Chapter 184: This job really isn't for just anyone

Li Long threw off his outer garment and rushed into the water.

In his previous life at this age, he only knew how to dog-paddle, but later he learned freestyle, so now he rushed very quickly toward the place where Tao Daqiang had fallen into the water.

The water was very cold, but Li Long couldn't care about that anymore, because he saw that after Tao Daqiang was knocked into the water, he didn't surface for a while!

When Li Long swam close to the tire, he saw Tao Daqiang slowly emerge from the water, his hands clinging to the tire, his gaze blank and still a bit dazed.

Just when Li Long breathed a sigh of relief, Tao Daqiang, for some reason, suddenly sank into the water again!

Li Long was startled and hurriedly swam over. When he reached the tire, seeing Tao Daqiang still struggling in the water, he grabbed Tao Daqiang and pulled him to the side of the tire, asking:

"What's wrong?"

"The net is tangled on me." Tao Daqiang replied subconsciously.

On the left side of Tao Daqiang's face, including his ear, there was an obvious red mark, as if slapped by a large palm, very clear.

"You cling to the tire, I'll untangle the net for you." Seeing that Tao Daqiang was still not quite clear-headed, Li Long pushed the tire to him and said, "Later, you go ashore and rest for a while first."

He swam behind Tao Daqiang, reached out and touched, seeing the fishing net tangled around Tao Daqiang's waist and legs, and something over there was pulling the fishing net toward the water.

It must be that big fish!

How big must this fish be to knock Tao Daqiang into the water?

With curiosity, Li Long untangled the net from Tao Daqiang. This net had been splashing in the water for a while, some fish had escaped, and there were many fish scales on the net.

Li Long untied the net, pulled all the remaining parts of this net from the urea bag into his hands, and then followed the net to find that big fish.

Just by pulling once, Li Long felt a strong resistance. The fish obviously didn't want to be caught either, and was wrestling with Li Long underwater. This fish had doubled its strength underwater. Li Long guessed it shouldn't be particularly big.

He leaned on the tire with one hand while slowly retrieving the net in his hand, very patiently like fishing before.

Finally, the big fish tangled in the net slowly surfaced—this was a large carp with golden head and tail.

Visually, it was seventy or eighty centimeters long, with a very wide body. Li Long guessed it must weigh at least seven or eight kilograms.

This fish knew it was in danger and desperately twisted its body, lashing its tail. Water splashed everywhere. Li Long wasn't in a hurry at all, just slowly retrieving the net.

He could already see that the fish hadn't gone through the net mesh, but was directly tangled by the net, wrapped quite tightly, with only most of its tail exposed.

Tao Daqiang recovered at this time and said a bit embarrassedly:

"I didn't expect this fish to have such great strength, my face is still burning!"

"Fish have great strength in the water," Li Long slowly retrieved the net to the big fish, turned around, picked up the urea bag from the tire, reached into the water toward the fish's head, and with the water, bagged the fish, saying while bagging:

"What does 'like a fish in water' mean? It means fish are stronger in the water than outside."

Once this fish was in the bag, it had no tricks. Li Long finished retrieving the rest of this net, turned around to take Tao Daqiang to the shore, but Tao Daqiang hurriedly waved his hand:

"Brother Long, no need. I was just knocked dizzy by the fish, now I've recovered, let's hurry up and retrieve the nets."

"Alright, then don't get on the tire, just retrieve it like this, I'll retrieve, you take the bag."

The two cooperated and retrieved the remaining seven nets together. The three urea bags were almost full.

Of course, it wasn't all fish. Water grass, locally known as "duck grass," had already grown in the water, and this stuff was quite difficult to remove when tangled in the net.

The two used the tire's force to return to the bank, carried the bags and the tire, and went ashore. At this time, Li Long felt the chill—it actually felt hotter in the water than outside.

Simply wringing the water out of their clothes, the two big guys weren't shy, and after dealing with the water on their clothes, Li Long carried a bag of fish and the tire, and Tao Daqiang carried two bags of fish and walked quickly toward home.

Back at the Li house, Li Jianguo had habitually spread out the plastic sheet, and Li Juan and Li Qiang were eating.

Seeing the water on the two, Li Jianguo asked in surprise:

"What's wrong? Fell into the water?"

"A big fish." Li Long said vaguely, "Brother, see if you've ever seen such a big carp in the Little Haizi."

Li Long untied the bag and poured it onto the plastic sheet. There were many fish, but that large carp with golden head and tail immediately attracted the attention of others.

"So big!" Li Qiang opened his mouth wide.

"So beautiful!" Li Juan also stopped her chopsticks.

Liang Wenyu had just served the vegetables from the pot. Seeing that big carp, she couldn't help but blurt out:

"So big? Has this become a spirit?"

Actually, it wasn't that they hadn't seen such big fish; silver carp and grass carp had been seen longer than this.

But to be honest, for a carp, it was really rare to see one this big, wild, and this beautiful.

Besides, carp itself carried different meanings in the eyes of Chinese people, so it was no wonder Liang Wenyu would say that.

"Must be over eight kilograms." Li Jianguo squatted down, untied the fish, and put it in the laundry basin—it felt like the whole laundry basin could just fit this fish.

"Must sell for ten yuan, right?" Li Jianguo said again.

"Not selling, we'll keep it to eat." Li Long made the final decision, "Such a big fish, it's a pity to sell it!"

"So big, how to cook it?" Li Jianguo glared at him, "The pot isn't even this big..."

"Chop it into several sections, Daqiang takes a section, Sister-in-law's house gets a section..."

"Then Xiaoxia's house should also get a section..." Liang Wenyu interjected.

"Exactly, eat it." Li Long said directly, "It's a pity to sell it."

"That's fine." Li Jianguo didn't have so many thoughts. It was fish caught by Li Long anyway, he had no opinion, and naturally, he had no opinion, "It's just that fish meat is hard to cook through..."

"I know a way." Li Long thought for a moment and said, "Keep it alive first, wait until I come back from selling fish, I'll cook it for us!"

"Then you two go change clothes, we'll clean the fish." Li Jianguo said.

"No need, no need." Tao Daqiang opened his mouth, "It's not cold—hurry up and finish cleaning, we still have to sell the fish early."

"You're not cold?" Li Long asked Tao Daqiang.

"Not cold, seeing such a big fish, I'm hot."

"Then fine, clean it." Li Long didn't feel cold now either.

Eight nets cleaned, excluding the largest one, the other fish must be at least seventy kilograms—and this was after some fish fell off after the net hit the water. "Daqiang, you don't have a scale at home, go home and take a basin, the kind that holds about one kilogram of fish." Li Long said, "One basin at a time, just sell for eight mao or one yuan, don't let others pick, if they pick big or small, no one will want them, and don't let people pull them in the water, if they pull them dead, they won't sell."

Li Long gave Tao Daqiang some experience. After Tao Daqiang nodded, he went back to change clothes.

"Daqiang wants to sell alone?" Li Jianguo asked.

"Yeah, he said he wanted to try with ten kilograms." Li Long nodded, "I told him to go to the county market to sell fish, and I'll ride directly to Shicheng to sell. These tens of kilometers, selling in the county is too slow."

"Fine." Li Jianguo said, "You hurry up and change clothes too, this set is wet..."

When Tao Daqiang came over, he brought a bag and an enamel basin—Li Long looked, one basin of fish was about 1.2 or 1.3 kilograms. He said to Tao Daqiang:

"You just ask for one yuan a bowl, you say this bowl holds over a kilogram, remember, don't let them pick!"

"Okay." Tao Daqiang was a bit excited, he was going to sell fish alone, he was still a bit nervous.

Every time he watched Li Long selling fish and meat like a fish in water, he was very envious and wanted to become like that.

Try it.

After some arguing, Tao Daqiang finally only took away less than fifteen kilograms of crucian carp. Li Long divided the rest into two urea bags, and as before, placed hemp sack pieces on the back seat. After Li Juan finished eating, Li Long took her and rode the bike out of the village.

!.

"Juan's dad, really eat it?" Looking at the beautiful big carp in the basin, Liang Wenyu still hesitated, "I just think this fish might have become a spirit. Look at Daqiang's face? It should have been slapped by this fish."

"Eat, what's there not to eat." Li Jianguo didn't have so many psychological burdens, "Since Little Long said eat it, and he's going to cook it, why do you care so much? The grass in the fields hasn't been hoed clean yet. Today we have to finish thinning the seedlings and hoeing the grass, then we can relax for a few days."

Liang Wenyu looked up, there were a few clouds in the sky, she said with a smile:

"Today is still a good day, then come, lift the fish into the kitchen, let's go to the fields."

Li Long put Li Juan at the school gate and then stopped there waiting.

Ten minutes later, Tao Daqiang walked over with big strides. Li Long pointed to the back seat and said:

"Come, get on, riding a bike is faster."

"Brother Long, I won't get on. You hurry to Shicheng, it's still over ten kilometers from the county to there, you have to ride for forty or fifty minutes, maybe I'll have started selling fish in the county and you won't have arrived yet."

"Then fine, I'm leaving." Li Long thought this made sense. He saw Tao Daqiang was very excited, so he didn't say anything, pedaled the bike, and left quickly.

Arriving at the big courtyard, Li Long took the basin and scale, locked the door, and went directly to Shicheng.

Passing the Mahe Bridge, he saw the water in the river was already very high. Even so, there were still people looking for jade on the banks upstream and downstream.

Arriving at the old street, the sun had already started to emerge. Li Long saw that there were people in the spot where he used to set up his stall. He wasn't picky, directly set up his bike a bit inside the T-junction, by the side where cars parked, then set up the two big basins, and poured the crucian carp and other miscellaneous fish into them respectively.

This time there were more five-striped black fish than silver carp. Li Long guessed there should be more small crucian carp, and the five-striped black fish had abundant food, so they were more active.

When he poured the fish down, someone noticed and followed to watch.

"Selling fish, fresh wild carp, crucian carp, five-striped black fish, selling fish, selling fish! Fresh live carp, crucian carp, five-striped black fish, selling cheaply!"

Li Long's loud voice directly attracted the attention of many people. At this time, being able to shout so loudly was truly unique.

Earning money cleanly, it's not shameful.

"How to sell the fish?" someone asked.

"Small fish, that is crucian carp, regardless of size, eight mao per kilogram, no picking. Big fish, carp, five-striped black fish are one yuan, silver carp are nine mao." Li Long quoted the price skillfully, "If you want more, it's cheaper."

"How much is more?" someone asked.

"Over five kilograms."

"Weigh me one kilogram of crucian carp, this crucian carp..." It was a middle-aged man, reaching out to grab into the basin.

"Don't move, I said don't move randomly, these fish are all alive, if you stir them, they'll die, how will others buy?" Li Long pushed his hand aside with one slap, "I can't just do your business, others still want to buy!"

Habitually putting himself on the side of the majority, the man showed an angry expression on his face, but others felt Li Long was thinking for them, and they blamed this middle-aged man one after another. The middle-aged man originally wanted to scold, but the words didn't come out.

"Give you one kilogram, look, the scale is high," Li Long gave a slap and then a sweet date, "I know you're in a hurry, this fish is best for stewing soup when you go back, I'll give you one more." He threaded the fish for the other party with the prepared reed grass and handed it over, "Pay the money."

The man turned anger into joy, happily paid the money, and took the fish away.

"Come, come, young man, weigh me two kilograms of crucian carp... you have to give me two more too!"

"Fine, fine, but don't move your hands..."

Business suddenly became hot.

The flow of people was large, plus the Chinese people's characteristic of watching the fun, there were always people surrounding here, one wave left and another came, and the fish visibly decreased.

Because Li Long had agreed in advance and kept repeating it, no one ever moved the fish in the basin. Most of the fish were still alive, and they sold fast. Sixty-odd kilograms of fish, after more than an hour, Li Long received fifty-two yuan. He sold the last of the crucian carp half-sold and half-given to an old lady.

Originally Li Long thought about eating here, but he was a bit worried about Tao Daqiang, so he pedaled his bike and returned to the county.

The sun was already quite high. Tao Daqiang looked at the small fish and dead fish in the basin, a bit tearful.

It was clearly fine at the beginning, how did it suddenly become like this?

At first, he followed Li Long's instructions, told those people, don't move the fish, regardless of size, one basin for one yuan.

The people who gathered around looked at the fish swimming in the basin and immediately wanted to take out money to buy, and then they squeezed.

Tao Daqiang tried his best to shout to let everyone not squeeze, while collecting money and giving fish. He didn't know how many hands were stirring in the fish basin. When these people dispersed, Tao Daqiang calculated, he had received six yuan in total, there were much fewer fish in the basin, and most of the rest were dead.

It was obvious that someone was playing tricks in the fish basin. The scales on the fish had fallen off, and some had their feces squeezed out of their butts.

But he didn't see who did it. What to do?

When Li Long came over, Tao Daqiang was sitting in front of the stall, not shouting, not greeting people, his eyes a bit dull.

This job really isn't for just anyone.

Seeing Li Long, Tao Daqiang seemed to have met a savior, quickly telling the previous things. He was a bit aggrieved and a bit puzzled.

Li Long looked around, and soon found two people paying attention to this side.

He sneered.

Tao Daqiang encountered such a thing, consider it paying tuition.

But some people were making trouble, he just wouldn't let these people succeed!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 185 =====