Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The ripples caused by the cooperative's profit distribution slowly spread throughout the fourth production team, and even extended to the entire brigade, becoming known even in the township.

The cooperative production model appeared more than 20 years ago, but it was replaced by the commune not long after, so many people are not clear about its role.

Or it's unclear what its specific role is under the current household contract responsibility system.

So when Li Long and his cooperative was established for a year and had already made a profit, it shocked many people.

It's possible to work alone, but no one can possibly have all the necessary farm machinery. Even if they did, there wouldn't be enough people to operate them all.

Therefore, the advantage of having many people is evident at this point. By establishing cooperatives, rationally dividing labor, and strictly implementing established rules and regulations, making money from land seems quite promising.

So it wasn't just many people in the fourth team who wanted to learn from it; people in other production teams also had this idea.

So the day after the dividends were distributed, people came to inquire about the rules and regulations of the cooperative. They were mainly looking for Xie Yundong.

However, Xie Yundong was not at home at the moment. Deng Guilan told the visitors that Xie Yundong had gone to the team leader's house.

At Xu Chengjun's home, Li Long and Xie Yundong sat on the sofa, waiting for their team leader to finish his work.

Xu Chengjun had just finished eating when he received a call from the township. He was on the phone.

Ma Hongmei brought sunflower seeds and tea. In winter, this is basically the standard fare in the countryside. Some diligent and studious people can also wash and roast gourd seeds, or simply boil some spiced gourd seeds, then spread them on a gauze cloth and bake them on a brick fire wall overnight before eating.

The radio on the table was playing Cui Jian's "Nothing to My Name". This song became popular after its release this year and is widely sung.

It is especially popular among teenagers and young people in their twenties who follow trends.

Xie Yundong whispered to Li Long, "What kind of song is this? What does it mean to have nothing, to have nothing left, and yet you expect a girl to follow you?"

Li Long laughed and said, "What's so special about that? Those literary youths really have nothing, yet girls still end up with them."

"And then what?" Xie Yundong asked, his face full of disbelief.

"In the end? Either they got married, or they were scammed," Li Long said casually.

The weather was sunny outside today, and the snow particles that fell yesterday didn't stay. However, the ground temperature was quite low when I woke up this morning, and there was a thin layer of frost on the ground, which made a crunching sound when I stepped on it.

After Li Long and Xie Yundong chatted for a few more minutes, Xu Chengjun hung up the phone and came over.

"I heard you guys made quite a stir yesterday. After the dividends were distributed, you even had a good drink? What, did you really make a fortune?"

"Nothing was issued, what could be issued? Each family only makes a little over ten thousand yuan," Xie Yundong said. "It's all thanks to everyone's hard work, and Xiaolong's technical guidance is also excellent."

"Hey, I should have joined the Navy too. Being too shy won't do," Xu Chengjun said with a laugh. "What brings you here today?"

"Something's up," Xie Yundong said. "Captain, you see, our cooperative has grown quite a bit, and the scale has increased. We have about ten sets of farm tools of all sizes, so we were thinking of seeing if the team could approve a piece of land so we could build a cooperative yard. Otherwise, we won't have anywhere to put our farm tools and supplies."

"Hey, you're asking me for territory, huh?" Xu Chengjun didn't agree immediately, but continued to ask, "Looks like you have confidence in the cooperative and want to continue running it?"

“Yes,” Li Long said. “From what we’ve seen so far, there’s nothing wrong with the rules and regulations we’ve established in our cooperative. Also, everyone in the cooperative is very clear about their responsibilities.”

"Through everyone's hard work this year, the crops on these thousand or so acres have grown quite well, and we've made money. So we're thinking of continuing this cooperative plan in the future."

"Have you thought about expanding?" Xu Chengjun took out a pack of cigarettes, pulled out two, gave one to Xie Yundong, and gestured to Li Long.

Li Long waved his hand, indicating that he wouldn't smoke.

Xie Yundong had already taken out a lighter and lit it for himself when Xu Chengjun reached out his hand to Xie Yundong.

Xie Yundong handed over the lighter, and Li Long then said, "Not yet. We're just thinking of consolidating things first. If we can get it done this year, we'll be feeling our way across the river..."

"What about the stones? Where did you touch?" Xu Chengjun lit a cigarette, handed the lighter back to Xie Yundong, took a deep drag of his cigarette, and asked as he exhaled.

"Ask my older brother, he's just touching the stones of the old cooperatives." Li Long smiled. "Although I wasn't there at the time, my older brother and his group were. The establishment of cooperatives back then was the continuation of mutual aid groups and the predecessor of the people's communes."

“That’s right, your older brother started farming early, so he knows about these things.” Xu Chengjun immediately understood.

“The rules of the cooperatives back then can serve as a reference for our current cooperatives. Of course, times have changed, and the specific content is also different,” Li Long continued. “We have made a lot of changes. Right now, it’s experimental, so we don’t plan to add more people for the time being. We’ll do it for another two years.”

Xu Chengjun nodded, took another puff of his cigarette, and asked, "Do you know who made the call just now?"

"Who?" Xie Yundong couldn't help but ask.

“Township head,” Xu Chengjun said, “I specifically came to ask about your cooperative.”

"Township head? Which township head?"

“The head of the township!” Xu Chengjun said very seriously, “The top leader of the township asked about the specific situation of the cooperative, so I gave him a general overview. I also asked if you should report to the township, but the township said it wasn’t necessary, since there’s no regulation saying that cooperatives can’t be established, so this can be done.”

"The township is also paying attention to this?" Xie Yundong was a little surprised. "Could there be some misunderstanding?"

"Don't worry, they think you've done a good job, that's why they asked," Xu Chengjun smiled. "But getting land approved for the cooperative to build a yard... that's not easy."

You know, a lot of people in our team are thinking of starting their own cooperative now that they know your cooperative is up and running. If they all apply for residential land from the team, then…”

“Then let’s approve it. But at least we should do it after a year of hard work and see results,” Li Long said with a smile. “Setting up a cooperative isn’t as simple as just three or five families getting together. If it were, it would be meaningless.”

Furthermore, establishing a cooperative requires proper implementation. No matter how good the regulations are, poor execution will render them ineffective. Other members of the team may have no problem setting one up, but you'll see how many actually stick with it.

"What if you stick to it all?" Xu Chengjun asked rhetorically.

“If we can really stick to it, that’s a good thing. It means the cooperative can make money, which will help increase our team’s income,” Li Long said matter-of-factly. “If we can stick to it, we can get land approved.”

"This..." Xu Chengjun hadn't thought of it from that perspective.

“Captain, think about it. Most of the people who want to set up cooperatives now probably want to learn from us, right?” Li Long continued to analyze for him. “They probably all want to reclaim wasteland, right? After three years of cultivating the reclaimed wasteland, won’t they have to pay management fees? That would also benefit the team.”

“I think it will benefit your family the most,” Xu Chengjun countered Li Long. “The more wasteland the team clears, the more money your big-horsepower tractor will make, right?”

“That’s true. It’s a win-win situation. Everyone makes money from the land, and we make money from plowing. We’re also serving everyone.” Li Long didn’t feel embarrassed at all and said with a smile.

"So, you're the one... Okay, it's approved. Have you checked where it is?"

"Next to the old horse," Xie Yundong said. "We took a look and decided that three to five acres of land there would be enough. We plan to build a row of workshops and warehouses, and then put up sheds to store tractors and other farm tools and supplies."

"That's fine. Put it next to Old Ma's, no worries about it being stolen," Xu Chengjun said. "Anyway, that area is wasteland, nobody wants it now. By the way, it'll be spring by now, right? When do you plan to mark out the land?"

"It would be best if it happened in the next couple of days, so that if it goes on for too long, other people will have their eyes on that piece of land," Li Long said.

“Okay, shall we do it today? I see the weather is clear. Let’s go take a look, bring some bricks and wooden wedges, and mark the ground.” Xu Chengjun is the kind of person who gets things done as soon as he says it, so as soon as he hears it, he plans to get it done without delay.

Sitting in Li Long's Land Cruiser, Xu Chengjun patted the seat, then the roof, and exclaimed:

"This car must be expensive, right? It looks better than a GAZ-equipped one!"

Li Long smiled, while Xie Yundong said, "Over 100,000 yuan, even more expensive than a new car."

"I can't afford it, I can't afford it!" Xu Chengjun sighed. "I wonder when we'll be able to drive one of these cars!"

“Yes, we can drive them,” Li Long said. “In a few years, once our domestic cars have taken off, every family in the team will be able to drive one of these cars.”

"How could that be?" Xu Chengjun looked incredulous. "If every family had a car, wouldn't that be communism? Impossible, impossible."

Li Long didn't explain to him, just smiled and didn't say anything more.

“However, if more cooperatives are established, and people can work and earn money like you, it’s quite possible that in ten or twenty years, that will happen.” Seeing that Li Long didn’t speak, Xu Chengjun contradicted himself and began to analyze the situation.

The car stopped in front of Lao Ma's house. Uncle Luo and the others heard the car and came out to see what was going on.

Seeing that it was Li Long and the other two, Uncle Luo smiled and said, "Hey, what brings the three of you together?"

“Xiaolong said he wants to build a cooperative yard next to your horse stable, so we came to check out the place,” Xu Chengjun said. “Old Luo, you’re really worth it here.”

"Hey, that's right," Uncle Luo said with a smile. "Having food and drink, and something to do, that's definitely good." He then asked Li Long, "Building a yard over there? How big? Which side?"

"It's to the east, next to Old Horse's stable. If no one's around, you can help keep an eye on things from there."

"Alright, alright," Uncle Luo said with a smile.

To the west of Lao Ma Hao is the saline-alkali land contracted by Li Long, and to the east is a low-lying area with a nearly 100-meter-long stretch of wasteland, beyond which lies farmland.

This is the piece of land that Li Long and Xie Yundong have their eyes on.

"Did Old Yang go to herd the cattle and sheep?" Li Long asked, noticing that the new pen was open and empty.

"Yeah, he can't stay idle. Not only did he go, but Old Zhao went with him too," Uncle Luo said. "The rest of us are looking after the red deer and roe deer in the enclosure."

After chatting with Uncle Luo for a few minutes, Li Long and his group went to check on the land.

The section from the road to Lao Ma Hao was paved with asphalt, so it was dry and comfortable to walk on. But down to the wasteland to the east, there was a layer of white salt and alkali on the surface, and underneath, the snow particles from yesterday had melted, making it damp.

Stepping on it with your shoes spreads the white salt and alkali, revealing the black oily alkali underneath.

Xu Chengjun stepped into the alkaline mud twice, and while looking for a place to rub his feet, he said with disgust:

"With so much black alkali soil down here, even if you gave the land to someone for free, they wouldn't farm it, would they?"

Li Long said, "That's not necessarily true. This land looks difficult to cultivate now, but if we really plow it up, flood it to wash away the alkalinity, and apply some targeted fertilizers, we should still be able to grow cotton."

"That's true. Besides, this piece of land is relatively close to the residential area. It extends to about 30 or 40 mu (1.6 to 2.6 acres), less than 50 mu (3.3 acres). The team can approve it. So if we don't apply for this land, someone else will definitely take it."

"I feel like a lot of people in the team are a bit crazy, recklessly grabbing onto wasteland first," Li Long continued. "They want any kind of land, but can anything be grown here? Maybe it will be possible to grow something in twenty or thirty years, but right now..."

"You act like you know what things will be like in twenty or thirty years," Xu Chengjun said disdainfully. "Besides, wasn't this all your doing?"

Li Long smiled awkwardly, "That's true."

However, I suspect many will regret it later. Even if so much wasteland is reclaimed, some people will likely only plant it for a year and then stop, or even not plant it at all, simply plowing it up and leaving it there.

Ten years later, other villages in the vicinity will also experience the same situation, namely, occupying land first.

Land is a non-renewable resource, especially land that has been plowed and is still suitable for further development; it is particularly precious. Considering that land prices in later generations often exceed a thousand, Li Long can understand how these people feel.

The three of them arrived at the place Xie Yundong and the others had chosen while they were talking.

It's level with Old Ma's ship, but some distance from the main road. It's lower than Old Ma's ship, and according to Li Long and his team's plan, when building the warehouse and workshop, they'll have to remove a layer of soil from the ground, so it will be even lower.

In short, the soil needs to be leveled and should not be saline-alkali soil.

The project is not small.

But when it comes to the actual amount of money, it's not much.

Li Long and his team plan to finish the work on the courtyard next spring. He intends to have Meng Hai and others come and do the work, skipping the clods and going straight to bricks.

The main reason is that people in the team have become richer in the past two years, and the price of adobe blocks has also gone up, so it's more convenient to just use bricks.

This is just his current plan; he'll discuss it with the other members of the cooperative when the time comes. After all, he's not the manager, just the technical supervisor.

"Just this area, right? How big can it be?" Xu Chengjun asked. "It can't be as big as the old horse farm, can it? Your old and new horse farms combined must be twenty or thirty acres."

"No, no," Li Long hurriedly said, "At most seven or eight mu, definitely no more than ten mu. It's mainly for convenience to park some farm implements. Think about it, right now we only have five or six tractors, plus other supporting equipment. As we develop further, we might need to park even higher-powered ones..."

“Alright, alright, go ahead and draw the lines,” Xu Chengjun said. “Who told you to do such a good job? I’ll look good when I go to the township meeting. This is an organization, a collective, it’s different from other things.”

Li Long thought to himself, "I didn't expect Xu Chengjun to have such a strong sense of political achievement."

He and Xie Yundong then took the prepared bricks to the wasteland and marked off the four corners. They estimated it to be five, six, seven, or eight mu (approximately 0.27-0.33 hectares), but that was basically just an estimate. Since it was all wasteland anyway, whether they built a factory or cleared it was entirely up to the team.

Xu Chengjun only needed to go back and report it. At that time, the way wasteland was handled was so crude; as long as it was less than fifty mu, the team could make a decision.

As for the meeting... Xu Chengjun was 80% confident that no one would object to it. Firstly, he had agreed, and secondly, given the connections of the Li family and the cooperative, no one else needed to stop him.

After placing the bricks, Xie Yundong said he would cut wooden wedges and come over in the afternoon to hammer them into the ground to secure the foundation stakes.

"Let's get out of here, this black alkali is disgusting." As soon as Xu Chengjun saw them set up the bricks, he turned around and left. He walked to the asphalt road next to the car, vigorously rubbed the alkali mud off the soles of his shoes, and then got into the car.

After dropping the team leader off, Li Long took Xie Yundong home. Seeing several people at his door, Li Long smiled and said from inside the car, "Old Xie, you're busy, I'm leaving."

There was a bag of cash in Li Long's car, 140,000 yuan.

The 40,000 was yesterday's dividend, which Li Jianguo didn't take a single penny of and gave to Li Long.

The 100,000 yuan was for the tractors—according to Li Jianguo, the two high-horsepower tractors had made a lot of money that year, but now they had brought in another high-horsepower tractor from Li Long.

We're brothers, but we can't let the younger brother suffer a loss. Consider this 100,000 as this year's profit.

Li Long initially refused, feeling that if his older brother gave him 100,000 yuan, the family wouldn't have much money left.

Li Jianguo chuckled: "You underestimate the money these two high-horsepower tractors have made this year. After deducting costs, the net profit is no less than 150,000! I'm underestimating... Besides, these tractors are at home, how could they be cheap?"

Hearing this, Li Long felt relieved. He was worried that his older brother wouldn't even have enough money to share with Li Junfeng and the others.

When Li Long drove to the township, he saw Principal Yang of the Agricultural Broadcasting School standing by the roadside. After seeing his car, Principal Yang craned his neck to look at the person in the driver's seat, and only reached out his hand when he was about to drive past.

Li Long hurriedly passed him and stopped on the side of the road.

"Li Long, right? I thought you were still driving your old car. You've changed cars now." Principal Yang shook hands with Li Long as he got out of the car and said with a smile, "This car is much more impressive than the old one."

"Haha, Principal, were you waiting for me?" Li Long asked, not wanting to discuss the car's condition.

"Yes. First, I called your purchasing station to tell them you had arrived at the team. Then I checked again and called your older brother, who said you had already left, so I'm waiting here."

"What's the rush?" Li Long asked, genuinely surprised that Principal Yang had gone to such lengths to find him.

"Come on, come into my office to talk. This can't be explained in just a few words."

Li Long got into the car, drove it into the school, got out, and followed Principal Yang into his office.

A stove had been set up in the office, the cast iron stove was burning brightly, and a faint smell of coal smoke filled the air.

Looking at the makeshift tin chimney, Li Long said with a smile, "Principal Yang, is your furnace chimney not sealed properly? I see it's still emitting smoke. Do you get dizzy if you stay here for too long?"

"I was so dizzy from setting up the stove yesterday," Principal Yang said immediately upon hearing Li Long's words. "I knew it! I thought he had caught a cold... Was something not sealed properly?"

"At these two joints," Li Long pointed, "just use a lump of mud, or if that doesn't work, just wrap a piece of dough around them."

"Okay, okay, I'll get on with it in a bit. Now let's get down to business—Old Yang from the Agricultural College called me. He told me about applying for a plot of land behind the township next year to set up a drip irrigation experimental field, remember?"

“I remember, I remember,” Li Long said. “He applied for a project and said the funding would come through next year. He asked me to make a detailed list, about every single cost item related to this drip irrigation system. I only have a general idea of ​​this stuff, I don’t know the specifics. He said you know, so he told me to contact you. You see…”

"Experimental field? Drip irrigation experimental field?" Li Long knew about this beforehand, but he didn't expect Lao Yang to be so interested.

"Yes, when Lao Yang told me about it, I casually agreed, thinking we could talk about it later," Principal Yang explained. "Who would have thought that Lao Yang would actually take it so seriously?"

After he went back, I don't know what he did, but he applied for this project. Although it's an experimental project, it has funding, and quite a lot of funding. They said it would start next spring.

Now I'm completely lost. This thing... I only have a vague idea of ​​it, I've never even heard of it!

Actually, it was Professor Yang who suggested that he find Li Long. At first, he didn't believe that Li Long could pull it off, but Professor Yang said that it was impossible to contact an expert in this field in a short time. The project was approved urgently, and the submission was also urgent, with a very short timeframe.

Some staff members do their jobs like this. They could have mentioned things in advance when the approval was granted, but they insist on delaying, only remembering right before the deadline, and then issuing notices and urgently requesting materials.

Bureaucracy.

"Comrade Li Long, how about it? Can you do it?" Principal Yang didn't want to exchange pleasantries anymore. If Li Long could do it, that would be great. If not, he didn't want to waste time and needed to find someone to study it or ask for help from others.

“Open the door first, the room is too smoky,” Li Long frowned slightly before saying, “As for the drip irrigation, it depends on whether you plan to get a formal one or a simplified one.”

As he spoke, he turned around and opened the door. A blast of cold air rushed in, instantly making him more alert.

At this point, you can smell the faint smoke.

Principal Yang shivered, got up and went to the door. Seeing someone loitering outside, he hurriedly called out:
"Old Liu! Go find a lump of mud. My chimney isn't fixed properly, and there's gas leaking out!"

Old Liu quickly went off to get busy.

Principal Yang simply pulled Li Long outside and said, "Tell me, what's the proper way to do it, and what's the simplified way?"

Li Long was able to handle it, and he was immediately relieved. Judging from his appearance, he might actually be an expert!
"The formal method is a bit more complicated. A pump house needs to be built at the edge of the field to pressurize the water; otherwise, the water won't reach the drip irrigation fields."

"I see..." Principal Yang stroked his chin and nodded. "That's what I mean..."

Then he suddenly remembered something, turned around and ran to his office, grabbed a notebook and pen, and came out to say to Li Long, "You continue."

He wrote it down.

"If it's well water, it's fine. But if it's canal water, we have to dig a sedimentation tank in front of the pump house to settle the dirt in the water. Otherwise, it's easy to clog the drip irrigation nozzles."

“Yes, yes, that makes sense!” Principal Yang said.

“Next is the horizontal pipe,” Li Long continued, “which is the main pipe. If it’s just an experimental field, it’s simpler; it’s just the thick pipe at the edge of the field, and the water for the other thin drip irrigation pipes is drawn from the main pipe.”

If the plot is long, branch pipes need to be installed at intervals to supply water and pressurize the downstream drip irrigation system.

Li Long said this, and Principal Yang quickly took notes. After he finished, he frowned, looked at the content for a moment, thought about it, and then looked up and asked:

"What if it's a simplified version?"

Just then, Old Liu came over with a lump of mud from somewhere. Before Li Long could answer, Principal Yang said to Old Liu, "The joint between the two metal buckets on the chimney isn't sealed tightly, and it's emitting smoke. It's kept me up for two nights."

Old Liu blushed and quickly went inside to tidy up.

"If we're going to simplify things, then it's simple. First, since it's for your experiments, you don't even need to build a pump house; any water pump will do. Second, you don't need to drill a special well; canal water will suffice, but a sedimentation tank still needs to be dug. Third..."

"Forget it, let's be more professional," Principal Yang said hastily. "Since it's a project from the autonomous region, if we do it poorly, it won't look right."

Li Long laughed; Principal Yang wasn't stupid.

"As for the cost..." Li Long shook his head, "You'll have to see for yourself, Principal. By the way, I can help you figure out a way to make the drip irrigation tape, but for other things like drilling wells and building pump houses, you'll have to calculate those yourself."

"Of course, drip irrigation tape probably isn't cheap either."

“Now… it costs a little over one yuan per meter. If you want to plant cotton, the current narrow film costs eighty yuan, but you need two rows, plus the gap in the middle, so it’s about two meters and three rows. You need at least one thousand meters per acre.”

When Li Long did the math, he gasped in shock – it was way too expensive!

Unless cotton prices rise, unless the government provides subsidies, and unless the price of drip irrigation tape drops, it's simply unaffordable to grow them!
Sigh, just imagine that era more than 20 years from now, even in the worst-case scenario, cotton, with government subsidies, would still cost six yuan or more.

Back then, a cost of over a thousand yuan per mu wasn't considered a big deal.

Nowadays, a cost of over 100 yuan per mu is considered very high.

Take your time, there's no rush.

Principal Yang pulled Li Long back to reality:
"Comrade Li Long, can you get your hands on this drip irrigation tape? And this main pipe, branch pipe, and also, how do you set it up in the pump house? Have you ever seen it before?"

“I’ve heard of it,” Li Long said. “I got a drip irrigation system from the Soviet Union, and they’re researching it there too. I also inquired about it.”

"Shall we discuss this carefully?" Principal Yang said. "How about this, we'll give you a position as a specially appointed teacher at our Agricultural Broadcasting School. You'll start with temporary work, and you'll participate in this project as... the main person in charge. What do you think?"

Principal Yang was well-versed in the ways of officialdom and knew that he couldn't just take advantage of Li Long for free, and besides, Li Long wasn't short of money. So, if he wanted Li Long to join, he would have to invest in other areas.

That's all he could offer from an agricultural extension school; it showed great sincerity but wasn't very substantial, a fact that Principal Yang was well aware of.

But Li Long's skill was evident from those few words; he was truly capable.

Li Long hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to agree or not.

He asked a question:
"Principal Yang, are you sure this project was obtained by Professor Yang from the autonomous region?"

Why does this sound so awkward?
"It's certain, Old Yang wouldn't lie to me. He clearly stated that this project is confirmed. The higher-ups have allocated 50,000 yuan to support it," Principal Yang said. "That's quite a lot!"

Li Long thought to himself, "Fifty thousand yuan... that's really not much."

"How many acres of land do you plan to select for the experimental field?" he asked again.

"Ten acres, right? An average investment of five thousand yuan per acre, is that enough?"

The expenses are not calculated in that way. They include personnel's food and lodging, travel expenses, agricultural supplies, renovation costs, and other expenses.

"Professor Yang said that we need to submit a report as soon as possible, mainly about the progress of the experimental field renovation and the funding required for each renovation. If our report is satisfactory, then we can proceed with the project here. If it is not satisfactory, then we will have to choose a new location... and it's not just our location that's vying for it."

Fight for?

Li Long suddenly had an inspiration: was setting up this experimental field to lay the foundation for large-scale redevelopment in the future?

Does this mean that if the renovation here is successful, large-scale renovation projects will be implemented sooner, or that if this pilot project is located here, this area will have an advantage when applying for large-scale renovation projects in the future?

After all, if the experimental field is successful, he, who is nominally in charge, will at least gain some recognition.

Li Long immediately replied, "Okay, then I'll join in."

Principal Yang immediately perked up: "Hey, that's great!"

He turned his head and called out, "Old Liu, is the stove pipe ready yet?"

"Alright, alright." Old Liu came out from inside, his hands covered in mud. "It's done. Principal, would you like to take another look?"

“Okay.” Principal Yang walked in, saying as he went, “Old Liu, be more careful in your work in the future. This is my office, but if it’s too smoky in the other teachers’ offices, they’ll get dizzy and won’t be able to teach.”

Li Long found Principal Yang increasingly interesting.

Upon entering the house, sure enough, the smoke had disappeared. He specifically checked the chimney joint and found a thin layer of mud that had dried and hardened at the joint, indicating it was sealed tightly.

Li Long turned around and closed the door, and the room quickly warmed up.

"Sit down, let's continue." Principal Yang sat down in his seat with his notebook in hand, pointed to the chair opposite Li Long and said, "I can tell you're an expert in this area. You know everything. Just tell me."

“Then I’ll speak,” Li Long said. “I’ll just say whatever comes to mind.”

"Go ahead and tell me, I'll organize it later. Although I'm not good at drip irrigation here, I'm good at writing reports," Principal Yang said with a smile.

"If we plan to develop a 10-mu experimental field, we need to apply for 20 mu, and use the other 10 mu as a control, otherwise we cannot verify how much the experimental field has increased the yield."

"Yes, yes, that's the right thing to do. There are quite a few experimental fields behind the township, so applying for 20 mu shouldn't be a problem."

"Secondly, we need to determine how many experimental fields to cultivate. If it's only for one year... well, even one year should be manageable," Li Long said. "Then we should level the land at the beginning of next year."

Uneven ground is the biggest problem for drip irrigation. If the ground is uneven, the drip tape will get stuck in the middle, preventing water from reaching the later sections of the irrigation system, and that section of land will be ruined.

"Yes, yes, that's how it should be." Principal Yang immediately wrote it down.

I'm so glad I brought Li Long in; this young man is really something!
After finishing this paragraph, Principal Yang suddenly stopped writing, then stood up, opened the door, and called out:
"Little Sun, Little Sun!"

A young man immediately ran over.

"Draft a report stating that our school will appoint Comrade Li Long as a special teacher, effective immediately, to be in charge of the autonomous region's drip irrigation experimental field project for a period of one year. His salary will be the same as that of the principal. Once it's drafted, come over for my signature, and then submit it to the county for approval today!"

"Huh?" Xiao Sun glanced at Principal Yang, then at Li Long, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"What? Hurry up!" Principal Yang scolded him, "Don't delay important matters!"

"Okay, okay, I'll go right away!" Xiao Sun understood and hurriedly turned around to get to work.

Principal Yang entered his office, closed the door, returned to his seat, sat down, and said with a smile, "Come on, shall we continue?"

Li Long smiled. Just based on this attitude, Principal Yang is not bad!

So he continued speaking.

Li Long participated in the village's land leveling and renovation work from beginning to end. He knew all too well that his own large, lumpy plot of land had been bulldozed.

As for other tasks, although there were specialized engineering teams to carry out the work, such as road repair and pipeline laying, he, as the landlord, inspected them all.

Not to mention the setup inside the pump house—when watering, each household goes to the pump house to add fertilizer to the water, so he naturally knows exactly what's going on inside.

Other tasks include laying drip irrigation tape, connecting capillary nozzles, and so on.

Each and every incident was recounted in detail and with meticulous care.

He spoke quickly, and Principal Yang wrote quickly as well.

Before we knew it, it was noon.

"Let's go eat first." Hearing the doorbell ring outside, Principal Yang loosened his wrist and said to Li Long, "To be honest, although I've been studying farming at the Agricultural Broadcasting School, I never imagined that drip irrigation would have so many twists and turns. I've really learned a lot."

"Haha, everyone has their own expertise," Li Long joked, using a phrase he'd learned from a video from later generations. "Our research directions are different."

"Hey, that sounds nice." Principal Yang put away his pen and notebook and said, "Come on, come on, it's my treat today, let's have big plate chicken!"

Hey, nowadays everyone's into playing PUBG.

There's no way around it; once a new dish comes out, it quickly becomes popular, and private restaurants definitely have to follow suit. Otherwise, if someone orders the dish and you don't have it, wouldn't you lose face?

There weren't many private restaurants in the village, but Principal Yang knew which one was both delicious and inexpensive, so he took Li Long there.

The main issue is that we haven't finished talking about what happened this morning, and we need to continue in the afternoon.

Li Long rarely eats in the village. When he arrived, he found many people sitting at the tables, some of whom he recognized as village officials.

People kept greeting Principal Yang, and others greeted Li Long as well. He was a local celebrity, and quite a few people knew him.

"Alright, alright, everyone eat your own food," Principal Yang said. "If you keep talking, the food on your tables will get cold."

Some people have already ordered food, mainly noodles. Although there's a stove inside, with the current weather, the door has to be opened every now and then, so if they don't eat quickly, their food might get cold before they finish.

After all, animal fats heat up quickly and cool down quickly.

"Old Yang, I heard you order the big plate chicken. Are you afraid we'll eat your chicken when the dishes come out?" someone teased.

"Yeah, you ordered a half portion, right? Is that enough?"

"Since you're treating Comrade Li Long to a meal, you should at least make sure he's full..." the others chimed in.

"Get lost, I'd rather order one, that would be a waste." Principal Yang wasn't annoyed. "We have important business to attend to, we won't waste time talking to you. The matter in the autonomous region's document is very important."

Once the topic of work came up, the others stopped making a fuss, went to eat, and then left.

"Is it always like this?" Li Long asked.

"Pretty much, but not everyone eats here. Some bring their own lunch, some eat at home, and some eat at the company cafeteria," Principal Yang said. "If we ate here every day, our salaries wouldn't be enough."

“That’s true.” Li Long nodded. The average wage in the county has now exceeded one hundred, but in reality, the wages at the grassroots level are averaged out, and many do not reach that amount.

When half a plate of braised chicken arrived, Principal Yang asked that the belt noodles be served as well.

He wanted to finish eating quickly so he could return to school and continue catching up on his unfinished work.

Two servings of belt noodles, half a serving of braised chicken, and in the end, there was nothing left except a few onions.

"Hey, that was really satisfying." Principal Yang smiled, finished the last sip of soup, and said, "Let's go back and continue!"

When Li Long returned home that day, it was already dark.

If he hadn't told Principal Yang to come back tomorrow, Principal Yang would have wanted to keep delaying.

When Li Long got home, he found that Mingming and Haohao had been picked up and were playing with the dog in the yard, while his father stood by with his hands behind his back, smiling as he watched them.

"Dad, did you go to pick up Mingming and Haohao?" Li Long asked.

"Hmm, I knew something had gotten in the way since you hadn't returned to the purchasing station," Li Qingxia said. "Something from the village?"

"Yes, it's about the Agricultural Broadcasting School." Li Long was in a good mood.

The land redevelopment project in the village started around 2010. Now that I think about it, there must have been redevelopment before that, but we just didn't know about it at the time.

If you can catch the first bus, wouldn't you get closer to the familiar farming scene?
For this reason alone, Li Long was determined to make this experimental project a success. If it went well, it would be much easier to inquire about the autonomous region's land reclamation projects with Professor Yang later.

At least at that time, I would have the right to make suggestions and time to prepare in advance.

These are things that definitely need to be prepared for in advance.

Li Long seemed to have a feeling that he had grasped the overall situation; as long as he proceeded steadily, he was sure to succeed! (End of Chapter)