Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1278 After seeing Zheng Jun off, Yushan Jianghui will start doing business.

The next morning, after breakfast, Li Long drove Zheng Jun and the others back into the mountains.

This time, we're going to film what the primitive pastoral trails used by herders to enter the mountains look like.

Ma County appears to be a long, narrow strip of land running north to south on the map, but that's only on the map.

In fact, the distance from Lianhu County in the east to the border of Shimahe and Shicheng in the west spans at least several tens of kilometers.

In the Tianshan Mountains section to the south, which stretches for dozens of kilometers, there are not many large mountain passes, but there are quite a few small passes that allow entry into the mountains.

Walking south into the mountains from those mountain passes, you can find a pastoral trail at almost every one of them—the tribes grazing in the mountains are not limited to Halim's area.

Li Long had come here before with his men to cut grass. He vaguely remembered checking if there was any legendary treasure there. The treasure that Sheng Shicai supposedly buried back then hadn't been unearthed forty years later, and no one knew if the legend was true or false.

Upon entering the mountains and seeing how narrow the pastoral trails were, making it impossible to proceed, Zheng Jun immediately sighed:

"Hey, I thought that road was nothing special yesterday, but now it seems that building a wide road into the mountains in such conditions is a great deed!"

"At the time, I didn't think too much about it. I just thought that if the road was built, the people on the mountain would no longer have to travel three to five days to get supplies. And if there were sick people on the mountain, they wouldn't have to suffer from not being able to get supplies down the mountain or get medicine."

Li Long answered casually, without any grand pronouncements, emotional appeals, or empty boasts.

But it was this simple truth that made Zheng Jun feel that the reason was absolutely true.

When he turned his head, he found that the cameraman had already recorded a segment with his camera.

"If all roads are like this, it will be really difficult to repair them. How long have you been working on it?"

“Two or three years,” Li Long said. “It’s not all like this. There are relatively flat areas in the mountains, which are easier to repair. It’s more difficult like this one, which is very narrow and has large rocks and trees. We need to cut down the trees, blast the rocks, then create a roadbed, lay gravel, and compact it…”

Li Long was very familiar with road construction; he knew exactly what kind of terrain to take and how to pass through it.

"Let's walk further in and see if we can find a flat area." Zheng Jun felt that we could go a little deeper.

The reason I use the word "walk" is because there's no way to drive – the entire pastoral trail is less than two meters wide, and it's full of large rocks and trees. The actual road is only one or two meters wide, and the cattle and sheep basically have to pass through the trees.

Up close, you can even see the wool that cows and sheep rub off as they rub against the trees.

Some of the bark was also torn off. I wonder if some cow came by and thought the bark looked delicious, so it just plucked it off.

Since the car couldn't get in, people had to walk in. Li Long led the way—he was carrying a gun.

There was no way around it; this pastoral trail clearly felt more primitive than Halim's. The entrance was surrounded by dense forest, and who knew what it would be like inside.

It's better to be honest.

Zheng Jun was startled when he saw Li Long pull a gun out of the car.

Li Long raised his hand and said, "Just in case, I'm also a part-time forest ranger. Let me be frank with you, there are wolves and bears in these mountains. The chances of us encountering them during the day are slim, but we still need to be careful."

As he spoke, he disengaged the safety, cocked the bolt to chamber a round, then disengaged the safety again and walked forward with the gun on his shoulder.

Zheng Jun hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at the cameraman.

"Let's go, what are you looking at me for? They've got guns, are you still going to chicken out? Besides, didn't I tell you? It's broad daylight, they can barely see anything."

The cameraman wasn't afraid at all. He urged Zheng Jun on and then followed Li Long inside.

The forest looked quite dense, but once you went a little further in, you'd find that it was relatively sparse compared to the dense forest on the hillside, and it wasn't too strenuous to walk through. Besides, the trail had already been opened up, so it couldn't possibly be difficult to walk through.

The trees gradually thinned out, but the path also became more difficult to walk on. This path was also along the edge of the gully, winding upwards along the stream. There were trees when you first entered the gully, but the ground was relatively flat. Further up, there were fewer trees, but the gully narrowed, and the path was on the hillside with some incline, making it a bit strenuous to walk on. It was a narrow, winding path.

Zheng Jun and his group were in pretty good physical condition, but after walking for more than twenty minutes, they started to pant.

Li Long seemed not to be tired at all, walking and stopping frequently, occasionally bending down to look at things on the ground.

"What local specialties are there in these mountains?" Zheng Jun caught up with Li Long and asked while catching his breath.

“We have jade, gold dust, mother-of-pearl, and agate,” Li Long said. “I saw a piece that looked like jade just now, but the quality wasn’t very good, it had too many cracks, so I didn’t pick it up.”

"There's jade?" another part-time host asked with interest. "Where?"

Li Long pointed to her feet and said, "Look, you stepped on something."

The girl quickly moved her foot away, looking at the slightly grayish-blue stone with some surprise, and asked in confusion:
"This is jade?"

“Jade,” Li Long said, pointing to the stream below. “You can tell by rinsing it with water.”

The girl indeed picked up the jade stone, which was about the size of two fists, and slowly walked down to the stream.

The stream was a bit steep here, so the girl carefully squatted down, and Zheng Jun went down to help her. The water wasn't actually deep, but it was a bit troublesome to step in.

Zheng Jun only stood by and protected her, without touching her. The girl was quite careful, and only started washing the jade after she had regained her balance.

The original jade stone was stuck in the soil, covered in dust, and didn't look good at all.

But after being washed with water, the jade quality immediately became apparent. Although there were black fly droppings inside, the jade quality was still noticeably different from the stone quality. Especially since this piece was a pebble, not a mountain jade with obvious chips and flaws, the girl immediately exclaimed in surprise, "Ah!" after washing it with water, and then said with delight:
"It really is jade! How beautiful!"

When she came up, she held the jade piece with obvious affection and said, "This...can I have it?"

“What you find is yours,” Li Long said with a smile. “That’s the rule in the mountains right now.”

"Thank you so much!" the other person said sincerely.

Others were either envious or curious.

Zheng Jun then asked Li Long:

"Your eyesight is too good! When we see this, we just think it's an ordinary stone. There's no way we could tell it's jade."

“The longer you stay in the mountains, the more you see, and you naturally discover things,” Li Long said with a smile. “I started interacting with the herders in the mountains in 1981, and it’s been seven or eight years now, so I have some experience.”

The group marveled at the sight, but Li Long didn't say much and led them onward.

This time, the group didn't just look at the scenery ahead; they kept looking at their feet as they walked, and every now and then they would pick up a stone and show it to Li Long, asking if it was jade.

However, jade is not so easy to find, and I haven't seen any more.

After walking for another ten minutes or so, they reached a relatively flat area. Zheng Jun nodded and said:

"This area is alright. Although there are some loose rocks, it will be easier to build a road here."

"That's about it," the cameraman said, pointing ahead. "Ahead, look at that road. Sigh, it's another narrow, winding path with lots of loose rocks. It's easy for cattle and sheep to cross, but if we're going to build a road, we'll probably have to blast a lot of rocks."

“We’ve encountered roads like this over there before; we blasted away the rocks. These rocks may not look big, but their roots are all embedded in the mountainside, so we can’t dig them out,” Li Long said with great experience.

We've almost reached the end. Comparing the two areas, the one we entered at the beginning is still the most obvious. Zheng Jun also asked Li Long, and he learned that more than 60% of the 100-kilometer mountain road from here to the mountain pasture is difficult to repair. The rest only requires pushing open the roadbed, laying gravel, and then flattening and compacting it.

Even at 60% speed, it's still 60 kilometers long, making construction very difficult.

Zheng Jun noted down all these difficulties, processed them into a document after returning home, and then considered how to use them.

After leaving the mountains, Li Long led Zheng Jun and the others to the county for lunch, and then went to the fourth team to see the newly paved asphalt road.

"This road is well-maintained." After all, it's a new road, although it's not as black as before and has turned grayish-white—after all, apart from this asphalt road, the other side roads are basically dirt roads and gravel roads, which have accumulated a lot of dust.

But judging from the roadbed itself, it's already quite good; it's very flat and easy to walk on.

Zheng Jun and his team need to find a gravel road or a dirt road to compare.

This is relatively easy. The route from the township to the fourth team passes through many settlements. Except for one village that raised its own money to pave an asphalt road to its entrance, the others have remained largely untouched.

So Li Long easily led Zheng Jun and his men to a fork in the road, pointed to the path that led off, and said:
"The original road was like that. It had been paved with gravel, but because it was surrounded by farmland and small paths, the dust brought in from the paths covered up the original gravel. When it rained, the road was covered in mud. Adults were a little better off, but children had to wear rain boots to school, otherwise their shoes would get wet and they would suffer all day."

Zheng Jun, who also came from a rural background, had a deep understanding of this kind of life. He nodded after listening to Li Long's words, indicating that he understood.

The cameraman has already recorded this part—it's all about ordinary, real things, without exaggeration or embellishment.

It was already time for school to prepare for afternoon classes. Some students near the school hurriedly left their homes to go to school. They were all quite happy as they ran and jumped on the asphalt road to school, and this part was also recorded.

Zheng Jun felt this was a stroke of genius, without even needing the school to make special arrangements. He gave the cameraman a thumbs up, and the cameraman proudly raised his eyebrows.

Next, I started interviewing people, and we randomly encountered a few pedestrians driving tractors and riding bicycles.

At this point, people were quite curious about the person carrying the camera and were willing to cooperate with the interview.

When he heard that we were going to interview people about the convenience this road brings to everyone, the tractor driver said in his local dialect (Lanzhou-Yinchuan Mandarin):

“It’s great! With this road, we can drive our tractors to the street without getting mud everywhere when it rains, and in winter, the snow won’t freeze as hard. It will be much more convenient for the kids to go to school.”

After interviewing several passersby, Zheng Jun and his group followed Li Long to the fourth team. At the first residential area, they saw several cars parked in front of some people's houses.

The cameraman habitually raised his camera, and after Zheng Jun and the others got out of the car, he asked Li Long:
"This is your village? These cars were all bought by the villagers? Hey, it seems your village has really become rich."

The female host randomly counted and said:
"Just look at the number of tractors and cars; they account for almost half of the villagers. That's much more than the average number in our autonomous region."

“A brand new small four-wheeled tractor, along with the matching farm implements, costs between five and eight thousand yuan,” Zheng Jun said. “So, does that mean almost half the people in your village are now households with ten thousand yuan in income?”

Li Long smiled and said:

"It should be more than that. How should I put it? In our village, people not only farm, but also did side jobs to earn money in the past few years. The standard of living for every household is relatively high. Of course, this is inseparable from everyone's hard work and wisdom."

This time, Zheng Jun went to conduct interviews randomly—the wheat harvest had already begun, so they went to the wheat field.

The threshing of wheat by small four-wheeled carts had ended. The men on the threshing floor were wearing straw hats, and the women were wearing headscarves, picking straw. They were quite surprised to see Zheng Jun and his group coming over.

To ensure the authenticity of the interview, Li Long did not appear on camera this time. He simply pointed out the location to Zheng Jun and the others, and then hid.

Upon arriving at the threshing ground, everyone stopped and looked at Zheng Jun and his group. When they learned that the people from the autonomous region had come to interview them and wanted to see how rural people felt about their current living conditions, everyone started talking at once.

Some say that farming is not very profitable now, others say that agricultural supplies are expensive, and still others say that life is better than before, but prices seem to have gone up.

Zheng Jun realized that they were clearly using his side as a complaint channel. However, this also indicated that Li Long hadn't informed the villagers beforehand; they genuinely didn't know he was from there.

He winked at the female host, and then she began to speak:

“We interviewed many villagers along the way, and it seems that their village is not as rich as yours. In your village, there are quite a few cars, and almost every two families have a small four-wheeled tractor. It seems that the standard of living is quite good.”

“Hey, that’s right.” Someone immediately became proud upon hearing this. “Our village has a lot of land, and the cash crops we grow are also profitable.”

“Our village also has side businesses. In addition to farming, the money earned from side businesses makes our lives better than others.”

……

Once this was mentioned, everyone's conversation finally returned to the right track that Zheng Jun wanted.

"So when did your good days begin?" the female host prompted at the opportune moment. "Was it something you all achieved together, or were there other factors involved?"

Some people remained silent, then someone spoke:
"If you're talking about that, it's because someone brought us along—Li Long from the Li family. He got jobs from the county and gave them to our team to do, which earned us a lot of money. About five or six years ago, our family could earn one or two thousand yuan more a year than other teams!"

The person speaking was very honest; he started from the beginning.

The female host immediately seized on this topic and continued to ask:
"A thousand yuan was a lot of money back then, right? But now, a thousand yuan isn't much for you, is it?"

"That's right. Later he started growing cash crops. Others followed his example, and he didn't keep anything to himself; he shared everything he knew with everyone."

"Now they've even set up a cooperative specializing in cotton cultivation, and my family has started growing cotton too. We made a lot of money last year, and we've planted even more this year," someone said proudly. "Li Long is a pretty good young man. He hasn't forgotten his roots even after making money; he paid for the road to be built..."

When it comes to Li Long, although some people are dissatisfied, most people still have good things to say.

After that, there was basically no need for the host to guide them. Everyone chimed in, and Zheng Jun felt that they had more than enough material to use in this episode.

Seeing that the situation was getting a bit out of control, the female host steered the conversation back on track, asking about this year's wheat yield, the methods for delivering grain to the state, and so on.

Fewer people talked about this topic, and as the interview gradually came to an end, they left politely, and the people in the wheat field even offered them watermelon.

Zheng Jun had witnessed the lively atmosphere everyone was in; they wouldn't let him leave without eating.

"The watermelons from Xiayedi are truly living up to their reputation," the cameraman said with a smile as he left.

Once they left the residential area and met up with Li Long, Zheng Jun and the others looked at Li Long differently.

Although they had already learned about what Li Long had done from the county propaganda department, Zheng Jun and his colleagues only realized how much Li Long had truly accomplished over the years when they heard more detailed accounts from the villagers.

He wasn't the kind of perfect, self-made man portrayed in the news. Some of his money-making methods were, at a certain stage, on the fringes of legality.

He's not the kind of person who's completely selfless, giving away everything he earns. He's the kind of person who'll teach you when he's free if you're willing to learn from him, but if you offend him, don't expect to get anything from him.

This is what a real, flesh-and-blood person should be like—the propaganda in movies and TV shows goes too far, sometimes portraying people as saints, which is just too unrealistic.

Li Long didn't ask many questions, only saying, "Shall we call it a day? I think you've asked enough."

"That's about enough. With this much material, this episode should be able to hold its own."

Despite saying that, Zheng Jun and his team still planned to go to the production and construction corps company to ask again. They had learned this from the TV station, but they couldn't go today. The production and construction corps wasn't much closer than the mountains, and it would take them a whole day to go there and back tomorrow.

After returning to the county, Zheng Jun and his team went to the guesthouse and held a short meeting before dinner. Zheng Jun planned to further refine the original program plan.

Li Long went to the purchasing station to see if he needed any help—Mingming Haohao had been staying there after going to the fourth team and wouldn't be back for a while, so he had some free time.

It seems that children at this age have entered their first rebellious phase. They don't like to listen to their parents, but they are very willing to listen to what older children tell them and believe it without question.

It's like the last rebellious phase of an elderly person: they won't listen to anything their own children or relatives say, but they'll believe anything a stranger says.

It's now a closed loop.

Zheng Jun and his group left the next afternoon. In the morning, they went to the production and construction corps company. They didn't let Li Long come with them, saying that they would go and interview the production and construction corps employees themselves to hear their thoughts.

Li Long figured if he didn't want to go, he wouldn't go. He'd already accompanied everyone he was supposed to, so the rest was basically none of his business. Zheng Jun and his team arrived quickly, finishing their interviews and recording all the footage by noon. They returned in the late afternoon, said goodbye to Li Long, and then hurriedly drove back to Wucheng.

Li Long didn't ask when the show would premiere—mainly because he couldn't watch it on his local TV, so he simply didn't bother asking.

After sending Zheng Jun and the others away, Li Long spent most of his time in the fourth team because the cotton was in a critical period and needed watering, fertilizing, and spraying.

There was still no news from the agricultural machinery factory, so Li Long didn't call to inquire. He had already told them everything he knew; the rest was someone else's problem—there was nothing he could do to help.

When Li Long came over last time, he noticed that the cotton leaves were a bit sparse, unlike the plump leaves of the cultivated plants. He told Xie Yundong that it was a matter of water and fertilizer – mostly fertilizer, but also due to salinity.

Over the next few days, Xie Yundong organized people to fertilize the cotton fields and then water them. Because Professor Luo had experience with fertilizing saline-alkali land and had left Li Long and his team with corresponding fertilization formulas, the fourth team was experienced in this area.

So when Li Long went to check on the cotton field again in mid-July, he found that the cotton leaves had darkened in color considerably, and it looked much better.

Moreover, it's clear that there are many flowers blooming, and most of them have survived. The earlier blooming flowers have already fallen and formed small cotton bolls.

At this time, we need to be careful of bollworms. Some people are needed at the wheat field, and the rest of the people will patrol the cotton fields. If they find any cotton bolls that have been bitten, they must search the surrounding area thoroughly to find the worms, otherwise these worms could ruin all the cotton bolls in this area.

The cotton bollworm, as long as it's alive, will crawl around nearby. Don't be fooled by how slowly this green worm crawls; in its larval stage, it does nothing but eat and crawl. And it doesn't finish eating; it takes a few bites on each cotton boll, bites through the shell, takes a couple more bites, and then runs away.

Cotton bolls that have been bitten by it will either fall off or dry up, reducing yield, so it must be removed.

If you have good eyesight, you can walk around the cotton field and catch whatever you can see, which will make things much better.

The main problem is that current pesticides are not very targeted. Although there are sprayers that spray from both above and below, the pesticides are not targeted enough, so the insects cannot be completely eliminated.

Li Long attached great importance to this because this was the first year the cooperative had expanded to such a large scale, covering over a thousand acres, and failure was not an option. If this venture was a success, things would generally go smoothly from here on out.

If this attempt fails, it's not just that Li Long's reputation will suffer; the cooperative will also have a bad reputation among the public.

Li Long didn't want things to turn out this way—so he was determined to do it well.

Xie Yundong shared the same thought. In the first year of the cooperative's establishment, everyone elected him as manager, which was a sign of their trust in him. This trust carried a heavy responsibility, and he was under considerable pressure.

From sowing at the beginning of the year to replanting and thinning seedlings, and later spraying pesticides and insecticides, a lot of money has already been spent.

The pressure is immense, so he pays close attention to every stage, fearing that mismanagement of any link might affect the final harvest.

The others each had their own area of ​​responsibility, so there wasn't much pressure, but they were all very responsible and serious, including Xu Haijun.

In mid-July, Director Qian called Li Long to say that a new batch of canned goods had arrived. He told Li Long that the supply and marketing cooperative would keep a portion, and the remaining 30 tons of canned goods would be delivered directly to Li Long without being unloaded.

As for the price, it's what we agreed on.

Li Long was naturally very happy, and he waited at the purchasing station.

The state government sent four trucks to deliver canned goods. Of the thirty tons of canned goods, fifteen tons were fruit, ten tons were meat, and five tons were fish.

Liu Gaolou had previously called Li Long to say he didn't want the canned fish, but he said that the state-run company had already placed an order, so he couldn't refuse it.

Li Long told Liu Gaolou that it was best to take the canned fish over there, but not the next time; it was essential to take it this time. He suggested that Liu sell the canned fish along with canned meat, since the bones in the canned fish were soft and could be eaten directly.

Li Long also told Director Qian that the main products they needed next were canned fruit and canned meat.

Actually, canned fruit is also very popular there, mainly because it contains a lot of sugar, which can also provide calories for people there.

After the 30 tons of canned goods were unloaded, Li Long treated the drivers to a meal and sent them back to the state cooperative. The money was then transferred directly to the state cooperative's account via wire transfer.

A week later, Liu Gaolou arrived with a convoy of ten vehicles. This time, the ten vehicles included a Mercedes-Benz W140, a regular Mercedes-Benz, two Audis, two Toyota pickup trucks, two GAZ trucks, and two luxury Volga vans.

In other words, Liu Gaolou arrived. If he hadn't come soon, Li Long's side would have run out of cars and would be out of stock.

The advertising was really effective; more and more people knew that Li Long sold used cars, and every now and then someone would come by to buy a car.

When Liu Gaolou came over this time, the moment the day laborers unloaded the truck, it still attracted the attention of the middlemen who came to sell their goods.

The two Toyota pickup trucks were the main attraction.

For rural residents, pickup trucks are really practical; they can carry both people and goods, and they're all legal and compliant, which is quite good.

These two pickup trucks are diesel-powered and powerful, so several middlemen were quite interested in them.

"A Mercedes-Benz costs $20,000, a regular Mercedes-Benz costs $10,000, and two Audis cost $15,000."

The Toyota pickup truck isn't cheap; two cost $10,000 each. The main issue is that this truck has already been used three or four times, but its condition is fine. I've heard that a new imported Toyota pickup truck costs over 200,000 yuan, which is more expensive than a Santana.

A GAZ truck costs $500, a luxury Volga costs $2,000. That's exactly $60,000.

"Then you can just take the sugar away." Li Long was slightly disappointed; he wouldn't be able to earn US dollars this time.

After selling these cars, he would have a considerable amount of money left over, so he felt he needed to change his approach, as the US dollar was a relatively safer hold at this point.

"By the way, my uncle said that the method you mentioned should work. He's currently working on smoothing things over, and if he can get a good relationship, he can try to get a larger loan. He can't get a large share himself, but he can get loans through other people."

He also has connections in the US dollar market, so he's thinking of getting more. He said if what you said comes true in two or three years, he'll give you a big bonus.

"Haha, don't worry, I'm definitely keeping this red envelope for you," Li Long said with a smile. "Tell your second uncle to be careful."

"Don't worry, my second uncle is very careful about this now. I tried calling him several times internationally but couldn't reach him. He called me twice, both times from different places."

He also hired many bodyguards, and frequently changed them. Each residence had different bodyguards, which ensured safety.

Li Long wasn't sure if it was safe or not, but he already knew that Liu Shanmin was very concerned about his own safety.

That'll do.

In addition to the ten cars, Liu Gaolou also brought three thousand hides. This time there were no antelope horns, because the wheat harvest had already begun in Kazakhstan. Although they had suffered from the disaster, at least they would have food after the wheat harvest, and since it was the busy farming season, hunting had decreased.

Li Long was somewhat surprised to find that Lao Gu had brought over a ton and a half of dried morel mushrooms.

But thinking about it, it's normal. Several counties in the valley can produce morel mushrooms, which is much better than the area in the northern Tianshan Mountains. So it's normal that there are more dried morel mushrooms available.

However, Huang Lei's side didn't come to collect it, so the things just had to be left there.

Last time, Lao Gu brought over three tons of fritillaria bulbs, and Li Long paid him 500,000 yuan based on the quantity. After deducting the cost of the goods Lao Gu delivered, which was around 350,000 yuan, the remaining 150,000 yuan was considered pure profit.

Li Long then sent Lao Gu 425,000 yuan as costs and profits.

The cost of this ton and a half of dried wild mushrooms is a little over 10,000 but less than 20,000, and the profit is about 30,000.

However, Li Long will have to wait until Huang Lei or someone else comes to collect the mushrooms before sending them over.

Liu Gaolou knew that Li Long already had canned goods in stock, and that there was a sugar factory backing him up on the sugar side, so he wasn't worried at all about the goods being brought back, and was quite at ease.

Li Long had made proper arrangements for him. After the truck was unloaded, Liang Shuangcheng organized people to load the goods. Of course, Liu Gaolou was not allowed to escape either, as the loading had to be inspected.

When the 30 tons of canned goods were being packed, Li Long had the middleman from over there call them over.

They wanted to ask about the price of the pickup truck.

“Not cheap, 200,000.” Li Long said directly, “A new car costs 300,000. This is a used car, but it’s not easy to get this car, so it’s expensive.”

Upon hearing that it cost 200,000 yuan, four or five people who were interested in buying a pickup truck immediately backed out.

This car looks really nice, I didn't expect it to be so expensive.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. These days, what imported goods from Japan aren't expensive?

At that time, Japanese products were still highly regarded, and it wasn't until twenty years later that their popularity gradually declined.

Of course, this is normal. After all, China's industrial development began after the Sino-Japanese War, when we had a great feast and then frantically developed industry. Industrial development started from that time, so naturally we were stronger than China, which only started developing industry after the founding of the People's Republic.

Li Long didn't say much. After seeing Liu Gaolou and the others off, he started processing the hides with Liang Shuangcheng and the others.

Liu Gaolou said that it was much hotter in Ma County in the summer than in the valley, so he didn't plan to stay. He would take the sugar truck back first thing tomorrow morning and consider staying there a way to escape the heat.

Li Long could understand this point. After all, the valley to the east was all mountains, and the climate was similar to that of Central Asia and Europe. The name "Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall" wasn't given for nothing; the climate there was indeed quite pleasant.

July is the hottest time of year, and the hides have a strong odor, but they can't be left untreated. Some hides might have been freshly harvested, simply rubbed with salt, and sent over before they were dry.

If such things are left in the warehouse without being treated, they may become infested with maggots in a few days.

Li Long didn't plan to hire any more people, so Liang Shuangcheng and Sun Jiaqiang did all the work. As the boss, he naturally had to help out when he was free, otherwise, if the two of them couldn't handle it, he would be the one who suffered losses.

Of course, Li Long only comes to help out when things are busy; most of the time he's free. Right now, Sun Jiaqiang occasionally goes to check on the agricultural supplies and helps Li Qingxia collect materials, while Liang Shuangcheng does the same for the others.

Fortunately, the busiest fritillary bulb season is over. Although we will harvest a lot of dried black tiger paw mushrooms next, it won't be as busy as the fritillary bulb season.

Every time a large quantity of goods was sold, Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng received generous red envelopes, so they had no complaints—they knew very well that even if they didn't do it, there were plenty of others who would.

With such a good salary, he could buy a yard in two or three years, and with some savings, he could furnish it. Now, Sun Jiaqiang is already thinking about whether to buy a car.

So although the work was tiring, the money was plentiful, so I didn't feel anything was wrong at all—what job isn't tiring?

While Li Long was brushing leather, he heard the sound of a car, a GAZ truck.

The GAZ truck drove directly to the backyard. Li Long was wondering who it was when Yu Shanjiang got out of the truck.

Yu Shanjiang saw Li Long brushing the sheepskins, so he came down and worked with him. His main task was to sort out which of the hides were whole and which were damaged.

This classification was based on the pricing method used by Li Long when he bought hides, a fact that Yu Shanjiang was aware of.

"Have you finished cleaning the sheep for today?" Li Long asked as he cleaned the remaining grease off the hides.

"Yes, it's all packed up." Yu Shanjiang looked a little excited. He nodded and said, "I did a wholesale order today. I bought a flock of more than a dozen sheep from the Mahe River. I was going to raise them in my yard first. When I was driving them back, I was almost at the county when someone stopped me."

Yu Shanjiang paused here, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said, "Actually, I was a little worried at the time, thinking that they might try to steal my sheep. But they came in a tractor and asked me if I was selling my sheep. I said, 'Yes, I am.'"

"Are you hot or excited?" Li Long couldn't help but ask. "Squat down a bit, it'll be more comfortable in the shade."

"Hehe, I just didn't expect to make so much money all at once," Yu Shanjiang said with a smile.

"How much money have you made?" Liang Shuangcheng couldn't help but ask.

“I bought seventeen sheep from there, all of them adult sheep, lambs from last year. I bought them for 25 yuan each. These people wanted to buy my sheep, but I sold them for 30 yuan each, making a profit of 85 yuan.”

"Eighty-five, that's not much." Liang Shuangcheng always received a red envelope of one or two hundred yuan from Li Long, so he didn't feel that eighty-five was much.

"Isn't that a lot? Eighty-five! That's three sheep!" Yu Shanjiang exclaimed excitedly. "Before, I slaughtered sheep, three or four a day, earning twenty or thirty yuan, which is about the price of one sheep. Now I've earned several days' worth of money all at once, isn't that a lot?"

"That's quite a lot." Liang Shuangcheng thought for a moment and agreed, then asked, "So, will you continue to make money like this in the future?"

"No, no, no, right now we mainly focus on slaughtering sheep and selling meat, but I think I can figure out how to make money from wholesale. Not everyone knows there's a livestock wholesale market over there in Mahe."

Some people need less lamb and don't want to go there. I think I can profit from that price difference. However, this takes time, so let's not rush it.

"Yes, don't rush. Doing a wholesale order occasionally isn't very common right now. What you need to focus on is stabilizing your core business. Earning a little every day is a steady stream. Once you understand the market, then you can talk about wholesale later."

Yu Shanjiang nodded repeatedly. He was a novice when it came to making money and doing business, and he naturally wanted to learn from Li Long, who had built such a large business. Therefore, he remembered every word Li Long said.

Whether it will be useful or not is another matter.

Yushanjiang came over to tell Li Long. Although it was only eighty-five yuan, which was far less than Li Long's business, it was a new step for him and gave him a new feeling.

So I helped Li Long sort the hides for a while, and then Li Long chased me away. Li Long's point was that the sheep he brought back had been bought up wholesale, and he definitely needed to buy some more, otherwise he wouldn't be able to supply enough mutton for the various locations tomorrow.

In fact, Li Long was genuinely happy for Yushanjiang.

Although this wholesale deal had a lot of randomness involved, it's good that Yushanjiang was able to learn something from it.

That's how business is done, step by step. He started by selling fish, and now he's built a huge business.

He believes that Yushanjiang will definitely succeed in the future, but growth takes time.

With so many hides, it would take a long time to finish. Li Long and Liang Shuangcheng worked until almost dark and only managed to get less than a fifth of them.

My back and waist are already aching.

We need to continue working on this.

The next day, after seeing Liu Gaolou off, Li Long continued cleaning the hides with Liang Shuangcheng and Sun Jiaqiang. With the three of them working together, they could divide the tasks: Li Long specifically categorized the hides, separating whole hides from damaged ones.

Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng were responsible for scraping off the grease from the leather and smoothing out the fur.

Finally, apply another layer of salt water to it to ensure it doesn't spoil.

Those undried hides need to be dried for another half a day. After they are dried, they will be bundled up according to quantity and wait for Zhao Hui to come and collect them.

It took almost a week to finish processing the leather.

It usually takes longer, but it wasn't as hot back then, and the skin didn't have as many problems.

Before the leather was even finished, Yushanjiang came again, and this time he had made new progress.

“I went around looking for two shops myself. They sell mutton themselves. Maybe it's because I'm also from an ethnic group, but after we met twice, they would buy sheep from me every day. One shop would buy three sheep, and the other would buy two.” Yushanjiang wasn't as excited as before, but Li Long could tell that he was suppressing his emotions.

Well, that's a good thing.

By moving forward step by step, it will eventually grow from a small business into a behemoth.

Li Long looked forward to it.

PS: Thank you to Crocodile Tears L for the donation, and thank you to Shu Xinyu, For 1982 Fishing Village, Universe Singularity, Xie Lan'an, Book Friend 20230102101753952, AA Pure White, Hu Guibu, Mr. Ah Bai and other book friends for their donations. Thank you all!

(End of this chapter)