[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-reborn-in-1981-fishing-and-hunting-in-the-northw":3,"chapter-reborn-in-1981-fishing-and-hunting-in-the-northw-reborn-in-1981-fishing-and-hunting-in-the-northw-chapter-11":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Reborn in 1981: Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1933892,2572,"Chapter 11: Winning Someone Over with a Single Meal","reborn-in-1981-fishing-and-hunting-in-the-northw-chapter-11",11,"\u003Cp>After warming up for a while, Li Qiang pushed open the door, wiped his nose, and said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Uncle, Mom asked me to call you for dinner.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Good, we'll be right over.\" Li Long stood up and followed Li Qiang to the west room with Tao Daqiang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as they entered, a strong aroma hit their noses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the octagonal table in the west room sat a large basin of potato stew with guagua chicken, with six bowls and six pairs of chopsticks laid out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Long knew that the seat facing south from the north was reserved for the head of the household, Li Jianguo. He was already sitting on the kang. Seeing them enter, he first invited Tao Daqiang to sit on his right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Here, there was no custom of excluding women and children from the table. Liang Yuemei soon brought Li Juan and Li Qiang to sit down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You must be exhausted. I saw the fish you caught weren't small. Tonight we'll make fish soup!\" Liang Yuemei smiled warmly. In the dead of winter, the guagua chicken on the table and the thawing fish in the kitchen signaled that the coming days would bring good meals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What pleased her even more was that her younger brother-in-law had become more responsible, knowing to bring things home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, in this era of scarce resources, the housewife bore the hardest burden. Having chicken and fish now was already a meal better than during the New Year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Alright, eat,\" Li Jianguo said. \"Daqiang, don't be polite. Eat your fill.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Exactly. Once we're full, we still need to go to Xiao Haizi,\" Li Long said. \"Breaking a hole in the ice isn't easy; we can't waste it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What? Going again?\" Li Jianguo asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The ice hole we broke is half a meter deep,\" Li Long said. \"There are many fish in the lake. After some time, even more will gather at the hole. If we go back this afternoon, we might catch even more.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then I'll go too,\" Li Jianguo immediately said. \"Catch as many as we can; once frozen, they'll last until the New Year!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I want to go too!\" Li Qiang, hearing they were going to catch fish, wanted to follow. Liang Yuemei glared:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No! What could you do there? Just cause trouble?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Qiang felt indignant and unwilling, lowering his head in grievance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Alright, alright, eat,\" Li Jianguo said, picking up a chicken leg and placing it in Li Juan's bowl, then another in Li Qiang's bowl, before turning to Tao Daqiang:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Daqiang, don't be polite. Eat quickly.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he looked at Li Long, who hurriedly said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I'll serve myself!\" He then picked up a piece of potato.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tao Daqiang followed suit, picking up a piece of potato and eating it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this large basin of food, most was potato and only a little meat, mixed with a bit of chili pepper, tasting excellent. The potatoes were grown in their own vegetable garden and stored in the cellar during winter; stewed until soft and flavorful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because it had been stewed for a long time, the meat of the guagua chicken easily fell off the bone. Everyone ate intently, and the table soon piled up with bones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Daqiang, eat some meat,\" Li Long said, seeing Tao Daqiang only focused on shoveling potatoes into his mouth. \"There's still plenty of meat.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Exactly, Daqiang, don't pretend,\" Liang Yuemei said. \"We'll go net fish later; eat more now, eat the meat.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Big Brother Daqiang, eat the meat,\" Li Qiang mimicked the adults.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hehehe,\" Li Long laughed. Li Qiang was quite helpful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon, the basin was nearly empty, with only a little soup left at the bottom. Liang Yuemei went to boil a ladleful of wide noodles and poured them into the basin. Li Jianguo stirred it and said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Eat. These noodles are full of flavor.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This meal finished the entire basin of food plus a ladle of noodles cleanly. Finally, everyone drank a bowl of soup to aid digestion. Li Long felt too full to move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Uncle, it was so delicious. Can you catch guagua chicken again in a couple of days?\" \"I'll try, but I can't guarantee it.\" Li Long dared not promise. He was sure news of his catching guagua chicken had already spread through the village via Wu Shufen's mouth. With a harvest, others would surely get ideas; following the footprints, they could find the spot. Whether there would still be any tonight was truly uncertain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Even without guagua chicken, fish will do,\" Li Juan interjected. \"I just saw those big crucian carp; they were so beautiful, as wide as two of my palms, with fat bellies. They look delicious!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As she spoke, Li Juan's eyes sparkled brightly, very serious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Exactly. I can't guarantee guagua chicken, but there will definitely be plenty of fish.\" Li Long stood up to help Liang Yuemei clear the bowls and chopsticks, making her feel that her younger brother-in-law had truly changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such things, he would never have done before!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After resting for half an hour, Li Long returned to his room, found his clothes nearly dry, and told his elder brother Li Jianguo that it was best to leave now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Jianguo was also nearly ready, so he dressed warmly and went out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Take two fertilizer bags; otherwise, it'll be hard to carry the fish,\" Li Long reminded. \"The ice hole might freeze over with a thin layer; an iron shovel can break it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Alright.\" Li Jianguo prepared the tools, then followed Li Long and Tao Daqiang toward Xiao Haizi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liang Yuemei watched the three leave, then took Li Juan and Li Qiang to clean the fish. All the fish were placed in an oval washbasin. Li Juan scaled them, Li Qiang helped remove the gills, and Liang Yuemei used scissors to gut them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After opening the belly of the first big crucian carp, she saw indeed that the belly was very fat, and she smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>!.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking of the smile on her husband's face as he left with Li Long and the others, Liang Yuemei found it somewhat amusing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If she understood, she would realize this was called \"men remain boys until death.\" For activities like catching fish and shrimp, the interest of an eighteen-year-old man and an eighty-year-old man is usually the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tao Daqiang once again took the lead, clearing the path. After walking the route twice, a narrow path had been trodden through the knee-deep snow, making the next walk much easier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Twenty minutes later, the three arrived at the ice hole.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, the water surface had frozen over with a thin layer of ice. Tao Daqiang smashed the ice with a few blows of his iron shovel, then used a scoop net to remove the crushed ice. He went in first, stood firmly, and began \"scooping fish.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Long wasn't idle either; he gathered another pile of reeds and started a fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first net came up with three or four fish along with crushed ice, which Tao Daqiang dumped onto the ice. They were all carp and grass carp weighing over one kilogram.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Jianguo hurriedly picked up the fish and put them into urea bags, glancing frequently at Tao Daqiang as he worked. He was eager to try a net himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second net came up, and alongside three or four fish, a black object was dumped out—Li Jianguo was startled!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Long, with sharp eyes, saw the creature and exclaimed with joy:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Big Brother, that's a water rat! Quickly, smash it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A water rat?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What's a water rat?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Li Jianguo didn't understand what it was, his reaction was not slow. He grabbed his iron shovel and fiercely smashed the sluggish creature onto the ice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The creature looked entirely like a large rat at the front, not much smaller than a rabbit, but its tail was very strange: hard, hairless, and shaped like a vertical flat stick.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though moving slowly, the two large teeth in this creature's mouth were anything but; pinned down, it could only gnaw at the ice with a crunching sound, quickly wearing away a hole!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Jianguo hurriedly slapped it twice more, killing the thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked at Li Long, wanting to hear how his younger brother would explain this creature.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1385,"2026-06-14T06:06:39.549Z",1,"Qwen3.5 122B","091d982363a383e50693d26ba8ea17e13e755eb88ec3c98f0e4c3951a1d089dc","reborn-in-1981-fishing-and-hunting-in-the-northw-chapter-12","reborn-in-1981-fishing-and-hunting-in-the-northw-chapter-10",180,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Freborn-in-1981-fishing-and-hunting-in-the-northw-cover.jpg"]