Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

"It's a pity to keep these medicinal herbs here."

Li Long walked into the warehouse and came to the bags. He smelled the faint smell of mold, and looked at so many bags that had obviously been neglected since they were collected, and said sadly.

These bags are of different colors, and it is obvious that they were confiscated directly from the herbalists. There are more and less Fritillaria in the bags, and there is no sign of any processing.

Even if you pour them out and dry them outside when the sun is strong, it will be fine.

"I just found you," Ali said with a smile. In fact, they are used to it. Every year, the herbs collected from the herbalists are moldy and spoiled. About one-third to one-half of them cannot be sold and will be thrown away.

Although they are called forest rangers, more than 90% of them do not know how to store and maintain the medicinal herbs. The forestry team has only been established for two years, and most of these team members are herdsmen. It is already very good for them to be able to ride horses and know how to patrol the mountains, arrest people, confiscate things and prevent forest fires.

These herbs collected from the herbalists were unexpected wealth for them. It would be best if they could sell them and make some money, but if they couldn't, there would be no loss. As for whether they sold more or less, they didn't care much.

"Come to our place often in the future, and take away what we receive directly, so that the herbs won't go bad." Bolati also said on the side: "Now you can see which of these herbs can be used and how much they are worth."

"Okay. Come on, let's move all these things out together." Li Long said, "Move everything out, I'll check bag by bag to see which herbs can be used, what grade the herbs can be rated, and then pay according to the grade."

He wasn't being mysterious here. You couldn't just lump them all together and calculate the total account - the mother-of-pearl in this bag was dry, wet, good, and bad. If you really had to calculate the total account, it would be like gambling on stones. If it was good, you could make a lot of money, but if it was bad, you would lose a lot.

To be honest, the price of medicinal materials like Fritillaria will definitely become more and more expensive in the future. Now, seeing such a good thing just piled here like a pile of junk, Li Long is really a little sad.

He gave the order, and Ali, Hou Zhengyi, and Bolati started moving bags of things out of the warehouse together.

Li Long came out with a bag of Fritillaria and walked to the side of the truck. He reached into the bag, grabbed a handful of Fritillaria from the bottom, and opened his palm to look at them.

This bag of Fritillaria is about 30% dry, and it should have been picked five or six days ago. The original herb pickers should have dried it after picking it, but they put it away before drying it. I don't know how it became the spoils of the forestry team. There are some impurities in this Fritillaria, of different sizes, but fortunately it has not molded, and the quality is average.

"Do you have a scale?" Li Long asked as he watched Ali come out with a bag of Fritillaria in one hand, walk to the side of the truck, put down the bag and look at him.

"No." Ali shook his head and said, "Just estimate it like this. I heard from Bolati that you have a very accurate hand and can weigh the mother-of-pearl with one touch. Don't worry about the estimate. We believe you."

Li Long thought that these people were really careless and did whatever they wanted. Those with a bad conscience could make a lot of money from this.

"The bag of Fritillaria in my hand weighs more than eight kilograms but less than nine kilograms." Li Long weighed it and said, "This Fritillaria is a little dry after being sun-dried, and there is no mold inside. I will charge you eight yuan per kilogram, so this bag is seventy yuan."

"Okay, okay." Ali was very happy after hearing this. There were dozens of bags of Fritillaria here, and this bag was worth 70 yuan. So, today I can get at least 3,000 or 4,000 yuan, right? It was much more than I thought.

In one Fritillaria season, they can collect this much Fritillaria four or five times. If they earn three to four thousand dollars each time, then the whole team can earn nearly 20,000 dollars in one Fritillaria season, which is a lot!
"These two bags of mother-of-pearl... This one is a little moldy. I'll take it home and wash it to see how much I can wash out and use. I can't give you a high price. Look at the mother-of-pearl, the color has changed. I'll charge you two yuan per kilogram. This bag is about ten kilograms, so that's twenty yuan.

This bag here is not moldy and is dry enough. It weighs about 14 kilograms. I'll charge you 15 yuan per kilogram, so this bag will be 200 yuan."

"So much? Good, good, that's great." Ali was so happy to hear that. These three bags of fritillaria added up to three hundred yuan.

Ali was happy, and Li Long was happy too. To be honest, some of the mother-of-pearls were indeed a little moldy, but there were only a few traces on the surface. After cleaning them, most of them were still acceptable. Of course, Li Long was not a black-hearted merchant, so he would still clean them carefully when he got home. If they were seriously moldy, he would not accept them and would throw them away.

As bags of Fritillaria were brought in, Li Long stood beside the truck, assessed the grade and gave the total price.

As he spoke, he took out a notebook and a pen from his backpack. These were all prepared last night.

Every time he evaluated a bag, he would write down the weight and price in front of Ali and show it to Ali.

At the beginning, Ali looked at every number carefully, but later on he basically just nodded at whatever Li Long said.

In his opinion, Li Long was very professional and serious in what he said, and the price was beyond his expectations, so he really trusted Li Long.

"That's all the Fritillaria we have." Bolati finished carrying the last bag of Fritillaria and put it down. Li Long said, "The rest are leather and antlers. Do you want them all?"

"Yes, yes, yes. I want all of these things." Li Long said with a smile, "I want all of these things you collected in the warehouse."

Bolati also expressed this to Li Long in front of Ali. He naturally knew that Li Long wanted these things. Sometimes in the past, he would sell the things he collected directly to Li Long, even deer antlers and skins.

"Team Leader Ali, let me calculate for you first. There are a total of 47 bags of these Fritillaria. The first bag is 70 yuan, and I will add up the price along the way. Look, 20, 200... The total price is 2,910 yuan. Come and take a look."

"Okay, let me take a look." Ali took the notebook handed over by Li Long and read it from top to bottom. He mainly looked to see if Li Long had made any changes.

I am definitely very satisfied with this price. After all, I sold so many mother-of-pearls alone, and there are still a lot of leather and deer antlers left. The total price must be at least four thousand.

After reading it, Ali handed the notebook to Li Long: "No problem, no problem, let's continue looking at the leather."

"This is a whole red deer hide. Not bad, fifty." Li Long evaluated the hides one by one. "This roe deer hide has a problem. There is a bullet hole on the belly. This hide is thirty-five..."

Ali kept nodding his head, agreeing with Li Long's price assessment of these leathers.

"This pair of antlers is quite heavy. Judging from the appearance, they must be quite old. Forty dollars."

After the skins come the antlers of deer and roe deer.

Bolati and Hou Zhengyi were standing by. While Li Long was setting the prices, they were loading the items that Li Long had decided on onto the truck.

It took an hour to count the items in the warehouse. After counting the last roe deer horn at five yuan, Li Long began to settle the bill with Ali. The previous price of the mother-of-pearl, plus the price of the skin and the horn, Li Long paid a total of 4,600 yuan, making it a round number.

Both parties are very satisfied.

Ali felt that he had made a lot of money for the forestry team out of thin air and emptied the warehouse. They could get such a harvest every ten days or half a month, which was considered a bumper harvest.

Half of the money will be handed over to the higher authorities, and the rest will be distributed to the team members, and the leaders will also get a portion.

The money they earned in these ten days or half a month is much higher than their salary.

Li Long was also very happy. Not to mention the leather and deer antlers, he estimated that he could earn at least three to four thousand yuan just from the mother-of-pearl after cleaning and drying them.

Of course, it also depends on the purchase price that Jia Tianlong offers. He now urgently hopes that Jia Tianlong will come over quickly. After all, there are too many mother-of-pearl piled up at home.

After loading all the stuff into the car, Li Long paid Ali and then took out some wine from the trunk and handed it to him. When Ali saw the wine, his eyes narrowed into slits with joy.

"Comrade Li Long, we will cooperate well in the future. When we have all the things here, we will ask Bolati to come and call you, or you can come once a week. I guarantee that there will be enough things to take away. As for the wine, you can also bring it over."

"Don't worry, I will come to disturb you often." Li Long also said with a smile.

"Don't bother me, don't bother me. Are our friends coming? We are very happy." Ali moved the wine to the warehouse. "If they didn't come, we would be unhappy."

"Team Leader Ali, I want to ask if it's easy to get bullets for your rifles." Li Long suddenly remembered something. "We are often in the mountains. We encountered bears and wolves yesterday. We are running low on bullets. I want to ask if you have any."

"Yes, yes. Wait a minute, I'll have someone bring you a box." The forestry team's rangers patrolling the mountains not only face people stealing medicinal herbs, but also those ferocious wild carnivores. So their rangers are almost all armed at this time, and they must have a lot of bullets in stock.

Li Long thought that the bullets Ali gave him were the kind that contained 750 rounds in a metal box, but he didn't expect Ali to have someone bring a wooden box with 1,500 rounds.

This is awesome!

"Come to me again when you don't have enough next time!" Ali said generously, "We understand what's going on in the mountains. You're also a forest ranger, we're all family, don't be polite." Li Long was really not polite, he loaded the bullets into the jeep, said goodbye to Alipolati and the others, and drove to the county town.

After Li Long left, Ali excitedly put the money away, and then gathered the remaining people at the garrison point for a meeting.

"In the future, we must seriously look for those people who collect herbs. We sold these Fritillaria for a lot of money this time. If we want to have more money, a better life, more wine... well, more delicious food, then we have to confiscate more Fritillaria, deer antlers and other things from the mountains, understand?"

With Bolati around, these people already knew that the things in the warehouse were sold for more than 4,000 yuan, which is a huge sum of money!

Even if half of it has to be handed over to superiors and the leaders also take some, the money that each forest ranger finally gets will not be less, at least not less than one week's salary!

Having money can buy good things. These team members have long understood this truth, and their enthusiasm has been mobilized.

The herbalists in the mountains did not expect that after the forestry team and Li Longtou’s cooperation, they would increase their patrol efforts.

This year, the amount of fritillaria they can bring out of the mountains will be much less.

"Comrade Li Long, today's harvest is really big." Hou Zhengyi said as he got out of the car to help move things in the yard, "These Fritillaria must weigh 300 kilograms."

"Well, there are more than 300 kilograms. But most of them need to be cleaned. Some are dirty, some have impurities, and some have mold on the surface." Li Long said as he moved, "Anyway, it's quite troublesome. I don't know how much can be dried after cleaning."

Hou Zhengyi smiled and said nothing.

He watched the whole process of Li Long buying the Fritillaria and was very envious, but he couldn't do this kind of work.

It was difficult for someone like Li Long to gain the trust of the forestry team. Although Ali and Li Long made the deal very easily, they even let Li Long make the estimate, as if they would do whatever Li Long said, without any hesitation.

This is the most difficult part - most of the people in the forestry team are ethnic minorities, and they are still wary of people from other ethnic groups. Li Long was able to become their friend and fully trust them, which was not achieved by "investment" in a day or two.

Another point is that it is difficult for ordinary people to have enough cash to purchase these things.

The forestry team also has to take risks. After these things are stored in the warehouse, they certainly don't want people to buy them piecemeal - the forestry team will definitely not contact those middlemen who go from village to village. Even if those people know this news, they can't pry open the door of the forestry team.

This situation will happen every year for the next few decades. Ordinary people will also encounter similar opportunities, but without such a large amount of funds, some opportunities will not be able to be seized.

Of course, most ordinary people cannot make money. Another very important reason is the information gap. By the time they know that certain fields or certain materials can make money, these things are no longer profitable.

Dozens of bags of mother-of-pearl and those leather antlers almost filled up Li Long's remaining room.

That is to say, Gu Boyuan has now moved to the purchasing station, so the materials collected by the purchasing station no longer need to be moved to the big yard, otherwise it would be really troublesome to stack things.

Because there were other things to do in the mountains, Li Long could not stay at home for long. After unloading and putting away his things, he said hello to Sister Yang, hugged Mingming and Haohao, and then drove into the mountains with Hou Zhengyi.

The two cars arrived at the winter nest of Yushan River. It was already noon. After getting off the car, Li Long and Hou Zhengyi ate dry naan with pickles for a meal.

This was the simplest lunch they had had in recent times.

The two of them didn't feel it was hard at all. They were just a little tired from running back and forth, but the dry naan tasted delicious.

After eating, Li Long carried his backpack and gun and went into the mountains. Others had high hopes for him, so he also wanted to try his best, at least to see if there was any chance of hunting something.

To be honest, Meng Hai and his team did a very solid job, and the quality of the winter nest they built was also very good. Li Long felt it necessary to allow them to get some extra benefits besides wages.

It was almost dark when Li Long climbed up and down more than a dozen mountains before he finally found a half-grown wild boar in a nearby ravine. The wild boar was not very big, weighing about 60 to 70 kilograms, but it was enough for everyone to share.

By the time Meng Hai and his crew came down from their winter den on the mountain with their tools, Li Long had already skinned the wild boar meat, removed the internal organs and divided them up.

There was no time to cook meat, so they still had dry naan, pickles and red tofu for dinner. Although the food was simple, Meng Hai and his friends were very happy, mainly because they could bring meat back today.

After returning to the courtyard, Li Long had dinner and began to wash the Fritillaria. Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Boyuan came to help. Sister Yang asked Han Fang to look after Mingming and Haohao, and she also came to help.

Li Long was used to this job, which did not require much technical skills. With four adults working together, they had washed out more than a dozen bags by dark.

The cleaned and separated mother-of-pearl should be spread out in the room to dry.

The next morning, after Li Long got up, he continued to wash the Fritillaria while the rice was not yet cooked.

If you want to make money, you have to work harder. There is nothing you can do about it.

Fortunately, there was nothing to do in the mornings and evenings in the next few days. Li Long went to the mountains during the day and took Meng Hai and others to build a winter nest. He went hunting by himself and went to Sun Jiaqiang's place to replenish supplies in the wooden house, and then took back the Fritillaria collected by Sun Jiaqiang.

I would wash the Fritillaria when I got home in the evening and then hang them up to dry. The days were getting longer, and the working hours were getting longer, so my life was quite fulfilling.

Six days later, Meng Hai and his team had renovated all the winter houses on the mountain. Li Long took his cart to collect the braided poles from Xiaobaiyanggou and Qingshuihe Village, and this time he collected more than 1,700 poles.

The Fritillaria he collected from the forestry team was finally cleaned and dried.

Bags of dried Fritillaria are piled up in the side rooms, and the Fritillaria and leather are placed in two separate rooms, otherwise the smells will mix.

The purchasing station also received a large amount of Fritillaria and other sundries.

On the day when Li Long finished repairing the winter den, he and Hou Zhengyi went to the forestry team again and brought them two boxes of wine, a box of champagne and some canned food.

When they came back, they brought back more than 200 kilograms of Fritillaria and leather worth more than 500 yuan.

There’s almost no room for them at home.

What Li Long was worried about was that he didn't have Jia Tianlong's phone number, otherwise he would have called to urge him.

Finally, on May 3, Li Long came back from the mountains and heard good news. Jia Tianlong called the supply and marketing cooperative, and Li Xiangqian sent someone to the purchasing station to talk to Gu Boyuan.

The main meaning is that Jia Tianlong will come over in the next two days and ask Li Long to sort out the medicinal materials ready for sale.

Li Long, who came back from the mountains in the evening, was relieved to hear the news. The goods were finally coming. If they didn't come, he would have planned to load a cart of Fritillaria to Beiting City to sell them.

It is now early May, the peak season for picking Fritillaria. So far, Li Long has collected Fritillaria from three sources: the wooden house, the forestry team and the purchasing station. The amount of Fritillaria collected from these three sources has reached nearly one ton.

I received all the Fritillaria last year.

After such a rough calculation, Li Long was shocked himself.

Among the three sources of goods, the price at the purchasing station is the highest, followed by the forestry team, and the cheapest is from the wooden house.

Of course, the amount collected from the wooden house is the least.

This batch of Fritillaria alone, if calculated based on last year's prices, would be worth 40,000 to 50,000! (End of this chapter)