Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1027 Heavy Snow Requires Flood Prevention
Li Long sat in Halimu's winter nest, drinking milk tea as he spoke:
"I don't need much this time. If it's convenient, each of you can give me five sheep and one cow. I can give you money or supplies for when you move your livestock. But you have to help me slaughter the sheep and cattle. I only need the fodder. And it would be best if you butchered and butchered the meat afterward."

Facing Harim and his group, Li Long was able to frankly state all his demands without feeling embarrassed.

Just like when Harim and the others made requests to Li Long, asking him to bring them rice, flour, oil, salt, and other supplies, they did so quite frankly.

There's no need for secrets between friends. I need you to buy these things for me; I'll give you everything I can. I need to take some things from you; whatever you need, I'll bring them over and we can exchange them directly.

that's it.

"I've gathered a hundred sheep for you, is that enough?" Yu Shanjiang said from the side. "Add ten cows, and that should be about right, right?"

"That's enough, that's enough," Li Long said with a smile. "We might not even have enough left over."

"Hmm, two days. I'll notify everyone today, and then we'll start slaughtering. Tomorrow... we'll slaughter tomorrow, tomorrow afternoon or the day after tomorrow morning should be enough."

Li Long asked each family to contribute cattle and sheep because he didn't want a single family to suffer significant losses by contributing alone.

After all, each family doesn't have a particularly large number of cattle and sheep. This is just a small ranch or a small tribe, and it can't withstand a lot of disruption.

Li Long was confident in coming to handle this because the cattle and sheep in the tribe hadn't frozen or starved to death that winter; otherwise, he wouldn't have come to discuss it.

When Li Long arrived, he first went to see Halimu. It just so happened that Yushanjiang also came to see Halimu to discuss the recent winter camp matters.

The snow outside is heavy, and it has already snowed in the mountains, even more heavily than outside. Yushanjiang came to Halimu to discuss whether they needed to use a snowplow to clear the roads again.

Then they ran into Li Long. According to Li Long, there was no need to clear it specially; a tractor could just run back and forth a few times and compact the snow.

After all, things are not like they were before the Lunar New Year. Back then, it would snow three times in ten days, but now it's considered good if it snows once in ten days.

After all, it's already mid-to-late February, and the snow outside the mountains will melt in a few days.

"Yes, we need to guard against floods." After finishing the important business, Li Long remembered Yushanjiang's purpose for coming and also thought of something else.

The small lake in the team also needs flood prevention.

Two years ago, we used money and reason to persuade Captain Xu Chengjun to lead his team to build a flood control canal in the spring. At least for the next few years, if floods come down from the mountain, Xiaohaizi will basically not be affected.

But what about this year?

Needless to say, this year's flood volume is definitely the largest in the past ten years, so can Xiaohaizi still be saved?
Despite continuous fishing in recent years, the number of large fish in the small lake has decreased dramatically. This winter, no one has even broken through the ice to catch fish to sell. At most, they can only break open the ice and catch some small fish to make fish soup for the New Year.

But Li Long knew that there were still big fish in the small lake, and that was the foundation.

If the flood were to destroy the small lake, there would be no more big fish to be found there.

So he was thinking that he should look for Xu Chengjun again after he got back, or have his older brother drive the tractor and widen the flood control channels on both sides of Xiaohaizi after the snow melts, so that at least when the flood comes, it can flow from the flood control channels on both sides into the reed ditch below, and then into the big lake.

Firstly, nominally he was the one who contracted Xiaohaizi, so it was considered his own property. Secondly, he genuinely didn't want Xiaohaizi to simply turn into a pond.

We managed to avoid that great flood from history, but this year's situation feels significantly more dangerous. After that historical flood, the silt it carried almost completely filled the small lake, eventually turning it into a surface reservoir.

Even when the team tried to clean it up, it was only a minor effort and didn't completely improve the situation. Eventually, the small lake couldn't hold much water anymore and turned into a reed marsh.

Although there were always fish, none grew to a large size—because the water couldn't be stored in winter, and the fish that grew a little larger would freeze to death in the winter.

Therefore, Li Long was determined to save Xiao Haizi, so that it wouldn't be like in later generations, where it would be heartbreaking to see him like this.

Once the matter was settled with Yushanjiang, Li Long agreed. His idea was to bring a truck up the day after tomorrow, load up a truckload of supplies, unload the supplies, load the cattle and sheep, and then drive away.

The tribe genuinely felt this was better, saving them the trouble of having to buy supplies again after receiving the money, which would be an extra trip.

"After I left last time, have any wolves or other wild animals been seen around your winter hideout?" Li Long asked as he poured himself another bowl of milk tea.

He's starting to really enjoy milk tea. It requires milk skin. While we can make milk tea from the goat's milk at home, it tastes like goat milk, but not quite the same.

Of course, it smells pretty good too.

However, it just doesn't feel as authentic as the one I had in Dongwozi.

After finishing his milk tea, Li Long didn't stay for dinner; he had to hurry back.

Now that the meat had been ordered, he needed to hurry back to prepare the seasonings. He had some at home, but only enough for household use. Getting several hundred kilograms of dried meat would require a considerable amount of seasonings.

The fresh meat is braised, with beef as the base. It's good if half a kilogram of meat can be produced from one kilogram of beef—unlike later generations with water-locking agents or the like. Now it's all-natural processing, so it's about half a kilogram.

If you turn it into jerky, you'll have about two or three hundred grams left.

Li Long got a hundred sheep and ten cows from Halimu and his group. That sounds like a lot—a hundred sheep can weigh about two thousand kilograms, and ten cows can weigh about two or three tons.

But the problem is that it has bones in it.

Fortunately, Li Long planned to make two kinds of products. One was air-dried meat, which would be bone-in, so it would have more weight. The other was pure meat, like beef jerky in later generations. Of course, it wouldn't be made that dry, because if it was too dry, it would be too tough to chew and would affect the taste.

Regardless of the type, a considerable amount of seasoning is required. Salt is relatively easy to buy, but Li Long will have to check if he can find all the other seasonings.

When Li Long returned to the county from the mountains, he saw that all the units were still shoveling snow. The snowfall was heavy, and although it would be less than half a month before the snow melted, the snow had made the weather even colder.

Everyone was clearing snow to keep the roads and workplace cleaner.

Many units have snowplows, and the sound of their engines is constant, with the air filled with the smell of gasoline and diesel exhaust.

Li Long drove to the department store to buy seasonings such as cumin, salt, chili powder, and star anise.

Inside the department store, Xiao Liu had just seen the family off and breathed a sigh of relief—that little kid was too naughty, wanting this and that all the time, and even reaching for things on the counter and stuffing them into his mouth.

His parents not only ignored him but also protected him, saying "he's just a child," but in the end, they only bought half a kilogram of sesame cakes and left. When the child left, he was still clutching a piece of fruit candy in his hand, making a face at Xiao Liu.

Every day I encounter all sorts of customers. Sometimes it's quite enjoyable, and other times it's truly exhausting.

"Xiao Liu, you should have been stricter with that family!" Sister Zhang chimed in after the fact. "Look at how stingy they were... and that child had no manners at all!"

Xiao Liu smiled but didn't say anything. When this family came over, it was originally Sister Zhang's responsibility, but as soon as she saw them coming, she immediately turned around to find water, so Xiao Liu had to step in.

Now they're saying things like, "Not all the employees in the department store are very united." Xiao Liu knows why—he's young, and he received an award for outstanding performance at the end of last year; some people are envious.

After Li Long entered, he looked around and then went straight to Xiao Liu—a familiar face, whom he thought would be easy to talk to.
"Hello comrade, where can I buy the seasonings?"

"Right here, right here," Sister Zhang interjected. "Comrade, what do you need?"

The long-time employees at the department store all had a strong impression of Li Long. From the beginning, when he would come in a horse-drawn carriage or on a bicycle to buy candy and sesame cakes, to later buying many radios, and then eventually driving a jeep.

By the time they learned Li Long's identity, they were already watching television and reading telegrams. He was a legendary figure, and they had witnessed his growth and transformation firsthand.

Li Long was unaware of these things. Seeing that Xiao Liu was staring blankly without saying anything, he smiled and followed Sister Zhang to look at the seasonings.

Is this person not trying to talk to me? I vaguely remember this person not acting like this before.
After Li Long followed Sister Zhang to weigh the items, Xiao Liu realized what was happening and felt a little regretful. However, going over there now would seem too eager, so she was conflicted.

"...Ten kilograms of iodized salt? Why do you need so much? Three kilograms of cumin? Are you buying wholesale? We don't have much cumin in stock here...Five kilograms of chili powder? We do have that..."

Xiao Liu vaguely heard Sister Zhang recount the number of things Li Long wanted, and she immediately had a mental estimate of the corresponding inventory. Except for cumin, everything else was sufficient.

As Sister Zhang was flipping through a notebook looking up inventory, Xiao Liu subconsciously said:

"We only have two and a half kilograms of cumin in the warehouse, but we have enough of the rest. We can't display that much on the counter, so we have to get it from the warehouse."

"Xiao Liu, do you remember the inventory figures? I'm getting old and can't remember them all. Could you go to the warehouse and get them for me?" Sister Zhang said casually.

Xiao Liu glanced at her silently, while Sister Zhang smiled, as if this was a normal act of mutual help.

Xiao Liu, who was about to refuse, looked up at Li Long, and nodded as if possessed, saying "Okay".

It was half an hour later when Li Long finished buying all the items.

Bags of goods were loaded into the jeep, making the smell inside rather complicated. He sneezed twice, said goodbye to Xiao Liu, and left.

Even the dumbest person would know that because of her, Xiao Liu was once bossed around by Sister Zhang.

When it was time to leave work, another saleswoman who was on good terms with Xiao Liu came to wait for her. After she left, she whispered:

"Why do you care about that Zhang woman? She'll scramble for the easy jobs, but she'll make excuses for the hard ones. We all stay far away from her..."

Xiao Liu smiled but didn't say anything.

Since they didn't have enough cumin, Li Long thought he'd take it back first and figure out what to do later. After all, there were other places selling spices besides the department store.

But first, he needed to solve the problem of eating. It was already past lunchtime, and he figured it would be a hassle to reheat the food at home, so he simply went to a state-run restaurant and had some noodles.

Upon entering, he noticed that there weren't many people inside, and to his surprise, he saw Zhong Guoqiang.

"Hey, Comrade Li Long, long time no see!" Zhong Guoqiang's eyes lit up when he saw Li Long, and he took the initiative to shake hands. "You're a very busy person now."

"Oh, not at all, just messing around on my own," Li Long said with a smile. "How was Manager Zhong's New Year?"

"It's alright, it's alright," Zhong Guoqiang said with a smile. "Now that everyone has a little more money in their pockets, more people are coming to eat here, so things are much better here. You're here for a meal, right? What would you like? Noodles? My treat!"

Li Long declined, but Zhong Guoqiang insisted, so Li Long let him have his way.

After Zhong Guoqiang finished eating, he sat opposite Li Long, poured him some water, and they started chatting.

"Actually, it's just that you've been busy. Otherwise, we've always needed the fish and wild game you used to provide. It's just that I guess you probably don't do that anymore..."

“It’s definitely over.” Li Long shook his head. “After I set up the purchasing station, I haven’t had time for that anymore. I occasionally go hunting, but I don’t catch much, and I eat the meat myself. As for fish, I really don’t have the energy to catch them now, and there are fewer fish in the lakes where we used to fish.”

When they started chatting, Zhong Guoqiang asked Li Long what else he was doing besides the purchasing station, since he smelled so strongly. Li Long then told him about the dried meat business. Zhong Guoqiang seemed interested and said that once he made it, he could store it here for him so he could recommend it to his customers.

Li Long agreed, and this could be considered a trial distribution channel.

Once the noodles were served, Zhong Guoqiang brought Li Long some garlic and vinegar, then left.

Li Long poured the vegetables into a bowl of noodles, mixed them, added garlic and vinegar, and then enjoyed his meal.

Back in the courtyard, Li Long unloaded the seasonings into the kitchen. Sister Yang looked at all the ingredients and asked if it was too much.

"It's definitely not a lot. Think about it, we need to make several hundred kilograms of dried meat, and the fresh meat alone will take two or three thousand kilograms. So, this is not only not a lot, it might even be too little. But the department store only has this much cumin powder, so I have to go look elsewhere."

"They sell seasonings at the market," said Sister Yang. "Shall I go check it out this afternoon?"

"No need, I'll go," Li Long said. "It's more convenient for me to drive."

Since the market opened, Li Long first rented out the storefront, then bought horse tack there a few times, and then basically stopped going there.

On the contrary, he would occasionally visit the Shicheng Old Street Market, but he didn't have a deep connection with this market in the county.

After playing with Mingming and Haohao for a while, Li Long went to the greenhouse in the back to clean up some vegetables that needed to be weeded, planted some bok choy, added coal to the stove, and then drove the jeep to the market.

The snow on the road has been mostly cleared. Fine snowflakes are still falling from the sky, but sunlight is already shining through in the western sky, creating a unique Tyndall effect, indicating that the snowfall is over.

Some sanitation workers used large brooms to sweep the snow that the snowplows hadn't completely cleared to the roadside, and then used shovels to shovel it into the tree fields. Some employees from other units and students who had finished their work were either in twos and threes or in neat rows carrying their tools back home.

When Li Long arrived at the market in his Jeep, there were hardly any people in the parking area. Where there used to be a throng of bicycles, now there were hardly any. An elderly man watching over the bicycles walked back and forth, his sleeves tucked into his arms.

A young man was carrying a cardboard box half-filled with roasted sunflower seeds, with a paper cup made of folded newspaper on top. He was calling out, "One cent a cup!" Whenever someone came by, he would rush over to solicit business.

Unfortunately, there weren't many people there, and nobody bought it.

After Li Long parked the car, the old man didn't come over to give him a sign. He probably thought that such a big and unique car didn't need a sign; that would be redundant.

Seeing that the young man hesitated and didn't dare to come closer when he saw him, Li Long said:

"Give me a cup, and by the way, give me an extra paper cup, I'll use it to hold sunflower seed shells."

"Okay, okay." The young man hurried over and filled Li Long's cup to the brim, saying as he did so, "Stir-fried over high heat, it smells delicious!"

Li Long took the cup, and the young man gave him another paper cup. Li Long took out a dollar from his pocket and asked him for change.

After taking back a stack of small bills, Li Long walked inside while cracking sunflower seeds.

He spat the sunflower seed shells he cracked into the empty paper cup. It wasn't that he was morally fastidious; it was mainly a matter of habit.

The snow in the market was quite clean, but the snow chips on people's feet, after melting, left quite dirty marks inside.

When Li Long arrived, he didn't ask Sister Yang where the spice shop was; he figured he'd just wander around and see where he ended up.

As soon as I entered, I remembered the old recycling station. When I followed the direction in my memory, I found that the recycling station was closed. By then, the store had been replaced by a clothing store.

Hey, I didn't actually stick with it.

Li Long was quite emotional. He had thought there would be a flourishing of diverse talents, but he never expected that only one would stand out in the end.

Further on, you'll see a shop selling horse tack. There's no one at the door, but it's open. Inside, the shop owner is warming himself by a stove, glancing outside every now and then.

He vaguely recognized Li Long, but Li Long didn't plan to buy horse tack today. He nodded to the shopkeeper and continued eating sunflower seeds as he walked on.

There were many shops selling clothes, shoes, and fabrics in the market, but surprisingly, none selling food. Li Long thought to himself that if things continued like this, if Sister Yang opened a restaurant here in September, it would really be a hit.

Is it because no one is driving, or because the car is running but the engine is off, or because I didn't finish my journey and didn't encounter it?

Sure enough, as Li Long walked further, he was somewhat surprised to find a naan bakery. While other shops were less crowded, there were two people waiting outside the naan bakery to eat freshly baked naan.

The aroma of the naan bread made Li Long suddenly feel that the melon seeds in his hand didn't smell so good anymore.

Fortunately, he was full and the new naan hadn't come out yet, so he continued walking and then smelled a delicious aroma of spices.

(End of this chapter)