Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Tao Daqiang was helping Li Long to set the rabbit trap here, while Yang Yongqiang went out to find those people who were digging holes in the ice, to see if they were willing to sell the fish to them.

He was a little disappointed with the small-scale operations and planned to do something bigger.

Look at Tao Daqiang, he has been with Li Long for a year, now he has a bicycle and a wife, his life is wonderful. I also want to work towards this goal!
After Li Long finished making thirty rabbit traps, he took Tao Daqiang to the red willow beach in the east to set the traps.

Not many villagers set traps. Firstly, thin wire is still expensive at that time, and secondly, most people don’t know how to set them or when to remove them.

Those who can set traps and catch rabbits are mostly experienced. Some people learn to set traps, but if they don't catch any rabbits after setting a dozen traps, or if they catch only one rabbit after several days, they will lose interest.

Catching fish is different. After all, if you break a hole in the ice and have patience, you can catch fish. In the past, if you caught too many and couldn't eat them, you would just give them away. Now that you can sell them for money, everyone's enthusiasm is naturally much stronger.

As soon as Li Long and his friends walked out of the village, they saw Yang Yongqiang running towards them quickly.

"How is it?" Li Long waited for him, and asked after Yang Yongqiang arrived, "Is there anyone willing?"

"Only the three brothers of the Liang family were willing to do so." Yang Yongqiang's face was clearly filled with disappointment. "Everyone else wanted to sell the fish themselves. The Zhao family father and son said the price was too low and asked me to raise it. I wanted to say 60 cents per kilogram, but they were still not satisfied and wanted to raise it to 70 cents, so I gave up."

Li Long thought about it and thought this was normal. What people lacked these days was not time or physical strength, but money. As long as there was a way to make money, he could carry a basket and walk for several hours in the summer to the family compound in Shicheng to sell coriander for only one or two yuan. It was such a long round trip, but he didn't feel tired at all.

It's a world of difference compared to Qi Jingyue and the others spending hundreds of dollars to buy a dead roe deer or wild boar.

But this is normal, after all, this is a time when the gap between the rich and the poor is relatively small.

In his previous life, Li Long remembered chatting with young people who came back to the village. They talked about their experience of taking the bus. The bus had four people, and the driver said that if each person paid an extra two yuan, they could take the expressway, which was equivalent to the passengers paying the toll. Otherwise, the national highway would be slower.

Young people value efficiency, so they naturally agreed to pay the extra fee, but the other middle-aged and elderly people in the car were unwilling to do so and would rather take the national highway.

Li Long was thinking at the time that young people might not understand that it was not easy for middle-aged and elderly people in rural areas to earn those two yuan, which was equivalent to one kilogram of wheat or one and a half kilograms of corn at that time.

Just like now. I applied the old experience of my previous life, but in fact, people don’t think it’s hard to spend time to make money. I caught ten kilograms of fish, sold it to Li Long for five yuan, and sold it to the market for eight or ten yuan. Although it took more than half a day, I got the money!

Of course, they can still catch ten kilograms of fish in half a day. It's not that they don't think about it, but they just can't get around to it.

Why should I let you make the money when I can make it myself? Everyone has their own opinions on time efficiency.

Let’s go back to the issue of young people taking the bus. Young people think that spending a little money can save time costs, but in the eyes of middle-aged and elderly people, time costs are almost not considered costs, and money is the real money.

It's just a different value system.

"That doesn't matter. We'll buy from whoever is willing to sell." This kind of thing is definitely a matter of fact. We just have to wait and see what happens next. Maybe after the three Liang brothers sold the fish to me, they wouldn't have to go to the county town to sell the fish. Instead of guarding the ice hole, they would catch more fish and make more money.

Without explaining the reason to Yang Yongqiang, Li Long took the two of them to Hongliu Beach in the east.

Ma Jinbao, who was herding sheep, was still wandering in the wasteland. In winter, there were still weeds and reeds that had not been cut down on the wasteland, which the sheep could eat and move around, which was better than staying in the pen all the time. Ma Jinbao was quite lazy. In summer and autumn, he didn't cut enough grass, so he had to herd sheep every day in winter.

Seeing Li Long and his men going to Hongliu Beach with the rabbit trap, he kept his eyes on the place, planning to try out the rabbit trap when he came to herd sheep tomorrow morning.

This person's moral bottom line is not high, so he has no guilt for taking other people's things in the wilderness when no one is watching.

"I saw Ma Jinbao staring at us." Tao Daqiang said to Li Long after entering Hongliu Beach.

"Don't worry about him. He must be trying to trick us." Li Long continued to walk inside, "But it's definitely useless. Let's walk a little further inside. This Red Willow Beach is big, he can't find the right place, so he will probably get lost in it."

Usually only adults enter the Red Willow Beach, and when they do, they only stay at the edge, mainly to cut red willow roots for materials.

Although red willow grows slowly, it has many seeds. When there is enough wasteland, you can see a large number of small red willows emerging from the ground every year. In the second year, they grow into seedlings half a person's height. In the third year, they have thick branches and begin to spread out to form the shape of a shrub.

On the beach of Dahaizi where the water rises and falls, there is a large area where red willows are densely packed. However, they cannot grow big because when the water rises, the water will submerge them, and then fish will come to eat their leaves and twigs. There are no reeds in Dahaizi, and every time the water rises, it is a rare opportunity for these fish to eat delicious food.

There are many wild animals in Hongliu Beach. Li Long has hunted a fox, and the villagers have seen badgers, hedgehogs, pheasants, and rabbits. Some people swear that they have seen wolves, but not many people have seen them.

Hunting is difficult here, so Li Long thinks that trapping is a good idea, just like using a sticky net to catch fish - he thinks hunting and fishing are a bit similar. Setting traps and traps is like using a sticky net to catch fish, while hunting is like fishing, each has its own fun.

After walking in for more than a hundred meters, Li Long looked around and found that there were no more human footprints here, but mainly traces of rabbits and various other animals.

There were still too few rabbit prints. Relying on his memory, Li Long walked to the southeast. The red willows here were a little sparse, and there were some weeds and other shrubs, so there were more rabbit prints.

"Let's set up the trap here." Li Long said, "Come on, five of you each, don't step on the rabbit trail."

The rabbit traps were given to Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang. The two took them with great interest and dispersed to look for suitable places to set up their traps.

Li Long was also looking for it. He needed to find a place where the rabbits' footprints were relatively fresh and an environment that rabbits must pass through.

Rabbits are more likely to stay in places where there are several bushes. Li Long even saw a rabbit being startled, then darting out like an arrow and then disappearing - there were too many red willow piles and bushes around, so it was easy for them to find a suitable hiding place.

Li Long finished using the condoms quickly. He made a big circle to make it easier to collect them.

At this time, Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang also rushed over panting.

"It's over, shall we go back?"

Li Long looked at the sky and saw that there was still some time left, so he said:
"Let's go get the tools and go to Xiao Haizi."

Gu Xiaoxia should have already left for work by now. Li Long planned to stay in the team for a while this time. His goal was to make more money. He would think about the rest after getting married.

When Li Long and his companions arrived at Xiaohaizi, there were people at several ice holes. He went to see the fish caught by the three Liang brothers.

"Not bad, there's a big one today." Li Long looked at it and smiled.

"Will it be sent to the stable in the evening?" asked the eldest son of the Liang family.

"Okay." Li Long responded and went to the south to look at the ice hole that his group had previously smashed.

There was a thin layer of ice on it, very thin.

"Someone has touched our ice hole." Tao Daqiang suddenly spoke up, "It should have been in the morning or early morning, someone fished here."

"Who?" Yang Yongqiang looked around, he was quite angry.

"Don't worry about it." Li Long waved his hand. "If others move while we're not here, they can move too. It's been a long time now, so it's a good time to take another look. There are two ice holes, let's take turns. One of us will take a break and get some reeds to burn."

He took a scoop net and used the net pole to break up the thin ice on top, then scooped out the broken ice, and then began to scoop up fish from the ice hole.

The first net yielded a small harvest, with a few small crucian carps jumping happily. The second net was better, with a silver carp weighing more than one kilogram. This fish is not delicious if it is small, but it looks good. Big fish always give people a sense of harvest than small fish.

The third net came out with only two small crucian carps - there are really fewer fish underwater now.

Li Long turned his head to see Yang Yongqiang digging a hole over there, and found that there were more than a dozen fish on the ice next to him.

Tao Daqiang was running back and forth, picking up the fish and putting them into the bag. In a short while, the two of them had caught about two or three kilograms.

Then the next two nets had no fish.

Li Long was a little disappointed, thinking back to last year when he caught so much fish! He could catch several kilograms in one net!
Of course, things are different these days.

Li Long put down the scoop net and planned to wait.

"Brother Long, I'm here?"

"Okay, come on." Li Long went to collect reeds and then planned to light a fire. He didn't know if lighting a fire on the ice would attract more fish.

High probability... No way?

Li Long got two piles of hairy reeds and lit them at the two ice holes. The fire started burning immediately. Only then did he feel the wind. The sun was setting slowly in the west. Some people who were fishing had left, but some were still there. Li Long replaced Yang Yongqiang to fish for a while. He felt that by the time it got dark, he could get ten kilograms of fish from the two ice holes.

The largest one was a carp weighing more than three kilograms, caught by Tao Daqiang. It looked so beautiful that Li Long couldn’t bear to sell it.

"Da Qiang, take this fish home and eat it. Maybe you will give birth to a fat boy later." Li Long joked, remembering the legend of chasing fish and dragons.

"Okay." Tao Daqiang didn't refuse. The fish looked beautiful, and he also wanted to take it home to show off to his wife.

Zhao Laoshi came over, and his son Zhao Dagang was waiting on the north side with something in his hand.

"Xiaolong, you are also fishing." Zhao Laoshi said with a smile.

"Yes, Uncle Zhao." Li Long asked, "How was your day? How much did you get?"

"About ten kilograms." Zhao said honestly, "I just smashed a hole in the ice, I can't take care of it."

"Not bad."

"We'll go sell fish tomorrow morning. If you want to catch more, you can use my ice hole." Zhao Laoshi pointed to the place where he had previously dug out fish.

"Okay." Although Li Long had no intention of using it, he accepted the kindness.

Obviously, Zhao Laoshi's original intention was very clear. He did not agree to Yang Yongqiang's proposal to collect the fish, but he did not want to ruin his relationship with Li Long and others.

After Zhao Laoshi left, Li Long and his team continued to fish, but the catch became less and less, and the fish became less active as the weather got colder.

Watching the sun set, Li Long shouted:
"Let's go, we're back."

"I'll catch another net!" Yang Yongqiang shouted and caught another net.

This net also only caught a few small fish, which was quite disappointing.

Pack up and go home.

The three brothers of the Liang family had already gone back, but there were still two families in the small lake catching fish. As soon as Li Long and his friends returned to the horse shed, the eldest and the third brother of the Liang family came over carrying fish.

"Weigh it, weigh it." said Boss Liang.

"We keep the small crucian carps for ourselves, and the ones we bring to you are relatively big ones." Liang Laosan explained.

"Okay." Li Long smiled.

He took it out and weighed it. The bag and the bag weighed 16 kilograms. Li Long took out eight yuan and handed it over:
"50 cents a kilogram, it's not easy."

The original price was 40 cents per kilogram, but now it was 50 cents. Boss Liang immediately smiled a little embarrassedly, "This..."

"It's as it should be. It's not easy for everyone." Li Long said, "Let's go back quickly. It will be dark soon and the road will be hard to see."

With eight dollars in hand, the two Liang brothers happily carried the bag back home.

Li Long guessed that they had weighed the amount when they came, otherwise it wouldn't be such a round number.

After freezing the fish separately, Tao Daqiang went back with the big carp, and Yang Yongqiang also went back with some small crucian carp - although he was different from Tao Daqiang, he had parents and a younger sister at home who he had to take care of.

Li Long and Uncle Luo started to peel the small crucian carps that they did not plan to sell in the house. They soaked them in some chili peppers and stewed them. If they stewed them for a while, the fish would be extremely fragrant!
The next day, Li Long got up at dawn and went to trap rabbits.

Rabbits are not particularly careful when they are on the red willow beach. They are active in the afternoon and at night. Although they have natural enemies, there are few people, so they should be able to get into the trap.

Not long after he walked out of the village, Tao Daqiang caught up with him.

"You have a wife, why do you get up so early?" Li Long joked, "Why don't you sleep in in the middle of winter?"

"My wife doesn't sleep in! She got up early to make breakfast." Tao Daqiang said, "My father also got up early to pick up manure. I thought you must be going to play with the rabbit trap, so I followed you."

The two of them walked towards Hongliu Beach while chatting and laughing. The weather was very cold and Li Long covered his mouth from time to time. He should have worn a scarf or a mask earlier. With the cotton hat, his ears were not afraid. He didn't know where the nose guard of the military cap was, otherwise it could have blocked some of the cold.

When the two men arrived at Hongliu Beach, the sky in the east was just beginning to turn slightly red, and they quickly came to the place where the rabbit traps were set.

A fox heard the noise, flashed ahead and then disappeared.

"We've put something on the condom, and we don't know if the fox has eaten it." Li Long said, and then the two of them started to try to slip off the condom separately.

Li Long was just planning to slip away, and the condom was still on, so he was very careful when walking.

Although he wanted to check the place where Fox had just stayed to see if there was anything he could get, he finally followed the order in which he had set the traps so that it would be easier to remember and avoid missing any.

There were no rabbits in the first three traps, but there was one in the fourth one. The rabbit was frozen stiff, and there were signs of desperate struggles all around it, and many of the thin red willow branches had been broken.

The fifth set also had a little rabbit in it. Compared to the previous one, which weighed four or five kilograms, this one weighed at most two kilograms, and there was blood on its neck, which meant it had been strangled into the flesh.

Then they arrived at the place where foxes were active. Li Long was carrying two rabbits. He saw that one of the rabbits was still alive. There was blood on its ear, a thin wire was tied around its neck, and foam was coming out of its mouth. After seeing Li Long, it quickly retreated and hid in the bushes.

The rabbit must have been put on the harness not long ago. The sound of its struggle attracted the fox, but unfortunately the fox came over before it could succeed.

This should be the case.

After Li Long guessed, he stepped forward and stepped on the rabbit, took off the trap, picked up the rabbit and threw it down hard. After the rabbit died, he moved the trap to another place and threw it down.

There is another rabbit behind, which is not small, about four kilograms. These ten condoms are worth it!

Tao Daqiang also came over with only a rabbit in his hand.

"Yongqiang's condoms caught them." Tao Daqiang didn't lie, "I didn't catch any of them."

"Come, help me carry one." Li Long said, "Let's go back. You can take one back later and bring one back for Yongqiang to eat."

He didn't plan to sell these rabbits, but keep them for food. He planned to get some more traps at noon and set them up in the afternoon.

There were still a lot of rabbits in Hongliu Beach. He vaguely remembered hearing that rabbit meat had no fat and could not make you fat. But it was meat after all, so it must be better than cornmeal, right?

The two men walked back, and when they were less than one kilometer away from the village, they saw Ma Jinbao herding sheep out of the village.

Ma Jinbao looked at Li Long and Tao Daqiang carrying rabbits and cursed in his heart, "Why did these two guys run away so early?" He was thinking of walking the trap while herding sheep, but now he can't touch anything.

Ma Jinbao was still thinking about going over to ask if he could get a rabbit, but he didn't expect that Li Long and Tao Daqiang would turn to another road while walking. This road was a small path, and there were few people walking on it, so the snow was not compacted.

Ma Jinbao cursed in his heart again, how damn cunning!

Naturally, he didn't think that he had a bad character, he just thought that Li Long was too cunning, and Tao Daqiang didn't learn well from Li Long.

If I get the chance, I’ll give these two guys a lesson!

Li Long carried three rabbits to the stable, gave one to Uncle Luo, and then took the other two to his eldest brother's house.

We just wanted to try the two rabbits for fun. My eldest brother's family has no shortage of meat now, but we don't eat much rabbit meat throughout the year. In winter, it's a good season and we can eat more rabbit meat.

Li Jianguo was just about to have breakfast when Li Long arrived just in time. Liang Yuemei hurriedly got him chopsticks, and Li Juan and Li Juan made room for their uncle.

same as before.

Very good. (End of this chapter)