Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 970 Have you ever seen a jade stone the size of a house?

Li Long ran to the rock and carefully examined it before letting out a sigh of relief. The base of the "small" rock that had been chopped off had already separated from the boulder, but the force of the explosion was just a little short of knocking it down.

Li Long stepped forward and gave it a push. The stone wobbled slightly, and he began to shake it vigorously. The stone wobbled more and more. When Li Long saw that the time was right, he gave it a sudden push, and the stone detached from its base, tumbling and falling onto the riverbank. In the process, it flattened a shrub and stuck it to the stone wall.

When Ma Xiaoyan peeked out again, she saw Li Long push the big rock down. She marveled at Li Long's strength and then went back to picking mushrooms.

They might not come tomorrow, so we need to prepare more today.

Seeing that less than half of the huge boulder remained, Li Long knew that the explosives might not be enough. However, most of the obstacles caused by the boulder had already been removed, and even if there wasn't enough left, he could just get some more.

The supply and marketing cooperative is a bit busy lately, so it's unlikely they can come and help, but getting some explosives and detonators shouldn't be a problem.

After looking at the remaining stones to see where the explosives could be placed, Li Long chose the side of the stone closest to the hillside this time. Although he hadn't studied physics much and didn't know much about mechanics, he knew that if he started blasting from the back of the stone, the blasted stones should fly towards the road.

Even if it doesn't collapse completely like before, with only a crack, it'll still be easy to push it open.

When the rocks were large, we didn't have to worry about these things because the explosives we used couldn't completely blast the rocks apart. But now that there aren't many rocks left, we need to consider this. If we put explosives on the other side of the road and accidentally blow the rocks up and onto the hillside, it will be more troublesome to push them down later.

Back behind the tree, Li Long bundled up the remaining explosives, took them to the rock, stuffed them into the crevice he had previously chosen, pulled the trigger, and then quickly ran up the hillside—this time not back to the tree, mainly because it was inconvenient.

He ran thirty or forty meters and stopped. As soon as he turned his head, he felt the ground shake. Then he heard a "boom" and saw a cloud of black smoke rise into the air from the rock. The rock also split in two.

To Li Long's surprise, the effect was even better than he had imagined. A stone slightly smaller than the one that had just fallen fell down and rolled onto the riverbank. Another stone also fell to the ground. Although it didn't roll down, it had broken at the root and should be easier to deal with.

That's good, it saved me a lot of trouble.

Li Long walked briskly to the rock. He looked at the large, fallen rock, which must have weighed several hundred kilograms. He tried to lift it, and although he could move it, it was difficult to lift it completely, so he stopped.

Anyway, the rocks have already been blasted open. When Meng Hai and his men come to repair the road, a few people can easily pry them open with crowbars.

The remaining base of this boulder was higher than the roadbed, but Li Long didn't bother with it. He figured he could simply raise the road or use a hammer to break off some of the boulder's base later.

After removing the huge boulder, Li Long felt he had accomplished a great task. He clapped his hands, smiled, and went behind the tree to tidy up the rest.

"Comrade Li Long, dinner's ready!" Someone called out to Li Long from the direction of the road construction in the distance.

"Okay, I understand," Li Long said. "I'll be right there."

"Is Officer Ma over there?" the man called out again. "Call her along too!"

"I'll tell her, you can go over there." Li Long waved to him, then turned and shouted towards the spot where Ma Xiaoyan had been standing:

"Officer Ma, lunch is ready!"

The villager who had called Li Long earlier was barely audible here, so Ma Xiaoyan naturally couldn't hear him from deep in the mountains. But Li Long's location was a transit point, and his voice was loud, echoing throughout the valley. Ma Xiaoyan, who was looking for mushrooms, heard him, emerged from a nearby grove of trees, and said to Li Long, "I'm here!"

Her handbag was bulging, and she had taken off her coat and was carrying it in her hand. The two sleeves of the coat were tied together, forming a bundle, which probably contained a bag of mushrooms.

"There are so many wild mushrooms in these mountains!" Ma Xiaoyan said happily as she approached. "In just a short while, I've picked several kilograms. I'll dry them at home, and they'll last me for several days."

"Are these all mushrooms you recognize?" Li Long asked as he helped her carry them, "Don't pick any poisonous mushrooms."

"Yes, I recognize them all: white bell peppers, porcini mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, matsutake mushrooms. I didn't pick up any of the others that I didn't recognize."

Morel mushrooms are out of season now, and black tiger paw mushrooms haven't come down yet. These are the main wild mushrooms in the forest.

When the two arrived at the area where the road was under construction, the villagers had already found places to eat. This time, the stoves weren't set up in the winter huts, but were built directly on the riverbank. Each person still had an enamel bowl, a large piece of meat, and a bowl of soup.

Today, Li Long didn't go out to buy naan. He hadn't finished the naan from yesterday, so he took some and shared it with Ma Xiaoyan. Then, like everyone else, he took an enamel bowl and a bowl of soup, intending to find a shady spot to sit down and eat. Meng Hai was calling to him from not far away, so Li Long went over.

Ma Xiaoyan sat down with several female villagers, chatting and laughing with them.

"Is the stone almost taken care of?" Meng Hai asked. "Those explosions just now were quite powerful. They startled several rabbits on the other side of the riverbank, and they all darted into the water. We almost caught one."

"That's about it. You can handle the remaining small tasks. I'll go back and check if there's anything else that needs to be done this afternoon." Li Long was full of confidence. "I think this is a good plan—"

As he spoke, he glanced at the progress of Meng Hai and the others' work and found that they were progressing quite quickly, having moved forward more than a hundred meters since they arrived in the morning.

Moreover, the quality is quite good. A thin layer of gravel has been laid on the prepared roadbed, and there are marks left by the track and small four-wheeler.

This kind of road can't be repaired all at once. The main thing is to widen the original road so that a small four-wheeled vehicle can pass through. As for what the roadbed looks like, the terrain in the mountains changes frequently. The road that is repaired today may be different tomorrow after a flood.

So Li Long didn't make too many demands; let's take it one step at a time.

After eating, the villagers scooped hot water from the stove to rinse their enamel bowls, then went to the river to wash the bowls, put them away, and quickly rested.

Some people leaned against the trees and closed their eyes to doze off, while others gathered together to play cards, and still others chatted and laughed about everyday life.

The poor have their own kind of happiness; even a little leisure time can be used to find some enjoyment. Li Long also saw someone enter the woods, and he guessed that they probably had the same idea as Ma Xiaoyan: to pick some mushrooms to take back and eat.

Li Long recalled a movie he had seen in his previous life called "Into the Dust," which seemed to be all about suffering and sorrow. But ordinary people have their own kind of happiness. Although they didn't know what it meant for life to go on, that's how life went. Poverty has its own joys; it's not like the petty bourgeoisie think that being poor means you can't be happy.

Li Long also rested against the tree for a while. Meng Hai didn't come over to disturb him, but instead led the two team leaders forward, probably to plan what to do in the afternoon.

When they started working, Li Long continued to walk forward. This time, Ma Xiaoyan didn't follow her. Li Long was mainly scouting ahead, and he told Ma Xiaoyan not to stray too far from the group, as encountering wild animals would be troublesome.

Although the loud noise of the explosives scared away most of the wild animals in the vicinity, no one could be sure whether any daring creatures would come running.

Ma Xiaoyan readily agreed and stayed in the vicinity.

Li Long carried his gun upstream until he reached the blasted boulder. He didn't stop but continued forward. The terrain was undulating, generally rising higher and higher until he entered another ravine.

Li Long has now summarized that this pastoral trail mainly follows the rivers and streams, passing through the riverbanks and valleys, which will save a lot of time—constantly climbing uphill will not only waste a lot of energy, but also add a lot of unpredictable troubles to the journey.

Continuing into the mountains from the boulder, the gully, though not very wide, was extremely long. The riverbed varied in width. Li Long followed the tracks left by the migrating livestock for another kilometer or so before discovering a new obstacle.

From the boulder all the way to this place, the main area that needs repair is to widen the roadbed and fill in some potholes with mud and sand.

Although there are some trees and shrubs that need to be removed, there are not many.

The only problem is this large grove of willows in front of us. This stretch of riverbank is relatively flat, making it a good place to build a road, but the willows are blocking the way. The willow grove isn't very large; if we cut it down, there'll just be enough space in the middle for a road to pass through.

Li Long glanced at it and figured that about twenty trees would need to be cut down. The workload wasn't too large. The only troublesome thing was the big willow tree in the very center, which was as thick as two people could hug. Cutting it down would be quite difficult.

Of course, it's not impossible. Li Long was used to using explosives, so he habitually thought that he would go to the supply and marketing cooperative tomorrow to find Li Xiangqian and ask him to provide him with a few boxes of explosives. Then he would dig a few holes under this big willow tree, stuff the explosives in, and blow the tree down.

When Li Long arrived at the big willow tree, he noticed that some cloth strips were tied to the tree and some stones were piled up under it, as if some kind of sacrificial ceremony was taking place.

Li Long vaguely remembered that there was a sacred tree worship in many places in northern Xinjiang. Some roadside trees would be worshipped by various ethnic groups, and many legends have been passed down. For example, in a certain place, in order to build a road, they wanted to cut down a big tree, but they couldn't cut it down no matter how hard they tried that day. As a result, the tree cutter had nightmares when he got back. Another example is that a sacred tree in a certain place is very effective. When the children of the nearby villagers got sick, they went to worship it and got better.

Although this big tree is in the mountains, it is clear that it is the ancestor of this grove of willow trees, and it is also believed that some mountain people worship it here.

The mountains are mainly inhabited by herders, so who would be doing these things here?
There were some remains of offerings under the tree, including naan bread and bone fragments, some of which had been eaten by nearby wild animals.

This willow tree... I think I'll leave it alone.

It's not about superstition or supernatural phenomena, but since people are worshipping here, if the road construction cuts this thing down, it might cause disputes later.

He looked at both sides. On one side of the big willow tree, there was a riverbank, only two or three meters away, with three or four small willow trees growing there; on the other side, there was a slope, which was quite steep. It would be a lot of work to carve out a road from the side of the willow tree.

The most economical approach would be to kill the big willow tree, but Li Long thought about it and decided against it.

He made the decision, so he was the one to solve the problem. Looking at the situation on both sides of the large willow tree, he decided to build the road from the left, closer to the riverbank. He turned the original road slightly to the left, cut down a few small willow trees, and then filled the riverbank with sand and gravel to create the roadbed.

The river flow has decreased considerably here, and the traces of the previous flood only reached the roots of the willow trees. Therefore, as long as the roadbed is properly prepared, there is no need to worry about it being washed away by the flood.

Of course, when laying the roadbed, you can't just lay a protrusion; you also have to control the curvature, otherwise the protrusion will easily be washed away by the river.

Cutting down trees is easy, but laying roadbeds is more troublesome.

Li Long looked around and found that there were still quite a few stones on the nearby riverbank. He took off his backpack, put his rifle on his back, and started moving the stones.

An ordinary person would be considered quite capable of lifting a stone weighing several tens of kilograms, but Li Long possessed great strength and astonishing physical abilities. He never stopped, picking up and carrying whatever he could find. He lifted up stones of all sizes nearby and threw them into the riverbed beside the willow trees, quickly piling them up to the same height as the ground.

Good efficiency, Li Long continued moving. This thing is like sticking mud to a wall; just sticking a lump won't work, it'll easily fall off. If you stick a little more where it's flush with the wall first, and then gradually increase the thickness, it won't look so abrupt, and the mud won't fall off so easily.

The stone walls that Li Long added to the riverbank were like this: the thickest walls were added along the willow trees, extending more than two meters into the riverbed, and the thickness gradually decreased as you went up and down.

Soon, most of the nearby stones had been picked up, so Li Long moved on to pick up stones further away.

"Huh?" When Li Long lifted a large rock, he discovered an even larger rock underneath it that had been soaked in water. It was emerald green and shone with a jade-like luster.

"Hey, it really is a giant jade stone!" Li Long threw the stone in his hand aside, squatted down and began to dig into the giant jade stone in the river.

The portion of the jade stone where you can see the jade meat is as big as a basin. In other parts, the jade meat is exposed in some places, while in other places it is covered by the outer layer of the stone.

Li Long painstakingly pried open all the rocks, and the surprise in his heart was indescribable: the exposed surface of this rock alone had an area of ​​at least one square meter!
He found a stick nearby and started digging down along the edge.

This huge piece of jade has been washed by the river for many years, and its edges have been smoothed out without any sharp corners. Some places are still stone skin, but when you dig deeper, you can see that most of the washed areas are jasper—and it is a very beautiful deep green, without a single black spot on the surface.

Li Long vaguely remembered hearing in the news from time to time in his previous life that people had discovered giant jade stones in the upper reaches of the Ma River, some weighing one or two tons, and others weighing two or three tons, mostly by residents of Shicheng.

Those giant jade stones are often valued at millions of dollars—a considerable price back in the early 2000s.

Of course, the transportation cost alone for these stones from the mountains is over 100,000 yuan, which is beyond the reach of ordinary families.

Later, Li Long saw some particularly large jade stones in some large jade shops, but they didn't look very beautiful; they just looked like stones with a slightly darker color.

Perhaps those jade stones were left outdoors and hadn't been washed by water, or perhaps the jade stone I've just found has been soaking in water all along, which is why it looks so beautiful.

Anyway, Li Long felt that of all the huge jade stones he had seen in both lifetimes, this one was the most beautiful.

Li Long dug down more than half a meter with a stick but couldn't find any rocks at the bottom, so he stopped digging. The water had seeped in quite deep, making it difficult to dig any further; all he could find was muddy water.

But you can sense that this huge rock must be at least several cubic meters in volume and weigh several tons, possibly even larger.

If all the jade is of this quality as seen on the surface, then this huge piece of jade would be extremely valuable even now.

However, transporting it back is a big problem—of course, it was even more difficult in the past. Now that the road has been built this far, we can simply hire an excavator or crane to dig around the jade, lift it up, load it onto a truck, and haul it away.

However, with the current level of technology, it is easy to cause some damage to the jade during the digging and transportation process.

Li Long filled the excavated mud and sand back in, and then weighed down the jade with stones of various sizes to prevent the water from washing the surface out again and letting others discover it.

This area shouldn't appear too conspicuous, and there shouldn't be too many stones. After all, Li Long has been carrying stones from other places to fill the riverbed, and if there's only a pile of stones in this area, it will definitely attract attention.

So Li Long would adjust the stones from time to time while moving them to make the jade piece look more natural.

As the sun was setting, Li Long had already filled the riverbed with stones; all that was left was to cut down the willow trees.

Li Long clapped his hands, straightened his gun, looked at his masterpiece, and even stepped on the stone a few times. It felt very stable. All he needed to do was lay sand and gravel on it, and this place could serve as a roadbed.

Unless there's a particularly large flood, these piled-up stones are all reliable.

Of course, if you really want it to be stable, it would be better to use wire mesh to hold the stones, but we don't have that option right now, so we won't go through that trouble.

Carrying his gun, Li Long walked back, feeling a sense of satisfaction. Today he had blasted and piled up rocks, completing the renovation of two difficult sections of the roadbed. He had also discovered a huge piece of jade – a very fruitful day!

When they arrived at Meng Hai's place, the work wasn't finished yet; Meng Hai was still busy paving the last bit of road. Li Long saw Ma Xiaoyan taking pictures in the crowd and felt relieved. He went over and told Meng Hai about the situation at the willow tree. Meng Hai said:

"Okay, I understand. When we get there, we'll cut down the trees, just make sure to avoid the big willow tree."

Although Meng Hai was also a party member, he didn't want to be the one causing trouble because of local customs.

　It's been 88 years since the July 7 Incident, hasn't it? A national humiliation! When can we use a soldier's excuse on the four islands of Japan?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)