Chapter 354

In the end, Li Long didn't shoot that red-haired fox.

The bullets of the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle were too fierce; if he hit it, it would be shattered, and if he missed, it would be a waste. Of course, another reason was that the fox "floated" too fast. The hard crust on the snow could support its weight, allowing this little guy to move very fast. Before Li Long had made full preparations, it had already darted into the woods.

A bit regretful, but not particularly big.

Li Long carried the gun back to the wooden cabin. The meat soup had been boiled down to only a small half pot, the taste was very rich, and there was water vapor all over the house.

Li Long opened the door of the house, let the water vapor and smell dissipate, added half a pot of water to the pot, and continued to boil it.

Running in the snow all day was exhausting enough, so Li Long went to sleep early. At night, the sound of wolf howling came from outside, but he didn't get up; he was truly too sleepy.

Sleeping quite soundly at night, he got up early during the day. The next day, Li Long climbed up early, got himself breakfast in high spirits, and after eating, went to the hot spring again.

Unfortunately, there was still no prey—he came late. There were footprints of wild beasts at the hot spring, both wild boars and five-clawed plum blossom prints, and there were no signs of fighting.

Li Long felt a bit regretful. If he had come earlier, maybe he would have had a harvest today.

Walking out of the Hot Spring Valley, Li Long simply went to the east. He had hunted wild game in the valley here before, but he didn't know if he could run into any now.

Unfortunately, there was also no prey.

This day just passed by like this.

On the third day, Li Long didn't go out. After getting up and having a simple breakfast, he moved out the prizes prepared for the herdsmen friends' competition and arranged them neatly on the table in the large room.

The two stoves outside were also cleaned up, and pots were set up early to boil water.

He was busy here when Halimu had already arrived riding a horse. His horse's back was loaded with quite a few things. After getting off the horse at the door of Li Long's wooden cabin, he took down these two bags of things.

In one of the bags, it was actually a slaughtered sheep with the internal organs removed—the sheepskin hadn't been peeled.

"Is this used for sheep-snatching?" Li Long asked Halimu with some curiosity.

"Yes." Halimu said while taking out the things in the other bag, "Today, let these young guys practice well."

In Li Long's impression from his previous life, there seemed to be several kinds of sheep-snatching. In the TV series "My Altay," in some scenic spots and some official performance programs, the sheep used were fake sheep made of sheepskin rolls, with a feeling of showing the fake as the real.

Li Long guessed that sheep-snatching like this might be because they felt it was more convenient when fighting for it, at least the sheepskin roll was lighter and easier to grab.

And the sheep-snatching he had seen in his previous life used live sheep—live small goats, the sheep weren't big, but live things weren't convenient to fight for. The sheep would struggle and resist, which actually increased the fun, ornamental value, and complexity of this activity.

Of course, the compromise was like what Halimu took now, a dead sheep, with internal organs removed, not peeled. Such a sheep was light, easy to grab, and wouldn't struggle or resist. Moreover, it was a real sheep, which had a more realistic feeling for the herdsmen who snatched the sheep. And if they really snatched it into their hands, that kind of sense of achievement couldn't be compared to a sheepskin roll.

The only problem was that this thing would quickly become hard in this cold weather. Once it was frozen hard and then snatched, it was easy to hurt people—especially the herdsmen who got it into their hands could use this thing to smash those who came to snatch it, and that power was not small.

"Put it in the house first." Halimu took out the things in the other bag, there were naan, milk curds, and some of the bullets Li Long gave him that were left over.

"These bullets, we can wait until the winner comes out and give them as a reward. The prizes you brought, they will definitely be very happy."

"I prepared prizes for them." Li Long was actually quite happy that Halimu thought this way. He sincerely hoped that he and other herdsmen would also become good friends.

He smiled and pointed to the table in the house and said:

"They are all ordinary things, but I think everyone should find them useful. I bought these specifically for this competition."

"That's great." Halimu laughed loudly, threw the bullet bag onto the table, then carried the sheep and put it into the house, and stood on the wooden floor outside the house and said:

"We herdsmen are too lonely staying in the mountains. Holding an activity like this will make everyone happy for a long time. I think no matter who wins this competition, everyone will remember it, and they will also remember you. They will treat you as a true friend."

Li Long smiled and didn't speak.

Half an hour later, Yushanjiang rushed over. He also brought some things, which were a bit similar to what Halimu brought, but he also brought a peeled sheep. Seeing that there was water in the pot on the stove, he greeted Halimu, and the two of them decomposed the sheep in the snow outside, threw the bones and meat into the pot, added fire under the stove, and boiled it.

Soon, a fragrance of meat drifted in front of the wooden cabin.

"This one, is this year's lamb." Yushanjiang said to Li Long with some pride, "The grass in the summer pasture this year is good, and the sheep are also fat. This lamb is very fat and very fragrant!"

"I saw it, there's a lot of oil!" Li Long pointed to the layer of oil floating on the soup in the pot and smiled, "The young guys will definitely love eating it later."

Yushanjiang laughed loudly. Having the things he brought recognized would give him a sense of achievement.

The young guys riding horses rushed over one after another, some rushing over, some two or three together. It had to be said that the herdsmen's horsemanship was truly very good. Nearly half of the people had no saddle on their horse's back, only a blanket placed on it. This was equivalent to riding a horse bareback. Li Long didn't dare to do it, but these young guys riding on the horse didn't seem to have any discomfort at all, and the horses ran and jumped as they pleased.

Can't envy it.

When the water in the pot boiling meat rolled, after Yushanjiang added water twice, Halimu gathered these young guys together and started speaking in the Kazakh language.

Li Long had always thought that an activity like this should be organized by Yushanjiang, who was older. He didn't expect the host to be Halimu.

"Halimu said, first compare, horse racing. From here, keep riding to that mountain peak in the west, and after reaching there, ride back—from here, one can clearly see that place. If you don't ride there, even if you run back first, it doesn't count as winning. He also said that the three horses that truly run there and ride back the fastest will have rewards. The prizes are provided by you, and there will also be rifle bullets..."

This was translated to Li Long by Yushanjiang.

After Halimu finished speaking, some of the young guys cheered, some screamed, and they all looked at Li Long, which made Li Long feel a bit embarrassed.

"Aren't you two participating?" Li Long waved his hand at the young guys and then asked Yushanjiang.

"Not participating, leave the opportunity to them." Yushanjiang said with a smile, "The young guys' energy needs to be vented well, and most of their families' conditions aren't very good. If there are prizes, they will strive to compete. We are older, so we won't be with them."

The young guys got on their horses. Halimu found a wooden stick and drew a line on a flat snowy ground on the west side of the wooden cabin. After those young guys rode their horses to the front of the line, he adjusted the formation again, letting these young guys not squeeze, and keeping the distance apart, so as not to bump and injure themselves.

!.

After the young guys were all prepared, Halimu pulled Li Long over and told him in a low voice to take out the gun and use the gun to give the order.

Li Long didn't decline either. He went into the house, took out the 56-semi-automatic, stood at a position more than thirty meters away from that flat ground, disengaged the safety, pulled the bolt to chamber a round, held the gun with one hand, tilted it upward at forty-five degrees, struck a relatively cool pose, and after the young guys were all prepared, pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

Following this gunshot, the young guys immediately urged their horses to run toward the target.

A few horses were startled by the gunshot, turning in circles on the spot, and some stood up, unwilling to walk. The remaining horses were urged by the young guys, kicking up large pieces of snow, and ran away in a puff of smoke.

Some young guys ran with excitement, clamping the horse's belly with both legs, standing up halfway, waving the horse whip in their hands, and making strange shouts, the shouts echoing in the valley.

Finally, these few horses ran one after another, and one of them rushed very fast, but in a few minutes, it overtook the two horses that had run out earlier, and it was still rushing.

Although he didn't participate in the horse racing, Li Long was equally excited looking at these dozen galloping horses. He put away the semi-automatic rifle and said to Yushanjiang sincerely:

"The young guys are truly amazing. Such high and low slopes, they just rushed over like that. On the horse's back, it's like being in a car, feeling like it didn't affect them at all..."

"Haha, it's impossible not to be affected." Yushanjiang waved his hand, "It's just that they have been riding horses since they were young, so they know how to control them. And they are familiar with their own horses, so the cooperation is relatively good... Look, that young guy on the side, although he's rushing quite fast, in fact, his cooperation with the horse isn't very good. On the contrary, that one wearing red clothes, although he's not at the very front, he's always following very closely behind the front, and his experience is very rich..."

Yushanjiang pointed out to Li Long one by one, which made Li Long, a layman, slowly see the ropes.

Halimu didn't speak from beginning to end, always observing. Li Long guessed that he should be watching whether those riders really rode to the target point. After all, as the host and referee, he had to see clearly from beginning to end.

Soon, the first rider who rushed to the target midpoint and started to turn appeared. He rushed to the top of the mountain in one go, didn't control it completely, and even rushed over a bit, then turned the horse's head and rushed back down the mountain.

"This young guy rushed too fast..." Yushanjiang said with some worry.

"What will happen if it's too fast?"

"Going down the mountain has a slope, which is different from going up the mountain. If the horse isn't controlled well when going down the mountain, it will slip in the snow. Although these horses have all been shod, there is still a possibility of falling and getting injured."

Li Long's mood was a bit complicated.

This horse racing activity looked quite intense and exciting, but the risk wasn't small either.

The second rider who rushed to the midpoint had richer experience. When he reached the top of the mountain, he had already slowed down. As soon as he reached the top, the horse's head turned around, and then he rushed down the mountain diagonally. Although the speed wasn't as fast as the first one going down the mountain, it felt very steady.

The third one, the fourth one...

Soon, all the riders rushed past the midpoint and started to turn back. The first place had already reached the first gentle slope of the mountain slope, and there was a trend of accelerating.

Just at this moment, the second echelon behind suddenly became chaotic. Two horses collided because the distance was too close. The riders on the horses shouted loudly, one of them seemed to be injured, and the other quickly pulled the horse away, but the other party's horse seemed unwilling to just let it go, turned its head, opened its mouth, and bit toward this horse!

The two riders reacted very quickly and pulled their horses away, but this also delayed their competition. The other horses in the second echelon had already rushed out very far, and they were forced to become the third echelon. Although the two people whipped and accelerated again, it was obvious that it wouldn't be easy to catch up.

"Ah—" Li Long suddenly shouted with worry. It turned out that the horse that had always been in first place rushed too fast when going down the second gentle slope, its front hooves were unstable, and it fell directly. The horse rolled twice in the snow, the rider was thrown out very far, and the other horses soon overtook them, kicking up large amounts of snow powder, shrouding the person and the horse!

PS: The last two chapters will be in the morning (End of chapter)