Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The morning after returning from Wucheng, several cars drove up to Li Jian's house.

After staying at the Li family's house for a few minutes, together with Li Jianguo's car, everyone drove towards Dahai Lake in a grand procession.

The snow was deep, and the lead vehicle was Li Long's Land Cruiser. This thing was still very powerful, and it left deep tracks on the original rural farm road. Then the other vehicles followed the tracks left by the vehicle in front.

The car pulled up and stopped along the southern shore of Dahai Lake. Li Long got out of the car, carrying the ice-chising tool he had made and the fishing net he had prepared.

Li Jianguo got out of the car, carrying snowboards, and followed behind Li Long, pushing his snowboard as he walked.

Next came Tao Daqiang, who was carrying a steel rod, a net, and an axe—all the tools were packed inside a urea bag.

Seeing Li Jianguo pushing the snow, Tao Daqiang hurriedly stepped forward, took the snowplow, and started pushing with all his might.

“There’s a deep channel to the northwest from here,” Li Long said, pointing on the ice. “Let’s go to the channel and start breaking holes in the ice. If there are fish in the lake, they’re most likely hiding in the deep water.”

The deeper you go in the water, the warmer it gets, and there's more oxygen in the water, which is why fish like to gather there.

Everyone agreed on this point, so they all followed Li Long forward.

After walking for a while, Li Long stopped when he saw that the location was roughly right. He called to Tao Daqiang to quickly bring over the snowplows and push the snow off the ice.

“Before the snow fell this autumn, a lot of water was drained from here,” Li Jianguo said, looking at the ice and then at the shore. “Now only a few troughs are full of water; the edges are probably all dry, with only a layer of ice left.”

Seeing that Tao Daqiang was pushing the snow a bit slowly, Xu Haijun started to push the snow off the ice with his feet. He saw that there was only one layer of ice below, and there was very little water below, and you could see the mud.

He continued to expand the area, creating a square meter of ice before stopping.

"Navy, what are you looking for?" Xie Yundong asked curiously.

"I want to see if there are any fish under the ice," Xu Haijun said. "Look at this huge patch of ice, there's no water under it, and no fish either."

“If we could see fish everywhere, we’d be rich,” Liang Dacheng teased him. “This lake is drained every year; there can’t possibly be that many fish.”

Xu Haijun didn't reply. He could sense that Liang Dacheng had some issues with him, and was subtly targeting him frequently.

There's nothing we can do; we weren't among the first to join.
Tao Daqiang quickly pushed out a long stretch of ice in the snow. Li Long and the others looked at the ice below, adjusted their direction slightly, and then began to break holes in the ice in sections.

The first priority is to lower the net, so you need to smash a lot of them, knocking one out every few meters, so that the net can be lowered smoothly.

As for how to get through in the middle, the network downloaders that Li Long had made before came in handy.

Of course, the current number of net downloaders is not enough, so they are breaking more ice holes in order to download more nets.

Li Long roughly calculated that the group had brought more than a dozen nets; they were really going all out.

Clearly, the money distributed yesterday really got everyone excited.

Breaking ice is not as easy as you might imagine. The ice is frozen solid, and if you use a pickaxe, the recoil from each strike can make your wrist ache.

Fortunately, under Li Long's leadership, everyone made ice-breaking tools, or rather, large chisels with two handles, which made it much easier to chisel into the ice.

The ocean is a public ice sheet, so doing this isn't a problem and nobody will care.

Around noon, they finally cast more than a dozen nets. Then they moved to another spot and dug several holes in the ice to catch fish.

Although the surface area of ​​Dahai Lake is large, its biggest advantage compared to Xiaohai Lake is that there is no vegetation in it, so there is no problem with aeration. Once the ice layer freezes, the fish below rely entirely on the oxygen naturally present in the water to survive; if there is not enough oxygen, they will simply die.

Therefore, every spring, there are many dead fish on the shore of Dahai Lake, most of which died of suffocation during the winter.

After breaking open the ice hole and scooping away the ice shards from the surface, they left—going home for lunch, planning to come back in the afternoon to see if they could catch a few more fish with a net, and also keep an eye on their own nets.

Although it's unlikely that the fishing net will be stolen, we still have to be careful. Because living conditions have improved, some people have started gambling. Once they start gambling and run out of money, they'll resort to any means necessary, and petty theft is the least of their worries.

Once the neighbors have taken precautions, you'll have to travel far away to find ways to make money, because no one can guarantee they won't come and take the net.

They drove back to the team, and then the cars scattered and went home.

We agreed to meet at Dahai Lake at 4 PM, depending on our individual circumstances.

In the afternoon, he mainly brought the landing net. Li Long had lunch at his older brother's house and chatted with his mother for a while. When his older brother went out, he followed him out, chatted for a few words, put the landing net in the car, and drove towards Dahai Lake.

To Li Long's surprise, there were already two people at Dahaizi: Tao Daqiang and Xu Haijun, who were using nets to catch fish in the ice hole.

When Li Long and his group walked over, they saw several crucian carp still jumping around on the ice, and said with a smile, "You guys just arrived too?"

"Yeah, I just got here a little while ago," Xu Haijun said. "I had nothing to do after eating, so I thought I'd come over and check on things, making sure the thieves don't steal the nets."

The attitude was good.

Tao Daqiang exclaimed "Ouch!" and Li Long rushed over to see what was happening. He found Tao Daqiang holding up a net, and inside the net, a red carp with its head and tail thrashing about was jumping. The fish must have weighed over a kilogram, not bad.

"Hey, Daqiang, you're awesome."

"Haha, good luck." Tao Daqiang was also quite happy. This could be considered a good start, right?

Li Long didn't look any further. They had made quite a few holes in the ice, and seeing that his older brother Li Jianguo had already chosen one, he also chose one in another direction.

A thin layer of ice had formed on top of the ice hole. Li Long used the handle of the net to break the ice, then used the net to scoop up the broken ice. Next, he started stirring the water.

The first net caught four small crucian carp, along with a small black carp weighing less than a kilogram, which made Li Long quite happy.

At least the goods have been delivered.

When he was making his second net, Xie Yundong and the others arrived. After chatting for a few minutes, they each found a hole in the ice and started fishing.

To avoid startling the fish, the ice holes are spaced far apart, so they have to shout loudly if they want to chat while fishing.

They were all wearing thick clothes, and they got hot quickly while moving around. Li Long took off his coat and felt a cool breeze. Then, when he was scooping fish with the net, he warmed up as soon as he moved around.

Looking at the others, I noticed they weren't taking off their coats. Were they less resistant to the cold than me?
After a whole afternoon of fussing, everyone had caught several kilograms of fish.

"There are so many fish in this small lake compared to the big one." After comparing their catches, they found that Li Long had the most, with about ten kilograms. He also caught the biggest fish, a black bream weighing over two kilograms.

The others weighed as much as seven or eight kilograms, and as little as three or four kilograms.

"Alright," Li Jianguo chuckled, "We only broke the ice hole at noon, the fish in the distance haven't sensed it yet. Come back tomorrow morning to get the nets, and we'll do some more fishing then. I guarantee we'll catch a lot."

These fish will not be put together; each person will take them home to eat.

At this point, it's highly unlikely anyone will come to steal the nets—mainly because the ice holes where the nets were placed are frozen solid. They'll have to break them open again tomorrow to retrieve them.

It wasn't too late, so Li Long went straight home.

When we get home, we need to process the fish—they all died from freezing, and if we don't process them, they'll go bad by the time we want to eat them.

Back home, Sister Yang had already prepared dinner. Li Long and the others quickly finished their meal and then worked together to clean the fish.

Mingming, who had been watching the commotion and helped out a little, was delighted to hear that they had agreed to make fish soup for lunch tomorrow. Haohao, wearing a cotton-padded coat, ran out with a peeled crucian carp in his hand.

"Haohao, where are you going?" Gu Xiaoxia called out from behind, worried.

“There’s a cat, I’ll go feed it,” Hao Hao said.

Li Long laughed. "Hey, do these two lads really want to turn their house into a zoo?"

"A stray cat that appeared out of nowhere," said Sister Yang. "It's probably been having trouble finding food these past few days, and it keeps coming over to steal Xiao Hei's leftovers. Hao Hao probably saw it and felt sorry for it."

Cats can be quite proud, Li Long thought to himself, his youngest son probably wouldn't be able to befriend this stray cat anytime soon.

After a long day, Li Long went to bed early and got up early the next morning. Knowing that Li Long needed to go to the fourth team early, Sister Yang prepared breakfast in advance.

Seeing that it was a bit early to take Mingminghao to kindergarten, Li Long told Gu Xiaoxia to take the child, while he drove to the fourth team.

It wasn't fully light yet, but children were already walking or riding bicycles to school on the road from the village to the fourth team.

It's tough. This reminded Li Long of those two years when he was going through the same thing, and now Qiangqiang is going through the same thing.

Fortunately, living conditions are getting better and better. At least I walked back then, and Qiangqiang is now riding a bicycle. Just as I was thinking this, I saw Qiangqiang riding a bicycle on the side of the road with one foot on the ground.

Li Long stopped the car, rolled down the window, and asked:
"Qiangqiang, have you already eaten?"

"I've already eaten. My mom baked some bread slices and stir-fried potatoes this morning," Li Qiang said with a smile. "Uncle, did you go to Dahai Lake with Dad to catch fish?"

"Hmm, let's see if there are many fish in the big lake. What are you going to eat for lunch?" Li Long asked.

“I brought some steamed buns,” Li Qiang said. “My aunt bought me a thermos with warm water in it.”

"Here, take this." Li Long got out of the car, took out a few ten-yuan bills from his pocket and stuffed them into his hand. "Your school has a cafeteria for lunch, right? Buy something hot to eat..."

"Uncle, I have money," Li Qiang hurriedly refused. "You really have money..."

"Here you go." Li Long stuffed the money into his pocket, looking at his nephew who was already preparing for high school entrance exams and was nearly 1.7 meters tall, and felt quite emotional—at this time in his previous life, he was not even 1.6 meters tall.

Li Qiang watched his uncle's car drive away, pursed his lips, and prepared to ride his bike. A classmate came over and asked:

"Li Qiang, is that your uncle?"

"Okay." Li Qiang responded and pedaled away, ignoring the classmate—who actually wanted to hitch a ride on his bicycle, but Li Qiang didn't like that person.

When he was younger, he wouldn't have been able to bring himself to refuse, but over the years, influenced by his uncle, he has learned to refuse decisively when necessary.

His goal was to get into high school like his sister, and then go to university in Yenching. He didn't have time to worry about so many other things.

I just thought that my attitude would lead to some isolation in class or school—but I didn't care. According to my sister Li Juan, some relationships are not worth maintaining. Why be so polite to people who aren't even friends?

He didn't expect that his somewhat aloof personality would attract the interest of many people, and some would take the initiative to talk to him and make friends.

Hmm, that's quite unique.

Li Long drove to the fourth team and stopped the car, only to find several people smoking and chatting in front of his older brother's house.

Lu Yingming was also there; he was asking Li Jianguo about catching and selling fish.

"People in this group are saying that last time you sold fish, each of you made several thousand yuan? Was it really that much?"

“How could that be?” Li Jianguo, wearing an overcoat, waved his hand. “If there were really that many, then the lakes would be full of people.”

We did make some money, but it was hard-earned. Look at us, we have to get up so early in the dead of winter to haul in the nets and catch fish, and then we have to sort them when we get back. Every single one of these is hard work.

There are plenty of people in our team who want to laugh at us. If we hadn't made some money on this trip, they wouldn't just be envious; they'd be spreading rumors about us.

He didn't mention the exact amount of money he received, and Lu Yingming wisely refrained from asking further. Instead, he started talking about what he had heard from someone.

Who else could it be but the few people in the store? Since gambling is prohibited in winter, they play cards and mahjong in the store and spread rumors.

Li Long really disliked people like that, but there was nothing he could do. The diversity of species showed that the existence of such people was real, just like his past self, or perhaps his previous life.

Upon seeing Li Long arrive, Lu Yingming, who was smoking a cigarette, greeted him, "Oh, Xiao Long is here. You're up so early too?"

“I’m used to it.” Li Long smiled. “Haohao is going to kindergarten, so I have to get up earlier every day.”

"That's true. With kids in school, we have to be more diligent. Many people in the team haven't gotten up yet. The days are short in winter, it's really not a good thing."

That's the truth. Even though it's getting a little light now, nearly half of the dozens of households in the village still don't have their lights on.

Winter is a time for hibernation. Unless there are students in the family, most people sleep until dawn. Since there's no farm work, they can get up whenever they want.

Also present at the entrance of the compound were Xie Yundong, Tao Daqiang, and Jia Weidong.

All three families have students, so they got up early. They probably ate breakfast with the students and then came over.

"I wonder how many fish we'll catch today," Tao Daqiang said, a little unsure.

“I estimate there will be quite a few.” Li Long smiled. “This large lake is not like a small lake. There are no reeds on the ice, so the fish have nowhere to breathe. If we break a hole in the ice, they will move, and once they move, they will easily get caught in the ice.”

Li Long's analysis is correct, but of course it's idealized, and no one can say for sure what the actual situation will be like.

Sister-in-law Lu called out to Lu Yingming at their door, inviting him to breakfast. Lu Yingming turned around and went back inside.

He regretted not having the nerve to insist on joining back then, and now he was missing out on all the good things. A few days ago, Li Jianguo and the others went fishing at Xiaohaizi, but they didn't mention selling the fish.

Lu Yingming only asked one question, then, finding it cold those two days, didn't follow. In his opinion, the Li family must have been preparing for the New Year by getting so many fish.

I just didn't expect them to pull off such a big operation so quietly, and then take them directly to Wucheng to sell them.

Even if each family didn't receive several thousand yuan, it must have been a considerable amount, otherwise why would they come back to fish again?

I didn't join last year, so I'm already a step behind. I didn't join the fishing trip the other day because it was too cold, so I'm a step behind again.

Even if I wanted to join now, I wouldn't have the nerve. But I still want to try and get closer to them, hoping to join as soon as the cooperative opens up its doors.

Like Lu Yingming, many others regretted their decision. Although two more cooperatives were established in the team, few people were optimistic about their prospects. Just like this year, not everyone who planted cotton made money.

After Lu Yingming left, Li Long said, "What are you doing standing outside? Come on, let's go inside. It's so cold outside, aren't you cold?"

"It's cold," Li Jianguo chuckled, took two quick drags of his cigarette, threw the butt on the ground, and stomped it out before saying this.
"I came out to see Qiangqiang off, and then Yundong and Daqiang arrived. Then Tietou's dad heard the commotion and came out. We had to chat for a bit, right?"

After saying that, he invited the others to come inside and warm up.

Liang Yuemei was tidying up the table when she saw Li Long and the others come in and hurriedly asked if they had eaten.

"I've already eaten," Li Long said, but he casually took a piece of golden-brown toasted bread from the plate on the table, broke off a piece, and ate it as he sat down.

"Didn't you already eat? What, are you still hungry?" Du Chunfang, Li Long's mother, asked as she sat by the fire wall. "Do you want me to heat up the food for you?"

"No, no, I just wanted a taste," Li Long hurriedly said. "I haven't had roasted buns in the county for several days, so I just wanted to try some."

As Liang Yuemei listened, she left the plate of toasted bread slices behind when she was clearing the table, and then turned and left.

Li Long chatted with the others, guessing which direction the net might catch more fish.

A moment later, Liang Yuemei brought out an enamel plate with freshly baked bread slices on it. She smiled and said to Li Long, "Xiao Long, those were cold. Here, eat them while they're hot."

"Hey, okay, okay." Li Long was a little surprised, but he immediately took the plate, took a slice for himself, and then gave it to Xie Yundong and the others.

"You still treat him like a child?" Du Chunfang said with a smile. "He's all grown up now."

Liang Yuemei smiled and went out.

The sound of a car came from outside again, and Li Long guessed that Xu Haijun and his group had arrived.

Once those people entered the room, it felt crowded. Li Long simply said, "Let's go, let's get in the car and go. The sooner we go, the sooner we'll be back."

As he stood up to speak, he casually picked up the toasted bread slices, wrapped them in the gauze from the bread plate, and put them in his coat pocket.

What if I get hungry while I'm preparing the fish?
So everyone went out, gathered the tools onto the three vehicles, and then set off towards Dahai Lake in a lively atmosphere.

Almost simultaneously, similar situations were occurring in several other reservoirs in Ma County.

In the 1960s and 70s, the old county town of Ma County came alive, with a large influx of educated youth, unemployed youth, and migrant workers from the countryside. In places like this township, from the Qing Dynasty to the end of the Republic of China, the total population of a township was only a few hundred, and a village might only have a few households.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Production and Construction Corps arrived first, followed by a large influx of young men. They then began transforming wasteland, developing water conservancy projects, and rebuilding and constructing reservoirs. In the vicinity, reservoirs such as Baitukeng, Yawagou, and Dahaizi have formed a network, with almost every township having several.

These reservoirs are mostly public reservoirs, and the fish in them are wild fish. Some are managed so that people are not allowed to catch them, while others are left unmanaged and can be caught freely.

Therefore, water resources are very abundant.

The news that the Li family was making money by fishing somehow leaked out, but now quite a few people know about it. Some of those involved know to keep quiet, while others can't, so the rumors have become increasingly exaggerated.

Li Long and the others naturally didn't know that when the car drove to the reservoir, it was already quite bright outside. The sun hadn't come out yet, and it was still cold, but everyone's hearts were warm.

Everyone was thinking that today might bring a big harvest.

When they reached the spot where they had set the nets the day before, the ice was already frozen solid. Without any instructions, everyone went to their own work; some cleared the ice from the holes in the net heads, while others went to break the ice from the holes where they were scooping up the fish.

According to their plan, after hauling the nets in today, they would take them directly back to the Li family's house. Xie Yundong and the other family members' wives had already arrived this morning. They were cleaning the fish in Li Long's house, picking out the ones that could be sold and freezing them, while dividing up the rest.

Li Long and his team will be casting their nets here again today, but only once more. They'll have to move to a different spot tomorrow. After casting two nets into this ice hole, no more fish will come here for a while.

So after the fish are sent away, the others have to stay behind and stir around in the ice hole to see if they can catch any fish. If they catch a lot of fish, they'll continue here for the next few days.

If there aren't many fish, then go to the small lake.

Xu Haijun suggested that if the fish were scarce, they should check other reservoirs, but Li Jianguo changed his mind. According to him, other reservoirs had nearby villages, and since they were outsiders, they could only catch fish by scooping them up, not by using nets.

No need.

Xu Haijun was only thinking so far ahead because he had caught fish, sold them, and made money.

Others may share this idea, but they would find it unrealistic. Although the village has only been established for two or three decades, everyone already has a strong sense of place; they feel less safe outside the village.

Similarly, if outsiders come to Xiaohaizi to catch fish, even though they know that Xiaohaizi has been contracted by Li Long, anyone can still shout to tell these people not to come over.

They smashed open the ice hole and started pulling the net back. The others who had gone to break the ice hole in the distance also ran back, partly to help, and partly to check how many fish were on the spot.

"Hey, there's a big one here!" Li Jianguo, who was pulling the net, felt the tremor in his hand and said with a smile, "That's some serious strength!"

Sure enough, a large silver carp was then caught in the net and pulled up – weighing at least three or four kilograms!
Although it was just a silver carp and not worth much, it was still a big fish, so everyone was quite happy.

Li Long was behind them, putting urea bags into the net. Watching the fish being pulled out one by one and hearing the occasional exclamations of surprise from the crowd, he felt at ease.

This net caught quite a lot of fish!

After hauling in the net, Li Long weighed it in his hand. The net, water, and fish together weighed over twenty kilograms—not bad at all.

Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang replaced Li Jianguo and Li Long. At the beginning of this net, there were five or six crucian carp tangled together, the largest of which could weigh half a kilogram, obviously a small school of fish.

It was a good harvest, and everyone looked on with smiles.

It had been about an hour by the time all the dozen or so nets were pulled in. Li Long estimated that the nets had caught about two to three hundred kilograms of fish.

That's pretty good. The van was packed with nets and fish, which Xie Yundong drove back to, while the others continued casting nets and catching fish.

They also had a good haul from the ice hole. It seemed the fish had sensed the higher oxygen concentration there and gathered there overnight. They caught several large ones right away.

We went back for lunch and continued in the afternoon. By the time we were ready to head home after sunset, we roughly estimated that we had caught about 400 to 500 kilograms of fish that day, including the ones caught from the net.

Even after removing the small fish that couldn't be sold, the catch was still over 400 kilograms. Although it wasn't as much as the catch from the small lake a few days ago, it was still pretty good.

The situation improved over the next few days, with a catch of six or seven hundred kilograms per day. We changed locations every two days; although it was more tiring, the larger catch made for a better mood.

Many people in the team talked about what they were doing, but most of them were envious. They already knew they were making money, but following suit was definitely out of the question. After all, they didn't have trucks, they didn't know where to sell the fish, and they couldn't gather enough able-bodied young men.

Li Long and his team resumed selling fish at the end of the month, just before New Year's Day.

When the truck arrived at the market, they were surprised to find that there was already a fish-selling truck parked outside.

"Where did this come from?" Everyone had this question in their minds.

As usual, Li Long got off the bus and walked over first. There were vendors selling fish over there. Li Long leaned closer to listen, then casually asked a question, and came over a little while later.

“They’re from the same place as us, Baitukeng Reservoir,” Li Long told the others. “The fish they sell for are about the same price as us.”

"Baitukeng Reservoir? I'll go ask about it." Li Jianguo got out of the car as soon as he heard that.

Li Long knew that his older brother had worked at a fish farm in a state-owned reservoir, but he didn't know if there were any people he knew there.

He then led the others to open the box, and as usual, poured a sack of fish onto a plastic sheet and began to hawk their wares.

Li Jianguo returned from the other side about ten minutes later, looking a little unwell.

“It was one of our team members who spread the word,” he said. “They said it’s very profitable to sell fish here. Some people near the reservoir over there got together to do this, but they didn’t expect to run into us.”

"Brother, do you know them?" Li Long asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Not at all. But all the reservoirs are under the management of the Ma Management Office. Once you mention a few acquaintances, everyone gets to know each other. You get to know each other better after a while." Li Jianguo smiled. "We also have an advantage. We only bring over big fish. They have both big and small fish over there, which is different from us."

A vendor came over to take a look, so they started selling.

There was no malicious price reduction; we went to great lengths to get them. The prices they offered over there were similar to those here, although the small fish were cheaper. They simply didn't sell small fish here.

Fewer people gathered around than last time, and business was relatively stable, so Li Long went to pay the management fee again, and also reminded the guy in the car over there.

The people over there just smiled and no one followed Li Long to pay the money, and Li Long didn't care much about it.

He was only doing this to repay his elder brother for inquiring about the news; if the other party didn't appreciate it, that was no longer his problem.

The director of the market management office recognized Li Long, smiled and asked about the situation, took the money and issued a receipt, and even half-jokingly said that Li Long had brought vitality to their market and welcomed him to come often in the future.

Li Long exchanged a few polite words and then replied.

The fish weren't selling very quickly. It wasn't until almost noon that we sold a little over three tons. The remaining two tons of fish could only be sold after lunch.

The fish definitely won't sell as fast in the afternoon as they did in the morning; Li Long even thought they might leave some fish behind.

The market's absorption capacity is not as strong as I imagined.

The truck drivers also came over for a meal, and they chatted for a bit while eating. Xie Yundong noticed that one of them had an accent similar to his hometown's, so they struck up a conversation. It turned out they were from the same prefecture-level city, just a different county.

After chatting for a while, Xie Yundong talked to them about the management fee. He recounted what happened last time, and when the people there asked if they had to pay 100 yuan, they stopped talking and changed the subject.

Xie Yundong knew this topic was getting awkward, so he changed the subject and asked them how many fish they had left.

"Two tons, I guess. These fish aren't selling very fast. The people who want them aren't thinking that much about it."

Li Long guessed that someone might have already sold them sometime yesterday or the day before, otherwise, the fish they brought in last time should have been sold out long ago.

Or perhaps they should choose a different wholesale market.

He quietly told Li Jianguo about his idea. Li Jianguo thought about it and said that there weren't many left. He suggested they see how things went in the afternoon and sell for another two hours. If that didn't work, they would try a different location.

Of course, we need to find out where we can get more before we do it, so we'll leave that to Li Long.

When Li Long finished eating and was about to drive away to find a new market, he saw two market managers come out and head towards the fish truck.

He thought to himself, "I've really run into a brick wall."

They're so eager to get fined.

He ignored all that, drove out, drove around for a while, asking people as he went, and actually found a new wholesale market.

However, the market entrance here is a bit small, and only a few cars can park there. Right now, some cars are unloading goods.

There was a busy intersection not far from the market, but there was no parking available, so Li Long thought he should keep looking.

After walking around again and asking many people, I learned that there were only two wholesale food markets at the moment, so I stopped asking and drove back.

When I got back, I was surprised to find that there were quite a few vendors surrounding my truck, and half of the remaining fish had already been sold.

Then there's no need to go.

He went over to help and heard Tao Daqiang say that the truck over there hadn't paid its management fees and had been quite rude, so it was fined 1,000 yuan and had a lot of fish taken away.

Here's the receipt left by Li Long, so their attitude is much better.

As a result, some of the vendors who originally lived there started buying fish from here.

Li Long could still hear the men next to the truck cursing and complaining about the unfair pricing and chaotic management of the market.

Xu Haijun, Liang Dacheng, and a few others occasionally revealed a hint of schadenfreude.

For them, one less competitor means they can make more money.

How good.

However, the good times didn't last long. After selling a few hundred kilograms of goods, they couldn't sell any more.

At this point, not only here, but there were hardly any people left at the entrance of the wholesale market. Li Long didn't know what was going on inside, but he guessed it was probably similar. After all, this place mainly deals in wholesale; it's basically where various vendors come early in the morning to buy goods and then distribute them throughout the city.

It's already afternoon; those who are here are probably buying goods to sell tomorrow.

Of course, there aren't many.

"How about we go check out that market?" Li Long suggested.

"There's another market?" Only then did the others realize what Li Long had been doing outside. However, most people disagreed. Li Long guessed that they probably wanted to go head-to-head with the truck driver next door and see who could outlast whom.

It didn't mean anything, but he didn't say much more.

As the sun began to set, the people in that car couldn't take it anymore and decided to leave. However, before leaving, they came over and asked Li Long and his group to take their fish for a cheap price.

Li Long and his group were clearly not going to agree; they were still worried about what to do with the remaining several hundred kilograms of fish.

Of course, their words were quite nice and sincere. The other party knew that they were not in this business, that everyone was in a similar situation, and that they were not short of fish at home, so they couldn't let the fish go to waste.

So he drove away.

After they left, two more vendors came a while later and bought more than 100 kilograms of fish. After that, there was no one left.

The wind picked up; the cold in Wucheng was a dry cold combined with a wind as sharp as a knife, so Li Long suggested going back.

The others wanted to wait a little longer, so Li Long decided not to wait there and went to his car.

They waited until the sun was barely high in the sky, and when no one else was buying, they finally collected the remaining fish and put them back into the sacks, intending to process them later.

It was too cold, and everyone was hungry, so they went back to the restaurant where they had lunch, mainly to warm up.

We had a hearty plate of chicken for lunch, so for dinner we had soup and rice, and also split the money.

"We brought more fish this time than last time, and there were more carp, so we made quite a bit of money." After counting the money, the group reported the total to Li Jianguo. The final result was that they made more than 14,000 yuan. After deducting the transportation and food costs, they could basically make 2,000 yuan per person.

"If we sell all the remaining fish, each person can probably make another few dozen yuan," Xu Haijun said with some regret.

Li Long smiled, took his two thousand yuan, and said nothing.

Everyone else was talking about whether they should come to a different place next time, and the discussion was quite lively.

After eating, we headed back, and by the time we reached the county, it was already dark.

When they arrived at the purchasing station, Li Long originally planned to have them take the fish back, but they said that if they could sell the fish there, they could sell them; if not, they would leave them to Li Long to handle, and Li Long wouldn't have to pay them anything.

Li Long didn't refuse; anyway, the fish would just sit there at each family's house. If they wanted to catch more, they could sell the rest next time; he wasn't going to get involved.

The next morning, Xie Yundong called from his elder brother Li Jian's home and asked Li Long if he was going to catch fish. Li Long said no, he had something to do.

They then learned of Li Long's attitude. Li Long asked a question, and the group still wanted to try it out.

After all, making two thousand yuan in less than ten days is still a great deal, even if it doesn't sell in the end.

Xie Yundong also told Li Long that they had found the person who leaked the information to Baitukeng, and that it was someone from the team. Someone from the team had married a woman from there, and after learning that Li Long and his team had made money, he told them about it.

Li Long felt this was understandable, since it wasn't their exclusive right; if you can do it, others can too. Xie Yundong and the others were indignant simply because their money-making channel had been leaked, preventing them from monopolizing it.

Of course, Li Long wasn't lying; he really did have something to do.

While eating breakfast this morning, my father, Li Qingxia, said that the State Ethnic Affairs Commission's Beijing office called yesterday, saying that the vacuum-packed mutton offal tastes good and is quite popular with the leaders and relevant units here. In particular, the addition of toilet paper makes people feel that it is very humane, so they ordered a large quantity, with the first batch being two thousand bags.

For Li Long, the money from these two thousand bags wasn't much, but for Sister Yang, this matter was of great significance. He was now staying at the purchasing station to see how the feedback was from the other two places.

While they waited, Li Long and Liang Shuangcheng unloaded the frozen fish from the truck and placed them at the entrance. Although there were fewer people at the purchasing station now than in the summer, there were still about ten people a day, many of whom were dealers. Li Long placed the fish at the entrance and asked Liang Shuangcheng to watch over them. If anyone wanted to buy, they would sell them.

And believe it or not, we sold twenty or thirty kilograms in just one morning.

Of course, the main reason is the endorsement of the purchasing station; they know the fish is safe.

After waiting all morning without a call, Li Long drove to deliver a few fish to Li Xiangqian in the afternoon. Looking at the large, red-headed carp, Li Xiangqian beamed with joy; he was genuinely happy.

Li Long also brought fish for Zhou Yuan, Lao Hong, and others, one or two fish for each person, not much, but it was a token of his appreciation.

Everyone was quite happy, and Zhou Yuan casually handed out the year-end bonus to Li Long. Li Xiangqian smiled and told Li Long that he should come more often in the future, otherwise he wouldn't be able to give him the bonus, and it would cause trouble in the end.

Benefits are generally required to be collected by the individual, as a signature is required.

Of course, this is just "average".

Li Long stayed at the supply and marketing cooperative for more than an hour before going back. When he got back, his father told him that Huang Lei had called and said that the tasting of the lamb offal sent there was not very good, and people didn't particularly like the taste.

This disappointed Li Long.

Zhao Hui hasn't called, so I don't know how things are going.

Zhao Hui still didn't call the next day, but Liu Gaolou came over instead.

It was already 1990, and this was the first time in two or three years that Liu Gaolou had arrived before Zhao Hui—in the past, Zhao Hui would come and take away the hides from the previous trip, and Liu Gaolou would arrive the next day or the day after with a truckload of new hides.

This time, Liu Gaolou got there first.

Liu Gaolou brought the same three things: cars, leather goods, and antelope horns.

He needed the same three things: sugar, canned goods, and a leather coat.

However, the sample pack of lamb offal that Li Long showed him surprised him: "You produce this yourself? Not bad! Do you have a lot? If you do, get me a few tons..."

Listen to that, how extravagant! They're asking for tons at a time!
Li Long immediately understood that Sister Yang's spring had arrived!
PS: Thank you everyone for pointing out the bug in the previous chapter. It's true that we forgot about Li Long taking over Xiao Haizi's business. It has been corrected.

Thank you so much to Tianlang Xiaotian for the generous donation! Thank you to Sweet Liquor, 20210301105253543788, and 20220901224153173, 20180902113402678, and 20241222013350433 for their donations as well. A cold wave has arrived recently; winter is really here… damn, it's already the coldest period of winter!

Two days ago, at a reunion of comrades, everyone had interacted with Secretary He from back then when they were stationed in Tianshan Township for training, and they were all filled with emotion and nostalgia... (End of this chapter)