For the next few days, Li Long traveled between the mountains and the Fourth Team every day, driving his tractor back with a dozen or so sheep at a time. It was a little cramped, but the sheep were all quite good.
Li Long insisted on paying for every sheep he hauled away, at the rates set by the Pastoral Team.
Since he insisted, the pastoralists said no more and accepted the money and supplies.
The hides counted as payment for the supplies Li Long brought.
Besides the bear skins and snow leopard pelts he received from Jade Mountain River and Talihaal, Li Long also got dozens of hides of various sizes: wolf, red deer, roe deer, wild mountain goat, and more. There were fewer deer antlers and pieces of jade this year, but there were two rough aquamarines. They were quite large, a little bigger than pigeons' eggs, with a faint blue tint. Really nice.
All their owners wanted in exchange was some medicine. They really were simple, honest people.
Of course, Li Long would not let them lose out. Not only did he buy a whole case of medicine especially for them, he also supplied medicine, alcohol, sugar, salt, and so on.
By the time the heavy snow came, Li Long had bought sheep from every pastoralist household. Besides exchanging supplies, he had also helped them buy some things.
Although Ma County had a relatively small ethnic minority population overall, it still had some ethnic shops. Li Long helped them buy everyday necessities such as blankets, knives, felt boots, and saddles, as well as sacks of coarse salt.
He saved everyone a good deal of trouble.
To Li Long's surprise, three ethnic shops had opened in the market's storefronts. These ethnic minority traders had a keen nose for