Chapter 267: People in the mountains encountered trouble

When Liang Dongting left, more than half of the truckload of watermelons had already been sold.

Thanks to Li Long, this year, weaving carrying poles, tying big brooms, including the current digging of Cistanche, every household had some cash. Not to mention anything else, they could still take out a few cents or a yuan. One kilogram of watermelon was three cents, and fifty kilograms was only one yuan and fifty cents.

Although there weren't many households in the team, knowing it was watermelon from the lower wild land, and Liang Dongting directly hammered open several watermelons beside the truck for everyone to taste, the watermelons were indeed good, so how could they not buy them after eating?

You took half a sack, I took a sack, and more than half of the truckload of watermelons was unloaded.

"Really didn't expect, I pulled them from the lower wild land, the melons sold along the way weren't even one-third as many as sold in your team!" Liang Dongting said with emotion, "The people in your team are really rich."

"Hehe." Li Qing Xia originally wanted to praise Li Long, but still held back and didn't say it.

"Alright, the melons are almost sold, I have to rush back today." Liang Dongting said, "Old brother, if you have time later, go to the lower wild land, I'll treat you, guaranteed to make you satisfied!"

"Alright." Li Qing Xia said, "If I have time, I will definitely go."

The truck left, and Li Long said:

"I'm going to the Horse Station to rest for a while, and come over to set the nets in the afternoon."

"Go quickly, you're exhausted today." Liang Wenyu said, "And thanks to you."

Without Li Long, she didn't know when she would have finished cooking when she returned. After all, Du Chunfang couldn't handle the food in this big pot. Today it could be seen that Liang Dongting was very satisfied.

The big truck went out of the reed lake, and seeing someone carrying a sack blocking the way in front, Liang Dongting was a bit puzzled. After the truck stopped, before he could speak, he heard the person in front ask:

"Are you selling melons? Is it watermelon from the lower wild land?"

"Yeah."

"We're buying melons."

Liang Dongting was overjoyed, and then understood. They must have come after hearing the shouting on the big loudspeaker, and this business delivered to the doorstep certainly had to be done.

In the afternoon, Li Long went to set the nets, and when he returned, someone sent Cistanche again, and he naturally had to collect them.

And at this time, Halimu and the others from the mountains rode their horses to the winter nest.

They had already been to Li Long's wooden house, and the door was locked.

"Li Long is not here, the naan we brought now is only enough to eat until tomorrow," a young man said to Halimu, "Brother, what do you say we should do?"

"We'll wait two days, if Li Long doesn't come, we'll go down the mountain to trade for skins. Didn't we do the same in previous years?"

"We did the same in previous years, but with Li Long, it feels very unfair. We could have traded for more things, but in the end, it was just that little bit."

"Don't talk so much, wait two days, maybe Li Long will go up the mountain, then we'll hand over the skins and deer antlers to him, and for the rest, we'll just mow the grass well." Halimu wasn't very worried; he came back with a gun, and at worst, he would go hunting twice, and hunt some animals back to eat, which was also fine.

It wasn't that they didn't know where the county town was, but except for Halimu who understood Chinese and communicated relatively conveniently, the others knew at most some simple words, and subconsciously didn't want to communicate with more people.

At this time, they were accustomed to living in their own circle, living in their own way, and didn't really want to be disturbed by the outside world.

Even the young people, who were very curious about the outside world, also had their own set of ways of doing things, unless they went out to school, or had great perseverance to break out on their own, otherwise they would rarely break this circle.

By the 2020s of the new century, tourism in Northern Xinjiang became popular, and tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people suddenly flocked to some places for tourism, and they would discover that the "service awareness" of the restaurants opened by local people, especially ethnic minorities, was very weak.

This was actually very normal. Usually, they only received a dozen or dozens of people a day, or even just a few people. And those regular customers were already accustomed to doing things themselves, and they already had a tacit understanding of what they were doing.

Suddenly, hundreds or even thousands of people came up, how could they serve them?

The waiters were all confused, okay!

They didn't know what so-called service awareness was at all at first, because small areas, small scopes, or even local small restaurants were just a circle that didn't flow or circulate much.

Of course, when more people came, they saw more, were told more, and earned more, some service awareness came up.

But more of these internet-famous check-in spots were contracted by capital, and local people went to the summer pasture to graze, and the houses were bought by capital and turned into homestays or check-in spots.

For example, Huanghuang Village, for example, Hemu—there were more outsiders than locals.

And in the 1980s, it was very difficult for them to accept people from outside the circle to join in, and once they accepted them, they would trust them very much, almost paying unconditionally, and of course, when they asked you to do things, they would definitely not cover up, saying it directly.

They tied up the horses, and two people took scythes to mow two large bundles of grass from the grassland to distribute to several horses. Halimu and the others had already fetched water, used the enamel basin they brought to boil water, and ate it with the naan they brought.

The next day, after selling the fish and returning, lunch was made by Liang Wenyu. The wheat was finally harvested, and next was waiting to sell the wheat straw. Each family divided the wheat chaff and wheat tails. And the next harvest was waiting for oil sunflowers, which still needed some time.

The work at home could be less, and more relaxed.

"That net-dried meat steamed and eaten yesterday was really not bad." At the dinner table, Li Qing Xia was still talking about yesterday's matter, "I saw that old relative eating it with great joy."

"Air-dried meat is delicious, and besides, in this day and age, whose family eats meat like ours? Uncle should also not have eaten meat for some years. That basin was brought up, could he not eat?" Liang Wenyu said with a smile, "Little Long's method of eating meat still requires having meat."

"Mm, then when you have time, you have to send some of this meat to the in-laws." Li Qing Xia said, "Little Long, can you still get this meat?"

"What's impossible about that?" Li Long also made a big boast, "Going into the mountains for two days should be enough to get some. Then tomorrow after selling the fish, I'll go?"

"Go for a trip." Li Qing Xia said, "We two can handle selling the fish. Do you still have anyone selling Cistanche?"

"Less. It's impossible for Cistanche to always be on the alkaline beach, I've collected two or three tons these days, and the roof of the Old Horse Station is covered with them. But it doesn't matter, I'll leave the money with Old Uncle Luo and let him help me weigh it."

For some reason, Li Long vaguely felt that he needed to go into the mountains for a trip.

"Are there enough bullets?" Li Jianguo asked, "If not enough, I'll find some for you."

"There are still quite a few." Li Long said, "Can use them for another period of time."

The next day was early rising again, setting nets, picking fish, selling fish, after finishing these things, Li Long returned and put the basin and scale in the large courtyard, washed the bags clean and clipped them behind the bicycle, this was to load meat.

He also brought a rope, pushed the cart out of the courtyard, locked the door, and went to the big meat canteen.

It wasn't mealtime yet, he bought four steamed buns and four mantou to take with him, and for the remaining food, he had to rely on the few reserves in the wooden house.

Since discovering that those animals liked to soak in the hot spring, Li Long felt that this was equivalent to finding a fixed hunting point.

After all, having a fixed hunting point meant he didn't have to run around looking for wild boars and roe deer in the future, and he didn't have dogs, and the herdsmen friends had all gone up the mountain, so it wasn't easy to hunt prey.

When Li Long arrived at the wooden house, it was already noon.

He wasn't in a hurry either, put the bicycle into the small room, locked the door, and walked around the vicinity while eating the steamed buns.

Originally he wanted to pick some mushrooms, but saw horse manure and large patches of hoof prints.

Someone had been here?

Li Long became vigilant all of a sudden. Who could it be, riding horses here at this time? Forestry team?

It was normal for the forestry team to patrol the mountains at this time, after all, the grass was slowly starting to wither and turn yellow, and if there was any wildfire, it wouldn't just burn one patch of mountain. He looked at the large and small rooms, the doors were all locked, and hadn't been damaged.

These people had no ideas about his wooden house?

Li Long was just guessing.

He put this matter aside, since they were safe and sound, he wouldn't bother.

After finishing the steamed buns, Li Long took the rope and bag and went toward the hot spring. His idea was, if he could encounter wild beasts now, he would shoot them directly, if he couldn't, he would come over early tomorrow morning.

It was just these two or three days, if he couldn't hit them at the hot spring, he would go to other places to take a look.

Walking and looking along the way, Li Long discovered that it had rained here some time ago, although some mushrooms had poked their heads out, there were no black tiger palm mushrooms.

Sure enough, it was the next season.

Occasionally he could still see wild strawberries that came out late, sparse one or two, and they didn't grow very well.

Li Long traveled through the mountains and arrived at the hot spring ditch, seeing that the water flow was a bit smaller.

He couldn't help but worry, if the water was small, and there wasn't that much water in the pool, would those wild beasts still come here to soak in the hot spring?

!.

With this question, Li Long walked all the way to the hot spring pool.

No animals.

He carried the gun and carefully walked around in front of each pool. The water in the pool was less, about two-thirds of the original. After all, each pool needed a sufficient amount before it could flow to the next pool.

Li Long found some feces by the side of the pool, like sheep dung, a bit dry, it should be from three or five days ago.

Now it should be gone, he looked up at the sky, there was still a while before the sun set, Li Long thought about going into the mountains to ambush and wait for a while, maybe there would be a harvest.

He returned to the forest where he had ambushed the wolves before, found a clean place to sit down, and sat there hugging the gun in a daze.

There were mushrooms nearby, but Li Long didn't really recognize them. There were too many things in these mountains he didn't recognize, he didn't dare to take risks.

And there was no need.

Not far in front of him, there was a Codonopsis plant, the plant wasn't big, and the flowers had already withered, Li Long felt that the bottom was only as thick as a finger.

He remembered when he went to Yili Zhaosu for tourism, the pickles in the small shop there used Codonopsis for pickling, and it wasn't expensive. It just didn't taste particularly delicious, and it was a bit stalky, of course, the thing was a good thing.

Should he also dig some small ones later, wash them clean, dry them, and let his sister-in-law pickle them?

In his wild thoughts, the sun slowly set, Li Long looked at his watch, it was almost nine o'clock, there should be no animals coming, so he stood up, carried the gun, and walked back.

When he walked back to the wooden house, the sun had already set behind the mountain, and the chill rose. Li Long fetched firewood and lit the stove fire, then went to get some grass mushrooms. At this time, most of the wild vegetables had started to wither and turn yellow, and only mushrooms could continue to grow.

After washing the mushrooms clean at the spring water, Li Long planned to roast some mushroom soup, then steam the mantou, and heat up some braised meat, mantou with meat, it must be very beautiful to eat.

The idea was like this, but just after the mushrooms were washed, he heard the sound of horse hooves.

When he turned his head to look, three horses rushed over, and when they saw the firelight, someone called out loudly.

"Li Long, Li Long!"

Li Long heard the familiar voice, it was Halimu.

He put down the mushroom basin, watched the horses rush to not far in front of him and stop, Halimu jumped off the horse, smiled, came over, and gave him a hug.

"Why are you back? Did something happen in the mountains?" Li Long hugged the three people one by one, and then asked.

"No, no, nothing happened, we came down the mountain to mow grass. The grass here needs to be mowed, and what grows back is just right for the cattle and sheep to eat." Halimu explained, "The winter grass has to be mowed from here."

Li Long understood.

They went to the summer pasture to graze, and the grass in the winter pasture could grow all the time, growing to a similar height, and then be mowed directly as winter forage. And after mowing, the grass could grow another crop, although not high enough, it was enough for winter grazing.

"Is it just you few people?" Li Long was a bit puzzled.

"No, no, no, every family has some. They are living in their own winter nests, we few are all here, because there is something we need your help with."

"We came over yesterday." Another young man said, "The naan we brought has already been eaten, if you didn't come, we might have to go hungry..."

Li Long smiled. Going hungry was certainly impossible, after all, they mowed grass every year, and he had only known them this year, how could they go hungry?

It was just hoping to trade those skins through him.

This was a trust.

"Then what do you need? Rice? Flour? Brick tea, granulated sugar, and what else?"

"Need oil."

"Matches, this is gone."

"And liquor, can you get some..."

"Pa!" A young man had just said liquor, and Halimu slapped him, he glared at that person:

"Do you not want to live?"

That young man laughed dryly: "Just joking..."

Li Long smiled.

It seemed these few people were still quite convinced by Halimu.

"Then good, I'll go down the mountain early tomorrow morning, I should be able to bring some rice and flour up by noon, and I can also bring some other things. You guys should be mowing grass for a long time, right? I will bring them up one after another... do you want one of you to come down the mountain with me?"

"No need, no need, you run a few more trips." Halimu said as a matter of course, "We are not in a hurry, our main task is to mow grass. You came, and we are at ease. We will start mowing grass early tomorrow morning. Then you bring the rice and flour up and put them at my winter nest, if I am there it is best, if I am not, just put them at the door."

Li Long nodded, and this matter was settled like this.

As for how much the skins Halimu and the others brought were worth, and how much the deer antlers were worth, no one asked, and no one cared.

They trusted Li Long, and Li Long also trusted them.

"Then we are going back." Halimu and the others flipped onto their horses, "You rest early."

The sound of horse hooves went far away, Li Long continued to wash the mushrooms, although because of excitement, his appetite decreased, but he knew he still had to eat, otherwise if he was hungry in the middle of the night, he would have to toss and turn. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 268 =====