Chapter 18 Can we eat things that have frozen to death? The matter was resolved. Li Long put his right hand on his chest and took the milk tea bowl handed over by the middle-aged woman with his left hand and took a sip. As the hot milk tea entered his mouth, a warm current flowed from his mouth to his throat, and his body immediately became warm. Isn’t this much more comfortable than eating cold steamed cake? Tao Daqiang also took a sip, and then whispered to Li Long: "Brother Long, have you been planning to come here and do this for a long time?" "Yes." Li Long said, "We are not here just to transport wood, we also have to think of ways to make money. They are more familiar with the mountains than we are, and they have more ways to make money." "Like the antlers?" "Yes, this is just one of them." Li Long looked around the yurt while drinking milk tea and eating naan, and then something hanging on the wall caught his attention. He pointed at the thing and said to the male owner: "Is this your own?" "Yes, it was sent to us two years ago." The middle-aged man pointed at himself: "My name is Halim, what's yours?"
"Li Long." Li Long pointed at himself, then at Tao Daqiang: "His name is Tao Daqiang. We are running low on firewood. Come over and get some." He saw that Halim's family was burning coal, so he asked: "Brother Halimu, did you buy the coal?" "No, no, no, it was dug from the mountain over there." "Did you dig it?" Li Long immediately became interested. "Is it far away?" "It's quite far, about one kilometer." Halimu pointed to the mountain, "There is no road, it's hard to walk now." All right. Li Long was a little disappointed. If he could dig up some coal, it would be even better to bring some back. Halimu put the cut air-dried mutton on a plate and placed it in the middle for Li Long and the others to eat. The two of them each picked up a piece and started chewing it - it was chewy and not too dry. The two children also crawled over. Halimu took two pieces of mutton and handed them to them. He touched the children's heads and let them eat. Li Long asked Harimu: "You have a gun, so you won't be afraid of wolves. By the way, there are wolves in this mountain, right?" Hanging on the wall was a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle with the spikes open. "There are wolves." Halim said in a muffled voice, "They killed three sheep. A few days ago, there was a heavy snowfall and two more sheep froze to death." "Why not fight the wolves?" Tao Daqiang couldn't help but ask. "Because we are out of bullets," Halim said. "We didn't have many bullets last year. There were more wild boars at the beginning of winter. We shot them a few times and ran out of bullets." Li Long and Tao Daqiang looked at each other, and then he said: "I can get the bullets." The village holds militia training every year. Li Long is now registered in the production team and is a basic militia soldier with target practice duties. He has more than a dozen bullets left for practice. "Really?" Halimu's eyes lit up. "If you can get it, I'll trade you a sheep!" "No, no," Li Long waved his hand, "I'll bring it up when I have time. By the way, where are the sheep that you froze to death?"
"It was thrown into the snow behind." Halim said, "I don't know if it's still there." "Just give me the frozen sheep." said Li Long. He knew that ethnic minority herdsmen would not eat cattle and sheep that had frozen to death, but to him, what was the difference between those that were frozen to death and those that were killed? Tao Daqiang also became excited. If he could pull a sheep back, then... he could even get a leg of the lamb for himself! He gently touched Li Long and whispered: “Brother Long, I also have a few bullets…” “Well, keep them, they will be useful.” Li Long nodded. "Then... when can you come up again?" Halimu asked anxiously. The heavy snow disaster affected not only the herders, but also the wolves, who lacked food, would risk attacking the herders' warm circle. "Maybe tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." Li Long thought for a moment and said, "I'll try to get there earlier, but I have to pull the wood back today. I'm not sure if I can borrow a horse tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." "Then I'll wait for you and give you a sheep. It doesn't matter if it's a dead sheep. I'll give you a living sheep!" "No, no." Li Long was not a saint. He said, "I need your help with other things. When the wild boars come down, if you kill them, keep them for me. The same goes for wolves. You want the wolf skins, but I want the wolf bones, wolf meat, and so on." "Okay." Halimu agreed readily. Li Long drank the milk tea in one gulp, stood up and said: "Can I go see if the sheep that froze to death is there?" "Okay, I'll take you there." Halimu took Li Long and the others to the back of the yurt, where the snow was already waist-deep. Using a wooden pole to probe the snow, Li Long and his team finally found only a frozen sheep. "The others should have been taken away by wolves." Halimu said with some regret. "Brother Halimu, do you know where the other herders are? Since there is a snowstorm, other people should have sheep that have frozen to death, right? If you can find them, I will take them all. I can exchange them for tea, salt or other things." "Okay. I'll go ask tomorrow." Halim nodded. Although each herdsman's household is far away from each other, if you ride a horse, you can always go to one in an hour. After looking at the frozen sheep, Li Long and his companions went down to the bottom of the ditch, took the axe from the carriage, found a fallen tree, and started chopping wood. Halimu also came to help, and the two children, dressed warmly, watched from a distance. The wood used for burning does not need to be too regular. Halimu is a frequent visitor here and knows where there are more wood. He took Li Long and the others to a place in the ditch, pointed to the snow and said: "There was a flood in the fall, and there were a lot of wood washed down there. You can take a look." Tao Daqiang went over immediately, dug away the snow and saw that there were indeed many branches of different sizes piled there. Soon, a large pile of wood was piled up next to the carriage. Li Long pulled the frozen sheep over and put it on the carriage, then led the horse over, set up the carriage and loaded it. Finally, the wood was tied up with ropes, and Halimu pulled Li Long and the others into the yurt to drink milk tea. After taking the deer antlers, he saw them off. At this time, the sun was setting. "Brother Long, we have gained a lot this time!" Tao Daqiang was a little excited, "Just these woods are enough to burn for a long time!" "Well, it's a pity that the coal is far away, otherwise it would be better to get some coal." Li Long was still a little unsatisfied.
Both of them were walking, although their footsteps in the snow were different, one deep and the other shallow, but both were in a good mood. Li Long calculated silently in his mind that the two antlers weighed six or seven kilograms in total, so it should be no problem to sell them for ten yuan. A frozen sheep weighs about fifteen or sixteen kilograms, and excluding the skin and internal organs, it weighs about ten kilograms. Now mutton costs one dollar and twenty yuan, which is more than ten yuan. Let’s not even mention the firewood. If we can get some frozen lamb tomorrow, the income from these few days will be higher than a worker’s monthly salary in the city! The point is, this job can be done continuously! As long as you drive harder throughout the winter, you can save enough money to buy a bicycle by spring! Although there was snow all over the place, Li Long saw hope in his eyes. Hope of living a better life! (End of this chapter)
