Chapter 252: Being an oriole is not easy either

Li Long's idea of raising a small lynx as a pet was dashed.

He threw away the sack and took down the gun. The big lynx seemed to know Li Long's idea, flashed into the bushes and disappeared, and the small lynxes followed closely. When Li Long held the gun and chased after them, they had already disappeared.

Li Long was still a bit unwilling, held the gun and looked for a while in the forest, unfortunately, the grass in this forest was quite deep, and he couldn't see the claw prints at all, so he couldn't find them.

Are these guys too fast?

Li Long walked out of the forest somewhat dejectedly, returned to the sack, turned off the gun's safety, carried it on his back, and continued to pick mushrooms.

Almost no one came to this gully. When Li Long picked mushrooms, he could see the mushrooms from before that had dried, rotted, layer by layer. The moss was very lush, and he thought the mushrooms also contributed a share.

This gully hadn't been walked through yet, and Li Long had picked a sack—in his previous life, he remembered hearing from car friends in Yili River Valley that there was a gully because it was close to the border and ordinary people couldn't get in. People who could get in would pick this local mushroom called deer antler mushroom in July and August, picking several sacks at a time.

At that time, Li Long didn't believe it, but now he really believed it.

In places that are rarely visited but suitable for growth, this thing can really grow fast and in large numbers.

Of course, there are also dangers. If Li Long had been near the position of those small lynxes just now, he would probably have been scratched by the big guy again.

These guys move too fast!

Ordinary people really can't keep up at all.

Li Long shouldered the sack and went down the mountain, walking step by step in the grass, startling a pine chicken. Li Long even went to the place where it flew away to see, but didn't find any chicken eggs or chicks.

When he shouldered the sack and returned to the wooden house, the sun had completely set, and the top of the mountain in the west was still slightly red.

The stars could already be seen clearly. Li Long patted mosquitoes while pouring the black tiger palm mushrooms in the sack onto the floor of the small bedroom.

Li Long was relatively careful when picking, and basically didn't bring mud and moss on the roots, so the mushrooms poured on the floor were quite clean at this time.

Li Long spread the mushrooms on the floor, flattened them, locked the door, and then went to the large room to sleep.

He had been busy all day, and Li Long was quite tired. His first feeling when lying on the bed was that if there was a solar panel, it would be good, and then he felt that even if there was electricity, what could he do, he didn't have a mobile phone, and thinking about it, he fell asleep.

Waking up, the window was already bright, Li Long rubbed his face and climbed up.

He slept quite well last night, and the fatigue he felt yesterday had already disappeared at this moment.

He put on his clothes and walked to the outside of the house, feeling a bit chilly, and seeing dew on the grass leaves, it was different in the mountains.

He drew some firewood, found some dry firewood for fire from the room, and Li Long lit both stoves.

Put a pot on one stove, boil porridge with rice, and boil water on the other. During the process of boiling water, he ran to pick some wild vegetables. Although he was alone outside, now that he had this condition and time, he had to treat himself better.

His mouth was light in the morning, and he planned to make some cold dishes. Artemisia and straw mushrooms were readily available, and this

That large goat was dead through and through; at this moment, half its body was submerged in the water, and the entire stream had been dyed red with blood.

Li Long was a bit troubled: with so much, how was he to carry it back?

And on top of that, there were still over ten kilograms of mushrooms back in the woods!

Difficult or not, he had to take it. Li Long dragged the small goat and the wolf to the water's edge and laid them side by side. Then he dragged the large goat and the other wolf over.

Because he had intended to soak in the hot spring and hadn't thought he would be able to hunt, he hadn't brought any rope.

Li Long thought and thought, and could only go up the mountain to get the sack, then force the wolf with the relatively intact hide and the large goat inside.

Fortunately, they were both dead, so he could squeeze them in; then he hoisted the sack onto his shoulder, hung the gun around his neck, carried the small goat weighing about ten kilograms, and headed down the mountain.

As for the other wolf, he would leave it soaking in the water for now.

Li Long estimated that by the time he returned to the cabin and came back, this wolf would likely have been eaten. Of course, even so, he would definitely have to come back once to check.

It had taken an hour to come, but it took a full two hours to go back!

He had rested several times in between, and by the time Li Long saw the cabin, he was too tired to move.

His body was stained all over with blood, and the stench was overpowering; if he didn't wash thoroughly, these clothes would be ruined.

Flies had followed him the whole way, and Li Long knew he had to hurry and process this meat, or it would get maggoty.

Although his mental fortitude was solid, he was still quite disgusted by creatures like maggots.

Back at the cabin, he threw the small goat onto the grass, dropped the sack, and Li Long sat down on the ground, not wanting to move at all.

He felt his strength had been squeezed dry, with nothing left.

After sitting for a full ten minutes, Li Long finally crawled up, waved away the flies that had gathered, went inside to drink some water, and then began preparing to process the three pieces of prey.

Now, if he were asked to go back to the hot spring to retrieve that wolf, he definitely wouldn't go; he wouldn't go even if he were beaten to death.

Carefully avoiding stepping on the mushrooms, he took a large bag of coarse salt from the small room, went to the grass, and began skinning and butchering the small goat.

This was the most tender meat and couldn't be wasted.

After peeling back the goat skin, Li Long went to get all the basins, then opened the carcass and removed the organs.

Once the small goat was skinned and cleaned, Li Long stood up, waved his hand to shoo away the flies, and seeing the sun had already set behind the mountain peak, he knew he would likely have to work through the night.

He went to find firewood to light the stove, added water to the two large pots to boil, then sat by the stove to rest for a while, drank some water, and only then continued processing the meat.

He didn't dismantle the small goat's meat, but rubbed coarse salt all over it so the flies wouldn't crawl on it; he also salted the goat skin and spread it out on the grass to air.

This small goat skin hadn't been shot and was intact; the holes from the wolf fangs at the neck didn't affect the quality of the hide.

Next was the large goat.

In the local dialect, this goat was a "stinker," and the meat tasted gamier than the small goat, but it was certainly better than having no meat. Li Long skinned the goat and, seeing the large and small wolf-tooth marks on it, knew this hide could only be used by his own family.

He likewise poured the organs into a basin and processed the meat first.

After rubbing salt on the meat and placing it directly on the goat skin, Li Long let out a long breath.

He was tired.

Seeing that although the flies were circling above the goat meat, they weren't landing, Li Long felt relieved.

He didn't bother with the wolf, but first gave a simple wash to the hearts, livers, and lungs of the two goats—organs that didn't need much processing—and threw them into the large pot to boil.

Before long, a very peculiar smell began to permeate the area.

Li Long had originally thought about sending some to Lv Dafeng, but then reconsidered.

The two were neither related nor close friends, and he had already sent over quite a few things. It wasn't that he was stingy, but it was better not to overdo some things; after all, "a pint of rice breeds gratitude, but a bushel breeds enmity"—if he gave too much and the other party couldn't easily repay him, they would start having wild thoughts.

Standing by the stove, skimming off the blood foam from time to time, he considered it a rest.

Li Long went to get the half-watermelon left from noon, used a knife to shave off the top layer, and ate it in big mouthfuls.

After finishing the watermelon, he felt his energy had recovered a bit, and only then did he begin to process the wolf.

Separating the wolf hide from the meat and cleaning out the contents of the wolf's stomach, Li Long felt his hands were almost too tired to wield the knife. But the stomach and intestines still needed cleaning.

The sun had completely set, and the Morning Star, or Chang Geng Star, had already brightened.

Li Long didn't want to work anymore.

Washing the stomach and intestines was also strenuous work; he simply rubbed salt on the wolf, carried all three carcasses into the large room, placed them by the bed along with the hides, then extinguished the fire on the stove, locked the door, and went to sleep.

He was done!

This sleep was truly sound; he didn't dream at all.

When he woke up, the daylight was already bright, and Li Long even saw a little bit of sunshine—the sun had already risen.

The smell in the room was unpleasant. Although the meat had been salted, it couldn't mask the stench of blood.

Li Long crawled up, rubbed his eyes, flicked away the eye boogers, shook his head to keep his brain clear, sighed, and thought, "Let's continue."

He didn't feel particularly uncomfortable; young people recover energy quickly, but thinking about the work still left for today, Li Long felt a bit depressed.

He went out of the room and touched the pot on the stove; it was surprisingly still a bit warm. He lifted the lid, and the aroma was quite rich.

!.

Li Long was happy; he sprinkled some salt, used chopsticks to fish out a piece of small goat heart and put it on a plate, ladled out a bowl of soup, grabbed a handful of wild vegetable leaves to put in it, and slurped it down.

He hadn't eaten dinner last night, and at noon he had only eaten dry steamed buns soaked in watermelon; he was starving now.

After finishing the small goat heart, he still felt unsatisfied, so he went to cut some goat liver to eat, and only then did he feel full.

Once full, he had to work.

This time, Li Long took a machete and went to the nearby woods to cut three poles. Two had forks, and one was thinner and longer.

Carrying the three poles back, Li Long took an iron shovel to dig two holes in the grass in front of the cabin, planted the two forked logs, and then rested the long pole on top.

Next, he took the three carcasses out of the large room and began making air-dried meat.

Air-dried meat is actually mainly rib meat. But Li Long didn't care; he hung the legs up too—of course, he had to trim off some meat to keep for eating.

He wasn't very meticulous in his work this time; he trimmed and hung as he went—he had seen Halimu and the others trim meat, and they really trimmed it exactly as they pleased. If they truly didn't intend to leave meat on the bones, the bones could make a dog die of anger.

Li Long didn't have that skill; of course, for air-dried meat, one had to leave quite a bit of meat on the bones anyway.

A workbench was set up beside the poles, with the three carcasses on the bench and two basins nearby. One basin for goat meat, one for wolf meat. Very soon, the basins were piled with more than half the meat, and this was just the result of Li Long trimming it casually.

Now was the time when they were at their fattest and strongest.

The poles were soon filled with salted meat, and flies flew over in swarms, but in the end, they could only fly away.

Li Long first carried the two basins of meat into the room and covered them, then went to clean the stomach and intestines.

He wasn't as tired this time; he went straight to the spring to clean them carefully, washed the stomach and intestines until they were spotless, then brought them back and soaked them in a basin.

The hearts, livers, and lungs had already been fished out; Li Long let them cool for a while, and after boiling the stomach and intestines, he began slicing the cooked hearts and livers.

Now, in the bright midday sun, the sliced hearts, livers, and lungs would dry halfway, making them less likely to spoil.

Although the stomach and intestines were cleaned thoroughly enough, they still emitted a strong organ smell when boiled.

But Li Long didn't mind; he liked eating stomach and liked eating fatty intestines.

Whether braised, spicy, or as a cold dish, he liked eating them all.

Looking at the sky, it was too hot, and Li Long felt a bit tired; he still didn't want to go to the hot spring.

Forget it, he would cut a watermelon to cool off, and then wait until the stomach and intestines were cooked before deciding.

The flies were buzzing loudly around the bloody spot where he had skinned and butchered the meat yesterday, but Li Long didn't care. Although the sunlight was quite strong, there was a breeze in the valley, and sitting under the eaves eating watermelon was quite pleasant.

Once the stomach and intestines were boiled thoroughly, Li Long extinguished the fire, waited a while, and fished them out. He had eaten the hearts and livers in the morning, and now, looking at the stomach and intestines, he still had an appetite.

He went to mix a dipping sauce, tore a handful of wild onions to cut into scallions, sprinkled them into the sauce, cut a plate each of stomach and intestines, and ate them slowly, dipping as he went.

The taste was truly good!

After eating his fill, Li Long felt that eating alone like this seemed a bit selfish, so he used a basin to pack half the stomach, intestines, livers, and hearts, then divided the air-dried meat in half, packing one half into two sacks and moving the other half into the room, locked the door, mounted the two sacks onto the back seat of his bike, then used an empty basin to cover the full one, wedged it onto the back seat, tied it down with rope, and rode out of the mountains.

He sped along, carrying the wind, his whole body full of strength.

When he reached the compound, Gu Xiaoxia hadn't returned yet, so Li Long set down half the meat and organs, repacked the remaining items, and rode off toward the village again.

On the road, Li Long also wondered, what was this, running back and forth day after day?

Thinking about it, he smiled again; this was sharing, this was happiness.

He hoped that what he had, his family could have too; was this a self-sacrificing personality?

Could one say that?

Halfway through the ride, a child suddenly darted out from the roadside ahead, waving vigorously at him, and Li Long immediately braked.

This time the child was further away and on the side of the road, so it wasn't dangerous, and then Li Long realized: wasn't this the child picking wheat ears he had almost hit earlier?

"What is this..." Li Long asked in confusion.

The girl held up the thing in her hand:

"Uncle, for you... the fish I caught, my mom pickled them... thank you!"

Li Long saw clearly: what she held was a string of three palm-sized salted dried crucian carp.

Li Long felt a bit touched; this was a girl who knew how to be grateful—was she waiting for him on purpose?

"I waited two days to catch you... these fish are very clean!" The girl saw Li Long didn't take them and explained, then took two steps forward to Li Long and stuffed the fish into his hand.

Li Long originally wanted to say his family had plenty of fish and he didn't need them, but looking at the girl's clear eyes, he couldn't say it.

He thought for a moment and said:

"Alright, let's trade."

He got off his bike, took the three fish, put them in his satchel, then took the sack off the back seat, pulled out two pieces of air-dried meat, and handed them to her:

"I'll take the meat and trade for your fish. Alright, hurry back!"

The little girl was shocked; she never would have imagined there could be such a way of trading in this world!

"No, no, no, I can't take your meat..."

The little girl realized what was happening and said loudly.

But Li Long had already ridden far away. (End of chapter)