Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Two brand new Dongfanghong 15-horsepower four-wheel tractors, costing a total of yuan.

After Li Long paid the money, Yushanjiang and Talihar excitedly drove the tractor out of the factory.

After shifting to third gear, they were no longer as nervous as before, but now had a heroic spirit to move forward.

However, Li Long was leading them in front, telling them not to drive too fast and to go to the oil depot to refuel and buy oil.

The oil in the two tractors can only get them out of Stone City at best.

I bought two large barrels of oil at the oil depot, and with the help of the staff, I moved the barrels onto the tractor, filled the fuel tank with oil, and then went into the city again.

To buy something, Li Long took Yushanjiang and Talihar to Keyumu's place to drink milk tea and buy twenty naan breads - there was a naan making pit next to Keyumu's milk tea shop, which also sold naan breads.

The naan here doesn't sell as fast as the one in the naan pit in Ma County. The dozens of naan he made in the morning have not been sold out yet.

Li Long simply ate up all the leftovers. Yushanjiang and his team had to cut grass later. Although they had a tractor with a harvester, it would take time to prepare food and make naan. So buying some naan to take with you would save a lot of trouble.

Keyum hadn't seen Li Long for a long time and was very happy to see him. Yushanjiang and Talihar were also very curious about Keyum's Henan dialect and found it very fresh. Keyum told them the origin of his speaking and sang a Henan opera for them on the spot, which won applause.

After drinking milk tea, Yushanjiang and Talihar felt very curious when they saw the bustling scene of people coming and going in the old street. Li Long took them to buy some daily necessities - some of which he had already bought in the morning, such as brick tea, and some had to be bought here.

For example, peas, potatoes, chili peppers, etc. Li Long was quite surprised that there were fresh potatoes at this time, after all, the season had not yet arrived, and he didn't know whether they were dug early or kept.

After buying things and loading them into the car, they continued to drive west. When they left Shicheng and reached the Maha River Bridge, Li Long stopped, followed by Yushanjiang and Talihar behind him.

"Let's go to Ma County now to pick up the harvester, and then go back to the mountains. Tomorrow you can use the harvester to cut grass yourself."

Yushanjiang and Talihar wished they could go up the mountain to cut grass right now - it was a new machine, completely different from the one Li Long had used before.

I don’t know if it’s because of the three extra horsepower or because of psychological effects, but both Yushanjiang and Talihar felt that the tractor they were driving was more powerful.

But it is necessary to pull the harvester.

The jeep was leading the way, followed by two tractors, and they arrived at the purchasing station at a relatively slow speed.

The purchasing station was much less crowded at this time. Some people from other places usually came by bus early in the morning, arrived before noon, and left after selling all the things they brought, after all, they had to catch the bus.

Therefore, those who are still at the purchasing station at this time are basically locals. After selling their things, they can rush back home even if it is late, and most of them are second-hand dealers.

They earn a few dollars or a dozen dollars per trip, or maybe even just one or two dollars, but they enjoy it.

After all, this money can be earned every day. Occasionally, you will receive good things or meet someone who has a lot of things. You can earn back half a month's money in one trip.

It also depends on luck.

Seeing the jeep coming with two brand new tractors, most of the people who came here to sell things showed envious expressions.

Some of these people have 28-inch bicycles, while a few do not even have bicycles. Seeing others driving tractors and jeeps, they are naturally envious.

Because there were people in the yard, Li Long and his companions did not come in. They parked the car and tractor outside. After getting off the car, Li Long went in and greeted Gu Boyuan, and then took Yushanjiang and Talihar to lift the harvester.

Yushanjiang and Talihar lifted one, and Li Long and Sun Jiaqiang who followed behind lifted another and placed them on the tractor.

He went to find a rope and fixed the harvester in the truck bed - the road into the mountains was difficult to travel on, and it would be okay if the harvester got bumped a little, but it would be troublesome if the parts were broken.

"Li Long, you don't have to go into the mountains," Yushanjiang said to him after the harvester was lifted up the mountain. "Come back tomorrow. If you go in now, it will be dark there, and it will be troublesome for you to come back. When we came back yesterday, we found that there were many wolves in the mountains. It's not safe."

"Then do you know the way?" Li Long looked at the sky. It was indeed a little late. If it was just a jeep, it wouldn't be dark if we went into the mountains and came back. But if we followed the tractor, it would be much slower.

"Of course I remember it." Yushanjiang said with a smile, "Although we don't go down the mountain often, we still know the way."

Li Long asked him to describe it, and Yushanjiang said: "From the east side of the bridge, turn south and you will enter the mountain. After entering the mountain... I don't need to say anything, right?"

Seeing that Yushanjiang was very clear, Li Long went to get two sticks from the back and asked two people to take them. His five or six sticks were in the car, not because he was reluctant to give them, but it was mainly because it was a bit conspicuous to drive a tractor with a gun, and he might be stopped if he was not careful.

Anyway, there were two people and a tractor, so ordinary wolves would not dare to charge. Even if they encountered a bear, that guy probably wouldn't dare to rush towards a creature as big as a tractor.

Safety is basically guaranteed.

Yushanjiang and his men drove away on the tractor.

Finally, one thing is settled.

Although he paid a lot of money, Li Long felt much better. They always brought things to Li Long. He did some things himself, but he always felt that every time he finished his work, these simple friends would give him double the reward.

He also said that he owed it to himself.

How can we tell who owes whom?
Seeing that it was getting late, he said goodbye to Gu Boyuan and drove the jeep back to the big yard. He wanted to look after the children so that Sister Yang could have her hands free to cook.

Now they are accustomed to three meals a day, and they always feel like something is missing if they don't eat at night.

During dinner, Gu Boyuan said with a smile while eating:
"The skins you brought back today, Xiaolong, plus the ones we collected recently, should be around 200 to 300. Why don't you give that Zhao a call and have the skins shipped away? The dried mushrooms also need to be shipped away. There are more than 300 kilograms of dried mushrooms in the warehouse now. We can collect dozens of kilograms every day, which is quite a lot."

Now Gu Boyuan is not so surprised by the cash flow of several thousand yuan a day. He can roughly calculate that he can earn almost the same amount of profit by paying out several thousand yuan a day.

That’s a lot!

Of course, now is the mushroom season, which is similar to the old Fritillaria season. When it is hot, you can make money in these two seasons. In winter, it is mainly leather. These three kinds of goods make money in a year.

As for the other miscellaneous profits, Gu Boyuan now thinks that they are just a small profit.

"I'll call you the day after tomorrow." Li Long nodded, "We still need to sort out the mushrooms we harvested."

"This little Sun knows. He just bought a naan and said he would go clean up those dried mushrooms after he finished eating." Gu Boyuan said with a smile, "You made the right decision to hire Xiao Sun. This guy is as honest as Daqiang, but very smart. He has a keen eye for things, learns quickly, and is down-to-earth."

Since Old Gu praised Sun Jiaqiang so much, it seems that this move was really right.

"You bought those two tractors for the people in the mountains, right?" Gu Boyuan asked Li Long again.

Gu Xiaoxia already knew that someone had come down from the mountains, and she was also curious.

"Yeah. They brought me some good hides, but I didn't put them in the purchasing station." Li Long said, "These hides alone are worth almost two tractors. I thought they also need to cut grass, so I might as well buy them directly, saving me the trouble of driving back and forth to our house."

"That's true." Gu Boyuan nodded, "But you took away the last two harvesters. What will happen to those who come to buy harvesters later?"

"The wheat season is already halfway through. It's too late to buy a harvester now." Li Long waved his hand. "It's just a sideline business. If they ask, just tell them that they are sold out this year. If they want to buy one, go to Kuitun."

Gu Boyuan thought about it and agreed. The wheat season was almost halfway through, and it was hard to say whether he could earn back the cost of the harvester if he bought it now.

After dinner, before it got dark, Gu Boyuan strolled back to his own small courtyard, while Li Longze and Gu Xiaoxia looked after the children while talking in detail about what had happened in the mountains today.

"You said they brought back three snow leopard skins and a bear skin, and that there were tigers in the mountains?" Gu Xiaoxia asked in surprise, "Isn't this... too dangerous?"

"It's really dangerous," Li Long said. "Two of the three snow leopard skins I brought back this time were killed when they went to the yurts in the summer pasture to steal sheep at night.

Yushanjiang said that a tiger was right next to the pasture and had eaten deer and brown bears. He injured the tiger and didn’t know if it would bear a grudge. The reason Halimu didn’t come back this time was because he was afraid that Yanggangzi couldn’t take care of two flocks of sheep by himself. "Gu Xiaoxia sighed after hearing this, "I always thought that the scenery in the mountains was beautiful and there were a lot of things. Before we got married, you brought back so many things from the mountains time and time again, and I thought at the time that if I were a man, I would also go into the mountains.

Now it seems that I was so naive back then, and I don’t know how many dangers you went through during those days…”

Li Long thought of that time, of how he was almost surrounded by wolves when he was ambushing them, of how the wild boar rushed towards him when he was hunting them, of the lynx that scratched his arm after he got married, and of the brown bear he encountered in the hot spring.

Is it dangerous? Definitely.

But can you say it?

Of course I can’t say that.

He smiled and said, "It's not that dangerous actually. Whether it's a tiger, a brown bear or anything else, I always ambush them when I fight them. I'm not afraid of anything with a gun in my hand. When it's dangerous, we won't go."

It is impossible not to go into the mountains. Even if it is just for Halimu and the others, Li Long will go into the mountains often.

With a gun and bullets in his hand and driving a car, he was really not afraid of anything - even if he really encountered a northern tiger, could it tear open the jeep?
I'm afraid it ran away when it saw the jeep?
But now it seems that we really can't bring our family to the mountains to play. In later times, there were many people, and the wild animals were almost killed or fled to the mountains. There was really no danger in going into the mountains.

In other words, it won’t be too late to go into the mountains after some time, or when there are more people. The noise will be loud and those wild animals won’t dare to come.

Having made up his mind, Li Long no longer mentioned taking his family into the mountains, as he himself needed to go in. Not to mention the matter of cutting grass, just picking the black tiger palm mushrooms, he could get two or three sacks a day, and after drying them, he would have to get 20 to 30 kilograms, which was several hundred yuan.

He was familiar with the conditions in the mountains and knew what was in each ditch. Although morels were expensive, they were not easy to harvest in large quantities. However, black tiger palm mushrooms were different. If you found the right place, you could easily get two or three sacks a day.

This money can be earned by others or by yourself, so why just spend it out?

When Yushanjiang and Talihar were in the county, their speed was relatively slow. But as soon as they left the county, they shifted directly to fifth gear, increased their speed and headed into the mountains.

They often ride horses, so even though this small four-wheel tractor is bumpy, it's nothing for them.

And the speed is really good, with the wind blowing towards me, and it’s not too hot, it feels quite comfortable.

There were not many cars on the road, so when a car came, they would reduce the accelerator a little, wait for the people and cars to pass, and then increase the accelerator. As a result, the water tank boiled before they reached Qingshuihe Village.

Li Long told them the precautions, so after passing Qingshuihe Village, they slowed down, stopped for a while, used the iron bucket hung behind the tractor to draw water from the small river on the side of the road to add to the water tank, and then continued driving into the mountains.

The road was not good, and it felt like the tractor was bouncing forward, but the two men didn't feel uncomfortable at all, as their excitement had not yet worn off.

Once we entered the mountains and felt the cool breeze, we slowed down - the mountain road is complicated, with many turns, steepness, and unevenness, so we couldn't drive fast, as driving fast would easily result in a rollover.

The sun had already set behind the mountain, and a red glow covered the west. Yushanjiang was driving the tractor, thinking that by the time he reached the winter camp, it would really be dark.

But with this tractor and the harvester in the bucket behind the tractor, we can cut the grass tomorrow.

Although it is a little early to cut grass now, with two harvesters, we can cut more grass than last year, which will be enough for the winter.

When the tractor arrived at the door of the winter camp, Yushanjiang found that everyone else had left and the door of his winter camp was locked. He got off the tractor and took down the naan.

Yushanjiang wanted Talihar to stay here and not drive in further, as the remaining section of the road was more difficult to travel. However, Talihar waved his hand and said:

"It's okay. It's just over a kilometer away. We'll be there in a moment. I'll leave my horse here with you. I'll come and get it tomorrow."

Seeing that he could not persuade him, Yushanjiang gave him some naan to eat the next morning. After watching Talihar leave, he went over to get some water for the horse to drink, and after the horse finished drinking, he put it back into the pen before going into the house.

Sitting on the wooden kang, Yushanjiang still felt like he was dreaming.

Is this tractor back?
Is this mine?
If Halimu knew about this, he would definitely be very envious of me, right?

But I guess when Halimu comes back in winter, Li Long will buy him a tractor.

Yushanjiang is very sure of this.

The next morning, the first thing Yushanjiang did when he opened the door was to check on the tractor.

The tractor was there fine, but when he went to check it out, the horse had already started neighing in the pen.

Obviously, the horse was unhappy. The owner's attitude towards him these two days was not right.

Yushanjiang smiled and let the horse out of the pen, leading it to a place with lush grass and letting it graze on its own, while he went to make a fire.

As long as the tractor is there, there is no need to look at it for a while.

While they were eating naan, the herdsmen came riding over on horseback. This time, only six or seven of them came, and Yushanjiang guessed that the rest should be with Talihar.

"The new tractor is so beautiful!" someone exclaimed.

"With two tractors, we will be able to harvest enough grass in less than half a month."

"That's right, two tractors are used together to thresh the crops, and we just have to tie them up. This machine is really powerful." The young men praised this tractor very much, and they also wished they could own one.

However, on the one hand, he was not strong enough, and on the other hand, it was difficult to drive a tractor to his winter home, even though he could only get there on horseback.

So I can only watch with envy. However, these two tractors belong to herders. Although they don't have them, they can still drive them.

Yushan Jiang asked:
"Have you all eaten yet?"

"No, I came here as soon as I got up." A young man said with a smile.

"Then let's eat together." Yushanjiang pointed to the house, "Li Long bought some naan yesterday and brought it back. I've made some tea. Come, let's eat together."

The breakfast at that time was very simple, just naan and brick tea. Those who brought milk lumps would share them with everyone. There were also vegetables such as sprouts in the tractor's bucket, but it was too late to make them, so we just made do with it.

Soon, Talihar and his team came over with their tractors. They gathered together to discuss the work.

After breakfast, Yushanjiang began to assign tasks. Of course, he and Talihar were responsible for driving the tractor and started mowing the grass from two directions.

Two people were selected to replace the tractor driver, and two more were responsible for delivering diesel and water. The rest of the people were spread out in the grassland to check for wooden stakes and stones that might affect the harvester.

"Although the tractor belongs to me and Talihar, we all share in the money. So we'll cut grass together, and we'll also cut grass together. As for the money we owe you, we'll pay you back after we get back to the summer pasture and have harvested something."

After assigning the tasks, Yushanjiang did not let everyone disperse immediately, but wanted to make things clear:

"My idea is that this tractor can be shared by everyone. It can be used to pull coal, grass, wool, etc."

In fact, Yushanjiang has another idea, but he needs to discuss this with Li Long. If Li Long can do it, he will also gather the herdsmen to do it some time after the beginning of spring next year.

Although he had just bought a tractor, Yushanjiang's mind suddenly became open. Life in the mountains could definitely become better.

With Li Long helping with the implementation, he, as the tribe leader, is confident that he can lead everyone to build a more prosperous tribe.

As they were talking, a jeep appeared in the mountains. Here came Li Long. (End of this chapter)