Chapter 697: There are many ways to earn money

Li Long took three tractors to Kadeer's grass field.

The location of the grass field was relatively deep, and this stretch of road wasn't easy to walk. Following a small river, there was no road in some places, so they had to wade through the river.

Fortunately, the off-road capabilities of the tractor and jeep were quite strong, and they could walk through.

On the way, Tuerxun also said that there were actually some herdsmen in the mountains further inside, but those people's grass fields could be reached by horse, but tractors couldn't drive over, so they had to give up.

After arriving at the grass field location, Li Long saw that this area was indeed relatively flat, but the grass didn't grow very well.

He could see that the soil quality was different. The previous two pieces of grass fields were mainly humus soil, while here the soil was mainly yellow soil and brown soil, and the soil was also mixed with quite a lot of gravel, and there were few forest lands nearby.

Kadeer's winter camp was also nearby, and he had prepared milk tea and naan.

Li Long took out some things he brought this time from the jeep and handed them to Li Jianguo and the others.

Sesame cakes, canned food, watermelon, etc., mainly worrying that they wouldn't eat well here, and also brought some medicine.

Li Long had calculated the money for the three times for them, but didn't give it to them. After all, the three of them lived here at night, and carrying money really made him afraid of attracting the attention of people with ulterior motives.

Kadeer enthusiastically greeted Li Long and the others to eat something first, and then work. Tuerxun left after eating half a piece of naan. He had things to do. Li Long was the same, but he left later, mainly wanting to ask about the bear gall matter.

"Bear's gall?" Listening to Xie Yun's translation, Kadeer shook his head, "This is not for sale, we have to keep it. This is a good medicine, we keep it, we might use it in the future."

Alright, since they wanted to use it, Li Long didn't force it. He asked about other things, and sure enough, as he guessed, the good things in these herdsmen's homes were all taken away by Tuerxun.

Tuerxun naturally didn't take their things for nothing, he would give them some supplies, or give them some convenience in the animal husbandry team, such as cutting grass in advance like now.

This was different from Li Long trading supplies for Halimu and the others, and helping them connect water and cut grass.

Li Long also saw that Kadeer's winter camp was more than a hundred meters away from the water, and although it was a gentle slope, using water wasn't very convenient.

It was just that he didn't mention the matter of connecting water. These herdsmen were considered Tuerxun's tribesmen, and Li Long had no interest in helping them.

It was meaningless.

After chatting with Kadeer, Li Long said goodbye to Li Jianguo and the others, and then drove the jeep back.

The bear skin hadn't dried completely, and he planned to take it back and hang it up as soon as possible.

Halimu and the others also needed attention. After all, there were three people together here, and that group over there was basically composed of laymen driving tractors to cut grass. Li Long still had to go see them every day, one was the technical problem, and the other was to let them pay attention to safety.

Li Long had a relatively reassuring point, which was that Halimu and those people cleaned up the rocks, tree stumps, and other things hindering grass-cutting in the grass field very cleanly, and there was no situation where the blades were broken.

What surprised Li Long even more was that these herdsmen could basically hunt something every day.

But thinking about it, it was normal. Now although there were pastures in the mountains, in fact, the mountains and wilderness were mainly the world of these wild animals, especially wild goats, roe deer, and ibex, which all appeared in groups.

Five or six herdsmen scattered out, and there would always be some traces of prey found. The next step was comparing whether the gun was fast or the hoof was fast.

So Li Long could basically bring back some fresh meat and hides every day. A week later, those herdsmen had cleaned up the grass fields that needed to be cut later, and then returned to Halimu's grass field. The grass here was almost dried and could be bundled and transported back to the winter camp.

Grass fields were generally not far from winter camps. When Li Long came over to look, he saw Halimu and the others bundling the grass that was close and carrying it directly to the winter camp, and those that were far away were also piled together.

He knew this was intended to wait until the harvester finished harvesting before bringing the trailer to pull it.

Li Long got out of the jeep to help—but was driven away by Halimu. Now the tractor grass-cutting had reached Zhate and the others' side, and that side needed Li Long's on-site guidance more.

Li Long drove the jeep and walked inside. Actually, he felt that the grass field here was close to the forest land, although it had advantages, it was quite different from the grass fields over at Yili.

Some grass fields over there were also on the mountains, but there were basically no trees on those mountains, all were grass slopes, and cutting grass didn't need to pay attention to rocks and tree stumps at all.

Now whether it was Talihar or Zhate, they were already proficient in driving tractors, and other herdsmen were also slowly learning. Everyone knew that Yushanjiang held the power of who drove the tractor, and a big reason why Yushanjiang looked at who drove was who hunted something and gave it to Li Long.

So every time Li Long could bring back prey, a big reason was because of this.

Li Long had spoken to Yushanjiang privately, but Yushanjiang said this was nothing, and didn't let Li Long manage it.

After all, being idle was being idle—in Yushanjiang's words, hunting it was also improving their own food.

Li Long ran between three places every day like this, and passing day by day was also quite hard.

The first to finish was Li Jianguo and the others' side.

Although Tuerxun had the heart to hand over the grass fields of the herdsmen of his tribe to Li Jianguo and the others to cut, some grass fields were deep in the mountains, and the road wasn't easy to walk. Some were because they couldn't wait and cut it themselves, and some felt the price was relatively high, and they weren't willing or couldn't take out this sum of money.

So before and after, Li Jianguo and the others used thirteen days, cut nine families' grass fields, and finally got one thousand two hundred and fifteen yuan in their hands.

This money was settled for the three people face to face after the last family was finished, Li Long took Li Jianguo and the others back to the county, and ate a meal at the big meat canteen.

Earning so much money in less than half a month, even Li Jianguo couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth, and that smile was very sincere.

"Little Long, this shouldn't be right," Xie Yun said while holding the money, "This job was introduced by you, no matter what, you have to draw some money. Otherwise, we feel hot holding this money, right?"

"Right, right, right," Liang Dacheng also said so, "According to the old rules, half. This one thousand two hundred and fifteen, I'll take a bit of advantage, take six hundred and fifteen, you take six hundred!"

Xie Yun was also counting money, wanting to divide half to Li Long.

"No, no, no," Li Long hurriedly waved his hand, "This time people traded with things, the price of these things is much higher than the actual price, I earned the price difference, that's it.

Alright, you have been out for almost half a month, your hair and beard have grown, hurry back and wash well and rest. I can smell the stench."

"Can it not stink? Don't take a bath, wash every day, and the place where we sleep morning and night is also quite muttony," Xie Yun smiled, "But earning this money is really enjoyable!"

Since Li Long didn't want this middle fee, Xie Yun and Liang Dacheng didn't insist anymore, and the three of them drove the tractor back together.

Li Long wasn't wrong, three thousand-plus yuan of grass-cutting money, the things he received, the hides, deer antlers, fritillaria, and other things sold for much more.

Those jade stones, chicken blood stones, and such were extra. Among the seven pieces of jade, although two pieces of jasper weren't big, there were no black spots, and there were no cracks, at least they could be rated as first-class, and selling them for over a thousand yuan wasn't a problem.

Those three pieces of chicken blood stone couldn't be estimated, but they should also be worth quite a lot.

So Li Long was definitely not at a loss.

Four more days passed, and Yushanjiang and Halimu's side also finished. After the grass was cut and dried, it was pulled to their respective winter camps and stacked into high grass stacks.

This was the reliance for each winter camp to raise cattle and sheep in winter.

At present, although the beef and mutton in the market were slightly more than the original limited supply, it was still not enough to satisfy everyone's needs. Every autumn, people would come to collect sheep from those who raised sheep in the plains.

These collected sheep would be enclosed for fattening, and then slaughtered and sold when winter was coming and the New Year was approaching.

Now raising sheep was slowly having a scale, and later on, more and more people would pay attention to this aspect, and some with capital would start to merge, do big, and do strong.

Li Long once heard that twenty or thirty years later, at a certain special time, the price of beef and mutton in the north and south of Xinjiang was controlled by a very small number of people, and not completely in the market.

These people controlled the price trend of most fattening sheep, unless the official cleared the inventory reserve meat in large quantities, otherwise, everyone ate meat and paid money, and it was really controlled by a few people.

Of course, later, impacted by large quantities of beef and mutton from abroad or outside the province, the price change would be different.

Li Long was thinking about whether he could lay out in advance. With sugar dregs from the sugar factory as feed, and herdsmen in the mountains who could provide a large number of cattle and sheep, this matter could actually be done now.

After all, a few years later, a habit would slowly form. Herdsmen who moved back from the summer pasture would usually clear a batch of eliminated sheep around October.

On one hand, it was to clear out the cattle and sheep with insufficient vitality in the flock, and on the other hand, it was to exchange for some money to buy supplies for living in the winter camp later.

At this time, those cattle and sheep dealers would buy these cattle and sheep in large quantities, pull them back, fatten them in the enclosure, and then sell them in winter.

And at this time, whether it was the live cattle and live sheep market created by the official or spontaneously, the price of cattle and sheep was very low. Ordinary people who wanted to eat good meat in winter might also buy one or two heads in such a market, but those dealers bought dozens of heads at a time.

This thought only flashed in Li Long's mind. He didn't even have a place to store cattle and sheep at present. The old horse station could put some, but it wouldn't exceed two hundred sheep or fifty cattle.

And if he really wanted to engage in so many, Uncle Luo couldn't take care of them, and he still had to find someone to raise them.

Wait first.

It was also because sugar dregs had further development that he had such an idea.

After all, sugar dregs were really good feed.

Li Long was thinking about whether he could expand the wasteland near the old horse station. Anyway, in a short time, the land didn't have a certificate. Talk to the team about the nearby land, count it as an affiliated place of the old horse station, build some places, or pay a sum of money to the team to rent it down, it would be fine.

Thirty years later, each production team, including the township, would support such industries, and even give subsidies. At present, although there was no support, the team should support it, right?

The last meal after cutting grass was still cooked in front of Halimu's winter camp.

The grass was finished yesterday. This morning, all those who had guns were driven out by Yushanjiang to hunt. When they came back at noon, the harvest was a total of three wild goats, one red deer, and two roe deer.

Recently, there was constant gunfire in this valley, and cunning things like wolves had run far away, and not one was hunted.

(Note: The text contains a repeating filler phrase here, which is ignored in translation.)

Instead, those herbivores were relatively dull. Even the alert red deer only ran out a few mountain gullies and wouldn't go too far.

The big pot in front of the winter camp cooked all kinds of meat. The hides were peeled quickly, and the meat was also being decomposed. Some were to be dried into air-dried meat to eat on the road, and most were handed over to Li Long for him to take back.

Especially those offal, all handed over to Li Long.

This time Li Long drove the jeep to pull his eldest brother Li Jianguo over.

The work in the melon field was almost finished. The rest was waiting for picking and pressing seeds.

So Li Jianguo wasn't very busy—this trip to pull things back, more than half of which was to be pulled to the Fourth Team.

In this era, entertainment activities were still relatively monotonous. Including the things to eat, it was the same.

Although there was so much good meat, everyone ate it mainly by boiling and roasting.

Li Jianguo looked and felt it was a bit wasteful, asked for a pot, got some wild vegetables, asked for some spicy noodles, and directly stir-fried a pot of red-braised deer meat.

At the very beginning, the herdsmen just watched. Li Jianguo was Li Long's eldest brother, no matter what, this bit of face had to be given. And the things made were also hunted by them. Most people's meaning was that when the dish came out of the pot, eat two bites to express it.

Kazakhs also had stir-fried dishes, the most famous was Kazakh potato slices, this kind of stir-fried meat was rare, red-braised ones naturally didn't exist.

Li Jianguo said while stir-frying that the materials were insufficient, there were no dried chili peppers, no green chili peppers, and even no cooking wine.

Li Long hurriedly went to the jeep to get a bottle of white wine.

Li Jianguo took a look, Gucheng Daqu, he said with a smile:

"This is a bit wasteful to pour inside... but it's fine."

He unscrewed the bottle cap, took a sip first, and then poured one-third of the bottle into the pot—mainly because there was a lot of stir-frying, enough to fill a basin.

There was a lot of meat, so the stir-frying was solid.

As soon as this wine was sprinkled, many people sighed that it was a pity.

It wasn't that no one reminded Li Long openly or secretly whether he could bring some wine over these days, but Li Long's jeep had wine, but he just didn't take it out, mainly worrying that these people would drink too much and couldn't control themselves.

He had seen it, some people who were too honest, once drunk, completely became another person.

So those who wanted to drink, looking at Li Jianguo pouring the wine into it, while saying it was a pity, while thinking that they would eat a few pieces later, after all, there was wine.

Wine was used to suppress the muttony smell of wild game, otherwise, the taste wouldn't be good.

Being able to red-braise was also because Li Long's jeep had many materials, not only wine, but also spicy noodles, vinegar and soy sauce, and seasonings like star anise.

Otherwise, even if he gave Li Jianguo two red deer, he couldn't make it.

Before long, the fragrance drifted away. Among them, there was the fragrance of roasted meat and the fragrance of boiled meat, but none of them covered the fragrance of red-braised deer meat.

There were more people gathered here.

With many people, the work was fast. The hides had been salted and hung up, the internal organs had been washed and packed, the air-dried meat had been hung up, and the meat to be taken by Li Long and the others had been packed into bags.

More than ten naans had been baked, and the roasted meat had slowly started to be edible.

"Get a basin, this meat is almost done, can be shoveled out!" Li Jianguo already had sweat on his face. To take care of so many people eating, he cut a lot of meat, and just constantly stir-frying these meats was quite tiring.

He took a shovel, shoveled a piece of meat with bones, blew on it, and started eating. The taste was not bad, so he took the basin handed by Li Long and started shoveling meat into it against the edge of the pot.

Li Long hurriedly removed the fire underneath, otherwise, the bottom would stick to the pot and burn.

A basin of red-braised deer meat was placed on the wood temporarily set out, Li Jianguo said:

"Everyone taste it, it's fine to eat directly with chopsticks, or put a piece into the naan."

Li Long took the pot and placed it on the side, and soaked it with some water first. He saw that others were embarrassed to move, so he said with a smile:

"Then I won't be polite." He went to get an enamel basin, shoveled a few pieces of meat for himself, then went to the side of the naan pit to get a freshly baked naan, walked over, broke half for his eldest brother, and sat on the wood on the side and ate.

With Li Long setting the example, others also ate some deer meat more or less.

There were two people who ate two pieces and didn't eat anymore, while more people ate two pieces and continued to shovel some and eat.

Obviously, for the taste of red-braised deer meat, they could still accept it quite well.

Some people couldn't help but give a thumbs up to Li Jianguo. Li Jianguo ate meat and smiled reservedly.

This meal was very full. When Li Long and the others left, they also carried a few pieces of boiled meat.

This was stuffed into Li Long and the others by Halimu and Yushanjiang, letting Li Long and the others take it back for their family to eat.

And Li Long also left a few bags of rice and flour, as well as batteries, salt, and other things that everyone had proposed to bring back to the summer pasture earlier.

Li Long brought things like ants moving house every day during these days, which could ensure that every family could bring two bags of rice and flour, a pot of oil, and brick tea, salt, and other things when they went back.

Although some people said they had it, it was fine if these things were more, but it was not easy to handle if they were less.

The things Li Long brought were also properly kept by everyone, especially those medicines, each one learned from Halimu, writing marks they recognized on them. This could save lives at critical moments.

Li Long drove the jeep in front, Li Jianguo drove the tractor behind. Passing by Qingshuihe Village, Li Long saw that the *jiji* stalks had started to turn yellow, and it looked like it was almost time to weave big brooms.

Don't know if the task of weaving big brooms this year would also be more?

But it didn't matter anymore. Even if there wasn't, Li Long felt it was nothing. He earned enough this year, more was icing on the cake, and less didn't matter.

So Li Long didn't care very much.

Of course, he knew Meng Hai and the others cared very much. After all, weaving handles was a few people earning money, while weaving big brooms was the whole village earning money.

At this time, most village cadres sincerely thought about being able to bring some welfare to their own villagers and leading the villagers to get rich.

A car and a tractor drove to the big courtyard, including Li Jianguo's harvester, which was placed here and didn't intend to move.

Li Long drove the jeep to send his eldest brother and the meat prepared for his eldest brother's family together, and then came back.

He still had to help Sister Yang process this meat, otherwise, it would easily go bad.

At this time, Li Long really missed the days with refrigerators and freezers. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 698 =====