After locking the door, Li Long rode his bicycle to Small White Poplar Gully.
In Small White Poplar Gully, everyone was still heating willow rods and weaving Taibazi. Li Long made a round, saw that nothing needed his attention, then said goodbye to Xie Yundong and cycled into the mountains. He remembered Harimu and Jade Mountain River specifically mentioning some Mountain Ravines with "local specialties" before they left, but he had never properly explored them.
He rode to a Mountain Ravine he had visited twice before. The first time, Jade Mountain River had brought him here, saying there were red deer. The second time, Li Long had come on his own, hoping to find Deer Antlers, but had found nothing.
He hid his bicycle in the grass at the mouth of the gully, locked it, then took his rifle and crept inside.
The grass in the east-west gully was not particularly dense. Pine trees covered the upper part of the shaded slope, while grass grew on its somewhat damp lower half. On the northern slope, small shrubs grew among broad stretches of grass. They looked thorny and difficult to get through.
After entering with his rifle, Li Long looked carefully around and discovered that the gully did not run straight to its end. It curved a little, and a small stream appeared and disappeared along its bottom.
The sun had already risen. He headed diagonally up the shaded slope and found no narrow trails. Apparently, few herders grazed their livestock here, so it remained relatively untouched.
Stepping through the grass with both hands on his rifle, Li Long felt like someone trying to strike it lucky. Coming here to gamble on his luck really was rather foolish.
He would have been better off staying in Small White Poplar Gully and