Chapter 162: Midnight horror

Kazakh herdsmen didn't eat mushrooms much at this time, so the young lads were very curious about Li Long's actions, but basically they just helped and didn't care.

But when Li Long put salt into the mushroom soup and the fragrance of the mushrooms drifted out, more young lads gathered around.

In the eyes of ordinary people, it seems that herdsmen can eat meat every day. The food bloggers in the pastoral areas of the previous life also conveyed such a meaning.

But in fact, it was only after Li Long came into contact with Ha Li Mu and the others that he truly knew that herdsmen only killed a sheep to eat during festivals or when guests came, and usually they just had milk tea and *naan*, living a very hard life.

So eating mutton today was also a very important thing for the young lads. However, at this moment, the smell of mutton and the smell of mushrooms had the same strong attraction to them—in the past, they wouldn't eat those white mushrooms, even cattle and sheep wouldn't eat them, so how could they eat them?

Li Long remembered that in his previous life, he once met herdsmen. After they became familiar, they would ask Li Long, you Han people are really strange, the grass that cattle and sheep eat, you eat happily, like alfalfa, wild leeks, wild onions, etc., is the meat not delicious?

Meat is of course delicious, but that thing, the stomach of Han people cannot bear it every day.

Young lads and girls rode horses back one after another. Some carried things on their backs, some carried *dombras* and came over, and some carried bags. When they put the things on the wooden floor of the winter quarters, they

Li Long guessed it must be stone.

It must be said that in these mountains on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains, the nephrite resources are far too abundant; it's just that the basic ones are all mountain materials, and there aren't many high-quality pieces among the boulder materials. In later generations, one would often see in the newspapers that someone had discovered a giant piece of jade weighing three to five tons in the upper reaches of the Mahe River, worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan, but this sort of thing is considered priceless—there are many who own it, but few who buy it.

Of course, there is even more now.

The young man holding the stone called Ha Ha Li Mu over and asked him to help translate.

"He says to let you take a look at these stones. These stones were picked up in the river by his father's generation and himself; he doesn't know if they are worth any money. He wants to trade them for a few large scythes to use for mowing grass when he gets to the summer pasture."

As soon as Ha Ha Li Mu said this, the young men gathered around and began to speak all at once.

"They say that Ye Ersen is really sensible, unlike them who only know how to trade for radios. Some young men already regret it and also want scythes, saying they will go back and see what else they have at home that can be traded."

"I'll have to go back and check on this." Li Long didn't agree immediately, saying, "Scythes aren't commonly used where we are, and the supply and marketing cooperative might not have them. If they do, I'll buy them, and it's no problem to equip everyone with two. If they don't, I'll have to find someone to forge them, and that will take some time."

Ha Ha Li Mu relayed the words, and the young men immediately began to speak all at once again. When Ha Ha Li Mu translated it, Li Long laughed.

The young men said to let Li Long go and check more, as this is really important.

Regarding the young men who made direct requests, Li Long felt they were quite straightforward and cute, without so many ulterior motives. Some people might not be able to accept such directness, but he felt it was pretty good; at least there was no need to guess.

Having lived two lives, the thing he hated most was guessing other people's thoughts.

The barbecue was already cooked, and the aroma of meat drifted over. Someone brought over a handful of barbecue and distributed it to everyone. Li Long got two skewers and happily began to eat.

Having lived two lives, he only had one thought about barbecue: the meat eaten right after being roasted by the side of the grill is the most fragrant. Even if you are sitting at a table not far from the grill, by the time the person grilling brings the meat from the grill to the table and sets it down, and then you eat it, the taste is already a little different.

This is similar to the taste of eating "pig-slaughtering feast" dishes on the day of, compared to the taste of stir-fried pork the next day; they are completely different.

Eating only barbecue makes one very thirsty. After Li Long finished his two red willow skewers, he threw the sticks away—it wasn't just him throwing them; everyone threw them away after eating. The sticks aren't recycled; after all, red willow is everywhere in the gullies, you can just break it off, so there's no need to recycle it.

He went into the small hut, took out the drinks he had brought back earlier, and handed out a bottle of "Little Champagne" to everyone, including the women preparing the ingredients.

The women shyly smiled, took the Little Champagne, and set it aside. Li Long used his teeth to bite open the cap of the Little Champagne and then gestured to everyone. After he took a sip, the other young men also bit open their caps one after another and began to drink.

At this time, teeth were strong, and using teeth to bite open bottle caps was the most normal thing in the world; there weren't so many doctors popularizing the idea that it would damage teeth.

Ha Ha Li Mu took a sip himself, and after feeling that it wasn't alcohol, he went to open the bottle cap for his wife and handed it to her.

Most of the girls were hesitant, but after one or two drank it, the others also began to drink.

Eating barbecue while drinking Little Champagne, the taste was really quite good, very stimulating!

Li Long vaguely remembered that Little Champagne exited the market because of a rumor at the time that Dichlorvos had been added during production. He didn't know if it was a merchant rumor like "MSG causes cancer" or if it was actually true; he just felt that in his previous life, it seemed that for such a short period of time, Little Champagne disappeared from the market.

Originally, Li Long had thought about holding a gathering in the evening, but now the eating and drinking had already taken place ahead of schedule. However, thinking about it, it was also quite good; after all, if it were all left for the evening, it would be too late for these young men to finish eating and drinking, and it wouldn't be safe when they went back.

Looking at the two sheep, there seemed to be a lot of meat, but these young men could really eat. After the barbecue was finished, everyone had another bottle of Little Champagne, and then they began to eat hand-grabbed meat.

What Li Long didn't expect was that the most popular thing at this time wasn't the mutton soup, but his mushroom soup!

Mushrooms naturally carry a fresh flavor, and these were freshly picked mushrooms. Although only a little salt was added and some green wild onions and wild chives floated on top, the taste was just that fragrant—

Of course, Li Long felt the biggest possibility was because eating meat is greasy, and the mushroom soup was just right to cleanse the palate.

Therefore, the enamel basin of mushroom soup—Li Long only scooped out half a bowl to taste it at the beginning—was then wiped clean by the others.

In the intervals of eating and drinking, the young men and girls would take out radios to play the music inside—Li Long was surprised to find that these people had accurately grasped the time slots when the radio station played programs, and then the music on the radio became the best accompaniment for everyone to dance and sing.

After the music on the radio ended, someone began to play the Dombra and sing. Li Long couldn't understand it, but some of these people began to dance, some sang along, and some simply sat on the ground and listened in a state of intoxication.

Even the children joined in, dancing quite well; Li Long felt inferior.

This eating and drinking gathering lasted until the sun was about to set before it ended. The young men said goodbye to Li Long one by one and left swaying on their horses.

Li Long was still a bit worried, but Ha Ha Li Mu and Yushanjiang told Li Long not to worry.

"They have been on horseback since they were two or three years old. Don't look at them swaying now; actually, they are all sober. That little bit of alcohol of yours can't get them drunk. They will sway like this all the way to their own winter shelter."

Alright, although Li Long didn't understand, he could accept it.

Most of the women stayed behind to clean up the aftermath, gathering the bones into a pile; those who had dogs at home would take them back to feed the dogs. As for the leftover meat, they put it into a basin and carried it into the winter shelter. "You guys divide the meat; I'm going back to the county tomorrow, and this meat is definitely not easy to carry." Li Long hurriedly said to Ha Ha Li Mu, "It can't be left here either; it won't be good if it attracts wolves."

Ha Ha Li Mu and Yushanjiang discussed it and had the remaining people divide the meat, but they still left two pieces of meat for Li Long, saying it was for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Li Long asked Ha Ha Li Mu to take the little deer back to their winter shelter as well; he would be able to take it back when he found time to pull the horse cart over.

The sheepskin had already been rubbed with salt and was now nailed to the wall in the small room. Flies hadn't really developed yet, so the sheepskin could be dried in two or three days, so there was no need to worry too much.

Li Long waited until Ha Ha Li Mu, Yushanjiang, and the others had all left before he turned to the back of the winter shelter, feeling relaxed yet somewhat exhausted. A toilet had been built here with wood—a dry toilet, of course—and he needed to relieve himself.

"Damn it, ate too much." While relieving himself, smelling the pungent mutton odor mixed with the smell of urine, Li Long knew that today's meal was truly too much.

This mutton was fresh, and grass-fed sheep themselves aren't that gamey—at least it wasn't that gamey when eating it, so he didn't feel it much. But the gamey smell in the urine after eating was very pungent.

After pulling up his pants, Li Long returned to the winter shelter; it was now his own territory.

Both doors could be locked to declare that this winter shelter had an owner. Sitting on the wooden kang, Li Long smelled the faint woody fragrance and felt very satisfied; this was his own house.

This feeling wasn't even present in the old courtyard he bought from Old Ma.

!.

Lying on the sheepskin on the wooden kang, Li Long looked at the wooden boards on the ceiling; although rough, they were all made with heart.

He decided that after seeing Tao Daqiang and the others tomorrow, he would go down the mountain to the county to buy scythes; if he couldn't buy them, he would find a blacksmith shop to forge some.

In his previous life, Li Long had seen scythes, so he believed that even if the blacksmith hadn't forged them before, he could describe them clearly. Aren't they just large-sized sickles? It's just that the horizontal part becomes very long. After all, herdsmen can only mow grass manually at this time, unlike later generations where there are all kinds of mowing machines to choose from.

Thinking and thinking, he didn't know how, but he fell asleep. Then Li Long was frozen awake. When he opened his eyes, he found it was pitch black, and it took a good while to adapt. He didn't know when, but the door had been blown open a crack, and the bone-chilling cold wind blew in, making him shiver involuntarily.

In these mountains, the temperature difference between day and night is too great!

Feeling the urge to urinate in his lower abdomen, Li Long climbed up, preparing to go out to relieve himself and then come back to sleep again. As soon as he stepped out the door, he darted back as if struck by electricity!

Outside, damn it, there are wolves!

Several pairs of green eyes were circling the place where the meat had been roasted and boiled earlier, looking for food. Li Long hurriedly climbed onto the wooden kang, grabbed the small-caliber rifle, and disengaged the safety—all in one go.

With the gun in hand, he felt that safety had returned to his hands.

Li Long wasn't a pushover either. Carrying the small-caliber gun, his courage grew quite a bit, and he raised it and walked toward the door.

Looking out at the door, Li Long found that those green-eyed wolves seemed to have been startled just now and had already darted to a further place, but were currently stopping to observe his side.

Obviously, the wolves must have been misled by the smell of mutton all over the ground outside the winter shelter, and they didn't know there was still a living person in the house!

Li Long was glad at this moment; fortunately, he had Ha Ha Li Mu take the little deer back first, otherwise, this little deer would probably have ended up in the wolves' mouths.

Li Long immediately half-squatted down, pulled the bolt to chamber a round, aimed at the closest wolf, and fired steadily.

"Bang! Bang!"

After the crisp gunshots, Li Long looked again; that wolf had slumped to the ground, and the other wolves were fleeing toward the forest like arrows.

Ever since he started hunting with a gun, Li Long rarely looked at the result after firing only one shot when facing such big guys; this was a lesson learned from experience. Firing two more shots was nothing more than a few cents of bullet money, but if the first shot didn't hit or didn't hit a vital part, the second shot might still be able to make up for it. If he looked first at this time, he would lose the initiative.

Facing the wolf that had already fallen and was still twitching, Li Long didn't let his guard down. He gripped the small-caliber rifle tightly, walked over slowly, and then put the gun against the wolf's head and fired again.

The wolf's body moved once, and then it stopped moving completely.

Li Long looked around vigilantly and found that the wolves seemed to be quite afraid of people at this time, or rather, quite afraid of guns; as soon as the gun fired, they fled in all directions. The situation of wolf packs besieging people in the novels of his previous life didn't appear. Of course, it might be that the wolf breed was different or the region was different.

However, he didn't dare to be careless. He dragged the wolf carcass toward the winter shelter; he still remembered the situation of hunting wolves at night last time. These wolves are very cunning; who knows if they might be lying in ambush somewhere.

Dragging the wolf to the door of the winter shelter, Li Long relieved himself not far away, then entered the wooden hut, locked the door, covered himself with the sheepskin, and continued to sleep.

After Li Long woke up early in the morning, he still felt very cold. He decided that he must get the stove over and set it up early, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to stand the night.

The sun hadn't come out yet, and the tips of the grass were full of dew. Li Long found some dry wood from under the firewood pile and pulled some dry grass to light the fire. He set the enamel basin on the stove, boiled the mutton soup and sheep bones from yesterday, and took out his knife to start processing the dead wolf.

After several months of training, Li Long's skinning skills had improved. Although he couldn't process things in half an hour like Ha Ha Li Mu and the others, it only took him a little over an hour to harvest a relatively complete wolf skin.

And a wolf carcass.

The stomach, intestines, and such were all buried in a pit. He planned to leave part of the meat here, rub it with salt, and pickle it for later use, and take part of it with him. He would leave some when he went to see Tao Daqiang and the others later, and take the rest home.

After all, wolf meat is also meat. Tao Daqiang and the others might still be eating cornmeal buns now, and that wild boar meat was probably finished, right?

Ten big young men plus one half-old man, that little bit of meat definitely wouldn't be enough to eat.

At this time, the mutton soup in the enamel basin had been boiling for a long time. Li Long pulled the firewood out from under the stove, scooped up a bowl, and while blowing on it, drank it happily.

This life, not bad.

(End of chapter)