Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 925 Old Gu, Little Gu, and Little Gu

Li Long's kick sent the large carp flying, landing it more than two meters away on the ice. The fish was quite resilient; after landing, it vigorously flicked its tail twice, thrashing its body as it searched for water.

Only then did the others realize what was happening and all looked at Li Long. Li Long, however, smiled and said to Li Qingxia:
"Dad, you caught a great fish! Look at this big carp, with a red head and tail, and such long whiskers, it looks like a dragon! It's a good omen!"

"Hey, if it weren't for you, this fish would have gotten away from the net!" Li Qingxia was quite happy, and then said while pulling the net, "Even if we don't catch a single fish from now on, it's fine."

Everyone else gathered around to look at the big carp, but Li Qingxia's side hadn't caught a single fish yet.

Although he said he was content, Li Long knew he was still slightly dissatisfied.

But it really is amazing. This beautiful carp isn't the kind with red heads and tails that you see in parks. It's a native carp that's grown big, so its head and tail naturally turn yellow and red. Its belly looks very fat and wide, even better looking than silver carp or grass carp.

Li Juan and Li Qiang circled the fish, occasionally poking at the large carp's whiskers with a reed. Unfortunately, the carp, which was incredibly strong in the water, was now completely exhausted, its mouth opening and closing weakly, and it looked like it would soon die.

"It must weigh at least five kilograms!" Xie Yundong said. "We haven't seen such a big and beautiful carp in our team in recent years."

Although carp is served at every banquet in the team, those carp are usually one or two kilograms in size, fried whole and then braised, which looks nice.

But it's really rare to see one this big.

Li Qingxia smiled smugly as he sorted through the net. He had been slightly dissatisfied earlier, but now he was truly satisfied. This carp was so big; he could talk about it for two months.

Li Jianguo's net was rather ordinary; it pulled up two carp weighing over a kilogram each, two black carp weighing over a kilogram each, and a large crucian carp weighing more than half a kilogram.

Finally, there was Li Long's net. Li Long was quite looking forward to pulling it in, but when he pulled it up, there was only one silver carp on it. It wasn't very big, weighing a little over three kilograms, even smaller than the one from yesterday.

Yesterday's silver carp head could make a whole pot of soup, and today's fish head can make a whole plate.

"That's fine then." Xie Yundong concluded in the end, "It's only been a few hours? To be able to catch so many fish is not a small amount. Think about it, breaking through ice holes all day and getting two or three kilograms of crucian carp is not as good as this one."

That's the truth. Some people like to eat crucian carp, while others prefer larger fish. Larger fish sell better in the market, but as for how they taste, the Li family likes crucian carp, but others might not.

"Let's go back. We'll cook this big carp tonight!" Li Qingxia said generously. "The whole family can eat it!"

Since Gu Xiaoxia has to go to work tomorrow, Li Long will take her home tonight. As for Mingming and Haohao, they can stay here, but Gu Xiaoxia will most likely take them back with her.

The purchasing station is taking a two-day break, and Gu Boyuan is definitely going to stay there tonight; he's going to eat fish and drink alcohol.

The fish were caught, and because there were quite a few, the Li family decided not to set the net again. Tao Daqiang and his family borrowed the net, along with the trawler, intending to set it tonight and retrieve it the next morning.

Li Qingxia and Li Long naturally had no objections. Li Long's idea was to share some fish with the others, but Tao Daqiang and the others refused and instead gave Li Long two kilograms of crucian carp they had caught that afternoon. Knowing that Li Long liked crucian carp, he put all the larger ones they had caught that day into Li Long's fish bag.

When the Li family returned home, Tao Daqiang and Xie Yundong started dividing up the trawlers. Before leaving, Li Qingxia reminded Tao Daqiang to return them to him after he finished using them the next day, as he would need them again later.

Li Qingxia has taken a liking to this new toy.

When they got home, Liang Yuemei and Gu Xiaoxia were quite surprised to see so many fish they had brought. Du Chunfang, on the other hand, wasn't surprised at all, feeling that it was normal for Li Long to do something surprising.

As soon as the Li family returned, Sister-in-law Lu came over. Seeing these big fish, she was even more excited than the Li family. She took a silver carp given to her by Liang Yuemei and went back. She put the fish down and handed it over to Lu Yingming to handle. She then went off to spread the news excitedly—the Li family is really something. They caught so many big fish at once. What can anyone say?
Some villagers didn't believe it, some were skeptical, while others strongly agreed.

"What hasn't Li Long accomplished? Don't you think about it? In the past few years, what has he done wrong? You're still thinking that others can't catch fish? Think about it, he was the one who started catching fish and selling them in the first place! That little lake was contracted out to someone else, how could they not have a way to catch fish?"

Li Long immediately skinned the big carp, revealing its rich, fatty belly.

Such a big fish can't be stewed whole, so I simply chopped it up, not just into a few pieces, but into more than a dozen pieces. Smaller pieces are easier to absorb the flavor.

Add plenty of water when stewing, and focus on drinking the soup. It's evening, so adults can eat a little more, but children shouldn't eat too much. Drinking some fish soup is refreshing and nourishing.

Li Qingxia, Gu Boyuan, Li Jianguo, and Du Chunfang, who had been drinking, were in the east room. Li Long was driving, and Gu Xiaoxia was going back to work; none of them had been drinking. Gu Xiaoxia was a little worried that her father might cause trouble if he drank too much, but Li Jianguo reassured her that he would keep an eye on him.

Li Long was relieved. Although Gu Boyuan wanted to drink today, his father-in-law had excellent self-control and he had never seen him get drunk. He usually only drank a little too much, and stopped after feeling slightly dizzy. The fish soup was incredibly delicious, especially the fatty part under the fish's belly, which crumbled easily with chopsticks, releasing all the nutrients and flavor into the broth. Mingming and Haohao each drank a large bowl.

That evening, Li Long took Gu Xiaoxia, Mingming, and Haohao back to the courtyard. He didn't go back himself and rested there instead. Sister Yang and Han Fang also seemed quite comfortable staying in the courtyard today, getting a good rest.

The next day, Gu Xiaoxia went to work, and after Li Long finished eating, he took Mingming and Haohao back to the Fourth Team, which was considered as giving Sister Yang another half-day off.

Gu Boyuan slept in Li Long's room last night. He wasn't completely drunk, but Li Jianguo was worried that it would be too cold for him to go back to his own yard and catch a cold, so he simply stayed in Li Long's room.

When Li Long arrived, Tao Daqiang and the others were also there. They had come to deliver a trawl net to the Li family, along with several fish.

"We set the nets yesterday and got up this morning. They were frozen overnight, and one of the nets was frozen solid. It took us a long time to pull it off, and the net was almost ruined," Tao Daqiang said. "But we caught quite a few fish, more than you caught yesterday. There weren't any big carp, but we did catch a few silver carp, as well as grass carp and black carp."

The fish they brought included large crucian carp, black carp, and some small crucian carp. Li Long guessed that Tao Daqiang and his men had set nets with small holes.

Many people came to visit the Li family after breakfast, some just to see the fish and enjoy their freshness. Li Jianguo and his family had sobered up and started processing the other fish after breakfast, so when others arrived, they could see the Li family cleaning and gutting the fish, which truly served as evidence.

Tao Daqiang and his family also had guests, mostly people who came to see the fish. Others might not catch big fish, but Li Long could—that was skill. Some came out of curiosity, while others wanted to learn how to do it.

I just wanted to see how a trawler is made.

Li Qingxia didn't show it to them—Li Long didn't care, that was Li Long's intention, but Li Qingxia's intention was, "Don't even think about it until I've caught enough."

In the afternoon, Li Long drove Gu Boyuan, Mingming, and Haohao back to the county. The purchasing station was going to open tomorrow.

The following days remained uneventful, continuing until mid-January.

Gu Boyuan lived at the purchasing station. He only went to his small courtyard once a year when it snowed, to clear the snow with Li Long.

Looking back now, having too many yards isn't good either. If not enough people live there, they'll just sit idle.

One day, a guest came to the courtyard. She was wearing a thick down jacket, and only when she got to the door did she realize that it was locked.

The girl didn't know where to find Gu Boyuan, so she went to ask the neighbor next door.

"You mean Old Gu? Old Gu's at the purchasing station now, he's really busy, he doesn't come back for ten days or half a month at a time." The old resident next door started talking as soon as he heard that someone was looking for Gu Boyuan. "Purchasing is so profitable now, there are people coming to sell things all day long, hey, he's really made a fortune this time!"

They made money? How much can you make in a small county town?

Gu Xiaoyu thought about this and then asked about the location of the purchasing station.

"Go south along the road, then turn east at the crossroads. Walk for about 200 meters, and you'll find the big courtyard. There's a sign for the purchasing station on the gate. There should still be people selling things inside; you can see it easily," the old man said enthusiastically, pointing out the way.

After finding out the location, Gu Xiaoyu went to look for it. Sure enough, there were four or five people carrying bags and baskets queuing up to sell their goods in the yard of the purchasing station. There was also a stove lit in the yard, so people who couldn't get in could warm themselves by the fire outside.

She was busy at the moment, so Gu Xiaoyu looked around outside and then went back to the guesthouse. Now that she knew where her father was, finding him would be much easier. She planned to come back after Gu Boyuan got off work.

When Gu Xiaoyu came over at lunchtime, she found the recycling station locked, guessing that her father must have gone somewhere to eat.

Thinking about the things she still needed to buy in the afternoon, Gu Xiaoyu decided to wait until after get off work in the evening to come over, so that there would be more time and some things could be explained clearly.

Gu Boyuan felt uneasy. After dinner, it was already dark. He walked back slowly with his hands behind his back, sorting out the day's events as he walked, wondering if there was anything he had overlooked.

However, the accounts are all correct, and the quality of the items received is certainly not a problem.

What's bothering you?
Lost in thought, I returned to the purchasing station. Just as I was about to take out my key to open the door, I suddenly had a premonition and looked to my right.

There was a girl looking at me from not far away. Her figure looked so much like Xiaoxia's.
(End of this chapter)