Chapter 565: The hide is here, but what about the bones?

These herdsmen were quick at slaughtering cattle. Looking at that massive brown ox, in just a few minutes, its original wailing ceased. The ox's life ended, and then they began to skin it.

Li Long couldn't help, so he went back into the crowd to ask Yushanjiang where there was a water source on the high ground nearby.

Yushanjiang pointed casually, then asked offhandedly:

"What do you need that for?"

"When spring comes, I'll connect a pipe from up there to here. It'll be convenient to use water, and we won't need to go down to fetch it anymore."

His words were overheard by Talihar, who was coming over from the stream below carrying a bucket. Talihar asked with interest:

"Can you get a pipe that long?"

"No, but we can connect them," Li Long gestured the diameter of the pipe and said, "Hard plastic pipes come in coils of twenty or thirty meters. When the time comes, we'll bury them underground, dig a hidden pit at the joints, and connect them. We won't have to worry even if water flows out."

Originally, everyone had been chatting about how much meat this brown ox would yield, but now that Li Long had said this, they all began to discuss how many pipes would be needed to bury them like that and how to lead the water over most conveniently.

After Li Long finished explaining, he took a stick and went to look at the place Yushanjiang had pointed out, wanting to see if it would be convenient to lead water from there to here.

The herdsmen skinning the brown ox here didn't delay their work at all; while skinning, they were imagining what the plastic pipes looked like.

Among them, only Yushanjiang and Halimu had more dealings with the world below the mountains. Although they hadn't seen such thick hard plastic pipes, they could at least imagine them; the others were truly letting their imaginations run wild.

Li Long climbed upward, seeing that this side seemed steeper than Halimu's side. But the distance was closer, by about ten to twenty meters.

At the end of the stream, there were four outlets in total, none with much flow. Li Long guessed they were likely from the same water source, just seeping out from different directions.

After all, this mountain body was rocky, and it was normal for there to be cracks inside.

He looked and felt that by digging a pit below the four outlets to collect water, and then burying the pipe opening right there, he could utilize the mountain's drop to continuously lead the water source to Yushanjiang's winter shelter.

The water volume in winter wasn't small, and the summer volume would be even greater. As long as the pipes were buried well, it was estimated that there would be no need to worry about water usage for several years.

By the time a few more years passed, due to irrigation needs, the number of machine-drilled wells would keep increasing, and the groundwater level across Northern Tianshan would be dropping; there would be no way around that then.

Of course, that was still a long way off.

Li Long confirmed the location and was just about to leave when he suddenly felt a sense of danger nearby.

He immediately raised his stick and carefully observed his surroundings.

On a high stone platform twenty-some meters opposite him, a gray wolf was staring at him, emitting a low sound.

Li Long habitually reached for his shoulder—damn, he hadn't brought his gun!

Thinking he was just coming to slaughter sheep and there shouldn't be any danger, he had left the gun in the tractor's cargo bed and hadn't brought it along.

That wolf seemed to see that Li Long was alone; it actually jumped off the high stone platform and slowly, tentatively, walked toward Li Long.

Hey!

Treating him like a soft persimmon?

Li Long was so angry he laughed!

He bent down, picked up a stone, and threw it at the wolf.

The wolf dodged it nimbly. However, Li Long wasn't just using one stone; stone after stone made the wolf exceptionally miserable—it hadn't expected that the opponent could make it suffer just by using stones from the side of the ditch!

"Awoo—" The wolf was hit three times by Li Long, and in pain, it tucked its tail and turned to run!

Li Long's strength was not something an ordinary person could compare to; if that stone had hit solidly, it could have broken the wolf's leg!

The wolf ran away howling. Li Long still felt a bit of regret; if he had been carrying his gun, that wolf would likely have become his prey.

Hearing the wolf's howl, the herdsmen carrying guns ran over one after another. Seeing Li Long was fine here, Yushanjiang asked:

"What happened?"

"I ran into a wolf while checking the water source," Li Long explained the matter, "It's a pity I didn't bring my gun."

"There's a lot of snow deep in the mountains, and many wild beasts are running to the outer mountains," Yushanjiang said with some worry, "For the past few nights, wolf packs have been active outside my sheep pen."

"I'll go down the mountain this afternoon and bring some bullets up tomorrow," Li Long understood the implication, "When the time comes, everyone can split them up. We can't be soft-hearted when we run into beasts like that."

Yushanjiang nodded, indicating he understood.

Li Long followed them to the winter shelter. He discovered that the brown ox hide had already been peeled off, the ox's belly had been opened, and the internal organs were being taken out.

Yushanjiang used a knife to remove a leg first, carried it over, and threw it into the cargo bed of Li Long's tractor—there were plastic bags in the cargo bed, so he wasn't afraid of it getting dirty.

"No, no, I have meat at home," Li Long wanted to refuse, but was stopped by Yushanjiang, "Dorsen, we won't refuse you fixing our houses and drilling wells for our families, so don't you refuse the meat we give you!"

Alright, there was no arguing that.

It wasn't just a hundred-plus kilogram ox leg, but also the brown ox's internal organs. This fellow was large, and its organs were large too; all the offal sorted out couldn't even fit into two plastic bags.

The suet was also particularly plentiful; the suet alone filled half a bag.

It was too exaggerated!

The meat was already boiling, and the herdsmen were discussing the differences and pros and cons between this brown ox and yellow cattle, looking at the rolling beef in the pot, each of them still quite greedy.

Although they had eaten meat yesterday, it didn't mean that one meal could truly satisfy their cravings. In an era short on meat, one or two meals of meat couldn't satisfy them.

Li Long returned from Yushanjiang's place a bit earlier today. When he drove the tractor, he already had his gun slung over his shoulder. That wolf, and the wolf paw prints at the door this morning, made him understand that the wooden house really wasn't safe. The beasts were truly coming out of the mountains.

Fortunately, the tractor, this big fellow, was a true monster to ordinary beasts, so nothing dared to block the road all the way to the wooden house.

What Li Long was most curious about were the hides Yushanjiang had pointed out. He hadn't looked closely when he moved them in last night. Now that the sun was still high, he intended to move the hides onto the tractor, put in yesterday's offal, and then return to the county seat.

What Halimu and the others had loaded onto the tractor yesterday wasn't just hides, but also two male red deer heads and three sets of roe deer antlers.

Li Long moved these things onto the tractor first, then went to move the yellow ox's offal.

He intended to give the yellow ox's offal to Li Xiangqian. To get bullets, he would inevitably have to go through Li Xiangqian, and he didn't know if he had the qualification to have the Security Division issue bullets.

On top were two wolf hides; one was very complete, and Li Long guessed the bullet must have hit the head. The other one had two holes in the belly, and the hide was ruined.

Below was a large deer hide; this should be from a male red deer, and the hide could almost occupy the entire tractor cargo bed with room to spare.

The hide was also very complete. Li Long wondered which of them had shot this male deer; their marksmanship was quite accurate.

The hide below that...

Li Long's eyes widened all of a sudden.

This hide was also not small, though not as large as the red deer hide. The fur was quite long, with a yellow base color and black patterns in stripes; it looked completely different!

This damn thing must be a big cat hide!

In his previous life, Li Long had learned about the Northern Tianshan tiger from popular science on short videos, which said that official records stated this beast had gone extinct in 1916. But from the early 20th century to the early 21st century, people from all over the north and south of Tianshan claimed to have witnessed traces of tigers.

The last time Li Long saw the figure of that beast in front of the wooden house, he also felt it might be a tiger, but it was too far away, and no evidence was left behind, so Li Long hadn't told anyone at all.

It was enough for him to know this thing himself.

He just hadn't expected to see a tiger hide among the hides Halimu and Yushanjiang had given him!

Li Long was almost certain that this thing was a tiger hide!

It was said that Northern Tianshan tigers had the character "King" on their foreheads, but this hide didn't have a head, only the hide of the body. And there were several holes in the hide, which should all be bullet holes.

It was truly unimaginable that Halimu and the others had actually shot a tiger! Was this thing something an ordinary person could shoot?

It was truly a bit beyond Li Long's expectations.

Holding this tiger hide, he almost immediately wanted to go and ask Halimu and Yushanjiang where this tiger had been shot.

After all, what was valuable about a tiger wasn't just the hide, but also the bones.

Lynx bones were useful, let alone a tiger's?

But it had been so many days; thinking about it, they might be gone, so Li Long felt it was better to return to the county seat first.

After getting the bullets, he would go find Halimu and the others again.

Loading up the remaining hides in the house, Li Long locked the door, started the tractor, and drove out of the mountains with a chugging sound.

By the time the tractor reached the county seat, it was already dark.

Li Long drove the tractor to the gate of the compound. Hearing the movement, Gu Xiaoxia had already come over to open the gate. She, along with Sister Yang and Han Fang, pulled the two gate leaves to the sides, then let Li Long drive the tractor into the courtyard.

"Why are you back so late?" Gu Xiaoxia asked.

"I had something to do when I got back. There was a winter slaughter in the mountains, and they gave me some meat and offal, so I brought the meat back to drop off." In front of Sister Yang and Han Fang, Li Long didn't mention the tiger hide.

Closing the courtyard gate, Li Long didn't go to unload the things in the cargo bed, but went straight into the house. The temperature was around minus seventeen or eighteen degrees, and the snow in the courtyard had been cleared very cleanly. Those things were safe in the cargo bed.

Li Long was thinking about whether he should raise a cat in the courtyard. But if he raised a cat, would the little hedgehog be a bit in danger?

Just an idle thought.

Gu Xiaoxia and the others had already eaten dinner, but Sister Yang still quickly cooked a bowl of noodles for Li Long. In Sister Yang's view, as long as there was meat, cooking was truly very easy.

People in this era were also very easy to satisfy. Scoop a spoonful of rendered meat oil, put it into the pot when cooking noodles, and the taste would be very delicious.

Chop some pickled vegetable shreds, add some dried vegetables, and the flavor of the noodles would come out.

After serving the noodles to Li Long, Sister Yang and Han Fang went to the side room, leaving only Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia in the dining room.

"Yushanjiang slaughtered a brown ox today; that brown ox was too big, one was almost a ton," Li Long gestured while eating noodles:

"Yushanjiang brought me a leg. I didn't want it at first, but he insisted, so I took it."

"And the brown ox's offal and suet, they were too big; the tractor's cargo bed was almost full," Li Long said, "If you raise two or three cattle like this, you won't finish the meat in a year."

Gu Xiaoxia sat on the side, listening to Li Long talk with a smile.

"... I ran into a wolf while checking the water source. That wolf wanted to attack me when it saw I was alone, but I threw stones and scared it away." Li Long finished the noodles in the bowl, his head already slightly sweating. He drank up the noodle soup as well, then prepared to wash the bowl, but Gu Xiaoxia took it over.

!.

After tidying up, the two of them went into the master bedroom together.

"When you weren't back, I watched TV with Sister Yang and Han Fang. Han Fang usually watches one episode of TV and then goes to do her homework," Gu Xiaoxia helped Li Long change his clothes, saying as she changed them, "When you weren't here, the three of us were together, and it felt quite good."

"Hmm, just in time, I have something to tell you." Li Long changed his clothes, sat down with Gu Xiaoxia to watch TV, and said in a low voice: "Among the hides I brought back today, there's a tiger hide..."

"What?" Gu Xiaoxia was startled, "Where did it come from?"

"Yushanjiang and the others shot it," Li Long said, "I haven't asked in detail yet.

Tomorrow I'll go to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to get them some bullets, and when I go back into the mountains, I'll ask properly. I really didn't expect there to be tigers in these mountains! I also want to ask where the tiger bones are; I don't know if they're still there..."

Gu Xiaoxia was also very curious; if it weren't for the cold outside, she would have wanted to go see what the tiger hide looked like.

Gu Xiaoxia asked Li Long about the situation in the mountains while watching TV. Li Long answered intermittently. He wasn't very interested in the current TV, and soon he started to doze off.

Gu Xiaoxia simply went to sleep with him.

In the room next door, Han Fang had finished her homework. She asked Sister Yang:

"Mom, Uncle Li came back from the mountains, and he feels different from before."

"How is he different?" Sister Yang was sewing clothes, asking while sewing.

"There's a smell of blood on him; it's so scary."

"There's meat in the cargo bed; he probably killed some wild beast in the mountains." Sister Yang knew that Li Long would bring back meat of wild beasts from the mountains from time to time, so she could understand it better.

"Uncle Li's life is really good; they can eat meat every day," Han Fang said with envy.

In the past, when Sister Yang cooked for Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia, although she added meat, it was only for the noon meal, and the afternoon meal was very ordinary.

But here, for the sake of Gu Xiaoxia's nutrition, Sister Yang was very willing to add meat when cooking.

There was also a lot of meat oil rendered in the compound, and Gu Xiaoxia also told Sister Yang not to be stingy when stir-frying vegetables, so Sister Yang managed the three meals a day to be very nutritious.

Nutrition in this era was truly based on meat.

Li Long still remembered that even a few years later, people with the "rich man's disease" of tuberculous pleurisy would still mainly eat mixed noodles and stir-fried noodles to supplement nutrition. At this time, not everyone could eat mixed noodles and stir-fried noodles.

"Alright, don't think so much, study hard, and later you can become a state cadre, then you can eat meat every day too," Sister Yang said while sewing clothes.

"Currently, other state cadres might not necessarily eat as well as us," Han Fang was young but very clear-headed, "Uncle Li is capable, and his family life is good. Others just rely on their wages and simply can't eat meat every day."

This was the truth. Some unit cadres and workers in Northern Tianshan had higher wages than those in the interior, and the production of cattle and sheep was also higher than in the interior.

But even so, those cadres couldn't eat meat at every meal like Li Long's family.

Sister Yang glanced at Han Fang, hesitating whether she should let her daughter straighten out her thinking. Once the address of her husband was sent from their hometown, after she finished taking care of Gu Xiaoxia giving birth, she would still have to go find her husband.

But looking at Han Fang's expression and thoughts, she should want to continue staying here. Life here was much better than in their hometown.

Sister Yang's mood was complicated. If their hometown didn't send the address, and she wanted to find her husband's traces, she might really have to go back once.

The next day, when Li Long got up, the meal was already cooked.

Was this life a bit decadent?

When he and Gu Xiaoxia finished washing up, Han Fang had already finished eating, greeted them with her schoolbag on her back, and hurried off to school.

Sister Yang looked at Li Long with admiration in her eyes. She thought that only a man like Li Long was worthy of Gu Xiaoxia.

Just now when cooking, Han Fang had quietly come over to tell her that there was a big ox leg in the cargo bed, and a lot of meat, and hides, and so on.

This showed that Uncle Li's harvest in the mountains was very rich.

Being able to let his wife live a very good life, this was ability.

After breakfast, Li Long moved the hides and deer antlers into the side room on the east side, left the ox leg, brown ox offal, and suet in the kitchen for Sister Yang to handle, and then Li Long drove the tractor to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Looking at that ox leg which was bigger than himself, Sister Yang felt a bit troubled.

This thing was truly hard to handle.

Wait for it to thaw and slowly break it down.

This could be considered happy but troubled. So much meat; if someone else got it, they would definitely be overjoyed.

Li Long drove the tractor into the courtyard of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, parked it, and went to find Li Xiangqian first.

What surprised Li Long a bit was that Li Xiangqian wasn't there. He asked others in the Procurement Division, and they said he had gone to the prefecture to pull supplies.

Li Long was a bit disappointed. With Li Xiangqian not there, could he get the bullets himself?

He had to try anyway, so Li Long went to the Security Division.

"Getting another two hundred bullets?" Section Chief Hou was a bit surprised, "The ones you got before were used up so quickly?"

"There's heavy snow in the mountains, and wild beasts are all running to the outer mountains; wolves are in packs," Li Long had no choice but to tell the truth, "No way around it, for the sake of protecting the cattle and sheep."

"Alright, go find Wei Zhuren to write a slip," Section Chief Hou nodded, "I'll prepare the bullets for you here."

Wei Zhuren was listening to the radio in his office, and he was quite happy to see Li Long come over.

Asking Li Long about delivering supplies to herdsmen in the mountains recently, Wei Zhuren praised Li Long heavily and asked if there were any difficulties.

Li Long took the opportunity to bring up the matter of the bullets.

"Two hundred rounds, right? Is that enough?" Wei Zhuren asked.

"Enough," Li Long felt it was better not to ask for too many, "After they came to the winter shelter, the range for grazing behind them became smaller, and the hidden dangers will be fewer."

"Alright, I'll write you a slip, go and get them," Wei Zhuren said.

Li Long thought to himself, should he bring two wolf hides for Wei Zhuren after this trip? The leader was good to him, so he couldn't always come empty-handed.

Although wolf hides weren't very valuable, they had a lot of class when displayed.

That was decided.

PS: Only one chapter today. The child has been getting injections for two days and doesn't have much of a fever anymore. I've been up for two days, basically haven't slept at night, and have to take the child to the hospital during the day; I can't hold up. I should be able to return to normal tomorrow. A sigh: if a person is too thin and has no meat, it really won't do; I can't hold up! (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 566 =====