Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Li Long sent Ma Xiaoyan back to the county party committee compound and drove back to the yard in a hurry.

I brought one person with me on this trip, and came back with a cart of stuff that I had to pack up properly when I got home.

The sun hadn't set yet, but the office had already gone off work, and the streets were filled with people rushing home. Only some students were playing around after school, playing and frolicking on the streets and at the entrances of the alleys, tirelessly enjoying their happy childhood.

Although supplies were scarce, the children's spiritual world was fulfilled. They laughed and played, holding homemade wire slingshots or picked up thin and straight branches.

Li Long was a little envious, and then quickly drove to the gate of the compound.

When I passed by the recycling station, I found that no one was there. I thought that when I saw the big iron gate was locked, those who were selling things knew that the owner was not there and did not stay here.

As soon as the jeep arrived at the gate of the compound, Han Fang's voice was heard inside:

"My uncle is back, I heard the car honking... I'll open the door!"

Then there were hurried footsteps, and then the door opened, revealing Han Fang's smiling little face.

Li Long smiled and nodded at her, then drove into the yard. Gu Boyuan was standing by the bed car, watching over Mingming and Haohao. After Li Long parked the car, he smelled the strong aroma of stewed fish.

Fresh fish tastes great.

"It's a good day today. We came back early." Gu Boyuan nodded like a commentator. "Did he go into the mountains again?"

"Well, let's go into the mountains and see them washing the sheep." Li Long opened the trunk and let the two elk out. These two elk were slightly smaller than the two running in the yard, but they were already able to eat grass. They suddenly came to an unfamiliar environment and were a little scared. The two of them leaned against each other, looking quite pitiful.

Little Black came over to try to smell it, and two little goats also came over to make the acquaintance of their new companions. The two little elk were frightened, thinking they were hunters, so they simply spread out their thin legs and started running, dragging the other two little elk along with them, and the yard suddenly became noisy.

"Hey, why did you get two more? This thing is too noisy. It's so small and only knows how to butt people!" Gu Boyuan was not paying attention when he entered the door earlier and was butted by the little sika deer.

Li Long smiled and didn't say anything. He moved the leather, deer antlers and other items from the trunk to the side room.

The originally empty room is now basically full and classified. He also plans to make some wooden shelves, like the cabins in the mountains, and put things on the shelves, which will make it more convenient to collect and store.

After putting the things away, Sister Yang called out that it was time for dinner.

Li Long went to wash his hands, change his clothes and prepare for dinner.

Gu Xiaoxia greeted him and went out to the yard. When Li Long changed his clothes, he looked at his wound again and confirmed that it had healed and was not inflamed or festered, so he was finally relieved.

Although I was lucky this time, I still need to be careful in the future. I should always bring a gun with me, be careful when going into the mountains, bring anti-inflammatory drugs, etc.

When they went out to eat, Gu Boyuan suggested that they simply move the dining table to the yard, next to the bed cart. This way, while Haohao was playing nearby, the adults could also see him and would not be delayed during meals.

Freshly steamed buns, thick rice porridge, and two plates of delicious stewed fish.

Although there is only one dish, it smells and tastes delicious, and that’s enough.

Li Long was hungry and ate two white flour buns. After the others had finished eating the stewed fish, he took the rest, including the soup and meat.

I only drank half a bowl of porridge at the end and felt full.

"You ate a lot today." Gu Boyuan teased in the yard, "Xiaolong, you didn't eat much at noon?"

"Yes, I ate at my eldest brother's place," Li Long said. "I ran around a lot today. I went to the team and the mountains. I also helped wash sheep. I did a lot of work, so I ate a lot."

"It's true." After hearing Li Long's explanation, Gu Boyuan stopped teasing and said with emotion, "When I was young, I was working in the team to open up wasteland. I could really eat a lot at that time. I could eat half a basket of cornmeal steamed cakes by myself! Now it's really different from before..."

"That's true. Now you don't work every day," Gu Xiaoxia said while looking at the child, "sitting in the store every day, you don't move much, so naturally you can't eat."

Gu Boyuan felt a little embarrassed after hearing his daughter's words, but when he thought about it, it seemed to be true. He didn't do farm work now. He stayed in the house in winter and sat at the door of the store in summer. He sold things when someone came, and read books and listened to the radio when no one came. It didn't seem right.

"I need to move around later." Gu Boyuan was willing to listen to the advice, "Otherwise, if I gain weight, I'll get sick."

Hey, that's right.

Gu Boyuan wandered around the yard for a while and then went back to his yard. Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia carried Mingming and Haohao into the house and put away the stretcher.

Right now the days are getting longer and the temperature is rising. The mosquitoes haven't come yet, so it's the best time. After a while, when the temperature rises again, it will be a bit hot, and there will be more mosquitoes, so it will be very uncomfortable to stay outside.

After dinner the next day, when Sister Yang took over Mingming and Haohao, Li Long drove his jeep to the purchasing station.

What surprised Li Long was that there was already someone waiting with bags at the door of the purchasing station.

Seeing Li Long coming, those people made way and smiled.

Li Long opened the iron gate and let these people in first, then drove the jeep into the yard and parked it, and then went to open the door of the room.

"Line up, come one by one in the order you came. Don't worry, we have time," Li Long said, "wait for me to arrange the things."

He went behind the counter, put away all the utensils, and started to pack up.

"Boss, don't you have a specific time for when you'll open? Some of us have been here several times..." asked the second person in line.

The first thing that was taken out of the bag was a pile of rabbit skins. Li Long frowned as he looked at them. He then explained to the second person while flipping through the skins:

"I am also looking for a suitable person to look after the store. I have things to do and need to go out frequently, otherwise I would look after the store myself. I haven't found a suitable person yet, so I can only look at the time... I'll try my best."

"What do you think of me?" the man said with a grin, "I can help you run the store every day. The salary is not high. Just give me fifty a month."

Li Longtou didn't even raise his head, and just said, "I don't know you well."

Without waiting for the second person to speak, he said to the first person:

"Your rabbit skin is spring skin. You can see the fur is beginning to fade. This skin is worse than winter skin. I'll charge you two dollars for each one."

Li Long originally thought that the man would bargain, but he didn't expect him to simply respond:
"Row."

Twenty-one pieces of skin, large and small, basically all gray rabbit skins, and Li Long paid forty-two yuan.

The man also took out four water rat skins from his bag. Li Long looked through them and said:

"This is also spring leather, but water rat leather is more expensive than rabbit leather. I'll charge you thirteen for one. I won't distinguish between big and small. How do you think?"

There are four skins, two large and two small. The small ones are naturally not as valuable as the big ones, but Li Long gave an average price because the other party was so straightforward just now.

"Okay." This person was also very straightforward.

"When you skinned the water rat, you found a sac under the belly button of the male water rat. Did you take it?" Li Long asked.

"I didn't notice it... Are you talking about the black dirty stuff that was dug out there? I was asked to throw it away."

"This thing can also be sold for money. Next time you catch a water rat, bring this over here. I'll give you ten dollars for a bag of this black stuff." Li Long said.

"Really?" The man couldn't believe his ears.

"Really." Li Long nodded seriously. The man paid the bill and left quickly. Li Long thought that there might be a lot of water rats where he lived, so he went back in a hurry to catch them.

The second person brought over a bag of licorice - there was a lot of this stuff these days, because it was spring time for plowing and some people started to set their sights on the wasteland.

There are also some techniques for reclaiming wasteland - there are too many wastelands at the moment, so people who know know to look for places with lots of licorice, where there is not much salt and alkali, so crops can be planted directly after reclamation.

Unlike two years later, when the price of cotton increased, people found that planting other crops on saline-alkali land would result in poor or even total failure, but cotton grew quite well. So at that time, people were no longer picky about the land and all wasteland was contracted and reclaimed.

There were many wastelands at that time, so those who wanted to cultivate more land would choose to reclaim the wasteland, especially those where licorice and bitter beans grew, as the soil quality in these places was quite good.

Most of the landowners who were clearing the land did not care much about the licorice roots, so some people picked them up and sold them.

Li Long looked through them, picked out some and put them aside, then looked at the man and said:
"Did you do this on purpose or did you not know? This is bitter bean root, not licorice root. Are you trying to fool me by giving this to me?"

Bitter beans and licorice look very similar when they are not in bloom. People who know them can tell them apart. Bitter beans have large leaves, while licorice has small leaves.

"Isn't this the root of bitter bean?" The man pretended not to know and picked it up to look at it, saying, "I think it looks quite similar... I tell you, these were not picked up by me, but by my wife. Aren't they the same?"

"Take a look at them and see if they are the same!" Li Long pulled out a licorice root and a bitter bean root for him to see. The outer skin of the bitter bean root was darker in color and tasted different.

The man was a little embarrassed and said with a laugh:

"I really don't know. If it's not licorice root, then just pick it up. I'll tell that bitch on you when I get home. How dare you do that... Isn't that embarrassing for me?"

"Your licorice roots are not dried, so I'll charge you 35 cents per kilogram. Weigh these... 8.2 kilograms, 2.87 dollars. Come, sign and take the money."

The first person took nearly 100 yuan, and I took just over 2 yuan. This person was a little embarrassed and hesitated to sign. Li Long pointed to the back and said:

"This is the price. If you don't want to sell it, then I'm sorry. Take it to other purchasing stations. Let me tell you, if you can find a second one in the whole county that can match my price, I'll give you double it."

In fact, everyone knows that the prices offered by Li Long's purchasing station are very fair - or rather, it was hard to say before comparison. After the purchasing station in the market opened, everyone knew that the prices offered by this purchasing station were really good.

The people behind him also said, "If you don't want to sell it, then make room." The man had no choice but to sign, take the money, roll up his bag and leave.

Li Long could see that this person was lazy and didn't know the difference between farmland and agriculture. He walked in a shaky manner and didn't look like a working person.

It feels a bit like the scene in Ordinary World where Shaoan’s brother-in-law is full of money and just wants to pick up something ready-made.

It was just a fleeting thought, and then Li Long continued to show things to people, rate them, weigh the goods, and calculate the money.

Li Long has been dealing with the purchasing station since the winter of 1981. He sells a wide variety of things, and thanks to Chen Hongjun, he has a rough idea of ​​the prices of the things the purchasing station often collects when the two of them chat. In addition, he has seen a lot of things on the Internet later, so he can talk to almost everyone who comes to sell things, and can chat about everything.

It's okay for a half-baked person to pretend to be an insider.

Perhaps because no one had come to the purchasing station for several days, there were many people planning to sell things, so Li Long had not collected all the things until it was almost two o'clock when he got off work.

The collected items could not fit in a jeep.

He looked at the people behind him and said:
"Lady at the back, please help close the iron gate. We can stop collecting now after we finish collecting. Come back in the afternoon, otherwise we won't be able to have lunch."

"Okay, okay," the older sister at the back was carrying a basket with several things in it, including licorice roots, Cynomorium songaricum, and half a basket of hemp coins - this older sister was quite energetic.

Li Long acted quickly and was generous in his appraisal. He soon collected all the things from the people in front of him. Even though the second to last person brought a stack of old thread-bound books, he still bought it at 50 cents per book - the person was very happy too, as long as it was more expensive than the scrap yard.

The elder sister happily watched Li Long collect his things. When it came to the last part, she couldn't help but say:
"You're collecting these crappy books? We had quite a few at home at that time, hundreds of them, and they were all burned in the fire."

"If you have any, bring them here. I basically buy them all." Li Long feels that old books, especially those from the Republic of China and early Qing Dynasty, still have some value.

Even though I don’t understand.

At this time, in the Agricultural College in Wucheng, Professor Luo was talking to several students he taught.

"You don't have to force yourself. This is a brand new topic. Although the school supports me to do it, the funding is not much. Besides, the place we are going to is in a village under the county, and the conditions must be difficult. You can continue to take classes in school until graduation. There will be other teachers to teach the classes I will take over..."

"Professor Luo, I have made up my mind to study this topic with you," a girl with two braids said seriously, "I think this topic is very worthwhile to study and will play a big role in the agricultural development of our XJ, so I will definitely go with you!"

"I'll go too. I'm not afraid of the tough conditions. My family is from Hotan. No matter how tough it is over there, can it be tougher than the edge of the desert? It's much better here in northern Xinjiang. My parents are still eating sand outside in southern Xinjiang at this time!" said a boy in a hearty voice.

"That's right, Professor Luo, don't think we are pampered. It's nothing to endure a little hardship. We all think that this topic is of great research value. It is our honor to be able to participate in such a project with you!" said another boy, adjusting his glasses.

"Li Qingyuan, forget it. You are from Wucheng and have never been to the countryside. To be honest, you are not good at enduring hardship." Another girl with a ponytail laughed at him.

"He Lijuan, isn't it the same for you? Although you are from the county town, your family is so well off. Can you live in a village with a big bunk bed and eat coarse grains?"

"I... If I can't do it, I can just bring some snacks and some money with me. If I can't eat, can't I buy more? Besides, if you can afford it, so can I!" This girl named He Lijuan is white and plump, and it is obvious that this body shape is not something that ordinary people can maintain in this environment.

He Lijuan's grandparents are old revolutionaries, her parents are middle-level cadres in the county, and her family conditions are very good. She has not suffered much since she was a child. In fact, this time Professor Luo is most worried about her.

"Xiao He, I think you should think carefully about this. The conditions in the village we are going to this time are different from your home. Besides, we will not stay in the village for one or two days, but at least one month. You may not be able to endure such an environment."

"Professor, you can't look down on me! I can do it!" He Lijuan said stubbornly.

Since the students were confident, Professor Luo said nothing more. He looked at his watch and said:
"Then let's adjourn the meeting now and go back to pack our luggage, including our bedding. Tomorrow morning, the school will send a car to take us to the bus station. From there, we will be a small group. The boys will help the girls with their luggage, and if there are any difficulties, we can help solve them together.

Of course, the most important thing is our project. I have a plan. We will look at the site and make adjustments. You can also put forward your ideas at that time. Okay, pack up your things!"

The five students left separately. Professor Luo looked at their backs and felt a little nervous. He didn't know whether his decision was right.

But years of experience, including his own intuition, told him that this was a direction very worthy of research and he should go for it.

Li Long didn't know that Professor Luo was coming at this time. He loaded some of the things into the car and drove out of the purchasing station. When he was locking the door, someone came over carrying a bag.

"Let's close the shop first, bro," Li Long rolled down the window and shouted to the man, "Come back in the afternoon, we have to eat lunch."

The man glanced at Li Long, then looked at the locked door of the purchasing station, hesitated for a moment, and simply sat down at the iron gate, then took out a steamed bun from the cloth bag he brought with him.

Li Long had already driven a distance away, and he felt a little reluctant, so he backed up the car and asked:
"Brother, what are you selling?"

"Did you open the purchasing station?" the man asked vaguely with a steamed bun in his mouth.

"Yes, I opened it. Come, let me see your things and see if I can take them."

"Leather. I have seven water rat skins and two badger skins here." The man put the steamed buns back into the cloth bag and took out the skins from the bag.

Li Long took a look at the skins. The water rat skin was a bit old, probably from last year. The badger skin was quite new, probably having been hunted recently.

"You killed this water rat last fall, didn't you? Under its belly..."

"You mean the sachets, right? Yes, yes. There are three with sachets in this nest." The man actually knew the value of the goods.

Li Long was happy. Not bad. This last one was also a good find. (End of this chapter)