Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1440 Spring Sowing of '96, Li Juan's Engagement

The winter of '95 didn't seem as cold as in previous years.

The Fourth Team was bustling with activity throughout the winter. Li Zhiqiang's yard was almost always full of people, and every three to five days they would go to Old Ma's place to slaughter a sheep.

Inspired by him, Old Zhang's shop added two more tables, so that people could not only drink loose liquor, but also order food, and play mahjong and cards.

Those long-time residents who haven't moved out of the eastern part of the residential area still prefer to stay at Lao Zhang's shop, like Ma Jinbao.

Ma Jinbao also put his land into the cooperative. He doesn't plan to let his sheep out in the winter. He just scatters some cotton stalks and other things he brings back in the morning and evening. As long as they don't starve, that's fine.

He drinks loose liquor here and never orders food; he'll just eat some of what other people order.

Since he didn't know how to play mahjong, and although he had learned to play cards, he was prone to cheating. When he lost a few cents, his face would turn as red as a donkey's, so no one wanted to play cards with him and could only watch.

He's thick-skinned, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. So when Old Zhang's business picks up, people start to have opinions about him and sometimes they'll say something sarcastic to him.

Of the three settlements, the new settlement where Li Long and his friends used to live had the fewest residents, and now there are even fewer households. With fewer people, the abandoned courtyards that haven't been demolished have become home to more wild animals. Li Junhai and his friends often come here to catch rabbits, chickens, or something similar to take home for a treat. They don't actually lack meat; they just play around.

Once, they even caught a fox that had wandered in, but by the time Li Long saw it, it was already just a pelt.

Because Lao Ma's shop frequently deals in leather, some of the staff know how to tan it. Their skills may not be the best, but they can at least process the leather.

The fur on that pelt was of very good quality, a yellowish-red color. Because it was a winter pelt, the fur was also very thick. Li Junhai said that after processing the pelt, he would take it to make a scarf for his third grandmother.

The "Third Grandmother" he mentioned is Li Long's mother, Du Chunfang.

There wasn't much to do at the purchasing station in winter, so Old Man Li Qingxia came back early and stayed in the village talking about the gossip he'd heard from there.

The Gu couple habitually return home before the Lunar New Year. Teacher Song also gets used to spending the New Year here every year, experiencing the lively atmosphere she never felt back in the valley.

The drip irrigation tape factory continued production throughout the winter, just like last year. The output did not decrease because Liang Wenyu and Xu Chengjun opened factories. Tao Daqiang also switched to drip irrigation for the more than 800 mu of land he cultivated in the third team. As a result, their cooperative alone needed drip irrigation tape for 7,000 mu of land, which translates to more than 80 tons.

In addition to other customers who came specifically because of its reputation, the production of drip irrigation tape this year is actually higher than last year.

After the bustling winter, with spring approaching and planting season in full swing, the drip irrigation tape factory's production slowed down.

Plowing and sowing were the first tasks undertaken by the agricultural machinery cooperative. Although Team Four didn't have much land left to cultivate in 96, other production teams, seeing how profitable cotton farming was, also started to consider cultivating their own wasteland, resulting in a significant amount of land being reclaimed.

Following Li Long's advice, Xie Yundong and his team used a new seeder, and the rows they planted were different from those of ordinary drip irrigation seeding.

Soon, Wang Caimi noticed that the planter used by Li Long's cooperative was different from those used by others.

Since joining Huang Xinping's cooperative, Wang Caimi has had some free time. His Dongfanghong 75 tractor doesn't always have work, so when he's not busy, he often goes to Li Long's cooperative's fields.

Although everyone uses drip irrigation for farming, he always discovers something new every time he comes over.

Wang Caimi was quite interested in these things, so he asked Xie Yundong, who was planting the seeds, what was different about them.

"These are for machine-harvested cotton in reserve." Xie Yundong did not go with Li Long to watch the cotton harvester, but he trusted Li Long's technical skills and believed he would not harm the cooperative.

Besides, no matter what kind of seeder you use, there's always manual cotton picking at the very least. Manual cotton picking means that no matter how many rows the seeder produces per film, it can still be picked.

Therefore, Xie Yundong and his group were not afraid.

"Cotton harvesters?" Wang Caimi immediately perked up. "So we won't have to pick cotton by hand anymore? Are machine harvesters expensive?"

If Kangmai could harvest wheat in one go, then it wouldn't be hard for Wang Caimi, a farm machinery operator who spent his days tinkering with the Dongfanghong 75, to understand how a machine could harvest cotton.

"Xiaolong said it works out to one cent per kilogram?" Xie Yundong said while watching the planting progress at the edge of the field. "But it's a bit dirty when harvested, and it's troublesome to clean it up."

"So what if it's a little dirty? It should be quick to harvest, right?"

"A cotton harvester can harvest several hundred acres a day." Xie Yundong wasn't entirely sure either, half listening to Li Long's explanation and half guessing. "Before harvesting, the cotton needs to be treated with flowering agents and defoliants to remove the leaves. Also, machine-harvested cotton requires specialized cotton cleaning equipment..."

Although he talked a lot, mostly about the shortcomings of cotton harvesters, Wang Caimi's mind was full of the fact that cotton harvesters could harvest hundreds of acres of cotton a day, and only cost one cent per kilogram... one cent! Manual harvesting has already risen to five cents, so machine harvesting is so cheap, even if it's a bit dirty, it's still worth it!

Wang Caimi has always liked to do the math, and after doing the math, he felt that getting cotton harvested by machine was actually a good thing!

"How much does a cotton harvester cost?" Wang Caimi's family received a lot of dividends last year, so he's feeling a bit rich now. If all else fails, we can get a cotton harvester.

"It's not cheap. Xiaolong said one costs over a million."

"So expensive!" Wang, the money-grubber, almost collapsed. "When will I ever break even?"

"It won't take many years, right? Even if drip irrigation yields 300 kilograms per mu, and that's 30 yuan per mu, 300 mu a day would be 10,000 yuan."

"Earning one month's income a year is roughly 300,000 yuan. After deducting costs, let's say there's a profit of 200,000 yuan. You'll break even in five years, and the rest is pure profit—a machine can't possibly last only five years, right?" Xie Yundong casually calculated. "Old Wang, how many years have you used your Dongfanghong machine? Twenty years?"

“Thirty years,” Wang the money-grubber said. “If we clean it up, it can still be used…”

"That settles it then."

Wang Caimi could only sigh, realizing he didn't have enough money. Otherwise, he could have bought one; those machines were actually quite profitable, and he believed that many more people would be willing to use them.

After all, hiring people to pick cotton, whether for short-term or long-term work, is a lot of trouble. Villagers prefer to save themselves the trouble, and isn't this cotton picker a great way to do that?

He felt he couldn't get the information from Xie Yundong, so he went to the Li family to find Li Long.

Li Long wasn't home; he was still keeping an eye on the sowing in the experimental fields in the village.

The next day, Wang Caimi went to the experimental field and found Li Long. He didn't beat around the bush and asked directly about the cotton harvester.

Li Long didn't expect Wang Caimi to have such a keen sense of smell. The cooperative had just replaced its seeders, and he had come over just by smelling the aroma.

However, he didn't intend to hide this matter, so he explained in detail the usage of the cotton harvester and the reasons why it was currently unsuitable for use.

After listening for a while, Wang Caimi understood the reason, but he still asked, "You mean the cotton and linen company doesn't accept dirty cotton picked by cotton harvesters, but they accept the cotton from the cotton ginning plant you set up in the team because it cleans the cotton?"

"That's roughly the idea," Li Long said. "The seven tons of cotton I harvested from this experimental field last year were grown this way, it was quite a hassle."

“If we plant machine-harvested cotton, can we sell the harvested cotton directly to you? We can sell it at a lower price, and then you can process it and sell it to the cotton and linen company…” Wang Caimi thought of a compromise.

“No, private individuals can’t buy cotton.” Li Long hurriedly waved his hand. “There’s a national policy that cotton is a strategic material and can’t be bought or sold privately. Even if it could be bought or sold, it would be several years later. But if you really plan to grow machine-harvested cotton, I can help with the processing and cleaning, and charge a processing fee or something.”

Wang the money-grubber has figured out the way.

Whether to do it or not, the right thing to do is to first figure out the path.

Although the gig economy is growing rapidly, the fourth team can still find workers no matter how much cotton they grow.

After all, only four production teams cultivate cotton on a large scale. Other production teams mainly focus on grain, with cotton as a supplementary crop. Under normal circumstances, the planting area will not exceed half of the total acreage.

The main problem is that they are not as wealthy as the fourth team, and they don't have as much agricultural machinery. They don't even have many spraying machines, and most of the spraying is done by people carrying sprayers on their backs.

The development of the four teams was almost unparalleled.

Because they are developing so well, they hope to do even better.

Just like top students in school, who feel increasingly threatened as they learn more.

"So, will you buy the cotton harvester yourself or hire it from somewhere else?" Wang Caimi asked again. "I plan to buy one this year." Li Long already had an idea. "These cotton harvesters are slow. Our cooperative plans to harvest 500 to 1,000 mu of land by machine this year, which is quite a lot. Hiring a machine would be too much trouble, so I might as well buy one."

In the past two years, the machinery factory in Kuishi has been optimizing the cotton harvesters. Every year during the cotton harvesting season, when they go out to harvest cotton, the drivers also act as technicians, summarizing problems, discovering some faults, and then recording and reporting them.

In some large areas, technical personnel are even sent along to record any problems that arise, and then improvements are made uniformly in the winter.

Last year, Li Long turned on the machine and found that if he turned it on slowly, the current machine actually had no problems.

I wonder what they'll look like if they improve it again.

So Li Long plans to buy a cotton harvester around July or August and use it himself.

Anyway, I've saved all my dividends from the machinery factory, so I have more than enough to buy a cotton harvester.

"If you want to buy, that's good. I'll go back to find Lao Huang now and see if we can plant some machine-harvested cotton over there, and then we can pick some and see how it goes." Wang Caimi also dreads the cotton-harvesting season every year.

Their cooperative, or rather, the other cotton-growing teams in Team Four, couldn't compare to Li Long's group. After all, Li Long had the foresight to partner with schools early on, securing almost all the middle school students in the vicinity.

Moreover, their cooperative provides excellent protection for the school's students, so even if other large-scale farmers or cooperatives try to poach them, the school will think twice.

In terms of food, accommodation, and cotton picking prices, nothing can compare to Li Long's cooperative, and it's also close by, so the cooperation with the school has always been relatively stable.

Other cooperatives would then have to hire lower-grade students or casual laborers. This would be significantly less efficient, which is why Wang Caimi is also troubled. If they could use machine-harvested cotton, it would save them a lot of trouble.

When he went back and told Huang Xinping about it, Huang Xinping was somewhat reluctant.

The main problem is that if we want to grow cotton that is compatible with cotton harvesters, as Wang Caimi suggests, then we need to buy new seeders now, which will require another investment.

After all, it's impossible to buy only one.

If we rent the planter from Li Long's cooperative, we'll have to wait until they finish planting their cotton, and time waits for no one.

Seeing that he couldn't persuade Huang Xinping, Wang Caimi had no choice but to give up.

He actually had the ability to compete for the position of cooperative manager, but he didn't become manager because he thought that by handing over the land he could have more free time to develop his own tractors.

He's not the manager now, so naturally he doesn't have the authority to make that decision.

It's too late for regrets now.

He regretted more than just that; he regretted not persisting and waiting until Li Long's cooperative started recruiting before joining. Why did he have to join another cooperative so early?

Wang the money-grubber didn't come to find Li Long, and Li Long didn't care much. He had his own plan to push the machine-harvested cotton project forward step by step; as long as it went according to plan, that was enough.

Another May Day holiday arrived, and the Li family had new guests. The family of Wang Yusheng, Li Juan's fiancé, came to propose marriage.

Last year, when Wang Yusheng came over, the young couple started dating. However, when it came to marriage, Li Juan said she wouldn't consider it in the short term, since she had only been working for a short time.

This May Day, Li Juan has been working for nearly two years and has established herself firmly in her position at her company, so it's time to start thinking about getting married.

Wang Yusheng's father, Wang Yong, worked in politics in Wucheng, specifically in the agricultural system, while his mother, Hou Xiumei, worked in the supply and marketing system, primarily engaged in the procurement of non-staple foods.

Li Long picked them up at the bus station and drove the three of them to the fourth team (Li Juan had already gone home a day early for the holiday). As they chatted on the way, they found that they were getting to know each other better. It turned out that Wang Yong and Hou Xiumei had both heard of Li Long's name in their respective systems.

Wang Yong heard of Li Long because his cooperative was very famous. The transformation of 10,000 mu of farmland was a major project, and Wucheng also had rural areas, so Wang Yong naturally paid attention to it.

Of course, he also paid attention to this because of the promotion of drip irrigation farming technology and the mentions by some professors in the agricultural college.

Although Hou Xiumei works in the non-staple food sector, Li Long himself is from the supply and marketing system. The brooms he produced were always of high quality. In the past two years, the Beiting supply and marketing system has taken new measures to organize commodities to open up foreign trade channels. Li Long's name is also among those who share their experience with the outside world.

After saying that, the two sides quickly became acquainted.

"Hey, Brother Li, if we'd known Li Juan was your niece, we should have come sooner," Wang Yong said excitedly from the back seat. "I really didn't expect that! Hehe, we should definitely keep in touch!"

Although Hou Xiumei didn't speak, her expression was the same. In their minds, Li Long was a legendary figure, but the couple had never communicated with him before and didn't know that the young man who had become famous in their system was the same person.

Li Long humbly said that he only achieved his current success by taking advantage of the times, and that he was just lucky.

Wang Yusheng sat in the passenger seat, glancing at Li Long every now and then, as if he wanted to get to know his partner's uncle all over again.

He had heard Li Juan talk about how remarkable her uncle was, but he knew that these days, could someone who could make it out of the northern border and buy a house in Yanjing be an ordinary person?

I never expected that my parents would be connected to Li Juan's uncle.

It's really amazing!

The group chatted on the way and soon arrived at Team Four.

When they arrived at the entrance of the Li family compound, Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei were already waiting there. Li Juan looked on shyly from behind them.

After getting off the bus, before Li Jianguo could speak, Wang Yong strode forward, extended his hands, and said with a smile:

"Hey, in-laws, we've really messed up each other! We're family, but we don't even recognize each other!"

This left Li Jianguo completely bewildered.

Li Long hurriedly explained a few words, and the Li family suddenly realized that although it was just a work-related relationship, who would complain about having too few connections? This really brought them one step closer.

So the Li couple, who were initially a little apprehensive, were now much more relaxed.

After all, they are city people, and we don't know what kind of attitude they will have when they come over, but once we meet, we can feel that they are very sincere, at least their attitude is very proper.

What followed was almost a natural progression; the two families discussed their children's marriage very smoothly. The Li family didn't want a bride price, they only hoped the groom would treat Li Juan well.

The Wang family insisted on giving a bride price, saying it would be against custom not to. Li Jianguo pointed at Liang Yuemei and said:

“When I married Juan’s mother, her maternal grandfather also didn’t ask for a bride price. Outsiders don’t know, but that’s our family’s custom. Of course, we will bring some things to Juan, and how Juan handles them is up to her.”

As for what she brought, it was naturally Li Juan's dowry.

Li Jianguo and the others didn't go into details, but they had already bought a yard for Li Juan and planned to provide her with a vehicle—at that time, the standard for the fourth team was a motorcycle, so the Li family was naturally a level above.

As for other appliances, the Li family didn't specify, but Liang Yuemei had told Li Juan privately that as long as they could be bought in Wucheng, whatever she wanted, the family would provide her with them.

Although the Li family is from the countryside, they will make sure their daughter's wedding is beautiful and dignified, so that it doesn't look shabby.

Actually, given the Li family's situation, they can't really be considered poor.

The Li family's attitude put the Wang family in a difficult position. However, Wang Yong looked at Li Long and then at the Li family's situation. He gritted his teeth and decided that since the Li family was being so generous, he couldn't be stingy either.

When the young couple got married, their workplaces would allocate them housing. The Wang family would then be responsible for all the home appliances, renovations, and so on. They would also buy jewelry for Li Juan. Some of the details were discussed by the two men, while others were discussed by the two mothers.

Anyway, the Wang family's visit to discuss the engagement and marriage went exceptionally smoothly this time.

Li Juan is about to get married.

Watching these scenes unfold, Li Long felt a pang of emotion—so many years have passed! (End of Chapter)