Chapter 204: Mother Wants to Arrange a Match for Li Long

That evening, Li Qing stewed fish for his father and mother, and also made the mashed stir-fried fish from last time.

Du Chunfang had meant to wait for Liang Yuemei to return and cook, but Li Qing immediately said:

"My eldest brother and sister-in-law will be back very late; they've worked all day in the fields and are exhausted. If we wait for them to cook, you won't eat until after dark. I have nothing else to do, and my cooking isn't bad either. Mother, just taste what I've made!"

Du Chunfang said nothing more; she could cook fish herself, but at home she usually only used a small stove and burner. With such a large pot of fish, she feared she wouldn't do it justice.

Tao Da carried two or three kilograms of fish back, and Li Qing and his parents cleaned and gutted the fish together. Li Juan had already returned; she brought firewood and waited to tend the fire.

Seeing that his young uncle was going to cook fish, Li Qiang came over as well, and the courtyard filled with chatter and laughter, quite lively.

By the time Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei returned, the stewed fish and stir-fried fish were already on the table. Li Qing served fish to the two children first, telling them to eat, while the adults waited for Li Jianguo and the others to return before starting.

Everyone enjoyed the meal greatly.

Early the next morning, Li Qing and Tao Da got up early to retrieve the fish. After returning and cleaning the fish, Li Qing rode off with Li Juan on his bicycle, while Tao Da went home to eat before coming back to haul in the nets.

Li Li Qing Xia and Du Chunfang helped haul in the nets. Originally they had wanted to go check the fields, but Li Jianguo said these two days were the most critical for hoeing weeds, and he would take them over once things slowed down. Farming here in Northern Frontier was different from back in their hometown; there was no need to rush at this particular moment.

It was already noon by the time Li Qing returned from selling the fish, and when he arrived, Du Chunfang had already prepared the meal.

After eating, Du Chunfang insisted on going to see where Li Qing lived, so Li Qing took his father and mother to Old Ma Station.

Upon first hearing it was Old Ma Station, Du Chunfang's face immediately fell; she felt her youngest son must have been suffering some grievance. However, once they arrived at Old Ma Station and saw how large the building was, how cleanly the rooms were swept, that the furniture and bedding were all new, and that there was even a kitchen and someone to keep him company, her expression softened.

Uncle Lao Luo knew Li Qing's parents had come; he greeted them warmly, praised Li Qing a few times, and then went to rest.

"See, the place I live in is even bigger than the room you two stay in," Li Qing said inside the house. "The bed and furniture were just made, all from pine wood, good stuff. Are you reassured now?"

"Reassured, reassured!" Du Chunfang nodded vigorously. "Xiao Long, you're twenty-two already; it's time you found a wife. It's not good for you to keep living in your eldest brother's house."

"I know that; you don't need to worry about it." When Li Qing heard his mother bring this up, he recalled what he had told Gu Gu Xiaoxia about not rushing, and felt as though he had lifted a stone only to drop it on his own foot. "Just think, a young lad like me, do you really fear I can't find a partner?"

"Your eldest brother mentioned before the New Year that you had found someone from our village; how is that going?" Li Li Qing Xia remembered Li Jianguo mentioning this in a telegram sent home before the New Year, so he asked.

"That one fell through. Didn't I use my brother's money to get into the factory?" Li Qing explained. "Later I was dismissed by the factory, and then we broke up."

"It seems that girl wasn't up to scratch after all." In Du Chunfang's eyes, her youngest son was perfect in every way, so she couldn't help but say, "It's better to find someone from our hometown; we know their roots and background, they can work hard, and they're honest!"

Seeing that his mother was about to arrange a hometown wife for him, Li Qing hurriedly waved his hands and said:

"No, no, no, Mother, I already have a partner—a school teacher who draws a state salary. She's busy right now, so I won't bring her to meet you yet. I'll let you meet her when things settle down."

Du Chunfang was half-believing, half-doubting, while Li Qing regretted it; if only he had told the truth from the start.

Li Li Qing Xia changed the subject, asking Li Qing:

"How much money can you make selling fish in one day?"

"Thirty or forty yuan," Li Qing said. "Right now there are few people selling fish, but after a while, when more start selling, the price will drop, and we won't be able to make that much anymore."

"That's still a lot!" Hearing that one could make thirty or forty yuan a day, Li Li Qing Xia became interested. "Then when it's time to sell fish, can I go with you to see?"

"How can you go see? You can't get up that early, can you?"

"How can I not get up that early? What time do you get up? Just wake me when you rise," Li Li Qing Xia said with a smile. "Although I've never sold fish, when I was young, to support the family, I sold ginger and pears, pushing a cart and hawking them. I can shout out a sales pitch too; isn't this just selling things?"

Li Qing thought to himself that this was indeed true; as long as one could put aside shame and shout loudly, in this era of scarce goods, fish could basically always be sold. After all, in Northern Frontier, especially around Shicheng, there were many wage-earning workers, and their wages were relatively high, so the market potential was considerable.

"Alright then, tomorrow happens to be Sunday; Xiao Juan isn't at school, so we'll all go together."

"I've also thought of a good method," Li Li Qing Xia said with a smile. "When you haul in the nets today, I'll make a new contraption for catching fish. Tomorrow morning we'll go retrieve the fish together; you sell your fish, and I'll sell mine!"

Li Qing was somewhat curious; what method could his father possibly come up with?

After Li Li Qing Xia and Du Chunfang returned home, he asked Du Chunfang to find a new sock, cut off the toe, leaving only the ankle section, then go to the kitchen to find a steamer cloth (gauze), cut a hole in its center, and carefully sew the sock's ankle section into the middle of the gauze.

Finally, Li Li Qing Xia found a washbasin, stretched the gauze over it, and tied a rope tightly around the rim underneath so that it couldn't be pulled loose no matter how much one tugged; that was done. Next, he tied another rope in a triangular knot, perfectly balanced so the basin could be lifted. He went to the pig feed, grabbed a handful of oil cake residue, stuffed it into the basin through the sock-ankle opening, and thus the fish-catching artifact was complete.

"Will this thing work?" Du Chunfang understood at a glance but remained uncertain, so she asked, "Are there really that many fish in there?"

"Just wait and see; tomorrow I'll go with Xiao Long to retrieve the nets, and this basin of mine is sure to catch quite a few!" Li Li Qing Xia said with full confidence.

When Li Qing and Tao Da came over in the afternoon to retrieve the tire and nets, they saw the "basin net" that Li Li Qing Xia had created.

Li Qing understood at once and said with a smile:

"Father, what you've made here is excellent; it will surely catch plenty of fish! Little Little Haizi has gou fish, a kind of loach; they taste wonderful, and they love to burrow into things like this!"

"Hehe, that's good!" Having received his youngest son's approval, Li Li Qing Xia felt somewhat proud and also surprised; he hadn't expected Li Qing to grasp the ingenuity of his fish-catching "artifact" at a single glance.

Naturally, Li Qing had seen this many times in his previous life, though mostly children used this trick; they would take a canned food jar, poke a hole in the top, toss in some breadcrumbs or the like, and that would attract fish too.

The three of them carried the tire, nets, and basin toward Little Little Haizi. Along the way, whenever they encountered someone heading to the fields to work, Li Qing would enthusiastically introduce his father.

Li Li Qing Xia was still somewhat unaccustomed and felt a bit shy, but he soon discovered that his son Li Qing was quite popular.

Upon reaching the edge of Little Little Haizi, Li Qing sat on the tire, carried the net into the water to set it, while Li Li Qing Xia scanned the water surface, searching for a suitable spot to place the basin, and asked Tao Daqiang:

"Daqiang, I see you also want to get down there and set the net, don't you?"

"Yes, but I don't know how. Look at Brother Long; he paddles with his hands while laying the net with his mouth. That's a skill I can only watch; I've tried learning it many times but can't master it. Actually, I practiced while hauling nets back home, but I feel I just can't get it..."

Only then did Li Li Qing Xia notice that his son Li Qing, inside the water, was paddling forward with both hands while methodically paying out the net from his mouth; as the tire drifted backward, the net slipped into the water bit by bit, not the least bit tangled.

"This boy really is capable," Li Li Qing Xia remarked with a smile.

"Elder Li, you must know this skill of Brother Long's too, right? I see you cast nets so well; surely he learned his fish-catching methods from you?"

Tao Daqiang's words caught Li Li Qing Xia off guard; he turned to look at Tao Daqiang, and upon confirming that the young man was not being sarcastic but genuinely wore an expression of admiration, he replied vaguely:

"Casting nets, that's a family tradition. Mainly, Xiao Long is clever and loves to ponder things; with enough pondering, one can devise many methods..."

"Mm, Brother Long is indeed clever," Tao Daqiang stated with certainty.

Li Li Qing Xia looked at this simple-minded young man and laughed. That rascal!

When Li Qing paddled back on the tire, Li Li Qing Xia pointed to a patch of reeds less than five meters from the shore and told him:

"Xiao Long, place this basin there, let water fill it so it sinks, then tie the rope to those reeds."

"Alright." Li Qing took the basin, paddled over on the tire, and set the basin into the water.

"Let's go back," Li Qing said.

They hadn't brought the casting net today. Mainly, because they had eaten fish for two days straight, meal after meal, everyone unanimously felt they could not eat any more.

Li Li Qing Xia still felt somewhat reluctant, but he didn't want to eat fish either.

There's still a time when one gets tired of eating fish; if I went back to the home village and told people that, they'd probably laugh—how could that be possible?

But that is the truth.

The three of them returned to the courtyard; Tao Da went straight back to his own home. Seeing that Li Juan had not yet returned, Li Qing began preparing to cook pig feed. On the way back, he had also pulled up some pig grass; he would just chop it up first and deal with the rest later.

Seeing her youngest son fiddling with the pig feed, Du Chunfang moved to help, but Li Qing hastily waved his hands:

"Mother, don't move; I'll handle this."

"How can a big strapping lad like you do this kind of work?" At this moment, Du Chunfang was wondering why Li Juan still hadn't returned.

!.

Once Li Juan got back, she could do this kind of work.

"Why couldn't I? There's even a capable fellow in our production team who can stitch shoe soles, knit sweaters, weave mats, and basket—all kinds of things—and he's a man," Li Qing replied without looking up.

This was one good thing about the production team: people from all over the country had gathered here to live together, so none of those bad local customs existed; basically, there was no preference for sons over daughters. If a man did work generally considered women's work, the team members would only praise him as capable, not say he was afraid of his wife or anything like that—in fact, they weren't afraid; it was just that the husband and wife worked together to make a good life, which was their own ability.

"There are such people?" What Li Qing said somewhat overturned Du Chunfang's entire worldview; there were really such people?

"Why couldn't there be? Just look at my sister-in-law; her work in the fields is no worse than my elder brother's," Li Qing said. After finishing chopping the pig grass, he saw there wasn't quite enough, so he ran to the vegetable garden, pulled up a few handfuls of seedlings and such, chopped them up, piled them together, and seeing it was about right, he put it all in the pot and lit the fire to boil.

Li Juan returned, carrying her schoolbag and humming a tune. Seeing Li Qing cooking pig feed, she hurried over and said with some guilt:

"Youngest Uncle, I came back late..."

"Late for what?" Li Qing said with a smile while tending the fire. "I'm giving you a day off today. You come back every day and just work; today, go play. Just remember to come back for dinner later; I'll be steaming mantou in a little while!"

"Really?"

"Of course it's real. Did you finish your homework?"

"I finished it, and I've already checked it."

"Then go ahead."

"Mm!" Li Juan nodded vigorously, put down her schoolbag, greeted her grandfather and grandmother, and then ran off to play.

"You really do spoil her," Du Chunfang muttered, sitting at the doorway.

"When I first arrived, my elder brother and sister-in-law spoiled me too..." Li Qing said while tending the fire, but he stopped halfway through his sentence.

Thinking about how things had developed in his previous life, his elder brother had truly spoiled him; later, even Li Qiang went down to the fields to work, while he himself? He would go if he wanted to and not go if he didn't... Damn it...

At this moment, Li Qing's nose felt a bit sour; he lifted his head to look at the sky and changed the subject:

"Father, it will be sunny tomorrow; are you really going to the street to sell fish?"

"Of course I'm going; I also want to see what the market fair looks like around here."

"Mother, are you going?" Li Qing turned his head to ask Du Chunfang; he was thinking that if she wanted to go, they could take the horse-drawn cart to sell the fish.

"No, I don't like crowds; isn't it nice to stay home and bask in the sun? This sunshine is much better than back in our hometown." Du Chunfang preferred quiet to activity.

"Then what do you love to eat? I'll buy it and bring it back for you then."

"What do I love to eat? That meat your sister-in-law stewed was quite good; I really loved eating it..." After saying this, Du Chunfang felt a bit embarrassed. "It's just too wasteful; how can we eat meat every day? Even a landlord's family couldn't eat meat every day, let alone eat white flour steamed buns every day..."

"What's the problem with that? If we have it at home, why can't we eat it? We don't have such sayings here," Li Qing said. "No need to wait; we have meat at home; I'll make it for you in a little while."

Once the pig feed was cooked, Li Qing scooped it out, changed the pot to boil water, and then went to the kitchen himself to mix and leaven the dough.

Du Chunfang wanted to help, but Li Qing told her to wait outside. The chopping blocks and such here were all different from those back in their hometown, and steaming mantou here involved steaming two or three layers at once; since Du Chunfang was not tall, she would definitely not be accustomed to it.

Watching Li Li Qing Xia glance at the vegetable garden one moment and at the pigs the next, Du Chunfang felt a surge of anger; she scolded the old man:

"Don't you know to go help? Just watching Without Xiao Long busy by himself?"

"What help could I offer? I don't even know how to cook!" Li Li Qing Xia said with righteous confidence; he truly did not know how to steam mantou or cook meals in a large wok.

Even when he had gone out to earn money in his youth, selling ginger and such, he never had to cook; he would bring cornmeal cakes, sandwich a piece of ginger, and that counted as a meal.

Du Chunfang grew even angrier, but there was nothing she could do about it.

"You say Without Xiao Long is so capable; the wife he marries in the future will surely enjoy great fortune," she suddenly had a new thought.

"Don't you go playing matchmaker recklessly there! Without Xiao Long himself said he already has a partner!" Li Li Qing Xia knew his wife's thoughts best. "Don't make it so that in the end, Without Xiao Long really becomes distant from you, and then you'll have nothing but tears."

"He's not that close to me now anyway..." Du Chunfang complained in a low voice.

"Not close? If he weren't close, would he want to make braised pork for you the moment he heard you say you wanted to eat it? Why didn't he ask me what I wanted to eat?"

Hearing her husband say this, Du Chunfang smiled with some embarrassment.

That's right; her son was close to her!

(End of Chapter)