The old man looked at Chen Zhen with a smile and said," The yurts of you Beijing students have been supported for more than a year, but there are too few blankets. This time, let's buy more yellow goats and exchange them for more blankets at the purchasing station and the supply and marketing cooperative so that the four of you can be warmer during the winter. Chen Zhen said,"That's great. We only have two layers of thin felt. The ink bottle in the bag has frozen and exploded." The old man smiled and said,"Look, the wolves in front of you are about to give you gifts."
In the Eilun Grassland, a large frozen yellow goat with its skin and meat could be sold for 20 yuan, which was almost equivalent to half a month's fixed income for a shepherd. Yellow sheepskin was the raw material for high-quality leather jackets. According to the people at the acquisition station, the pilot's flight suit was made of yellow sheepskin. The pilots of China couldn't even wear it. Every year, all the yellow sheepskin produced in Inner Mongolia was sold to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in exchange for steel, cars, and firearms. The loin meat of the yellow sheep was also a high-quality raw material for canned meat, so it was also all imported. The last remaining meat and bones were left for the people to enjoy. They were rare goods on the meat counters in the counties of Inner Mongolia and were supplied with tickets.
This winter, a large number of yellow goats entered the country, which made the leaders of the Border Commune Ranches and Qi County extremely excited. All the purchasing stations at all levels had already vacated their warehouses and were ready to open up to purchase. The officers, hunters, and herdsmen were like fishermen who had just caught a big fish. They planned to go all out. Hunters and stallions were fast. Most of the team's hunters and stallions had already mounted their fast horses, brought their hunting dogs and rifles, and went to chase after the yellow goats. Chen Zhen was tied up by a flock of sheep all day long, and he did not have a gun or bullets. Moreover, the shepherd only had four horses, unlike the stable keeper who had seven or eight or more special horses. The educated youths could only watch the hunters go hunting. The night before yesterday, Chen Zhen went to the hunter Lanmuzhabu's yurt. It had only been a few days since the yellow sheep arrived, but he had already shot 11 big yellow sheep. One shot actually pierced through two of them. A few days of hunting income was almost equivalent to three months of salary for a stable boy. He proudly told Chen Zhen that he had already earned a year's worth of tobacco and alcohol money. In a few more days, he wanted to buy a red light brand semiconductor radio. He would leave the new one at home and bring the old one to the stable boy's mobile bag. In his bag, Chen Zhen had eaten fresh yellow goat meat for the first time. He felt that this was the true wild game of the grasslands. The yellow sheep that was good at running did not have any waste meat on its body. Every fiber of its flesh was the essence of its long-term competition with wolves. The taste of its meat was not inferior to that of roe deer meat.
Ever since the group of yellow sheep broke into the Elun Grassland, the entire team of Beijing educated youths suddenly felt like second-class citizens. After two years, the educated youth could already herd cattle and sheep independently, but he still knew nothing about hunting. However, hunting seemed to play a more important role in the nomadic production of the grasslands on the eastern border of Inner Mongolia. The ancestors of the Mongolian people were hunters in the forests of the upper reaches of the Hei Long River. Later, they slowly entered the Mongolian grasslands to hunt and herd. Hunting was an important source of income for every family, even the main source of income. Among the herdsmen of the Elun Grassland, the stables had the highest status. Most of the good hunters came from stables. However, there were very few educated youths who could become horsekeepers, and those who could become horsekeepers were only apprentices who had just entered the sect. They were far from being good horsekeepers. Therefore, when the hunting season came, the educated youths in Beijing who almost thought that they had become new herdsmen realized that they were not qualified at all.
Chen Zhen ate his fill of yellow mutton and accepted the yellow lamb leg that Big Brother Lanmuzhabu had given him. He then ran resentfully to the old man Bilig's yurt.
Although the educated youths had already lived in their yurts, Chen Zhen still liked to go to his father's place often. The yurt was large and beautiful, and it was warm and well-off. The inner walls were covered with a wall carpet with religious patterns, and the floor was covered with a carpet with a white deer pattern. The wooden silver bowls on the short square table and the copper basin and aluminum pot on the bowl rack were all polished. Here, the sky was high and the emperor was far away. The Red Guards 'frenzy of "breaking the four old" had not yet broken the old man's carpet. In Chen Zhen's yurt, the four educated youths were all classmates of a high school in Beijing. Three of them were the children of the " mafia capitalist roaders " or the " revolutionary academic authorities." Due to their similar circumstances, they were very disgusted with the radical and ignorant Red Guards at that time. Therefore, in the early winter of 1967, they bid farewell to the noisy Beijing early and went to the grasslands to seek a quiet life. They got along well with each other. The yurt of the old man Billig was like the tent of a chief of a grassland tribe. It gave him more love and care, making Chen Zhen feel more intimate and safe.
In the past two years, the old man's family had already regarded him as a member of the family. Chen Zhen had brought two boxes full of books from Beijing, especially Chinese and foreign books on Mongolian history, which had brought the old father closer to his Han son. The old man was a very friendly person. He had a few friends with Mongolian rappers and knew a lot of Mongolian history and legends. When the old man saw Chen Zhen's book, especially the illustrations and maps, he immediately became interested in the Mongolian history written by the writers and historians of China, Russia, Persia, and other countries. Bilig, who was semi-fluent in Chinese, seized all the time to teach Chen Zhen Mongolian. He wanted to understand the contents of the book as soon as possible so that he could tell Chen Zhen the Mongolian story in his stomach. After two years, this young and old pair of Meng Han conversations had already progressed quite smoothly.
However, Chen Zhen still did not dare to tell the old man about the hatred and hostility of the ancient Chinese and some Western historians towards the Mongolian people. When they arrived at the grasslands, Chen Zhen did not dare to sing Yue Fei's " The River Is Red ", nor did he dare to " laugh " or " drink ". Chen Zhen wanted to find out the history of the conflict between the farming people and the nomadic people, as well as the reason why the sparsely populated Mongol people had once exploded with a terrifying power similar to nuclear fission in the history of the human world.
Chen Zhen didn't want to leave the old man's yurt. However, in the Eilun Grassland with abundant water and grass, the herds were expanding. Some of the flocks had over three thousand lambs, which was far beyond the limit of a shepherd. After the flock of sheep expanded, they had to split into groups. Chen Zhen had no choice but to leave the yurt with the sheep that had been split into groups. He and the other three students picked the yurts and went on their own. Fortunately, the two camps were not far from each other, and the sounds of sheep and dogs could be heard. Before the saddle was warm, he had arrived at the neighbor's house. After the flock of sheep had been separated into groups, Chen Zhen still went to the old man's house frequently to continue their conversation. However, this time, it was a yellow sheep and was related to a wolf.
Chen Zhen lifted the thick felt curtain that was decorated with an auspicious pattern made of camel hair thread and sat on the thick carpet to drink milk tea. The old man said,"Don't be jealous. They've hunted so many yellow goats. Tomorrow, Abba will take you to get a cart of yellow goats." I've been wandering around the mountains these days and know where to hunt for yellow goats. It just so happens that Abba also wants to show you a big wolf pack. Don't you always talk about wolves? You Han people are too timid, like sheep that eat grass. We Mongolians are wolves that eat meat. You should have some courage.
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