Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

"Today I saw fish I have never seen in my life." Li Anguo said as he ate a steamed bun. "This is the first time I have seen so many fish after the reservoir was cleared..."

"Brother Long, did we catch two tons of fish this time?" Tao Daqiang asked.

Because there were so many people, they were divided into two groups to eat. Li Long and the young people were in one group, while Tao Daqiang, Yang Yongqiang and Li Junshan were all together.

"Yes, but we're still far from it." Li Long said, "With the fish in this lake, we have to get at least 7 or 8 tons. Ten tons would be even better."

Of course, it was just a thought. Catching two tons of fish in one morning was already very good. In fact, it was more than that. Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang didn't even count the fish on the side of the car.

People from the village walked by one after another, most of them carrying a bag of fish, intending to take them back and have lunch at the same time.

I didn't feel it at the time when I was running in the icy mud to catch fish, but when I stopped I realized it was extremely tiring.

"Xiaolong, I saw you collecting fish from the people in the team below. How did you do that?" Someone couldn't help but ask Li Long.

Li Long took the steamed bun and said:

"One cent per kilogram. I want the big fish. I don't want the small crucian carp."

"Oh." After hearing the price, the person asking the question stopped talking and went back with the fish on his back.

"They feel like they're losing money." Yang Yongqiang whispered, "The team sells fish for 70 or 80 cents, and we charge 1 cent, so they must be losing money."

"Maybe someone will go to the market to sell fish tomorrow morning. Then they will know that if they go all the way to the market, they may not even get 30 or 50 cents, let alone 70 or 80 cents."

Just as Li Long said, some people are already carrying fish to the market.

The price of fish sold in the market has slightly increased because it is cold in winter and it is difficult to catch fish, so the price of fish has risen to one yuan early in the morning.

But I didn't expect that when it was almost noon, seven or eight fish sellers suddenly came out to the market, and the price of fish immediately dropped. These people were in a hurry to sell the fish. If you shouted 80 cents, I would shout 60 cents, and the other one would directly shout 50 cents.

These people carry bags containing thirty or forty kilograms of fish. They look beautiful, so some people still buy them.

But when I saw that the price was dropping, I decided to wait if I wanted to buy it. Then, in the end, it dropped to 20 cents.

It would be meaningless if it drops further.

The first fish seller was shocked and hurriedly pulled over a fish seller who had sold out to ask about the situation. The first seller didn't say anything, but the second seller didn't have much of a sense of confidentiality.

"The water in the sea has been drained. Just imagine how many fish there are. I thought I could come here earlier to sell the fish for some money, but I didn't expect so many of them to run away quickly. If I had known, I wouldn't have sold them..."

The people at the fixed stalls reacted immediately and realized that a big place had shipped the goods!

He quickly closed his stall and thought about going to Dahaizi to collect the catch. After all, it was faster than catching fish himself, and reselling the fish was more profitable.

The people who were selling fish knew that Li Long and his team were buying fish. They thought the price they paid was too low, so they came to the market to sell their fish.

I didn't expect that there were so many people selling fish in the market and the fish couldn't be sold at a high price. If I had known this, I would have sold it to those young men.

So in the afternoon, the news came out that Li Long and his team were collecting fish more smoothly than in the morning. The fish that several stalls had not intended to sell to them were finally sold to them at a low price.

So, several people were busy picking fish for the whole afternoon. In the whole afternoon, Li Jianguo pulled back three loads of fish, and Tao Jianshe also pulled back two loads. Yang Hua only had a wheelbarrow, which was troublesome to pull, so he joined the group and pulled back a cart of fish when it was dark.

Back at the Lao Ma Hao, Li Long said to Tao Daqiang:
"Da Qiang, you and Uncle Jianshe collected fourteen bags of fish today, totaling four hundred and fifty kilograms. Adding the freight for your donkey cart, I'll give you eighty yuan. Is that okay?"

"Okay, okay, okay." Tao Daqiang said yes. Although it was an estimate, he felt that Li Long had calculated too much. Of course, he had also contributed a lot, so he felt comfortable taking the money.

"Yongqiang, you and your father collected ten bags of fish, plus this cart, so I'll give you sixty yuan." Li Long counted out the money and went out, "How's it going?"

Yang Yongqiang naturally had no objection. He paid 10 cents for the fish, and some fish were only 5 or 8 cents. Now it was calculated that Li Long paid him 15 cents. So he could make 20 or 30 yuan in one round trip, and also get a bag of fish. How could he not be willing?

After the Tao and Yang families left, Li Long said to his relatives:
"They use their own capital and resell it to me. Our family members all collect fish, so what I give is a bonus. The one who collected the most fish today is my brother-in-law, and his bonus is 20, and everyone else will get 15. Is that okay?"

“Yes.”

"That must be no problem."

"It's great to take this money!"

Catching fish is great fun in itself, and I can get paid for it later, which is more than what I earned from my previous job. Twenty dollars a day is such a great way to make money!

When Li Long distributed the money to everyone, no one could keep smiling.

We had rice for dinner. Although it was a bit unnatural to eat so much at night, it was obvious that everyone was hungry, and everyone was excited at the time, so they had a good appetite. We drank fish soup. Although we had smelled the fishy smell for a day and were a bit fed up with it, the fish soup still tasted fresh.

After Li Jianguo finished eating, Li Long went to see him off and stuffed a wad of banknotes into his pocket as he left. "Brother, take this, and put the fish in a spare room when you get back." There was a bag of fish on the carriage, which was for him to take back and eat.

"Okay." Li Jianguo was not polite. Both brothers knew it, so some things were tacitly understood.

Li Long let out a sigh of relief and went to the warehouse to take a look. Half of the beds in the warehouse were already filled with fish. It seemed that he had to find a place for tomorrow's fish in advance.

Fortunately, there was an empty house, but Li Anguo and his family lived next door to it, so the house was still somewhat warm.

It's not very suitable. But there is no good place to put it for a while, unless we transport it directly to the big yard in the county. There are many places there, many houses are empty, and most of them don't have fires.

In fact, Li Long originally planned to move the fish to the big house step by step during the winter, so that it would be much easier to sell the fish from the big yard to Shicheng when the time came.

It’s not that serious yet, it just depends on whether it snows in the next few days.

The next day, we had dinner early again. The few people who were so tired that they fell asleep right after dinner yesterday became energetic again in the early morning.

"Today I will follow my uncle's example and buy fish from those kids. I'm sure I'll get the right one every time." Li Junfeng joked while eating.

"We have to be careful today," Li Long said as he ate his cornmeal cake. "Someone will definitely compete with us for the fish today. We should try to buy in groups and buy all the fish for one person at once, preferably the ones in large groups. After buying, several people will come together to pack the fish and send them to the south bank. No matter the size, we can bargain for the price."

"What?"

"If there are people competing for it, the price may go up. Others are new here and may not know the situation well, so they will definitely buy the big ones. If we buy them in bulk, they will definitely be willing to sell to us." Li Long explained, "Our goal now is to buy as much as possible and stock up more fish. Anyway, the fish are starting to freeze now, so we don't have to worry."

After dinner, they set off. When Li Long and his friends arrived at the south bank of Dahaizi, they found that Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang had already arrived, and there was a bag of fish next to the Tao family's donkey cart.

"You're here quite early." Li Long smiled and greeted Tao Daqiang, who was carrying the second bag of fish towards here. He put the fish down and said, "Brother Long, other people are here to collect the fish. But the price is not high..."

"Then listen to me." Li Long repeated what he had said to Li Anguo in the stable. Since it was a business, and the overall market was or would be in a long-term seller's market, it would be no problem to stock up more goods. At worst, they could just take them to Wucheng to sell. Li Long was definitely not worried about not being able to sell these fish this winter.

I’m only worried about not having enough fish and not making enough money.

After all, there are so many people to share the profits. It's not like before when everyone earned money by themselves, with at most one worker, Tao Daqiang.

Li Jianguo was still guarding the car, and Li Long went over with the bag. This time he didn't even bring a scoop net, and there was no need to bring one - it was just dawn and there were already hundreds of people in the lake.

The fish scattered here and there are piles of them are Li Long’s target.

Soon, Li Long saw another family coming to buy fish. The man looked familiar to Li Long, and he must have seen him in the market.

Li Long listened to him talking to a boy who was guarding a fish stall about the price:

"Gasong, the price I'm giving you is already very high. People in your team only sell fish for 20 cents per kilogram in the market. I'll pay 10 cents for these big fish from you. Is that okay? It doesn't take any effort for you to pick up these fish. You can earn half a month's salary for others in just one morning. That's enough!"

Li Long felt that this person was either mentally ill or was tired of bargaining with the young boy and that was why he called him that.

Sure enough, before he finished speaking, the young man glared and said:
"Not for sale! Go wherever is cooler (qi)!"

“If you don’t want to sell it, then don’t sell it. Go and cry while you watch the fish rot in your house!” The fish collector walked away swearing and went to buy fish from another stall.

The pile of fish next to the young man was the largest one in the area, so Li Long also walked over.

"One cent per kilogram, I'll buy them both, big and small, is that ok, young man?" Li Long asked.

"Okay." The young boy agreed readily. "My sister said that these fish are about 80 kilograms, and there are some small crucian carp. You just need to give me 8 yuan."

Li Long happily paid the money, then called for Li Junfeng who was nearby to come over. The two of them loaded the fish. As they loaded, Li Long asked:

"Young man, why don't you sell fish to that guy just now?"

"He's a coward - he thinks we can't sell all these fish... The price is too low, we can't sell to people like him!"

Well, this boy of eleven or twelve years old is also a smart man.

Li Junshan came over to help. Li Long gave him the bag he had in his hand, then took the empty bag from him and continued to collect the fish.

There are many people today. There are several deep water troughs with a lot of fish in them. The main focus of fishing is now there. The fish in the shallows were almost all picked up yesterday. There are still some fish in the center of some large puddles, but you need to wade into the water to net the fish in the middle. It is not so easy to catch fish now.

But everyone’s overall gains have been increasing because there are more people.

By lunchtime, Li Jianguo had sent back two more batches of fish, and Li Long predicted that he could collect more than four tons of fish today.

Very good. (End of this chapter)