Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

After saying goodbye to Principal Yang, Li Long went to Team Four first.

This time, he brought his mother some soft bread baked by Gu Xiaoxia.

"I prefer something a little firmer; this soft bread just doesn't have much of a chewy texture," Du Chunfang muttered as she took the bread.

"Just eat this." Li Long sat by the stove, looking at a small handful of vermicelli next to him. He picked up a piece of red-hot, ash-covered charcoal near the stove door and said, "Your teeth aren't good now, unlike my dad's. What if you break your teeth if you eat too much hard food?"

"Then... then eat slowly." Du Chunfang watched Li Long's actions, squeezed the softer bread, and although she was still a little unconvinced, she knew that her youngest son cared about her, so her voice became much softer.

Li Long watched as the end of the vermicelli near the fire began to swell and grow larger, quickly becoming thick at one end and thin at the other, somewhat like the fairy wands bought in later generations. He then pulled it back, took off the swollen part, and put it in his mouth. Mmm, quite fragrant.

Li Long placed the remaining half near the stove, letting the vermicelli continue to expand, and said while grilling, "Mom, you like this too?"

"It's just a snack. Xiaojuan made it for the baby when she came over." Du Chunfang denied it, lying without batting an eye. "This baby likes it burnt."

"Huh? There's chili powder too?" Li Long noticed a small plate on the low stool next to the stove, with chili powder on it.

Because it was inside the furnace, I didn't see it just now.

He dipped the puffed-up rice noodles in the spicy sauce, then put them in his mouth. The spiciness wasn't obvious, so it probably wasn't the kind of chili pepper that's spicy. It tasted pretty good.

“It’s getting colder and colder these days, so be careful when you go out.” Li Long grilled two rice noodles this time, giving one to his mother and eating the other himself. He said as he ate, “The snow outside is compacted, and it’s quite slippery. You’re not as healthy as you used to be, so it would be troublesome if you fell.”

"Don't worry, I usually don't go out." Du Chunfang took the rice noodles Li Long handed her, put them in her mouth and chewed slowly. "It's so cold outside, and you know I'm afraid of the cold."

The mother and son chatted for a while, and then there was a commotion in the yard. Li Long thought it sounded like Lu Yingming's voice. A moment later, he heard someone enter the yard, and Li Long thought it sounded like Xu Haijun's voice.

"Go over there, someone's here, maybe they're looking for you," Du Chunfang said. "I'm fine, go on over."

Li Long finished grilling the rice noodles in his hand, stuffed them into his mouth and walked out.

Seeing that the door was closed, Du Chunfang took out a piece of bread and tasted it. She thought it tasted good, but it was still too soft and not to her liking. So she slowly stood up and sat in the place where Li Long had been sitting. After listening to the silence outside, she picked up the vermicelli and started baking it herself.

When Li Long arrived at his elder brother's room, he indeed saw Lu Yingming, Xu Haijun, and Xie Yundong.

The eldest brother, Li Jianguo, was sitting down and putting down the book he was holding when his sister-in-law, Liang Yuemei, poured tea for everyone.

Seeing that there was no room on the sofa, Li Long pulled over a stool and sat down by the fireplace. He reached over and grabbed a handful of spiced melon seeds that were drying on the fireplace, cracking them open as he asked:
"What's going on today? Everyone's come to my older brother's place?"

"Nothing's wrong, we're fine in the middle of winter, aren't we?" Lu Yingming said with a smile. "You've got nothing to do now?"

"Yeah, I just gave a lecture at the agricultural extension school and came right over," Li Long said proudly. "Those students all want to grow cotton, so I told them that cotton can yield four or five hundred kilograms per mu in the future, which surprised them all."

"What? You're collecting four or five hundred kilograms?" Lu Yingming's eyes widened. "How is that possible?"

"Hey, nothing is impossible. Like I said, later. Not now, the cost is too high, and the seeds aren't good enough." Li Long stopped pretending. Anyway, he knew the technology, and no one could ask him where he learned it. After all, Li Long had a wide circle of friends and knew several professors from the agricultural college.

However, his rambling piqued everyone's interest, prompting them to ask him to elaborate. He then revived the same set of arguments he had presented earlier.

Anyway, Li Long's idea is that since cotton planting is the general trend in the future, the cooperative should try to acquire as much land as possible.

It's not just the cooperative, but also his older brother. Land prices are low now, so there's almost no cost to contract wasteland in the early stages. Although there might be reforms in the future, the reforms will basically just change the 70-year contracts to 15-year contracts, or take back the land that has been contracted but not cultivated.

If you contract out wasteland and plant cotton there, with the contract period limited to twenty or fifteen years, it's still impossible to take it back.

So this is actually quite easy to do.

Of course, that's getting off-topic, and these topics can't be discussed here.

“The future… it’s hard to say. But right now, some people in our team have already secretly set up two cooperatives,” Xu Haijun suddenly said. “But they didn’t report it; they’re just tinkering with the cooperative’s bylaws and figuring out how to link the plots together.”

"How? Exchange land?" Xie Yundong stood up, grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from the fireplace, sat back down on the sofa, and asked, "Can they exchange land for them?"

The best way for cooperatives to farm is to have adjacent plots of land. In fact, the predecessor of cooperatives, mutual aid groups, started with two farmers with neighboring land helping each other farm, and then more people joined, forming cooperatives.

If the plots of land are not connected, there will be many problems, and farming will not be easy.

Now the land is contracted out to individuals, although officially farmers are only allowed to cultivate the land, the ownership belongs to the collective.

But if you secretly switch to another plot of land to farm, or privately sublet your land, no one will investigate.

"I heard that one cooperative has already changed hands three times, combining more than 200 mu of land together. Another cooperative is similar to ours, working on wasteland, but the plots are a bit messy, and the irrigation canals haven't been finished yet. They will continue working on them next spring."

Xu Haijun's information came from Captain Xu Chengjun, so it should be quite reliable.

“Their charter is copied from ours,” Xie Yundong said while cracking sunflower seeds. “Wang Sanwa, Wei Jun, and a few others came to my house to ask how to run this cooperative. I explained it to them, and this is the first time I’ve seen them remember it so carefully.”

Liang Yuemei went to the kitchen and took two enamel plates. She then put two plates of spiced melon seeds that were being roasted on the fireplace wall in this room and placed them on the table and coffee table respectively. She said, "These were boiled yesterday and haven't been roasted dry yet. Just eat them as is."

"It's delicious!" Xie Yundong said hurriedly.

Liang Yuemei went to that room, and Xu Haijun said, "Wei Jun and Wang Sanwa are from a cooperative. They are in charge of these things, and the manager is Huang Xinping."

“Him,” Li Long chuckled, “is usually very eager to find out information. I wonder if he knows that our cooperative is going to build a courtyard.”

“Hey, that’s quite possible,” Xu Haijun said. “We’ll get on with this next spring; none of us have kept it a secret.”

They guessed correctly; Huang Xinping is currently at Captain Xu Chengjun's house discussing this matter.

"You're building courtyards too? Does that mean you're going to start a cooperative?"

"Hehe, it's already established, the articles of association are all done, seven families, more than 200 mu of land, all cultivated land, and it's already been converted into contiguous plots. We're quite determined." Forty-year-old Huang Xinping is usually quite low-key in the team, but this time he was much more high-profile.

"When was it established? Why didn't you tell me?" Xu Chengjun's face fell.

“We set up our own cooperative, and we didn’t tell you because we thought you were busy as the team leader.”

"Now you know I'm busy?" Xu Chengjun disregarded the fact that Huang Xinping was several years older than him, and his tone was utterly unfriendly. "Do you even know what you're doing? You've formed an organization without permission. Are you trying to go against the Party and the village committee?"

He slammed his hand on the table, startling Huang Xinping, who hurriedly explained, "How could that be! We're all honest farmers, how could we think of such a thing? We just saw Li Long and Xie Yundong set up a cooperative and made money, so we followed suit..."

"Follow their example? When they set up their cooperative, they came to the village to register it as soon as it was established, and they even dragged me to the township to register it. Why don't you learn from that?" Xu Chengjun was still very angry:

"You all know what a cooperative is, right? It's the predecessor of a commune. What does that mean? You're not planning to set up a commune in secret, are you?"

A huge accusation was slapped on Huang Xinping's face, and he turned green with fear. He hurriedly stood up, waving his hands and saying, "No, no, how could we dare to do that? We just thought that if we joined together to farm, we could save some expenses and earn more money... If it doesn't work out, then we'll just break up..."

They saw Li Long and Xie Yundong establish a cooperative, pooling resources and people together, reclaiming land, managing cotton, and then making money.

They wanted to learn from others, that is, to follow their management model, shareholding method, and profit-sharing method.

Who would have thought that Li Long would actually drag Xu Chengjun to the township to report?

Does setting up a cooperative really need to be so formal?

"Old Huang, listen carefully. We are now under the leadership of the Party. If you want to establish various organizations, that's fine, as long as it's legal and compliant. The higher-ups haven't said we can't establish them."

But once you form an organization, you have to inform the authorities. If you don't, it's considered a private organization, and the authorities won't recognize it. Do you know what that would be called in ancient times?
Forming cliques for personal gain! That's a capital offense! The new society won't be that strict, but at least the village and township should know, understand? To prevent you from doing anything illegal, get it?

"Got it, got it, I'll report it now... So, do we still need to go to the township?"

"Of course, you don't think I can control everything, do you?" Xu Chengjun looked at him coldly. "If you do something illegal, I'll be finished too!"

"No way, no way, how could that be?" Huang Xinping was quite frightened and hurriedly explained, "Our good days have just begun, who would be so stupid as to think of doing those kinds of things?"

"It's good that you can figure it out. Why follow others but not learn the key points?" Xu Chengjun's tone still carried a hint of complaint.

Huang Xinping had nothing to say. They rarely encountered Li Long, and their relationship was just so-so, so they usually asked Xie Yundong.

Li Long was in charge of reporting the problem; Xie Yundong was unaware of it.

Huang Xinping went back first, took the materials with him, and then went to Xu Chengjun's house.

On the way, we ran into other members of the cooperative who asked about the yard.

Huang Xinping told them about the reporting process, which startled them quite a bit. However, Wei Jun still reminded them that after reporting, they should remember to build a yard on the land.

This infuriated Huang Xinping. Clearly, in Huang Xinping's mind, Wei Jun had no idea how serious the situation was.

This kid probably thinks that since he's the manager, with a high salary and a lot of shares, it's only right that he takes the blame.

While they may not actually argue, there's already some resentment between the manager and the team members.

When they arrived at Xu Chengjun's house, Xu Chengjun looked at their materials and found that they were quite well-prepared and looked like they were doing something right.

So he asked some more questions, mainly about whether the other members of the cooperative joined willingly, whether they could fulfill their responsibilities in the subsequent management and various projects, and whether there were any rewards or punishments.

After all, it's not impossible that some people might find it too tiring and give up halfway through.

After all, everyone is rich now, and some young men have been spoiled and may not be able to endure hardship or do strenuous work.

After clarifying these matters, Xu Chengjun made a phone call to the township government and told them about the cooperative.

The deputy township head in charge of the matter took this quite seriously and asked them to bring the relevant materials over.

In the eyes of the villagers, Li Long's cooperative set a good example. Because they made money, they had a role model, so it was normal for the fourth team to set up more cooperatives.

Xu Chengjun then drove Huang Xinping to the township to report the situation.

Although Huang Xinping and Xu Chengjun seemed normal when they talked, they became tongue-tied when they got to the village. In the end, Xu Chengjun couldn't stand it and helped him explain.

The deputy township head, seeing this situation, knew it was normal. Some farmers really couldn't stand seeing officials. They considered themselves the bosses on their own small plot of land, bowing and scraping before the team leader. In their eyes, the township head and party secretary were very high-ranking officials, so wouldn't they have to be extremely respectful?
On the way back from the countryside, Huang Xinping knew he hadn't behaved well, but no matter what, he had reported it, which meant he was acting legally. So, he couldn't help but ask about the yard in the car.

"You want a yard? Sure, work for three years first, and I guarantee your cooperative won't fall apart."

"What about Li Long and the others..."

"They've achieved results, their organizational structure is clearer than yours, their goals for establishing the cooperative are very clear, their personnel have clear division of labor, and they don't have so many miscellaneous issues. Their articles of association look more formal than yours!"

Xu Chengjun's tone was still not very good. Although Huang Xinping was in charge of the village's cooperative, as the village head, he had to endorse it. If Huang Xinping and his team really broke up the cooperative, he would have to go to the township to explain.

Fortunately, the township attaches great importance to cooperatives. With Li Long's cooperative as a benchmark, other cooperatives, even if they perform only moderately, are considered successful as long as they can drive agricultural development in the village.

After all, Team Four has a lot of wasteland, and developing more wasteland would benefit both the village and the township.

Xu Haijun would visit Li Jian's home from time to time, usually starting at Xie Yundong's house and then coming over with him. The main reason was that after joining the cooperative, he shamelessly joined and found things going exceptionally smoothly.

Things were arranged by others; he only needed to be responsible for his own tasks.

This is so much better than before when I had to be in charge of organizing people and doing things myself. Back then, I had to lead people, organize events, be responsible for security, clean up the mess, and even be generous when it came to splitting the profits, otherwise people would have complaints.

How great it is now. Within the cooperative, Xie Yundong has more management experience than him, and Li Long's cotton-growing skills are unparalleled. The others are only responsible for one aspect, and even at the end of the year, when it comes to distributing dividends, Jia Weidong has already calculated the money for everyone.

The accounts are very clear: how much was spent, how many shares each person held, and how much money they ultimately received.

It's a pity. Why was I so stubborn before, insisting on being the leader?

How great now!

Luckily, I managed to get into the cooperative; otherwise, I would only be able to look on with envy.

He learned from Xu Chengjun that some other people were running cooperatives. After listening to their cooperative's articles of association, division of labor, and shareholding structure, he laughed.

Those two cooperatives felt like makeshift operations; everything seemed haphazardly put together, like a frame hastily constructed from a few pieces of wood, which could collapse at any moment.

Unlike our own cooperative, where everything is arranged clearly and logically, as if that's how cooperatives are naturally supposed to be.

That's the difference.

So Xu Haijun runs around frequently because he wants to establish a good image for himself and distinguish himself from others.

He has discovered that this cooperative, centered around the Li family, and even some others who have a good relationship with the Li family, are very quick to accept new things, especially new things created by Li Long.

In particular, everyone believed and implemented the things that Li Long came up with almost without question.

Leaving aside the people in the cooperative, look at Lu Yingming. He hasn't joined the cooperative yet because he's older and doesn't have the same thick skin as me.

Xu Haijun had already heard that the two cooperatives that were established had both approached Lu Yingming, firstly because his land happened to be right next to one of the cooperatives' plots, and secondly because Lu Yingming had also reclaimed nearly a hundred acres of wasteland.

But neither of Lu Yingming's families agreed; they were all waiting to join his cooperative.

Look at it now, when I talk to Li Jianguo, I'm saying the same things.

Actually, when the household responsibility system was first implemented, everyone was very enthusiastic. After all, everyone knew how to farm, and the farmland irrigation system had been built up over the past two or three decades. Every spring, the team would organize people to dredge the irrigation ditches and ensure their proper functioning.

So if you have the basics, as long as you are proactive, making money through work shouldn't be a problem.

In addition, Li Long's creation of crafts such as weaving carrying poles, making large brooms, and making reed bundles continuously improved the living standards of the team, making them much better off than other villages in the surrounding area. As a result, they quickly solved the problem of food and clothing and could even be considered to have entered a basic level of well-being.

At this time, after nearly ten years of hard work, some families had improved their living conditions, but their enthusiasm for working towards a better life had waned.

But look at the people who followed the Li family. In terms of conditions, they were among the best not only in the village but also in the entire township. They all owned cars.

But their drive to make money and live a good life remains strong.

In winter, other people gather together at the store or at their homes to discuss what to eat and what to do.

Li Jian's family never lacks guests in winter, and the topics they discuss quickly escalate to how to farm better and make more money next year.

They are all positive, inspiring, and exhilarating content.

That's the difference.

In such an environment, you have the energy to do anything.

"Xiao Long, I heard you donated to the Asian Games?" Lu Yingming's voice interrupted Xu Haijun's thoughts. "A lot, huh?" "Hehe, I made money, I can't just pocket it all. I made money thanks to the country's good policies, so shouldn't I give back to the country?" Li Long said while cracking sunflower seeds.

"This is the first time our country has hosted such a large-scale competition since the reform and opening up. Now the country doesn't have enough money, so we ordinary people, like those of us who have made money, should contribute our efforts."

At this point, he distinguished himself from everyone else. At this stage, he earns money much more easily than everyone else, so it's normal for him to donate more, but he won't encourage others to donate.

Just like Li Xiangqian said, he wouldn't resort to moral blackmail. In fact, he wouldn't have said anything even if Lu Yingming hadn't asked.

"What's the Asian Games?" Xie Yundong really didn't know.

Li Long gave a brief explanation, popularizing the basic knowledge of the Asian Games—don't laugh, many ordinary people didn't know this at the time. It wasn't until next year, when the 1990 Asian Games began, that the nationwide publicity really started.

Even so, the television broadcast at this time was only average. In the current area of ​​the Fourth Team, ordinary televisions can only receive CCTV and Shicheng TV. Occasionally, they can receive some programs from Ma County TV, and basically, they can only see the content from the evening news.

Therefore, this kind of popular science education is really important.

"The Asian Games are being held in Beijing? That's really impressive!" Everyone was quite impressed after learning the details.

After all, the most memorable thing about the sports meet is the first time we participated in 1984, when we won sixteen gold medals, followed by the women's volleyball team's several consecutive championships, and the high jump.

At this time, sports like table tennis and diving, which are traditionally advantageous sports decades later, are still relatively niche.

By the way, Go was still quite popular at that time. A few years later, the NBA also attracted a lot of attention from young people because the broadcasts were free. Even Lee Yong could name the Rockets and Magic.

“We don’t have that much money at home,” Lu Yingming said after thinking for a moment. “Let’s donate a hundred.”

“We also have a hundred,” Xie Yundong said. “Not much, just a token.”

"Hey, hey," Li Long hurriedly said upon seeing this, "No, please. The country isn't strongly encouraging this. We should do what we can afford. I'm donating because I did earn my money easily, and I'm also benefiting from the country's good policies..."

"What are you talking about? It's as if we haven't benefited from national policies." Lu Yingming said with a smile, "It's given to the country, so it's only right. When the Asian Games are held next year, I can also say with my hand on my chest that I made a contribution to the Games, and that's enough."

The simple emotions of ordinary people are just that.

Xu Haijun also said he would donate 100 yuan, and the group even made plans to go to the county sports commission together to donate money.

In the mountains, Halim and his men drove their cattle and sheep slowly down the mountain and arrived at their wintering ground.

They had already driven tractors to transport most of the supplies, including yurts, to the winter camp, and cleared the snow from the winter camp and sheepfold.

Once the cattle and sheep are driven down the mountain, you can move in directly.

In previous years, it took four or five days to drive cattle and sheep from summer pastures back to their winter pastures, but this year it only took two days.

The journey was extremely smooth. Tractors left tracks in the snow on the road, and the lead sheep followed. Apart from encountering two packs of wolves along the way, there was basically no risk.

Although some of the dozen or so herding families didn't have guns, they all went down the mountain together, one after another, with people on horseback protecting them from both ends. The wolves only showed up, and then were scared away by a burst of gunfire, and never appeared again.

After the cattle and sheep are put into the pens, and each family scatters the hay they prepared in the fall, the herders move into their warm winter homes and finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Yushanjiang had already reached the mountains. He could entrust the cattle and sheep to Halim in the summer pastures, but when he wanted to return to the winter pastures, Halim's sheepfold wouldn't be able to hold so many cattle and sheep.

However, he wasn't in a hurry. He would drive the cattle and sheep into his winter pasture in the mountains this year, and tomorrow someone would come and drive them down the mountain to be distributed to his yard.

He had already arranged for some fodder to be transported over before it snowed, and in a few days he would drive the cattle and sheep to the herds he had previously purchased.

So after settling in, Yushanjiang drove to Halimu's winter camp.

Halim's wife was preparing dinner. Yushanjiang bent down and went into the winter hut to take a look. He smiled at Halim, who was sitting on the wooden kang (heated brick bed), and said:

"You're the one who's most comfortable."

"Now think back to the time you went down the mountain, you were much more comfortable than I was."

After exchanging a few casual words, Yushanjiang got down to business:

“After spring, each family will be assigned to a different production team. I’ve inquired, and we’re in the same team. You can graze the sheep on the pasture I’m assigned to, and raise more cattle and sheep. You’ll definitely make money in the future.”

"How do you know I won't go down the mountain like you in the future?" Halim retorted.

“Let’s talk about it when we get down the mountain. It’s good that we’re going down the mountain. We can go into business together. I’ve seen this over the past year. The price of beef and mutton is going to rise slowly. People are eating more beef and mutton. We’re sure to make money.”

Halim shook his head and said, "I'd rather raise sheep first. Now that the roads are open, I've found that raising cattle and sheep isn't as troublesome as before. The time spent moving them between pastures is shorter, and there's less to do in the mountains."

"What about later?"

"Let's talk about the future later. My mother lives in the county; you can visit her when you have time. I'll also go down the mountain when I'm free in the winter."

"Don't worry, it will happen."

"The winter slaughter is in a few days. Will you be on the mountain or in the county?"

"Dongzai, let me come over again. Should I call you Li Long?"

“Call him over.” Halim smiled. “This is the first time he’s come back to the winter camp since Lu Tong started. Everyone is quite happy and grateful to him. We should call him over.”

“Okay, let’s set a time. I’ll go get him,” Yu Shanjiang said.

Because he had left the summer pasture to develop in the county, Yushanjiang no longer had the same decisiveness as before. Since he was not on the mountain, many things were maintained by Halimu. Moreover, after the spring of next year, the tribe would be broken up and divided into various teams, so there would be no chieftain.

So he was discussing it with Harim.

“I think… three days later,” Halim said after thinking for a moment. “We need to get the water supply working, clear the snow from the pastures, and each family needs to pack up their belongings. We should be almost done in three days.”

"Okay." Yushanjiang nodded and said, "I'll have dinner at your house today."

"If I try to kick you out, will you leave?" Halim glared at him. "Can I kick you out?"

"Hehehe." Yushan Jiang laughed; naturally, he wasn't going to leave. He'd been tired all day, and he needed a hot meal, especially since he was making Naren, which he really liked!

Three days later, Li Long took Mingming and Haohao to kindergarten. Not long after they arrived at the purchasing station, Yushanjiang came over.

"Is it the winter market today?" Li Long said, "You should have told me earlier. It's the winter market today. I'm going up the mountain, and I haven't bought anything yet."

"I've already bought everything for each household. Brick tea, salt, sugar cubes, rice, flour, oil, and medicine," Yushanjiang said.

"I've made some money during this time. I am the clan chief, after all, so these things should be my responsibility. Calling you here means you'll come with me straight up the mountain to eat meat, just meat!"

Over the years, Li Long has made it a habit to bring supplies to each family every year when he goes up the mountain. The families are very grateful to him; this time, they simply wanted to invite him to the winter slaughter—to eat meat!
Li Long certainly understood, but he couldn't just go empty-handed.

Putting aside ethnic differences, in terms of pure interaction, my relationship with the herders in the mountains is much closer than that with ordinary trading partners.

They were even comparable to Tao Daqiang and Xie Yundong; without them, he might not have been able to accumulate his initial capital so quickly.

Therefore, Li Long would bring some things with him every time he went into the mountains.

This model of ethnic unity was actually created unintentionally. Even if the herders in the mountains were not ethnic minorities, he would still do the same.

He shouldn't be petty about what others do; that would be too narrow-minded.

So even though Yushanjiang was trying to stop him, Li Long still bought a lot of supplies and then went into the mountains with Yushanjiang.

By the time they reached the mountains, it was already past midnight. On the snow in front of Halim's house, a cow and two sheep had been slaughtered and were lying on the ground. Several young men were skinning and butchering the animals, while some women were cleaning up their internal organs.

Near the sheepfold, women were busy baking naan bread by the tandoor oven. Two large pots were set up on two newly built stone stoves in front of the winter shelter, with water boiling inside.

They'll probably be cooking meat here soon.

The arrival of Li Long and Yushanjiang drew cheers from many young men. After the car arrived, Li Long got out, greeted everyone, and then began unloading the supplies.

Li Long was familiar with these young men and women, and he had met them before as well, so he greeted them while unloading the supplies.

After that, he wasn't given any opportunities. Everyone else left him to do nothing, and no matter where they went to help, they wouldn't let him do anything.

He decided to wander around.

Halim skinned the sheep, cut it into pieces, and had the woman take it to prepare stewed mutton. He took the knife to the pool to wash it, then came over to Li Long and said:

"how are things?"

"I'm quite free there. How about you guys? Is the snow really deep over at Xiacaochang?"

“Yes, it’s snowed three times already, the grass will definitely grow better next year,” Halim said. “The wild animals in the mountains are also easy to find—with the heavy snow, wild goats, ibex, and argali sheep all have to go to the pastures to find food…”

"Anything else?" Li Long hadn't hunted in a long time, and his hands were itching to go.

"Yes, there are bears before it snows, and wolves are still quite common. You can see several of them herding wild goats together. There are also lynxes. Once, a dozen goats got lost, and when I went to look for them, I saw a lynx carrying a rabbit in its mouth, but it ran too fast and disappeared in an instant."

The stories in the mountains are all pretty much the same, but they're all new to Li Long. Although he spends most of his time in the county or city now, Li Long has a deep and inseparable bond with the Tianshan Mountains, or rather, the northern Tianshan Mountains.

He enjoyed listening to the herders tell stories about the mountains, feeling that these stories were the very flesh, blood, hair, nerves, and expressions of the mountains.

The Tianshan Mountains are vibrant and alive.

After chatting with Li Long for a while, Halim went back to slaughtering the sheep. A cowhide, about the size of a small house, was laid out on the snow, and several young men were processing its internal organs on it.

Looking at the distant snow-capped mountains and pine trees, and the blue sky and white clouds above, Li Long thought that every moment of this scenery could be used as a mobile phone screensaver in later generations.

Beautiful, extremely beautiful.

From the distant pine forest, there were the sounds of wolves howling. Li Long guessed that it was the smell of Dongzai's blood that had attracted them.

But they must have learned their lesson; they wouldn't dare come here during the day.

Li Long was even thinking about whether he should go all out tonight and not go back at all, but stay in Halimu's winter den and ambush those wolves tonight.
But after looking back at Harim's winter hut, I thought better of it.

Before, when Tao Daqiang and I came here, squeezing in didn't seem to be a problem at all. But now? Why does it suddenly feel like the conditions are so basic?
Indeed, it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.

However, he still didn't intend to wrong himself. He decided to skip the wolf hunt, as it was just for fun and there was no need to suffer in the cold.

Yu Shanjiang, who had just walked over, was unaware that Li Long had already thought through everything and considered the wolf-hunting plan. He smiled and said to Li Long:
"I think the mutton from the mountains tastes better. The sheep I buy down the mountain don't have any gamey smell at all, but once you get used to eating the mutton from the mountains, a little gamey flavor makes it taste even better."

“The mutton from the animals down the mountain eats alkaline grass, so it doesn’t have a strong gamey smell. The mutton from the mountain is the kind you’ve been eating since you were a child, it’s different.” Li Long explained to him, “From now on, if you want to eat mutton yourself, just come up the mountain to get it. But for business, the mutton from down the mountain sells faster.”

“Yes, yes,” Yushanjiang laughed, “The road is repaired, there are trucks, and the cattle and sheep can be hauled down in a day, hehe, not bad, not bad… Hey!”

He suddenly shouted and ran over. Only then did Li Long see that someone was carrying a case of liquor out of the empty house!
A case, the kind with twenty bottles of baijiu!
There are fewer than twenty men present. If we were to bring out this whole case of liquor, we probably wouldn't even have time to eat meat; the whole place would be overrun!

Li Long was also a bit troubled. Kazakhs are good in every other way, but when it comes to drinking, it's really hard to say.

Some people are truly completely different before and after drinking.

Just like many people joke that eating mushrooms in Yunnan causes all sorts of hallucinations, such as little people, talking dogs, cats, and furniture, many people in northern Xinjiang also joke that Kazakhs, after drinking alcohol, can be pulled home by horses, or sit on a horse and sway without falling off.

That was just a joke!

How many people know that eating poisonous mushrooms in Yunnan has the greatest impact on the liver and kidneys, causing permanent damage that may never be repaired and leaving the person extremely weak?

In northern Xinjiang, during the 1980s, 1990s, and even into the 2000s, many herders froze to death every winter due to drinking alcohol.

These are the blood and tears behind the jokes, which many people don't know and even find quite romantic.

Ugh.

Yushanjiang ran over and kicked the young man carrying the wine, then said a few words to the middle-aged man next to him, and finally took out a few bottles of wine from the box, letting the young man carry the rest back.

The meaning is clear: drinking is okay, but not too much.

Li Long thought this attitude was good.

However, he also noticed that not only the middle-aged man, but also the young man carrying the wine had said a few words to Yushanjiang—the situation had changed somewhat since he came down the mountain six months ago.

It's unclear whether it was because they learned that Yushanjiang was no longer planning to herd livestock, or because they knew that he would be assigned to different production teams next year, but these two people were no longer as respectful and obedient to Yushanjiang as before.

Just as Li Long was analyzing this scene, several young men and strong men came over, grabbed the two men and pulled them aside, half-jokingly and half-seriously gave them a few slaps, causing them to fall several times on the snow.

It was Yushanjiang who couldn't stand it anymore and said a few words, and then those people laughed and let the man go.

Li Long smiled.

It turns out that the disrespect shown earlier was only isolated incidents.

That makes sense. The reason Yushanjiang doesn't graze livestock is that he feels he can't help or solve the problems of the herders when they are in trouble, so he decided to go into business.

This is something that many people are probably aware of.

Only those who are not clear-headed would have other ideas at this time.

After all, every group has those with exceptional vision and those with short-sightedness.

Boiling water was scooped out of the pot and poured into a bucket, then cold water was poured in. Large chunks of bone-in mutton were cut up and put in, and soon the pot was full. A young man then added some firewood to the bottom of the pot, and the fire, which was initially small, quickly roared up.

The winter slaughtering process is nearing its end; next, it's time to process the meat.

The women had already started preparing lunch—not only mutton but also Naren. Some of the young men had gathered red charcoal and dragged out a welded barbecue grill from an unused room, ready to grill the meat.

The area around Dongwozi became increasingly lively, with sounds echoing and spreading far and wide through the valley.

A few kilometers to the east in the mountains, a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a cotton-padded coat, walked carefully on the snow path trampled by livestock, panting heavily.

He had been traversing these layers of mountains for many years, but still hadn't found his target location.

I won't give up! (End of Chapter)