Chapter 64: Wild Boars Are Not Stupid After All

The wolf meat was first buried in the snow to freeze, and Li Long took one of the two wolf hides. Ha Li Mu already had one here previously; with this additional one, the wooden kang bed was nearly covered.

"After we finish hunting the wild boar tomorrow, I will head straight back," Li Long said. "I originally planned to be out for two days, but this has extended by another day; my family must be getting worried."

Up at Little Little Haizi, while Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang were pulling out fish, they estimated that Li Long should be returning tonight.

"If you two go to sell the fish tomorrow, then I'll go to the team leader's house tonight to extend the cart rental for another day," Li Jianguo said while sorting the fish, addressing Tao Daqiang. "After selling once more, we probably won't sell anymore; it's time to prepare for the New Year. Daqiang, has your family prepared any New Year goods yet?"

"Not yet," Tao Daqiang replied, no longer so reserved when speaking with Li Jianguo. "I used my money to buy charcoal."

Li Jianguo nodded. He knew clearly the "wages" Li Long gave Tao Daqiang; in terms of profit share, it wasn't much, but compared to the current average wages and per capita income, it was already a very large amount.

The difficulty for Tao Jian She's family lay in the fact that Tao Tao Dayong had been caught last time; struck by this blow, it would take some time to recover.

But what of it? There were many families in the team poorer than theirs; at least Tao Daqiang could still bring fish home every day.

Some people in the team spoke envious, jealous, and sour words, but truly, few households were willing to endure temperatures of minus twenty or even thirty degrees to go to Little Little Haizi to pull out fish.

Some people didn't know how to eat fish, some were unwilling to eat fish—claiming it wasted oil and had bones—while others felt fish meat wasn't as tasty as pork or mutton.

Of course, for most, the reason was simply one: they preferred to stay cooped up at home and were unwilling to come out to work.

It was a malady left over from the Great Production period.

Of course, after this New Year, things would be different; once the land was distributed to each household, people's diligence would emerge, with each becoming more capable than the last.

Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang were willing to work because they saw the benefits. When Li Long went out to sell fish once, Li Jianguo received fifty yuan, and Tao Daqiang received five yuan.

What the people in the team saw, however, was that out of the three families who went out, Gu Gu Ermao had been caught, Tao Tao Dayong had been caught, and only Li Long remained unscathed.

They would say Li Long was lucky and capable, yet they dared not try it themselves.

Therefore, up to now, although not only Li Jianguo and Tao Tao Dayong were catching fish at Little Little Haizi, only the Li family went to sell them; even if others knew there were benefits here, they did not come, viewing the risk as too great.

However, both Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang noticed that today's catch was not as abundant as the previous time.

By the time they returned at dusk, Li Jianguo estimated that the fish on the sled weighed approximately fifty to sixty kilograms.

It was still a lot, yet they felt somewhat unsatisfied. It was like setting up a stall to earn money: earning five yuan on the first day, thirty on the second, a hundred on the third, fully expecting to reach one hundred and fifty on the fourth, only to suddenly drop back to fifty; naturally, one's heart would feel unsatisfied.

Instead, Tao Daqiang said:

"Uncle Jianguo, this is already a lot of fish. If we just eat them, they won't be finished in ten days."

"That is true," Li Jianguo reflected. Before Li Long returned, who in the family would have thought to smash ice holes to catch fish? At that time, the idea had crossed their minds, but they were uncertain whether smashing the ice would yield any catch; even if it did, it would likely be only a few kilograms. Since smashing the ice alone would take at least one or two hours, the effort did not match the reward, so they didn't come.

It really took Li Long.

Upon returning home, Tao Daqiang declined Liang Yuemei's invitation to eat, taking a few fish with him as he left.

"Without Xiao Long still hasn't returned," Li Jianguo sighed. "I'll drink some fish soup, then I must go to the team leader's place to renew the cart fee."

"If he hasn't returned, then he hasn't returned," Liang Yuemei said, not particularly worried. "Xiao Long handles things steadily; if he hasn't returned, he must be busy with something in the mountains." Li Long was indeed busy; during the day, while Halimu fed the cattle and sheep, Li Long took an axe to chop the logs they had dragged back into sections, preparing to load and transport them tomorrow.

In the minds of the locals here, pine wood had always been considered good timber, incomparable to poplar wood, and thus was relatively expensive. Although it was wind-fallen wood, it had apparently fallen not long ago, making it quite laborious to cut.

Li Long felt he needed more exercise; after over an hour, he barely managed to chop through a log thick enough to embrace with both arms, then began cutting it into shorter sections.

Using this wood for fuel was truly a waste, but the mountains were full of such things. Even if not burned, it would rot away after a few years. Ha Li Mu and Brother Brother Yushanjiang's families used pine wood and dried cow dung cakes for kindling; this stuff burned well, which was why the ancients likely called torches "pine torches"—probably because they carried pine resin.

By the time he had cut the wood into sections about two meters long, having produced four or five pieces, the sky was nearly dark.

Ha Li Mu came over to help transport the wood to the cart frame, ready for loading onto the cart tomorrow.

The horse was tethered beside Ha Li Mu's haystack, contentedly eating dry grass.

When Li Long approached, that large red horse, number seventy-six, even glanced at him sideways. Li Long thought to himself, "You're comfortable now, but tomorrow you'll have plenty of work."

He entered the winter dwelling—he had now adapted to the smell inside—drank some milk tea, rested early, and prepared to hunt wild boar at midnight.

Around five o'clock, Ha Li Mu woke Li Long; dressing completely, Li Long picked up his Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, wrapped himself tightly in his sheepskin coat, and headed outside.

Ha Li Mu led the way in front, while Li Long followed stumblingly behind, stepping deep then shallow, having to protect the muzzle, walking with great tension.

Boom—Crack!

After crossing a mountain ridge, passing through a valley, and climbing another ridge, Ha Li Mu stopped.

"Look there," Ha Li Mu said, pointing to the valley below. "In summer, that is grassland where many medicinal herbs grow; pine cones from the pines on the ridge also roll down and accumulate there in piles. Now that the wild boars have nothing to eat, they come here to root through the snow in search of food."

Looking down through the pine branches, Li Long saw an open area of approximately several dozen mu, belonging to the mountain grassland, extending all the way to the valley floor; now, only faint traces of digging could be discerned.

"Isn't this too far from here? Shouldn't we get closer?"

"We do need to get closer," Ha Li Mu continued, walking downward. "The wind is blowing from west to east; we will find a spot to lie in wait at the edge of this pine forest on this side and just wait."

The two of them reached a spot forty to fifty meters away from the snow that had been rooted open, each finding a place to begin waiting.

The snow was too deep; lying flat meant one couldn't see ahead, so one either had to pile up the spot where they lay or shoot while crouching. Li Long felt that crouching while supporting the rifle was less accurate than lying prone, so he simply built a gun rest out of snow, making it convenient to lie down.

Ha Li Mu, however, did not need to do this; he leaned against a pine tree and began resting with his eyes closed, very relaxed. Li Long felt somewhat envious but dared not do the same, fearing he might fall asleep and miss the time when the wild boars arrived.

After about an hour had passed, Li Long felt the ground vibrating; the disturbance came from the mountain ridge on the right, and he hastily whispered to Ha Li Mu:

"Ha Li Mu, they're coming!"

Ha Li Mu immediately opened his eyes, turned around, crouched, raised his rifle, and began aiming.

Seven or eight wild boars began rushing noisily down into the valley; this herd was not as large as the previous one, with the largest boar weighing just over a hundred kilograms and the smallest only forty to fifty kilograms, seemingly lacking any sense of caution.

Before Li Long could even feel happy, Ha Li Mu suddenly said:

"The wind direction has changed; get ready to shoot, the wild boars might have discovered us!"

Sure enough, the wild boars that had just charged down suddenly turned and rushed up the opposite slope together!

(End of Chapter)