Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Li Long didn't bring much meat, but these people weren't particularly hungry. They ate some roasted meat and a couple of pieces of naan bread, and once they had something to eat, they didn't want to eat anymore.

The main reason is that with such beautiful scenery, everyone wants to explore and doesn't want to stay here.

Halimu Yushanjiang and the others had already slaughtered the sheep, cut it into pieces, and put it into a large pot to cook.

Halim's wife began to prepare the sheep's internal organs, intending to stir-fry them—she knew that Han Chinese people still preferred stir-fried dishes.

Li Xiangqian was also getting restless and wanted to take a stroll around the area. However, the reporter already knew that Li Long was in charge of the road construction, so he came to interview Li Long.

Li Long wasn't nervous at all in front of the camera—he was used to video chatting with others on his phone in his previous life, so he wasn't nervous at all.

This surprised the female reporter somewhat—most people would be nervous when facing a camera for the first time, even if they know it's just a machine; Li Xiangqian was even nervous just now.

But Li Long was an exception. Facing the camera, he spoke fluently about the questions he was asked, without the slightest fear or nervousness. He truly had the air of a born media professional.

However, she also realized that Li Long had given most of the credit for these things to the supply and marketing cooperative, probably because he was still an employee of the cooperative.

Li Long didn't use any official jargon or platitudes; he just spoke plainly. Our supply and marketing cooperative leaders thought that these herders' lives were very inconvenient.

As a state-owned enterprise, we have an obligation and responsibility to improve their lives. And as their friend, I've earned a lot of money from them.

Our Party's propaganda principle of "taking from the people and using for the people" applies to me as well. It's very meaningful that through my efforts, and with the support and assistance of the community leaders, we can make the herders' migration process easier.

and many more.

It would be wonderful if reporters could feel that all future interviews were this easy.

After the interview, noting that the mutton would take some time to ripen, Li Long, observing the cadres and staff scattered on the grassland, picking mushrooms or enjoying the scenery, had a sudden inspiration. He went over to Halim and Yushanjiang and asked:

"Are there any gullies nearby where we can collect deer antlers and jade? Not too far, and not dangerous. They have nothing to do here, so let's find them something to do."

“Yes, yes.” Yushanjiang was very familiar with the area and said with a smile, “Wait a moment, I’ll call Bek and Talihar over and have them take the detachments.”

"Do we need to trouble them? Can't you handle it yourselves?"

"We also have things to do. When the others arrive, I have something to tell you," Yu Shanjiang said mysteriously. "It's good news."

Li Long wondered what good news could there be? Had another treasure been discovered in the mountains?

Not long after, Talihar and Bek arrived. Li Long then told Li Xiangqian his thoughts.

“Great! As long as it’s not too far, these people will definitely be happy to go. I want to go collect jade… Where?” Li Xiangqian also had an idea.

So they divided the people into three groups: one group followed Talihar to collect jade, and another group followed Bek to collect deer antlers—there were more people collecting jade.

Another group of people stayed behind. They found there were a lot of mushrooms in the grass and didn't want to leave, so they wanted to stay and pick mushrooms.

So we just let them be.

The cameraman and the reporter also disagreed. The reporter wanted to collect deer antlers and said he wanted to see if he could spot any fawns, while the cameraman wanted to collect jade.

After they left, Halim said, "I'll stay here and watch the mutton. Let Yushanjiang take you there."

Yu Shanjiang had Li Long drive the car while he sat in the passenger seat and pointed out the way. They drove more than a kilometer into the mountains before turning into a ravine.

The reason it is called a half-mountain gully is because this place is like a large, gentle slope that was suddenly carved out by a huge force.

Moreover, this ditch doesn't reach the bottom of the mountain; it ends halfway down—its overall shape is somewhat like a nose on a human face, getting bigger as it goes down—except it's concave.

Yu Shanjiang told Li Long to park the car next to the lowest ditch, and after getting out, he pointed to the bottom of the ditch and said:
"We found a stone ball there. It looked beautiful and was colorful, but we couldn't lift it."

"How big is this stone ball that you can't lift it?" Li Long looked at the stone ball and asked, "Is it that big?" He gestured with his arms to indicate.

“It’s not that big,” Yushan Jiang said. “Actually, I’m quite strong, but I just can’t lift it.”

He gestured as he spoke, which surprised Li Long: "It's so small, you can't carry it?"

Yushanjiang gestured with the size of a volleyball, which is inappropriate.

Based on Li Long's understanding of Yushanjiang, he should be able to lift something weighing seventy or eighty kilograms, so this shouldn't be the case according to the specific gravity.

Curiosity arose, so Li Long and Yushanjiang went down together.

The pit was surrounded by grass and shrubs, indicating that it had been there for quite some time. There were also some stones in some places. Li Long examined them and found that the stones were ordinary and nothing special.

Looking at the terrain, he had a rough idea of ​​what was going on, but he wasn't sure yet.

Once you reach the bottom of the pit, you can see that it's about half an acre in size. Although it's a bit undulating, it's generally flat.

Yu Shanjiang led Li Long to the bottom of the pit, near the lower part, roughly at the tip of his nose, and pointed to a spot, saying:

"Look, that rock, doesn't it look like a stone ball?"

Li Long had actually already observed it—because the surrounding area was all grass, only that patch showed signs of being dug up, with half of a black, round object protruding from the ground, and the lower half also dug up, but it probably wasn't completely dug out.

Li Long walked over and squatted down to take a look.

Sure enough, it looked black from a distance, but up close, it had winding, golden lines about half a centimeter thick, as well as some white and blue lines.

Li Long pushed it with his hand, but it wouldn't budge.

For something so small, it feels incredibly heavy.

"How is it? Does it look heavy to you?" Yushanjiang said. "The patterns on it are beautiful, aren't they? I saw it when I was herding sheep. It used to be covered with a layer of soil, but our sheep dug it off."

Li Long laughed; this sheep is quite intelligent.

"When I came over and saw it, I thought it was pretty and thought I'd take it home, but I couldn't lift it at all!"

Li Long cleaned all the soil off the "stone ball" and then he could tell that it was probably a meteorite.

Moreover, it was fired to be very round, and I don't know if it's due to the texture of the material or some other reason, but it looks very round to the naked eye.

He then squatted down and hugged it—it was really heavy.

Knowing his own strength, just that hug felt like it weighed at least 100 kilograms per person!
This guy... is too heavy!
Logically speaking, even gold of the same volume shouldn't be this heavy.

This thing... I hope there's nothing wrong with it.

Li Long hesitated for a moment, then decided to take it back first. He felt this thing must be a rare item.

As for whether it's radioactive—he naturally didn't know, but he figured he'd just take it back and put it somewhere no one would be around.

And he didn't feel any discomfort while holding this thing, so there shouldn't be anything wrong, right?

He was quite sensitive to danger and had a lot of confidence in it, so when he encountered it, he thought he should take it back first.

With a surge of strength, he clasped his hands together and lifted the thing up.

Needless to say, at least 120 kilograms!
With Li Long's current strength, carrying this thing back to the car wouldn't be a problem, Yu Shanjiang once again praised Li Long's strength.

Although he was much older than Li Long, he believed that he still couldn't lift the stone ball at Li Long's age.

"What is this thing?" Yu Shanjiang asked as he watched Li Long carefully put the thing into a bag, tie it up, and place it under the seat.

“It might be a meteorite,” Li Long said. “Something that fell from the sky. As for what it is, it’s hard to say. I’ll take it to the geological exploration institute to ask sometime.”

We drove back very carefully, mainly because we were afraid that this thing might accidentally roll and hit other parts, damaging the car.

When they returned, they saw people excitedly discussing something at the yurt. Then Li Long saw someone holding half a deer antler, proudly showing it off to the mushroom pickers.

“We’ve seen that antler before,” Yu Shanjiang said quietly to Li Long after looking at it. “It looks like it’s been around for many years and the quality isn’t very good anymore, so we didn’t pick it up. But we can find some in that ditch every year.”

Li Long thought to himself, "That's a lot."

But pick them up while you can, because in a few years, you won't be allowed to pick them up anymore—and you won't be allowed to take them out anyway.

These things in northern Xinjiang and snowy areas are all like this; picking them up is prohibited.

Unlike the forests of Northeast China, where you can pick up almost anything without any problem—you often see videos of people finding deer antlers and selling them—it's different in Northwest China. Not just deer antlers, but also argali antlers, ibex antlers, and gazelle antlers are all prohibited.

Of course, this does not include farmed animals from enterprises located near mountains; the main species are wild-caught animals from the mountains.

So Li Long thought he should bring out any ibex horns he could find in the mountains over the past two years. In a few years, these beautiful horns wouldn't be allowed to be taken out of the mountains anymore.

Or rather, anything valuable from the mountains is forbidden to be taken out, including the soil.

The controls will become increasingly strict.

Only a few returned; most are still searching in the ditch.

Li Long didn't go over either. He was studying the "meteorite" sphere, trying to figure out what it was with his limited knowledge of chemistry.

Li Long's limited chemical knowledge includes the fact that some metals, especially rare earth metals, contain natural substances that are indeed denser than gold.

But this thing... it doesn't seem like it either.

Therefore, the reason cannot be determined through research.

Then we stopped researching it.

Once the aroma of the boiled mutton wafted through the air, Li Long went to the ditch to call for help.

On the hillside, he saw a number of people scattered in the two gullies. Talihar and Bek were at the head of the gullies, not going in—both of them were holding guns and keeping watch.

Thinking back to the tiger's roar he heard that day, Li Long felt that such precautions were not unnecessary.

"The mutton is cooked, dinner is ready!" Li Long shouted.

After shouting a few more times, the people in the ditch started to look up and then gradually walked over.

Li Long waited on the slope, and when these people passed by, he found that most of them had not gained anything. Occasionally, someone would hold a piece of jade or agate the size of their palm, as if they had found a treasure.

Some people were holding a piece of deer antler; there were hardly any complete ones. The antlers were quite old, and if you couldn't see them clearly, you might mistake them for tree branches.

However, something is better than nothing—Li Long calculated that one-third of the people had found something, and some of them had beautiful stones in their hands, but they were not jade.

But it might look like jade because it's been soaking in water for a long time.

In any case, there were gains to be made.

After washing their hands, they came to the yurt, where Halim and his men had already set up a low table outside and scooped out two large basins of mutton from the pot.

The chopped onions were placed to the side. Zhou Yuan then took out new enamel basins from the car, gave one to each person, and told them to get the meat themselves, and then take a piece of naan bread to eat with it.

There weren't enough benches, and the grass wasn't dirty, so no one cared. Some people leaned against the car, while others simply sat on the grass and started eating.

Although most people didn't find anything, they were all quite excited from the physical activity, chatting and eating as they ate.

Li Long also grabbed a piece of lamb neck meat and tore off a piece of naan bread, leaning against the car to eat it.

The female reporter came over and asked in a low voice:

"I heard that the Kazakhs have certain customs when they eat meat, don't they?"

"With the elders gone, we shouldn't worry about such formalities now," Li Long shook his head. "Let's eat. Everyone's hungry; food is the priority right now."

The female reporter was still a little dissatisfied, but there was nothing she could do. She was also hungry, so she joined the female staff member to eat.

The ones who harvested the most mushrooms were the ones who picked the most, some weighing four or five kilograms, enough to eat for several meals.

Some of those who went to collect deer antlers and jade but failed regretted it, saying while eating that they should have stayed and collected mushrooms instead, at least they would have gained something.

When Li Xiangqian heard this, he said that he would give them some more time after they finished eating. Those who wanted to pick mushrooms could pick some nearby and then go back.

Immediately, the cadres and staff became happy, especially those who hadn't found anything; their faces beamed with joy.

Li Long guessed that they felt that since they had come all this way, it would be a waste of time if they didn't pick up something to take back.

Although I got to eat mutton for free, I didn't bring anything home.

It seems to be a local custom that, regardless of whether it's adults or children (children are naturally influenced by adults), when people go out to other places, they can't come back empty-handed; they have to bring something with them.

Even if you only bring back a handful of flowers, it's still considered bringing back some local specialties.

Li Long thought to himself, "It's just that it's not July or August, otherwise you would have plucked all the snow lotus from the nearby mountains."

Those who already knew there were mushrooms nearby ate quickly. After finishing a piece of meat, they hurriedly stuffed a piece of naan into their mouths, quickly washed the enamel basin, and then went to pick mushrooms on the grass.

Li Long had no choice but to shout a few words:

"There are lots of mushrooms on the nearby grass, don't rush, eat your fill first."

When I took Yushanjiang to hug the meteorite sphere earlier, we saw many small, low-growing grass areas with lots of mushrooms the size of quail eggs.

Anyway, Halim and the others won't eat them, and the mushrooms will spoil in a day or two, so it's better to let them pick them.

After eating some himself, Li Long also picked some. In order not to compete with these people, he went further away, and of course, he reaped a greater harvest—some people would immediately squat down and pick up a few mushrooms as soon as they saw them.

Li Long found the small patches of mushrooms too few, so he simply walked further away, found a large patch, and squatted down to carefully pick them up.

After picking mushrooms for a while, I looked back and saw that even Li Xiangqian was picking mushrooms, so I laughed.

When they returned, the sun was still quite high. Li Long, Halimu, and Yushanjiang reiterated the situation there, reminding them to be careful, as there were tigers present.

He then let the others get in the car, and this time he didn't need to lead the way. He drove to the very back to finish the journey.

The main reason is to avoid any accidents—it was only a little before 5 p.m., but the return trip would take at least two hours, so it was better for everyone to get back sooner.

On the way back, Li Long encountered several more herb gatherers. To his surprise, some of them had already walked more than 50 kilometers into the mountains.

The deeper you go, the fewer people come to this place, and naturally, the more resources you find.

But there are also many dangers. Getting lost in the deep mountains and forests is one issue, as is insufficient supplies. What's more troublesome is that there are also many ferocious animals such as gray wolves and brown bears.

These people are really bold.

Li Long didn't stop these people. If you tried to stop them, they might think you were blocking their path to wealth.

The car swayed and bumped its way out of the mountains. Li Long saw that the door of Bolati's wooden house was still locked. He figured that Bolati was probably still in the mountain house exchanging fritillaria bulbs, so he decided to come and find him tomorrow and check on how the exchange was going.

Back at the supply and marketing cooperative, Li Xiangqian gathered everyone together and gave a brief summary—just a few words, mainly praising everyone's attitude this time, saying they were all very obedient.

He knew everyone was eager to get back and deal with the mushrooms, so he didn't say much and dismissed them.

The cameraman and reporter were in a hurry to go back and process the video footage. After chatting with Li Long, Li Xiangqian, and Zhou Yuan for a few minutes, Li Long also went back.

Back in the courtyard, he carried the stone ball and placed it in the greenhouse at the back.

This place is dozens of meters away from the front yard where people live, far enough that even if this thing emits radiation, it won't have any impact.

Li Long put the thing away without paying much attention. Firstly, his courtyard was relatively safe, with the police station just across the street, and secondly, there were dogs in the yard, so he could hear any noise.

Furthermore, this thing weighs over 100 kilograms, and most people really can't carry it away.

There was no one in the yard, so he went to clean up the mushrooms, planning to stir-fry them for dinner. Fresh mushrooms are best eaten fresh.

Once this matter was over, Li Long planned to have his wife call Gu Xiaoyu. After all, it would be June in about twenty days, and he needed to get her to take leave in advance, or even come over earlier.

Gu Boyuan planned to hold the wedding on June 1st, and preparations always need to be made in advance.

P.S.: I've been lying down for a long time, applied some plasters, and done some recovery exercises; my back feels a bit better. Manas is really cold now—it's a single-story house, and my butt gets freezing when I go to the toilet. I still need to hurry back to Yili to recuperate.

Thank you all for your concern. I'll post 5,000 words today, and we'll see how things go tomorrow. I'm going to lie down now. (End of Chapter)