Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Snow fell one after another. Standing in the yard sweeping the snow, Li Long was thinking that it seemed that in the last life, thirty or forty years later, the snow fell less and less. After a few snowfalls in winter, it seemed that it would melt immediately and winter would come.

Although the temperature of Team 4 can reach minus twenty degrees Celsius during extremely cold weather, it seems to be only for a few days and getting shorter and shorter.

He vaguely remembered wearing shoes in winter. At first, he felt cold even when wearing suede shoes, but later he seemed to be able to bear wearing ordinary cotton shoes.

As for snow, it takes two or three days to deal with it now. Thirty or forty years later, it seems that it is rare to have a snowfall that is thirty or forty centimeters thick.

People say that the weather is gradually getting warmer, and I can really feel it by comparison - because the snow in the yard right now is more than 30 centimeters thick and is still falling.

Li Long thought that tomorrow there might be a large number of people coming to the purchasing station to sell rabbit skins. Because of the heavy snow, the rabbits in the wild might be in trouble. They had no choice but to go out, but they couldn't run fast in the snow, and people could catch up with them quickly.

Similarly, the gazelles deep in the Gobi Desert might also come out from the north and head to the mountains in the south. I wonder if Xu Haijun and his people are planning to go out hunting.

The thick snow in the yard had to be cleared, so nothing could be done that day. Not to mention here, it was the same at the purchasing station. Gu Boyuan got up early to sweep the snow. Sun Jiaqiang next door didn't even care about the snow in his own yard. He just used a snow shovel to clear a path and then ran over to help Gu Boyuan push the snow out of the yard outside the purchasing station.

It is reasonable to say that if there is heavy snow, the business of the purchasing station will be slower, but in fact it is not the case. They thought so the last time it snowed, but in the end, more than a dozen people came to the purchasing station to line up, and they had no choice but to ask these people to help clear the snow to make room.

So this time Sun Jiaqiang didn't dare to be lazy, mainly because he was short of money at the moment, so he had to work hard and pay Li Long back as soon as possible.

With Sun Jiaqiang's arrival, Gu Boyuan became less busy. After all, he was a little older. Looking at Sun Jiaqiang's energetic appearance, he felt that he was indeed old and he had no choice but to accept it.

Not only Li Long's yard but also the purchasing station were clearing the snow. Looking down from a thousand meters above, almost all households in the entire Ma County, including the nearby Shicheng, were doing the same thing.

After Tao Daqiang and Tao Jianshe finished shoveling the snow in the yard, they rode their bicycles and went to Li's house with their snow shovels.

"Where are you going?" Tao Jianshe asked from behind.

"Go push the snow for Brother Long's house. The snow is so heavy that it's hard to deal with his two yards."

There was also snow on the road, but fortunately Tao Daqiang was very strong and he rode his bicycle through the snow and all the way to Li's house.

Li Jianguo, Li Qingxia, and Liang Yuemei were all clearing the snow. Seeing Tao Daqiang coming over, Li Jianguo knew what he meant and did not refuse. He asked:
"Is the snow in your yard cleared?"

"It's over." Tao Daqiang's yard is actually smaller than Li's and easier to clean.

Soon, Xie Yundong and his group came over, and Liang Dacheng simply drove a tractor over, taking Jia Weidong and his two brothers with him.

With so many people joining in, not only were the snow in the two yards of the Li family cleared, but a large section of the road was also cleared.

When Xie Yundong and the others came, Liang Yuemei left and went into the house to boil water and make tea. After the snow was cleared, she hurriedly called people into the house to drink water. There were dried fish roasted on the stove lid, and several people were talking and laughing, which was quite lively.

"Daqiang, do you want to chase rabbits after the snow stops?" Liang Dacheng asked.

"Yes." Tao Daqiang nodded. "With such thick snow, the rabbit must be easy to chase."

"I heard Xu Haijun is looking for a gun and plans to go north to hunt yellow sheep." Xie Yundong said while chewing a dried fish. "He said he went to the county to ask, and Xiaolong said that a full hide in winter costs at least fifty yuan a piece."

"Then let's team up and fight together?" Jia Weidong became interested. He used to be weak and his family was not well off. He couldn't even buy a bicycle, let alone a tractor.

Following Li Longgan, they bought a tractor this year, but their family was broke and they were short of money right now - when you have a large sum of money and have bought some real estate, but the numbers on the books are gone, the need for money may be more urgent than before.

"How can we do this? Can you borrow a gun?" Xie Yundong asked him, "or get some bullets? If you can, we can do this once."

As he said this, he looked at Li Jianguo, who had been sitting at the eight-immortals table drinking tea.

"If we really find a gun, we can just fight." Li Jianguo naturally had his own ideas, "I can take Xiaolong's gun, and you can only borrow it."

"It will take some time for the militia to be trained, and the guns of the basic militia in the team have not been taken back from the township armed forces department." Xie Yundong said, "We can only borrow guns from private individuals."

As long as you can get a piece of skin, you won't lose anything. Everyone knows that.

But there is no gun and no target, this is the biggest problem.

Li Long had taken Li Jianguo to fight in the no-man's land along the Wuyi Highway, but the timing might not be very good right now. Li Jianguo had also been to the sandy wo in the north, and he thought that if his brother Li Long went, he would just follow him, but if he didn't go, he could find a place in the north.

If all else fails, you can ask Wang Mingjun for directions. But thinking about looking for Wang Mingjun, I guess I'll have to drink again.

Headache.

"Can I borrow a gun?" Liang Dacheng smiled. He looked at his two brothers. In fact, the Li family was a bit crowded at this time. Liang Shuangcheng asked, "The gun at my uncle's house?"

Liang Dacheng nodded.

"What gun?" Tao Daqiang asked.

"Sand gun, single-barreled, definitely good for hunting sheep." Liang Dacheng said, "It's a famous brand."

Tao Daqiang nodded, but he was not very satisfied. It would be better if it was a rifle.

He suddenly thought, Brother Long said that there are sand guns for sale in the Xinhua Bookstore. If a rifle is not available, it would be okay to buy a sand gun. It is better than nothing, right?
"Then why don't you buy one?" Tao Daqiang suddenly spoke up, startling the others. "Brother Long said that the sand guns at Xinhua Bookstore are only a few hundred yuan, and the bullets are even cheaper. Can't we afford it?"

Yeah, can’t you afford it?
In the past, a few hundred yuan was a huge sum of money for them, but now? Although a few hundred yuan is a lot, it is just the income from two or three acres of sunflower seeds, so they can really afford it!
I didn’t buy it before because of my limited thinking. Now I suddenly think that a gun worth a few hundred dollars is not that high a price!

In fact, if you can get ten skins in a winter, you can get back your investment. If you do it well, like Li Long, you can get more than ten in three or five times before the New Year. Not only can you earn skins, but you can also eat meat. How cost-effective is that?

In the past, they would never have thought of such a thing, but now, every family sitting here is not short of money, and they all have laborers who are interested, so this can definitely be done!
This matter was still underway. The main laborers of each family were here, and once the decision was made, they went home to get the money.

The snow had stopped, and Li Long cleared the snow in the yard and swept it into a pile, then pushed it out with a wheelbarrow. While pushing, he heard the sound of a tractor, and wondered who would drive a tractor in the winter. The tractor pressed down the snow on the road, and it would be inconvenient for the sanitation workers behind to clean it up.

Then I heard the sound of the tractor getting closer and closer, and it was actually coming towards my house.

He pulled the cart to the side of the gate and watched the tractor coming towards him with black smoke from afar. He recognized that the driver was Liang Dacheng, Xie Yundong was sitting on the board, and his eldest brother Li Jianguo and others were in the truck bed at the back.

Li Long was a little surprised. Why did all these people come here together? Did something happen at home? It didn't seem like it. They all looked fine, and Tao Daqiang was grinning when he saw him.

Li Long made way for the gate, meaning to let Liang Dacheng drive the tractor into the yard, but Liang Dacheng stopped the tractor as soon as it reached the gate.

"Why are you all here? What happened?" Li Long looked up and asked his eldest brother.

"We plan to buy guns." Before Li Jianguo could say anything, Liang Dacheng said, "Let's go to Xinhua Bookstore and buy a sand gun."

Li Long was stunned for a moment, then turned towards the police station and looked at the people there.

Old Guo Tiebing glanced over here with a smile, said nothing, and continued to work the snow.

Just be fine.

"Why did you think of buying a gun?" Li Long asked.

"Since it's snowing and there's nothing to do, I decided to buy a gun and go to the sand pit behind to hunt yellow sheep. You said a yellow sheep skin is worth at least fifty yuan, so if I kill ten or so, I can get back the money for the gun and get some meat to eat."

Li Long smiled.

There are probably many people who think like them. These people may not be able to afford guns, they may borrow them, or they may have other ways. In short, they will go out and do things to earn money in this winter. People's thinking is indeed constantly improving. In fact, if it weren't for Li Long's subtle influence in the past few years, the fourth team and even most of the farmers would stay at home in winter to recuperate and rarely go out.

Now they know to take the initiative to go out and make money, which is indeed a good thing.

"Let's go." Li Long pushed the cart and prepared to put it back.

"Don't leave yet. Let me help you clear the snow in your yard first." Tao Daqiang and several others had already jumped out of the car. "We have already cleared the snow in the yards of each family in the team. You see, your yard is big, so it will take another day or two to clear the snow."

They were all good workers, and in more than an hour, they had cleared the snow from Li Long's front yard, making it completely clean. They wanted to clear the snow from the backyard as well, but Li Long stopped them, saying that they didn't need to worry about the backyard, as few people would go there anyway, and the most they could do was shovel a path out.

Seeing that there was still more than an hour before lunchtime, Li Long told Sister Yang not to worry about him at noon and that he would eat outside with his elder brother and the others.

There are so many people, and Sister Yang has to take care of two children, so she can’t cook. It would be more convenient to cook outside.

The tractor was still parked at the door of Li's house. Li Long started the jeep and took everyone over. Of course, the jeep couldn't really seat so many people, but it was warmer in the jeep than in the tractor after all. The traffic police didn't stop them at this time. They just drove slower and squeezed through.

Arriving at Xinhua Bookstore, as Li Long expected, there were no people there. The bookstore was on the second floor, with no yard, and there were traces of snow being swept on the open space outside the building - the snow shovel did not clear the snow cleanly, leaving a snow line and a few snowballs.

Li Long and his friends stomped their feet hard at the door to clear the snow off their shoes. Li Long saw a broom inside the door, so he took it out. Several people took turns clearing the snow off their trouser legs before walking in.

Although none of them had a high level of education, they still had some respect for places like bookstores. This was a place where knowledge was generated, and in China, most people, lower down on the social ladder, were in awe of knowledge.

In other words, respect.

It was quite warm inside the bookstore, with a roaring fire in the stove. Two staff members were sorting books, one staff member was sitting behind the counter, and two others were reading.

Li Long didn't know what was on the second floor. He saw shotguns, small-caliber rifles, and air guns placed on the counter on the side.

There are double tubes and single tubes.

It is relatively simple for men to buy things. They find what they want to buy, ask the price, see if they can bargain, and if they can’t, they pay, buy the thing, and leave.

It's that simple.

A group of men came over all of a sudden. The middle-aged man behind the counter was a little surprised. When he heard that they wanted to buy guns, he asked what kind of guns they wanted to buy.

"Sand gun."

"Double-barreled sand gun."

"The single-barrel one, the single-barrel one is more accurate."

"It's a double-barreled one."

"You make your own choice, why are you talking so much?" Xie Yundong's last sentence set the tone, and Li Jianguo remained silent.

Actually, Li Long meant to give his double-barreled sand gun to his eldest brother, but Li Jianguo meant that since he had a father who was good at hunting at home, one gun would definitely not be enough, so he decided to buy one.

To be honest, guns are really tempting to every man.

At first the staff thought they were planning to buy a gun together, but now they understood that this was a group of people planning to buy one?

Big business!

After counting the heads, fortunately, there were enough guns in the warehouse.

Li Jianguo, Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang chose double-barreled guns, while Liang Dacheng and Jia Weidong chose single-barreled guns.

There are bullets, shells, primers, etc. on the counter, which means that they not only sell bullets, but also materials for reloading bullets. For these people, shotgun bullets can be reloaded. The principle is clear, and even stones can be used instead of iron sand... provided that you don't consider the lethality.

Of course, everyone still bought a few boxes of single-headed bullets. If you want to hunt and get good leather, single-headed bullets are naturally the best choice.

When you use a sand gun to shoot something, the skin is basically useless. You even have to pick out the sand bit by bit when eating it. Lead sand is poisonous, so it is very troublesome.

Of course a rifle is the best, but this is not the Northeast, and you can’t buy a five or six-and-a-half rifle, so the best choice is a sand gun.

The staff of the bookstore all gathered around to watch and help. It was rare, or almost impossible to see such a situation where five or six people came to buy guns at the same time. Today's business volume alone was equivalent to a normal month's business.

These people were very happy to pay, all in solidarity, there were basically no Mao Zedong bills, and the money was very new, obviously not collected together.

These are really rich!

Considering that the price of this gun is at least half a year's salary, some people feel a little jealous and envious.

Everyone carried a gun - except Li Long, and they also carried bullets in their bags. They were all very excited. If they were not in the county, they would have planned to find a suitable environment to test the guns.

"Let's eat first. In the afternoon, you can go to the township police station to get your gun licenses." Li Long said to them after he got into the jeep, "to avoid getting into trouble when you go hunting."

Li Long's reminder was well-intentioned, and everyone responded. Anyway, with the invoice, it would be easy to apply for a gun license for this gun.

"Brother Long, do you have a gun license for that gun?" Tao Daqiang asked, holding his double-barreled shotgun.

"Yes." Li Long smiled and said while driving, "I got it done at work, this is more convenient."

The supply and marketing cooperatives have convenient conditions for obtaining gun licenses, and the security department also has them, so this thing is naturally easy to do.

Although everyone has a sand gun, these people are still envious when they think of Li Long's five or six and a half gun. After all, that gun can shoot much farther and more accurately than a sand gun.

"When the militia is training, you can borrow the guns from the team and fight." Li Long guessed what they were thinking, "Then we can fight together in the north, or in the uninhabited area in the west."

Originally, everyone came to ask him to go look at guns and buy one, and their original intention was to invite him to go hunting together after the guns were bought and ready, so he naturally agreed to Li Long's suggestion.

Li Jianguo was dragged by these people to come to Li Long, and this may be his intention. When it comes to hunting, even if the fourth team has conflicts with the Li family, they have to praise that the best hunter is Li Long.

Many people even believed that Li Long was the best hunter in the county - no one in the county had ever heard of anyone actually killing ferocious animals such as bears and lynxes alone. Li Long even killed several wolves at a time, which was difficult for ordinary people to do.

So whenever I need to hit something, I subconsciously look for him. It has become a habit.

At noon they went to the state-owned canteen to eat. In the middle of winter, they had a plate of fried pork noodles and a bowl of hot noodle soup. It was so delicious!
After dinner, Li Long drove the jeep back to the yard. Liang Dacheng's tractor was a little difficult to start, but not too difficult. Li Jianguo and his men drove the tractor back with their guns and made an appointment with Li Long to go hunting in the north two days later.

Li Long returned to the yard, drained the water from the jeep, then went into the house to get his gun and prepared to wipe it thoroughly.

Right now Halimu and the others still need to clean up, so let's follow the eldest brother and the others to the sand pit in the north to take a look and relax.

In the evening, he talked about this with Gu Xiaoxia. Gu Xiaoxia didn't have any objections. Thinking that Li Long was indeed idle recently and there was nothing to do at the purchasing station, she advised him to work for a few more days. After all, he had good relationships with the people in the village, and working more and earning more money could be considered a diversion in the winter.

The next day, when Gu Boyuan learned about this, he felt a little envious and a little regretful. He couldn't just give up his job at the purchasing station and go hunting.

Fortunately, Li Long promised him that he would stop at the purchasing station in a few days and invite him to join him. (End of this chapter)