Chapter 43: They are all fine jade

Seeing Harimu smiling, Li Long was somewhat bewildered.

"This jade, we've known about it since we were very small," Harimu said, rising from the wooden kang bed. He rummaged for a while by the stove and pulled out a stone strip about ten centimeters long and a palm's width wide. Wiping the dust off it, he handed it to Li Long.

"Look, Nathan picked it up from the river the summer before last."

Hearing Harimu's words, Li Long broke into a cold sweat. He was right—how embarrassing!

This was a place where their people had herded for generations; how could they not know there was jade in these mountains? He had simply been narrow-minded.

He took the piece of jade and began to examine it closely.

The windows of the winter shelter were small, and the natural light was dim. They didn't light lamps during the day, so it wasn't very clear.

Even so, Li Long could tell at a glance that this was clearly "seed material" (river-worn jade), not the angular type found in mountain ore.

More importantly, looking at it now, aside from a bit of black stone skin, the rest of the jade was a beautiful green. It wasn't the translucent, glass-like green of modern jadeite, but a shade slightly deeper than that—not quite dark green, but possessing the feeling of deep, dark lake water.

In his past life, Li Long had seen common versions of Mahe jade, which usually contained black spots like fly droppings.

But this piece was transparent throughout, without cracks or black spots; it was absolutely top-grade.

He stepped off the kang and walked out of the room to look at it through the daylight outside. Sure enough, there wasn't a single black speck.

Although this jade wasn't as valuable as Hetian jade, it was still top-tier among jade.

Good stuff.

Harimu followed Li Long outside. Seeing him examining it so intently, he said with a smile

"Do you like it? It's yours."

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

"We're friends; we don't talk about such things." Harimu pressed the jade back into Li Long's hands and said solemnly, "Where we are, it's useless. I once took it down the mountain to trade, but no one would exchange anything for it.

We can often find this kind of stone in the mountains. In our eyes, it's not worth as much as the tea, flour, and salt you brought. Since we are friends, don't say any more!"

Li Long was certain that if this jade were placed in the future, selling it for tens of thousands would be no problem. Although he was an amateur, he knew that much. Even now, if he encountered an expert, selling it for dozens or even a hundred yuan shouldn't be an issue.

"Then I won't be polite." Li Long didn't say anything more; sometimes, actions speak louder than words.

"That's the spirit," Harimu said with a smile. "In a little while, we'll go to Yushanjiang's place to borrow a gun. Tomorrow morning, with two guns, let's see how many wild boars we can take down."

"Alright. Oh, by the way, I brought some more bullets." Li Long pulled out the bullets to show Harimu. "I'll bring more the next time I come."

"That's great!" Harimu gave him a thumbs up. "We can never have too many of those. I'm worried that the wolf we wounded last time might come back for revenge. The snow is heavy in the mountains, and lately, more wild animals have been appearing nearby. Even red deer and roe deer have shown up."

Roe deer—the locals called them "roe deer children" because they looked similar to female deer.

As these herbivores increased, they naturally attracted carnivores. Wolves, snow leopards, and even brown bears would appear.

To herders, this was a massive threat—because once these predators ran low on food, they would naturally attack the herders' livestock.

Even in the future, it was common to see brown or black bears running into sheep pens to snatch sheep.

Because Li Long had come, lunch consisted of naan, dried meat, and milk tea. Li Long didn't stand on ceremony; after eating and drinking his fill, he and Harimu rode their horses to find the other herder, Yushanjiang.

The horse Li Long had brought didn't have a saddle. To make it easier for Li Long to ride, Harimu gave him his own horse. Without a saddle, Li Long rode the production team's horse, following Harimu as they rode along the mountain gullies toward the other side.

It was a good thing the horse was shod; otherwise, Li Long wouldn't have dared to ride like this.

The two rode and traveled for over an hour, crossing two mountains, before they spotted a winter shelter in another mountain meadow.

The sound of barking dogs carried from a distance. From atop his horse, Li Long saw that the sheep had not been driven out.

It was likely because the snow was too thick; if the sheep went out, they wouldn't find any grass, so they were simply being fed inside the pen until the snow melted.

As the two approached the shelter, a man around forty years old emerged from the doorway, bending over.

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

"Is it Jia Ke?" Li Long extended his hand toward him.

Yushanjiang shook hands with Li Long, his mouth twitching slightly.

Li Long found it a bit strange—not because he thought the man was cold, but because he felt the man might have something on his mind.

"The tea and salt I sent last time were brought by Li Long."

He then said to Li Long

"One of the antlers you took the second time came from my brother Yushanjiang's place."

Li Long hurriedly expressed his thanks.

"No need, no need. We're friends. You've done me a huge favor; otherwise, my family wouldn't have any milk tea to drink," Yushanjiang spoke up immediately upon hearing Harimu mention the tea.

"Come into the shelter first." Yushanjiang led the two men to tie up their horses and brought them inside.

Yushanjiang's shelter was slightly larger than Harimu's, but the furnishings were much the same. Inside were a girl and a boy. The girl was about sixteen or seventeen with a round face; the boy was fourteen or fifteen and looked quite a bit like Yushanjiang, also with a round face.

Both children looked at Li Long with curious eyes.

Li Long felt a pang of regret again—why hadn't he brought any candy with him?

Of course, he wasn't sure if children this age even liked candy.

After a moment's thought, he pulled the bullets from his pocket and gave one or two to each child.

Then, realizing what he had done, he looked at Harimu and whispered

"Is this... okay? Does it break any taboos?"

Harimu smiled and said

"They will be very happy."

Li Long had already noticed five or six semi-automatic rifles hanging on the wall.

These guns were older than Harimu's; the originally grass-green slings had turned black, and the wooden handguards were worn shiny with a smooth patina.

Harimu spoke a few words to Yushanjiang, and Yushanjiang laughed.

He nodded, then bent down to rummage under the wooden kang, pulling out a piece of jade the size of a volleyball and handing it to Li Long

"This is for you!"

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

The thing weighed over ten kilograms and clearly looked like seed material; it was unlikely anyone would mistake it for mountain ore.

It also felt very beautiful—definitely high-quality jade.

"Take it! We're friends, don't be polite!" Yushanjiang urged him.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Li Long accepted it. He even felt his intentions were somewhat impure, as if he were being unfair to these simple, honest herders.

When he had brought things into the mountains before, he had done so with a purpose.

But they were giving too much.

Even knowing this, they would still give.

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

Of course, for now, the most important thing was to see the guns.

As he watched Yushanjiang take the gun down, Li Long's gaze grew fervent.