Chapter 372

The barber was very meticulous in cutting and trimming the old man's hair, and even finished with a face shave. Li Long wasn't in a hurry; he sat in the chair, feeling a bit drowsy.

It was mainly because he was too tired yesterday. Li Long wondered if there were a WeChat step ranking list now, would he be able to rank first?

Oh, impossible, those blockheads Li Junfeng and the others would rank higher, after all, they had to walk ten kilometers more than him to get home.

Thinking of those guys in later generations who hit 40,000 or 50,000 steps on the ranking lists, it felt magical back then—how could they walk so much? Now thinking about it, if there were step counters in this era, wouldn't every adult in the countryside be doing over 30,000 steps a day?

Haha, no wonder elderly people in the countryside in later generations could still work in the fields at seventy or eighty, but once they stopped working, they immediately withered away.

Life truly lies in movement—not absolutely.

While his mind was wandering, the old man's hair was already done. The barber carefully wiped the stray hairs off the old man with a towel and handed him a mirror:

"Master Wang, how does it look?"

"Fine, fine, how could it not be fine? You cut my hair the most satisfactorily." Old Master Wang stood up, patted the stray hairs off his body, took a roll of small change from his pocket, counted out twenty cents, and handed it to the barber: "Here, take the money."

"Alright." The barber took the money, reminded the old man to put on his hat, smiled, and saw him to the door, then looked at Li Long:

"Little comrade, what kind of hairstyle would you like?"

"A bit shorter." Li Long wanted to say a crew cut, but felt like that term didn't seem to exist yet, "A flat top, or Master, you see what kind of hairstyle suits me."

"Alright... sit over here and let me see."

Li Long sat in the barber chair, the barber draped a cloth over him, scrutinized Li Long's head, and said:

"Little comrade, your head shape isn't round, so that kind of flat top isn't easy to cut. I'll cut it a bit shorter to fit your head shape, is that okay?"

"Alright, alright." Li Long didn't have high requirements—as long as it wasn't the traitor-style haircut that was popular now, the kind with a side part; he seemed quite satisfied with it in his previous life, but looking back a few decades later, it really looked quite silly.

There's no need to completely follow the trends of the era. Since he's living a second life, he has the right to plan his own life to a certain extent, such as deciding his own hairstyle.

When Li Long came out of the barbershop and noticed people nearby looking curiously at his hairstyle, he silently told himself this, and after saying it, he immediately put on his hat.

Seeing it wasn't early, he returned to the courtyard, packed some meat into two bags, and prepared to send one to the supply and marketing cooperative for Li Xiangqian, and take one to the small courtyard where Yang Xiulan lived, to be used as meat for Gu Xiaoxia's daily lunch.

At least for now, this mother and daughter were very grateful, which made Li Long very satisfied. No one wants the result of their help to be like "Dongguo and the Wolf" or "The Farmer and the Snake." In this day and age, most people are still quite simple and honest.

Arriving at the supply and marketing cooperative, Li Long saw that the snow in the courtyard here had already been cleared, and there was a cart at the entrance moving snow out. Li Long greeted two acquaintances and then entered the courtyard.

The young guard didn't stop him anymore, knowing he was one of their own.

Li Long arrived at Li Xiangqian's office. The door was half-open, and a mixed smell of warm air, faint coal smoke, and cigarette smoke wafted out.

Li Xiangqian was listening to the radio. Seeing Li Long at the door, he said with surprise:

"How do you have time to come over, kid? Not hibernating at home?"

"I hunted some game in the mountains, so I brought some for you."

"Oh? What is it?" Li Xiangqian stood up and looked curiously at Li Long's hands.

"This bag is yours." Li Long placed the bag of meat for Li Xiangqian on the table, "Venison and wolf meat. I wiped out a wolf pack this time, got quite a bit of wolf meat. They say this meat is quite nourishing. The venison is from a stag, you need to add more spices when cooking it. Stag meat is also nourishing, just a bit gamey."

"Haha, I'm not afraid." Li Xiangqian happily took the meat, "Not bad, not bad. It seems you've taken another step toward being an old hunter. You managed to wipe out a wolf pack? Tell me about it?"

Li Xiangqian wasn't good at hunting, but he loved such stories. Li Long checked the time; there was still a while before lunch, so he went in. He originally thought about opening the window for some fresh air, but the window was nailed shut with plastic sheeting and couldn't be opened, so he gave up.

Sitting on a wooden chair, Li Long recounted the story of fighting the pack of wolves alone—he had told it before, so it was much smoother this time, and he could even embellish it a bit, making Li Xiangqian feel very satisfied listening to it, only regretting that he couldn't participate himself.

"Sigh, I'm a busy man, otherwise I would have stayed in the mountains with you for a while." Li Xiangqian sighed, "This hunting life is truly something to yearn for. It seems your choice back then was right. Without a state-assigned position, you're a free man, coming and going as you please. At least when it comes to hunting, if you were still in a position, you wouldn't be this free!"

"Section Chief, don't yearn for it." Li Long waved his hand, "Everything I told you is what you like to hear, but think about it, just to hunt these six wolves, I tossed and turned for several days, and I feel like I ran fifty or sixty kilometers. How tiring that is! You'd better honestly sit in your office; this job really doesn't suit you!"

"Alright, alright, it sounds pretty good anyway." Li Xiangqian naturally knew hunting wasn't easy, and said with a smile, "Are you still going this winter?"

"I'll see if I have time after New Year's Day." Li Long said honestly, "I want to get a tractor in the spring, and buy a television set, I have to save money."

"Then you have to work hard. Just hunting... selling furs alone, who knows when you'll save enough? How much money did you get for the furs you hunted this time?"

"Didn't sell them." Li Long sighed, "I hunted a lynx pelt, but Comrade Chen from the purchasing station wasn't there, and the new guy didn't know his stuff, insisting it was a fox pelt. It's also my fault for not keeping the lynx head... I thought its teeth looked good, so I pried them out, which made the head look bad, and besides, my gun hit the head, shattering it, so the fur on the head was ruined and I didn't keep it..."

"What? Wait a minute, you said you hunted what?" Li Xiangqian stood up abruptly, looking at Li Long and asking:

"A lynx? You said you hunted a lynx?"

"Yeah." Li Long said, "Actually, it wasn't entirely hunted. It snowed heavily in the mountains, and I put the wolf offal in the snow, and it got caught in a snare..."

"Is the pelt still there?"

"Yeah."

"Bring it to me... no, no, let's go, take me to see it!" Li Xiangqian was a bit anxious, "It's a good thing you told me, otherwise, I would have really missed out... let's go, let's go!"

Li Xiangqian hurriedly pulled Li Long and walked out. Li Long hurriedly reminded him:

"Section Chief, put on your overcoat and hat, it's quite cold outside right now..."

"Right, right, right." Li Xiangqian was a bit anxious, but he quickly calmed down. Seeming to ease the embarrassment of his earlier urgency, he pointed to the other bag in Li Long's hand and asked:

"What's in here?"

"I found a place to eat, with my partner. I plan to bring some meat over there so we can have meat for lunch and dinner." "Not bad, not bad. Since you put it that way, I should bring this meat along too." Li Xiangqian picked up the bag of meat Li Long had given him and pulled Li Long hurriedly outside, walking with quick steps.

The two arrived at the courtyard, and Li Xiangqian urged Li Long to take out the pelt for him to see.

"Section Chief, you'd better come over with me." The pelt was in the east wing room, where many things were stored: furs, meat, Codonopsis pilosula that hadn't been sold in the autumn, some Fritillaria for personal use, deer antlers, roe deer antlers, yellow sheep horns, and so on.

"Oh, you have quite a lot of good stuff here!" Li Xiangqian glanced around, sighed, and then his gaze fell on the stack of furs.

"Is this the lynx pelt?"

The pelt on top immediately attracted Li Xiangqian.

"Yeah, it's this one. The pelt is complete; the gun hit the head, but the rest wasn't damaged." Li Long said, feeling quite proud, "Most of the other pelts are a bit damaged, this one is relatively complete."

"Hmm, let me see." Li Xiangqian picked up the pelt. The pelt hadn't been tanned; it was stiff as a board, with only a layer of salt rubbed on it to prevent insects. Actually, preventing insects in winter doesn't have much meaning, but it's all habitual practice.

"This pelt is really good... that person is a real layman, how could they mistake this for a fox pelt?" Li Xiangqian looked at the pelt up, down, left, right, inside, and out, then sighed, "It feels really comfortable to touch. And this is untanned; if it were tanned and made into fur, that feeling..."

Li Long thought to himself, you're probably a layman too, but to be honest, this pelt does feel better than the wolf pelt. Don't know if it's psychological or physical. Maybe it's also because rarity makes things valuable?

!.

"Sell this pelt to me." Li Xiangqian wouldn't let go of the pelt, "I know a bit about the price of furs; this pelt isn't cheap, but given our friendship, don't think about asking me for a high price. One thousand yuan, I'll take the pelt."

"Too expensive, too expensive." Li Long hurriedly waved his hand, "In July or August, I got scratched by a lynx, and when I asked Old Chen, he said if they bought lynx pelts, it would be around six, seven, or eight hundred..."

"Haha," Li Xiangqian was somewhat satisfied with Li Long's honesty, and said with a smile, "You don't know about this. Once the market opens up, everything goes up in price. Before, the state bought them, and the price was fixed; whatever they gave you was what you got. Now, private individuals can buy them too. Merchants from the border and the south come here to buy good stuff, and the price shoots up. As for this pelt, if you sold it to Old Chen, it would be about this price. Of course, with Old Chen's authority, he could sell it for more, but if you ran into merchants from the interior, let alone one thousand, fifteen hundred is possible... this stuff is hard to hunt!"

"Then I won't stand on ceremony." Li Long didn't stand on ceremony with Li Xiangqian, "Section Chief, take it."

"Hmm, I'll count it as taking a small advantage of you." Li Xiangqian was truly happy; he had great use for this pelt. Of course, there were some things he didn't need to tell Li Long right now. This matter was beneficial to him, and if it was accomplished, it would also be beneficial to Li Long in the future.

Now, the more Li Xiangqian looked at Li Long, the happier he became. This Li Long is his lucky star!

He must treat this kid better in the future. If there are any tasks, he can think of him first. Look, he prioritizes him with all the good stuff; this friendship is truly extraordinary!

"Alright, let's go, come with me to get the money," Li Xiangqian said, "Then you go do your thing. I won't treat you to a meal today; I have things to do."

"No need to rush for the money." Li Long checked the time; it was almost lunch.

"Forget it, you take the money, so you can be at ease, and I won't have this hanging over my head." Li Xiangqian retorted, "Friendship is friendship, money is money. Alright, let's go. There are some things in your room that I'm still eyeing, but I don't have enough money right now, we'll talk about it later."

Li Long casually grabbed a roe deer pizzle from the side and handed it to Li Xiangqian:

"How about adding this?"

"Alright, alright." Li Xiangqian laughed happily, "You kid, you're a natural at doing business!"

After getting the money from Li Xiangqian, Li Long carried his bag and went to the small courtyard on Wuyi South Road.

It was already time to get off work, and Gu Xiaoxia had already arrived.

Lunch was rice and stir-fried dishes—shredded potatoes, braised pork with dried green beans, plus a soup.

Seeing Gu Xiaoxia, Yang Xiulan, and Han Fang waiting for him at the dining table, Li Long explained while putting his bag aside:

"I originally planned to come early, but someone wanted to buy furs on the way, so it took a while. Big Sister, this bag has meat brought back from the mountains—wolf meat, venison, and wild boar meat. Just cook it and eat it whenever."

"That... I don't really know how to cook it." Yang Xiulan was just a farmer back in her hometown; how could she have cooked these things?

"It's fine, just cook it like regular meat. Rinse it several times before cooking; game meat has a strong gamey smell, so add more seasonings to suppress it." Li Long explained, "You need to put on some fat in the middle of winter, eat more meat."

Since he said so, Yang Xiulan had no objections.

Li Long was hungry and ate two bowls of rice. There was a lot of food, but they did have some leftovers.

After eating, Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia rested for a while, then went out together. Li Long sent Gu Xiaoxia to the entrance of the Education Bureau, then turned back to the courtyard.

Gu Xiaoxia had simply cleared the snow in the courtyard, but because she had to go to work, she didn't do much.

Li Long wasn't very sleepy after eating, so he found some tools and started clearing the snow.

The courtyard was too big. He first cleared the snow on the road outside the courtyard, sweeping it into the ditches on both sides. The snow on the road had already been packed solid, so he had to use an iron shovel—Li Long swept away what was easy to clear first, then returned to the courtyard and swept the snow into piles.

How should he put it? Living in a courtyard is indeed quite nice; you're on flat ground as soon as you step out of the room, you're close to the earth, and you can grow some things, but the bad thing is that the snow is heavy in winter, and clearing snow is a big hassle.

It's fine if the courtyard is small, but if it's large, clearing the snow alone takes several days, and you can't do anything else.

Fortunately, the pace of life is slow now. Li Long spent these few days in the mountains, and hunting had come to an end. Coming back to do some work, although tiring, felt pretty good.

After working for two hours, the snow in the front yard was all piled together in five piles. Li Long put down his tools, planning to take a break before moving it out.

Just as he was about to go to the kitchen to drink some water, a knock came from outside, and a familiar voice rang out.

"Is Comrade Li Long home?"

That's Old Chen.

Li Long immediately thought that Old Chen probably already knew about him going to sell the furs. (End of chapter)