Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

After Li Long went down the mountain, Halimu ate two more pieces of naan, then led out his horse, put on the saddle, tied a bag of rice and a bag of flour on the horse's back, went back to the winter den, took down the gun hanging on the wall, checked it, put it on his back, went out, rode the horse, and went into the mountains.

The snow was heavy. After Halim rode his horse across a flat area, he dismounted and led his horse forward.

The road was familiar, but he still walked in front to scout the way to prevent the horse from stepping into a pit and breaking its leg.

After all, marmots dig a lot of new pits every year. The pits are not big. If a horse steps into them directly, it is very likely to break its legs when moving forward.

Forty or fifty minutes later, he arrived at Yushanjiang's home. Yushanjiang was carrying a bundle of grass to the sheepfold when he heard the dog barking. He turned around and saw Halimu, shook the bundle of grass in his hand, put down the fork and walked over:
"Halim, what's up? What did you bring me?"

"Li Long came over and brought some rice and noodles. I took away the things that everyone had left with me and told him that he might bring them over tomorrow.

What I mean is, I will let everyone know that you can come to my house tomorrow morning and take away the things you need. There won’t be enough space for you to leave them at my place.”

"Okay, okay, then let's split up and notify them separately?" Yu Shanjiang asked, "I can't run over here alone, and you can't run over here alone either."

"Yes, yes, yes. I will slaughter a sheep tomorrow and cook it early. Then when Li Long and everyone else come, we can eat the meat together."

"No, no, I'll bring a sheep over tomorrow." Yu Shanjiang said with a smile, "I have more sheep than you do, so use mine."

"Sure, then when we have the horse race and sheep catching in a few days, we can just use my sheep. This year, with Li Long here, fewer of our sheep died, and our lives have gotten better. I think we should have a few horse races and sheep catching at the end of the year, and then we can call Li Long over to join in the fun. What do you think?"

"Very good! We must do this, otherwise those kids will think about all sorts of things. It's winter, so we need to find something for them to do!"

The matter was settled. After Halimu unloaded the rice and flour, he and Yushanjiang agreed that they would go into the mountains, one heading southeast and the other southwest.

Li Long returned to the big yard, locked the bicycle, then went to the back to pull out No. 76, hitched it to the carriage, and pulled the antlers and skins to the purchasing station.

The snow in the yard of the purchasing station was cleared very cleanly, but the ground was not very flat, with a few thin puddles of ice, which was a bit slippery. In those days, even the county party committee compound did not have a flat ground, at most some bricks were laid. Although light industry has developed in this era, production capacity cannot be increased for a while.

But things will be different in two years. Once the private enterprises are opened up, all kinds of small factories and workshops will spring up like mushrooms after rain. Of course, the quality can't be guaranteed at the beginning. There are good and bad ones. Sometimes it really depends on luck.

Li Long tied up the carriage, knocked on the door and went in, only to find that Chen Hongjun was not there. Behind the counter was a young man in his twenties, and there was also a middle-aged woman whom he had seen before.

The young man asked expressionlessly:
"What to sell?"

The elder sister smiled and said without waiting for Li Long to speak:
"Xiao Li is here. What good stuff did he bring this time?"

He turned to the young man and said:
"Xiao Shen, this is Lao Chen's acquaintance Xiao Li. He brings Lao Chen good things all year round, from spring to winter. Most of the scarce items that our purchasing station receives are brought by him."

"Oh, you are Comrade Xiao Li, hello!" The young man's attitude suddenly became enthusiastic, "Come on, have some water!"

"Let me get the stuff in first." Li Long smiled, not angry at the young man's quick change of expression. Not to mention this year, even in another forty years, when tourism in northern Xinjiang is booming, many people from the mainland will say that there is no "service industry" here, and some locals also make fun of themselves, mainly saying that the attitudes of the waiters in various stores are not as warm and thoughtful as those in the mainland.

This question is usually linked to another question - why are there so few people in XJXZ working outside their hometowns?

In fact, there are quite a few.

It’s just that many locals have a slower pace of life, and because the area is vast and sparsely populated, daily necessities are relatively easy to obtain. For those who are content with what they have, they just live a life of contentment in poverty and don’t have too many pursuits at all.

Not to mention people from the mainland, in his previous life, when Li Long, a native of northern Xinjiang, went to Zhaosu for a trip, he went to a noodle restaurant to eat mixed noodles. The waiter there clearly saw that Li Long had finished the noodles but still had some vegetables on his plate, and after he ordered more noodles, he didn't go in to urge them, but just sat there waiting.

It is true that some people have no sense of service.

What’s more, it’s 1982 now!

Li Long first moved in the six deer antlers, and then moved the skins.

"Sister Huang, is this Xiao Li a second-hand dealer? How come he has so many deer antlers?"

"Actually... not really. He has many herdsmen friends in the mountains. These things were obtained by the herdsmen, who entrusted him to exchange them for money and then exchanged them for daily necessities. I don't know if he made a profit from the difference. That's right, this counts as a profit, right? But he is also an employee of the supply and marketing cooperative, so it seems normal for him to do such things."

The older sister had a good impression of Li Long. Every time Li Long brought something, it was of good quality, and he would not make a fuss about the price.

After bringing in all the leather, Li Long said:
"That's all for now. You guys can count it." The young man began to check the quality of the antlers. Li Long asked the older woman again:
"Big sister, where is Comrade Lao Chen?"

"Old Chen, I had something to do at home today, so I asked for leave to do some work." The older sister said, "He was here yesterday, and he said you hadn't been here for a while, and he didn't know what you were doing during this time. He thought you would come to deliver something soon, so here you are!"

"Comrade Li, four of your antlers fell off this year and are of very good quality, so they can be considered first-class. The other two are aged and can only be considered second-class. Take a look." The young man separated the antlers for Li Long to see.

"OK, no problem."

"Then get ready to weigh in."

Four first-grade antlers weighed 25.7 kilograms, and two second-grade antlers weighed 13.3 kilograms. The price of antlers has increased again, with first-grade antlers costing 7 yuan and second-grade antlers costing 5.8 yuan. So Li Long got 179.9 yuan for the first-grade antlers and 77.14 yuan for the second-grade antlers, totaling 257.4 yuan.

"There are eleven pieces of leather, eight of which have bullet holes. Four of them have bullet holes in the middle, so they can only be considered defective. The other four have bullet holes in the neck, so they are OK, and are considered second-rate leather. The remaining three pieces are very good, two are roe deer skins and one is red deer skin, all of which are good leather."

The young man had a good eye. He separated the skins one by one, showing them to Li Long while talking, and then said:

"Among the four broken skins, there are three wolf skins and one fox skin, which are worth seventy-two dollars. Among the four second-rate skins, there are two wolf skins and two wild goat skins. The wolf skin is forty dollars, the wild goat skin is thirty dollars, which makes one hundred and forty dollars. Three first-rate skins, deer skin is sixty dollars, and roe deer skin is forty-five dollars, which makes one hundred and fifty dollars. So the total value of the skins is three hundred and sixty-two dollars."

After putting the leather back in place, the young man looked at Li Long:
"Look, what do you think? If you agree with the price, then we'll issue the invoice and sign it."

"Okay." Li Long said straightforwardly, "Open the ticket."

After making more than 600 yuan in one trip, Li Long felt that it was enough to buy everything he wanted.

Of course, buying tickets also costs money, which is also included in this. Anyway, I will definitely send supplies to the mountains later. I will have to live in the mountains for a while after the militia training, go hunting and so on. I will talk about other things when the time comes.

After coming out of the purchasing station, Li Long went directly to the Cultural Palace Club. He had been to the free market before, but didn't find the ticket scalper. Maybe the ticket scalper didn't dare to go to the market. After all, as long as ordinary people didn't engage in large-scale speculation, they didn't care much about selling things.

But ticket tampering is always gray, or simply illegal.

Li Long drove the carriage around the club entrance, but didn't see the ticket seller Cao Liu, so he had to go find the man selling melon seeds.

The girl selling melon seeds was wearing very warm clothes. After all, she had been outside all the time and it was quite cold. Li Long parked his carriage at the bottom of the steps. He walked up to the girl and asked in a low voice:
"Where's Xiaoliu? I looked around but couldn't find him."

"Who are you?" The little girl was quite alert.

"I bought his ticket, and he gave me some melon seeds. I also bought your melon seeds. Have you forgotten me?" Li Long pointed at the carriage and said, "I used to ride a bicycle."

"Oh - I remember." The girl immediately relaxed, "Sixth Brother is in there, wait a moment, I'll go call him, don't leave yet."

The little girl carried a basket of melon seeds and hurried to the back of the club. After walking a distance, she looked back. Li Long guessed that she was worried that he would follow her.

Quite vigilant.

Li Long walked back to the carriage and waited for about seven or eight minutes. The girl didn't come. Cao Liu hurried over and went down the steps when he saw Li Long. He came to Li Long and whispered:
"Brother Li, you're back..."

"I want tickets. Lots of tickets." Li Long was also straightforward.

"Then come with me." Cao Liu said, "The inspection is quite strict now. I dare not carry the ticket with me. A friend of mine was arrested a few days ago. I heard that he will be sentenced to at least three years in prison!"

Li Long didn't bring a gun. He waved his hand and said, "You go get the ticket, I'll follow you, but I won't go to remote places. I have money with me, so I'm not very brave."

Cao Liu was in a bit of a dilemma. Since neither side could trust each other, this matter would be difficult to handle.

Li Long showed a big stack of unity in his pocket and said:
"It's not the first time I've bought your tickets, and I want a lot this time. Do you think any arrester would come here with a horse-drawn carriage like me? Are you hesitating? Will you sell it to me? If not, I'll find someone else."

"Brother, brother, don't, don't be anxious!" Cao Liu immediately pulled Li Long, "The main thing is that my friend was sued by an acquaintance... OK, OK, I believe you this time, how about we deliver the goods at the market?"

"Okay." Li Long had no objection, and he could guess that even if he went to the market, Cao Liu might change his mind again, but he was in a hurry to get the ticket, so there was nothing he could do. (End of this chapter)