Reborn in 1985: Starting from Contracting a Ranch

Chapter 89 Blessings and Pastures

After the Lunar New Year, it's time to pay New Year's visits.

They don't visit relatives and friends on the first day of the Lunar New Year; instead, they stay home and worship their ancestors.

New Year's greetings usually begin on the second day of the Lunar New Year, with the first being the newlywed bride returning to her parents' home.

After the in-laws pay their respects to each other, they become relatives. Generally, the younger generation pays their respects to the elders first, and the younger generation pays their respects to the older generation first.

After the New Year, the festive atmosphere in the village seemed to have been somewhat diluted by the Siberian cold wind, but it also left behind a different kind of flavor.

"What about praying for blessings? Has the village made any arrangements for this year?" Father Shan asked, looking at his second son, who had just gone to wish his father-in-law a Happy New Year but had rushed back.

After all, Lin Nian's family lived in the same village, and even in the same production team.

It only takes a few steps to walk there.

He could even wait until his father-in-law's family had prepared the meal before setting off.

"It's all arranged. Oh, and there's also the Aobao worship ceremony; the village plans to hold it together this year."

"Where's my older brother? When is he coming back?"

"Tomorrow, Afang rarely goes back home, and this time she's bringing the child, so she'll definitely stay overnight." After saying that, Mr. Shan looked at Shan Yaowen strangely, "You're taking your wife back to her parents' house and not staying overnight?"

"Yes, it's just a short walk. I'll go there in a bit and come back to get my things."

On the other side, Gou Dan clicked his tongue as he looked at the large bags and small packages his sister had brought back. "Mosquito is pretty good, bringing back so much stuff."

Lin Nian shook her aching hand. "Of course! I know your brother-in-law is a bit of a show-off, so how could I not bring back more?"

Lin's mother frowned and pulled her daughter aside, saying, "Don't take it upon yourself to move your things to your parents' house. Awen won't be happy about it."

"No, it was all because Awen told me to bring back more things."

"real?"

"Of course, he makes all the decisions at home, big and small. If we hadn't been so reluctant to bring it up, he would have even prepared to bring some canned food."

"Sigh, that's not necessary. What about Ah Wen?"

"The village came to discuss the prayer for blessings with him; he'll be here soon."

The mother and daughter talked for a while, and she was relieved to know that her daughter hadn't secretly brought things to support her family.

She didn't want her daughter and son-in-law to have a conflict over something like this.

When Shan Yaowen arrived, Gou Dan was at home playing with his dog.

"When did you bring a dog home?"

Looking at the adorable puppy, Shan Yaowen couldn't resist petting it a couple of times.

"This is a genuine hunting dog, caught by the Shi Zhang family," Lin Hao proudly introduced the dog he brought back.

"Once it's grown up, I'll take it roaming the entire mountain forest. Just you wait and see."

"I think you'd better train it properly first, so it doesn't hide behind you when you go up the mountain." Although he wasn't very optimistic about Dog Egg becoming a hunter, he didn't want to discourage his brother-in-law too much during the New Year.

The two talked about hunting for a while, and then after Lin's father returned from work, the topic gradually shifted to praying for blessings.

Especially the worship of the Aobao, which is not an individual activity of each household, but a major event for the entire village.

On the day of the prayer.

Men, women, and children were all wearing brand-new robes, all of them local Mongolian robes:

The men wore long blue robes, while the women wore brightly colored scarves. Each household carried milk curd, fried rice, brick tea, and a small bucket of homemade mare's milk wine, and they walked one after another toward the ovoo at the west end of the village.

The ovoo was made of piled stones, with prayer flags stuck on it, fluttering in the wind.

The elders often say that the cairn is the home of the mountain god and also a road sign. If you worship at the cairn, you will be safe and sound when you go out throughout the year.

The children followed behind the group, barely daring to breathe.

Don't underestimate children just because they are young. They are very perceptive and know when it's okay to play and when it's time to be quiet.

The adults in the family have all taught them that if they don't understand and don't listen, they'll get possessed.

When it comes to offering sacrifices at the Aobao, Shan Yaowen wouldn't be in the first batch. This kind of thing isn't about position or ability, but about seniority. Only highly respected elders can be in the first batch.

As for the one who presided over the sacrificial ceremony, it was the old Taoist priest Bai Hui.

The elders circled the ovoo three times, then added stones to it while chanting incantations. Next, Bai Hui sprinkled three drops of mare's milk wine into the sky and three drops onto the ground, and then scattered milk curd and fried rice around the ovoo.

This is to pay homage to Heaven, Earth, and the mountain gods, and to pray for their blessings upon the grasslands so that the cattle and sheep may thrive.

After the ceremony at the ovoo, everyone gathered at the foot of the ovoo mountain, laid out the food they had brought, drank mare's milk wine, sang Mongolian long songs, and the children chased and played around.

For the people on the grasslands, the New Year is truly over once the Ovoo (cairn) ceremony is completed.

The adults are getting busy with work, and the children should also get back to school.

"Um, Wen."

When Shan Yaowen was carrying his things back, the Party Secretary called him aside: "You said before that you planned to rent more ranches after the New Year, and now you have this opportunity."

"Opportunity? What opportunity?"

Shan Yaowen became interested. "Has someone gone out of business?"

Li Baoguo shook his head. "No."

Shan Yaowen looked at him suspiciously, "Then what other ways are there to expand the business area?"

At that time, the ranches were still in the stage of promoting and improving the "grass and livestock dual contract" responsibility system, which was not fully implemented until 89, and even in some places until 90.

For people like Shan Yaowen who have already contracted the first batch of pastures, if they want to expand their contracted area, they either have to wait for the collective to allocate the reserved motorized pastures, or wait for someone to be unable to continue operating the pasture and return the contracted pasture to the collective, and then someone in the village can apply for it and the collective will allocate it again.

At that time, many policies were still in the exploratory stage, and it would be very troublesome to implement them, both in terms of procedures and other aspects.

Furthermore, herders are strictly prohibited from privately trading grassland contracting rights; everything must be reported to the collective for information and decision-making.

Even when two herders exchange pastures, the village must be present as a witness.

Li Baoguo pulled out a copy of the latest grassland contracting rules issued by his superiors from his pocket.

"The new regulations above have two methods. One is to open up the contracting authority for uncontracted degraded, desertified, or saline grasslands, or wastelands and wastelands that are not suitable for grazing. These areas are encouraged to raise funds to build grasslands. Once the grasslands are built, they will also be grasslands. In addition, subsidies will be provided for seedlings, fencing, well drilling, and other construction projects."

Upon hearing this, Shan Yaowen shook his head.

It's not that he's unwilling to build grasslands, but he simply doesn't have the capital to do so right now.

Of course, he would be willing to try it if he had the chance in the future, since he has modern methods for constructing artificial grasslands in his mind.

"The second is to raise more livestock. The authorities know that some herders' livestock farming scale will gradually expand, so the new regulations stipulate that the contracted area of ​​grassland should be allocated in conjunction with the number of livestock."

The Party Secretary knew that the first method was unlikely to be implemented in a short time, so he immediately suggested the second method: "As long as your livestock increases, you will have a good reason to apply to the Gacha (village) for the corresponding 'grazing camp' or 'supplementary pasture'."

"Of course, applying for this requires approval at each level, and the town also needs to come down to inspect and verify."

Hearing this, Shan Yaowen's eyes lit up. "That's great! My sheep do exceed the limit for the pasture. How do I apply for permission?"

"I advise you to buy more sheep and apply for the plan all at once. If you expand the scale later, it will be very troublesome to keep applying. Wait until spring, there will be a unified grassland planning application."

Li Baoguo said a lot, and Shan Yaowen listened carefully, since it touched on his fundamental goal.

"Well, I'm thinking of applying now." After hearing this, Shan Yaowen made his decision immediately.

The village secretary didn't say much. He was only responsible for informing the herders in the village who wanted to expand their pastures, and he wouldn't interfere with the specifics of how to do it.

Moreover, he felt that Shan Yaowen had his own ideas, so he didn't say anything more.

As for Shan Yaowen, he only wants to expand the ranch now, and the Xinma ranch will be contracted out by the end of this year. As long as he has money, he is not afraid of not having a ranch to contract by the end of the year.