Chapter 564: Are there any special skins?

Although winter slaughtering isn't a festival, it's even livelier than a festival for herdsmen. In this era, herdsmen in the mountains basically live their own lives under normal circumstances, and only gather together to have fun during winter slaughtering, sheep snatching, and horse racing.

Later, after settling down and prospering, the traditions of the herdsmen didn't change because of this. Every winter, they would still gather together for sheep snatching and horse racing.

It's just that because the space is small, sheep snatching and horse racing have big movements and no special venues, so they would be on the highway, would pass through the village, and it's hard to avoid hurting villagers, especially small children.

In some places where herdsmen settle down, similar things happen almost every year. Dozens of horses rush into the village, running wildly side by side in the alley, which is very scary.

But it's hard to stop such things. After all, it counts as a national habit, and some things can't be explained clearly. The best way is naturally to have a special venue, just like the man who stood on a horse and whistled to cheer for his nephew that became popular this year.

They have special fields, and they are happy to compete, letting go.

Winter slaughtering is still very lively, just like the New Year or going to the market in the eighties. It's not easy to gather people together, and everyone talks and laughs, as if suddenly integrated into society.

People, after all, have sociality.

Li Long arrived here, and the cow slaughtering over there began.

Slaughtering cows and slaughtering sheep are different. Slaughtering sheep is an operation that one person can handle for herdsmen like Halimu, but slaughtering cows is a big job.

Think about that cowhide being spread out, it can occupy the floor of a small room.

The herdsmen who came to help slaughter the cows were also very excited, each having their own division of labor, skinning, opening the belly, setting up the stove to boil water, and cleaning the internal organs.

Because Halimu had said before that he would give that set of offal to Li Long, two young men picked out the cow offal after it was removed, put a part in a large basin to freeze, and took the stomach and intestines to the water to wash.

The stomach and intestines need to be washed with warm water because there is grease. If washed with cold water, it will coagulate, and the dirt inside won't be washed clean, and there will be a smell.

But you can't use water that is too hot, as it will scald the stomach and intestines, and there will be no way to wash them.

Warm water is best.

Li Long couldn't get a hand in to help, so he simply asked Halimu where there were springs with more water on the high ground nearby.

Halimu thought for a moment and pointed out a location for Li Long to go and see.

Li Long walked towards that side.

All winter nests are basically built on relatively flat places on the grass slope. The vision is relatively open, and it's easy to build cattle and sheep pens and pile grass.

Li Long walked for fifty or sixty meters before reaching the side of the mountain wall. There were trees and shrubs here, and there were relatively many weeds. He looked and walked forward again, finding a stream.

Although it was winter, this water was still flowing, and there was only thin ice on it, and the water flow wasn't small.

Li Long turned his head to look at Halimu's winter nest, where the young people had already started to dismantle bones and remove meat, preparing to boil it in a large pot.

There weren't so many types of diet in this day and age, and boiling, roasting, and stir-frying were basically the whole set of what everyone ate.

He looked at the distance from here to the winter nest. If hard plastic pipes were used, most of them would have to be buried underground, otherwise they would be easily destroyed.

The connection port of the water pipe could be on the side of the stream. Li Long's idea was that it would be best to go to the source of the stream, where there should be spring water.

It would be best to be at the water source, so that the possibility of being polluted was the smallest.

Like the position of his wooden house where there was a spring on the side, it was relatively rare.

Li Long broke off a branch from the side and probed the way inside, thinking about whether it would be best to be at the water source if the water source wasn't far.

Soon, Li Long found that it wasn't easy to walk further ahead. The stream had a small waterfall here, and it wasn't easy to climb up.

However, even here, the altitude was twenty or thirty meters higher than the winter nest, which was higher than the water tower built by the Fourth Team later, enough to use.

He looked at the position of the small waterfall, and a relatively small water pit rushed out below, with stones at the bottom. Li Long felt that he could dig a groove and bury the water pipe in the water pit.

Of course, the mouth of the water pipe had to be covered with gauze, otherwise, if stones entered, it would block the pipe after a long time.

Gauze was easy to rot after a long time. It would be best to get an iron wire net, the kind with very fine mesh.

It was troublesome, but once done well, it would be very useful.

Li Long calculated how to do it while walking down.

The stick in his hand kept probing. At this time, there was wind-blown snow, so what he saw in front was white snow. If he wasn't careful, he would step into a snow pit.

Finally, he simply stepped back according to the footprints of the direction he walked over, which was safer.

Even so, the stick in his hand also probed several snow pits, which were only one or two steps away from the position he was stepping on.

The mountains in the snowy days were still very dangerous. What was dangerous wasn't just those wild beasts.

Li Long returned to the winter nest. The cow had been slaughtered and was being decomposed. Large pieces of beef bones with meat had entered the pot and were being boiled, and the internal organs had also been cleaned, packed in bags, and prepared to be frozen for Li Long's tractor to haul away.

The things in the tractor had also been taken down, scattered in piles. Those who came to help would use horses to carry the things away when they left.

A pile of skins had already been placed on the tractor's cargo bed. Looking from the surface, there were many wolf skins and deer skins. Because there were many skins, Li Long just took two glances, planning to classify them carefully after returning.

And he didn't have time. The beef bones boiled in the pot had rolled many times. At this time, the meat fragrance could drift for several kilometers.

There were wolves howling on the distant mountain, and I don't know if it had anything to do with the winter slaughtering here.

Without much talk, the bottled wine Li Long brought was opened, pieces of meat were fished out and placed in the enamel basin Li Long brought. Otherwise, Halimu wouldn't have so many bowls here, and they would really have to eat with their hands.

Naan was made, everyone broke off a piece, and most people mainly ate meat first. Winter slaughtering was also a day to satisfy cravings, mainly eating meat, and naan was mainly to relieve greasiness at the end.

Li Long didn't lack oil in his stomach, so he picked up a piece of neck and gnawed slowly. The meat here had flavor, it was just troublesome to gnaw. After all, the meat had been removed first, and the removed meat was kept by the host to eat through the winter.

The bottled wine was poured into a glass, and those who liked to drink had a glass each. Someone handed it to Li Long, but Li Long pointed to the tractor, indicating he wouldn't drink, otherwise he would drive the tractor into the ditch.

Others didn't force it and handed the wine glass to others. They chatted about the interesting things they encountered in the summer pasture, some in Kazakh, some in Han language, mixed together, which gave Li Long some understanding of the summer pasture.

The summer pasture in the deep mountains belonged to alpine grassland or meadow, and the terrain was very high. There were also patches of irregular grasslands there, not as vast as the grasslands in Ili or Inner Mongolia, separated by spruce, shrubs, rivers, etc.

And these patches became the exclusive pastures of herdsmen. Their positions were different, and the things they encountered were also different.

"Such a large piece of ice, with a swish, fell off from that ice cover, almost hitting my sheep. Later, I didn't dare to put sheep there again..."

This was a herdsman telling the story of him putting sheep on the edge of the glacier.

"... Such a large group

"You guys don't know, that thing specifically runs to the mountains, my horse can't get up there at all... It's been in my grassland area every day, I've shot several, the sheepskins are all there!"

He pointed to the hides on Li Long's tractor hopper to show he was telling the truth.

Others confirmed that he had indeed brought hides, so everyone smiled and believed him.

"... Several nights, my flock was eaten, so I hid by the sheep pen at night and saw a black, fuzzy thing dart into the pen. I used to think it was a wolf, but when I discovered it was just one guy and it didn't howl, I shot it and realized it was a leopard..."

Li Long listened to their stories with great interest. He wondered if he should take the time to follow them to the summer pasture?

Don't even think about it in the short term. Once Gu Xiaoxia gives birth, he'll be even more afraid to go far. At least he'll have to wait until the child starts school.

Sigh, what they said made him quite yearn for it.

Yushanjiang and Halimu didn't speak; they looked at each other and smiled, saying nothing.

After eating the meat and drinking two bottles of liquor, Halimu wouldn't let them drink anymore, or rather, wouldn't give them any more. Li Long had brought quite a bit of liquor, but Halimu didn't distribute it, fearing someone might open a bottle on the way back, get drunk, and be unable to return.

After eating and drinking their fill, the herdsmen climbed onto their horses one by one and wobbled back. Halimu and his wife cleaned up the mess. Li Long wanted to help, but Halimu wouldn't let him, telling him to hurry back to the wooden house.

"I won't keep you. You have your own house, hurry back, you need to set up the stove there too."

The sky darkened. Li Long originally thought about driving straight back to the county, but then he thought, forget it, he might as well go check the wooden house; he had to go to Yushanjiang's side early tomorrow anyway.

By the time Li Long drove the tractor to the wooden house, the sun had completely set, and night had fallen. Li Long hurriedly got off the tractor and first drained the water from the water tank.

The wooden house was well-preserved, and no one had damaged the door; it seemed not many people came here.

He opened the door, first lit the oil lamp, and then set up the stove.

There was firewood, charcoal, and kindling in the shed. After clearing the ash from the stove, setting it up was quite fast. The wooden house was ice-cold, but Li Long didn't mind; he believed that as long as the stove was burning, it would heat up quickly.

It was dark, so Li Long held a flashlight in his mouth and brought the hides and the bag of beef offal and suet from the tractor hopper into the small room; otherwise, carnivores would definitely come and steal them at night.

Whether it was offal or hides, they were delicacies to them in winter.

After finishing this, Li Long locked the door of the small room and carried the tractor's crank into the main room.

The stove was already burning, and the temperature in the room had risen. He put the pot on and started boiling water.

The spring water hadn't frozen, so Li Long carried a bucket and fetched two buckets of water, and the temperature in the room rose a bit more.

He shoveled some more coal from the shed, brought it into the house, and used a hammer to break it into small pieces for later use.

The door was closed and latched, and an oil lamp brought a dim, yellowish light to the wooden house.

Used to the electric lights in the large courtyard, Li Long wasn't quite used to using this oil lamp again.

He sat on the bed and felt the bedding was still a bit cold, so he propped them up on a stool near the stove to roast them.

!.

He had eaten that meat from noon to afternoon, so Li Long was quite full and even brought back a basin of meat soup and two bones. However, he wasn't in the mood to eat right now; he just wanted to roast the bedding and sleep.

It is said that if you eat too much, the stomach and brain compete for blood, so the brain becomes drowsy and wants to sleep.

The bedding couldn't be roasted hot in a short while, so he rummaged through the bed, found a book, leaned against the table, and moved closer to the oil lamp to read.

"The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants," a traditional chivalry novel, not as colloquial as Jin Yong, Gu Long, Liang Yusheng, or Wen Ruian's works, but it was still okay to read.

After all, he had even read "Investiture of the Gods," which was more classical than this, so why not this?

After a while, the temperature in the room had completely risen, the coal had burned into red charcoal, the water in the pot was boiling, and wolf howls could be heard outside.

These beasts had noses that were too good; they could smell even the slightest hint of blood.

But they would only be disappointed today.

Li Long wasn't in good spirits and didn't plan to hunt. He put down the book, got up to scoop the water from the pot into a thermos, took the pot down, shoveled some coal dust to dampen the stove fire, covered it with the stove lid, and turned to brew a bowl of tea for himself.

Kazakhs basically only use salt when boiling meat. Li Long had only eaten one piece of meat—that cow neck wasn't small—and after finishing it, he drank a bowl of meat soup. It felt extremely fragrant at the time, but now he felt very thirsty and salty.

Drinking tea slowly while reading, he felt the temperature in the room had stabilized. After finishing the bowl of tea, he touched the bedding and found it was hot, so he laid it out, blew out the oil lamp, and went to sleep.

The wolf howls outside grew closer. Li Long turned over and fell into a deep sleep.

Several wolves lightly crossed the snow and arrived around the wooden house. They smelled the meat fragrance, circled the tractor a few times, but found nothing.

In the end, these wolves left in frustration; they also knew that this wooden house couldn't be broken by their teeth and claws.

Because he slept early, Li Long also woke up early. He saw it was still dark outside but couldn't sleep, so he simply got up.

He didn't feel it while sleeping, but as soon as he got up, he felt his bladder was heavy, and his mouth was extremely dry.

He poured half a bowl of boiling water from the thermos, added some cold boiled water, gulped it down, wiped his mouth, picked up his gun, and opened the door.

A blast of cold air hit his face, followed by some powdery snow in the air.

Is it snowing?

Li Long looked out and determined it wasn't snowing, but rather wind-blown snow. Then he saw many claw prints on the thin snow on the wooden floor outside.

Wolves!

Li Long hurriedly pulled the bolt to chamber a round, feeling an unexpected sense of excitement.

He hadn't hunted for a long time; he wondered if there were wolves outside? How many?

Li Long held his gun and went out through the door crack, closed the door, and observed carefully.

The sky wasn't bright yet, there were some stars overhead, and there was no movement around the tractor.

Did they run away?

Li Long was a bit disappointed and observed the claw prints carefully again. Sure enough, there was a little bit of thin snow on top; these wolves had been here for a while.

He circled the tractor and looked into the distance, seeing no shadow of wolves, but he didn't dare to let his guard down.

Carrying the gun, he circled the wooden house once and checked the shed, but found no movement, so he had to relieve himself and return to the house.

Checking the watch on his wrist, it was past seven, and the sky was still dark. Should wild boars be coming down the mountain at this time?

But he had to go to Yushanjiang's place today, so he shouldn't provoke that bunch of grunters for now.

Returning to the room, he cleared the stove and boiled water. Li Long added some water to the meat soup from last night to heat it up, planning to soak some naan for breakfast.

As for those two bones, he didn't have much appetite for them for the time being.

He went to the corner of the room, opened the jar, scooped out the frozen salted vegetables, put them in an enamel basin to thaw with warm water, washed them, cut them into small pieces, added oil to the pot, stir-fried them simply, served them, and ate them with the naan; it was very fragrant.

After everything was packed, he locked the door and drove the tractor to Yushanjiang's place.

Someone had already arrived at Yushanjiang's winter camp and was helping to clear the site.

Yushanjiang's family was also slaughtering a cow, and he was leading it out of the pen.

The cattle breeds here were mainly local yellow cattle and brown cattle. Brown cattle had huge bodies, and one adult cow could yield five or six hundred kilograms of meat, while yellow cattle were much smaller.

Halimu slaughtered a yellow cow yesterday, and today Yushanjiang's family was slaughtering a brown cow—herdsmen didn't raise many brown cattle, mainly because these guys had huge appetites. In the past, they really might not have been able to afford to raise them.

Fortunately, this year, Li Long used the tractor to cut grass, so much grass that couldn't be cut before could now be cut, saving time while increasing the amount of fodder.

Secondly, because Li Long hauled things in from time to time, Yushanjiang and Halimu were willing to feed them concentrated feed. Of course, as members of the pastoral team, the cattle and sheep they turned in would be returned with supplies; as for calculating accounts, everyone had their own plans.

For example, Yushanjiang's idea was that as long as there was enough fodder, it was better to raise more brown cattle; anyway, the meat yield was high, and slaughtering one was worth several yellow cattle.

Of course, the appetite was the same.

Yushanjiang thought that after slaughtering the cow, they wouldn't eat much today, so he would give Li Long a share of the remaining beef, give Li Long the offal, and air-dry the rest of the meat, waiting for the students' break to pick up his wife and children.

Both children were older and at the age where their appetites were large, so they ate a lot. Now that life wasn't as difficult, it was just right to supplement their nutrition.

This brown cow was much taller than the yellow cow, and it seemed to feel that its time had come, roaring continuously and refusing to move forward.

Li Long stepped forward to help. He was strong, so he and Yushanjiang worked together to lead the cow to the place prepared for slaughter. A post was set up here to tie the cow; later, they would tie the cow's hooves and then slaughter it.

Li Long vaguely remembered a story he had heard about an old man in the border region who killed a cow by just tapping it lightly on the head with a wooden mallet, and the cow would fall to the ground and die.

Very magical.

He didn't know where he tapped.

"Did you look at the hides from yesterday?" Yushanjiang asked Li Long.

"No, I went back late, so I just carried the hides into the house and went to sleep," Li Long explained.

Yushanjiang nodded and said nothing more.

Li Long didn't think much of it at first, but later, when he pondered it, he felt something was wrong.

Usually, when Yushanjiang and Halimu gave him things, they wouldn't say anything; whatever he said went, and whatever he said was the truth.

Why would he suddenly say this today?

Was there anything special about those hides?

Just as Li Long was about to ask, a few more people arrived. With more people, they could slaughter the cow.

This matter was temporarily put aside by Li Long.

(Acute purulent tonsillitis, I've had an intravenous injection, but the high fever still hasn't subsided. Only one chapter today, no choice, the child's mother isn't around, so I can only take care of one thing.) (End of chapter)