Chapter 211: Father and son soldiers, Li Qing Xia is very powerful

The final fate of Li Qiang's water chicken was that it was made into beggar's chicken by Li Long.

At noon, the Li family (except Li Long and Li Juan) all ate at the Liang family's place and ate very well. According to Li Jianguo, the elders of both sides chatted very happily and agreed that in a while, the old couple of the Liang family would also come over to gather and chat together.

The evening meal was a bit more casual, but Li Qiang was energetic and got hungry quickly. His water chicken was almost tortured to death, so Li Long made it into a simplified version of beggar's chicken for him.

Without plucking the chicken feathers, he directly gutted the water chicken, took out the inedible parts, put the edible parts back in, rubbed salt inside the belly, added a little chili powder, and then added some ginger, garlic, and the like. After closing it, he pasted it with mixed mud, wrapped it into a ball, made it uniform, stuffed it under the stove, and started the fire.

There was plenty of firewood, so he was just that bold—Li Jianguo laughed and scolded: If you wasted firewood like this when you were a child in your hometown, your butt would be beaten into eight petals!

Li Long knew that Li Jianguo still had the impression of being hungry when he was a child, so he smiled and said:

"It's not the same as before. Before, we were hungry one meal and full the next. Now, even if we can't say we eat whatever we want, at least we can eat white flour and meat every meal. Life will get better and better in the future."

"Yes, life will get better and better in the future." Li Jianguo thought about the things he had just discussed with Li Long, his heart full of hope.

"Little Uncle, when will this chicken be ready?" Li Qiang's saliva was almost flowing out. The mud was wrapped very tightly, and the fragrance couldn't come out. Li Long smiled and said, "It will take a while. I can't take it out for you if it's not cooked. Go get a small bowl, put some salt in it. When the time comes, if there is no salt taste in the chicken meat, you have to dip it to eat."

Li Juan sat quietly by the wall, but her eyes also looked at the bottom of the stove from time to time.

The sky darkened, and stars could vaguely be seen. Li Long had cut off the fire under the stove more than ten minutes ago, leaving only red ash to simmer the beggar's chicken.

Seeing that the time was about right, he got up, went to the kitchen, took two steamed buns, and stuffed them into the red ash.

In a little while, the fragrance of burnt flour wafted through the air.

Li Qiang couldn't hold it anymore. He shook Li Long and asked:

"Little Uncle, when can we eat? I'm hungry..."

"Can eat, can eat." Li Long smiled. He used a fire hook to dig out the mud ball, tapped it a few times at the stove mouth to knock off the red ash sticking to it, and then said to Li Qiang:

"You go get a basin."

There was a wooden table in the yard. Li Qiang flew to get the basin. Li Long used the fire hook to tap it lightly. In a while, cracks appeared on the mud, and then pieces of dry mud fell off, revealing the white and tender water chicken meat inside—the chicken feathers fell off with the mud.

"So fragrant!" Li Qiang's saliva was really going to flow out this time. He swallowed and said loudly, "So fragrant!"

Li Juan also walked over. Li Long pointed to the wooden table and said:

"Go over there." The two children went to the table, and Li Juan even ran to get many bowls and chopsticks.

Li Long completely knocked open the mud ball, mashed the water chicken meat into the basin, picked it up and put it on the table, looked at Li Juan's movements, and smiled:

"You two eat, the adults have already eaten."

When Li Qiang heard this, he turned to look at his father.

Li Jianguo waved his hand:

"You eat, it smells quite fragrant."

Li Juan hesitated for a moment, picked up a piece of meat, and went to ask Li Qing Xia:

"Grandpa, do you want to eat?"

"Don't eat, don't eat, you eat." Li Qing Xia was very happy.

"Grandma, you taste a bite..."

"Then... I'll taste a bite." After Du Chunfang finished speaking, she regretted it and was a bit shy, but it really smelled fragrant.

"Dip some salt..." Li Long reminded, but it was a bit late. Du Chunfang ate that bite of meat, chewed it in her mouth, and said:

"It just lacks salt taste."

Everyone laughed, and Du Chunfang also laughed. Although a bit awkward, the atmosphere was really good.

In the hometown, you couldn't feel it.

Li Juan hurriedly picked up another pair of chopsticks, dipped it in some salt, and gave it to Grandma again. Li Qiang saw it and felt a bit of a competition, so he picked up a piece of meat, dipped it in salt, and gave it to Li Qing Xia.

Just like this, back and forth, the adults all tasted it, and then didn't eat anymore, letting the two children eat there.

Li Long dug out the two steamed buns from under the stove. Now they were roasted golden yellow. He patted them hard, patted off the firewood ash, and threw them on the table. The steamed buns were roasted hard and bounced twice on the table, dropping a bit of ash.

Li Long pulled over a wooden stool, sat in front of the table, knocked open a golden yellow steamed bun, took off the golden yellow part, divided it into two halves, gave half to Li Juan, and half to Li Qiang.

Actually, the two children were staring when he put the steamed buns on the table. At this time, seeing Li Long divide the steamed buns, they immediately took the steamed buns with a giggle and ate them with the water chicken meat.

"You just spoil them..." Liang Wenyu said, "See how to manage them later..."

"So filial, and know how to share meat with you, can't I spoil them?" Li Long said while slowly eating the steamed bun, "Right, Father?"

"That's right." Li Qing Xia looked and laughed, "Juan and Qiangqiang are filial!"

The whole family laughed.

Soon, Li Long's mouth also had a piece of water chicken meat, dipped in salt.

The next morning, Li Long and Tao Dayong went to take the nets. Li Qing Xia wanted to follow, and Li Long didn't stop him. With Li Qing Xia following, that basin of fish was easier to carry. Otherwise, it would be really inconvenient for two people to carry so many things.

The weather had been cloudy these few days, but the temperature was constantly rising. Getting up early in the morning, wearing a jacket wasn't that cold anymore.

"Xiao Long, I'll go sell fish with you today, okay?" Li Qing Xia asked.

"Alright." Li Long smiled and said, "Going together is a companion. When the time comes, if there are hoodlums who want to extort my money, the two of us can deal with them together."

"Someone wants to extort your money?" Tao Dayong became alert instantly, "Long Ge, did you run into those kinds of people again?"

"No, no." Li Long waved his hand, "I'm just making an analogy. After all, we are going to someone else's territory to sell fish, so we have to be careful, right?"

"That's true." Tao Dayong was honest. Li Long said it was fine, so he believed it.

Li Qing Xia didn't speak, but he felt that Li Long saying this wasn't that simple.

Arriving at the edge of the Little Haizi, Li Long rolled up his trouser legs, pushed the tire into the water, then sat on it, rowing the water paddle towards the place where the basin was.

Arriving at the place, looking at the bulging basin half-sunk in the water, Li Long knew it was another big harvest.

Just didn't know if there were more ditch fish or small crucian carp inside.

Rowing the water paddle to send the basin to the shore, Li Long turned back and rowed inside, starting to collect the nets.

Only six nets were set today. Li Long felt he needed to go buy a few more nets.

These nets caught quite a lot of fish, but they were also severely damaged, especially those big fish. Basically, if a fish of more than two or three kilograms was hooked, the fine silk on the net would break.

So Li Long planned to change a batch of nets.

After all, the cost of these nets had been recovered several times or even dozens of times. Putting two nets into a urea bag, Li Long habitually tied the urea bag to the tire rope and dragged it forward.

After several experiences of setting nets, plus the experience of his previous life, he would start taking the nets from the farthest one and take them back all the way, and he would be almost at the shore.

Today's fish were much fewer than yesterday, but Li Long wasn't disappointed. After all, there were two fewer nets, and the nets were getting more and more rotten.

After taking the six nets, Li Long saw Li Qing Xia casting a net on the shore, probably wanting to add some weight to the fish cargo to be sold today.

When Li Long reached the shore, Tao Dayong reached out to pull Li Long up, took the tire up, pulled the urea bag, weighed it, and said:

"Long Ge, there are fewer fish today than yesterday?"

"The fish nets are a bit broken. See, I have to buy new nets in these two days." Li Long said casually, "Even this is fifty or sixty kilograms, it's okay."

"There are still seven or eight kilograms in this basin, enough to sell for a while." Li Qing Xia was actually quite content. In which river in his hometown could he catch so many fish? Even if he caught them, how could he sell so much money?

Loach? Eighty cents a kilogram? Is there anyone for forty cents?

Now he can sell ten days of a worker's wages in one day, how beautiful!

These two stinky boys still think it's too little? Really ungrateful.

Tao Dayong carried three urea bags alone and walked forward, Li Qing Xia held the basin, and Li Long carried the tire, carrying the casting net and walking at the end.

His legs were a bit itchy, thinking he must have been bitten by a water beetle in the water.

!.

There was really no way for this stuff. After all, as long as you catch fish, you have to go into the water, unless you only cast nets, but that stuff is too slow and tiring.

He had to find some medicine to apply when he went back, otherwise, it would be troublesome if it ulcerated.

Li Long endured not scratching, walked home all the way, put the things away, then lifted his trouser legs, and saw several red bumps on his legs.

"Bitten by a water beetle?" Li Jianguo had experience and asked, "There is erythromycin eye ointment at home, apply a little first."

"Mhm." Regardless of whether it worked or not, apply a little to sterilize first.

Li Qing Xia had already poured all the fish in the basin into the big card basin, seeing that most of them were ditch fish, and one-fourth were small crucian carp.

He picked out the small crucian carp, and Du Chunfang asked:

"Can't this be sold together?"

"That can't be, the taste is different, those people who eat fish are picky." Li Qing Xia smiled and said, "We sell at a high price, so we have to give people real things."

After the fish were sorted, Tao Dayong took some dead ditch fish and small crucian carp home. If it was dry-fried fish, the taste of ditch fish and small crucian carp was about the same. If fried for a long time, the thorns were fried crispy, so you could just chew them directly.

Li Long put the sorted fish into two bags, added water, put them on both sides of the bicycle frame, covered them with sackcloth, then let Li Juan sit on the crossbar, he got on the bike first and pedaled, then let Li Qing Xia sit on the back, and rode towards outside the village.

Arriving at the primary school, he put Li Juan down and continued to ride forward, and Li Qing Xia asked:

"Is that place to sell fish far? Do you want to go to the forest to find two sticks first?"

Li Long didn't expect his father had already thought of it, was stunned for a moment, and then smiled and said:

"No need, no need. There are shovel handles in the compound where the basin and scale are kept, just take two."

"That works." Li Qing Xia knew what a shovel handle was; that stuff was much better than just finding a random stick.

This time Li Long didn't bring a gun, mainly because his father was following, and bringing a gun would easily make the old man worry. Besides, two grown men, even if the three little hoodlums from that day came again, they wouldn't be afraid.

Went to the compound to get the scale and basin, put the basin in the bag and let Li Qing Xia hold it, Li Long took two shovel handles and tied them to the bike, and pedaled towards Shicheng.

Arriving at the old street, the stall Li Long found this time wasn't as good as the last one, but it wasn't very remote either. He waited for a while, and after seeing the old lady selling willow weaving leave, he went to the stall.

This time no one fought with him. After Li Long set up the stall, he started shouting.

Li Qing Xia didn't expect that when Li Long was shouting to sell ditch fish, he actually added words about virility and kidney tonifying, and for a moment his face was a bit red with shame.

But the effect was very good!

It was really good. Immediately, many people surrounded them and started asking for prices.

Li Qing Xia saw so many people coming and was a bit nervous. Li Long was still the same set, not letting people touch the fish, and he weighed them himself.

Now the people surrounding them were quite orderly. Most of them wanted to weigh loach, and a few looked at the carp and five-striped black fish in the big basin, feeling they were beautiful, and wanted to weigh these fish. The business opened instantly.

The amount of fish was small, and they sold very quickly. In less than an hour, the bottom of the basin was clear. Li Long and Li Qing Xia looked at each other and both let out a long breath.

Didn't see any hoodlums coming, so Li Long felt relieved, then packed up his things and took his father to drink milk tea and eat naan.

The naan was not bad, but his father wasn't used to drinking milk tea, so he poured the remaining half bowl to Li Long.

After the two finished eating, they rode their bicycles back. Turning from the old street to the Wuyi Highway, they hadn't gone far when they were blocked by someone.

Li Long looked and saw it was those three hoodlums, and smiled.

He stopped the car, Li Qing Xia got off, holding a shovel handle in his hand, and asked Li Long:

"Just these three boys?"

Li Long nodded:

"It was them yesterday. I told the joint-defense officers, they were chased by the joint-defense officers, and I ran away. Today it looks like they came specifically to block me."

"Hey!" Li Qing Xia held the shovel handle and was still a bit excited, "Haven't moved for some years, can I still exert force?"

Li Long felt a bit sweaty after hearing this: Father has a bit of a violent tendency!

Those three hoodlums didn't care about so much. Li Long was a young man, plus an old man, although they were tall, all three of them showed their weapons. One was a steel pipe, one was a military bayonet picked up from somewhere, and another was a blade welded to a one-foot steel pipe, looking quite intimidating.

"Hand over the money! Leave the bike!" The leader, who happened to be the one whose hand was hit by Li Long yesterday, pointed at Li Long with the steel pipe and shouted, "Yesterday you dared to let the joint-defense chase us, today retribution has come! Get off the bike!"

Li Long was happy. This guy really didn't know the situation he was facing right now!

"What nonsense?" Li Qing Xia had also done small business traveling north and south when he was young. Without waiting for Li Long to answer, he knew this matter couldn't be settled well, so he took the shovel handle and rushed over.

Li Long was startled. The old man was a bit fierce!

He hurriedly put the bicycle aside, pulled up a shovel handle, and rushed over too.

"One inch longer, one inch stronger" was absolutely correct. Those three little hoodlums saw two people rushing over with long sticks and were a bit confused. Is this being surrounded instead? Three people surrounded by two people?

Then it was a sound of chickens flying and dogs jumping, ghosts crying and wolves howling.

The three hoodlums shouldn't have been hoodlums for long and didn't know how to fight very well. In a few hits, they were knocked to the ground by the old man and Li Long and couldn't get up, and then they were disarmed.

Li Qing Xia watched Li Long take away all the wallets and change from the three people, and then carried the three weapons and the sticks away.

Halfway, Li Qing Xia suddenly asked:

"Xiao Long, is it often like this?"

Li Long knew that his father was worried.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 212 =====