price of antelope horns has been steadily increasing. Although antelopes are listed as protected animals, making them difficult to obtain domestically, there are still cases like Li Long's, who import them from abroad.

The only difference is the quantity. Among Jia Tianlong's connections, only Li Long can obtain large quantities of antelope horns, so he only goes to him.

Moreover, given their relationship, Jia Tianlong could guarantee that if he sought out Li Long, Li Long would not use this as leverage against him.

If it were someone else, it would be hard to say.

As expected, his judgment was correct.

(End of this chapter)