Chapter 31

When Li Long got dressed and went out to go to the west room, he saw a big black figure wandering outside the courtyard gate. He was startled and shouted, "Who is it?"

"Brother Long, it's me."

It was Tao Daqiang's voice.

"Daqiang, why are you so early?" Li Long breathed a sigh of relief and then asked suspiciously, "I was planning to go to your house to find you after eating."

"I was afraid... I was afraid I'd miss the time." Tao Daqiang scratched his hat and responded with a silly smile.

"Come into the room quickly." Li Long came over to pull him, and then saw that Tao Daqiang's hat was covered in white frost, as were his eyebrows and eyelashes. He couldn't help but ask:

"What time did you come?"

"I... I don't remember." Tao Daqiang was so frozen that his mouth wasn't working properly.

"Come into the room quickly! You didn't sleep at all last night, did you?"

Li Long was just guessing, but he didn't expect he had almost hit the truth.

After Tao Daqiang went back last night, he sure enough found that there was no food for him at home, so he didn't say much and went to sleep early.

However, after lying down, he was worried about not being able to get up in the morning because Li Long had said they had to leave before dawn.

As a result, he tossed and turned, and in the end, he didn't dare to fall asleep, so he simply got up, put on his clothes, and sat on the kang waiting.

Tao Jianshe had long since fallen asleep. Tao Daqiang felt that he had waited long enough, so he quietly left the house and came to the Li family.

As a result, Li Long hadn't gotten up yet, so he waited at the courtyard gate, waiting until Li Long got up; he didn't know how long he had waited in between.

Li Jianguo heard the sound of talking outside, opened the door, and saw it was Tao Daqiang and Li Long, so he immediately invited them in.

Liang Yuemei hurriedly served them corn grits porridge, and Tao Daqiang leaned against the fire wall, only recovering after a long while.

After Li Long washed up, he helped Liang Yuemei serve the bowls and food. In the morning, there were cornmeal steamed cakes, stir-fried sheep meat with pickled vegetables, plus porridge and the fish soup left over from last night.

Li Long and Tao Daqiang didn't stand on ceremony and finished eating wolfishly. Li Long wiped his mouth and said to Li Jianguo:

"Big Brother, I have a few grouse in my room. I'll take a few to sell, and you can clean up the rest and we'll eat them."

Tao Daqiang looked at Li Long with envy; Brother Long is really capable, just make a move, and there's meat to eat.

Li Jianguo unhooked the key ring from his waistband, opened the five-drawer cabinet, took out a stack of grain coupons, counted out a few, and handed them to Li Long:

"Here, is this enough?"

"Not enough, take some more."

"Alright." Li Jianguo didn't say anything; now that his younger brother was capable, he was naturally happy.

Li Long wouldn't think he was better than his big brother; after all, when it comes to land distribution next spring, that's when his big brother will show his ability. His own two mu of land also had to be left for his big brother to farm.

Holding the grain coupons, Li Long and Tao Daqiang went out, then pulled the sled. Li Jianguo put the urea bag containing the fish on the sled. Li Long took the bag with the grouse out of his room, took out six, twisted their necks one by one, and put them on the ground. The remaining five that were still alive were still tied in the bag and put on the sled. Tao Daqiang pulled the rope on the sled and walked out with big strides.

This simple sled was similar to a stretcher, but the front was tilted up, and thick iron wires were embedded in the two sticks underneath to reduce friction. The rope was tied to the front, and once the two ends were tied, it could be pulled along.

Now the snow on the road had been pressed into ice, and the sled slid on it, flying along without almost any effort.

Tao Daqiang was in high spirits and pulled faster and faster. Li Long found it amusing and reminded him from behind:

"Daqiang, pay attention when you use force; don't let the things on the sled fall off."

"Mm, I know!"

The two gradually disappeared at the end of the road.

When it was dawn, Sister-in-law Lu came to the Li family again.

"Yo, Auntie, your family is eating early?" Seeing Li Juan and Li Qiang playing on the kang, Sister-in-law Lu said with a smile.

Liang Yuemei, who was sewing a shoe sole, nodded and didn't say much.

She didn't want to say that they got up early because Li Long and the others were going to the county to sell fish. Although the policy had loosened up a lot now, it was still not good to leave people with gossip. Besides, Sister-in-law Lu herself was a gossip.

"Auntie, have you heard? Yesterday, the three horse carriages borrowed by the team to go into the mountains to haul wood, only the team leader's carriage hauled half a carriage, and the rest didn't haul anything!" Sister-in-law Lu lowered her voice to convey the news she had heard to Liang Yuemei.

"How could they not haul anything? There's so much wood in those mountains."

"They said they couldn't find the way. People can go in, but the horse carriages can't." Sister-in-law Lu felt those people were really stupid. In the summer, the people from the side-business team could go in, but in the winter, they couldn't find the way, "Your Xiao Long is still the capable one; every time he comes back, it's a carriage full of things!"

"Mm, Xiao Long is lucky." Liang Yuemei said vaguely.

"I don't think it's just luck; it's that Xiao Long is capable." Sister-in-law Lu had completely lost the realization from before that Li Long was a spendthrift and began to praise Li Long.

"By the way, Auntie, my niece is nineteen, graduated from primary school, can work, and is good-looking. See if you can talk to Xiao Long..."

"Then I'll have to ask Xiao Long." Liang Yuemei said with a smile, "Xiao Long's standards aren't low."

"Hehe, I know, I know, I'm just asking. If Xiao Long agrees, then let them meet first; whether it works out or not is another matter."

Li Long didn't know that someone had already started planning to invest in him, this potential stock. When they arrived at the black market, it was just barely dawn.

But at the black market, some people were already planning to pack up and leave.

"Did they come so early?" Seeing someone pushing a bicycle, the two baskets on the back of the bike were already empty, Tao Daqiang couldn't help but ask, "What time did they set out?"

!.

"They live close by." Li Long said, then found an empty spot, parked the sled, and began taking things out.

"What are you selling?" Someone immediately came over to ask.

"Fish." Li Long didn't look up, "And grouse."

"Fish? What kind of fish?"

"Carp, crucian carp, grass carp, silver carp, and five-striped black fish are all here." Li Long saw that this person was asking so specifically, so he immediately looked up and answered seriously, "Which kind do you want? How much?"

"What's the price?" That was a man in his fifties, wearing a Zhongshan suit, looking like a cadre, "I see you didn't bring a scale."

"By the piece; on average, large carp and five-striped black fish are two yuan each, silver carp are one yuan fifty cents each, and small crucian carp and miscellaneous fish are ten for one yuan. My fish are all over one and a half kilograms, absolutely cheap!"

Li Long didn't have a scale and didn't plan to bring one. In his previous life, when he sold crucian carp in the summer, he always used a large bowl, and that bowl was about a kilogram or so. Now in winter, the fish were all frozen, so he couldn't use a bowl and had to use the piece.

"Then take the fish out and let me see." This man had the intention to buy, so Li Long took the fish out and placed them on the sled.

More people gathered around to watch.

"Looks pretty good, quite big."

"Five-striped black fish, this fish has garlic-clove meat, very delicious!"

"That crucian carp is a large plate crucian, looks quite fat..."

The onlookers had those who knew their stuff, watching one by one.

Li Long took out the five grouse and displayed one:

"Freshly caught grouse, three yuan each, tastes better than chicken, wild game!"

Many people were watching, but only one or two were picking fish.

Tao Daqiang nervously stared at the people picking fish, afraid that these people would take the fish and run.

"Young man, how much is this carp?" A woman in her forties picked up the largest carp and asked.

"Two yuan." Li Long said with a smile, "This is the biggest one; look at this red head and red tail, how beautiful!"

"When was it caught?" The woman was still a bit hesitant.

"Yesterday, open the gill cover and look, it's red. We broke through an ice hole nearly a meter thick to catch it, it wasn't easy at all!"

"Then I'll take it." The woman took out the money.

First order, accomplished!

(End of chapter)