Chapter 43: They Are All Good Jade

Seeing Halimu laugh, Li Long was a bit confused.

"This jade, we knew about it when we were very young." Halimu got up from the wooden kang, rummaged around the stove for a while, and found a stone strip about ten centimeters long and a palm wide. He wiped the dust off it and handed it to Li Long:

"Look, Nasen picked it up from the river the summer before last."

Hearing Halimu’s words, Li Long felt a cold sweat; it was true, he had made a fool of himself!

This was the place where they had grazed for generations; how could they not know there was jade in these mountains? It was his own lack of experience.

He took the jade stone and examined it carefully.

The winter shelter’s window was small, the daylight wasn't bright, and they didn't light a lamp during the day, so he couldn't see it very clearly.

But even so, Li Long could tell at a glance that this was clearly a pebble material, not the angular mountain material.

More importantly, looking at it now, apart from a little black stone skin, the rest of the jade was a very beautiful green—not the green of later generations’ jadeite glass, but a deeper green, yet not dark green, feeling like deep, dark lake water.

Li Long had also seen the popular version of Mahe jade in his previous life, which usually had black spots like fly specks.

But this piece of jade was transparent, without cracks or black spots; it was definitely top quality.

He simply got off the kang, walked out of the house, and looked through the daylight outside. Sure enough, there wasn't a single black spot.

Although the value of this jade couldn't compare to Hetian jade, it was still top-quality jade.

Good stuff.

Halimu followed Li Long out, saw him looking carefully, and said with a smile:

"Like it? It’s yours."

"No, no, it’s too valuable." Li Long hurriedly handed the jade back to Halimu. "This jade has a relatively high value."

"We’re friends, don't talk about that." Halimu stuffed the jade back to Li Long and said solemnly, "It’s useless to us here. I once took it down the mountain to trade for things, but no one would trade with me."

"We can often pick up this jade in the mountains. In our eyes, it can't compare to the tea, flour, and salt you brought. If we’re friends, don't say any more!"

Li Long was very sure that if this jade were placed in later generations, selling it for tens of thousands would be no problem. Although he was a layman, he knew this much. Even now, if he ran into someone who knew their stuff, selling it for dozens or hundreds of yuan shouldn't be a problem.

"Then I won't be polite." Li Long didn't say anything more; some words were better left unsaid, and practical actions were better.

"That’s right," Halimu laughed. "Later, we’ll go borrow a gun from Yushanjiang. Tomorrow morning, we’ll have two guns and see how many wild boars we can hunt."

"Good. By the way, I brought some more bullets." Li Long took out the bullets to show Halimu. "I’ll bring some more next time I come."

"That’s great." Halimu gave a thumbs up. "We can have plenty of these. I’m worried that the wolf I wounded last time will come back for revenge. The snow in the mountains is heavy, and recently there have been more and more wild beasts nearby. Red deer and roe deer have also appeared."

Roe deer, because they look similar to female deer, people here call them "roe deer."

With more of these herbivores, it would naturally attract carnivores. Wolves, snow leopards, and even brown bears would appear.

For herdsmen, this was a huge threat—because once these carnivorous beasts were short of food, they would naturally attack the herdsmen’s cattle and sheep.

Even in later generations, there were frequent occurrences of brown bears and black bears running into herdsmen’s sheep pens to grab sheep.

Because Li Long had come, lunch was naan, air-dried meat, and milk tea. Li Long wasn't polite either. After eating and drinking his fill, he and Halimu rode horses together to find the other herdsman, Yushanjiang.

The horse Li Long brought didn't have a saddle. To make it easier for Li Long to ride, Halimu let Li Long ride his own horse, while he rode the production team’s horse without a saddle, leading the way along the mountain gully toward the other side.

It was fortunate that this horse was shod; otherwise, Li Long really wouldn't have dared to walk like this.

The two rode and walked for over an hour, crossed two mountains, and only then saw a winter shelter on another mountain meadow.

The sound of dogs barking traveled very far. On the horse, Li Long saw that the sheep hadn't been driven out.

It must be that the snow was too deep, and the sheep couldn't find grass even if they went out, so they were simply fed in the pen, waiting for the snow to melt.

When the two were almost at the winter shelter, a man in his forties bent over and walked out of the winter shelter.

Halimu dismounted, went over to greet the other party, and then introduced Li Long. "Jakes ma?" Li Long reached out his hand to the other party.

Yushanjiang shook hands with Li Long, his mouth moving slightly.

Li Long felt a bit strange, not because he thought the other party was cold, but because he felt the other party might have something on his mind.

"The tea leaves and salt I brought last time were brought by Li Long."

He said to Li Long again:

"One of the deer antlers you took away the second time was from Brother Yushanjiang here."

Li Long hurriedly thanked him.

"No need, no need, we’re friends. You helped me a lot; otherwise, my family wouldn't have milk tea to drink." Yushanjiang heard Halimu say Li Long had brought tea leaves and immediately spoke up.

"Let’s go into the winter shelter first." Yushanjiang led the two to tie up their horses and went into the winter shelter first.

Yushanjiang’s winter shelter was larger than Halimu’s, but the furnishings inside were much the same. There was a girl and a boy in the room. The girl was sixteen or seventeen, with a round face; the boy was fourteen or fifteen, looking quite like Yushanjiang, also with a round face.

!.

The two children looked at Li Long with curious eyes.

Li Long felt annoyed again; why hadn't he brought candy with him?

Of course, he didn't know if children this old liked to eat candy.

He thought for a moment, took out bullets from his pocket, and gave the two children one or two each.

Only then did he look at Halimu, asking in a low voice:

"Is this... violating any taboos?"

Halimu laughed and said:

"They will be very happy."

Li Long had already seen the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle hanging on the wall.

This gun was older than Halimu’s; the originally grass-green gun strap had turned black, and the handguard on the gun had been polished until it was shiny, with a patina.

Halimu and Yushanjiang talked for a while, and Yushanjiang laughed.

He nodded, then bent over and rummaged under the wooden kang, took out a volleyball-sized piece of jade, and handed it to Li Long:

"A gift for you!"

Li Long felt a bit embarrassed; it was awkward to accept, and awkward not to.

This thing weighed over ten kilograms and clearly looked like pebble material; he thought no one should be using mountain material now.

And it also felt very beautiful; it was definitely good jade.

"Take it, we’re friends, don't be polite!" Yushanjiang urged for a while.

Li Long accepted it with some embarrassment. He even felt that his own intentions weren't pure, and he felt a bit sorry for these simple herdsmen.

When he brought things into the mountains before, he had had a purpose.

And they gave too much.

Even if they knew it was like this, they would still give.

Li Long felt that in the future, he would have to bring more things they lacked to repay this kindness.

Of course, the most important thing now was to look at the gun.

Watching Yushanjiang take the gun down, Li Long’s gaze became eager.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 64 =====