Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1144 What a big fish!

In early February, every household had already begun preparing for the New Year.

Life is getting better year by year, and the New Year's goods prepared by each family are becoming more and more abundant. In the past, it was considered good if you could slaughter a chicken and cut two kilograms of meat to make dumplings for the New Year.

Now, not only the fourth team, but most families in the entire township are busy for seven or eight days before the New Year, frying dough sticks, steaming buns and dumplings, and making braised meat. Not every family raises pigs, but when it's time to slaughter the New Year's pig, almost all the meat is bought by those who don't raise pigs.

During this period, when the children are looking for each other to play, their parents will remind them in advance not to go to each other's houses, but to just call out from outside, so as not to be misunderstood as going in to ask for food.

Whenever a child comes to someone's house and they're frying or braising food, the owner will almost always share some with the child—it's like going to two extremes. They don't let their children go to other people's houses for fear of misunderstandings, but if other people's children come, they'll still give their children some food.

It's not just in the countryside, it's pretty much the same in the city. Gu Xiaoxia, wearing an apron, was busy working with Sister Yang in the yard.

The meat processing workshop stopped operating on the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, settled the wages of the temporary workers, and asked them to come back after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

The two women then focused on preparing food for the Chinese New Year.

Although Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia are going back to their team for the Spring Festival, Gu Xiaoxia only has three days off, and she will definitely need to eat during that time after she returns.

Moreover, life has improved at this time, so regardless of whether we eat or not, we still need to prepare what we need to prepare. When people come to visit during the New Year and drink with us, we at least need to have something presentable to offer.

In fact, the changes in life from 1981 to 1988 were very obvious. From not being able to afford fine grains to being able to eat meat from time to time, from having patched clothes to being able to change into several new outfits every year.

As life gets better and better, one's ambition naturally rises as well.

When it came to preparing food, Sister Yang and Gu Xiaoxia didn't let Li Long into the kitchen, so Li Long focused on going to the greenhouse to pick the vegetables that were ready to eat.

These vegetables need to be divided into several portions: one portion for our family, one portion for my father and elder brother, and some for Old Ma's place when we go back.

The elderly residents of Lao Ma Hao are living quite well. The place is lively with many people, and they are naturally happy when people come to visit. Those without children enjoy watching other people's children come to play, and for now, they are quite content with their lives.

Even the team members said that Yang Laoliu was no longer so aggressive in his speech, and his expression was not as serious as before, so the children were no longer afraid of him.

This is a good thing.

Zhao Hui arrived on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, which is the day before the Lunar New Year in the north. After arriving, he brought his car to find Li Long.

"Over three thousand hides, hehe!" Zhao Hui looked at the separated hides in the warehouse, his smile was very bright. "Not bad, not bad. There aren't many whole hides, but it's enough. Same price as last time, how about it?"

"Sure," Li Long said with a smile. "I have no objection."

Although Zhao Hui wasn't as generous as Jia Tianlong and was a bit calculating, he was unbeatable when it came to offering prices.

At the county leather factory, taking yellow sheepskin as an example, the price for full-grain leather is 150 to 160 yuan, and for scrap leather it is 100 to 120 yuan, which is much lower than the price Zhao Hui offered.

Li Long was naturally happy to continue trading with Zhao Hui.

Actually, he was thinking that it would be great if Zhao Hui could come after Liu Gaolou arrived, because he believed that Liu Gaolou could bring back quite a few more skins on this trip.

Of course, it doesn't really matter, since even after the New Year, Zhao Hui will definitely come to collect the leather anyway.

The three thousand hides that Liu Gaolou brought, plus the nearly one thousand hides that the purchasing station had collected recently, totaled nearly seven hundred thousand yuan worth of goods.

The large black bag contained cash; Zhao Hui paid readily, and Li Long earned it easily. Of the 700,000, the profit was roughly 300,000. The main source of the profit was the hides from Liu Gaolou.

The price we usually pay for the hides at the purchasing station has already been increased here, otherwise we wouldn't be able to buy so many hides.

Nowadays, private buyers and middlemen are not as bad at accessing information as they used to be. Many of them are in contact with each other and know where the price is high, so they sell there.

In other words, Li Long's purchasing station would immediately raise its purchase price every time the market adjusted prices, which is why he was able to attract a large number of loyal middlemen and individual traders.

This purchasing station's network has expanded westward to Ma County, Shicheng, Shawan, and even occasionally to Kuitun, and eastward to Hu County, parts of Beiting, and even some rural areas of Wucheng.

Occasionally, Gu Boyuan would see people from the three eastern counties. Most of these people had learned by word of mouth that there was a purchasing station in Ma County that offered fair prices and high prices for goods, so they came here.

At that time, train tickets were cheap. If a leather twig could be bought for ten or twenty yuan at a purchasing station, you could have a round-trip ticket and even make a profit.

Zhao Hui didn't stop for a moment. After learning that Li Long didn't have much beef jerky left, he left with his bag. Before leaving, he told Li Long that he must produce more beef jerky after the New Year, especially the beef cubes, which were very popular.

Of course, he also told Li Long that once he got the hide, he must save it for him.

Li Long naturally agreed. After he left, Li Long gave Gu Boyuan 20,000 yuan as a profit share and gave Liang Shuangcheng and Sun Jiaqiang 300 yuan each as a bonus.

They should have been on holiday by now, but Li Long told them to wait a little longer. Since Liu Gaolou hadn't arrived, Li Long couldn't close the shop yet. He also took this opportunity to pay the outstanding taxes. Earlier this year, the industrial and commercial tax system awarded him a certificate for outstanding tax payment, as a reward for his performance throughout the year.

Although Li Long didn't care much, Gu Boyuan did. He specifically asked Sun Jiaqiang to post the certificate on the wall inside the purchasing station. He also told Li Long to try to get more similar certificates so that if anything happened from above, at least they would take care of him out of respect.

Li Long just chuckled and nodded, knowing that things would be good from now on and there wouldn't be any major upheavals.

Liu Gaolou didn't keep Li Long waiting long. The day after Zhao Hui left, he led a long convoy into the purchasing station.

Those familiar with the middlemen know that the purchasing stations will be closing down in the next few days, so they basically won't be coming anymore. Most of the people who come are small-time buyers who bring one or two hides to sell. After all, selling one hide can almost get you a bicycle, so who wouldn't want that?

With few people around, Liu Gaolou drove the car directly into the front and back yards of the purchasing station.

Eight trucks, plus Liu Gaolou's Volga car, made up nine vehicles parked in the front and back yards, yet it didn't feel crowded.

After all, when this purchasing station was originally state-owned, it was designed as a large courtyard with both front and back yards. Li Long initially rented the courtyard, but later, after doing well and becoming a county people's congress representative, he found an opportunity to buy it, which was quite a good deal.

Although the area is located in the northern part of the city, and because of some people's strong protests, the area wasn't subject to demolition, Li Long felt that the space was sufficient. His purchasing station business was growing larger and larger, and a small space really wouldn't do.

"This time, I brought four GAZ-69 trucks," Liu Gaolou told Li Long in the reception room, listing the trucks he had brought. "Two are three years old, and two are less than eight years old. These four trucks are the newest ones that the border defense corps near Nalingol can 'retire' from."

If we need more, we'll have to get it from other border defense corps. Of course we can get it; after all, they're also short of supplies on their side of the border. The officers at those outposts have families to support and mistresses to keep, so they definitely need extra income.

"How much is it?" Li Long asked.

“You can get them for a few hundred dollars. Prices are skyrocketing there now, the ruble is worthless and you can't buy anything with it, but the dollar is getting more and more valuable. My second uncle paid in dollars, and they were very happy with that. Of course, if I sell them to you, the average price is eight hundred dollars, you see…”

"No problem at all," Li Long said with a smile. "Are you hungry? Shall we order something first, or eat first?"

“We ate when we passed the Kuitun military post. Let’s order something first. After that, I’ll have Bek and Murat load up the cement and take it away. Then I’ll go back to my hometown.”

"Have you booked the tickets?" Li Long asked. "Or are you driving back?"

“It’s so far, how can I dare to drive? I’ll definitely take the train back. I’ll leave the Volga here with you for now, I’ll take a long-distance bus to Urumqi, and then take the train.”

"That's quite a distance you've traveled," Li Long chuckled. "Did you bring a lot of stuff?"

"There's quite a lot, but it's just this short stretch of road. Plus, don't the long-distance buses from here go directly to the train station? It's alright." Liu Gaolou was already a little impatient to go home.

"Then don't go to so much trouble. Just stay here tonight, and I'll drive you there tomorrow," Li Long said. "You're carrying things, and there's no one to look after you on the train or when you get on and off. How can that be? There are so many people getting on the train during the Spring Festival. It's hard to say whether you'll even be able to squeeze onto the train with all your things."

"Are you free?" Liu Gaolou asked, somewhat intrigued.

"I'm so free right now, I don't have anything to do," Li Long said with a smile. "Once I get your cement shipment, I'll be on holiday. Actually, I've been waiting for you, otherwise my purchasing station would have closed down already."

"Okay, then I'll trouble you with this." "Trouble my ass! I didn't say I was troubling you when I went to the franchise store. Alright, let's talk about the goods first."

"Alright, alright, let's continue with the goods." Having solved a major problem, Liu Gaolou was quite pleased and continued, "This time we brought in two thousand hides. We didn't bring in the antelope horns. It's been too cold there lately. After hunting, those people hardly ever process the antelope heads. They just skin them, take the meat, and waste the horns."

"What a waste!" Li Long sighed. "But there's nothing we can do about it."

"That's all. I'll take 100 tons of cement from you, which cost $20,000. After deducting $3,200 for the four truckloads, I should give you $16,800. The price of the leather hasn't changed, right?"

“Nothing’s changed yet. Two thousand hides, I’ll give you 160,000. Let’s split the bill,” Li Long said with a smile. “I’ve already prepared the money.”

Actually, Li Long received the money from Zhao Hui yesterday, but because he knew Liu Gaolou was coming soon, he hadn't deposited the money yet.

Each paid their own way. Li Long went out again, driving his van to the odd jobs market and called all the dozen or so people there to help load cement.

The cement was loaded that afternoon, and Buick and Murati left without waiting, escorting the truck.

To Li Long's surprise, Liu Gaolou also brought him New Year's gifts.

"This stuff was found by Buick and Murat," Liu Gaolou said with a hint of pride. "To be honest, horse meat and horse intestines are easier to get these days, but this fish is not so easy to come by."

Li Long looked at the two large fish, each 1.3 to 1.4 meters long, and immediately recognized them as sturgeon, a species commonly found in the Ili River at this time of year, but which would become virtually extinct in twenty years. These fish can grow up to two meters long and weigh over 100 kilograms.

These two are about 1.2 to 1.3 meters long and weigh several tens of kilograms. Although they are frozen, they still look quite frightening.

Later, Li Long saw farmed ones in the vegetable market in Yili. This thing looks a bit like the Chinese sturgeon, and they should be roughly the same category.

Li Long also ate this fish, and it tasted quite good.

"It's just too big, otherwise I would have taken it back directly. But I thought better of it and decided to give it to you as a New Year's gift instead," Liu Gaolou said. "I brought a lot of things from the Russians, rare items, so this is fine."

“Okay, let’s have drinks tonight, it’s on me,” Li Long said. “Go and rest first, and call me when you come back, and I’ll pick you up.”

"Okay, sure. Anyway, I'm going to rest for a while back home. I've made a lot of money these past two years, but I'm exhausted. I need to go back and have a good rest." Liu Gaolou then drove the Volga to the guesthouse.

The two large fish immediately attracted a lot of people.

Although you can see big fish here, and it's not uncommon to see fish that are over a meter long, very few people here have ever seen such a unique fish.

"Brother Long, what kind of fish is this? It looks so fierce!" Liang Shuangcheng was already preparing to go home, but his curiosity was piqued when he saw the fish.

“Sturgeon.” Li Long said, seeing Sun Jiaqiang, Gu Boyuan, and a few other tourists who hadn’t left looking at the fish. “They’re from the Ili River. The river is big, and the fish there are big too.”

The Ma River has a considerable flow at this time, but there are relatively few large fish to catch. After all, the Ma River is not as long as the Ili River. Although there is a Manas Lake downstream, its overall volume is much smaller, and its drainage area is also smaller, which may be why large fish are not found there.

After all, the Ili River is an international river, and it eventually flows into a lake in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.

The two countries have been talking about the issue of water flow and volume for forty years.

This was the first time Li Long had ever seen such a fish in this lifetime. He squatted down and looked at the big guy.

The fish has no scales and looks like it's just a layer of bone on the outside. But to be honest, it's not all bones; it's bony plates, unlike most fish.

"How do you eat this fish? It doesn't look like there's much meat on it." Sun Jiaqiang actually quite likes eating fish, but looking at this fish, he didn't know how to cut or eat it.

"After it thaws, cut the meat into chunks and cook it in any style—Sichuan peppercorn, braised, or garlicky—it'll taste delicious," Li Long said.

Carnivorous fish are generally quite delicious, and even if you're not a very good cook, the taste will still be exceptional.

For example, the blackfish, the gray-spotted pike, and the two wild sturgeon in front of us.

“A sturgeon,” Gu Boyuan exclaimed, looking at the fish. “It must have taken many years to grow this big. But I’ve heard there are big fish in the Ili River, this must be it. I didn’t expect to catch one in winter. The people there are really something.”

Li Long himself often catches fish and knows that fish are much stronger in the water. Even a carp weighing two or three kilograms is very strong in the water, let alone a large fish weighing tens of kilograms.

Very fierce!
In any case, the fish had been delivered, and Li Long naturally accepted it with a smile.

He told people to load the fish onto his 96 truck, and then drove off.

Li Long also drives a 212 Jeep, but if he needs to haul things, he still needs a 69 truck, since that thing has more space in the back.

Li Long had already made up his mind: he would send one directly to his elder brother and let him handle it.

The other gift will be broken down tonight and divided into several pieces. One piece will be given to my father-in-law, one to Sun Jiaqiang, one to Sister Yang, one to Li Xiangqian, one to Director Qian, and one to each of Director Wei and Chen Hongjun. That will be the New Year's gift for the year ahead.

By this calculation, Li Long has unknowingly built up a vast network of connections.

Since we're taking Liu Gaolou back tomorrow, let's get this fish cleaned up today and send it over with us when we deliver it tomorrow.

Anyway, this fish is big. Even after removing the head, bony plates, and internal organs, there will still be dozens of kilograms of meat left, enough to share.

Pulling the fish back as expected surprised Sister Yang; neither she nor Han Fang had ever seen such a big fish before.

Li Long left one fish outside to freeze, planning to send it to his older brother after returning from Wucheng the next day. He then took a saw and began sawing the remaining fish.

This fish is big. Its internal organs have been removed, its head has been sawed off, and the rest has been separated into pieces. It's easy to give away as a gift. Otherwise, if you take the meat out, it's hard to tell how big the fish is, and you can't tell how precious it is.

Li Long spent more than an hour sawing the fish into nine sections, each about a hand's width wide, with the tail section being the longest.

He handed the first part of the text directly to Sister Yang:
"Sister Yang, we're going to the team in a few days. You and your daughter will be celebrating the New Year. This fish is delicious. Don't stew it; you can make it braised, garlic-flavored, or spicy, whatever you like."

"This fish is quite big! It must be very valuable!" Sister Yang tried to decline, but Li Long said with a smile, "Look, there are so many. We're not strangers, we all have some. Let's cook them and let Xiao Fang have a taste."

"Then...then I'll stay."

"I'll need your help again tonight. Take this strip and fumigate it. I need to take it to Boss Liu tomorrow," Li Long said. "Just fumigate it until it's a little dry."

Li Long felt a little bad that he couldn't eat the things Liu Gaolou sent him.

"When you're fumigating it, do you also need to add salt and chili peppers?" Sister Yang asked.

“Yes, and add some cumin,” Li Long said. “Just smoke this part.”

There's a small fumigation room in the Li family's courtyard, where they occasionally use it to smoke things. There are also pine branches that Li Long brought back from the mountains; his family doesn't eat them often, but Sister Yang sometimes keeps some on hand when she cooks.

This is exactly what we need right now.

That evening, Li Long picked up Liu Gaolou and took him to Tuanfenglou, where they booked a private room.

Li Long originally planned to invite his father-in-law along, but Old Gu was in a hurry to return to the village and had already driven away in his van without trying to stop him.

Two people is fine, it'll make things easier to talk.

(End of this chapter)