Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Sun Jiaqiang came to northern Xinjiang by train in the spring. Although his hometown had also been allocated land, to be honest, they still couldn't get enough to eat, let alone make money. Several people in the village went to northern Xinjiang and stayed there for two years. When they returned, they carried a lot of things and a lot of money, which made him jealous.

He is almost thirty years old and still unmarried. His family is broke and no one is willing to marry him. So he thinks about going out to earn some money, coming back to marry a wife, and living a stable life.

But after I came here, I realized that it is not easy to make money. Working in the fields is tiring, and the factory owners would not hire an outsider like me. I was tired and didn't know how to do business. I remembered that the villagers said that they went to the mountains to dig medicinal herbs and made a fortune by selling Fritillaria, so I ran to the mountains too.

Unfortunately, the Fritillaria has just grown, and he doesn't know how to dig it. After several days in the mountains, he has dug less than one kilogram. He was also chased by the forestry team and by other people who came to dig Fritillaria. Those people occupied the good places and would not let him go alone.

Sun Jiaqiang was also helpless. He was a stubborn person in the village and didn't dare to compete with others. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been unmarried until now - all the good things were taken by others, and he had no share. Those girls also thought he was useless.

Although Sun Jiaqiang was chased away in the mountains, he was not discouraged. After all, in such a big mountain, he could find food anywhere. He often went to the mountains in his hometown, but the mountains there were not as rich as here. Sun Jiaqiang was quite capable. He caught a rabbit yesterday and ate some meat. He also kept the rabbit skin and planned to take it out to see if he could sell it for some money.

Now the sack he was carrying was bulging with all kinds of things, including dug Codonopsis pilosula, dug Fritillaria thunbergii, things he had picked up that he thought were useful, rabbit skins, and beautiful pheasant feathers.

He just didn't know how much these things could be sold for. There was also a rusty knife in the sack, and he didn't know what era it was from. He found it in the stream when he was fetching water, and he thought it might be an antique, so he took it with him.

Sun Jiaqiang walked into a ravine with less grass. Seeing that there were more rocks and less vegetation here, he wanted to change places since there were ravines everywhere in the mountain anyway.

But at this moment, he saw a tall Fritillaria cirrhosa next to a stone not far ahead, so he immediately walked over happily, bent down and dug it out.

Slightly larger than a broad bean, this is a good Fritillaria. Sun Jiaqiang carefully wiped the dirt off the Fritillaria and put it into a sack.

Let’s just follow this ditch and keep going forward.

Soon, he dug six or seven holes and unknowingly went up the slope, and then he saw the hole blocked by the stone.

After he entered the mountain, he first lived in an abandoned dugout. It rained last night and the dugout collapsed, almost crushing him to death. After he got up, he hid under a tree for half the night. He was now worrying about where to settle down, and now when he saw such a hole, he immediately became happy.

It would be great if he could find a suitable cave to live in. However, Sun Jiaqiang did not dare to go in immediately. He put down the sack, found a stick as thick as his arm nearby, and then walked into the cave carefully, knocking on the mountain wall with the stick as he walked, so that if there were any wild animals inside, they would be scared away.

As he walked inside, there was no movement, so Sun Jiaqiang felt relieved. There was a strong smell of urine in the cave, and the ground was bumpy when stepped on. It must be the shit of something. But it didn't matter, it was easy to clean up. Although the space in the cave was not big and there were rocks, it was at least better than staying in the wild.

Sun Jiaqiang thought about staying here. He took out a box of matches from his pocket and tried to light one, but then gave up. There were only a few matches left in the box, so he couldn't waste them. Matches are good in the wild. If he hadn't put them in his inner pocket, they would have gotten wet last night, which would have been a big problem.

He went out again with the stick in his hand. He picked up some dead branches nearby, pulled a few handfuls of hay, and carried them into the cave.

Sun Jiaqiang planned to light a fire in the cave to dry out the moisture and drive away the insects inside. He also planned to use the light to clean the ground so that it would be habitable.

You can't live with a pile of shit and piss.

He gathered the firewood into a pile and put hay underneath. He carefully took out a match and ignited the hay. The flames slowly rose and ignited the dry branches, and the cave became brighter.

The place is quite big and has a bend, so the wind and rain can't get in. It's a nice place.

Sun Jiaqiang was quite satisfied with this place. When he was about to clean the floor, he suddenly found that there was light on the wall, colorful!
He immediately leaned over to take a look and saw the stone on the wall, or rather, it was not stone, because why was it so translucent?
Sun Jiaqiang suddenly became excited!
There were some broken pieces on the ground. He picked up a slightly larger piece and looked at it close to the firelight - it was really translucent and colorful!
Could it be... Could it be that this is a gem?
Sun Jiaming was so excited that his body began to tremble! If this thing was really a gem, then he would be rich!
Gemstones! Natural ones! Even if it's crystal, just this hole is worth a lot of money!
Although Sun Jiaming lived in the village and rarely went out, this trip was the farthest he had ever traveled, but he had heard from the elders in the village that gold and gems were of very high value.

Sun Jiaming pulled out a lit stick from the fire and shone it towards the wall. Looking at the entire wall of translucent "stones" that were emitting colorful light, Sun Jiaming was so excited that he wanted to cry!

He suddenly ran outside, picked up a stone, and went back into the cave, smashing the colorful "gems" desperately, roaring excitedly as he did so.

The sound came from the cave. A group of gazelles from the east were planning to come into the cave, but when they heard the noise here, they immediately turned around and ran away.

There was also a strange deer walking slowly towards here in the south. After hearing the sound, it also ran away.

It’s too scary, let’s run!
Li Long reached the mouth of the ditch at this time. He vaguely heard a roar and his heart tightened. Could someone have gotten there first? Wouldn't that be troublesome?
He immediately quickened his pace, and when he reached the entrance of the cave on the mountainside, he heard the sound of "dong dong dong" knocking on the wall. He knew that he was definitely finished this time.

This guy definitely doesn't look like an animal knocking on the wall. Judging from the rhythm, it's obviously a human!

When he reached the cave entrance and saw smoke coming out of it, Li Long was no longer angry. He knew it was useless to be angry. He raised his gun and shouted inside:

"Who's in there, come out!"

After shouting, Li Long realized that this place did not belong to him. Theoretically, there was nothing wrong with what others did here.

In other words, just do whatever you want.

"I, I, I..." Sun Jiaqiang ran out, holding a stick in his hand, and looked at Li Long vigilantly.

He finally found the treasure and didn't want anyone to snatch it away!

But when he saw that Li Long had a gun, he immediately lost his temper. After all, Li Long had a gun!
I just hope he can let me pick up a few things and take them away. Of course, if the other party doesn't know what's going on here, I can sneak over here later.

"Did you light the fire in there?" Li Long thought that since he had already built up his momentum, he couldn't let it go. He raised the muzzle of his gun and said:
"Don't you know this is where the wild animals eat the salt?"

"Salt? Where is the salt?" Sun Jiaqiang shook his head. "When I walked in, I saw a pile of animal feces and urine on the ground. If this place has other uses, can I leave?"

As he said this, he turned around and went into the cave, intending to take away a few "gems" he had knocked off. A wise man never suffers a loss in front of him, because the other party had a gun in his hand, and that thing was not a toy!

Seeing Sun Jiaqiang coming out with a lot more money in his pocket, Li Long felt a little regretful. Could it be that this guy couldn't afford salt, so he came here to get rock salt?
He watched Sun Jiaqiang go over and pick up the sack, and kindly reminded him:

"Hey, brother, be careful when you eat that salt. It contains a lot of minerals. Eating too much is not good for your health! If you need it, you can ask me to exchange some mountain products for refined salt."

"What salt? I don't have any salt here?" Sun Jiaqiang was a little confused. "I want to change the salt. Do you have any?"

"The thing in your pocket must have fallen from the wall in the cave. Don't be embarrassed. Eating rock salt has been done by people for hundreds of years. It's not shameful." Li Long thought he was embarrassed to admit it, so he helped him to excuse himself:

"But those on the surface of the wall have been licked by animals, so it's best to wash them before you use them."

When he heard the "dong dong dong" sound just now, he guessed that someone inside was smashing the wall to get the salt blocks.

This guy is in such a miserable situation that he has to snatch salt from animals' mouths.

"What? This is salt? How is this possible?" Sun Jiaqiang was in disbelief. He took out a colorful "gem" from his pocket, shook it in the sun, and saw that the color was so beautiful through the sun. He shook his head firmly:

"Don't lie to me, this is obviously a gem... Never mind, if you say so, it's salt!"

"Gem?" Li Long was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. He laughed so hard that he could hardly raise his head, and Sun Jiaqiang was stunned by his laughter.

"Don't lie to me! These are gems!" Sun Jiaqiang was firm in his thoughts. "There's a hole here. I want these pieces. You don't have to act like this to fool me! If you want to take them, go inside and take them yourself!"

"Have you ever seen such a fragile gem? It breaks when you hit it with a stone?" Li Long slowly stopped laughing. He said seriously, "Try it. Lick your gem with your tongue. Well, the newly smashed side has not been licked by animals. You will know it after you try it. Brother, this is rock salt! Do you know why I brought a gun here? Because this place will attract wild animals. I want to hunt and get something to eat for myself. Unfortunately, even if there are animals, you scared them away." Li Long felt a little sorry for this guy. Judging from his clothes, he should have been in the mountains for a long time. The sack is so big that it must have contained a lot of things. It may be all his belongings. He is crazy about money and can even mistake rock salt for gems. Haha.

Sun Jiaqiang took the rock salt with half belief and half doubt, found the newly smashed mark on the side, and licked it gently.

Salty, bitter and astringent.

It's really salt.

His face suddenly fell, and his dream was shattered.

Seeing Sun Jiaqiang sitting on the ground, Li Long felt a little embarrassed. He was the one who broke his dream. He thought for a moment and said:
"I have a few steamed buns here. If you're hungry, I'll give you one."

Sun Jiaqiang raised his head in disbelief.

"But you can't eat for free. You have to tell me where you've been and where there are wild animals. Wolves, deer, roe deer, etc." Li Long had to let this person know that there is no free lunch in the world. "You can see that I came here to hunt, but you burned this place. I guess those wild animals won't dare to come here for at least half a month. My loss is not small."

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you." When Sun Jiaqiang heard that the steamed buns were not given for free, he immediately became excited. Although he had a bit of a stubborn personality, he also knew that free lunch was not an option. Now the other party was obviously trying to get useful information, which he happened to have.

He took the bun from Li Long and started to eat it. It was not shameful for a hungry person to eat like this, not to mention that this was a white flour bun that could only be eaten at home during the Chinese New Year!

Soon, Sun Jiaqiang choked, but Li Long ignored him, believing that he had his own way to deal with it.

Sure enough, he pounded his chest hard, stretched his neck, and forced himself to swallow the food that was choking him. His face turned red, but fortunately, he did not suffocate.

Hiccups are inevitable.

Li Long had water but didn't give it to him.

Does anyone know if this thing has any infectious diseases?

It was not until he had eaten half of the bun that Sun Jiaqiang finally reacted and said as he ate:
"Go west from this ditch, pass two ditches and then go south, there is a pine ditch. I have seen deer and animals like wild sheep there twice. The grass there should be good, and there are often those animals."

"Go south from here, walk along three ravines, there is a broken ravine, the mouth of the ravine has collapsed, it is easy to find, I have seen deer in it, but I saw it from a distance once, the day before yesterday, and then it ran inside. I don't know whether the other side of the ravine is open or blocked."

"Does the deer have horns or not?"

"It's half as long as a horn." Sun Jiaqiang gestured, "It's less than a foot long. It should be a male deer, but the horns are too short. But the deer is quite big."

I can tell that Sun Jiaqiang doesn't know that deer antlers will fall off, so the deer should be growing velvet now.

"any left?"

"No more. By the way, where I used to live, go west from here, cross two mountains, and then go north along a ditch. There is the cave where I used to live. Two nights ago, I heard wolves howling there, and I was so scared that I hid in the cave and couldn't sleep all night. I came out during the day, but didn't see anything."

Okay, that's about enough news.

"Here, and another steamed bun. I've been wandering around the mountains recently. If I find something according to the information you told me, I'll give you a reward if I run into you. If you dig up Fritillaria, you can sell it to me and I'll take it."

"You collect Fritillaria? How?" Sun Jiaqiang asked immediately after taking the steamed bun.

"Fresh ones are three yuan a kilogram." Li Long was referring to last year's price. "If they are big and of good quality, the price may go up a bit."

"Then where can I find you?" Sun Jiaqiang thought of a key thing.

"I have a wooden house seven or eight gullies to the west. I'm there in the morning and evening, and probably at noon." Li Long was ready to develop another potential customer. He would not be able to collect much Fritillaria if he relied on Bolati and his team alone.

It is now obvious that there are more migrant workers looking for food in this mountainous area than last year. He guessed that it is probably because the market is gradually opening up, more people are coming from their hometown, and most of the locals are busy working in the fields, so there are more outsiders in this mountain area.

Good thing for him.

The more people who can dig Fritillaria, the easier it is for him to make money from it.

It’s much better than digging it yourself.

Of course, this is a win-win situation. He gives more than those people who sell it themselves. After all, these people need to go out of the mountain 30 kilometers to sell the Fritillaria, so they basically have to store it for a while. If they encounter the forestry team's patrol, it may be taken away directly.

Moreover, if one goes to the county town to sell and then buy supplies back, one person cannot carry much stuff with him, and it is a waste of time.

The existence of Li Long Wooden House perfectly solves this intermediate link.

He even planned to drive the tractor to the county to buy some supplies tomorrow morning, regardless of whether he caught anything or not. Rice, flour, oil, tea, wine, sugar, salt and other supplies, these hard currencies can be exchanged for more good things in the mountains.

But before leaving, he planned to go to the place the man mentioned. He guessed that the place the man mentioned might be a place where red deer often go. Since they have grown antlers, did they lose their antlers? If so, even if he couldn't kill the deer, he might still be able to pick up antlers.

"Go east, there are about five or six ravines, there is a small poplar ravine, there is a cave in the ravine, no one has used it recently, you can live there." Li Long said to Sun Jiaqiang, "Wild animals often come here, I even killed a group of wolves last year. You are not safe here alone at night, unless you can build a door for this cave."

"Then I won't stay here." Sun Jiaqiang also knew that wild animals liked to eat salt. If a wolf really targeted him, he would have no chance of getting rid of it. "I'm leaving now."

Li Long did not force him to put out the fire in the cave and pick up the things. There was no need. There was already smoke, and wild animals would not come in for a while. We'll talk about it later.

Sun Jiaqiang was eating a steamed bun and walking eastward, while Li Long went out of the ditch and headed south. He planned to go to the ditch where the deer were to see if there was anything in there.

There is a landslide at the mouth of the ditch. Judging from the traces, it should be no more than a month old. I don’t know whether it was collapsed by melting snow or rain.

Li Long looked inside from outside. The ditch was overgrown with weeds and there seemed to be no signs of cattle or sheep entering. Even if there were wild animals, there should not be many.

If there is a lot of grass, there may be animals that eat grass. He jumped over the stream and walked in with his gun.

The gun was loaded with bullets and the safety was on, so I was careful when walking, trying not to touch the branches for fear of accidental discharge.

Of course, this is also done so that if you really encounter an animal, you can shoot in time.

Li Long felt a little regretful that he failed to hit the last two-headed deer, so he took such a risky move.

It all depends on this trip. (End of this chapter)