Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1384 Liu Shanmin delivers the goods, Meng Hai performs the consecration ceremony, and Halimu

While Li Longzheng was handing over power to Liu Gaolou, Liu Shanmin was also handing over power in Horgos.

Across from him was his new upline, Lao Zhang. The original Lao Zhang had been transferred due to his outstanding work performance. This Lao Zhang was introduced by the original Lao Zhang, and he was from the same hometown as Liu Shanmin.

This time, the "supplies" handed over by Liu Shanmin consisted of five experts from various industries, a truckload of documents and blueprints, and two truckloads of special materials. Of course, these materials were not in the form of raw materials, but rather various finished products.

After his supplier takes these finished products, he will process them, possibly by analyzing the formula or by imitating them.

After the handover of the supplies list, Liu Shanmin also talked about his current situation. He said with some pride that Lao Na was paying attention to him and that he should be able to get more of the things needed for the launch in the next step.

After hearing about this situation, he didn't seem very happy. He solemnly said to Liu Shanmin:

"While we urgently need various advanced material formulations and manufacturing processes, your safety is more important."

Old Na is a very shrewd political man. Once he finds out you're doing something like this, he will definitely not hold back.

So when he's watching you, never let your guard down. Be cautious and careful in these situations, and don't get yourself into trouble.

When Liu Shanmin first heard this, he was a little unconvinced, but then he thought that the other person was thinking about his safety and was concerned about him.

After connecting with Lao Na, I did become a little careless and complacent.

This kind of mentality is a big no-no in any industry, so he humbly accepted the criticism from his superior.

I went online and asked again about the origin of these supplies and whether the exchange was safe.

Liu Shanmin thought about it carefully this time and said, "It should be safe. The sugar, canned goods, and clothing I shipped from China were exchanged for luxury cars, antelope horns, hides, and some blueprints mixed in."

As for the movement of personnel, a considerable number of these experts no longer work at the National Academy of Sciences, and even more have gone to Europe and America. Those I can persuade to stay are people with certain beliefs who are unwilling to go to Europe and America.

This work was done through an intermediary, and on the surface it seems to have nothing to do with me, so it can't be traced back to me.

"Ensure the safety of the channels, ensure your personal safety." The seller left these two sentences, along with some certificates, permits, and relevant procedures, and then left after receiving the items.

Liu Gaolou looked at the stack of documents and procedures, smiled, and put them into his briefcase.

He fought for this opportunity himself, and in hindsight, that step was definitely the right one.

If I hadn't taken that step back then, I wouldn't have such wealth now, nor would I be valued so highly.

Of course, after being reminded by the other party, Liu Shanmin also realized that although he was not yet in a precarious situation, he was receiving more attention because of his different status.

Too much exposure makes it easy to slip up; I really need to be more careful in the future.

He thought of Li Long, with whom he had made a deal, and at that moment he was quite envious of him.

In his view, Li Long was rather timid and never put himself in danger in any business he did. Like now, with this sit-and-trade arrangement, he didn't take any risks. Although the profits weren't as high as what he could make, they were more secure.

Moreover, he seems to have an extremely strong sense of danger; he will never run away if there is any disturbance.

The first few times I invited him to go hunting in Kazakhstan, he didn't go, and later events proved that not going was the right thing to do.

Even though I've lived in Kazakhstan for so many years and could practically be considered a local strongman, I still can't guarantee absolute safety given the chaotic situation there.

Face and skin color are major drawbacks. Don't assume there aren't nationalists there; sometimes extremists don't discriminate based on region.

(Just venting, I'm currently facing difficulties both internally and externally. Internally, I can't find my operations manager, so I can't run double monthly pass events or fan title events. Externally, several Douyin accounts are taking my articles, putting them in private groups, and charging for audiobooks. It's so troublesome to deal with them.)

Although Liu Shanmin had gotten used to life in Kazakhstan, he couldn't say he particularly liked it.

If he had to say what he liked, he still quite liked the time he spent traveling around the beautiful landscapes of the motherland with his wife and children for more than half a year.

However, such situations will only become less and less common in the future. As his status and position improve, traveling will become increasingly troublesome, and he will face more and more restrictions.

This is the price I've paid.

As December arrived, the weather grew colder and colder, with snowfalls one after another, and the study atmosphere in the senior class became heavy and tense.

Originally, evening self-study was only for boarding students, but by mid-December, some day students who lived nearby also started attending evening self-study at school, mainly to make their studies more focused by taking advantage of the concentrated study time and atmosphere.

The atmosphere in the classroom was oppressive. Everyone was working on their problems silently, and even when they were memorizing vocabulary, they were almost completely silent, afraid of disturbing others. When discussing problems with each other, they tried to keep their voices down.

Although the countdown to the college entrance examination has not yet been written on the blackboard, the students already know how urgent the time is.

Even during the breaks between two self-study periods, students are reluctant to go out, trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible.

Li Qiang, who was sitting by the window, turned his head to look outside. It had started snowing sometime earlier, and groups of first and second-year high school students were playing in the snow.

The alternating chill through the window and the heat from the radiator under the windowsill created a rather peculiar sensation.

Then he heard two classmates behind him whispering about a problem. He felt a little ashamed for his momentary lapse in concentration, but he couldn't concentrate on the contents of the book in his hand, and he became a little irritable.

Looking out the window again, I saw that the snowflakes were getting bigger and bigger, and soon they turned into a heavy snowfall.

The light shining through the first-floor window revealed that the snow on the ground was already quite thick, and the footprints that had been stepped on earlier were now covered by the snow, leaving only shallow traces.

Perhaps because the snow was too heavy, fewer students stayed to play in the snow, but the laughter and noise still carried far, reaching the classroom.

Footsteps approached, and Li Qiang turned around to see Du Wenlong's large face: "Want to go down and have some fun? I can't concentrate on my studies anymore, what about you?"

"Let's go!" Li Qiang slammed the book on the table and said decisively.

The sounds of books hitting the desk and him standing up and moving his chair were somewhat jarring in the quiet classroom.

"Li Qiang, Du Wenlong, where are you going?" someone asked.

"It's snowing heavily outside, let's go play in the snow!" Li Qiang responded and strode outside. He felt he needed the stimulation of the cold snow and wanted to run wild in the snow.

As Li Qiang was leaving, he saw his class monitor, Chen Shuxia, sitting by the door, seemingly wanting to say something but hesitating. He smiled but didn't say anything.

As Li Qiang went downstairs, he noticed some unusual footsteps. He looked back and saw that the boy who had spoken to him earlier had also followed him. Seeing Li Qiang turn around, the boy smiled and said, "I also want to see the snow."

When we came down from the third floor to the first floor and came out of the teaching building, the number of people who planned to play in the snow together had increased to five.

Snowflakes fluttered down overhead. Stepping out of the teaching building's lobby and exposed to the heavy snow, my head and body were quickly covered in white.

The young students were uninhibited. Du Wenlong squatted down and made a snowball, preparing to roll it into a snowball, but found that small snowballs were fine, but larger ones wouldn't stick at all.

"Fatty, there's not enough moisture in this snow, it doesn't stick, you can't roll any snowballs." Li Qiang bent down, grabbed a snowball, and threw it at Du Wenlong's shoulder as he did so.

Du Wenlong wasn't going to back down either. He pried out a piece from his snowball and retaliated against Li Qiang: "If you can't make a big snowball, then let's have a snowball fight! Take this, Meteor Chasing the Moon!"

Li Qiang dodged the snowball with a quick movement, bent down, scooped up a handful of snow, and threw it at the snowball: "Behold my Heavenly Mountain Divine Light!"

"This is a featherless arrow!"

"Bullshit, not as good as my little arrow of sorrow!"

"Then try my Locust Stone!"

"I'll give you a taste of your Blood Droplet!" Li Qiang threw a large clump of snow at Du Wenlong, but Du Wenlong, despite his large size, was very agile and anticipated the attack, dodging to the side. The snowball landed on several students who had just rushed out behind him.

"Hey, you guys came to play in the snow too?" Li Qiang was a little embarrassed. These were girls from his class, all of whom were very hardworking. He didn't know why they were out here.

"Well, how dare you attack us!" A girl pretended to be furious, scooped up a handful of snow and threw it at Li Qiang.

Clearly not someone who often participates in snowball fights, Li Qiang easily dodged the attack and ran far away, but the girls chased after him relentlessly. Other classmates joined in, and Li Qiang shouted as he ran:

"Who are you guys on? Why are you ganging up on me with them? Fatty, you're putting your girlfriend before your friends!"

"So what if I prioritize women over friends?" Du Wenlong replied casually, and the snowball in his hand hit Li Qiang squarely on the back.

Then it suddenly became quiet.

"I didn't... I didn't... I just blurted it out... Li Qiang, you're the one who caused this!" Du Wenlong protested, his face flushed.

Don't be fooled by his carefree and playful demeanor when he's with Li Qiang; he becomes quite cautious with his words when a few female classmates are around.

Li Qiang burst into laughter. To use a novel's analogy, the fat man's character had been ruined!

When Du Wenlong saw that Li Qiang was still laughing at him, he became furious and grabbed a snowball in each hand and chased after Li Qiang. However, he had only run a few steps when the girls on both sides picked up snowballs and started throwing them at him.

Du Wenlong was on the verge of tears. What had he done to deserve this? He was the one who blurted out those words, "valuing women over friends," it really was just a slip of the tongue!

What started as a snowball fight turned into a chaotic brawl as more and more people joined in. Li Qiang even spotted his usually serious and focused class monitor, which he found quite surprising.

The snowball fight lasted for more than ten minutes before it had to be stopped because the school bell rang and the snow was falling heavier and heavier.

Back in the classroom, Li Qiang was a little tired. His hands were cold and dry from holding so much snow, which contained quite a few impurities.

There are no water rooms in the teaching building, so there's no way to wash your hands. You can only wait until you get back to the dormitory.

The hallway was quiet. What used to be lively had quieted down, but the solemn expressions on everyone's faces were gone, replaced by a tranquility after the release of emotions.

Li Qiang felt a bump on his shoulder, turned around, and saw that big face again.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Du Wenlong said with a smile. "I feel like I can get back into the swing of things now. A balance of work and rest—the way of both literature and martial arts—the ancients were right!"

"Hey, you're even using classical Chinese now!" Li Qiang patted him on the shoulder. Actually, he felt the same way; he felt that he could indeed learn it now.

That's really amazing.

Back in the classroom, Li Qiang discovered that all the students had gone down to play, and only the Chinese teacher was standing by the podium, watching them come in.

Li Qiang was a little embarrassed and quickly returned to his seat, as did the other students.

When we resumed self-study, the oppressive atmosphere in the class seemed to have disappeared. Everyone's expressions were much more relaxed, and they even exchanged smiles when they looked at each other.

Good.

The snow in the mountains is much thicker than in the plains. In early December, Halimu drove the cattle and sheep scattered in several winter pastures back to the large enclosures in Qingshuihe.

After the cattle and sheep were driven back, Halim went down the mountain and met with Li Long. Then Li Long went to the sugar factory and spoke with Song Ming, the foreman of the transport team, asking Song Ming to haul a truckload of sugar residue to Halim's compound in Qingshuihe every day.

Song Ming patted his chest and assured Li Long that he would handle the matter perfectly.

On December 16th, Li Long drove with Song Ming to Qingshuihe to check on the condition of Halimu cattle and sheep.

In the early 1990s, tractors had gradually become more common in northern Xinjiang. Every village in Ma County had several small four-wheeled tractors, so even though the snow was thick in winter, the roads had already been paved.

The sunlight shone on the snow, reflecting a dazzling light. Li Long wore sunglasses to avoid snow blindness.

When his SUV and Song Ming's truck arrived at Halim's compound, Halim was feeding the cattle and sheep in the pen with several hired young men.

Halim's family now lives in the county town, but Halim stays here a few days a week and occasionally goes home. He's quite the workaholic.

Seeing Li Long's truck arrive, Halim put down his pitchfork, shook hands with Li Long as he got out, and pointed to the truck behind him, saying, "This truck is loaded with good stuff. When the first truck arrived, some people from the team came to me wanting to buy some to take back and feed the pigs."

Halim came from that era, so he doesn't shy away from talking about pigs. Just like now, Kazakhstan has only recently broken away from the Soviet Union, and the religious atmosphere isn't as strong yet; many people in his group still eat pork.

“Then you can sell some to them,” Li Yunlong said, “to earn some extra money.”

"No, no, this is good stuff. My cattle and sheep have gotten fat from eating it." Halim didn't realize Li Long was joking and said very seriously, "You brought it over for the cattle and sheep."

The truck that Song Ming drove was a dump truck, but the sugar residue was wet when it came out of the factory, and now it has frozen, so a few people are needed to help unload it.

Everyone present grabbed forks and helped, and they quickly unloaded the sugar residue. Song Ming had to continue driving, so he left first.

Li Long came to deliver some medicine to Halim. Preventing infectious diseases in cattle and sheep, including anti-inflammatory medications, is essential. It's not that cattle and sheep that don't take medicine are necessarily good; some can contract latent infectious diseases or develop inflammation that causes problems with the meat, which can be more serious than those that have taken medicine.

Halim used to herd livestock on his own, so he didn't have many requirements or ideas in this regard. But now he's a large rancher, owning and renting several pens with a large number of cattle and sheep, which are quite densely packed. December and January are lambing season, so Li Long brought him some medicine to keep on hand.

Halim had taken Li Long's advice and studied with a veterinarian to learn which medicine to use in which season and under what circumstances. However, he was still a novice, and some things were not prepared properly, nor did he have many ideas.

After delivering the medicine to Halim, Li Long did not linger there. He went to Meng Hai's house in Qingshuihe Village.

Meng Hai had originally planned to treat Li Long to a meal in the county during the winter break of the construction team, but Li Long said it wasn't necessary. He suggested that Meng Hai visit Li Long's home when he had some free time to discuss their future plans and have a simple home-cooked meal.

Meng Hai was naturally happy to agree and made the appointment for today.

When Li Long arrived at Meng Hai's house, there were already several people in the yard. Apart from team leader He Yuqing, the rest were all foreman members from the construction team.

Meng Hai and his wife were tidying up inside the house, while the aroma of food wafted through the yard.

"Boss Li, it's been a long time!" Village Chief He Yuqing warmly shook Li Long's hand. "You must be very busy, it's been quite a while since you've come to our team, hasn't it?" "Not really a big shot, just really busy." After shaking hands with him, Li Long explained, "I'm too ambitious, I want to do too many things, I'm involved in everything, and I have to personally oversee everything, so in the end I'm always busy, just busy for nothing."

Fortunately, I feel more at ease with Lao Meng; he can handle things on his own, which makes things easier for me.

“How can it be busy for nothing? I heard from Lao Meng that your businesses are all top-notch in our county!” He Yuqing said, giving a thumbs up.

"That cannery, that recycling station, and even the cars you sold—no one else in our county can compare to these things!"

It seems his reputation has truly spread. Li Long said a few more modest words, and Meng Hai came out of the house and invited them inside to talk.

The room still smelled of cooking oil. Meng Hai was blowing smoke, and his wife was pouring water.

Seeing that Li Long didn't smoke, Meng Hai's wife patted Meng Hai and said, "Look at you, learn from Boss Li. What's so great about smoking? He coughs every night, and the house smells bad. We feel uncomfortable smelling it too."

"You can't say that." Meng Hai had been doing business outside for a long time, and his way of dealing with people was different from before. He knew that his wife's words were like a sand gun, hurting others, so he quickly explained:

"Everyone has some hobbies, right? Smoking, drinking, reading, chatting. They need to pass the time in winter. Alright, alright, you go and cook the dishes. I'll chat with them for a while."

Meng Hai's construction team mainly recruited workers from his own village. However, as the team has grown in the past two years and taken on more projects, it has also recruited some workers from other villages.

He and He Yuqing had a good relationship, so He Yuqing introduced several people to him, and he recruited them all. This made He Yuqing very respected in front of people from other villages in the township. Therefore, after sitting at the table today, He Yuqing also praised Meng Hai highly.

"Old He, don't rush me. If it weren't for Boss Li, I'd be nothing." Meng Hai blushed and quickly waved his hand, saying:

"The reason this engineering company has developed to this point is all thanks to Mr. Li's foresight. Half of the projects we've received are through Mr. Li's connections."

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration,” Li Long said with a smile. “I only know a few people within our county who can help us out, but once the engineering company grows and expands, we’ll have to rely on you guys, Lao Meng.”

"Did you hear that? Old Meng, Boss Li has high expectations for you!" He Yuqing was genuinely a little envious at this moment. "You want to expand and grow, to go beyond our county, and even beyond our prefecture!"

"I don't have that much ability," Meng Hai hurriedly said modestly. "We'll do whatever Boss Li says."

Li Long realized this wasn't a good idea; wasn't this turning into a self-aggrandizing event? He quickly said:

"Old Meng, don't underestimate yourself. In the past two years, our construction team has gone from only being able to repair bridges and roads to being able to build asphalt roads, pave cement roads, and build brick houses. We've become a jack-of-all-trades."

As you can all see, the country is investing more and more in all aspects, and we have the technology and machinery we need—by the way, the bulldozers and excavators we got from Kazakhstan have also arrived.

Now that we have relatively strong capabilities, we can't just keep focusing on the minor repairs and upgrades right under our noses. While accumulating technical expertise, we need to undertake some large-scale projects..."

Just then, Old Meng's wife brought in the dishes and placed them on the table. Then she called to Meng Hai to hurry up and get something from the kitchen.

People from other companies quickly went over to help, and soon the table was filled with plates and bowls.

Meng Hai brought over a case of liquor and placed it on the table. As he opened the bottle and poured the liquor, he said, "Boss Li, I know your rule: don't drink and drive. But I also know your alcohol tolerance. Normally, one or two bottles wouldn't be a problem for you. Today, let's have three drinks, no more than that, how about it?"

Li Long felt the room was quite warm and knew the alcohol would dissipate quickly, so he nodded.

In winter, rural people gather together indoors, where they mainly drink and play cards.

After finishing his two drinks, Meng Hai, still thinking about what Li Long had said earlier, asked about the big project he had mentioned.

"Building buildings and repairing roads." Li Long picked up a piece of pickled cabbage, vermicelli, and pork with his chopsticks and said while eating, "You should be able to see that there are more and more buildings in our county in the past two years. Many units are building buildings, and there will definitely be more and more in the future."

Our company can take on more work in this area to gain experience. We used to say that a comfortable life meant owning a house with two floors, electricity, and a telephone—those seemed so far away. But now, who knows, maybe it will be a reality in a few years? So our company should also develop in this direction.”

"We're working on the road construction, right? What's the progress on that?" a foreman asked.

“Our road is at best a small road. I’m talking about a national highway, an expressway!” Li Long pointed to the north and said, “As far as I know, the country is preparing to approve a project to build an expressway from Wucheng to Kui City in the past two years.”

Do you know how much it costs to build a highway? One hundred million yuan per kilometer! The distance from Wucheng to Kuishan is over 200 kilometers. Even if we only get the right to build one kilometer of that road, we'll be rich!

Upon hearing this, the eyes of everyone present lit up.

However, Meng Hai thought for a moment, shook his head and said, "We really don't have the ability to do this. Building highways really requires a high level of technical expertise. The technicians we hired in our company have also talked to us about this, and they said that we lack a lot of skills."

Li Long put down his chopsticks and said with a smile, "It's good that you have this clear-headedness. Actually, this project is huge. Even if it's not road construction, even if we can only take on a section of guardrail or protective netting, we can still take a big step forward in terms of profit and technical incentives! As long as we can get a name on this project, we'll have the qualifications to take on other jobs in the future."

Li Long said that the Urumqi-Kuytun Expressway will not be officially built for several years, and it is currently in the feasibility study stage, so there is no need to rush and we can slowly build connections.

Meng Hai thought about the last thing Li Long mentioned, and realized it was indeed worth a try.

Meng Hai invited Li Long to dinner because he thought that since it was the end of the year and the inventory had been completed, the company couldn't function without Li Long, so he had to treat him to a meal.

Li Long wanted to take this opportunity to help Meng Hai determine the company's development direction. Otherwise, if they didn't seize such a good opportunity and just drifted by aimlessly, they would really be letting down this era.

Meng Hai originally thought that apart from Li Long, the others were all from the same village, and since there was nothing to do in the winter, he could drink to his heart's content.

But after Li Long pointed out a direction for development, he lost all interest in drinking and kept asking Li Long about his ideas for building houses and roads.

Meng Hai believed that Li Long must have received some prior information to be able to say these two things. In his view, Li Long was incredibly resourceful and always managed to keep up with the times and seize opportunities to develop his business.

He Yuqing's feelings weren't very deep yet, but seeing that Meng Hai's mind was no longer on eating and drinking, she took the lead in changing the subject at the table, giving Meng Hai time to chat with Li Long in detail.

Li Long wasn't very familiar with policy theories, but he did know the general direction of development. So he talked to Meng Hai as much as possible about construction projects, especially building construction, land acquisition, and subsequent development.

Meng Hai felt that this was a bit far removed from his own life. His company was still very small, although it was considered a medium-sized company in the county, with a lot of machinery and a considerable number of employees. But the more he entered this industry, the more he felt his own insignificance and shallowness.

Putting aside the state-owned construction companies in various counties and cities, which are practically behemoths, even some construction companies that were established earlier than Meng Hai and his team have loud slogans. Meng Hai, who is used to being down-to-earth and developing step by step, feels that he is falling behind and can't keep up with others.

Just as Li Long said, he had never thought about building skyscrapers or acquiring land. Although the company had been profitable and everyone had been making money, Meng Hai still said that with the current level of profit, it was not enough to build a skyscraper.

Unfortunately, it's really hard for ordinary people to shift their mindset to that of a businessman. Meng Hai had never even considered borrowing money to do business.

But this is an inevitable process, so Li Long needs to guide him. Li Long didn't say much, but used the cooperative as an example. The cost of drip irrigation on more than 1,000 mu of land in the cooperative is at least 700,000 to 800,000 yuan, or even more.

The total cost is even higher than some projects undertaken by engineering companies, so the cooperative plans to take out a loan to farm the land.

He told Meng Hai, "If we take on the project next year, we can take out a loan to procure the materials, and then settle accounts with the investors after the project is completed."

"Our company has so much machinery to use as collateral, there's absolutely no problem."

Li Long's words gave Meng Hai some hints, but Meng Hai still needed to figure out the rest on his own.

Li Long stayed at Meng Hai's house until a little after 5 p.m. before driving home. They had actually finished eating around 3 p.m.; the rest of the time was spent chatting and sobering up.

On the way back, Li Long detoured to Harim's place again, only to find the cattle and sheep grazing, the yard empty, and Harim's car gone.

Hearing the commotion, a herdsman came out of his house. He was stunned when he saw Li Long and didn't know what to say.

Li Long recognized this as a young man hired by Harim and asked where Harim had gone.

"Not long after you left, someone came over to invite the boss for drinks, and he drove there." The young man was very honest and told this story.

It's likely that there's not much to do in winter, so Han Chinese people would slaughter animals in winter to eat meat and drink alcohol.

When Li Long returned to the purchasing station, he saw his father still sitting behind the counter, listening to the idle middlemen chatting, so he went to the back reception room.

He once advised his father that there was nothing to do in winter, so he might as well go back to the fourth team to hibernate, but his father, Li Qingxia, was quite dedicated and insisted on staying at the purchasing station until the twelfth lunar month, so he let him have his way.

The next day, Li Long ate breakfast and went to the purchasing station as usual. He actually preferred to stay in his own yard, where he could be more relaxed.

However, Liu Gaolou brought a lot of cars this time, so he could only sit here. On the one hand, he wanted to urge everyone to start the cars every day, and on the other hand, he was worried that it would be inconvenient if someone came to buy a car and he wasn't there.

Early in the morning, someone actually came to look at the car. They probably had inquired about it beforehand. Once they arrived, they were very decisive, chose a luxury Volga, signed the contract, paid, and left.

In less than two hours, I got 100,000 yuan. Pretty good.

Just as Li Long was feeling smug, a car drove in.

After everyone got off the bus, he heard someone speaking in front of him, and he recognized the voice as Harim's.

Halim walked in through the door, asked a question, and when he learned that Li Long was in the reception room, he came over. When he arrived at the reception room, Li Long had already poured him tea.

He took the teacup, drank the warm tea in one gulp, poured himself another cup, and after drinking half of it, he sighed and said, "Ugh, this is never going to end!"

Li Long asked in confusion, "What's this that's never-ending?"

“Eating meat and drinking alcohol!” Halim said with a wry smile. “Although our tribe has disbanded and we’re scattered all over the country, some habits are hard to break. Even though these people don’t have cattle or sheep anymore, they’ll still buy sheep, slaughter them, and then invite everyone over for meat and alcohol.”

"That's great." Li Long had always felt that the ethnic minorities in the northern frontier were quite lively in this respect, and this liveliness continued into later generations, in a very formal way.

Tourists from the region are envious of these formal visits, gatherings, and weddings, and attending ethnic weddings has even become a way to "check off" a local tradition.

"It's so annoying!" Halim shook his head and said, "You have to dress very formally and are very concerned about appearances. You have to attend so many events throughout the winter, and after you invite someone, you have to reciprocate. So much money and so many cattle and sheep are wasted here. To put it bluntly, several people die from drinking in one winter!"

Li Long was aware of this, or at least had a general idea of ​​it.

But he couldn't comment on other people's traditions, so he just smiled and said, "So you've come here to find some peace and quiet?"

"Yes. My mother, Yang Gangzi, and children are all in the county. I thought that since we are so far away from the village and the winter hut, we shouldn't be disturbed."

But I didn't expect some of them to move to the county seat, and then they kept coming back looking for me. They have nothing to do in the winter, but I'm incredibly busy!" Halim said, sounding troubled. "The sheep are about to give birth, and I have to stay at the sheepfold every day, but they say I can't skip it. What am I supposed to do?"

Before Li Long could tell him any effective solution, another car arrived.

Yushanjiang also managed to dodge.

When he saw Harim in the reception room, he gave a wry smile.

"Didn't you go out to buy cattle and sheep?" Li Long asked, somewhat surprised.

"I just got back and haven't even had a day to rest. Some people already knew I was back and came looking for me. I had no choice but to tell them I needed to talk to them and couldn't go out for a meal." Yu Shanjiang took the cup Li Long handed him, held it without drinking, and explained:

"I used to think these things were pretty good. There was nothing to do in winter, and the winter quarters were so boring. It was nice to get together and have some fun. Now I'm so busy I don't even have time to ride a horse, let alone eat meat and drink."

Besides, people already slaughter cattle and sheep for meat when winter begins, so why would they slaughter cattle and sheep for meat now?

Sure enough, birds of a feather flock together. Halimu and Yushanjiang are both career-oriented and have their own development paths, so they are not interested in these kinds of things right now.

However, they cannot openly oppose this tradition. Firstly, the power of tradition is too strong, and secondly, not everyone is like them. There are many things to do in winter, and many people enjoy these gatherings.

Since they were already there, Li Long chatted with them, mainly Yushanjiang giving Halimiti some advice. Halimiti is now a major buyer of cattle and sheep, so he has sufficient expertise in evaluating good quality livestock for the market.

Harry Wood was once a large-scale livestock farmer, but he was still in the process of transitioning from a small-scale farmer, so he really valued the opinions and suggestions of the buyers.

Li Long listened from the side, occasionally interjecting a word or two.

He could also tell that although the two of them used to have a much better relationship than he did, they rarely talked to each other because they were busy with their own things.

Just like many classmates or friends in the same city in later generations, even if they are not far apart, they rarely get together. They usually get together when friends from other cities come to visit.

While they were chatting, someone came over to ask about cars, so Li Long went out. After he saw off the person who had looked at cars but didn't buy any, he came back and found Yu Shanjiang writing something for Harim.

Li Long leaned over to take a look and found it contained a name, address, and contact information.

Halim explained to Li Long, "Yushanjiang said that these two people have some good breeding sheep, and asked me to take some time to buy a couple of them."

The coarse wool sheep we have here now don't have very good wool or meat. Adult sheep don't produce much meat, so they're not very competitive in the market.

If you can get good breeding sheep, like those from Fossack, those sheep have a high meat yield and fetch a high price.

Li Long thought to himself that it must be Suffolk sheep. He knew about this breed of sheep, the kind with black heads and black hooves. To be honest, they do produce much more meat than ordinary local sheep. It is said that if they are fed well and fattened up, a single sheep can yield nearly 100 kilograms.

Nowadays, it's common to slaughter a regular sheep weighing 20 to 30 kilograms, similar to the difference between local yellow cattle and brown cattle.

Li Long laughed. "Look how good this is! Sharing resources and information. It's much better than just eating meat and drinking all day."

The two chatted at Li Long's place until the afternoon before leaving, and they even ate mixed noodles together for lunch.

Although Li Long himself didn't gain much, just watching the excitement, he felt he had gained something from seeing Halimu and Yushanjiang leave with smiles.

P.S.: Look at the mushrooms in the cotton field today!

Take a look at the picturesque scenery of Nanshan Mountain in Shicheng (End of Chapter)