Chapter 148: A

Halimu pointed at the liquor Li Long had brought and said:

"Some of our people really like this, but this stuff is truly harmful."

Li Long was still a bit puzzled; in his previous life, he hadn't had much interaction with the Kazakh people.

"Some of our young men look very honest, work diligently, and aren't very bold, but after drinking, their personalities change completely. They even dare to stab people with knives—so this liquor must absolutely not be given to them. Other things are fine."

Li Long broke out in a cold sweat; he had almost made a huge mistake!

He hurriedly packed all the liquor away and said to Halimu:

"I'll leave the liquor with you for now. By the way, what else does everyone need? I'll go buy some more. You'll be heading to the summer pasture soon; if there's anything you need, I'll buy it all at once. Otherwise, once you're deep in the mountains at the summer pasture, it won't be easy to buy things."

Halimu didn't stand on ceremony with Li Long and said:

"Grain. We need more grain. Salt and brick tea are about enough, but we still need some tools like ropes, saws, and wire..."

Halimu spoke while thinking, and Li Long noted everything down one by one.

Once Halimu finished, Li Long abandoned his original plan to go check on where Yushanjiang and the others were working and prepared to turn around and go buy the supplies.

"Li Long, after the snow melted, we picked up some more deer antlers and roe deer antlers. Take these, sell them, and then buy the supplies. We're building this winter nest for you because we treat you as a friend. You've helped us so much; it's what we should do. We can't just keep letting you pay for everything..."

Li Long didn't refuse, but he was startled when he saw the antlers Halimu brought out.

Across both his lives, these were the largest antlers Li Long had ever seen.

Three and a half pairs of deer antlers, meaning seven branches, plus two roe deer antlers.

Among the deer antlers, there was one pair that was exceptionally huge. Judging by the length, it had to be at least half a meter. Besides the main branch, there were six other tines. This single antler had to weigh at least seven or eight kilograms!

Li Long doubted he could carry them all back at once.

The resources in these mountains were truly abundant!

With Halimu's help, Li Long managed to tie everything onto his bicycle with rope and then carefully rode down the mountain.

He felt just like those martial actors on stage, with sharp spikes sticking out behind him like flag-spears.

Of course, it also felt dangerous; he kept feeling that if he tipped over, those antler tips would impale him.

By the time he reached the county seat, Li Long felt he was drenched in sweat.

When he arrived at the purchasing station, Li Long calculated that Chen Hongjun should be working today.

He locked his bike without unloading the cargo and looked inside, finding that Chen Hongjun was indeed there, weighing licorice roots for someone. While weighing, he said:

"The quality of your licorice roots is quite good. I'll count it as Grade 1, 0.25 yuan per kilogram. You have... twelve kilograms here, that's three yuan."

Well, Li Long suddenly felt that seeing that large bundle of licorice sell for only three yuan was really a bit low.

But seeing the happy expression on the face of the person selling the licorice, Li Long suddenly felt that he was the one out of place in this world—three yuan could buy ten kilograms of flour, two bottles of white liquor, or three kilograms of mutton—it wasn't a small amount!

Chen Hongjun wrote the receipt and paid, then saw Li Long at the door, immediately showing a surprised expression:

"Comrade Li, long time no see! You're covered in dust; where did you come from?"

"Just came out of the mountains..."

"Then you must have brought good stuff. Bring it over and let me see."

"Alright." Li Long turned to his bicycle, untied the rope, and took the antlers down one by one.

"Whoa! Comrade Li, you've had a bumper harvest this time! Did you collect all the antlers from Nanshan?"

"Just about." Li Long joked, "Spring is here, the red deer are about to grow velvet, so they don't need the antlers anymore, and I just collected them all."

"It seems you have a pretty good relationship with the red deer." Chen Hongjun also joked, "These antlers are huge!"

Seven deer antlers and two roe deer antlers, all of different quality. Chen Hongjun examined them carefully one by one and then graded them.

The person who sold the licorice roots also watched curiously; he didn't leave, and Li Long guessed he probably wanted to know how much these antlers were worth.

"There are four Grade 1 deer antlers, weighing 21.6 kilograms," Chen Hongjun reported after sorting and weighing them. "Grade 2 deer antlers weigh 10.3 kilograms. Grade 1 is still six yuan, and Grade 2 is four yuan. The roe deer antlers are all Grade 1, weighing 2.1 kilograms. I'll give you a unit price of five yuan, how's that?"

"Of course, no problem," Li Long said with a smile.

"Let me calculate... in total..." Chen Hongjun pulled over an abacus and clicked it skillfully, "181.5 yuan."

He wrote the receipt and paid. Li Long took the thick stack of money and tucked it into his inner pocket.

"Comrade Chen, I still need to buy some things, so I'll be going for now. Let's chat when you're free."

"Sure, if you manage to get any game, remember to save some for me."

"You got it."

The person who sold the licorice roots looked at Li Long, then at the three yuan in his own hand, and suddenly felt that the three yuan didn't feel as good anymore.

Li Long walked out the door, and that person chased after him, asking:

"Little brother, did you pick up these antlers in the mountains?"

"Yeah, in the mountains, but I didn't pick them up myself. My friends in the mountains picked them up while grazing."

"Then..." the man blushed, but finally asked, "Are antlers easy to find?"

"How should I put it? It's easier for people in the mountains. But for people like us, or you, it's actually not easy. You might wander in the mountains for a whole day and not find any, because we don't know where the red deer like to be active."

Li Long knew what the man was thinking; anyone would be tempted seeing someone else make so much money at once. He said earnestly:

"Big brother, it's just like you picking licorice. I bet many people in your village don't know where it's easy to find licorice, right? You know, so you can pick over ten kilograms a day..."

The man nodded thoughtfully.

"Alright, I have things to do, I'm off." Li Long got on his bike and headed toward the supply and marketing cooperative.

To buy those items, only the supply and marketing cooperative had them.

Riding his bike to the retail department, Li Long got off, locked the bike, went inside, and began purchasing items according to the list Halimu gave him.

Li Long's purchase quantity was large and bulky. Two sales clerks carried the items to the counter one by one. Seeing the pile growing higher, Li Long simply asked for two burlap sacks and began packing them.

"Comrade, pay first," one clerk reminded him.

Li Long smiled, stopped what he was doing, took a stack of money from his pocket, and said:

"Alright, let's settle the bill first."

Seeing the money in his hand, the clerk felt relieved and began calculating the bill item by item. The various tools, wire, and other materials totaled over sixty yuan, but the weight reached nearly eighty kilograms.

After paying, Li Long packed them into two burlap sacks, ensuring both sides were about the same weight, then tied the openings with the thin hemp rope he had bought, making them like a pair of saddlebags. He squatted down, placed the connecting part of the two sacks on his shoulders, and with a burst of strength from his waist, hoisted them up.

The two clerks weren't particularly surprised. Although he was carrying eighty kilograms of goods, there were many strong people in this era; let alone eighty kilograms, there were people who could carry a hundred.

Li Long walked to his bike, set the load down, and then put down the rear kickstand—otherwise, placing eighty kilograms of goods directly on the rear seat would easily deform the rack, though it wouldn't affect the tires.

This was the tricky part. Holding the bike with his hands made it inconvenient to hoist the load back up. With no other choice, he turned to the clerk in the retail department and said:

"Comrade, could you come over and help me hold the bike?"

The clerk inside wasn't the one who had lent him the scale earlier. One of them, hearing Li Long's voice, walked out from behind the counter and said with a smile:

"You should've said so earlier. If I had come out just now, you wouldn't have needed to put it down; you could have just loaded it directly."

As she spoke, she held the bike. Li Long squatted down, hoisted the two sacks again, walked to the back of the bike, tilted his body, and slowly slid the load off his shoulders onto the rear seat.

After adjusting it to ensure it was stable, Li Long thanked the clerk, got on his bike, and left.

!.

Tossing back and forth, Li Long was a bit hungry. He went to the meat canteen, bought three steamed buns, and while eating, headed to the morning market, but the stalls there had already closed.

Li Long had originally planned to buy some grain that didn't require ration coupons there, but since the stalls were closed, there was nothing he could do. He thought he might as well deliver the supplies to the mountains first, come back at night, and then come back early tomorrow morning to buy grain before transporting it to the mountains.

Having sold the jade and the antlers, Li Long had enough confidence to buy grain.

He thought about the discounted grain from last time and detoured to the grain store, but unfortunately, there was no discounted grain today. Since he didn't have enough ration coupons on hand, he had to wait until tomorrow.

Riding his bike into the mountains, the sun was already slanting west by the time he reached Halimu's winter nest.

Halimu wasn't there. Li Long set the sacks down; he felt he couldn't cross the gully carrying them, so he untied them, planning to carry them over one by one.

The dogs were barking constantly. Nasen came out, saw Li Long, ran over happily, and shouted at him:

"Uncle, Uncle!"

Li Long was very surprised; the little guy had actually learned Chinese!

Even if it was just one word, it was already the beginning of communication.

"Nasen, Jaksimisiz! Hello!"

"Hel—lo!" Nasen shouted excitedly, his face flushed red.

Seeing Li Long carrying the large burlap sack, he suddenly turned and ran toward the winter nest. By the time Li Long crossed the gully, Nasen had already led a horse over.

He gestured for Li Long to put the sacks on the horse's back. Li Long gestured back, indicating the horse was too tall and the load too heavy to put on.

Nasen actually understood. He led the horse to the water's edge in the gully and pulled hard on the reins. The horse resisted at first, Nasen's face turned bright red, but he kept pulling the reins. The horse actually knelt with its front legs first, then lay down by the water!

Li Long felt very amazed. He didn't know if this was Nasen's innate talent for taming horses since childhood or if the horse was just very intelligent and obedient, but in any case, it truly shocked him.

Since the horse was already lying down, Li Long carried the other sack over, and the two of them tied them together again, placing them on the horse's back, one on each side.

Seeing the load was steady, Nasen let Li Long step aside, then pulled the reins to make the horse stand up.

With over eighty kilograms of goods, the horse tried two or three times before standing up. Nasen led the horse by the reins and walked toward the winter nest.

When going uphill, Li Long watched carefully by the horse's side. Fortunately, the friction of the burlap sacks was sufficient, and there was no sign of them sliding off.

Arriving at the winter nest, Nasen made the horse lie down again. This time the horse understood, adjusted quickly, and lay down.

When Li Long unloaded the goods, Halimu's wife walked out of the winter nest and nodded at Li Long with a smile.

Li Long moved the two sacks to the door of the winter nest one by one, then noticed the radio wasn't there.

He gestured to Nasen, who pointed to the west. Li Long understood; it must have been taken to the place where they were building his winter nest for the young men to listen to.

Li Long was just thinking about going over to take a look. He gestured to Nasen, and Nasen happily led the horse, wanting to go with him.

However, the two of them had just crossed the gully when they heard someone riding a horse toward them. Li Long saw it was Halimu.

"Are you going over there to take a look?" Halimu stopped his horse after riding quickly to Li Long and asked, "Did you buy the supplies back?"

"The tools and wire are bought, but the grain will have to wait until tomorrow," Li Long said.

"Then don't go over there. They're almost done with today's work. I distributed the things you gave, and they were overjoyed. Leave these things here for now; we'll take them over to distribute tomorrow when work starts."

Since that was the case, Li Long didn't plan to go over. He said to Halimu:

"Then I'll head back first and see about buying some grain tomorrow morning. The horse cart is needed at our production team, so I'll just use my bike to transport the grain over these next two days."

"No problem, a few bags of rice and flour will do," Halimu said. "I also told those people that if they have deer antlers or roe deer antlers at home, they should bring them over; they can trade them for good things."

Li Long said with a smile:

"They certainly can be traded. Just tell me what you want to trade for."

"It's lucky we ran into you," Halimu sighed. "We've suffered losses before. Some Han people are very good, just like you. Some Han people really treat us like fools..."

Li Long felt a bit ashamed; in fact, he had already taken quite a bit of advantage of them like this.

Looking at the long term, he would slowly trade everything he got from Halimu and the others for supplies and send them into the mountains, making life a little better for these lovely herdsmen.

"Drink some milk tea before you go back. There's wind at the mountain pass at night, it's quite chilly," Halimu said to Li Long.

After drinking the milk tea, Li Long rode his bike like the wind toward the outside of the mountains. Riding downhill the whole way, he tried his best to control his speed, otherwise, he really might have flown off.

By the time he reached the county seat, the sun had just set, and the sky was still a bit bright. Li Long went to the canteen and bought some steamed buns, planning to toast them for dinner. The big courtyard was stocked with red bean curd, which made eating easy.

Tired after a whole day, he set up a fire to toast the buns, and after eating, he hurriedly went to sleep; there was work to do tomorrow.

It wasn't even midnight when Li Long heard movement outside.

A thief?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 149 =====