Chapter 189

Waking up early in the morning, Li Long got dressed and went out, seeing Tao Daqiang standing by the roadside outside the courtyard, looking very preoccupied.

"Daqiang, what's wrong? Did you get boiled by someone?" Li Long casually recited a very old advertising slogan from his previous life.

"What? What got boiled?" Tao Daqiang only then reacted, looked up and asked, "Brother Long, what are you saying?"

"I said let's go." Li Long knew this cold joke had fallen flat, so he pointed to the east and said:

"You go get the tires, I'm going to the toilet to drain the water, I'll be right there."

"Okay."

The two of them arrived at Little Haizi together. This time Tao Daqiang didn't argue with Li Long. He watched Li Long row into the water, pull up the nets one by one, and then, like a three-tailed fox spirit, drag three urea bags back with great effort.

"How was it today?" Tao Daqiang pulled the tires, along with Li Long and the bags behind him, onto the shore and asked.

"Not bad, a bit worse than yesterday. Fewer big crucian carp, more silver carp, and more small crucian carp."

Li Long didn't seem particularly disappointed. Although the catch today wasn't as impressive as yesterday's, the weight was there; the eight nets had nearly eighty kilograms.

Moreover, judging from the many times he had sold fish, people liked eating small crucian carp just as much, and small crucian carp were hardier than big fish—although everyone liked to look at and catch big fish, the situation was different when it came to buying them.

Most people who bought fish to take home to eat didn't catch them themselves; they only needed to consider what fish they liked to eat, how to cook them conveniently, and how to eat economically and affordably.

So Li Long's mindset was now quite calm. He would be happy if he caught a big fish, but not especially happy—there was a high probability it wouldn't sell or wouldn't fetch a good price.

In this day and age, it was better to earn money first.

The two of them carried the fish and the bags home, dumped them onto the laid-out plastic sheet, and then began to sort the fish.

This scene was a common occurrence in the Li household. Li Juan and Li Qiang also held their bowls, eating while crowding over to watch, occasionally commenting on which fish was prettier.

The Li family had a well, and neighbors often came over to pump water. At this time, someone from behind came to fetch water, saw the Li family sorting fish, and said with a smile:

"Xiao Long is really capable, you caught quite a lot of fish this time."

Li Jianguo replied:

"Not bad, want to take some back later?"

"No, no, no, I caught some when I was watering the fields a couple of days ago, I can't eat that much, I can't eat that much."

Since the other party had said so, Li Jianguo didn't force it. There were quite a lot of fish from the eight nets; just sorting them would take a good while.

By the time the fish were sorted, Li Juan had already finished eating. She was carrying her schoolbag, holding a book in her hand while reading, and occasionally glancing at Li Long's side.

"Brother Long, I can finish picking them out in the morning, are we still going in the afternoon?"

"If there's nothing else, we'll go." Li Long went into the house, changed his clothes, then took the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle out of its small-caliber holster, and tied it to the crossbar of his bicycle.

"What are you taking that thing for?" Li Jianguo was a bit puzzled, "Aren't you afraid of trouble?"

"Going to town to handle some paperwork." Li Long said, "Anyway, it's just running a few more errands."

"Hmm, be careful on the road." Li Jianguo didn't think much of it, "This 28-inch bicycle can really carry a load."

Li Long didn't want to talk about encountering the thief; not only would his family worry, but they couldn't help much either.

He and Li Jianguo put the two large bags of fish on both sides of the back seat, then covered them with a sack, let Li Juan sit on it, pushed it out the door, took two quick steps to push off, used the momentum to get on the bike from the front, and pedaled away toward the outside of the village.

There wasn't much water left in the reed ditch, and that concrete slab was quite useful; Li Long rode across it smoothly.

After dropping Li Juan off at the primary school, Li Long quickly rode to the large courtyard, grabbed two basins and a scale, and then rode toward Shicheng.

When he arrived at Shicheng, the sun had just risen. Li Long wiped the sweat from his face, chose a spot at the T-junction where someone had just left, and set up his stall.

The flow of people seemed to be a bit larger than before. Li Long dumped the fish out and began to call out.

The crowd immediately surged over. Seven or eight people surrounded Li Long's stall, starting to ask for prices and pay.

Li Long leaned against his bike, weighing fish and collecting money while vigilantly observing the crowd squeezed together.

There were a few other fish stalls on the old street, and they had people too, but whether it was because of the fish or the people, there weren't as many people wanting to buy as there were at Li Long's.

"Everyone, don't crowd. A thief mixed in a couple of days ago and almost stole someone's wallet. Everyone must be careful!" Li Long warned loudly while guarding against hands reaching into the basin to check the fish, "You want one black carp, right? Alright! Is this one okay? Don't move, there are many fish in this basin, it's not easy to keep them alive, it's hard to sell if they die, and the customers behind will definitely complain... Alright, alright, thanks for understanding!"

Li Long's attitude made these people feel like they were bathed in a spring breeze, yet there was a certain sense of boundaries—neither soft nor hard. Since they couldn't reach out to grab, they pointed and let Li Long help pick the fish.

Fish were grabbed out one by one. After Li Long skillfully weighed them, he threaded them with jiji grass, tied a knot, and handed them to the other party. One person left, another came, and they quickly followed up.

"Hey, don't mess around!" Someone had circled around to Li Long's side, approached the bicycle, and was curiously looking at the thing tied to the crossbar. Li Long immediately scolded:

"If you're buying fish, come to the front and line up. If you're here to watch the fun, come to the front too. You're very likely to cause a misunderstanding like this!"

"What misunderstanding?" That person's mouth was quite stubborn, "Who would covet your piece of junk!"

"If you don't covet it, then keep your hands to yourself!" Li Long wasn't polite either, "Do you really think others don't know what you're thinking? Everyone's eyes are sharp!"

Li Long was used to putting himself in the position of the majority, and once he said this, others also spoke up one after another:

"Exactly, why are you sneaking around to the back? There's no fish there!"

"Looking at that appearance, he doesn't look like a good person, listen to what he's saying, just like a hoodlum..."

Seeing that he had provoked public anger, the person who had originally wanted to argue a few words with Li Long had no choice but to leave dejectedly.

"Thank you all for speaking up for justice. Here, I'll weigh your fish generously and charge you ten cents less!"

"I'll throw in two crucian carp for you, just a gesture, thanks!"

"Come, come, come, this counts as a discount for you, this big silver carp is eighty cents per kilogram for you..."

For everyone's help in speaking up, Li Long didn't just thank them verbally. With this round of discounts, he suddenly sold another ten-plus kilograms of fish.

After this wave of people passed, more than half of the fish had been sold. Li Long took a moment to wipe his sweat. Only then did he look around and vaguely see the ill-intentioned person from earlier, standing far away at the intersection of the old street with the short guy who had come to threaten him that day, watching this side.

Heh, so they've set their sights on me?

Li Long ignored them and continued selling fish. Although there weren't as many people afterward, Li Long would call out from time to time, still able to attract people who had just arrived and passengers who had just gotten off the bus. After more than an hour, the fish were sold out. Li Long poured the water from the basins into the roadside ditch, stacked the two basins together, rolled up the bags and stuffed them into the basins, and wedged them onto the back seat. The scale was hung on the front of the bike, and he pushed it to the milk tea shop.

"Countryman, you should stay a little longer today." The Uyghur young man said enthusiastically to Li Long, and pointed outside with a meaningful look, "There are people waiting for you over there."

The milk tea shop's chairs were right at the entrance. Li Long smiled and pointed to his bicycle:

"It's fine, I run fast, besides, I have tools."

"That bicycle of yours... if those people block you with three people in front, can you still get away?" The young man was quite anxious for Li Long, "Stay a little longer, these people have limited patience..."

"It's fine, don't worry, I'll definitely come back to drink your milk tea on time tomorrow." For this kind young man, Li Long didn't say much, "Since I dared to say it, I naturally have my own ways."

"Then... alright. If something really happens, come over later, if nothing else, three or five naan's worth of money is no problem."

"Haha, if you say that, does your wife know?"

"That's not needed, I'm the master at home." The young man said with a smile while pouring milk tea for Li Long.

The two talked and laughed. After Li Long finished eating, he waved to the young man and went out.

He pushed his bicycle and walked quickly, returning to Maxian along the original route.

!.

After leaving Shicheng, when he was near the Mahe Bridge, he saw three people standing on the road.

Li Long saw the young man in the middle at a glance. These three people were all holding tools, either iron pipes or daggers.

Li Long smiled, stopped, and looked back, seeing two more people surrounding him from behind.

He pulled the gun holster off the crossbar with one hand and just stood there waiting for the five people in front and behind to come together.

"What's up, you think you can deal with the five of us with just one stick?" The short guy was a bit smug now, "Think for yourself if it'll work! I won't make it hard for you today, kneel down and kowtow, leave the bicycle, leave the money, and leave the thumbs of your left and right hands, and you can go."

Li Long really didn't expect this guy to be so ruthless—wanting money, the bicycle, and even one of his hands!

Then there was no need to waste words with them. Li Long stood his bicycle up. When the people behind wanted to come over and take action, the short guy reminded them:

"Don't rush! He can't run! Let him stand the bike up, don't let it fall, I'll be riding it later!"

When Li Long stood the bike up and took the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle out of the gun holster, the expressions of these five people changed.

The person behind turned and ran. Li Long disengaged the safety, pulled the bolt to chamber a round, and without saying a word, fired a shot right next to that person!

"Bang!"

"Run again, and the next shot will be aimed at your leg, and the one after that will be your head!" Li Long's voice wasn't loud, but those five people heard it clearly!

The person running froze on the spot. A few seconds later, he raised his hands and slowly turned around.

"Stand in a row, kneel down." Li Long's tone carried no emotion, "Don't tell me I don't dare to fire. Since I dared to bring the gun, shooting you is no different from shooting a Mongolian gazelle. As for whether I'll be arrested, that's a matter for after I've shot you."

The five people stood in a row and knelt down in unison, their tools scattered all over the ground.

"Take out all your wallets." Li Long pointed at them one by one with the gun, "Don't tell me you don't have any, don't force me to do it myself. For safety's sake, when I really have to do it myself, I usually do it when there's no danger... you think about it yourselves."

A wallet was thrown in front of Li Long.

It was called a wallet, but it was actually just a cloth bag.

Then another one.

The short guy's wallet was a real wallet, the kind with a zipper, and also the thickest one.

"Looks like you've stolen quite a lot of other people's things!" Li Long looked at the short guy and suddenly smashed the butt of the gun into the back of his neck. The short guy didn't even groan before he was knocked to the ground and fainted.

"Alright, you guys tell me, what did he do before? Speak clearly, and you can suffer a little less! By the way, let me tell you, don't talk about any brotherhood; if you speak too late, don't blame me for being impolite!"

Threatened like this by Li Long, the remaining four people immediately knelt and scrambled to confess.

This short guy came from the interior, had excellent "skills," and was ruthless. He stole a lot of money and was generous, so he gathered these few people around him. Among these people, there were two ethnic minorities who followed this short guy to learn the "trade" and also paid him tribute.

One of them scrambled to say:

"I heard him say that he killed someone in the interior and ran over here, so he threatened us that whoever didn't listen to him would be killed and buried in the Gobi Desert..."

He was even a murderer!

Li Long stepped forward and used the gun butt to smash hard into the short guy's hand. The short guy screamed and woke up, only to be knocked unconscious again by Li Long with another gun butt.

Terrified by Li Long's ruthlessness, the others didn't dare to move at all.

Li Long picked up the wallets one by one and flipped through them, finding that the short guy's wallet had the most money, over three hundred yuan, while the rest had ten-plus yuan, and some had a few yuan.

It wasn't easy, though it was also possible that they had all turned it over to the short guy.

Li Long stuffed these wallets into his pocket and pointed at the people on both sides of the short guy:

"You two support him, and walk toward the bridge head."

Forced by Li Long's gun, these people didn't dare not to walk; they knew Li Long really dared to fire!

There was a vehicle inspection station there with public security officers on duty. Before Li Long and the others arrived, two officers had already walked out.

"Comrades, I am a procurement officer for the Maxian Supply and Marketing Cooperative," Li Long habitually took out the certificate, "These people were preparing to block the road and rob. I asked a little bit, and this one who was knocked unconscious is a murderer from the interior, and is now organizing a group of thieves on the old street. You see..."

"Really?" The two officers were also a bit surprised; this was already beyond their scope of business.

But encountering bad guys, they naturally wouldn't stand by and watch. They handcuffed the people, took them away, and interrogated them separately, and then they understood.

"It really is true. Comrade Li, you've done us a great service this time!" One officer went to make a phone call to report to his superiors, while the other shook hands with Li Long firmly, "Supply and Marketing Cooperative, right? I'll send a letter to your side later to thank you!"

Li Long remembered that this area seemed to belong to the Reclamation Area Public Security Bureau, which was different from the county's, but he didn't ask much. He signed the simple record and rode his bike away.

As for the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle on his back, the other side didn't even ask.

In this day and age, isn't it normal for people in public units to have guns?

Now that the hidden danger was removed, Li Long felt truly refreshed!

(End of chapter)