Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1295 Guo Tiebing clears out gambling, Yushanjiang collects sheep

Liang Wenyu rushed back because he heard that a car had entered the village and headed in the direction of their house. He guessed that it must be Li Long coming.

"Leveling the land? Does that mean using a bulldozer to flatten the ground?" Liang Wenyu asked while taking off his coat.

“Yes, we need to set up experimental fields for drip irrigation. We need to lay drip irrigation tape, and the land must be level, otherwise the water won’t flow through,” Li Long explained. “It doesn’t need to be perfectly level, just not bumpy or uneven.”

“That’s easy to do.” Liang Wenyu smiled and said, “Your cooperative is doing very well this year. It was discussed at our township meeting. People are saying that cooperatives might be the future trend of agricultural development.”

"Let's talk about it later. We're still exploring things." Li Long smiled. "It's only been a year. Let's do it for a few more years."

He didn't dare to boast in front of Liang Donglou. After chatting for a while, Liang Donglou went to the kitchen to help Chen Xiuzhu with the meat-picking. Liang Wenyu then asked about the drip irrigation farming.

Li Long gave him a brief explanation, also explaining that it is not yet widely available, but this is the future trend.

Although Liang Wenyu's village doesn't have as much land as the fourth team, if all the land were reclaimed, it would still amount to three or four thousand mu. Later on, they mainly grew cotton—though now they primarily grow vegetables, and this will continue for many years to come.

However, because the population of Ma County is so small, and there are too many villages nearby growing vegetables, the market simply couldn't absorb them all. And these vegetables couldn't reach markets in Wucheng and Shicheng, so they changed their crops. Some grew grapes, some grew tomatoes (for sauce), but eventually they switched to cotton.

Farmers have no choice but to grow cotton; they've figured it out step by step through trial and error, and it's the only relatively safe option, plus the government keeps providing subsidies.

Since it couldn't be done now, Liang Wenyu stopped asking. Li Long, however, inquired about his blind date.

"I also want to get married as soon as possible. I want to find someone I can talk to, at least someone who graduated from junior high school, not someone who doesn't know anything and only knows how to cook and do chores..."

He is an idealist.

Li Long thought for a moment and said, "You're not young anymore. If you keep looking like this, you'll end up with someone who's neither good enough nor bad enough, and it'll be even harder to find someone later. Don't think too much about it. Just find someone who likes you and can live a good life with you."

As for your point about needing someone you can talk to, how can you talk to someone without living together? It takes time to adjust. My older brother and sister have such different personalities, but they're doing very well, aren't they?

“That’s different. In their time, that was all the conditions they could afford.” Liang Wenyu shook her head in disagreement. “Look at you and your wife, your marriage is perfectly fine.”

"We have different educational backgrounds, but we can still have things in common. Living together as a couple, facing the same problems every day, that's how we can connect. As for our aspirations—our biggest pursuit right now is to make our lives better."

"Let's talk about other ideals when you have money. Right now, you're just not poor enough; you can earn a little money, so you feel like you value ideals." Li Long exposed his true thoughts:

"Imagine if you were still the same as you were ten years ago? Then you could just find someone you can settle down with!"

Liang Wenyu fell silent. Although he was still somewhat unconvinced, he knew that Li Long was right.

“You’re the village’s Youth League secretary now, and you might even become the village head someday. You’re definitely not going to leave this village, so when you’re looking for a wife, just find someone who’s good at managing a household,” Li Long continued to advise.
"Unless you can let go of what you're doing now and prepare to go out into business and see the world, don't think too much about it. If you want to continue to climb the ladder, you need to settle down and start a family as soon as possible. That should also be something we're considering, right?"

Liang Wenyu nodded involuntarily; it was the truth.

Although somewhat resentful, it was the reality; he knew he wouldn't be able to leave this village within ten years. Talking about ambitions and ideals was pointless. Staying confined to this village meant he could do very little.

Instead of talking about ideals, it's more practical to talk about how much wheat can be harvested from an acre of land.

This is the hardship faced by semi-educated people in rural areas.

As someone who's been through it all, Li Long truly understood the real problems Liang Wenyu was facing. Rather than continuing to waste time, he decided to face reality and settle for something less.

Liang Wenyu wasn't unaware of reality; he was just unwilling to accept it. With Li Long as a comparison, he always felt he could do better.

But there's no way to get out.

After talking with Liang Wenyu, Li Long was about to leave, but Liang Donglou and Chen Xiuzhu wouldn't let him go. They insisted that he stay and have lunch at their home before he left.

It was clear that Liang Donglou and Chen Xiuzhu really wanted to see Li Long and Liang Wenyu talk more. Their son sometimes got stuck on things, and as elders, they couldn't easily advise him; Liang Wenyu also didn't like listening to them.

But he could listen to what Li Long, who was his peer, said—mainly because Li Long's achievements were far greater than his own, so much so that he couldn't catch up.

After returning from the Liang family, Li Long went to the purchasing station and called Principal Yang to tell him that the land leveling project had been arranged. Principal Yang was naturally happy, as another item on the plan could be removed from the list.

Then, until the end of November, Zhao Hui came and took away the 7,000 hides that Li Long and his team had sorted out, leaving behind 1.05 million yuan—the price of hides had fluctuated and dropped a bit, but Li Long didn't say anything.

Either way, it's a profit.

As expected, not long after Zhao Hui left, Liu Gaolou arrived with his car. This time, he brought hides, antelope horns, and a car, and when he left, he took away sugar and canned goods, mainly canned meat.

Director Qian from the state cooperative kept his word and sent Li Long a batch of canned goods every two weeks. These canned goods were later converted into money for the antelope horns that Liu Gaolou had brought over.

Liu Gaolou relayed Liu Shanmin's message to Li Long. Because many people have recently exchanged loans for US dollars, car sales have been relatively low lately. The five cars brought in this trip will likely be about the same on the next trip.

However, there might be more people asking for them later. Actually, there are many people in Almaty who want to sell their cars in exchange for daily necessities, but they don't want rubles, they only want supplies or US dollars.

Li Long understands this. Anyway, he's a laid-back salesman now. He sells cars when there are any, and if there aren't any, he just makes people wait.

After Liu Gaolou left, Li Long's life returned to normal until one day he drove to the Fourth Team and was blocked by people at his elder brother's house.

"What did you say? Several people in the team were arrested for gambling?"

Li Long was quite surprised to hear this news. He had instructed Guo Tiebing to crack down on gambling, specifically targeting professional gamblers from outside who were setting up gambling dens.

Unexpectedly, the township police station received a tip and, after a period of investigation, launched a raid, dismantling twelve gambling dens throughout the township, one of which was located in the fourth team.

In the fourth team, not only were two outsiders arrested for setting up the gambling operation, but five villagers were also arrested. These five people either participated in the gambling, were involved with the two people who set up the operation and were arrested as a result, or provided a venue for gambling even if they did not gamble themselves.

The person who came to plead with Li Long was Zhou Shouxin, an elderly man from the village. He had a good relationship with Li Jianguo and had heard from somewhere that Li Long had a good relationship with the police station chief, so he came to ask him for help.

His son was tricked into participating in this gambling, and not only did he lose money, he was also arrested.

Actually, he didn't come to Li Long to ask him to beg for the person's release. He had heard that the person might suffer and be beaten in the detention center, so he wanted Li Long to put in a good word for him and help him out.

After the old man left, Li Jianguo said, "I heard that the den our team raided had over three thousand yuan in confiscations. The two people who set it up already had criminal records, so this time they'll probably not only be in jail, but they might also be sentenced."

"Who lured them here?" Li Long asked.

“Ma Jinbao’s son, and Xu Chenghu from the Xu family.”

"Hey!" Li Long was a little surprised, but thinking about it, it made sense.

These two are notorious in the team for their selfishness; one is due to poor upbringing, and the other is born that way.

And they're shameless; they'll cling to anyone they can get something from. Compared to them, Gu Ermao isn't as disgusting.

Speaking of which, it seems like Gu Ermao should be out by now? But his parents have moved away, apparently to Shawan to stay with relatives?
I doubt they'll ever come back here.

"Won't the Ma and Xu families be cursed to death?"

“You know Ma Jinbao, don’t you?” Li Jianguo shook his head. “When others insult him, he’s even fiercer than them. The Xu family knows they’re in the wrong, so they haven’t left the house these past two days. Even when people come to their door to insult him, they don’t say a word back.”

Those who betray their own people will naturally receive no sympathy.

"Don't take it too seriously. If something is wrong, it's wrong. You're such a grown man, and you said you were tricked into gambling. Didn't you have any judgment of your own?" Li Jianguo said. "If you can say it, then say it; if you can't, then forget it."

"It's only because Lao Zhou knew that I didn't ask you to plead for his release; otherwise, I wouldn't have let him ask."

“I’ll just go take a look,” Li Long chuckled. “How could I possibly have the power to get someone released? People have to pay the price for their mistakes. It’s alright now, not much money. Maybe he’ll learn his lesson and change his ways…”

"Change my ass! Gambling addicts, how can they change? Even a dog can't stop eating shit!" Li Jianguo didn't believe it at all. "Anyway, you stay far away from them. You absolutely must not get involved in gambling!"

"Don't worry, brother, we won't get involved in this," Li Long assured him. He could tell that his brother was giving him a warning.

After lunch, Li Long drove to the township police station.

Guo Tiebing was indeed there, writing a report.

Seeing Li Long come over, he gestured for Li Long to sit down, saying that his report would be finished in a little while.

Li Long didn't stand on ceremony. He took off his coat, poured himself some water, and looked around the office while drinking.

The old-fashioned filing cabinet was filled with many documents, and some were also placed on the table. Back then, there were no computers, and all documents were handwritten. Li Long knew that Guo Tiebing's handwriting was quite good, or rather, many people at that time had beautiful handwriting.

Less than five minutes later, Guo Tiebing put down his pen, set the report aside, and asked:

"You've got some free time now?"

"I've come to watch the show," Li Long said half-jokingly. "I heard you've been displaying your prowess these past two days, sweeping up a lot of gambling dens and ridding the people of a scourge."

"What? This is because I was following your advice and had been asking around. Recently, the gamblers from outside have been acting quite aggressively, so we arrested a group of them as a warning."

"You must have had a great time, right?" Li Long said, taking a sip of water.

Guo Tiebing rubbed his wrists, stood up, refilled his cup with water, blew on it, sat down, took a sip, and said, "Not bad. More than a dozen dens, seized over 30,000 yuan in gambling funds, and the people we arrested are almost overflowing our detention center. By the way, your village has some too..."

"I just came to check on things. My older brother's friend's son was also arrested, and he asked me to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't get beaten up or anything."

"What's it called?"

“Zhou Yingjun,” Li Long said.

Guo Tiebing thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "I vaguely remember him. He's quite tall and seems honest. He was lured into gambling and lost... more than five hundred yuan. Shall we go take a look?"

"Okay." Li Long put down his cup and stood up. "You're really giving me face."

"The main reason is that Zhou Yingjun is honest. He told everyone everything as soon as he came in. He was tricked into coming in, but he participated, so he was given a lighter sentence of five days in detention, which is the lightest among this batch."

The detention center was located behind the police station, in a row of brick buildings. Li Long put on his coat and followed Guo Tiebing there, where a policeman was waiting.

Looking at the flimsy iron door and the slightly ajar windows, Li Long could imagine that it must not be very hot inside.

Sure enough, after the police officer took out his key and opened a door, Li Long went inside and found that although there was a stove, there wasn't much charcoal in it, which meant they wouldn't be allowed to add too much coal.

Upon seeing Guo Tiebing enter, the person who was sitting on the bed immediately stood up at the command of one of them.

Very well behaved.

This was Li Long's first time in a detention center, and he saw Zhou Yingjun. Zhou Yingjun also saw him, his expression brightening with joy. He was about to speak, but immediately covered his mouth.

Clearly, they must have learned their lesson and know better than to speak carelessly.

"Have you all studied the rules?" Guo Tiebing asked. "Do you understand the seriousness of your mistakes?"

"I've learned something!"

"understood!"

They all answered quite loudly.

"Who is Zhou Yingjun?" Guo Tiebing asked.

"It's me, it's me!" Zhou Yingjun hurriedly stepped forward and answered, his face showing a hint of joy, but also a little nervousness.

"Yes, someone's here to see you. You have five minutes," Guo Tiebing said. "Come out."

Li Long hadn't originally planned to talk to Zhou Yingjun, but since Guo Tiebing had brought it up, he came out with Zhou Yingjun and briefly inquired about the situation.

"Sigh, greed got the better of him." After coming out, Zhou Yingjun tightened his clothes, relaxed a little, and sighed, "Well, I heard Cheng Hu say that the other guy brought tens of thousands of yuan with him, just wanting to gamble. He even said he'd cooperate with us to make money off the other guy..."

Li Long knew that Zhou Yingjun would most likely gamble again, but seeing that his regret was genuine, he asked, "How's it here? Can you get enough to eat?"

“Sigh, we definitely won’t have enough to eat. What should we do?” Zhou Yingjun saw that Li Long hadn’t brought anything either. “My dad will definitely scold me to death. I’ll just take it as a lesson.”

"Alright, it won't be long, just hang in there. You didn't get beaten up, did you?" Li Long asked.

"No...no. It's alright inside." Zhou Yingjun spoke somewhat evasively.

Li Long knew he wasn't telling the truth, but he didn't delve into it. He said, "I'll talk to the director. You can relax too. A few days will pass quickly. Your father still cares about you. He came to me and asked me to come and check on you."

"I know, I know. I promise I'll never gamble again after I get out." Zhou Yingjun was quite grateful.

It's alright, they didn't make any demands on Li Long, and they didn't say they would release him right now.

Li Long couldn't possibly plead for leniency. Firstly, he did need to be taught a lesson, and secondly, things hadn't come to that point yet.

After chatting with Zhou Yingjun for a few minutes, Guo Tiebing came over, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Reflect on your actions these next two days, and don't gamble again after you get out." Then he instructed the police officer next to him, "Keep an eye on him, don't let anyone bully him."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yingjun's smile noticeably brightened, and he quickly bowed to Guo Tiebing.

"Don't thank me, it was Li Long who told you that," Guo Tiebing said. "Just don't come in again."

After watching Zhou Yingjun enter the house, the police went in, said a few words, and locked the door. Li Long and Guo Tiebing then returned to the office together.

"You guys have the funding now, right?" Li Long joked. "It's not even the end of the year yet. We can probably pull off another big one by then."

"Pretty much," Guo Tiebing said. "Some guys just won't give up. Actually, I was thinking of delaying things and making a big move, but now they're already quite rampant."

Essentially, it's because everyone is richer now and has more spare money than before. Plus, there's not much to do in winter, so some people get itchy fingers and start gambling.

To be honest, this kind of thing will not be uncommon in the future. The police station has to clean up a batch of people every year, but some people are fine in the detention center, but they don't change after they are released, and even gamble more.

In the following ten or twenty years, some people even had their fingers chopped off.

Li Long chatted for a few more minutes before leaving the police station and heading to Team Four to tell Zhou about the matter.

Old Zhou was still very grateful to Li Long, saying that he would teach his son a good lesson after he got out. Old Zhou's wife brought Li Long a basket of eggs, but Li Long refused them. Old Zhou's wife insisted on putting the eggs into Li Long's car.

When I got back, I told Gu Xiaoxia about it during dinner that evening. She said, "This matter should be thoroughly investigated and severely punished! Gambling ruins the whole family!"

Li Qingxia said a little embarrassedly, "Back in my hometown, I also played cards, but I only played for a few cents, and I couldn't even make two yuan a day. They play for much bigger stakes here..."

“Dad, you guys are different from them. You guys are just having fun, not trying to win money. These people are here to win money. They're so greedy they'd sell their homes. It's not the same,” Li Long said.

"Sigh, this is really harmful." Li Qingxia nodded.

No matter how large a family fortune is, if it gets involved in this kind of thing, it won't be enough to fill the hole, even if it's like Li Long is now.

As Gu Xiaoxia lay in his arms that night, she whispered, "Did I say something wrong while we were eating, Dad... I didn't know you played cards back then..." "It's alright, we don't allow gambling in our family, Dad knows that. It's just a pastime, it's not the same." For the next twenty or thirty years, the village police didn't care when they saw old men playing Dou Dizhu (a card game) for a dollar in the shop; they made it clear that it wasn't gambling.

Because of the crackdown on gambling, the idle people in each team quieted down for a while. However, people could often be seen in the fields of Team Four, catching rabbits, pheasants, or fishing.

You always need to find something to do to expend your pent-up energy.

The Li family's place is quite lively. People from the cooperative come over from time to time to get together and discuss next year's farming and how to spend the winter.

According to Xie Yundong, since it's almost Chinese New Year, the cooperative should also hold some activities. When Li Long heard this from him, he immediately said:
"Forget it! Let's just fatten up for winter. As long as we don't gamble or break the law, we can do whatever we want. We've been busy for half a year already. I don't have the time to do anything else in winter. Why don't you guys do it, and I'll watch?"

"How can that be? We'll fix everything if we have to." Xie Yundong was just joking. He felt that the cooperative was developing well and everyone was working towards the same goal. However, considering that several other cooperatives in the team had also been established, his own cooperative needed to be strengthened.

After all, we're the first one; we can't let them surpass us.

Li Long naturally supported their idea and would occasionally join the discussion.

That day, Li Long was chatting with his older brother and his family when the phone rang.

Li Jianguo answered the phone. After a few words, Li Jianguo handed the phone to Li Long: "It's my dad calling. He said that Director Li from your supply and marketing cooperative needs to talk to you."

Li Long thought to himself, what could possibly happen at the supply and marketing cooperative in the dead of winter?

He answered the call, and his father explained the situation: the supply and marketing cooperative had a task and needed Li Long to go there today to pick up the work.

He had important business to attend to, so he didn't dare delay. After hanging up the phone, he went out and drove to the county.

When Li Long arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, he found the courtyard very quiet. He parked his car and went into the office building, where it was also quiet. It seemed that not everyone was at work.

As Li Long walked forward, guessing what task he would be assigned today, he glanced into Zhou Yuan's office. Zhou Yuan wasn't there; he wondered if she had gone to the restroom or somewhere else.

Li Long went straight to Li Xiangqian's office. The door was open, and he saw Li Xiangqian adding charcoal to the furnace. He knocked on the door and went in.

"You're here?" Li Xiangqian stirred the coal he had poured into the stove with the stove hook, then put the stove lid back on, put down the stove hook and coal scoop, clapped his hands and said, "Director Qian called. He has a big job. Let's see if you can take it."

"What kind of work?" Li Long asked. "Is it urgent?"

"It's quite urgent, about half a month," Li Xiangqian said, sitting back down at his desk. "Do you remember the mutton you supplied to Yanjing back then?"

"I remember, of course I remember. By the way, do you need meat again?" Li Long thought to himself that he was quite capable.

"Yes, this time it's fifty tons—of course, only for our side. Actually, it's mainly allocated to the special economic zone. Director Qian asked for fifty tons for you. Let's see if you can complete it."

"No problem at all. What kind do you want? Just a 'Klangzi'?"

"Yes, just kelp, it's two yuan and fifty cents a kilogram. Pretty good, right?"

Li Long remembers that the current retail price of mutton is 2.8 to 3 yuan, and the wholesale price is 2.5 yuan per kilogram, which is a good price.

"Sure, of course. Would you like to prepare everything at once?"

"Yes, everything should be ready around December 10th, and then we'll send it all to Wucheng Railway Station, where someone will receive it. If you can handle it, then I'll tell Director Qian, and this matter will be entrusted to you—but the quality—you have to guarantee it."

"Don't worry about that," Li Long said with a smile. "How will I pay?"

"The payment will have to wait. Can you cover it yourself? This job involves transporting goods to the border region, so we won't pay you until the goods arrive and are inspected," Li Xiangqian said with a smile. "This shouldn't be a big deal for you, right?"

"Yes, let's just use it. Fifty tons isn't too much."

If we calculate based on 20 kilograms per sheep, then 50 tons would be equivalent to 2,500 sheep.

It's possible.

After leaving Li Xiangqian's place, Li Long went to Yushanjiang's house to find Yushanjiang.

He planned to entrust this matter to Yushanjiang. With Yushanjiang's current capabilities, raising 2,500 sheep should be quite easy.

Yushanjiang wasn't home, and neither was Buick. Li Long left a message for Yushanjiang's wife, asking her to tell Yushanjiang to come to the purchasing station to find Li Long when he returned.

After having lunch at home, Li Long arrived at the purchasing station, where Yushanjiang had already arrived.

Seeing Li Long and Li Qingxia arrive together, Yu Shanjiang came over to greet them. Li Long told him he had something to do, and the two of them went to the reception room together.

"How's your mutton business going?" Li Long asked.

"Sure, I bought several hundred sheep and dozens of cows, plus my own, it's almost a thousand. The sugar residue you had prepared is doing very well, the cattle and sheep are all fattening up." Yu Shanjiang was in a good mood: "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Li Long then explained that the supply and marketing cooperative needed mutton.

"Two thousand five hundred? That's a bit much, but I can deliver in December."

Yushanjiang thought for a moment and said, "We need to call all of our original people to slaughter the sheep. I and Buick will be in charge of buying the sheep. It's winter now, so the offal and sheepskin are easy to process—we'll even pay two yuan, let alone two and a half!"

Li Long is a partner of Yu Shanjiang, so he certainly hopes Yu Shanjiang can do it, but he doesn't force him. He said:

“If you can do it, then I won’t tell anyone else. If you have some difficulties, I’ll go to Keyum.”

"No need, no need, but I might not have enough money. Two thousand five hundred sheep would cost around fifty or sixty thousand yuan."

"Don't worry, I have the money." Li Long smiled and said, "Go ahead and buy the sheep. It's best to get good quality sheep, not too old ones, otherwise they'll have a problem with them."

As for the offal, Li Long plans to transport it to Beiting and Wucheng to sell. The main reason is that Keyumu in Shicheng has already taken over the offal market, and with so much offal flooding in now, it will be difficult to sell it in a short time.

According to Yushanjiang, he still had some money left, so Li Long gave him an advance of 30,000 yuan. He then hurriedly went to the mountains to recruit people to slaughter sheep and also drove some of the cattle and sheep of the herders in the mountains down.

Cattle and sheep are the lifeblood of herders; they can't possibly sell all of them. Yushanjiang calculated that the herders in the mountains could provide about six hundred to eight hundred sheep; any more would be too much of a financial strain—they don't need too much money, but they can't have too few cattle and sheep either.

The rest had to be bought from other herders or from the livestock market. So these past few days, Yushanjiang and Beike have had to travel all over the county.

Fortunately, in the past six months, Yushanjiang has traveled to Ma County, Shicheng, and even Hu County, and has gotten to know quite a few herders. Although some of them may be a bit far away, he should be able to gather two or three thousand sheep if he puts his hands together.

The best beef and mutton to find actually comes from the river valleys. After all, there are many grasslands there, covering a large area. But at this time of year, it's already a bit too late to go there.