Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 148 The big yard is not safe either

Hearing the noise outside, Li Long quietly got up, slowly put on his clothes, and walked to the door carrying the small-caliber rifle beside the bed.

I heard the noise and heard someone climbing down from the wall. The movement was quite quiet. Then the person squatted in the yard for a while and then moved towards the wing room.

Li Long slowly opened the door a crack - the bedroom door in this big house was well maintained - it was often oiled, so there was no sound when the door hinge turned.

In the dark, one could see that this was a man, thin, less than 1.7 meters tall, and very agile. After briefly staying in front of several doors of the wing room, he turned to the kitchen opposite.

Li Long roughly guessed what the other party was trying to do.

This thief must have come in to steal food.

However, Li Long did not relax his vigilance. He held a small-caliber rifle and observed through the crack in the door. He saw the other party enter the kitchen, then fumble around inside for a while. When he came out, the man came out of the kitchen holding a small pot and then groped towards the door.

Li Long originally guessed that this person was eating secretly because he was hungry, and hesitated whether to let him go, but when he saw that the other party even wanted to take away his own pot, he couldn't tolerate it!
When he saw the other party was about to open the bolt and go out, he immediately rushed out and shouted with a small caliber gun:
"Don't move! I'll kill you if you move!"

The man was startled and quickened his actions, thinking of running away before Li Long caught up with him. Li Long immediately added:
"If you move again I'll shoot!"

This guy was actually moving, and what made Li Long even more angry was that he half turned around and threw the pot at Li Long, then opened the door!

"Snapped!"

Li Long fired a shot at the door and the other party froze!

He really didn't expect that Li Long had a gun in his hand, and he didn't expect that Li Long would dare to shoot!
The cast iron pot fell on the blue brick floor and broke into several pieces, and the porridge and steamed buns inside spilled all over the floor.

Li Long was very angry. This guy not only stole his things, but also destroyed his own pot. He couldn't tolerate this!

He walked up to him with a gun in hand, pointed it at the man's head and said:
"Where are you from? Why are you stealing?"

The other party didn't speak.

Li Long thought the other party was being stubborn, so he simply poked the man's shoulder with the muzzle of his gun and asked loudly again:
"Tell me, where are you from? Why did you steal?"

"I came from the mainland and I'm so hungry..."

Being pointed at by a gun, the other party had to speak.

It was quite pure Mandarin and Li Long couldn't hear any dialect in it.

At this time, there were noisy footsteps and voices outside the door:
"Is this where the gunshots came from?"

"Why are you firing guns in the county so late at night? What do you want to do?"

Li Long guessed that it must be the police who had arrived, and he pulled the muzzle of his gun back. He felt it was a bit troublesome because he did not have the necessary documents for this gun.

A flash of panic flashed across the man's face. Li Long noticed it and immediately pointed his gun at the man's shoulder and said sternly:
"Don't move! My gun is loaded and fired, don't force me to fire it!"

There is something wrong with this person!
Li Long shouted loudly:

"Is that a police officer outside? I fired the gun. There's a thief in my house!"

The footsteps suddenly gathered together, and a policeman asked:
"Where is Mr. Ma from this family?"

"Uncle Ma went back to Shanghai and sold the house to me. Just now someone came in to steal something and I found him. He tried to escape, so I shot him."

"What gun? Is anyone injured?" The police outside were very alert.

"Small caliber, no one injured. Wait a minute, I'll open the door." Li Long was no longer afraid that the other party would escape. He put away the gun, turned off the safety, put it behind his back, and moved sideways to open the door.

As soon as the man remembered, he was discovered by Li Long, who kicked him and knocked him to the ground.

After the door opened, Li Long saw two people in police uniforms and one in plain clothes standing outside, each holding a gun and looking at Li Long vigilantly.

There was a moon and the light was not bad. Li Long pointed at the man squatting on the ground and said:
"He said that he was hungry and wanted to steal food, but I guess this person is not simple. The wall of my yard is so high, he can just sneak in..."

"What do you do? Where did this gun come from?" a uniformed man asked Li Long.

Li Long had already thought of a way to deal with it, and said:

"I am a farmer in Hongqi Township and a part-time buyer for the supply and marketing cooperative. This gun was given to me by Li Xiangqian, the purchasing manager of the supply and marketing cooperative. I have been shopping in the mountains these days. There are wolves and bears in the mountains, so I have to have a gun."

As he said this, he took out the certificate from his pocket and handed it over.

The uniformed policeman looked at the certificate with a flashlight and nodded to the other two people. The other two people also relaxed and stepped forward to lift up the squatting person.

"Let's go to the police station and tell them the details."

At the police station, Li Long registered the details, and the uniformed personnel in charge of registration took Li Long's certificate and copied the information. The thief was being interrogated, and Li Long did not continue to participate and was released.

After returning to the yard, Li Long simply cleaned up the broken pot and things on the ground, then went back to the house to sleep.

After a night of terror, Li Long felt that this large courtyard was indeed not very safe if it was not permanently inhabited.

Even if it's diagonally opposite the police station, it won't work.

The things in the yard also need to be put away properly, either in a dark room or taken back to the village.

The next morning, Li Long was cooking when there was a knock on the door.

He put away the fire and went to open the door, and saw the same uniform from yesterday.

"Comrade Li Long, let me tell you about that man's situation." The other party spoke very directly, but Li Long could see that there was a hint of excitement on his face.

"Is that person a migrant worker?" Li Long asked proactively.

The blind drifters mentioned here are different from those explained in books. They specifically refer to the unemployed vagrants who fled from famine in the interior to the border areas. This is mainly because the border areas are vast and sparsely populated, and it is easier to eat and make a living than in the interior.

"No, he's a fugitive!" said the uniformed policeman. "He escaped after wounding someone orally. He has no relatives or friends here, so he steals food every day. This guy is really well-trained. If you didn't have a gun, I'm afraid you might not be able to catch him--"

"Then I am really lucky!" Li Long listened with lingering fear. If he really hadn't brought a gun, he might have been killed by the other party - such people don't steal property, they only steal things, and most likely they are afraid that the victim will call the police.

After all, people usually don’t care if some food is lost, but if valuables are lost then you have to call the police, and if you make a big fuss it will be difficult to resolve.

"This guy injured someone when he was stealing in Wucheng, and then he fled here." The uniformed officer said, "Anyway, you should be careful during this period..." "Then I have to go to the mountains every few days..." Li Long looked a little embarrassed, "Here..."

"That's okay. You helped us solve a case that wasn't too big or too small." The uniformed police officer said with a smile, "We are neighbors. We will pay more attention to your place."

"Thank you very much." Li Long smiled, "I haven't asked for your advice yet..."

"My last name is Guo Tiebing. Comrade Li, I am just telling you about the situation. You go ahead and do your own thing. I have to go sort out the materials."

"Thank you, Officer Guo." Li Long sent Guo Tiebing to the door. He always felt that the name was familiar, but now he couldn't remember where he had heard it.

After breakfast, Li Long walked around the yard and looked in each room. He found that the gun was easy to hide. It could be stuffed into the beams or behind the cabinets in several rooms without being conspicuous, but the box of copper coins was difficult to hide.

Li Long thought about it and decided to go back to the village today to talk about it. It would only take two hours anyway.

Of course, that’s not possible right now, he still has to go to the morning market to check on the food.

I pushed my bike out of the door and looked at the people passing by on the street. It seemed that not many people noticed what happened here last night.

After locking the door, he rode his bike to the morning market. He even took a detour to stop by the grain store and found that the store still did not have any discounted grain.

Somewhat disappointed, Li Long pedaled faster and soon arrived at the market. There was a lot of traffic here, and Li Long took a glance and laughed.

Today, not only are there people selling food here, but there are also people selling piglets!
Li Long remembered Halimu saying that they were not picky about food, and that they put millet and cornmeal in their milk tea. The food sold in the market now included rice, flour and cornmeal.

Li Long pushed the cart over and asked the price.

"Rice is 70 cents, flour is 45 cents, and corn flour is 20 cents." Nowadays, food that does not require tickets is easy to sell, and the stall owners' attitude is also very ordinary.

"What if I want more?" Li Long took a look at the stall. The three items added up to no more than 100 kilograms, which was more than half a bag.

"How much do you want? How much can you take? Can you take all of them? If you take all of them, I'll give you a discount." The stall owner looked at Li Long and said. Li Long was pushing his bicycle, and he couldn't help but feel expectant when he heard the tone.

Normally, it would be good if I could sell one-third of these rice and flour in a day. If the other party can buy more, I can make more.

"If you want to finish it, what price can you give?" Li Long asked.

"Rice... 68 cents, flour 43 cents, cornmeal 15 cents, how about that? I've reduced the price of cornmeal by 5 cents, that's good enough!"

This should be a middleman who often trades grain. He should have a lot of goods. Li Long asked:

"I want them all. Do you have any more?"

"What? You want more?" Li Long's words not only did not make the other party happy, but instead alerted him. He shook his head and said, "I can't say for sure. Let's see the situation."

Li Long knew that the other party was worried that he would investigate and report him. After all, there was still a crime of speculation these days. Although the morning market had been tacitly allowed to be open, it was to regulate the production and living materials of the people and enrich the dining table. If there was really large-scale speculation, it would be a crime.

Li Long didn't say much. He weighed the grain with the boss and after paying the money, he asked the stall owner to help stuff the smaller rice bag into the cornmeal bag, tied the mouth, and put it on the back seat together with the cornmeal bag. Then he went to see Zhuwazi.

The boss sold the bag to Li Long, and then took the more than 40 yuan he got but did not leave. Instead, he observed Li Long.

Seeing Li Long go to see the piglets, he relaxed - this man must have a large family, so he bought so much food. People who can buy piglets should not be checking on themselves.

"How much is the piglet?"

"Twelve!" The stall owner's voice was loud and firm. When Li Long wanted to bargain, he pointed to the four piglets in the basket and said:

"I brought eight of them, and in less than half an hour, half were left. No bargaining! If you're late, they'll be gone!"

This piglet is bigger than the last one, so it must have been laid earlier. Li Long squatted down and moved the piglet, and it immediately started to squeak.

It was quite lively. Maybe it was hungry and a little scared. It kept barking, which attracted some people to come and see.

"Okay, I'll take all four." Li Long saw that there were three males and one female, no problem. Thinking that his elder brother was determined to be a professional pig farmer, he decided to buy them.

The stall owner originally thought that Li Long wanted one or two pigs, but he didn't expect him to want all of them. After being stunned for a moment, he immediately used a hemp rope to help Li Long tie up the pigs, put them in a sack, and placed it flat on the back seat of the bicycle.

With food on both sides of the bicycle and the piglet on top, Li Long had no way to buy anything else and turned around to ride back to the yard.

After returning to the yard, Li Long unloaded the grain and put it in the kitchen first. Then he took the piglets down and put them in a large basket in the yard. He untied them to let them move around, and then tied them up again.

Now that he had the piglets, he still had to buy feed - wild vegetables alone were not enough to fatten the pigs.

Some stalls at the morning market had been removed, and Li Long's target was a stall owner at the very edge, who was selling bran, chaff and corn.

Although Li Long wanted to buy corn, he thought that if he used it to feed pigs, he would probably be scolded by the villagers. Moreover, if he took it back, his elder brother and sister-in-law would not feed it to pigs, and they would probably just eat it, so forget it.

These days we eat too much coarse grains, it’s better to eat fine grains.

Li Long bought two large bags of bran and chaff for five yuan, carried them back to the yard, put the piglet away, put the copper coins into the bag and hung it on the front handlebar of the bicycle, locked the door, and rode back to the village.

When he arrived at the village, Li Long saw Li Qiang and a group of kids playing baobao on the roadside.

The game of playing gaga is probably familiar to the people born in the 1980s in the north - but the rules may vary from region to region. The tool used is a board, and gaga is just as its name implies, a half-foot-long wooden stick with sharpened ends. The attackers put the gaga on a "rack" made of two clay blocks, pick it up with a wooden board and hit it out. There are defenders on the other side, and the guarding area is also a designated area. The gaga cannot fall into the area, and then it has to be thrown back...

Seeing Li Long coming, Li Long, who had just picked up the 尜尜, cheered, threw the 尜尜 away and rushed towards Li Long.

"Qiangqiang, why didn't you go to school today?"

"Today is Sunday, we have a day off." Li Qiang explained, "Uncle, what are you stacking behind you?"

"And bran, Piggy."

"What about the bag in front?" Li Qiang looked at the bag in front curiously again.

"Ma money? Do you want to play with it?" Li Long took out a few Qianlong and Kangxi coins and handed them to him: "Here."

"Yes, I'll go to my sister to play shuttlecock!" Li Qiang ran away with the hemp money in his hand.

Li Qiang rode his bicycle back to the yard. Just as he took down the piglet and untied it, someone came to look for him.

(End of this chapter)