Chapter 239: The six-color gifts he handled all by himself

Li Long returned from the Liang family and saw Tao Daqiang not going back by the side of the small lake, but holding a cast net and throwing it there incessantly; he should be practicing his net-throwing technique.

Li Long felt he hadn't thrown for a long time either, so he went over to throw a few nets to familiarize himself with the feel.

"Brother Long, I really envy you..." Tao Daqiang suddenly said from the side.

"Envy me for what?" Li Long asked while organizing the net.

"Envy you for having ability, being able to earn money, and being able to find a good wife like Gu Xiaoxia." Tao Daqiang said sincerely.

"Hahahaha." Li Long laughed, organized the net, twisted his waist to swing the net, and then threw the net out, watching the net spread out in the air, forming a nearly perfect circle, and landing in the water.

Waiting for the net to slowly sink in the water, Li Long turned his head to Tao Daqiang and said:

"Daqiang, actually, if you look back now, you are actually the object of envy for quite a few people in the team."

"Me? The object of envy for others?" Tao Daqiang was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly waved his hand, "How is that possible? It's not bad enough that people don't look down on me..."

"Haha, look at you, you really don't know the changes in yourself over the past half year.

Your family now has a donkey cart, this should already be in the top ten of the whole village, right? There aren't more than ten households in the team that have donkey carts or horse-drawn carriages."

"That's true." Tao Daqiang knew this was a fact.

"Let's say another thing, you must have at least two or three hundred yuan in your hand now, buying a bicycle is no problem, right? Even if you don't buy a bicycle, it's enough to have a brand new set of furniture made, right?"

"Enough, it won't take that much." Tao Daqiang wasn't someone who didn't understand anything. In these years, having a set of furniture made would cost at most a hundred or so. He still had wood at home, which could save quite a bit of money.

"Exactly, look. After deducting the money for the furniture, find time to dig earth blocks yourself, spend some money to build a house, you can take out this money, right? You aren't afraid of putting in the effort, right."

"That... certainly can." Tao Daqiang was most unafraid of putting in effort.

"Look, you have everything, just missing a wife, right." Li Long smiled. "Among the young men of your age in the whole village, how many have earned their own family foundation?"

Tao Daqiang reacted and laughed foolishly.

It was true, before he knew it, the famous simpleton among the young men in the team had also grown into the forefront of the youth.

Thinking back to someone coming to his house to act as a matchmaker a few days ago, Tao Daqiang finally had real confidence in his heart.

It was true, who was worse than whom?

Li Long had already pulled up the net. Unfortunately, this net was thrown in a circle, but inside there were only some crucian carp and small gully fish; there wasn't even a large silver carp.

"There are many people setting nets by the lake recently, the fish don't come to the edge much." Tao Daqiang explained, "I heard Meng Zhiqiang and the others say they also want to learn from you to set nets in the deep part of the lake, otherwise they can't catch fish."

It wasn't that they couldn't catch fish, after all, the small lake was so big, at worst they could set nets in circles. But it was certain that there were fewer fish, after all, no one had been tossing the fish on the edge every day before, including Li Long and the others who only occasionally threw nets, and more often set nets in the deep part of the lake.

The two of them threw a few more nets, then carried the tires, carried the net bags, and carried a few kilograms of small fish home.

Tao Daqiang put down the tire and returned to his own home. Li Long changed his clothes. Du Chunfang couldn't bear to see her son tired, and couldn't help but complain again:

"Look, the son is getting engaged, and everything is handled by himself. You, the father, are really idle."

"Then what should I do?" Li Qing Xia's mentality was very good, and he said with a smile, "The son is capable, so I'm happy, isn't that okay?"

Li Jianguo and Liang Wenyu both went to the threshing ground to work, and Li Qing Xia also wanted to go, but Li Jianguo didn't let him.

The matter of the threshing ground was implicitly that each family would send one or two laborers. Although the Li family had many people, they couldn't send so many people just because they had many people. This thing also required a tacit understanding and fairness.

So Li Qing Xia and Du Chunfang fed the pigs and tidied up the vegetable garden in the courtyard. Some vegetables could be picked, and they couldn't finish eating them, such as kidney beans and cowpeas, which needed to be dried into dried vegetables to eat in winter.

Li Long changed his clothes, moved a stool to the side of the pressure well, and while peeling the fish, listened to the old couple bickering, laughing from time to time.

The way the old couple lived together like this was probably "husband and wife when young, companions when old." There were no sweet words; if one argued, the other would soften a bit.

After the small fish were peeled, Li Long washed them three times with the water from the pressure well, put the fish by the side of the stove, and went to fetch a bundle of corn stalks. Du Chunfang was boiling pig feed in the other stove, and Li Long was cooking here.

"Without Xiao Long, what are you doing, are you preparing to stew fish?"

"Yeah, haven't eaten stewed fish for many days, a bit craving it. I'm thinking of sticking some pancakes when stewing later, won't dinner be ready then."

"Okay, okay." Du Chunfang naturally had no objections. To tell the truth, she still wasn't used to cooking this kind of meal here. Since Li Long wanted to do it, she had no objections.

"It was only after coming to the Northern Frontier that we started eating three meals a day. Back in the hometown, where would we eat three meals, two meals were the limit. If any family ate three meals, they would be scolded by others." Li Qing Xia held a stick and stirred the pig feed while sighing.

"That's because the land here is vast, grain is harvested more, and there's food to eat. How could we eat that back in the hometown?" Du Chunfang habitually retorted, "Two meals were both one dry and one thin, unlike here, eating rice and flour every day. If we told the hometown, who would believe it?"

Li Long returned to the kitchen and started kneading dough. He mixed corn flour and white flour together, which he felt tasted fragrant. When the pancakes absorbed the fish soup later, the taste would be truly unique.

For the elderly and children, the softened pancakes were also easy to digest.

After the dough was kneaded, Li Long went over to prepare to burn the fire. In front of the stove, he saw Du Chunfang had already sat there, put a handful of corn stalks into the stove, and made preparations.

"Mom, are you burning the fire?"

"Then I don't know how to cook this meal, can't I burn the fire?" Du Chunfang said with a smile, "You cook, I'll watch. After going back tomorrow, I'll cook it in the hometown too, to make them crave it to death."

Li Long found that his mother had become more talkative these days, but her mentality seemed to be better.

"Then why go back? Just stay here." Li Long said while brushing the pot, "Is that winter in the hometown for people to stay in? The room is colder than outside, there's no stove and no fire wall, and if you want to burn a fire, there's no firewood. The money to buy a ton of coal can buy several tons here..."

"That's true." Du Chunfang nodded, then turned her head to look at Li Qing Xia, "Did you hear that? Your youngest son said, isn't it good to stay here for the winter?"

Li Qing Xia just laughed foolishly.

Li Long knew his father certainly still wanted to go back, to return home in glory. Many things that were taken for granted here could be talked about at length on the card table back in the hometown.

Of course, people with ability could also live very comfortably when they came here, but they had already lost their status as pioneers, and if they wanted to live well, they had to pay double the effort.

Unless they had a connection, like Li Jianguo, who could let them have a connection.

Du Chunfang lit the fire, and Li Long poured oil. Seeing Li Long pour in so much oil, Du Chunfang wanted to say something but didn't. The amount of vegetable oil Li Long put in was enough for the old couple to eat for a week back in the hometown.

But the youngest son could earn money, earning more in one day than they earned in half a year back in the hometown, and he could also take the old man to earn money. If he wanted to eat like this, wouldn't he just let him?

To take care of Li Juan and Li Qiang's tastes, Li Long didn't put much chili. Garlic and ginger were put into the hot oil, turned a few times, fried until fragrant, and the fish was poured in.

Although the fish had been peeled and washed several times, several were truly tenacious in vitality and were still jumping in the pot for two days, looking quite fun.

The oil had been drizzled around the pot, so although these fish made a huge sound in the pot, they wouldn't stick to the pot.

Letting the fish turn a few times in the pot, after both sides were fried by the oil, Li Long lifted the thermos and poured water in, stopping only after pouring half a pot.

Next was sticking the pancakes.

After the pancakes were stuck, the pot lid was covered, the fire was turned to low, and soon the courtyard was filled with the fragrance of stewed fresh fish.

"Hey, the meal Without Xiao Long cooked is really not bad!" Li Qing Xia scraped the pig feed out of the pot and washed the pot. Smelling this smell, he said with a smile, "Without Xiao Long, stew it for a while longer, stew it until it's soft, just in time for Juan and Qiangqiang to come back." "Okay." Li Long, who had taken over the fire from his mother, reduced the fire even more.

Li Qiang came back first, then Li Juan.

By the time Li Jianguo and Liang Wenyu pulled the horse-drawn carriage and brought the roller back, a large basin of fish had already been served out of the pot, and the pancakes had already been placed on a large plate. Li Juan and Li Qiang, each holding a pancake, had already started eating first.

"Eating with many people is lively." The whole family sat in the courtyard eating, Li Qing Xia sighed, "In the hometown, your mother and I ate, and I felt I had no appetite. Here, hey, I can eat two more pancakes in the evening."

"The taste of this small fish is also good." Du Chunfang continued. She didn't have the patience to eat fish because the fish bones were hard to handle, so Li Long simply told her to just put the small fish in her mouth and chew, chew the taste, and spit out the rest.

Anyway, there were many fish, so he didn't care about this little waste.

Eating like this, the taste was really good, it was just that there was less meat.

"Tomorrow we should be able to catch large carp." Liang Wenyu was still concerned about the fish for the six-color gifts. The meat had already been solved, and everything else had been bought, so only the fish was left.

"If we can't catch them, we'll set nets again." Li Long said with a smile, "Set eight nets, I don't believe we can't catch large carp."

The next day, Tao Daqiang came over early to find Li Long, and the two of them carried the tires together toward the small lake.

Halfway there, Li Qing Xia chased after them from behind.

!.

"Dad, why did you get up so early?" Li Long was a bit strange, "Can't sleep?"

"I really can't sleep." Li Qing Xia said, "I just want to see if there are any carp today."

Li Long smiled.

Arriving at the small lake, Li Long pushed the tire into the water, then sat on it to collect the nets, while Li Qing Xia stood on the shore and watched with a bit of anxiety.

From time to time, he could see fish on the nets Li Long collected, but he didn't know if there was a target.

When Meng Zhiqiang came to take the nets, he saw Tao Daqiang and Li Qing Xia both looking toward the lake. He also looked over and saw Li Long sitting on the tire, pulling the nets back.

His eyes were also quite good, and he could see fish continuously hanging on the nets Li Long collected, and his mood was quite complicated.

When could he also get a tire to go into the water to set nets.

Setting nets on the shore, the fish catch was already very small.

The problem was that this thing, the large tire, wasn't something you could buy just because you had money.

Meng Zhiqiang also went to the vehicle team to ask. As a result, as soon as they heard where he came from, they refused directly.

At first, Meng Zhiqiang didn't understand the reason, but later he found out that it was because of what Gu Ermao did, which ruined the team's reputation.

This made Meng Zhiqiang so angry.

The last time Li Jianguo hit the Gu family, Meng Zhiqiang still felt Li Jianguo was a bit aggressive.

Now it seemed, he really hit him lightly!

Li Long rowed the tire back, Li Qing Xia couldn't help but shout:

"Without Xiao Long, is there any?"

He didn't say what, Meng Zhiqiang, who was collecting nets fifty meters away, pricked up his ears.

What was he asking about?

"Yes, there is." Li Long's voice carried joy, "Enough."

"Hehehe." Li Qing Xia was happy. Seeing Li Long was almost at the shore, he walked a few steps toward the water, intending to pull Li Long up.

Tao Daqiang hurriedly followed, pulled Li Long up first, and then pulled the tire with the fish bag onto the shore together.

The three of them each carried a pile and went home together.

Li Jianguo had already spread out the plastic sheet. When Li Long and the others returned, he poured the fish and nets onto it. At a glance, he saw a large fat carp with a yellow-red head and tail, at least forty or fifty centimeters long.

"Whoa! This fish must be at least four or five kilograms, right?"

"About that."

"Really beautiful!" Li Jianguo exclaimed, "Having this fish is enough."

"There's a smaller one, also beautiful." Li Long started picking the fish, "The head and tail are very good-looking, and the whiskers are long."

"I'll send the fish and meat over today." Li Jianguo said directly, "We aren't particular about so much, but sending live fish over is auspicious!"

Li Long laughed foolishly.

"Then what about the remaining fish?" Du Chunfang asked, looking at so many fish.

"Sell, I'll go sell fish in a while." Li Long said while picking the fish, "These eight nets have at least sixty or seventy kilograms of fish, we can't finish eating them if we keep them, let's sell them."

"Okay." Li Jianguo also had no objections. Keeping them would only be a waste, so it was better to sell them for money, "Don't set nets in the afternoon, we'll get engaged tomorrow, we need to tidy up properly."

After picking the fish, Li Long changed his clothes. Li Jianguo skillfully divided the fish into two bags and put them on the bicycle, covered them with a sack, and Li Juan was happily waiting on the side with her schoolbag.

Pedaling the bicycle, Li Long rode out of the village, dropped Li Juan off at the primary school, and then went to the county. After taking the tools from the courtyard, he went to Shicheng.

He hadn't sold fish for a long time, and Li Long felt his throat was a bit itchy.

The old street of Shicheng was still lively. When Li Long arrived, there were no empty stalls left.

He wasn't in a hurry either, directly propped up the bicycle on the diagonal corner across the road, put down the basin, and poured the fish.

After the preparation work was done, he shouted loudly.

As soon as Li Long shouted, quite a few people immediately walked over quickly.

"Young man, you haven't come to sell fish for quite a few days, what's the situation?"

"Exactly, your fish is delicious, I was thinking of stewing it in a couple of days, why did you stop?"

"Is it because something happened at home? It's good that you can come... hey, why are there no loaches?"

"It's not bad to have fish to eat, look at how beautiful this crucian carp is, and it's still alive, give me two yuan worth, I'll go back and stew soup..."

Li Long didn't expect that after not coming for a few days, these fish-eating people were still waiting here.

Not bad, repeat customers are good!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 240 =====