Chapter 337: Competition subjects for herdsmen in the mountains

After Li Long went down the mountain, Harimu ate two more pieces of naan, then led out his horse, put on a saddle, put a bag of rice and a bag of flour on the horse's back and tied them well, turned back into the winter nest, took down the gun hanging on the wall, checked it, carried it on his back, went out, rode on the horse, and went towards the mountains.

The snow was heavy. After Harimu rode the horse past the flat area, he got off the horse and led it forward.

The road was very familiar, but he still walked in front to explore the road, avoiding the horse stepping into the pit and breaking its leg.

After all, marmots dig out many new pits every year. The pits are not big. If the horse steps directly into them, it is very likely to break its leg when moving forward.

Forty or fifty minutes later, he arrived at Yushanjiang's house. Yushanjiang was picking grass bundles into the sheep pen. Hearing the dog barking, he turned his head and saw Harimu, shook the grass bundles in his hand, put down the wooden fork and walked over:

"Harimu, good, what things did you bring me?"

"Li Long came, sent some rice and flour, I pulled away the things everyone put at my place, told him the things we need, he might pull them over tomorrow.

My meaning is, notify everyone, come to my house tomorrow morning, then everyone take away the things they need, putting them at my place, it can't fit either."

"Good, good, then shall we notify separately?" Yushanjiang asked, "I alone, can't run over, you alone, also can't run over."

"Right, right, right, I will slaughter a sheep tomorrow, boil it early, then wait for Li Long to come, everyone to come, eat hand-grabbed meat together."

"No, no, I will bring a sheep over tomorrow." Yushanjiang said with a smile, "My sheep, are more than yours, use my sheep."

"It's fine, then when horse racing and sheep grabbing come in a few days, use my sheep. This year, with Li Long here, fewer of our sheep babies died, and life has become better. I think, we should have a few horse racing and sheep grabbing at the end of the year, and call Li Long over to be lively together, what do you think?"

"Very good! This must be done, otherwise those dolls will think about messy things. Winter, find something for them to do!"

This matter was settled. After Harimu unloaded the rice and flour, and agreed with Yushanjiang, the two went towards the mountains, one southeast and one southwest.

Li Long returned to the big courtyard, untied the bicycle and locked it, then went to the back to pull the seventy-six number, harnessed the horse cart, pulled the deer antlers and skins and went to the purchasing station.

The snow in the purchasing station courtyard was cleared very clean, but the ground was not very flat, and there were a few thin ice puddles inside, a bit slippery. In this era, even in the county committee courtyard, there was no flat ground, at most paved with some bricks. This era of light industry, although developed, production capacity couldn't be improved for a while.

However, it will be different in two years. Once the private enterprise opens, all kinds of small factories and small workshops will spring up like mushrooms. Of course, at the beginning, quality couldn't be mentioned, good and bad, and sometimes it really depends on luck.

Li Long tied the horse cart, knocked on the door and entered, found Chen Hongjun was not there, behind the counter was a young man of twenty-three or twenty-four, and a middle-aged sister was seen.

The young man asked expressionlessly:

"What to sell?"

The sister didn't wait for Li Long to speak, and said with a smile:

"Little Li is here, what good things did you bring this time?"

She turned her head and said to the young man:

"Little Shen, this is Old Chen's acquaintance Little Li, all year round, from spring to winter, can bring good things to Old Chen every season. Some scarce things received by our purchasing station are mostly brought by him."

"Oh oh, you are Comrade Little Li, hello hello!" The young man's attitude changed immediately, becoming enthusiastic, "Come, come, come, drink water!"

"I'll take the things in first." Li Long smiled, and didn't get angry because the young man's face changed quickly. Not to mention this era, even forty years later, when Northern Frontier tourism is hot, many people from the interior are saying that there is no "service industry" here, and some locals also mock themselves like this, mainly saying that the service attitude in various shops is not as enthusiastic and thoughtful as in the interior.

This problem is usually linked to another problem—why are there few local people from Xinjiang going out to work?

In fact, there are quite a few.

It's just that many local people have a slow pace of life, plus the vast land and sparse population, living materials are relatively easy to obtain. For those who are content with what they have, they mainly live a life of being content with poverty and happy with the way, without too many pursuits.

Not to mention people from the interior, even Li Long, a Northern Frontier person in the previous life, went to Zhaosu to travel, went to a noodle restaurant to eat mixed noodles, the waiter clearly saw that the noodles in Li Long's plate were finished and there were still dishes, and after shouting for more noodles, didn't go inside to urge, just sat there waiting.

Indeed, some people have no service awareness.

Not to mention now, this is 1982!

Li Long first moved the six deer antlers in, and then moved the skins.

"Sister Huang, this Little Li wouldn't be a second-hand peddler, right? How could there be so many deer antlers?"

"Actually... not really. He has many herdsman friends in the mountains. These things are obtained by herdsmen, entrusted to him to exchange for money, and then exchange for daily necessities. He... don't know if he earned the price difference, it's also right, he is a supply and marketing cooperative employee, it seems normal to do such things."

That sister still had a good impression of Li Long. The quality of things brought by Li Long every time was not bad, and he wouldn't argue because of price problems.

After moving the skins in, Li Long said:

"Let's have so much first, you guys calculate it." The young man began to check the quality of the deer antlers, Li Long asked that sister again:

"This sister, where is Comrade Old Chen?"

"Old Chen, something happened at home today, asked for leave to handle things." That sister said, "Yesterday he was still there, and said you haven't been here for a while, don't know what you were doing during this time, thinking you would come to send things soon, and here you are!"

"Comrade Li, these deer antlers of yours, four are shed this year, the quality is very good, counted as first-class, two are old, can only be counted as second-class, you take a look." The young man separated the deer antlers for Li Long to see.

"Okay, no problem."

"Then prepare to weigh."

Four first-class deer antlers weighed 25.7 kilograms, two second-class deer antlers weighed 13.3 kilograms, now deer antlers have risen in price again, first-class seven yuan, second-

"There are eleven pelts here. Eight of them have bullet holes; four have holes in the middle section, so they can only be considered damaged goods. The other four have holes in the neck area, which is acceptable—those count as second-grade pelts. The remaining three are excellent: two roe deer pelts and one red deer pelt. These are all high-quality pelts."

The young man had a sharp eye. He separated the pelts one by one, showing them to Li Long as he spoke, and then said:

"Among the four damaged pelts, there are three wolf pelts and one fox pelt, which comes to seventy-two yuan. Among the four second-grade pelts, there are two wolf pelts and two wild goat pelts; the wolf pelts are forty, and the wild goat pelts are thirty, making this one hundred and forty yuan. The three first-grade pelts—the deer pelt is sixty, and the roe deer pelt is forty-five, which is one hundred and fifty. So, the total for the pelts is three hundred and sixty-two yuan."

After putting the pelts away, the young man looked at Li Long:

"What do you think? If you accept this price, then we'll write up the receipt and sign it."

!.

"Fine." Li Long was very straightforward. "Write the receipt."

Having sold over six hundred yuan worth of goods in one trip, Li Long felt that he should have enough for everything he needed to buy.

Of course, buying the ration coupons would also cost money, which was included in this amount. In any case, he would definitely be sending supplies into the mountains later, and he still had to live in the mountains for a while after the militia training ended to do some hunting and such, so he would deal with other matters then.

After leaving the acquisition station, Li Long went straight to the Cultural Palace Club. He had previously been to the free market and hadn't found the ticket scalper; presumably, that scalper didn't dare go to the market anymore. After all, as long as it wasn't large-scale speculation, people generally weren't bothered much for selling things now.

But trading in ration coupons was always a gray area, or rather, it was outright illegal.

Li Long led the horse cart in a circle at the entrance of the club, but didn't see the scalper Cao Liu, so he had to go find the girl selling melon seeds.

The young girl selling melon seeds was dressed very warmly; after all, she had been outside the whole time, and it was quite cold. Li Long left the horse cart below the steps, walked up to the girl, and asked in a low voice:

"Where is Cao Liu? I circled around and couldn't find him."

"Who are you?" The girl was quite vigilant.

"I've bought coupons from him before, and he even gave me melon seeds. I've also bought your melon seeds; have you forgotten me?" Li Long pointed to the horse cart and said, "I used to ride a bicycle."

"Oh—I remember now." The girl immediately relaxed. "Brother Liu is inside. You wait a moment, I'll go call him. Don't go anywhere."

The girl carried her basket of melon seeds and hurried toward the back of the club, looking back after walking a short distance. Li Long guessed she was worried he might follow her.

Quite vigilant, aren't they?

Li Long walked back to the horse cart and waited for about seven or eight minutes. The girl didn't return, but Cao Liu hurried over. Upon seeing Li Long, he stepped down from the stairs, came up to him, and whispered:

"Brother Li, you're back..."

"I need coupons, a lot of coupons." Li Long was also direct.

"Then come with me." Cao Liu said, "They're checking quite strictly now, so I don't dare carry the coupons on me. A buddy of mine was arrested a few days ago; they say he's going to be sentenced to at least three years!"

Li Long wasn't carrying a gun. He waved his hand and said, "You go get the coupons, and I'll follow you, but I won't go to any remote places. I'm carrying money, and I'm not that bold."

Cao Liu was in a bit of a bind; neither side trusted the other, which made things difficult.

Li Long revealed the stack of ten-yuan bills in his pocket and said:

"This isn't my first time buying coupons from you, and I need a lot this time. Look at anyone who arrests people—would they be like me, still leading a horse cart around? Stop dawdling. Are you selling or not? If not, I'll find someone else."

"Big Brother, Big Brother, don't, don't, don't be in such a hurry!" Cao Liu immediately grabbed Li Long. "It's just that my friend was reported by an acquaintance... Fine, fine, I'll trust you once. How about we trade at the market?"

"Fine." Li Long had no objections, and he could guess that even if they went to the market, Cao Liu might change his mind again. But he needed the coupons urgently, so he had no choice. (End of chapter)