Chapter 12: Li Long Has Come into His Own

"This fellow is a water rat, officially called a muskrat," Li Long explained. "It's also known as a green-rooted marten. Its pelt is very valuable; this one alone can sell for at least five yuan!"

"Five yuan?" Hearing that a single muskrat pelt could fetch five yuan, Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang's eyes both lit up.

At this stage, in the production team, one work point at year-end was worth eight fen. A slightly better team with some sideline income might reach twelve fen, but that was the absolute limit.

Five yuan—how many work points would one have to earn to make that?

In these times, because the northern frontier had vast fields and produced plenty of grain, one could at least scrape by with enough food and clothing, but earning actual money was not easy.

Eating meat still relied mainly on home-raised pigs. As for money, there was basically none.

Li Long remembered that when the production team settled accounts at the end of last year, Li Jianguo's entire family had a final surplus of twelve yuan and eighty fen, and even that was considered a relatively wealthy household in the team.

Nearly half of the households owed money to the production team!

Work points were worthless, so earning money was difficult. In summer, the production team had a sideline squad that went into the mountains to dig for fritillaria and codonopsis, but those required skill—ordinary people who went out couldn't dig much in a day. Although the work points were higher than for regular labor, it was exhausting.

"Daqiang, scoop quickly and see if there are any more!" Li Jianguo said immediately.

Tao Daqiang also came to his senses and immediately bent down to reach into the ice hole.

To expand the search area as much as possible, Tao Daqiang stretched out his arm, swept the scoop net in a semicircle along the bottom of the ice, and then lifted it up.

The net was heavy; as he lifted it, icy water dripped and splashed, soaking his clothes.

This single scoop held seven or eight fish, weighing nearly twenty kilograms in total.

But there were no more water rats.

If this had been earlier, seeing the fish would have made him happy, but now the fish didn't seem so appealing. Tao Daqiang, somewhat unwilling, dumped the fish out and cast the net again; this time, there were only two small fish.

"Daqiang, come up. I'll try that other ice hole!" Li Jianguo said impatiently. "Come up and warm yourself by the fire; look, your clothes are all wet!"

The water rat had successfully stirred up Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang's enthusiasm even higher.

In these times, without money, everything was difficult.

However, Li Long was not optimistic—catching a water rat in that ice hole was sheer luck. Unlike fish, these creatures burrowed underwater with multiple exits; its den could be hidden in any clump of reeds along the shore.

It was likely attracted by the swimming fish and ended up in the net.

Sure enough, Li Jianguo fished seven or eight fish out of the other ice hole with two scoops, but there was no sign of a water rat.

"Big brother, Daqiang, there's no rush. When spring comes and the ice melts, these water rats will come out in litters, and then it will be easy to catch them."

Although Li Jianguo was somewhat unwilling, he knew there was nothing else to be done.

The three of them took turns scooping the ice holes until the sun began to set, then decided to return. Before leaving, Li Long covered the ice hole with snow.

"Won't we need it again in a couple of days?" Tao Daqiang asked, puzzled by his action.

"If we don't cover it, the water will slowly overflow in a couple of days, making it troublesome to break through later. Covering it with snow now means that when we shovel the snow away, the ice underneath won't be as thick."

Tao Daqiang thought Li Long made a lot of sense.

Both urea bags were more than half full, and carrying them was tiring. They decided to put the fish inside the bags, place the bags on the heads of their iron shovels, and use the shovels as sleds to pull them, which saved a lot of effort.

The fish were indeed hot. He hadn't noticed while scooping, but now, on the way back, he felt his whole body was freezing; not a single part of him was warm, and his testicles had almost shrunk back inside. The three of them hurried as fast as they could and arrived at the Li house before sunset. Over there, Liang Yuemei had already simmered a fish soup using a silver carp. As soon as the three entered the room, each drank a bowl, and they immediately felt warm all over.

"Brother Jianguo, Brother Long, I'll head back first," Tao Daqiang said after drinking a bowl of fish soup.

"Dry your clothes first; otherwise, your father will definitely complain when you get back."

"Don't say that," Tao Daqiang said seriously. "If I take a few fish back, he'll definitely be happy!"

"Dry them anyway. I'm leaving early tomorrow. If you want to come with me, you'll need to wear thicker clothes."

After much persuasion, Li Long got Tao Daqiang to drink another bowl of fish soup before he left with the fish.

Originally, Li Long had intended for Tao Daqiang to take the water rat since he had caught it with his net, but Tao Daqiang firmly refused, saying the net belonged to the Li family. He was already very grateful to the Li family for getting the fish.

Li Long had originally planned to divide the fish equally into three portions, each weighing over ten kilograms, but Tao Daqiang simply threaded five fish onto a reed and left with them.

"Daqiang is not stupid," Li Jianguo said, watching Tao Daqiang leave.

Li Long naturally knew Tao Daqiang was not stupid; others just thought he was clumsy and foolish, and his family believed the same.

The fish were set aside for the moment, and the family happily drank the fish soup. Liang Yuemei had used a three-kilogram silver carp and simmered it for a long time until the fish meat had almost dissolved into the broth. Each family member had a bowl; they soaked cornmeal steamed cakes directly into the fish soup, and the taste was incredibly fresh.

!.

Li Long thought that if only there were some fresh chopped scallions or coriander, it would be perfect!

Li Juan sipped in small mouthfuls, her eyes curved into crescents, her mood extremely good.

Before yesterday morning, they couldn't even afford meat. In just one day, first the old sparrow, then the quail, and now enough fish to go around—with dozens more fish in the kitchen—what a happy life this was!

Li Qiang also held a large bowl, picking out fish meat with his chopsticks and occasionally wiping his nose. He glanced at Li Long now and then, thinking about how he could ask his uncle later to let him go fishing too.

"Big brother, I'll take two fish to Captain Xu's house and mention borrowing the horse cart," Li Long said after finishing his soup, feeling warm all over as he stood up.

"Two fish, isn't that a bit little?" Li Jianguo hesitated and asked.

"It's plenty. Two two-kilogram carp are very good," Li Long said. "He won't lend the horse cart for free just because of these fish, so there's no need to bring too much."

A liter of rice brings gratitude, but a bushel brings enmity. Two fish this time is enough; if we bring too much, what will we do next time we need to borrow and have no fish left?

Besides, if you borrow a horse cart and bring so many fish, what will others say when they want to borrow?

Li Long would never have considered such things before. In his previous life, after his older brother died, his sister-in-law's family hated him. Left with no one to rely on, he eventually lived with a widow, suffered many setbacks, and finally learned how to live properly.

During those days, he often thought, if only he hadn't been such a bastard before, and if my older brother were still alive, how wonderful that would be.

He cherished this life even more now.

Li Long selected two fairly uniform fish from the pile, threaded them onto a reed, and carried them out the door.

In these times, wild carp were very beautiful: red heads, red tails, two long whiskers, and shimmering scales; just looking at them made one happy.

Not long after leaving the house, Li Long ran into Gu Ermao.

Seeing Li Long, Gu Ermao approached with a smile on his face:

"Xiaolong, did you catch fish? Give me one!"

Li Long was amused by this cheap fellow.

(End of chapter)