Chapter 739: Even Hunting Requires Preparation to Endure Hardship

The goitered gazelles possessed incredibly strong running abilities; by the time Yang Yang Yongqiang recovered, those creatures had already vanished without a trace.

Li Long stood up, ejected the cartridge, engaged the safety, holstered his rifle, pocketed the ejected round, and strode forward.

By the roadside ahead, two goitered gazelles lay on the ground; one was already stone dead, while the other was still twitching.

It was unsuitable to process these things at night, so Li Long went over, used a knife to eviscerate the two gazelles, drained their blood, and carried them back to the jeep.

Yang Yang Yongqiang hurried over to help; just as he was about to load the gazelles onto the vehicle, Li Long hastily said:

"Not yet, let the things freeze for a while first."

Yang Yang Yongqiang then mimicked Li Long, setting the gazelles down, retrieving bags from the vehicle, and stuffing the gazelles inside them.

Although the jeep often carried such game, it was best to keep it clean; Li Long's method was to use bags.

With the outdoor temperature currently exceeding minus twenty degrees, the gazelles cooled completely and hardened in less than ten minutes; Li Long and Yang Yang Yongqiang lifted the bagged carcasses into the trunk, then continued driving forward.

Yang Yang Yongqiang grew even more excited and said with slight agitation:

"Brother Long, your marksmanship is truly excellent! Alas... I now regret taking that job; if I could stay with the team every day, following you to catch fish and hunt, how wonderful that would be!"

"I am not that leisurely," Li Long said with a smile. "In summer, I must lead people into the mountains to weave carrying frames and harvest fritillaria bulbs, plus help the herders with their work. In autumn, I have to oversee haymaking and wheat harvesting, assist my older brother in collecting melon seeds, and even in winter, there is no idle time..."

"But working for oneself means doing whatever one wishes," Yang Yang Yongqiang sighed. "After working this year, I feel I have tried hard to save money; despite being a formal worker, I saved less than four hundred yuan by year's end. It feels like I earned more catching fish with you for just one month back in the day..."

"That is still not the same. Think about it: you are in the city, your children will be city dwellers eating commodity grain, attending schools different from those in our team; if they want to see a movie, they go on the weekend, and if they want to join the Children's Palace, they can simply register and go. What about the people in the team?"

Li Long knew Yang Yang Yongqiang would surely regret it, he just hadn't expected it to come so soon; however, since he was already a formal worker, Li Long certainly would not persuade him to return, but rather hoped he would settle down steadily there.

Saving four hundred yuan a year was already quite a substantial amount at this time; Yang Yang Yongqiang had worked alongside Li Long, earning slightly more, and since the Fourth Small Team had Little Little Haizi, they could make money catching fish.

Where else could other farmers find such income?

Moreover, city dwellers still enjoyed considerable hidden benefits nowadays; these were precisely the assets that allowed them to look down upon rural people.

Of course, if speaking strictly about living better than rural people, this held true for most places across the nation, but currently here in Manas County, the living standards of the Fourth Small Team's villagers were generally higher.

Hearing Li Long's words, Yang Yang Yongqiang stopped speaking about his regrets.

In truth, he also understood clearly that since becoming a worker, the number of matchmakers introducing potential spouses to him had increased significantly; saying he would return to the village was impossible.

Not everyone was Li Long, capable of returning from the city and thriving with great success.

At the very least, he could not.

Although he felt conflicted at present, if asked to truly abandon his worker status and return to being a farmer, his family would not agree, and Yang Yang Yongqiang himself was unlikely to make such a determination.

Li Long increased his speed, hoping to see if any more goitered gazelles would cross the highway ahead and encounter him.

Unfortunately, they drove all the way to Regiment 143, approaching Shicheng, where the landscape on both sides of the road was no longer Gobi desert; having encountered no more gazelles here, Li Long knew it was unlikely there would be any further opportunities.

He drove straight through, passing Shicheng, crossing the Manas River Bridge, and upon reaching the county town, although the sky was already very dark, a glance at the time showed it was only around ten o'clock.

Li Long did not enter the compound; with Yang Yang Yongqiang present, he had to drop him off first.

The ten-kilometer route from the county town to the Fourth Small Team did not require even an hour for a round trip, so Li Long turned north and drove directly to the Fourth Small Team.

When the jeep stopped in front of Yang Hua's house, it startled the dog in the rear yard; Yang Hua heard the commotion, threw on a cotton-padded jacket, came out, and saw Yang Yang Yongqiang carrying a black bag.

"Eh? Why have you returned..." Yang Hua stopped mid-sentence upon seeing Li Long's jeep and immediately understood.

Li Long exchanged greetings with Yang Hua, then told Yang Yang Yongqiang:

"I've left the goitered gazelles at my older brother's place; come over tomorrow to take a leg. I will tell my older brother, so do not refuse, and do not let him deliver it to you... Alright, I'm leaving."

Yang Hua wanted to detain him, after all, Li Long had brought his son back from far away, which certainly incurred a debt of gratitude.

Li Long pleaded that the night was too dark to stay long, then hastily departed.

He drove the jeep to his older brother Li Jianguo's place, where barking erupted; Li Jianguo exited the house and saw Li Long lifting goitered gazelles down from the vehicle.

The barking was not a warning but excitement—the family dog was very familiar with Li Long.

Li Li Qing Xia heard the noise, threw on a cotton-padded jacket, exited the house, and entered the west room together with Li Long.

"Why come over so late?" Li Li Qing Xia asked. "What is this?"

Du Chunfang followed over and asked:

"Have you eaten dinner tonight?"

Liang Yuemei also asked if he wanted some heated food.

While pulling the goitered gazelles out of the bag, Li Long said:

"I went to Kuitun today; these are goitered gazelles shot along the way. I ate meat at my second brother's place this afternoon, so I'm not hungry. Sister-in-law, please pour me a bowl of hot tea."

Although the jeep had heating, the up-and-down motion combined with temperatures certainly lower than indoors made Li Long feel it necessary to drink a bowl of hot tea to warm up. "Don't process the goitered gazelles; you've run enough today and must be tired. Since they are frozen, handle them tomorrow during the day," Li Jianguo decided. "Get some good rest. Are you returning to the main compound? If not, rest in the front courtyard; the stove is lit anyway..."

"I will return," Li Long said. "However, there is something I need to discuss with Father and Mother."

He then explained the matter concerning Li Li Junshan and waited for Li Li Qing Xia to express his stance.

"If Li Junshan agrees, we will certainly go," Li Li Qing Xia said, now possessing the awareness of a clan leader; here in Northern Xinjiang, his generation seniority was the highest, and furthermore, Li Li Junshan was his older brother's grandson, making him family regardless—how could they ignore him?

"Then it is settled. In two days when we go over again, we will ask him when the event will be held, and I will drive you all there—Older Brother, you and Sister-in-law should also go, right?"

"I will not go," Liang Yuemei waved her hand. "Father and Mother, your older brother going is sufficient; I must watch the house. A round trip like this will take at least a day or two, and someone must look after the children..."

"Then let Father and Mother go," Li Jianguo said after thinking for a moment. "I will not go either. Your second brother is over there; our family has enough people as it is."

In truth, Li Jianguo wanted to go; as stated before, the Li family in Northern Xinjiang consisted only of these few people, and as Li Li Junshan's elder, he also wished to offer support.

But with only Liang Yuemei at home, and winter tasks being numerous, could she manage everything alone?

"Just go; it will be fine," Liang Yuemei gently pushed him. "I can certainly manage everything in a day or two."

"Alright, then I will go," Li Jianguo nodded. "We will see the situation at the time."

"By the way, I also brought Yang Yongqiang back; I told him to come over tomorrow to take a leg of goitered gazelle home."

"!"

"That is no problem," Li Jianguo smiled. "One leg makes no difference; since whoever sees it gets a share, tomorrow I will skin the goitered gazelle and send some meat over to Old Luo's place."

"The head belongs to a male goitered gazelle; Older Brother, please keep the horns," Li Long reminded again.

"Rest assured, I know."

Li Long stayed with his elder brother and sister-in-law for a while, then drove the jeep back to the large courtyard compound.

Now that they had a child, staying outside the home felt unsettling; he always wanted to return, feeling at peace only when he saw his wife and child.

By the time he returned to the large courtyard compound, it was nearly midnight; Gu Gu Xiaoxia and the others were still awake, so Li Long carried the yellow sheep out and set it down outside before entering the house.

Looking at his two sleeping children, a surge of happiness rose within him.

Li Long and Gu Gu Xiaoxia sat on the edge of the bed, watching the children while recounting what had happened during their trip to Kuitun that day.

Gu Gu Xiaoxia had thought Li Long might not return today, yet unexpectedly he had rushed back so late; though curious about those events, she was even more moved by the fact that Li Long had insisted on returning even after dark.

The next day, after breakfast, Gu Gu Xiaoxia went to work and Han Fang to school; Li Long moved the frozen yellow sheep into the kitchen, waiting until it thawed in the late morning before beginning to skin and process it.

This yellow sheep weighed over thirty Duo Gong Jin Zhong; it was a small ram with short horns, looking only one or two years old.

Li Long skinned the sheep, first squeezing the dung out of the stomach and intestines outdoors, then soaking them in a basin of warm water to clean them.

By the time Sister Yang started cooking, Li Long had nearly finished processing the yellow sheep; he planned to visit Li Xiang Qian in the afternoon.

Li Xiang Qian was also uneasy; Li Long had gone to scout the situation, but he did not know the specific outcome and still felt somewhat worried.

Li Xiang Qian even regretted it a little; since Li Long was driving the jeep, he wished he had gone along—seeing was believing, after all.

Fortunately, that afternoon Li Long arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative on his bicycle, carrying goods to meet him.

"This is... a yellow sheep leg? Looks like we've got goods!" Li Xiang Qian exclaimed; upon seeing what Li Long carried, his worries immediately vanished.

"Indeed, there is a herd of yellow sheep, but not as we imagined," Li Long said. "Passing through during the day makes it hard to spot them. Nowadays yellow sheep have grown clever; they know crossing during daylight is dangerous, so they travel at night now, though sometimes they cross at dawn just as the sky brightens."

"What danger is there? We haven't even hunted yet," Li Xiang Qian asked, puzzled.

"We may not hunt, but others will. Think about how many vehicles pass through daily; how many drivers must know that herds of yellow sheep cross that no-man's-land?" Li Long said. "To us, they are prey; to others, they are too."

Li Xiang Qian nodded; that made sense.

"Then what should we do?"

"My idea is that we depart at midnight and arrive there by dawn to lie in ambush; for instance, station one person every kilometer, so no matter where the herd of yellow sheep passes, we can shoot them.

Alternatively, we could stay inside the vehicle, constantly observing the north; when a herd of yellow sheep approaches, we drive to intercept them and shoot once we've cut them off."

Li Long outlined several plans, some involving an early morning departure, others a midnight start.

In any case, going at normal hours would most likely yield no success.

If Director Qian wanted to bag something, it would require more trouble; otherwise, going in broad daylight would mean relying on luck.

Hearing Li Long's plan, Li Xiang Qian felt uncertain about what to do.

The leader was coming for hunting recreation, not to endure hardship.

Li Long noticed his hesitation and said with a smile:

"You cannot decide this matter yourself; you must ask the Director. If Director Qian wishes to come, let him make the decision. If he finds it too troublesome, then not coming would be just as well." (End of chapter)