Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The wind and rain continued for most of the night before stopping. Many people in the fourth team, the entire township, and even the whole area that grows cotton, didn't sleep. It wasn't until late into the night, when the wind and rain subsided, that most people finally fell into a deep sleep.

Early in the morning, Li Long got up and went out into the yard. He found that the ground was half dry, but there were some branches, dead leaves and debris lying around, and a urea bag that had blown over from someone's house was hanging on a fruit tree branch.

He took a large broom and cleaned and inspected the yard, finding that apart from the plastic sheet and canvas covering the large pile of jade being torn off, there was no other damage.

The rest of the family members gradually got up and started doing their respective jobs.

Mingming Haohao was supposed to help Li Long clean the house, but Li Long made him rush off to memorize his text.

Soon, the sound of two children reciting their lessons could be heard in the courtyard. Their voices were quite loud, one trying to outdo the other, which was quite amusing to others.

While eating breakfast, Gu Xiaoxia asked Li Long if he was going to go to the fields to check on things later, as he was also quite worried about whether the cooperative's cotton might suffer any losses.

"I'll definitely check it, but I think it'll be fine." Li Long remained confident. "Our cotton plants are already so tall. Yesterday's wind and rain won't knock them down. Besides, I checked this morning, and the temperature wasn't below zero. There's no frost, so it's alright."

After lunch, Li Long dropped Mingming and Haohao off at school, then turned and drove towards Team Four. Along the way, he saw several trees that had been blown down, some even lying across the roadside. He had to stop, move the trees, and then continue on his way.

As we approached the village and prepared to turn towards the fourth team, a tree lay across the road, crushed into pieces by passing trucks—it could be called a tree cake.

Li Long slowed down, avoiding the patch of broken wood, and turned towards Team Four. As he drove past, he kept looking at the land on both sides of the road that had already been cultivated or sown.

In some places, the damage was quite severe; the cotton mulch film that had been laid was torn apart by the wind and blown haphazardly. However, cotton fields that had been growing for a slightly longer period fared relatively well, with only a few scattered plots suffering damage.

The road was spotless, clean from the wind. Students were already hurrying to school. The cheerful voices of the children echoed along the roadside. When they saw a car approaching, they would remind each other to move aside.

Li Long slowed down to avoid any unruly children running into the car while playing. After passing the elementary school, he saw four groups of students appear. Some of them recognized Li Long and greeted him loudly. Li Long responded to each of them.

Upon entering the territory of Team Four, he didn't stop, driving straight towards the cooperative's large plots of land. He discovered he wasn't the first to arrive; several vehicles from the cooperative were parked there. Xie Yundong, Tao Daqiang, Liang Dacheng, Jia Weidong, and even Tie Tou were all standing there. Xu Haijun wasn't there; he was probably checking on the areas under his responsibility in Team Two.

After getting out of the car, Li Long walked up to them and looked into the field. The cooperative's large plots of land were relatively flat and easy to see. The entire field was currently in a state of utter chaos.

The cotton growing on the plastic film was covered with a mess of withered branches, fallen leaves, and other household waste, making it look terrible. There were even some seemingly green tender leaves and twigs piled up in the shallow grooves in the middle of the film, looking from a distance like cotton heads that had been blown away.

"Were you startled?" Liang Dacheng walked up to him and said with a smile, "You didn't think those leaves that were blown away were cotton, did you?"

“You were the first one to get startled, Dacheng.” Tao Daqiang exposed him mercilessly. “The rest of us said we were going down to see what was going on, but you were the only one who got startled, thinking that all our cotton had been blown away.”

Liang Dacheng patted Tao Daqiang on the shoulder with dissatisfaction and said, "Look at you, you're so boring. I just wanted to see Xiaolong's reaction, to see if he was scared like me."

"How could that be? Do you think I can't see it? Those things blown into the ditch are all weeds and elm seeds."

The cotton in our field is growing very well. Although it looks dirty here, the cotton is perfectly fine.

Look at this entire area, over a thousand acres. A quick glance reveals very few places where the plastic film has been blown off.

Li Long's words were full of confidence, and the others also laughed and said how worried they were last night, but when they came over today, they found it was a false alarm.

"Dacheng, didn't you say you wanted to go and yell at Ma Jinbao? Come on, I'll drive you there, let's go to his doorstep and yell at him today!"

Tao Daqiang has had a relatively smooth life these past few years, and his personality has also changed. He used to be taciturn, but now he occasionally cracks a joke. He tugged at Liang Dacheng's arm and said, "Come on, come on! With his lazy nature, he probably hasn't gone to herd sheep yet. Let's go and scold him now!"

"I just said it casually. If we really went to yell at him, I was afraid he wouldn't be able to handle it and might faint from anger, then he'd try to extort money from me," Liang Dacheng explained as he struggled.

"Given the current situation in our field, if I just tell him, he'll get so angry he'll die. There's no need for me to scold him; it's not worth it."

Everyone burst into laughter. They all knew that Ma Jinbao had taken some kind of madness; he just couldn't seem to see anyone in the cooperative doing well.

Everything is normal in the field now. After this cold snap and spring rain, the cotton is growing stronger and stronger, which is really infuriating.

The temperature was still not high for the next two days, but it was much better than the windy and rainy day, and then everyone in the team started sowing seeds.

For several days in a row, Ma Jinbao was not seen in the store. He also started herding the sheep earlier than usual, avoiding the peak time when everyone was going to work. Occasionally, someone would see him, and he would hurriedly drive the sheep away.

The 1000 mu of land that Xu Haijun was in charge of also withstood this late spring cold snap. A few plots of land where the plastic film was damaged by the wind only needed simple repairs, and the overall seedlings were in good condition.

When he returned and told the others in the cooperative about it, he had a smile on his face, saying that he was sure to get the year-end bonus.

Li Jianguo led his team to get busy. The cooperative's two plots of land successfully avoided the busy farming season. While others were still plowing, preparing the land, and waiting for the seedlings to emerge, they were already preparing to water the land a second time.

Drip irrigation cotton is indeed time-saving and labor-saving, requiring no thinning and only a very small number of replants. Because there is no large-scale irrigation, weeds have difficulty growing due to water shortage, greatly reducing weeding work and making management very convenient.

Tie Tou and the other young men quickly adapted to this easy-to-manage planting method. They were very enthusiastic about their work, and every day after meals they would go to the cotton fields early to inspect their assigned plots.

In comparison, Li Long was much more lax. Apart from that one time when he rushed to the fields to check on things because of a cold snap in early spring, he only went to check on things occasionally.

As May approaches, the fritillaria season is just around the corner. Some people have already gone into the mountains to dig for fritillaria in order to earn more money. So during this period, he mainly stayed at the purchasing station with his father, Li Qingxia, to be in charge of purchasing fritillaria and exchanging the goods brought in by Liu Gaolou.

As May progresses, the weather becomes increasingly hot. This is a good season for cotton cultivation; the hotter the weather, the better the cotton grows, which means more cotton bolls will form in the fall.

But for students preparing for the college entrance examination, this kind of weather can make them irritable.

In an effort to improve their grades, Li Qiang and Du Wenlong have given up reading extracurricular books and spend their days memorizing tedious formulas and English words. They only become lively when they quiz each other on famous quotes and poems.

Ms. Xu, a senior teacher at the school who teaches Chinese, participated in the compilation of a book on Chinese language knowledge. It covers almost all the Chinese language knowledge points during high school, both inside and outside the classroom. It is the kind of book that is interesting to read and easy to memorize.

This book became a book that Li Qiang often held in his hands, and he could almost recite it from beginning to end.

Students would occasionally ask each other what colleges they planned to apply for, but most students were still clueless and didn't know much about the outside world at that time.

Although they had reached adulthood, there were no coming-of-age ceremonies at this time. What was quite rare was that, from the first year of high school to the third year, although the boys and girls in the class had feelings for each other, not many of them actually dated.

Occasionally, there are rumors about so-and-so dating so-and-so, but as time goes on and things develop, it turns out that it may just be unrequited love, or it may just be a rumor.

With each mock exam, the school posted the rankings and scores on the large blackboard on the first floor to encourage students to improve their grades as much as possible in the remaining time.

In June, the school distributed a newspaper to the students containing a list of all the universities recruiting in XJ, along with their majors, program numbers, and the number of students they would be admitting.

Although the current situation is that students estimate their scores after the college entrance examination and then fill out their college applications, the time is quite tight. Therefore, schools hope that students can learn about the relevant schools, majors, and enrollment numbers as early as possible and be mentally prepared.

Li Qiang wanted to apply to a military academy, a decision he had carefully considered over the past few days. However, he hadn't told his family about it, believing that his parents and sister would support his decision.

So after receiving the newspaper, he began to look through the section about military academies.

Li Qiang once told Du Wenlong that he wanted to apply to a military academy, while Du Wenlong said he wanted to apply to a medical university.

The first thing Li Qiang saw was the military medical university. Of the four military medical universities, only the Fourth Military Medical University recruited slightly more students in Xinjiang, with fifteen people. The Second and Third Military Medical Universities each recruited only one student, while the First Military Medical University didn't recruit any at all.

The Xi'an Army Academy recruited the most students, with as many as fifty. Following closely behind were schools such as the Information Engineering Academy and the Missile Academy, which each recruited a dozen or twenty students.

Following the trail, Li Qiang came across the Command and Technology Academy of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, a military academy located in Yanjing, whose name itself was quite unique.

Then apply to this school. This school admits a fair number of students, twelve in total.

Li Qiang wasn't the only one in his class planning to apply to military academy. Two girls came to his seat together and asked if he was also planning to apply. Li Qiang said yes. One of them said, "We're planning to apply too. There are only a few schools that accept girls: three medical universities and an information engineering college. There are many more that accept boys..."

They asked Li Qiang if they could apply to different schools than him. Li Qiang thought for a moment and said, "The school I applied to doesn't accept girls."

The two girls were relieved. After asking him if he had applied to the Command and Technology Academy of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, they turned and left.

Li Qiang was in the top class. In the second semester of his junior year, students were divided into science and humanities streams. The school grouped the students who were good at science into one class, and Li Qiang was in that class.

The students in this class have a relatively higher chance of getting into university, and the teaching staff is relatively stronger. However, at this point, everyone is competing on their foundation.

When Li Qiang went home for the weekend, he shared his thoughts with his family.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei were both somewhat surprised. Liang Yuemei was worried that her son would suffer after going to military school, so she advised Li Qiang to be more cautious.

Li Jianguo also said that his family's current economic situation is relatively good, and they can definitely support themselves. He told Li Qiang not to take the military academy entrance exam because of tuition and living expenses for his siblings' university education.

Li Qiang said no, he just wanted to go to military school and become a soldier.

Since their son's ideal is like this, the two of them naturally support him, but they feel that life will be very hard.

Li Qiang, on the contrary, smiled and comforted them, saying that he was going to military academy and would become an officer after graduation, which would be much better than being a soldier and wouldn't be as tough.

“To be an officer, you need to be able to manage soldiers, or at least be better than them. You’ll definitely train hard in military academy,” Li Jianguo said, based on his own ideas. “You need to be mentally prepared.”

Li Jianguo later called Li Long to tell him about it, and Li Long was also somewhat surprised.

After they were admitted to university, they would still be assigned jobs after graduation. So Li Long thought that Li Qiang could just go to any relatively prestigious university and he wouldn't have any problems finding a job. But in his previous life, Li Qiang went to a military academy. It seems that he, like a butterfly, can't flap his wings very much.

Among Li Long's friends, only Xu Haijun knew relatively well about military academies, so Li Long called Xu Haijun to ask about it.

"It depends on whether he plans to apply to a command academy or a technical academy. If it's a command academy, then apply to the one in Shijiazhuang. Our army has seven command academies now, and that's the best." Xu Haijun had just returned from the fields when Li Long asked about this, so he shared what he knew:

"If you take the technical exam, the best job placement is at a military medical university. The Fourth Military Medical University is located in Chang'an, and the job placement is basically in the five northwestern provinces, which is closer to home. Of course, the scores will be higher."

“High scores are not a problem,” Li Long said. “Qiangqiang’s academic performance is quite good. He has done well in several mock exams. If he performs well, he should be able to get over 600 points.”

"Then choose whatever you want. Command if you want, do technical work if you want." Xu Haijun was very envious when he heard about this result. When he first joined the army, he had thought about taking the military academy exam or getting promoted, but unfortunately there were too many competitors, and later he had to come back because of health problems.

"Tell him that he can apply for any position except for those few special posts. Of course, the command positions will be tougher, even tougher than what we did in basic training. We'll see if he can handle it."

"What do you mean by 'radish post'? There's a radish post for military academy entrance exams?"

"The kind of military academy that only recruits one person? Why only recruit one person? We discussed this kind of thing in the army back then."

There are only two possibilities when hiring someone: either they're giving your province/region a favor by hiring, or they've already pretty much decided who to hire and are just giving you a spot—don't even think about it.

Li Long instantly remembered that joke about ancestral graves emitting green smoke or even setting fire to them; so that's what the "Radish Hill" recruitment exam meant.

"Is there anything else I should be careful about?" Li Long didn't want to ask other people, so asking Xu Haijun was the easiest way.

“The thing we need to pay attention to is his health,” Xu Haijun thought of another important thing. “The physical examination at military academy is very strict. Don’t eat junk food, keep a regular schedule, and don’t stay up late. Otherwise, he might have better grades than others, but he might be disqualified because of his physical condition.”

Li Long wrote all of this down, and the following weekend, he told his father, Li Qingxia, that he would go pick up Li Qiang.

When Li Qiang arrived at the school gate, he didn't see his grandfather's car, but he did see his uncle standing by the car waving at him.

He walked over and asked, "Uncle, why are you picking me up today? Did Grandpa have something to do?"

"No, I heard you were going to take the military academy entrance exam, so I came to ask you about it." After he got into the car, Li Long sat in the driver's seat and started the car as he spoke to him.

He told Li Qiang everything he had heard from Xu Haijun, which broadened Li Qiang's horizons and expanded his knowledge base.

Although my ideal choice is to apply to a military academy, I don't really understand military academies. I only have a superficial understanding of whether they are command or technical programs.

That's why he chose the Command and Technology Academy of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, because this school combines both command and technology.

What he didn't know was that this school later became the Equipment Academy, and then the Strategic Support Space Engineering University. The command he learned there was for commanding launch missions, which was a completely different concept from the command he had imagined.

Along the way, Li Long told Li Qiang everything he knew and then emphasized some precautions, such as not eating random things and not running around.

Li Qiang reassured Li Long, so how could he possibly be in the mood to run around at this point?

Those applying to military academies need to fill out a separate application form, which must be submitted before the college entrance examination.

The college entrance examination was in July. There was a holiday from July 2nd to July 5th. On July 6th, everyone gathered at the school and then went to Beiting City to stay in a hotel. On the afternoon of the 6th, they could also go to see the examination venue and then make various preparations.

After visiting the exam venue, the students discussed tomorrow's exam in small groups. Some students were quite nervous and worried that they wouldn't be able to sleep that night.

Then Li Qiang told him to buy a cassette tape of "Erquan Yingyue" by the blind musician Abing, and listen to it at night so he could fall asleep more easily.

This was based on his own experience, and the classmate actually believed it and went to buy a disc.

Because it is a national unified college entrance examination, and it follows the timetable of the mainland, it is relatively difficult for people in northern Xinjiang to get used to, since they have to get up two hours earlier than usual.

In July, it's still light in northern Xinjiang at 10 p.m. and it doesn't get dark until around 11 p.m.

This makes it difficult to guarantee sleep time, but there's nothing that can be done about it.

There were also a few ethnic minority students in the class, and they seemed quite happy.

At this point, students from both the Uyghur and Hakka ethnic groups will receive an additional 120 points if both parents are from ethnic minorities, and an additional 60 points if one parent is from an ethnic minority.

Other ethnic minorities also have certain bonus points, so many Uyghur and Kazakh students transfer to Han schools in their senior year of high school for this bonus.

Li Qiang had originally thought the college entrance examination would be extremely strict and difficult. However, when the exam took place on July 7th, he found that the invigilation was even less strict than the mock exams they had taken at school.

But there was no time to worry about that now; answering the questions was the priority. After the morning exam, the students went back to the hotel to rest. Li Qiang ran into the guy who sold the cassette tapes, and he gave Li Qiang a good scolding.

"You made me listen to Blind Abing's music, but the more I listened, the less I could sleep. I only slept for three or four hours last night. Luckily, I felt relatively energetic when I woke up this morning, otherwise I would have given you a hard time."

Li Qiang was also a bit wronged. He did find it easy to doze off when listening to this piece of music, so why did it feel different for other people?

After apologizing, Li Qiang advised him to rest quickly, as he had an exam in the afternoon.

After the college entrance examination, the school organized buses to take everyone to the No. 1 High School, and then everyone went home.

Before going back, some classmates made a plan to go to Nanshan together before the scores were released.

A classmate from Qingshuihe strongly urged everyone to go, saying that the wild strawberries in Nanshan are ripe now and the scenery is especially beautiful, and everyone is welcome to come and have fun.

Li Jianguo waited in his car at the school gate. After Li Qiang brought the remaining luggage and loaded it into the car, the father and son got in the car and went home.

"How did you do on the exam?" Li Jianguo asked.

"It was alright, about the same as usual. After the exam, a few of us compared our scores, and it was around 570," Li Qiang said.

His grades were significantly worse than his sister Li Juan's, but still quite good compared to his usual performance.

Li Jianguo was slightly disappointed, but he didn't say anything. He had already achieved a score that was better than many others. He asked Li Qiang what he planned to do next. Li Qiang told him about his promise to his classmates, and Li Jianguo said that he would ask his uncle to take him there.

On the third day after the exam, the students went to school to fill out their college application forms. At that time, there weren't many resources to refer to, and there was no internet to search online. Filling out college applications wasn't as complicated as it is in later years. You didn't need several books for reference; you only needed a newspaper.

Many of the schools and majors were new to the students, so they were all a bit confused when filling out their applications. Li Qiang, on the other hand, had already made up his mind, so he filled in his application for military academies in the early admission batch.

Among the students in the class who filled out the early admission application, besides those who applied to military academies, there were also a few who applied to police officer colleges, and one classmate even applied to the Youth Political Academy, saying that his family told him that the prospects after graduating from this school were better.

Li Qiang didn't know much about this. When he was planning to apply to a military academy, he communicated with his sister and even made a phone call.

Li Juan knew more than him. After learning about his ideal, she also thought that applying to this university was a good idea. As for the rest, she didn't want to think about Tsinghua or Peking University, and there was also the Agricultural University in Yenching.

As for the National University of Defense Technology, which was later known as the "Little Tsinghua of the Military," it was not very famous at this time, or rather, it was not famous in Li Qiang's eyes.

A significant number of military academies do not recruit students in northern Xinjiang, so the range of choices is relatively small, and this was simply decided.

Aside from military academies in the early admission batch, Li Qiang chose schools outside Xinjiang for both key and regular undergraduate and junior college applications. He figured that if he wasn't accepted by a military academy, he would eventually return to work in northern Xinjiang no matter which university he applied to, so he might as well go out and study for a few years and see the outside world.

At that time, there was no such thing as the first-tier or second-tier cutoff scores for college applications. There were only cutoff scores for early admission, key undergraduate programs, general undergraduate programs, and junior college programs. Later reforms have been implemented.

There are no such things as separate listings or counterpart assistance to Xinjiang in later generations. There is no such thing as internal primary or internal high school. It is relatively simple, but filling it out is still a mystery.

During the college application period, students were asking each other about their estimated scores. Generally speaking, some were happy while others were worried. Li Qiang's classmates who graduated from junior high school at the same time had not done well on their exams and had been feeling down these past few days.

Du Wenlong, who shared a dorm room with Du Wenlong, performed steadily and estimated his score to be around 400. According to his thinking, he could still get into the less popular majors at Xinjiang Medical University.

The day was lively and bustling. In the end, we filled in all the forms that needed to be filled in, and then we discussed the plans for this last vacation of high school.

Besides going to Nanshan with his classmates, Li Qiang was also invited to visit the homes of two classmates, and several classmates, both boys and girls, were going to treat him to a meal.

At this point, Li Qiang was still confused and didn't understand what it meant. He just thought that they would go their separate ways afterward, so he agreed to everything.

A few days later, the school notified Li Qiang to undergo a military physical examination.

This time, the military physical examination was still conducted at the county hospital. When Li Qiang arrived early in the morning, he found that people were already waiting there. He originally planned to chat with a few familiar classmates, but he discovered that apart from himself, he didn't recognize any of the remaining twenty-three people.

Li Qiang was surprised. As far as he knew, at least five students in his own class had applied to military academies, but none of the twenty-three students were from the county's top high school, which was quite interesting.

At first, he wondered if it was from one of the regiments of the Production and Construction Corps, but then he realized it wasn't. The college entrance examination for the Production and Construction Corps is a separate system, not the same as theirs.

What is going on here?
Li Qiang was a little nervous because there wasn't a single familiar face around. The person in charge of the physical examinations was from the Education Bureau, whom Li Qiang still didn't recognize. The person in charge came over to organize the queue, then handed out forms for them to fill out before proceeding with the physical examinations according to the items listed.

I had a physical exam before, but this one was more rigorous.

Li Qiang was slightly flustered as there was no one he knew around.

"Li Qiang, are you planning to apply to military academy? Are you going to take the physical exam?" A voice rang out in the hallway. Li Qiang looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was his junior high school classmate, who was dressed as a nurse and looking at him with surprise.

Wu Yali and Li Qiang were classmates for a year in the third year of junior high school. Wu Yali was a repeat student who transferred from another place.

Because he was a bit older than the students who went directly to university, he was relatively mature and a bit aloof. He didn't have many close friends in the whole class. He could chat with Li Qiang, who was the class's academic representative and class representative, but they mostly talked about academic issues.

Li Qiang then realized that Wu Yali had applied to Beiting Health School, so he asked:

"You've already graduated? Are you doing an internship, or were you assigned here?"

"I'm interning here, and my internship isn't over yet," Wu Yali said. "What about you?"

"As you said, I'm here for the military academy physical examination."

"That's impressive." Wu Yali gave him a thumbs up. "Which school did you apply to? Never mind, I wouldn't know anyway. How many people from our class applied to military academies? How did they do on the exams?"

Li Qiang said that only five people in his class were admitted to high school at that time. Among these five people, two were in the humanities, while he and two other classmates were in the sciences. As far as he knows, the other two classmates did not do well and may go to universities in Xinjiang.

"That's good too." Wu Yali nodded and said, "You should get a medical check-up first, and then we can talk."

After exchanging a few words with his classmate, Li Qiang calmed down, completed the physical examination in order, handed in the form, chatted with Wu Yali for a few more minutes, and then left.

He was brought here by Li Long, who was waiting in his car parked outside the county hospital.

After Li Qiang got back into the car, Li Long asked about the medical examination. Li Qiang briefly explained and then expressed his doubts: "None of the people who came for the medical examination this time are from our school. I don't know any of the other 23 people, and I don't know why."

Li Long was also taken aback for a moment, then he realized what was happening and nodded, saying:
"You've most likely encountered someone who immigrated to take the college entrance exam."

"What is 'college entrance exam migration'?" Li Qiang asked curiously, as he was unfamiliar with the term.

"That means these people may have attended primary and junior high school in our county, and then at a certain stage they went directly to a different county, but their school registration is still in our county. So they have to come back for the college entrance examination, and military academies also have to recruit from this county."

The college entrance examination scores in northern Xinjiang are relatively low, which is advantageous for them. This is permitted by policy, as long as their school registration is in northern Xinjiang for a certain number of years.

Of course, it's also possible that some people are exploiting loopholes in the policy, creating a new student record so that they're not even physically present but still enjoying the benefits offered by the local government.

"Isn't that just taking advantage of us?" Li Qiang said angrily. "Doesn't the education department do anything about these people?"

Looking at his indignant nephew, Li Long suddenly felt that it was actually a good thing for Li Qiang to go to military school.

This society is not so simple; there is no shortage of deceit, treachery, and backstabbing.

Especially in officialdom, without a certain level of political wisdom and the ability to misjudge situations, one can easily be taken advantage of.

On the contrary, the military is relatively simpler. Unless you reach a certain level, you don't have to take sides or fall into traps. As long as you do things within the rules, you generally won't run into any problems.

He smiled and said to Li Qiang, "This society is very complex, and many things cannot be solved with a one-size-fits-all approach. For example, one of your classmates went to school with you from elementary school all the way to junior high school graduation, and then his parents moved to Kouhe for some reason, so he had to go with them to study there."

However, because his household registration is here, he can come back to take the college entrance exam, since the required scores are lower here. This is called making reasonable use of the rules, and the country allows it.

Li Qiang nodded, digesting the amount of information he had gained that day.

As for those classmates who applied to military academies but didn't participate in the military physical examination, they must have been eliminated in the previous stage.

So all that's left for them is the first batch of admissions. Those students all had pretty good grades, and their estimated scores varied, but were generally above the average undergraduate admission line.

They are basically all able to go to university.

Even those ethnic minority students who estimated their scores to be over 200 might get a direct admission to Beijiang University because they would receive an additional 100 points.

On July 18th, Li Long took Li Qiang to the county's No. 1 Middle School, where they had arranged to meet as classmates and then take a bus together to Qingshuihe.

Li Long handed the key to the hot spring resort to Li Qiang, telling him that if he wanted to go to the mountains, he could go there to soak in the hot springs. He also gave Li Qiang a backpack filled with some canned meat and other things.

Li Long's original words were: "The villages you go to over by the Qingshui River are generally not very wealthy. If a dozen or so students go there, they will have to host you for a day or two, and it will be quite troublesome to provide you with food and lodging."

Giving money directly wouldn't be appropriate, since other students are also there. You can share the canned meat here when you go out for a meal; it's a small token of your appreciation and will ease their burden a bit.

Although the Li family eats meat every day, and although the living standards of the fourth team have already reached the forefront of the county, both Li Long and Li Qiang know that their current living standards are only above the subsistence level, and it's not that they are living too well.

The bag also contained the point-and-shoot camera that Li Long had prepared for Li Qiang, so they could take more photos later.

The group of students was almost evenly split between boys and girls, and everyone was a little surprised to see Li Qiang come down with a bag on his back.

Because everyone was in a hurry, no one asked any questions; after getting on the bus, everyone was longing for the scenery in the mountains.

Filling out college application forms is incredibly stressful; now is the time to relax.

We arrived at my classmate's village a little over an hour later.

Li Qiang's classmate, Niu Zijian, was waiting at the intersection. When the bus arrived, he waved, and the bus door opened. The students got off one by one, and Niu Zijian said with a smile, "Welcome, welcome, everyone. My home is just up ahead."

Let's rest at my house first, then I'll take you all to pick wild strawberries. After lunch, I'll drive the tractor and take you all into the mountains.

"The plan is pretty good," one student asked. "Will there be enough room? There are so many of us, won't it be a hassle?"

“No trouble at all,” Niu Zijian said with a smile. “The boys will stay at our house, and the girls will stay at Liu Chunling’s house. Her house is 200 meters away from ours. It’s all agreed.”

Li Qiang felt a little embarrassed when he heard this. Liu Chunling was the one who couldn't sleep after he suggested "Erquan Yingyue".

Fortunately, Liu Chunling did quite well on this exam, with her estimated score being similar to her usual mock exam results.

When Li Qiang and his friends arrived at their classmate's house, Li Long had already returned home and was preparing for lunch.

As Gu Xiaoxia tidied the table, she asked worriedly, "Do you think it's dangerous for Qiangqiang and his friends, both boys and girls, to go to the mountains together?"

“What danger is there?” Li Long said nonchalantly. “There haven’t been any wolves near the mountains in the last two years, and there’s not a trace of lynxes. The bears have all gone deep into the mountains. At most, they might run into wild goats or deer.”

"I meant boys and girls going out to play together like this," Gu Xiaoxia glared at him. "Won't something bad happen?"

"You're overthinking it." Li Long smiled. "They're all eighteen-year-old adults, but our Qiangqiang is still clueless about this."

As for the others, no one is stupid enough to become friends with them. I talked to Qiangqiang, and all of them are completely focused on their studies; they haven't quite figured things out yet.

Gu Xiaoxia changed the subject, saying that Li Juan should be back soon. It's almost the end of the third year, and the fourth year is almost here. She wondered how things were going after graduation, and how her relationship was progressing.

“I think you’re becoming more and more like your sister-in-law,” Li Long said with a smile. “You’re all so grown up now. They have their own plans, but we’ve been staying in this small county town. Our horizons aren’t as broad as theirs. Let’s just wait for them to come and talk to us.”

At this moment, it wasn't just Gu Xiaoxia who was worried, but also Sister Yang.

Han Fang has also started her internship, but it's at an elementary school in Beiting City. According to Gu Xiaoxia and Li Long, this is a good thing; she might even stay there afterward.

Beiting City will definitely develop better than Ma County, but Sister Yang must miss her daughter who can't come home for the holidays.

Li Long suggested that Sister Yang should go and take a look, since Han Fang and the others' school should be on holiday now, and they're just doing odd jobs there, so there shouldn't be anything to do.

There are low hills near Qingshuihe Township. On the north slope of the low hills, there are many wild strawberries. Niu Zijian and his classmates picked a lot and took them back to eat as snacks.

Before lunch, Li Qiang took out the canned food quietly to avoid embarrassing the other students.

However, at lunchtime, Niu Zijian still told everyone that Li Qiang had brought canned meat and invited them to try it.

Li Qiang had no choice but to explain that his uncle owned a cannery, and these canned goods were sold to Kazakhstan. His uncle had brought them over and given them to him, and they came in handy now.

"Come on, everyone, have a taste!" Niu Zijian urged. "We have both hot and cold dishes, and the protein content is good. Eat up, don't be shy!"

After finishing their meal, Niu Zijian started the small four-wheeled tractor, let everyone get on, and prepared to go to the mountains for fun.

Li Qiang sat on the board and told Niu Zijian that his uncle had a hot spring resort in the mountains and could take everyone there for a soak.

"Hey, what a great thing! Let's go! You should have told us sooner, we would have had everyone prepare their changes of clothes." Niu Zijian turned to announce the news to everyone. The students were very happy and urged Niu Zijian to set off quickly, with Li Qiang leading the way.

So the small four-wheeled tractor kicked up a trail of dust as it headed into the mountains.

P.S.: At the request of readers, here are a few photos. These are under the word limit and will not incur extra charges.

These are oleaster flowers, their fragrance is sweet and cloying.
This is the harvest from the trap, along with a few water beetles. I ate what I could, threw away what I didn't, and fed the small crucian carp to the chickens.

The mushrooms my mom dug this morning
Finally, here's a picture of the Tuohulasu Grassland scenery from today. (End of Chapter)