Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 216 Not everyone is suitable for this job - I can do it, but you can't!

After selling fish in Shicheng Old Street, Li Long turned to the department store to see what good things were there.

After a round, Li Long stopped at the cloakroom area.

A new batch of sun hats arrived here, and they looked very beautiful. Li Long picked one for Gu Xiaoxia, and one each for Li Juan and Li Qiang.

As for other people, including himself, Li Long directly bought five straw hats. It was summer now and it was time to harvest wheat and sesame, so this thing was very cost-effective.

He went to the food section and bought six packs of soft egg cakes, packed them up and tied them to the front handlebars of his bicycle.

There is a bicycle shed in Shicheng Department Store, and there are people watching over the bicycles. Li Long carried his gun on his back and tied it to the beam of the bicycle after he came out.

He was a little disappointed that he didn't run into any fools while selling fish today. There were some hooligans, but because the joint defense officers were there, they just wandered around the old street, and he didn't see any excessive behavior.

The vigorous crackdown in the previous life actually did not have a particularly big impact in Northern Xinjiang. The most important reason, Li Long and others analyzed it in the previous life, was that most of these cities were emerging cities, and the second generation class had not yet formed.

Of course, the most important reason is that most of the people here come from all over the country and have similar identities. It happens to be the period of reform and opening up, and everyone is busy solving the problems of food and clothing and making a fortune. After all, only a few people are idle.

After buying things, Li Long rode his bicycle eastward along the department store, which also leads out of Shicheng.

You can see people strolling on the road, but not many. Most of the people are busy coming and going.

After returning to the county compound, Li Long put down the scale and basin, rinsed them briefly, rested for a while, and then went to the big meat canteen to eat.

I went to Shicheng to sell fish. The fish sold out very quickly, but it took two more hours to go back and forth. By the time I finished and arrived at the county town, it was almost time for dinner.

It was too late to go home to eat, so Li Long simply ate in the cafeteria, which saved trouble.

Manager Zhong from the Big Meat Restaurant saw Li Long and continued to ask him about the fish. In fact, Li Long would think of it every time he came over, but he forgot about it when they divided the fish at home.

Although he said next time, Manager Zhong was not in a hurry. He chatted with Li Long for a few words and then went back to work.

I must send some big carp here tomorrow.

After dinner, Li Long went to the market again and found some people selling fish, but there was no Wang Caimi and Meng Zhiqiang. They should have sold out.

The antique sellers in the market were gone, and there were no antiques in the other stalls. Li Long took a look and felt there was nothing to buy, so he rode his bike to the big yard, rested for a while, and then went home.

When they arrived at the township middle school, the students were about to go to class. Li Long went to Gu Xiaoxia's dormitory. The door was locked, so he opened it and put the sun hat and two packs of egg cakes inside.

There were more things in the dormitory than before, but it was neatly packed. Li Long looked around, smiled, and then turned around and left.

Just as I came out and was about to lock the door, Gu Xiaoxia ran over panting.

"I saw you were not here, so I put my things down." Li Long explained, "Are you getting ready for class?"

"I have a second class this afternoon, and I was just preparing materials in the office." Gu Xiaoxia stroked the hair by her ears and said, "Did you go to sell fish today?"

"Yeah." Li Long adjusted the straw hat on his head and said, "I went to Shicheng to sell fish. I saw hats for sale in the department store, so I bought some, including one for you, and I put it in the dormitory."

"Then you...now..." Gu Xiaoxia asked hesitantly.

"I'll go back first." Li Long said, "You still have to prepare for class. There are so many students now... I'll sit for a while next time you come."

"Okay," Gu Xiaoxia also knew that it was not convenient at this time, so she said readily, "I'll cook for you when you come over next time."

"Okay." Li Long smiled. He would definitely come by lunchtime tomorrow.

Li Long rode away on his bike. Gu Xiaoxia took two steps towards the classroom, then turned back and opened the door with the key.

Originally, she thought that Li Long bought her the same straw hat as he wore. Actually, this straw hat was nothing special. Two years ago, when Gu Xiaoxia worked in the fields, she didn't have such a hat, so she could only wear a headscarf.

But she didn't expect it to be one of those fashionable sun hats with a hard plastic brim and floral fabric. She had only seen this kind of sun hat in picture magazines.

it's beautiful!
There were two packs of egg cakes on the table, but Gu Xiaoxia ignored them. She put the hat on her head to try it out, looked in the mirror, and felt very satisfied.

She smiled.

When Li Long passed by the primary school, he saw that the class had not yet ended, so he rode straight back home.

There was no one at home. Li Long guessed that Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei had gone to work in the fields, and Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang should have gone with them to check the fields.

In my hometown, each person had a few acres of land, but there were many people. Here, there were few people and a lot of land, and there were still many wastelands on the edge of the land, which was a great temptation for Li Qingxia.

After all, he knew that it was almost impossible for an old farmer like him to go to the city to eat commercial grain. But if he had a few hundred acres of land, his life would be much more comfortable than that of the landlords in the past.

No, in the opinion of Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang, they are living a more comfortable life now than the landlords in the past.

How could the landlords of their time eat meat every day? They would walk to the market in the city, or at most take a horse-drawn carriage.

Now he can ride a bicycle.

Li Qingxia even had an idea that he had to learn how to ride a bicycle before leaving Northern Xinjiang.

How wonderful it will be to ride a bicycle to the market with my spouse in the future!
The early summer in northern Xinjiang is not that hot. There is wind in the wilderness. Li Jianguo in the field said to Du Chunfang:

"Mom, go sit under the poplar tree at the edge of the field. It's cool there."

"How cool can it be..." Du Chunfang was not used to this kind of work in the large fields. She was too meticulous in weeding and soon fell behind. Her hand was cut by the reeds, so Li Jianguo asked her to sit under a tree at the edge of the field for a while.

Du Chunfang felt a little ashamed that she didn't do much work but still had to be told by others to take care of herself.

She felt a little aggrieved. How could the reeds in the field be so strong? She only pulled them and cut a large wound on her hand.

Li Jianguo directly picked out a ball of old cotton from the carriage seat cushion, lit it with a match, and pressed the ash on Du Chunfang's wound to stop the bleeding.

Du Chunfang was sweating from the heat, but when he got under the shade of the tree, he felt cool all of a sudden. "It's really cool," Du Chunfang was a little surprised. He didn't feel that much in the yard, after all, even if it was hot in the yard, there was a thatched shed with reeds on top. Du Chunfang liked to bask in the sun, so he often basked in the sun.

The sun in the northern Xinjiang is so pleasant. After all, there has been pollution in my hometown, and the sun is sometimes gloomy, as if covered by a layer of gauze, and it is not clear.

Here, it is sunny on sunny days and heavy rain on rainy days. Then it is sunny again after that, which makes people feel very comfortable.

So when chatting with Li Long, Li Long suggested that they stay here for a long time, and Du Chunfang secretly agreed.

What's so good about going home? The food is not good, the accommodation is not good, the children in my hometown don't live well either, there are conflicts from time to time, and it's quite annoying sometimes.

She secretly told Li Qingxia that she wanted to live here for a long time. Li Qingxia also wanted to at first, but later said no.

There is still land and ancestral graves in my hometown. When people get old, they have to return to their roots, but they can live here for a while longer.

Although Du Chunfang felt a little regretful, it was also good to be able to stay for a while longer.

Watching Li Jianguo and his two companions working on such a large plot of land, Du Chunfang suddenly felt that her eldest son and daughter-in-law were actually quite capable. The couple managed this large plot of land and had several pigs and horses at home. They were really amazing!
Li Long was putting things and guns away in the house. Not long after, Tao Daqiang came over.

Li Long took out a five-dollar bill and handed it to him:
"Daqiang, take it."

"Brother Long, I don't want it... Wang Caimi and his friends came back from selling fish this morning. They made several dollars, and one of them even bought another net..." Tao Daqiang was still worried, "Many people in the team heard about it, and many of them wanted to buy a net, too."

"Then let's buy it." Li Long knew that this was inevitable. "The work in the fields is not very busy now. It's just weeding. It doesn't matter how much you do. If there is a way to make money, the team members must follow it. A net costs a few dollars. If you can make back the investment in one day, then you must do it!"

"There are so many people there, and the fish in the small lake..."

"Don't worry about that. There are plenty of fish in the lake." Li Long smiled and stuffed the money into Tao Daqiang's pocket. "You can't catch them all. Besides, if they catch them this way, it will take a month, and most of the fish will escape during the days of watering and draining."

"But the price of fish..."

"I sell fish in Shicheng, and they sell them at the county morning market at most. If the price drops, it won't affect us."

Hearing that there was no impact, Tao Daqiang felt relieved.

The sun was still quite hot. Tao Daqiang asked Li Long when he would go fishing, and Li Long said wait.

"It's too hot now, let's go later." Li Long said, "It's not easy to work in the fields."

"My father wouldn't let me go to the fields. He told me to come over and see you and asked when you were going. He said that making money by fishing with you was more important than working in the fields. He did all the work on those few acres of land by himself."

"The team's wheat will be harvested in a while, and it will be more troublesome to go to work then," said Li Long.

"At that time..." Tao Daqiang was also a little embarrassed.

"I'm going into the mountains, what about you?" Li Long asked again.

"Then I'll go into the mountains too." Tao Daqiang wasn't afraid of hardship, but hard work without reward would make people despair. Working in the fields for a day was worth one man's pay, and now it has risen to 30 cents per man, but that 30 cents is still a lot in the eyes of others, but Tao Daqiang, who has seen a bigger world by following Li Long, feels that working a day's work to earn a bun is really not worth it.

When the two went to Xiaohaizi, the sun was already setting and the wind was no longer so hot. Tao Daqiang carried the tire and Li Long carried the net and basin. In Shicheng, Xiaogou fish were also popular. He felt that his father was still an old hand and this trick was really good.

At the small lake, Wang Caimi and Meng Zhiqiang were already in the water. When Li Long passed by, he smiled and reminded them:
"Brother Dalu, you have to be careful. The duck turtles are very powerful. Get out as soon as they are finished."

"Hey, hey, I know, I know." Wang Caimi said while surfing the Internet.

Li Long and Tao Daqiang walked over, and Wang Caimi hurriedly reached out and scratched the inside of his thigh - he had been bitten by a duck turtle. Now it was really itchy and painful, and he couldn't help scratching.

When Wang Caimi was fishing, he was still wondering why he didn't see Li Long selling fish at the morning market. After asking people, he found out that Li Long had gone to Shicheng. Wang Caimi thought it was pretty good. Li Long worked hard but got nothing in return. Was it worth it to go so far to sell fish?
Later he learned that Li Long went to Shicheng and perfectly avoided the trouble of infighting and malicious price competition among their team members, and they ended up in a mess.

The next day, Wang Caimi and Meng Zhiqiang were still the only ones selling fish at the morning market. On the third day, two more people from the team joined the group.

At first, they were all like Wang Caimi, with an enamel basin and a high price for fish - but the next day, someone went fishing late, and seeing that others had sold half of their fish, he was worried that he would not be able to sell them, so he sold them at half the price. When he lowered the price, he made money from the sales, but others could not sell their fish.

Many people in the team are very happy these days. They don't make much a day, they can earn three, four, five or six yuan, and those who know how to use the net can directly catch seven or eight kilograms or even ten kilograms, and they can earn more.

Although it takes a little more work, the money comes in cash and it comes quickly. Many people immediately feel that making money is so easy!

There are more than one people who maliciously lower prices. Although they earn less money by lowering prices, at least they still have money in their hands.

But the population of Ma County is not as large as that of Shicheng, and the number of people who eat fish is basically fixed, just a certain number. Later on, at the most, there were more than a dozen people in the team selling fish. The final result was that among these dozen people, except for two who reduced the price at the beginning, the rest of the fish were not sold out - don't forget, there were stalls in the market originally.

Besides, no one can eat fish every day.

Even Li Long would go to Shicheng intermittently for a few days.

Once the fish couldn't be sold, a vicious cycle ensued. Some people went to the market the next day and saw that the price was 40 cents per pot at the beginning!
The people who came later only paid 30 cents per pot. The fish buyers were very happy. Compared with the past, the fish were so cheap, wasn't it like getting something for free?

But the rest of the fishmongers are in an awkward situation. Some people borrowed money to buy several nets in order to catch more fish and sell more fish to make more money. At least they should earn back the money they paid for the nets, right?
As a result, there were no cars, so when we got to the morning market, the sun had come out and people were slowly leaving, but they were just starting to set up stalls and sell fish.

Can't sell.

It's a pity to throw it away, so some people wait to see them throw it away, and then pick it up after they throw it away, but they just don't buy it.

Because of this, several people in the team started to have conflicts.

When Tao Daqiang told Li Long about this, he was still a little worried:
"Two women started arguing at the gate of the yard, and the insults were really ugly. One said that the other family lowered the price first, so that no one could make any money. The other family said that they were selling fish, so they could sell it at any price they wanted, and no one else could interfere..."

Li Long was just a bystander. After listening to these things, he asked:

"What about Wang Caimi? The day before yesterday, I saw quite a few people going online, but yesterday only half of them were left. I don't know how many people will stick around today."

He believed that there would still be people who would stick with it. After all, although catching fish to make money was hard, it was more convenient than working in the fields. If someone had a problem at home and needed money urgently, they could catch the fish and sell them in the market, and that would bring them money.

Those who were able to persevere became "fishermen" envied by many people in later generations.

(End of this chapter)