Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

In the afternoon, the sky became gloomy, and soon snowflakes began to float in the air.

Friends in the south who have rarely seen snow may be very curious about heavy snow and like it very much.

But most people in the north are indifferent to snow, and sometimes they even hate it, especially heavy snow.

Although auspicious snow means a good harvest, clearing snow is a very troublesome task. Sometimes it may take one or two days or even two or three days to clear all the snow.

Now the roofs are made of mud, so the snow on the roofs still needs to be cleared. Otherwise, once the snow melts a little, it may cause the house to leak, and those older houses may even be crushed by the heavy snow.

In this sea, Li Long might be the only one who would be happy about the snow; no one else likes it.

The falling snow made the already slippery ground even more difficult to walk on, and the snow covered the puddles that had not been searched yet, making it even more difficult to find fish.

Complaints aside, everyone will continue to look for fish. It is the slack season now, and there is nothing else to do. Catching fish here is both a reward and a pastime.

Li Long was happy because it was snowing, so the fish could be hidden in the snow and preserved.

Li Long and his friends’ reputation for collecting fish was spreading, and some people even came over and offered to sell fish to them.

These people came to Li Long, and the fish they sold were not much, just a few kilograms or more than ten kilograms. Li Long basically accepted everyone who came. Now as long as he could get the fish, it was a harvest. Every kilogram of fish could generate a profit of 30 or 50 cents in the future, which was all money.

From time to time, he would meet people from the same village, and they would say hello to Li Long when they saw him. Whether intentional or unintentional, at least the news was revealed from the Li family, and everyone would remember this favor.

Almost everyone was covered in mud and ice, and their coats were wet, but no one cared. They would occasionally blow on their hands, even if their hands and faces were frozen red, and they didn't care much. The only thing they cared about at this time was the fish.

When we went back at night, it was snowing heavily. We had originally expected to collect four tons of fish today, but because of the snow in the afternoon, we collected less fish. But there were also many people who came to sell fish on their own initiative, because Li Long had started to collect fish in piles, and those who came to collect fish from the county only picked large and well-proportioned ones, so many people liked to sell fish to Li Long and his team. We collected nearly five tons of fish that day.

There were fish piled up in both rooms of the Ma Hao, and some were placed outside. Fortunately, the snow was heavy, so after putting them in bags and pressing them with snow, they froze overnight.

Back at the stable, Uncle Luo had already prepared the meal, cornmeal steamed cake, rice porridge, wild boar meat fried with pickles, and potato chips. The dishes were all served in bowls, which made the tired people wash their hands in a hurry, and they didn't even bother to change their clothes, and they just wolfed down the food.

"I see that everyone in the team has come out to catch fish." Yang Yongqiang said as he ate, "How are we going to eat when we get back?"

"Then we have to cook it now?" Tao Daqiang said with a smile, "If it weren't for Uncle Luo, wouldn't our two families have to go back and cook it ourselves?"

“Hahahaha.” Yang Yongqiang waved his hand, “Someone at home can do it.”

Tao Daqiang was somewhat unconvinced:

"In a few days, someone in my family will do it too."

At this time, everyone remembered that Tao Daqiang would be getting married soon. The topic immediately shifted to Tao Daqiang. Li Junfeng and his friends were also familiar with Tao Daqiang, and they joked with him, asking him whether he had kissed his girlfriend or slept with her, which made Tao Daqiang blush.

"Don't be silly, the adults are here." Li Long smiled and helped Tao Daqiang out of the situation, "Junfeng, do you want to tell me about your life before you got married?"

"Forget it then." Li Junfeng immediately shut up, "By the way, Uncle Xiaolong, are you still going tomorrow?"

He changed the topic quite well, and everyone else looked at Li Long.

"Go ahead. There won't be as many fish tomorrow as there are today, but there won't be fewer either. There's always water flowing down the trough, it hasn't run dry yet. There must be a lot of fish in the long canal below the sluice gate. If anyone catches them, we'll collect them." Li Long said, "We'll try to collect a few more tons of fish, and then we'll have almost enough money to earn for next year."

Li Long's last sentence immediately made everyone excited.

After dinner, Li Long gave money to everyone in an estimated manner.

Although the distribution of money on the second day was not as shocking as on the first day, it still made many people feel different.

Chen Xingbang was particularly impressed by Li Long at this time. He didn't frown at all when he gave out so much money at once. If it were him, he would have felt bad for a while. Moreover, he could see that Li Long estimated the amount of money, and basically everyone got one or two, three or five yuan more.

How could it be possible for me? My money didn't come for free, isn't Xiaolong too generous?

Li Anguo also felt sorry for Li Long. His little brother was paid so much money in one day. Could he sell all those fish? He had worked so hard to get the job a few days ago. All the money he earned from selling reeds was thrown away here.

Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang didn't feel much, because Li Long did this more than once or twice. Every time Li Long spent money like this, it meant that he could make more money next time.

Why were the people in the team willing to follow him, even though the conditions he offered were so strict, much stricter than Hu Laoer's previous conditions? It was not just because the price he offered was high, but because as long as he agreed, the money would be paid immediately.

It is obvious which is more convincing: a promise or a stack of cash that is cashed immediately.

Li Long's integrity and reputation were established in the process of direct payment. It can be said that now when Li Long shouts in the village that he wants to buy everyone's fish, no matter how much the price is, everyone is willing to send the fish to him, because they believe that Li Long will pay and will not cheat them.

Li Jianguo, Tao Jianshe and Yang Hua did not speak, but they all understood and did not understand. The young people these days are different from those in their era. Some rely on personal charm, while others rely on fulfilling their promises time and time again.

Li Long himself did not think so much. He sent the people away and finally sent Li Jianguo away. He was going to pay, but Li Jianguo waved his hand hastily:

"Xiaolong, I know you can make money, but that's not how you spend it. We two brothers, don't spend any more money. Save the money for the most important things. You should give money to Daqiang and Yongqiang. You should also give money to your second brother and brother-in-law, as they have all contributed. Let's not talk about that, I'm going back, and we have to bury these fish when we get back..."

There was still a bag of fish on the carriage, but Li Jianguo didn't want any more. Although he hadn't eaten enough fish in the past year, it was good to have a meal occasionally, but he couldn't stand eating it every day.

The Li family has no shortage of oil, water, or meat.

"Okay, okay, let's talk about it after the New Year." Li Long smiled and waved to his elder brother. He watched the carriage leave two tracks in the snow. After the carriage went away, he checked the fish piled outside the yard, pressed the exposed corners of the bags with snow, and tamp down the snow on the sides before entering the house.

There are mice outside, but after the snow is compacted, mice generally don't go in. They are looking for food, and usually go to the roe deer pen to find leftover feed. Because Li Long's economic situation is relatively good, whether it is wild boars, roe deer, or the fawn, the food is relatively good.

Li Long had heard many times before that deer were difficult to raise, so he was trying to raise deer. But he didn't expect that both the injured roe deer and the fawn he got later were alive and well. Although it was very cold, they were very happy. When they heard noises at night, they didn't go into the warm enclosure, but ran to the door of the open enclosure and looked outside curiously.

The circles inside the stable are connected together, one light and one dark. The warm circle inside is covered with thick wheat straw, and there is a cotton curtain at the door to block the wind, snow and cold, so that the deer will not get cold.

Li Long went over and swatted the deer away, driving it inside, then returned to the house.

The four people next door hadn't gone to bed yet, and they could hear Li Junfeng still fantasizing about how he would spend money, what kind of things he would buy, and so on when he returned to his hometown.

Li Long laughed when he heard this. It was not time to go to bed yet, so he took out the book "The Heroine of the Ancient Capital" and started reading it.

The next morning when Li Long got up and went out, he saw that the snow had stopped. The snow in the yard was about thirty to forty centimeters thick, which was considered a heavy snow.

He rubbed his hands, went back to the house to get a pair of gloves, put on his hat, and started shoveling snow.

When Li Long moved, the people in the neighboring room woke up as well. After a while, they all came out, each holding a tool and clearing the snow together.

The yard of Lao Mahao is big enough, so snow clearing in the early morning is not so standardized. Snow is shoveled from the door of the house and shoveled into the vegetable garden. This thing can just moisten the ground when the snow melts in the spring.

Uncle Luo came out, saw everyone sweeping the snow, and then went back into the kitchen.

"Junshan, go help Uncle Luo cook." Li Long ordered. Li Junshan responded, put down the shovel in his hand and went into the kitchen.

In fact, there are already wooden snow shovels at this time. You can find a piece of board, flatten it, process the bottom to make a slope, then chisel a groove in the back and nail the handle. It is very suitable for shoveling snow.

But the ground is not flat now, mostly mud, it has never been leveled, so you have to be careful when pushing the snow, not too hard nor too "happy", you have to save some strength, otherwise if you hit a bump, the snowboard will get stuck there, and the handle in your hand will hit your stomach or a vital part, that feeling, that pain...

Li Junfeng was feeling very happy now. He had never swept snow before, but seeing this pusher got him excited, and he happily pushed the board all the way down. The first and second boards were fine, but the third board got stuck in the middle.

People who often push snow know that although it looks good, the actual effect is not very good. After all, you push the board forward and finally push to the end. Although you have opened a path, most of the snow is missed, and in the end you have only pushed a board of snow.

Therefore, experienced snow clearers move forward evenly, pushing the large area of ​​snow in front of them forward one board at a time.

The snow in the yard was quickly cleared, and Li Long sighed:
"If we didn't have to hurry up and catch fish, we could catch at least ten rabbits if we went east to catch rabbits today."

"Really?" Li Junfeng suddenly became interested, "Uncle Xiaolong, are there so many rabbits in the east?"

"A lot. There are many rabbit holes in the Gobi Desert and Red Willow Beach. You can't see them normally, but now it's snowing heavily and it's hard for the rabbits to find food, so they all come out. The snow is so thick that they can't run away, and that person can catch the rabbits..."

Li Long was not lying. A few years later, there were several similar heavy snowfalls. At that time, almost the entire village went out to chase rabbits. The family that chased the most rabbits caught more than 40 rabbits. Many of them were frozen after skinning them, and some of the living ones were simply put in the pigsty. However, most of them did not survive, after all, wild rabbits are quite ferocious.

"Well...well, let's do that later." Li Junfeng originally wanted to see whether he should really get some rabbits, but thinking that he still had work to do today, he didn't say anything more.

After clearing the snow, washing up and having breakfast, Li Jianguo came.

Li Junfeng went to Li Jianguo to verify it.

"Uncle Jianguo, Uncle Xiaolong said that in this heavy snow, we can catch rabbits in the beach in the east. Is that true?"

"Yes." Li Jianguo said with a smile, "When I came here, some people from our team had already gone. The rabbits had no thorns, so they caught them and kept them in the winter. Some of them could be eaten until the New Year."

Li Anguo and the others were envious when they heard this.

"There are few people in the northern Xinjiang, and the county is not very good, but there are so many things in the wild!" Chen Xingbang sighed, "It seems that we can eat well if we do anything."

"That's right." Li Long nodded. "As long as you work hard, you will have no problem eating well. If you have a little brains, you will have money to spend."

This is the truth, but the people in the village didn't figure it out until 20 or 30 years later.

It’s because thoughts are too easily imprisoned.

Following the carriage, we continued to the Dahaizi. We could see footprints on the road ahead, but not many. It seemed that not many people from our village went to the Dahaizi today.

The carriage left two tracks on the thick snow. By the time they reached the edge of the sea, No. 76 was sweating.

The entire ground was covered in snow-white, and the sea was no exception. Except for a few water tanks that looked black, everything else was white.

"I don't think there will be many fish today, so let's just take as many as we can." Li Long said, "I'll go to the gate to see if anyone is catching fish in the canal. If there are any, I can take them from there."

From the initial excitement of seeing the ground full of fish, it has now become a mechanical job. Now those small crucian carp in the tank no longer arouse the excitement and excitement of Chen Xingbang and his friends. Some of them are just thinking about how many fish they can catch today and how much money they can get in the end.

Finally, the work of collecting fish was completed due to the water coming from the upstream Mohe Canal in the afternoon - the sluice gate was also lowered.

Li Long knew that from now on, Dahaizi would store water again, and the largest acquisition activity this year was over.

What follows is to rest and wait for the right time to sell the fish for money, thus completing a closed loop.

This process is destined to be very long. (End of this chapter)