Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 227 Li Long's Golden Signboard Cannot Fall

After unloading the wooden poles, Li Long drove the carriage home. He and Li Qingxia took a rest and cut the meat and stewed it with Du Chunfang.

The wild boar meat is still quite fat at this time, better than during the Spring Festival, and it produces more oil when stewed, which looks very beautiful.

Li Long and Li Qingxia hurried back to the mountain. They unloaded the horse, Li Qingxia went to cut poles, and Li Long led the horse to the same ditch as yesterday.

There are trees on both sides of the ditch, pine and cypress trees on the south, and bushes and wild fruit trees on the north.

Li Long led the horse to a tree at the bottom of the ditch, tied it up, and first hit the area nearby with a branch to make sure there were no "spicy strips". Then he went to cut the poles with confidence.

When Liang Yuemei returned home, she smelled the aroma of meat in the yard and felt a little strange.

Li Juan and Li Qiang both came back. One of them was holding a bowl and eating braised meat, his mouth greasy.

When Li Juan saw her mother coming back, she immediately picked up a piece of meat with chopsticks and put it to Liang Yuemei's mouth:

"Mom, have some! My grandpa and his friends brought back some wild boar meat today. My grandma braised it. It's so delicious!"

"Okay, okay," Liang Yuemei couldn't resist and ate a piece. It was quite delicious.

"Mom, eat it!" Li Qiang saw his mother eating what his sister fed him, and immediately took a bigger piece of meat and stuffed it into Liang Yuemei's mouth: "It smells so good!"

"Hey!"

Liang Yuemei ate two pieces of meat, chewed them, took off the bundle of grass on her back, and asked Du Chunfang:

"Mom, are my dad and the others back?"

"I'm back with a half-boar of wild boar, and some heart, liver, and so on. The meat is ready to be stewed, but what shall I do with the entrails?"

"too much?"

"For two pigs." Du Chunfang was happy and worried. She was so worried that she didn't know what to do with the meat since she couldn't finish it. This was truly a happy worry.

I have lived to be sixty years old, but I never thought that this day would come.

"Then braise some, boil some. It's easier to store when it's cooked. We have two stoves at home, so we can use one to cook the meat and cook it every half a day. That way it can be stored longer. Another thing is to give it to someone." Liang Yuemei thought for a while and said, "Xiaoxia, we need to send some to Xiaolong's girlfriend's father, Daqiang..."

"Daqiang's house has meat. Your father and Xiaolong sent it over." Du Chunfang said hurriedly.

"Then give some to the neighbors. We can't let the stink spread to our home," said Liang Yuemei.

"Then tomorrow morning, don't go to work yet, send some to Juan and Qiangqiang's grandfather." Du Chunfang said, "We can't eat meat when there is nothing over there... Xiaolong has told me many times that his grandfather often sent things over the years. Now that we have it, we can't be greedy..."

"Yeah!" Liang Yuemei was very pleased and happy. Her mother-in-law could think of her own family, which made her feel that her mother-in-law really treated her as a family member.

The next morning, Li Juan and Li Qiang went to school, Du Chunfang was busy with the vegetable garden at home, and Liang Yuemei hurried to her parents' home with a pork leg and some pork belly.

Liang Wenyu was working in the fields, and Liang Donglou was sharpening his sickle in the yard. Seeing Liang Yuemei rushing back, he asked:
"Why are you back? Did something happen at home?"

"No, Juan's father, Xiaolong, and my father-in-law went up the mountain to cut shovel handles. Yesterday, they killed two wild boars and sent them down. I brought some meat here..."

"What kind of meat do you want? We have it all at home!" Liang Donglou said dissatisfiedly, "Did you bring it here yourself?"

"No, my mother-in-law asked me to send it over. She said that we have a lot of meat at home and I have been taking care of my family over the years, so she asked me to send some over..."

"My daughter, bring some meat over here. Look at your nose, it's not a nose and your eyes are not eyes!" Chen Xiuzhu walked out of the door and glared at Liang Donglou. "Why are you interrogating a criminal like this?"

"I'm not worried that she sent the meat here on her own. There's a whole family here, and that won't cause conflicts. She married into the Li family, so she has to think more about the Li family's affairs. You and I are not old, and Wenyu is an adult. It's not like she can't take care of herself, right?"

"That's right..." Chen Xiuzhu nodded, turned to Liang Yuemei and said, "Your father and I are fine, you just need to take care of your family. How are Juan and Qiangqiang?"

"Very good, half a head taller than kids of the same age, and very strong," Liang Yuemei said with a smile, "How can he not be good if he eats meat every day?"

"Okay, okay." Liang Donglou's expression softened. "Then Jianguo and the others are in the mountains, and the work in the fields depends on you. I won't keep you here, and ask your mother to pick some tomatoes for you to take back. We planted them early in the yard, and now some are ripe, just right for taking them back to cook."

"Okay." Liang Yuemei did not refuse and followed Chen Xiuzhu to pick vegetables.

In the vegetable garden, Liang Yuemei quietly stuffed ten yuan into Chen Xiuzhu's pocket and said:
"Mom, take it. It's useful if anything happens."

"No, you are the boss at home, you can't give me this money..."

"Mom, don't worry. We have a lot of money at home now. Xiaolong gives money to Jianguo from time to time. He buys everything for the house. There is no place to spend money at home..."

"That won't work either. Xiaolong is old enough to get married, so we need to save some money for him. His parents are in their hometown all year round, so Jianguo and you have to take care of this family thing..."

"Mom, don't worry about this. I know what's going on. Over the years, Dad and you have given us tens of thousands of dollars. Now that our family is rich, we have to pay you back some of it... This is also Jianguo's idea. Mom, don't worry, our family is really rich. Jianguo is now a professional pig farmer, and the commune even gave him a bicycle as a reward."

"...Okay, I'll take the money." Chen Xiuzhu nodded, "We'll be relieved if you guys are doing well."

Liang Yuemei brought a dozen tomatoes back to Li's house, and Chen Xiuzhu gave the ten yuan to Liang Donglou.

"What do you want his money for?" Liang Donglou had a bad temper and got angry again, "Her family is just getting better, and you're taking her money? Her parents-in-law are still here..."

"She said that Xiaolong often gives money to Jianguo now, and fishing makes money every day, so Yuemei doesn't have much money to spend. She said that this is the compensation we gave to his family over the years..."

"How could there be parents who would ask them for money?" Liang Donglou still felt that it was inappropriate.

"Wenyu is also going to talk about his partner, so we can't not prepare for it." Chen Xiuzhu whispered, "Wenyu is older now, and people his age in the team all have partners, and several of them are married...."

"Well... okay." Liang Donglou also knew this was the truth. In order to ensure that his married daughters would not live too badly, he often subsidized his two daughters. Both daughters' families were living well now, which made him very happy, but his own family was not so glorious.

At noon, Li Long cut a bundle of poles and returned to the wooden house. After putting the poles away, he started cooking.

In fact, the meal is quite simple now. The braised yellow sheep offal has not been eaten yet. Before leaving in the morning, Li Long made some dough and planned to steam some buns.

The dough had already risen, so Li Long took the wooden table directly to the spring to rinse it clean. After bringing it back, the scorching sun dried the table in a short while, then he sprinkled flour on it and began to knead the dough.

Having lived two lives, Li Long is pretty good at steaming steamed buns. He knows there is only one trick to making good steamed buns, and that is kneading!

Knead the dough well and knead it several times, then the steamed buns will be better.

Of course, it’s not the kind of “puffed steamed bun” that has enough baking powder in it. In the 1990s, when machine-steamed steamed buns first came out, this is what students ate while working to earn money for their studies. It was convenient, simple and cheap.

The students called it steamed buns - they looked pretty, but when you pinched them, they were just a small ball and not solid. Li Long's steamed buns were very solid.

Since I didn’t bring a steamer, I could only steam one layer in a pot, which was simpler.

While the steamed buns were being steamed on the stove, Li Long started frying the臊子 in the wok.

The braised meat is very dry and oily, but tasteless. Li Long would add spicy noodles, salt and other seasonings to the meat and then fry it. After the steamed buns are ready, the stewed meat can be eaten with the buns. It is extremely fragrant!

Li Long fried the臊子 so that it filled an entire enamel basin, which contained at least two or three kilograms of meat. If Li Jianguo saw this, he would definitely say that he was wasting money.

Li Long doesn't care. He is now doing physical work and goes out early and comes back late every day. How can he do that without replenishing his energy?
He also calculated that these 3,000 poles would fetch 1,500 yuan, which would be more than 300 yuan per person for four people. How much meat could that buy?
So now, no matter how much you eat, it’s never too much!

He calculated the time and saw that the steamed buns were almost done, so he turned off the heat and planned to wait a few more minutes before opening the pot.

This kind of steamed buns are steamed directly in a pot without using a steamer. Part of the bun skin that sticks to the edge of the pot will be roasted until it is golden brown, and the taste is very good.

Li Long thought he could treat himself to a steamed bun like this later.

No, two!

While he was thinking about good things, a man on horseback came running towards him from a distance.

Li Long was a little surprised when he looked at the familiar figure.

Harimu with a gun!
Why did he come here?
Halimu rode his horse over and stopped in front of Li Long's wooden house.

He jumped off his horse and excitedly held out his hand to Li Long:

"Dosen, it's okay!"

"Okay, okay!" Li Long shook his hand, pulled him in for a hug, and asked excitedly:

"Why are you here? Is there something wrong in the mountains?"

Halimu looked at the tired and dusty man and felt that something must have happened that made him rush all the way here.

Li Long remembered him saying that the summer ranch was several days away from here, and he must have suffered a lot.

Look at his horse, it's all sweaty.

"As for me, I do have an urgent matter." Halimu's face was full of smiles. He didn't expect to meet Li Long when he ran over. It was such a coincidence, so magical!

Halimu was very tanned, his skin looked rougher than before, and there were spots on his face, but for a man, this was nothing.

"Just tell me what you need, I will definitely handle it for you." Li Long said with a big heart.

"Batteries, buy lots of batteries!"

"What? Buy batteries?" Li Long didn't expect Halimu to say something that surprised him.

"Yes." Halim smiled, a little shyly, perhaps because he felt embarrassed that so many batteries were used up so quickly. "Not only in my house, all... all the radios are out of batteries. They are all out of power."

Li Long remembered that he brought a lot of batteries for them, how come it happened so quickly?

"It's quite humid there, and the battery will...break down quickly." Halimu tried to explain.

"Buy batteries later, find a box or something to wrap them up, and try not to let them get wet." Li Long said, "Then I'll go buy batteries for you."

"Well, the more the better." Halim untied a large bag from the horse's back, squatted down to untie it and said:

"Exchange these things for money to buy batteries."

"Don't worry, I have money here. Come, have a drink of water." Li Long said, "Would you like to eat something?"

"I brought some naan with me." Halim waved his hand, "I just ate it on the road."

Well, I forgot that this is a nation on horseback, and it is very normal for them to eat while traveling on horseback.

However, when Halimu opened the bag and took out something, Li Long was still shocked!
A piece of leather with black and white patterns.

Snow leopard skin!
"This snow leopard ran into the pen at night to steal sheep. When we chased it, it didn't run away, so we shot it to death." Halimu explained, "The skin should be worth some money."

It's worth more than just some money. Even though Li Long never asked, he knew that this thing was extremely valuable!
"There are also some jades." Halimu said, "There are jade mines on the summer pasture, which were left over from a long time ago. These jades look very beautiful, but they are from the mountains, not the river. I don't know if they are valuable..."

Li Long looked at the seven or eight bowl-sized pieces of jade and found that at least four of them had black spots on the jade that were invisible to the naked eye.

Although it is mountain material, the delicate jade flesh is no worse than the few pieces of seed material sold before!

It’s good stuff too!
"Oh, there are also snow lotus flowers. I saw them when I was grazing, so I picked some and brought them back." Halimu took out six snow lotus flowers.

Li Long took it and felt the coolness in his hands. A faint fragrance wafted into his nose. This snow lotus was cut from the flower stalk, not all the way out. Li Long knew that Halimu was an expert.

"That's all. The rest are some naan." Halimu said with a smile, "How many batteries can you get from these things?"

"You can get as many as you want." Li Long thought, this is a joke! This snow leopard skin must be sold for several hundred yuan! That box of ten batteries is only five or six yuan, a hundred boxes?
"No, no, no, Li Long, I don't want that many. Twenty boxes will be enough." Halimu said with a smile, "We will definitely preserve them well this time."

"So are you going to rest here or go back to your winter home? Someone has moved your place. I cleaned it up briefly and blocked the door with a stick. I don't know if anyone else came in..."

"I've been there, and the door was still held up with a stick. I guess it was you who did it!" Halimu said with a smile.

At this time, Li Qingxia and Li Jianguo came back carrying the poles, and soon Tao Daqiang also came back.

They were a little surprised to see Halimu, but after Li Long introduced him, Li Jianguo and Li Qingxia became very enthusiastic.

"Even if you don't eat meat, you can eat steamed buns, right?" Li Qingxia heard from Li Long that the first money he earned was from the deer antlers from Halimu, so he was very friendly to this Kazakh man.

Harimu was a little uncomfortable with it.

Fortunately, Li Long quickly helped him out, let him eat, and go to the winter nest to rest.

Li Long rode his bicycle back to the county to buy batteries.

(End of this chapter)