Chapter 143

Li Long didn't expect that someone would remember him just from selling fish.

"Young man, are you the one who sold frozen fish here in the winter?"

Li Long looked at the middle-aged woman in her forties in front of him and said with a smile:

"Big sister, I did indeed sell fish here in the winter."

"I knew it, I just thought you looked familiar! Your fish is good. I bought one back then to take home, and my neighbor said this fish definitely wasn't fresh, but after it thawed, the fish was really good... Your fish today looks quite good too. Come, weigh me two yuan worth of crucian carp!"

"Alright, I'll give you a generous weight!" Li Long said with a smile. "You're a returning customer, I'll give you an extra one—caught just this morning, alive. Go home and stew it directly, it's very fresh!" Li Long had prepared some jiji grass here; after getting wet, it was very tough. Seeing that this big sister didn't have anything to hold the fish, he used the jiji grass to thread the fish, curled it into a circle, and handed it over.

"The young man knows how to do business. I'll come back to buy more tomorrow."

The big sister left happily carrying the fish, and other onlookers started to weigh the fish.

Some people were still asking about the origin of the fish. When Li Long said they were wild fish from the Big Haizi, someone in the crowd who knew immediately started popularizing the knowledge:

"I know that place. It used to be a wetland, just a natural water puddle, growing reeds, and there were so many mosquitoes, but the fish there are really good... Look at this crucian carp, the head and tail are a bit golden, beautiful, right? The crucian carp in ordinary reservoirs are gray-white in color, not as beautiful as this, and not as delicious—young man, weigh me two... three yuan worth!"

With someone in the know voluntarily helping to introduce and popularize, the nearly thirty kilograms of crucian carp Li Long brought were reduced to just over a dozen small ones in less than twenty minutes. The vitality of crucian carp was indeed vigorous; the remaining dozen small ones were swimming happily in the little water left in the basin.

Seeing that the crucian carp weren't big and there weren't many left, some people turned their attention to the carp and five-striped black fish in the basin.

There were quite a few people here who knew fish. The ones left at the end were silver carp—silver carp meat is fine, and actually quite delicious when cooked well, but there are too many fine bones, so many people were unwilling to take them.

Over an hour later, Li Long had forty-nine yuan in his pocket. By this time, the sun had already risen, and there were seven or eight small crucian carp and one seven or eight hundred gram silver carp left in the two basins.

He looked around and saw no one wanting to buy fish, so he simply dumped the fish from both basins along with the dirty water into one basin, picked up the basin, walked to the ditch by the roadside, and poured it out.

The moment he straightened his back, he felt a gust of wind rush toward his face, and then he watched three people rush into the ditch, quickly picking up those fish.

The one who picked up the silver carp was a middle-aged man wearing a Zhongshan suit who looked quite respectable. He smiled triumphantly, and then looked up, meeting Li Long's eyes directly.

That smile froze instantly.

Li Long vaguely remembered that this person had been in the crowd of onlookers earlier, but hadn't bought anything from beginning to end.

Li Long turned his head expressionlessly, folded the urea bags, stacked the basins together on the back seat, secured them with clips, and pushed the bicycle toward the Old Street.

He remembered there seemed to be a milk tea shop in the Old Street. After being tired all morning, he had to reward his stomach.

Ordering a bowl of milk tea and a naan, the Uyghur proprietor asked in authentic Henan Mandarin:

"Fellow countryman, do you want milk skin?"

"Yes, I do." Li Long was happy. "A bit more."

"You're actually used to drinking milk tea with milk skin? Not bad, not bad. Come, the naan was just baked."

"This naan is good—sure enough, no hot naan can make it home intact..." Li Long smiled as he took the naan, broke it into several pieces, put them on a plate, took a piece, and took a bite.

"You, yakshi, you speak very well!" the ethnic proprietor said with a smile. "You know how to eat..."

Li Long knew he was talking about his habit of breaking the naan to eat—this was something he learned from Ha Ha Li Mu. Eating naan by sharing it and not eating alone, giving a piece if someone needs it, this is kindness, a good habit.

A bowl of steaming hot milk tea was brought up, covered with a thick layer of milk skin, smelling fragrant just by the scent.

"Tired of setting nets?" Li Long smiled, "I'm just playing." "Also. We dug through the dry ditch and dry canal today, the brigade will start watering winter wheat tomorrow, public work still needs to rotate, I might be the day after tomorrow."

After finishing the milk tea and the naan, Li Long stood up to pay and left. The milk tea was twelve cents, the naan twenty cents; it really wasn't expensive.

By this time, the pedestrian traffic on the Old Street had started to increase, and more people were coming here to catch buses. Li Long carefully avoided the coming and going pedestrians, pedaling the bike toward the county town against the sunlight.

Arriving at the county department store, Li Long got off the bike, locked it, and walked excitedly toward the counter selling radios. Seeing that there were still three radios on the counter, he handed over the money and the ration coupons. While waiting for the salesperson to bring the radio, he checked it while asking:

"Comrade, do you still have stock of these radios?"

"Yes, we do." The salesperson recognized him as the person who had bought a radio earlier and said, "There are still some in the warehouse."

"That's good." Li Long smiled. "I'll come back to take a look tomorrow or the day after."

The salesperson smiled at Li Long and said:

"You are welcome to come back anytime."

This salesperson was a girl around twenty years old, wearing two large braids, with a round face, looking healthy and cute.

Li Long bought two boxes of twenty size-D batteries from her again, bundled them together with the radio box using cotton string, making it easy to carry.

After Li Long left, the big sister at another counter joked:

"Yo, Xiao Liu, who is this person that you're so enthusiastic?"

"Sister Wang, what are you saying? I don't know this person."

"Don't know him? I've never seen you be so polite to any young man. Is he your boyfriend?"

"Sister Wang, please don't talk nonsense. I really don't know him."

"Really don't know him? Then next time he comes, I'll have to ask around—I saw him arrive on a bicycle; his family background must be extraordinary!"

Xiao Liu didn't speak. She had seen Li Long come to buy things more than once—bicycles, sewing machines, food, clothes, shoes, and the like, and he had taken two radios in the last two days.

Such a person, besides having a good family, could also be a reseller, but Xiao Liu didn't think Li Long looked like the latter.

Li Long rode the bicycle to the large courtyard, put the radio inside, checked it again, and after confirming no one was coming, locked the door and rode the bike to the morning market.

It was already late, and there weren't many stalls left in the morning market. He circled around and didn't find anyone selling piglets, so he headed back.

When he reached the township middle school, Li Long slowed down. Through the woods, he could vaguely see Gu Xiaoxia's dormitory, and it seemed the door was open.

He was wondering if he would see her figure when, at that moment, someone suddenly called him from the front:

"Li Long!"

Hearing this crisp voice, Li Long smiled. At the school gate in front, Gu Xiaoxia was standing there, graceful and elegant.

Spring had arrived, and she had changed out of her bulky cotton-padded clothes. Gu Xiaoxia's figure had grown out like a willow branch. Li Long thought as he pedaled the bike toward her, she was still a bit too thin.

It would be better if she had a little more meat on her.

When the bike stopped in front of Gu Xiaoxia, she said:

"I guessed you should be back around this time." As she spoke, her right hand reached out from behind her back, holding a blue knitted wool item, like a hat, but triangular.

A seat cover!

"Your bicycle is exposed to the sun every day, the leather on the seat cover is prone to cracking. Covering it with this will be better," Gu Xiaoxia said earnestly. "Bicycles are valuable, you should cherish them."

Li Long got off the bike and let Gu Xiaoxia put the knitted wool seat cover on the seat; the size was just right.

"I knitted it by measuring it against Teacher Wang's bicycle. Is it okay?"

"How can you say it's just okay? It should be very good!" Li Long said with a smile.

Being praised by Li Long, Gu Xiaoxia was a bit shy, lowering her head with her fingers twisted together. She said in a low voice:

"You don't need to come see me every day. If you have time, just come on the weekend. That... that person the other day teaches the second year, I have nothing to do with him..."

"I believe you," Li Long said with a smile. "I'm going to stay in the mountains for a while in a bit, you have to take good care of yourself. Before I leave, I'll bring you some things..."

"No, no!" Hearing that Li Long was going to bring things, Gu Xiaoxia hurriedly looked up, saying somewhat anxiously:

"The things you brought last time are enough for me to eat for more than a month. We'll get our salaries next month, you don't need to bring me things. Take good care of yourself when you go into the mountains, bring everything you need, otherwise, there's nowhere to buy them once you're in the mountains..."

Li Long had originally thought that since he was going into the mountains, he would urge Gu Xiaoxia to take care of herself, but he didn't expect to be urged by her instead. However, his heart felt warm, and it felt very good.

This was different from the concern his older brother and sister-in-law had for him. A peer of the opposite sex caring for him from the bottom of her heart—what else could that represent?

The sound of the bell rang in the school. Gu Xiaoxia stopped talking, turned her head to look at the school, then turned back to say to Li Long:

"Class is over, I have a class next, I have to go back, you... go back first."

!.

"You go back first," Li Long pointed to the bicycle. "I'm fast."

"Then... alright. I'm leaving." Gu Xiaoxia hesitated for a moment, turned, and walked into the school. After walking more than ten meters, she turned her head back. Seeing Li Long was still looking at her, her face reddened, and she quickly turned around again to walk toward the school, never looking back.

Li Long watched Gu Xiaoxia's figure disappear near the house by the office before he pedaled the bike to head back.

The township middle school was nearly a kilometer away from the elementary school. When he reached the elementary school, Li Long smelled the scent of something burning.

He rode the bicycle into the elementary school and saw that on the wasteland to the east of the school playground, piles of fires were burning, and groups of people were gathered there weaving carrying frames.

Carrying frames were manual tools used in Northern Xinjiang since the fifties and sixties. Similar to a stretcher, there were two poles on both sides, and in the middle was something woven from willow twigs, similar to a winnowing basket. Actually, to put it bluntly, it was just replacing the canvas in the middle of a stretcher with willow-woven material, curving it downward a bit to make it easier to hold things.

The role of carrying frames was very significant. Before animal-drawn carts and motorized vehicles were popularized, carrying frames could carry coal, soil, grain, and so on.

Every class above the third grade in the school would weave carrying frames and tie brooms in the spring, to be used for one or two years.

Weaving a carrying frame was also a technical job. One had to dig a shallow pit first, because the willow-woven part of the carrying frame had to be concave downward; without a pit, it wouldn't take shape. One also had to roast the freshly cut willow twigs with fire to make them tough, so they wouldn't break when bent.

When doing this preparatory work, four wooden wedges were nailed where the willow weaving would be, the carrying frame poles on both sides were placed against the outside of the wooden wedges, and several thick strips were placed in the middle parallel to the poles as support. Some willow twigs were selected to weave the outermost frame of the willow weaving first, and then it was like weaving a basket, weaving strip by strip toward the inside.

When Li Long found Li Juan, he found her busy by two pits with four boys and two girls. Li Juan's face was covered in black and gray, and the other boys and girls were about the same, but the carrying frames they wove were obviously not good; not only was the willow-woven part small, but it was also loose and slack, unable to bear any weight at all.

"Li Juan, what should we do... we won't finish weaving today..." A little girl who was half a head shorter than Li Juan wiped her face with a tearful voice.

"Don't worry, let's work harder..." Li Juan's voice was full of exhaustion, but she was still comforting her classmates.

"It's all Lin Qiang's fault. It was clearly agreed that we would weave carrying frames today, but he didn't come, and he's the only one in the group who knows how to weave!" another boy complained.

Li Long smiled. Student days were also full of vitality and fun; of course, small conflicts could be ignored.

He parked the bike, locked it, walked over, and shouted:

"Juan!"

Li Juan turned her head and saw Li Long, her eyes lighting up instantly.

"Not finished yet? Come, let me see." Li Long hadn't woven one for a long time in his previous life, but the foundation was still there. Looking at the situation of the carrying frames, he quickly found the conflict. The strength of the few children wasn't great, so these willow twigs were woven too loosely, and thus couldn't bear the force.

Another big problem was that when willow twigs were woven, they had to be interlaced. Several strands of willow twigs on these two carrying frames were parallel, similar to being twisted, which didn't play the role of warp and weft interlacing to bear force, so naturally, they were useless.

"Small matter. Alright, you all go roast the strips, leave the rest to me." Li Long rolled up his sleeves and squatted by the pit to start modifying them. If there were strips that had already hardened, he would pull them out directly and have them roast them again.

With an adult by their side, the few students immediately felt like they had a backbone. Those roasting strips roasted strips, those delivering delivered, there were those specifically taking care of the fire, and those learning and helping by Li Long's side.

Originally, Li Juan's group's progress was the last, but with Li Long's joining, they soon started to overtake.

Li Long wasn't particularly skilled when he first started, but he had the advantage of being an adult, and he had logic and such. After he was over fifty in his previous life, the land joined the cooperative, and he would occasionally weave some small gadgets when he had nothing to do. Weaving such large things naturally came easily to him.

The two carrying frames were finished quickly, and seeing there was still plenty of time, he brought over the two carrying frames they had woven earlier and modified and reinforced them.

After finishing, Li Long's hands and face were covered in a lot of dust. Li Juan happily took the people and the carrying frames to report to the teacher. In fact, the teacher had long seen an adult come to help, so it was quickly approved.

"Juan, are there any more classes this afternoon?" Li Long washed his hands at the water canal by the playground and asked Li Juan upon returning.

"No, this afternoon is just for making tools. We also made large brooms using jiji grass." Li Juan was somewhat proud.

"Bring them over and let me see." Li Long sighed secretly, continue working. The large brooms made by students usually looked quite good, like the real thing, but when used, they might start shedding jiji grass in less than half a month—mainly because the students' strength wasn't enough, and they couldn't drive the jiji grass into the iron hoop as much as possible.

In later generations, large jiji grass brooms were tied with iron wire, but in the eighties, iron hoops were used. First, stuff the jiji grass into the iron hoop, stuff as much as possible. When you can't stuff anymore, you need a sharp tool—

A "juezi" (a pointed tool). Drive the tip of the juezi into the tail of the jiji grass, then separate it from the head of the jiji grass, find the tip of the juezi, take a handful of jiji grass, and while knocking the juezi backward, stuff the jiji grass in along the tip. This is a technical job, and the coordination must be good. When you really can't stuff anymore, the large broom is tied, then use a sharpened wooden stick as the broom handle, wedge it into the tail of the broom, then burn off the jiji grass tassels on the head of the large broom, and it's finished.

Li Long saw that this broom looked decent, and they had even added a circle of red willow twigs on the outside, surrounding it with thread. This was to prevent the relatively brittle jiji grass from breaking, which would lead to the broom's lifespan being too short.

But just by shaking it, he knew it was tied a bit loosely. He asked for the tools, had Li Juan bring more jiji grass, squatted on the ground, pulled out the broom handle, and then used the juezi to drive it into the broom. The next step was to add jiji grass.

Watching Li Long add the jiji grass in small handfuls, the whole large broom was obviously much "thicker and stronger." The eyes of these few students immediately revealed looks of admiration.

They had also seen how adults made large brooms, but when they did it themselves, it didn't turn out like that.

After finishing all this, Li Long looked at his processed work with satisfaction. It should be able to be used for a long time, right?

"Uncle, you're too amazing!" Li Juan shouted, then turned her head to say to a little boy next to her:

"Chen Xiaobing, you still said there was no problem with how you tied it. Look, how much jiji grass is missing..."

That little boy was somewhat ashamed.

Li Long smiled and said: "It's okay, you are children after all. You'll be fine when you grow up. It's already very good to be able to tie it like this now. Juan, can you leave school? Let's go back once school is over."

"Okay, I'll go tell the teacher, and then pack my schoolbag!" Li Juan ran away at full speed.

Starting from today, each chapter will be a large chapter of about four thousand words. The basic situation is three chapters a day, which is twelve thousand words, more than the original content. If there are any other changes in the release, basically, notice will be given in advance.

(End of chapter)