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

"With so much meat, the deer you hunted must have been quite large, right?"

Looking at the cart piled high with meat, the old man wearing reading glasses asked.

"The red deer should weigh over 400 jin (200 kg), and after removing the internal organs and blood, it should weigh around 300 jin (150 kg). In addition, there is the meat of three wild wolves in here."

"Deer blood, oh, that's a real delicacy, a rare find in the city. It's a shame it doesn't keep well... By the way, young man, is all the meat on this cart for sale?"

"Yes, they're all for sale, but I don't know what prices the supply and marketing cooperative will offer," Li Yunshan nodded.

The old man adjusted his reading glasses and said sincerely, "Young man, don't worry. The purchase price given by our supply and marketing cooperative is uniform. We won't lower your price by a single cent. Right now, the supply and marketing cooperative is buying red deer meat for two yuan a pound, but the price of wolf meat is cheaper. We can only give you fifty cents a pound."

"Of course, as you know, the most valuable part of a wolf is its pelt. If you're selling it, the price depends on the breed, size, and quality of the pelt, so it can range from a dozen to over a hundred yuan. The price depends on the quality of the pelt."

Li Yunshan nodded, indicating that he understood.

In fact, he understood that apart from the supply and marketing cooperative, there was no other place in the entire commune that bought sika deer meat.

Because the policy of unified purchase and sales is still in effect in China, the market economy is still mainly based on unified purchase and sales.

Of course, he could also take it to the county town to sell. There are restaurants in the county town that might offer a higher price than the supply and marketing cooperative, but it's getting late now.

Moreover, it was nearly twenty li from the commune to the county seat, and by the time you got there by horse-drawn carriage, it would probably be dark.

Therefore, the sika deer meat and wolf meat on the horse-drawn carts could only be sold to the supply and marketing cooperatives.

"Young man, this is the price. Will you sell?"

"Sell, of course I'll sell, at the price you asked for, sir."

Li Yunshan nodded immediately.

"Xiao Huang, Xiao He, bring out the biggest one to weigh."

The old man shouted towards the supply and marketing cooperative.

"Okay, sure!"

Soon, two sales clerks took out a large scale from inside.

With the help of Li Yunshan and Li Yunshi, the meat on the carriage was weighed quickly.

"Young man, the venison weighs 308.7 jin, and the wolf meat weighs 77 jin. I'll round down the venison to 309 jin for you. How does that sound?"

Upon hearing the weight, and realizing that the vendor had rounded down the price for the venison, Li Yunshan immediately nodded and agreed, "We'll charge you according to the weight you specified, sir."

"Let me calculate it."

After the old man finished speaking, he began to fiddle with the abacus in his hand.

After a series of crackling sounds, the old man said, "Three hundred and nine catties of venison, six hundred and eighteen yuan; seventy-seven catties of wolf meat, thirty-eight yuan and fifty cents, totaling six hundred and fifty-six yuan and fifty cents."

After saying that, the old man turned around and counted the money from the drawer of the counter. He first counted out sixty-five ten-yuan bills, then a five-yuan bill, three one-yuan bills, and a fifty-mao bill, neatly stacked them into a stack, and handed them to Li Yunshan: "Young man, six hundred and fifty-eight yuan and fifty-mao. Count it and see if there is any shortfall."

Li Yunshan took the money, counted it, and after confirming that the amount was correct, he put the money into the inner pocket of his coat, but his eyes were drawn to the hunting rifles displayed in the shop window.

Currently, the hunting rifles sold by the supply and marketing cooperative include the Gongnong brand hunting rifle produced in Northeast China, as well as the Hutou brand hunting rifle, which is modified by Chongqing Chang'an Machinery Manufacturing Plant based on the Soviet M-6 12-gauge vertical double-barreled hunting rifle.

Both of these shotguns are double-barreled and can be loaded with two bullets. When hunting wild boars or black bears in the mountains, if the first shot doesn't take them down, you can fire a second shot.

"Young man, looking to buy a gun?"

The old man saw Li Yunshan staring intently at the hunting rifle in the shop window and asked with a smile.

"My gun's rifling is almost worn down, so it's not accurate at long distances. Also, 7.62 caliber bullets are scarce; every bullet fired is one less available, and there's nowhere to refill them. So I'm planning to buy a hunting rifle and go hunting in the mountains once this old guy runs out of bullets."

Li Yunshan patted the butt of a Mosin-Nagant rifle and explained.

"You need a gun license to buy a gun. Do you have a gun license? If not, you have to go to the police station to get one."

"That's definitely true."

Li Yunshan took out a somewhat yellowed and worn gun license from his pocket and handed it over.

This gun license was something his father made him get a few years ago, but after he got it, he was always doing nothing and it sat at the bottom of a box for several years until today.

The old man took the gun permit, adjusted his reading glasses, and carefully examined it. After confirming there were no problems, he returned the permit to Li Yunshan: "Which brand of gun do you want?"

"I want that Chongqing Tiger Head brand double-barreled shotgun."

Li Yunshan pointed to the shop window.

Tiger Head brand hunting rifles were the leading brand in the domestic hunting rifle industry. In its peak year, it once held more than 70% of the domestic hunting rifle market share. The rifles were well-made, had high shooting accuracy, reliable mechanism operation, stable quality, and few malfunctions.

Not only is it aesthetically pleasing and easy to assemble and disassemble, but it is also very convenient to maintain.

More than a decade later, it even helped domestic athletes win the Olympic skeet shooting championship, thus earning the nickname "Champion Gun".

"Young man, you have good taste. But let me be frank with you, this Tiger Head brand gun is indeed a good gun, but it can't eject its cartridge case automatically. Think it over carefully before you decide."

"I've thought it through, I want this Tiger Head brand hunting rifle."

"Okay, please wait a moment."

The old man turned around, took the hunting rifle out of the shop window, and handed it to Li Yunshan: "This gun costs two hundred and thirty yuan and comes with ten bullets."

At this moment, Li Yunshi also walked in and saw Li Yunshan buying guns. He watched with great interest.

Li Yunshan carefully inspected the hunting rifle and skillfully tested its mechanical operation several times. Li Yunshi was surprised. Although the third brother usually didn't do his job properly and had never even touched a gun, his movements were as skilled as those of a seasoned gun user.

"Sir, I'll take this hunting rifle, and I'll also buy a hundred rounds of ammunition."

After trying out the gun, Li Yunshan was very satisfied and decided to buy it immediately.

But he wanted to get some more bullets.

Li Yunshan would never have too many bullets.

Mosin-Nagant originally had fifteen bullets. He went hunting in the mountains twice and encountered roe deer several times. He was reluctant to use his bullets on them, fearing that every bullet he fired would be one less. So he had to let the roe deer go and save his bullets for the bigger ones.

Now that we have enough bullets, when we go hunting in the mountains, we can hunt smaller and medium-sized prey with more freedom and catch more prey.

Furthermore, gun control in China will become increasingly strict in the future, so storing more bullets now will ensure that we don't have to worry about running out of ammunition later.

But when the old man heard what he said, he looked troubled: "Young man, according to the regulations, each person can only buy two boxes per month. Each box contains twenty-five bullets, so two boxes contain fifty bullets, which is enough for you for a month."

Li Yunshan didn't press the issue, since it was a national regulation: "Then let's buy two boxes first."

He took the money out of his pocket and counted out 25 ten-yuan bills.

A Tiger Head brand hunting rifle costs 230 yuan and comes with 10 bullets. Two additional boxes of ammunition cost 10 yuan each and contain 25 bullets, making a total of 60 bullets.

After handing the money to the old man, Li Yunshan finally bought the hunting rifle he had always longed for.

With his hunting rifle slung over his shoulder and bullets tucked into his pocket, Li Yunshan bought a pound of candy and three bottles of loose liquor before leaving the supply and marketing cooperative.

However, after leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, he asked Li Yunshi, "Brother, did you bring your gun license?"

"Yes, I brought it. Why?"

"Here's what I'll give you: go inside and buy me two more boxes of ammunition."

Li Yunshan took out two ten-yuan bills from his pocket and handed them to Li Yunshi.

"No, what do you need so many bullets for? I usually have twenty or thirty rounds, which is enough for me." Li Yunshi asked, puzzled.

"Of course, it's for hunting! There's a saying, 'Better safe than sorry.' Don't wait until you're about to shit your pants before you start looking for toilet paper, or until your child is starving before you start calling for their mother to nurse. Like Han Xin commanding troops, the more the merrier, brother, don't you understand?"

Li Yunshan rolled his eyes at his older brother, speechless.

His older brother is a good person, honest and kind, but honesty and kindness are sometimes synonymous with being useless.

"I understand, but..."

"Big brother, just tell me if you'll help me buy it or not!"

Li Yunshan interrupted him.

"Of course I'll help. You're my own brother."

"Then hurry up and go."

Li Yunshan stuffed the money into Li Yunshi's hand and urged him to hurry.

About ten minutes later, Li Yunshi handed two boxes of ammunition to Li Yunshan.

"Thanks, bro. I'll definitely help you out when I'm rich."

Li Yunshan chuckled as he tucked the bullets he had just bought into his pocket.

"We'll see," Li Yunshi waved his hand, then suddenly said worriedly, "Third brother, you've made so much money all of a sudden, you absolutely mustn't gamble it away again, I'm just afraid you..."

"Brother, what kind of person do you take me for? I've said I'll never mess around like this again, why don't you guys believe me?" Li Yunshan sighed.

"Hey, I was just worried about you!"

"Don't worry unnecessarily. I won't keep the rest of the money; I'll give it to Xiulan to manage. Now you believe me, right?"

"I believe you."

Li Yunshan returned home before dark.

"DouDou, look what Daddy bought for you!"

As soon as he entered, Li Yunshan held the candy high in the air.

"Candy, it's candy! Thank you, Daddy, for buying me candy."

Upon seeing the candy, Dou Dou happily rushed towards it, and Li Yunshan picked her up and gave her the candy.

"Mom, Dad bought me candy. Look, it's White Rabbit milk candy!"

DouDou held the candy in her hand high.

"That must have cost a lot of money, right?"

White Rabbit milk candy is a hot commodity and expensive. Most people can't afford to buy it on ordinary days and only buy a little to try during holidays.

"It won't cost much."

Li Yunshan knew that Lin Xiulan was worried about the money, but he remembered how much he owed his daughter Dou Dou in his previous life, and now he only wanted to make it up to her.