Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1294 Project Finalized, Great Undertaking Begins

Li Long ultimately decided not to stay and hunt wolves. Although he had brought a gun, he thought he would have to squeeze into someone else's winter kennel, so he decided against it.

After all, Halim and his family had only been back from the summer ranch for a few days. They had no choice but to live together before, especially with the old lady and two children. Now that it was just the couple, it would be like being a third wheel if I stayed behind.

Li Long found himself a good excuse: after eating meat and drinking a little wine, he took some meat and offal and went down the mountain.

As Li Long turned his head at the exit of the mountain, he saw a person walking along the path with a cane on the ridge to the east. The deep snow made it difficult for him to move, but he did not stop for a moment.

Li Long thought that if the person called out, he would stop and pull the other person up, but after seeing him, the person did not wave or call out. Instead, as if afraid that he would be discovered, he hurriedly turned to the south side of the mountain.

Li Long then understood that the other party did not want to see him.

Then let's not meet.

On the way back, Li Long was still wondering, what is this person doing in the mountains in this heavy snow? Hunting? If they are hunting, they shouldn't be wandering around the outer mountains, they should be going further in.

Could it be that they're treasure hunting after all?
The Big Mantou Mountain still hasn't been found. The treasure I reported to the authorities probably wasn't hidden by Sheng Shicai, so where in the mountains are those several cartloads of wealth that Sheng Shicai hid still buried?

This person is quite persistent.

Li Long is no longer so fixated on the treasure in the mountains. The situation there is so complicated; he couldn't find it even after so many years in his previous life, so he'll just leave it to fate this time.

After returning to the county with those things, Li Long went straight to the courtyard.

Yushanjiang is staying in the mountains today and won't be coming back. Li Long put the things he brought back in the kitchen, then boiled water and started processing them.

Han Fang only comes back once every week or two after going to the teachers' college, so the courtyard has become much quieter. Li Long cut off a piece of offal and threw it into Xiao Hei's food bowl. Xiao Hei shook its head and licked Li Long's clothes before lowering its head to eat.

Xiao Hei's life in the Li family is not bad. Although he mainly eats leftovers, the Li family's leftovers are naturally different from other families'. They are oily and often contain meat, so Xiao Hei is now shiny and looks very energetic.

Li Long boiled some warm water in the kitchen, rinsed the offal again, and then started braising it. In winter, once it's braised, it can be stored in the storage room. When you want to eat it, you can slice it up, make a dipping sauce, and it'll be perfect.

With nothing else to do, Li Long decided to cook dinner. He soaked some dried chili peppers, opened a bottle of tomato sauce, chopped some ginger and garlic, and planned to stir-fry some lamb offal, make some steamed buns, and cook some porridge.

He was halfway through cooking when Sister Yang returned. Seeing Li Long cooking, Sister Yang felt embarrassed, but Li Long said, "It's nothing. You're busy, and I'm free. So, whoever is free should cook, right? You're already busy enough."

Sister Yang has been very busy lately. With the end of the year approaching, several long-term customers for dried meat have called to say their demand has increased. Sister Yang's dried meat processing workshop now has sixteen temporary workers, while the number of permanent employees remains at seven, but they are already considering whether to hire more staff.

Fortunately, through years of practical experience, the processing of dried meat has developed into a mature system. As long as each step is well controlled, there will be no problems.

Therefore, Li Long never asked too much about this matter unless Sister Yang brought it up herself.

And Sister Yang never made decisions unilaterally. Although Li Long didn't ask, she would basically tell Li Long about everything at the dinner table, such as hiring people, shipping goods, and settling accounts.

As for the money after the goods are shipped, after deducting expenses, she would take out the money every quarter and give it to Li Long when he was around, and to Gu Xiaoxia when he was not around.

So on a few occasions when Li Long returned from errands, Gu Xiaoxia would take out money for him and explain that it was a share of the profits from the dried meat workshop, but Li Long would wave his hand and tell Gu Xiaoxia to keep it herself.

Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia were very casual about money. They, along with Sister Yang and sometimes even Li Qingxia, would handle the household expenses.

Gu Xiaoxia kept her own salary, and Li Long would occasionally give her some money to save or spend. As for Li Long's own earnings, he saved some and invested the rest.

So, in terms of finances, everyone manages their own affairs, whoever has the money keeps it, and Li Long regularly gives Gu Xiaoxia subsidies. That's the current situation.

At work, and even when she returned to the Fourth Team during holidays, people would ask Gu Xiaoxia who managed her family's money, and Gu Xiaoxia would say that she managed her own.

Some colleagues encouraged Gu Xiaoxia to take over the financial control from Li Long, saying that men with money are prone to going astray, and only by controlling their finances can you control them.

Gu Xiaoxia wasn't stupid; she could tell from their expressions which ones were genuinely worried about her and which ones had ulterior motives.

Anyway, she wouldn't talk to Li Long about this... She doesn't have the ability to make money, her family is doing well now, and Li Long doesn't have any bad habits, so why should she change? Wouldn't that just make herself uncomfortable?
At that time, there was no such thing as "handing over" wages. Men and women were equal. I don't know which rotten egg yolk guys came up with this idea of ​​"handing over". Isn't this creating gender inequality?
Li Long was already clear about the situation in the mountains. Now that the road was repaired, Halimu and his men's tractors were basically in use during the winter, and they would definitely be coming down the mountain several times this winter. Therefore, Li Long did not plan to go up the mountain again in the short term.

Let's wait for them to come down. If they can stay for a few more days, we can have a good drink with them.

The next day, after breakfast, Li Long dropped Mingming and Haohao off at kindergarten and then went to the recycling station. Things were relatively easy at the station then; they mainly focused on collecting hides.

He hadn't been working there long when a phone call came in, and Li Long guessed it was for him.

Sure enough, Li Qingxia, the father, called out from behind the counter: "Xiaolong, Principal Yang is on the phone."

Li Long put down his tools and went to answer the phone.

"Comrade Li Long, Professor Yang called. The project we applied for has been approved!"

"Did you pass? That's great!" Li Long was also quite happy, after all, he had put in a lot of effort, and it hadn't been in vain.

“Yes, Professor Yang called me and said the project has been approved and the funding will be disbursed soon. He told us to start preparing. Why don't you come over so we can discuss how to prepare?” Principal Yang was also very excited, and seemed a little anxious.

“Okay, but there’s really not much we can do in winter,” Li Long said after thinking for a moment. “Alright, I’ll go down in a bit. As for what we can do beforehand… I can go and get some drip irrigation tape.”

"Really? What I was most worried about was not being able to buy this drip irrigation tape. I'm really relieved that you can buy it." Principal Yang's voice immediately became relaxed. "Okay, okay, come over here quickly. I'll arrange things here and then we can discuss it together."

Li Long hung up the phone, told his father, and then drove to the Agricultural Broadcasting School.

Principal Yang stood at the gate of the courtyard and waited. When he saw Li Long's car arrive, he smiled and made way for him.

After parking the car, Li Long got out and followed Principal Yang into the office.

The stove in the office was burning brightly, and there was hardly any gas smell, which was nice. Li Long pulled out a chair and sat down. Principal Yang poured him some water, saying as he did so:

"The drip irrigation tape is the key to our experimental field. I was mainly thinking about the overall structure before, but Professor Yang said it was approved today, and that's when I realized that the drip irrigation tape is the most important thing. But I don't know where to buy it."

"How could I not know? I mentioned it during my lecture a couple of days ago. I got a set of equipment from the Kui City Machinery Factory. The equipment there has been successfully developed, it's just a bit pricey."

"But we're setting up an experimental field, so a higher price is acceptable."

“Yes, yes, yes.” Principal Yang smiled and said, “It’s a little over one yuan per meter. We’re only doing experiments on ten acres of land, so it’ll cost a little over ten thousand yuan. We have enough funding.”

“Okay, I’ll go to Kui City when I have time and bring back the drip irrigation tape first,” Li Long said. “Let’s have it ready first, and then we can talk about other things.”

Because the previous report was drafted by two people, now that Principal Yang's biggest problem, the drip irrigation tape issue, is resolved, the rest will be easy.

“It’s winter now, let’s decide on what we can do first,” Li Long said. “I’ll start with one thing, Principal, have you secured the land yet?”

"No, but I mentioned it to the township head, and he was very supportive," Principal Yang said. "The land managed by the township is usually contracted out, and now that we're setting up experimental fields, the township is more than happy to do so."

“Then our first task is to finalize the 20 mu of land for the experimental field,” Li Long said. “Once the project funding comes through, you can go and finalize the land.”

"Okay." Principal Yang opened his notebook, turned to a new page, folded a corner to show his importance, and then wrote down the matter of the contracted land.

"The second thing I need to do is buy back the drip irrigation tape," Li Long said. "I don't need to wait for the money to arrive; I can get it back first and then ask you for reimbursement."

Oh, and there are other agricultural supplies, including fertilizers and seeds. I can buy fertilizers myself, but for seeds, I suggest you talk to Professor Yang and let him decide.

“Okay.” Principal Yang continued to take notes. At this moment, he felt that it was a wise decision to appoint Li Long as the person in charge—look, Li Long remembers everything and is confident in his abilities; he doesn’t actually need to consult with him at all.

"Furthermore, the land needs to be leveled as soon as spring arrives. This is not urgent and can be done at the same time as building the pump house."

"I can find someone to build the pump house, but these blueprints..." Principal Yang hesitated. He already knew what the pump house was for when he confirmed the report with Li Long earlier.

However, he was completely clueless about how to build the pump house.

“I’ll draw it,” Li Long sighed. “It’s actually quite simple. If we have enough funding, we can build a brick house, install a water pump inside, connect one end to a water tank, and the other end to the main pipeline leading to the ground—oh right, shouldn’t we also dig a well?”

"Yes, yes, yes." Principal Yang quickly wrote it down. "Drilling a well, drilling a well, the water quality is very important."

The land in the village is located west of the Mohe Canal. Although it uses water from the Mahe River, there are no fish in the water, which is very strange.

However, the water quality is the same as that of the fourth team, so a sedimentation tank is needed. Therefore, Principal Yang thought that it would be better to build a well, at least that would make watering more convenient.

“Then remember this well, we need to get it done as soon as spring arrives,” Li Long said. “The rest is laying the pipes. Drawing up plans now is useless; we need to level the ground before we can start.”

So, the only thing they could do now was for Li Long and Principal Yang to split up. Li Long went to the Kuishi Machinery Factory to buy drip irrigation tape, while Principal Yang went to the township head to finalize the land contracting arrangements.

As for the rest, they can only be planned on paper for now.

Li Long took the white paper, pen, and ruler handed to him by Principal Yang and began to draw.

The pump house was something he knew very well. Back when the farmland of Team Four had just been renovated, every year when planting crops, he had to go into the pump house to supervise the five irrigations and add fertilizer. So he could draw what the pump house looked like without even having to recall it.

After drawing it, he pointed it out to Principal Yang and said, "This direction depends on where your well is drilled and the actual environment. The pump house should look something like this. It doesn't need to be too big. We only have ten acres of land, but this pump house can actually manage several hundred acres."

Principal Yang watched as Li Long easily drew the pump house. He took the paper, examined it carefully, and asked, "Is that all?"

"That's it, what else do you want?" Li Long smiled.

"That's good then. You're an authority now." Principal Yang was satisfied. "Professor Yang, come over in a while, and we'll discuss it together then."

"Alright, let's get ready then." Li Long nodded. With this experimental project successfully launched, they had taken another big step towards their goal.

not bad.

Although we are still far from there, and some things will take time and require some impetus from higher levels, we are still moving forward, aren't we?

"Don't leave at noon, I'll treat you to lunch. This is great news! After all those days of hard work, it finally paid off," Principal Yang said. "Today we're not having big plate chicken, that restaurant has a new big plate fish dish, I'll treat you to that."

"No way, for a celebration... I'll treat you." Li Long waved his hand. "Let's go to the county, have a big plate of tripe or a big plate of spicy lamb trotters or something. I'm from the fourth team, you should know our village's customs, we generally don't eat fish from outside."

"Why?" Principal Yang really didn't know.

“Our team has two lakes, and the fish there are so fresh. We eat there all the time. When I eat fish from outside, I always feel like it’s not fresh,” Li Long said honestly.

“Alright, alright, anyway, you, Mr. Li, are rich.” Principal Yang didn’t mince words. “You’re the boss.”

So at noon, Li Long treated Principal Yang to a big meal, and then he went back to the courtyard.

In the afternoon, he called Director Du to inquire about the drip irrigation tape.

"The complete set of equipment has been tested and the materials for the patent application have been sent. Now we just need to see the results," said Director Du. "The equipment is still powered on and there are plenty of materials. If you need a small quantity of finished drip irrigation tape, that's fine too."

"How much can you provide me?" Li Long asked.

"We have about 30 kilograms of finished product here. But as you should know, we currently only produce capillary tubes. We don't produce main tubes or branch tubes."

"That's alright. We can buy the main pipe and branch pipe at the supply store. It's the capillary tube that we need more of, so it's harder to buy. But thirty kilograms isn't enough. We need more, at least a hundred kilograms."

"Based on the current raw materials, we can produce 100 kilograms," said Factory Director Du. "Consider it an experimental machine for us. Alright, come and pick it up when you have time, and you can also take a look at the machine we've produced."

The machine has passed the trial run without any problems, so we plan to resume production when we have some free time.

One kilogram of drip irrigation tape is roughly equivalent to 100 meters, but there is a slight margin of error; it could be 80 meters or 120 meters, depending on the thickness of the pipe wall.

Therefore, ten acres of land would require approximately 10,000 meters of drip irrigation tape, weighing over 100 kilograms.

After discussing the situation with Factory Director Du, Li Long decided to go and take a look the next day.

Of course, we not only look at the drip irrigation tape, but also at the equipment itself, to see if it's the same as the one from the previous life.

During dinner, Li Long told everyone about his trip to Kui City and asked his father if he wanted to bring anything back for his second brother.

"What should I bring? Nothing." Li Qingxia spoke decisively. "He's a worker, and Xueping and Xueqin's mothers also work. Their family is well-off, and you even got him a car. What could he possibly lack? There's nothing for him to bring."

Old man Li Qingxia is now very open-minded; his children and grandchildren have their own blessings. His eldest son is responsible here, bringing everyone else over one by one. His youngest son is capable, taking good care of his older siblings. He and his wife are truly enjoying a life of happiness.

What more could I ask for? As for my children and grandchildren, they have their own lives and they are already doing very well. I just need to live my own life well and not cause trouble for them.

The main principle is non-interference.

Knowing that Li Long was going there on official business, Gu Xiaoxia started packing his things after dinner. There wasn't much to pack; Gu Xiaoyu had sent them a few thermos flasks from Yanjing. Gu Xiaoxia thought she'd prepare these for Li Long so he could fill them with warm water tomorrow; it's cold, and warm water would be more comfortable.

At that time, domestically produced thermos cups were not yet in production, so these two cups were imported products, and their performance was certainly not an issue at that time.

The next day, after breakfast, Li Long drove to Kui City, thinking he would go and come back as soon as possible, since it was clearly Gu Xiaoxia who took Hao Hao to kindergarten.

Once on Wuyi Road, Li Long clearly felt that there were more cars coming and going. Every now and then, one would come from the opposite direction, or he would have to overtake one.

Early in the morning, although the weather was sunny, the wind and snow were quite strong. The snow on Wuyi Road hadn't been cleared completely; it was pressed flat and completely covered with a layer of ice.

So Li Long drove very carefully – most of the road was fine, and the ditches on both sides weren't very deep, but there was one section where the ditch was about two meters deep. If he didn't drive carefully and went down into it, it was hard to say whether he would get injured.

He also saw traces of cars sliding down into the ditch; it was a complete mess.

As the car drove past Shicheng, Li Long was surprised to find that the roadside no longer seemed so desolate. There were traces of land being cultivated, and a few low-rise houses appeared to have been added, with signs of cooking fires.

That's how people slowly started to settle down.

They drove west for a long time, not very fast, and frequently looked to both sides of the road, but they didn't see any gazelles or deer. Of course, there were footprints, but they didn't see any actual animals.

Perhaps it's because there are more people and cars that the wild animals dare not come over.

Of course, it's also possible that the price of the pelts has been relatively high in the past two years, leading to more hunting and a decrease in the population, which is why they are no longer seen.

Li Long sighed, thinking that it would take a long time to recover the ability to see herds of gazelles at a glance.

Just as he was feeling a bit disappointed, and the car had passed Anjihai and was still more than ten kilometers away from Kui City, he suddenly saw a group of about ten gazelles grazing on a few shrubs in the snow-covered Gobi Desert on the north side of the road, occasionally looking up at the road.

Li Long guessed that the herd of gazelles were waiting for his car to pass before they decided to cross the road.

He had a gun in his car, but he had no intention of firing it—there were clearly a few cubs in the herd, and even those few were the herd's hope.

Sure enough, after accelerating through this section, Li Long lifted the accelerator slightly and saw in the rearview mirror that the herd of gazelles quickly crossed Wuyi Road and headed south. The little gazelles even hopped around a few times on the road before their mothers called them back and drove them away.

Upon seeing the herd of gazelles, Li Long's mood improved considerably. He hummed a song as he continued driving forward, turned off at the military post, and then headed to the machinery factory.

It wasn't lunchtime yet, and this was the first time the gatekeeper had seen the car. However, after seeing that Li Long was inside, he smiled and let it pass.

It hadn't been long since Li Long last came here, but he could still tell that the courtyard had changed quite a bit.

It seems that a few more workshops have been added. The western wall has been demolished and the area has been expanded outwards. I don't know if the bungalows outside are for dormitories or warehouses.

A new parking area had been added to the yard, and there were two cars parked there: a van and a jeep.

The snow in the yard had been cleared very cleanly, and a hand-held snowplow was parked right next to the van.

Li Long parked the car and got out, just as he saw Director Du come out of the office building, smiling as he greeted him, "You're quick! You've changed cars again?"

"Yeah, we changed to a different one. This off-road vehicle is more convenient," Li Long said. "It's a Land Cruiser, easier to drive than the old GAZ. Do you want one?"

"It's not cheap, is it? I'll pass." Director Du waved his hand. "It's not that I can't afford it, it's just that there's no need for it, and I have to be careful about the impact—even the top two officials in the city only drive Santanas."

Yes, this car is clearly more upscale than the Santana.

Li Long followed Director Du into the office building, sat down in his office, and asked, "Can you take a break now that it's winter?"

"How is that possible?" Factory Director Du pointed outside and said, "Did you hear that? The machines have been running non-stop. Snow removal machines are selling like hotcakes right now. We've scheduled them for delivery on weekends, and every weekend truckloads are being hauled out. Even so, we don't know if we can meet our order targets by the end of the year."

"Are you complaining or smug?" Li Long smiled as he took the water offered to him, took a sip, and put it down again, saying, "Isn't it good to have orders? It's good to make money."

"It's pretty good, but to be honest, I'm a little unsatisfied." After sitting down, Director Du lit a cigarette for himself. Knowing that Li Long didn't smoke, he didn't offer it to him and continued:
“Before you came, if our factory had orders every day, I would be overjoyed. Now, we have orders every day, but I feel that these products don’t have much technical content, so it’s hard to say they’re presentable. Of course, it’s not that they don’t have any technical content, it’s just that the technical content is relatively low.”

"You should be content." Li Long thought to himself, "This is the Versailles of the future, isn't it? Many factories don't even have orders now. Why don't you transfer your orders out and see? Even if you only give someone thirty or fifty yuan in profit for each snow removal machine, they would definitely be willing to do it."

"Hehe, it's just an example," Factory Director Du chuckled. "Looking at those complete sets of drip irrigation tape production equipment now, I think producing this is much more high-end. Producing one set would cost hundreds of thousands, right? One unit is equivalent to hundreds of machines!"

After chatting about production for a while, Li Long said he needed to get drip irrigation tape and had to go back today. So Director Du took him to the equipment workshop, saying as they walked, "Don't rush off. Take a look at the equipment we're producing."

"The technology was mainly developed by you, so you should at least check if it matches your vision of what equipment is like."

Upon arriving at the equipment room, Li Long looked at the equipment and a strange thought began to form in his mind.

It's roughly the same as the drawing I made, but there are some differences in the details. It's probably based on the equipment that was brought over from Kazakhstan.

After all, some materials and processes are simply impossible to produce, so lowering the design concept is acceptable.

The equipment room reeked of heated plastic. Li Long looked at the piles of finished drip irrigation tape next to him.

He asked, "Director Du, are all these drip irrigation tapes up to standard?"

"It's all in order. All the connectors for the branch pipes are there. These drip irrigation tapes are spaced 10 centimeters apart. If you're going to use them, remember to adjust them properly when you're doing the adjustment."

"No problem." Li Long nodded, then, noticing the raw material bags next to the feed inlet, asked, "Can we start production now?"

"Sure, why don't you want to give it a try?"

"Let's give it a try," Li Long said. "Will it work?"

"Of course, no problem," said Director Du. "I'll go get Engineer Deng and the others right now."

"No need. I'm just checking on the production situation. No need to bother them." Li Long waved his hand, then checked the equipment to make sure everything was okay before going to the switch and turning it on.

As soon as the power switch was turned on, the machine started running with a rumbling sound. Li Long went to the feed inlet and began pouring raw materials into it.

"You even know the proportions?" Factory Director Du was somewhat surprised. "You seem quite skilled at it, huh!"

Li Long put the waste material and the new material in together, and soon he heard the sound of the raw materials being crushed. Shortly afterward, the drip irrigation tape was produced.

After producing several dozen meters of drip irrigation tape, Li Long nodded. "That's about right, just like that." So he waited until all the material he had fed in was used up, and then turned off the power.

At this moment, Engineer Deng and his team arrived after hearing the commotion. Seeing Li Long and Factory Director Du in the equipment room, they were relieved and came over to chat with Li Long for a few minutes.

The equipment has been produced, but there are still some details to consider. Engineer Deng felt it would be better to discuss these issues with Li Long in person.

So they started discussing it in front of the device.

Director Du couldn't get a word in edgewise, but he didn't sit idle. He asked Li Long for the key and had someone move four rolls of 120-kilogram drip irrigation tape and connectors to the car.

After Li Long and Engineer Deng finished their discussion, it was lunchtime, so they went to the cafeteria together.

This wasn't the first time we'd eaten here. While we were eating, Engineer Deng was still asking Li Long a question.

In his view, Li Long was indeed an expert in this field. Although his research was not as detailed as his, he still knew a lot about the major aspects.

Discussing things with him can bring me a lot of inspiration.

After the meal, Director Du arranged a place for Li Long to rest, but Li Long declined, intending to go back as he pleased.

Before leaving, we still need to get a receipt from Director Du, saying that these drip irrigation tapes need to be reimbursed and he will pay for them; this is a business-to-business matter.

Factory Director Du asked the finance department to issue him an invoice, and the finance department also accepted Li Long's money. Deducting Li Long's dividends would not be a problem, but these are two separate matters and are more troublesome, so they simply accepted the money and handled it officially.

Of course, the money was only charged at cost price, which was considered a favor to Li Long.

Anyway, the machinery factory sells equipment, not drip irrigation tape. This thing is an experimental product, so selling it at cost is not much.

As long as it's not wasteful.

After saying goodbye to Director Du and the others, Li Long drove back. Although the days are shorter now, the two places are only a little over 100 kilometers apart, and they are mostly national highways like the Urumqi-Yining Highway, so the drive is still quite fast.

The weather was sunny, and the sunlight shone from behind. Li Long hummed a song as he drove, hoping to see if he could encounter a yellow sheep on his way back.

This time, I didn't see it at all.

When he drove back to Ma County, the sun hadn't set yet, so he simply stepped on the gas and drove straight to the Agricultural Broadcasting School, where he found Principal Yang just as school was about to let out.

"You brought it over already?" Principal Yang was somewhat surprised as he watched Li Long drive the car to his office and unload the drip irrigation tape from the trunk. "Li Long, you're quite efficient!"

"Haha," Li Long said as he unloaded the equipment, "Since we're free in winter anyway, we should prepare in advance so we don't end up scrambling later. Come on, don't just watch, lend a hand!"

Seeing Li Long easily carry the bundle of drip irrigation tape into the office, Principal Yang asked, "How many kilograms is this bundle?"

As he spoke, he picked him up as well.

Thirty kilograms.

"Hey, it's not light." Principal Yang managed to lift it, but it was a bit of a struggle.

"That's because you're used to being a scholar; you can't lift heavy things." Li Long gave him a disdainful look and easily picked up the other bundle. "Is your stove going to go out? Won't it catch fire tonight?"

"Yes, yes, don't hold it yet. I'll call someone, and we'll put it in the storeroom." Principal Yang put the baby down again after picking it up, saying, "You'll have to carry it back."

As he spoke, he went to call for help.

Li Long thought to himself that he was being too talkative; why did he have to say that?
However, it's also for safety reasons; it would be quite troublesome if it actually burned.

Soon someone came and opened the warehouse door, and several people together carried the more than 100 kilograms of drip irrigation tape, along with the connectors, into the warehouse.

Li Long handed the ticket to Principal Yang and said, "This is 120 kilograms, which is about 11,000 meters. The wholesale price is 10,000 yuan. You can reimburse me for it."

“Okay.” Principal Yang took the ticket and said, “Professor Yang, once you transfer the project funds, I’ll reimburse you.”

Then he said to Li Long, "You're fast, but I'm not slow either. The twenty mu of land has been approved. It's right behind the township government. It's fertile land, used as experimental fields. Wheat, corn, and sunflowers have all been planted there, and the yields are quite good. Someone offered fifty yuan per mu to lease it, but the township didn't approve it and then gave it to us."

At that time, fifty yuan per mu for land contracting was considered a high price. After all, some land in the fourth team was still contracting for twenty or thirty yuan per mu.

Of course, the land of Team Four was contracted to the villagers at this price, which itself came with a welfare system—the price was based on a yield of 100 kilograms of wheat per mu, which was equivalent to more than 30 yuan.

But in reality, if you were to grow cash crops, the harvest would naturally be much more than that.

Even in the early days, the contract fee for a 15-year contract was only 15 or 20 yuan, and the contract fee was paid in full upfront.

In a village, naturally, the villagers' interests must be taken into account. Even in later generations, when land prices outside the military reached 1,300, 1,500, or even 1,700, the land that the military contracted to its employees was still only 500 or 800.

Li Long had a vague recollection of the land behind the township government building.

The main reason is that the land next to it is quite famous. The adjacent plot is quite large, eighty acres, with an open space in front, facing the road, enough to build a yard. Seven or eight years later, someone built a two-story brick house there, but stopped after the framework was completed because they ran out of money.

Later, this 80 mu of land, plus the frame of this two-story brick house, was sold to someone else for 100,000 yuan—the frame was a permanent property right, and the 80 mu of land was a 20-year contract.

Some people thought the contractor was being ripped off, but a year later, cotton prices soared and land prices skyrocketed, with the price of this plot of land more than doubling—that's when everyone realized that the contractor had gotten a great deal.

Far away.

Now that the land has been determined, the next step is to level the land, build the pump house, and dig the main pipe and lay the branch pipes.

This can only be done in the spring.

"Comrade Li Long, I heard that your family has several high-horsepower tractors. How about you take the lead in this land leveling project? If you're busy, you can find someone else to come over."

Seeing Principal Yang smiling at him, Li Long thought to himself, "Is this a test for me or a reward for me?"

He thought that he had already handed over his Dongfanghong 75 to Liang Wenyu, and it wasn't too far to drive the tractor over from there, so he said, "Okay, then leave it to me."

Principal Yang was going back to his home in the county. He rode his bicycle, and Li Long said goodbye to him and drove home.

Watching the car drive away, Principal Yang felt a little envious. He thought to himself that once this project was finished, he would have to try to get on Li Long's good side and see if he could get a used car at a cheaper price.

It's so cold riding a bicycle in the middle of winter.

The next morning, Li Long went to Liang Donglou's house.

In winter, there wasn't much going on at Liang Donglou's house. When Li Long's car arrived at the gate, he saw that the gate was wide open and two tractors were parked neatly inside the shed.

One advantage the Liang family had over the Li family was their exceptional tidiness. The tractor was in the newly built shed, and the accompanying farm tools were also neatly arranged.

There was no clutter in the yard; all the necessary items were in their proper places, and the windowsill was spotless.

Unlike the Li family, whose windowsills are filled with bottles and jars in winter, these bottles mostly contain vegetable seeds harvested from the garden in summer and autumn, or seeds from watermelons and cantaloupes, which they plan to plant the following spring.

There were quite a few things in the yard; in short, there were quite a lot of things at a glance.

The Liang family was different; everything was neatly arranged and readily visible.

Li Long drove the car in, and when the car stopped, Liang Donglou opened the door and came out of the house.

Seeing Li Long get out of the car, Liang Donglou wasn't surprised—at this time of year, the only people who could drive over were either Li Jianguo or Li Long.

Moreover, Li Jianguo usually drives a GAZ, such a high-end car is only driven by Li Long.

Li Long, carrying a leg of lamb, greeted Liang Donglou: "Uncle Liang, you've got some free time?"

"Then what are you doing? You're all here, why are you carrying things?"

Chen Xiuzhu also walked to the door, saw Li Long, and said with a smile, "Come in quickly, it's cold outside."

Li Long carried the lamb leg into the house, gave it to Chen Xiuzhu, and asked, "Auntie, isn't Juan's uncle here?"

"He went out to talk to someone," Liang Donglou explained. "What, do you need him for something?"

"There is something, but it's the same if I tell you, Uncle." Li Long followed Liang Donglou into the inner room and sat down, saying, "It's like this: there's an agricultural extension school in our township, right? These past few days, they've taken on an experimental field project from the autonomous region. Next spring, they need to level ten acres of land using bulldozers, and it'll probably take a few days."

"Then let Wenyu do it," Liang Donglou said. "This job won't take long; it can be done as soon as the spring snow melts."

"Okay, since it's an experimental field project, the price should be good."

"What money do you need?" Liang Donglou waved his hand. "No money needed."

“How could we work for free?” Li Long said with a smile. “It’s an official project, we can’t work for free. They keep track of every expense, so we definitely won’t work for nothing.”

"Xiaolong, you always remember Wenyu when something good happens." Chen Xiuzhu walked in carrying a teacup. "Our family owes you a lot of favors."

"Hey, Auntie, what are you saying?" Li Long said, half-complaining and half-jokingly, "What's the relationship between our two families? When I was little, I owed a lot to you and Uncle..."

"Then I won't say anything more. Just let me know when we start working." Liang Donglou waved his hand, taking control of the situation.

"How are you two doing?" Li Long changed the subject. He hadn't visited in a while, so he wanted to check on you.

"I drink the wine you bring me from time to time, and my health is pretty good," Liang Donglou said. "I can work and get out of bed, life is getting better and better, and we're in a good mood too."

"Wenyu should be getting married by now, shouldn't she?" Li Long said. "She's not getting any younger."

"Hey, that's what's been bothering me." Chen Xiuzhu sat down and shook her head. "I've introduced him to a few, but none of them worked out. He's too picky, the girls he likes don't like him back, and the girls who like him he thinks are uneducated..."

It's really hard to say what's going on in this kind of thing.

After chatting for a while, we heard some noise outside; it must be Liang Wenyu returning.

(End of this chapter)