Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Professor Luo and two students stayed at the fourth team for two days—of course, they spent the day in the fields and the nights in the county's guesthouse, where the county's agricultural bureau was responsible for their accommodation.

However, Professor Luo did not allow them to accompany him to the fourth team. Every morning, after eating at the guesthouse, he would take Li Long's car to the fourth team and go directly to the fields to start working.

Li Long admires people like this; their eyes are only on their profession, their research direction, farmland, and soil.

Those are the purest kind of people; they are the true experts.

Four days later, Professor Luo and his team finished their work in the fields and returned to the university to conduct their research.

Before leaving, Li Long wanted to treat them to a meal, but Professor Luo, taking advantage of the Agricultural Bureau's invitation, ended up treating Li Long to a meal instead, with leaders from the Agricultural Bureau accompanying them.

"Little Li, when I came here, Lao Wu and Lao Yang both told me to give you their regards and to visit them more often when you have time. Lao Yang said he'd like to come and take a look when the cotton is harvested."

Your planting of 1,000 mu of cotton is of great practical significance and research value. Old Yang has other research projects this year, which were decided last year, so he can't come over often.

If your cooperative continues to grow cotton next year, he'll set up his research project here. Around the end of the year, either you go to the college, or Lao Yang will call you; we'll see how things go then.”

The leaders of the Agriculture Bureau were surprised to find that Li Long had such deep connections at the Agricultural College, and their attitude became noticeably more enthusiastic.

After dropping Professor Luo and the others off at the bus station, Li Long finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Professor Luo and his team worked very hard during this period. Li Long himself followed along, having his two students ask him questions every day, which was quite stressful for him.

However, he didn't stay idle after that. On the third day after Professor Luo and the others left, Li Xiangqian called to confirm the job of making large brooms.

Li Long quickly drove to the supply and marketing cooperative, parked the car, and hurriedly went to Li Xiangqian's office.

Li Xiangqian was looking at some documents when Li Long hurriedly knocked on the door and came in. He pointed to the sofa and said:

"You're almost thirty, why are you in such a hurry?"

"Of course I'm in a hurry, I just want to see what changes there are to this year's mission."

The money Li Long earns from making large brooms every year isn't much, but it's very valuable.

With just this big broom, he was able to firmly grasp the relationships between two companies of the Production and Construction Corps and Qingshuihe Village.

Of course, this is a mutually beneficial arrangement. People are used to making extra money from this task, and Li Long also profits from it.

His own purchasing station couldn't provide these people with more opportunities to make money, so Li Long decided to continue this task.

"The mission has arrived, but the situation isn't good." Li Xiangqian didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point. "The price has dropped, and the quantity has decreased too. Do you think you can take it?"

"How much is it, and how much?" Li Long asked, slightly startled.

“Seven yuan per broom, for a total of 40,000,” Li Xiangqian said. “I asked the management, and the reason for the price reduction is the intense competition this year. These large brooms are sold outside the district. Currently, our main sales area has been partially taken over by others, and if we don’t lower the price, we won’t be able to maintain our current selling price.”

As for the quantity, other counties and cities also have this need, Director Qian said, some counties and cities have been raising their opinions for several years. In the past, Director Qian's point was that our county's work was of very high quality, so it has been left as is.

However, this year someone suggested that other counties and cities should be given a chance, and the director's idea was to just wait and see how the quality of the finished product turned out.

Actually, it's not just other counties and cities; even within our own county, there are people vying for these tasks. However, I still believe in you. If you can handle it, the job is yours; if not, I'll give it to someone else.

"Yes, of course I can take it." Li Long nodded. In fact, he had analyzed it himself when he had nothing to do. He knew that the price and quantity of these large brooms would eventually come down. There was no way around it; if the price was too high, someone would naturally engage in price competition in the market.

There's no need to guess; it must be bamboo brooms that have entered the market and are now competing on price.

"Alright, the task for this year is still one and a half months. You'll organize and coordinate it yourself. Director Qian said that once you've collected several thousand units, you can send them directly to the state cooperative. They'll dispatch them directly to areas outside the region, which will be faster. I trust your quality control, and you have to keep up appearances for me!"

"Don't worry, Director, I will take this matter seriously." Li Long nodded.

After leaving the director's office, Li Long greeted Zhou Yuan and went outside.

In the courtyard, he saw Qin Xiangdong, the head of the oil transportation section, wiping down a car.

Qin Xiangdong saw Li Long, then glanced at the Land Cruiser he was driving, shook his head, and said:
"It's true what they say, comparisons are the thief of joy. Owning a Lada makes me a big shot in the county, but compared to you, I'm utterly powerless. Before, you drove a GAZ, which was just so-so. But after you started driving a Volga, that really elevated your status."

Now, this truck, hey, I think even if it were taken to Wucheng, it would still be among the top trucks, right? No comparison, no comparison. Mr. Li, you've really got it now!"

Li Long detected a hint of bitterness in his words, and he shook his head, saying:

"Section Chief Qin, you really only see the thief eating meat but not the thief getting beaten. You should know about the reports these past few days, right? I was in the mountains and almost got shot by those gold miners."

I didn't earn this money easily either, unlike your stable, worry-free life. It's just that I can't stay in an office, I can't do a salaried job; I wasn't born to be a government employee, there's nothing I can do about it. Besides, you envy me, but think about how many people envy you.”

After saying that, Li Long got into the car, started the engine, and drove off.

As Qin Xiangdong wiped the car, he pondered Li Long's words and realized that they were indeed true.

They eat government-subsidized food, receive a monthly salary, and have some extra income; they are truly the envy of many.

This Lada may not be as luxurious as a Volga, but it's still a car. There's not much going on at work, so I drive it to and from work, and nobody bothers me; it's like my own car.

Others can only envy this.

Why should I keep looking at Li Long with envy? He's probably the only person like him in the whole county.

If you can't compare, then don't compare. Don't make trouble for yourself.

Thinking this way, he felt better, hummed a tune, and became more cheerful, which gave him more energy to wiping the car.

Li Long drove back to the courtyard and first called Wang Mingjun.

"Li Long, right? Hey, I knew you'd call." Wang Mingjun laughed immediately upon hearing Li Long's voice. "Is it time for the big broom job?"

“They have indeed arrived,” Li Long said. “I know you planted a lot of cotton this year. The work of making big brooms conflicts with the cotton harvesting. Is everything alright over there?”

"Don't worry, we've already arranged cotton picking work here. We'll organize students from the school to come and do work-study programs. We just need someone to be in charge in the fields. As for making big brooms, we've already started. Our company has already stockpiled five or six thousand brooms—we're just worried you won't buy them."

“But I have to dampen your enthusiasm a bit,” Li Long said. “Prices have dropped this year.”

"How much has it dropped?" Wang Mingjun's heart tightened upon hearing Li Long's words. "Three yuan?"

"No, no, no, four yuan and fifty cents," Li Long said. Actually, he had intended to say four yuan, but then he thought that he was only making one trip to check the goods, and if he earned so much, his conscience would hurt.

"Four yuan and fifty cents? That's not a price reduction, is it?" Wang Mingjun was a little confused. "It's always been this price... wait a minute!"

He suddenly realized: "Did the price drop from above, and you charged me for the lower price? Xiaolong, we can't do that!"

We got this job thanks to you. You can earn yours; we're already doing well earning three or four yuan for a big broom. Four yuan, I said it! Four yuan it is!

"No, no, no," Li Longzhen wanted to slap himself. "Company Commander, no, no, I've earned enough. Don't worry, I can't take what's rightfully yours for your hard work..."

"Xiaolong, we're on the same side. If you can boost my morale and give our company a chance to earn extra money, I'll take that favor."

But we still need to be clear about this money. You take what's rightfully yours. Let me tell you, there are people scrambling to do this job, even though it's only four yuan.

Money's hard to earn these days, and you've been patronizing us year after year. Me, Old Chen, and even our somewhat disgruntled Instructor Zheng, we all acknowledge your goodwill. Four yuan is fine. By the way, don't worry about the work; the quality will be top-notch! You can trust the work done by our Production and Construction Corps!

Li Long felt something was stuck in his throat. He thought to himself, "That's not how it is. I've made quite a bit of money." But before he could say anything, Wang Mingjun changed the subject:

"By the way, is it the same on Old Zhao's side? That old rascal has been cutting reeds and making big brooms for a while now, probably even more than we are here. Last time I ran into him and asked him, he wouldn't admit it, he just kept smiling."

Tell him the same price, don't worry, he'll definitely agree... By the way, did my brother Li's two get any work-study opportunities this year? I wonder if they'll be able to come to our unit?

"I'm not sure about that. Juan and the others went to the 149th Regiment for high school, and Qiangqiang is at the Fourth Farm of the farm." Li Long mentioned this casually after hearing about it from his older brother.

"The Fourth Field is far away, so I don't have any connections there. But I know the First 149th Field well. Although it's not our troupe, we have old connections, so don't worry. My niece, Brother Li's daughter, is named Li Juan, right? Okay, once the others arrive, we'll take care of them."

After hanging up the phone, Li Long felt a warm yet bittersweet feeling in his heart.

After a while, he called Zhao Zongming and explained the situation.

Just as Wang Mingjun had predicted, Zhao Zongming had no objections after hearing about the four yuan. Making money was difficult at the moment, and being able to earn money outside of the agricultural planting tasks assigned by the Corps was already a very good thing. Why would he be picky?

Zhao Zongming also confidently stated that he would guarantee a minimum of 15,000 yuan and strive for a target of over 20,000 yuan.

According to Wang Mingjun, they have already made at least six or seven thousand large brooms, and they should be able to make another ten thousand or so in the next half month to a month.

Cotton picking begins in late September, and the gap in between is the peak period for making large brooms. When cotton picking starts, some people will be responsible for leading the students to pick cotton, while others will be responsible for ensuring the students' food supply. The number of brooms made each day may be less.

But it will still happen.

The matter was settled like that.

Li Long felt much relieved.

When Li Long remembered to call He Yuqing in Qingshuihe, things became a bit complicated.

“Comrade Li Long, it’s not that I don’t want to take this job, it’s just that many of the able-bodied young men in our village are now being taken by Lao Meng to do the work, and they earn more money every day. Also, the quality requirements for making these large brooms are strict, and the return rate is relatively high. Making these also conflicts with our farm work.”

Upon hearing He Yuqing's explanation, Li Long understood and smiled, saying that it was alright then, and they could cooperate again in the future.

He Yuqing wasn't making excuses; he was telling the truth.

After finishing his work at the Water Resources Bureau, Meng Hai took on a job building livestock sheds for a local settlement in Xingmu Township. He estimated that he would finish the job in October.

Because the task had to be completed before the herders in the mountains moved their herdsmen to new pastures, Meng Hai not only brought along his company's regular employees but also called some able-bodied men from the village. As a result, the village's labor force was naturally reduced, making it harder to make the large brooms.

Finally, there was the villager, Li Long, who called Xu Chengjun.

In the past, the eldest brother, Li Jianguo, was responsible for inspecting and receiving the large brooms made in the village. This year, he definitely can't take on that responsibility, so Li Long wanted to ask the team leader if he had time to do it. If he did, that would be great; if not, then they should urge the two companies in the Production and Construction Corps to do it.

"Yes, but there aren't many people who can do this job this year. I estimate the whole team can only manage a few thousand at most."

“Alright, how about this,” Li Long said, “The captain can’t let you work for free. You’ll charge four yuan, and for every decent one, I’ll give you fifty cents as a commission. How about that?”

"Hey, of course that's great." Xu Chengjun had figured it out now. The team leader also needed to earn money to eat. Why not take advantage of free extra income?

Moreover, for those villagers who don't grow cash crops, being able to make money by making large brooms is a good thing. Not everyone can operate like Li Long and Xie Yundong, cultivating so much cotton.

The matter was settled like that.

After dinner, Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia about it.

Gu Xiaoxia, however, seemed to have expected this, and said:
"Actually, I thought of that a long time ago. You know what? The large brooms our school recently purchased are all made of bamboo."

These large brooms, though they fall apart or break after students sweep the yard for a month, are cheap. The school buys them at wholesale price, only four yuan a broom, so at least they look good on paper.

Those large brooms made of reeds are durable, lasting about six months, but they cost eight yuan or more, some even nine or ten yuan. They look expensive just sitting in the account book.

Li Long understood. Some people don't necessarily value practicality when buying these everyday consumables; they only care about the price. As for how long they last, some leaders don't do any work and won't care.

Moreover, the commodity economy is now widespread, and bamboo grows quickly and covers a large area, unlike reeds which have a fixed growing area.

Therefore, the scale of bamboo brooms will expand year by year, gradually squeezing out the market share of reed brooms. If reed brooms do not lower their prices, they will not be able to compete with bamboo brooms.

If the price drops to the same level as a bamboo broom, we won't be able to keep up with demand for these.

They can lower prices and produce in huge quantities, which your coarse grass broom can't compare to—you can't even beat them in terms of broom-making efficiency.

There's nothing that can be done about it. Bamboo grows all over the mountains and fields, with its own reproductive system. It's the kind of plant that you can't get rid of as long as you let it grow. Plus, it's a perennial and not easy to kill.

Although it is a perennial plant, like snow lotus, it has a harsh living environment and mostly survives in saline-alkali soil, generally growing in clumps.

Although the seed of the reed cherry tree is used for propagation, it is too difficult for that thing to take root. Even if it does take root and grow, it will be quickly cleared away if the land is good.

There are many factors that cannot be compared.

Given this, it's already quite an achievement that they've managed to secure a place in the competitive bamboo broom market over the past few years.

The couple chatted about the broom for a while and realized that this was something they couldn't interfere with; all they could do was to complete their current task well.

Recently, Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia's married life has been quite harmonious, and Li Long is less impatient in his actions. Given the current situation, he continues on this path.

Li Long judged that the two corps companies were capable of making large brooms and could basically complete the task. With the addition of the fourth team, making 40,000 large brooms should not be a problem.

The main task next is to ensure the quality of the large brooms.

So the next day he went to Wang Mingjun's company, and in the following days he frequently drove back and forth between the county and the corps.

Sunday.

After breakfast, Li Qiang pushed his bicycle out of the yard, intending to ride it. Liang Yuemei chased after him and asked:

"Qiangqiang, did you bring any money? You can't go to the county today without any money in your pocket. If you and your classmates are going to treat each other, it wouldn't be right for you not to pay."

"Mom, I have money," Li Qiang replied, patting his jacket pocket. "I'll probably have lunch at my uncle's house, and I'll be back after that."

Watching Li Qiang ride his bicycle out of the alley and onto the main road, Liang Yuemei wiped her hands on her apron and prepared to return to her courtyard. Just then, Sister-in-law Lu from across the street appeared and asked:
"What? It's Sunday already, and Qiangqiang still has to go to school?"

"Well... their school had some kind of math competition, and Qiangqiang got first place, so he went to the county to participate in the training. He has to go every week. Sigh, that kid..."

Liang Yuemei spoke with a hint of pride in her expression.

Sister-in-law Lu exclaimed in admiration:

"Your two kids are really amazing. Juan is definitely college material, and Qiangqiang is just as good, he's number one in the whole school..." "Your Tietou is amazing too. He's not good at studying, but he's great at work. I saw him unloading sacks of wheat the other day, one by one, and he unloaded a whole cart of wheat in no time. He can help the adults now."

“Hey, if you can’t study, then you have to do chores,” said Sister-in-law Lu.

After exchanging compliments about their child as was their custom, the two went to the kitchen to get busy.

Li Qiang rode his bicycle to the second team, found his classmate Wu Yujie, and the two of them went to find another classmate.

The middle school has four classes. As required by the school, one student from each class is to participate in training in the county, and the results will be determined by an exam.

The math teacher used exam papers issued by the county, selecting the top five math students from each class, for a total of twenty students taking the exam. Finally, the top student from each class went to participate in training.

Quite coincidentally, the top students in all four classes were from Li Qiang's brigade, and even three of the elementary schools, including Li Qiang's, were in the same class.

Of course, it's also possible that the students in this brigade were distributed more evenly among the three classes, while other more capable students were suppressed to varying degrees.

Three students (one of whom had already gone ahead) rode their bicycles together, chatting and laughing, to the county. The entire route was paved, making their journey much faster. The training session was held in a classroom at the No. 2 Middle School. The three locked their bicycles and went inside, chatting and laughing with the students before class began.

They had already attended several training sessions and gotten to know some students from No. 1 and No. 2 Middle Schools. It was through these training sessions that Li Qiang realized that the teaching level and quality of schools in the township were indeed much worse than those in the county.

Although the training was for math olympiad, the actual interaction involved much more than just that subject. Li Qiang and his team discovered that the city kids were significantly better at English than their rural counterparts.

Li Qiang was able to participate in such training partly because he studied the materials sent by Gu Xiaoyu in his spare time, and partly because of his own studious nature.

The training consisted of two sessions, and the content was completely different from what was taught in textbooks. It addressed some seemingly very difficult problems from different angles, even problems that seemed quite tricky to their age.

At first, he could keep up, but later he felt a bit strained. Among the four, Li Qiang was the one who persisted in learning and had a wide range of interests, so he was able to keep up to some extent.

He discovered that it wasn't just them; most of the other students in the class were the same way.

For some junior high school students in big cities, math olympiads are relatively common, but in this remote small county, they are considered advanced knowledge and are really difficult to learn.

After two classes, Li Qiang and his classmates, who had arrived earlier, went to the market. One of them bought a few bags of sunflower seeds, and Li Qiang treated them to a few skewers of grilled meat.

At the market, they ran into a female classmate. Li Qiang chatted with her for a few minutes, and after saying goodbye, the other classmates who studied math olympiad with him looked at Li Qiang and smiled.

Li Qiang blushed slightly—the female classmate he had just spoken to was quite pretty and did well in her studies. The two often discussed problems and had a good relationship, but he didn't explain anything, and the group left the market together.

The three of them went home together, while Li Qiang went to his uncle's house.

The purchasing station is closed today, so Li Qingxia drove home. At lunchtime, only Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia, along with Sister Yang and Mingming and Haohao, were there.

Mingming Haohao was very happy to see Li Qiang arrive. After Li Qiang parked the car, Mingming Haohao quickly took Li Qiang to see some hedgehogs.

The goat lambs in the yard were half-grown, so Li Long took them to the old horse stable. Mainly, they had been there to accompany Mingming and Haohao since they were little. Although September was the season for eating foals, he figured Mingming and Haohao wouldn't want to be slaughtered and eaten.

But if you bring the sheep to Old Ma's place and put them in the flock, then slaughter the other sheep later, there won't be any pressure when it comes to eating mutton.

So currently, besides the dog, the dairy goat, and a bunch of hedgehogs, the only other animals in the house are...

The older hedgehogs are relatively bolder, but the younger ones are still timid. If there's any noise, they'll burrow into the cracks in the wall or among the rocks and won't show their faces.

As Li Qiang mentioned, this training might last at least a semester, so every Sunday at noon, Sister Yang would cook something delicious. Today, she made spicy lamb trotters and a large plate of lamb tripe.

The lamb trotters and tripe were delivered by Yushanjiang. He has now handed over the job of delivering lamb to various restaurants to Buick and has started a wholesale lamb business himself.

Both live and dead sheep were accepted. The sheds Meng Hai built for them were quite large, easily accommodating a hundred or so sheep. Now, Yushanjiang puts a lot of sheep in every day. Buick is responsible for slaughtering and delivering the sheep, while he contacts people who need large quantities of cattle and sheep daily.

Yushanjiang Buick works very hard every day. He gets up early in the morning to prepare the beef and mutton that need to be slaughtered. Buick goes to deliver the goods, and Yushanjiang has to do some simple processing of the remaining scraps before Buick comes back for further processing.

Some of these finely processed items were sold to small shops, while others were given to Li Long.

Sister Yang also needs some beef and mutton—besides what Keyum sent. Keyum's business is quite large now, but fortunately, besides supplying Sister Yang's dried meat processing workshop, his main market is around Shicheng.

The large plate of lamb tripe and the large plate of spicy lamb trotters use local, not-too-spicy chili peppers, with a touch of spice added, resulting in a very good and stimulating flavor.

Since Dapanji (Big Plate Chicken) and Laziji (Spicy Chicken) became popular in restaurants, dishes like Dapanyu (Big Plate Fish), Dapandu (Big Plate Tripe), Dapanhu Layanghouzi (Big Plate Spicy Lamb Trotters), and Dapane (Big Plate Goose) have followed suit and become popular.

Moreover, these dishes each have their own unique characteristics and remained popular for thirty or forty years. Some restaurants even used these dishes as their signature dishes to attract customers.

Sister Yang enjoys cooking. After learning about these new dishes and trying them a couple of times, she learned how to make them. Since she has plenty of ingredients like Yushan River water chestnuts and Keyu wood at home, she cooks them frequently.

Gu Xiaoxia even said after eating there a few times that Sister Yang should really open a restaurant; her cooking skills would definitely be top-notch.

However, on the other hand, the money earned from running a restaurant is not as much as what Sister Yang is making now from her dried meat processing workshop.

The meat processing plant now employs seven long-term workers and seven or eight temporary workers. The dried, packaged, and shipped meat every day is not only mailed but also supplied to many shops in the county, including Shicheng.

Even the tiramisu flower has become a team leader in the processing workshop, specifically responsible for the inspection and packaging of finished products.

Besides cooking in the yard, Sister Yang's main job is to contact market suppliers. The shop that Li Long helped her buy back has now been taken back and turned into a dried meat shop, with a shop assistant hired specifically to sell the goods.

This dried meat is quite well-known. In addition to those mailed out, it has been sold in Shicheng and Beiting cities, and its popularity is very high.

Even after becoming a boss, Sister Yang still enjoys cooking every day. She takes care of all the meals at home and says she wants to learn more new cuisines so she can cook for Xiao Fang when she comes back.

This wasn't the first time Li Qiang had eaten at his uncle's house. He was a little reserved the first couple of times, but now he was much more at ease.

And to be honest, he is currently in the prime of his growth, at fourteen or fifteen years old, and his height is already close to 1.7 meters, which is about ten centimeters taller than at this time in his previous life.

He had a large appetite, and of course, the food in front of him was delicious, so he ate five of the ten or so lamb trotters on that big plate by himself.

Although Mingming Haohao hasn't been eating well lately, he was inspired by Li Qiang's eating habits and started eating eagerly, devouring a large steamed bun by himself, which earned him praise from Sister Yang.

Everyone enjoys the food she cooks, which makes Sister Yang very happy—even happier than if she were to sell an extra 50 kilograms of goods a day.

After finishing his meal, Li Qiang played with Mingming and Haohao for a while before saying goodbye to Li Long, Gu Xiaoxia, and the others, and then rode his bicycle back home.

On September 10th, Li Long took a truck from the supply and marketing cooperative and a vehicle hired from the transportation company to the Production and Construction Corps.

Wang Mingjun and Zhao Zongming have each secured more than 10,000 large brooms. Li Long plans to send this first batch of brooms to the state commune to facilitate subsequent transportation.

After all, when cotton is harvested on a large scale, he will definitely have to go to the cotton fields from time to time; he can't just not show up.

Because when Li Long came over a few times before, he had already inspected and accepted the large brooms that the company's employees had made in batches, and then transported them to the company headquarters. Now it's just a matter of loading them onto the truck.

Wang Mingjun remained enthusiastic, asking the young men in the company to help load the truck. After Li Long and the drivers finished loading, they invited people to the company canteen for unlimited servings of hand-pulled mutton and big plate chicken.

"Old Wang, do you have mutton in here?" Li Long asked Wang Mingjun in a low voice.

The Animal Protection Law has been in effect for several years, prohibiting the hunting of wild animals, and this news is quite widespread.

"I was driving a bit too fast when I went to check on the cotton plants near the sand dunes and accidentally hit one. We can't let it go to waste," Wang Mingjun explained with a wink and a smile to Li Long.

"It tastes good," Li Long said with a smile.

Hunting is something that, well, to completely ban it, we'll have to wait until all guns are confiscated. Right now, a complete ban is practically impossible.

After finishing their meal, Li Long led a long convoy to the county, where he met up with Li Xiangqian and drove directly to the prefecture.

Although the sun was almost setting when they arrived at the state commune, it did not delay the unloading of the goods.

Li Xiangqian called Director Qian, and someone was preparing. As soon as the truck arrived, the contents were unloaded, stacked, and piled up. Tomorrow, it could be sent to Wucheng, loaded onto trucks, and transported to Kouli.

While unloading, Director Qian chatted with Li Xiangqian and Li Long about the large brooms.

"Our state finally managed to get some products into the market in Kou Li, but now that market is restricted. Sigh, there's just no way to get in."

The fact that brooms could be sold in Koukou was one of Director Qian's major achievements during his tenure, but now it seems that this is no longer guaranteed.

Director Qian remained relatively calm, offering only a brief complaint about the current economic situation before falling silent. He inspected the unloaded broom and, finding its quality as excellent as ever, even praised Li Long with a smile.

Li Xiangqian did have a lot to complain about. Basically, many units in nearby counties and cities were using bamboo brooms imported from elsewhere.

The bamboo brooms looked nice and were cheap, but the quality varied greatly. Some fell apart in less than a month, and some were not handled carefully when used; if you didn't grip them properly, you would get pricked by bamboo splinters or wire.

Unlike the large broom made of reeds, which has a smooth handle that is comfortable to hold.

"Xiangqian, stop complaining. Complaining won't help. It's just because it's cheaper." Director Qian saw things very clearly. "Unless our brooms are also this price, we simply can't compete with them."

Even if you could get the goods at this price, the quantity wouldn't compare. Those people have vast bamboo groves; they could easily produce a million brooms a year. We struggle to produce even 100,000 brooms a year from our reed brooms.

This is the reality.

After unloading the goods, it was almost dark. The logistics staff from the state-run company took Li Long and his group to dinner, and then they stayed at the guesthouse before returning the next day.

Although Li Long also wanted to think of a way to find another specialty product for the state commune, he realized that there really wasn't one for the time being.

We now live in a commodity economy, where private trade has been liberalized. There are many people involved in producing profitable specialty products, and some have even formed monopolies.

For items like fritillaria and leather goods, supply and marketing cooperatives have a hard time competing with private buyers, since they can't offer high prices.

So it's very difficult.

After sending away this truckload of brooms, Li Long's pressure was greatly reduced. For the next period of time, he would go back to check on things from time to time. On September 20th, he would take away another batch. The two companies of the Corps had broomted more than 10,000 brooms, and the Fourth Team had broomted more than 2,000 qualified brooms. This way, most of the task would be completed.

At this time, Li Juan and Li Qiang also went to work-study programs with their respective groups.

After Li Juan arrived at the 149th Regiment, she was assigned to a company along with her classmates. They lived in the company's original cultural activity room, an old brick-clad building with efflorescence on the walls.

Each boy and girl had their own room, with a large open floor. They would bring large bundles of wheat straw from the threshing ground outside, spread them out, and then lay their own bedding on top of them. Each person had less than a meter of space.

Two teachers were in charge of each of the two rooms, one for boys and one for girls. Li Juan and three other girls were assigned to a family that owned 100 acres of cotton.

At this time, the workers of the Production and Construction Corps could contract land to grow cotton. Some grew more and some grew less. The difference from the local area was that the harvested cotton could only be sold to the Corps' own cotton ginning mill, and it was recorded on the books, with the settlement made by the company at the end of the year.

After Li Juan and the others had settled into their bunks, someone came looking for her.

Wang Mingjun drove his GAZ truck, which had a lot of paint chipped off, to find the company commander. He had trained with Li Juan before, and together they went to find her. They then introduced her to the company commander as the child of a veteran employee.

The company commander immediately became enthusiastic. After asking about the home of the employee Li Juan was assigned to, he promptly took Wang Mingjun and Li Juan to the employee's home as a gesture of greeting.

Li Juan was still a little unaccustomed to this situation—the school taught people to be upright and not to use connections, etc., but wasn't she openly and honestly using connections?

But when she returned and saw the expressions on her classmates' faces, she realized that she had been too naive.

Those expressions were mostly envious, even containing a hint of cautious jealousy, and an open attempt to curry favor.
"Li Juan, I didn't expect you to have connections here. I'm running out of cotton to pick later, can you help me out?"

"That's right, even though we're not from the same company, I heard the plots are together. Could you tell that employee uncle to take care of us?"

Of course, only a minority say these things; most people are just envious and then go about their own business.

Li Juan was also somewhat helpless, saying that the other party had only promised to take care of her, and would help if she couldn't pick up enough.

But everyone was already seventeen or eighteen years old, how could they possibly not pick up the task of 35 kilograms a day? She didn't take on everyone's request and casually resolved the issue.

The two teachers in charge of the management were also somewhat surprised. They didn't expect that Li Juan was not as obedient and easily persuaded as she seemed on the surface.

This was just a minor incident during my work-study program.

Although someone was there to look after me, I had to get up before dawn every day, quickly wash up, go to the landlord's house for breakfast, and then go to the cotton field to pick cotton until it was almost dark before weighing it and returning home.

Except for one night when it rained and I didn't have to work for half a day in the morning, I spent most of my time in the fields.

Even on the Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone was only given a hard mooncake that was as hard as a rock, and two Golden Delicious apples, while eating lunch in the fields.

The landlord's family did take care of Li Juan, and it was all aboveboard—for example, the cotton they assigned her was the best cotton, and when she ate, the enamel bowl of vegetables they gave her contained the most meat and the largest slice of watermelon.

Every morning, they would boil an egg for her separately. Li Juan refused several times before this treatment was discontinued.

The employees' families are generally not well-off, and this is all they can do—as Li Juan said, they are all seventeen or eighteen years old, and this is not the first time they have worked part-time to support themselves, so there is basically no problem with not having enough tasks to complete.

The landlord's original intention was to record a few extra kilograms of cotton for her each day, but Li Juan refused. The nicer they treated her, the more diligently and cleanly she picked the cotton.

When the 20-day work-study program ended, not only Li Juan, but all the students in the class, regardless of gender, were tanned dark.

But after working together for twenty days, the relationships between classmates have improved a lot, especially the boys and girls from the same farm. It feels like they have gained a sense of camaraderie in addition to their friendship as classmates.

Compared to Li Juan, Li Qiang was slightly worse off. He had no acquaintances at the Fourth Farm, and the family he was assigned to was rather poor; their meals were practically devoid of meat and oil. Even on Mid-Autumn Festival, each person only had one mooncake, and eating watermelon was a luxury.

Because the food was too bland, Li Qiang's appetite increased significantly, and he even felt hungry while picking cotton.

Fortunately, his grandmother, Du Chunfang, had given him some money when he arrived. After picking cotton and having dinner, he would go to the convenience store to buy some sesame cakes, otherwise he would get hungry in the middle of the night.

Before their work-study program was over, Li Long had already completed the task of making 40,000 large brooms. Not only did he complete it, but he also had more than 400 extra brooms, which Li Long collected and took to the purchasing station.

The task was brought to the state's social media platform, and he planned to sell these four hundred large sweeps at the recycling station.

It would take some time to settle accounts with the state commune, but Li Long had already advanced the payments to several villages, thus completing this task.

Next, he also needs to go check on the cooperative's cotton.

PS: Thank you to reader Crocodile Tears L for the two large donations, thank you to reader uiru for the donation, and thank you to readers Earl Vinc, Confused Da Xian GG, Wolf Says Dear Sheep, Feeling My Account Was Cleared, Wang Xi, and others for their donations. (End of Chapter)