Chapter 691: The Herd Team Leader's Little Scheme

Talihar was growing a bit anxious.

Clutching his rifle, he slowly climbed up the mountain.

There were still quite a few wild animals near his family's winter pasture.

Last time he had bagged so many wild goats; he hadn't expected that so soon afterward, traces of other herbivores would appear in the vicinity again.

He had tethered his horse in the pen at the winter pasture, planning to hunt something to give to Li Long, and then ask Li Long to teach him how to drive a tractor.

Like everyone else, Talihar knew Li Long would definitely teach Ha Li Mu and Brother Brother Yushanjiang; after the instruction, presumably those two would take turns cutting hay, with Li Long just dropping by occasionally to check on things.

He also wanted to learn how to drive a tractor; he wanted to experience the thrill of piloting an iron ox.

Actually, if he simply wanted Li Long to teach him tractor driving, he only needed to say the word; he believed Li Long would agree, but with so many people around, what if he asked and then others asked too?

Deciding whom to teach and whom not to teach would be rather troublesome and would cause Li Long distress.

Therefore, he planned to hunt a wild goat or perhaps another roe deer to give to Li Long, in exchange for the qualification to be taught tractor skills.

That way, if anyone else wanted Li Long to teach them just as he had, they would have to bring something to trade.

Talihar felt his idea was absolutely feasible, so he had come out carrying his rifle.

Yesterday, in another mountain gully, he had shot a roe deer; at the time, the roe deer had been in a herd of five or six, and though he had hit only one, the others had fled in this direction.

He figured those roe deer couldn't have gone far, and it would be wonderful if he could bag one here today.

However, upon reaching this gully, he found nothing at all.

Talihar felt somewhat disappointed, yet on second thought, that was only normal; he climbed up the ridge, hoping to see if there were any in other nearby gullies.

Just as he reached the ridge, he happened to witness the end of a hunt.

Three gray wolves had bitten a male red deer to death and were preparing to feast.

Talihar glanced over; the distance was about fifty or sixty meters, so he immediately raised his rifle and fired.

If he couldn't hit a roe deer, taking down a wolf would do just fine.

Although wolf meat didn't taste good, at least the wolf pelts were decent.

In the past, before there were guns, only the bravest warriors in the tribe could hunt wolves; now that there were guns, anyone could become a warrior.

With that fleeting thought flashing through his mind, his hand trembled slightly as he pulled the trigger; the bullet grazed past the face of one gray wolf, tearing a bloody streak, and that wolf let out a howl, turned its head, and bolted into Lin Zi.

The other two wolves likewise crouched low and darted into Lin Zi.

There was quite a lot of shrubbery nearby; although Talihar wanted to fire again, the wolves quickly vanished from his sight, leaving only the fallen male red deer.

Talihar felt somewhat frustrated, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Rifle in hand, he walked toward the deer, scanning in all directions as he went, guarding against a hidden wolf attack.

Fortunately, all the way to the red deer, no wolves appeared; clearly, they had truly been scared off.

The red deer bore many wounds, the most fatal one being on its neck; its neck blood vessels had been bitten through, blood had spilled everywhere, and now it lay motionless.

Talihar certainly would not eat this kind of meat, nor would Ha Li Mu and the others.

However, the deer hide was still relatively intact, so he planned to take the deer back and see whether Li Long and the others wanted it.

A freshly killed deer should still be useful to them, shouldn't it?

Talihar hoisted the deer onto his shoulder and headed down the mountain.

This was a young red deer, weighing around forty or fifty kilograms, and carrying it was somewhat strenuous for him.

Fortunately, this place was not far from his family's winter pasture; after resting twice, Talihar finally arrived at the winter pasture, where he loaded the red deer onto his horse, tied it securely, mounted up, and trotted toward Ha Li Mu's winter pasture.

By the time he arrived, seeing Li Long still teaching Ha Li Mu and the others, Talihar wondered whether, if he were to learn, he would pick it up very quickly.

After all, among these herdsmen, the young men were the fastest at learning to hunt.

He had selectively forgotten his miserable state when facing that brown bear.

"Talihar, you went hunting?" Zhat was the first to spot him and called out from the winter pasture, "Come over and eat—what did you bag?"

"A red deer, but I didn't shoot it," Talihar said after riding his horse to the winter pasture, while Zhat ladled out some naren from the pot for him.

To keep the naren warm, it had been left in the pot the whole time; the consequence was that the noodles had ultimately turned mushy.

Talihar dropped the red deer to one side; he was truly hungry, so without bothering to talk further, he washed his hands, filled an enamel basin with a serving, and began slurping it down noisily.

"This red deer wasn't shot by you?"

Zhat asked again.

"I missed; three wolves bit it to death. I tried to shoot the wolves but missed, so I just brought this red deer back," Talihar explained.

He would not lie; there was no need to claim this kill as his own.

After finishing his meal, Talihar began to skin the deer; once these things were processed, regardless of whether the venison was edible, at least this deer hide would be worth some money.

Over on his side, Li Long had already taught Ha Li Mu how to use the harvester; Ha Li Mu, excited, was driving the tractor and cutting hay in the pasture, while Brother Brother Yushanjiang waited nearby, planning to take his turn once Ha Li Mu completed a circuit and returned.

Li Long had already seen Talihar returning with something on his horse, and now he walked over to take a look.

"Talihar, did you shoot this red deer?" Li Long asked.

"No, I intended to, but it was bitten to death by three wolves; I tried to shoot the wolves but missed," Talihar explained once more.

His voice sounded somewhat dull as he explained; he felt a bit ashamed, since he had essentially fired and missed.

"Not bad; you go out and immediately find prey—your skills are quite impressive," Li Long praised, then added, "Was it just bitten to death?" noticing the blood on the deer was still bright red.

"Yes; when I saw them, the wolves had just killed the deer and hadn't had time to eat it yet."

"Then leave the venison and the offal inside to me; you people don't eat it, do you?"

"Yes; I was thinking of skinning it and giving the hide to you," Talihar thought to himself that he had indeed guessed correctly, and said, "and then asking you to teach me how to drive the tractor."

"All right," Li Long said with a smile, "I can even teach you to drive a car."

Could this be considered a tuition gift?

Talihar was quite thoughtful, after all.

Zhat, who was standing nearby helping Talihar drag the deer's legs, listened with great envy; he hadn't expected that Talihar had gone hunting with this intention in mind.

If only I had gone along back then; at least right now I could also join him in saying I want to learn how to drive a tractor.

Skinning was relatively easy for an experienced hand like Talihar; after finishing, he also, at Li Long's request, eviscerated the deer, while several idle young men helped clean the offal, and Talihar and Zate butchered the venison before rubbing it with salt.

They did not eat it, but Li Long and his people did.

Li Long planned to wait until his father returned from picking mushrooms, then drive the jeep back home; this deer was no light load, yielding at least thirty-plus kilograms of meat and offal, which divided between two households, should last at least half a month.

Li Long took two hemp sacks from the jeep and packed the venison and offal separately; since salt had been applied, he was not worried about flies or such.

Having received something from them, Li Long called Talihar to the passenger seat of the jeep to explain how to drive a car.

"Driving a tractor is much like driving a car; let me first explain how to operate this one. You may not master it immediately, but once you know the basic procedures, learning to drive a tractor later will be much easier, as that is far simpler to handle than this."

Presumably, every tractor driver thinks this way.

Talihar had never expected that his original intention of bringing a gift to ask Li Long to teach him how to drive a tractor would result in him sitting in the passenger seat of a car.

Yet after settling into the car, Talihar remained extremely nervous; he had heard long ago from Brother Brother Yushanjiang that only high-ranking leaders could ride in such vehicles, and now that he was seated in one, if not exactly sitting on pins and needles, he was at least deeply uneasy.

Thus, although he had memorized most of the driving procedures Li Long explained, when Li Long invited him to take a turn at the wheel, he immediately waved his hands in refusal; such a thing was too dangerous to drive, and if broken, he could not afford to compensate for it.

Li Long did not press the matter; after driving the car around with him for two loops and returning to the winter camp, he took Talihar to the pasture, and once Brother Brother Yushanjiang had also completed a round of grass cutting, they intercepted the tractor and began teaching Talihar how to drive it.

At this, some of the young men began to stir with excitement.

Since Talihar had brought back a red deer and thereby earned the chance to learn tractor driving, could they not also procure some items to exchange for an opportunity to learn the skill?

Although they had all previously given things to Li Long, everyone understood that Li Long bringing the tractor to cut grass for them was not done for free; those gifts had already paid for the grass cutting for their own families and did not count toward this.

Those less interested in learning to drive a tractor decided not to overthink it; since this trip would be as relaxing as last year's, they might as well rest well.

It took Li Long less than an hour to teach Talihar how to drive the tractor—at which point the other herders finally understood that operating a tractor was no simple task.

Talihar, likely due to nervousness, stalled the engine three times before finally managing to drive the tractor smoothly across the pasture.

The turf in the vicinity was all flattened.

Fortunately, they had not engaged in wanton crushing; within two days after passing over, the grass would grow back.

Not a single mistake, every bit of content is right here for you to see!

After finishing this, Li Long explained to Ha Li Mu and Brother Brother Yushanjiang the matters of adding water and fuel; refueling could wait until tomorrow when he returned, since drawing oil from a drum was itself a minor technical skill, but adding water was straightforward.

"Just when you see the water level drop below this point, add water inside," Li Long provided a very intuitive standard; there was a filter pool at the water tank inlet to prevent debris from entering, extending about ten centimeters downward, and Li Long pointed to that opening, instructing them not to let the water submerge completely.

Although there was a float valve, there was no need to explain so much; he believed such an intuitive standard would be more readily accepted by them.

Indeed, seeing the water level had already dropped five or six centimeters, Talihar without hesitation removed the water bucket hanging behind the tractor, ran to fetch a bucketful, climbed up onto the wheel, and poured the water into the tank.

The float immediately rose up.

When Li Li Qing Xia emerged from the pine forest, Talihar had already handed over the tractor to Ha Li Mu.

It was enough to learn how to drive; proficiency would come with practice; he planned that by the time they harvested their own pasture, he would be able to drive the tractor himself, so that upon returning to the summer pasture, he could boast about it at home.

Seeing Li Li Qing Xia return, Li Long beckoned him onto the jeep, exchanged farewells with the others, and then drove away.

"Why are we returning so early today?" Li Li Qing Xia asked, somewhat puzzled.

"That Talihar just brought back a red deer," Li Long explained while driving; "they do not eat it, so we must return quickly to process it, hence the early departure."

"No wonder there's such a strong smell of blood," Li Li Qing Xia chuckled; "this mountain is full of good things; so many mushrooms they cannot be picked clean, plus red deer, and so many other treasures..."

Li Long thought to himself that without so many abundant resources, he could never have developed to his current level in just two or three short years.

All this was wealth bestowed by Dashan.

Driving the jeep back to the county town, Li Long did not return directly to the big courtyard house but first went to his elder brother's home.

Du Chunfang was in the yard; Li Juan and Li Qiang had not gone to the fields today either, having just returned with pig fodder and were now in the yard helping their grandmother chop it to prepare pig feed.

Currently, Li Jianguo was no longer a specialized pig farmer; the five mu of fodder land allocated to him would be returned to the production team by year's end; however, the combined income from that small plot and pig raising did not even equal half the profit from growing seed melons, so letting it go was fine.

The pigs currently raised were mainly for slaughter at year's end for family consumption; after setting down the venison and half of the offal, Li Long chatted briefly with his mother before driving away.

He went to Old Ma's Station to deliver a piece of venison to Uncle Old Luo, who was currently cutting grass to feed the deer.

"Oh, did you hunt a deer?" Uncle Old Luo asked, looking at the meat and smiling so broadly his mouth could not close; "We still haven't finished eating the smoked meat from home."

"That is different; this is fresh, hunted by a friend just today," Li Long said, setting down the meat and going over to inspect the wild boars and roe deer.

Currently, the number of roe deer and red deer had increased to ten; fortunately, the enclosure was large enough to hold them, but Li Long planned to slaughter two come winter, as too many would be more than Uncle Old Luo could manage.

"Xiao Long, the sugar residue is running low," Uncle Old Luo said; "Usually I feed the deer grass, but these wild boars eat so much; if they are not full, they cry out loudly."

"I know; in a couple of days I will go to Shicheng to haul a truckload back," Li Long replied; "It will not take many days to return."

Hauling sugar residue required a vehicle; since his own tractor was in the mountains and his elder brother's tractor was in use, Li Long planned to visit the transport company to find Captain Ma and see if their truck could be used after work hours.

Using a truck to haul sugar residue might sound alarming, but one truckload equaled several usual trips; anyway, the sugar factory would not utilize the sugar residue for anything in the short term, so given his relationship with Section Chief Hu, there should be no problem.

Leaving Old Ma's Station, Li Long drove the jeep back to the big courtyard house; the sun had not yet set, and Sister Yang was preparing dinner.

Li Long unloaded the venison and the remaining offal to begin processing them.

Han Fang would soon start school, so Gu Gu Xiaoxia was reminding her to review her lessons; Gu Gu Xiaoxia opened the door when Li Long drove the jeep into the courtyard, while the two children lay on the mat playing, causing no disturbance.

Carrying the meat and heavily stained with the smell of blood, Li Long only teased the two children from a few steps away before going to process the meat.

Sister Yang offered to help, but Li Long declined; she still needed to prepare dinner, and it was unnecessary, as he could manage these tasks himself.

Some of the venison could be air-dried, while the rest needed to be smoked; of course, some could be stir-fried for tonight and tomorrow morning; as for the offal, it certainly had to be boiled first.

Cooking methods at this time were rather singular; even if Li Long wanted to eat hot pot, he would need a pot first.

If he just improvised one and it burned through, what then?

Moreover, Gu Gu Xiaoxia was currently breastfeeding, so she could not just eat anything randomly.

In the mountains, not long after Li Long's departure, two people rode horses from the east, arriving at Ha Li Mu's winter camp.

Tursun, the captain of the livestock team's supply station, and Vice-Captain Captain Adili had ridden over to inspect the herders' grass-cutting progress.

Last year they had learned that the herders in this small settlement used tractors equipped with harvesters to cut grass; at that time, the captain and vice-captain had already hoped to see if they could promote this mechanized grass-cutting method this year.

If it could be promoted, the herders would save considerable time, and they themselves would earn a share of the merit.

After all, currently herders basically cut grass using sickles; switching to mechanization would certainly constitute a significant achievement.

When Tursun arrived at Ha Li Mu's winter camp, he indeed saw a tractor pulling a harvester cutting grass on the pasture; the speed was truly fast, completing one round trip up and down, felling the grass and arranging it into slightly neat, long strips.

This grass needed to wait until it was dried before being bundled and hauled back. He also noticed a trailer at Ha Li Mu's winter camp, realizing that hauling the grass could also be done with the tractor.

Therefore, any other pastures accessible to the tractor could completely be handled this way as well.

So Tursun immediately made a decision and found Brother Brother Yushanjiang, who was driving the tractor back after completing a circuit.

Seeing Tursun and Captain Captain Adili approach, the other herdsmen guessed their intentions, though Brother Brother Yushanjiang and Ha Li Mu had already figured it out.

It was nothing more than wanting to bring the tractor with the harvester over to cut grass for the other herdsmen.

Regarding this matter, neither Brother Brother Yushanjiang nor Ha Li Mu could make the decision, so they certainly could not agree.

Tursun rode his horse to the edge of the pasture, dismounted, and shook hands with Brother Brother Yushanjiang and Ha Li Mu, who had climbed down from the tractor, exclaiming in admiration:

"Cutting grass this way is indeed fast! In just this short while, you've accomplished what would take a person a whole day!"

Captain Captain Adili knew most of the other herdsmen; he went around greeting them one by one and shaking hands. He understood the situation clearly, but since the Captain had arrived, he would just act as a figurehead and leave everything to the Captain's discretion.

"It is indeed fast," Brother Brother Yushanjiang said. "We owe it all to our friend Li Long. This tractor is his, and the harvester is his too; without him, we would still be cutting grass for a month. However, he is also busy and needs to take on jobs to earn money."

Brother Brother Yushanjiang's hint was very clear: Li Long's tractor had its own uses, and even if the Animal Husbandry Team wanted to use it, the compensation had to be discussed clearly.

Tursun's face stiffened slightly. Initially, he had indeed planned to use it for free—after all, since Brother Brother Yushanjiang and the others could use it, surely saying a few nice words would allow others to use it without issue.

He hadn't expected Brother Brother Yushanjiang to block that line of reasoning right here.

He was no fool and quickly figured it out, asking:

"Then when you used this tractor, did you pay money?"

"We didn't pay money; we gave goods," Ha Li Mu said from the side. "Hides, deer antlers, jade..."

The other herdsmen who had gathered around understood what was happening and immediately all voiced their support.

Tursun's face stiffened once again. (End of Chapter)