Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1049 People who repay kindness are worthy of admiration.

Polati woke up just before sunset, and Li Long suspected he was awakened by the cold.

The main problem is that in this mountainous area, when the sun doesn't shine directly on you, the weather gets quite cool, especially in the afternoon.

Li Long had already packed everything up. The fritillaria he had obtained today was already in the car. After Mo Linsheng left, two more people came to exchange fritillaria for other things.

Li Long was quite casual about exchanging fritillaria bulbs for other things; whether he got a little more or a little less, it didn't really matter.

So when the last person came, he packed up the remaining items and delivered them.

Today we received nearly 300 kilograms of semi-dried fritillaria bulbs. Li Longxin thought to himself, "I wonder if Chen Hongjun's purchasing station can collect this much in a day."

Overall, it was quite profitable.

"Is it that late?" Polati sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around before asking.

Li Long didn't answer him, but his horse, seeing his movements, snorted as if in response.

"Li Long, I was supposed to collect a few more fritillaria bulbs from others and bring them over this afternoon, but this drinking session was so enjoyable, really enjoyable! Don't worry, I'll definitely collect more fritillaria bulbs for you tomorrow, free of charge! Is that alright..."

After saying this, Polati ran to the spring, knelt down by the water, put his head into the spring, and gulped down several mouthfuls of water.

Li Long actually wanted to give him some hot tea, but there wasn't time.

After finishing his drink, Polati wiped his face, waved to Li Long and Mingming Haohao, went to the horse to untie the reins, mounted the horse, cracked the whip, and the horse eagerly galloped off.

"Dad, I want to ride a horse!" Mingming said, tugging at Li Long's clothes as he watched Polati galloping along with his whip.

"Dad, I want to ride too!" Hao Hao waved his hand to shoo away a horsefly that flew over, and then said.

“Alright, if he comes back tomorrow, I’ll take the two of you on horseback when we go into the mountains.”

It's just riding a horse, nothing serious. Li Long opened the car door, let the two children get in, locked the cabin door, and drove away.

Mo Linsheng hurriedly entered the woods with the unfinished naan, shovel, shoes, and bags.

He wiped his face; it was already covered in tears.

From the moment I decided to enter the Tianshan Mountains to start collecting medicinal herbs, all I encountered was malice.

Mo Linsheng originally came to northern Xinjiang to stay with relatives. His relatives had arranged a teaching job for him, a high school student, a temporary job without a permanent position, but with a salary.

His family initially disagreed, thinking it was too far. But Mo Linsheng had nothing to do at home, so he eventually persuaded his family. However, by the time he arrived, it was too late, and classes had already started. He didn't get to see them, so he found someone else.

The relatives had no choice but to tell him to wait and see if there were any other opportunities.

Mo Linsheng didn't want to just eat and drink for free at his relatives' house, so he went out every day to look for opportunities. He met a fellow villager and they talked about going into the mountains to dig for fritillaria bulbs.

That fellow villager hadn't gone into the mountains himself; he'd only heard about it from others, and he spoke of it with a look of envy.

Mo Linsheng didn't even consider that if it were really that easy to dig, why didn't his fellow villagers go?

He knew about fritillaria and had heard about how to harvest it. With a determined heart, he used all the money he had left to buy supplies and then went into the mountains.

At first, I was quite scared in the mountains because there were so many fritillaria bulbs. But as I dug, my fear and anxiety turned into excitement, and I spent every day calculating how much money I could make from the fritillaria bulbs I dug up.

Unexpectedly, his property was first confiscated, and then robbed. As a weak scholar, he was no match for them, mainly because he lacked the courage and determination to take action.

Only when you have nothing left do you realize that if you really fight, even if you can't beat the other person, it's not impossible to cripple one of them.

He heard about the log cabin exchange for supplies from a fellow villager. He was so hungry that he couldn't stand it anymore and knew he couldn't leave the mountains, so he thought he would try his luck at the log cabin. He didn't expect that Li Long would actually save him.

He changed his shoes in the woods, swung his shovel again, thinking that this time he must dig up a lot of fritillaria bulbs, dig up more today and tomorrow, and then give them to Li Long as a way of paying back his debt.

I would never have considered begging for food if I hadn't been so hungry.

Now I can only console myself by saying that it was borrowed, so I should repay it.

I haven't dared to eat the remaining naan yet; I'm saving it for dinner and tomorrow morning.

Next, we need to find a good spot to dig for fritillaria bulbs. Of course, in order to survive, we also need to find a place to stay for the night.

Although he didn't encounter any wolves, he had heard them howling at night and knew that if he did, he would most likely not be able to escape.

Luckily, we still have that box of matches. We can find a crevice or cave, light a fire at the entrance, and that should scare those things away.

In one afternoon, Mo Linsheng dug up more than three kilograms of fritillaria. He didn't dare to dig too late, mainly because he was thinking about finding a place to stay as soon as possible—he had learned his lesson before.

No suitable cave was found near the place where the fritillaria bulbs were dug, but a hole was found under a large pine tree that would take two or three people to encircle, which had been dug out by something.

A person can crawl in by bending over; it's over a meter deep. If you lay some dry grass on it, you could sleep inside.

I cleared the entrance to the hole first. The tree looked quite sturdy and didn't seem like it was about to fall. However, the entrance was a bit too wide, and I was worried it wouldn't be safe to protect it.

Mo Linsheng found a lot of dry grass nearby, carried it back and laid it in the tree hole. Then he broke off some pine branches and covered the wide opening on both sides of the hole. This would block the wind and make the opening smaller.

Feeling that it was about time, he gathered a pile of dry firewood, picked up some dry pine needles to use as kindling, and placed them about a meter in front of the cave entrance. After lighting the firewood, he retreated into the earthen cave, feeling somewhat safer.

While it was still a little light, Morinsheng took out the remaining naan, broke it in half, toasted it over the fire, and began to eat. The rest would be for tomorrow's breakfast and lunch.

Maybe I won't need lunch tomorrow. I can spend another morning digging for fritillaria bulbs, try my best to collect ten kilograms, take them to Li Long to pay off my debt, and borrow some naan bread while I'm at it. That should get me through these next two days. The rest of the money will be what I earn myself.

Wolves passed by in the middle of the night, but the campfire scared them away. Morin slept soundly and woke up the next day feeling cold—the fire had gone out in the middle of the night. Fortunately, he didn't continue to have a fever. He crawled out of the burrow, gathered some firewood to relight the fire, and then went to the nearby stream to wash the fritillaria bulbs he had dug up the day before.

The main reason was that I felt it was inappropriate to use dirty mother-of-pearl to pay off the debt to the owner of the cabin.

When Li Long returned to the county town yesterday, the sun had already set. He drove the car into the yard of the purchasing station. Mingming and Haohao couldn't wait to get out of the car and run to find Gu Boyuan.

Li Long and Sun Jiaqiang unloaded all the fritillaria bulbs from the jeep, much to Sun Jiaqiang's surprise.
"So many changes today?"

"Yes, the people digging for fritillaria in the mountains are quite short of supplies. Also, Polati confiscated two bags," Li Long explained, then asked, "How much did we collect today?"

"There are over 100 kilograms of completely dry goods, over 400 kilograms of semi-dry and semi-wet goods, and some fresh goods, probably around 200 to 300 kilograms." Sun Jiaqiang is now a bit oblivious to the profitability of the purchasing station; he's gotten used to seeing such large purchase volumes every day.

The main reason is that I don't dare to calculate it in detail. After all, if you do calculate it carefully, I can make tens of thousands of yuan every day just from fritillaria.

The trend of collecting fritillaria bulbs this year seems to be even stronger than last year. He and Liang Shuangcheng take turns washing and drying the fritillaria bulbs every day, and they feel that the workload is not much less than when one of them did it last year.

What does this mean? It means that the current purchase volume of fritillaria is much higher than last year.

Li Long calculated that, including the fritillaria he had exchanged in the mountains, the fritillaria he had collected today, when dried, amounted to more than 500 kilograms, with a total value exceeding 60,000 yuan.

Even if the purchase price at the purchasing station is slightly lower, and my own exchange rate is even lower, I should still lose at least 30,000 yuan.

so horrible!

During a break from receiving the goods, Gu Boyuan asked Mingming and Haohao how their day went.
"We had so much fun! The grasslands in the mountains are so vast!"

"Grandpa, we're going to ride a big horse tomorrow!" Hao Hao eagerly said.

Gu Boyuan showed a worried expression. He couldn't tell the two children this, but he thought he would try to persuade Li Long during dinner.

Actually, if it's your own children, it's nothing special for them to ride horses at three or four years old; an adult can just lead the horse.

However, the affection between grandparents and grandchildren is often unreasonable. Gu Boyuan always felt that Minghao Hao was still too young, and Li Long's way of taking care of him was a bit rough and could easily hurt the child.

After unloading the fritillaria bulbs, Li Long went to the front, chatted with Gu Boyuan for a few words, and then took Mingming and Haohao home.

Although the sun had already set, there were still seven or eight people queuing in the yard of the purchasing station to sell their goods. Li Long had originally wanted to help out, but Gu Boyuan sent him back. Gu Boyuan understood that his son-in-law had been busy in the mountains all day and should go home to rest.

During dinner that evening, Gu Boyuan expressed his concerns, and Li Long offered an explanation.

Polati's horse is very docile. When the time comes, I will lead the horse, let the two children ride on it, and take a lap around. That will fulfill their dream.

Li Long didn't intend to compare his child with the children of Kazakh herders. They could ride horses without a saddle when they were three or four years old, something his own children couldn't compare to.

While soaking their feet in the house that night, even though Mingming and Haohao were asleep, Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia about Mo Linsheng.

“We don’t lack that little bit of money right now, so let’s help if we can.” Gu Xiaoxia agreed with Li Long’s actions. “After all, it’s a human life.”

I never imagined those people in the mountains were really so lawless! They even openly robbed us!

Li Long recalled the time he spent in the mountains and shook his head, saying:
"No one governs that place; it's a lawless place where the strong prey on the weak, and that's absolutely true."

Forest rangers can only patrol a limited area; they cannot possibly manage every area.

Those who go into the mountains to dig for medicinal herbs cannot survive long-term unless they are ruthless.

If this Morin Sheng doesn't change his personality, he'll still get robbed next time.

He guessed that some people in the mountains would steal from the weak as a shortcut to getting rich.

After all, how can you dig it yourself as fast as grabbing it?

He's not a policeman in the forest; he can only intervene when he happens to be there.

Moreover, once you have children, especially after taking them into the mountains, your first thought is how to protect their safety, and you can't possibly meddle in other people's business.

The next day, after breakfast, Li Long put Mingming and Haohao in the car, drove to the department store and the free market to buy things, and then headed into the mountains.

While the two children were sitting in the car, they were discussing whether they would get to ride horses today.

When they arrived at the cabin, Li Long unloaded his things, then, carrying a machete, led Mingming and Haohao to the woods to start cutting down trees.

He plans to set up the frame of the shed today, and then lay dry grass on it tomorrow or the day after, and that should be enough.

Mingming Haohao had been circling around the wooden house, but now that he could come to the woods with his father, he was quite excited.

When Li Long was cutting down trees, he told them not to go far, but to stay within a radius of twenty or thirty meters, so that he could take care of them if anything happened.

Mingming Haohao was very obedient. He just wandered around under the tree, picking up mushrooms and flowers every now and then to show off to Li Long.

After cutting down five or six trees and sawing off some branches, Li Long called Mingming and Haohao to head back, while he packed up his tools, put them in his backpack, and dragged a small tree in each hand back home.

Back at the cabin, Li Long told Mingming and Haohao to stay inside while he closed the door and continued hauling trees. After a few trips, he had enough materials.

Then they started sawing the wood.

Mingming and Haohao came over. They helped Li Long, mainly by carrying the sawn-off parts to the side.

The two children were too small to lift even a large piece of wood, so they cleared away the branches, looking like hardworking little ants. Li Long smiled and praised them:

"Hey, that's great! You two can help Dad with the chores now!"

Mingming Haohao became even more excited after hearing the praise, and worked with great enthusiasm, even vying to do it himself.

After sawing several pieces of wood to near completion, Li Long took out tools and materials such as wire and pliers from the car, and dragged over the table he used for cooking and drying fritillaria bulbs to use as scaffolding, ready to start working.

After selecting a suitable location, we first dug several holes with shovels, buried three stakes, and then tamped the soil down before starting to build the crossbeams.

Before the first beam was even securely tightened, Li Long saw someone come to exchange something. He told Mingming and Haohao to stay in the main room while he tightened the beam himself before exchanging it with the other person.

This time, two people came to exchange items. They weren't the Wu family uncle and nephew whom Li Long was familiar with. These two people didn't say much. They used half a bag of fritillaria bulbs to exchange for some rice and flour, as well as two pairs of shoes, from Li Long before leaving.

Li Long ignored the fritillaria bulbs and continued tying up the beams. Mingming and Haohao tried to come out of the house several times to watch their father work, but Li Long told them to stay away, mainly because he was worried about them getting hurt.

After the beam was erected, Li Long came down and pushed the pieces of wood one by one. He found that he had done a pretty good job and was a little proud of himself.

However, we didn't have enough wood; we were missing some of the thin rafters that we would use to build the structure.

Feeling a bit tired, and seeing that it was almost mid-morning, Li Long decided to continue working in the afternoon. Now it was time to prepare the meal.

"Dad, when is that uncle from yesterday coming over?" Mingming asked, getting a little impatient.

"I don't know, I don't know if he'll come today." Li Long didn't dare to give them too much hope. "That uncle is a forest ranger. He has to look after many forests. He rides around on horseback. If there's a problem in any of the forests, he'll have to deal with it there."

Li Long patiently explained, and the two children listened. They started following Li Long around doing chores, mainly chopping firewood and helping him cook.

Of course, this was only in the open. Li Long didn't dare let them touch the fire or anything like that, and they couldn't even lift water. So he gave each of them a big bowl to scoop water and let them pretend to help.

We had stir-fried dishes for lunch. There were two stoves, one for steaming buns and the other for stir-frying vegetables.

The main reason Li Long noticed was that many people were exchanging these fresh steamed buns, and the price was quite high; these people didn't haggle over the price when they ate them.

Of course, some people would like to eat some rice, but steaming rice in a pot is quite troublesome, so it depends on the situation.

Before the steamed buns were even cooked, Li Long's stir-fried offal was ready. Since Hao Hao didn't particularly like offal, Li Long also stir-fried an egg.

The two children picked mushrooms from the woods, most of which were edible, so Li Long washed them and stir-fried them.

The two children were particularly interested in stir-fried mushrooms, since they had picked them themselves. The sense of accomplishment from being able to utilize the fruits of their labor was truly inspiring for them.

Just then, Li Long saw Mo Linsheng coming over again.

When Mo Linsheng left, Li Long looked surprised as he stood in front of the cabin.

"Why does today feel even worse than yesterday? You ran into them again? How did you manage to escape unscathed?"

Mo Linsheng had a wound on his head, his nose was still bleeding, and his clothes were even more torn, but he was holding a shovel in one hand and a half-sack of fritillaria in the other.

Seeing blood on the shovel, Li Long waited for Mo Linsheng's reply and asked in surprise:

"You went against them? Look, you even injured them with that shovel?"

“Yes,” Morinson answered with a hint of pride. “I ran into them again when I was digging for fritillaria. They tried to steal my fritillaria, so this time I fought back with my shovel. I chopped one of them in the arm and chopped another in the head with my shovel. Then they ran away in fright.”

At this moment, Morinson felt a strong urge to confide in someone:
"I really didn't know they were so strong on the outside but weak on the inside! They only got hurt a couple of times and then ran away. Their injuries weren't even as bad as mine!"

“There are indeed some cowards among these people,” Li Long nodded and said. “I still have some Yunnan Baiyao here, do you want to use it? There are some bugs in the mountains, which are quite annoying, and this wound will be quite troublesome if it is not treated.”

"Thank you!" Mo Linsheng didn't refuse. He put the bag down under the wooden house and said, "Take these fritillaria bulbs as payment for now. If it's not enough, I'll dig more this afternoon."

"That's enough." Li Long looked at the half-bag of fritillaria bulbs and estimated that it weighed about seven or eight kilograms. Even if they were all fresh, they would still be worth several tens of yuan.

What I paid for wasn't that expensive.

"No, no, no, that's definitely not enough." Mo Linsheng shook his head and said, "I still owe you some today. I've finished my naan, so I need to get some more food from you. Don't worry, I'll work hard to dig for fritillaria bulbs later, and I'll be able to pay you back by tomorrow!"

Li Long didn't know what to say about this stubborn guy.

Just then, the sound of horses' hooves came from afar; Polati had arrived.

(End of this chapter)