Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 997 Don't kill yourself out of curiosity

On November 16th, the first real snow fell in Ma County, with a snow depth of over 30 centimeters, which then settled.

There had been two light snowfalls earlier, but they hadn't stopped, so Li Long hadn't bothered to count them.

After the heavy snowfall, the number of people coming to the purchasing station to sell their hides suddenly increased.

It makes sense when you think about it. After a snowfall, whether it's rabbits, foxes, wolves, deer, or gazelles that don't hibernate, they can all move around in the snow, and you can find their tracks if you look for them.

A rabbit pelt has now risen to four yuan, a fox pelt sells for thirty-five to forty yuan at the purchasing station, and a wolf pelt has reached sixty yuan. The pelts of red deer and yellow sheep are about the same, with higher prices for those of better quality.

This leads many people to go out into the snow when they have free time. Those with guns can hunt gazelles, deer, and even wolves, while those without guns can use snares to trap rabbits and foxes.

One day in late November, someone even delivered a half-dead wolf directly to the purchasing station.

This incident alerted Mingming and Haohao, who were in the courtyard. He ran over to see the wolf that was tied up tightly and was somewhat surprised.

The wolf wasn't thin, but its leg was broken, its mouth was tied with a rope, and its three good legs were also tied, so it couldn't move at all.

Li Long had never considered raising a wolf; since someone brought him this wolf, he naturally accepted it. Gu Boyuan had called him over to ask how he planned to take it in, and also what he intended to do with the wolf.

"A whole wolf pelt is seventy yuan, plus this meat, let's make it one hundred and thirty yuan," Li Long said. "Wolf meat isn't very tasty, otherwise you wouldn't have sent it over. This wolf can yield thirty kilograms of meat, so let's say two yuan per kilogram, how about that?"

The man hadn't expected that getting a live wolf would cost twice as much as selling its pelt, so he happily accepted the price.

The others overheard this and whispered among themselves. Gu Boyuan registered and paid, and Li Long carried the wolf to the backyard.

There was a coal shed over there, and Li Long thought he should leave the wolf there for now—he didn't see any ferocity in the wolf's eyes, but rather a pitiful one.

To kill or not to kill?
We won't kill anyone today. Liang Dacheng is treating everyone to dinner. He called Li Long through Li Jianguo, and Li Long is preparing to go.

It started with Li Long gathering everyone together for a meal, then Xie Yundong, and Tao Daqiang did it a while ago, and now Liang Dacheng has done it too.

These people already had a good relationship, and there wasn't much to do in the winter, so it was a good thing for them to get together.

Because of this gathering, Li Long decided to leave the wolf here for now and slaughter and skin it when he had some free time tomorrow.

Liang Shuangcheng had already cleared the snow from the purchasing station, and there were now a dozen or so people in the courtyard outside selling their hides.

Li Long went out from the backyard, greeted Gu Boyuan, and then drove his jeep to the Fourth Squad.

The sheep at Liang Dacheng's house had already been slaughtered and skinned. When Li Long arrived, the offal had been almost completely washed. Yang Pingping and Deng Guilan were helping out.

Unlike summer, slaughtered livestock cool down quickly in winter, making them inconvenient to handle. Therefore, it takes many people to get things done.

By this time, the daytime temperature had already dropped to below minus ten degrees Celsius, but Li Long, wearing a cotton-padded coat, didn't feel very cold.

The world had turned into a vast expanse of white.

"Come inside quickly, don't stand outside." Liang Dacheng, who was butchering mutton, called to Li Long, "They're playing cards inside, you'd better go in quickly."

Li Long smiled and waved the two things he was carrying, saying:
"I bought pig ears and pig head meat from the braised meat shop. I'll cut them up and eat them together later."

"Hey, you didn't need to bring any food, just come!" Liang Dacheng complained with a smile.

“If you didn’t know, that’s fine. But since you already know, I just happened to be passing by a braised meat shop, so I’ll just buy some.” Li Long said as he went into the house, handed the braised meat to Deng Guilan in the kitchen, and then went to the inner room.

Xie Yundong, Tao Daqiang, and Jia Weidong were playing cards. They didn't use any game rules, and there was beer on the table. Playing cards and drinking beer was quite appropriate, but it was winter, so it was hard to say whether the beer was good or not.

Upon seeing Li Long enter, Tao Daqiang immediately stood up and said:

"Brother Long, you come and play, I can't keep up with the cards, I've already drunk a whole bottle."

Tao Daqiang's face was flushed, so he must have been telling the truth.

“We still have to finish this round,” Jia Weidong said seriously. “You still have cards left to play.”

"Okay." Tao Daqiang thought it made sense, so he sat down again and turned to explain to Li Long:
"I'll give you my position after this game."

Li Long remained silent, standing behind him watching the cards.

Tao Daqiang had a good hand, but his card-playing skills were average, and his moves lacked strategic focus, so he naturally couldn't win.

Li Long watched as Tao Daqiang squandered a winning hand, ending up in a mediocre position. However, since he didn't drink, he considered it a success.

Tao Daqi hurriedly stood up, and Li Long sat down without hesitation.

Xie Yundong asked while shuffling the cards:
"Xiaolong, how's it going on your end? I heard that Xu Haijun drove a tractor and took a group of people to the north to hunt gazelles as soon as it snowed."

“We didn’t catch many,” Tao Daqiang said. “They asked me to go, but I didn’t go. I said I wouldn’t do that if there’s nothing else to do. It’s not the right time. The snow isn’t deep enough yet, and a large number of gazelles haven’t come out from the depths of the sand dunes.”

Although Tao Daqiang wasn't good at playing cards, he still had some ideas about this.

"Whether we catch two or three, it's not a wasted trip," Jia Weidong said. "We went to the county the next day to sell the pelts, saying we'd go again after another heavy snowfall."

“There have been quite a few people selling furs these past two days,” Li Long said as he took a card. “The snow has definitely affected these wild animals. The snow is quite thick, and they can’t find food, so they have to run outside. The carnivores follow them. Today, someone even brought over a live wolf.”

"A live wolf?" This statement stunned everyone. "It was sent to your place?"

“Yes,” Li Long said. “I just captured the wolf first, and then came over. I haven’t had a chance to kill the wolf yet.”

"Hey, that's impressive, they even managed to get a live wolf." Tao Daqiang thought back to when he went hunting in the mountains with Li Long. They had encountered quite a few wild boars, but wolves were a rare sight.

"Hmm, it looks like it was caught in a trap; its leg is broken," Li Long said. "These days, people are coming up with all sorts of ways to hunt."

They chatted about this and that, played a few rounds of cards, and Li Long's luck was sometimes good and sometimes bad. He also drank a beer.

It was very hot inside the room, with a roaring fire in the stove. The fire wall was so hot to the touch that Li Long soon took off his coat to avoid sweating.

Soon after, the food was brought to the table, and the group put away their cards and moved the table to the center of the room. Because the ground wasn't very level, Tao Daqiang even used pieces of wood from the corner to stabilize the table.

Hand-pulled mutton, stir-fried mutton heart, large plate of mutton tripe, cold-dressed pig's head meat, cold-dressed pig's ears, cold-dressed bean sprouts, stir-fried eggs with spicy skin, etc.

The table was full of food, but the seating was only for the five of them. The women ate at a separate table in the kitchen.

Liang Dacheng, the wine commander, cleared the level right away, which made Li Long look at him with new eyes.

As the eldest son of the Liang family, Liang Dacheng has always been a mature and steady man who leads his three brothers to work and earn money. Unexpectedly, he suddenly became so straightforward and impulsive when his own family held a banquet.

However, Li Long was naturally not afraid. He had a high alcohol tolerance and quick reflexes when playing drinking games. In addition, he was lucky. When Liang Dacheng, Xie Yundong, and Tao Daqiang passed the game, he only drank one cup of wine. On the other hand, when Jia Weidong passed the game, he directly bet on small and drank one or two cups.

Each person who clears the level will have three cups of wine in front of them. They will play a game of rock-paper-scissors, or a game of Tiger, Stick, and Chicken. If two out of three players win, they will each receive a cup of wine, or they can play one cup per player. The specific rules will be determined by the wine commander and the level master.

Although Li Long's finger-guessing game is slow and lacks momentum, his calculations are extremely accurate, and he's unlikely to lose if he doesn't make mistakes. He's also not easily defeated in other games like big bet on small, tiger stick chicken, etc.

Everyone else's faces changed color from drinking, but Li Long remained sober. This made Liang Dacheng feel that he hadn't entertained them well, so he wanted to have another round with Li Long. After all, when hosting a dinner and drinks, it would seem that the host wasn't sincere if they didn't get the guests drunk.

Li Long wasn't afraid at all. After playing a drinking game with Liang Dacheng, he played the big bet on small and finally drank a symbolic cup.

It was past five in the afternoon when they finished the meal, and the sun was already low in the west. Li Long felt alright, got dressed, started the car, and drove back to the county.

The road was uneven, and the car swayed. Li Long was a little tipsy, but not heavily. He thought to himself that he would never drink and drive again—although he hadn't drunk much this time, he shouldn't do it again, as it could easily lead to a sense of complacency.

Back in the courtyard, after getting out of the car and being hit by the cold wind, Li Long actually sobered up. After settling on this theme, he drained the water from the car and went inside.

Thinking that everything would be fine for the next few days, Li Long was surprised when someone came knocking on the door the very next day. It was Wang Dagui, the younger brother of Wang Caimi from the team, who was riding his bicycle and knocking on the door. Li Long was decorating the snowman that Mingming and Haohao were building, with the two children helping him. When he heard the knocking, Li Long went to open the door and was somewhat surprised to see Wang Dagui.

"Xiao Long's here." Wang Dagui smiled as soon as Li Long opened the door. "Hey, that's good, that's good."

"Come in quickly." Li Long beckoned Wang Dagui in. "Brother Dagui, is something the matter?"

"Something's up, something's up. I heard from Yun Dong that you've taken in a live wolf?"

"Yes, that's right." Li Longcai suddenly remembered the wolf incident; he had forgotten about it after drinking yesterday.

"Is the wolf male or female?" Wang Dagui asked again after setting up his bicycle.

“It looks like a male wolf,” Li Long said after thinking for a moment.

"That's great!" Wang Dagui said with a smile. "Perfect timing. I have a female dog at home, and I was thinking of finding your live wolf to mate with. It would be wonderful if they could have a litter of wolfhounds."

Upon hearing this absurd idea, Li Long was momentarily at a loss for words.

These days, some people actually do this, and some even succeed.

However, Li Long definitely wouldn't approve of doing it this way.

He thought for a moment and asked:

"Brother Da Gui, what are you planning to do? Buy that wolf back? I bought it for 130 yuan yesterday. We're from the same village, so I won't ask for more. How about you add 10 yuan and take it?"

Wang Dagui was a little embarrassed and didn't respond.

Li Long pointed inside and said, "Come on, let's go inside and talk. It's awfully cold outside."

"No, no, no, I won't go in." Wang Dagui thought for a moment and then told the truth. "I just want to confirm that if your wolf is male, I'll bring my dog ​​over. The wolf and the dog can stay together and mate in a day or two at most. If they have wolfhounds after mating, I'll send you one..."

“Brother Da Gui, you should know that it’s not the dogs’ heat cycle right now, right?” Li Long didn’t expect Wang Da Gui to think so simply. “If you want to mate a wolf and a dog, it has to be during their heat cycle.”

"You mean, the beginning of spring?" Wang Dagui asked, realizing what was happening.

"That's right. In the dead of winter, neither wolves nor dogs are interested in that kind of thing. If they stay together, they'll only become natural enemies. The wolf I took in may be lame, but it's still quite formidable. If you put your female dog next to it, wouldn't it tear her apart?"

Li Long wasn't just trying to scare Wang Dagui; he was probably telling the truth.

After all, in the dead of winter, a wolf's hunting instinct is far stronger than its own desires.

"Well... it should be fine to try, right?" Wang Dagui was still unwilling to give up.

"I can't try it." Seeing that he was just trying it out here, wanting only the result and not taking any risks, Li Long waved his hand and said:

“I don’t have anywhere to try it at home. There’s no dog pen at the purchasing station either. The wolf is still tied up, and I’m afraid it might hurt someone if I let it go. If you want to try it, you’ll have to buy the wolf. Otherwise, I’ll slaughter it this afternoon.”

It's not that he's being disrespectful; he just doesn't want to get involved in this matter.

Even if a male wolf mates with a female dog, and even if desire truly prevails and they mate, and they have puppies, those puppies are still wolf offspring, wild and untamed, and might bite someone one day.

Let's not do this.

Wang Dagui's face was rather unpleasant. Li Long originally didn't want to talk to him anymore, but after thinking about it, he still offered an explanation:
"Brother Da Gui, I don't know who told you this thing can be bred. It can be bred, but it has to be at the right time. Look at how people drive their breeding pigs to mate, isn't that all in the spring? Cats are in heat in the spring too, who mates in the winter?"
"If you're not afraid of losing a female dog, then take the wolf back. Whether it's a good match or not, you can return it to me later. If you can't, it'll be 140 yuan. Of course, if you take the wolf and it bites someone, I'm not responsible—it's a wolf, after all."

Li Long's last words made Wang Dagui hesitant to actually take the wolf back. He didn't have a dog pen at home either; in rural areas, dogs rarely had them. They either ran wild or were at most chained up, not penned. Having a kennel was already considered quite good.

If we actually take the wolf back and it bites one of our own family members, that would be a real problem.

In the end, Wang Dagui returned empty-handed, and Li Long sighed.

These days, there must be quite a few people who find wolves to breed with their dogs. I don't know what these people are thinking.

Of course, quite a few wolfhound puppies bred together will bite people, but at this point, most people don't care if the dog bites.

During lunch, Li Long told Gu Boyuan about it, and Gu Boyuan said:

“You shouldn’t have agreed to him. You shouldn’t have sold it to him. Everyone in the team knows each other. If he really buys the wolf and it gets caught and bites someone, he might blame you.”

These days, while such morally corrupt acts do occur, they are extremely rare.

Human nature is unpredictable, and Li Long felt that Gu Boyuan was right.

Gu Xiaoxia, however, said her father was overthinking it; people aren't that bad.

Gu Boyuan just sneered and didn't say anything in rebuttal.

Li Long thought to himself that Gu Boyuan might have encountered even worse people during those years, which is why he made that judgment.

So after eating, Li Long went to the purchasing station. The wolf was still tied up in the coal shed, with leftover food that Liang Shuangcheng had given him. He didn't know if the wolf had eaten it or not, but it was on the verge of death.

Li Long then sliced ​​it off with a single cut, untied the rope, coiled it up, and set it aside. The next step was to skin it.

Give Liang Shuangcheng a wolf leg and tell him how to cook it. Put the wolf skin directly into the warehouse and spread it out to dry. There are no insects in winter, so there's no fear of it being eaten by moths. Since it will be sold in a while, just leave it there for now.

As usual, Shi Lilong put away the wolf teeth and wolf thigh bones, and took the wolf meat back. That evening, he braised a pot of it. Anyway, with the spices in the broth, it tasted pretty good.

Li Long felt quite hot after dinner, and after Mingming and Haohao fell asleep, Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia tossed and turned until very late before finally going to sleep.

The next day, after breakfast, while Li Long, Mingming, and Haohao were working in the greenhouse behind the house, someone knocked on the door again. This time, it was Sister Yang who opened it.

It was Wang Dagui again. When he saw that it wasn't Li Long who opened the door, he smiled and said he was looking for Li Long.

Sister Yang recognized this person, so she let Wang Dagui in, and then she went to the back to call Li Long.

The vegetable seedlings in the greenhouse had already sprouted. Li Long was watering the seedlings with his two children when he heard that Wang Dagui had arrived. He told Mingming and Haohao to continue playing there while he came out to greet him.

"Xiaolong, I've thought about it, and I'll buy that wolf," Wang Dagui said. "I'll raise it for a while, and if it can mate, then we'll see."

If it were just for breeding, he wouldn't be willing to spend the money. The main reason is that he didn't get anything done when he went back yesterday, and the person who encouraged him, after asking about the situation, told him that once the breeding was done, his wolfhound puppy would cost ten yuan, and people would definitely want it.

You'll break even in two years, and you'll even make a profit!
Upon reflection, Wang Dagui realized, "That's right. Why didn't I think about raising him long-term?"
No matter how fierce a wolf is, if it's tied up, it's just like a dog. Even if it's fierce, if you pull out its teeth and clip its claws, what can it do?
So Wang Dagui came to find Li Long again.

"You mean buy the wolf and keep it as a pet?" Li Long didn't know what to say. He shook his head and said:
"You're too late. I killed the wolf yesterday and skinned it."

"What? Killed him? Why?" Wang Dagui couldn't understand.

"For that pelt, of course," Li Long chuckled. "What else could it be? I collect wolves for their pelts. As for breeding, I don't think it's feasible. Besides, you didn't agree yesterday, so I figured you didn't want it. These wolves don't eat dog food; they want meat. I can't keep feeding them meat, can I?"

"This wolf eats meat?" Wang Dagui belatedly realized. "Doesn't it eat dog food or pig food?"

"Wolves travel a thousand miles to eat meat, dogs travel a thousand miles to eat shit, haven't you heard that saying? You'd have to feed it for half a year before it goes into heat, hey, you can't even handle two sheep, can you?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Dagui thought to himself that it was fortunate Li Long had killed the wolf. He cursed the guy who had encouraged him to raise wolves for eight lifetimes.

"Since you've already killed it, then I don't want it anymore." Wang Dagui was still somewhat relieved at this point. "Alright, you go ahead with your work, I'm leaving!"

Watching Wang Dagui leave in a hurry, Li Long shook his head. This guy really does believe whatever others say.

(End of this chapter)