Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1002 Rabbits don't taste good, let's make some quail chicken!
The first dish served was a pot of braised rabbit.

Li Long found it quite novel, but Xie Yundong, Tao Daqiang, and the others were full of complaints: "We're tired of eating rabbit every day."

Li Long was a little curious, and Tao Daqiang explained with a smile:

"It's snowing heavily now, so all the rabbits in the wasteland and red willow fields have been driven out. Everyone in the team who can run has gone to chase the rabbits. Some have caught as many as forty or fifty, while others have caught at least a dozen."

During this period, every household eats rabbit. Some people even keep wild rabbits in enclosures, saying they will eat them during the Lunar New Year.

This rabbit isn't very tasty. It's okay for one or two meals, but after a few meals, it just gets so-so.

Li Long thought to himself that it wasn't that the food was really bad, but in the countryside, people only knew a few ways to cook it, and eating the same thing over and over again for several days would definitely make them tired of it.

After all, information spread very slowly at that time, and the methods used in other regions had not spread. Ordinary people only knew how to braise or stew soup, and there were only a few common ways to cook food at home.

If you search online in the future, you can easily come up with seven or eight ways to cook it, such as spicy rabbit head and cold-cooked rabbit, which don't exist now.

Not only rabbits, but also crabs. In the early 2000s, someone started raising crabs in Dahaizi for the first time. The crabs grew so big that they broke through the crab traps, and the entire Dahaizi was teeming with crabs. Several kilograms of crabs could be caught in one night.

At first, the villagers all went to catch fish—after all, Dahaizi is a public reservoir, catching fish is allowed, and no one went to steal fish from the net cages.

After a few meals, no one ate it anymore—the villagers didn't know the many ways to cook crabs back then, they only knew how to steam or fry them, and they found it troublesome after a few meals.

After all, this thing is more troublesome to eat than rabbit.

“Not only rabbits, but also foxes. Quite a few foxes have been appearing lately, along with some pheasants,” Xie Yundong added. “As far as I know, our team has caught more than a dozen foxes, and we’ve skinned and sold them all.”

Li Long wasn't quite sure about this. He didn't specifically ask at the purchasing station, but he knew that there had indeed been an increase in the number of people selling rabbit pelts recently.

"There were quite a few wild pigeons. A while ago, Xu Feihu and a few of his buddies went over to the old house of the vegetable processing group in the middle of the night with a sack, blocked the doors and windows, and took out a sack full of more than two hundred wild pigeons. They took them back, braised them, and ate them."

Li Long thought to himself, "These people are really bold. In later years, it is said that bird flu in a certain place was spread across borders by wild pigeons and other birds."

"By the way, the quack chickens haven't been eating lately either. I heard Ma Jinbao found several."

“What do pigeons eat? If we could get a sack of quail, that would be great.” Liang Dacheng sighed. “I just don’t know where to get these things. That old bastard Ma Jinbao knows, but he’s adamant about not saying anything, so nobody knows.”

As dishes were served, Jia Weidong sat down, opened a bottle of liquor, and said with a smile:

"Alright, I heard you have thirty or forty rabbits? That's quite a lot. The pelts alone must be worth over two hundred yuan, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Liang Dacheng smiled. "This is nothing. Winter has only been here for a month, and there's still a long way to go. Maybe we'll be able to get something even better sometime."

"What better things could there be in this area? The badgers are all hibernating," Xie Yundong shook his head and said, "The water rats too. There are plenty of fish in the small lake, but they're not fully frozen yet. That's all the stuff our team has..."

"Alright, that's already pretty good. Teams three and two can't even find a place to catch rabbits." Li Long smiled. "Our team four has such a large piece of wasteland, it's already very good. By the way, drink less later. If you want, I'll take you to see if you can catch any chickens tonight."

“Yeah, Brother Long, do you know where to get Guagua Chicken?” Tao Daqiang suddenly remembered that when Li Long first came back from Wucheng, he got his hands on Guagua Chicken.

"Yeah, I know two places, but the snow is so thick now, I don't know if the quack chicken is still there." Li Long smiled. "We might not be able to catch it."

"We'll find out when we get there. Anyway, we don't have anything else to do right now. Even if we don't catch anything, we can just take a walk to sober up." Unexpectedly, Xie Yundong was the first to agree with this idea.

The matter was settled.

Because everyone had things to do that evening, the drinking was slower. Jia Weidong completed a round of drinking games, and then everyone drank casually. Although Li Long was still the main target, everyone knew that Li Long had a high alcohol tolerance and was quick-witted in the drinking game, so they didn't feel like they were bullying him.

Who made him the richest guy and the one leading everyone to make money?

Because they drank slowly, they talked a lot. In the past, Li Long only stayed in the village for short periods and only came back occasionally, so he didn't know much. But this time, he heard a lot of gossip while drinking, such as which family's field had been flooded and damaged someone else's wheat, and the two families still hadn't reconciled. Or, which family's young man and girl were kissing and being dated, and a primary school student saw them, told the adults when they got home, and as a result, the whole village knew about it.

Another thing is that more people in the team are reclaiming wasteland. It's mainly the Li family who are reclaiming wasteland. They use better fertilizer, which can suppress the salinity and alkalinity. The sugar beets they planted seem to be yielding a pretty good harvest. As a result, many people want to reclaim wasteland after autumn.

The village can decide whether to reclaim more than 50 mu of land, so Xu Chengjun approved it.

The state has regulations that no public grain is required for the first three years after land reclamation. One of the great advantages of northern Xinjiang is that there are relatively fewer levies and other forms of taxation. With more land and fewer of these, the more you plant, the more you harvest. With some sideline businesses, it is easy to get rich.

"Several families have bought small four-wheeled tractors this year. Not many have bought harvesters, but everyone wants to buy a cultivator. This thing is really useful," Tao Daqiang said. "No matter what, it can do the work of several people."

"The Zhao family brought a strong young man from their hometown to work as a farmhand. He helps with the farming. The young man doesn't talk much, but he's a good worker," Xie Yundong said. "Our team has more land per capita than other villages, and the Zhao family has also cleared 20 mu of wasteland, so they can't farm it all."

The hired farmhand was supposedly Old Zhao's cousin from his hometown. He worked all year round, with room and board provided, round-trip train tickets bought for him, and a final payment of five hundred yuan. When the young man left, Old Zhao's family even bought him a new set of clothes; they were very happy.

Five hundred yuan was almost a year's salary for a junior worker in 1986, which wasn't a small amount. Considering he only worked for six or seven months, earning this much in half a year was quite good.

There are many interesting things happening in the village. Li Long wasn't in the village before, and he didn't pay much attention to these things in his previous life. Some of them weren't very memorable, but now that they're being told one by one, they have a real sense of history.

After finishing their meal and drinks, the leftover food on the table was cleared away. The group didn't leave immediately; they got some tea and melon seeds and continued chatting. Only after the drinking subsided a while did Li Long drive back to the front yard.

Everyone rode their bicycles, so there was no need for anyone to take them. They agreed to meet at Li Long's place around 11 or 12 at night.

When Li Long drove his jeep to his elder brother's yard, it was around five or six in the afternoon, and the sun was faintly visible in the west.

Hearing the car, Li Qingxia came out of the east room first, saw Li Long, and asked:

"How much did you drink? Is it serious?"

"It's nothing, I didn't drink much. I'm going to make chicken tonight, so I didn't play many games," Li Long explained. "I'll find two bags and take the net with me."

"Are you going alone?" Li Qingxia asked.

At this moment, Li Jianguo also came out. Du Chunfang peeked in and told Li Long to hurry inside.

“I, Daqiang, Yundong, Dacheng, and Jia Weidong are all going,” Li Long said. “I’m going to the front yard to take a nap and rest.”

"Okay, go ahead, the stove's already set up over there." Seeing that Li Long was alright, speaking clearly and thinking clearly, Li Jianguo didn't interfere further. "I'll prepare the things for you."

Li Long didn't drive the jeep away after parking it in the backyard, and instead walked to the front yard. Li Jianguo carried a broken basin over and drained the water from the jeep.

The fire in the stove in the front yard was smoldering, so the house wasn't too hot; the temperature was just right. Li Long took off his outer cotton coat, lay down on the bed, and dozed off. He fell asleep almost immediately.

After a while, Du Chunfang pushed the door open and came in. Seeing that Li Long was asleep, she poured him a glass of water. Seeing that the temperature in the room was okay, she added some more coal to the stove and then went out again.

Li Long woke up after sleeping for more than three hours, feeling a slight headache, but he was fully awake. He knew this was the alcohol spreading throughout his body and having a negative effect, but it wasn't a big deal, since he hadn't drunk much that day.

Seeing the water on the bedside table, he took a sip, then gulped it all down.

I felt much better after drinking the water. I got up, put on my clothes, and saw that it was already dark outside. I went to the stove, added some coal, poked it with the stove hook to remove the ash, and after the fire started, I shoveled on some coal dust to press it down and let it burn slowly. Then I opened the door and went to the backyard.

“There’s some fish soup saved for you in the kitchen,” said Liang Yuemei, the eldest sister-in-law. “I’ll get it for you.”

So Li Long drank the fish soup, ate the golden-brown toasted bread slices, and ate some pickled vegetables, feeling very comfortable.

Tao Daqiang and the others wouldn't arrive for a while, so Li Long chatted with his family. He called Gu Xiaoxia to tell her he wouldn't be home that night. Gu Xiaoxia said she'd guessed, and told him not to worry, everything was fine at home. Around 11 PM, Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang had already gone to sleep, and Li Juan and Li Qiang, who had classes the next day, had also gone to rest. It was only then that Tao Daqiang and the others started arriving.

The temperature at night was approaching minus thirty degrees Celsius, and everyone was dressed warmly, each carrying a net, a flashlight, and a fertilizer bag.

According to Xie Yundong, today was just a trip to have fun; it would be great if he could catch someone, but it wouldn't matter if he couldn't.

Actually, Li Qiang wanted to go with his uncle Li Long when he heard that Li Long was going to catch quack chickens, but everyone objected. After all, it would be late and dark, and no one would feel comfortable letting him go alone.

Once everyone was there, they went outside. Li Long first described the approximate location, then said:

"We don't know if that place still exists, but regardless, after we've looked there, we'll go to another place. After we've looked at both places, we'll go home and sleep."

"Okay."

None of the group really cared about catching the quack chicken; they just came to make a trip, to have some fun, or perhaps to fulfill a childhood dream. The result wasn't important; the process was.

They all spoke in hushed tones, taking turns saying one sentence at a time.

There was no moon in the sky. Li Long vaguely remembered that it should be the end of a lunar month, a waning crescent moon, right? Anyway, even if there was one, it would definitely be a crescent.

Fortunately, the snow reflects light, making the ground appear completely white. If there's anything black, it's not snow, so just avoid it. If you're curious, just shine a flashlight on it, and you'll often see a bunch of reeds or large clods of earth dragged out by the plow while ploughing.

After leaving the settlement and walking east for about a kilometer, Li Long looked around and found that some land that used to be barren had now been plowed into farmland.

Fortunately, the general terrain hadn't changed much, so they slightly adjusted their direction and headed towards a triangular wasteland—an area formed by the digging of a dry canal and the initial clearing of the land. The soil was good, but because the terrain was unfavorable, making it difficult to plow and mark the area, they didn't proceed.

This triangular wasteland is next to a canal, and to the southwest of the canal is a large expanse of reed grass. This is the place Li Long came from.

A large patch of reeds was mostly covered by snow, but in the dim light of day, you could still vaguely see clumps of black grass.

Li Long, with his sharp eyes, could already see faint black clumps among the clumps of reeds; those must be the quack chickens.

There weren't many, no more than twenty, scattered around the grassy mounds, motionless.

"Hey guys," Li Long whispered, "There's a quack chicken. Don't turn on your flashlights. I'll tell you, look, it's over there in that patch of grass. There are several clumps of reeds there. Let's spread out and slowly walk over, surrounding this area. When we're almost there, stop. If you can't see it, just flash your flashlight on the quack chicken's location."

"The five of us, keep an eye on your targets, and when you lower the net, try to cover them accurately and quietly. If you cover them well, you can cover the next one too—and listen to my commands, don't move ahead of time, otherwise if one of you moves, they'll all get away, and that won't be worth it."

Once everyone whispered that they understood, Li Long started circling around. Having the best eyesight, he circled to the furthest point, making a large loop to avoid scaring the chickens away, eventually reaching the south side of the reed-covered beach.

The others walked slower, but since the distance was shorter, they arrived before Li Long did.

Li Long slowly moved forward, looking at the scattered chickens lying here and there, and quickly identified his target.

Someone in the northeast corner flashed a light, then quickly turned it off. Li Long saw that it was Jia Weidong.

It's normal that Jia Weidong, who is in poor health and has poor eyesight, couldn't see the location of the quack chicken.

"Is everything ready?" Li Long asked in a low voice.

Everyone within a radius of twenty or thirty meters could hear Li Long's voice.

"All right."

"Aimed." Tao Daqiang had already raised the net, waiting for the order.

The others echoed in agreement.

"Okay, get ready, I'll count to three..." Li Long said, not moving his feet, mainly because the snow was too thick, and he was afraid that if he stepped on it again, the quails would be startled—right now, some quails had already woken up, fidgeting restlessly on the snow crust, and if they weren't so attached to their newly warmed feathers, they would probably have flown away. Fortunately, the net handle was quite long, and by extending the handle as far forward as possible, he could reach the quails he was targeting.

"one two Three!"

When he counted to three, Li Long slammed the net down. As it reached the snow, he used a clever twist of his wrist, and when he caught the quail, he twisted it like scooping water, scooping up the quail and a clump of snow together. Then, taking advantage of the quail's momentum, he slammed the net down again.

Now there were two quacks in the net. Just as Li Long was about to catch the third one, the quack darted up quickly in the snow and flew away with a "flap".

The grassy area was bustling with activity. Some people caught a chicken and quickly covered it before taking it out and putting it in their bags. Others, like Li Long, planned to catch two or three at once.

The unpleasant squawking of the quacks continued in his ears, and when it finally quieted down, Li Long judged that at least five or six quacks had flown away.

As he took the croaker chicken out of its cap and put it into the bag, he asked:
"How many are there?"

“One.” This was Jia Weidong.

"Two!" Tao Daqiang exclaimed excitedly.

"I have two too," Xie Yundong said with a smile in his voice.

"Two, almost three." Liang Dacheng actually felt that two wasn't enough.

"Let's go, to the next place." Li Long also felt a little unsatisfied. Back when he was single and before the household responsibility system was implemented, there were fewer people in his family. Two chickens, plus some other dishes, could make a big pot of food, enough for the whole family to have a meal.

But what about now? My parents are still alive, my older brother's family has four members, my own family has four members, plus my sister Yang and her husband, and my father-in-law. Two quack chickens are definitely not enough.

Therefore, we still need to catch more.

The others had no objections. They had come here just to have fun, regardless of whether they caught anything or not. They were thrilled that Li Long caught something at the very first spot he led them to.

Gaining something is definitely more exciting than not gaining anything.

Li Long was familiar with the next location, but he moved there rather slowly with his men.

The chickens in the bag at my waist fluttered around every now and then, showing that they were alive.

“These chickens are really fat. I feel like these two together weigh about a kilogram and a half when I lift them up,” Tao Daqiang said as he walked. “After plucking the feathers and removing the stuff inside, I can stir-fry a whole plate of them.”

"Then let's get a few more and stir-fry a big plate of them," Xie Yundong said with a smile. "These things taste better than rabbits."

Jia Weidong felt that Xie Yundong was still talking about him, and muttered, "If there were other food, I wouldn't want to be a rabbit today."

Several people laughed.

As he was laughing, Liang Dacheng suddenly said:

"No, there are footprints! This place... has been here before!"

Upon hearing this, the others immediately turned on their flashlights and looked over, discovering footprints in the snow in front of and behind where they had walked.

These footprints look quite fresh!
(End of this chapter)