Bolati skinned the sheep quickly and gutted it just as fast. Lao Huang brought over a basin, and Li Long helped Bolati pull out all the innards, barely fitting them inside. Lao Huang grinned, showing his big yellow teeth, looking delighted.
"All done," Bolati said to Li Long once he had finished with the sheep.
"I'm heading back. If there are any more later, I'll come find you. I already cut off the part where the snake bit it. You still shouldn't eat that section, all right?"
"Yes, I know." Li Long nodded.
Bolati wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead, wiped both sides of his knife against the sheepskin, then slipped it into the sheath at his waist. He walked over to his horse, swung into the saddle, pulled the reins to turn it halfway around, and trotted away. Soon the horse picked up speed and disappeared at the end of the valley.
With the innards removed, the whole carcass lay on the sheepskin. Li Long took out his own knife, cut off a hind leg, and handed it to Xie Yundong beside him.
"Brother Yundong, keep this leg here for everyone to eat. Have Brother Lao Huang stir-fry some offal tonight. I'm taking the rest."
"Good, good." Although they did not quite understand where the sheep had come from, nobody was unhappy about getting fresh mutton.
Li Long got some salt from Lao Huang and rubbed it over the meat to keep insects away. Lao Huang had already cut up some of the innards to stir-fry. Li Jianguo put down his Taibazi weaving and came over to help wash the stomach and intestines.
Li Long put the mutton, sheepskin, and everything else into the tractor trailer, then went over to help his eldest brother.
"What happened