Chapter 156

Halimu simply didn't translate Li Long's words.

In their eyes, catching a fawn wasn't anything particularly difficult—not doing it specifically was mainly because it didn't have much meaning; it was equivalent to having one more sheep, and it was hard to raise, often dying, and after it died, there wasn't even as much meat as a sheep.

How much is a sheep? Only ten-some yuan. A deer only has value after it gets big, but raising a deer isn't as simple as raising a sheep.

The rest of the young men mostly wanted to trade hides, jade, or other things for radios, flashlights, or daily necessities like grain, sugar, salt, and liquor.

Li Long finally tallied it up; he needed to trade for a total of six radios, one hundred and fifty kilograms of flour, twenty bricks of tea, thirty-three packs of sugar, thirty bags of salt, and so on.

According to his calculations, the things placed here were naturally enough.

The childish deer calls occasionally coming from behind the wooden house reminded him that there were also two living creatures among the items to be traded.

Although in this era, both Halimu and the villagers had the same philosophy: 'A family with ten thousand strings of cash doesn't count the breathing ones (the ones with fur don't count),' but deer shouldn't be in this category.

Li Long was a bit worried, thinking about how to take so many things back.

After everyone had finished speaking, Li Long said:

"I'll take the things back now, and then bring the traded items back in batches. Some of these things might need to be traded in Wucheng or Shicheng, so the time might be a little longer; you'll have to wait patiently. Also, I'll try to bring some medicine for each of your families when I come tomorrow, so you can keep it at home; it should be of some use."

After Halimu heard this, he said a few words seriously to the young men, and the look in the young men's eyes when they looked at Li Long changed.

Li Long could feel that besides enthusiasm and trust, there was also respect.

Everyone wasn't a procrastinator. After arranging things, Li Long immediately straightened the bicycle, and several young men came over to help. The jade was divided into two sacks and tied together to hang on both sides of the back seat.

The hides were stacked layer by layer on the back seat, and then the antlers and roe deer antlers were brought over and tied one by one with the points facing backward to avoid stabbing Li Long.

"You guys continue to be busy, I'm going to the county first." Li Long said, "When I come back in a day or two, we'll hold a 'tuoyi' (a gathering where one can dance and sing) here; bring your dombras and sing properly."

Halimu helped Li Long push the bike away from here, walking toward the mouth of the mountain gully.

Yushanjiang said to the men:

"Everyone work hard. When our 'Duosen' comes again, he will bring back the good things everyone is looking forward to. At that time, we will also give him a surprise and let him see his own brand-new winter camp!"

"Alright!" The young men roared and started working, each one full of enthusiasm.

Arriving at the gully mouth, Li Long said goodbye to Halimu and rode his bike away toward the county in a flash.

When he reached the flat road, Li Long still pedaled fast. This bicycle carried not just those goods, but also the heavy trust of his Kazakh brothers.

Li Long pedaled the bike directly to the purchasing station, and to his surprise, Chen Hongjun was still there.

Seeing Li Long poke his head in, Chen Hongjun was also a bit surprised and said with a smile:

"Comrade Li, what did you bring this time?"

"There are quite a lot of things this time. Comrade Chen, I remember you said you were on duty every other day?"

"Spring is here, isn't it? Many people come here to sell things, so we've been on full-day shifts recently, with Sundays off. Come, let's see what you've brought."

Chen Hongjun followed Li Long outside and saw the things tied to the bicycle, and he was also startled:

"Li, did you poke a deer's nest? There's so much!"

"The brothers in the mountains are about to move, so they entrusted me to sell these things and trade for some daily necessities for their lives." Li Long explained, "They don't come down the mountain often, and it's not convenient for them to come down to trade, so it's more appropriate for me to do this."

"That's true." Chen Hongjun said with deep feeling:

"Language communication is a big problem. Of course, the fact that you can gain their trust also shows that you are a good comrade. Come, let's unload the things, and I'll estimate the price."

Chen Hongjun helped Li Long unload the antlers and hides and put them in the store.

"What's in those sacks?"

"Mahe jade, not worth much." Li Long said, "I won't unload this."

"Brother, you're something!" Chen Hongjun said with a smile, "The good things from the mountains are all with you."

"Not at all, not at all. I'm helping friends in the mountains solve their difficulties, and of course, I earn a little money for myself to spend."

Li Long never denied that he would earn some hard-earned money from this, but to be honest, several times he genuinely wanted to help his friends in the mountains, but he didn't expect the other party to also genuinely give, not wanting him to suffer a loss. In this back-and-forth, he ended up getting more and more.

"These antlers are of two grades; the first grade has three branches, the second grade has four; the roe deer antlers have been kept for a bit too long, let's say second grade." Chen Hongjun skillfully categorized the antlers and roe deer antlers. "Mainly because they've been kept for a long time; they should have been quite good when they were first picked."

While speaking, Chen Hongjun felt a bit regretful. The antlers Li Long had brought him during this period had indeed helped him complete many procurement tasks, and he also hoped to give a high grade to the things Li Long brought, but several of the antlers were cracked and weren't from the current year.

"These hides are good hides, but the processing method is quite crude." Chen Hongjun looked at the hides again. "The herdsmen's traditional method of using salt to cure them is mainly to prevent decay, but they still need secondary tanning; they're too hard."

Li Long knew this. Tanning hides, the common term is 'nitrating,' and this technique is something ordinary people don't know. The herdsmen in the mountains mainly process hides by rubbing them with coarse salt, which is curing, so that the hides won't be eaten by insects or rot. Therefore, these hides were all stiff, and to turn them into leather, they needed to be tanned.

"Deer hide twenty-five yuan, roe deer hide sixteen yuan, this wolf skin is good, thirty-one yuan, this one... is a bit broken, twenty yuan..."

Chen Hongjun quoted the prices one by one, and someone there was specifically weighing and recording them to issue a receipt. In the end, it totaled three hundred and thirty-two yuan and sixty-eight cents.

It could buy six radios, but other things were still lacking.

It seems he really had to make a trip to Wucheng.

Li Long had originally thought that if these things were enough to buy the items here, he wouldn't go to Wucheng and would just go to Shicheng, but now it seemed that wouldn't work.

After the receipt was issued and he received the money, Li Long said goodbye to Chen Hongjun, went outside, got on his bike, and returned to the courtyard.

He stood the bicycle up, closed the door, brought a basin of water, unloaded the sack containing the jade, and began to test them piece by piece.

The smallest of these jade pieces were the size of two fists, and the largest was an irregular slab, seven or eight centimeters thick and weighing over ten kilograms.

Using water to wash away the mud on the surface of the stones revealed their true colors.

They were all 'seed materials,' washed by natural water currents, which resulted in each piece having no sharp edges.

The smallest piece had a little bit of stone skin and was green all over, but unfortunately, it had quite a few sesame-like spots. This would be okay in later generations, but now it really couldn't be sold for much money.

Li Long put this piece aside and then went to look at the largest one.

This piece was more than half covered with gray-green stone skin, and only the two palm-sized areas at the bottom were exposed jade flesh. Without even needing to shine a light, Li Long could see that the green was truly beautiful!

And there were no impurities! Not a single crack!

Li Long really didn't want to sell this stone.

If this were twenty years later, it would have to be worth at least a hundred thousand, right?

He looked at the other jade pieces again, and what disappointed him was that except for one that didn't have many sesame spots, the others mostly had sesame-like black spots, either thick or light.

A virtuous one.

He weighed it with a scale; that piece of jade was fifteen and a half kilograms. Based on his previous experience selling jade, this piece had to be at least one kilogram.

This one it is.

Li Long gathered the remaining jade pieces into a pile, not hiding them much, and just placed them in the corner of the storage room. To be honest, not many people were aware of the value of Mahe green jade at this time, so no one should notice them here.

He packed the largest piece of jade in a sack, then carried it out the door.

It was already noon. Li Long went to the meat canteen, bought a few steamed buns, and while eating, hurried to the bus station on the side of the Wuyi Highway.

The bus to Wucheng was about to leave. Li Long hurriedly bought a ticket, and two minutes after checking the ticket, the bus departed.

After he got on the bus, he saw that more than half of the seats were already taken. The people in the bus only glanced at Li Long. At this time, everyone's clothing was about the same. Li Long saw there were a few empty seats in the back, so he walked over and sat in the second-to-last row.

Anyone who often takes this kind of long-distance bus knows that the further back you go, the bumpier it is, and people who are prone to motion sickness often don't choose the back seats.

Li Long wasn't picky; if it was bumpy, it was bumpy. He was carrying a sack and didn't want to put it on the luggage rack above—in case it fell, not to mention the jade breaking, it might hit someone, so he'd better keep it on the seat.

!.

The bus turned out of the station, got on the Wuyi Highway, and bumped all the way toward Wucheng.

The bus stopped at Letu Yi, Dafeng, Huxian, and Beiting along the way, but not many people got on afterward, so Li Long contentedly occupied two seats for himself and sat all the way to the Bayi Guesthouse in Wucheng.

Familiar with the road, this time Li Long went directly to the jade factory to find Old Liu, but the guard told Li Long that Old Liu had gone to the interior to attend a trade fair, and Li Long was left in the dark this time.

He thought of Section Chief Chen who had appeared with Old Liu last time, so he told the guard to find Section Chief Chen.

A few minutes later, the tall Section Chief Chen appeared at the gate of the jade factory. Seeing Li Long, he said with a smile:

"Comrade Li, you're here—Old Liu isn't here. Is what you brought this time still Mahe green jade?"

"Yes, Section Chief Chen. The quality of what I brought this time should be quite good." Li Long said quite confidently.

"That's good, come, follow me. Someone from Southern Xinjiang also came to sell jade this time; you can just happen to be together."

Li Long's heart skipped a beat, and then he felt a bit uneasy. The jade from Southern Xinjiang, whether now or in the future, was world-famous.

His Mahe green jade couldn't compare.

With this comparison, could his jade still be sold for a good price?

He carried the sack and followed Section Chief Chen inside, walking to the office without seeing anyone else.

"The person will be here in a while, wait a moment. I'll call a master to come and look at this piece of jade of yours."

Section Chief Chen made a phone call, respectfully asking a Master Wang to come and look at the jade.

After hanging up the phone, Section Chief Chen pointed to a wooden chair in the office and said:

"Comrade Li, sit down first."

After Li Long sat down, he continued:

"Actually, it's rare for people like you to come and sell jade yourselves. We usually go directly to the jade producing areas to collect it. However, for example, with this Mahe green jade of yours, people in the producing areas generally don't have this awareness yet, and our state-run mining hasn't started yet, so your selling raw materials to us is also a very good supplement."

Only then did Li Long understand why Old Liu had followed to look at the jade the first two times.

At this time, footsteps were heard. Li Long originally thought it was the master looking at the jade, but the person who walked in was a middle-aged man also carrying a sack. Looking at his face, he should be Uyghur, about forty or fifty years old, his face tanned very dark, but he didn't look like a proper jade farmer.

Section Chief Chen said with a smile:

"You must be Yusufu, right? Hello, hello!"

"Hello." Yusufu's Mandarin was quite good. He put down his sack, shook hands with Section Chief Chen with a face full of smiles, and then took the initiative to reach out to shake hands with Li Long.

Li Long hurriedly shook hands with the other party and said:

"Yaximuxaisi."

Yusufu had originally intended to let go, but hearing Li Long's words, his eyes lit up, and he shook Li Long's hand tightly again:

"Yaximuxaisi, Yaximuxaisi!"

"I'm also here to sell jade." Li Long pointed to the sack at his feet and said with a smile, "A peer, but your jade must be better than mine. I have Mahe green jade."

"Good, good." Yusufu nodded with a smile, "The same, the same."

Section Chief Chen said to Li Long with a smile:

"Li, I didn't expect you to know how to greet them in their language."

"I also got this jade from ethnic minority friends. After selling it, I'll trade for some daily necessities for them." Li Long explained simply.

As for that greeting, it was purely learned from watching short videos in his previous life. He not only learned this but also knew a little bit of simple ethnic dance.

At this time, footsteps were heard outside again. These footsteps were slightly slow, and Li Long guessed it should be Master Wang, who was looking at the jade.

Sure enough, an old man of about sixty appeared at the door. Section Chief Chen stood up and said with a smile:

"Old Wang, these two are the comrades who came to sell jade. Take a look and see how the quality of their jade is."

"Alright." Master Wang nodded with a smile.

Li Long said to Yusufu:

"Adaxi, you go first."

He was very curious about the jade Yusufu brought. Li Long had already discovered that the jade Yusufu brought was much more than his, and it wasn't just one piece; there was the sound of them colliding, so he also wanted to see what kind of treasures they were.

Thanks to book friend "Wo I Wei Shu Kuang" for the tip, thanks to book friends Wukong Bapujie and Wujin Shushi for the tips, and thanks to everyone for the subscriptions, monthly tickets, and recommendation tickets. I don't know what happened on the Dragon Boat Festival, I was dizzy all day—I used the saved drafts.

It doesn't seem like heatstroke?

Everyone should also take care of their health.

(End of chapter)