Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 146 Yushan Jiang’s Appeal

After eating hand-pulled meat at noon, Yushanjiang's family got busy. Halimu rode back home, and then he brought his family over - except for the old grandmother who was watching the house, all the family members came.

The gathering was held on the grassy field in front of the winter den. It was the end of March, and the grass on the plains had already grown, but here the grass was just beginning to sprout green leaves.

Yushanjiang's son and Nathan brought wood washed down by the flood from the ditch, piled them together, and made a bonfire at night.

Yushanjiang slaughtered another sheep, and his wife and Halimu's wife were processing the mutton.

Halimu chose a place and dug a long trench, cleaned it out, and piled the edges higher with the excavated soil.

"Is this the trough for making roast lamb?" Li Long had watched a lot of short videos in his later life and had a guess.

"Yes." Halimu said as he worked, "There should be quite a few people coming tonight, so we need to grill more meat. Besides, Yushanjiang will definitely need these people to help build a house for you."

Li Long suddenly felt a little overwhelmed. How could he deserve so many people to work for him?

"Don't feel embarrassed." Halimu saw what Li Long was thinking and said with a smile, "Before, you brought us so much brick tea, salt, and sugar. Do you think we ate them all? We can't eat so much.

We were originally from the same tribe, so in winter, I, Yushanjiang, gave those extra things to other people. They couldn't speak Chinese, but they needed those things more than us—"

Li Long understood. He looked around, thought for a moment and said:
"Then I'll go to the county now and buy some things."

"No, no." Halimu hurriedly stopped Li Long who was about to leave and said, "No need to go, it's too far. We are not short of food now, you just stay here and you will have a big piece of meat to eat and a big bowl of mare's milk to drink.

Today, you are an honored guest, so don't think too much, just be well. "

Since Li Long couldn't leave, he just followed Halimu to work.

After the earthen trough was dug, the two of them lit a fire and burned wood. Li Long knew that after the wood burned into red charcoal, he could move it to the trough to serve as a red fire for barbecue.

The next step is to go to the red willow bushes by the ditch and pick the red willow branches to string up the meat.

Li Long had eaten tamarisk barbecue at the night market before. The tamarisk skewers had been used countless times and had long lost the real tamarisk flavor.

In fact, as a local, I know that the first time you grill meat with red willow, the aroma of the meat and the special flavor of red willow are mixed together, and the taste is good. The skewers are only used once, and only locals use them. In addition, red willow is not recommended to be broken off in later generations because it can prevent wind and sand and resist salt and alkali, so it is difficult for locals to eat authentic ones.

Therefore, when Li Long went out to eat barbecue in later lives, he always ate iron skewers. It was okay if people didn't understand the gimmick.

They broke off a large bunch of red willow branches that were as thick as their little fingers. After returning home, they removed the leaves from the branches, sharpened one end with a knife, and cut off some of the thick end to make them about the same length. Then they gave them to the women for use.

The women simply marinated the cut pieces of meat with Pi Ya Zi water, and then strung them on red willow skewers. Soon there were a lot of them.

The fire was already burning brightly, and guests on horseback began to appear.

Li Long discovered that most of the people who came on horseback came as families. It seemed that Halim was right. They should be from the same tribe. Even if they were not relatives, they should have other relationships.

Basically, the people who came here really didn't speak Chinese. After saying hello to Yushanjiang, Halimu and others, they went into their winter den, or tied up their horses and looked for people to work and chat with.

Li Long was a little embarrassed at first. He kept repeating "Adasi, Jax" over and over again, but he didn't understand the other words.

However, he could see that when the other party heard him say just this one sentence, the joy and sincerity in his eyes were immediately revealed. Even if he couldn't understand what he said afterwards, and he spoke Chinese while the other party spoke Kazakh, it did not affect the other party's enthusiasm.

Li Long thought this was a

A warm and hospitable people, it’s great to make friends with them!
He and Halimu added red charcoal fire into the trough, and then he had nothing to do - after Yushanjiang slaughtered the sheep and dealt with the sheepskin and internal organs, he took out the radio with a proud look on his face, turned on the switch, and turned up the volume. When the announcer's Kazakh voice came out, most of the dozen or so people present opened their mouths and exclaimed!
Most of them had never seen a radio, and could not imagine that such a small device could produce human voices, in their mother tongue!

Yushanjiang proudly pulled Li Long to his front and introduced him in Kazakh. Then everyone shook hands with Li Long solemnly again, probably to show respect and gratitude.

He was a little confused.

When the sun was setting and the open space was getting cooler, the boys piled up the wood they had collected and started to light a fire.

The meat has started to roast, the hand-pulled meat in the big pot has been boiling, and the mare's milk has been taken out and poured out for everyone to drink.

The sound from the radio kept playing. Although Li Long could not understand it, he could roughly tell from the announcer's tone that there were news, stories, music, and something like a movie recording.

A group of children would gather around the radio from time to time, looking at this thing that could make sounds with curiosity. Occasionally, an adult would come over to take a closer look and then smile at Li Long.

On this day, Li Long received a lot of kindness. Although he didn't understand it, he could understand it.

It was not until it was almost dark that a song suddenly played on the radio that made everyone exclaim -

Li Long, who had watched countless short videos in his later life, recognized that this seemed to be the music of the traditional Kazakh dance "Black Horse". At this moment, many people who were originally sitting there exclaimed, and someone was the first to step out and jump in front of the bonfire, followed by the second, third, and fourth...

Soon, people of all ages, men and women, danced happily around the bonfire. The red bonfire reflected their smiling faces, and their happiness and joy were simple and pure.

Li Long was also pulled into the crowd. Although he couldn't dance, he was still able to move around by waving his hands and shaking his shoulders. This cheerful atmosphere was particularly contagious.

Nathan came to the opposite side of Li Long without knowing when. Seeing that Li Long couldn't dance, he shook his shoulders and danced to the rhythm. Li Long followed his example and actually did the same...

After dancing for a while, a bowl of mare's milk was handed to Li Long. He took it and took a sip without even looking at who handed it to him.

This sour drink with a hint of alcohol refreshed Li Long and he continued dancing. When he got tired, he ate meat and drank mare's milk, and listened to people he didn't understand talking about all sorts of things. Li Long didn't think about anything and was actually very happy.

The party lasted until very late. The meat was eaten and the mare's milk was finished. No one knew when the radio went off, leaving only the sound of electricity. The bonfire was left with only dark red ashes.

It was a great pleasure.

Li Long and Halimu returned to his winter home.

The next day, when Li Long got up and was drinking milk tea, Yushanjiang came over with a group of young men and middle-aged men, dragging pieces of wood.

"Are you really going to build a house for me?" Li Long still felt like he was dreaming.

"Li Long, we are friends. You are a good friend to us, so we should do what friends should do. As for this matter, you don't have to worry about it, just choose a place..."

Li Long was really touched. "Okay, you guys do the work, I'll pick a location." After careful consideration, Li Long, at the suggestion of Halimu and Yushanjiang, decided to pick a location at a ditch less than one kilometer west of Halimu's winter nest. There was a stream there, roughly between Yushanjiang and Halimu's winter nest, close to Halimu's side. This would make it more convenient to transport wood.

There is a Fritillaria Valley nearby, not far from the hot spring that Yushanjiang showed Li Long.

There is also a large relatively flat area near the selected place. They have to dig out a flat area in a slightly higher place nearby, and then pile up wood one by one to build a house - similar to a winter nest, with the back wall being the mountain. This way they can save a lot of materials.

After determining the location, the herdsmen began to transport wood enthusiastically, while Li Long rode his bicycle down the mountain.

He ran to the department store as fast as he could and bought sesame cakes, sugar cubes, and a few bottles of liquor, but unfortunately he didn't have much money left.

Li Long suddenly thought of those pieces of jade. It seemed that he had no choice but to sell them now.

He put the things he bought back into the big yard, took out two pieces of very good quality jade, wrapped them up, and went to the Ma County Bus Station on the Wuyi Highway.

Starting this spring, the county bus station has buses to Wucheng.

Li Long bought a ticket at the bus station. Seeing that there was still time left, he bought some sesame cakes for lunch at a store next to the bus station.

After nearly three hours of driving, we arrived in Wucheng.

After coming out of the compound of the Bayi Execution Office, Li Long quickly took the bus and went to the Second Light Industry Bureau's Jade Processing Factory.

Li Long found the old man who collected jade last time with ease - this time he knew that the old man was a veteran jade worker in the factory. He had worked in the factory for more than 20 years, but was later demoted for special reasons and only resumed work at the beginning of last year.

The old man's surname was Liu, and his name was Liu Yuzhang. Old Liu actually still remembered Li Long. In the office, he smiled and said:

"Young man, the jade you brought last time was quite good. We have already made it into an ornament. What treasure did you bring this time?"

"This jade is not as good as the last one," Li Long said as he took the jade. "I was planning to keep it, but I was in urgent need of money recently, so I took it here."

The two pieces of better quality were obtained from Yushanjiang, and the other one was later given to Li Long by Halimu.

"Well, it's true that the quality of the jade is not as good as the last time." The old man took a look with his glasses, then took off his glasses and said, "This one is okay--"

He was referring to the piece that Yushanjiang had given him: "It's a little worse than the good one last time, but a little better than the bad one. As for this one..."

He pointed to another piece of jade with obvious black spots and said:
"To be honest, this kind of jade can't be sold for a lot of money. Fortunately, your piece is not very heavy, and it is also a feature."

He thought for a while and said:

"How about this, I'll call Chief Chen over and we'll work together to give you a price."

Section Chief Chen was the tall man from last time, and he also remembered Li Long.

After the two men discussed it, they set the prices for the two pieces of jade for Li Long at 65 yuan and 15 yuan respectively.

"Young man, don't think this fifteen yuan a kilogram is cheap. To be honest, this jade is not that good. If you think the price is not good, you can take it back."

"I'm not taking it back." Li Long said hurriedly, "I know the price you gave is very fair. Thank you!"

In fact, he was a little nervous when he came. If the other party did not accept these jades, he would be in trouble.

"You are quite sensible, young man." Old Liu said with a smile, "If you find good jade in the future, bring it to us and we will take it. Of course, this jade is not easy to come by, as you know."

After the two pieces of jade were weighed and the invoice was issued, Li Long received three hundred and seventy-four yuan.

After saying goodbye to Mr. Liu and Section Chief Chen, he hurried back to the Bayi Guesthouse.

According to Li Long's idea, if there is another bus, he will take it back. If not, he will go buy things first, then stay overnight and go back tomorrow morning.

What surprised him was that the last bus had not yet left, so he quickly got on the bus - at this time he could get on the bus first and buy the ticket later.

When we returned to Ma County, it was already completely dark.

Li Long returned to the yard in the dark. Although the house was still a little cold at this time, Li Long felt relieved.

It was a busy day, but I managed to get things done.

Dragging his tired body, Li Long built a fire and cooked some porridge for himself. While drinking it, he thought about what to buy tomorrow.

Although it was Yushanjiang who called upon the people to work for him, Li Long, as the victim, must have expressed his opinion.

He decided to buy a set of gifts for each worker, including brick tea, sugar cubes, a bottle of wine, two canned food, a bag of salt, etc., as a token of his thoughtfulness.

As for the time he is working, Li Long plans to buy some snacks.

He regretted not bringing a horse-drawn carriage. But thinking that the carriage would be needed in the team, he decided to ride his bicycle one trip at a time.

The next morning, after having a meal at the big meat canteen, Li Long started to go shopping.

In addition to those things, Li Long also bought a lot of thick and thin iron wires, iron nails, plastic sheets and other things, packed them on the bicycle, and went into the mountains.

The 28-ton truck was very strong, and in less than two hours, Li Long transported the things to Alim's winter home.

After Halimu saw what Li Long had packed, he told him seriously:

"Li Long, if you want everyone to work well, don't take these things out yet. Otherwise, the work won't be done, and their families will blame you."

Li Long was a little puzzled, why?

I clearly meant well.

(End of this chapter)