Chapter 692: How Did This Turn Into Business?

Hides, antlers, jade...

These things produced in the mountains were not highly valued by Ha Li Mu and his people, who had been herders for generations, but for someone like Tursun, who had already entered the system, frequently moved around the county, and understood market prices, these were all good items that could be exchanged for money!

As the captain of the Animal Husbandry Team, the amount of such items he collected from the herders throughout the year, or given to him by herders to facilitate matters, was absolutely far greater than what Li Long obtained!

Ordinary herders were generally unaware and paid little attention to these things; usually, when they acquired them, they were used for gift-giving or personal use.

In about another ten years, herders living closer to the outer mountains would commonly take such found items to sell, but at this time, the concept did not yet exist.

Originally, Tursun had not paid much attention to this small tribe; after all, with only a dozen or so herder households, and several hundred households under his management in the Animal Husbandry Team, this amount meant nothing. The only reason they caught his eye was primarily because of this tractor equipped with a harvester for cutting hay, which was a matter that could gain the leaders' attention.

He did not expect that this single question would uncover other matters, and Tursun could not help but raise his voice:

"Don't you know those things can be sold for money? Did you just hand them over to that Han man for nothing?"

When he said this, he felt nothing wrong with it, and Captain Adili also felt nothing wrong with it; after all, in their view, handing over valuable items that could clearly be kept for oneself to someone else—wasn't that foolish?

But when these words reached the ears of Brother Yushanjiang and Ha Li Mu, they tasted different.

The eyes of the other herders also turned unfriendly.

Although they were under the management of the Animal Husbandry Team, they still handled their main affairs themselves, making little difference from the past practices of migrating between winter and summer pastures, cutting hay in autumn, and washing sheep in spring.

The greatest promoting effect the Animal Husbandry Team had on them was regularly purchasing their sheep to provide them with a fixed income; providing certain guarantees for their families so the elderly and children did not need to suffer at the summer pastures; having places to wash sheep and people to collect the wool, and so on.

For someone like Ha Li Mu, who had elderly people and children at home and hoped his children could attend school, this was quite good, but for the young people, the feeling was not profound.

On the contrary, they had a very deep impression of the help and exchanges provided by Li Long.

Therefore, as soon as Tursun spoke these words, before Ha Li Mu and Brother Yushanjiang could say anything, the eyes of those young herders had already turned unfriendly.

Brother Yushanjiang pushed two herders aside, walked up to Tursun, and said:

"Captain Tursun, we know those things can be sold for money. However, we willingly handed these things over to Li Long. This has nothing to do with money; because last year when Li Long came to cut hay for us, we gave him nothing, and he did not ask for money. He is our friend, a true friend.

Therefore, giving him these things is a gift, and it has nothing to do with money."

Tursun had not yet realized he had aroused the anger of the crowd; in his heart, he was still cursing these herders as truly foolish, thinking that such good items could be sold for money, and then that money could be used to hire people to cut hay, couldn't it?

"Do you think we are stupid?" Ha Li Mu did not have as good a temper as Brother Yushanjiang; among these people, he had known Li Long the longest and benefited the most from the exchanges with him, so he opened his mouth with no kind words:

"Let me tell you, Li Long has said more than once that he took advantage of us and that the things we gave him were very valuable—but we are willing!

I know why you are here; isn't it because we used tractors to cut hay, and you want other herders to use tractors when they cut hay too? Don't other people have hides, jade, or antlers in their hands?

Why don't they exchange them for money and then hire people to cut hay? Is this a problem that money can solve?

Let me tell you, when Li Long first started exchanging supplies with us, he clearly told us that he was taking advantage of us, but we feel that actually, we are the ones taking advantage!

With so many things in the mountains, over so many years, have we not thought about going out to exchange them for money, for rice and white flour, for brick tea, salt, or sugar cubes? The reason is that we cannot go out to make exchanges, or we get cheated; some of us cannot even speak Han language well, so who would make exchanges for us? Has anyone from your Animal Husbandry Team ever come to make exchanges for us?"

Ha Li Mu's words resonated with the other young men. Many of them had only learned Mandarin in the two years since Li Long arrived; before that, they could not speak it at all.

Without being able to speak Mandarin, even if they went down the mountain to find people to make exchanges, others would not understand their words, and moreover, they would easily be cheated, suspected, or deceived.

During the two years Li Long has been here, in their view, the exchange of goods has been truly fair, and Li Long would actively help them with various tasks.

Last year's hay cutting, this year's water pipes, plus this sheep-washing pool; after doing all these things, even a fool could see that Li Long was sincerely helping them improve their lives.

Even though Li Long would say every time he received goods that he was taking advantage, this advantage, they were willing to let Li Long take.

Moreover, in their view, it was actually they who were taking advantage.

Tursun was very angry, but he had nothing to say.

Actually, he felt guilty in his heart. Since the Animal Husbandry Team was established, what did the superiors require? The leaders of the Animal Husbandry Bureau had also said that captains like them needed to seriously consider how to guarantee the production and livelihood of the herders.

And the result? Tursun treated these words as wind passing his ears; in his view, tribes with more people should be taken care of a bit more, and the tribe he belonged to should be taken care of a bit more, while for a small tribe like the one where Brother Yushanjiang and others lived, since they had lived this way for dozens or even hundreds of years, there was no major issue.

So let it be this way for now.

If it were not for the matter of mechanical hay cutting, Tursun would never have made a special trip here.

And now, this was equivalent to poking a hornet's nest; matters he did not care about were, for ordinary herders, major life events.

Ha Li Mu's words left Tursun with no way to step down gracefully, so Captain Adili hurried over to smooth things over:

"Isn't the captain here now? Our Animal Husbandry Team has only been established for about two years; things must be done one by one. Ha Li Mu, aren't your mother and child already attending school through the Team? The Team also regularly purchases your sheep and wool, giving you money—aren't all these things being done? Step by step!"

Captain Adili was still quite good; at least, he had a good impression in the hearts of these herders, so Ha Li Mu did not say anything more.

Brother Yushanjiang knew these topics could not be expanded upon, as expanding them would only lead to arguing, so he said:

"Captain, you came here specifically for this matter of the harvester cutting hay, right? We cannot make decisions for Li Long. We will need to use this tractor-equipped harvester for at least half a month..."

Upon hearing they would use it for half a month, Tursun's expression turned unpleasant, as that would leave little time for other herders to use it.

However, Brother Yushanjiang's next words gave him hope again:

"I heard Li Long say that he has organized several tractors, all equipped with harvesters. So if you want other herders to use harvesters when cutting hay, you can discuss it with him when he comes tomorrow. If he agrees to cut hay for those areas, then no problem—as for the remuneration, you can negotiate that yourselves; if he does not want money, that is also fine."

After hearing these words, Tursun's expression improved somewhat. Ha Li Mu's earlier words had left him with no way to step down gracefully, so after listening, he left together with Captain Adili.

After they left, Ha Li Mu could not help but complain to Brother Yushanjiang:

"Why did you give them such an idea? What if Li Long really goes to cut hay for them without asking for money? Wouldn't that be working for nothing?"

"Rest assured," Brother Yushanjiang said, patting Ha Li Mu's shoulder with a smile, "do you think Li Long would be that foolish? Rest assured, Li Long will ask for a fair price."

Having said this, Brother Yushanjiang waved his hand:

"Alright, let's continue. I'll cut hay; those who can hunt, go hunting. If you don't want to gnaw on dry naan tonight, put some effort into finding something delicious to eat..."

These herders immediately went back to doing whatever they needed to do.

Thinking that Tursun would come again tomorrow, Ha Li Mu felt somewhat uncomfortable in his heart. Since he could finish cutting his own pasture today, he planned to go to Brother Yushanjiang's pasture tomorrow, so he wouldn't have to see him.

But then he thought it wouldn't do; he had to give Li Long a reminder. Although Brother Yushanjiang said Li Long was not foolish, Ha Li Mu was still worried that Li Long might be deceived.

This Tursun was originally a herder from another tribe; later, for various reasons, he first became a group leader, then step by step rose to become a squad leader, and finally a captain.

Due to policy reasons requiring a certain proportion of ethnic cadre members, currently, in the Animal Husbandry Team, he had the final say.

Ha Li Mu, Brother Yushanjiang, and others knew that when Tursun became captain, he took very good care of his own clansmen, but Ha Li Mu and the others did not mind; as long as they lived their own lives well, that was enough.

But now it was obvious that Tursun had the idea of cheating Li Long, and this was something Ha Li Mu absolutely could not tolerate.

Li Long returned to attend to his own affairs, completely unaware that after he left, these miscellaneous matters had occurred in the mountains.

The next day, after breakfast, Li Long played for a while with the two babbling children before driving his Jeep into the mountains.

Passing Qingshuihe, he noticed the village had become much quieter; the wheat harvest here was nearly complete, with most of the grain already delivered as tax, leaving only those still working in the fields.

Besides wheat, the crops grown around Qingshuihe included corn and rapeseed, all staples for daily household use that ensured families had enough to eat and wear; cash crops, however, could not yet be planted on a large scale, as farmers with little land were unwilling to grow them, preferring to secure their fill of fine grains first.

Further ahead, vast patches of feather grass had grown up; their seed heads had fully scattered, and their stalks had turned from green to pale white, looking nearly ready for cutting.

For Li Long, feather grass carried many memories, or rather, it did so for everyone of this era.

When the new shoots of feather grass first emerged, before their seed heads appeared, children would happily pull them up, for their roots were tender and sweet, serving as one of the few snacks available to children during this season.

In winter, the feather grass left uncut became excellent kindling for boys; grabbing a handful, lighting the bottom with a match, the dry upper stalks would burn through, turning the clutched bundle into a torch—held tight and blown upon, it burst into open flame; held loosely, it smoldered, allowing one to carry it to other feather grass piles to start a fire.

At such times, if one brought two potatoes and buried them directly in the burning feather grass pile, once the fire died down and the potatoes steamed for a while, they would be cooked; though blackened on the outside, their interiors were soft and fragrant.

Li Long could still see some feather grass clumps with slightly blackened bases, remnants of last year's burns; burned feather grass mounds actually sprouted new growth faster, much like reeds—cutting away the old allowed the new to grow without burden.

Going further in, they reached Hongshan Zuizi; Li Long figured that since Brother Brother Yushanjiang and the others could now operate the tractor themselves, he would make a trip to the wooden cabin to check if anything was amiss.

The wooden cabin counted as his "home" in the mountains, and he certainly did not want this place damaged by any vagrants roaming the hills.

Arriving at the wooden cabin, Li Long found the door lock intact; there were signs someone had passed by, but ultimately, no one had forced the door or caused disturbance.

Not bad.

No mistakes, every single character, every single content, all in one look!

However, the split firewood and coal in the shed were slightly reduced, and the stove showed signs of use, suggesting someone might have lit a fire here.

After looking around, Li Long wondered if he should build a simple open-sided shelter nearby in the future for occasional visitors, preventing anyone from attempting to break in.

Thinking too much.

He got back into his Jeep and drove toward Ha Li Mu's winter camp.

Just as the Jeep arrived before the winter camp, he spotted Tursun and Captain Captain Adili.

Li Long knew Captain Captain Adili but had never met Tursun; yet, honestly, even without prior acquaintance, observing how Captain Adili and Tursun stood relative to each other, Li Long could roughly guess that this man was at least the captain of the animal husbandry team, perhaps even holding a higher position.

Brother Brother Yushanjiang was absent, as were the other herders; only Ha Li Mu remained by the stove, likely boiling meat.

Li Long could see that Ha Li Mu stood quite far from Captain Captain Adili and the others, with little interaction between them; from a distance, Ha Li Mu's expression looked unpleasant, so Li Long roughly understood the situation.

To show sincerity, upon seeing the Jeep, Tursun and Captain Captain Adili walked along the road to greet him, both wearing broad smiles.

Fully expecting Li Long to drive the Jeep right up to them and stop, they were surprised when Li Long drove past them without slowing, heading straight for the entrance of the winter camp.

Ha Li Mu, who had been closely watching the scene, couldn't help but laugh aloud, then quickly turned away so Tursun and Captain Captain Adili wouldn't notice.

Li Long stepped out of the Jeep and, before Tursun and Captain Captain Adili could approach, whispered a question:

"Did they come hoping to use the combine harvester to cut grass?"

"Yes, just demand whatever price you want; no need to be polite with them!" Ha Li Mu whispered in reply.

Li Long now understood; this stranger's relationship with Captain Captain Adili and Ha Li Mu's group was probably not good.

Since the other party had actively come seeking help, Li Long needed to consider just how sharply to cut them.

The melon harvest hadn't arrived yet, so freeing up ten days or so shouldn't be difficult; Li Long himself no longer lacked money, but Team Leader Big Brother, Xie Xie Yun Dong, Tao Da, and the others certainly hadn't earned enough yet.

If negotiations succeeded and they were allowed to cut grass, wouldn't that be a perfect solution for both sides?

Li Long turned to face Tursun and Captain Captain Adili, who were approaching.

As the intermediary, Captain Captain Adili took the initiative to introduce:

"Comrade Li Long, hello; this is Tursun, captain of our animal husbandry team; he has known about you for a long time but hasn't been able to meet due to busy work."

"Captain Tursun, hello," Li Long said politely, shaking his hand; "What brings you here today? Did you come to watch Ha Li Mu and the others cut grass?"

"Yes, yes; hearing that you used a tractor with a combine harvester to cut grass for them made us very curious, so we came to take a look," Tursun replied with a smile, acting as if nothing had happened, though he felt somewhat annoyed after being ignored by Li Long's Jeep; as a team captain, he possessed some depth:

"We also hope Comrade Li Long can support the grass-cutting efforts of our other herders; since you are familiar with Ha Li Mu, Brother Brother Yushanjiang, and the rest, you should know that cutting grass is extremely exhausting work, lasting a whole month, very hard indeed!"

"Yes, it is indeed very hard," Li Long agreed, then turned to ask Ha Li Mu, "What meat is boiling in the pot?"

"A wild mountain goat that Zake and Talihar hunted yesterday afternoon."

"Very good, very good," Li Long said with a nod and a smile, then addressed Tursun: "Since both the captain and vice-captain are here, why not taste this wild mountain goat meat? It has a unique flavor."

Seeing Li Long avoid the main topic, Tursun became somewhat displeased; however, Captain Captain Adili reacted quickly and spoke directly to Li Long:

"Comrade Li Long, I know you work in the county seat and know many people; could you introduce others to help cut grass for the other herders in our team..."

Captain Captain Adili thought very clearly: Li Long's machinery was here cutting grass and certainly couldn't be taken away; Brother Brother Yushanjiang had explained everything clearly yesterday; he was speaking now only to prevent Tursun from saying something angry that might ruin a good opportunity.

After all, he also had a group of acquaintances who wanted to use a tractor to cut grass, which would save considerable time and spare people from such exhaustion.

"We have the people, and we have the machines," Li Long stated the crux of the matter; "However, everyone is currently busy in the fields and cannot spare time to come cut grass for you... Since they know me, I certainly cannot ask them to come for nothing, can I?"

"I have a good relationship with Ha Li Mu, Brother Brother Yushanjiang, and the others, so cutting grass for them free of charge is no problem; but with other herders, there is no such connection; moreover, Ha Li Mu and his group felt uneasy about it and gave me many things in return; so, regarding this matter, you decide."

With Li Long speaking this way, both Captain Captain Adili and Brother Brother Yushanjiang understood that getting something for nothing was impossible.

"Then how do you charge?" Tursun, who had been feeling somewhat stifled, now felt relieved since Li Long had brought up practical matters; after all, worst case, they could just negotiate the price.

"For harvesting wheat, we charge two yuan per mu," Li Long said slowly.

"What? Two yuan? That's too expensive!" Tursun shouted angrily upon hearing this.

The main issue was that herders' pastures differed from farmland, being generally much larger.

For instance, Ha Li Mu's pasture covered three hundred mu.

At Li Long's price, he alone would have to pay six hundred yuan.

Others had pastures even larger than theirs, with many exceeding one thousand mu.

With such vast pastures, how much money would it cost to cut them all with a combine harvester?

"I'm speaking the truth; you can go to the county seat and ask about the prices," Li Long said; "Of course, if you sincerely want our people to harvest for you, I could lower the price somewhat, after all, supporting herders is something we ought to do."

How much could he lower it? Tursun's heart began pounding wildly. (End of chapter)