Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 203 I Want to Propose Marriage to Li Long
That night, Li Long stewed fish for his parents and made the same mashed fried fish he had made last time.

Du Chunfang meant to wait for Liang Yuemei to come back, and Li Long said directly:
"My eldest brother and his wife came back very late. They are tired from working in the fields all day. If you wait for them to cook, you won't be able to eat until dark. I don't have much to do, and my cooking is not bad. Mom, just try my cooking!"

Du Chunfang didn't say anything. She could cook fish herself, but she usually used a small stove at home. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to cook such a big pot of fish well.

Tao Daqiang returned carrying two or three kilograms of fish. Li Long and his parents peeled the fish together. Li Juan had also returned. She brought firewood and was waiting to start a fire.

Seeing that his uncle was going to cook fish, Li Qiang also came over. There was laughter and conversation in the yard, and it was quite lively.

When Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei came back, the stewed fish and fried fish were already on the table. Li Long picked up some fish for the two children and let them eat first. The adults waited for Li Jianguo and others to come back before eating.

Everyone enjoyed the meal very much.

The next morning, Li Long and Tao Daqiang got up early to get the fish. After returning to select the fish, Li Long took Li Juan away on his bike, while Tao Daqiang went back to eat and then came back to pick up the net.

Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang helped pick up the nets. They wanted to go to the fields to have a look, but Li Jianguo said that these two days were the most critical time for weeding, so he would take them there when he had free time. Farming in the northern Xinjiang was different from back home, so there was no rush.

It was already noon when Li Long came back from selling fish. When he came back, Du Chunfang had already prepared the meal.

After dinner, Du Chunfang insisted on going to see where Li Long lived, so Li Long took his parents to Laomahao.

When she first heard that it was the Lao Ma No. 1, Du Chunfang's face suddenly fell. She felt that her youngest son must have been wronged. However, when she arrived at the Lao Ma No. 1 and saw that it was so big, the house was very clean, the furniture and bedding were all new, and there was also a kitchen, and there were people to keep her company, her expression eased.

Uncle Luo knew that Li Long's parents were here, so he greeted them warmly and praised Li Long a few words before going to rest.

"Look, the room I live in is bigger than the one you live in." Li Long said in the room, "The bed and furniture are all newly made, made of pine wood, good stuff. Are you relieved now?"

"Don't worry, don't worry." Du Chunfang nodded vigorously, "Xiao Longni is already 22 years old, it's time for him to find a wife. It's not good to always live in your eldest brother's house."

"I know that, so you don't have to worry about it." When Li Long heard his mother say this, he remembered what he and Gu Xiaoxia said about not rushing, and felt like he was shooting himself in the foot. "Think about me, a grown man, am I still worried about not being able to find a partner?"

"Your elder brother said last year that you found someone from the same village. How are you doing now?" Li Qingxia asked, remembering the telegram Li Jianguo sent home last year in which he mentioned this matter.

"That person is gone. I used my brother's money to get a job in the factory," Li Long explained. "Then I was fired by the factory and we broke up."

"It seems that girl is not good enough." Du Chunfang thought her youngest son was good in every way, so she couldn't help but say, "It's better to find a girl from my hometown, who knows her background, is capable of work, and is honest!"

Seeing that his mother was going to introduce him to a daughter-in-law from his hometown, Li Long waved his hand and said:

"No, no, no, mom, I already have a date, a school teacher, a government employee. I'm busy now, so I won't bring her to meet you. I'll let you meet her when I'm free."

Du Chunfang was half-believing and half-doubting, and Li Long regretted that he should have told the truth from the beginning.

Li Qingxia changed the subject and asked Li Long:

“How much can you sell fish for in a day?”

"About 30 or 40 yuan." Li Long said, "There are not many people selling fish now. If we wait for a while, the price of fish will drop and we won't be able to sell it for that much money."

"That's a lot!" Hearing that he could sell 30 or 40 yuan a day, Li Qingxia was also tempted, "Then I'll go with you to see when the fish is on sale?"

"So what do you think? You can't get up that early?"

"How can you not get up that early? When you get up, just call me." Li Qingxia said with a smile, "Although I have never sold fish, I also sold ginger and pears when I was young to support my family. I sold them with a cart, and I can also shout. Isn't this just selling things?"

Li Long thought that was true. As long as he could put down his face and shout loudly, the fish could basically be sold in this era of material shortage. After all, there were many salaried workers in northern Xinjiang, especially in Shicheng, and the wages were relatively high, so the market potential was quite large.

"Okay, tomorrow is Sunday and Xiaojuan doesn't have school, so let's go together."

"I've thought of a good idea." Li Qingxia said with a smile, "When you cast your nets today, I'll get a new fishing tackle. Tomorrow morning we'll go get the fish together. You sell your fish and I sell mine!"

Li Long was a little curious. What solution could his father come up with?
After Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang returned, he asked Du Chunfang to find a new sock, then cut off the top of the sock, leaving only the waist of the sock. He then went to the kitchen to find a cage cloth (gauze), cut a hole in the middle, and sewed the waist of the sock in the middle of the cage cloth.

Finally, Li Qingxia found a wash basin, covered the cage cloth on the wash basin, and tied a rope along the bottom of the basin tightly, so that it could not be pulled apart. That was it. All that was left was to find another rope to tie a triangle buckle, which was just the right balance to lift the basin. He grabbed a handful of oil residue from the pig feed and stuffed it into the basin through the waist of his socks. The fish catching artifact was ready.

"Will this thing work?" Du Chunfang understood immediately after seeing it. She was a little unsure and asked, "Are there really those fish there?"

"You see, tomorrow I will go with Xiaolong to get the net, and I will definitely catch a lot of fish in this pot!" Li Qingxia was full of confidence.

When Li Long and Tao Daqiang came to pick up the tires and nets in the afternoon, they saw the "basin net" made by Li Qingxia.

Li Long understood it immediately and said with a smile:
"Dad, this is a good idea. You will definitely catch a lot of fish! There are ditch fish in this small lake, which is a kind of loach. They taste delicious and they like to go in here!"

"Haha, that's good!" Li Qingxia felt a little proud and a little surprised after getting the affirmation from his youngest son. He didn't expect that Li Long could see the mystery of his "magic weapon" for fishing at a glance.

Li Long had naturally seen a lot of this in his previous life, but most of the people who used this trick were children. They would take a can, make a hole in it, and throw some steamed bread crumbs or something in it, which could also attract fish.

The three of them carried tires, nets and basins all the way to Xiaohaizi. When they met people working in the fields on the way, Li Long would enthusiastically introduce his father.

Li Qingxia was still a little uncomfortable and a little shy, but he soon discovered that his son Li Long was quite popular.

When they reached the small lake, Li Long sat on a tire and carried the net into the lake to lower the net. Li Qingxia looked at the water, searching for a suitable spot to place the net, and asked Tao Daqiang:
"Daqiang, I see you want to go down and cast the net too, right?"

"Yeah, I just can't do it. Look at Brother Long paddling while using his mouth to cast the net. I can only watch him do this. I have tried many times but I can't learn it. In fact, I also practiced it when I was picking up the net at home, but I just can't do it..."

Only then did Li Qingxia notice that his son Li Long was in the lake, paddling forward with both hands, holding the net in his mouth in an orderly manner. As the tire moved backwards, the net was lowered into the water little by little, without any disorder.

"This kid is really capable." Li Qingxia said with a smile.

"Uncle Li, you have the same technique as Brother Long, right? I see you cast the net so well, so he must have learned how to catch fish from you, right?"

Tao Daqiang's words choked Li Qingxia. He turned his head to look at Tao Daqiang, and after confirming that the boy was not being sarcastic but was genuinely showing admiration, he said vaguely:
"Casting a net, that's something I learned at home. Xiaolong is smart and likes to think, so he can come up with many ways if he thinks more..."

"Well, Brother Long is smart." Tao Daqiang said with certainty.

Li Qingxia looked at this silly young man and laughed. This brat!

When Li Long came back with the tire, Li Qingxia pointed to the reeds less than five meters from the shore and said to him:
"Xiaolong, put the basin there, let water fill it and let it sink, then tie the rope to the reed."

"Okay." Li Long took the basin, paddled the tire over and lowered the basin into the water.

"Let's go back." Li Long said.

I didn't bring a cast net today. The main reason was that we had eaten fish for two days in a row, and everyone agreed that we couldn't eat any more.

Li Qingxia was still a little unwilling, but he didn't want to eat fish anymore.

When I have eaten enough fish, I will go back to my hometown and tell people about it. I think they will laugh - how is that possible?
But that's what it is.

The three of them returned to the yard. Tao Daqiang went back to his home first. Seeing that Li Juan had not returned yet, Li Long began to prepare pig food. On the way back, he also picked up some pig grass and chopped it first.

Du Chunfang saw his youngest son tinkering with pig food and wanted to help, but Li Long waved his hand hastily:

"Mom, don't move. I'll do this."

"How can a grown man like you do this?" Du Chunfang was wondering why Li Juan hadn't come back yet.

Li Juan can do these jobs when she comes back.

"Why not? We have a capable man in our team who can sew shoe soles, knit sweaters, weave mats, and weave baskets." Li Longtou responded without even looking up.

This is a really good thing about the team. People from all over the country come here to live together, so there are no bad habits from other places. Basically, there is no preference for boys over girls. If a man does the work that women generally do, people in the team will only praise him for his ability, and he will not be accused of being henpecked or something - in fact, it's not that they are afraid of their wives. The couple works together to live a good life, and that is their ability.

"Is there anything like this?" What Li Long said somewhat overturned Du Chunfang's three views. Is there anything like this?

"Why not? Look at my sister-in-law, she works just as well as my brother in the fields." After chopping the pig grass, Li Long felt that it was not enough, so he ran to the vegetable garden and pulled a few more handfuls of seedlings and chopped them together. When he thought it was almost done, he put it in the pot and lit the fire to cook.

Li Juan came back humming a song with her schoolbag on her back. Seeing Li Long cooking pig food, she hurried over and said with some guilt:

"Uncle, I'm back late..."

"Why late?" Li Long said with a smile while lighting the fire, "I'll give you a day off today. You'll work every day when you come back. Go play today. Remember to come back for dinner later. I'll steam some buns for you later!"

"Really?"

"Of course it's true. Have you finished your homework?"

"I have finished writing it and checked it."

"Go ahead then."

"Yeah!" Li Juan nodded vigorously, put down her schoolbag, said hello to her grandparents, and ran out to play.

"You really spoil her." Du Chunfang muttered while sitting at the door.

"When I first came here, my elder brother and his wife also spoiled me..." Li Long stopped talking halfway because he was burning with anger.

Think about the development of the previous life. My elder brother really spoiled me. Later, even Li Qiang went to work in the fields. What about me? I can go if I want to, and I can not go if I don’t want to... It’s really fucking...

At this moment, Li Long's nose felt a little sour. He looked up at the sky and changed the subject:
"Dad, it's sunny tomorrow. Are you really going to go to the street to sell fish?"

"Of course I have to go. I'll also take a look at what the market is like here."

"Mom, are you going?" Li Long turned and asked Du Chunfang. He thought that if his mother wanted to go, he would drive the carriage to sell fish.

"No, I don't like the hustle and bustle. Wouldn't it be nice to stay at home and bask in the sun? The sun here is much better than the one back home." Du Chunfang prefers quietness to movement.

"So what do you like to eat? I'll buy it for you then."

"What do you like to eat? The meat stewed by your sister-in-law is very good. I really like it..." Du Chunfang said with a bit of embarrassment, "It's just too wasteful. How can we eat meat every day? Even the landlords can't eat meat every day. We eat white flour buns every day..."

"What's the problem? We don't have that saying here." Li Long said, "Don't wait, we have meat at home, I'll cook it for you later."

After the pig food was cooked, Li Long scraped it out, changed the pot to boil water, and went to the kitchen to knead the dough.

Du Chunfang wanted to help, but Li Long asked her to wait outside. The chopping boards here are different from those in his hometown, and steamed buns are steamed in two or three layers. Du Chunfang is not tall, so she is definitely not used to it.

Watching Li Qingxia looking at the vegetable garden and the pigs, Du Chunfang was furious. She scolded the old man:
"Don't you know how to help? See Xiaolong busying himself there?"

"How can I help? I can't even cook!" Li Qingxia said confidently. He really didn't know how to steam buns or make a big pot of rice.

Even if you went out to earn money when you were young, such as selling ginger, you didn't have to cook. You could just bring some cornmeal cakes with a piece of ginger as your meal.

Du Chunfang became even angrier, but there was nothing she could do.

"You know Xiaolong is so capable, the wife he marries in the future will be very happy." She suddenly had a new idea.

"Don't try to be a matchmaker! Xiaolong said it himself, he has a boyfriend!" Li Qingxia knew his wife's thoughts best, "Don't let it end up like Xiaolong and you are not close, then you can just cry."

"We don't kiss much now..." Du Chunfang complained in a low voice.

"No? No, he's going to make braised pork for you just because you said you wanted to eat it? Why didn't he ask me what I wanted to eat?"

Hearing her husband say this, Du Chunfang smiled a little embarrassedly.

Yes, my son is very close to me!

(End of this chapter)