Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1239 Xiaoyu's Life's Most Important Event

Ma County, Team Four.

A heavy snowfall transformed the earth into a silver-white wonderland.

The young people in the village would go out to chase rabbits in the fields, while most of the middle-aged and elderly would visit each other or sit by their own stoves listening to the radio and reminiscing about the hardships of their past lives.

Ordinary people are never short of joy; no matter how hard life is, they still have the ability to find happiness in hardship. Besides, life is so much better now. They will recall those difficult or unforgettable days of the past, and talk about them in a humorous way, which represents both remembrance and rebirth.

In the east room of the Li family home, Dong Xiaojuan was holding her child and chatting with Du Chunfang, talking about the past of their hometown.

Most of the time, Dong Xiaojuan did the talking, and Du Chunfang listened. Occasionally, if something seemed different from what she remembered, Du Chunfang would interrupt her and ask what was going on.

She lived a very small life, mostly in her old house in her hometown, and rarely worked in the fields.

In northern Xinjiang, the area is larger, and she needs to check on both the front and back yards—especially the front yard, which is her youngest son's home, and she has to keep an eye on it.

“Tomorrow, my family will be settled down. We’ll build a house on that alkaline beach diagonally opposite Uncle Xiaolong’s yard. It’ll be close by, and we can live a better life.”

Dong Xiaojuan had a clear smile on her face. Although the children hadn't been registered yet, Li Junfeng had already said that if they could get land and register their children this time, they would pay the fines, register all the children, and then live a peaceful life here.

Having a baby in your hometown incurs hefty fines, and you might not even be able to afford them.

I've only been here a short time, but the money I'm making is making all the relatives who came with me green with envy.

"It's good that you've settled down here." Du Chunfang breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it didn't take up her youngest son's yard.

Although Li Long and his family don't live here often, Du Chunfang considers it her youngest son's home. She gets upset if others stay there occasionally. Now that Li Junfeng and his family are settling down and saying they want to move out, that's good.

"I wonder how your Uncle Xiaolong's trip to Yanjing went. He even took a plane—that plane is in the sky, a big metal thing, can he really stay calm?"

"It's alright. Uncle San said we're already in Yanjing. My Uncle Xiaolong can get anything done."

Hearing Dong Xiaojuan praise her youngest son, the old lady was pleased and said, "That's... Xiaolong, he's just different. Hmm, his older brother and sister-in-law have taught him very well too."

Dong Xiaojuan wasn't familiar with most of the women in the village. She usually only chatted with Du Chunfang. But if she could settle down by the end of this year, she would be a legitimate member of the village next year, and she felt that she could finally hold her head high.

Although no one cared in the past, I felt guilty and always did things secretly. Now I finally feel like I've made it through.

In the west room, Lu Yingming sipped his tea and asked Li Jianguo:
"I heard that Xiaolong is going to spend money to pave the road from our team to the township with asphalt in the spring? Is that true?"

"More or less," Li Jianguo said, not giving a definite answer, only saying "more or less."

Having experienced so much, Li Jianguo knew that as long as things weren't settled, there would always be uncertainty, and sticking to one's word too rigidly could easily lead to trouble.

"That must cost a lot of money, right?" Lu Yingming said. "But... is there no problem with Xiaolong's side?"

The village meeting has already been held, and the news that Li Long plans to build an asphalt road from the township to the village has spread, with many villagers discussing it. After confirming the matter with the Li brothers, Xu Chengjun has already submitted a report to the township.

When the villagers learned that Li Long wanted to work together with them on the repairs, with the village only needing to provide the name and Li Long providing the money and contacting the construction team, they were naturally very happy and praised Li Long highly. They originally wanted to invite Li Long to the village to discuss the matter further.

But Li Long had already left by plane because of a summons from Yanjing. The township's idea was to wait for him to return and visit him whenever he had time.

These are definitely impressive results!

Now that such a famous and wealthy person has emerged from our village, we can say we're benefiting from it.

"Yeah, it'll probably cost around 100,000 to 200,000 yuan," Li Jianguo nodded. At first, he also felt a pang of regret, wondering if this was a bit too much money.

But Li Long analyzed it and said that doing some things is better than doing nothing. Since the road to the mountains has already been repaired, this little bit doesn't matter. They've earned a bit too much money and need to spend some. Firstly, it's about doing something meaningful, which gives them peace of mind; secondly, it's a way of distributing wealth for peace of mind.

The Li family lives in the southeast of the village, so if they're going to build, the road will have to stretch from the west end of the village to the east end. Of the three settlements, the westernmost one is definitely fine, and the Li family's side is also fine. The only uncertainty is with the residents of the northeastern settlement—they might not be able to go in because the road might turn at their settlement's intersection.

At this point, they wanted to ask Li Long, but they couldn't find him.

"Over ten thousand... might not even be enough to fix the asphalt road, right?" Lu Yingming had roughly calculated, "The construction team..."

“Xiaolong knows some of the construction teams, so it won’t cost much,” Li Jianguo said with a smile. “He’s made some money in the past few years, and Xiaolong said he should contribute to our hometown.”

"Sigh, it's just that our team is too far from the village. With this renovation, teams three, two, and six all benefit." Lu Yingming said with some discomfort.

"Hey, don't think about it too much." Li Jianguo waved his hand and said, "It's not a big deal. Xiaolong said it's mainly for the students. When it rains or snows, they don't have to walk on muddy puddles to get to school anymore. That's too uncomfortable."

"Yes, yes, the adults are better off, but the children suffer when it rains."

The original mud road has been turned into a gravel road, but there are still mud spots after it rains, and the gravel road is still uneven with many potholes after it is compacted.

Inside the village store, Ma Jinbao was talking, holding a wine glass, not caring that spittle was falling into his wine:
"Li Long is such a show-off! He's made a little money and doesn't know who he is anymore. He's even talking about building roads, paved roads—I think he just wants to show off!"

Boss Zhang smiled and remained silent, trying not to offend anyone, but some people were unhappy and started arguing with Ma Jinbao:

"Then if you're so capable, why don't you build it yourself! If you don't have the ability, don't talk nonsense! When someone builds a road, the whole team benefits. Aren't you going to use that road? Let's see if you'll use it after they've finished building it!"

"Why shouldn't I leave?" Ma Jinbao, who had some experience, wasn't intimidated and retorted, "The road belongs to everyone. Even if he paid to repair it, it's not his road anymore. I can leave whenever I want. Besides, I didn't ask him to repair it!"

"Ma Jinbao, you really have no shame! How could you say something like that... It's a real waste for you to stay in the fourth team." The other party retorted, "You're such a grown man, aren't you afraid of losing face? It's one thing for you to be shameless, but what will people think of your child when they go to school?"

"I don't care..." Ma Jinbao wanted to say that he didn't care about so many things, but there were several people watching, so he couldn't say it. If he did say it and it got out, his son and daughter-in-law would make a fuss with him again.

After finishing his drink, Ma Jinbao left, cursing under his breath.

Everyone knows that the Li family is going to set up a cooperative. Most of those who followed the Li family to grow cotton this year have made money. Even Wang Sanwa, that stubborn, disobedient, and lazy guy, still made more money per mu than he did growing sunflowers. So who wouldn't want to grow a few mu of cotton next year and earn more money at the end of the year?
Growing cotton requires skills, and Li Long from the Li family is the most knowledgeable about them in the village.

Moreover, they are very open-minded and will answer any questions anyone asks.

So, whose side are they favoring? Need I say more?

Although ordinary people are easily bullied, this is a good indicator of whether people's hearts are with you or not.

Li Long, who was in Beijing, was unaware of what was happening in the village. He was currently in Director Dai's office at the Ethnic Affairs Commission, answering a phone call from Secretary Zhang.

"Yesterday, the leader heard about your work on establishing a cooperative and building roads for the village. Although he didn't say anything at the time, he later made it clear that people like you who have made money and want to give back to their hometown, and who want to establish a cooperative to help everyone get rich, are truly practicing the principle of 'the rich leading the poor to get rich' that we advocate."

The leader said that someone like you should be commended and widely publicized. Of course, this concerns matters in northern Xinjiang; the leader simply felt it was the right thing to do.

Regarding your suggestion that the textbooks for private schools should reduce the amount of scripture content, the leadership will take it seriously. They believe that submitting it to the conference as a proposal is the right approach, a mature and reasonable solution.

Here's what I wanted to say. You know my office phone number; if you need anything after you get back, just give me a call. I'm usually in the office during normal working hours.

I heard that someone came to investigate you a few days ago. You didn't mention it when you reported it, but your superiors know about it. They said that businesses like yours, operating legally and compliantly, aren't afraid of investigations, but our higher-level agencies can't just jump to conclusions and conduct arbitrary, targeted inspections.

Li Long listened attentively. Director Dai poured him a glass of water and placed it aside. Li Long took it, drank a sip, expressed his gratitude with his eyes, and then continued.

"Of course, you shouldn't hold a grudge. Inspections by higher authorities are their business, and there are people to handle and coordinate them. As long as you run your business well and make money legally and compliantly, no one can affect you."

Secretary Zhang spoke a lot today, but every word was crucial. Li Long couldn't easily remember everything in Director Dai's office, but he roughly understood what she meant.

Secretary Zhang has been keeping an eye on his situation and may coordinate with higher-ups, but he doesn't need to worry about that. He just needs to focus on doing his own job well, and if there's any trouble, he can call!
This is the key!
After chatting for almost half an hour, Li Long put down the microphone, and Director Dai said with a smile:

"Comrade Li Long, Secretary Zhang really cares about you. I rarely see him so attentive to anyone from our side. Hmm, that's good. The water's getting cold, drink it quickly." "Thank you, thank you, Director Dai," Li Long said with a smile. "Not just them, but all of you too, thank you so much."

"Hey, we're friends now, no need to thank me. Shall we continue at the cafeteria for lunch?"

"No, no," Li Long hurriedly waved his hand. "I haven't recovered from last night's meal yet. I have something to do at noon; I have to see a relative."

"Alright, you're not in a hurry to leave anyway, we can talk about it later," Director Dai said with a smile.

Although Li Long knew that Director Dai was far more politically astute than him, at least for now, Director Dai's attitude towards him was friendly.

Li Long really had something to do at noon; he was going to have lunch with Gu Xiaoyu.

After getting off work, Gu Xiaoyu arrived at the two-courtyard house, where Li Long had already prepared dinner.

What I'm going to talk about today isn't suitable for public display, so Li Long simply bought the ingredients and cooked it himself in the yard.

"It smells so good." Gu Xiaoyu put down her bag after entering the house and smelled the aroma as soon as she came out to the kitchen door.

"Wait a moment, the water's boiling. I figured you're about to get off work, so we're having hand-pulled noodles for lunch today," Li Long said.

He cooked it the way they serve noodles in Beiting, with mutton stewed in chili oil and stir-fried shredded potatoes. The vegetable shop now sells fresh produce, a bit pricey, but Li Long can afford it.
So the side dishes include fried chives (blanched in boiling water), fried bok choy, and fried celery.

Although it was just for two people, the portions were quite large. Li Long figured they wouldn't be able to finish it at noon, so he could just reheat it in the afternoon and buy two pancakes from the street to eat with the leftovers.

After cooking a plate of noodles, Li Long rinsed them with cold water and then with hot water, then brought them to Gu Xiaoyu. Seeing that he was still waiting for him, he said:
"No need to wait for noodles, they taste best when eaten hot. Is this enough?"

"That's enough, that's enough." Gu Xiaoyu stopped refusing and picked up her chopsticks to start mixing the vegetables. She had been to northern Xinjiang and knew how to eat this dish.

Li Long then cooked the remaining noodles. After the soup boiled twice, he scooped them out, rinsed them with cold water, then rinsed them with hot soup, and put them in an enamel basin.

His amount of flour was more than twice that of Gu Xiaoyu's; he didn't add any extra flour, just mixed it all at once.

Li Long sat opposite Gu Xiaoyu, and while setting out the noodles, he also picked up a clove of garlic. He mixed the noodles first, added some vinegar, and then started peeling the garlic.

"I'll have one clove." Gu Xiaoyu reached out for the garlic.

"What are you going to do at work this afternoon if you eat this? Your breath will smell bad."

"Have some tea." Gu Xiaoyu actually had a solution.

Li Long gave her two cloves of garlic, but she only wanted one, probably just to taste it.

While eating, Li Long asked casually:

Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?

Gu Xiaoyu paused for a moment while picking up noodles with her chopsticks, then continued eating, saying as she ate:

"I went on a date in the fall, but it didn't work out."

"Didn't you negotiate yourself?"

"I haven't met anyone suitable. I dated someone in the first half of the year; he was a nice guy, but his family found out about this and came all the way from their hometown to see me. I... I really dislike this guy. He looked at me like I was a product, and even told me that I shouldn't work anymore and should just take good care of his son..."

Li Long was speechless. He could understand the situation at the time. The man was probably what people in later generations would call a small-town exam-taker; he must have been capable to stay in Yanjing. It was just that his family might have gotten a little arrogant because of that, so it was hard to blame anyone.

It's impossible for all test-takers in a small town to be like this, but Gu Xiaoyu just happened to encounter one.

"Didn't your mother say anything to you, or introduce you to someone?"

"I've already explained it." Gu Xiaoyu lowered her head and ate the noodles one by one. Li Long wanted to say that this wasn't how you eat hand-pulled noodles, but he couldn't say it at this moment.

"My mom introduced me to two men this year. One was a military officer, a staff member in the military headquarters. After we met twice, she asked me to go back to her hometown with her to meet her family. She also said that he was going to be demobilized and go back to his hometown, where he would be more comfortable than here."

The other was a district official. We met once, and after hearing about my family situation, nothing more was done.

Well, this love life has been quite bumpy.

Gu Xiaoyu is twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, which is considered quite old for a single woman. Gu Boyuan and Gu Xiaoxia are both worried about this and have tried to persuade her on the phone countless times, but to no avail.

So Li Long came with this mission: to find out about Gu Xiaoyu's situation and see if he could persuade her to settle down and start a family soon.

But after hearing his sister-in-law's story, Li Long knew he couldn't help it either. He hadn't been in Yanjing for long and didn't have many connections, so he couldn't introduce her himself.

Among the people I know, Secretary Zhang and Xiao Wang are of suitable age. Secretary Zhang, needless to say, is already married—I learned this when I called him and found out he already has a child.

Xiao Wang won't work either. I already knew he was engaged when we had dinner yesterday. Besides, Li Long thinks Xiao Wang and Gu Xiaoyu might not be a good match.

Do I need Director Dai to introduce us?
Li Long was not entirely at ease. Being a matchmaker sounded simple, but to be responsible, he needed to know the man thoroughly; otherwise, he might end up hurting him and then regret it.

I can't exactly introduce someone from Northern Xinjiang. Although I plan to trick Gu Xiaoyu into spending some time in Northern Xinjiang next year, it would be best if Gu Xiaoyu worked and lived in Yanjing, no matter what.

That goes without saying.

So Li Long didn't have any good solutions either.

In the end, I can only offer this advice:
"You're not young anymore, it's time for you to settle down. Even if you don't listen to what others say, at least in life, you have to go through the process of getting married and having children..."

"Mmm." Gu Xiaoyu responded in a low voice, head down, and continued eating her noodles, this time at a much faster pace.

Li Long also started eating heartily, as the noodles would get cold if he didn't eat them soon.

After finishing their meal, Gu Xiaoyu had more noodle soup. After drinking it, she wanted to clean up the kitchen, and Li Long didn't refuse. He didn't know what to say.

While tidying up, Gu Xiaoyu asked about the situation in northern Xinjiang. She first asked about family matters, and after finishing those, she asked about Li Long's current situation.

Because she often talks to her sister on the phone, Gu Xiaoyu knows a fair bit about Li Long's situation, including his cooperative and car sales.

Li Long then said, half-jokingly:
"Want me to ship you a car? Used cars are quite cheap over there."

"I don't have a driver's license." Gu Xiaoyu was tempted. Over the years, she had saved some money. Since she wasn't married, she didn't have many personal expenses. She had heard about car prices from her sister, and they were within her budget.

“Then learn it when you have time. Having a car here will make things more convenient,” Li Long said.

He could manage to get a driver's license in northern Xinjiang, but in Beijing, he really couldn't.

But thinking about it, even if I could use the excuse of learning to drive to coax Gu Xiaoyu to go to Northern Xinjiang next year... it probably wouldn't work. That's not a necessary and sufficient condition.

It seems the only option left is to try and get help from Gu Boyuan.

After cleaning up the kitchen, Gu Xiaoyu checked the time, told Li Long, and went to work. Li Long also left the yard; he needed to tidy up the other two yards.

It always takes a few days to dry the house and get rid of the musty smell.

However, the matter of Gu Xiaoyu was still weighing on his mind.

How to solve it?
(End of this chapter)