Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Li Anguo returned home from the old man's yard and saw his thin wife cooking for him.

The two daughters obediently helped their mother prepare meals. When they saw Li Anguo coming back, they ran over happily.

Li Anguo felt warm in his heart. He led his two daughters into the room. Seeing that his bag was still unopened, he squatted down, opened it and took out two rag doll toys.

"Come here, Xueping, Xueqin, one for each of you!" Li Anguo handed the dolls to his two daughters.

"doll!"

"it's beautiful!"

"Is this for us?" The two girls' voices were full of surprise.

"Of course it's for you." Li Anguo felt his daughter's joy and was very happy.

He only bought it when he saw Li Juan had such toys. In the past, he would at most ask his wife Chen Lirong to make some toys like sandbags for his daughter.

Li Anguo felt a family atmosphere at his eldest brother's house that was completely different from that in his hometown. Daughters did not need to work more, and sons did not necessarily receive super treatment.

the same.

Thinking about how his daughter is already so old but doesn't have a decent toy and will be looked down upon because of the traditional ideas in the village, Li Anguo feels angry and helpless.

"What are you spending that money on?" The wife looked over and said, "Isn't this a lot of money?"

In such an environment, Li Anguo and his wife tacitly agreed to save as much as possible in order to raise enough money to pay the fine - and to have a child, even though Chen Lirong was not in good health.

So when Chen Lirong saw Li Anguo buying toys for the two children, she said something subconsciously.

"It's okay. It doesn't cost much." He took out the jade that Li Long gave him, "There's also yours."

"This is... jade? How much does it cost?" Chen Lirong was surprised and happy, and then she started complaining.

"I also brought some food." Li Anguo took out things one by one. "It's easier to make money in Northern Xinjiang, but the things there are fewer and simpler. I'll take you to the market in a few days and buy some good things for the New Year."

Chen Lirong did not ask her husband how much money he earned. She put the jade away with a smile and continued to prepare dinner - there was no custom of eating dinner in the village.

The staple food for dinner is mixed flour pancakes, fried cabbage, and sweet potato porridge - each family in the village here has a small plot of land and has to pay public grain. If they want to have enough to eat, they have to grow sweet potatoes, a crop with a very high yield.

They were not starving to death, but they were not well-off either. This was the reason why people in the village later went out to work.

The food Li Anguo had eaten at Mahao in the past few months was much better, but he still ate it with relish.

While they were eating, someone outside called out, "An Guo, An Guo is back?"

Li Anguo put down his chopsticks and walked out.

The expression is a bit helpless.

He could tell that the person outside was his neighbor Li Erniu - a distant relative, very far away, within five generations of mourning.

Li Erniu is about the same age as him and they played together when they were young. However, this guy is a bit slippery, so even though they are neighbors, Li Anguo doesn't like this guy very much.

The door of the room was open - usually it was not closed, after all, it was equally cold inside and outside. Li Anguo looked at Li Erniu holding his little son across the wall and asked with a smile:

"An Guo is back? What? Northern Xinjiang is fun? Can we eat enough?"

"Look at me, I gained ten kilograms in four months. Do you think I can eat enough?" Li Anguo said, "My eldest brother's life is much better than here. He eats meat every day."

"Eat meat every day? You are just talking nonsense! Even the workers in the city can't eat meat every day." Li Erniu definitely didn't believe it. "But you seem to have gained weight? Are you swollen because of hunger? You need to get treatment immediately..."

"No need for treatment, I've weighed him, 70 kilograms - you'll never reach this weight in your lifetime, right?" Li Anguo joked, "Hey, wipe your son's nose quickly, his nose is running again, it's disgusting!"

"What's the big deal? Which child doesn't have snot these days?" Li Erniu wiped his son's nose with his sleeve nonchalantly. Feeling that the yellow snot on his sleeve didn't look good, he rubbed it against the wall with his sleeve, then smiled and said to Li Anguo, "Have you earned enough money to pay the fine? If you don't give birth to a son, it will be difficult to have one later. The fines will only get heavier in the future!"

"Why have children? No, I don't want to have any more. I earn a lot of money, but I don't want to pay the fine. Our two daughters are very good." Li Anguo said casually.

At this time, the two girls Xue Ping and Xue Qin came out holding their rag dolls, leaned on both sides of Li Anguo, and looked at Li Erniu's son Dali with a little disgust.

"Dad, I want that doll too!" Dali was immediately unhappy when he saw the dolls in the hands of the two girls, "I want one too! Hurry up and make me one, I want one too..."

Looking at this naughty and somewhat arrogant boy, Li Anguo curled his lips. So what if he has a boy? Can he become a useful person?

He was about to turn around and go back to eat, but Li Erniu spoke up:

"An Guo, is this the doll you brought back? You have two, right? Come, I'll give you fifty cents, and you give me one. My son wants to play with it."

"Not for sale. I bought this doll for my daughter. I won't sell it. If you want to buy one, go to the department store. It's ten dollars each."

Li Anguo refused directly, "Are you kidding me? You want to buy my doll for 50 cents? What are you dreaming of?"

He suddenly felt that it was quite satisfying to say what Li Long often said.

"The daughter is someone else's, what good is that? You won't be surnamed Li anymore, and my Dali still calls you uncle, so why don't you give one to Dali? The New Year is coming soon, I'll let Dali kowtow to you as a lucky money, how about that? If you can't give birth to a son in the future, Dali will be considered a junior anyway, and will definitely be better than your daughter!"

When he heard that the doll was ten yuan each, Li Erniu's eyes rolled and he immediately said.

"Get lost! My daughter is not that cheap!" Li Anguo hated it most when people talked about his daughter. At this moment, he made up his mind to go to northern Xinjiang after the New Year.

Why not just move your whole home there!

When this idea came up, Li Anguo himself was shocked.

If I really want to leave, what will happen to my parents?
Then persuade your parents to go together!

This place is really a place where you can't stay. You can't get rich, and you can't live a good life. I have two daughters and they are still discriminated against. Besides, I have earned so much money in a few months, but now the output from the land is so little that Li Anguo really can't stand it.

go!
Li Erniu was still chattering there, but Li Anguo thought he was talking nonsense and went back to the house with his two daughters.

Li Dali saw that his doll was gone and he cried and made a fuss. Li Erniu hurriedly coaxed him, saying that his son was his treasure and he had to be spoiled. Then there was a commotion over there, until Li Erniu said he would boil an egg for him, and Li Dali stopped crying.

Xueping and Xueqin were very worried that their father would take their doll back and give it to Dali. Fortunately, their father did not do so, which made them feel very warm.

The two children are already somewhat sensible and know that they are girls, not boys, and are not considered "noble" in such an environment.

Although I don’t know why, there is definitely resentment in my heart.

At night, when his two daughters fell asleep holding their dolls, Li Anguo told his wife about this incident in their bed.

"Go to northern Xinjiang? That... is it possible?" Chen Lirong had no opinion. She was a typical traditional rural woman of this era. Her husband's decision was his decision. But northern Xinjiang was too far away. In the eyes of the villagers, it was a bitter and cold place. Could she survive there?

"Do you know how much land my eldest brother's family got this year?"

"How much? Three acres? Five acres? I heard there are more land over there." Chen Lirong guessed. His family of four was divided into one and a half acres of land. They planted more than one acre of wheat, and the rest was planted with sweet potatoes and some cabbage.

"Including Xiaolong's, there are more than 20 acres of land in total!" Li Anguo said a number that made his wife dumbfounded.

"How can there be so many? Or is it a wasteland?"

"How could it be a wasteland? When we went there, they had just finished the autumn harvest and were planting wheat. The wheat was growing well." Li Anguo tried hard to convince his wife to follow him willingly. "My eldest brother has two children, a daughter and a son..."

"I know that." "But there are many families in the village who only have one or two daughters. They don't think that daughters are outsiders at all." Li Anguo emphasized, "Daughters go to school with boys, and there is no preference for one over the other. I think..."

Chen Lirong's eyes changed a little.

She is not afraid of hardship, but in the current environment, she is really afraid that she will not be able to give birth to a son.

The spit would make it impossible for her to raise her head.

Now that she heard that there was no prejudice over there, her eyes lit up.

"Really?"

"Really!" Li Anguo said with certainty, "I want to go and persuade my parents tomorrow to move back to Northern Xinjiang around the New Year. If they go there, it will be easier for us to go there."

"How can we settle down there?" Chen Lirong said a very crucial piece of information, "It's impossible for them to just give out land to people there, right?"

"Well... I'll ask my eldest brother when the time comes." Li Anguo didn't think it was difficult to settle down. During the few months he stayed there, he felt that his eldest brother was quite authoritative in the village.

As for where they lived in the past, my parents lived in my eldest brother's house, and my wife and children lived in Lao Mahao. When Xiaolong's house was built, my household registration problem should be solved by then, right?
Even if the problem cannot be solved, we can just live here first and think of a solution later.

Even the old horse house is better than my own yard - it's a brick house!

Not only Li Anguo thought so, but Chen Xingbang also thought so.

He was much more proactive than Li Anguo. The next day, Chen Xingbang brought some things to see his father-in-law and put forward his ideas.

"You said you want to go to Northern Frontier? You want to take Xia and the child over after things stabilize?" Li Qingxia was also shocked, "You don't want anything here?"

"What do I want?" Chen Xingbang said with sarcasm in his tone, "I've been married for many years. I've got a yard and some land. What does it matter? It's not as much as what I can earn working in the northern Xinjiang in one autumn - I give the land to my father to farm, and he can just take care of the yard. If I go to the northern Xinjiang, I don't believe that if I work hard, I won't be able to save enough to buy a yard in a year. I think with the money I have now, I can buy a stable house in the northern Xinjiang."

"Then you want to settle down in your eldest brother's village?" Li Qingxia asked again.

"No." Chen Xingbang's answer surprised Li Qingxia. "I plan to start a small business. Look over there, they are in short supply of everything. I think there are many opportunities. Unlike here, there are too many people and competition for everything. The things we make can't be sold for a lot of money, and there are not many things. Take basket weaving for example. Over there, you can make several baskets in a day. How can we have so many tricks here?"

Chen Xingbang was telling the truth. Northern Xinjiang is vast and sparsely populated, but relatively rich in resources. As long as you work hard, you will have no problem making enough money to feed and clothe yourself. If you are smart enough to take advantage of the current policy opportunities, it is not a big deal to become a little rich.

But it is quite difficult here in my hometown. There are too many people with the same skills, the competition is too fierce, and the resources are not abundant and the per capita income is too small, which leads to serious internal competition and it is impossible to become rich even if you want to.

"Okay, just make up your mind." Thinking that Chen Xingbang had no plans to settle down, there would be no trouble with the boss Li Jianguo, Li Qingxia nodded and asked again:
"So when are you planning to go over there?"

"Let's have spring. Everything will be easy when spring comes."

"How did you plan?"

"Then I will definitely go there first to find a job, and then take Xia and the child over after I'm settled down."

Chen Xingbang's idea is quite sound, and Li Qingxia thinks there is no problem with it.

He thought about whether he and his wife should go with his son-in-law.

He was still thinking, but Chen Xingbang was already trying to persuade him:

"Dad, you and mom can come with me then. My eldest brother has been saying that it would be great if you could go over there and stay there. To be honest, that place is more suitable for retirement than our place. You should know it after having been there in the summer. Not only are we very poor, but we also have so many problems. Some families are doing well while others are suffering from conjunctivitis. I just came back yesterday, and this morning someone came to borrow money. It made me angry..."

Li Qingxia immediately felt the same way:

"Who said it wasn't true? In the few days since I came back, someone came to me and asked me to borrow money. He also said that northern Xinjiang is a bitter and cold place and a place where prisoners are sent to forced labor camps... What a piece of shit!"

The father-in-law and son-in-law immediately had a common topic.

More than an hour later, Chen Xingbang left his father-in-law's house satisfied because his father-in-law agreed to consider going to Northern Xinjiang with him.

The next day Li Anguo came to his father's side.

He raised similar topics to Chen Xingbang, but his was more radical.

"You said you want to take your wife and kids to your eldest brother's place? You don't want this place anymore?"

"No, what do you want? What's so good about it? I gave birth to two daughters, but people here just look down on me. What's wrong with daughters? How about having sons? Old Jingui has three sons, but now no one is taking care of them, right?"

Old Jingui is an old man in the village, almost 70 years old. He is one generation younger than Li Anguo in terms of seniority, so he should call Li Qingxia grandpa. He has three sons. His wife passed away early, and the three sons have already started their own families. When Old Jingui was in good health, it was fine, but now he is not in good health. None of his three sons take care of him. They take turns to let their wives bring them food. With no one to take care of him, he has to lie in his house this winter, eating cold rice and leftovers. He may not survive.

Li Qingxia was dejected. Although Lao Jingui was not a good person, his wife's early death had a lot to do with his temper, but since he was dying, some things were hard to say.

"He still owes me fifteen dollars." Li Qingxia shook his head, "I guess he can't pay it back."

Li Anguo was not surprised. The old man was a bit of a show-off. When he came back from the northern border, he would go shopping as long as he had some money. Others would naturally ask him for money, and he was too embarrassed to refuse. Xiaolong's temper used to be a bit like the old man's, but now Xiaolong is much more mature.

"Where did you live then?"

"You live in Big Brother's house, and I'll live in Lao Mahao." Li Anguo had thought it through long ago. "Xiaolong is going to build a new house, and when he moves to the new house, there will be a lot of empty rooms in Lao Mahao. My family and I will settle there first and see. It would be best if we can settle down in the village, but if not, we'll think of other ways."

Li Anguo was determined to fight to the death, so he was very calm and serious. In fact, he had already seen that his wife and children were not living well in the village. His wife was in poor health, and because she gave birth to two daughters, she was often criticized by others, so she didn't go out often. In the current weather, not being active often, coupled with emotional reasons, would make her health worse.

The children are slightly better, but they are also bullied by other naughty children. They don’t quite understand the reason, but they can sense some malice.

Changing the environment might be better.

Of course, if he moved to northern Xinjiang, Li Anguo believed that he could make his wife and children live better, at least they could have enough to eat. The environment there was unfamiliar, and no one would point fingers at him. His mind flashed through Li Juan and Li Qiang, and then compared his two children, and he felt that his two children were at least several kilograms thinner than their cousins!
Obviously not at a healthy level.

It would be fine if there was no comparison. If I were in my 40s or 50s, I might not have this idea. But now I am only 30 and I still have plenty of time to work hard.

At the same time, Li Junfeng was a little surprised by the proposal of his cousin Junshan who came over.

"You mean, you plan to go to Northern Xinjiang again in a while? Me? I want to rest for a while." Li Junfeng has been living a very comfortable life these two days after returning home. He brought back a lot of money, and all his debts were paid off. Everyone praised him for his generosity, and he had a wife and children and a warm bed. Although the food and drink were not as good as in Northern Xinjiang, he got used to it. Moreover, he went to the market the next day to weigh meat and buy noodles, and improved the family's meals when he came back.

The prices here are much better than in northern Xinjiang. Li Junfeng feels that his money can last for a long time!

He suddenly lost the motivation to make money.

We’ll talk about it when the flowers are almost ready!
But I didn’t expect that Li Junshan would plan to go to Northern Xinjiang again so soon.

"Then I'll go ask Uncle Anguo." Li Junshan had no objection to his cousin's decision.

"Then why do you want to go again? You earned a lot of money this time, more than me!" Li Junfeng was a little puzzled.

"I calculated that if I could build a house, make some furniture, and buy a bicycle, I would have enough money." In the past two days, Li Junshan had been at home dealing with people who came to inquire about things in Northern Xinjiang, and the rest of the time he had been calculating what he could do with the money.

After doing the math, he discovered with some sadness that he had a lot of money, but it was still a little bit difficult to start a family.

He didn't want to force himself and wanted to earn more. He was still young, and even if he had to earn more money, he hoped that his life would be better in the future.

Not to mention being rich, at least it has to be better than the average level in the village.

Life in the Lao Ma Hao had a subtle change on him, and he felt that such a life was actually not bad.

He thought about it. (End of this chapter)