yournovel Chapter 1433 Sister Yang Makes a Merit and Principal Yang Cooperates
Chapter 1433 Sister Yang Makes a Merit and Principal Yang Cooperates
Farmers in northern Xinjiang are increasingly trusting science in farming, which is why agricultural supply stores have opened in every township and town.
Most of these agricultural supply store owners come to the county to purchase goods, either directly from the county agricultural supply company or from Li Long's purchasing station, and then transport them to the township markets.
In early spring, the yard of the purchasing station is very busy. There are large-scale farmers buying agricultural supplies for themselves, as well as shop owners who buy wholesale and then resell.
There are many regular customers, so people chat while they wait.
These people also gather information here so they can share it with those who buy agricultural supplies when they get back; they're quite well-informed.
Most people are aware of Li Long's background, so those who come here to chat must first say, "The fourth team's farmers have really made a fortune this year," before starting to talk about anything else.
There's no other reason than that the villagers of Team Four are the only beneficiaries of the county's large-scale rural renovation project covering 10,000 mu (approximately 667 hectares), making them the envy of everyone.
During the farmland renovation process last year, the county TV station reported on it many times, and the state TV station also came to interview. News from both the state and county levels came out many times. At that time, the news would be broadcast for a week at a time, so naturally many people remembered it.
Most people were envious, a few were jealous, and a very small number inquired about how to do it, hoping to create such a project themselves.
Of course, the middlemen at the acquisition station were the most well-informed. They could tell from the few extra words that Li Qingxia's father occasionally let slip that the project was facilitated by Li Long, so they all spread the word.
The main purpose was not to make Li Long famous, but to show off his extensive sources of information and his ability to obtain inside information.
When Li Qingxia heard someone praise Li Long for his prowess and skills, he felt as sweet as if he had eaten honey, and was extremely proud.
Many people have come to inquire about how to apply for the project. When Li Long was there, he didn't hold back and explained the proper procedures.
Whether those people can actually get the application is hard to say.
After all, this thing has very strict starting conditions; it requires tens of thousands of acres of land. It's basically impossible for two or three villages to work together on it.
Agricultural supplies were in high demand during this period, but Li Long didn't stay at the purchasing station often. With his father in charge and Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng working together, things were fine.
He spends most of his time at the drip irrigation tape factory, overseeing the sales of drip irrigation tape.
Originally, we thought that if we had a surplus of drip irrigation tape, we could sell it at the agricultural supply store of the purchasing station, but this stuff has always been in short supply. The production before the Lunar New Year was barely enough to supply our team's 10,000 mu of land.
After a ten-day break for the Chinese New Year, production resumed, and at this time, it was necessary to make up for the orders placed by foreign customers.
So when Director Du said that someone had bought drip irrigation tape production equipment and built a factory in Beiting, Li Long thought it was a good idea.
It's not sustainable to rely solely on one factory for profits.
As for expanding production, he has not considered it for the time being.
There aren't enough people, and given the current situation, he feels quite content.
Team leader Xu Chengjun had always wanted to find a proper job for his son Mingwa. Li Long thought that it wouldn't be long before he could buy a set of drip irrigation tape production equipment and start a factory.
The demand for this stuff will only increase in the future, so it's enough to just get your share; there's no need to eat all the meat.
As for his own family members, his elder brother has an agricultural machinery cooperative to run, and he'll be busy with that in the spring.
Liu Shanmin said that as soon as the snow melts, his oil field will be almost finished, and the oil can be delivered immediately. Moreover, the amount of oil transported here will increase in the future.
Needless to say, my sister's family is a different story. My brother-in-law, Chen Xingbang, has also figured it out. He realizes that everything else is secondary; making money is the only real goal. So he has already started buying the yard and renovating it.
The other relatives of the Li family either work at the drip irrigation tape factory or help the eldest brother with agricultural machinery; they all have their own things to do and don't need any more help.
The only person Li Long was still a little worried about was Liang Wenyu.
Li Long was a respected figure in the large-scale farmland renovation project team, so when he recommended Liang Wenyu for the land leveling project at the beginning of this year, he also helped this peer earn some extra money.
His tractor has been running almost non-stop all these years. Although he doesn't earn as much as the Li brothers, he's doing quite well for his team.
Li Long kept thinking about things from his previous life, and he tried to pull them back if he could.
He planned to mention it when Liang Wenyu came over. If the other party wanted to do this, he would help him set up a drip irrigation tape production plant in their team's area. Even if it only made money for a few years, if managed well, it would be enough to live on for a lifetime.
Of course, Li Long felt a bit guilty about this. In his previous life, Liang Wenyu had worked steadily and surely, rising from village party secretary to village director, and then to the township level. As one of the first batch of village cadres in the county to be directly promoted to civil servants, he had a very good reputation.
But judging from the current timeline, it seems that his career was "delayed" by Li Long and he was steered onto the path of making money.
I wasn't sure if it was appropriate, so I thought I'd try to make amends.
Of course, if Liang Wenyu didn't want to get involved, he wouldn't force him. Most of the grudges from his previous life were with Old Master Liang Donglou. Over the years, he had sent the old man a jar of tiger bone wine every year, and with the recent medical check-up, he had repaid quite a bit.
Although Li Long mainly stayed at the drip irrigation tape factory, he still returned to the county at night and took Mingming and Haohao to school in the morning.
On Tuesday, March 7th, during breakfast, Sister Yang said to Li Long:
"Uncle Li, the manager of the county department store came to the factory yesterday. He wants to buy a batch of canned goods from our factory. What do you think..."
“Great!” Li Long was pleased to hear this. “This is a good thing. Our canned goods used to be mainly supplied to Kazakhstan. Although some were sent to Beijing as gifts for the State Ethnic Affairs Commission’s Beijing office, our influence has never really taken off.”
People are now actively seeking our canned goods, that's great! It means our canned goods are gaining recognition, a fantastic thing! Sell them, definitely sell them! Sister Yang, it seems you've put a lot of effort into promotion, you deserve the most credit!
Sister Yang smiled modestly and said, "I don't deserve such credit. I just occasionally have the factory workers take canned food out for others to try when I have nothing else to do."
Actually, I've always thought that our canned food ingredients are so good, and the taste is not bad either. It's a bit of a loss to only supply them to foreign countries. I'm also thinking about how to get more of our own people to buy our canned food.
I'm not bragging, but I've tried canned meat sold outside, and to be honest, in terms of taste and ingredients, it's really not as good as ours."
Li Long laughed, surprised that Sister Yang actually had such lofty ambitions.
“Sister Yang, you should make the decision yourself,” Li Long said again. “Our canned goods are indeed very good. If you want to expand and strengthen your business, we will support you!”
Sister Yang was very excited after receiving Li Long's encouragement. She had always felt that apart from initially purchasing the canning equipment, everything else in running the cannery was guided by Li Long, including market development, so she was rather insecure.
However, Li Long entrusted the cannery to her full management, and Sister Yang always wanted to achieve something. That's why, during her spare time, she organized the female workers in the factory to go to the market to promote the cannery and expand its influence.
Clearly, from the current perspective, this most down-to-earth promotion method has really worked.
Although the department store only plans to order a small quantity this time, about 1 ton of products, the main idea is to try selling them.
But this is a good start; at least the cannery has a new audience.
Li Long originally planned to go to the drip irrigation factory after sending his child to school, but now that he sees that Sister Yang is going to cooperate with the department store, he thinks of asking his old boss for information.
After all, the department store also belongs to the supply and marketing system, and Director Li Xiangqian of the supply and marketing cooperative has certain jurisdiction over this area.
Li Xiangqian was on the phone in his office when he saw Li Long standing at the door holding a jar. He waved as he spoke, then pointed to the sofa, indicating that Li Long should sit down first.
Li Long didn't stand on ceremony. He carried the wine jar over and placed it on Li Xiangqian's desk. He found a clean tea mug, picked up the kettle, poured himself a cup of hot water, brewed some tea, and then sat on the sofa, slowly sipping it while listening to Li Xiangqian's phone call.
After listening for a few minutes, it became clear that Li Xiangqian was on the phone with Director Qian, discussing the organization of goods for trade with Kazakhstan.
This matter was suggested to Director Qian by Li Long. Judging from the news mentioned on the phone, it seems that it has been going on for some time, and the specific situation seems quite optimistic.
That makes sense. In a supply and marketing system, at least the goods they procure are of high quality. As long as the price isn't too outrageous, once a reputation is established after two transactions, things generally go smoothly from there.
So when Li Xiangqian saw Li Long, a smile appeared on his face. After hanging up the phone, before he could even speak, Li Long pointed to the wine jar on the table and said:
"This is tiger penis wine that I got from Russia. I don't know much about it and I don't know which is stronger, tiger penis wine or deer penis wine, so I'm asking you to taste it."
Li Xiangqian pointed at Li Long with his finger and said with a smile, "You've learned these official phrases now? What do you mean by 'let me have a look'? Giving me a gift is giving me a gift, but you're making it sound so elegant. Fine, then I'll take it back and have a look. The more of this stuff, the better for us."
After saying that, he picked up the wine jar, looked at it, and then put it under his desk. It's not really appropriate to have that on your desk during work hours.
"So, what brings you here? I heard you've been pretty busy lately, making that drip irrigation tape factory a huge success, with demand exceeding supply. You must have made a lot of money, right?"
Li Long laughed and said, "It's alright, it's just small-scale. It can't compare to our big supply and marketing cooperative. It's just for making some pocket money."
"Your pocket money is quite something, it's equivalent to the combined salaries of all the staff in our entire supply and marketing cooperative. Stop being modest, tell me, what brings you here?"
"Hey, can't I just come and see you for no reason? But boss, to be honest, I do have something to do."
Li Xiangqian stood up to pour himself some water, but Li Long quickly grabbed the thermos and filled his cup with water, saying as he did so, "The department store is planning to buy a batch of goods from my cannery. I just wanted to ask what's going on. Is it just a trial, or are they planning a long-term partnership?"
“I knew you wouldn’t come to see me for no reason.” Li Xiangqian blew on the tea leaves in his cup and said, “I’ve actually heard about this. In short, it’s because your cannery’s canned goods have gained a good reputation that the department store wanted to cooperate with you.”
Specifically, if the quality of your canned goods can be maintained at the current level, then it's a long-term partnership.
Of course, I believe in you. Just based on the attitude you had when you made that big broom, I believe you can do a good job with this canned food too.
Actually, the factory manager of the cannery you chose is quite capable. She's a woman with many female workers, and she goes out on the streets during holidays to promote canned goods, letting passersby sample them for free, and even offering discounts. She has a lot of ideas and is quite persistent.
As far as I know, your cannery doesn't have to worry about selling its canned goods. Isn't the majority of the sales going to Kazakhstan? You're earning foreign exchange. With such a stable sales channel, most people would be more cautious and focus on maintaining their current sales.
The manager of your cannery is quite capable; he's not complacent or stuck in his ways. That alone makes him better than many men.
Li Long nodded, surprised that Li Xiangqian had given Sister Yang such high praise. In fact, he thought so too.
Essentially, he himself is a person who is used to stability. If he were the factory manager, he would just need to maintain the sales channels in Kazakhstan. As for expanding sales channels and organizing on-the-ground promotion activities, Li Long has no intention of doing them.
Li Xiangqian added, "Actually, I've tried your canned goods before. They're made with high-quality ingredients and taste good. I was planning to recommend them to the state cooperative to see if it's necessary to promote them to markets outside the region."
That means you've already sold them to Kazakhstan; otherwise, we would have had to include your canned goods in the supplies we shipped to Kazakhstan.
“You guys add yours,” Li Long said with a smile. “Kazakhstan is such a big market. The hundred or so tons of canned goods we ship there every two weeks are like sprinkling a handful of salt into a pond. It’s far from making the whole pond salty.”
After hearing what he said, Li Xiangqian was actually somewhat tempted. The supplies that the county supply and marketing cooperative sent to Kazakhstan lacked competitiveness, partly because the county was an agricultural county, which was relatively lacking in special products and goods.
Kazakhstan also produces its own cotton, and they produce even more wool than we do here.
Since grain and other commodities weren't very competitive, Li Xiangqian had actually considered canned goods as well.
However, canned goods are one of the two main commodities that Li Long sells to Kazakhstan. Li Xiangqian and Li Long have such a good relationship, and he doesn't want to cut off Li Long's source of income because of this.
Now that Li Long had said that, Li Xiangqian really had this plan. He asked again, "Really, it won't affect your side?" "No, it won't affect you." Li Long nodded firmly. "Director, don't worry, it really won't affect you."
However, my cannery's output is limited. Right now, I supply about 100 tons to Kazakhstan a month, and at most, I have a surplus of a little over 100 tons a month. Even if I were to supply you, I couldn't supply much.”
“More than a hundred tons is already quite a lot.” Li Xiangqian was quite satisfied. “We transport goods there once a month. The whole prefecture only transports one or two hundred tons of supplies. If we really need to buy canned goods from you, it will be at most ten or twenty tons a month.”
“There’s absolutely no problem with that,” Li Long said. “I don’t even need to work overtime. Just a little extra efficiency on a regular basis will do the trick.”
"You really are a big boss. You can easily produce over ten tons of goods by simply increasing efficiency. That's worth at least 10 yuan in output value, right? You don't seem to care at all. You're definitely not the same person who used to sell sheep one or two at a time." Li Xiangqian remarked with a hint of sarcasm.
Li Long laughed and said, "Let's not talk about each other. Director, you were a section chief back then, and now you're a director, a county-level leader! It's been over 10 years, can't I have a little bit of fun?"
No matter how you put it, Li Long always had something to say. Li Xiangqian wasn't annoyed; he was quite content. He picked up his mug, took a sip of water, and said, "Yes, we've all changed quite a bit in the last ten years or so. By the way, do you still remember Lao Wei?"
"How could I not remember? He's the old director." Li Long nodded and asked, "What happened to him?"
“He’s doing well, he’s retired.” Li Xiangqian said with emotion, “He’s retired a level higher, so he’s done his job. The last time I went to Beiting for a meeting, he invited a few of us to dinner and mentioned you.”
Li Long asked with interest, "What did he say about me? Old Wei must have said only good things about me, right?"
Li Long initially dealt with the supply and marketing cooperative mainly through Li Xiangqian, and occasionally had direct contact with Director Wei, but not often.
After Lao Wei was transferred to the city as director, Li Long had dinner with him a few times and felt that Lao Wei originally planned to stay until retirement.
"That's right, Lao Wei only said good things about you." This time, Li Xiangqian didn't tease Li Long. "He said that you're a young man with ideas, you can take risks, and you have good ideas. To be honest, our county's supply and marketing cooperative has developed to this level, and you deserve some credit for that too."
He also said that he didn't quite understand why they wanted to bring him in but he didn't. To be honest, if they had brought him into the supply and marketing cooperative system, even as a cadre, his career development would not have been as good as it is now.
Your personality and abilities are really suited to developing in local areas, to doing this in a relatively free environment.
Li Long nodded and said, "That's right. It's all thanks to the good policies from above. Otherwise, no matter how many ideas I have, they wouldn't be able to be developed."
"Hey, Director, you've been in this position for quite a few years now, isn't it time for a move? Haven't you heard anything from Director Qian? Isn't he planning to transfer you to the prefectural commune as a deputy director?"
Li Long was joking, but Li Xiangqian nodded and said, "The leader did say that, but to be honest, I'm not really interested in becoming a deputy director in the state cooperative."
In the county-level cooperative, I was the top leader. In principle, I made all the decisions and said what to do. But in the prefectural-level cooperative, it was better when the leaders were around. We just followed the leaders and did whatever they said.
But our leader might be promoted. If he leaves, I'll be under his control. Cadres at that level aren't people he can just take away.
"Instead of going through all that trouble, I'd rather do what Lao Wei did: stick to my current job and wait until I'm close to retirement before getting promoted to a less demanding position."
Director Qian is getting a promotion? Li Long thought it was normal, after all, Lao Qian had been in this position for quite some time, and the fact that he handled the export work to Kazakhstan so well was a major highlight.
After all, the entire supply and marketing system was in a period of functional decline at this time. His approach of taking a different route and making a big move could be promoted if it was effective.
As expected, Li Xiangqian said, "Our leaders will listen to your suggestions and make foreign trade quite prosperous. They even wrote a report to the higher authorities as a result of their experience."
The study was conducted within the systems of other prefectures and autonomous regions. I heard that some people in the autonomous region system even joked that the leaders of those border prefectures and autonomous regions, who were in a position of privilege, didn't benefit from it, but instead let us take the lead.
With such a significant contribution, our Director Qian will likely be promoted within the next couple of years.
Old Qian's rank is not low. If he is promoted again, he will be able to go to the autonomous region system. Once he reaches that rank, even if the supply and marketing system in the prefecture or state is retired or disbanded, he will not worry about his future career path.
On the contrary, Li Xiangqian's future might really be at this point.
After all, the county level is only so big, and its position is awkward. Moving up to a deputy position would mean a higher rank, but not necessarily more power.
Li Long didn't quite understand the intricacies of the situation, so he didn't ask too many questions.
Li Xiangqian believes that if Li Long's side really doesn't lack anything, then he really intends to purchase a batch of canned goods, add them to the county's specialty products, and then sell them to Kazakhstan.
These items are guaranteed to be popular, so there's no need to worry about payment. Plus, with Li Long around, the supply of goods is guaranteed.
After leaving Li Xiangqian's place, Li Long went to the cannery and told Sister Yang about it.
By this time, the department store staff had already left. After listening to Li Long's words, Sister Yang reported to him that the department store needed thirty boxes of canned meat every month, and they were also quite interested in the dried meat from the meat processing workshop, hoping to provide about thirty boxes every month as well.
The combined output value of both sides is about 30,000 yuan, which is not much, but it's a good start.
Sister Yang heard that the supply and marketing cooperative also needed about 15 tons of canned goods every month. After doing some calculations, she said, "No problem. I'll talk to Yushanjiang and ask him to provide more raw materials each month. If we tighten up production a little, we can get it done."
Li Long was just the matchmaker; the rest of the handover and financial matters were handled by Sister Yang.
Li Long did only one thing all morning. He ate lunch in the courtyard, and after sending his child to school in the afternoon, he planned to go and take a look at the fourth team.
As he passed the agricultural extension school, he saw Principal Yang leading several students toward the township government. He stopped his car, rolled down the window, and asked, "Old Yang, where are you going?"
Upon seeing Li Long, Principal Yang immediately smiled and said, "What else could you be doing? Take the students to check on the soil moisture and conditions. Are you going to install drip irrigation on the land you contracted this year? I plan to let the students learn about the preliminary preparations for drip irrigation. Come, come, it's perfect that you're here. Come with me and explain it to everyone."
Li Long couldn't refuse, so he parked his car on the side of the road and went to the field with Principal Yang.
He also mentioned to Principal Yang that he plans to plant these two plots of land this year using the machine-harvested cotton model.
The cotton planters used for machine-harvested cotton are different from those used for traditional cotton. In other words, cotton planters have evolved through three different models, from the most traditional ones to drip irrigation systems to machine-harvested cotton.
The machinery factory in Kui City has specially designed and matched cotton harvesting and planting machines, specifically designed to be compatible with the newly produced cotton harvesters.
After all, cotton harvesters are not like Combiners; they have several finger-like things extending from the front to separate the cotton rows. If the row spacing of the cotton plants does not match the tentacles that the cotton harvester produces, not only will the cotton not be harvested well, but it may also damage the cotton.
Hearing Li Long say this, Principal Yang asked with some concern, "If you use this planting method, the cotton harvested by the cotton harvester will be so dirty, which place will dare to accept it?"
Li Long had also thought about this issue. He said, "The Corps is also working on this. Their cotton company's ginning mill has specialized cotton cleaning equipment. I'll contact them in the next couple of days to see if they will accept locally harvested machine-picked cotton."
If we can buy it, that would be the best outcome. We can then take it directly to him to sell.
If they don't buy it there, I can get a cotton cleaning system to clean the harvested cotton, remove the seeds, and then pack and store it. There will always be a place to sell it later.
Cotton was a strategic material, and at that time the state still implemented a system of unified purchase and sale. It would take several more years before the system was liberalized and private individuals could buy and sell it.
Li Long was waiting for that time, because only then could he plant machine-harvested cotton on a large scale. Even if no one bought it, he could process it himself and make bread to sell to cotton mills.
Principal Yang hadn't expected Li Long to think so far ahead. He was a little confused and asked, "Why go through all this trouble? Isn't manual cotton picking perfectly fine now? Cotton is only three or four yuan per kilogram, and the picking fee is only three or five mao per kilogram, about one-tenth to one-eighth of the cost. It's not expensive."
Li Long shook his head and said, "That's now, Lao Yang. We're on the same side, so I'm not afraid to tell you more. The cost has doubled in just five years, from one or two cents two years ago to four or five cents now."
I dare say that in five years, the cost of picking cotton will definitely be over one yuan, but the price of cotton will only be around three or four yuan at that time, and it won't rise much.
At that time, the cost of picking cotton accounted for one-third of the price of cotton, which was quite high.
Why is the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps making such a concerted effort to develop machine-harvested cotton and research related technologies to improve them? Mainly because the population of our autonomous region is still too small, requiring a large number of cotton pickers to come from outside the region.
The cost of the journey alone is very high, so the cost of picking cotton cannot be reduced. Of course, as the cotton planting area increases, the number of cotton pickers needed will also increase, and the market supply will fall short of demand, so the price will naturally rise.
When cotton costs five yuan and picking cotton costs two and a half yuan, do you think you can still afford to pick it?
The two talked as they walked, and they reached the edge of the field. The students were standing by the pump house, looking at it curiously. Principal Yang, who had been in a good mood, now had some worries. He thought for a moment and said:
"According to your analysis, this situation may indeed occur in the future. But this is determined by the market, and we really can't control it. It seems that developing machine-harvested cotton is indeed imperative. You've really thought ahead."
Li Long smiled wryly: "I can't help but want to. Our cooperative now has nearly 9,000 mu of cotton plantations, and it will only increase in the future. With the current area, I feel overwhelmed when I contact students from the school to pick cotton."
If the area reaches 20,000 mu in the future, where will I find so many students? If we rely entirely on casual laborers, it will be too troublesome to manage, and the trucks that transport these casual laborers will have to make countless trips a day.
Therefore, we must develop machine-harvested cotton as soon as possible. If there is a significant shortage of cotton pickers, machine harvesting can at least ensure that the losses are not as great.
The cooperative's development is now on the right track and it is growing stronger. Therefore, Li Long has reason to believe that by the end of this century, when the cotton market is liberalized, the cooperative will likely control 20,000 mu of cotton fields.
After all, with people like Lu Yingming and Tao Dayong joining, the cooperative now has a lot more people who are not actively working.
Seeing that Xu Haijun, Liang Dacheng, and Tao Daqiang had all gone out to take charge of a large plot of land, and that each of them would receive a bonus of 10,000 yuan at the end of the year, it was impossible for these people not to be envious.
They don't need anyone to urge them; they will naturally find ways to contract land from other production teams or corps companies to expand the cooperative's territory.
What Li Long had to do was ensure that the cotton fields they had developed could be harvested intact.
This is using machine-harvested cotton as a backup plan.
When the cotton is harvested, even if it can't be sold, it can be cleaned, packed, and stored. As long as it is stored properly, it will not spoil within a few years.
Unlike exposed seed cotton, which turns yellow over time, baled cotton, once compressed and wrapped in cloth, generally won't spoil within a few years as long as it stays dry and doesn't get moldy.
That's why Li Long rushed to conduct cotton harvesting experiments using his mobile phone. If the cotton planted this year can be harvested in the fall and sold to the Production and Construction Corps, that would be ideal.
If they can't be sold, he'll store them according to his own plan.
Therefore, Li Long plans to apply for another piece of land from the village to build a simple cotton ginning factory.
At that time, although the state did not allow private individuals to buy and sell cotton, the cooperatives could clean and gin the cotton they harvested themselves, as long as they did not resell it to private individuals.
Seeing how thorough Li Long's thinking was, Principal Yang nodded and said, "Your idea is correct, so let's do it this way. I can't do much here, I can only lead these students to cooperate with you."
But now you need to explain the drip irrigation farming process to them, mainly the preliminary preparations. Look at all these trainees waiting; even though you don't know them, they seem to know you quite well.
Li Long didn't stand on ceremony and stepped forward to begin his speech.
These things are all stored in my mind. I've talked about them many times, and I can still explain them clearly and logically.
The students listened attentively, and Principal Yang watched with great satisfaction.
This Li Long really thinks far ahead.
PS: Thank you to many readers, including Han Dong Qian Yan Xia Hou, Book Friend 110302213220025, and Xie Lan'an, for their generous donations. This book will likely be completed around July. A new book will be released afterward, also a historical fiction. It already has a beginning, but there's no guarantee it will be approved. (End of Chapter)