Chapter 147: Yushanjiang

After eating hand-grabbed meat at noon, Yushanjiang's family got busy. Halimu rode his horse home once, and then he brought his family over—except for the grandmother who was watching the house, the whole family came.

The party was held on the grass in front of the winter camp. Now it's the end of March, the grass on the plains has grown, but here the grass is just sprouting tender green buds.

Yushanjiang's son and Nasen and the others brought wood that had been washed down by the flood from the river gully and stacked it together to have a bonfire at night.

Yushanjiang slaughtered another sheep, and his wife and Halimu's wife were processing the mutton.

Halimu chose a spot to dig a long trench, cleaned the inside, and used the dug-out soil to build up the sides.

"Is this a trench for roasting mutton?" Li Long had watched a lot of short videos in his previous life and had a guess.

"Yes." Halimu said while working, "There should be quite a few people coming tonight, so we need to roast more meat. Besides, well, Yushanjiang definitely still needs these people to help build your house."

Li Long suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed; what virtue or ability did he have to make so many people work for him?

"Don't feel embarrassed." Halimu saw Li Long's thoughts and said with a smile, "You, before, well, brought us so many bricks of tea, salt, and sugar. Did you think we ate them all? We couldn't eat that much.

We, well, were originally all from the same tribe, so in winter, well, I, Yushanjiang, gave those extra things, well, to others. They, well, can't speak Han, but they need those things more than we do—"

Li Long understood. He looked around, thought for a moment, and said:

"Then I'll go to the county seat now and buy some more things back."

"No, no." Halimu hurriedly grabbed Li Long, who was about to leave, and said, "No need, it's too far. We aren't short of things now. You, well, just stay here, eat big pieces of meat later, drink big bowls of mare's milk, well.

Today, well, you are an honored guest, so, well, don't think so much, just be fine."

Li Long couldn't leave, so he simply followed Halimu to work.

After the dirt trench was dug, the two of them lit a fire, burning wood. Li Long knew that after this wood burned into red charcoal, it could be moved into the trench to serve as the red fire for roasting meat.

Next was to go to the red willow bushes by the gully to break off red willow branches to skewer the meat.

Li Long had eaten red willow roasted meat at night markets before; those red willow skewers had been used countless times and had long since lost the real red willow flavor.

Actually, as a local, he knew that red willow roasted meat only has the meat's fragrance and the red willow's special flavor mixed together when it's roasted for the first time, and that flavor is the best. The skewers are only used once, and only locals use them—and because red willow can prevent wind and sand and resist salt and alkali, it's not recommended to break branches anymore in later generations, so except for locals, it's hard to eat authentic ones.

So when Li Long went out to eat roasted meat in later generations, he always ate iron skewers; that gimmick is fine for fooling those who don't know.

They broke off red willow branches the thickness of a little finger, broke off a big armful, and after returning, stripped the leaves off the branches, used a small knife to sharpen one end, shaved off some of the thicker end so they were about the same length, and then handed them to the women's side to prepare.

The women used onion water to simply marinate the cut meat chunks, then skewered them on the red willow skewers, and in a while, they had skewered a big pile.

The fire here was already burning brightly, and guests arriving on horseback began to appear.

Li Long discovered that most of the people arriving on horseback came as families. It seems Halimu was right; they should be from the same tribe. Even if they weren't relatives, they should have other relationships.

The people who came basically didn't speak Han. After greeting Yushanjiang and Halimu, they went into the winter camp, or after tying up their horses, found people to work and chat with.

Li Long was a bit awkward at first, saying "Adashi, Jakas ma" over and over again, and he didn't understand other languages.

However, he could see that when the other party heard him say only this one sentence, the joy and sincerity in their eyes were revealed instantly. Even if they didn't understand the following words, he spoke Han, they spoke Kazakh, it didn't affect the other party's enthusiasm.

Li Long felt that this was really a

enthusiastic, hospitable ethnic group, and being friends with the people here is really great!

He and Halimu added red charcoal to the trench, and after that, there was nothing for him to do—after Yushanjiang slaughtered the sheep and processed the sheepskin and internal organs, he proudly took out the radio, turned on the switch, turned up the volume, and when the announcer's Kazakh voice came through, most of the dozen or so people present opened their mouths wide and let out exclamations!

The vast majority of them had never seen a radio and couldn't imagine that such a small thing could actually emit a human voice, and in their mother tongue!

Yushanjiang proudly pulled Li Long to the front, and after introducing him in Kazakh, Li Long was once again solemnly shaken hands with by everyone, which should be a sign of respect and gratitude.

He was a bit confused.

When the sun slanted west and the open space became a bit cool, the wood picked up by the young men was piled into a big pile, and they started to light the fire.

The meat had already started roasting, the hand-grabbed meat in the big pot was already rolling, mare's milk was brought out, and they started pouring it for everyone to drink.

The sound from the radio kept playing. Although Li Long couldn't understand it, he could roughly tell from the announcer's tone that there were news broadcasts, storytelling, music, and things like movie recording clips.

A group of children surrounded the radio from time to time, curiously watching this thing that could make sound, and occasionally adults would come over to examine it, then smile at Li Long.

This day, Li Long received a lot of kindness. Although he couldn't understand, he could understand.

It wasn't until it was almost dark that a piece of music suddenly played on the radio, making everyone exclaim—

Li Long, who had watched countless short videos in later generations, could tell that this seemed to be the dance music for the traditional Kazakh dance "Black Trotter." At this moment, many people who were sitting down exclaimed, and someone was the first to step out and dance in front of the bonfire. Then there was a second, a third, a fourth...

Soon, young and old, men and women, were dancing happily around the bonfire. The red bonfire reflected their smiling faces, and their happiness and joy were simple and pure.

Li Long was also pulled into the crowd. Although he couldn't dance, he could still move a bit by waving his hands and shaking his shoulders. This kind of happy atmosphere is particularly infectious.

Nasen didn't know when he came to Li Long's opposite side. Seeing that he couldn't dance, he specifically shook his shoulders to the rhythm in front of him. Li Long followed suit, and it actually looked quite decent...

After dancing for a while, a bowl of mare's milk was handed to Li Long. He didn't look at who handed it over, took it, and took a sip.

This beverage, which was sour and astringent with a bit of alcohol, made Li Long feel refreshed, and he continued to dance. When he was tired of dancing, he ate meat, drank mare's milk, and listened to things from all over the world in a language he didn't understand. Li Long felt that he didn't want to think about anything; it was actually really happy.

The party lasted until very late, the meat was eaten, the mare's milk was drunk, the radio didn't know when it had stopped playing, leaving only the sound of static, and the bonfire was left with only dark red embers.

They had a great time.

Li Long and Halimu returned to his winter camp.

The next day, when Li Long got up and was drinking milk tea, Yushanjiang brought a group of young men and middle-aged men and rushed over, dragging logs one by one.

"Are you really going to build a house for me?" Li Long still felt a bit like he was dreaming.

"Li Long, we are friends, well. You are a good friend to us, and we should do some things that friends should do. This matter, well, don't worry about it, just decide on the location..."

Li Long was really moved. "Okay, you guys work, I'll decide the location." After careful consideration, under the suggestions of Halimu and Yushanjiang, Li Long decided the location on the edge of the gully less than one kilometer west of Halimu's winter camp. There was a stream there, and the location was about in the middle of Yushanjiang's and Halimu's winter camps, closer to Halimu's side. This way, transporting wood was more convenient.

There was a Fritillaria gully nearby, and it wasn't far from the hot spring that Yushanjiang had shown Li Long.

There was also a large, relatively flat area near the selected location. They were going to dig a flat area on the slightly higher ground nearby, and then stack the wood one by one into a house—similar to a winter camp, with the back wall being the mountain itself, which could save a lot of materials.

After determining the location, these herdsmen started transporting wood with great enthusiasm, while Li Long rode his bicycle down the mountain.

He arrived at the department store at the fastest speed, bought sesame cakes, granulated sugar, and bought a few bottles of white liquor, but unfortunately, he didn't have much money left.

Li Long suddenly thought of those few pieces of jade. It seems that he had to sell the jade now.

He put the things he bought back in the big courtyard, took two pieces of very high-quality jade, wrapped them up, and went to the Maxian Bus Station on the side of the Wuyi Highway.

Starting this spring, the county bus station had buses to Wucheng.

Li Long bought a ticket at the bus station. Seeing that there was still time, he bought a few sesame cakes at the store next to the bus station for lunch.

Getting on the bus, after nearly three hours, he arrived in Wucheng.

！.

Coming out of the August 1st Executive Office courtyard, Li Long quickly got on the bus and went to the Second Light Industry Bureau Jade Processing Factory.

Li Long found the old man who had collected the jade last time with ease—this time he knew that the old man was an old jade worker in the factory, had worked in the factory for more than 20 years, was sent down later for special reasons, and only resumed work early last year.

The old man's surname was Liu, and his name was Liu Yuzhang. Liu Lao actually still remembered Li Long. In the office, he said with a smile:

"Young man, the jade you brought last time was good, we've already made it into an ornament. What treasure did you bring this time?"

"This jade is not as good as the last time," Li Long said while taking out the jade, "I originally intended to keep it, but I've been in urgent need of money recently, so I brought it."

These two pieces of better quality were obtained from Yushanjiang, and the other one was later given to Li Long by Halimu.

"Hmm, indeed, the jade quality is indeed not as good as the last time." The old man took his glasses and looked at it, then took off his glasses and said, "This piece is okay—"

He was referring to the piece given by Yushanjiang: "It's worse than the better one last time, and better than the worse one. As for this piece..."

He pointed to the other piece, which clearly had small black dots in the jade quality, and said:

"This kind of jade, to be honest, can't be sold for money, but fortunately, your dots aren't very heavy, which is also a feature."

He thought for a moment and said:

"How about this, I'll call Section Chief Chen over, and we'll set a price for you together."

Section Chief Chen was the tall man from last time, and he also remembered Li Long.

After the two discussed it, they set a price of 65 yuan and 15 yuan for Li Long's two pieces of jade respectively.

"Young man, don't think 15 yuan per kilogram is cheap. To be honest, this jade is really not that good. If you think the price is not good, you can take it back."

"I won't take it back." Li Long hurriedly said, "I know the price you gave is already very fair. Thank you!"

Actually, he was a bit nervous when he came. If the other party didn't collect this jade, he would really be blind.

"The young man is quite reasonable." Liu Lao said with a smile, "If you have good jade in the future, bring it over and we will collect it as usual. Of course, this jade is not easy to get, you know that too."

After weighing the two pieces of jade, issuing a ticket, and paying the money, Li Long received 374 yuan.

After saying goodbye to Liu Lao and Section Chief Chen, he hurried back to the August 1st Guest House.

According to Li Long's idea, if there was still a bus, he would take the bus back. If not, he would buy things first, stay overnight, and go back tomorrow morning.

What surprised him a bit was that the last bus hadn't departed yet. He hurriedly got on the bus—at this time, you could get on the bus first and buy a ticket later.

When he returned to Maxian, it was already completely dark.

Li Long returned to the big courtyard in the dark. Although the room was still a bit cold at this time, Li Long felt relieved.

This day was tense, but the things were done.

Dragging his tired body, Li Long lit a fire, cooked some porridge for himself, and while drinking, calculated the things he needed to buy tomorrow.

Although it was Yushanjiang who called people to work for him, Li Long, as the host, must show something.

He decided to buy a gift for each person who worked, including bricks of tea, granulated sugar, a bottle of liquor, two bottles of canned food, a bag of salt, etc., as a token of his heart.

As for the time of working, Li Long planned to buy some snacks and the like.

He regretted not pulling a horse cart over. But thinking that the horse cart is also needed in the team, let's ride a bicycle and transport it one trip at a time.

Early the next morning, after eating a meal at the big meat canteen, Li Long started to purchase.

In addition to those things, Li Long also bought a lot of thick and thin iron wire, iron nails, plastic cloth, and other things, packed them separately on the bicycle, and headed toward the mountains.

The "28-inch" bike was very strong. In less than two hours, Li Long transported the things to Alimu's winter camp.

After Halimu saw the things Li Long brought, he told him very seriously:

"Li Long, if you want everyone to work hard, don't take these things out first. Otherwise, the work won't be done, and their families will complain about you."

Li Long was a bit puzzled, why?

He clearly had good intentions.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 148 =====