Chapter 123

The news of the land division was quickly notified to every household through the villager representatives. Some people were still skeptical, but after the excitement, more people had already begun to prepare for planting their own land.

Grain production wasn't high now; wheat was only a little over a hundred kilograms, oil sunflowers were less than a hundred kilograms, and corn production was higher, but to be honest, no one wanted to use corn as their staple food these days. Because the water conservancy facilities were relatively perfect, the team also planted rice. Although the area wasn't large, the rice milled from the harvested grain was fragrant—you could eat two large bowls of dry rice without any side dishes.

Li Long had never eaten such fragrant rice in his later life, not even the selenium-rich rice or Wuchang rice; he never tasted the flavor of this era again.

He remembered that the elders in the team would often say in his previous life when they were idle that the rice planted in their team was the best, but unfortunately, planting rice was too troublesome, so they stopped planting it later.

The team also planted flax, scattered safflower, and so on.

Li Jianguo also told Li Long a new piece of news notified by the team:

"A notice has been issued from above, encouraging everyone to engage in more sideline businesses, such as raising pigs, feeding sheep, and raising chickens. The team leader also said that whoever engages in breeding and achieves scale will receive encouragement and rewards from the team, such as raising pigs, for which feed land will be allocated separately."

"Then we'll raise them." Li Long said with a smile, "Anyway, you two can finish planting the land allocated by the team as if you're playing, and you'll have plenty of time to raise pigs. When spring comes and the snow melts, we'll build a large pigsty, catch some piglets to raise, and we can fatten them up and sell them in a year—Big Brother, are you saying that the authorities don't care about us selling things ourselves now?"

"They don't care, sell whatever you want. Of course, it has to be your own things; engaging in speculation and profiteering as a middleman probably still won't work." Li Jianguo said with a chuckle, "The team leader said that you are the pioneer of our team, having blazed the trail. The young people in the team should learn more from you and live their own lives well."

Li Long chuckled. He hadn't considered being a middleman, but that would have to come slowly. Being able to earn money and live a good life was the true path.

As long as things could be sold freely, then when the snow melted and he wasn't going into the mountains for the time being, he could set nets every night and take them in every morning, going directly to the morning market to sell fish. How comfortable!

"Then we'll wait until the land is divided and before planting starts to find someone to build a pigsty in the courtyard." Li Jianguo had actually thought about it for a long time. If he only planted land, he shouldn't think about earning much money in the short term; being able to ensure the family could eat fine grain would be the limit.

Raising pigs was a profitable job. Because of the "superstitious pig" raised last year, Li Jianguo was still a bit unconvinced and unwilling. He thought about raising a few pigs well this year to prove himself.

"When spring comes, maybe I can catch a few wild piglets from the mountains to raise." Li Long joked, "Then we'll raise domestic pigs and wild pigs together."

"That would be great." Li Jianguo said with a smile, "Maybe some people like eating wild boar meat."

That night, almost every household in the team was a scene of such laughter and chatting. Even if the children were naughty and caused some trouble, no one said anything.

Everyone was looking forward to a beautiful future life. If nothing else, at least by the end of this year, every household would definitely have enough fine grain to eat, and maybe if they harvested more grain, they could sell some surplus money to make life easier.

"When the ice thaws in a few days, I plan to send some more money home." Li Long said, "Let the family know that we've divided the land here. If it doesn't work, we'll bring Mom and Dad over."

"How can I let you send it? I'll send it!" Li Jianguo shook his head firmly, "I'm the eldest, how can I let you send it? If you send money, Dad will brag about it, and then the relatives at home will all come running one by one, won't they?"

Li Long thought that was true too.

The family matters were settled just like that.

Outside, it was getting warmer day by day, the snow was visibly decreasing, the gray-black land in the fields was exposed piece by piece, and in some places, green grass buds had already poked their heads out.

Outside, the wind blowing on the face no longer felt bone-chilling; the "breeze that doesn't feel cold" had finally become a reality.

When Tao Daqiang came to Li Long's east room, seeing him reading, he asked:

"Brother Long, why don't you go out for a stroll?"

"Stroll where?" Li Long put down the "Seven Swords Descending from Mount Tian" in his hand and waved his hand, "It's muddy everywhere outside now, and every step is mud, so it's better to stay indoors."

"I went to look at the Little Haizi; the ice has thawed a bit, and reed buds have poked out a little." Tao Daqiang had already scraped the mud off his shoes when he came in, "I also took the time to go to the Big Haizi behind. The ice has thawed a lot there, and there are many dead fish soaked in the water along the edge. Those fish must be this big!"

Tao Daqiang gestured with his hands. Li Long looked at the length, which must have been over ninety centimeters or even a meter. "Fish this big?" Li Long was a bit surprised, but thinking about it, it was normal. The Big Haizi didn't have as many reeds as the Little Haizi, and its water area was several times that of the Little Haizi. The fish lived longer, and there were more large fish.

The reeds in the Little Haizi could still provide some oxygen underwater, but the fish in the Big Haizi didn't have that treatment. When those large fish lacked oxygen in the end, they would suffocate to death.

What a pity.

Li Long suddenly thought of something. He stood up at once and said to Tao Daqiang:

"Let's go, let's go to the Big Haizi, let's get some dead fish back."

"What are we getting dead fish for?" Tao Daqiang was a bit puzzled, "That stuff can't be eaten, and it will stink in two days."

"Now is the best time. The ice has just thawed, the fish have just come out and haven't stunk yet; the timing is best." Li Long smiled and changed the subject: "Are you raising pigs this year?"

"Raising them, my dad said that he can plant the four mu of land by himself and feed a pig. I'll go harvest wheat at most, and usually, I'll follow you to earn money."

"That's it." Li Long smiled, "If you only feed pigs grass, they won't grow much meat. This dead fish hasn't stunk yet; if we catch it, dry it, and grind it into powder, it's very easy for pigs to grow meat."

"Really? Will pigs eat it?"

"Of course they will." Li Long smiled, "Let's go, let's get some tools and go catch fish."

Li Long told Li Jianguo about it, and Li Jianguo also realized it. He let Li Long and Tao Daqiang prepare tools, while he went to the team to rent a horse cart, then led it to the Big Haizi together.

!.

The Big Haizi was over a kilometer away from the production team's residential area. The road was a mixture of ice, snow, and mud. The three of them used the sticks they brought to pry off the mud on the horse cart wheels from time to time to ensure the cart could move forward smoothly.

When they arrived at the Big Haizi, Li Long indeed smelled a fishy odor, and it was faintly emitting a stench.

There were still ice chunks of various sizes in the Big Haizi, but the edges had already thawed. Indeed, many dead fish were either in the water or on the shore. The temperature was still a bit low, and although there were no flies to eat the fish on the shore, the smell was already off.

"Catch the fish in the water, pick the big ones." Li Jianguo said, and the three of them immediately took action.

There were many dead fish. In less than half an hour, the three of them had picked up a horse cart full, at least two or three hundred kilograms.

"Let's go back." Seeing that the three of them's pants and shoes were wet, Li Jianguo said, "Go back and roast them, and come back in the afternoon."

Conservatively estimated, there must be thousands of kilograms of dead fish on the south shore of the Big Haizi, enough for them to pull for several days.

Although dead fish couldn't be eaten, Tao Daqiang was also very happy thinking about the piglets he caught eating feed mixed with dried fish and growing quickly.

The news of the Li family pulling dead fish back and putting them in the courtyard to dry quickly spread, and many people were laughing at them, not knowing why.

But those with intentions analyzed it after a while and immediately joined the ranks of picking up dead fish.

In this era, no one was stupider than anyone else.

The data has recovered a bit, the average subscription has risen a bit, and I'm in a good mood.

Thanks to book friend Kong Zhimo for the reward, thanks to book friends 20210301106461537408, zdlm001, 20230319223645951 for the rewards, and thanks to everyone for the monthly tickets and recommendation tickets.

For now, I'll post 10,000 words at this time every day. If I change the update time later, I'll tell everyone in advance.

(End of chapter)