Chapter 952: The Supply and Marketing Cooperative wants a piece of the action too!

The three-day holiday for the Lunar New Year passed in a flash. Before the people in the village even felt it, Li Long's family of four had already driven the jeep back to the county.

Gu Bo Yuan didn't go back; he was going to stay in the village until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month before returning to work. The purchasing station was also on a long break. After all, the purchasing station had been truly busy this year, much busier than Li Long.

Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia actually didn't really want to leave either. It was so lively staying in the village, with the young people from the old days coming over in turns to hang out, and the whole family in the house; even Mingming and Haohao were laughing and playing the whole time.

When they were leaving, Du Chunfang complained, saying, "Is this what you call celebrating the New Year? You just got back and now you're leaving?" Li Long comforted her, saying they would be back in a couple of days, and it wasn't that far anyway. Only then did Du Chunfang's mood improve a little. Old people like liveliness, like having their children and grandchildren around them, like having a house full of descendants, and fear loneliness; Li Long, having lived two lives, understood this very well.

The second elder brother Li Anguo's family and the elder sister Li Xia's family arrived on the first day of the New Year. It had been half a year or a year since they had last seen each other; the adults were affectionate when they met, and the children were even more excited. Especially Hongqin, Li Xue Qin, and Xueping—the envy on their faces when they heard that Li Juan and Li Qiang had been to Beijing was something else.

Because Chen Xingbang had worked hard last year, he had been promoted to a team leader at the food factory, and together with Li Anguo, they could be considered to have achieved some small success. They had originally planned to come over and brag a bit, but as soon as they heard Li Long and the others had been to Beijing, their desire to brag vanished.

The funniest thing was Hongqin complaining to Li Long in front of Chen Xingbang, saying that Chen Xingbang had slaughtered and sold her little lamb. She said that little lamb was given to her by Li Long, and she had been raising it well; she hadn't expected it to be slaughtered before the New Year.

This made Chen Xingbang very embarrassed. He said loudly that this girl really had no sense of propriety and even knew how to tell tales.

Li Long had no choice but to pull Hongqin aside and say he would give her another little lamb, and she could take it with her when they left.

They had bought quite a few cattle and sheep last October, but they had also slaughtered quite a few before the New Year, so it was basically balanced. Therefore, the number of cattle and sheep in the old horse corral wasn't actually small right now, and Li Long had the idea of breeding them into a large herd.

In the future, as the lives of the common people got better and better, the demand for beef and mutton would increase, and the prices would also get higher and higher.

With his own supply of sugar dregs, raising cattle and sheep was no problem, so Li Long had some intention of expanding the herd in this regard.

Now, most of the lambs had been born, and the earliest lambs were already two months old and could eat grass.

With these two things, Li Long was very happy during these three days of the New Year. When they left, the second elder brother's and the elder sister's families each got a box of pastries brought back from Beijing, which basically used up all the pastries he had to give away.

Returning to the big courtyard on the afternoon of the third day of the New Year, Sister Yang and the others had already returned early, and the fire in the kitchen had already been set. Li Long and the others hadn't left their house keys, so Gu Xiaoxia let Han Fang take Mingming and Haohao to play in the east room, while she and Li Long set up the stove to boil water.

In the evening, looking at the sleeping Mingming and Haohao, Gu Xiaoxia said to Li Long with some apology:

"It's all because of my job that we didn't have a good New Year."

"What's wrong with that? Isn't that how it is for everyone working in units in the county?" Li Long was sitting at the desk writing his proposal, saying as he wrote, "You like this job, right?"

"Mm, I like it." Gu Xiaoxia nodded.

"Then that's all that matters. Life, after all, always has gains and losses. This job of yours didn't come easily, and the leaders think highly of you, so just do it well. As for the New Year, the older you get, the less interesting it becomes.

Going back is just bragging and drinking. Look at how many people came to our house; besides those we had good relationships with in the past, most of the rest were just trying to get close, thinking about asking what to plant this year to make money. So, don't think so much. Work and rest are the way of the world; it's enough to take a few days off during the New Year. The team is idle now, but wait until summer and see how busy they'll be."

Gu Xiaoxia smiled. Actually, she was really worried that Li Long wouldn't let her work. After all, the money she earned from her job was far less than what Li Long earned from running the purchasing station and doing other things.

But she also loved this job very much. After working, she saw more and didn't want to stay at home looking after the babies every day. She was also worried that Li Long would make her resign—although she could tell from Li Long's personality that he wouldn't do that, she couldn't help but have such thoughts when she occasionally heard gossip.

"How is your proposal coming along?" Gu Xiaoxia asked again.

"Mine is simple, just an idea." Li Long stopped his pen and said, "After I finish writing it, I still need to go talk to Director Li in the next two days. I'm considered a representative of the industrial and commercial sector, but this proposal is about the development of animal husbandry. Although the Director said I could propose whatever I wanted, since it's written down, I should report it anyway."

Gu Xiaoxia admired Li Long's way of doing things immensely. Not to say it was watertight in every aspect, but at least he could take care of the big picture, leaving others with nothing to say.

In Gu Xiaoxia's understanding, people who could do this were usually those who had spent a long time in officialdom and the business world and had enough life experience, but how old was Li Long, and how much experience did he have?

It could almost be said that Gu Xiaoxia grew up with Li Long; the only thing she didn't quite understand was those few months Li Long spent at the Wucheng Food Factory.

And the changes occurred after those few months.

Could a few months really make a person undergo a complete transformation?

Gu Xiaoxia had asked Li Long why he left the food factory back then, but Li Long didn't say, so Gu Xiaoxia didn't ask again.

Regardless, Gu Xiaoxia only liked this kind of Li Long; she hadn't taken a fancy to the Li Long from before.

"Mingming's dad, this time Sister and Second Sister-in-law both told me that you don't seem to have changed at all after a whole year, still looking the same as when you first came to Northern Xinjiang... saying you still look like you're twenty."

Gu Xiaoxia suddenly thought of something and said to Li Long.

Li Long paused his pen and said, "I've heard others say that too, but as for this face, twenty and thirty are about the same; it's mainly because I haven't suffered much. Look at Big Brother, and your dad; they've both suffered a lot, so they look old.

Come to think of it, I haven't suffered as much as you, so I don't look like I've changed much. Of course, there's also the fact that you women have to give birth to children; after giving birth, the body naturally changes, and men don't have to go through that. When you're thirty, you'll be able to see that I've changed."

It wasn't just one person who had said this to Li Long while chatting. Li Long thought to himself, could it be a benefit brought by "rebirth"? Could it be that I'll end up living like an old goblin?

That shouldn't be possible, right?

He changed the subject:

"Did you mail the photos for Gu Xiao Yu?"

"Mailed them. Gu Xiao Yu will definitely be very happy when she sees those photos. By the way, I'm thinking, when it's summer vacation or when you're free, shall we go again? Beijing in the summer must be different from winter!"

"We'll see how things go then. When I'm free here, we can go. It's just that the journey is more miserable than in winter." Li Long didn't have any objections. If they went, they went; of course, he still needed to have the time.

The next day, Gu Xiaoxia went to work, Sister Yang and Han Fang looked after the children and managed the house, and Li Long took his proposal to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

"Happy New Year, Happy New Year!"

Entering the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, seeing the "colleagues" starting to get busy, Li Long greeted them one by one and specifically went to Zhou Yuan's office to sit for a while. Theoretically speaking, Li Long was still Zhou Yuan's subordinate, so now that work had started, he naturally had to come and punch the clock.

"Hey, Comrade Li Long, Happy New Year." Zhou Yuan, who had already tidied up the office, greeted Li Long with a smile, "Coming to find the Director? The Director is in."

Speaking of this, he whispered, "Comrade Li Long, there's a meeting in the next two days, right? Don't worry, going there is just a formality. It's fine if you have a proposal to hand in, and it's fine if you don't; just follow the crowd."

In Zhou Yuan's eyes, attending a meeting was just looking at materials and then clapping in agreement.

Li Long naturally didn't think so, but he didn't go to argue with Zhou Yuan about this. Everyone's philosophy was different, and there was no need to force his own onto others.

After chatting with Zhou Yuan for a few sentences, Li Xiangqian had already heard Li Long's voice and shouted twice in the corridor, summoning Li Long over.

After Li Long left, Zhou Yuan sighed to himself that being a favorite of the Director was just different. Others had to ask if the Director was free before seeing him, while here, he was called over directly.

But he only envied and didn't feel jealous. Li Long had the ability to bring honor to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and since he didn't have this ability, he naturally wouldn't have any thoughts about people who did.

"Why didn't you come here directly after coming over? What were you saying over at Zhou Yuan's?" Li Xiangqian signaled Li Long to pour his own water. He took out a bag of tea leaves, placed them on the table, pointed at them, and said, "A friend gave them to me for the New Year. He said this stuff isn't cheap; you try it."

"Alright." Li Long said with a smile, "I'm an employee of the Purchasing Section after all, so I have to chat with Section Chief Zhou a few times and report my thoughts."

"Report my foot. I think you just went over there to gossip because you had nothing to do." Li Xiangqian waved his hand, "How was the New Year?" "Pretty good, it's just that the holiday was too short and I didn't have a good time; my dad and mom were even complaining."

"There's no help for that; it's the same all over the country. Even if we wanted to complain, it wouldn't work." Li Xiangqian was naturally the same; people were looking for him to drink, and the drinking sessions hadn't even been scheduled yet.

Fortunately, it was still winter during this period, and there was no major work, so he could still organize drinking sessions after getting off work in the evening.

"How about it? Are you prepared for the meeting?" Li Xiangqian asked habitually.

"Prepared." Li Long said, "I've put together a proposal and would like to ask you, Director, to take a look."

"What aspect is it?" Li Xiangqian asked, looking at the two sheets of letter paper Li Long handed over.

At this time, people wrote letters on letter paper, and common people also used letter paper for various official documents. This stuff was available in ordinary retail departments and was very popular. Of course, the quality varied. High-quality paper was very smooth, and writing with a fountain pen was very clear stroke by stroke.

Low-quality paper would cause the ink to bleed when written on with a fountain pen, resulting in a blob of ink that looked very ugly.

"Animal husbandry aspect." Li Long mentioned.

"Why the hell are you showing me something about animal husbandry? What do I know about that?" Li Xiangqian scolded with a smile, but he still started reading.

"Proposal on dissolving the animal husbandry team and allowing herdsmen to settle down and graze."

Seeing the title, Li Xiangqian asked with some surprise: "You're proposing this?"

"Yes." Li Long said, "Rural areas have been contracting production to households for several years now, but this animal husbandry team is still in the big pot model. That's not very good, right? The population grazing in our county isn't large, and this animal husbandry team doesn't actually have much significance for existing.

Anyway, those cattle and sheep already basically belong to the herdsmen, and the grassland was passed down by their ancestors. Later, we can issue a grassland certificate, letting them graze on their own grassland; how convenient that would be."

"Farmers have to pay public grain for farming, so what about the herdsmen? Without the animal husbandry team, who will manage them?"

"Manage themselves. Don't herdsmen pay wool, cattle, and sheep every year? It's the same. Doesn't the county have an Animal Husbandry Bureau? Just let that bureau provide guidance."

Actually, Li Long's proposal looked big, but in actual execution, it was just removing the intermediate management layer of the animal husbandry team.

"You're going to offend people by making this proposal." Li Xiangqian said, "Won't those people in the animal husbandry team hate you?"

"It's the trend of the times; they should know that, right?" Li Long smiled and said, "I'm a newcomer. This proposal is actually just to inform them in advance that there's no need for this animal husbandry team to continue existing. If they are smart, they should have thought about their way out long ago.

If they aren't smart and think I'm the one playing tricks, then I can only say they are stupid to the core—anyway, we don't have much to do with them here, so even if they hate me, there's nothing they can do."

Li Long's meaning was very clear: he was just a newcomer. The proposal would at most be looked at by those above, and it was impossible for it to be executed exactly as he said. If they really wanted to open up animal husbandry, that would be a major policy, not something a new representative like him could pull off.

So Li Long wrote this proposal very casually.

"Then hand it in." Li Xiangqian glanced at it, saw that there were no problems with the writing of the proposal, and said with a smile, "Alright, it seems you've put in the effort."

After finishing, he handed the two sheets of paper back to Li Long and said again: "Then let's talk about other things. The New Year is over; do you have any plans for this year?"

"What aspect are you talking about, Director?" Li Long brewed the tea, took a sip, and said, "This tea is not bad. I'll take some when I leave later."

"Take it all; I have more." Li Xiangqian said, "I'm talking about your work aspect, your plans for the whole year."

"What other plans could I have? I'm not weaving the carrying poles anymore; there should be big brooms, right? This job definitely has to be done. I'm mainly focusing on that purchasing station. The purchasing station collected quite a lot of things last year, most of which were sold, but for the small portion that wasn't sold, let's see if we can deal with them this year."

"I'm not talking about your purchasing station; I'm asking about the mountains." Li Xiangqian said, "The Autonomous Region's supply and marketing system's work meeting for the beginning of the year has already been held, and the prefecture is about to hold one. Each county has to report its work plan, and I have to have something presentable."

"I don't understand things about the supply and marketing system." Li Long hurriedly waved his hand, "I can't give you any ideas on this, but Director, you're an old supply and marketing hand; this shouldn't stump you, right?"

"I'm not talking about specific work; I have a handle on that. I'm talking about other things that can bring honor to our Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Last year there was an advanced unit for ethnic unity; shouldn't we strive for that? What else can be done in the mountains?" Li Xiangqian finally stated his thoughts.

This?

Li Long looked at Li Xiangqian's eager eyes and stated his own plans.

"I originally planned to build a road for the winter camp over there. It's just to first repair the road from the winter camp to outside the mountains. Director, you've been there and know that only a few winter camps have roads leading outside, and the others can only be reached by riding horses.

My plan is to first open the road from the winter camp to outside the mountains, and later when I have time, repair the road from outside the mountains to the summer pasture."

"That's no small project!" Li Xiangqian thought for a moment after hearing this and said, "That will require bulldozers, maybe even excavators, and trees will have to be cut... especially the road to the summer pasture; it must be dozens or hundreds of kilometers, right? That will be extremely difficult to repair. It might not be finished in a year or two."

"Mm, I know that." Li Long nodded and said, "So my plan is to first open the road to the winter camp, and not only will I repair it, but the herdsmen must also join in. At least they can work together on things like cutting trees."

"Mm, this idea is good. If you just let them eat what's ready-made, they will develop bad habits." Li Xiangqian nodded, then said generously: "Then let's do this: our Supply and Marketing Cooperative will participate in this project. Since you've thought about it, tell me how to do it, and we will fully cooperate!"

"It might not necessarily be done." Li Long shook his head and said, "Some old people among the herdsmen might feel that our repairing the road like this destroys their traditions and might not agree. My friends are still working on it, and I don't know if they can convince them, so we have to wait."

"This is a great thing; how could they not agree? Their thinking shouldn't be that rigid, right?" Li Xiangqian said, "Are you sure?"

"A little bit. I'll go into the mountains again in the next two days to see. Anyway, it's already April when it comes to repairing the road, so there's no rush."

"You're not in a rush, but I am. Since you're sure, I'll decide on this side first. If it really doesn't work, then we just won't repair the road to whoever doesn't want it." Li Xiangqian was always decisive, "I'll send you a driver then, a bulldozer driver?"

"Don't," Li Long waved his hand, "This is a long-term job; I'll find the driver myself. I can say whatever I want to a driver hired with money; others are working for money, and if they don't do well, it's easy for me to talk to them. If it's a driver sent by our Supply and Marketing Cooperative, if they don't do well, it won't be easy for me to talk to them.

After all, I'm just a temporary worker... Director, if our Supply and Marketing Cooperative really wants to participate, just like before, at the beginning, send a few cars and more people to hold a groundbreaking ceremony, and later give money or materials."

"You're the one who thinks too much!" Li Xiangqian glared at him, "I asked you to officially join the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, but you didn't want to. If you had officially joined, even if you weren't a section chief now, you would definitely be an acting section chief, and then you would be able to command people, right? Now you're saying this?"

"If I had joined the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, where would I have such an opportunity?" Li Long drank a sip of tea with a smile and said, "You can't have your cake and eat it too."

"That's true." Li Xiangqian nodded, "Then let's do as you say; we'll give money and materials. Let's discuss how much money is appropriate."

"Let's not talk about it for now. I'll go into the mountains in the next two days to see the results of the discussions over there. If it's agreed upon, I'll walk the road and see the amount of work."

Although Li Long didn't understand construction, he could see where bulldozers needed to work for a few more days and where only trees needed to be cut or stones moved.

"Alright, then come back to discuss it after you've finished." (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 953 =====