Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

On the way home, Li Long explained to Gu Xiaoxia the little thing that happened in the morning.

"Alas." Gu Xiaoxia shook her head while watching over Mingming and Haohao from behind. "Director Wang is a generous person. He is good at everything he does. His brother and his wife seemed very stable today. Why is his nephew so petty? Getting married is such a happy event. The bride looks pretty good. Oh, and she is from our education system. She is a good teacher. Why is she so easy to deal with?"

Li Long shook his head and said nothing. He vaguely remembered that it was the mother of the groom Wang Qiyuan who gave the red envelope to the bride's younger brother. Even if this was not a matter of inheritance, at least it should be like this for the whole family.

So the groom's ability to do such a thing has a lot to do with his family environment. Of course, it has nothing to do with him. He just helped because he was sitting in his own car, the bride was from the countryside, and the boy looked quite well behaved.

This is a custom. If the boy named Koizumi got off the car without taking the red envelope, the groom's family would definitely laugh at the bride's family for a long time.

This is just an episode in life, and it will be over when it's over. It was already past three in the afternoon when Li Long brought Gu Xiaoxia back to the big yard. Gu Xiaoxia drank a few glasses of wine and felt a little dizzy, so she went to bed.

There was only one day off on New Year's Day. The next day, when Gu Xiaoxia went to work, Director Wang called her to his office and told her about the incident again. He said that his nephew was ignorant and had drunk too much that day and was instigated by others. He asked Gu Xiaoxia to tell Li Long not to take it to heart. He also asked Li Long when he was free to treat them both to dinner.

Gu Xiaoxia was no longer angry at this time, and felt that it was unnecessary. She felt that what Li Long said when he persuaded her yesterday made sense: If you meet someone with a strong temper or negative energy, just stay away from them, there is no need to confront them. Now she has a family and children, it is not worth it.

So when Director Wang said that, Gu Xiaoxia just laughed it off and Director Wang didn't mention it again.

Li Long drove to Team 4. When he arrived at his eldest brother's house, Li Long saw the old man Li Qingxia tidying up a plow in the yard. When he saw Li Long get off the jeep, he ignored him and snorted and went into the house.

Du Chunfang heard the noise outside, went out, and when she saw Li Long, her face was full of joy. She quickly asked Li Long to come in.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei also came out of the house. After seeing Li Long, they asked about the child's condition.

Li Long pointed at Li Qingxia who had entered the east room and asked his elder brother:

"What's wrong, Dad?"

Du Chunfang curled her lips and said:

"What else can he do? You and your elder brother went hunting twice without him, so he's unhappy. Daqiang's father talked about hunting a few days ago, and he's been angry again these past two days."

"Didn't Daqiang's father go either?" Li Long found it a little unbelievable. The two hunting trips were all young and strong. The eldest brother was the oldest one, but he was less than 40 years old. This time, going to Beishawo to hunt with many people, it would be inconvenient to bring an old man along.

"Hey!" Li Jianguo shook his head and said, "Dad went to Xiaohaizi a few times to dig holes in the ice to catch fish, but didn't get much - now there's no more fish to catch, and we've got a lot from hunting, so it's unbalanced."

Several people were talking quietly in the yard, but Li Long understood what was going on.

There used to be a lot of fish in the small lake. But if you only ate them, you couldn’t eat much, and there was no use for them, so few people caught them.

Later, when the reform and opening up came, Li Long made money by fishing, and other people in the village knew about it, so they also started fishing. They cast nets in the summer and broke holes in the ice in the winter, and many people followed suit and made money.

According to the original historical trajectory, the fish in the small lake were washed away by the dam during the flood two years ago, and since then there have been no big fish. Because of Li Long's intervention, there are still big fish in the small lake.

But after all, these big fish have become much less in number due to the catches over the past four or five years.

In the past, Li Long and Tao Daqiang could take out dozens of kilograms of fish in a day by breaking a hole in the ice in winter. Now, they can only take out a few kilograms of crucian carp by breaking a hole in the ice - it is almost impossible to catch big fish.

After all, the surface of the small lake is not large, much smaller than the large lake behind it. With a small area, it can naturally hold fewer large fish. Crucian carp is fine, it only takes one or two years to grow up, but fish like big carp, grass carp, and black carp need two or three years to grow to more than two kilograms. This growth speed is not as fast as the speed of catching, but after all, the number of fish caught will decrease.

It is normal that we cannot catch any fish now. After all, there are many reeds on the water surface. With fewer fish, the oxygen consumed underwater is also less. Those fish can live under the reeds and do not necessarily have to go into the ice holes.

So it’s normal that we can’t catch big fish now.

"Then why don't you take Dad hunting when you have time?" Li Long said, "North or west is fine."

"We went there," Li Jianguo shook his head. "Xu Haijun and his team went to both places, but they didn't catch anything. We drove around the north for a day and didn't see any gazelles. We drove from Shicheng to Kuitun in the west, refueled in Kuitun, and drove back, but didn't see any gazelles. We were frozen like grandsons for two whole days, and we didn't catch anything."

Li Long thought that it seemed that the yellow sheep had also become smart.

"Don't worry about him!" Du Chunfang thought the old man was being pretentious. What's the big deal if he can't hunt or catch fish? She said, "He has enough food and drink, and he has money in his hands. Why is he being so pretentious?"

Although Du Chunfang favored her youngest son, she had not lived in vain. Her current life was something she had never imagined in the past sixty years—eating meat every day, not having to work, living comfortably, not freezing in winter and not getting hot in summer. What else could she want? The life of a landlord and a rich man was not like this, right?

Still not satisfied? God will strike you with lightning if he knows!
Li Qingxia felt a little embarrassed when he heard his wife and son talking about him. He came out of the house and said, "I just can't accept it. How can I still not catch any fish? I was thinking that it's already January, and the New Year is coming soon. I must catch a big carp before the New Year, right?"

The Spring Festival was on February 9, 1986, and there was still more than a month to go. Li Long thought for a moment and said with a smile:

"Dad, this is an easy job. You'll clean up the sticky nets tomorrow. If we can't catch any fish, can't we still lower the nets?"

"Lower the net?" Li Qingxia was stunned for a moment. "The ice is about one foot thick. It's hard enough to break a hole in the ice. I have to make a groove before I can lower the net, right? How long will it take? It's too troublesome, right?"

"Come on, come on, let's go inside and talk." Li Long said with a smile, "It's not comfortable to be outside in the winter. Come inside and I'll tell you slowly."

We entered the west room, which was large and had seating areas.

After entering the house, several people realized that they were almost frozen to the bone outside for a while.

The temperature in the room was quite high and it warmed up quickly.

"Dad, you said that the ice over there at Xiaohaizi is one foot thick?" Li Long asked.

"Yes, it should be a little more than one foot." Li Qingxia said after thinking for a while.

One foot is more than thirty centimeters. It is not as thick as before, but not thin either. It is still very difficult to smash it.

"Did you and Daqiang's father use steel chisels and pickaxes to break the ice hole?" Li Long asked again.

"And there are shovels," Li Qingxia said, "It takes more than half an hour to dig a hole in the ice. But if you want to cast nets, you need to dig a lot of holes in the ice. I don't know if I can make two nets in a day."

Li Long thought that he hadn't fished on the ice of Xiaohai Lake for a long time. There are many useful equipments in the future, can he try them out now?

A hand drill might be hard to use, but a steel shovel is definitely no problem. It's made of pure steel, very heavy, and the head is like the Zen stick used by Lu Zhishen, but not the crescent end, which is a convenient shovel.

Li Long remembered that twenty or thirty years later in his previous life, some sanitation workers used this thing to chop the solid ice on the road surface.

If I use this to chop the ice surface of Xiaohaizi, wouldn't it be more useful than a pickaxe or a steel chisel?
Of course, Li Long was thinking of another little toy. If this thing could be made, it would only take a hole in the ice to make it.

"Xiaolong, do you have any good ideas?" Li Jianguo asked, knowing that his younger brother had many ideas.

"Well," Li Long said, "I'll go back and make a few things. You guys prepare the nets in the next two days. We can try to see if we can catch some big fish."

To catch big fish, Li Long thought he would need a net at least four fingers thick, so he added, "I'll go buy two nets."

"Okay, then we'll pick up the net and wait for you." Li Qingxia didn't ask for details. Since Li Long said so, it should be certain.

"You're not angry now?" Du Chunfang glared at him, "What? Xiaolong can help you catch fish, so you don't act like that?" "How can that be called acting like that?" Li Qingxia was a little embarrassed, "Wasn't I just anxious?"

He turned around and asked Li Long: "Xiaolong, how many days will it take?"

"Two or three days at most." Li Long said, "I need to make something, which will take some time. You can come over when I'm done."

The matter was settled like that.

Li Long asked about other situations in the team. The team's militia training has been completed, and Xu Chengjun has handed over all his guns to the township armed forces department. The township received meat from the fourth squad last year, and was wondering if it would get more this year, but it didn't happen this year.

In fact, Xu Chengjun also wanted to fight, and he would be happy to have a better relationship with the township's armed minister. After all, the township's armed minister was also a member of the committee and had one vote. But Xu Haijun led his men to the western no-man's land and suffered a lot. He waited for a long time, but saw nothing.

This was risky, so Xu Chengjun didn't bring anyone with him. He also had to save face, and if he brought a whole group of people with him and didn't get anything, it would lower his prestige.

Li Long thought that this was probably related to the recent large-scale hunting of yellow sheep. The purchasing station sold more than a thousand hides some time ago, and in just less than a month, it has received another two or three hundred yellow sheep hides.

The individual farmers in the north had scattered all the yellow sheep, which had become frightened and could not form a group. Moreover, the yellow sheep that were not killed either returned to the depths of the sand pit or crossed the Wuyi Highway at night because they were scared. Therefore, Xu Haijun and his team would not encounter them in the past - of course, if they waited on the road for a whole day, they might still encounter them.

But they were not locals after all, and they could only stay for a few hours if they went there from a long distance. The gazelles were scared by the beating, so they were not stupid. How could they dare to come over when they saw a big guy on the road?
This is Li Long’s guess, and he thinks it is most likely the fact.

But it doesn't matter. If he can't hit it, then he can't hit it. He doesn't make a living from this anyway. It's just a hobby.

Now that the old man is angry and has spoken, let's just catch the fish first.

After having lunch at his eldest brother's house, Li Long took back a few pieces of wood as thick as his arms.

On his way back, he passed by the village blacksmith shop and went in to order four of those shovels.

Seeing Li Long draw the picture, the blacksmith understood it immediately and asked, "Should we use a wooden handle or an iron handle? If it's a wooden handle, I'll make the top like a shovel and put the wood in. If it's an iron handle, I'll make the iron rod and the shovel head into one piece."

"A wooden handle." The iron handle was too heavy, and Li Long felt it was unnecessary. As long as the shovel head was heavy and sharp, the chopping effect would be good.

"Five dollars a pair." The blacksmith knew Li Long and knew that he was not short of money, so he asked for a high price. Then he said, "Don't worry, I will definitely use good materials."

"Okay." Li Long paid a deposit of ten yuan to the other party, said he would come to pick up the goods in two days, and then left.

The blacksmith was happy because it was so satisfying. The material cost was only ten yuan at most, and he could finish four pieces in one day. He was naturally happy to earn ten yuan a day.

Li Long was also very happy. He drove his jeep into the county town, but did not return to the big yard. Instead, he went to Shicheng.

The store in Shicheng has more things. He needs to buy a sticky net that is larger than four fingers. Only with this net can he catch big fish.

There's no need to break a hole in the ice or make such a big fuss just to catch small crucian carp.

After all, small crucian carps can be fished out from the ice holes now. Although the number is not large, it is enough to eat.

The old street of Shicheng is becoming more and more lively. Li Long went to Keyum's milk tea shop to drink a bowl of milk tea. This guy is still making naan and pouring milk tea by himself, and scolding his waiters from time to time.

Although they are old acquaintances, Li Long still finds it quite funny to see Keyum, a man with an ethnic face speaking the Henan dialect.

"I tell you, you just drive a small car, otherwise I would have to persuade you to open a shop here." Seeing that there were not many customers, Keyum sat opposite Li Long and said, "There are so many people here, especially on Sunday mornings, there are so many people, it's good to do any business."

Li Long knew this. The prosperity of the old street continued for thirty or forty years. After all, it was not only people from Shicheng who came here, but also more than 300,000 people from Shama County and Shama County combined.

Even if one person came from a thousand miles away, there would be a lot of people here. But he was already busy enough with the purchasing station, and he didn't have the energy to open another copy - he couldn't even take care of the storefront in the county market.

After drinking a bowl of milk tea at Keyoumu's place to warm himself up, Li Long went to buy two four-finger nets, two five-finger nets, some bicycle valve core rubbers called chicken intestines, and a few carpentry tools, then drove back.

He didn't go to his sister's house because he had other things to do. He thought Li Xia should not be very busy now.

After returning to the yard, Li Long parked the jeep, said hello to Sister Yang, then took out the carpentry tools and the pieces of wood and started working on them.

Mingming and Haohao were very curious and gathered around Li Long. They could see that their father had got a new toy, and the two children were eager to join in, so Li Long gave each of them a piece of wood and asked them to play with it themselves.

What Li Long was going to make was actually the trawl net that he had often seen in the short video last time.

There were no small electric motors at the moment, and he didn't know how to make insulation, so he simply used the mechanical elasticity of chicken intestines.

The last time I watched short videos, I saw someone making something like this by hand. The principle was quite simple, and Li Long felt that he should be able to make it.

Actually, it would be fine if there was a bigger spring. But the springs in the toys currently sold on the market are too small and can't be wound a few times. The nets you buy now are as short as 25 meters and as long as 50 to 100 meters. The springs on those toys can't be pulled that far.

Then you can only use this chicken intestine valve core.

It is actually very simple to make. Just carve a foot-long stick with a pointed tip like a rocket head out of wood, make a horizontal groove and drill a hole at the tail, insert two vertical sticks on both sides, make grooves on the edges of the sticks, and insert the carved wood pieces into them to serve as paddles.

Chicken intestines are nailed to the vertical sticks on both sides, and the other end of the chicken intestines is fixed on the rocket head. Turn the vertical sticks on both sides to let the chicken intestines wrap around the sticks, wrapping them about 70 to 80 times. After loosening, the elasticity of the rubber band will recover, and the elastic force can make the paddle rotate, then paddle the water and push the rocket head forward.

It's that simple.

The handmade ones are a little more difficult. One is to sharpen the tip of the stick, so that it is easier to separate water and the water resistance will be smaller. The other is the paddle, which must be thin and strong. Li Long wondered whether to use iron or aluminum sheets.

He was prepared for both situations. If this net-pulling device could directly pull a 50-meter net from the water to the end, let alone 50 meters, maybe even 40 meters one day, that would be enough.

If you can't drag it for 40 or 50 meters, you can drag it for 20 or 30 meters, and at most you will create two more ice holes. That is to say, you can drag the net from one ice hole to another, and then drag it again.

Li Long's plan was to cast at least four nets. So at least four trawlers would be needed. If the performance was good, he could just break a hole in the ice and drag four nets in four directions.

If the performance is not good, at most it will create five ice holes. For an ice layer about one foot thick, it is not a big problem.

To be honest, he can handle it alone.

Of course, the most important thing right now is to see how this off-grid device turns out. The Ma River has not frozen yet, so if it is made, we can go there to try it out.

Think about how much water is in the Ma River now? Forty years later, it will dry up in winter... Who could have thought that the environment would change so quickly?

While he was thinking and doing it, he secretly took away another piece of wood. Haohao didn't like it, so he ran over and hugged Li Long's legs to complain to him.

Li Long seriously criticized Mingming, calmed the two of them down, and then continued to work as a carpenter.

Soon a wooden pointed rocket took shape. (End of this chapter)