Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 143 Gu Xiaoxia's Handmade Gift
Li Long didn't expect that someone would remember him just for selling fish.

"Young man, are you the one who sells frozen fish here in the winter?"

Li Long looked at the middle-aged woman in her forties in front of him and said with a smile:

"Sister, I did sell fish here in the winter."

"That's what I was thinking. I thought you looked familiar! Your fish is good. When I bought one and brought it home, my neighbor said it must not be fresh. But after it was thawed, it turned out to be really good... Your fish looks good today, too. Come on, weigh me two dollars' worth of crucian carp!"

"Okay, I'll weigh it high for you!" Li Long said with a smile, "You are a repeat customer, so I'll give you an extra fish - a fish I just caught this morning, it's alive, you can stew it directly when you get home, it will be very delicious!" Li Long prepared some Sphagnum reed, which was very tough after being wetted with water. Seeing that the lady had nothing to hold the fish, he used the Sphagnum reed to thread the fish, rolled it into a circle and handed it to her.

"The young man knows how to do business. I will come back to buy tomorrow."

The lady left with the fish in her arms, satisfied, and the other onlookers began to weigh the fish.

Some people were still asking about the origin of the fish. When Li Long said it was a wild fish from Dahaizi, those who knew about it immediately started to educate people:
"I know that place. It used to be a wetland, a natural puddle with reeds and lots of mosquitoes. But the fish there are really good... Look at this crucian carp. Its head and tail are a little golden. Isn't it beautiful? The crucian carp in ordinary reservoirs are grayish white, not as beautiful as this one, and not as delicious as this one. Young man, weigh me two...three yuan!"

With the obligation to help introduce science, Li Long brought nearly 30 kilograms of crucian carp, and only a dozen small ones were left in less than 20 minutes. Crucian carp has strong vitality, and the remaining dozen small ones swam happily in the little water in the basin.

After seeing that the crucian carp were not big and not numerous, someone turned his attention to the carp and five black carp in the basin.

There are many people here who know a lot about fish, and what was left was silver carp - the meat of silver carp is fine, and it is actually quite delicious when cooked, but it has too many fine bones, so many people are unwilling to eat it.

More than an hour later, Li Long had 49 yuan in his pocket. By this time, the sun had risen, and there were still seven or eight small crucian carps and a silver carp weighing 700 to 800 grams left in the two basins.

He looked around and saw no one who wanted to buy fish, so he simply poured the fish and dirty water from the two basins into one basin, picked up the basin, walked to the ditch on the side of the road and poured the fish into the basin.

The moment he stood up, he felt a gust of wind blowing on his face, and then he saw three people rushing into the ditch and quickly picking up the fish.

The man who picked up the silver carp was a middle-aged man wearing a Zhongshan suit and looking quite respectable. He smiled proudly, then looked up and met Li Long's eyes.

The smile froze at that moment.

Li Long vaguely remembered that this person had been in the crowd watching, but he didn't buy anything from beginning to end.

Li Long turned his head expressionlessly, folded the urea bag, put the basins together on the back seat, then fastened them with a clip and pushed the bicycle into the old street.

He remembered that there seemed to be a milk tea shop in the old street. He was tired after a morning of work and needed to reward his stomach.

I ordered a bowl of milk tea and a naan. The Uighur boss asked in authentic Henan Mandarin:
"Fellow villager, do you want some milk skin?"

"Yes." Li Long was happy, "More."

"Can you get used to drinking milk tea with milk skin? Not bad, not bad. Come, the naan is freshly made."

"This naan is good - it's true that no hot naan can return home intact..." Li Long took the naan with a smile, broke it into several pieces and put them on the plate, then took a piece and took a bite.

"You, Yaxi, you speak very well!" The ethnic boss said with a smile, "You know how to eat..."

Li Long knew he was talking about his habit of breaking the naan into pieces to eat - this was something he learned from Halim. Eating naan separately instead of eating alone, and giving a piece to someone if they need it, is kindness and a good habit.

A bowl of steaming milk tea was served, covered with a thick layer of milk skin, which smelled fragrant.

Milk skin is actually the layer of waxy fat that forms on the surface of milk during the cooking process, and is considered the essence of milk. However, because it is fat, some people may not be used to drinking it.

After drinking the milk tea and eating the naan, Li Long stood up, paid and left. The milk tea was 1.2 cents and the naan was 2 cents, which was really not expensive.

At this time, the flow of people in the old street began to increase, and more people came here to take the bus. Li Long carefully avoided the pedestrians coming and going, and pedaled his bike towards the county town in the sunshine.

Arriving at the county department store, Li Long got out of the car, locked it, and walked excitedly to the counter selling radios. Seeing three radios on the counter, he handed over the money and ticket, and waited for the salesperson to bring the radios. While checking them, he asked:
"Comrade, do you still have this radio?"

"Yes," the salesman said, noting that he was a former buyer of a radio. "We still have some in the warehouse."

"Okay then." Li Long smiled, "I'll come and see you tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

The salesperson smiled and said to Li Long:

“You are welcome to come back anytime.”

The saleswoman was a girl in her twenties with two big braids and a round face, looking healthy and cute.

Li Long also bought two boxes of twenty No. 1 batteries from her, and tied them together with the radio box with cotton rope for easy carrying.

After Li Long left, the lady at another counter joked:

"Hey, Xiao Liu, who is this person that you are so enthusiastic about?"

"Sister Wang, what are you talking about? I don't know this person."

"You don't know him? I've never seen you being so polite to any other guy. Is he your boyfriend?"

"Sister Wang, please don't talk nonsense. I really don't know him."

"Really? Next time he comes, I'll have to ask him about it. I saw him riding a bicycle, so his family must be extraordinary!"

Xiao Liu didn't say anything. She had seen Li Long come to buy things more than once, including bicycles, sewing machines, food, clothes, shoes and so on. In the past two days, he also bought two radios.

Such people may come from a well-off family or be speculators, but Xiao Liu feels that Li Long is not the latter.

Li Long rode his bicycle to the large yard, put the radio in, checked again, and after making sure that no one was coming, he locked the door and rode his bicycle to the morning market.

It was already late and there were only a few stalls left at the morning market. He looked around but couldn't find anyone selling piglets, so he went back.

When he arrived at the rural middle school, Li Long slowed down. Through the woods, he could vaguely see Gu Xiaoxia's dormitory, and it seemed that the door was open.

He was wondering if he would see the other person, when someone suddenly called out to him:

"Li Long!"

Hearing the clear sound, Li Long smiled. In front of the school gate, Gu Xiaoxia was standing there gracefully.

It was already spring, and after changing out of her bulky cotton-padded clothes, Gu Xiaoxia's figure had grown like a willow branch. Li Long pedaled his bike towards her while thinking that she had lost some weight.

A little meat would be better.

When the car stopped in front of Gu Xiaoxia, she said:
"I guess you should be back soon." As he said this, he stretched out his right hand from behind his back, holding a blue woolen fabric, like a hat, but triangular.

Seat cover!
"Your bicycle is exposed to the sun every day, and the leather on the seat is easy to peel off. It will be better if you cover it with this." Gu Xiaoxia said seriously, "Bicycles are precious, so you should take good care of them."

Li Long got out of the car and let Gu Xiaoxia put the woolen seat cover on the seat, which was just the right size.

"I made this by imitating Teacher Wang's bicycle. Is it okay?"

"How can you say it's just okay? It should be very good!" Li Long said with a smile.

After being praised by Li Long, Gu Xiaoxia felt a little shy. She lowered her head and twisted her fingers together. She whispered:
"You don't have to come to see me every day. If you are free, just come over on weekends. That... that guy was teaching a grade 8 student. I have nothing to do with him..."

"I believe you." Li Long said with a smile, "I will be staying in the mountains for a while. You have to take good care of yourself. I will bring you some things before I leave..."

"No, no!" Gu Xiaoxia looked up hurriedly and said anxiously when she heard that Li Long wanted to bring something.
"Just the food you brought last time will last me more than a month. We will get our salary next month, so you don't have to bring anything for me. Take good care of yourself in the mountains and bring everything you need, otherwise there will be nowhere to buy food in the mountains..."

Originally, Li Long was thinking about going into the mountains, and told Gu Xiaoxia to take good care of herself. Unexpectedly, he was given a lot of instructions by the other party. However, he felt warm in his heart and it felt good.

This is different from the care that my elder brother and sister-in-law show me. What else can it mean when a person of the opposite sex of the same age shows genuine care for me?

The sound of a bell rang in the school. Gu Xiaoxia stopped talking, turned her head to look at the school, and then turned to Li Long and said:
"The get out of class is over. I have my class next period. I have to go back. You...go back first."

"You go back first." Li Long pointed at the bicycle, "I'm fast."

"Well... okay. I'm leaving." Gu Xiaoxia hesitated for a moment, turned around and walked towards the school. After walking about ten meters, she turned around and saw Li Long still looking at her. Her face blushed, and she quickly turned around and walked towards the school without looking back.

Li Long kept watching Gu Xiaoxia's figure disappear towards the house near the office before he got on his bike and walked back.

The township middle school is nearly one kilometer away from the primary school. When Li Long arrived at the primary school, he smelled the odor of something burning.

He rode his bicycle into the elementary school and saw piles of fires burning on the wasteland east of the school playground, with groups of people gathered there making firewood.

The handlebar is a manual tool that has been used in northern Xinjiang since the 1950s and 1960s. It is similar to a stretcher, with two poles on both sides and a wicker-like dustpan in the middle. In fact, to put it simply, the canvas in the middle of the stretcher is replaced with wicker material, which is bent downward to facilitate the placement of things.

The role of the porter is very important. When animal-drawn carts and power carts were not yet popular, the porter could carry coal, soil, grain, etc.

In the spring, every class in the school above the third grade will weave and tie broom handles, which will be used for one to two years.

Weaving the handles is also a technical job. You need to dig a shallow pit first, after all, the willow woven part of the handles should be concave downwards, and it cannot be shaped without a pit. You also need to roast the freshly cut willow branches over fire to make them tough and not break when bent.

While doing these preparatory work, nail four wooden wedges on the willow weaving place, place the lifting rods on both sides outside the wooden wedges, and then place a few thick strips in the middle position parallel to the lifting rods as support. Select some willow strips to weave the outermost frame of the willow weaving first, and then weave them inside one by one like weaving a basket.

When Li Long found Li Juan, he found that she was busy with four boys and two girls at the edge of two pits. Li Juan's face was black and gray, and the other boys and girls were similar, but the handles they made were obviously not good. Not only were the willow parts small, but they were also loose and could not bear the weight at all.

"Li Juan, what should I do? I can't finish the story today..." A little girl who was half a head shorter than Li Juan wiped her face with tears in her voice.

"Don't worry, let's try harder..." Li Juan's voice was full of fatigue, but she was still comforting her classmates.

"It's all Lin Qiang's fault. We clearly agreed that he would be the one to edit the show today, but he didn't come. He is the only one in the group who can edit the show!" another boy complained.

Li Long smiled. Student days were also full of vitality and fun. Of course, minor conflicts could be ignored.

He parked the car, locked it, walked over and shouted:
"Juan!"

Li Juan turned her head and saw Li Long, and her eyes suddenly lit up.

"Not done yet? Come, let me see." Li Long hadn't woven for a long time in his previous life, but after all, his old skills were still there. Looking at the situation of lifting the handle, he quickly found the contradiction. The children were not strong, so the willow branches were woven too loosely, so they could not bear the force.

Another big problem is that wicker twigs need to be staggered when weaving, but the two handles have several twigs that are parallel to each other, which is similar to turning clockwise, and cannot play the role of staggered warp and weft force, so it is naturally useless.

"It's a small matter. Okay, you guys grill the strips, and I'll take care of the rest." Li Long rolled up his sleeves, squatted beside the pit and started to make changes. If there were strips that were already hard, he would just take them back and let them grill them again.

With an adult around them, several students immediately felt like they had a backbone. Some were roasting the noodles, some were delivering the noodles, some were taking care of the fire, and some were learning and helping Li Long.

Originally, Li Juan's group was the last in progress, but with Li Long's joining, they quickly started to overtake.

Li Long was not very skilled at the beginning, but he was an adult after all, and he had some logic and stuff. After he was over 50 years old in his previous life, his land joined a cooperative, and he would occasionally make small gadgets when he had nothing to do. So it was natural for him to find it easy to get the hang of making such a big thing.

They finished weaving the two handles quickly, and since they still had plenty of time, they took the two handles they had previously weaved and modified and reinforced them.

After finishing, Li Long's hands and face were covered with dust. Li Juan happily took the staff to report to the teacher. In fact, the teacher had already seen that adults came to help, so he quickly passed.

"Juan, do you have classes in the afternoon?" Li Long went to the ditch beside the playground to wash his hands, then came back to ask Li Juan.

"No, we just made tools this afternoon. We also made a big broom with sedge." Li Juan was a little proud.

"Bring it here and have a look." Li Long sighed and continued to work. The big brooms made by students usually look good and seem to be in good condition, but when used, they may start to shed Achnatherum splendens in less than half a month - mainly because the students are not strong enough to put as much Achnatherum splendens into the iron hoop as possible.

In later generations, Achnatherum splendens brooms were tied with iron wire, but in the 1980s, iron hoops were used. First, stuff the Achnatherum splendens into the iron hoop as much as possible. When it cannot be stuffed in, use a sharp tool -

The tip of the puck is pushed into the end of the Achnatherum splendens, and then separated from the head of the Achnatherum splendens, and the tip of the puck is found. Take a handful of Achnatherum splendens, and push the puck backwards while pushing the Achnatherum splendens along the tip. This is a technical job that requires good coordination. When it is really impossible to push it in, the broom is ready, and then a sharpened wooden stick is used as a broom handle, wedged into the end of the broom, and then the Achnatherum splendens on the head of the broom is burned, and it is done.

Li Long thought the broom looked quite decent, with a circle of red willow branches and a string wrapped around it to prevent the slender Stipa from breaking and shortening the life of the broom.

But after just shaking it, he realized that the broom was a little loose, so he asked for tools and asked Li Juan to get some Sphagnum splendens. He squatted on the ground and pulled out the broom stem, then used a pick to hit it into the broom. The next step was to add more Sphagnum splendens.

Seeing Li Long adding handfuls of Stipa sphenanthera, the whole broom became noticeably "thicker", and these students immediately showed admiration in their eyes.

They have also seen how adults make big brooms, but when they make them themselves, the results are not the same.

After finishing all this, Li Long looked at his work with great satisfaction. It should be able to be used for a long time.

"Uncle, you are awesome!" Li Juan shouted, then turned to a little boy next to her and said:
"Chen Xiaobing, you said you did a good job, but look, there are so many missing sedges..."

The little boy felt a little ashamed.

Li Long smiled and said, "It's okay, you are just kids, you will be fine when you grow up. It's great that you can tie it like this now. Juan, can we go home after school? Let's go home after school."

"Okay, I'll go tell the teacher and then pack my bag!" Li Juan ran away.

From today on, each chapter will be about 4,000 words long. Basically, there will be three chapters a day, which is 12,000 words, more than the original content. If there are other changes in the release, we will basically notify you in advance.

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(End of this chapter)