Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Li Long led Li Juan and Han Fang back to the courtyard, where Sister Yang and Gu Xiaoxia were preparing lunch.

Li Juan and Han Fang, who had just gotten off the bus, wanted to go over and help, but Gu Xiaoxia stopped them, saying, "You two go have fun, we'll take care of things in the kitchen."

Li Long parked his car, got out, saw this scene, and laughed.

After Gu Xiaoxia started teaching at the school, she had quite a bit of freedom during the spring and autumn vacations each year. Although there were occasional duty inspections, she was generally able to rest for quite a while.

So when she was at home, she really enjoyed doing housework and cooking with Sister Yang.

Of course, when Mingming and Haohao are around, she can't help but discipline the two naughty children, and that's when she shows some of her teacherly qualities.

Therefore, Li Long guessed that the reason why Minghao Hao went to his older brother's house as soon as he was on vacation was probably partly because he was afraid of Gu Xiaoxia.

Of course, he was just guessing.

Li Juan and Han Fang couldn't go to the kitchen to help, so they went back to the house to organize the data. Li Juan was in charge of writing, and Han Fang assisted.

Li Long then put on cotton gloves, picked up a large broom, and began cleaning the yard.

Although it hasn't snowed in the past few days, there has been fog from time to time, and after the fog clears, frost forms on the trees all around.

Once the sun comes out and the temperature rises, the small ice crystals that have condensed on the trees can no longer stay on, and they will fall down like snow, covering the whole yard.

The yard was too big, so Li Long cleaned up the front yard and, after tidying up some items, quickly put down the broom, covered his ears, and went back inside.

It's so damn cold! I forgot to wear a cotton hat after getting off the bus, thinking that cleaning the front yard wouldn't take much time, but I forgot that it's the coldest time of winter and my ears can't take it.

Upon entering the room, he immediately felt a slight itch in his ears, indicating frostbite. He gently rubbed them and felt the problem wasn't too serious.

It seems I'll have to be more careful in the future.

In fact, Li Long had made a lot of preparations before winter. He hung cotton curtains on the doors of the living rooms, including the kitchen, to keep them warm and prevent drafts.

Li Long was a little smug because things went smoothly when he went to town today, and Ma Xiaoyan said she would give him a road construction project tomorrow. So he didn't feel that cold when he came back.

But the outdoor temperature is currently below minus twenty degrees Celsius. It would be fine if we were dressed properly, as the thick puffer jacket would keep us warm and the furry Lei Feng hat would protect our ears. However, Li Long was careless, which is why he got a bit cold.

After rubbing his ears for a while, feeling that it was about time, Li Long picked up the teapot on the stove, poured himself a cup, held it in his hands, and slowly warmed himself up as he drank.

He was thinking about what to do after the New Year.

Liu Shanmin won't be returning to Kazakhstan anytime soon. Although he said he had made arrangements there before leaving, and that someone would be responsible for transporting goods here, Li Long felt that without Liu Shanmin, the freight transport work was unlikely to go as smoothly as before.

However, based on the current inventory at the purchasing station, those cars are enough for Li Long to sell for a while, and there's also plenty of leather. Let's leave it at that for now.

If the shipment of goods here is not going smoothly, then we can stop for a while, and the cannery can take the opportunity to explore new markets.

After lunch, Li Juan had to go back. Han Fang was a little reluctant to see her go, but she knew that Li Juan had her own things to do, and that they were older now and couldn't live together as often as before.

Li Juan told Han Fang that she would come over after the New Year and hoped that Han Fang could come to the fourth team to play together.

Li Long escorted Li Juan back to the fourth team and wanted to say a few words to Mingming and Haohao. The two children thought Li Long was going to take them back to the county. When they saw Li Long, they ran off to play in the distance.

This left Li Long somewhat amused and exasperated.

So he didn't stay there long. Since he could come down every day from now on, he took the basket of eggs his sister-in-law had given him and drove back to the county.

When Li Long turned onto the street corner where the recycling station was located, he could see a long line of cars parked in front of the station. The most eye-catching were the three enormous cars at the front.

Soviet-made Kamaz heavy trucks are much larger than GAZ trucks and domestically produced Dongfeng and Jiefang trucks. This behemoth looks different!
(This isn't the exact model shown in the picture, but you'll have to make do with this one.)

Compared to it, the trucks behind it looked rather small. What puzzled Li Long was the last one—a minivan that didn't seem to have many people inside.

Li Long instinctively stepped on the gas and sped towards the purchasing station.

Upon reaching the entrance, Li Long saw Liu Gaolou explaining something to the security guard on duty, a veteran named Luo Yulong.

"Xiao Luo, open the door right now!"

Li Long didn't expect Luo Yulong to stop Liu Gaolou and the others. He quickly rolled down the car window, shouted, then parked the car on the side of the road, turned off the engine, and got out.

Liu Gaolou was asking Luo Yulong about Li Long. Actually, he had also noticed that the purchasing station had closed down, so he was hesitating whether to go to the courtyard to find Li Long first, when Li Long came over.

Li Long strode over and shook hands with Liu Gaolou, who was dressed like a bear, patting him on the back and joking:

"Is that a bearskin coat you're wearing? It looks really festive!"

"Hey, it's alright." Liu Gaolou took it as a compliment from Li Long. "It looks good and it's warm. It's much more imposing than any mink."

Li Long thought to himself that bear fur might not be as warm as mink fur, and mink fur was definitely more expensive than bear fur—for the same area.

Of course, he couldn't say that. He smiled and asked, "Why did you decide to come at this time? It must be tough in the dead of winter, right?"

He had already noticed the snow chains strapped to the wheels of those cars.

Back then, winter snow tires weren't available, so large trucks traveling through the Guozigou Valley would definitely need to be fitted with snow chains. Without them, under the current road conditions, they would most likely have slid into the roadside ditch.

At this moment, Luo Yuhu had already opened the large iron gate, and the drivers started their cars to drive inside.

Li Long pulled Liu Gaolou's arm and ushered him inside, saying that it was too cold to stand outside.

"Isn't it all your fault?" Liu Gaolou complained to Li Long. "I had already packed my things and was planning to go back to my hometown, but my second uncle called and asked me to stay a few more days to pick up this batch of goods and deliver them to you before I left. So I had no choice but to wait."

"Are these the only three big machines?" Li Long asked, pointing to the Kamaz that was slowly driving into the yard behind them.

These three behemoths are quite imposing; after all, they are large machines that can be modified into missile chassis. Just imagine their power and size.

Liu Gaolou didn't rush to go inside to warm up. He and Li Long directed the trucks to drive into the purchasing station and parked them before going inside.

As for the drivers, they know how to handle these big guys.

Besides the three Kamaz trucks, the other trucks were carrying a lot of mechanical parts, with one truck each carrying leather and antelope horns.

Li Long asked Luo Yulong to prepare an empty room for the driver, while he and Liu Gaolou went into the reception room.

"The list is here." Liu Gaolou took a list out of his bag and handed it to Li Long, saying:

"Everything is written here, take your time to look through it. My second uncle said that these things are a New Year's gift for you, and they're free."

As for whether you keep it or sell it, that's up to you." After saying that, he picked up the tea that Li Long had poured and slowly drank it.

It's clear that he's had a tough time on this journey.

"And what about you? You went back to your hometown?" Li Long asked without looking at the order. "What about the drivers?"

"You saw that van behind us? They're driving it back," Liu Gaolou said smugly. "I've already thought it through. We're not going to be hauling anything back, so one van is enough. You don't need to worry about it."

Li Long nodded, then picked up the form and began to read it.

Three Kamaz trucks, six trucks, one truckload of leather goods, and one truckload of antelope horns. Of the four GAZ trucks, one was carrying Kamaz spare parts; the remaining three trucks were carrying a complete set of small-scale oil refining equipment.

During the Soviet era, the most famous industries in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic were coal mining and oil and gas.

There is also a certain amount of military equipment manufacturing and defense industry, but Liu Shanmin made it clear in the list that he could get his hands on those things, but he couldn't manage to get them all.

"Please thank your second uncle for me," Li Long said. "I really didn't expect him to get his hands on this thing."

Although this thing isn't very useful in Li Long's hands, there will always be people who need it.

"You should talk to him yourself. I don't even know where my second uncle's family has gone. He can contact me, but I can't contact him."

Liu Gaolou finished his tea, refilled it, and said self-deprecatingly:

"I used to be someone who drank good tea, but now I feel that brick tea is the best. Hey, the environment really can influence people."

“That’s right. You’ve gotten used to the beef and mutton here. If you go and drink other good teas, how can you not feel the greasiness?” Li Long joked. “It’s no different from a cow chewing on a peony.”

"You're just insulting me," Liu Gaolou glared at him. "I think you're pretty much the same. But to be honest..."

He took a sip of brick tea and said, "To be honest, when I go back to my hometown, beef is alright, but I really can't get used to eating mutton."

"Come on, don't you have any other good food in your hometown? Going to your hometown to eat beef and mutton? Are you kidding me?"

Li Long chatted with Liu Gaolou for a while, then called home and told Gu Xiaoxia not to wait for him for dinner. After that, he took Liu Gaolou and the others out to eat.

Li Long originally wanted to have a good chat with Liu Gaolou, but Liu Gaolou refused, saying that he was exhausted from the journey and needed to go to the guesthouse to sleep, as he had to rush to Wucheng the next day.

So Li Long stopped bothering him.

The next day, when Li Long went to the guesthouse to find Liu Gaolou, he discovered that Liu had already checked out and left, and the drivers had already gotten into the van and were ready to leave.

Li Long then told them to be careful, watched them leave the guesthouse, and then went back home.

He went to the purchasing station.

Luo Yulong was on his shift at noon today, and he was currently wiping down those huge KamAZ engines.

"Boss, these trucks are awesome!" Luo Yulong said as he wiped the trucks as he saw Li Long coming over.

"Go put on your hat, aren't you cold?" Li Long said, looking at his red ears. "Don't get frostbite. Once you get it, it's hard to get rid of."

"It's alright, I'm not cold," Luo Yulong said with a smile. "It's colder when we're patrolling the border in winter."

"Where are you serving in the army?" Li Long asked.

"Tori," Luo Yulong said, "the border defense regiment."

"Oh." Li Long didn't ask further. "But we still need to be careful."

As he spoke, he went to look at the equipment.

Oil refining requires tanks, and four trucks were filled to the brim, though Li Long didn't quite understand it.

However, he knew that there seemed to be small oil refineries in the oil city at that time, but he didn't know whether they used this type of equipment.

There was a time when some industries were allowed to exist or existed in a gray area, but Li Long was not aware of what was going on.

If this gets out, I reckon some people will be interested in it.

Looking at the various parts, Li Long shook his head and decided to ignore them.

As for the leather and antelope horns on the vehicle, they were all covered with tarpaulins and tied with ropes, so Li Long simply didn't touch them.

We'll unload it after the New Year when the employees come back to work.

He checked the water tanks of each vehicle to make sure the water was drained, and then he left them alone.

Actually, it shouldn't be a problem not to open it, since it definitely won't be open this winter, but opening it is safer.

Seeing that Luo Yulong had already taken the basin back, Li Long turned around and walked back as well. But when he saw Luo Yulong coming back with another basin of hot water, he told him to take it easy.

"Find something to do, there's no rush if there's nothing to do," Luo Yulong said with a smile.

Li Long stopped trying to persuade him and left the purchasing station, driving his Land Cruiser home.

We're not sure how to use the three Kamaz units yet, so we'll leave them for now, and the other equipment will also be put aside for now. After the New Year, when the purchasing station opens, if it takes up too much space, we'll advertise on TV, and I'm sure people will come.

As for the other trucks, local drivers looking to make a living will likely be interested in these used trucks.

The sound of firecrackers over the county town and villages gradually increased from sporadic to frequent, and the smell of gunpowder in the air grew stronger, signaling that the New Year was drawing ever closer.

The weather was getting warmer and warmer—relatively speaking, of course. The daytime temperature rose from minus twenty degrees to around minus ten degrees. Gu Boyuan and Teacher Song also rushed back from the valley.

He didn't go back to the fourth team first, but went to Li Long's courtyard first.

Although Gu Boyuan had called before she arrived, Gu Xiaoxia was still pleasantly surprised to see her father.

"Where are Mingming and Haohao?" Gu Boyuan asked when he entered the yard and didn't see the children.

“I went to my older brother’s place,” Li Long said. “I played with Qiangqiang.”

"Hey, if I'd known they weren't here, I would have gone straight back to Team Four." Gu Boyuan's words were quite hurtful; it turned out they were mainly here to see the kids.

Before Gu Xiaoxia could complain, Teacher Song gave him a push and said with a smile:

"Don't listen to his nonsense, he just came to see you. You two talk first, I'll go get the things I brought from over there."

Li Long was about to go help when the phone rang.

He told Gu Boyuan and then went to answer the phone.

I thought it was my older brother making the call, but instead I heard Liu Shanmin's voice on the other end:
"Li Long, what do you think of my gift?"

Li Long was somewhat surprised to hear his voice, then smiled and said, "Not bad, not bad, thank you for your generous gift. By the way, where are you now?"

"I won't say where, but I had a lot of fun." Liu Shanmin sounded pleased. "Since you liked it, that's good. I'll see what I can get you later!"

He hung up after only a few words, before Li Long could even express his gratitude.

But it doesn't matter anymore; the relationship between two people doesn't depend on this one sentence.

P.S.: I took my elder to see a doctor yesterday for a follow-up appointment, but they discovered a new problem: a blocked blood vessel in his brain. Fortunately, it wasn't too serious, but it gave me quite a fright.

This is a short supplementary chapter for today. I'm going back to Manas this afternoon; I'll see if I can finish writing the midnight chapter then. (End of Chapter)