Chapter 179: Red deer, it turns out it's because of the horse, not because of the deer!

Locking the door, Li Long rode his bicycle to Xiaobaiyang Gully.

In Xiaobaiyang Gully, everyone was still burning strips and weaving carrying poles. Li Long turned around, and after seeing that there was nothing wrong, he greeted Xie Yun Dong, rode his bicycle toward the mountains, he remembered that when Halimu and Yushanjiang left, they seemed to have specifically mentioned some mountain gullies with "specialties", in fact, Li Long hadn't really turned around until now.

Riding his bicycle to a mountain gully, he had been here twice, the first time was brought by Yushanjiang, saying there were red deer here. The second time Li Long came by himself, at that time he was thinking about whether he could pick up deer antlers here, but didn't find anything.

Hiding the bicycle in the grass at the entrance of the gully, after locking it, Li Long carried his gun and touched into the gully.

The grass in the gully was not very dense, east-west direction, the shady hillside was covered with pine trees, the lower part was grass, a bit humid. The north hillside was large patches of grass growing some small shrubs, looking thorny, not a very easy way to walk.

Li Long carried his gun into the gully and looked carefully, discovering that this gully was not a straight line to the end, there were some turns, there was a stream at the bottom of the gully, the water volume was not large, appearing and disappearing.

At this time, the sun had already risen, he slanted up toward the shady hillside, discovering that there was no sheep path here, it should be that no herdsmen were grazing here, so it still maintained a relatively primitive state.

Stepping in the grass step by step, holding the gun with both hands and walking forward step by step, Li Long felt at this time that he was like a person hitting big luck, running here to gamble on luck, it was really a bit childish.

Might as well honestly stay in Xiaobaiyang Gully, see which people can help find the traces of prey, and go directly to hit them.

However, since he brought the gun, he didn't intend to give up, he walked forward step by step, walking and walking, he saw quite a few fritillaria seedlings and codonopsis plants.

Codonopsis is not worth digging now, the inside is empty, after drying it is just a layer of skin, but fritillaria has not bloomed yet, digging is just right.

It's just that Li Long doesn't look at this little money now. After all, as a layman, he might dig for half a day and only dig one kilogram, which sells for five or six yuan after drying.

And if he really finds a deer and hits it down, that's a profit of several hundred yuan!

Since he took the gun, then do some hunter's work. 【179

Ignoring these codonopsis and fritillaria, and even passing over some straw mushrooms, he avoided the thorny shrubs and continued walking into the gully.

This gully was quite long, and when he reached nearly the halfway point, Li Long suddenly stopped.

This spot was located at a turning point in the gully, where one could see both the gully mouth and the gully head. The entire gully was like an uneven obtuse angle, and Li Long was currently at the tip of this angle.

He saw a huge red deer eating grass about twenty or thirty meters below the gully head, constantly shaking its head while it ate.

The antlers on top of its head were one long and one short, for reasons unknown. Seen from afar, this red deer had a tall, sturdy build, much like a half-grown colt; it was no wonder it was called a "horse deer."

This red deer looked very leisurely, strolling through the grass, lowering its head to nibble on grass from time to time; it didn't seem very hungry, or perhaps it was waiting for something.

Li Long estimated the distance; the red deer was seventy or eighty meters away from him. He could certainly hit it at this distance, but he felt the power of the small-caliber rifle was insufficient for a red deer with a body size comparable to a cow.

Therefore, Li Long disengaged the safety of the small-caliber rifle, pulled the bolt to chamber a round, and holding the gun with both hands, slowly crept toward that side.

If he could get a little closer, that would be about right.

Li Long carefully crept forward while observing the movements of the red deer, worried that if he were the slightest bit careless while walking, the red deer would run away and all his efforts would be wasted.

There was no path in this tall grass, and the uneven footing was very troublesome; occasionally, small thorny shrubs would snag his trousers and clothes, preventing Li Long from moving forward.

This was a test of patience. Li Long carefully resolved each obstacle, and seeing he had advanced more than twenty meters, the grass ahead was a bit deep; he planned to find a good position to fire once he passed this patch of grass.

Just as he reached that patch of deep grass, something flew out from the grass with a "flutter" and darted directly toward the opposite side of the hillside. Li Long was startled, and then he knew, it was ruined!

This thing was a pheasant!

He could no longer afford to be cautious; holding his gun, he lifted his legs high and jumped out of the grass. Sure enough, he saw that the red deer had already been startled, turned its head, and was running up the slope. He hurriedly half-squatted, took a rough aim with the gun, and fired!

"Bang! Bang!"

Before the two shots were finished, the red deer had already disappeared over the ridge on the opposite side. Li Long was still somewhat unwilling to give up; he carried his gun and ran toward that side. When he reached the ridge, panting, and looked down, he could no longer see the shadow of the red deer.

Below the slope was a patch of deep grass, with not-so-dense pine forests and shrubs on both sides, but it was more than enough to hide a red deer.

Li Long was extremely disappointed. He looked around carefully and finally saw a tiny bit of blood on the leaf of a shrub—not a drop of blood.

He had hit it, but it shouldn't have been a serious injury, so it had still run away.

Was this Li Long's first failed gun hunt?

He really felt a bit dejected. As he walked back, he kicked the grass on the ground from time to time, feeling that he should blame that pheasant that flew up, or perhaps it would have been better if he had fired earlier; at least he could have fired two more shots, and maybe it would have stayed.

As a result, he kicked something and sent that thing flying up.

Li Long took a look and, pleasantly surprised, bent down to pick it up—this was a deer antler!

It was nearly half a meter long, with four or five tines!

The antler felt quite heavy in his hand, estimated to be seven or eight kilograms. Li Long's mood improved a little; this could be considered an unexpected joy.

He weighed the antler in his hand, put the safety on his gun, slung it on his back, and walked forward with a leisurely pace. As he walked, he suddenly thought of another matter—what was that pheasant doing in the deep grass?

He hurriedly ran over and parted the deep grass to look.

Sure enough, he soon discovered a nest of pheasant eggs!

These eggs were smaller than ordinary chicken eggs, both greenish-white and white, seven in total.

Li Long happily picked up the eggs and carefully divided them into the two pockets on both sides of his clothes. At first, he thought about picking a handful of wild chives to stir-fry and eat after returning, but then he thought that the pheasant was clearly incubating the eggs, so could he take them back and find an old hen to help hatch them?

The more he thought about it, the more he felt this should be possible. He happily walked out of the gully, kicking the grass from time to time as he walked, wanting to see if he could kick out another nest of eggs.

Until he kicked something that looked like a rope into the air, Li Long immediately understood that he couldn't kick anymore!

In this season, these guys had already come out!

Fortunately, Li Long was wearing high-waisted rubber boots, and fortunately, he kicked from time to time; otherwise, he might have been bitten by one lying in ambush!

The venom of the plateau viper is very strong!

After Li Long was startled, he immediately dashed toward the gully mouth, running fast with the gun in one hand and the antler in the other. Then, when he reached the gully mouth, he felt his rib area was wet.

Oh no, the eggs were broken!

He put the antler on the ground and carefully took out the eggs. Sure enough, one egg was broken, with a little bit of egg liquid, smelling a bit foul—and there was a small pheasant in the middle of hatching, with a clump of egg yolk still stuck to its bottom.

He threw this thing away in disgust, then grabbed a handful of dry grass from the roadside to wipe his pocket, packed the pheasant eggs well, tied the antler to his bicycle, and rode back.

Li Long returned directly to the large courtyard. After putting the antler away, he found a cloth bag to pack the pheasant eggs and rode all the way back to the team.

It was already noon when he returned to the team. What surprised Li Long a little was that Tao Dayong was pumping water at the well in the courtyard. Seeing Li Long return on his bike, he said with a sheepish smile:

"Without Xiao Long is back?"

Li Long hadn't really talked much with Tao Dayong. He nodded, gave a response, parked his bike, and took the pheasant eggs into the kitchen.

Liang Yuemei was cooking. Seeing Li Long come in, she smiled and was just about to speak when Li Long held up the pheasant eggs and said:

"Sister-in-law, I found a nest of pheasant eggs in the mountains. Does our family have an old hen that's brooding?"

"No... both our hens are already with chicks. Tie Tou's family has an old hen that's brooding; do you want to put them in their chicken coop?"

Li Long thought for a moment and said:

"Alright, I'll go over and talk to them."

When Li Long came out, Tao Dayong was just preparing to leave with a carrying pole and buckets. Looking at Li Long, he smiled again and said:

"Without Xiao Long, when are you going into the mountains? How is Daqiang doing over there?"

"Daqiang is doing fine; I reckon he'll be back in half a month." After Li Long finished speaking, he went to the Lu family's place.

The Lu family was also cooking. Li Long explained his purpose, and the Lu family's eldest sister-in-law asked with some curiosity:

"Pheasant eggs? What do they look like? Let me see?"

Li Long took out the six pheasant eggs from the cloth bag.

!.

"They're a bit small... give them to me, I'll go stuff them into the chicken coop. This hen of mine just started brooding, and I was just saying there were too few eggs... if they hatch, can you give me one?"

"How could it be just one? Three. Six eggs, our two families will take three each." Li Long said with a smile, "If they don't hatch, won't they have to be raised at your place?"

"Good, good, good." The Lu family's eldest sister-in-law smiled, took the pheasant eggs with both hands, and walked to the chicken coop in the courtyard. When the old hen saw someone coming, it immediately let out a clucking threat. The eldest sister-in-law of the Lu family was experienced; she first held the chicken with one hand against her belly, grabbed the old hen with her right hand, quickly stuffed the six eggs into the coop, and then put the old hen back in.

"Alright, just wait for them to hatch!" The eldest sister-in-law of the Lu family clapped her hands, "Without Xiao Long, staying for a meal?"

"Not eating. My sister-in-law is cooking at home too, and I have to rush to the county after I finish."

"Then you go ahead and get busy; I won't keep you."

When Li Long left, he heard the Lu family's eldest sister-in-law still saying in the room: "Without Xiao Long has grown up..."

After eating lunch, Li Long rested for a while. When Li Jianguo and the others went to work, he rode his bike to the county.

Making a special trip back naturally wasn't just for a few pheasant eggs. He went to the supply and marketing cooperative and found Li Xiangqian.

"You've woven over two hundred?" Li Xiangqian was a bit surprised, "That's quite fast; then it can be finished in less than ten days, right?"

"Yes." Li Long sat in Li Xiangqian's office, drinking water from an enamel mug with "Serve the People" written on it, and asked, "Section Chief, I want to ask, it's exactly three hundred carrying poles, not one more, right?"

"A few more is not a problem." Li Xiangqian waved his hand and said, "A few less won't do, but a few more is not a problem. Then I'll contact the transport team to prepare to haul them—if you want to haul them all in one trip, you'll need to prepare at least three large trucks, and your people will have to help load them."

"Loading is definitely no problem." Li Long took another sip; he remembered that in his previous life, the last time he used this enamel mug was when he went to the Southern Xinjiang scenic area to eat pot-pot meat, "I also want to ask when this bill will be settled?"

"Once the carrying poles are hauled back and checked into the warehouse, it can be settled." Li Xiangqian said readily, "Don't worry about this; these tools are urgently needed by various units now, and we won't hold up the payment."

Once he said this, Li Long was relieved.

"Then Section Chief, you go ahead and get busy; I'll be going. I still have to go into the mountains today to urge them to finish as soon as possible, and the work in the village also needs to get busy."

"Then I won't keep you; we'll talk again when you come back." Li Xiangqian was quite satisfied with Li Long; the young man worked very steadily and was also clever. Such a person entering his own territory would definitely be a good hand.

Li Long didn't go directly back to the mountains but went to the large courtyard, packed up the dried fritillaria, put them in a urea bag, and carried them to the acquisition station.

Chen Hongjun wasn't there, so Li Long handled it officially and asked the middle-aged sister behind the counter:

"Hello, comrade, I'm here to sell fritillaria."

"Fritillaria? Which forestry team are you from?" The sister behind the counter asked curiously.

"No, I'm a purchaser for the supply and marketing cooperative." Li Long felt that this non-staff status of his was really useful, "These fritillaria were collected from some people in the forestry team."

That sister revealed a knowing smile and said:

"Not bad, dried fritillaria or fresh fritillaria?" That sister asked.

"Dried fritillaria, take a look at this goods." Li Long put the bag on the counter and took out a handful for the sister to see.

"The quality is good, very clean; did you wash this?" That sister asked curiously.

"No, I just picked and sorted it after digging it up." Li Long said, "I'm a layman, I don't dare to mess with it."

"Quite cautious. The size and color of this fritillaria are both good; it counts as first-grade goods, thirty-seven yuan per kilogram."

Li Long was very satisfied. He weighed it; it was a total of over five kilograms, and he got a ticket for one hundred and ninety-eight yuan.

This time, Li Long was naturally just testing the waters. Since individuals could come to sell, it meant that although the forestry team had divided the territory in the mountains, the acquisition station here hadn't coordinated with them and didn't prohibit individuals from digging fritillaria.

After packing the money, Li Long went to the meat canteen to buy some meat buns and took them to Xiaobaiyang Gou.

For the next two days, Li Long ate breakfast every day, waited for a while, and if no one came to find him, he would go to Xiaobaiyang Gou to watch everyone weave the carrying poles.

Subsequently, someone came to sell fritillaria again. The quality of the fritillaria was also good, and the quantity was large, over twelve kilograms, and it was semi-dried, which made Li Long feel the harvest was quite good. He bought the other party's goods at five yuan per kilogram.

It was just that for the next few days, no one came again.

On April 16th, by the evening, Li Long had counted enough carrying poles, a total of three hundred and seven. This was within expectations; he had already gone to communicate with Li Xiangqian in the morning, and they would send a car to haul them tomorrow.

Among the ten people, Tao Daqiang wove the most; one person wove forty-one.

The least was Xu Jianjun, who wove twenty-two. In short, over this month or so, everyone had a rich harvest.

Before leaving in the evening, Li Long specifically instructed Xie Yun Dong to be very careful at night and not let anything happen.

(End of chapter)