Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 180 Li Long, why don’t you go and propose marriage?

"Your father came home today, did you know?" Li Long asked while sitting on the bed in Gu Xiaoxia's dormitory, watching her busy.

"I see. At noon, when my dad and his friends were coming back by car, they stopped at the school. I had just finished my meal and met with my dad."

"By car?" Li Long was a little surprised. "Did they come back by car?"

"Yes!" Gu Xiaoxia nodded, and then asked Li Long in surprise, "Didn't you arrange the car? My dad and his eleven companions, with their bedding, came back together in the car. My dad said that you arranged the car... If it wasn't you? Who else could it be? They don't know anyone from the supply and marketing cooperative..."

Li Long understood immediately, smiled and said:

"It should be the Li Section Chief from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. He was the one who assigned me the job of organizing the group... I have a pretty good relationship with him. We can say that we didn't know each other until we fought."

"That guy is pretty nice." Gu Xiaoxia nodded, "He probably arranged the car because he has a good relationship with you."

Li Long nodded and said:

"After I finish the work of making the handlebars, I don't plan to go into the mountains in the short term. I'll talk about it later. Rest in the team for a while. If you want to go into the mountains, we'll go then."

"What about the wooden house in the mountains? No one is living there, right?"

"No. There are not many people in the mountains." Li Long said, "Normally people don't destroy things in the mountains, except for the migrant workers who come to collect herbs. There are still few such people. By the way..."

He brought in the egg basket and said as he took out the eggs:
"I bought some eggs this time. I'll put ten of them here for you. I'll take the rest back for Juan and Qiangqiang."

"No, no, I got my salary, I can buy it." Gu Xiaoxia came over to stop him, "You always bring things with you, if you do this again I won't let you in next time..."

"It's always inconvenient to buy things in the countryside." Li Long said with a smile, "You made me some shoes. And there's also egg cake, which has a lot of oil and can be stored. When you're busy and don't have time to cook, this can fill your stomach."

Seeing Li Long placing these things naturally, Gu Xiaoxia suddenly felt an impulse. She whispered to Li Long:
"Li Long, find someone... to ask my dad for marriage."

Li Long was startled when he heard this, and subconsciously asked:
"What do you say?"

The previous sentence had exhausted all of Gu Xiaoxia's courage. She stopped talking, turned around and hurriedly packed her things without answering.

But Li Long really heard it.

He stood up suddenly, muttering:
"Isn't it a bit too fast...will it affect your work? No, no, no..."

His words made Gu Xiaoxia turn around abruptly.

Li Long saw Gu Xiaoxia's pale face and immediately realized that she had misunderstood his words. He hurried over and said:

"I will definitely marry you - but not now, it will hinder your future!"

These words made Gu Xiaoxia burst into tears. She wiped her face with a relieved expression: "I thought... I thought..."

"I just want to say that it's not good for you to get married after just a few days of work at school. Besides, the height you can reach in the future is far beyond the township middle school. It's not impossible for you to get into the county..."

Li Long doesn’t want to get married?
Of course I thought so, I am clearly a young man full of vigor and vitality.

But he had thought about it long ago. Given the current situation and Gu Xiaoxia's ability, as long as she worked hard, she could move up. If she just wanted to stay in the rural middle school, that was fine.

But she definitely wants to strive for a broader space.

Then, it would not be wise to get married now.

Moreover, Li Long feels that his current "foundation" is still a little weak, and he needs to work harder.

Gu Xiaoxia hadn't fully understood Li Long's words at this time, and she didn't think she could go any further.

"You should first go to an open university, the kind that offers correspondence courses. Academic qualifications will be very important in the future." Li Long shared his experience from his previous life, "It will be useful when you are evaluating professional titles or taking exams for higher positions in the future."

Gu Xiaoxia is only twenty-one or twenty-two years old and still has plenty of room for advancement.

"Well... okay." Gu Xiaoxia was still confused at this time.

When Li Long came out of the dormitory, Gu Xiaoxia followed him with her head down. When he was pushing his bicycle, she touched him:

"Here, this is the key to my dormitory. Next time you come, if I'm not back yet, you can come in first..."

Li Long was happy and took the key, feeling very happy.

When passing by the primary school, Li Long saw that the students were already going out, so he went to look for Li Juan. As a result, a fellow villager said that Li Juan had already returned, so he rode his bike to chase her and found Li Juan two hundred meters away from the school.

"Juan, get in the car." Li Long hung the basket of eggs in front and asked Li Juan to sit in the back seat. Li Juan happily got in, and Li Long took her back home humming a song.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei had not returned yet. What surprised Li Long was that Li Qiang was holding a bottle with pockmarks in it and was feeding the chickens.

Seeing Li Long and Li Juan coming back, Li Qiang said excitedly:
"Uncle, uncle! Little chicken, look at our little chicken, it's really good at eating tamarind seeds!"

"Yeah, the more you eat, the faster you grow. We can slaughter them in the fall." Li Long said with a smile, "Are you hungry?"

"I'm hungry." Li Qiang said honestly.

"Then you and your sister wash your hands and go in to eat the egg cake." Li Long took out the egg cake from his bag and shook it. "Wash your hands, otherwise the smell of jumping pockmarks will be very strong."

"I understand!" Li Qiang immediately went to the well to wash his hands.

There is a ladle on the well-pressing platform with half a ladle of water in it. When the well is pressed, the water will be poured into the well, which will be sealed and the water can be "lifted" up under the action of atmospheric pressure.

In order to catch the jumping crickets here, in order to prevent them from escaping, they usually pinch their heads after catching them, squeezing their heads flat to keep them in a half-dead state. This will stain your hands with the jumping crickets' body fluids, which is unpleasant.

"Uncle, I have to go cut grass for the pigs." said Li Juan.

"Eat first, then go. Let Qiangqiang go with you." Li Long said, "I'll go too."

Li Juan was happy when he said that.

"Uncle, we have to hurry," Li Qiang said while eating egg cake, "The loudspeaker is about to start broadcasting. We have to come back from mowing the grass quickly because we still need to listen to the loudspeaker."

Li Long remembered that there was a small loudspeaker on the radio every afternoon at that time. He didn't expect that Li Qiang had become fascinated by it.

"Well, let's go quickly." Li Long smiled, "Where is the best place to get pig grass? Do you want me to take you there by bike?"

"Over there in the big fields in the east," Li Juan said immediately. "All the grass in the grain fields has been weeded. There are more of them over there. There are wild bamboo shoots, bitter mulberry, sweet mulberry, and vines, as well as gray stripes..."

"Okay, I'll take you there on my bike!"

Li Long put away his small-caliber rifle and rode his bike with Li Juan and Li Qiang to the large fields in the east. At this time, the wheat in the field had not yet earred, the corn was only half a person tall, and in some places the loess was still exposed.

Li Long parked his bicycle next to a grove of small trees, and together with Li Juan, he pulled the bag to the edge of the field to look for pig grass.

There is little pig grass in the wild, and it is basically found in the fields or in the watered canals. Li Long originally came here with a gaming mentality, he walked around and put whatever he saw into the bag. "Uncle, look, there are a lot of dead fish in this canal, it's all stinky!"

Li Qiang was shouting by the canal. Li Long walked over and smelled a strong fishy odor when he was still about five or six meters away.

The location Li Qiang pointed to was a canal outlet, where a pit would be created by the sudden release of water. After the water was poured, the pit would hold water and, naturally, fish. Now, half of the pit was filled with dead small crucian carps about three to five centimeters long, and the pit was full of flies and maggots.

"Come here quickly." Li Long called Li Qiang, "It happens every year. Stay away. It's very dirty."

These small crucian carps were small fish last year. They have grown big enough to lay eggs this winter. They are considered the basic fish in the small lake. As long as the water is irrigated and the gates are opened, this will happen. They are still small fish now, but in autumn, the ones left in these water pits will be big fish.

As for whether someone will find it and take it home?

Most of them will not be discovered, but a small part will be discovered - Li Long remembered that in his previous life, after Li Qiang grew up to ten years old, his habit was to go to drain the canal one or two days after watering, and he would usually return with a full load.

Because Li Qiang was good at playing, he later became the leader of the children. One day, he accidentally revealed the situation to another child under him, and this child revealed it to another child who was younger than Li Qiang but a little older than that child.

As a result, one time, before Li Long had the chance to slide down the canal, the older kid took a scoop net and slid all the way down the canal. When he came back, he brought back more than ten kilograms of palm-sized crucian carp, which he showed off to Li Qiang.

Li Qiang was furious that time.

This was the first time that Li Qiang was beaten and "betrayed" by society.

However, Li Long did not tell Li Qiang about this. Some experiences are inevitable in life. Even if they are lessons, people may not remember them even if others tell them about them. One has to experience them oneself to have a deep impression.

The three of them were pulling pig grass quickly. Li Long's bag was almost full, and Li Juan's bag was almost half full. Looking at the time, Li Long said:
"Let's go back. You can listen to the trumpet when you get back."

Li Qiang yelled "Ah!" and ran to the bicycle. At this time, the people working in the fields had not returned yet.

Li Long arranged the two bags of pig grass evenly, tied them up and placed them on both sides of the back seat of the bicycle. Then Li Juan sat at the back and Li Qiang sat on the big bar, and he pedaled the bicycle back.

On the way, he met Tao Daqiang's father, Tao Jianshe, driving a donkey cart to the fields. Li Long stopped the cart and asked:

"Uncle Tao, what are you doing?"

"Add some manure to the fields." Tao Jianshe said with a smile, "Daqiang is back, Xiaolong, thanks for your help."

"That's nothing." Li Long waved his hand and was about to leave. Tao Jianshe asked hurriedly:

"Da Qiang was thinking of asking you if you have caught any fish yet. My family still owes you money."

"I don't owe it to you anymore. The roe deer antlers are worth it." Li Long waved his hand, "I really don't owe it to you anymore. Okay, I'm going back."

Li Long rode his bike away from Chen. Tao Jianshe didn't expect that Li Long really settled the account.

Back home, Li Juan chopped pig grass, and Li Qiang helped put the chopped pig grass into the basket. Li Long opened the window, turned on the radio, and tuned in the Central People's Broadcasting Station so that both children could hear it.

He went to the spare room to get a piece of bacon, soaked it in water in the kitchen, and then soaked a handful of chili peppers.

While waiting for the cornmeal to boil, he made cornmeal paste, boiled water, and asked Li Qiang to watch. When the cornmeal paste boiled, Li Long had already gone to the vegetable garden to pull one or two onions and a handful of wild amaranth, preparing to stir-fry bacon.

At this time, the classic sound of "Da di da, da di da...the little loudspeaker starts broadcasting" came from the radio.

Li Qiang immediately patted Li Juan:
"Sister, sister! It's started, it's started!"

Li Long smiled and went out to cook. Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei worked hard, so Li Long planned to fry some bacon and some eggs. In this era, this was considered a big dish in ordinary people's homes.

When Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei came back, the food was already on the table - Li Long was a dough pancake stuck to the edge of the pot, one side was browned, and Li Qiang and Li Juan were eating one of the pancakes in small bites.

After working hard, they can have hot meals and the children are happy. Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei feel more comfortable.

There is no need to be polite when you are family. After dinner, Li Long said goodbye to Li Jianguo and went to the home of the village director Xu Chengjun.

"Xiaolong is here. Have you eaten yet? Did you sit down to eat?" Xu Chengjun was eating - or rather, he was drinking. He was the only one left at the table. Mingwa was not there. Ma Hongmei was cleaning up in the kitchen. Seeing Li Long coming over, she smiled and poured him a glass of water.

"I've eaten." Li Long smiled, sat opposite Xu Chengjun, and said, "Captain, the work is done. The supply and marketing cooperative received it smoothly, and I brought back the money. Look..."

"Then wait a minute." Xu Chengjun didn't drink much, so he was still clear-headed. He turned to Ma Hongmei and said, "Mingwa's mom, go ask Mingwa to call the accountant."

"I don't know where Mingwa has gone. Let me go. It's not far." Ma Hongmei wiped her hands with her apron and hurried out.

In less than five minutes, the village accountant Chen Qiang rushed into the yard carrying a tattered briefcase.

"Old Chen, Xiaolong said that he has settled the bill for the braiding and carrying handles. Please take care of the connection."

"Okay." Chen Qiang sat next to Li Long.

Li Long took out a wad of money from his inner pocket and put it on the table and said:

"A total of 307 porters were compiled. The supply and marketing cooperative passed the inspection. Each porter is five yuan. This is 1,535. Brother Chen Qiang, please count it."

"Okay." Chen Qiang took the stack of money, spat on his fingers and started counting quickly.

Ma Hongmei came back, looked at the stack of money, her eyes lit up, and then went back to the kitchen.

Chen Qiang counted twice, then nodded:

"Yes."

"Then give me a note and a receipt." Li Long said, "This way, this job is over for me."

"That's no problem." Chen Qiang was prepared. He took out paper and pen from his bag and started writing stroke by stroke using the bag as a cushion.

Nowadays, anyone who can be an accountant has good handwriting.

After Chen Qiang finished writing, he looked at Xu Chengjun. Xu Chengjun turned around and fumbled in the drawer of the table, took out the seal and ink, stamped the receipt, and handed it to Li Long.

Li Long took the receipt, read it carefully, and said with a smile:

"Then my business is over."

Just as he was about to get up and leave, Xu Chengjun hurriedly stopped him:

"Xiaolong, I heard... Is there still work to do in Qiu Shang?"

"Then we have to wait until autumn to talk about it?" Li Long smiled, "But then we can't just randomly appoint people, otherwise this job... won't be easy to do."

Xu Chengjun immediately assured:
"Xiaolong, you tell me which people we need. I will definitely not pick random people!"

(End of this chapter)