Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The girl's voice alarmed her mother. The woman was packing things in the bridge hole and ran out immediately when she heard the voice.

Then I saw the girl shouting towards the north.

"Lan'er, what's going on?"

"Mom, that uncle stuffed two pieces of meat into my hand..." Lan'er knew that she couldn't catch up with the uncle, so she ran to her mother in fear, showing the two pieces of meat in her hand.

Her expression was not one of joy, but of fear, and she kept explaining:

"I didn't ask for it. That uncle forced it on me, saying he wanted to exchange it for my three fish..."

As he spoke, his voice was already filled with tears.

"Lan'er, it's okay, it's okay." The woman knew why her daughter was like this - she had been too strict with her in the past and she shouldn't just ask for other people's things.

"That uncle... is so nice." Lan'er was relieved when she saw that her mother didn't blame her. She held up the meat to show her mother, "There is so much meat on this bone!"

"Yeah." The woman looked towards the north. At this moment, Li Long was just a black dot. She knew that he was a good man and her feelings were complicated.

When can I repay this favor?

Li Long hurried home and saw that the stacks of wheat in the threshing field had become taller.

The Li family's carriage was also there, the rollers made a loud noise, and the threshing had already begun.

When I entered the yard, Li Juan was picking up the wheat ears she had just picked up.

Li Qingxia was peeling fish in the yard, while Du Chunfang was lighting a fire at the stove and cooking pig food.

Hearing Li Long's bicycle, the three of them turned around to look.

"Xiaolong is back?" Du Chunfang's voice was the first to sound. "What good stuff did you bring back? Look at your clothes... Hey, there's so much blood! Are you not hurt?"

"No, I killed a wolf and a goat," Li Long got off the cart and explained as he braced himself, "This is the blood from when I was carrying these two things back."

I have been busy and have not had time to wash my clothes, so there is a strong smell of blood on my body. I didn't notice it before, but as soon as the old lady said it, Li Long felt uncomfortable.

"Go change your clothes quickly." Du Chunfang urged, "Dad, why are you still fishing? Go find some clothes for Xiaolong!"

"Do you need me?" Li Qingxia looked up, "Xiaolong, can you find it?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Li Long said with a smile, "You guys go about your business. I brought back some dried meat and just hung it on the wire." The wire was used to hang clothes. Li Long was using thin wire when he was stringing the dried meat, so now he just had to tie it up.

"Wind-dried meat?" Li Qingxia heard it for the first time and looked at it curiously.

"It's dried salted meat." Li Long explained, taking out strips of meat from a sack and hanging them on the wire. The half-dried meat gave off a faint and somewhat strange fragrance in the air.

"Isn't it a bit too much to sunbathe like this?" Du Chunfang was a little worried. "I heard that someone from above is coming today. Wouldn't it be bad if people saw it?"

"What's wrong with that? What are you afraid of now?" Li Qingxia was very open-minded. "We've let everyone go, and the land has been distributed to each family. Why are you still forbidding us from eating meat?"

"I'm just afraid that others will get jealous." Du Chunfang explained, "There are many people with conjunctivitis in my hometown, and some people can't stand seeing others live well."

Li Long smiled and said, "Mom, it's okay. The meat will be almost dry overnight. We can store it in the house tomorrow morning when it's dry. The meat will go bad if it's not dried. Oh, and the ones in this basin are the heart, liver, lungs, stomach and intestines. They are all cooked."

Li Long opened the basin and took out several pieces of cut meat and distributed them to Li Qingxia, Du Chunfang and others. Li Juan got the biggest piece. Li Long also asked:
"Where's Qiangqiang?"

"He went to play in the wheat field. He said there were a lot of grasshoppers there and he wanted to catch them to feed the chickens."

"This kid is quite sensible." Li Long said.

He looked down and saw that the fish Li Qingxia was peeling were mostly crucian carp. There was some white stuff in the chicken feed bowl containing the fish entrails, so he asked casually:

"Dad, is there too much fish in this noodle?"

Noodle fish is a fish that has the same parasites as noodles in its stomach, usually crucian carp.

"Not many, maybe two." Li Qingxia said, "Noodle worms are also worms, chickens love to eat them."

People are not surprised by parasites such as spaghetti worms. Compared with the little girls in the 1920s who were afraid to touch even grasshoppers, children like Li Juan at this time dared to catch spaghetti worms with their hands.

As for things like squeezing pockmarked animals to death, catching horses, snakes and rats, many girls do these things.

"Dad and Mom, you guys go ahead and do your work. I'll send some meat to Xiaoxia's dad."

"Yes, yes, yes, go quickly." Du Chunfang said hurriedly, "Take some of the fish your father caught and peel them to save you the trouble."

Li Long took some fish, some dried meat and cooked offal to deliver to Gu Boyuan. Gu Boyuan was not at home, so Li Long put the things on the table in the yard and covered it with a basin.

There is no one at home at this time, unless it is a relative or neighbor, generally no one will barge in. The local customs are still very simple in these aspects.

Li Long took the remaining some to Uncle Luo, and then returned to the Li family.

By this time, Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei had returned, and Li Qiang was feeding the chickens with a can of grasshoppers. The grasshoppers had obviously been processed, their heads were flattened, and although they could still jump occasionally, they couldn't jump high.

"Uncle!" Li Qiang shouted happily when he saw Li Long, "Look how many grasshoppers I caught!"

"Okay, okay, if you eat this chicken, it will lay more eggs, and you can eat more then!"

"I don't eat boiled eggs!" Li Qiang protested.

"Instead of eating cooked food, how about eating spicy eggs stuffed with cowpea?" Li Long teased Li Qiang.

"Good, good, good!" Li Qiang was happy to hear this. Liang Yuemei often makes this dish in this season. Cut the cowpeas and chili peppers into finger-sized pieces. When they are almost cooked in the pan, pour the beaten egg liquid into the pan and stir-fry for a few times before serving. This dish has a spicy taste and the flavor of scrambled eggs, and goes well with rice.

"Xiaolong, you're really good." Li Jianguo said with a smile, "You can catch something every now and then. You're a good hunter!"

"This time it was a complete accident." Li Long explained, "I ran to several ditches to pick mushrooms yesterday. I was really tired, so I thought of taking a bath in the hot spring. I didn't expect that three wolves were hunting wild goats at the hot spring. In fact, I killed two wolves and two goats, but I couldn't get one of the wolves back because it was too far. I originally thought I would get it after I finished it today, but I was exhausted after that, so I just gave up. I guess by the time I get back, the wolf may have been eaten by other things."

Li Long was actually quite proud of what he said. After all, this was the most he had ever caught in his hunting career.

"Amazing!" Li Jianguo couldn't help but praise him, "Four - this is a harvest that makes me a veteran hunter!"

"That's right, my uncle is awesome!" Li Qiang said loudly, and then whispered, "Uncle, what is the hot spring like? Is it comfortable to soak in it? Can you take me to soak in it?"

"When our family is not busy anymore, we will go together." Li Long said with a smile, "It's just that the journey is a little longer."

"I'm not afraid of the long journey!" Li Qiang assured loudly.

"Then I'll take you there."

Li Qiang turned his head and looked at Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei.

"Why are you looking at me? Just go after you're done with your work. Didn't your uncle say that?" Li Jianguo thought so. After the wheat harvest, it would take some time for the sunflower and corn harvests to be harvested. There was a gap in between, so it was possible to go into the mountains and have some fun.

"Brother, I said someone is coming from above?" Li Long asked curiously.

"Well, it's summer harvest time now. The county has sent people to visit each village to supervise the summer harvest and ensure that every grain is harvested."

Of course, this grain storage is just talk, it is impossible to do it. After all, the plot is so large, and after the wheat is harvested, it is necessary to organize threshing and winnowing immediately and then deliver the grain.

At this time, the main labor force is in the threshing floor. All the women in the family have to go to the threshing floor to work and earn work points. Only the elderly and children can go to pick up a few wheat ears, and even these people may not be able to pick them up.

After all, our team had a large area of ​​land, so when we dug the field stalks in the fall, we could dig out a lot of wheat, rice and corn from the rat holes we found.

Li Long vaguely remembered that at that time, only 20% to 30% of the public grain was usually paid, and the rest belonged to the team and was distributed to each family. After the wheat was threshed and harvested, the public grain and the mutual aid grain (retained by the team) were paid, and then the wheat was distributed to each family.

At that time, there were still small processing plants in the village. Each family would keep some of the wheat they received as seeds, and then process the rest into flour. The Li family had the habit of processing it into 85% flour, which was darker but more durable.

In the words of later generations, this is healthy.

Compared with the inland areas, the northern Xinjiang has a very big advantage. After the distribution of production to each household, what is usually paid to the higher authorities is the agricultural tax (public grain), the team's land management fee (food-grain land), and the land contract fee (the cost of contracting the land). Li Long has never heard of the rest of the so-called three increases and five unifications.

Without so many miscellaneous expenses, farmers will have more land, and they will be more interested in farming, and they will gradually become rich.

This is also why many people in the village could afford televisions and tractors just a few years after land contracting in the 1980s.

But later on, the cost of farming became higher and higher, agricultural inputs became more and more expensive, and the prices of primary agricultural products could not go up, so the living standards of the people in the team remained at that level and could not be improved.

What we ate in the evening was the cooked offal that Li Long brought back. We also made a bowl of dipping sauce and cooked it into a paste, and then ate it.

The next day after breakfast, Li Long picked some more vegetables from the yard and took them to the county. Li Juan was on vacation and didn't need to go to school. She had to do her homework at home. Li Qiang ran away after breakfast, saying that he still had to catch grasshoppers.

It's quite rare that children are full of energy and never get tired.

When Li Long rode his bike to the bridge tunnel where the little girl was, he shouted, put some vegetables on the ground, and when the girl showed her head, he rode away.

People who know how to be grateful are more likely to gain people's favor and kindness. This girl is about the same age as Li Juan. Li Juan can go to school, but she can only wander around. It's quite pitiful.

When Li Long arrived at the big yard, Gu Xiaoxia had already gone to work. The things Li Long brought back yesterday had been packed up, so Li Long put down some vegetables and left for the mountains again.

When they returned to the wooden house, the sun was not yet high, so Li Long hung out the meat in the house and went to the hot spring again with the sack.

Regardless of whether it is a wolf or not, there are also a lot of mushrooms there.

Today, Li Long went around another ditch, picking mushrooms as he went. He didn't encounter any mushrooms in the first half, and he picked them all up. When he was about one kilometer away from the hot spring ditch, he slowly saw black tiger palm mushrooms.

By the time Li Long picked up the mushrooms from the hot spring ditch, more than half of the sack was already filled with mushrooms. It was a good harvest today.

He walked into the ditch with the sack on his back, stepping carefully for fear of other wild animals. However, he did not expect to see anything until he reached the pond.

Sure enough, the wolf had disappeared, and except for the occasional faint traces of blood on the moss on the shore, everything else had disappeared.

Li Long was a little disappointed. He didn't expect the person hiding in the forest to be so fast!
He went to look for the mushroom he had fallen. The mushroom was still there, having been tugged at by something, but it was not rotten.

Li Long picked up all the mushrooms and put them in a sack, then returned in another direction.

After leaving the hot spring ditch, the sun was shining brightly, so Li Long gave up the idea of ​​picking mushrooms in other ditch and walked quickly towards the wooden house.

When he got to the cabin, Li Long poured the mushrooms on the wooden floor to dry. The original mushrooms were almost dry, so he moved the baskets to the grass and planned to dry them in the afternoon and then put them away. When he had enough in a sack, he would go to Chen Hongjun to sell them.

Li Long himself had already thought that picking mushrooms was definitely not as profitable as selling fish, but it was better because there were unexpected gains. For example, the wolf and the goat. After all, eating fish alone for a week would make you sick, but eating meat in different ways every day would not make you sick easily.

At noon, Li Long still ate half a watermelon with some dried offal. He felt a little uncomfortable in his stomach, so he went to the toilet behind the wooden house and squatted.

When I got up in the afternoon and took the sack to pick mushrooms, the dried meat on the poles looked almost done.

In the afternoon, Li Long came back with half a sack of mushrooms. He planned to ride his bicycle to Baiyanggou tomorrow to have a look. After all, it was hard to find mushrooms around here.

The mushrooms on the grass slope have been completely dried, and the dried meat on the poles is almost done. Li Long collected them all and then dried all the mushrooms he collected today.

Two days later, Li Long arrived at the county purchasing station on his bicycle with a large sack of black tiger paw mushrooms.

He estimated that these mushrooms weighed about 40 kilograms, which was quite a lot of money based on the price Chen Hongjun mentioned earlier.

Chen Hongjun took out a black tiger palm mushroom from the sack, looked at it, nodded and said:

“Yes, it looks like good quality.”

"Pour it out and take a look. It's all like this." Li Long was very confident. "There is definitely no impurities."

"I believe you." Chen Hongjun said so, but he still had to pour it out. (End of this chapter)