A Tale of Two Cities Supporting Xinjiang

Seeing his anxious expression, Zhou Mingyu pondered for a moment and said, "Don't worry, I'll help you coordinate this."

Our Ninth Company has a piece of collective land that has been idle for a long time. Although it is not very fertile, it is fine for planting trees.

I'll contact the village secretary for you and have a good talk with him.

Li Chao's eyes lit up, and hope returned instantly: "Really? Thank you so much."

But the village secretary didn't support me planting saplings before, so how could he agree to it?

"I'll go talk to him."

Zhou Mingyu patted his chest and said, "You promoted the cold-resistant saplings to help the villagers increase their income, and your starting point is good."

I assured him, in my capacity, that if any problems arose during the subsequent planting process, I would coordinate and resolve them. I also assured him that we could discuss leasing the collective land, and that it shouldn't be a problem.

After saying that, Zhou Mingyu immediately dialed the phone number of Aini Abudusai, the village secretary of Jiulian.

"Secretary Aini, the cadre Li Chao wants to promote cold-resistant tree seedlings because the winters here are cold, and the harvest of ordinary crops is getting worse year by year, which is causing suffering for the villagers."

These cold-resistant saplings are different; they are frost-resistant and drought-resistant, and they bear fruit early. Once they mature, every household will have an extra source of income—this is a truly good thing.

"More importantly, the technical support for these seedlings comes from Researcher Lü, who has been cultivating economic crops for over a decade and has a wealth of experience."

He personally oversaw the quality control of the saplings and promised to provide full guidance on planting and maintenance, assuring everyone that there would be no technical issues and no problems would arise.

When it came to the land issue, he softened his stance and gave a clear solution: "As for the land use, Li Chao has also considered the collective interests. We will not use the village's land for free, but will go through the leasing process."

The rent will be charged at the local market rate, not a penny less. We just want to plant a demonstration field first, so that the villagers can see the real results.

Aini Abdusay remained silent for a long while on the other end of the phone, his tone full of hesitation and concern: "Cadre Zhou, it's not that I don't support it, it's just that the village tried to do specialty planting before, but because of poor technology and unsuitable varieties, we lost a lot of money, and the villagers had a lot of complaints."

If this goes wrong again, I won't be able to explain it to everyone.

Zhou Mingyu quickly replied, "Secretary Ai Ni, I completely understand your concerns."

But this time is different from before. With Researcher Lü's technical support, I can guarantee that there will be absolutely no technical problems.

Moreover, Li Chao is a down-to-earth and hardworking kid, not the reckless type.

"If anything unexpected happens, I, Zhou Mingyu, am willing to act as guarantor and take full responsibility. I will absolutely not allow you or the villagers to suffer any losses."

Fearing that Aini Abdusay might still be uneasy, he added, "Don't worry, I will personally supervise the entire process of planting and maintenance to ensure that every step is done according to the technical requirements and that there will be absolutely no mistakes."

After a few more minutes of stalemate, Aini Abdusay on the other end of the phone finally relented, his tone softening considerably: "Since Director Zhou has put it this way and is willing to personally vouch for me, then I'll trust you this once."

The collective land can be leased to Li Chao for cultivation, but a formal agreement must be signed, clearly specifying the rent, lease term, and the responsibilities and obligations of both parties, to avoid future disputes.

"No problem! The agreement will definitely be signed, and it will be signed clearly and transparently, so that you and your fellow villagers can rest assured."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Mingyu immediately dialed Li Chao's number and said loudly, "It's done! Secretary Aini has agreed!"

"Director Zhou, thank you so much."

"No need to thank me. You're doing this for the good of the villagers. This is something we should support anyway."

Zhou Mingyu instructed, "Go back and quickly contact Secretary Aini to sign the agreement. Pay the rent at the market price, don't be vague."

The subsequent planting and management must be taken very seriously; there can be no carelessness whatsoever. This is not only your hard work, but also the expectation of the villagers. Don't let them down, and don't disappoint me, your guarantor.

"Director Zhou, don't worry."

I will definitely treat these saplings as my own children, and I will strictly follow Researcher Lü's requirements at every step. I will never be lazy or try to shirk my responsibilities.

I promise I will plant the saplings well and ensure a good harvest, so that all the villagers can benefit.

But just as he turned to contact the truck, Li Chao suddenly stopped. He had spent all his savings to compensate the herders for their losses, and now he couldn't even afford the collective contracting fee for the village, let alone the subsequent maintenance costs.

He dialed Zhou Mingyu's number again, "Director, I...I forgot about the contract fee."

"All the money I had before was given to the herders, and now I don't have a single penny left. What am I going to do?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Mingyu immediately smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about the contract fee, and you don't need to pay any money."

The management committee will cover the funding for this, so you don't need to worry about anything. Just focus on bringing the saplings back and planting them properly.

Li Chao turned around and contacted a truck, rushed to the seedling base, loaded all the cold-resistant seedlings onto the truck and brought them back.

But when the truck stopped at the edge of the rented collective land, Li Chao looked at the truck full of saplings and was at a loss again.

This truckload of saplings must contain at least several hundred trees. If he were to plant them all by himself, it would take him forever.

Moreover, the saplings must be planted in the soil and watered as soon as they come out of the nursery, otherwise they will easily wither.

He knew in his heart that he couldn't go to Zhou Mingyu every time he encountered a problem. Zhou Mingyu had already helped him too much, and he had to try to solve the problems himself.

After much thought, Li Chao decided to go to Secretary Aini Abdusay. After all, it was collective land in the village, and if the village secretary came forward to organize people to help, it should be possible.

He jogged all the way to Aini Abdusay's house, and after explaining his purpose, Aini Abdusay refused outright: "Li Chao, it's not that I don't want to help you, I can only lend you a hand personally, but I really can't do more than that."

It's the busy farming season now, and every household has its own work to do, whether it's tending to crops or looking after cattle and sheep. I simply can't get everyone to cooperate.

Li Chao grew anxious: "Secretary Aini, it'll only take up half a day of everyone's time. Let them go home after planting the saplings. Could you please put in a good word with them again?"

"That doesn't make sense."

People lost money in planting before, so they are already hesitant about these new things, and no one is willing to help for free.

Unless you calculate the wages for everyone and pay them at market price, no matter how much I plead, no one will be willing to come.

Upon hearing this, Li Chao looked at the saplings in the truck bed, but knew he couldn't wait any longer.

The sooner the seedlings are planted, the higher their survival rate will be. If they die because no one helps, all the previous efforts will be wasted.

With no other option, he had to bite the bullet and go door-to-door asking the herders for help.

But since the last compensation incident had just passed, everyone still had concerns and were afraid of getting involved with Li Chao's matter again, so they all made excuses to avoid it.

"Li Chao, I'm so sorry, I haven't fed my cattle and sheep yet, I can't leave."

"My corn in the field needs watering. It's a critical time that we can't leave it unattended. Why don't you ask someone else?"

"My wife isn't feeling well, and I have to stay home to take care of her. I can't help you with that."

After running around the lap, Li Chao was left empty-handed, unable to find a single person willing to help him.

As the sun rose higher and higher, the leaves of the saplings in the truck bed began to wilt, and Li Chao paced anxiously in circles.