Chapter 582: Are Resources Really This Abundant These Days?

Li Qing was still somewhat clumsy with this double-barreled shotgun; Li Long and Li Jianguo had already loaded their bullets, while he was still stuffing bullets inside, and after stuffing them in, he tried several times but couldn't close it.

"Dad, let me do it." Li Qing switched off the safety on his own gun, slung it over his back, and went to take the gun from his father's hands.

Li Qing still knew the rule that a gun barrel must never be pointed at a person, so he held the gun diagonally upright as he handed it to Li Long.

Li Long checked the position where the bullets were stuck, saw no problem, then gave a hard snap to close the gun shut.

Handing the gun back to his father, Li Long said:

"Dad, I'll take the one on the left, my eldest brother will take the one on the right, and you can shoot whatever's in the middle."

"Agreed!" Li Qing smiled.

He was actually laughing at himself. A man over sixty, yet he felt a bit nervous about hunting.

No fear; if he missed, he missed. In any case, his two sons were sure to hit their targets. Among the three of them, he had the fewest chances to use a gun; he had only played with a "break-action" single-shot rifle for a few days in his youth, which was somewhat similar to this shotgun.

In any case, it didn't shoot as far as a rifle.

Li Long lowered his gun, kneeling halfway to aim; Li Jianguo, however, did not kneel—he simply stood there, supporting his gun to aim. Li Qing weighed the gun in his hands, felt that kneeling wasn't necessary, so he also stood to aim.

"Dad, the recoil on that gun is strong; you must hold it tight and press it firmly against your shoulder, otherwise it will slam into your shoulder and hurt like hell!" Li Jianguo also offered a reminder.

He had fired both rifles and shotguns before and knew that if this thing wasn't used properly, it could easily injure oneself.

Li Qing had originally been somewhat confident and excited, but now that both his sons had reminded him, he became cautious as well.

However, he did not resent his two sons for using rifles while making him use a shotgun. When hunting, the first priority is to ensure you actually hit something. Since rifles shoot farther and more accurately, they naturally should be used first to secure a hit.

Having lived at his eldest son's house for the past year, with his younger son occasionally delivering meat, Li Qing's daily meals almost always included meat, yet the habit formed over decades meant that deep in his bones, he still felt the need to stockpile provisions. Especially during this deep winter.

Since the family currently lacked neither grain nor winter vegetables, they might as well stockpile meat.

Therefore, since they had come hunting, the priority was to catch something; whether he himself enjoyed the experience was secondary.

Li Long had already aimed at the argali on the far left. He did not seek large or beautiful ones; among these wild sheep, the females and younger ones tasted better.

The target Li Long aimed at was a female sheep, not very large, about two or three years old, which was currently staring vigilantly at these uninvited guests by the roadside.

Li Jianguo aimed at a young male argali; its horns had not grown very long yet, but its body size was quite large.

Li Qing considered his options and finally decided to shoot the lead ram. Whether he would hit it or not was another matter; in any case, he would aim at it first, as this target was large and easy to hit.

"One, two, three! Fire!"

Li Long shouted the numbers, and the moment he finished, he immediately pulled the trigger.

Actually, by this time the argali had already become alert, and the lead ram had turned its head, preparing to run; Li Long and the others fired relatively promptly, bringing down two argali, while Li Qing missed his target.

Li Qing was not disappointed; he smiled and said:

"As long as you two hit yours, that's fine; hurry up and drag the argali back!"

The remaining argali had already scattered in all directions at the sound of the gunshot; these creatures accelerated extremely fast over short distances and soon vanished from sight.

Just as Li Long and the others prepared to lower their guns to retrieve the argali, a large truck came roaring over, kicking up a cloud of snow powder, forcing all three men to dodge aside.

When the large truck was less than thirty meters away from the jeep, it suddenly slowed down; the swirling snow powder gradually dispersed, and as the truck reached the jeep, it honked its horn once, by which time the snow powder carried along by the wind had lost its force.

After passing them, the truck began to accelerate again and soon disappeared at the end of the road.

"Hey, we even got to borrow the tiger's might to intimidate the fox for once," Li Jianguo said with a laugh. "That truck driver thought we were leaders."

"Haha, let's go; we need to hurry and bring the argali back," Li Long said with a smile, slinging his gun over his back as he moved forward.

Although Li Qing had missed his shot, he also carried his gun and walked forward.

Li Long arrived first at the spot where the young argali lay; his single shot had struck the argali's head, killing the beast instantly.

He turned his head to look; the one Li Jianguo had shot was hit in the neck, also dying from a single shot. It seemed his eldest brother's marksmanship was also very good.

Li Qing looked left and right, then smiled and said:

"Good, good, good! These sheep are excellent; they all weigh over thirty kilograms, enough to eat for several tens of days!"

Carrying the sheep back to the jeep, Li Long began to butcher the animal right by the roadside, first removing the internal organs; this time he did not discard them but packed them directly into a bag to be processed at home.

Both sheep were handled in the same manner, with Li Jianguo also butchering his sheep. This had all been agreed upon before they came: do a rough processing here, then perform a detailed breakdown after returning home.

After the simple processing, they packed both the sheep carcasses and the internal organs into bags, threw them into the trunk, and continued onward.

They had brought quite a number of bags with them when they came, which proved perfect for use right now.

The jeep continued driving forward; they were moving slowly, and several more trucks either overtook them or came from the opposite direction, some of the truck drivers also honking their horns.

Li Long smiled and continued driving, searching for traces of argali as he went.

Actually, heading north into the desert at this time might yield even more argali. However, he was unfamiliar with the roads in that direction, and the northern routes were not as good as this national highway; if the vehicle got stuck, it would be quite troublesome.

Therefore, it was better to stay honestly right here; even if they didn't catch many, at least it was safe.

The jeep drove past Anjihai, which meant they were not far from Kuitun.

Compared to a tractor, the inside of this jeep was already quite warm, but Li Long still felt a bit cold. He drove while looking to both sides, but ultimately did not spot any more herds of argali.

"Eh? What's that?"

This time, it was Li Qing who first spotted something.

Li Long stopped the car, turned his head, and looked in the direction Li Qing was pointing.

He indeed hadn't noticed it; it was a group of creatures that looked somewhat different from argali, slightly larger in size but more agile, located over a hundred meters from the roadside.

Because their fur was grayish-white, Li Long hadn't noticed them for a moment; what Li Qing saw was that they moved after the jeep passed.

The commotion of the jeep startled these creatures, causing them to dash eastward all at once, kicking up a large cloud of snow powder.

"They don't look like argali, nor are they roe deer, nor red deer; what are they?" Li Long watched those creatures disappear from view, feeling somewhat puzzled.

"Who cares? If we can't hit them, we'll just continue forward," Li Jianguo said, holding his gun in the vehicle, not yet satisfied. "Shall we keep driving? There were too many vehicles earlier, scaring away any argali; now that traffic is lighter, maybe there will be some ahead."

Li Long was already somewhat disappointed, yet, as the saying goes, the path turns after a peak; when they were still over ten kilometers away from the Kuitun military station, they spotted a huge herd of argali!

There were at least fifty or sixty argali, moving from the north toward the southeast, likely also heading into the mountains in search of food.

In the northern desert and Gobi, edible grass was limited. To the south, the several layers of mountains were all sandy soil mountains where nothing grew.

Only to the southeast, in the mountains near Shicheng and Manas County, after passing the first two layers of foothills, deeper within the mountains there were shrubs and miscellaneous grasses, sufficient for them to eat.

Moreover, there were many fields over there; some still had leftover crop stalks that hadn't been cleared cleanly, which could also let them feast to their fill.

This herd of gazelles was crossing the road, and upon seeing the jeep approaching, they immediately quickened their pace.

Occasionally, a gazelle still picking up grass stalks by the roadside was reluctant to leave.

The jeep stopped about fifty or sixty meters away from that herd of gazelles, which instead caused those gazelles to slow down again.

"Old Dad, you take the rifle this time; look at that herd of sheep, you can hit one just by aiming casually." Li Qing handed his Type 56 Semi-Automatic to his father, teaching him how to release the safety and chamber a round.

Men are born loving to play with guns.

Li Qing took the double-barreled shotgun, loaded another shell, and aimed at the lead ram that was already breaking path ahead—a young male beside it.

Li Jianguo had also jumped out of the vehicle, resting his gun on the jeep's hood to aim at the gazelles by the roadside.

These gazelles were timid after all; while Li Qing and the others were operating their guns, the gazelles in the rear had already run across the road, a massive, swarming crowd rushing southward.

"Bang!"

"Bang-bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Li Qing's double-barreled hunting rifle hit with the first shot and missed with the second; Li Li Qing Xia missed with his first shot and hit a hornless female gazelle with his second.

Li Jianguo, neither hurried nor slow, shot one gazelle in the head, then fired again and hit another.

Gunshots rang out, the gazelles cried out in alarm, and then suddenly the nest exploded, scattering in all directions as they ran off.

Li Qing quickly reloaded, fired again, and hit another one, but unfortunately, there was no further chance.

This time, the corners of Li Li Qing Xia's mouth curled up, unable to be suppressed.

He held the gun up, aiming again and again at the gazelles that had run too far, but in the end, he couldn't bear to waste another bullet. Hitting one was already quite good.

Once the herd of gazelles had scattered completely, Li Qing drove the jeep over, then headed further south to retrieve those few gazelles.

With four gazelles, just processing them would take quite a while.

The trunk was filled, and the carcass of one more gazelle was bagged and placed in the front seat, while Li Li Qing Xia and Li Jianguo sat in the back row.

"Let's go back," Li Qing said. "Even if we got more, there's no room to load them."

"I'm not satisfied yet." Li Jianguo had shot two and still felt a bit unsatisfied.

"We can come back later if there's time," Li Qing said with a smile. "Winter is still long."

"Right, right, right." Li Li Qing Xia ultimately couldn't compare to the young lad; after all this back-and-forth, although excited, he also felt a bit tired.

Once he said this, Li Jianguo also knew they couldn't continue hunting.

"If we go any further, we'll soon reach Kuitun; there's a military station there that will check for guns, which is troublesome," Li Qing said. "Let's go back."

!.

"Okay, let's return." Li Jianguo nodded, then the jeep turned around and drove back.

On the way back, just before reaching Shawan, they encountered another small herd of gazelles, only six of them, and they were exceptionally alert and timid; as soon as the jeep approached, they immediately galloped wildly toward the southern Gobi Desert, quickly disappearing into the shrubs.

Li Qing guessed that this herd of gazelles must have split off from another group, and the lead ram had probably only recently taken the position, hence its extreme timidity.

Only thus could they survive.

Li Qing did not stop the car but continued driving back.

They needed to return quickly to process the gazelles.

Li Jianguo was thinking about returning the guns first upon getting back and borrowing them again when they went hunting later.

Actually, small-caliber weapons would work too, except that if one failed to hit a vital spot, the gazelle could still escape, which would be rather troublesome.

Li Li Qing Xia, however, felt quite gratified; that he could still hit a gazelle was truly not bad.

If this were back in their hometown, he would be able to boast about it for half a year!

When the jeep arrived at the large courtyard, the duty police officer at the police station diagonally opposite was somewhat surprised; why was this jeep at that courtyard every day?

By now, lunch had already been eaten, but the three people in the jeep were not very hungry. Gu Gu Xiaoxia had not yet gone to work; hearing the noise, she came over with Sister Yang to open the gate.

As the jeep drove into the courtyard, the duty cadre from the police station went inside to report the situation to the leadership.

Seeing the three men get out of the car, Sister Yang asked:

"None of you have eaten yet, right? I'll go prepare food now."

"No need, no need." Li Qing knew that even if she prepared something, it wouldn't be enough for three people anytime soon, so he said, "We'll clean up the gazelles first, then go out to eat later; you two busy yourselves with your own matters."

After Gu Gu Xiaoxia exchanged greetings with Li Li Qing Xia and Li Jianguo, Li Li Qing Xia urgently urged her to go inside. Gu Gu Bo Yuan had finished lunch early and gone to the agricultural supplies store; with many people coming these past two days, he feared delaying business.

Seeing that Li Li Qing Xia and Li Jianguo's attitudes were very firm, Gu Gu Xiaoxia went inside; she was truly afraid of the cold, and since she still had a while before going to work, she was in no rush.

Since Li Qing firmly would not let Sister Yang cook, she helped spread out the workspace, and Li Qing and Li Jianguo began processing the gazelles there.

The task of skinning was mainly done by Li Qing; although Li Jianguo also knew how to skin, he worried about slashing the hides and reducing their value, so he followed along to clean the offal instead.

With a total of six gazelles, there would surely be enough meat to eat throughout the winter.

Just as Li Qing was skinning, there was a sound of the door outside, and Sister Yang went to open it.

Guo Guo Tiebing, dressed in a police uniform, walked in.

Seeing so many gazelles in this courtyard, Guo Guo Tiebing was also startled.

Li Qing raised his eyes upon seeing him, quickly wiped the grease from his hands onto a gazelle hide, stood up, and said with a smile:

"Officer Guo has come over? These are the gazelles we hunted today in the no-man's-land to the west."

"Not bad, not bad, quite impressive; a great harvest," Guo Guo Tiebing remarked casually. He had seen such situations before; sometimes the Gongan Bureau would organize such activities to improve their meals.

The reason for his surprise was mainly that he hadn't expected Li Qing to have some as well.

Thinking of the purpose of his visit, he pointed at that jeep and asked:

"Little Li, that is..."

"Oh, you mean this vehicle? This was left here by our prefecture supply and marketing cooperative leadership. The leadership assigned me a task, and since I need to travel to many places and my tractor is somewhat slow, they left this car for me."

Li Long went to find Mao Jin again, wiped his hands, then fetched that certification document and brought it over for Guo Guo Tiebing to see.

After Guo Guo Tiebing finished reading it, he understood; he just couldn't quite figure out why the vehicle had been given to Li Long.

He vaguely remembered Li Long wasn't an employee of the county supply and marketing cooperative, wasn't he? Seemed like he was even a temporary worker...

"Because I am friends with quite a few herdsmen in the mountains," Li Long explained once more, then said nothing further.

Guo Guo Tiebing filled in some details in his own mind, smiled as he returned the documents to Li Long, and said, "My lord holds you in high Qi Zhong."

"Haha, it's mainly because I have some special skills." Li Long chuckled, turned his head, lifted the half-sheep he had just butchered, and offered it toward Guo Guo Tiebing:

"Officer Guo, considering we are practically neighbors, this is a yellow sheep we just hunted; we caught many, so it's perfect to share some with you all for a meal together."

"No, no," Guo Guo Tiebing hurriedly waved his hands and stepped back, "We have plenty to eat..."

"Take it, don't stand on ceremony." Li Long stuffed the sheep leg into his hand, "Look, there are so many yellow sheep here, we can't finish them all ourselves; let's solve this problem together."

Guo Guo Tiebing had no choice but to accept it; after chatting with Li Long for a couple more sentences, he went back to report to his superior.

"This Comrade Xiao Li is truly hiding his brilliance," the leader remarked, somewhat surprised; "Xiao Guo, did you see clearly? Is that certificate genuine?"

"It's real. If my lord doesn't believe it, we could actually make a phone call to the prefecture supply and marketing cooperative over there."

"No need, no need. Since he dares to use this vehicle right under our noses, it shows he has nothing to hide." The leader waved his hand and said:

"Alright, take this meat to the kitchen... actually, never mind delivering it; just have the kitchen chop it up, let everyone take the raw meat home, and consider it a consolation gift from the common folks to us.

Later, have the duty cadres pay extra attention to that courtyard over there; don't let any petty thieves set their sights on it."

By the time the remaining six and a half sheep were dealt with, the sun had already sunk low in the west.

Li Long and the others were truly hungry; they placed the yellow sheep meat on the hides, then the three of them hurried off to the canteen to eat.

They didn't drive the vehicle during the meal, mainly fearing it would be too ostentatious.

After returning, they loaded four yellow sheep along with the offal and entrails into bags and onto the vehicle; Li Li Qing Xia and Li Jianguo climbed aboard, and Li Long drove out of the courtyard gate.

Sister Yang waved to Li Long, then closed the main courtyard gate; she hadn't gone out to sell food that afternoon, but instead stayed behind to clean up all that meat and offal.

Li Long drove the jeep first to Liang Donglou's home; when the jeep roared through the village, it truly attracted considerable attention from many people.

Such a vehicle was almost never seen in the village!

The children chased the vehicle running all the way to the Liang family's gate, and some adults followed to watch as well.

The jeep entered the Liang family courtyard but didn't stay long; someone got out, left some items behind, chatted for a few sentences, and then departed.

As soon as the jeep left, someone immediately went to the Liang home to inquire who was driving that jeep.

"A relative of our family," Liang Liang Wenyu said with a smile, "He came to deliver things."

The fact that the Liang family had such a powerful relative truly stunned quite a few people; those who usually looked down on the Liangs now began to mutter doubts: Since when did the Liang family have such an awesome relative who could even drive a small car!

Even Liu the Blind couldn't resist coming over to ask, but the Liang family members remained vague and evasive, refusing to give specific details.

Afterward, Liu the Blind became even more cautious in his dealings; if one cannot afford to offend them, can't one simply avoid offending them?

Li Long drove the jeep out of the village where the Liang family lived, made a turn, went to the county town again, and then headed north toward the Fourth Small Team.

As the sky gradually darkened, when the jeep reached the middle school, they discovered school had already dismissed; scattered along the road were a few students who didn't want to go home yet and were playing around.

When they drove to the primary school, its main gate was already locked; there were hardly any students seen along the way, and occasionally when there were students, upon hearing the noise and seeing the jeep, they quickly dodged aside into the snow by the roadside.

Li Long did not stop, driving quickly straight to the Li family home.

Someone in the village saw the jeep driving toward the Li family home again, and people began speculating once more.

Liang Yuemei, Du Chunfang, plus the two children, were all in the courtyard upon hearing the noise; once the jeep stopped, they helped unload the goods.

Lu Yingming saw this from the courtyard; originally intending to come over and take a look, upon seeing them unloading things, he decided not to approach.

Sister Lu urged him to come over and check the situation, but he shook his head and instead went inside the house. (End of Chapter)