Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1155 Excitement Exhausted, Returning Home with a Full Load
Li Long could tell that the two of them were quite hopeful, so he didn't want to dampen their enthusiasm directly. He thought he'd explain later, and after a few days, they should understand.

This festival is also a big gathering for the young Kazakhs here. In this era, entertainment activities are not plentiful for any ethnic group, so having an opportunity to get together makes everyone, from the elderly to children and the young, very happy.

The older men gathered together to discuss their future plans: whether to move their livestock to new pastures, send their children to work, or settle down and learn farming from others.

The young people played games together, some of them gazing at the young women working in the distance with admiration in their eyes; surely there was someone they liked among them.

Because Li Long knows some Kazakh, many young people come over to talk to him, and some middle-aged people also come over to greet and chat with him after hearing about his story.

After learning that Li Long ran a purchasing station and also bought hides, some people asked if Li Long would buy any hides they had at home.

Li Long thought to himself, "I just came here to celebrate the holiday, how did I end up doing business?"
Of course he accepted it, and the man immediately rode his horse back to get his things, quite happily.

At this time, people mainly rode horses. Ten years later, motorcycles were everywhere, and then came the era of cars.

Some people had hides at home, but they didn't know what price Li Long would offer, so they didn't bring them over. Now that some people trust him, others are waiting and watching, thinking that if the purchase price is good, they'll sell to him.

Actually, there are still state-owned factories in this county that buy these things, but since they are state-owned factories, the prices they offer are naturally not high, and their service is just so-so.

A dozen minutes later, the middle-aged man returned excitedly on horseback, carrying a package wrapped in a cloth sheet on his back. He dismounted at the gate of the courtyard and carried the package to Li Long.

Li Long hurriedly went out to greet them, meaning he wanted to go to the car to take a look.

The man agreed and placed the package on the hood of the car. When Li Long opened it, he saw that it contained two wolf skins.

To his surprise, the two wolf pelts were in excellent condition and well-preserved.

Although it wasn't tanned, the hair was combed quite clean, curled up, and not folded, probably to avoid leaving unsightly creases.

"Shot! One hit the head, the other the neck," the middle-aged man said proudly. "Both were fired this winter. My marksmanship is pretty good!"

“Not bad, not bad,” Li Long said with a smile after inspecting the hides. “The hides are peeled very well, there’s not much oil on them, and the fur is also quite good. They are definitely winter hides. I’ll give you 120 for each of these two hides. How about that? To be honest, that’s about the price those people get when they take the hides to the purchasing station.”

Both pelts belonged to adult wolves, and if Li Long were to buy them from their home, they would fetch around a hundred yuan. However, since they were guests at someone else's house, he had to show them some courtesy.

"Is the price that high?" the middle-aged man asked in surprise. "Can you pay in cash? Just two bills..."

He counted on his fingers.

"Two hundred and forty yuan," Revolutionary Buick calculated for him. "That's three months' salary for me."

He works in the countryside, and his salary isn't high, only about eighty yuan a month.

So when he announced the amount of money, there was an envious look on his face. Although the other person didn't have his cadre status, the pelts he got from hunting two wolves in the winter were worth three months' salary for him. There were many wolves in the valley; if you hunted them well, you could easily earn a year's salary in one winter.

"Okay, okay, thank you!" The middle-aged man, hearing Li Long say that this was the price only available at the purchasing station, knew that Li Long was giving them face, and he couldn't stop smiling. "Then it's yours."

Li Long then took out his wallet, took out two hundred-yuan bills, counted out four ten-yuan bills and handed them to the other party, then hugged the wolf skin and was about to put it in the car.

"Wrap it in a sheet, otherwise it will smell terrible." The man hurriedly took the sheet and chased after Li Long, wrapped the wolf skin in it and said, "You've already given me a high price, so I'll give you this sheet for the price of one."

Li Long smiled and let him wrap the wolf skin up before taking it and putting it in the car.

"Are you still buying? If you are, I have hides at home too!" Someone saw that the middle-aged man had received the money and knew that Li Long really did buy hides, so he immediately came over and said.

"We buy all kinds of animal hides. We buy wolf pelts, gazelle pelts, and deer pelts, but not sheep pelts, we don't buy those."

"Do you buy bear pelts?" someone asked.

"Really? If so, I'll definitely take it!" Li Long looked at the person who asked the question. The person was also in his forties, with a long scar on his right cheek near his ear.

If it weren't for the scar, this person would be quite handsome, but now he looks a bit fierce.

"Yes, we buy bear pelts."

"How much does it cost?"

"It depends on whether the pelt is big or small, and also on its condition. A big brown bear, which is taller than a person, costs over a thousand. A small brown bear, on the other hand, costs around a thousand."

"Where's the snow leopard skin?" the man asked again.

"Tursun, do you still have any snow leopard pelts?" Revolutionbek asked. "You can't hunt snow leopards anymore."

Li Long was somewhat surprised. Had the animal protection law already started being promoted here? It hadn't even started in Ma County yet.

“These were from before,” said the middle-aged man named Tursun. “They were all leftover stock from before, and the dealers offered too low prices.”

"What about the price of Li Long?" Revolutionary Buick asked.

"It's quite tall, but the snow leopard fur..."

"Same here, it depends on how complete it is. If it's very complete, two or three thousand is fine," Li Long said. "It depends on the item."

“Then I’ll go back and get it.” Tursun was decisive and went straight to get his horse.

Some people have already left on horseback, while others are on foot; they must be not far away.

"Hey, not bad, not bad," Liu Gaolou said with a smile. "You've even expanded your business to places where people celebrate holidays. You're really something."

Li Long smiled and said, "It's a win-win situation. They sell their hides to those dealers at ridiculously low prices, but by selling them to me, they get a good deal, and I also make a profit."

Before long, some people came over with their hides. Li Long's pricing became more general at this point: whole hides, unless they were very small, were all 120 yuan; damaged hides were 90 yuan; and smaller hides or those that were badly damaged were 80 yuan.

In no time, he had collected more than twenty pieces of leather, filling half of the carriage.

At that moment, Tursun came over, carrying a large sack on his horse.

The sack was stuffed full. He rode his horse up to Li Long, dismounted, and untied the sack. Someone helped him lead the horse away. He said to Li Long:

"These pelts are what I saved up: two bear pelts and one snow leopard pelt. Take a look."

As he spoke, he placed the burlap sack on the car's hood, untied it, and took out the leather pieces one by one.

The bear pelts, one large and one small, were from brown bears. The larger pelt completely covered the front hood and even slid down nearly halfway, while the smaller one was only slightly larger than the hood.

The snow leopard skin is relatively small, not even as big as a hood, but it's quite long.

Li Long examined them one by one, and to his surprise, he found that these hides were all whole hides!

The skin was peeled off along with the head, and you could see that there were bullet holes on the head, one or two. Li Long turned the skin over and examined it carefully, but there wasn't a single bullet hole on the body.

"What excellent marksmanship!" he exclaimed. "So impressive!"

"Three hides, how much?" Tursun asked directly, clearly immune to compliments on his marksmanship, and only thinking about money at this moment.

"Five thousand five hundred, seventeen hundred for the large bear pelt and eight hundred for the small one. Three thousand for the snow leopard pelt, how about that?" Li Long quoted the price after a moment's thought.

"So expensive?" someone exclaimed. "Over five thousand! That could buy five or six good horses!"

"That's right. These days, a good horse that wins a prize in a race is only worth about a thousand yuan, right? A horse used for meat is only worth three to five hundred, five thousand five hundred yuan! Are these few hides really that valuable?"

Tursun is going to strike it rich this time!

"Who would have thought? Their family was the poorest in the village, who would have thought they would suddenly become rich!"

The onlookers nearby all looked at Tursun with envy.

Tursun, who had been expressionless until now, finally changed his expression and asked:
"Really that high? You're not kidding me, are you?"

“No, if you want to sell, I’ll pay you in cash,” Li Long said with a smile.

He brought some money with him when he came. Actually, he brought not only money, but also a gun. Of course, he hid it in a well-hidden place, so it wasn't visible from inside the car.

“Then I’ll sell it!” Tursun said immediately, as if afraid that Li Long would change his mind.

Li Long took out his wallet, pulled out the stack of hundred-yuan bills left over from paying earlier, counted out fifty-five bills, and handed them to Tursun. Tursun took them, spat on his finger, and counted them one by one.

He was probably quite excited, and it took him three tries to count them all before he got it right. He nodded seriously.
"That's right!"

“Okay, those hides are mine.” Li Long smiled and started rolling up the hides. Ye Erxun hurriedly put the money in his pocket, then helped Li Long pack the hides and put them in the car. With the hides almost all collected and the meat cooked, and seeing that no one else was coming to sell hides, some of the young men dispersed to chat with their beloved girls.

After receiving the money, Tursun mounted his horse and hurriedly rode back, whether to deposit the money or to attend to some other urgent matter is unknown.

That revolutionary Buick asked Li Long:
"Mr. Li, are hides really that valuable this year?"

“You should know that hunting wild animals is becoming increasingly prohibited. If hunting animals is prohibited, there will be fewer pelts, and they will definitely become more and more expensive,” Li Long explained. “Also, leather jackets and fur coats are still quite expensive and popular with the wealthy, so pelts are becoming more expensive.”

Revolutionary Buick nodded and said nothing more.

Li Long locked his car and was about to go into the yard to rest when a middle-aged man said:

"Mr. Li, your car is dirty, shall we wipe it down for you?"

"No need, no need," Li Long said with a smile. "We'll be driving on a dirt road on the way back, so it'll get dirty again even if I wipe it clean. I'll just wash it carefully when I get back."

Seeing that he spoke honestly, the man said nothing more.

After entering the courtyard with Liu Gaolou, they saw that the mutton was already cooking in the pot, the women were skewering the meat for grilling, and several young people were digging a grill trough in the ground.

Li Long knew this guy well, so he went over to help. The young man quickly politely declined, and after chatting for a few minutes, Li Long said he had done it before. He took the shovel and worked quite skillfully, so the group laughed and worked together.

The festive atmosphere reaches its climax when the barbecue is in full swing. Some people play the dombra and sing as they play, just like at an Aken concert, and young men and women start dancing to the music.

Some people lit a bonfire, while others watched, whistling and clapping along, seemingly more excited than the singers and dancers.

So the people who were originally chatting gradually formed a large circle. Some people volunteered to dance, while others were pulled in. The dancing wasn't limited to the Black Horse style that Li Long knew about; there were other styles as well.

When Li Long was doing the Black Horse Jump, he knew a little bit about it. Liu Gaolou simply threw him out. Just then, a young girl was jumping nearby, so Li Long went over and started jumping with her.

The girl was quite surprised to see Li Long swinging his arms and shoulders and jumping, but seeing that he was jumping quite well, she smiled and joined in.

When a song ended or the style of music changed, Li Long couldn't dance anymore and stepped back. The girl thought Li Long had changed his dance steps and followed him. She was a little surprised to see him step back.

"Jump! Why aren't you jumping? You two are working together pretty well!" Liu Gaolou said with a smile, watching the spectacle.

"I don't know how to dance it anymore. I only know a little bit of the Black Horse Dance. I don't know how to dance this tune," Li Long said honestly.

Actually, that wasn't entirely true. He could sense that when he was dancing with that pretty girl, a few young men were looking at him with a hint of hostility. He guessed that those men were probably the girl's suitors, and he decided it was best not to get involved.

The young men appreciated Li Long's "sensibility," and soon one of them came over with a bottle and a glass of wine to drink with him.

"Sorry, I have to drive later and can't drink," Li Long said, pointing outside. "It's getting late, and drinking could easily lead to an accident."

He doesn't shy away from talking about this. He doesn't drink alcohol for two reasons: first, for safety reasons, and second, because he can't stand the fact that everyone shares a cup when they drink.

Liu Gaolou, seeing that Li Long refused to drink, quite admired him and said with a smile:

"Mr. Li, not bad, not bad. I'll have to learn from you in the future. Don't drink and drive. It's okay during the day, but it's really easy to cause problems if you drink and drive at night."

Li Long looked outside at the car and was surprised to find several teenagers carrying the car and wiping it for him.

Liu Gaolou followed his gaze and saw it too, so he asked Buick.

Buick, who had been sitting on the side, replied when Liu Gaolou asked:

"I guess they're kids from the team. They rarely see cars, so they find them quite special. Now that the car is dirty, these kids are taking the initiative to come and wipe it down, which is actually because they want to touch the car."

Li Long felt something was off, but then thought it made sense.

These days, it's not uncommon for a team to have several cars, but it's said that kids from other teams have ridden in cars and can brag about it for half a year.

After all, cars were still a rarity at that time, far less common than they would be two years later.

"Let them clean it," Li Long chuckled. "Maybe someone will already be determined to drive a car and make a lot of money when they're cleaning it."

“Who says otherwise?” Liu Gaolou nodded and said, “But the first car to get one should be Buick. My uncle said that in two or three months, he’ll get two cars from there for Murati and Buick to drive.”

Buick was pleasantly surprised; he even stammered as he said:
"really?"

"Of course it's true."

“Then… I will definitely do my best!” Buick said earnestly.

It was like making a vow.

A moment later, someone offered Buick a wine glass, which he refused.

The other person, who had been drinking, thought Buick was being disrespectful and shoved the glass in front of him, insisting that he drink.

"I'm busy right now," Buick explained. "I need to take Mr. Liu and Mr. Li home later."

That person wouldn't listen and kept making a scene, so Revolutionary Buick had someone take him away.

This was just a minor incident; overall, the festival was quite festive.

Because they needed to get back to the hotel, Li Long and his group left early.

The next day, after breakfast, Wu Yongbo had just finished chatting with Li Long when Liu Gaolou rushed over and said that his second uncle had already brought the goods to the port and was waiting for them to receive them, so there was no time to play anymore.

Li Long felt the trip was worthwhile, and said with a smile:

"That's perfect, I'll come again when I have time. Let's head to the border now. By the way, should we tell Buick's cousin?" "Of course we should, but there's no rush. Let's get the stuff first, then we can call their township from there. Buick works in the township, he has a phone." Liu Gaolou had already thought it through.

"Alright, shall we go then?"

"Walk."

This time, Liu Gaolou was able to drive his Volga. He was driving a Buick, and Li Long's 69 followed behind, with Wu Yongbo in the car.

While in the car, Wu Yongbo asked Li Long in detail about the specifics of collecting fritillaria bulbs.

Li Long explained to him what top-grade goods were, what premium first-grade goods were, and how to sell them at a high price, etc.

Wu Yongbo wrote everything down. He also noticed the leather on the back of Li Long's car and asked about it in detail.

Li Long could sense that this man was born to do business. Given time, he could certainly make it big and powerful; it all depended on whether he could seize the opportunity.

Or rather, he had already seized the opportunity, but he was too ambitious and unwilling to just produce Soviet specialties; he also wanted to add "local specialties" to the mix.

When the car arrived in Khorgos, Li Long indeed saw a long line of trucks parked in front of Liu Gaolou's courtyard gate.

The truck was loaded with a lot of things, including cars, leather goods, and other cargo covered with tarpaulins.

Liu Shanmin must have heard the car and came out of the yard, with Murati by his side.

Seeing the No. 69 train behind the Volga, Liu Shanmin smiled.

After the two cars were parked, Liu Gaolou got out and called out "Second Uncle." Liu Shanmin nodded perfunctorily, then smiled and walked to Li Long's car. After Li Long got out, he greeted him proactively.

"Hey, Li Long's here! How's the game going? Hey, your arrival brings me good luck again!"

Li Long was a little confused. He had said this so many times, why was he saying it again?

“Let me tell you,” Liu Shanmin said in a low voice, “the country wants me to work on something rather special, something for military use. It’s a sensitive topic, so it won’t be easy to get done. The reward for this is quite substantial, and I’ve been keeping that in mind.”

There hadn't been any news before, except Gao Lou said you were coming to Yili for a visit, and then suddenly I got in touch with you, and I was able to buy the things smoothly... Don't you think I should thank you?"

Li Long was genuinely surprised. What was this all about?

Can your own luck gauge buff others?
PS: 1. Thank you to reader Tianlang Xiaotianzhan for the generous donation! Thank you to readers Shiwuciren and others for their donations, and thank you everyone for your subscriptions and votes!

2. Let me share two things I saw online. Someone asked if anything hasn't gone up in price in the last twenty years. I saw someone nearby offering to pick up cabbages from the field for 80 cents a head. I vaguely remember that back in the day, when the quartermaster was picking up winter vegetables, they were a dollar a kilogram... Now they're actually cheaper.

In addition, when Yongjia visited ethnic minority students for the Mid-Autumn Festival, no Han students were included...

(End of this chapter)