Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

In Team 4, almost every household had bundles of reeds in their yards.

Ordinary people would cut reeds in large bundles. They would just take the bundle and put it outside, cut it for a morning or an afternoon, and then pull it back.

At that time in 1983, most families had donkey carts, a few had horse carts, and only the Li family had two tractors.

Tao Daqiang was also pulling reeds in his yard, and the child's face came to his mind.

At that time, pregnant women were not as well nourished as they are in later generations, and babies were born wrinkled. He only saw the baby once in the health center, and then the nurse wrapped him and placed him next to Yang Pingping.

Later, Yang Pingping came back to recuperate after giving birth, and she went to her mother's house. After all, Tao Daqiang's mother had passed away, and his eldest brother had also separated from the family, so there was no one at home to take care of her during the confinement period.

Yang Pingping will be back after a month, there are only a few days left.

Tao Daqiang goes to his father-in-law's house almost every day. Even if he can't see Yang Pingping and the child, it's good to listen to the child's voice outside.

He picked up the fishing net again and caught fish every day. Crucian carp soup is good for lactation, but after catching a few times, his father-in-law stopped him from catching them. Firstly, he couldn't finish them and they hadn't frozen yet, so they couldn't be stored. Secondly, Yang Pingping didn't need milk.

Actually, my father-in-law and mother-in-law came from the Loess Plateau, and they still favored boys over girls. They were also worried that Tao Daqiang would blame Yang Pingping for giving birth to a girl.

However, looking at the current situation, Tao Daqiang has no such idea at all.

They felt relieved and took good care of their daughter.

Tao Daqiang didn't go to pick the reeds much, these reeds were picked by Tao Jianshe. Since the old man had changed, he was very motivated.

Now the family's life is getting better and better. Tao Daqiang makes a lot of money by fishing, he makes some money by weaving bamboo baskets, and he also makes some money by making brooms.

He planned to make some more money from tying reeds, and then discuss with Tao Daqiang to buy a tractor in the spring.

The Tao family had always been the poorest in the village. His wife died early, and after the eldest son Tao Dayong separated from the family, he and Daqiang lived together. They didn't go hungry, but at least they had never had a good meal before last year.

The younger son had good vision and good luck. He followed Li Long, and his family's life became better and better.

People's morale also needs support. The Tao family is the first few in the village to own a donkey cart. Now he just regrets that at the beginning of the year, Tao Daqiang wanted to follow Li Longzhong to pick melons, but he didn't.

If they really wanted to follow, the Li family would at least give them a few kilograms of seeds.

At that time, let alone planting a lot, even if you planted five acres of land, you could earn more than two thousand yuan!

Although he regretted it, Tao Jianshe knew that it was better to seize the present moment.

So when the work in the fields was finished and the team started to cut the reeds, he would ride on his donkey cart and do the cutting.

Although it is not more than others, it is not much less than others either.

After Tao Daqiang came back from the health center, he would help cut reeds during the day and would only go to his father-in-law's house after he had brought back the reeds.

Tao Daqiang just felt that the people in the team were too crazy.

In the past, the team would have to harvest reeds in the two reed lakes by December. If they were diligent, they would have to wait until the lake froze over, which would be almost January.

But starting in November this year, the reeds in the two reed lakes were basically gone. The small lake had not yet completely frozen, but some people dared to wear thin clothes and cut reeds by the waist-deep small lake.

He is willing to sacrifice his life for money.

If the reeds can't be beaten, they can only be pulled out. Some people tie the reeds while pulling out the reeds, according to last year's standards. Tao Daqiang's family is consistent with Li Jianguo's family, pulling out all the reeds first.

There is no rush to tie the reed bundles. Let's wait until there is movement from Li Long's side.

Otherwise, once it is tied into a reed bundle, it will be difficult to recover.

The air above the three settlements was filled with reed fluff. When the families were eating, they were also covered in reed fluff, which was called reed fluff. Even when Li Juan took Li Qiang to school, they were covered in reed fluff.

When he was a child, Li Chongpi liked to light this with matches, but now he doesn't dare to do that. There are matches everywhere in the yard at home, and if they are lit, there will be a fire. He knows the seriousness of this.

Every summer, the fourth team has large stacks of wheat straw in the wheat field, and in winter, each family has large stacks of reeds, but there have been basically no fires over the years. The most important point is that each family takes good care of their children.

Even when setting off firecrackers during the Chinese New Year, the children knew to stay away from the haystacks. If the grass really caught fire, the children would really go to put it out.

Tao Daqiang has learned to think about problems in the past two years with Li Long. He heard from his father that at least one-third of the families in the team have nothing to do and have already started to pull out reeds and tie reed bundles.

Tao Daqiang felt that this was inappropriate, but he was not in a position to persuade others.

It’s okay to talk about it if you have a good relationship with Li Long, but if you talk to those with whom you have an average relationship, they will suspect that you have some intentions.

Anyway, things are done by people, we are all adults, and we must be responsible for our own actions.

His family only smoked reeds, and they piled up the leaves to use as firewood in winter.

This is how every household uses their reed leaves. Of course, the same thing applies if the hairy reeds are not sold.

After all, you can't just use charcoal to build a stove in winter. Usually, reeds are at the bottom, corn cobs are in the middle, and coal is on the top.

Tao Daqiang actually wanted to go to the county to ask Li Long how to make the reed handles, but then he thought that since Li Long didn't come back, he probably didn't get any work.

In fact, with the money from his father Tao Jianshe, Tao Daqiang has barely saved enough to buy a tractor. But after buying the tractor, there will not be much money left in the family.

In winter, he could still dig holes in the ice to catch fish, but he thought that if he could do this job of selling reeds for once and save more money, his family would be better off.

So he actually hoped that Li Long could take this job.

At least if Li Long takes this job, he will be able to give more money to the team members.

If we replace players, it may not be possible for the team members to get that money.

In fact, everyone knows about this matter. Occasionally, some people make a fuss about it, but they just can't stand Li Long taking more money.

But they don't have the ability to get work from the supply and marketing cooperatives.

If Li Long was replaced by another stranger in the village or county, they wouldn't dare to say a word.

On the contrary, it is precisely because Li Long grew up in this village and they all know what he was like when he was a teenager that they are jealous.

How could they not be jealous of an ordinary boy who is now in the limelight?
It took Tao Daqiang a while to figure out this truth.

He was not jealous of Li Long, he felt that Li Long should have the ability. He had watched Li Jianguo in this team since he was a child. When it was still a big collective cooperative with a big pot, his group ate better than other groups.

That's the thing.

Isn't it normal that Li Long is capable?

Li Qingxia is over sixty years old and still so good at catching fish.

Which old guy in the team can do this?

Li Anguo went to Kuitun and became a formal worker in less than three months.

I feel like there isn’t a single bad person in the Li family.

It's useless to think too much, just do your own thing. He felt that he was getting further and further away from Li Long, but he was already doing well at the moment. Next year, if he bought a tractor and made money from picking melons, he would be considered one of the best people in the village.

In two years, I went from being the one with the worst family background in the team to being one of the best. What else can I ask for?
Tao Daqiang is actually a person who is content with what he has.

Xu Jianjun was tying reed bundles in the yard.

His wife was helping him, and he kept saying:

"We must raise the standard this year. Last year, Hu Lao Er and Hu Lao San followed suit to collect those of average quality, but this year there will definitely be no one to compete with Li Long. If he doesn't accept our products because our standards are not high enough, then we will be in trouble."

Like Wang Caimi, he initially suspected that the Li family was trying to defraud the villagers by selling melon seeds. He didn't expect that it would be reported in the newspaper. By then, it was too late to buy them.

He, Wang Caimi, and some villagers who wanted to buy melon seeds but didn't, laughed at Tao Dayong for buying shriveled seeds. Tao Dayong didn't explain. Who would have thought that those women would say more, and Tao Dayong's wife Ma Aihong told the truth:

"Those shriveled seeds can all germinate!"

Now no one laughed at me.

Since those seeds can germinate, it means that there is no problem planting them next year. At most, the seedlings will not grow well, and you may need to add more fertilizer.

A bag of fertilizer costs less than ten yuan. Compared with the income of four or five hundred yuan per acre of land, what is it?
Now it was Xu Jianjun and Wang Caimi's turn to be jealous of Tao Dayong.

But he had no choice, so he went to his brother Xu Chengjun to ask him for some melon seeds, but he was driven out by his sister-in-law Ma Hongmei.

She looked down on him when he wasn't yet fully ascendant, and she couldn't curry favor with him when he was ascendant. To put it bluntly, she couldn't even eat shit while it was hot. Naturally, Ma Hongmei had some objections to this cousin's plan to steal her family's wealth.

Xu Chengjun acquiesced to his daughter-in-law's behavior.

Among my cousins, Xu Haijun is not bad, Xu Dejun is also OK, Xu Feihu is a little clever, but at least not stupid, but this Xu Jianjun, with such a grand name, does all kinds of meaningless things. I can't help him even if I want to.

Xu Jianjun couldn't find a way to grow melons. He asked around at nearby seed companies and also went to roasted nuts factories, but they had already roasted the melons.

The big pots in the roasted seeds factory are not comparable to the pots in ordinary people's homes. They can roast dozens of kilograms. More than a ton of pumpkin seeds can be roasted in less than two days.

He had no choice but to work hard on this reed bundle. He thought that after tying up all the reeds he had brought home, he would pull the donkey cart to see where there were reeds farther away and cut some more.

This is the last money you can make this year.

If you make money, buy yourself a bicycle!

By mid-November, Tao Daqiang's wife Yang Pingping had finally finished her confinement and asked Tao Daqiang to drive her and the child to his home on a donkey cart.

The child who originally had a wrinkled face gradually became smooth. Although he had not fully grown yet, he was no longer as ugly as when he was just born.

People with whom I had a good relationship sent gifts.

Li Long finally came back driving a tractor and brought brown sugar, milk powder, malted milk and other things to Tao Daqiang's home, and also gave the child a red envelope.

Everyone he met was asking Li Long about the reed bundles. Li Long still hadn't gotten any work, but he knew that some people were already tying reed bundles at home, so he suggested that they shouldn't do it yet.

Because I don’t know if this job will still be available this year.

Li Long returned to his eldest brother's house and told his parents and his eldest brother and his wife the good news:

"Xiaoxia is pregnant, it's been a month!"

"What?" Unexpectedly, the first person to react was Du Chunfang, "She's pregnant? Really?"

"Really." Li Long himself was also very excited. He would come back to inform his family after he was sure.

"That's really great!" Liang Yuemei was also very excited. Gu Xiaoxia was the one she watched grow up, and she took care of her a lot during the process. Now that they were even closer, she was naturally happy.

"Hehe." Li Qingxia just laughed. This was a great thing.

Li Long has not seen any movement from his daughter-in-law in the past few months since his marriage, and he and Du Chunfang have had their doubts in private.

But after all, one is a son and the other is a state official, so it’s hard to say.

Now that she's pregnant, everyone is happy.

Li Jianguo only asked one question:
"Have you told Lao Gu?"

"I told you, Uncle Gu asked me to come over here and tell you the good news."

"Should I go to the county to take care of Xiaoxia?" Liang Yuemei suddenly asked.

"No, no, sister-in-law, no need." Li Long waved his hands hurriedly, "Xiaoxia said she has no reaction at the moment. Besides, we have someone who specializes in cooking over there. What will happen to the whole family if you go over here?"

Liang Yuemei was actually a little worried.

Normally, since Gu Xiaoxia was pregnant, her husband's family would definitely show some support, but they really couldn't do without her.

"Then I..."

"Sister-in-law, when you have time, just make some tiger-head shoes or something for the children." Li Long said with a smile.

"Okay!"

"Then I will give you a little one," Du Chunfang said excitedly, "I don't know if it will be a son or a daughter."

Although she was a little bit patriarchal, she knew that Li Long was not patriarchal. Well, as long as it was his youngest son's child, it didn't matter whether it was a boy or a girl.

Besides, it seems that Li Juan and Li Qiang are both good here, and Xue Ping and Xue Qin are also good. After living in the fourth team for so long, she also feels that this child is her own.

Of course, we still have to be more partial to Li Long.

After Li Long informed his family, their family members calculated that Li Long had everything he needed, so Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei still forced two bags of this year's new rice into Li Long's tractor.

In fact, after knowing that Gu Xiaoxia was pregnant, Sister Yang insisted on moving to Li Long's big yard to take care of Gu Xiaoxia.

Gu Xiaoxia quickly refused. Are you kidding? It’s only been a month since she was pregnant. How can she be so delicate?

Li Long gave Sister Yang 100 yuan and asked her to cook the meal more carefully. Gu Xiaoxia could buy whatever she wanted to eat.

It's not that she didn't give more money. Firstly, Sister Yang didn't even want the hundred yuan, as she said she had money. Secondly, given the current economic situation, one hundred yuan is already a lot.

Think about Li Jianguo going to sell a live fat pig. The purchasing station only gave him 90 cents for the live pig, and he got about 90 yuan for a pig weighing about 100 kilograms.

Li Long meant to give Sister Yang some money every once in a while, anyway, to make up for Gu Xiaoxia's nutritional needs.

Of course, as to whether Gu Xiaoxia would gain weight, Li Long knew that this would not happen. Gu Xiaoxia was not a greedy person, and she was a state cadre, so she attached great importance to her image.

Government officials should not be too fat. There are not many fat people these days.

When Li Long was driving his tractor towards the county, someone stopped him and asked about reed stalks. He could only explain patiently.

In fact, he was a little puzzled. In previous years, the work of harvesting reeds would have been done long ago, so why was it so late this year?

However, the supply and marketing cooperative did not assign him any work, and he could not ask the villagers to do it himself. As for those who did not listen, he could do nothing about it.

Uncle Luo from the Lao Ma Hao said that it was winter and there was not much feed left, so Li Long went to Shicheng to pull two loads of sugar residue and chatted with Chief Hu and Song Ming.

Finally, a heavy snow fell, marking the official arrival of the cold winter.

Li Long, who went to the supply and marketing cooperative from time to time, finally got a piece of news from Li Xiangqian.

"Last year, we needed 20,000 reeds. This year, we need 20,000 as well." Li Xiangqian was also exhausted. He had just returned from Wucheng. After receiving this task, he told Li Long directly:

"I've taken it upon myself. Can you finish it?"

"No problem, the standards haven't changed, right?"

"It has changed," Li Xiangqian said. "The reed bundles we bought had to have ten reeds in each bundle. This year, we require that each bundle have twenty reeds in it. Of course, the price has also increased. Last year, a reed bundle cost 20 cents, and this year it's 50 cents, which is a price increase. But the quality still has to be very high."

Li Long knew something was wrong as soon as he heard it.

Those people in the village who had already tied up reed bundles were in trouble this time.

“Is it still three thin wires?”

"Well, the length and wire remain the same, but the number of reeds has changed. It should be that after practice, the higher-ups found that small reed handles are not as useful as large reed handles."

Maybe, I didn't have such troubles in my previous life? I was always a small reed?
Is this another thing that I fanned out myself?

That's unlikely, right? I'm not involved in the construction industry.
Li Long knew that someone was going to be in trouble again. Those people in the village who had tied up the reeds in advance were going to be in trouble this time.

Li Long got the assignment from Li Xiangqian and returned to the yard, but he did not return to the team immediately.

He had to tell Gu Xiaoxia first and then return to the team tomorrow morning.

His future plan was to bring back to the compound as many of the 20,000 reed bundles as he could collect every day.

It's quite dangerous to have this thing in the team. If someone really sets it on fire, it will be a big trouble.

After all, there are only so many reeds. Even if all the reeds the team cut down, there are only about 30,000 to 40,000 reed bundles that can be made.

If something you have checked is burned by someone else, it may not be possible to repair it later.

He could afford to lose the money, but he didn't have that many reeds to lose.

So Li Long must be cautious.

He makes a lot of money, so many people in the team or other places must have pink eye.

After talking to Gu Xiaoxia in the evening, Gu Xiaoxia decided that she didn't need his care and asked him to take care of this in the team.

"I'll be back every night, and you'll be almost off work by then anyway." Li Long said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of both sides."

Anyway, he just collects the money and leaves the work to others.

I just wonder how those who have already tied up their reeds in the team will react when they hear about the current standard? (End of this chapter)