Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1067 Mo Linsheng's Plans: No Long Will Listen to Li Long

Li Long threw a set of work clothes onto Mo Linsheng's bedding, and then went over to unload things into the cabin.

When Mo Linsheng saw that Li Long had disappeared, he quickly went over to change his clothes.

The work clothes were a bit big, but he didn't care, and naturally he didn't have the right to care.

After killing the lone wolf that night, Mo Linsheng regained some of his lost confidence, but he no longer planned to go fishing and digging for fritillaria in the forest like before.

A lone wolf weighing thirty kilograms almost killed him. If there had been two well-prepared people, or even just one of them ambushing him, he might have ended up like the corpse that Polati saw, dying in some ravine.

Thinking about all the money hidden in the mountains, Mo Linsheng decided that he should focus on recovering from his injuries, going out to enjoy life, and not taking any more risks.

After changing his clothes, Mo Linsheng tidied up the bedding and then went to get a large broom to sweep away the ashes from the burned wood.

The wound on his leg had scabbed over again, but he dared not use any force, lest it bleed again and cause trouble.

After Li Long finished unloading the goods, he came over to look at Mo Linsheng and asked:

"What happened? You must have injured yourself again? In your legs? It looks like both legs are injured, but you're walking more smoothly now? Hahahaha."

Mo Linsheng smiled wryly. It was indeed as Li Long had said: yesterday he injured his right leg, and today he injured his left leg. Now, both legs were injured, making it difficult for him to walk on either one. Although he walked slowly, he appeared to be uninjured.

Li Long naturally wouldn't let anyone else do work if they were injured. When Mo Linsheng offered to help, Li Long lit a fire and told him to fetch food for himself.

Yesterday, Mo Linsheng had changed a lot of cooked food, but it was all cold now. After the fire was lit and the cold boiled water in the pot was heated up a bit, Li Long gave Mo Linsheng two enamel bowls and told him to make his own breakfast.

Mo Linsheng knew he couldn't do anything at this moment, so he took his bowl and started preparing his own meal.

"What are you going to do with this wolf?" Li Long asked, pointing to the dead wolf. "Do you want me to take care of it? It'll get hot later and attract flies."

“It’s yours,” Morinson said. “I don’t want it, and I don’t know how to deal with it. It wasn’t the shovel you gave me; I’ve already let it eat it.”

Li Long smiled and went over to skin the wolf. Although some of its fur was burned off and it was wounded, and the skin was just a tattered pelt, it was still a wolf pelt. Even a tattered pelt was worth several tens of yuan.

As for the wolf meat, we'll just cook it later and see if anyone wants it when we come to exchange it for fritillaria bulbs.

Li Long worked quickly, and soon the wolf skin was peeled off. After rubbing it with salt, he laid it out to dry on the grass.

The wolf's internal organs were discarded, and Li Long dissected the meat, which was then put into the pot that Mo Linsheng had boiled.

"You can decide what to do with this meat. You'll definitely need to keep it for a couple more days. Even though it's not very tasty, it's better than nothing," Li Long said.

Mo Linsheng thought that made sense, after all, it was meat.

Someone appeared near the woods in the distance.

The fritillaria bulbs in the mountains are already flowering, so the number of people coming to exchange them for money has been increasing recently. After exchanging their money, these people leave the mountains immediately, and even if they encounter forest rangers, they are not stopped by those who are not taking the fritillaria bulbs.

Alternatively, you could bring some mushrooms and pretend to be a mushroom picker; the forest rangers generally won't check.

Before Mo Linsheng could even take a bite of his food, Li Long had already served the first person who came to exchange money.

The man, carrying a full sack of fritillaria bulbs, swayed as he walked over, placed the sack beside the table, and said:
"Exchange money!"

His tone was firm, but his voice was very soft. Fortunately, Li Long had good hearing, otherwise he might not have been able to hear him clearly.

Li Long suspected that this person hadn't been eating properly lately, as he looked noticeably pale and thin.

He couldn't help but ask:

"Aren't you going to get something to eat? Looking at you like this, even if we give you money, will you be able to get out of the mountains safely?"

Mo Linsheng had already baked the steamed buns. He used the remaining scraps to make a bowl of offal soup in the pot, sprinkled with some wild vegetable leaves. The aroma wafted over and looked quite tempting.

The man glanced at Mo Linsheng, his attention fixed on the bowl. He swallowed, but then said resolutely:
"Let's exchange it for a steamed bun, and exchange the rest for money."

The voice was still very soft. Li Long smiled, took a steamed bun and handed it to him: "Eat it, no need to exchange it, it's a gift for you."

After saying that, he weighed the bag of fritillaria bulbs in his hand; it weighed over thirty kilograms.

He opened the bag and looked inside. The fritillaria bulbs were quite clean, about 70% dry. Li Long thought about how hard this person's life must have been, and said:
"The fritillaria bulbs are cleaned quite well. This bag of fritillaria bulbs weighs about 35 kilograms, and costs 1,800 yuan. How about that?"

"Okay, okay, okay." The person kept saying okay while eating a steamed bun, but first he choked and coughed repeatedly. After finally stopping coughing, he choked again and had to run to the spring to drink water.

Li Long wanted to remind him that there was hot water here, but the man was already drinking from the spring.

The bag of fritillaria bulbs could be left in the car. After counting the money, the man didn't even want the bag anymore. He put the money in a small cloth bag, put the steamed bun in his mouth, then unbuckled his belt, stretched out the cloth bag and tied it around his waist, and finally tied the belt back on.

After hiding the money, the man took the steamed bun, waved it at Li Long, and then walked along the road out of the mountains.

Perhaps it was because he had gained strength from eating the steamed bun, but the man's steps became much lighter as he walked out.

Quite a few people came to exchange their goods today. In just one morning, Li Long saw six people off. All six of them exchanged their fritillaria bulbs for money and then left the mountain.

To Li Long's surprise, the Wu family uncle and nephew also came. This time they brought more fritillaria bulbs than last time, about 10.5 kilograms each.

Moreover, the uncle and nephew did not leave after exchanging money and supplies, but continued into the mountains.

According to Wu Bensheng:
"Earn as much as you can. Money is easy to make in the mountains. Although there are wild animals, two people traveling together aren't too afraid. Once you leave the mountains, it will be harder to make money."

Seeing the two of them walking into the mountains together, Li Long thought it made sense.

Although nearly ten years have passed since the reform and opening up, and people's living standards have been improving, making money is not easy, especially in inland and northwestern regions.

If you dig for fritillaria bulbs in the mountains for more than a month, barring any unforeseen circumstances, you can bring back at least a thousand yuan at the current price.

Even if there are some setbacks and some items are confiscated, as long as you work hard, you can still salvage the situation.

This amount of money is significantly more than the annual salary of an average worker. Moreover, the standard of living in many inland areas is even lower than in northern Xinjiang, making this money even more useful.

So taking a little risk is nothing to them; on the contrary, they are terrified of poverty and can't stand it.

After eating, Mo Linsheng felt much better. He cleaned the pot, boiled water, and then came over to help Li Long.

Li Long wouldn't let him help, so he stayed at the case, spreading out the not-quite-dried fritillaria bulbs he had collected to dry, always trying to do his part.

Seeing that he couldn't stop them, Li Long stopped trying. He was busy too. Judging from the current situation, he could fill a truck with fritillaria bulbs before noon.

Around noon, after seeing off two more money changers, Li Long sensed something was off and asked Mo Linsheng, "Do you know those two people?"

"Yes, those two snatched my fritillaria bulbs, and I snatched them back. I didn't expect them to get so many more fritillaria bulbs during this time."

The two people who came over just now each carried a bag that was more than half full of dried scallops. Currently, it takes about eight to ten kilograms of fresh scallops to make one kilogram of dried scallops.

Each of these two men carried about ten kilograms of dried scallops, which, including fresh scallops, would amount to over a hundred kilograms. They certainly couldn't dig them all up in just a few days; Li Long figured they must have stolen from someone else.

Li Long couldn't care less about all that. He just noticed that when the two men came to exchange money, their expressions were a bit strange when they saw Mo Linsheng. They didn't seem to have any objections to the weight Li Long was weighing and the price he offered, and they basically didn't say a word.

In the end, neither of them took the bags. Li Long gave each of them a naan bread and watched them leave the mountain.

"I've almost finished collecting everything here. I'll head back after lunch." Li Long said to Mo Linsheng, noticing that there wasn't much cooked food left, and the offal could barely make one plate. "If anyone else comes over, just tell them I'll be back the day after tomorrow."

"You're not coming tomorrow?" Mo Linsheng asked, somewhat surprised.

“I can’t come tomorrow,” Li Long said. “I have other business to attend to.”

Factory Director Du finished making the dryer, and Li Long's idea was to have him arrange for a vehicle to deliver it. However, Factory Director Du asked Li Long to pick it up himself, mainly because the dryer was more complicated to operate, at least more complicated than the snow removal machine.

Factory Director Du thought it would be better to train Li Long at the factory so that any problems he encountered could be solved. If they brought the machine back and let Li Long figure it out on his own, he might not be able to get a good solution by calling.

Li Long thought it made sense. If he encountered problems while operating the equipment, it would be troublesome to send it back to Kuitun. It would be better to go there himself.

Although the harvesting of fritillaria bulbs here has reached a critical stage, he felt that a day or two wouldn't make a difference.

Mo Linsheng paused for a moment, then said:

"Then, if someone comes to sell fritillaria bulbs, I'll buy them for you?"

Li Long looked Mo Linsheng up and down, then shook his head and said:
"If you're all alone and try to exchange that money for fritillaria, those people will definitely rob you. You'd better not take the risk."

Although Li Long wanted Mo Linsheng to take his place here, he wouldn't do anything that put someone else at risk. The mountains are a dog-eat-dog world; Mo Linsheng was injured, and if he brought a large sum of money here to exchange for fritillaria, who knew if those people would be greedy and try to kill him?

After all, Mo Linsheng is not like last time; he was injured.

Seeing that Li Long was unwilling, Mo Linsheng said no more.

“Listen to what I’m saying. The mountains are different from the outside world. There’s no morality or law here. You’ve earned quite a bit of money already. Get well soon and come out of the mountains. I don’t need these fritillaria bulbs, understand?” Li Long advised again before starting to prepare lunch.

Just as he expected, Polati arrived before the meal was even ready.

“Hey, I always get to eat something delicious every time I come here. What kind of meat is in that pot?” Pora asked.

He didn't see the wolf pelt spread on the grass, and while unloading the fritillaria bulbs, he said to Li Long:
"We didn't collect many fritillaria bulbs today, less than ten kilograms in total, so I'm giving them to you."

Li Long didn't stand on ceremony with him, laid out the food he had prepared, and offered him chopsticks to eat together.

Polati found it a bit strange that Mo Linsheng was so familiar with Li Long, but he didn't ask. Given that there was Sun Jiaqiang before, it wasn't surprising that there was now Mo Linsheng.

After dinner, Polati told Li Long that Captain Eli asked him to come over again when he had time, saying that the team had collected quite a few more fritillaria bulbs.

Li Long responded and said that it would be over in a couple of days. He was a bit busy these two days, and Polati naturally had no objections.

After Bolati left, Li Long took the wolf pelt, left the rest of the food for Mo Linsheng, gave him some medicine, and then returned to the county.

Shortly after Li Long left, someone came to exchange fritillaria for money, but Mo Linsheng shook his head and said that Li Long had left.

The man saw the meat in the pot and wanted to trade some fritillaria for some wolf meat. Mo Linsheng didn't refuse, but he also made it clear that this was wolf meat and it didn't taste good.

"Even if it doesn't taste good, it's better than wild vegetables." That person thought the same way as Mo Linsheng, and then exchanged five or six pieces of meat, leaving three kilograms of fritillaria.

After everyone left, Mo Linsheng took a shovel and slowly headed into the mountains.

Despite Li Long's suggestion, Mo Linsheng still felt he should give it a try.

He hid all his money in the pine forest, which wasn't far from here, but it was rather remote.

After all, most of those who come to exchange fritillaria bulbs have to pass through this grove, so they need to hide in a secluded spot to avoid being seen by others.

They went into the woods, retrieved the money, and brought it back to the cabin.

He hid most of the money behind the house. The money was wrapped in a bag and buried in the ground, so he wasn't worried about it for a while.

I left behind a thousand yuan as initial capital to exchange for fritillaria bulbs.

Although Li Long's words were rather dangerous, Mo Linsheng felt that he could still give it a try.

He knew the status of the wooden house in the hearts of these people who dug for fritillaria. With the support of this position, and by saying that he was Li Long's agent, those people would be hesitant to act against him and would probably give him face.

Sure enough, someone came over in the afternoon. Although they didn't see a jeep, they saw Morinson and decided to give it a try.

Mo Linsheng exchanged 800 yuan for the first time and kept more than 20 kilograms of fritillaria.

Seven-tenths dried fritillaria bulbs could fetch over a thousand yuan from Li Long, and he made quite a profit.

Feeling confident, he waited until the person left, then put away the fritillaria bulbs and took out some money.

In one afternoon, I exchanged nearly two thousand yuan and obtained about fifty kilograms of fritillaria bulbs.

He was selective about who he swapped things with; if the other party was too assertive, he wouldn't swap. After each swap, he would hide the mother-of-pearl, at least leaving no trace of the swap on the surface.

Therefore, at least for this afternoon, his strategy was successful.

When someone tentatively asked about his relationship with Li Long, he simply said that Li Long had asked him to stay and inform everyone that Li Long wouldn't be coming the next day. If the person seemed easy to talk to, he would then decide to replace the fritillaria bulb.

Although the gains are small, the safety is a major advantage.

One-third of the wolf meat was exchanged, and the rest continued to simmer slowly in the pot.

Mo Linsheng didn't plan to take the meat out. Firstly, he couldn't put it away, and secondly, he felt that most people would want to eat it hot.

That night, having learned from his previous experience, Mo Linsheng was quite vigilant. The fire was burning very brightly, and he certainly didn't want to provoke any more wolves.

(End of this chapter)