Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 249: Encountering a Ruthless Guy Again
The woman hugged the girl and looked at Li Long cautiously.

Li Long felt that he didn't need to be a bad guy, so he explained:
"Madam, I just came here on my bicycle, and your child came over from that side and almost hit me... Can you see if he is okay?"

At this time, there was no such thing as a hit-and-run. The child had not let Li Long see it, so Li Long could not tell whether the child had sprained his wrist or not.

"Then..." The woman looked at the child hurriedly, touched him up and down, and asked the child in a low voice.

Both of them were wearing tattered clothes, which were originally covered with patches and now had several holes in them.

Both of them hadn’t washed their hair for days, their faces were covered in dust, and their cloth shoes were torn. This was fine in the summer, but in the winter…

Li Long didn't want to think any further.

"An Ni'er is fine." The woman finally said, "Big brother, are you... okay?"

"It's okay, I'm fine too." Li Long waved his hand, "Is your child picking wheat? This ear of wheat is still on the way, you can take it back."

Since everything was fine, Li Long felt relieved. He turned back to the road and started picking up the fallen vegetables on the ground.

The woman came to the roadside with her child, not in a hurry to pick up the wheat ears. The girl put her fingers in her mouth and looked at a tomato that fell on the ground, her eyes full of desire.

Li Long noticed it and felt a little sorry, so he picked up the tomato and said:

"This is for you, little friend."

The child's face first showed joy, then he looked at Li Long warily, and then looked at his mother.

The woman's face showed guilt, vigilance, and uneasiness. She whispered:

"I... don't have any money. Can I... trade it for some wheat? I have some wheat over there!"

"No, no, everyone has difficulties." Li Long smiled, "Eating a tomato is nothing. Has this child not been able to eat well in the past few days? How about this, I'll save some vegetables for you."

As he spoke, Li Long took some eggplants, peppers, cowpeas and the like from the basket and placed them on the side of the road. He put the tomato on top, then nodded to the mother and daughter and left.

He did this purely to show that he had no ill intentions.

No sword beans are added because if they are not cooked well, they will cause poisoning.

After watching Li Long leave for a long time, the mother and daughter immediately ran over. The girl grabbed the tomato and put it to her mouth, then took it off and handed it to her mother:
"Mom, you eat!"

"You eat it." The mother turned her head and tried hard to hold back tears. "I won't eat it. I have to pick up the wheat ears. You eat it, eat it quickly, and take these vegetables under the bridge hole after you finish eating."

The child stubbornly stuffed the tomato into his mother's mouth. The mother had no choice but to take a small bite. It was really delicious!

Li Long walked away, but the mother and daughter were still in his mind.

He should have come from his hometown to seek shelter with relatives or friends, but he probably didn't find anyone. This kind of thing has been happening since the 1950s and 1960s, but I didn't expect to encounter it now.

Li Long left the dishes because he felt sorry for them and also because the mother and daughter's accents seemed to be from their hometown. He didn't know how many counties away they were, but it was definitely not far.

It's a good deed.

After riding his bike to the big yard, Li Long put the vegetables into the kitchen and sorted them out - there was a small storage room in Lao Ma's kitchen with wooden shelves on which a lot of things could be placed.

It's shady here, so things can be kept there for several days.

Looking at the time, there was still more than an hour before the end of get off work, so Li Long began to knead the dough, planning to make some simple pulled noodles.

This time not much meat is used, just peppers, eggplants and tomatoes, the most old-fashioned way of eating noodles in summer.

After kneading the dough, Li Long cut the long eggplant into thin slices, and did not throw away the eggplant legs. This thing is called vegetarian chicken legs in this era, and it is usually eaten by the spoiled children at home. It is said that it also has medicinal value.

Chili peppers and tomatoes were also chopped, and a head of garlic was peeled and cut in half - because of the book (The Revenge of Kuacang Mountain 4), Li Long always put garlic in eggplant dishes. The remaining garlic would be eaten raw with the noodles later.

After all, if you don't add garlic to your noodles, the flavor will be half gone.

First, stir-fry the vegetables. Pour oil and garlic into the pan and start stir-frying. After turning on high heat, add some water to force out the moisture in the tomatoes to form a sauce-like liquid. Then simmer for a while, add salt, turn off the heat and serve.

The fragrance filled the kitchen and Li Long felt sweat starting to form on his forehead, but it was nothing, it was normal in such a hot day.

Brush the pot, pour water and keep it boiling, then get a watermelon to cool in the water, and then start kneading the dough.

When Gu Xiaoxia entered the yard, Li Long was putting food into the pot. Seeing her come in, Li Long said:
"Wash your hands, and you can eat now."

Gu Xiaoxia smiled and said:
"That's great. There's a meal ready for you when you get home—"

In fact, she wanted to say that Li Long was pampering her a little bit. But she liked this feeling very much, and it was difficult to say such words.

After parking the car, Gu Xiaoxia carried her bag into the bedroom. She came out after a while, washed her hands and helped Li Long.

"Do you want hot noodles or cold noodles?" Li Long asked habitually. Hot noodles are not taken out directly from the pot, which will make them lumpy when eaten. Instead, the noodles are taken out and rinsed with cold water, commonly known as "stimulating", and then put back into the pot and rinsed with hot water.

The cool ones are naturally the noodles that have been "spicy".

"It's cold," Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile as she looked at the noodles Li Long made, "You're really good at making noodles, they're so thin."

"It's thin and easy to chew. Our noodles are made from winter wheat, so they're chewy and easy to pull."

Think about the previous life, there was a period of time when the county only planted two reds and one white - cotton, tomatoes and grapes. There were very few grain crops; the only way to eat was to buy flour from the supermarket.

At that time, people had already started to differentiate between high-gluten flour and the like. In the eyes of country folk like Li Long, some things had been extracted from the flour. After all, products called "wheat germ" had already appeared on the market.

The flour used at that time was not as easy to make noodles as before.

For a while, everyone believed what was said on the radio and television, that they should only buy flour processed in regular factories and not buy flour from small processing plants, as the flour in those plants was prone to mold...

But after eating it for a while, I feel that both noodles and rice are not as fragrant and delicious as before.

Later, the government forced a portion of the land to be used for food production in order to ensure food security. As a result, some small flour mills that had been banned were revived. The flour processed there was not widely circulated in the market, but people nearby who knew about it would buy it.

Li Long's family also bought it. It is not expensive, but to be honest, the steamed buns made with this flour can taste like wheat again.

really not easy.

While Li Long was serving noodles, Gu Xiaoxia served a bowl of noodle soup to each of them. The noodles for both of them were served in an enamel basin. Li Long then took out a bottle of vinegar and explained:
"I'm used to pouring vinegar."

"I eat it too." Gu Xiaoxia didn't find it strange. "Especially when frying leeks, I put more. My dad said that when I was a kid, I could occasionally eat noodles, and I would just put vinegar in the noodles and eat it. It scared him!"

"That's really scary..." Li Long didn't expect that the person in front of him was such a jealous person.

"Then you can't laugh at me." Gu Xiaoxia lowered her head to mix the vegetables. "At that time... my dad took care of me. I was young and ignorant, and sometimes I would make him angry. When my dad was angry, he would cook casually. I..."

Gu Xiaoxia couldn't continue speaking and she lowered her head.

Li Long reached out and patted her head and said:
"Everything is fine. You have a good job now and can help the family. I went to see Uncle Gu yesterday and talked to him a lot. He said that he is quite comfortable living alone now and asked you not to worry about him..."

"My dad is like that. He keeps everything to himself... Can you... visit him more often in the future?"

"It's better for my elder brother to go than for me to go." Li Long shook his head and said with a smile, "If my elder brother goes, he can still argue with him, but if I go, I can only listen to your father's education as a person with experience... Fortunately, I think I am still a good person and can catch your father's eye."

Listening to Li Long bragging about himself, Gu Xiaoxia's sadness disappeared unconsciously.

"Eat quickly, the noodles are clumping together." Li Long pointed at the bowl and said, "You still have to go to work in the afternoon. After eating, go and take a rest..."

The two chatted and laughed while eating. Li Long also told Gu Xiaoxia about the mother and daughter he met on the road, and she felt sorry for them.

After dinner, Gu Xiaoxia sent Li Long to the bedroom to rest. She said that Li Long had been busy for several days and must not have had a good rest, so she would wash the dishes.

Li Long smiled and went into the house.

After waking up from a short nap, Gu Xiaoxia had already gone to work. Li Long pushed his bicycle out of the yard, locked the door, and went to the free market.

When he got to the market, he saw what he wanted—someone was selling watermelons and melons at a stall.

Locals call "melon" the green-skinned Hami melon. Other melons have their own names, such as cantaloupe is called "yellow egg", and the small white-skinned one is called "li melon" - this is the standard name, and there are also "hualansi" and so on, but now they have changed their names and are hard to find.

The later famous products like Xizhou Honey and Old Man Melon were nowhere to be seen at that time - at least not in this market.

"How much are the watermelons?" Li Long asked, "Where are the watermelons from?"

"From Pingyuan Forest Farm." The stall owner was very polite. "Three cents a kilogram, the same price."

"Where are the melons?" Li Long asked again when he saw a small pile of melons nearby.

"One cent...it's a bit expensive, but it's very sweet!" said the stall owner, whose melons were obviously not selling well.

"Then weigh five watermelons and two melons." This melon is big, one must weigh six or seven kilograms. In his previous life, Li Long saw this kind of melon being sold by the denticle in the market in southern Xinjiang on a short video platform.

This type of melon remained popular until the first decade of the next century. After that, because they were too big for a family to finish, almost all melons weighed two or three kilograms.

It's even, but it doesn't have the same feeling as before.

Li Long still remembers that once at Wucheng South Railway Station, a Uyghur fellow was selling such big melons, each weighing five or six kilograms, for one yuan each, and they were very ripe. Li Long bought four and carried them to the Bayi Guesthouse to get on the train.

Although there are yellow egg melons planted in the fields at home, this melon has a different kind of sweetness.

I had a delicious meal when I got home, and I still remember the taste.

He put the watermelons in a sack and put it on the back seat of the bike, and tied the melons to the front handlebars. After paying, he rode back to the yard, put down a melon, and left again.

This time he really went into the mountains carrying a gun.

The lock of the wooden house was still in good condition. It seemed that there were no idle people in the mountains now. Li Long rolled all the watermelons into the small room, then put a watermelon in the sack and went to find Lu Dafeng with a gun on his back.

Lu Dafeng was washing clothes by the stream. Seeing Li Long coming over, he stood up and greeted him with a smile.

"I bought some watermelons in the county and brought one to you." Li Long poured out the watermelon. "It's cool in the mountains. Although this watermelon is big, it can be stored."

"Thank you!" Lu Dafeng said with a smile, "Let's go and bring another jar of honey back?"

“No, no, no.” Li Long waved his hands hastily. “I haven’t had time to eat what you gave me last time. I’m going to go pick mushrooms.”

"Okay, thank you!" Lu Dafeng heard the voice floating behind him.

Mushrooms can be sold for money, and fish can also be sold for money. Li Long came here to spice up his life. After all, since he has a new life, he might as well make his quality of life better.

Li Long was already familiar with the nearby ravines. He walked sideways to the east, climbed over two hillsides, and entered a ravine covered with pine trees, shrubs and grass.

After getting in, Li Long quickly found the first piece of black tiger palm mushroom and a small piece of porcini. He didn't pick it up, mainly because some porcini were inedible and he couldn't tell them apart. This mushroom looked like a big white crisp, but who knows if it was?

It's better to be careful.

He picked up about seven or eight kilograms in one piece. The sack felt heavy and Li Long was very satisfied.

However, the grass in the forest was very deep and the moss was a bit slippery, so it was not very convenient for Li Long to walk.

The forest is very quiet, and you can hear birds singing occasionally. Li Long likes this feeling. In his previous life, he watched too many short videos, so he was a little uncomfortable when he first came to this life, but now he feels pretty good.

Life itself does not need to be so urgent. Short videos often show some things that were originally long in just a dozen or dozens of seconds. This has its advantages, but it also makes people lose the fun of slowly exploring.

Seeing a large mushroom under the moss in front of him, Li Long just went over to pick it when he heard a sudden noise in the grass in front. When he looked up, he saw a gray wild rabbit scurried out.

It's not worth it for Li Long not to use his gun.

The hare ran about seven or eight meters and then stopped, stood up and turned to look towards Li Long.

You little brat, still trying to provoke me!
Li Long was happy and lowered his head to pick up a stone or something to hit the rabbit. However, when he picked it up, he found that the rabbit had become someone else's prey.

And that "someone else" turned out to be a lynx with pointy ears!
This time Li Longshi saw it clearly. The lynx was holding the rabbit horse in its mouth and staring at Li Long vigilantly with a fierce look.

Li Longxin said, I don’t intend to hit you, it’s not okay for you to look at me like that?

Then he saw two little heads popping out from the lynx...

It turns out they are a family!
To be honest, looking at the furry little guy, Li Long was really moved!

It must be exciting to raise this thing!
(End of this chapter)