Chapter 14

"Dad, why didn't you cook?" Tao Daqiang put the two fish in the kitchen and shouted to his father in the inner room.

Tao Daqiang's father, Tao Jian She, was leaning on the kang smoking a pipe. Hearing his youngest son's voice, he took off the pipe and knocked it, saying:

"I cooked, you didn't come back so late, your nephew Mao Dan came over, said he was hungry from playing, and ate the food I left for you. If you're hungry, there are potatoes in the kitchen, you can roast two under the stove to eat."

Tao Jian She said this calmly, and Tao Daqiang felt it was fine when he heard it. Tao Daqiang's older brother, Tao Dayong, was already married and had a son, Mao Dan, who was the treasure of the whole family.

If it were before, Tao Daqiang would really like to roast a potato to eat. He had been told he was stupid by his family since he was a child, and his father, brother, and sister-in-law all said so, and he was used to being submissive.

But today, he first ate guagua chicken at the Li house, then drank fish soup, and caught fish himself, so he felt he was still useful, so he raised his voice and said:

"Dad, I caught fish, I want to cook fish!"

"You caught fish? What fish?" Tao Jian She was a bit surprised when he heard Tao Daqiang caught fish, and climbed up from the kang, shouting:

"Bring it over and let me see."

Tao Daqiang carried the fish and walked out of the kitchen proudly.

"Yo, these fish are not bad!" Tao Jian She originally thought the fish his son brought back would be at most that kind of crucian carp the size of a palm, after all, that kind of crucian carp was the easiest to catch, but they were all large fish weighing more than one or two kilograms, which was truly rare, "Where did you catch them?"

"Caught them in the small sea with Brother Long." Tao Daqiang said proudly.

"Brother Long? Who?" Tao Jian She didn't understand.

"Li Long, Li Jianguo's younger brother." Tao Daqiang said.

"You mean that jerk?" Tao Jian She said disdainfully, "He has that ability? It must have been Li Jianguo who took you to catch them, right?"

Tao Daqiang thought for a moment and nodded.

"Fine. Regardless of who took you, you take these fish to your brother's house." Tao Jian She said, "There's not much oil left at home, doesn't cooking fish require oil?"

"I don't need oil, I'll stew fish soup!" Tao Daqiang thought of the fish soup he drank at the Li house at night, and said with a flash of inspiration, "Just use water!"

Tao Jian She suddenly got angry, knocked Tao Daqiang on the head with his pipe:

"Why are you so stupid? Just use water? Doesn't that mean burning the stove and wasting charcoal? Only thinking about yourself, what will you do later? Your mother died early, and since you're so stupid, you'll have to rely on your brother to live after I die? If you don't butter up your brother now, you won't even have food to eat when the time comes!"

"I can eat!" Tao Daqiang was stubborn today and just wouldn't send them, "I follow my brother—I haven't eaten my fill all winter. I even let Mao Dan eat my dinner! I can eat my fill following Brother Long, and I can eat chicken, and I can eat fish!"

"I'll tell you to eat chicken! I'll tell you to eat fish!" Tao Jian She didn't expect his usually obedient son to dare to refute him and talk back, so he was furious and smashed his pipe at Tao Daqiang's head. Tao Daqiang took a few hard hits, and seeing that his father didn't hold back at all, he angrily opened the door and ran out, leaving an angry voice in the wind:

"I won't eat fish anymore, give them to whoever you want!"

Tao Jian She held the pipe, a bit dazed. After a while, the heat in the room was taken away by the chill outside the door, and he felt the bone-chilling cold, so he hurriedly closed the door, cursing angrily:

"This little rabbit, his wings are hard, he doesn't listen to me! He's even rebelling!"

Looking at the fish at his feet, Tao Jian She sighed, bent down, picked up the fish, put them into the kitchen, and planned to divide three fish for his eldest son to take back when Tao Dayong came over tomorrow.

Now that he was here, his eldest son would still promise to take care of his younger son for his sake.

When Li Long returned from the horse stable, he saw a black big guy swaying outside his yard gate. He was immediately vigilant, looked around, broke a piece of dirt from the wall in the back yard, and shouted loudly:

"Who?"

"Brother Long, it's me, Daqiang." Tao Daqiang's voice came over.

Li Long felt relieved, thinking that he didn't feel it usually, but in this pitch-black darkness, the big guy was quite oppressive.

"What are you here for?" Li Long asked as he walked closer, "We have to leave early tomorrow morning, why don't you go to sleep early?" "I... I can't sleep." Tao Daqiang said stammeringly, "I want to stay at your house, so I can... go with you tomorrow."

"That's fine." Although Li Long felt it was a bit strange, since Tao Daqiang had already come, he couldn't chase him back, "Let's go, I've already borrowed the horse-drawn carriage, go back and tell my brother, let's rest early, and leave early tomorrow."

Seeing that Li Long didn't ask much, Tao Daqiang followed him silently.

Li Long first went to the west room and told Li Jianguo about borrowing the horse-drawn carriage and that Tao Daqiang would stay with him tonight.

Hearing that Li Long had already borrowed the horse-drawn carriage, Li Jianguo said:

"That's fine, you've been tired all day, rest and sleep early. Leave early tomorrow, go early and come back early. By the way, Xiao Long, I've peeled the skin of that water rat, you take it to the county collection station tomorrow, see how many yuan it can sell for, and buy something to eat on the way."

"I'll get up early tomorrow and steam some rice cakes for them to take along." Liang Wenyu said, "Wrap them well with a cage cloth, put them in a satchel and keep them well."

"Alright." Li Long nodded and said, "Then we're going to sleep."

"Add more coal to the stove on your side." Li Jianguo urged again, "Otherwise it will be cold in the second half of the night."

He didn't say much, two big guys sharing a quilt would definitely be crowded, but basically no family had extra quilts now. Fortunately, Li Long had an overcoat on his side that could barely make do.

Li Long himself had the same idea, the kang was burned hot, plus the cotton-padded overcoat, they could make do for the night.

!.

The next morning, just as the sky was getting light, Li Long woke up, woke Tao Daqiang, and the two quickly put on their clothes, went out, and went to the west room.

Liang Wenyu was already cooking, and Li Juan and Li Qiang were both up. Li Juan was sweeping the floor, and Li Qiang was washing his face.

Breakfast was the fish soup left over from yesterday, stir-fried pickled vegetables, and cornmeal porridge.

Looking at the fish soup on the table, Tao Daqiang felt a burst of sadness for no reason, and he hurriedly went to wash his face to cover it up.

After breakfast, Li Jianguo rolled up the wrapped water rat skin and put it into the urea bag. Liang Wenyu handed the satchel containing the rice cakes to Li Long and urged him:

"You two eat when you're hungry on the road, don't be reluctant."

Bidding farewell to his family, Li Long took Tao Daqiang to the horse stable. With Old Man Luo's help, they harnessed the horse-drawn carriage, loaded two bundles of forage, and the two sat on the carriage and hurried toward the county town.

The mountains were in the south, but the road was westward. Walking five kilometers westward to the commune, then three kilometers southward to the county, and from the county, it was more than ten kilometers southwest to Qingshuihe Commune. Walking another five kilometers inside would allow them to enter the mountains—actually, even by horse-drawn carriage, the road alone would take almost thirty kilometers.

And that wasn't even the destination.

Not long after Li Long left, the first visitor came to the Li house, the eldest sister-in-law from the Lu family next door.

Guests are guests. Li Jianguo was cleaning fish in the east room with Li Juan and Li Qiang. Liang Wenyu let her in, and after sitting down, the fifty-something eldest sister-in-law from the Lu family asked:

"Auntie, I heard your brother-in-law is back? Was he fired? And he's going into the mountains to pull wood today? This village isn't enough for him to toss about! What kind of joke is this!"

In the village, Li Long was actually quite like a joke.

He worked hard to get into the factory, but was fired.

He finally pursued the pretty girl in the village, but was dumped.

Now he's making a fool of himself again, spending money to buy horse work points, and driving a horse-drawn carriage to go into the mountains to pull wood—is the wood in the mountains easy to pull? With his appearance, it's a question of whether he can find the road into the mountains!

Thanks to the reward and suggestions from the crazy guy, thanks for everyone's support!

(End of chapter)