Chapter 649

From the time he let the red deer go to Li Long coming over again, more than an hour had passed, so he thought there was a high probability that there was nothing inside.

However, since he was already here, coming up to take a look wouldn't delay anything, so he turned up.

When he was ten meters away from the mine cave, Li Long subconsciously lightened his footsteps and opened the safety.

Regardless of whether there was anything or not, he made full preparations.

Just as he was thinking this, suddenly two black shadows rushed out of the mine cave. Li Long subconsciously raised his gun:

"Bang bang!"

"Bang!"

He fired two shots directly; one black shadow fell to the ground in response to the sound. One of the two shots missed; the black shadow that wasn't hit was startled, its body soared into the air. Li Long adjusted the gun body slightly and fired again; when that black shadow landed, its hooves went soft, and it fell down.

Only then did Li Long see clearly that these two black shadows were two Mongolian gazelles.

Neither was considered large, about thirty or forty kilograms, with white buttocks and yellow fur.

Li Long went over and found that one Mongolian gazelle had been shot in the abdomen, and one had been shot in the head; both were vital points.

Hey, his marksmanship was getting better and better!

He had a bit of a cocky and proud feeling, then carried the gun into the mine cave to check; there was nothing else inside.

Li Long couldn't figure it out either; at this time, shouldn't Mongolian gazelles be active in the Gobi Desert and red willow land outside the mountains? How could they run here?

But it didn't matter; if he hit them, he would take them back.

He put the gun on safety, carried it on his back, and walked toward the mouth of the gully with one Mongolian gazelle in each hand.

These Mongolian gazelles weren't easy to grab; he took one front hoof and one back hoof, which could hold the strength.

Although the weather in the mountains was cooler than outside, Li Long knew he had to process these two Mongolian gazelles as soon as possible; otherwise, he would definitely face meat with maggots later—he wasn't willing.

However, no matter how urgent it was right now, he had to go to Xiaobaiyang Gou to solve the meal first. He was going back to the small wooden cabin side and didn't have time to cook.

Li Long carried the Mongolian gazelles to the jeep, put them down, opened the trunk, put the gun into the gun bag and put it inside, then took a bag of salt, tore the opening, poured out a small handful, and came over to rub it on the bullet wounds of the two Mongolian gazelles.

Although those flies were still flying around the Mongolian gazelles, they didn't dare to land anymore.

Li Long cleared a space in the trunk, put some things in the back seat, then carried the two Mongolian gazelles up, closed the trunk door, started the car, and drove toward Xiaobaiyang Gou.

Lunch had already started over at Xiaobaiyang Gou; Old Huang had already finished serving everyone and was preparing to serve himself to eat, and then he watched Li Long's jeep come over.

When Li Long got out of the car, Old Huang had already served him a meal—today's lunch was stir-fried potato slices and steamed mixed-flour buns. Looking at the two mixed-flour buns in the enamel basin, Li Long thought of the Mantou Mountain Bolati mentioned.

If Sheng Sheng Shi Cai's treasure was true, and if he dug it up, would he not have to work hard anymore—

Thinking about it, he couldn't. Now gold shops were all state-run; even if he dug up good things, there was no place to sell them, or he himself didn't know where to sell them.

He could only guard a pile of treasure and continue to work hard.

Better to take care of what was in front of him.

After greeting his older brother, Xie Yun Dong, and the others, Li Long took the enamel basin and sat around to eat big mouthfuls.

The buns mixed with corn flour tasted good, slightly sweet; this stuff was different from sponge cake, with more corn flour, not so fluffy, but it was filling to eat.

The potato slices were also cut very large and thick, but they were braised in the pot for a long time, and some meat was added, so the taste was quite good.

There was quite a lot of vegetable soup; many people themselves requested more soup, so that they could break off a piece of mixed-flour bun and soak it in; the buns containing soup juice tasted very good.

"Nothing happened these two days, right? You didn't come yesterday because you went to Qingshuihe?" Li Jianguo asked while eating.

"Mm, they also wove more than three hundred carrying poles there," Li Long said, "Plus the two times pulled from here, a total of more than seven hundred were handed over to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative."

"How is the qualification rate of the carrying poles there?" Xu Haijun was also eating not far away; hearing Li Long talk about Qingshuihe, he interjected.

"Stronger than yours, about the same as my older brother's side, eighty percent qualified." Li Long said while eating, "They have less land there, and it's not easy to have a job that earns money, so they value it very much."

The few people around didn't speak.

Indeed, they would have had a similar sense of urgency two years ago, but they didn't now. The team had a lot of land, plus there were at least three jobs that could earn money every year, and the team also had a small lake where they could catch fish to sell for money; as long as they were diligent, not to mention getting rich, at least the family wouldn't be without money.

However, there was one more competitor now.

Many people knew that because of Zhang Qiang's matter last year, Li Long had engaged in large brooms in an outside village. Although everyone didn't suffer a loss, selling brooms to Zhang Qiang was also a sum of money.

But Li Long being able to buy enough large brooms from outside showed that his selectable items were many, not just one family in his own team.

This made some people start to have a sense of urgency.

Tao Daqiang, Xie Yun Dong, and others who followed Li Long closely didn't care; anyway, Li Long would definitely take them along, and they were also willing to listen to Li Long.

But others didn't necessarily think so.

Wanting to earn money and wanting to ensure a certain degree of autonomy really wasn't easy.

After eating, Li Long went to the stream to wash the enamel basin, came back and put it on the wooden stump by the stove, greeted his older brother and the others, and left driving the jeep.

After eating, others either rested or went directly to weave carrying poles, each having their own plans.

Li Long drove the jeep to the wooden cabin, and then he saw the words written on the wooden cabin.

"I want dried noodles"

He smiled.

There were dried noodles in the trunk; if this person came again, they could really exchange for them.

But the top priority right now was to process the Mongolian gazelles first.

Going to the shed to take the large broom, he swept the wooden floor in front of the door again, then spread out the fritillaria bulbs he had received in the morning; he put the unwashed ones in a large basin and filled it with water to soak.

Li Long put down the two Mongolian gazelles, and there were horseflies and flies flying around.

He dragged a few basins out of the large room, built the stove in front of the wooden cabin, put on the pot, poured in water, and then set up the fire.

Seeing that there wasn't much firewood by the shed, he thought he had to get some more when he had time. The wind-fallen trees in the woods in the distance could be dragged back, which counted as taking firewood on the spot.

After making the preparations, he started to skin the sheep, open the belly, and process the offal and mutton.

The weather was hot; in order not to let the mutton spoil, Li Long soaked the sheep offal in the basin first, and the sheepskin and the unloaded mutton were rubbed with salt and hung up directly to dry.

Just when he was rubbing salt, someone came over from the woods carrying a bag, walked all the way to Li Long's place, and watched him handle the meat.

"What to exchange?" Li Long asked.

These people didn't bring many fritillaria bulbs; three or five kilograms were the most common, and it was rare to have seven or eight kilograms.

At first, those digging medicinal materials didn't want to exchange for too many things, feeling they could endure it.

Of course, when they first entered the mountains, they wouldn't bring too many supplies, thinking that when they were finished, they would go out of the mountains, go to the county to sell the medicinal materials, and then buy supplies to enter the mountains.

It was just that after having this wooden cabin of Li Long's, many people digging herbs had a reliance on this place.

"Can this meat be exchanged?" That person wasn't old, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, and looked a bit greedy at this fresh meat.

There were naturally animals that could be eaten in the deep mountains and old forests, but with their current skills, there was a high probability they couldn't handle them.

Even if there were experienced people who could set a trap for a rabbit or something, they were a very small minority.

Usually, they were a bit greedy after gnawing on dry buns and eating dried noodles; with this meat, they naturally wanted to exchange for some.

"One kilogram of fritillaria bulbs exchanges for two kilograms of meat." Li Long said while working, "The offal is the same. However, it's all raw; you have to take it back and cook it yourself to eat."

"Exchange, exchange it all!" That person became ruthless; he knew that this meat rubbed with salt could be stored, so he simply exchanged it all to satisfy his craving.

Running to these deep mountains and old forests to dig herbs, wasn't it to be able to live a good life?

Anyway, there was salt in this meat, which could also supplement salt.

Li Long looked at him with some surprise, then asked:

"Take a look, which piece do you want."

That person finally wanted a Mongolian gazelle leg—Li Long weighed it, it was almost five kilograms or so; he didn't calculate it in detail and exchanged it with him.

This person walked out twenty meters with the gazelle leg and then awkwardly came back, asking Li Long in a low voice:

"Can you give me a box of matches?"

Li Long smiled, wiped his hands, reached out from the jeep's trunk, took out a box of matches, and handed it to him.

It seemed this person should have been exchanging for daily necessities like matches, but couldn't walk away after seeing the meat. When Li Long rubbed salt on the meat of the two Mongolian gazelles and hung them up, two more people came over to exchange things for fritillaria bulbs.

However, these two people were older and had more experience; they withstood the test of the meat. One of them exchanged for a piece of meat weighing more than a kilogram, and the other simply didn't want meat, exchanged for dried noodles, matches, and rubber shoes, and then hurried away.

Li Long looked at the cloth shoes he was wearing; they were already cracked.

The biggest possibility for cloth shoes made at home to be broken was that the sole was worn through or the big toe part was broken; being able to stretch the shoe upper, this person must have encountered something.

After Li Long finished handling the meat, he started washing the fritillaria bulbs again.

By the time these tasks were finished, the sun had already slanted to the height he usually should go back.

Li Long was preparing to tidy up and go back; these meats rubbed with salt, as well as the sheepskin and the gathered fritillaria bulbs, all had to be taken away.

Not long after leaving the wooden cabin, he ran into Bolati head-on.

Bolati rode his horse to the jeep and dismounted. After Li Long got out, he took down a bag filled to the brim from the horse's back and said:

"Just caught, this group of people is really too annoying; they dug that gully into a mess, and some small trees were broken by them. I took a gun and collected all their fritillaria bulbs... put them here first, wait until you have meat... eh?"

He smelled the bloody odor.

Please... collect_(!)

"Caught two Mongolian gazelles today." Li Long said, "One kilogram of fritillaria bulbs exchanges for two kilograms of meat; do you want to exchange?"

"Exchange, exchange, but can't exchange all." Bolati said hurriedly, "Exchange for some wine; the meat is raw, right?"

"Right, raw; you have to take it back and boil it to eat; I've already rubbed it with salt."

"Then exchange for half the meat, and exchange for five... six bottles of wine." Bolati waited for Li Long to open the trunk, thought for a while, and said again, "Give me some biscuits; I'll take them back for the baby to eat later."

Opportunities like this weren't many; Bolati also knew that he didn't know when he would run into such a group of people again; right now, he should exchange for as many things as he could.

Bolati left the bag, used two bags to pack the things he exchanged, hung them on the horse's back, and left satisfied.

Li Long also breathed a sigh of relief; there was still more than half a Mongolian gazelle left, so it would be easy to handle when he went back.

Today, he had exchanged more than forty kilograms of fritillaria bulbs from the mountains; these fritillaria bulbs would have to be seven or eight kilograms when dried. At the current price, how could one say it wouldn't be three hundred yuan?

However, Li Long didn't go to ask if the price of fritillaria bulbs had risen this year, so his purchase price was still calculated according to the original one.

Anyway, it was a seller's market, and moreover, it was mainly based on exchanging things; he calculated it to be equivalent to collecting fritillaria bulbs at two yuan or even less than two yuan per kilogram—profiteering.

Of course, this stuff was voluntary; these people digging medicinal materials could choose not to exchange. Li Long's main exchange target was people like Bolati; after all, the fritillaria bulbs collected over there were the big head.

The fritillaria bulbs at Bolati's place were a no-cost business, so it didn't matter how much money it was, as long as it felt appropriate.

When the jeep passed Qingshuihe Village, Li Long even saw someone waving and greeting him; he didn't recognize them, so he just honked the horn and continued forward.

By the time he returned to the county and picked up Gu Xiaoxia, Li Long went back.

"Eh, what's the smell in this car... so unpleasant?" Gu Xiaoxia felt the strange smell after getting in the car and hurriedly rolled down the car window glass.

"Caught two Mongolian gazelles at noon." Li Long explained, "It's the bloody smell, and also the smell of fritillaria bulbs." Li Long explained, "Hold on, we'll be there in a while."

He accelerated.

Gu Xiaoxia didn't get carsick, but right now this smell made her a bit unbearable.

Li Long regretted it a bit, but he also knew that in the future, if he caught anything again, he would have to clean the car after bringing it back.

After the jeep entered the courtyard, Gu Xiaoxia got out, walked a few steps away from the car, and then let out a long breath.

Obviously, she was still quite uncomfortable just now.

Li Long helped Gu Xiaoxia sit on the chair, and then he went to tidy up the things in the jeep. When he took those meats down and put them in the kitchen, Li Long specifically went around his wife, to avoid her smelling the odor again.

"I'm not that delicate; it's different in the courtyard." Gu Xiaoxia couldn't help but smile and explain when she saw him being cautious.

"Better be careful." After Li Long put the meat away, he went to hang the Mongolian gazelle skin in the side room, and the washed fritillaria bulbs were also spread out to dry in the side room.

After eating, Li Long washed the fritillaria bulbs Bolati had brought over in the courtyard in two large basins; Han Fang came to help, and Li Long didn't refuse; after all, the children's studies weren't that tense right now.

Sister Yang was tidying up the Mongolian gazelle meat in the kitchen.

Li Long calculated that he would have to go to Xiaobaiyang Gou to inspect the carrying poles there again tomorrow; these days passed really quickly.

He actually also thought that if he could accumulate four or five hundred carrying poles and transport them back at once, it would be good, but the transportation company side didn't allow it, and Captain Ma couldn't mobilize so many cars at once.

The transportation company itself had five cars, and Captain Ma also said that several had to be kept in reserve in the company; in case of any emergencies, these cars had to have great use.

Then he could only slowly pull them bit by bit.

After washing all the fritillaria bulbs and spreading them out to dry, Li Long shook the water droplets off his hands. Han Fang went to the kitchen to see Sister Yang busy, and Li Long entered the bedroom.

Gu Xiaoxia was watching TV; after seeing Li Long come in, she asked with concern:

"Are you very tired?"

"Not tired; compared to those people in the mountains, it's really much better."

Whether it was his older brother and the others weaving carrying poles or those digging herbs, these days they could only live in dugouts or caves in the mountains. He could go home every day, could eat on time, and had a car to drive; it was already much better.

More importantly, in such a comfortable situation, he still had several times or dozens of times the income of these people; if he still said he was tired, that would be too hypocritical.

"It's not comparing with them; it's just looking at you; if you're tired, don't do so much; hiring people to do it is also fine." Gu Xiaoxia mainly referred to the matter of transporting carrying poles from home to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

"I know." Knowing his wife was concerned about him, Li Long smiled, moved a chair and sat side-by-side with Gu Xiaoxia, then took a cushion and placed it behind Gu Xiaoxia's back, and the two watched TV together.

Men, being a bit tired is normal; otherwise, how could he let his family live well?

Besides, Li Long also knew he couldn't stay idle; there were so many good things in the mountains, and he could get them by entering the mountains; how could he not go?

After breakfast the next day, Li Long sent Gu Xiaoxia to the Education Bureau as usual, and then went to the transportation company.

Captain Ma wasn't there; Li Long found the driver he was familiar with before.

"No problem, the captain took the cars to transport supplies and hasn't returned yet; when he returns, I'll tell him. There are no other tasks today; there will be cars tonight." That driver guaranteed.

Li Long wasn't very reassured, but there was no way.

He replenished some supplies again, and then drove to the mountains.

He planned to go to the wooden cabin to take a look first, intending to see if there were any exchanging supplies in the morning, eat lunch at Xiaobaiyang Gou, and start inspecting the carrying poles in the afternoon.

Sure enough, the plan was good; just as he arrived at the wooden cabin, he saw someone coming out of the woods and walking here.

He guessed whether this person had been staying there the whole time, waiting for him to come out.

Li Long opened the wooden cabin, took out the large basin, and waited for that person to come over.

The man carrying the bag was about fifty years old; it was rare to see someone with relatively neat clothes in the mountains. Li Long was even thinking about getting some clothes, but later thought, forget it.

These people were drilling in the mountains; even clean clothes would become dirty in a day.

That person reached the front, took out a bundle of things from his pocket, and handed it to Li Long:

"Comrade, do you collect this?"

Li Long looked carefully; what was wrapped in a towel was some copper coins, and a dagger with green rust—was it bronze?

He shook his head and said:

"Not worth money, or rather, I don't understand it either, so I can't give much money."

Copper coins, or rather, "hemp money" (*Ma Qian*), were easy to find at this time, so they weren't worth money. As for that bronze dagger, it was full of green rust; he didn't understand this, so he wouldn't make an offer.

That person was a bit disappointed, took the towel back, thought about it, and said again:

"Just give a price; it's troublesome to hold onto."

"Then one yuan." Li Long said, "Do you want money or things?"

"Want things." That person nodded, "And these fritillaria bulbs, exchange for some dried noodles. By the way, you said you have rubber shoes here? Exchange a pair for me, and matches, and salt..."

This person had many requests; Li Long interrupted his words quickly:

"These fritillaria bulbs of yours can't exchange for so many things."

"Then can I owe some?"

"No." Li Long almost laughed; he had been here for two or three years and it was the first time he encountered someone owing things.

Naturally, it wasn't possible. (End of chapter)