Chapter 223: Li Qing Xia: Without Xiao Long is a bit impressive!

The next day, Li Qing Xia and Li Long rode bicycles, and Li Jianguo drove the horse-drawn carriage toward the mountains.

On the horse-drawn carriage were rice, flour, oil, some rendered oil, and other daily necessities.

Of course, the necessary machetes, Li Long's two guns were all there, and there were also items like ropes and bedding.

It wasn't the season for cutting wheat yet. Although Li Xiangqian said the time was one month, Li Long and the others' goal was to complete the task in half a month to twenty days if possible.

That is to say, cut fifty or sixty poles a day.

It might not be easy for others, after all, the mountains are so big, and if you can't find the place, you definitely can't cut three thousand poles. But Li Long had turned around all the ditches near the South Mountain with Halimu and Yushanjiang, so he was clear about which ditch had more poles.

Theoretically speaking, cutting a pole takes at most two or three minutes. As long as the resources are sufficient, you can cut ten or twenty poles in an hour. If you are powerful in a day, one person can cut one hundred poles.

Of course, this is only theoretical. Excluding walking, resting, and dragging time, if one person can ideally cut fifty poles a day, that's already very impressive.

After all, after cutting, they still need to be trimmed and processed.

So the four of them, as long as they can guarantee one person cuts fifty poles a day, they can complete the task in half a month.

The work at home was left to Liang Yuemei, and Du Chunfang also clearly stated that she would go to help with the work she could do. There was no big work in the big fields now, and the main work at home was feeding pigs. Fortunately, Li Long pulled back so much sugar residue, and the feed like wheat bran at home was enough, and the sugar beet leaves in the fields could also be used, so they could persist for ten days or half a month. This was also the main factor for the Li family men to go into battle together.

"You mean you have a house in the mountains?" Li Qing Xia and Li Long didn't ride bicycles fast. Li Long slowly told his dad the situation, and Li Qing Xia was a bit surprised. This youngest son was hiding his secrets, and he didn't know how many secrets were hidden from his dad.

"Yes, a wooden house, two rooms, one big and one small. I live in it when I go into the mountains. It was built for me by those ethnic friends."

"People are so good, and even built you a house?" Li Qing Xia felt it was hard to believe.

"I'm also good to them." Li Long said. "I brought them salt, brick tea, radios, rice, flour from the county..."

"That radio is really good." In the past few days at home, Li Qing Xia liked listening to the radio quite a bit. That radio would play some opera programs from time to time, so besides Li Juan and Li Qiang listening to the little loudspeaker, the main thing was Li Qing Xia listening to opera programs. Li Jianguo mainly listened to news, and didn't have big requirements.

"That's right, wait until electricity is pulled, and we'll buy a TV for the family."

"Don't be so extravagant, even a TV..." Li Qing Xia knew about TVs, but he didn't think Li Long could buy one. That stuff was so expensive!

There were people in the town in the hometown who had TVs, and it was truly magical to see people moving inside.

But Li Qing Xia never thought that his own family (son's family) could buy a TV.

But thinking about selling fish and reed leaves for thirty or fifty a day, that TV would be one or two thousand yuan, maybe it could really be bought?

He was moved.

A total of more than one hundred yuan was obtained from selling reed leaves. After Li Qing Xia took it back, he wanted to distribute the money to Li Long and Li Jianguo. Li Long didn't want it, and Li Jianguo didn't want it either, but Li Qing Xia himself was embarrassed to take it all, so he insisted on stuffing fifty to Li Jianguo.

Even that was beautiful.

There weren't enough machetes at home. Li Long and Li Qing Xia rode bicycles to the county first and bought two axes at the supply and marketing cooperative. There were no machetes here, and it was too late to make them temporarily, so they had to use axes and sickles first.

Tao Daqiang took his own, which was also an axe. A good farmer, this axe and iron shovel were basically enough to do everything.

Riding bicycles into the mountains, Li Qing Xia looked at the scenery on both sides with curiosity.

The hometown is a plain, no mountains—he hadn't seen high mountains. When Li Qing Xia was young, he went out to do business, but those were all in the plains. Like the north slope of the Tianshan Mountains, first earth mountains, then stone mountains, and later mountains covered with shrubs and forests, it felt very novel.

"Turn that way, ride on the small road." Li Long took the lead in pointing the way. "My big brother and the others have to pass through the bottom of the ditch when they come over, be careful when riding."

"Rabbit!" Li Qing Xia suddenly shouted.

"There are many wild things in these mountains." Li Long smiled. "Dad, wild things like rabbits, pheasants, yellow sheep, wild boars can all be seen."

"That's good, take a gun and hit one of those things." Li Qing Xia smiled like a child. "If you run into one while working, you can't let it go."

"Hmm, anyway, there's definitely no lack of food." Li Long said. "Tidy up today, get up early tomorrow, I'll go for a walk to see if there are any wild boars. If there are, hit one, and we'll have meat to eat in the mountains."

"Good, good, good, I'll go over and take a look tomorrow morning too." Li Qing Xia was now like a child entering a new world, wanting to see everything.

They soon arrived at the wooden house. Li Long stopped the bicycle and looked at the lock of the wooden house... it had been pried.

There was no way, a wooden house, not lived in for a long time, naturally would be targeted.

Opened the house, the bedding and such inside had been taken away, and the dried meat that was originally placed there was also gone. Fortunately, the wooden kang and wooden shelves were still there, and they weren't damaged much.

Li Long wasn't angry either. Who told him not to come often?

If he runs into them later, he'll beat them up to vent his anger. If he doesn't run into them, he'll just admit his bad luck.

Fortunately, they didn't burn the house, otherwise, he would really go crazy.

He and Li Qing Xia tidied up the inside well, and then Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang drove the horse-drawn carriage over.

The truck couldn't pass through the ditch in front of the wooden house, but the horse-drawn carriage could.

After they arrived, Li Long said to Li Jianguo:

"Big brother, my house was pried, and the things inside were taken. I'm riding a bicycle back to the county to get some more, buy some, you all tidy up first, I'll buy buns for lunch. Wait until I buy the pots and such back tonight, then we can cook."

"Sure." Li Jianguo looked at the wooden house and felt it was quite good.

At least he didn't have to live in a dugout. Even in July, it was still very cold at night in the mountains, and living outside wouldn't do.

Besides, there were wolves.

Li Long took two buns, eating while walking out.

It seems that things can't be put in this wooden house in the future, at least not in summer. It should be fine in winter.

Walking back along the original road, Li Long found that there were still quite a few wild strawberries red on the side of the road. They weren't big, but the taste was good, much better than the planted strawberries in later generations. If he had time, he would pick some.

Riding all the way to the county seat, Li Long's back was already soaked.

He went directly to the supply and marketing cooperative store to buy two pots, enamel basins, plates, and other daily necessities, packed them in a sack, and went to the department store building to buy some seasonings, went to the state-run vegetable store to buy some vegetables like chili, and then rode toward the mountains.

Although there were many wild vegetables in the mountains, it felt bad not to have chili when stir-frying.

When he arrived at the wooden house, Li Jianguo and the others had already tidied up the wooden house. Li Qing Xia was tidying up outside, and Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang were not there.

Li Long asked and found out that they both went to cut poles, planning to start working today.

Li Long set the pot on the stone stove, went to the spring to get water, poured it into the pot, brushed it a few times, and started boiling water.

Since living in xj, starting a day's life from boiling water had already been carved into his brain.

After boiling the water, Li Long used an enamel basin to get a few basins of water to cool, and went to find some mugwort to throw under the stove to burn, smoking to drive away mosquitoes.

"Without Xiao Long, when are you going hunting?" Li Qing Xia asked. "What are we eating tonight? I'll just eat whatever." Li Long said. "There are many wild vegetables and wild mushrooms, they are all delicious stir-fried."

Because they had to live for at least ten days, Li Long didn't pick many wild vegetables, just a stir-fried mugwort, a stir-fried mushroom with chili, and Li Long was pleasantly surprised to find some morels in the moss by the ditch.

This is a good thing—stir-frying is a waste, Li Long planned that if he could hit a pheasant, he would directly stew a soup, which would be better.

Because he remembered the initial way to eat morels, which was stewing more than a dozen morels with a pheasant, and the price was four hundred.

It seemed to be something he ate when traveling in the 2010s.

Don't know if the acquisition station accepts this stuff... forget it, it's better to keep this for himself to eat.

After Li Long brought the things back, stir-fried two plates, and placed them on the wooden table, Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang came back with bundles of poles.

Li Long took a rough look, that bundle of poles must have at least twenty.

"Yo, the meal is ready, the fragrance can be smelled from far away." Li Jianguo said with a smile. "This is much better than the treatment of those who weave shovel handles, not much different from home."

"I'll go see if there are any wild boars tomorrow morning. If there are, hit one, and we'll have meat to eat in the mountains every day."

!.

"That's not easy to hit." Li Jianguo said. "The mountains are so big."

"Just walk and see." Li Long said. "If you hit it, you hit it. If you don't, then treat it as exercising."

Li Long was between laughter and tears. Exercising for two or three hours early in the morning? Dare you say you guys aren't tired from working?

However, he also wanted to see if the wild boar was still there in the place he saw earlier.

If it's really there, hunting, it's also adjusting the tense rhythm of life.

Early the next morning, the four of them climbed up, brought the equipment, and set off.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 224 =====

The next day, Li Long set off before dawn with Li Qing Xia and Tao Dayong. Li Jianguo also climbed out of bed; he had to get up to feed the horses and boil water to prepare breakfast.

Li Long carried his 56-semi-automatic rifle and headed toward the place where he was familiar with wild boars foraging.

After crossing one mountain after another, they went to two places but didn't find any wild boars.

The horizon was already turning a pale white. Li Long shook his head and said:

"It looks like we won't hit anything today. By this time, the wild boars have already returned to the deep mountains after eating. Let's go back."

Tao Dayong didn't feel anything, but Li Qing Xia was a bit disappointed.

Coming out to hunt on the first day and catching nothing—it was impossible not to be disappointed.

"Are we going back the same way? How come we didn't even see a rabbit or a pheasant along the way?" Li Qing Xia muttered.

Li Long pointed outside the mountains and said:

"Then let's walk from the outside. We have to take a detour. Mongolian gazelles have stayed there before, but I don't know if there are any left."

"What kind of sheep is a Mongolian gazelle?" Li Qing Xia became curious again.

He knew about wild boars—that stuff was in his hometown—and rabbits and pheasants weren't unfamiliar, but what kind of sheep was a Mongolian gazelle?

"A type of antelope." Li Long said while walking, "The fur on its body is yellow."

After walking through two gullies and reaching the outer mountains, what they saw were patches of shrubs and the Gobi desert.

The road was hard to walk, and there were camel thorns that would prick people from time to time, which was quite annoying.

If it weren't for the hard soles of the shoes the three of them were wearing, their feet might have been pricked by now.

Although Li Qing Xia was over sixty, his physical strength was still good. Li Long didn't speed up, so he could keep up.

Tao Dayong was at the very back, not saying a word, looking left and right from time to time.

Li Long tried his best to take the easier path, reminding his father and Tao Dayong behind him from time to time.

After walking past the area where Yushanjiang had pointed out the Mongolian gazelles, Li Long even stopped to take a look, but he didn't find any traces of them. Li Long was completely disappointed.

No chance. Forget it.

He turned diagonally toward the mountain peak, intending to walk to the top, cross over, and take a shortcut back to the wooden cabin to specifically cut wooden poles.

Just as he reached the top of the mountain and turned his head to look at the Gobi desert to the north, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

There was a Mongolian gazelle!

Li Long's sudden stop made Li Qing Xia feel a bit strange, and he asked:

"Without Xiao Long, why aren't we walking?"

Tao Dayong was the most familiar with Li Long. He immediately took the small-caliber rifle off his shoulder and aimed in the direction Li Long was looking.

Li Long had also taken down his 56-semi-automatic, half-kneeling and aiming at the distant Gobi beach.

"What is it?"

"Mongolian gazelle." Li Long said softly, "I only see one, and I don't know if there are any more... Dayong, do you see it?"

"No..." Tao Dayong hadn't found the target yet.

"Do you see that patch of red willows in front? The one with three trees in a row... right on the edge, there's a patch of Gobi stones, yellow earth, and there's one lying on the edge—a half-grown one..."

Tao Dayong looked for a long time but still didn't see it.

Li Long didn't wait for him. This Mongolian gazelle was only seventy or eighty meters away from him. If the gazelle didn't move, he was confident he could hit it.

The Mongolian gazelle seemed to sense danger, turned its head to look this way, and then struggled to get up.

Li Long squeezed the trigger.

"Bang!"

After the crisp gunshot rang out, the Mongolian gazelle, which had only managed to get halfway up, swayed and fell to the ground.

"I saw it!" Tao Dayong stood up abruptly.

Li Long didn't move. He remained half-crouched, still aiming, but ten-plus seconds passed, and there was no more movement.

Could this be a lone gazelle?

Although he was a bit puzzled, knowing there was no other prey, Li Long engaged the safety, put the gun away, and said:

"Let's go, let's go take a look. This gazelle should be injured."

The three of them walked up to it and found that the gazelle was indeed injured.

A large patch of its hind leg was wounded, which looked quite disgusting.

Li Long himself didn't feel anything, but his father had seen the situation. To eat or not to eat?

(End of chapter)