Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 933 A family heirloom bracelet was just given away casually?

While resting that evening, Li Long said to Gu Xiaoxia, "When we leave the day after tomorrow, let's take a sheep with us. I'll cut it into pieces and take it with us. When we get there, Xiaoyu can take some to your mother's place, and Xiaoyu can keep some for herself."

He said this because he was moved by his conversation with Yu Sufu today. Yu Sufu said that it was hard to find good mutton outside, so he might as well bring some with him.

"Will that be easy to transport?" Gu Xiaoxia disagreed. "We need to take Mingming and Haohao, and Big Brother needs to look after Li Juan and Li Qiang. It's definitely inconvenient to have so many people during the New Year. Besides, the mutton will definitely thaw after it's loaded onto the truck, right? It'll take three or four days, and it'll be rotten by the time we get there."

“That’s true.” Li Long overlooked the temperature inside the train. This wasn’t the future, where cold chain transportation was possible. Unless he could assemble a whole wagon and haul it all, it wouldn’t be easy.

Actually, Li Long had wanted to persuade Yusufu to open a lamb kebab stall in the border region. There was once an Adasi who donated a lot of money during the earthquake disaster. He came from southern Xinjiang and opened a kebab stall in the border region. He used local cumin, had good kebab-grilling skills, and earned a lot of money.

Of course, since Yusufu had already decided to stay in Wucheng, Li Long didn't mention it.

"Don't think too much about it. This is Yanjing, how could it not have good mutton?" Gu Xiaoxia said. "Why don't we buy things after we get there? Even if we bring local specialties, it's better to buy some easy-to-carry things like raisins in Wucheng."

Okay, we've come full circle and are back to where we started.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. Why do people buy dried fruit? It's because it's easy to carry around.
“We’re leaving the day after tomorrow. Why don’t you take Uncle Gu and Xiaoyu, and take Mingming and Haohao to have a picture taken tomorrow?” Li Long suddenly suggested. “Although we’re family, we’re thousands of kilometers apart, and it’s not convenient to make phone calls now. Taking a picture will make it easier for Uncle Gu and Xiaoyu to see it later.”

"Hmm, how come I didn't remember?" Xiaoxia slapped the bed. "Xiaoyu was a bit down today, she didn't seem to be doing well, and neither did Dad... I'll take them tomorrow!"

After saying that, Gu Xiaoxia looked at Li Long and felt more and more that her sister was right. She had really married the right husband. He was considerate of everything and knew how to take care of people. But did that make her seem a little dull and lazy?
The next day, after breakfast, Gu Xiaoxia urged her younger sister to go to Gu Boyuan's place to take photos. Gu Xiaoyu also thought it would be better to have photos taken and receive pictures. Although she might not be able to get them this time, her older sister could send them over later, which would be great.

Li Long took a silver carp from the storage room next to the kitchen, then drove to Shicheng Sugar Factory and found Section Chief Hu's office.

This fish was caught the first time he used a net. Li Long had kept it frozen without eating it, but now it has come in handy.

As soon as Section Chief Hu saw Li Long enter, he stood up and said with a smile, "Comrade Li, you've come over. Come, come, have a seat."

"Hello, Section Chief." Li Long greeted him, picked up the bag and said, "These are fish from the lake over there. I caught some a couple of days ago, and I brought one over today for you to try."

"You're here, why did you bring anything?" Section Chief Hu said with a smile. "It's been a long time, what have you been up to lately?"

"I set up a purchasing station and have been busy buying things ever since," Li Long said. "I used to think it was great that the government did this, but when I started doing it myself, I realized how troublesome it is."

"This should be very profitable, right?" Section Chief Hu poured Li Long a glass of water, sat down, and said, "Now that the country allows it, we can collect things from ordinary people and then sell them to merchants who buy these things, creating a transit channel. It's a great idea."

"That's what I thought at the beginning, but I didn't know anything about it. I just bought whatever people brought in. As a result, I didn't know where to sell a lot of the things I bought, so they just piled up in the warehouse."

Li Long was telling the truth; some of the things he collected were indeed just sitting there. Some were antiques, and some were just odds and ends.

"I remember you were an employee of the supply and marketing cooperative, weren't you? You should have connections there, right?"

"Not all of them," Li Long chuckled. "Some ordinary people bring over antiques. We're laymen, so it's hard for us to appraise these things. We can't just melt them all down into copper, but nobody would buy them either. Let's just leave them for now. By the way, Section Chief Hu, I heard you need some mutton here?"

"Yes, that's right. It's almost the end of the year, and our cooperation went well last year. The beef and mutton you brought were of very good quality, so our company was thinking of getting another batch this year. And your..."

"No problem at all. I have plenty of cattle and sheep this year, just see how many you want."

"We've tentatively decided on twenty cows and one hundred sheep, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Li Long nodded and said, "Not only are there some, but there are many more. However, the preparation for slaughtering will take some time, after all, there are so many..."

"That's definitely no problem. Do you think a week is enough?"

"That's enough," Li Long said. "Then, shall we have Master Song go and pick up the cattle and sheep a week from now?"

"Okay, I'll have Song Ming bring another truck to pick it up. Two trucks might not even be enough. And the price..."

"Section Chief, this price is a bit higher than last year," Li Long said. "Meat prices have gone up quite a bit this year. How about we calculate it based on the wholesale price, not the market price?"

"Sure," Section Chief Hu said with a smile. "Don't worry, our big factory definitely won't let you suffer any losses. The beef and mutton you give me are of good quality, so we'll definitely be sincere about the price. How about this, we'll charge you 2.2 yuan for the beef and 2 yuan for the mutton?"

Prices rose significantly last year, largely due to wage increases for some workers here, and it's said that they'll rise again this year.

Or rather, prices rose rapidly from the 1980s to the 1990s, and inflation even occurred in the 1990s, making it difficult to buy some things.

This is why Premier Zhu later pursued a soft landing for the economy.

This price seems much higher than last year, but when it comes to actual purchasing power, it's not actually that high.

After all, it's almost the end of the year, and the market price is still higher now.

Li Long felt the price was acceptable; it was slightly higher than the market wholesale price, which showed Section Chief Hu's sincerity.

"Alright, Section Chief, I'll go back and prepare." Li Long stood up and said, "Deliver on time in a week."

Section Chief Hu didn't keep Li Long. After Li Long left, he looked at the big silver carp and nodded in satisfaction.

This fish weighs four or five kilograms; it's quite large. Whether it tastes good or not is another matter, but at least it looks big, and it's impressive to bring out a fish like this.

The sugar factory needs so much beef and mutton. Li Long knows that the village alone can process it, but to be honest, the timeframe is a bit tight.

So he drove his jeep to Stone City to buy some supplies, and then went into the mountains, where he needed to ask Harim and the others for help.

Near Halim's winter hut, two children were wrestling in the snow, while two black dogs circled around them wagging their tails and occasionally barking, perhaps to cheer them on.

When Li Long's jeep arrived, Nathan and Tusken stopped falling and cheered. One grabbed the black dog that was about to rush over, while the other ran towards the winter kennel, shouting as he ran, "Uncle Li Long is here!"

The two children speak Mandarin quite well; I wonder if it's because they've deliberately studied it. After all, current schools in Ukraine and Harbin don't specifically teach Mandarin, unlike what we'll see in 30 or 40 years.

Halim came out of the winter shelter and saw Li Long getting off the bus. He greeted him with a smile.

Li Long directed him to unload the goods, mainly supplies like grain and brick tea. There were potatoes and onions for sale in the old town, and Li Long bought some as well. These are good for herders to supplement their vitamins during the winter.

We can't rely on tea alone.

After unloading the goods, Halim invited Li Long into the house for milk tea. Li Long didn't stand on ceremony and explained his purpose while drinking the milk tea.

“No problem. We’ll go down the mountain tomorrow. We have a tractor, it’ll be very convenient.” With the tractor, Halim’s confidence really increased.

“You can’t manage alone. You’d better call Brother Yushan Jiang along,” Li Long said. “If that’s not enough, you’ll need Talihar and the others…”

"Sure, sure, I'll go over and let them know this afternoon. Don't worry, they want to come down the mountain to take a look too; it's pretty boring watching snow in the mountains every day."

Li Long laughed. He'd never heard Halim mention this before, though he'd even watched them sledding sheep and racing horses in the winter. Now that they had tractors and radios, their minds were racing.

This is normal, of course. After all, times are changing, and herders can't stick to old traditions forever. In a few years, some will be herding livestock on motorcycles.

With Harim helping to inform them, Li Long didn't need to worry. He told Harim that he was leaving and asked Harim and the others to eat and drink at Old Horse's House when they went down the mountain to slaughter cattle and sheep, and to remember to take a sheep back with them when they left.

"What are you talking about?" Halim shook his head. "Dorsen, he's a friend, he's just helping out, I can't accept that, I can't accept that."

Li Long didn't say anything more. He ate horse meat naren at Halim's place for lunch, and after he was full, he prepared to leave. "The mountains have been relatively quiet lately. Two packs of wolves came by, and I killed four of them. Take the wolf pelts with you." Halim took out the wolf pelts from the next room and put them in Li Long's car. "When you come back, you can see what I killed."

"Okay, then I won't be polite with you."

“When you get to Yanjing, take a good look around and tell us about it when you come back,” Halim said. “Let me tell you, some of the older folks in our tribe have always wanted to go to Yanjing. We’re thinking about riding a donkey to Yanjing too.”

Li Long could understand this idea. After all, the lives of herdsmen before liberation were much harder. The exploitation they suffered by the rich was no less than that of the ruthless landlords. After liberation, their lives became much better.

After returning to the county, Li Long went directly to the Fourth Squad.

Since we've invited Halim, we need to make sure they have a proper meal.

Fortunately, they had already made this trip last year, so Uncle Luo and the others had experience and shouldn't have any objections to Li Long's request. When Li Long arrived at the old horse stable, they had already started building a stove in the middle courtyard.

“The sugar factory needs twenty cows and one hundred sheep. We need to slaughter twenty-five cows and prepare one hundred and fifty sheep. We’ll leave the extras for later when I get back,” Li Long said. “The cows we bought in the fall weren’t enough. It’s only because we had cows last year that we have any left, otherwise we really wouldn’t be able to manage.”

"So how do we collect the money?" Uncle Luo asked.

“I’ll have Yun Dong and Da Qiang go with us then,” Li Long said. “They’ll collect the money. This whole thing is... a bit awkward.”

"Yes. It seems we'll have to slaughter sheep earlier next year," said Uncle Luo. "If we slaughter them early and freeze them, it'll be easier for anyone who wants one to weigh it and take it away."

Li Longxin thought to himself that he wouldn't make the last-minute decision to leave next year. Although Yanjing was a good place, it was impossible to go there once a year; going once in a while would be fine.

After all, it takes seven or eight days to travel back and forth, which is quite tiring.

"Uncle Luo, after the sheep are slaughtered and taken away, we'll leave one for the stable to eat. My brother Dong and the others who helped out can each take one home," Li Long added. "Just say it was my idea."

"Okay, no problem. We should definitely give them a thank you gift for helping us."

"I'll cook mutton for lunch these next few days. When I come to pick you up tomorrow, I'll bring some naan. If you have time, you can cook some dishes. If not, just eat hand-pulled mutton and drink mutton soup. Mutton is the most nourishing food in the middle of winter."

"Don't worry about that, we know how to do it."

After leaving Lao Ma Hao, Li Long went to find Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang, asking them to help escort the cattle and sheep to the sugar factory and settle accounts with them. He also gave them the price, and the two of them naturally had no objections.

"It seems that fattening cattle and sheep is still a viable business." Xie Yundong calculated, "A live cow costs 1.2 yuan per kilogram, and after three months of fattening, it's 2.2 yuan now. Even after removing the hide and offal, we can still make a lot of money."

"Yes, that's true. Actually, you can slaughter your cattle and sheep now. After slaughtering them, take them to Shicheng Old Street to sell. They'll definitely sell very quickly before the New Year. And the retail price will be higher than the wholesale price."

When Li Long bought cattle and sheep last October, Xie Yundong and a few others helped him, and also bought some to raise at home.

The purpose of raising livestock is for meat, not to make money. But now it seems that fattening cattle and sheep is indeed profitable, so it's worth doing.

The market is huge, and Li Long is not afraid of competition. Only by making money together can we make the market bigger and stronger.

Li Long then returned to the courtyard.

He must be exhausted after a day of running around.

The train leaves tomorrow afternoon. I need to go to the Fourth Squad early tomorrow morning to pick up my older brother and the two children.

So after returning home and having dinner, Li Long briefly discussed the acquisition station with Gu Boyuan before going to bed early.

The next day, Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiaoyu both got up early. Li Long started the jeep and drove to the naan shop in the dark to buy all the naan that had been baked in the first batch. He brought them back and ate two for breakfast.

Gu Boyuan also came here to have breakfast and stayed to see them off.

Gu Xiaoyu was feeling a little down. She had been staying at her sister's house for the past two days and felt very comfortable. She really liked the environment. Originally, she had a slight resistance to the concept of home.

But living here made me realize that home can truly be warm, comfortable, and relaxing, and that being with family means you don't have to be on guard or cautious.

However, Gu Xiaoyu was reluctant to leave after only two days.

But she was reluctant to give it up, and there was nothing she could do; these were the only days of leave she had.

"It's okay, you can come back when you have summer vacation in the summer." Gu Xiaoxia knew what her sister was thinking and comforted her, "The train only takes a few days now, so you can take more leave and stay here for a few more days."

Gu Boyuan was also reluctant to part with his youngest daughter. He felt a little sad when taking photos yesterday and couldn't manage to smile.

"Dad, I'll write to you as soon as I get back." Seeing her father like this, Gu Xiaoyu quickly comforted him, "Just like my sister said, I'll take leave during the summer vacation and come over, then I can stay for a longer period of time."

“We can go to the mountains during summer vacation,” Li Long said with a smile. “Our whole family will go then, it will be very lively.”

Seeing how worried his two daughters were about him, Gu Boyuan realized that he shouldn't show his sadness now, otherwise his two daughters would worry.

"It's alright, it's alright. Communication is convenient now, we can just write letters. By the way, your brother-in-law also said that private phone installation might be allowed in the summer. I'll get one installed, your sister's will get one, and you'll get one in the house you bought, so we can keep in touch by phone!"

"Yes, yes, that's it."

After dinner, Li Long drove to pick up his older brother, Li Juan, and Li Qiang. Gu Xiaoxia called Gu Xiaoyu into the bedroom, took out a small bag, and handed it to her, saying:

“We’re leaving now, so please keep these things safe. Look, here’s a Hetian jade bracelet, it’s for Mom… just say you bought it. This one is for you, your brother-in-law brought it back from Wucheng, he said it’s made from seed jade, I don’t really know much about it. And these two pieces of seed jade, you can keep them to play with, if you need money, you can find a place to exchange them.”

There were many things in the house, so Gu Xiaoxia didn't care. These words were told to her by Li Long, who then asked her to relay them to Gu Xiaoyu.

Gu Xiaoyu, having seen more of the world, could tell at a glance that the bracelet was no ordinary item, and she quickly declined.

"Sister, this is too valuable. I'll just take these two jade stones. I'll keep the ones for Mom on her behalf, but I don't need these..."

"Valuable? Not valuable at all. Your brother-in-law often brings these back with him..."

Do you often... take it back?

Gu Xiaoyu glanced at her sister with surprise, and asked tentatively:
"Sis, are you sure? Your husband brings these back all the time? You know what? These are Hetian jade pebbles, and they're at least mutton fat jade, right? This bracelet would easily cost over a thousand yuan where we're from..."

"Is it really that expensive? That can't be right." Gu Xiaoxia thought to herself, her husband didn't say that it was expensive when he handed it to her.

"Don't worry about how much it costs, we have more at home, it's nothing, just take it." Gu Xiaoxia was also surprised, but at this moment she didn't think too much about it and let her sister accept it first.

But thinking about the piles of things her husband casually brought back, each item worth thousands, he really was keeping a low profile!
Gu Xiaoyu felt the same way. Her brother-in-law was too mysterious! This kind of thing would be passed down through generations in an ordinary family in Yanjing, and he just gave it away so casually?

And you said you have many at home?
Li Long had no idea what the two sisters were thinking about him at that moment. He drove to Lao Ma Hao first, dropped off the naan, then went to the Li family to pick up his elder brother, Li Juan, and Li Qiang, and returned to the county.

The car couldn't go from the county to the city, but luckily it wasn't far, and we weren't carrying any big bags, so we arrived quickly.

The most excited were Li Juan and Li Qiang. Their faces were flushed, and they were so happy that they wanted to tell everyone they met: We're going to see Tiananmen Square!

(End of this chapter)