PNB Chapter 444 The Great Development of Bee Farms
Chapter 444 The Great Development of Bee Farms
After finally crossing the long ditch, the second uncle and the eldest uncle arrived at the foot of the Li family's self-built building, and found their arms very itchy.
The mosquitoes in the mountains are incredibly venomous, especially in the middle of summer. When they crossed the ditches and ponds, the sunlight shone down, and the mosquitoes swarmed in dense numbers, giving them goosebumps. Sure enough, after finally crossing the ditch and arriving at this self-built area, everyone's arms were covered in large, itchy mosquito bites. Scratching them only made them hurt more; it was very uncomfortable.
The second uncle grimaced and said painfully, "Brother, what kind of location did the third brother choose for this house? I'm never coming here again."
The old man wasn't much better off. The biggest swelling was on his arm, but he pretended to be nonchalant and said, "So what? I still have to come and see. Can't the third brother's kids really stay away from each other?"
"They've installed a telephone too, so next time we should just have the kids come visit us."
The old man nodded, endured it for a while, then grimaced and scratched the mosquito bites on his arm, which itched terribly but dared not say anything. When they entered, Song Lanhua warmly welcomed them. She noticed the bites on their faces and arms and found them rather strange.
"Big brother, second brother, what's wrong?"
They explained the situation. Mother Song Lanhua paused for a moment and said, "My two sisters-in-law said that you have a bicycle, so you can just ride it up the road. You don't need to climb such a long mountain road, which is troublesome."
The old man paused, then asked in confusion, "What highway?"
Song Lanhua led the two elderly men to the winding mountain road for a look. The dirt road, which was originally deserted and all dry land, now had a highway built not far from the self-built houses.
The asphalt road was as wide as a two-lane road in the city and was already open to traffic. Further up, there was still construction going on, and the roar of construction vehicles could be heard. The two old men stared wide-eyed in surprise.
"Oh my god, the road is open now? The land prices are going to rise!"
The two old men were filled with remorse, beating their chests and stamping their feet. The second old man sighed repeatedly, unable to sleep well for a month, even dreaming of saying, "If only we had received dry land back then, wouldn't that have been better?"
Later, Aunt Er would often hear Uncle Er sighing in the middle of the night. Annoyed, she would slap him twice to wake him up and scold him, "What are you yelling about all day long? Why can't you sleep properly in the middle of the night? It's so annoying."
When Uncle Erda told her about the road repairs that had opened to traffic in front of Li Ju'an's house during the day, Aunt Erda shouted loudly.
Their tenement building already had poor sound insulation between floors. And Aunt Er's voice was loud; when she shouted like that, her eldest son, daughter-in-law, and youngest son next door all woke up.
"What! Li Ju'an's land has appreciated to this level?"
Originally, it was the second uncle who couldn't sleep, but now the whole family is also unable to sleep, beating their chests and stamping their feet.
The two men had initially thought that getting irrigated land was a great deal, but now, seeing the dry land Li Ju'an had received, they felt utterly pathetic. In the village, people were practically begging to lease their land, but no one wanted it. Li Ju'an's land was right by the road, and he had carved out a section specifically for parking. Countless passersby would stop, ask for a drink of water, look at Li's orchard and bee farm, and chat with the owners.
Li Ju'an has doubled the scale of his bee farm this year, and even spent money to hire the old queen bee to stay at the bee farm to build queen cells and breed new queen bees.
Normally, when the mountains are in bloom, there are many kinds of flowers, and the bees can eat their fill. Now, Li Ju'an's bee farm is located deep in the mountains, with Changchong Gully and Wild Boar Forest on the left and right. Wild Boar Forest is full of wild fruit trees. Although the flowers of the wild fruit trees are small, they are rich and fragrant, so the bees have no trouble collecting nectar.
Even Old Wang said to Li Ju'an with envy, "Back when we were in the production team, we had to carry beehives and search all over the mountains for places where the flowers were in bloom to release the bees. Now you're doing much better, your apiary is located in the two areas with the most flowers in the entire Xing'an Mountains. In spring, there are plenty of wildflowers in Changchong Gully, and in summer, Yezhulin is full of flowers."
Li Ju'an laughed heartily and said, "We can't be so sure. If this area is developed, all the fruit trees will be cut down and used for other purposes. We'll have to carry our beehives and find another place to lease a plot of land to properly set up a apiary. I've already found a plot. There's a wild boar forest in Xiaoling Village, and the flowers there have a long blooming period. We'll lease that plot in the summer, build queen cells, and send a wave of bees there."
Old Wang was surprised and exclaimed, "You have such a big appetite, kid! One apiary isn't enough, you want to build two?" The production team wasn't this aggressive in the past. Li Ju'an really figured out how to motivate people.
Li Ju'an shook his head and said, "Even a cunning rabbit needs two burrows. If this area is developed for tourism, our bee farm will have to be demolished and relocated. There will be subsidies from above for the demolition, which seems like a lot of money. But our bee farm still needs to continue to develop. We can use this subsidy to develop in Xiaoling Village. I've also looked at the land in Wangxing Village, which is not bad either. We can contract two plots there."
Old King Bee was completely convinced this time. He gave a thumbs up and exclaimed, "Li Pao, you're the one who really got this work enthusiasm. The policy of distributing land to individual households is really effective. Everyone is working even harder now."
In the past, in the production teams, everyone would rest after earning work points, making it almost impossible to develop new ideas or be more proactive. But Li Ju'an was proactive, enthusiastic, and innovative. This year, he actually led Lao Wang to contract two more plots of land in Xiaoling Village and Wangxing Village to develop bee farms. The locals are all familiar with "Little Li Pao" from Lijiatun.
The two village chiefs were originally going to question him thoroughly and refuse to help, but upon hearing the name "Little Li Pao," they immediately asked, "Which village's Little Li Pao is he?"
"Which other 'Little Li Cannon' is there? It's Little Li Cannon from Lijiatun who fights tigers and bears."
Two years later, Old King Bee discovered that what Li Ju'an had said had actually come true. The land that was originally Wild Boar Forest had indeed been requisitioned by the local authorities, the wild fruit trees had been cut down, and the entire area had been developed into a tourist destination. After the mountain road opened, more and more tourists from other places came to the mountain, mostly business owners who had traveled all over the country or city dwellers with their families.
The local government allocated a large sum of money to subsidize Li Ju'an's bee farm.
Li Ju'an's bee farms in Wangxingtun and Xiaoling Villages gradually improved, growing larger than the previous three mu. In addition to his business dealings with Pang Duolai regarding wild honey, he also co-founded a wild honey brand with Chen Xiangqian. He was responsible for supplying the wild honey, while Chen Xiangqian was responsible for selling and delivering it to Shanghai.
Chen Xiangqian, strutting happily in his brand-name sneakers he'd just bought after returning from Shanghai, boasted to Li Ju'an, "My buddies are really good at this in Shanghai. They've got the connections I need, and this honey is now being sold in department stores there. If you ask me, wild honey from the Xing'an Mountains really sells well. By the way, Li, you'd better increase production quickly, or those adulterated honeys will overshadow ours."
Wild honey is all hype. A bee farm is only so big. Even if you open two bee farms, the only season you can supply honey each year is spring and summer. The yield drops sharply in autumn, and the bees have to eat honey from the hive to survive the cold winter.