Chapter 814: There Might Not Be So Much Meat to Eat Later On

Li Long hadn't expected Yang Yang Guifang to actually show up, nor had he imagined she'd have the audacity to come to his acquisition station to apply for a job!

"I chased her away; keeping such a black sheep would only bring trouble," Gu Gu Bo Yuan said. "When she left, she was still unconvinced, saying she'd come straight to you later. She believes you'll definitely hire her and told me to wait and see!"

"She's dreaming!" Li Long couldn't help but curse. "Even if she saw me, I'd chase her away too!"

"Hahahaha!"

"Hahaha!"

His insult was so refreshingly unconventional that everyone burst out laughing.

While laughing, Gu Gu Bo Yuan turned his head, saw Han Fang also laughing, and suppressed his mirth to say to Li Long:

"The logic is sound, but your wording was a bit vulgar; there are children present..."

Realizing Gu Gu Bo Yuan was referring to her, Han Fang also held back her laughter and said:

"Elder Gu, I didn't hear a thing, heehee..."

The matter passed without further attention. After all, everyone understood that Li Long would certainly not employ someone with such a notorious track record.

As he was about to leave, Gu Gu Bo Yuan pulled Li Long aside and whispered about his plan to manage the acquisition station, asking for Li Long's opinion.

Li Long said with delighted surprise:

"Really? That's wonderful! Uncle, with you in charge, I can truly rest easy."

"You have no objections? Good if you don't. Then I'll move the agricultural supplies store over in a couple of days and manage everything together. I feel this acquisition station is far more interesting than the agri-store."

"That's true, though it's busy with many tasks."

"Mm, I'll be managing this acquisition station on your behalf; I'll keep clear records of all income and expenditures for you..."

"That won't do! Uncle, let's manage the accounts openly; consider this acquisition station a partnership where we split the profits." Li Long was eager to have a trustworthy person run the station; originally, he had planned to ask Sun Jia Qiang, but Sun couldn't arrive anytime soon. Moreover, and more importantly, Gu Gu Bo Yuan was one of their own, definitely more reliable than Sun Jia Qiang, and possessed stronger capabilities.

They could have Sun Jia Qiang help manage the agricultural supplies store later.

"Splitting profits works too," Gu Gu Bo Yuan said after a moment's thought. "You've set up this entire acquisition station—the capital, the location, the permits are all yours; I'm only contributing my labor. How about this: I'll take a ten percent share."

Li Long felt that was too little, but Gu Gu Bo Yuan insisted on not taking more; he had his own reasoning: judging by the current situation, the acquisition station's daily net income exceeded several hundred; even taking just ten percent, his daily earnings would equal a worker's monthly wage, which was truly substantial.

"Uncle Gu, let me tell you..." Li Long pointed toward the side room and whispered, "I've now established contact with the Forestry Team. The items they confiscated, mainly Fritillaria and Codonopsis, followed by deer antlers and roe deer antlers, I will purchase cheaply from them and resell.

The acquisition station provides stable income, but it's not my main source of profit. However, I intend to keep this station running long-term, so it definitely needs a trustworthy person guarding it; you are the most suitable. If you take too little, neither Gu Xiaoxia nor I would feel at ease."

"Alright, since you put it that way, I won't be polite. Here's the plan: I'll manage the agricultural supplies store, and that income will be mine. I'll also manage this acquisition station, taking a twenty percent share of its income, no more. I think keeping these harvesters here isn't as good as moving them to the acquisition station; I'll live there, get a dog, and that place will be secure."

"Agreed." Li Long said no more. Based on the information Chen Hongjun had leaked last year, the Fritillaria publicly confiscated by the Forestry Team represented at least double the quantity they purchased from the mountain dwellers.

If he could secure all that Fritillaria, the income from this single item alone might exceed the total he had earned over the past three or four years.

The acquisition station was the fundamental base, very important and cannot be lost. With Gu Gu Bo Yuan watching over it, Li Long felt completely reassured. It didn't matter if the money given was insufficient for now; they were all family, and Li Long would certainly not be stingy when money was needed.

Actually, Li Long had considered calling his eldest brother over to work together; he had once hinted at this to Li Jianguo, but Li Jianguo refused, having his own reasons.

"Among us three brothers, your second brother has settled in Kuitun, which is far away; to be honest, Father and Mother can't rely on him. Father and Mother are accustomed to village life; they aren't used to living in the city.

Having moved here two or three years ago, they've just adapted, made new friends, and are living quite comfortably. If I move to the city again, wouldn't the team's farmland all fall to your sister-in-law? If the whole family moved to the county town, Father and Mother would have to adapt all over again, plus they aren't used to city life.

Actually, I think living in the team is quite good; we have rice and fish here—it's truly a land of fish and rice, how wonderful! Nowadays we have plenty of land, and the cash crops we plant earn quite a bit; it's enough to live on.

Money is a good thing, but once it reaches a certain amount, it's just a number; how much is enough? I won't go to the city; you develop in the city, while I stay here to guard our land, our Father and Mother, and our homestead.

To speak bluntly, if something happens on your end someday, at least we still have land here as a retreat. If we abandon this land, we'll have no way back if we ever want to return.

Father moved here from our old home; this place is now our root. This root cannot be lost."

Therefore, Li Jianguo would only occasionally participate in the "organized activities" Li Long arranged, but would not come forward to serve as the manager of the acquisition station or any other shop.

That was fine too.

After settling the acquisition station matters, Gu Gu Bo Yuan returned; he was temporarily still living in the small courtyard, but starting tomorrow, he would move the agricultural supplies over from there, along with his own bedding, and then he could erase the notice on the blackboard outside the acquisition station courtyard regarding the part-time opening hours.

If possible, Gu Gu Bo Yuan even thought there was no need for rest days; opening every day would be fine.

The original acquisition station rested on weekends, but Gu Gu Bo Yuan felt that apart from occasional errands, there was absolutely no need to close!

After Gu Gu Bo Yuan left, Li Long tidied up the items in the courtyard and then returned to the room.

Mingming and Haohao were already asleep, while Gu Gu Xiaoxia was at the desk organizing some documents.

Li Long entered, took a look, and without disturbing Gu Gu Xiaoxia, first brewed a cup of honey water for himself, then poured out the water in Gu Gu Xiaoxia's cup and brewed a cup of warm honey water for her as well.

Nanshan was rich in wildflower resources, so beekeepers were gradually increasing; the honey at this time was unadulterated, soothing the lungs, stopping coughs, and aiding bowel movements.

Gu Gu Xiaoxia looked up, saw the honey water Li Long had placed for her, smiled, and then continued with her work. Li Long turned on the TV at low volume and sat by the bed to watch.

After a while, Gu Gu Xiaoxia finished her tasks, tidied everything up, lifted the honey water to take a sip, and asked softly:

"How did things go in the mountains?"

"Quite smoothly. Today we encountered a group of herb gatherers who had occupied the Buick family's winter dwelling; we caught them and delivered them to the Forestry Team. The Fritillaria brought back was dug up by that group, and then the Forestry Team sold it to me. What I just discussed with your father was precisely this matter; henceforth, he'll be responsible for the acquisition station, while I handle external affairs."

"At lunch, my father was still talking about this, saying it's much more interesting than the agricultural supplies store. I can see he's genuinely very interested, so let him do it; it's rare for him to have the enthusiasm to handle such matters."

"Mm, I also feel your father's spirit is as vigorous as in his youth; that's a good thing," Li Long said with a smile. "This saves me a lot of worry. Originally, I planned to recruit someone from the mountains to watch the acquisition station, but no one could be as reassuring as our own people."

"Won't Eldest Brother have any thoughts about this?" As the Li family's daughter-in-law, Gu Gu Xiaoxia still cared quite a bit about the Li family's opinions at this moment.

"Definitely not. Eldest Brother doesn't even want to leave the village; he feels more comfortable and at ease living in the village."

"Then how is the weaving of the carrying frames progressing? It's been several days; they should have woven quite a few by now."

"Yes, I estimate there are already over a thousand carrying frames completed. Tomorrow I need to speak with Director Li and arrange for two trucks to go to Eldest Brother's place to haul the carrying frames back."

"Mingming and Haohao are almost one year old; today Sister Yang said they can stand for a short while while holding onto the bed rail," Gu Gu Xiaoxia said, turning her head to glance at the two children:

"Time flies so fast; in the blink of an eye, they can stand, and soon they'll be walking..."

"Mm, once they can walk, they'll run, then talk, then go to school; in the blink of an eye, we'll be old," Li Long said, pretending to sigh emotionally.

"What nonsense are you spouting? It won't happen that fast!" This time Gu Gu Xiaoxia couldn't hold back; she raised her fist and punched Li Lightly, "We're nowhere near that yet."

"I was just joking," Li Long said with a laugh.

In the deep quiet of the night, the beautiful life was just beginning.

Early the next morning, feeling refreshed and energetic, Li Long got up, humming a tune while changing Mingming and Haohao's diapers. Hearing the sound, Gu Gu Xiaoxia also got up; she took over the task from Li Long's hands, and Li Long washed his hands and went out to milk the goats.

Among the Kazakhs, milking cows is always done by women. Over at the big courtyard, neither Gu Gu Xiaoxia nor Sister Yang was very skilled at it; instead, Li Long handled it quite deftly. Thus, morning and evening milking fell to Li Long every day.

Since Hao Hao had now grown accustomed to having a bowl of goat milk each morning, Han Fang no longer resisted this special treatment.

After milking the goats and taking the milk to the kitchen for Sister Yang to boil, Li Long began tidying the courtyard and organizing the items they were bringing into the mountains this time.

There was no need to bring a pot, but they needed to prepare extra seasonings. Since they still had to go to the wooden cabin, Li Long planned to leave early, stop at the Department Store and the market to buy some things, and stash them in the trunk for transport to the cabin later.

After breakfast, Li Long first went shopping, then picked up Ma Ma Xiao Yan, and finally headed to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Li Xiang Qian was already waiting there; the large truck was loaded with supplies, though this time the load looked less substantial.

"Director, I have something to report," Li Long said to Li Xiang Qian just before boarding the vehicle. "The workers have been weaving carrying poles for several days now; I estimate there are at least a thousand finished products."

"Can our cooperative dispatch two trucks over the next couple of days to haul them back, along with two inspectors, so we can conduct the acceptance check all at once? This would save the trouble of me inspecting them once and them inspecting again."

"Very well, I'll give the instructions shortly, and we'll handle this tomorrow," Li Xiang Qian replied. "I'll accompany you into the mountains one more time today, but not tomorrow. You keep a closer eye on the work up there from now on. Since we've undertaken this task, we must see it through to completion and do it well."

"I guarantee the mission will be accomplished," Li Long said solemnly.

"Then I won't be going tomorrow either," Ma Ma Xiao Yan added from the side. "Our department has a meeting tomorrow, and afterward, I still need to visit several townships to the east for interviews."

"Understood," Li Long acknowledged, indicating he had taken note of everything.

The Jeep and the large truck departed the county town one after the other, stopped as usual at Passing Qingshuihe Village to pick up Meng Hai and the others, then entered the mountains to begin work.

They inspected the two winter shelters completed earlier. The cement on the surface of Brother Brother Yushanjiang's shelter had already dried. The one at Tarihar still needed another watering and some time to cure in the shade.

As usual, Li Long drove the people to the rear, used the tractor to transfer materials to the winter shelter at Tarihar, and then drove off in the Jeep.

He first went to the wooden cabin, unloaded the supplies from the Jeep, loaded all the items Sun Jia Qiang had collected onto the Jeep, and then set off to find a hunting spot.

Having had success yesterday at the rock mine cave, Li Long decided to try a different location today. He parked the Jeep at the entrance of the Hot Spring Gully, grabbed his rifle, and entered the gully.

No animals were found at the hot spring pools, leaving Li Long slightly disappointed; he then proceeded upward along the mountain gully. All the way to the spring source, he discovered no game.

Unwilling to give up, Li Long continued upward with his rifle in hand. He remembered encountering both bears and wild boars amidst the jumbled rocks further up.

This place was rarely visited by humans and featured complex terrain; wild animals actually preferred it here precisely because they were less likely to encounter natural predators.

Climbing all the way up, he saw no bears, but instead spotted two Northern Tianshan goats. However, before Li Long could get a clear look, the two goats leaped away and vanished.

Li Long immediately raised his rifle and chased in the direction the Northern Tianshan goats had fled; the higher he climbed, the steeper the mountain became and the sparser the vegetation grew.

Even with Li Long's great strength, long legs, and ample stamina, he was slightly out of breath by the time he reached this point.

He looked upward; less than a hundred meters remained to the summit ahead. "Let's push through," he thought. "Climb up and take a look; even if there's nothing, at least I can give up with a clear conscience."

The closer he got to the summit, the more complex the ground beneath his feet became; the previously hard earth turned into gravel and sand, sinking under every step.

Just as he neared the summit, Li Long felt a significant amount of sand had entered his shoes. Just as he was about to remove his shoes to shake out the sand, he heard the bleating of sheep.

Li Long forgot about emptying the sand from his shoes, gripped his rifle, and crept to the edge of the summit.

The summit was neither a single ridge nor a sharp peak, but rather a very long platform.

The platform was rocky, consisting of large exposed stone slabs covered with many loose rocks and gravel, upon which scattered shrubs grew sporadically.

Li Long fixed his gaze on two animals located more than thirty meters away from his position.

They were two argali sheep.

Here on the northern slope of Northern Tianshan, argali sheep, like Northern Tianshan goats, were not commonly seen.

In contrast, argali sheep were abundant over in the Zhong Tianshan region of the Ili River Valley.

This argali resembled a sheep with magnified horns; however, this creature belonged to the bovine family, and an adult could weigh one hundred kilograms, much larger than an ordinary sheep.

The two argali before Li Long were not yet adults, or rather, they were youths among the argali; judging by their size, they each weighed around sixty or seventy kilograms.

"These are the ones!"

Just as Li Long raised his rifle to aim, one argali turned its head, spotted Li Long emerging, let out a cry, and bolted.

Li Long happened to be aiming precisely at that one; a single shot brought the argali down. When he swung his rifle to target the second argali, he discovered it had vanished!

Li Long hurriedly scrambled up the summit with his rifle and rushed over; only upon reaching the spot did he realize that right beside the two argali was a narrow crevice leading straight down the mountainside.

The argali that had just disappeared, hearing the commotion, had darted directly into this narrow crevice. Thick shrubs grew within the crevice, which was highly winding; looking in, one could not see the depths, with eyes filled only by bushes.

At this moment, he could hear movements below but could not see where that argali had run to.

Li Long glanced at the mountainside and realized this side was far steeper than the route he had climbed earlier; ascending or descending here was highly dangerous. Moreover, the shrubs in the crevice were thorny. After a moment's hesitation, he gave up.

Engaging the safety and slinging his rifle, Li Long looked at the downed argali. First, he shook the sand out of his shoes, cleaned them thoroughly, and put them back on. Then he lifted the argali and began walking down the mountain.

It was not suitable to process game here; at the very least, he needed to get to a waterside location.

Carrying the argali down the mountain was no easy task; on steeper sections, he had to find footholds that were secure, otherwise he might slip and fall. The slope was covered with loose rocks; rolling down even a short distance could cause head injuries and bleeding, while a serious fall could be fatal.

By the time Li Long carried this argali down to the hot spring, he felt nearly exhausted.

Sitting by the stream to rest for about ten minutes, Li Long finally began to process the argali.

The argali's head was large, and its horns were huge as well. Since this part could not be processed temporarily, Li Long, just as last time, removed the head and hooves and placed them by the stream as an offering to the Mountain God.

He skinned and eviscerated the carcass in one smooth motion, squeezing all the dung out of the stomach and intestines.

Since this was a hot spring, washing the intestines and stomach was quite convenient; Li Long simply washed them clean, turned the intestines inside out, then wrapped the carcass in the sheepskin, stuffing the stomach, intestines, and other organs back inside the belly.

Since the uneaten grass and dung had been squeezed out and the blood drained, the sheep was much lighter. Li Long sheathed his knife, picked up the argali again, and walked toward the Jeep.

"Today, I'll properly taste argali meat; I haven't eaten much of this stuff before."

Driving the Jeep to Brother Brother Yushanjiang's winter shelter, Li Long found that Hou Zhengyi had already set up the stove; the water above was boiling, bubbling vigorously.

Seeing Li Long approach, Hou Zhengyi, who had been picking mushrooms and pulling wild onions on the hillside, ran down to the winter shelter and helped Li Long carry the argali down.

"What kind of sheep is this?" Hou Zhengyi asked. "The hide looks quite similar to that of a domestic sheep."

"It's an argali. The kind with exceptionally large horns," Li Long described. "This is my first time eating one too; I don't know how it will taste."

"Then let's boil it and see. Should we roast it today?"

"Given the time constraints, let's boil it first," Li Long said. "I brought vinegar and chili oil; after boiling, we can make a cold dressed dish with it."

"Excellent, excellent! I'll chop some wild onions to mix in," Hou Zhengyi said. He had to stay here to watch the vehicle and had nothing else to do, so he might as well help.

Li Long carried the argali carcass to the water pipe, while Hou Zhengyi brought over a large basin to assist.

Although there was only one argali sheep today, it looked even larger than the two roe deer from yesterday, and there was more meat as well.

Li Long's plan remained to boil seven or eight kilograms, cut the rest into pieces, and let everyone take some home.

Since hunting had become somewhat difficult now, Li Long intended to tell everyone in advance: if they could catch something later, they would; if not, there was nothing to be done.

He worried that because the food had been too good the first few days, everyone would form a habit and complain when there was no more meat later on.

After all, such things had happened before.

Argali mutton was quite gamey, so more spices would be needed; Li Long was mentally prepared for this.

When the mutton was done boiling, Hou Zhengyi voluntarily carried the cooked meat over to the winter camp to deliver it to Li Xiang Qian and the others. Li Long did not argue with him; it was just right for him to eat leisurely here by himself. (End of Chapter)