Chapter 410: Patent cooperation? First time I

After taking the bus to the South Train Station, Li Long specifically glanced at the spot where Yusufu's stall used to be, only to find that someone else had already taken his place.

Had Yusufu left?

Originally, Li Long had intended to look around the other stalls after buying his things, thinking that if there were anything good, he would buy some more.

Now that Yusufu was gone, Li Long vaguely remembered the two stalls next to him; one sold snow lotuses, and the other sold shoes—the kind of labor-protection shoes, rubber shoes, and so on.

Li Long lost the urge to browse, so he carried his things off the bus and headed toward the Bayi Guesthouse.

Upon arriving at the Bayi Guesthouse, Li Long bought a bus ticket back to Maxian, waited for a while, and then boarded the bus.

He tied the bag of melon seeds shut and placed it on the luggage rack. As for the bag containing the jade, he held it directly in his hands. Li Long wrapped his coat tightly around himself and looked out through the window.

There were "short-distance" passenger buses here that went to several cities in Northern Xinjiang. So-called short-distance meant those not exceeding three hundred kilometers; one could buy tickets here for places like Hu County, Maxian, and Shi City.

To take a bus to further places, such as Southern Xinjiang or the interior, one had to go to Nianzigou to catch a bus.

Through the window, which hadn't yet iced over, one could see the flow of people moving back and forth; there were even more people here than on the Old Street.

The bus soon departed. Having experienced the events on the way here, Li Long was quite vigilant, but the return trip was very smooth, and no accidents occurred.

Getting off the bus, he carried his things back to the compound. Gu Xiaoxia had already finished work and was cooking.

Seeing Li Long return, Gu Xiaoxia was somewhat surprised. When he left, Li Long had told her he might stay in Wu City for a night; she hadn't expected him to return so quickly.

"I'll steam two more mantou," Gu Xiaoxia said. "I didn't know you were coming back, but luckily I cut plenty of vegetables."

Li Long looked at the pickled vegetables Gu Xiaoxia had cut in the kitchen and asked:

"Why not add more meat? Just eating pickled vegetables isn't very tasty."

Gu Xiaoxia didn't speak. Li Long guessed she was probably trying to save money, so he said with a smile:

"You go ahead and eat the meat. If we run out, we have wild boar at home, and I can still go hunting in the mountains. We can live a good life now, so don't skimp."

Gu Xiaoxia smiled.

Li Long knew it was too late to take out meat to thaw now, but he still had Gu Xiaoxia scoop out some more of the rendered fat, which already contained some meat chunks, so that the stir-fried pickled vegetables would be fragrant.

After finishing this, Li Long carried the melon seeds into the house. He also distributed the jade pieces into the vacant side room. These things could just be stored away slowly. He didn't know when they would be useful in the future.

By the time Li Long had changed his clothes and washed up simply, Gu Xiaoxia had finished preparing the meal.

"Did you get everything done?" at the dinner table.

Because the supply for Number 76 was running low, Li Long drove the horse cart back to the team the next day.

Because of the fishing and the rabbit hunting, one could vaguely see people active outside the village, and occasionally, one could hear people shouting.

Li Long drove the horse cart and smiled as he listened to these sounds. This was the change he had brought about—before him, or even after him, the village was usually very quiet in the deep winter of the third and fourth nines. Even if people went out, it was just to visit neighbors; they rarely stayed active outside.

Such a situation would continue until the New Year, when they would set off firecrackers or something even more powerful for a few days, and then visit relatives and neighbors to pay New Year calls; only then would the village become a bit livelier.

The minus-thirty-degree cold was destined to make villages in Northern Xinjiang unable to be as lively as those in the interior.

But this also had its benefits. The entire village was not gathered based on clans or blood relations, so the interactions and exchanges between everyone had a sense of propriety. Every household came from different provinces and regions, and even their New Year customs were not entirely the same.

This meant one could completely retain some customs and discard unnecessary ones based on their own family's situation and preferences, living more freely.

When Li Long returned to the Li family, Li Qiang was playing with a spinning top outside the courtyard. He wasn't the only one; there were several other children with him. They were whipping their tops. By now, there were rules to the game. Li Qiang whipped his top until it spun rapidly, then fixed it in a spot he had chosen. Another child would whip their own top, making it crash fiercely into Li Qiang's top. If they could knock Li Qiang's top away and make it stop spinning, that child would win. Of course, conversely, if Li Qiang won this round, it would be his turn to counterattack the other person, with the same rules.

Seeing Li Long pulling the horse cart over, several children sighed. Li Long said with a smile:

"You guys move your tops to the side; I'll try my best to make sure Number 76 doesn't step on them. Let's see who's lucky; those who are lucky can stay, and those who aren't, well, there's nothing to be done."

Hearing Li Long's words, they also showed interest. Li Qiang said loudly:

"Alright, alright, alright! Let's see who's lucky!"

Several children whipped their tops a few times to make them spin at maximum speed, then dodged out of the way.

Li Long led Number 76 past these tops. He controlled Number 76 to avoid the tops as much as possible. There was enough space between the two wheels of the cart for the tops not to be hit. So, when Li Long passed, except for one top that bumped into another while spinning and then darted out, hitting the wheel and falling to the ground, all the other tops kept spinning.

"Mine is still good!" one child cheered and ran toward their top.

"Mine is still good too! Great! I'm really lucky!"

"Haha, my top is spinning the steadiest!" This was Li Qiang's voice.

Only one child had a mournful face and shouted loudly:

"This round doesn't count, let's do it again, do it again!"

Li Long smiled as he watched them argue, while he led the horse cart into the courtyard.

"I heard shouting outside, what's wrong?" Li Jianguo had already walked out of the house. Seeing Li Long leading the horse cart, he asked, "Did you finish your business?"

"Qiangqiang and the others are playing with tops," Li Long explained, then said:

"The business is done. I went to the mountains to deliver grain, hunted a few wild animals, sold them, and then went to Wu City to buy some melon seeds." Li Long didn't mention the bear hunting.

Actually, he really wanted to talk about it. After all, hunting a bear was truly an awesome thing, something one could brag about for a lifetime—perhaps some people would never have the chance to be near a bear in their entire lives, let alone hunt one.

But Li Long ultimately decided not to say anything yet. If he did, it was highly likely his older brother wouldn't let him go hunting in the mountains again—when he hunted the wolf earlier, Li Jianguo already felt it was very dangerous. If Li Long didn't have the semi-automatic rifle in his hands, Li Jianguo wouldn't have allowed him to enter the mountains.

Now that it was a bear, Li Jianguo would be even less likely to let Li Long enter the mountains.

Li Long didn't intend to stop hunting yet. He felt that going into the mountains from time to time was still quite good. After all, he could quickly obtain meat in the mountains and exchange it for quite a bit of money.

"You brought back melon seeds?" Li Jianguo became curious as soon as he heard about melon seeds: "How much did you bring back? Where did you get them?"

"I went to Wu City and got over twenty kilograms. I met an expert there." Li Long and Li Jianguo unloaded the horse cart together, saying as they unloaded:

"The person is a professor from the Bayi Agricultural Academy. She said that one mu of land requires two kilograms of seeds, with three to five seedlings per pit. When the seedlings grow three to five leaves, you thin them out and set the seedlings... anyway, she said quite a lot, and I remembered most of it."

"After I put Number 76 away, let's talk about it in detail." Li Jianguo was also very happy and curious when he heard this. He said, "If we can really grow them, and there's someone to buy them back, then we'll grow them!"

Growing only grain couldn't lead to wealth, at least not if the land was small. This was something everyone had already seen clearly.

But before the land was divided last year, almost all farmers thought only about eating their fill and eating well. Given the size and yield of the plots in Northern Xinjiang, eating their fill was no problem, but eating well was impossible in the short term. At the very least, it wasn't easy to eat meat.

But this matter had been completely resolved in the Li family after the past year. Now, what Li Jianguo wanted to do was to get rich.

Li Long's ideas and measures had earned him quite a bit of money. Li Jianguo was sincerely happy for his younger brother, but he himself was actually quite anxious.

He also wanted to earn more money and use his own efforts to let his family live a better life.

Growing melon seeds was indeed a good choice, at least it was much better than grain crops in terms of making money.

It was just that they hadn't grown them before, and plus, they didn't know where to sell them after growing them, so Li Jianguo had actually never felt confident.

Now that he heard Li Long say there was such an expert who explained how to grow them, he naturally became interested.

Li Long pulled the horse cart to the shed and carried the bag into the house. Liang Yuemei was sewing shoe soles. Seeing Li Long enter, she said with a smile: "Did you finish your business? Why are you back so soon? Didn't you stay with Xiaoxia in the county for a while longer?"

"Number 76 was out of feed," Li Long said honestly, "I bought melon seeds in Wu City and met an expert who explained how to grow them, so I thought I'd come back and tell my brother."

"You met an expert? How coincidental? That's really a good thing!" Liang Yuemei was also very surprised when she heard this, "You're really lucky!"

"Yeah, she's a professor at the Bayi Agricultural Academy. She's going back to teach in a while, and she even left me her name, telling me to go find her if I have any issues." Li Long sighed, "She's a good teacher."

After settling Number 76, Li Jianguo entered the house. Looking at the bag at Li Long's feet, he asked:

"Is this the melon seeds?"

"Yeah." Li Long untied the rope at the mouth of the bag, took out a handful, and said:

"Two kilograms per mu. This is twenty-one kilograms. If we plant sparingly, that's eleven mu."

"How do we plant them? Can we use a seeder?"

"Better not. Spot sowing, pit by pit."

"Then ten mu of land, if we have to spot sow, it'll take a lot of time." Liang Yuemei was a bit worried, "This isn't a vegetable patch, it's ten mu of land..."

!.

"It's fine, brother, sister-in-law. I designed a spot seeder. I plan to make a few when the time comes; it'll be very fast." Li Long explained his idea, "The expert also said it was good and told me to find a farm machinery factory to see if they could produce a batch. If this thing is produced, I reckon many people will be able to use it, and they won't have to bend their backs to plant things..."

Listening to Li Long's description, Li Jianguo felt it was feasible, but he still asked:

"Can this thing be made?"

"Yes." Li Long had disassembled this thing in his previous life; it was really simple inside, with springs and such. He believed that although it was hard to find large items these days, this thing could still be found.

Although Li Jianguo was skeptical, given Li Long's past year, he basically believed his younger brother's words.

Li Long also talked about how to set seedlings and thin them, how to cultivate and ridge, and so on, including stopping water before picking the melons, and how to take the seeds after the melons were picked:

"In the past, people opened the melons and took out the seeds inside. That was too labor-intensive. A simpler way is to find a large pot, stabilize it underneath with stones, bricks, or clods of earth, and place a wooden board on top. The board should be wider than the melon. Then find a narrower, thicker wooden board. Place the melon on the bottom board, and two people lift the top board and press down on the melon, and the seeds will be squeezed out and flow into the pot. Then you only need to drain the water in the pot and scoop out the seeds to dry."

"That simple?" Liang Yuemei still couldn't believe it.

"It's just that simple, so you avoid reaching into the melon to take out the seeds. It takes a bit of effort, but the melon remains intact, and the melon without seeds is just right for feeding pigs," Li Long said with a smile, "If you work fast, doing one mu a day is no problem. Ten mu, and you can finish in ten days or so."

Li Long was still quite optimistic. He was thinking about going to the Shi City Tractor Factory when he had time to see if they could cooperate.

Liang Yuemei talked for a while and then went to cook, while Li Jianguo discussed planting melon seeds with Li Long.

"Since it's easy to grow in sandy land, then next spring, just like you said, we'll have to contract a piece of sandy land. Let me think... the sandy land behind the dam ridge behind our team is sandy land, and it's mature land, no salinity. That should be growable."

When it came to familiarity with the land in various parts of the team, there weren't many people who knew more than Li Jianguo.

"Yeah, then we can contract a piece of land there to grow melon seeds." Li Long said, "Sandy land can grow many things, sweet potatoes can also be grown, it's just that few people buy them. Otherwise, we could grow a few mu of sweet potatoes."

"Don't grow that stuff." Li Jianguo looked disgusted, "I've had enough of that stuff! There's nowhere to sell it, and it's not easy to store. Let's wait until the Grain Bureau buys it before talking about growing it..."

Li Long smiled. Li Jianguo had had enough dried sweet potatoes and sweet potato flour when he was a child, which was why he was so disgusted.

Actually, growing this and making sweet potato vermicelli wouldn't be bad, but it was mainly labor-intensive. Let's talk about that later.

Li Jianguo carried the bag of seeds to the vacant room and put it away. He repeated what Li Long said about drying them for a day before planting and soaking them in warm water for a day several times.

Even until mealtime, Li Jianguo was still asking Li Long about the details of the spot seeder.

Li Long explained it to him while eating.

Li Qiang seemed quite interested in machinery too. When his father asked, he would occasionally ask a few questions. Although they were childish, Li Long still answered them with a smile.

After the meal, Li Long walked back to the horse stables. Next, he would rest for a few days.

Of course, as long as he was back, fishing and catching rabbits were inevitable. He figured that as long as Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang knew he was back, they would definitely come to find him.

Sure enough, before it was dark, the two of them came looking for him.

"Brother Long, you're back." When Yang Yongqiang pushed the door open and entered, Li Long and Old Uncle Luo were eating. Old Uncle Luo was also quite happy to see Li Long back and had specifically stir-fried a meat dish, making a small basin, enough for the two of them to eat.

"Come, come, come, sit and eat together." Li Long greeted them.

"No, no." Yang Yongqiang and Tao Daqiang both waved their hands, "We've already eaten. The days are short, we only eat two meals a day, and we only ate this afternoon's meal less than an hour ago."

"Alright then, you guys sit, we'll eat first. You've been idle these past two days, right?"

"It's alright. We went to look at the Little Haizi and poked the ice holes open. Those families in the team are still catching fish, but it's cold these past two days, and the days are short, so they haven't caught much."

"We also checked the rabbit snares every two days, but there was only one rabbit. We think it's time to change locations."

Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang took turns talking about the fish and rabbits, occasionally mentioning things in the team, giving Li Long a certain understanding of what had happened in the team during this period.

Overall, the team was still relatively calm. There were people coming from the interior to visit relatives, looking for Xu Chengjun to settle down, but Xu Chengjun clearly stated that except for fathers, sons, and family members, he wouldn't allow others to settle. The policy was like this: either go to the township to find connections and let the township give a quota, or settle elsewhere.

This reminded Li Long of his own father and mother. If he brought his father and mother over to settle, the team would not only allow them to settle but also allocate land.

After the second land contract, that is, after the millennium, the team began to implement the policy of not increasing land for increased people and not decreasing land for decreased people.

In other words, even if they settled down by then, they wouldn't be allocated land, even if a child was born in the family, the child wouldn't be given land.

But before this, as long as they could settle down and had a child, they would be allocated land—what was allocated was ration land, five mu of land.

Li Long didn't know yet that his second brother and brother-in-law both intended to bring their whole families over. He just thought about bringing his father and mother over to enjoy life here—at least it was better than living in their hometown.

After eating, Li Long and Old Uncle Luo cleaned up together. After washing the dishes, Old Uncle Luo went to feed the deer and other livestock. Li Long wanted to help, but was shooed away by Old Uncle Luo.

"I can still do this work. When the time comes that I can't do it, even if you want me to do it, I won't." Old Uncle Luo shooed Li Long away.

Li Long smiled and returned to the house. Yang Yongqiang and Tao Daqiang were sitting on chairs chatting. Seeing Li Long enter, they stopped talking.

"There are still ten days or so before the New Year. I plan not to do anything else these few days, just catch fish and get rabbits, saving up some money to buy New Year goods." According to Li Long's thoughts, he actually just wanted to stay in the house and rest.

But being a young man, thinking of Gu Xiaoxia, he felt itchy in his heart and couldn't help but want to run to the county.

"That's good." Yang Yongqiang and Tao Daqiang had the same intention. Although they had earned some money before, who would complain about having too much money?

If they could earn some more money before the New Year, they could buy more things for the New Year.

Although they couldn't reach Li Long's level, at least they were better than others in the village. The idea of eating more meat, buying good clothes, and buying other things for the New Year was still there.

The three of them agreed to go check the rabbit snares early tomorrow morning and take the opportunity to take the rabbit snares and change locations, and then Yang Yongqiang and Tao Daqiang left. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 411 =====