Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1016 The village is really lively today

As it was getting dark, Li Long drove his jeep back to the county.

When Gu Boyuan was having dinner, he told Li Long that they had received less than a hundred rams and only five cows all day.

Li Long was puzzled by this precipitous drop in numbers. He wondered if someone else had bought the sheep from the herders, thus stealing his business, or if the herders had indeed already slaughtered most of their sheep recently.

After all, cattle and sheep are the foundation of the herders' livelihood. As long as the grass harvested in the autumn is enough for the cattle and sheep to eat, they will not slaughter their livestock meaninglessly.

However, it doesn't matter if no one comes to sell cattle and sheep now. The task of the supply and marketing cooperative has been completed, and the cattle and sheep that Li Long put in Old Horse's Shop are enough for the needs of the sugar factory and the agricultural machinery factory. There is no need to think of other ways.

Of the remaining "stones" in the jeep, Li Long picked out a few of the better ones and put them in the cellar, while piling the rest against the wall.

When Gu Boyuan left, he joked with him, "You better keep an eye on this 'stone,' or if one of the neighbors doesn't have a stone to weigh down their pickle jars and takes one from you, you'll suffer a big loss later."

Li Long smiled but didn't say anything. He vaguely remembered reading something in his previous life, in an online joke, about someone taking out a piece of jadeite rough with excellent texture and color from a pickle jar. At the time, the person picked it up without knowing it was jadeite, but thought it was suitable for pressing pickles, so they used it directly.

The next day, after breakfast, Li Long went to the naan shop and bought all twenty-odd naans that had just been made.

He drove into the mountains and saw many horses tied up at the entrance of Harim's winter pasture, grazing together. Nathan was outside, sprinkling salt on the grass in front of the horses.

Hearing the jeep, Nathan looked up, a smile spreading across his face. He then shouted loudly into the winter hut. By the time Li Long's jeep stopped, Halim and the others had already come out of the winter hut.

The six men arrived at the jeep. Nasen hurriedly ran over, followed by Sasken, who was wiping his nose with his sleeve as he looked at the jeep.

Li Long could tell that Nathan and the others also wanted to go. However, the jeep couldn't fit so many people, so they had to prioritize their business.

"Li Long, would you like to go into the winter shelter first and have some milk tea to warm up?" Halim asked.

"No need, it's not cold in the car, let's just go."

Li Long didn't want to drag things out for so long by slaughtering so many cattle and sheep. Finishing it quickly would save trouble, and then it would be time for hunting and celebrating the New Year.

There were quite a few people in the car, so Li Long drove rather slowly, since some parts of the mountain road were quite dangerous.

After the jeep arrived in the county town, Li Long went to the naan shop and bought all twenty-odd newly made naans, thinking that this should be enough.

His jeep had barely left when someone came into the shop and, seeing that there wasn't a single naan on the wooden board where it used to be, began to grumble: "Hey, Adashi! Has it been so long and it's still not done? There weren't any when I came in, and there still aren't any?"

"They've all been sold out by others," the young man making naan said with a smile. "If you want some, you'll have to wait for the next batch, and it'll be very, very quick."

"Bought them all? Does anyone live near Naizier?" the man couldn't help but ask.

"No, a Han Chinese man drove over to buy it. He brought a truckload of Kazakhs, but I don't know what he did with it."

The person who bought the naan left empty-handed, grumbling. The young man, on the other hand, seemed quite happy. If business were like this every day, that would be great.

He already remembered Li Long. Every time this man came to buy naan, he would buy all the naan without haggling, which was very convenient.

When the jeep arrived at Lao Ma Hao, Li Long and his group got out and saw that the people there had already started to get busy, and the scene was very lively.

Every year, cattle and sheep are slaughtered here. When it's time to slaughter them, the old horse market becomes a lively place for the village children.

Li Jianguo had already made arrangements with the people he had arranged in advance, including Uncle Luo from Lao Ma's shop.

In the courtyard, on two tall stoves, one large pot was simmering mutton, and the other large pot was boiling water.

On the two stoves in the room, there were also two large pots boiling water.

Liang Yuemei and her aunts and sisters-in-law had already prepared the area for slaughtering the sheep. When Halim and the others started slaughtering the sheep, Liang Yuemei and the others would prepare to clean up the offal.

Xie Yundong and his group also arrived. Although these men weren't very fast at butchering and skinning sheep, they had at least become capable of the job after years of practice. One more person meant one more helper, one more source of strength.

By this time, three sheep had already been slaughtered. Xie Yundong, Tao Daqiang, and Jia Weidong were skinning the sheep, while Liang Dacheng was holding Xie Yundong's leg with his left hand and Jia Weidong's leg with his right. Li Qiang was helping Tao Daqiang by holding his leg.

Because when they are skinning sheep on the ground, if the sheep's legs are not pulled, the skin will not be taut and it will be difficult to skin it properly.

After all, these people weren't as skilled as Harim; Kazakh herders could skin sheep by themselves without even using a knife.

Many children were already playing nearby, their eyes occasionally glancing at the tall stove in the yard.

The aroma of mutton wafted from the large pot on the stove. Uncle Luo would occasionally poke the mutton in the pot with his chopsticks to check how well it was cooked.

Next to the stove was a small low table with two large enamel plates on it, which would be used to serve the meat later.

There was also a bowl of salt and a small basin of chopped green onions on the table.

After Halim and his group got off the car, they greeted Uncle Luo and Tao Daqiang, whom they knew, and then, quite naturally, went into the sheepfold, caught a sheep nearby, and carried it outside.

The mournful bleating of sheep suddenly rang out. Chaos erupted in the sheepfold; some sheep tried to escape, some watched, and others ruminated on their own, seemingly oblivious to the world around them.

When they arrived, Halim and his men were well-prepared. They carried a thin rope in their pockets. After pulling the sheep out, they lifted it by two legs and laid it down. Then they tied the three legs together with the rope, leaving the remaining hind leg empty so that the sheep could kick and bleed.

The operation was carried out smoothly and efficiently. Before Tao Daqiang and his team had even finished skinning the sheep, Halimu and his team had already started calling people over to collect the sheep's blood.

Several women hurriedly brought over basins, and then watched as Halim and his men made a quick cut with their knives. The sheep only had time to bleat once before falling silent.

With his free leg, he kicked and kicked, and with each kick, blood gushed from the wound on his neck. When half a basin of blood had been collected, Shalimu said:

"The blood is enough."

At this point, the sheep had stopped moving, and the wound on its neck had stopped bleeding, instead flowing slowly.

They untied the thin ropes and began to skin the animals.

Although they've been watching for several years, these women and Tao Daqiang, who lives nearby, still admire them every time they see these Kazakh herders slaughtering sheep.

More and more children gathered here, and Li Long took the two bags of naan out of the car and put them on the small low table in the yard.

Then he took out a few naan breads, broke them into pieces, and distributed them to the children.

"Have some naan to fill your stomachs first, and we'll share the meat with you later."

The children were all very happy when they heard that they would be sharing meat later.

Of course, they were very happy to eat the naan they received, since no one in the whole village made naan, and naan was a delicious snack for them.

Some children even broke off a large piece of naan and put it in their pockets, intending to take it home for their families or save it for later.

The stench of blood and filth filled the air. Li Long turned his head and saw that Yu Shanjiang had already skinned the sheep. He laid the skinned sheep out on the skin, and with a quick slit of his knife, he cut open the sheep's belly. The wound wasn't deep, and the intestines and calyx were exposed.

Liang Yuemei hurriedly brought over a large basin and collected the offal into it. The liver couldn't be frozen, so she had to take it back to the room and put it away. After washing the intestines and stomach, she put them together in a dish, either dividing them up or selling them.

"Xiao Long, the mutton is ready!" Uncle Luo called out loudly from the yard.

"Alright, alright, I'm here." Li Long strode into the yard, and Uncle Luo poked the meat twice with his chopsticks to show him:

"It's been cooking for about an hour. The meat looks very tender. If it cooks a little longer, it should fall off the bone. I've already added salt. I'll serve them some soup later."

"I'll scoop out a plateful for the kids to eat first, and then I'll take half a bowl back to my parents," Li Long said. "Anyone who's hungry can come and eat some. It'll be nice to have a half-bowl of soup every now and then to warm up."

The children had all arrived at the gate, but none of them came in. Some had already finished their naan, while others were still slowly nibbling on a small piece of naan, their eyes fixed longingly on the mutton hot pot.

"Come on, line up," Li Long said with a smile. "Come one by one to get your meat. Don't fight over it, there's enough for everyone."

He fished out leg meat, ribs, and spine; the meat wasn't trimmed much, so there was a lot of it.

The children were quite interesting; the older siblings would push their younger siblings to the front, and if someone came alone, they would line up with someone they were close to. No one pushed or cut in line.

I don't know if it was because they were a little shy, overly polite, or intimidated by Li Long's authority, but they were very quiet.

"Here you go, one piece per person. If you get a piece you don't want, you can trade it with someone else," Li Long said as he distributed the meat.

But the children who received the meat didn't exchange it with each other; instead, they went to the side to find a place to eat.

On such a cold day, the meat bones would cool down quickly after coming out of the pot. The children were very sensible; they would squat down around the stove where hot water was boiling and slowly gnaw on the meat in their hands.

Li Long found another basin, filled it halfway with soup, placed it on the low table, and said to the children, "After you finish eating, you can drink some soup, and then go play."

Children would occasionally come in and join the meat-sharing. Some children, feeling shy, would stand at the door and peek inside.

Li Long waved to them, inviting them to come in and eat meat.

Uncle Luo chuckled as he helped out, recalling the days of communal meals when the children weren't so polite. Back then, when the canteen's communal kitchen distributed snacks, the children would scramble for them. Of course, the food wasn't this good back then. At most, they could get some crispy rice crusts or similar items, and even those were highly sought after; children who arrived late or were slow would miss out.

Xiao Long is really good.

Seeing that the children had almost finished dividing the meat, Li Long handed over the remaining work to Uncle Luo. He scooped three or four kilograms of meat out of the pot, carried the basin out of the yard, and went to the jeep.

Several more people, both men and women, came to help at the sheep-slaughtering area. They were all from the village. When they saw Li Long look back, they greeted him with smiles.

"Hey, you guys have worked hard. Let's eat meat together later." Li Long replied with a smile, then drove the jeep back to his older brother's place.

In winter, Du Chunfang would not want to move. She would lean against the fireplace, tuck her hands into her sleeves, and doze off with her eyes half-closed.

Li Long got out of the car, carried the meat inside, and divided it into two plates in the kitchen. He took one plate to the east room and invited his parents to eat.

Li Qingxia was sitting on the bed listening to the radio when Li Long asked him a question. Li Qingxia said that he had already gone there in the morning, but no one would let him help him with anything he wanted to do, so he simply came back.

"Then you can eat meat," Li Long said with a smile. "They were just worried about you getting cold and tired."

Although Li Qingxia was somewhat unhappy, she knew it was the truth.

He himself refuses to admit he's getting old, but in other people's eyes he's already an old man.

He'd been craving something lately, so when Li Long brought over some mutton, he forgot all about being angry, took a piece of meaty rib and handed it to his wife, then took one for himself and slowly munched on it.

Du Chunfang took the meat and asked Li Long why he wasn't eating. Li Long said there was still plenty left, and he was going to eat at Lao Ma's place later.

The two elderly people then began to eat slowly.

The two of them weren't primarily interested in eating meat, but rather in gnawing on bones.

Or perhaps they are savoring the taste of a happy life.

Li Long chatted with them for a couple more minutes before heading to the kitchen.

Li Juan was studying at her desk, she had been particularly diligent lately. Li Long knew that Li Juan would be taking the high school entrance exam this year, and since going to Yanjing, Li Juan had raised her expectations for the exam.

She also learned from Gu Xiaoxia that the overall teaching level here was not high. She only studied hard because she was proud of her high academic ranking in the whole school.

She is currently looking at a study guide that Gu Xiaoyu sent from Yanjing. It has notes written in it, so she won't have trouble understanding it.

"Juan, take a break after watching for a while. The mutton is still warm, eat it while it's hot."

"I understand, Uncle," Li Juan replied, looking up before continuing to read her book.

Li Long felt that if things continued like this, Li Juan might have to wear glasses when she went to high school.

But I couldn't persuade her otherwise; I could only remind her to pay attention to her posture and to rest after sitting for a while. Then I placed the plate of mutton next to the desk so that Li Juan could eat it easily.

When I drove back to Lao Ma's place, I found there were many more people there. Some were helping out, and some were just watching the spectacle.

Some of the children who had eaten meat were helping to pull the legs of the sheep at the slaughterhouse, while others had already obtained sheep bladders and were trying to figure out how to stick the reed tubes in and blow them up.

Li Long had only ever seen people use pig bladders as soccer balls before, never sheep bladders, and didn't know if they could even be kicked.

Several sheep have already been processed and neatly arranged in the snow. These are to be frozen and then stored in the warehouse.

Around 3 PM, the sun felt quite warm on you, although the outdoor temperature was still quite low. If you squatted down against a south-facing wall at that time, you could still bask in the warm sun.

Li Long began to call the workers to lunch.

Boiled mutton, mutton soup, naan bread.

Each person gets an enamel basin, fills it with a piece of meat and half a basin of soup, and then finds a place to eat on their own.

There were two washbasin stands at the entrance of the courtyard. The washbasins were filled with warm water, and there was soap and new towels on the side.

The people who helped with the slaughtering and gutting of the sheep washed the mutton fat off their hands and then went to ladle soup and serve meat with smiles. Although the workers belonged to two different ethnic groups, they knew each other quite well and were all chatting and laughing.

In Li Long's memory, there are two scenes that best bring strangers closer together.

One is about working together, the other is about drinking at the dinner table.

Today is the former.

Seeing that some of the others were still helping out, Li Long felt a little embarrassed to come over and eat. So he called out to them loudly, jokingly saying, "Come on over, I can't possibly treat you all, can I? Come and eat quickly, we still need you to do some work later."

Those people then came over, smiling and wiping their hands.

Uncle Luo glanced around and saw that there were at least twenty or thirty people helping with the slaughtering of sheep, not even counting the children who were reluctant to leave.

This is much more lively than last year. He believes it will be even more lively next year, mainly because Li Long welcomes everyone. Of course, those who have had conflicts with Li Long won't come, and even if they did, they probably wouldn't be welcomed.

The slaughtering of sheep lasted for almost a week. This year, beef and mutton prices were relatively good, so Li Long thought it best to slaughter all the fattened sheep in their reserves. Besides supplying the two factories, Li Xiangqian said the supply and marketing cooperative also needed some as pre-Chinese New Year benefits.

Some villagers also came to buy mutton. There was still some left, and Li Long originally planned to take it to the old street before the New Year and sell it there.

Unexpectedly, Huang Lei and Zhao Hui called again to ask for meat.

Li Longbian simply packed up the remaining meat along with the hundreds of cattle and sheep that the purchasing station had collected and distributed them to both sides.

Most of the sheep offal was sold to nearby villagers. Li Long offered a discounted price, which was very cheap, and many people came to buy it.

People from many production teams in the village came to buy. Li Long had Liang Wenyu come and take some of the remaining sheep away, while others were put into the purchasing station. The middlemen sold the hides and kelang sheep, and then bought these cheap sheep offal. Some were resold, and some were taken home to eat.

Li Long took some time to transport the sheepskin and cowhide directly to the county leather factory, where they were cleaned in one go. This year, the prices of sheepskin and cowhide have also increased, and these hides alone sold for over six thousand yuan.

The fattening cattle and sheep have been completely cleared out, but at Lao Ma Hao's place, there are still nearly two hundred ewes that are giving birth, have already given birth, or are about to give birth.

In other words, by the time spring arrives, there will be approximately four hundred sheep in Lao Ma's sheepfold again.

There are also dozens of cows.

Uncle Luo and his family drink milk every day now, as do Li Long's parents and Li Juan. Uncle Luo and his family have now mastered the skill of milking cows. When Halimu and his family slaughtered sheep, they even taught Uncle Luo and his family how to make milk curds, but after making them once, Uncle Luo and his family said they didn't like the taste and never made them again.

This is something that not everyone can accept.

Section Chief Hu was very satisfied with the male deer (whips) that Li Long had sent. He told Li Long that they should strengthen their cooperation in the future, and that they planned to ask for some deer antlers, including fresh deer blood, in the summer. Li Long naturally agreed without hesitation, saying that it was no big deal.

After Halim and the others slaughtered the cattle and sheep, they returned to their winter camp. Li Long wanted to give each of them a sheep, but they resolutely refused. As Yushanjiang put it, they had come to help, not to work. They had eaten the beef and mutton while slaughtering the animals, so that was enough for them.

Li Long didn't force them too much, and each time he went to fetch them, he would bring them some rice and flour as a winter food reserve.

Yu Shanjiang and the others did not refuse these things. Every afternoon after sending Yu Shanjiang and the others back to their winter nest, Li Long would go to the wooden house, put a charcoal stove inside, and warm it up to dispel the cold.

After all the cattle and sheep were slaughtered, Li Long did a quick calculation. The total profit from the cattle and sheep purchased by the purchasing station, plus the cattle and sheep he slaughtered, was around 110,000 yuan.

This was an unexpected delight in winter.

With about ten days left until the Chinese New Year, the purchasing station can only collect a dozen or so sheep a day at most, and occasionally a cow.

However, they can still collect a considerable amount of pelts from gazelles and deer every day.

Because this year was particularly tiring and there was a lot of work, Li Long told Gu Boyuan that the purchasing station would start its holiday on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month (the Little New Year) and would reopen on the 10th day of the first lunar month.

He told Gu Xiaoxia that he planned to go into the mountains for a few days to go hunting.

On the surface, he was helping Harim and his men clear the wolf infestation from their winter dens, but in private, he was indulging in his hunting passion.

I haven't played much this year, I've been so busy, my hands are itching to play.

Gu Xiaoxia naturally had no objections. She knew very well how good the relationship was between her husband and the herders in the mountains. She just reminded Li Long to bring the supplies and be careful when he went into the mountains.

Before heading into the mountains, Li Long went to the naan shop again and bought all the naan from the first pit that morning as his provisions for the rest of the day.

After all, freshly baked naan is very delicious; few people in northern Xinjiang can resist its aroma.

Then, we went into the mountains.

(End of this chapter)