Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 247 Memories of the Old Times
Gu Xiaoxia went to work. She told Li Long that she would stew the meat left in the yard when she came back, and asked Li Long not to touch it.

Gu Xiaoxia washed the dishes, and she also didn't let Li Long touch them. It was quite nice that the two of them were competing for the work.

At the dinner table, Gu Xiaoxia also told Li Long about Wu Shufen's situation. Li Long actually knew that the village primary school was going to be laid off this year, but when Gu Xiaoxia told him, he was still a little surprised.

There were many people at the banquet yesterday, and the cooking skills of the team's chef were impeccable. For the Li family, eating meat is not a rare thing, they eat it every day. But for most people in the village, eating a banquet is a rare opportunity to satisfy their appetite, so many people went and it was very lively.

The leftover food from the banquet will not be wasted. It will be poured into a large basin, and the host will keep most of it, while the women who come to help will take a small basin back home.

These leftovers are considered unhygienic now, but they were a rare delicacy in those days. After all, you could still pick out meat from them. Housewives would heat up these leftovers and the whole family would have another "delicious meal".

When Li Long was carrying the melons back, he saw the car selling melons at the intersection again, but this time there were different people selling melons.

Most of the wheat fields on both sides of the road have been harvested, some wheat bundles have been pulled away, and what remains in the fields are wheat stubble. Some wheat bundles are still relatively evenly distributed in the fields.

Some people were picking wheat ears in the fields, there were horse-drawn carriages in the fields, and some people were carrying bundles of wheat.

Li Long suddenly thought of how he had messed up his past life. At that time, he helped other families to carry wheat bundles, but it was his elder brother and his wife who worked with Li Juan in his own field. Li Juan was only ten years old, but she was already holding a wooden fork and working with the adults.

I was a worthless person back then.

Now, in the fields where the wheat bundles have been harvested, there are still people carrying baskets or urea bags, picking up wheat ears. This is what the "Grains of Grain" in the elementary school textbook is talking about.

There are also clay sculptures made by Niren Zhang.

All sorts of messy thoughts surged and dissipated in his mind. When Li Long saw the students going home on the roadside, he realized that he had passed the elementary school.

He slowed down, looked all the way, and soon found Li Juan who was happily talking with her classmates.

"Juan, do you want me to take you back?" Li Long asked, supporting himself on one foot.

"Yes." Li Juan said goodbye to her classmates with a smile.

Fortunately, Li Long had thought of this when he tied the meat in advance. The meat was divided into two bags and tied to the two sides of the bicycle, with a sack on top. It was just right for Li Juan to sit on it.

The girl has grown up and it is no longer convenient for her to sit on the front beam.

When I brought Li Juan back home, Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang were there. Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei must have gone to harvest wheat.

Although Li Jianguo earned a lot of money by cutting poles in the mountains, the two did not give up participating in the team's public labor. They participated in the whole process of harvesting wheat and threshing.

It was the same in previous years. This year, Li Qingxia was here. Although Li Long did not go to work, he was able to help. Liang Yuemei was already very satisfied.

Compared with last year, this day is much better.

Only when you have a goal in life can you be motivated to work.

From the door of Li's house, one can see the situation in the wheat field to the south. Li Long has already seen a lot of wheat bundles piled up there.

Because these were the food-grain fields allocated to each family in the spring and wheat could not be grown there, the wheat was the common property of the team. After it was harvested and cleaned, the main thing to do was to pay the public grain tax, and then the team would keep some and distribute it to each family.

The crops grown in the public fields were generally like this. The public grain tax was not just grain, but also sunflower, sesame, corn and so on.

Of course, what to plant on some small plots of land is decided by the team itself, and no payment is required. It is mainly shared by the team, or each family gets a share, such as the red flowers planted in front of the settlement.

The Grain Bureau would definitely not accept this thing, but because it is a medicinal herb and can be used to press oil, the purchasing station will definitely accept it. It can be sold for money, and it is grown on wasteland, so it is a source of income for the team.

There were already people working in the threshing floor. Li Long originally wanted to go and take a look, but when he thought about the meat in the sack, he gave up.

It’s important to work first.

"What's in this sack?" Li Qingxia asked when he saw Li Long entering the yard. He was chopping pig grass there - two people from the Li family went to work, and Li Qingxia actually wanted to show off his wheat-cutting skills, but Li Jianguo didn't let him go.

He could only look for pig grass all over the ground, then cut it and chop it up to cook pig food.

Although there were still a lot of feed bought by Li Long and sugar residues brought back from the sugar factory, in Li Qingxia's eyes, these things should be put aside for the time being. He has hands and feet, and it won't do to just eat and not work.

"Yesterday when we went to the hot springs in the mountains, we saw signs of wild animals. This morning when we went there, we killed two. One was a roe deer and the other was a wild boar." Li Long said, "So, we're bringing the meat back - we've left some on the street, and we'll send some to Xiaoxia's dad later. We have to deal with the rest."

"Then let's cook it." Du Chunfang was lighting a fire in front of the stove, preparing to cook pig food. After hearing what Li Long said, she added, "It's hot in summer, and it's hard to store meat."

"That's right." Li Long unloaded the meat. Li Juan had already taken a large basin from the kitchen, and then squatted beside it, watching Li Long cut the meat curiously.

Although eating meat is no longer a rare thing in the Li family and they can eat it every day, they are still very happy when looking at these large pieces of meat and bones.

Li Long picked out the bones and piled the meat aside. The bones would be cooked later, and the meat had to be cut into small pieces before being put into the pot for stewing. The pieces had to be very small, otherwise the oil inside could not be squeezed out.

"Juan, go get some firewood." Li Long assigned Li Juan a task. "Have you finished your homework?"

"We're done." Li Juan stood up and ran towards the firewood pile, saying, "Uncle, is one armful enough?"

"Maybe not enough." Corn stalks and sunflower stalks were tied into bundles, one armful was a bundle, about 20 or 30 stalks. It was not enough to cook bones or stew meat.

Li Juan came over with two arms of firewood, with grass leaves stuck to her hair. Du Chunfang called out to her:
"Juan, there is grass on your head, remove it quickly..."

Li Juan didn't understand why her grandmother was so frightened when she saw the grass on her hair, but she quickly smoothed her hair, took the grass off and threw it away.

Li Long explained with a smile:

"In ancient times, people would stick a piece of grass on the top of something to express their intention to sell it. Isn't there an idiom called 插标卖首? In ancient times, people would also stick a piece of grass on their heads when selling people. So when your grandmother saw the grass on your head, she thought it was a bad sign and asked you to remove it immediately."

Li Juan had not yet learned "Fan Jin Zhongju", so she was not familiar with this allusion.

Du Chunfang listened to Li Long's explanation and smiled.

Although Li Juan understood what her grandmother meant, she didn't really care. After all, what she was taught in school had already taught her a lot.

Li Long cut the meat into small pieces, then cleaned the pot and started to braise the meat first, then boil it.

At this time, Li Qiang ran back from outside, shouting. He had two handfuls of things in his hands. When he saw Li Long, he shouted in surprise:
"Uncle, you're back?"

"I'm back. Are you guys on vacation?"

"It's holiday time." Li Qiang held up the things in his hand and presented them to Li Long:

"Look, uncle, these lamb horns! They are all tender! Uncle, have some!"

"I won't eat it, I'm busy." Li Long laughed. The scientific name of this thing is goose down vine. It grows everywhere on the walls of every house. Its leaves are a bit like those of Polygonum multiflorum and Aristolochia. Its fruit is a slender horn, a bit like a mung bean pod, with fluffy seeds inside. It can be eaten when it's tender, but it will fly away when it's old. "Sister, you eat it!" Li Qiang directly stuffed a handful of his left hand to Li Juan who was making a fire, then peeled one and handed it to Li Long on tiptoe:

"Uncle, please eat one!"

"Okay, okay, I'll eat it." Li Long ate the lamb horn from Li Qiang's hand.

Quite sweet.

"Well, not bad. It's delicious." Li Long praised while eating.

Li Qiang was very proud and peeled two more, giving one to grandma and one to grandpa.

Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang were delighted.

To be honest, I have never enjoyed such treatment in my hometown. Although Li Long's second brother also has a son, and his sister also has two children.

When Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei returned home, the whole yard was filled with the aroma of meat.

Two pots of meat have been cooked, one has been served, and the other is cooling down.

"Xiaolong, are you hitting something again? What is it this time?" Li Jianguo asked while patting the wheat awns on his body with a towel.

"Roe deer and wild boar," Li Long said. "They also take a hot spring bath. I got them there."

"Rare, these animals also take a hot spring bath!"

Li Long knew that in later generations, the monkeys from Xiao Ri Shi also seemed to be hooking up, and that was quite famous.

"Sister-in-law, take out the meat and cook the bones later. I'm going to Xiaoxia's house now to bring some meat to her father."

"Okay." Liang Yuemei agreed readily, "Bring more meat. Xiaoxia doesn't come back often. If you bring more meat, he will have an easier time."

"Okay." Li Long said, "I'll take two legs and some ribs."

Li Long took the meat to Gu's house. Gu Boyuan had just returned from the threshing ground - their home and Li's were not in the same residential area, and the threshing ground was also in a different location. Gu Boyuan participated in two collective labors this year, making broom handles and making brooms and earning a lot of work points, but he did not stop participating in the team's public labor because of this, but tried his best to participate.

Li Long guessed that Gu Boyuan wanted to earn more money and didn't want to affect Gu Xiaoxia - Gu Xiaoxia would definitely give him money, but given Gu Boyuan's personality, he might not accept it.

"Uncle Gu, this is the wild boar and roe deer meat I hunted today. Do you think we should braise it or cook it directly?"

"The meat must be simmered and the bones cooked." Gu Boyuan looked at the meat Li Long brought over and said with a smile, "You got a lot!"

"Wild boars and roe deer are not big. There are some in the county yard. Xiaoxia is probably stewing them now. My family has just finished stewing them. It was just a coincidence today. When I went to the hot spring, I didn't expect those animals to take a bath there..."

"Is it true? These animals also take hot spring baths?" Gu Boyuan heard of this for the first time and asked, "Are there many?"

"There were many, groups of wild boars, several roe deer, and other animals..." Li Long described the scene at that time.

"According to what you said, if there are three or five people, the harvest will be great!" Gu Boyuan was also very interested, and then shook his head, "Not now, no one has time. During the busy farming season, no one has time to spare... But it can be done after autumn."

Li Long smiled and said:
"Then let's get a few more guns and go into the mountains to experience it."

"Okay, okay." Although Gu Boyuan is considered a scholar, he would definitely like to participate in hunting, especially if it can improve the food.

Li Long did not leave the meat. It was impossible for Lao Gu to cook the bones and stew the meat by himself. It was getting late, so Li Long, as the future son-in-law, naturally had to help.

So when he came out of Gu's house, it was already completely dark.

Electric poles have been erected on the roadside, wires have been pulled to each house, light bulbs and other items have been installed, but the electricity has not yet been delivered.

Li Jianguo heard from Xu Chengjun that the village's bus transformer and other things have not been completed yet.

But it’s soon.

When Li Long walked out of the Gujia residential area, he saw a man squatting on the side of the road.

He shouted:
"Who?"

"Brother Long, it's me." Tao Daqiang's voice rang out.

"Why are you squatting here?" Li Long was a little confused. "What happened?"

As he walked forward while talking, when he got in front of Tao Daqiang, Li Long finally saw Tao Daqiang's face clearly - he was shocked!

"What happened to you? Did someone beat you up?"

Seeing Tao Daqiang with a bruised face, Li Long was really surprised. Tao Daqiang was considered a strong man in the team, how could he be beaten like this?

"No, no, I was stung by a wasp when I was harvesting wheat..." Tao Daqiang was a little embarrassed, "I also went to harvest wheat today. When I was harvesting more than an acre of land, I didn't notice a big wasp's nest on the wheat stalks. I saw it after I cut the wheat stalks down. As a result..."

Li Long couldn't help wanting to laugh, but he felt it was a bit immoral. However, this matter - was really easy to laugh!
Wasps are not like bees. Bees sting people for just one second, causing pain to the person and killing the bee. Wasps do not have barbs on their stings, so they can sting several times in a row.

"Have you wiped it with vinegar and soapy water? Can that disinfect it?"

"No, I just used some saliva..." Tao Daqiang was really not sure.

Li Long knew that this was considered a "folk remedy" that said saliva could eliminate bee venom, and there were even some disgusting ones that said snot could be used for disinfection.

In fact, it is either vinegar or soapy water, because one is vinegar and the other is alkali. As for which one it is, you will know after trying it.

This was not easy to comfort, so Li Long said:

"Then go back and try using vinegar and soapy water. That will really help disinfect."

"...Okay. Brother Long, when are you going to go fishing after you come back this time?" Tao Daqiang asked what was in his heart.

"Then... it will take a few days." Li Long thought to himself, I just want to avoid the wheat harvest, and seeing you like this, I have to hide even more. "I still have some things to do in the mountains, and I have to go there tomorrow."

"Well... okay, I'll look for you when I come back." Tao Daqiang was a little disappointed, but he also knew that Li Long would not come back to catch fish just for him.

"If you don't want to harvest the wheat, you can get the nets from my house and sell them yourself, then go to the county." Li Long looked at Tao Daqiang's somewhat lonely back and said, "Anyway, you know how to cast the nets. Look, Meng Zhiqiang can sell fish, so can you. If it really doesn't work out, you can buy a bicycle with the money I give you. It's more convenient..."

Tao Daqiang was stunned for a moment, stood there for a while, and then walked away.

(End of this chapter)