Chapter 516: Ayidaxi's story

Ayidaxi came from Aksu and was an apple grower.

Li Long didn't feel he was an ethnic person at first glance, except for the name. Then this old brother told his story himself.

Ayidaxi was actually a Han child. When he was four or five years old, his parents wanted to take him back to their hometown. When transferring in Aksu, he got separated from them. At that time, he was hungry and tired. When he was looking for his parents, he walked to the outskirts of the city, and then was adopted by a Uyghur couple, who gave him an ethnic name.

At the age of four or five, the memory was still very vague. That couple couldn't speak Han language very well, but they kept telling Ayidaxi that his Han name was Ganggang, and if his parents came to look for him in the future, this name would be a proof.

The Uyghur couple even kept the clothes he was wearing at that time. That couple didn't let Ayidaxi call them Dad and Mom, because they felt that when Ayidaxi grew up, he should still go to look for his biological parents.

The foster parents had two boys and one girl in their family. After Ayidaxi grew up, he married that girl. He didn't go to look for his biological parents, but just took root locally.

After the household contract responsibility system, Ayidaxi started to grow the locally famous apples and took the fellow villagers in the village to grow apples together. He also ran to the Wucheng fruit wholesale market to look for buyers, taking the fellow villagers to get rich together, which could be considered a leader in getting rich in his hometown.

Now Ayidaxi spoke Han language quite well, and Uyghur language even more fluently. He said he was a Han person raised by Uyghurs, and he wanted to contribute to the unity of the two ethnic groups.

"Have you ever thought about looking for your biological parents when you have time?" Li Long asked after listening to Ayidaxi's narration.

"No." Ayidaxi shook his head, "I feel it's quite good now. I know I am a Han person, and I also know that I can actually be considered a Uyghur person. I live quite well here, maybe my biological parents also live quite well. Some things, well, they are in the past. Look, I have two cute children..."

He took out a black-and-white photo from his bosom. On it were two beautiful children with slightly nervous expressions. The older one was a boy, and the younger one was a girl. Both children looked very good, with big eyes, slightly curly hair, and wearing ethnic costumes.

"Can they speak Han language?" Li Long asked.

"Yes." Ayidaxi said with a smile, "The older one is already in school, and he said he wants to come to Wucheng to work in the future."

"Good idea." Li Long said with a smile, "Cultivate well, and there will be great achievements in the future."

"Actually, I just hope he can be safe and sound, don't be like me." Ayidaxi sighed and said.

Li Long could see that he actually still had a knot in his heart.

But soon Ayidaxi asked Li Long:

"Little brother, what about you? Being able to come here to attend the commendation, the things you did must be extraordinary, right?"

"Actually, compared to you, I really didn't do anything." Li Long was modest and told the story of what he did, as well as the coincidence of being interviewed by a reporter and appearing in the newspaper.

"Like pomegranate seeds holding together tightly... Brother, what you said is too good!" After Ayidaxi read this sentence twice in his mouth, he gave a thumbs up:

"Being able to say such words, you are really amazing! If I were Halimu, I would be very happy to have a friend like you!"

Li Long was modest hurriedly; he felt the power of that sentence more and more.

The two of them exchanged a lot, until the waiter came to call them to eat.

The meeting was held the next day, but considering that some people were relatively far away, the accommodation started from this morning.

Lunch was quite sumptuous, with various staple foods such as rice, mixed noodles, pilaf, etc., stir-fried dishes, stir-fried noodles, etc. You could choose freely, similar to a buffet mode.

Ayidaxi went to choose pilaf, and Li Long habitually went to ask for a portion of mixed noodles. In later generations, he had met friends from Sichuan who said they couldn't get full eating noodles and could only get full eating rice. Li Long was just the opposite; even if he ate two bowls of rice, he was full at the time, but he would be hungry again very soon.

The taste felt a bit light, but it was delicious. Li Long ate a portion of noodles, and after eating, he was still not satisfied, so he went to ask for half a portion of stir-fried noodles.

The beautiful and enthusiastic service personnel would take the initiative to come over from time to time to ask what was needed, which made some guests, including Li Long, feel a bit uncomfortable. These people were completely not on the same level as the service personnel in the department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives in the county town; they were beautiful, enthusiastic, positive, and proactive.

Li Long thought to himself, if the salesclerks in the department store all had this kind of service attitude, I'm afraid the things inside would have been sold out long ago.

Of course, it was just thinking about it.

After eating, he drank a bowl of tea—what surprised Li Long a bit was that there was no noodle soup here. The tea was rose tea, and the taste was very fragrant.

After eating, Li Long returned to the room and found that Ayidaxi was not there. The study bag was on the table without moving, and the bag he brought himself was under the bed.

When Li Long came, he brought a small crossbody bag. Thinking that there was nothing to do here, he simply left the room. There were still people waiting at the registration desk, so Li Long went over and asked:

"Comrade, I am here to attend the meeting. If there is nothing to do in the afternoon, can I go out to handle some things?"

"Yes, but pay attention to safety. If there is any situation, you can call here." The middle-aged female comrade in charge of registration let Li Long write down the phone number here and asked him where he was going.

"I want to go to Bayi Agricultural College to find someone to ask for advice on some agricultural issues."

Li Long thought that since he had come here with great difficulty, it was just right to go to Bayi Agricultural College to ask that expert Huang and ask for advice on the middle and late management of the watermelon.

At present, the watermelon planted in the eldest brother's family was growing well, but this was only the initial stage. The later flowering and fruiting, as well as the expansion period of the watermelon, should be more important than the initial stage. Li Long felt it was necessary to understand some knowledge about planting management in advance, so that if there was any situation, he could respond in time.

To go to Bayi Agricultural College, you had to take the No. 17 bus. That female comrade enthusiastically told Li Long how to transfer buses. After Li Long left the guesthouse, according to the hints of that female comrade, after transferring buses a few times, he arrived at Bayi Agricultural College.

The Agricultural College was having classes. Li Long registered at the gate and said he wanted to see Professor Huang Shuyi. The guard registered his situation. Li Long said he had contacted Professor Huang before and said that he could contact her if there were any problems regarding planting.

"Professor Huang is giving a lecture. You go to the teaching building over there and wait for a while. It might take about half an hour." After the guard looked at Li Long's work permit, he pointed out the specific location to him.

Li Long took the crossbody bag and went to the teaching building pointed out by the guard to wait.

He was not in a hurry. He looked inside from the door and found that the one giving the lecture was indeed the Ms. Huang he saw when he went to buy seeds last time, so Li Long was relieved. He slowly sorted out the questions he wanted to ask in his mind, so as not to miss or panic when asking later.

Twenty minutes later, the class ended. Professor Huang didn't leave the classroom immediately. Some students stood up from their seats and went to the podium to ask for advice. Professor Huang answered patiently there.

Some questions seemed a bit childish to Li Long, but Professor Huang was very patient when explaining and didn't laugh at the students, which made Li Long quite admire her.

After finishing the lecture, seeing that the students had all gone out and no one came over to ask for advice, Professor Huang sorted out the teaching materials she brought, held them, and walked out.

Then she saw Li Long.

"You are..." Professor Huang felt this young man looked familiar, but couldn't quite remember where she had seen him. After all, since arriving at the college, she had seen at least eight hundred students, if not a thousand.

"Professor Huang, hello, I am Li Long who sold watermelon seeds at the seed company." Li Long introduced himself hurriedly, "Coming here this time is to ask for your advice on some problems with watermelon planting."

Two female students passed by side by side. Hearing Li Long say he came to ask for advice on watermelon planting, the two of them laughed out loud together.

"I remember now, you are the young man who bought all the watermelon seeds in the seed company at that time. Good, good, good, let's go, go to my office." Professor Huang said with a smile, "I have no more classes below, we can talk about it in detail."

Li Long then reached out to take her books and said:

"Professor, let me take the books."

"No need, no need, I'm not old enough to need others to help me take teaching materials." Professor Huang said with a smile, "Watermelon planted? How is the growth now?" Although Li Long didn't participate much in the planting management of the watermelon, he specially went back to the village before coming, went to the field to see, and also communicated well with his eldest brother. Now he basically understood the growth situation of the watermelon planting. He then talked from the beginning of soaking seeds to the current watermelon dragging vines and about to flower.

"You used manual spot sowing? You said you made a spot sowing tool? Draw it for me to see later, I'm quite curious." Unexpectedly, Huang Shuyi was quite interested in the spot sowing tool Li Long made and asked a question specially. Then she started to talk about the watermelon planting problem.

"Now that it has started to drag vines, then next, you need to water moderately and pay attention to preventing diseases and insect pests. Usually, observe the growth situation appropriately. If you find the growth is not good, yellowing, it is necessary to spray foliar fertilizer when necessary..."

While talking, they walked to the office. Professor Huang's office was still a single-story house, not big. Fortunately, it was one person per room. After entering, Professor Huang let Li Long sit.

There was a cabinet in the office, and you could see it was full of books and paper materials. There were also many books on the desk, and there was a thick stack of mimeographed materials on the wooden sofa where Li Long sat.

"It's a bit messy here, don't mind." Professor Huang poured a glass of water for Li Long and said with a smile:

"Come, let's talk about it in detail. By the way, can you draw that spot sowing tool?"

Li Long asked for paper and pen and soon drew the spot sowing tool. Because his drawing skills were average, he talked while drawing.

"Not bad, not bad, it's a good creative idea. This can actually be promoted... Of course, you can also build a factory yourself to produce this. Actually, I think this kind of spot sowing tool has a big market in our countryside."

Professor Huang soon understood the principle of this spot sowing tool and then sighed that practice really produces true knowledge.

Li Long was a bit ashamed and continued to talk about the current situation of watermelon planting.

!.

Knowing that the watermelon was growing well and had signs of flowering, Professor Huang frowned and thought for a while, then said:

"It's a bit early to flower now. I can't see the growth, but it doesn't exclude the possibility of insufficient fertility leading to early flowering. My suggestion is to apply foliar fertilizer and base fertilizer together."

Li Long asked hurriedly what fertilizer to apply specifically. Professor Huang provided Li Long with several choices. After all, which one could be bought depended on the situation of the county agricultural materials company. Similarly, regarding the prevention and control of diseases and insect pests, Professor Huang also talked quite in detail.

"The prevention and control of diseases and insect pests mainly rely on prevention, reasonable fertilization, and improving the disease resistance of the melon seedlings. Especially pay attention to the combined use of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers to prevent partial application of nitrogen. After rain, drain the accumulated water in the big ditch in time to prevent soaking the seedlings and improve disease resistance. Spray medicine in time during the high-incidence stage of diseases and insect pests, focusing on preventing blight, anthracnose, powdery mildew, and aphids, and also observe in time to prevent other diseases..."

While talking, Professor Huang told Li Long which medicine was needed to prevent and control which disease. Li Long had paper and pen in his hand and wrote them down one by one.

"That's about it." Roughly speaking, it was about the same, Professor Huang said, "After you go back, observe according to the situation and respond in time if there is any situation. If there is any place I didn't mention, you can come to find me. The college allocated a house to me, and I also live in it during the holidays."

After Li Long finished writing, he folded the paper and put it into the crossbody bag seriously. He still wanted to say words of thanks, but Professor Huang smiled and said:

"This time there is no need to say any words of thanks. Remember to come and tell me if there is any situation later. If not, it's also good to come and tell me the situation after the watermelon is harvested. I can understand the planting process, and the total data is also good for my teaching and research. The piece of jade you left last time was very good, but don't do such things in the future. Being able to provide me with data is more valuable to me than putting that piece of jade."

Li Long was a bit embarrassed.

Only then did Professor Huang ask what Li Long came here for this trip.

"Can't I come here specially to ask for advice on watermelon planting?"

"That's not very likely. If you came here specially, it would be possible for you to come here specially only after some problems appeared in the watermelon planting." Professor Huang said with a smile, "From your narration, it can be seen that your management of watermelon is quite strict, and there is no problem with the watermelon. You came to ask me mainly to prevent trouble before it happens, so there is only one possibility, you came here on the way."

"Professor Huang is amazing." Li Long sighed sincerely, "I came here to attend the Autonomous Region's ethnic unity commendation meeting."

"You were commended? Quite amazing." Professor Huang was a bit surprised, "Come, tell me about it."

Li Long then briefly talked about the situation. This was not the first time he said it, so he said it quite smoothly.

"Not bad, not bad, pomegranate seeds, you say we who study agriculture are not strangers to pomegranates, but we didn't think of connecting ethnic unity with this, it's really a bit dead in research..."

"No, no. You study pomegranate growth, I just felt it and said it. You are wise people who have a thousand thoughts and one mistake, I am a foolish person who has a thousand thoughts and only then have this one gain..."

"Being able to say such words, you can't be a foolish person." Professor Huang shook her head, "Young man, being able to maintain your original intention, you are quite good like this. The relationship between you is also quite enviable. There are Han students and ethnic students in the class I teach, can I tell them about your story?"

"Yes." Li Long nodded, "If it can be of some help, then I am very honored."

"Hey, you speak like this, it's hard to connect you with a farmer who hasn't been to school much." Professor Huang teased Li Long.

Li Long was actually prepared with a piece of jade, but with Professor Huang saying this, he was really embarrassed to put it down.

Leaving Bayi Agricultural College, the sun hadn't set yet. Li Long transferred to a bus and went to the Jade Factory.

The side door was still open. What surprised Li Long a bit was that there was someone here talking to the person inside, looking like they wanted to buy jade.

Has Liu Gong's business gotten better?

Li Long walked over and saw that it was still Liu Gong inside. His complexion was better than before, and his face was much ruddier. It seemed that life had improved a bit.

Liu Gong was showing a jade Buddha in his hand to this customer, talking about its characteristics. After seeing Li Long from the corner of his eye, he was stunned for a moment, and then happy:

"Yo, Comrade Li, you're here?"

"Liu Gong, hello, you go ahead and get busy." Li Long said hurriedly, "I'm not in a hurry here."

"Okay, okay, okay." Liu Gong nodded with a smile, "You wait a moment."

Li Long was not in a hurry, and that customer was not in a hurry either, slowly bargaining with Liu Gong.

"I told you, fifteen yuan is the bottom price. The price of things placed here by the factory has a bottom price. I don't earn your money, but you can't let me lose money, right?" Liu Gong was also talking patiently, "This really doesn't earn your money, why don't you look at something else?"

"I just like this one, you let go of two yuan, and I'll buy it." That man was very persistent, and Liu Gong had no choice. Two yuan was not a small amount for him, it was a day's food expenses, and he had requirements from the factory when selling things.

In the end, that middle-aged man still took out fifteen yuan and took away that jade Buddha. He originally wanted Liu Gong to give him a small piece of other materials, but was refused by Liu Gong.

After this middle-aged man left, Li Long went to the counter, and Liu Gong simply let Li Long come in from the side door. He said:

"Comrade Li, if everyone who came to buy jade was as straightforward as you, I, an old man, wouldn't waste so much saliva. Come, come, come, sit. Haven't eaten dinner yet, right?"

"No." Li Long said.

"That's just right, the food sent by my old lady, I can't finish it alone, shall we eat together?"

"Okay." Liu Gong invited, and Li Long didn't refuse, following Liu Gong to eat, chatting while eating.

It wasn't any good food, corn flour sponge cake, stir-fried cabbage, and a small bowl of pickles.

"If you still want to buy jade, this time I left you a few pieces of materials that are slightly larger, and the carving is also quite good." Liu Gong said, "The same, according to the price in the factory. To tell you the truth, if it weren't for you, I had planned to retire due to illness earlier. Now thinking about it, after retiring, I don't know if I would be useless now. With you coming, I feel that I, an old man, am still okay and can still work."

Liu Gong's words could be considered heartfelt, and Li Long didn't know how to answer, so he smiled and changed the topic:

"As long as it's the material you carved, I want it all."

Master's work is not often seen, being able to let yourself pick it, that's burning high incense.

Such a good thing, wouldn't you grab it? (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 517 =====