Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 163 Looking after Gu Xiaoxia: Feeling more and more like home

Tao Daqiang was carrying a roe deer in front, and Li Long was holding two roe deer antlers in the back. It took only half an hour, and it was really a bit magical.

Looking at the big guy and the thing in Li Long's hand, many people became eager.

Some of them have been to the sideline team and know how valuable this thing is.

If you can really get one, even if it's not velvet antler but deer horn, it would still cost dozens of dollars!

It’s like a month’s work!
"Daqiang, where did you get this?" someone asked immediately.

"It must have been Xiaolong who shot it." Another person said, "Right, Daqiang? Xiaolong, your shooting skills are pretty good! Was it a small-caliber gun? Awesome!"

"It's in the ditch ahead..." Tao Daqiang was still honest. He pointed behind him and said, "I saw it when I was cutting the strips. I just told Brother Long about it. I didn't expect Brother Long to hit it when he went there... Hehe..."

Daqiang's silly smile made others feel that he was really lucky. If it were them, they would definitely be able to do it, maybe even better!
"Xiaolong, that's a deer antler in your hand? It looks like it's bleeding..."

"Is this roe deer? Roe deer also have antlers? This is the first time I've seen it!"

Gu Boyuan was washing vegetables and preparing to cook. When he saw Li Long holding a pair of deer antlers, he immediately asked:
"Xiaolong, did you just cut this? Do you know what to do with it?"

"Dry it in the shade?" Li Long was a little uncertain.

"At this temperature, it will rot before you dry it in the shade." Gu Boyuan had an expression that said "I knew you would say that" and pointed to the salt jar next to him and said:

"Clean the surface, take salt, mix with some mud, and then paste it on the outside of the antler, wrap it tightly, and put it in a cool and dry room until it is completely dry. In fact, you can also dry it in the oven, but I don't know the temperature."

Li Long immediately understood that this should be the old way of processing deer antlers. He thanked Gu Boyuan honestly, took salt from the jar next to the stove, and went to the stream to mix mud.

After wrapping the two roe deer antlers and putting them aside, Li Long took out a knife and began to skin the roe deer.

"That's great, Xiaolong. You peeled the skin so easily!"

"That's right. Xiaolong must have hunted a lot of good things in the past six months. His skinning skills must have improved."

Some people burned strips of wood and started to weave handles, while others came to Li Long and watched him skin the roe deer.

Li Long didn't respond to them much. He just opened the body, dragged the internal organs out of the water and handed them to Tao Daqiang. Tao Daqiang asked Gu Boyuan for a large basin and took the internal organs to wash them.

"Xiaolong, what are you going to do with these internal organs? Take them away?" someone asked.

"No, I want the stomach, you can keep the rest." Li Long said, "Da Qiang found this thing, these internal organs belong to him, and I have to take one leg back to his father."

Li Long had saved wild boar meat for the sideline team, and today he sent wolf meat, so he left the roe deer offal to Tao Daqiang as a favor.

This stuff can't be kept for too long, and everyone is working together, so Li Long doesn't mind sharing some of it.

After all, they are working and Li Long is going to get a cut of the money.

Everyone must have guessed about this, but no one would say that Li Long was wrong. Without Li Long, they would not even be qualified to earn this money.

Li Long peeled the skin off the roe deer. At this time, Xu Jianjun came over and asked:

"Do you want the roe deer's gun and eggs? If not, give them to me."

"Yes." Li Long replied with just one word, without even looking at him, and continued peeling the skin.

Xu Jianjun blushed, while the others had very expressive expressions but didn't say much.

After peeling the skin, Li Long wrapped the whole roe deer with skin again. Gu Boyuan came over and said:
"Xiaolong, eat before you leave. The food will be ready soon."

"No, Uncle Gu," Li Long used to follow Li Jianguo and called Gu Boyuan brother, but now he changed his name unconsciously, "I have to take the meat and shreds back quickly, otherwise it will go bad and the loss will be huge."

"Okay." Gu Boyuan stopped trying to persuade him. This valuable thing was more important. He held up a bag of mushrooms and said:
"These are the wild mushrooms I picked this morning. You can keep some and give the rest to Xiaoxia."

"Okay." Li Long didn't say anything polite. They were all family, and it would be awkward if he said too much.

Tao Daqiang had already cleaned the belly and brought it to Li Long. Li Long stuffed the belly into the roe deer's stomach, then carried it to the back seat of the bicycle. After tying it up with the help of Tao Daqiang, he said hello to Xie Yundong:

"Brother Yundong, I'm leaving first. I'll come back tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Is there anything you need to bring?"

"Nothing, nothing." Xie Yundong waved his hand, "I've only been here for two days, there's nothing to bring."

"Okay, I'll go check on each family when I get back, and I'll bring back any messages I have."

Li Long got on his bicycle, carrying his gun, and headed out of the ditch.

Xu Jianjun watched him ride away, then shook his head and said:
"It's no use for you to have that gun at such a young age."

"Will it be useful if you want it? Then does that mean you are no good?" Someone who couldn't stand him said half-jokingly.

Tao Daqiang didn't get involved in these people's gossip and went to help Gu Boyuan.

Xu Jianjun didn't want to let him go, and asked loudly:

"Da Qiang, you found this roe deer. Xiao Long said he would leave one leg for you to take home. The velvet is the most valuable. Did he take it all?"

"The roe deer were hunted by Xiaolong. Without Xiaolong, Daqiang would just be staring blankly, right? Besides, didn't Xiaolong say that we would leave the offal here and give the other one back to his home..."

Xie Yundong was dissatisfied with Xu Jianjun's provocation and said loudly:

"Xiaolong, what you did is already very kind and righteous. Think about it, if someone tells you where there is something and asks you to go get it, what would you give to them after you're done?"

"Yes, yes!" Others put themselves in the other's shoes and think about it. If they hit the prey, would they push the prey into the water and give it a leg in return?
"No way, one leg is enough."

Tao Daqiang turned his head and said:
"Brother Long gave me a piece of antlers and said that my family owed him money, so he just wiped it out... I can't afford it. He gave me too much."

"Did you hear that?" Xie Yundong turned his head to look at Xu Jianjun, then looked at the others, "Xiaolong is a kind and righteous person, let's stop talking about him behind his back. When you find something, you can actually ask Xiaolong to help you. You may not be able to get it yourself, but at least you can get a lot of things from Xiaolong."

He thought that if he found something, he would definitely look for Li Long to fight.

He has been working with the sideline team for several years and has seen many people who boast big words but become more cowardly than the other when real problems arise.

He also believed that among these people, at least half of them would take it for themselves if they found something, and keeping it all for themselves was in line with the personality of most people.

"Why is deer antler so expensive?" someone exclaimed, "How many tens of dollars for one antler?"

"It depends on the size." Gu Boyuan said while washing vegetables over there, "Deer antlers are sold by weight in tens or hundreds of grams. If it's sold by kilograms, one kilogram will cost at least a hundred yuan, of course it's dry." "That's not cheap!" The person asking the question didn't know the price of deer antlers. It was his first time to come to the sideline team, and it was his words that brought the matter to a head, "The money from selling a pair of roe deer antlers is not enough to make in a year!"

This is the voice of everyone.

Gu Boyuan smiled, Xie Yundong also smiled, and Tao Daqiang simply lowered his head and worked without saying a word.

Who is stupider?
Li Long rode his bicycle and headed to the county. When he arrived at the compound, he put the pair of antlers into the wing room, cut a wolf leg and a roe deer leg in the yard, tied them up, locked the door, went out to the east, and came to Liang Yuemei's mother's house.

It is noon now, and every household has already had lunch and is taking a rest.

Li Long's bicycle entered the yard, and Liang Wenyu got up. Liang Donglou closed his eyes to rest, and he heard the noise outside.

"Wenyu, I just came back from the mountains. This one is a wolf leg, and this one is a roe deer leg. I just caught them today. You can keep them for yourself, and I'll take the rest back."

"You just came back?" Liang Wenyu just realized that Li Long was exhausted. "Come in and have some water."

Liang Wenyu really felt the change in Li Long. He was sure that Li Long's coming to deliver the meat was definitely not because of his sister's request, but was Li Long's own idea.

Liang Wenyu used to be a little confused about why his father always took the initiative to help the Li family, but now he understands a little bit.

Firstly, the Li family is a relative, their brother-in-law’s family; secondly, the Li family knows how to be grateful.

"No, I have to go back and process the meat. Although it's not too hot today, the meat can't be kept for too long."

The Li family has no shortage of meat, but they will not waste meat.

"Xiaolong, thank you for your hard work." Liang Donglou walked out of the room and said, "Come and sit down when you are free. You can do your own thing first."

"Okay, Uncle Liang, I'll go first." Li Long said hello, rode his bike out of the yard, and left in a flash.

Although he could go directly back to the team from here, Li Long still turned a corner and made a circle to come to Hongqi Township Middle School.

At this time, the students had already started their afternoon classes. When Li Long arrived at the female teachers' dormitory, he found that Gu Xiaoxia was not there.

Did she go to class?
Just when Li Long was about to go to the classroom to look for her, he saw Gu Xiaoxia walking towards him from the office.

"You're here? From the mountains? You haven't gone home yet?" Seeing how Li Long was dressed, Gu Xiaoxia understood, "Come, go to my dormitory and take a shower."

"No, I brought you something." Li Long pushed his bicycle to the dormitory door, parked it, took out his knife and asked:

"Would you like to eat wolf meat?"

"I don't want to eat." Gu Xiaoxia waved her hands quickly.

"Then I'll leave you some roe deer meat." Li Long cut off a large piece of roe deer, about three to five kilograms, and put it on the chopping board in Gu Xiaoxia's dormitory. "You can fry this meat in the evening or at noon. If you can't finish it, give some to your colleagues or make it into bacon."

Then he took the cloth bag that Gu Boyuan had given him from the bicycle and said:
"These are the mushrooms that Uncle Gu picked on the mountain and asked me to bring down for you. He is in good spirits on the mountain, so you don't have to worry."

"Okay. Come here. I've got some water for you. Wash yourself." Gu Xiaoxia had already filled the wash basin with water, and brought a towel and soap. "You're covered in dust."

As she said this, she naturally took her towel and brushed the dust off Li Long's body - this made Li Long stunned for a moment.

It seems like there are some movie clips in my mind, where the wife helps her husband do this after he comes back from work. This scene is so familiar.

He was stunned for a moment, and then he just started washing his face in the washbasin - to be honest, he didn't feel it in the mountains, but when he started washing his face seriously, he found that the dust on his face could be rubbed into pills.

After just a simple wash, the water in the basin had already turned gray. Gu Xiaoxia smiled and picked up the basin to change the water. While handing him the soap, she asked:
“Is it hard in the mountains?”

"Not bad." Li Long didn't act pretentiously. He washed carefully, wiped with a towel, picked up the water in the washbasin, walked a few steps outside and poured it on the ground, then put the washbasin on the shelf and said to Gu Xiaoxia:
"My friend in the mountains built me ​​a winter nest, which is just like a wooden villa. I'll take you there to have a look when I have time. There are wild mushrooms in the mountains now, and there are a lot of wild vegetables and other things. The scenery is also beautiful, so it's suitable for a trip."

"Then I'll go take a look when I have time?" Gu Xiaoxia showed a longing expression, "I haven't been out of the county yet."

"It's not out of the county, but the scenery there is different from here." Li Long just said this casually, but he didn't expect Gu Xiaoxia to be really interested. He was also moved, "Then wait for which Sunday, and I'll take you to see your father?"

"Okay!" Gu Xiaoxia nodded repeatedly, "Then I'll prepare well in the next few days! How about next week? I have nothing to do next Sunday..."

"Sure." Li Long said with a smile, "Anyway, my schedule is flexible, it's up to you."

"It's settled then!" Gu Xiaoxia looked at Li Long seriously.

"Okay." Li Long walked over to the bicycle and said, "You take care of the meat. I have to take the rest back to clean it up. I'll come find you when the time comes."

"it is good."

Gu Xiaoxia watched Li Long leave. After she could no longer see him, she went into the dormitory and started packing up the meat and mushrooms.

The wild mushrooms were processed one by one, and the soil on the stems was scraped off, making them look very clean, even and beautiful.

The meat was cut from a fat place, with bones and meat, and it was a big piece. If it wasn't bad, this piece would be enough for me to eat for a week or two.

While cutting the meat, Gu Xiaoxia began to think about what to bring for her father.

She also wondered if Li Long would think the pair of shoes she made for him was ugly when he returned home and saw it.

Li Long rode very fast and arrived at the village in more than ten minutes. He first went to Tao's house, but seeing that Tao Jianshe was not there, he rode back to Li's house.

There were not many students on the road. Some were in preschool, some were in elementary school. Li Juan and her classmates had not finished school yet. The adults were working in the fields. Li Long returned to the yard and found the door was locked. He found the key at the window, opened the door, and then began to process the meat.

This was the hottest time of the day. Although Li Long had eaten two pieces of mutton in the morning, he felt hungry after such a long time.

But when flies came over, he knew he had to deal with the meat as soon as possible, otherwise the flies would lay maggots on it. Although the meat was still edible, it would be very disgusting.

While swatting away flies, I peeled off the last bit of skin from the roe deer, then removed the remaining three legs and cut up the meat. When the roe deer and wolf meat were finished, the sun was already setting.

He had marinated most of the meat, and the rest had been cleaned and was ready to be braised. There was also a leg that would be sent to the Tao family later.

Finally he could take a break, and it was at this moment that Li Long felt that he was really exhausted.

The kind that you can fall asleep by just squinting your eyes.

From now on, I won’t rush like this anymore.

It’s too frustrating.

(End of this chapter)