Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1120 amazed Jia Tianlong

"Come, come, see what I brought you!" Li Long said with a smile, taking out horse meat and horse intestines from the van. "Familiar with them?"

"Huh? Horse meat and horse intestines!" Yu Shanjiang asked in confusion as Li Long took the horse meat and intestines out of the bag, "Where did you get these?"

"By the way, Li Long, you changed your car? What about your old one? Did you sell it? I think that car was nicer," Talihar said.

"I think this one looks better, it's so bright! The original one isn't as nice as this one!"

The herdsmen kept asking questions, one after another, leaving Li Long unsure how to answer.

"I bought this horse meat and sausage from Yili. By the way, I went to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, where there are many Kazakhs."

"You went to the Soviet Union?" Yushanjiang asked in surprise. "When did you go? How was it there?"

"Was this car brought from the Soviet Union?" Halim asked. "Did you trade it for your old car?"

“I went there a while ago,” Li Long said. “This car was indeed brought from there, but it wasn’t a replacement; I bought it.”

“Let’s go inside first,” Talihar said. “It’s getting a bit chilly outside. This horse meat and sausage looks delicious; are they cooked through?”

"It's cooked, it's ready. We can cut it up and try it now."

Once inside, the stove was already set up, and the room was quite warm, but the smell was a bit strong, mainly because there were too many people, and everyone had taken off their shoes.

Fortunately, Halim sensed it too and opened the door to let in some fresh air. Before Li Long could even complain, he was pulled inside and given a bowl of milk tea, and asked to talk about the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.

“That place is very big, with very few people. All you can see to the north of the Tianshan Mountains is grassland…” Li Long said while drinking milk tea. He quickly lost the smell, probably because his nose got used to it.

"Do the people over there also speak Kazakh?" Bek asked.

“No, most of them speak Russian,” Li Long said. “Russian is their official language. Some people speak Kazakh, but they are a minority.”

"Are they richer than us?" Halim asked as he refilled Li Long's bowl with milk tea.

“Not exactly.” Li Long took another sip of his hot drink and continued, “There are rich and poor. For example, in their big city, the capital Almaty, where I went, there are many cars, and many people can afford to drive cars.”

But in another small city, Nalingol, it's even poorer than our county. There aren't many decent buildings, and the streets are all the same length. Some people don't even have enough to eat... But they have so much more land there, and so much grassland.

Halim and his people couldn't imagine that such a powerful country still had people who didn't have enough to eat.

"Oh, right, there's something else. I was staying at a Kazakh family's house over there, and he showed me this pattern and asked if I recognized it. I didn't, so I drew it out for you to see..." Li Long remembered the old man who showed him the pattern and hurriedly said.

As he spoke, he drew the pattern on the kang table.

The one closest to Halim shook his head first, and looked at Yushanjiang.

Everyone else had the same expression: first they shook their heads, then they looked at Yushan River.

Yushanjiang looked at it and said:
"It looks similar to the pattern on our tribe's flag, but it's different. I've never seen it before, and I don't know if the elders in the tribe have."

Since he'd never even seen the Yushan River, they probably weren't related. Li Long thought that made sense; after all, they were so far apart, how could they just randomly bump into a family and discover they were connected?
He wasn't particularly concerned about it, and mainly talked about the living conditions of the Kazakhs there.

After learning that their fellow tribesmen there were also not well-off, and that some were even poorer than them, Talihar was the first to shake his head:
"Sigh, it would have been better to come over. What's the point of staying over there?"

Before Li Long could explain, Yu Shanjiang said:
"It's not that easy. This isn't about people from the same county coming and going as they please. Think about it, if I asked you to leave this mountainous area and go to a completely unfamiliar place, where the living conditions are supposedly much better, would you be willing to go?"

After he said that, Talihar fell silent.

Indeed, it is quite difficult to put yourself in someone else's shoes and consider things from their perspective.

"Is it easy to hunt over there?" Talihar then asked another question.

"It's so easy to shoot them. They use submachine guns to shoot gazelles and antelopes. There are so many wild animals on the grasslands over there. They drive pickup trucks to chase after those animals, and then they shoot and eat them."

"Are you going to hunt for meat?" Buick asked.

"Yes, although they have enough farmland to produce grain, most of it has to be handed over to the government, and there are times when they don't have enough to eat. They hunt mainly for meat and hides. By the way, they are different from you," Li Long said to Harim and the others, thinking of the religious issue.
"They believe in communism, so they can raise pigs and eat pork. They don't need an imam when slaughtering sheep..."

When he said that, Yushan Jiang and the others were extremely surprised.

Especially the young people, their religious beliefs may be stronger than those of Yushanjiang and his generation.

After all, Yushanjiang and his group had experienced more and knew some information that they were unaware of.

The horse meat and sausages had already been plated and served. Li Long greeted his bewildered herder friends and said:
"Come on, come on, try the horse meat and horse intestines from Yili."

The main ethnic minority in Yili is Kazakh, so their lifestyles are quite similar. There was even a Kazakh from Yili who came to give Li Long fritillaria bulbs because of his road construction project.

"Come on, have a taste." Yu Shanjiang realized what was happening and picked up a piece of horse meat to try.

“They’re smoked, the taste is just different.” Halim picked up a piece and tasted it, then commented, “We mostly air-dry them here, and smoke them less often.”

“Now that you mention it, it seems like we’re about to slaughter a horse for winter. We’re going to slaughter one this year,” Talihar said between bites. “You guys should come help out then. Oh, and Li Long, you should come too. Make sure you have a good meal when we slaughter the horse.”

"When?" Li Long asked casually.

"I don't know, maybe in a week or two." Talihar wasn't a parent and couldn't make the decision; he had only heard about it.

“It’s hard to say whether I can come,” Li Long said. “I have business to do, so I can’t come every day.”

“Yes, yes, no need to rush. Even if you miss it, we’ll still be slaughtering sheep.” Halim said with a smile, “The sheep are already in the pot, we’ll eat them in a bit.”

"You've already killed them?" Li Long asked, somewhat surprised. "So fast?"

“I slaughtered them first thing this morning,” Harim said proudly. “By the time they arrived, I had almost finished skinning the sheep.”

Li Long hadn't even noticed what was in the pot yet; he was mainly thinking about sharing his experience of going abroad.

The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic is not yet prominent, but in three or four years, when the Soviet Union collapses, Kazakhstan will realize its weakness: its small population. Therefore, they are calling on Kazakhs worldwide to come to them and establish a Greater Kazakhstan. At that time, they will begin to revive religious beliefs, which has indeed attracted many people back.

Many people have also crossed the border from Yili. Some of them returned through legitimate channels, while others crossed the border illegally.

"By the way, before the meat is cooked, let's move everything to the car first," Yu Shanjiang said. "Li Long, the car you drove this time is bigger, so it can carry more stuff."

Li Long smiled and said, "That's exactly what I was thinking. Come on, let's see just how much good stuff you've gotten your hands on."

After getting off the kang (heated brick bed), putting on his shoes, and stepping out of the winter shelter, Li Long finally felt the freshness of the outside air. He wondered how much stench he had inhaled that day.

In the next room, various kinds of fur filled half the room, there were seven or eight deer antlers, a pile of jade, and then there were quite a few snow lotuses, the flowers were all tied up to prevent the stamens from falling off.

“That’s all we have in the mountains. It’s hard to get anything new. There’s less and less stuff on our summer pasture. We have to go further afield to get it,” Yushanjiang said. “Don’t complain about how little there is.”

“Hey, I don’t think it’s too little,” Li Long said with a smile. “This is already a lot. The prices of leather and deer antlers are rising now. Although jade is not expensive, its price will rise after a few years.”

He was telling the truth, but Yu Shanjiang and the others felt that Li Long was just comforting them. Actually, they sometimes managed to find out the prices of these things when they went down the mountain, and the prices they found were different from what Li Long said; they were cheaper than the prices Li Long had quoted.

Of course, what they didn't know was that the price they asked for was the price the middleman paid, while the price Li Long told them was the price the purchasing station sold at, so there was bound to be a difference.

The group loaded the items onto the car together. Li Long estimated that the dozens of hides and eight deer antlers would be worth four or five thousand yuan. The jade pieces, most of which were ordinary, might be worth one or two thousand yuan, but two of them were of relatively pure quality and beautiful color, and could be sold for one or two thousand yuan if left to sit.

The total is less than ten thousand, but it's about the same.

Not a lot.

The main issue is that he definitely wants to sell those jade stones, so we can't estimate them based on the current prices.

Anyway, he'd pay for the road repairs himself first. Once the goods were loaded onto the truck, Li Long didn't go inside. The sun was now directly south, and with their backs against the winter shelter, they were sheltered from the wind and quite comfortable in the sun.

And then we chatted there.

Talihar and his men were already planning a horse race after the winter slaughter, and they even put a sheep as a wager to see who could win the sheep in the end.

Horse racing and goat-grabbing activities have continued in their culture for centuries, and have become popular attractions for tourists over the past three or four decades.

Of course, horses that win in some amateur horse races may not have licenses, but their value will still increase.

Some people frequently participate in horse racing, perhaps with the intention of increasing the value of their horses.

The plump and healthy lamb they had just eaten at the summer pasture tasted delicious. Li Long ate meat casually here. After the large plate of lamb was served, the younger generation didn't hold any ceremony and just started eating.

After the meal, Halim asked Li Long to take some cooked meat back with him, as well as a bag of hip stones, saying they were for the children to play with.

Li Long didn't refuse and took it back with him.

He also told Halim and the others that they should save some of the Soviet candy he brought for the children.

Back in the county, before sunset, Li Long went to the purchasing station to unload the hides and handed them over to Sun Jiaqiang to process, while he took the other things back to the courtyard.

As usual, the ordinary jade stones were piled up against the wall, while the high-quality jade stones were stored directly in the cellar.

He had just climbed out of the cellar when he heard someone knocking on the door.

"Who is it? Come in." Li Long closed the cellar door, covered up the items that needed to be covered, and clapped his hands. Then he watched as someone pushed the door open and came in.

Hey, it's Lao Wu, my colleague from the supply and marketing cooperative.

One of the warehouse managers, in his fifties, would often sunbathe in the warehouse when he had nothing to do, and occasionally sweep the warehouse with a large broom.

"Li Long, your yard is huge!" Old Wu said with a smile after coming in and looking around the yard. "This yard is nice."

"So-so." Li Long smiled. "Old Wu, is something wrong?"

"Well, something came up. I heard you have antelope horns here?" Old Wu walked up to Li Long, took out a cigarette, lit one, and offered it to him.

"I don't smoke, but I do have some. Do you want some?"

"Yes, I'd like to buy one," Old Wu said. "My grandson had a fever once and is too weak. I'm worried that if he gets a fever again, his body will convulse, so I thought I'd buy one to keep on hand."

"Old Wu, you know a lot. Okay, but the price is quite high."

"It's alright, it's alright. I was prepared. These kinds of things used to be something only wealthy families could afford, so they must not be cheap."

"Thirty per branch." Since they were colleagues, Li Long wouldn't ask for too high a price, but of course he couldn't pay the original price. "Don't go around saying that this price is relatively low."

"Okay, okay, that's a good price. I knew you were a generous person, Li." Old Wu immediately took out his money.

It's a single piece, not a pair, so Li Long is really being fair with the price, considering this is something that can truly be passed down through generations.

Each time you use it, you only scrape off a little bit. If you store it properly, it can last for decades.

Li Long went to the storeroom and took out a branch. Old Wu took out a cloth wallet, took out three ten-yuan bills, and handed them to Li Long: "Thank you."

After Lao Wu left, Li Long thought to himself that this matter was definitely not over yet. Someone had spread the word, and there would definitely be more people coming to find him later.

He has plenty of these things; if he were to hoard them, losing a few branches wouldn't be a problem.

He also thought that he should send a tube to each of his close friends so that they could use it if any of their children had a fever.

After all, the supply of medicines is not yet complete. Most households only keep a few kinds of medicines on hand, such as aspirin, aminopyrine, and painkillers. Most medicines are unaffordable for ordinary families.

After closing the door, Li Long unloaded the deer antlers from the van and put them into the side room. These pairs of antlers looked very beautiful, and he didn't plan to sell them; he wanted to keep them to see if he could use them as decorations later.

There's also that enormous Siberian goat horn. Li Long thought it was incredibly beautiful. Although it had practically no value now, Li Long figured that decades later, if someone saw it, they would definitely be willing to pay a high price for it.

It really is like a scimitar!
After unloading the goods, Li Long drove the van back to the recycling station, helped Gu Boyuan pack up the goods, and finally closed the gate. The father-in-law and son-in-law then went back to the courtyard for dinner.

Next, Li Long went to the fourth team for a meal and ate some meat slaughtered in the mountains during the winter. In mid-November, Jia Tianlong finally arrived.

On November 13th, a heavy snow fell, reaching a depth of thirty to forty centimeters. It took Li Long more than a day to clear the courtyard clean, and now only the snow in the corners still needs to be cleared.

“Let me tell you something, brother,” he said, shaking Li Long’s hand as he saw Li Long cleaning up the snow in the courtyard. “When I saw the antelope horn you mentioned, I was so anxious. I’ve already contacted the buyer, but my wife just gave birth, and she can’t come out during her postpartum period.”

"You should be secretly happy. Why are you in such a hurry? I don't see you in a hurry at all. Aren't you happy?" Li Long put down the wooden shovel and led him into the house. Jia Tianlong also brought two bodyguards with him. The two men carried boxes and followed him in. Li Long invited them to sit down, but they didn't. Only when Jia Tianlong invited them to sit down did they sit down.

A little over a month ago, Jia Tianlong called to say that his wife had given birth to a son, and Li Long congratulated him on finally getting what he wanted.

"Here, this is for your son." Li Long handed Jia Tianlong a piece of mutton fat jade Guanyin. "It's made of mutton fat jade."

"Hey, this is pretty good." Jia Tianlong also knew his stuff. "The ingredients must be hard to find."

"It's alright." Li Long smiled. "But if you hadn't come soon, I really wouldn't have had enough room here. Antelope horn is fine, but the main stuff is licorice, astragalus, and codonopsis; the warehouse is full of them."

"Here I am," Jia Tianlong gestured, and the bodyguard next to him opened the box. "But I have important business to attend to first, to offer a sacrifice to that sacred stone."

As they spoke, they took out the offerings prepared in the box, carried them out one by one, and went out.

Li Long knew this was a fulfillment of a vow, since a son had indeed been born, and Jia Tianlong would probably become even more superstitious about the stone in the future.

He was holding a large incense burner, bigger than the original one, also made of bronze, but with a slightly different color, a yellowish-red hue.

Li Long didn't understand this either. He watched as the incense burner was replaced, and then a piece of red cloth was taken out to cover half of the stone before the offerings were arranged.

"I've built a house for this jade, made of rosewood," Jia Tianlong said to Li Long after offering incense. "It's still in the car and I haven't brought it over yet. I need your permission for this..."

“I definitely disagree.” Li Long hurriedly waved his hand. “After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, spirits are not allowed. You should just leave it as it is. This jade doll is truly spiritual and doesn’t care about you.”

"Alright then." Jia Tianlong probably anticipated Li Long's suggestion and sighed, "Then I'll have to take it back."

Li Long was mainly worried about the negative impact. If this thing was brought into the house and turned into a temple, what would that look like?
After finishing this matter, Jia Tianlong couldn't wait to have Li Long show him the antelope horns.

Li Long was prepared. Since he had questioned Jia Tianlong beforehand, he had to give him an explanation. He specially prepared a side room, which contained five hundred pairs of one thousand antelope horns. He said to Jia Tianlong:

"This is all you can take. What price are you willing to pay?"

"I know about the animal protection law you mentioned. I've studied it and consulted others. I know that this thing will definitely become more and more valuable in the future."

However, there is still some stock of this in our medicinal herb market, so the price hasn't gone up yet. It's a bit higher than when you asked, currently around 200 yuan per kilogram.

One pair weighs about one kilogram, so five hundred pairs would be worth 100,000 yuan.

It's already gone up quite a bit!
“I’ve bought these goods, and I’m definitely going to store them first and then sell them later, but right now this is the price I can only offer.”

“Okay.” Li Long agreed, which meant he was also giving Jia Tianlong a chance to make money.

After all, Jia Tianlong had never haggled over prices when he bought goods from him before, so he was quite generous in that regard.

There's definitely no problem with getting something in return.

(End of this chapter)