Chapter 18

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

Isn't this much more comfortable than eating cold rice cakes?

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

"Brother Long, did you plan on coming here to do this a long time ago?"

"Yeah," Li Long said. "Our trip here isn't just to haul wood; we also have to think of some 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, this is just one of them." Li Long said while drinking milk tea and eating naan, while sizing up the yurt, and then something hanging on the wall caught his attention.

He pointed to that thing and said to the male host:

"Is this yours?"

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

"My name is Halimu, what about you?"

"Li Long." Li Long pointed to himself, then pointed to Tao Daqiang: "His name is Tao Daqiang. We don't have enough firewood at home, so we came to haul some."

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

"Brother Halimu, did you buy your coal?"

"No, no, no, it was dug from the mountains over there."

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

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

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

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

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

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

Li Long asked Halimu:

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

"There are wolves," Halimu said in a muffled voice. "They bit three sheep to death, and two more sheep 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 there are no bullets left," Halimu said. "We didn't get many bullets issued last year. There were quite a few wild boars when winter first started, so we 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 holds militia training every year. Li Long's household registration is currently in the production team, and he is a core militiaman with target practice tasks. He has more than a dozen bullets left from his practice.

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

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

"Thrown into the snow behind," Halimu said. "I don't know if they are still there."

"Just give the sheep that froze to death to me," Li Long said.

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

Tao Daqiang also became excited. If he could haul a sheep back, then... even getting a leg of mutton for himself would be fine!

He gently nudged Li Long and whispered:

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

"Then... when can you come up again?" Halimu asked urgently. In a major snow disaster, it's not just the herdsmen who suffer; wolves, lacking food, will 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 today I have to haul the wood back first. 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 live sheep!"

"No need, no need." Li Long isn't a saint, he said: "I have other things I need your help with. Whenever wild boars come down, if you manage to shoot any, save them for me. By the way, wolves too; you want the wolf skin, I want the wolf bones, wolf meat, and such."

"Alright." Halimu agreed readily.

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

"Can I go see if those sheep that froze to death are still there?"

"Alright, I'll take you there."

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

!.

Taking a wooden pole to probe the snow, in the end, Li Long and the others only found one sheep that had frozen to death.

"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, there should be sheep that froze to death at other people's places too, right? If you can find them, I'll take them all. Trading with tea leaves, salt, or other things is fine."

"Alright. I'll go ask tomorrow." Halimu nodded. Although each herdsman household is quite far apart, if riding a horse, one can always reach a household in an hour.

After seeing 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 place with wind-fallen trees, and began to chop wood.

Halimu also followed to help, and the two children, dressed thickly, just watched from afar.

The wood used for burning firewood doesn't need to be very regular. Halimu is a frequent visitor here and knows where there is more wood, so he led Li Long and the others to a place in the gully and pointed under the snow, saying:

"There was a flood in the autumn, and there is a lot of wood 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 side of the horse cart. Li Long also hauled the sheep that had frozen to death over and placed it on the horse cart, then led the horse over, set up the horse cart, and loaded the cart.

Finally, using a rope to tie the wood well, Halimu led Li Long and the others into the yurt again to drink milk tea, and after taking the deer antlers, he saw them off.

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

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

"Yeah, it's a pity that 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, and although they were walking in the snow, one step deep and one step shallow, both of them were in a good mood.

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

A frozen sheep weighs about fifteen or sixteen kilograms, and after removing the skin and internal organs, it's about ten kilograms. Now mutton is 1.2 yuan, so that's also more than ten yuan.

This firewood isn't even counted. If he can get frozen sheep again tomorrow, then the income for these few days will be higher than a worker's monthly salary in the city!

The point is, this work can be done continuously!

As long as he runs diligently throughout the winter, by the time spring arrives, saving enough money to buy a bicycle will be no problem!

Although his eyes were full of white snow, in Li Long's eyes, he saw hope.

The hope of living better!

(End of chapter)