Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Coming out of the mountains, Li Long felt that it was even colder here than in the mountains—it was the kind of cold that could blow through clothes and freeze the body.

He was the hardest working among them, so everyone let him sit in the carriage, while the others walked or led deer. Li Long got off the carriage after sitting for a while. It was more convenient to walk. At least it was not so cold when walking. People move their joints and generate heat.

It was already afternoon when they came out of the mountain. When crossing the Qingshui River, they could see smoke from cooking and people occasionally appearing on the side of the road. These people looked at them curiously. After all, even if they could see gazelles on the side of the mountain, it was still very difficult to see wild elk.

The doe was not very willing to follow, and when it wanted to stop, Li Junfeng would whip it with a stick. The fawn was much more obedient, and although it jumped left and right from time to time, it always followed.

This little elk is much bigger than the two fawns Li Long sold in the fall, and it should have been born at the beginning of the year.

When turning from Qingshuihe Township to the county town, the sun had already set to a pole high. Li Long felt that if he continued walking like this, it would be almost dark when he reached the county. But no matter what, he had already left the mountain. It had been a while since he had lived on the plains. The rolling hills and deep green pine forests were no longer in front of him. For a while, Li Long still felt a little fresh and uncomfortable.

On Wuyi Road, a car would come from time to time, bringing a cold wind with snow powder on the road. Li Long smiled and said as he walked:
"There are a lot more cars coming and going than last year. Last year, Daqiang and I came here and we hardly saw any cars along the way. In a few years, maybe someone in the team will buy a car."

"That's impossible, right?" Li Junfeng led the doe forward. The doe seemed to have accepted her fate and behaved obediently. Li Junfeng was relieved. He listened to Li Long and said, "In my hometown, let alone the team, there is no one who buys a car in the entire commune... How can you afford it?"

"There will always be a time when we can afford it." Yang Yongqiang probably heard Li Junfeng say that his hometown thought he looked down on this place, so he replied, "In the past, the Dongfanghong 75 tractor was considered the property of the team. Who would have thought that it would be bought by a private person in the end? If it works for the tractor, it can work for the car too!"

So the two began to debate the difference between a tractor and a car.

Li Long smiled.

I'm afraid no one would have thought that in another 20 or 30 years, half of the families in the team would buy cars, and in another ten years, some families would even have more than two cars.

Although it’s not a good car, who would dare to believe it in this day and age?

The changes are so great that the generation gap is emerging at any time, and even the time distance is constantly shortening.

This is a nation that is good at creating miracles. Looking back at the long history, we can see that the world has undergone tremendous changes over the decades.

Of course, the price paid is also huge, and ordinary people don’t talk about feelings.

It was already dark when the carriage arrived at the county.

"Let's go and stay in the big yard today and go back to the team early tomorrow morning." Li Long said to others as he walked while leading the carriage.

"Uncle Xiaolong, we won't stay here anymore. We'll move our things to your big yard and take the remaining carriages and deer back with us." Li Junfeng said, "It's not easy to live in the big yard. Besides, it's only now. It's getting dark. We're big guys, what are we afraid of? We'd better go back to the old stable and sleep comfortably!"

"Yes, yes." Li Junshan also nodded.

Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang both agreed.

"Okay. Then put your things down later and go back." Li Long didn't force them. There were many places to live in the big yard, but other houses might not have stoves, and it would be troublesome to set up one again. So they just went back. Ten kilometers was nothing for them.

Passing by the big meat canteen, Li Long pointed inside:

"Going to eat?"

"Don't eat anymore. It looks like the store is about to close."

It’s late in the winter, in fact, it’s only a little after seven o’clock now.

"Then I'll buy you twenty buns to take with you." Li Long took out ten yuan and a few food coupons from his clothes and handed them to Yang Yongqiang beside him, "Yongqiang, you go buy them. If I go in, they might pry me out."

"Okay." Yang Yongqiang simply took the money, went into the big meat canteen, bought a bag of buns, stuffed the remaining money and food coupons into Li Long's hand, and then started distributing buns.

So the five of them, each holding a bun in their mouths, ate as they walked towards the courtyard.

The door to the courtyard was unlocked. Li Long pushed it, but it was locked from the inside. He knocked on the door and shouted:
"Xiaoxia, I'm back."

After shouting twice, Gu Xiaoxia's voice came from the yard:

"Wait a minute, I'll be right there to open the door." Then there were the sounds of hurried footsteps.

The door opened, Gu Xiaoxia looked at Li Long with joy, then a little surprised, and became a little shy. She opened the door and said with a smile:

"Did you just come down from the mountain? Come in quickly, it's cold outside."

When Li Long and the others came in, Gu Xiaoxia asked again:

"You haven't eaten yet? I'll go make dinner. You guys go inside and warm up first."

"Aunt, that's not necessary." Li Junfeng said hurriedly, "We'll just unload the stuff and leave. We have to hurry back to the team."

"Going back to the team now? It's dark now." Gu Xiaoxia was a little surprised and looked a little lost.

"They are going back, but I am not." Li Long said with a smile, "I have hunted in the mountains recently and got some meat. I will put a bag here and we can eat it slowly. There are also some skins that I will sell to the purchasing station. I will put them down too, and then they will go back."

"Well... OK, you guys go ahead and unload first, I'll get you some water." Gu Xiaoxia turned and went to the kitchen. At this time, Li Long also noticed that she was not wearing a coat, but a tight sweater that outlined her beautiful figure. She should be reading or writing in the bedroom. When she heard the noise outside and her own voice, she hurried out.

Li Long and his men unloaded the bag of meat and all the skins and put them into the room without a stove. Then, after drinking the tea poured by Gu Xiaoxia, Li Junfeng and his men drove the carriage and led the deer away.

Li Long locked the gate of the yard, turned around with his gun on his back, looked at Gu Xiaoxia, and said with a smile:
"Come in, it's cold outside." "Well, you haven't eaten yet? I'll make you some..."

"No, no, I just ate a few buns and I'm full." Li Long said, "Don't bother, it's so late."

The two walked into the living room side by side. Gu Xiaoxia walked to the master bedroom in front and said as she walked:

"It must have been hard living in the mountains during this period, right?"

"Well," Li Long thought for a moment and said, "It's quite hard work. Hunting requires you to wander around the mountains looking for prey. If you catch one, you have to drag it back, then skin and gut it. Let me tell you, this time I encountered a pack of wolves..."

Li Long put his gun away, sat on a chair and began to talk about his experience of hunting wolves. He was not very good at speaking, but he had read a lot of jokes on the Internet in his previous life, so he knew how to start, develop, turn and end. Although his level was not high, he was still able to create an atmosphere and a climax. Just listening to this story made Gu Xiaoxia feel nervous and excited at the same time.

The only thing that was a little uncomfortable was that the mahogany chair was too hard and it burned my butt when I sat on it.

"Put this on the chair." Gu Xiaoxia noticed that Li Long was feeling uncomfortable. She smiled and stood up, took a cloth pad from the bedside and handed it to Li Long. "I learned how to make this from the older sister in our office."

Li Long took the mat and looked at it. It was a round mat with sharp corners pointing outwards. Each corner was made of a different piece of fabric, and you could tell the fabric was different. He smiled and said:
"You must have used old clothes and scraps of cloth to make this, right? You have quite a skillful hand."

"Hehe." Gu Xiaoxia was very happy to be praised. "We have been busy for a while and don't have to work overtime. We have some free time. Some of the older sisters in the office are knitting sweaters. I follow them and learn from them occasionally."

"Have you been eating at Sister Yang's place every day recently?" Li Long asked, "How is her business going?"

"There are more stalls in the market now." Gu Xiaoxia faced Li Long and was no longer as nervous as she was at the beginning. She turned her chair around, sat opposite Li Long and said:

"Most of those who didn't want to pay the stall fee have returned. It's cold in winter, so many people want to eat hot meals. Sister Yang's soup rice is very popular. Sometimes she can sell three pots a day - usually two pots. I basically eat along with her. She will cook specially for me, rice, pulled noodles, and recently she even learned to make pilaf... I eat better than Han Fang, I feel embarrassed."

"Then bring some meat to her tomorrow." Li Long said, "Tell her that this is wild meat from the mountains, just mash it up a bit when cooking it."

Gu Xiaoxia nodded.

"Have you been home recently?" Li Long asked again.

"I came back last week. There was nothing to do on the team and my dad was fine. I went to my eldest brother's house and everything was fine there too." Gu Xiaoxia blushed and lowered her head slightly.

The atmosphere became ambiguous.

"I'm going to take a bath." Li Long stood up. "Boil some water. I've been living like a savage in the mountains these days. I need to wash my clothes..."

"Take off your clothes and I'll wash them for you." Gu Xiaoxia followed Li Long to the kitchen. "How are you going to take a bath in the dark?"

"Boil some water, I'll wash up in the kitchen first." Facing the more beautiful and mature Gu Xiaoxia, it's impossible to say that Li Long didn't have any thoughts. But now he is so sloppy, I don't know how much dust has accumulated on his body, his hair and beard are messy, and you don't need to look to know how bad his image is now.

Li Long knew that Gu Xiaoxia had feelings for him, and she didn't mind, but he did.

"Then I'll find you some clothes to change into." Seeing that Li Long insisted on washing, Gu Xiaoxia went to the room where Li Long usually slept, turned on the light and found two sets of clothes to change into, and then endured the shame and found a vest and underwear.

I came to the kitchen with clothes in my arms. Li Long was boiling water. The fire in the kitchen was still on, but there was not much red charcoal left. Just now, Gu Xiaoxia poured water for several people using the water in the thermos.

Li Long opened the stove door, used a fire hook to clear the ashes inside, then added some coal in, and filled the pot with water.

Turning around and seeing Gu Xiaoxia looking at him, Li Long smiled and said:

"Here, give me your clothes and bring me a towel."

Li Long's polite words made Gu Xiaoxia feel a little sweet. She turned around and took two towels and said to Li Long, "These two towels are issued by our bureau. Use this one to wipe your head and face, and this one to wipe... your body."

"Does your bureau have benefits?" Li Long smiled. "Any news about job transfer?"

"Yes. We have done the summary at the end of this year, and it will be almost done when the summary meeting is held next month." Gu Xiaoxia was full of confidence when she said this, "Deputy Director Wang said that the leaders' meeting has basically passed, and we just need to wait for the meeting."

"That's great." Li Long took the towel and looked at it. The pattern and color of the towel at that time were still relatively simple, but the material was really solid and thick. "You will be a member of the bureau in the future, and your former school leaders will have to curry favor with you."

"What are you talking about?" Gu Xiaoxia rolled her eyes at Li Long. "I'm not that kind of person - the school has even reserved a dormitory for me."

"It's just a joke. Okay, go do your thing. I'll wait for the water to heat up. When it's hot, I'll scrub you."

"Well, what do you want to call me for..." Gu Xiaoxia was still a little reluctant, but she also knew that it was not convenient to talk like this at this time, so she said, "I still have a manuscript to revise."

After Gu Xiaoxia left, Li Long closed the kitchen door and sat by the stove waiting for the water to boil.

The kitchen was very clean. There were no odds and ends on the stove. The large chopping board was neatly laid out. The steamer, frying pan, and other items were all very clean. A bowl of chili oil was placed on the windowsill. Li Long stood up and went over to smell it. It smelled delicious. The door of the storage room in the back was closed to prevent the heat from entering.

The ash on the ground was swept cleanly, and the coal was placed in a coal ring made of bricks next to the stove. Half of it was large pieces of coal, and the other half was small pieces of coal and foamy coal.

Hot steam came out from the gap in the pot lid. Li Long knew that the water was about to boil. He stood up, picked up the bucket, opened the pot lid, scooped half a bucket of water into the bucket with a ladle, and then filled it with more than half a bucket of cold water. When he felt that the temperature was right, he carried the water and clothes to the guest room.

The stove in the guest room had been lit. Li Long put down the bucket of clothes, got a basin and towel, and started to clean the guest room.

The bucket of water was almost not enough. Li Long felt refreshed after taking a shower, but also very tired. Not only did he walk dozens of miles on the mountain road that day, he also did other things. After taking a shower, he was really sleepy. After pouring out the water, he saw that Gu Xiaoxia had not turned off the lights yet, so he said something through the door and went to sleep first. (End of this chapter)