Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

In the mountains southeast of the cabin, Li Zhengting was quietly putting Fritillaria into a bag. Most of these Fritillaria were dug by him in the past two days.

"Zhengting, listen to my advice. It's not necessarily more cost-effective for us to take the goods down the mountain and sell them than to sell them to the tractor driver. It will take more than a day to go down the mountain and back, and we may not even get more money. Why bother?"

"I just can't accept it." Although Li Zhengting's life was saved by Li Long, he actually felt uncomfortable with Li Long.

Li Zhengtang was the opposite of him. Li Long gave them medicine late at night and later changed their supplies, which made him very grateful to Li Long. There is such a "market" in the mountains. For these blind migrants, it is tantamount to an additional channel to save their lives and live a good life.

He could vaguely guess why Li Zhengting was dissatisfied with Li Long and didn't want to go to Li Long to exchange the Fritillaria for money. The reason was probably that he felt that he was no worse than Li Long, but it was just because of his bad luck that he fell to the current situation.

To put it bluntly, Li Long was doing better than him, and he was jealous. Young people can't suppress their jealousy, and would rather work harder than let Li Long get more benefits.

As for Li Long giving him the medicine, Li Zhengting thought that since he had already thanked him, they were even.

In fact, Li Zhengtang doesn’t think so. Can it be cleared?

Fritillaria have grown out in the past two days. There are few people coming to the mountains now, and there are also few people to take care of it. Although the forestry team will also send people to collect Fritillaria, there are few people after all. They have plenty of places where Fritillaria can be found. In the past two days, one person dug more than ten kilograms of Fritillaria.

According to Li Zhengting's calculation, Li Long exchanged things for discounts. Fresh Fritillaria was three yuan per kilogram, and it would be at least five or six yuan down the mountain. These ten kilograms of Fritillaria could be sold for at least seventy or eighty yuan, right? It was equivalent to a worker's salary for one or two months!

How much can you buy in the county with this money?

But Li Zhengtang didn't want to take any risks, after all, there were too many uncertain factors.

"Zhengting, we still have to cross several ditches when we go down the mountain. We might run into people from the forestry team, and then these Fritillaria will be gone."

"Then let's go at night." Li Zhengting was determined to go down the mountain to check out the market. He had thought about this problem a long time ago. "Let's leave when it gets dark. We can walk to the county town overnight and go to the purchasing station to sell Fritillaria tomorrow. Then we can buy things and go back to the mountain. At most, we will waste one day tomorrow. But the money we earn is enough to make up for this day."

Li Zhengtang didn't expect that his cousin had figured out everything, but he still didn't want to go out:

"What about the danger? There are wolves in and around the mountains, and they often come in groups."

"What are you afraid of? We can each hold a stick. Don't we have a shovel in exchange? Tie it on your waist. I don't believe they dare to attack two living people? As long as we walk faster, we can get out of the mountain and reach the main road by ten o'clock, and then it will be much safer."

He put the Fritillaria in place and looked up at Li Zhengtang:

"Brother, if you don't want to go, then I'll go by myself. I won't force you, I just can't bear it..."

How could Li Zhengtang let him go alone? He sighed and said:

"Okay, let's go, but let me be clear. If you go there and it doesn't turn out as you expected, then don't bother with it again. If you do, I won't go with you."

Li Zhengtang thought that Li Long could exchange Fritillaria for money, which was a very good thing for both parties. Now Li Zhengting had to make such a fuss, which made him very embarrassed. He made up his mind that if he came here again next year, he would definitely not bring this kid with him. When he came here, he said everything would be up to him, but once he got here, this kid got stubborn.

He also put the fritillaria he dug into a bag, and said as he picked out the dirt:
"I remember last year the purchasing station said they would only accept dried Fritillaria, and we had no place to dry them, so the ones we took were all fresh. If they didn't accept them, we would be in big trouble."

"I've thought about this a long time ago. If the purchasing station doesn't accept it, we'll go to the herbal medicine company. If the herbal medicine company doesn't accept it either, then we'll go to the market to sell it. There will always be people with discerning eyes. These six or seven kilograms of Fritillaria are equivalent to one kilogram of dried Fritillaria. We'll go to the purchasing station to ask for the price, and then calculate the price of fresh Fritillaria. As long as the market price is one or two yuan lower than this, we'll definitely be able to sell it!"

Seeing that Li Zhengting had thought it through so clearly, Li Zhengtang said no more. He tied up the bag of mother-of-pearl, gathered his belongings, prepared a stick, and headed north with Li Zhengting.

Go to the mountains and forests first, and you won't have to worry about being caught by the forestry team in the dense forests. They can actually find a pattern. The forestry team usually looks for valleys that horses can pass through and cattle and sheep can walk on when patrolling the mountains. The forestry team basically won't enter valleys where the mountains are high, the forests are dense, and the bushes are overgrown, making it difficult for people to enter, and horses can hardly enter.

When they reached the third mountain from north to south after a winding path, Li Zhengtang and his team stopped. It was not yet dark, and in front of them was a wide ditch running east-west, with a narrow path trampled by cattle and sheep. Although they could see a lot of Fritillaria on the shady hillside, Li Zhengtang and his team did not dare to dig.

After waiting for a while, Li Zhengting was getting a little anxious when he saw a young man riding a horse with a gun on his back slowly walking past the path. He was humming a song he couldn't understand, holding a glass bottle in his hand, occasionally taking a sip, and looking very satisfied.

Li Zhengting could see that the man was holding a bottle of champagne. He had seen it in Li Long's "store". He was willing to exchange half a kilogram of mother-of-pearl for a bottle of that drink, but he was reluctant to do so.

After the young man walked away, Li Zhengtang whispered:
"He must have gone to the store where the tractor driver was driving" to exchange things, as there were a lot of things on the horse's back.

Li Zhengting was so busy watching the man drinking champagne that he didn't really notice what was on the horse's back.

But no matter what, what this person took to exchange was definitely the Fritillaria, and no one knew who he got the Fritillaria from.

The man driving the tractor is the accomplice!
Li Zhengting found a legitimate reason for not selling the Fritillaria to Li Long.

The two men immediately carried Fritillaria down the mountain, crossed the valley, and quickly came to the bushes on another mountain.

I just rested, and now I feel a little tired again. Their nutrition is not enough, and they didn't feel the weight of more than ten kilograms of Fritillaria at first, but after climbing a few mountains with it on their backs, it felt heavier and heavier, like a mountain pressing on their backs.

Li Zhengting is not as good as Li Zhengtang, but it was he who suggested going down the mountain to sell Fritillaria, and he had to insist on doing so even though he already had some regrets.

Each break lasted a little longer than the last, and the sun set.

Then they saw Li Long.

Li Long drove the tractor back to the wooden house. After a simple tidy up, he took the thin wire from the small room and planned to make some traps. He would go to the place Sun Jiaqiang mentioned and set a few to see if he could catch some little wild boars.

After tying the contraptions, Li Long took two kilograms of corn kernels, carried a gun and a shovel and walked there.

Driving a tractor makes too much noise, so this time he wants to walk.

After arriving at the place, Li Long first found a suitable place to put down the cover, and then sprinkled corn kernels around the cover.

This thing is only put up for one night, and although it is likely to attract wild rabbits, it is a necessary cost.

When he finished packing and was about to leave, he saw Li Zhengtang and Li Zhengting.

Seeing two people carrying bags and sticks walking towards him from the south, and then looking at him in amazement, Li Long was stunned for a moment before he reacted, smiled at the two people, and left with a shovel.

Li Long was very clear about what the two people were thinking, and this was also normal.

They make money in the mountains. Some people are willing to do so, like Sun Jiaqiang, but some are reluctant, like these two brothers.

Of course this is normal. If they want to go out to the county to change it, then they can go ahead and change it. Anyway, they are not afraid of hard work, so just go.

On the way back, Li Long sighed that these two people were really brave. After all, these days, there are wolves even in the wasteland outside the old team village, let alone this mountainside? There is already sunset in the west now, and it will be dark in half an hour. By then, they may have just left the mountain. The way back... won't they get lost?

However, Li Long was also curious about how their Fritillaria were dried. After all, there was grass everywhere in the mountains, and the places without grass were full of shrubs and trees. It was impossible to find a natural place suitable for drying Fritillaria, unless they cleared a place artificially like Li Long did.

Could it be that they found a natural drying area?

Li Long naturally didn't know that Li Zhengtang and his team were going to sell fresh Fritillaria. In Li Long's impression, the purchasing station didn't buy fresh Fritillaria, only dried ones, which should be common sense.

After Li Zhengtang and Li Long met, he began to sigh along the way. He knew that Li Long had seen through their purpose. If this trip didn't go well, and he wanted to sell the Fritillaria to Li Long later, would the other party make things difficult for him?
Li Zhengting naturally had this concern. He listened to his cousin's sigh and said in a very simple manner:

"Brother, you can tell him that it was my idea and he can just blame me. It's just like that. I'll take the blame. At worst, he won't accept my Fritillaria." Li Zhengting's words sounded innocent, but in fact, they reflected that he had already placed Li Long in a strong position and several levels higher than him. Otherwise, how could he easily control them?

"Sigh, let's just take it one step at a time." It has come to this point, what else can Li Zhengtang say, "Let's go, maybe they won't care, maybe they know that we will only suffer if we go this way."

After saying this, he stopped talking and strode north.

But after walking only a dozen meters, his steps slowed down and his waist bent even more.

So tired!

Li Long returned to the cabin, cleaned up the outside, put out the fire in the stove, locked the door of the cabin, then went into the room, locked the door, turned off the fire in the stove, and went to sleep.

When I came back today, I got seven or eight kilograms of Fritillaria from Hami, a young forestry team member. I got quite a harvest. The Fritillaria have been washed, and the moisture on the outside has almost dried. They can be spread out to dry in the sun tomorrow. Now there are too many Fritillaria to fit in the small room, so they can only be dried outside.

When I get up early, the room is not as cold as before. The feeling is different after adding wall mud on the northwest side.

Li Long got up and put on his clothes. He felt if his bladder could still hold out, so he cleared the stove and saw there was still some charcoal left. He added some small pieces of coal in. When he saw the black smoke rising, he closed the stove lid and opened the door.

It was still dark outside and one could barely see things clearly. There was dew everywhere outside. Li Long went to the toilet at the back to get some water. He came back and had a simple meal. He put on his coat, picked up his gun, and went out with his bag and satchel.

He planned to stay in the cabin during the day, so he went over to see if he had caught the little wild boar.

While walking over there, Li Long guessed that Xie Yundong and the others would go into the mountains today. He planned to drive the tractor over there in the afternoon. If they arrived, he would unify their thoughts and explain what needed to be said. Then he would come over every day to check the quality of the braided carrying handles.

We have to set the rules today, otherwise if the quality is not up to standard, we will be in trouble.

Li Long is confident in this regard. After completing all the big tasks last year, he believes that he has left a clear impression on the team members. When it is time to turn against them, he will definitely not smile.

Walking in the mountains, his trouser legs were wet by the dew soon. His eyes had adapted to the environment and he knew exactly where he was going. He just hoped that there would be no accidents along the way.

However, the more he feared something, the more likely it would happen. As he was walking, he felt like he had stepped on empty air. Subconsciously, he started to run, but he was still a step too late and sprained his ankle.

Feeling pain in his left ankle, Li Long hurriedly stood on one leg, then slowly sat down. He gently touched his ankle and moved it a little. Fortunately, it didn't hurt too much.

It should have slipped, but it was not serious. Li Long stood up, touched the ground with his toes, and felt okay. He stepped firmly on it, and although it was still a little painful, he could bear it.

Fortunately, I reacted quickly, otherwise I would have sprained my ankle and it would have been very troublesome.

He slowed down and became more careful. When he reached the hill south of the trap area, Li Long heard some noise below.

He was delighted and felt his feet no longer hurt. He immediately bent over and walked forward. He had made sure yesterday that this side was not in the windward direction and the wild boar could not smell him.

When he looked down from the top of the mountain ridge, the sky was still not very bright. He could only see a patch of dark green. When he looked more carefully, Li Long was greatly disappointed: there were only two small wild boars active in that area, which must have been trapped. They occasionally called out, probably because they were tired. There was not a single big wild boar!

They all ran away? You don't want the little wild boar anymore?

Li Long walked down with his gun in hand, thinking, well, getting two little wild boars makes the trip worthwhile, at least I'm not empty-handed.

As he was thinking this, he suddenly heard a rumbling sound. A wild boar suddenly jumped out from the bushes, and after seeing him, it ran eastward frantically!
This wild boar took the lead, and then a group of more than a dozen wild boars rushed madly in the east, south, west and north. One of them even rushed straight towards Li Long!

Li Long was startled and fired a shot, then dodged to the side and fired again. The wild boar stopped about six or seven meters away, fell sideways on a bush, and did not move.

When Li Long looked at the other wild boars, they had already run away.

He sighed, he just didn't have the ability to fight alone. If he had ambushed the wild boars, it would have been fine, but he arrived too late. Not only was he deceived by the wild boars, but he only killed one and trapped two from a group of wild boars. This record was even worse than last year.

But it was just a sigh, some of the harvest was good. Li Long went over and dragged the half-grown wild boar to the two little wild boars. He didn't expect that these wild boars would lie down here to rest after eating. Didn't they always go back to the mountains after eating?

The two little wild boars were a little scared when they saw Li Long coming over, and they kept squealing. Li Long untied one and stuffed it into the bag, then untied the other and stuffed it into the bag, and then began to collect the condoms.

After being frightened like this, the wild boars probably won’t dare to come over for a while.

While collecting the snares, Li Long had a little surprise. There was a little wild boar trapped in the bushes. However, when it was trapped, it got stuck at the roots of a bush and couldn't move, and couldn't even make a sound. If Li Long hadn't come to untie the snare, it would have died in less than half an hour.

Li Long put the three little wild boars in a bag and carried it on his back, then carried the half-grown wild boar and returned to the wooden house.

At this time, Li Zhengtang and Li Zhengting had just woken up from the cold under a bridge. The two of them shivered as they picked up some firewood and started to light a fire.

Last night, the two men walked north. After getting out of the mountain, they searched for more than an hour and finally found the way to Qingshui River. However, after crossing the Qingshui River, the two men were exhausted. In the distance, they heard the howling of wolves again. After discussing it, they decided to rest first.

We found a nearby bridge hole and went in. We lit a fire and roasted ourselves. It was pretty good, so we found some hay and fell asleep in the bridge hole.

However, the temperature difference between day and night in northern Xinjiang is very large. The two people were woken up by the cold several times at night. This time they finally couldn't fall asleep again and had to wake up.

He lit a fire to roast some food, ate some unleavened bread he brought with him, and then continued on his way.

When the sun was high in the sky, the two of them finally walked back to the county town.

They had several blisters on their feet. They were tired and hungry, but they were reluctant to go to a restaurant for dinner. So they met Sister Yang selling porridge in the market, and they each paid ten cents for a bowl of porridge.

When they arrived at the purchasing station, Li Zhengtang and Li Zhengting went in to inquire and found out that they did not buy fresh Fritillaria.

Although he was mentally prepared, Li Zhengtang still felt as if the sky was about to fall.

Do you really want to go to the market to sell Fritillaria?
"Brother, I asked." Li Zhengting was very excited. "If our Fritillaria is dried, it can be sold as Grade 2, 40 yuan per kilogram! If it is fresh, it can be five or six yuan. Let's go to the herbal medicine company to ask if they will accept it. We can even sell it at a lower price!"

At this time, Li Zhengtang could only listen to his cousin.

Two people who were obviously migrant workers arrived at the medicinal materials company and were "asked" to leave without even seeing the manager. The staff said they would not accept them.

Li Zhengting was not so excited this time. He forced a smile and said to Li Zhengtang:

"Brother, let's do the third method and sell it in the market. I don't believe that we can't sell it for 4.5 yuan per kilogram. If it doesn't work, let's find a place to dry it!"

Li Zhengtang smiled bitterly. Why bother with all this?
What a regret!
Arriving at the market, they found a spot and started to set up their stall. They had never done anything before and did not know how to shout. They watched others shout but could not open their mouths.

The administrator came over before they opened.

Pay the money!

This is the only chapter for the night, read it during the day (end of this chapter)