Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

"Fifteen broken skins, eight of which have only one or two bullet holes, which are considered good, thirty-one, a total of two hundred and four. Seven skins have more than three bullet holes, and there are also cuts from the knife when skinning. These skins are twenty-one, which is one hundred and four. The remaining two are intact skins, which are worth a higher price, fifty-one. This makes a total of four hundred and eighty yuan. I will make it a round number for you, five hundred, how about it?"

Because Xu Haijun also brought two whole yellow sheep, Li Long simply took a step back and added twenty yuan.

"Sure, it will work." Xu Haijun said with a smile, "This idea was given by you. We can make so much money in two days, which is already very good. Don't you think so, German Army?"

"Yes, there is meat to eat and money to earn. It only takes two days and you can also go hunting. Where can you find such a good thing?" Xu Dejun on the side was also very satisfied with the price.

"Well, these leathers have been salted, right?"

"I have wiped it, I have wiped it. I learned it last year when I saw you guys processing leather in the mountains."

"Okay, come on, you two help me move the skins to the east wing, right there, and then we can go inside to wash our hands and drink some water, and I'll get you the money."

"Okay." Xu Haijun and Xu Dejun followed Li Long to move the leather to the side room and arranged it, then went into the main room to wash their hands.

Sister Yang and Han Fang were watching the children. They came out from the inner room when they heard the noise. When they saw Li Long bringing people in, they greeted them together. Han Fang immediately poured them some water.

"This is Sister Yang and Xiaofang who are looking after Xiaoxia and I's kids. Sister, Xiaofang, they are from the team. Xiaofang, you can call them uncle."

"Hello, uncle, hello!" Han Fang greeted the two people with a smile, holding water. After saying hello, Sister Yang hurried to the inner room to see the child.

"Okay, okay." Xu Haijun and Xu Dejun quickly took the water and agreed.

Li Long went into the east room to get the money, and when he came out, he was holding a thick stack of almost brand new Great Unity banknotes. He counted them one by one in front of Xu Haijun and Xu Dejun, and then handed them to Xu Haijun.

"Okay, Xiaolong, this matter is settled, we are going back. We still have some meat to process at home, and the snow is about to melt. The timing is not right. Otherwise, we would have thought of making another trip."

"Hehe, actually you can go if you have time in the summer. There are more gazelles at that time. Now some of them run deep into the sandbags, and some run to the edge of the mountain." Li Long suggested.

"I see."

After Xu Haijun and Xu Chengjun left, Li Long went to the side room to sort the leathers into different categories and hang them up. The leathers had just been peeled off and were not dry yet, so they could not be piled together, otherwise they would stink easily.

Last time I got a lot of skins from my eldest brother’s old company, and now I have seventeen more. It seems that the room is almost full of yellow sheepskins.

There were also two yellow sheep's mutton. Li Long saw that the meat was still frozen, so he took one in each hand and went to the storage room. Xiao Hei jumped happily with him, obviously looking greedy, but he didn't eat it.

After Li Long hung up the two yellow sheep, he found a bone in the storage room and threw it to Xiao Hei, letting it chew on it.

Wait until the yellow sheep softens before handling it. It is too hard now and difficult to handle.

He could chop it open with an axe, but he didn't want to do it now because it would be too tiring.

At this time, Wang Mingjun asked Lao Chen from the Corps:

"You think our old quartermaster's brother, Li Long, won't not come? We hunted a batch of yellow sheep before the New Year and got fifty or sixty skins. I was thinking of selling the skins these two days and buying a harvester in a couple of days. Then the wheat will be ripe and it will be easier to harvest. If he doesn't come, won't the skins be sold to the middlemen?"

"No, I think that young man is very steady in what he says and does. Besides, he has the face of the quartermaster, so he can't not come. It's not the fifteenth day of the first lunar month yet, and the New Year hasn't ended yet. Let's wait a little longer."

"Okay." Wang Mingjun nodded, "Then let's wait a little longer. I'm afraid the road will become difficult to walk on when the snow melts, and it will be difficult to walk on it."

After Xu Haijun got the money, he didn't walk around the street. He drove his tractor back to Team 4 and went straight to Xu Chengjun's home.

Xu Chengjun was packing yellow sheep meat in the house. This time, the four of them drove the tractor out, and no one knew about the hunting of yellow sheep except for a few close relatives. When they came back, they couldn't keep a low profile. After all, they had hunted 17 yellow sheep, and they had to tie them up with ropes to keep them stable when loading them with a tractor.

After killing the yellow sheep, Xu Haijun used a knife to open its belly to let out the air. He also learned this from Li Long.

After the yellow sheep were pulled back, the four families gathered together to skin them. Many people came to help after hearing the news.

Although the living standard of Team Four is higher than that of other villages these days, not everyone can eat meat every day like the Li family.

So close neighbors and friends came to help process these yellow sheep, and each family could take some meat back.

The yellow sheep were not divided equally. Two of the seventeen were given to Li Long, two were given to those who came to help and other relatives of the Xu family. Xu Chengjun paid the largest share and got one more sheep, and the remaining family got three.

The other three families were very happy, as three yellow sheep had hundreds of kilograms of meat! Xu Chengjun also wanted to take the yellow sheep meat to thank those who lent him the gun.

When Xu Haijun and Xu Dejun returned to Xu Chengjun's house, Xu Chengjun put down the axe in his hand and asked:
"Did you get the money back? How much did you sell it for?"

"Five hundred!" Xu Haijun said excitedly, "Xiaolong asked for four hundred and eighty, let's make it an even number."

"Not bad, more than I expected." Xu Chengjun nodded, "Xiaolong is still generous. Okay, let's divide the money."

The result of the discussion on how to divide the money was that Xu Dejun and Xu Feihu, who did not come, each received 100 yuan, Xu Haijun received 130 yuan, and Xu Chengjun received 170 yuan.

Everyone was very satisfied with this way of dividing the profits. After all, it was Xu Haijun who came up with the idea and Xu Chengjun who paid the lion's share, so it was reasonable for the two of them to get more.

In the evening, most people in the team knew that the Xu family had gone out for a trip. Not only did each family get hundreds of kilograms of meat, but they also got a lot of money.

It only takes two days to beat and deal with it, which is more cost-effective than making a broom at home!
The main thing is that this is done during the idle time in winter. In this way, isn't there a way to make money all year round?
People immediately gathered at these homes to inquire about the situation. When they found out that it was Xu Haijun's idea and that Xu Chengjun was the main supporter, more people from Xu Haijun's family immediately came.

Xu Chengjun is the team leader, and few people look for him - mainly because they are afraid of being attacked by a bear.

And everyone also learned from Xu Haijun that it was Li Long who gave the Xu family the idea of ​​hunting yellow sheep.

It turned out that when winter came, most people stayed at home, while a few people followed Li Long's example and dug holes in the ice to catch fish, trap rabbits and sell their skins.

You can make money from these things as long as you are willing to endure the hardship.

But only a few people do these things, and only a few make money from them.

Now everyone has discovered that in addition to the team organizing the hunt, people can also go on their own. A yellow sheep skin costs 20 to 30 yuan, and hunting two is equivalent to a worker's monthly salary, and you can also get dozens of kilograms of meat.

We have all served in the militia, so when it comes to marksmanship, who is worse than who?

Isn't the only thing missing a tractor?
But other teams don’t have it, but Team 4 has several tractors!

As for the gun… there is always a way.

So, in these two days, the team became busy again, looking for partners with people who had tractors or wanted to borrow tractors, borrow guns and bullets, look for partners, or when they found that someone had already started to prepare to go hunting, they sought to join.

When the snow was about to melt, Team 4 suddenly became lively again.

Make money, don't shiver.

At this time, the villagers of Team 4 did not realize that in just these two or three years, their minds had become much more open than those of the villagers in other teams and even other communes, and they had begun to actively seek opportunities to develop and make money.

Most of the villagers in other teams are still focusing on farming, and their main focus is on growing grain. They are all passively following the major policies and going with the flow.

This awareness of being one step ahead not only works now, but will also play an increasingly important role for a long time in the future. With subjective initiative, when opportunities come, they will be less likely to hesitate and more likely to take the initiative, and their chances of getting rich will also increase.

The richer you are, the easier it is to make money. When your financial resources gradually increase, when you encounter opportunities, you will have enough confidence to resist risks. The more you dare to try and make mistakes and have the confidence to do so, the more opportunities you will have to make money.

Li Long stirred up the stagnant water.

Li Long has been staying at the original purchasing station that he rented these two days. During the Chinese New Year, there are not many people coming. After all, it is the Chinese New Year, and even if there are few people trapping rabbits, everyone wants to let the rabbits rest for two days.

There were not many things to collect, so Li Long simply stopped for two days, then went to the department store and bought some stationery - school was about to start, and it seemed that Halimu and Yushanjiang's children would be preparing to go down the mountain to the settlement.

After buying the stationery, Li Long went to a private vegetable store in the market and bought some long-lasting vegetables such as sprouts, potatoes, and cabbage, put them in the car, and drove into the mountains.

The icy road was no longer as solid as before, and the car made a crackling sound when driving over it. Li Long knew that it was because the ice and snow on the surface began to melt when it was hot during the day, and then froze again at night, forming cavities and cracks, and the sound was made when the car drove over it and crushed the ice.

The time when the snow melts is coming soon.

It was smooth to enter the mountain. It hadn't snowed in the past few days, and someone had entered the mountain before and had paved a path in advance. This road was not only marked by traces of people and cars, but also hoof prints of herds of cattle and sheep. Li Long's jeep easily entered the mountain pass, and only when he drove to the valley where Halimu's winter nest was located did the driving become difficult.

Fortunately, the 212 jeep's ability to break snow is pretty good. There was already a road that had been pressed out before, and there was a layer of snow on it. At this time, we just stepped on the accelerator and drove through it.

The sound of the jeep attracted the barking of dogs. Halimu and the others came out of their winter den, looking very happy.

Li Long looked at the water from the pipe, which was still flowing and had formed a small stream with green grass in it.

The jeep drove to the entrance of the winter den. Li Long got out of the car, greeted Halimu, and started moving things.

Nathan and Susken came out to help, and soon all the things were moved. However, Halim did not lead Li Long into the winter den, but took him to the sheepfold.

"Look at these things," Halimu said with a smile, "They were all caught during this period."

Li Long looked very surprised, these were seven little elks!
The sizes of the young red deer are also different. The small ones are slightly bigger than the big lambs, and the slightly bigger ones are almost the same size as adult sheep. At present, all of them are eating grass.

The two youngest ones looked at the people coming, cried, jumped to the side of the sheepfold, poked their heads out, and looked at Li Long and his friends curiously. Their big eyes looked very cute. Susken ran over and pulled a handful of tender grass and handed it to the little red deer.

"These two haven't been weaned yet. It would be better to feed them some cow's milk when you take them back. Goat's milk is also fine." Halimu said, "They are easy to feed. The older ones eat more and grow faster."

Li Long took a closer look and asked some more questions. These seven elk, five males and two females, are quite economical - the male deer can produce antlers in three years, and they can be sawed twice a year. At the beginning, the antlers weigh several kilograms, and later on, a set of antlers can grow to more than ten or twenty kilograms. The economic benefits are quite good.

"Good, good, great." Li Long smiled as he watched, squatted down and touched the fearless little sika deer. After looking at them one by one, he returned to the winter den and said:

"I can't pull these elk back today. I'll have to wait until tomorrow when the tractor comes over. By the way, when will Nathan and Susken go to school?"

"I'm ready to go now."

"Do you want me to take you there?" Li Long said, "I have a car."

"Okay." Halimu said with a smile, "After sending them off today, you can send Yushanjiang's family off as well tomorrow."

"No problem. After I send the kids off, I'll come back to get the red deer. I don't have any money with me today."

"We'll talk about the money later. Oh, and there are also skins." Halimu pointed to the house next door and said, "Some of the boys found elk fawns in the mountains, and some didn't, but they killed wolves, elk, and roe deer. The skins and horns they peeled are here. You can take them all away when the time comes."

It was decided so simply.

Then Li Long started talking about business.

"Snow lotus? How much do you want? There are a lot of snow lotuses on the mountain, both above and below the snow line. Of course, few people know about it and go there." Halimu said when he heard Li Long say that someone wanted snow lotuses, "Everyone in our tribe can pick them."

"That's great. The more the better. Five dollars a flower. Pick as many as you can - just don't cut off the roots."

"Five dollars? So expensive? Don't you make money?" Halimu asked.

"The customer charges six dollars, and I charge one dollar for shipping. I don't make any money from you." Li Long said, "Just pick the snow lotus and keep its roots. By the way, put the ones above the snow line away. Let me know."

"I understand. Don't worry. We know that the things above the snow line are good." Halimu didn't talk to Li Long about money at this time. Let's talk about it later. After all, the snow lotus will not bloom until July or August. Everything he says now will be fake.

Li Long did not mention more. Halim's mother was a local doctor, and the Kazakhs also had the tradition of using snow lotus as medicine, so there was no need to remind him how to preserve snow lotus.

Li Long even knew that after they picked the snow lotus, they would use wool to wrap the petals and stamens and tie them up to prevent the medicinal properties from dissipating.

Halimu told his family about Li Long taking them down the mountain to the settlement, and they were very happy. After all, it takes a long time to ride a horse, and it is quite cold on the road. With Li Long's car, it is fast, safe and convenient.

Halimu's family immediately started to pack up. Actually, there weren't many things, just the two children's school supplies, some food, meat and other supplies - Li Long asked them to bring less food, and he would buy more for them later.

So Halimu simply followed the jeep to the settlement. After all, they hadn't lived there for a whole winter, and cleaning would require labor. With him around, things would go faster, and when everything was done, Li Long would just take him back.

After packing up, Halimu's wife also prepared the meal. The dish for lunch was Huldak, and the staple food was naan that was made yesterday. Huldak is a stir-fried dish of lamb with potatoes, carrots, sprouts, etc. These ingredients and the meat are diced and fried similarly to our potato stewed with lamb, but the pieces are smaller and easier to digest.

We drank milk tea and each person had a piece of naan. There was a large plate of huldak on the table and everyone gathered around to eat. It was very lively.

After eating, Halimu said a few words to his wife, then got into Li Long’s car and went down the mountain together.

Riding a horse means going directly out of the mountain and taking a small road to the settlement. It is winter now, and the snow on the small road is too thick for the jeep to drive. Li Long drove directly to the Wuyi Highway, then went east along the highway, passed the county town to the settlement intersection and then went south. Although he walked more than ten kilometers, it took more than an hour to arrive.

"It takes most of the day to go there on horseback," Halimu said. "It's faster to take a car. Cars are really very convenient!"

"When you have money and more cars in the future, you can buy one too." Li Long turned off the engine and got out of the car, saying with a smile.

"really?"

"Really? There are so many resources in the mountains. You can get more now, sell them and save some money. When individuals can buy cars, you will have saved enough money. It's not a difficult thing."

After he said that, Halimu believed it.

Friends don't lie to friends.

There was a thick layer of snow in the yard, so no one said much. We got out of the car and started working.

The old lady bent down to find the key, unlocked the door and started to pack things. The men did the yard work, so she didn't need to do it. She thought about setting up the stove first.

Although it was already the end of February, the house was still very cold. When I moved out, I cleaned the stove very well, expecting to be back by this time, so I prepared all the things for the stove next to the stove. I just needed to put them in order and light the fire.

Although the stove is on and the temperature in the room will rise quickly, it will be a little uncomfortable to sleep here today because the cold air and moisture in the room cannot be dispelled in a short time and the bedding will be very cold.

Li Long, Halim, Nasen Sasken and two children spent more than an hour clearing the snow in the yard. At this time, the old lady had already made tea and was boiling milk. The milk was from the neighbors. The tradition of helping each other is engraved in the bones of the Kazakh people.

While drinking milk tea, Halimu said with emotion:
"Last year's move seemed so troublesome. There were so many things to carry, the horses had to walk a long way, and the road was bumpy. Why did it feel so easy to move back today?"

"Because I'm in a good mood." Li Long joked, "When I'm in a good mood, I can work easily."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Halimu knew that Li Long didn't want to hear words of thanks, so he responded, "Let's go back after we finish our milk tea. You take me back, and I'll ride to tell Yushan Jiang's family, and you can come pick them up tomorrow."

"Okay." Li Long nodded.

Old lady Nathan and Susken waved at the jeep outside the gate. The two children felt a little sad knowing that they would not be able to see their parents for a while.

But the children's sadness was short-lived. When they could no longer see the shadow of the jeep, they rushed to the main road and ran to their good friend's house. They were almost going crazy after staying in the mountains for a whole winter without anyone to play with.

Li Long drove a jeep to take Halimu back to the winter den. When he came back, he was carrying more than a dozen skins and two pairs of deer antlers.

There were four red deer skins, three large and one small, all of which were damaged skins. There were five wolf skins, four of which were intact skins, and it was unknown whether they were shot with a gun or covered with a holster.

Two roe deer skins, one incomplete and one whole, plus two wild goat skins with holes in them, and the deer antlers, totaling nearly eight hundred dollars' worth of stuff.

Including the seven little red deer, there are more than two thousand.

Li Long was thinking all the way back to put the leather away and take the money to give to Halimu tomorrow.

Just as he was thinking about it, someone on the side of the road waved at him. He looked at Meng Hai, who was wearing a military green cotton coat, so he stopped the jeep on the side of the road, turned off the engine and got out.

"Hey, it's you again." Meng Hai greeted Li Long with a big smile on his face, "Comrade Li Long, Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year! Are you waiting for me?"

"I heard there were jeeps coming and going, and I thought it was you, so I came over to wait and see." He kicked the basket at his feet and said, "I got some eggs. Where are your two kids? Take them back to nourish them."

There is a big basket of eggs, more than a hundred of them, which is very thoughtful.

After all, chickens definitely don't lay as many eggs in winter as in summer. Li Long appreciates this thoughtful gesture.

He suddenly thought of two things and planned to ask Meng Hai.

After all, Qingshuihe Village is right on the side of the mountain, so it’s very convenient.

"Old Meng, has anyone in your village ever gone into the mountains to pick snow lotus?"

"Snow lotus? Yes, but not much. You have to go deep into the mountains to get some." Meng Hai said, "There are people in our village who like to go into the mountains, but not many. Why, do you want some?"

"Someone wants to buy them from me. Five dollars a piece." Because it was just a side job, Li Long gave a flat price.

"So high?" Meng Hai was shocked. "Although that thing is said to be magical, it's not particularly rare..."

He was obviously tempted.

"Also, after the spring planting, I'm looking for people to work in the mountains, mainly to repair houses. Five dollars a day. Can you find someone?"

"Is there a specific time? We will definitely find the person." When Meng Hai heard that the salary was five yuan a day, he thought it was a good deal.

A porter can earn more than ten or twenty yuan a day, but the work is scarce.

A few dollars a day is actually a very good wage!

"Just do it during those few days when we are the ones who carry the weapons." Li Long thought that he would have to go to the mountains anyway, so he might as well leave it at that time. "Four or five will be enough."

"no problem!"

……

PS: The ice on the Dahaizi Reservoir has melted. Last weekend, veteran fishermen from the fourth team cast their nets and caught more than 150 kilograms of fish. They took them to the Dageda Market in Ma County and sold them for more than 1,000 yuan. This is a true story, not a novel.

If you have monthly tickets, please vote for me. I am ranked around 100, but I cannot even get into the top 100. I am itching to do so. (End of this chapter)