readease Chapter 1390 Gu Xiaoyu Received New Year's Money
Chapter 1390 Gu Xiaoyu Received New Year's Money
The cooperative has been established for several years, and this is the first time that they have decided to expand into new areas. So everyone present was quite excited and agreed to go to the second team tomorrow to take a look at the land. If it's suitable, they will lease it.
"Why don't those people in the second team cultivate such good land themselves?" Jia Weidong was a little puzzled. "If this were in our team, any land that wasn't saline-alkali and grew bitter beans would have been cultivated long ago."
"Old Jia, look at you, you haven't been studying again. You've been out of touch with the masses for too long!" Xie Yundong, after drinking, rarely teased anyone. "You don't think all production teams are like ours, with almost every family having a small four-wheeled tractor, do you?"
Go out and see for yourself. Besides our team, many families in other production teams still use donkey carts. In the case of Team Two, at most a third of the families have small four-wheeled tractors.
"Some of the units on their reserve land are already overwhelmed with work. If it weren't for the navy's recent visit, their six or seven hundred acres of mature reserve land might not have been available for lease until spring."
"How did it become me causing trouble?" Xu Haijun was very dissatisfied. "I was just trying to contribute to the development and growth of our cooperative. Let me tell you, I wasn't just showing off!"
I genuinely feel that our cooperative model is a bit stifling, confined to our team. If we expand it further, it would be normal for us to eventually have tens of thousands of acres of land.
"You're really flattering us. Tens of thousands of acres? If you manage only five thousand acres, and each person takes a plot, I wonder who you'll find to do the work then." Having drunk some wine, Xie Yundong loosened up this time, lightly tapping his plate with his chopsticks and saying:
“If you hadn’t gone and caused trouble, people wouldn’t have been able to lease out their land by spring, and those who wanted to lease the land could have driven down the price. But you went and made them panic, so they stepped in to lease the land early, and ended up paying much more in lease fees. They’re definitely going to complain about you.”
"Hey, is this even possible?" Xu Haijun was quite surprised. "Would others be willing to do this?"
"What can we do if we don't want to? There aren't many other people who can contract this land, unlike our production team. If we're a step behind, we won't be able to contract it. We have no choice but to reclaim the saline-alkali land."
Their land is already fertile, they can't even contract it all out, so why would they bother to cultivate wasteland?
Li Long smiled but remained silent. It wasn't that he lacked the desire to cultivate the land; the main issue was insufficient initial capital. Once the century ended and the next decade arrived, those non-saline-alkali wastelands were gradually cultivated. Between 2006 and 2010, cotton prices soared again. By then, not only ordinary wasteland but even the contracting prices for saline-alkali land would skyrocket.
Some people have a long-term vision. Back in the early 2000s, they contracted out large tracts of saline-alkali wasteland for one yuan per mu per year, with a direct contract period of ten years.
After cotton prices rose, land prices immediately skyrocketed. Some people resold their land contracts and made millions, which they then enjoyed.
Those who took over the land later suffered a setback. In 2010 and 2011, the county and township governments began to clean up land contract contracts. All contracts that were more than five years old were invalidated and only three years were given. These three years were to allow them to recover their costs. Contracts that were more than three years old were all taken back and re-contracted.
However, basically, whether they benefit or suffer misfortune, they are not ordinary farmers.
Ordinary farmers cultivate most of their land, and even if they contract out land, they can only manage a maximum of a hundred or so acres. Only organizations like cooperatives or farmers with substantial initial capital will contract more land.
More often, it's the commercial speculators who analyze market trends and predict when land prices will rise. They then make early arrangements or even engage in speculation, just like those who speculate on agricultural products to drive up prices, only to be exploited by those who manipulate the market.
After Lao Xie said that, everyone finally calmed down and thought about it.
“That’s true,” Tao Daqiang, blushing, spoke first. “My father-in-law’s team is the third team next door, which is the closest to us. My father-in-law’s family has benefited from our situation; they have tractors and televisions, and everything else.”
In their team, at least half of the villagers don't own tractors, and many don't even have televisions at home. Of course, they don't have as much land as we do here, but I think the most important thing is that their ways of making money are relatively limited.
We really owe a lot to Brother Long.
“That’s right, come on, Xiao Long, let’s toast you!” Liang Dacheng immediately raised his glass. “By the way, taking advantage of the Navy’s wine, I’ll set up a table tomorrow, and then I can rightfully use my wine to pay my respects at home.”
Li Long was somewhat baffled: "This isn't something we were talking about, so why is it being dragged into me again? Let's move on from this, okay? I work with everyone to earn money, and I earn money too. I'm not doing this selflessly."
Now that we're all here this year, I'll be frank: I actually earn more than you guys. It's because of your help that I've made money. Of course, I have more connections. Now that we're all rich, let's put this matter behind us.
"Even though we've turned the page, we still have to drink this wine." Xie Yundong picked up his glass and said, "In a way, many people in our team should thank you, like Daqiang, otherwise they wouldn't be able to find wives."
"Our team's location is so remote that people at our school say it's the dead end. If it weren't for the fact that everyone in the team has become wealthier in recent years, and you repaired the roads and started a cooperative to grow cotton, honestly, the young men in our team would have a really hard time finding partners."
"Let me make this clear first, I found my wife through my own abilities," Xu Haijun interjected. Aside from Li Long, everyone else's eyes turned to him. He was momentarily flustered, his face flushed, and he picked up his glass and downed it in one gulp, saying:
"Alright, alright, although I'm a little resentful, I did benefit from Xiaolong's success. Otherwise, although I think I could make money with my intelligence, I wouldn't be where I am now."
“That’s right, we have to be realistic.” Liang Dacheng swirled his glass. “Xiaolong, pick up your glass quickly, drink this first, and then we can talk about moving on.”
Li Long was somewhat reluctant, but since the crowd had already gone this far, he figured he might as well drink.
After finishing his drink, in order to avoid bringing up the topic again, Li Long said to Xu Haijun, "If you can really contract this land, you need to hurry up and find people to do the work."
My suggestion is to find the second team, with people from our own team doing the work. This will give us more peace of mind and reduce their wariness or xenophobia.
"Won't it be hard to find?" Tao Daqiang asked with some concern. "The second team is still quite far from us."
“That’s easy to find.” Li Long laughed. “When the Navy was in elementary and middle school, he was much better than us. He was a star in his class. He has quite a few classmates in the 26th Squadron. Just find two reliable ones, and then have them recruit the others.”
Let me tell you, although these people might not be very enthusiastic about working for their own families, if you pay them a wage and have them work at the cooperative, they'll be absolutely eager!
When Li Long said that, the others laughed and believed him.
Why? Because some of Xu Haijun's classmates, who are that age, haven't separated from their parents.
Since we didn't separate from our parents, after a year of work, the money we actually receive is quite little. After all, our parents hold onto all the money. They might give us some pocket money now and then, but it's really hard to divide the money according to the amount of work we do.
Therefore, some young people would rather go to the county to do odd jobs than work at home.
After all, the money earned from odd jobs is real. If you work at home, and your parents are open-minded, they will give you a sum of money at the end of the year. If your parents are more traditional and think that they should save money for their children to get married, then the money will basically be kept by the parents and they are unlikely to give any to the young people.
So if Xu Haijun had done this job, and he had simply said he would pay people monthly, there would definitely have been many young people willing to do it.
As soon as Li Long said that, the others immediately understood. Because their own teams were in a similar situation; they were all essentially the breadwinners of their families, and the money distributed by the cooperative was all in their hands.
But the younger generation, who are still living in their own homes or not yet married, don't have much money.
"If the navy goes there to work, what will happen to our affairs here?" Jia Weidong asked.
"Same here, we're hiring, just pay them a salary." Li Long picked up a piece of cabbage heart with his chopsticks and said while eating, "People like Tie Tou from the Lu family, and Da Cheng, your younger brother Zhong Cheng, can all come in."
Our cooperative is quite large now. If we don't want to each manage our own affairs, we can just hire some people. We can pay them a monthly salary or a year-end bonus. At this point, a little extra salary isn't a big deal.
After Li Long said that, the others fell silent. Then Tao Daqiang suddenly asked, "Does that mean I can retire now and enjoy life ahead of schedule?"
"This is better than city dwellers! I'm only in my early thirties, and I get dividends every year that are much higher than what city workers earn, and I don't even have to do anything? Doesn't this count as entering communism ahead of schedule?"
The others also stared at Li Long, feeling somewhat incredulous.
"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm telling the truth. Once we started drip irrigation farming and succeeded, we've basically got this step on track. From here on out, the path is fixed. We just need to find a young guy to take over from us, teach him, and then he can do whatever he wants. He can travel all over the country and nobody will bother him."
"That's actually quite possible!" Xie Yundong was the first to react. "You know, managing water pipes, seed planting, and machinery—any young person could do it..."
Li Long quickly said, "Old Xie, Old Xie! Everyone else can retire and relax, but you can't. With you in charge, we don't trust anyone else to handle this. Don't you all agree? If we bring in an unreliable young person who messes things up, then we won't get any bonuses at the end of the year!"
The others nodded in agreement, and Liang Dacheng said to Xie Yundong, "Yes, yes, Lao Xie, you must never think about retiring. Just keep working hard. None of us are as important as you. We'll give you a bigger bonus at the end of the year. Just be a good workhorse!"
His words only fueled Xie Yundong's anger: "What's wrong? You're allowed to live a comfortable life, but I have to be a workhorse?"
“There’s nothing we can do about it. Everyone else can find a replacement young person. Even if we find someone to replace you, do you think you’d feel comfortable with that?” Jia Weidong advised. “For everyone’s happiness, just do your job well!”
"Hey, so what you're saying is that by going out to develop land for the cooperative, I'm basically trapping myself inside? I'd like to just lie down and relax too!" Xu Haijun said, somewhat annoyed. "So, tell me, should I develop this land or not?"
"Come on, come on, with just this 1,500 mu of land, we can't live a very comfortable life." Li Long suppressed a laugh and advised him, "If you want to live a comfortable life without working and just rely on dividends, our cooperative needs at least 5,000 mu of land."
Moreover, all of them need to be renovated first. At that time, each family will receive a dividend of tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan per year, and then they can stop working and enjoy life.
Although the brothers Li Long and Li Jianguo received a dividend of 200,000 yuan by the end of last year, other families only received an average of 50,000 yuan.
This amount of money already felt like a lot to them. If they could get 200,000 or even 150,000 a year, they could really take their families on a trip across the country.
At that time, a worker's monthly wage was only two hundred yuan, and ordinary laborers might earn even less.
If an ordinary family has around 100,000 yuan, then they are no longer an ordinary family. So the number Li Long mentioned surprised everyone, and then they all started to imagine.
"Alright then, even if it's for everyone's happiness, I'll go out and give it my all!" Xu Haijun gritted his teeth, picked up his glass, and said, "Come on, guys, let's have a drink. Tomorrow we'll go look at the land plots. If it works out, I'll hurry up and call a high-powered tractor to plow those fields in the spring!"
Although this batch of crops can't be irrigated yet, I plan to gradually adapt as we go, and hopefully complete the conversion by the end of the year so we can replicate the yields of our team's fields next year!
Xu Haijun has such lofty ambitions, so everyone naturally supports him and raises their glasses, ready to clink them together.
"Dacheng, fill your glass!" Xu Haijun, who was watching, noticed that Liang Dacheng's glass was empty and reminded him, "Old Jia, isn't that wine you left over from last time? Why is there so little? Was it left over to feed the fish? Fill it up, fill it up!"
After everyone's cups were full, Xu Haijun said, "Xiaolong has set a good example for us and led us onto the path to prosperity. I used to always want to compare myself with Xiaolong, but now I don't. He pointed out the path, so I'll just follow along!"
Going to the second team, although it's not exactly unfamiliar territory, it's still starting from scratch. So, while I'm at it, I'd like to say this: if I encounter any difficulties there and need help from our cooperative, you must give me your full support, and please don't laugh at me!
“What you’re saying is ridiculous. I don’t have that ability. If I did, I would have gone out there myself!” Liang Dacheng said. “That’s why I still admire you. If it were me, even if I wanted to go out and find land, I might not be able to negotiate a deal.”
From now on, our happy days will be built around you, so don't worry. If anything happens, just come back and tell us. We brothers will never hesitate! Even if we have to pick up hoes and go fight in the second team, we'll never back down!
“We’re all on the same side, so just let us know if you encounter any difficulties,” Xie Yundong said. “We’ll be your support!”
"Alright, alright, you two have said all the nice things. Let's drink!" Jia Weidong filled the glass, invited everyone to clink glasses, and then drank it all in one gulp.
Because of Li Long's comments about retiring and lying down, the drinking session went on for a long time. Everyone talked about what they would do after reaching 5,000 mu.
Only Xie Yundong kept searching for talent within the team, hoping to find someone to replace him as soon as possible so that he could also travel around and have fun with everyone.
Although it was just a fantasy, before Li Long mentioned it, no one could have imagined that such a thing would happen. But after Li Long said it, everyone felt that it was only natural and not impossible.
"We farmers are doing pretty well, aren't we? It feels better than being a worker, better than being a city dweller," Liang Dacheng remarked. "I used to envy city life, but now I realize, hey, it's not all that great!"
“That’s because you’re one of the few farmers who made money.” Xie Yundong was still relatively clear-headed at this point. “Think about it, there are only a few of us in the whole township, right? Can the others live like this? At least not now, right?”
“Why not? Just follow our lead!” Liang Dacheng said matter-of-factly. “Keep some land for food, and convert the rest to drip-irrigated cotton. We’ve already paved the way…”
"Switch to drip irrigation for cotton? It's easy to say, but where would the money come from? The cost of switching is at least 200 yuan per mu, and it's only worthwhile if you have at least 500 mu. Who in an ordinary family can come up with 100,000 yuan?"
Even if you try to get a loan, without enough collateral, how could they possibly lend you money? If you take out a loan for renovations, where will you get the money to farm?
This series of questions jolted the others awake, and they realized that they were among the luckier ones.
So all eyes turned to Li Long. If Li Long hadn't brought in projects to support them from the autonomous region, and if he hadn't brought them together to form a cooperative, they would still be just like everyone else in the team, only a little richer than ordinary farmers.
"Alright, alright, we've had enough to drink. Let's call it a day. We still have to check on the land at the second team tomorrow," Li Long said immediately, seeing that the conflict was about to spread to him.
"Let me briefly mention that the dishes the Navy couple made today were quite good, especially this cold cabbage heart salad. The ratio of sugar and salt was just right. If anyone wants to make it again, please continue to do so!"
He does like to be praised, but he only needs to be praised once or twice. If he is praised every time, there will eventually be a distance between them.
He had no intention of moving to the city permanently; those few courtyards in Yanjing were just for backup.
The root of the problem is still in Team Four. The closest people to them are just a few, and they're still thinking about drinking like this until they're seventy or eighty years old.
If you always express your gratitude like this, the relationship between you can easily sour.
So let's stop here if we can.
His interjection made the others stop thinking too much about it and start praising the dishes they liked, making Xu Haijun feel proud and that the meal was really worth it.
We drank quite a bit, but because it was warm inside and everyone was having a lively discussion, no one got too drunk.
Originally, Xu Haijun's wife, Bai Ling, was thinking about how to send everyone back, but now that she sees that everyone is alright, she decides not to bother anymore.
Because he had to go to the second team to inspect the land the next day, Li Long decided not to go back to the main compound that night and would stay at the team's residence for the night.
The next day, after breakfast, Li Long waited a while before the others arrived. Looking at the sky, the sun had only just risen, and Li Long was somewhat surprised.
"I drank well yesterday, and the effects wore off quickly," Xie Yundong explained. "This morning, I had some corn porridge, and the effects of the alcohol were gone."
The other people felt the same way.
“Then let’s not drive so many cars, let’s just use two cars,” Li Long suggested. “The Navy will lead the way, and I’ll follow behind.”
Liang Dacheng wanted to see the land as soon as possible, so he got into Xu Haijun's car, while the others followed in Li Long's car.
“Your car is too expensive, otherwise I would have gotten one too,” Xie Yundong said from the passenger seat. “This car is convenient, it’s fast to drive, and it’s stable and comfortable to ride in.”
"Should I get you a car first, and pay it off on credit?" Li Long asked as he drove. "No way, I won't feel at ease if I owe too much money," Xie Yundong hurriedly waved his hand. "Even though our cooperative owes so much money, and I know we should be able to pay it back by the end of the year, I still feel uneasy."
Xie Yundong was very clear about this. Although he knew that even if the cooperative lost money on farming at the end of the year, Li Long could cover the losses and they could continue to farm the following year.
But the money owed by the cooperative is everyone's debt, and we can't act recklessly just because Li Long is there to cover it up.
Li Long entrusted the cooperative to Xie Yundong for the same reason. He simply didn't trust anyone else with it.
The road to the second team was also paved with asphalt, so it was relatively easy to drive all the way to their team. However, once you left the team and continued downhill, it became a dirt road, and the ride became bumpy.
After walking about three or four hundred meters northwest from the team, Xu Haijun stopped again ahead.
There were tire tracks on the road, which Li Long guessed were left by Xu Haijun when he came here last time.
After the group got out of the car, Xu Haijun pointed to a barren beach in front of them and said, "This is it. Go north all the way to Dahai Lake and west to the riverbank. It's about 1,100 to 1,200 acres. But we definitely can't drive out too close to the riverbank and Dahai Lake. We'll just drive out about 1,000 acres."
The snow was quite deep, so Li Long just stood by the roadside and looked in that direction without going down.
This wasteland does indeed have small patches of reeds, but there are even more unprocessed bitter beans.
If these bitter beans are stored for twenty years, many people will definitely be eager to cut off the pods and sell them for money.
If you look at the area division, potatoes and reeds each occupy less than a third, and the remaining area is covered with alkali wormwood and reeds.
It's impossible to say there's no saline-alkali soil, but overall, the saline-alkali soil isn't contiguous, and the good wasteland for growing bitter beans isn't contiguous either; they're all small patches.
“The problem is that there are some rocks on the side closer to the riverbank,” Xu Haijun said. “I’ve never been here before; I asked one of my former classmates in the team to find out.”
"That's nothing, the land is good." Li Long walked back and forth along the road, then commented, "In the spring, we'll plow the land, and when we're leveling it, we'll take our mulch removal machine along the way to clear away the surface stones."
This land has a significant advantage: it slopes from south to north and is generally flat with several small ditches. Leveling the land is straightforward, making it suitable for drip irrigation.
"I don't see any irrigation canals?" Tao Daqiang, being quite observant, walked back and forth and said, "How can we irrigate without canals? If we're going to renovate this thousand acres, we'll need at least two pumping stations, right? Are we going to dig wells for everything?"
“That’s their farmland,” Xu Haijun said, clearly having done his research. “There’s an irrigation canal at the edge of the farmland, and we need to dig a canal several hundred meters long from there.”
"What do you think about us digging a canal directly from Mohe District?" Liang Dacheng asked, his idea seemingly out of the blue.
"How is that possible? The water level in the Mohe Canal is so low that it's impossible to do it without using a hand pump," Tao Daqiang said, pointing to the Mohe Canal to the west.
“Dredging a canal from the upstream middle school would be feasible,” Li Long said after thinking for a moment. “I just don’t know if the water management department will agree.”
"We'll talk about that later. Let's first decide whether or not this land is included," Xie Yundong said. "Even if we don't pump water from the canal and bring it from the farmland, it's fine. It's just that we can't guarantee that we'll get more water than other places, unlike our guaranteed water source."
Upon hearing this, Xu Haijun decided to inquire further. If it were possible to dig a canal directly from the Mohe Canal to irrigate the land, that would be ideal. In that case, he could decide the frequency of watering himself, and at most, he would have to pay a little more for water.
Since he's already prepared to take charge on his own, he'll keep these things to himself for now and find out more before making a decision.
“I think we can contract it out, let’s contract a thousand acres, and forget about the corner plots. If the water volume of the lake is large, the water will back up, so we can’t develop the land too close to the lake, otherwise it will be flooded,” Li Long said, expressing his opinion.
"I think it's feasible, but it depends on whether the navy can handle it," Tao Daqiang said.
"I have no problem with it. It's just about finding people to do the work. I may not be the best at my own work, but I'm sure I can supervise others!" At this point, Xu Haijun had already adopted the attitude of a landlord.
"Then there's no problem. Let's just sign the contract." Liang Dacheng and Jia Weidong naturally had no objections.
"Whether or not more than 50 mu of land can be reclaimed depends on the township's approval. Their team has put forward this condition. Will the township agree?"
"It seems the township doesn't have any objections." Xu Haijun had already inquired. "For newly reclaimed land, no money is required for the first few years. Now that their team has offered this condition of paying, the township is overjoyed."
That's true. For the first three or five years of newly reclaimed land, each production team does not have to pay a contract fee. This is the same for all of them.
Although the land contract period was long, they paid a contract fee from the beginning. The contract fee wasn't much, but a thousand a year wasn't a small amount.
Next, Xie Yundong went to the township to sign the contract in the name of the cooperative. Of course, Lao Huang, the captain of the second team, went with him, as did Xu Haijun, who also went to inquire about the canal construction.
Li Long and his group decided not to get involved in these matters and simply lay down and did nothing.
Xu Haijun was the busiest. He had to go to Li Jianguo to coordinate the spring plowing, to Xie Yundong to coordinate agricultural supplies, and to consult with Li Long about the preparations for the drip irrigation renovation in the spring.
In short, I was extremely busy, but I enjoyed it immensely.
Several members of the Xu family found it strange, but after finding out the details, they decided to join in.
Although you can't join the cooperative, being an employee of the cooperative and earning a salary is pretty good.
For example, Xu Feihu is one of them.
Because Xu Haijun is leaving, someone else has to take over his responsibilities. Li Long previously recommended Lu Yingming's son, Lu Tietou. Now Lu Tietou works at home, which is the situation Li Long described: unmarried and not living separately, he works all year round and only gets a little pocket money.
He was honest and smart, so Xie Yundong and the others thought he was a good person. Then Li Long went to the Lu family to tell Lu Tietou.
Upon hearing that there would be a salary of 1,500 yuan a year, and possibly a bonus at the end of the year if he did well, Lu Tietou agreed without hesitation.
Lu Yingming was also quite happy. He had always wanted to join Li Long's cooperative, but the cooperative wasn't accepting anyone for the time being, which made him feel quite frustrated.
Now that the cooperative is hiring workers, the first person they think of is his son, which Lu Yingming thinks is a good thing. With his son working in the cooperative, if the cooperative really plans to hire land and people in the future, he will definitely be the first one to be hired.
After this was settled, it caused quite a stir within the team.
Young people like Liang Zhongcheng all want to join the cooperative, work and get paid—how wonderful!
Because there were several applicants, and some influential people had asked Li Jianguo for help, and the same was true for Xie Yundong, the cooperative had no choice but to hold a small meeting before the new year to specifically recruit these young people and make a decision.
We need to recruit people, to train them to replace Tao Daqiang and the others. However, these people are different from Lu Tietou; they receive lower wages and are treated as apprentices.
Lu Tietou has the benefits of a formal employee, so of course the work he does is different.
When these benefits are differentiated, some young people hesitate. Firstly, there's the issue of the amount of money, and secondly, there's the loss of face.
So some people quit, but a few stayed. The few who stayed were the ones Li Long and his team had their eye on and planned to train them well so they could become the cooperative's future young talents.
After all, the cooperative will need to expand and develop in the future, and it certainly can't rely on just these few people now.
With that settled, there were only a few days left until the New Year. Li Long's family, along with Gu Xiaoyu, decided to stay at the production team's residence. Sister Yang and Han Fang lived in the main courtyard, planning to visit their small courtyard to the south on New Year's Eve.
The sound of firecrackers grew louder, and it wasn't until the 29th of the lunar year that Li Long belatedly realized he hadn't prepared anything.
Fortunately, the eldest brother, Li Jianguo, had made more preparations. On New Year's Eve, Li Anguo and his family drove over, bringing a large load of goods.
Li Anguo had a very successful year. His oil refinery was thriving, with two sets of refining equipment running non-stop. More than 100 tons of crude oil were brought in from Kazakhstan every month, which was enough for his production.
Last year, we moved our family to the oil city, where safety was more assured. Xueping and Xueqin both transferred to high schools in the oil city. Their grades weren't great, but Li Anguo felt that even if they didn't get into university, he could use his connections with Ajinbek to get them into petroleum technology schools. After graduating, whether they joined the system or worked in their own factory, it would be a good career path.
So even though Akinbek would occasionally visit his oil refinery and give him a thorough dressing-down, he was happy to accept it.
After all, that person was truly more knowledgeable than him, preventing several safety accidents for him. Moreover, because of this Akinbek, he had established connections with people within the system in the oil city, so he was aware of any suspicious activity.
That's how this network of connections was established.
After his life improved, Li Anguo didn't become arrogant. He knew that all of this was thanks to his younger brother, and that he wasn't necessarily capable of much himself.
So I come here every year during holidays, buying more and more things each time, and our relationship with them gets better and better.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, all members of the Li family went to pay their respects to Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang. Old Li prepared a lot of red envelopes to give to the children as New Year's money.
This time of year is when he is happiest, seeing so many children and grandchildren, crowding together in the house, it's so lively!
These people represent the family's foundation.
It started with Li Juan, who donated 100 yuan to each child. Li Jianguo was actually against giving so much money. At that time, the common amount in the countryside was one yuan, two or three yuan for close relatives, five yuan was considered a lot, and ten yuan was usually given to nephews, nieces, sons or daughters.
One hundred yuan is really a lot, it's a bit too much.
But Old Li was very stubborn, and he had his own ideas. He stayed at the purchasing station all year round, and every year at the end of the year, his youngest son would give him a dividend.
Whenever a big deal comes in, he also gets a share of the profits.
That adds up to two or three hundred thousand a year (more).
What do we do with so much money? There's practically no need to spend it. Whatever we need, our eldest and youngest sons buy it for us. Now, our second son and daughter's family are also doing better and better. What more could we ask for?
So spend the money if you need to.
To Gu Xiaoyu's surprise, after giving Mingming and Haohao their New Year's money, Du Chunfang stuffed a hundred yuan into her hand:
"Little girl, take this."
"No, no, no, I can't accept it..." Gu Xiaoyu was bewildered, having ended up getting herself into the mess. "I'm so old, why would I want New Year's money? Besides, I...I...I'm not even surnamed Li..."
“Hey, once we’re home, we’re all family,” Du Chunfang said. “Unmarried people are all kids, and they all get lucky money.”
Logically speaking, Gu Xiaoyu should have been living at Old Gu's house, but she had gotten used to living with her sister during this time, so she ended up staying at Li Long's house.
I came over this morning to have breakfast together. I was just here to enjoy the New Year's greetings, but this whole thing turned out to be quite a spectacle, making her blush deeply.
There were too many people, and I couldn't refuse, so I had no choice but to accept the money.
"Take it. The old man is very simple-minded. He just says that all unmarried people are his children, and you are family too." Gu Xiaoxia joked with him. "Alright, alright, let's hurry to the front yard. There will probably be a lot of people coming to pay New Year's visits today, so we need to make preparations."
Usually I'm alone, just hanging out with my sister-in-law. But not this year, there will definitely be a lot of people knocking on the door to wish us a Happy New Year. You can help me out.”
"Wait, wait, wait! I also prepared a lot of change to give the little ones as New Year's money!" Gu Xiaoyu said while rummaging through her pockets. "But I didn't prepare that much. I can't come up with a hundred yuan per person..."
"No rush, no rush, let's go to the front yard first. We'll give it to them when they come over to give us a proper New Year's greeting." Gu Xiaoxia pulled her along, saying, "Come with me."
Gu Xiaoyu found this way of celebrating the New Year quite novel, and the sense of personal participation made it feel completely different from that in the city.
When she spends Chinese New Year in the city, she basically spends it alone. Except for going to her mother's house for a meal on the first day of the Lunar New Year, she spends the rest of the time holed up in her own courtyard.
Occasionally, someone would visit her to offer New Year's greetings, and she would also visit her boss's home to offer New Year's greetings, just to say a few words and leave.
Preparing a table full of dishes, wine, and candy and peanuts for the children was a first for her, and she found it very fun.
People like Li Long, who already have children, send their kids to pay New Year's visits to their elders, so they don't have to go themselves and can stay home and wait for people to come over for drinks.
Just as Gu Xiaoxia had said, quite a few people came to Li Long's courtyard to offer New Year's greetings and join in the fun. Most of them were of the same age or young people, coming to have a drink, say a few words of blessing, chat about farming after the start of the new year, or inquire about the future development of the cooperative.
To Li Long's surprise, there was another person who came to discuss business. A family in the team had contracted a piece of wasteland next to the cooperative's 1,500 mu of land in advance, plowed it up, and planted cotton, but the harvest was poor.
They own more than 100 mu of land, and their three-year lease is about to expire, meaning they have to pay the team a contract fee. So they're thinking of transferring it to Li Long and his group.
According to them, the land has been cultivated for three years. Although it hasn't been completely transformed, the salinity and alkalinity are much lower than before. Therefore, they hope the cooperative can offer a similar price for the land to be transferred.
Li Long knew many people shared this view, but their cooperative had already reached a consensus: they could expand into surrounding land, but no one was allowed to make exorbitant demands. Some compensation was acceptable, since the land had been cultivated by others, which was better than directly cultivating saline-alkali land.
However, this compensation should not be excessive.
Therefore, Li Long did not agree directly, but said he would talk to Xie Yundong after the New Year, since Xie Yundong was in charge of this matter.
The people who came weren't looking for a definitive answer; they just wanted to be able to talk.
He was very happy to receive a positive reply from Li Long. He drank two glasses of wine, left the New Year's money for Mingming and Haohao, and then left.
Li Long thought to himself, "My two sons really make money so easily!" (End of Chapter)