Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 991 The road-building team has grown large, and there are more good things along the roadside.
At the Li family's reunion dinner, the first table to be cleared was the children's table, followed by the women's table.

However, only two people drank too much: Chen Xingbang and Li Anguo.

They both lost every time others tried to beat the game, and they also mostly lost when they tried to beat it themselves. They drank the most, and by the end, Chen Xingbang started to cry. He cried and said that he was living a good life here, and that he must go back to his hometown when he had time so that the people there could know that he had made something of himself and was no longer the same as before.

Wouldn't this be considered like wearing fine clothes in the dark when you don't return home to be rich?
Li Long didn't laugh at his brother-in-law and second brother. He just felt that they might also be feeling suppressed at work and had pent-up frustrations. After having a drink at home, they could release the pressure and feel better.

This is normal.

In later generations, there were many ways to release [the pent-up emotions], and at this point, it would most likely be through a drinking session.

Moreover, men still have a strong sense of responsibility at this time. No matter how much pressure they are under, they will bear it all themselves because they care about their image. They can't tell their wives or wives, so they can only drink.

Fortunately, there were plenty of houses, and it wasn't too cold yet, so it was easy to settle people in.

Chen Xingbang had drunk too much, but Li Xia didn't think much of it. She just complained a bit and then went to take care of him. Chen Lirong, on the other hand, felt a little embarrassed and awkward.

Gu Xiaoxia went over and said a few words to comfort her, and then arranged a place for her to stay.

The drinking session lasted from noon until the afternoon. Although Li Long wasn't drunk, he had drunk quite a bit. After dropping Gu Boyuan off at his own home, he didn't drive anymore and went straight to rest at his house.

The children were still playing in the yard, running here and there, each playing their favorite games. They played all over the yard, even attracting the neighbor's children to join in. Later, they felt the yard was too small, so they simply went outside to the main road.

There were almost no cars on the road at this time, so it was spacious and we had a great time playing. Plus, the weather had turned cool in early October and there were no mosquitoes. We played until it got dark, and the faint crescent moon could not show any light in the sky. When we could only see black shadows of people on the other side, we reluctantly dispersed. Minghao and Haohao were an exception. They both fell asleep early and were taken to bed by Gu Xiaoxia.

The next day, both Chen Xingbang's and Li Anguo's families were leaving, and Li Jianguo took both families away on a tractor. The three girls wanted to ride in a jeep, but there wasn't enough room, and both sets of parents were keeping an eye on them, so they just complained a few times.

They came quickly and left quickly. The most disappointed were Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang. However, the elderly couple knew that it was already very good that they could reunite like this a few times a year. At least now each of their children was living a good life, which was much better than living in their hometown.

That's enough. Besides, my eldest son is right here, my grandchildren are doing well, and Li Long lives nearby, coming back every now and then. What more could I ask for?

The old man was used to comforting himself and quickly calmed down, focusing intently on watching Mingming and Haohao play in the yard.

Li Long wanted to take Gu Xiaoxia to work in the county early in the morning, and then come back to pick up Gu Boyuan, Mingming, and Haohao. The purchasing station was still closed today. After returning to the team, Li Long waited until after lunch, when his older brother Li Jianguo drove the tractor to plow the fields, before he drove Mingming, Haohao, and Gu Boyuan back to the county.

In the morning, Li Qingxia took Mingming and Haohao to Xiaohaizi Lake and cast a few nets to catch fish. The two little ones were overjoyed. Li Jianguo, worried about the children's safety, followed along. He didn't use the net the whole time, just watching the two children to make sure they didn't fall into the water, after all, there had been lessons learned in the family.

After returning to the county, Gu Boyuan went to the purchasing station and said he wouldn't eat dinner, he would just get something for himself.

Anyway, there was plenty of stuff at the recycling station, so Li Long didn't say anything. Mingming and Haohao went to bed early today and barely ate anything for dinner.

Although they usually play in the yard and have a lot of fun, to be honest, it's far less enjoyable than the activities they did in the fourth team over the past day and a half. According to Sister Yang, they were exhausted.

That's good too. It's a good opportunity to connect with the locals, get along well with the older siblings, and strengthen relationships.

After the National Day holiday, Li Long began preparing to go into the mountains. He cleaned his gun, stocked up on bullets, and used up some of the leftover explosives and fuses from the last trip. He went to the supply and marketing cooperative to get some more, and also told Li Xiangqian about it.

"You do it, the rest of the people in the company won't participate for now." Li Xiangqian said with some regret. Actually, he wanted to lead a team to do it, but there was no way. It was almost the end of the year, and various acquisition plans were underway. There were simply not enough people to organize it.

“It’s alright, I’m also a member of the supply and marketing cooperative,” Li Long said with a smile, “I represent them.”

"Okay, you do a good job representing your superior. Just let me know if there's anything you need. We might have trouble providing manpower, but supplies are no problem," Li Xiangqian replied with a smile. Who wouldn't be happy to have a subordinate who understands their superior's intentions?
On October 4th, after having breakfast early in the morning, Li Long drove his jeep to buy naan bread and a jar of red tofu at the department store before heading to the mountains.

When he passed by Qingshuihezi, he saw that the village was quiet inside and out, and there was no sound of tractors in the fields, so he thought that Meng Hai must have taken people into the mountains to work.

As we drove into the mountains, we reached the newly paved road and heard the roar of a tractor engine ahead.

The jeep moved forward on the repaired road. Although it was a bit bumpy, it was definitely passable, and the road surface was well-maintained.

After passing the ten-kilometer-long road that had been repaired, we walked another kilometer or so and saw a group of people cutting down trees, collecting stones, and digging sand.

This time, Meng Hai didn't drive the tractor; he was in charge of directing the operation.

The riverbeds along the way were shallow. Li Longyuan was worried that Meng Hai would build the road into the riverbed because of the shallow water, and then flood it when the water was deep the following year. But now that he saw that the roadbed was still very high, at least one meter above the riverbed, he was relieved.

When the jeep arrived, many people turned to look. Meng Hai shouted a few times, and everyone continued working while he walked towards the jeep.

Li Long parked the jeep fifty meters away from the road construction site. He was mainly worried that the tractor would veer this way when it was hauling logs, so he needed to leave some room for it.

"Comrade Li Long, you're here. We started repairing it the day before yesterday," Meng Hai explained. "We organized more than seventy people, and in the last two days, we've repaired more than 1,800 meters."

"That's quite efficient," Li Long exclaimed. "The road looks pretty well done too."

“There was a roadbed before, although it was a horse trail. But as long as there was a roadbed, I could widen it. There weren’t many trees in these places. I cut them down and dragged them to the side. Then I dug along the road towards the mountain. Or rather, I didn’t dig. I used a tractor to plow a path, then a bulldozer to shovel it again. The roadbed was basically formed. Then I used a small four-wheeled vehicle to haul sand and gravel on top, and then the tractor rolled it over a few more times. That was about it.”

Meng Hai is now very familiar with this process and can talk about it fluently:

"Even if there are places where you can't plow, we have the explosives you brought. We can just blow those rocks up. Don't worry, the people who go up to plant the explosives are all trained militia members or veterans who have returned from the army. Even if there are duds, we'll just use hand grenades to deflect them. No one will be hurt."

After he said that, Li Long had nothing more to say and asked about other things:
"What about the meal?"

"You don't need to worry about meals. Everyone brought their own dry rations. Before meals, boil a few pots of water, make some tea, and everyone can drink it. We're here to make money, not to enjoy ourselves."

"It was alright when there were fewer people, but now that there are so many, Comrade Li Long, you shouldn't bother hunting. There are over seventy people; how much would you need to hunt to keep up? I've already told them, and they know it."

Hearing this, Li Long felt relieved. In fact, he had thought about it and it was true. The number of animals hunted was not something he could decide. If they only caught one animal, the seventy-odd people would at most share a meat soup.

"Let's just stop fighting," he said, taking the jar of red tofu from the jeep. "Eating dry rations alone isn't very palatable. Let's eat this stuff with it; it's better than swallowing dry food."

"Alright." A jar of red tofu costs one hundred yuan, enough for all these people. This stuff is quite salty and flavorful, perfect for eating with dry rations.

Li Long and Meng Hai chatted for a few more minutes. Meng Hai noticed something was wrong ahead and hurried off to deal with it. Li Long, carrying his backpack and gun, walked forward, still wanting to check the situation ahead.

This time, no safety personnel were sent to the front because it was unnecessary. The snow accumulation on the innermost mountains has increased, and everything above 4,000 meters in altitude is snow-capped. It will only get colder in the future, and there is no possibility of snowmelt floods anymore.

Earlier, when passing by the place where Li Long had discovered the huge jade stone, the river water had receded to two-thirds of its original level, and the disguise on the jade stone was completely exposed, with a distance of three to five meters from the waterline.

Li Long continued forward simply to see if there were any similar resources. In later generations, news reports would frequently feature stories of people discovering large objects, and he figured there must be more than just the one he had found in these mountains.

And because there's less water, it's easier to find.

Of course, if Li Long could catch prey, he wouldn't let it go. He could just cook a pot of meat soup and have a bowl for everyone.

Li Long didn't recognize most of the people who came to work this time. He might have seen them when they first collected the large brooms, but so much time had passed that he really couldn't remember them. He politely nodded to them as they looked at him, then walked through the crowd and headed south.

Looking ahead along the water, Li Long's eye for detail was quite good. He had only walked less than a kilometer when he found a piece of jade weighing thirty or forty kilograms in the river. However, its quality was average, with many black spots, and half of it was submerged in the water while the other half was exposed.

To the average person, it's just a bluish-green stone with a lot of outer skin; there's no indication that it resembles jade at all. Li Long can tell because he's handled jade extensively and attended several jade festivals in his previous life, so he knows which stones, patterns, and colors are characteristic of jade.

The most valuable part of this jade is that it is a pebble jade and there are no cracks visible from the outside. In later times, it would probably be worth tens of thousands of yuan. After all, back then, a Mahe jade bracelet only cost a few hundred yuan, and a better quality jade bracelet cost over a thousand yuan. But if there are black spots, the price won't be high.

In today's terms, it would be worth a few hundred yuan. Li Long looked around, marked the location, and didn't touch it, thinking he would load it onto a jeep and take it back once the road was repaired to this point. Then he continued walking into the mountains.

The vegetation had already withered, but Li Long saw a few large ginseng roots by the roadside. Thinking it was alright, he simply started digging them up.

It's one thing for a purchasing station to be able to buy something, but it's quite another to dig it up yourself.

As the workers watched Li Long stride off south, one of them joked, "It would be great if we could hunt some wild game today; this dry ration is making us choke."

"We'll know if we listen for gunshots later. If we hear gunshots, it means we hit the target; if we don't, it means we missed," the experienced person said.

"It's hard to say," said one of the road repairmen who was working on the road for the first time. "Even if someone shoots, they might not hit you. Li Long's marksmanship isn't that good, is it?"

Those who had been there looked at him like he was an idiot, leaving him completely bewildered.

"Get to work! You've been talking too much. Get your hands dirty or I'll dock your pay!" Meng Hai yelled at them from a distance.

These people immediately started to take action, but the argument didn't stop.

In the end, the first people who came to repair the road understood that whenever Li Long fired a shot, he almost never missed his prey.

So these people worked while hoping for gunfire.

Codonopsis pilosula is very easy to identify in summer, but in late autumn, when all the leaves have fallen and only a single stem remains, it takes a keen eye to spot it.

Li Long has a good eye and rich experience. He knows that the place where the Codonopsis pilosula grows is mainly soil with some small stones mixed in, which does not affect its growth.

He was digging with a machete as a shovel, and at that moment he regretted not asking Li Xiangqian to get him a small shovel, which was the real weapon for working in the mountains.

Fortunately, the soil below was of good quality. They dug down more than half a meter and found a plump Codonopsis pilosula, as thick as a child's arm and more than 30 centimeters long.

The codonopsis root cracked open as soon as it was dug up, which shows how nutritious it is.

Li Long was very satisfied. After looking at it, he went to the water's edge to rinse the ginseng and planned to dig up another one.

Then they saw a roe deer cautiously peeking out of the ditch across the water, about to drink some water, when they saw Li Long.

Li Long instinctively grabbed the machete next to him and smashed it. The roe deer was stunned for a moment before turning around and preparing to run into the ditch.

The machete spun around and smashed directly into the roe deer's hind leg. Li Long's blow was quite powerful; the roe deer staggered, its hindquarters falling to the ground before it got up again and limped towards the ditch.

Now that he had hit it, he wasn't about to let it escape. Li Long grabbed his gun and strode across the water to chase after it. As he passed the machete, he bent down, picked it up, and then hurled it at the roe deer. This time, he knocked the deer to the ground, where it cried out, clearly having broken another bone.

Li Long walked up to the unfortunate roe deer, looked at it, and without much hesitation, slit its throat with his knife.

Although I didn't plan to hunt today, this thing just happened to be in the line of fire, so I can't blame myself.

The road workers were quite disappointed as the sun was already high in the southern sky and no gunfire had yet been heard in the southern valley. It seemed they would have to eat dry rations today.

Meng Hai had already sent someone to boil water. He didn't mention Li Long's jar of red tofu, mainly because he didn't want to spoil these road workers. They just wanted to earn money, how could they have such high expectations? Such good work was coveted by the strong laborers in the neighboring village, and these people here were still not satisfied, how could that be?

Then someone with sharp eyes spotted a figure appearing from the south and immediately shouted:

"Li Long is back!"

What is he carrying?

"A wild boar?"

"Wild boars don't grow that long, is it a wild goat?"

"It doesn't look like it, it looks more like a roe deer?" someone guessed.

Was a shot fired just now?

"Didn't you hear me?"

"How did you get this thing? Did you find it?"

"Why don't you go and try picking one up?" someone retorted. "Comrade Li Long is a skilled hunter; he might catch it empty-handed."

"Hey! There's something delicious for lunch!" Some people only care about the food.

Meng Hai also saw Li Long walking over and sighed.

I had finally managed to get these people to behave themselves and cultivate a frugal lifestyle, but it seems that will not be possible now that Comrade Li Long has come.

However, whether or not everyone gets to eat depends on Li Long's opinion. He went up to him and asked:
"Comrade Li Long, I didn't hear any gunshots, what is this...?"

"I was digging for ginseng and washing it by the water when this guy popped up and I knocked it down with a cleaver," Li Long explained, putting down the roe deer that weighed less than 30 kilograms. "I'll skin it later. There's definitely not enough for everyone to share, so I'll make a big pot of soup and give each person a small piece or two of meat. We'll mainly drink the soup."

"Okay, okay," Meng Hai replied, and then called someone over to help.

The roe deer was small, so skinning it was quick. Li Long didn't need to do anything about processing the internal organs; he just needed to salt the hide and put it away.

There were seasonings in the jeep, so there was no fear of ruining the dish. In fact, in the mountains, as long as there was salt, nothing else was needed.

As I said before, it's better than eating dry rations.

Because they wanted to eat meat, Meng Hai postponed lunchtime by half an hour, and no one complained.

Compared to being able to eat good food, what's a little extra work?

When Li Long arrived at the jeep, he put down the Codonopsis pilosula. He thought that even if he didn't go hunting in the afternoon, he could still dig up some extra-large Codonopsis pilosula.

Typically, if the plant at the top is very large, the codonopsis pilosula at the bottom will also be quite large. Although the purchasing station bought a lot of codonopsis pilosula, it's still not the same feeling as digging it up yourself.

The aroma soon filled the valley, and many people began to discuss how the dry rations would taste better with the meat broth.

That's when everyone realized they hadn't brought bowls!

How do you eat this?
Someone brought an old-fashioned military water bottle, thinking they could use it to fill with the broth so at least they could drink it.

What about those that don't exist?
At this moment, Li Long took a stack of enamel bowls from the trunk and handed them to Meng Hai:
"We didn't prepare that many. There are thirty here. Let's take turns eating them."

"It's alright, if there are two or three people in a family, one bowl will suffice." Meng Hai was more direct; there weren't many formalities at this point. The whole family could share one bowl. If anyone was left out, they could wait for the next round.

(End of this chapter)