Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 206 This is the attitude of the in-laws
Li Jianguo and his companions came back early in their carriage.

At this time, Li Long had already wrapped a small pot of flower bream that Li Qiang and his friends had peeled and fried in batter.

It’s too late to make lunch, and I’m not sure if I can cook dinner, so I’ll just have this fish as a snack.

People who have grown up here for a long time know how powerful Huang Feng is.

In the production team, there used to be a long period of yellow wind blowing at the turn of spring and summer every year. This phenomenon, which was later called a sandstorm, was not like the short video that was widely circulated, where the sand was blown like clouds and mist by the wind.

How to describe it?
Li Long's most vivid memory was when he was watching The Mummy movie series, and that old man turned into a ball of sand and dust that blew towards him. It was that feeling.

Looking at the northwest sky at this moment, the yellow wind is like a wall slowly approaching.

It is said to be slow, but in fact the speed is very fast. However, because it does not stand out as a whole, it just advances as a whole like a wall, so it looks quite slow.

The feeling of the barrage slowly advancing.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei returned to the yard and hurriedly put the horses into the stable. Li Long had already prepared the pig feed.

"Brother, sister-in-law, there might be rain after this yellow wind, prepare some firewood in the house." Li Long said, "It's OK at my stable, but it's hard to do here. By the way, don't cook lunch, I bought some buns, they're not too cold, just right for you."

"Okay." Li Jianguo nodded repeatedly, "Then you should hurry to the stable. We don't know when this yellow wind will stop blowing."

Usually after the yellow wind, there will be black wind and heavy rain, the kind of rain that is so heavy that you can’t even open your eyes.

After a small amount of yellow wind, it will be a gray and cloudy day, and the yellow sand in the sky will slowly fall down, and no one can predict it.

Fortunately, we have a radio at home, so we are not too bored.

When Li Long was walking towards Laomahao, he turned into Tao Daqiang's house.

Tao Daqiang was packing things in the yard. Seeing Li Long coming over, he smiled bitterly and said:
"Brother Long, we can't catch fish in this weather."

"Then take a day off." Li Long said with a smile, "I can't be busy every day, so this is a good opportunity to take a break. By the way, here's five dollars for you, from selling fish today."

Tao Da took the money and put it in his pocket with a silly smile.

"Then I won't go into the house," Li Long said. "I have to go to the stable to see if Uncle Luo can help me."

Tao Daqiang watched Li Long leave. He entered the yard, hesitated for a moment, and did not give the money to Tao Jianshe.

The fawn at Lao Mahao's side is a little better, and the roe deer's wounds have also improved. It can now walk slowly with a limp. The most lively ones are the little wild boars, which keep grunting and squeaking.

Li Long once asked Uncle Luo if he would find them annoying. Uncle Luo said that he would be bored without them.

Lao Ma Hao has all the facilities. Even the firewood is piled under the wall and the stove is inside the house, so there is no need to worry about not being able to cook when it rains.

Uncle Luo had already had lunch and was looking at the sky.

"After the yellow wind, it should rain." Uncle Luo is more experienced, "I don't know when the rain will end."

"Wait," Li Long said, "We don't have anything to do anyway."

"That's right." Old Uncle Luo smiled, "It's alright anyway, I'll cook the pig food for this afternoon first."

The grass for roe deer and fawns can be eaten raw, but wild boars must be fed cooked food. This is caused by feeding habits. According to common sense, there is nothing wrong with eating it raw.

But Uncle Luo has gotten used to it.

Li Long did not help, he went back to his room.

After a while, the yellow wind came.

First, the wind became stronger and stronger, and then the slowly approaching "sand wall" finally covered the entire village. The wind brought sand and dust and hit everything in front of it. The choking smell of dust could be smelled with every breath. Li Long hurried into the house and closed the door.

The sky and the earth were dim. He picked his nose and dug out a piece of dirt.

The wind was getting stronger and stronger. Li Long could imagine that if he had a God's perspective, he would see a large ball of yellow dust rushing over with the wind, swallowing up everything in front of it.

The sound of dust hitting the windows was so loud that the wild boar's cry was almost invisible in the noise. There was nothing else in the world except the sound of the wind, and occasionally, torn bags and old clothes would be blown up by the wind and fall to the ground in the yard, and then blown away by the wind.

Li Long could already imagine that after the wind died down, the entire yard, including the leaves of the new vegetables planted by Uncle Luo, would be covered with a layer of loess and fine sand.

He had nothing to do in the room, but picked up a book to read.

I have finished reading "Seven Swordsmen from Tianshan", and the book I have now is "The Story of Yongchang", which I found somewhere at home.

The scenes described in this book are quite bloody, which would definitely be inappropriate for children to watch. Li Long read it with a curious mentality, as he was quite interested in the nicknames of the people under Li Zicheng, the King of Dashun.

As the sky was getting darker, Li Long simply lit the oil lamp - during this time he saw workers laying and modifying wires on the roadside, and thought that the day when electricity would be available would not be far away.

The wind outside had died down a little. Li Long stood up, opened the door and looked out. He found that the sky was still dark, but the yellow wind had passed. The ground was just as he had imagined, with a layer of fine yellow soil, as if it had been swept and then sprinkled down.

Usually, the fallen grass and leaves are gone because they are used to feed roe deer and fawns, and the place is spotless.

Except loess.

Then a big drop of rain fell.

Li Long looked up and saw the dark clouds in the sky - no, they should be called black clouds. The clouds were very low, and felt as high as dozens of floors. They were very depressing to look at.

The raindrops are also very large. When they hit the ground, they not only splash water, but also stir up a cloud of dust.

Then more and more raindrops hit the ground, soon soaking the ground, and then began to gather into small streams, flowing towards the lower place - outside the yard.

When the Lao Ma Hao was built, high ground was chosen and a sufficient foundation was laid, which was one level higher than other places, so there was almost no water left inside and it all flowed out.

Uncle Luo listened to the sound of rain, opened the door, looked at the rain in the yard, and said:

"It's quite refreshing after the rain."

Yeah, it's quite refreshing.

In later times, there were rarely yellow winds, but there were several strong winds at the end of April every year. At that time, almost no grain was planted, and all cotton was planted. This season was when the cotton had just been planted and had not yet sprouted.

If the wind is strong, the film will be blown off. Once the film is blown away, the cotton is equivalent to white seed and needs to be replanted.

Li Long remembers the most devastating time. In less than ten days, he replanted cotton four times. A woman from the mainland who had contracted land to plant cotton sat on the field and cried. Because the contracted land was too much, before the seedlings had grown, she had already lost more than one million yuan...

The wind is not that strong now, but the sandstorm is still unbearable.

And it happens not just once a year, but several times.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the yard soon became a river. The water splashed into the house, and Li Long's shoes were wet, so he retreated back into the house. He did not close the door, and the damp air entered the house, taking away the dry heat brought by the yellow wind.

The rain continued until the evening and slowly stopped. Li Long knew that he would be unable to do anything during the day tomorrow either.

Unless it is a sunny day, the aftereffects of the rain will take two or three days to disappear.

Because they are all dirt roads now, even the yard is covered with yellow mud, so when it rains heavily, there is mud everywhere you step, which is the most annoying thing.

Generally speaking, if it rains, you can't go out. In this age with few entertainment options, this is really annoying. It's okay to go out, but if you go out, you either have to wear rubber boots (rain boots) or be prepared to step on thick mud.

Not everyone had several pairs of shoes, as supplies were scarce. Although it was not to the point where a family only had one pair of pants, each person had at most two pairs of shoes, or maybe just one pair. When the old shoes were worn out, they would be replaced with a new pair of cloth shoes.

The next morning, Uncle Luo was feeding the pigs, so Li Long did not go to his elder brother and sister-in-law's house for dinner. Instead, he cooked porridge on the stove, cut some pickles, and had breakfast with Uncle Luo.

It was not until the afternoon when the sun came out that the ground slowly began to show signs of drying up.

The next morning, the ground was a little better, and Li Long walked home slowly.

Li Juan went to school - students would not stop going to school just because it rained. There were no raincoats or umbrellas for the children at home, so Li Juan and her classmates went to school wearing rain capes made from urea bags - they tucked one corner of the urea bag inwards and pushed it to the other corner to form a pointed rain cape similar to a mourning hat.

Most kids at this time use this, so no one laughs at anyone else.

What surprised Li Long was that there was one more person in the house.

Liang Wenyu.

"Xiaolong is back." Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang were the only people in the room, so Liang Wenyu felt a little reserved.

"Well, when did you arrive?" Li Long asked with a smile, "It must have been difficult to get here, right?"

"Well, it's okay." Liang Wenyu said.

In fact, Li Long had already seen the rubber boots placed at the door. There was thick mud on them. Liang Wenyu should have come here through the small path.

"I came here to invite you to have a meal at my house tomorrow." Liang Wenyu said, "My parents heard that you were coming, so they asked me to come over to see you..."

"It's okay. My parents will be there tomorrow." Li Long directly made the decision for his parents. "Let my eldest brother drive the carriage to take them there."

Liang Wenyu was also a little surprised. When he mentioned this matter just now, Li Qingxia had refused, and Du Chunfang even said that he didn't want to go there and didn't want to trouble his in-laws.

Liang Wenyu was a little anxious. He came here with a mission. If he failed to complete the mission, his father would definitely scold him when he returned.

Unexpectedly, Li Long agreed to this matter right after he came. What surprised him was that after Li Long agreed, Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang showed no sign of objection. It seemed that Li Long was the one who made the decision?

"Let's have lunch here at noon. I'll show off my cooking skills." Li Long said with a smile, "Today I'll steam rice, braise pork, and stir-fry celery and meat. Let's eat before we go back."

"No, no." Liang Wenyu stood up. "I'm just talking about this matter. I still have work to do at home. I'll go back first. I'll go there early tomorrow morning. Xiaolong, you can come too."

"I'm not sure." Li Long waved his hand, "We'll see tomorrow."

The eldest of the Liang family came with gifts to invite people, which showed his sincerity. So it was normal for the old father and mother to go. So Li Long agreed on their behalf.

But Li Long cannot be considered a middleman, so taking his parents there should be Li Jianguo's business, and Li Long does not want to get involved.

After sending Liang Wenyu away, Li Long took the initiative to explain without waiting for Li Qingxia to ask:

"Dad and Mom, my eldest brother and his wife have been married for a few years. Juan's grandfather often comes to give gifts and money, and has taken good care of this family. Today, he heard that you are here, and asked his eldest son to come and invite you. You should go."

"Then let's go." Li Qingxia actually didn't mind. His focus was still on catching fish and making money. "Can we go fishing this afternoon?"

"That's right. But you can't go to sell fish tomorrow." Li Long said with a smile, "I'll sell fish for you?"

"Okay." Li Qingxia said nothing. "Come to think of it, there are so many fish in your little lake, but why are there no shrimps?"

"Forget shrimps, there are no snails, frogs, or clams."

The only animals in the lake besides fish were snails and toads. It was not until more than a decade later that Li Long saw his first hybrid frog, which was a grayish-yellow frog with three green lines. Grass shrimp also appeared at the time, and Li Long guessed that they were brought in with the fish fry from the upstream and downstream reservoirs.

As for snails, it took at least 20 years for them to appear, and crabs only appeared nearly 30 years later when people started breeding them. And they did so in Dahaizi, not Xiaohaizi.

Li Long still admires this crab. In the first year of breeding, the crabs bit through the nets and escaped, and scattered all over the lake. Many people from nearby villages caught them, and then felt that this thing was not good except for its freshness, after all, the meat was too troublesome to eat.

Because it is cold in northern Xinjiang, the crabs froze to death that winter.

However, the crabs that escaped the following year began to dig deep holes in the fall, and only a small number survived the following year.

There are crabs in the large sea behind and some nearby ponds every year.

It's survival of the fittest.

At noon, Li Long made the braised pork that Du Chunfang liked very much. The meat was cooked very well. He also stir-fried celery and meat, and steamed and cut the previously cured venison into a plate.

Du Chunfang was smiling happily while eating - although she actually only ate half a bowl of rice and three pieces of braised pork.

When Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei came back from the fields, they heard about Liang Wenyu's situation and Li Long's arrangements, and they had no objections.

"Are you going tomorrow?" Li Jianguo asked.

"You guys go, drive the carriage. I won't go. I have to go fishing today and sell fish tomorrow. I have to go to Shicheng to sell fish." Li Long explained, "There are still some things in the big yard that need to be dealt with."

"That's fine." Li Jianguo said, "I'll take Qiangqiang with me, otherwise we won't be able to eat lunch."

"Yeah." Li Long said.

After selling the fish, he planned to sell the dried water rat skins and other things. The remaining pieces were also completely dry. What was left in the yard were some stones, which he naturally would not sell. He would leave them there. As long as he was not short of money, he would not sell jade anymore.

Not only did he not plan to sell it, he also planned to buy some more small-seed materials and keep them when Yusup comes over.

This thing can still be exchanged for money at a critical moment.

Well, it’s such a happy decision.

After lunch, Li Long rested for a while, and when Tao Daqiang came over, they carried the tire and the net to Xiaohaizi together.

I brought eight nets today, mostly with large mesh. I will definitely bring some fish when I go to Liang's house tomorrow. It would be great if I could catch a few big carps.

With great hope, Li Long pushed the tire and the net down to the lake.

(End of this chapter)