Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1096 Two truckloads, let's test the goods!
In August, the season for black tiger paw mushrooms was almost over, so when Li Long went into the mountains early in the morning, he found that there were still a few people heading into the mountains.

Occasionally, you can see people carrying sacks out of the mountains. These people either went into the mountains early or spent the night there and have now brought back their harvest.

Judging by the effort they put into carrying those sacks, they're most likely filled with mushrooms. Even though the black tiger paw mushrooms have been dead for over a month, there are still some left, and these people probably picked other mushrooms as well.

If you're a local, you can sell black tiger paw mushrooms for money, and other mushrooms, as long as they're non-toxic, can be taken home and eaten as a delicious dish.

Mountain delicacies are generally better than ordinary vegetables.

As they went deeper into the mountains, they encountered fewer people. By the time they reached the vicinity of Halimu and his group's winter camp, they could see footprints on the road, but hardly any people at all.

At this time of year, most people have gone to various mountain valleys to pick mushrooms, dig for medicinal herbs, or collect deer antlers.

When Li Long saw the winter shed in Halimu, he noticed a large group of people gathered there. Each family must have contributed some manpower, since the hay they gathered was for their own livestock to use in the winter. Unless they had a very close relationship, it was unlikely they would ask someone else to gather hay for them.

Upon seeing Li Long's jeep appear, the people all chuckled and laughed. Some had already started walking this way.

Their horses were tethered to the edge of the stable, grazing with their heads down, some snorting.

The horses kept their distance from each other, mainly because they were worried about fighting.

Li Long's jeep stopped, and as he got out, Halim tapped the hood of the jeep and said:
"Li Long, you can't fit all the stuff in this car."

“It’s alright, I’ll come back a couple more times if there’s not enough room. I’ll come again tomorrow,” Li Long said.

"Yes, yes, yes, come often." Yushanjiang said with a smile, then called to the young men to unload the supplies.

“We actually wanted to buy some things to take back yesterday, but we forgot because we were in such a hurry when we left, and also because we didn’t bring much money with us,” Halim said honestly. “When we came down from the summer ranch, we were only thinking about packing all these things, and we forgot to bring the money.”

"Hahahaha," Li Long laughed, "You'll have to bring money with you when you go down the mountain next time. With this, you can buy anything. But don't worry, I have money here. If you go down to the county, come find me first."

This was Li Long's promise, not only to Harim, but also to the entire small tribe. He believed that the others in the tribe should understand that he would take care of their food and drink, just like when Harim first came to the mountains and Harim treated him to milk tea.

The supplies were unloaded from the truck and placed in the spare house, and then the herders began loading the things from the spare house back onto the truck.

The most common items were still hides. Li Long could tell that the most common were deer hides and wild goat hides.

“We went a bit further this time and encountered a herd of deer. We went together and chased them together,” Yushanjiang explained. “We also found some deer antlers and some antlers.”

“Talihar prefers wild goats,” Halim said, pointing to the wild goat skin. “Do you remember, once he hunted more than a dozen wild goats at once?”

"I remember, seventeen!" Li Long certainly remembered.

"That's right, he hit quite a few this time too."

“I encountered two groups,” Talihar said with a laugh, still carrying his rifle. “The wild goats were right next to our pasture, so I shot them.”

Well, they have no concept of protecting wild animals. They only know that if they shoot these animals, they can eat the meat and skin them, which can be given to Li Long to exchange for money to repair the road.

The road that stretched into the mountains was funded by the goods they hunted. Although they didn't work, Halim and his men still felt involved.

Li Long watched as they loaded not only deer antlers into the car, but also deer penis. The two bear pelts looked quite large, and considering the two bear gallbladders they had obtained yesterday were also quite large, these must have been big brown bears.

The jeep was already full of leather, but there wasn't enough room for the antlers and some jade. They put two pieces under the feet and then stopped. Yushanjiang said they would add more tomorrow.

“We’ve been waiting for you this morning, so we didn’t start cutting grass. Later, two people can stay and start cooking, and the rest of you can start cutting grass,” Yushanjiang instructed. “You even brought meat. We were thinking of arranging for Talihar to go hunting…”

“I set up a meat jerky processing workshop,” Li Long explained. “Every day, a Uyghur friend delivers me fresh beef and mutton, and I just picked up some today.”

"Great!" Everyone was naturally happy to have fresh meat to eat, and they all laughed and said that some people wanted to make Naren, some wanted to make pilaf, and some wanted to just boil the meat, make naan, and drink the meat soup.

In the end, Yushanjiang made the decision to make pilaf, which would be more convenient.

Li Long didn't bring any noodles. These young men aren't very good at making noodles, but everyone can make pilaf.

Li Long brought carrots, onions, and cooking oil, which, along with the meat, was just right.

The only downside was that it came with pure meat, no bones.

Li Long didn't need to cook; he just followed the tractor to watch the hay cutting.

Although he patrols the grassland every year, before cutting grass this year, Yushanjiang still asked the young people who had no work to walk along the grassland to see if there were any stones that had rolled down from the mountain. He wanted to remove these things so as not to damage the harvesters.

Li Long followed along, just like defusing mines. The people in the row were spaced two meters apart, walking, looking, talking and laughing. Occasionally, Yu Shanjiang would criticize them, telling them to be more serious.

Sure enough, Li Long actually saw stones and thick branches in the grass, picked them up, and threw them to the edge of the grass.

"Look, look! Pay attention!" Yushanjiang shouted. "You all need to keep an eye on things. If you don't see it, the harvester might break down, and then you'll have to use sickles to cut grass!"

To be honest, nobody wanted to use a sickle to cut grass, so everyone put a lot of effort into their search.

Li Long also spotted some delicious mushrooms growing on a small patch of sparse grass.

He was also somewhat surprised, as these mushrooms usually grow on flat ground. How come there were some here? Did the spores fly here, or was there some other reason?
There weren't many mushrooms in the grass. Occasionally, there would be a large patch of those with particularly large caps, like straw hats, but most of them had already rotted and were full of maggots, so they were inedible.

Li Long didn't pick mushrooms; he was looking at them carefully while chatting with the others. Halimu and his group had already driven over in their tractors to harvest them.

Soon, the valley was filled with the scent of fresh grass juice.

When it was time for lunch, the young man cooking brought out a plate of wild fruit, saying it was picked from the mountains. Li Long could tell it was from a wild apple tree; the apples were rather sour, but they were a good appetizer.

After lunch, Li Long asked Yu Shanjiang to send him back, saying that the people from their side who were busy with the grass cutting were fine, and that Li Long had something to do and didn't need to stay there.

Before leaving, Yushanjiang slipped a stone into Li Long's hand, while Halim gave him a gold nugget, about the size of a child's eraser.

Are the resources in the mountains really that abundant?
Li Long examined it carefully and found that what Yu Shanjiang had given him was a rough gemstone, probably an aquamarine. The color was a bit light, but it was flawless and very beautiful.

All I can say is that these two people are very lucky.

“Take it, I have more.” Halim didn’t give him a chance to refuse. “I found a few pieces in a ditch. I kept the biggest one for Yang Gangzi, gave another one to my mother, and this one is for you.”

Okay, is Li Long considered part of his family?
Li Long smiled, didn't say anything to thank them, waved to them, and then went back.

Back in the county, Li Long first went to the purchasing station and unloaded the hides.

Sun Jiaqiang, who was unloading the truck with him, looked at the hides and said with a smile:

"I have to say, these friends in the mountains are really good at skinning! There's not much oil on the skin, making it much easier to clean."

As they unloaded the pelts, they counted the contents: besides two large bear skins, there were eleven wolf skins, fifteen deer skins, and twelve wild goat skins.

Li Long didn't unload the jade; he simply dragged it back to the courtyard and placed it in the corner. In Halimu's spare room, there were several more pieces of jade. Of the four pieces Li Long brought back, two were of average quality, and two were of good quality.

However, they were all put together.

As for the gold nugget and the raw gemstone, they were also put into the cellar.

Two days ago, when he went to Wucheng to see Liu Shanmin, he brought back the paintings that had been framed at the framing shop. He originally planned to frame some more, but the other party said that he was busy at the moment and would not be available until October.

Li Long has exceptional observational skills; he could tell that the painting hadn't been switched, so he felt relatively at ease.

It's a bit pricey, but you can rest assured.

He didn't plan to release too many; he would release twenty or thirty at a time, so he wouldn't be too heartbroken even if he lost some.

After putting his things down, Li Long was fine. Sister Yang hadn't returned, and Han Fang had taken Mingming and Haohao to play at the jerky processing workshop. So Li Long prepared to cook.

He couldn't eat anything too greasy at night. Although there were steamed buns, he wanted to eat steamed flatbread, so he simply made some dough. While the dough was rising, he also milked some goat milk to cook a pot of it and then stir-fry two dishes.

Even though Minghao and Haohao can't eat spicy food, he plans to stir-fry chili eggs. After washing the chilies, he'll cut them flat and remove the veins to make them less spicy. He'll also make plenty of eggs, since there are so many people in the family; at least two dishes will be enough.

Fresh potatoes weren't in season yet, so I thought I'd stir-fry another simple home-style dish: tomatoes, eggplant, and chili peppers, without any meat.

Stir-fried eggs with chili peppers need to be cooked quickly, so they should be cooked last. This dish takes a relatively long time to cook, mainly because the long eggplant needs to be cooked until it's mushy to taste good, so it should be cooked first.

With the ingredients prepared, Li Long didn't stir-fry them first. Instead, he went to check on the dough. After the dough had risen, he tore it into small pieces, kneaded them, rolled them into flatbreads, and then cooked them in the flatbreads.

Just like the Xibe flatbread, one side has a large flower pattern and the other side has a small flower pattern, and it smells very wheaty.

New noodles are great!
While he was busy, someone knocked on the door. Li Long called out, "Come in!" but it was Meng Hai who entered.

"Hey, what brings you here? Perfect timing! Come on, have a freshly baked leavened flatbread?"

"Sure, I'm in luck." Meng Hai didn't stand on ceremony, smiled as he washed his hands, then took the pancake and ate it as he spoke.

It turned out that Meng Hai had come to deliver grain to the government.

“I have fifteen bags of wheat,” Meng Hai said as he ate, “that’s about seven or eight hundred kilograms.”

Urea bags used for storing wheat and corn weigh forty to fifty kilograms each; burlap sacks used for storing sunflowers and rice weigh only fifty to sixty kilograms each.

This weight is just right for an adult to lift. This is the wisdom of the people. It can't be too heavy—not that it's too heavy to lift, but you have to consider that you can't carry too much in one bag.

"After paying the grain tax, is there enough left to eat?" Li Long asked casually. "Did you grow any cash crops?"

“We didn’t plant any.” Meng Hai shook his head. “On my family’s land, we planted sunflowers, corn, and wheat. That’s enough to pay the grain tax, and we have enough to eat. As for money, with you here, we have ways to make money, so we don’t need to plant cash crops. We have little land and it’s cold where we live, so it’s not worthwhile to plant anything.”

After finishing half a pancake, Meng Hai clapped his hands and picked up the two buckets he was carrying.

A bucket of apples, a bucket of eggs.

"There's nothing good here, but I'm not coming over. I just had to come and take a look. Also, because we have to pay grain taxes, it's hard to store chickens and fish; they'll go bad easily. I'll send you those things when things are less busy, like around the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Li Long laughed and said with a smile while baking the flatbread, "I have some here too, I don't need any."

Meng Hai reiterated, "If you don't need it, it's yours; I'm giving it to you as a token of my appreciation."

He didn't linger, as he needed to get back early, so Li Long packed him a few flatbreads to take with him, and Meng Hai didn't refuse.

After baking a dozen or so flatbreads, Li Long started cooking the dishes. Before the dishes were finished, Han Fang returned with Mingming and Haohao, and then Sister Yang also came in.

Sister Yang watched Li Long cooking and said somewhat apologetically:
"I was busy over there and forgot."

"It's alright, what you're doing is important." Li Long smiled. "Anyway, I'm pretty free right now." He didn't consider himself any special person. This was his own home, and it was normal for him to cook when he had time.

Gu Xiaoxia would also cook on weekends, and no one felt that they were any special, so Sister Yang didn't really need to apologize.

With Sister Yang helping in the kitchen, the meal was cooked quickly, but when Gu Xiaoxia came in, Mingming Haohao was already eating a pancake.

Freshly baked flatbread, like freshly baked naan, is very appealing to children.

When Gu Boyuan returned, the dinner table had just been set, and Li Long was playing with Mingming and Haohao.

"Hey, I'm back just in time," Gu Boyuan said with a smile. "I could smell the food from afar. You've got scrambled eggs, haven't you?"

“His uncle cooked it,” Sister Yang said. “I got back late.”

“Since Xiaolong is free, let him do it,” Gu Boyuan said, knowing that Sister Yang was also busy with important matters. “Whoever is free can do it.”

During the meal, Gu Boyuan asked Li Long, Liu Shanmin, and about things in the mountains.

Liu Shanmin's matter was somewhat complicated, so Li Long only mentioned that he was a former friend and talked more about things in the mountains.

The next day after breakfast, Li Long went into the mountains again, this time bringing back some bones, as he had instructed Keyum the day before.

When we arrived at Halim's winter pasture, only Halim was there; the others had already gone to another pasture to cut hay. The hay on Halim's winter pasture was neatly arranged, each strip looking quite nice.

He helped Li Long unload the things, and then he started loading them, saying as he did so:
"If you have something to do at home, you don't need to come over. We can handle the grass cutting ourselves. We have a tractor. If anything happens, we'll just come down the mountain."

Li Long thought it made sense, so he loaded up his things and headed back. Things were different now; with children and a purchasing station, he couldn't stay idle.

This time, more deer antlers were brought back; the rest were jade.

Among a pile of jade stones, Li Long found one of very high quality. It was covered in ash and mud, but after wiping away the ash and mud, he found that the jade stone had no black spots and was a bright green, just like spinach, which was very beautiful!

And there were no cracks!
This piece alone, let alone in the future, could probably sell for several thousand yuan right now!

In fact, it's even better than Li Long's chubby doll and that giant mountain jade.

Hey, what a pleasant surprise!
This piece of jade couldn't be left against the wall; Li Long put it directly into the cellar. It's a valuable item.

For the next few days, Li Long did not go into the mountains. On August 20th, he waited for Liu Gaolou, who came with two trucks.

One truck was loaded with bundles of licorice root cut into sections, and the other truck was loaded with bundles of astragalus root.

Licorice relieves coughs, and astragalus replenishes qi; these are things that ordinary people use daily.

Of course, licorice tablets were regulated for a period of time, as those who know about this stuff know.

Two truckloads of medicinal herbs were brought into the yard of the purchasing station, and Liu Gaolou was invited into the reception room.

“My uncle said to bring two truckloads to test the waters first. If it goes well, there will be one or two truckloads every month. In winter, there might be other things.”

"Do you have the necessary paperwork?" Li Long asked.

Liu Gaolou took out some documents from his bag and handed them to Li Long. Sun Jiaqiang poured him some water, which Liu Gaolou thanked him for and kept drinking from. He seemed to be very thirsty.

A moment later, Liang Shuangcheng brought over a watermelon. Liu Gaolou paused for a moment, put down his water glass, and began to eat the watermelon.

Li Long looked through the documents. He didn't really understand them, and others could easily fool him with fake ones, but he felt that these shouldn't be fake.

Once Liu Gaolou recovered, the next step was to examine the medicinal herbs.

Somewhat surprisingly, the licorice and astragalus were of good quality and very clean.

More than four tons of licorice and more than five tons of astragalus are not small amounts.

Li Long thought to himself, "If only it were all fritillaria. There's a section of the Tianshan Mountains in the neighboring country, so there must be fritillaria there too, but they don't cultivate it there."

Both parties were very serious about inspecting the goods and calculating the price.

The licorice was of good quality, and Li Long offered it for two cents. Li Long hadn't bought much astragalus before, but Jia Tianlong had quoted him a price of eight cents to one dollar per kilogram, and Li Long offered him fifty cents.

Although the price was exorbitant, Liu Gaolou clearly had no objections, indicating that the cost was indeed very low.

The two items together cost a little over three thousand yuan, which was a drop in the bucket for Li Long, but quite a profit for Liu Gaolou.

He looked very happy.

Li Long actually wanted to tell him that if they were to combine the goods, the hides would be more expensive than the medicinal herbs. However, it was too much of a hasty discussion now, and they decided to wait until they had cooperated a few more times.

P.S.: There are many fish in the small lake, and many swans have also appeared. The old man cast his nets, and two of the iron nets allowed the swans to wade in the water, and they ate the fish too…

(End of this chapter)