Chapter 467: Having Suffered, Regretting the Past!

In the mountains southeast of the wooden cabin, Li Zhengting was silently packing fritillaria into a bag. Most of these fritillaria were dug by him over the past two days.

"Zhengting, listen to my advice. Selling them ourselves down the mountain doesn't necessarily pay more than selling them to the guy who drives the tractor. Making a trip down the mountain is a lot of tossing and turning, and it's not certain we'll sell them for much more money, so why bother?"

"I'm just unwilling." Although Li Long could be considered to have saved Li Zhengting's life, he actually found Li Long rather unpleasant to look at.

Li Zheng Tang was the opposite; Li Long had given them medicine late at night and later traded supplies for them, which made him quite grateful to Li Long. Having such a "retail department" in the mountains was no different from having an extra channel for people like them, the drifters, to save their lives and live a better life.

He could vaguely guess why Li Zhengting was dissatisfied with Li Long and didn't want to go to Li Long's place to trade fritillaria for money. The reason was highly likely that he felt he was no worse than Li Long, but just had bad luck, which led him to his current situation.

To put it bluntly, Li Long was doing better than him, and he was jealous. A young man, unable to suppress his jealousy, would rather suffer more himself than let Li Long gain more benefits.

As for Li Long giving them medicine, in Li Zhengting's view, he had already thanked him, so they were even.

Actually, Li Zheng Tang didn't think so. Could they really be even?

Over the past two days, the fritillaria had already grown out. Few people came to the deep mountains now, and few people managed them. Although the forestry team would also send people to dig fritillaria, there were few people, and they had plenty of places to find fritillaria. In these two days, one person had dug more than ten kilograms of fritillaria.

According to Li Zhengting's calculation, Li Long traded things at a discounted price, and fresh fritillaria was three yuan per kilogram, so it should be at least five or six yuan down the mountain. These ten-plus kilograms of fritillaria could sell for at least seventy or eighty yuan, right? That was equal to a worker's salary for one or two months!

How many things could they buy in the county seat with that money!

But Li Zheng Tang didn't want to take the risk; after all, there were too many uncertain factors.

"Zhengting, going down the mountain means passing through several gullies. If we run into the forestry team, these fritillaria will be gone."

"Then we'll go at night." Li Zhengting was determined to go down the mountain to see the market situation; he had long thought about this problem. "We'll leave when it gets dark later, walk to the county seat overnight, rush to the acquisition station to sell the fritillaria during the day tomorrow, then buy things, and then return to the mountains. At most, we'll waste one day tomorrow. But the money we earn will be enough to make up for this day."

Li Zheng Tang didn't expect his cousin to have thought everything through, but he still didn't really want to go out:

"What about the danger? There are wolves both inside and outside the mountains, and they are often in packs."

"What's there to fear? We'll each carry a stick, and don't we have the shovels we traded for? Tuck them in our waistbands. I don't believe they'll dare to pounce on two grown men! As long as we walk fast, and reach the main road after ten o'clock, it'll be much safer."

He packed the fritillaria and looked up at Li Zheng Tang:

"Brother, if you don't go, then I'll go by myself. I won't force you; I'm just unwilling..."

How could Li Zheng Tang feel at ease letting him go alone? He sighed and said:

"Fine, then we'll go, but let's get this straight. Once we're there, if it doesn't turn out the way you think, after this trip, don't you ever bother again. If you do, I won't follow you."

Li Zheng Tang really thought it was a very good thing that Li Long could trade fritillaria for money, which was good for both sides. Now that Li Zhengting insisted on making such a fuss, it made him very troubled. He made up his mind that if he came here again next year, he definitely wouldn't bring this kid. He had said everything would be up to him when they came, but once they got here, this kid developed a stubborn donkey temper.

He also sorted his own dug fritillaria into a bag, and while picking out dirt, he said:

"I remember the acquisition station said they only accepted dried fritillaria last year. We don't have a place to dry them, and what we're taking are fresh ones. If they don't accept them, that'll be a big problem."

"I've thought about this long ago. If the acquisition station doesn't accept them, we'll go to the medicinal materials company. If the medicinal materials company doesn't accept them either, then we'll go to the market to sell them. There will always be people with discerning eyes. These six or seven kilograms of fresh fritillaria will dry into one kilogram of dried fritillaria. We'll ask about the price at the acquisition station, then calculate the price of fresh fritillaria. As long as it's one or two yuan lower than this price in the market, it'll definitely sell!"

Seeing that Li Zhengting had thought everything through so clearly, Li Zheng Tang didn't say anything more, tied up the fritillaria bag, brought his things, prepared his stick, and walked north with Li Zhengting.

They walked through the mountain forest first; in the dense forest, they didn't worry about being caught by the forestry team. They could actually find the pattern; the forestry team usually patrolled mountain valleys where horses could pass and cattle and sheep had trodden. In those valleys where mountains were high and forests were dense, shrubs were overgrown, and it was difficult for people to enter and almost impossible for horses to enter, the forestry team basically wouldn't enter.

Walking tortuously to the third layer of mountains from north to south, Li Zheng Tang and the others stopped. It wasn't dark yet, and ahead was a wide gully running east-west, with a sheep-path trodden by cattle and sheep. Although many fritillaria could be seen on the shady mountain slope, Li Zheng Tang and the others didn't dare to dig them.

After waiting for a while, when Li Zhengting was getting anxious, he saw a young man riding a horse with a gun on his back slowly swaying past on the small path. He was humming a song he couldn't understand, holding a glass bottle in his hand, taking a sip occasionally, looking very satisfied.

Li Zhengting saw it; the man was holding a small champagne, which he had seen in Li Long's "retail department." He had traded half a kilogram of fritillaria for a bottle of that drink, but he hadn't been willing to trade.

After the young man went far away, Li Zheng Tang whispered:

"He must have traded for those things at that tractor driver's 'retail department'. There's quite a lot of stuff loaded on the horse's back."

Li Zhengting had only been looking at the man drinking small champagne and hadn't really seen the things on the horse's back.

But no matter what, the person who took that to trade for things must have been fritillaria, and as for this fritillaria, he didn't know who it had been collected from.

That tractor driver was an accomplice!

Li Zhengting found a righteous reason for himself not to sell fritillaria to Li Long.

The two of them immediately carried the fritillaria down the mountain, crossed this mountain valley, and quickly arrived in the shrubs of another mountain.

They had rested just now, but now they were tired again. Their nutrition couldn't keep up, and they hadn't felt the ten-plus kilograms of fritillaria at first, but after carrying them over a few mountains, the thing felt heavier and heavier, pressing on their backs like a mountain.

Li Zhengting was even worse than Li Zheng Tang, but since he was the one who proposed going down the mountain to sell fritillaria, he had to persist even if he bit his teeth, although he already had some regrets.

Each rest was longer than the last, and the sun set.

Then they saw Li Long.

Li Long drove the tractor back to the wooden cabin, cleaned up simply, took thin iron wires from the small room, and planned to make some traps to set a few in the place Sun Jia Qiang mentioned, to see if he could catch a few small wild boars.

After tying the traps, Li Long took two kilograms of corn kernels, carried his gun, and took his iron shovel to walk there.

The tractor made too much noise, so this time he wanted to walk.

After arriving at the place, Li Long first found a suitable place to set the traps, and then sprinkled the corn kernels around the traps.

This thing was only left for one night; although it was very likely to attract wild rabbits, this was a necessary cost.

He finished setting things up and was about to leave when he saw Li Zheng Tang and Li Zhengting.

Watching the two of them walking over from the south carrying bags and sticks, and then looking at himself in a daze, Li Long was stunned for a moment before reacting, smiled at the two of them, and then left with the iron shovel.

Li Long knew their thoughts very clearly, and this was also very normal.

He made money in the mountains; some people traded willingly, like Sun Jia Qiang, and some were unwilling, like these two brothers.

Of course, this was also very normal. If they wanted to go out to the county seat to trade, then let them go. Anyway, they weren't afraid of hardship, so let them walk.

On the way back, Li Long also sighed that these two people were really bold. After all, in this day and age, there were wolves even in the wasteland outside the old team's village, let alone on the edge of the mountains? Now there was already an evening glow in the west, and it would be dark in another half hour. At that time, they might have just left the mountains, and the road behind... wouldn't they get lost?

However, Li Long was also curious about how their fritillaria was dried. After all, there was grass everywhere in the mountains now, and places without grass were full of shrubs and trees, so there was no natural place suitable for drying fritillaria at all, unless it was artificially cleared like Li Long's side.

Could it be that they found a natural drying ground?

Li Long naturally didn't know that Li Zheng Tang and the others were prepared to sell fresh fritillaria. In Li Long's impression, the acquisition station didn't accept fresh fritillaria, only dried ones; this should be common sense.

After Li Zheng Tang met Li Long, he began to sigh along the way. He knew that Li Long had seen through their purpose. If this trip didn't go smoothly, would the other party make things difficult for them if they dug fritillaria later and wanted to sell it to Li Long?

Li Zhengting naturally had this concern too. Listening to his cousin's sigh, he said very straightforwardly:

"Brother, when the time comes, just tell him that I came up with the idea, and push it onto me. It was like that anyway. I'll shoulder it; at worst, he won't accept my fritillaria." Li Zhengting's words sounded straightforward, but in fact, they reflected that he had already placed Li Long in a strong position several levels above him in his heart. Otherwise, how could he easily manipulate them?

"Sigh, let's take it one step at a time." Since it had reached this point, what else could Li Zheng Tang say? "Let's go, maybe he doesn't care, maybe he knows that if we go like this, we'll only suffer."

After speaking, he stopped talking and walked north with big strides.

Only after walking less than ten meters, his pace slowed down, and his waist bent even more.

So tired!

Li Long returned to the wooden cabin, cleaned up the outside, the stove fire was extinguished, locked the small wooden cabin door, and then went into the room, locked the door, pressed the fire in the stove, and then went to sleep.

When he came back today, he had traded seven or eight kilograms of fritillaria from the young forestry team member Hamiti, which was a good harvest. The fritillaria had been washed, and the moisture on the outside had basically dried, so it could be spread out to dry tomorrow during the day. Now that there were more fritillaria, the small room couldn't hold them at all, so they had to be dried outside.

Early in the morning, the room wasn't as cold as before. It felt different after adding wall mud to the northwest sides.

Li Long climbed up, put on his clothes, felt that his bladder could still endure, so he poked the stove, saw there was still leftover charcoal, added some small pieces of coal, watched it smoke black, covered the stove lid, and only then opened the door.

It wasn't light outside yet, and he could barely see things. There was dew everywhere outside the wood. Li Long went to the outdoor pit toilet to relieve himself, came back, ate something simple, put on his coat, carried his gun, took his bag and satchel, and went out the door.

!.

He planned to stay in the wooden cabin during the day, and it was just right to go over and see if he had caught any small wild boars.

When walking over there, Li Long guessed that Xie Yun Dong and the others should be heading into the mountains today. He planned to drive the tractor over in the afternoon. If people arrived, he would unify their thoughts, explain what needed to be explained, and then he would come over every day to check the quality of the woven carrying frames.

He had to set the rules today, otherwise, if the quality wasn't up to standard later, he would be the one in trouble.

Li Long had confidence in this aspect. After all kinds of big jobs last year, he believed he had left a clear impression on the team members. When it was time to turn against someone, he would definitely not smile.

Walking in the mountains with deep and shallow steps, his trouser legs were soaked by dew in a short while. His eyes had adapted to the environment, and Li Long was very clear about where he was going. He only hoped that there would be no accidents on the road he was walking.

However, the more he feared something, the more it came. As he walked, he felt his foot step into empty air. Subconsciously, he pulled his foot and ran when he stepped into empty air, but it was a step too late, and his foot twisted.

Feeling a pain in his left ankle, Li Long hurriedly stood on one foot, then slowly sat down, gently touched his ankle and moved it. Fortunately, it wasn't particularly painful.

It should have slipped, but it wasn't serious. Li Long stood up, touched the ground with his toes, felt it was okay, and slowly stepped firmly. Although it still hurt a bit, he could endure it.

It was good that he reacted quickly, otherwise, this twist would have been troublesome.

Slowing down and being more careful, when he reached the mountain head south of the area where he set the traps, Li Long heard movement below.

His heart was overjoyed, feeling that his foot didn't hurt anymore, and he immediately bent over and walked forward. He had confirmed yesterday that this side wasn't upwind, and the wild boars couldn't smell his scent.

Looking down from the mountain ridge, the daylight wasn't very bright yet. He could only see a piece of dark green. When he looked carefully again, Li Long was greatly disappointed: the only things moving in that area were two small wild boars that should have been trapped, occasionally calling out, perhaps tired of calling. There wasn't a single big wild boar!

Did they all run away? Did they not even want the small wild boars?

Li Long thought while walking down with his gun. Fine, having two small wild boars was not a wasted trip, at least he didn't come back empty-handed.

Thinking this, he suddenly heard a "rumbling" sound. In those shrubs, a wild boar suddenly rushed out, and after seeing him, it ran crazily to the east!

This wild boar started it, and then a group of more than ten wild boars rushed crazily to the southeast, northwest, and one of them actually rushed straight at Li Long!

Li Long was startled, raised his hand and fired a shot, then avoided to one side and fired another shot. The wild boar's momentum stopped six or seven meters away, fell crookedly on a cluster of shrubs, and stopped moving.

Li Long looked at the other wild boars again, and they had long since run away without a trace.

He sighed, his skill was just not good enough. Fighting alone, it would be fine if he ambushed the wild boars, but coming late, not only was he tricked by the wild boars, but a group of wild boars only hit one and trapped two. This record was not even as good as last year's.

However, it was just a sigh. It was good to have some harvest. Li Long went over and dragged this half-grown wild boar toward the two small wild boars. He didn't expect these wild boars to lie down and rest here after eating. Didn't they usually return to the deep mountains after rooting?

The two small wild boars were a bit scared when they saw Li Long coming, and kept calling. Li Long untied one and stuffed it into the bag, then untied another and stuffed it into the bag, and then began to collect the traps.

Frightened like this, it was estimated that the wild boar group wouldn't dare to come over for a while.

During the process of collecting the traps, Li Long had a small surprise. There was another small wild boar trapped in the shrubs, but it was stuck at the root of a cluster of shrubs after struggling when it was trapped and couldn't move. It didn't call much either. If Li Long hadn't come over to untie the trap, it was estimated that it would have died in less than half an hour.

Putting the three small wild boars into the bag and carrying them on his back, and carrying the half-grown wild boar, Li Long returned to the wooden cabin.

At this time, Li Zheng Tang and Li Zhengting had just been frozen awake under a bridge hole. The two of them shivered and picked up some firewood to start a fire.

Last night, the two of them walked north. After leaving the mountains, they searched for more than an hour and finally found the road to Qingshuihe. However, after walking past Qingshuihe, the two of them were already exhausted, and wolf howls came from afar again. They discussed it and planned to rest first.

They found a bridge hole nearby, drilled in, and the two of them lit a fire to roast. It felt pretty good at the time, so they found some dry grass to spread out and fell asleep in the bridge hole.

However, the weather in Northern Xinjiang had a very large temperature difference between day and night. The two of them were frozen awake several times at night. This time, they finally couldn't sleep anymore, so they had to wake up.

They lit a fire, planning to roast, eat some of the unleavened cakes they brought, and then continue on their way.

When the sun rose high, they finally walked back to the county seat.

Several blisters had already formed on their feet, and the two of them were tired and hungry. They were reluctant to go to a restaurant to eat, so when they ran into Sister Yang selling porridge at the market, they each spent one jiao to drink a bowl.

When they went to the acquisition station and asked, Li Zheng Tang and Li Zhengting found out that they didn't accept fresh fritillaria here.

Although he had mental preparation, Li Zheng Tang felt that the sky was still about to collapse.

Did they really have to go to the market to sell fritillaria?

"Brother, I asked." Li Zhengting was very excited. "If our fritillaria were dried, they could be sold as second-grade, forty yuan per kilogram! Converted to fresh ones, that's five or six yuan. Let's go to the medicinal materials company and ask if they accept them. Selling at a lower price is fine too!"

Li Zheng Tang could only listen to his cousin at this time.

The two people who looked like drifters arrived at the medicinal materials company and were "invited" out before they even saw the manager's face. The staff said they didn't accept them.

Li Zhengting wasn't as excited this time. He smiled reluctantly at Li Zheng Tang and said:

"Brother, then let's do it according to the third method and go to the market to sell them. I don't believe they won't sell at four point five yuan per kilogram? If it really doesn't work, let's find a place to dry them!"

Li Zheng Tang smiled bitterly. Why bother so much?

Really regret it!

Arriving at the market, finding a location, the two of them began to set up a stall. Neither of them had set up a stall before, and they didn't know how to shout. Watching others shout, they couldn't open their mouths.

Before they even opened for business, the administrator came over.

Pay the money!

Just this chapter tonight, let's see about the daytime (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 468 =====