Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

After returning from the purchasing station, Li Long took the money to buy things. This time he didn't buy much. He was basically sure that the next time he dug Fritillaria, he would mainly exchange it for money, so he had to bring more money. Of course, they still needed the scissors, clippers, combs and brushes they wanted from Xiaobaiyanggou, because they were worried about insects on their heads, that is, lice and their children grubs.

This thing is quite common in this era. It can often be seen on humans and animals, and it is not easy to become extinct.

By the 2020s, many of these things had disappeared, but they can still be seen occasionally on children's heads.

These days the way to deal with this thing is rather rough. If you are concerned, just use DDT. Apply it on the child's hair and wrap it in a plastic bag. It will take less than ten minutes for all the lice and nits to die.

If you don't care, you can use a comb, which has very dense teeth and can comb out lice. As for the lice on your body, you can only take off your vest and look for them one by one. This has even become a kind of fun for some rural children after school.

Of course, it's not just humans who get lice, pigs get them too, especially in the hollows behind their ears, where they usually grow in large numbers, probably because that's where they hide easily and have more blood vessels.

Of course, these things basically disappeared in the end, thanks to the patriotic health campaign that lasted until the 1920s of the 21st century. The cute little things that disappeared included not only lice, but also parasites on chickens and ducks, and disgusting bedbugs with extremely strong vitality that could live for more than ten years without food or water.

Therefore, Li Long not only bought these things, but also bought medicine. Not only snake medicine, but also medicine to prevent and treat these insects. Children in later generations may only hear about medicine to prevent and treat cockroaches, mosquitoes, flies and other insects among the four pests. In fact, at that time, the more common medicine was medicine to prevent and treat lice, grubs and bedbugs.

By the way, Li Long also bought some mothballs, which are what people of this era call sanitary balls.

Because when he was cleaning up the Fritillaria today, he saw the snow leopard skin.

This was the wedding gift that Halimu Yushanjiang gave to him and Gu Xiaoxia. He gave it to Gu Xiaoxia, but Gu Xiaoxia confiscated it and asked him to keep it.

Li Long had forgotten about the snow leopard skin as soon as he put it away. He only remembered it when he found it while sorting out the fritillaria. Although the skin was well preserved, it was still leather after all, and it was still likely to be eaten by insects, so he planned to buy some sanitary balls to put in it to prevent insects.

Snake medicine is just a tablet. Li Long also wanted to buy sulfur powder or something like that to repel insects, but the medicine company said they didn't have it. The manager was familiar with Li Long and he often saw the people there. His advice to Li Long was to wear rubber shoes or boots, tie up his trouser legs, and be careful.

Well, that's all we can do. These days, supplies are still in short supply. It's impossible to be like forty years later. If you want something and can't buy it in a physical store, just search on the Internet and you'll find a lot of cheap ones. Even in northern Xinjiang, it will arrive in five to seven days.

I miss those days.

After sighing for a while, Li Long drove the tractor back to the yard, took a sanitary ball to protect the snow leopard skin, packed it and hid it.

The three young roe deer and the half-grown one in the backyard barked from time to time, so Li Long simply went over and let them run around in the yard. The three young roe deer were used to it, so they ran out as soon as the door was opened. Before Li Long could even think of anything, the three had already run to the small vegetable garden and started eating the green vegetables.

Li Long hurried over to drive away the fawn. It was actually not small, weighing about ten kilograms. The big one slowly came out, looking left and right curiously, and was a little worried.

The three little guys were used to coming here to steal a few bites of vegetables every time, and they didn't mind being chased away. They just called Li Long a few times and went to other places. There were weeds in some places in the cracks of the wall, and they would eat them. It was actually quite pitiful that they couldn't eat fresh grass every day here.

Li Long was thinking about whether he should discuss putting these four guys into the team after Gu Xiaoxia came back, otherwise they might suffer from malnutrition.

After all, just eating sugar residue, bran and chaff may not provide enough nutrition.

Do not understand.

After cleaning up the yard, he also cleaned up the empty rooms on both sides and the things in the back house. Li Long originally wanted to throw away some things. After all, in his eyes, these things that had not been used for many years should be considered garbage. But since there was a mistress in the house, he would clean them up first and wait for Gu Xiaoxia to come back and discuss it with her.
When Gu Xiaoxia came back, the sun had not yet set. Seeing the door open, she rode her bike straight in. Li Long, who was still packing in the back room, heard Gu Xiaoxia humming "Young Friends Come to Meet", and knew that she must be in a good mood today.

"...Oh, dear friends, to whom does this beautiful springtime belong? It belongs to you, to me, and to our new generation of the eighties!"

"You sang well." Li Long praised, patting the dust off his hands. "Have you been practicing singing recently?"

"No." Gu Xiaoxia propped up the bike, picked up the bag from the handle and said:

"I was passing by the market and saw someone selling roasted melon seeds, so I bought some. Do you want to crack some?"

"Sunflowers or flower sunflowers?" Li Long asked, "Give me a handful."

"Sunflower." Gu Xiaoxia took out a large newspaper package, opened it and grabbed a handful and gave it to Li Long. Not many people can fry sunflowers at this time. The land was only divided last year, and everyone basically planted oil sunflowers because they have a high oil yield and are better for oil extraction. Sunflowers are usually only fried and eaten. Generally, rural areas only plant a few in vegetable gardens or private plots. Few people plant this on a large scale - Li Long vaguely remembered that it seemed that the first person in the team to plant sunflowers on a large scale was also his eldest brother. He planted two acres of land and sold it after more than a year.

"What do you want to eat tonight? I'll cook." Seeing Li Long packing up, Gu Xiaoxia cracked a few melon seeds, rolled up her sleeves and said:

"How are the brothers in the mountains? You put a roe deer in the pen a few days ago, and they got scared when I went to release them."

"Brother and the others are fine. Every day is fulfilling. After all, they make money. It may be hard work outside." Li Long answered the questions one by one. "Do you want to go to the cafeteria to eat tonight? I rescued that roe deer. There was a small group of them at the time. After we killed one, two ran away. This one ran into the swamp and I rescued it."

"No wonder he's called Silly Roe Deer!" Gu Xiaoxia found it interesting and said with a smile.

"Are they annoying you here? Do you want to take them back to the team?" Li Long asked that question.

"No, no. The yard is so big and you are often not here. I will let them out when I come back from get off work every day. At least there is a living thing." Gu Xiaoxia said.

"Well, wait a little longer. When this job is done, the Fritillaria season will be almost over. Then I will stay at home for a while longer. I'll tell you," Li Long approached Gu Xiaoxia and lowered his voice:
"Just by making up the band and collecting Fritillaria, I can make about 6,000 to 8,000 yuan this season. Then we can buy two more TVs, one here and one at your dad's place. We can let Dad and Mom watch the TV in the yard of our team. How about that?"

"So many?" Gu Xiaoxia was shocked. "Isn't that illegal?"

"What law is it? No, no law." Li Long said with a smile, "How can it be against the law to earn money in an honest way?"

He hasn't mentioned the gold nuggets and the value of the two packages. These things will be kept there anyway and not exchanged for money, so he won't talk about it.

When the money comes in, he plans to put part of it in Gu Xiaoxia's hands. As husband and wife are one, it doesn't matter if the money is in her hands.

Gu Xiaoxia was really shocked. She knew Li Long could make money, but she never thought he could make so much!

My monthly salary is about 40 yuan, which is at most 500 yuan a year. My husband earns more than ten years of my salary in just one month. How can we compare?
It is no wonder that Li Long does not work but these "side jobs". If he really works, how many years will it take to get the money?
She suddenly became a little worried. How could she spend so much money? What if someone targeted her? Was all the money really clean?
She looked at Li Long and felt that at this moment, her husband suddenly became a stranger.

Li Long read Gu Xiaoxia's thoughts from her eyes and said with a smile:

"Don't worry, the money is all clean. Besides, what's the big deal? There are many people who are richer than us. Even though I make a lot of money, I still have to think twice before buying things. Those who are really rich don't even blink an eye when spending hundreds or thousands of dollars."

Li Long's words were exaggerated, and Gu Xiaoxia slowly calmed down. Maybe it was true. In the office, she listened to the older sisters gossiping about who had the money to do what. She listened to it as a story at first, but now it seemed to be concrete.

It was as if I had suddenly touched upon a level that I had never touched before.

"Okay, let's go, let's go out to eat and don't do it tonight." Li Long dusted off his body, went to the well to wash, and then changed his clothes.

Although Gu Xiaoxia wanted to object, she stopped talking when she thought about how much money Li Long had made.

The boss has said it, so let’s go.

The sun had set in the west, and the sky was filled with sunset glow. The two of them did not ride their bikes, but walked side by side to the west. There were many people on the street, all of whom were rushing home after get off work. Most of them walked, a few rode bicycles, and occasionally a truck or tractor rumbled by. There were also slower horse-drawn or donkey-drawn carts, which would leave a trail of shit after walking for a while.

"From a few days ago, tractors occasionally appeared on the road," said Gu Xiaoxia. "Two women in our office also said that once the land contract was liberalized, some bold farmers immediately became rich."

When she said this, she suddenly smiled, turned her head to look at Li Long and continued:
"I really didn't expect that the people she was talking about getting rich were us, our family."

Li Long also laughed.

"It's good to be rich. If you are rich, you can live a good life."

The two of them went to the cafeteria. Zhong Guoqiang was not there, probably he had finished get off work. Li Long ordered two dishes, braised pork and pickled cabbage, and two bottles of beer.

Gu Xiaoxia didn't want to drink at first, but Li Long said it was okay, so she drank a little.

Two bottles of beer were really nothing for two young people, but the braised pork was very well cooked and there was almost nothing left.

After eating and drinking, they returned home in a slightly tipsy state, and the two of them rolled into bed shamelessly.

They were all young people with strong energies, so it was understandable. The next morning, Gu Xiaoxia prepared breakfast, Li Long fed the roe deer, and the two ate together.

"Going into the mountains later?"

"Well, I've made about 500 of them now. After a while, I'll finish making them and ask the supply and marketing cooperative to send a truck to bring them back, and that'll be the end of my job." Li Long said as he ate. "There are a lot of good things in the mountains, so you can go in occasionally. I've told you about the hot springs a few times, so I'll take you there to soak in them on the weekends."

"Let's wait until summer vacation." Gu Xiaoxia said, "There will be less things to do then, maybe we can go."

Now we only have one day off, so it's a bit stressful to go to the mountains on a day off. Gu Xiaoxia has been to the mountains before, and she still yearns for it, whether it's to soak in hot springs, hunt, or pick mushrooms.

After dinner, Gu Xiaoxia went to work, and Li Long simply cleaned up the yard, then drove the tractor and locked the door and left. He went to the city to buy some eggs and fresh vegetables, and then went to the mountains. This time he bought a net bag, planning to find a stream and get the net bag stuck when he fell into the water, and use the water drop to wait for fish. Once the fish enters the net bag, it can't get out, which can be regarded as a method of waiting for the rabbit.

I haven't eaten fish for a long time, so I planned to try something new this time.

The tractor rumbled across the Qingshui River and drove into the mountains.

At Xiaobaiyanggou, Li Jianguo and his colleagues had already finished their breakfast and started to weave the handlebars.

We were all adults, and except for a few who were occasionally lazy, everyone knew that we were here to make money, and if we were lazy, we might as well not come. Therefore, we basically got up at dawn, and when Lao Huang was preparing breakfast, someone had already waded through the dew to cut a large bundle of strips or cut a few poles, and the preparations were ready.

This reminded Li Long of the manual cotton picking season more than 20 years later. At that time, people would get up before dawn to cook, and cotton pickers also liked to start picking at this time because there was dew, the cotton they picked was weighed, the cracked dry cotton bolls were not prickly, and the dried cotton leaves could be easily removed even if they were stuck, unlike the cotton leaves at noon, which would break into pieces if touched, and the whole handful of cotton would be covered with broken leaves.

Making money, how can it not be hard?

Some people took the initiative to greet, while others bowed their heads and didn't pay attention. Li Long handed two boxes of snake medicine to Xie Yundong, and two boxes to Li Jianguo.

"Everyone be careful." Li Jianguo said as he took the snake medicine.

"It's better to be prepared." Li Long said, "It would be best if we can return safely."

Li Jianguo nodded. Li Long saw that there were already five bearers in front of him, so he thought about checking again and collecting everyone's bearers.

There was naturally no problem with Li Jianguo's. After Li Long finished checking it and took out the notebook for signature, Li Jianguo showed a little bit of pride at the corner of his mouth.

You have to give face to your younger brother.

After checking all the handles, he was surprised to find that the edge of Xie Yundong's handle was not tightly woven. Li Long quietly pointed it out, and Xie Yundong blushed a little and said:

"I edited it last night, when it was almost dark. I was a little anxious at the time... I'll redo it later. You can check it tomorrow."

"Okay." Li Long smiled. This was actually quite normal. Xie Yundong had to help manage these people, so it was normal for the leader to weave slowly and have some quality issues.

He took the clippers, scissors and combs from the car and gave them to Xie Yundong, asking him to take some time to help everyone out. He then drove the tractor towards the wooden house.

There were people guarding the wooden house. When they heard the tractor, someone came out from the side holding a bag and waited.

The two people seemed to be quite familiar with each other. After Li Long turned off the tractor, they came up and greeted each other.

"Boss Li, you've been gone for so long, and we've been waiting anxiously."

"That's right, what good stuff did you bring back this time?"

"These are just some odds and ends. Take a look. Would you like to weigh them first?" Li Long took out the key and opened the door of the small room and asked, "Do you want money or exchange things?"

"Can you give me a few more of these eggs? I used to be able to find pheasant eggs in the mountains, but now there are only young pheasants, which are hard to catch. I haven't tasted eggs for a while."

"Okay." Li Long said, "Two cents each, do you want to exchange it?"

"Change it." Although he knew that Li Long had doubled the price, he still had to change it since he didn't eat much anyway.

Li Long took out a scale and weighed the two people. One weighed nine kilograms and the other seven kilograms, neither of which was too much.

Both of them asked for most of the money, and then exchanged it for some supplies. The migrant worker who exchanged it for ten eggs walked into the mountain with a smile, apparently preparing to cook a meal at noon.

Li Long first set up the stove in the wooden house, boiled water, and then went to wash the Fritillaria. When he arrived at the spring, he was startled. On the grass not far away, a snake was biting a mouse and swallowing it from time to time. When it saw Li Long coming, it slowly swam away.

Are there so many snakes now?

Li Long ignored the snake. He took a stick and knocked on the grass around it before starting to wash it.

The main worry is that a snake might suddenly bite me while I’m working, which would be unbearable.

People came one after another to sell Fritillaria. That day, Li Long collected about 70 to 80 kilograms, which was not much. The sun had not yet set, and he felt that he could collect some more before dark.

At noon, I went to a nearby stream to find a place to block the net, and planned to wait until tomorrow morning to check the harvest. There are not many fish in the small mountain streams, and it takes time to catch enough fish for a meal.

Li Long was planning to make dinner. He was going to fry two eggs with the remaining rice from the lunch.

Just as he was beating the eggs, three figures appeared in the distant forest. Li Long smiled, as expected, someone had come.

What surprised him was that the three people didn’t carry bags - wait, why were there two people supporting one person?

"Boss Li, help!" When they were closer to here, someone started shouting, "Help! My brother was bitten by a snake..."

Damn, is it such a coincidence?
Li Long hurriedly took the pot down, turned around and ran into the house to get the snake medicine.

I don't know whether this snake medicine works or not.

When the people arrived, Li Long didn't wait for them to shout again, he raised his hand and said:
"Would you like to take the snake medicine I brought back from the county today?"

"Yes, yes." Someone hurriedly took it and gave it some water, and fed it to the man.

Li Long saw the wound, the leg was swollen and shiny, and he said hurriedly:

"Didn't you treat the bite? What snake bit you?"

"It's that little gray snake." Someone nearby said, "Can it be saved?"

"Let's see." Judging from the situation, the bite lasted for quite some time, and I don't know if the snake medicine will work.

"Then... Boss Li, can you help send them down the mountain?" Another person couldn't help but speak up, "I'm worried..."

"Yes, yes, yes, we won't let you run for nothing, give us the money!"

"Okay." Li Long started the tractor and said, "Let's lift the person onto the tractor." He couldn't just watch someone die here.

"How much do you want?" someone asked.

"Five kilograms of Fritillaria." Li Long said this subconsciously.

And... it's really cheap. The other two people thought so. (End of this chapter)