Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1422 Li Juan graduates, Li Qiang interns, Team 4 undergoes a major transformation

Meng Hai acted quickly. Two days later, Feng Guoqing led workers, drove machines, and hauled bricks and wood to the Fourth Team to start building houses according to the blueprints.

From top to bottom, the first houses built were those belonging to Li Jianguo and Li Long.

Feng Guoqing brought about ten people with him this time, so the two families started construction together.

The foundation was already there, and the rammed earth was of good quality, so there was no need to excavate and fill it again. All that was needed was to add some loess, then apply mortar, then dig the trench for building the house, and fill it with cement and stones.

Li Long and Li Jianguo watched from the sidelines. Seeing the workers working quickly and efficiently with the machinery, Li Jianguo remarked with admiration:

“These days are really different. In the past, when we built houses, we had to call all the laborers in the village, have a feast, spread out the clods, dig the mud, prepare the soil, and put up the beam. It would take many days, and we had to choose a time when farming was slack.”

"It's so much better now. We pay people to do the work, which doesn't interfere with the busy farming season, and they do it efficiently and clean up the mess."

Li Long laughed and said, "That requires money. Look, quite a few people in our team have been building houses recently. There must be people doing the kind you're talking about."

Just then, Captain Xu Chengjun arrived, followed by Lu Yingming and Tao Daqiang, with Tao Dayong trailing behind them not far behind.

Xu Chengjun greeted Li Jianguo and Li Long, and then led Lu Tao and the other two to divide the homestead.

After measuring the baseline with a tape measure and driving in wooden wedges to confirm the location, Xu Chengjun came over to chat with Li Long and the others.

He took out his cigarette case and offered one to Li Jianguo, then took out another and waved it at Li Long. Li Long waved his hand, then put the cigarette in his own mouth, lit it, and said:

"I've been so busy these past two days, everyone's been coming to ask about the homestead information. Since there's no official announcement, I can't just announce it over the loudspeaker, so I have to explain it to each person individually."

Some people believed it, some didn't. You know about Dongzhuangzi, right? Several families who just built their houses have been coming to me about this these past few days. It's so annoying!

Li Long laughed and said, "What's so troublesome about that? If you want a plot of land for building a house, just write an application and get it approved according to the regulations. Anyway, in the future, this large area will definitely be moved down piece by piece, and whoever applies first will get it first. It's very fair."

Xu Chengjun took a drag of his cigarette, blew a smoke ring into the air, glanced at Li Long, and said, "You make it sound so easy. If everyone just wanted the land for their houses like you, that would be great. Some people want not only the land for their houses, but also compensation for the houses themselves."

Some people, even though their families are only allowed two plots of land for building construction, insist on having three. If they can't have them, they make a scene. Isn't that annoying?

Li Long laughed again: "Make a fuss? Does anyone dare to make a fuss with you? Take out your gun, and they'll run away in a panic. You didn't spend those years in the army for nothing, did you?"

Xu Chengjun paused in his work, then looked at Lu Yingming and Tao Daqiang, who had already settled on their homestead and were approaching from a distance, and shook his head, saying:

"What nonsense are you talking about? Who still has a gun these days? Besides, I've been retired from the army for so many years, and my old temper has long been worn down."

If it were back in the day, if he dared to cause trouble at my house, I could have beaten him out. But not now. The production team's system is different from the army's; you have to be reasonable!

Li Long laughed. He guessed that Xu Chengjun definitely had guns hidden in his house, whether it was a hunting rifle, an air rifle, or a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, he definitely did.

There might be other things too, because it's said that Xu Chengjun brought back a few hand grenades when he was discharged from the army.

Of course, the reason it got out was because he threw a grenade into a small lake to blast fish, which happened several years ago.

However, Xu Chengjun was being modest. His temper hadn't changed much. If anyone dared to cause trouble for him, even if they were his elders, he would still scold them without hesitation.

So with him in charge, no one in the fourth team caused any major trouble. Moreover, he was generally fair in his dealings, so the fourth team rarely went to higher authorities to petition, unlike Liang Wenyu's team, where even the smallest matter would require a trip to the county or prefecture level.

After Xu Chengjun finished speaking, he left; he had many things to take care of.

Lu Yingming walked over to the Li family's foundation, grabbed a handful of soil from the foundation, looked at it, then threw it away, clapped his hands, and came over to Li Jianguo and said, "Old Li, your foundation is good, it's all mature soil. I think the soil that the truck brought over to replenish it is also good, loess without a trace of alkaline soil."

Li Jianguo nodded and said, "Yes, I remember this area used to be the Lu family's house. Later, they moved away. They probably lived here for decades. The foundation and garden are well-established."

Furthermore, the soil the workers are hauling is yellow soil dug from the brick kiln area, not in the alkaline soil layer, so the houses definitely won't develop efflorescence.

Lu Yingming looked a little envious and pointed behind him, saying, "The plot of land we're about to build on is alright. The vegetable garden is made of fertile soil, but the foundation area is a little bit alkaline."

But there's nothing I can do about it. I even calculated it this way, specifically scheduling it for today. If I had gone any further back, there would have been alkaline pits, and I would have had to replace the soil in my vegetable garden. I plan to replace the top layer of soil when I build the house and lay the foundation.

Otherwise, if the efflorescence occurs after the house is built, it will be a huge problem.

The alkali in the ground will grow upwards. If a house is built on an alkali pit and the soil in the foundation is not cleaned of the alkali, within a few years, alkali mold will start to grow at the base of the house walls, the cement plaster will fall off, and white alkali may even appear on the cement floor.

Is this called precipitation?

In short, if it's not handled properly, there will be endless troubles and problems.

Li Jianguo said that this is the only way to do it, and this area is okay for now. Anything beyond that will be undeveloped land. Whether it's a vegetable garden or a foundation, the soil will have to be replaced and the land rebuilt.

He then asked Tao Daqiang, "Daqiang, where's your dad? Why didn't he come over for something this important? You two brothers both got the land for the house, right?"

“My dad is busy in the vegetable garden over there,” Tao Daqiang said. “He said that my brother and I can handle these things ourselves. Anyway, we’ll have someone else build the house and yard, and we won’t lift a finger. He won’t interfere.”

Tao Dayong chimed in, "That's right, that's right. We won't build our own houses anymore. My dad even said that we should design our yards like Uncle Li's, because that kind of design is more reasonable and convenient for us rural folks."

In the past two years, Tao Dayong has turned over a new leaf, worked hard, and is no longer as afraid of his wife as before. He is also quite filial to Tao Jianshe. Although Tao Jianshe does not live in his house, he will send rice, flour, and oil every now and then, and he will also bring a basin of good food to Tao Daqiang's house.

This gradually changed his image in the eyes of the four teams.

However, her relationship with her father-in-law's family has not been as good as it used to be in recent years. After all, when there is something good, they will give it to their own family and father first, and they will consult with Tao Daqiang about anything. As a result, Ma Chunhong is not as arrogant as before when she goes back to her parents' home.

However, in the eyes of the four teams, this is the normal phenomenon. They have already separated their families, so they should take care of their own small families. If they keep trying to pull their mothers' families along, they will obviously be looked down upon.

Of course, Ma Chunhong also knows what kind of image she has in the eyes of the villagers. She usually keeps to herself and rarely talks to people. Occasionally she will listen to gossip, but in general, most people look down on her.

Lu Yingming said from the side, "The land that the brothers Dayong and Daqiang chose for their homestead is not bad. Although the vegetable garden and the foundation area are a little alkaline, as long as the top layer of soil is removed and more manure is applied when planting, it should be fine."

The situation is a bit more complicated for those further back in the row. The area to the east is all undeveloped land, covered with reeds and thorns. It will take a lot of effort to cultivate a proper yard.

Neither Li Long nor Li Jianguo commented. They are considered beneficiaries of this situation and it's not appropriate for them to comment on others.

Tao Daqiang asked Li Long how much it would cost to build such a courtyard. Li Long replied, "If it's to the specifications of my house, it would cost around 30,000 yuan. We're going to be quite meticulous. We need to pave the ground, build a decorative wall, and make the foundation for the wall deep, with at least half a meter of stone base. We also need to use high-grade cement."

Moreover, we need a complete set of boiler equipment, radiators, and so on, with insulation layers applied to the outside and tiles laid in front.

These various odds and ends add up to quite a bit of money. If you don't require so many things, 15000 to 20000 should be enough.

What Li Long didn't tell Tao Daqiang was that he and Feng Guoqing had agreed that everything in the Li family's yard, including the later painting, floor tiles, electrical wiring, water pipes, and drainage pits, would be installed.

After all, these days, even buying a courtyard house in the county only costs a little over 1 yuan. If you don't take care of all the odds and ends, it's impossible to spend so much money to build a courtyard house.

At this point, following the example of city dwellers, the design plans included indoor drainage outlets—one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. However, rural people weren't used to using the toilet indoors; the bathroom's main concern was water seepage from washing.

When laying the foundation, two thick pipes will be installed in the kitchen and bathroom, with the outlets placed in a specially dug seepage pit outside.

In the past, each household would dig this deep seepage pit themselves, usually one or two meters deep, enough for daily kitchen and washing water to seep through.

Li Long's idea is that the pit needs to be large now, with precast slabs laid on top and at least five or six square meters underneath, so that the seepage pit doesn't have to be cleaned up every year or two.

So what Li Long meant when he told Tao Daqiang this was that it depended on his service choices. If he chose Feng Guoqing's engineering team, he could choose not to work on certain projects and then wouldn't be charged for them.

Tao Daqiang smiled and said, "Then I'll do it the same way as yours. I'll get everything done at once, so I won't have to repair it bit by bit later."

Lu Yingming said enviously, "You guys are so rich. You can just take out tens of thousands of yuan like that. I've worked hard for most of my life, and the money I've saved isn't even enough for you to build a house. I'll build a house in the same style as yours, but I'll do some of the projects myself if I can."

At this time, both men and women are very capable with their hands. They can repair furniture, change light bulbs, do plumbing and electrical work, and even saw wood to assemble a small stool, make a broom, or a small table. As long as they don't care about aesthetics, they can do it themselves.

Even things like building walls or patching flower walls can be done by oneself.

However, Li Long knew that this thing couldn't be built with shortcuts. His own family members were indeed capable, but the foundation of the courtyard wall had to be dug deep, otherwise, the wall would become crooked and easily collapse within a few years.

The main reason is that the fourth team is used to having a water ditch by the roadside outside the courtyard. Every now and then, water will be released from the small lake to water the vegetable gardens of each family.

The water was only one or two meters away from the courtyard wall. After it seeped in, it would soften the foundation of the courtyard wall. In the previous life, after another ten years or so, the walls of all the houses in the western residential area were tilted as a whole. In the end, there was no other way but to use wooden boards to support and reinforce them. Some people had to tear them down and rebuild them.

So in this life, Li Long thought he could solve the problem once and for all by digging the foundation deeper and making the courtyard wall stronger so it wouldn't easily collapse.

The only downside is that almost all the fruit tree seedlings available here need to be shrunk over in winter for protection against frost. Otherwise, it would be nice to plant more fruit trees after the yard and house are built.

Building a house is a big deal. For the next few days, Li Long and his team will come here every day to keep an eye on things. It's not that they don't trust Feng Guoqing, but if there are any adjustments that need to be made, it will be easier for the workers to carry out the construction if they are here.

For example, the location of the water pipe to be reserved, how many meters to dig the seepage pit, and whether the pigsty to be built needs to be paved.

These details are not included in the design drawings and need to be determined on-site.

Li Jianguo was also present, and he was even more concerned about the house's condition than Li Long. This was his third house since he settled down in the Fourth Team. His first house was originally located in the western area, but back then, the house wasn't built by him; it was allocated by the team.

Later, when the number of people in the team increased and there wasn't enough housing, they moved to their current settlement and built new homes.

Although the courtyard we live in now is, by all accounts, not as good as Li Long's front yard.

But it was truly made by him, truckload after truckload of soil, brick after brick, through his hard work; he had grown attached to it. Even the stones for the foundation were collected from various places during breaks in the collective work.

The area around Team Four is mostly alkaline flats, and there aren't many stones. Back then, many people were building houses, and to collect enough stones for the foundation, you had to travel a long way.

We borrowed a cart from the team, and it took an hour or two to make the round trip. The stones for the foundation of the building alone required dozens of cartloads, which was very time-consuming.

Unlike now, a truck can go to the Gobi Desert, collect a load of stones in less than an hour, haul them back, dump them on the foundation, and that's it!

As society becomes more advanced, tools become more modern, and work efficiency increases, Li Jianguo exclaimed that life is changing too fast, and he can hardly keep up with the times.

This area has been quite lively these past few days. Now everyone in the village knows about the merger of the residential areas. People in the western part are just watching the excitement, while most of the residents from Xinzhuangzi and the eastern part are rushing over to choose their own homesteads, and a small number are just grumbling and complaining.

Some of them had newly built houses and suffered significant losses, while others simply didn't want to move, finding it too much trouble. Especially after visiting the western area, they found that all the good plots of land had been allocated, so they wanted to cause some trouble.

Xu Chengjun didn't mince words and made it clear directly. He was currently only receiving inside information; there were no official documents in place. These people could apply if they wanted to, or not if they didn't.

In his own words: "What kind of courtyard your family will live in in the future has absolutely nothing to do with me. Anyway, the official notice hasn't come yet. If you think what I said makes sense, then hurry up and submit your application. If it doesn't, then so be it. When the official notice comes, and the better plots have already been taken by someone else, don't cry then."

These kinds of notices are all mandatory; if you think you can handle it, then handle it.

Xu Chengjun also has a somewhat stubborn personality, and those who want to cause trouble are just running into a wall when they encounter him.

Most people are reasonable and understand that this kind of thing is basically a general trend that cannot be changed.

As Li Long was watching the foundation being laid for his newly built courtyard, Cai Wufeng from the east side came over and greeted him.

Li Long asked, "Fifth Brother, I remember your yard was newly built, right? This is quite a loss."

He was the fifth child in his family, listed among his cousins, but actually the younger brother in his own family; he had an older brother.

Everyone calls him Lao Wu (Old Five). At first, Li Long thought that the Wu in his name, Wu Feng, was the 5 in 12345, but he didn't expect to find out later that it was the Wu in martial arts. It seems that the old man had some ideas when naming him.

He was a bit older than Li Long and his group, but a bit younger than Li Jianguo and his group. He didn't associate with either of them, and their relationship was usually just a nodding acquaintance.

Cai Wufeng said with a wry smile, "What can I do? I joined Lao Huang's cooperative, and I invested all the money I earned from the dividends over the past two years into that house. I never expected it to turn out like this."

Li Long could only offer sympathy; no one could say for sure. Besides, their relationship hadn't reached that point yet. If Li Junhai and the others hadn't applied for new household registrations, Li Long would have completely forgotten about the merged residential area.

Let alone reminding him.

Li Long could only change the subject: "Are you also here to apply for a residential settlement?"

"The application has been approved. It's in the alley to your east, diagonally across, two houses away. I heard that your design drawings are quite good, so I came to take a look. If it's suitable, we'll use it directly."

Cai Wufeng came not only to look at the design drawings, but also to inquire about the price of building the house.

Li Long explained to him in detail the approximate price of the framework and the total price of the whole set. Now that Feng Guoqing had taken the truck to pick up cement, and since he was quite knowledgeable about these things, he simply became the guide.

As he spoke, not only Cai Wufeng was listening, but several other villagers also came over to listen.

After Li Long finished his introduction, everyone started discussing it. Most people thought that the construction team should build a framework, and they could handle the rest of the details themselves.

Anyway, since people like Cai Wufeng have handed things over to the cooperative, they have less personal work to do, and they have time to tinker with some of the work in the newly built courtyard.

Li Jianguo and his colleagues were in a similar situation, except that they spent all their time operating and repairing agricultural machinery and didn't have time for this, so they simply did it all at once.

When Feng Guoqing returned after the discussion was nearly finished, he had seven or eight more house-building contracts. Although they mostly required building a basic framework, little by little, each project could earn him a considerable sum.

When Feng Guoqing came to find Li Long, Li Long was still talking to the villagers about the courtyard.

After the villagers dispersed, he said with a smile, "Boss Li, your village is really rich. Now, our construction team has taken on the work of building new houses for about 20 households."

"I need to hurry back and recruit more people, otherwise the house might not be finished by autumn. The villagers definitely want to move in before winter, and the boiler still needs to be installed." Li Long laughed and said, "You go ahead and do your work. I'll keep an eye on things here. The workers are all experienced; you won't have to worry about much."

That being said, Feng Guoqing still waited until the afternoon when he finished work before returning to the county. Odd jobs were easy to find; it wasn't cotton picking season yet, and every day there were people carrying a bag of tools waiting for contractors at the odd job market.

Before the beginning of June, the houses of Li Long and Li Jianguo were completed. Now, the villagers have been coming to visit them every day.

The house has tiles, and people walk on it every day. It's hard to tell people not to come and see it.

Old Lady Du Chunfang spends her free time in the yard sweeping dust and mopping the floor. She goes to both families' new yards, and whenever Li Long or Li Jianguo comes over, she launches into a tirade of complaints.

Despite the complaints, the new courtyard is finally finished, and it makes me feel much better.

The windows were bright and clean, the house was new and the floor was level, giving it a dignified and elegant appearance.

For a couple of days, villagers came specifically to look at the Li family's floor, even taking a mop, dipping it in water, and smelling it.

Li Long wasn't there at the time, but when he went later, his mother, Du Chunfang, told him. Li Long paused for a moment before realizing what she meant, and then laughed and said, "She wants to see if our tiles are any good. Some people buy inferior tiles, and when you wipe them with water, they smell terrible."

Our tiles are high-quality and don't have that smell; they're probably just curious.

Having lived for so long in my previous life, I've made many mistakes and pitfalls. In this life, I'm slowly making up for them one by one.

In mid-June, Li Juan graduated and, before starting her new job, she took her classmates home for a visit.

The man and woman they brought were classmates from the same school who were assigned to the autonomous region this year, and they wanted to stay here for two days.

Liang Yuemei looked at the young man and woman, who seemed to be a couple. While they were looking at the vegetables in the garden, she pulled Li Juan aside and asked her, "Where's your boyfriend?"

Li Juan blushed and whispered that she had already reported for duty and that it wasn't appropriate for her to come over like this at this time. She planned to find some time to come and pay a formal visit.

Liang Yuemei laughed and said, "Your dad and I aren't old-fashioned. We're just friends visiting, so it's no big deal for us to see you."

Li Juan quickly changed the subject: "My brother is doing an internship in the army this summer. He'll be training as a new recruit for a month and won't be coming home. I heard him say that when I visited him at his school before I came back. Did he call you?"

“I already called, but he only said it briefly on the phone, that he wouldn’t be coming back,” Liang Yuemei said. “Your uncle said that he heard it’s a rule in military academies that you have to go to the army during the summer vacation of your first and third years, either as a new recruit or an intern or something. Basically, it’s to adapt to military life.”

Li Juan nodded and said, "That's right. They're having a tough time in there. My brother has grown taller again. When you come back next Chinese New Year, you'll definitely be surprised!"

Liang Yuemei laughed and said, "How could we be so surprised? They send us a few photos every now and then. It's not like we haven't seen them before."

“That’s different,” Li Juan said. “It’s really different from the photo.”

As she was speaking, the female classmate called out from the vegetable garden, and Li Juan went over.

Both of these classmates were from the city, one in Wucheng and the other in Beiting. Like Li Juan, they also started dating at school.

Having never lived in the countryside before, I was quite curious about this vegetable garden. My female classmate called out to Li Juan because she saw some small animals in the garden and asked Li Juan to come over and help identify them.

Although they were curious about the countryside, most people at that time, not just young people, longed for the skyscrapers of the city. Their interest in the countryside was merely curiosity, because what they could see was obvious.

When Li Long and Li Jianguo returned from the new courtyard, Li Juan was telling the two classmates about the places they planned to go, but the two classmates thought it wasn't very interesting.

Li Long had already met them when they returned earlier, and now that he heard them discussing this matter, Li Long, who has a keen ear, simply suggested, "Juan, I'm free at the hot spring resort in the mountains lately, why don't you take them to the mountains to soak in the hot springs and pick some mushrooms or something?"

"Uncle, is it possible to soak in hot springs in these mountains?" The female student was both surprised and delighted. "I'm from Beiting, and I've never heard of hot springs in the mountains before!"

Li Long thought to himself, "I can't very well say you're ignorant," and then added, "There are quite a few hot springs in these mountains, most of them undeveloped. The place I built happens to be located in a hot spring valley, so I can bring a hot spring into the courtyard and soak in it."

"Are there many wild mushrooms in the mountains? Are there wild animals in the mountains too?" The male student was more thoughtful. "I've heard there are wolves and such in the mountains."

"It's alright, I'll bring my wife and kids, and you guys will come with me," Li Long said. "I'm familiar with this area, there won't be any danger."

His suggestion wasn't primarily to save face for Li Juan, although that was part of it. Another reason was that it was getting hot, and Gu Xiaoxia was also thinking of going to the mountains to escape the heat.

In 94, the country began implementing a alternating weekend system, with one week having two days off and the other one day off. This week happened to be a long weekend, so Li Long planned to take his family to the mountains for a relaxing trip. He overheard his two classmates not showing much interest in the places Li Juan had suggested for fun, so he decided to go for the long weekend.

Sure enough, after confirming that there was no danger, the two of them were happy to go for a walk in the mountains. Li Juan felt that it would be a bit of a trouble for her uncle, so Li Long told him that Han Fang was also on vacation and could come back this week so that the two of them could meet.

Han Fang and Li Juan used to have a good relationship, but after Li Juan went to university, they had fewer opportunities to meet, so they switched to communicating by letter.

Upon hearing that Han Fang was also going, Li Juan immediately agreed, and was even a little impatient.

The female classmate asked who Han Fang was, and Li Juan pulled her aside to explain. When they talked about Han Fang's school, the girl said it was not far from her home.

Now they're all connected.

At this time, rural people were still very hospitable to guests from the city; when guests came to their homes, it was a grand occasion.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei had no objections to Li Long's arrangement. The two students stayed at the Li family's house for two days. Initially, they were curious, surprised, and taken aback, but later they felt uncomfortable. The Li family also felt that they might not have been hospitable enough.

Li Long's suggestion has now perfectly solved the problem, and they think it's pretty good.

The big prayer was on June 18th and 19th. Because there were many people, two cars were used. Li Long drove a Land Cruiser to lead the way, and Gu Xiaoxia followed behind in a sedan.

In fact, Li Juan was eager to try it out and wanted to drive along, but although she could drive, she didn't drive for many years, and the mountain roads were relatively dangerous, so she wasn't allowed to do it.

So, sitting in the car, Li Juan said somewhat indignantly, "I'll drive you there when we get home. I'm a pretty good driver."

The two classmates laughed, and Han Fang laughed along. After graduating from teachers' college, she became a teacher. At first, she was a little unaccustomed to it, but now she is dressed like a primary school teacher, speaking and acting quietly, quite different from before.

Li Juan only complained a little, then pulled Han Fang aside to chat quietly.

Li Juan's two classmates from Tianshan were no strangers to her. When they were young, they would occasionally go into the mountains, but they would not go deep into the Tianshan Mountains.

As we rode the car into the mountains, swaying and turning, watching the mountains change layer by layer, it was completely different from when I was a child.

It wasn't Hao Hao's first time visiting the mountains, but he was always very happy and excited every time.

The main purpose of this trip was to bring people here to relax, so after arriving at the destination, Li Long was mainly responsible for grilling and cooking meat, and leading them to pick mushrooms.

At this point, you can feel the surprise of the two classmates. The female classmates are more outgoing, and every time they find mushrooms, regardless of whether they are edible or not, there will be an exclamation.

Especially when they saw a large patch of black tiger paw mushrooms, the screams were deafening. Li Long ran over with his crossbow, thinking they had been attacked by wild animals.

The quietest were Gu Xiaoxia, Sister Yang, and Han Fang. Even though Mingming Haohao could talk and express surprise, he at least didn't scream.

The male student brought a camera and specially changed a roll of film for this trip to the mountains. As a result, he finished taking pictures of the whole roll of film before he even finished picking all the mushrooms.

In general, even though they are locals, this kind of experience is still very rare.

After all, hunting in the wild is a popular activity, otherwise there wouldn't be so many posts about hunting in the wild in later generations.

Of course, the wild gathering now is truly wild gathering, but the wild gathering of later generations is questionable.

After the mushrooms were picked, Li Long taught the people how to sort them, separating out the poisonous ones to discard. Mingming and Haohao had already basically mastered this skill and were helping their father with the work.

After this is all done, those who want to soak in hot springs can soak in hot springs, and those who want to eat meat can eat meat.

Then Li Long heard the sound of a car outside.

He was a little puzzled; who could be coming at this time?

He went outside to check and found that Polati had parked the car and had just gotten out. When he saw Li Long, he greeted him with a smile: "I was just about to go to the cabin to collect mushrooms when I heard someone calling me, so I thought you should be here."

Li Long looked at the collision marks on the front of the GAZ-69 truck and pointed, asking, "Where did you crash?"

Borati said a little embarrassedly, "A few days ago, when I was collecting wild mushrooms in the cabin, I had a few drinks. On the way back, the car was a bit shaky, and I crashed into a rock. It's nothing serious, just that the shells don't look very nice, and it's not a problem to drive it."

At this moment, Li Long regretted selling him the car; this guy didn't care about safe driving at all.

He said, “Polati, don’t drink and drive. This mountain road is so dangerous. You might just hit a rock, but what if you fall into a ditch? You’d be dead! Think about how long you’ve had such a good life. You have a long good life ahead of you. Take care of your life, live a long life, enjoy the good life a little longer, and you can drink a lot more alcohol.”

When he said that, Polati actually listened to him.

Polati was a little embarrassed, but when he saw the grill in the yard, he immediately said, "Come on, let me show you my skills. My grilled meat smells amazing!"

When Li Juan's classmate saw that some ethnic minority people were coming over, and that they were quite familiar with Li Long, she quietly asked Li Juan what was going on with her uncle.

Li Juan quietly told the two people about Li Long's deeds, and the two of them were quite surprised.

Polati's grilling skills are indeed excellent. Today, the skewers were made from fresh red willow branches. The fresh red willow branches and the meat create a chemical reaction that, as described in the documentary "A Bite of China," makes you want to eat it. Just smelling the aroma is enough to trigger a chemical reaction in your mind.

When you bite into the meat, the burst of juice from the grilled meat travels through your taste buds to your brain, creating an incredibly fresh and delicious flavor that you simply can't find or compare to anywhere else.

The two city kids were already a bit tired of the same old thing, but they still gave a thumbs up and praised Polati's skills.

Then they went to soak in the hot springs. Polati, meanwhile, complained to Li Long in the yard, "You put our guns away, and now there are wolves around your cabin."

These guys are incredibly bold. Once they stopped hearing gunfire, they dared to stand over a hundred meters away from the cabin in broad daylight. I went to the armed forces department to apply for a gun to shoot some wolves, but they told me that wolves are protected animals.

"Protect my ass! Why didn't they protect the sheep when the wolves were eating them? Now they're protecting the wolves? I don't know who came up with this, I really want to whip them. I heard that the neighboring country doesn't care about wolves, gazelles, deer, or anything like that, they just hunt them at will."

Li Long couldn't bring himself to talk about this topic either; discussing things like environmental protection simply wouldn't work with Polati.

Polati asked Li Long how he would protect himself after entering the mountains, and Li Long said he had acquired a crossbow. Polati wanted to see it, and after Li Long showed it to him, Polati quickly asked where he had bought it.

Li Long told him that he had asked a friend to make it, but Polati was a little disappointed. He said, "This thing would definitely be better when there are no guns. It looks more powerful, unlike a bow which you have to aim at, and most people can't shoot accurately. This thing can definitely shoot accurately at close range, but I don't know where to get it."

Li Long didn't tell him much about this. He could take care of Halim's connections, but he should let Polati cause less trouble.

After all, he's the kind of person who can drive a car into rocks. If he were to actually take a crossbow, who knows what kind of trouble he'd cause!

The people who came to the mountains that day were all quite happy. Li Juan's two classmates were especially excited, talking about it all the way back, and saying that they would definitely come again if they had the chance in the future.

On the way back, they changed cars and specifically sat in Li Long's car. The two classmates kept asking Li Long questions, such as the herdsmen in the mountains, the local specialties in the mountains, and the historical sites that might exist in the mountains.

Li Long knew that Li Juan must have told them something, so he picked out whatever he could to say while driving.

The two kids now regard Li Long as a legendary figure, and their perspective on him has changed.

In the fourth team, Xu Chengjun accompanied the township head to inspect the preparations for the summer harvest. When the township head saw the rows of houses springing up in the western residential area, he asked in confusion, "What are you doing in your village? Why are so many houses being built all at once? Are these new residents being recruited?"

Xu Chengjun said casually, "No, no, we villagers heard that the settlements are going to be merged, so we took the initiative to apply for new homesteads, build the houses first, and then move over gradually."

The township head asked, somewhat puzzled, "Are you villagers really this proactive about something like this? Has no one made a fuss?"

There were definitely some people making a fuss, but Xu Chengjun certainly couldn't say that. He smiled and said, "Our village has done a good job in education and learning, and everyone's awareness is relatively high, so no one is making a fuss. After hearing the news, everyone took the initiative to apply for homesteads and then hired construction teams to build houses."

The township head was filled with respect: "Your village is doing a great job! There's no need for any propaganda or education; the villagers are proactively and spontaneously supporting the policies of higher authorities. Their ideological awareness is truly high! No wonder you applied to become a model village for achieving a moderately prosperous society; this model is really meaningful!"

The most troublesome thing for grassroots organizations at the village level is disputes among the people. Sometimes, when the people get into trouble, it can be very complicated.

The township head was deeply moved by how understanding the villagers of the fourth team were.

With such public support, we will definitely be at the forefront on the road to a moderately prosperous society!

Hearing the township head praise Xu Chengjun like that made him very happy; the headache he had a few days ago seemed to have disappeared.

He said with a smile, "The villagers in our village are now able to take the initiative to learn about the policies of the higher authorities, set up cooperatives to grow cotton, and with the current transformation of the 10,000-mu demonstration field, they are all focused on getting rich and don't think about other nonsense."

Although the township head knew that Xu Chengjun was just praising himself and trying to make himself look good, he still affirmed Xu's work.

After all, the fourth team had never caused any trouble for the township; on the contrary, one glorious thing after another happened.

For this reason alone, the township head will strongly support the work here.

With the township head's approval, Xu Chengjun's attitude towards the villagers applying for homesteads changed completely; he no longer saw them as a nuisance.

Indeed, a different mindset leads to a different level of efficiency.

The villagers also noticed that the village chief had been all smiles these past two days and hadn't been scolding anyone much.

Good news! Good news! (End of Chapter)