Chapter 916: Buying guns collectively is spectacular

Snow fell one after another. Li Long, who was sweeping snow in the courtyard, was thinking that it seemed that in the thirty or forty years after his previous life, snow fell less and less. After seeing a few snowfalls in winter, it seemed like it was about to melt immediately, turning into winter.

Although in extreme cold, the temperature of the Fourth Team could reach minus twenty-something degrees, it seemed like it was only for a few days, and it was getting shorter and shorter.

He vaguely remembered wearing shoes in winter, from the beginning when wearing fur-lined leather shoes was cold, to later when wearing ordinary cotton shoes seemed to be bearable.

Just this snow, now one snowfall had to be dealt with for two or three days. Thirty or forty years later, it seemed that it would be very rare to have a proper snowfall thirty or forty centimeters thick.

Everyone said the weather was slowly warming up, and comparing it, he truly felt it—because the snow in the courtyard right now was already thirty-something centimeters thick, and it was still continuing.

Li Long thought that maybe tomorrow the purchasing station would have a large batch of rabbit skins for sale. Because with such thick snow, the rabbits in the wild would probably suffer. If they had nothing to eat, they could only come out. Coming out, they couldn't run fast in the snow, and people could catch up very quickly.

Similarly, the gazelles in the depths of the Gobi Desert might also come out from the north and rush into the mountains to the south. He didn't know if people like Xu Haijun were planning to go out hunting.

The thick snow in the courtyard had to be cleared, so nothing could be done this day. Not to mention here, the purchasing station was the same. Gu Bo Yuan got up early to sweep the snow. Sun Jia Qiang next door couldn't even take care of the snow in his own courtyard, just taking a snow pusher to clear a passage, and then ran over to help Gu Bo Yuan push the snow out of the purchasing station's outer courtyard.

Theoretically, with heavy snow, the purchasing station's business would be a bit lighter, but in reality, it wasn't like that. Last time it snowed, they thought the same, but in the end, the purchasing station still had a dozen people queuing up. Helpless, they could only let these people help clear the snow together to make space.

So this time Sun Jia Qiang didn't dare to be lazy, mainly because he was very short of money right now and had to work hard to pay back Li Long's money early.

Sun Jia Qiang came, and Gu Bo Yuan wasn't so busy. After all, he was a bit older. Looking at Sun Jia Qiang's energetic appearance, he sighed that he was indeed old and had to admit it.

Clearing the snow wasn't just Li Long's main courtyard and the purchasing station. Looking down from a thousand meters up, the entire Ma County, including the nearby Stone City, almost every household was doing the same thing.

After Tao Daqiang and Tao Jian She finished pushing the snow in the courtyard, they rode their bicycles and took the snow pushers to the Li family.

"What are you doing?" Tao Jian She asked from behind.

"Going to push snow for Long Ge's house. This snow is heavy, and his two courtyards are not easy to handle."

There was snow on the road, but fortunately, Tao Daqiang had great strength, riding his bicycle through the snow, and rode all the way to the Li family.

Li Jianguo, Li Qing Xia, and Liang Yuemei were all clearing snow. Seeing Tao Daqiang come over, Li Jianguo knew his intention and didn't refuse, asking:

"Is the snow in your courtyard all cleared?"

"Yes." Tao Daqiang's courtyard was actually smaller than the Li family's and easier to clean.

Soon, Xie Yun Dong and the others also came over. Liang Dacheng simply drove a tractor over, carrying Jia Weidong and his two brothers.

With so many people joining, not only was the snow in the Li family's two courtyards cleared, but even the road was cleared for a long stretch.

Liang Yuemei retreated when Xie Yun Dong and the others came over, boiling water and tea in the room. When the snow was cleared, she hurriedly called people into the room to drink water. On the stove lid were roasted small dried fish, and several people were talking and laughing, which was quite lively.

"Daqiang, are you going to chase rabbits after the snow stops?" Liang Dacheng asked.

"Yes." Tao Daqiang nodded. "With such thick snow, those rabbits must be easy to chase."

"I heard Xu Haijun is looking for a gun and plans to go north to hunt gazelles." Xie Yun Dong said while chewing on small dried fish. "He said he went to the county to ask, and Xiao Long said winter full skins are at least fifty yuan each."

"Then shall we partner up to hunt?" Jia Weidong also became interested upon hearing this. He was physically weak before, and his family conditions weren't good. Not to mention a tractor, he couldn't even buy a bicycle.

Later, he followed Li Long to work, and this year he even bought a tractor, but his family was also emptied out. Right now, he could be considered to be in urgent need of money—when you have had a large sum of money, although you have set up real estate, the number on the account is gone, and that urgency for money is more urgent than before.

"How to do it? Can you borrow a gun?" Xie Yun Dong asked him. "Or can you get bullets? If we can get them, we can do it once."

Saying this, he looked at Li Jianguo, who had been sitting at the eight-immortal table drinking tea.

"If we can really find a gun, we'll hunt if we can." Li Jianguo naturally had his own thoughts. "I can take Xiao Long's gun, and you guys will just have to borrow."

"Militia training will take a while, and the guns of the base militia in the team haven't been pulled back from the township armed forces department." Xie Yun Dong said. "We can only borrow guns from private individuals."

As long as you can hunt one skin, you won't lose money; everyone knows this.

But no gun, no target—this is the biggest problem.

Li Long had taken Li Jianguo to hunt in the no-man's-land along the Wuyi Highway, but the timing might not be very good right now. Li Jianguo had also been to the sand nest in the north. He thought if his younger brother Li Long went, he would follow, and if he didn't, he could find a place in the north.

If it really didn't work, asking Wang Mingjun for directions would be fine, but he thought that if he wanted to find Wang Mingjun, he probably wouldn't be able to avoid a drink.

Headache.

"I can borrow a gun." Liang Dacheng smiled. He looked at his two brothers. Actually, the Li family was already a bit crowded. Liang Shuang Cheng asked: "The gun from Uncle's house?"

Liang Dacheng nodded.

"What gun?" Tao Daqiang asked.

"Sand gun, single-barreled, hunting sheep is definitely no problem." Liang Dacheng said. "A brand name."

Tao Daqiang nodded, but he wasn't very satisfied. If it were a rifle, it would be great.

He suddenly thought that Long Ge had said that sand guns were sold in the Zhang Xin Hua Bookstore, and rifles couldn't be bought, but buying a sand gun would be fine, right? It's better than nothing?

"Then why not buy one?" Tao Daqiang suddenly opened his mouth, surprising the others. "Long Ge said that the sand guns in the Zhang Xin Hua Bookstore only cost a few hundred yuan, and the bullets are even cheaper. Can't we afford them?"

Yes, can't we afford them?

A few hundred yuan used to be a huge sum for them, but now? Although a few hundred yuan is still a lot, it's just the income of two or three mu of sunflower seeds, so we can really afford it!

We didn't buy it before because our thinking was limited. Now we suddenly think that a gun for a few hundred yuan really isn't a high price!

Speaking of which, hunting ten skins in a winter will get the capital back. If you hunt well, like Li Long, you can hunt ten or so in three or five times before the New Year. Not only can you earn skins, but you can also have meat to eat. How cost-effective is this?

In the past, they wouldn't even think about this kind of thing, but now, the main labor force of each family is here. Once a decision is made, everyone goes home to get money!

This matter was decided just like that.

The snow had stopped. Li Long cleared the snow in the courtyard, pushed it into a pile, and then pushed it out one cart after another. While pushing, he heard the sound of a tractor. He thought, in this winter, who is driving a tractor around? If the tractor presses the snow on the road like this, it won't be convenient for the sanitation workers to clear it later.

Then he heard the tractor sound getting closer and closer, and it was actually heading toward his house.

He put the handcart aside at the gate and looked from afar at the tractor driving over with black smoke, recognizing that the driver was Liang Dacheng, Xie Yun Dong sitting on the fender, and his older brother Li Jianguo and others in the trailer behind.

Li Long was a bit surprised. Why did this group of people come together? Did something happen at home? Doesn't look like it. Looking at their faces, there was no expression, all quite good. Tao Daqiang grinned when he saw him.

Li Long cleared the gate position, meaning to let Liang Dacheng drive the tractor into the courtyard, but Liang Dacheng stopped the tractor at the door.

"Why did you all come over? Did something happen?" Li Long asked, looking up at his older brother.

"We plan to buy guns." Before Li Jianguo could speak, Liang Dacheng snatched the words. "Going to the Zhang Xin Hua Bookstore to buy sand guns."

Li Long was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at the few people on the side of the police station.

Old Guo, Guo Tiebing, looked over here with a smile, didn't say anything, and continued sweeping snow.

It's fine as long as nothing happened.

"Why did you think of buying guns?" Li Long asked.

"Thinking that it snowed and there's nothing to do, so we just bought guns and went to the sand nest behind to hunt gazelles. Didn't you say a gazelle skin is at least fifty yuan? Then if we hunt ten or so, the gun money will be back, and we can also get meat to eat."

Li Long smiled.

There are probably many people who think like them. These people don't necessarily have the money to buy guns; they might borrow them, or they might have other ways. In short, they will take the initiative to do things to earn money this winter. People's thinking is indeed constantly progressing. Actually, if it weren't for Li Long's subtle influence over the past few years, the Fourth Team and even the vast majority of farmers would be staying at home in winter to recuperate and wouldn't go out much.

Now they already know how to take the initiative to go out and earn money, which is indeed a good thing.

"Then let's go." Li Long pushed the handcart and prepared to put it back.

"Not yet, let's help you clear the snow in this courtyard first." Tao Daqiang and a few others had already jumped off the car. "We have already cleared the snow in our own courtyards in the team. Look at your courtyard, it's big, and the snow must take a day or two to clear."

All are strong labor forces. In over an hour, they pulled the snow in Li Long's front courtyard out. The front courtyard became clean. They also wanted to clear the snow in the backyard, but Li Long stopped them, saying the backyard didn't need to be taken care of, anyway, people didn't go there much, at most just shovel a path out.

Seeing that there was still over an hour before mealtime, Li Long told Sister Yang not to worry about him at noon, and he would eat outside with his older brother and the others.

There were many people, and Sister Yang still had to take care of two children. Cooking was too much, so it was better to be convenient outside.

The tractor was still at the Li family's door. Li Long started the jeep and took everyone over. Of course, the jeep really couldn't hold so many people, but the jeep was ultimately warmer than the tractor. At this time, the traffic police didn't stop them. Drive slowly, squeeze a bit, and they were there.

Arriving at the Zhang Xin Hua Bookstore, just as Li Long thought, there was no one here. The bookstore had two floors, no courtyard, and there were traces of swept snow on the open ground outside the building—the snow pusher didn't clear the snow cleanly, leaving a snow line and some snow balls.

Li Long and his group stomped their feet hard at the door, cleared the snow on their shoes, and Li Long saw a broom inside the door, so he took the broom out, and several people took turns clearing the snow on their trouser legs before walking in.

Although several people didn't have a high level of education, they still had some awe for places like bookstores. This is a place where knowledge can be produced, and for knowledge, in China, the more bottom-level people are, the more they will mostly be in awe.

Or rather, respect.

It was quite warm inside the bookstore, with a raging fire in the stove. Two staff members were organizing books, one staff member was sitting behind the counter, and two people were reading books.

Li Long didn't know what was on the second floor. He saw hunting guns, small-caliber rifles, and air guns displayed on the side counter.

There were double-barreled and single-barreled ones.

Men buying things is quite simple: find what you want to buy, ask the price, see if you can bargain, if you can't, if you want to buy, pay, buy the things, and leave.

It's just that simple.

A group of men crowded over. The middle-aged man behind the counter was a bit surprised. Hearing that they wanted to buy guns, he asked which kind of gun they wanted to buy.

"Sand gun."

"Double-barreled sand gun."

"Single-barreled, single-barreled is more accurate."

"Must have double-barreled."

"Choose your own, why so much talk?" Xie Yun Dong's last sentence set the tone, and Li Jianguo never spoke.

Actually, Li Long's intention was to give his own double-barreled sand gun to his older brother, but Li Jianguo's intention was that there was still an old father at home who was good at hunting, and one gun was definitely not enough, so he should buy one.

To tell the truth, for every man, the temptation of a gun is really great.

At first, the staff thought they planned to buy one gun together, but now they heard that each of them wanted to buy one?

Big business!

Counting the heads, fortunately, the guns in the warehouse were enough.

Li Jianguo, Xie Yun Dong, and Tao Daqiang chose double-barreled ones, while Liang Dacheng and Jia Weidong chose single-barreled ones.

There were also bullets, shell casings, primers, etc., in the counter, which meant that they not only sold bullets but also materials for reloading bullets. For these people right now, shotgun bullets themselves could be reloaded. They understood the principles, and even using stones instead of iron sand was possible... provided you didn't consider the lethality.

Of course, everyone still bought a few boxes of slugs. To hunt and get good skins, slugs were naturally the best choice.

Sand guns hitting things, the skins basically couldn't be kept, and even when eating, you had to pick out the sand inside bit by bit. Lead sand was also poisonous, so it was very troublesome.

Of course, rifles were the best, but this wasn't Northeast China, and 56-semi-automatic rifles couldn't be bought, so the best choice could only be sand guns.

The bookstore staff were all watching and helping. It was rare, or almost never seen, to have such a situation where five or six people came to buy guns together. Just today's business volume topped the usual month's.

These people were also very straightforward in paying. They all took out large ten-yuan bills; those small-denomination bills were basically not there, and this money was very new, clearly not scraped together.

These people are truly rich!

Thinking that the price of this one gun was at least half a year's salary for themselves, some people felt a bit sour, and also envious.

Everyone carried a gun on their back—except Li Long—and also carried bullets in their satchels. Everyone was very excited. If they weren't in the county, they would have already planned to find a suitable environment to test the guns.

"Let's eat first, and in the afternoon you go to the township police station to handle the gun license." Li Long said after sitting firmly in the jeep, "So that when you hunt later, you won't encounter anyone looking for trouble."

Li Long's reminder was very kind, and everyone agreed. Anyway, with the invoice, it was easy to handle the gun license for this gun.

"Long Ge, do you have a gun license for that gun of yours?" Tao Daqiang asked, holding his double-barreled hunting gun.

"Yes." Li Long smiled and said while driving, "I handled it at the unit; this is more convenient."

The supply and marketing cooperative had the convenience of handling gun licenses, and the security section had them, so this thing was naturally easy to get.

Although everyone had sand guns in their hands, thinking of Li Long's 56-semi-automatic rifle, these people were still very envious. After all, that gun could shoot much farther and much more accurately than a sand gun.

"Borrow the team's guns to shoot during militia training later." Li Long guessed their thoughts, "Then we'll go to the north to hunt once, or to the no-man's-land in the west."

Originally, everyone came to call him to see and buy guns, and the original intention was also to invite him to go hunting together after buying guns and preparing. So Li Long's statement, he naturally agreed.

Li Jianguo had been framed by these people before and told to come to find Li Long, not without this intention. If it comes to hunting, the Fourth Team, even if they have conflicts with the Li family, has to praise one sentence: the best at hunting is Li Long.

Even many people think that looking at the whole county, the best at hunting is only Li Long—the county hasn't heard of anyone who has truly hunted fierce animals like bears and lynxes alone, and even Li Long hunting several wolves at once is something ordinary people find difficult to do.

So to hunt things, subconsciously finding him has become a habit.

At noon, they ate at the state-run canteen. In the middle of winter, a plate of over-oil meat mixed noodles, and then drink a bowl of hot noodle soup, it's great!

After eating, Li Long drove the jeep and took them back to the main courtyard. Liang Dacheng's tractor was a bit difficult to start this afternoon, but not particularly difficult. Li Jianguo and the others took the guns and drove the tractor back, and agreed with Li Long to go north to hunt in two days.

Li Long returned to the courtyard, and after letting the water in the jeep out, he went into the room to get the gun, preparing to wipe the gun well.

Right now, Halimu and the others still needed to tidy up, so he would follow his older brother and the others to the sand nest in the north to take a look, which could be considered relaxing.

In the evening, he talked about this with Gu Xiaoxia. Gu Xiaoxia didn't have any opinions, thinking that Li Long had indeed been idle recently, and there was nothing to do at the purchasing station, so she advised him that he could hunt for a few more days. After all, the relationships with those people in the village were quite good, and being able to hunt more to earn some money could be considered a seasoning in winter.

The next day, after Gu Bo Yuan learned about this, he was a bit envious and also a bit regretful. He couldn't leave the work at the purchasing station to go hunting.

Fortunately, Li Long promised him that in a few days, the purchasing station would stop for a while, and then he would call him to go together. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 917 =====