In the Li family yard, Tao Daqiang and Li Qingxia picked up nets. According to Li Long, he calls Li Qingxia uncle, according to Li Jianguo, he has to call him uncle, forget it, let's just follow Li Long.
"Uncle Li, I think we should catch the fish and sell it in Shicheng?"
"Hey, I was just thinking about it!" Li Qingxia actually had this idea, and when he heard Tao Daqiang After saying this, he immediately agreed, "It can't be sold at a high price in the county."
This morning they took more than 30 kilograms of fish, and the two of them went to the county to sell the fish. , arrived at the market before the sun came out.
As a result, more than 30 kilograms of fish were not sold out by noon, so we had no choice but to come back. The price of fish is still fluctuating. There are many people catching fish in summer, and a kilogram only costs 70 to 80 cents. There are still people who are picky about this.
The main reason is that the market in Ma County is too small to accommodate so many fish.
Shicheng, only Shicheng market can accommodate so many fish, and the price should not be low.
They all went to Shicheng with Li Long and knew that the prices there were high, sales were fast, and the customers were not that picky.
"It's just a long way." Tao Daqiang said, "Uncle Li, look at this more than 20 kilometers of road..."
"It's only more than 20 kilometers, which is only fifty miles. Well. When I was young, I would have to walk dozens of miles to sell ginger. Now I have my own way. Driving, what are you afraid of?" Li Qingxia is now very energetic and in good health. "Let's catch the fish in the morning, add some water in a urea bag, and carry it all the way to Shicheng to sell. Even if some of them die, the fish will still be fresh. , much better than selling in the county.”
"Okay, let's go to Shicheng tomorrow." Tao Daqiang is about to have a child, and he has become more anxious about making money. If you have children, there will be more places to spend money. Although it is easy to raise children now, it also depends on how you raise them.
I have to wait until the end of the month to start editing, so I need to earn more money for the time being, at least to earn back the money I spent to go to the hospital when my wife gave birth to a baby. Tao Daqiang didn't know how much he needed, he just knew how to earn as much as possible. You can't give birth to him at home like his mother did when he was born, right?
The two reached an agreement. After picking up the nets, Tao Daqiang went home for dinner and made an appointment to go down the nets together in the afternoon. They planned to set down a few more nets this time. Since Li Long had more than a dozen nets left, he might as well set them all down. There are a lot of people setting nets in Xiaohaizi right now, and there are four or five companies that sell fish in the county. There are not as many fish as before, so we need to set more nets and catch more, otherwise a trip to Shicheng will not be worth it.
In Shicheng Market, Chen Xingbang was shouting in front of the stall. Occasionally, someone would come over and ask the price of a mouthful of mutton. One of the four or five people who asked the price would decide to cut some meat to eat.
Currently, I can sell almost one sheep a day, but I can make more than ten yuan here and there.
He is not in a hurry, and has basically determined that in this market area, more people eat meat than mutton. Many people feel that mutton is still spicy, and it is not as fat as big meat, which is not enough to satisfy their cravings.
But mutton is cheap, and those who want to eat some meat but don’t have that much money can only weigh mutton.
He is still good at picking meat. He can cut the mutton cleanly without any meat on the skin. He needs some on the bones. After all, no one wants to chew the bones dry.
According to the market price, bone-in mutton is NT$2 per kilogram, mutton is USD 35 per kilogram, and sheep heads, hooves, and offal also have different prices.
A sheep is sold in bits and pieces, and can be sold for twenty or thirty yuan.
After he plans to sell two more sheep, he will go to a nearby farm or village to collect two pigs to sell. After collecting the pigs and slaughtering one, he estimated that he could earn forty or fifty yuan, at least.
At this moment, an old lady came over with a wicker basket on her arm and asked:
"Young man, how do you sell this mutton?"
< br>"Meat is NT$35 per kilogram, and meat with bones and ribs is USD NT$2 per kilogram."
"Can it be cheaper? I don't think your mutton is fat? Doesn't it taste good?" The old lady Very smart and able to negotiate prices. When Chen Xingbang was selling meat before, others would either leave directly after asking, or weigh the amount after asking. Now when he met someone who was picky, he was naturally unhappy and said with a smile:
"Auntie, you are wrong. My sheep are brought from the mountains, and the sheep there are different from the ones raised in our yard. You know that in the mountains to the south, Codonopsis pilosula and Fritillaria are all good. People can't even eat it, so they eat it. Think about how good this meat can be.
Let me tell you, the sheep in the mountains are about to move to Laoli. They won’t be able to eat such good mutton in the past six months. If you want to eat it, you have to wait until autumn. I’ll ask someone to pull it from the mountains. There are only about ten sheep in total, and they will be out of stock if you want to eat them. "
He put what Li Long told them here to fool the old lady. The old lady asked doubtfully:
"Is it really that good?"
"That's right! Let me tell you, the leaders of this county and city But they all eat this meat. Years ago, the sugar factory units bought mutton from the mountains as welfare. Why? Isn’t it because they eat Chinese herbal medicine and drink mountain spring water, which is better than what we eat? That meat Okay? Which piece you want, I’ll cut it for you!”
"Bring me one...two kilograms of pork ribs, and weigh two kilograms of meat. The scale should be high."
"No problem!" Chen Xingbang felt that his words were quite effective. Look at this aunt. The original method was supposed to weigh one or two kilograms of meat at most, but this time it was different.
The old lady took out a handkerchief bag from her pocket, opened it, and took out a wad of money. She looked at a few big unity cards, more one or two yuan and one cent or two cents, and A lot of tickets, pretty thick.
After paying the money, Chen Xingbang had already cut and weighed the meat, and showed the scale to the old lady. The old lady saw that the scale was indeed high and she was very satisfied.
“Young man, I want to eat meat when I get back. I’ll come again.”
Chen Xingbang smiled and said:
"Don't worry, Auntie, this meat is absolutely fine. I eat it at home too, but I can't bear to eat more. This meat is very filling."
That old man The wife left with satisfaction, carrying the basket, and Chen Xingbang continued to wait for the next guest. After a while, another old lady came over. This time she was carrying a cloth bag. It seemed that she was heading directly to the meat stall.
Chen Xingbang suddenly became excited. Is this a repeat customer? His expression doesn't look like he's looking for trouble, but he just doesn't seem to have seen him before?
“Young man, are you selling mutton from the mountains?”
"Yes, authentic sheep that grew up eating Chinese herbal medicine in the mountains," Chen Xingbang's heart moved, and he immediately said loudly, "The sheep that run in the mountains every day and eat Codonopsis pilosula and Fritillaria are definitely good lamb!"
"Then give me two kilograms of meat and two kilograms of ribs. Do you have any? Sheep kidneys?"
"Yes, these two are still there."
"Give it to me too." This old lady is very fierce and doesn't care about other people's eyes." Okay, by the way, how much is it?”
Is this the time to ask the price? It seems that this person is not short of money, and Chen Xingbang has no intention of raising the price, so he directly quotes:
"One kilogram of pure meat is one thirty-five cents, and the ribs are one twenty cents..."
"Weigh it."
Chen Xingbang immediately weighed it. His knife was also very accurate, and the meat was directly weighed. Two kilograms and one hundred grams were cut, and the ribs were two kilograms whole. Looking at the old lady, she praised:
"Young man, your hands are very accurate. If this meat is delicious, I will come over and weigh it later."
Several people came over and asked if this was mountain mutton. Chen Xingbang understood it and it must be the first one. After an old lady bought meat, she went to promote it to her friends, and everyone came over. So today's mutton stalls were sold out half a day in advance, and all the mutton meat was sold out before lunch.
Chen Xingbang thought that if this was the case, then there would be no need to punish pigs, just sheep.
It’s a pity that there are not that many sheep. I don’t have a tractor or a horse-drawn carriage. I only have a cart, so I can only collect them nearby. If that doesn't work, you have to call Li Long and ask him to bring a tractor over, pull a cart of sheep for you, or get him a pig.
There is still time in the afternoon, but Chen Xingbang does not dare to slaughter any more sheep. If he cannot sell them in the afternoon, they will not be fresh tomorrow.
He processed the sheepskins from the sheep he slaughtered in the past two days and planned to sell them at the purchasing station after they were dried. This would also be a source of income.
Li Long's canteen opened two orders. After Sun Jiaqiang finished eating the meat, he took away two bones, half a belly, a section of intestines and the other things he wanted, and then the place became quiet.
After Li Long rested for a while, he put the cut meat on the stove, took out the bones and internal organs from the pot, and prepared to dry it and turn it into air-dried meat for eating.
Although it is cool here in the morning and evening, the sun at noon is hot enough, so it should be okay. After finishing these things, the roe deer skin was smeared with salt and nailed to the wall outside the wooden house. Li Long cleaned it up and then headed southwest with the gun on his back.
He vaguely remembered that he had made an agreement with a Fritillary digger. If the other person wanted to exchange something, he would go over there. It had been a few days, and he didn't know if that person had dug it.
He wanted to go over and see if there were any new traces in the area where wild boars had been seen last time.
The canteen is considered a side job, and so is hunting. The canteen still needs time, as for hunting, it all depends on luck.
When Li Long walked to that place, it was already an hour later. This place is relatively flat, and you can tell at a glance if something is wrong. There must be no wild boars at this time. The wild boars ran into the ravine early after eating here in the morning.
There are a lot of wild boar droppings on the grass. It seems that wild boars have been here many times, and some of the droppings are still soft. Li Long is sure that there are indeed wild boar imitations here every day.
It’s a pity that I didn’t bring a clip. Otherwise, if you can't handle the big wild boar, you can get some small wild boars.
He looked around again and found no one, so he left with a gun on his back with some disappointment.
Just after he left for a while, someone came down from the east hillside and came over to look around. He was a little disappointed to see no one. But when he saw the wild boar dung that had been stepped on, he immediately became energetic.
Is anyone really coming?
There were no horse hoof prints nearby. They were not from the forestry team. This person felt that he might be the one who reminded him!
So, where has he been and will he come again?
This man was holding a bag of caladiums in his hand, which he intended to exchange for. He just missed Li Long, and he felt a little regretful.
In the end, the man carefully identified it on the grass, and then followed Li Longlai's footprints to find it.
Li Long didn't give up when he went back. He had already made a decision when he was sure that there were wild boars coming here. He might not be able to guard the wild boars tomorrow, so he planned to go back and bring tools, then come over and dig a hole, just like last year, to see if he could get a few little wild boars to raise!
He returned to the wooden house and came out with the tools. He looked around and saw that there was no one else around. It seemed that the canteen needed to close temporarily.
Li Long carried a gun and a shovel on his back, and also carried a bag with corn kernels in his hand. If you want to trap a wild boar, how can you do it without spending some money?
Li Long walked for more than a kilometer carrying his things, when he saw a man slowly walking over with a bag on his back, and he stopped.
The man also spotted Li Long and also stopped. When he saw clearly that it was Li Long, he felt relieved.
"Do you collect caladiums?" the man shouted, his voice a little hoarse.
"Take it." Li Long looked for a while and recognized that this was the man he almost shot. He had agreed with him to go to the west. Where did he come from?
"I want to change something to eat." The man was really hungry, "Is there anything to eat? Is there grain in your bag?"
"Baomi. I'm going How many caladiums do you have for the wild boars? Do you want to replace them with some other things?”
"What's there?" Hearing that there were other things, the man immediately became energetic, "I have saved six or seven kilograms of caladiums, some of which are already half-dried. Do you think I can exchange them for something?"
"If you want a pot, I'll exchange it for you some rice and noodles. The six kilograms you get will cost you about twenty yuan. If you exchange rice and noodles, you can exchange for thirty or forty kilograms. I have wine and sesame cakes. , there are daily necessities, ropes, sickles, etc., it depends on what you need."
"I will exchange rice and noodles. Is there anything I can eat now?"
"Yes, but you have to follow me. I'm coming over. Do you want the meat cooked today?"
"Yes." The man's mouth almost watered when he heard there was meat cooked. He only knows how to dig caladiums and nothing else. He has dug caladiums in the past few days, but there is nothing left. He is starving to death.
Li Long pointed to the way he came and said:
"Then you come with me and get your things first. I'll come over later to trap the wild boar."
The man followed Li Long Behind the dragon, go to the wooden house. When he saw the tractor, the man was also shocked. You have a tractor and you are still working in the mountains. Why don't you go out and work to make money?
Li Long ignored the man's expression. He put down the shovel and bag, opened the door, found an enamel basin, put two meat bones in, took them out and handed them to the man: "Eat."
"Hey!" The man took the basin in a hurry, without washing his hands, and just grabbed it and ate it.
Li Long walked to the cabin, opened the door, and asked:
"What else do you need?"
This man also saw it, Li Long didn't mean to deceive him, to be honest It was really not worth it for his little Fritillaria, so I just scanned it. Eye said:
"Give me a bottle of wine, are there any matches? I've been freezing for two days."
"Yes, but be careful when lighting the fire so as not to cause a fire. Yes." Li Long took out a few boxes of matches and a bottle of wine. This loose wine was poured into beer bottles after he brought it, so it was convenient to carry.
"Bring me some more sesame cakes, and some rice and noodles. Don't you have corn noodles?"
"No." Li Long waved his hand, "Just eat more refined grains in the mountains, and be kind to yourself. , otherwise it will be troublesome if you get sick. By the way, I have some medicine here, aspirin, metamizole, do you want it?"
"Yes, yes." The man's voice was unclear, mainly because the meat was too fragrant, and he didn't want it at all. When I think about talking, I just want to eat the meat as soon as possible. It’s been a long time, or maybe I’ve never eaten meat like this in my life. I’m so envious of Li Long!
Of course, if you have a gun, you might be able to get meat to eat in the mountains. Isn’t the purpose of digging caladiums in the mountains just to eat good food and live a good life?
Suddenly thinking that Li Long said he would put a condom on the wild boar later, he stopped eating meat and asked:
"Boss, you are going to trap the wild boar later. Do you want to dig a hole?"
"Yes."
"Then can I go to work? The requirements are not high. , if you get a wild boar, just give me a leg.”
"You can just exchange it for mother-of-pearl." Li Long pointed to the room and said, "If you exchange these things and there is still money left, then you can exchange it for some meat."
"I don't have a pot there." The man smiled bitterly.
"I can get you a pot, but it's an old pot, but it won't be convenient for you to carry it with you. Do you want to use a larger pot? A pot is fine too."
It's still in the department store. There was a steel pot, but Li Long didn't take it. He thought he could bring some of this over next time, maybe someone would like it - forget it, he didn't really open a canteen, but did he really turn his place into a grocery store?
"Why don't I buy cooked meat directly from you." The man also found it troublesome, "How much meat do you have left? Can I exchange these fritillaries for two bones or other meat?"< br>
"I still have two pieces of meat, some offal, heart, liver, lungs, stomach and intestines. Do you want to eat them?"
"Eat it." The man smiled, "Those are the most delicious. I Change some.”
So Li Long loaded the man with some meat and offal, and gave him a sickle, a shovel, a roll of rope, and other necessary things.
Six or seven kilograms of Fritillaria is a lot, and Li Long can earn more than ten yuan from one sale, which is a lot. Then he also learned that this person's name was Hou Guoliang, and he said that he would come back to exchange things after a while.
Li Long didn't feel at ease about this. After all, to be honest, they all knew that these people dug caladiums just to make money. The exchange of things was only temporary, and they still had to save the caladiums. stand up. Li Long also told him that he could change money for them if he wanted to.
Hou Guoliang has no plans to ask for money for the time being, and will wait until later if he wants to. It is not the peak production period for caladiums right now, so we need to stock up on some supplies. When the high-yield period of caladium comes, these people will be able to dig several kilograms of caladium a day. Those caladiums they intend to exchange for money will not be sold so easily.
After all this trouble, the sun moved a little further to the west. Li Long thought about it and decided to dig a hole there. Whether you are exchanging meat for fritillaries or you want food at home, you will need a few wild boars, of course mainly small wild boars, which are good to raise. They have strong disease resistance and are easy to feed, and the meat is delicious when killed. Can't give up.
Carrying the shovel and bag, carrying the gun on his back, he continued heading southwest. (End of this chapter)