Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1189 A Moment of Relaxation: Taking My Mother Out for a Walk

Because Li Junfeng and his group were around this year, Du Chunfang basically didn't go to the fields much. Occasionally she would go out to pick some wild vegetables, but she spent most of her time in her own yard.

Aunt Lu, who lives across the street, and the women from the front and back yards occasionally come over for a chat. Before, when Mingming and Haohao were in preschool, she would go over to keep an eye on them, but after Mingming and Haohao went to kindergarten in the county, she stopped coming over.

While I say I'm too lazy to go out, it's actually because I have a bit of social anxiety.

Li Jianguo also had a car, and his GAZ truck would occasionally be driven to the fields, but it was mostly used for work, so Du Chunfang rarely rode in it.

Li Long opened the passenger door for his mother to sit in, closed the door, got into the driver's seat, and said to his mother:
"Let's go take a look at the cotton fields and then at the little lake."

"Okay, whatever you say." Du Chunfang, slightly nervous as she sat in the car, gripped the seat tightly, trying to sit up straight. Li Long said to her:

"Mom, lean back and sit however you're comfortable... This is our own car, don't worry about anything else."

"Okay, okay, I'll lean back." Du Chunfang smiled and relaxed, leaning back, then said, "It's quite comfortable."

Li Long slowly backed the car out and turned it around. Just then, his sister-in-law, Liang Yuemei, walked back from the front yard. Li Long leaned out and called out to her:
"Sister-in-law, I'm taking my mother around for a stroll."

"Alright, you guys go ahead and go. Come back for dinner later." Liang Yuemei replied. "The sun's a bit strong, do you want me to wear a hat?"

"No need, no need, it's perfect." Du Chunfang replied with a smile, she was now quite eager to "go on the trip".

The car started slowly, and Li Long wasn't driving very fast. The roads in the team were all farm roads, which were basically dirt roads. When it didn't rain, the soil was very thick, and if you drove fast, the car would kick up a cloud of dust behind you, like a sandstorm.

When it rains, the ground is all muddy. After walking around outside, your shoes will be covered in a thick layer of mud, which is jokingly referred to as the thick-soled official boots of ancient times.

“Our family planted 100 mu of cotton this year, divided into three plots. One plot is the land we were originally allocated, and the other two are reclaimed saline-alkali land,” Li Long said as he opened the door. “The cotton is growing well this year.”

"We'll have to see. I don't even know what cotton looks like." Du Chunfang was also quite curious.

Li Long drove his elderly mother to the nearest cotton field. When they arrived, Li Long stopped the car, turned off the engine, opened the door for his mother, and helped her out.

"I can't open this car door from the inside," Du Chunfang said, no longer nervous about the ride. "It's quite troublesome."

"It's mainly to prevent children from opening it while riding in the car, which could cause them to fall out and cause trouble," Li Long explained.

"Oh, oh, oh, that's how it should be." Du Chunfang suddenly realized, "This is good, this is good. This is cotton..."

"Hmm, they're only just starting to grow stalks now. Hey, they're getting a bit too tall." Li Long looked at the cotton field in front of him. His cotton was growing well, but it was just a little too tall.

The cotton grown in northern Xinjiang is densely planted, so it cannot grow too tall. If it grows too tall, the nutrients will all go to the stalks and leaves, resulting in fewer buds, flowers, and fruits.

I need to remind my older brother that he needs to take mepiquat chloride at this point.

The same was true for a plot of land not far away; the cotton there grew even more wildly, some reaching over a meter in height—how could it possibly produce any flowers?

I don't know whose land it is, but I'm thinking I should remind them later.

Most of the people in the team grow cotton because of themselves, so it's necessary to remind them.

"With such dense planting, picking cotton later won't be easy, will it?" Du Chunfang asked after carefully examining the field.

"Yes, it's not easy. You have to bend over all the time, and it will be tough for more than a month," Li Long said.

"Hey, that's really something. Back in my hometown, even seven or eight families' plots of land don't amount to this size..."

This piece of land is twenty acres, which is more than the land owned by seven or eight families back in my hometown.

After inspecting the cotton fields, Li Long helped his mother into the car and then went to another plot of land nearby.

Wheat field.

Seeing that the wheat was already full and plump, Li Long grabbed two large handfuls of wheat, twisted them into two bundles with green wheat stalks, and carried them onto the truck.

"What are you doing with that?" my mother asked.

"We'll roast wheat later," Li Long said with a smile. "It's been two years since I've had it, and we're lucky to have it today."

"Hey, okay then, when we get back later, I'll singe it for you under the pot." Du Chunfang is quite good at cooking this.

"Okay." Li Long nodded and continued driving.

After touring the wheat fields, sunflower fields, and cornfields, Li Long drove to Xiaohaizi.

The area around Xiaohaizi is lush and green; it's quite beautiful as a scenic spot on its own.

Back then, there weren't as many annoying flies and mosquitoes as there are in later generations, so when my mother arrived at the north embankment of Xiaohaizi, she smiled:

"Hey, it's actually quite pretty."

Dozens of meters away on the water, a mother wild duck is swimming with a group of ducklings. The mother duck will suddenly dive into the water and come out with a small fish in her beak.

"Mom, look, those are the crabs I released a while ago." Li Long searched the water's edge for a long time before finally finding a small crab near the water plants. He quickly pointed it out to his mother: "It's not big yet, it'll be ready in September..."

Actually, it won't grow very big even by September, but it should have turned yellow by then.

The best crabs are those that can survive this year's harsh winter and live to see next year; by then they'll be bigger and tastier.

My mother's eyesight isn't very good. Li Long pointed a few times but she still couldn't see it. She wanted to get closer to look, but Li Long quickly stopped her: "Mom, don't move, watch me!"

As he spoke, Li Long quickly walked to the water's edge. The crab sensed the movement and was about to escape when Li Long reached into the water and grabbed it.

The little thing's pliers were about to clamp, so Li Long adjusted the position, pinched the cap between two fingers, and brought it close to his mother's face to show her:
"Look, it's still small. When I put it in, it wasn't even as big as the pliers..."

"Hey, so this is a crab... Back home, the river has prawns, river clams, snails, but I've never seen this before..."

According to my older brother, there are actually crabs in the river next to our hometown, but firstly, they don't grow very big; secondly, they are troublesome to eat and require a lot of firewood; and thirdly, and most importantly, they are relatively few, so they are basically not caught.

The crab was very tenacious, constantly waving its pincers. After his mother finished watching, Li Long threw it into the water, and the little guy immediately dived underwater and disappeared.

"Xiaolong, let's go back. I'll make you some wheat when we get back." The old woman felt she had seen enough, but she was still thinking about making wheat for her youngest son to satisfy his craving.

Li Long said:

"Mom, no rush. Should we go to the county to see Dad?"

"No, I'm not going. Your dad comes back every week, what's there to see?"

"After we eat, Mom, why don't you come with me to the county for a few days?" Li Long asked again.

"No..." the old woman hesitated for a moment, "I'm more comfortable living in the team's place. I don't know any of the neighbors in your yard. Bring Mingming and Haohao back on Sunday. I haven't seen them for a while, I miss them terribly."

"Okay. This week is the Grain in Ear solar term, I'll bring them back."

Since I don't want to shop anymore, let's drive back.

On the way, Du Chunfang talked about the people and things in her hometown with great interest, but Li Long felt a little sad.

My mother has been in northern Xinjiang for many years now. She always seems to be smiling, but I bet she misses her hometown and her old friends there too?
"Mom, when you have some free time, how about I take you back to our hometown?"

“No way. It would take several days to travel back and forth, too much trouble.” Older sister Du Chunfang flatly refused, “I’m not going to cause that trouble.”

"What if I could fly?" Li Long thought. In his previous life, he flew after 2010. However, he vaguely remembered that in the mid-1990s, ordinary people could fly without a letter of introduction from a county or regimental level official.

"Take a plane? That thing flies in the sky, isn't that unsafe?" my mother asked.

"I don't know, it should be nothing serious, right?" Li Long vaguely remembered that there were indeed aviation accidents in our country in the 1990s, but he hadn't heard of any since. And then there was Malaysia Airlines?
"No, no, it's too scary," Du Chunfang refused again.

Okay, we'll talk about that later.

When they got home, there was a fire burning on the stove in the yard, and Li Junfeng's wife, Dong Xiaojuan, was helping Liang Yuemei cook.

"Third Aunt, where have you been?" Dong Xiaojuan asked while tending the fire.

"Xiaolong took me out for a walk," Du Chunfang said proudly. "We went to see the cotton fields, the wheat fields, the sunflowers... Oh, and we also saw the crabs he raises at Xiaohaizi's place. The crabs are quite big; he said they'll be ready to eat in September." The old woman was very proud. Her youngest son had taken her for a car ride and even toured the neighborhood. This was filial piety; her love for him hadn't been wasted!
"Where's the baby?" After saying a long string of questions, she suddenly remembered, "Is she asleep?"

"Yes, I just soaked some steamed buns in my breast milk and fed them to him, and then he fell asleep," Dong Xiaojuan said.

Although most of the cows in Lao Ma's shed were local breeds, it was milking season, and Li Junfeng would go there every day to get a bucket of milk.

If there's only a small amount of this stuff, people will eat it for breakfast or dinner. But now there's a lot every day, so we just treat it as a drink. We boil it and leave it there, and take a sip whenever we want.

Li Jianguo and Li Qingxia, before they went to the purchasing station, both liked to drink milk tea.

It made me smell faintly of mutton.

Du Chunfang wanted to replace Dong Xiaojuan as the fire starter, mainly because she wanted to burn the two handfuls of wheat for Li Long.

Dong Xiaojuan switched places with her. While Du Chunfang was roasting the wheat, she grabbed a winnowing basket, pulled off the roasted wheat stalks, and started rubbing them. The wheat grains had to be rubbed off; only after all the husks were removed would it be easier to eat.

Li Long was still a little embarrassed. He had just had a sudden whim; he saw the wheat and thought he'd take a bite, but he didn't expect it to cause such a commotion.

So he simply stepped aside to take a look at the high-powered wheeled tractor parked outside.

The reversible plow trailing behind the tractor still had hardened soil on it, indicating that the tractor had been working and plowing the land in the past few days.

It's probably another round of land reclamation. Thanks to Li Long's presence, the fourth team's land reclamation progress has accelerated compared to before, and most of the places that used to be covered with dense reeds and bitter beans have been cleared.

Only those extremely saline-alkali areas and very remote wastelands remain.

The reclamation mainly relied on existing land, which made it convenient to dig irrigation canals.

Apart from the Wang family who laid their own power lines and dug their own wells, all the other land reclamation was done in the same way.

Just as I was watching, I heard the sound of a car, and then I saw my older brother driving back in his GAZ truck.

The car pulled up in front of their house, and Li Junfeng and the others jumped out. They were all covered in dust and dirt, and Li Junfeng was carrying a bundle of grass.

“I keep a sheep in the front yard,” Li Junfeng said with a smile. “It’s hard to let it roam, so I just bring back some grass every day to feed it.”

"That's good," Li Long said with a smile.

These people greeted Li Long one by one, then went to the front yard to wash their hands and faces. They were covered in dust, and their hands were stained with green weeds, so they needed to wash.

"Brother, the cotton over there in the sample canal is growing a bit too tall. We need to spray it with thiophanate-methyl." Li Long told his brother about what happened today. "Whose cotton is that two plots west of ours? It's growing even taller... If we don't spray it with pesticide, the cotton won't produce any this year."

“That’s… the team leader’s land?” Li Jianguo thought for a moment and said, “Yesterday he praised his cotton plants for growing well.”

“Hey, it’s not that it’s good-looking… well, it’s good-looking, but if it’s too good-looking, it won’t produce cotton bolls.” Li Long shook his head. “I have to tell him to get mepiquat chloride injections as soon as possible. When we top the plants in July, we have to make sure to do it properly, otherwise he’ll be crying in September.”

“I’ll call him now,” Li Jianguo said. “He should be back from work by now.”

"He installed a telephone at home?" Li Long asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes, we installed it. They said there are a lot of work notices, and it's too much trouble to keep going to the township, so they installed a telephone so that they don't have to make so many trips when there are any notices from the township."

Li Long vaguely remembered that it was at least five or six years later when the captain's family got a telephone. It seems that his butterfly effect has changed quite a few people.

"Xiaolong, the wheat is ready, it's still warm, why don't you try some?" His mother called from the yard, and Li Long quickly replied, "Okay, I'm coming!"

The wheat was plump and had a slightly charred aroma after being roasted. It was very chewy, and Li Long grabbed a handful and ate it slowly.

Li Junfeng and the others also came over. Seeing that there were steamed dumplings, they each grabbed a handful and ate them—just to taste them, and then chatted.

Hearing the child cry, Li Junfeng hurriedly put down the wheat and ran into the house—Dong Xiaojuan was tending the fire here, and the child was placed on Li Juan's bed so that she could take care of him.

Soon, Li Junfeng came out carrying the child, who was a little over a year old and could walk, but was still a bit grumpy after waking up, with an impatient expression on his face.

The child is chubby and smells like milk; he probably drinks milk every day.

He'll definitely grow tall in the future.

Li Junfeng carried the child to Li Long's side, and Li Long habitually stretched out his hands and said:
"Come, give grandpa a hug!"

The child actually stretched out his hands and leaned his whole body towards him.

Li Long was taken aback. He wasn't familiar with the little guy either, but since he was already here, he decided to hold him.

He's tall and big, and his hands are much bigger than before, so he has to be very careful when holding the child.

The child seemed to have recovered in his palm, or perhaps because Li Long was taller than his father, the position was different, and he looked around curiously, occasionally giggling, very outgoing.

"Hey, I really have a special connection with Uncle Xiaolong. I can't even hug all of them," Li Junfeng said with a smile.

"That's right, we're just basking in Uncle Xiaolong's good fortune." Dong Xiaojuan, who had finished husking the wheat, handed the fire to Du Chunfang, glanced at the scene, and said with a smile.

Li Jianguo came out of the house and said to Li Long:
"The team leader will come over after we finish eating. He said you shouldn't go back to the county yet, he wants to ask you some questions so you don't end up not knowing anything."

Li Long agreed.

Xu Chengjun arrived in his GAZ truck in a hurry before he had even finished eating.

For lunch, they ate hand-pulled noodles. Li Long finished the noodles in a few bites, then scooped up some soup and, while swaying back and forth, explained some common sense about the mid-to-late stage management of cotton planting to Xu Chengjun.

What is common sense to him is invaluable knowledge to Xu Chengjun.

He even carried a black leather notebook and wrote down everything Li Long said.

"Hey, I've been so busy spraying pesticides these days that I've forgotten everything else. I think you mentioned this when we were planting?" Xu Chengjun asked after taking notes.

“I’ve mentioned it before,” Li Long said with a smile. “It’s normal if you can’t remember it right away.”

If you encounter this, just let me know; if you don't, there's nothing I can do.

After asking his question, Xu Chengjun quickly drove back home. He didn't have any chlorhexidine at home, so he had to go and buy some.

Li Jianguo was also going to spray chlormequat chloride in the afternoon. Li Long said he was going to come, but Li Jianguo stopped him, saying that the weeds in the field had been almost harvested, and he should do the spraying himself.

When Du Chunfang told him that Li Long had taken her to the fields and to Xiaohaizi, Li Jianguo smiled but didn't say anything.

It's true that I've been neglecting my mother's feelings a bit.

However, there was no other way. It was the busy farming season, and there was a lot of land to cultivate. Although there were many people involved, Li Junfeng couldn't be left to watch over everything, so he had to go along.

Over the next few days, Li Long would take his mother around from time to time, expanding the area considerably to include the county town and the old streets of Shicheng. He even bought her new headscarves and clothes.

On Sunday, Gu Xiaoxia drove Mingming and Haohao back to the team.

The day before, Li Qingxia drove Li Juan back, making the house much livelier. With so many people around, Li Jianguo and the others simply didn't go out to work on Sunday.

After delivering his wife and child, Li Long went straight to Old Horse's place, slaughtered a sheep, and brought it back.

The original plan was to slaughter two animals, and give one to Uncle Luo and the others. Uncle Luo absolutely refused, saying that they had already eaten enough meat and couldn't have any more for free.

Li Long left him a lamb leg and offal, and took the rest of the meat back to the Li family home. He then butchered and prepared the meat, planning to barbecue and cook it at the same time for a proper meal.

Li Junfeng and the others were all amazed as they watched Li Long carve the meat.

The barbecue grill was welded at a blacksmith's shop a few years ago; it was heavy, but it worked. Liang Yuemei and Gu Xiaoxia led Dong Xiaojuan in skewering the meat, Li Jianguo grilled the meat, and Li Junfeng and the others set up the stove to cook the meat.

The children were the most boisterous. Li Juan had grown into a quiet young lady and didn't join in the commotion. When Li Qiang played with Mingming and Haohao, Li Junfeng's little guy would stumble along, trying to follow. If he got impatient, he would even cry out.

This is what real life is all about.

(End of this chapter)