By the time Li Long left the Tao Family home, the sun was nearly down, yet Tao Jianshe had started gathering his nets.
Tao Daqiang saw him and said to his father:
"Dad, you're going out to set nets again? Don't bother. It's so late, it'll be pitch-dark by the time you finish... The road will be hard to travel."
"The professor and university students are coming tomorrow. We ought to get them something good to eat, shouldn't we?" Tao Jianshe kept packing the nets. "We haven't got any good meat at home. Taking them some fish would show we care."
As she fed the child, Yang Pingping said:
"Dad, Li Long invited that professor and those students. He's already slaughtering a pig for them. That's plenty generous. Why don't we stay out of it?"
"What do you mean, stay out of it?" Tao Jianshe explained earnestly. "Xiao Long didn't bring these experts and professors here just for himself. He's paving the way for reclaiming the Team's saline-alkali land. If it works and we can grow crops there, won't whoever reclaims a patch get to keep it? Xiao Long's testing the waters for us. We can't just sit around waiting to reap the benefits. You'll see tomorrow. We'll take fish, and other people will bring things too."
Tao Daqiang remained doubtful, but he no longer tried to stop his father from setting nets. He told Yang Pingping, then went along to help his father.
Before the sun rose the next morning, the people Li Long had spoken to all headed out to gather things from the wild.
At the Agricultural College in Wu City, He Lijuan was no longer so optimistic as she boarded the vehicle with her luggage.
After a full day of Xu Hongxia drilling things into her