Chapter 137: The Professional Pig Farmer's Reward Must Be Secured

In the evening, Liang Yuemei stewed fish soup, which they ate with leftover rice from noon; the hungry soaked a bowl and ate it. Crucian carp soup needs little oil—just a bit of ginger and Sichuan pepper, and a sprinkle of chopped scallions and coriander when served makes it delicious.

Li Juan and Li Qiang, still growing, shoveled rice into their mouths in big mouthfuls. Li Long wasn't very hungry; he slowly picked out the bones from the crucian carp in his bowl. Even a tiny piece of carp meat was fragrant.

"Xiao Long, when you go to sell fish, if you meet someone selling piglets, grab two and bring them back," Li Jianguo said after finishing the fish soup, wiping his mouth. "Since the authorities have ordered us to raise pigs, let's raise more. On days when we don't have work, I'll repair the pigsty again."

"Why repair it? Let's raise them in the horse stable instead; it's not far," Li Long said. "I plan to buy a few more. Anyway, Uncle Lao Luo doesn't want to sit idle. I'll pay him to raise pigs and tend the horses for us."

"Will that work?" Liang Yuemei asked, somewhat worried. "Will the public authorities allow it?"

"What's wrong with that?" Li Long said with a smile. "Uncle Lao Luo can't stay idle anyway, and he doesn't want to go to the nursing home. When he helps us raise pigs, he can raise one for himself too. We can supply all the grass and fodder; he just provides the labor. Don't worry; he'll be even more willing than we are."

After speaking, Li Long turned to Li Jianguo again:

"Big Brother, I think you should go find the Village Director and ask: if we become professional pig farmers, will the team offer any rewards? The township encourages sideline businesses; they probably won't just talk about it."

Li Jianguo, who had rolled half a Moheyuan cigarette, paused. This was indeed a matter, but he hesitated and asked:

"If the team offers no rewards, raising several more pigs will require a lot of feed. The bran and husks at home won't be enough. By the way, those dried fish meal—those won't be enough either."

"Just ask first; maybe they'll allocate two more mu of land," Li Long said with a smile. "Planting sugar beets or something like that would be enough. Besides, when idle, we can hitch the horse cart to Shicheng Sugar Factory to collect molasses residue; that stuff is excellent for feeding pigs!"

"Alright, I'll go ask." Saying this, Li Jianguo stood up, quickly rolled the Moheyuan cigarette, twisted off the tip, put it in his mouth, took his key to open the five-drawer cabinet, took out twenty yuan, and handed it to Li Long:

"Take this; it's money to buy piglets."

"I have some," Li Long hurriedly waved his hand. "I still have quite a bit of money."

"Having your own is one thing, but how can household expenses all come from your spending?"

Li Jianguo, without further discussion, stuffed the money into Li Long's hand, then lit the Moheyuan cigarette and said:

"I'll go ask Junwaizi right now."

Xu Chengjun's childhood nickname was Junwaizi; for elders like Li Jianguo who had been there since the village's founding, calling him that was perfectly fine.

When Li Jianguo returned from the Village Director's house, he brought back two pieces of news.

"If you raise more than eight pigs, you count as a professional pig farmer, and the team will subsidize five mu of land as fodder land," Li Jianguo said, somewhat excited. "If you raise them well, the township will offer additional rewards!"

"Eight pigs—can we manage that?" Li Long asked, somewhat worried.

"No problem," Li Jianguo said, feeling full of energy now. "The land at home mainly grows corn and oil sunflowers; the main work is weeding. Ten mu goes very fast! If we get five mu as fodder land, planting sugar beets or something similar, that's easy too!"

Farmers fear having no motivation. Now, thinking that whatever they grow is theirs and whatever they raise is theirs, their energy was incredibly high!

"By the way, Junwaizi also said that this year, people from the county's power department will be repairing utility poles; our team is getting electricity!"

Actually, there had been ideas above to bring electricity before, but the production team's affiliation had always been an issue. Officially, it belonged to the commune, but because it was relatively close to the Production and Construction Corps and occupied a large land area, a farm under the Corps had always wanted to transfer the production team to their jurisdiction.

The result was endless bickering. Although the village had utility poles, the electricity previously came from the Corps side, but later that side cut off the power.

If the township can bring electricity now, the village can finally live with electricity!

Li Long was very happy!

The next day, just before dawn, Tao Daqiang arrived at the Li household, woke Li Long, and the two carried tires and bags toward Xiaohaizi.

At the edge of Xiaohaizi, Li Long skillfully entered the water, paddled to the end of the last net, and began hauling it in. Hauling in was faster than setting the net; one only needed to pull the net forward along its length, without even paddling.

Yesterday, Tao Daqiang had hauled in the net. Li Long, unaware of the situation, felt today that there were many fish; in some places, the net was so entangled by thrashing fish that they were wrapped around the nearby reeds.

This required carefully removing the net from the reeds.

"Splash!" Before the first net was fully hauled in, a large carp wrapped in the net suddenly thrashed in the water. Li Long hurriedly pulled the net over, loosened the net already gathered in his hands, and slowly coiled it around the fish. The fish was entangled by the net, and since Li Long applied no force, the fish had no way to struggle.

Yesterday, even the net with the largest mesh wasn't enough to catch such a large fish; it must have only snagged the fins or tail. One could only say the fish had bad luck.

Li Long sat on the tire, bent over, plunged both hands into the water, lifted the fish along with the net, and stuffed it, gills first, into a urea bag.

This carp weighed at least three kilograms; after stuffing it in, the bag sank noticeably.

Giving this fish to Manager Zhong at the Big Meat Canteen, he would surely like it.

After hauling in six nets, Li Long felt the tire could barely hold up.

The two urea bags were nearly full. Although water had seeped in, together with the nets, Li Long estimated the fish weighed at least fifty kilograms!

Are the fish in this Xiaohaizi so naive, so easily caught in nets?

Daring not to speed up for fear of flipping the tire, Li Long dragged the two urea bags of fish, slowly paddling toward the shore.

Seeing that most of Li Long's tire was submerged, Tao Daqiang anxiously wanted to enter the water. Li Long hurriedly shouted:

"Don't move! Wait right there; don't get in the water!"

Just as they nearly reached the shore, Tao Daqiang disregarded everything, entered the water, grabbed the rope tied to the tire, and pulled the tire onto the bank.

!.

Li Long got down, dragged the two urea bags ashore, and panted heavily:

"These six nets were a real catch!"

Tao Daqiang opened the bag mouths, saw the fish heads opening and closing inside, and chuckled, saying:

"Brother Long, you carry the tire; I'll carry these two bags back."

Saying this, he tied the two bag mouths together, bent down, placed one in front and one behind on his back like an ancient saddlebag, and strode briskly back.

Li Long didn't argue with him. He caught his breath, put on his pants, hoisted the tire, and chased after.

When they returned to the Li household, Liang Yuemei had already prepared the meal; Li Juan and Li Qiang were eating.

Seeing Li Long and the others return, Li Jianguo immediately spread out a plastic sheet, then helped Tao Daqiang unload the bags, pouring the fish onto the plastic. Liang Yuemei brought out a washbasin to hold the fish.

All four removed the fish together. One by one, the fish were taken out and placed in the washbasin, which quickly filled up. The remaining fish were simply sorted; water was added to the urea bags, separating large fish from small ones.

Seeing the fish nearly all removed, Li Long went to prepare the bicycle.

Seeing Li Juan had finished eating, Li Long said to her:

"Juan, ride with me on the bike to school later."

"Okay!" Li Juan said with a smile.

After tying and securing the fish, Liang Yuemei handed Li Long a cloth-wrapped package:

"This is for Xiaoxia. It's in a canned bottle; you must be careful."

"I understand," Li Long replied.

He estimated they had caught nearly sixty kilograms of fish in total, but discarded some dead ones and those too small; the two plastic bags on the bicycle held about fifty kilograms.

Regarding the fish from yesterday and those kept today, Li Jianguo suggested Tao Daqiang take some, while the rest be given to the neighbors, since his own family could not finish them all.

(End of this chapter)