Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

After distributing the melon seeds and telling his family about the matter, Li Long did not return to the county.

After running around for a while, he finally got back to the team. He planned to get some crucian carp to eat - he was craving for fish.

There was not enough time to cast the net temporarily, so he took the casting net and prepared to go to Xiaohaizi. Now the north dam of Xiaohaizi has not been washed away, so the fish in it have not escaped. Although people cast nets to catch them every year, the roots have not been broken, so there are still many big and small fish in it.

When Li Qingxia heard that his son was going to Xiaohaizi, he naturally wanted to go too. He hadn't caught fish for a few days, and Tao Jianshe was busy now, so he didn't have time to invite him. Li Qingxia couldn't eat all the fish he caught, and he couldn't sell them in the county. It was too far to go to Shicheng, so he simply dried the fish at home.

There are already several sacks of dried fish. We can’t dry them anymore because there is no room for them.

At this time, there are not as many flies and insects as later, and the fish is easy to dry by just applying some salt.

Twenty years later, fish drying will only be possible with the same nets used to dry vegetables, or else you will have to apply a lot of salt. If you apply too little, flies will crawl up without fear. And even if you apply a lot of salt, it may not work. There are some beetles that are not afraid of salt and will still eat the dried fish, which is very troublesome.

Fortunately, there are drying cages, otherwise, we really wouldn’t be able to eat local dried fish.

Li Qingxia and Li Long went to Xiaohaizi together, not to eat fish, but just to have fun.

Li Long hadn't been to Xiaohaizi for some time. When he arrived, he saw that the reeds in Xiaohaizi were still very dense. The land had been watered recently, so the water level was not very deep.

He had a good understanding of the situation nearby and knew where to cast his net without getting caught.

After finding the spot, he started to play.

Although I haven't been here for some time, I still have the skill to cast a net. I cast the first net in a large semicircle, which fell into the water with a "swish", covering a dozen square meters of water surface. Small fish could be seen jumping up from the underwater edge of the net and then entering the water.

There are quite a lot of fish.

The water was deep and green. Li Long waited until all the nets were in the water before he slowly pulled them in.

Li Qingxia smiled and said:
"There must be fish in this net—I saw it all."

Li Long could also feel the net hitting the net, and the net kept shaking in his hands.

"There are quite a lot of fish in this small lake." Li Long responded, "I wonder if anyone is fishing now."

As they were talking, they saw someone from the north carrying a tire and a bag onto the dam. After seeing Li Long, the man stopped for a moment and then went around to the west of the small lake.

Li Long and his father were on the east side. It seemed that this man didn't want to meet Li Long and his father.

It was someone from the team. Li Long couldn't tell who it was, but he didn't need to worry too much - although the team had said that the small lake was under his control, Li Long didn't forbid him from catching fish, so it was normal for others to come over if they wanted to eat or sell the fish.

Finally, the net was pulled up, and seven or eight fish were jumping around in the net but couldn't get out.

The largest one was a black carp, weighing more than one kilogram. The rest were crucian carps. The big ones were as long as a chopstick, and the small ones were as big as a palm. They were pretty good and beautiful.

"Okay, these fish are enough for a meal." Li Long was very satisfied.

"How can that be possible?" Li Qingxia took the net from Li Long. "You collect the fish and I'll take care of the net. We have to cast more nets anyway. If we can't finish them, we can dry them or give them away."

Li Qingxia is also addicted to his hands. He has already reached the water's edge, and the net is in his hand. How can he not cast it back after a few tries? How can that be possible?
Li Qingxia did not move either. He stood at the place where Li Long had originally cast the net, arranged the net, twisted his waist and swung his hand, and the net was cast out - it was cast farther than Li Long's and was rounder.

The place where Li Long scattered was closer to the shore, where the water was clearer. Li Long thought that the small crucian carp should like to come here.

A little further in, there is a patch of aquatic plants, which the locals call Yawa Grass. It grows very lush, from the surface of the water to the bottom of the water.

Further in, about five or six meters from the shore, there was a large area of ​​relatively clear water with no visible aquatic plants, so Li Qingxia cast the net here.

The net brush entered the water and slowly sank. Li Qingxia felt relieved - there really was no aquatic plants.

The rope for casting the net was about ten meters long, which was enough distance. He waited until the net completely sank to the bottom before he began to pull it out.

At this time, the fish in the net is tied up by the lead weight and cannot escape even if it wants to run. It will not be a hindrance even if it passes through water plants when pulling it back.

"Hey, there's a big fish." Li Qingxia suddenly shouted and pulled harder. He felt the noise of the fish hitting the fishing net, which was not something an ordinary fish could make.

Li Long also saw the water splashing underwater and a big fish stirring in the net, trying to escape.

Li Qingxia had steady feet. Although the big fish was very strong in the water, it was confined in the net and there was limited space. Even after flapping its tail several times, he was unable to break the net open. Finally, Li Qingxia slowly pulled the fish to the shore.

This time Li Long saw it clearly. The big fish was a silver carp, more than one meter long, very fat, and weighed about ten kilograms.

He hurried over to help his father get the fish out.

There were several small crucian carps in the net along with the spotted crucian carp. When Li Long pulled the net up, the small crucian carps jumped out from the bottom of the net and escaped.

Naturally, he couldn't take care of the small fish. Li Long put his hand into the gill cover of the silver carp and lifted the fish up. It was really big!

"Hey, Dad, you cast your net really well. This fish is going to be a king fish!"

"Hehe, I'm lucky this time." Li Qingxia was also very excited. Not to mention whether the fish was delicious or not, at least such a big fish was rare, and it was a pleasure to look at it.

In the future, if you can catch such a big fish, you have to put it behind the car and circle the city three times.

"This is it. That's enough." Li Long put the fish into the bag and said to Li Qingxia, "Dad, you're not going to spread it anymore, are you?"

"Cast another net, cast another net." Li Qingxia had just caught such a big fish and was in high spirits, so how could he stop? He said as he sorted out the net, "Take this fish back later. It's easy to cook the meat. Chop off the end and make soup. It's delicious!"

As he was spreading the dust, Li Long saw someone coming.

Xu Chengjun?
Why is the captain here?

When Xu Chengjun saw the Li father and son, he immediately walked over.

"Is there a fish in this pocket? Such a big one? Not bad." Xu Chengjun walked up, looked at the bag and asked with a smile.

"We can just cast a few nets and catch some to eat at home." Li Long explained, "How many did the captain take home?"

“No, no.” Xu Chengjun waved his hands hastily. “Mingwa’s mother’s fish cooking is not good, so I won’t take it. I came here to talk to you about something.”

"Okay." Li Long signaled his father to continue casting the net, and he followed Xu Chengjun to the side. After walking 20 to 30 meters along the East Dam Line, Li Long suddenly heard a splash in the water. He looked over and saw a water rat diving into the water from the grass on the shore and quickly swimming towards the reeds about ten meters away from the shore.

Water rats are clumsy on land, but very agile once in the water.

"There are still some of these things." Xu Chengjun sighed as he looked at the water rat. "In the early spring, someone in the team caught them and said that one skin was worth more than ten yuan. We dug up quite a few of them here at that time. There were several in one nest. I thought they were all gone."

"This creature lives in the water. There are small lakes around, so it's not easy to kill it off," Li Long said.

"That's right." Xu Chengjun agreed and then asked about the main matter, "Today I heard that you brought back a lot of melon seeds. Does that mean that these melon seeds can be planted?"

"This is a task given to me by the state." Li Long explained again, "Last year, the state bought melon seeds from the Corps and other places, and they haven't sold them all yet. There are still dozens of tons in the warehouse, and their purchase price was not high last year."

"Not high? How much?" Xu Chengjun asked.

"Two yuan per kilogram." Li Long told the truth. "This is the price during the support year. There are many more people planting melons this year than last year. Our team alone has several hundred acres, so it's no problem to harvest 30 to 40 tons. Who do you think we should sell these 30 tons to?"

Li Long's counter-question stunned Xu Chengjun.

He came to see Li Long, actually he just wanted to verify whether what Li Long said last year about not planting melons was still true.

After all, the amount of melon seeds that Li Long brought back during these two times was thirty tons. With such a large amount to be processed, they guessed that Li Long should have channels to sell the melon seeds.

If this is true, then why not allow it to be planted?
But if it is true as Li Long said, that too many melons were planted this year and there is no place to sell the seeds, then the price will inevitably drop.

If it’s two yuan per kilogram, I guess everyone can barely accept it - in fact, it’s much better than grain crops.

But firstly, the selling price was 3.5 yuan per kilogram last year, and now it has dropped so much, so I can only accept it reluctantly. Secondly, there are also sunflowers in the team. If the sunflowers are good, one mu of land can harvest 200 kilograms.

The sunlight in northern Xinjiang is good, and the sunflowers grow big and full, with very good appearance. If they are sold, they can also be sold at a price per mu similar to that of melon seeds.

Moreover, growing sunflowers saves a lot of labor. There is no need to press the seeds or flatten them. All you have to do is pull the heads back, dry them in the sun, knock out the seeds, and then winnow the field to clean it up. It saves a lot of trouble.

If the income per acre of land is similar, 80% of the people in the team would be willing to grow sunflowers - another reason is that sunflowers are easy to sell. In northern Xinjiang, more people eat sunflowers than eat melon seeds.

If you plant too many melon seeds, you will eventually have to sell them for food.

After Li Long finished explaining, Xu Chengjun understood, and then he became a little worried. The melon seeds could not be sold at a good price, and many people in the team would probably curse him again this year.

"Xiaolong, if you see that these melon seeds can't be sold, can you contact the supply and marketing cooperative to help sell them? Our team has finally had a good life, we can't grow things and not be able to sell them, then we will lose a lot of money, right?"

"I can only ask whether it can be accepted. I can't make the final decision." Li Long didn't say anything definite. Xu Chengjun was very happy to hear that.

"That's good." Several members of his family grew melons, and if they couldn't dispose of them, he would be the one in trouble.

When Xu Chengjun left, he still didn't take the fish, so Li Long and his son Li Qingxia returned with the fish. While Li Long was talking to Xu Chengjun, Li Qingxia cast two more nets and caught five or six kilograms of crucian carp.

This time, enough is enough.

After coming out of the acquisition station, Bai Xiuming did not go to Wucheng or Shicheng, but went to the cafeteria to eat.

There are quite a lot of people in the canteen. It has been several years since the reform and opening up, and many people have some spare money. They don’t have to rush back home after doing business, so they eat in the state-owned canteen.

Bai Xiuming ate while listening to what these people were talking about. Some were talking about this year's weather, some were talking about the price of newly harvested watermelons, and some were talking about the harvest.

Some people finished eating and left, and new people came in. As they chatted, they finally talked about the topic that Bai Xiuming was interested in - about Li Long, the owner of the purchasing station.

Li Long donated a lot of desks and chairs to the Education Bureau, and these desks and chairs have now been delivered to primary and secondary schools in remote mountainous areas.

Among those who came to eat were people from Qingshuihe Village. Their township middle school was allocated 100 sets of tables and chairs, and the old tables on the two graduation boards were replaced.

"My child came back and said that the new table is really good, with no holes or holes, and the top is flat, so he doesn't need to put a book on it when he's writing."

Anyone who went to school in that era knows that the surface of the old desks was uneven and full of bumps. It was okay to do homework with a notebook, but if you wanted to do test papers, you had to put something underneath, otherwise the pencil would get punctured when you wrote on the test paper.

Now that there are new desks, the happiest ones are naturally the students.

"Li Long has done a good thing by becoming a representative," someone praised.

"He's rich." Someone said sourly, "He donated so much... so he must have earned more, right?"

"They make money because they have the ability. In May, we collect Fritillaria. Even people from Beiting and Huxian come to our county to sell Fritillaria to their purchasing station. People from other provinces come to buy Fritillaria and bring them out in truckloads. The skins are also brought out in truckloads. How can we not make money..."

"That's right. I heard that two years ago, he could earn several hundred yuan per mu of land by growing melons... This guy has a good eye and is really lucky."

"It's not luck. A friend of mine is in their team. He said he was also hardworking. At the beginning, his family had no money. He broke ice holes in the winter with temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius to catch fish. He pulled the plow and ran to Shicheng to sell the fish before dawn. This is a job that ordinary people can't do... He has the ability and has worked hard."

When this was said, everyone was amazed. Think about yourself, catching fish in minus 30 degrees Celsius to sell? Isn't it better to stay at home in the winter?
So it’s not that I don’t make money, it’s that I can’t endure the hardship. I think I can do it, but can I really do it?

Bai Xiuming had originally wanted to intentionally bring up some topics with Li Long, but now it seemed that he didn't need to. It seemed that Li Long was a celebrity, and he had recently donated tables and chairs, so it seemed that he was not someone who would lie or cheat.

Reassured, Bai Xiuming continued eating and listening.

These people had the impression that Li Long was a good person, an advanced individual in national unity, and he often appeared in newspapers. He also sold harvesters - Bai Xiuming knew this because there were harvesters in the yard when he entered the purchasing station.

He had never seen this thing before, and he only knew its name when he asked others in the yard while waiting for Li Long.

Listening slowly, Bai Xiuming got to know Li Long better. This guy is quite comprehensive, and he has a very good grasp of opportunities. He has grown up step by step, which is really the result of hard work and opportunity.

Coming here from Shaanxi Province, Bai Xiuming feels that the northern Xinjiang is relatively backward. Both the infrastructure construction and the level of people's thinking are worse than those in Shaanxi Province.

But people are relatively simple, and the hostility he imagined does not exist.

Now, after hearing the "history" of Li Long's development from these people, Bai Xiuming felt that the people here were not so conservative or backward in thinking. If there were more people like Li Long, development would also be accelerated.

But no matter what, after listening to these people's words, Bai Xiuming felt relieved. He believed that Li Long would provide him with enough melon seeds in a few days.

He also hopes that the cooperation with Li Long will continue - if the first batch of melon seeds is taken back and processed into roasted nuts and put on the market, and the response is good, he will definitely continue to place orders. (End of this chapter)