Chapter 921

Because guests were coming, Sister Yang had originally planned to make noodles for lunch. The dough had already been kneaded, and after communicating with Jia Tianlong and his wife, she still made the noodles, just stir-frying a few extra dishes to go with them.

Because Qiao Fengzhi still had to breastfeed her child and couldn't eat spicy food, in addition to the stir-fried spicy lamb skin and the stir-fried pickled cabbage with meat, there was also a plate of shredded potatoes, a plate of stir-fried celery with meat, and a plate of deep-fried baby bok choy and deep-fried chives.

The term "deep-fried" here is local dialect; in reality, it just means the vegetables were blanched in boiling water, squeezed dry, and then cut into thin sections.

Li Long's glass greenhouse in the backyard was still in use. He had taken the time to renovate it during the summer. There was enough coal at home to burn, and he had installed a heated floor directly in the greenhouse, with three stoves burning at once; the temperature was sufficient.

It was also covered with straw mats, which were pulled up during the day and lowered at night for better insulation.

There wasn't much planted inside—just easy-to-grow things like chives and celery, as well as baby bok choy. Although there were chili peppers and eggplants, they had only just sprouted and flowered, so Li Long had to take time to pollinate them by hand; this stuff was quite slow.

Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Bo Yuan were already familiar with Jia Tianlong, and Qiao Fengzhi had also been here before, so once introduced, they knew each other.

Gu Xiaoxia had two mischievous sons, so she was quite fond of girls. Before the meal, she chatted with Qiao Fengzhi, and the two of them complimented each other on their good fortune.

After Sister Yang finished pulling the noodles, Li Long brought Jia Tianlong and his wife to eat.

"It's just home-cooked food, don't be formal."

"Why be formal? I wouldn't be formal when I'm at your place," Jia Tianlong said with a smile while mixing his noodles. "Eating should be like this. What counts as eating in a restaurant? Don't look at how well it's made; we really just like eating here." As he spoke, he took a big bite of the mixed noodles, clearly someone who knew how to eat.

Jia Yumei had already fallen asleep. The Li family had a crib that was currently idle, so it was perfect for Jia Yumei to sleep in without worrying about her falling out. Qiao Fengzhi rarely ate mixed noodles, so Gu Xiaoxia taught her from the side.

This meal was quite lively.

After the meal, Gu Bo Yuan went to the purchasing station. When he left, he told Li Long that there had been a lot of people selling hides over the past two days, and there were already four or five hundred hides in the warehouse.

If you really counted them, it wasn't an exceptionally large number, but in reality, it was already quite a lot.

Jia Tianlong wiped his mouth and said:

"Business at your purchasing station is pretty good this winter, too."

"It's better this year—it wasn't like this in the past." Li Long shook his head. "Maybe it's because Mongolian gazelles are easy to hunt right now and the hides are worth a decent amount, so more people are hunting them."

He vaguely guessed that this matter might have something to do with him.

Of course it was related. The price his purchasing station paid for hides was much higher than the original purchasing station. Middlemen and those who had guns and knew the whereabouts of the Mongolian gazelles naturally wanted to make more money.

Most of those who had guns and could hunt Mongolian gazelles were farmers. Winter had arrived, and after a busy year, they could finally rest. Under normal circumstances, they would rest for a month or two at this time to recharge their energy, waiting until the end of the year or the beginning of the next, when the Mongolian gazelles had finished eating the edible things exposed above the snow and gathered together to migrate, before they would go hunting.

At that time, the Mongolian gazelle herds were large, and herds of several hundred were very normal, making them easy to hunt.

This year, because the purchasing station offered high prices for hides, these people wanted a better life and wanted to add a few big-ticket items to their homes, so naturally, they hoped to hunt more, which meant they started hunting earlier.

Hunting early also had its benefits; the Mongolian gazelles hunted were plump. Although Li Long held the firm opinion that Mongolian gazelle meat wasn't as tasty as domestic sheep meat, for the vast majority of people who could only eat meat once a month, having meat to eat was good enough—what else were they going to be picky about?

Upon discovering that the Mongolian gazelle meat hunted now was plump and fatty, hunting Mongolian gazelles wasn't just about the hides anymore, but also included eating the meat. Storing a few more Mongolian gazelles was fine whether for their own consumption or for selling for money.

For one Mongolian gazelle, the hide sold for dozens of yuan, and the meat sold for ten or so yuan—what a bargain!

That was why more and more people were buying or borrowing guns to hunt Mongolian gazelles, and that was why the number of hides at the purchasing station had become so large.

Jia Tianlong had come specifically to pay respects to the jade stone. After this matter was accomplished, his wish was fulfilled. After eating lunch and chatting with Li Long for a while, once his daughter woke up, he took his wife and daughter and left.

According to him, he still had to rush to Wucheng today, stay for one night, and take the train back tomorrow.

After sending Jia Tianlong off, Gu Xiaoxia was also a bit puzzled and said to Li Long:

"What do you think he's after? Bringing such a small baby, running over here from thousands of miles away, just to pay respects to this jade stone?" When she turned her head to look at the jade stone, she discovered that the few plates of food placed on it had been ruined by either a wild cat or something else.

"He believes in this, so this is a very important matter to him," Li Long said. "It's no wonder he made a special trip here. Maybe in his view, making this special trip means that when the time comes, he'll have another child."

Faith or superstition—these kinds of things are really hard to explain.

Gu Xiaoxia didn't say much more, just said with some regret: "I think that child Yumei is really cute; if only we had a daughter."

Since ancient times, Chinese people have valued having both sons and daughters, and Gu Xiaoxia was no exception.

"Don't think so much. Old Jia was envying me today, telling me how smart our Mingming and Haohao are."

"They are smart, indeed." Gu Xiaoxia's thoughts were diverted, and she also said proudly, "I told the older sisters in the office, as well as Director Wang and the others, that Mingming and Haohao can already say quite a lot of words at only a year and a half old, but they don't believe it..."

Having children and becoming parents, a large part of life's focus will fall on the children; this is inevitable as parents.

If the children are smart, eager to learn, and sensible, parents will certainly be proud and boastful whenever they show it.

Gu Xiaoxia went to work, and Li Long took the two children to move around slowly in the courtyard to help digest their food, and then let the children go into the room to sleep.

At over a year old, the amount of time they needed to sleep every day was still long.

Over the next few days, Li Long thoroughly enjoyed a period of family happiness before driving the jeep, loaded with a carload of supplies, up the mountain.

The snow in the mountains was heavier than in the plains, and heavier than in previous years, so it was a bit difficult for the jeep to enter the mountains.

Fortunately, Li Long saw a road pressed out by a tractor. He guessed it should be Halimu and the others' tractor. He didn't know if they were coming out of the mountains to visit family or to buy supplies. In any case, the road had been pressed out, making it easier for his jeep to travel.

Halimu was herding sheep on the winter pasture. Although the snow was thick, it hadn't completely covered the grass, and the cattle and sheep could still kick away the snow to graze on the grass underneath.

After a while, when the grass was completely covered by snow, they would have to rely on the grass harvested in the autumn to survive the winter.

Fortunately, there were two tractors harvesting grass this autumn, so the haystacks of the dozen or so herdsmen families in this small tribe were all higher than in previous years, so there was enough fodder.

When Li Long's jeep drove over, the two dogs heard the movement first, barked, and ran over, wagging their tails desperately to express their goodwill as they approached the jeep.

Halimu rode his horse over at a trot, running parallel to the jeep. Li Long opened the car window and greeted him. The jeep stopped, Li Long turned off the engine and got out, and together with Halimu who had dismounted, they moved the things down.

"Now that we have a tractor, it will be more convenient to buy things," Halimu said. "You actually don't need to keep bringing things over here."

"I still have to bring them. You don't buy things very often, but I buy them frequently. Besides, it's a jeep; it runs fast and is convenient." After unloading the things, Li Long said, "How is the tractor running? No problems, right?"

"Mada" means faults or problems. People in Northern Xinjiang often say "meiyou mada," which means no problem.

"No, it's very good." As soon as the tractor was mentioned, the smile on Halimu's face bloomed. "A while ago, I drove it to see Tasken and the others. Tasken was so happy he went crazy when he found out it was our own tractor—of course, I told them not to tell the people in the team."

Li Long could imagine the excitement of those two children.

Halimu's wife came out of the winter hut, smiled at Li Long, and then went in to boil milk tea.

"Are the cattle and sheep okay over there?" Li Long asked.

"There's a problem." Halimu got back on his horse and said, "There have been a lot of wolves these past two days, and the cattle and sheep near the forest are in great danger. I have to drive them over."

Are wolves this arrogant now?

Li Long hadn't heard any wolf howls, but since Halimu said so, it must be true. He took his gun out of the jeep, disengaged the safety, pulled the bolt to chamber a round, and walked toward the slope with the gun, wanting to take a look in the forest.

When he entered the forest with the gun, Halimu had already gathered the cattle and sheep into a group and was driving them toward the sheep pen.

Li Long waved at Halimu, signaling that he would be back in a while, and then dived into the forest.

Halimu's winter pasture was actually quite large, but it sloped downward, and upward was the forest. If there were wolves, the possibility of them being above was extremely high.

Not long after entering the forest, Li Long smelled a faint scent of blood.

The snow at the edge of the forest was quite thick, but as he walked inside, the snow wasn't that thick anymore. The branches and leaves of the Tianshan spruce were dense, and the snow couldn't penetrate them. In this forest, there was even frozen moss and some green grass—these grasses had already frozen before they could wither and turn yellow.

Following the scent of blood, he walked forward for dozens of meters, and Li Long saw a skeleton—it didn't look like a sheep's. Looking at the remaining fur, it looked like a roe deer's.

Faint five-clawed plum blossom prints could be seen nearby; it should be wolves.

However, looking at the traces, it had been at least two or three days, and the wolves were not nearby.

Li Long circled around, and when he came out, he saw Halimu waiting with a gun at the edge of the forest less than a hundred meters away from him.

Halimu also saw Li Long and waved at him, signaling him to go back and drink milk tea.

Li Long waded through the snow back to the winter hut and told Halimu about his discovery.

"There have been wolves howling every night these past few days," Halimu opened the door of the winter hut and signaled Li Long to go in. He also went in, and while closing the door, he said, "It's a small pack, trying to ambush my sheep herd. This year I tied the sheep pen tighter. Whenever there's a wolf howl at night, I get up, and the wolves don't dare to come over. However, I believe that after a while, when the snow gets thicker and the wolves can't find food, I'm afraid they'll come to cause us trouble."

"Then should I come back in a few days?" Li Long took the milk tea and, after touching his chest to signal to Halimu's wife, said, "Hunt wolves again?"

"No need, no need." Halimu waved his hand confidently. "No need. With so many bullets you gave me, I'm not afraid of them at all. The sheep pen is very sturdy; they can't get in, so they can only stay outside. As long as they dare to linger, I can hit them."

The forestry team gave Li Long a wooden box of bullets, and Li Long distributed most of them to Halimu and the others. Their summer pasture was deep in the mountains, where there were many wild animals, so having guns and bullets was good for self-defense.

Since Halimu gave his word, Li Long didn't say anything more and drank the milk tea happily.

In the afternoon, Li Long returned to the county, and he stopped by the purchasing station on the way.

A rather awkward situation was happening at the purchasing station at this time.

Tie Jinbing came to the counter with three Mongolian gazelle hides and said to Sun Jia Qiang:

"Brother-in-law, come and take a look at these hides for me, how are they?"

Everyone knew that the person in charge at the purchasing station was Gu Bo Yuan, and Sun Jia Qiang was just helping. Even if Gu Bo Yuan wasn't there, Sun Jia Qiang was only responsible for receiving goods or recording, and wouldn't evaluate the hides—he could offer a price.

Moreover, Sun Jia Qiang never offered a higher price than Gu Bo Yuan; this was his way of doing things—he wanted to earn more money for his boss.

Li Long treated him quite well, so Sun Jia Qiang naturally thought about reciprocating.

Today, Tie Jinbing appeared suddenly, and Sun Jia Qiang was already a bit surprised and embarrassed. Now that Tie Jinbing suddenly addressed him directly and asked him to calculate the hides, he almost wanted to bury his head in his crotch.

Wasn't this undermining him?

He recalled what Gu Bo Yuan had said before—don't trust too much in the matter of the Imam testifying that Tie Lanhua mentioned; some people are shameless and double-standard, and you will be speechless.

Right now, he was a bit speechless.

The people following behind to watch immediately became interested. An old acquaintance of Gu Bo Yuan had come two days ago, but that person was joking and didn't insist on Old Gu taking care of him. The rating Old Gu gave was also very fair.

Today, a relative of Sun Jia Qiang had come again. Would the purchasing station give a high price to its own people this time?

Some people guessed, while others saw the trick and just watched the fun.

"This matter has nothing to do with Little Sun; he can't tell you." Gu Bo Yuan naturally wouldn't let the situation remain deadlocked. He picked up the hides, looked at them, and said:

"Damaged hides. I'll give thirty for this one. This one... hey, two bullet holes, twenty-five! The third one... it's passable, thirty as well. Adding them up, eighty-five yuan. Are you selling or not? If you're selling, register and sign now!"

The original pressure was now on Tie Jinbing.

Was he selling or not?

Tie Jinbing naturally didn't want to sell at this price. Wasn't the reason he sought out Sun Jia Qiang to sell at a high price? Even if he couldn't sell the three for one hundred and fifty, one hundred and twenty would have been fine! (End of chapter)