Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1248 Heavy Snow, Rabbits and Fish (Two Chapters Combined)

Just one chapter today: This chapter is 10,000 words, let's boost the average daily subscriptions.

………………

In mid-January, two major conferences were held in Ma County, and Li Long went to the conferences with his proposal.

Li Long's proposal sparked considerable discussion, and the matter had a significant impact.

The meeting will include group discussions, not only on the plenary report but also on the proposals made by the representatives of each group.

Li Long's proposal was supported by ample evidence, and no one questioned whether its content was fabricated. The main focus was on the modifications Li Long proposed.

As the proposer, Li Long read the proposal aloud and then stated his views:
"It is only right for us to talk about national unity, because our country has 56 ethnic groups, with the Han people as the main ethnic group, closely united with the other 55 minority ethnic groups. This is the origin and foundation of national unity."

However, our discussion of ethnic unity must also be conducted in accordance with the law. The Constitution is the fundamental law of our country, and it stipulates that every child has the right to education (the Compulsory Education Law has already been implemented).

Regarding regulations on ethnic unity and religion, my country's "Law on the Protection of Minors" stipulates that it is not allowed to spread religious beliefs to children, nor is it allowed for minors to participate in religious activities or join religious groups.

"Then it wasn't spread, was it? And they didn't participate, right?" someone whispered.

“Doesn’t studying scriptures count?” Li Long retorted. “If studying scriptures doesn’t count as spreading religious beliefs, then what’s the point of studying scriptures?”

A single sentence made some people laugh, but many more people's expressions changed.

Yeah, why learn this?
"But isn't this their cultural custom?" someone asked again.

"What do you mean by ethnic customs? Those are religious customs!" Li Long hates it most when religious customs are linked to ethnic customs. "More than a thousand years ago in northern Xinjiang, the religious belief of the Uyghur and other ethnic groups was Buddhism!"
So don't bring up any ethnic customs; these are clearly religious customs! We must act in accordance with the law when dealing with these things. Think about it, if they're only learning scriptures now, will they still be involved in building the Four Modernizations when they grow up?

Li Long always remembered the words of a Kazakh school principal from the early 21st century. He had said something similar before: "If you don't occupy the ideological front, someone else will."

The same applies to children. Illegal missionary sites can preach to five- or six-year-olds. If they learn the scriptures imperceptibly, will they still believe in science in the future?

This is a matter of principle, and we must get to the bottom of things!
As soon as Li Long said that, the other representatives immediately understood.

Yes, ethnic customs and religious customs should not be mixed together. What does that even mean? Are you planning to achieve ethnic-religious unification?
So Li Long's proposal was quickly approved, and many people even gathered around to talk to him about it.

"To be honest, I never thought about this before. What are these people thinking, teaching scriptures to students so openly? Shouldn't this be something religious schools do?" someone asked doubtfully.

"Exactly, are they planning to use Ha School and Wei School as preparatory schools for religious schools?"

"No matter what, I wholeheartedly support this proposal. Even if you study traditional Uyghur and Kazakh literature and culture in school, that's fine. What's wrong with studying this?"

As more and more people brought up the topic, Li Long picked up his pen and wrote down these suggestions.

In subsequent discussions of other proposals, Li Long spoke less. He was aware of his shortcomings; he would mention some things he knew, but otherwise just went along with the crowd.

It is evident that the proposals submitted by the county-level people's congresses were mostly about people's livelihood and industrial and agricultural development. Unlike the proposals of later generations that sounded incomprehensible or nonsensical, at least everyone was reasonable and made practical suggestions.

Of course, it's uncertain how far this proposal will go. After all, once the proposal is approved, the county will compile the data and then take it to the state assembly for discussion.

That's none of Li Long's business, or so Li Long thinks.

As the saying goes, "He who holds a position should fulfill his duties," but given his current position, he cannot participate in very high-level meetings.

However, to Li Long's surprise, when the group discussion ended the next day, he was stopped by a representative from the county. The representative was in his forties, and Li Long vaguely remembered him; he seemed to be a teacher at No. 1 Middle School.

"Comrade Li Long, right? I've read your proposal and found it very interesting. I wonder if we could discuss it?"

“Of course,” Li Long said with a smile.

"I'm a representative to the state people's congress, and I'll be attending the state people's congress meeting. I'd like to work out your proposal before submitting it to the state. This is also the county's idea. What do you think..."

“No problem, I hope we can do it that way, preferably at the regional conference,” Li Long said directly.

"Haha, we have to take it one step at a time. Come on, let's find a place to talk."

In fact, the matter was explained very clearly in the proposal, and there was also evidence. So, the state representative named Sun Wenlin mainly wanted to understand what Li Long wanted to express.

Sun Wenlin didn't attend this meeting; after all, he's a state people's congress representative, not a county representative. However, after hearing about the proposal, he proactively contacted Li Long, showing he takes it very seriously.

Li Long had just collected a lot of other people's opinions during the meeting, and he felt that some of them could be incorporated into the proposal to make it more comprehensive.

After chatting with Sun Wenlin for a while, Li Long finally felt relieved. This representative was very responsible, asking very detailed questions and taking notes very carefully. He also left his home phone number, saying he would contact Li Long promptly if anything came up.

If your own abilities are limited, then find someone with greater abilities.

Although Secretary Zhang is keeping an eye on things, any legislation or changes to regulations still need to be done through the National People's Congress.

Of course, it's also possible that the People's Congress of Ma County passed a similar proposal, and while reporting to higher authorities, the school on their side made changes.

After all, education is a serious matter, and we cannot allow anyone to taint it.

After the meeting, Li Long felt relieved. School was about to be on holiday, so he would take Mingming and Haohao to the fourth team whenever he had free time.

The main reason is that there are many children in the fourth team. Although Li Juan spends most of her holidays studying, Li Qiang has more free time and can take his two younger brothers around the village.

Li Qiang wasn't exactly a local tyrant, but he was practically a kingpin among the kids. With the influence of the Li family, he could basically roam freely across the three settlements in the village.

When they got tired of playing, people from any neighborhood would invite the kids to eat, so they didn't have to worry about anything else.

This made Li Long feel quite relaxed.

When it comes to taking care of children, it's normal for dads to be a little more careless.

In the kitchen, Liang Yuemei was making sugar syrup. Last year, she planted sugar beets on some of the saline-alkali land, most of which were sent to the old horse farm as animal feed, and the rest were kept at home to feed the pigs. In the winter, with nothing to do, she cleaned and sliced ​​the sugar beets and started making sugar syrup, which the children liked to eat.

Du Chunfang sat by the stove, muttering to herself as she watched the potatoes roasting in the oven below:

“Nier’s mother doesn’t come anymore… Before we got registered, she came every day, but now that we’ve registered, she doesn’t come to see me anymore. What a snob!”

Liang Yuemei said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry:

"Mom, that's not how it is! Xiaojuan is busy right now. Her eldest child is so naughty, he's torn his clothes twice in the last couple of days, and his shoes are showing his toes. She's at home fixing clothes for the baby!"

"Oh, something's wrong? If you had something to say, you could have just let me know. I could have helped." Du Chunfang wasn't embarrassed at all. Old ladies, once they reach a certain age, they know how to comfort themselves. If they're wrong, they're wrong; they can just correct it.

Liang Yuemei was quite envious. This old lady lived a comfortable life and never kept anything bottled up inside. She always blamed others when something went wrong.

Du Chunfang saw that the potatoes under the stove were almost done roasting, so she took out a fire hook, patted them, and said to the house:

"Xiaolong, Xiaolong! Come here, the potatoes are cooked, take two and eat them."

Li Long and his older brother were discussing the cooperative. Xie Yundong was in charge of the cooperative, and they had already purchased agricultural supplies such as seeds, fertilizers, and plastic film. The plan to irrigate the fields with plenty of water in the spring had also been finalized.

The two brothers mainly discussed some technical issues related to cotton cultivation.

Hearing his mother call him to eat potatoes, Li Long smiled and got up. He went to the stove in the middle room, took two potatoes, turned around and went to the inner room, where he and his older brother each shared one.

"Juan, Juan!" Du Chunfang looked at the remaining two potatoes and called out again, "Come and eat some potatoes, give your brain a rest, don't just study all the time."

Li Juan was studying at her desk when she heard her grandmother's words. She responded, picked up a small potato, took it back to peel, and ate it while reading.

“Juan, that girl, will definitely get into university!” Du Chunfang looked at the remaining one, tapped it twice with a fire hook, and said to Liang Yuemei as she threw it away, “I’ve never seen such a studious child.”

Liang Yuemei was delighted to hear this.

Just then, the sound of a car engine came from outside, indicating that someone was coming.

“Hey, you come every day, you come every day, aren’t you tired of it?” Du Chunfang said before anyone even entered the door. “You’ve practically lowered the threshold.”

"Isn't it a good thing that people are coming? It means your youngest son is popular," Liang Yuemei said with a smile.

Then the door was pushed open, and Tao Daqiang entered the room, followed by Liang Dacheng.

The two people didn't come in immediately; they first patted the doorway before entering, greeting Du Chunfang and Liang Yuemei, and asking:

"Is Xiao Long (Brother Long) here?"

"Yes, in the inner room."

"It's snowing already?" Liang Yuemei asked, noticing the snowflakes on their heads.

"It's snowing heavily. It's only a few steps from the gate to here, and the snow is already this heavy," Tao Daqiang said before going into the inner room.

There was a cotton curtain at the door, so they couldn't see outside. The two of them had been by the stove for a long time, and since it was only a cloudy morning, they didn't pay much attention to it.

After the two entered the inner room, Li Long said with a smile:

"Are you bored?"

In fact, ever since Li Long started coming back every few days, the rest of them would come over from time to time. Anyway, they had a car, so it was convenient for them to drive back and forth.

"Hey, the snow's heavy today. Judging by this, it'll probably snow until tonight. If it does, it'll be thirty or forty centimeters thick!" Liang Dacheng said.

"It's snowing heavily?" Li Long and Li Jianguo exchanged a glance. Li Long said, "It's snowing heavily, and Qiangqiang, Mingming, and Haohao still haven't come back..."

"How could they come back? They're at the team leader's house. Qiangqiang and the others are playing with Mingwa and the others, with Mingming and Haohao. Ma Hongmei was just calling Mingwa to ask what he wanted to eat, so she called all the kids to the yard," Liang Dacheng said with a smile.

"They won't be back anytime soon."

“This guy…” Li Long didn’t know what to say.

In just these few days of vacation, Mingming and Haohao have already eaten at several different restaurants. Anyway, everyone said it was good when they came back. If it weren't for Qiangqiang, the two of them wouldn't be able to say whose house they ate at. There are many people in the team who know them, and many people they don't know.

Everyone was so enthusiastic!
Don't be fooled by the fact that some people in the team might be envious of the Li family or complain about certain things.

But most people are truly grateful to the Li family. The logic of ordinary people at the bottom is very simple: the Li family led everyone to make money and become rich, and now they are even helping with cotton and teaching people the technology.

I feel embarrassed to bring gifts to your house to thank you, but I can afford to treat a few kids to a meal, cook a chicken stew or something.

So even though Hao Hao is in the county, as soon as it gets light, he can't wait to get up and head over here.

It wasn't about the food; it was mainly their enthusiasm—their extraordinary enthusiasm!

Hao Hao was doing this for a reason. He felt that everyone in the village was nice, which was really nice.

This is something you can't experience in the city.

"Knowing where it is is enough. We can drive over and pick it up when it's time to eat."

"It's just a phone call; the captain will probably bring him back in a bit," Tao Daqiang said with a smile. "It's nothing serious; as long as he's not out having fun, it's fine."

"Is the snow really that heavy?" Li Long asked after hearing his question. "Is the wind strong?"

"There's hardly any wind, it's just strange, it's snowing right away, snow like this is rare these days."

Usually, snowfall is accompanied by strong winds, so strong that the blowing snow makes it hard to open your eyes. But today, the snow is falling gently from the sky like goose feathers, a light and swirling sound, and it's not cold at all.

“If it really rains all night, we can catch rabbits tomorrow…” Li Jianguo suddenly said.

"Hey, that's true. What year was that?" Liang Dacheng said, thinking for a moment. "I remember my family chased about ten wild rabbits, that was a lot!"

Although a lot of wasteland has been reclaimed in the past two years, there are still quite a few wild animals such as rabbits, foxes, and badgers in the red willow beach of Dongdagou.

"How about we go check out the east side tomorrow? I reckon a lot of people in the team will be going." Tao Daqiang was quite interested.

This isn't about profit or making money; it's purely for fun.

After all, it's the dead of winter, so you have to find something to do.

Young men even ran to the open space of the wheat field on snowy days and formed groups of five, six, seven or eight people to play football together. What can people like them, who are neither here nor there, do?
Breaking ice holes is fine, but if you're not doing it for money, it's okay to do it occasionally, but doing it every day gets boring.

It's freezing cold.

Chasing rabbits is a great way to get some exercise.

"Sure, let's go tomorrow." Li Long was also interested.

When the snow is 30 to 40 centimeters thick, it covers the grass, and rabbits have to come out to find food. Their range of activity increases, and the chances of being discovered also increase.

Moreover, once spotted, the thick snow makes the chase much easier.

Everyone agreed, and even Li Jianguo was thinking of going out to the east to take a look tomorrow.

I'm just killing time anyway, and I can't really hit the kids, they're all pretty well-behaved.

In the afternoon, Li Qiang, Mingming, and Haohao were brought back by Xu Haijun. When Xu Chengjun called at lunchtime, he said that the three children had eaten there and that they should not worry about them.

Ma Hongmei was very enthusiastic, so Li Long simply stopped caring.

Xu Haijun came over and also looked for Li Long, also talking about chasing rabbits tomorrow—there's no other way, the fourth team has this tradition, and besides, what else can be done in this area?

Li Long suggested that Tao Daqiang and the others join them, and Xu Haijun thought it would be good to have a team, so they arranged a time.

After everyone left, Li Qiang took the initiative to report that he had eaten hot pot at Xu Chengjun's house, and that the team leader's family had also bought an electric hot pot, which contained pork ribs and stewed chicken, and that it smelled delicious.

Okay, this can be considered a way to get closer to someone.

The snow lessened a bit in the afternoon, and the two children followed Li Qiang outside to build a snowman and shovel snow, which also served as a way to digest their food. After all, they had eaten so much and needed to digest properly.

When we got home that evening, the two children were exhausted. They quickly washed up and went to bed.

Li Long, however, was not idle. Seeing that the snow had lessened a bit, he took a snowplow and began clearing the snow from the yard.

There are quite a few cars parked in the yard now, so using a snowplow would be too much trouble, so let's sweep first.

Anyway, he's strong and healthy, so he can just treat it as a way to aid digestion.

Actually, Han Xue swept some snow when it snowed. Now it's relatively easier for Li Long to clean it up.

Gu Xiaoxia also helped him clear the snow. Because it was still snowing, Li Long told her to hurry inside. He just pushed the thick snow aside so it would be easier to sweep tomorrow.

The next day, Li Long got up very early and found that the snow had stopped when he went out. From last night until now, the snow had fallen another five or six centimeters, and the total snowfall should be around forty centimeters.

It's snowing very heavily!

Li Long picked up a large broom and first cleared a path—from the main house to the toilet, kitchen, and outside the door—before starting to sweep the snow from the other plots into piles.

When the road was cleared, the lights on Sister Yang's side were turned on, and soon everyone got up and went about their business.

After piling the snow in the yard into simple heaps, Li Long went to sweep the snow outside the gate as well. That was easier; he simply swept it into the tree field and left it there.

After breakfast, Li Long drove Mingming, Haohao, and Han Fang to Team Four. Han Fang wanted to play with Li Juan, while Mingming and Haohao wanted to find their older brother Qiangqiang.

When Li Long arrived at his older brother's house, several cars were already parked there, and Tao Daqiang and the others were all in the yard. The snow in the yard had been cleared, and there was a thick layer of snow piled up around the roof. When they saw Li Long's car arrive, they all looked over—there were probably too many people to fit inside the house.

As soon as the car stopped, Mingming and Haohao rushed to get out and find Li Qiang, while Han Fang shyly went to find Li Juan.

"Brother Long, let's go, quite a few people have already gone to the east!" Tao Daqiang called out.

Let’s go!

Two cars, seven adults, drove eastward.

Although it snowed heavily yesterday, the roads have been cleared, and the tractor tracks are very clear, leaving deep imprints in the thick snow.

Li Long didn't drive; Xie Yundong and Xu Haijun were the drivers. Everyone else was carrying a bag, and Tao Daqiang was also holding a short stick, saying that if they encountered a disobedient rabbit, they would kill it with one blow.

Li Long then gave everyone a pair of cotton gloves—these people were used to working outdoors and didn't wear gloves often. Li Long's point was that it was best not to get scratched by the rabbit, since who knows what might be on its claws.

The car slowed down when it was halfway there. The road was mostly gravel before, and then it became a farm road. It hadn't been used much since winter, and the snow was even thicker. Although there was a tractor leading the way, it was still quite difficult for the car to move forward smoothly.

The car stopped about 400-500 meters from the red willow beach in front of Dongdagou. The tractor continued to move slowly about 50-60 meters ahead. You could see people chasing rabbits in the fields—some rabbits, in order to find food in the dead of winter, had no choice but to run into the wheat fields and dig through the snow to find wheat seedlings.

Then he was chased.

However, such rabbits are still in the minority. Most rabbits usually stay in the tamarisk fields, where they can hide easily, and the roots of the tamarisk are also easy to dig out, which is easier than digging through the snow directly in the wheat field.

"Let's go, let's go! Some people have already caught the rabbits, let's hurry!" Liang Dacheng was the most anxious, and he hurriedly got out of the car and waded into the snow.

The sound of dogs barking could still be heard in the distance. Xu Haijun frowned and said:

"Who brought the dog here? Isn't this just causing a disturbance?"

None of the four teams had hunting dogs; they all used mongrels. These mongrels were unlikely to catch rabbits, but they might alert the prey.

"It's good that you're making a fuss," Xie Yundong said with a laugh from behind. "Making a fuss will get the rabbit out. It's not as fast as two dogs chasing a rabbit by the rest of us."

As they were talking, they suddenly heard the barking of dogs from the northeast in the distance becoming more urgent. Then they saw two dogs chasing after them out of the red willow beach. In front of them was a rabbit that wasn't too big, and behind the dogs was a person, but the person was running slowly—the snow was too thick for them to run.

The rabbit couldn't run fast either, it was just a bit more agile than the dogs, so after more than ten minutes, the two dogs were panting with their tongues hanging out, while the rabbit was held down by the people behind it.

Seeing that they had indeed made a harvest, Li Long and his group quickened their pace and ran towards the red willow beach.

Li Long had good eyesight, and as soon as he arrived at the red willow beach, he saw a gray rabbit lying at the base of a clump of red willows.

In the past, they would have ignored it, but now that the heavy snow has just stopped, all the rabbit tracks are new, and the snow is too thick, making the rabbit tracks too obvious. Although they tried their best to squeeze towards the roots of the tamarisk, they couldn't squeeze through in time.

Li Long walked closer, but the rabbit didn't move, probably trying to confuse him with its color.

Unexpectedly, Li Long walked up to Hong Liu and kicked the rabbit into the air.

The kick was so powerful that the rabbit slammed into the red willow root and bounced back, blood already spurting from its mouth.

At this moment, the wild rabbit's tenacious vitality was demonstrated; even though it was seriously injured, it still crawled quickly in the snow, trying to escape.

How could Li Long let him escape? He stepped forward and stomped the rabbit into the snow. Then, with his gloved hand, he twisted the rabbit's neck and snapped it.

Li Long was quite pleased as he picked up the rabbit and stuffed it into the bag he carried with him. It was good to have a rabbit so early in the season.

Looking at the others, they were still searching in the red willow beach.

Li Long then continued walking inside.

Good eyesight is great; I soon spotted another rabbit. This rabbit was moving around in the snow, running and hopping, occasionally stopping to sniff and look for food before continuing to run.

Li Long was thinking of sneaking over to ambush it, but the rabbit had extremely sensitive hearing. When Li Long was about ten meters away, the rabbit had already sensed something was wrong and turned to run away!

Li Long immediately took off chasing after it with his long legs—although they were in the red willow beach, where rabbits naturally had an advantage, Li Long was quick and had incredibly long strides. The rabbit would run three or four times and then bump into Li Long, quickly shortening the distance.

As he was running, a rabbit suddenly darted out from the side. Li Long instinctively kicked it away, then looked at his older brother chasing after him and shouted:
"Big brother, I kicked him away! He's right there!"

He pointed in a direction and then went to chase after his rabbit.

Li Long's kick was no joke. When Li Jianguo chased after it in the direction Li Long pointed, the rabbit was half-submerged in the snow and struggling.

Li Jianguo was quite happy to have acquired the rabbit without much effort.

Li Long had already caught up with the rabbit. The rabbit swerved and changed direction, but the snow was too thick. When it turned, it plunged headfirst into the snow. As it tried to dart out, Li Long stomped on it.

He stomped hard and crushed it.

The little rabbit is cute, but the big rabbit is very fierce. This rabbit must weigh about five or six kilograms. If Li Long reaches out to catch it, he will either be bitten or scratched.

He wouldn't take the risk—it wouldn't be worth it.

Anyway, we'll just peel and eat it when we get home, so there's not much difference between it being alive or dead.

I got two rabbits, so I feel like I've secured my minimum for today.

Li Long circled around again and found that there was quite a commotion in the red willow beach. There were about ten people from the team, plus dogs, and every now and then a rabbit would dart out.

Li Long usually doesn't chase rabbits that already have owners; there's no need. Anyway, the wilderness is vast, and there seem to be many rabbits, so he continued walking eastward.

After leaving this large expanse of red willow beach, we reached the edge of Dongdagou. There we saw Tao Daqiang and Xie Yundong chasing a rabbit together in the southeast. The rabbit leaped very high, falling into the snow with each leap.

But because it wasn't very big and was quite thin, it didn't sink in and continued to move forward, quite agilely.

The two of them finally managed to surround and intercept the rabbit, but in the end, Tao Daqiang had to smash the rabbit into the snow with a stick to hold it down.

Li Long watched as the rabbit ended up with Tao Daqiang. The two men also saw Li Long and then walked over to him.

Li Long paused for a moment, waiting for them to approach, and asked:

"How many did you catch?"

"I don't have Daqiang yet," Xie Yundong said with a smile, not at all discouraged, since there was still plenty of time.

“I have two now. There are so many rabbits here—but there are also so many people, it’s not easy to catch them. I want to go into the East Ditch to take a look.”

"Okay, let's go, let's go, let's go in and take a look before the others arrive." Xie Yundong had the same idea.

The three of them then walked together into the East Ditch.

Last year, a flood washed away three reservoirs, leaving a lot of water in the Dongdagou ditch, which is why the grass grew very well—mainly reeds. I love this kind of environment.

Later, when the water receded, there were still fish in the remaining puddles. Li Long and his friends came to catch them twice in early winter.

When I passed by the puddle where we caught fish, I found that the snow there was so thick that there was no trace of ice holes.

Li Long quickly discovered the rabbit's tracks. After determining the direction, the three of them chased after it to the southeast.

More than a hundred meters later, they found the rabbit in a clump of reeds—only the tips of the reeds were left unburied by the snow, and the rabbit was digging through the snow at the base of the reeds and nibbling on the reed leaves.

Seeing Li Long and his group approaching, the rabbit turned and ran, and the three of them gave chase.

Li Long was quick and strong, and soon left Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang behind. He caught up with the rabbit, which was quite cunning. The rabbit suddenly stopped, kicking up a small snowflake. Li Long was caught off guard and darted in front of the rabbit.

As a result, when the rabbit turned around, it happened to be coming from Tao Daqiang's direction. Tao Daqiang had a bag in one hand and a short stick in the other. He subconsciously swung the stick horizontally, knocking the rabbit away. The rabbit then rushed towards Xie Yundong's back.

Xie Yundong hurriedly turned around, lunged forward, grabbed the rabbit and shoved it hard into the snow.

The rabbit struggled with all four paws, but ultimately failed to break free and was caught by Xie Yundong and put into the bag.

"Well, thanks to your luck, we didn't come empty-handed." Xie Yundong was quite happy this time.

Li Long looked west and saw that the others were still in the red willow beach and hadn't come over, so they continued searching in the gully.

After wandering around for a while, they saw a fox in the distance on the east side of the ditch. When it saw them, it turned and ran away. The three of them thought the yellow fox's pelt looked good, so they immediately gave chase. After following the paw prints for a while, they found a burrow.

There was no other way; it was the dead of winter, and we couldn't exactly dig a hole. We also couldn't find suitable firewood nearby, so we just gave up.

They went back into the ditch and continued chasing rabbits.

Resources were truly plentiful at this time. An hour later, Li Long had five rabbits in his bag, Xie Yundong caught up with four, and Tao Daqiang had three.

That's pretty good.

They had searched this area quite thoroughly, so they continued down the East Ditch towards Yan'erwo, where there was also no one.

The snow was thick, making it quite difficult to walk.

The red willow beach to the west of Dongdagou is triangular, with the pointed end to the west and the other two ends to the south and north. When Li Long and his group were almost near Yan'erwo, the red willows on the east side became less abundant, and some areas had already been converted into farmland.

There are fewer people here, but there are more rabbit tracks in the ditch.

However, some rabbits came out early, found food in the ditch, and then hurriedly returned to their burrows.

Li Long saw seven or eight rabbit holes, mostly under the roots of tamarisk trees and along the edges of ditches.

Some of the burrow entrances still had freshly dug soil, and in other places, the marks at the entrances didn't look like those of rabbits; Li Long guessed they might be those of badgers.

These things are mostly kept away from human settlements. After all, their pelts are quite valuable now, unlike forty years later, when the water rat pelts, though good, have nowhere to be sold, and fishermen can only throw them away after catching them.

"Look, look, two!" Li Long suddenly pointed ahead, where there was a small patch of sparse reeds, mixed with some newly grown red willows. Li Long guessed that these red willows had grown after the flood receded.

Among the reeds, two gray rabbits were quickly nibbling on the reed leaves.

"Chase!" Tao Daqiang had a few rabbits in his bag, so he was really eager for more, not wanting to be outdone.

The two rabbits were in sync; before anyone even arrived, they split up and ran off in opposite directions. Li Long chased after them eastward without stopping, while Tao Daqiang chased them westward. Xie Yundong paused for a moment, then followed Tao Daqiang in pursuit.

He planned to give way to Tao Daqiang this time.

Although Li Long had run several times and expended a lot of energy, he was stronger and had more energy than the average person, so he was still the fastest to catch up with the rabbit. The rabbit could also turn in place, and Li Long had gotten used to it after running several times. He would also conserve energy with each step, so when the rabbit turned, he would turn too.

In just five or six minutes, Li Long picked up the rabbit and threw it into the bag.

Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang over there hadn't finished yet. That rabbit was probably even more cunning. Li Long watched it running left and right, struggling to survive despite being deep in the snow, never stopping for a moment.

Finally, he was so exhausted that he couldn't run anymore and got stuck in the snow. Tao Daqiang knocked him unconscious with a stick and threw him into a bag.

Now that he and Xie Yundong were on equal footing, he breathed a sigh of relief.

But the rabbits wouldn't let them relax. As they turned to reunite with Li Long, a rabbit was startled and ran out as they passed through the red willow thicket, darting into the snow in Li Long's direction.

Li Long hurriedly went to meet it. When the rabbit saw that a larger creature was chasing after it, it darted out of the snow and hurriedly headed north. Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang chased after it.

As Li Long was running, his foot slipped, and he immediately knew that he had encountered ice.

Clearly, the ice below is formed from the water left behind after the floodwaters receded.

When Li Long steadied himself and continued chasing, he saw that Xie Yundong hadn't run away and fell backward.

The rabbit darted into the snow and slipped, but it didn't slide very far, only about 20 or 30 centimeters. But just like that, its attempt to jump was interrupted.

Li Long steadied himself and strode after him, only to see that Tao Daqiang had also slipped.

However, with Xie Yundong ahead, he was careful and didn't fall. Li Long, on the other hand, kept a steady pace and chased after him. Although he didn't run this time, the rabbit couldn't run fast either. After running for more than 20 meters, Li Long caught up with him.

Li Long didn't run away, so the rabbit's trick of suddenly stopping and turning was useless. Li Long grabbed the bag in his hand and swatted the rabbit into the snow.

The rabbit was so dizzy from being slapped that Li Long snapped its neck and threw it into the bag.

Seven of them, weighing over twenty kilograms.

Just as Li Long turned to Xie Yundong and was about to speak, he suddenly pointed to the spot where Xie Yundong had fallen and said:

Hey, fish!

Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang looked down and, sure enough, there were fish swimming slowly under the ice—the ice was quite thick, but it was almost frozen to the bottom.

"Come on, let's clear the snow and see how big the water is!" Li Long exclaimed enthusiastically. If the puddle wasn't too big, and the ice could be lifted from the edge, then the fish could be caught!

After all, in his memory, apart from the deep pit at the bottom of the dam leading to Yan'erwo, there were no other deep pits in this area, even if the ground was uneven, not even a meter deep.

Moreover, there are no large potholes; the surface is relatively flat.

Tao Daqiang and Xie Yundong immediately began clearing the surrounding snow.

The snow is very thick. The old snow at the bottom is compacted and about ten centimeters thick, while the fresh snow on top is about thirty or forty centimeters thick, which is quite troublesome to dig out.

But they soon discovered that the puddle was actually quite small, with an irregular shape, only about three or four meters in diameter.

The ice at the edge of the puddle was only a few centimeters thick, which Li Long broke with one step, and then peeled off the ice cover through the gap.

The ice is of varying thickness; I've tried to peel it off several times, but I can only get one piece off each time. The largest piece is only about the size of a pot lid.

Tao Daqiang and Xie Yundong also put the bag aside and then began to peel the ice off the edge.

Li Long lifted another piece of ice and then smiled as he took out a fish from under the ice—a large crucian carp about the length of a chopstick, still struggling. The water under the ice was only ten centimeters thick, and it would probably freeze solid in another two days.

After catching the first fish, more and more fish appeared, and the three of them were picking them up. At this point, no one was thinking about the rabbit anymore.

Rabbits are something we can try once in a while, but this is the first time we've ever fished by breaking the ice. It's different from breaking holes in the ice, and all three of them are excited.

Li Long quickly realized that the ice couldn't be lifted because its edges were frozen to the ground.

He stopped picking up fish and instead walked around the puddle, breaking the surrounding ice. Then he called Tao Daqiang and Xie Yundong to help him lift up the remaining large piece of ice and throw it aside!
As soon as the ice was lifted, the fish underneath burst into a frenzy, splashing and thrashing about, creating quite a lively scene.

"Damn, that's a lot!" Xie Yundong cursed. "At least thirty or forty kilograms!"

"More than that," Tao Daqiang shook his head as he looked at the fish packed together. "Look, there are some big ones. Just those big carp alone must weigh over ten kilograms. This is at most a crucian carp... Oh, and there's a silver carp too!"

"There are grass carp too," Li Long said with a smile. "Go ahead and pick them up; whoever picks them up keeps them."

The water depth in the middle is at most half a meter. Li Long estimated that the original puddle area was relatively large, but as the water evaporated, the water level became lower and lower, and the fish became more and more crowded. You can also see dead fish bones on the edge of the pit.

It doesn't matter anyway, they'll either freeze to death or get eaten eventually.

Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang cleared out the bag where they had put the rabbits. It was then that Tao Daqiang realized that while they were handling the fish, one of the rabbits that had been knocked unconscious had woken up and tried to escape. However, it was badly injured and could only get about three meters before it started struggling in the snow.

After Tao Daqiang knocked the rabbits down one by one with a stick, he put them all together. Then he put the fish in a bag.

Li Long said smugly:
"Hey, I was right, I took two bags!"

He thought this was a great opportunity to catch more rabbits, and one bag probably wouldn't be enough, so he took an extra one, which came in handy now.

All three of them were wearing gloves, and they started rummaging through the bag for fish, not caring whether the fish were clean or not—the fish were actually covered in mud and sand. There was no other way; with the water running low, the mud and sand with water on them were good for them.

Li Long first caught a large carp. When the carp was under the ice, it was clearly visible, with a red head and red tail, and it was very beautiful.

But as soon as the ice cap was lifted, these previously "well-behaved" fish suddenly erupted into chaos, stirring up the mud and sand underneath, and causing the fish to lose their luster and color.

Li Long didn't care about the mud around the pit anymore. After tamping it down, he leaned out, grabbed the fish by the mouth, and forcefully pulled it up.

At least six kilograms!
As soon as the fish left the water, it vigorously swung its tail, splashing mud all over the three men. Li Long quickly retrieved the fish, stuffed it into the bag, and continued on his way.

Among the big fish, he got two carp and one silver carp, Xie Yundong got one carp and one grass carp, Tao Daqiang got more, one carp, one grass carp and one silver carp, and the rest were crucian carp.

Let's pick them up slowly.

When they caught the fish, they also brought out muddy water. The fewer fish there were in the pit, the less water there was. In the end, all that was left in the pit were small crucian carp, only two or three inches long. They didn't keep any of them; they picked them all up and put them in a bag.

Li Long was holding a bag of urea, which was more than half full of fish, and another bag of rabbits. He felt that was about enough.

"Shall we go back?" Li Long said. "We need to pack up properly when we get back."

"Let's go back then, I'm tired too," Tao Daqiang said. "I didn't feel it when I was fishing, but now I feel stiff from the cold, I need to hurry back and warm myself up."

Xie Yundong naturally had no objections, and the three of them walked back together.

The commotion over at Hongliutan is still quite loud; the dogs are still barking from time to time, and whenever they bark urgently, it means there are rabbits again.

Li Long and his group are currently on the northern edge of the Hongliutan Triangle, where they need to take a road that is flat and easier to walk.

Li Long stopped as he passed a wheat field.

He's here again, he's made another discovery!

P.S.: Well done, Nantong Culture and Tourism Bureau!

(End of this chapter)