Chapter 684: The Wealth in the Mountains Is Far Beyond Your Imagination

The next day, after breakfast, Li Long poured the dried mushrooms he had brought back from Sun Jia Qiang onto a large sieve and began sorting them.

Sun Jia Qiang picked mushrooms differently from Li Long; he pulled them up by the roots, which meant they carried quite a bit of soil. Li Long fetched a pair of scissors, snipped off the roots of those mushrooms, and after running them through the sieve, most of the dried earth clods were sifted out.

Han Fang came over, squatted down, and helped Li Long clean these wild mushrooms. After Li Long guided her a few times, she quickly mastered the technique and busied herself cheerfully.

Li Long could have taken these morel and black tiger palm mushrooms directly to the procurement station to sell. The procurement station always offered quite high prices for these rare and precious mushrooms.

But he did not. Since he started picking mushrooms to sell at the procurement station over two years ago, including pelts and fritillaria bulbs, Li Long had always adhered to the principle of selling high-quality goods.

If things could be cleaned up a bit, he cleaned them up, whether it was fritillaria bulbs or wild mushrooms.

He had worked hard to build this reputation, and he did not want to let it slip.

Maintaining such a habit allowed him to gain greater profits; it only required a little manual effort. If others had such an opportunity, they would be eager to seize it.

In the courtyard stood a wooden bed covered with a mat, where the two children lay. A mosquito net was draped over the bed, keeping out insects and also blocking the sunlight.

Li Long was wondering whether to install a grape trellis in the courtyard, so that there would be a place to escape the heat during the sweltering summer days.

The courtyard was large enough to plant a few grapevines in the flower beds; if the trellis was built in spring, one could enjoy the shade beneath it in summer.

Before having children, when it got hot, they would simply go inside the house, so he hadn't thought much about it. Now, however, such issues had to be considered.

Additionally, he needed to make some large toys for the children—such as swings and wooden horses—and in winter, he would need to craft some small sleds. Li Long planned to build some of the exercise and entertainment facilities that official bodies would later install in leisure squares right in his own courtyard.

Two boys, ah; once they started being mischievous, they would truly drive a person mad.

Since Gu Gu Xiaoxia did not have to go to work, Li Long had much less to do in the courtyard.

After he and Han Fang finished cleaning the dried mushrooms, he bid farewell to Gu Gu Xiaoxia and drove away in the jeep.

Clearly, this small amount of wild mushrooms was not enough; he planned to pick more himself, dry them, and then sell them at the procurement station.

Since the procurement station was still operating this year, he would sell as much as possible; next year, when the station would be abolished, he could find someone to sell the fritillaria bulbs, or if all else failed, go to the medicinal materials company.

But selling dried wild mushrooms would not be easy.

Although the free market allowed more people to participate and enabled more people to become wealthy, it also made it difficult for people like Li Long, who held large quantities of resources, to find buyers who could swallow all the goods at once.

It was quite a headache.

However, relying on Northern Tianshan, Li Long felt not the slightest worry regarding resources.

All year round, resources could be continuously obtained from the mountains to exchange for wealth.

Thinking about it now, obtaining a forester's certificate from Li Xiang Qian back then had been such a wise decision.

Being able to freely enter and exit the inner mountains of Northern Tianshan, and to hunt and obtain supplies freely within the mountains, was nearly impossible for ordinary people in the county.

Although one could enter the mountains, hunting and gathering were still restricted; in the future, for ordinary people, this place would only be a tourist spot.

In this era, tourism was truly not something ordinary people were keen on doing.

Li Long drove the jeep into the mountains again; at the wooden cabin, he found that Sun Jia Qiang had already gone out to pick mushrooms, so he drove the jeep eastward, as some gullies in the east also had plenty of wild mushrooms. Those mountain gullies had originally grown many fritillaria bulbs, and the people digging for them had turned over much of the earth, which inadvertently favored the growth of weeds.

It was equivalent to tilling the soil.

Li Long drove the jeep to the mouth of a gully in the east, stopped the vehicle, shouldered his rifle, grabbed his sack, and plunged inside.

At the entrance of this gully flowed a shallow stream; both sides were relatively spacious, and the grass and shrubs had been trampled by many cattle and sheep.

The gully opened toward the northeast, with its head facing southwest, winding a few times inside before gradually turning west.

The southeast side of the gully was a gentle slope covered with sparse pine trees, while the northwest side was slightly steep, covered entirely with grass and devoid of any trees.

Li Long went to pick mushrooms on the gentle slope to the southeast; beneath the pine trees lay thick humus, topped with pine needles and moss. Pushing aside the knee-high weeds, if one was lucky, one could find patches of black tiger palm mushrooms.

These things had beautiful patterns and could be spotted at a glance amidst the grass.

Just as Li Long found a patch and was picking, he heard someone calling from outside.

"Li Long, Li Long!"

Li Long straightened his back; holding a black tiger palm mushroom as large as Li Qiang's head in his hand, he glanced toward the outside of the gully, then put the mushroom into his sack and walked out carrying it.

Mushrooms this large could only be found at this time; they could still be picked thirty years later, but after forty years, such large mushrooms would be rarely seen. By then, black tiger palm mushrooms would mostly be the size of an adult's palm, with none being particularly large.

One did not know whether this counted as adapting to the environment or mutation.

Li Long recognized that this was Hearing Hearing Bolati's voice.

Ever since the fritillaria season ended and Li Long returned to the big courtyard to accompany Gu Gu Xiaoxia during her pregnancy, he had not seen this forester friend again.

Hearing his voice at this moment felt quite affectionate.

When Li Long emerged from the gully, Hearing Hearing Bolati saw him carrying a sack, paused for a moment, and asked:

"Li Long, what is in the sack you are carrying?"

"Mushrooms." Li Long knew Hearing Hearing Bolati was always this direct; he opened the mouth of the bag to show him, "These mushrooms can be sold for money after being dried."

"These can also be sold for money?" Hearing Hearing Bolati held the horse with his left hand and reached into the sack with his right to take one out and examine it:

"Are they expensive?"

"Not as expensive as fritillaria bulbs," Li Long said with a smile, "but they don't need digging, just picking. I'm not entirely doing this for selling; we eat them at home too."

"You Han people, you eat all sorts of things. We don't eat these." Hearing Hearing Bolati tossed the mushroom back into the sack and pointed to the mountains to the north, saying, "On the north side of those mountains, there is a gully where only grass grows. Every morning, before the sun has even risen, a large herd of wild boars rushes through there, rooting everything into a mess."

"You know more than we do; I'll go hunt there when I have time." Li Long smiled; this counted as learning a spot where wild boars were active.

In these mountains, some gullies had steep sides on both ends where wild animals basically never went, while some mountain gullies were gentle with lush grass, where herbivores and omnivores appeared frequently.

Among the countless small gullies branching off the several main gullies, anyone not living here year-round would be unable to distinguish them.

Li Long was not currently very interested in that herd of wild boars; he asked Hearing Hearing Bolati:

"Do you know why, now that the fritillaria season has ended this year, there are still so many outsiders in the mountains? I've encountered several of them. They aren't picking mushrooms; what are they doing in the mountains?"

"Looking for treasure, what else could they be doing?" Hearing Hearing Bolati scoffed upon hearing Li Long's question, "Didn't I mention last time that some people say there are treasures in these mountains? The rumors are wildly exaggerated!"

"What treasure?" Li Long recalled the matter of Sheng Sheng Shi Cai's treasure; was it still this same one?

"Some say it's cartloads of gold, others say it's an ancient tomb filled with gold, silver, and jewels, and still others say that in the past, gold diggers were killed by the queue-wearing soldiers of that time, leaving the gold they panned behind in the mountains... These people just want to find this gold and instantly become ten-thousand-yuan households!"

Well, with the market opening up and allowing everyone to get rich first, some people became wealthy through hard work, some through wit, and some found other paths to riches.

"We have caught several of them already," Hearing Hearing Bolati continued, "They all claim to have maps and even try to drag our people along to dig with them. As a result, one fool followed them and was tricked into nearly drowning in a river branch deep in the mountains..."

"What's going on?" Li Long asked, somewhat surprised. "How could something like this happen?"

"Hey, isn't it just that fool being greedy? Someone told him that if he followed them to find the spot, he'd get a big share of the money, so he went along. But while he was thinking about the cash, they were eyeing the gun on his back."

"If that guy hadn't reacted so quickly, we'd be eating pilaf right now (a custom among some ethnic minorities, where pilaf is served at funerals)."

As he spoke, Hearing Bolati pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Li Long:

"Look, this is the treasure map some fool was talking about yesterday. He tried to coax me, saying there must be hidden treasures if we found the place. I didn't believe a word of it!"

"Where is the person now?" Li Long took the map and glanced at it. The paper quality indeed had a touch of the Republic of China era about it, the characters were in traditional script, and it looked quite old. It was a hand-drawn map, yet it carried somewhat of a military map's flavor; overall, the general location was still clear—at least he spotted Hongshan Zui, which gave him a rough idea of the specific position.

Of course, it still needed to be cross-referenced.

"He's been arrested," Hearing Bolati said, waving his horsewhip. "Those damn swindlers can't be trusted at all. You should be careful too; don't let those fraudsters trick you."

"Alright, I understand." Li Long recalled the person he had rescued the day before. Could that have been him?

Hearing Bolati had only approached Li Long to say hello after spotting the jeep; after finishing their conversation, he asked Li Long:

"Do you still have any liquor? If you do, give me a bottle."

"I didn't bring any today." Li Long shook his head. "The Fritillaria season is over; lately, I've only been carrying brick tea and sugar cubes. Let me give you a pack of this instead. Oh, and there's also a watermelon; I'll get one for you."

Actually, there was still some liquor, but Li Long had no intention of giving it to him. Out here in the deep mountains and old forests, if Hearing Bolati had alcohol, he would think of drinking. What if he really fell and got seriously hurt? Since they were friends after all, it was better to let him eat watermelon instead.

Hearing Bolati felt somewhat disappointed upon hearing there was no liquor, but when Li Long mentioned there was a watermelon, he instantly cheered up.

Although it was currently the peak season for watermelons, these forest rangers patrolling the mountains with the forestry team couldn't often manage to eat them.

Li Long found a bag, packed two large watermelons for Hearing Bolati, along with brick tea, canned goods, and other Sheng Huo Yong Pin, then happily departed.

Li Long called out to him again, asking:

Not a single mistake, every single character, every single content, all in one look!

"What about money? Do you need to take some?"

Hearing Bolati thought for a moment and said, "Give me some first."

Li Long always carried some money with him; he counted out five hundred and said:

"Is five hundred enough?"

"Enough, enough!" Hearing Bolati took the money, smiling as he stuffed it into his pocket without even counting it. After securing it, he whispered to Li Long, "Someone over where I am has found gold; I want to buy a little to make a ring for Yang Gangzi."

Upon hearing this, Li Long realized what they had likely found was dog-head gold, so he quickly counted out another five hundred yuan and said:

"Come, come, come, buy some for me too."

"How much should I buy?" Hearing Bolati asked, taking the thick stack of money. "With this much cash, I can buy quite a lot..."

"The more, the better!"

"Alright." Hearing Bolati took the money and said, "Once I've bought it, I'll come find you at the wooden cabin this afternoon or tomorrow."

"Mm, you be careful too." Seeing Hearing Bolati about to leave, Li Long handed him back that map. "Some of those people in the mountains have cases hanging over them; they've hurt people before. They aren't good folks."

"Don't worry, I have a gun. As for this map, it's yours now." Hearing Bolati tied the bag of watermelons onto his horse's back, waved goodbye to Li Long, and rode away.

Worried that the watermelons might get bruised from bouncing, Hearing Bolati did not gallop after mounting his horse. Li Long, meanwhile, lowered his head to examine that map.

For outsiders, the map might prove somewhat troublesome. After all, apart from outer mountain locations like Hongshan Zui, Ma County, and Taxi River, which are easier to inquire about, some gullies in Lishan have names that differ from current place names.

But for people like Li Long and Hearing Bolati, who frequently roam the mountains, a slight comparison of the terrain is enough to figure things out.

It wasn't that Hearing Bolati hadn't visited those key marked locations before, but to be honest, although some terrain features haven't changed over so many years, the man-made structures have long been mostly destroyed by time and by later people entering the mountains.

Human nature is hard to predict; some people, when encountering shelters in the mountains that can protect against wind and rain, will maintain them, or at least not destroy them.

Others, however, when unmonitored, unleash the evil within them to the fullest; having enjoyed the shelter from the wind and rain, they destroy the place upon leaving to prevent others from benefiting.

Therefore, when Hearing Bolati originally obtained this map, he had actually visited several of the key points marked on it. Although he couldn't read the characters on it, he could still identify those emphasized dots.

The result was nothing at all, which is why he felt justified in sending that swindler to the detention center.

After that swindler serves his time in custody, he will be repatriated to his place of origin. If he has pending cases there, then he can just wait for sentencing.

Li Long also found it somewhat incomprehensible why these people would think of partnering with forest rangers—were they just looking for trouble?

He carefully examined the map again; two points were heavily marked on it. One point he recognized quickly—it was exactly where he had previously encountered those three people carrying hunting rifles. The other point lay in another nearby gully.

Li Long thought for a moment, then put the map away. He planned to pick mushrooms first, harvesting his way over, and once he reached that location, see what gains he could find.

Mushrooms in the mountains vary in abundance; after finishing this gully, Li Long's sack was still not full.

This was quite normal; in some gullies, mushrooms are plentiful, and one could gather several sacks from a single gully, while in others, mushrooms are scarce, and one might walk from start to end without necessarily finding even two kilograms.

It also depends on luck.

Li Long left that sack of mushrooms at the head of the gully, took out another sack, exited this gully, and headed diagonally toward the southeast.

The nearby point marked on the map lay just two gullies away to the southeast.

The gully he was now entering was somewhat steep, with many scattered rocks on both sides; Li Long thought he would move faster, crossing through this gully to reach a more open area.

However, he had not walked many steps before spotting patches of wild strawberries growing beside the rocks.

He recalled that Gu Gu Xiaoxia quite liked this kind of small fruit; there had been some when picking Fritillaria too, but he hadn't dared to pick them for Gu Gu Xiaoxia then, fearing an allergic reaction.

Technically, they were already out of season by now, yet here they still were. Li Long then took a small cloth pouch from his backpack, bent down, and began picking them.

The wild strawberries were not large, but sweet and sour, tasting very good. Li Long quickly filled half the cloth pouch. Thinking that was enough, he tied the pouch shut, placed it securely inside his backpack, and stood up, lifting his sack to leave. Just then, he saw about forty or fifty meters ahead, a brownish-gray figure weaving back and forth among the rock crevices, occasionally lowering its head to root around and eat something.

A brown bear!

A half-grown brown bear cub!

Instinctively, Li Long dropped the sack and took the rifle off his back.

This bear cub was just a little over one meter or two tall; it didn't look very big, was furry, and appeared somewhat cute.

However, Li Long knew that a bear cub of this size already possessed considerable lethal power; the claws on their Xiong Zhang could be one or two centimeters long, and a single swipe across a person's body would leave a row of gashes.

Usually, a bear cub of this size would still be accompanied by its mother. As Li Long raised his rifle, he had already taken cover behind a rock, scanning the surroundings to locate that mother brown bear.

If he accidentally killed the little bear and then got ambushed by the mother bear while going to collect the carcass, that would be troublesome.

However, after looking all around, he still could not find that mother bear.

Li Long decided to shoot first and see what happened; anyway, once the little bear was killed, he wouldn't approach immediately, figuring the mother bear would surely appear.

Just as he raised his rifle to aim, the little brown bear found another patch of wild strawberries, and as it bent down to eat them, its body was conveniently blocked by a rock.

Li Long had no choice but to advance slowly, searching for a suitable position.

"Howl—!"

Several gray wolves charged down from the mountain ridge, launching an attack on the little brown bear!

No one knew how long they had been lying in ambush there, but the moment they appeared, they immediately formed an encircling formation, cutting off the little brown bear's retreat.

Startled, the little brown bear let out a cry, then reared up on its hind legs with its back against the rock, waving its two Xiong Zhang to intimidate the gray wolves.

The gray wolves did not dare to pounce directly; instead, they leaped around the little brown bear, waiting for an opportunity.

The little brown bear grew somewhat afraid; after calling twice without summoning its mother, it seized a gap exposed by the gray wolves, turned, and ran straight up the mountain ridge.

The gray wolves immediately gave chase; one of them, the fastest, pounced onto the little brown bear's rear in an instant, clamped its jaws onto its buttocks, and gave a fierce twist. Stung by pain, the little brown bear let out a miserable shriek while swiping its paw at the wolf; the gray wolf was slightly slow in releasing its bite and was slapped flat to the ground by the little bear.

The little brown bear did not dare to pursue, but ran again toward the mountain ridge, hoping to shake off these gray wolves.

The fallen gray wolf rolled over, got back on its feet; though blood now showed on its body, it continued the pursuit.

Li Long, forgetting all about grabbing the sack, followed closely behind.

It was rare to play the role of the fisherman reaping the benefits; he certainly did not want to let this opportunity slip away! (End of Chapter)