It wasn't cold when it snowed, but it was when Snowmelt came. It was already the season of Snowmelt. As Li Long drove the Jeep north, he knew that despite the sunshine being much stronger than a month ago, it would feel much colder outside.
Even bundled up in thick clothes, you still felt cold.
The farther north he went, the fewer people there were, the more open the landscape became, and the stronger that sense of vast desolation grew.
The occasional horse-drawn cart or tractor broke the stillness. As Li Long passed them, he could see that most carts carried one or two Mongolian gazelles, and the drivers usually had guns.
They wore smiles, with the joy of a successful haul. They were cold, but happy.
Li Long didn't know whether these people had thought of coming north to hunt Mongolian gazelles themselves or had heard about it somewhere.
Of course, he certainly wasn't the only clever person around. When he had been hunting gazelles in the uninhabited stretch of Wuyi Highway, Wang Mingjun and the others had already been pursuing them in the sand hollows. That was perfectly normal.
When the Jeep reached the company, Big Old Chen hurried out of the company headquarters courtyard, smiling and waving to Li Long from a distance.
By the time the Jeep entered the courtyard, Wang Mingjun had come out too, an army-green overcoat draped over his shoulders. He shook hands with Li Long as he got out and said with a smile:
"Thanks for your hard work, Comrade Xiao Li. How was your New Year? There was no need to hurry. With that vehicle of yours, you could have come after the snow melted."
"That wouldn't do. Once the snow melts, the roads get muddy. If this vehicle got stuck