Hunting 81: Gathering Goods in the Mountains, I Spoil My Ex-Wife to the Extreme

After selling the meat to the old man, Li Yunshan continued to place the cut pieces of wild boar meat onto the cutting board.

Before long, groups of two or three people began to gather around Li Yunshan's stall: elderly women carrying vegetable baskets to buy groceries, women with children, and uncles going out for a stroll.

"Young man, is this wild boar meat?"

The elderly woman with half-silver hair stopped and pointed at the wild boar on the cutting board, asking the first question.

"Auntie, you have a good eye! This is a wild boar that we hunted in the mountains yesterday evening. We cleaned it overnight and brought it to our county town from Xiangyang Commune early this morning. The meat is still fresh."

Li Yunshan raised his voice and shouted, which immediately attracted more people to gather around.

"You came all the way from Xiangyang Commune, that's quite a distance."

The elderly woman carrying a shopping basket glanced at the travel-worn Li Yunshan and Gao Hongmei, then pointed to a piece of pork leg: "Young man, I'll take this piece of pork leg."

"Okay, sure."

Li Yunshan smiled. This piece of meat on his hindquarters was quite large, weighing about five or six pounds.

He weighed it on the iron scale: "Auntie, it's six catties and one ounce and six mace. I'll round it down to five yuan and fifty cents."

"Thank you, young man!"

The elderly woman carrying a vegetable basket smiled and took the meat.

One picky person examined the wild boar meat: "It's a bit lean, unlike domestic pigs which have so much fat, but this wild game is rare, the price is fair, and you don't need meat coupons."

"Young man, weigh me two pounds of hindquarter meat too."

"Okay."

Li Yunshan cut off a piece of meat from his rump, weighing two jin and three liang, and rounded it down to two yuan.

"The young man is honest."

The man bought the meat, and seeing that Li Yunshan had rounded down the price, he praised him.

After the people in front bought the meat, others saw that Li Yunshan's wild boar meat was indeed reasonably priced and that he was an honest man, so they would often round down the price for him.

In addition, seeing that Li Yunshan was sweet-talking and eloquent, calling everyone "uncle," "aunt," "brother," and "sister-in-law," the meat buyers had a good impression of him. The key was that the pork was free to pick and choose, so they all bought one or two pounds of it.

The wild boar meat on the cutting board was sold off at lightning speed. Li Yunshan's knife never stopped moving. Gao Hongmei was busy collecting money while skewering the pork with straw and handing it to the buyers.

Amidst the busyness, Gao Hongmei was impressed by Li Yunshan's smooth and eloquent handling of the many people who came to buy meat. He managed to ensure that everyone could get the wild boar meat they wanted. One uncle was even a little angry because he had waited too long, but Li Yunshan coaxed him back with a few words and sold him two catties of pork. In the end, he left with a smile. This made Gao Hongmei's impression of Li Yunshan refreshed once again.

Just as Li Yunshan was busy cutting, weighing, and calculating the price of meat for the customers, the sound of a bicycle bell rang out from afar.

A middle-aged man wearing a military green cotton overcoat stopped his old bicycle outside the crowd buying meat.

He propped up his bicycle and called out to Li Yunshan, "Boss, what kind of meat are you selling?"

Hearing the shout, Li Yunshan glanced over and replied while cutting the meat, "Brother, I'm selling wild boar meat. I hunted it yesterday evening, cleaned it overnight, and brought it here from Xiangyang Commune early this morning. The meat is still very fresh."

"I don't want to buy meat, I just wanted to ask if you still have wild boar stomach for sale?"

A middle-aged man in a military green cotton overcoat asked.

"Wild boar stomach? Sir, what do you need wild boar stomach for?"

"My mother's stomach problems flared up, and I heard from an old Chinese medicine doctor that stewing wild boar stomach can cure stomach ailments. I've been wandering around the farmers' markets for several days, but I haven't seen any wild boar stomach for sale."

"Young man, do you have any wild boar stomachs for sale?" the middle-aged man asked.

"Yes, brother, please wait a moment. I'm selling meat here."

Li Yunshan gestured for the man to wait a moment.

If he hunted the wild boar himself, he would never sell the wild boar stomach, because it is a good thing, rich in nutrients. It can be stewed with some Chinese medicine that strengthens the spleen and stomach, and it has a miraculous effect on treating stomach diseases.

Of the two wild boars, one was hunted by Gao Hongmei. He had told her to keep the boar's belly and use it along with an old hen to make soup to nourish her father's body.

But Gao Hongmei insisted on selling her wild boar stomach, so Li Yunshan put the wild boar stomach on the tractor.

People came in droves to buy meat, but no one asked if they had wild boar stomach.

If anyone had asked, I probably would have sold it long ago, instead of keeping it until now.

"Okay, okay, you go ahead and do your work, I'll wait here for a bit."

"It's good that you're not in a hurry."

After Li Yunshan finished speaking, he continued cutting and selling meat.

And so it went. About half an hour later, when fewer people came to buy meat, he finally came over.

"Hey bro, where's your wild boar's belly?"

The middle-aged man looked around the cutting board but couldn't find the wild boar's stomach.

"It's here."

Li Yunshan took a wild boar's stomach out from the bottom of a wicker basket.

Because of the cold weather, the wild boar's stomach was frozen solid.

"It really is wild boar's stomach."

Upon seeing this, the middle-aged man picked up the wild boar's stomach and examined it closely before exclaiming with delight.

"How much does this wild boar stomach cost?"

"Ten dollars, no bargaining."

Li Yunshan spoke first.

A wild boar only has one stomach, which has medicinal value and can strengthen the spleen and stomach and treat stomach ailments. Therefore, the price of wild boar stomach has always been much higher than that of wild boar meat.

Even so, they are all available but unsold.

Upon hearing the price Li Yunshan quoted, the middle-aged man hesitated.

Ten yuan is enough to buy ten jin of pork. If you just want to try something new, there's no need to spend that money on a wild boar stomach.

But the old Chinese medicine doctor also said that his mother's stomach problem could only be effectively treated by stewing wild boar stomach with some Chinese herbs that strengthen the spleen and stomach and treat stomach ailments.

Using the stomach of a domesticated pig is not enough; the effect is greatly reduced.

These past few days, whenever he had free time, he would wander around the farmers' market, but he hadn't come across anyone selling wild boar stomachs.

This stuff is expensive, but when it comes to gourmets who know how to eat it, it's already snapped up, so it's practically priceless.

He finally found someone selling wild boar stomach today. Although ten yuan was quite expensive, he thought of his mother's suffering from stomach problems and gritted his teeth: "Fine, ten yuan it is. I'll take this wild boar stomach."

As he spoke, he took out some money from his inner pocket, counted out two five-yuan bills, and handed them to Li Yunshan.

"Okay."

After receiving the money, Li Yunshan handed over the wild boar stomach to the middle-aged man.

"Brother, my name is Zhong Guangming. My mother has a serious stomach ailment, and I'm afraid this wild boar stomach won't cure her completely. Here, I'll leave you my address. If you have any wild boar stomach in the future, you can leave it with me. We can discuss the price."

"Wild boar stomachs aren't always available. I only got this wild boar stomach yesterday because I went hunting in the mountains and happened to kill one."

Li Yunshan said.

Of course, if he actually manages to hunt a wild boar again, it will be up to the highest bidder; he will sell it to whoever offers the highest price.

"I know, I know," Zhong Guangming nodded repeatedly after listening.

After buying the wild boar stomach, Zhong Guangming chatted with Li Yunshan for a few more minutes before leaving in a hurry.

Li Yunshan continued to sell his wild boar meat.

People came one after another, inquired about the price, some thought the price was right and bought it, while others thought the price was too high and left with disdain after asking the price.

Meanwhile, the wild boar meat on the cutting board was slowly decreasing.

By noon, most of the wild boar meat on the cutting board had been sold out.

"They're selling really fast!"

Seeing that there wasn't much wild boar meat left on the cutting board, Gao Hongmei couldn't help but beam with joy.

These two wild boars weigh at least 300 jin (150 kg). If they were taken to the commune to sell, it would probably take a whole day to sell just one of them.

They can be brought to the county town to sell, and they'll be almost sold out in less than half a day.

This made Gao Hongmei sigh inwardly at how many wealthy people there were in the county town, and how many of them were willing to spend money on food.

She opened the bulging money bag she was carrying in her bosom. Inside were piles of money, including large unity notes, five-yuan notes, two-yuan notes, one-yuan notes, and small bills like five-mao, two-mao, and one-mao.

Almost half of the money here came from her hunting wild boars and selling wild boar meat.

This gave her a sense of accomplishment in earning money.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but take out all the money inside, putting the ten-yuan notes together, the five-yuan notes together, the two-yuan notes, the one-yuan notes...

"Don't flaunt your wealth. Don't get too caught up in counting the money yet; wait until you get home to count it slowly."

Seeing Gao Hongmei pick out a few ten-yuan bills from her money bag and put them together, Li Yunshan quickly reached out, took the money from her hand, and stuffed it back into the money bag.

Upon hearing this, Gao Hongmei was also immediately awakened.

"I'm sorry, I... I didn't mean to."

Everyone understands the principle of not flaunting wealth. After Li Yunshan's reminder, Gao Hongmei immediately realized that her actions were inappropriate.

"It's always better to be careful when you're out and about."

Li Yunshan gave a few instructions and then began to tidy up the cutting board and cleaver.

"There's still some meat left, aren't you going to stay until it's all sold out?"

Gao Hongmei saw this and couldn't help but say something.

"It's all pig's head meat. We're not selling it. We'll keep it and take it home to stew."

Li Yunshan glanced at the meat in the truck bed; there were still two pieces of pig's head meat and quite a few pig bones left.

Although pig's head is called meat, more than half of it is actually wild boar skin, so generally no one buys it.

Pork bones were even less desirable.

This thing has hardly any lean meat, let alone fat. What's the point of buying it?

Only Li Yunshan would think of taking the pork bones home so he could make soup.

You can make stewed radish soup or stewed wild mushroom soup.

After tidying up, Li Yunshan found a place to wash his hands, took out the tractor crank key, and started the tractor.

Soon, the tractor started making a "putt-putt-putt" sound.

After Gao Hongmei got in, he drove the tractor slowly away from the farmers' market.

"Brother, that person is gone."

Not long after Li Yunshan drove away in his tractor, not far from where they had just sold wild boar meat, a lean man spoke to a man with a mustache who was puffing out smoke.

"Let's go, we'll wait for you on the road to Xiangyang Commune."

The man with the mustache threw his cigarette butt on the ground.