Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1130 Welcome to visit and take photos; this inspection tour looks quite professional.
Li Long thought that with this deputy director accompanying Liu Shanmin on this inspection, things were pretty much done. At least in the eyes of Director Qian and Li Xiangqian, this deputy director's words weren't just official jargon; he also knew some practical things, and his talk about some trade matters in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic was quite convincing.

The two spoke back and forth in the car, conveying their thoughts through a translator, and both felt that they had gained a deeper understanding of each other.

That's good.

Unexpectedly, upon arriving in Almaty, they were greeted with a warm welcome from some local Kazakh officials and businessmen.

Although it was almost dark, there was no sign of dissatisfaction on their faces. The applause was enthusiastic, the handshakes were firm, and the repeated "hello"s in Russian mixed with Chinese made Director Qian and Li Xiangqian truly feel the warmth of their elder brother.

After that came the welcome dinner, which was quite lavish, much more so than the usual meals here. There was roast meat, bread, cake, wine…

At the long table, another deputy director gave a speech, raised his glass, and spoke in Russian, which Li Long did not understand.

Bek and Murat, along with a translator brought by the people from the Kazakh constituent republics, explained his words, which included the idea that the friendship between the two countries would last forever and that exchanges could become even closer, and so on.

Li Long could only remark that these people drank alcohol like it was water, but what surprised him was their rather "unrestrained" eating habits. Most of the sausages, roasted meats, and other food on the table ended up in their stomachs.

Director Qian and Li Xiangqian, including Li Long and Liu Shanmin, were not short of meat, so they ate much more elegantly. However, since there were many people on the other side, they kept drinking and clinking glasses.

Fortunately, Li Long and his friends were also good drinkers, especially Li Long, who ended up being the main force carrying the bottles.

At first, most of those people focused on eating, and only drank in their spare time.

But later on, it basically became a series of challenges, and since they could see that Li Long had a high alcohol tolerance, they all started targeting him.

Li Long could down a glass of liquor with that strength in one gulp, and at most feel a little dizzy.

Although it doesn't taste good, it's not impossible to drink it.

Although the banquet hall was a bit old, the decorations were still quite luxurious, and it was very hot. Li Long took off his coat, and sweat kept pouring down his face, the sweat even smelling of alcohol.

Li Xiangqian's alcohol tolerance was also quite good, and to Li Long's surprise, Director Qian's alcohol tolerance was also quite good.

However, in the end, both Director Qian and Li Xiangqian became dizzy, and half of the people from Harbin collapsed. Li Long then told Liu Shanmin to help Director Qian and Li Xiangqian to rest, so that he could continue.

Continue until everyone is drunk out of their wits.

Li Long thought Liu Shanmin had already gone to rest, but unexpectedly, after he had drunk everyone under the table and there were no opponents left, Liu Shanmin suddenly reappeared from nowhere.

"It's obvious they're quite afraid of you; they don't drink with you much." Li Long poured himself a cup of hot water, picked up a piece of cold beef with his chopsticks, put it into the hot water cup, swirled it, and then put it in his mouth to chew.

Although this body has a good digestive system, he still prefers hot food due to his habits from his previous life.

"Not really, they know I don't drink much." Liu Shanmin poured Li Long another cup of hot tea, sat down opposite him, and said, "You have a good alcohol tolerance."

"Not bad." Li Long smiled. "Good physique, young, can handle it."

There was a hint of envy in Liu Shanmin's expression. He shook his head slightly and said, "It's not just about being able to hold your liquor. Among the people who collapsed, two were among the better drinkers in the Ministry of Commerce. They didn't even manage to get you drunk. You'll be famous tomorrow."

"Nothing's wrong, right?" Li Long asked, putting down his chopsticks.

"No, these people are proud of their drinking ability, there won't be any trouble."

"Are these people really from the commerce department?" Li Long was still somewhat doubtful.

If you can get a deputy minister with sugar, what about the rest? It's clear they weren't just temporarily brought in to make up the numbers. Although they can eat and drink a bit, Li Long can tell that these people are most likely government officials.

"Yes, most of them are. They're basically people I do 'business' with. They'd definitely be willing to come for a free meal, and besides, I also want to show them my strength and let them know that I'm not without connections in our country."

But you've given me a pleasant surprise. To be honest, the combined influence of those two directors might not even match your alcohol tolerance today.

"Is it really that bad?" Li Long thought he was exaggerating. "He just can drink."

"You don't know, do you? In the Soviet Union, many things are settled over drinks. Being able to drink a lot shows competence and makes you more easily recognized," Liu Shanmin said quite seriously. "What I'm about to do will probably go much more smoothly. I told Gao Lou that you're my lucky star, and it seems I was right!"

"Fine, I don't care anymore, as long as I haven't caused you any trouble." Li Long had drunk a lot of alcohol, most of which he had excreted through urine and sweat, and now he felt very hungry.

"Don't eat yet, let me get you two hot dishes. Eating cold food won't make you feel well." Liu Shanmin was quite concerned about Li Long. "You're my honored guest now!"

"Isn't the kitchen too much trouble?" Li Long said. "Let's just make do with this."

"What's the trouble? There's always someone on standby in the kitchen today. I paid for it." Liu Shanmin said, pressing the bell. A moment later, a rather lavish waitress came over. Liu Shanmin said a few words to her, and the waitress glanced at Li Long, then at the Kazakh official who was sleeping like a dead pig on the table, nodded, and left.

Li Long felt that the way this person was looking at him was a little strange.

But it doesn't matter, right now he just wants to eat something hot, and preferably something that will fill him up.

Liu Shanmin stayed with Li Long until the end of the meal, and only left after seeing him off to his hotel.

He told Li Long that Director Qian and Li Xiangqian were staying here, and that he was going home. He would take them to the next activity tomorrow.

In Li Long's opinion, the next step should be to go hunting, right?
Unexpectedly, when Li Long woke up the next day, Liu Shanmin had already arrived and had breakfast with them, as did the original deputy director.

During breakfast, Liu Shanmin told Director Qian about the upcoming itinerary: visiting the business department of the Kazakh republic and having a discussion with the staff there!
Hey!
That actually looks quite convincing!

Director Qian was surprised. He hadn't expected Li Long to organize this. He thought the so-called exchange, visit and inspection was just a formality, and the main purpose was still hunting.

I didn't expect the inspection to be so formal.

He and Li Xiangqian drank quite a bit yesterday, and he has a bit of a headache today, but it's not obvious on the surface. Fortunately, there was some honey water and other hangover remedies in breakfast; he doesn't know if it was added on purpose or if it's just a local custom.

In short, after breakfast, they felt much better, and then got into the car to visit and hold discussions at the business department.

The business department building is quite old. Director Qian felt that although the style was different, it was similar to their supply and marketing building, both of which had a sense of age.

Once inside the commerce department, the welcoming ceremony was relatively simple. The deputy director who spoke yesterday was there, leading Director Qian and his team on a tour of the various offices before heading to the conference room for a discussion.

Here are Li Long and his two companions, plus Buick as the translator. Over there are five people. According to the translator, there's a deputy director, some office staff, and some frontline store staff and purchasing personnel.

These people were clearly well-prepared; each of them gave a brief report on their work and then asked some simple questions.

The main question is about how the Ministry of Commerce coordinated relationships after China's reform and opening up. They are aware of the dual-track supply and marketing system, and that's what they asked.

Director Qian and Li Xiangqian only talked about what they could. After all, most of the questions they asked could be found in newspapers and magazines, and they wouldn't leak any secrets.

A reporter took photos, and Li Long's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't say anything for the time being.

The discussion was quite back-and-forth, with a lot of exchange between the two sides. Director Qian and Li Xiangqian, having come from that period, had some understanding of the business environment in their area.

The deputy director on the other end sincerely inquired about the situation regarding the dual-track system, and he frankly admitted that there were indeed some problems on his side that were difficult to overcome.

Director Qian initially thought that such a meeting was just a formality, but since the other party asked so sincerely, regardless of whether it was just an official document, he tried his best to explain in as much detail as possible.

It mainly comes down to my own experience.

Whether the other party can use it or not is another matter.

After the discussion, a group photo was taken. Since there was still some time before lunch, the deputy director and Liu Shanmin had a private chat before the deputy director took Director Qian and the others to visit the state-owned store, or rather, the shopping mall.

Almaty is, after all, the capital of a republic like Almaty, so the state-run department stores have a pretty good selection of goods. People who come here to buy things are generally well-behaved and have money.

When people with Chinese faces approached, accompanied by officials, they mostly watched curiously from a distance before quickly leaving. Lunch was a working meal at the commerce department, without alcohol.

Compared to the lavish dinner last night, the working lunch seemed rather meager. There was bread, broth, and the main dish was beef stew with potatoes, stewed until very mushy, the potatoes were practically mush, and there was hardly any beef to be seen.

The deputy director didn't seem embarrassed at all. It was a buffet, and he filled his own plate to the brim, then gestured for Director Qian to help himself.

They eat whatever is available, which Li Long admires. If Li Long treats someone to a lavish meal for the first time, he would feel embarrassed if the second meal is meager.

But these people clearly didn't feel that way; they remained calm and composed. Or perhaps they felt that yesterday's meal was paid for by Liu Shanmin, and had nothing to do with them?
Eat whatever is available.

After lunch, the afternoon was spent visiting a food processing plant and some local businesses.

Food processing plants are mainly canneries, while other businesses are mainly processing plants that are barely keeping operating, such as cotton textile mills and shoe factories.

However, according to Liu Shanmin, most of the products produced here are sent to other republics.

Kazakhstan is a major cotton-producing province. Even before Li Long decided to plant cotton, the cotton yield here was already considerable. However, the secondary processed raw materials produced were mainly supplied to other places, and the locals could not use much of them.

These are just side notes.

When he had a spare moment, Li Long asked Liu Shanmin if he could have a copy of the photos he had taken along the way before he left. He thought he could give them to Director Qian and the others so that he would have something to show for it.

Liu Shanmin said with a smile:

"That's no problem at all; I was planning to do that myself."

After the first day's visit, when Li Long and Liu Gaolou were having dinner at the hotel, Liu Gaolou complained that the information his uncle had given him was inaccurate, as it was completely different from what he had said.

Li Long smiled and said:
"That's good. He needs the endorsement of our leaders, and our leaders need a proper itinerary when they come to visit. It's good, very good."

The first day was very fulfilling, which made Li Xiangqian a little uneasy. If it continued like this, would he still be able to go hunting as planned?

Fortunately, after breakfast the next day, the business department staff didn't come over; only Liu Shanmin did. He told Li Long and the others that they could prepare to go hunting.

"Little Li, this transition is a bit too fast," Director Qian joked. "Yesterday we were seriously discussing the shortcomings of the dual-track system and the planned economy with their commerce department, and today we're going hunting? How about that?"

"It's fine, nothing's wrong." Li Long smiled. "Yesterday's itinerary was a bit rushed, but we finished all the inspections. Now we have some personal time. The shopping mall you saw yesterday had a lot of local specialties. We can go there to buy some things when we're ready to go back."

But today, we're going hunting.

This time, Liu Shanmin provided a more comprehensive selection of guns: three hunting rifles, and the rest were rifles, submachine guns, and sniper rifles.

Li Long felt that the sniper rifle was a bit inconvenient, so he switched to a semi-automatic rifle.

Having played it and had the experience is enough. Sniping is quite troublesome; it's not as convenient as the semi-automatic rifle he used.

This time, they drove a minivan towards the outskirts of the city.

Why does this road feel so familiar to Li Long?
When he arrived at the place, he saw the small river where he had found many pike before, and he knew that it was a return to an old haunt.

However, the stream had frozen over. The family was still there, as was the old man who had shown Li Long the pattern; he seemed quite happy to see Li Long.

When Yushanjiang saw the pattern, he said he had never seen it before and had to ask the elders in the tribe.

Later, Li Long was busy and didn't go back to the mountains, so he didn't know if Yushan Jiang had asked about it.

So Li Long felt a little guilty when he saw the old man.

However, the old man didn't ask about the pattern, but warmly invited them into the house for milk tea.

"This hunting trip will mainly take us to the Tianshan Mountains. Tomorrow morning we'll head to the place where Li Long hunted the bear last time. There are few people around there, and there are large herds of gazelles and antelopes on the grasslands outside Nalingol. We'll hunt there and then come back," Liu Shanmin said as he arrived.

"Hunting a bear!" Director Qian said with an envious expression. "When will I ever get to hunt a bear?"

“There’s a chance,” Li Long said. “Actually, I saw a snow leopard up there. It flashed by and disappeared. There’s a lot of stuff over there.”

"Hey, then we'll have to take a good look this time." Li Xiangqian was also quite eager to see it.

As he rushed here, he truly experienced the situation of vast land and sparse population that Li Long had described.

However, with the heavy snow covering everything, he couldn't tell what was growing in the field; it all looked like an uninhabited area.

After having a meal here and taking a walk around the area, they found a lot of gazelle tracks, but they didn't see any within a few hundred meters of their accommodation.

It was already getting dark, and the sun was about to set, so there was no rush to go hunting.

The next day, after breakfast, they set off by car towards Nalingol. In the car, Li Xiangqian asked Li Long about the details of fighting the bear.

However, he didn't ask many questions before the van stopped, and Liu Shanmin said to them:
"There's a herd of antelopes in the grassland to our right, about 200 meters away. Should we engage?"

"Shoot!" Director Qian immediately gripped his gun, stood up, and was about to go down. "If we encounter this, we must shoot!"

"Let's do it first, but it's agreed that if we take too much stuff and the van can't hold it all, we'll have to go back early." Liu Shanmin was playing along with them, but there was a limit.

Director Qian hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to make the call.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush; it's always better to have something you can get your hands on.

He was also carrying a semi-automatic rifle, thinking it was very powerful. He originally intended to hunt bears, since if he couldn't kill a bear with two shots from the shotgun, he would be vulnerable to a bear attack while reloading.

The semi-automatic has ten bullets, which should be enough.

So everyone got out of the car, each armed, and slowly approached the herd of antelopes.

Hey! This herd of antelopes has at least two or three hundred of them!

The antelopes didn't stand still; they used their hooves to dig through the snow and eat the grass underneath, moving slowly in a somewhat grand and imposing manner.

"Isn't this just shooting at anyone?" Li Xiangqian looked at the herd of antelopes, somewhat speechless.

But he was carrying a hunting rifle, which was useless at such a distance!
"Take your time and get as close as you can." Liu Shanmin was also holding a hunting rifle. "We'll see how it goes. If the antelope tries to run away, we'll shoot it. If we can't hit it, we'll leave it alone."

Li Long didn't use a hunting rifle on either of these occasions, which is what he meant.

If it's too far, a rifle is more comfortable, and besides, he used a rifle when he first started hunting.

When they got within 150 meters, some antelopes became alert and looked up at them.

Some of the more timid ones have even started running towards the larger group, as if they would be safe once they were there.

But most of them are still grazing with their heads down. In this cold weather, the more they eat, the more energy they can accumulate to resist the cold.

When they reached about a hundred meters, the antelope herd finally began to move. First, a few started running, and then more began to run.

"beat!"

At Liu Shanmin's shout, all kinds of guns started firing!
　September 30th is Martyrs' Day. We salute those martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)