Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Li Long didn't expect that his casual question would change Gu Boyuan's expression. He turned his head to look at Gu Xiaoxia who was about to go into the kitchen to work, and whispered:
"Uncle Gu, this matter...can't be asked? Then just pretend I didn't say anything."

"There's nothing you can't ask." Gu Boyuan sighed, turned around and walked to the table next to the shed and sat down, then patted the table and motioned Li Long to come and sit down.

Li Long did not sit down immediately. He went to the room to find two teacups, poured two cups of tea and brought them out. He placed one cup in front of Gu Boyuan and one in front of himself, then sat down.

Farmers usually don't drink plain water when they work. The first thing they do every morning is to boil a pot of water, fill two thermoses, put a few brick tea blocks in the teapots, and pour them on. That's it. In winter, the teapots will be placed on the fire wall, and the water will always be warm. In summer, it will be naturally cool. If you want to drink hot tea, just add some boiling water.

"Now that you and Xiaoxia are married, I can finally put my mind at ease. In fact, many people in our team have asked me about my wife, and I always said she was gone, but in fact, she wasn't."

Gu Boyuan said this, picked up the mug and took a sip of tea, spit out the tea foam in his mouth, and continued:

"When I graduated from Southwest University of Political Science and Law, I was assigned to work in the city. I was full of energy and thought I was arrogant and knew everything. I looked down on many things in my workplace. However, because I had a high degree, many senior people gave in to me, which made me feel more... arrogant. But I didn't know how ugly I was at that time."

Listening to Gu Boyuan's evaluation of himself at that time, Li Long didn't know what to say.

"At that time, I met a beautiful girl in the municipal court. She was Xiaoxia's mother. We fell in love, got married, and had lovely children. If I had been able to be quiet and content at that time, maybe I could have had a happy and fulfilling future..."

"What did you do?" Li Long had some guesses, but still wanted Gu Boyuan to say it himself.

"I have some classmates in democratic parties. I read a lot of articles from abroad from them and was influenced by the West. At that time, I had some problems at work, so I complained and talked back to my leaders. I felt that I was not appreciated for my talents, so I wrote a few letters to them. After receiving no response, I went to communicate with my friends in the democratic parties and complained..."

Li Long felt that it was a miracle that his father-in-law was still alive and well after doing all those things in such an environment!

"Later... I was isolated for investigation. It was said that it was because a friend who I had a good relationship with at the time was found to be a spy, and I was implicated. Although I didn't sell any secrets, I was implicated because I had a good relationship with him. In addition, I was a bit cynical at the time. Not only did I not explain myself properly, but I gave up. My wife, Xiaoxia's mother, worked with my family outside and finally got me out. I couldn't stay in the unit at that time. It was said that I would still be investigated, so my family asked me to come here..."

Gu Boyuan stopped talking here and just held the jar of tea, staring at the tea with lifeless eyes.

"Did you bring Xiaoxia here at that time?" Li Long couldn't help asking.

"No." Gu Boyuan's voice was a little weak. "I came here alone at that time. I thought I could hide from the limelight and go back after the storm has passed. I thought it would be a good time at that time, and it would only take a few years at most. Who could have thought that after two or three years, I received a telegram saying that both my parents were gone, and my wife, the mother of my child, was also implicated because of my affairs, investigated, and finally disappeared. Some people said that she jumped into the river, and some people said that she ran away..."

"Then how did Xiaoxia get here?" Li Long was a little confused.

"When I got the news and rushed back, Xiaoxia was being raised at a relative's home. Her sister was also missing. Some said her sister had gone with her mother, others said she died of illness. Xiaoxia was also entrusted to a relative's home by her mother, and she was the only one sent here at the time... Later I brought Xiaoxia here, and then..."

"Her sister?" Li Long finally reacted.

"Yes, her sister. Xiaoxia has a twin sister. Her mother is an only child, but her grandmother had a twin brother. According to what you said, she has the gene for twins."

Li Long didn't expect that a casual question about the genes of twins would lead to such a thing.

"Does Xiaoxia know about these things?"

"I know a little bit." Gu Boyuan said, "When she was little and cried for her mother, I told her a few things, but I didn't tell her everything. Later, when she grew up and became sensible, Xiaoxia stopped asking about these things."

"That stage has long passed now. Uncle Gu, have you ever thought of going back to look for her?"

"I found it." Gu Boyuan showed a painful expression on his face, lowered his head and said in a suppressed voice:
"As soon as the movement was over, I sent a telegram to my hometown. Later, they said that my case was over. Although they didn't say I was rehabilitated, I was not wrongly convicted. I did have a good relationship with the spy at the time. Who would have thought that he was a spy? It's just that all these things were investigated one by one four years ago, and I'm fine. But what I did at the time was indeed a bit extreme. I definitely can't go back to my original unit. And my wife... There is no news at all. I am also discouraged. I have lived here for so many years, and there is nothing if I go back. Forget it, it's not bad to live here..."

Li Long felt that Gu Boyuan didn't want to go back to that sad place.

"Now that I think about it, what the old man said was right. The line was wrong, and the more knowledge one had, the more reactionary one became. At that time, I made a line mistake, and coupled with my arrogance, I was fooled by someone's slight provocation and almost became the enemy of the people. I am guilty, but...but why did I impose these sufferings on my wife and children? They are innocent..."

Gu Boyuan hugged his head, leaned down, and his voice became choked.

Li Long didn't know how to comfort his father-in-law.

Indeed, for quite a long time, the teacher's words were taken out of context. "The more knowledge you have, the more reactionary you are" was preceded by a qualifier: "when the line is wrong."

Some people really have evil intentions!
All I can say is that imperialism has never given up its desire to destroy us, and there are so many breeders of dogs in the world!
After a while, Gu Boyuan recovered. He finished drinking the water and said with a smile:

"What, you want to have twins? You're planning this right after getting married?"

"You know, Xiaoxia is a government official and must abide by the family planning policy. Although she and I are both registered in the countryside, hers will definitely be moved to the city in the future. It's not so bad in the countryside, where we have a rule that if the first child is a girl, you can have a second child four to six years later. But in the city, no matter whether the first child is a boy or a girl, you can only have one... I'm still thinking about having more children in the future."

"That's right." Gu Boyuan scratched his head, nodded and said:
"That's right. My family doesn't have it, but Xiaoxia's mother does. I don't know if it can be inherited. It's hard to say..."

At this moment, the influence of what happened just now seemed to be disappearing. After talking about things that had been suppressed for a long time, Gu Boyuan's spirits became better. He began to discuss the issue of having children with Li Long, and later he even thought about some so-called secret recipes.

When Gu Xiaoxia brought out the cold dishes and invited the two to eat, Li Long and Gu Boyuan were already thinking about how to contact their relatives in their hometown to find a suitable Chinese medicine doctor to get the secret recipe for having twins.

Li Long knew that the method of the future was nothing more than ovulation-inducing drugs. This was the most scientific, but the most uncontrollable, and it was highly unlikely that it was available now. Even if it was available, he would not dare to use it. If he gave birth to four or five babies, how could he raise them?
As for the secret recipe, just listen to it. I just said it according to what Gu Boyuan said. After all, after the father-in-law has experienced great joy and sorrow, his emotions are likely to be in trouble. It is better to let him keep his brain busy and give him something to think about. That's the best way.

The seeds will be sown in two days, so I don’t have to worry about anything else.

There was wine on the table, Kuitun Special Liquor, which Li Long brought over and Gu Xiaoxia placed in three cups.

"You are going to the county today." Gu Boyuan looked at the three cups and asked:
"Can you still drink?"

"Let me have a drink with you guys." Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile, "Dad, the three of us have never had a drink together before."

"That's right." Gu Boyuan thought about it and it was true. They had dinner together, but not drinking together. "Then let's have a drink. Don't drink too much. Just one drink will be enough. I know your alcohol tolerance. Let Xiaolong handle the drinking in the future. He is a man, so let him handle the things at the table."

This is the responsibility a man should have, so Li Long naturally agreed.

"He can't drink too much either," Gu Xiaoxia said again, "He and I are going to the county today. We have to invite the director and his colleagues to dinner. Dad, don't drink too much either. We have to prepare for sowing and planting tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. We can't help. Can you take care of it by yourself?"

"Don't worry about that." Gu Boyuan said with a smile while pouring wine, "If I can't take care of it, I'll call someone. Xiaolong is my son-in-law now. If I really call them, which of his friends would dare not come?" "Haha, that's true." Li Long laughed. He believed that if Gu Boyuan really wanted to ask Tao Daqiang and others to do the work, Tao Daqiang would definitely not say a word.

The three of them had a lot to talk about, including Gu Xiaoxia's next job and the settlement of her household registration; Li Long went to the mountains to deliver food, and whether there would be any more tasks later. Li Long also asked Gu Boyuan if he would still go to cook if there was a job as a porter, and Gu Boyuan directly refused.

"Why cook? I went there last year because I had no money. This year I have more money and have been allocated more land. The real thing is to finish the work on the fields."

Although Gu Boyuan is a serious college student, he is more like an old farmer at the moment and is more concerned about whether the crops in his fields can be planted as scheduled.

Having said that, Gu Boyuan still sighed:

"Xiaolong, you are free. You can do whatever you want and you have money to spend. Your TV is the first one the team bought, as is the tractor. What else do you want to buy?"

"In the future? Let's get a TV in the big yard in the county, so Xiaoxia can watch TV when she gets home from get off work." Li Long counted with his fingers raised, "Then buy a washing machine and put it in the big yard, so Xiaoxia can use it to wash clothes. Let's not talk about the refrigerator for now, let's get a tape recorder so she can listen to music..."

"That's enough," Gu Boyuan glared, "Why don't you want to build a car instead of just making those things?"

"Then I need a license too." Li Long waved his hand. "Forget about the car. I'll see if I can get a three-wheeled motorcycle later."

"Let's drink one by one." Gu Xiaoxia suggested hastily, "Let's drink one together, three of us, for a better life in the future!"

"Come on, have a drink for the good life ahead." Gu Boyuan picked up the cup, paused, looked at Li Long, then looked at Xiaoxia, and said:
"I've thought about that before, which brat Xiaoxia will marry in the future? At that time, I even thought that I just didn't like that brat. As for Xiaolong, that's fine. After all, he's not an outsider. Since you two are married, just live a good life. Don't worry about me. I'm not too old, I'm in good health, and I can take care of myself. You two should work hard and try to give me a grandson as soon as possible! Come and have a drink!"

The three of them drank the wine in their glasses and remained silent for a while.

There were not many dishes on the table, just three or four dishes and a soup. The staple food was rice. Cooking rice in a pot is also a skill. Li Long turned his head and took a look. He found a very complete golden rice crust in the pot. He smiled and said:

"Xiaoxia, this rice is cooked really well! The rice crust looks delicious."

"You don't get any of the fragrance." Gu Boyuan waved his hand, "This is my snack. If you want to eat it, wait until we get back to the big courtyard and let Xiaoxia stew it for you!"

"Sure." Li Long was not angry at all, and said with a smile, "That will definitely be no problem."

Gu Xiaoxia felt a little embarrassed. Even in the big courtyard, she had rarely cooked. Either Li Long cooked or she went to Sister Yang's house to eat. She thought that since she was already married, she would have to do more housework when Li Long was in the courtyard.

The three of them chatted and ate until the afternoon. Gu Boyuan drank half a bottle and was a little drunk, mainly because he talked too much. After drinking, he went to bed. Gu Xiaoxia cleaned up the stall and sat in the yard with Li Long for a while to bask in the sun, and then the two went home together.

As they had to go back to the county today, Li Long put both bicycles on the tractor, and put some sacks and some grass in the back bucket of the tractor to make it more comfortable for Gu Xiaoxia to sit.

After saying hello to their parents and Li Jianguo and others, Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia drove the tractor to the county town.

That night, the two of them discussed how to have children in the yard and had a lot of fun.

Li Long didn't want to do anything else. He now understood why there was a saying "From now on, the king will not attend the court early in the morning". In his previous life, he was fine in other aspects, but he was lacking in this aspect. This life made up for it after marrying Gu Xiaoxia, which made him feel that he had really lost a lot in his previous life.

How many wonderful things have been missed!
Next, I invited Gu Xiaoxia's leaders and colleagues from the Education Bureau, leaders and colleagues from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, as well as Sister Yang and Han Fang, to let them know that I was married to Gu Xiaoxia.

After everything was done and Gu Xiaoxia returned to work as usual, Li Long drove the tractor back to the team reluctantly.

It's time to plant the melons.

Back in the yard, Li Long found that many vegetables in his vegetable garden had sprouted, and his mother Du Chunfang was dividing the leek roots and preparing to plant them. I don't know who the leek roots were from, but they looked quite thick.

Here, leeks are planted not by sowing seeds, but by dividing the roots. After a few years of planting, the stems of leeks will become thinner and become what people call hairy leeks. At this time, the roots must be divided and replanted.

Digging up the roots of leeks, you can see that there are too many hairy roots at this time, and too many thin stems have been separated, competing for nutrients, so the stems are naturally thin. As long as they are separated and planted again, each clump of leeks that grow will not be as many as before, but thicker.

"Mom, whose leek roots are these?"

"Your eldest brother lives next door." Du Chunfang was very happy to see her youngest son coming back. She said with a smile, "You have planted other vegetables in your vegetable garden except chives. You can't do without them. The Lu family is dividing chive roots. I'll take some and plant them here."

"Where's my dad?" Li Long parked the tractor, went into the vegetable garden, and asked while working with his mother.

"He went to Xiaohaizi. Your elder brother went to sow corn, and he was not allowed to follow him, so he took his net to Xiaohaizi, saying that he wanted to sell the nets on the street for a few dollars, otherwise he would have nothing to do anyway."

Here we call corn "baomi", but in my hometown we call corn "yushushu", and corn stalks are called "shujie". My eldest brother and his wife have already changed their dialect, but my parents haven't yet, and I guess they can't change anymore.

"Then I'll go ask my sister-in-law to soak the melon seeds. We'll plant them in the next two days."

Planting melons is the first step in the economic and agricultural development of the Li family, and it is a task that Li Long must complete as soon as possible before going into the mountains, so he is in a hurry.

"Your eldest sister-in-law has also gone to the fields. Your second sister-in-law will cook at noon today." Du Chunfang said while planting leek roots, "I don't know if she can cook..."

"How can we not be familiar with each other?" Li Long smiled. The relationship between the eldest sister-in-law and the daughter-in-law is better, because the eldest sister-in-law takes care of me, and my parents are now living with my eldest brother, so I have to put up with what she says. But the second sister-in-law didn't seem to have a very good relationship with me, mainly because she gave birth to two daughters. Now that my second brother's work is not settled, I may be a little narrow-minded.

"Mom, someone cooked for you and you celebrated the meal, why do you care so much?" Li Long meant to let Du Chunfang relax. Why bother with so many trivial matters when she can enjoy herself?
Du Chunfang just said that she was very happy that Li Long could chat with her so patiently. Du Chunfang always felt that she owed her youngest son and hoped to make up with him, so she worked here most of the time.

Now her youngest son can persuade her, which makes her really happy.

Before noon, Li Qingxia had already returned. He rode Li Jianguo's bicycle to the county to sell fish without telling Li Long, and was a little surprised to see Li Long when he came back.

He is really a naughty old man.

It's all fun! (End of this chapter)