Chapter 580

The weather was already very cold, and ice flowers had already formed on the glass windows of the house where the children lived.

Li Juan clenched her right hand into a fist and slowly pressed the palm against the ice on the glass. The palm stayed on the ice for a few seconds, and when the hand left the glass, an imprint had already been left on the glass. The ice had been melted by the warmth of her hand.

Shaking her hand, Li Juan extended her right index finger again and dotted five points above the imprint, the first point large, and the following four points small.

After finishing, she examined it and was very satisfied, then pulled Li Qiang over and asked:

"Qiang, look, what does this look like?"

Li Qiang was at the door listening to his uncle, grandfather, and father talking about hunting in the inner room, and was somewhat reluctant to be pulled over by Li Juan, but his sister's authority was still quite heavy.

Li Qiang had an unhappy expression on his face, glanced at the pattern on the glass, didn't think of it for a moment, then took another look, his eyes widening:

"Eh? This... looks like a little footprint. Sister, teach me, how did you draw it?"

"Haha, you guessed right. Come, I'll teach you!"

Li Juan didn't have much interest in hunting. Following Li Long to catch chickens in the past was merely because she wanted to eat meat. Over the past two years, she had eaten a lot of meat, her height had grown, and her longing for meat wasn't as deep.

On the contrary, Li Qiang, although very interested in the little footprint his sister drew, still had some of his thoughts on the hunting that Li Long had talked about.

"It's said that in the past few years, there were really a lot of yellow sheep." Li Jianguo listened to Li Long's account and recalled, "We went to the Gobi desert in the north to dig up red willow roots to burn, and at that time, a group of yellow sheep would run over every now and then."

"At that time, yellow sheep were in groups of hundreds, vast and mighty, the momentum was huge! At that time, we weren't doing public work, we didn't carry guns, so we just watched those yellow sheep run away from ten meters away. At that time, throwing a stone could hit one..."

"Then why didn't you throw one?" Du Chunfang asked, finding it interesting.

"Throwing wouldn't kill it either." Li Jianguo smiled and said, "Without a gun, you can only stare. That thing is much bigger than a raised sheep. Later, there was one time we had a gun, hit a few, pulled them back, and had a beautiful meal a few times."

"I feel that this meat is just so-so." Du Chunfang felt that it was still not as delicious as pork, it wasn't easy to chew.

Everyone laughed, and Li Qing Xia sighed:

"I really can't imagine it. In my hometown, everyone thinks of the bitter cold place in the Northwest, where it should be Gobi desert everywhere, work is hard, and you can't get anything. Who would have thought that hunting here is so convenient, catching fish is so convenient... Hey, I really came to the right place!"

"Dad, if you go back and tell them, they won't believe it." Li Long said, "You saw it and caught it, so you believe it. Those people listening to you will think you are bragging."

"Who cares how others see it? We just need to live our own lives well." Liang Wenyu said while sewing a shoe sole.

"Hey, sister-in-law, you say that now, but let me tell you, if you go back to your hometown and hear others say that Northern Tianshan is not good, you will definitely be more anxious than me at that time." Li Long said with a smile.

Hometown, alma mater, old company—these three places are places where you can complain as much as you want, but rarely allow others to judge at will.

When Li Long went traveling, in that era, there were still people who misunderstood that Northern Tianshan was full of Gobi desert everywhere, and he had argued with others more than once or twice.

And strictly speaking, he couldn't be counted as a pure Northern Tianshan person, after all, he was born in his hometown.

But Northern Tianshan people don't calculate it that way. If you have lived in Northern Tianshan for twenty years in your thirty years of life, then you are a Northern Tianshan person.

Of course, if you don't admit it, that's fine, it's up to you.

Originally, according to the development of the previous life, Li Qing Xia and Du Chunfang came to Northern Tianshan, but they never stayed for long each time. Li Jianguo couldn't get away, and Liang Wenyu went back twice.

And they all came back sick. She hated the emotions of her hometown to the extreme, because she had received too many negative things there.

Li Jianguo would send money and things home every year, and Liang Wenyu also brought things back, but less than half a month after returning, the family couldn't even open the pot.

That kind of unbearable feeling.

But in this life, because of the changes on Li Long's side, after Li Qing Xia brought Du Chunfang over, they decided to settle down here, so Li Jianguo and his wife didn't have to go back to their hometown, nor did they have to experience those troublesome things.

"Little Long, do you think we can catch those yellow sheep again?" Li Qing Xia was still somewhat unwilling to give up and asked.

Catching fish is fine whenever you want to break the ice hole, but this hunting, in his decades, he really hadn't hunted like what Li Long said.

"Hunting is possible." Li Long thought for a moment and said, "I have a double-barreled shotgun here, and a small caliber one, but I'm afraid it won't work for yellow sheep. For this, you still need a rifle."

He turned his head to look at Li Jianguo and asked:

"Big brother, do you think we can borrow a 56-semi from the captain?"

"Borrowing is definitely possible. Anyway, it's just for one day, but driving a tractor over there, it's freezing." Li Jianguo was actually somewhat moved. Now that the weather is cold and snowing, there is really no work in the team. Drinking water and feeding the pigs every day is considered the biggest activity.

People in the team have already started playing cards. The Li family doesn't play this, so there is really nothing fun.

After two snowfalls, you can go to trap rabbits, but the Li family doesn't lack meat, and rabbit meat doesn't have much to eat, with many bones, so Li Jianguo doesn't want to either.

But if it's hunting yellow sheep, he really has ideas.

"Then wait two days." Li Long thought for a moment and said, "Wait two days and see if I can borrow a car, and we will take the car over..."

"Take a car? What are you thinking?" Li Jianguo knew that his younger brother Li Long was capable, but a car is not a tractor, how could it be borrowed?

And Li Jianguo was thinking of a large truck.

"Who will drive it if we borrow it?" Li Qing Xia also had doubts.

"Let's wait and see. Anyway, we caught yellow sheep yesterday, those yellow sheep groups might run to a far place for a while, and they won't come back until two days later." Li Long didn't explain in detail, but turned to say:

"Wait two more days, and when they forget the danger and return to the roadside, then we can hunt them."

"Uncle, why do those yellow sheep only run to the roadside?" Li Qiang was at the door, and couldn't help asking at this time.

"Because there is grass on the roadside. In winter, cars carrying forage pass by there, and grass will fall off and drop to the roadside. Yellow sheep eat dry grass in the wild in winter, which is definitely not as nutritious as eating the forage carried by those cars. They are not stupid either."

After Li Long explained it this way, Li Qiang understood.

This matter was settled. Li Long had lunch at his big brother's house at noon. Coming here once, if he left without eating a meal, let alone Li Jianguo and Liang Wenyu, even Li Qing Xia and Du Chunfang would scold him.

Of course, except for urgent matters. But now there are no urgent matters.

After eating, Li Long drove the tractor back to the county, while Li Jianguo went to Xu Chengjun's house.

Xu Chengjun was planning the militia training. The weapons and ammunition had already been collected, the gun cabinet was placed in his house, and the key was hanging on his waist. This thing is like this every year, so he doesn't worry.

Li Jianguo's arrival made Xu Chengjun feel somewhat surprised. He put the roster aside and asked:

"Old Li brother, why are you here? Is there something wrong?"

"I want to go hunting in the mountains in two days, can you lend me a 56-semi?"

"That..." Li Jianguo is not a backbone militia, and in the team, he is considered to have exceeded the limit. After all, there are many young men in the team now, and the organization is full.

Xu Chengjun rolled his eyes and said:

"How about this, whenever you use it, let Little Long come over and sign. He is still a backbone militia in the team. Although he asked for leave and won't participate in winter training, he can still collect a gun."

Li Jianguo didn't care what method Xu Chengjun used, as long as the gun could be borrowed.

"Then the bullets..."

"There's no way to have many bullets, I can only give you a pack of twenty-five." Xu Chengjun said, "The bullets collected this year are not many, and winter training requires a lot of practice."

"Enough." Li Jianguo was very satisfied, "That's fine."

"Then you can take the gun away." Xu Chengjun said, "Just let Little Long come over and sign later."

Li Jianguo didn't know if this counted as Xu Chengjun simplifying things, but to be honest, the gun management of the Northern Tianshan militia at this time was relatively loose, so much so that when it really came to militia training without guns, the team lost several rifles.

In the end, no one was seen being dealt with.

Carrying the 56-semi-automatic rifle and bullets, he left the captain's house. Li Jianguo had the heart to test the gun on the way, but thought better of it.

Now is not more than a decade ago. At that time, there were no people in the village, and there were barren beaches all around. A shot fired would at most startle a flock of birds or a few wolves.

Now there are villages all around, although the distances are different, no one can guarantee where the stray bullet will hit.

It's better to wait until the uninhabited area.

Li Long drove the tractor back to the county, and when he arrived at the big courtyard, he was surprised to find a jeep parked at the gate of his own courtyard.

It didn't go in, and when he looked closer, there was someone in the driver's seat.

Hearing the sound of the tractor, the person in the driver's seat got out of the car. Li Long took a look, isn't this Xiao Si? Xiao Si was almost frozen stiff, but after seeing Li Long, he still pulled the corners of his mouth to pull out a smile.

Li Long hurriedly stopped the tractor and asked:

"Why don't you go in? Is there no one inside?"

"There were people when I came, but I knew there were all women inside, so I didn't go in." Xiao Si rubbed his face and said, "The leader said, send the car to you today. By the way, there is also this."

Xiao Si handed Li Long a small handbag.

Li Long took the handbag, didn't open it, but let Xiao Si:

"Go, go, go, come into the house quickly. You've been outside for a long time, right? You're frozen, right? Go, come into the house to warm up, it's such a cold day..."

"No, the things have been delivered, so I'll go back. The director said, you can use this car as much as you want, the procedures are registered in the Prefecture Society, and he will protect it for you. By the way, thank you, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten that yellow sheep yesterday."

Xiao Si's attitude was very firm, and Li Long had no choice. He originally wanted to send him to the bus station, but Xiao Si refused. He wore a cotton coat alone and strode to the south.

People who have been soldiers have their own persistence, Li Long admired it very much.

Can't do it, can do it but won't do it, principle problem.

!.

When sister Yang opened the gate, Xiao Si had already left.

"Uncle, someone knocked on the door just now and said they were sending you a car. It gave me a fright. When I saw it was a small car, I let them wait inside, but when he asked that there were only three of us in this courtyard, he didn't come in..."

Sister Yang said it corresponded with Xiao Si, and it was indeed about the same.

Gu Xiaoxia was also in the courtyard. She had been afraid of the cold recently. Seeing Li Long there, she greeted him and hurried into the house. On the contrary, Han Fang was quite energetic, helping her mother with work.

Li Long first drove the tractor into the courtyard, and then drove the jeep in.

The jeep key was in the car, the things inside were complete, and it was cleaned very cleanly.

Li Long pulled out the key, and then went to drain the water from the tractor's water tank, and only then entered the house.

Sister Yang had also finished cooking, so she and Han Fang went to the market to sell food. Li Long helped push the cart out, and after returning, he locked the door, and then entered the house.

On weekends, Gu Xiaoxia rested and didn't want to go anywhere. There was only two hours of TV during the day, and now it was gone, so she listened to the radio and read books.

Li Long asked her as usual if she was uncomfortable. Gu Xiaoxia leaned against Li Long and shook her head, asking:

"How is the situation at home?"

"All good, hearing that I caught yellow sheep, big brother and dad all want to go."

"Is this jeep the one the leader said he would exchange for the tiger skin?"

"En." Li Long remembered the handbag, and hurriedly went to get it.

After opening it, Li Long found that there were three things in the handbag.

A piece of paper wrote the jeep number and the proof of the affiliated unit, stamped with the red seal of the Prefecture Society, stating that this car belongs to Li Long for use. With this thing in hand, Li Long was really relieved.

The second one was a work permit, also for Li Long, which stated that Li Long was an employee of the Prefecture Society.

A note was tucked in the work permit, which was Director Qian's message, without beginning or end, but Li Long could understand: this was to tell Li Long that this work permit was a cover for driving out, not that he was a real employee of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Director Qian believed that Li Long would not mess around with this work permit, and Li Long himself would certainly not really do anything.

The third thing was much thicker, this was a stack of fuel coupons.

Li Long's tractor used diesel, he bought two large barrels of oil, one in the team and one in the courtyard.

During the period of harvesting wheat, just diesel alone was used a lot. Fortunately, diesel was cheap at this time, less than one yuan per liter, which was considered durable.

And he hadn't used the car much yet, this jeep burned gasoline, he originally planned to go and pull a barrel back after the car came, but later thought about it, this thing is not like diesel, it's too easy to burn, and he thought others couldn't sell him a barrel directly.

Should not have used a large barrel to hold it, right?

This stack of fuel coupons, Li Long roughly calculated, had six to eight hundred liters, enough for a long time. This is not the kind of coupon that needs to be bought with money, but a real fuel coupon, a coupon that can be used to refuel.

Although Director Qian didn't give another cent, the things given were much more important than money.

Gu Xiaoxia took the work permit and looked at it, smiling and saying:

"Oh my, my husband is now a person from the Prefecture Supply and Marketing Cooperative, look at this level, it has been raised several levels..."

"This thing is just to fool laymen." Li Long smiled, put the things back in the bag, thought for a moment, and took out the work permit, it's better to take this permit when driving the jeep.

Thinking for a moment, he suddenly asked:

"Big brother and dad said they want to go to the place where we hunt yellow sheep in a few days, do you want to follow along? Although that place is an uninhabited area, if you are lucky, the yellow sheep you encounter are in groups..."

"No, I'll freeze to death." Gu Xiaoxia was only afraid of the cold now, except for necessary work, she didn't want to go anywhere in winter.

Even the winter pig slaughter that she usually wanted to participate in, she didn't want to go.

It was only because she was greedy for that pig slaughter dish, so she told Li Long in advance, asking him to bring a portion back when he came back.

"Bring a portion? Sister-in-law knows she has to bring it for you, won't she stew another pot specifically for you?"

There are several dishes for pig slaughter, but everyone actually knows that the pig slaughter dish mentioned by people in this area is actually stewed sauerkraut with pork.

Because the pig slaughtered that day, the meat is fresh, plus it is stewed with neck meat, which is live meat, it is delicious in itself, and the stewing time is long, a large pot must be stewed for at least more than an hour, the greasiness on the fat slices is stewed away, basically it melts in the mouth.

So everyone likes to eat it, those who come to help eat a meal, and the women who help in the back kitchen because they don't eat in time, have a portion to bring back.

Of course, most of them are leftovers.

But if Gu Xiaoxia wants to eat, sister-in-law Liang Wenyu will definitely scoop out what she wants before eating and freeze it outside, and after it is frozen, cut it into pieces, which is convenient to bring back and heat up to eat.

This is clean, and it's fine to put it for a period of time in winter.

Since Gu Xiaoxia is not going, Li Long calculated that when the time comes, himself, dad, big brother, the three of them will definitely have enough seats in the car. Sister-in-law doesn't know if she is going, mom definitely won't go.

By the way, there is also father-in-law Gu Bo who can ask, if he wants to go, bring him along too.

At this time, the regulations for cars carrying people were not so strict, just squeeze a little, Li Long remembered that in the next ten years, the Dafa minibus was popular for carrying people, at that time when there were no taxis, a Dafa car could squeeze in twelve people!

This is what he saw with his own eyes, it is said that there are also fierce ones, in the inland, that's more, can't say.

Human meat canned food.

Since we still have to hunt, we must tidy up the guns.

After Li Long put the handbag away, Gu Xiaoxia read a book, he listened to the radio, and began to wipe the gun.

His three guns all need to be tidied up. The 56-semi is easy to say, the rifle's stability is good. The small caliber is also not bad, that shotgun was snatched from the robbers, and I don't know how it is.

After wiping the three guns, Li Long put them away. The three guns all have gun holsters, which were sewn by sister Yang when she was free. There is a lot of cloth at home, and when they moved here after marriage, Li Long and the others bought a sewing machine, but actually didn't use it many times.

It was only when sister Yang came that it really played a role.

Gu Bo's breakfast is usually eaten in his own courtyard. The road is slippery in winter, and he doesn't want to run. Even dinner sometimes is not eaten here. Eat or not, it was said at noon, and everyone understands if he doesn't come.

After breakfast the next day, Li Long strolled to the agricultural materials store.

What surprised Li Long was that now in the middle of winter, there were quite a few people buying agricultural materials, seeds, and chemical fertilizers.

After waiting for Gu Bo to send this batch of customers away, Li Long smiled and said:

"It's the middle of winter and we are not farming, why are there so many people buying things?"

"Hi, some people heard that chemical fertilizers and seeds will rise in price next spring, so they think of buying some in advance to hoard." Gu Bo said.

"Uncle Gu, I want to take my dad and my big brother to hunt yellow sheep in the uninhabited area east of Kuitun in two days, are you going?"

He actually wanted Gu Bo to go. (End of chapter)