Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1401 Li Long's Great Deception: Those Who Take Action Take Action, and Those Who Lie Do

That evening, neither Yang Bo nor Li Long drank too much. After chatting for a while, they finished a bottle of wine and a plate of fish before 11 p.m., and then the party ended.

When Li Long saw Yang Bo off, he asked him if he was alright and if he needed him to take him back.

Yang Bo waved his hand and said, "I've been through a lot, this little bit of wine is nothing. We had a great chat today. When things are calmer in winter, we can continue our conversation. I'll treat you to a meal at my place then, and we'll drink until we drop."

Li Long watched from the doorway and saw that Yang Bo was walking steadily without swaying or staggering, and could walk in a straight line. He was relieved to find that Yang Bo was indeed not drunk.

Once Yang Bo was out of sight, Li Long turned back into the yard, closed and locked the gate. As he prepared to go to the kitchen to clean up, he found his wife, Gu Xiaoxia, had already collected their leftovers and was washing them. He went over to help.

Gu Xiaoxia invited him inside to drink honey water.

Li Long asked, "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

Gu Xiaoxia said, "None of you are asleep. I don't have anything to do here, so I'm just waiting. I was thinking that if you drink too much and need help, it will be convenient."

Li Long smiled and waited for Gu Xiaoxia to finish cleaning the kitchen before they went inside together. He then saw a glass of honey water on the coffee table, picked it up, took a sip—the water was warm—and drank it all in one gulp. After putting the glass down, he smiled and said, "It's delicious. So sweet."

After drinking the honey water, he went into the inner room to check on his two sons, who were already asleep. He tucked them in and then returned to the bedroom.

Gu Xiaoxia put away the teaching notes on the desk, and after the two of them washed up, they took off their clothes and lay down on the bed.

Li Long recounted the things Yang Bo had mentioned, especially the large-scale transformation of 10,000 mu of farmland.

Gu Xiaoxia listened with interest and asked, "How much land does our team have now?"

Li Long pondered and said, "Including the new land reclaimed at the end of this year, it should be around six or seven thousand mu."

Gu Xiaoxia said with a hint of regret, "It's not enough. If the project requires 10,000 mu (667 hectares) to qualify, then there probably aren't many teams in our township that meet the requirements, right?"

Li Long thought for a moment and said, "We still have some hope, but the other production teams probably have no hope at all. There are large areas of reclaimable wasteland to the east of our village. If we could fully develop them, the existing land area would more than double."

However, although the other production teams in our township also have wasteland that can be reclaimed, the largest they can cultivate is six or seven thousand mu (approximately 133-2000 hectares), as the surrounding land is restricted by other townships and production and construction corps companies.

Gu Xiaoxia then asked, "So our team won't make it this time?"

Li Long put his arm around her and said, "No, that's not it. According to Senior Brother Yang, this project is long-term. As long as you have more than 10,000 mu of contiguous farmland, you can apply for this project."

As for the specific timeline, that depends on how long the project lasts. I feel that with our team's current pace of development, we have a very good chance.

Hearing that there was still hope, Gu Xiaoxia felt relieved and then chatted with Li Long about other things.

Winter is just around the corner, and the county town has begun a large-scale renovation of its heating pipes. Their school is also among those undergoing renovations.

Overall, it seems that now, gradually, both the national and local governments have some money, and investment in infrastructure has increased.

Gu Xiaoxia brought up the dredging and fishing again, saying that some teachers at her school had heard about it, and some male teachers even made plans to go to Xiaohaizi Reservoir this weekend to see if they could catch some fish.

Li Long calculated the time and said, "By the time your male teachers arrive, the dredging of the reservoir will probably be almost complete, and it will be time to release the water."

If you're familiar with them, it would be best to have them go after get off work these past two days, even at lunchtime. There are a lot of people going fishing in the county these days; people from all sorts of organizations are there.

Gu Xiaoxia shook her head and said, "We're not close. We're in the same teaching and research office, but we just exchange greetings. I only hear about it from them."

Then she said to Li Long, "See, I've kept it well hidden, haven't I? They don't even know that our family has contracted that reservoir."

Li Long gently patted her face and said, "Hey, you're really something, you even managed to become a secret agent."

Gu Xiaoxia pouted and said, "I'm not going. I'll just teach my books peacefully and take care of our children. That's good enough."

Li Long smiled, said nothing, stroked his wife's hair, and savored this rare moment of happiness.

Early in the morning, the roadside grass was already lightly frosted. Xu Haijun, breathing out the cold air, came out of his house and drove to the Second Team, where he watched the construction site from the edge of the contracted land.

The cotton harvest is complete, the stalks have been knocked down, and the land has been plowed; now they're leveling it. He's truly poured his heart and soul into these thousand acres. Over the past six months, his face has become tanned dark, his hair is a mess, and he hasn't even had time to properly shave.

However, the achievements are also obvious. The two pumping stations in the field have been built, the filter ponds have been dug, and the ground has been paved with cement and is now drying in the shade. The branch canal that was hastily diverted from the main canal of the second team for irrigation when planting was done at the beginning of the year has now been transformed into a cement canal.

Some villagers were watching the spectacle from nearby; they had witnessed the transformation of this wasteland from beginning to end, and their hearts were filled with emotion.

Xu Haijun ignored them; he was used to it. He went to check on the construction site. The current work involved digging trenches, laying the main pipeline, and leveling the land. The 1,000 mu of land was generally flat, but some areas had mounds that needed leveling.

Two tractors with bulldozer blades roared and billowed black smoke as they worked. A dozen workers were at the edge of the field, clearing away the debris in the trench in preparation for burying the pipes.

Once these two tasks are completed, the year will be over. All the hard work of the year has been put into these fields.

Xu Haijun grabbed a handful of soil from the edge of the trench, held it in his hand to feel the soil moisture, then scattered it, threw the handful of soil away, and clapped his hands.

Overall, the soil quality in this area is better than that of the cooperative's. Therefore, the improvement process will be faster, and within two years at most, it will be able to match, or even surpass, the yield of the cooperative's current large cotton field. Xu Haijun is confident of this.

His gaze swept across the vast expanse of land, looking downstream. The area near the riverbank, close to the large lake below, and to the east near the village, still had room for development. However, at most, only five or six hundred acres could be developed; that was basically the limit.

He felt that this one plot of land wasn't enough to fully utilize his abilities. If he could cultivate three thousand or even five thousand acres, Xu Haijun believed he could manage them well. He was now full of confidence.

Xu Haijun's gaze swept far into the distance. To the east of Team Two was Team Six, which had been newly separated. Team Six's plot of land was slightly smaller than Team Two's, and they had even less wasteland to cultivate.

Xu Haijun sighed, still somewhat unsatisfied, wondering where he could find more land. Or perhaps, if he could contract out the second team's reserve land, plus the surplus land that could be reclaimed next year, that would amount to more than two thousand mu.

Judging from this year's traditional planting methods, they are ultimately no match for drip irrigation. Of course, the cost of upgrading 1,000 or 1,500 to 2,000 mu to drip irrigation is simply too high, and only cooperatives or people like Li Long can afford it.

Of course, even if he could afford it, Xu Haijun wouldn't be foolish enough to take a portion of the cooperative's funds and use his own money to engage in such large-scale farming.

Although the people in the cooperative can generally tell how drip irrigation farming works from the surface, they all know very well that they can't afford to do it if they were actually separated from the cooperative.

At least the drip irrigation tape alone is enough to crush everyone else. The reason everyone is making money now is because the drip irrigation tape is bought from Li Long's factory at cost price, which means that Li Long is essentially giving away a portion of his profits to everyone.

If they leave the cooperative, they definitely won't be able to buy drip irrigation tape at cost price. Nobody thinks they're a fool, and nobody thinks Li Long is a fool either.

The reason why everyone trusts Li Long so much, and why everyone agrees that the Li brothers should hold the majority of the shares in the cooperative, is because they are generous in their actions, willing to give up their own profits and opportunities to make money, and to lead everyone to prosperity.

Even Xu Haijun, who had some ambition, had to admit that, at least in this respect, he was no match for Li Long.

Therefore, all the original shareholders of the cooperative are now completely devoted to it. Even if Xu Haijun wanted to venture out and carve out a niche for himself, it was to create a broader space for the cooperative.

November 16th was originally the day the cooperative was scheduled to hold its year-end profit distribution meeting. However, due to a phone call from the county, the meeting had to be postponed. The cooperative then cleaned and tidied up its premises in preparation for receiving reporters.

This time, the reporters who came to interview were journalists from both the prefecture and county levels. Unlike in the past, when the interviews mainly focused on written materials for newspapers or television news, this time, the higher-ups are taking it very seriously and intend to conduct a thorough interview, the kind that will be recorded and broadcast.

Therefore, apart from Li Jianguo, who resolutely refused to appear on camera, all the members of the cooperative arrived at the cooperative early, dressed in their most presentable clothes.

When Li Long arrived, he saw Xie Yundong, Tao Daqiang, and the others joking with each other. They were all dressed in suits and ties, their hair neatly combed, and they really looked quite professional.

The others, however, were somewhat surprised by Li Long's attire. Li Long wasn't wearing a suit; instead, he wore a Zhongshan-style jacket, buttoned up meticulously. His hair had never been long; it was always a buzz cut, or something similar to what would be called a shaved head in later times, making him stand out somewhat from the others.

People are used to seeing this and don't think much of it, but after comparing it today, it seems like Li Long is a bit different.

Li Long felt a little amused looking at them, somewhat like watching the protagonists in a restored wedding video from the 1980s or 90s. The clothes were fine, the people were fine, but the combination strongly reflected the era. He wanted to laugh too.

Tao Daqiang asked, "Brother Long, why are you dressed like that? I think you look more sophisticated in a suit."

Li Long smiled and said, "I look fine in this. You're all wearing suits, so doesn't it make me stand out?"

Liang Dacheng said, "Hey, that makes sense. I should have changed my clothes too, worn a jacket or leather jacket or something. I was thinking of wearing a suit to be more formal since I'm going on TV, but it turns out everyone else is wearing the same thing."

Xiao Long, you're so clever. This way, when we're all sitting in a row, your outfit will stand out, and everyone will focus on you.

Tao Daqiang, a die-hard fan of Li Long, immediately retorted, "Even if Brother Long wears a suit and we sit in a row, everyone's eyes will still be on Brother Long."

Liang Dacheng retorted indignantly, "Why should I?"

Tao Daqiang was about to explain when Xie Yundong made a joke: "Because Xiaolong is taller and stronger than you, and looks younger than you."

Liang Dacheng had no way to refute this. He said somewhat dejectedly, "Yeah, we feel like we're all the same age, so why does Xiaolong look so young?"

Li Long quickly changed the subject, asking, "Why hasn't the navy arrived yet?"

Xie Yundong said, "We notified him yesterday, but he didn't come today. He probably finished his work yesterday and stayed up all night. We all know his land. The drip irrigation renovation is basically complete, but the Navy has high requirements and is worried about something going wrong. They've been following up on it from beginning to end. Now it's finally finished, and he should be here soon."

Just then, Xu Haijun drove up to the door. When he got out of the car, Li Long noticed that his hair was still wet, so he quickly invited him inside and asked, "Haijun, did you wash your hair so early this morning?"

Xu Haijun smiled and said, "Yes. Yesterday we finished leveling the land and filling the main ditch, so that piece of land is done. I was covered in dust, but I was so tired yesterday that I fell asleep as soon as I lay down on the bed."

This morning, as soon as I woke up, I remembered I had an interview, so I quickly boiled water and washed my hair. It's still wet before I came over.

Xie Yundong also said, "Hurry up and go inside to warm up in the stove, don't catch a cold from the cold."

Li Long could also see that Xu Haijun had indeed worked hard for the past six months. His face was as dark as if he had come from East Africa, his hands were cracked, and his lips were also cracked. He really had a tough time.

Everyone's here. Xie Yundong said, "We already notified everyone yesterday, and everyone's pretty much ready, right? For the interviews later, the autonomous prefecture and the county will be working separately, but we'll all be going abroad together. You should all be able to answer any questions the reporters ask, right?"

Tao Daqiang laughed and said, "I'm not afraid of individual questions. But I think the interview will mainly focus on Brother Long and Lao Xie. As long as you answer well, we'll definitely be fine. I'll be content just to appear on the autonomous prefecture's TV."

Liang Dacheng said to Tao Daqiang, "Daqiang, you can't be so unambitious. We're going to be on TV, not just to show our faces. We need to make the cooperative famous."

Didn't Lao Xie and Xiao Long say that now that we're famous, we shouldn't be afraid? We'll earn our money honestly and uprightly. Farming can also lead to wealth through technology; this is real and tangible, and we're not afraid of what others hear or see.

Tao Daqiang immediately said, "I just feel that I'm a bit clumsy with words, and I don't speak as well as Brother Long and Lao Xie. I understand the principles, so why don't you speak for me later?"

Liang Dacheng pursed his lips and said, "I'm not going to speak for you. I have my own questions to remember."

Li Long and Xie Yundong watched the two bicker with amusement. As they chatted, the slight tension that had initially lingered disappeared.

Around 11 a.m., when car horns sounded outside and a group of people came out to greet them, they actually started to look forward to the reporters' questions.

Two cars arrived at the cooperative's gate but did not drive into the yard. After parking, several reporters got out of the cars, and someone from the township led them and introduced them to the cooperative's members.

Since Ma Xiaoyan and Jiang Zhiyu were transferred to different units, Li Long has rarely given interviews, except for those two on-site meetings. He even found the presence of reporters like this somewhat novel.

After the introductions were completed, the reporters took photos of the courtyard, including the agricultural machinery, the remaining agricultural supplies in the warehouse, the cooperative's meeting room, and the rules and regulations hanging on the wall.

To facilitate the filming, Li Jianguo drove several of his high-powered tractors into the cooperative's yard. These machines were so eye-catching that the reporters spent considerable time working on them. They even had several cooperative members sit on the tractors for a group photo.

One veteran journalist said, "We received the assignment late. If we had received it earlier, we could have captured scenes of cooperative members working in the fields and operating agricultural machinery, which would have been even better."

Next came the individual interviews. Different reporters spoke separately with different members of the cooperative, mainly gathering information about what the cooperative had done since its inception. Of course, Li Long and Xie Yundong were the focus.

Li Long didn't care. He had said some things to his superiors and reporters more than once, and he had memorized them all.

Xie Yundong was a little excited. This was the first time a reporter from the autonomous prefecture had interviewed a reporter from the county; the difference in rank made his feelings different. Facing the female reporter from the autonomous prefecture and the camera, Xie Yundong seemed slightly nervous, occasionally fidgeting with his pants. Of course, his answers were flawless, and he spoke logically, but he attributed most of the credit to Li Long, causing the female reporter to glance at Li Long, who was being interviewed by a senior reporter, from time to time.

Li Long appeared much more at ease. Faced with a series of questions from the veteran reporter, he attributed the main credit to everyone's joint efforts.

Li Long's central argument has always been that the cooperative is a united collective. Everyone has a specific role, everyone is from the village, everyone knows each other well, and everyone wants to achieve scientific farming and prosperity, which is why they can come together.

He, having previously participated in the autonomous region's drip irrigation farming experimental project, had some technical knowledge, so he served as the cooperative's technician to provide technical support. Xie Yundong, on the other hand, acted as a manager, coordinating and managing the operations.

Li Long praised each member of the cooperative, including Xu Haijun, who went out to expand this year, and highlighted their characteristics.

The veteran reporter was unconsciously drawn into Li Long's speaking rhythm, and felt that this young man had a good overall perspective and knew the situation of the cooperative very well, which made his interview much easier.

The individual interviews lasted about 30 minutes. The longest part was mainly with Li Long and Xie Yundong.

Tao Daqiang was right; the four of them each spent about 10 minutes conducting the interviews. Then they took the reporter around the courtyard and introduced the surroundings to each area.

Some reporters even went outside to take photos of the nearby Lao Ma Hao and drip irrigation plant.

Next was the group interview. During the group interview, the first question almost stumped Xie Yundong and his team. The veteran reporter waited until Li Long and the others were seated before asking:

"According to our data, your cooperative harvested over 800 tons of cotton this year. At this year's cotton price of around 2.5 to 3 yuan per jin, that means your cooperative's gross income is over 2 million yuan. How did you manage to do that?"

Although the interview questions had been revealed beforehand, the cooperative members were still surprised that the veteran reporters were so direct about the income issue.

Xie Yundong glanced at Li Long, unsure whether to speak. Li Long, sitting in the middle, knew this topic couldn't be avoided, and after thinking for a moment, said, "Our cooperative uses drip irrigation for farming, which increases both the input and output per acre compared to traditional farming."

For example, regarding what you said about harvesting a total of 800 tons of cotton, it's true that our cooperative currently cultivates about 3000 mu of land and harvests more than 800 tons of cotton, which is about 270 kilograms per mu.

In conventional farming, a yield of 200 kilograms per mu (approximately 0.16 acres) is considered a very good harvest. However, with our drip irrigation system, the yield is less than 300 kilograms per mu, which is considered a moderate figure. We plan to continue increasing our investment in the future to achieve an average yield of over 350 kilograms per mu.

However, our investment is also significant. The biggest investment in drip irrigation farming is the drip irrigation tape, plus labor, which includes the labor for daily work and the labor for picking cotton during harvest. There are also water costs and machine farming costs.

Let's not talk about the cost of machine farming, as that's the same for everyone. But as for water costs, although drip irrigation is a water-saving project, in order to ensure increased cotton production, we need to drip irrigate every 10 days or so from the time the cotton seedlings emerge until the cotton bolls form and grow in August.

The water cost is actually significantly higher than the cost of traditional farming. The overall cost per mu (approximately 0.16 acres) is around 600 yuan, so the cost for 3000 mu would be 1.8 million yuan. The total income from cotton is a little over 2 million yuan. After deducting the 1.8 million yuan cost, our cooperative has six households, so the amount divided among them isn't actually that much.”

The veteran reporter nodded; the figure was within his expectations. Indeed, if one could suddenly earn 200 million, averaging over 30 per household, it would be a bit too exaggerated. Li Long spoke confidently and without hesitation when calculating the investment, indicating that he was well-prepared.

Then another reporter raised a question, asking: "I see a drip irrigation tape manufacturing plant behind your cooperative's courtyard. Is this manufacturing plant your cooperative's own?"

If it's for your own use, then considering the cost, this drip irrigation tape shouldn't be as expensive as you might think, right?

This time it was Xie Yundong's turn to speak. He said, "As I mentioned in my previous solo interview, this drip irrigation tape factory belongs to Comrade Li Long. He sells the drip irrigation tape to our cooperative at a relatively low price, but we can't completely prevent him from making money."

In fact, Comrade Li Long has already given our cooperative a significant discount. If we had bought drip irrigation tape from the market and used it for this kind of planting, we wouldn't just be not making money, we might even be losing money.”

Then the veteran reporter became interested in the price of the drip irrigation tape. When he learned that the drip irrigation tape cost about 1 yuan per meter on the market, while Li Long sold it to the cooperative for about 50 or 60 cents per meter, he greatly praised Li Long's approach.

He said, "No wonder, during the interview just now, the other cooperative members all praised Li Long's approach. It seems that Li Long truly has high moral character in this regard."

Li Long hurriedly and modestly shook his head, saying that he only hoped everyone could get rich together.

The interview continued, and the reporters asked many questions, including whether Li Long and his team would encourage others to adopt drip irrigation farming.

Li Long said that the cooperative's drip irrigation farming model cannot be promoted on a large scale at present, unless the cost of raw materials drops and the cost of drip irrigation tape drops to a level where drip irrigation farming can make money.

Fortunately, raw materials are now being produced in large quantities at Dushanzi Petrochemical. This winter, the cooperative will go there to inspect and purchase them. If possible, they will expand the production of the drip irrigation tape factory after the New Year.

However, drip irrigation farming is a complex project that does not rely solely on drip irrigation tape. It also requires other supporting facilities such as pump houses, filter beds, and main canals, which need to be considered holistically.

In this regard, the Bayi Agricultural College of the Autonomous Region has mature technology and advanced experience. If you are interested, you can go there to learn from them.

The reporters were quite interested in the technology of drip irrigation farming, having asked some questions during previous individual interviews. Now, they asked even more in-depth questions on this topic.

Li Long then explained the entire process from initial renovation to later management to them, albeit only in a brief manner, to give the reporters a general understanding.

If you know anything about farming, you won't be completely confused after listening to Li Long's introduction; you'll gain a basic understanding of drip irrigation farming.

Next, we asked questions about the management of the cooperative. Xie Yundong answered a lot on this topic, and the interview took about half an hour to complete.

After the interviews, the reporters gathered in the conference room to summarize their findings. Li Long and his team chatted outside.

Xu Haijun whispered to Li Long, "Xiao Long, I really admire you today. If it weren't for you, our income would have been exposed."

The others said the same thing. Because Li Long had deliberately confused something earlier.

Of the cooperative's 3,000 mu of land, 2,000 mu are irrigated using drip irrigation, while the remaining 1,500 mu are irrigated using traditional methods. The cost of drip irrigation has been reduced to about 400 yuan per mu.

Because the drip irrigation tape used last year can be reused this year, although 30% new material needs to be added, the cost is much lower.

The planting cost for the 1000 mu of land managed by Xu Haijun is about 100 yuan per mu, which is much lower than that of drip irrigation farming.

Li Long presented a packaged figure, deliberately misleading the reporters into believing that the costs of the 3000 mu of land were roughly the same. In reality, the total cost of the 3000 mu of land was only around 100 million yuan.

This year, the cooperative's total cotton production was over 860 tons, with an average price of around 2.75 yuan, resulting in a gross income of approximately 2.4 million yuan. After deducting costs of around 1 million yuan and reserving some agricultural input costs for next year, the cooperative distributed significantly more money this year than last year.

Of course, these figures are unlikely to be shared with others this year; at most, only close relatives and friends will know them, and it's even less likely that they will be shared with the entire autonomous prefecture through reporters.

That's why Li Long gave a vague idea. Even if, in the end, the TV station reports this, and some insiders refute the figure in a small circle, it will only be a small circle and won't affect that many people.

At this moment, the reporters in the conference room were compiling their materials. One female reporter said first: "Based on the information gathered from interviews with individual members of the cooperative, although Xie Yundong is the manager of the cooperative, the one who plays a decisive role overall is Comrade Li Long."

Furthermore, our interviews revealed that he was the initiator of the cooperative. He not only played a crucial role as a technician in the cooperative's scientific farming practices, but also invested in the cooperative multiple times, helping it overcome difficulties. This Comrade Li Long is quite interesting.”

The veteran reporter had already deeply felt this when he interviewed Li Long earlier, and at this moment he couldn't help but slam his fist on the table and exclaim:

"From Comrade Li Long's experience, we can see that he came from a peasant background, and then made money by using his intelligence and our advanced policies. He then gave back to the countryside and led the villagers to get rich together."

This is a perfect example of how the wealthy can help the less fortunate to get rich. Moreover, this cooperative system is very advanced. Look at what's hanging on our wall; it clearly outlines responsibilities, rewards, and punishments in great detail, unlike anything an ordinary farmer could do.

This isn't to say I look down on farmers, but based on our previous interviews with some exemplary individuals, it's generally difficult for farmers to summarize these rules and regulations in such an organized, scientific, and systematic way. Comrade Li Long is truly talented.

Therefore, I suggest we conduct another systematic interview with Comrade Li Long, supplementing some key questions, and making this interview task more thorough.

His suggestion was unanimously adopted. Next, each reporter was asked to share their thoughts, mainly focusing on which details to add. Having covered enough about the cooperative, everyone brainstormed and ultimately decided to focus on Li Long's actions before establishing the cooperative and his path to wealth.

The county reporter added that the county's publicity and cultural system had previously covered this topic, and he had some relevant materials.

The reporter from the autonomous prefecture asked for the relevant information, but also hoped to hear about Li Long's own development process.

So, Li Long gave another solo interview, this time with several reporters taking turns asking him questions. Li Long wasn't nervous at all; he answered every question, seemingly without needing to prepare, and spoke fluently and confidently.

This surprised the reporters. After all, they had interviewed many people, and most of them would be a little nervous in front of reporters and cameras. Even some well-known entrepreneurs needed to communicate and prepare in advance. It was rare to see someone as at ease as Li Long.

After the interviews, the reporters returned to the county. Originally, Li Long and his team planned to entertain the reporters at the team's headquarters, but the reporters from both the prefecture and county levels had follow-up tasks, so they didn't stay at the team's headquarters any longer.

So Xie Yundong suggested that since the reporters didn't need to be entertained, they could simply use the food they had prepared as a meal for the cooperative's general meeting, and the others naturally had no objections.

The fresh mutton they had prepared in advance, the fish they had fished out of the small lake, and the freshly slaughtered chicken that Tao Daqiang had contributed were all served on their dining table.

During the meal, Liang Dacheng casually asked, "Old Jia, how much money will each family get this time?"

Xu Haijun joked, "What? Your wife asked you for money? We shouldn't be splitting the money for long, and you're already so impatient."

Liang Dacheng smiled awkwardly and said, "I was just curious. When the reporter interviewed me earlier, Xiaolong talked about how much he was investing, which shocked me. Although it's possible that the share will be less this year, it's still a bit hard to accept if it's really as little as Xiaolong said."

Jia Weidong glanced at Xie Yundong and Li Long, but said nothing.

Xie Yundong said with a smile, "Just tell Dacheng and the others, so they won't have trouble sleeping tonight. But let me make this clear beforehand: just take these numbers with a grain of salt and don't spread them around. If people get jealous and cause trouble for us, that would be really difficult."

Liang Dacheng immediately patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, don't worry, I'm just listening to the numbers, I definitely won't go around talking about it. I've already told my family that this matter will be kept a secret."

So Jia Weidong said, "Well, based on our output and total revenue this year, after deducting the financing funds reserved for next year as agreed, the amount of money we can get is roughly like this."

Xiaolong and his brother's families hold more shares, so each family receives 30 yuan. Our families each hold the same number of shares, around 8 yuan each.

When this number was mentioned, several people were shocked. Because this year, the project involved the renovation of 1000 mu of land, which was traditionally cultivated and didn't generate much income. So, everyone originally thought that the income would be about the same as last year, but they didn't expect it to increase so much.

Jia Weidong's explanation made it clear to everyone: the drip irrigation tape can be reused, which reduces the cost. Of course, this was still Li Long transferring his original profits to everyone.

In addition, Xu Haijun had worked hard for more than half a year, increasing the cotton yield per mu to more than 140 kilograms, close to 150 kilograms, which was also an important factor in the increase in income. Therefore, Li Long and Xie Yundong proposed to reward Xu Haijun with a management fee of 10,000 yuan based on the target of increasing production by 150 kilograms.

Xu Haijun felt that his hard work over the past six months had been recognized and that he had received a high management fee, so it was all worth it.

Liang Dacheng was a little envious and said, "Hey, this makes me want to go out and cultivate a thousand or two acres of land and take charge of a piece of it."

Li Long said half-jokingly, "Sure, there are large areas of saline-alkali land near the sea in our team that can be reclaimed. However, water supply there is inconvenient, and wells need to be dug, so the investment might be a bit large. But as long as you dare to go to that area, let alone 1000 mu, reclaiming 2000 mu is no problem."

Liang Dacheng hesitated. He had meant it as a joke, but after Li Long said it, he was actually a little tempted.

Xu Haijun then said, "Speaking of well drilling, next spring, we will be converting 1000 mu of land to drip irrigation for farming, so we will really need to drill wells. Otherwise, the water from the second team will not be enough."

The other members of the cooperative have no problem with this.

After dinner, everyone went home. Li Long and Tao Daqiang walked together, and Li Long asked Tao Daqiang if he had any ideas about going out to take charge of a piece of land.

Tao Daqiang waved his hand and said, "I won't go. To be honest, I'm very content with my life now. I don't do much work in a year, but I earn a lot of money. I'm happy with my wife and kids. If I had to go out and work like a sailor, toiling away every day, even though I would earn more money, I don't think I could do it."

Li Long laughed, saying that everyone has their own ambitions. Actually, Tao Daqiang's idea is quite good; being content with what one has is happiness.

When Liang Dacheng got home, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep. His wife asked him what was wrong, and he briefly recounted what had happened that day, emphasizing that Xu Haijun had been rewarded with ten thousand yuan for his outstanding management of the thousand acres of land.

He tentatively asked that he planned to contract a piece of land next year to manage it independently, but he wouldn't be as free then and wouldn't be able to take care of his family.

His wife thought it was perfectly acceptable.

Then Liang Dacheng was a little worried that he wouldn't be able to find enough young men willing to work. His wife gave him a suggestion: "Most of the people in our village work here at the cooperative, but what about the people from other villages?"

You could easily do what Xu Haijun did and look for young men in Team Three or other villages. Life there isn't even as good as in Team Four; there are plenty of people there who want to do this kind of work that pays cash upfront.

Liang Dacheng thought that made sense.

Xu Haijun was in an exceptionally good mood after returning home. That evening, after his wife Bai Ling came home, the two talked for a long time in bed, and she was particularly satisfied with Xu Haijun's performance that day.

After everything was finished, Xu Haijun told Bai Ling about wanting an extra 10,000 yuan in management fees. Bai Ling calculated that 10,000 yuan was equivalent to several years' salary for her.

For the past six months, Xu Haijun had been focused on the land and neglected many other things. She had to take care of both her work and her family, and she had a lot of complaints in her heart, but now they have all vanished.

Xu Haijun also said that once he received the money, he would buy Bai Ling a gold necklace to make up for her hard work over the past six months. Bai Ling felt a warm glow in her heart and hugged Xu Haijun, saying that they had both worked hard, and that she had also made mistakes and felt uncomfortable at times, but she felt much better now. (End of Chapter)