Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Yang Xiulan was serving food to people. Han Fang saw Li Long at first sight. A happy expression appeared on her face, and then she tugged at her mother.

After serving the food, Yang Xiulan looked up and saw Li Long and smiled. She wiped her hands on her apron and asked when Li Long came over:

"Uncle, have you eaten yet? I just made this soup and rice, it's clean. Can I serve you a bowl?"

"Sister Yang, no need, I just ate." Li Long pulled the carriage to her cart and stopped, then said:
"Let me tell you something."

"You tell her uncle." Yang Xiulan saw that Li Long had a serious expression and was a little nervous.

"It's like this. My girlfriend has been busy recently and may not have time to cook at noon or in the afternoon. I thought since you have to cook every day, I thought of asking her to come to your place for dinner, and then the food money can be used to cover your rent. How about that?"

"That's fine... No, no, no, no. I must pay the rent. How much can one more person eat?" Yang Xiulan nodded first, then shook her head vigorously. "We are already very grateful that you can take me in. If you waive the rent, we don't know how to repay you..."

"We'll talk about the rent later. She might come to your place for dinner in the next two days. Just cook it as you like. It's a home-cooked meal. You don't have to be too particular. She can eat whatever you eat. I'm not picky about my partner."

After that, Li Long asked Han Fang about her studies, and then said goodbye to go buy food. We are going into the mountains today, and the road is covered with snow, so it must be difficult to walk, so we have to set off early.

There are people buying food in the market, and there is more than one company.

Li Long went to ask the price. 85% rice flour, no ticket required, 40 cents per kilogram, not expensive. Rice is more expensive, 70 cents, after all, the rice production here is still less.

Li Long bought four bags of flour, weighing 100 kilograms each, and two bags of rice, weighing 50 kilograms each, and walked into the mountains.

When we first arrived at Qingshui River, this section of the road was easier to walk on. After all, there was a commune there, and people were still going to and from the county these days.

But after crossing the Qingshui River, the road became difficult to walk on. No one walked on the road into the mountains. There were occasional rabbit tracks. The snow was thicker than in the plains, nearly half a meter. It was very difficult to pull No. 76. Li Long was pulling in front. Fortunately, the food was not much, the carriage was basically empty, and the snow was relatively light. It took more than an hour from Qingshui River to finally enter the mountains.

After we passed the mountain pass, it was actually easier to walk when we started to turn in the mountains. Some places were sheltered from the wind, so the snow was thinner, while some places were windy, so the snow was simply blown away by the wind.

When Li Long arrived opposite Halimu's winter nest after many twists and turns, he was already sweating.

He saw sheep in the sheepfold next to the winter den, smoke coming out of the chimney, horses and cows were there, and there were familiar sounds of dogs barking. He knew that Halimu and the others had returned.

When the dog barked, the door opened. The young man Nathan came out. He called out "Dog", looked around, and when he saw Li Long, he screamed and turned around to shout at the winter den.

Then Halimu and his family quickly walked out of their winter den and came over here.

Li Long smiled and waved at them. There was a ditch in the middle. Although it was repaired in the summer, there was heavy snow at this time. They still had to be careful when going downhill, otherwise it would be troublesome if the horse slipped and fell. After all, if the horse broke its leg, it would be useless.

When they were leading the carriage to the other side of the ditch, Halimu and the others had also arrived. He smiled, put his left hand on his chest, and shook hands with Li Long with his right hand.

Halim let go of his hand and was about to speak when Nathan squeezed in, followed by Susken. Nathan spoke to Li Long in a serious manner in not very fluent Mandarin:

"Hello, uncle!"

He also stretched out his hand towards Li Long, looking very serious.

Li Long held back his laughter and shook hands with him seriously. Next was Sasken, who did the same thing as Nathan.

After shaking hands with the two children, Li Long greeted Halimu's mother and wife, and led the horse towards the winter den while listening to Halimu talking, but he was thinking about something else in his mind.

Kazakh children are trained to be adults from a young age. How old is Nathan now? He is only slightly stronger than Li. But looking at his serious look, he is trying hard to imitate adults, and his family thinks it is normal.

From a young age, I rode horses and herded sheep, doing things that adults do. After the circumcision (the rite of passage), I was treated as a real adult.

So when I traveled to Yili in my previous life, I saw some kids there, good friends I hadn’t seen for a while, about a few years old, like Nathan. When they met, they would shake hands, in a very formal way.

Interesting.

"…We have been back for half a month. If you don't come, I will have to look for you." Halimu said with a smile, "In fact, the noodles and rice are still there, but the batteries are really gone. Listening to the radio has become a part of our lives now. We can't live without it. Can you listen to Nathan's Chinese?"

"Okay, okay, very good!" Li Long's thoughts were pulled back and he gave a thumbs up. "I'll deliver the batteries this afternoon or tomorrow. Yushanjiang and the others are back too, right?"

"We are back. We have taken the salt away from here." Halim said, "Salt is a good thing. We are all very happy."

"If it's not enough, I'll bring some more next time." Li Long led the horse to the winter den, tied it up, and said to Halimu while unloading the flour, "This is easier to do."

It was indeed easier to get and cheaper. After all, the supply and marketing cooperative was in charge of salt sales at that time, and Li Long was considered an insider, so the price he got was almost the same as the wholesale price.

"Then get some more. Livestock still need salt in winter." Halimu carried a bag of noodles and went straight into the house without caring about the flour sticking to his clothes. "Don't leave today. I'll slaughter a sheep later and we'll have hand-pulled meat for lunch." "No, no, no," Li Long walked in with another bag of noodles. "I'll unload it, have a bowl of milk tea and then go back. I have something else to do over there."

"What's so important?" Halimu was unhappy. "It's not easy for you to come here, so you must talk to me. I have a lot of things to bring you."

"I'll come later. Today I have something to do." Li Long said as he went to pick up another bag of noodles. "My girlfriend, the future Yang Gangzi, is working there. She's been too busy these days and has no time to cook. I have to go back and make dinner for her."

Hearing this, Nathan turned around and taught Halimu's wife. Halimu's wife was preparing milk tea. After hearing what Nathan said, she spoke in Halimu.

Halimu laughed loudly and said to Li Long:

"My sheep, I'm praising you, saying that you can work, make money, and are a good person. You even cook for your own sheep. Let me learn from you. Haha, Li Long, you are awesome!"

Li Long was a little confused and had to continue moving the flour. Halimu's mother sat on the wooden kang and watched them talking and joking with a smile.

The winter nest is not big, so flour and rice can only be placed next to the kang table. I think Halimu will soon call someone to move these things away.

"Since you have something to do, I won't keep you here. Here are some things for you to take back and exchange for what we need. Salt, brick tea, sugar, and most importantly, batteries. By the way, we may also need to buy a few radios, we'll talk about it then."

After the rice and flour were moved, Halimu brought some grass to No. 76, pulled Li Long into the house and said, "Dosen, don't say too much. When you are free to come and stay for a few days, we will go to your house, slaughter a sheep, and have a good meal together. How about it?"

"Okay." Li Long said as a matter of course, "When the time comes, you guys prepare the sheep, and I'll prepare... drinks. As for alcohol, it's better to drink less in the winter."

He combined his experience from two lives, because drinking alcohol in winter can really kill people. When I went to Yili for tourism, I heard that every winter there were people who got drunk and froze to death on their way home. Not to mention Yili, even near my village, when the snow melted one year, there was a body on the east side of the field. I don't know if the person was drunk and didn't make it back home.

I once saw a video where someone was so drunk that he could hardly stand, and the horse pushed his owner back by biting his shoulder - but such horses are extremely rare, one in a million.

"Yes, I know." Halimu nodded. "As for the wine, you can bring some over and give it to them. It's fine for them to drink it in their own yurts. Just don't run out."

When the milk tea was ready, Halimu's mother took out a pack of naan from the cabinet, and then took out a few small bowls filled with jam, honey, butter, etc. This reminded Li Long of the ethnic breakfast he had eaten in Yili in his previous life, the kind for two or four people, which included milk tea, naan, jam, butter, dried fruits, baursak...

It's similar to the current one.

While eating and chatting, Halimu told them about their situation at the summer pasture.

"That place, even when it's the hottest, you still have to cover yourself with a blanket in the yurt at night. That place, we met a very strange creature, a white bear..."

"White bear?" Li Long thought, that white bear usually refers to a polar bear, right? A polar bear can't possibly come here. What could it be? Did they see it wrong?

"How tall?"

"Stand up, it's almost as tall as me, very fierce, trying to catch a sheep, but I shot it away, I don't know if I hit it or not." Halimu took a sip of milk tea, "One of our sheep was bitten."

He was afraid that Li Long would not believe him, so he added:

"Not only did I see it, Buick saw it too... a white bear!"

Li Long understood a little bit, it might be a brown bear with albinism, or a disease called alienation. After all, there are albinos in humans, tigers, and bears.

The leather of this thing should be very expensive, right?
Don't blame Li Long for being a money-grubber. The first thing he thought of was the bear skin. After all, that's how Chinese people are. At that time, dictionaries and lexicons would have a section for introducing any plant or animal, asking whether it was edible, and whether it had economic and medicinal value.

There is no way. For a long time, the Chinese people have suffered from hunger and disease. They have tried everything they can, so they have this gene.

Li Long lived in a prosperous era in his previous life, but at that time, it was only 20 to 30 years before the people across the country were able to have enough food and clothing.

Young people don’t understand, but most people over 40 or 50 years old know a little bit about what it feels like to be hungry.

"We were thinking of getting you another snow leopard skin." Halim pointed to the gun hanging on the yurt and said, "Unfortunately, that thing is too cunning. It ran away when it heard any noise. It usually appears at night and is difficult to find."

"That's enough, that's enough." Li Long took a piece of naan and dipped it in the jam, then took a bite and waved his hand, saying, "No, no, no, stop fighting."

He didn't want these mountain elves to be one step closer to extinction because of himself.

"Then I'll bring you some more jam." Halim's mind was also mixed. Seeing Li Long eating the jam, he said, "Because you brought us a lot of sugar, we made a lot of jam in the summer, and it was delicious."

"No, no, no," Li Long waved his hands hastily, "You have to rely on them for the whole winter, I don't want them, just come over and have a taste." (End of this chapter)