Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

There was no conversation that night and both parties were happy.

Early in the morning, when Li Long got up feeling refreshed, he found that Gu Xiaoxia, who was even more refreshed, had gotten up before him and was making breakfast in the kitchen.

After a simple wash, Li Long went to help. When he saw that the porridge and pickles were almost ready, he set the table. Li Long particularly liked this kind of simple life.

"How long will you be gone this time?" Gu Xiaoxia asked as she served the pickles. "Are you going back to the village directly when you come back, or are you going to stay in the county for a while?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe in three to five days, or maybe tomorrow. I need to get some sheep from my brother-in-law first, pick him up later, buy food, send it to the mountains, and collect some sheep so that my brother-in-law can practice. Maybe he'll be back in the afternoon. Then I'll go into the mountains tomorrow and maybe get some local specialties. I've been spending money quickly recently, so I need to make up for it."

Gu Xiaoxia put the fried pickles on the table, looked at Li Long and said:

"I don't understand what's going on in the mountains, but you must be careful. In theory, we have enough money at home. I know you have great ambitions, and I won't stop you, but when you hunt in the mountains, you must remember that you are a family man, and you can't be as reckless as before. You have to remember that there are people at home waiting for you to come back."

"Well, I understand." Li Long listened to Gu Xiaoxia's confession and smiled as he pinched her face. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. In fact, I'm also timid when I encounter those big guys. I'm also afraid that they will scratch me with their claws and make a bloody hole."

"I'm glad you know." Gu Xiaoxia blushed. She didn't expect Li Long to do such a thing in broad daylight. She felt shy and turned around quickly to pick up the steamed buns.

After breakfast, Li Long urged Gu Xiaoxia to go to work. After a simple tidying up, he added water to the tractor, put the oil barrel in the bucket, and then started the tractor and drove out.

When locking the door, he saw Officer Guo standing at the door of the police station with a notebook. He waved when he saw Li Long, and Li Long slowed down. Officer Guo pointed at the notebook. Li Long guessed that he was going to have a meeting, so he also waved and drove away.

He went to the market to buy food and happened to see Sister Yang and Han Fang selling porridge. Li Long drove the tractor up to them, and Sister Yang and Han Fang also saw Li Long.

"Han Fang hasn't gone to school yet?" Li Long asked with some surprise.

"I got on, and she helped me push the bike over here. We were going to school now. It wasn't far away, so I asked her to go directly there, but she said it wouldn't be a big deal if she pushed it over with me."

"Well, study hard." Li Long smiled, "I'll go buy some food."

"Uncle, go to that stall." Han Fang looked at Li Long driving a tractor with some envy. The current one-dollar bill has a female tractor driver printed on it. Han Fang once had such an ideal, but she knew it was just a dream. Now seeing Li Long actually driving a tractor, her mind suddenly became active again.

“Is it cheaper there?”

"Well, not only is it cheap, the rice and flour are also good." Han Fang is also a well-informed person in the market. She whispered:
"Uncle, that guy bought it from the grain store, so it's cheap. The one over there was also bought from the grain store, but most of it is old grain, so it's not cheap."

"Okay, I get it. Go to school now, don't be late."

"Uncle, goodbye!"

Li Long drove the tractor to the stall that Han Fang pointed out. He got off the car and took a look. He found that the food here was indeed better, but the quantity was a little small.

I didn’t see it yesterday, maybe it was sold out early.

"Boss, is that all? Do you have any more? If you do, I'd like to buy some more." After asking the price, it was indeed two cents cheaper than yesterday, so Li Long started talking.

"How much? How much?" The stall owner looked at the tractor and then at Li Long. He must be evaluating whether he should do this business.

"At least 200 kilograms of rice and flour." said Li Long.

It was indeed a big deal. The boss calculated that if what Li Long said was true, he could make more than 30 yuan from this order, which was equivalent to 100 yuan a week!

"Okay, come on, let's pull these up, and you follow me." The stall owner stood up and enthusiastically loaded the two bags of rice and flour on the stall with Li Long onto the tractor. Then he sat on the board and showed Li Long the way.

Soon, Li Long drove the tractor to the entrance of a small alley not far from the grain store. The alley was a bit narrow and the tractor couldn't drive in. The owner said:

"Wait here, I'll find someone to carry the food out for you."

"Okay." Li Long was not worried, because he had a gun on his tractor. Besides, this was in the county town, and these people would not rob each other. In general, Ma County was relatively peaceful in 1983.

Of course, this is true compared to the whole country.

The stall owner jumped off the tractor swiftly and walked quickly into the yard.

Soon, he came out with two people, each carrying a bag of rice.

"I'll count and you two can carry it. Here are three bags of rice and two bags of noodles. Carry five more bags of rice and six bags of noodles over." The stall owner said to the two men.

Both men were quite strong. After hearing what the stall owner said, they turned around and went in without saying anything.

Li Long guessed that this person should be a migrant worker, or from the countryside, or just from the countryside, trying to make a living.

The price the stall owner just quoted to Li Long was 42 cents per kilogram of noodles and 65 cents per kilogram of rice.

"You're generous with your purchase, so I can't be greedy. I'll give you 40 cents for the flour, which makes 80. As for the rice, I won't lower the price. Although our county produces rice, a considerable portion of it has been transferred to the inland areas, so there isn't much left. I also have corn flour here, do you want some?"

"How to sell it?" Li Long thought that he should also get some cornmeal, after all, there are so many people in the mountains.

"One kilogram is 1.2 cents. If you want more, I'll give you 1 cent."

"Give me the 300-kilogram one." Li Long thought it sounded cheap, so he spoke directly.

"Great." The stall owner was happy. He was indeed a big customer. He couldn't help but praise his own products. "Don't worry, all of them are new grains from last year. There is no stale grain at all."

"Well, I made it for my friends. If they think it's good, I'll come back to you later. As you can see, the quantity I make is not small, and it's mainly made of fine grains." Li Long handed the boss a cigarette. The boss saw that it was Golden Leaf, smiled but didn't smoke it, and put it between his ears.

The cigarettes in Li Long's pocket are random, depending on what kind of cigarette box Li Qiang wants. Since he doesn't smoke anyway, he can have a pack of all kinds.

As bags of food were carried over, the tractor's bucket gradually filled up. Rice and flour were 25 kilograms per bag, and cornmeal was 50 kilograms per bag. After 700 kilograms of food were loaded onto the tractor, the bucket was basically flat.

Li Long paid the money, and the stall owner spit on his fingers and pointed twice, then gave Li Long a thumbs up:
"Boss, you are so generous. You must take care of my business again if you have the chance in the future!"

"No problem." Li Long held the crank to start the tractor, and the boss said hurriedly:

"No, no, my people are here!"

He pointed at the two men to help drive the tractor, then waved at Li Long.

Li Long drove away with the tractor emitting black smoke, leaving behind the happy boss and two envious porters. They really envied the man who could drive a tractor.

This is an iron bull!
After Li Long went to pick up Chen Xingbang, the two of them went to the department store together.

Carrying large and small bags of the three usual things, such as brick tea, sugar cubes, and salt, he also bought some batteries, snacks, ropes, plastic sheets and other things. All these things filled up the back bed of the tractor. Chen Xingbang was a little worried that the tractor would not be able to drive uphill when they went into the mountains.

The people in the department store were also familiar with Li Long. How could someone like him not be remembered in this era where people would spend half a day calculating even if they spent only three or five dollars?
When buying batteries, Xiao Liu was still at the counter, having his hair permed. He was not as enthusiastic towards Li Long as before, but his eyes were still complicated when he looked at Li Long.

Li Long was in a hurry to buy things and didn't care about anything else. What he kept thinking about was that he had to deliver the things to the mountains today, and it would be best if he could come back in time to deliver the things to Shicheng and then return to the compound.

A fire that is dry and hot needs to be stoked from time to time.

"You bought so many things, so you have to lose money." Chen Xingbang, who was helping Li Long put the things away, still didn't understand.

"Compensation? Haha, no compensation." Li Long said with a smile as he started the tractor, "How can I compensate? They have already paid the money."

"Have you paid?" Chen Xingbang was still a little confused.

"Well, brother-in-law, I told you that the first money I made last year was from the deer antlers I got from the mountains. Do you know how much I sold them for?"

"I remember you said it was more than three yuan per kilogram, but it seemed like it was sold for more than ten or twenty yuan?" Chen Xingbang vaguely remembered this incident.

"Yes, at that time they charged me a brick of tea, a bag of salt, two bags of sugar cubes, and one piece was less than five yuan. Later they gave me a few pieces of jade, and that piece of jade sold for hundreds of yuan!" Li Long said calmly while driving the tractor, "That piece of jade was worth the whole truckload of stuff, and they gave it to me as a gift."

At this time, he was no longer excited. The accounts between him and Halim had been settled long ago, and there was no need to settle them. He knew what the mountain people needed, so he sent them. The mountain people knew what things could be handed over to Li Long, so they found these things and left them to Li Long. Almost all of them were unreserved.

Feeling that things were almost ready, Li Long started the tractor, went to the medicinal materials company, took the certificate and bought a large bag of commonly used medicines, then drove into the mountains.

A cloud of dust rose from behind the tractor. It was fine on the Wuyi Highway, but once they turned toward the Qingshui River, Chen Xingbang couldn't stand it anymore. He shouted to Li Long to stop, coughed, checked the contents of the truck bed, found that it was tied tightly with ropes, and sat on the front board.

There is no way to sit in the back, it is all dusty.

Li Long looked at his brother-in-law's face covered in dust, thinking about the concrete meaning of the word "dirty", and smiled as he pulled out a towel from behind the seat and handed it to him, asking him to wipe it off before continuing on his way.

The wind blew over, blowing Chen Xingbang's hair into a slicked-back style, which made him feel a little uncomfortable. He glanced at Li Long and said loudly:

"Xiaolong, I'll give you a hairstyle like yours tomorrow. It's not good to have long hair like this."

Li Long smiled. Every era has its own mark. He himself is considered an exception.

The wind was no longer chilly when it blew onto his face, which reminded Li Long of the poem "The willow wind blows on my face, but it's not cold." The red willows on both sides of the road had already sprouted. The tractor moved upwards, which was a bit strenuous, but not too strenuous.

When we crossed the Qingshui River, many adults and children ran out to see. Tractors are really rare these days.

After crossing the Qingshui River, the mountain road became steeper. Li Long shifted to third gear and continued moving forward with a "dang dang dang" sound. By the time he reached the mountain pass, the water tank had boiled.

He stopped the tractor, got off and checked, and found that there was still most of the water and most of the oil in the tank, which was enough.

However, when they drove down to the edge of the stream, Li Long stopped to add water to the tractor and added half of the oil in the oil barrel to ensure that there was always oil.

The rumble of the tractor broke the tranquility of the mountain. Birds flew up from time to time, but other animals were rare. Perhaps they were hiding in the woods and had already disappeared when they heard the noise. Li Long, who often hunted, knew that these guys had very good hearing and would be startled by the slightest movement.

When the tractor arrived at Halimu and his family's winter home, Li Long found that Halimu and his wife were already waiting on the roadside. Not only them, but also Yushanjiang and several other young men were there.

Li Long was a little surprised. He also found that the big pit from the roadside to Halimudongwozi had been filled up, leaving only a small shallow pit in the middle for water to flow through.

A tractor can drive through it.

Li Long braked the tractor and got off. Halimu walked over quickly and stretched out his hand to shake Li Long's.
"Okay, Li Long?"

"Okay, okay." Li Long smiled and shook hands with them one by one, then introduced Chen Xingbang to them. Finally, he found out:

"How did you know I was coming?"

"I went to the animal husbandry team yesterday." Yushanjiang said with a smile, "I arrived just after you left. I chased you on horseback for a while, but unfortunately I didn't catch up. Your tractor is too fast. I told Halim when I came back. We guessed you would definitely come today, so we filled this place up early."

Li Long smiled. So that's how it is.

"Okay, let's not talk about it for now. I'll drive the tractor over and we'll unload the stuff first." Li Long said, "I may not deliver it over. You can divide the stuff among yourselves."

"Okay." Halimu nodded repeatedly.

The tractor was driven to the winter shelter. After the engine was turned off, everyone worked together and quickly unloaded the things in the tractor.

"I'll have someone come over today to divide these things up." Halimu said, "Li Long, if you have time, you have to get some more food. These are enough for our families, and some other families also need some."

"Okay, I'll go back today and bring some rice and flour tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." This was also expected.

If it was just these few families, this amount of food would definitely be enough. But last year, there were at least a dozen herdsmen in this tribe. Excluding some who had their own channels and did not need to get food from Li Long, if others needed it, they would have to get another one or two trucks of food.

"Well, one truck is enough. In fact, you have been transporting food here since last year, and we still have some food in stock." Halimu said, "Come on, come in and have some milk tea."

"Mark the medicine first," Li Long said. "Write it on each box so that you can find it when you need to take the medicine."

Li Long still remembered what Halimu said about Nathan. They moved deep into the mountains where there was nothing. If they really got sick, they would have to rely on these common medicines. This was a big deal.

"Yes, yes, yes," Yu Shanjiang also knew the importance of medicine, and he agreed.

Li Long handed the pencil he brought to Halim and asked him to write.

After all this was done, the group went into the winter den, but they came out again after entering. It was a bit gloomy inside, and there was not enough room for so many people to sit, so it was better to be comfortable outside.

Halimu's wife made milk tea and brought out a bowl for Halimu, first Li Long, then Chen Xingbang.

When Chen Xingbang was holding the milk tea, he had already felt Li Long's status here. He felt that he was no different from Halimu and the others. He was just one of their own.

After finishing the milk tea, the young men began to load deer antlers, jade and other things into the car.

Li Long said hurriedly:

"Halimu, I came here this time to discuss something with you."

"You say." Halimu and Yushanjiang both looked at Li Long.

"My brother-in-law wants to buy some of your sheep and slaughter them in Shicheng. Can you sell him some of your sheep?"

"Sure." Halimu agreed immediately. "How much do you want?"

"Let's start with ten heads." Chen Xingbang was a little unsure. Although he knew that Li Long would help him if he didn't have enough money, he had self-esteem. He had already received so many benefits from Li Long, so it would be better for him to do it himself at this time.

"Well, okay, if you want to leave today, I'll catch the sheep for you now and tie them up. But you have to untie the sheep as soon as possible after you take it back, otherwise its legs will be damaged. By the way, if you don't want to slaughter it together, I'll pack two bundles of grass for you, which will last you a while."

That’s really thoughtful.

Chen Xingbang thought, if everyone does business like this, then what is there to worry about?

Halimu said something as if it was a trivial matter, and then said to Li Long:

"They caught two fawns and a young roe deer for you. They are all in the sheepfold. Can you take them back with you this time?"

"Okay." Li Long was very happy. "Let's go and see how old he is."

"About seven or eight kilograms. It's still small, but it can eat grass by itself." said Halimu.

Chen Xingbang pulled Li Long and whispered:
"And the price of the sheep?"

Li Long asked Halim:
"How much is a sheep?"

"Now those who come to buy sheep are charging one dollar and one kilogram for each sheep. For you, just give fifteen dollars for each sheep." Halimu said.

"Okay." It was much cheaper than Chen Xingbang thought. He also believed that this Halimu would not just weigh the lamb for him.

Besides, this was just an exploration for the first time. If there were ten sheep, all weighing about 15 kilograms, he believed that he could sell them for more than 20 yuan, including the sheepskin and offal.

That's it!

I just heard from Li Long that these people will be moving to another place later, so I still need to think carefully about what to do with the subsequent sheep.

Li Long didn't care about so many things. If he had to teach everything, he might as well earn the money.

PS: Sorry, I forgot to post it. I just remembered it after I went to bed, so I quickly got up and posted it. (End of this chapter)