Chapter 529: We

Before the sky had even brightened, Li Long climbed out of bed.

His expression, not yet fully awake, carried a hint of excitement.

He could go hunting again!

Hehehe!

He couldn't help but feel his blood boiling.

How could harvesting wheat be as satisfying and thrilling as hunting?

It's just like writing; some people persist for over a decade, not making much money, yet they still find joy in it—that's a hobby.

Some people, even though they earn over ten thousand a month, are miserable the moment they sit in front of the computer to start writing.

That's life.

He didn't know how long he would be out, so although Li Long wanted to grab his gun and head out right now to find a place to fire a few shots, he held himself back.

He opened the stove lid, saw the fire hadn't fully died out, added some kindling, topped it with coal, set the pot on, and boiled water.

While the fire was getting going, Li Long had already taken a bucket out, fetched water from the spring, then mixed dough and made flatbreads.

Unleavened flatbreads aren't easy to digest, but they were better than having nothing to eat. Although it was August, while it was hot during the day and cool at night outside the mountains, inside the mountains, it wasn't just cool—it was cold.

Not to mention people, even the animals had a hard time.

If he didn't eat something, he'd be shivering in no time when he went out during the coldest part of the early morning.

As for vegetables, there were none; fermented bean curd would have to do. As long as he bagged some wild game later, he'd have vegetables.

Being young, eating only plants wouldn't cut it; he had to eat some animal protein to call it a meal. Since he'd already come into the mountains, if he didn't get some wild game, he'd be doing himself a disservice.

When mixing the dough, he mixed in some cornmeal. When the flatbreads were cooked, one side was golden, crispy, and charred, while the other was soft. After peeling them off and putting them in the bread basket, he poured some flour paste into the pot, stirred it, and that served as porridge.

The mixed-flour flatbreads had a sweet, fragrant taste, and the charred side was delicious to chew on; dipping it in fermented bean curd was simply wonderful.

Of course, this was Li Long's way of comforting himself; as long as he had hot food in his stomach, he wouldn't fear the cold when he went out later.

After eating, he covered the stove with coal dust, put a piece of flatbread in his satchel, and Li Long walked out carrying his gun.

There was no moon, the stars were twinkling, and judging by the time, it should be another hour or two before dawn.

The dew hadn't risen yet, and he strode toward the east with his gun.

Halfway there, feeling the urge to urinate, Li Long walked to the side, unbuckled his belt, and began to relieve himself.

He didn't know what plant he was nourishing.

It is said that a certain famous singer also had to get up at night to empty the chamber pot when living in the hutongs, which shows this is perfectly normal.

The stream was strong, the sound was loud, and Li Long was very satisfied.

After finishing, he felt light and unburdened, his pace quickened significantly, and in less than an hour, Li Long arrived at the mouth of that mountain valley.

Li Long had had fruitful results here before, and now he wanted to see if any wild beasts were spending the night in that cave; if there were, that would be great.

Unless absolutely necessary, he didn't plan on hunting wild boars for the time being. After all, he was thinking of taking whatever he caught directly to Ha Li Mu and the others to eat together.

Wild boar, that sort of thing, is better eaten quietly by oneself.

Li Long disengaged the gun's safety, pulled the bolt to chamber a round, and then slowly moved up the hillside.

After the fritillaria had been dug up, there were fewer people in the mountains. Occasionally someone would come by, but that was extremely rare, so this place had once again become a paradise for wild animals.

Animals love salt, so Li Long guessed that animals would inevitably come to this mine cave. As for whether any were spending the night here, that would depend on his luck.

He had to be slow and his footsteps light; if there really was any wild game, he had to be prepared in advance. Whether it was a wild goat, a Mongolian gazelle, or a wolf, their combat power was not small, and he wouldn't underestimate them just because they were herbivores—a Mongolian gazelle weighing fifty or sixty kilograms, if it lowered its head and rammed you with its horns in a panic, could probably knock the wind out of a person.

Li Long reminded himself while creeping upward, crept to the cave entrance to listen quietly, and then a look of joy appeared on his face.

He heard breathing and smelled blood.

There was something!

This required even more caution, and Li Long raised his gun directly.

If he had a wooden-handled grenade right now, he could just unscrew the cap, pull the ring, and toss it in.

Just by smelling the scent and hearing the sound, he knew there was a high probability that a meat-eater had killed a grass-eater inside and was spending the night there.

Slowly walking to the cave entrance, Li Long heard the breathing grow heavier; clearly, the creature inside had woken up.

Li Long didn't plan on going in; in a situation where the enemy is hidden and he is exposed, if he suddenly went in and it was pitch black, and that thing suddenly lunged out to bite him, wouldn't he be at a disadvantage?

Even the most cunning animal is no match for a good hunter. Li Long bent down, picked up a rock, threw it into the cave, and then quickly retreated, aiming his gun.

He had used this trick several times, and it was basically foolproof.

"Awoo—!"

A gray shadow lunged out of the cave, pouncing toward Li Long!

"Bang! Bang!"

Li Long pulled the trigger repeatedly, putting the creature down with two shots.

A gray wolf, currently twitching on the ground.

Both shots had hit; one in the front leg, one in the forehead—not dead center, a bit off.

But it didn't matter; a hit to a vital spot meant certain death.

Li Long had just stepped forward when there was a sudden commotion inside, followed by a howl, and a gray mass darted out.

Li Long was startled and held back when he was about to fire; he chuckled—this fellow was a half-grown wolf cub, baring its teeth and threatening Li Long.

Li Long didn't indulge it either; seeing the cub was two or three months old, ten-odd kilograms, half-grown, and impossible to tame, he raised his hand and fired a shot, ending it and letting mother and child be reunited.

So the two wolves had made this their den?

Li Long held his gun and listened carefully, confirming there was no more breathing inside, only then did he set his mind at ease.

As for why the gray wolf mother and cub were living here away from the pack, he wasn't in the mood to investigate. He carried his gun inside and, after entering, found two roe deer, one big and one small, lying on the ground. The small one's belly had already been hollowed out, while the big one only had its neck torn open.

Li Long was somewhat surprised; there were only two wolves, one big and one small, so how did they manage to take down these two roe deer?

Could it be that the roe deer were already staying in here, and the wolves were the newcomers?

He stepped forward and touched them; the roe deer carcasses weren't very stiff yet, so the time of death was likely within the last five or six hours.

Which meant it happened last night.

Li Long dragged the two roe deer out and laid them together with the wolves outside.

Four of them, big and small, it wouldn't be easy to carry them back.

And they were all things Ha Li Mu and the others could eat.

The sky was showing a faint glimmer of light, and Li Long gritted his teeth—take them all!

After all, there were twelve people in Ha Li Mu's group; one wolf or one roe deer wouldn't be enough to feed them. If they didn't eat the roe deer that died unnaturally, wolf meat was edible too.

The mother wolf was about forty kilograms, the cub over ten. The big roe deer was over thirty kilograms, the small one ten.

Fortunately, this place wasn't too far from Ha Li Mu's winter den, and Li Long didn't plan on keeping the skins; he shouldered the two small ones and dragged the two big ones directly down the mountain.

He rested once in the middle, then crossed two mountains, and by the time the two big guys were dragged until they were skinless and hairless, Li Long arrived in front of Ha Li Mu's winter den.

The eastern horizon was already turning red, and it looked like the sun would rise in a little while.

White smoke was rising from Ha Li Mu's winter den; clearly, he was already up.

Li Long dragged the roe deer and wolves to the front of Ha Li Mu's winter den and shouted:

"Ha Li Mu, Ha Li Mu!"

Ha Li Mu pulled open the door of the winter den and walked out, stooping.

"I just hunted a wolf and also brought some roe deer; the roe deer were bitten by the wolf, do you guys not eat them?"

Ha Li Mu was somewhat surprised, looked at Li Long, and said with a smile:

"That..."

"I've kept both the big wolf and the small wolf, and I'll take the roe deer. You tell them all, just gather everyone together, and we'll work on it together." Li Long left the two wolves on the ground. "That will be faster."

"Good." Ha Li Mu nodded; actually, he had been thinking the same thing.

"I'll go back, clean up the roe deer, and then drive the tractor over. Don't be in a hurry, we'll work together after I get the tractor over."

Then Li Long shouldered the roe deer and left.

Ha Li Mu actually wanted to say that when there was really nothing to eat, they would eat roe deer bitten to death by wolves too.

Ha Li Mu thought for a moment, first dragged the wolves into the winter den, closed the door, and then rode his horse to call people.

Li Long shouldered the roe deer again and walked for nearly an hour to return to the wooden house. His body was covered in bloodstains, and he was exhausted, gasping for breath, but he couldn't rest much.

He sat on the threshold for a while, went to change his clothes, and then started skinning them.

These roe deer had been dead for a whole night, so they had to be skinned as soon as possible.

Having been dead for a slightly longer time, skinning them was indeed not as easy as when they were fresh.

He took a knife and cut away all the parts the wolves had gnawed on, discarded them, then skinned and cleaned the rest, and started to break them down.

Because he still had work to do, he unloaded the meat into large chunks, put them in a large basin filled with water to soak, and would deal with them after he finished his work.

He carried the large basin of meat into the house, Li Long drank a large gulp of water, then locked the door, and drove the tractor *tut-tut-tut* toward Ha Li Mu's winter den.

He wanted to freeload a meal here at noon and taste the wolf meat they made.

When the tractor drove to the winter den, Li Long saw Yu Shanjiang, who had just dismounted, and two young men.

They looked familiar; he must have seen them during the sheep-snatching and horse-racing in the winter.

!.

Yu Shanjiang was also very happy to see Li Long driving the tractor over, tied up his horse, and came to greet him.

Li Long parked the tractor in the open space, got down, shook hands with Yu Shanjiang, and exchanged greetings.

"Ha Li Mu said you were coming, and I knew you would definitely have a way." Yu Shanjiang said with a smile, "Is this that harvester?"

"Yes. I just finished harvesting the wheat on our side, and this thing is also great for cutting grass!" Li Long patted the harvester. "Cutting grass for one day is equivalent to one person's ten-day workload."

"That's too good." Yu Shanjiang said with a smile; actually, he was also quite curious and wanted to experience the feeling of mechanized grass cutting.

"I hunted two wolves this morning, Ha Li Mu went to call you guys, so it's just right that we deal with these wolves." Li Long said to Yu Shanjiang after greeting the two young men.

"Good." Yu Shanjiang was the one who could make decisions here; he pushed open the door of the winter den and dragged the wolves out.

Li Long went to find wood and stones to build a stove at the entrance. Yu Shanjiang and the two young men skinned the wolves and processed the internal organs.

The large pot was set up, the fire was lit, and the wolf meat was unloaded into chunks and tossed in.

In a while, the water boiled, blood foam floated on the surface, and then one after another, young men and middle-aged men rode over on horses.

Some he knew, some he didn't, and they all greeted Li Long one by one.

Most were curiously looking at Li Long and at the strange-looking thing on the front of the tractor.

Li Long went to fetch two watermelons, cut them, and let everyone eat.

An hour and a half later, Ha Li Mu returned.

Following him back were two young men, riding horses and flicking whips, looking quite urgent.

After dismounting, they greeted the others, shook hands with Li Long, and then went to look at the harvester.

When they came over, they passed by Ha Li Mu's pasture, and looking at the neatly cut grass, to be honest, it was impossible for them not to be surprised.

Usually, when people cut grass, one patch takes two, three, or four days, but here, two or three hillsides were finished in one afternoon.

Mechanization is truly powerful!

They had heard about agricultural modernization on the radio, but there wasn't a separate one for animal husbandry; it was counted under agriculture, and now they were experiencing it for real.

In the past, when Li Long sent them daily necessities, they exchanged things from the mountains, so they didn't feel it deeply.

Now that Li Long had driven the harvester over and could help them cut grass, the feeling was completely different.

The wolf meat was rolling in the pot, and everyone was standing or sitting there discussing the grass cutting.

After Yu Shanjiang finished dealing with the wolf skins, he joined the discussion and quickly made the decision.

Everyone would act together, divided into two groups. One group would clear the stones and wooden stakes from the pasture in advance, and the other group would pick up and bundle the cut grass after it dried. By then, Li Long's tractor would haul the grass to each family's winter den.

As for improving their meals, they could do that in their spare time.

No one mentioned compensation for Li Long, and Li Long himself hadn't thought about it.

Sprinkling salt into the large pot, serving it out, everyone took a piece to eat, along with dry naan. Li Long wasn't used to it, so he dug out an enamel basin from the tractor, filled it with a basin of soup, and ate it by soaking the dry naan.

Chatting while eating, after finishing, they started work.

The timing wasn't quite right, but no one cared. Except for Ha Li Mu, who had witnessed the tractor cutting grass, no one else had seen it, and they were all curious.

In later generations, except for Adaxi filming short videos and Grandpa using a scythe to cut grass, basically everyone used specialized grass-cutting machines.

After all, the pastures are huge, often hundreds of mu, and if cut by hand, who knows when it would be finished.

Grass-cutting machines are more convenient. Advanced grass-cutting machines can compress the grass into bales as they cut. Of course, that wouldn't work now, because the grass is still green when cut and must be dried before bundling. Otherwise, it would rot and mold, and the cattle and sheep wouldn't eat it or would get sick if they did.

Everyone rode their horses, surrounding the tractor, walking into the mountains as if watching the excitement; a few young men occasionally whistled, as lively as an Aken singing performance.

Li Long had to drive cautiously; after all, some young men were quite curious and stayed too close to the tractor, and he was afraid of bumping into them.

No matter how small a tractor is, it's an iron object, and a bump would be terrible. Just like a car, the driver feels the speed is slow, moving forward slowly, and if someone were knocked down, it probably wouldn't be a big problem.

But thinking about one or two tons of weight, the inertia is so great that if someone were knocked down, it might result in a fracture or something.

Arriving at another hillside of Ha Li Mu's pasture, Li Long stopped the tractor, Ha Li Mu and the others dismounted, tied up their horses, and led the young people to start clearing this patch of grass. Occasionally, they would encounter wooden stakes, which they would directly knock over and pull out, throwing them far into the forest.

Or if they encountered stones, they would pry them up and throw them to the side.

Actually, there were basically no large obstacles in the pasture; if there were any, they had been cleared during previous grass-cutting.

It's just that there would be small ones; after all, when cutting grass with a scythe, if they encountered small obstacles, small wooden stakes were just ignored, and it didn't matter much.

Now it was different. The young people were very serious, knowing that this machine must be precious; if it were broken because a stone wasn't picked up, then they would have to cut the remaining grass themselves, which would be too much trouble.

Without a harvester, it didn't matter, everyone was the same, but now that it was suddenly said that they didn't need to cut grass and a machine could do it, the feeling was different.

Li Long looked at this patch of grass, and at a glance, Codonopsis, Bupleurum, Astragalus, Licorice—all medicinal herbs.

It's no wonder the mutton in the mountains is delicious; look at what they are eating? It's all tonic medicine.

Ha Li Mu and the others walked through once, Li Long was also prepared on his side, the tractor *tut-tut-tut* drove up, and when it reached the grass slope, he controlled the harvester to start cutting.

The young people's eyes all looked over, and then they watched as the tractor drove by, the green grass was cut almost flush with the ground, and the cut grass was neatly laid out on the right side of the tractor.

"Wow!"

"This is too good!"

"Mechanization, this is what mechanization is!"

The herdsmen were all full of praise.

While they were sighing, Li Long had already driven to the middle of the hillside.

Yu Shanjiang was also calculating; in just these few minutes, the grass Li Long's tractor cut, if replaced by manual labor, would take at least half an hour or even longer.

After Li Long went around in a circle, the hillside that was originally lush with green grass had two more marks, as if shaved by a razor.

The young men were quite excited, and some even had the idea of driving the tractor.

Riding horses is a tradition passed down for thousands of years, while driving a tractor is a momentary curiosity.

If we cut grass like this in the future, won't we not need to spend so much time? After all, looking at the speed of this grass cutting, a herdsman family's pasture might be finished in a day or two.

Cutting grass is the most tiring part; as for waiting for the grass to dry and piling it up for bundling, that's all extra.

It's the same as harvesting wheat.

The young men started laughing and joking, only Ha Li Mu and Yu Shanjiang huddled together to discuss in low voices.

When Li Long turned back, he harvested the envy of the young men, but at this time he didn't dare to hand the tractor over to them. This was on a hillside; if they didn't drive it well, they would drive straight up and flip over, and it would be one thing if the tractor was broken, but it might kill someone.

Li Long always remembered the incident where Yang Yongqiang drove a tractor into a wall.

After Ha Li Mu and Yu Shanjiang discussed it, they left two people here to look after things, and the others rode horses toward another hillside. They had to clear the stones and wooden stakes from the pasture as soon as possible to facilitate Li Long's grass cutting.

They had to finish as soon as possible and return to the summer pasture.

After all, the cattle and sheep were still over there. Yu Shanjiang's flock of sheep was still being looked after by someone else, and he wasn't very at ease.

Li Long's work was much easier; he just had to drive the tractor and cut. And unlike harvesting wheat, he didn't have to be so careful; if the grass was pressed, it was pressed, it didn't matter. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 530 =====