Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Bolati skinned the sheep very quickly and gutted it very quickly. Old Huang brought a basin over and Li Long helped Bolati take out the sheep's internal organs and put them in the basin. Old Huang grinned, showing his big yellow teeth, and he was very happy.

"Okay," Bolati finished with the sheep and said to Li Long:

"I'm going back. If there's more, I'll come find you. Just now, I've already removed the snake bite, so you guys better not eat that part, ok?"

"Okay, I understand." Li Long nodded.

Bolati wiped his forehead, where beads of sweat were, and wiped the knife on the sheepskin twice, then put it back into the sheath at his waist, walked over to the horse, climbed on the horse, pulled the reins, turned half a circle, and trotted away. Soon, the horse's speed was loosened and disappeared at the end of the valley.

The sheep's internal organs were removed and the whole sheep's body was placed on the sheepskin. Li Long took out his knife, cut off one of the hind legs and handed it to Xie Yundong next to him:

"Brother Yundong, leave this leg of lamb here for you to eat. Let Brother Lao Huang fry some offal tonight, and I'll take the rest away."

"Okay, okay." Although no one quite understood the origin of this sheep, no one was unhappy to be able to eat fresh mutton.

Li Long went to Lao Huang to get some salt and rubbed it on the mutton to prevent insects from getting in. Lao Huang had already cut off some of the internal organs to fry. Li Jianguo put down his work of weaving the handles and came over to help wash the stomach and intestines.

Li Long put the mutton, sheepskin and other things into the tractor bucket, then went over to help his elder brother.

"What's wrong with this sheep?" Li Jianguo asked while turning over its intestines.

"It was bitten by a snake. Brother, you know they don't eat this. There's nothing wrong with the meat from the snake bite, so I bought it."

"Hey, how much did you buy it for?"

"Ten dollars."

"It's a bargain. But for them, it means less loss. No wonder that Bolati took the initiative to help peel the skin." Li Jianguo said with a smile, "There aren't many such things, right?"

"Not many. Some herders would throw away their sheep if they encountered such a thing. It's not certain that we will encounter such a thing."

The two chatted and laughed until their stomachs turned upside down. Old Huang had already cut some offal and started frying it. The others were also very happy. Being able to eat fresh meat and have a meal was a good thing for everyone.

Li Long took the intestines and stomach and put them on the sheepskin and rubbed them with salt to take back. In fact, he wanted to keep some of them, but Li Jianguo waved his hand and said forget it. He meant that he could exchange them for some money if he took them back, and leaving them here would not have any economic value.

Li Long would bring some meat every now and then, so the food for the people who were in charge of the production team was very good. According to Li Jianguo, in the past, when the production team was in the production team, the people who came to work in the sideline team were basically pale and thin when they returned. Fortunately, they could earn money, so no one had any complaints.

Now, everyone has a rosy face and the food here is not as good as at home.

It is not a good thing to have conditions that are too good. After all, it is easy to raise the conditions, but if you lower them later, these people will probably have objections.

The principle of repaying kindness with resentment is not just talk.

So Li Jianguo let Li Long take back the extra stuff. He just needed to give everyone a meal for the stuff he bought with his own money, and there was no need to give it all away as a favor.

Li Long was embarrassed to say that this leader could only earn four yuan each. He wanted to wait until all the accounts were compiled and settled before telling Li Jianguo. Anyway, he would definitely not take the money from the big brother. By then, Li Jianguo should be able to earn a thousand yuan.

So for Li Long, it wouldn't be a big deal even if he put all the mutton worth ten yuan here.

Of course, he also knew that the account was not calculated in this way. If someone else took this job, the commission might be even higher than his.

After finishing all this, Li Long went to check and accept the goods, recorded the number, had people sign, and put the compiled goods in a big pile.

The handles over there were also stacked separately, one pile of 100, so that they could be counted. There were already seven piles now, and although the seventh pile was less than 100, it was almost there.

Soon, the dishes were ready, and Lao Huang called out for everyone to come over and eat. At this time, Sun Jiaqiang also came back with a bag.

In the past few days, Li Long came in the morning, and when he came, he had already gone to dig Fritillaria, so the two sides could not see each other. So this time when he saw Li Long coming, Sun Jiaqiang was also very happy.

He took out two large bags of mother-of-pearl from his dugout as if presenting treasures.

"Wow, so many!" Li Long was a little surprised. "Your efficiency in digging Fritillaria is getting higher and higher!"

"That's right. No one is checking here, so I can dig with peace of mind. There are many Beimu ditches nearby, and Brother Huang cooks well." Sun Jiaqiang said with a smile, "I don't need to cook like others. I have more time, so I can dig more."

That's the truth, Li Long smiled.

"I didn't bring a scale today, so I can only give you an estimate."

"No problem, I trust you. By the way, I have finished my bottle of wine. Do you have any wine?" Sun Jiaqiang asked.

"I took a cage. What? You want more?"

"Yes." Sun Jiaqiang whispered, "I underestimated the drinking capacity of your fellow villagers. The bottles of wine you brought me are not enough for these people to drink... bring a few more bottles next time?"

"Okay. This five-liter basket is enough for us to drink for a while. Don't drink too much. Be careful." Li Long took out a basket of wine from the truck bed and handed it to him. "Let me estimate your two bags."

Two full bags of Fritillaria, plus today's more than eight kilograms, Sun Jiaqiang's total of Fritillaria is forty-nine kilograms.

"I'll give you 50 kilograms, but to be honest, if I don't come for another two days, your Fritillaria will get moldy." Li Long poured the Fritillaria into his bag, looked through it and said, "Why don't you find a handle to hang them out to dry?"

"Hey, I didn't think of it." Sun Jiaqiang reacted, "That's right, there are so many people here, it would be great if I could borrow a handle to hang this Fritillaria out!"

Sun Jiaqiang asked for 140 yuan, and he exchanged the remaining money for wine. He also asked Li Long to bring some other daily necessities when he came tomorrow.

By the time they were done, the others had already got their food and were eating in a circle. Old Huang left some food for the two of them: cornmeal pancakes, stir-fried offal, and wild vegetable soup.

"Everyone, my wine has arrived today," Sun Jiaqiang said loudly, "We didn't drink enough the past two days, come on today, if you want to drink, pour it yourself, as long as you don't get drunk and it doesn't affect your work tomorrow. I'm young, so I won't drink so much, I'll have two drinks with you, and I'll leave these five liters of wine here."

After Sun Jiaqiang said this, others also started talking with a smile, most of them saying that Sun Jiaqiang was like a son, generous and straightforward.

Li Long ate and smiled as he watched the lively scene. This year, the people who came to form the team were relatively harmonious, and there were not so many trivial matters. In addition, with an outsider present, even if there were some unpleasantness among the team members, they all melted away, not wanting to embarrass themselves in front of outsiders.

Of course, they also know that some people who committed crimes last year did not come this year. Now the number of people who are assigned to carry heavy loads is recorded every day, and the money earned in a day is equivalent to that of an apprentice in a month. If anyone does not understand this and still makes trouble, he is really a scoundrel.

After dinner, Li Long said something to his eldest brother, waved to the others, and drove the tractor back to the wooden house. He only drank a small cap of wine and didn't react. At this time, Sun Jiaqiang and the others were still drinking. It was already dark, and they would not work anymore. Today was a small break, and everyone was very relaxed. Laughter and joy echoed in the valley, and some people even sang operas.

In fact, these days, people of this age group can sing some of the eight model operas, such as "Red Lantern", "Sha Jia Bang", etc. No one sang it for two years after the incident, but now there is nothing. In fact, some of the famous pieces are just spoken, and they are simply sung with wine, which feels quite heroic.

Li Long listened to the singing getting farther and farther away, and then his tractor, facing the wind and with its headlights on, headed towards the wooden house.

There were lights on, and we encountered many small animals along the way. Most of these small animals forage at night, and they were very frightened when they saw the lights or heard the noise.

When we arrived at the wooden house, there was no movement. I thought that even if someone wanted to replace the Fritillaria, they would leave if they didn't see the tractor.

After Li Long turned off the engine, he had to deal with the mutton in the truck bed in the dark. The main thing was to unload it into several pieces and soak it in a large basin. The remaining offal was handled in the same way. It was cold at night, so soaking it in cold water would keep it from spoiling. He would deal with it tomorrow morning.

After all, after you are full, the stomach and brain compete for blood supply, so the brain is not very clear and wants to sleep.

Li Long was busy every day, but he would not take the initiative to do excessive work. Since he could do it tomorrow and there was no light outside, he should take a rest.

The next morning, Li Long got up to drain the water and saw someone waiting outside.

Li Long was not surprised that these people came so early to sell Fritillaria. He walked up skillfully, weighed the Fritillaria, and asked the other party whether they wanted money or supplies.

Twenty-one kilograms of Fritillaria is not a small amount. After hesitating for a while, the man finally decided to take sixty yuan and exchange the remaining three yuan for some sesame cakes.

It is now the Fritillaria season, and people who dig Fritillaria also know that they should save time and avoid cooking if possible. By saving time, they can dig more Fritillaria.

Li Long was careful. Before giving the other party the money, he poured the Fritillaria into the woven basket. Then he found that the Fritillaria were all fresh and none of them had been washed by him before.

not him.

After giving the money and sesame cake to the other party, the man thought for a moment, then took out a ten-dollar note and asked Li Long if he had any cooked dried meat he wanted to exchange for some.

Li Long gave him five yuan in change and took three pieces of air-dried cooked meat. One kilogram of cooked meat may only be reduced to 300 grams after being dried, so the price of air-dried meat is higher. After the man left, Li Long set up the stove, boiled porridge, and then began to wash the Fritillaria.

Including the Fritillaria that Sun Jiaqiang brought yesterday.

After washing and drying the Fritillaria, the porridge was almost ready. Li Long toasted some steamed buns under the stove and hurriedly ate breakfast with red tofu and the chili sauce he brought.

The offal brought back yesterday was washed and cooked, and the meat had to be cut into small pieces and cooked. Now those who want to change meat basically want to air-dry the cooked meat. Li Long can't just apply salt and hang it to dry. Cook it, apply salt and hang it to dry. After it's dry, they can eat it directly.

By noon, Li Long had finished cleaning up. He took out the cooked meat, rubbed it with salt and hung it up. Because it was dried in a net, it only needed to be cooked, and it didn't need to be stewed like what he ate. The internal organs needed to be braised, so they were not air-dried.

In between work, he collected more than 70 kilograms of Fritillaria, which Li Long washed and hung up intermittently. Fortunately, there were so many handles, and there were gaps under the things for ventilation, so there was no fear of mold.

Just flip through it every once in a while.

After finishing the work, Li Long wanted to take a break before eating. Anyway, there was meat and offal, so he just needed to prepare some dipping sauce.

The broth is also drinkable, and now you don’t have to worry about the three highs, it’s already very good.

Then I saw two people in black clothes walking towards me in the distance.

At first, Li Long thought they were selling Fritillaria, but what they were holding were just cloth bags. Then they walked to a place about 20 to 30 meters away from Li Long and stopped.

The two men whispered something, and then shouted to Li Long:

"Little comrade, do you have any medicine?"

"Yes." Li Long stood up and walked over there. The two old men in black clothes said hurriedly:

"Don't come over here, don't come over here, we just want medicine."

Li Long felt a little strange. The two men looked quite clean, with neat hair and beards, which should have been done. But why did they seem to be afraid of close contact with people? However, since the other party had made a request, he stopped and said:

"What medicine do you want?"

"Aspirin." The other party said the name of the medicine.

"Yes, I have several bottles."

"Let's change." The two men opened the cloth bag, revealing several neatly folded pieces of leather.

Deerskin, wolfskin, and roe deer skin all look well-ripened and feel very soft.

Li Long was a little surprised. If these leathers were sold outside, they could be exchanged for two or three hundred yuan without any problem.

Prices are rising now, and one of these complete, tanned leathers costs sixty or seventy yuan.

Four skins.

"Change two bottles." One of the old men said briefly. The two men had very short hair, almost touching their scalps, and their clothes were very clean, with layers of patches. Li Long felt that they did not look like people who often moved around in the mountains.

"One piece of leather is enough. And there are more. Do you need to exchange for other supplies? For example, matches, salt, rice, flour, or other medicines." Li Long said, not wanting to take advantage of the old man, "I can exchange it for four bottles of aspirin. I also have painkillers such as Analgin, yeast tablets, and large hawthorn pills."

The two old men looked at each other and said:

"Then I'll need a packet of salt, a packet of matches, and some analgin in addition to the aspirin."

Li Long packed the things into a big bag and prepared to take it over.

The two men immediately stepped back and waited for Li Long to put the things on the leather. The old man who spoke briefly spoke:
"Take all the skins, and then step back."

"Do you... have an infectious disease?" Li Long suddenly asked. He didn't dare to pick up the skins. If these people really had a disease like plague, he really wouldn't dare to use that thing.

"No." The other man shook his head firmly, "We... are sinners."

After he said that, Li Long was even more confused.

But the old man said no more, and Li Long had no idea what was going on. He picked up the leather and walked back. The two men came over, took the things, bowed to Li Long, and then turned and walked back into the mountains.

Li Long just stood there in a daze.

He believed that these two people would not lie to him, it was pure belief. In the mountains, if there really was an infectious disease like plague, he might not be able to escape it if he told the truth to the other party. But if the other party told him the truth and said there was no plague, then he believed it.

It's not foolish kindness, it's just a feeling.

But what does the last sentence mean?
After the two men disappeared, Li Long went over and picked up the leather.

It was not killed recently, so the skin must have been preserved for a long time. The hair was very good, the skin was well-ripened and very soft, and when it was unfolded, it could be seen that they were all adult animals. The skin was very large and had no gunshot wounds.

I don't know how it was caught.

Until now, Li Long still couldn't figure out what these people did. He had been in the mountains for so long, and he had never heard Halimu and the others say that there were such people. Logically speaking, Halimu, Yushanjiang and the others should be able to meet them.

But never heard of it.

Is there some secret base in the mountains?

Li Long spread out the skins to dry in the sun with doubts.

Just in case, he washed his hands thoroughly with liquor to disinfect them.

He ate a little lunch while thinking. He had already eaten some while the meat was drying, so he wasn't really hungry.

In the afternoon, more Fritillaria were collected one after another. In the evening, the Fritillaria delivery gathered. Most of those digging Fritillaria knew that they were at Li Long's place, so the forest patrollers didn't care. They even made a big circle and appeared from the southwest or west.

Li Long made a rough estimate and found that he had collected nearly 200 kilograms of Fritillaria today.

We will have to go back again tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

Seeing that it was getting dark and no one was coming, Li Long collected all the Fritillaria. He washed the Fritillaria as they came, but most of them had to be stored in the wooden house for the time being.

Early the next morning, seeing no one coming, Li Long drove his tractor to Xiaobaiyanggou.

There was still smoke floating in Baiyanggou, which made Li Long wonder whether his elder brother and his friends had been roasting noodles on a fire that had not been extinguished all night.

After checking and collecting everyone's weapons, Li Long found his eldest brother Li Jianguo and whispered to him about what happened with the man in black yesterday.

Li Jianguo glanced at Li Long and said softly:

"We encountered them before when we were working in the sideline team. We guessed that these people were most likely... some of the people left over from the prosperous era."

I didn't expect that my brother actually knew something.

"Walk south of your wooden house into the mountains for about ten kilometers. There should be a ditch in the southwest. The ditch is full of bones. Human bones." Li Jianguo looked around and whispered, "Don't go over there. We guess the bones in the ditch are from war or plague."

Li Long took note of the place, he really didn't plan to go there.

Life is at stake.

After knowing the general idea, I am not so curious anymore.

Sun Jiaqiang has gone to dig for Fritillaria. This guy usually looks cheerful, but he is quite reliable when it comes to making money. (End of this chapter)