Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1426: Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts; this applies to other

Li Long was somewhat surprised by Liu Shanmin's return to China. Moreover, he could tell that this seemingly powerful figure in the neighboring country appeared rather disheveled.

Li Long made tea for Liu Shanmin, and Liang Shuangcheng served him watermelon.

Then, Li Long called the others out; he only intended to have a proper talk with Liu Shanmin.

Before Li Long could ask any questions, Liu Shanmin explained the reason for his trip.

He sighed and said with a wry smile, "I was a bit careless. I felt that I had gained some power over there, and my relationship with Old Na was good, so I felt like I could do more."

But actually, they've been watching me from beginning to end. Doing small things at the lower and middle levels is fine. But once I threaten someone's interests, they immediately start attacking me.

Li Long asked with some doubt, "You've brought them so many supplies, and this time you've also acquired cement production equipment. Aren't these enough to dispel their suspicions about you?"

Liu Shanmin shook his head and said, "It's not that easy. Since breaking away from the Soviet Union, national consciousness has begun to awaken in Kazakhstan, and xenophobic sentiments have become serious."

They gradually established their own historical system, regarding the Golden Horde as their ancestor. As you know, in our country's history, the Golden Horde was established by the descendants of Genghis Khan.

According to our historical system, they would be considered part of the Mongol people who migrated out of the Mongol tribe, or rather, a tribe. But they don't recognize this; they don't think this ethnic group has any connection with us.

Therefore, in order to highlight their national identity, they have to develop their own system. Then, in terms of education, they tend to be somewhat resistant to our country's resources, even though they desperately need our country's materials; in reality, it's just materials.

Li Long added, "It might not just be about supplies. They also have designs on our Kazakhs. They're implementing policies to get our Kazakhs to settle there, since their land is large but their population is too small."

Liu Shanmin nodded and said, "That's true. The policies they offered were actually quite good, but the country is still poor and can't escape Russian influence. To put it simply, this country is rather awkward; they're still vying with Turkey on cultural issues."

Li Long wasn't quite sure about this, because in his impression, some people in Kazakhstan were colluding with Turkey. After all, some separatist forces within China have their roots in Turkey, but they also have strongholds in Kazakhstan.

Li Long didn't ask Liu Shanmin about the details of why he came; he just wanted to hear his plans.

Liu Shanmin said, "Although I've come here, that cement equipment is still under construction. Once it's built and put into production, and once it generates some profits, I estimate that the suppression I'm facing will come to an end."

Ultimately, their primary target is me personally. They have designs on these industries, but they can't control them. After the last incident, I strengthened my control over these industries. The people in charge of each industry are my trusted confidants, and they are all Kazakhs.

With me gone, they had no excuse to attack, making it harder for them to stir up trouble. Ultimately, it was my carelessness this time. I wanted to step out from behind the scenes, thinking that with Nash's endorsement, there shouldn't be any problems. I didn't expect their nationalism to be so strong and their backlash so obvious. Maybe I threatened their interests.”

Li Long nodded, thinking that this was normal. After all, Kazakhstan is only so big, and Liu Shanmin is active in Almaty, their capital, where a lot of resources are concentrated.

In recent years, Liu Shanmin has amassed a large amount of capital through commodity exchange and gradually gained control of some businesses, including a medium-sized oil field. He has also made connections with a group of Kazakh political figures and gradually stepped into the limelight, naturally becoming a target of attacks from others.

After all, as a Han Chinese, he was practically all-powerful in a Kazakh-dominated country, and no one could tolerate that kind of nationalism.

This kind of world is normal in other countries around the world. Don't people often seize Chinese assets in the US too? The saying "three generations and it's over" isn't just a figure of speech.

Of course, Liu Shanmin is different in that he wields considerable influence. Judging from his confident words, perhaps he really is just laying low for a while, and things will get better afterward.

So Li Long said to Liu Shanmin, "Anyway, you have nothing to do now, so just stay here."

Liu Shanmin said apologetically, "I left in a hurry this time and didn't bring any supplies. And because of this incident, there may not be any supplies being transported from there for quite some time. It's good that we can help those people who are in a hurry."

Previously, every two weeks, a batch of white sugar and canned goods would be shipped from your place to your location. Some officials there who had connections with me had gotten into the habit of taking a cut from the shipment.

But this time, I'm being persecuted, and they're just standing by and doing nothing. So don't blame me for being ruthless. Let's temporarily halt the exchange of supplies and let them experience firsthand that not everyone can get their hands on large quantities of supplies like I can.

Li Long said with a smile, "It's alright, it's alright. We're actually a bit free here. The people we've hired for this cannery, if not working non-stop, will at least work three shifts, which should be enough to supply the canned goods you need."

That's not necessary for now. We can switch to regular shifts and slow down production so everyone can get some rest. While we earn more money, working this long hours for extended periods can easily cause health problems.

Liu Shanmin nodded, sighed, and said, "Actually, in terms of development, our domestic development is healthy and positive. Although they have started to develop since the collapse of the Soviet Union, I always feel that there are some problems with their policies, whether it's issuing new currency or revitalizing the economy."

Li Long agreed with this point. People of his generation often watched videos online explaining domestic and international economic policies. They felt this very deeply.

From a nation that was extremely poor and struggling to feed itself, to striving to become the world's second-largest and most comprehensive industrialized nation, such a transformation would have been impossible without flawed development policies.

Of course, policies alone are not enough; they also need to be earnestly implemented. Currently, there's a prevailing trend of blindly worshipping foreign things, with many believing that the moon is rounder abroad and that foreign goods are better.

In 30 years, many people abroad who praise China will think that China's policies are good and its development is good. It's like a cycle has come full circle.

Liu Shanmin said he also plans to take a stroll around the area and visit both Shicheng and Wucheng.

Li Long asked him, "Are your family members doing alright over there?"

Liu Shanmin shook his head and said, "I sent my wife and children to the farm a long time ago. She is Kazakh, and her father-in-law's farm has its own resources, so nothing will happen."

Actually, those people are targeting me mainly because they want the resources I control. Since I'm not there, they can't do anything about it, but they probably won't target my family.

Li Long advised, "You still need to be more careful. After all, you can't assume that those kinds of people have high moral standards. If they really target you, it's hard to say whether they'll let your family off the hook."

Liu Shanmin felt he was being a bit too optimistic, so he borrowed Li Long's phone to call the other side, reminding them to be careful, to remember to transfer their phone frequently, and to keep their identity a secret, etc.

After hanging up the phone, Liu Shanmin began to tour Li Long's purchasing station. Walking over to the Hummer H1, Liu Shanmin patted the car and said:

"Luckily, this thing was delivered to you. If it hadn't, it would probably have been taken by someone else by the time I came. It's too conspicuous, and there are quite a few Kazakhs who like this kind of vehicle. I've really hit the jackpot by being able to exchange it for a set of cement production and processing equipment that's working properly."

Despite saying that, Li Long could still see how much Liu Shanmin loved the Hummer. He took the keys, handed them to Liu Shanmin, and said, "Since you got it here, you can drive it while you're free. I've already put the license plates on and filled up the tank."

Liu Shanmin asked with some doubt, "Don't you drive it yourself?"

Li Long shook his head and said, "This thing is too conspicuous. I only drive it occasionally. It's fine, you can drive it for a while and help me draw some attention."

Liu Shanmin laughed, took the keys and said, "Then I'll have a good time. This thing isn't as comfortable as the Land Cruiser, but its off-road performance is exceptionally strong, and it looks imposing. It'll be so cool to drive."

Li Long is past the age of enjoying showing off, and he has more important things to do now. This year, the cooperative planted 5,000 mu of land, and there are a lot of people who need to pick the cotton from those 5,000 mu.

Therefore, the schools they planned to contact included not only the county's No. 1 Middle School, but also No. 2 Middle School, as well as several township middle schools. Originally, Li Long also wanted to contact the middle schools in Shicheng, but then he thought better of it. The cotton-picking task in the Production and Construction Corps was much heavier than his own, and the middle schools there had probably already been internally assigned to pick cotton in the Corps' farms.

Li Long then asked Liu Shanmin whether there were any safety issues with the workers who used to install cement equipment.

Liu Shanmin said that those people were all within his protection zone. Moreover, the people in Kazakhstan knew that it wasn't easy to build such cement production equipment, and they weren't stupid enough to attack these people, so Li Long was relieved.

Li Long wandered around the gig economy market and was surprised to find that by the end of August, there were several times more people there than before, and most of the newcomers were women.

After talking with these people, Li Long realized that the news of large-scale cotton planting in this area had spread to several provinces, including Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Henan, and these people had come specifically to pick cotton.

This year, when Li Long contacted the students and went to the school to discuss this matter, he brought Xie Yundong, Liang Dacheng, and Xu Haijun with him. His plan was to do this this year, leading them around himself, and then let Xie Yundong and the others go on their own next year. After facilitating the connections, he could step back and not have to rely on himself for everything.

From now on, these few will all be able to stand on their own. Of course, Xie Yundong is already capable of doing so. We can't always rely on him; he should guide them and let them figure out the rest themselves.

That's right, Li Long is that lazy. He just wants to lie down and let others do all the work while he only receives his share of the profits.

Liu Shanmin drove his Hummer around, and after Li Long helped Xie Yundong and the others contact schools, the rest of them were free to do as they pleased.

In previous years, the cotton picking was arranged quite well, so this time he didn't plan to follow up on the whole process.

The purchase of dried wild mushrooms at the purchasing station is nearing its end. There will be a lull in the middle, and another batch of codonopsis will be purchased in October, after which it will be mostly idle.

In previous years, Liu Gaolou would bring a batch of supplies every half month. Now Liu Shanmin has explained that this stuff can't be brought in for a while. Li Long has also told the workers that they should take this time to relax. When the work comes, they just need to make sure they don't mess things up.

Workers at the cannery, jerky processing workshops, and purchasing stations began taking turns on leave in batches.

Although the purchasing station was quiet, the number of middlemen chatting and gossiping there was still just as much. Old Man Li Qingxia quite enjoyed chatting with these people, while Li Long simply stopped caring about things here. After all, his father was already capable of handling things on his own. After dropping the children off at school in the morning, he drove to the fourth team.

The farmland renovation project is currently underway at Team 4. More than 20 pump houses and filtration ponds have been fully constructed and renovated. The large machinery currently remaining at Team 4 is constructing and renovating irrigation canals.

Half of the projects were taken over by Meng Hai. The working group highly valued his qualifications. Another part of the projects were handled by an engineering company from Wucheng. According to Meng Hai's introduction to Li Long, this company had experience in this type of work before and should have close ties with the working group or the agricultural department's project team.

Li Long didn't concern himself with any of these matters. Things were proceeding step by step according to his plan, more than a decade earlier than in his previous life. This was exactly what he wanted, so he wouldn't interfere. In fact, this outcome was something he had already achieved through his intervention, so he was happy to see it happen.

In the Li family courtyard, Lu Yingming was talking to Li Jianguo about hiring people from their hometown.

"Old Li, you were right. The wages for temporary workers in our county are too high. If we were to hire temporary workers to pick cotton in our cotton fields, it would be very costly."

I followed your example and found some relatives from my hometown. Two families came, and I paid each family 700 yuan. They worked for a little over a month, and they were very happy.

Lu Yingming's family has a considerable amount of farmland and contracted land. They have partnered with others to build a pump house and are growing drip-irrigated cotton. This year, they have been managing the land meticulously and expect to achieve a yield of over 300 kilograms per mu.

Moreover, the good thing for them is that the pump house was accepted by the working group and kept in use, which will compensate them for part of the cost of building the pump house, so there is no major loss.

When planting drip-irrigated cotton, they often went to Li's house to ask Li Jianguo and Li Long for technical advice. They also visited Li Long's cooperative from time to time. Later, when the cooperative expanded, they were among the new members. With their good days ahead, they now wear smiles most of the time, the kind that come from the heart.

Li Jianguo helped him calculate: "Your family's farmland plus contracted land is more than 100 mu, which can yield more than 40 tons of cotton. According to the current price for temporary workers picking cotton, it averages out to 50 cents per kilogram, which means you'll have to spend more than 2,000 yuan on picking. If you ask your relatives to help, each family can give you 700 yuan, which is 1,400 yuan. Even with the travel expenses, it's still worthwhile."

When relatives come to pick cotton at home, their food and lodging are not charged. It's just a matter of adding a little extra flour when kneading dough and a few extra handfuls of rice when steaming rice. In the eyes of rural people, this is really not much of a cost.

Lu Yingming smiled and said, "That's exactly the point. If you agree on the amount with your family back home and cover their round-trip fare, wouldn't they be happy? Besides, they all share the same surname and work at home, so they can pick cotton more efficiently."

Unlike temporary workers who come and work for a day and then run off, leaving a trail of white beards and ignoring your complaints, relatives who come to help can lend a hand sooner or later, like weighing cotton or selling it. What can day laborers do?

In short, in Lu Yingming's eyes now, it's all good when relatives come to pick cotton.

In fact, this is true for most cases. As long as you don't encounter those awful relatives who can only eat and not work, everything else is pretty good. And this model has basically become the mainstream in the future.

Of course, the mainstream cotton-picking intermediaries, who introduce entire villages of farmers from several populous provinces in the border region to pick cotton in northern Xinjiang, are also a major trend.

Later, the autonomous region and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps even opened a special train for cotton picking, specifically for these people who came to work picking cotton. The Corps also held a competition, and those who picked more cotton received rewards.

At that time, Li Long truly met a capable person who could pick one or two hundred kilograms of cotton a day. When the price of cotton was relatively high, he could earn tens of thousands of yuan in a cotton picking season.

Older mother Du Chunfang pounded sunflowers beside him, muttering, "Qiangqiang went to military school and won't come back. He's become a citizen of the country now. He's still studying, how can he not come back to visit during holidays?"

I wonder if they're eating well over there, how their clothes are, and whether they can take good care of themselves while they're there..."

Hearing his mother's slightly melancholy voice, Li Long found a slightly bent stick, sat down on the ground next to her without any hesitation, and started tapping sunflowers while saying:

"Qiangqiang and the others have a mission, they'll be back for the New Year. They got into military academy, so their food and lodging will be provided, they won't have to spend any money, and they'll even get a salary. Besides, Qiangqiang went to boarding school when he went to high school, so he'll definitely be able to take care of himself. You can rest assured, Mom. They'll call home in a couple of days after their military internship ends."

Li Long's words of comfort calmed Du Chunfang down a bit. After all, she knew that once someone joined the army, they were truly no longer in control of their own destiny, and it was impossible to simply return whenever they wanted. So she started counting on her fingers how much time was left until the New Year.

Du Chunfang favors Li Long, but she still has a good relationship with her grandchildren. Besides, Li Qiang has always been quite promising, which is why the older generation, who tend to favor sons over daughters, would still appreciate having a successful eldest grandson.

Sister-in-law, Liang Yuemei and Sister-in-law Lu are sewing cotton-picking bags by the door. Liang Yuemei is quite accepting of her daughter working in Wucheng and her son going to military school.

She's like the dandelion mother in the elementary school textbook. Her children have grown up and have their own places to go. You can't stop them. She can only think about it quietly. Usually, like the women in the mountains that Cuiping described, she can't make that kind of crying expression.

Lu Yingming suddenly asked Li Long:

"Xiaolong, I heard from Tietou that there's a machine that harvests cotton, is that true?"

While tapping the sunflowers, Li Long said, "Really? I even got two machines from Kazakhstan and handed them over to the Kui City Machinery Factory to help them study them. The idea is to be able to harvest cotton by machine in the future, so we won't have to worry about having so many people."

Lu Yingming nodded and said, "Yes, cotton can be profitable, but it's really labor-intensive. Only at this time of year can a large number of people come from the port to pick cotton; otherwise, we wouldn't be able to finish picking cotton even by winter."

From the beginning of large-scale cotton planting to the widespread use of cotton harvesters, the cotton harvest in those ten-plus years truly owed much to the large number of cotton pickers who came from the region. Without them, the scale of cotton cultivation could not have expanded so much, and cotton farmers would not have dared to plant such a large area.

Especially after the policy of students picking cotton was suspended in the later stages, cotton pickers from Kou Li became the main force in cotton picking.

Of course, cotton farmers also have things to complain about: picking costs only increase and never decrease, while cotton prices fluctuate.

This resulted in cotton prices being too low to cover the cost of picking up the cotton, so some farmers simply left the cotton in the fields and didn't bother picking it up anymore.

Until cotton harvesters are widely used and cotton cleaning equipment in processing plants is upgraded, it will be possible to match them.

Over the next few days, Li Long spent his days at the team, sometimes chatting with his family, and sometimes moving some things from the old house to the new house.

Although the furniture, bedding, and other items in the new house are all newly purchased, it's impossible to discard the things from the old house.

As her sister-in-law Liang Yuemei packed up, she muttered, "Even a broken home is worth a fortune. Look at this fine sieve, used for sifting cornmeal; it's hard to find these. And this winnowing basket, I've never seen this kind in the market around here; someone brought it from their hometown..."

In short, when cleaning up an old house, you don't want to throw away this or that; you want to pack everything up and take it to your new home.

My older brother and mother had the same attitude, but my father was more nonchalant, saying that if something was useful, we should take it with us, and if it was useless, we should just throw it away or give it to someone else.

Li Long shared the same opinion. As he packed his things, he said, "Take what you need with you, and leave what you don't need to take up space."

Although our yard is big, all the furniture and stuff is new, so there's no need to move the new furniture there. The old sofas, steel frame beds, etc., can be taken by whoever wants them.

Actually, people like Junhai and Qianjin definitely still want it, since their new house isn't even furnished yet.

He advised his elder brother and sister-in-law in this way, and in fact, he did the same thing on his own side. Apart from a few necessary items, he simply gave away the rest.

Li Junfeng, Li Junhai, and Chen Qianjin's yards were all finished. Among these people, apart from Li Junfeng who had already bought some furniture in the past two years, the others hadn't done anything. Li Long let them discuss and divide up the things in their front yards.

Although they were secondhand, none of Li's relatives complained. To them, these items, which had only been used for a few years, were quite good. Li Long had put in a lot of effort when he bought them, and they were all high-quality items. They would definitely last for decades more.

The Li family had large trucks and plenty of manpower, so the move was indeed quite fast. After the trucks took over the large items that needed to be moved, they would occasionally drive a small car back and forth, looking for or taking something from the old house whenever they remembered it.

My mother, Du Chunfang, lived in the new courtyard. At first, she felt that nothing was convenient about it and that it was not as comfortable as the old house. She muttered that there was nothing good about this place except that it was new.

But after living there for a while, they stopped saying those things. The new house doesn't have a heated wall; it uses central heating. The old folks don't need to burn a stove in their room anymore. The space is much larger, with more cabinets, and the beds are all new, making it convenient to store anything.

The first thing she did was find a good place for her snacks and alcohol. With Li Long supervising, none of Du Chunfang's snacks expired; if any were about to expire, Li Long would simply take them to feed the pigs or dogs.

Du Chunfang was a little anxious but couldn't go against her youngest son's wishes, so she stopped being reluctant to eat anything. She knew that if she didn't eat it, it would end up in the livestock's mouths, so it was better for her to eat it herself.

After moving to the new courtyard, they had new neighbors, all from the same work team, and they got along quite well. Everyone in the village knew the Li family's character, so they were willing to be close to them, often going to the courtyard to chat with the elderly. Or they would talk to Li Jianguo and the others about cotton farming, and over time they became more and more familiar with each other.

Although Gu Boyuan didn't come back, his yard was the same; Li Long helped him buy a complete set of furniture and bedding.

As for the things in his small courtyard, although Gu Boyuan called Li Long to ask him to help clean them up, Li Long didn't do anything. He meant that he would wait until his father-in-law returned for the New Year to see what to do with those things.

During the time it took to move, as the car drove back and forth, it was obvious that there were more strangers in the village. Li Long knew that most of these people were probably hired by the families from the odd jobs market or from their hometowns, in preparation for picking cotton in the fall.

At this time, people with their families also appeared in the casual labor market. They would take the train to Wucheng, and after getting off the train, they would ask around or find out where cotton was grown, either through introductions from fellow villagers. Then they would take a bus to the county, rent a house in the urban-rural fringe, and after settling in, they would go to the casual labor market every day to wait to be called upon.

At this time, although there are many cotton growers in Ma County, it will be several years before cotton is widely planted throughout Xinjiang. Therefore, the scene of people rushing to Wucheng Railway Station to recruit workers during the cotton picking season has not yet arrived.

At this point, supply and demand are still relatively balanced. It will take another ten years or so before cotton becomes scarce.

These strangers who appeared in the fourth team spoke with accents from various places such as Sichuan, Shaanxi, Henan, and Gansu. They looked around the place with curiosity, some cautious and some unrestrained.

Due to their different lifestyles, they sized up the people from the fourth team, who in turn curiously observed them. Occasionally, thefts would occur in the village.

After all, people are used to the yard being open, and even if no one is home and they go out to run errands, the keys are usually on the door frame or in the flower pots on the windowsill.

The people hired were a mixed bag, including some pickpockets and those who liked to take advantage of others.

So the villagers gradually learned to protect their property. They would try to keep someone at home or find a dog. They would tie a wire from the east end of the yard to the west end and let the dog drag the wire so it could slide along the wire to guard the house.

The neighbor across the hall is surnamed Ning, named Ning Renjun. He's younger than Li Jianguo but older than Li Long. Li Long was in the yard with his mother, Du Chunfang, drying dried chili peppers when Ning Renjun stormed over and said angrily:

"These out-of-towners are a real disgrace! They ripped off all the melons we planted in the cotton field, big and small, and even broke the vines! Haven't they ever eaten anything like this? They're like animals!"

Liang Yuemei, who was picking chili peppers in the vegetable garden, asked with some doubt, "How did you know they were from out of town? Maybe some people in the team are picking them too?"

Ning Renjun explained, "My pear melons started ripening in July, and there were quite a few. They've been ripe until now, but there are still some small ones that I estimate won't ripen until October."

In July, some people in the team started picking them, since the vines of the pear melons grew taller than cotton plants and could be seen from outside the field. But the people in our team only picked a few ripe ones to take home and taste.

Nobody touched the raw melons; after all, they weren't very tasty if picked.

We planted them to eat, so we just picked them. We'll eat them too, and we didn't plan to sell them. There were about ten plants, and they produced quite a few, about a hundred or so fruits. I was thinking that when we were picking cotton, we could pick one or two to taste if we got thirsty.

I never expected that when I went to check on the cotton in the cotton field this morning, they had all been picked, big and small. No one in our team would do something like that; it must have been done by those people from outside!

I'll go ask around now and see who's hiding these things... People around here aren't often here, but they often go to the old courtyard to take things, so be careful, watch out for thieves."

He left in a hurry after saying that.

The members of the Li family looked at each other in disbelief. Although they knew that some people were dishonest, they never expected that someone could do something like this; it was simply outrageous.

As she cut the chili peppers, Du Chunfang muttered:

"We've only had a few years of peace and quiet, and now it's starting again... It used to be so much better back in the old courtyard. There wasn't even a gate, and we could leave our things there without anyone bothering us. Even if someone came by, we weren't worried about them taking anything. Now, we have to be on guard. What a mess!"

Li Jianguo, the eldest brother, came back from outside. He had gone to a meeting at the team headquarters. When he returned, he shook his head and said, "The team said in the meeting that there are a lot of people outside now, and that employers who have hired people should strengthen their management and talk to them more to prevent petty theft."

It wasn't mentioned at the meeting, but we overheard it while chatting. Several families had lost their chickens, as well as melons from their fields, vegetables from their gardens, and apples from their apple trees.

It seems that this is not an isolated case; it may have been done by just one or two people, or it may have been the work of several people.

Li Long said, "Since that's the case, then listen to me and install the big iron gate. With this year's situation, and with more cotton planted in the future, there will definitely be a lot of people coming. We don't need to guard against our own team, but it's hard to say about the outsiders. They're a mixed bag, and if a few scoundrels come in, it's not worth it if they lose something."

Actually, when the courtyard was first built, Li Long had mentioned that he wanted to install a large iron gate, but neither his elder brother, Li Jianguo, nor his sister-in-law, Liang Yuemei, agreed. They said that everyone was used to keeping the gate open, and if they suddenly installed a large iron gate, wouldn't that be an obvious way of telling everyone that they were keeping their guard against others?

Now that Li Long has spoken, they are less resistant, but still somewhat hesitant.

Li Long then said, "Think about it. Winter is fine, but in summer and autumn, when you go out to work, it's just me alone in the yard. If someone tries to come in and steal something, what if they lose something? It's okay if they lose something, but what if they hurt me?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jianguo immediately nodded and said, "That's right, let's install the gate right now."

The cement gatehouse was already built; all that was needed was to customize a large iron gate of the appropriate size, have it delivered, and install it. This was a relatively simple matter, so Li Long took charge of it.

Although Du Chunfang was somewhat unwilling, her eldest and youngest sons had already reached an agreement, so she could only reserve her opinion.

Before they even started picking cotton, Li Long immediately took measurements and went to the ironworks factory in the county.

At this point, the large iron gates were designed for practicality. They were double-opening, with a small door in the middle of each door. Normally, both doors would be opened when vehicles were entering or exiting, and only the small door would be opened when vehicles were not entering or exiting.

The ironworks factory was responsible for the installation. Li Long ordered three sets at once, and the next day a large truck carrying the iron gate arrived at the fourth team to start installing these things.

The neighbors all came over to watch, and Ning Renjun asked Li Long if it was feasible to make this thing.

Li Long then recounted the explanation he had given to his elder brother and sister-in-law, and the onlookers nodded in agreement. If no outsiders had come, the Li family's grand entrance would have been the subject of much ridicule behind their backs.

But now that petty theft is happening, who wouldn't want to be on guard? If someone gets hurt, it will be too late to regret it.

So after the installers finished installing the large iron gate, they were surrounded by people asking about the price and specifications, making quite a scene.

Although the main gate was installed, the Li family still habitually left both doors open so that everything was clearly visible. After all, they were used to doing it this way, and if they closed the doors now, it would feel like they were hiding something.

Li Long knew that it would take some time for his brother, sister-in-law, and mother to adjust, but they would gradually adapt eventually.

There's nothing we can do about this; we can only prevent it. Like the chief architect said, if you open the window, fresh air comes in, and you can see the scenery outside, but flies and mosquitoes will always fly in too. We can't just close the windows because of flies and mosquitoes; that's not worth it.

A large number of people are flocking to northern Xinjiang to pick cotton, which helps local farmers increase their income and production. This is definitely a good thing.

There will always be some scum that slip through the cracks. These things are hard to detect, and there's no way to detect them, so all we can do is take precautions.

These past few days, my older brother Li Jianguo has been going to the cooperative's yard a lot. The "cooperative's yard" refers to his agricultural machinery cooperative.

The construction team that Meng Hai assigned, led by Feng Guoqing, has almost finished building the house. Now they need to finish building the courtyard of Li Jianguo's agricultural cooperative as well.

In August, the Li family's farm machinery was deployed to every corner of the township, and even to other townships, to begin plowing the fields. After the wheat harvest, these fields would be plowed out and then left to stand.

The earlier sunflowers have been harvested, but most of the corn and oilseed sunflowers haven't been harvested yet. So recently, Li Jianguo, along with Li Junfeng and Li Junhai, have been maintaining the farm machinery. And now that the large tractors have a place to park, things look more organized.

As the manager of the agricultural machinery cooperative, Li Jianguo is relatively busy. With this manager title, Li Jianguo's work seems to have become more formal. It's not that he's pretending, but mainly because he has responsibilities.

Although I used to manage these agricultural machines, my main responsibilities were somewhat vague, and I just did whatever I felt like doing.

After the cooperative was established, the manager's responsibilities were clearly defined and put into writing, which made a difference.

Sometimes people would jokingly call him Manager Li, and Li Jianguo would respond with a smile. When someone asked him about matters concerning the cooperative, he would answer them earnestly.

Overall, it feels different from before.

On September 16th, Liu Shanmin came to see Li Long. This time he drove his Land Cruiser. He had driven the Hummer twice and then left it at the recycling station without touching it again.

I don't know if they are good at knowing their limits, or if they think this thing is just too flashy, a bit too ostentatious, and not suitable for people of this age.

When Liu Shanmin came over, Li Long was in the yard confirming some things with Xie Yundong about the upcoming cotton picking.

Seeing Liu Shanmin get out of the car to find Li Long, Xie Yundong finished talking to Liu Shanmin and then left.

With the students about to arrive, Xie Yundong was responsible for coordinating all the arrangements and support for the cooperative. He was worried that he might not have considered everything thoroughly, so he asked Li Long to go over it with him. Now that he had a clear idea of ​​what was going on, he quickly made the arrangements.

After Liu Shanmin entered the courtyard, he greeted his mother, Du Chunfang, and his sister-in-law, Liang Yuemei, and put down the food he had bought. The Li family smiled and told him to make himself at home, and Liang Yuemei went to pour him some water.

This wasn't Liu Shanmin's first visit. Li Long had introduced him to his family before, and they knew he was Li Long's partner in the used car and other businesses. The Li family treated Liu Shanmin with great courtesy.

After all, everyone in the family knows that Li Long's most profitable business is the one he does in cooperation with this person.

This time, Liu Shanmin got straight to the point and told Li Long, "I've almost finished dealing with things on my end, and I'm planning to head back now."

Li Long was still somewhat doubtful: "That's it? So easy?"

“We haven’t been able to send any supplies over there for almost a month, and the people there are getting anxious.” Liu Shanmin said with a sneer, “When they were making trouble for me, they spoke so righteously, as if I had really done something wrong. But now that they can’t make any money, their true colors are immediately revealed.”

Li Long smiled, "It's good that it's resolved."

P.S.: Two things to mention. First, the monthly pass system. Second, the backend for readers and the backend for my assistant are not the same, probably because they are not synchronized. If you see this, please add me.

Secondly, it rains frequently in northern Xinjiang. (End of Chapter)