It was a hundred kilometers east from Ma County to Beiting, then another thirty-odd kilometers east to Wu City.
The route passed through Hu County, which also belonged to Beiting. In Li Long's memory, this county and Ma County had shared the same misfortune during that later round of land reform.
Both counties were major cotton-producing areas in Northern Xinjiang, after all. As for why they had been selected, Li Long did not know.
In any case, the Fourth Team villagers' original plans for getting rich had been cut short.
Perhaps it really was something that could not be discussed with outsiders.
Leaving Ma County, the road went through Tougong, Baojiadian, Pingyuan Forest Farm, Tashi River, and Letuyi before reaching Hu County.
Letuyi had once been the richest township in the Northwest and had appeared in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Daily.
These place names had appeared in the writings of many people from earlier times, as well as in Wang Duhu's Jade Dragon. That work had been adapted into Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Having read the original, Li Long had watched the film and wondered what the hell that mess was.
That was purely his personal opinion.
Unlike Ma County, Hu County's county seat lay several kilometers north of the Wuyi Highway. Low mud-brick houses lined the road here. Later, they had gradually become little shops with signs like "Shaanxi Tire Repair," "Sichuan Restaurant," and "Battery Charging and Radiator Refills."
A few more years later, the original mud-brick houses had been abandoned, with multistory buildings going up beside them. Signs had appeared atop rows of buildings, while their walls had been painted with GG such as "Big brother, tell your wife: Nongfuqing fertilizer is the best."
Driving the Jeep, Li Long looked at the still old-fashioned, relatively primitive roadside scenery