Chapter 885: The Herders and Li Long: Who Owes Whom Is Impossible to Calculate

Two brand-new Dongfanghong 15-horsepower small four-wheel tractors, totaling thirteen thousand six hundred yuan.

After Li Long paid, Brother Yushanjiang and Talihar excitedly drove the tractors out of the factory.

In third gear, they had lost their earlier trepidation and now felt quite bold and unstoppable.

However, Li Long led the way in front, telling them not to drive too fast since they still needed to go to the oil depot to buy fuel.

The fuel in the two tractors was only enough to get them as far as Shicheng.

At the oil depot, they bought two large barrels of oil; with the staff's help, they loaded the barrels onto the tractors and secured them, then filled the tanks before heading back into the city.

They needed to buy supplies. Li Long took Brother Yushanjiang and Talihar to Ke Ke Ke Ke Ke Youmu's place for milk tea and bought twenty naan breads—there was a naan pit next to Ke Ke Ke Ke Ke Youmu's milk tea shop that also sold naan.

The naan here didn't sell as fast as at the naan pit in Maxian; the dozens baked that morning were not yet sold out by now.

Li Long simply bought up all the remaining stock. Brother Yushanjiang and the others would be cutting grass later; although they had a mower attached to the tractor, preparing meals and baking naan would inevitably waste time, so buying some naan to take along would save a lot of trouble.

Ke Ke Ke Ke Ke Youmu hadn't seen Li Long in a long time and was very happy to see him; Brother Yushanjiang and Talihar were curious about Ke Ke Ke Ke Ke Youmu's thick Henan dialect, finding it quite novel, so Ke Ke Ke Ke Ke Youmu explained the origin of this way of speaking and even sang a segment of Henan opera on the spot, earning applause.

After finishing their milk tea, watching the bustling scene of people coming and going on the old street, Brother Yushanjiang and Talihar felt quite intrigued; Li Long took them to buy some necessary daily supplies—some he had already purchased that morning, such as brick tea and the like, while others had to be bought here.

Items like onions, potatoes, and chili peppers; fresh potatoes were available at this time, which surprised Li Long since the season hadn't arrived, and he didn't know whether they were dug early or had been in storage.

After loading the purchased goods, they continued driving west; upon leaving Shicheng and reaching the Ma River Bridge, Li Long stopped, and Brother Yushanjiang and Talihar behind him stopped as well.

"We'll go to Maxian now to pick up the mowers, then head back to the mountains; tomorrow you can take the mowers and cut grass yourselves."

Brother Yushanjiang and Talihar couldn't wait to go up the mountain and cut grass immediately—these were new machines, completely different from the one Li Long used to drive.

Whether it was due to the extra three horsepower or a psychological effect, both Brother Yushanjiang and Talihar felt that the tractors they were driving had more power.

But towing the mowers was necessary.

With the jeep leading and the two tractors following, they drove at a moderate speed to the purchasing station.

By this time, there were far fewer people at the purchasing station; most outsiders usually took vehicles early in the morning to arrive before noon, sold their goods, and left immediately since they still had to catch their rides home.

Therefore, those still at the purchasing station at this hour were basically locals who, even if they finished selling late, could still make it home, and most of them were middlemen.

They earned a few yuan or ten-odd yuan per trip, sometimes even just one or two yuan, yet they found joy in it.

After all, this money came in every day, and occasionally, when they encountered good goods or households with abundant items, a single trip could earn back half a month's income.

It also depended on luck.

Seeing the jeep arrive with two brand-new tractors, most people there to sell goods showed expressions of envy.

Some of these people owned Twenty-Eight Inch heavy-duty bicycles, while a few didn't even have bicycles; naturally, seeing others driving tractors and jeeps made them envious.

Since there were people in the courtyard, Li Long and the others didn't drive in; they parked the vehicles and tractors outside, got out, and Li Long went in to greet Gu Gu Bo Yuan before leading Brother Yushanjiang and Talihar to carry the mowers.

Brother Yushanjiang and Talihar carried one mower, while Li Long and Sun Jia Qiang, who had followed from behind, carried the other, placing them onto the tractors.

He then found some ropes to secure the mowers in the truck beds—the mountain roads were rough, and while a few bumps to the mowers wouldn't matter, damaging any parts would cause trouble.

"Li Long, you don't need to go into the mountains," Brother Yushanjiang said to him after the mowers were loaded, "come over tomorrow instead; if you go in now, it will be dark by the time you reach the destination, and coming back will be troublesome; after we returned yesterday, we found many wolves in the mountains, so it's not safe."

"Do you know the way?" Li Long asked, looking at the sky; indeed, it was getting late; if it were just the jeep, going into the mountains and returning wouldn't mean arriving after dark, but traveling with the tractors would be much slower.

"Of course we remember," Brother Yushanjiang said with a smile, "although we don't come down the mountain often, we still know the roads."

Li Long asked him to describe it, and Brother Yushanjiang said, "From the east side of that big bridge, turn south, keep turning and you'll enter the mountains; once inside... I don't need to explain further, right?"

Seeing that Brother Yushanjiang knew the route clearly, Li Long went to the back and fetched two sticks for the two of them to take; his Type 56 semi-automatic rifle was in the vehicle, and it wasn't that he was reluctant to give it, but carrying a gun while driving a tractor now was too conspicuous and might get them stopped, which would be hard to explain.

Anyway, with two people and a tractor, ordinary wolves wouldn't dare charge; even if they encountered a bear, that creature probably wouldn't dare rush at something as large as a tractor.

Safety was basically assured.

Brother Yushanjiang and the others then drove the tractors away.

Finally, one matter was settled.

Although he had spent a lot of money, Li Long felt much more at ease; every time they brought him goods, and although he did things for them, he always felt that after each favor, these simple-hearted friends would repay him double.

They even said they owed him.

Who owed whom, and how could that ever be made clear?

Seeing that it was getting late, he told Gu Gu Bo Yuan, then drove the jeep back to the big courtyard; he wanted to look after the child so that Sister Yang could free her hands to cook.

They had long grown accustomed to three meals a day, and if they didn't eat dinner, they always felt something was missing.

At dinner, Gu Gu Bo Yuan said while eating with a smile:

"The pelts you brought back today, Without Xiao Long, plus what we've collected recently, must amount to two or three hundred sheets; should we call that surname Zhao to have the pelts transported away? Also, the dried mushrooms need to be shipped; there are now over three hundred kilograms of dried mushrooms in the warehouse, and we collect several dozen kilograms daily, which is quite a lot."

Gu Gu Bo Yuan was no longer surprised by the daily cash flow of several thousand yuan; paying out several thousand yuan each day, he could roughly calculate that he earned nearly an equal amount in profit.

Quite a lot indeed!

Of course, this was the mushroom season, similar to the earlier fritillaria season; these were the two seasons when it was hot and money could be made; in winter, it was mainly pelts; throughout the year, only these three types of goods generated profit.

As for other miscellaneous items, in Gu Gu Bo Yuan's current view, they only earned small money.

"I'll make the call in the next day or two," Li Long nodded, "we need to properly organize the mushrooms we've collected."

"Little Sun knows about this; he just bought a naan and said he'd go organize those dried mushrooms after eating," Gu Gu Bo Yuan said with a smile, "you were right to take Little Sun in; this fellow is as honest as Daqiang but very smart; he spots work to do, learns quickly at whatever he tries, and is steady."

Since Old Gu praised Sun Jia Qiang so highly, it seemed this move was truly the right one.

"Did you buy those two tractors for the people in the mountains?" Gu Gu Bo Yuan asked Li Long again.

Gu Gu Xiaoxia already knew that people had come down from the mountains and was curious as well.

"Yes; they brought me several excellent pelts, which I didn't leave at the purchasing station," Li Long said, "those pelts alone were worth almost two tractors; since they needed to cut grass anyway, I thought I might as well buy them directly, saving me the trouble of driving our own vehicle back and forth."

"That's true," Gu Gu Bo Yuan nodded, "but you took the last two mowers; what will we do if others come to buy mowers later?"

"The wheat harvest is already halfway through; anyone coming to buy mowers now is too late," Li Long waved his hand, "it was just a side business anyway; if they ask, just tell them there are none left this year and that if they want to buy, they should go to Kuitun to get them."

Gu Gu Bo Yuan thought about it and agreed; with the wheat harvest nearly halfway done, buying a mower now might not even allow one to earn back the cost of the machine.

After dinner, while it was still not dark, Gu Gu Bo Yuan strolled back to his small courtyard, while Li Long stayed with Gu Gu Xiaoxia, watching the child and discussing in detail the situation in the mountains that day.

"You said they brought back three snow leopard pelts and one bear pelt, and even claimed there are tigers in Lishan?" Gu Gu Xiaoxia asked in great surprise, "This... this is far too dangerous, isn't it?"

"Speaking of danger, it truly is dangerous," Li Long said, "of the three snow leopard pelts I brought back this time, two were from leopards killed at night when they came directly to the summer pasture yurts to steal and eat sheep."

Brother Brother Yushanjiang said the tiger was right at the edge of the pasture, having eaten deer and brown bears; he'd wounded it, but didn't know if the tiger held a grudge. This time Ha Li Mu didn't return because he feared Yi Qiangzi couldn't guard two flocks alone. 」 Gu Gu Xiaoxia listened and sighed: 「I used to think the mountains had beautiful scenery and plenty of things. Before we married, you kept bringing back so much from the mountains—I thought then, if I were a man, I'd go into the mountains too.

Now I see how childish I was back then—I wonder how many dangers you faced during those days…」

Li Long remembered those times: the time he'd ambushed wolves and nearly got surrounded, the wild boar that charged straight at him, the lynx that scratched his arm after marriage, and the brown bear he'd encountered at the hot spring.

Dangerous? Of course it was dangerous.

But could he say it?

Naturally not.

He smiled and said: 「It wasn't that dangerous. Whether it was tigers, brown bears, or anything else, I always ambushed them, and with a gun in hand, I feared nothing. When things got dangerous, we just didn't go. 」

Not going into the mountains wasn't an option. Even for Ha Li Mu and the others, Li Long would often enter the mountains.

With a gun and ammunition, and driving a car, he truly feared nothing—even if he truly encountered a Northern Frontier tiger, could it tear open a Jeep?

Probably, it would flee the moment it saw the Jeep?

But judging by now, he really couldn't bring his family into the mountains. In the future, when there were too many people, wild animals had nearly all been killed—or fled to Lishan—and entering the mountains then truly held no danger.

That means, waiting a while before entering the mountains isn't late, or going when there are many people works too—the noise scares off the wild beasts.

Having made up his mind, Li Long no longer mentioned taking his family into the mountains, but he himself needed to go in. He didn't mention cutting grass—just collecting black tiger palm mushrooms: two or three sacks a day, dried, would yield twenty to thirty kilograms, worth several hundred yuan.

He knew the mountains well, what was in each ravine. Though morel mushrooms were expensive, they were hard to gather in quantity; black tiger palm mushrooms were different—find the right spot, and gathering two or three sacks a day was easy.

Others earning this money was earning it; so was he earning it. Why just spend money outwardly?

When Brother Brother Yushanjiang and Talihar were in the county, their speed was slow; once they left the county town, they shifted straight into fifth gear, revved the engine, and sped toward the mountains.

Having ridden horses often, this small four-wheel tractor, though bumpy, meant nothing to them.

And the speed was truly good—the wind rushed against them, not hot, blowing pleasantly.

There weren't many vehicles on the road; when one approached, they eased off the throttle, waited for it to pass, then pressed the accelerator again—so before reaching Passing Qingshuihe village, the radiator boiled over.

Li Long had told them the precautions, so after Passing Qingshuihe village, they slowed down, stopped briefly, used the iron barrel hanging behind the tractor to draw water from a roadside stream, topped up the radiator, then continued driving into the mountains.

The road was bad—the tractor seemed to bounce and leap forward—but the two men felt no discomfort; their excitement hadn't faded.

Once they entered the mountains and the cool wind blew, they slowed down—the mountain paths were complex, full of turns, steep, and uneven, so they couldn't go fast; going fast risked overturning.

The sun had sunk behind the mountains, the west glowing red; Brother Brother Yushanjiang drove the tractor, thinking that by the time they reached Dongwōzi, it would truly be dark.

But with this tractor and the harvester in its trailer, they could cut grass tomorrow.

Though cutting grass now was slightly early, with two harvesters, they could gather more than last year—enough for winter.

When the tractor reached the entrance to Dongwōzi, Brother Brother Yushanjiang noticed everyone else had already left; his own Dongwōzi was locked. He got off the tractor and lifted down the naan.

Brother Brother Yushanjiang wanted Talihar to stay here, not go further in—the remaining stretch was rough—but Talihar waved his hand and said:

「No problem, it's just over a kilometer, we'll be there in a moment. I'll leave my horse with you; I'll come tomorrow to fetch it. 」

Seeing he couldn't persuade him, Brother Brother Yushanjiang gave him naan for tomorrow's breakfast, watched Talihar depart, then went to give the horse water, let it drink, returned it to the pen, and finally entered the house.

Sitting on the wooden kang, Brother Brother Yushanjiang still felt as if in a dream.

The tractor had really been brought back?

This was really his?

If Ha Li Mu knew, wouldn't he be envious of me?

But I suppose by winter, when Ha Li Mu returns, Li Long will buy him a tractor too.

This, Brother Brother Yushanjiang was certain of.

The next morning, the first thing Brother Brother Yushanjiang did upon opening the door was check on the tractor.

The tractor was fine, just as it had been; as he went to inspect it, the horse had already begun neighing in the pen.

Clearly, the horse was unhappy—its master's treatment over these two days had been off.

Brother Brother Yushanjiang laughed, let the horse out of the pen, led it to a patch of lush grass to graze, then went to light the fire.

As long as the tractor was there, no need to check on it right away.

While eating naan, the herders arrived on horseback. Only six or seven came this time; Brother Brother Yushanjiang guessed the rest were with Talihar.

「The new tractor is beautiful! 」 someone exclaimed.

「With two tractors, we won't need half a month to gather enough grass. 」

「Exactly—two tractors working together, we just tie the bundles. These machines are amazing. 」 The young men greatly admired the tractor, dreaming of owning one themselves.

But first, they lacked the means; second, their own Dongwōzi could be reached on horseback—driving a tractor there was still difficult.

So they could only look on with envy. But since both tractors belonged to herders, even if they didn't own one, they could still operate it.

Brother Brother Yushanjiang asked:

「Have you all eaten yet? 」

「Not yet—we came straight up. 」 one young man laughed.

「Then eat together. 」 Brother Brother Yushanjiang pointed inside, 「Li Long bought some naan yesterday; I've brewed tea. Come, eat. 」

Breakfast was simple: naan and brick tea. Those who brought milk curds shared them out. The tractor's trailer held vegetables like onions, but cooking them now was impossible—so they'd make do.

Soon, Talihar and the others arrived in their tractor. People gathered, and they discussed work.

After breakfast, Brother Brother Yushanjiang assigned tasks: operating the tractors was naturally his and Talihar's, cutting grass from two directions.

Two men were chosen as tractor operators' replacements; two others were assigned to carry diesel and water; the rest scattered across the pasture to check for logs, stones, or anything that might damage the harvesters.

「The tractors are mine and Talihar's, but the money is partly everyone's. So we cut grass together, and tie the bundles together too. As for the money we owe you, when we return to the summer pasture and harvest, we'll repay you. 」

After assigning tasks, Brother Brother Yushanjiang didn't let everyone disperse immediately—he had to make things clear:

「My idea is, we share the tractor. When we haul coal, grass, wool—anything—we can all use it. 」

Brother Brother Yushanjiang had another idea, but he needed to discuss it with Li Long. If Li Long could make it happen, he'd gather the herders next spring for the same project.

Though he'd just bought the tractor, Brother Brother Yushanjiang's thinking had suddenly broadened—life in the mountains could become much better.

With Li Long helping advise and implement, as clan chief, he had confidence he could lead everyone to build a thriving tribe.

As they spoke, the jeep emerged from the mountains; Li Long had arrived. (End of Chapter)