Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Seeing that the two knew each other, Li Long felt relieved.

He could tell that Manager Zhao Jinfa was quite enthusiastic towards Cao Guohua, while Cao Guohua's attitude was rather indifferent. Perhaps Manager Zhao usually needed Cao Guohua's help, or perhaps Cao Guohua was his supplier.

Li Long was making guesses when the two people over there started chatting. Both were interested in the Mercedes-Benz W14, but they started by talking about business before getting to the car.

Cao Guohua, who was looking at the car first, patted the steering wheel and said:
"The car is excellent, like new. The previous owner maintained it very well, and the mileage is not high. I think it's worth 1.2 million. If you keep this car, someone would want it for 1.3 to 1.4 million."

"Mr. Cao, are you sure you want it?"

“First come, first served, I’m not an unreasonable person,” Boss Cao said with a smile. “I heard from Boss Li that you called first? I heard the person on the phone was surnamed Zhao, so I was wondering if it was you.”

"It's okay, if you like this car, just take it. Let me look at some other cars... It's a nice car, but I'm hesitant mainly because I'm a little short on cash. I see a Mercedes up ahead, I'll go check that out."

"Hey, Mr. Cao, with our relationship, if you really need the money but are short, I'll make up the difference for you first," Zhao Jinfeng hurriedly stopped Cao Guohua. "What kind of relationship do we have? If your brother wants it, how could I take it from him?"

"You really gave it to me?" Cao Guohua said with a half-smile. "I'm actually a little short of money."

"Hey, can I lie?" Zhao Jinfa patted his bag. "I even brought the checks!"

"Alright, then I'll take this car." Cao Guohua smiled and said, "But don't rush, if the boss can get one like this, he can get a second one. If all else fails, that Mercedes parked outside isn't bad either."

“If Mr. Zhao still wants it, it might take a while, about half a month,” Li Long said. “I’ll call and arrange for the goods to be shipped from overseas.”

"Abroad?" This time, both Cao Guohua and Zhao Jinfa were extremely surprised.

When Li Long advertised the car, he didn't mention that it was from overseas. Although the two men had some guesses, hearing Li Long say it made them feel quite different.

“Yes. From the Soviet Union,” Li Long said with a smile. “The car was brought back directly from Almaty, transported through the border, and all the paperwork is complete.”

"Okay, order one for me. I won't look at that Mercedes outside anymore. I still want the Benz W140." Zhao Jinfeng wanted this car to show off. Although the ordinary Mercedes was high enough, he would naturally choose the better one if there was one available.

Cao Guohua ultimately didn't let Zhao Jinfa pay. He had enough money of his own, so he signed the car purchase contract with Li Long, paid the money, completed the formalities, and drove the car away.

Zhao Jinfa's Santana left with him, and the two discussed having a meal together after returning to Wucheng.

After selling the car, Li Long hurriedly went to the tax office to pay the outstanding taxes.

"Oh, Mr. Li is here again. Did you close another big deal today?" The tax staff were already quite familiar with Li Long. If Li Long came in on a day other than the normal tax filing day, it meant he had a large transaction and was there to pay back taxes.

“Yes, I sold a car and had to pay the taxes,” Li Long said.

"How much is the transaction?" the other party asked. "A car would cost at most a little over 100,000, right?"

“One million two hundred thousand,” Li Long said with a smile.

"What? One million two hundred thousand? That much? What kind of car is that?" Everyone in the tax bureau was shocked. This amount was enormous!
“A Mercedes,” Li Long said. “A W14 Benz, a rare model.”

The person handling the tax affairs seemed to understand, yet also seemed not to.

The Mercedes-Benz W14 is too far removed from their lives; it's rare to see such a car in this small county.

Regardless, such performance is quite remarkable at this time. The man praised Li Long, saying that he would definitely be the top taxpayer at the end of the year.

Li Long smiled, paid the money, took the receipt, and left to return to the courtyard.

Two days later, Xu Yang called to follow up, and Li Long answered.

"Mr. Li, how are car sales going on your end lately?"

"Very good," Li Long said with a smile. "Two cars have already been sold. Your advertising has been effective."

"Only two units?" Xu Yang was a little dissatisfied, but he immediately said, "The effect of the advertisement may take some time to appear, so don't worry. This advertisement lasts for a month, and it's only been two or three days. I'll call you again in a couple of days, and things may be different then."

"Okay." Li Long smiled and hung up the phone. Actually, he was quite satisfied with the current advertising effect. After all, the most expensive car had already been sold, and the rest could be sold slowly.

Xu Yang hung up the phone, stroked his chin, and then planned to report to his superior. At that moment, a young man hurried into their office. Seeing Xu Yang and noticing no one else was there, he asked:

"Old Xu, take a look at your clients here. Do you have any typical examples of self-employment? If so, tell me. We're making a program about getting rich through entrepreneurship, and we need to film some typical examples."

"What kind of typical example?" Xu Yang asked when he saw that the person who came was his classmate Zheng Jun. "There are many people starting their own businesses now. Most of the people who have 10,000 yuan in income are self-employed and successful."

"I'm not just talking about getting rich, I'm talking about the kind of people who get rich first and then help others get rich," Zheng Jun said. "They have to meet the requirements of our superiors, they have to be advanced, they have to be able to make money, and they can't just focus on making money."

“Where can we find people like that around here? You know, we're only responsible for advertising for others. Whether they get rich or help others get rich, we don't know.”

“Then give me a copy of your client information, and I’ll find them myself,” Zheng Jun said. “We asked the districts and counties to recommend clients, but the ones they recommended always felt a bit lacking.”

"Isn't that because you're lazy? You should call the propaganda departments in the prefectures and cities more often, they'll definitely know." Xu Yang ruthlessly exposed his pretense. "The propaganda departments in various places must have a record of the typical cases you mentioned."

"The problem is we're not their superior department now, so why should they care about us?" Zheng Jun complained bitterly. "If we were directly under the propaganda department of the autonomous region, they would definitely listen to my calls, but we're not. We can't control them, so why would they pay any attention to us?"

Xu Yang smiled. This Zheng Jun just doesn't know how to use someone else's name to make a big deal out of nothing. They're all subordinate units of the propaganda department, so they can be flexible.

However, since he didn't want to do that, so be it. Xu Yang handed him a copy of the recent client information for those who had come to advertise, and said:

"You can only use this for this purpose. If you use it for anything else, I won't approve."

"Don't worry, this is all I can do. What else can I do with this?" Zheng Jun said happily, waving the documents around. "Besides, it's hard to say how many of these people are actually useful. Alright, I'll take it back and check it again. With this information, I can easily get more detailed information from the prefectures and cities."

I'll treat you to dinner another day.

After saying that, Zheng Jun left in a hurry.

The regional television station is still developing through trial and error. Some programs are based on CCTV's format, while others need to be tailored to the unique characteristics of the autonomous region. After all, these programs are intended for the general public in the autonomous region and aim to guide new trends in the area.

Xu Yang didn't know about this. If what he said was true, those who advertised were unlikely to tell them much about themselves.

So let Zheng Jun investigate it himself.

As for whether giving the information to Zheng Jun constitutes a breach of privacy, that's not a concept these days.

After Zheng Jun took the information back, he called the cities and prefectures where these people were located.

If they wanted general data, the other party might not provide it. Now that we have specific names, it's much easier to find relevant information for publicity purposes.

Moreover, most of them live in Wucheng, making the investigation easy.

It wasn't until the third day that Li Long came into Zheng Jun's view. As for the others, they were basically all developing their own businesses. At most, they would get rich and donate some money, but they didn't help others get rich.

If Wucheng doesn't work, then we have to look to other prefecture-level cities and cities.

For Zheng Jun, the name Li Long was quite familiar; he had vaguely heard it somewhere before.

So he took it to heart and called the propaganda department in Ma County to learn more about Li Long's situation.

At this moment, Li Long was chatting with Ma Xiaoyan in the reception room of the purchasing station.

Ma Xiaoyan became the deputy secretary of Chengguan Town, and her responsibilities included a lot of work in the areas under her jurisdiction.

At this time, there are fewer people. In a few decades, each member of the Party Committee in each township in northern Xinjiang will be responsible for at least a dozen items, and sometimes dozens of items.

It's like having a thousand threads above and a single needle below; it's all the same.

Ma Xiaoyan came to Li Long to beg for alms.

"I heard that the asphalt road you built for your village is open to traffic?" Ma Xiaoyan asked while sipping her tea.

"Yes, it's been open to traffic for about two months now, hasn't it?" Li Long said.

"Hey, those villages over there must be happy," Ma Xiaoyan said with a hint of envy. "Don't let their remote location fool you, they now have paved roads, and it only takes half an hour to ride a bicycle to the county seat, right?"

"If we're quick, that's about right." Li Long remembered that a few days ago, on his way back to the Fourth Team, he ran into Teacher Cai, a teacher from the Central Primary School who had taught him before.

Although Li Long wasn't a good student and his grades were average, he still respected his teachers. He stopped his car and greeted Teacher Cai.

Teacher Cai was very happy to see him and they chatted for a long time. What impressed Li Long the most was that the teacher said that he had repaired the asphalt road, which made it much faster for Teacher Cai to ride his bicycle home. Although the central primary school is only a little over a kilometer away from the township, and there was already an asphalt road from the township to the county, this little over a kilometer was enough to make many teachers at the school feel grateful.

He clearly remembered what Teacher Cai said:
“Back in school, you weren’t the smartest or the most gifted. You didn’t get along very well with the other students either. Maybe it was because we only attended elementary school together for a year before you went to middle school, or maybe there were other reasons. But I never expected that, as things stand now, you would be the most successful person from your graduating class.”

Li Long thought to himself, "What have I done to deserve being the most successful one?"

But in the teacher's eyes, being rich and able to benefit the village is what makes someone successful.

"I came here today to ask you for help." Ma Xiaoyan's tone was a little slow. In the past, when she dealt with Li Long, most of the time it was Li Long who needed her help, or it was a mutually beneficial relationship between the two of them.

But this time it's different. This time, Li Long has to pay for everything, but I can't offer anything worth Li Long paying for.

“Go ahead,” Li Long said with a smile. “We’ve known each other for a long time. You’ve helped me a lot in the past. Now that you’re in trouble, just ask. I’ll definitely help if I can.”

“Then I’ll speak. After I took office, the town put me in charge of several areas, including publicity and education, health, and transportation.”

“I can understand managing publicity and education and sanitation, after all, that was your original job. Managing traffic?” Li Long was surprised. “Shouldn’t that be your responsibility?”

“I had no choice. It was arranged by the Party Committee, and I couldn’t refuse. After I took office, I inspected all the roads in the town. There was one road that was in terrible condition, which is the road from the town to Beiyuanzi Village, which is located in the urban-rural fringe area. When it’s not raining, the road is all muddy, and when it rains, it’s all muddy. It’s so difficult to walk on. The last time I went to visit, it had just rained, and my shoes sank right into the mud and I couldn’t pull them out.”

Ma Xiaoyan no longer had the same high spirits she had when she was in the propaganda department. Only after she truly went to the grassroots level did she realize the difficulties and hardships of grassroots work.

She now realizes how comfortable her job in propaganda was back then. She used to think that going to the countryside meant suffering, but now it seems like it was just a superficial experience.

"How long is that road?" Li Long asked. "I remember the town's roads should be under the responsibility of the county transportation bureau, right? Didn't they include this road in their planning?"

"No. Our town has submitted reports to the county several times, and the county said we can either wait until the county's plan is finalized. There are many roads that need to be repaired in the county now, so we have to wait in line. Or we can raise the funds ourselves. By the way, this road is less than a kilometer long. I asked around, and it can be paved with asphalt for less than 30,000 yuan."

Li Long thought to himself that this was inevitable. Once he became rich, he would naturally have to ask for alms.

However, he didn't mind spending the money, but he wouldn't give it away so easily.

So he continued to ask:

How many households are there in Beiyuanzi Village? Haven't they thought of a solution themselves?

“Beiyuanzi Village is not big, and there is not much land to begin with. When each person was allocated their ration of land, they were only allocated three mu. They mainly grew vegetables, and then the surplus labor force came out to work. Many of the people in the county’s casual labor market are from the surrounding villages of the town.” Ma Xiaoyan was quite clear about this. She took a sip of water and said, “They had wanted to build a road for a long time and had thought about raising some funds themselves, but the village itself was not wealthy, and their ideas were not very unified.”

“I can help you,” Li Long said, “but I have conditions.”

"Go ahead!" Ma Xiaoyan's eyes lit up when she heard there was a chance. She wasn't worried about Li Long not mentioning conditions; if he didn't, she wouldn't know how to repay him. Only if he mentioned conditions could they be negotiated.

"First, every household in the village should contribute either money or labor. Even ten or eight yuan a family would be helpful. This road construction is definitely mainly for their village; we can't just wait for others to pay for it while they enjoy the benefits."

“That’s definitely no problem. We’ll let them do the digging of the roadbed, laying of gravel, and other tasks.” Ma Xiaoyan naturally had no objections.

“I will take direct responsibility for the road construction. I have my own engineering company, and I will have them come and pave the road with asphalt. I will not pay directly, but I guarantee that the road will be built well. However, the village has to provide logistical support for my engineering team, which means they have to be responsible for their meals. I don’t expect them to have meat every meal. My people will eat whatever the villagers eat. How about it? If you can agree to the above, I will take people to see the site as soon as possible and prepare to build the road.”

Li Long's plan was shrewd. Meng Hai and his team lacked experience in paving asphalt roads. They were currently only repairing existing surfaces and hadn't yet completed a full asphalt road project on their own.

Without a track record in this area, others who hire them to repair roads will have nothing to learn from and will definitely have reservations.

If this road is built, Meng Hai and his team can openly claim to have experience in paving roads when they go out to solicit projects.

This thing is like the internship experience of college students in later generations; having it or not makes a huge difference in other people's eyes.

For the next thirty years, the construction industry will be a hot industry, and Li Long felt that he had to seize this opportunity.

“No problem.” Ma Xiaoyan felt that Li Long’s conditions were perfectly acceptable. It was only right for the villagers to contribute labor to road construction. As for providing meals for the construction team, they were paying for the work, providing the machinery and manpower; it was only a small matter for them to cook for them.
She had already planned it out; she would talk to the village and make sure they had meat every day. The village didn't have a lot of money, but they could still make sure the construction team members were fed well.

Ma Xiaoyan, as a new official, did want to achieve some results. However, everything is difficult at the beginning, and lacking grassroots work experience, she didn't know where to start.

To be honest, there are many difficulties to be solved in the area she is in charge of, and the road that needs to be repaired right now is just one of them.

However, she couldn't rely on Li Long for everything. Now that she had Li Long to build this road and open up the situation, things would be much easier from here on out.

There are many self-employed individuals in the town who have become wealthy, but not many are as willing to spend money on public welfare as Li Long. However, Li Long's words opened up a new perspective for Ma Xiaoyan. Having difficulties doesn't necessarily mean seeking outside help; one must strive on their own. Those who help themselves will always be helped by others. If one simply stays at home waiting for help from others, waiting for a windfall, they will never receive it, even if they die.

Whether it's forced or voluntary, at least those in need need me to take action. On this point, Ma Xiaoyan has already thought of several aspects, and she can't wait to go back, write them down, refine them, and submit them.

Those who excel at publicity are quick-witted and can apply their knowledge to new situations, making it easier for them to achieve results.

Seeing that Ma Xiaoyan had agreed, Li Long said:
“After our engineering team returns in a few days, I will take them to your place to get a clear picture of the situation. Then we will need you to coordinate their travel arrangements before we can start bringing the materials to the site.”

"Great, great, that's wonderful!" Ma Xiaoyan felt the trip was well worth it. Honestly, if she hadn't come, she really wouldn't know how to get things started. She'd been with the company for quite a while, conducted a lot of research, but hadn't achieved much tangible result. If this path could be paved, at least her year-end summary would look better.

"Mid-July, we should be able to start around mid-July," Li Long said.

The students are all on holiday right now, and Mingming Haohao has already gone to the house of the eldest brother in the fourth team to play with Li Qiang.

Ma Xiaoyan excitedly rode away on her bicycle, and Li Long stopped brushing the leather and drove off to Meng Hai's place at Letuyi. Meng Hai's project was actually nearing completion; the main task now was to review and inspect it, and rework any areas that didn't meet the standards.

When Li Long arrived, Meng Hai was scolding a worker:
"Look at this pothole you filled. It's clearly not level with the rest of the road. I told you during training that when filling a new asphalt and gravel mixture, you need to add more material so that it's flush with the road after a vehicle runs over it. But you filled it perfectly level, and now it's a pothole! Redo it!"

The worker was scolded until his face turned red. Although he was very embarrassed, he still obediently dug out the patched area and went to patch it again.

"Old Meng, you're quite professional," Li Long said with a smile. "I've noticed you've improved a lot." Li Long walked to the edge of Menghai Lake and said with a smile, "Looks like you're almost done, right?"

"Yes, it'll only be a day or two. I'll report to the Transportation Bureau tomorrow or the day after, and once they send someone to inspect it, we'll leave the site," Meng Hai said. "They'll rest for a few days, and I'll go see if there's any other work."

"I've got you a job," Li Long said. "Paving an asphalt road, about one kilometer long. Want to do it?"

"They're willing to let us pave it?" A hint of surprise flashed across Meng Hai's face, followed by some doubt. "We don't have any existing experience with this."

Li Long explained the situation, and Meng Hai immediately agreed. He and Li Long shared the same idea: making money wasn't important right now; the main thing was to hone the engineering team's skills. Just repairing roads and digging ditches was a bit low-end. Road construction was happening everywhere, and taking on more of that kind of work would be far better than that.

"Once you finish here, we'll give everyone a few days off. By then, you'll have finished harvesting the wheat. Hurry up and get everything done so we can move in around July 15th. You'll have to work a little earlier so we can check out the road ahead and make some plans."

“No problem.” Meng Hai was quite tanned, but he didn’t complain at all. “After I finish here, I’ll go over and check out the route, assess the situation, and see how much material I need.”

If Meng Hai is reliable, Li Long can rest easy. When he returned from the road construction site, he saw Gu Xiaoxia, Sister Yang, and Han Fang whispering in the courtyard.

"You're back?" Gu Xiaoxia greeted Li Long and said, "Xiao Fang's scores are out. She did well. She should have no problem getting into Beiting Teachers College."

Han Fang didn't want to go to high school or university; she wanted to start working as soon as possible. Li Long and his wife couldn't persuade her otherwise, so they simply stopped trying.

"That's great!" Li Long said with a smile. "Sister Yang, let's not cook tomorrow. Let's go out for a meal. It's on me. Consider it a celebration for Xiao Fang's good grades. Xiao Fang can also have some fun and relax this summer."

"The acceptance letter hasn't arrived yet," Sister Yang said. "It's not good to rush things now, just in case..."

"There's no chance of anything going wrong. With her score, she'll definitely be fine," Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile. "Just wait for the good news."

Beiting Teachers College is actually a teacher training college. Graduates are basically employed as primary school teachers, kindergarten teachers, etc., with a tenured position.

Han Fang was actually quite confident. She performed well in this exam without making any mistakes, and her score exceeded last year's teacher's college cutoff score by a considerable margin. Even the school teachers said she was very confident.

The next day at Tuanfenglou, Li Long treated everyone to a meal and gave Han Fang a red envelope as a reward of one hundred yuan.

Sister Yang tried to stop him, but Li Long said that Han Fang usually helped take care of Mingming and Haohao when she was off work, and now that she was leaving, this was a small token of his gratitude. He suggested taking the money to buy some things she needed, as she would be living on campus at the teachers' college, and as a girl growing up, she would need to buy some personal items.

Li Qingxia, Liang Shuangcheng, and Sun Jiaqiang all gave red envelopes containing fifty yuan, which was considered quite large. Gu Xiaoxia also bought Han Fang a fashionable handbag to carry some personal belongings.

“It takes a little over an hour to travel from Beiting to Ma County and back. There are buses, so I can come back on weekends,” Gu Xiaoxia said. “I can come back whenever I have a break. That’s the advantage of living close to home.”

After that, Han Fang had more free time. She could either help Sister Yang at the jerky processing workshop or ride her bicycle to the fourth team to visit Li Juan.

Li Long spends one day at the purchasing station and the other day at the fourth production team. Now that it's time to harvest wheat at home, Li Junxian and Chen Qianjin are busy again. They also have wheat fields at home, but with Li Junhai and the others doing the work, this kind of work is nothing.

Li Long spent little time at the wheat field after returning home; he spent most of his time in the cotton fields.

Because the cotton was grown in saline-alkali soil, the seedlings emerged unevenly, so we replanted them and frequently applied chemical fertilizers, but overall the nutrition was not as good as that of cotton grown in cultivated soil.

The cotton leaves of the prepared rehmannia plant look dark green, and when they grow in patches, they are very beautiful.

The cotton leaves in saline-alkali soil are a slightly lighter green and the leaves are not as dense, which is unavoidable.

The cotton fields on thousands of acres have now been topped and are starting to bud, followed by flowering and boll setting. This is a critical period, and pest control is extremely important.

Moreover, if the nutrients and water are insufficient at this time, the flower buds will also fall off. These things are like money; it hurts to lose even one.

With the current planting level, if each cotton plant can produce seven or eight buds, then it will definitely be a bumper harvest.

However, this saline-alkali land makes it very difficult.

Every time Li Long came to check, he could see cotton buds falling off the plants.

That day, after Li Long had breakfast in the courtyard, he was about to go to the fourth team when the phone rang.

When I answered the phone, it was my father's voice.

"The regional TV station called and said they needed to speak with you. I told them you weren't here, and they said they'd call back later. They told me to come over."

"TV station?" When Li Long heard "TV station," his first thought was that Xu Yang had come to visit again.

These past few days, people have been coming in to buy cars every day, and others have been calling to inquire about the situation.

Most people ask about the Mercedes-Benz W140 (Tiger Head Mercedes), first asking about the price, then about the vehicle's condition.

After finding out the car was worth 1.2 million, most of them died.

Some people, after learning that the car had been sold, asked if there were any follow-up offers.

After Cao Guohua bought the car, Li Long called Liu Gaolou and asked him to tell Liu Shanmin to get a few more W140s.

Almaty is, after all, the capital of a country, and even if it is a constituent republic, it is still a country.

Moreover, it's easier to import cars than in our country, so getting a few Mercedes-Benz W14s shouldn't be a problem, right?

The advertising went well, so Li Long's idea was that if Xu Yang called, he would tell him that the advertising was effective and that they might continue to cooperate in the future.

Dad can tell you about this.

“No, it’s not that ad.” Li Long told his father his idea, but his father immediately rejected it. “It’s another program. They said they want to interview you. Come over here, and you’ll know when they call back.”

Since his father had said so, Li Long was unlikely to go to the fourth team anymore, so he walked to the purchasing station.

He waited there for less than ten minutes when he received a call from Zheng Jun.

The self-introduction is about a program on the autonomous region's TV station called "Advanced Individuals on the Road to Prosperity," which mainly focuses on entrepreneurs who have become wealthy and how they lead their fellow villagers to prosperity.

"We have always advocated that some people should get rich first, and then those who get rich first should help those who are still poor. Some people have put this into practice very well, while others have forgotten this original intention. The purpose of this program is to emphasize this point, promote advanced practices, and encourage more entrepreneurs to join in." Zheng Jun spoke with great enthusiasm about the program's purpose.

"I'm not qualified, am I?" Li Long didn't really want to show off.

“How could you not be qualified? We learned about your exemplary deeds from your county. You are not only qualified, but extremely qualified. If all entrepreneurs who become wealthy could lead more people to prosperity like you, our lives would be much better now,” Zheng Jun said with emotion.

"Then what do you need me to do?" Li Long stopped refusing. Since he had already done it and had already come into everyone's sight, there was no point in pretending to be low-key anymore.

Let's be more high-profile then, it wouldn't hurt to appear on TV.

"We'll first do some preliminary planning based on what we know about you, then we'll talk to you to get more details and supplement your information, and then we'll conduct the interview and filming. Actually, the recorded content won't be much, only ten minutes, but we'll need a lot of footage."

"Understood, understood. Call me before you come," Li Long said. "I'll be prepared."

"Okay, okay. By the way, Xu Yang asked me to ask you guys, how's the advertising going?"

"Very good. I've already sold seven cars since the advertisement came out," Li Long said with a smile. "I reckon my car inventory will be running out before the advertisement is even finished."

"That's great! I'll tell Xu Yang right now."

After hanging up the phone, Li Long thought for a moment and smiled.

"What, another interview?" Old Man Li Qingxia asked.

"Pretty much," Li Long said. "People say that those who get rich first can help those who get rich later. I think I did the right thing, so I came here to do an interview."

"That's true, you really have brought quite a few people with you." Li Qingxia also sighed, "It's been several years now."

Let's leave aside Team Four, Qingshuihe Village, the Production and Construction Corps area, the dried meat processing workshop, and so on.

And then there's road construction, mountain roads, rural roads, all of those count.

Li Long didn't get the specific interview questions, but he figured they were probably no more than what he had done and what he had thought.

The answers to these questions are all simple, so he's not in a hurry.

After telling his father to keep an eye out, he went back to the compound. Han Fang was waiting for him to go to the fourth team together.

Han Fang really wants to have a good time during this holiday. She studied too hard before, and now she can finally relax.

When he returned, it was already evening. Li Long saw that Gu Xiaoxia was on the phone in the bedroom, so he didn't disturb her and went to wash up by himself.

It must have been Gu Xiaoyu who called.

Li Long was also quite interested in what happened after Gu Xiaoyu went back.

After hanging up the phone, Gu Xiaoxia came over to talk to Li Long.

Xiaoyu said they've been quite busy lately, with a lot going on. Many graduates are having trouble finding jobs, so what will Juan do?

“It’s not like they’re not assigning jobs anymore,” Li Long said. “There’s still a shortage of college graduates, so don’t worry. When Juan goes to college, she’ll definitely still be assigned a job. It just depends on which school Juan gets into.”

The next day, Li Long didn't go to the fourth team. As usual, he was busy at the purchasing station. To his surprise, Polati came over in the morning.

In late June, Li Long made one last trip to the wooden house and received about ten kilograms of fritillaria from Bolati. He told Bolati not to stay there anymore, and Li Long didn't plan to go into the mountains after that.

Polati agreed, and Li Long didn't go into the mountains again for a while afterward.

“While you were away from the mountains, I was thinking of clearing out the remaining supplies in the cabin, and I ended up getting about ten kilograms of fritillaria bulbs in return.” Polati, who had ridden down from the mountain, said, “Now that no one else is coming, I came. Oh, and there are seven or eight kilograms of dried mushrooms too.”

When he mentioned dried mushrooms, Li Long thought of Huang Lei. Huang Lei hadn't come to collect dried mushrooms this year, so Li Long called him. Huang Lei said he was busy and told Li Long to leave the dried mushrooms for later, saying he'd come to collect them in a while.

Of course, Huang Lei also mentioned another solution on the phone: Li Long could send the goods over, and he could pay for them after he inspected them. Li Long did not agree to this.

Although a certain level of trust has been established between the two parties, the more than ton of dried morel mushrooms received this year is no small sum.

Li Long also made a suggestion, asking Huang Lei to send him a batch of canned goods to offset the cost of dried mushrooms. Huang Lei said he would consider it, but there has been no follow-up so far.

"Then let's calculate it according to the price we agreed on." Li Long didn't expect Polati to come down the mountain and bring things, so he said, "Let's weigh it."

After weighing the goods, I paid Polati fifty yuan as a token of my appreciation for the supplies he was helping to exchange. Polati was very happy and chatted with Li Long for a while. When he saw Yushanjiang coming over, he left in a hurry.

Yushanjiang came to tell Li Long that he planned to go into the mountains to check on the situation of the people there.

“I haven’t gone back up the mountain since I came down. Last time, after his father recovered from his injury, he went back home. The hospital told him to come down again after a while, and I don’t know how he is doing on the mountain. Halim hasn’t come down either, so I plan to go into the mountain to check on him. If things go well, I’ll be back tonight; if not, I’ll be back tomorrow.”

"How do you plan to get there?" Li Long asked.

"Drive a tractor."

“The tractor is too slow. You can take that GAZ truck. It’s yours,” Li Long said. “There’s only one. If someone buys it, you won’t have a practice vehicle left. Anyway, your skills are good enough. Take it. When you come back, I’ll get you a driver’s license. It’ll be more convenient for you to drive a car later. Of course, you have to drive slowly in the mountains. Don’t rush. Although we’ve repaired the road and it’s not very dangerous, you still have to be careful.”

"How much is the car? I'll go back and get it for you." Yu Shanjiang had actually become addicted to driving cars, finding them much more convenient than tractors. However, he had refused Li Long's offer once before, and now he was too embarrassed to bring it up himself.

"No rush, you do your thing first," Li Long said. "It's not much money. We'll talk about the car when you've made a lot of money."

After Li Long said that, Yu Shanjiang didn't say much more. He made a mental note of the matter and then drove away in his GAZ truck.

The distance into the mountains was quite long, so he needed to set off quickly.

He'd already told everyone about the lamb delivery for tomorrow, and it would be a little late. But with this GAZ truck, it could be back tonight, so it wouldn't delay the delivery.

After Yushanjiang left, Li Long went to check the yard. There were still four cars left: one Toyota Land Cruiser and three luxury Volga cars. The Mercedes had already been sold. It just goes to show that although it wasn't yet the 1990s, there were definitely more people getting rich.

More than I imagined.

After waiting at home for two days, Zheng Jun came with his men to interview Li Long.

Li Long received the call at the purchasing station and waited. When Zheng Jun and his group arrived, Li Long was delighted. He recognized the van that they drove – it was the same one that Xu Yang and his group had driven.

It seems that the TV station doesn't have a lot of transportation options either.

After Zheng Jun greeted Li Long and exchanged a few pleasantries, he handed over the interview questions he wanted to ask Li Long and discussed them with him.

Li Long laughed after reading the content. It was basically a summary of what Jiang Zhiyu and Ma Xiaoyan had said during their previous interviews with him.

However, the problem is relatively simpler. The plan also includes filming, not only filming Team 4 and Qingshuihezi, but also filming the mountain road and asphalt road repaired by Li Long.

Although these contents will only be shown for a short time in the video, you can't be careless when framing the shot.

At this time, whether it's filming TV movies or reality shows, authenticity is highly valued.

Some ran away. (End of Chapter)