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

"Look, what's on the trailer of that tractor?"

"What's this... these are... red deer... wow, two red deer, and they're not small either. I'd guess each one weighs over 200 pounds."

"Hey, deer! This venison is a rare treat. Venison is nourishing and aphrodisiac, and it strengthens muscles and bones. I went to see a doctor a few days ago, and he told me to get some venison to help me recover. I've been wandering around the farmers' market for days, but I haven't seen any venison for sale. I never expected to find it here."

"Red venison? That stuff must be pretty expensive, right?"

"Things are valued for their rarity. Nobody raises these things. They rely entirely on hunters from the villages to hunt them in the mountains. You can only catch one if you're lucky. To be honest, you could sit here in this farmers' market for a month and not even see three red deer. Today, two have been brought in all at once. The gourmets in our county are in for a treat."

"Let's go, follow them and see what the price is. If it's reasonable, we'll buy a couple of pounds to try."

"..."

As soon as Li Yunshan drove his tractor into the farmers' market, it attracted the attention of many people.

Some people found it strange and even came over to watch.

"Hey buddy, how much for your deer?"

A middle-aged man wearing a cotton overcoat, with his hands tucked into his sleeves, and a somewhat fat head and big ears, caught up with us and asked.

"Brother, I'll sell this venison for two yuan a pound."

Li Yunshan slowed down the tractor, his eyes searching for a suitable spot to set up a stall in the farmers' market, and replied with a comment.

"Two yuan a pound? Okay then."

The man in the cotton-padded coat paused for a moment after hearing Li Yunshan's words, then turned and left.

Some of the onlookers dispersed after hearing the price.

However, some people still followed Li Yunshan's tractor.

Some came to see something unusual, while others genuinely wanted to buy venison.

After the tractor chugged along for a while, Li Yunshan found a relatively spacious spot. He parked the tractor, placed two long planks across the trailer, and then lifted half a carcass of deer onto the planks.

Next, he took a wooden stick that was more than a meter long, inserted a huge deer head into it, and then stood it upright on the tractor.

This simple deer-shaped signboard, once erected, became the most eye-catching and best advertisement in the entire farmers' market.

Before Li Yunshan could even raise his voice to hawk his wares, many people who had come to the farmers' market to buy vegetables quickly gathered around after seeing the upright deer head.

"Boss, how much is your venison?"

"Two yuan per pound."

Li Yunshan replied, then raised his voice and shouted, "Fresh venison! Folks, young and old, come and take a look!"

The shout had barely faded when it attracted a lot of attention again.

Soon, a dozen or so passersby who came to buy groceries gathered around, all curiously examining the deer head that had been inserted and stood upright on the tractor trailer.

"Young man, is this venison?"

An old man carrying a rattan basket pointed to the half-mountain deer on the cutting board and asked in confusion.

"Grandpa, this is venison, or more precisely, red deer meat. Look, this deer head, I hunted it in the deep mountains yesterday afternoon, cleaned it overnight, and set off from the village early this morning to bring these two red deer to our county town, hoping to sell them for a good price while it's still early."

Li Yunshan pointed to the deer head that was being stood up and said with a smile.

"Young man, how much is your venison per pound?"

Another elderly woman wearing a floral cotton-padded jacket came over to take a closer look before asking a question.

"Auntie, this venison is only two yuan a pound. It has the effects of nourishing yin and strengthening yang, as well as strengthening muscles and bones. For an elderly person like you, drinking this venison soup will make you feel great and eat everything with relish."

Li Yunshan held up two fingers and showered the old lady with compliments. The old lady beamed with joy: "Alright, give me two jin then. Your uncle and I are getting old, and our backs and legs are a bit sore. It'll be good for us to try some wild game and nourish our bodies."

Li Yunshan smiled, picked up the thick-backed cleaver, and with a swift stroke, chopped off a piece of meat for the old woman.

Gao Hongmei hung the meat on the scale and weighed it: "Auntie, it's two jin and three liang, four yuan and six mao. Is that a good price?"

"Okay, two and a half pounds it is. Nobody can accurately weigh it, so a little more won't matter."

The old lady said with a smile.

Seeing that an elderly woman had bought venison, several other people soon followed suit.

"Brother, give me three catties."

"I want pork leg meat, two pounds."

"Hey bro, do you have deer blood? I heard it's an aphrodisiac, I'd like to buy some."

"Brother, I'm so sorry, I was lucky enough to find this deer in the deep mountains yesterday afternoon. I didn't bring any containers to hold the deer blood, so I don't have any to sell you."

Li Yunshan responded as he swiftly chopped off pieces of venison.

Gao Hongmei weighed the pieces of venison with a scale, tied them with rice straw, and handed them to the buyers, while Li Yunmei collected the money.

Seeing the endless stream of people coming to buy venison, with money flowing in and out of her hands like water, Li Yunmei was secretly surprised. In less than an hour, the cloth bag she used to hold the money was half full. This venison was selling too well in the county town.

However, Li Yunmei didn't understand that the price Li Yunshan was charging for venison wasn't actually that expensive.

You should know that a pound of pork costs nine cents at the supply and marketing cooperative, and you need meat coupons to buy pork at that price.

If you don't have meat coupons, you'll have to pay an extra two or three cents to buy pork.

But Li Yunshan's venison only costs two yuan, and he doesn't even need meat coupons.

Although venison doesn't have as much fat as pork, it is still a delicacy from the mountains and is believed to have the effects of nourishing yin and strengthening yang, as well as strengthening muscles and bones.

People buy venison for two reasons: first, to enjoy its freshness and taste this rare delicacy; and second, to nourish themselves.

It nourishes Yin and strengthens Yang, and fortifies muscles and bones.

Especially for men, who wouldn't want to be incredibly brave and domineering when it comes to "paying their dues" to their wives?

Another half hour passed, and both slabs of venison were sold out.

Li Yunshan thought to himself that if he continued selling at this rate, he could probably sell the remaining deer by noon, giving him more time to go to the department store in the county town and pick out a nice birthday present for his mother.

However, just as he lifted the third slice of venison onto the cutting board, a rather fat man in a cotton overcoat suddenly squeezed in: "Brother, cut this venison from here to here for me."

The fat, big-eared man stretched out his hand and gestured over the half-eaten venison.

Li Yunshan immediately recognized him; wasn't this the older brother who had asked him how much sika deer cost per kilogram? So he forced a smile and asked, "Brother, are you sure you want this much?"

Because if you cut it according to this man's gesture, this piece of venison would weigh at least fifty pounds, which would be a big deal.

However, if an ordinary person buys so much venison, it would be impossible for them to finish it quickly.

"Sure."

The chubby guy nodded.

Actually, he was a purchasing agent for the county's state-run restaurant. Today, he went to the farmers' market to discuss some purchasing business and happened to see Li Yunshan driving by in a tractor, pulling two deer.

Venison is a rare delicacy, and there just happens to be a chef at the state-run restaurant who is an excellent cook of venison.

Their state-run restaurant has always been a popular place for various units, large and small, in the county. If they could display the chef's signature dishes, even the leaders would flock to it.

"Fine, then I'll chop it up."

As Li Yunshan spoke, he followed Brother Pang's gesture and chopped off a large piece of venison.

Because the scale couldn't weigh that much, he cut the large piece of venison into pieces of about ten pounds each, and then handed them to Gao Hongmei to hang on the scale.

After weighing the venison piece by piece, Gao Hongmei said, "Brother, it's seventy-one yuan and three ounces, a total of one hundred and forty-two yuan and sixty cents."

"Okay, one hundred and forty-two yuan and sixty cents, right?"

Brother Pang took out money from his inner pocket, counted out fourteen large bills and handed them to Li Yunshan, then took out a two-yuan bill, a fifty-cent bill and a one-cent bill, and handed them to Li Yunmei.

Pay in one hand and deliver in one hand.

After paying the money, Brother Pang carried a few pieces of venison and huffed and puffed as he left.

Others who were still waiting to buy venison became anxious when they saw that more than half of the half-eaten venison had disappeared in a short time, and everyone rushed to buy the meat.

"Brother, give me three catties."

"Young man, I want two jin, two jin."

Li Yunshan swiftly sliced ​​the venison with his knife, while Gao Hongmei weighed it just as quickly.

"Brother, here's your one-dollar note, here's four dollars back."

"Sir, here's your three yuan, and I'll give you fifty cents in change."

Li Yunmei was so busy that her hands were practically dancing, but luckily she had some schooling, so simple addition and subtraction were no problem for her, and she didn't make any mistakes when giving change.

Before long, the remaining piece of venison was almost completely sold out, leaving only a pile of unwanted deer bones and the two deer heads.

"Let's pack up and close up shop."

After waiting for a while longer and seeing no one else come, Li Yunshan prepared to pack up and close his stall.

"What's the rush? It's only noon. Let's wait a little longer, sell these two deer heads, and then go home."

Gao Hongmei wanted to sell both deer heads before going back, so she quickly said that.

"This..." Li Yunshan hesitated, when a voice suddenly rang out beside him: "Hey, boss, how much for these two deer heads on your truck?"

Li Yunshan looked up and saw a middle-aged man wearing a woolen overcoat, trousers, and leather shoes.

"One yuan per pound."

There wasn't much meat on the deer heads, and they had a pair of huge antlers on them, so Li Yunshan didn't think too much about it. He just wanted to lower the price and sell the two deer heads as soon as possible so he could get the money to buy his mother a birthday present at the department store.

But to his surprise, as soon as he said that, the man immediately said, "Okay, one yuan a pound, right? I'll take these two deer heads."

This left Li Yunshan somewhat bewildered.

These two deer heads don't have much meat, yet someone actually wants them.

However, Gao Hongmei was quick-witted and immediately weighed the two deer heads.

Soon, the seventy-nine yuan was in Li Yunmei's hands.

However, when Li Yunshan saw the man in the Zhongshan suit quickly find a car after buying the two deer heads, he realized what the man intended to do with them.