Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Because there were guests coming, Sister Yang was originally going to make noodles at noon. The noodles had already been kneaded, but after communicating with Jia Tianlong and his wife, she continued to make noodles and fried a few more dishes to go with the noodles.

Because Qiao Fengzhi had to breastfeed her child and couldn't eat spicy food, in addition to the spicy lamb and sour cabbage fried with meat, there was also a plate of shredded potatoes, a plate of celery fried with meat, and a plate of fried cabbage and fried leeks.

The word "炸" here is the local dialect, which actually means blanching in boiling water, squeezing out the water and then cutting into thin pieces.

The glass greenhouse in Li Long's backyard is still in use. He took time to renovate it in the summer. There was enough coal at home, so he installed a floor heater in the glass greenhouse. With three stoves burning at the same time, the temperature was high enough.

It is also covered with straw mats, which are pulled up during the day and put down at night to keep it warmer.

There aren't many things planted there, just the easy-to-grow leeks and celery, as well as Chinese cabbage, chili peppers and eggplants. But they have just grown and bloomed, and Li Long took time to do artificial pollination, which is a relatively slow process.

Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Boyuan were familiar with Jia Tianlong, and Qiao Fengzhi had also been here, so they knew him as soon as he was introduced.

Gu Xiaoxia has two naughty sons, so she likes girls very much. She chatted with Qiao Fengzhi before dinner, and the two of them praised each other's blessings.

After Sister Yang made the noodles, Li Long took Jia Tianlong and his wife to eat.

"Home cooked food, you're welcome."

"Why be polite? I won't be polite when it comes to you." Jia Tianlong said with a smile while mixing the noodles, "This is how we eat. What's the big deal in a restaurant? Even though the food is good, we really like eating here." As he said that, he took a big bite of the mixed noodles, and it was obvious that he knew how to eat.

Jia Yumei had already fallen asleep. The Li family had a children's bed, which was now unused, so it was just right for Jia Yumei to sleep in, and she didn't have to worry about her falling. Qiao Fengzhi seldom ate mixed noodles, so Gu Xiaoxia was there to teach her.

The meal was quite lively.

After dinner, Gu Boyuan went to the purchasing station. When he left, he told Li Long that there were a lot of leathers being sold in the past two days, and there were already four or five hundred pieces of leather in the warehouse.

It's not a lot if you really count it, but it's actually quite a lot.

Jia Tianlong wiped his mouth and said:

"Your purchasing station is doing good business this winter."

"It's better this year - not always." Li Long shook his head. "Maybe it's easy to hunt yellow sheep right now, and their skins are very valuable, so many people hunt them."

He vaguely guessed that this matter might be related to him.

Of course it is related. The price of leather collected by his purchasing station is much higher than that of the original purchasing station. The middlemen and those who have guns and know the whereabouts of yellow sheep naturally want to make more money.

Most of the people who have guns and can shoot yellow sheep are farmers. When winter comes, they can finally rest after a busy year. Usually they will rest for one or two months to get enough energy. They will not shoot until the end of the year or the beginning of the next year when the yellow sheep have eaten all the edible things exposed outside the snow and gather together to migrate.

At that time, the herds of gazelles were large, and it was normal to see hundreds of them in a group, so it was easy to fight them.

This year, because the price of leather given by the purchasing station is high, these people want to live a better life and want to add a few big items to their homes, so naturally they hope to buy more, so they buy it early.

Hunting early has its advantages, as the yellow sheep caught are fat. Although Li Long is positive that yellow sheep meat is not as delicious as domestic mutton, for most people who can only eat meat once a month, it is good to have meat to eat. What else can they complain about?
After discovering that the meat of yellow sheep is fat and thick, hunting yellow sheep is not only for the skin but also for the meat. Save a few yellow sheep meat, whether for your own consumption or to sell for money.

The skin of a yellow sheep sells for dozens of yuan, and the meat sells for about ten yuan. What a good deal!
That’s why more and more people are buying or borrowing guns to hunt yellow sheep, and that’s why there are so many skins at the purchasing stations.

Jia Tianlong originally came here to worship the jade. After this was accomplished, his wish was fulfilled. After lunch, he chatted with Li Long for a while. After his daughter woke up, he took his wife and daughter away.

According to him, he has to rush to Wucheng today, stay there for one night, and then take the train back tomorrow.

After sending Jia Tianlong away, Gu Xiaoxia was a little confused and said to Li Long:

"What do you think he wants? He brings such a little baby all the way here, just to worship this jade?" When she turned her head to look at the jade, she found that the plates of food on it had been damaged by a wild cat or something.

"If he believes this, then this is a very important thing to him." Li Long said, "It's not surprising that he came all the way here. Maybe in his opinion, by coming all the way here, maybe when the time comes, he will have another child."

Things like faith or superstition are really hard to explain.

Gu Xiaoxia didn't say much, but said with some regret: "I think Yumei's child is really cute. It would be great if we had a daughter."

Since ancient times, Chinese people have attached great importance to having both sons and daughters, and Gu Xiaoxia is no exception.

"Don't think too much. Today, Lao Jia envied me and told me how smart our Mingming Haohao is."

"He's really smart." Gu Xiaoxia's mind was diverted, and she said proudly, "I told the older sister in the office and Director Wang that Haohao can speak quite a lot at the age of one and a half, but they didn't believe it..."

Once you have children and become parents, a large part of your life's focus will fall on your children. This is inevitable for parents.

The child is smart, studious, and sensible, and as long as he or she performs well, the parents will definitely be proud of him or her.

When Gu Xiaoxia went to work, Li Long took the two children to exercise slowly in the yard to help them digest their food, and then let the children go back to the house to sleep.

When he was over one year old, he still needed to sleep for a long time every day.

Over the next few days, Li Long enjoyed his family life for a while before driving a jeep loaded with supplies up the mountain.

The snow in the mountains is heavier than in the plains and also heavier than in previous years, so it is a bit difficult for jeeps to enter the mountains.

Fortunately, Li Long saw a road made by a tractor. He guessed that it was the tractor of Halimu and his team. He didn't know whether they were going out of the mountains to visit their family or to buy supplies. Anyway, the road was made, so his jeep could move more easily.

Halim was grazing sheep on the winter pasture. Although the snow was thick, it did not completely cover the grass, and the sheep and cattle could still kick away the snow and nibble on the grass underneath.

After a while, the grass will be completely covered by the snow, and we will have to rely on the grass harvested in autumn to survive the winter.

Fortunately, there were two tractors for cutting grass this autumn, and the haystacks of every household of more than a dozen herdsmen in this small tribe were higher than in previous years, so there was enough fodder.

When Li Long's jeep drove over, the two dogs heard the noise first, and ran over barking. When they got close to the jeep, they wagged their tails and tried their best to express their goodwill.

Halimu rode his horse and trotted over, parallel to the jeep. Li Long opened the window and greeted him. The jeep stopped, Li Long turned off the engine and got out, and moved things down with Halimu who got off the horse.

"Now that we have a tractor, it will be more convenient to buy things." Halimu said, "You don't have to pull things here anymore."

"I still have to bring it. You guys don't shop much, I do all the time, and the jeep is fast and convenient." After unloading the things, Li Long said, "How was the tractor? Did you get any trouble?"

Mada means problem or fault. People in northern Xinjiang often say "Mada", which means there is no problem.

"No, it's fine." Halim's face lit up with a smile when the tractor was mentioned. "I drove it to see Tusken and his team some time ago. When Tusken found out it was our own tractor, he was so happy that he went crazy. Of course, I told them, but not the others in the team."

Li Long could imagine the excitement of the two children.

Halimu's wife came out of the winter den, smiled at Li Long, and then went in to make milk tea.

"Are the cattle and sheep okay over there?" Li Long asked.

"Something's going on." Halimu got on his horse again and said, "There are a lot of wolves these days. It's very dangerous for cattle and sheep to get close to the forest. I have to drive them over here."

Are wolves so arrogant now?

Li Long didn't hear the wolf howling, but since Halimu said so, it must be true. He took the gun out of the jeep, opened the safety, pulled the bolt to load the gun, and walked up the slope with the gun in hand, wanting to take a look in the woods.

When he entered the woods with his gun, Halimu had already rounded up the cattle and sheep and was driving them towards the sheepfold.

Li Long waved to Halimu, indicating that he would be back soon, and then he went into the woods.

The Halimudon grassland is actually quite large, but if you walk downhill, there is a forest above. If there are wolves, they are most likely there.

Not long after entering the forest, Li Long smelled a faint smell of blood.

The snow was quite thick at the edge of the forest, but not as thick as we walked in. The branches and leaves of the Tianshan cedars were dense, so the snow could not penetrate. There was even frozen moss and some green grass in the forest - the grass had frozen before it turned yellow.

Following the smell of blood and moving forward, after walking a few dozen meters, Li Long saw a skeleton - it didn't look like a sheep's. Judging from the remaining fur, it looked like a roe deer's.

Faint five-clawed plum blossom marks can be seen nearby, which should be a wolf.

But judging from the traces, the wolf has not been around for at least two or three days.

Li Long walked around and when he came out, he saw Halimu waiting with a gun at the edge of the woods less than a hundred meters away from him.

Halimu also saw Li Long and waved at him, motioning him to go back and drink his milk tea.

Li Long waded through the snow back to the winter den and told Halimu about his discovery.

"There have been wolves howling at night these past few days," Halimu opened the door of the winter den and motioned Li Long to go in. He went in and closed the door as he spoke, "It's a small group that wants to attack my sheep. This year I made the sheep pen tighter, and I get up when I hear wolves howling at night. The wolves dare not come over, but I believe that after a while, when the snow gets thicker, the wolves won't be able to find food, and I'm afraid they will come to trouble us."

"Then I'll come back in a few days?" Li Long took the milk tea, touched Halim's wife's chest and said, "Fight the wolf again?"

"No, no." Halimu waved his hand confidently, "No need. With all the bullets you gave me, I'm not afraid of them at all. The sheepfold is very strong, they can't get in, so they can only stay outside. As long as they dare to stay, I can shoot them."

The forestry team gave Li Long a wooden box of bullets, and Li Long distributed most of them to Halimu and his men. Their summer pasture was deep in the mountains, where there were many wild animals, and having guns and bullets was good for self-defense.

Since Halimu had given his guarantee, Li Long didn't say much and just drank his milk tea happily.

Li Long returned to the county in the afternoon and went to the purchasing station on the way.

At this time, something embarrassing was happening at the purchasing station.

Tie Jinbing came to the counter with three yellow sheepskins and said to Sun Jiaqiang:

"Brother-in-law, come and show me what this leather is like?"

Everyone knows that Gu Boyuan is the one in charge of the purchasing station, and Sun Jiaqiang is just helping. Even if Gu Boyuan is not there, Sun Jiaqiang is only responsible for receiving the goods or recording them, and will not evaluate the leather - he can make an offer.

Moreover, Sun Jiaqiang never bids higher than Gu Boyuan. This is his way of doing things. He wants to make more money for his boss.

Li Long treated him well, so Sun Jiaqiang would naturally think about repaying him.

Sun Jiaqiang was already a little surprised and embarrassed when Tiejinbing suddenly showed up today. Now Tiejinbing suddenly called him directly and asked him to count the skins. He almost covered his head in his crotch.

Isn't this just undermining his reputation?
I recalled what Gu Boyuan had said before - don't believe too much in Tie Lanhua's story about the imam's testimony. Some people are shameless and hypocritical, and you will be speechless.

Right now, he was a little speechless.

The people who followed behind immediately became interested. A few days ago, an old acquaintance of Gu Boyuan came, but he was joking and didn't insist on being taken care of by Gu. The ratings given by Gu were also fair.

Sun Jiaqiang's relatives are here again today. Will the purchasing station give them a high price this time?
Some people made guesses, while others figured out the trick and just watched the fun.

"This matter has nothing to do with Xiao Sun. He can't tell you." Gu Boyuan would naturally not let the situation become stagnant. He picked up the leather and looked at it and said:

"You wretch, I'll give you thirty for this one, and twenty-five for this one... Hey, there are two bullet holes on it! The third one... It's not bad, thirty for it too, that makes a total of eighty-five dollars. Do you want to sell it? If you do, sign the registration now!"

The original pressure is now placed on the Iron Soldiers.

Will he sell it?

The Iron Soldiers naturally didn't want to sell at this price. The reason they approached Sun Jiaqiang was to sell at a high price. If they didn't sell the three cards for 150 yuan, 120 yuan would be fine! (End of this chapter)