Chapter 793: Why give him this bear meat?

By the time Li Long returned to the acquisition station from the supply and marketing cooperative, there were already several people waiting.

He propped his bicycle against the roadside and went over to open the gate. As he did, someone remarked:

"Boss, why is your acquisition station open sometimes and closed others? We've been waiting for quite a while."

Li Long unlocked the large iron gate, then turned to push his bicycle. As he pushed it, he asked:

"Didn't a new acquisition station open over at the market? Why didn't you go there?"

Although news didn't spread as quickly as it would in later generations with mobile phones, the county town was small enough that even if Li Long didn't mention it, these people would soon find out.

"Heh, how could we not have gone? But they aren't doing business properly; they suppress the prices way too low. We don't want to sell our things there. Your prices are still the best, Boss."

The man speaking was also pushing a bicycle, with a roll of pelts strapped to the back seat. Li Long took a glance and saw that, aside from one yellow sheep pelt, the rest were sheep and rabbit pelts.

"Old fellow, do these sheep pelts have the small intestines? If they don't have the small intestines, I won't take them."

"They do, they do. We know the rules," the man said with a smile. "This isn't my first time here; we still know the rules."

The leather factory had its own thresholds for accepting pelts, and these itinerant peddlers usually wouldn't hoard too much stock. Selling these sheep pelts to Li Long didn't fetch as high a price as at the leather factory, but making three or five yuan per pelt was enough to satisfy them.

Li Long propped up his bicycle and locked it, then opened the acquisition station room. It was already late morning and the temperature was fine, so he didn't bother setting up the stove and began accepting the goods from these people.

Once the main gate was open, people arrived one after another. Li Long had originally intended to find time to fix up the old blackboard on the wall, but it looked like he would have to wait until the afternoon.

The acquisition station had been well-equipped and prepared from the start. There was a blackboard on the wall, but because it hadn't been used for a long time, the black surface had been eroded by wind and rain.

Li Long planned to find time to buy a bottle of ink from a nearby shop to brush it over. School blackboards were all like that; after being used for a while, if the black faded, you'd brush it with ink, and once it dried, it would be very striking to write on again.

By the time he finished accepting everyone's goods, it was nearly 1:30 PM. At this time, Auntie Yang should have started cooking. He hurried to lock the door and rushed back. When he arrived at the courtyard, he found his father-in-law, Gu Bo, watching the two children play in the yard, while Auntie Yang was cooking in the kitchen.

Seeing Li Long return, Gu Bo asked:

"Where did you go? You didn't even drive the car."

"I went to the market to take a look. Another acquisition station opened over there, so I went to see the situation."

"How is it?" Gu Bo had his two fingers gripped by Mingming and Haohao, so he could only squat there; he couldn't stand up, and had to look up to talk to Li Long.

Li Long suppressed a laugh. After propping his bicycle against the wall, he walked over and squatted down. When the two children saw their father come over, they immediately let go of Gu Bo and wanted Li Long to hold them.

Li Long picked up the two children and, while spinning them around, said:

"It's likely opened by the child of some official in the county. They hired a retired employee from the supply and marketing cooperative. To be honest, they suppress prices quite ruthlessly, but they know their stuff and their reasoning is sound. They might be prosperous for a while."

"Then what will you do with this acquisition station of yours?"

"It's fine," Li Long said with a smile. "At most, they'll be prosperous for a while. Our county is so big that I couldn't possibly take in all the resources alone. Don't worry about it. Our acquisition station's reputation is established; people still recognize this place. There were so many people coming to sell things today even though I came back late. And this is just the beginning of spring; there should be even more people later on."

The fritillaria season was coming soon; there should be large quantities of fresh fritillaria coming down from the mountains to be sold here.

There were many good things in the mountains, not just these few items.

Seeing that Li Long had his own ideas, Gu Bo didn't say anything more and walked over to Li Long's side, teasing the two children.

The two goat kids also ran over to Li Long, bleating, along with the two small red deer and Xiao Hei. For a moment, it was quite lively.

Before long, Gu Xiao and Han Fang returned to the courtyard one after the other, and Auntie Yang had finished cooking.

Li Long and Gu Xiao each held a child, coaxing them while eating. Now that the children were a bit older but still couldn't stand or walk, it used to require one person to watch them specifically while the others took turns eating.

Now that wasn't necessary; holding a child, they could occasionally feed them a taste of their food. Li Long thought that once it got hot in the spring, the sticky rice porridge wouldn't store well, so he would have to buy a refrigerator.

He had to resolve this before heading into the mountains.

Over the next few days, Li Long still went to the acquisition station every day. The number of people coming to sell things varied, but he didn't mind. From what he heard from these people, most of them already knew about the new acquisition station at the market.

Regardless of what they thought inside, the people who came all patted their chests and guaranteed that they would definitely sell their goods to Li Long in the future. The main reasons were that Li Long gave good prices, accepted a wide range of items, and didn't nitpick too much.

As for what they really thought, Li Long couldn't control that.

Having sold a batch of pelts to Zhao Hui some time ago, the acquisition station's cash flow was healthy, so Li Long began accepting more items.

He would even accept some things that weren't fetching high prices right now, just letting them sit for a while—for example, some old books.

People would rummage these out from their homes and feel it wasn't worth selling them to the waste recycling station, so some would come to Li Long with the attitude of giving it a try, not expecting him to actually take them.

Although he only paid a little more than the waste station, a few cents or a dime was still money, enough to buy several kilograms of flour!

When this news reached the ears of the people running the other acquisition station, that person just laughed. Was this running a material acquisition station or a waste recycling station? With someone like that, did they even need to compete?

After that, the person who had been quite nervous and constantly watching Li Long's station to think of ways to attract people simply became lax, fishing for three days and drying nets for two, and basically left the acquisition station's affairs to Yang Guifang.

He trusted Yang Guifang very much. This retired auntie was introduced by a relative, and judging by the situation over the past few days, her professional ability was indeed strong, and she had a commanding presence that could suppress the common folk, earning quite a bit more money.

He didn't know much about Yang Guifang's past, but he felt she was trustworthy, or at least better than an outsider like himself.

One day in late March, when Li Long came to the acquisition station in the afternoon, he was surprised to find that the number of people at the entrance was several times higher than usual. He was quite surprised.

"Boss Li, don't you know? Something big happened at the market's acquisition station!" someone said impatiently as soon as they saw Li Long.

"What happened?" Li Long asked while opening the door.

"The person in charge of accepting goods was cooking the books. They bought our things at very cheap prices but wrote down high prices in the accounts, pocketing the difference. They got caught, and the Public Security Bureau came to their door!"

"How could that be? That doesn't seem likely, does it?" Li Long was quite surprised. He opened the large iron gate, let these people into the courtyard, then went to open the inner door and went behind the counter before continuing to listen to the man's story.

"How is it unlikely? The police went over this morning and took that woman, Yang something-Fang, away! The boss of the acquisition station was there too, and he was cursing that woman..."

Li Long wasn't too surprised that such a thing happened. A team thrown together temporarily was prone to problems. He just didn't expect it to blow up in less than a month.

"They can just replace the person, right?" Li Long said while starting to accept goods. "They just didn't find the right person before."

"Heh, reopening isn't that simple." The man who broke the news wasn't in a hurry to sell his goods and stood to the side, continuing to gossip:

"Once this happens, can the boss not be vigilant when hiring new people? The people working there will definitely feel uncomfortable being watched—and you definitely wouldn't guess this: many of the things they collected weren't stored properly. It's said that in the warehouse partitioned off at the back of the room, a lot of things have rotted and molded... What a waste!"

This time, Li Long was completely speechless. That shouldn't happen! You have to categorize and process collected items based on their moisture levels; you can't just pile them up and ignore them, right?

Was the boss playing the hands-off manager, or was the hired help lazy?

Wasn't this just handing him points?

He smiled, offered no comment, and continued accepting his goods.

This could also serve as a warning to himself; he must learn from others' mistakes. If he were to make the same error, the whole county would be laughing at him.

Because the other acquisition station had problems, many people ran here to sell things, and Li Long was especially busy today.

Fortunately, Gu Bo was quite laid-back now and would never spend more than eight hours at work. He would go to the courtyard early in the morning and afternoon, mainly to tease Mingming and Haohao. Gu Xiao even said at the dinner table that her father hadn't been this kind when she was little.

"Grandparents are closer to grandchildren," Gu Bo didn't avoid the issue at all. "You are my child, so I had to educate you well. Mingming and Haohao are your children, so educating them is your responsibility. I'm their grandfather, so I'm responsible for being kind."

Fine, that was a logic of its own.

Over the next few days, Li Long continued to be solidly busy for a week before he finally had a moment of leisure.

He found time to go to the livestock market by the Ma River, but didn't find any dairy goats—they were only selling culled sheep and ordinary goats. Dairy goats weren't a common breed, and ordinary herders didn't raise them.

If he couldn't find them, he couldn't find them; he'd look slowly later. Li Long went to the supply and marketing cooperative store and bought several bottles of Kelalin, which was used for washing sheep to kill parasites, then drove into the mountains.

The road into the mountains had dried up, and there were people traveling on it. Seeing Li Long's jeep coming, they moved to the side of the road.

The northern mountains had more Gobi desert and less green grass, though the shrubs had all sprouted, giving off the breath of spring.

Once inside the mountains, the temperature dropped noticeably. Although the sun was still strong, the mountain breeze felt very cool.

When Li Long's jeep reached Halimu's winter camp, Halimu had already driven the sheep out of the pen and was grazing them on the turf.

The grass on his winter pasture had turned green, but it wasn't growing high. The cattle and sheep were working hard to graze, as green grass, however little, was still better than dry hay.

Li Long's jeep drove up to the winter camp, and Halimu also rode his horse back.

"Jakesma," Halimu greeted Li Long with a smile. "Haven't seen you for a long time. Is your family doing well?"

"Doing well, doing well," Li Long said with a smile. "Are you about to move to the summer pasture?"

"Yes, we'll be heading into the mountains in a few days." Halimu tied his horse and pointed into the mountains. "The road further in is still hard to walk; we have to wait a few days."

"I brought you medicine for washing the sheep, Kelalin. The ratio is on it. When the time comes, fill the sheep-washing pool with water and pour this in, and you can drive your sheep in to wash."

"Good, good, good, I know about this!" Halimu helped Li Long move the box of Kelalin down and said excitedly, "Once we finish shearing the sheep in a few days, we can wash them. After washing, we'll head into the mountains."

A herder's life was day after day, year after year. If they wanted change, they would have to wait another ten years or so. By then, the policy would be settled grazing, and all the herders in the mountains would move out, and their lives would be different.

"Li Long, do you want sheep wool? If you do, I'll keep a portion for you." Halimu asked.

Li Long knew that a portion of the wool Halimu and the others sheared had to be turned over to the pastoral team, just like turning over public grain in a production team, and a portion was kept at home. Halimu's mother would spin wool and weave things in the summer when she was free.

So Li Long waved his hand after hearing Halimu's words.

"No, keep the wool for your own use; I don't need it here."

After delivering the insecticide, Li Long took a few wolf pelts Halimu gave him and headed down the mountain home. Halimu planned to wash the sheep in three days and also had to notify Yushanjiang and the others. Washing the sheep had to be centralized, mainly because the medicine couldn't be wasted; only by washing the sheep from several families together could it be most effective.

Halimu asked Li Long to come back in three days, saying he would have things to give him then.

Li Long thought it would probably be pelts, deer antlers, or something similar.

He wouldn't refuse.

Over the next three days, Li Long spent his mornings and afternoons at the acquisition station. He found that seventy percent of the people coming to sell things were common folk selling what they had saved at home or obtained themselves.

The remaining thirty percent were peddlers who rode bicycles to the countryside to collect things and then came here to sell them, earning the price difference.

Some peddlers had become familiar with Li Long and would occasionally crack a joke with him, sharing news from the countryside.

For example, there were still people hunting yellow sheep in the sandy areas to the north; someone was fined for digging licorice in the sandy land near the sandy areas; a flood occurred in the eastern gully, washing away the reservoir dam, and so on.

Li Long thought there should have been a flood over at Little Haizi too, right? Fortunately, two years ago, he had paid to connect the flood channel with the main canal, so that when a flood came, it could be drained directly through the main canal, and the excess water would return to Little Haizi, which would increase the water volume of Little Haizi without washing away the dikes.

Thinking about it, the crucian carp in Little Haizi should be starting to spawn, right? In another month or two, a large number of small crucian carp should appear in the irrigation canals again.

There was no helping it; this thing reproduced too fast, in too large a quantity, and had strong vitality. In this northern Xinjiang region, there was basically no worry about them going extinct.

Three days later, Li Long hung a "Closed" sign at the entrance of the acquisition station, then drove his jeep, carrying daily necessities like salt, rock sugar, and brick tea, and headed into the mountains.

When he reached Halimu's place, Li Long discovered that the sheep-washing pool hadn't been filled with water yet. Halimu's sheep hadn't been washed, and the wool hadn't been sheared either.

Halimu wasn't there; his wife was busy at the sheep pen. Seeing Li Long arrive, Halimu's wife hurried over to the jeep and told Li Long in somewhat stiff language that Halimu and the others had something to do and went into the mountains yesterday, so they couldn't wash the sheep today, but would have time tomorrow.

Li Long was slightly disappointed, but thought it was normal. In this day and age, there were no mobile phones, and it wasn't convenient to notify anyone if something came up. If something happened here, there was simply no way to contact him.

Plans couldn't keep up with changes; that was exactly how it was.

He moved the supplies from the car, helped Halimu's wife put them into the storeroom, drank a bowl of milk tea, and then drove away.

He didn't head straight down the mountain but drove to the Hot Spring Gully, locked the car doors, and walked in with his rifle.

Li Long planned to soak in the hot spring—he hadn't soaked in a long time and was missing it.

The hot spring gully was still filled with thick steam, and the smell of sulfur was very strong; no fish could be seen in the water.

Li Long walked upstream along the way and could see hoof prints of wild boars and deer by the water, but no animals. He didn't know if the timing was wrong or if there were fewer animals, so he didn't notice any movement.

He walked all the way to the hot spring pools and observed carefully, finding that the hoof prints here should have been formed before yesterday; no animals had come today.

That was safer.

He didn't plan to hunt for the time being; he just wanted to soak in the hot spring to relieve his fatigue. Li Long observed the surroundings again, and after finding no movement, he carried his rifle into the woods to gather some grass, spread it by the pool, took off his shoes and clothes, and climbed into the pool to soak.

Comfortable—he hadn't soaked like this in a long time. It seemed that when summer came, he could bring his family over to soak here.

While soaking, Li Long heard a splashing sound. He looked up and saw no movement ahead; it was just the sound of flowing water.

Li Long turned his head to look behind him, but didn't see anything either.