Chapter 956: Every year is a new beginning: April 5th

As the children all started school, the snow in the plains had basically melted, the roads were slowly drying up, and the annoyance of splashing mud every day was slowly disappearing.

Li Long took the time to go to the purchasing station and was surprised to find that there were many more people queuing to sell things in the courtyard than before.

Just looking at it today, there were more than a dozen people queuing to sell things in the courtyard, both second-hand dealers and original sellers.

The weather was getting hot, and tea was placed under the windowsill in the courtyard again. Someone was holding a horse spoon and carefully scooping tea into an enamel bowl. After pouring, they put the horse spoon back in its original place and then went to the side to squat and drink.

On the ground beside the tea bucket was a basin filled with water, with three or four enamel bowls floating or sinking in the water. People who finished drinking put the bowls in the basin for automatic rinsing.

Li Long asked the last man who looked like he was selling things himself:

"Are there so many people these two days? Why are they all coming to sell things at this time? Aren't they preparing agricultural materials?"

"Isn't it because we are preparing agricultural materials that we come to sell things at this time?" That person smiled, "If we don't sell things, where will we get money to prepare agricultural materials? I heard that credit cooperatives in some places in the interior can already give loans to farmers to buy agricultural materials. When can we do that?"

Li Long understood. At the moment, it was the time to prepare agricultural materials, but some families didn't have spare money. If they wanted to harvest more grain, good seeds and chemical fertilizer were indispensable, and money was needed to set up these things.

What to do if there was no money? Then they had to take out the stock at home for emergencies.

Looking at the things these people were selling, most were skins, a small part were medicinal materials, old items, and there were melon seeds and sunflower seeds for sale, Li Long shook his head slightly.

The types of local specialties were already fixed. Should he go to other places to open up new markets?

Of course, it was just thinking about it; these were already very good.

The calligraphy and paintings sent from Yanjing had already been received. Li Long opened them, looked them over, and then placed them in the east room of the master bedroom. He nailed the crate back shut, elevated it off the floor to prevent dampness, and set it in the corner of the wall.

These things were his guarantee for the future, so at the current stage, he would just honestly and steadily move forward step by step. Taking big steps easily caused one to pull their crotch.

"Yo, Boss Li is here." A second-hand dealer saw Li Long and greeted him with a smile, "Why, are you here for a micro-service visit?"

Li Long thought to himself, "The Tale of Qianlong" hasn't been broadcast yet, so how do you know about micro-service visits? I guess you listen to storytelling quite a lot.

He said with a smile: "No, just came over to take a look."

Entering the room, seeing Gu Bo Yuan talking to a seller about the quality and valuation of the skins, Li Long stood on the side.

Sun Jia Qiang saw Li Long and hurriedly stood up to greet him with a smile, and Li Long nodded.

After Gu Bo Yuan finished evaluating and collecting the skins and gave the money, Li Long asked:

"Uncle Gu, how is it?"

"It's good." Gu Bo Yuan understood what Li Long meant, "Normal every day, it can last about half a month. In half a month, that Boss Zhao should be coming over, right?"

"Mm." Li Long nodded. Since there was nothing wrong here, he could rest assured to do other things.

With a telephone, many things were easier to handle.

Li Long checked the telephone number of the county propaganda department directly through the directory assistance, and then dialed it, saying he was looking for Officer Ma Xiao Yan.

After a while, Ma Xiao Yan's voice came over:

"Hello, I'm Ma Xiao Yan, may I ask who you are..."

Most of the telephones that could be installed at this time were public agencies, and very few private individuals installed telephones. I guess that's why Ma Xiao Yan was so polite.

"I'm Li Long. Officer Ma, I have something to tell you. Do you have time now?"

"Comrade Li Long, yes, yes. Tell me, what's the matter?"

"I plan to go into the mountains in a few days to repair a road leading to the winter camp for the herdsmen. Last year I helped them buy a few tractors, and several winter camps near the outer mountains can be entered, making life much more convenient.

But those winter camps near the inner mountains don't have big roads, and it's very troublesome to carry things on horseback, so I plan to help them repair a road that can enter small four-wheel tractors to facilitate their lives."

"What? Help them repair the road? Repair the road in the mountains? This project is no small matter!" Ma Xiao Yan knew a little about the situation in the mountains, so she asked: "Just you? Or together with your Supply and Marketing Cooperative?"

"I lead it, and our Supply and Marketing Cooperative leaders know about it and said they support my action and will provide us with some support in terms of materials and manpower. In addition, the herdsmen also raised some materials, entrusted me to resell them, and I added some money to buy a bulldozer. We will start working after the snow in the mountains melts and reaches construction conditions."

"Alright, alright, I'll report to the leaders, and you notify me when the time comes—by the way, where are you calling from?"

"I'm at my house."

"Yo, installed a telephone at home? This is much more convenient. By the way, tell me your home telephone number so that I can contact you."

Li Long reported both his home and purchasing station telephone numbers, meaning that if he couldn't be reached at home, he could be reached at the purchasing station, and he could always be contacted.

After Ma Xiao Yan hung up the telephone, she immediately went to report this work to the Executive Deputy Minister.

"Comrade Li Long, didn't expect that he is doing bigger and bigger things over the years, even planning to repair roads for herdsmen—good thing. You must keep a close eye on this matter and follow up with reports. This can be considered our support and supervision for this work. Of course, if it's done well and the road is really repaired, we will report him as an advanced individual and ask for credit! This Li Long, always giving us surprises, alright, alright."

After Ma Xiao Yan returned to her desk, a colleague asked her what happened.

"Li Long wants to repair the road for the herdsmen?" The colleague was very surprised after hearing it, "Is this wanting to earn a reputation? Repairing a road is not a simple matter; how could it be so easy? Won't he just call you over for an interview, put it on the newspaper, and then nothing happens?"

"He already bought a bulldozer for this matter. With such a large investment, how could it just be to earn a reputation?" Although Ma Xiao Yan knew that Li Long notifying her of this matter itself also had the meaning of becoming famous, looking at it over the past few years, Li Long was also doing practical things for the herdsmen, and so what if he became famous? At least he did things, so she would definitely speak for Li Long.

"A bulldozer is not cheap, several tens of thousands." Another colleague said, "It seems it should be for real—this Li Long, after becoming a representative, is doing bigger and bigger things."

"Still have money. With money, things are easy to handle." The person who questioned Li Long first said sourly, "If I had money, I would also do practical things for the common people..."

"Then leave a quota for the one-on-one assistance for children in poverty-stricken areas this year?" Another colleague said with a smile, "The investment is not much, at most half a month's salary of yours..."

"That won't do!" The person blurted out, "My family's life is not rich either..."

Others all laughed.

They all knew this colleague's character very well. When letting him speak, he was impassioned and pointed out the country, saying this poverty alleviation was for reputation, that entrepreneurship was to extract state support, and anyway, everyone had ulterior motives, only his three views were the most correct.

But when he really needed to stand up, he immediately shrank.

There were many such people; in the internet era, there were even more such people.

After communicating this matter with Ma Xiao Yan, Li Long went to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to report to Li Xiangqian.

Actually, before calling Ma Xiao Yan, he also thought that if Ma Xiao Yan didn't go, he was thinking about telling Jiang Zhiyu or the reporter of the Beiting Daily.

When he first repaired the house for Halimu's retention point, the Beiting Daily interviewed him, left contact information at that time, and later he became an advanced individual of the Autonomous Region, and they also interviewed him.

Li Long was thinking about whether to make it so big; after all, he was aiming for something bigger. If it was just a propaganda officer in the county, the weight might not be enough.

But thinking about cooperating with Ma Xiao Yan several times, it was quite pleasant, so he didn't look for others first.

Anyway, repairing the road was a long-term matter. As long as it was in the newspaper, he thought the Beiting Daily and Beiting Daily would definitely send people over. Li Xiangqian asked him if he had found a bulldozer driver; this was a long-term job.

"I plan to find one in Qingshuihe; it's close and convenient to go back and forth." Li Long said, "I'm familiar with the people over there, and they don't need to live in the winter camp to work. I'll pick them up and drop them off on the way every day."

He planned to let Meng Hai introduce one; anyway, just pay the wages normally.

"Mm, thought quite thoroughly." Li Xiangqian said, "It's fine anytime on our side. When the time comes, I'll organize more than ten people from our cooperative to go over to pick up stones, cut trees, etc., and then you tell that Officer Ma that we provide funds. Mm, this support seems not enough..."

Li Xiangqian thought about it and felt that the Supply and Marketing Cooperative was doing a little too little. He asked Li Long: "Do you have any other good ways to make the work done by our cooperative more solid and make people feel more real?"

"Then organize some people to go over to work every week. Just investing money really can't be reflected, but going over to work every once in a while, this effect is different." Li Long thought for a moment and said, "Also let the people in our cooperative take a good look at what the actual life of the herdsmen is like."

"That's fine." Li Xiangqian thought about it and said, "These people in the office really lack exercise, and there are too many idlers. I'll talk about this at the meeting tomorrow. Think about when we were purchasing grain, we ran through all the townships and villages in the county. Now these people, sitting in the office, reading newspapers and drinking tea, complaining about this and that every day... they just lack practice!"

Li Long looked at Li Xiangqian's protruding belly, smiled, and didn't speak.

"Why? Feel that my belly is big now too? Isn't that also lack of exercise? I admit it. When the time comes, I'll take people up to work myself. I'll work for a day a week, and I don't believe I can't practice it down!"

Li Xiangqian said this, and Li Long really believed it. After all, in the previous few times entering the mountains to work, Li Xiangqian was really working, not posing.

The matter of repairing the road into the mountains was being implemented one by one, and Li Long was planning while thinking about whether there were any loopholes.

Factory Director Du sent some cultivators, six units, and also remitted a sum of money to Li Long—according to Factory Director Du, it was the patent fee for the cultivator, two thousand yuan.

Li Long thought to himself that the cultivator should be selling well, at least hundreds of units had been sold; otherwise, he wouldn't have given himself two thousand yuan.

This Factory Director Du could be dealt with; if he had new things later, he would just look for him directly.

The cultivator arrived, and Li Long drove the tractor back to the Fourth Team. On both sides of the road, tractors were already moving, plowing the land, leveling the land, and making preparations before sowing.

At this time, the ground temperature hadn't risen yet, and sowing was a bit early; it had to wait until April.

Li Long planned that repairing the road would also be in April; otherwise, although the snow in the mountains had melted, the slope road was a bit muddy, and it was troublesome for tractors and people to go up.

Driving to the Fourth Team, he stopped at the gate of his elder brother's courtyard.

Li Jianguo was tidying up the tractor in the front yard. Hearing the sound of the car, he walked to the courtyard gate with two oily hands. Seeing Li Long coming, he shouted:

"Without Xiao Long is here? What are you pulling on that tractor?"

"Cultivator." Li Long said, "After sowing in the fields this year, use this to weed, it's very convenient."

Li Jianguo had heard Li Long talk about this, so he entered the courtyard, wiped the oil on his hands with an old towel, washed them, and then came to the backyard.

Li Long had already unloaded the car bucket, and alone he hugged the cultivator of nearly one hundred kilograms down and hung it behind the car with a connecting device.

"Looks easier to install than the harvester." Li Jianguo asked.

Lu Yingming next door was tidying up the tractor in the courtyard. Seeing the situation here, he also came over with oily hands. Maybe feeling that oily hands were inconvenient, he wiped them on his own courtyard wall when going out, and after wiping them off, he came over to surround and watch.

"Without Xiao Long, what is this, cultivator? How to plow the land?" He asked curiously.

After hanging the cultivator, Li Long said, "It's just for weeding. Look, after the crops grow in the fields, it can be used before they are less than half a meter high. After the tractor enters the field, lower the cultivator, and it can weed the grass between the crops. If it can't weed, it will also turn up the soil and press it on the grass, and the grass will grow slowly."

After hanging it up, Li Long drove the tractor forward, saying as he walked: "Go to the field in front and try it."

The cultivator had six grasping teeth. After arriving at the wasteland in front of the courtyard, Li Long operated to lower the grasping teeth, and then started the tractor. The grasping teeth plowed deep furrows in the ground, and the grass in the places passed was either pulled up or pressed by the soil.

"Not bad, not bad, but will this grasping tooth hurt the seedlings?"

"The width interval of the grasping teeth can be adjusted. How wide the interval between the seedlings planted is, just adjust it well."

"That's really convenient."

"This grasping tooth can also adjust the depth, just see how deep it needs to be plowed." Li Long got off the tractor and said, "Weeding is not as clean as manual labor, it's just fast. After all, a family plants dozens or hundreds of mu of land, and manual weeding, before one pass is finished, the grass grows again. This tractor drives fast, and plowing dozens of mu a day is no problem. After the crops grow, you are not afraid of grass."

Six cultivators, Li Long planned for his elder brother's family to keep one, Tao Daqiang, Xie Yun Dong, Liang Dacheng, and Jia Weidong each to have one, and leave one for his sister-in-law's family.

At the moment, it could be seen that Lu Yingming also wanted one, but he didn't say it clearly, so Li Long didn't care so much.

Anyway, it could be bought at the tractor factory in Shicheng now. If he really wanted it, he could go there to buy it, or let it be sent over when he wanted the next batch, or borrow it from his elder brother's family.

Returning to the courtyard, several people unloaded the cultivator together and placed it by the wall, and Li Long asked about the situation of installing the telephone.

"People from the township Post and Telecommunications Office came, saying they are planting telephone poles in our team, and it might be the end of April when it's installed. Ours is the first private telephone installed in the whole township, and people said they didn't expect that someone in the team would install a telephone at this time."

"Hey, after it's installed, Dad and Mom can call people in their hometown." Li Long said with a smile, "I don't know if anyone in the hometown has installed a telephone."

After this program-controlled telephone was installed, the original old lines were removed, and the telephones in each village and each big team were gone. It was difficult for the old man to call his hometown, but now he had made a group of new friends here, and Li Qing Xia was not in a hurry, catching fish with nets when he had nothing to do, and life was quite good.

Li Long went to notify Xie Yun Dong and the others, letting them pull the cultivator away, and they could use it when the crops grew.

These people wanted to give Li Long money, but Li Long didn't want it. The cost of a cultivator was less than one hundred yuan, and it was sold for two hundred yuan. Li Long didn't lack this money, and these people were in the village; if there was anything at home, they really helped.

Knowing Li Long's temper, these few didn't argue, pulled the cultivator back to study it well, and planned to use it when the crops grew.

Next, Li Long successively bought some supplies and sent them into the mountains, iron shovels, baskets, crowbars, ropes, etc.

When the things were basically ready, Li Long went to notify them one by one, planning to go into the mountains on April 5th. This day was Saturday, and it was also Qingming Festival but not a holiday. At this time, Saturday was still a working day, and finishing work today didn't affect the normal rest of those in the Supply and Marketing Cooperative on the weekend.

Everyone just treated it as going into the mountains to work.

The person who drove the tractor was also found. Li Long took the time to go to Qingshuihe to let Meng Hai find someone, but Meng Hai volunteered, saying he could drive the Dongfanghong 75 tractor himself, which surprised Li Long a little.

Li Long didn't quite believe it, took Meng Hai to Halimu's winter camp, and Meng Hai skillfully started the tractor, drove it around on the grassland, and it looked quite good. Li Long simply let him drive the tractor to near Talihaer's winter camp, because the real road repair had to start from here.

Discussed with Meng Hai, driving the tractor was twenty yuan a day. To be honest, this thing caused great damage to the ears, and the vibration was also severe. According to Meng Hai's meaning, ten yuan was enough; after all, driving a tractor was more labor-saving than moving stones.

Li Long felt it was better to increase the price, just treat it as the technical service fee paid.

He also told Yushanjiang and the others that on April 4th, the young and strong people in the tribe also had to come over to work together, and call them when needed. After all, the snow in the mountains was melting, the grass was growing, and each family had to shear sheep, wash sheep, and prepare for transferring pastures.

Li Long originally wanted to prepare for the meal problem of the people from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, but Li Xiangqian told him that he didn't need to worry about anything over there; he just needed to lead the way and assign work.

"Such a big Supply and Marketing Cooperative, if it doesn't even have this organizational guarantee ability, then it's just a ball."

This was Li Xiangqian's original words, and Li Long deeply agreed. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 957 =====