Chapter 456: One Is Not Free to Come and Go in the Mountains; There Are Fierce Beasts!

After steaming the buns, Li Long learned from the previous lesson and left some buns open, and took a few to break open and dry in the big sun outside.

After finishing the buns, Li Long was hungry, took a new bun, ate a simple lunch with red bean curd, and then took the *Fritillaria* to the spring eye and started washing it.

Thinking about how this thing costs several hundred yuan per kilogram in the future, and even over a thousand for good quality, it was truly fierce. However, to tell the truth, he hadn't used it in this life, but he had truly used it in his previous life. He used an old recipe that some people said: marinate *Fritillaria* with honey, and after marinating for one or two months, people with chronic coughs would get better quickly.

Of course, in reality, people who read more books should know that this thing also needs to be dialectical and isn't effective for all symptoms. But as long as it cures a few, it will inevitably be widely spread by word of mouth. Especially after the mask incident, people's immunity generally declined, and then more and more people coughed, and various recipes spread among the people. Anyway, the price of Chinese medicinal materials rose accordingly, and fish and dragons were mixed, making it very difficult for ordinary people to distinguish.

Li Long thought to himself, should he also store some of this in the future? After all, when he reached the 21st century, digging this in the mountains would be illegal.

Bolati and Sun Jia Qiang brought over a total of ten-plus kilograms of *Fritillaria*. Li Long washed all these *Fritillaria* clean, shook off the water, and left them to dry on the case outside the courtyard. The sun outside was quite big, and there were gusts of mountain wind, so the moisture on the surface of these *Fritillaria* had dried in less than an afternoon. Then he took the *Fritillaria* back to the small room and started drying them on the floor first.

Drying them outside would also work, but Li Long didn't know much about it; he just felt that maybe air-dried and sun-dried were different, and he didn't know if it was true or false, so he simply air-dried them.

After putting the *Fritillaria* away, the sun had also set to the west, and it was one or two hours before it set. He didn't dare to go far, so he simply picked around in the nearby grass. When the sun set, he picked two or three kilograms of grass mushrooms and got some wild vegetables, coming back just in time to cook dinner.

The stove outside the courtyard was still a bit simple; after all, it was piled up with stones, too casual. Li Long thought that anyway, he didn't dare to go far tomorrow, so he would simply get some mud early in the morning and pile up the stove, making a more formal earthen stove, so he wouldn't need to adjust the position of the stones from time to time.

The stove in the room had porridge simmering, and the stove outside had wild vegetables blanched in boiling water, and then he stir-fried a mushroom dish. Plus the buns from noon, it was a very nutritious dinner.

After Li Long finished eating, he tidied up the pot, seeing that the coal in the room was almost used up. In another two days, he would have to burn firewood. Remembering the open-pit coal mine that Halimu and Yushanjiang had pointed out last year, he prepared to go pull a tractor of coal back after the sheep matter was handled. Anyway, the resources in the mountains weren't strictly controlled now, so he could take them at will. Even in the 21st century, forest rangers in the deep mountains were doing such things, dragging back wind-fallen pine wood that two people couldn't embrace to burn as firewood, which was very normal.

It was dark, and the wind began to howl. Li Long vaguely heard wolf howls outside, but he was also used to it. Shouldering his gun, he uncovered the window paper to look outside, but it was pitch black outside, and he couldn't see anything. He could see the green eyes of wolves before, probably because there was a little sky light at that time, so it reflected the green light of the wolves' eyes. Now there was nothing, and he didn't know if the moon hadn't come out or if it was blocked by clouds.

Since he couldn't see, Li Long didn't think about shooting wolves anymore, pressed the window paper, put the gun away, and continued to sleep.

Although the wooden house was plastered with a layer of mud outside, it was ultimately a bit drafty, not as solid as a dry-piled earthen house, so he planned to add a layer of outer wall mud to the house when he had time.

There were many plans that had to be implemented step by step, so Li Long felt the task on his shoulders was very heavy.

Tightening the quilt, he fell asleep.

He got up very early the next day, but seeing the sky was bright, he climbed up. He originally thought that if he woke up early, he would go to the place where wild boars were active to take a look, but it definitely wouldn't work now. Even if there were wild boars there, they would have run away long ago.

Setting up the stove and simply making breakfast, Li Long started mixing mud at the spring eye.

Because there was no mold to make earthen bricks, Li Long had to rely on the original stones, using mud to reinforce them and fill the gaps, which was simpler.

More mud was needed, and mud alone wouldn't work, so Li Long went to the forage pile and under the firewood pile to get some grass dregs and wood shavings, mixed them into the mud, and then brought the mud to the stove, first placing the stones, then filling in the mud, and smoothing and leveling the outside.

To say he was a mason, Li Long wasn't qualified, but this thing was like playing with mud; the main thing was to be casual, not needing such a high level, just needing to be roughly regular.

Shovel after shovel of mud was shoveled over and smeared on the stove, and then he started to repair it with his hands. Although his two hands, arms, and clothes were all mud spots, the two stoves became three-dimensional, standardized, and formed step by step. Li Long was quite satisfied no matter how he looked at it. Putting the pot on, seeing there were still gaps in some places that would leak smoke, he took some mud and smeared it on, making it seamless.

Taking off the pot, he let the stove dry for a while. After the moisture on the surface evaporated, he got some firewood, filled the bottom with dry grass and branches, and started a fire. This way, baking the stove would make it dry faster.

The two stoves took Li Long a whole morning. After finishing, seeing it was almost lunch time and there was no movement from Halimu's side, Li Long started making lunch.

Having eaten pasta for two days, Li Long planned to steam rice and stir-fry vegetables at noon. Of course, following the old method, he could also scrape out scorched rice and pour out rice soup. Ever since he got an electric rice cooker in his previous life, he had never drunk rice soup again.

Miss it.

Li Long hummed "Under the Northern Sky" while washing the rice, preparing to steam rice. The fragrance of the rice at this time wasn't something that the rice in supermarkets in the future could compare to. When washing, Li Long couldn't bear to wash it too many times. Anyway, he had already picked out that there were no stones or sand, so washing it once would be enough, right?

Pouring the rice into the pot on the stove, he prepared to stir-fry vegetables.

The rice in the pot on the stove boiled, and Li Long took an iron spoon in one hand and a basin in the other to skim the rice porridge out. The rice porridge couldn't be skimmed too dry, as that would burn the bottom, nor could too much be left, otherwise it would become sticky rice. This amount needed to be grasped.

Li Long skimmed the rice porridge until it was about right, put the basin aside, and then used the iron spoon to slowly smooth the rice in the pot. Seeing bubbles emerging from the rice, and the fragrance of the rice slowly permeating, he knew this time it should be stable.

The stove fire wasn't strong, which was just right. The fire was relatively even, so the rice could be steamed well.

Then he quickly went to the case outside to cut wild celery and meat, put a pot on the stove outside, which already had fire inside, and added oil when the pot was hot.

A big advantage of using firewood and coal was that you didn't need to burn fire while cooking. In the rural areas of northern Xinjiang, cooking required burning firewood, and the women at this time usually added firewood to the stove while cooking, mainly relying on quick eyes and hands, and using two things at once. Otherwise, there wouldn't be enough fire, or there would be too much firewood, or it would burn out, all of which could easily lead to fire accidents.

It wasn't that the stove hadn't been burned before. Usually, such things could make the whole village laugh for half a year.

And the perpetrator would also be crowned with the title of "stupid daughter-in-law." Of course, many times to avoid such things, someone would specifically burn fire in front of the stove, the two cooperating. Sometimes when making *latiaozi*, the person burning the fire also had to take on the job of stirring the noodles and fishing them out. Anyway, no one was idle.

Later, having gas stoves liberated people.

And Li Long here didn't have so many worries with firewood and coal.

The vegetables were stir-fried quickly. A plate of vegetables was brought out, and after Li Long poured a horse spoon of water into the pot, he also took the time to look at the rice, and then tilted the pot slightly. The purpose of doing this was to let the scorched rice at the bottom of the pot burn more evenly.

Of course, this required moving it a few more times, and moving it quickly, otherwise it would also burn the bottom.

After brushing the pot clean, he stir-fried another wild mushroom and meat dish, and Li Long didn't stay outside anymore, guarding the rice on the stove and adjusting it slowly. In fact, as long as there was enough time and it was adjusted from time to time, and the fire at the bottom of the pot wasn't too strong, usually steaming rice wouldn't fail.

But there weren't many people who could persist in watching from beginning to end and adjusting from beginning to end.

In less than ten minutes, Li Long uncovered the lid, saw the rice in the pot was crystal clear and full of fragrance, and knew the rice was done.

He found two broken gloves to pad and take the pot down, then covered the stove lid, clapped his hands, filled himself a bowl of rice, and put it aside. He wasn't in a rush to eat, used a spatula to scrape down, and then saw the scorched rice at the bottom was golden yellow, especially tempting.

Not bad, there was a snack.

Eating lunch on the case outside by himself, although the sun was quite big, Li Long was in a good mood. Eating while watching, the sky was high and the clouds were light, the high mountains were in front, the blue sky was above, occasionally eagles circled in the air, and things flashed by in the distant forest. Then Li Long saw an animal similar to a lynx, but larger than a lynx, leap out of the forest. In front of it was a panicked wild mountain goat. The wild mountain goat opened its four thin legs and ran very fast, but the big guy behind was faster, its body stretched out, possessing the ultimate beauty of movement.

When this big guy was a few meters behind the wild mountain goat, it suddenly made a tiger pounce, feeling like it flew out seven or eight meters and directly pounced on the wild mountain goat that was jumping in the air, biting it. The wild mountain goat only struggled twice and then didn't move, its whole body hanging down, and it was dragged into the forest by the big guy.

That big guy looked at Li Long here when entering the forest, and the chopsticks in Li Long's hand almost fell.

Although the distance was nearly two hundred meters, he felt he definitely hadn't guessed wrong; that guy should be a tiger!

Although its body shape wasn't as exaggerated as a Northeast tiger, it was much larger than the gray wolves and snow leopards he had seen before. Its body length plus tail must have been at least two and a half meters, and it was tall enough. Looking at its appearance, it truly wasn't an ordinary animal!

But wasn't it said that Xinjiang tigers went extinct at the beginning of this century?

Of course, there were also people in Xinjiang who said that herdsmen had seen them in Tacheng a few years ago, but it was unknown if it was true or false.

Now Li Long knew that this thing truly existed!

He thought to himself, if it were him, under that pounce, even if he had a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle in his hand, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to dodge it!

After all, how much threat a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle could pose to this thing was hard to say, and in that kind of extreme environment, how much accuracy he would have when firing was also unknown.

Ordinary people, when facing a mad dog, might lose their lives because of panic, let alone this king of beasts!

Li Long felt he hadn't seen wrong, just couldn't figure out why this guy would run to the outskirts of the Tianshan Mountains?

The outskirts of this mountain, let alone tigers, even bears were rare. After all, humans were also their natural enemies. An empty-handed human posed no threat to them, but humans were divided by groups, and people from the forestry team and animal husbandry team had guns in their hands. Naturally, they wouldn't be soft-hearted when encountering these big guys.

Seeing such a scene, Li Long felt there was no taste in eating the rest of the meal. After finishing in a hurry and tidying up, Li Long took out the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle and spread out a gun cloth to wipe it. He had been a bit negligent of this old brother recently; it seemed he was still a bit slack.

!.

Li Long wiped the gun carefully, oiled it, filled it with bullets, aimed at the forest, and only then felt at ease.

With this in hand, as long as he didn't court death, he should be able to guarantee safety.

Bolati and the others didn't come in the afternoon, so Li Long continued to find some wild vegetables and mushrooms nearby. He thought that even if he picked a lot to eat, he could dry some dried vegetables. However, this feeling of not being able to go far wasn't very good. There were a few targets he wanted to go to but couldn't, so Li Long felt quite annoyed.

Waiting until dark, Li Long ate dinner hastily, closed the door, and lay on the bed, but tossed and turned and couldn't sleep.

He thought about it and realized it was because the impact of that tiger-like guy on him was too great. After all, even when a gray wolf pounced on a wild mountain goat, it needed to spend quite a bit of effort to bite it to death, but the wild mountain goat he saw today wasn't small and had horns, and its attack power wasn't weak at the moment of life and death, but it couldn't last three seconds in the tiger's mouth. It felt like the tiger just bit it to death casually.

Too shocking.

The impact on Li Long was too strong, so he must have been a bit out of sorts, right?

He didn't know what time it was when he finally fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up, the light seemed to have just brightened.

His head was slightly dizzy, but he couldn't sleep, so Li Long simply climbed up and prepared to go out to release some water. After putting on his clothes, he just walked to the door, but then turned around and took the gun, opened the door, looked outside, and found there was no movement outside, so he felt relieved.

Releasing water behind the house, Li Long thought about whether he should build a better toilet, otherwise it would be quite inconvenient when Gu Xiaoxia came over later.

Returning to the house to set up the stove and boil water, Li Long took some of the remaining rice from yesterday, stir-fried it with wild onions, and ate it. Because of the tiger yesterday, he hadn't even properly tasted the scorched rice. This thing was like a freshly baked *nang*; it was only delicious when hot out of the pot. Although it had flavor when cold, it wasn't as delicious.

Before he finished eating, there was movement outside. Li Long carried his bowl out and saw Halimu and Yushanjiang driving a flock of sheep over.

Li Long hurriedly put down his bowl and greeted them.

After greeting, Li Long glanced at the flock of sheep and said:

"There are a bit too many; my tractor bucket can't fit them."

"It's fine, we'll help tie them up. Anyway, your tractor is fast." Yushanjiang said with a smile, "Bieke's sheep, want to trade for some rice and flour, and some daily necessities."

"No problem, I have quite a bit here." Li Long pointed to the small wooden house and said, "Since you're here, help me load the sheep onto the car."

He definitely couldn't handle it alone.

Halimu and Yushanjiang naturally had no problem. After a while, Bieke also came over.

The young Bieke was a bit shy, but he had no problem grabbing sheep.

The tractor bucket was loaded with eighteen sheep, which also surprised Li Long a bit. After all, it had taken a lot of effort with Chen Xingbang to load fifteen. Fifteen yuan a sheep, these sheep were two hundred and seventy yuan. Bieke wanted rice and flour; he alone with one horse could only carry four bags of one hundred kilograms, and the remaining daily necessities filled a large bag, with quite a bit of money left over.

Li Long simply handed the money to Bieke. Unlike Halimu and Yushanjiang, there was a certain distance in their relationship, so it was better to settle the account clearly.

Bieke didn't refuse and smiled as he took the money.

"Sheep can't be tied for too long. You should go now." Yushanjiang reminded, "Half a day is fine, but if it's too long, the sheep's legs will be ruined."

"Alright. But you guys be careful too. Yesterday I saw an animal like a tiger eat a wild mountain goat. That guy was too fierce. When you go back, and when you move, be careful. If you can carry guns, carry them."

"Good, good." They chose to believe Li Long's words and nodded in agreement.

Li Long put on his overcoat. Although it was hot now, the tractor drove fast, and it was morning with cold wind, so it was easy to get sick without an overcoat.

Locking the wooden house door, cranking the tractor, Li Long greeted Halimu and the others, and drove toward the outside of the mountains.

The *tut-tut-tut* sound of the tractor and the "baa-baa" sound of the sheep were mixed together. When crossing the Qingshui River, it attracted the attention of quite a few people. Li Long didn't slow down all the way, wanting to rush to Shicheng at the fastest speed and hand these sheep over to Chen Xingbang.

People going back and forth from Maxian to Shicheng also increased. From time to time, you could see one, some walking and some riding bicycles. Occasionally, you could also see buses and shuttle buses going back and forth between the two places, or going to further places.

When Li Long's tractor rushed to the old street in Shicheng, the sun had already risen a pole high. The flow of people here was very large, and Li Long could only drive slowly, and then go to Chen Xingbang's courtyard.

However, before reaching the courtyard, he saw Chen Xingbang's stall, and several old men and old women were surrounding it to buy meat.

It seemed business was good. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 457 =====

By the time Li Long's tractor reached the old street of Shicheng, the sun had already risen a pole high. The pedestrian traffic here was heavy, so Li Long could only drive slowly before heading toward Chen Xingbang's courtyard.

However, before he even reached the courtyard, he saw Chen Xingbang's stall, where a few old men and women were surrounding it to buy meat.

It seemed business was good. (End of chapter)