Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1119 The Dorsens from the Mountains Returned Ahead of Schedule

Bai Xiuming arrived with two trucks loaded with shoes. He drove directly into the purchasing station, and when Li Long arrived, Bai Xiuming was chatting with Liang Shuangcheng.

Li Long could hear that Bai Xiuming was mainly asking about the Volga.

That Volga was a bit worn and didn't look as new as the previous one. I wonder if Bai Xiuming was hesitating about which car he wanted.

Hearing Li Long's arrival, Bai Xiuming came out of the reception room, and Liang Shuangcheng also hurriedly came out, giving Li Long an awkward smile.

He wasn't being lazy. When guests asked him questions, he poured them water and stayed inside for a while. Although it was understandable, he still felt a little guilty.

Li Long pays me too much money, so if I don't work hard, I'll feel like I'm letting Li Long down.

Li Long ignored him. At least for now, both Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng were very qualified in Li Long's eyes. They were efficient, observant, and knew what to do without him having to tell them.

He said to Bai Xiuming:
"Manager Bai, has the shoe arrived?"

"It's here, it's here. It took quite a bit of effort to get it all the way from over there; it wasn't easy." Bai Xiuming shook hands with Li Long, his gaze sweeping over the two cars, looking them over repeatedly, and asked:
"Another one came in?"

"Yeah, we just brought them over a couple of days ago," Li Long said. "What, want to give them a try?"

"...Forget it." Bai Xiuming finally decided to go with the Moskva; it looked newer and would save face. The Volga, while more impressive, was obviously a bit old, and he wanted it for appearances.

Besides, he had already discussed the car situation with Lao Wei. If he went back in a different car, he wasn't sure if Lao Wei would think he was lying to him.

However, if Lao Wei really wants to raise the price for this car, then he can still get the car he has now.

"How much is this car?" Even though he was sure he didn't want it, Bai Xiuming still had to ask.

“Same, also 50,000. The age is similar to yours, but this is a Volga, so it was more expensive when it was bought back,” Li Long said. “The condition of the car isn’t ideal on the surface, but it’s been broken in very well.”

Bai Xiuming nodded, and then began to talk to Li Long about the contract.

"Here's 25,000 yuan." He and Li Long walked into the reception room, and he took out three stacks of money—two thick and one thin—from his bag, saying, "These two trucks contain shoes. You can check them. There are 1,000 pairs of leather shoes, sizes 39 to 43. And 3,000 pairs of cotton-padded rubber shoes of the same size."

Li Long first put the money away, and then said:

"Okay, I'll go check on the shoes."

Since it was his first time in the shoe business, he was bound to be cautious.

He untied the rope, climbed onto the truck, and randomly pulled out a pair of shoes to inspect.

The cotton-polyester shoes look to be of good quality; I tugged on them and there was no glue coming off. They're new shoes, the soles are quite thick, and the workmanship isn't rough; they're not the kind of products from a small family workshop or factory.

I checked a few more pairs, just a random inspection, and the results were good.

Then we went to look at the leather shoes in another car.

He specifically requested cotton-lined leather shoes, and the texture of these shoes was clear, confirming they were indeed made of leather.

Although it may be pigskin, which is relatively cheaper, it is still skin.

Moreover, Kazakhstan doesn't have any taboos about pigs at this time, so as long as the quality is acceptable, it doesn't matter.

Li Long also randomly inspected several pairs and found that the shoes were of good quality and there was no cardboard used to replace leather, so he was relieved.

"Unload the goods. Here, the car keys." Li Long pointed to the car that Bai Xiuming had inspected and said, "Take another look. All the paperwork is in the car."

Bai Xiuming took the key and said with a smile:
"No rush, no rush, let's finish taking off the shoes first. Oh, by the way, I might need the car later, you see..."

“No problem, just let me know in advance and I’ll hold it for you if I have a car,” Li Long said. “He believed that this Volga probably wouldn’t be able to stay for long either.”

After all, the used car is in good condition, so there must be a lot of people who want it.

The men Bai Xiuming brought, along with Liang Shuangcheng, unloaded the shoes into the warehouse. After unloading, Bai Xiuming inspected the car, found nothing wrong, shook hands with Li Long, and then drove away.

When he left, Li Long asked him how he planned to transport the car back, and he replied that he would hire a truck to take it back.

Driving back from here is one option, but the road conditions are uncertain, and there might be some unpleasant things along the way, so it's safer to take it back.

After Bai Xiuming left, Li Long called Liu Gaolou, who was staying at the guesthouse.

Liu Gaolou was getting a little impatient. After receiving the call, he immediately drove to the purchasing station.

"The shoes are right here, take a look," Li Long said. "One thousand pairs of leather shoes and three thousand pairs of cotton-padded shoes. I won't talk about the money yet, take them to your uncle and let him handle them. As for how much they can be sold for, let him see how the market goes. By the way, exchange them for US dollars, or some rare goods from over there, either way is fine."

As for the price, Li Longzhen didn't care. He knew that the distance was too far, and it was impossible to calculate the price in real time. It was better to leave it to Liu Shanmin.

He believed that Liu Shanmin wouldn't cheat him. In fact, even if Liu Shanmin took the shoes without paying him, he would accept it.

The main problem is that the other party gave me too much; even if I filled in these shoes, it wouldn't be enough to make up for it.

Surprisingly, Liu Gaolou also thought this method of trading was quite good. However, he didn't plan to use two trucks; he simply put the cotton-padded shoes at the bottom and the leather shoes on top, compressing them all into one truck.

Anyway, the cotton-poly rubber shoes weren't afraid of being crushed, so I went to the sugar factory to haul sugar.

Liu Gaolou didn't even stop. After finishing the sugar, he left immediately. It was already noon, and he said his lunch was on the way.

Li Long guessed that Liu Shanmin might have called him to say something, which was why he left in such a hurry.

But it's all good. At least things are going well on both sides. The car sold for a good price, and the shoes were delivered to test the waters. If the market there accepts it, then they can make more trips in the future. He believes that as long as Bai Xiuming still wants the car, the shoes will be easy to get.

If Bai Xiuming doesn't want to profit from the price difference, then he can get the shoe factory's contact information from him and handle it himself.

Snowflakes began to fall again. The last snowfall hadn't stopped; it melted as soon as it hit the ground, since the ground temperature was still quite high.

This situation will most likely end the same way, after all, it's only early November.

The snow won't stop for a few more days, and then it should snow heavily again.

Li Long received a call from Factory Director Du, who said that before the snowfall this year, about two hundred spraying machines had been produced, and more than one hundred and sixty had been sold, which was not bad.

However, production has been temporarily suspended because a large number of snowplow orders have come in. The factory is now operating at full capacity to produce snowplows, and another payment has been transferred to him for receipt. This is his profit sharing for this period.

Li Long was quite happy. The money would come in automatically from time to time, just like when Alipay came in and he would hear "Received XX yuan" from time to time. That sense of satisfaction was quite good.

On November 3rd, Li Long was repairing a wooden shovel at home. It's quite convenient for clearing snow. Although they have a snowplow, they still need this for some hard-to-reach corners.

The greenhouse at home has been set up again, and the vegetables have sprouted. I've started watering them every day again, and it makes me quite happy to see the seedlings growing day by day.

There was a knock at the door, and Li Long called out:
"Push it, the door's unlocked!"

He recognized several people, then sensed familiar presences and the sound of horses' hooves. He immediately realized what was happening and hurriedly grabbed his wooden shovel and headed for the door.

Sure enough, after the door was pushed open, Halimu and Yushanjiang and a few others came in. The horse was tied up outside and occasionally snorted.

"You've all come down?" Looking at the group of people who had become tanned, Li Long went over and hugged each of them.
"They're all back?"

“You’re back,” Halim said with a smile. “We harvested a lot of grass this year, and it snowed in the summer pastures, so we thought we’d come back early. Anyway, half the road is in good condition, making the return trip easier.” “Come on, come on, bring the horses in, come in and have some tea.” Li Long ushered them in. “You must be exhausted from the journey.”

"No, no, the road is half finished, and it's much easier for us to travel now. Even the horses are having a great time," Yushanjiang said, taking a sip of tea. "It's so much better than before. I'm already thinking about how convenient it will be in two years when the road is fully completed! We might only need to move our livestock for a day or two!"

“That’s impossible,” Li Long said with a smile. “Tractors can haul things faster, but those cattle and sheep can’t run fast.”

“We can use tractors to haul the goods over, set up the yurts first, and then drive the cattle and sheep of several families together uphill. There are main roads and bridges, so it will definitely be faster than before.”

“That’s for sure.” Li Long nodded. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Rest for a while, and I’ll take you to eat.”

Yu Shanjiang and the others did not refuse. Coming to Li Long's place was the same as Li Long coming to their place; there was no need to be polite. They could arrange things however they pleased.

After treating them to a meal in Naren, Yushanjiang and the others were very satisfied. Buick, who hadn't said much until now, whispered:
"I just think that the Naren made outside tastes better than my mom's."

“It’s even better than my grandma’s!” Talihar said. “There’s more meat in it, and the soup is flavorful.”

“They specialize in this, and the taste of your homemade food is something that can’t be replicated outside,” Yu Shanjiang couldn’t help but say. “Don’t always think that food outside tastes better. After eating it a lot, you’ll find that homemade food is the best.”

Li Long laughed. There was still a generation gap between Yushanjiang and Talihar, so he couldn't help but lecture them.

Seeing Li Long laugh, Yu Shanjiang laughed too. He pulled his hat down and said, "I couldn't help but say it. Actually, the food here is really delicious. I was just afraid that the young people would get used to it and complain when they got back."

“We’re not spoons,” Talihar retorted. “Are you looking for a fight?”

"Are you all settled in for the winter?" Li Long quickly changed the subject. "When did you arrive?"

“Everything was settled yesterday,” Yushanjiang said. “The water pipes of two houses were a bit frozen. Fortunately, they had only just frozen, and after boiling water and pouring it on for a while, they thawed. It snowed in the mountains, but not heavily, just a layer, and the cattle and sheep can still graze on the winter pastures.”

"Now that you're here, what will happen to your cattle and sheep?" Li Long thought to himself that the sheep huts and children in Yushanjiang were all at the livestock team's post. With his arrival, there would be no one left at the winter pasture.

“The cattle and sheep have been driven to Halim’s place,” Yushanjiang said. “Let his sheep graze for a while.”

They left the canteen together and went straight to the purchasing station.

"I didn't know you were coming today; the small four-wheeled tractor hasn't been cleaned up yet," Li Long said. "You need to add hot water."

"It's nothing, a small matter, we're all here." Halim couldn't wait to go to his little four-wheeled vehicle, take off the crank handle, and plug it in to try it out.

It's quite heavy. I shook it three times to release the pressure, but it still didn't light.

"The water hasn't been added yet." Li Long brought over hot water. There was always hot water available at the purchasing station. Seeing how anxious Halimu was, he wondered if he was in a hurry to see his mother and child, so he added the water for him first.

Liang Shuangcheng brought the water over and added it in as well. Then Li Long took the crank handle and cranked it a few times evenly. When he felt that the piston wasn't so tight, he increased the speed, cranked it a couple of times, and then released the pressure. The chimney of the small four-wheeled vehicle then emitted black smoke rings and started to chug.

"The tanks are all full, you can drive off right away," Li Long said. "Yours will have to wait a bit."

“Okay, no rush,” Yushanjiang said.

The stove heats water quickly. It's not that cold yet, so there's no need to boil it; just heat it up.

All three tractors were running, the back of the trailers lowered to the ground, and the two horses were driven onto them and tied to the front. Buick pulled the horses' heads, and Yushanjiang said to Li Long:
"Go into the mountains whenever you have time. We brought back a lot of things this time. If you don't have time, we'll bring them over for you in a couple of days."

"No need, no need. I'll go into the mountains in a couple of days. I'll also take this opportunity to see everyone and see if there's anything else they need over there, and bring it with me."

“You don’t need to bring any. We have two empty tractors here, we’ll go buy them later,” Yushanjiang said with a smile. “We also brought money with us.”

They have some money now. Although the goods they haul down are supposed to be used to pay for road repairs, Li Long will also give them some money from time to time. It's not much, but at least they have some money in their hands.

“Then I’ll take you to buy supplies. Some things can be bought from the supply and marketing cooperative. I’ll take you there and we can get a wholesale price,” Li Long said. “Since you want to go back now, let’s go. The tractor will take several hours to travel on the road.”

Li Long took them to the supply and marketing cooperative, department store, and grain and oil store to buy things, and in the end, Li Long paid for everything.

Yushanjiang and the others couldn't persuade Li Long, so they eventually gave up.

After seeing them off, Li Long thought that he could indeed make a trip into the mountains.

When he mentioned this at dinner, Gu Boyuan said:
"Are you going into the mountains to haul something? If so, bring the van; it can carry more than your jeep. I don't have time to drive it anyway, so let you drive it to break it in before it gets worn out."

Li Long said with a smile:

"Row."

He also wanted to try driving a different car. He hadn't tried that van before; although it wasn't a new car, he'd never driven one before, so it was quite novel.

Having bought most of the daily necessities, Li Long thought he should take some horse meat and sausages he had bought from Yining, as well as some Soviet candy, since he had children. Although his children hadn't returned, he figured he could take some with him so they could have something to eat.

As for the rest, Li Long figured they had bought enough, so he didn't bring anything else.

The next day, after dropping Mingming and Haohao off at kindergarten, Li Long went to the purchasing station, drove the van that had been sitting idle for over a month, went back to the courtyard to load up horse meat and sausages, and also loaded up a few boxes of apples, before heading into the mountains.

"Boss Li has it so good. He has several cars at home and can drive whichever one he wants," a middleman said enviously, watching the van disappear into the distance.

"You're wealthy enough to afford a car, right?"

"Where? That car is something people like us can afford?"

"If you can't afford new ones, you can always afford secondhand ones, right?" These middlemen all knew each other well. "Just like those melon seeds you were harvesting a while ago, you bought them for three or five cents and sold them here for a dollar. You must have made a lot of money, right?"

"Aren't you the same? It's not like I'm the only one who earned it."

Hearing them arguing, Gu Boyuan didn't try to stop them. He figured they were just idling around anyway, and if they didn't cause some trouble while they were queuing, it wouldn't be lively, would it?
After all, it's getting cold outside now. Although we've set up a stove so a few of us can warm ourselves around it, and there's a pile of coal in the corner that we can add as we please, it's still cold outside. If we don't do something fun and chat a bit, it'll be too cold.

We've harvested another two or three tons of watermelon seeds in the last few days, but I estimate we'll have to wait until next year to sell them.

Fewer people are coming here to sell things now. Winter is approaching, and the things being delivered so far are mainly animal hides and ginseng, but not in large quantities. The busy farming season has just ended, and most farmers are finally getting a break. After working hard for more than half a year, they have a chance to rest, and most people don't plan to do any side jobs for a while.

It's not that they're lazy. Farmers in northern Xinjiang are used to being busy for half the year and idle for the other half. They don't usually do so much work, so why make themselves so tired?

Of course, people tend to follow the crowd. If someone takes the lead and makes money from it, then that's a different story.

When Li Long drove his van past Qingshuihe, he vaguely saw a small four-wheeled vehicle and a Dongfanghong 75 tractor parked in Meng Hai's yard. It seemed that he was unloading coal.

Shouldn't we haul away our own coal too?
Although there are open-pit coal mines in the mountains, they are too far away. It's not worth the trip to make such a long journey. It's better to just call a coal truck in the county to bring it to my doorstep and unload it.

When you have money, you don't want to do these kinds of jobs anymore.

The van drove very fast, flashing by, and soon passed Qingshuihe Village and arrived at the mountain pass.

The snow in the mountains has stopped. Except for the outermost layer of earth that is not visible, the mountains inside are covered with a thin layer of white snow, with green, yellow and white colors interspersed, which looks quite beautiful.

When they arrived at the Harim winter shed, they found several horses tied up in the stable, smoke rising from the shed, and they could faintly hear people talking inside.

I guess Yushan Jiang and the others are here.

When Li Long's van pulled up, the people inside the winter shelter came out.

What a huge group!
(End of this chapter)