Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1200 The Roaring Flood, the Villagers' Carnival
The next morning, Li Long drove to Xiaohaizi.

To his surprise, Yang Laoliu had already driven his cattle and sheep to the bottom of the dam. It was clear that he had finished eating long ago and started work earlier than the purchasing station.

Li Long felt a little embarrassed by their overly enthusiastic behavior, wondering if he was being a shrew.
After greeting him, Li Long went up the embankment to check on the flood.

Even without looking, it was easy to guess – when he got off the bus, he saw floodwaters gushing out from under the sluice gate, indicating that the flood was enormous and wouldn't recede anytime soon.

"Little Long, this flood is no small matter," said Old Yang, following along with his sheep-driving whip.

"Look at this water, if the sluice gates hadn't been opened, the dam might have been flooded this morning... I don't know what those cadres in the team were doing. The water is so high, and they didn't even open the sluice gates yesterday."

He was referring to the sluice gate at the northeast corner of the dike that irrigates the entire team's fields.

The sluice gate was locked, and the key was with the team leader and the water manager. Yesterday, Li Long saw that the water level wasn't too high, so he just raised the sluice gate at the bottom of the dam without informing the team, thinking there shouldn't be any problem.

Now that both gates are open, Li Long asked:
"Uncle Yang, did you tell the team?"

"Yeah. When I came back from herding the sheep yesterday, I gave Junwazi a lecture. He's not as proactive in managing things as he used to be as the team leader. If you're a team leader, you can't just think about making money all the time." Although the land was distributed to individual households many years ago, in Yang Laoliu's mind, the team leader should still be in charge of the overall development of the team.

"Was the gate raised at night?"

"Yes, after I told him, he drove me over to take a look, and then he lifted the gate." Old Yang said proudly, grinning, "The kid from the army drives really fast, no wonder he was a soldier."

The water level is slightly lower than yesterday because both sluice gates are open.

However, judging from the current situation, the flood has stabilized and will not cause any harm to the North Dam.

But with this flood, countless fish and crabs were swept away.

Between two evils, choose the lesser. Li Long didn't care, since the water had to be released anyway.

After chatting with Yang Laoliu for a few minutes, Li Long drove to the Li family home.

The eldest brother hasn't left yet; he's preparing tea and dry food.

Kaikangmai goes out to harvest wheat, and usually it takes a whole day. Some landlords will stay for a meal, while others will not.

So water and dry food are essential. Of course, you can also find a store nearby to buy something to eat, but Li Jianguo and his friends are not used to buying things. They are used to eating at home and do not like to spend money recklessly. In their view, buying food when they can bring their own is a waste of money.

"Brother, where should we get it done today?"

"At Machanghu, a few families there made arrangements with me the day before yesterday. They don't have many threshing grounds there, and the area is small, so it's not easy for several families to thresh together. They're thinking of harvesting the wheat early this year and then doing other things."

They grew both wheat and rice in Machang Lake. Even when the Fourth Team stopped growing rice, they persisted in growing it until around 2000, when they gradually switched to growing cotton.

"If it's someone I know, I might even get a free meal," Li Long joked. "Are you and Junfeng going?"

"Go, both machines will get the job done faster." Although they've gotten tanned from working these past few days, with wheat awns and other debris sticking to their bodies and red marks crisscrossing their exposed skin, it must have been very hard work, but the harvest has been plentiful.

In less than a week, the two Cams had already earned nearly 10,000 yuan from harvesting wheat, and there's still a lot more to come.

If we calculate based on the machine's price as Li Long mentioned, this wheat harvest season would be enough to earn enough to buy one machine.

Of course, this is an ideal situation. Li Jianguo had driven the Dongfanghong 75 tractor for two years and understood some mechanical principles, but he didn't quite understand the Commodity Engine.

He's using the machine smoothly now, but he's also worried about it breaking down. If it does break down, he won't be able to fix it himself and will have to go to a farm machinery repair shop, where the repair costs will probably be quite high.

However, these are all risks that must be taken; who can guarantee that everything will go smoothly?

The machine started, with Li Jianguo leading the way and Li Junfeng following behind. This Commain was self-propelled; although it wasn't fast, it didn't need a tractor to tow it, which was quite convenient.

The other young men looked at Li Junfeng with envy. Being able to operate the machines meant earning more money, but they knew the Li family would have more and more machines, and more opportunities.

For example, Chen Qianjin and Li Junxian also brought water and dry food onto the plane later.

Chen Qianjin drove a high-horsepower tractor to the team to plow the fields, while Li Junxian drove a small four-wheeled tractor with a combine harvester to harvest wheat.

Although the Li family has acquired Kangmaiyin, they haven't abandoned combine harvesters. Some people still want to use combine harvesters to cut wheat because it's cheaper.

After the machines left, the remaining people went to the threshing ground to load the wheat and thresh it.

Although the Li family no longer needed to thresh their own wheat, it still took up space as it was piled up and tossed about in the threshing ground. They would naturally help others with their threshing, but it was agreed that the Li family wouldn't come to thresh next year. They would come during the threshing season, and the threshing people could use their iron rollers as a form of assistance.

No one had any objection to this, since the Li family would be using Kangmaiyin to harvest wheat from now on. Even if they didn't use a threshing ground, they could do the winnowing and threshing in their own yard. However, because there was a lot of wheat, they did it in a threshing ground.

When it's time to thresh the fields, other people are also working, so it's normal not to thresh together at that time.

Sister-in-law Lu sighed as she stood in the threshing ground, saying that if things continued like this, the threshing ground would become less and less useful in the future.

Some people disagree.

“It’s convenient to harvest wheat in Kangmai, but without wheat straw and wheat tails, where will we get them in the future? Will we stop clearing clods? Clearing clods requires wheat tails, right? Even if we don’t clear clods, wheat tails are still good fodder.”

“Given the Li family’s current development, why would they need to cultivate earthen mounds in the future? They’re going to use bricks.” Someone retorted, “They might not even be able to live in this house in the future. They use sugar residue as feed for their livestock, they wouldn’t even look at this wheat tail.”

That's what they said, and no one else objected. No one knew how much money Li Long was making, but bringing home one advanced machine after another must have cost at least several hundred thousand, right?

Maybe even more!
The villagers could no longer imagine how much more money they had.

However, Li Long didn't seem to have changed much. He still greeted everyone as usual, so the villagers didn't have too many feelings about it. They figured that his money was none of their business and wouldn't end up in their own pockets anyway, so they decided to just focus on making their own money honestly.

Li Long didn't go to the threshing floor. He took down the watermelon he had bought on his way home yesterday and asked his mother and sister-in-law, who had just finished their work:
"Want to cut a watermelon?"

Mingming Haohao really wanted to watch the drama unfold, but Liang Yuemei said:
"The sun hasn't risen high enough yet, so let's not eat now. Let's wait until morning. It's too cold to eat now, and the baby's stomach will feel uncomfortable."

"Okay. Qiangqiang, you and your younger brothers carry the watermelon under the bed."

"Okay." Li Qiang was very happy and took Mingming and Haohao to move the watermelons. He also thoughtfully let Mingming and Haohao carry the small watermelons, putting some under their parents' beds and others under his own.

Although the whole family usually eats watermelon together, I'm still happy knowing that there's a watermelon under my bed.

Li Long chatted with his mother in the yard. Du Chunfang was very happy, rambling on about what had happened in the past two days, complaining that Mingming and Haohao ran too fast and she couldn't keep up with them.

She also mentioned that both children now speak Mandarin, and they can't understand some of what she says, so she has to explain it several times.

They also said that Qiangqiang usually plays with a group of kids, and he's like a king among children.

As they were talking, five or six children had already reached the courtyard gate, calling out to Li Qiang. At this point, the children were still quite mature, addressing Li Qiang according to seniority—some called him "uncle," and some called him "brother." Even if they were about the same age, those who called him "uncle" didn't feel ashamed.

Li Qiang happened to come out of the house, and upon seeing the person, he said to Liang Yuemei:
"Mom, I took Mingming and Haohao out to play."

"Go ahead, keep an eye on them, and don't let them get hurt."

"I understand. Mingming, Haohao! Come out quickly, let's go play!"

The group of children left in a flurry.

Like a gust of wind.

Li Long felt dazed, as if Li Qiang in his previous life had been a leader of children, leading a group of kids to do a lot of things.

Some things will change slightly because of my presence, while others will not.

After helping her mother finish preparing breakfast, Li Juan went inside to study. Li Long knew that Gu Xiaoyu had recently sent some more study materials, which Li Juan had been reading since she got them. Her dedication to learning was quite admirable.

"Sister-in-law, you have to remind Juan to be careful when reading, so she doesn't hurt her eyes."

“I’ve told you, but you won’t listen.” Liang Yuemei sighed, but she was still happy. “You know that studying is a good thing, but it seems like you’re obsessed with it.”

Li Long nodded. At this rate, getting into university shouldn't be a problem, right?
At this time of year, the county's No. 1 High School barely gets a few students admitted to university. If someone does, it'll probably cause a sensation throughout the county.

Li Long went to check on the vegetables in the garden. The chili peppers and cowpeas were ready to eat, but the persimmons would have to wait. The cucumbers were also good, and the fruit trees he had transplanted had borne fruit, though they were still green for now.

Just as I was watching, I suddenly heard the sound of the ground shaking. Then I saw Li Qiang leading the way, followed by many children. Mingming and Haohao were able to run behind Li Qiang, very fast and nimble, and were in the first echelon of the group.

"Uncle! Uncle! There's a huge flood to the east! All three reservoirs in Dongdagou have been washed away! They say there are lots of fish... Shall we go catch some?"

After speaking, he looked at Li Long eagerly.

"What? Really?" Li Long was also startled. There are three reservoirs in Dongdagou, upper, middle and lower, and the water comes from the Tashi River. Every year, Dongdagou floods, but the water volume is not large. The flood can be released by raising the sluice gates, and the distance is far, so Li Long has not paid much attention to it. His focus is on Xiaohaizi, and he has not been there much.

"It's true! Chenghai's family's wheat field is right next to Dongda Ditch. His dad just went to the field and ran back to tell me about it. Now a lot of people have gone there..."

What were you doing in the past?

"Catch fish! Three reservoirs, how many fish must there be..." Li Qiang's eyes were full of hope.

“Okay, let’s go take a look,” Li Long said. “You and Mingming and Haohao get ready to get in the car. By the way, don’t go over there yet. Go to the wheat field and call your cousins ​​and nephews over. Tell them we’ll see if we can catch any fish.”

Li Long remembered the netting he kept in his car; wasn't that ready-made?

Soon, Li Junhai and the others returned. They were all excited to hear that they were going to go fishing, but they still looked at Liang Yuemei without saying a word. They were hired helpers by the Li family and were supposed to do chores. Going out to fish at this time still required the master's permission.

"Xiaolong said you should go, so go ahead." Liang Yuemei naturally had no objections. The main tasks had been completed, and the grain had been handed over. Now, the threshing floor was piled with the remaining wheat for their own consumption and storage.

There were people sleeping on the threshing floor at night to keep watch, and there were many people during the day, so we weren't afraid.

These few people suddenly had to get on the GAZ truck.

“The GAZ truck isn’t big enough, let’s drive the minivan.” Li Long had already driven the minivan back, and he said, “There’s Mingming, Haohao, and Wang too. This GAZ truck is small, let’s not squeeze in.”

"Okay, okay." The group immediately turned towards the van.

Li Junhai also carried an axe.

"Hey, I'm thinking of setting up a seine net, so I'll need to chop some wood first. And if I'm really going to catch fish, I can't do it without an axe."

"Oh, right, get a few more sticks." Reminded of this, Li Long said, "I'll go get a few bags. If we can get some, we'll use the bags to put the fish!"

"Be careful, make sure Mingming and Haohao don't go into the water!" Du Chunfang reminded them. "Bring the net!"

She actually wanted to go and see, but she was afraid that Li Long and the others would make a wasted trip, so she didn't say anything.

"Juan, do you want to go and see the fish catching?" Li Long called out into the house.

Li Juan hesitated for a moment, then stood up and replied, "Go."

The van drove off, passing tractors, bicycles, and people driving donkey carts, and arrived at Dongdagou.

There weren't many people by the ditch at that time, and the sound of water could be heard even before we reached the edge.

Everyone who came here was heading this way. After getting off the bus, Li Long told Li Juan and Li Qiang to take good care of his two younger brothers, while he went to the ditch first.

Dongdagou is usually dry, with many tamarisk and tamarisk trees growing inside, as well as small patches of reeds. Sometimes people dig for mushrooms here—mushrooms grow in places where reeds used to grow, especially in spring and autumn.

Now, the reeds and the shorter tamarisk trees have all been washed down, leaving only a patch of green swaying underwater. This stretch of water is two to three hundred meters wide, and according to Li Long's memory, and comparing it to the current situation, the deepest part of the water is probably about waist-deep.

To Li Long's surprise, the water in front of him was not very murky, and he guessed that the water flowing down was the original water in the reservoir.

At this moment, Li Long was standing about three or four hundred meters below the lower reservoir. Looking to his right, he could see three large breaches in the north dam of the lower reservoir, from which the floodwaters were flowing out.

Suddenly, someone on the shore cried out in alarm:
"Fish! Big silver carp!"

Li Long looked in the direction those people were pointing and saw more than a dozen silver carp fall into the water.

He didn't see how the fish jumped up, but he could tell that each of the silver carp that fell down weighed about two or three kilograms.

I don't know if they are fish fry released into the reservoir or wild fish of the same age.

Since they all look about the same age, they should be from the same year.

"Dad, fish!" Li Long heard Mingming's voice again. He looked over and saw Li Juan and Li Qiang with Mingming and Haohao by the shallow water, where a group of black-backed crucian carp were swimming upstream.

These crucian carp are not big, less than the length of a chopstick.

"Uncle, set up an internet cafe, there are plenty of fish, and they're really big!" Li Junhai said to Li Long.

“Okay. The water isn’t too deep, this height is just right,” Li Long said. “You guys get the wood ready first, I’ll take a look… let’s go there.”

The net is less than 30 meters long, tied at both ends, and the remaining portion is used as a net bag, so there aren't many places it can block.

Li Long pointed out a relatively flat area with little grass and shrubs on both sides to Li Junhai. It was the main point through which the water flowed downstream. He told Li Junhai to take his men to drive in the piles first.

Li Long then took out the besieging net he had bought and handed it to Li Qiang. He then went to find two thick tree trunks, each seven or eight centimeters in diameter, broke them off, brought them back, found a flat spot, and stuck the besieging net down there.

After securing both ends of the net, Li Long went over and straightened it in the water.

The water here is knee-deep, but for Mingming and Haohao, it's up to their thighs.

However, Li Long didn't let them go to the edge, but made them stand at the end of the blocking net, where the water would wash over them and the fish would go there.

"Juan, Qiangqiang, you two just watch Mingming and Haohao wait for the fish here. Oh, and here's a bag for you. Once a fish goes in, just untie the knot at the back and take it out."

With the net blocking Mingming Haohao from going to the deep water area, and with two older siblings watching over him, Li Long felt quite at ease.

After settling the children in, Li Long went to the netting area.

By the time Li Long and his men finished setting up the net, there were already twenty or thirty people on the shore.

Many people from the village came—including Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang.

Thanks to Li Long, many people in the team who used to not eat fish have now started learning how to catch them.

After all, once you catch fish, you can not only eat them and give them away, but you can also sell them for money. Who wouldn't like this kind of risk-free business? I didn't know that before, but now that I do, I can naturally do it.

Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang simply went into the water, waded onto the edge of the net, and while observing the situation in the water, asked Li Long:

"How are the fish here?"

"I just saw more than a dozen silver carp jump up. There must be quite a few fish, but I don't know what species they are."

The mesh size of the seine net Li Long made was three fingers' width or larger, allowing small fish to pass through easily while leaving larger ones behind.

If there are only silver carp, then it's a huge loss. But he felt it was impossible for there to be only silver carp; with three reservoirs, there should definitely be common carp, grass carp, and bighead carp, among others.

"Hey!" someone exclaimed from over there, "There's a big carp!"

Including Li Long, everyone watching the net pulling was experienced. They made sure the net had enough curvature so that the fish wouldn't easily get out when the water washed in.

As soon as someone shouted, others rushed over to help, and the two of them together pulled the big carp out.

"That's really big!" Xie Yundong exclaimed.

This large carp with a red head and red tail weighs four or five kilograms and looks very beautiful.

The water temperature wasn't low in July, and Li Long and his companions didn't feel cold in the water. When the large carp was brought ashore, it caused a stir.

Immediately, people began to take action.

Some people went downstream to the calmer areas to set up nets, while others jumped into the water with dip nets, trying to stir up the water and see if they could get some more silver carp to jump up.

Others took nets and went upstream to look for opportunities at the gaps in the reservoir.

Others, like Li Long, set up nets in the ditch—clearly, Li Long wasn't the only one who thought of using nets.

Many children also came over, mostly surrounding Li Juan and Li Qiang.

At this time, although the families in the fourth team had become richer, they could not prepare too much fishing gear. So the landing nets and other equipment were mostly kept by the adults, and the children could hardly get their hands on them.

This place became a playground for children, and occasionally, the sound of children's surprised voices could be heard, indicating that another fish had entered the net.

Several older children even volunteered to help, taking off their pants and going upstream to the net to help drive the fish into it with tree branches.

Even though the fish you catch aren't yours, at this moment, it's all about participation!
The party has begun.

(End of this chapter)