Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1255 Managing both business and farming, he's really worried sick!

It was still a bit chilly in the mountains at this time. Li Long and Meng Hai explained the situation, unloaded the sheep, checked on the road under construction ahead, and then headed back.

There was no other way. We arrived in the afternoon. Although the road was relatively flat, there were always bends and rivers in the mountain road, so we couldn't go too fast. We had to hurry back, otherwise it would get dark before we even got out of the mountains.

Meng Hai was aware of the situation and did not keep Li Long.

Most people were familiar with Li Long and would just greet him, but they were all quite happy to see that Li Long had brought sheep.

This means we can improve our meals again!
When Li Long hurriedly returned to the mountain pass, seeing that the sun was still high in the sky, he turned towards his wooden hut.

The cabin was in good condition, but the surrounding area was very dirty, with hay leaves, animal droppings from the mountains, and some faint traces of blood.

He went down into the shed and found that the large broom was still there. So he took the broom and swept around the wooden house, just to prove to the people who came from the neighborhood that the wooden house had an owner and that someone would clean it from time to time, so that they wouldn't have any designs on it.

After finishing sweeping, Li Long didn't open the door, got into his car, and hurriedly left.

When he arrived at Bolati's house at the mountain pass, he saw Bolati seeing off several forest police officers.

"They're here to inspect?" Li Long asked Borati after getting out of his GAZ truck and stopping in front of the house.

"Well, it wasn't just an inspection; they also assigned me tasks... What the hell—assigning me work? I'll be doing this before it's even born!"

Clearly, Polati was very frustrated and annoyed.

The forest police officers who came were all young men in uniform, which Polati disapproved of.

"It's still your old work," Li Long chuckled. "What difference does it make who arranges things?"

"I just can't stand the way he's," Polati grumbled, then asked Li Long, "I got a deer doll, do you want it?"

"Yes, I want it," Li Long said. "Didn't they get it for you?"

“Hey, let them see? A bunch of greenhorns, they’re nowhere near that!” Pola moved to the back of the cabin and cleared away a pile of hay. Only then did Li Long notice a small deer lying in a gap deliberately made in the middle of the hay bales.

The deer's mouth was tied with a cloth strip, so it couldn't make a sound.

Polati untied the cloth strip, and the fawn immediately cried out in panic.

Its chirping is very soft and sounds adorable.

"I just caught it today. I don't know where the big deer went. It was lying under a patch of thorny bushes. I got pricked several times when I pulled it out. Look at my hand." Polati showed Li Long his hand, which indeed had several bloody marks.

The locals call any thorny shrub a "thorn bud," and even some thorny plants. You'll only know which one it is once you see it.

Li Long glanced at it and could tell that although there were many wounds on Polati's arm, they were not serious. They were just scratches and would heal completely in three to five days.

So he bent down and picked up the little deer, checking it from front to back. He didn't find any wounds, but it was probably a bit listless because it had been cooped up for so long.

"I'll take this little guy, five hundred." Li Long gestured. "No problem, right?"

“No problem, no problem, I’ve checked, it’s a male. After raising it for two years, we can harvest its antlers.” Polati’s face was full of smiles. He had earned five hundred in one go, which was equivalent to half a year’s salary.

Forest rangers earn relatively little, and in a few years they will earn even less, as most of them will become part-time workers.

Li Long carried the baby deer into the car, then took two sets of deer antlers and a piece of jade from Bolati, paid the money, and left.

The jade was of average quality, so he only gave a symbolic ten yuan, which made Polati very happy.

Last time, Halim and his group brought back a baby deer from the mountains—springtime is when baby deer grow, and familiar herders and rangers can find their tracks.

After loading the goods into the car, Li Long said goodbye to Polati and drove back.

For now, these few red deer are being kept in the large yard. Li Long isn't being as careless with their care anymore. He'll find a veterinarian in the county to vaccinate the deer to prevent infectious diseases. After they've been raised for a while and are healthy, he'll send them to the old deer farm.

The main problem is that there are already quite a few red deer at the old horse ship, and we can't bring in red deer that may carry infectious diseases, as that would cause more trouble.

Of course, there's another reason: Li Long left the little deer here so that Mingming and Haohao could have a playmate.

It's the same every year. We don't need to get them from Lao Ma Hao; we can get several red deer and roe deer directly from the mountains—this year we haven't found any roe deer yet, only red deer.

Actually, baby wild boars are quite cute, but they become less appealing when they grow up.

In early April, cotton planting will begin.

Li Junfeng's house has already been built. It's not as big as Li Long's house; it's just a two-door, four-room brick house with a small kitchen added on the side. The coal shed, pigsty, and other things have also been built at the same time—Li Junfeng originally intended to build them gradually later.

As a result, everyone felt that mutton pilaf and noodles were better, so they all started making it together.

The courtyard wall is 1.2 meters high, not very high, but it's enough to keep out livestock.

We can't move in right away after it's been built. We still need to order furniture, paint the interior, and install ceilings, etc.

These things can be done gradually; the main thing is to start working.

Planting cotton on thousands of acres of wasteland is a major event in this era, whether in villages or townships.

The township already knows about the cooperative, but is currently observing it. Li Long thinks the township's attitude is one of bystander; if the cooperative develops well, they might encourage others to start their own cooperatives.

People in the village who are interested in growing cotton go to see where their cooperative is growing crops.

A lot of manpower was needed. In addition to the people from the Li family and relatives from their hometowns, Xie Yundong also told the villagers who came to watch that they could get cash for helping out—although the wages were not high, there were quite a few people willing to participate.

And I feel embarrassed to accept money—it feels like I'm just helping out, why would I need money?

Xie Yundong knew that the cooperative was just starting out and needed to establish rules, so the money had to be paid. The main task was actually not difficult: after laying the plastic film on the seeder, add soil to both sides of the film to ensure that the edges of the film were completely covered with soil.

This was Li Long's requirement, and Xie Yundong carried it out meticulously.

In early spring, this large area of ​​saline-alkali land was flooded with water from a small lake. When the surface was almost dry, a high-horsepower tractor came and cut the soil, and then it was ready for planting.

Small-scale spot seeders and row seeders have always been used for cotton planting. To facilitate seedling emergence, the cooperative uses spot seeding, which involves the seeder first poking a hole in the plastic film that has been laid down, and then inserting the seed.

Row sowing involves sowing seeds first and then laying a film without poking holes. Holes are poked manually after the seedlings emerge.

For thousands of acres of land, manually poking holes is too troublesome, and the temperature under the plastic film is too high after the seedlings emerge. If it takes two days longer, the seedlings will be scalded to death, which is not worthwhile.

"Old Xie, why do you think we have to press the plastic film down on both sides and then put a shovel of soil in the middle every meter?" Some people think it's too easy to make money like this, while others can't understand it.

“There will be strong winds in a few days. We have yellow winds every spring here, and we are worried that the wind will blow the plastic film off, and then the sowing will be in vain.”

Most people who heard Xie Yundong's explanation didn't believe him. Although the yellow wind was powerful, the plastic film was covered with soil; how could it possibly be blown away?

However, since the cooperative paid them to do this job, they did their best—and they could even earn some money.

The people working here weren't just from this village; there were also people from other villages. When Li Long was looking at the fields, he recognized a few faces. After thinking for a moment, he realized they must be the students who had listened to his lectures on cotton cultivation at the agricultural extension school.

It seems these people really intend to grow cotton, otherwise they wouldn't have traveled so far—or rather, under these circumstances—to come all this way to see their cooperative growing cotton.

Right now, the road from the township to the team is under construction, so it's not easy to get here—Li Long drove his GAZ truck and took the old road from the east side of Mohequ to get here.

In the beginning, Mohequ separated the Fourth Team, along with several other production teams, from the township. At that time, these production teams were not under the jurisdiction of the current township.

Back then, the people from the fourth team would go around to the east of Mohe Canal to get to the county. Later, the township built a bridge over Mohe Canal, so this dirt road was basically no longer needed.

But the road is still there, and we can still walk on it.

The road paving in the village proceeded from west to east, starting with the bridge and continuing eastward in sections.

Although it will take some time at present, the construction by the Transportation Bureau is progressing quite quickly. The road is almost up to the primary school. At this rate, the entire road will be completed in May.

Everyone can afford to wait this long.

Some people worked, while others, unwilling to work, simply went to the drainage ditch to catch fish.

This drainage ditch was dug rather hastily, unlike the ones in later generations which were as wide and deep. After the excess water from the recent irrigation was drained in, some fish also came in.

Now the water level is slowly dropping, and the fish inside are becoming visible.

Li Long and his team didn't have time to worry about these things. If they planted the cotton a day later, the cotton would ripen a day later in early autumn.

Li Long had seen too many cotton plants produce too many peaches, but they didn't bloom in time in the fall, and in the end, they couldn't sell them for a good price.

Therefore, the spring planting season is particularly important; otherwise, there wouldn't be the proverb, "If a person neglects the land for one day, the land will neglect the person for a year."

All the members of the cooperative arrived, and several small tractors worked together, each driving a seeder to sow seeds. Two people followed behind each seeder. The once yellow earth was suddenly covered with neat plastic film, which looked very pleasing.

Suddenly someone shouted at the drainage ditch, "We've caught a big crucian carp!" Immediately, many people ran over to watch.

Those who planted the seeds would at most turn their heads, and then continue.

Now is the most important time, and there's no time to worry about anything else—if it were July, when we're weeding in the cotton fields and there's a fish population, everyone would drop what they're doing to catch fish, and nobody would care.

Things are different now. Sowing seeds won't be delayed unless there's an emergency like a fire breaking out on the roof.

It hadn't rained for several days, and the soil in the fields was kicked up by tractors and seeders, leaving everyone working covered in dust and dirt, including Li Long.

Although I had prepared masks before coming, the protective power of cotton masks at this time was generally not good. Fine dust could still get into my nose through the mask, so when I took off the mask, there were usually grayish dirt marks on both sides of my nose.

The cooperative is the busiest place for spring planting, and other places are also busy with spring planting. Li Jianguo isn't here; he's driving a high-powered tractor to sow seeds for others and earn money.

Not only him, but another high-horsepower tractor was doing the same job.

During this spring season, the two high-horsepower tractors can bring the Li family an income of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, because not only their own team's land, but other production teams also invite them to come and sow seeds.

For a time, Li Long considered having Wang Caimi come and drive the tractor for his older brother, since his old Dongfanghong 75 tractor would break down almost every day when he was working in the fields, which was too much trouble.

Later, I thought better of it. Firstly, Wang the miser wouldn't agree, and secondly, these young people from our hometown also needed to work, so we needed to divide them into different levels.

With Li Junfeng leading the way, most of these people thought about how to make more money and contribute more, and how to stay.

Although working in the fourth team might be a bit tough, the pay is better.

Although Ma County is a small county, with money, everywhere is the same.

Now Li Junfeng can drive the Li family's cars from time to time—there are two cars in Li Jianguo's yard alone. Li Jianguo drives one from time to time, and the other one, which used to be Gu Boyuan's van, is left there, and Li Junfeng can drive it from time to time.

Back in my hometown, can I even think about it?

Judging from this, in less than two years, Li Junfeng will be able to build his own car—anyway, Uncle Long (Grandpa) will sell it to him cheaply.

Back in my hometown, it's hard to buy even a tractor, let alone a car.

Let's ride a bicycle!
Who would have thought that coming to northern Xinjiang would actually raise my life goals?

That's normal. Back in our hometown, no one was superior to anyone else. But it's different here. The level of effort is different, the opportunities are different, and the money we get at the end of the year is different.

Fortunately, working for the Li family offers countless possibilities. Whether it's farming and management, driving a high-horsepower tractor, or driving a small four-wheeled vehicle, there are opportunities for advancement.

Even if you have no interest in anything, you can still earn a lot of money by just focusing on your work.

By noon, most of the onlookers had left. To Li Long's surprise, some people from other teams came over and started asking him questions while they were resting.

These people have a strong thirst for knowledge.

The questions were all basic, such as how many seeds to put in one seedling, why the film should be pressed so firmly, and how many days after sowing should the seeds be watered, etc.

Li Long answered while drinking water and resting.

The midday sun in early April was quite strong. There were no trees nearby, so Li Long and his men rested on the shady slope blocked by the tractor.

Not long after, Liang Yuemei arrived in her car to deliver the food—yes, by car. For a peasant woman who could drive a tractor, driving a car was nothing unusual at this time; it was a common skill.

Xie Yundong's wife and Jia Weidong's family members were in the car. Yang Pingping didn't come because she had to take care of the child.

It's only early spring, and the only edible vegetables in the garden are chives and celery. Chives are fine, but celery roots left from the previous year will sprout new shoots quickly after the snow melts the following year.

The rest were some wild vegetables such as alfalfa and wild aralia flowers that we picked.

There were no locust trees in the Fourth Team area at that time; it would take another twenty or thirty years before someone introduced them, let alone toon trees.

Shepherd's purse is nowhere to be seen now, and I don't know when it will arrive. The only thing we can dig up and eat in the wild right now is dandelion. It's bitter, so basically nobody eats it.

Liang Yuemei brought steamed buns and stir-fried vegetables. Li Long bought some green peppers from the market when he came over in the morning; this is one of the advantages of having greenhouses nearby.

So for lunch, in addition to stir-fried eggs with chives, there was also stir-fried pork with celery, with a little green chili pepper added. It smelled delicious.

We drank milk tea, which was Li Long's suggestion—drinking only brick tea wouldn't help with weight loss, so it wasn't necessary.

Those from the cooperative who were planting crops gathered around to eat, while the others from the other teams stayed away to check on the planting progress in the fields.

Li Long invited them to come and eat together, but they waved their hands and refused, being quite polite.

Everyone cleared a clean spot, and because there were so many people, they split into two groups. After washing their hands and faces with the water they had brought, they sat down together, eating and chatting.

The work is tiring. Sowing thousands of acres of land is a very arduous task at first glance, so taking a break at noon is actually a great way to relax both body and mind.

After eating and resting for half an hour, we continued working. Actually, sowing is not the most tiring part of cotton planting, so everyone was still chatting and laughing at this time.

Because of the dryness, some people's lips have cracked, and drinking water from time to time may not be able to relieve the pain. Applying lip balm can relieve the pain, but most men don't want to use it, firstly because they are worried about ingesting it, and secondly because it's sticky and troublesome.

You can use honey instead of oil – that's what Li Long did.

The afternoons pass a little slower than the mornings; you always have to work until sunset before you can go home.

To finish planting these thousand or so acres of land in good weather is a huge undertaking.

He'll be here these next couple of days to oversee the cotton planting, and he's entrusted the task of picking up Mingming and Haohao to his father, Li Qingxia.

Anyway, it's just a matter of a few days. Once the sowing is done, the rest is simple—or rather, you can just hire workers to help with the bookkeeping and money calculation.

The only advantage of planting more crops is that before mechanization is widely implemented, more manual labor is needed.

Back in the Li family courtyard, the milk tea and milk had already been prepared, and Li Qiang had returned from school, finished his homework, and was helping with chores in the vegetable garden.

At this point, everyone who had been working went home. Li Long had some milk tea and a snack at his older brother's place before driving home. He was quite happy to see that the asphalt had already been laid when he got to the nursing home.

Actually, the road from the team to the nursing home has already been repaved with a layer of gravel and the gravel has been spread out, but because people walk on it, it hasn't been flattened.

Then, the section from the nursing home to the village has been paved with asphalt. Especially this recent section, the asphalt still feels warm, but it's already passable. The progress was fast, and Li Long was very satisfied.

A few days later, the sowing was finished, and the asphalt road was also built to the area east of the primary school, with the project almost halfway complete.

It's been windy these past few days, but not particularly strong. Some of the people who planted cotton with the Li family are wondering if it's worth doing so much extra work during planting.

Some people even went to the Li family to ask, but Li Jianguo, being a good-natured person, would explain to them that this kind of thing was just a precaution, and of course, it would be best if nothing happened.

If Li Long were here, his attitude wouldn't be so good. He would tell the person asking the question, "I just said what I should do. If you think this kind of thing doesn't need to be done, then don't do it."

Of course, attitudes vary depending on the person. These people might come over and ask Li Jianguo this kind of question, but they're unlikely to come over and ask Li Long the same kind of question.

Li Jianguo is usually a good-natured person, but once he crosses the line, it can cause him a lot of trouble.

Li Long's personality is usually a bit unpredictable; he'll get angry if you don't cross his bottom line.

After the sowing was completed, Li Long had more free time, so he went to check on the road paving and occasionally exchanged ideas with Meng Hai, who had come to learn.

Meng Hai delegated the road construction in the mountains to another person in the company. Everyone had been working on the road for over two years, so they were quite familiar with the process; the main focus was on quality control.

Meng Hai doesn't stay here all the time. He comes over for half a day each day, and then spends the other half of the day going into the mountains, bringing up some supplies along the way.

If any of the workers in the mountains have any family matters to attend to, he can also bring them over.

“There are still quite a lot of people going into the mountains now, more than last year,” Meng Hai told Li Long about the situation in the mountains. “Now the forest rangers have lost their law enforcement power, and people coming and going in the mountains don’t need to pay any attention to them anymore; they are free to come and go as they please.”

The forest police aren't as strict as the old forest rangers. As long as it's not hunting, illegally harvesting protected plants, or damaging forest vegetation, they generally don't interfere.

Li Long thought to himself, "No wonder Bolati has a problem with the forest police. Their presence cuts off such a large source of income for people like Bolati, it's no wonder he has a problem."

However, there's nothing that can be done about this; law enforcement power will inevitably have to be taken back. The forestry team used to have too much power, which naturally caused discontent. Now things are becoming more standardized, but there are fewer forest police than forest rangers, making it difficult to manage such a large area of ​​forest.

Later on, the forest rangers will definitely still have the responsibility to inspect, but it won't be as significant as before.

With more people entering the mountains, once Halim and his group move to a different location and leave, their winter camp will be entered by others, and they might even be vandalized.

Then think about your own log cabin. Shouldn't you go and visit it more often?
He had spent quite a long time in the mountains, so he remained wary of human nature. In places where people are entirely governed by self-discipline and moral standards, it's impossible to have high hopes for people.

When you encounter too many bad things, you can only think the worst.

“We also encountered gold prospectors, right near where we were repairing the road. I don’t know how these people got to go so far,” Meng Hai continued, describing the situation in the mountains. “Oh, and there seem to be dead bodies too. Their bones are all rotten. I don’t know if they were eaten by wild animals or died of disease in the mountains.”

The bones were incomplete, and there was no identifying information, so we just dug a hole and buried him.

Li Long felt a pang of emotion; this was just how things were in the mountains. Many people went into the mountains to search for treasures, dig for medicinal herbs, and dream of getting rich, but in reality, very few actually made it big.

If you go into the mountains without a guide or supplies, don't know how to live in the mountains, and don't bring necessary medicine, you might just fall ill and die.

So every time Halim and his group moved to a new pasture, Li Long would bring them some medicine. Now things are a little better because they have a car and can go down the mountain to sell the medicine and buy what they need for the summer pasture.

Meng Hai brought two people with him, while the other two were discussing something with the technicians at the road construction site.

Because Li Long had already spoken with the people at the Transportation Bureau, and Deputy Director Guan had specifically mentioned it, the road construction technicians were quite cooperative.

Two days ago, Deputy Director Guan of the Transportation Bureau, along with his finance staff, went to the purchasing station and bought a Volga.

Li Long only found out about this after he returned; he was still sowing seeds in the field.

However, the matter had been explained in advance: Li Qingxia had made the decision to give the Transportation Bureau a discount of 5,000 yuan. Deputy Director Guan was quite pleased, saying that Li Long was a good friend and that he would come to Li Long for help in the future. He also hoped that Li Long would visit them often.

On April 11th, less than a week after sowing, some cotton seedlings emerged, but not all of them.

Li Long and his group started sowing relatively early; some others didn't finish until mid-April, and some had only just started sowing.

When Li Long woke up early, he sensed that the weather had changed; it was no longer the bright, sunny day of the previous two days. In the morning, he could see a halo around the sun just above the horizon—a phenomenon known as a wind halo, which meant that wind was coming.

Knowing the weather was bad, Li Long didn't go to Team Four that day. After dropping Mingming and Haohao off at kindergarten, he returned to the courtyard, tidied up some things, and went to Sister Yang's place to remind her to bring in or cover up some of the things that were drying in the sun.

Actually, Sister Yang didn't need much reminder. She was quick and efficient, knew all the procedures by heart, and did everything in an orderly manner. Li Long just added an extra layer of protection.

Then they went to the purchasing station. At this time, although fewer people were buying seeds and plastic film, there were still quite a few people buying fertilizers and pesticides.

More and more people are coming here to sell things, such as licorice roots that are plowed out of the fields. The farmers themselves don't have time to buy them, so the middlemen collect them, and little by little, they come here to sell them.

Normally, people would dry medicinal herbs or similar items in the backyard at this time of year. But today, Li Long went over and told Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng not to dry them yet, as the weather wasn't right.

Sure enough, by noon, the sky had turned a hazy yellow—not gray, but the yellow of loess.

Li Long vividly remembered that this was called dust storm weather.

Before the wind even picked up, the air was already thick with dust.

I don't feel like I'm breathing very well.

During lunch, Li Long unusually closed the kitchen door. After lunch, he reminded his father to be careful in the afternoon and to keep the door closed if the wind and rain became too strong.

Gu Xiaoxia also finished eating quickly and went to school. She had more to manage, such as reminding each class to close the windows.

There's no way around it; once you become the vice principal and the party secretary, the things you have to worry about increase exponentially.

Around five or six in the afternoon, the plastic sheeting covering the things in the yard made a rustling sound; the wind had picked up.

The sky darkened, visibility decreased significantly, and the wind, which started as a light, intermittent gust, turned into a strong, continuous gust, carrying large amounts of sand and dust from west to east. The sand and dust pounded against windows, plastic, and other surfaces.

Li Long had already covered several cars with tarpaulins. He wrapped his clothes tightly around himself and went out of the yard to the purchasing station. There were still two or three people scattered in the yard of the purchasing station. These people were there to take shelter from the wind and rain because they didn't have time to go back.

It hasn't rained yet, but it's only a matter of time.

The trucks at the purchasing station were all covered with tarpaulins, which put Li Long at ease—no one knew how strong the yellow wind would be today, and if it really pockmarked the truck bodies, that would be troublesome.

Old Man Li Qingxia saw Li Long coming over and complained:

"What are you doing here? The wind is getting stronger, you should go back now, we'll be closing soon too."

Li Long responded and quickly ran back.

The acquisition station was to the west, and the large courtyard was to the east. Li Long was running with the wind, and he could feel the strong wind pushing him forward, which made it very effortless.

Once inside the courtyard, Li Long closed the gate tightly and felt the small pebbles hitting his face, which stung quite a bit. Even inside the courtyard, the wind was still strong.

He had already moved the mother goat, the goats, and several juvenile deer to the greenhouse at the back, where they were less affected.

As for the black dog, it has its own kennel to lie in, so there won't be any problems.

Li Long braved the wind and walked around the yard. Feeling that everything was alright, he quickly went inside.

He felt a bit itchy on his head, scratched it, and picked off some dirt and sand, feeling that there was a lot of these things in his hair.

I need to wash my hair and take a shower later.

Once inside, it was even darker, so he turned on the light—he couldn't go without it.

The sound was a little quieter after the door was closed, but the sound of sand hitting the windowpane was still there, sometimes loud and sometimes soft, but not as loud as it could be heard from outside.

Then I heard the "whooshing" sound of the wind blowing through the trees. It felt like the wind was at least force six or higher, and some trees were in danger of being snapped in two.

With nothing else to do and the wind too strong to go out, Li Long took out a book to read—"The Legend of the Swordsmen of Shushan" was quite interesting and needed to be read repeatedly—for example, Fa Yuan's Red Thread was very powerful. Although he was a villain, he seemed to have principles and never died.

What's really disgusting is the Green-Robed Ancestor, and that line about bare legs and hairy legs flying together, and bald heads and crow heads all the same color.

Li Yingqiong had many adventures in the mountains, almost as many as her own. It was just a pity that she hadn't seen the Vermilion Fruit, the Zhima Horse, or any divine sword in the Tianshan Mountains.

Lost in thought, I noticed the wind outside growing louder and then gradually subsiding. When I could clearly feel the light outside brightening considerably, the noise had stopped.

Li Long put down his book and went outside, only to find that the wind had completely stopped, the air still carried a faint smell of earth, and it had started to rain.

The ground in the yard was covered with a layer of sand, as if the soil had been laid down first, and then it started raining.

Raindrops pounded on the sand, splashing up with a muddy smell. Then the raindrops became denser, and small yellow streams of water quickly flowed down the ground. Later, they gathered together and turned into a yellowish puddle.

The yellow soil on the ground hadn't even settled before it was washed away by the rain.

The earthy smell in the air quickly dissipated, and then, as the rainfall increased, the air became moist and fresh.

This rain is very timely; the newly sprouted crops in the fields should really need this water. I just don't know if the strong wind earlier affected the cotton.

In fact, the impact was quite significant—before the rain even started, some people from the fourth team saw a peculiar scene—white streaks were floating in the southeastern sky, just like mutated seaweed drifting with the current.

It also resembled long tentacles that seemed to be grabbing at some transparent objects in the sky.

In reality, it's those thin films that weren't properly secured by the soil and were blown around by this strong wind that are now floating.

Some people have already seen it, but they don't know if it's their land. Going out at this point is obviously not realistic, so they can only pray in their hearts.

Xie Yundong saw it too, and he was quite anxious. The total cotton planting area of ​​the four teams was less than 1,300 mu, of which the cooperative occupied 1,000 mu. Based on probability, it was highly likely that it belonged to the cooperative.

Fortunately, judging from the direction, the cooperative there only has less than 100 acres of land, and such a scene did not occur in the direction of the larger plots of land. Even if it did, the loss would not be too great.

He originally planned to wait until the wind stopped before going to check, but unexpectedly it started raining after the wind stopped, and the rain was heavy and looked like it would last for quite a while, so he could only wait until tomorrow.

When it rains, all those "ribbons" floating in the air fall down, and there's one less thing to look at.

The rain stopped when it got dark, and Li Long braved the rain to bring Mingminghao back.

The two children were very excited, chattering in the car to Li Long about how, when the yellow wind blew, two other children tried to run outside, but the two of them stopped them and were praised by their teacher.

"Wang Xiaobing is so naughty. Even though it's so windy and noisy outside, he still insists on running outside," Hao Hao complained. "He's such a worry."

Li Long wanted to laugh when he heard such young children saying adult things, but he held back and praised the two children in a serious manner.

It's nice to hear my child share stories about kindergarten every day.

After picking up Mingming and Haohao and returning to the courtyard, dinner was already prepared, and Han Fang had also returned, but Gu Xiaoxia had not yet come back.

The gate was left open, waiting for Gu Xiaoxia to drive back—she arrived more than ten minutes later.

"I took a few children who didn't bring umbrellas," Gu Xiaoxia explained after getting out of the car. "These students live quite far away, and they would probably get soaked if they went back in the rain. The children are quite young, so I thought I'd give them a ride since I have a car."

Actually, it's quite normal for students to get caught in the rain on their way home at this time of year. I haven't heard of anyone catching a cold after getting caught in the rain. They just change their clothes and drink some ginger soup when they get home, and they're fine.

As a mother, Gu Xiaoxia couldn't bear to see these children running in the rain, so it was normal for her to take them to school.

During lunch, they each recounted their experiences with the yellow wind that day. Gu Xiaoxia and Han Fang both mentioned that some classrooms and offices in the school had their windows not closed properly, and when the wind blew, books, notebooks, papers, and other items were scattered everywhere.

“There’s a room like this on the second floor of our kindergarten,” Mingming said hurriedly. “The teacher spent a long time cleaning it up.”

"I wonder how much of the plastic film in the cotton fields was blown away this time," he said with some concern.

Although we specifically asked someone to cover the seeds with plastic film when sowing, no one can say for sure, since the sand covering the seeds is loose. If the wind is too strong and lasts for a long time, it is possible that the sand will be blown away.

As long as the wind blows open a crack in the film, the entire long strip of film can be lifted up from behind.

These are all lessons learned.

"Let's go back and take a look tomorrow." Li Qingxia knew that Li Long cared a lot about this cooperative. He felt that although they weren't making much money, Li Long had obviously put a lot of effort into it.

"Okay, I'll go back and check on Mingming and Haohao after I drop them off at kindergarten tomorrow."

The doors and windows of the courtyard are quite airtight, so they didn't blow into the house when the yellow wind blew, and we didn't need to clean much.

But many people were cleaning up their homes that night. The doors and windows that weren't closed properly had sand and dirt inside, which was quite a hassle to clean up.

When it rained, Li Long took a break to boil water and take a bath, and Gu Xiaoxia also took a bath in the evening, as did the two children.

I'm used to being clean, so I feel uncomfortable if my head or body is covered in dirt.

The phone rang at home the next day while I was having breakfast.

Li Long answered the phone; it was his older brother calling.

“One piece of plastic film in the cooperative’s cotton field was blown away. Other cotton farmers have had most of their plastic film blown off, and some have at least three or five pieces missing.” Li Jianguo’s tone was quite heavy. “Do you want to come back and take a look?”

“I definitely have to go back,” Li Long said. “I’ll go back after I drop Mingming and Haohao off at kindergarten.”

Although there were sandstorms last year, they weren't as bad as this year. Some people took chances, but this time they've been caught in the crossfire.

When Li Long arrived at the Li family's house, the other members of the cooperative were there, as well as some farmers who had grown cotton.

After Li Long got out of the car, he heard them arguing in the Li family's courtyard. He understood what they were saying after listening for a couple of sentences.

The main debate revolves around whether or not the land where the blown-off plastic film was planted needs to be replanted.

Those who say replanting is needed are referring to the fact that the sowing and film covering are integrated. Those who say no replanting is needed, only film covering, are referring to the area where the cotton has already sprouted, and quite a few have sprouted.

Xie Yundong watched Li Long get out of the car, then walked over and said:

"Luckily you said to tighten the membrane back then, and we even hired quite a few people to do it. At the time, some people in the team laughed at us for wasting money, but now it seems we were really prescient."

Li Long smiled but didn't say anything. Someone else, seeing him arrive, came over and asked:
"Xiaolong, do you think we should replant?"

"Yes, we definitely need to replant." Li Long's words carried even more weight now. As soon as he mentioned replanting, those who had previously insisted on not replanting fell silent.

“When you re-lay the film, you can’t be sure that the holes poked by the seed drill will be right on the original seedlings. And even though there are seedlings, with the temperature last night, these new seedlings will freeze to death in the next two or three days.”

Li Long didn't explain much. Some things are useless to some people no matter how many times you say them; reality teaches them a lesson they'll remember after just one lesson.

That same day, Li Long received news from Ma Xiaoyan that at least 500 mu of cotton fields in the county had been affected by the yellow wind and needed to be replanted.

The production and construction corps had more experience, but even in Wang Mingjun's regiment, several hundred acres were affected.

It can only be said that although such extreme weather does not happen every year, we must still take precautions.

Li Long thought to himself, this must be the first lesson that God has taught these people who are planting cotton in the fourth team.

(End of this chapter)