Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Qian Zhongxin went to the county to sell Cynomorium songaricum. He went out carrying a sack and came back carrying another sack.

Not sold.

I was seen by others when I left and when I came back, and then I became a laughing stock among the gossipers in the team.

"He hasn't seen clearly what happened to Tao Dayong and Gu Ermao yet. Some of this money is something we can earn, but we shouldn't even think about earning some of it. Li's Xiaolong is not ordinary, he's a government official now, how can he be the same?"

"That's right. Li's Xiaolong has killed several wolves in the mountains. Can ordinary people do it? I don't dare to do it anyway."

"Just because he can bring the job of tying big brooms to the team, I admire him!"

"Then why don't you mention the job of making a boss? That's a lot of money!"

"That means I won't be around anymore - I'm just waiting for him to get some work for the team in Qiuli, so that we can have the money for the New Year."

"Then why don't you dig Cynomorium these two days? You can make a few dollars a day."

"I found out too late. By the time I found out, the nearby alkali beaches had been occupied and almost dug up."

"Just wait and see. Qian Zhongxin will have to sell Cynomorium songaricum to Li Long in the end. I just don't know if Li Long will accept the dried goods."

"I guess they won't accept it. This morning I went to Li Long's place to sell Cynomorium songaricum, and asked him to pick out the ones that had dried up on the beach, but he said he didn't want them. They have standards for accepting goods..."

Li Long didn't care about what the team members were talking about him. At the moment, he was packing Cynomorium songaricum and planned to take a horse-drawn carriage to sell everything in the warehouse.

These dry goods weigh more than 200 kilograms and can be sold for more than 100 yuan, which is worth sending out a horse carriage. Accustomed to the speed of bicycles, Li Long is a little uncomfortable going to the county in a horse carriage.

The weather was a bit cloudy and windy. Li Long was wearing a straw hat and really missed his SUV in his previous life. He thought that if he wanted to drive an SUV in this life, it would take another 20 or 30 years. By then, he would be old.

After going to the medicinal materials company to sell Cynomorium songaricum, when he was coming back and almost reaching the team, a truck drove up from behind. Li Long led the horse to the side and hid on the other side of the carriage to avoid being hit by the stones kicked up by the truck.

The truck stopped on the side.

The person in the co-pilot seat leaned over from the driver's side and asked Li Long:
"Young man, can I ask you a question?"

"Okay." Li Long said with a smile, "Uncle, what are you asking?"

The other person is in his fifties, not as old as Li Qingxia, but it’s okay to call him uncle at this age.

"Which team are you on?" He pointed to the team in front, which was the team Li Long was on.

"Yes."

"Then do you know Li Jianguo?"

Li Long was a little confused. Who was this person? Why did he ask about his eldest brother directly?

He looked at the man carefully, but didn't recognize him and had no impression of him.

"I know. Why are you asking him?"

"Haha, that's all I need to know. I'm his relative, young man, can you show me the way? I'll give you a melon to eat."

Li Long turned his head and took a look, only to find that the truck was loaded with watermelons, the kind that stick out a little.

"No need, I'll take you there." Li Long said, "The road ahead is not easy to drive on, drive the truck slowly through the reed ditch, otherwise the watermelons will be rotten."

"Okay, okay, you're in the front." The man smiled and shrank back into his seat. "I'll definitely give you some melons later - these are wild melons, guaranteed to be sweet!"

After he said that, Li Long was even more confused. Did he have any relatives who lived in the wild?
He led the carriage and cracked the whip, walked in front, led the truck across the reed ditch, and then all the way to Li's house.

Seeing Li Long leading the carriage directly to the yard, the man was also a little surprised. He asked the driver to park the truck on the side of the road, and got off and followed him into the yard.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei had not returned yet, and it was not yet time for dinner. Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang were picking up nets in the yard, and Du Chunfang was picking vegetables in the vegetable garden.

"Is this Li Jianguo's home?" the man asked.

"Yes." Li Long said with a smile, "Look, this is Li Jianguo's father, and the one inside is Li Jianguo's mother. I am Li Jianguo's brother, and you are..."

"Who is he?" Li Qingxia was also confused.

"This uncle said he was a relative of my eldest brother, but I don't know who he is."

Li Qingxia looked at the man in some confusion.

"Oh my! The flood has really washed away the Dragon King Temple!" The man slapped his thigh and said, "Young man, you should have said earlier that you are Jianguo's younger brother! My name is Liang Dongting, Liang Donglou's cousin, and I am..."

"I know, I know!" Li Long immediately reacted. This relative was actually his eldest sister-in-law's, but nowadays they are all family, so Liang Dongting said that he was a relative of Li Jianguo.

After all, at that time, men were the breadwinners and women were the homemakers. If you asked people on the street and said Li Jianguo, many people would definitely know him, but if you said Liang Yuemei, the younger generation might not know him.

"Uncle Dongting, please sit down." Li Long hurriedly offered to sit down, "I'll go get you some water—"

"What water? Go get a watermelon from the car. You can eat watermelon now!" Liang Dongting laughed. "Brother, sister-in-law, when did you come from your hometown, Jianguo?"

"My parents came here a few months ago. My eldest brother and his wife are still in the threshing floor, and they have some finishing work to do."

"Come on, come on, eat some watermelon!" Liang Dongting cut a large watermelon weighing about ten kilograms and said with a smile:

"This is what I grew myself. I planted half corn and half watermelon on the land I was given this year. The watermelon is especially sweet this year. Come on, stop working and have a taste!"

Several people put down their work and started eating watermelon.

After eating two pieces, Li Long went to pick up the nets with Tao Daqiang. Today he did not go to Shicheng to sell fish, so there were only six nets, and they were picked up quickly. After Tao Daqiang left, Li Long went to the house to knead the dough.

With two more people, we have to prepare some solid meals.

Then the only option is to pull the noodles.

Du Chunfang also joined in the chat, because Uncle Dongting was an extrovert and talkative person. He talked about everything from how he followed his brother Donglou to start his own business, to how he settled down in the wild, to the various difficulties in growing melons, and so on.

Then they talked about the situation in his hometown. Unlike Li Long, he was already in his thirties when he came from his hometown, and he had a family. He came here by himself first, and then brought his family over after he settled down.

Li Long cooked two dishes first, one was lamb stewed with chili peppers. The tomatoes in the garden were quite ripe, so he used one tomato, five large chili peppers, and two tablespoons of stewed lamb cubes. When the dishes were in the pot, the aroma filled the yard.

This made Liang Dongting, who was chatting enthusiastically, turn his head to take a look, and then said:

"Wow, Xiaolong's cooking skills are pretty good! What is this dish? Why does it taste so bland?"

This means that the taste is very stimulating and very good.

"It's spicy, and we'll have some noodles later." Li Long said with a smile, "This tastes good when mixed with noodles."

"Yeah, it smells good!" Liang Dongting nodded. He was really a little hungry. He served a small bowl of mutton and spicy sauce. Looking at the red chili and thick soup, it was definitely delicious.

Put this in the kitchen - mainly because there are some flies under the shed, which will be annoying if no one drives them away.

Then Li Long fried the second dish, and lit the firewood under the other stove. A steamer was placed on it, and Li Long steamed the dried meat and salted dried fish.

"Your little dragon is really capable." Liang Dongting looked at Li Long busy at the stoves on both sides and whispered, "I saw he came back from outside with a horse-drawn carriage today. Did he go to work? Now he's cooking again - he's in charge of everything!"

"Hehe, that's right." Li Qingxia was most proud of his youngest son's success. For a man of his age, his children were successful, which made him happier and more prestigious than himself.

Well, I especially care about my face.

"Do you have a partner?" Liang Dongting was very gossipy and asked with a smile.

"Yes, I'm a teacher." Du Chunfang was also very proud.

"In the Education Bureau." Li Qingxia added.

At this time, Li Long didn't know that the content of their conversation had already involved himself. The second dish, fried eggplant with tomatoes, peppers, and peppers, was already out of the pot, also in a large pot, and then he washed the pot and poured water to prepare the next step.

Li Juan came back from outside carrying a basket of pig feed. Seeing so many people and a fire under the stove, she quickly put down the pig feed and came over to light the fire.

"Is this Jianguo's child? Xiaoni, come here and eat melon!" Liang Dongting said with a smile.

"You have to call him grandpa. This is little grandpa." Li Long introduced Li Juan with a smile, "My home is in the wild land below Shicheng."

"Hello, little grandpa." Li Juan said with a smile.

"Okay, come on, Ni, eat the melon!"

Liang Dongting stood up and gave Li Juan a piece of watermelon. Li Juan took it and ate it slowly while making a fire.

Li Long went into the house and started kneading the dough.

Li Qiang's voice was soon heard from outside again.

There was a lot of dough today, and Li Long couldn't control it, so the dough was a little soft, but it was okay, and it could be pulled. It just might not be as thin as usual.

Li Long likes to eat very thin noodles, as he feels that this is more stomach-friendly. Of course, some people like to eat thick noodles, because their stomachs are more motivated, and they won't feel hungry for the whole day after eating a plate of noodles thicker than chopsticks - it's really uncomfortable, or as they say, it's very hunger-inducing.

While the noodles were frying, Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei entered the yard. In fact, they had already seen the truck in the wheat field, but they thought that there were people at home and guessed that it was a watermelon seller. Li Long had big hands and bought watermelons by the sack, so there was no surprise.

So when Liang Yuemei recognized Liang Dongting, she was quite surprised, as she hadn't seen this little cousin for several years.

Less than twenty minutes into the chat and reminiscing, the meal was already served.

When Li Long placed the dried meat and salted fish on the table outside in a basin, and brought up two dishes of mixed noodles, and placed the two plates of noodles in front of Liang Dongting and the driver, Liang Dongting was surprised:

"It's over, it's over! I'm content with a plate of noodles. You guys are going too far... You don't plan to overdo it?"

"No way!" Liang Yuemei said with a smile, "This meat and this fish were all prepared by Xiaolong. The food is just ordinary. Uncle, you can eat as you like."

"That's right, it's a home-cooked meal, don't be polite, uncle!" Li Jianguo was also proud, as Li Long's meal was really good!

Li Long placed two more plates of noodles in front of Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang. Liang Dongting gave him a thumbs up:
"Xiaolong, you are amazing! This rice is beautiful and tastes great!"

"Then you should eat more. You must be hungry after coming all the way here." Li Long said with a smile, "Don't be polite now that we are home!"

"Yes, yes, yes, we are home now, we can't be polite." Li Qingxia also said.

Liang Yuemei went to get a few heads of new garlic and put them on the table. Whoever wanted to eat could peel them.

Next up were Li Juan and Li Qiang who had dinner, followed by Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei.

When Li Long wiped the sweat from his forehead and brought the plate to the table, Liang Dongting had already eaten two plates of noodles and was gnawing on the bones. Under the persuasion of his family, he was really not polite.

After dinner, Liang Dongting drank a bowl of noodle soup, rested for a while, pointed at the truck and said:
"Xiaolong, go up and move the watermelons. These are our own watermelons, you can take as much as you want!"

"Then take some." Li Qingxia knew that if he didn't take some, Liang Dongting would definitely be unhappy. He was so casual during the meal, which was really unreserved. Now he wants to carry the watermelon downstairs, and if you don't take it, it will hurt him.

Li Long smiled and said:
"Uncle, I won't be polite. This big watermelon is delicious, sweet, and has a sandy flesh. I have to carry a sack of it."

"One sack is not enough?" Liang Dongting said, "At least three sacks are needed..."

"We can't finish it." Li Jianguo interjected, "We haven't finished the watermelon Xiaolong bought earlier."

Li Long pulled a sack of watermelons off the truck. He was not polite. If he was polite at this time, Liang Dongting would really be angry.

Li Long and Li Jianguo stuffed the watermelon under the bed. Li Long said to Liang Dongting:
"Uncle, I'll go to the village director and use the loud speaker to call you and ask someone to come and buy watermelons. It's just after lunch, so everyone is at home."

"That's great. I sell these melons here for three cents a kilogram."

"It's not expensive to deliver it to your doorstep, and the melon is so good." Li Long said casually, "Just wait."

He got on his bicycle, put two watermelons on the back seat, and rode out.

"Your little dragon is smart." Liang Dongting said to Li Qingxia, "But will it work? Will the village director let him use the loud speaker?"

"I'll definitely let you use it." Li Qingxia was really confident about this. "Don't worry, get ready to weigh the melons."

Li Long first put a melon at Uncle Luo's house, and then took another melon to Xu Chengjun's house.

"Director, I'll bring you a melon." Li Long saw Xu Chengjun smoking under the grape trellis in the yard, and knew that he had already eaten, so he smiled and said:

“Authentic wild watermelon, guaranteed to be sweet!”

"Just tell me what's the matter, and bring me a melon." Xu Chengjun was now polite and affectionate to Li Long. Li Long made the team earn several thousand yuan with just two jobs. People like him really need to be supported.

"One of my relatives works in the fields. He brought a truckload of melons to sell here. I wanted to use a loud speaker to make an announcement."

"Okay, go ahead and shout. Do you know how to turn it on?"

"I know. Can I come in now?"

"Come in, come in, there's nothing you can't go in for."

Li Long went into the house, turned on the phone himself, and started shouting into the loud speaker.

The lack of the usual "puff" sound made the villagers curious. When they heard that the watermelon cart was in the team, and that the watermelons were three cents a kilogram, and that they were from the wild, many people were immediately tempted and came to the Li family with sacks. (End of this chapter)