Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1058 Mo Linsheng, who is on the verge of starvation, and Li Long's unexpected gain.
Ablat's words touched Li Long. He was a generous man, though he might have been badly ripped off. So when he met Li Long, a rather generous buyer, the Uyghur captain also showed his generosity.

Li Long thought for a moment and said to Abbulati, "How about this, I'll pay for the things I bought earlier first. I'll pick through the things here; I'll take what I need, and you can just throw the rest away as trash. If I don't find anything I like, I doubt anyone else will think they're of any use."

"Okay, okay, let's do it that way," Ablat said with a smile.

Previously, the total price of medicinal materials such as fritillaria, codonopsis, and deer antler, as well as other items such as hides, was more than 81,000 yuan for Abulaiti.

Currently, the county's banks do not yet issue 100-yuan bills, so Li Long still carries a large bag filled with stacks of 10-yuan notes.

He took out stacks of money and counted them with Captain Ablat. Ablat stared at the money, his eyes wide with amazement.

Although they had accumulated quite a bit of stuff before, they had never received so much money from the previous person who collected their goods.

What an impressive sight! After counting the money, Li Long took out a notebook and meticulously recorded everything he had collected from there, including the type, quality, and unit price. Then he had Abu sign it.

After signing, Li Long handed the money to the other party. Ablat also carefully put the money away, and then found a notebook for Li Long to sign a receipt for.

As this was their first transaction, both parties took it very seriously and were quite cautious, so they both agreed on this point.

After collecting the money and loading the goods onto the truck, Li Long began searching the last warehouse.

"Comrade Li Long, do you need me to find someone to help you?" Captain Ablat asked.

"Yes, I'll take care of it." Li Long smiled and said, "I'll find something useful in this huge pile of stuff. Find two people to help me hold the bags open, and preferably two bags, so I can sort them."

"Okay, okay." Ablat immediately called over two young men, one Kazakh and one Han, who were carrying two bags and stood next to Li Long.

"Alright, Comrade Li Long, I'll deposit the money first. I'm a little worried about having so much money with me," Ablat said to Li Long. "I'll be back in a bit, don't leave yet. I'll treat you to dinner later, it'll be delicious!"

Li Long nodded. It was indeed almost lunchtime. After making such a big deal, they should have a meal.

After Abu took the money, Li Long started picking through the items. He first collected the Yuan Shikai silver dollars, the copper coins in decent condition, and various copper artifacts that weren't too badly rusted, and put them into his bag.

These items alone filled nearly a third of the bag, mostly bronze items such as incense burners, Buddha statues, lamps, and various other things, all of different sizes and quite heavy.

One of the Buddha statues, the Thousand-Hand Guanyin, looks to be in good condition and is somewhat similar to the style of the Yuan Dynasty that Li Long mentioned on an appraisal show in his previous life.

Of course, regardless of whether it's true or not, Li Long had only seen similar things before, and it was impossible for him to remember everything he had seen in his previous life.

The main issue is that the corrosion on this Buddha statue isn't too severe. If a professional could be found to restore it, it would look great. Also, the statue was probably gilded, as it has coin-shaped stripes on it, but it's unclear whether those stripes have been scraped off or simply fallen off over time.

There was also a candlestick, which was also decorated with exquisite patterns and small seal script characters that he couldn't understand, but the presence of characters indicated that it was of great research value, so he definitely had to take this one.

The silver dollars weren't all the same quality; they had all sorts of markings on them. In short, they must have some value, so he kept them all.

After putting these things away, Li Long noticed that among the large pile of items, he didn't want the heavily rusted iron swords and sabers. He guessed that these were probably mass-produced items used by bandits like those in Usman decades ago, and likely had little value.

After pushing those things aside, Li Long found a rather heavy mask from the pile. The mask was covered in dirt and had lumps on it. Li Long wiped it clean and then put it in the bag. These weren't lumps; they were gemstones!

It wasn't wiped completely clean; I'll clean it up when I get back.

Then, from among those odds and ends, you pick out the colorful stones one by one.

Li Long could recognize agate, turquoise, and other stones, all of which were quite large, about the size of an egg, and had holes in them. He didn't know where they were originally hung, and they didn't look like they were worn by a person. The string must have broken over time, leaving only the beads.

“Comrade Li Long, you like these colorful stone beads? Actually, we used to have quite a few, but some of our cadres took some for Balangzi to play with.” Ablat reappeared beside him at some point, and said as he watched Li Long pick through the beads:

"Once I find it again, I'll bring it to you next time you come over."

“Okay, these things are quite pretty,” Li Long replied, continuing to rummage through them.

Things like turquoise and agate aren't very valuable now, and they still won't be very valuable in twenty years, but they will start to be valuable in forty years.

Since it's right here, I might as well pick it up and keep it.

There were some jade artifacts in this "garbage dump," some broken and some relatively intact. Li Long picked up two jade pendants and two items that appeared to be gold pendants.

It's quite dirty, but it feels very heavy; you'll only know how heavy it is after careful cleaning.

There was a huge pile of stuff; two fertilizer bags weren't even full, and even Li Long thought the rest was garbage.

Of course, it might actually have some value, but that would only be known after expert restoration. Li Long wasn't really a junk collector, so he didn't take it.

After loading the two bags of things into the car, Ablat told Li Long and the others to go to the team headquarters for a meal.

Hand-pulled mutton seems to be a must-have for them, followed by grilled meat, and alcohol is also available.

Li Long didn't drink much at noon. He told Ablat that he had tens of thousands of yuan worth of goods in the car and needed to stay sober, a point Ablat agreed with.

Both sides were quite satisfied with their first collaboration. During the meal, Li Long and his driver, along with three team cadres from the Huxian Forestry Team, spoke a mix of Uyghur, Kazakh, and Mandarin. What made the team cadres happy was that Li Long could understand everything they were saying.

This made them very happy. The team leaders repeatedly said that Li Long, this model of ethnic unity, was truly remarkable, and they recognized him as a role model.

Li Long left the purchasing station's phone number, telling them to call him when they had almost finished collecting the goods, at which point he would come and pick them up.

Ablat blushed as he saw Li Long into the car, waved goodbye as the car drove away, and then said to the team leader:
"Let's go, let's split the money!"

Just like with Captain Ellie, most of the income from what they collect here is recorded, handed over, and then distributed to the team. However, the amount that can be shared among the team members is quite considerable.

This time, the items sold were similar to those sold last time, but the money earned was nearly a quarter more, which meant the team could keep a lot more money, which is why the team leaders were exceptionally happy.

Of course, the forest rangers who participated in collecting the supplies also received a share of the money, and all of this was recorded.

The kind that's pretty much the same.

When Li Long returned to the county with his truck, it was only a little past five in the afternoon. There were still quite a few people at the purchasing station. The twenty or so people in line made way for the truck as it entered the yard. Through the truck window, Li Long could see that these people were carrying not only fritillaria bulbs, but also deer antlers, and dried wild mushrooms were being weighed on the counter.

Gu Boyuan knew that Li Long had gone to the neighboring county to collect goods, so after the car entered the yard of the purchasing station, he asked Sun Jiaqiang, who was standing next to him, to go to the back to help Li Long, while he could handle things on his own.

In the backyard, Liang Shuangcheng was trimming the stems of dried wild mushrooms. When he saw the car coming in, he quickly cleared the space and helped unload the things after the car was parked.

Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng were both surprised as they unloaded the goods; Li Long had brought back quite a lot this time!
Li Long helped unload the goods, and by the time they drove back, his drunkenness had worn off; he hadn't drunk much to begin with.

After unloading the truck, he told the driver to drive it back to report, and then he took the notebook to the front to register with Gu Boyuan.

Since we're doing business with partners, let's be more formal.

"Wow, you've brought quite a lot of stuff this time!" Gu Boyuan said with a smile as he looked at the items being put into storage. "Not bad, not bad. With so much stuff coming in, we can get Boss Jia here sooner."

"Yeah, we need to urge him, otherwise he won't want to come," Li Long said with a smile. "He makes a lot of money, and right now all he can think about is the unborn child; he doesn't think about anything else." Gu Boyuan was a little reluctant to respond to Li Long's comment. Actually, he was hoping that Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia could have another child, preferably a girl. But Gu Xiaoxia's job made it difficult for her to conceive.

After registering the items, Li Long went back to the backyard to oversee the storage, and then drove his Jeep back to the main courtyard. He didn't put the two bags of antiques into storage; he planned to clean them up himself once he got back to the main courtyard to see if there were any unexpected discoveries.

Mo Linsheng was starting to regret his decision. Why had he agreed to accept the gifts from the Wu family uncle and nephew? Now, Li Long still hadn't come today.

Not only did Li Long not come, but neither did Polati. He guessed that Polati probably knew that Li Long wasn't coming, so he didn't come here.

However, he was tied up by the fritillaria bulbs in the shed and couldn't leave even if he wanted to. What was more troublesome was that his cooked food was almost gone, and if Li Long didn't come soon, he would go hungry!
More importantly, today a few people thought that since they were waiting here, they might as well just take their fritillaria bulbs.

Among them was a mother and daughter. The mother looked to be in her forties or fifties, and the daughter was in her twenties. They looked quite pitiful, so Mo Linsheng took them in.

Later, he also collected two half-shelled fritillaria bulbs. In total, the fritillaria bulbs that Mo Linsheng collected in the shed, plus his own, amounted to more than 100 kilograms.

If you calculate it, if you really sell these fritillaria bulbs to Li Long, he can make a thousand or two thousand yuan, which is quite a lot.

But right now, the most important thing is that we don't have anything to eat.

He had some food in a cave in the woods, but he couldn't get it because he wasn't comfortable leaving the fritillaria bulbs there.

Fortunately, as long as he stayed there, and occasionally someone would come over and ask him something, no one dared to be violent towards him. It was unclear whether this was because everyone tacitly agreed that no violence would be allowed in this wooden hut, or whether they assumed that he represented Li Long.

Mo Linsheng was still moving around at first, but by this afternoon, he had eaten almost everything he could, so he tried to stay still.

He thought he should hold on for one more day. If Li Long didn't come by tomorrow, he would have to go to the earthen cave to get the rest of the food no matter what.

As for fritillaria and such, we can't worry about that at the time; survival is the most important thing.

At this point, he actually hoped that a wolf would come. At least if a wolf came, he could fight back with a machete or something, and if he killed the wolf, he could eat wolf meat and survive.

Li Long had no idea that someone else was waiting for him at the wooden house. After returning to the courtyard, he played with Mingming and Haohao for a while, then began picking through the items.

Copperware is not easy to handle. He wasn't an expert, so he certainly didn't know how to remove rust. Therefore, he simply left it untouched and put it directly into the cellar.

The same goes for silver dollars and copper coins; leave them for now.

I took a basin and carefully washed the agate, turquoise, and emerald beads, then let them air dry.

The two children were curious about colorful things, so they each took one and went to play with it.

Li Long didn't care about anything else; he took the mask out again and started washing it.

It was covered in a thick layer of grime, not just ordinary dirt, so it needed to be cleaned thoroughly. It took a lot of effort to clean it properly, and then I discovered that, just as I suspected, it was a gold mask, with various gemstones inlaid on its forehead, nose, and ears, and tiny gemstones along the edges.

The mask's expression is angry, but the face has a Vajra-like quality, reminiscent of Buddhist or Taoist deities.

It was fairly complete, but Li Long didn't know which era it came from. He flipped through it over and over, but couldn't find any text, so he had to put it down for the time being.

The jade pendant was cleaned, and the words "peace" could be recognized on it. There were also two gold pendants, slightly smaller than Mingming and Haohao's palms, rectangular in shape, with no words on them but intricate patterns.

They were all put away, and what remained wasn't of much value.

After cleaning up, Li Long sorted and put everything away, feeling that he had gained a lot from this trip.

During dinner that evening, Li Long recounted the situation with the forestry team over there, and Gu Boyuan sneered:
"Some businessmen are really shameless. They've squandered such a good hand. Just think, if they could just get in touch with one forestry team, the things they confiscate could make them richer than several millionaires in a single quarter. These people are so greedy!"

"Could we try contacting a few more forestry teams in different counties?" Sister Yang asked. "If we can find two, we should be able to find more, right?"

“It’s difficult.” Li Long didn’t speak, and Gu Boyuan shook his head. “These forestry teams are all under the jurisdiction of their respective counties. Although they may contact each other, their relationships are private. Besides, this kind of thing has been going on for more than a year or two, and each forestry team has its own connections.”

If we just went to them rashly, they'd most likely not recognize us. The fact that we've managed to find two forestry teams is thanks to Li Long's own abilities. Having even these two is already considered very lucky.”

"Yes, I think these two are enough." Li Long wasn't greedy; he genuinely thought they were quite good.

After dinner, while it was still light, Han Fang took Mingming and Haohao to play with their hip stones in the yard.

“Look, this is a dot, and this is a nest…” Han Fang demonstrated to the two children, holding up a hip stone.

The way to play this game is to hold a mother and child stone in your hand, and several child stones below. You need to flip the child stones over on all four sides first, and then grab them in one go.

The advanced level involves flipping six sides, which is something ordinary people can't do; anyone who can is extremely skilled.

Li Long looked on with a sense of nostalgia; he had played that game before. Since Hao Hao and the other two were watching so intently, he decided to let them play.

The next day was Sunday. Gu Xiaoxia had a day off and stayed home to do laundry and housework. Han Fang was playing with Mingming and Haohao, while Li Long was driving his jeep into the mountains.

Gu Xiaoxia's idea was to let Li Long rest for a day. After all, he hadn't stopped for the past few days and was quite tired.

But Li Long meant that he hadn't been into the mountains for two days, and he guessed that some people were definitely waiting for him. It was the peak season for fritillaria, and it was almost over, so he should buy some first.

While Mingming and Haohao were engrossed in playing with the hip stones, they decided not to go into the mountains with Li Long. Gu Xiaoxia also wanted to give the two children a good bath, saying they had gotten tanned from the trip to the mountains.

Li Long bought naan bread and steamed buns and twisted rolls from the market. There are many cooked food vendors in the market now, so he bought a variety of things. Mainly because there are more people coming to the market on Sundays, and there are also more mobile vendors.

Besides these, he also bought some fried dough sticks, fried pancakes and other food, went to the department store to buy some regular items, and then drove into the mountains.

When Mo Linsheng heard the jeep, he almost burst into tears. He felt that if Li Long didn't come soon, he would starve to death here.

Li Long was also a little surprised when he arrived at the wooden house. What was this guy doing here?

There were seven or eight bags next to Mo Linsheng, all of various sizes, filled with fritillaria bulbs. Some fritillaria bulbs were also drying on the table. What was going on?
"How much did you steal?" Li Long got out of the car and joked with Mo Linsheng. "You definitely couldn't have gotten so many fritillaria bulbs by yourself. Tell me, how did you get them?"

"Get me something to eat first, I'm starving," Morin said weakly. "Hurry up, I'll talk to you after I eat."

Seeing that Mo Linsheng looked weak and listless, Li Long quickly brought him a steamed bun.

The steamed buns were still warm and fluffy when Li Long bought them at the market this morning. Mo Lin ate a few bites in a hurry and almost choked. He rolled his eyes and tried hard to swallow the bun in his mouth before telling Li Long what had happened.

"This morning someone even came to bring me fritillaria bulbs and told me to take them. I could barely walk, but I had to pretend everything was fine. It was fucking awful!" Mo Linsheng rarely swore. "It was really tough!"

Li Long laughed; he had no idea that Mo Linsheng would have such an encounter.

It's great, really great.

(End of this chapter)