Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The sun was shining brightly in the afternoon. Walking westward, the sunlight was a little dazzling, but Li Long didn't feel it much.

In the mountains, looking at the snow every day, he doesn't suffer from snow blindness. This can be considered a special blessing.

The Wuyi Highway is a major highway in northern Xinjiang, with many vehicles going back and forth, which compacts the snow on the road quite tightly. If there is a plow behind the car, it will definitely move very fast.

At this time, the children who go to school, especially those in the upper grades, if they are brave enough, will grab the rear door of the tractor bucket and slide along, which is very exciting.

There weren't many houses on both sides of the road, and occasionally you could see a bungalow with smoke coming out, most of which were illegal buildings. But at this time, no one cared.

Some people build houses and live in them for more than ten years, and nobody cares about them, which is equivalent to having property rights. When the centralized cleanup is carried out, they simply apply for a certificate, and they can get compensation when the houses are demolished later.

With the reform and opening up, various laws, regulations and systems have been gradually improved. In the process of improvement, many people have taken advantage of loopholes.

Li Long’s hunting is one of them.

When the Animal Protection Law came out, hunting was no longer allowed. Of course, the control was not so strict at the beginning. Wild boars here never became a disaster like in the mainland, and hunting wild boars was not really controlled until the beginning of the 21st century.

Because everyone knows that we don’t know whether this thing can maintain biological balance, but it is definitely harmful.

There were many wild rabbit tracks in the ditches on both sides of the road. These wild rabbits reproduced very quickly, and a litter could be formed in a month in summer. Li Long remembered that someone once raised rabbits. At the beginning of the year, there were two pairs, and by the end of the year, there were more than 200 rabbits.

I ate a lot of this, and what's even more disgusting is that the whole yard is full of holes caused by this thing.

Fortunately, this is not Australia. Here there are natural enemies of rabbits. Foxes, wolves, and eagles are all good at eating rabbits.

Of course, when the skins were valuable, there were people who specialized in hunting rabbits, which could be considered one of their natural enemies.

It took nearly two hours to drive the jeep back to Ma County. Li Long did not go back to the compound directly. He parked the jeep outside the supply and marketing cooperative and took out some things from the trunk.

Li Long received a lot of things from the state society, but he didn't plan to take them all for himself. He felt that he should share some with Li Xiangqian.

Whether it is valuable or not is another matter. Since it was taken from the state, and the relationship was established through Li Xiangqian, then "whoever sees it gets a share."

Li Long put some of the things into a bag and carried it into the community.

When he entered the office, Li Xiangqian had already packed up and was ready to go home. There was less work in winter, and although the supply and marketing cooperative still had sporadic purchasing tasks, he arranged them casually, and he was not tired at all.

Seeing Li Long coming in, Li Xiangqian was still a little confused and asked:

"What, did you catch the fish?"

"How can it be that fast?" Li Long smiled and put the bag on the table and said, "I went to Beiting today, and the state society distributed some New Year benefits. I brought some over."

"Just take it if I give it to you. Do you need to share it with me?" Li Xiangqian said with a smile.

"Without you, I can't join the state commune." Li Long joked, "The welfare of the state is good, and there are a lot of things. I won't give you firecrackers or anything like that. You can take these seafood. Okay, section chief, I'm leaving now. I'm very tired."

Li Long greeted Li Xiangqian and turned to walk out.

Li Xiangqian was a little confused, then he looked at those things and laughed.

Does he need these things? Of course he does. Which employee who goes out to buy goods wouldn't give him some local specialties?
But for someone like Li Long, who always thinks of him when they get something good, it really makes him happy.

At least it shows that Li Long has already established contact with Director Qian, but he has not forgotten his leader.

When Director Qian called, he also expressed his desire to bring Li Long to the state commune, and Li Xiangqian would naturally not stop Li Long from making progress. But he also knew that Li Long would not leave.

Li Long drove the jeep back to the compound. The sun was already half set. Sister Yang was cooking dinner. She opened the gate and saw Li Long drive the jeep in and was about to go to the kitchen to busy himself. Li Long hurriedly stopped her and then moved the welfare down.

Most of these things are going into the kitchen, so Li Long puts them there first.

"Why are there so many? Were we all buying them?" Sister Yang asked puzzledly.

"No, I sent it." Li Long put the things away and said, "Put it here first, don't rush, it can be frozen anyway, and you can deal with it slowly."

"Okay, okay, where did this come from?" Sister Yang was also a little curious.

"The state." Li Long said, "Let Xiaofang go to school and pass the technical secondary school entrance exam. She can be assigned to a good unit and will have such benefits in the future."

Sister Yang smiled and said:

"What can she get with that grade? I'll be content if she doesn't turn a blind eye."

Although she said it modestly, Sister Yang still had this vision. In fact, Han Fang's academic performance has gradually caught up. The little girl is very determined and knows how to use her advantages. If she doesn't understand something, she will ask Gu Xiaoxia on weekends. Her grades are improving rapidly.

"Don't underestimate Xiaofang. I think she can definitely learn it." Li Long smiled and replied, then went to deal with other things, such as firecrackers, which had to be put away first.

The water in the jeep also needs to be drained, which is a bit troublesome.

After he packed up these things, he went to the glass room at the back to take a look. Feeling that the temperature was a little low, he set up another stove of charcoal, pressed it with coal foam, and let it burn slowly.

The house is big and has a chimney, so there is no need to worry about coal smoke.

After coming out of the glass house, Li Long returned to the bedroom, took a quick shower and changed his clothes. When he came out again, Gu Xiaoxia had already returned pushing a bicycle.

She was afraid of the cold, so she wore thick clothes, leather gloves, and a furry hat with cat ears on her head.

These "equipment" were designed by Li Long, and then made by his sister-in-law Liang Yuemei and Sister Yang.

There were ready-made leathers at home, including rabbit skin and yellow sheep skin. Li Long actually wanted to use wolf skin, but Gu Xiaoxia thought that wolves were a bit scary, and secondly, wolf hair was a bit hard and prickly, so she didn't use it.

Not only Gu Xiaoxia has it, but Li Juan, Li Qiang, and Han Fang also have it.

Gu Xiaoxia still thought it was a bit childish, but since she was wearing warm clothes, she couldn't help but use it, and the effect was really good.

Li Long smiled as he helped Gu Xiaoxia prop up the car, took the things down, and asked:

"How's your day? Is it warm in the office?"

"It's very hot. I took off my coat as soon as I got to the office." Gu Xiaoxia said as she followed Li Long into the room. "I've been busy with writing work recently. Director Wang knows my situation and assigned me easier work."

"That's good." Li Long looked at Gu Xiaoxia's bulging belly and said, "I'll take you to and from get off work later. The streets are very slippery right now, and I'm worried that you might get into an accident while riding your bike."

"How can I be so delicate? I got off when the road was slippery." Gu Xiaoxia would not let Li Long send her off. She said while changing her clothes, "Some colleagues have already laughed at me for this."

"Why bother with them? We just need to be comfortable." Li Long has always felt that most of those who say weird things are just jealous and there is no need to pay attention to them.

"That won't work either. We still have to be careful about the impact." Gu Xiaoxia smiled and took Li Long's arm as they walked out, saying as they walked:

"I know you care about me, but I'm not a porcelain doll. I will pay attention."

Gu Boyuan entered the yard and saw his daughter and son-in-law arm in arm. He coughed lightly. He didn't have any objections, but he felt it was not good for the children to see it.

Han Fang has returned, washed her hands and is helping in the kitchen.

"That's good." Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile, "It's more fun with more people. Before, there were only two of us, and sometimes I was the only one. It was scary to live in such a big yard."

"Just be content." Gu Boyuan complained to her, "This is such a big and nice yard, but many people want to live there but can't."

Li Long smiled and said nothing.

This is daily happy life.

The next few days were sunny and the temperature was getting lower and lower, especially after the winter solstice, when the daytime temperature was minus 20 degrees Celsius and at night it had begun to drop to minus 30 degrees Celsius.

There were frost flowers on the glass in the house. When Li Long woke up every morning, the temperature in the house was very low. He had to add more coal to the stove in the middle of the night.

There is enough coal at home, so it is no problem to buy it now. Although the price is higher than in summer, it is not a big problem for Li Long.

He found time to use his tractor to bring another tractor of coal to Gu Boyuan's yard. The small yard in the south is no longer inhabited, and Li Long occasionally goes there to sweep the snow and clean it up.

It was not until December 31st that the 29th day of the lunar calendar began. Li Long had breakfast early in the morning and drove a jeep to the team.

Today is Saturday, and Gu Xiaoxia will have a day off tomorrow. At the same time, tomorrow is New Year's Day in 1984, so it's a holiday.

Since New Year's Day falls on a weekend, we can celebrate it together and there is no such thing as an extra day off.

Li Long drove a jeep to the team. When he entered his eldest brother's yard, his eldest brother and his wife came out, and his mother Du Chunfang followed behind them.

"Where's Dad?" Li Long took some things out of the trunk. He also took some of the benefits from the state society here.

For example, kelp, shrimps in ice plates, and yellow croaker, all of them are eaten together.

At this time, many seafoods are frozen directly in ice trays. If you want to eat them, break off a piece, thaw it, and then wash it and cook it. "Dad went to Xiaohaizi. He couldn't stay idle, so he went fishing with Daqiang." Li Jianguo took the things and said.

"Did you break a hole in the ice?" Li Long asked, "Can you catch any fish?"

"Yes, but not much," Li Jianguo said. "We went there at 9:00 p.m. The ice was half a meter thick at that time, and it has become thicker in the past two days.

During those two days, we could only catch about 10 kilograms a day, but these two days have been better, we can catch 20 to 30 kilograms."

"It's not just the two of them, right?" Li Long walked into the room and asked.

"Of course not. You said earlier that you would buy fish for one yuan per kilogram, so there are a lot of people fishing. The Liang brothers went there early, as did the Zhao family, the Zhang family... There must be more than ten holes in the ice in the small lake now."

It was a good thing that someone was fishing. After warming up, Li Long put on his coat and hat and went to Xiaohaizi.

Li Jianguo was fine, so he followed him.

A path has been trampled out from the settlement to Xiaohaizi, and traces of sleds and plastic bags can be seen.

The sun was bright but not warm.

Although there was no wind, the temperature was very low. My ears and hands were protected and were fine, but my nose felt very sore from the cold and I felt like I was going to have a runny nose.

It was white all around. The reeds in the reed ditch in the west had been cut down. Occasionally, a row of bare poplar trees could be seen standing on the edge of the field.

The only sound was the chirping of sparrows in the trees. These little guys are resident birds and stay all winter. Later, cotton was planted on a large scale and a lot of pesticides were used, so sparrows were rarely seen.

It was not until later, when cooperatives emerged, drip irrigation was used, and pesticides were not used as much, that sparrows returned.

It’s just that Li Long felt in his previous life that the sparrows that came later seemed different from the old ones.

The reeds that originally grew in patches on the small lake had been almost all cut down, leaving only scattered hairy reeds that had not been collected.

Standing on the north dam, he could see at least six groups of people digging holes in the ice. Soon he saw his father Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang.

They are still in the same position as last year in the south. There is a deep hole there where many fish gather.

After another twenty or thirty years, Xiaohaizi became an above-ground reservoir because no one had dredged it. There was too much mud in it and it could no longer hold much water.

At this time, the role of several relatively deep places becomes apparent. When the water is drained, only these places still have fish living in them, they are waiting for floods or water to be released from upstream, and then swim to other places.

Therefore, the most fish gather in such deep water areas in winter.

At this time, the water level in the lake was still quite high, and there was not as much silt as in later times, so the fish could run around underwater. However, at this low temperature, the fish were not very active.

The ice is too thick and the reeds are frozen solid, so the amount of air that can flow downwards is getting less and less, and it is easier to catch fish by smashing holes in the ice.

Occasionally you can hear someone cheering, that means a big fish has been caught.

Li Jianguo went straight to Li Qingxia and the others, while Li Long looked at them one by one.

He is no longer the young man who started fishing two years ago. At that time, in order to earn a few dollars and to feed his family better, Li Long was full of energy.

At that time, he knew that there were a large number of fish in this small lake, which provided resources that could make life better for his family.

Life at home has improved, but he is not satisfied. This thing is just like studying, if you slack off, someone will catch up immediately.

"Dacheng, how many days have you been breaking this ice hole?"

"Well, I came here after I chased the rabbits that day. But there aren't many fish right now, not as easy to catch as last year." Liang Dacheng said, "I have more than 20 kilograms of the big fish you mentioned. When do you want it?"

"If you have time, you can pull it to my yard. If you don't have time, I will collect it from your door."

"Okay, I'll take it over to you after lunch."

Liang Dacheng was naturally very happy to be able to earn money by catching fish at home. Some people in the team went to the county or Shicheng to sell fish, but Liang Dacheng had no intention of doing so.

Not only did I have to run a long way, but I was also very tired. If I had the time, I could have caught a lot of fish in this small lake.

Now he only regretted why he didn't follow Li Long when he went fishing the year before last. If he had followed him at that time, he could have earned enough to buy a tractor just by catching fish.

After seeing the three brothers of the Liang family, Li Long continued to walk to other places.

Everyone was very polite to him, no matter if they were familiar with him or not, at least they had to give him some face.

In the past two years, Li Long has brought big jobs to the team every year. Just for the sake of earning this much money, he has to smile.

After looking over, Li Long confirmed that there were indeed fewer big fish in the small lake.

When we first started fishing the year before last, we could catch at least 40 to 50 kilograms a day. Carp, black carp, silver carp and other large fish weighing three to five kilograms could be caught every day.

As for those weighing one or two kilograms, they are the main force, and small crucian carp cannot be considered the most.

But right now, small crucian carp are the most numerous in the several ice holes, especially those that are less than ten centimeters long, which are particularly numerous.

On the contrary, if it is one or two kilograms of fish, you don’t need that much.

He estimated that each household would only catch about 20 kilograms of fish a day.

And those who can meet their own standards can only collect about 30 to 40 kilograms a day.

However, except for one family that did not plan to sell to Li Long and wanted to sell it in the county themselves, the others were happy to sell one or two kilograms of fish directly to Li Long.

That's good.

When Li Long arrived at his father Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang's place, he was happy.

Sure enough, this place is a treasure land. The fish caught by Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang are the most in the ice holes of Xiaohaizi.

All the big and small fish were sorted out, and there were five or six fish weighing one or two kilograms.

If I continue like this, I can probably make at least 20 kilograms a day.

The task should be achievable.

Li Long is very optimistic.

"The little dragons are here? Come on, come on, grab a few." Li Qingxia had just scooped up a basket of small crucian carps, about ten of them. They were very active and were jumping around on the ice.

Maybe because he didn't catch any big fish after several attempts, Li Qingxia saw Li Long coming and decided to change players and take a rest.

Li Long smiled, took the net and went halfway down the ice hole. After stuffing the scoop net in, he did not move but waited slowly.

Over the past year, all of his senses have greatly improved. When he lowers the scoop net, there is a slight vibration, and he can roughly feel the strength of the fish.

There must be fish below. After all, such a large surface of water is frozen so solid that the fish below are extremely short of oxygen.

Although they knew that the ice hole was dangerous, the fish still risked their lives to come here and breathe in some fresh air rich in oxygen.

A collision with slightly greater force made Li Long aware that this fish must be bigger than the small crucian carp.

As for how big it is, it’s hard to say.

He didn't move.

"Why not? Should we wait?"

"You scared the fish just now. I have to wait." Li Long said with a smile, "How is Daqiang?"

There were two ice holes in this area, about ten meters apart. There was thick snow on the ice of Xiaohaizi, and at this time, the snow was trampled into a path, and Tao Daqiang kept copying it there.

"There are more small fish than big ones. Small fish are good too," Li Qingxia said, "The fish soup is delicious!"

Li Jianguo came over from Tao Daqiang and said:

"Daqiang has three that weigh more than one kilogram, and the rest are small."

Li Long felt another impact that was even more powerful than the last time. He decisively turned the scoop net and went directly in the direction where the force came from, then pulled the scoop net up.

It's substantial! (End of this chapter)