Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 149: Pig
The one who came to see Li Long was Xie Yundong. He was in a hurry. When he saw Li Long in the yard, he said:

"Xiaolong, you're back - I've been waiting anxiously."

"What's the matter?" Li Long asked as he was carrying a basket and planning to put the piglet into the pigpen. "What's the trouble?"

"It's no trouble. The people in the sideline team are ready to go into the mountains. They have to communicate with you."

"Which ditch are you going into?"

There are many ditches in Nanshan, including the Big and Small Poplar Ditch, Songshugou, Yushugou, as well as the Haxionggou and Meitangou that can be found everywhere.

"In Xiaobaiyanggou, there is an area by the water that is relatively flat and not low in terrain, which is flood-proof and convenient for water use. We have dug holes there before, and we can reuse them this time. There are also many willow trees by the water, and the branches of some miscellaneous trees growing in the ditch can all be used."

"Sure." Li Long thought about it. Xiaobaiyanggou is located to the east of Halimu winter nest, close to Hongshanzui. It is about three kilometers away from his winter nest which is about to be completed. If anything happens, he can take care of it.

"Okay, we plan to set off tomorrow. I'll gather everyone this afternoon. The captain will be speaking, so you can talk to everyone." Xie Yundong said, "Your eldest brother will also be there tomorrow. Your family's horse-drawn carriage will go with us to pull things into the mountains, and you can also earn some work points."

"Okay, come and call me when the time comes." Li Long originally planned to carry the food into the mountains after lunch, but now it seems that he will have to stay for half a day longer. However, things in the mountains are not urgent, and these three hundred porters are also an important task at the moment.

Xie Yundong left in a hurry after getting Li Long's promise. As the leader of the team, he had too many things to do. Some people were doing side jobs in the mountains for the first time and didn't know anything. He had to remind them one by one, otherwise they would find trouble with him in the end if they were short of something.

Not long after he put the piglets in the pen, Li Jianguo, Liang Yuemei and Li Juan came back from the fields. Seeing Li Long by the pigpen, Li Jianguo asked:
"Xiaolong, have you caught the piglet again?"

"We caught four," Li Long said, "three pigs and one sow."

"Let me take a look." Li Jianguo put down his hoe and walked to the pigpen.

Li Juan was carrying a basket full of pig grass. She also came over to the pig pen to take a look, then smiled and put down the basket by the stove, took a broken kitchen knife and a cutting board standing by the wall, and started to chop the pig grass.

"I'll buy some bran and chaff and cook them with the pig grass." Li Long said, "Now that the piglets are growing, they may eat them."

"This piglet needs to be bigger." Li Jianguo looked at it and smiled, then suddenly thought of something, "No, we have to castrate the pig, otherwise the meat won't taste good."

Li Jianguo was a man of action. He did what he said. He took a razor blade, a small packet of powder, and a bag of cotton thread from the house, laid them out beside the pigsty, and went to get a basin of water. Then he said to Li Long:
"Catch a tooth pig."

A tooth pig is a boar. After Li Long went in, he caught a black and white boar. The pig screamed miserably, as if it was being tortured, and the sound was particularly harsh.

He laid the boar flat on its back. Li Jianguo touched the area with his hand and asked Li Long to press it. He washed the area and then cut a cut with a razor. The piglet screamed even more miserably.

Li Jianguo squeezed something out of the hole, wrapped it around a few times, tied it with cotton thread, and then cut off the testicle with a razor, and then poured medicine powder on it - Li Long could already smell it, it was sulfa, an anti-inflammatory drug commonly used in rural areas. The other testicle was also cut off, and then the medicine powder was sprinkled on it.

The cut was not big, so there was no need to sew it. The weather was not very hot at that time, so maggots were not likely to grow. So I just put the pig in the pigsty and waited for the next one.

In less than an hour, all four tuskers had undergone "operation". Li Jianguo washed his hands with the water in the basin and then put the things back one by one.

Liang Yuejuan had already prepared the meal, and Li Qiang came back on his own accord. When he saw Li Juan, he shouted:

"Sister, sister! I have some money and chicken feathers. Can you make me a shuttlecock?"

"Where does the money come from?" Li Jianguo asked.

"Where did the chicken feathers come from?" Li Long asked.

"The money for the hemp was given by my uncle." Li Qiang glanced at his father and answered his question first, then looked at Li Long and said:
"We plucked the chicken feathers from Mingwa's chickens. He said we'd make a shuttlecock so he could play with it, too."

Plucking the feathers from a live chicken!
Kids nowadays are amazing!

"Didn't you kill the chicken?" Li Jianguo asked unhappily.

"No, they have five chickens, so it's enough to just pluck a few bones from each one." Li Qiang said, "We don't use scoops!"

Spoon here means stupid.

"Well, if you don't scoop, you can wait and see Mingwa get beaten by his mother tomorrow."

"Eat, eat." Liang Yuemei called out, "I have something else to do in the afternoon."

At the dinner table, Li Jianguo asked Li Long:

"Let's go together tomorrow?"

"No, I have to go to the county this afternoon, and I have to buy some grain tomorrow morning to transport it in. The place chosen by Brother Yundong is not far from where my friend lives. I will go to the mountain first tomorrow and then I will come to Xiaobaiyanggou to find you."

"Dad, I want to go too!" Li Qiang said suddenly.

"You have to go to preschool tomorrow, and in a few months you will be in the first grade, so you can't go." Li Jianguo immediately rejected Li Qiang's idea - today's preschool classes actually teach first grade content, and Li Qiang will be six and a half years old in September and can go to school.

Li Juan actually wanted to go, but she knew she couldn't afford it, and going to school was the most important thing. Last time, her uncle helped her weave the broom handle and reinforced the broom, which made their group stand out.

"Uncle, all the other big brooms in our class fell off, but ours didn't." Li Juan couldn't help but say, "Our teacher praised our group very much!"

"Why?" Li Jianguo asked, not knowing that Li Long helped Li Juan and the others to compile the banner.

"When I came back that afternoon, I saw them weaving the handlebars on the playground, so I thought of bringing Li Juan back, and I tied her up and weaved her." Li Long explained lightly.

Liang Yuemei ate while smiling.

She thought it was good - Li Long used to be quite independent and would never think of helping Li Juan. In the past few months, there have been huge changes.

After the meal, Li Jianguo stuffed a wad of money into Li Long's pocket and said:
"This is the money from Piglet. Oh, and go to the street and send twenty yuan to my parents. Life is tough back home right now." "I'll take the money from Piglet, and I'll pay for the money he sent." Li Long took out twenty yuan and returned it. "I've collected some deer antlers in the mountains these past two days and made some money."

"Okay." Li Jianguo didn't argue. It would be ugly if this matter was argued over.

In the afternoon, Li Jianguo and his team went to the fields to weed. Li Long waited for Xie Yundong to come over, and then went to the captain's house.

Everyone had arrived, and Li Long saw Gu Boyuan, Tao Daqiang, Xu Jianjun, and others. He greeted them one by one.

"Xiao Long is here too, so let's not waste any more time." Xu Chengjun saw Li Long arrive, so he threw the cigarette with only the holder left on it onto the ground, stepped on it, and said:
"It was Li Long who helped us get the sideline job in the mountains this time. You are experts in organizing the team leaders. I won't say more, but I have emphasized the standards for being a leader. When you are in the mountains, you must listen to Xie Yundong. He is the team leader. If anyone disobeys, not only will he not be paid when he returns, but he will also be fined work points!"

Having said that, he looked at Li Long:

"Xiaolong, come and say a few words to everyone."

More than a dozen pairs of eyes were looking at Li Long. Li Long looked back one by one. He could see Gu Boyuan's encouragement, Tao Daqiang's respect, and the gratitude of others.

Of course, it’s not all like that. You can also see people who want to laugh at themselves - not everyone can speak complete sentences in front of everyone.

"Since the captain asked me to speak, I will say a few words." Li Long walked up to Xu Chengjun and said, "These 300 bearers are the task assigned to us by the supply and marketing cooperative. As the coordinator, I only care about one thing, the quality of the bearers.

Let's be mean first and then be gentleman. Let me be frank here. If the quality is not up to standard, not only will it not be able to be handed over to the supply and marketing cooperative, even mine will not pass. It will either be sent back for redoing or destroyed. Anyway, we cannot show unqualified products out to embarrass ourselves.

Of course, if you encounter any trouble in the mountains, I will also coordinate and solve it - the premise is that you don't take the initiative to cause trouble. Now the mountains are not like before. After the establishment of the forestry team, the mountains are divided into areas, and there are people from the forestry team who are responsible for managing the areas. Some things that could be done before can no longer be done.

So when you get to the mountains, you'd better concentrate on cutting the strips and weaving the handles. After all, you get one dollar for weaving one handle, and those of you with good skills can weave one, two, three a day, and you can make money faster than the workers.

After we finish talking about official business, we can talk about personal matters. When you enter the mountain, you can come to me if you have any difficulties. I will try my best to coordinate and solve them. Okay, that's all. Tomorrow I will enter the mountain before you. You can do your own things. I will come to you after I am done. "

After Li Long finished speaking, Xu Chengjun nodded approvingly and then said:
"Did you hear that? Behave yourself in the mountains and don't bring shame to our team! The mountains are not like before, and the letters of introduction from the team are no longer as useful. You must remember to look for Xiaolong if you have any troubles - but if you take the initiative to cause trouble, it's hard to say whether Xiaolong can help you. You must be more thoughtful in doing things, and don't learn from Tao Dayong and Gu Ermao!"

Xu Chengjun's words were very serious, and these people were all thinking about them.

After the group dispersed, Xu Chengjun kept Li Long and said:
"Xiaolong, I heard from Yundong that you are going to enter the mountain ahead of time?"

"Well, this time in the mountains I not only have the job of carrying the handle, but also other things."

"That's fine, but you still have to keep an eye on our team members as they go into the mountains. With the note from the supply and marketing cooperative, many things can be easily solved. I'm just afraid that these guys will forget what I just said after they go into the mountains and start digging for Fritillaria or something. It will be troublesome if they get caught."

"Well, I'll try my best." Li Long nodded and said, "I haven't seen anyone from the forestry team either. We'll see what happens. I think even if we catch them, the most they'll get is a fine and their belongings will be confiscated."

Li Long said it lightly, but Xu Chengjun smiled bitterly. Who has a lot of spare money these days? It seems that I have to give Xu Jianjun a good beating later! Among these people, he is the most difficult to manage.

But after all, he is my cousin, it is impossible for my family not to take care of him.

Li Long returned to the yard, and seeing that there was nothing to do, he rode his bike out of the village and headed for the county town. He still had time in the afternoon, so he planned to go to Shicheng Old Street to see if there was anyone selling grain. If there was, he would buy some and send it to the mountains tomorrow.

Li Long was riding while thinking, Yushanjiang brought people to build a winter nest for him, but he didn't show up at all, would they be angry?

No, I have to go over there tomorrow no matter what.

Li Long arrived at Shicheng Old Street while daydreaming. He found that there were not many stalls here, but there were a lot more people.

There were not only shops selling grain, but also more than one. Li Long went to take a look and found that the grain here was cheaper than that in the morning market in the county.

Rice is 65 cents, flour is 42 cents - the darker one is better, and cornmeal is 18 cents. These are the asking prices.

However, the food on several stalls was packed in half bags. Li Long guessed that this was probably because they were worried that someone would confiscate it. At least this way the loss would not be too great.

Thinking about how much he could carry tomorrow, Li Long found a stall with a decent amount of food and bought all the rice and flour there. After paying and tying up the food, Li Long rode his bike back.

When he returned to the gate of the compound, he found two uniformed staff members watching the area at the door of the police station diagonally opposite, and he felt a little relieved.

After entering the yard and closing the door, Li Long rested for a while and then began to rummage through the bags of grain.

He sorted the food he bought twice and put it into three bags, then tied the bags, planning to go into the mountains early the next morning after putting them away.

At this moment, the winter nest where Li Long was located had already started today's work. The mountain that served as the back wall had been cut out with a chopping block, the foundation had been smashed, and some wood had already started to go up.

When they use wood to build their winter nests, they don't just pile it up. Instead, they drill holes at the two ends and in the middle and insert wooden squares to ensure stability, similar to the simple mortise and tenon structure of the Central Plains.

Yesterday, Halimu distributed all the things Li Long brought to them, which made these young men and middle-aged people very happy. Most of them could not speak Chinese, so it was difficult for them to communicate and exchange things with people from outside. Now that they have these things, their family life can be improved a little, which is good in every way.

Some of the boys are already thinking about how to exchange more things before moving to the summer pasture and before other boys competing for the girls.

This is a rare opportunity. After all, Yushan Jiang introduced that Li Long is a real Adasi. It’s right to find him to exchange things!

Li Long didn't know that in the hearts of the young men, he had already become a person they could trust.

The next morning, Li Long did not cook. Instead, he went to the big meat canteen and had a good meal. Then he returned to the compound, loaded the food on the back seat of his bicycle, and rode up the mountain.

Although the bicycle could handle the more than 150 kilograms of stuff, the road up the mountain was not easy to travel. Li Long knew that this would be a difficult journey.

Thanks to the book friend Changyang Shao Nian for the reward, thank you to the book friend Tanbian Xian Ren for the reward, thank you to the book friend 20240523124618067 for the reward. This book friend, your reward is both whole and small. Did you take out all the coins? Thank you very much!
Thank you for your subscription, monthly ticket and recommendation ticket support. I would also like to say here that I can’t reply to all the comments one by one because I haven’t been writing so smoothly recently. I will explain some controversial points when I think it is necessary. I may not reply to some comments that I have not seen. Regarding the price issue, some people say that the price is unified across the country, after all, it is a planned economy, but I want to say that those who have experience should know what is bargaining grain, what is the policy from the top and the countermeasures from the bottom, and what is regional differences. It is impossible for such a large country to be completely unified.



(End of this chapter)