Chapter 588: Can't be idle even during the winter

This time they hunted a lot, and the tractor was filled level; the militia members could only sit on the sideboards of the vehicle. Fortunately, wooden boards had been tied to the sideboards when they came, so their butts wouldn't be too cold from sitting.

"Is there anyone who didn't hit anything?" In front of the tractor, Xu Chengjun asked loudly while carrying the gazelle he had hit.

No one answered.

This last time, because the gazelles were quite scattered, everyone had sufficient aiming opportunities, so those who hadn't hit anything all hit something.

After all, the ones brought out this time were all good shots. At the beginning, they didn't hit anything because the distance was far and they were nervous. After all, hunting live targets and dead targets is different.

But later everyone shot, taking two or three turns, so they weren't nervous anymore.

It was also easier to hit when the target was large.

"As long as everyone has something. Those who hit more, contribute some to the squad headquarters later, a leg will do."

"Then I'll give the squad headquarters one gazelle." Li Long said, "I have plenty here."

He alone hit four, three gazelles and one antelope, which was the largest number.

Xu Chengjun made a 'heh' sound and said with a smile: "As expected of an old hunter. Everyone has envied how much meat your family eats these two years. With this marksmanship and this hunting method, how could you eat little?"

As he spoke, he talked about others:

"Look at you guys, the same marksmanship, some hit better than Li Long, what about today's harvest? Whether you can eat meat also depends on your own ability! Alright, Little Long, our squad headquarters will take this gazelle of yours."

Seeing Li Long directly hand over a gazelle, some were envious, and some were a bit sour.

Li Long carried a gazelle and handed it to Xu Chengjun. He gathered his remaining three pieces of prey into a pile, which still made people envious.

When they were preparing to load the vehicle and leave, someone came to find Li Long.

"Little Long, can I exchange with you?" The speaker was Huang Lao'er, twenty-seven years old, almost at the edge of being a core militia member, and wouldn't be able to do it in another two years.

At this time, the young people in the squad were at their peak, one batch after another, with quite a few in their teens, twenties, thirties, and forties.

It was the prime of their lives, and they could easily pull out a team of dozens of young and strong people.

Unlike forty years later, when slaughtering a pig, the people who came to help were all in their sixties, and a 130-kilogram pig had to be held down by several people.

When they were young, two strong young men could knock this pig down!

"Exchange for what?" Li Long vaguely remembered that Huang Lao'er seemed to have hit an antelope, and he didn't remember if it was male or female.

"Exchange this one of mine for that one of yours." Huang Lao'er carried a male antelope, not too large, smaller than the leader gazelle Li Long had hit:

"Exchange for a gazelle, I don't know if this thing tastes good or not. A male definitely doesn't taste as good as a female, I see you hit some females..."

He accompanied it with a smile; after all, in his view, such an exchange was clearly a loss for Li Long. Small female gazelle meat was delicious. Large female gazelle meat was also better than this large male gazelle meat.

However, seeing Li Long so generously give a gazelle to the squad, he thought Li Long shouldn't mind, right?

"Fine." Li Long pointed to the female gazelle and said, "Then you take it away."

Huang Lao'er didn't expect Li Long to agree so readily. He thought Li Long was really generous, and he didn't think in other directions.

He left the antelope with Li Long and carried the female gazelle over.

Li Long vaguely remembered that Tao Daqiang also seemed to have hit a male antelope, so he would have to let him keep the horns later.

The two tractors and the people on the two tractors rested briefly, organized their clothes, wrapped them tightly, put the guns away, sat down and held on tight, and the tractors drove back with a 'putt-putt-putt' sound.

The tractors drove until they reached Shawan, and some people began to feel hungry, and it was getting cold.

They couldn't feel it while hunting, but after the hunt was over and the excitement passed, they felt the biting cold wind.

Some people complained of the cold. Tao Daqiang, who didn't usually talk much, had more exchanges with people in the squad after having children. He smiled and said:

"What does this count as? Wait until you go into the mountains in January, then you'll know what cold is. Do you really think Brother Long's money is that easy to earn? Our squad must be minus thirty degrees in January, right? And it's seven or eight degrees colder in the mountains! Last year, Brother Long's money was earned with his life..."

In the past, he would just endure it and wouldn't say anything. Since the beginning of this year, no one dared to look down on him anymore. Tao Daqiang's family life was getting better and better, and more people took the initiative to talk to him, and more people took the initiative to greet him.

These people could also experience it.

Just like today, hunting was fun, and they hit a lot of things. If they hadn't come out once, they really wouldn't have known that the resources outside were so rich.

They also knew why Li Long could get things back every time he went out.

The source of the Li family eating meat every meal was known.

The problem was, they couldn't stand it right now. When it really got to the third and fourth nine-day periods, would they be willing to go into the mountains to hunt wild things?

Most people would feel that they definitely wouldn't go now, it would be better to stay in and hibernate.

Of course, two years ago, when they couldn't eat meat all year round, even if it was cold, they would go, right?

Only after going out did they know that many things could be exchanged for money.

"Daqiang, when you followed Li Long back then, was hunting done like this too?" Someone felt that this hunting was too simple, right?

"How could it be that easy?" Tao Daqiang smiled, "Now there are tractors, running tens or hundreds of kilometers at a time.

Back then, it was horse-drawn carriages, sometimes people ran, how could they do it like this? Like our squad, where are there these things nearby?

Back then, it took half a day to run into the mountains, and we had to ambush in the middle of the night, lying in the snow without moving. How sensitive is a wild boar's nose? If you weren't downwind, the wild boar would smell you and wouldn't come over at all!

Ambushing and waiting for the wild boar to come, it wasn't dawn yet, and it was blurry. It was Brother Long who had good eyesight and could hit them. Like me, I could hit them, but I couldn't get up after hitting them, I was frozen stiff.

Brother Long could still chase after hitting them. Back then, after hitting a wild boar, if he wounded it, he could chase it and hit it again. How could there be a tractor to carry it after hitting it? Use a piece of plastic sheeting as a sled to drag it back. If the plastic sheeting was about to rot halfway, then it had to be carried back..."

Thinking of the hardship back then, Tao Daqiang also had a stomach full of bitterness.

Others said he followed the right person, so it was a case of one person attaining the Tao and the chickens and dogs ascending to heaven, but he had also suffered.

Compared to the hardship back then, this bit right now counted for nothing.

Sitting in the same tractor, someone kept asking Tao Daqiang about things when he followed Li Long in the past.

Some Tao Daqiang would say, and some he definitely wouldn't say.

When the tractor reached Shicheng, Li Long stopped the vehicle; the water tank was boiling, and he thought about finding a place to add some water.

Xu Chengjun saw that the time was about right, so he had Li Long and the others drive to the state-run canteen, and the squad would treat everyone to a meal with the militia training subsidy.

The tractor drove to the canteen, and the two vehicles full of gazelles and the two vehicles full of militia really caused quite a few people to stop and watch.

Li Long first let people watch the vehicle, and he carried water to the canteen to fill the water tanks of the two tractors.

Xu Chengjun arranged for two people to watch the things in the tractor, and the militia members went in. They all ordered mixed noodles, and Xu Chengjun paid the money.

At this time, the meal time had already passed, and there were few people inside, otherwise, they really wouldn't have been able to sit.

After adding water, Li Long went inside, and Xu Chengjun immediately greeted him to come over and sit.

Everyone was hungry and cold. As soon as they entered the warm room, they were all rubbing their ears. They didn't feel it while hunting, but at this time, they felt their ears itching.

This was completely different from the feeling of lying down and target shooting at Little Haizi. The tractor was running, the wind was howling, and if the hat wasn't worn well, it was quite troublesome.

Those who finished eating quickly went to replace the people outside to come in and eat. The people who came in joked, saying someone asked if the gazelles on the tractor were for sale.

Li Long knew that Shicheng was relatively more industrialized, with more factories, and the workers' wages were slightly higher, so they had money to buy meat.

At this time, materials were relatively scarce, and the meat in the food factory meat shops was sold out every morning, which was also the reason why Chen Xingbang's meat stall could be so prosperous.

So seeing gazelles, naturally, some people wanted to buy some.

After eating, the two tractors drove with a 'putt-putt' to Maxian, and the people on Li Long's tractor and the gazelles of others were moved to Li Jianguo's tractor.

After eating, they squeezed in, and they could squeeze in anyway. At this time, there was no such thing as overloading, especially in the countryside, and even more than ten years later, there were people who specifically changed the small bucket of the tractor into a large bucket, with a small horse pulling a large cart, and no one really managed it.

"Take out all the remaining bullets and hand them to Li Long." Xu Chengjun said, "It's good enough that we can hunt like this once a year. The bullets are useless if you keep them, just give them all to Little Long. Without him, we wouldn't have been able to hunt this time."

Everyone took out the extra bullets, and as for whether anyone kept one or two, no one cared, it depended on self-awareness.

Xu Chengjun also took out the spare bullets he was carrying and handed them to Li Long, totaling over a hundred rounds.

Then Li Jianguo drove the tractor and hurried back to the squad with a 'putt-putt-putt' sound.

Li Long's tractor bucket contained two antelopes and one gazelle, which could be considered a full harvest.

When they drove into the large courtyard, the sun was already a pole high in the west. Yang Da Jie opened the large gate, and Li Long drove the tractor in.

Entering the courtyard, he drove the tractor to a position near the wall, and after turning off the engine, Yang Da Jie had already brought a basin over.

Li Long placed the basin under the tractor head, unscrewed the water tank switch, and drained the water. This tractor probably wouldn't move much in winter.

Only then did he feel a bit tired.

But he couldn't rest yet, he still had to process those three pieces of prey.

That was to say, he gave one to the squad, otherwise, it would really be hard to process.

Yang Da Jie was already used to Li Long bringing back things like this every few days. She skillfully brought a large basin for Li Long.

It was a bit cold to skin them outside, but fortunately, there were many rooms, and Li Long put the gazelles and antelopes into a cleaned-out side room to process them. There was no stove here, and it was cooler than the bedroom and living room, but warmer than outside.

First, put the frozen sheep inside, Li Long changed his coat, went into the bedroom to warm up first, and drank a cup of hot tea to soothe his throat.

At this time, when eating mixed noodles, the canteen usually provided noodle soup, but noodle soup wasn't as refreshing as tea. There was also free tea in the canteen, but that tea had been steeped many times, so it definitely wasn't as good as the tea at home.

After drinking, feeling his body warm up, he checked the time, the sheep should have thawed somewhat, so he carried the knife to the side room and began to prepare to skin them.

The heads of the two antelopes were removed first and placed aside, and after everything was processed, the horns would be sawed off. The large basin was filled with internal organs.

!.

The internal organs of the three sheep weren't many, and the feces in the stomach and intestines had been cleared after the hunt.

The gazelles of others weren't processed much, but Li Long was quite attentive to these few of his own. Some people followed him to learn, some didn't care, and he didn't mind.

Seeing Li Long start to process the prey, Yang Da Jie came over to take the internal organs away to clean them, and then prepared to braise them.

Raw things like liver couldn't be frozen, as they would turn into dregs once frozen, so they had to be cooked before being stored. If stir-fried, it would be troublesome to heat them up repeatedly if they couldn't be finished, so it was better to braise them, and cut a small piece when needed.

Easy to store.

The others were about the same; after being braised, they were frozen, and taking a piece to thaw and stir-fry or eat cold was quite good.

She already had experience.

On Li Long's side, he skinned all three sheep, and this time he could sell them together with the two antelope skins.

The sheep horns naturally had to be kept.

Five skins should be able to sell for three or four hundred yuan. Li Long was careful when hunting, and the skins were all whole. The fur quality in winter was good, and the price was high.

The meat was cut up, and since it couldn't be eaten right now, he directly found iron hooks to hang it in the storage room, and take it out when needed. There were still mice in the large courtyard, so these edible things needed attention.

The skins were better, rubbed with salt and hung on the wall, and the mice couldn't get up.

Finally, the horns. He sawed off the horns of all three sheep. The horns of gazelles and antelopes were different, and it was easy to distinguish them.

Two horns were given to Director Qian, one horn was given to Section Chief Li, one was left with his older brother, and the rest were kept with himself.

Keep them just in case.

These things, one really couldn't have too many. This was different from wild ginseng; antelope horns could really be stored, and there was no worry about them changing even if they were kept for a long time.

Same as tiger bone.

As for the sheep heads and sheep hooves, he was too lazy to process them in both lifetimes, so he simply planned to take them to his older brother's place in two days.

His older brother had the patience to process this thing, including Li Qiang later when he grew up, who also had the patience to process this.

This thing had to be burned with a blowtorch first, then scraped and washed, then burned and scraped again.

At this time, there was no blowtorch, so he could only use a red-hot iron rod to repeatedly scald it, which was too troublesome.

The hooves were the same, especially the two-part hooves, which were prone to sheep wool rot, and it was said that if not handled well, sheep wool would grow on people after eating them, and he didn't know if it was true or false.

It was hard to wash between those two-part hooves. The hoof armor had to be knocked off. Li Long remembered that children liked this; in winter, put some oil inside, add a wick, and it could be used as a lamp.

Putting the sheep heads and hooves of the three sheep into a basket and hanging it up, Li Long wiped the oil off the knife, and only then did he return to the bedroom.

The sun had already set. At this time, it was getting dark earlier and earlier. Gu Xiaoxia hadn't gotten off work yet, and Han Fang had already finished school and was helping her mother in the kitchen.

Seeing Li Long, Han Fang called out "Uncle Li" and went to get busy.

Li Long smiled and didn't go to help, returning to the bedroom to watch TV, which was considered resting.

The next day after breakfast, Li Long carried an antelope horn, rode his bicycle, and went toward the supply and marketing cooperative.

When he arrived at Li Xiangqian's office, Li Xiangqian had just finished a meeting, and the fire in the stove had just been lit.

"You came early today." Li Xiangqian saw Li Long and said with a smile, "Just in time, I have something to ask you. If you hadn't come, I would have had to go to the large courtyard to find you."

Speaking of which, Li Xiangqian was also very envious of Li Long's large courtyard. His family also had a courtyard, but although the courtyard wasn't small, there was still a gap compared to Li Long's.

However, Li Long's courtyard was large, and the area that needed snow shoveling was also large. At this time, snow shoveling was a big job. If both husband and wife had to go to work, they could only shovel when going to or from work.

At this time, the snow was heavy, and usually, a single snowfall could reach half the calf or the knee, so for a dual-income family's courtyard, one snowfall could be shoveled for a week.

Li Long's courtyard was much larger than other places, and snow shoveling was really a big job.

"What is it, Section Chief, tell me." Li Long walked to Li Xiangqian, first pulled open his drawer, and put the antelope horn inside.

"What?" Li Xiangqian took a look. He was also half a hunter and could see that this thing was different from a gazelle horn.

"A real antelope horn." Li Long said in a low voice, "I hit two of them these two days. I plan to give two to Director Qian, and for the remaining two, you keep one, I keep one, and I didn't give any to Director Wei."

"Heh, you kid!" Li Xiangqian smiled and closed the drawer.

Although he didn't know the preciousness of antelope horns very well, Director Qian had come twice to ask for gazelle horns as a substitute for antelope horns, so he naturally understood.

As for Li Long giving Director Qian two horns, he had no opinion at all.

However, after Li Long sat back down, he explained:

"This is mainly for clearing heat and detoxifying. If a child has a fever, scrape off some powder, not too much, just a little bit, mix it in warm water and drink it, and the fever will be cleared."

Li Xiangqian understood Li Long's meaning. Just scrape a little bit if there's a fever. This horn weighed three or four hundred grams, wouldn't it be used hundreds of times?

Wouldn't it be enough for decades?

It was enough for a family to have one.

"What kind of antelope horn is this?" Li Xiangqian still wanted to explore.

"A saiga one," Li Long said, "the nose is this long." Li Long gestured, it should be called a saiga antelope.

Alright, this explanation wasn't wrong either.

Li Xiangqian nodded and then said:

"Alright, let's talk about what I wanted to tell you. The New Year is coming soon, and we have to distribute some benefits to everyone this year. You brought mutton for everyone before..."

"That was the heart of the herdsman brothers." Li Long hurriedly explained.

"Alright, alright, who doesn't know you were the one who bridged the gap?" Li Xiangqian said with a smile, "No need to explain, everyone isn't stupid. You don't want this credit, everyone knows, but everyone also knows, without you, what relationship could we have with those herdsmen?"

Li Long chuckled and didn't speak.

"Alright, we have mutton, so it's not easy to handle the benefits this year. I gave the Director the idea that besides some necessary seafood, peanuts, and other things, let's get some fish.

You can get fish there, we don't need much, one ton, carp over one kilogram is best, grass carp is also fine, five-striped black fish is naturally best, you decide, and don't make them too big, just distribute them well."

"What about the price?" Li Long asked.

"One point five yuan per kilogram." Li Xiangqian said, "Slightly higher than the market price. But thinking that the price will definitely increase during the New Year, this price is no problem."

"Fine, then I'll prepare it. What's the deadline?"

"One week before the New Year, is that enough time?"

"Enough." Li Long calculated that the Spring Festival was in early February, and there was about a month of preparation time now.

Based on the fish production situation of Little Haizi, should it be enough?

It was just that this winter wouldn't be peaceful again.

Can't hibernate! (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 589 =====