Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The car started, Li Long sat in the window seat, he watched the changing scenery outside the window.

After a row of low bungalows, there is a poplar forest, and behind the poplar forest is a large tract of farmland.

Anyone who has seen "Ode to the Poplars" should know that the poplars, or what the locals call the sky-piercing poplars, grow straight and form a patch of them, which is good for blocking wind and sand. So here, there are usually several rows of poplars planted on the roadside and the edge of the field. Under the poplar forests grow bitter beans, which are green.

Occasionally, you can see one or two low bungalows on the roadside, with words like "add water", "change tire" or "hotel" written in white lime on them.

Logically speaking, these are all illegal buildings, because private houses were not allowed to be built on the roadside in the beginning. It’s just that these people make a living here, which is convenient for long-distance drivers, and there is no special management agency at that time, so these people are allowed to survive.

Over time, these roadside buildings became more and more numerous and even became large-scale, gathering at some important points. These became fixed places for drivers to rest. Later, more restaurants, bathhouses, repair shops, etc. were added.

If the construction time is long enough, the illegal building will become a legal building. Li Long remembered that someone in Liang Wenyu's village had opened a small restaurant on this road, and later when the 312 road was expanded, they were given a lot of demolition compensation.

Cars from the county seat to Wucheng usually do not stop on the way because it is only a little over 100 kilometers. But what puzzled Li Long was that this time, when the car was about to reach Hu County, it turned to the side of the road and stopped.

"Get off the bus and relieve yourself. Take a rest. There are people selling things on the roadside. You can buy some."

The driver shouted at the front of the car and then got out.

Li Long looked outside the car and saw that there were actually a few people selling things.

Tea eggs, boiled water, and people selling watermelons and melons.

He vaguely remembered that peaches were still sold here a few decades later.

Li Long did not get off the bus. He had eaten breakfast and carried a military water bottle in his bag, which contained green bean water to cool him down. He drank it from time to time and it would be finished by the time he reached Wucheng, so it would not stink in the water bottle.

Most of the passengers got off the bus. The road runs east-west, and it's hot now, so the seats on the south side are too hot. Li Long sat on the north side, so it didn't affect him.

After about ten minutes, the passengers got on the bus, and the driver arrived two minutes later, started the car, looked at the people, and then drove away.

It took more than two hours for the car to reach Wucheng. The road conditions were not very good at that time. Li Long got off the car and hurriedly took the bus to the jade factory.

The jade factory was still working at this time. Li Long handed a cigarette to the guard and asked:

"Hello, comrade. I would like to ask if I can buy jade articles here?"

"You can't buy big items. Everything from the factory is sent to the store. Over there, there's a small door by the side door. You can buy some small items there... but they're not cheap."

"Okay, thank you, comrade." Li Long only wanted to buy small items, as he couldn't afford big ones.

Li Long came to the side door with his backpack on his back. He first smelled the fragrance of rice. He saw that the side door was open and there was a window next to it. Inside the window was a glass cabinet with jade pieces randomly placed in the cabinet.

There are jade bracelets, jade Buddhas, hand-held pieces, rings, thumb rings and so on.

Depending on the quality of the jade, there are also mutton-fat white jade, jasper, black jade and even jadeite.

"Young man? Do you want to buy jade?" a hoarse voice asked from inside.

Li Long poked his head in and saw a man in his fifties or sixties holding a spatula and poking his head out from the inner room to ask.

His hair was gray and messy, and he hadn't shaved for a long time. He wore black-framed glasses and his shirt had several patches on it.

Li Long noticed that his right index finger holding the spatula was missing a section, and he didn't know what caused the injury.

"Well, I heard that jade is sold here, so I came to take a look."

"Look, these are actually made by apprentices. They are certainly not waste and can be used, but the carving is just so-so. Of course, the advantage is that they are cheap."

This person spoke very honestly, and Li Long immediately developed a good impression of him.

"Is there jade in here?" Li Long couldn't help but ask. Neither the northern Xinjiang nor the southern Xinjiang produces this.

"Well, there are a few pieces, but not many. We are a jade factory. Jadeite is also jade, but it is harder and not easy to carve. Of course, it is not a good material either—"

Be nice.

Although Li Long is not an expert, he knows that among the jadeite pieces in the glass counter, one of the peace lockets that caught his eye was at least icy type, and had a strong green color. There was also a pair of earrings, which, although not yet icy type, were quite green.

There is a bracelet, the ring is a bit small, but it looks very beautiful.

"What are the prices of these things?" Li Long looked at the jade pieces again. To be honest, he couldn't see anything wrong with the carving.

"Which one do you want?" The man took out the food from the pot and placed it on the small table against the wall. Then he walked to the glass counter and asked, "If you like any of them, I'll tell you."

"Give me all these jadeite pieces." Li Long said, "I want them all."

"What?" The man was a little unconvinced. "You want both? Even if it's an apprenticeship, the price is already there. With so much money, you might as well just go to a big store and buy a good one."

Li Long thought to himself, I don’t understand, I just own it, and to me, they all look pretty much the same.

He asked:

"What's the difference between an apprentice and a master worker?"

"What's the difference? It's a huge difference! Do you see this Buddha?" The man took it out of the glass cabinet and showed it to Li Long. He didn't follow the rule of "jade is not allowed in the hands" and put it in Li Long's hand and pointed at him:
"See? This Buddha has all the features, right?"

"Yeah." Li Longxin said that it was indeed true, it had a nose, eyes, mouth and everything.

"But you see, it's dry and lifeless. Doesn't it lack that kind of spirituality?"

"This..." Li Long could feel a little, but not much.

"Take a look at this." The man casually pulled out a small jade Buddha from his pocket, "Compare it."

Li Long could tell the difference when he compared the two Buddhas together.

This is really different. The things carved by the apprentices are really dull, they have everything they should have, but they lack that little bit of spirit.

The jade Buddha the man took out was Maitreya, and it looked really auspicious. But the jade Buddha made of emerald green didn't seem to have much respect for you.

He suddenly thought of the ancient wooden carvings of Bodhisattvas and Heavenly Kings that he had seen in Jinzhong in his previous life. Each one of them really looked like the "images" described in novels.

Many machine sculptures made by modern young men and women on short video platforms look lifelike at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they lack that kind of spirituality and feel like they are just decorations.

"I see, this one is really good!" Li Long pointed at the jade sculpture at the back, "It can be called a masterpiece!"

"Young man, you have good taste!" The man laughed, "Why did you buy so many?"

"Buy it." Li Long's words startled the man, "Why don't you listen to my advice?"

"I can't afford a few master craftsmen, can I?" Li Long laughed. "I need to buy some for my parents, my brother and his wife, my nephews and nieces, my partner, and myself. How can I afford a master craftsman?"

"Wow? So many?" The man was very surprised.

"Well, we are all family, so if we want to buy something, we will buy it for everyone. Oh, and we have to buy one for my father-in-law."

"Okay, okay." The man reached out to take back the small jade Buddha he had just taken out, and Li Long asked:
"how much is this?"

"This... do you want it?" the old man asked.

"Oh, that's alright."

"Twenty...fifteen, is that okay?" the man asked tentatively.

"Okay, I'll buy it." Li Long said. "You really want to buy it?" The man was surprised, "This... the jade material is not big, the carving..."

"The carving is very good." Li Long said, "I want it."

The man's breath suddenly became heavier. He suddenly turned around and walked quickly inside. He brought out a pile of things, put them on the glass counter, and said in a hoarse voice:
"Take a look, what else do you want? I'll sell it to you at a low price!"

Li Long was stunned for a moment, then looked at these things.

They are all small pieces, the largest of which is no more than a handle as big as a fist.

Most of the materials are the same seed materials that Yusup sold to Li Long, and some of them look like scraps.

Li Long vaguely understood that these things should have been carved by this old man, right?
The old man took out twelve items in total, mainly hand-held ornaments, jade Buddhas, peace buckles, thumb rings, and peace and safety plaques.

Li Long wanted them all.

The old man was a little shocked - including the jade Buddha, he charged Li Long a total of 140 yuan.

Li Long felt that he had taken advantage, but the old man said that he had just said that he was getting a bargain.

Li Long bought all the jadeite from the glass counter, and also bought four jade bracelets, two belt buckles, a hand-held ornament and some small items. He mainly looked at the materials, and after he said that, the man picked out all the better materials in the counter for him.

These things are even cheaper. The man said nonchalantly:

"These things are just for practice. The material itself is of good quality, but it's too small. The factory basically didn't have much cost. You can just give five yuan per piece on average."

Okay, another bunch, ninety-five bucks.

Seeing Li Long take out two hundred and thirty-five yuan neatly, the man couldn't help but sigh:

“Are all young people so rich nowadays?”

"That's not the case." Li Long said with a smile as he packed up the jade articles.

"I just happened to pick up some things in the mountains and sold them for the money."

The old man used newspaper to wrap the jade, and he had nothing better to do, let alone a gift box.

But newspapers are also good. Li Long wrapped them carefully one by one and then put them into his bag, making it bulge out.

The old man also invited Li Long to have dinner with him, but Li Long refused because he had to hurry back to the county.

After seeing Li Long off, the old man excitedly turned around several times.

It took me a while to calm down, and I sat down at the table and started eating.

The staple food is corn flour steamed cake.

Although no customers came in the afternoon, he still felt a little uncomfortable.

Before leaving get off work, the man went to the factory's finance department and slapped seventy-six yuan on the table:
"This is the money I earned from selling jade today. It's seventy-six in total. Give me the receipt!"

"Hey, Mr. Liu, are you open today?"

"That's right." The man said loudly, "A connoisseur came and bought quite a few?"

The financial staff collected the money, issued an invoice, and gave a receipt to Mr. Liu.

When Mr. Liu left the finance office, the two men were still whispering:
"A person who knows the goods? His apprentices are carving, do you think they know the goods? I'm afraid he has met a fool."

"Who says it's not true? If you really meet someone who knows the goods, they won't go to a big store to buy it, right?"

"that is!"

Engineer Liu left the finance office and went to the processing workshop. Before he entered the door, he met a short middle-aged man who also wore glasses. When the man saw Engineer Liu, he immediately said respectfully:

"Master, are you here?"

"Xiao Xu, let me see if there are any leftovers or small seeds. I've been itching to carve something. I'm just sitting there doing nothing. I thought I'd slowly carve some small things."

"Master, isn't your hand... injured?" Xiao Xu pointed at Mr. Liu's fingers and asked.

"Take your time. You're free anyway. Besides, you'll clear out these scraps eventually..."

"That's no problem. I'll bring you a bag tomorrow when we go to work."

"Okay, I'll wait for you tomorrow." After saying that, Mr. Liu turned around and walked out.

Xiao Xu was a little surprised. After his master injured his finger, the factory knew that he could no longer carve large pieces, so they placed him at the side door to look after the shop as a form of retirement. It was not considered as mistreating him, but he has always been rather dull.

Is it a change of gender today?

After entering the family compound and returning home, Engineer Liu shouted loudly to the room:

"Old lady, bring out my wine, I need two drinks today!"

"Hey? Why do you suddenly want to drink?" The woman came out of the kitchen wearing an apron and asked curiously.

"We're open today!" Mr. Liu slapped a stack of bills on the table. "All the little things I carved were bought! I'm so happy!"

"Then we really should have a couple of drinks to celebrate!" The woman was also very happy. She could see that her husband had really come out of his depression.

Li Long took the bus to the South Station with a bag of jade artifacts, feeling a little excited.

Feeling a little hungry, he found a noodle restaurant below the Bayi Guesthouse at the South Station, had a meal, and then bought a ticket back.

According to Mr. Liu, he made a lot of money today.

According to Li Long's idea, he also made a lot of money today.

Master craftsmanship - the material is good, the workmanship is also good. Keep it, must keep it!

It doesn’t matter whether it will appreciate in value in the future. At least when these things become out of sight, I and my family will have them in my hands.

That's it.

He bought the ticket a little late, and this time he got a seat near the south window. Although Li Long was exposed to the sun, he was in a good mood.

I spent a lot of money in two days, and I have to make good money from now on.

After returning to the compound, Li Long saw that Gu Xiaoxia had not returned yet, so he rode his bicycle home first.

Now that I've bought things for everyone, I'll share them with my family to make them happy.

When passing by the bridge tunnel, Li Long took a special look, but didn't see the little girl. She might be busy.

When he returned to the village and was almost at the door of his house, Li Long saw his father Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang carrying tires and nets.

"Are you going fishing?" Li Long asked with a smile.

"Yes, you've been busy in the mountains recently, and we thought we had nothing to do, so why not go fishing?" Li Qingxia said, "Do you want to go?"

"Go. Wait for me, I'll come over after I drop off the car!" Li Long thought that he hadn't been to Xiaohaizi for a few days, so he went to take a look today. (End of this chapter)