Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Li Long did not go to the bridal chamber that night, mainly because he had just returned home after the banquet and thought he had nothing to do in the afternoon, so he hitched a carriage from his eldest brother's house, loaded the carriage with Li Junshan, and then he went to the county alone to transport fish.

When they arrived at the compound, Gu Xiaoxia had not yet finished get off work. After Li Long unloaded the fish, he was about to take a rest in the house and drink some water when he discovered that the stove in the house had gone out.

He went to the kitchen again and found that there was no boiled water. The biscuits and pickles he had eaten in the morning were left on the table without being put away.

It seems that work is indeed very busy.

I have to work overtime on weekends.

Li Long sighed, first lit the stove in the house, then went to the kitchen to boil water, and then prepared the ingredients and cooked.

Soak chili peppers, make tomato paste, wash and cut potatoes, peel onions and garlic.

Kneading noodles.

He was going to make some spicy noodles for Gu Xiaoxia. It was cold outside, so eating this would make her feel warmer.

The fire was blazing and the room became warm. Li Long cooked two dishes in less than an hour.

The dish wouldn't get cold for a while if it was kept in the warm room, so he went to make some noodles again.

The door opened and Li Long looked out through the window. Gu Xiaoxia came in pushing her bike. The bag hanging on the front handlebar was filled with thick paper documents.

She put down her bicycle, picked up her bag and walked towards the kitchen, smiling as she walked:
"You're here? Hehe, I knew that once you came, I would be able to have a good meal. Hey, you don't know, I've been too busy these days. I was originally thinking about rushing back to have a feast today."

"It's a good thing you didn't go back." Li Long joked, "We were having a feast outside. I had a mouthful of ice chips. That feeling... Aren't you guys too hard-working? Working overtime at the end of the year? Even on weekends?"

"We can't help it. We merged the village primary school this year, and there are many problems left. We need to sort them out during the year-end summary." Gu Xiaoxia washed her hands, sat at the table, and looked at the two dishes. She was almost drooling. She didn't pay much attention when explaining. "The regular cadres are all busy. Do you think we dare not work overtime? Fortunately, it's almost done... Mm, it smells so good!"

While Li Long wasn't paying attention, she couldn't help but pick up a small piece of meat with chopsticks and put it in her mouth. At first, she thought it was really delicious, and then she felt the spicy taste coming up:

"Water, water... sizzle... so spicy! So fragrant... sizzle..."

Li Long was pulling noodles in his hand, and turned to her and said:
"There's some cooled boiled water in the teapot over there. Pour yourself a bowl and drink. The noodles will be ready soon. Don't worry."

"I'm hungry..." Gu Xiaoxia rarely acted like a spoiled child, and Li Long felt itchy inside when he heard it.

"Then wait a while. If you eat this noodles before it's cooked, you'll feel uncomfortable and get a stomach disease."

"Hehe," after drinking the cold water, she felt better. Holding the bowl, Gu Xiaoxia looked at Li Long stirring the noodles and said, "Li Long, why do I feel like I'm not worthy of you? Look at you, you can make money, you can cook, you have a job, and you know so many things..."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Li Long saw that the water in the pot was boiling and the noodles were already boiling. He took the bowl next to him and poured some water into the pot, then said:
"This time, Daqiang in the team is getting married, and some people say that I am not worthy of you. They say that you have a formal job and are so beautiful, so you should find someone in the city."

"So what did you say?"

"I spit in his face!" Li Long said deliberately seriously, "I said no matter how unworthy I am, I am still better than him!"

"Hehe, I feel relieved when you say that." Gu Xiaoxia stood up and took the noodles that Li Long picked up with a smile, "You pulled the noodles so thin, why can't I pull them that thin?"

"How do you have time to think about this? Just pull more when you have time." Li Long went to the chopping board to pull noodles again, "I'll pull more, you can make some vegetables to stir-fry if you're hungry... Forget it, I'll stay here for two days. I'll go to the mountains to deliver some food tomorrow morning, and come back to cook at noon. When I'm not around later, if you really don't have time, don't fool around, go to the big meat canteen and eat ready-made food."

"It's expensive there," Gu Xiaoxia said as she put some vegetables into her noodles. "I feel like a day's salary is enough to eat a meal there. There are meat and vegetables at home, but I'm too lazy to eat when I get home."

She mixed the noodles, took a mouthful and said incoherently:
"It's better to have someone cook at home..."

"Then go eat at Sister Yang's place. Her cooking should be good and cheap. I'll talk to her. At worst, she can save you the rent and cook for you. This way you can save trouble and she can save some money."

"Is this... okay?" Gu Xiaoxia hesitated. "Why not? She must be happy." Li Long put the pot of noodles aside and continued, "I haven't been to see her and Han Fang much. She must be grateful to us, but we don't need this, it's just a matter of convenience. Now give her a chance to repay, I think she will agree."

“It’s this meal…”

"She mainly makes noodles. If you want to eat pulled noodles, you can go to the big meat restaurant occasionally to improve your diet. And you have to go home every weekend, so you can also improve your diet. You don't have to eat it every day. I may be here most of the time this winter, so we can eat together then."

"Okay then. I'll go tell Sister Yang."

"Let me go and tell him." Li Long slowly stirred the noodles at the bottom of the pot with chopsticks. This was also a technical job, and the movement couldn't be too big, as the noodles just put into the pot would be easily broken. But it also had to be done quickly, otherwise they would stick to the bottom of the pot.

"Okay." Gu Xiaoxia's mind was all on the noodles. It had been a few days since she had eaten spicy noodles. This meal could only be eaten at home. There were only two kinds in the big meat canteen, fried meat noodles and minced meat noodles. If you want to eat this kind of home-cooked taste, you can only wait for ten or twenty years.

At that time, there would be some home-style noodle restaurants in the county. If you were eating alone, you could choose one kind of mixed dish. If two people were eating, you could order three mixed dishes. If four people were eating, you could order five mixed dishes, and so on.

Some people will take advantage of this and go to eat noodles with four people and sit at two tables. This way, four people will have six dishes, one more than the normal five dishes for four people. Of course, such people are only a minority.

Later, there would be a self-service vegetarian noodles with more than a dozen dishes. You could choose what you want. A serving cost 13 yuan, which was cheaper than those fried minced pork noodles that cost 18 or 20 yuan. Although there was no meat, it was still very satisfying to eat.

But there are not many noodle shops like this.

"Why do I feel that the spicy noodles you make are more delicious than those my dad's?" Gu Xiaoxia couldn't help asking when she saw Li Long cook the noodles, serve two bowls of noodle soup, and then bring her own bowl over.

At this time, she had already eaten half of the noodles in the bowl in front of her. Her hunger was gone and she could enjoy the noodles slowly.

"I use more oil and meat." Li Long said as a matter of course, "Your father, my eldest brother, my eldest sister-in-law, who lived through hard times, would never use more oil when cooking. If you use less oil, some dishes will taste bland and definitely not fragrant."

"That's right." Gu Xiaoxia thought for a moment and said, "That's the truth."

Li Long mixed the vegetables for himself, poured some vinegar as usual, crushed the garlic he had peeled in advance and put it into the bowl, then started eating with big mouthfuls.

As soon as the noodles entered his mouth, he felt that the meal he had in the morning was not as good as this bowl of noodles.

It seemed like twenty years later, I forgot the exact time, but someone’s son in the team got married in a county hotel. The dishes looked delicious, but Li Long left the table early before anyone ate much, and went out to eat a bowl of mixed noodles.

I’m not going to say whether this looks good or not, it’s just real.

Although Li Long ate later than Gu Xiaoxia, they both finished eating at almost the same time. Gu Xiaoxia was still cleaning up the dishes, and Li Long waved his hand and said:
"Drink the soup to digest your food, then go to work overtime. Don't worry about this. Just focus on the important things."

"Hey, that's fine." Gu Xiaoxia smiled, "Why do I feel so happy? You'll spoil me like this!"

"It's okay to spoil your own woman." Li Long said calmly while drinking his soup, "But if you let others spoil her, there will be problems."

"Hahahaha..." Li Long's words made Gu Xiaoxia laugh. "I won't say anything more. I have to get busy. I feel like all the stress of this week is gone after talking to you for a few words!"

After drinking the soup, Gu Xiaoxia went to work overtime. Li Long finished cleaning up the place and saw that the sun had set. He originally wanted to go buy food, but it was too late now, so he might as well do it tomorrow.

Li Long went outside the yard, unloaded the carriage, pulled No. 76 to the back and tied it up. Fortunately, there was some hay and feed prepared here, so there was no need to worry about it starving.

Returning to the kitchen, Li Long started to rise the dough again. He took the basin into the bedroom, where there was a stove and fire wall, so the dough could rise.

Gu Xiaoxia was busy, and Li Long didn't disturb her. He went to another room, took out a book and started reading.

Because they had pulled enough charcoal, the Li family didn't build a kang in their yard this year, mainly because it was too troublesome. And after autumn, they were too busy and had no time to do it, so they simply didn't build it. In fact, even if Li Long hadn't been reborn, the kang wouldn't have lasted for a few years. After every household's life got better, no one built a kang anymore.

It was late at night, and seeing that Gu Xiaoxia was still busy, Li Long went to wash up and went to sleep quietly.

The next day he got up early, cooked rice porridge, steamed buns, cut pickles, and fried a hot dish.

When Gu Xiaoxia started yawning, Li Long had already taken the steamed buns out of the steamer and put them into the pot.

"Why are you up so early?" she asked as she went to wash her hands.

"There's hot water in the kettle next to the wash basin. Don't use water that's too cold to wash your face." Li Long reminded, "It will dry your face."

Gu Xiaoxia poured some boiling water into the basin, tested it with her fingers, and then began to wash her face.

She also hurriedly washed, combed her hair, and applied some oil, while asking:

"Are you going to the mountains this morning? There's so much snow, you have to be careful. By the way, you should bring your gun, right?"

"Yes, you must bring a gun." Li Long put the food on the table and said, "Come and eat. I'll go buy some rice and noodles later, and then I'll go talk to Sister Yang. If I don't come back later, you can eat directly at her place."

"Okay." Gu Xiaoxia sat down at the dining table and touched the freshly steamed buns. She felt burned and quickly retracted her fingers to blow on them. "Hehe, your steamed buns are better than mine."

"Eat, everything I cook is delicious." Li Long said shamelessly, "I won't have time to cook for you when I get busy later."

"Then I have to cherish it." Gu Xiaoxia picked up the steamed bun again, alternating between her left and right hands. When it was almost cool, she took a big bite and started eating with a smile.

After dinner, Gu Xiaoxia hurried to work, and Li Long harnessed the carriage and went out.

With his gun in its holster on the wagon, he went to the market first to see if there was any food for sale there.

Then I saw Yang Xiulan and Han Fang. (End of this chapter)