Chapter 18: Can you eat something that froze to death?

The matter was resolved just like that. Li Long placed his right hand over his chest and used his left hand to take the bowl of milk tea handed over by the middle-aged woman and took a sip. As the hot milk tea entered his mouth, a warm current traveled from his mouth all the way to his throat, and his body immediately warmed up.

Isn't this much more comfortable than eating cold steamed cake?

Tao Daqiang also took a sip and then whispered to Li Long:

"Brother Long, did you plan on coming here to do this all along?"

"Yes," Li Long said. "Our trip here isn't just to haul wood; we also have to think of ways to make money. They are more familiar with the mountains than we are, and there are many ways to make money."

"Like that deer antler?"

"Right, that's just one of them." Li Long sipped his milk tea and ate his naan while observing the yurt, and then something hanging on the wall caught his attention.

He pointed to that thing and said to the host:

"Is this yours?"

"Yes, it was issued to us two years ago." The middle-aged man pointed to himself:

"My name is Halimu, and you?"

"Li Long." Li Long pointed to himself and then to Tao Daqiang: "His name is Tao Daqiang. We ran out of firewood at home, so we came to haul some."

He saw that Halimu's family was burning coal, so he asked:

"Brother Halimu, do you buy your coal?"

"No, no, no, we dig it from the mountains over there."

"Dig it?" Li Long immediately became interested. "Is it far?"

"Quite far, maybe a kilometer." Halimu pointed into the mountains. "There's no road, and it's not easy to walk now."

Alright. Li Long was a bit disappointed; if he could dig coal, it would be even better to haul some back.

Halimu placed the sliced air-dried mutton on a plate in the middle for Li Long and the others to eat.

The two of them each picked up a piece and chewed—it was very chewy and not particularly dry.

The two children also crawled over. Halimu took two pieces of mutton and handed them to them, then patted the children's heads and let them go eat.

Li Long asked Halimu:

"You have a gun, so you won't be afraid of wolves, right? By the way, are there wolves in these mountains?" Hanging on the wall was a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, with the bayonet unfolded.

"There are wolves." Halimu said in a muffled voice. "They bit three sheep to death, and two more froze to death during the heavy snow a few days ago."

"Why don't you shoot the wolves?" Tao Daqiang couldn't help but ask.

"Because I'm out of bullets." Halimu said. "We didn't get many bullets issued last year. There were many wild boars when winter first started, and I shot a few times, and the bullets were used up."

Li Long and Tao Daqiang looked at each other, and then he said:

"I can get bullets."

The township held militia training every year. Li Long's household registration was now in the production team, and he was a core militiaman with target practice duties. He had a dozen or so bullets left over from his practice.

"Really?" Halimu's eyes lit up. "If you can get them, I'll trade you sheep!"

"No need, no need," Li Long waved his hand. "I'll bring them up when I have time. By the way, where are the sheep that froze to death?"

"I threw them in the snow behind the house." Halimu said. "I don't know if they're still there."

"Just give the frozen sheep to me." Li Long said.

He knew that ethnic minority herdsmen didn't eat cattle or sheep that froze to death, but for him, what was the difference between frozen and slaughtered?

Tao Daqiang also became excited. If they could haul a sheep back, then... even getting a leg of lamb would be fine!

He nudged Li Long gently and whispered:

"Brother Long, I also have a few bullets..." "Hmm, keep them safe, they'll be useful." Li Long nodded.

"Then... when can you come up again?" Halimu asked urgently. In a major snow disaster, it wasn't just the herdsmen who suffered; wolves, lacking food, would also risk attacking the herdsmen's warm pens.

"Tomorrow or the day after." Li Long thought for a moment and said, "I'll try my best to be early, but I have to haul the wood back today. I'm not sure if I can borrow a horse tomorrow or the day after."

"Then I'll wait for you. I'll give you sheep then. Forget about the dead sheep; I'll give you a live one!"

"No need, no need." Li Long wasn't a saint. He said, "I have other things I need your help with. Whenever wild boars come down, if you hit one, save it for me. By the way, wolves too. You want the wolf skin; I want the wolf bones, wolf meat, and such."

"Fine." Halimu agreed readily.

Li Long drank the milk tea in one gulp, stood up, and said:

"Can I go see if those frozen sheep are still there?"

"Sure, I'll take you."

Halimu led Li Long and the others to the back of the yurt, where the snow was already waist-deep.

!.

Probing the snow with a wooden pole, in the end, Li Long and the others only found one frozen sheep.

"The others must have been dragged away by wolves." Halimu said with some regret.

"Brother Halimu, do you know where other herdsmen are? Since there's a snow disaster, others should have frozen sheep too, right? If you can find them, I'll take them all. I can trade them for tea, salt, or other things."

"Fine. I'll go ask tomorrow." Halimu nodded. Although each herdsman's family was quite far apart, if they rode horses, they could always reach a family in an hour.

After checking the frozen sheep, Li Long and the others went down to the bottom of the gully, took the axe from the horse cart, found a wind-felled tree, and started chopping wood.

Halimu also helped, and the two children, dressed thickly, watched from a distance.

The wood used for firewood didn't need to be very regular. Halimu was a frequent visitor here and knew where there was plenty of wood. He led Li Long and the others to a place in the gully and pointed under the snow:

"There was a flood in the autumn, and there are many trees washed down there. You can take a look."

Tao Daqiang immediately went over, pushed aside the snow, and sure enough, there were many large and small tree branches piled up there.

Soon, a large pile of wood was stacked by the horse cart. Li Long also pulled the frozen sheep over and placed it on the cart, then led the horse over, set up the cart, and loaded it.

Finally, they tied the wood with rope. Halimu invited Li Long and the others into the yurt again to drink milk tea, and after taking the deer antlers, he saw them off.

By this time, the sun was just slanting to the west.

"Brother Long, we really had a big harvest this trip!" Tao Daqiang was a bit excited. "Just this wood is enough to burn for a long time!"

"Hmm, it's a pity the coal is far away; otherwise, it would be even better to get some coal." Li Long was still a bit unsatisfied.

Both of them were walking. Although they were walking deep and shallow in the snow, both of them were in a good mood.

Li Long silently calculated in his heart: the two deer antlers together weighed six or seven kilograms, and selling them for ten yuan should be no problem.

A frozen sheep weighed about fifteen or sixteen kilograms, and after removing the skin and internal organs, it was about ten kilograms. Now mutton was one yuan and twenty cents, so that was also over ten yuan.

Not counting this firewood, if they could get more frozen sheep tomorrow, then the income for these few days would be higher than a city worker's monthly salary!

The point was, this work could be done continuously!

As long as they ran diligently throughout the winter, by the time spring arrived, saving enough money to buy a bicycle would be no problem!

Although there was white snow everywhere before his eyes, in Li Long's eyes, he saw hope.

The hope of living better!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 19 =====