Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1246 A New Year, This Year Is Different
The next day, Li Jianguo went to Xu Chengjun and told him about it.

Xu Chengjun was also somewhat surprised. He didn't really understand. In his view, Li Long had contracted Xiaohaizi and built canals and added sluice gates to Xiaohaizi, which allowed Xiaohaizi to be preserved and not destroyed.

The Li family can use the water in the small lake however they want, that's fine.

But since Li Jianguo and Li Long have made their statements, the water in the lake will still be managed by the team. Of course, there is no problem with the Li family cooperative using the water, meaning that they can use it themselves. If others use it, then the team will approve it and collect the money.

This touched Xu Chengjun.

Actually, you can figure out the difference once you think about it. After all, this small lake is a reservoir built in the 1960s and 70s. The water conservancy project was built during the era of collective farming, so it belongs to the public.

When Li Long took over the contract, he didn't clearly specify whether he was contracting all of it or just the breeding function. Now it's a mess.

As long as the team and township don't investigate, the Li family can do whatever they want. And given the current situation, neither the township nor the team is likely to interfere.

But the Li family didn't take advantage of this, which shows a different level of thinking.

Therefore, Xu Chengjun directly assured that as long as the cooperative used water, the Li family could use it freely, and the team would absolutely not stop them.

This will give the team another event fund!

That was how the matter was settled. Xu Chengjun then convened a meeting with all the village representatives, where he discussed the matter and specifically praised the Li family for their noble character.

Everyone knows what kind of people the Li family are. Some people have been whispering about it in private, but now that the team leader has brought it up directly at the meeting, it's no longer feasible for some people to try to talk to the Li family about the water issue privately.

As for individuals drilling wells, let alone the fact that drilling a single well costs tens of thousands of dollars, even if you manage to drill one, how much land can you irrigate?

Back then, drilling wells didn't involve many complicated procedures. You could just drill one and that was it. If no one complained, using water was perfectly normal.

Machine-operated wells are different from ordinary hand-operated wells; they produce a much larger volume of water per day. However, the groundwater level is currently shallow, and neither ordinary people nor government entities have fully grasped the importance of this matter.

After the incident, the news spread throughout the team. Some people envied Li Long's foresight, some were jealous of the Li family's good resources, and many more felt that the Li family was quite honest and upright, having money and not taking advantage of such a situation.

Two days later, it was New Year's Day, and a new year began.

On the first day of New Year's Day, the kindergarten held a party, buying things like melon seeds, peanuts, and candy, and the teachers and children celebrated the holiday together.

Parents were originally invited, but since most of them couldn't attend, the event was simply cancelled.

Unlike later generations, people weren't as cautious. Giving kindergarten children things like melon seeds, peanuts, and candy wasn't a big deal. The important thing was that each child had to perform a show. The traditional game of musical chairs was also part of the fun, which was the children's favorite and the most exciting part of the party. There were also simple guessing games.

Neither Li Long nor Gu Xiaoxia participated. When Li Long went to pick up Mingming and Haohao, each of them was carrying a small paper bag of melon seeds and candy, as well as several prizes, such as pencils and erasers.

The two children were very happy and talked to Li Long about the party in the car, such as who guessed the riddles correctly and whose performances were the most fun.

Mingming and Haohao performed a simple skit, which they rehearsed at home for a few days. The two children took it very seriously, so Li Long led them in some practice. According to Mingming, the effect was quite good.

"Several teachers praised us for our talent!" Clearly, the show has boosted the two children's confidence.

This is also the result that Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia hoped for. Regardless of how well the two children study, they should at least develop confident and cheerful personalities.

So far, we're quite satisfied. Not only are they satisfied, but the kindergarten teachers also love the two children. They're sensible, obedient, and even their occasional mischief is within manageable limits, making things very easy for them.

Of course, they also worry about their children becoming like Fang Zhongyong (a child prodigy who failed to live up to his early promise). Li Qiang once said that there was a student in his class who was a year younger than him. He had excellent grades in elementary school, and the teachers often asked him to be a "little teacher." Sometimes, when the teachers had something to do, they would ask him to lead the class. The teachers also said in public on several occasions that he was destined for university.

The child and parents may have thought he was a genius and indulged him a bit, but as a result, he became just another ordinary person when he got into junior high school and didn't even get into high school.

This is a real-life version of Fang Zhongyong, a true story. Li Long had also seen the child; to be honest, he was really cute. When he was a little over nine years old, he had rosy lips and white teeth, just like the children in New Year's paintings. Most of the teachers at the school liked him very much.

what is this?
Li Long hoped his child wouldn't end up like this.

Of course, with just myself and my wife around, it shouldn't be that bad.

After New Year's Day, Beijing was bustling with preparations for the Spring Festival.

On this day, Meng Yuchao and Aunt Liu received packages from northern Xinjiang one after the other. They were large packages, wrapped in burlap sacks on the outside and plastic bags on the inside.

Aunt Liu took the large package to the neighborhood office, handed it to the leader, and then paid the money herself before hurrying to the courtyard.

She had gone to the courtyard while waiting for the package these past few days, but didn't pay much attention to it since the door was locked.

They didn't even know that Li Long had left.

When they saw that the door was locked, they asked Uncle Song and Meng Yuchao about it.

Meng Yuchao had just received the package and was incredibly excited—he had been waiting for days, enduring the agony of each day. One day, when he went to the cinema to check out the venue, he was surprised to find that someone was already using his idea.

However, the other party was selling ordinary green raisins, and the price wasn't cheap, so not many people bought them—probably because I had whetted their appetites when I was selling raisins earlier.

So he was hoping to receive the raisins as soon as possible so he could continue his work.

You need to see your guests regularly, otherwise you'll become unfamiliar with them and they won't remember who you are.

Meng Yuchao was scratching his head in frustration. The neighbors gradually found out about it. At first, they were envious, but later they felt that Li Long had tricked the Meng family out of a meal.

"How can something take this long to arrive?"

"Exactly. Even if the northern border is far, how far is it? The wood ear mushrooms and mushrooms my relatives in the Northeast sent arrived in just one week."

The gossip and the mockery made the Meng family feel somewhat embarrassed.

Meng Yuchao firmly believed that Li Long would not lie to him, but Meng's parents were somewhat uncertain.

Only after the package arrived did Meng Yuchao finally feel a sense of triumph. Carrying the large sack, he swaggered into the courtyard and deliberately shouted loudly to his parents inside the house:

"Dad, Mom! The package Mr. Li sent has arrived!"

Immediately, neighbors came over to see, and some even wanted to see the postmark for verification. It turned out that it was indeed sent from northern Xinjiang, which cleared Li Long of his "fraud" identity.

Meng Yuchao was teased by some neighbors a couple of days ago, which made him quite unhappy, so he didn't want to talk to them.

Meng's parents were more generous. After Meng Yuchao opened the package, they told him to take some of the raisins inside and give some to the neighbors.

"These raisins are expensive; they're so big, they're not ordinary ones." Meng Yuchao was a little reluctant to part with them.

If we send them all, it would weigh more than a kilogram.

Li Long sent twenty kilograms of raisins, intending to recoup his investment as a reseller with those twenty kilograms.

However, since his parents had spoken, he had no choice but to give them the raisins, so he could only force a smile and give some to the neighbors—he couldn't be cold-faced, otherwise they wouldn't appreciate the favor.

When doing a show, you have to do the whole thing.

After that, Meng Yuchao's reputation in the courtyard improved somewhat—but he didn't really care about that; what he cared more about was quickly reclaiming his territory.

So when Aunt Liu came to find Li Long, Meng Yuchao delivered the raisins, hid the rest under his bed, and then planned to leave.

Aunt Liu asked Meng Yuchao about Li Long's whereabouts, and Meng Yuchao told Aunt Liu that Li Long had returned to northern Xinjiang, which made Aunt Liu feel embarrassed.

"You mean, you asked Boss Li to buy raisins, but you haven't paid yet. Now the raisins have arrived, and you don't know how to pay? Well, that's hard to say. A woman comes by every few days in this courtyard. She's a relative of Boss Li; just give her the money." "How am I supposed to know when she'll come? Comrade Li also said that going to the Beijing office of the Ethnic Affairs Commission of Northern Xinjiang would be fine, but I don't even know where that is. Xiao Liu, if you can't pay, just take the money. Whenever you run into that woman, please pay her for me. We can't just eat her food for free; that would be too embarrassing!"

"No, no, I don't have time, Aunt Liu." Meng Yuchao hurriedly shook his head. "I also received raisins from Boss Li. Lately, I've been running around every day, and I can only come back at night..."

Meng Yuchao didn't take on the job, mainly because he knew that the woman didn't care about him, so he didn't want to bother her. Besides, selling raisins was the most important thing right now.

New Year's Day has passed, and the Spring Festival is just around the corner. Right now, cinemas are bustling with activity as people take holidays and go on vacation. I imagine raisins will sell quite well.

Meng Yuchao's thinking was correct. The five kilograms of raisins he took over on his first day as a trial sold for nearly forty yuan—a bunch of about thirty grams for two mao (0.2 yuan). Some people bought a yuan's worth directly, and others wanted to treat others.

Of course, the main reason is that his raisins are large and of good quality. Few people can eat such good raisins, so everyone is trying them out and enjoying them.

Having tasted success, Meng Yuchao went every day, and the raisins were sold out in just five days. With little capital, he made a net profit of over a hundred yuan, which was higher than his father's salary!
After selling out, Meng Yuchao realized that he should have called Li Long when the raisins arrived and asked him to send more. Now, there was nothing he could do but wait and see how things went.

Li Long left him his phone number. Although he was a little reluctant to spend the long-distance call fee, he knew that he had to make the call.

Aunt Liu waited for several days before finally meeting Gu Xiaoyu. After explaining her purpose, Gu Xiaoyu did not refuse and accepted the money.

Aunt Liu tentatively asked Gu Xiaoyu if she could get in touch with Comrade Li and get some other dried fruit. Gu Xiaoyu said she would ask.

She also knew that Li Long was trying to win over the street office and Meng Yuchao in order to help look after the courtyards and reduce her burden, so the specific operation still depended on Li Long.

In fact, Gu Xiaoyu didn't feel burdened by tidying up the two courtyards; on the contrary, she felt quite fulfilled.

I only need to come over once or twice a week. With that iron sign, the safety of the yard is generally guaranteed, and if I just take a walk around every now and then, there shouldn't be any problems.

When Meng Yuchao called, Liang Shuangcheng answered; Li Long was in the village at the moment.

After New Year's Day, it means the start of a new year. Although the New Year is mostly counted from the end of the holiday in the fourth team, there are some things that need to be started at the cooperative.

"You mean your surname is Meng? Looking for Boss Li? Brother Long is out on business. What do you need? From Yanjing? Want some raisins? Oh, I see. How many do you want? How much?"

Li Long had indeed discussed this matter with Liang Shuangcheng. He said that if anyone in Yanjing wanted raisins and called, Liang Shuangcheng would discuss it with him.

Li Long felt it unnecessary to negotiate the deal for a few dozen kilograms of raisins himself—unless, of course, he answered the phone.

However, Liang Shuangcheng is currently busy. After New Year's Day, some people feel that they may need to prepare agricultural supplies, so the business at the purchasing station has become busy again. Most of them come to buy agricultural supplies, while a small number sell their goods and then buy agricultural supplies.

So there's still quite a lot to do.

"I want... fifty kilograms." Meng Yuchao did the math. Twenty kilograms of raisins would sell out in five days, so he couldn't order less. If he ordered less, the first batch would be sold out before the second batch was even supplied, which would be terrible!

"Fifty kilograms? Then the price will have to go up. Not counting shipping costs, this quality of raisins here costs 2.5 yuan per kilogram." Liang Shuangcheng raised the price of raisins after receiving instructions from Li Long.

As I said before, we can't sell at cost price. The first batch of goods was out of friendship; the rest is business.

Although it was a bit expensive, it was still within Meng Yuchao's acceptable range.

Li Long also told Liang Shuangcheng that he would hand over the business to him and let him handle it himself.

Raisins can certainly be bought in Ma County. Although you can't buy them by the ton, there's no shortage of dozens of kilograms.

Liang Shuangcheng didn't have time, but that didn't stop him from looking for someone—his brother.

Liang Zhongcheng came to town with his brother, and Liang Shuangcheng was tasked with buying fifty kilograms of raisins from the supply and marketing cooperative.

Of course, it wasn't sent directly; we had to wait for Meng Yuchao to remit the money—we told Meng Yuchao to send it to the address on the previous raisin parcel to avoid any trouble.

Meng Yuchao's suspicions were dispelled. A little over a hundred yuan was less than what he was currently earning, so he figured no one would cheat him out of such a small amount. He immediately wired the money—he used a wire transfer to ensure it arrived as quickly as possible.

Liang Shuangcheng didn't delay either. The next day, after receiving the remittance slip, he took advantage of his lunch break to send the raisins via express delivery, since the recipient would pay for the shipping anyway.

Thus, the transaction was established.

Good raisins here cost 1.5 yuan, which is a little more expensive than those from Yusufu, but much cheaper than what Meng Yuchao bought.

Most households use ordinary green raisins, the common kind, which is enough for their needs.

The big, purple, long ones are less popular and less often dried, so they are more expensive.

Of course, it's also a bit unusual.

In the end, he earned fifty yuan. Liang Shuangcheng didn't treat his younger brother unfairly and gave him twenty yuan, which made Liang Zhongcheng very happy. He told his brother that he would come to him again if there were any similar problems in the future.

When Li Long returned from the fourth team, Gu Xiaoxia received a call from Gu Xiaoyu that evening. After chatting about everyday things, they started talking about Aunt Liu wanting other dried fruits.

Li Long was right next to her, so Gu Xiaoxia handed him the phone.

Li Long had just finished washing his feet. He took the microphone and told Gu Xiaoyu to tell Aunt Liu when she had time to tell her which types of products she needed, and to have Meng Yuchao pass on the message to Liang Shuangcheng that Liang Shuangcheng could handle the matter.

Actually, Li Long originally wanted Yu Sufu to take the order, but things were different there. There was someone else in between, and without making a phone call, it was impossible to build trust.

Calling Liang Shuangcheng here is different. The first batch of goods has already been sent, and this initial trust has been established. Next, Aunt Liu can use this connection to buy more dried fruit without any problem.

Gu Xiaoyu indicated that she understood. As for the money, Li Long suggested that she keep it with Gu Xiaoyu for now and they could discuss it later.

It's only a few dozen yuan, I don't care.

And so the matter was resolved.

The next day, Li Long went to the purchasing station and told Liang Shuangcheng about it, and Liang Shuangcheng naturally had no problem with it. However, the dried fruit market in Ma County was not large, and there weren't many dried fruits available for purchase, a fact that both Li Long and Liang Shuangcheng knew.

Li Long told Liang Shuangcheng to buy whatever he could find, and to explain to them when they called. If they wanted it, he would buy whatever was available here; otherwise, he would leave it.

In addition, this order can't be too expensive, since we still need to leave a good impression.

For example, if you used to earn one yuan per kilogram, this time you only need to earn fifty cents per kilogram.

Liang Shuangcheng indicated that he understood.

Li Long also took some time to visit the Halim and Yushanjiang families, bringing back some local specialties from Yanjing for the four children as well.

Of course, both my sister's and my second brother's children have them.

Perhaps because life has improved, in the past six months or so, my mother and father have been calling from time to time, whether it's my sister's family or my second brother's family.

Having this intention is enough; it's already so much better than my previous life. Just for this reason, Li Long felt that if he had anything good, he should bring them along, at least they were family.

With that, the aftermath of this trip to Yanjing has come to an end, and now it's time to make plans for the new year.

On January 7th, Liu Gaolou arrived again with a long convoy. This time, he had more things to give, but to Li Long's surprise, not all of them were for him. He wanted to take some with him.

“I’ve worked hard for another year, it’s time to go back and take a look. My second uncle can’t go back, but I can,” Liu Gaolou told Li Long. “So I plan to bring back some good things I found over there.”

Li Long naturally understood that most Chinese people were like this: if they found something good, they would bring it home first!
(End of this chapter)