Li Long went to County No. 1 Middle School and signed the contract. The academic affairs director pointed emphatically at one clause. "We'll visit your place in early September to inspect your preparations.
"All the conditions listed in the agreements you submitted must be in place. If your preparations are inadequate, we can terminate the contract at any time."
"No problem!" Li Long readily agreed. "Call before the inspection, and we guarantee we'll be ready."
After leaving County No. 1 Middle School, Li Long drove to the Fourth Team and went straight to the fields.
At the edge of the cotton fields, Xie Yundong and the others were checking the cotton in separate areas.
The closer they came to cotton-picking time, the less the Cooperative members dared let their guard down.
When Li Long told everyone the contract had been signed, Xie Yundong and the others were delighted. Tao Daqiang gave him a thumbs-up. "Brother Long, it had to be you. If it were us, I doubt the people at County No. 1 Middle School would ever have agreed."
Xu Haijun chimed in, "Exactly. Good thing you got the deal. I even asked at the township's junior middle school. Their first-years aren't picking cotton, and their second- and third-years are going to the Agricultural Eighth Division's 149th and 150th regiments. They've already made arrangements.
"If you hadn't landed the senior middle school students, finding people really would've been a headache."
"The contract's signed, but we still need to get all the arrangements right." Li Long put the contract away. "Those conditions I told you about beforehand, the ones I promised the school leaders-we need to have the food and lodging ready before early September."
"Food's no problem. Lodging is the main issue." Xie Yundong oversaw everything and knew the situation