Chapter 28: News About the Hunting Rifle
"Relationships are the primary productive force? I'll remember that!" Xiao Tao pondered.
The still somewhat naive Xiao Tao didn't know yet that what his Brother said was absolutely golden advice.
If he could open his mind early and put it into practice, he could definitely change his destiny against the heavens.
"Hungry? Let's go, let's go eat steamed buns at the State-Owned Restaurant, my treat!" Yue Feng waved his hand and headed straight for the big restaurant with Xiao Tao.
Upon arriving at the State-Owned Restaurant, Yue Feng grandly ordered two large meat buns each to start, with the option to order more if needed.
Xiao Tao had been thinking about the cold buns from yesterday noon, and now eating hot ones, a sense of happiness immediately flooded over him. The hardship and fatigue of getting up early and rushing were nothing compared to these greasy, fragrant large meat buns.
After the two brothers finished their buns, the sky was completely bright.
Yue Feng took out the money from selling game today from his pocket and directly handed Xiao Tao twelve yuan and fifty cents.
"This is your share! The Yellow Leaf is valued at 25, for a total of 50 yuan. You drove the pole up the mountain, so you get one share, a quarter!"
This is the first time you've made money with me. Do you want to go to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to buy something to take back? The Supply and Marketing Cooperative should open at seven!"
"This... this is too much, I can't take it!"
Xiao Tao hadn't expected Yue Feng to actually give him money. Seeing the large unity note handed over, he became a bit flustered.
Yue Feng pouted: "Look at you, so timid. If I give it to you, just take it! Yesterday, I said you'd have a share, so you definitely have a share!"
This is just the beginning. When I save enough money in the future, I still want to get a gun and buy dogs. Then I'll take you with me to hunt big game in the mountains and make a lot of money!"
"Uh... okay! Then I'll take it! When the Supply and Marketing Cooperative opens later, I want to buy some delicious things for my sister! And buy a few large meat buns to take back for my parents to try!" Xiao Tao took the money and said with a face full of longing.
Yue Feng nodded: "Okay, it's the money you earned yourself. As long as you don't waste it recklessly, you can buy whatever you want!"
With Yue Feng's approval, Xiao Tao bought eight large meat buns in one go. After wrapping them in oil paper, he put them into his backpack.
After a brief chat, estimating that the Supply and Marketing Cooperative was open, Yue Feng took Xiao Tao around a street and arrived at the town's Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
This was the first time Yue Feng had come to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative since his rebirth. As soon as he entered, a strong sense of the era hit him.
Stove cakes, sugar balls, rice cakes, canned goods, and various snacks with the mark of the times appeared before Yue Feng. Inside the counter, there were also boxed small-caliber and air gun bullets.
The salesclerks in the Supply and Marketing Cooperative of this era were very arrogant. Seeing two young men enter, they just glanced sideways and didn't bother to pay attention to them at all.
"Comrade, I want to ask how much stove cakes are per jin?" Xiao Tao asked softly, somewhat timidly.
"Stove cakes are forty-five cents a jin with a ticket, and sixty cents without a ticket!" The salesclerk replied in a rather indifferent tone.
"Alright, give me two jin without a ticket!"
He paid the money, weighed it, and soon a package of stove cakes was handed to Xiao Tao.
Yue Feng pointed at the guns hanging behind the counter and asked, "Hello, Comrade, how much are the guns hanging back there?"
"Gongzi brand air rifle is 80!"
"Do you have small-caliber rifles?"
"No!"
"Let me ask about the market price. Does our Supply and Marketing Cooperative buy mountain goods? Black Bear gall, deer antler bone, Gray Dog skin, Yellow Leaf skin tubes, etc. If you buy them, could you please give me a price..."
"Yes, we do! Black Bear gall depends on the quality, one price per gall. An ordinary grass gall is probably four to six hundred yuan each! Deer antler bone depends on the appearance, ranging from three to five yuan per jin. Gray Dog skin is four to six yuan per piece, and Yellow Leaf skin tube is 18 to 25 yuan per piece!"
"Okay, thank you! Could you please also weigh me three jin of stove cakes and two jin of sugar balls!" Yue Feng nodded, pointing at the bulk food in front of him.
Soon, the stove cakes and sugar were weighed, and Yue Feng and Brother Xiao Tao left the Supply and Marketing Cooperative together.
After walking out of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, Xiao Tao said excitedly, "So many things can be sold for money!"
Yue Feng pouted: "The purchase price here is too low. Don't even mention if we have them, we wouldn't sell them to them if we did!"
"This is low? It's quite a bit!"
"If we went to the big Supply and Marketing Cooperative in Iron City, the price would float up by at least thirty percent! Without a gun, everything is zero! Let's go, one step at a time!"
"Brother, you want to buy a gun?" Xiao Tao heard the meaning in Yue Feng's words and asked curiously.
Yue Feng nodded: "To enter the deep mountains, you need at least one of a handy gun or a dog. Good dogs are hard to find, but guns are a bit easier to get. New guns are sold in the city's Supply and Marketing Cooperative and Xinhua Bookstore, but a new 56 Half costs over 1000 yuan, and I don't have that much money for now!"
"I know who has a 16-gauge barrel for sale!"
"Who?"
Hearing the words 'barrel', Yue Feng instantly became energetic.
This was a firearm modified from a civilian 16-gauge hunting rifle, using a 7.62mm rifle barrel. You fired one shot, then broke open the action to manually eject the shell and reload.
Due to the structure of the gun body, the power of this kind of barrel-modified hunting rifle was slightly greater than that of a 56 Half automatic. It could take down conventional mountain game, regardless of size, even a large-pawed mountain king, with a single shot to the head.
"Old Chen Pao from the neighboring Fang'an Village! I heard my dad mention it. He said when Wang Qiang from the village was drinking with Old Chen Pao, Old Chen said his legs weren't good and he couldn't go up the mountain anymore. If someone wanted his old gun, he planned to sell it!"
In this area at the foot of Changbai Mountain, hunters who play with guns in the mountains year-round, as long as they have a little reputation, people generally refer to them as 'so-and-so Pao'. This is a respectful title that acknowledges their experience and strength.
Old Chen, the hunter from Fang'an Village, was a famous Pao in the surrounding villages. His marksmanship was accurate, and his dogs were tough. Every year, after the broadleaf forests shed their leaves in autumn, he would go up the mountain and could hunt wild boar, Black Bear, and other mountain game every year.
Yue Feng knew that Xiao Tao's father, Li Shu, had been saving money to buy a gun, so this news was basically true.
In Yue Feng's memory, in his previous life, Old Chen 'retired' in the winter of 1980. He went up the mountain with a few partners to kill Black Bear Den, but there was a mistake and he almost had a major accident that cost him his life. After he came back, he sold both his dogs and his gun.
In his previous life, the 16-gauge barrel in Old Chen Pao's hands was eventually bought by Xiao Tao's father. Chen Pao's several battle-hardened tough dogs, the lead dog and three tough helper dogs, were also split up and sold to a hunter surnamed Wang in the neighboring village and another hunter surnamed Sun.
However, in Yue Feng's memory, Old Chen's tough helper dogs in his previous life did not have a good end.
They were split up and sold to two families. The new dogs did not cooperate well with the old dogs. They encountered a large, over three-hundred-jin cannonball dog that leaked, resulting in two deaths and one serious injury. They were written off before they could even exert much effort.
Thinking of this, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck Yue Feng's mind, and he realized something.
That's right, from a timeline perspective, the news of Chen Pao washing his hands of the trade had just come out. The gun hadn't even been sold yet, so the dogs must still be in his hands. This year's autumn hunt hasn't started yet, so there's still time!
He definitely needed to buy guns and raise dogs to build up his team. Wouldn't the dogs and gun in the hands of the retired Chen Pao be the best choice?
Thinking of this, Yue Feng asked, "Do you know how much Chen Pao plans to sell the barrel for?"