Chapter 486

The poisonous snake season came very suddenly.

Since that fritillaria digger discovered a poisonous snake by Li Long's house, Li Long discovered several poisonous snakes one after another in the vicinity over the next two days.

He even suspected whether the poisonous snakes had collectively left their nests; otherwise, how could there be so many?

To avoid snakes crawling into the house in the middle of the night, Li Long checked the house again and found no cracks, which was barely reassuring.

But it was impossible not to go anywhere in daily life; he suddenly thought of what he had once seen, that using sulfur powder seemed to be able to repel snakes.

Would there be natural sulfur at the hot spring?

Li Long decided to go there and see.

With something on his mind, Li Long went out early in the morning just as the sky was getting light. After locking the door, he carried his gun and a bag and walked toward the hot spring.

The weather was getting hotter, and the dew on the grass in the morning was not so heavy; Li Long walked toward the mountains with big strides. This time he didn't care about so many other things, mainly just to see the end of the hot spring.

When passing through a mountain gully, he ran into a fritillaria digger who was cooking porridge on a stove made of a few stones; seeing Li Long, that person was startled.

"Eat yours, I'm just passing by." Li Long waved his hand, crossed the mountain gully from twenty or thirty meters away from that person, and continued to walk southeast.

That person had originally prepared to dart into the forest; hearing Li Long say this, he was stunned for a moment, and then watched Li Long walk into the mountains vigilantly.

"Be careful of snakes," Li Long left a sentence, "Don't get bitten."

That person was stunned for a moment, subconsciously nodding to indicate he knew.

Li Long had already entered the forest; this person only then reacted, what am I doing? The other person can't see it anyway.

But being reminded a sentence is also not bad. But in this forest, are there really snakes?

Regardless, it's better to be careful.

Li Long came to the hot spring valley and walked up along the water flow. The valley was still floating with the smell of sulfur, from shallow to deep; by the time he reached the pool, the smell was already quite deep.

The water waves at the pool were turbulent; Li Long guessed that an animal had just left. When he walked forward, he didn't hide the movement of his footsteps; it should have been heard early on, and he didn't know if it was a roe deer or a wild goat.

Li Long didn't stop, continuing to walk up the mountain; the higher he went, the narrower the valley, and the heavier the smell of sulfur. When walking further back, it could no longer be called walking; he had to climb, the stones on both sides were quite messy, there was no road, shrubs and messy stones were mixed together, the creek water in the middle was quite rapid, and the temperature was high, so Li Long could only use his hands and feet to walk up.

When he walked to the end of the hot spring source he had walked before, Li Long stopped.

It was impossible to see the existence of sulfur with the naked eye. He was a bit disappointed.

However, he was not discouraged; looking around, finding a suitable foothold, Li Long jumped over and began to rummage through those stones.

Soon he discovered that there was some yellow natural sulfur stuck to some stones by the spring source, but not much.

He broke off a tree branch, removed the leaves and miscellaneous branches, made it into a stick, and went to poke those stones in the spring source.

The water was too hot; putting his hand in was basically boiled meat, so it was better to be careful.

The stones inside were poked out, and the surface dried quickly, turning white and yellow. Li Long had great strength, but in just a few minutes, he dug a pit under the spring source.

And then there was indeed a discovery.

First, he found a piece of yellow substance the size of a pigeon egg; Li Long poked it and brought it to the shore; when he picked it up, he was even scalded. After observing it on the ground, it indeed had a pungent smell; he determined that this thing was natural sulfur.

Alright, the first piece was found.

With confidence, finding the next ones was much faster; soon he found the second and third pieces, the third piece was the size of a fist, which made Li Long extremely happy.

The fourth piece poked up made Li Long a bit surprised. This thing was only the size of a baby's palm, irregular in shape, and very heavy; he poked it several times and couldn't poke it up, it kept sliding down. Li Long simply found another tree branch and poked it out.

He thought about waiting for it to cool down before picking it up, then went to poke again; this time he pried up a few stones, found another piece about the same size as the one just now, and poked it up very easily.

Then Li Long felt something was wrong; the piece just now felt much heavier than this one, the colors were both yellow, the things were different!

He bent down to pick up that piece just now; with this much time, it should be able to cool down.

As a result, he was scalded again—but Li Long didn't let go! So heavy, so pressing on the hand, such a familiar luster, such a beautiful appearance.

This damn thing is not sulfur!

Gold! Natural gold! Gold nugget!

If the gold nugget that Halimu and the others brought to Li Long last time made Li Long know that there was indeed natural gold in these mountains, then picking up a piece with his own hands now undoubtedly confirmed that sentence "gold plate and jade bottom."

There really is a natural gold mine in these mountains!

Li Long didn't care about his hand being scalded red; he looked carefully at this gold nugget; this attitude was much more serious than the one Halimu and the others gave.

After all, it was picked up by his own hands.

The shape was slightly longer, one centimeter thick, weighing less than a kilogram; the edges had thick and thin parts, possibly because the scouring of the flowing water made the edges relatively smooth, without sharp corners.

Thinking for a long time, he couldn't think of any image that could be compared, so Li Long didn't think about it anymore, put this piece of gold into his satchel, and then took the tree branch and continued to dig.

He had great strength; those ten or twenty-kilogram stones in the spring source were quickly dug out and thrown to the side; there were many sulfur fragments in the gravel; Li Long picked them out one by one and picked them to the shore.

It was just that he didn't find any feeling of heaviness anymore.

Digging until the end, he almost dug all the stones under the spring source clean, picked out the gravel, and finally found two small gold nuggets the size of fingers.

Although not big, it finally made Li Long slightly satisfied again.

Theoretically, the value of these three pieces of gold was far from the things in the two bags he accidentally obtained, but Li Long's degree of happiness in obtaining this thing was much greater than those two bags.

He felt that if he were to walk down along this hot spring, he should still be able to find gold, but now he didn't have much mood.

He poked down with a stick for a while, and neither sulfur nor gold was found; looking at the sky, the sun had already risen in the east, so he brought the things well, put the few pieces of sulfur into the satchel, and walked back carrying his gun.

Really excited. These three pieces of gold weighed over a kilogram. Purely calculated by the price of gold, it was over ten thousand—of course, it wasn't pure; calculated at eighty percent, it was also ten thousand yuan.

Of course, he wouldn't sell it; Li Long didn't lack money now. This thing becomes more valuable the longer it is kept. He had such a dream before, and didn't expect to really pick it up!

Gold nugget! It's something that can be passed down!

The footsteps walking back were much lighter.

It was an hour later when he returned to the wooden cabin.

Three people were waiting for Li Long here; they stood in three positions, with no intention of chatting.

Even vaguely, there was still some vigilance toward each other.

Li Long was a bit puzzled, but since people came to sell fritillaria, he would prioritize this.

Seeing Li Long return, the three people also showed smiles, the vigilant expressions were gone, and they took the initiative to greet Li Long.

Li Long nodded at them, opened the small room door, took the scale, and began to weigh the fritillaria.

Although the fritillaria of the three people were a bit dirty, Li Long didn't care much; the price he gave wasn't high, and this impurity was equivalent to being discounted in it.

The first person had seven kilograms, the second person had eight kilograms, and the third person had more, fourteen kilograms.

The first person and the second person both wanted money; after weighing, they immediately took their bags and left, running toward the forest in a hurry, and the two people ran in different directions.

When Li Long weighed for the third person, he raised his own doubts:

"You are all fritillaria diggers; theoretically, you should help each other, but looking at your situation just now, why does it seem like you are still guarding against each other?"

"Sigh, some of us gang up to rob others' fritillaria, and now no one dares to believe anyone else." That person sighed, "Although this mountain is big, there are not many fritillaria gullies, just those few, plus you are the only one collecting fritillaria, we don't want to run too far, but we are afraid, afraid of being found where we stay, afraid of being beaten with a club, and having our fritillaria and money robbed."

So that's how it is.

This person chatted a few more sentences with Li Long; for fourteen kilograms of fritillaria, he wanted money for twelve kilograms, exchanged the rest for grain and meat, and then went directly to the east—the previous two both went directly to the southeast and south; he was obviously avoiding the directions of those two people, afraid of being ambushed.

Sigh, how did it get so complicated?

In these few days, he received five or six hundred kilograms of fritillaria. He simply packed all the fritillaria and put them into the tractor; the wood wasn't dry, he hadn't built the frame, so he locked the door, started the tractor, and went toward Little White Poplar Gully. The fritillaria received today hadn't been washed; let's go back and do it; the important thing is to put these fritillaria back first. Otherwise, leaving for a trip, having the wooden cabin pried open by someone, the loss would be great.

Li Long came to Little White Poplar Gully and stopped, then called everyone together and talked about the snake matter.

"We also ran into it." Tao Jian She opened his mouth, "When cutting poles yesterday, I saw a snake, which startled me! This guy not only didn't run, but also wanted to bite me, so I stomped it to death."

Really fierce, stomped to death!

"Still have to be careful." Li Long said, "I got some sulfur in the mountains; you break it and sprinkle it by the side of the dugout. When burning strips, that place is hot, and snakes might like to crawl over. These guys are all poisonous snakes, we have to be careful, if bitten, it won't be worth the loss. Wait until I go back today and get some snake medicine to put here, it will be better."

Li Long thought thoroughly; he gave the sulfur to Xie Yun Dong and let Xie Yun Dong handle this matter.

After checking and registering the number and quality of today's carrying poles, Li Long asked what others needed.

"Just clippers, scissors."

"It's best to get some liquor back; we drank all the liquor." Old Huang said there.

"Still have cigarettes?" Li Long asked a sentence.

"Yes."

!.

After asking others, basically no one was lacking. Li Long drove the tractor toward the outside of the mountains.

At the wooden cabin, there were fritillaria diggers coming, and from afar, discovering that the tractor was not there, they didn't come over anymore.

Li Long took away two bad guys to jail; this news had already spread among the drifters, so although Li Long was not there, no one came to the wooden cabin wanting to pick up a bargain.

The tractor chugged out of the big mountains; Li Long also saw three people walking out together on the way, with bags on their backs.

They should be fritillaria diggers.

Li Long vaguely felt that one person was more familiar, and should be someone he knew.

Two of them, upon hearing the tractor sound, quickly entered the forest; the one Li Long felt was a bit familiar stood by the roadside with a bag on his back, and a trace of a triumphant smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Is this demonstrating against himself?

Li Long's prank mentality arose; he adjusted the steering wheel and rushed straight toward that person; that person was startled and immediately darted into the shrubs to the side; Li Long laughed loudly and drove the tractor away.

Of course, it was impossible for him to really run over him. He just felt that this person's attitude was problematic. It's normal that you don't sell to me. But your expression is a bit annoying.

"Not injured, right?" Li Long went over, and those two people immediately came over to help this person who fell up. Fortunately, the fritillaria bag was tied at the mouth; otherwise, spilling it all over the ground would also be troublesome.

"It's okay." That person rubbed his wrist and said reluctantly, "No big problem, damn this bad guy..."

"Why do you provoke him? Hiding isn't shameful." Another person persuaded, "Those who collect know him, why bother?"

Although this person was still resentful, he also knew there was no way to deal with Li Long, so he could only stare blankly as the tractor drove away.

Arriving at the county, Li Long unloaded the fritillaria in the courtyard, and then drove the tractor to Sister Yang's place.

It was almost time for lunch; this time he planned to spend a night in the county before going back, so he wasn't in a hurry.

Can't give up life just to earn money, right?

Gu Xiaoxia hadn't returned yet, but Sister Yang ran out with a spatula for stir-frying when she heard the tractor sound.

"Uncle, you're back?" Sister Yang's voice was very loud, "Come in quickly."

"Hey." Li Long responded, and after turning off the engine, he got off the tractor and walked toward the courtyard.

He could see people poking their heads out at the entrances of several nearby courtyards.

Sister Yang's voice just now was not small; Li Long naturally knew what this meant.

"Sister, what's for lunch today?" Seeing Sister Yang enter the kitchen and continue stir-frying, although he had already smelled the scent of leeks and eggs, Li Long still asked loudly in the courtyard.

"Stir-fry some leeks and eggs, stir-fry some celery and meat later, steam rice." Sister Yang's voice was still very loud, "We can eat when her aunt comes back later."

Counting them, they were all home-cooked meals, and Li Long still liked them quite a bit. The vegetables in the small courtyard's vegetable garden grew well; one-third of the leeks were cut, and the places that had been cut had only just sprouted two centimeters high. The grape trellis was coiled on the wooden frame, the leaves had grown as big as a child's palm, and some grape flower spikes had opened; he couldn't smell the fragrance, but it could be foreseen that there would be many grapes to eat in the autumn.

The courtyard was swept very clean; when approaching the toilet, he smelled the scent of sanitary incense, and Li Long was quite satisfied.

Ten minutes later, Gu Xiaoxia pushed her bicycle into the courtyard. When she saw the tractor, she already knew Li Long had come, and the joy in her heart was inevitable.

"You're back?"

"Mm, back, stay for a day, go up the mountain tomorrow." Li Long went over to help prop up the bicycle and said with a smile.

"Mm, alright." Gu Xiaoxia's face was slightly red; she knew what Li Long meant.

"Is work busy?"

"It's okay. It's not as regular as school, but it's quite challenging." Gu Xiaoxia used her hand to tuck a few strands of hair on her forehead behind her ear, "Going to school to inspect from time to time, I feel that what I see now is different from what I saw when I was a teacher at school before."

"The pattern and standing position are different." Li Long said with a smile, "Now you are all leaders."

"How can that be." Gu Xiaoxia said coquettishly, "Just an ordinary cadre... How are the mountains?"

"It's okay, just that there are snakes recently, I came back to buy some snake medicine."

"Then you have to be careful." Actually, there were also snakes near the village, mainly earth bows; the earth bows and long worms mentioned here were non-poisonous snakes, so Gu Xiaoxia didn't pay much attention. If she knew it was that kind of plateau viper, she would definitely be worried.

Gu Xiaoxia suddenly remembered and whispered:

"I remember the first two years you came to the team, you were quite good at catching snakes, and after catching them, you stuffed them into bottles saying it was drying snake oil..."

"Hehe, I was ignorant at that time." Li Long's old face flushed slightly; at that time, he was really quite middle-school-aged.

"Her aunt is back. The meal is just right, come, let's prepare to eat at the table." Sister Yang poked her head out in the kitchen, "Uncle, you come over quickly too."

"Where is Han Fang?" Li Long asked while walking.

"Don't worry about her, she still needs a while." Sister Yang said, "I left some for her. Studying is a bit tight recently, and she comes back late every day."

Since that's the case, then don't wait; Li Long washed his hands and sat at the table, Sister Yang had already served the food, and the three of them chatted while eating.

Because she knew Li Long was leaving tomorrow, Gu Xiaoxia didn't say much, and Li Long just chatted about interesting things and experiences in the mountains. After eating, Gu Xiaoxia went to work, and Li Long drove the tractor back to the compound.

Washing his face, shaving, taking a bath, and washing the fritillaria to dry. The previously dried fritillaria could be collected; seeing there was still time, Li Long simply went to sell the fritillaria.

Another sum of money was obtained; this time the money was more than the last time, two thousand and forty-three yuan, but those fritillaria in the courtyard could be exchanged for double the money.

Chen Hongjun was already a bit numb; he didn't tease Li Long anymore, just gave him a piece of news:

"In these two days, there are a few more people coming here to sell fritillaria; some people should have sold fritillaria at your place and know you. Saying you press the price too hard, you still have to be cautious, don't be tricked by people."

"I know." Li Long nodded: "Actually, someone did this, and I caught them in the act, and now the person is in jail, it seems like five years?"

"Hey, there really is one." Chen Hongjun was a bit surprised, "What did they do?"

"Wanted to burn my carrying poles, and was discovered by a wolf." Li Long said with a smile, "It can be considered the wolf helped me."

This can also be considered a strange story; Chen Hongjun hurriedly asked Li Long to tell this matter.

Li Long believed that before long, those people who came to sell fritillaria should also know.

After all, Chen Hongjun would definitely help him. (End of chapter)