A Tale of Two Cities Supporting Xinjiang

He gritted his teeth and nodded heavily to Uncle Sima Yi: "Uncle, I will definitely compensate for the land and labor costs, not a penny less."

After saying that, he didn't look at Musa and the others again, turned around and squeezed out of the crowd, staggering towards the car parked by the roadside.

After a long while, he wiped his face hard and dried his tears.

Now that things have come to this, running away won't solve anything. He has to go to Zhou Mingyu and explain everything clearly, even if he gets scolded, he has to get a result.

When Li Chao arrived at Zhou Mingyu's office, he said dejectedly, "Director Zhou, I really tried my best. But all the saplings died; not a single one survived."

"Don't rush, sit down and tell me slowly, what exactly happened?"

"I haven't dared to be careless from the moment I selected the seedlings!"

Li Chao took the tissue, his hands trembling slightly, his voice full of grievance and resentment: "I chose the most cold-resistant varieties from the Dalian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and wrapped them in three layers of warm cotton during transportation, for fear that even a single seedling would freeze."

Once I got here, I stayed in the fields every day, watering, adding soil, and building windbreaks. Even in the dead of winter, I would get up in the middle of the night to check the greenhouse, just in case anything went wrong!

He became more and more emotional as he spoke, and tears welled up in his eyes again. "The time I was transporting agricultural supplies, the truck overturned in the Gobi Desert. I got up covered in injuries, and the first thing I did was protect the saplings. I carried them and ran back without daring to stop for even a moment."

But now... now they're all dead.

I have let down the herders' trust, and I have also let down myself for all the sleepless nights and hardships I endured.

He counted his sacrifices on his fingers, his voice choked with emotion: "I lived in this mud-brick house for more than half a year. In the dead of winter, the stove fire was weak, and I would huddle together in the cold at night. In the morning, the blankets were covered in frost."

In order to buy the best organic fertilizer, I traveled all over the surrounding counties. My hands were burned by the fertilizer until they turned white and peeled, and the pain was excruciating.

The villagers worked hard with me for more than half a year, and in the end they got nothing. How can I live with myself like this?

Looking at his red eyes and listening to his hoarse sobs, Zhou Mingyu felt a pang of sympathy. He patted his back and gently comforted him, "I know you did your best. I saw all the suffering you endured."

Don't blame yourself too much. The main problem is that we didn't adequately anticipate the extreme weather in Shihezi. This winter, temperatures drop to minus thirty degrees Celsius, and the winds are fierce. Even the cold-resistant seedlings from Dalian couldn't withstand the chill here. It really isn't your fault.

"But the sapling is dead, that's a fact!"

Li Chao's eyes were red, and his voice was filled with despair, "What about the herders' losses? I promised them I'd take responsibility if the crops didn't grow well, how am I supposed to explain this to them now?"

"Calm down first. Go back and sort out the extent of the losses, and communicate properly with the herders. Don't run away from it. You promised to take responsibility for the losses, so let's get the compensation settled first. We can't let our fellow villagers down."

As for what happens next, we'll figure out a new way after this is all sorted out. We can't give up because of one failure.

Li Chao sniffed and nodded.

Although he still felt a tightness in his chest, Zhou Mingyu's words calmed him down a bit.

Now that things have come to this, there's no point in running away; we have to give the herders an explanation.

Back at his lodgings, Li Chao plopped down on a stool, his mind filled with images of Musa and his men yelling for compensation, and Uncle Sima Yi's regretful yet helpless gaze.

Li Chao pondered the compensation matter repeatedly. He had patted his chest and promised to take full responsibility if the crops didn't grow well. That was his personal guarantee and had nothing to do with the management committee.

If he were to shamelessly ask the management committee to cover for him now, it would not only be against the rules, but it would also make the herders think he lacked responsibility, making it difficult to carry out his work in the future.

After much deliberation, Li Chao gritted his teeth and decided to take on the compensation himself.

He opened his mobile banking app and calculated his savings item by item: the wages he had saved over the years and the subsidies he had accumulated through frugal living, all added up to just enough to cover the basic losses such as land occupation fees and labor costs.

As for the expected returns that Musa and the others were clamoring for, he didn't even have the resources to scrape together them, let alone come up with them.

If you don't have the money to address additional demands, you can only find someone to mediate.

The first person Li Chao thought of was the village party secretary, Aini Abdusay. The old party secretary had high prestige in the village and his words carried weight. Perhaps he could persuade Musa and the others to stop clinging to the expected benefits.

He walked quickly toward the village secretary's house.

But as soon as he entered and explained his purpose, Musa's voice came from outside the courtyard: "Is Li Chao here? I knew he was here to call for reinforcements!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Musa rushed in with four or five young herdsmen. As soon as they saw Li Chao, their eyes turned red, and they began to mock him at the top of their lungs: "Li Chao, you're really something!"

If they don't have the money to pay compensation, they go to the village secretary to plead for them?

When they made those promises to us, didn't they pat their chests and say they'd cover everything?

Why are you acting like a coward now?

"You dare to mess around with projects when you have no money? I think you're just trying to make a fool of us herders!"

Li Chao's face instantly turned bright red, and he forced himself to suppress his anger as he explained, "I didn't play a trick on you."

I have already taken stock of all my savings. I am certain that I will lose every penny of the basic land and labor costs.

But the expected returns were never going to happen, and I really don't have the money.

"Can't come up with the money?"

Musa sneered and deliberately took two steps toward the courtyard gate so that the villagers who had gathered outside could hear him. "That's not what you said when you were bragging."

You said if you planted them well you could make us a lot of money, but now all the saplings are dead, and you're trying to renege on your promise? I think you're just incompetent but love to show off, treating our trust like a joke!

"Yes, don't make promises if you can't do them."

The young men who had come with Musa also joined in the commotion: "All the losses must be compensated today, or this is not over."

The villagers watching from outside the courtyard also began to discuss the matter. Some of them were already angry because the saplings had died, and after Musa stirred things up, they looked at Li Chao with more doubt and dissatisfaction.

Aini Abdusay tried to mediate, but Musa and the others were arguing so fiercely that he couldn't get a word in edgewise.

Li Chao stood there, feeling his face burning, and his heart filled with anxiety and grievance.

He came to mediate and resolve the issue, but instead, he was publicly humiliated by Musa, which escalated the conflict even further.

Seeing the chaotic scene before him, he knew that there was no way to discuss this matter today. He could only grit his teeth and squeeze out of the crowd amidst accusations and ridicule.

"Stop right there! You're not leaving until you pay up!"

Musa's furious shouts exploded in his ears.

After much deliberation, Li Chao had no choice but to grit his teeth, take out his phone, and dial home.