Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Li Long carried a gun and shuttled through the mountains and forests.

In the afternoon, the sun is very strong and it feels hot when it hits your body, but when you go into the shade of trees or mountains, you feel a little cool. The difference between hot and cold is just a step away.

The small stream in the valley occasionally makes a gurgling sound, reminding Li Long that there is water here. He carries a kettle with water in it. He will never drink mountain spring water directly with a spoon.

After all, there are many more creatures in mountain spring water than in wells. It is hard to say which water contains frog or snake eggs.

Li Long vaguely remembered that his elder brother Li Jianguo said that when they went into the mountains to make baskets and dig Fritillaria, they had to wear leg wraps to prevent snake bites.

Li Long wouldn't think so. He would associate the leggings with the former Red Army and think they are quite high-end.

This time the target is the hot spring, but the process is still to go southwest first and then directly east. He still wants to see if he can encounter the two-headed deer.

Although the hope is slim.

Although he was taking the same route, it was impossible for the path to be exactly the same as last time, so Li Long discovered a lot of things during the walk.

There are more Fritillaria along this road, some of which have four leaves that open opposite each other. They are not very big and people who are not familiar with them may not be able to find them.

There are quite a lot of Codonopsis pilosula, some of whose stems are even as thick as the little finger. Li Long guessed that the ginseng below might weigh one kilogram!
As for other wild plants, Li Long didn't know much about them. But he knew very well that there were many treasures in this mountain. In scientific terms, it required a certain amount of identification knowledge. In metaphysical terms, it was left for the destined person.

He vaguely remembered that in his previous life he had seen a book that compared and introduced photos of various plants in the Tianshan Mountains. He felt it was particularly good, and then he looked at the price, 263 yuan. Okay, excuse me.

But knowledge is priceless. There are so many plants to compare, take pictures and explain, and hundreds of pages of color pictures, it's worth the price.

Li Long walked forward through the gaps in the pine trees, holding a gun in his hand so that he could respond in time if he found any situation.

If I had shot the deer the first time I saw it yesterday, maybe I could have saved the deer?

Of course, my idea of ​​wanting to make a living was not wrong. There will always be many regrets in life.

After passing through the pine forest, he arrived at the ditch where he saw the two-headed deer yesterday. Li Long looked around but didn't see anything.

He didn't go to the ditch entrance, so if there was no such place, he would go directly to the hot spring ditch to see if there were any animals there.

With a "flutter" sound, a pheasant flew out diagonally from the front right, flew forty or fifty meters in the air more than ten meters high, and when it landed, it had already arrived in the woods in the southeast direction.

Li Long did not chase after it. He could tell it was a male pheasant. He thought it must be looking for food where it had just landed, so there would be no eggs there.

Then continue forward.

As soon as he climbed to the sparse forest on the ridge, he heard some movement down the slope ahead, and Li Long immediately raised his gun.

He slowly approached, took a few steps, and saw a dark shadow under the bushes. Li Long looked carefully and shouted:
"Who?"

The dark shadow immediately huddled into a ball and hid in the bushes.

"Speak, or I'll shoot!" Li Long shouted again.

He could see that it should be a person.

That is, when I entered the mountain earlier, I encountered people coming in to collect Fritillaria, and I knew that there were already people in the mountain. Otherwise, if I had heard the noise and seen the shadow just now, I would have opened fire, and someone might have died!
"Don't shoot, don't shoot!" When the shadow heard that Li Long was going to shoot, he immediately said, "I'm... digging Fritillaria, don't shoot! It's not necessary..."

Li Long couldn't quite distinguish the Shaanxi-Gansu accent. He watched the man stand up, holding a bag in one hand, which looked very deflated, probably because he didn't dig much. In the other hand he held a shovel-shaped object, probably used to dig for Fritillaria.

It is said that this homemade tool is very convenient for digging Fritillaria. The shovel head is small and the body is slender. You can shovel under the Fritillaria and dig and poke it. If you find it, take it out. If you can't find it, go find another one. There is no waste of time.

A skilled person can dig several kilograms a day.

But it seems that this person didn't gain anything.

Looking at this man again, his hair is almost shoulder-length, I don't know how long it has been since he washed it, it feels like it could be felt. His beard has grown, but he doesn't look very old, about 30 years old, a little thin, I don't know how he survived in the mountains.

There was a lot of mud and holes on his clothes, and it looked like he had lived a miserable life.

"Next time you hear any noise, speak up sooner, or else they'll shoot you to death and your death will be in vain." Li Long warned, "There are many forest rangers in this mountain, and they all carry guns. Don't throw away your life for such a small thing!"

After saying that, Li Long walked around the man with his gun in hand and headed east.

The man looked at Li Long's leaving back with a complicated look in his eyes.

There was a stone in his hand holding the bag, and he had originally planned to launch a sneak attack if Li Longqiang wanted to take his Fritillaria.

When he was a kid, he was a sheep herder and was good at pounding stones. If he attacked Li Long at this time, he might be able to hit him - just as he was thinking about it, he saw Li Long turned his head and looked at him.

With just one glance, the man immediately shrank back.

People don't completely believe in me and are still on guard!
Li Long would not hurt anyone casually, but he would not trust anyone easily either. Having seen the brutality of the vagrants looking for money in the mountains, he would not really show his back to others.

"Hey, do you want to take the Fritillaria?" the man suddenly shouted.

"Take it. If there is any extra, I will take it." Li Long stopped, looked sideways at the man thirty or forty meters away, and said, "Do you have any?"

"Not now, but there will be in a few days."

"I'll be here these days. If you want to sell it, there's a relatively flat grassland to the west. Find me there."

"Three days. In three days I will have five kilograms. Can I exchange it for steamed buns... or rice and flour?"

"Yes." Li Long likes this kind of barter the most.

"Okay." The man responded, and after Li Long walked away, he lowered his head and continued to dig out the Fritillaria.

Sure enough, the action was very fast.

Li Long just glanced at them and then left. Now, neither of them actually trusted each other, and they were able to try to trade because Li Long, although he had a gun, did not confiscate the other party's mother-of-pearl, nor did he make any strong moves. This goodwill made the other party feel that they could have further contact.

No one can tell whether it is good or bad.

Li Long entered the woods and continued walking forward with his gun.

After two more valleys, you should reach the hot spring valley.

A rabbit was also seen on the way. There were fish in the stream, jumping up and down as there was no one, birds or animals around. The fish were not big, and Li Long didn't catch them. They were just small pikes, quite agile.

Finally, we arrived at the hot spring ditch and could clearly smell a warm and damp smell.

There was a faint smell of sulfur in the air, and Li Long determined that he was about three to five hundred meters away from the pools.

So he walked forward. The higher he went, the stronger the smell of sulfur became. When he reached the pond, Li Long found that there were no animals.

Very disappointed.

There are hoof prints nearby, but not many. You can tell they are from wild goats, roe deer, or wild boars.

The water was very clear and since there were no animals, Li Long squatted down to feel the water temperature and simply prepared to take off his clothes and take a bath.

I haven’t taken a hot spring bath for a long time, so I can’t waste it now.

At this moment, at his wooden house, a forest ranger from the forestry team, riding a horse and carrying a gun, was circling.

They knew about the wooden house, which belonged to a non-staff forest ranger, so they considered it one of their own. But what about the tractor? Did the forest ranger buy a tractor?
They rode here purely because there were a lot of people entering the forest recently, and they were worried that these people would start a fire when they lit it, so they had to patrol. After all, the spring grass had not grown completely, and the dead grass was not covered. If a forest fire really started, it would burn a large area at once.

He wanted to wait for Li Long and have some communication with him. Since he was already here, there would be nothing wrong with him taking charge of this area of ​​forest.

Then instead of waiting for Li Long, he arrived at Yushan River.

Yushanjiang rushed over to tell Li Long where the wild animals were.

These days they were busy preparing for the move and packing up, so the cattle and sheep were not let go very far away, but some traces of wild animals were still found.

The forest ranger was a little surprised when he saw Yushan River.

"Bolati, what are you doing here?" Yushanjiang knew the forest ranger. He used to be a herdsman, but later he handed over his flock to the forestry team, became a forest ranger, and received a salary.

"I'm here to see the people here." Bolati pointed at the wooden house with his whip and said, "Do you know this person? Isn't this your pasture?"

"Yes, his name is Li Long, and he is also a forest ranger." Yushanjiang got off the horse, tied it to the shed, walked out and said, "He is my friend. What's the matter?"

"It's okay. Recently, a lot of migrant workers from other places have come to the mountains to dig for Fritillaria and pick deer antlers. We have a lot of patrols to do, so we want this person to come with us and look after this area."

When he heard that he was Yushanjiang's friend, Bolati's attitude became much better. He could be rude to the blind migrants and the Han people he didn't know, but he knew that many of the herdsmen in this area, including Yushanjiang, were from the same tribe. He used to be a herdsman, but not from this tribe, so he wanted to join the forestry team.

If you offend one of them, it is equivalent to offending the entire tribe, and you will be in big trouble.

He's not stupid either.

"Okay, I understand." Yushanjiang sat on the doorstep and said to Bolati, "Have you received any Fritillaria recently?"

"no, what happened?"

"If you want to receive it, you can bring it to my friend to exchange for money or things." Yu Shanjiang actually tried to solicit business from Li Long. "If you send the Fritillaria you received to the forestry team, you will get some rewards, right? How much is the reward?"

"You'll get a reward of one yuan for every kilogram you collect." Bolati was a little tempted.

"If you send it to my friend, I'll give you at least three yuan per kilogram." Yu Shanjiang vaguely remembered that Li Long bought Fritillaria at this price last year. He smiled and said, "How about it? You can exchange it for other things, such as wine, cigarettes, and sugar cubes - you should have all these things, but you're short of money, right?"

"Of course I am short of it." Bolati immediately became interested. "Can it really be exchanged for wine?"

"Sure, at least one kilogram can be exchanged for two bottles of loose liquor?" Yu Shanjiang knew that ordinary loose liquor was less than one yuan per kilogram, and bottled liquor was just over one yuan per bottle, and a bottle was less than half a kilogram, so it would be no problem to exchange them.

"Really? You can make the decision for him?"

"Sure." Yushanjiang smiled, "You can also collect Fritillaria from your colleagues and friends. The more the better."

"Okay. I can bring a bag of Fritillaria tomorrow. Do you guarantee he'll take it?"

"Promise. What time tomorrow? If you're sure, I'll come too."

"In the morning, before the sun rises." Bolati said immediately.

"Okay, I'll be here then." Yu Shanjiang felt that this was a good time and it would not delay his work.

Bolati whipped his whip, and the horse under him neighed softly, then trotted away.

Most of their daily tasks are to patrol the mountains. If they come across people digging for Fritillaria, they can naturally collect and hide them, but this stuff needs to be dried in the sun, otherwise it will go bad soon. They live in the forestry team’s settlement, and they definitely cannot dry it in the sun where they live. Fresh Fritillaria will not be collected at the purchasing point, and must be dried in the sun.

The forest rangers also have tasks. The forestry team also needs them to hand in the Fritillaria they have collected to generate income. Some of them also need to dig Fritillaria. They also want to go down the mountain to sell them. Firstly, riding a horse back and forth takes a lot of time, and secondly, if they are discovered, they will most likely be fired.

Someone took this risk and was fired, so the Bolati wanted to sell it to Li Long. The price was high, but the key point was safety.

After Bolati left, Yushanjiang looked around and then stood around watching the tractor.

They were used to riding horses, but they were also quite interested in this tractor. This thing could pull more than a horse-drawn carriage. It would be much more convenient if they had something like this when they moved from place to place. It was a pity that the tractor could not go on the road for the transfer, otherwise, they would really ask Li Long to help them transfer from place to place.

After Li Long finished soaking in the hot spring, he put on his clothes and walked back. He walked north along the hot spring ditch, and then northwest. It was much faster to walk in a straight line, but he picked wild vegetables while walking. Dandelions, wild mushrooms, wild onions, etc. He also saw pepper artemisia, but he didn't pick it. If it is mixed with cold, it tastes a bit strange.

When he came back with a bag of wild vegetables, the sun had not yet set and he saw the Yushan River.

After the two people greeted each other, Yushanjiang told them the purpose of his visit.

"You mean, there are wild boars in that ditch and roe deer have appeared on the top of the mountain?" Li Long looked at the map drawn by Yushanjiang, thought about it, and knew where it was.

"Yes." Yu Shanjiang drew the map again and pointed to the location he mentioned. "It's here. But if you want to go there, it's best to go in the morning or when the sun is about to set. We will be grazing cattle and sheep nearby, and these things will pass by after we leave."

Li Long nodded and said:

"I'll be there tomorrow morning."

"Not tomorrow morning." Yu Shanjiang shook his head. "When I came here just now, I met the forest ranger here. He said that he would bring some Fritillaria to sell to you tomorrow morning. I remember you said you would buy Fritillaria, so I agreed for you."

"Okay." Li Long smiled. It was great to have Fritillaria now. After all, Fritillaria are usually dug in late April or early May, when they are still not big.

"Three yuan per kilogram. I'll come over tomorrow morning too. He said to come before the sun rises, so remember to get up then. Oh, and he said you can exchange it with wine. If you don't have any wine, just pay first. I think you can bring some wine later, as well as other supplies. They will definitely be willing to exchange. I'm leaving now. I have to pack my things when I get back. We'll move on in a few days."

Li Long watched Yushanjiang leave, then started to light a fire and cook dinner.

He really didn't have any wine here, so he definitely couldn't change the wine this time. He would bring a bar next time. These people don't really like to drink bottled wine, and loose wine is cheap and strong enough.

In "My Altay", the herders drank bottled wine, and there were also various bottled wines in the canteen. Li Long guessed that it was probably because the store owner was not willing to carry loose wine. He remembered that the herders here, including those from the forestry team and the animal husbandry team, went to the canteen to drink with cups, one cent per cup (small tea cups, not wine cups), no need for food, just drink one cup and leave, or a few people would buy a few more cups and take turns drinking.

Even in the 20s of the 21st century, you could still see a few people sitting around in some parks in the Yili region, drinking and chatting in broad daylight. They didn't drink any good wine, and there wasn't much to eat with it, just a pack or two of pickled mustard and peanuts, and they would drink for most of the day. When they drank too much, they didn't cause any trouble, just lay down on the grass and fell asleep, or lie down on a bench in the park.

I set up the stove, boiled water, picked wild vegetables from the spring, washed them, blanched them in boiling water, chopped them, added salt, oil, chili, vinegar, and mixed them. I put the steamed buns under the stove to bake. After they were charred, I took them out. I felt it was not enough, so I baked another one. I didn't get much today, so I had to make do with it and see if I could get something tomorrow. I had to get something tomorrow, otherwise I couldn't just eat the steamed buns.

The cold dish naturally had some flavor and tasted good, but Li Long was not satisfied.

After dinner, thinking about buying Fritillaria tomorrow morning, he packed up his things, fetched two buckets of water, and cleaned the tractor. The tractor has worked hard since it was bought, so it can't be treated badly.

After the tractor was cleaned and the sun had set, Li Long cleaned up the house and threw out the leftover cold dishes. He used to leave them overnight, but now he has plenty of food and knows that green leafy vegetables will become unhealthy if left overnight, so he doesn't destroy his body.

After the stove was lit, Li Long went in and knocked on the door. As soon as it got dark, it became cold outside. I don't know if those who went into the mountains to look for money dug a cave or dug a hole in the ground.

Going into the mountains at this time is really a torture. When the time comes, I will bring people to organize the carrying group, and I will ask them to make the dugout well, otherwise, if they get sick, it will be a big trouble.

In the middle of the night, it was drizzling outside. The temperature in the room was still good and the stove was on. Li Long just listened to the sound of rain, then turned over and fell asleep again.

While he was dazed, someone knocked on the door and Li Long woke up.

Looking out the window, it was still dark outside. Li Long got up and put on his clothes while asking cautiously:

"Who?"

It definitely wouldn’t be Yushan Jiangbolati and the others at this time.

"Countryman, countryman, can you open the door? My brother has a fever, do you have any medicine... If there is no medicine, can you give me a bowl of hot water to drink?" The voice outside was very urgent.

The blind drifter digging for Fritillaria? It's not the one you touch during the day, the sound is different.

Li Long holds the 56-caliber semi-automatic rifle. (End of this chapter)