Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 934 The Farmer Brothers Who Are Truly Impressive

Although both Li Juan and Li Qiang had been to Wucheng before, and the school had organized trips for them.

This trip was headed towards Yanjing. Although the journey by car was the same for both children, they were still very excited. Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiaoyu sat in a row, one holding Mingming and the other holding Haohao, while Li Long and Li Jianguo discussed the arrangements after arriving in Wucheng.

The train station was extremely crowded.

People carrying bags of all sizes gathered from all directions, surging towards the waiting hall and ticket hall, like ants returning to their nest.

After getting off the bus at the Bayi Guesthouse, Li Long and his group went straight to the waiting hall. Li Long told them to keep an eye on their things, while he went to Yu Sufu's stall and bought some raisins, walnuts, dates, and other snacks, some of which Gu Xiaoyu would take back later.

After all, they'd come all this way; they couldn't leave empty-handed. The rest would be left for their own group.

I didn't bring much stuff, and these dried fruits didn't add much weight to the package.

"With so many people, it might be a lot of trouble when we get on the bus, right?" Li Jianguo was a little worried. After all, it was fine when he went back to his hometown before. He was just carrying a bag and it didn't matter.

Now, there are two babies in my arms, two more babies around, and two women. It's so crowded that it's hard to squeeze in.

“It’s okay, we have sleeper tickets,” Li Long said. “When they start checking tickets, I’ll ask if there’s a priority lane. If we can go first, we can go first; if not, it’s fine. There are fewer people over there in the sleeper section, so we don’t have to squeeze in.”

Li Jianguo remembered that Li Long had bought a sleeper ticket this time, and smiled. That's right, before, he used to squeeze into hard seats, which were not to say that there were crowds of people, but they were almost impossible to move.

Now that there are fewer than half the people in a sleeper berth, it's definitely different.

It's nice to have money!

Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiaoyu listened from the side and, knowing that Li Long had made arrangements, stopped asking questions and focused on taking good care of Mingming and Haohao.

Seeing so many people, Mingming and Haohao were also very curious and wanted to look around. Fortunately, although Li Juan and Li Qiang were a little reserved at this time, their minds were entirely on their two younger brothers, helping to look after them, so there were no problems.

The waiting hall became increasingly crowded. Some people had to stand because there was nowhere to sit. People sat around piles of luggage, and there were all sorts of smells.

Seeing that there was still plenty of time before boarding, Li Long said to Li Jianguo:
"Brother, take them to eat first, then come back and relieve me later." As he spoke, he pointed to the place where he had eaten with Yu Sufu the day before yesterday.

Li Jianguo wanted to stay behind, but Li Long whispered:

“Brother, I’ll stay here by myself. I’m tall and strong, so this spot is easy for me to occupy. If you leave a group of people here to squeeze in, it’s not something you can say.”

Li Jianguo thought it made sense, so he took Gu Xiaoxia and the others to eat.

Li Long then arranged the group's luggage on the seats. At this point, there was no point in talking about morality. He figured that if he gave up his seats now, they probably wouldn't give them up later when his wife came over with the child.

When someone came over and asked Li Long, Li Long simply said that the seat was taken and he was going to eat. The person saw that Li Long was tall and strong and had a stern face, so they didn't say anything more.

When Li Long came out, he brought a book with him—not one of those voluminous, scholarly tomes, of course, but rather "Seven Swordsmen of Mount Tian," which Li Long had already read, but was now using for leisure. He also planned to buy some more books in Yanjing and send them back to read when he had time.

Even before the advent of mobile phones, reading martial arts novels was a form of enjoyment.

Li Jianguo and his group ate quickly. When they came back in, there were fewer people in the waiting hall; some had already had their tickets checked and left.

“I didn’t bring you any. These noodles are best eaten hot in a restaurant,” Li Jianguo said. “Go ahead and eat. We’ll stay here.”

Li Long helped them take their luggage off their seats and made sure they were seated before going to eat himself.

Shortly after returning from lunch, ticket checking began. Li Long went to ask, but there were no VIP or premium lanes yet, so he had to join the queue for ticket checking. Li Long carried Mingming and Haohao, and carried a large backpack. Li Jianguo held Li Juan and Li Qiang's hands, while Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiaoyu followed along with their own bags.

Many hands make light work. The most troublesome one, Mingming and Haohao, were led by Li Long, while the others could easily follow. After checking their tickets, they quickly walked forward, almost being pushed by the crowd, up the overpass and into the underpass, until they reached the train.

Fortunately, everyone was holding hands and didn't get separated. Once they reached the train, they dispersed. Li Long and the others breathed a sigh of relief and then shouted, "Carriage 11, let's go, let's go, forward!"

The entrance to the hard-seat area was packed with people. Some people went in first and then opened the windows, and people below threw their bags in and then climbed up. Staff came over to stop them, and it was a complete mess.

The sleeper berths were much better; most people were queuing and not in a hurry. When they saw Li Long carrying his child over, some people even made room for him.

We got on the bus, arrived at our seats, put Mingming and Haohao on the bed, and then began to settle them in.

Those in the middle and upper bunks who saw the child could clearly sense that some people might think the child would be noisy, and their brows were furrowed.

He didn't interfere. The fact that he was able to bring Mingming and Haohao out meant that the two children were precocious and had already passed the noisy stage. At this point, they were already trying to reason with their family.

Therefore, they are not worried that their two children will affect others.

After learning that they had the middle bunk, Li Juan and Li Qiang immediately took off their shoes, laid them out, and climbed up to experience the novelty of riding the train.

Soon, Li Qiang climbed down again and went to Li Long. While helping Li Long take care of Mingming and Haohao, he whispered to Li Long:

"Uncle, do you think our train will take us all the way to Yanjing?"

"Yes, the train journey takes three or four days. Once you get off the train, you'll arrive at Yanjing Station."

At the departure station, after boarding, the train will stop here for a while. Li Long heard someone arguing with the train conductor near the door, and he guessed that it was probably passengers from other carriages trying to board.

After waiting for a while, the train started moving, and Li Qiang excitedly said to his sister:
"Sis, it's open! It's open!"

Although Mingming and Haohao didn't quite understand, they also shouted "Open! Open!" Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiaoyu had freed their hands by then, each holding one of them. Gu Xiaoxia whispered:

"You can't shout here."

Mingming nodded seriously:

"I won't call him anymore... I've already called him brother."

"I won't shout anymore either," Li Qiang said hurriedly upon hearing this. "See, brother isn't shouting anymore."

"Okay, we won't shout anymore," Hao Hao echoed.

This serious reply made everyone laugh, and the atmosphere in the carriage immediately became cheerful.

Li Long took a water bottle out of his backpack to get some water. The two children were no longer breastfed and were on formula, but they preferred solid foods. Li Long would often give them bits of naan bread to chew on, as a teething aid.

The naan had a salty taste, which both children liked. After getting the water, Li Long took out a clean gauze bag for naan from his backpack, took out the naan he had bought that morning, broke off the edge of the naan, and divided it in half. The two children then sat quietly on the bed and began to eat it.

Seeing how well-behaved the two children were, the people in the other berths were also a little surprised, and then some of them started chatting with Li Jianguo.

Li Long bought two lower bunks and two middle bunks in numbers 13 and 14, and two lower bunks in numbers 15 and 16.

The current arrangement is that Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiaoyu are in the lower bunks of bunks 15 and 16, Li Long and Li Jianguo are in the lower bunks of bunks 13 and 14, and Li Juan and Li Qiang are in the middle bunks of bunks 13 and 14.

The upper bunk in bunk number 13 or 14 was occupied by a middle-aged couple. It wasn't time to rest yet, and they were both sitting on the bench opposite each other. The middle-aged man started chatting with Li Jianguo.

"Comrades, where are you going? To the final stop?"

"Yes, what about you?" Li Jianguo asked in his eastern Henan accent.

“Yes,” the woman said with a hint of reserve, “My family is from Aijing. I’m going back home to visit my family. You…”

“Let’s go take a look around and see Tiananmen Square. You work in the northern border region but your home is in Beijing? The people in the northern border region should thank you,” Li Jianguo said with a smile.

The middle-aged man had initially been a bit arrogant upon hearing Li Jianguo's eastern Henan accent, but after Li Jianguo spoke like that, he suddenly felt embarrassed and hurriedly waved his hand, saying:

"Of course, of course, we're building the Four Modernizations no matter where we are."

This made it much easier to start a conversation.

Listening to the conversation between the two, Gu Xiaoyu whispered to Gu Xiaoxia, "I didn't expect my brother to be so eloquent. He doesn't look like a farmer at all. If he doesn't speak, he could easily be mistaken for a cadre."

"Hehe, you have no idea, my dad and my older brother are the closest in the team. Although my older brother didn't finish junior high school, in their time, being able to finish junior high school was already a great achievement. My older brother is different from others; he has his own ideas about people and things, and his thinking is quite extraordinary."

Li Long heard the two sisters' words clearly. He smiled but didn't say anything.

Li Qiang asked Li Long from the middle bunk:

"Uncle, will the train stop later?"

"Stop here. We'll stop when we get to Turpan," Li Long said. "It'll be about two or three hours. What, you want to get off?"

"No, I was just asking, Turpan, right? Is it the one with the Flaming Mountains?"

"Yeah, but you can't feel it in the dead of winter. And even if you get off the train, you can only move around on the platform. You know what a platform is, right?"

“I know, I know…” Li Juan hurriedly raised her hand, “We learned the poem ‘The Back View,’ which has a platform in it…”

Okay, applying what you've learned is good.

While Li Long chatted with Li Juan and Li Qiang, he was quite relaxed, even though Hao Hao had already been taken away by the Gu sisters.

After a while, the train conductor came to check and exchange tickets, and "invited" the two people who were not in this carriage to leave. Li Long felt more at ease. It seemed that at least the carriage would be semi-enclosed from now on, and the safety could be basically guaranteed.

When they stopped in Turpan, someone got out of the car and came back in with two bags of raisins. Li Long and the others also got out to stretch their legs and could clearly feel the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the car. Even in the land of fire, it was quite cold in the dead of winter.

Li Long and his friends bought their own dinner. The two people chatting with Li Jianguo and his group ate the flatbreads they brought themselves.

That's when they realized the difference. They didn't expect that Li Long and the others would buy a meal for Mingming and Haohao as well.

I have money.

At this point, Li Jianguo could also feel that having money made a real difference compared to before. Before, when he went home, he would carry large bags and small packages, including his own luggage and things he bought for his family. The dining car on the train was expensive, and back then, he would barely manage to get by on a three-day, three-night journey.

We have children now, so we can't settle for less. Come to think of it, if money were tight, how could we possibly bring our children out to see the world?

And since I had money in my pocket, I didn't feel bad about buying boxed lunches—I was really good at holding back then; I made it through three days with just a few naan breads.

They ignored the stares of others. Li Jianguo whispered to Li Long:

"I brought some national food coupons with me, but I don't know if they will be enough after I get there."

“It’s alright. It’s been reformed for several years now. State-owned stores require tickets, but private ones don’t. We can just eat at the private stores.” Li Long said, “It’s only a few days, we’re not afraid of anything.”

Li Jianguo actually had the same idea, so the matter was dropped.

These ration coupons won't be abolished for another seven or eight years. Although more and more private shops are opening up, and they don't need ration coupons anymore, they'll be more expensive. Public institutions will still need them, but they'll be cheaper.

But for the Li family's current wealth, this is nothing.

Li Long was quite alert while sleeping that night, but nothing went wrong. He drove through Hami Xingxingxia and out of eastern Xinjiang without incident.

The next day, breakfast was again from the dining car. The middle-aged man got some hot water, ate some cold flatbread, and watched Li Long and the others drink porridge, saying enviously:
"You've become rich, haven't you? That's the benefit of the household responsibility system for farming, isn't it?"

"Yes, we also grow some cash crops in addition to grain," Li Jianguo smiled. "Mainly because we're taking care of the kids. We're fine on our own, but the kids need to eat something hot. It's better to be frugal on the road than poor..."

“Yes, yes, yes, a poor family should travel more.” The middle-aged man echoed.

He wondered to himself, "Are farmers really that rich these days? Why does my brother-in-law always complain about being poor?"

After breakfast, we passed another small station. Some people walked through the carriages to this point. Seeing that the carriages were empty, a few people stopped, put their luggage in the aisle, and sat on the benches by the window.

The middle-aged couple, who were resting on the bunk, came down and saw that there were people on the stool. The other party was two men with cold expressions. They didn't dare to shoo them away. After hesitating, Li Jianguo invited them to sit on the bunk.

The two people quickly sat down. Just as they sat down, more people came over and started crowding in to sit next to them.

"If you're not in this carriage, move forward!" Li Long could tell that some people were clearly not in this carriage, and some were even looking around furtively at the luggage and the people on the berths. Displeased, he said, "The train conductor will come and kick you out too!"

Li Long was a big guy with a loud voice. As soon as he shouted, others echoed him, with the middle-aged man on the upper bunk being the loudest. The few people who had come over to relax for a bit stood up hesitantly.

Li Long was worried that it would be inconvenient for the two Gu sisters next door with their children, so after shouting, he pushed aside the people blocking the way and squeezed through. Sure enough, he found several people sitting on the lower bunk next door. Mingming Haohao clearly had never seen such a scene before, and he looked at them with a wronged expression.

"Let's go, let's go! If you don't leave, I'll beat you up!" Li Long's voice suddenly grew louder. "This isn't your berth, get out of here!"

As he spoke, he threw several pieces of luggage that were placed between the two bunks out.

Normally, if he were alone, he would just lie down on his berth and not care about anyone else. It is the train conductor's responsibility to take care of people.

But now that it's affecting his family, he definitely has to take responsibility.

Li Long was extremely strong and shoved these people into the aisle. At this moment, something happened in another carriage, and a woman's shout rang out. It was vaguely understood that she had been touched on the buttocks and stepped on with her shoes. The carriage immediately became chaotic.

Li Long didn't care about anything else and simply pushed away those who wanted to squeeze in, clearing out some space.

Li Jianguo next door was also taking action. Although he was much shorter than Li Long, he was quite energetic. The middle-aged man also joined in, and these people were driven into the aisle.

Some people glared at them angrily, muttering curses, saying that they were all travelers on the road, so why make things difficult for each other?

Li Long didn't hold back either:

"You need to behave yourselves. Who would make things difficult for you? Besides, with so many people crammed in here, do you think you can stay here?"

If there are few people, and they are polite and have a sense of respect, Li Long doesn't mind letting some people in—of course, with the train conductor's permission.

But with so many people crammed in like a hard-seat carriage, the train staff certainly wouldn't allow it.

Moreover, since it affected his own family, Li Long naturally didn't mind being the villain.

Sure enough, once the train started moving, the train conductor came over and began ushering people out.

“Sister, with brother-in-law here, we can feel much more at ease. I was so scared just now… I’ve never encountered anything like this before, even on my two previous visits. Back then, I was in the middle bunk and didn’t think much of it…” Gu Xiaoyu whispered to Gu Xiaoxia.

"Hey, he's strong and capable, otherwise our family wouldn't have the life we ​​have now," Gu Xiaoxia said with a hint of pride.

The middle-aged man next door sat back down on the bench in the aisle and said with a sigh, "Hey, young man, not bad, not bad. Without you, we would be suffering."

His wife chimed in, "That's right. I think two of them were behaving improperly. If this guy hadn't shouted, we might have lost something."

Li Long became a little embarrassed by the praise. He waved his hand and said, "It's nothing. We've traveled together, so it's fate that we're on the same journey. It's only right that we do this."

After this experience, everyone became closer and started talking more.

The next part was daytime, and the journey took place across the Gobi Desert. Occasionally, through the carriage, one could see red deer and gazelles running in the distance.

Clearly, at this time, wild resources were not only abundant in northern Xinjiang, but also in other places.

There wasn't much to do during the day, and Mingming and Haohao didn't cry or fuss. They had their mother, aunt, and older siblings playing with them, and they were very happy.

Seeing that the two children were not crying or making a fuss, many people in the neighborhood were amazed. It was rare to see such well-behaved children at such a young age.

Li Long knew that he would have to be careful from now on.

The scenes from "A World Without Thieves" might just appear.

(End of this chapter)