Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

This time, Li Long dug a pit not only to trap small wild boars, but if possible, he also wanted to catch some big wild boars.

It's better to have meat to eat than to eat only grains, right?

To be honest, Li Long's harvest has been much less than usual when hunting here since the beginning of spring. I don't know if it's because the wild animals have fled to the mountains because there are too many people in the forest, or if Li Long's luck is really bad.

So he planned to dig a big hole this time.

Relying on his greater strength and the meat he had eaten at noon, Li Long arrived at the location, found a place where wild boar hoof prints were concentrated, and started digging.

He originally planned to dig a two-meter square hole, but as he dug, he felt something was wrong, so he reduced the size and dug a one-and-a-half-meter square hole.

Digging half a meter deep, this layer is all black soil. From the top to the bottom, it is humus soil and hard soil. Half a meter down, it becomes loess. There are fewer grass roots and occasionally you can see holes dug by insects. This layer of loess is about half a meter deep. It took Li Long nearly an hour to dig out all this soil.

Even though he was stronger than others, he started to pant at this time.

Digging further down, there began to be sand and small stones. Li Long knew that if he dug further down, there would definitely be Gobi rocks. But this was also good. There must have been an ancient river channel underneath, so there was such a stratum.

After a short break, he continued digging. He planned to dig a small opening with a large bottom, which would be more laborious. The sun was already setting, but Li Long did not intend to change his plan. At most, he would make the opening smaller so that there would be a large bottom, and it would be difficult for wild boars to climb out after falling in.

He didn't plan to use any sticks underneath, his main purpose was to catch the wild boar alive.

The method of setting traps used last year is not suitable here. There are no bushes nearby and the grass is not very tall, so the traps would be too obvious. Wild boars are actually quite smart and will not come near even if stakes are driven into them.

So let's dig a hole, cover it with branches, put leaves on it, and sprinkle corn kernels on it. This will definitely attract these guys.

I dug the hole while thinking, and finally reached the Gobi rock layer. This was where things got a little more difficult.

Li Long looked at the height, which was about 1.5 meters. It was not very convenient to throw Gobi stones out of the pit at this time, after all, the pit was relatively small and it was a bit difficult to use.

But we can only dig slowly. After all, we have already started and cannot give up halfway.

At this time, Li Long missed the time when Tao Daqiang followed him. At least he had someone to work with.

The Gobi rocks below were of different sizes, some as big as a football, so he had to pick up the stones and throw them out.

Fortunately, Li Long is tall enough, otherwise he would not be able to get up.

After digging for a while, he climbed up again and saw that the sun would only set in an hour or two, so he thought about speeding up.

But there was so much soil near the pit that he couldn't just leave it there, so he shoveled it out one shovelful at a time and threw it into the nearby stream.

After shoveling almost everything, he threw stones. After finishing all this, Li Long felt the sweat on his back and started again.

It's not easy for me to catch a wild boar. This is where amateur hunters are incompetent. If I had the ability, I would find the traces of the wild boar in the forest and chase it. I am not as hard as I am!
Well, stupid methods have their advantages. Li Long can only comfort himself in this way. He cannot do this anymore. He needs to learn from the old hunters and wander around in the mountains when he has nothing to do, looking for traces of animals. He needs to make progress. He is now regressing.

When he went down again and dug out the stones, he was about to throw them up with a shovel, but then he stopped.

Isn't this a piece of jade?

He picked up the dark green stone on the shovel and looked at it carefully.

The light in the pit was a little dim, so Li Long simply climbed up, wiped the sand off the surface of the stone and looked at it carefully.

It really is!
And it’s a piece of jade without any dark spots—it’s of very high quality!

It weighs about four or five kilograms, which is not light.

It’s no worse than the first piece of jade I got from Halimu!

At this moment, Li Long became alert.

He remembered the short videos he saw in his previous life of jade farmers shoveling the Gobi Desert one shovel at a time and then taking out the jade seeds.

I don’t know whether that one is true or not, but mine is definitely true.

Just this piece of material, at the current price, even if it can't be sold for a thousand yuan, it shouldn't be a problem to sell it for seven or eight hundred yuan, right? It's worth digging such a big hole here today!

At this time, resources are really abundant.

Li Long wiped the jasper seed material clean, put it aside, and then jumped down to continue digging. Even if he couldn't get the wild boar tomorrow, it would be worth it.

He also planned to see if there was any more jade. Although there were quite a few of these things at home, the more the better, right?
I would check every time I dug with a shovel. As a result, I found quite a few monkey stones (earth-gray stones with holes similar to Taihu stones, softer than ordinary Gobi stones, but not earth, and called monkeys in the local dialect), but no jade was found.

Unknowingly, the hole was dug out to be about 17 or 18 meters deep, and it was small on top and big at the bottom. In order to see if there was any jade, Li Long dug out a big belly at the bottom. If a wild boar really fell into this thing, it would definitely not be able to get out.

Li Long was exhausted and had gained nothing, so he climbed up somewhat discouraged.

The sun was about to set behind the mountain top. He sighed and decided that he couldn't relax yet as he had to finish the remaining work.

He ran to the nearby forest and broke off a lot of branches. He brought a bunch of them over and laid them on the pit, both horizontally and vertically. After laying them, he stepped on it lightly with one foot. It can bear a certain weight, but it is not particularly heavy. A small wild boar should not be able to step in, but two or three small wild boars can sink into it.

The next step is to sprinkle corn kernels all around, sparsely around and more in the middle, so that it will be easier for wild boars to gather.

After sprinkling the water, there were still some branches left, so they simply stuck them upright around the pit. This way, if someone came, it would serve as a warning to prevent people from falling and getting hurt.

After finishing all these things, Li Long didn't want to stay here anymore, so he put the jade in a bag, picked up the things and left. The sun had already set, and the weather was cold. He was still sweating, and the breeze made him feel cold. If he continued like this, he might catch a cold.

He hurried back to the wooden house, but the fire in the stove outside had gone out, so he went back into the house. While the stove was still going out, he added coal and boiled a pot of water. After the water was hot, he closed the door, took off his clothes and wiped his body to avoid catching a cold.

After a tiring day, I didn't want to cook, so I heated up the broth, cut some offal to eat, filled my stomach, and went to sleep.

Anyway, he had dug a pit, and he didn't plan to go there too early the next day to check. If he could get stuck in it, he believed that the wild boar would not jump out.

Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang arrived at the small lake to retrieve the nets half an hour earlier than usual.

There was no one else there at this time, and the small lake was quite quiet, with only the occasional quacks or calls of early-rising water chickens and wild ducks.

There were many nets, so the old and the young went their separate ways. Tao Daqiang was now able to sit on a tire to retrieve the nets, but he still couldn't row the tire and use his mouth to release the nets. So he rowed the tire to retrieve the nets from the reeds, while Li Qingxia collected the nets near the trough on the shore. During this time, he also got a good understanding of the water conditions here.

This time, in addition to setting up the net, he also set up two basins to catch some small fish. He remembered clearly that when he and Li Long were selling fish last year, small fish were more popular than crucian carp. However, this thing is not like loach, it is easy to die, so after catching it, it must be taken to the market as soon as possible to sell.

After nearly an hour, when there was a little red light in the east, they had already fished out the net. Tao Daqiang dragged out four urea bags, each of which was half full, and Li Qingxia also dragged out two bags and two basins.

Both of them rode bicycles. They tied the bags to the bicycles. Tao Daqiang also had to buckle the tires on them, so they could barely push the bags back.

When they were walking back, Lao Meng and other talents from the village came to get the net.

After greeting each other, Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang hurried back to the Li family, and then the family started to select fish together. Tao Daqiang's wife Yang Pingping was also there, and she was a little pregnant, but there were many women who worked while pregnant these days, and both men and women didn't seem to pay much attention to it, mainly due to limited conditions.

Although there are not as many fish on the net as before, there are more nets and more harvests. This time, with more than ten nets, we caught seventy to eighty kilograms of fish and more than ten kilograms of pike.

"We'll leave now. You can pick up the nets when you have time." Li Qingxia began to assign tasks. "If the sales are good, we'll go back tomorrow. If not, we won't cast so many nets then."

The two men divided nearly 100 kilograms of fish into four bags, tied two bags together and placed them on the back rack of the bicycle. Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang took scales, basins and other things and rode away.

The rest of the people ate first, and then talked about picking up the net. The two rode their bicycles all the way to the county, and as before, bought a few buns at the big meat canteen, and ate while riding to Shicheng.

When they left Ma County, the sun had already risen. It was a little later than usual, but the two of them didn't care too much. Shicheng market was big, and it didn't matter if it was later. At most they could stay a little longer.

By the time they arrived in Shicheng, it was already working hours, but the old street was still bustling with people, and the scale of the flow of people was at least three or four times that of the Ma County Market.

That's it.

Li Qingxia looked at the situation and knew that today was a safe day!

"Hurry up, Daqiang, let's find two places and set up the stalls." Li Qingxia got off the bike and whispered to Tao Daqiang, "If you see an empty stall, take it first!"

"Okay." Tao Daqiang was also looking around. Li Qingxia was the first to see a stall. The original stall owner was selling vegetables. At this time, the vegetables in the basket were almost gone, and there were only a few left. He didn't plan to sell them anymore. As soon as he picked up the basket, Li Qingxia rushed over and took the position. A middle-aged man was a step late, and said with some regret and admiration:

"Old man, you are so skilled!"

"That's right. I also did some tricks for a few days when I was young." Li Qingxia said proudly as he parked the car, "Take a look, there are still good spots."

Tao Daqiang actually also saw this seat, but when he saw that there was more than one person staring at it, he hesitated, and this hesitation made him lose the opportunity.

Fortunately, Li Qingxia got it, which was not bad, so he continued to look forward. After Li Qingxia set up the bicycle, he put down the basin, took down the fish bag, and poured in the half bag of pike first. Seeing that there were still live fish, he felt relieved, and then poured in the other fish.

There was no need to ask the price. There were two fishmongers nearby, and Li Qingxia had already heard their shouts. Big fish were 1.1 yuan per kilogram, and small crucian carp were 95 cents per kilogram, both of which were not cheap.

There are quite a few people buying here. It seems like I came to the right place today!
Before the old man could even shout, someone came over.

"Grandpa, is this a loach?"

"Well, plateau loach, good stuff."

"How did you sell it?"

"One dollar."

"Come, weigh two kilograms for me."

Opened.

Tao Daqiang continued walking around, and then he saw an acquaintance.

Chen Xingbang was weighing meat for others. He had sold half of a sheep early in the morning, and his stall was famous. However, Chen Xingbang was happy and worried. There were only seven or eight sheep left out of the fifteen in the yard, not enough to sell.

"Brother-in-law?" Tao Daqiang shouted after Li Long, "Your business is pretty good!"

When Chen Xingbang saw that it was Tao Daqiang, he was delighted, "Oh, Daqiang is here, are you selling fish?"

"Well, I came here with Uncle Li. Uncle Li has already set up his stall over there. Do you want me to go over and talk to him?"

"No, no, no." Chen Xingbang waved his hands hurriedly, "Once this stall is open, how can we leave people behind? Besides, it's my turn to go over. You help me watch the stall, I'll go over and take a look, say hello and then come back. Have you not found this stall yet? Please help me look, I'll find you a stall later."

"Sure. How much do you sell this meat for?"

"Meat is 1.35 yuan per kilogram, and spareribs are 1.2 yuan per kilogram... You don't have to sell them, just say that the stall owner has been away for a while and will be back soon. You don't know how to cut the meat, so just help me watch it."

After hearing what Chen Xingbang said, Tao Daqiang felt relieved. He really wasn't very good at cutting meat for others, and he was afraid of messing things up.

Chen Xingbang put down his knife and hurried to the direction Tao Daqiang pointed. Li Qingxia was weighing fish for someone and smiled when he saw Chen Xingbang. Chen Xingbang smiled and said:

"Dad, why are you here too? It's not close to ride here!"

"I'm in good health, so this short distance is nothing!" Li Qingxia said proudly, "How's your meat stall?"

"It's okay. I can make a few dollars by selling a sheep a day." There were too many people, so Chen Xingbang couldn't explain in detail.

"Then go and look after the stall. We'll talk about it after you're done." Li Qingxia waved his hand, "The stall can't be empty."

"Okay." Chen Xingbang just came over to say hello, then hurried over. There were already people waiting at the stall over there.

After Chen Xingbang greeted the guest, he pointed to the side and said:
"Da Qiang, you stay here, I'll move my car back," he then said to another stall owner next to him:

"Old Wu, please move your stall to the side and make room for my big brother."

"Okay." The man selling wicker baskets at the stall next to him was familiar with Chen Xingbang. Hearing what he said, he moved a little to make room for Tao Daqiang.

Tao Daqiang was also very happy. He quickly set up a stall here and started selling his goods.

In less than two hours, all the mutton was sold out and there was no fish left.

"Come on, follow me to the yard. Put down the car and things first. I'll take you to have lunch." Although Chen Xingbang also rented a yard, he also had a place to stay here. He led Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang to his own yard.

When they arrived at the yard, Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang were both very happy. Although this yard was not as big as the one in the team, it was still in the city, and having such a big yard with sheep in it was already pretty good.

"There are only seven sheep left," Chen Xingbang said. "Not enough to sell. I can still sell a sheep in the afternoon, but these sheep can only be sold for more than three days. I used to make 10 to 20 yuan a day, but now I can only make 30 to 40 yuan." Chen Xingbang was a little worried, "What will I do if there are no more sheep later?"

"Do you want Xiaolong to bring you another batch of sheep?" Li Qingxia understood what his son-in-law meant.

"It would be great if we could get it. I don't have a carriage or a tractor here, and only Xiaolong can solve this problem."

"Xiaolong has gone into the mountains. If he comes back in the next two days, we can talk to him. If he doesn't come back, we can only wait."

"It's ok to wait. If nothing works, I'll push the cart to the nearby area to collect pigs." Chen Xingbang didn't completely rely on Li Long. He also had his own backup plan. "If I can't collect sheep, I can sell pork. That's also possible."

"That's right, we can't just rely on Xiaolong." Li Qingxia was very satisfied with Chen Xingbang's plan. "It looks like you can still make some money."

"If this continues, in less than three months, I will be able to bring Hongqin and her mother over."

"Okay, it's good to have a plan." Li Qingxia was even more satisfied after hearing what his son-in-law said, "They can live a good life here."

Chen Xingbang took the two people out, locked the door, and ate mixed noodles in a nearby small restaurant. After the business in the old street became good, there were not only mobile food stalls, but also some people saw the business opportunity and opened a door facing outwards in their own yards nearby, and then opened restaurants, all of which served home-cooked meals, and the business was quite prosperous.

After the three of them finished their meal, Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang rode their bicycles back with the things. Chen Xingbang prepared to slaughter a sheep. His stall was quite famous now, and he could sell a sheep in the afternoon and make money. He did not plan to do any hunger marketing. Making money was the real thing.

Li Long got up early in the morning, and the fatigue from the previous night completely disappeared. He looked outside and saw that the sun had not yet risen, so he built a fire, cooked porridge, and made breakfast.

After breakfast, Li Long tidied up the house and prepared firewood under the stove outside. Then he carried his gun, bag, rope and shovel and headed southwest.

He planned to wait if the wild boar didn't arrive. If the wild boar arrived but didn't enter the pit, he would follow the wild boar's trail and go up the mountain. There would be nothing to worry about anyway.

Just when Li Long was about to reach the place where the pit was dug, he heard someone shouting:

"Help, help! Is there anyone who can save me?"

What's going on? Someone fell into the pit?
Li Long was startled and ran over there quickly, and then found that the sound seemed to come from the mountain? (End of this chapter)