Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1308 The river shrimp I caught have grown big, and there are more things in the small lake now.
Since May, the weather has gradually gotten warmer, and the number of people coming to the purchasing station to sell fritillaria and dried wild mushrooms has increased significantly. Old Man Li Qingxia, Sun Jiaqiang, and Liang Shuangcheng are very busy every day.

The backyard of the purchasing station was filled with dried fritillaria bulbs and wild mushrooms, the smells mixed together, but Li Long found it quite pleasant.

Halim and his group had already entered the summer pasture. When they left, Li Long went to visit them again. To his surprise, the dozen or so herders had bought seven more tractors.

Like Halim, they first moved their yurts to the summer pastures and set them up, then drove their cattle and sheep into the mountains together. Following the repaired mountain roads, it took about three or four days to reach the pastures, and some who walked faster could reach them even earlier.

Herding sheep would save a lot of trouble. You only need to carry the supplies for the next few days on horseback, without having to carry too much. You also don't need to unload the things from the horse when you rest at night, making it much easier.

This road is still very important to them. In Halim’s words, although they will be assigned to different production teams in the future, they will still be connected because they were originally from the same tribe and need to share this mountain road.

After Halim and the others went up the mountain, Li Long went to Bolati and mentioned the little deer. Bolati readily agreed and then told Li Long that he planned to stay at Li Long's cabin to collect fritillaria bulbs and asked Li Long to send him some supplies from time to time.

They must have made money last year, so they're thinking of continuing this year.

Li Long naturally had no objections, but he told him to be careful, since the mountains were a mixed bag and no one knew what those people were originally up to.

The seasoned veteran, Polati, naturally wanted to earn more money. One season's earnings from fritillaria bulbs were more than several years' worth of his salary. If he made his money this season, he could enjoy a life of luxury for the remaining months.

On May 9th, Li Long drove to the wooden house to deliver supplies. Polati gave him a little surprise, pulling out a half-grown red deer weighing over ten kilograms from behind the wooden house.

"It's this big?" Li Long was somewhat surprised. "This thing... must be hard to raise, right?"

"Why are they hard to raise? They're very easy. Just feed them grass, and if they misbehave, give them a good spanking!" Polati put it simply:
“I left this specifically for you. Someone came to me to trade for something. I was originally thinking of slaughtering it to eat, but this meat isn’t as good as mutton. Since you wanted it, I left it here.”

The sika deer, Pola, asked Li Long for five hundred dollars—in fact, he had received it for two hundred dollars.

Making money from both ends has become a habit for Polati. Anyway, Li Long wasn't there when the exchange happened, and in his opinion, Li Long was rich and could afford to pay five hundred yuan.

Li Long didn't haggle. In his opinion, the half-grown red deer was worth 500 yuan. It was a male red deer, and although it was tied up with rope, it was quite stubborn and kept struggling.

Li Long had to tie its hooves with rope, otherwise it wouldn't fit in the trunk.

With the baby deer in the trunk, there was no room for the fritillaria bulbs, so Li Long put them in the back seat and gave Polati the money he had exchanged—three yuan per kilogram of dried goods, and one to two yuan per kilogram of fresh goods.

Prices have risen somewhat, mainly because the Polatis has a significant influence here. One season of fritillaria can be exchanged for about one ton of dried fritillaria. If the money is too little, the Polatis will not be happy.

After driving down the mountain, Li Long returned to the purchasing station, put the fritillaria bulbs down, and then went back to the courtyard.

He picked up the deer, leaving the rope around its neck untied, but untied the ropes around its hooves, and gave it some sugar crumbs to eat.

The little deer was very greedy and finished half a bowl of sugar residue in no time.

The little deer was quite fierce. The little goat wanted to go over and play with the little deer, and maybe even get some sugar crumbs, but the little deer just headbutted the little goat and knocked him over.

The little goat was originally very playful, but after being knocked over by the little deer, it immediately ran to the old goat and begged for mercy, refusing to play anymore.

Another little goat, not believing in bad luck, ran to the little deer. This time it was even worse; the little deer was knocked over several times, scrambled a few times before getting up, and cried out as it ran away from the goat.

Li Long was preparing a meal in the kitchen when he heard the little goat making noise and hurriedly ran out to see what was going on. Although he didn't see the little deer's movements, he could guess that this little deer was not to be trifled with.

It seems we can't keep this deer at home; it would be troublesome if it hurts Mingming and Haohao.

When Li Long was preparing the ingredients, Sister Yang returned and took over Li Long's work. He then led the little deer to the back, planning to take it to the pen where the old horses were kept in the fourth team in the afternoon.

The little deer was quite fierce at first, but after Li Long tied it to the back, it started acting pitiful, whimpering incessantly, which annoyed Li Long to no end.

When Gu Xiaoxia came home from get off work at noon, she heard a deer calling and asked Li Long what was going on.

“Polati caught a baby deer in the mountains and brought it back. The deer kicked two goat lambs, and I was afraid that Mingming and Haohao would get hurt, so I put them in the back. But then it started acting pitiful.”

"We can't let them stay," Li Qingxia said hurriedly. "What if Mingming and Haohao get injured from being kicked? We need to send them to Old Ma's place right away."

“Yes, I’ll take it there this afternoon,” Li Long said.

After lunch, Sister Yang told Li Long about the current situation. The cannery is currently producing about two to three tons per day. The main problem is a shortage of raw materials, and Sister Yang doesn't dare to increase production for fear of not being able to sell them all.

“The factory warehouse is now full of canned goods, and the complete set of equipment also costs a lot of money. Should we hire a few people to watch the factory? Right now, the female employees we've hired are taking turns to work the night shift, and I'm paying them for it, but this can't go on forever.”

“Okay, let’s put up an ad on the county TV station, recruiting night shift security guards,” Li Long said after thinking for a moment. “Veterans will be given priority, and someone with a junior high school education would be preferred…”

It's still difficult to recruit people with only a high school diploma right now. It's relatively easy for people with a high school diploma to find a decent job. It will only be easier to recruit people with a high school diploma or above after a few years when there are more people with high school diplomas.

Li Long made a mental note of this and planned to go to the TV station the next day. After talking to Sister Yang, he tied up the little deer again, put it back in the trunk, and drove it to Old Horse's Den.

When passing by the Agricultural Broadcasting School, Li Long hesitated for a moment and did not stop. During this period, Professor Yang and his students had been living at the Agricultural Broadcasting School, observing the cotton in the drip irrigation experimental field, recording and comparing data. They were very serious, and they all got tanned.

However, the results are also very obvious. Drip-irrigated cotton grows much better than traditionally grown cotton, and Professor Yang said it was worth it for that reason alone.

Because they are very dedicated, Li Long can slack off a little and doesn't have to guard them every day.

In fact, these people know far more about theoretical knowledge than Li Long. Li Long himself is only stronger in practical knowledge, after all, he has experienced many things.

Moreover, he had already said most of what needed to be said when the cotton seedlings emerged, so whether he was there or not at that time would not affect the overall situation.

After taking Ma Luwa to the old horse stable, Li Long saw that the gate of the new cattle and sheep pen on the west side was open, and Uncle Luo and the others were taking out manure from the pen. So he got off the cart and went over.

"Uncle Luo, aren't you tired? Why don't you ask the rest of the team? If anyone needs manure, just have them come and collect it," Li Long said.

"Hey, you can't just give this manure away. We've raised fewer cattle and sheep this year, so there won't be as much manure left. This manure is a good thing; we put it in the vegetable garden every year," Uncle Luo said with a smile.

“It’s alright. Unlike Lao Liu, who has to herd sheep every day, we get some exercise in the process. We just feed the deer and wild boars. It’s not much work. Just cleaning up their manure is a good way to get some exercise.”

"That's right, Xiaolong, don't underestimate us." Old Zhao spat on his hand, then forcefully chopped down with the shovel, plunging it into the manure. He then used his foot to push the shovel all the way in, flipping it over and saying as he did so:

"Don't let our age fool you, we're still as strong as ever. Even those twenty or thirty-year-old office workers in the city might not be as strong as us."

This was the truth, and Li Long naturally believed it. People who sit in the office all day basically don't have much muscle, and it's different from what you get in the gym.

The elderly people in their sixties and seventies in the fourth team can carry bags of corn weighing forty or fifty kilograms without any problem. If you ask those people sitting in offices to try it, they will most likely strain their backs.

"I brought a baby red deer from the mountains. It weighs about 10 to 20 kilograms. I was thinking of letting Mingming and Haohao play with it in the big yard, but it was too fierce, so I brought it over. Can it be put in its enclosure?"

"Yes, it can. That enclosure is big, and the other deer can't bully it." Uncle Luo nodded. "A 20-kilogram baby deer can't eat grass, so it's fine. It's easy to take care of."

By the way, there are some baby puppies in the circle that just gave birth to a couple month or two ago. If Mingming and Haohao like them, why don't you get a couple to raise? You can bring them back when they're older.

"Let's not take it for now." Li Long shook his head. "I'll see if we can get some from the mountains later. If we can get some suitable ones, we'll raise them. If not, we'll see."

They catch baby deer in the mountains every year, so they don't care about that. This year, Hao Hao will be starting elementary school, and he won't have much time to play then.

No, this isn't the future. Nowadays, kids still have plenty of time to play after finishing school and their homework.

Li Long went to the car, took the baby deer down, untied the rope, and led it to the enclosure. Seeing that the door was locked tightly, he simply didn't open it and put the baby deer inside through the wall.

The little deer kept calling out, attracting all the other deer to come over.

There are about thirty red deer of various sizes and about twenty roe deer in the enclosure, which is quite a large group.

Seeing so many of its kind, the little deer became less panicked, occasionally letting out a cry. After Li Long removed the rope binding it from the wall, it ran happily into the herd, sniffing here and there, as if looking for its parents.

Li Long looked at the herd of red deer and saw that there were six or seven calves of various sizes. Some of them were indeed smaller and cuter, but he decided against it.

I turned around and took a look at the wild boars that had been domesticated. The wild boars had been divided into three enclosures. There were about ten large ones and more than twenty small ones running around everywhere.

This is still the result of controlling the population. If we really let those sows reproduce freely, there would have been hundreds by now.

Li Long left Lao Ma's place and went to his elder brother's house.

My older brother and sister-in-law weren't there, nor were any of the other relatives; they had all gone to work in the fields.

Old Lady Du Chunfang was heating a pot in the yard, with boiling water inside. Next to her were two large iron buckets. Li Long went over to take a look and saw that they contained prepared pig feed—pig grass mixed with cornmeal.

"Why are you here at this hour? We had noodles for lunch, and you weren't here." My mother said while cooking. "Is everything alright? Your older brother and sister-in-law went to the fields, and Junfeng and the others went too. There's grass in the cooperative's fields now, and Junfeng and the others went to earn money. They said it's three yuan a day?"

The cooperative is still using last year's system, paying workers on the same day they work, which has attracted many people. Li Long wonders if the other two cooperatives will follow suit; if they do, the annual payouts will be substantial.

“I’ll find a baby deer in the mountains and put it in the old horse’s shed.” Li Long said to his mother when he saw the water was boiling, “Mom, turn off the fire, I’ll scald the pig feed.”

As he spoke, he picked up the broken ladle on the stove, scooped up boiling water and poured it into the iron bucket. After filling the bucket more than halfway, he put down the ladle, picked up the stick used for stirring pig feed, and began to stir it.

After stirring well, pour in boiling water. Repeat this two or three times until the pig feed is scalded. Wait for it to cool down, and then it's almost time to feed the pigs.

The pigs in the pen had already smelled the aroma and were grunting incessantly. These piglets came from Old Horse's stable. Some of Old Horse's piglets were bred with domestic pigs, combining the advantages of both breeds—they grew quickly and had more lean meat.

The other villagers didn't like this, since at that time, the popular food was large slices of fatty meat.

But the Li family liked it because they had plenty of meat and oil, and only Li Qingxia, Du Chunfang, and Li Jianguo liked the large slices of fatty pork.

If these hybrid pigs are raised properly, they can have three fingers of fat, unlike other families in the team who can raise their domestic pigs to have five fingers of fat.

Three fingers' worth of fat is just right, not too fatty. The pork belly has alternating layers of fat and lean, making it very fragrant without being too greasy.

"It's just craving food, not hungry," said Du Chunfang, the old woman who had also heard the piglet squealing. "It can't get enough to eat every day, and it squeals at the slightest smell."

The piglet was caught in April, and it's growing rapidly now, weighing about 20 kilograms. You could say it's greedy, or you could say it's hungry, but now is not the time to feed it.

Li Long scraped the water out of the pot, then added some more water and left it there. There was a fire under the pot, and if he didn't add water, it would easily dry out and develop a layer of white residue, which would be troublesome.

There were two stoves in the yard. Li Long thought one would be used for chores and the other for cooking, since they used different pots. But his older brother and sister-in-law thought one stove would solve everything; they could put whichever pot they needed on the stove, and there was an iron rack next to the stove specifically for storing pots.

It's a matter of habit.

After tidying up the area and gathering up the firewood in front of the stove, Li Long sat down with his mother in the yard to chat.

He didn't plan to go to the fields. He'd said everything he needed to say; Xie Yundong and the others had been working for a year and doing a good job, so Li Long could finally relax and have some peace and quiet.

My mother kept talking about the relatives who came, saying that most of them wanted to stay in the fourth team, and she would mention it to Li Jianguo from time to time.

But this is a really difficult matter. After all, if we keep Li Junfeng and the others, and Li Long builds a road as a condition, what about the others?
Seeking refuge with relatives usually only applies to immediate family members. Children and parents can seek refuge with relatives, and siblings can also seek refuge with relatives. However, with relatives like the Li family, there is already a layer of separation, so seeking refuge with them would be a bit far-fetched.

Of course, Li Longxiu's road has been settled by Li Junfeng's family. It's not impossible for one or two more families to settle there, but with several relatives already, it's hard to say who will settle there and who won't.

So this matter is quite troublesome. Li Jianguo only said he would try to find a solution, but whether it would work out was uncertain.

The Li family wasn't the only one with relatives wanting to settle down; quite a few other families did too. After all, the fourth team was known for its wealth and large land holdings, and many of their relatives from their hometowns who weren't doing well wanted to come and settle down to improve their lives.

Although it's said that it's hard to leave one's homeland, if life becomes truly unbearable and one has no choice but to leave, then one must go.

As they were chatting, Li Long heard footsteps outside the courtyard, and then saw Li Andong carrying a basin as he walked in.

"Xiao Long's here? You haven't been here for a few days." Li Andong smiled and said when he saw Li Long, "What did you see I got?"

Li Long stood up, walked over, took the basin, and looked at it while saying, "I've been busy harvesting fritillaria bulbs in the county these past few days. Brother Anton, this... wait—! Isn't this a shrimp?"

It's not just prawns, there are also green prawns, and they're not small at all!
Li Long immediately realized: "You caught this in the small lake?"

"No way, I caught them in the ditch while the team was watering the plants these past few days." Li Andong shook his head proudly, "The water in the small lake is too big, there are shrimp that I can't catch."

"Then why don't you just get a few shrimp traps?" Old Lady Du Chunfang interjected. "Let me see these shrimp... Hey! They look really beautiful, still alive, still jumping... Go away!"

The shrimp that jumped down was snatched away by a rooster that came over, and Du Chunfang hurriedly shouted to chase the rooster away.

Li Long carried the shrimp basin to a bucket, poured the shrimp into it, and then covered it with a pot lid. He then took the basin to the well to rinse it with water and returned it to Li Andong.

“I caught two or three kilograms, and I reckon I can catch quite a few more if I keep going in the canal,” Li Andong said excitedly. “You guys cook and eat, and I’ll bring the rest over when I catch more.”

Li Andong sat and chatted for a while before leaving in a hurry. Du Chunfang went over, brought the bucket over, sat down to look at the shrimp inside, and said as she looked:
"Your older brother got his and Junfeng's mother's household registrations sorted out, and he's been so happy these past few days."

He didn't have much to do; he just spent his days strolling along the canal, casting nets, catching fish and shrimp—it was quite a comfortable life!

"Great, now we have shrimp to eat!" Li Long went to get another basin and said, "I'll clean these shrimp and then stir-fry them with some chives."

"You know how to cook this? What are you making? Take it back for Mingming and Haohao to eat," Du Chunfang said. "There are so many people here, we can't eat it all."

Du Chunfang will never change her habit of saving the best things for her youngest son.

"We'll just keep a little for ourselves to take back and try," Li Long said with a smile. "Didn't Brother Anton say he'll catch more later, so we can still eat some?"

He had figured it out: the shrimp must be the ones he had released. There should still be quite a few crabs in the reservoir, but probably very few of them went down with the water.

Looks like I can get some to take back and add to my meal in a while.

These prawns and green prawns aren't very big, but they taste good when stir-fried with river shrimp and chives.

The chives are in good condition right now, they're at their best. If they're left out for too long, they'll be no good, they'll be like grass.

Li Long went to the vegetable garden and found a broken, figure-seven shaped sickle at the edge of the leek patch. This sickle had been used for both cutting grass and vegetables for several years.

This thing is still rare here in this era. People usually use large, question mark-shaped sickles, which are convenient for cutting grass and wheat.

Of course, larger scythes were generally not used by people in the production team; there was no need for them.

I cut a bunch of chives with my small, worn-out sickle, carried them to the yard, and sat down to pick them.

Old Lady Du Chunfang moved her small stool and started picking vegetables with Li Long, chatting about their hometown as they did so:
"Back then, there were also prawns and tiny shrimp in the river, so small you could barely see them. When your older brother was little, he would take a piece of tattered gauze and go into the river to catch shrimp. He could bring some back to make soup or something. Actually, when he was hungry, he would wade along the river, hoping to find a few wild duck eggs. If that wasn't possible, he would catch some fish. If fish weren't an option, he would catch some snails. Only when all else failed would he catch some river clams. There wasn't nearly as much firewood as there is here back then..."

Li Long would listen to these stories with a smile every time his parents told them.

Those are my parents' memories of their hometown, of the past; it's the path they came from, and we should remember them.

After picking the chives, Li Long pinched off the yellow tips of the chive leaves one by one, then scooped water to wash them clean, rinsed them a couple of times, shook them, and went to the kitchen to chop them and put them in a bowl.

Then I went to wash the river shrimp. Since they weren't very big, I didn't need to remove the heads. I took about two-thirds of them, a little over a kilogram. I used the well pump to draw fresh water and rinsed them several times before frying them.

With nothing else to do, Du Chunfang, the old woman, went over and stirred the pig feed. It was still very hot, so she abandoned her plan to feed the pigs. Seeing that Li Long had already prepared the river shrimp, she asked, "Shall we stir-fry them now?"

"Let's cook it now," Li Long said. "It's at its freshest now, so you can try it."

Although Li Long's cooking skills are not comparable to those of a master chef, they are still quite good. Especially in his previous life, during the period when masks were required, he practiced a lot and could stir-fry river shrimp without any problem.

So they changed the pot, and Du Chunfang, the old lady, started the fire while Li Long took over the cooking.

Watching the shrimp in the pot turn from green to red, Li Long quickly added seasonings. The best ingredients only need the simplest seasonings, and then it's ready to be served.

"It smells delicious!" Mom grinned. "Hey, we're in for a treat today."

He ladled out a small plate and placed it on the stove; this was for his mother to eat slowly. Then he put the rest into a small bowl, put it in the kitchen, and covered it with a mesh screen. Li Long then went to get two pairs of chopsticks, brought them over, and gave his mother one pair, saying:
"Come on, Mom, have a taste!"

This plate of stir-fried chives and river shrimp is a vibrant mix of green and red, making it look incredibly appetizing.

"You have to try it!" Mom had already cleaned up the fire in the stove and said with a smile, "It smells delicious!"

It tastes delicious, of course. My teeth aren't very good, so I have to chew the shrimp slowly. Luckily, the shrimp itself is very fresh, and chewing it slowly gives it a unique flavor.

Li Long only tasted a few bites before stopping. He planned to take the remaining live shrimp home and stir-fry them for dinner.

When his mother saw that he wasn't eating anymore, she urged him to eat more: "Eat up, it's cooked, it's edible. They're in the production team, they can catch shrimp whenever they want. You get to eat here so often in the county, eat more, eat more. It's okay if we don't leave any for them!"

This is a bit too biased, Li Long thought to himself. His mother is being incredibly kind to him, it's like spoiling him—he really likes this feeling.

Of course, it was impossible for him to actually eat that much, so Li Long picked up his chopsticks again and slowly ate a few more bites with his mother.

When his mother said she wasn't going to eat anymore, Li Long hurriedly cleaned up the rest of the food on the small plate, then washed the plate, and put the remaining live shrimp in a bag and put it in the car.

"If you're going to take it back and cook it, then hurry back," the old woman said. "Don't wait until Mingming and Haohao come back before you've cooked it and can't eat it."

"No rush, I've fed the pigs," Li Long said. "The pig feed should be almost ready."

He stirred it over, then tested the temperature of the pig feed. Finding it just right, he took the chicken feed bowl, poured in most of it, took the bowl to the chicken feeding area, tapped it, and watched as the flock of chickens puffed up their wings and rushed over to grab the food. Then he carried the two buckets over to the pigpen.

The pig feed troughs that were cast using cement and gravel a few years ago are still in use. Li Long put down the iron bucket, used the broken broom next to him to clean out the contents, and then took a ladle and poured two ladles of water to rinse it clean before pouring the feed in.

The piglets immediately rushed over and started eating, pig feed dribbling from their mouths. They didn't care, grunting as they ate, and occasionally nudging each other with their heads, vying for the best spot to eat.

Li Long used a stick to tap the most troublesome piglet, who kept pushing the pig feed out of the trough, a few times to maintain order in the pigpen before leaving with his bucket.

Li Long went to the well to pump water, rinsed the bucket clean, and placed it next to the stove. He then washed his hands, and that was considered the job done.

Just now, I was urging Li Long to leave so I could hurry back and cook the shrimp. Now that Li Long has finished his work, my mother, Du Chunfang, is a little reluctant to let him go. But Li Long will be back in a couple of days, so she doesn't mind leaving him for a little while longer.

Li Long got into the car, rolled down the window, told his mother, and then drove out of the yard and headed back.

Du Chunfang walked to the courtyard gate, watched Li Long's car drive to the alley entrance, turn west, and disappear from sight. She sighed, then smiled, and simply moved a stool to sit in the courtyard gate to bask in the sun.

A little while later, Li Junfeng's mother came over, and the two sat down in the yard and chatted together.

When Li Long passed by the Agricultural Broadcasting School, he turned his head and saw several students standing inside the school chatting. He didn't see Er Yang and assumed they were in the office.

He was just passing by, and soon turned onto the main road and headed towards the county.

I'd already done it once at my older brother's house, so doing it again back in the courtyard was a breeze. There were also chives in the courtyard's vegetable garden, so it was done quickly.

Just as the food was being cooked, Sister Yang returned. She was quite surprised by the delicious aroma coming from the yard. When she saw the dish Li Long had cooked, she smiled and said, "Hey, we're in for a treat today."

Li Long explained the origin of the river shrimp, which surprised Sister Yang quite a bit. She then said:
"Fourth Team is a really good place. There are fish and shrimp, and rice is grown. This place is also good for people..."

Li Long smiled and said, "That's the truth."

Of course, every place has its advantages, but there are also disadvantages here, such as many mosquitoes, excessive heat in summer, and excessive cold in winter.

"Sister Yang, why don't you try some first?" Li Long said. "Let me see how it is."

"Let's leave it there for now and eat it all together tonight. I'll go cook the rest of the food, and we can have some rice porridge for dinner?"

“Okay.” Li Long had no objection. “I’ll go to the fourth team again these next couple of days to get some shrimp, and see if I can get some crabs too. When Xiao Fang comes back, I’ll make some for her to try.”

At that time, the vegetable market was far less abundant than it is in later years. People in Ma County could basically only eat dried shrimp and frozen shrimp in winter. Fresh shrimp was almost impossible to find, so it was considered a rare treat.

When everyone came back for dinner, as expected, after tasting the chive and river shrimp, both adults and children were very happy. Even Hao Hao complained that there wasn't enough.

"Try it today, and I'll get more from the small lake tomorrow," Li Long said. "I'll make sure you have your fill then!"

“Dad, I want to go too…” Mingming said immediately.

"We'll talk about it this weekend, not tomorrow." Li Long waved his hand. "Go to your kindergarten and focus on your studies."

Although I was a little unhappy, I knew perfectly well that since my father had said it, there was no way to change it.

The next day, after sending the two children to kindergarten, Li Long went to the department store and bought a large roll of gauze. When he got home, he used wire to make a few simple shrimp traps. Then he went to the meat processing workshop, got some sheep offal, put it in his car, and drove to the fourth team.

The eldest brother's family still consisted of only his mother. After chatting with his mother for a few minutes, Li Long went to get the net and shrimp traps and headed to the small lake.

The watering season was over, so the sluice gate at Xiaohaizi was blocked. Li Long found a suitable spot, put the shrimp trap in the water, and then used a landing net to observe the area from the water's edge.

There were indeed shrimp in the water, but not many. After all, with such a large body of water, even if the shrimp density was high, it was impossible to catch a lot with a scoop net.

He decided to check the canals to see if there were any goods in those puddles that hadn't dried up.

He then saw something in the residual water in the cement-lined water channel below the sluice gate, and immediately used a dip net to scoop it up.

Hey, not only are there crucian carp, but there are also shrimp!

The water wasn't very deep, about half a meter. Li Long scooped it out several times from beginning to end, catching seven or eight palm-sized crucian carp, about ten snails, and more than half a kilogram of river shrimp.

It's probably because the backwater is collecting here.

After putting away his catch, Li Long went into the water and started catching snails—he vaguely remembered that when the snails appeared in his previous life, it was at least ten years later.

Was the snail brought by the shrimp and crab seedlings I brought myself, or did it come from other fish farmers because I flapped my butterfly wings?
In any case, having snails is a good thing.

These snails must have been growing for quite some time. The larger ones are the size of quail eggs, while the smaller ones are the size of broad beans. They are tightly attached to the cement wall, and you can grab a handful of them!

Li Long's sleeves got wet from reaching into the water, but he didn't care. In no time, he had scooped out two or three kilograms of snails.

There were quite a few of these things crawling along both sides of the passage less than ten meters from the gate to the branch gate, and Li Long only managed to collect one Nth of them.

There's still a lot left that's hard to retrieve, mainly because the section of the passage near the main gate is covered with soil, and you have to crawl in. It's quite dark there, and the water is even deeper.

Li Long then only took the outer portion, leaving the inner portion for when the water level dropped further.

When he was scooping them up, he could feel fish touching his legs. But Li Long didn't care about the fish anymore—fish don't have the same sense as shrimp and snails.
After cleaning up the snails, Li Long climbed up and felt that his clothes were almost completely soaked.

I packed the snails into a bag and weighed them; they should weigh about five or six kilograms.

Although it's quite troublesome to prepare, it tastes really good.

There weren't many shrimp, but when Li Long came up and looked into the water again, he could still see the shadows of shrimp on the surface, and occasionally a shrimp would jump.

Use a net to scoop it up again; there are two or three small shrimp inside.

There aren't many here.

He then went to lift up the shrimp traps that had been put in—although they had already been filled with offal, there were hardly any shrimp left in less than an hour, so he simply put them back in.

He then put the snails he had caught into the car, and with a net and a bucket in hand, continued his patrol of the canal.

At this point, where there is still water in the canal, the water is not as deep as at the sluice gate. Occasionally, there will be a few shrimp in the area, and some small crucian carp or a few small tuna.

They didn't come empty-handed.

They patrolled for about 700 or 800 meters. When they reached the branch canal, Li Long looked into the bucket and found that there was less than a kilogram of shrimp, but two or three kilograms of fish.

Li Long suddenly felt that this was a bit like beachcombing, except that beachcombing yields all sorts of results, while what he could see while "going to the canal" was all conceivable.

There was a large pool of water under the sluice gate of the branch canal.

Almost every branch canal is like this—when water is released, the first gust of water is very strong, rushing out directly from the sluice gate, washing away the soil from the muddy ground beneath the concrete canal, which eventually forms a large pit.

After watering the irrigation ditch, Li Long would inspect the canals. He liked these big pits the most because there were bound to be fish in them.

He scooped up two nets with a landing net, and there were more than a dozen shrimp jumping around inside. Sure enough, he had some shrimp!
If only we had a small pump—unfortunately, we don't, so we have to use a dip net to scoop the water out from different locations.

Fortunately, Li Long had enough patience, and there really was something in the kang (heated brick bed).

We caught four or five kilograms of crucian carp, more than half a kilogram of river shrimp, and even a crab!
The crab wasn't big, about the size of a thermos lid, with two pincers and eight claws, looking quite fierce.

Li Long threw the guy into the bucket and left him there, thinking he might be able to get a few more.

There was only one.

As I was about to leave with the bucket, I glanced inside and saw that the crab was actually eating a fish—hey, it still has the appetite to eat at a time like this?
It is said that when you put crabs in a steamer and put ginger slices dipped in vinegar on the side, the crabs will eat the ginger slices in the steamer. Some people explain this by saying that eating something when you feel unwell will make you feel better.
After searching through several pits, the bucket was almost full, mostly fish but few shrimp. Even so, after picking through the large iron bucket, they could still find two or three kilograms of shrimp.

Then they turned back.

When they returned to Xiaohaizi, there was no one around. Li Long put away the shrimp traps and found that some contained about half a kilogram of shrimp, while others contained about ten shrimp. In total, there were quite a few.

They gathered all the harvest, put it in the car, and drove to the fourth team.

My elder brother and sister-in-law have returned, and the courtyard is quite lively. As soon as Li Long's car arrived, the relatives gathered around.

"Come on, come help! Make the fish," Li Long said. "Pick the shrimp, wash the snails!"

Upon hearing Li Long's words, the others immediately became excited and quickly helped unload the items from the car. They were quite surprised to see the fish and shrimp in the bucket, as well as the snails behind it.

As Li Long explained, he carried the bucket to the well. "We need to pick out the shrimp first. They're freshest when they're alive. Yesterday when we stir-fried them, they were still jumping around in the pan. They taste best right after they're cooked."

"Uncle Xiaolong is really amazing, he can even get his hands on this thing..." Li Junhai said with a smile, "There are some in the river back home, but we can't catch this many anymore."

“That river is big, but the things in it used to be good, but now they can’t compare to this place.” Li Junfeng felt this deeply. “Now, when you cast a net and go into the river to catch fish, you don’t even know if you can catch two kilograms a day.”

"It should be around two kilograms." Li Jianguo hadn't been back for a long time. In his memory, the Yellow River was like a mother river, and they relied on it during the years of hunger. He was a little skeptical.

“There’s not much water left,” Li Junhai added. “We used to set up nets to block the river when we had some free time a couple of years ago, but we couldn’t catch any big fish anymore.”

Even as they were talking, everyone had already started working: some were pinching fish, some were picking shrimp, and others were cleaning snails. Everyone present was familiar with this snail patch and knew how to prepare it.

"Ouch!" someone cried out. Li Long looked over and realized that he had been scratched by a crab claw. He then realized that he had forgotten to warn the creature.

"It's quite big!" Li Junfeng went over to take a look. "Luckily, I didn't get caught. Be careful, this guy can be fierce."

"How can we eat just one?" Li Junhai was worried, as there were no such things in the river back home.

"Split it in half and put it in when stewing the fish. The fish soup will also have the fresh taste of crab." Sister-in-law Liang Yuemei said with a smile, "It'll definitely work."

"Okay, okay." Du Chunfang was quite happy; the lively atmosphere in the courtyard made her happy.

The washed items were divided into two parts; one part was processed here, and the other part was taken back by Li Long.

"When we have some free time, let's go to Xiaohaizi and get some too." Li Junhai looked at the items and seemed quite happy. "Uncle Xiaolong, is it easy to get?"

"Easy to handle. There are still a lot of snails under the sluice gate. I've only collected less than half of them."

“Hey, that’s something we could definitely do over there,” Li Junhai said. “It’s a waste of firewood to cook this… Well, it’s fine here in the North Xinjiang.”

"No need for that complicated process. Just pressure cook it for half an hour, then take it out and stir-fry it with chili." Li Long remembered this method; "Cooking it for too long, you have to pressure cook it!"

"Uncle Xiaolong is amazing, you can even make this!" Li Junfeng said with genuine admiration. "Back in my hometown, all I know how to do is boil or stew."

The aroma soon filled the courtyard. We'll be eating here today, with both stoves running at the same time: steaming rice, stewing fish, and stir-frying river shrimp.

As for the snails, we can cook them when we eat; they're better suited as a side dish with drinks.

Li Long felt his mouth watering.

(End of this chapter)