sinovels Chapter 1412 Land Survey, A Bunch of Foodies
Chapter 1412 Land Survey, A Bunch of Foodies
The team leader is Lin Chaojun, who often leads teams to do this kind of work. He is quite experienced in land surveying.
The land of Team 4 has the common characteristics of most areas in northern Xinjiang, namely flatness and uniformity of plots, making it relatively easy to measure. In Lin Chaojun's opinion, this task could probably be completed in less than five days.
That afternoon, after showing Lin Chaojun and the others around the land, Xu Chengjun insisted on taking them to a restaurant in the county town as a welcome gesture, but Lin Chaojun and the others declined. Xu Chengjun was quite enthusiastic and insisted on treating them to a meal, so they compromised and ate at a restaurant in the village.
That evening, Lin Chaojun gathered several people together at the village guesthouse for a meeting.
He spoke first, saying, "We've come here with a mission: to measure the village's land. Judging from our journey today, the mission shouldn't be too difficult."
The total land area of this village should be around 10,000 mu. Now there is a problem we need to consider, which is that as you can see, nearly one-third of this 10,000 mu of land has already undergone irrigation transformation.
As far as we know, this project was also initiated by our department; it's a support project, and they are continuing the renovations. Our question is whether or not to report this situation to higher authorities.
One male colleague said dismissively, "We're responsible for measuring the land, but the final decision isn't in our hands, so we should report it however we want. We'll state the actual situation in our report, and then we'll see what the higher-ups decide."
One of the female colleagues was quite observant. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I think this Director Xu is quite enthusiastic. Moreover, he is quite experienced in dealing with people, so he definitely doesn't want us to report the actual situation."
When they're measuring the land, he might try to use that to get us to say nice things. We need to be careful about that. Look at this afternoon's meal; if the team leader hadn't stopped him, he probably would have ordered a whole table full of dishes. We all know how farmers are doing these days. Ordinary people can't afford to eat this well.”
Another woman immediately said, "Yes, yes, I think so too. We need to be careful what he might do about it. We have to be careful when we're measuring the land these next few days, finish this as soon as possible, and then get back to the office."
Upon hearing this, Lin Chaojun smiled and said, "We don't need to think of it as a monster. The purpose of this project is to develop large-scale and modern agriculture, help farmers transform from traditional to modern agriculture as soon as possible, and help them get out of poverty and become rich."
Although Director Xu seemed a bit shrewd, you could tell from his words that he was also thinking about the village.
Let's report according to the actual situation: how many acres of land are there in total? How many acres have already been transformed? How many acres are currently being transformed? How many are newly reclaimed wasteland this year? Please classify and register all of these.
Let's divide the work in detail, and after breakfast tomorrow morning, we'll go to the village and start working.
Nothing happened that night. The next morning, after washing up at the guesthouse and going to the canteen for breakfast, Lin Chaojun and the others found that Xu Chengjun and Xie Yundong were already waiting outside in their car.
Seeing the members of the work group arrive, Xu Chengjun quickly threw away his cigarette butt, stomped it out, greeted them with a smile, and told them to go eat and not to worry about him.
Since the car that was supposed to pick them up had already arrived, Lin Chaojun and the others felt embarrassed. During the meal, they quickened their pace, finishing in just 10 minutes, then went back to the guesthouse to get their tools and got to the car.
As the car drove toward the fourth team, Lin Chaojun said to Xu Chengjun, "Director Xu, you don't need to come so early in the morning anymore. We're used to working according to the regular hours, and we feel embarrassed to come too early."
Xu Chengjun hurriedly smiled and said, "I'll definitely change it tomorrow."
As the car drove into the village, they could see elementary school students arriving for school along the roadside. Lin Chaojun looked on, somewhat surprised, and asked:
"There are quite a few students riding bicycles here. I've been to other places, and the proportion of students riding bicycles in those places is significantly lower than here."
As Xu Chengjun drove, he smiled and said, "In the past two years, everyone has been able to make some money growing cotton. A car only costs a little over a hundred yuan, and the gross profit from one or two acres of land is enough to buy one."
These children have to walk four or five kilometers to school every day. Walking is not only time-consuming but also very tiring, so most parents have bought bicycles for their children.
A woman in another car asked Xie Yundong, "Your village is quite nice. I see that this asphalt road leads all the way into your village."
"Was this road built by the township or the county? Yesterday, when I was walking around the village, I noticed that the alleys in several residential areas were also paved with asphalt. This is quite rare in northern Xinjiang."
Xie Yundong smiled and said, "This road wasn't paved by the township or county government. It was built by Li Long from our village, the one who applied for the support project for our cooperative."
The comrade asked with some surprise, "He funded the road construction himself? He's really rich. Building a road like this must cost at least tens of thousands of yuan, right? He's really generous."
Xie Yundong just smiled and didn't say anything. He didn't want to say that Li Long had a lot of money, as that would easily attract envy; nor did he want to say that Li Long had done a lot of good deeds for the village. These were things that only the villagers themselves knew.
The car drove into the village, and according to Lin Chaojun's plan, the first step was to measure the large area of land below the small lake where the village used to grow rice. This land was an irregular quadrilateral, about two thousand mu in size.
The tools Lin Chaojun and his team brought were mainly tape measures and calculators. Although it was already 1994, they did not yet have more advanced measuring instruments.
Fortunately, these plots of land were relatively regular in shape. Lin Chaojun and his team were experienced and knew how to measure the area more accurately.
After dropping the people off, Xu Chengjun stayed with them, and the team's accountant was also waiting at the edge of the field, ready to help at any time. Xie Yundong then drove to Lao Ma Hao, where Xu Haijun was already preparing to slaughter a sheep. Xie Yundong came over to check on the lunch arrangements.
After sending the work group members back to their hometown yesterday, Xu Chengjun returned and discussed lunch arrangements with Xie Yundong and the others.
They figured that although the work team members often went to the countryside, their meals would be relatively refined. The usual large pots of meat and large bowls of alcohol couldn't be allowed, so they planned to cook rice, stir-fry a few dishes, and prepare some local specialties for lunch.
This was all arranged last night. The first impression is very important, so we wanted it to be lavish but not too extravagant.
The main dish was definitely mutton, so Xu Haijun went to Lao Ma's place on behalf of the team and asked Uncle Luo to catch a sheep and slaughter it. Of course, the money was paid on the spot. There were at least two mutton dishes for lunch: one braised and one stir-fried with mutton offal.
Xie Yundong suggested that since spring had arrived and alfalfa sprouts were emerging, it would be best to make a cold alfalfa salad, adding a touch of green to the table. He also suggested visiting each household in the production team to see if anyone had any chives that had sprouted, harvesting some to stir-fry with eggs. City people would definitely enjoy that too.
Xu Haijun expressed his opinion, saying, "If there's mutton, there must be fish too. The fish in our Xiaohaizi is a major specialty."
So this morning, Xu Haijun went to Li Junfeng's father and asked him to cast a few nets in the small lake to catch some fresh fish to support the work team.
Finally, Xu Chengjun made the final decision, saying that making another big plate of chicken would suffice. With chicken, fish, and meat all included, the work team was unlikely to find this level of hospitality lacking. Xie Yundong's opinion was that it was a bit too lavish.
"Does the working group have other ideas? Could we do it separately?" Xu Chengjun thought for a moment and finally said, "We have to make this a big deal on the first day. After today, we can simplify things later. But today must be done well."
Since the captain has said so, no one else has any objections.
Before the work team arrived, Xu Chengjun convened a meeting of village representatives, saying that this was a major event for the entire village. He emphasized that the villagers must actively cooperate with whoever the village assigns tasks to.
If a task fails to pass the final review due to a villager's lack of cooperation, that villager will be considered a sinner in the village. This is a huge stigma, and no one in the village wants to bear it. Therefore, everyone is very enthusiastic when tasks are assigned.
The task of picking alfalfa was done by a few women in the village. These days, apart from Li Long, not many other villagers grew alfalfa. Only a few cattle farmers would set aside a few scrap plots of land to grow alfalfa.
Li Long eventually planted alfalfa on the several dozen acres of fodder land that the village had allocated to him, which was west of Old Horse Farm. It was quite convenient after planting it; you could harvest it every year after planting it once. With proper fertilization, you could even harvest two crops a year.
At this time of year in early spring, the alfalfa, though not very tall, is still tall enough to be harvested.
Ma Hongmei and several other women spent over an hour early in the morning picking three or four kilograms of alfalfa, which they then dumped onto a large table in the cooperative's courtyard. They planned to clean the alfalfa before preparing it for a cold salad.
The alfalfa we picked was only five or six centimeters long, looking very tender. Therefore, the blanching time for such alfalfa couldn't be too long. Rural women like Ma Hongmei were very experienced in this regard, and they got the job done while chatting and laughing.
They were the ones cooking today too. They've been on the support team and have been earning work points lately, so everyone's been very enthusiastic.
Moreover, everyone in the village knows the importance of this matter. If they can secure this project, it could save the entire village millions of yuan in renovation costs. No one dares to underestimate its importance.
Surprisingly, just as they were tidying up the alfalfa, Ma Jinbao's daughter-in-law also came over with half a basket of alfalfa and dumped it on the table. His family raised sheep, so they also planted two mu (approximately 0.33 hectares) of alfalfa.
After arriving at the cooperative's courtyard, she said to Ma Hongmei, "This is the alfalfa from my family's farm. I picked it this morning. Although the team leader didn't ask us to help, we are also villagers. We've cleaned all the alfalfa and removed the dirt. If you need anything from us later, just let us know."
She wanted to stay and help, but Ma Hongmei said they had enough people and would call her again when needed. The woman left somewhat reluctantly.
After she left, several women who were cooking were still discussing it curiously, saying, "Has this family changed their ways? They're actually volunteering to do chores for the team."
Ma Hongmei guessed, "Everyone is making progress and trying to come up with ideas or do some work for the team. Although their family isn't very good, it might not seem right if they don't do anything. But I think the most likely reason is that they want to earn some work points."
Because of its large land area and the fact that it made a lot of money by initially taking advantage of Li Long's business, the fourth team is quite wealthy.
Therefore, when villagers were called up for public labor every year, work points were distributed, and these work points were quite valuable. Even in the 2020s, when all the surrounding villages abolished public labor, Team Four could still organize people to work and then directly pay them.
Back then, in the spring, clearing ditches and cutting grass in the forest belts paid 200 yuan a day for anyone who worked. People from other villages were very envious, but there was nothing they could do; they couldn't compare. Because of this, most of the villagers admired the village chief.
After hearing Ma Hongmei's explanation, everyone else suddenly understood. Regardless, the fact that she took the initiative to come over was something many others couldn't match.
Although the village had a team headquarters, it was relatively small. So after Li Long and his team built the cooperative's large courtyard, many of the village's collective activities were held there.
Li Long jokingly suggested to Xu Chengjun that after the project is implemented, the village could allocate some funds to build a larger team headquarters and cultural activity room, so that they wouldn't have to use the cooperative's courtyard every time.
When Li Long brought this up, Xu Chengjun, thick-skinned as ever, didn't blush at all, saying, "The cooperative belongs to the village, so it's normal for them to use it. Using this yard is a way of repaying the village for all the conveniences they've provided." Li Long admired Xu Chengjun's thick skin; he himself might not have been able to say such a thing.
Around 11 a.m., Li Andong rode his bicycle from Xiaohaizi all the way to the cooperative's yard. There were two urea bags tied to the back of his bicycle; one contained a casting net, and the other contained fish that were thrashing about.
Seeing that he had tied up his bicycle, Deng Guilan hurriedly went over and brought over a bucket of water and a large basin.
Li Andong untied the urea bag, poured it mouth-down into a large basin, and a crackling sound rang out.
Looking at the basin, Deng Guilan said with a smile, "Uncle An Dong, you're amazing! Look at these fish, they're so lively."
Li Andong said with some pride, "It's just a matter of casting a few nets; there are still quite a few fish in our little lake. Although the two dredging operations have taken away a lot of big fish, a few casts are still enough to feed us."
The other women came over to look. In the large basin were two carp weighing over a kilogram each, seven or eight palm-sized crucian carp, a black carp with five stripes, and quite a few pike.
Ma Hongmei said with some surprise, "There are still five black clams. It's really not easy to catch five black clams in the spring. The people in the work group are in for a treat today."
Li Andong said, "This should be enough for today. I'll sprinkle some more over tomorrow morning."
After saying that, he packed the bag, rode off on his bicycle.
Ma Hongmei then told Deng Guilan and another woman to hurry up and prepare the fish.
Deng Guilan then asked, "Should we clean up all the fish?"
Ma Hongmei said, "Clean it all up. The work team can't eat that much. We'll just cook two carp for lunch. People in our village don't eat much of this, but our guests from afar might find it quite delicious."
"We'll divide the remaining fish among ourselves, and everyone can take some home. It's getting hot, and the fish won't keep well. Uncle Anton said he'll bring more fish over tomorrow."
Hearing this made the women quite happy. This could be considered a perk of their cooking.
Just as Ma Hongmei and the others were preparing lunch, Yang Pingping arrived carrying a cleaned chicken. She also brought some potatoes and dried chili peppers, intending to make a large plate of chicken.
This was something Xu Chengjun had agreed upon beforehand; all the items were purchased by the team, and the settlement would be made after the work group left.
Around 1 p.m., the work team members successfully completed the measurement of the 2,080 mu (approximately 133 hectares) of land north of Xiaohaizi. Xu Chengjun and the village accountant also recorded the detailed information about the land.
According to the village's original records, this area covered more than 1,800 mu, but now it has increased by more than 200 mu, mostly reclaimed by people on the perimeter of the original plots. The scattered pieces were not counted much at first, but the total amount adds up to quite a lot.
Xu Chengjun laughed and scolded, "These people are really something. They reclaim a little more land each year, and now they've created more than two hundred mu of land, enough to feed thirty or forty people."
Lin Chaojun smiled and said, "If the 10,000-mu farmland renovation project is really implemented, your village's land will definitely need to be redistributed. You can redistribute the extra land then, and in the end, won't your village collective be the one to benefit?"
Xu Chengjun's eyes lit up, and he said, "Yes, yes, that's how it should be. They've cultivated these lands for several years, and the village hasn't charged them any management fees. It's fair that they paid for the mechanized farming."
Xie Yundong had already returned to the fields and, together with Xu Chengjun, drove the work group members to the cooperative's courtyard. As soon as Lin Chaojun and the others got out of the car, they smelled the rich aroma of food filling the courtyard.
He smiled and said to Xu Chengjun, "Our autonomous region stipulates that the standard for entertaining work teams when they go to the countryside is four dishes and one soup. Don't go over the limit, or we won't be able to report it to our superiors."
Xu Chengjun smiled and said, "You've come all this way to serve us, so we can't let you eat badly. It's just home-cooked food, and everything we make is sourced from our own village. It's all within the normal range."
The drip irrigation tape factory's machines were still roaring on the north side of the cooperative's courtyard. Lin Chaojun pointed in that direction and asked Xu Chengjun, "What's that for?"
Xu Chengjun said, "That's the drip irrigation tape factory run by Li Long in our village. With this massive transformation of 10,000 mu of farmland, wouldn't drip irrigation tape be necessary? Actually, the factory was already built a few years ago when Li Long and his team applied for the support project."
This year, Li Long went to Dushanzi to inquire about raw materials. He said that because the petrochemical plant in their area had started production, raw material prices had dropped significantly, reducing the cost of drip irrigation tape and making drip-irrigated fields affordable for ordinary farmers. Therefore, the drip irrigation tape produced by this factory was very popular, and people from several nearby counties came to buy it.
Just then, a large truck carrying a full load of drip irrigation tape came out of the factory. Li Long shook hands with a middle-aged man, who then got on the truck.
After the truck drove away, Xu Chengjun pointed at Li Long and said to Lin Chaojun, "Look, that's Li Long. To be honest, he was the one who helped me make the contact when I applied for the project with you. Otherwise, how would a rough guy like me know that the autonomous region has such good policies?"
After saying that, Xu Chengjun shouted loudly, "Li Long, come here."
Li Long knew the work team would be coming to measure the land today, but he couldn't participate. The drip irrigation tape factory had a heavy production schedule these past two days. He had to deal with customers coming to buy drip irrigation tape while also storing it for his own cooperative's farmland—it was quite a headache.
The village head greeted him; with outsiders present, Li Long was sure to cooperate. He quickly walked to the entrance of the cooperative's courtyard and said with a smile, "Director, what can I do for you?"
Xu Chengjun pointed to Lin Chaojun and the others, saying, "Come, come, let me introduce you. These are the leaders from the autonomous region. They've been busy all morning. The results are remarkable."
I had no idea those guys had reclaimed an extra 200 mu of land below Xiaohaizi. Team Leader Lin said that when this project is implemented, the land will need to be redivided, and I'll have to take back the extra land as reserve land for the village.
Xu Chengjun's conversation drifted off into a tangent.
Lin Chaojun looked at Li Long, sized him up, and then extended his hand with a smile, saying, "Comrade Li Long, I've long admired your name."
We also have dealings with the agricultural college, and they often mention your name there. And what you've done is truly commendable; you really are a leader in using science and technology to achieve wealth.”
Li Long quickly extended his hands and shook hands with Lin Chaojun, saying humbly, "Compared to the professors of the College of Agriculture, I am just a primary school student, and I have always been learning from them. I am really grateful to you for coming to do this work for us."
Although it was just polite talk, both sides knew that half of them were essentially on their own. So Xu Chengjun invited Li Long into the courtyard to have dinner with the work team.
Lin Chaojun also introduced the other members of the work group to Li Long. In his opinion, compared to the seasoned veteran Xu Chengjun, Li Long was easier to deal with. Moreover, with those people from the Agricultural College acting as intermediaries, at least Li Long wouldn't cheat them.
Despite having prepared themselves mentally, the members of the work group were still somewhat surprised when they saw the lavish spread on the table. Several of the women were even hesitant to sit down.
Xu Chengjun said, "It's just a simple meal, a simple meal."
The members of the working group all looked at Lin Chaojun.
Li Long explained to them, "Look at this sheep, it's mine. You're guests from afar, so it's normal to slaughter a sheep. Don't worry, the team paid for it. As for the alfalfa and chives, they weren't bought either. The chives grew in the villagers' vegetable gardens, and the alfalfa came from my feed field."
As for this fish, it was caught from the reservoir ahead, and we didn't pay a penny. We usually eat this, so it's really not excessive.”
Li Long's explanation was reasonable, so Lin Chaojun didn't say anything more and invited everyone to sit down and eat. Ma Hongmei and Deng Guilan served rice to everyone. To Xu Chengjun and Li Long's surprise, the first thing the work group members praised was the taste of the rice.
After tasting a couple of mouthfuls of rice, a woman exclaimed in surprise, "This rice is so fragrant! It's even better than the rice from Miquan. Where is it from?"
Xu Chengjun said with some pride, "It grew in our village, and it grew in the fields you just measured."
Our village has a tradition of growing rice, dating back nearly 100 years. People from Guangdong and Guangxi who came here to fight alongside Zuo Zongtang stayed and started growing rice, saying that this area was very suitable for growing this stuff.
Let me tell you, this place is really strange. The crops grown in that one patch taste exceptionally good. Even if you're just a hundred meters away from the reed gully, the same seeds grown in another patch of land won't taste the same.
Li Long knew that there was a saying in later generations that this was selenium-rich rice. This piece of land was probably more fragrant because the soil contained more certain mineral elements, and at this time of year, less chemical fertilizer was used, and mainly farmyard manure was used.
Using less fertilizer results in lower yields, but better taste. Later, using more fertilizer increases yields, but the taste deteriorates significantly.
The woman couldn't help but say, "Could we buy some to take home? Director Xu, could you help us ask if anyone has this kind of rice? We'd like to buy a few kilograms each, not too much, just so our families can try it."
Xu Chengjun said with a smile, "Of course there's no problem. Don't worry, we'll definitely pack some rice for you when you leave."
Lin Chaojun immediately said, "We can't give it away; we're buying it. This rule cannot be broken, and we have very strict regulations in this regard."
Xu Chengjun immediately replied, "No problem, no problem, we'll sell it to you."
During the meal, the members of the work group praised the food highly, feeling that every dish tasted delicious. One of the women said, "This meal is so much better than last night's; the taste of farm-style food is just different."
This made Ma Hongmei and Deng Guilan, who were eating at another table not far away, beam with joy. The guests' enjoyment of the food and their praise of its delicious taste was the greatest affirmation of their efforts.
Another man, who seemed more experienced, said, "It's not just that their cooking skills are good, but the food they eat is also excellent. Just think about it, the fish are freshly caught from the reservoir, cleaned and stewed right away. The taste is definitely much better than fish that's been sitting out for a day."
"We're so lucky! Look how delicious this alfalfa salad is, so tender! And the chives taste so fresh. You can't usually find this in the city. Vegetables grown in greenhouses use a lot of chemical fertilizers and water, so they don't taste as good."
Listening to them praising the food, Xu Chengjun was already thinking about what to give them when they left. Although Lin Chaojun and his group had acted very uprightly, Xu Chengjun felt that giving them some local specialties as parting gifts shouldn't be considered a violation of discipline, right?
We can just charge a token amount; after all, they really put in the work. Xu Chengjun accompanied them that morning as they measured the land, and he felt that the work team members were using both their hands and their brains—it wasn't easy. City people can't compare to old farmers like himself, but they worked very seriously and their attitude wasn't perfunctory. For that alone, giving them some gifts was worthwhile.
Most of the other working group members were discussing the ingredients on the table.
Lin Chaojun then discussed project implementation and drip irrigation tape production with Li Long. This wasn't his first time conducting land surveys for such projects, and he was familiar with the market for drip irrigation tape.
Previously, drip irrigation tape was so expensive that ordinary farmers would definitely lose money using it for farming. Most of the previous land improvement projects were for the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and in those projects, the Corps might even have to subsidize the use of drip irrigation tape. But with Li Long, farming could be profitable.
Lin Chaojun was a little curious.
Li Long didn't hold back and told everyone what needed to be said. Anyway, it wasn't exactly a secret.
After learning that this production line had reached world-class standards, Lin Chaojun marveled at the rapid development of agricultural machinery technology here. He then smiled and said, "From now on, we'll probably be much busier. After all, once the price of drip irrigation tape comes down, more people will definitely be willing to use advanced technology to farm and make money."
Li Long also said that this would definitely be a major trend in the future. Then he asked Lin Chaojun if, besides this large-scale transformation of 10,000 mu of farmland, there were any other projects being implemented in the autonomous region. After all, most natural villages do not have 10,000 mu of arable land.
Lin Chaojun explained to him that the project involved a portion of funding from the national government and another portion raised by the autonomous region, primarily for large-scale agricultural transformation. Small-scale transformation was not currently being considered by the autonomous region.
After all, the autonomous region's funds are limited, and it is impossible to take care of all aspects at this time. It can only prioritize the transformation of large tracts of intensive farmland.
Li Long indicated that he understood.
As a staff member of the Agriculture Department of the Autonomous Region, Lin Chaojun also revealed some other support programs to Li Long. For example, the Autonomous Region provides subsidies for improved varieties of grain, and some remote and impoverished areas also receive subsidies for pesticides.
Because cotton is a strategic resource, the government will conduct some price-supported purchases, but this has not yet been implemented here. Overall, cotton cultivation is a major trend for the future.
What he said was being listened to attentively not only by Li Long, but also by Xu Chengjun and the others. This was all specific information about how farmers could become wealthy, information that ordinary people had virtually no access to.
Unlike 30 years later, when the autonomous region would print various policies benefiting the people into booklets and distribute them to every household, these days, when good policies reach the county or township level and are implemented further, they are often intercepted by certain individuals who apply for the quotas in advance.
After a busy morning, everyone was tired, and the food was indeed quite delicious, so both men and women, all the adult staff ate more than two bowls of rice. The entire table of food was almost completely devoured.
Because they had eaten a lot, the original plan was to continue working half an hour after finishing their meal. However, considering the actual situation, Lin Chaojun had to postpone it for another half hour, allowing everyone to rest and digest their food before starting to measure the next plot of land.
While measuring in the afternoon, Lin Chaojun whispered to everyone, "Let's be more civilized when we eat later. Don't scare the villagers like they're starving. We almost didn't have enough rice."
Because they were all quite familiar with each other, one of the female comrades complained, "Team Leader Lin, you eat just as much as we do. I saw you eat two and a half bowls of rice."
Lin Chaojun blushed and didn't know how to refute. He thought to himself, "I must buy 20kg of rice for my family to try before I leave; this rice is truly fragrant." Then he said:
"At dinner, I'll take the lead. Let's all be a little heavier. Otherwise, after a few days of busy work, we'll all be back in the office two kilograms heavier. That would be hard to explain to the leaders."
Upon hearing his words, the two women immediately fell silent. They were also worried that if they gained a little weight, their colleagues would criticize them when they got back; it was something they needed to be mindful of.
However, this attempt to persuade them failed at dinner. The main dish for dinner was freshly steamed buns, and they drank rice porridge. There weren't many dishes on the table: a plate of stewed small mixed fish, a cold vermicelli salad, a stir-fried lamb with celery, and a salted egg for each person.
The celery was newly sprouted, less than a hand's length long, green and tender. When stir-fried with mutton, its fragrance was so enticing that it made one's mouth water.
Lunch was a bit greasy, so this light dinner was just what everyone wanted. Add to that the fragrant steamed buns, and who could resist? The result was that we ate too much again.
Lin Chaojun simply stopped saying anything, since he had already eaten quite a bit and his attitude had given up. So what if he got fat? He'd satisfy his cravings first.
Li Long didn't participate in dinner; his production was still ongoing.
However, Lin Chaojun mentioned it to Xu Chengjun. Xu Chengjun then had some food prepared and sent to Li Long's side. He could now see that these people from the Agriculture Department really treated Li Long differently; their relationship was indeed extraordinary. It seemed that the implementation of this project would ultimately depend on Li Long's leadership.
Li Long hadn't expected the team to send them food. After thanking Deng Guilan for delivering the food, he invited Li Junfeng and Chen Qianjin to eat together.
He had originally planned to finish this and then go home for dinner. Now, he figured he might as well eat it while it's hot. To be honest, he was hungry too. They'd made quite a bit of money lately; after all, the drip irrigation tape was freshly produced and still warm when people started paying to take it away. But with the machines running non-stop, they had to work in shifts, otherwise they really couldn't take it.
Judging from the current situation, this factory will have to keep running until the cotton is planted, and it won't be able to truly shut down until mid-to-late April. It will have to stay open for another 20 to 4 days.
With strong support, the work team worked with great enthusiasm and completed the land survey of the entire village in four days. The final result given to Xu Chengjun was 11,047 mu, exceeding the standard line for the 10,000-mu farmland transformation project. Therefore, at least in terms of acreage, the fourth team met the requirements.
Lin Chaojun also explicitly told Xu Chengjun that they would definitely state in the report that some of the land had already undergone drip irrigation conversion. This couldn't be hidden, as it would be discovered during project approval and when the construction team moved in.
After a few days of contact, Lin Chaojun also felt that Xu Chengjun was a man of action. He told Xu Chengjun that since the cooperative's drip irrigation field renovation project was also carried out by the autonomous region, there was actually nothing to worry about, as the autonomous region was well aware of the situation.
However, when Xu Chengjun asked whether the project could be approved directly, Lin Chaojun said they didn't know either. They were only responsible for measuring the land, and the specific approval would depend on the leaders' comprehensive consideration.
Xu Chengjun didn't say much. When he saw the work team off, he packed 20kg of local rice, a basket of eggs, and some chives and celery from a farmhouse courtyard for each of them—at this time, these were the only two kinds of vegetables left in the garden.
The work group was originally supposed to take a bus back from the bus station, but carrying all this stuff would be inconvenient. Xu Chengjun simply had Xu Haijun and Xie Yundong drive them directly to Wucheng, ensuring they got home safely.
When the working group left, Li Long also saw them off with Xu Chengjun.
After seeing the working group off, Xu Chengjun told Li Long to try to find connections and make an effort to see if he could get some help during the approval process.
Xu Chengjun said, "Go ahead and find people, whether it's spending money or getting things, our team will do everything we can to support you. No matter what, as long as you can get this project done, our whole team will be grateful to you."
Li Long laughed and said, "Captain, don't put so much pressure on me. I'll definitely find people to help, don't worry. This project should be successful, after all, there aren't many teams in our county with such a large land area as ours."
Moreover, as far as I know, we were the first to apply for this project with the autonomous region this year, so they should have taken this into consideration.
Xu Chengjun then said to Li Long:
"Don't try to dodge the issue; get the work done. Your two nephews seem to be doing quite well with that drip irrigation tape factory of yours, so you don't need to get involved there. Go and get on with your real business. Once this is done, I'll get your residency registration sorted out as soon as possible, and I'll also get the land for your relatives approved while I'm at it."
If you can't handle this, then forget about all of this. Even if I don't say anything, your relatives will scold you. I know you have a lot of influence and have contributed a lot to our village, but you still have to do your job when it's time to do it. Don't worry, everyone remembers your good deeds.”
Li Long went to make the call with a grin. Actually, he wasn't idle. When Xie Yundong and Xu Haijun saw Lin Chaojun and the others off, Li Long asked them to bring some local specialties for Professor Yang and his junior colleague, just to show their goodwill.
Then he called Professor Yang, and just like last time, the phone rang several times before being answered. It was the same situation; Professor Yang was still teaching. Li Long then explained the situation to Professor Yang.
Professor Yang said, "This shouldn't be a big problem. I know the situation of Team Four, and they meet the requirements of the project. I also have a good relationship with Team Four, and I will definitely do my best to ensure the implementation of this project. However, since the autonomous region has a record of the supported projects, the funding may be reduced."
Li Long said, "That doesn't matter. As long as this project can be implemented, we can just deduct the costs from the projects that their cooperative has already renovated."
With these words, Li Long could explain himself to the team.
P.S.: The picture I posted yesterday showed the truck carrying fried dough twists. Also, I'm saying some things here because a large portion of our readers are on QQ Reading, and they wouldn't see them if I posted them in the author's notes. (End of Chapter)