Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

This man is called Wu Benzhong, and he has been here for two years. Last year, when the land contracting started in May County, he came here as soon as the market opened. He also came here because he heard from his hometown that it was easy to make money here. He originally wanted to do some small business and brought some capital with him, but unfortunately he didn't know the market here. Some of the goods he imported from Wucheng were not sold here, and he lost a lot of money. He lost his capital and was too embarrassed to go home, so he stayed with his relatives in the Corps for the winter. Life in the Corps company is not easy now. Although cornmeal can be eaten, it is really difficult to make money. So he came into the mountains at the beginning of spring. This is also because someone pointed out a way for him, saying that there are good things in the mountains, and as long as he gets them, he can exchange them for money at the purchasing station. If he can pick up a treasure, he will make a fortune.

Wu Benzhong didn't believe it at first. There were mountains near his hometown, so he knew a lot about them, but he wasn't very good at finding mountain products. He went to the purchasing station to ask before he came, and the people there told him that they bought a lot of mountain products, such as leather, codonopsis, fritillaria, and deer antlers, and the prices were not low.

After hearing this, Wu Benzhong went into the mountains. He only knew Fritillaria among the herbs in the mountains. He learned about Codonopsis from others later. Now was not the time to dig Codonopsis, so Wu Benzhong only focused on Fritillaria. Then he came across other miscellaneous things.

But it was not easy to survive in the mountains. He entered the mountains in late March, when there was still snow in some places. He could not see Fritillaria at first, so he thought about picking up other things. Once in the mountains, it was a bit difficult to get out. There was nothing to eat in the mountains. When the grass just started to grow, he dug grass roots and picked dried mushrooms, plus some corn flour he brought with him.

He didn't think about leaving the mountain, because there was no other way. He had no money in his pocket and hadn't picked up any good things. The most he would do if he went out was begging for food.

Wu Benzhong wanted to save face, otherwise he would not have left his relatives' home in the Corps. He could have stayed there shamelessly and survived. He left because he wanted to save face and did not want to live a life of idleness. So, because he wanted to save face, he did not want to go down the mountain to beg in the county. He hoped to earn money based on his ability and instinct.

Then he picked up a pair of deer antlers in the ditch, which made him very happy. He clearly remembered that the people at the purchasing station said that the purchase price of deer antlers was more than six yuan per kilogram. This pair of deer antlers must weigh five or six kilograms, which is equivalent to a worker's monthly salary.

He originally planned to take the antlers down the mountain to sell them for money and buy some daily necessities. However, he was furious that he ran into someone from the forestry team before he even got out of the mountain, and they took his antlers. The person also told him to get out of the mountain as soon as possible, otherwise he would be arrested if they saw him picking things or digging herbs in the mountain next time.

The other side had guns and horses, so Wu Benzhong could not resist and could only blame himself for his bad luck.

He was unwilling to lose his antlers, but there was nothing he could do. Fortunately, Fritillaria cirrhosae appeared in early April, and he started digging them. Now he has almost finished the cornmeal he brought with him. He eats wild vegetables every day, and his feces are all green. He misses the taste of rice, white flour and meat.

Meeting Sun Jiaqiang was quite unexpected, but seeing that he was dressed similarly to himself, Wu Benzhong was not so scared anymore, but he was still a little wary. In this day and age, who can you trust except your own family?
Sun Jiaqiang was actually quite happy to see Wu Benzhong. Although he had encountered bad migrant workers before, he still had some good thoughts in his heart, so he told Wu Benzhong that he could exchange supplies from Li Long.

Wu Benzhong didn't believe it yesterday, but when he saw the shoes that Sun Jiaqiang exchanged for today, he was a little shaken.

After leaving the ditch, Wu Benzhong crossed two more ditches, turned west, and climbed two mountains before arriving at a small ditch. The ditch was very narrow, with pine trees growing on both sides. No cattle or sheep had ever passed through here. The grass was very deep and messy. Because of the pine trees, there was little sunlight on both sides of the ditch, and thick moss grew on the surface.

After Wu Benzhong entered the ditch, he walked about forty or fifty meters inside and found a cave entrance by lifting up a large piece of moss next to a pine tree that had been blown down by the wind on the hillside.

This was the shelter he had finally found. The cave looked small from the outside, but it was actually quite large inside. It was not easy to be discovered because it was blocked by branches and moss. Although it was a bit damp inside, it was better than staying outside.

Wu Benzhong went in and found a different world inside. There were ventilation holes, so it didn't feel stuffy. He stored a lot of dry firewood inside and built a stove with four stones. On top of it was an aluminum basin as a pot, and an enamel basin with several pieces of porcelain missing was used as a bowl for eating.

The left side of the cave was covered with hay, on which were urea bags, sacks, and a quilt with several holes in it. This was where Wu Benzhong slept.

There were several bags in the corner on the right side of the cave, and there were a bunch of miscellaneous things next to the bags, including two sets of deer antlers, a set of roe deer horns, a mountain goat head with seventeen or eighteen horn sections, and a few stones.

Wu Benzhong looked at these things. What he was sure of was that the deer antlers and the mother-of-pearl in the bag could be exchanged for money, but he was not sure about the rest.

I grabbed a handful of the Fritillaria into the bag. It was still very wet and a little damp. These bags together must have weighed about 20 to 30 kilograms.

Wu Benzhong was also worried. He had dug up a lot of Fritillaria, but the ditch where he lived was safe, and the forestry team couldn't find any, but there was no place to dry things. The places above where the sun could reach were all pine trees, and it was so humid below that there was no place to dry. He wanted to find a suitable place to dry them, but he was afraid that they would be stolen. He had to dig every day, and he couldn't just watch them all the time.

He remembered Liu Jiaqiang's words, gritted his teeth, picked up the smallest bag of Fritillaria and walked out of the cave.

At worst, it would be a loss. He had no more food here. Unless he went down the mountain, the people at the purchasing station said that they only bought dried Fritillaria and would not be responsible for drying. If he wanted to go down the mountain, it would take at least a day. But he had no food to eat tonight. Besides, he had no matches. He had only chewed dried mushrooms at noon. If he had nothing to eat tonight, he doubted whether he would have the strength to go down the mountain tomorrow.

Then try something different.

When Wu Benzhong appeared to the east of the cabin, Li Long was taking the dried meat off the rope. Although it was early April, the terrain was flat, the light was abundant, and there was wind, so the meat was almost dried. He planned to put the meat away today and not dry it tomorrow. He would go to the place Sun Jiaqiang mentioned tomorrow to see if there were any deer.

Li Long was shocked when he saw Wu Benzhong. If it wasn’t broad daylight, he would have thought that the other person was a ghost!

After all, Li Long had seen Sun Jiaqiang, Li Zhengtang brothers and that bad thief, and he had also seen all kinds of vagrants in the mountains, but this was the first time he had seen someone like Wu Benzhong.

Others were at best unkempt, but this guy looked like a skeleton. Li Long even doubted whether he weighed 40 kilograms.

Although he was skinny, he looked quite strong. He came over with a bag on his back and just gasped for breath.

Wu Benzhong looked much shabbier than Sun Jiaqiang. His clothes had many holes in them and were worn to a shine. His hair was messy and his beard was not long. However, due to lack of nutrition, his face was extremely thin. Li Long thought that if he trimmed his hair and beard and gained some weight, he could be called a handsome guy.

"Boss, I heard you can exchange things here?" Wu Benzhong stood still more than ten meters away, with the bag at his feet. He planned that if anything went wrong, he would just throw the bag away and run away. As long as he was not caught, there would be endless possibilities.

But seeing that the other party actually had a tractor, Wu Benzhong believed Sun Jiaqiang's words a little more. This person should not be from the forestry team, right? Without a horse, you can't drive a tractor to catch people?

"Exchange. What do you want to exchange?" Li Long asked. "What? I have rice, flour, wine, drinks, sugar, shoes and matches."

"How did you exchange it? How much did you pay for one kilogram of Fritillaria?"

"Fresh Fritillaria is three yuan per kilogram." Li Long said, "This is the only price in the mountains. Of course, it also depends on the quality. If the quality is good, the price can be raised. If the quality is poor and there are many impurities, the price will have to be reduced."

Wu Benzhong understands that it is cheaper than the purchasing station, after all, they also make money.

"Then take a look at my goods." Wu Benzhong said, "I should have quite a few mother-of-pearl in this bag. I want to exchange some of them."

Li Long estimated that the bag of Fritillaria weighed nearly ten kilograms. He went into the house to get a scale. When he came out, he saw Wu Benzhong staring at the dried meat on the table and swallowing his saliva. He smiled and said:

"Are you hungry? Do you want to eat something first?"

"No, no." Wu Benzhong was still very cautious. He waved his hand and said, "Weigh first, then change the things."

Li Long then hung the bag on the scale hook and started weighing it.

"Ninety-eight kilograms." The scale was quite high. Wu Benzhong nodded, it was about right.

Putting down the scale, Li Long opened the bag and looked at what was inside. Then he frowned because he smelled a musty odor.

"Didn't you dry this Fritillaria? It has a strong smell."

Li Long poured the bag onto the wooden floor in front of the cabin, and the Fritillaria rolled all over the floor. He then saw that the top was still intact, but some of the Fritillaria underneath had rotted.

Wu Benzhong's face suddenly turned red and he was very embarrassed.

"My place...is not good in the sun."

"Then pick them out. The rotten ones are definitely unusable." Li Long squatted down, and Wu Benzhong also squatted down immediately and started picking.

There were not many rotten ones, only a little over one kilogram, and more than half a kilogram were moldy, and the remaining seven kilograms or so were good.

"It's a pity that it's rotten, and it's moldy. It's probably hard to be useful." Li Long said, "I don't know if it can be used after washing and drying it. If you have Fritillaria in the future, you should deal with it as soon as possible after digging it up. Otherwise, it will be like this. It's a pity."

Wu Benzhong also knew this truth, but he had no way to do it in his place.

He suddenly thought of something and looked up and asked Li Long:
"Then boss, can you exchange money here?" "You mean, sell me the Fritillaria?"

"Yes, yes, exchange it for money directly, it's easier to store money." Wu Benzhong had this idea immediately after he confirmed that Li Long was not a "bad guy". Instead of leaving the mother-of-pearl in the cave and worrying about it getting spoiled, it would be better to sell it directly to this person!
"Okay, but my price won't be high, just three dollars. I can see that your mother-of-pearl has been washed. If it is dried well, it can actually be sold for more money when we get down the mountain."

"We have to be able to take it down first." Wu Benzhong was extremely clear-headed at this moment, "Let's see if we can dry it first. If we dry it, we might run into the forestry team... Never mind, it's not bad if I can sell it to you."

"Okay then, are you selling these or exchanging them for something else?"

"Let's exchange something." Wu Benzhong looked at the meat on the table and swallowed his saliva again, "Can that meat be exchanged?"

"Yes. I have some braised meat in my room. Would you like to exchange it?"

"Change!"

Wu Benzhong exchanged seven kilograms of Fritillaria for a pair of shoes, throwing away his own worn-out shoes, and a few kilograms of dried meat and half a kilogram of braised offal. Rice, noodles, sugar, and most importantly, matches, a bag of salt, and the rest was a big unity from Li Long.

The supplies are not many, but Wu Benzhong has decided to take out all the mother-of-pearl in his cave and replace them tomorrow!
It’s better to come early, otherwise you will run into the forestry team and have them confiscated. That would be such a pity!

He already knew from Li Long that the other party not only collected Fritillaria, but also all kinds of valuable things such as deer antlers!
Isn’t this equivalent to a collection point in the mountains?
With this thought in mind, I walked back while eating the braised offal.

Li Long cleaned up the rotten mother-of-pearls, washed the moldy ones under water to remove the mold marks, and spread them on the table.

He also washed the remaining seven kilograms of Fritillaria with water and spread them on the floor of the small room to dry.

The sun has already set, and it is not a good idea to leave it outside. Firstly, there is still dew at night, and secondly, it would be a pity if some wild beasts came and destroyed it.

After finishing all this, he had a simple dinner, closed the door and went to sleep.

The next day, before dawn, Li Long was awakened by a knock on the door. He raised his gun and asked:
"Who?"

"I, who changed the Fritillaria yesterday, am here to sell Fritillaria."

Li Long didn't expect Wu Benzhong to come so early. He opened the door with his gun in hand and was startled to see two bags of Fritillaria at Wu Benzhong's feet:
"It's all in here? You're so good at digging!"

"Hehe, the main reason is that there are several ditches full of Fritillaria. If you don't move for a while, you'll get a kilogram." Wu Benzhong was in a good mood and talked more. "I didn't expect the resources here are so rich."

Li Long knew that there were several Fritillaria grooves before, but he had never seen one. Li Jianguo had seen one, though.

“Is there anything bad or moldy in there?”

Li Long put down his gun and went to get the scale.

"I picked them all out last night. I threw away the bad and moldy ones." Wu Benzhong assured, "Don't worry."

He was actually quite distressed as there were more than two kilograms of spoiled food in the cave, which meant that most of the day's work had been in vain.

"Okay, let me weigh it first." Li Long hooked the bag and weighed it together.

The 15-kilogram scale didn't work, so the two bags were weighed separately.

One bag weighs twelve kilograms, one bag weighs eleven kilograms, and twenty-three kilograms.

Li Long didn't want to just listen to him. Although there was still some dew on the wooden floor outside, he didn't have to worry about it because it would dry up once the sun came out. He poured both bags of Fritillaria onto the floor.

Wu Benzhong stared at the gun that Li Long had just placed at the door of the house, and he was actually a little scared.

If Li Long pointed a gun at him and took Fritillaria away directly, he would have no way to stop her!

How could I be so reckless as to come here with the Fritillaria in my hand? And it was all my wealth!

Although this man behaved very well yesterday, there are so many Fritillaria here now, which are worth nearly a hundred dollars. In the mountains these days, firing a gun for so many things is nothing, right?
In my village, there were people who fought over a pot and even got bloody!

I was so excited yesterday that I lost my mind. How could I trust people so easily?

"Not bad, there's really nothing bad about them." Li Long looked at the mother-of-pearls and was quite satisfied. This person really picked well.

He didn't know that Wu Benzhong was already struggling with his conscience, so he stood up and asked:
"Do you want money for all of it, or for part of the supplies? If you want money, sixty-nine yuan, I'll give you seventy yuan as compensation for your hard work in picking the Fritillaria yesterday. After all, your Fritillaria, to be honest, has no dirt on it, and is quite good."

"Then... I want money." After hearing what Li Long said, Wu Benzhong's brain started to work normally. The other party won't rob him?

Is it a serious business?

Or should I calm myself down first and then launch a surprise attack after I relax?
Look at Li Long’s tall stature, and then look at myself who looks like a monkey. If the other party really wants to rob me, it shouldn’t be so troublesome, right?
While Wu Benzhong was thinking about this, Li Long had already gone into the house to get the money. He counted out seven big unity notes and handed them over:
"Here, take it. Seventy, count to it."

Wu Benzhong watched Li Long count the bills one by one, but when he took the money, he couldn't help but count it again. Yes, it was seventy.

This is the most he has earned in this year!
Half a month's time!

You can really make money in the mountains!
Wu Benzhong was already ashamed of his wild thoughts. He couldn't help but ask Li Long:

"Boss, do you want to collect the antlers?"

"Yes, but the price is not as high as the purchasing station."

"Of course I have deer antlers and roe deer horns. I'll sell them to you if you give me three bucks per kilogram!"

On the one hand, I felt ashamed, and on the other hand, that thing would make a big impression. I had money on me now. If I was discovered by the forestry team with the antlers, being caught would be the second worst thing. But if they found the money, wouldn't all the money I earned be in vain?
As for whether I can go out at night? Forget it. If I go out at night, will I be giving the wolves extra food?
Unless you have a gun like Li Long, otherwise you will just be a dead end.

After confirming this matter, Wu Benzhong left in a daze. When he walked more than a kilometer, he suddenly jumped up. At this rate, when the Fritillaria is out of season in late May, he is sure to get a few hundred yuan!
Then you’ll have money to go home!
A few hundred yuan! In my old village, there were only a few people who had a few hundred yuan! With these few hundred yuan, I could repair the house, buy some things, and live a good life!

Li Long was also very happy as he had met a big client.

It seems that there are capable people among the blind migrants.

He set up the stove to boil water and cook porridge, while he spread out the Fritillaria that Wu Benzhong had brought outside to dry in the sun. It seemed that he would not be able to go out today.

However, this thought only lasted for less than an hour before it was shattered.

Bolati came over on horseback and brought Li Long some good news. Then Li Long took some things and put them in the tractor, cleaned up the place, and drove the tractor to follow him to the east mountain. (End of this chapter)