Reborn in Changbai Mountain, I rely on my divine eyes to dig ginseng and hunt

Liu Xialian came in last with a fishing rod, very proud: "Your estimates for the bighead carp and silver carp are similar. But the big arowana is not good, at least fifty-one are needed, arowana weighing more than eight catties are rare, this one is at least ten catties, if it's less, we can stew it ourselves. But it's a pity that there will be no stewed chicken tomorrow, and Big Sister can only continue to drink crucian carp soup."

The eldest sister waved her hands repeatedly: "No more, no more, I'm not destined to enjoy this luxury. I've been eating it for two days in a row, and my milk supply is rising so much that the baby can't finish it."

The whole family started eating, eating steamed bread with jade flour, pheasant stewed with mushrooms, and crucian carp soup, and everyone was eating with their mouths drooling.

After dinner, my mother was a little worried: "It's really hard to sell it at a good price in the nearby town. The best way is to go to Baishan Forest Farm, where there are many people."

Baishan Forest Farm is where my father Liu Jun works. It was established in the early 1950s. The scale of felling is about 100 to 200 miles, and the employees have a lot of tasks to do, including felling trees, raising seedlings, planting trees, and simple processing.

At its peak, there were more than 8,000 employees. Now that the country promotes afforestation, the number of employees has decreased to only about 4,000.

But a huge town has been formed here, with a size of nearly 3,000 households. There is a forest farm railway station, a forest farm bus station, a forest farm state-owned restaurant, a forest farm hospital, and there are also bosses who come from the south to collect timber, herbs, and furs.

There is no bus from Lijiatun to the forest farm, so you can only walk.

It was only five o'clock, and my mother and Liu Xialian were both up. There were a lot of fish yesterday, so each of them carried two buckets. When they left the house, it was still dark, so Liu Xialian took a harpoon for self-defense.

Mother put down the bucket and said, "No, the black bears are getting fatter this season. I have to get a dung fork."

Soon, my mother took a dung fork, picked up the bucket and left.

The two walked for more than ten miles, and the sky gradually brightened. Liu Xia Lian suddenly saw that the self-defense weapon in her mother's hand was actually a dung shovel.

He couldn't stop laughing: "Hahaha, mom, look at what you have in your hand."

The mother put down the burden and looked at it: "It's broken. It was dark this morning and I didn't pay attention. I took the wrong one."

As the two were talking, they heard the sound of horse bells. A clanging sound was heard, and a sturdy black mule came over pulling a rubber-wheeled cart.

The driver shouted, "Xia Lian, where are we going?"

Liu Xia Lian looked up and saw that it was none other than Uncle Li Si, the car owner in the village.

"We are going to the forest farm. Where are you going?"

"Come up, I'm going to the forest farm too."

The two of them hitchhiked again. It turned out that Uncle Li was a smart man. He had long seen the spring breeze of reform and opening up, and drove a truck to go out early and come back late, doing transportation.

"Uncle Li, how much does a mule like this that can pull a cart cost?"

"To pull a cart, you need a heavy horse, and a heavy horse starts at three thousand. My mule is just average, weighing about one thousand pounds, and I bought it for two thousand dollars. The other is a big donkey, which weighs six or seven hundred pounds and costs fifteen or six hundred dollars. It can pull light carriages, but its carrying capacity is poor, so it can't carry heavy goods, but it's fine for light travel."

After weighing the pros and cons, heavy horses are expensive, eat a lot, and require more effort to manage. Large donkeys eat less, but have a bad temper and are not good at pulling carts. Overall, large mules are the most suitable.

"Uncle Li, you are an expert. When you are free, how about you help me choose a mule? I won't let you help for nothing."

"Good, the second girl has a promising future."

After a while, they arrived at the forest farm and Uncle Li went to the bus station to wait for work.

Liu Xia Lian was not in a hurry to find a place to sell the fish, so she went to the nearby store to buy cigarettes first.

"Boss, two packs of Golden Gourd cigarettes."

"Come on, Liumao."

"Send me a fire, boss."

The boss was not happy and gave him a box of matches: "You can't make a dime from two boxes of cigarettes, but you lost five cents for giving away a match."

"Uncle Li, I got you two packs of cigarettes. Smoke them while you wait for your turn."

"Girl, why are you so polite?"

Liu Xia Lian put down the cigarette and walked away. People are very friendly these days. If a villager gave her a ride, she would definitely not accept money. But she couldn't take advantage of him for nothing, so two packs of cigarettes were just right.

It was already around eight o'clock, and the good seats at the morning market were long gone. Liu Xialian and her mother set out buckets near the exit and specially took out a turtle to attract people.

The cheap small fish sell the fastest. Forestry workers love them. Once fried in oil, they become a great dish to go with wine.

The three of them bought up all the small fish. Just as they were getting bored, a middle-aged man from the south came over. He was about 1.7 meters tall, slightly bald, wearing slippers, and spoke poor Mandarin: "Boss, how much are you selling this turtle for?"

He turned out to be a Cantonese. It's not easy to travel so far to do business these days.

"The big one is fifty yuan, and the two small ones are thirty yuan each." Liu Xia Lian asked for a higher price, expecting people to bargain.

Who would have thought that the man would take out eleven big unity notes from his pocket.

"Put it on for me, this one will bite."

"They can bite, so be careful when handling them." Liu Xia Lian put the three turtles into a snakeskin bag and asked the Guangdong boss to carry it.

"Can you bring me some pheasants and ducks? The price is negotiable. I have plenty of money. I like to make soup with them. They must be alive, not killed. I'm right next to that hotel, and I specialize in buying old mountain ginseng."

"Okay, I'll find it and bring it to you in the next few days."

The boss left happily carrying the turtle.

After a while, a middle-aged man came over. He was dressed like a cook, of medium build and a little fat. He immediately took a fancy to the giant carp.

"This giant catfish is forty yuan, and this bighead carp is five yuan. Deliver them to the store for me." The cook took out five ten-yuan bills to pay.

Liu Xia Lian refused to take the money at all, and her mother was so anxious that she nudged her with her elbow from behind.

"Boss, you are an expert, but I am also an expert. It is very rare for a croaker to weigh more than ten kilograms. This fish weighed over twelve kilograms last night. I was going to sell it for fifty, but I'll give you forty-five. Otherwise, I'll wait a little longer. If no one wants it, I'll take it back and eat it."

The cook was not convinced: "I am from the Songhua River Fish Restaurant. It was originally a state-owned restaurant. I bought it and now I mainly sell Songhua River fish. It is difficult to find a buyer for such a big fish."

"Nowadays, people who can afford to eat in restaurants are either those who can get reimbursed or business owners. If you do this well, whether you sell it for 100 or 200 is up to you. You eat the meat and we have to drink some soup, otherwise this business can't be done."

The cook sighed, "If it really wasn't a big deal a few days ago, the five dollars would have been enough. These past few days, there have been two people fired in a week. Once it gets dark, there's no one around. I only open at noon and have to close early at night."

Information travels slowly these days, and Liu Xia Lian really didn’t know about such a big thing that happened in the forest farm.