yournovel Chapter 1429 Winter Review; Li Anguo is Content
Chapter 1429 Winter Review; Li Anguo is Content
The fact that a purchasing station has vehicles can't be kept secret; middlemen know exactly how to spread the news. They also use this information to demonstrate their connections and access to information.
So in early November, within just five days, seven of the cars that Li Long had just brought in, including the two new cars, were quickly sold.
Chen Yan acted as the middleman and drove away with two cars, one a luxury Mercedes and the other a regular Mercedes.
It's clear that this woman is living a more carefree life; her hair is permed into big waves, yet she doesn't look vulgar at all.
Moreover, it's quite noticeable that when she brings customers, she no longer needs to go to great lengths to flatter them as before; she now has an attitude of "I have it here, buy it or not, it's up to you."
The people who came to buy cars actually appreciated this attitude. They picked up their cars quickly and didn't haggle much. Chen Yan and Li Long handled all the haggling, while the buyers watched and enjoyed it.
They don't care how much they can negotiate.
There weren't many cars left, but Li Long wasn't in a hurry. Liu Gaolou would come again in a while anyway. The fact that there were cars now meant that the purchasing station's supply chain wasn't broken, which meant that more customers would keep coming.
The only slight regret was that he had originally planned to leave one of the two new luxury Volga cars for his wife, Gu Xiaoxia. Gu Xiaoxia refused at the time, and then the next day, someone from a trading company in Wucheng came and took both cars away at once.
He was used to driving a Land Cruiser, and since it was an off-road vehicle, he didn't care about bumps and scrapes. He just thought that since his wife worked in the county, it would be nice for her to drive a new car.
Gu Xiaoxia just wanted to keep a low profile and didn't want to change jobs again, so she decided to wait a little longer.
On November 11th, the first snow fell in Ma County. The snow was heavy, falling from morning to afternoon. All units in the county came out to shovel snow, using large brooms made of reeds. This year, the supply and marketing cooperative unusually assigned Li Long the task of 40,000 large brooms, which Li Long assigned to Wang Mingjun and Zhao Zongming.
When they received the goods, the supply and marketing cooperative kept 10,000 of them and then distributed them to various units in the county.
Of course, you have to pay.
However, no unit refused, since large brooms are essential for shoveling snow in winter. Some units would even proactively purchase more, as the quality of the brooms from the supply and marketing cooperative has been well-regarded over the years and they have no trouble selling.
On the day it snowed, all units, including schools, mobilized to clear the snow from their respective areas—of course, the main force was still the snowplows. The snowplows cleared large areas of snow into smaller corners, where manual labor was then responsible for the final finishing touches.
Li Long and his colleagues were also working. The snow collection station was large, but fortunately, there were many employees. The snowplow cleared the snow to a corner, and then the workers loaded it onto trucks and hauled it away.
Exhausted and covered in sweat, Li Long put down his shovel and went to the reception room. He said, "I heard that the Kui City Machinery Factory has developed a new snow removal machine that can directly scoop snow into trucks without requiring any manual labor. I'll go and get two of them in a couple of days so we can have some free time."
Old Man Li Qingxia didn't seem to care. He picked up his tea, which had long since gone cold, took a sip, and said, "What's the point of all that? There's nothing to do these days. Even shoveling snow requires slacking off? From now on, we might as well just lie down."
Li Long blushed slightly. Indeed, now all kinds of work are taken care of. There's no need to do the work in the fields, as the cooperative will arrange it; the work at the purchasing station is handled by the employees; and they don't even have to lift a finger to cook at home.
If snow removal is handled by machines again, there really won't be much left for people to do manually.
Although this was my ultimate dream, now that the day has come, I feel quite bored.
Sometimes, it feels pretty cheap.
The snow had been swept three times, and it only gradually stopped in the afternoon.
There was still a thin layer of snow on the ground, but some employees were sweeping it away, and Li Long no longer intended to move it.
Old man Li Qingxia was listening to the middlemen gossip at the counter.
When it snowed in the morning, the middlemen who came here to chat would help shovel the snow. Although they didn't do much work, at least they showed the attitude.
So Old Man Li Qingxia was quite happy and treated them to roasted potato chips and roasted sweet potatoes.
The sweet potatoes were brought from my hometown and sprouted here. At this time, there is no large-scale cultivation of sweet potatoes in Ma County, and there are no roasted sweet potatoes sold on the streets. This thing is still a rare commodity.
These middlemen were quite happy, eating and chatting at the same time.
Li Long shook his head and didn't participate. His father and older brother were the same in this respect—they cared a lot about their reputation. If someone gave him seven points of respect, he would treat them ten points better in return.
The next day the weather cleared up and became dry and cold, so Li Long went to the team.
The cooperative has already tallied up this year's cotton income and will announce it at a meeting. Then they'll just wait for the IOUs to be converted into cash and the profits to be distributed.
Since the cooperative's courtyard was built, they've been holding meetings there. The meeting room is more spacious than the others' homes, and it even has its own kitchen; once the stove is set up, it's very warm.
Along the way, the snow on the road had been cleared, and there were only a few patches of ice in some places because someone had compacted the road yesterday, but they didn't affect walking.
When Li Long drove to the courtyard, Tao Daqiang and the others were already there. The snow on the ground in the courtyard had been cleared by a snowplow, and there was no need to clear more areas, since it wasn't used much usually.
The dormitory where the work team was staying was locked, but the bedding provided to them was still inside, which they would need to use again when they came next year.
The cooperative had a large courtyard with many houses; otherwise, it's hard to say whether the students and work team would have had enough room to stay.
Behind us, the drip irrigation tape factory was operating at full capacity, and we could see piles of drip irrigation tape pulled from the ground stacked up in the yard. These drip irrigation tapes needed to be washed, crushed, and reused.
Li Long chatted with Tao Daqiang and the others for a bit, and when he learned that Liang Dacheng hadn't arrived yet, he went to check on the drip irrigation tape factory behind the factory.
Originally, this area only had Lao Ma Hao, but now there is a cotton cooperative, a drip irrigation tape factory, and Li Jianguo's agricultural machinery cooperative nearby. The buildings have become a cluster, and the area has a new look.
Li Junfeng, Li Junhai, Chen Qianjin, and others are all busy here. They had nothing to do in the winter, so instead of going back home, they simply stayed here working.
Firstly, the drip irrigation tape factory has a lot of work, and secondly, they can earn some money to spend.
Upon entering the factory, Li Long saw Li Junfeng and several others wearing masks operating the machines, while a few others were moving materials and rolls of drip irrigation tape that had already been produced. Li Long nodded and stepped back.
Li Junhai had just come out of the warehouse when he saw Li Long and greeted him with a smile.
Li Long asked him when he was going back to pick up his parents, and Li Junhai replied:
“I’m not going back. I sent a letter and money home and told them to come over. The stove is all set up in the yard here. It’s better to spend the winter here than back home. Let them stay for the winter, and we’ll see if they want to stay in the spring.”
Li Long nodded to indicate that he understood. Not all elderly people are willing to come to northern Xinjiang. Li Junhai and his family wanted their parents to come, but the elderly might not appreciate it, or perhaps they simply couldn't bear to leave their homeland.
What did other parents say?
“Some are willing to come directly and plan to settle down here, while others don’t want to come at all and just want to stay in their hometown. Anyway, they send money back home every year, and they’re used to living there.”
"Alright, it depends on personal preference. Actually, it's better for the elderly to stay here in winter. Although it's cold outside in winter, it's warm inside, so the elderly are less likely to get sick."
Li Long spoke based on his own parents' health. At least since moving here, his parents only catch a cold at most in the winter, and their chronic asthma is gone.
It seems that my parents are quite open-minded.
Seeing that production was proceeding smoothly, Li Long didn't linger. He left the factory and went to the cooperative.
Just then, I saw Liang Dacheng drive his car over the snow and pull up to the side of the road. When he got out of the car, he was carrying a cloth bag with two beer bottles sticking out.
Li Long said, half-jokingly:
"Not only are you late, but you also brought beer. Are you trying to make winter colder than it is?"
In the dead of winter, people usually drink baijiu (Chinese liquor) and drink less beer. Beer is good for cooling off in the summer, but it's not really suitable for winter.
It's not appropriate at this time, at least not right now.
"What?" Liang Dacheng stepped into the snow as he got out of the car. He walked to the road and stomped his feet, saying, "This is a beer bottle, but it doesn't contain beer. It's old liquor from the brewery. It tastes really good!"
Today we're going to announce the dividends, so I specially went to the winery to get this wine—it's excellent!
"Alright, alright, I'll try it later." Li Long laughed.
Alcohol is fine, you can have a drink.
The two entered the courtyard together. The others were chatting in the courtyard, and several cigarette butts had already been stubbed out on the ground.
A delicious aroma is wafting from the kitchen; it seems there will be a big meal after the meeting today.
"Come on, everyone's here, let's start the meeting." Xie Yundong said at the meeting room door, "The stove is burning brightly, Dacheng, you've come at just the right time."
As they walked further in, Li Long said, "When summer comes, let's take some time to convert this area into a small boiler-type heating system. That way, we won't need to set up so many boilers. It's too troublesome and dirty."
“Sure,” Jia Weidong said, holding a notebook. “Anyway, we’ve made money, so we can just renovate it later. Everyone will definitely be willing.”
"Why wouldn't I want to? I've discovered that boilers are fantastic. One boiler is all you need for a house. You burn one batch of charcoal, the water boils, the radiators are nice and warm, and several rooms are cozy. It's wonderful!" Tao Daqiang exclaimed. "How come I never knew that before?"
“We didn’t have small boilers like this before.” Xie Yundong sat down and patted the table. “There will be even better things in the future; we can’t build them all at once.”
“Could there be anything better? I don’t believe it.” Xu Haijun shook his head.
"Maybe you won't even see radiators anymore in the future. The heating pipes will all be laid underground, called underfloor heating," Li Long said casually. "There's also the possibility that we won't need stoves anymore, and we'll use electricity, electric heaters, which will be more convenient."
"Electricity? That's too expensive!" Jia Weidong shook his head. "Charcoal is more suitable."
"By then, coal might be more expensive than electricity." Tao Daqiang always believed that Brother Long was right. "In just a few years, the price of coal has risen from tens of yuan to more than a hundred yuan. Who knows how high it will go?"
After arguing for a while, none of them could win the argument, so Xie Yundong finally spoke:
"Alright, that's all nonsense. Let's get down to business. This winter will be the last time we all meet to discuss profit sharing in our cooperative. A lot of people will be joining next year."
"Actually, it would be better if it were just the few of us," Tao Daqiang said sullenly. "It's simple when there are fewer people, but when there are too many, it's hard to manage. There's a lot of gossip, and some people might not even appreciate our kindness."
Xu Haijun moved his lips but didn't speak. He felt he had no right to say anything; after all, he was a newcomer, not included when the cooperative was first established. If he hadn't shamelessly insisted on joining, he really wouldn't have been a part of it.
Now he's glad he had the nerve to say those words back then, otherwise, he wouldn't have such a good life now.
“This is the general trend in the future,” Li Long advised. “Besides the good policies from above, what else do we farmers rely on for a living? It’s just land.”
"We can grow cotton for at least several decades to come, and the more land the better. Now the whole village has switched to drip irrigation, and the harvests will only get better. The more concentrated the land is, the more resilient we are to risks."
“Xiaolong is right. Besides, so many people want to join our cooperative, it’s impossible not to accept them. If we force people to go to their side, we’ll be isolated in the team.”
"Our cooperative already had 5,000 mu of land before anyone else joined, and our team alone had 4,000 mu. If we don't take in other people, would someone like Tie Tou really work hard for us?"
Li Long and Xie Yundong's words resolved the small knot in everyone's hearts, so Jia Weidong said:
"Let's stop with the small talk. We've already got people on board, so there's no point in saying more. Now I'll tell you about this year's income."
As soon as he said that, everyone got excited.
The 1,000 mu of land that Xu Haijun opened up in the second team last year, and the 2,000 mu of land that Liang Dacheng opened up this year, were both funded by the cooperative's money.
Therefore, after these lands are converted into shares, just like before, they are not evenly distributed among the six families, but are distributed according to the original share ratio, with the Li brothers still holding about 62%.
Jia Weidong doesn't need to explain further; everyone understands.
After all, they contributed more land and resources when they invested, giving them a larger share in the cooperative. Distributing the newly reclaimed wasteland equally would be unfair to Li Jianguo and Li Long's families.
Everyone can understand this.
Therefore, the final share dividend ratio, calculated based on the revenue from several large land parcels, remains the same as before.
The cooperative's 2,000 mu of drip-irrigated fields yielded more than 720 tons of cotton this year, which translates to more than 360 kilograms per mu, exceeding expectations.
Xu Haijun's thousand mu of land is also drip-irrigated. This year, he harvested 310 tons of cotton, which was higher than expected. So when he heard the figures reported by Jia Weidong, Xu Haijun was delighted.
Although he already knew, the fact that it was announced now means that he has received his 10,000 yuan bonus.
Liang Dacheng's two thousand mu of land, planted using traditional methods, yielded 220 tons of cotton this year, averaging about 110 kilograms per mu, which exceeded expectations. He will also receive a bonus of 10,000 yuan.
Both of them were very happy. In fact, they already knew, otherwise Liang Dacheng would not have gone to the winery to get two bottles of old wine to drink.
Li Long looked at Xu Haijun, guessing that he probably had some good stuff too.
Ten thousand yuan is a lot!
Jia Weidong continued his report, stating that cotton prices had risen slightly this year, and the final sales reached 3.75 million.
Because the price of drip irrigation tape has fallen, and previously purchased drip irrigation tape can be recycled at a 30% discount.
Therefore, the cost of planting cotton this year is lower than in previous years. After deducting the costs, a portion is set aside as agricultural supplies for next spring, and the remaining amount of more than 1.5 million yuan can be distributed as dividends this year.
Based on their shareholdings, the Li brothers can each receive over 900,000 yuan, with each receiving over 400,000 yuan, and the remaining amount can be around 100,000 yuan for each family.
Salary and bonuses are separate.
Jia Weidong said with a smile:
"We're so happy with this year's dividends thanks to Xiaolong. The price of drip irrigation tape has dropped so much, which has significantly reduced our costs. If this continues, next year's dividends might be even higher. After all, all those plots will be drip-irrigated next year." Everyone had their own ideas, but this year's income is more than double last year's—who wouldn't be happy?
"The money can be withdrawn in a week at most. The money for agricultural supplies will be deposited back into the credit union, and the rest will be distributed as dividends. In addition, a cooperative meeting will be held before the end of the year, and those who have joined the cooperative will have to pay for the agricultural supplies for next year's planting," Xie Yundong said. "Weidong will announce the new shareholding ratio to everyone at that time."
As for the specific costs, Jia Weidong disclosed them item by item, including machine farming fees, water fees, labor costs, pesticide costs, and so on.
Jia Weidong also mentioned that the water bill was much lower than the water bill for farming in the whole village, mainly because most of the water used came from the floodwater in the small lake. This money should actually have gone to Li Long, but Li Long refused it.
Tao Daqiang was somewhat envious when he heard that Xu Haijun and Liang Dacheng each received an extra 10,000 yuan bonus. He said, "10,000 yuan! I was saying before that I wouldn't do any more work, but now that you guys are getting the money, I'm itching to do it too."
"That's easy! Next year, go to Team One and see if you can contract a thousand or so acres of wasteland. If you succeed, you'll definitely get a bonus," Xie Yundong said half-jokingly.
"Team Three is fine too. There should still be a lot of wasteland south of Team Three, like that patch of wormwood southeast of the primary school. I guess no one's thinking of cultivating it yet."
Tao Daqiang hesitated.
Jia Weidong added fuel to the fire:
"The bonus is 10,000 now, but it won't be 10,000 in two years. Isn't your father-in-law's family from the third team? You used to have helpers, so only you could handle this."
After hearing what he said, Tao Daqiang was actually tempted.
Xie Yundong continued to tease him:
"Look how successful Zhiqiang's store is, right? Even if he works like that all year, he'll only earn five or six thousand yuan."
"If you lease that wasteland and work diligently for half a year, that'll be an income of ten thousand yuan. Although the dividends are substantial now, nobody complains about having too much money, right?"
“Alright! Since you all put it that way, I’ll go ask my father-in-law tomorrow. If he’s capable, I’ll take on the contract.” Tao Daqiang looked at Li Long.
"You're capable," Li Long said with a smile. "The third team is just across a reed ditch from us, very close. No matter what happens, our tractors and manpower can easily get over. Even when picking cotton, the students we organize can stay at our cooperative."
"Hey, this is so convenient. Why didn't I think of getting a piece of land in the third team back then?" Xu Haijun slapped his forehead. "This gave Daqiang a huge advantage."
Tao Daqiang smiled, his determination to go out and work became even stronger.
Li Long sighed with emotion. When Liang Dacheng was managing 2,000 mu of land on his own, Tao Daqiang's idea at that time was to stay in the cooperative and not want to go anywhere else.
Unexpectedly, he changed his mind after only a year.
The world changes so fast!
They talked about how the cooperative made money this year, and then chatted about other things.
Another reason why so much can be allocated now is that after deducting costs, there isn't much money left for agricultural supplies next year; it's only for emergencies.
The majority of the cost is planned to be financed through a loan from the credit union next year. Although there will be some interest payments later, at least we won't have to withdraw money from the credit union ourselves, which is still a good deal.
This way, you'll get more dividends.
"Those two cooperatives also have this plan. They won't set aside a large amount of funds this year to buy agricultural supplies and hire people next year. They also plan to take out a loan next year. Not only them, but those who own more land also have this idea. After all, the cost of using drip irrigation tape is relatively high."
Xie Yundong, as the manager of the cooperative, has the most information on this matter.
As they chatted about trivial matters, the aroma of food wafted over in no time. Deng Guilan, Yang Pingping, and others had already prepared the meal and were calling them to eat.
Meals couldn't be eaten in the conference room; there was a separate room with an octagonal table.
As Li Long and the others entered the house, a wave of heat hit them. The stove in the house was burning brightly, and everyone took off their coats and hung them on old-fashioned wooden clothes racks.
In the middle of the table were braised prawns, braised ribbonfish, and other seafood. These were still considered rare items at the time, and ordinary people might not even buy them during the Lunar New Year.
"I specially bought this from the cold storage in Wucheng," Xu Haijun said proudly. "After working so hard all year, I deserve to eat something good."
Next came the main dishes: braised chicken, stewed fish, braised pork, hand-pulled mutton, and so on.
Liang Dacheng took out the old wine he had brought with him. Looking at the two bottles, Jia Weidong sneered, "What can these two bottles do? They'll be gone in one level!"
Liang Dacheng immediately said, "How could that be? I also bought a case of Baiyang wine, it's in the trunk of the car, I'll go get it now. I was just thinking this wine is good, let's drink this first!"
So everyone started drinking—it was hot inside, so they didn't feel the effects of the alcohol; the more they drank, the more lively it became.
The next day, the cooperative's profit-sharing figures were announced, sparking another round of gossip and discussion in the team.
Although everyone knew the cooperative was profitable, the two Li brothers each received over 400,000 yuan, while everyone else received over 100,000 yuan. This was in 1994, when in other villages, households with 10,000 yuan each accounted for less than a third!
Those who had already joined the cooperative were extremely pleased. Although their own shares were small, they could clearly feel that the cooperative was thriving, and that following it would only bring benefits, not losses.
Others who didn't join also complained bitterly, saying that since everyone would be using drip irrigation for farming in the future, their income should be about the same.
Actually, this is just to comfort myself. Everyone knows that farming used to be about experience, but now it's about technique. Even without drip irrigation, the income from the same acreage varies from family to family.
Besides, this is drip irrigation farming now. Those cooperatives have been doing it for three or four years, and you're only just starting out. What makes you think you can compete?
But there's nothing we can do; the cooperative only accepts a limited number of people. We either have to wait for the next batch or join another cooperative.
Working on your own would likely be exhausting, and you might not even earn much money.
Everyone knows that once drip irrigation fields are converted, fewer people will grow grains. This is because after the conversion, growing wheat will definitely not be profitable, and may even result in losses.
Planting corn or sunflowers can basically break even, while only planting cotton can make a profit.
We still need to pay grain taxes, so how to balance this is still a problem.
This year, farmland was renovated, but some families still habitually planted wheat. However, next year, irrigation will need to be switched to drip irrigation. Drip irrigation can be used for wheat fields, but it's not cost-effective.
Without drip irrigation, the improvement will be just an empty shell; it's up to each company to choose.
The villagers had anticipated this situation, so Lu Yingming went to Li Jianguo to inquire about it. Li Jianguo smiled and said:
"What's the big deal? The government has a policy for a long time: if you don't deliver grain, you deliver money. The money we make from cotton can cover many times the amount of grain we need. We can even buy the flour and rice we eat. With money, what's there to be afraid of?"
Lu Yingming was relieved.
In fact, this is the general trend going forward. However, in the future, in order to ensure the country's food stability policy, it will be stipulated that grain should be grown. That will happen in the future.
Five days after the meeting, Jia Weidong withdrew the money and distributed it to each household in the cooperative's courtyard. This time, the news was announced much more discreetly, since the previous meeting had only been to inform them of the figures, but the villagers had already spread the word and discussed it.
They distributed money again, but this time there was no dinner party. It was all done in an hour, and everyone took their money and left, then deposited it in their own accounts.
This is better; it's less likely to attract other people's attention, after all, that's tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands).
Li Long took the money to his elder brother's house and gave it to his brother, Li Jianguo. Li Jianguo then calculated the money for the agricultural machinery cooperative. Of the 450,000 yuan, he only kept 100,000 yuan, saying that 250,000 yuan was for a high-horsepower machine, and the remaining 100,000 yuan was a dividend for Li Long.
All of this was a mess for Li Long, but he didn't refuse.
“Your second brother called this morning and said he’d drive over this afternoon.” Li Jianguo finished settling the accounts and then said to Li Long, “He said his oil refinery has shut down and we’ll talk about it next year.”
Li Long nodded; he knew about this.
After Liu Shanmin moved here, the oil trucks delivering oil from the oil field to China became less frequent.
Although things returned to normal at the oil field after Liu Shanmin returned, the situation was somewhat complicated. While Liu Shanmin was away, some of the shareholders wanted to cause trouble, but after he returned, he had to sort out the situation and simply announced a production halt.
He specifically called Li Long to explain the reason for this.
Li Long understood and also called his second brother.
The second brother, Li Anguo, is quite laid-back. Anyway, both of his daughters have promising futures now. After graduating from petroleum school, they were assigned to the system and don't have to go to the front-line oil fields. One is in petrochemical and the other is in the administration bureau.
They are the envy of others.
These past few years, I've made quite a bit of money running an oil refinery. If there's no oil, I'll just shut down.
The workers were given a stoppage fee, the factory was shut down, and they would resume work once the oil arrived.
So Li Long wasn't surprised that his second brother was driving over.
It wasn't right to leave so much money at home, so Li Long drove his older brother to the credit union and deposited the money.
Most of his money is in the county bank, but he also has an account at the credit union, where he has hardly spent any of his money.
Then the two of them went to the county together. Li Anguo and his wife came along, also intending to see Chen Qianjin. Both out of courtesy and consideration, Li Jianguo planned to buy some things to treat his younger brother.
Li Anguo and Chen Lirong drove over in the afternoon. They first drove from Youcheng to Kuishi, had lunch there, and then came here.
Although the distance is much farther than before, having a car makes everything easier.
They also visited their old colleagues in Kuishan, as well as Li Junshan, Yang Yongqiang, and others.
Of course, it was just a brief meeting, and I came over shortly afterward.
In Li Jianguo's new courtyard, the two first greeted his mother, then went inside to talk. Chen Lirong chatted with her sister-in-law for a while, then went to see Chen Qianjin's courtyard.
Seeing that Chen Qianjin's tanned skin hadn't recovered yet, but he was much stronger than before, Chen Lirong couldn't help but sigh.
It's better to train people in the countryside.
Chen Qianjin didn't say much, he just introduced the layout of the courtyard. Chen Lirong looked around the rooms and was quite satisfied.
Chen Qianjin himself was satisfied.
Among these people, he was the only one who didn't borrow money from Li Jianguo. He built the house himself and furnished it with all the furniture and a boiler.
Even though Li Junhai borrowed two thousand yuan to buy a boiler, the main expenses were for building the house, the courtyard wall, and the small house, which cost a lot of money.
Chen Qianjin has been the hardest worker in the fourth team over the past few years, and he was also the first to start making money by working with high-horsepower tractors.
He was always among the top three in terms of the amount of money he received each time, and he also managed to save money, so naturally he had quite a bit.
Chen Lirong felt gratified, yet also a little heartbroken.
Finally, she wanted to leave some money for Chen Qianjin, but Chen Qianjin refused, saying that she also had a hard life and that he could earn a lot of money himself, and that he could ask her for help when he needed it.
Chen Lirong went back to Li Jian's house to help her sister-in-law cook.
Originally, Liang Yuemei didn't need Chen Lirong's help, but since Chen Lirong insisted, Liang Yuemei didn't refuse.
The three brothers were chatting in the west room.
With fewer refineries operating in the second half of the year, Li Anguo took the opportunity to recover, and his skin became less tanned than before.
Since becoming the factory manager, he has improved in his interpersonal skills. When he talks, he doesn't just talk about himself anymore; he mostly praises the changes in the lives of his older and younger brothers.
After they had finished talking, they approached Li Long to ask him to reveal the details.
“Xiaolong, this is what I’m thinking. If the oil from over there keeps not coming, then I’ll close this refinery. Selling it will still make me some money. If the oil can come, then I’ll continue operating it next year. Refining is still a profitable business.”
“We can come,” Li Long said. “Boss Liu has stabilized the situation over there. I have shares in that oil field, and so does he. As long as the country there doesn’t refuse to accept our country’s investment, the oil will continue to be available.”
As far as he knew, although the medium-sized oil field was not large, it had a consistent oil production rate, and this rate would continue for a long time, no problem for twenty or thirty years.
Hearing Li Long say this, Li Anguo felt relieved. He smiled and said, "To be honest, the quality of the oil that was brought over is good, better than the oil I got from this oil field before."
The management bureau is quite concerned about my refinery. With Akinbek there, they won't give me any trouble. Even though my refinery has been shut down for a while, the community officials came to check on me.
"As long as they don't say your factory is operating illegally, it's fine," Li Long said. "Keep it running as long as you can. To be honest, it's a safe business."
Li Jianguo also advised Li Anguo that since there was oil, he should keep driving. Although he had a lot of money now, he couldn't just sit around doing nothing.
“If you have nothing to do, trouble will come knocking on your door,” Li Jianguo said. “My father always says that you have to keep yourself busy. If you keep busy and active, you can live a long life.”
Li Long laughed. His father said that while he was saying that, he was actually just trying to find some peace and quiet for himself. Otherwise, he wouldn't be sitting at the counter in the purchasing station; he would be doing farm work in the fourth team.
He seems to be all talk and no action.
Li Jianguo, Li Long, and Li Anguo hadn't seen each other in a long time, so this meal had to include drinking.
Winter is here, and there's still a lot of drinking in the countryside. (End of Chapter)