Chapter 913: It has started to snow, and Sun Jia Qiang is getting married

Having spent a long time with Halimu and Yushanjiang, he knew a little bit of simple Kazakh, so he spoke in Kazakh; the two men were speaking Kazakh as well.

Upon hearing that Li Long understood Kazakh, the two men immediately broke into smiles. They weren't stupid; they could see that Li Long and his group were there to buy livestock directly, so they began to communicate.

Much as Li Long had expected, the cattle and sheep were not expensive—one could even say they were cheap—and they were available for selection.

Therefore, Li Long bought fifteen head of cattle and fifty-five sheep right there. It wasn't that he didn't want to buy more; firstly, they wouldn't fit, and secondly, the two men said they couldn't sell too many to Li Long, as the rest had been reserved by someone else and had to be kept for them.

If the five tractors hadn't been fitted with racks, these cattle and sheep wouldn't have fit.

Because some were culled sheep, they seemed quite cheap to Li Long, and the cattle were not very old either. Li Long bought them all for less than three thousand yuan.

He continued the next day. This time, those brokers knew that Li Long and his group understood both Kazakh and Uyghur, so they didn't come over to harass them. Li Long and his group bought eighty sheep from an elderly Uyghur man. This Uyghur grandfather was quite stubborn and cute; he wouldn't let the cattle and sheep brokers intervene and insisted on selling them himself. It just so happened that Li Long and his group ran into him, and after Xie Yun Dong went up and struck up a conversation, the deal was closed.

On the third day, Li Long bought another fifty-plus sheep and eight head of cattle, which was about enough.

"The movie yesterday wasn't very good," Liang Dacheng said while unloading sheep on the way back. "It wasn't as good as the martial arts ones."

Li Long knew he was talking about *Shoerbulake*, so he smiled and said, "Did the scenery in the movie feel familiar when you watched it?"

"It felt quite familiar, and those houses, and the trees too," Liang Dacheng said truthfully.

"That was filmed right here in our Northern Tianshan, just across the mountains," Li Long said. "That's why you have to watch it."

That was true.

After the three days of movies were over, the people in the team were still left wanting more, but they knew that was it. It was pretty good; at least, no one in the team had ever done something like showing movies for three consecutive days before.

Li Long put the cattle and sheep at the Old Horse Corral. Uncle Lao Luo and the others didn't mix the newly acquired cattle and sheep with the original ones; they had to be quarantined for a period of time to see if they had any diseases.

Having raised sheep for over a year, they had some understanding of this.

With more cattle and sheep, the sugar beet pulp feed that had been accumulating all along finally came in handy. The sugar beets grown on those twenty mu of land next to the Old Horse Corral could also be put to use. When Li Long returned, he brought back a jar of maltose; this was boiled by Uncle Lao Luo and the others from sugar beets during their spare time. Li Long tasted it, and it tasted quite good.

Tao Daqiang and his family all took two or three sheep back to raise themselves. Mainly, there wasn't much to do in the winter, and having sheep at home meant they could get some activity in from time to time.

What was quite fortunate was that he really managed to get a dairy goat. This goat wasn't very old and had a kid with it. The person who sold it was a Han Chinese man who had bought the dairy goat because he had a child at home. He had raised it for two years, and now that the child could eat solid food, he thought about selling the goat to exchange for some money to improve their life.

Jia Weidong was quite envious and told Tao Daqiang that if that little goat kid grew up to be a dairy goat too, he wanted to buy it back for his family to drink goat milk.

Tao Daqiang naturally had no objections. Having one of these things was enough. It wasn't an ordinary sheep; if it was a dairy goat, it could produce one or two kilograms of goat milk a day, which was enough for a child to drink.

As for the adults, they weren't that delicate; it was fine whether they had it or not.

Once the major matter of the cattle and sheep was settled, Li Long felt much more relaxed. The purchasing station had long since returned to normal. At the moment, there were no large quantities of goods appearing; every day, there were mostly things like *Codonopsis* and animal skins, and occasionally *Cynomorium* and licorice, which were also dug up because of the autumn land reclamation.

As for copperware and *Fritillaria*, they were becoming increasingly rare. Gu Bo Yuan and Sun Jia Qiang were also a bit more leisurely.

In between, Li Long also made a trip to the livestock team's station, giving half a sheep to the families of Halimu and Yushanjiang each, and also sent over some other supplies. Vegetables, rice, flour, oil, brick tea, salt, and so on—life here was still the same. Li Long didn't interact much with them; he could only ensure that their lives were a bit better.

Then it was back to daily life. Every day at noon and in the afternoon, when Gu Bo Yuan came to the main courtyard to eat, he would occasionally mention Sun Jia Qiang's situation. That Tie Lanhua was now coming to find Sun Jia Qiang quite frequently; basically, she would come over at noon and in the evening, and she would stay for a long time. Sometimes, when Gu Bo Yuan finished eating at noon and went to work, Tie Lanhua was still there.

"Now his brother doesn't follow him around anymore. After all, the things being sent over aren't much, and they aren't as valuable as before," Gu Bo Yuan also said. "I heard his brother is seeing someone and is about to get married."

That Tie Jinbing could find a partner and get married was largely because their family had harvested melon seeds this year—to be precise, it was because Tie Lanhua had harvested melon seeds and made money. Having made so much money in such a short time, Tie Yinhu's backbone suddenly stiffened. The girl of the same ethnic group that Tie Jinbing had originally taken a fancy to, whose family had looked down on him before, could now calmly talk about marriage.

Gu Bo Yuan talking about Sun Jia Qiang and Tie Lanhua's affair was actually to ask Li Long if he wanted to intervene in this matter.

He had experienced a lot and knew that there would be no small amount of trouble in this. Beiting was a Hui Autonomous Prefecture, and there were some policies regarding ethnic groups. Moreover, Li Long himself was an advanced individual in ethnic unity; he wondered if this matter would have any negative impact on him.

"No need to worry about it," Li Long smiled. "Although Tie Lanhua is Hui, our country now advocates freedom of marriage. Whether the two of them are dating or getting married, as long as it complies with our country's laws, there's no need to worry about it."

Li Long had a premonition that if that Tie Lanhua wanted to pursue happiness, she would handle this matter well.

Of course, if she didn't handle it well, or if she wanted to bring disaster to others, Li Long wouldn't mind tearing down the temple once.

At the end of October, the leaves had all turned yellow and fallen, and the world was desolate. On the last day of the month, Zhao Hui came.

"I plan to finish collecting the summer and autumn skins. When I come next time, what I'll be collecting will be winter skins," Zhao Hui explained his intention to Li Long. "You also know that the price of winter skins is different from skins of other seasons. Although we are old acquaintances, business is business, after all; let's make it good for both of us."

"Sure, I definitely have no problem with that," Li Long smiled.

Actually, before Zhao Hui came, he had already run to the county leather factory twice. The purchasing station didn't just collect those rare skins; he also collected sheepskins, cowhides, and rabbit skins. When these ordinary skins accumulated to a certain amount, he would haul them to the county leather factory to sell.

Therefore, Li Long was also quite familiar with the technicians at the leather factory. He had asked, and the price for the skins they collected, like gazelle skins and deer skins, had increased a little, but not by much—not as much as the price Zhao Hui offered.

So, for now, it was more cost-effective for Li Long to sell these skins to Zhao Hui.

As for the winter skins, he would talk about that when the time came.

After all, whether it was the forestry team or Halimu and the others who would return from transhumance, they would definitely bring a large batch for Li Long.

Forest rangers also had to go into the forest in winter, just not deep into the mountains. They would also hunt wild animals, and most of those skins were kept.

So Li Long was not in a hurry.

What Zhao Hui said also made sense. Winter skins were different from skins of other seasons and couldn't be mixed together. His approach was very normal.

Li Long took Zhao Hui to the purchasing station—Jia Tianlong, Zhao Hui, and Huang Lei all knew Li Long's residence. These people, including Bai Xiu Ming, could already be considered important nodes in Li Long's network of connections.

"Take a look. There aren't many skins, about a hundred or so." During this period, there were no special events, and these skins were all collected by middlemen and sold here, and then Li Long, Sun Jia Qiang, and the others classified the skins according to their quality.

"A hundred or so, that's not many," Zhao Hui said with slight disappointment. "I wonder if in winter..."

"Don't worry about winter; there will definitely be much more than this. In autumn, these wild animals start running into the deep mountains, and everyone is busy, so they don't have time to hunt. Winter is different; everyone is idle, so they will definitely go hunting."

Gazelle winter skins were so valuable that Li Long believed that people like Xu Haijun would definitely hunt them.

Although he said it was few, Zhao Hui still quickly started looking at the skins with Li Long.

"You'd better get the vehicle over here first, or find someone first, and then look at the skins," Li Long reminded him. "After looking, you won't be able to move them, and you'll have to leave again, which is troublesome."

"I trust you," Zhao Hui smiled. Although he said that, he still flipped through a few skins before putting his hand down. He did have to find a vehicle first; a hundred or so skins had to be transported to the station before they could be hauled away.

These skins were eventually sold for over seven thousand three hundred yuan. Li Long put the money into his bag. By this time, it was almost noon, so he planned to leave with Gu Bo Yuan. Then he saw Tie Lanhua enter the purchasing station carrying a wicker basket.

This girl was also a bit surprised to see Li Long. She smiled, greeted him, and then went to the corner, waiting quietly for Sun Jia Qiang.

Li Long and Gu Bo Yuan returned to the main courtyard to eat, not worrying about so much. It wasn't until the purchasing station got off work in the evening that Gu Bo Yuan told Li Long while eating that Sun Jia Qiang wanted to see Li Long to talk about something.

After eating, Li Long went to the purchasing station.

"Boss, I'm getting married." Sun Jia Qiang's first sentence stunned Li Long.

"You're getting married? Are you ready?" Although he knew that the two of them might overcome difficulties and eventually get married, he hadn't expected it to be so soon.

"Yes, the courtyard is almost ready. These days, I gave her money, and she went to buy things; the courtyard is almost decorated." Sun Jia Qiang was a bit embarrassed when he first spoke, but gradually he became fluent. "In two days, her brother is getting married. She told her family that she would also marry over then... but her family told her that there would be no dowry, and I must give her family a bride price of five hundred yuan..."

A bride price of five hundred yuan?

That high?

Li Long knew that Sun Jia Qiang could save money, but he also knew that he had bought the courtyard, so the remaining money shouldn't be too much.

After all, that courtyard alone cost nearly one thousand.

He knew how much money he had paid him, and he still had to buy things; this money definitely wasn't enough.

"So, Boss, I want to advance some salary," Sun Jia Qiang said. "I don't have enough money in my hands. Boss, don't worry, I will definitely work hard later. She also said that when the time comes, she will go to collect things, and the money earned from selling them won't need to be given to her family; it will be used to pay you back first, Boss."

Looking at Sun Jia Qiang's confident appearance, Li Long couldn't bear to dampen his enthusiasm, but having lived two lives, there were some things he had to say:

"Then can you be sure that after you get married, her family won't come looking for you? After all, the money you earn is quite a lot, and for her family, she is also a money-making rake; can they let go? If her family keeps staring at you to suck your blood later, what will you do?"

"She said that on the day her brother gets married, we will go to handle the paperwork. Her brother and her sister-in-law are getting married, but they aren't handling the paperwork here; they are just asking the *Ahong* to recite some scriptures. It seems they say they will only handle the paperwork after they have a boy.

She has also agreed with her family to let the *Ahong* be the witness. After she marries over, her family will have nothing to do with her. Her family won't listen to her, but they will definitely listen to the *Ahong*; otherwise, they won't be able to live in that circle."

That is indeed a way.

Li Long didn't expect Tie Lanhua to be able to decisively do this step; she was also a brave girl.

This was also quite good, saving Sun Jia Qiang from having to make a choice. After all, if some girls didn't break ties, Han Chinese boys marrying them might have to convert to the religion, or get baptized or something, changing their dietary habits, which was quite something.

"Okay, then how much do you want to advance?" Li Long said. "When are you planning to get married?"

"Advance four hundred yuan. I still have some in my hands. After making up the bride price, I still have to leave some as capital for her to collect goods later. Also, Boss, when I get married, I won't be able to live at the purchasing station every day..." Sun Jia Qiang said apologetically.

"No problem." Li Long waved his hand. "After getting married, naturally I can't let you live at the purchasing station all the time. Since you have your own home, you definitely have to live at home."

He let Sun Jia Qiang follow him back to get the money, and the matter was settled.

Although Tie Jinbing didn't handle the paperwork for his marriage, Tie Lanhua and Sun Jia Qiang did handle the paperwork and had a marriage certificate—the two of them almost quietly obtained the certificate.

What made Li Long a bit surprised and even angry was that Tie Lanhua left the house on the day Tie Jinbing got married. When she left, Tie Yinhu even let Ma Haimai search Tie Lanhua's body. She didn't bring out a single cent, and apart from the clothes she was wearing, she didn't bring out an extra piece of clothing.

On this day, the purchasing station hadn't closed for the holiday yet. At noon, when Li Long's family and Gu Bo Yuan brought things to Sun Jia Qiang's courtyard to congratulate them, Tie Lanhua was wearing simple clothes, without any bridal attire at all.

But her mental state was very good; it felt like she wasn't the same person at all.

At this time, Tie Lanhua was like a cheerful girl. Having escaped from that cage, it seemed like she had suddenly come alive. Seeing Li Long and the others come, she welcomed them with a smile, busy pouring tea and stuffing candies into Mingming and Haohao's hands.

Entering the room, Li Long found that it was cleaned very cleanly, and things were arranged neatly, without a trace of mess.

Obviously, this was a woman who knew how to manage a home.

Sun Jia Qiang accepted Li Long and the others' blessings with a silly smile, apologizing that because the time at noon was short, he could only invite them to eat in the evening.

"Did you tell your family?" Li Long asked Sun Jia Qiang. "You have to notify them no matter what, right?"

"Yes, I wrote a letter back," Sun Jia Qiang replied. "It's enough for the family to know about this matter; anyway, they can't come."

"Then will you go back in the future?" Gu Xiaoxia asked.

"We'll talk about it when the time comes; maybe we'll have to wait until after we have children." Sun Jia Qiang had experienced too much, and he didn't have many thoughts about going back to his hometown to take a look.

They still had to work in the afternoon. Li Long thought about giving Sun Jia Qiang a holiday, but Tie Lanhua refused:

"Boss, we don't need a holiday. Anyway, it's right next door; when I miss him, I can just walk two steps and be there. To tell you the truth, I really have to thank you; otherwise, if I couldn't make up the bride price, I might have been finished. It was just because my brother was getting married that I had this opportunity; otherwise, I might never have been able to break this relationship in my whole life."

Li Long hurriedly waved his hand: "It's because the two of you have good feelings and are persistent; otherwise, you wouldn't have reached this step. Okay, since you're not taking a holiday, then we'll go back while you stay. Live your lives well."

Returning to the main courtyard, Gu Xiaoxia was also filled with emotion. She had learned everything Tie Lanhua had done from Li Long's mouth, and she also admired this girl for being truly decisive.

Ordinary Hui girls really couldn't do this step; they could only be bound tighter and tighter by their families and circles step by step, and in the end, live like Ma Haimai.

This matter was just an interlude in Li Long's life and soon faded away. He occasionally paid attention to Sun Jia Qiang and Tie Lanhua's life, and what surprised him a bit was that Tie Lanhua's family really didn't come to look for her.

It seemed that the role of the *Ahong* was really quite significant.

The first snow of the winter of '85 soon fell, and Li Long knew that Halimu and the others would be back soon.

He was thinking about whether he should buy the tractor for him before Halimu returned.

After all, Yushanjiang had one, and Talihar had one; it wouldn't be right if Halimu didn't have one.

Moreover, Halimu's mother and children were still at the livestock team's station. When the time came to pull them back into the mountains, it would be quite miserable to use horses.

How much better it would be to use a tractor!

While Li Long was planning to buy a tractor for Halimu, Halimu was also running in the snow with a gun in his hand; he had encountered that injured tiger again.

This time, Halimu wanted to take it down!

That tiger didn't know where it had been injured again, and its speed running in the snow wasn't very fast. Halimu could barely see it, but the distance was widening.

What to do?

PS: Today is Eid al-Adha. I just happened to arrange for the brave and pitiful Tie Lanhua to get married, to wish those friends who are celebrating Eid al-Adha a happy holiday! (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 914 =====