Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 418: Carelessness and Loss of Left Hand

Li Long chatted with Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang for a while, then went to Uncle Luo's house to wish him a happy new year. In Uncle Luo's house, the small table was already filled with melon seeds, candies, peanuts and other things. This year, there were also some dried fruits, red dates, raisins and the like, which Li Long bought from Wucheng, and he also put some of them here.

It is actually very lively here at Uncle Luo's place on the first day of the Lunar New Year every year. When Li Long and his friends left, a group of children had already come to wish Uncle Luo a happy new year.

For veterans like these who have children at home, their parents usually let their children go to pay New Year's greetings to the elders, which is a very good habit. The elders will also be very happy and let the children pick their favorite food on the table and take it away.

Unmarried young people like Li Long usually go to the homes of village elders in groups of three or five to pay New Year's greetings, chat and drink tea. Most of the time, they will visit the homes of elders with whom they are familiar and have a good relationship in the village on the morning of the first day of the new year, and then they will go through the more practical New Year's greetings and visiting relatives.

Generally speaking, Tao Daqiang would not participate in such occasions after he got married, as this was something that young people who were not married would do. However, he had never separated from his family, so there was nothing wrong with him joining in.

After Li Long and his two companions finished their tour of the three manors and dispersed, when Li Long went to Li Jianguo's house, he found that many people were already sitting in the main house. The brothers Lu Yingming, a pig butcher and tractor driver, and Wang Caimi, who lived opposite, were already drinking and playing finger-guessing at the main table.

The color TV on the chest of drawers was now covered with a piece of cloth - Li Long carefully discovered that the cloth was originally placed on the sewing machine and should have been brought here temporarily by his sister-in-law.

"Xiaolong is back, come on, sit down and have two drinks!" Lu Yingming's face turned red from drinking, and he immediately greeted Li Long when he saw him enter the room.

After Li Long sat next to him, Lu Yingming sighed and said:
"Xiaolong, you are becoming more and more capable! Look at this TV, no one in the team has it - yesterday your sister-in-law said that you had set up an antenna at home, and I was wondering what the antenna was for, since there was no radio station. I was also thinking that your eldest brother might have come to find an enemy spy, but today I saw that, wow, he has a big color TV!"

"Hehe, after this year, your family will be able to make it too." Li Long said with a smile.

Over there, Wang Caimi and Li Jianguo were playing finger-guessing games. Wang Caimi lost, and after drinking a glass, he said to Li Long:
"Xiaolong, you're awesome! I heard you're planning to buy a tractor this year? What model do you think of? Are you planning to buy a grasshopper? Let me tell you, that one is easy to drive! But it can only haul goods..."

Wang Caimi is an expert in mechanics. When it comes to his field, he immediately starts talking endlessly.

Li Long found a chance and ran out quickly. Liang Yuemei had left some food for him in the kitchen. After Li Long ate hurriedly, he went back to the stable.

Li Long didn't plan to go out in the afternoon. He thought about going to see Grandpa Liang with his eldest brother's family tomorrow. However, he didn't expect something to happen in the village in the afternoon.

Yang Yongqiang came over and told Li Long:

"The son of the old Zheng family in our team blew off his finger while playing with a detonator..."

"What?" Li Long was originally half lying on the bed reading a book. When he heard Yang Yongqiang's words, he sat up suddenly:

"Where are the people now?"

"He was taken to the hospital by bike." Yang Yongqiang sighed, "On his left hand, one section of the thumb was broken, the second thumb (index finger) was broken into two pieces, one section of the middle finger was broken, and the palm was blown to pieces..."

"Why did he think of using detonators?" Li Long was a little confused. The same thing seemed to have happened in his previous life, but he seemed not to be in the village at that time and forgot what he did.

Old Zheng’s son is called Zheng Haifeng. He is about sixteen or seventeen years old and can be considered a naughty kid. He is very curious at this age.

"He said he was playing with firecrackers. He had run out of firecrackers at home, so he rummaged through boxes and cupboards to get out the detonators and explosives. I don't know how he fiddled with them, but he made the detonator explode, and then blew off half of his hand..."

"Luckily it's my left hand." Li Long sighed. The detonators and explosives in the village are basically copper detonators, which need to be inserted with a fuse to explode, and the explosives are basically ammonium nitrate explosives, a cylinder like a corn cob, which also needs a detonator with a fuse to detonate.

Although the production team was located in a plain area and there were no mines here, many families had these things. Li Jianguo had some in his house, including detonators, explosives and a large circle of fuse.

A copper detonator is said to have an explosive power of 50 kilograms, which can easily blow off a hand - Li Long had only heard the legend and had no idea whether it was true or not.

It seemed that ten years later, a kid in the team picked up a few such copper detonators from somewhere and was playing with them in his mouth - he was lucky.

"Daqiang's home was nearby, so he took his child to the county hospital on a bicycle. His father also took the severed finger with him. The child was crying..."

Li Long shook his head slightly. With the current hospital conditions, it would be impossible to resuscitate the wound. All he could do was to manage the wound well.

That is the left hand. If the thumb of the right hand is gone, it is hard to say whether this person will be able to work in this era.

This incident cast a shadow on the festive New Year. The next day, when Li Long went to his eldest brother's house, Li Jianguo was talking to Li Juan and Li Qiang:

"Have you seen these things at home? I'll put this away, don't touch it. If you see it somewhere else, don't touch it. Zheng Haifeng blew his hands off. If you touch it, you'll be crippled!"

At that time, people didn’t know how to avoid taboos, so they just called disabled people “disabled”. This term was not changed until many years later.

Li Long watched Li Jianguo put the packed detonators, explosives, etc. into the chest of drawers and locked it up. He said:

"Brother, when I was in the mountains a month ago, I was thinking about getting some of this from you when I came back and then using it to kill wolves in the mountains. But now I think it's better not to. We are not specialized in this and it's too easy to get into danger."

"Yeah." Li Jianguo also sighed, looking a little scared. "When I got this back from the mine, I thought I would just use it to fry fish or scare off wolves. I kept it at home every year and didn't take care of it. After this incident, it seems that we are lucky... When the weather gets hot, I will bury these things."

Li Long felt it was a pity, but after thinking about it, he didn't say anything. It was a pity, but it was better than regretting it after something happened.

Li Jianguo had prepared everything for the Liang family long ago, including meat, fish, cakes bought from the county, wine, canned food, etc.

They still went there by horse-drawn carriage, but Li Long thought the carriage was too slow, so he rode his bicycle carrying some things and went ahead.

The Liang family's yard was tidy and the gate was open - Li Long was wondering why every household here had a gate, even if it was made of wood. But the team didn't have that habit. Every household had only a courtyard wall, and the middle was the gate for people to walk through. No one would build a gate and keep it open.

Is this a matter of habit?
Liang Wenyu was in the yard. When she saw Li Long riding a bicycle, she came up to him with a smile:

"Xiaolong, Happy New Year! My sister and the others are behind us?"

"Well, I thought the carriage was too slow, so I rode here on a bicycle. My second brother-in-law and his family haven't arrived yet?"

"Not yet. Anyway, they are close and will come quickly." Liang Wenyu said with a smile.

The yard soon became lively, with children fighting and playing, and adults chatting in the house. Li Long was outside watching the yard. Occasionally, he could hear Liang Yuemei, Liang Xingmei and their mother cooking and chatting, as well as the children fighting and playing, and comparing their New Year's money.

This year, Li Long gave Li Juan and Li Qiang five new year's money, all of which were new one-yuan notes, which he exchanged at the bank. Li Long told Li Juan and Li Qiang to keep the money for themselves and buy snacks when they were hungry at school. It was best not to tell others about it, otherwise they would be jealous.

Li Qiang was still asking what jealousy was, so Li Juan told him:
"It's just that others will get jealous and might even snatch it from you!"

This was the most straightforward explanation, and Li Qiang understood it immediately. He held the money tightly and said he promised not to tell.

Well, Li Long looked at the five crumpled new bills and knew it was a waste.

Li Juan was more careful. She directly put the five bills into a book and then hid the book.

Several children were present. Li Juan and Li Qiang did not reveal the real amount of lucky money they received, but even so, it was the most, which made the other children look envious. At the dinner table, Liang Wenyu's second brother-in-law Du Haihua suddenly asked Li Jianguo:
"Brother-in-law, did your family buy a TV?"

"Yeah." Li Jianguo nodded. He immediately guessed that it was either the child or Liang Yuemei who let the cat out of the bag.

"Your family is still better." Although Du Haihua was not convinced, he had to admit that after all, it was rare to have a TV nowadays. If he worked hard, he might be able to buy a bicycle this year, but he didn't dare to think about the TV for the time being.

The meal was a bit awkward. Du Haihua, who was drunk, made sarcastic remarks from time to time. Finally, Liang Donglou couldn't stand it anymore and said a few words to him, finally making him shut up.

After visiting relatives on the second day of the Chinese New Year, the family was more relaxed in the days after the Chinese New Year. Since the main relatives were not here, the Li family spent the rest of the Chinese New Year in a relaxed manner, with the good relationships in the village treating each other. In this production team, most families were like this, with good relationships and frequent visits. If the children were hungry and the family was not at home, they could just find a familiar family to have a meal and have it served.

It’s good that this kind of familiar relationship is still maintained in the team after 20 or 30 years.

In rural areas, especially in northern rural areas during the winter, the Chinese New Year is not considered over until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Although the number of people setting off firecrackers has decreased a lot because of Zheng Haifeng's incident, there are still sporadic firecrackers.

Later, Li Long also found out that Zheng Haifeng's finger was not reattached. The county hospital cleaned the wound and threw away the broken finger. It was said that several families in the team had explosives, so they took these things outside in the snow and had the veterans tie them together and blow them up.

Li Long looked at it from a distance once, and he even saw two grenades inside!

Then Li Long understood. He was still a little puzzled. Li Jianguo had worked in the mines, so how could he get detonators and explosives? How did others get them?

Now it seems clear that the original militia training was not just about shooting, it was about tying explosive packs and conducting blasting operations! The grenades were probably hidden during the militia's live-fire training. The same is probably true for the others.

This can be considered as eliminating safety hazards in the team.

During this period, Li Jianguo's home was indeed quite lively at night. Many people came to watch TV, mostly aunts, sisters-in-law and children. Everyone who came was very polite. They brought their own stools and some brought melon seeds and peanuts. They really watched it very seriously. Even if it was news or advertisements, they watched it in silence. Even if they talked, they did it quietly. When they left, they would sweep the melon seed shells on the ground with Liang Yuemei.

not bad.

Li Long would watch a TV series for a while each time and then leave. Later, he simply stopped watching it at night.

Buying a TV seems to be an obsession. Once you buy it and fulfill this obsession, it feels like that’s it.

On the eleventh day of the first lunar month, Li Jianguo received a telegram from home saying that his parents, Li Anguo's family of four, Chen Xingbang and Li Junshan, a group of eight people, had come by train.

Eight people...

Li Long wired two hundred yuan to his father a year ago as travel expenses. Although he didn't know how much money his father had left, Li Long guessed that there shouldn't be much left.

Picking someone up was a hassle, so Li Long told Li Jianguo:
"When the time comes, harness the horse carriage, and I'll ask Daqiang to harness his donkey cart. Two carriages will be enough. We don't have to go to Wucheng. My second brother, brother-in-law, Junshan, and my parents have all been here before. We can just pick them up at the bus station."

There is an exact time for the train to arrive, which is roughly a matter of one or two days. Anyway, there is a big yard in the county, so if you don’t get the train on the same day, you can just wait for it the next day.

Li Jianguo had the same idea. He originally wanted to talk to Tao Jianshe about it, but Li Long took over the matter.

Although he said he was going to talk to Tao Daqiang, Li Long still carried the things to Tao's house. He knew clearly that this matter had to be discussed directly with Tao Jianshe, as it was a matter of courtesy.

Li Long had come here once before during the Chinese New Year, carrying some things. This time, Tao Jianshe was a little unhappy, saying that Li Long was too polite. Li Long came to ask for something, and said that it would be best if Tao Daqiang could go with him. Tao Jianshe said that it was no problem.

Tao Jianshe's mindset has changed now. His son follows Li Long and earns as much in a year as he does in several years. Moreover, he is learning from him, while there are many people in the team who are not learning from him. This winter, many young men in the team followed him to play cards and drink, but his son is still running around to earn money, which is more than what other families earn in a year. Although he is a little biased, he is not stupid.

The matter was settled like that.

It was the 14th day of the first lunar month, so Li Jianguo, Tao Daqiang and Li Long drove two cars to the county.

In fact, Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang had come to see Li Long a few days ago, mainly to ask if they could catch any fish. It was late February, and if they didn't catch any fish, the ice would melt.

Li Long meant to wait until his parents came over, and then he would decide whether to go fishing or do something else. He was a little lazy at the moment, and thought he could wait a little longer. A year had passed, and he had made money, and he had bought everything he needed, including a house. The next two big goals were to build a house and buy a tractor. These two were not possible for the time being, so he was too lazy.

The temperature was rising and the sun was quite warm on people. Li Long sat on Tao Daqiang's donkey cart and chatted with him from time to time.

According to Tao Daqiang, his wife is pregnant and is worried because giving birth happens to be during the busiest time in summer and she is afraid she won't be able to handle the situation.

"What's the big deal? Anyway, your family is mainly planting wheat and corn this year, as well as some rapeseed. You can just find some people to help when the time comes. We are all on the same team, and everyone knows your family's situation. It's impossible for them not to help."

Li Long didn't care much about this, he thought Tao Daqiang was overthinking it. Of course, this was normal - after all, it was inevitable that he would feel nervous when preparing to be a father for the first time.

Li Long was thinking that when he and Tao Daqiang went fishing together, neither of them had a partner. If they had a partner, he found one first. Now Tao Daqiang is about to have a child, so he has to work harder.

Well, since all the family members are here, that’s perfect. We can all work together to build the house in the spring, and then we can discuss the marriage.

It's time for me to stop being single.

When they arrived at the county, Li Long said he wanted to go to the big yard. Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang said that was not necessary as it was about time and they could just go to the bus station and wait.

Li Long did not refuse. Anyway, if he went to the courtyard now, Gu Xiaoxia would not be there, and there was a high probability that Gu Xiaoxia would not come back at noon. It would be better to go to the bus station and wait.

Three people and two cars arrived outside the bus station. Li Long looked at the time and said:
"There's no need for the three of us to stay here all the time. We can take turns waiting inside, and one person can just stay outside to watch the car. It's still cold outside."

"Then I'll watch the car first." Tao Daqiang said with a silly smile.

"No, no, no, it's hard enough for you to follow us to pick someone up. I'll be outside." Li Long waved his hand, "You go in first. It's almost noon now. The three of us will almost pick someone up in half an hour each. You guys go in quickly."

After he said that, Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang didn't say anything else. They tied the animals to the side and went inside.

The carriages and donkey carts were covered with sacks and old mattresses, so that the elderly and children would not get cold when riding. After all, this place is not like his hometown. Li Anguo's wife and children have never been here before, so they must be careful.

Li Long put some grass for No. 76 and the donkey to eat slowly, while he walked around the carriage, thinking about whether there was anything he had missed at home.

They were waiting here. Liang Yuemei had already cleaned up the east room and set up the stove. My father-in-law and mother-in-law had lived in the east room for several months, so they were used to it. At this time, she was preparing to cook. This was the first meal at home, so she had to eat good food, meat, meat bones, and rice, all of which were made of good ingredients.

At the Lao Mahao, Uncle Luo would add coal to the stove at regular intervals to ensure that the house was always warm. Li Anguo had lived here before and he remembered that this time the whole family would live here, and there would be two children. Uncle Luo was very happy, and this place was slowly becoming like a big family.

Li Long and his friends didn't have to wait long before Li Qingxia arrived with his entire family.

(End of this chapter)