Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 202: The Worrying Mother and the Curious Father
The family sat in the carriage. Li Jianguo drove slowly. Li Qingxia had been here once before, but that was many years ago. Looking back now, it seems that some changes have taken place.

Du Chunfang was here for the first time and was curious about everything. He looked south and saw mountains dozens of kilometers away. He murmured:

"This is on the edge of a mountain. This place is really big. There's so much land. Why aren't they planting crops?"

"No one." It was the first time for Li Long to ride a carriage home like this, and he was a little curious. He responded to his mother's words:

"The total population of a county in northern Xinjiang is less than that of a town in my hometown. There are more land and fewer people, so naturally there won't be so much wasteland to be reclaimed."

"How about Boss, can we start a family here and raise Xiaolong?" Li Qingxia took over the conversation, "There's plenty of land here, so we can have enough to eat..."

"The boss has suffered too." Du Chunfang was silent for a moment and murmured.

Li Jianguo laughed: "Why suffer? That's all in the past. Life is good now."

"You two brothers work together, how can life be good?" Li Qingxia said with a smile, "One of you farms and the other hunts, what a beautiful life it is... Xiaolong, are you guys fishing? I didn't see any rivers when I came here last time?"

"There's no river, but there's a small lake, just like a small lake." Li Long heard that his father really loved to play, so he said, "There are a lot of fish there, and you can catch three to five kilograms with just a casual cast of the net."

"Three to five kilograms? That's less than ten kilograms, right?" Li Qingxia's eyes widened. "How many fish are there?"

"Of course. When Xiaolong uses a sticky net, he can catch 60 to 70 kilograms of fish at a time. Otherwise, how could he sell them for that much money..."

Li Qingxia showed a shocked expression again.

There is a big river beside the village, just like the lyrics of the song "A big river with wide waves". Li Long heard from his elder brother Li Jianguo that during the famine years, the villagers relied on the big river to cross the river. However, there are not as many fish in the river as in the small lake here, or there are more people eating, so naturally there can't be so many fish.

The carriage leisurely returned home more than an hour later, and it was noon.

When he arrived at the yard, Li Long smelled a rich aroma - he thought his sister-in-law would cook a table full of dishes today.

Hearing the sound of the carriage, Liang Yuemei came out of the house, and Li Qiang followed her out, looking at the two old men in the carriage curiously.

"Dad, Mom!" Liang Yuemei greeted them with a smile, "You must be tired on the way here, come down and take a rest, I have the tea cold and the meal is ready..."

Li Qingxia smiled and got off the carriage. He nodded to Liang Yuemei, then bent down and looked at Li Qiang:

"You are Qiangqiang, right? Do you know who I am?"

"Grandpa!" Li Qiang was not afraid of the stage. The changes in his family life over the past six months had given him enough confidence. "You are grandpa!"

"Ugh!"

Liang Yuemei touched Li Qiang again, and Li Qiang shouted at Du Chunfang:

"grandmother!"

Du Chunfang was getting off the car when he heard his grandson shouting. He hurriedly got off the car and took out a pancake from the package and handed it over:
"Hey, hey! My dear grandson! Qiangqiang, right? Come and eat. This is the sesame seed cake that your uncle loved to eat when he was a child..."

Sitting down to eat, Li Long looked at the table: braised pork, stewed spareribs, fried eggs with leeks, fried mushrooms...

The main food is rice.

"This is not enough..." Du Chunfang looked at the dishes and muttered, "How much do we have to eat in one meal... This is not how we live..."

"Mom, what are you talking about?" Li Long knew that his mother would not easily say anything nice, so he took advantage of his youngest son's favor and said, "Sister-in-law, I made this table of dishes because you haven't been here for so many years. This is to welcome you! Besides, this meat is free, so you can eat it if you want..."

"Without spending money? How is that possible?"

"Didn't I tell you? My elder brother and his wife farm and earn work points, and I hunt and fish... Come on, I'll take you to the vacant house."

Li Long took his mother to the vacant house to look at the hanging meat, and only then did Du Chunfang believe that there was really a lot of meat in this house.

"Then... the landlords didn't have that much meat back then." Du Chunfang murmured, "Even the landlord couldn't live like this, right?"

After the episode, everyone had dinner. Li Long asked Liang Yuemei:
"Sister-in-law, did you leave it for Juan?"

"I kept some." Liang Yuemei said with a smile, "I made a lot of everything, so I served some for her."

Li Qingxia has a big appetite and didn't eat well on the train these days, so he had a delicious meal. Du Chunfang has a small appetite, so she only ate half a bowl of rice and two pieces of braised pork, and then she said she was full.

"The meat is cooked so well, it's so tender," she said. "I've never eaten meat so tender... I don't have so much firewood at home to cook this meat - it's so good here!"

Liang Yuemei saw that her mother-in-law ate little and thought that she was not used to the food or that she did not cook well. After hearing this, she laughed.

"Dad and Mom, you guys sleep in this room. I have another place to sleep." Li Long took Li Qingxia to the east room and said, "Take a break at noon. I'll take you around in the afternoon. It's ok at home. My eldest brother and his wife still have to work in the fields. There are more than ten acres of land, and there is a lot of work. They are busy..."

"Where do you live then? Is that place okay?"

"Why not?" Li Long said with a smile, "It's bigger than our yard, with new furniture, and I can sleep in a big room by myself. It's great!"

After Li Long left, Du Chunfang sorted out clothes in the east room and asked Li Qingxia:
"You said Xiaolong should live somewhere else. Will it be good there? Will he have to sleep with others? I see there is a room in the west wing where two children can live alone. Why bother? Just squeeze in with the adults..."

"Stop making trouble!" Li Qingxia complained:

"Didn't you see? Xiaolong doesn't even have a callus on his hands, which means he is not a worker. What young man doesn't work at home? Look at him, he is clean and white, and he is dressed like a city person. What does it mean? It means that his elder brother and his wife have not treated him badly!
We couldn't afford to raise it, so we left Xiaolong here for several years. By then, Xiaolong grew like a bean sprout and could be blown down by a gust of wind!
Where is he now? He is 1.8 meters tall, taller than his elder brother, and looks strong and healthy, which means he eats well and sleeps well! The two brothers have a good relationship and there is no conflict. Xiaolong is also sensible, that's all! Don't make trouble anymore, or we will leave after two days and don't make trouble here!"

"Okay, okay, I'm just worried about whether Xiaolong can sleep well..." Du Chunfang muttered, "I know they are doing well. I haven't seen them for many years. I just feel that... Xiaolong and I are not that close anymore..."

"How can he be close to us? He was sent here at such a young age. He was raised by his elder brother and his wife. How can he be close to us? Just be content. His elder sister-in-law didn't give you the cold shoulder and even cooked a table of dishes for you. That's good enough. Try someone else? Just try in the whole village of Lilou. Which daughter-in-law can do this?"

"That's true." Du Chunfang also admitted this, "The boss is living a really good life here..."

"Don't say anything when you get back." Li Qingxia remembered the things Li Jianguo had mentioned on the way, "otherwise, if a bunch of relatives come here, they won't be able to take care of them all."

"I know, I know. I won't say anything. Just watch your mouth!" Du Chunfang packed her clothes and suddenly said, "No, I have to go to Xiaolong's place this afternoon to check on him. Otherwise, I won't be at ease."

Li Qingxia sighed and let her be.

When Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei went to work in the fields, they greeted Li Qingxia. Li Qingxia said he wanted to go to the fields to take a look, but Li Jianguo refused, saying that they should have a good rest first and there was no rush.

In the yard, Du Chunfang looked at the vegetable garden and murmured:
"This place is really spacious. Who in my hometown has a vegetable garden this big? This must be an acre of land, right?"

"Yes." Li Qingxia nodded, "The food-ration fields we have divided up are not even this much."

Li Long and Tao Daqiang came over together. Tao Daqiang was holding two bottles of wine and two cans of food.

Seeing Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang in the yard, Tao Daqiang looked at Li Long a little stiffly, and then shouted:
"Uncle, Mama!" "Dad, Mom, this is Daqiang, he's fishing with me."

"Okay, okay." Li Qingxia said with a smile, "You are a really strong young man. This is a good name! Are you going to catch fish now?"

"Well, let's go set the nets now and pick up the fish tomorrow morning. Then I'll go to the county town to sell the fish, and Daqiang will stay at home to pick up the nets."

"That's great, I'll go with you..."

"Mom, then you stay at home." Li Long said to Du Chunfang, "Juan will be back soon. Those who can come to the yard are all members of the team, there are no bad people, is that okay?"

"Why not?" Du Chunfang said with a smile, "This is our own home, if we can do it, we can do it."

Li Qingxia watched curiously as Li Long and Tao Daqiang took the tires, water-skiing boards, and sticky nets, changed into old shoes, and carried them to Xiaohaizi.

"Why are you still using this?" Li Qingxia was a little confused about the tire.

"The water is deep, so we need to go to the deep water area to cast the net. We have to paddle to the area two or three meters deep." Li Long said, "There are more fish in the deep water area."

"What kind of fish are there here?" Li Qingxia was now like a curious baby, asking non-stop.

"Carp, crucian carp, black carp, ditch fish, and the like."

"Five black stripes? I haven't seen that yet." Li Qingxia said with a smile, "Back home, we have crucian carp, carp, as well as kudzu fin (yellow croaker), black carp..."

We walked and chatted and soon arrived at Xiaohaizi.

"This water surface... is not small." Li Qingxia said after taking a look at the small lake.

"Uncle, this one is not big. There is another big sea behind it. That one is much bigger." Tao Daqiang said, "But there is no grass in the water there, so the fish there are not tasty."

"It's not about whether it tastes good or not. It's good enough if it's edible." Li Qingxia said, "It's also because you have a lot of fish here... If it were in my hometown..."

He didn't continue.

Li Long lowered the tire and took the net to the deep water area to lower the net, while Tao Daqiang watched on the shore.

Li Qingxia saw a bag on the shore and asked:

"What's that?"

"Uncle, that's casting a net." Tao Daqiang said honestly.

"There's also a casting net? Let me try it." Li Qingxia immediately bent down, picked up the bag, and took out the casting net.

"It's still a new net." He looked at it and said with a smile, "Can we spread it here?"

"We have to find a place without reed roots, otherwise it will be troublesome if we get caught." Tao Daqiang is an honest child and he hasn't realized that the person in front of him is an experienced fisherman.

Li Qingxia weighed the casting net, tested its weight, and then began to sort the net.

Looking at Li Qingxia's skillful movements, Tao Daqiang immediately thought, no wonder Brother Long is so good at catching fish, it must be a family inheritance!
He naturally didn't know that when Li Long was in his hometown, he didn't really follow Li Qingxia to catch fish. It wasn't allowed in those days.

After the net was arranged, Li Qingxia looked at the water surface, twisted his waist and swung the net. The net spread out like a dark cloud, and then "swished" it fell on the water surface, revealing an almost perfect circle.

"Uncle, you cast the net very well!" Tao Daqiang praised sincerely.

"It's okay, it's okay." Li Qingxia said as he slowly retracted the net.

He could already feel a fish moving in the net, with quite a bit of force. From the feel in his hand, he knew that the fish must have weighed at least two kilograms!
When the net was mostly out of the water, the fish began to flutter. Li Qingxia was surprised:

“Are there so many fish in this water?”

In the big river in my hometown, we usually cast three or four nets, and it's good enough if we can catch fish in one of them. It's all about luck.

How can you get so much from just one network?

According to Tao Daqiang, there are five or six kilograms of fish in this net, both large and small. Most of them are small crucian carp, the largest is a silver carp weighing more than one kilogram, and there is a carp weighing less than one kilogram.

"There are a lot of fish in this small lake," Tao Daqiang explained. "There are also reeds and grass, so there are a lot of fish."

After picking up all the fish, Li Qingxia cast the net again. This time the net was still very round, but there were not as many fish as last time. There were more than one kilogram of small fish.

This is also very fun, there are fish every time.

At home, Du Chunfang walked around the vegetable garden, looked at the well, the courtyard wall, and the piglets she was feeding. Everything seemed new to her.

When Li Juan came to the yard with her schoolbag, she saw Du Chunfang standing in front of the pigpen.

Her parents had already told her the day before, so she knew that this was her grandmother, so she walked over quickly, smiling and shouting:
"grandmother!"

"Hey!" Du Chunfang turned around, looked at Li Juan, and said with a smile: "You are Juan, right? You have grown so big... You must be tired of carrying this schoolbag? Put it down and eat. Your mother has saved some food for you in the kitchen. She fried a lot of meat today!"

"Okay." Li Juan was no longer so nervous. She went back to the room, put down her schoolbag, served herself some rice and started eating.

Du Chunfang moved a small stool and sat next to Li Juan, watching her eat and asking her questions like what grade she was in, how her studies were going, whether she did any housework, etc.

"Grandma, I am the one who cuts the grass for the pigs at home." Li Juan said proudly, "I finish my homework at school every day, and then come back to cut grass to feed the pigs..."

"Hey! Juan is really capable!" Du Chunfang praised, "She can help with housework now..."

Although Du Chunfang is somewhat biased towards boys, to be honest, with the Li family's current living conditions, it is not a problem to send two children to school, and she will not say much.

After finishing her meal, Li Juan cleaned up quickly, said something to Du Chunfang, and went to cut grass with a basket and a small sickle.

Less than half an hour later, Li Qingxia, Li Long and Tao Daqiang came back chatting and laughing.

In addition to the tires and casting nets, there was also half a urea bag filled with various fish.

"Xiaolong's mother, look how many fish I caught!" Li Qingxia showed the urea bag to Du Chunfang, "There are so many fish in this small lake... Just catch them!"

Du Chunfang was also shocked. Are there really so many fish?

(End of this chapter)