It's All Fine Jade

Seeing Harimu smile, Li Long was a little puzzled.

"We've known about this jade since we were little." Harimu got up from the wooden sleeping platform and rummaged beside the stove for a while, then pulled out a strip of stone a little over ten centimeters long and a palm's width across. He wiped the dust off and handed it to Li Long.

"Look. Nasen picked this up in the river the summer before last."

Hearing Harimu's words, Li Long cringed inwardly. Of course. He'd made a fool of himself!

These people had grazed their herds here for generations. How could they possibly not know there was jade in these mountains? He was the ignorant one.

He took the piece of jade and examined it closely.

The Winter Camp's windows were small, letting in little daylight, and they didn't light lamps during the day, so he couldn't see it very clearly.

Even so, Li Long could tell at a glance that this was river jade, not the sharply angular sort of mountain jade.

More importantly, apart from a little black outer rind, the jade was a beautiful green. It wasn't the green of the glassy jadeite he'd seen in later years, but a little deeper, without being dark green-like the color of deep lake water.

Li Long had seen ordinary Ma River jade in his later life, and it usually had black specks that looked like fly droppings.

But this piece was translucent, with no cracks or black specks. It was definitely top quality.

He simply climbed off the sleeping platform and went outside to examine it in the daylight. Sure enough, there wasn't a single black speck.

Though this jade wasn't as valuable as Hetian jade, it was still a fine specimen.

Good stuff.

Harimu followed Li Long outside. Seeing how closely he examined it, he smiled and said:

"Like it? It's yours."

"No, no, it's too valuable." Li Long hurriedly handed the jade back to Harimu. "This piece is worth quite a bit."

"We're friends. Don't talk about that." Harimu pressed the jade back into Li Long's hands and said earnestly, "It's no damn use sitting here with us. I even took it down the mountain once to trade for supplies, but nobody would trade with me.

"We often find jade like this in the mountains. To us, it isn't worth as much as the tea, flour, and salt you brought. If we're friends, don't say another word!"

Li Long was certain this jade could easily sell for tens of thousands in later years. He wasn't an expert, but he knew that much. Even now, if he found someone who knew jade, it should fetch dozens of yuan, perhaps a hundred or more.

"Then I'll gladly accept it." Li Long said no more. Some things were better repaid with action than words.

"That's more like it." Harimu smiled. "Later, we'll go borrow a rifle from Jade Mountain River. With two rifles tomorrow morning, let's see how many wild boars we can bring down."

"All right. Oh, I brought some more cartridges." Li Long took them out to show Harimu. "I'll bring more next time I come."

"That's wonderful." Harimu gave him a thumbs-up. "We can never have too many of these. I'm worried the wolf we wounded last time will come back for revenge. The snow's deep in the mountains, and more and more wild animals have been appearing nearby lately. Red deer and roe deer have shown up too."

The locals called roe deer "roe does" because they resembled female deer.

More herbivores naturally attracted more predators. Wolves, snow leopards, and even brown bears would appear.

For the herders, this posed a tremendous threat-once these predators ran short of food, they would naturally attack the herders' cattle and sheep.

Even in later years, brown bears and black bears often broke into herders' sheep pens and caught their sheep.

With Li Long visiting, lunch consisted of naan, air-dried meat, and milk tea. Li Long didn't stand on ceremony. Once he'd eaten and drunk his fill, he rode out with Harimu to find the other herder, Jade Mountain River.

The horse Li Long had brought had no saddle. To make the ride easier for him, Harimu let Li Long ride his own horse while he rode the Production Team's horse bareback, leading the way along the mountain gully toward the other side.

It was only because the horse was shod that Li Long dared take this route at all.

After riding and walking for over an hour and crossing two mountains, they finally spotted a Winter Camp on another stretch of mountain grassland.

The barking of dogs carried a long way. From horseback, Li Long could see that the sheep hadn't been taken out.

The snow was probably too deep for the sheep to reach any grass outside, so they were simply being fed in their pen until the snow melted.

As the two men approached the Winter Camp, a man of about forty stooped to come out.

Harimu dismounted, went over to greet him, and then introduced Li Long.

"How are you?" Li Long held out his hand.

Jade Mountain River shook Li Long's hand, his lips twitching slightly.

Li Long found it a little odd. It wasn't that the man seemed cold, but rather that something appeared to be weighing on his mind.

"The tea and salt I brought over last time came from Li Long."

Then he said to Li Long:

"One of the antlers you took away on your second visit came from Jade Mountain River here."

Li Long hurried to thank him.

"No need, no need. We're friends. You did me a huge favor. Otherwise, my family wouldn't have had any milk tea to drink." As soon as Harimu mentioned that Li Long had brought the tea, Jade Mountain River began talking.

"Come inside first." Jade Mountain River helped the two men tether their horses, then led the way into the Winter Camp.

Jade Mountain River's Winter Camp was a little bigger than Harimu's, but the furnishings were much the same. A girl and a boy were inside. The girl was sixteen or seventeen and had a round face. The boy was fourteen or fifteen and looked quite like Jade Mountain River, with the same round face.

Both children looked at Li Long curiously.

Once again, Li Long regretted not bringing any candy with him.

Then again, he wasn't sure whether children this age still liked candy.

After a moment's thought, he took the cartridges out of his pocket and gave each child two.

Only then did he think to look at Harimu and ask quietly:

"This... doesn't break any taboos, does it?"

Harimu smiled and said:

"They'll be very happy."

Li Long had already spotted the Type 56 Semi-Automatic Rifle hanging on the wall.

This rifle was older than Harimu's. Its originally olive-green sling had turned black, and the wooden handguard had been worn smooth and shiny, with a patina from long use.

Harimu spoke with Jade Mountain River for a while, and Jade Mountain River smiled.

He nodded, then bent down and rummaged beneath the wooden sleeping platform. He pulled out a piece of jade the size of a volleyball and handed it to Li Long.

"For you!"

Li Long felt awkward. He didn't know whether to accept it or refuse.

The thing weighed well over ten kilograms and clearly looked like river jade too. He supposed no one bothered collecting mountain jade these days.

It was also very beautiful-definitely fine jade.

"Take it. We're friends, so don't stand on ceremony!" Jade Mountain River urged him.

Li Long accepted it, feeling rather embarrassed. He even felt that his own motives weren't entirely pure, and that he'd somehow let these simple, honest herders down.

He'd brought supplies into the mountains with a purpose in mind.

But they had given him far too much.

Even if they knew that, they would still give.

Li Long felt that the only way to repay their kindness was to bring more of the things they lacked in the future.

Of course, the most important thing right now was to look at the rifle.

As Jade Mountain River took the rifle down, Li Long's gaze grew eager.

(End of chapter)