Chapter 452: Each Pursuing Their Own Future

In the Li family courtyard, Tao Da and Li Qing Xia were mending nets. According to Li Long, he called Li Qing Xia "Grandpa," but according to Li Jianguo, he had to call him "Great-Grandpa." Forget it, let's just stick with Li Long's way.

"Grandpa Li, do you think we should catch some fish and take them to Shicheng to sell?"

"Heh, I was just thinking about that!" Li Qing Xia actually had the same idea. Once he heard Tao Da say this, he immediately agreed. "We can't get a good price in the county, and it's hard to sell them there."

This morning, they had harvested over thirty kilograms of fish. The two of them went to the county together to sell them, arriving at the market before the sun had even risen.

As a result, they hadn't finished selling the thirty-plus kilograms by noon, and in the end, they had to bring them back. Fish prices were still fluctuating; there were many people catching fish in the summer, so it was only seven or eight mao per kilogram, and even then, people were still picky.

The main issue was that the Maxian market was too small to accommodate so much fish.

Shicheng—only the Shicheng market could handle such a quantity of fish, and the prices shouldn't be low either.

They had all followed Li Long to Shicheng before and knew that prices there were high, things sold quickly, and the customers weren't as picky.

"It's just that the road is long," Tao Da said. "Grandpa Li, this twenty-plus kilometer road, look at you..."

"It's only twenty-plus kilometers, just fifty *li* or so. When I was young, I used to walk dozens of *li* just to sell ginger. Now that we have bicycles, what's there to be afraid of?" Li Qing Xia was feeling spirited now, and his health was truly good. "We'll go up in the morning, catch the fish, add some water to urea bags, and ride all the way to Shicheng to sell them. Even if a few die, the fish will still be fresh, which is much better than selling them in the county."

"Alright then, we'll go to Shicheng tomorrow." Tao Da was going to have a child, and his thoughts on earning money had become urgent. Once you have a child, there are many places where money is needed. Although children were easy to raise nowadays, it depended on how you raised them.

The deadline for weaving the carrying poles was at the end of the month, so he needed to earn more money for the time being—at least enough to cover the hospital costs for when his wife gave birth. Tao Da didn't know how much it would cost; he only knew he had to earn as much as possible. He couldn't have it like when his mother gave birth to him, doing it at home, right?

The two reached an agreement. After finishing the nets, Tao Da went home to eat, and they arranged to set the nets together in the afternoon. They planned to set more nets this time; since Li Long had over a dozen nets left, they might as well use them all. Currently, there were quite a few people setting nets in the Little Haizi, and four or five families were catching fish to sell in the county. The catch wasn't as plentiful as before, so they had to set more nets and catch more, otherwise, a trip to Shicheng wouldn't be worth it.

At the Shicheng market, Chen Xingbang was shouting in front of his stall. Occasionally, someone would come over to ask about the price of mutton. Out of four or five people who asked, one might decide to cut off a piece of meat to eat.

Currently, he could sell about one sheep a day, earning a dozen yuan here and there.

He wasn't in a rush. It was basically confirmed that within this market area, there were more people eating pork than mutton. Many felt that mutton was still gamey and not as fatty as pork, so it wasn't satisfying enough.

However, mutton was cheap, so those who wanted to eat meat but didn't have much money would only weigh out mutton.

He still had the skill to trim meat; he could trim the mutton clean so that not a bit of meat remained on the skin, though he did need to leave some on the bones, as no one wanted to gnaw on dry bones.

According to market prices, mutton with bone was 1.2 yuan per kilogram, mutton was 1.35 yuan per kilogram, and sheep heads, trotters, and organs also had different prices.

Selling a whole sheep piece by piece could bring in twenty or thirty yuan.

He planned to sell two more sheep and then go to the nearby countryside or villages to buy two pigs to sell. He estimated that after slaughtering a pig he bought, he could earn at least forty or fifty yuan per head.

Just at this moment, an old lady carrying a willow basket on her arm walked over and asked:

"Young man, how are you selling this mutton?"

"Meat is 1.35 yuan per kilogram, meat with bone and ribs are 1.2 yuan per kilogram."

"Can you make it cheaper? I see this mutton isn't fatty. It won't taste good, right?" The old lady was quite shrewd and knew how to haggle. Previously, when Chen Xingbang sold meat, people would either leave after asking or weigh out how much they wanted. Now that he had encountered someone who was nitpicking, he naturally wasn't happy, but he smiled and said:

"Auntie, you're mistaken there. This sheep of mine was brought down from the mountains. The sheep there are different from the ones raised in our courtyards. You know the mountains to the south? They grow *Codonopsis* and *Fritillaria*—all good things. People can't even eat them, so the sheep eat them instead. Just imagine how good this meat must be!"

"Let me tell you, the sheep on the mountain are about to move to the deep interior, so you won't be able to eat such good mutton for the next half year. If you want to eat it, you'll have to wait until autumn. I only managed to get someone to bring these down from the mountains; there are only a dozen or so sheep in total, and once they're sold, there won't be any more. You won't be able to eat it even if you want to later."

He took the story Li Long had used to fool them and used it here to fool the old lady. The old lady asked, half-believing:

"Is it really that good?"

"That it is! Let me tell you, the leaders in the county and city all eat this meat. Before the New Year, those units at the sugar factory all sourced their sheep meat from the mountains as welfare. Why? Isn't it because they eat Chinese herbs and drink mountain spring water? It's better than what we eat, so how could the meat not be good? See which piece you want, and I'll cut it for you!"

"Give me... two kilograms of ribs, and weigh me two kilograms of meat. Make sure the scale is generous."

"No problem!" Chen Xingbang felt that his words were quite effective. Looking at this auntie's demeanor, she probably would have weighed at most one or two kilograms of meat, but this time she had gone all out.

The old lady took a handkerchief bundle out of her pocket, opened it, and took out a stack of money. There were a few ten-yuan notes, but more were one-yuan, two-yuan, one-mao, and two-mao notes, plus quite a few small change coins. It was quite thick.

After paying, Chen Xingbang had already cut and weighed the meat and showed the scale reading to the old lady. The old lady saw that the scale was indeed generous and was very satisfied.

"Young man, if I eat this meat and it's good when I go back, I'll come again."

Chen Xingbang smiled and said:

"Auntie, don't you worry. This meat is absolutely no problem. My own family eats it too, though we can't bear to eat too much of it. This meat is very nourishing."

The old lady carried her basket away, satisfied. Chen Xingbang continued to wait for the next customer. Not long after, another old lady came over. This time, she was carrying a cloth bag, and it looked like she had come straight for the meat stall.

Chen Xingbang immediately became excited. Was this a repeat customer? Judging by her expression, she didn't look like she was looking for trouble, just that she hadn't seen her before?

"Young man, are you selling mutton from the mountains?"

"That's right, authentic sheep raised on mountain herbs," Chen Xingbang's heart stirred, and he immediately said loudly, "They run in the mountains every day, eating *Codonopsis* and *Fritillaria* as they grow. It's absolutely good mutton!"

"Then give me two kilograms of meat and two kilograms of ribs. Do you have sheep kidneys?"

"Yes, those two are still here."

"Give me some too." This old lady was quite fierce and didn't care at all about the gazes of others. "Weigh it together. By the way, how much is it?"

Only now did she ask for the price? It seemed this person wasn't short of money. Chen Xingbang didn't intend to raise the price on the spot and quoted directly:

"Pure meat is 1.35 yuan per kilogram, ribs are 1.2 yuan..."

"Weigh it."

Chen Xingbang immediately started weighing. His knife was quite accurate; he cut exactly two kilograms and one hundred grams of meat, and exactly two kilograms of ribs. The old lady praised him:

"Young man, your hand is very accurate. If this meat tastes good, I'll come back to weigh more later."

One after another, several people came over asking if this was mountain mutton. Chen Xingbang realized that the first old lady must have gone to promote it to her friends after buying the meat, and everyone had come over. Thus, today's mutton stall closed half a day early, and the meat of one sheep was sold out before lunch.

Chen Xingbang thought that if it were always like this, why bother with pigs? Just stick with sheep.

It was a pity there weren't that many sheep, and he didn't have a tractor or a horse cart, only a flatbed cart, so he could only collect them nearby. If it really didn't work out, he would have to call Li Long and have him bring the tractor over to pull a cartload of sheep for him, or help him get a pig.

There was still time in the afternoon, but Chen Xingbang didn't dare to slaughter any more sheep; if he couldn't sell them in the afternoon, they wouldn't be fresh tomorrow.

He processed the sheepskins from the few sheep slaughtered over the past two days, planning to sell them at the acquisition station once they were dry. This was also a source of income.

Li Long's small shop had opened two orders. Sun Jia Qiang finished eating the meat, took away two bones, half a stomach, a section of intestine, and the items he wanted, and then it became quiet here.

Li Long rested for a while, then put the trimmed meat on to simmer, and fished out the bones and organs from the pot, preparing to make them into air-dried meat once they were dry, keeping them for later.

Although it was cool here morning and evening, the noon sun was hot enough, so it should be fine. After finishing these tasks, he took the roe deer skin, rubbed it with salt, and nailed it to the wall outside the wooden house. Li Long tidied up, then shouldered his gun and headed southwest.

He vaguely remembered having an appointment with someone who dug *Fritillaria*. If the other party wanted to trade, they were to go there. It had been a few days, and he didn't know if that person had dug any up.

He also wanted to take the opportunity to see if there were any new traces in the area where he had seen wild boars last time.

The small shop counted as a side business, and hunting also counted as a side business. The small shop needed time, but as for hunting, it depended on luck.

It was an hour later when Li Long arrived at that place. It was relatively flat here, and any situation could be seen at a glance. There were definitely no wild boars at this time; after eating here in the morning, the wild boars would have long since run into the mountain gullies.

There was quite a bit of wild boar dung on the grass. It seemed the wild boars had been here many times, and some of the dung was still soft. Li Long confirmed that wild boars were indeed coming here to forage every day.

It was a pity he hadn't brought any traps. Otherwise, if he couldn't handle the big wild boars, getting some small ones would have been possible.

He looked around again and didn't find anyone, so he left, shouldering his gun with some disappointment.

Not long after he left, someone came down from the eastern slope, looked around, didn't see anyone, and felt some disappointment. However, when he saw the wild boar dung that had been stepped on, he immediately perked up.

Someone really had come?

There were no horseshoe prints nearby, so it wasn't those people from the forestry team. This person felt it was very likely the one who had reminded him!

So, where had he gone, and would he come again?

This person was carrying a bag of *Fritillaria* in his hand, intending to trade it for things. It was just that he had brushed past Li Long, and he felt some regret.

In the end, this person carefully identified the footprints on the grass and then followed Li Long's footprints.

!.

Li Long going back wasn't giving up. Once he confirmed that wild boars were coming here, he had already made a decision. He might not be able to guard for the wild boars tomorrow, so he planned to go back, bring tools, and come over to dig a pit, just like last year, to see if he could get a few small wild boars to take back and raise!

He returned to the wooden house, came out with tools, and looked around. There were no other figures, so it seemed the small shop needed to be temporarily closed.

Li Long shouldered his gun and carried a shovel, and in his hand, he also carried a bag filled with corn kernels. If you want to trap wild boars, how can you do it without investing some capital?

Li Long had walked more than a kilometer with his things when he saw someone carrying a bag walking slowly toward him. He stopped in his tracks.

That person also discovered Li Long and likewise stopped. When he saw clearly that it was Li Long, he actually felt a sense of relief.

"Are you buying *Fritillaria*?" that person shouted, his voice a bit hoarse.

"I am." Li Long looked for a while and recognized this as the person he had almost shot before. Going west was also what he had agreed upon with him. Had he come from that side?

"I want to trade for some food." That person was truly hungry. "Do you have any food? Is that grain in your bag?"

"Corn. I'm going to set traps for wild boars. How much *Fritillaria* do you have? Are you trading it all for grain? I have some other things there; do you want to trade for those?"

"What do you have?" Upon hearing there were other things, that person immediately perked up. "I've saved up six or seven kilograms of *Fritillaria*, and some are already half-dry. What do you think I can trade for?"

"If you have a pot, I can trade you some rice and flour. Your six kilograms are worth about twenty yuan; you can trade for thirty or forty kilograms of rice and flour. I have liquor, sesame cakes, and daily necessities like rope and sickles. See what you need."

"I'll trade for rice and flour. Do you have anything I can eat now?"

"I do, but you have to come over with me. Also, do you want the meat I cooked today?"

"I do." Upon hearing there was cooked meat, that person's saliva almost flowed out. He only knew how to dig *Fritillaria* and didn't know how to do anything else. He had dug up *Fritillaria* these past few days, but he had nothing left to eat; he was starving to death.

Li Long pointed to the path he had come from and said:

"Then follow me over. Get the things first; I'll come back later to set traps for the wild boars."

That person followed behind Li Long, walking toward the wooden house. When he saw the tractor, he was also shocked. If you have a tractor, why are you suffering in the mountains? Why not go out and work to earn money?

Li Long didn't care about this person's gaze or expression. He put down the shovel and the bag, opened the door, found an enamel basin, put two pieces of meat and bones into it, brought it out, and handed it to that person: "Eat."

"Hey, hey!" That person hurriedly took the basin and, without washing his hands, just grabbed the meat and started eating.

Li Long walked to the small wooden house, opened the door, and asked:

"What else do you need?"

This person also saw that Li Long didn't mean to deceive him. To be honest, it wasn't worth it just for his bit of *Fritillaria*. He glanced around and said:

"Give me a bottle of liquor. Do you have matches? I've been freezing for two days."

"I do, but be careful when you light a fire; don't cause a forest fire." Li Long took out a few boxes of matches and also took a bottle of liquor. This was loose liquor he had poured into a beer bottle after buying it; it was convenient to carry.

"Give me some more sesame cakes, and some rice and flour as well. Don't you have corn flour?"

"No." Li Long waved his hand. "Eat more fine grain while in the mountains; be good to yourself, otherwise, it'll be troublesome if you get sick. By the way, I have medicine here—aspirin, analgin. Do you want any?"

"Yes, yes, yes." That person's voice was slurred, mainly because the meat was too delicious. He didn't even think about talking anymore; he just wanted to finish the meat as quickly as possible. It had been a long time—or rather, he had never eaten meat like this in his life. He envied Li Long so much!

Of course, if he had a gun, maybe he could also get meat to eat in the mountains. Wasn't digging *Fritillaria* in the mountains just to be able to eat well and live a good life?

Suddenly remembering Li Long saying he was going to set traps for wild boars later, he stopped eating the meat and asked:

"Boss, you're going to set traps for wild boars later; are you going to dig a pit?"

"That's right."

"Then can I go work? My requirements aren't high; if you catch a wild boar, just give me a leg."

"You can just trade with *Fritillaria*." Li Long pointed inside the house and said, "You've traded for these things, and there's still money left, so you can just trade for some meat to take back."

"I don't have a pot there." That person smiled bitterly.

"I could get you an old pot to take back, but it wouldn't be convenient for you to carry. Do you need a larger basin? A basin would also work."

There were still steel pots in the department store, but Li Long hadn't taken any. He thought he could bring some next time; maybe someone would want them—forget it, he wasn't really opening a small shop, was he really going to turn his place into a general store?

"It's better to just buy cooked meat from you." That person was also afraid of trouble. "How much meat do you have left? Can I trade these *Fritillaria* for two bones, or other meat?"

"I have two pieces of meat left, and some offal. Do you eat heart, liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines?"

"I do." That person smiled. "Those are the delicious parts. I'll trade for some."

Thus, Li Long packed some meat and offal for this person, and also gave him a sickle, a shovel, a roll of rope, and other things he needed.

Six or seven kilograms of *Fritillaria* wasn't a small amount. Li Long could earn a dozen yuan or so on the turnover, which wasn't bad. Then he also learned that this person was called Hou Guoliang, who said he would come back to trade for things after a while.

Li Long didn't take these words to heart. After all, to be honest, they all knew that these people dug *Fritillaria* to earn money; trading for things was just temporary, and more importantly, they wanted to save up the *Fritillaria*. Li Long had also told him that if he wanted to trade for money, that was fine too; he could trade for money for them here.

Hou Guoliang didn't intend to ask for money for the time being, saying he would talk about it later. Currently, it wasn't the peak production period for *Fritillaria*, so he needed to store up some supplies. Once the peak production period for *Fritillaria* arrived, these people would be able to dig several kilograms of *Fritillaria* a day, and they would definitely intend to trade those for money, so they wouldn't sell them so easily then.

After all this fuss, the sun had moved further west. Li Long thought about it and decided to go there to dig a pit. Whether it was trading meat for *Fritillaria* or needing food at home, he needed a few wild boars. Of course, mainly small wild boars; they were good to take back and raise. These guys had strong disease resistance and were easy to raise, and the meat was delicious when slaughtered, so he couldn't give up.

Carrying the shovel and the bag, and shouldering his gun, he continued toward the southwest. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 453 =====