Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1309 Preparing for the College Entrance Examination, the Middle School Entrance Examination, and... Elementary School

Everyone was busily working in the yard when Li Andong carried a bucket of water to the door.

"Oh, you're all here?" Li Andong said with a smile, somewhat surprised. "Finished the work? Come on, come on, see what I found..."

As he spoke, he proudly tilted the bucket to show it to everyone.

There were about half a bucket of shrimp in the water, and they were jumping around incessantly.

"Hey, I went to the canal again today, and there are so many shrimp in this puddle!"

“Uncle Anton, you went to the canal. Look, what shrimp, snails and tuna that Uncle Xiaolong caught! And look, there are quite a few fish too!” Li Junhai said, pointing to the basin on the ground.

"What? Snails? I don't see any?" Li Andong was a little surprised. "Huh? There are quite a lot of them!"

“There are shrimp, crabs, snails, and plenty of fish in the small lake,” Li Junfeng said. “These are shrimp and crab seedlings that Uncle Xiaolong brought from the mainland a couple of years ago, and the snails should have come from there as well.”

"Did you get these from the reservoir? I'll take a look when I have time—" When Li Andong saw so many hauls in the yard, the little bit of river shrimp in his bucket suddenly didn't seem so appealing anymore.

“These shrimp are good too,” Li Long said with a smile. “The fourth team has only seen live shrimp in the last couple of years. Many of the kids have never seen live ones. When Juan and Qiangqiang come back, they can see them and have some too.”

"Alright, alright, then I'll stay," Li Andong said with a smile. "I don't have much to do. I patrol the canal every day, and I can catch even more."

The household registration has been completed, and although the land hasn't been allocated yet, he feels basically at ease. He doesn't have much to offer; his son is still begging for food under someone else's roof. This is all he can offer to express his gratitude.

Since Li Long is willing to accept it and said that this thing is a rare item, then we should make more of it in the future.

Li Long wasn't entirely trying to comfort Li Andong. To be honest, the kids in Team Four had really rarely seen these things. Fish were common, but that was about it. Now there were shrimp, crabs, and even snails, which was really quite nice.

Li Juan will be back tonight, just in time to try the food.

With so many people around, it was lively. They ate as soon as the food was ready. After eating, Li Long took the portion he had set aside and returned to the county town.

It was Saturday, and Li Qingxia, Li's father, was going to pick up Li Juan and rush back. Mingming and Haohao would also be dismissed from school early. After Li Long put the things in the yard, he went to pick up Mingming and Haohao, took them back to the yard, and pointed out the things in the basin to them.

"shrimp!"

"Is this a snail?" Hao Hao asked, pointing to the snail in the basin that had started moving since no one was around.

Several snails had already crawled to the edge of the basin, seemingly trying to escape.

Moreover, they had already stuck their heads out, but upon sensing the movement, they immediately withdrew them.

“It’s not a snail, it’s a river snail,” Li Long said. “You can’t eat snails, but you can eat river snails.”

The two children were watching the shrimp and the snails, respectively. If it weren't for Sister Yang calling them to eat, the two children could have stayed there all night.

Rare and unusual items that they had never seen before were very attractive to them.

Li Long took half of the snails, pressure-cooked them as usual, and then stir-fried them with a spicy sauce.

The whole family enjoyed their meal, including Han Fang, who had just returned from school. She had grown taller and had a bigger appetite. While eating, she complained about the poor quality of the school food and the favoritism of the cafeteria lady.

Compared to spicy snails, Han Fang prefers to eat fish with steamed buns. She scooped a small bowl of fish soup, soaked the steamed buns in it, and wolfed them down.

This broke Sister Yang's heart. It was clear that Han Fang, who was still growing, was not eating well at school, if not getting enough to eat.

Mingming and Haohao, who don't usually eat spicy food, first carefully tried to pick out the snail meat with toothpicks, just like their parents. Then, as if they had turned on a switch, they started eating non-stop, sucking in their breath as they ate—it was really spicy, but it was also really delicious!
The two children usually don't eat much spicy food, but today they had their fill and didn't care anymore.

Li Long didn't stop them. He just poured them some honey water, cooled it down, and prepared it on the side. He also provided them with sanitary napkins to wipe their sweat and snot. As for the rest, he let them do as they pleased.

While they were eating, Sister Yang wanted to take away the snail shells from the table, but the two children wouldn't let her, saying they wanted to wash them clean and play with them—and even share them with the other children.

Li Long laughed. This was just like when seafood started to appear in northern Xinjiang in a few years. Those children who were able to eat it first, or those who could eat it in coastal areas, would bring back the leftover shellfish and other shells as gifts for their friends.

Things are valued for their scarcity, that's normal.

After the meal, when Han Fang went inside to pack her things, Li Long told Sister Yang to tell Han Fang to bring a few cans of food with her when she went to school, so that if she got really hungry, she could open a can of meat to satisfy her cravings.

Sister Yang thought it was a good idea; at least she felt more at ease with homemade canned goods, as they were truly satisfying.

When Li Qiang returned home, he was quite surprised to see the snails and small shrimp in the yard. After learning that his uncle had gotten them from Xiaohaizi, he excitedly planned to go to Xiaohaizi the next day.

Li Qiang was actually an even more skilled canal patroller than Li Andong. He patrolled the canals with his group of friends, and they almost always found something. He knew exactly where the canals in the entire fourth team were stagnant and where the stagnant water was teeming with fish.

However, because she has to prepare for the high school entrance exam this semester, she doesn't have much time. Li Juan basically makes her study every weekend.

In her previous life, Li Juan failed to get into high school. After graduating from junior high school, she went to an agricultural extension school. After three months of training, she went home to work. Later, she entered a factory and was always busy.

In this life, she not only got into high school, but also had someone to do the housework, so she didn't need to do any chores on weekends. When she came home on weekends, she would either eat more or review her lessons, and at most do some housework. So she had plenty of time to supervise Li Qiang's studies.

"Let me tell you, although your current grades are good enough to get into high school, the score you get will directly affect the class you'll be placed in when you're in the first year of high school, and the impression you'll leave on your homeroom teacher."

Li Juan has a deep understanding of this and is now sharing her experience with Li Qiang: "So try to get high scores and be assigned to a good class so that the homeroom teacher will pay attention to you and you won't be marginalized in the first semester."

There are only two months left, where do you think you'll find the time to play? Look at other kids who still have to do chores on weekends, you're already having it easy enough, and you still want to go to Xiaohaizi? Don't go anywhere tomorrow, stay home and do your homework!

With Li Juan's suppression, Li Qiang could only remain silent.

"Qiangqiang, think about it. Your high school entrance exam will be over in July. It will be hot then, and all the shrimp, snails, cows, and crabs will be just growing up. Wouldn't it be better to catch them then than now?" Li Junfeng encouraged Li Qiang, seeing his disappointment. "Don't think about anything else now. Just study hard. You'll have plenty of time to play later!"

Thinking that there might be flooding in the east, and that the small lake would become hot and full of fish, Li Qiang smiled.

Like Mingming and Haohao, he collected the snail shells he had finished eating, intending to show them off to his friends.

After all, even someone as "well-traveled and knowledgeable" as him rarely saw this kind of snail, let alone others. The only shelled species that the fourth team could see before were those white snails that were already dead, and many thin-shelled and brittle snails in the small lake and canal.

We learned about this in class; it can spread schistosomiasis. Although we don't know if the disease exists in northern Xinjiang, Li Long and his friends don't touch it. Even if they come across it while swimming, they just pick it up and throw it aside.

The shell of the snail is very hard, and it is completely different from that of the snail. It is nice to hold and play with it.

In the east wing of the courtyard, Sister Yang sat on the edge of the bed, holding Han Fang's hand with a touch of heartache, and said:

“You’ve lost weight. Is my allowance enough? If not, I’ll give you more each week. Don’t be stingy, we have money. Since the cannery opened, my salary has increased…”

“Mom, I have money, plenty of money,” Han Fang explained. “What I said at the dinner table was mainly aimed at the chefs who cook. It felt like they knew we had to eat it no matter how bad it was…”

"Is that enough? If it is, don't deprive yourself. The food in the cafeteria isn't good, so try to eat out whenever you have time," Sister Yang said. "Eating out is more expensive, but the food should taste better, right?"

"Everyone's studying, no one has time," Han Fang said, shaking her head. "Besides, all of us in the dorm eat together in the cafeteria. If I'm the only one eating out, I'll be isolated."

I have enough money. In my dorm, there are people who don't even have half of my living expenses and mainly rely on subsidies. My family is already very well-off; people always tell me I'm like a little princess.

When school started, Uncle Li drove me there, and everyone assumed our family was very powerful and wealthy. I tried to explain, but they didn't believe me, so I eventually gave up.

Sister Yang nodded, relieved.

Han Fang suffered a lot before she was nine years old, but after settling down here, her life improved. Living in the courtyard, she ate plenty of meat and gradually made up for her previous losses.

Now at sixteen, she's already taller than Sister Yang. At this rate, she'll probably grow to at least 1.65 to 1.68 meters, if not 1.7 meters.

Because she is growing and developing, she has become a little thin recently, which is why Ms. Yang thinks her daughter may not have enough living expenses.

Knowing that her daughter's current living conditions were limited, Sister Yang thought she really needed to bring her some canned food. It's durable, made with quality ingredients, and her daughter could eat it with peace of mind. Even if she couldn't finish one, she could share it with her roommates; it would help maintain good relationships among classmates.

Hao Hao doesn't need to be coaxed anymore. He just needs to be reminded to wash up on time and then he turns off the lights and goes to sleep by himself.

After washing up, Li Long sat down at his desk and said to Gu Xiaoxia:

“I just told Sister Yang that Xiao Fang brought some canned food to school. Now I’m thinking that we could actually bring some canned food to Bolati and exchange it for fritillaria.”

"Will it work?" Gu Xiaoxia asked as she untied her hair, changed into her pajamas, and hung up her clothes. "Won't the people who dig for fritillaria bulbs in the mountains find it difficult to open cans?"

"Probably not," Li Long said. "They all have their own dugouts. If they take the canned food back and put it in their dugouts, it can be stored for a long time."

This isn't like dried meat or braised meat; those things are eaten as soon as you get them back. This can be stored, it's just more expensive. But for those who go into the mountains to dig for fritillaria, they can accept the higher price if they can exchange fritillaria for other supplies.

Li Long had stayed in the wooden hut and exchanged things with those people. He knew what they were thinking. When they really craved meat, they were willing to spend "fried fritillaria" to get it.

“Then you can send some over to Meng Hai and the others. They’re cooking for themselves now, and although there’s meat, they probably won’t put in much, right?” Gu Xiaoxia’s thoughts wandered as she listened. “Working on a construction site, they probably won’t have much strength if they don’t eat meat.”

Oh, and there's Halim and the others. They don't lack meat right now, but if they slaughter cattle and sheep, they can only make dried meat, otherwise it's hard to preserve it..."

“Halim and his people really need some supplies,” Li Long said after thinking for a moment. “They rarely slaughter cattle and sheep in the summer. Even though they raise so many cattle and sheep, they mainly eat naan and dairy products.”

However, his immediate priority was to go to Xiaohaizi tomorrow night to see if he could catch some crabs. The shrimp were already growing rapidly; there was no reason for the crabs to still be sluggishly developing.

Of course, it's also possible that the average temperature in this era was lower than it will be 20 or 30 years later, and the crabs hadn't adapted yet, so most of them didn't survive.

We'll find out by doing the experiment tomorrow night.

The next morning, Li Long called his older brother's family and asked his father to stop by the compound before taking Li Juan to school.

Li Jianguo asked what was going on, and Li Long said to have Li Juan bring some canned meat to school. The school food must not be very good. She should bring some canned food so that when the food is not good, she can open a can and share it with her roommates to help them get some nutrition.

The college entrance exam is coming soon, so I can't skimp on nutrition.

Li Juan was right next to Li Jianguo. Li Jianguo told Li Juan about it, and Li Juan grabbed the microphone and said to Li Long:

"Uncle, you're so kind! Let me tell you, there are two restaurants in our area that serve food that tastes like pig slop!"
There was another place that made fragrant fried noodles, but we watched them cook it, and they just chopped up the garlic without peeling it and put it in. We hardly ever eat meat there... This is so great!

“This girl…” Li Jianguo said to Li Long after taking back the microphone, “She never tells us… If you hadn’t told us, we wouldn’t have known that the school’s food was like this.”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it,” Li Juan said from the side. “We often find bugs, ants, and scraps of dishwashing brushes in our food. It’s disgusting, but there’s nothing we can do. There are no restaurants near No. 1 Middle School, and it’s not convenient for us to go out to eat alone…”

Hearing Li Juan say this, Liang Yuemei's eyes immediately reddened. She said in a hoarse voice, "Then I'll give you the money. You can go out and buy some snacks at noon..."

"There's no time! The college entrance exam is coming up soon, and all my classmates go to study in class right after lunch. I also have a habit of taking a nap at noon, and I can sleep for ten or twenty minutes. None of them take a nap, and some of them are so hardworking that it scares me..."

Li Juan was already used to it, because everyone did it this way. Her family was well-off, so she didn't feel it was anything difficult. The school's conditions were just so-so; she couldn't and didn't have the ability to set up a separate kitchen for everyone.

“I told you to go stay at your uncle’s house, but you wouldn’t go,” Li Jianguo said. “At least you’d eat better at your uncle’s house.”

"But traveling back and forth wastes time. Living at school saves time for studying. Our school only gets a few students into university each year. If I don't work hard and make the most of this time, how can I have any hope of getting into university?"

Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei both fell silent.

Yes, it's impossible to do both. In a place like northern Xinjiang with poor educational conditions, and in this era where getting into university is extremely difficult, you have to work incredibly hard to get ahead.

After hanging up the phone, Li Long drove to the cannery. It was currently the factory's rest day, and some female workers were on duty. There was a duty roster pay for working on rest days, and some people were quite keen to earn that money.

Li Long greeted the female worker on duty, went to the warehouse, pulled up five boxes of canned goods, loaded them into his car, and then registered them for shipment.

He has already written the job advertisement and plans to register at the TV station on Monday to see if he can recruit a few suitable people.

Actually, it's not just canneries; meat processing plants and purchasing stations also need to hire people, mainly security guards and secondarily workers. At purchasing stations, for example, there used to be peak and off-peak seasons. Tasks like cleaning fritillaria bulbs and sorting dried mushrooms were temporary jobs, and when they couldn't keep up with demand, they would hire temporary workers.

Now, not to mention these two items, the leather goods that come over about every two weeks need to be cleaned, and Liang Shuangcheng and Sun Jiaqiang alone can't handle it, so I have to join in from time to time.

So we might as well recruit everyone at once, so the purchasing station won't be so busy.

Of course, with the new recruits, Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng became team leaders, received promotions, and raises. But bonuses wouldn't be awarded so arbitrarily anymore.

This was just a plan, and Li Long didn't tell Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng about it. Of course, it's normal for him, as the boss, not to tell them.

After returning home with the canned goods, Li Long unloaded a box of canned goods and placed it here so that Han Fang and Li Juan could take it when they left. He told Han Fang what he was doing, then drove off to Meng Hai's construction site.

The canal that Meng Hai and his team built was located more than 20 kilometers southeast of the county seat. When Li Long drove there, he found that they were working there in tents, which was a traditional feature.

Old Chen was preparing lunch. Li Long went over to take a look and almost burst out laughing. It was still cabbage stew with glass noodles, plus large slices of fatty pork. The slices of fatty pork were cut into pieces the size of playing cards, and Li Long lost his appetite just looking at them.

Seeing Li Long arrive, Old Chen was quite pleased and said with a smile, "Boss Li, try my cooking later, it's delicious!"

"No need, no need. I'll get you some canned food. You can open this can later; it contains braised pork. You can put it in your dishes; it should taste good."

As Li Long unloaded two boxes of canned goods and clapped his hands, Meng Hai approached. Covered in concrete splatters, he greeted Li Long with a smile, "Boss, are you here to give us some perks?"

"Yes, I'll bring over two cases of canned beef and braised pork from the factory," Li Long said. "You can open them and let everyone try them, or you can add them directly to the dishes. Everyone does physical labor and needs to replenish their nutrition."

"Great, great, that's wonderful," Meng Hai said with a smile. "This will save us money on food. Old Chen, open a few cans and add them to the dishes. I heard someone say yesterday that there wasn't enough meat in the dishes."

“How could there not be enough meat? I put it in exactly the amount I was allotted.” Old Chen said, sounding a bit aggrieved. “Look at the big slices of meat today, how big are these chunks? The bigger the chunks, the less there seems to be…”

"Then cut it into smaller pieces," Meng Hai said casually. "Such big chunks of meat aren't easy to swallow."

“If you cut it into smaller pieces, everyone will say it’s not satisfying to eat!” Old Chen also had his own grievances and reasons.

Meng Hai didn't want to argue with him, especially since Li Long was there. He went over, opened the box, took out a can of food, looked at it, and said with a smile, "Good, good, with this, everyone can eat much better."

Li Long listened to Meng Hai and Lao Chen's conversation but said nothing. It's normal to have opinions about the cook; isn't there a saying...?
But this was within Meng Hai's management scope, not his responsibility, so he discussed the construction of the canal with Meng Hai.

"It's just started construction, but we have experience with canal construction. By the way, the Transportation Bureau left a message for our company, saying that there's a road that will start construction around August, and they asked us to make sure to schedule it accordingly."

“That’s great,” Li Long said with a smile. “This opens up a new situation.”

"Yes, that's true." Meng Hai was also quite happy. "We repaired the asphalt road in town, and the transportation bureau was very satisfied, so they're thinking of us first when there's work to be done." This can be considered sustainable development; being able to generate its own revenue means they don't need Li Long's support anymore, which is a good thing.

After chatting for a while, Meng Hai invited Li Long to stay for dinner, but Li Long said he had other things to do and drove off first.

He could see in the rearview mirror that Meng Hai was talking to Lao Chen for a long time, probably about the kitchen.

Li Long didn't care about anything else; he drove back to the county.

After lunch, Han Fang prepared to take her things back to school. Sister Yang packed a lot of canned food for her, but Han Fang took it all out.

"One can a day, six cans will do," Han Fang said. "It's not easy to store them in the dorm, and it's also inconvenient for me to carry them around."

"What's so hard about carrying that? Ten cans only weigh five kilograms, and you can't even lift them?" After talking with her daughter, Sister Yang was determined to get Han Fang to bring more, preferably two cans a day, so she could eat more and get more nutrition.

"No, there's no room in the dorm, and I can't just pile them all on the bed. Each of these things costs several yuan, and it would be difficult to say if they were lost." Han Fang also had her own concerns; there were some things she couldn't tell her mother.

Not everyone in the class or dormitory was harmonious, but Han Fang was already sixteen years old and knew that the society her mother was exposed to was different from the school she was in. There were some things she could tell her family, but some things she couldn't.

"Alright, you can decide for yourself." Sister Yang sighed. Her daughter was all grown up and couldn't possibly listen to her every whim anymore. Fortunately, although Han Fang's idea was correct, it hadn't gone astray, which made Sister Yang very gratified.

Han Fang packed her things, and Sister Yang put five cans of food into a cloth bag for her, reminding her, "Be careful when opening the cans, don't cut your hands."

In the afternoon, Li Long wanted to drive Han Fang to the bus station, but Sister Yang refused. She rode her bicycle with Han Fang instead. Li Long said half-jokingly, "Sister Yang, you should learn to drive too. Take some time to learn how to drive; it will make things easier for you when you go out to run errands."

"I can't learn it." Sister Yang hurriedly shook her head. "That's too difficult. I'm afraid to drive it and I'll hit someone."

Li Long didn't say anything more. Given the contributions Sister Yang had made in the past two years, it was more than enough to provide her with a car, but since she didn't want to learn now, Li Long didn't force her.

Around 5 p.m., Li Qingxia arrived by car. He parked outside the door, and he and Li Juan went inside.

"Juan's here." Gu Xiaoxia came over with a smile and took Li Juan's arm. "Hey, you've grown taller, you're even taller than me now."

Li Juan smiled shyly and said, "They've grown faster from last year to this year..."

"Here, here, your uncle got you some canned food. It'll be twelve cans, two a day, and that'll last you a week. We'll get more next week. Is twelve enough?"

"That's too much." Li Juan waved her hand hurriedly when she saw how much was in the container. "That's too much. One a day is enough. We can't finish two."

"If you can't finish it, share it with your roommates. It's good to get along with them," Gu Xiaoxia said. "Our family doesn't lack this. You only have two months until the college entrance exam, so you need to eat well."

"No need, no need, I'll take eight then," Li Juan said after thinking for a moment. "I'll drive one a day, and keep the other two as backup. Thank you, Auntie..."

"No need to thank me, we're family, no need for that." Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile, "I only gave you beef, but I also have pork, see if you're used to it."

"I just like beef. Pork belly doesn't heat up properly, and it gets soaked and hard to handle." Li Juan was clearly also worried about the hassle, since it wasn't convenient to cook other people's food in the dorm.

There weren't many small appliances available at that time.

Li Juan was in a hurry to get back to school, so Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia didn't keep her any longer, reminding her to take care of her health while studying.

"I wonder which school she'll get into," Gu Xiaoxia said after Li Juan left. "She should have no problem getting into Peking University, right?"

Li Long could tell that his wife was filled with envy when she said that.

There's nothing we can do; she didn't get into university after high school.
"I should be able to pass the exam. If I do, how about we all go to Yanjing to see me off and take a look at our courtyard?" Li Long said with a smile.

"I'm not going. If I really pass the exam, I need to register at the end of August, and my school will have started by then, so I can't get away." Gu Xiaoxia shook her head. "You could go and see me off, though."

"I might not have time either, the cotton will be almost ready to bloom by then." Li Long thought that it would be a crucial time for both the experimental field and the cooperative.

"Dad, Mom, are we going to start elementary school in September?" Mingming suddenly asked while playing with a snail shell with his younger brother.

"Yes, you two will be elementary school students then," Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile, patting Mingming and Haohao's heads. "Do you want to go to elementary school?"

"I've been thinking and thinking!" Hao Hao blurted out, "Then can I go to the school where you are, Mom?"

"Yes, that's right." Gu Xiaoxia nodded and said, "Then I can watch you attend classes every day."

Both children were very happy.

Li Long thought to himself, "You won't be happy then. Elementary school is very different from kindergarten." But he decided not to talk about such a cruel thing and let the children enjoy their last two months in kindergarten.

Li Long packed his headlamp and cut-resistant gloves. He planned to go to Xiaohaizi that night to see if he could catch any crabs.

Mingming Haohao had no idea what his father was packing, and he wanted to come and help but didn't know where to start.

"You're going to kindergarten tomorrow, so go to bed early after dinner tonight." Li Long didn't want them to know his whereabouts, otherwise they would follow him again.

Children, especially boys, become more mischievous and curious as they get older. If they know that they are going to catch crabs, they will definitely clamor to follow along.

It was late at night, and Li Long didn't dare to bring the two of them along. If he did, he wouldn't be able to catch crabs anymore; he could just protect the two of them and play.

At this time, Minghao Hao had not yet realized the cunning and treachery of the adults. He thought that his father was doing it for his own good, so after dinner, he watched TV for a while, washed up, and went to bed.

Around 10 o'clock, just as it was getting a little dark, Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia and then drove out of the courtyard gate to the fourth team.

He didn't go to the Li family's house; instead, he turned south at Weigou and arrived at Xiaohaizi.

When Li Long got out of the car at Xiaohaizi Dam, he felt a cool breeze, which was quite comfortable.

He could hear the buzzing of mosquitoes nearby. It was already quite dark by then. Fortunately, Li Long had good eyesight. He put on his waders, picked up his bucket, put on his headlamp, and headed west.

He used to catch crabs on the west side; the water there is shallow, and crabs would look for food there. The water is deep on the east side, so even if you see crabs, they're not easy to catch.

To his left were clumps of dark shadows, which were clumps of reeds in the reservoir. As he was walking, he suddenly heard a "splash" from the shadows. Li Long turned his head and looked over. He could vaguely see water splashing. He couldn't tell if it was a fish, a water rat, a wild duck, or a water chicken.

Li Long didn't stop walking. When he saw that the ground was a bit blurry, he turned on his headlamp and walked until he was about a third of the way down the Xiba Line. He looked down and shone the light from his headlamp down and saw that the water was indeed shallow. He could see the tips of low-lying reeds sticking out of the water and small fish swimming around. He knew that he was here.

Carefully wading into the water, Li Long saw a crab near his feet, disturbed by the ripples. It tried to run away with its eight claws outstretched. He quickly bent down and reached out to grab it. The crab was quite fast underwater, and it took Li Long a couple of quick steps to catch it.

With the first one, Li Long's confidence soared, and he continued to bend down and search, soon finding the second and third.

The crabs varied in size. The largest was about the size of Li Long's own palm and looked to be about three years old. The smaller ones were about the size of Mingming and Haohao's palms; it was unclear whether they were from the beginning of this year or the end of last year.

Li Long found more than twenty crabs on this shallow beach and was quite happy. It took him less than twenty minutes to find them.

He thought of the several shallow beaches along the Xiba Line and decided to continue searching.

To his surprise, there were no crabs in the other shallow areas, only some small fish. As soon as Li Long entered the water, he swam away in a panic.

That's strange!

Li Long went back and forth again, but the water he had just passed through had been stirred up and couldn't be cleared up in a short time, and he couldn't see anything underwater.

Fortunately, there were more than twenty, enough to steam and taste—maybe that was the only place where the crabs were more active?
Or did I arrive too early, before the crabs came out? Or did I arrive too late, and the crabs in other areas had already retreated to the deeper waters?
Carrying the bucket back, Li Long's headlamp swayed, allowing him to see the road ahead, the water and desolation of the small lake beside him, and occasionally ripples on the water's surface, which were probably large white streaks.

The whitebait here especially like to swim on the surface of the water. Even a tiny fish can leave a very obvious ripple. Inexperienced people might easily mistake it for a big fish, only to find out when they scoop it up with a net that it's less than ten centimeters long!
By the way, here they also call whitebait "noodle roe" because the fish meat is too tender and will disintegrate after a little stewing. They also die very easily, and the meat will spoil easily after they die.

At that time, few people ate whitebait; they had many bones, were difficult to stew, and didn't grow big enough. But twenty or thirty years later, whitebait became a delicacy.

Isn't that strange?
Li Long put the bucket in the trunk of the car, stuffed a bag of urea on top to prevent crabs from climbing up, took off his waders, removed his headlamp and threw it on the passenger seat, and prepared to drive back.

As soon as I opened the car door, I heard a series of "ga ga ga" sounds, like human laughter, coming from inside the small lake. It was continuous and a bit eerie.

Li Longgang was startled when he heard this, but then he realized that it must be some kind of water bird that was fishing in the small lake or had encountered some kind of predator.

Along with the squeaking, flapping, and the sound of grass being snapped, Li Long wondered if it was a battle between a water rat and some kind of water bird.
He felt uncomfortable listening to it, so he bent down and looked around, but couldn't find any stones. He then picked up a large clod of dirt and threw it in the direction of the sound.

With a "plop," a clod of earth fell into the water, making a loud noise that immediately silenced all other sounds.

I was terrified.

Li Long ignored all of that, bent down to get into the car, started the engine, and turned around to go back.

After walking about two hundred meters, I looked to the left at the reed ditch and saw faint blue flames flickering.

Holy crap, phosphorescence!

Li Long wasn't too scared. It was normal for this thing to appear. After all, Weigou was a flood discharge area, and all sorts of bones could be washed down from upstream. Besides, that area was the cemetery of the old residents of Team Four.

In other words, I didn't bring a camera. Even if I had, I don't know if I would have been able to take any pictures.

He rolled down the car window, and a cool breeze blew in, occasionally letting in a mosquito, or sometimes even a swarm of them—one would even get into Li Long's mouth when he opened it!
These mosquitoes, I don't know whether they're male or female, can be seen in swarms along the reed ditches at dusk. When people get close, some will swoop down to suck blood, while others will completely ignore them.

When the car turned onto the main road, the air suddenly became hot, and the hot air was occasionally mixed with a cool breeze. This feeling of hot and cold mixed together was quite wonderful.

Back in the courtyard, Gu Xiaoxia opened the gate for her; she wasn't asleep yet.

"So, did you catch him?" Gu Xiaoxia asked as Li Long got out of the car.

“We caught more than twenty,” Li Long said, taking down the bucket and showing it to her by the light of the yard lamp. “It’s strange, they’re only in one area, not anywhere else.”

"That's quite a lot," Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile. "Just leave it, we'll steam it for breakfast tomorrow."

Sister Yang came out of the house, looked around, said a few words, and then went back inside.

Li Long locked the gate, turned off the lights in the yard, and went back inside to wash up and rest.

The next day, when Mingming and Haohao saw the steamed crabs, one was excited and eager to eat them, while the other complained that his father had gone out to play without taking him.

"Go when you're free," Li Long could only console them. "I went last night to check the situation first, otherwise if you go and there's nothing there, wouldn't it be a wasted trip?"

"Can we go tonight?" Mingming was very persistent.

"No, I caught them last night and scared them. They won't be able to show up for the next couple of days. Let's wait a week."

"Ok."

After coaxing the two children to finish their meal and sending them to kindergarten, Li Long decided to go to the mountains.

He planned to leave a case of canned goods at Borati's place to see if it would work.

Polati was sitting in the sun in front of the wooden house. When Li Long came over, he squinted and only opened his eyes to look when he heard the car.

"Have you been drinking?" Li Long asked. "Drinking so early in the morning?"

“I stayed here last night and had a few drinks. I wasn’t feeling well this morning, so I had another drink, and I feel much better now.” Polati pointed to the glass on the wooden floor next to him.

The kind of cup that weighs 150 grams.

Li Long was speechless.

Polati stood up unsteadily, pointed to the small wooden house next to him, and said:

“There’s fifty kilograms of fritillaria inside, take a look.”

He was very pleased with himself, so Li Long opened the door and took a look.

The two bags, each more than half full, were left open, as Li Long had requested, to prevent them from spoiling—don't assume that the dryness of northern Xinjiang means nothing will mold; that's impossible.

Even if you cover a semi-dry item with a plastic bag, it will still get moldy.

Li Long reached out and grabbed a small handful of fritillaria bulbs from each hand, squeezing them. One was almost completely dry, and the other was half-dry.

He lifted the bags; the fully dried one weighed about twenty kilograms, and the semi-dried one weighed about twenty-seven or twenty-eight kilograms.

The figures are similar to those reported by Polati.

“Not bad, these two bags, I can give you one hundred and twenty yuan.” Li Long took the money out of his pocket.

Upon seeing the hundred-yuan note and the two ten-yuan notes, Polati's face immediately lit up with a smile. He let out a burp, took the money, carefully folded it, put it in his pocket, and patted it.

More than a month's salary in hand!

"I brought some canned meat with me today and left it here. See if you can trade it for it." Li Long carried the two bags of fritillaria to the car and put them away. Then he carried the box of canned beef to the wooden house. "Two cans for one kilogram of fresh fritillaria. You can decide."

"What kind of meat?" Pora asked.

“It’s beef, and it smells delicious,” Li Long said. “You can try some, but don’t try too much. I’ll come back to check on it in the next day or two.”

"Okay, okay." Polati couldn't wait to pick up a can, look it over, find the opening, open it, and without even using chopsticks, took out a piece of beef with his hand and put it in his mouth to chew.

"Great, great, it smells delicious!" Polati took out another piece and popped it into his mouth, saying as he ate, "They'll definitely be willing to trade!"

Li Long smiled and said, "It's good that you're willing to change."

He didn't linger there. After looking around and seeing that the cabin seemed fine, he drove off.

When he passed by Wenquangou, Li Long wondered if he should clear a piece of land in the gully and build a wooden house there.
When things are growing wildly, it's always good to take over as much territory as possible.

(End of this chapter)