Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 171 Turning information gap into money - a blessing in disguise
Li Long put down the bicycle he was about to push away and came to the entrance of the ditch.

The people from the sideline team had just finished their meal, and as they were clearing away their dishes, their eyes were still looking over here.

Xie Yundong originally wanted to come along, and Tao Daqiang also wanted to come along, but Li Long waved his hand to indicate that it was not necessary.

He actually vaguely guessed the other party's intention.

The two men were riding horses, and when they saw Li Long coming, they dismounted.

"You said you could collect Fritillaria, is that true?" the ethnic minority man who was in charge of translation asked Li Long.

Li Long thought of one thing. These two herdsmen, including the other people he had seen in the dugout before, were not carrying guns.

The forestry team no longer provides guns?

"Collect them." Li Long was secretly surprised when he saw the urea bags on their horses.

The bag is bulging, it must be filled with a lot!
"Do you have a scale here?" the man asked, "We have some Fritillaria here and want to sell them to you. What do you think..."

"Of course I will. First, I have to look at the goods. After all, different sizes mean different prices. Second, because my people dug up your mother-of-pearl, I offered a higher price. Some of it was a fine for you. If I buy it now, the price won't be that high."

The person who was translating spoke to the other person.

The team leader's face changed when he heard this and he asked a question, which the translator said:

"How much are you offering? We won't sell it for less."

"Let's check on Fritillaria first."

Li Long pointed to the bag on the horse's back to express his meaning.

He turned his head and found several people from the sideline team staring at this side. Knowing that they were worried about him, he smiled and indicated that it was okay.

Two people from the forestry team untied the bags on the horses' backs, opened them and motioned Li Long to come over and have a look.

Li Long took a look and found that most of the Fritillaria here were about the same size as the ones dug by Xu Jianjun, but some were smaller, half the size of a broad bean. Also, the Fritillaria here were not very clean, with a lot of mud on them, most likely they were dug in the morning or in a relatively wet place.

Li Long grabbed the mouth of his pocket and shook it. Seeing that it was almost the same, he looked up and said to the man:
"Three yuan a kilogram, how about that?"

The translator was obviously relieved after hearing the price. He didn't even translate it for the team leader. He nodded and said:

"Okay, this price is fine!"

Li Long weighed the bag and said:
"This bag, is it ten kilograms?"

Because the Fritillaria was wet, the urea bag was half filled, and Li Long felt that this was the amount.

"How much are you willing to pay?" The translator actually didn't know how much was in the bag. Who would bring a scale into the mountains these days? It was basically just an estimate.

"Thirty yuan." Li Long put down the bag and said, "I don't have a scale, so I'll just calculate it this way."

"Okay." The translator turned and told the team leader. The team leader nodded vigorously, and the translator agreed.

Li Long took out money. He still had more than fifty yuan in his pocket. He took out three Great Unity notes and handed them to the other party.

The translator quickly reached out to take the money, and the team leader reached out to take it from the side.

Li Long pointed to the ground and said:

"I will be here every day from now on. If you have any, I will collect them."

"Do you still have money?"

"If you have Fritillaria, then I have money." Li Long smiled, "I can definitely take it."

"You'll take any amount?" The translator's voice suddenly became louder. "You'll take any amount?"

"Of course I can." Li Long thought, of course he would accept it. The difference between the two prices would make much more money than carrying the bag!
He seemed to remember Chen Hongjun saying that the purchase station bought dried Fritillaria for 35 yuan per kilogram. In spring, Fritillaria was sold at 5 to 6 kilograms per kilogram after drying, and in early summer, at 4 to 5 kilograms per kilogram after drying.

All in all, fresh Fritillaria costs about five or six yuan per kilogram. The bag of Fritillaria that Li Long is holding now can produce about two kilograms of dried goods, so the price will definitely be sixty or seventy yuan.

Double the profit just by talking, how cool!
He knew very well that the Fritillaria of these forestry team members should have been obtained from people like Xu Jianjun who stole Fritillaria. There was no profit in the deal, so both parties were happy.

The two men left, and Li Long came to the bicycle with the bag in his hand, tied the bag to the back seat of the bicycle, and said to Xie Yundong:
"Brother Yundong, please be careful at night. There are a lot of people coming to the mountains recently, and it's a bit chaotic."

"The same goes for you." Xie Yundong also reminded him.

"Don't worry, I have a gun." Li Long patted the small-caliber rifle on his back, then rode his bicycle to the winter den.

When he returned to the winter den, it was almost dark. He pushed his bicycle into the small room and locked the door. Then he went into the big house, closed the door from the inside, and lay down on the wooden kang.

There were a lot of things going on that day, and Li Long couldn't fall asleep for a while, reviewing the day's activities.

Ili Fritillaria or Tianshan Fritillaria is also considered a relatively famous medicinal material in the region. Li Long speculated that many people would go into the mountains to steal Fritillaria in the near future, and this situation would continue until the 1920s.

Every year, Li Long hears from the news that the police or forestry department have caught people stealing Fritillaria in the mountains, and the amount of Fritillaria seized is measured in dozens of kilograms.

Since the forestry team will help with the collection, Li Long feels that he needs to go down the mountain to get some money tomorrow.

Although both rooms here are locked, Li Long will not leave valuables here, such as guns, money, or jade. He basically takes them down the mountain after receiving them.

The next morning, Li Long had a simple breakfast here. After packing up, he put all the Fritillaria into a bag, clipped it on the back seat of the car, and rode to Halimu.

"Li Long, we will move to the summer pasture in two days. We are saying goodbye to you in advance." Halimu said to Li Long after seeing him, "See you in autumn!"

"Okay, I'll come and see you off the day after tomorrow." Li Long nodded and said, "Do you need me to bring anything from the bottom of the mountain?"

"No need," Halimu waved his hand hastily, pointing to the winter den, "You know what? Because of you, we have stored a lot more food and tools. We will have a great summer! Those Dosen said the sickle is very good. They will bring some things over in the next two days. When you come over tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, take the things away."

"Okay." Li Long didn't hesitate. After saying goodbye to Halimu and the others, he rode his bike back to the county town.

He weighed the Fritillaria first and found that the two bags together weighed less than 14 kilograms, so the weight he weighed was basically the same. Feeling a little proud, he dried the Fritillaria in the side room of the courtyard and put the other jades, leathers, etc. in a spare room. After that, he went to see the antlers of roe deer and found that the salt mud had completely dried. After carefully knocking it open, the antler inside was also dry, so he took the two pieces of antler to the purchasing station.

"Hello, Comrade Chen. I'm here to sell roe deer antlers." Li Long saw Chen Hongjun sitting behind the counter reading a book, so he took the initiative to greet him.

"Roe deer antlers? They are rare. Bring them here for us to see." Chen Hongjun saw that it was Li Long and said with a smile, "Comrade Li, you always bring me surprises."

Li Long placed two pieces of antler on the counter. Chen Hongjun picked up one piece, smelled it, and looked at it carefully.

"Yes, this velvet antler is well preserved." Chen Hongjun praised after reading it. "Yesterday, someone brought a piece of red deer antler to me, but it was not well preserved. When I touched it lightly, the outer skin rotted away. It was obviously not well preserved. Your piece is very good."

"Use the old folk method." Li Long said with a smile, "Look at these two paragraphs..."

"The antlers of roe deer are not as good as those of red deer, but they are not cheap either. The price of red deer antlers has increased now, 16 yuan per 100 grams, while roe deer antlers are 14.5 yuan."

"Okay." Li Long naturally had no objection, so Chen Hongjun put the two sections on the scale and weighed them.

"The two pieces weigh one kilogram and one hundred and fifty grams, which is one hundred and sixty-six dollars and seventy-five cents. Here, I'll issue the receipt and you can sign it."

After collecting the money, Li Long was about to leave, and Chen Hongjun said to him:
"Now that spring is almost over, the good things in the mountains are slowly coming out. Bring whatever you can get. We will collect them in bulk during this period, and the prices will be good."

"That's great. I've collected some Fritillaria and will send them to you after they're dried." Li Long said with a smile, "There are also a few skins. We'll bring them together then."

"Okay, I'll wait for your news." Chen Hongjun smiled and watched Li Long leave from behind the counter.

Li Long took the money and went to Xinhua Bookstore to buy a box of small-caliber bullets. After packing them, he went to the big meat canteen and had a delicious bowl of mixed noodles.

When Manager Zhong Guoqiang saw Li Long, he smiled and asked:
"Comrade Xiao Li, I haven't seen you recently. What are you busy with?"

"I've been in the mountains recently," Li Long said as he peeled garlic. "Manager Zhong, I see a lot of people are eating here, much more than before."

"Haha, the weather is getting hotter now, so more people are looking for work and doing small business. When will you go fishing again? An old customer of mine said that the fish nowadays is not as delicious as before. The fish you sent me back then was pretty good."

"It will take more than half a month." Li Long shook his head and said, "I am in the mountains to carry out the purchasing tasks of the supply and marketing cooperative. I can't stay in the mountains for long until I finish it."

"I understand." Zhong Guoqiang nodded. "Then when you come back and have time to catch fish, bring me a few big carps."

"Good good."

After eating the noodles, Li Long returned to the compound, found two sacks and a shovel, filled them with some corn, inflated his bicycle, and rode up the mountain.

There was still smoke floating in Xiaobaiyanggou. Li Long found Wei Zhonghua and said to him:
"I plan to dig a pit at the place where you found the wild boar. When I catch the wild boar, I will give you some meat."

"Okay, okay." Wei Zhonghua nodded immediately, "Do you want me to go over and dig?"

"No need." Li Long waved his hand. "Just make up your story and I'll try to see if it works."

In fact, if there were no bushes in that area, Li Long would have thought about setting a trap there.

He took the shovel and went to the ditch. The other people in the weaving group all looked at him with envy. He could do whatever he wanted. What a carefree life!
Li Long arrived at the ditch and took a careful look. He was surprised to find some new digging marks, which meant that the wild boar must have come again early this morning.

Li Long found a suitable place and started digging.

He didn't dig a big hole this time, just two meters square and one meter twenty or three meters deep - it took him more than three hours to dig this hole, and he regretted it by the end.

But since we've started digging, we'll just have to grit our teeth and dig to the bottom.

After digging, Li Long rested for a while, spread the excavated soil, then went to the nearby woods to cut some poplar branches and laid them on the pit, and then cut some grass for camouflage.

By the time he finished all this, the sun had set and the mountain breeze had grown cooler. He hurriedly scattered the corn kernels he had brought around the pit, and finally sprinkled the most on the grass above the pit.

Since it was just an experiment, Li Long just wanted to try his luck. After finishing all this, he hurried back.

Li Long did not stop when passing by Xiaobaiyanggou and Harimudongwozi, and rushed all the way to his wooden cabin. When he arrived at the cabin, it was completely dark.

Li Long was so exhausted that he didn't have the energy to cook, so he simply locked the door and went to sleep. Fortunately, he had had mixed noodles for lunch, which was enough to stave off hunger, otherwise he would have woken up hungry that night.

The next morning, Li Long got up, made a fire and cooked porridge for himself. After eating, he went to Halimu first.

"The boys brought you some skins, some stones, and a piece of deer antler." Halim pointed to the things placed in front of the winter nest, "Take them quickly, we will leave tomorrow."

"I'll come over to get it this afternoon. Now I have to go to Xiaobaiyanggou to check on the working conditions of my people."

"Okay, just remember to take it." Halimu was also busy and had no time to greet Li Long.

Li Long rode his bicycle to Xiaobaiyanggou. When Xie Yundong saw him, he said to him:

"The two people from that day came again last night. They didn't find you, so they said if you are free today, you can wait for them in the evening."

"Okay." Li Long knew that they must have gotten the Fritillaria again.

This is a lot of stuff!
Li Long rode his bicycle and carried a sack to the place where the pit was dug. He was disappointed to find that there was no movement on the pit. The grass and leaves had dried up, and some of the pit was exposed.

Li Long then got some grass and leaves to cover the exposed areas, and then dug some soil and put it loosely on top.

Rushing back to Xiaobaiyanggou, Li Long said to Wei Zhonghua, who was looking expectant:

"No, the boar didn't come by this morning."

Wei Zhonghua was a little disappointed, but Li Long comforted him:

"That's normal. Wild boars are very mobile, and there's a lot of food out there right now, so they won't stay in one place all the time."

It was not until the afternoon that Li Long finally saw the two horseback riders from the forestry team.

Seeing Li Long, they were obviously relieved. After getting off the horse, the translator said to Li Long:
"Yesterday, you were away, and we had a lot of Fritillaria. Today, some were handed in, and you can see the rest..."

Li Long had actually seen that the urea bags on their horses were still quite bulging, but it seemed that there were not as many as on that day.

(End of this chapter)