Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

Li Ju'an shouldered a basket, dragged his nearly 300-pound orphan on a pine wood sled, and panted heavily as he made his way through the back mountains of the Xing'an Mountains.

He looked at the footprints of wild animals all over the ground, and his heart was filled with a strong urge to explore.

The footprints over there are from Sha Banjin, also called Sha Banji, which can be sold for 5 cents each at the county's comprehensive market.

There were pheasant footprints on the bluestone slab under the pine tree, and the pheasants looked quite large. In the market, pheasants weighing 4 jin or more could sell for 2 yuan each, while smaller pheasants weighing around 3 jin could sell for 15 cents each.

He silently calculated in his mind that wild boar meat usually costs between 30 and 35 cents a pound. But today he had hunted the meat of a large, solitary male boar, which was smelly, pungent, and tough to chew, making it difficult to sell for a good price.

If he were lucky enough to encounter a hazel grouse, he would risk his life to shoot it down. Hazel grouse, also known as grouse, were not something ordinary people could afford; half a pound could sell for 5 yuan. Back when the salaries of teachers in the local town were only 37.5 yuan, selling one grouse could provide a comfortable income for almost half a month.

Li Ju'an weighed the cat meat in his basket and was quite satisfied with today's harvest.

A juvenile catfish can sell for 4 cents a pound at the market. This juvenile catfish is very fat, weighing five or six pounds. And today we also hunted such a big wild boar. We can sell the meat, which is more than we can eat, at the farmers' market and make a good amount of money.

The old ginseng trail in the forest has been cut off by ancient trees, with withered and decaying vines completely blocking the path that ginseng hunters usually take. This is the end of the old ginseng trail; there is no way forward.

He pondered for a moment and suddenly remembered the stories his fellow villagers had talked about with great relish in his previous life.

"That poor lad from the Lu family has struck it rich! He and Tiezi ran into the back of the ginseng path and stirred up a huge hornet's nest."

"After he got back, his father got angry and told him to stay away from the honey. Guess what happened? That lecherous brat actually managed to get several trays of honey, sold them for a lot of money, and even dared to talk back to his father. His father was furious."

Li Ju'an stared intently at the old tree vines that had been cut off from the old ginseng path, his eyes sparkling.

No one in the village knows what lies beyond the end of the old pilgrimage trail, and Old Lu's son hasn't gone into the mountains yet. Outside the Xing'an Mountains forest, besides pine trees, there are also numerous purple linden trees growing in high-altitude, cold regions.

Every July, the linden trees have a short flowering period of 15-20 days, which is the best time to make snow honey. If the Lu family's son really finds wild honey, it will definitely be precious linden snow honey!

The value of wild linden honey is beyond the reach of ordinary people; it is comparable to half a pound of pheasant honey costing 5 yuan!

He excitedly rubbed his hands together, hid the large piece of pork in the snow cave under the withered vines, covered it with tangled branches, sealed it with thick snow, and then, carrying the basket on his back, climbed over the old tree and entered the shady hill behind the old gully.

The towering, layered purple linden trees are dazzling to the eye.

He walked forward according to his memory, and sure enough, following the topics that the villagers had talked about over tea in his previous life, he found a large hive of Northeast black bees.

On the edge of the steep cliff, there hangs a huge beehive, with densely packed honeycombs layered upon each other, like a centenarian gazing at the sea of ​​clouds with vigorous spirit.

The Northeast Black Bee, also known as the Northeast Black, is resistant to low temperatures and has excellent overwintering ability, making it a rare overwintering species in high-altitude and cold regions. It enters hibernation as early as October and only awakens in early spring. Now, in early November, with temperatures dropping to -20 degrees Celsius, the Northeast Black Bee is already hibernating in its hive. The hive is full of honeycomb, ensuring its safe overwintering.

These honeycombs are also the most beloved harvest for mountain gatherers.

The spectacular wall-mounted beehives are visually stunning.

He was overjoyed, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up high, almost to the back of his ears.

That's fucking huge!

I'm so lucky today. Even if I only collect a small plate of honey, the price I get is enough to cover half a month's household expenses.

Li Ju'an acted decisively, tying a hemp rope around his waist, passing it under his shoulders and thighs, and finally securing it with a figure-eight buckle.

When he went south to do business in his previous life, he befriended many shrewd businessmen. Some of them loved hiking in the wilderness, collecting antiques and curios in the mountains, and then selling them at auction houses in Hong Kong. They were all engaged in businesses that were extremely risky, with their lives hanging by a thread. The bold got rich, and the timid starved.

He used to hang out with these bosses, engaging in speculation and living a life of extravagance. That's when he learned these skills.

Linden honey is the unique essence of Northeast Black Tea during winter.

His maternal grandfather used to work as a beekeeper, and later he raised dozens of beehives, producing two to three hundred catties of honey a year. At that time, the purchasing station bought honey for seven mao a catty, while it cost more than a dollar a catty in the market. His grandfather wanted to sell the honey at the farmers' market to earn more money. He remembered that when he was a child, his mother often said that whenever she went to the market, she would carry jars of honey in a basket on her back to the market to help his grandfather sell honey.

"Collect a few more loads, and go back to make your mother happy."

In winter, Northeast black bees do not produce honey. The hibernating bees occasionally awaken and rely on the honey stored in the hive to survive the winter. Therefore, if all the honey is taken away, the entire hive of Northeast black bees will not be able to survive the winter and will die.

Two years ago, a merchant from the south hired locals to harvest honey from the mountains, intending to retrieve the hibernating beehives by hand. One of them was stung by a black bee from Northeast China and had to be taken to a local hospital. Therefore, Li Ju'an is very careful; even if the black bees are hibernating, there's no guarantee he won't disturb the queen bee while harvesting honey, causing a few black bees to fly out and attack him.

These black bees are highly aggressive; once stung, it's game over. The locals have no protective measures whatsoever; to openly collect honey from wild black bees in front of them is practically suicidal. Therefore, he had to ensure absolute safety.

Li Ju'an patted his pockets and thankfully found a cigarette and a box of matches.

He picked up an oily pine branch in an open area, struck a match, lit the branch, and used the smoke to smoke out the black beehives of Northeast China.

The locals are very careful about open flames and will not light them in the oilwood area. He blew hard on the pine branch twice in an open area to dim the flame, and the pine branch burned a lot of black smoke, which is the most effective for smoking Northeast China black.

Thick smoke slowly smoldered the beehives on the cliff face, causing the bees inside to fall into a deep sleep.

Li Ju'an could hear the songs of the herders. The locals had loud voices, and when the two groups met, the herders shouted loudly, and he could faintly hear their shouts even from a distance.

"Brother Lu and his old buddy are out hiking again, coming up the mountain every day?"

"Just wander around and look around when you have nothing to do."

"Old ruthless bro, still scouting locations everywhere this season? Have you tied up your club yet?"

"No way, it's not that easy."

"Going into the mountains to search for and collect wild ginseng" is a local term for this activity. Gathering in the dead of winter is difficult; the easily found precious medicinal herbs have already been picked by locals, and finding *Gynostemma pentaphyllum* on a shady slope is even more challenging. The Lu brothers went into the mountains for several days without success.

At this moment, Li Ju'an had enough time to smoke, so he pulled hard on the buckle around his waist, put on his basket, and climbed down the cliff.

Under the thick smoke, the few remaining Northeast Black carp scattered on the ground, listless and no longer aggressive. Taking advantage of the moment when the Northeast Black carp were unconscious from the smoke, he put on gloves and rummaged into the large beehive.

He carefully took out a perfectly flat honeycomb. The viscous, transparent honeycomb was densely covered with hexagonal pores, glistening with an oily sheen, and crystals were visible. After crystallization, it appeared as a fine, white or milky-yellow oily substance.

With a gentle pull, the entire honeycomb was pulled out in strands, the pure white sap coated with the unique sweetness of snow honey, its subtle aroma irresistible.

He was overjoyed; he had found a treasure while hunting in the mountains today!

Below were two interconnected beehive clusters. He cleaned each cluster, taking out the largest honeycomb stacks and leaving the smaller honeycomb clusters inside.

When mining the mountain, one should not take everything; one must leave a little behind.

With a few small beehives, there is enough for the queen bee and worker bees to survive the winter. This auspicious place can be used to collect snow honey again next year, year after year.

Li Ju'an obtained three large beehives, stored them in a cloth bag, and put them in his backpack.

He returned to the end of the old path with satisfaction, and as expected, he saw the Lu brothers hunting in the mountains, along with another group of hunters.