Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 209 This family needs me to develop
When Tao Daqiang came to Li Long to find him to cast the net in the afternoon, Li Jianguo and the others had not returned yet. Li Long ignored them and gave Tao Daqiang five yuan. The two of them took the tire, the net, and the basin to the small lake.

"In Shicheng, these ditch fish are more popular than crucian carp and carp." Li said as he walked, "There are several old employees who are so fond of the ditch fish..."

"Then let's put a few more basins tomorrow?" Tao Daqiang's eyes lit up, "It's just a few handfuls of oil residue. I have some at home!"

"Okay." Li Long thought this idea was quite reliable. "This is called adapting to market demand."

In fact, he thought that the fact that loaches were said to be aphrodisiacs was also a reason, as he remembered that most of the people who bought them were men.

"Brother Long, do you think there will be a day when we catch all the fish in this small lake?" Tao Daqiang suddenly became worried, "We caught so many in one day..."

"What are you thinking about?" Li Long smiled, "Do you know how many fish there are in this small lake?"

"I don't know." Tao Daqiang said honestly, then looked at Li Long, wanting Li Long to give him a precise answer.

"I don't know either." Li Long gave Tao Daqiang an unexpected answer, "But you should know that the small crucian carp in spring will have seeds in autumn, right? Even carp will have seeds after two years. What about ditch fish? It will have seeds in the second year..."

"Yes, I know that. Many of the ditch fish we brought back yesterday had seeds."

"Then you should know that crucian carp lays at least several thousand eggs at a time, and other fish are about the same. Even if only one percent can grow up...you can do the math, how many more fish can be produced in a year? Of course, every time the small lake is released, many fish are washed away by the water into the fields, but more big fish are smart and hide in the reeds in the small lake and don't come out."

"Yes, I've seen it too. The biggest fish in the watered fields is the big bream. There are very few big carps and silver carps, and I've never seen a black carp."

"That's right. As long as the small Haizi Dam doesn't collapse, and as long as not all the team members come here to catch fish, we can always catch fish..."

"No wonder you asked the captain to connect the dry ditch and the dry canal..." Tao Daqiang suddenly realized, "It's to prevent the flood from washing away the small lake? The small lake is so big, how can it be washed away by the flood?"

"Then you have never seen a big flood." Li Long thought about the shocking flood two years ago and said with a sigh, "It's better to be more prepared than not to be prepared, right?"

"Yeah. Many people know about this, and they say you're a fool. You paid your own money to work for the team, but got nothing in return..."

"Nothing?" Li Long laughed. "Just wait and see. As long as those jobs can keep Xiaohaizi from going bankrupt, I can let you earn a thousand yuan from Xiaohaizi in three years. Do you believe it?"

One thousand yuan!
Tao Daqiang's eyes suddenly lit up!
A bicycle costs less than two hundred yuan, and one thousand yuan can buy five bicycles, or ten sewing machines, or ten pigs...

What a huge sum of money!

The two men walked all the way to the small lake, and Tao Daqiang had not yet recovered from Li Long's words.

Li Long went into the water sitting on the tire. He first found a suitable place to tie the basin, poured water into it, let it sink, and then went to lower the net.

Li Long knew that he couldn't always set the net in the same place. Although fish would swim in schools, if a fish was caught in a certain place, it would leave traces when it struggled there, and the fish would be more careful next time it came.

Don’t say fish only have a seven-second memory, that’s bullshit.

Fortunately, the small lake is big enough. There are not as many reeds in it as there were twenty years ago in the previous life. There are many waterways and there is enough space for Li Long to change the net every now and then.

Tao Daqiang came to his senses and began to practice casting the net. Casting the net still requires more practice, there is no other shortcut. He followed the movements of Li Qingxia that he had seen before, adjusting the net, twisting his waist, exerting force, and throwing it out.

Half of the net came out and fell to the ground in a crescent shape, with a feeling of one-third of a circle, which was stronger than before.

Tao Daqiang was happy at first, but then a little disappointed. It turned out that this person was talented.

Okay, keep practicing.

Li Long set the net very quickly. After he had set the net, when he rowed back, he saw fish starting to jump out of the net.

This was a half-kilogram silver carp, not very interesting. Although he knew that the silver carp would be dead when he took the net out tomorrow, he still didn't care and rowed directly to the shore.

Tao Daqiang scattered more than one kilogram of fish, mainly small crucian carp and ditch fish.

"Brother Long, there are fewer fish."

"The fish are smart." Li Long said with a smile, "We cast nets here every day, and the fish also know that there are people on the shore who want to eat it, so how can it not run away?"

The water is still being released from the sluice gate. In fact, if you are interested, you can put a river-blocking net there, which is made of two sticks stretched out to the sides. There is a string of "tails" at the back of the net. The fish rushing down from the small lake will go directly into the net bag, and because of the inverted barbels, they cannot get out.

However, this also requires the premise of having a net. The supply and marketing cooperative doesn't seem to sell river-blocking nets, and Li Long can't get one either. Unless someone is always watching, it will be too easy for others to take the fish away.

"Brother Long, why don't you cast a few nets?" Tao Daqiang said, "Let me see how you cast them."

Li Long put the tire aside, took the casting net from Tao Daqiang, and while adjusting the net, he explained the key points to Tao Daqiang again. These key points were also summarized by him.

He twisted his waist, swung the net, and let go one by one. An irregular circle fell on the water surface, creating a splash of water.

Tao Daqiang was very envious - although this net was not as good as Li Qingxia's, it was much better than his own.

"No more scattering. Let's go back." Li Long was sweating and his trouser legs were wet from being in the water just now. He was anxious to go back and change his clothes. "If we scatter too many fish, no one will eat them."

"I took the ditch fish back home." Tao Daqiang said, "I fried a bowl of it yesterday. My dad said it was a waste of oil, but he ate most of it after it was done. I'll fry some more today..."

"Do you have enough oil at home?"

"That's enough. There's still half a pot left," Tao Daqiang said with a smile. "When it's almost gone, I'll go to the commune to get some more."

Although it has been almost half a year since the commune was changed to a township, people's habit of calling it by that name has not changed yet.

When I got home, Li Jianguo and his family had already returned, bringing some vegetables picked by the Liang family. Li Juan had also returned, and was listening to Li Qiang excitedly talking about what happened at his grandfather's house at noon, with an envious expression on her face.

"Xiaolong, did you buy rice and noodles?" Liang Yuemei saw the rice and noodles as soon as she entered the house. When she came out, she asked, "There's more at home."

"Dad and Mom are here, right? Back home, they probably ate more cornmeal. We have the conditions here, so we can eat more refined grains. Juan and Qiangqiang also need to grow, so they should eat more refined grains during this period."

Liang Yuemei smiled and said nothing. She understood what her brother-in-law meant.

"Spending money again..." Du Chunfang muttered. Although she had already accepted her eldest daughter-in-law, she still felt distressed when Li Long spent money.

"Mom, I bought some cloth and asked my sister-in-law to make you some clothes when she has time," Li Long immediately interrupted Du Chunfang, "My sister-in-law is a great craftsman. She can make a set for my dad too..."

"Did you buy cloth?" Du Chunfang's attention was drawn.

"Yes, next to the sewing machine." Li Long said. Du Chunfang immediately went over to see it, and Du Chunfang followed him. Li Long took out another ten yuan and handed it to Li Qingxia:
"Dad, this is the money from selling ditch fish today, take it."

"Why is there so much?" Li Qingxia was puzzled. "There are fewer fish than yesterday, how can there be so much money?"

"There was an old employee, probably from the south, who said that they hadn't eaten loaches for a long time, so they were sold out immediately, with nothing left - weren't there quite a few left yesterday?"

"Oh...then I'll go with you tomorrow." Li Qingxia felt like he was dreaming. It had only been two days and he already had nearly twenty yuan in his pocket.

Twenty? How long does it take me to save up twenty?

If he could call his hometown village now, he would definitely tell his old friends that he earned 18 yuan in two days!

This is probably the amount of money I earned from playing cards in the past six months, right?

When Du Chunfang came out of the house, she was still muttering that Li Long bought too much cloth.

Li Qingxia felt much more confident at this time, and he said to Du Chunfang:
"It's okay to buy as much as you want. That's Xiaolong's idea. Besides, he can't just make it for us, right? Shouldn't he make it for Juan and Qiangqiang? Money is earned to be spent. He loves us, so isn't it his duty to buy things for his nephews and nieces?"
His elder brother and sister-in-law take care of him every day. Now that he has grown up, shouldn't he spend money? Now that we are here, we just need to listen to them. Ah - they provide you with delicious food and drinks every day, but it still can't stop you from talking..."

Du Chunfang stopped talking.

Liang Yuemei hurriedly tried to smooth things over:
"Dad, that's not what I meant. What I meant was that Xiaolong has grown up, has a partner, and should learn to save money to live on..."

"That's right..." Du Chunfang also knew that she shouldn't say too much, so she let it go, "She's already twenty-two..."

Li Long felt a little wronged:

"I'm only twenty-one..."

"Chinese age!" Du Chunfang glared at him. "Back home, we use Chinese age..."

"Okay, okay." Li Long smiled. "According to lunar age, I have a partner and he has just started working, so I need to consolidate my relationship, right? Don't worry, I will ask the team leader for a homestead in a few days, and then we will see how to build a house..."

The conversation just changed.

Li Jianguo put the horse away. He also brought a lot of bamboo shoots and leaves from the Liang family, so Li Juan didn't have to go to collect pig grass.

Li Long didn't let Li Juan move. He chopped the pig food and put it in the pot to cook.

There are already mosquitoes here. When cooking pig food, Li Long went to the edge of the yard, picked a few mugwort seeds and put them under the stove. The smoke from the burning can drive away the mosquitoes.

This thing is everywhere now, but in a few decades it will be hard to find, and you will have to grow it specially.

While cooling the pig food, Li Long went to get some salted dried fish and slowly roasted them by the stove. Li Jianguo came over, sat next to him and said:

"Xiaolong, let me tell you something, what do you think?"

"Brother, tell me."

"Today I was at Juan's grandfather's place, and he said that the market is slowly opening up, allowing people to sell vegetables. Many people in their village close to the county town have started to grow vegetables, and then they take them to the county to sell. Business is booming."

"We are far away, so it is not easy to sell." Li Long said.

"That's right." Li Jianguo said, "But we also have our strengths. The food-producing land cannot be touched. Juan's grandfather gave me a suggestion and told me to plant vegetable seeds. There will definitely be many people planting vegetables in the future, but the seed company only supplies a few types of seeds, so if we plant vegetable seeds, we can definitely sell them and make a lot of money..."

"This is good." Li Long recalled that in his previous life, he had indeed taken this path, and it was really profitable. However, within two years, Li Jianguo was gone.

"Is it really okay?"

"Of course." Li Long smiled and said as he turned the salted fish over, "Look, everyone wants to grow vegetables to make money, right? But what about the seeds? If they grow vegetables, they can't save the seeds. This is not only the case this year, but also next year and the year after.

There is little land around the county town, and you can make money by growing vegetables, but if you grow vegetables, you can't grow anything else. We have a lot of land here, and the team has allocated us five acres of land for fodder. You can use one acre to grow beets, and the rest can be turned into vegetable seed fields. Selling seeds makes a lot of money!"

"Okay, let's do this next year..." Li Jianguo actually no longer regarded Li Long as a child. Li Long had the ability to make money, and he also had the ability to lead the village's sideline team to make money. His vision was not comparable to that of an ordinary 20-year-old boy. He was now discussing things with Li Long, treating him as an adult, which made Li Long feel pretty good.

"You can plant bamboo shoots, yellow radish, and cabbage seeds." Li Long said, "It's hard to get those fancy seeds nowadays. Although many people look down on these vegetables, they are easy to store and cheap, so there will definitely be many people planting them..." Li Long's suggestion was exactly what became popular in later generations.

"Yeah, I thought so too. Oh, and there are green onions."

"Yeah, this is essential for meals." Li Long nodded.

When the two of them discussed, they decided on a plan for farming next year.

"How are the wild boars at the Lao Ma Hao?" Li Jianguo changed the subject. "By the way, are the roe deer and fawns still alive?"

"Wild boars are OK, but fawns and roe deer still depend on luck." Li Long knew that these animals were difficult to raise, so he said, "I can't say if they will be successful until they are fully grown."

"I met Junwazi today. He went to a meeting in the township. He said that the township would select a group of models of getting rich through hard work in May. Our team was the only one that specialized in raising pigs, so he put it on the list," Li Jianguo said, a little embarrassed. "He said that all the people in Mahao would be included."

"That should be counted!" Li Long's eyes lit up when he heard it. "If it is selected, there will definitely be a prize, and the township should also provide incentive policies. Brother, this is great!"

"I just thought that you were the one who fed the wild boar..."

"What's mine and yours? We haven't split up yet." Li Long interrupted him, "Aren't we all one family? Now everyone is just trying to figure it out. Big brother, you will definitely be selected. Then our family will have to build a big circle..."

"I thought so too. Let's keep a sow in autumn and find a breeding pig to mate with it next year. Then we can raise more pigs." Li Jianguo also has his own plan.

"We still have to plant beets and the like." Li Long followed this line of thought, "otherwise, feeding pigs will be a big problem... We can plant some melons, the seeds can be sold, and the melons can be directly fed to pigs."

"That's fine." Li Jianguo nodded, "Pigs also eat it, and it seems that melon rind is also a medicinal material..."

The two of them were imagining their future in front of the stove.

"Uncle, the fish is burnt!" Li Qiang, who had been paying attention to the salted fish, suddenly spoke up to remind him.

Li Long looked down and found that the fish was indeed a little mushy. He quickly pulled the fish out and then laughed.

(End of this chapter)