Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 271 The Poor Family
After lunch, Li Long took a rest. It was still raining, but not heavily. He waited for more than half an hour, and when the rain stopped, he pushed his bicycle out.

"Ride slowly on the road," Du Chunfang reminded at the door. "There's a lot of mud, don't try to be brave."

"Mom, I understand." Li Long smiled and waved his hand, jumped into the car, pedaled out of the yard, and went to Gu Xiaoxia's house.

Before arriving at Gu's house, Li Long saw Gu Xiaoxia riding a bicycle towards the main road, and he was happy.

Li Long stopped and waited for Gu Xiaoxia to ride over, then asked with a smile:
"Why did you come out?"

"What about you? Why did you come out?" Gu Xiaoxia asked a little unhappy.

"When I was leaving your house, I heard Uncle Gu talking about you. I guess he probably wants you to rush back to the county this afternoon, so I came to see you."

"That's right! My dad said, just work hard and don't always worry about home. He's not old and can still do things..." Gu Xiaoxia was obviously unhappy, "Then I'll leave... What about you?"

"My bicycle is broken, and I have to go to the county to buy a tire. Come on, let's go together."

The two of them rode side by side. Although there was not much mud on the road, it still stuck to the tires. Li Long found that the further west he went, the more mud there was, as if the rain in the west was heavier than in the village.

"Stop, stop." Li Long said to Gu Xiaoxia who was twisting her body and kicking hard:
"Let's clean the mud off the wheels."

He propped up the car, went to the roadside to pick up a red willow branch, and first cleared the mud under the front and rear tiles of Gu Xiaoxia's car, and then began to clean the mud on his own car.

Gu Xiaoxia stepped carefully on the ground, trying her best to ensure that her little leather shoes would not be stained with too much mud.

"Let's go, ride a little longer and we'll be in the countryside."

The road from the county to the township goes straight north to the Huoke Highway. This section is paved with gravel and there is no mud, so rain will not affect riding.

As for the road from the team to the village, it would take three to five years to pave with gravel, and another seven to eight years before paving with asphalt. And paving this asphalt also took many years.

The two of them rode from the team to the village. It took them more than half an hour to travel the five or six kilometers, but when they looked at the road in the village, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wait for me on the side of the road. I'll put the car under the dam and rinse the wheels with water." Li Long said, "Otherwise, it will be very dirty and not look good."

Gu Xiaoxia would not stand there and watch. She and Li Long pushed the bicycle to the river dam. It was called a river dam, but it was actually the Mohe Canal, a tributary of the Ma River. It was called a canal because it was dug by humans when the water conservancy was being developed. The water finally turned to the sea behind the village, and then went through several reservoirs. Finally, the remaining water was discharged into the Gurbantunggut Desert.

Dahaizi is very large and is surrounded by seven or eight villages. The production team where Li Long and his colleagues are located is in the southeastern corner.

At that time, the river dam had not been sealed with cement boards like in later times, and both sides were desert sands like the river. Li Long found a suitable position, propped his bicycle by the water, turned the pedals, and used water to wash the mud on the rear wheel.

Occasionally there would be a few drops of rain falling, but it had no effect.

The two bicycles were quickly made brand new. Li Long tried his best to prevent water from entering the chain and the middle axis to ensure that they would not rust. Of course, he would also maintain the bicycles with engine oil and butter from time to time.

Bicycles at that time were large items and, in people's minds, should be more expensive than cars in the 1920s.

After washing, the two set out again. There was only one store in the village, no place to repair bicycles, and no one to sell tires. If you wanted to buy tires, you had to go to the county.

When they rode all the way to the bridge tunnel, Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia about the mother and daughter.

"The little girl was quite grateful and even gave me a fish. At that time, I thought it would not hurt her self-esteem, so I accepted it," said Li Long with a smile.

They continued to move forward, and less than 500 meters later, Li Long saw a person in front of him walking forward in a panic, and he seemed to be crying as he walked - this person was carrying a child on his back.

When he got closer, Li Long heard clearly that it was a woman carrying a little girl. The woman was crying and saying:
"Ni, don't fall asleep. We'll be in the county soon. I'll find a hospital for you once we get there..."

It’s that mother and daughter!
Li Long immediately said to Gu Xiaoxia:

"These two are the mother and daughter I met. The girl should be sick..."

"Saving people is the most important thing." Gu Xiaoxia said immediately, "Take them to the county hospital..."

"Okay." Li Long pedaled hard a few times until he got in front of the woman, then braked and stopped, saying:

"Sister-in-law, is the child sick? Get in the car!"

"Well, I have a fever...I can't speak because of the fever..." The woman said subconsciously, then looked up and saw Li Long, and was stunned for a moment.

"Hurry up and get in the car. I'll take you to the hospital!" Li Long said, "I know the way!"

The woman didn't care about anything else at this time. She immediately helped the girl down from her back, turned her around and held her in her arms, then sat her on the back seat of the bicycle with the help of Li Long.

Li Long carefully stepped over the beam and stepped onto the bike. He stepped on the pedal hard to make the bike start turning. He got on the bike and drove quickly towards the county.

The county hospital was in the east of the city, not far from Li Long's compound. Gu Xiaoxia did not return to the compound, but followed Li Long to the county hospital.

At that time, there was only a doctor on duty in the county hospital. Li Long stopped the car and waited for the mother and daughter to get off. He put away his bicycle and ran quickly into the hospital. The woman followed behind him holding the child, and they entered the gate in a few steps.

At this time, Li Long had called the doctor on duty. The doctor came up and touched the girl's forehead, listened to the child's lungs with a stethoscope, and then asked the woman some questions and said:

"The child caught a cold, had a fever and was infected. His body was too weak to withstand it." The doctor said, "Give him an injection to reduce the fever and prevent pneumonia. Then I'll prescribe some medicine. He should be fine after a few days. Go and pay the money. I'll send the child to the treatment room."

"I'll go pay the money." Li Long stood up and said, "Sister-in-law, you can take the child to get treatment first."

Human life is at stake. Li Long could tell from the woman's expression that although she was anxious to take the child to the hospital, she actually had no money.

It is a matter of saving lives and we cannot delay at this moment.

In the 1980s, pneumonia was a serious disease and could not be taken lightly. Unlike later generations, ordinary pneumonia was regarded by many people as a severe cold.

After paying the money and getting the prescription, the nurse prepared medicine and gave the child an injection. Li Long then went to get the medicine and gave it to the mother.

Gu Xiaoxia accompanied the woman to look after the child. Not long after the injection, the child's face was not so red anymore and his breathing became stable.

The process looked simple, but in fact, both Li Long, Gu Xiaoxia and the mother knew that if it weren't for this injection, if Li Long hadn't brought them here on his bicycle, the girl might be in trouble. "Okay, let's go." Li Long saw that the situation had improved, and he was relieved, and whispered to Gu Xiaoxia:

"Let's do our own thing."

"Yeah." Gu Xiaoxia followed Li Long and quietly left the hospital.

While pushing the cart, Gu Xiaoxia said:

"I left two dollars for the sister-in-law and asked her to buy something for the child later. From what you said, the child is fine. When you were getting the medicine just now, I asked them and they came to look for the child's father, but they couldn't find him."

"Poor guy." Li Long nodded.

There are a lot of poor people these days.

Li Long sent Gu Xiaoxia to the big yard, while he went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought two new tires - the bicycle at home would be used frequently and with great effort, so it would be helpful to have an extra tire.

After getting the tire, Li Long went back to the team. The weather has improved, and I believe the ground will be hard tomorrow, so riding will not be affected much.

After returning home that day, Li Long arrived home. Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang were there, but he didn't dare to go and cast the net.

"I'm worried that you won't be able to get the tire back, and then I won't be able to sell the fish tomorrow, and all my fishing efforts will be in vain." This is how Li Qingxia explained.

"That's all right now. Install the bicycle tires, and then we'll go cast the nets," Li Long said. "We'll sell the fish tomorrow."

In fact, he wanted to sell Cynomorium songaricum, but thought about it and decided to wait for two days. The corn has not been harvested yet, and there should be people digging Cynomorium songaricum and sending it to Lao Mahao. He would sell them all at once, otherwise it would be difficult to deal with the leftovers.

Li Qingxia was originally going to stay and help Li Jianguo pack up the bicycles, but Li Jianguo asked him to go offline. He could see that his old man was very happy and energetic during this period, so this was good. He could make money, was in a good mood, and didn't say he missed his hometown, that was enough.

After casting the net, Li Long cast a few more nets and caught a few fish to cook. This kind of fish cooking is similar to grilled fish, and it tastes quite delicious, but you need to take your time, after all, river fish have more fine bones.

The next day, Li Qingxia did not let Tao Daqiang follow him to retrieve the nets. He was afraid that the bicycle would be damaged again. In addition, the road surface was still a bit soft, and if he rode alone, it would be impossible to ride fast, at least from the team to the village.

Li Qingxia sold fish in the county, so Li Long went to Shicheng.

The road from the county to Shicheng is easier to travel, and Li Long set up a stall in Shicheng with the wind blowing all the way. There didn't seem to be many people buying fish today, but Li Long didn't care. It was normal for the market to have ups and downs.

After selling the fish for more than an hour, Li Long pushed his bicycle between the stalls. There were also people selling watermelons, vegetables, and eggs, but not many selling meat, probably because they were afraid that it would go bad in the summer.

What surprised Li Long was that there was a man selling sesame cakes. He used a cart (handcart) to modify it. There was a wooden support on the handlebars, and it was used as a stall when not being pushed. There was a stove made of a tin barrel on the cart, and a pile of sesame cakes and a bucket of pickles were placed on a wooden board next to it.

There were knives, boards and other things on the car. Li Long guessed that if someone wanted to eat sesame seed buns with pickles, they would cut them on the spot.

Not many people bought it, but there were always people who wanted it - mostly from the stall owners. A sesame bun was slightly bigger than a palm and not expensive. It was 2.5 cents with a side dish and 20 cents without the side dish.

There was also boiled water on the car. Li Long observed that people who ate cooked meals could get water for free. If those who didn't have cups, the seller of the cooked meals would provide them with bowls.

This guy has a good brain.

Li Long exclaimed in admiration and then continued walking forward.

He walked around the stalls and then left.

The things here are more abundant than those in the county town, but there is nothing that Li Long needs. And because this is a new city, there are no old antiques for sale, so Li Long's original plan to collect some while these things are cheap cannot be realized here.

After going to the milk tea shop to drink milk tea and chatting with the naan-making guy for a while, Li Long returned to the county after eating.

At the free market, Li Qingxia had bought few fish, so he sold them all and went back. Li Long looked around and also didn't see anyone selling antiques, so he went back to the yard.

It's almost noon.

Gu Xiaoxia hadn't gotten off work yet. Li Long went into the yard, put his bicycle away, took out the basin, cleaned it, put it back in place, and then started preparing to cook.

I ate rice at home yesterday, so I'll make some noodles today. At noon, I still need to eat enough, after all, I do physical work.

When Li Long finished cooking, Gu Xiaoxia hadn't come back yet, so he ate first. He also pulled the noodles for Gu Xiaoxia and rubbed them with cooking oil, so that they would not stick and spoil for a period of time.

Gu Xiaoxia hurried back only after Li Long finished his meal and drank his soup.

"I went to the hospital to see that lady." Gu Xiaoxia explained, "The child's fever has subsided now, and it will probably take a few days to get better. I have already asked about the lady's condition. She is so pitiful. It was all thanks to you that she kept thanking you."

"That's not normal." Li Long waved his hand. "Everyone gets anxious sometimes. Sit down first. I'll heat up some noodles for you and let's eat."

"Yeah." Gu Xiaoxia said, "I just bought them some buns. I haven't eaten them yet. They smell so good! Are you crazy?"

"Yeah, I can eat more."

"I smelled this smell outside just now, and my mouth started watering. By the way, did you know? That elder sister's husband came here two years ago to support the border areas. He was said to be in some Si or some division. She had letters, but on the train, her money and letters were stolen. When she got off the train, she asked around and was pointed to here by someone."

"Isn't that like looking for a needle in a haystack?" Li Long shook his head. "The northern border is so big, there must be at least five or six Guangshi, and there are also many Nasi and others. There is also a Kanas in the far north..."

"Hehe, you know a lot." Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile while mixing vegetables into the noodles, "I didn't know..."

"That's nothing. Just read more books and you'll know everything." Li Long said calmly, "The books have everything."

"Hmm." Gu Xiaoxia picked up a large piece of noodles with chopsticks and started eating, saying, "When the elder sister reached the bridge hole, it was dark, so they stayed there, picking up wheat ears and helping people harvest wheat in exchange for some food, as well as salt and other things.

My daughter Xiaoni was harvesting wheat and got caught in the rain. She was wearing too little and caught a cold at night. I guess it’s because she was tired during this period and didn’t eat well…”

Poor guy.

(End of this chapter)