Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1223 It's settled on forming a cooperative: Will anyone else join?

Most people drank too much after lunch that day.

I earned a lot of money this year, and I did a lot of work too. Anyway, it's all over now, and it's time to summarize. So at the dinner table, everyone ate and drank, and it was very lively. Some people were reminiscing about their lives during this period, while others were looking forward to the future.

People like Chen Qianjin and Li Junxian have made it clear that they will return home after spending the Chinese New Year there.

There were also people like Li Junhai and Li Junhan who wanted to go back and see if they could bring their families along like Li Junfeng, but Li Junwei and the others immediately rejected that idea—there wasn't enough room for everyone.

Li Jianguo told them that if they wanted to bring new people over, they had to call ahead and get Li Junfeng's confirmation before they could come.

Everyone agrees on this point. This year, everyone cooperated well while working, so naturally, we hope it continues. If next year someone hires a troublemaker who doesn't work properly and causes problems, then no one will be happy.

Of course, the existence of such people would most likely allow Li Jianguo or Li Long to suppress them, but that's not a good thing.

In the afternoon, they all went to rest. The next day, they spent the whole day tidying up. On the third day, Li Jianguo and Li Long drove them to Wucheng Railway Station.

Li Junhai and his friends were all young people, so there was nothing to worry about. After watching them buy some dried fruit and other local specialties at the train station, and then buy tickets and enter the waiting hall with their bags, Li Long and Li Jianguo went back.

Now that those who were working have gone back, the countryside has basically entered a period of calm.

The police station cracked down on gambling recently, so there are fewer people playing cards in the village now. If they can't play cards, they have to stay at home and do chores, or go out.

On December 6th, not long after Li Long drove to the fourth team, Xie Yundong, Tao Daqiang, and Liang Dacheng arrived.

"I remember last time you and Daqiang went to Dongdagou to catch rabbits and break ice holes to catch fish. The big silver carp we ate that day was pretty good. Shall we go and get some more today?" Xie Yundong had nothing better to do, so he first invited Tao Daqiang. Tao Daqiang said he had to wait for Li Long, and here he was.

"Sure." Li Long figured he had nothing better to do than chat with his mother. Only Li Junfeng's family lived in the east room of the front yard, so he figured he might as well go get some fish.

Xie Yundong's car carried tools for breaking ice holes, so Li Long didn't need to prepare anything and could just follow him.

"I also rode in Lao Xie's car today," Li Long said with a smile as he got in. "I used to drive other people around, but now it's my turn to ride in the car."

“Back then, people couldn’t even get a car if they wanted one,” Xie Yundong said. “Things are different now. Xiaolong, I heard your cars are selling well?”

"Not bad. We sold about twenty or thirty units in November," Li Long said. "We also sold a high-horsepower tractor, bought by someone from Jimusa..."

"How much did you buy it for? It must be secondhand, right?" Liang Dacheng was most interested in the high-horsepower tractor. He already knew that a high-horsepower tractor could plow three or four hundred acres of land in a day and night, which was much more powerful than the Dongfanghong 75.

Although he is still using a combine harvester to cut wheat and make money this year, to be honest, he is not making as much as before, less than a third of what he made in the first year.

One reason is the increase in harvesters, and the other is the emergence of combine harvesters.

Some people, thinking it's more convenient, simply use combine harvesters for harvesting, as it saves time. Most people still use combine harvesters, but they aren't that expensive, and more and more people can afford them. Some villages have more than a dozen, which have basically become household items, and people even share them without paying.

It seems that making money from this will be even more difficult in the future.

But the high-horsepower tractor the Li family bought was different. No matter what, tractors would still be needed for plowing. And because plowing tractors were too expensive to be widely available, making money from plowing was inevitable.

He could imagine how much money the Li family made from plowing and sowing in a year, so when he heard Li Longyi say that someone had bought a high-horsepower tractor, he immediately became interested.

"Two hundred and sixty thousand," Li Long said. "It was bought with a loan."

“Well, people need connections to get loans,” Liang Dacheng sighed. “We don’t have any connections, and we can’t save up that much money. We can only watch.”

Li Long changed the subject: "There's a village on the outskirts of Wucheng that bought about ten cars..."

"A whole village? Really? More cars than our team has?" Tao Daqiang was shocked. "What do the people in that village do?"

“They grow vegetables, they grow them in greenhouses,” Li Long said. “Their whole village grows vegetables in greenhouses, and they’ve joined the city’s vegetable basket project, so they’re making a lot of money.”

"Growing crops in greenhouses? I've heard it's quite hard work," Tao Daqiang sighed.

There are already greenhouse farmers in the vicinity of Ma County, so some people have heard about it. After all, while other farmers rest in the dead of winter, those who grow greenhouse crops have to work in the winter and earn not only money for their skills but also for their hard work.

So it's only natural that they can earn enough money to buy a car.

The car drove to Dongdagou, and everyone took their tools and started walking down. Xie Yundong locked the car door and quickly followed, saying to Li Long as they walked:
“Old Jia wasn’t home. When we went to his house to look for him, no one was home. I guess he drove his family out to town.”

Li Long understood.

This was essentially a small group gathering.

When Li Long and his group arrived at the ice hole they had broken last time, they found that it had been frozen over, and the ice was even higher than the original ice surface.

"Let's smash it somewhere else," Tao Daqiang said, looking around. "Look, this frozen layer is even thicker than before, it must be at least twenty centimeters deep, right?"

"Almost there," Liang Dacheng said, holding the steel chisel. "Let's try it."

Neither Li Long nor Xie Yundong made a move. Xie Yundong asked him:
"Xiaolong, if we're going to set up a cooperative, I think it might not be enough for just the few of us. We need to have some accounting, right?"

"Haha, you thought of that?" Li Long chuckled and said, "We definitely need an accountant. Just anyone who keeps accounts won't do; if they mess up the books, it'll be a real problem. We need someone who knows how to keep track of income and expenses, and preferably not one of us. That way, managing the money accounts will be fairer."

"You knew all this?" Xie Yundong glanced at Li Long. "Why didn't you say anything the first two days?"

"It can't just be me saying that; you all have to really want to join. Otherwise, if I'm the only one doing it, it won't be a cooperative; it will just be my one-man show."

“I think you’re right about everything. One-man rule is one-man rule,” Tao Daqiang said while smashing the ice hole. “In this respect, none of us can outthink you.”

"I've thought of a question. If our cooperative makes more money next year, will people who join also contribute shares?" Liang Dacheng thought of a question.

"Is that okay?" Xie Yundong first expressed his opinion, and then looked at Li Long.

“It’s possible, but the price can’t be the same as ours.” Li Long shook his head. “The price for investing in the first year and the second year will definitely be different. Those who invest in the first year have already learned from the mistakes and are more or less in sync with the company. Those who invest in the second year are basically just enjoying the benefits. So, whether it’s using land or farm tools, the investment price can’t be the same as before.”

“Yes, that’s exactly right,” Tao Daqiang said. “We’re bound to encounter a lot of trouble at the beginning. Even if we don’t encounter any trouble, we’re the ones who paved the way. If others have to join under the same conditions, I won’t be happy about that.”

Liang Dacheng nodded, and Xie Yundong also nodded thoughtfully.

"Of course, in the beginning, we were all of one mind. Our cooperation was based on a solid foundation. If anyone joins later, the screening process must be very strict," Li Long said with a smile. "It's not that just anyone can join; it has to be with the consent of the majority of us."

Of course, this is just talk right now; it's still far from certain, and it's hard to say whether our cooperative will even be established.

“If we hadn’t discussed this before, we might not have thought about it, and the cooperative wouldn’t have been very interesting. But after our discussion, especially after Xiaolong explained these rules, I think it’s quite good for the five of us to form such a cooperative.”

Because we have this foundation. However, others can't do it; they don't have our connections, they might not trust us, and we might not trust others either.

Both Liang Dacheng and Xie Yundong agreed with Tao Daqiang's statement.

Li Long felt that the fact that they were considering it so seriously meant they truly cared about the cooperative. Even if he hadn't paid much attention, if the four families were going to take things a step further, he probably wouldn't be able to refuse to join.

Although Xie Yundong brought up the matter, it was actually Li Long who established the entire framework and details.

So this cooperative was truly created by Li Long. If he hadn't joined, who knows what would have happened. Therefore, Li Long would definitely have joined.

However, Li Long felt that Tao Daqiang's words were not necessarily correct, and he said with a smile:

"Some people may not trust each other as much as we do, but they might be smarter. If they see that we're making money through our cooperative, do you think they'll consider joining? They definitely will."

After all, once they join the cooperative, they don't have to do anything and just wait to receive dividends. With such a good deal, do you think they wouldn't take it?

"Well...we can't just give them benefits for nothing, can we?" Tao Daqiang felt that this matter was really hard to say. He didn't want to give those people benefits for nothing, but he also felt that if he and his group could really turn it into a cooperative and make it big, it might be a good thing.

“Then it depends on how we calculate the profits,” Li Long said with a smile. “If we really want to start a cooperative, you all have your own division of labor, right? You can earn money by dividing the labor. If other people join, we can just raise the wages. If they want to do it, they can compete for other positions. Or they can not join at all. It’s a very easy thing to do.”

Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang understood what Li Long meant.

If you want to make money by investing for free, fine, but you have to share the profits with us first. Otherwise, why would anyone work for you for nothing?
To put it simply, joining the cooperative and waiting for dividends means taking a portion of the profits and giving it to those who do the work—if they don't want to work, then we'll pay the workers' wages.

However, since several families were working together on this project, the wages for the workers were divided among the families, which resulted in them earning more money.

So, cooperatives are generally a good thing, because they combine land for planting, which increases the risk resistance of individual farmers.

The entire cooperative has thousands of acres of land integrated together. What to plant is discussed beforehand. This way, even if there are market risks, as a collective unit, it can withstand risks for a longer time than individual farmers.

As they were talking, the ice hole had already been broken open. Li Long stepped forward, grabbed a net, and scooped away the floating ice. Then he dipped the net into the water, stirred it a few times, and said:

"The water is still not deep, about a meter deep. There should be quite a few fish, but it's hard to say if there are any big ones."

He and Tao Daqiang had done it once before, and the two of them caught more than 20 kilograms of fish together, which was quite a lot.

Later, something came up, so I didn't come back.

We've already passed the peak season for making money by fishing, so there's no rush anymore.

After saying that, he bent down, took the net, stirred it in the water again, and started scooping it up.

Seven or eight crucian carp and a silver carp weighing more than two kilograms were scooped up and dumped on the ice.

"Not bad, this fish is good." Everyone's attention was focused on the crucian carp, while the silver carp weighing more than two kilograms was completely ignored.

It's not that the fish isn't delicious; if it were just a single silver carp, it would definitely be prepared properly.

But now that there are plenty of fish, silver carp are being disliked.

Of course, we'll eventually take it back. As for how to eat it, we'll decide after we finish the other fish.

In any case, every family will have a fresh fish soup today.

"Come on, let me try it out," Xie Yundong said with a smile. "Xiao Long, you've got a great start!"

“What’s so red? The biggest crucian carp is only about a hand’s length long,” Li Long shook his head. “Come and take a look. There should be a lot of fish in here, otherwise there wouldn’t be fish right after we dug the ice hole. I just don’t know if there are any big fish left after we caught them last time.”

Xie Yundong took the net and started stirring it around in the ice hole. Li Long then asked Tao Daqiang, who was standing nearby:

How's your brother doing?

Tao Daqiang's older brother, Tao Dayong, was originally a scoundrel. However, after Tao Daqiang started working with Li Long and making money, Tao Dayong was spurred on. He first broke up with his former friends, then asserted his authority as a husband, disciplined his wife, and then joined Li Long and his group in growing watermelons, which earned him a considerable sum.

After that, Li Long wasn't often in the team, so we don't know how his family is doing.

"I just bought a tractor this year," Tao Daqiang said. "It's alright, better than before."

Li Long nodded; he was just trying to start a conversation. He hadn't been with the team for a long time. Although he came back from time to time, he mainly stayed at his older brother's house and kept in touch with Tao Daqiang and Xie Yundong. He didn't know much about the other members of the team.

As a member of Team Four, he felt it was better to learn more about other aspects of the situation.

"Another year is almost over, time really flies," Li Long said. "When I get back, I'll have to start contacting suppliers to buy agricultural supplies."

"That's right. We made money growing cotton this year, and many people in the team said they would grow cotton next year too. Wang Sanwa's cotton crop was damaged this year, and although he didn't make much, it was still better than growing watermelons. So a few days ago he announced that he would grow 30 mu of cotton next year."

“Plant thirty mu? If they don’t hire people, their family will have to suffer.” Li Long said with a smile, “Given their family’s personality, they’ll probably want to do the work themselves. Cotton is different from other crops; if it’s not grown well, it will still suffer.”

Growing cotton requires diligence and technical expertise. Just like dealing with pests and diseases, you need to frequently visit the field to spot any pests and know which pesticides are effective against which pests.

This is quite a test.

One advantage of running a cooperative is that there are dedicated people responsible for specific tasks. They regularly patrol the fields and can spot pests at a glance—like spider mites and honeydew mites (aphids).

The cotton bollworm is not easy to spot, but it is a pest that occurs at a specific time. You can go to the field to check for it when the cotton is forming bolls.

"Hey! A carp... Not bad, I'm having a lucky day!" Xie Yundong picked up the net, looked at the fish inside, and laughed as he turned it upside down on the ice.

"It's not very big. It's probably a baby carp from this spring or last autumn, right?" Liang Dacheng said with some disdain when he saw that the carp weighed less than a kilogram. "It's not even as tasty as a crucian carp."

"Beautiful!" Xie Yundong said with a smile, looking at the red-headed and red-tailed fish. "If it weren't so cold, we could take it home and keep it as a pet."

“Isn’t there a bucket for holding fish? Just fill it with some water and we can keep them alive,” Li Long said with a smile. “The water won’t freeze anytime soon, and the fish won’t freeze to death.”

"Yes, yes, yes." Xie Yundong hurriedly scooped up the still-jumping fish and put it in the bucket. Then he scooped some water from the ice hole and watched the fish swim in the water, feeling relieved.

"You should take it to the car. The fish will probably freeze pretty much by the time it gets outside," Li Long said. "It's so cold out here."

Xie Yundong obediently carried the bucket to the car. Although it might not be much warmer inside the car than outside, it would definitely be better—the car had the heater on earlier.

Tao Daqiang immediately took the net and started scooping things up, while also talking about the cooperative.

"I think we should stick to this approach next year. Xiaolong, if you have any other ideas, speak up as soon as possible. Let's write all these rules and regulations down in a notebook, go through them one by one, and each of us should review our tasks several times. Let's make a fortune together next year!"

Liang Dacheng is truly dedicated to making money, so Li Long believes he will be extremely enthusiastic about planting cotton next year. Even without a cooperative, he will still plant cotton on a large scale—it's tiring, but at least he's guaranteed to make money.

Unlike harvesting melon seeds, where there's no one to harvest them if you say no one will.

How scary is this thing?
Tao Daqiang's situation is probably similar. Among these five families, Jia Weidong's view is probably not particularly strong; the others likely share the same idea.

"Let's do it that way then." Li Long watched Liang Dacheng stirring the water with a net and thought that since everyone thought the same way, the cooperative had a solid foundation for establishment.

"Hey! Carp, this time it's a big carp!"

After taking out the net, Liang Dacheng excitedly placed the fish inside onto the ice: "This one is much prettier than the one Lao Xie took. It must weigh at least three kilograms... Let's eat it today!"

What a good omen!
P.S.: I still don't have enough monthly tickets. If you have any, please give me one!

(End of this chapter)