Chapter 36

Li Long entered the house and saw his sister-in-law, Liang Yumei, organizing the things he had brought back, so he asked:

"Sister-in-law, where's my brother?"

"Your brother said you might still be going to sell fish tomorrow, so he thought he'd go to the lake to catch some now. By the way, did you sell all the fish?"

"Sold them all." Li Long didn't bother changing his clothes and said while walking out, "Then I'll go check the small lake."

"No, no, you rest for a bit first. You've been tired all day, there's no rush for that little while." Liang Yumei hurriedly stopped him. "Drink some mutton soup to warm up, and then eat something. You didn't eat lunch, right? Where's Daqiang?"

"Daqiang took the things home, he'll be over in a bit."

"Then wait for Daqiang, no need to rush. You ran over twenty kilometers back and forth and were frozen outside for so long, what's the rush."

Li Long thought it was true; making money was indeed making money, but being tired was also truly tiring. This trip earned a month's salary for a regular worker, but it was much harder than working.

However, in this day and age, one wasn't afraid of hard work, only of not being able to make money, and afraid that the hard work would be in vain. Next year, when land is distributed to households, one would be able to see the enthusiasm of each family.

But Li Long didn't plan to farm. His two mu of land would naturally be farmed by his brother, while Li Long planned to wander around the mountains properly; making money was the most important thing.

There wouldn't be such good opportunities in the future.

Leaning against the fire wall, watching Li Juan and Li Qiang playing with knucklebones on the kang, Li Long smiled; it was truly comfortable.

Liang Yumei brought over mutton soup and handed it to him, saying:

"Why did you buy so many things? Save the money you sold, you'll need to take a wife in the future."

"There's more later," Li Long said with a smile as he took the mutton soup. "It's not just this little bit. Besides, we have to have a good New Year, right?"

"That's true. With these things, our family will definitely have a good New Year."

After finishing the mutton soup, Li Long felt he had recovered. Seeing that there were still two or three hours until dark, he put on his cotton-padded jacket, put on his hat, put on his cotton-padded rubber shoes, and after saying a word to Liang Yumei, he went out.

Walking out of the courtyard gate, he saw Tao Daqiang hurrying over.

"Daqiang, have you rested well?" Li Long asked with concern.

"Rested well," Tao Daqiang chuckled. "And I've eaten too."

"Then let's go, my brother has already gone over and is catching fish."

The two of them strode toward the small lake.

After several trips back and forth, the road had already been broken, so it took less than twenty minutes to reach the ice hole at the small lake.

From afar, he saw Li Jianguo stuck in the middle of the ice hole, trying hard to drag the landing net out. A big silver carp nearly a meter long had more than half its body outside the net, struggling.

"So big?" Li Long immediately started running, rushed to Li Jianguo's side, and helped him scoop the fish up.

"Big brother, this fish is really big! Must be ten kilograms, right?"

"About that," Li Jianguo said somewhat proudly. "I just scooped it up, and I felt the net was so heavy, and the strength was incredible, so I thought I had to be quick. It's only because it's winter; if it were summer, this fish would have shredded the net with one tail flick."

Li Long nodded, hooked the gill covers on both sides, and lifted the fish up. This was a big-head carp, also known as a variegated carp, weighing about ten kilograms and over a meter long. After being lifted by Li Long, its tail was still thrashing hard.

"Don't sell this fish, keep it for the family to eat," Li Long said with a smile.

"It's not tasty, better to sell it," Li Jianguo climbed out of the ice hole. "It looks good, but it's not tasty, better not keep it. How did you guys do with selling the fish?"

"Sold them all. The big ones had a higher price, the small ones lower, and in the end, they were all sold in a batch to that wealthy family northeast of the city."

"That's true, that family has money," Li Jianguo obviously knew that family.

Li Long put down the variegated carp and turned to look, discovering that Li Jianguo had already caught more than ten big fish, and there was a pile of small fish too. "Big brother, there's quite a lot of fish today!"

"I broke the air holes yesterday, today other fish from the water surface should have come over. Although there are reeds for ventilation, it's still not as good as this ice hole," Li Jianguo said.

Tao Daqiang had already taken the landing net and started scooping at another ice hole.

Every net had fish, and although not many, as long as it wasn't empty, everyone had the enthusiasm to catch fish.

After scooping five or six nets here, there were no more fish under the water, so Li Long took the landing net and went to the previous ice hole.

There were fewer fish here, and Li Long's first few nets were all small crucian carp and gudgeon, so he felt it should be about enough.

At this moment, Tao Daqiang suddenly whispered:

"Someone's coming."

Li Long looked toward the way they came and discovered three people walking onto the ice.

They were all people from the production team, Wang Hongjun, who was about the same age as Li Jianguo, his younger brother Wang Hongbing, and his brother-in-law He Wei.

They also held landing nets in their hands. Wang Hongjun's hometown was by the Huai River, and he was a veteran fisherman. This net was also woven by himself finding thread. Li Long remembered that their family seemed to have a shuttle for weaving nets.

!.

"Yo, Jianguo, you've got quite a lot of fish," Wang Hongjun greeted with a smile. "This one... must be ten kilograms or so, right?" He saw the variegated carp.

"Good luck," Li Jianguo smiled. "You guys are here to catch fish too?"

"Yeah, nothing to do in winter, get some fish to prepare for the New Year."

Li Long saw they only brought a pickaxe, so he knew this family probably intended to use these two ice holes of theirs, just didn't expect someone to be here now.

"Then Jianguo, can I borrow your steel rod?"

"Sure, take it," Li Jianguo said.

The three Wang family members took the steel rod and went to another place in the small lake, over a hundred meters away from here, and started clearing the snow on the ice and then breaking the ice.

Li Long scooped two more nets and got onto the ice surface.

There were obviously fewer fish than yesterday.

Tao Daqiang took over and continued scooping at the other ice hole.

"Are you guys still going to sell fish early tomorrow morning?" Li Jianguo asked.

"Yeah, nothing to do anyway."

"I estimate that by tomorrow or the day after, no one will borrow the team's horse-drawn carriage," Li Jianguo said. "If not, it'll be fine to drive the horse-drawn carriage to sell fish then."

"Forget the horse-drawn carriage, if something really happens, you won't even be able to run away," Li Long shook his head. "If you want to sell fish, you still have to use a sled—hmm? A horse-drawn carriage is fine too, but if you want to use a horse-drawn carriage, you have to go to Shicheng."

Shicheng was less than twenty kilometers from Maxian, but the population in the city was several times larger. The consumption level there was indeed stronger than here.

The three of them worked until it was almost dark, caught about two bags of over seventy kilograms of fish, and then went home.

Li Long looked at the Wang family's side and discovered they were still struggling there.

Li Long guessed they probably intended to wait until they left to use this ice hole.

Of course, it didn't matter. He planned to borrow a horse-drawn carriage when he got back, and then go to Shicheng to sell fish tomorrow!

Thanks to book friend 20170710184530659 for the monthly ticket, thanks to everyone for your support! After midnight, the recommendation situation will be out during the day, hope to receive the text message!

(End of chapter)