Chapter 403: One is also herding, a whole flock is also herding; let's get going!

Rising early the next day, after finishing breakfast, Gu Xiaoxia went to work, and Li Long checked his Type 56 semi-automatic rifle.

Originally, this trip was just to deliver grain, but the job Li Xiangqian had offered held quite a strong temptation for Li Long. If he did it well and bagged a few wild boars, plus a few other animals, another thousand or so would be in his pocket.

To have such a job before the New Year, Li Long was quite happy. Now that he had mastered a few hunting spots, he could also go and ask Huang Yang and the others. According to this plan, even in the worst-case scenario, he should be able to bag one or two wild boars on this trip into the mountains.

A workman must sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well.

If one wants to bag good game, one must inevitably clean the gun well first—otherwise, in the cold winter, if the bolt freezes and jams or the gun misfires, and one has to watch the prey run away right before one's eyes, that feeling would absolutely be hard to take.

It would be even more uncomfortable than having a fish on the hook and then losing it.

If a wild boar goes mad and the gun jams at a critical moment, that wild boar charging over could cost a person their life.

After carefully cleaning and reassembling the gun and putting it into its holster, Li Long put on his overcoat, slung the gun over his shoulder, and went out the door. He checked every room door, making sure they were closed and locked, and only then did he lead out No. 76 and harness it to the carriage.

No. 76 was a very clever old horse; knowing it was time to work, it very cooperatively turned and stepped into the shafts. Li Long put the harness on it, patted its back, and said:

"If only you could be like that dog I saw in my previous life that picked up students, knowing how to harness yourself to the cart, that would truly be great."

No. 76 snorted, though it was unclear whether it was expressing disdain or meant something else.

Driving the carriage out the gate, Li Long turned back to lock the gate, then sat on the carriage and drove westward.

When he left the county seat, the sun had only just revealed half of its red face. Li Long estimated that by the time he reached Huang Yang's place, it would be mid-morning; everything would be in time.

On this trip, he planned to stay in the wooden cabin for two or three days; if he could hunt something, he would, and if he couldn't, he would come back—he wouldn't be greedy. Besides the things he was bringing for Huang Yang and the others, Li Long also brought some steamed buns for himself. There was still a small amount of food supplies left in the wooden cabin, which, barring any accidents, would be enough for him to eat for a few days.

It was just that because the hunting trip was a spur-of-the-moment decision, the fodder Li Long brought wasn't enough, and he needed to get some fodder at Huang Yang's place as a backup. After all, it was easy to get food for himself, but it wasn't easy to get grass for No. 76 in the ice and snow.

He planned to ride a horse to hunt after delivering the grain, so that he could move faster in the snow and be more efficient.

While letting his thoughts wander, he let No. 76 pull the carriage along the Wuyi Highway toward the west. He almost overshot the turn; the fork in the road was right before them, but No. 76 didn't turn south and instead kept walking straight—perhaps it thought Li Long was taking it to Shicheng?

Li Long hurriedly flicked the whip and pulled the reins to turn onto the road toward Qingshuihe.

This road was clearly not as smooth as the Wuyi Highway, and the surface that had been pressed down was a bit narrow, but No. 76 wasn't picky; at most, it would just take a bit more effort.

Although the sun had revealed its full face, the temperature was still very low. In the short time they had been out, No. 76's head and face had turned white, and the fur lining of Li Long's leather hat, as well as the hair on his own eyebrows and eyes, had also turned white.

Fortunately, he was wearing a mask and a scarf, and the collar of his overcoat was turned up, so his nose wouldn't be cold when he breathed.

Passing through Qingshuihe Township, he saw children playing on the road, spinning tops and sliding on the ice. In the middle of the road, there was an "ice track" that had been worn black—this was something the children had worn down through persistent sliding. No. 76 understood this very well; when it walked, it specifically avoided this slide track, otherwise, even though it had been shod, it might still slip and fall if it stepped on it.

Once an animal like a horse breaks a leg, it is very difficult to heal, after all, this creature sleeps standing up.

The utilization rate of its legs is too high.

Leaving Qingshuihe Township, the sides of the road suddenly became quiet. The weather today was okay; there was no howling wind, and it wasn't snowing. The sky wasn't very blue—it wasn't pollution, and Li Long didn't understand what it was, but in short, it felt like blue tinged with a bit of grayish-white.

The shrubs and red willows on both sides of the road were also covered in white snow, but this wouldn't last long; when the sun rose to the middle of the sky, a slight increase in temperature would melt it away.

At this time, Li Long sat up straight and observed both sides, wanting to see if he could spot any Mongolian gazelles passing by. If there were any, he could catch up and bag one or two, and he would be done with the task.

Unfortunately, there were none.

In the distance, there were people herding sheep and grazing them slowly. Li Long was a bit puzzled; these people were too diligent, herding the sheep out so early in the morning—was it because they hadn't prepared enough grass at home?

The carriage entered the mountain pass, and the surroundings became even quieter; he couldn't even hear the chirping of birds. Li Long felt a bit unaccustomed to it. He raised the whip and flicked it, making a sound, trying to break this tranquility.

No. 76 turned its head and looked at him, with an expression of confusion—I'm clearly walking very fast, why are you flicking the whip?

Li Long couldn't give any concrete response, so No. 76 quickened its pace; it thought Li Long was complaining that it was slow.

It was a bit bumpy—after all, mountain roads are different from the roads outside.

By the time they reached the opposite side of Huang Yang's winter camp, No. 76 was already sweating, and hot steam was permeating the sunlight.

The sound of dogs barking brought Huang Yang out. Seeing Li Long, he happily strode over.

Li Long drove the carriage into the gully, and then, together with Huang Yang who had rushed over, pushed the carriage up—of course, it was mainly No. 76 exerting the force.

"This time, what I brought is mainly grain and salt." After exchanging greetings with Huang Yang, Li Long explained his purpose, "Besides, I plan to hunt some things in the next two days; there are people outside the mountains buying them."

"Wild boars, anything is fine?" Huang Yang asked while carrying a sack and unloading it from the cart.

"Anything is fine."

"Two days ago, in the valley behind your wooden cabin, there was a herd of wild boars, but it seems they only stayed for a day. Then, in a mountain gully toward Yushanjiang's side, I saw roe deer and red deer." Huang Yang said, "In a while, I'll draw it out for you."

This "drawing it out" naturally meant drawing a map. Li Long smiled and agreed.

Sure enough, when looking for things in the mountains, one still has to ask the people in the mountains.

The things were unloaded, and Huang Yang wiped the sweat off No. 76 and fed it fodder, while Li Long went inside to drink milk tea.

Huang Yang's mother looked at Li Long with a smile, saying something, and since Li Long didn't know what she was saying, he could only smile and nod repeatedly. When Huang Yang's wife served Li Long milk tea, she couldn't help but laugh. Li Long knew he might have made a fool of himself.

But it didn't matter; their relationship was very good, so let them laugh if they wanted to.

When Huang Yang stooped to come in, Nasen was asking Li Long some questions.

For example, about movies, about "Shaolin Temple," and about martial arts and the like. This year, Nasen's Chinese had made significant progress, and he could communicate preliminarily, and he spoke quite clearly.

This made Li Long feel surprised. When children, they learn languages much faster than adults.

"'Shaolin Temple' is a movie, it's just images projected onto a white cloth from a machine, um, a machine similar to this radio..."

Li Long explained in a way that Nasen and the others could understand as much as possible.

Last year, "Shaolin Temple" had already been released. Li Long didn't have time to watch it; he didn't even know the specific release time. Although he had been to the Cultural Palace a few times, it was always to buy various tickets, and he had never thought about watching a movie.

Li Long's impression of the Cultural Palace stopped at things like video screenings, "Little Bee" game consoles, and selling melon seeds, which were things from several years later.

When he had time, could he go watch a movie with Gu Xiaoxia? After all, a classic movie like "Shaolin Temple" would definitely be shown for a long time in this small northwestern city, and maybe they would be able to see it.

Nasen couldn't imagine how a movie was played. It was just like how many children in the mountains in later generations couldn't understand how a computer worked.

"Later, when you come down from the mountains to the county seat, I'll treat you to a movie." Li Long finally had to say this.

Nasen's grandmother said a few words.

Huang Yang translated:

"My mother says, the radio is a good thing, letting the children know many things outside, and them wanting to go outside to see is a good thing. But the radio is also a bad thing, because it will destroy the traditions of us Kazakh herdsmen, and when Nasen and the others grow up, maybe they won't want to stay in the mountains anymore." Li Long was silent; this was unavoidable. For the sake of easier management and the convenience of the herdsmen's lives, more than a decade later, various places in Northern Xinjiang began to implement settled animal husbandry. The nomadic peoples in the mountains gradually changed their lifestyles, having their own large courtyards at the foot of the mountains. Although livestock could still be grazed in rotation, the elderly and children lived at the foot of the mountains. Some people even stopped migrating and began to pen-raise cattle and sheep, and the number of fodder-fed sheep increased more and more.

Objectively, this was an improvement in lifestyle; after all, this way, children could go to school nearby, and it was convenient for the elderly to see a doctor. But many traditions of the nomadic peoples also slowly disappeared.

It didn't matter whether it was right or wrong, this couldn't be measured—after all, the scale in everyone's heart is different.

Li Long changed the subject:

"Huang Yang, in a while, bring me a bale of grass, and I'll take some more salt. I plan to stay at the wooden cabin for two days to make it easier to hunt."

"Okay." Huang Yang replied with just one word, then took a sip of the milk tea his wife handed him, and then suddenly asked:

"Li Long, you say, can Nasen and the others go to school?"

"Yes, they can." Although Li Long was a bit surprised by the question Huang Yang asked, he still gave a positive answer, "I think next year or the year after, the county might set up Uyghur schools and Kazakh schools. By then, you can have a courtyard at the foot of the mountains. The children and the elderly can live at the foot of the mountains, and then Nasen can go to school."

Although most of the herdsmen in the pastoral team were in the mountains, they also had their own territory. If they wanted to, they could completely build a courtyard and settle their home there; after all, this was the general trend.

Of course, for those who didn't want to move in the end, after some more time, they would be forcibly dispersed to various villages, just like being sent down.

The preferential policies of socialism for the common people might not have a high upper limit due to national strength, but the lower limit would definitely be much higher than that of capitalism. Not letting a single person fall behind is sometimes truly a political task.

!.

Even if this person is a rascal or a loafer—this is also a point that some grassroots workers criticize.

"Then... what should I do?" Huang Yang asked earnestly for advice.

"Two ways." Li Long had thought about this question long ago. Next year, because of some events in Southern Xinjiang, the Autonomous Region issued a policy that was very good for ethnic minorities; this was the general trend, and Li Long was just saying it in advance.

"First, you can find your pastoral team leader and request to build a courtyard on your territory. Before you migrate next spring, just gather people to build it. Think about it, it didn't take you long to build this wooden cabin for me, so it won't take much time to build a courtyard for you. After it's built, leave some grain and daily necessities, and the elderly and children can live there without having to run into the mountains anymore. There must be schools near your pastoral team, and they can go to school there."

Huang Yang felt this was quite good.

However, he still wanted to hear the second method.

"The second way is for you to directly spend money to buy a house or a courtyard in Qingshuihe Township or the county seat. In this way, you don't need to build a house, and you can directly go to the schools in the township or the county. However, the schools in the township and county only have Han schools, so you can only let the children directly learn Chinese content."

"Then isn't the school of our pastoral team in Chinese?"

"Not necessarily." Li Long said uncertainly, "It might teach Chinese, or it might teach your Kazakh language."

Huang Yang was silent.

"You don't need to worry, there's still some time, you can consider it slowly." Li Long wasn't very clear about the pastoral team side, but on the county side, Li Long felt that finding a house for Huang Yang in the spring actually wasn't a difficult matter, and as for going to school, it was even simpler. Living in the county, they would naturally be able to go to school. Of course, if they couldn't, then he would find Gu Xiaoxia again; this matter should still be manageable.

At noon, Huang Yang's wife made horse meat Narin. The Kazakh people have the custom of eating horse meat and stuffed horse intestines. It's not the horse they ride, but the meat horse they raise, just like cattle and sheep. The method of making horse meat Narin varies slightly among different tribes, but the main ingredients don't change much: noodles, boiled horse meat and horse intestines, and then pouring meat broth over the noodles that have been fished out, mixing them evenly to eat.

Knowing that Li Long liked cleanliness and didn't like eating with his hands, Huang Yang specifically had his wife serve a bowl for Li Long to eat by himself, while their family gathered around the wooden kang table, eating the two plates of horse meat Narin with their hands.

The technique of grabbing the noodles and meat was similar to the technique of eating pilaf.

Li Long ate very quickly; he was hungry, and besides, although this Narin looked average and had no colorful garnishes, the taste was really good. He ate two bowls.

After finishing, he drank a little noodle soup, which served to settle the meal.

After Huang Yang and his family finished eating, Li Long and Huang Yang walked out together, harnessed the carriage, put a bale of fodder on the carriage, and then put a small bag of salt. After Huang Yang finished, he started drawing a map for Li Long in the snow.

After looking at it and asking clearly about the specific points, Li Long waved his hand, and after saying goodbye to Huang Yang, he drove the carriage away.

There was a road from here to the valley where the wooden cabin was. Although driving the carriage was a bit bumpy, it could still pass through smoothly.

When they reached the wooden cabin, Li Long found that the wooden floor that had been swept clean was now covered with another layer of snow. First, he unloaded the carriage, tied No. 76 to the wood on the east side of the wooden cabin, tore open the fodder and threw a portion to it, Li Long pulled the carriage to the side and put it away, and then went to open the door.

There was a chill in the room. Li Long first set up the fire, and after the stove was going, he took a large broom to sweep the snow.

It hadn't snowed much recently; this snow had been blown over by the wind. The weather in the mountains is changeable; it might be clear for thousands of miles in one moment, and in the next, the sky might be covered with dark clouds, or there might be a torrential rain, but ten minutes later it might become clear again.

After sweeping the snow and getting the stove fire burning brightly, the chill in the room receded. Li Long carried a bucket to the spring to get water, and after returning, he poured it into the teapot, then broke a few pieces of brick tea into it, covered it, and placed it on the stove to boil.

Except for some ingredients and things that hadn't been taken away, the small room was basically empty. Li Long tidied up again; No. 76 would have to squeeze in here at night, so it had to be cleaned up to avoid No. 76 "making trouble" when the time came.

Ingredients and such were all placed in the large room. Li Long looked at the sunlight outside, which was still quite good, and originally thought about whether to take the quilt out to sun it, but then thought better of it. The heat from sunning it wouldn't be as much as the increase in cold air, so he just took a stool and placed it by the stove, and put the quilt on the stool to roast it.

After all this was done, Li Long looked at the time and saw it was still quite early, so he pressed the stove with coal dust, then put on his overcoat, slung his gun, carried his satchel, rope, and plastic sheet, locked the door, and went to lead No. 76, preparing to go around.

There was no saddle on No. 76's back—Li Long hadn't prepared a saddle himself either. Fortunately, his horse-riding skills were quite good now, so he just spread two layers of burlap sacks on No. 76's back, and that was enough. As long as it didn't run hard, Li Long felt he could handle it.

No. 76 was quite docile. Although it was slightly unaccustomed after Li Long got on the horse and shook its neck a few times, it later obediently followed Li Long's instructions and walked toward the east.

After walking for a while, No. 76 wanted to run. Li Long hurriedly pulled it back. Now there was no saddle and no stirrups; if it were to run and the speed were fast, he would definitely fall off.

Li Long pulled the reins, and No. 76 knew what he meant, so it had to honestly walk forward. It was evolving in the direction of a pacing horse.

After crossing a mountain that wasn't too high and walking along the mountain ridge for a while, Li Long saw the place Huang Yang had mentioned where the wild boars had rooted.

The traces of rooting were still quite fresh, but it seemed it wasn't done many times; it should be said there was only one time. The traces were from a few days ago, and as for whether they would come later, he couldn't guarantee.

Li Long had doubts about this place, so he continued.

He let No. 76 continue toward the southeast, which was the direction toward Yushanjiang. In the middle, he had to pass through the Hot Spring Valley. Li Long planned to go to the Hot Spring Valley to take a look; if there were any, that would be best, and if not, he could also scout the situation.

The road to the Hot Spring Valley was a bit undulating. Riding on a horse without a saddle, Li Long was extra careful. Even so, he still slid down from the horse's neck when No. 76 was going down the mountain.

No. 76 stopped its steps in time and looked at Li Long with innocent big eyes. Clearly, it was somewhat confused and was also expressing that this wasn't its fault.

Li Long naturally knew he couldn't blame it. He climbed up, patted the snow off his body, picked up the dropped burlap sack, put it back on No. 76, and led it down to the Hot Spring Valley.

A smell of sulfur drifted over. Li Long felt this was quite good, quite refreshing.

No. 76 was slightly unaccustomed and snorted twice.

Li Long got on No. 76 and walked into the gully. On the horse's back, he held the reins in one hand and grabbed the horse's mane with the other, to avoid falling off again. As for whether he would be able to bag game if he found it, Li Long was a bit uncertain. However, at this time of day, he felt there shouldn't be anything, right?

The deeper they went, the slower No. 76's movements became. Clearly, it didn't like this smell.

Li Long didn't dare to leave it here either; after all, there were wild wolves in these mountains. He wasn't afraid of one, but if it were a pack, and he left, then No. 76 would be food for them.

Li Long now regretted bringing No. 76 over.

He had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue forward.

And then, he heard the sound of water ahead! (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 404 =====