Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1240 The Auntie from Yanjing is Awesome

The snow has stopped, and sanitation workers are clearing snow from the streets of Yanjing. People are also clearing the area in front of each house, piling up the snow and waiting for the snowplows to come and take it away.

While clearing snow, the neighbors could chat and laugh together, and Li Long deeply felt what "poverty" meant here.

Finding joy in hardship is an inherent optimism in the nature of ordinary people.

While the neighbors were clearing the snow, they were also sizing up this unfamiliar young man, Li Long.

There are not many households in this alley, only three in total. Li Long took on most of the snow removal work by himself, while the other two households consisted of an old man and a young man.

The two knew each other and chatted while shoveling snow. They shoveled the snow in a half-hearted manner, turning the snow-clearing process into a social gathering.

As a result, Li Long, being a reckless young man, didn't know his own strength. While the other two had only swept a few times, he swept more than 70% of the snow in the alley outside in no time.

The two were a little confused, and then they felt embarrassed. When Li Long swept his gaze over, they quickly sped up.

The old man found it interesting to watch Li Long work, and seeing Li Long's large size and his quiet dedication to his work, he leaned closer and asked:
"Young man, are you from this compound? You look unfamiliar. Are you from your workplace? I saw a sign hanging over there... Are you from northern Xinjiang?"

"Yes, I'm from the northern border region," Li Long said vaguely. "I don't come here often."

"Oh...it must be even colder in northern Xinjiang?" the old man continued.

"It's a bit colder than here." Li Long swung the broom a little slower, afraid of getting snow on the old man.

The young man suddenly asked:
"I saw a girl tidying up inside the other day, was that... your colleague?"

Li Long glanced at the man, who looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. He was fairly handsome, but his expression was a bit roguish, with the kind of thuggishness Old Wang had described. His tone also carried a hint of Beijing arrogance. Li Long shook his head and said:

"She's not a colleague, she's a relative."

He didn't say much.

"Is he/she your relative? How old is he/she? Is he/she married?" The young man perked up and asked, "Which company does he/she work for?"

"How old are you? Which company do you work for?" Li Long asked in return. "These working hours... you're not unemployed, are you?"

One sentence made the young man blush, while the old man next to him laughed and said:

"Little Liu, I told you, I asked you to take your dad's place at work, but you wouldn't go. See? People look down on you now. Stop thinking about those nonsensical things all day long. Being a middleman can make money, but you have to be capable."

After mocking the young man, the old man said to Li Long:

“Young man, don’t be upset. This Xiao Liu is just a bit of a chatterbox. He has a big family and has never had a girlfriend. Actually, he’s a pretty good person and very kind-hearted…”

"You've never had a partner, why don't you reflect on yourself?" Li Long sensed that the old man was trying to smooth things over, so he gently retorted, "These days, as long as you have good character, a good job, and a good family, finding a partner shouldn't be difficult, right?"

The old man was rendered speechless by Li Long's retort.

With a good job, good character, and a good family background... do you even need to find a partner? Wouldn't you get plenty of introductions?
Before he could say anything, in that brief moment of hesitation, Li Long had already swept the snow from the alleyway to the main road outside, piling it up in a place where it wouldn't obstruct pedestrians. After finishing, he picked up the broom and walked back, saying as he passed the old man:
"This bamboo broom is not as good as our reed broom."

After saying that, he went into the courtyard.

"Hey, this young man has quite a personality!" Although the old man was rebuked, he wasn't angry. Li Long was almost thirty, but he looked younger, about the same age as Xiao Liu.

He turned to look at Xiao Liu and said:

"You have feelings for that girl? Listen, find a good job, improve your family's living conditions, and then talk about getting involved with her."

Xiao Liu was a little unconvinced, but didn't know how to respond, so he walked back dejectedly with the big broom in his hand.

Li Long lived in a large courtyard, a two-section house. Xiao Liu and the old man's families lived in smaller courtyards, and several families rented out their houses there. They were one of those families—although they were different from the others, owning their own houses, they lived like the characters in "The Talkative Zhang Damin's Life," with several family members sharing one inner and outer room, and their living conditions were far from ideal.

As the old man walked back, he ran into Aunt Liu from the street. Aunt Liu, wearing a red armband, looked at the snow in the alley and asked in surprise:

"Uncle Song, you did a great job today! Your area is the cleanest and fastest on the whole street, hey, really good! I'll definitely give you a good commendation at the meeting tomorrow. It was you and Xiao Liu who swept the snow, right?"

"No, no, no, there's a young man in that courtyard over there. He's the one who cleared most of the snow." Uncle Song didn't take credit. "That young man is strong and capable. We only had to do a little work, and he had already cleared the snow from the doorway."

"Uncle Song, which courtyard in that alley? Isn't that courtyard uninhabited? Someone comes to clean it occasionally. By the way, wasn't it said to be a government-owned unit?"

After Xiao Liu was upset, he had already gone into the courtyard. Uncle Song then whispered:
"A young man has arrived, he looks really strong! He's from northern Xinjiang, not very talkative, but a good worker. It turns out he wasn't a girl, I think Xiao Liu was interested in that girl, it seems they greeted each other before, and the girl was quite polite."

Today, Xiao Liu wanted to ask a young man about the girl's situation, but instead, he got a sharp rebuke—"No good job, no good family, what's the point of dating..."

"Haha, Xiao Liu really should find a job. All he thinks about is being a middleman and doing business. Is that business easy to do?" the neighborhood auntie said approvingly. "Do you think there are still people in the courtyard?"

"Well, the young man just finished sweeping and went in, saying that the bamboo broom isn't as good as the reed broom, etc. Sigh, we don't understand the situation in northern Xinjiang."

"Alright, Uncle Song, you go ahead with your work. I'll go check on this young man. I'm just not familiar with this area, this whole compound..."

This middle-aged woman had short, ear-length hair and acted with great efficiency and nimbleness (similar to actress Song Chunli in her fifties). After greeting Uncle Song, she hurried to the gate of the compound and knocked on the door.

Uncle Song wanted to hear what was going on, but his wife called out from the yard, so he went in, and he had to tell her what had happened.

The Eight Trigrams are human nature.

Li Long was adding coal to the stove. There used to be coal in the coal shed next to the kitchen, but it was almost gone. Most people here use honeycomb briquette stoves for cooking; not many people burn coal directly.

One major reason, Li Long guessed, was that coal prices were high here, and many households had limited space at this time, so they used larger coal stoves, while honeycomb briquette stoves were smaller and more convenient.

He wondered if he should load up a truckload of coal and fill all three coal sheds in the courtyards, then burn it properly for the next few days to dry out the dampness.

Even if I leave, I will still have some effect during this period of time.

Just then, he heard a knock at the door. He assumed it was Xiao Liu or the old man, and when he went out to open the door, he heard a sound outside:
"Young man, I'm Aunt Liu from the neighborhood. I've come to check on your yard." Aunt Liu introduced herself as she heard the noise through the door.

When Li Long opened the door, Aunt Liu felt as if a wall was blocking her way, preventing her from entering the yard.

Li Long stepped aside, and Aunt Liu entered the room, sized him up, and said with a smile:

"Young man, you're in great shape. No wonder Uncle Song praised you. By the way, are you from northern Xinjiang? Is this courtyard yours or your workplace's?"

"It's based on the unit," Li Long said vaguely. "Aunt Liu, please come in, I'll pour you some tea."

"Hey, that's great, young man. Are you married or not? Will you be working in Yanjing or going back to your hometown? You look to be in your early twenties, right?"

"I'm married," Li Long replied as he walked. "I'm almost thirty, but I look young... I work over there."

When Li Long told her there was work, Aunt Liu nodded, looked around, and then looked around again as she went inside.

It's been tidied up quite well; it has all the furniture and appliances, but the musty smell hasn't completely dissipated yet.

Aunt Liu magically produced paper and a notebook, asking Li Long questions while taking notes.

Li Long didn't hide anything, saying he was an employee of the supply and marketing cooperative in northern Xinjiang and had connections with the Beijing office of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, so he came to clean up. As for who was in charge, he gave a vague answer.

“Young man, don’t take it personally. We need to understand this whole area; it’s not targeting anyone. Your courtyard is often empty, maybe a young woman comes to clean it occasionally, but I don’t see her, so I’ve been paying more attention…” After taking notes, Aunt Liu asked again:

"I just heard Uncle Song say that the girl is a relative of yours?"

"Yes, please keep an eye on the yard for me when I'm not around."

"That girl must have a job, right?"

"Working at a university." Li Long had truly experienced the meticulous work ethic of the older woman.

Seeing that Li Long didn't want to go into details, Aunt Liu didn't ask any more questions. She inquired about his living conditions and, knowing that Li Long would be staying for two more days, told him that he could go to the neighborhood committee to find her if there were any problems. Then she got up to leave.

Li Long took a small bag of raisins and stuffed it into Aunt Liu's hand, saying:

"This is a specialty of our northern Xinjiang region. It's nothing special, just raisins. You can eat it as a snack."

“Hey, this is good stuff! How can you say it’s not good stuff? Even if we wanted to buy it, we wouldn’t be able to get it anytime soon.” Aunt Liu tried to decline, “I’m so sorry, this bag must cost several yuan.”

“It’s not expensive where we live, and there are many production areas.” Li Long didn’t let Aunt Liu refuse. “I’ll need to trouble you later, Aunt Liu, so please accept it.”

Aunt Liu left happily with the raisins. She ran into Uncle Song outside, gave him a handful of raisins, and spoke well of Li Long. She didn't mention the details, saying that some things were best left unsaid.

Uncle Song held the raisins and thought the young man was a bit mercenary. He wondered why he hadn't taken any dried fruit when he and Xiao Liu were shoveling snow together.

But these raisins are really delicious.

After Aunt Liu left, just as Uncle Song was about to enter the courtyard, Xiao Liu came out. Uncle Song took out some raisins and gave some to Xiao Liu, and told him about what had happened.

“This stuff is produced in northern Xinjiang, and I heard it’s very cheap.” Uncle Song clutched the remaining raisins as he walked into the yard. “Sigh, people are cheap away from home, and things are valued because they are scarce…”

Xiao Liu didn't think too much about how those two sentences were put together. He picked up a few raisins and went out to run errands. Halfway there, he suddenly remembered that if he could get in touch with this young man and import raisins from northern Xinjiang to sell, he might be able to make a fortune before the New Year.

The Lunar New Year is just around the corner, and everyone needs to stock up on New Year's goods. If you could get a batch of specialties from northern Xinjiang, you might make a good profit! After all, Chinese people attach great importance to the Lunar New Year; even those with little money will spend some.

Even though Yang Bailao was so poor, he still knew to buy Xi'er a red ribbon in her hair!

Xiao Liu's mind immediately became active, but then he became frustrated again.

We don't have the capital.

Everything was stuck because of money.

Aunt Liu returned to the street, divided the raisins into two portions, one portion to take home and the other to share with her colleagues. She also told them about the situation in Li Long's compound.

"You mean that courtyard with the iron sign of the Ethnic Affairs Commission of Northern Xinjiang?" another woman asked curiously. "I've been there a few times but haven't seen anyone. I thought no one was in charge. Quite a few people are asking about buying that courtyard."

"The renovation of that courtyard took quite a while. I heard the heating and drainage systems are all in good condition. It's a large, two-courtyard house; it'll be spacious and impressive to live in. I really want to buy it..."

"It must be expensive to buy them then," Aunt Liu said with a smile. "Besides, those are company-provided apartments; ordinary people definitely can't afford them. Come on, try these raisins. They look different from the ones you buy at the department store—they're bigger and taste really good..."

"Those from the department store must be high-quality stuff; what they bring over is naturally good." Someone picked up two and tasted them. "Mmm, they taste good, and they look beautiful too!"
"Hey? Sister Liu, do you think we could contact him and get us a batch? We could give it to us as a New Year's bonus or something... what do you think?"

The streets now are not like they were back when the reform and opening up was when funding was insufficient. Although they are not exactly rich, they have some money now.

"I'll go ask him when I have time, but I can't guarantee it." Aunt Liu thought she had met Li Long before, so she still had some face to speak of. The young man seemed easy to get along with, so there shouldn't be any problems, right?
"But it depends on whether the leaders can approve some funding."

"If the boss won't approve it, we can just buy some ourselves."

"That's right, that's right," someone immediately agreed.

Li Long was unaware that Xiao Liu and Aunt Liu had their eyes on him. He added about the right amount of coal to the stove, cleaned the area around it, placed a teapot filled with water on the stove lid, and then went outside.

I already found out where to buy coal when I was chatting with Aunt Liu. She took a taxi there and saw that they were selling fine coal, which is probably for people who make their own honeycomb briquettes; there were also people selling honeycomb briquettes directly, piled up very high, and one of them was carrying them on a tricycle, which is probably wholesale to retail.

Li Long spotted a truckload of coal, which looked to be nearly ten tons.

The truck driver wasn't there, so he glanced around and saw a few people playing cards against a nearby wall. He went over and asked:
"Excuse me, could you tell me whose truck it is? I want to buy coal."

"How many kilograms do you want to buy?" A middle-aged man in a faded green military uniform, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, pulled out a card from his hand and tossed it down, asking, "Buying it yourself?"

"One truckload," Li Long said. "I'll take the whole truckload. How much per ton?"

The truck driver looked up in surprise, the cigarette falling from his mouth. He hurriedly bent down to swat at the embers—but still managed to burn a black spot on his clothes.

But he couldn't care less about that now, and stood up to ask Li Long:

"You mean you want them all?"

"Yes, I'll take them all. How much per ton? Can you deliver?"

"Yes, yes, we can deliver... but it'll cost an extra dollar per ton of coal, and we won't be responsible for unloading!"

“Okay,” Li Long nodded, “as long as it can be delivered.”

"Hey guys, you guys play, I have to get back to work." The truck driver was excited because he rarely had such a big deal. He threw the cards on the ground and strode back to the truck.

Li Long got into the passenger seat and, after the driver started the car and got in, asked:
"Master, where can I find some strong workers? I can't unload it all by myself, and I still need to load it into the coal shed. Could you take me there on your way? Oh, and I need to unload it in three places."

“Sure, no problem,” the driver readily agreed. “I just happened to be passing by a place where people pick up fares; they have tricycles, and the fares aren’t high…”

The driver assumed Li Long was hauling coal for his company, since ordinary people don't buy coal like that. Li Long pretended it was for company housing, but the driver was the one who believed him.

Once the coal carriers were found, the trucks reached the entrance of the alley but couldn't get in.

Next, all they could do was wait for the tricycle to come and transport it inside. Li Long wasn't in a hurry; that was all he was going to do all day anyway.

Before the tricycle arrived, Xiao Liu returned and saw Li Long talking to the driver, so he went over and started chatting with him.

Knowing that Li Long needed to unload coal, he volunteered to bring his tricycle from home to help.

Li Long refused, but Xiao Liu insisted on doing it. Then the laborer arrived on a tricycle with the coal unloaders. Li Long didn't say much, thinking he would just give Xiao Liu his wages after he finished.

Halfway through unloading the coal, Gu Xiaoyu arrived. Seeing the scene, she greeted Li Long. Li Long said to her:

"You should eat out today. It's dusty here because of the coal unloading, so we can't cook. I can't get away from here either."

Gu Xiaoyu nodded and left.

Xiao Liu, who was hauling coal, saw Gu Xiaoyu's gaze sweep across his face and immediately felt annoyed. Why didn't he tidy himself up? Now he was covered in dust and dirt. What would the girl think of him?
He naturally didn't know that Gu Xiaoyu hadn't even looked at him; she had just habitually glanced at the people before leaving.

Li Long thought that Xiao Liu would leave after unloading the coal in this yard, but he didn't expect that Xiao Liu would go to the other two yards to help unload the coal.

Let's have a good talk after we finish our work!
(End of this chapter)