Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

It's not cold when it snows, but it's cold when the snow melts. It's the melting snow season, and when Li Long drove his jeep north, even though the sun was much stronger than a month ago, he knew that the perceived temperature outside would be much lower.

I was wearing thick clothes, but I still felt cold.

The further north you go, the fewer people there are, the more empty the world becomes, and the stronger the feeling of vastness becomes.

The occasional appearance of horse-drawn carriages and tractors broke the tranquility. When Li Long met the carriages, he could see that most of them were loaded with one or two yellow sheep, and the drivers often carried guns.

They had smiles on their faces, a sense of joy of harvest. Although it was cold, they were happy.

Li Long didn't know whether these people came up with the idea of ​​going to the north to hunt yellow sheep on their own initiative, or whether they got the news from somewhere.

Of course, I am sure that I am not the only smart person. When I was hunting yellow sheep in the uninhabited area of ​​​​the Wuyi Highway, Wang Mingjun and his men were already hunting in the sand pit. This is normal.

When the jeep drove to the company, Lao Chen hurried out of the company yard. He smiled and waved at Li Long from afar.

When the jeep drove into the yard, Wang Mingjun came out wearing a military green coat. He shook hands with Li Long who got off the jeep and said with a smile:

"Comrade Xiao Li, you've worked hard. How have you been this year? There's no need to rush. With your car, it won't be a problem to get over here once the snow melts."

"That won't work. The snow has melted and the road is muddy. My car will get stuck in it and we'll be in trouble with no village or shop to go to." Li Long also knew that Wang Mingjun was joking, so he explained and followed the two men into the company headquarters.

Boss Chen thought that the company commander was very anxious before. He had originally planned to lead his men to hunt yellow sheep again after the fifth day of the New Year. However, the company commander did not allow them to go a second time because he was worried that if too many skins were killed and no one collected them, they would go bad.

Now you're saying polite words!
Wang Mingjun motioned Li Long to sit down, poured him some water and said:
"Comrade Xiao Li, forget it, I'll just call you Xiao Long. Xiao Long, let me tell you, there are quite a few people coming here to hunt yellow sheep recently. Is there a competitor from your side? Is there anyone who is buying yellow sheep skins privately like you?"

"I haven't heard of this yet, but even if it doesn't exist now, it will definitely exist in the future." Li Long said with a smile, "It's a market economy now, and the country encourages private legal business. If this leather can find a market, someone will definitely buy it."

This kind of thing is bound to be inevitable, and Li Long is mentally prepared for it.

"Don't worry, as long as you still collect leather, we will definitely sell you the leather from our company." Wang Mingjun's voice was very loud. "You have the relationship with the old quartermaster, and you are efficient. We trust you."

"Thank you very much, Captain and the quartermaster. By the way, our company has an instructor, right?"

"Yes, the instructor went back to his hometown to visit his relatives." Wang Mingjun said, "It will take a few days for him to come back."

We chatted for a while, built some relationships, and then got down to business.

As Boss Chen led Li Long to the warehouse, he said:

"Our company commander wants to buy a harvester after selling these hides, which will save a lot of trouble during the busy farming season."

"Harvester? Combine? Combine?"

"How is that possible? I can't afford it. It's a harvester for harvesting wheat, a small one, the kind that comes in front of a small four-wheel tractor. You should have used it there, right?"

"Hey, don't we agree? I'm the agent for that thing in Ma County, so you can only buy it from me. We're family, and I'm telling you the truth, Brother Chen. I designed this harvester and produced it together with the Kuitun Agricultural Machinery Factory. So, I'm the only one who sells it in Ma County, and no one else can sell it."

"Is this true?" Old Chen was a little surprised. "Xiaolong, can you do this?"

"Haha, I just tinkered with it." Li Long looked a little proud. "I just thought that harvesting wheat was too difficult, so it would be easier to make a harvester. After I designed it, I looked for several factories, and finally it was produced in Kuitun. They said it even won some award in the autonomous region."

"Hey, you're awesome! How much is a harvester? Do you sell it in the county?"

"I'll sell it for 600 yuan, but of course it's cheaper if you buy it. Ten pieces of complete leather are enough, and less than 20 pieces of damaged leather." Li Long said with a smile, "In other words, I'll sell it to you for 500 yuan. I have ten in the big yard in the county now. If you want them, find a car to take them."

"Good, good, that's great!" Boss Chen thought that the big problem had been solved.

The warehouse was opened, and a foul smell filled the air. Li Long could see that there seemed to be more hides in the room than last time.

Maybe it’s not because of the large quantity, it’s mainly new peels, which are thicker than tangerine peels.

"Come, let's count them. Fifty-two whole hides and twenty-one broken hides. We know that whole hides are valuable. Last time we went hunting, we only shot the heads of gazelles and red deer. If nothing else, our militia's marksmanship is fine."

The militia in the towns and villages train every winter, and gradually fewer and fewer people pick up guns.

The training of the Corps’ militia is much stricter, and they have many more opportunities to touch guns, so the overall level of marksmanship is naturally better.

"Great, great." Li Long praised, "Just take a look."

As Lao Chen said this, he took down the leather in piles and showed them to Li Long one by one. He mentioned the number of intact and damaged leathers, not because he wanted Li Long not to check.

Friendship is one thing, business is another. Speaking of friendship, it is like giving a horse as a favor, speaking of business, it is like being merciless in business - each has its own interpretation.

Li Long checked them one by one, and he clearly felt that the skinning skills were better this time.

Among the fifty-two whole hides, there were seventeen red deer hides and thirty-five yellow sheep hides.

Among the twenty-one pieces of skin, there were nine red deer skins and twelve yellow sheep skins.

Li Long didn't calculate so much and just went with the last price, fifty for a whole skin and thirty for a damaged skin.

"A total of three thousand two hundred and thirty yuan." Li Long went to the jeep, took out the key, opened the door, took out his bag money, counted out the money in piles, and handed it to Lao Chen, "Brother Lao Chen, can you ask someone to help move the leather?"

"Okay, okay." After taking the money and counting it, Boss Chen asked someone to move the leather. He then went to enter the money into the account and report to Wang Mingjun.

"What? He said he was selling harvesters? Hey, what a coincidence..." Wang Mingjun didn't expect it to be so coincidental. "Then tell him that our company wants to buy one."

"He said, let's buy one. He said he has ten in his big yard in the county town, and we can just go and get one when we want. If he sells it to others, it's 600 yuan per unit, but he can only sell it to us for 500 yuan."

"Xiaolong is really one of us. This price... OK, OK, OK. By the way, Lao Chen, after you load the hides, give him one of the remaining yellow sheep and red deer in the warehouse, and also two boxes of fruit. He has been very kind to us, so we can't be stingy with him. You take care of this. I'll come over for lunch later. Now I'm going to find our tractor driver and ask about the situation."

That was how it was settled. After the hides, yellow sheep and red deer were loaded onto the truck, Li Long was taken to the canteen by Boss Chen.

Today's meal was not as sumptuous as that day, but it was still substantial. There were two large bowls on the table, one of which was braised elk meat and the other was stir-fried yellow sheep tripe.

Li Long thought that Old Chen was really attentive. Last time when they had dinner, there was mutton offal on the table, and he took note of it because he ate a few more bites of mutton tripe.

The main food is rice.

"Xiaolong, you still have to drive today, so let's not drink. Bring your sister-in-law over when you have time. We'll stay here for a day or two, and then we'll have a good drink!" Wang Mingjun came over and said with a smile, "We're all family, so don't be polite."

The company does not produce rice, and eating noodles is the norm. Rice is used to entertain guests, which is different from the fourth team that grows rice.

The rice is fragrant, and the stir-fried tripe and braised venison make you feel warm in your stomach, which is a very good feeling.

After dinner, when Li Long was about to leave, Lao Chen asked someone to bring two boxes of fruit to the car:

"Take it back and feed it to the elderly and children. When you have time, we'll pack more for you. We'll bring people to find you in a couple of days... Is this the location of the original purchasing station?"

"Yes, yes, the old purchasing station is mine now. I'm here these days."

The matter was settled, and Li Long drove the jeep away from the company and headed back.

When driving back, we could vaguely hear someone firing gunshots in the sand pit to the north.

The gazelles and red deer in the Gurbantunggut Desert have suffered a lot this year, with a large number of them being wiped out.

Driving back to the county, Li Long felt that the temperature here was significantly higher than in the north. There were more people on the street. Some people who could resist the cold had taken off their heavy cotton clothes and put on fleece or sweaters. Although the main colors of people's clothes were still dark colors such as blue and black, occasionally you could see people walking on the street wearing brighter clothes.

Usually at this time they will attract most people's attention.

The jeep drove back to the big yard. Li Long opened the small door himself, then went in and opened the big door from the inside.

Han Fang said this morning that the school would have a general cleaning today, so she went to school with the tools, but the cleaning should not be finished yet.

Schools are opening one after another, and Gu Xiaoxia and the others are also going to be busy. Li Long was unloading the skins while thinking that he should stay at the purchasing station for the next few days. It was the beginning of spring, and some people might want to buy agricultural supplies. If they didn't have money, they might sell some of the stock at home.

The leather smelled strong, so Sister Yang came out to help, but Li Long told her to go back. He still took Mingming and Haohao more seriously.

He moved the skins to another room and spread them out to dry, then moved the two boxes of fruit to the storage room, and finally the gazelle and red deer.

The meat has not been thawed yet, and these two are frozen solid, so they can be kept for a while. Li Long is not in a hurry. He plans to use this free time to slowly process the meat in the storage room.

The main thing is to cut it into pieces, air-dry or steam it, and eat it slowly.

He was thinking whether he should take the time to go to Wucheng to buy a refrigerator. At that time, there were refrigerators for sale in Wucheng, but they were not big and could not store much.

But it was better than nothing—in the middle of summer, all the meat you could get was cooked, but it still tasted worse than thawed meat. These days, it’s not like 30 or 40 years later, when you can fill a freezer with meat and keep it for two or three days without eating it.

The times are different and the situations are different.

After Li Long had packed up all these things, washed off the smell of mutton, changed his clothes and went to see Mingming and Haohao, Sister Yang finally had time to make dinner. Fortunately, dinner was simple, with porridge, pickles, and steamed buns.

The next day, Li Long went to the purchasing station, and he brought a yellow sheep with him. Li Long thought that if no one came, he would just dismember the yellow sheep here.

Of course, first to the purchasing station, Li Long needed to set up the stove. He left from time to time these days, and the fire in the purchasing station was occasionally lit. When the door was opened, a cold wave of air rushed in, which was quite uncomfortable.

After setting up the stove, Li Long simply cleaned the inside. He felt that this large wooden counter was quite suitable for collecting yellow sheep. But after thinking about it, he decided to give up. It would not be appropriate if someone really came to sell things.

Li Long spread two sacks on the ground next to the stove, then put the frozen yellow sheep on top and let them thaw slowly.

The axe and machete that I brought with me were placed aside for use.

After tidying up the house and lighting the fire in the stove, Li Long took off his coat, saw that the yellow sheep was a little soft, and started to chop it with an axe.

This yellow sheep is not very big, weighing about 30 kilograms. Its stomach is very clean. It can be seen that it is a ewe, not too old, and the meat is very tender.

Li Long chopped the yellow sheep in half. When he changed the machete to cut off its legs, he heard footsteps outside.

Li Long stood up with a machete in hand and watched the two young men walk to the door.

The one in front was holding a black briefcase, and the one behind was empty-handed. One of them had a middle-parted haircut, and the other had a slicked back hair, looking quite stylish.

Two bicycles were parked outside in the yard of the purchasing station, next to the jeep.

"Hello, are you Comrade Li Long?" the man holding the briefcase asked with a smile.

"It's me." Li Long put the machete on the counter and nodded, "You two are..."

"Hello, hello." The man holding the briefcase put the briefcase in his left hand and took the initiative to extend his hand to shake hands with Li Long. "My name is Huang Quansheng. I came here to discuss something with you."

"Tell me." Li Long shook hands with him, nodded and said, "What's the matter?"

Although this was very polite, Li Long felt that what this person said was not a good thing.

"It's like this. I actually had my eye on this yard of the purchasing station, but something happened in the winter that delayed me. When I found time to come and prepare to rent the yard, I found that you had already done it first."

Huang Quansheng's words made Li Long understand that this guy had the same idea.

These days, there probably aren’t many people in this small county who have business acumen and can see the prospects of the purchasing station—or there probably aren’t many people who can see the long-term benefits of replacing the purchasing station so quickly.

"So I came here to discuss this with you. How about this? I will return the rent you paid for this yard in full, and give you another hundred dollars to make up for the loss. How about you sublet this yard to me?"

It’s just a hundred dollars, what the hell are you dreaming of?

Li Long thought with disdain, but he didn't show it on his face. He shook his head and said:
"Sorry, no subletting."

He knew that this person must have some connections, otherwise he would not have been able to find out that he was the one who rented the yard.

But doesn't it matter to him too? So he's not afraid either.

If the other party is too powerful and takes away the yard directly, then he really has no way to deal with it.

However, if the opponent does not have that kind of strength, then you can only blame yourself for being too slow and unable to snatch it from Li Long.

The purchasing station itself is indeed a money-making point, but for Li Long, this point is just one of his many money-making points. It is something that is icing on the cake. It is good to have it, but it doesn’t really have much impact if you don’t have it.

"One hundred yuan is two months' salary for a mid-level worker. It's already a lot." The young man with the slicked-back hair behind him said in a muffled voice, "You only cleaned the yard for a few days, and you made a lot of money. Don't be ungrateful."

"Since you already know that I make money in this yard, how can you be content?" Li Long simply said, "You can move to another place, or open a purchasing station next door. I got this yard and made 200 yuan in less than a month. Do you think I will move out of the yard for 100 yuan?"

"You still don't understand." The smile on the face of the young man with the briefcase disappeared. "We came to you to talk because we think some things can be discussed and resolved. But if you think we are easy to talk to, I'm afraid you are wrong. You know the saying "be polite before using force", right?"

"If you want to threaten me, you are wrong." Li Long smiled. "In the mountains, I shot down two murderers on the run. On the way to Shicheng, I knocked down five robbers by myself, one of whom is now dead. If I was scared, I wouldn't open a purchasing station here. Please go back!"

Li Long's words also stunned the two young men. They thought Li Long was a businessman, but they didn't expect that he had such a history!

Then they watched Li Long pick up the machete and chop hard at the half-sheep. The bones of the sheep broke with one chop. The two knew they were dealing with a tough opponent.

This guy's strength is extraordinary!

The two men said nothing more and turned and left.

They are very clear that the purchasing station is a money-making project.

I originally thought that Li Long was just a non-staff employee of the supply and marketing cooperative, and that he might become submissive after a little scare.

Unexpectedly, I failed to scare the other party, but was frightened by him instead.

They are considered the second generation in the county, and although they have stable jobs, they also want to make some extra money.

These two people thought very clearly that if they took over this purchasing station and found a suitable person to stay here, they would resell the collected items and the net profit would not be low.

With the name of the original purchasing station, the money will definitely come in like water.

Unexpectedly, Li Long would not be persuaded by soft or hard tactics! Moreover, Li Long's momentum with the machete and his words made the two men hesitate.

Porcelain doesn't touch tiles, so will they wade into this muddy water?
PS: I am still recuperating, and plan to resume posting twice a day after the Qingming Festival. I don't know if it will be possible.

Thanks to the book friend 20250329195321195 for the reward. Many digital friends may have changed it. Thank you for your reward and subscription recommendation ticket monthly ticket. The monthly ticket finally reached . It is not stable. Please ask again. (End of this chapter)