Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 989 A Hidden Treasure: What a pity, we didn't get the big prize.
When Li Long drove into the mountains with a gun, Gu Boyuan received another call from Dong Zhichao at the purchasing station.

"That's all. Even the watermelon seeds are gone. We've sold them all, and the money's all been split," Gu Boyuan said irritably. "Don't bother calling anymore; there aren't any more seeds..."

As he answered the phone, Sun Jiaqiang shouted from the other end:

"Uncle Gu, will you buy my melon seeds?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I accept it?" Gu Boyuan said, covering the microphone. "I'll be right there."

After saying that, he put down the microphone and said to Dong Zhichao, "Did you hear that? We're out of melon seeds. If you want to buy some, do it as early as possible next year. Don't try anything funny again!"

He hung up the phone after saying that.

Dong Zhichao was a little dazed. He heard what Gu Boyuan said to Sun Jiaqiang and thought that there was a melon seed harvesting going on over there.

Does Li Long not answering the phone mean he doesn't want to listen to me?
Regret.

Why would someone engage in such a scheming scheme?

Not long after he hung up the phone, someone called looking for him.

Qiao Xing? Never heard of him.

Li Long drove his jeep to his cabin first.

Meng Hai and his team hadn't even started building the road yet, the team's land hadn't been plowed, and each household was still finishing up their farm work.

Even if we don't expect to harvest every grain, we should at least put everything in its proper place on the threshing floor, haul in enough coal for the winter, and properly stack up the reeds and corn stalks for kindling, etc.

The corn stalks here are cut close to the ground, without removing the roots. The roots are plowed directly into the ground, and for nearly half the winter, the corn roots can decompose in the ground, turning into fertilizer and returning to the earth.

To Li Long's relief, the lock on the wooden house was intact and had not been damaged.

There were plum blossom patterns on the wooden floor in front of the house, indicating that there had been quite a few non-human guests visiting in the evenings recently.

Because no one has lived here for a long time, grass has grown in the cracks of the wooden floorboards, and the path leading to the spring has been completely covered by grass.

Li Long took a large broom from the shed and simply swept away the dust and grass from the wooden floor before opening the door and taking out the bedding to air it out.

Actually, it's already quite cold in the mountains at this time of year, but when the sun comes out, you can still air out the blankets. Otherwise, they'll start to smell musty.

After finishing these tasks, Li Long parked and locked the jeep, then, carrying his backpack and gun, headed southeast into the mountains.

He went straight into the dense forest. Although he took a path he hadn't walked much before and tried to take shortcuts, Li Long knew the location of his destination. He had long legs, great strength, and good agility. He traversed forests, crossed ditches, and climbed over mountain ridges. Occasionally, he would encounter startled rabbits that would run away. The rabbits would stop after running a dozen meters or so, but Li Long ignored them and continued forward.

More than half an hour later, Li Long arrived at Wenquangou.

The grass in the mountains had long since turned yellow, and only some grass by the water remained green, with one or two flowers occasionally visible.

The thick layer of pine needles, fir leaves, and cypress branches on the ground felt very comfortable under Li Long's feet.

Some mushrooms that weren't completely dried were stubbornly growing under the trees and in the grass, and there were even some pretty purple mushrooms, but Li Long didn't dare to pick them up.

Although he knew there was a particularly beautiful purple mushroom in the Tianshan Mountains that was edible, called something like velvet mushroom, Li Long had never tried it, but it was said to be delicious.

He dared not. This thing... was purple. Although he had seen it in the wild mushroom market in Zhao Su in his previous life, he hadn't dared to buy it, thinking it was poisonous at the time.

Seeing that the water level in the hot spring stream had dropped considerably, Li Long thought that things would be much better when the road was repaired.

I strode over to the hot spring pool where I had soaked before and found that the pool was still full of water, otherwise it wouldn't have been able to drain.

I squatted down and touched it. The water was warm. There were hoof prints nearby, but the mud where the hoof prints had been was dry, meaning it had been there for at least half a day.

There haven't been any animals playing here lately.

Li Long looked somewhat disappointed as he glanced at the mountains to the south. It was along this very stream that he found his first piece of natural gold, which he still kept hidden at home.

This time, instead of going upstream along the stream, he went directly east across the mountain ridge.

He had been to the south and southeast, but hadn't crossed the east side yet. Li Long wanted to see what was there.

After passing through the dense forest, Li Long saw a mountain ridge covered with shrubs and a ravine covered with tall grass.

It seems that no flocks of sheep or cattle have ever passed by here, and no large livestock have ever traveled through, so there is no road at all.

Many of the bushes were still covered in thorns, and Li Long began to regret taking this path.

But having come this far, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and move forward. He held his gun in his left hand and drew his machete in his right, beginning to chop at the branches in front of him to clear a path.

This machete hadn't been used for a long time, but Li Long maintained it regularly, so it didn't rust and remained sharp.

He hacked his way through the ravine and soon reached the bottom. Just as Li Long was about to continue upwards, he suddenly heard grunting sounds not far to his right. He turned his head and saw a half-grown wild boar looking up at him.

Li Long paused for a moment, dropped his machete, switched his left hand pistol to his right, released the safety, and prepared to fire. The wild boar also reacted, lowered its head, arched forward, and suddenly darted into the bushes and disappeared!
Li Long didn't pull the trigger; instead, he picked up the machete and quickly chased after the commotion.

Normally, when visibility is good, he wouldn't even need to chase; he could simply anticipate and take down the lone wild boar.

But the grass in the ravine was too tall and there were too many bushes. When the wild boar ran around, he could only see the tall grass or bushes moving, and he couldn't see the wild boar at all.

There's no way to fight!
We can only chase after wild boars, hoping to reach a place where the vegetation is sparse, so that we can see them and it will be easier to fight them.

The wild boar knew that the big guy chasing it was its mortal enemy, and that it would be doomed if it got caught. So it ran extremely fast, charging and crashing all the way. Several times it even ran directly into the roots of bushes. If it couldn't get through, it would just push its way through and run forward.

Li Long took long strides, but the grass was too tall, so he couldn't run too fast. Even though he was very careful, several bloody scratches appeared on his face.

He was a little annoyed. Hunting was rarely done this way; usually, they would ambush their prey and kill it with one or a few shots.

Or if he encounters prey, he can simply point his gun and snipe it. As long as it's within 100 meters, he's confident he can hit it—if it's an ambush, he can hit it from 150 meters away.

But right now, the wild boar is only twenty or thirty meters away from Li Long, and he can't hit it even at such a short distance, which is really frustrating!

The ditch was quite long, at least a kilometer or two. The wild boar was very patient, running all the way down, even carving a path through the ditch at a height of half a meter.

They were finally approaching the end of the gully, but Li Long was surprised to find that there was a gap at the end, unlike other gullies where the road ended. This gully was seamlessly connected to the one next to it!

He was already thirty or forty meters away from the wild boar. If the wild boar were to push its way into the ditch next door, wouldn't he lose track of it?
But after pursuing him for so long, I'm unwilling to give up—is this what they call sunk costs? If I hadn't started pursuing him in the first place, I wouldn't have thought much of it, but now that I've been pursuing him for so long, I really can't bear to give up!
Keep chasing!
Li Long quickened his pace, and his breathing became rapid. Was this a sign that his lung capacity had decreased due to not exercising for a long time?

The wild boar kept grunting, indicating its approximate location and showing that it had been there all along.

Clearly, it was exhausted.

Upon reaching the head of the ditch, the wild boar lowered its head and, following the direction of the tall grass, quickly burrowed into the adjacent ditch—Li Long followed.

Looking around, Li Long noticed that there was much less grass and shrubs. He was overjoyed. As long as he chased the wild boar to the head of the ditch, he could start shooting once it was revealed!

There are many stones in this ditch, some of which are only partially exposed above the ground, while others stand upright, like walls, canine teeth, or houses.

Before the wild boar could even leap out of the tall grass, it suddenly stopped moving with a thud!

Li Long looked in the direction of the sound and saw several protruding rocks. Had the wild boar run into the rocks?

If only that were true, I wouldn't have to shoot myself! Li Long quickly ran over and found the wild boar dazedly getting up and preparing to run again. Li Long stepped forward and smashed it over with the butt of his rifle, then smashed it again with the butt of his rifle, completely stunning it.

Next, Li Long drew his machete and bled the wild boar, which was still in a daze.

The wild boar weighed fifty or sixty kilograms, was one or two years old, and was at its best for eating. After draining the blood, Li Long bent down, picked up the creature, and prepared to carry it back to the spring to finish it.

After all, there's no water here, making it inconvenient to skin and gut the animals.

As he bent down, he saw why the wild boar had bumped into the rock—there was a crater.

To be precise, someone dug a hole on the side where the wild boar hit the rock. The hole was dug on the side, and the direction the wild boar ran and Li Long chased was just a shallow pit on the edge. The wild boar tripped over the pit before hitting the rock.

Li Long walked around to the front of the cave and looked at the cave, which was nearly a meter wide and about 1.5 meters high, with a downward slope. After looking at these few very distinctive stones, Li Long felt that there must be something special about this place.

However, he didn't dare to go down rashly. The cave didn't look like it was from last year; it must have been made this year. There were footprints nearby, but it rains frequently in the mountains, so some footprints were hard to make out. He could roughly tell that there were at least two people in the cave.

There was definitely no one down there now, but he wasn't sure if there were any other animals. Li Long picked up a few stones and threw them down. He didn't hear any noise, so he picked up his bayonet and bent down to walk inside.

The cave was initially dug directly into the ground, and the entrance looked fresh. However, as you went in, there were stone cave walls, clearly showing signs of previous excavation. Moreover, the cave grew higher and higher as you went in, and Li Long could almost walk in upright.

This is an old cave; I don't know how it was sealed off. But judging from the marks, it must be quite old. Li Long walked in four or five meters, then turned right, and there was a fairly large space ahead.

It's relatively large, actually just a small underground stone chamber of about 30 square meters.

However, right now, there are only a few empty wooden boxes that have been opened, with some rags draped over the lids inside.

He took out a flashlight from his backpack and shone it on the ground, where he saw some scattered copper coins. This indicated that the box must have previously contained copper coins, silver ingots, Yuan Shikai silver dollars, or even gold bars, but they had been dug up by someone.

Li Long was somewhat unwilling to give up. He held a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other, using his bayonet to pry open the boxes and examine them carefully. He found that apart from a few dozen copper coins on the ground, there was really nothing else of value.

Li Long then shone his flashlight on the walls of the stone chamber, examining them carefully to see if there were any hidden compartments.

The stone wall was roughly carved, the surface was uneven, and the chisel marks were still visible. Li Long put away his bayonet, then slung his gun over his shoulder, took out his machete, and tapped the stone wall with the back of the blade.

The sound was muffled, so the back should be solid.

I tapped on each spot, going around in circles, until I reached the corner where the box was placed. I noticed the sound was slightly unusual, so I kept tapping until I heard a hollow sound in the corner.

Shining the flashlight carefully, I found a spot that was a different color. The stone there had been placed there separately, but the gaps had been sealed.

Li Long slowly pried up the stone with a machete, and when he shone a flashlight on it, he discovered that there was a small wooden box inside.

His heart jumped, and he felt a little excited.

Is the real treasure here, and what has been taken away is just a facade?

Li Long slowly took out the box, which was about the size of a 32mo book and as thick as two red bricks. He found that the box was quite sturdy and made of some kind of wood, but it hadn't rotted.

The box had a copper lock, which was covered in green patina, and a piece of jade was inlaid on top of the box, which looked quite valuable.

The jade piece is carved into the shape of cloud patterns. It is about the size of a palm and quite thin, probably less than half a centimeter. It's not easy to make.

After taking the box out, Li Long saw that there was nothing else in the cave.

Somewhat unwilling to give up, Li Long knocked on the stone in the cave again, but found nothing wrong. He then gave up, picked up the copper coins, and carried the box—or rather, the container—out.

Once we came out, we realized that the air inside the cave was really stale, while the air outside smelled wonderful!

Only then did he realize that it was only because the cave was large, relatively dry, and had not much decaying matter that he might have suffocated inside!

Taking a deep breath, still feeling a bit shaken, Li Long looked at the box in his hand—it was very heavy, he estimated it weighed several kilograms.

It shouldn't just be the weight of what's inside, but also the weight of the wood—the wood was brown, he couldn't recognize what kind of wood it was, but he figured it couldn't be ordinary.

I wanted to unlock it now, but then I looked at the wild boar on the ground and thought better of it. I'd take it back to the cabin first and deal with it later. Otherwise, if I unlocked it now, it would be difficult to store the things inside and retrieve them later.

He put the wooden box into his backpack, then picked up his gun in one hand and the wild boar in the other, and started walking back.

Even after hitting something, Li Long didn't dare to let his guard down. After all, there were wolves, lynxes, and bears in these mountains. If one suddenly ran out, with the trees tall and the grass deep, wouldn't he have to use a gun to take it down?
Fortunately, nothing unusual happened on the way back to the cabin. Li Long took off his backpack and placed it on the wooden table, while the wild boar carried it to the spring.

The weather in the mountains is already quite cool, and there are no flies, so there's no fear of maggots.

This time he really couldn't hold back anymore. He walked back to the case, took out a wooden box from his backpack, saw that it was an ordinary-looking brass lock, tried to poke it a few times with a wire but couldn't open it, so he simply smashed the lock with the back of his machete.

As for the box, he aimed accurately and didn't damage it; there were only faint marks, nothing serious.

The lock was broken, and the exciting moment had arrived. He pulled off the lock, slowly opened the box, and looked at the box full of Yuan Shikai silver dollars wrapped in paper. His heart sank.

This thing!
Li Long took out the rolls of Yuan Shikai silver dollars, opened them to take a look, some were rusty, and some were in pretty good condition.

There were four scrolls in the box, which Li Long took out. Then he saw a rectangular, golden object at the bottom, like a book page.

These golden objects have some marks from the silver coins pressed on them, and the words that were originally written on them are now illegible.

Li Long carefully took out these fragile-looking things, slowly peeled them open and counted them. There were twenty pieces. The words on the bottom page were quite clear, but Li Long didn't recognize them.

It must be something good. Although it's very thin, it's very heavy. Li Long guessed it was probably made of gold.

Not bad, not bad. Even though the treasure was taken, it's not bad to have found a small bargain at the end.

Li Long was somewhat pleased and put the paper-like things back into the box. He was about to put the silver coin scrolls in as well, but then abandoned the idea. He took out a cloth bag from his backpack and put the silver coin scrolls in. The box only contained the golden book-like thing.

After packing the box, Li Long went to deal with the wild boar.

After skinning and gutting the wild boar, he kept only the belly, washed it clean in the spring water, stuffed it into the boar's genitals, put it in a plastic bag, and carried it into his car.

This time they reaped quite a harvest, not only wild animals but also extra items. Although he didn't know how much these things were worth, Li Long felt they must be quite substantial.

It's an antique.

Driving the jeep back to the county, it was already past lunchtime. Li Long entered the courtyard, and Sister Yang came to open the door, saying that Gu Xiaoxia and the others had all gone to work, and that Mingming and Haohao were taking a nap.

"Just keep an eye on Mingming and Haohao," Li Long said to Sister Yang. "I hunted a wild boar. We'll keep the two legs here, and I'll take the rest to the team."

My older siblings are coming back for National Day, so it's normal to leave some wild game there.

Sister Yang was worried about Mingming and Haohao. After hearing what Li Long said, she went inside to check on them. Li Long took off the two legs of the wild boar and hung them up in the storage room. He put the rest in the car and then drove off.

However, he didn't go back to the team first; instead, he went to the canteen for a meal. There was probably no food left at the team either, and after a busy morning, he was a little hungry.

There weren't many people in the canteen at this time, so the food was served quickly. After wolfing it down, Li Long drove the jeep to the fourth team, handed the remaining half of the wild boar to his sister-in-law—his older brother Li Jianguo—and drove the tractor to plow the fields.

“Your older brother is the busiest person in the team right now. Everyone in the team is so happy about the tractor you bought. If it weren’t for Wang Caimi having driven the tractor for so long, I guess everyone else in the team would have to plow and sow the fields by your older brother,” said Liang Yuemei, his sister-in-law.

These words are full of praise, not complaint. Having work and money to earn is a good thing. There are plenty of people who are strong but have nowhere to earn money; it's good to be busy, because being busy can help their families live a better life.

ＰＳ：感谢书友春暖十一州的两次大额打赏，感谢书友齐某某、书友20230107043607594、书友20250702200702871、书友20171009213952189、黑阿牛哥、书友20190116113038278、书友20250419195528243、谢蓝桉、书友20250702200702871、书友20250619204349052等的打赏，感谢大家的订阅、月票、推荐票和认可（以上免费）

(End of this chapter)