Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 968 I didn't expect to be a hero, I don't want to be a hero
As the sun set, Li Long called on everyone to put down their work and pack up to go home.

The floodwaters have completely receded, leaving behind a mess of debris on the riverbank. Some people are even looking around to see if there's anything of value.

Li Long looked towards the southern sky and found that the dark clouds there had long since disappeared.

But he knew very well that it was this season, and snowmelt floods would come from time to time, so such floods were very likely to occur again.

Su Qiangqiang's face was a little pale, and Li Long felt that his body was still trembling. Li Long went over and asked:

"Su Qiangqiang, what's wrong? Do you have a fever?"

"N-nothing...it's nothing." Su Qiangqiang forced a smile. "It's nothing, I probably got frozen in the water, that water was really cold..."

"When we get back, we'll find the doctor in your village to prescribe some medicine, or even give him an injection." Li Long remembered something. To get Su Qiangqiang to let go, he had poked him several times with a tree branch. Could he have injured him? The wound would definitely get infected in the dirty water.

And it's very likely he also choked on water.

"Okay, I'll go back and see a doctor. I think I'll be fine after a good night's sleep." Su Qiangqiang didn't think it was a big problem.

Li Long then went to find Meng Hai and said to him, "Su Qiangqiang may have been injured, with an infection, inflammation, and fever. Make sure he sees a doctor when we get back."

“Okay, don’t worry about that, I’ll take him there when I get back.” Meng Hai also took this matter very seriously. “If it doesn’t work out, then don’t let him come tomorrow.”

Today, someone almost lost their life over a shovel; who knows what tomorrow will bring?

"Comrade Li Long, are you injured? We saw you hit the logs several times on the shore. Are you alright?" Meng Hai thought of how dangerous it was for Li Long in the water at the time.

"I'm fine, I'm strong, it's no problem," Li Long said with a smile.

He had touched it when he was changing clothes in the woods earlier; the wound on the ground had already scabbed over. He didn't feel feverish now, so he must be recovering.

His physical fitness was much better than that of the average person, which was why Li Long dared to go into the water at that time.

We're done for the day. Since the ground is wet from the flood, we can't have dinner here. We'll just go back and figure it out later.

Li Long watched as Meng Hai and the others finished packing up their things, parked the tractor on a slightly higher spot, and then drove the small four-wheeled vehicle to pick everyone up and drive back. Only then did Li Long drive the jeep back with Ma Xiaoyan.

"Comrade Li Long, you were so brave today! The flood was so strong, I felt dizzy just looking at it when I got there, and then you jumped in... You are a true hero!"

"No, no, no," Li Long said hurriedly, scratching his back as he spoke—it was itchy there. His left hand was gripping the steering wheel, so it didn't bother him. He continued scratching as he spoke:
"Officer Ma, to tell you the truth, I was scared too. I cursed Su Qiangqiang to death in my heart, but I had no choice at the time. He came to help me repair the road, and I would feel terrible if he died in the flood."

If I could do it all over again, I'm not sure if I'd have the courage to jump again. I'm a father of two, and for my children's sake, I might not dare to do it again.

Li Long's self-exposing of his own shortcomings surprised Ma Xiaoyan. At this time, everyone was talking about the Five Stresses, Four Beauties, and Three Loves, and everyone spoke with great righteousness. At least when it came to this kind of thing, everyone would bravely rush forward like Ouyang Hai and Wang Hai.

But Li Long dared to say that if he had to do it again, he might not dare to.

Ma Xiaoyan felt that this was more authentic, but it wasn't conducive to publishing the press release.

"So, you were actually scared at the time?"

"Of course I was scared. I didn't feel it on land, but once I got in the water, it was incredibly cold, and there was so much debris. Even the best swimming skills were useless, especially since I can only doggy paddle." Li Long genuinely didn't expect to be a hero, so he told the truth:
"At the time, I was really thinking of getting him out of the water and then beating him up. It was such a waste of my time! I also thought that if I really couldn't get him out, I would go up myself..."

The more he talked, the more outrageous it became. Ma Xiaoyan stared at Li Long with her mouth agape, thinking to herself that this was definitely not his true thought. The situation in the water was so urgent at the time, how could he have thought of so many things?
Li Long didn't say anything more, nor did he scratch his back anymore. He knew that new flesh was growing. Well, good physical fitness is good; even his wounds heal faster than ordinary people.

He drove the jeep back to the county, dropped Ma Xiaoyan off at the county committee, confirmed that she would be going there again the next day, and then drove back.

It wasn't dark yet when Li Long passed by the purchasing station and found it was already locked. He stopped and breathed a sigh of relief.

Today's events have had a huge impact on him. He's injured, submerged in floodwaters, and even a light scratch on his arm leaves a white mark. His hair stands on end like it's been treated with grayish mousse, and you can rub a clump of dirt off your hand.

These are all external factors. As he and Ma Xiaoyan said, he actually really wanted to rescue Su Qiangqiang from the flood and then beat him half to death to teach him a lesson.

However, I was too weak to do so after I came out, and the other person was injured, so I didn't.

He swore he would never do such a stupid thing again. He was just lucky to be in good physical condition. If it were anyone else, they would probably have passed out in the water from being hit on the back by that piece of wood with stubble.

In this way, you not only fail to save others, but also get yourself killed.

After resting there for a while, Li Long smiled, started the car, and drove back to the compound.

"Why are you so late coming back today?" Gu Boyuan asked as soon as he entered the door. "Did something happen in the mountains?"

"There's a flood." Li Long got out of the car, picked up Mingming and Haohao who rushed towards him, and said, "The flood came suddenly, which delayed our work. We'll be back a little later."

"You haven't eaten yet? We've already eaten, and we've saved some for you." Seeing that Li Long seemed alright, Gu Boyuan said, "Then I'll head back. There have been quite a few people coming to sell their goods these past few days, so I'll go back and put those goods away properly."

Gu Xiaoxia came over and told Mingming and Haohao to come down. Sister Yang took out the food she had saved in the kitchen and set it out. Li Long washed up at the well and then went to eat.

Having consumed a lot of energy and feeling hungry, Li Long devoured the remaining food in a flash, let out a burp, praised Sister Yang's cooking as usual, and then went inside to wash up.

Only after washing did I realize that my head, face, behind my ears, and even inside my ears were covered in grime. The wound on my back had already scabbed over, so it wasn't afraid of being rinsed with water, and the water that came down was all murky.

After washing, he felt much drier. He picked his nose and found it full of dirt. Li Long was a little disgusted. Sigh, what a loss!

As Gu Xiaoxia went to sleep that night, she asked softly:

"Was the flood big? I didn't ask you in detail because I was with you at the time, but I saw that your hair was covered in water stains. Did you go into the water? Did you rescue someone or were you swept away by the flood?"

Li Long hadn't expected Gu Xiaoxia to be so observant, noticing such a small change. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Yes, someone fell into the floodwaters. We went down and pulled him out."

"Are you alright? Is that person alright?" Gu Xiaoxia asked two questions in quick succession, her hand already reaching out to grab Li Long's arm.

“It’s alright, look, everything’s fine.” Li Long held Gu Xiaoxia’s hand tightly. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t thinking about being a hero. I was just thinking that these people were helping us build the road, and we can’t let them be washed away by the water… There are so many people here.”

"Mmm," Gu Xiaoxia responded softly, and after a few seconds said, "Think things through. You still have Mingming and Haohao, you still have me, you still have Mom and Dad... a whole family..."

Gu Xiaoxia couldn't imagine how bad the flood was, but her hair was covered in water, so she must have been submerged.

It's not very safe.

“I thought to myself, if I can’t save them, I have to come up myself.” Li Long said frankly, “Don’t worry, I’m not hero material. I’m also quite selfish. I haven’t lived enough yet.”

"Pfft..." Gu Xiaoxia laughed. Although it sounded selfish, who isn't selfish?
"With the flood, the roads must be difficult to repair, right?" Gu Xiaoxia asked about other things.

“The floodwaters receded in just over an hour,” Li Long said. “They didn’t flood the roads, but to be honest, I’ll have to add an extra layer to the road construction. I need to put some gravel on the road, otherwise the floodwaters could easily wash it away, and all our work will be for nothing.” “That will take even longer to complete,” Gu Xiaoxia said. “The original plan was to finish in three years, but now it seems that it might not be finished in three years.”

"It's alright, we'll gather more people to work in the fall. By then, the crops will have been harvested, and there will be even more people from Qingshuihe Village who can come, so we can catch up on the work." Li Long also had his own plans. Now it's considered the off-season for farming, but not completely idle. It will be completely idle after the fall.

Back then, there was about a month until it snowed, and during that time we could work.

The next day at breakfast, Sister Yang also asked Li Long about the situation in the mountains with concern, clearly indicating that she had also noticed Li Long's unusual behavior the day before.

"It's alright, it's alright, there's just a flood in the mountains," Li Long explained again. "It's okay, the flood came quickly and it receded quickly, it'll be gone in a little while."

“You still need to be careful. Mingming and Haohao, their aunts are waiting for you here. You can’t be careless or take it lightly.” This was the first time in years that Sister Yang had spoken to Li Long in this tone. “Men can be carefree. What you’ve done is important, but you also need to remember this family. You are his aunt’s pillar of support, and the children’s pillar of support…”

"Big sister, I've got it." Li Long replied with a smile.

After breakfast, Li Long drove the jeep while Gu Xiaoxia rode her bicycle. The two smiled at each other, feeling a warmth in their hearts.

I picked up Ma Xiaoyan from the Wei family compound in the county. She was waiting at the gate, which saved Li Long the trouble of reporting it.

Once in the car, Ma Xiaoyan considered mentioning that she had already written and sent out the press release, but then she thought about what Li Long had said yesterday about not wanting to be a hero, so she ultimately didn't bring up the press release and instead started talking about other things:
"There shouldn't be any flooding in the mountains today, right?"

"I don't know, it depends on whether it rains in the mountains today. The weather in the mountains changes very quickly in the summer. A cloud might come over and start raining, and then the cloud might pass and the rain would stop."

The two chatted idly until they reached the Qingshui River, where children were still waiting. After Li Long stopped, he told them that Meng Hai and the others had already gone into the mountains.

When Li Long arrived at the road repair site, the people had already started working. Meng Hai was still coordinating. When he saw Li Long arrive, he came over and said to Li Long, "Su Qiangqiang has a fever. He was getting an injection and resting in the village today, so I didn't let him come. I've arranged for him to come over."

"Okay, no problem, right?"

"Old Lin said it's not a big problem, just that the wounds are infected. Yesterday he had several wounds on his body, which we didn't find at the time. After we got back, those places were all swollen, and today they've become infected," Meng Hai said. "But it's not a big problem, he'll be fine in a few days."

"That's good." Li Long nodded, then looked up at the mountains to the south and saw that there were no clouds there, which put his mind at ease.

“I’ve also sent out safety officers, and they’re rotating every half hour,” Meng Hai said. “After the flood receded, the area where the road was being repaired looks dry today.”

“We need to raise the roadbed area a bit,” Li Long said. “We need to run the tractor over it several times to make it more compact, so that the road we built won’t be washed away by a flood and wasted.”

"Okay." Meng Hai nodded.

Seeing that Ma Xiaoyan was taking pictures again, Li Long went to the jeep, grabbed a gun, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and headed south. He wanted to see what obstacles might arise from the road construction ahead, and what the specific situation would be.

Early detection allows for timely solutions, avoiding last-minute scrambling and hassle.

Walking a hundred meters or so, he saw a man pacing back and forth on the riverbank, searching for something. Hearing the noise, he immediately looked towards Li Long. Seeing Li Long, his expression was somewhat flustered, and he said, "Comrade Li Long, let me see what's on this riverbank..."

"You're the safety officer, right? Pay close attention to the water upstream," Li Long said. "There might be wild animals nearby, like bears or wild boars, so be careful not to get hurt."

"Okay, okay, I understand," the person replied immediately.

Li Long continued forward with his gun. Ahead, sparse trees on the riverbank blocked a lot of driftwood, all left by the flood. There were also messy hoof prints on the ground. Li Long took a look and figured they were from wild boars.

The flood must have brought a lot of things, including dead birds and rabbits, and other things piled up together, which whetted the wild boars' appetites.

The hoof prints were fresh, probably made this morning. Li Long followed the hoof prints forward, making two turns. By this time, the river channel had narrowed, and if they continued to build a road from here, the workload would increase considerably.

However, the slope here is much higher than the river, so it will be much safer to build the road here—yesterday's flood was only two or three meters below the road, and the road is already starting to go uphill.

Seeing this, Li Long felt reassured. He could work here for the next two days without fear of flooding in the ditch, unless the villagers were courting death and running into the water. Otherwise, even if a flood came, those working here wouldn't need to stop.

Besides, floods like this don't happen every day; they only occur occasionally.

He continued walking forward, following the wild boar's hoofprints with his gun in hand. In fact, Li Long himself knew that the wild boar had finished eating on the riverbank early in the morning and had run into the mountains before sunrise. Now it had long since run to a secluded place to hide and sleep.

The chances of finding it were slim, but since he had nothing else to do, he figured that since he was already there, he might as well take a look around.

As the sun rose higher in the southeast, the sunlight became scorching, and the ultraviolet radiation intensified. Li Long tried to walk under bushes or trees whenever possible. Occasionally, he could see falcons or hawks circling overhead, which he guessed were small animals like rabbits or marmots below.

As Li Long was walking forward, he suddenly heard a humming sound.

Ahead was a huge boulder, blocking the road that was about to be built. Yu Shanjiang and his group's route for moving around the boulder was to go around it, walking close to it. The path was only wide enough for two horses to pass through, and it wasn't very deep, only about three or four meters.

It's not difficult for sheep to pass through here. In winter, the river freezes over, and you can walk on the ice. In early spring, the river is shallow, so you can walk in the water as well.

But if we want to build a road now, this huge rock is an obstacle and must be removed.

Li Long heard the humming sound coming from behind this boulder.

He slowly crept over with his gun in hand, rounded the boulder, and saw where the grunting sound was coming from: on the riverbank below the boulder, a half-grown wild boar lay in the mud and sand, dragging its body and squealing softly. It had obviously fallen from above and broken its hind leg.

Li Long was still a little confused. Wild boars, with their thick skin and tough flesh, should have been able to get up and run away even if they fell from three or four meters or even higher.

Hearing the noise, the wild boar turned its head to look at Li Long above, then tried to run away in fear, but its hind legs were too weak to support it. It dragged itself forward a few steps and then stopped helplessly.

Li Long guessed that when the wild boar herd returned to the deep mountains, they passed by this road and the unfortunate creature was pushed off and injured. The main herd wouldn't wait for it and left, so it was left to die there.

Li Long looked at the shrubs on the stone wall at his feet and could imagine the scene at that time.

I got a good deal for myself.

He carried his gun, found a foothold, and steadily walked down the slope step by step—actually, the slope of the rock face wasn't very steep, but there were tree stumps and protruding rocks in the middle, so it was easy to get injured.

When Li Long reached the bottom of the riverbank, the wild boar panicked even more. It kept grunting as a threat, and then dragged its injured body away from Li Long. But how could it possibly escape Li Long's pursuit?
Seeing this, Li Long slung his gun over his shoulder, drew his knife, strode up to the wild boar, stepped on its front shoulder blade, twisted its ear with one hand, and stabbed it in with the knife.

The wild boar wasn't very big, weighing around 40 or 50 kilograms. These half-grown wild boars are the most mischievous; otherwise, they wouldn't have fallen from such a height.

"Ow—"

The wild boar let out a miserable cry, and the meat splattered out. It struggled desperately for a few moments, and then fell silent.

It was only when Li Long looked at the wild boar's old wounds that he noticed that the spot where its hind leg had fallen looked like it had been bitten by something. Although it wasn't bitten today, it looked like it had been there no more than a week ago.

Oh, so you had an old injury. No wonder!
You really got off easy!

(End of this chapter)