Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1036 The floodwaters surged down, but Xiaohaizi was saved.

The slaughter of sheep by the Li family lasted for five days, all of which were sunny. By the time the slaughter was nearing its end, the road surface was almost completely dry.

These days, we can slaughter twenty or thirty sheep every day, and every day people take sheep offal home. Some who do more work, or those who come with more people, can take a whole set of offal home, while some who help less can take a stomach, a liver, or a lung home, and they can still have a good meal.

Uncle Luo would cook meat or offal every day. When students passed by Old Ma's shop after school, some of the bolder ones, or those whose families were helping out at the slaughtering site, would go in and eat half a bowl of offal and a piece of naan bread. They wouldn't need to eat dinner when they got home.

During this period, the air above the entire Fourth Squad was filled with the strong aroma of meat. Some students went to school and urinated in the school toilets, which smelled strongly of mutton. The dogs in the squad were able to have a better diet during this time, with some generous owners even feeding their dogs offal.

Even if things are really bad, if they don't give them meat, the food they cook for the pigs and dogs is all oily and flavorful.

On the last day, those who came to help finished up, not only gathering up the sheepskins but also washing the burlap sacks used as bedding. Many people came to help again this time. Although there was less food, the work had to be completed properly; it wasn't fair that so many people came when it was time to eat mutton, and then none came when it came time to work—those shameless people were still a minority.

Just as these people were working, they suddenly heard a rumbling sound coming from the south, from the direction of Xiaohaizi. The noise was quite loud!
At first, no one knew what was going on, but Uncle Luo, who had been in the team for a long time, suddenly changed his expression:
"There's a flood!"

Such a commotion is rare to see in many years. Uncle Luo glanced at Li Long and said, "Little Long, this flood... is definitely not small!"

Having never heard of such a big commotion in so many years, Li Long himself was unsure of what to expect.

Although the team had previously organized young and strong men to clean up the flood control channels on both sides of Xiaohaizi, Li Jianguo drove a tractor to push soil up and thicken the North Dam line.

But when the flood actually came, he still wasn't sure if Xiaohaizi could withstand it.

If we can hold on, the big fish in Xiaohaizi can be saved. If we can't, not only will the fish in Xiaohaizi be lost, but there's a high chance that even Weigou Bridge and the dry canals in front of several residential areas will be lost as well.

The flood will bring disaster, then there will be a frenzy of fishing, and finally the decline of Xiaohaizi.

Li Long was eager to see the flood situation, and he said to Uncle Luo:
"Uncle Luo, you watch over things here. I'm going upstairs now to check on the flood situation. If it's good, I'll come back; if not, I'll go and warn people about flood prevention..."

"Then be careful!"

"Xiao Long, bring the shovel!" Just as Li Long was about to get into the jeep, Yang Laoliu called out from behind, "It'll come in handy if anything happens!"

Li Long responded, took the shovel, put it in the back seat, and then drove the jeep towards Xiaohaizi.

The soil on the road was still a bit soft; the surface was dry, but the bottom wasn't completely dry. But Li Long didn't care about that now. He slammed on the gas, and the jeep sped along the road, kicking up mud in some places. The jeep that Li Long had just washed now had some marks on it again.

Before they even reached Xiaohaizi, Li Long could already see that the water in the reed ditch was already thigh-deep.

Normally, the water in the dry canal beside Xiaohaizi doesn't flow into the reed ditch; it connects directly to the branch canals below.

However, this time, in order to prevent flooding, an opening was made directly under the main canal during the dredging process, allowing any potential floodwaters to flow directly into the reed ditch, thus maximizing the discharge of floodwaters.

Of course, this is the western flood control canal. The water in the eastern flood control canal can only flow eastward through the main canal. Although there is also a reed ditch to the east, it is much farther away.

The reeds in the reed ditch were cut down in early winter. At that time, there was no water in the ditch. The stubble left after the reeds were cut was 20 to 30 centimeters high. Now the water level is almost the same as the stubble and is still rising, which has floated up the thick layer of reed leaves on the ground.

Li Long drove his jeep all the way to Xiaohaizi. He parked the jeep on a high place, took a shovel from the back seat, and drove straight onto the Beiba Line.

The water level in Xiaohaizi has risen considerably, less than a meter from the top of the dam. It is clear that the once clear water has become flooded, with gray foam and debris floating on the swirling surface, impacting the dam.

A rumbling sound came from the western flood control channel, and large gushes of water swirled back out from the small lake, flowing through the flood control channel into the reed ditch.

There is a drop of nearly two meters from the flood control canal to the reed ditch. At this point, a huge flow of water rushes down and then falls below, making a loud noise, somewhat like the Hukou Waterfall.

Whether it was an illusion or something else, Li Long actually saw a large fish being swept away by the flood, crashing onto the surface of the water at the head of the reed ditch, and then swirling and disappearing.

Maybe I misread it?

The floodwaters were very powerful. The breaches in the flood control canal and the reed gully were being washed away and widened. What was originally two meters wide had become more than three meters wide. The soil on both sides was still being washed away, and the breaches were still expanding.

Even after the floodwaters recede, repairing the main canal will still be troublesome.

But there was no time to worry about that now. Li Long could see that the floodwaters were rising very quickly. In just a short while, the water level in the small lake had risen by more than 20 centimeters.

He ran to the outlet of Xiaohaizi and saw that the sluice gate was raised to its highest position. Floodwater poured down from the cement gate and flowed into the main canal, rushing downstream at high speed.

The sluice gate was already at its highest opening, but the outflow of water was far slower than the inflow.

Fortunately, the dam on the North Dam Line is thick enough, consisting of three to four meters of earthen dam. It was reinforced recently, so there are no signs of it collapsing yet.

Li Long walked along the North Dam line again and found no piping, indicating that the dam body was still very solid.

The rumbling sound continued to grow louder, and the amount of water flowing into the reed ditch through the flood control channel was still increasing. Li Long felt slightly relieved. At this rate, Xiaohaizi should be able to be saved, right?

I stayed on the dam for nearly half an hour, and the floodwaters did not decrease. However, the water level of Xiaohaizi slowly stopped rising and was only forty centimeters away from the top of the dam.

A group of people rushed over, and Li Long saw that the one leading them was Captain Xu Chengjun.

"The floodwaters have rushed directly onto Weigou Bridge," Xu Chengjun said as soon as he arrived. "Our Weigou Bridge used to look quite big, but now it seems a bit small. The floodwaters have even reached the road. Right now, your older brother is leading people there to dig earth to hold it back. If the floodwaters don't recede for a while, the road will be washed away."

"The students haven't finished school yet..." That was the first thing that came to Li Long's mind.

"That's alright. The section of the reed ditch between the Third Team and our western settlement on the north side of the bridge is relatively flat. Even if the water level drops, it won't be higher than your thighs. If the reed ditch bridge really does break, then we'll send some militiamen to guard it there and move the children over."

Well, since he's already thought of it, Li Long has nothing more to say.

My only hope is that Xiaohai Lake won't be washed away, and that Weigou Bridge won't be destroyed.

He thought it was unlikely that the bridge would be washed away; the most likely scenario was that the road in the middle of the reed ditch would be washed away.

When the reed ditch bridge was built, the deepest part of the ditch was chosen. This section of the ditch is 200 meters wide, but the bridge is only 20 meters wide, and the remaining 80 meters are a road made of earth. If the flood is too large, the water in the bridge will not be able to flow away in time and will submerge the bridge surface. If the flood is even larger, it may wash a gap in that section of the earthen road.

Of course, no one can say for sure what the final outcome will be.

"The water level has stopped rising." Xie Yundong, who came with Xu Chengjun, looked at the water and said, "It's stabilized."

"That's good." Xu Chengjun himself was relieved. He had scolded Xu Youdao in the meeting earlier, but after that, no one complained when he led the men to work. The work was quite troublesome at the time, since it wasn't completely finished. But no matter what, he and the militiamen had worked hard, and now it was time to check the results.

If you do the work despite the criticism, and in the end the flood washes away Xiaohaizi and Weigou Bridge, wouldn't all your efforts be in vain?

He thought this way, but didn't show it on the surface. Seeing that the water level had stopped and the rumbling sound from the west didn't seem so harsh anymore, Xu Chengjun walked around the dam and finally confirmed that the water level had stabilized. Although he didn't know how long this stabilization would last or how long it would take for the flood to recede, it seemed that the efforts he and everyone had made earlier had withstood the test.

"Let's go over to the reed ditch and reinforce the bridge. We should also check on the students; they should be getting out of school soon." Xu Chengjun was only there to check the situation here; he would then focus on the key areas that needed protection.

Li Long didn't go over. The jeep couldn't fit so many people, and it would be a problem who to take and who not to take. So he simply stayed there and watched for a while longer. He found that the dam had indeed withstood the test. The floodwaters were still at a high level, but there was still no piping or breach in the dam. He was relieved.

About half an hour after Xu Chengjun and the others left, Li Long drove his jeep back, but he didn't go towards Weigou; instead, he went to his own residential area.

As expected, or rather, just like in his previous life, when the floodwaters passed through the main canal, they eventually washed away some points and flowed into residential areas.

In the alleyways of the new residential area, the water flow was relatively slow, just above ankle level, but the presence of water indicated that there was a problem with the main canal above.

This time, Li Long actually saw fish—several crucian carp were jumping around on the road. Because the water was too shallow, the fish couldn't swim upstream, so they could only jump, hoping to reach a deeper spot before swimming away.

Li Long ignored them and drove the jeep very fast. When he arrived at his own door, he saw his mother holding an iron shovel, carefully shoveling soil in front of the door to build a small dam.

The eldest sister-in-law, Liang Yuemei, appeared in the front yard—that is, at the entrance of their own yard—and was shoveling soil to build a dam there.

In fact, both houses have very high foundations, so for a flood to enter the yard, the water on the road surface would have to be at least knee-high.

But what they did wasn't wrong; it's about taking precautions.

On the contrary, the situation at the Lu family next door is not good. When they were laying the foundation and filling the soil, they must have been lazy or something else. Now the water is almost flowing in. Sister-in-law Lu and Tie Tou are shoveling soil to build a dam, and they look quite anxious.

When Li Long arrived, Du Chunfang said with a smile, "You're not driving your car in, are you? I just finished blocking the dam..."

"No, no, we won't go any further." Li Long said as he got out of the car. "The water has stabilized up there, and it should recede soon. I'll go up and see where the leak is. If I can plug the leak, the water won't come down."

"Don't go, it's too dangerous!" Du Chunfang was reluctant to let her youngest son take the risk.

Li Long said with a smile:
“It’s not dangerous. This is different from the flood back home. It’s just a sudden burst of water. Actually, once the water passes, it’s gone. It won’t flood anything. The problem is that the water has passed the road and it won’t dry up for a while. How will Juan and Qiangqiang go to school?”

“Yes, yes, it’s better to go up and take a look.” Sister-in-law Lu said immediately after hearing Li Long’s words. “Tie Tou, go up with your Uncle Long and take a look. If there are any water outlets that haven’t been blocked, the two of you can block them together. That way, the water will go down into the reed ditch below, and we’ll be fine here.”

They hadn't noticed at first, and then the water suddenly rushed down, flooding their yard. Mrs. Lu was worried that if the water level rose further, they could raise fish in their yard.

Tie Tou didn't say anything, picked up his shovel and followed Li Long.

Li Long wasn't in a hurry. He changed his rubber boots in his own yard before carrying his shovel south. He didn't want his new shoes to turn into muddy shoes.

The two walked forward one after the other. When they passed their own yard, Li Long greeted Liang Yuemei, explained the situation, and then continued.

The two walked more than 500 meters forward and came to the side of the dry canal. Li Long saw that the water in the dry canal was obviously wrong, the water level was much lower, and he knew that something was wrong to the west.

Walking more than two hundred meters west along the canal, he saw that the canal was blocked by a large clump of branches and firewood. It wasn't completely blocked, but very little water could seep out.

A large tree branch served as the backbone, blocking the dead branches that followed the floodwaters. As the branches accumulated, they eventually blocked the water flow. A section of the canal to the north was slightly lower in elevation, where the accumulated floodwaters broke free and rushed downstream.

Once they found the location, things became much easier. Li Long and Tie Tou grabbed the large, withered branch and dragged it up the ditch. The blocked reeds were immediately washed away, and the floodwaters flowed downstream with great force, significantly reducing the amount of water heading towards the residential area.

The two men then plugged the breach with mud and continued to patrol the canal, looking for similar places.

If you walk a long way down, there's an opening that rushes down, but it's no longer a problem. It leads to another reed ditch, so it doesn't matter how much water you get into.

When the two returned to the residential area, the road was no longer flooded. Li Juan and Li Qiang had already returned home.

“There were dozens of people by the Weigou Bridge,” Li Qiang told his grandmother vividly. “My dad was there too. They dug up soil, filled sacks, and piled them up on the south side of the road and on both sides of the bridge to block the water… We wanted to watch, but my dad scolded us and told us to go back quickly.”

"Who would have thought the flood would be so big, washing everything away?" Du Chunfang has lived in northern Xinjiang for quite some time, and she never expected to encounter such a flood.

Fortunately, the situation is still manageable.

Li Juan and her mother Liang Yuemei were preparing fish—when the water was low earlier, Li Qiang caught the crucian carp on the road after he came back, and then went upstream and caught half a basin of crucian carp, which would be perfect for dinner.

Looking at the pot of fish, Li Long suddenly thought of the time when Xiaohaizi was washed away in his previous life.

At that time, all the settlements were flooded, and students had to wear rubber boots or be carried by adults to the main road to go to school. The team sent militiamen to guard the reed gullies and small lakes, wearing waders and carrying students one by one to school, and then carrying them back in the afternoon.

He would take a harpoon and wander around the irrigation canals, catching more than a dozen large fish weighing over five kilograms each in a single morning... After that incident, Xiao Haizi was completely ruined.

Now, the small lake is safe, right? At most, some crucian carp escaped. Even if the big fish followed the flood control channel, there won't be a large group of them.

As the sun was setting, Li Jianguo and Li Qingxia returned carrying shovels and brought good news:
"The water level has dropped, the flood is almost receding. This is the first time I've experienced such a big flood; damn it, the Weigou Bridge almost collapsed!"

Upon hearing Li Jianguo's words, Li Long smiled. In any case, Xiaohaizi was saved, and Weigou Bridge was also saved.

"Hey, it's good to have fish to eat." Li Jianguo smelled the fish soup in the pot, washed the mud off his clothes on the washbasin stand, and said, "Once the water recedes in the reed ditch, you'll see crucian carp floating on the reed leaves that can't get out of the water."

"Then how come you can't get down?" Du Chunfang asked, puzzled.

"Hey, the fish was initially swimming and darting inside the reeds," Li Qingxia explained, having observed it clearly. "But when the water level dropped, there wasn't as much water between the reeds, so the fish got trapped by the thick layers of reeds, which prevented them from getting down..."

“Then I’ll bring a plastic bag tomorrow and collect some on my way back…” Li Qiang’s eyes lit up, “I can collect fish again…”

"Study hard!" Li Juan slapped him on the shoulder. "What are you thinking about all day? If you go down to Weigou, what if there's a sudden flood?"

Li Long thought Li Juan was right; with such an older sister looking after him, Li Qiang was quite fortunate.

But collecting fish like this must be quite a happy experience, right?
Should I try it myself tomorrow?
Of course, it was just a thought. After having fish soup that night, Li Long drove his jeep back, bringing with him more than a kilogram of cleaned crucian carp, which Liang Yuemei said she would take back for Gu Xiaoxia, Mingming, and Haohao to eat.

If we're going to eat, the whole family should eat some; we can't leave anyone out.

At this point, the whole family automatically ignored the other two.

When Li Long returned to the courtyard, the air was still filled with the rich aroma of meat—dried meat was drying everywhere in the courtyard, the result of his efforts over the past few days.

Li Long wondered if this would become the norm in the future.

(End of this chapter)