Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Although Professor Yang and his team had left, the number of people at the edge of the cooperative's cotton fields had not decreased; in fact, it had increased.

A group of people were from the Agricultural Extension School; they were brought by Principal Yang. A couple of days ago, when Professor Yang was here, they did research with him and consulted him on some planting techniques.

After Professor Yang left, they didn't stop there. Instead, they stayed to discuss the development prospects of growing cotton in saline-alkali land with Xie Yundong and the others.

There is a lot of saline-alkali land in the countryside. If we can make use of it to grow cotton, we can not only increase our income, but also ensure that grain production does not decrease.

This is a win-win situation, and not only the agricultural extension school but also the township can see the benefits, so they will definitely give it their full support.

The other group consisted of villagers. It wasn't just the cooperative and a few other businesses in the village that grew cotton.

Last year, the Li family took the lead in planting cotton, and several other families followed suit, and most of them made money. Now, the price of watermelon seeds is not good; last year, the price dropped to below one yuan, and even these seeds can't be sold.

If you want to make money, you have no choice but to grow cotton.

Those families that grew cotton learned techniques from the Li family, and even the worst ones made a lot of money, so this year more people in the fourth team grew cotton.

Hearing that professors from the August 1st Agricultural College had come, these people naturally hoped to come and learn cotton planting techniques. After all, they had been learning from Li Long last year, and Li Long had also said that he had learned planting techniques from professors at the Agricultural College.

Professor Yang has research duties, so he naturally can't hold lectures in the field to answer everyone's questions.

However, these people from the cooperative are with Professor Yang every day, so they must have benefited a lot. In addition, there are people from the Agricultural Broadcasting School. So, these people from the village came here now to inquire about any noteworthy points or any new technologies they need to learn.

So quite a few people gathered around.

Xie Yundong and his team didn't hold back; they answered whatever questions people asked, some of which were told by Professor Yang, and some by Li Long himself.

Li Long said this: there's no need to hide anything about the technology. Cotton farming is only a good thing when it reaches a large scale and everyone makes money.

If only a few cooperatives are planting, then the higher-ups might not pay attention, and this situation might not last long.

Those who came here to learn from the experience included not only members of Team Four, but also some members of other production teams who were related to some members of Team Four. They also planted cotton this year, but their cotton planting techniques were not as good as those of the members of Team Four.

If you want to make money, you can't be too aloof. You have to swallow your pride, ask questions earnestly, and forget about saving face. At this point, learning real skills is the most important thing.

So everyone in the cooperative, from Li Jianguo to Xu Haijun, had someone around them asking questions and chatting. Xu Haijun was probably the most embarrassed.

Because the others were with Li Long, when Li Long started explaining cotton planting techniques last year, these people could listen in from time to time and participated in every stage.

Especially Li Jianguo, sometimes when the others were not around, Li Long would also talk to his older brother Li Jianguo about cotton technology, which made Li Jianguo and Xie Yundong, who talked with Li Long the most, feel that "Professor Yang is nothing special".

Of course, Professor Yang's actual abilities far surpass those of Li Long, but he came here to conduct research, so he naturally couldn't say much; he had a mission.

What Li Long said was all practical experience, completely in line with local realities, so it's no wonder they thought that way.

To be honest, the cotton in this field isn't growing as well as some of the cotton grown in the high-yield fields in the team, but everyone knows that this cotton is grown in saline-alkali soil.

This saline-alkali land is so bad that even wheat doesn't grow well, let alone sunflowers and corn. The fact that cotton can grow like this is already amazing.

That's why everyone is so interested.

In the afternoon, Yu Shanjiang, as usual, came to the courtyard of the purchasing station to practice driving. He didn't have much to do in the afternoon, so in between practicing driving, he would also help Liang Shuangcheng clean the fritillaria bulbs.

However, when he arrived today, he discovered that the GAZ motorcycle he usually used for practice was missing, so he went over to ask Liang Shuangcheng.

"You mean that car? It's been sold." Liang Shuangcheng said with a smile. "The buyer just said that since the car is driven every day, it's obviously in good condition, so they bought it."

“Then I…” Yu Shanjiang hesitated.

"Brother Long said you can choose any of the remaining GAZ trucks to practice on. But be careful, if you really crash into one, it's yours." Liang Shuangcheng said with envy.

He actually wants a car, but the money he has saved so far is far from enough.

He also knew that once Yushanjiang got his driver's license, Li Long would definitely buy him a car at a discount.

Of course, Li Long had previously jokingly told him and Sun Jiaqiang that once they had saved enough money, he would buy them a car at a lower price.

So Liang Shuangcheng is currently working hard to save money. On one hand, he wants to get married, and on the other hand, he wants to buy a car.

Moved by the experience, Yushanjiang randomly picked a GAZ truck to practice on—he dared not use a Volga, knowing that the Volga was more expensive and that any damage would result in significant losses.

Yu Shanjiang's driving skills were already quite good, but he still wanted to practice and learn more. After all, he wouldn't just be driving around the county anymore; he would definitely be going to Shicheng or even further afield. If his skills weren't up to par, he would ultimately be the one who got hurt.

After his usual driving practice, he would then look at the traffic rulebook. He wanted to understand what all the icons meant. If there were any unfamiliar words or concepts, he would ask Liang Shuangcheng for help.

In just a few days, he had become quite familiar with Liang Shuangcheng.

In the past few days, Yushanjiang has become quite accustomed to visiting the places Li Long recommended, and some of the business owners, including Zhong Guoqiang, are very satisfied with him. This Kazakh man is diligent; he slaughters the sheep and delivers them early every morning.

Moreover, they were very enthusiastic and provided excellent service. The next day, Zhong Guoqiang explained that he wanted the meat and bones removed, and the next time Yushanjiang delivered meat, the meat was clearly cut.

That's pretty good.

In just a few days, Yushanjiang gained the approval of these people. What was originally a favor from Li Long now seems to have turned out to be a suitable supplier.

Yushanjiang himself is also exploring potential buyers in the county town, and at the same time thinking about how to shift from retail to wholesale.

He knew he couldn't rush it, but he couldn't stop thinking about it.

Li Long and his group drove out of Ma County and passed Shicheng. As Li Long drove, he introduced the scenery to the Gu sisters.

143rd Regiment, Ulanwusu, Yejiahu...

Li Long recited place names one by one, along with nearby attractions and features.

"Further west from here is Shawan, famous for its braised chicken."

By this time, Dapanji (Big Plate Chicken) had appeared, and restaurants along the highway had already put up signs to serve this main dish.

"To the south is Lujiaowan, where the grasslands are quite nice, and it's relatively close to Beishan. Unlike Ma County, where the southern mountains are layered with earthen and rocky hills, here, you soon reach grasslands with beautiful scenery."

"We're almost at the Kui-Du-Wujin triangle. There's a military post there, and the Duku Highway is to the south. Actually, if we're talking about distance, this route might be better. But the road conditions are bad, so let's not take the risk."

At that time, the Duku Highway wasn't as famous as it would become later, but it was still passable, especially since it was already late May. However, after passing Duku, both the roads leading to Tangbula and Nileke, and those heading south to Nalati, were difficult to navigate.

Unlike the National Highway 312 we're currently traveling on, at least this road is paved.

Even with some potholes, the road conditions are generally fine.

It's only 100 kilometers from Ma County to the military post, but it still took Li Long and his group two hours. Mainly because they couldn't drive too fast – the car was full of women and children, and Li Long tried to avoid potholes as much as possible.

If he's driving himself, so be it if there's a pothole. If he's driving fast, he'll be flying, and even a pothole will be flat on his face.

But it's different now.

There's a sense of being a bit overly cautious.

So it was already noon, so we decided to stop at the military post, find a decent-looking restaurant, order a plate of braised chicken, and have lunch.

There are many shops nearby, such as "Tire Repair in Shaanxi, Western China, Sichuan, and Guangxi", "Water Addition and Air Inflation", "Professional Repair", etc.

The 312 highway is full of shops catering to truck drivers, including a small earthen wall with the words "hotel," "hot water," and "shower" painted in large bold letters.

Fortunately, the people here are quite honest and won't put the name of a "grand hotel" on a small house; they still have some sense of shame.

Whether it was the Gu sisters or Mingming and Haohao, it was the first time they had ever seen such a situation, and they were all quite curious.

But once inside the store, seeing some truck drivers staring straight at him made him a little nervous.

Li Long claimed a table in the corner, took a towel (at this point, toilet paper wasn't available), wiped the table thoroughly, swatted away the flies, and said to Gu Xiaoxia and the others:

"Let's make do for now."

He wasn't bothered; after all, eating out was a common occurrence. He was thinking that if the Gu sisters weren't comfortable with it, or if the two children weren't happy about it, they could simply drive into the city to eat.

However, going in would inevitably involve mentioning my second brother and the others; it wouldn't be right not to ask them, but asking them would be troubling them.

"It's nothing," Gu Xiaoyu said nonchalantly. "It smells quite nice."

Several truck drivers looked over, paused for a moment, then their voices rose, filled with accents from all over the country, telling crude jokes.

Li Long glanced around and saw that no one dared to come and cause trouble. As for whether they had any dirty thoughts, that was anyone's guess.

A moment later, the restaurant brought out the braised chicken, which looked really good and smelled delicious. Suddenly, the truck drivers who were eating noodles didn't seem to enjoy their noodles anymore.

Everyone was hungry, and even Mingming and Haohao got excited.

Li Long chose this location for another reason. After all, it's at the intersection of three places, unlike Wutai and other areas. If the food here isn't up to par, people traveling to and from the city or district have more options, so the food here is generally quite good.

Wutai and Jinghe are right by the roadside, and it just so happens to be lunchtime. If we don't eat, we'll just have to go hungry for a long time.

So no matter how high the price or how good the food is, you have to go eat there.

Li Long ate it and felt it was pretty good.

After eating and resting for a while, we continued our journey westward.

Gu Xiaoxia told Li Long to sit in the passenger seat and rest while she drove for a while.

Li Long figured that there would be fewer cars on the road if they continued west, so he let her drive.

Li Long himself hadn't slept either, and continued talking about the scenery along the way, including the mud volcanoes in the mountains south of Usu.

Even though Hao Hao had already fallen asleep in the back seat, Gu Xiaoyu kept an eye on them while asking what a mud volcano was, and Li Long explained it to her.

Even Gu Xiaoxia was puzzled and curious. When did her husband become so knowledgeable?

However, there were too many extraordinary things happening to Li Long, so she didn't delve into it. It was her first time driving such a long distance, and Gu Xiaoxia was still very cautious.

When the car reached the border of Jinghe, the sun was already setting. Li Long stopped the car from continuing and turned into the county, finding a guesthouse to rest.

Having rested early, the group of five, adults and children alike, were refreshed and ready to continue their journey the next day after breakfast.

Continuing westward, the desolate areas become even more numerous, consisting mostly of desert compared to the previous Ebinur Lake region. Although there are saxaul and white thorn bushes on the alkaline Gobi Desert, as far as the eye can see, the ground is either sand or salt, making it truly difficult to develop.

Even forty years from now, large areas of this place will be designated as protected areas, and the rest will be covered with photovoltaic panels. Anyway, this area has plenty of sunshine, so this is a way to make use of waste.
It wasn't until we reached Sayramhu that we finally saw patches of lush greenery and yellow wildflowers.

At this time, National Highway 312 was right by the lake. Li Long drove the car off the road and parked it in an open area.

The group got off the bus and looked at the blue lake, feeling refreshed and relaxed.

Mingming and Haohao, who often played by the lakes of the four teams, ran towards the water. Gu Xiaoxia, forgetting to pick wildflowers with her sister, also ran after them, complaining that Li Long didn't follow.

"The water by the lake isn't deep, it's fine."

One of the unique features of Sayram Lake is that, like a beach, the water gradually deepens from shallow to deep near the shore. Even if two children wanted to jump into the water, they wouldn't drown just a few meters from the edge.

The lake water was clear and cool, but there were no small fish to be seen. However, there were stones of various sizes along the lakeshore, and the two children immediately squatted down to pick them up.

"What kind of flower is this?" Gu Xiaoyu took a large bunch of flowers and came over to ask Li Long.

“Wild poppies, also called corn poppies,” Li Long said. “After the flowers wither, small bumps will form at the base, somewhat resembling poppies.”

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiaoyu immediately showed a look of disgust and wanted to throw the flowers away.

A major characteristic of Chinese people is that, except for those who have no conscience, they deeply abhor drugs.

"No, no, no, it's not like a poppy. It's not poisonous; it just has that name. Look, the flower is quite pretty."

Li Long remembers that the locals call this thing "red flower" because it is mainly red, and it blooms in large patches. Further along the 218 National Highway, in the grassland, some people fence it off and charge tourists for taking photos, five to ten yuan per time. During a flowering season, they can earn several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan.

Experienced beekeepers will place their hives near the red flower fields, and their honey will sell for a higher price that season, attracting many customers.

They ate a mixed meatball soup at Wutai Mountain, so they weren't hungry at this point.

After playing in the water and on the rocks for a while, Mingming Haohao ran over to Li Long and asked why there were no fish in the water.

"This is a high-altitude, cold-water lake. The water comes directly from the melting snow on the mountain. The source of the water is so cold that no fish can survive there."

In later generations, the famous whitefish were farmed here, but at this time there are really no fish.

Local legend has it that there is a deep cave in the lake that leads to an unknown place, so the water level will not change much regardless of how much rain there is in a year.

Whether it's true or false is unknown.

By the way, although I am from Yili, Sayram Lake is in Bortala Prefecture.

After playing by the lake for a short time, Li Long drove everyone through Guozigou and out to Luchagou.

The weather was kind to us; it was sunny the whole way, and we saw the most beautiful scenery.

At this time, various wild apple trees at the entrance of Guozigou Valley are in full bloom, their flowers in delicate colors, which are quite beautiful.

Moreover, at that time, there weren't many fake honey sellers in the valley. There were rows of shops, such as No. 8, No. 18, No. 38, No. 68, No. 88, etc., which were well-known.

We drove straight to Yining without stopping.

By the time the car arrived at Gu Boyuan's courtyard, the sun had already set below the horizon, and the sunset in the sky was quite beautiful.

Gu Boyuan saw the car arrive at the door and smiled broadly.

Especially when Mingming and Haohao got out of the car and ran up to him calling "Grandpa," Gu Boyuan's face broke into deep wrinkles with a smile.

He picked Mingminghao up in his arms and then said:
"You two have gained weight again! How much do you weigh now? Are you even 25 kilograms? Your older brother Qiangqiang was only this heavy when he was in second grade, right?"

"It's already there." Mingming was still a little embarrassed. "I don't know when it started growing."

Gu Boyuan laughed heartily as he listened, then put the two children down and looked at Gu Xiaoyu:

"Was the journey here alright? Are you able to adjust?"

“Dad, this isn’t my first time in northern Xinjiang,” Gu Xiaoyu said with a smile. “What about Aunt Song?”

"Yes, yes, we're tidying up inside... but we're coming out now. I heard a car and thought it was you guys."

Over here, Song Xiaojuan came out of the yard, still wearing an apron, and said with a smile:

"Old Gu said you'd arrived, but I didn't believe him. His intuition is always right... Welcome, welcome! Come on in! Old Gu, open the gate and let Xiao Li drive the car in. This must be Mingming and Haohao, right? So energetic! So cute!"

Then he looked at Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiaoyu, trying to tell which one was the older sister and which one was the younger sister.

She could guess logically, but in reality, Xiaoxia looked younger than Xiaoyu, so she wasn't sure.

"Aunt Song, I am Gu Xiaoxia."

"I am Gu Xiaoyu."

The two sisters greeted each other and introduced themselves. "Okay, okay, come in, come in. My food will be ready soon. You two can wash up and rest first."

Li Long drove his car into the yard and found a GAZ truck already parked there, the one that Lao Gu often drove to the nearby county.

"Uncle Gu, how about we switch? You're mainly busy in the city, it doesn't look good for you to be driving a GAZ truck."

"Change what? If I want to change, I'll just go find Boss Liu. Isn't it more convenient for him than for you?" Gu Boyuan waved his hand. "For your sake, he won't sell me the car for much."

Gu Boyuan didn't continue the topic and changed the subject: "How's your fritillary bulb harvest this year? Mine is doing alright."

“Because of the restructuring of the forestry bureau in Ma County, the forest rangers no longer have law enforcement power, so the amount collected is less. Last year, we collected about ten tons, and this year we’ll be lucky to collect seven or eight tons,” Li Long said.

"That's about right. I should be able to harvest less than ten tons this year."

"That's impressive," Li Long chuckled. "You've only been open for a little over a year, and you've already collected so much. At this rate, you'll collect even more than I have next year."

“The area is big.” Gu Boyuan said with a hint of pride. “Your surrounding counties and cities are affected, but the impact is ultimately limited. I have seven or eight counties here, and most of them have fritillaria. My reputation is also great, so it’s convenient for me to collect them.”

Gu Boyuan's purchasing station here has a relatively simple business, mainly buying fritillaria bulbs and their hides. Other medicinal materials are also available, but in smaller quantities. For example, deer antlers and deer velvet are also bought by them, as are the supply and marketing system and pharmaceutical companies, so there is a lot of competition.

Li Long's trading company has a relatively more diverse business, and Gu Boyuan is also considering whether to make some changes in this regard.

Of course, fritillaria is still the core business. As long as the acquisition scale can be maintained every year, it will be enough to support the operation of this acquisition station, and it will operate very well.

They didn't talk much about business matters, and then Li Long inquired about the preparations for the banquet.

"The Huacheng Hotel has booked a small number of tables, just four. Some are employees of my company, some business friends I know here, and some are Xiaojuan's colleagues and friends," Gu Boyuan said. "The advantage of doing this at the hotel is that I don't have to worry about it much; everything is taken care of."

"That's good." Li Long nodded, then asked, "How do we handle this in the county?"

"The county will naturally be holding a big banquet. I plan to call your older brother tomorrow and ask him to help me make preparations in advance. Tell the head chefs in the team that when we're about to go back, they'll start preparing there."

Most of my friends there are in the production team, and some are from other production teams too; I can invite them all. My household registration is still in the fourth production team, so naturally I'll be having a lively gathering there.

"That's good." Li Long nodded. "It's not the busy farming season now, so everyone can come and help. You can tell Xie Yundong and the others in advance to clean up your yard. You can also borrow tables and chairs in advance."

"Exactly. Even though we've been producing in the city for a while now, I still prefer the lively atmosphere in the production team."

Song Xiaojuan called out from the kitchen that the food was ready, and the group went to the dining room to eat.

Inside the Russian-style building, Li Long, Gu Xiaoxia, Gu Xiaoyu, and even Mingming and Haohao were all quite curious. The Gu sisters had originally intended to go into the kitchen to help, but Song Xiaojuan had persuaded them to leave. She was making soup rice—basically, noodle soup—which didn't require help.

"It's just like being in a Russian restaurant; the decor here is quite exquisite," Gu Xiaoxia remarked.

“This area should be full of courtyards and houses like this.” Li Long noticed this when he parked his car earlier; there were two elderly Russians playing chess over the alley.

It feels very relaxing.

Overall, the weather in this small city in May was much better than in Ma County.

Li Long, who had been here before, naturally knew the situation. Gu Xiaoxia, Gu Xiaoyu, and Mingming and Haohao were all visiting for the first time, so their impressions were quite deep.

The weather in Ma County was already quite hot at this time of year, it could be described as scorching, with a large temperature difference between day and night.

But it feels very comfortable here, especially at night, with a cool breeze and a floral fragrance in the air, which smells wonderful.

The soup and rice tasted great, and everyone ate it with gusto. Song Xiaojuan was pleased to receive the compliments and kept urging everyone to have an extra bowl.

The Gu sisters are now somewhat relieved, at least their stepmother is a good cook, and their father won't have any problems with food.

“Many families in this alley have mulberry trees in front of their houses. Now that the mulberries are ripe, some people are annoyed because they fall on the ground and are hard to sweep up,” Gu Boyuan said while eating. “In a while, the apricots will also be ripe. There is a lot of fruit available here.”

Gu Boyuan meant that he hoped Li Long could bring his family to visit more often. There are many attractive things about this place, besides the scenery and fruits, there's also the pleasant weather.

Li Long was somewhat tempted, thinking that perhaps he could buy two courtyards like his father-in-law's to keep for the time being, so that he wouldn't need to stay in hotels when he came to visit in the future.

After all, this place, Liuxing Street—which locals still call Gongren Street or Liguang Street—will be developed for tourism in the future, and many courtyards will no longer be allowed to be sold but only rented.

And just as Gu Boyuan said, it's a good place to visit in the summer. Unlike Shicheng in Ma County, which is so hot, and the surrounding counties like Zhaosu, which have an average altitude of nearly 2,000 meters and where you can't even wear short sleeves in the summer, this county is surrounded by grasslands, a sea of ​​green.

Of course, winters aren't that cold. Compared to the minus 20 or 30 degrees Celsius in Ma County and Shicheng, winters here are generally around minus 10 or 20 degrees Celsius. However, it's true that the snowfall is heavy.

After dinner, before it got dark, the Gu sisters wanted to go to the kitchen to help clean up, but Song Xiaojuan persuaded them to come out, saying that there weren't many bowls to begin with and that they didn't need to, and that they should rest.

The house is very large and looks very tall, but it's actually only one story. There's a platform built on top of the foundation, and the house is built on the platform, which makes it appear taller.

There were many rooms, so Gu Boyuan led Li Long and the others to choose rooms. Li Long also found it quite interesting. Looking at the square house, the layout inside was not bad. There were rooms on all four sides. He and Gu Xiaoxia had one room, Mingming and Haohao had one room, and Gu Xiaoyu had one room. In addition to the master bedroom, there were two other rooms that could be occupied.

That's really nice. It seems the original owner's family must have been quite large.

“Look at all these things. The original owner took them all with him when he left, and I bought some more to replace them,” Gu Boyuan said, pointing to the wooden shelves on the wall and the antiques on the table.

Most of these antiques also have ethnic characteristics, with bright patterns that make them very beautiful.

"Is it easy to buy these antiques here?" Li Long asked.

"It's alright," Gu Boyuan said. "Although the overall economy is developing, there are always some people whose living standards have declined for various reasons, and they have no choice but to put these things out to sell."

Another thing is finding a good intermediary; that makes buying these things much easier. They might be a bit more expensive, but as long as the items are genuine, it's fine.

Gu Boyuan is not short of money, so he bought these things partly to fill the empty space in the house, and partly out of interest.

During my time in the fourth production team, I lived just to survive, working like any other farmer and earning work points. Now that I have money, I've slowly rediscovered the extraordinary hobbies that come with my higher education.

Seeing that Li Long didn't seem too tired, he took Li Long to the storage room to see the things he had collected.

“Xiao Li must be tired after driving all day. Let him rest properly.” Song Xiaojuan was not happy. “It’s not like we’re leaving tomorrow. There’s still time to see things later.”

"It's alright, it's alright, Xiaolong is no ordinary person." Gu Boyuan said with a smile, "Look at him, he doesn't look tired at all. Don't worry about him, get ready and go chat with Xiaoxia and Xiaoyu."

Then he went into the storage room with Li Long.

"There are actually quite a lot of antiques here, mostly goldware and gemstones, and bronzeware is also easy to find. It's just that porcelain is hard to find, and jade is also scarce."

Li Long was aware of this as well. Although there was jade in the valley, including a considerable amount of black jade and some Gobi jade, there was very little white jade and jasper.

However, there are quite a few gold artifacts and gemstones among the antiques.

Gu Boyuan collected quite a few things, but he didn't display them on the shelves. The storage room was full of fine items, which were kept in boxes.

Upon opening the box, Li Long saw several nice items: a thick gold bracelet, exquisitely inlaid gemstones, and a gold sword hilt—the sword itself was rusted away.

There were also some broken gold masks and scriptures.

Most of the items were bronzes, and the only pair of blue-and-white plum vases were of dubious authenticity to Li Long.

There are many large copper coins at the bottom of the box.

“These are from the Kangxi period,” Gu Boyuan said, picking up the pair of plum vases. “Although they are from a folk kiln, they are very well preserved and can be considered fine pieces.”

Li Long had quite a few good things, so these were really good in his eyes.

However, the valley itself cannot compare with the Central Plains. Even with Li Long's own advantage of being reborn, Gu Boyuan's ability to collect things here is not as good as that in Ma County.

So it's already quite impressive that we've managed to collect all of this.

“I remember there are quite a few mound tombs on this grassland. There have been a lot of tomb raiding in the last two years. If your intermediary is reliable, you can work on that,” Li Long said. “Instead of letting them take the contents and sell them abroad, you might as well find a channel to buy them yourself.”

At this time, the protection of tombs was very weak, so the earthen mound tombs in the river valley area were basically looted within a period of more than ten years.

There are roughly hundreds of earthen mound tombs in the entire valley, as well as some tombs of Wusun nobles. Some of these tombs were looted, while others were excavated during construction.

In short, at this time, the black market should be where the most goods are circulating.

Gu Boyuan listened to Li Long's words thoughtfully, and then said:

"Then I'll have to find out."

Let's leave that matter aside.

Since Li Long and his companions didn't need to help with the banquet, and Li Long had some free time anyway, he took Mingming and Haohao out for a stroll to digest their food and have some fun.

Most of the people in the vicinity were of ethnic minorities. From Li Long's perspective, who had lived two lives, there were Russians, Kazakhs, and Uyghurs, as well as a small number of Hui people.

There were also Han Chinese, but they were all in a hurry, busy with their lives.

Indeed, soon we saw many mulberry trees in the alley, mostly white mulberry trees. We didn't see the long, thin mulberry trees that were cultivated in later generations, but we also saw the oval-shaped black mulberry trees.

The fallen mulberries left a sugary residue on the ground, sticking to your feet when you stepped on them.

Li Long reached out and picked a few white mulberries for Mingming and Haohao. They were so ripe that you could tell, and when you put them in your mouth, it felt like you were holding a bag of sugar water.

Black mulberry, or purple mulberry, has a richer flavor. Unlike white mulberry, which is purely sweet, this one has a sweet and sour taste.

Since the mulberry trees are mostly near the entrance of the courtyard, you can often see some elderly people sitting on the long benches by the entrance to enjoy the shade. When they see Li Long picking mulberries with his children, they won't stop him. They will watch with smiles, and some people will even bring their stools over to help.

Some people prop up a long log with bricks against the wall in front of their doors, planing the top of the log flat to make it a bench. Some even put a blanket on the log to make it more comfortable to sit on.

People enjoying the cool air chat, play chess, and sing, though not in small numbers.

Li Long understands Kazakh and Uyghur, and can chat with them for a bit, while also asking if there are any houses for sale nearby.

After learning that Li Long wanted to buy a house, some people remained silent, while others enthusiastically pointed out to Li Long the families who wanted to sell their yards.

Because he had Mingming and Haohao with him, Li Long only noted the location and did not go in. After thanking them, he turned back.

He plans to come and take a look tomorrow.

As darkness fell, Li Long took Mingming and Haohao back to the house. After urging the two children to wash up, he put them to bed.

It looked like it had only just gotten dark, but it was actually around 11 p.m. The two kids had been up all day and were really tired, so they fell asleep soon after.

After washing up, Li Long returned to the room he shared with Gu Xiaoxia and noticed a faint fragrance in the room.

You can smell it; it's the scent of lavender.

The corps here began trial planting lavender in the 1960s, and later it became a national spice and oil crop trial planting base, with the scale gradually expanding.

Many locals use this for aromatherapy and as a sleep aid. Li Long also knows that the water left over from making essential oils was initially used by locals to mop the floor and add fragrance, but it was later packaged and sold.

So he immediately recognized it as the scent of lavender.

Gu Xiaoxia saw Li Long sniffle and asked:

"You can smell it?"

“Hmm, lavender,” Li Long said. “Are you feeling alright?”

"No, it smells nice." Gu Xiaoxia knew that Li Long had been here before and assumed that was when he found out.

"That's alright. Some people can't stand the smell, and some people are allergic. I don't think Hao Hao sneezed, so he should be able to get used to it."

"Allergic to this?" Gu Xiaoxia was a little surprised. "It's fine, isn't it?"

"After all, it's a spice. Some people will pick the flowers and put them in a vase because of the pollen, and some people are allergic to pollen," Li Long explained before getting ready to go to sleep.

Although he is energetic and stronger than the average person, he has been working hard all day and needs to rest.

The next day, after breakfast, Gu Boyuan told them to stay and rest, while he took Song Xiaojuan to work and went to check on the purchasing station.

Actually, he wanted Li Long to go and take a look as well, but Li Long said he wanted to see if there were any courtyards for sale around the area, so he declined.

While Minghao was being looked after by the Gu sisters, Li Long went out to find the place they had greeted the day before.

It turned out that the family's yard was for sale, but after looking at it, the environment wasn't as good as Gu Boyuan's, and the house was also a bit dilapidated—the Blue House, which had been neglected for years and had grass growing on the roof, so it wasn't very nice.

Li Long continued to inquire and circled around. About 300 meters away from Gu Boyuan's courtyard, at the entrance of an alley, he learned about a courtyard from two old men playing chess.

Also belonging to ethnic Russians, their yard was quite large, planted with fruit trees, though there were no mulberry trees at the entrance, but a few apricot trees.

The houses inside were also painted blue, similar to Gu Boyuan's, but they were a size larger.

"The homeowner is moving to an apartment building. He says he wants to sell the house because he finds shoveling snow every winter too much trouble," said the man playing chess while wearing a hat. "His father made the house so nice, but he only lived there for two years before he went to the hospital and never came out. His generation doesn't like the house anymore... Sigh."

Li Long guessed that the two elderly men playing chess must have been friends with the homeowner's deceased father, otherwise they wouldn't have sighed and lamented like that.

So Li Long went to the gate of the courtyard and called out.

The courtyards here all have gates, which are left open during the day. Li Long was quite happy to see the grape trellis; it would provide shade in the summer, and it would be easier to manage in the winter than in Ma County—just cover it with some straw.

No need to bury it anymore.

A woman came out; she didn't look particularly like an ethnic minority. Li Long then explained his purpose.

The woman wasn't surprised and led him inside to see the house.

Li Long went inside and looked around, and was quite satisfied. The entire interior was decorated in a solid wood style, with blue on the outside and light yellow on the inside. There were indeed plenty of rooms, and the ceiling was also a triangular wooden one, which was very unique. To his surprise, there was even an attic.

The woman quoted a price: five thousand yuan. This courtyard was not in the city center; it was considered to be near the suburbs, so it was relatively cheap.

Five thousand yuan is a lot of money these days, but looking at the decoration of the house, Li Long felt it was worth it.

It's not that the decoration is particularly luxurious, but rather that it's quite thoughtful, uses high-quality materials, and has a unique style.

In addition, due to the population, housing prices in this city have always been higher than in the surrounding areas. In the next 30 or 40 years, the prices of school district housing have even begun to align with those in Wucheng.

Moreover, while prices were falling elsewhere, they were still rising.

There was no other way; the reputation of this "Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall" was huge, so they urged us to come.

However, Li Long didn't want to be taken advantage of, so he tried to negotiate the price. Unexpectedly, the woman was really able to make the decision and managed to get the price down to four hundred yuan.

Four thousand six is ​​the lowest price.

Li Long was very satisfied. The money was nothing to him, but the courtyard was truly excellent.

I'll take it.

P.S.: It's the Winter Solstice, right? Time to eat dumplings. It's said that in the past, "the Winter Solstice was as important as the New Year"? Now everyone is paying more attention to it.

Thank you uiru and 永永的石头 for the donations, and thank you to all the readers for their donations, including 阿列个小喇叭, 7051*.qdcn, 鹏金鱼, 书友20251124185010043, 王锡, 书友20220830155123647, 草原北方道人, and others. Thank you for all your other contributions.

I checked the weather forecast, and it'll be above freezing during New Year's Day! Is this still winter? (End of Chapter)