Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 204 This fishing artifact is awesome!
Du Chunfang was worried that Li Long had steamed buns and braised pork, and Liang Yuemei would be unhappy when she came back. Unexpectedly, Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei didn't look surprised at all when they came back.

She began to understand that it should be normal for Li Long not to work and only cook occasionally at home.

Du Chunfang was a little confused.

This is different from my hometown.

Although eating braised pork at night is greasy and puts a heavy burden on the stomach, to be honest, in this age where having meat to eat is happiness, even if the Li family eats meat often, this very well-cooked braised pork is a rare delicacy.

Everyone enjoyed the meal happily and no one thought about whether they would have indigestion or something.

The next day, Li Long and Tao Daqiang got up early and came to get the tires to get the net. Li Qingxia came out of the door with his clothes on and asked:

"Leave now?"

"Let's go now." Li Long said, "Dad, you should wear more clothes. It's cold here this early in the morning."

"It's cooler than my hometown." Li Qingxia sneezed, went back obediently to change into a thick coat, and then came out and followed Li Long to Xiaohaizi.

Du Chunfang couldn't sleep, so he got up, tidied himself, went out, looked around the yard, went to the firewood pile, and slowly carried a bundle of corn stalks to the stove.

Although she didn't do much work at home, she was not used to just eating all day without working.

The daughters and sons in the family have all married and moved out, and the old couple eat and live on their own. Occasionally, they would go to the second son's or the eldest daughter's house. When they went to their daughter's house, they were just guests and would leave after staying for a while. When they went to their son's house, the daughter-in-law was a bit powerful and she couldn't stay there either.

Her eldest son and his wife were very nice here and never gave her a hard time. The food was also good, but she couldn't stay idle.

Even if you can't do anything, you can always make a fire.

Li Juan and Li Qiang also got up early.

This is the strange thing about children. They usually sleep well and have to be woken up every day to go to school. But on weekends, they wake up early and are very energetic.

"Mom, mom! My grandma is carrying firewood to make a fire!" Li Qiang was in the house. He saw Du Chunfang going to the stove through the window and hurried to tell Liang Yuemei.

Liang Yuemei hurriedly opened the door and went out, seeing Du Chunfang preparing to boil water, and said:

"Mom, take a rest, let me do it!"

"It's okay, I just need to boil some water. I can't cook your meal, but I can boil water." Du Chunfang said with a smile, "Just do your thing. We have two kids and so much land to take care of. It's busy enough..."

Hearing what her mother-in-law said, Liang Yuemei felt a lump in her throat, and felt that all her years of hard work were at least not in vain.

Rural women of this era have been working hard for many years without complaint, asking for nothing else, they really just need some affirmation.

When they arrived at Xiaohaizi, Li Long was still pushing the tire into the water. At this time, Tao Daqiang said:
"Brother Long, I'll go down. Don't worry, even if I encounter a big fish this time, I won't be so anxious."

"Okay, you try it." Li Long handed the tire to Tao Daqiang.

"Then I'll go check on my pot." Li Qingxia was a little anxious, "Don't worry about me..."

"Dad, the water is cold now. Wait for Daqiang to retrieve the net and take the basin with him."

"It's okay, it's okay," Li Qingxia bent down and touched the water, and said with a smile:

"The water isn't that cold. I'm a good swimmer. When I was young, I could wade in water up to my waist in a big river. Now that I'm old, I can't even wade up to my chest. You'll see."

As he said this, Li Qingxia took off his coat, jumped into the water with his shoes on.

What surprised Li Long was that after entering the water, Li Qingxia floated up quickly, without any movement of his hands. The water went directly to his abdomen, and then turned and went to the reeds that tied the basin.

Absolutely!

Li Long didn't know if he had the ability to do so. It was good enough that he could swim freestyle. After all, at least half of the team members couldn't swim, and most of the remaining ones who could swim could only swim the backstroke and paddle stroke. What he did was considered pretty good.

I didn’t expect the old man to be so good at swimming!

Li Qingxia proudly swam back with the basin in his hand, but when he swam back, his body had obviously sunk, with only his head and shoulders exposed.

Li Long immediately realized that there were a lot of things in this pot!
Fearing that it would affect his father's swimming process, Li Long did not dare to ask until Li Qingxia swam back to the shallow shore and stepped on the solid ground. Then Li Long asked:
"Dad, are there a lot of fish?"

"Too many! Too many! It's almost bursting!"

When Li Qingxia took the pot and showed it to Li Long, Li Long really understood what a bursting pot meant!

The basin was filled with fish so full that it had even lifted up the cage cloth!
If the cage cloth hadn't been tied tightly with ropes, it would have probably burst!
This is called "explosion"!

Compared to this, those who posted videos saying "explosive protection" in the previous life were really weak!

Li Long hurriedly took the basin of fish and felt a sudden heaviness in his hand. This basin must weigh at least ten kilograms!
Li Long stretched out his hand and took a handful of fish. It was slippery and turned out to be mostly ditch fish!
It's the alpine flower loach!
This is a good thing! Even if you sell it on the street, as long as there are people who know the goods, it will sell very quickly - after all, there is no breeding of loaches in northern Xinjiang yet, and some gourmets, like the old Ma who walked away, just like this!
Three people, Tao Daqiang carrying two bags of fish, Li Long carrying a tire, and Li Qingxia holding a large basin of fish, talked and laughed as they walked quickly home.

"Wow, you caught so many fish today?" Wang Caimi, who was picking up manure on the road, looked at the scene and said with a smile, "The fish in the small lake are surnamed Li. You can catch as many fish as you want..."

"No." Li Long knew that Wang Caimi was a bit jealous, but actually meant no harm. He said, "The fish is wild, so whoever catches it owns it. The problem is that if you don't catch it, you'll just leave it there anyway, right? It's just like this piece of shit. I can't say that all the shit on the team has the surname Wang, right?"

Li Long's response choked Wang Caimi, who went to pick up manure with a dry laugh.

When they returned to the Li family's home, Liang Yuemei was cooking at the stove, Du Chunfang was lighting the fire, and the two were chatting. Li Jianguo was feeding the horses in the stable, and Li Juan and Li Qiang were playing in the yard.

Seeing the three people coming back, Li Juan quickly spread out the plastic sheet on the wall, and then dragged the large washing basin over. Li Qiang also came to help, and then looked curiously at the bulging basin that Li Qingxia was holding.

"Master, what's in here?"

"What? Fish!" Li Qingxia said in a loud and proud voice, "Come, I'll pour it out of the basin and show you!"

As he said this, he untied the rope. The rope was tied very tightly and it took a while to untie it. By this time, Tao Daqiang had already poured the two bags of nets onto the plastic sheet, and Li Long also put down the tire and came over to take a look.

"Wow!"

The fish poured into the large basin like flowing water, covering one-third of the basin, and many of the fish immediately began to jump up.

Li Long took a look and found that there were mainly ditch fish, small crucian carp, and a few whitebait in the basin. "This fish is beautiful!" Li Jianguo came over to take a look, "There are also ditch fish this big - as long as chopsticks, which is rare!"

"Juan, Qiangqiang, take some over there. After peeling them, I'll wrap them in oil and fry them for you!" Li Long said with a smile, "These small crucian carps and ditch fish are the most delicious when fried."

"That's a waste of oil, frying fish..." Du Chunfang said habitually, but before she finished her words, she realized that this was her eldest son's home.

"That's nothing!" Li Long smiled. "I'm going to sell fish today, and I'll get some oil when I come back! We have sunflowers planted in our fields, and when we harvest the sunflower seeds in the fall, we won't be short of oil anymore!"

"Great!" Upon hearing that he could eat fried fish, Li Qiang shouted, "I'll go get the scissors now!"

"I'll go get the chicken feeding bowl!" Li Juan was also happy. The chicken feeding bowl is used to hold fish offal, which chickens especially like to eat.

"Just spoil them both!" Liang Yuemei seemed to be complaining, but there was a smile on her face. Her brother-in-law doted on the children so much that she, as a mother, had nothing to say.

Li Jianguo chuckled, then squatted down and selected fish with Tao Daqiang who was selecting fish silently.

Tao Daqiang was envious, and he also hoped to treat his nephew like Li Long treated Li Juan and Li Qiang.

But can my brother and sister-in-law treat me like Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei did?

"This fish is still a little small." Li Qingxia was not satisfied. "Can it be sold?"

"Dad, don't worry. People who know how to eat fish love this ditch fish." Li Long said with a smile as he selected the fish. "This fish has only one bone, and it doesn't have as many small bones as other fish. Although it's small, it's delicious when stewed in soup. It's also delicious when stewed. People also like it when fried into dumplings. It will definitely sell well!"

If it weren't for the fact that it's difficult to catch ditch fish with sticky nets, Li Long would also hope to get some of these fish to sell.

The loach is nearly twice as expensive as ordinary fish even if it is farmed. There is a reason for this. It is not only delicious and has few bones, but also has nutritional reasons.

After the fish were picked, Li Long pushed out the bicycle. He thought for a moment and said:
"Dad, your legs are long, it's not convenient for you to ride a bicycle, how about we take a horse carriage?"

"That won't work, right? I see you sell fish so early every day, and the bicycle is faster, so when will the horse carriage arrive?" Li Qingxia said with a smile, "It's okay, as long as you can lead me, I'll sit sideways."

I can only sit sideways, after all, I have to put the fish bag in.

The two of them didn't eat either. Li Long took Li Qingxia and rode their bicycles quickly to the county town.

On the way, Li Qingxia said:
"Xiaolong, please teach me when you have time. I also need to learn how to ride a bicycle. This thing is really useful. It runs on two wheels and it's so fast!"

"Okay, I can practice when I get back." Li Long said as he rode. The current traffic environment, except for the poor road conditions, is really suitable for practicing. There are few people, and cars... not few, but almost none, so there is no need to worry about accidents. People are also resistant to falling, and it doesn't feel like a big deal if they fall, unlike in later generations, where a slight bump can cause bone fractures.

Li Long took the old man to the big yard, opened the door and took out the basin and scale. The old man asked with a look of surprise:
"Xiaolong, who owns this yard?"

"It's an old man named Ma. I used to sell fish to him. He went to Shanghai to visit his son. Now I am the only one looking after this yard."

"This courtyard is really nice!" Li Qingxia sighed, "The landlords in our city probably only live in courtyards like this. To be able to live in a courtyard like this..."

"Then wait two days, I will bring you and mom here to stay for a few days. After Lao Ma left, he said that I can live here too, any way I want is fine."

"That won't work," Li Qingxia immediately shook his head, "It's not appropriate for us to live in someone else's yard, so we won't live there."

Li Long didn't force it. He took the things and pushed the cart to the free market.

Li Qingxia followed Li Long and looked around curiously, saying as he walked:
"There are not many people in this county in northern Xinjiang. If you compare it to my hometown, there are quite a few people in this county. There are also few houses in this county, especially old houses..."

Li Long brought Li Qingxia to the market, where more people came.

Li Qingxia turned slowly, and was quite curious about the things here.

Li Long found a place on the edge, propped up his bicycle, put down the basin, and first poured in the ditch fish and small crucian carp, and then poured in the two bags of fish he brought, dividing them into large and small ones.

Three pots placed in a row immediately attracted a lot of people's attention.

That’s because there are not many basins in Lao Ma’s kitchen, otherwise there wouldn’t be enough space.

"Fish for sale! Fresh mountain loaches, fresh wild crucian carp, big carp, silver carp and black carp. Selling at a low price!"

Li Long pushed the cart along the way and looked around. There were four or five fish sellers, and the number was increasing. There were also many kinds of fish, including crucian carp, carp and silver carp. The competition was a bit intense.

Fortunately, those fish are not as beautiful as his, and he also has ditch fish, that is, flower loach, to attract everyone's attention, so he is not at all empty-handed.

Li Long's shouting not only attracted many people to buy things, but also called Li Qingxia over.

He immediately came to Li Long's side and began to greet the guests.

It was agreed in advance that small crucian carp was 80 cents per kilogram, carp with five black stripes was one dollar, big silver carp was 90 cents, and loach was also 80 cents. All the money from the sales belonged to Li Qingxia.

Li Qingxia was a little uncomfortable with the weighing, but Li Long had already said that he would be in charge of the weighing, and Li Qingxia only needed to make sure no one ruined the fish in the basin.

Li Qingxia squatted in front of the basin, listening to his son shouting loudly there, greeting people, weighing, collecting money with ease, and also giving some discounts.

What surprised Li Qingxia even more was that many people who bought fish here actually knew Li Long. Although they could not call out Li Long's name, the repeated calls of "Young man, I like your fish" and "Young man, your fish tastes the best" made him understand that his youngest son was no longer the idle boy who didn't want to go to school.

Already grown up.

Li Qingxia was also quick-witted. When he saw someone reaching into the fish bowl and groping around, he immediately slapped the hand away. We don't cause trouble, but we're not afraid of it either! This is what Li Long told him on the way, and he believed it.

Li Qingxia, who ran a small business when he was young, knows very well that some people will pounce on you, tear you to pieces, take away all your things, and even step on you a few times before leaving if you show them the slightest bit of weakness!

So Li Qingxia was not worried at all that if he hit these people, no one would buy fish.

Li Long watched his father's actions, smiled and explained loudly while weighing the fish:
"Don't put your hands in the fish basin. These flower loaches, or ditch fish as we often call them, are very delicate. We just caught them this morning, and some of them are already dead. I will try to weigh the freshest ones for you, but if you put your hands in the basin, the fish will die, and you will be the ones who suffer in the end, right!"

After Li Long said this, those who wanted to buy ditch fish immediately began to condemn those who stretched out their hands. Everyone knows that fish should be eaten fresh!

Li Qingxia listened to what Li Long said and secretly sighed in his heart that his son was really capable of standing on his own!

(End of this chapter)