Now That Was a Friend

Three Deer Antlers lay beside the stove, each bigger than the one Li Long had obtained the day before.

Li Long only glanced at them before handing his purchases to Harimu.

"Here's the tea, here's the salt, and here are the sugar cubes." After taking them out one by one, he finally took out the fruit candies and handed them to the elderly woman, Harimu's mother, saying:

"These are for you!"

The elderly woman couldn't speak Chinese. She accepted the gifts and smilingly invited Li Long and his companion to sit down, then asked Harimu's wife to make them milk tea. Meanwhile, she took out a handful of fruit candies and shared them among her grandchildren.

After Li Long and Tao Daqiang took off their shoes and climbed onto the wooden sleeping platform, Harimu sat down beside them and said:

"After you left yesterday, I went to find the other shepherds. Some of them did have sheep that had frozen to death. They didn't want money-they wanted tea. I gave them tea and brought back two sheep. Oh, and those, too."

He pointed at the Deer Antlers.

Li Long accepted the milk tea the woman handed him. After setting the bowl down, he took a paper packet from his pocket and handed it to Harimu.

"Here are twenty rounds."

Harimu opened the paper packet and looked inside, overjoyed.

"This is wonderful! Wolves came last night, and I barely slept! With these bullets, I can shoot them! Brother Li Long, you've really done me a huge favor!"

Li Long took a sip of milk tea and said with a smile:

"We're helping each other out. You found frozen sheep and Deer Antlers for me, and I found these things for you. It's only fair."

"Yes, yes, helping... each other!" Harimu's Chinese was a little halting, but he could get his meaning across perfectly well. "Once winter is over and spring comes, I'll be able to shoot wild boars and things. You can come haul them away!"

At noon, Harimu showed Li Long how a Kazakh man could slaughter a sheep in just a few minutes.

Li Long kept refusing and trying to stop Harimu from slaughtering the sheep, but everyone in Harimu's family insisted that they had to. Otherwise, they wouldn't be treating their dear guest Li Long properly.

Harimu also said, "We don't have much fodder left. The snow is especially heavy this year, and the cattle and sheep can't graze on the grass beneath it. Some sheep won't last until the snow melts in spring. If we slaughter them now, they still have some fat on them. Otherwise, they'll starve to death as spring approaches."

Li Long knew how devastating heavy snow could be. He remembered that a few years later in his previous life, the township had even called on students to donate fodder to help the herders in the pastoral areas. Snow disasters and insect infestations had left them short of feed.

Perhaps Harimu was telling the truth, though it was more likely an excuse to disguise the fact that they had slaughtered a sheep especially for Li Long.

For lunch, they simply stewed the mutton in melted snow with just a little salt. Li Long noticed that the two children kept staring at the meat in the pot.

Clearly, they hadn't eaten meat like this in a long time either.

Looking at the pile of Ankle Bones in the corner, Li Long had an idea and said to Nasen:

"Could you give me a few of your Ankle Bones?"

Nasen didn't understand, so Harimu said a few words to the child.

Nasen looked at the Ankle Bones, then at Li Long. Harimu said a few more words. Nasen glanced at the fruit candies in hand, then pushed all the Ankle Bones over.

Li Long said with a smile:

"I don't need that many. I have a nephew and niece who like these, but they don't have any, so I'm asking for a few on their behalf."

Li Long took ten Ankle Bones. There were about thirty or forty in the pile, so ten wasn't much.

Once the meat was cooked, everyone sat down at the table and began eating the meat and gnawing on the bones.

Tao Daqiang was a little reserved, but Li Long didn't stand on ceremony. Since they were here and the meat was already cooked, they might as well eat their fill. He could simply bring the family more supplies on his next visit.

Now that Harimu had bullets, shooting a few wolves would more than make up for it all.

After eating the mutton, Li Long and Tao Daqiang drank some broth before heading outside, thoroughly satisfied. They loaded the two frozen sheep into the horse cart, and then Li Long planned to get some more pinewood to load onto it.

"I went and got some coal yesterday." Harimu pointed behind the Winter Camp. "But I went on horseback, so I couldn't bring back much."

"Keep it for yourselves to burn." Li Long knew Harimu's family burned coal too, so he had no intention of taking it home.

"Take it with you. We're close to the coal mine, so we can bring some back every few days. By the time you come again, I'll have brought back even more." Harimu was stubborn too.

Li Long stopped refusing. He and Tao Daqiang loaded the coal onto the cart, then added some pinewood, followed by the three Deer Antlers.

Li Long hefted them. The three Deer Antlers weighed around ten kilograms altogether. Going by what the man at the purchasing station had said, they should fetch thirty or forty yuan at least.

I'll have money in my pocket again!

"Li Long, tell me whatever else you need. When I have time, I'll go see the others. If I come across anything, I can trade for it."

With bullets on hand, Harimu felt much bolder and could venture farther afield. He felt he owed Li Long a great deal, so naturally he hoped to help him.

"If you manage to shoot any wild boars, it would be best to save their stomachs," Li Long said thoughtfully. "There isn't much available in winter. In summer, there are more medicinal herbs, and those can sell for money too. There are mushrooms as well..."

The mountains had plenty of good things to offer, but only a few were available in winter. There were brown bears here, too. Those creatures were even bigger than black bears, weighing two or three hundred kilograms or more. For an ordinary person to provoke one was to court death.

So Li Long wouldn't mention those. Wild boars were another matter. With a rifle in hand, Harimu knew his limits. Even if he couldn't kill one, he could at least keep himself safe.

Still, remembering that wild boars came down in herds at this time of year, he decided to bring more ammunition on his next visit.

After saying goodbye to Harimu's family, Li Long and Tao Daqiang drove the horse cart down out of the mountains.

When they reached the county town again, Li Long asked Tao Daqiang to wait outside while he carried the three Deer Antlers into the purchasing station.

This time, the person inside wasn't Chen Hongjun, but a middle-aged woman.

The woman was delighted to see the Deer Antlers in Li Long's hands, though she kept her expression calm as she asked:

"Are you here to sell Deer Antlers?"

Seeing that it wasn't Chen Hongjun, Li Long didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked:

"Let's see what price you're offering first."

"These Deer Antlers..." The woman picked up the Deer Antlers Li Long had placed on the counter and examined them carefully before saying:

"They look decent, but they've been frozen, and there are cracks. I'll give you two yuan a kilogram. That's already a high price. What do you say?"

"Forget it." Li Long gathered up the Deer Antlers and prepared to leave. He remembered Chen Hongjun saying he worked Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so he could wait until Chen Hongjun was there. At two yuan a kilogram, he would lose more than ten yuan!

That's a whole lamb gone!

The woman hadn't expected Li Long to be so decisive. She immediately said:

"Then I'll raise it a little. How about two fifty?"

Li Long didn't even pause.

The woman had a purchasing quota to meet, too. With no other choice, she waited until Li Long had reached the door with the Deer Antlers before saying:

"Three yuan, then. I can't go any higher!"

"All right." Li Long turned around and set the Deer Antlers down.

The woman resented Li Long a little. He really wouldn't budge until he got what he wanted. Few people who came here to sell things knew how to bargain, which had allowed her to buy plenty of good items cheaply.

Being rebuffed by Li Long left a sour taste in her mouth.

(End of chapter)