Chapter 36: Try a Different Place

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

"Sister-in-law, where is my brother?"

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

"Sold them all." Li Long didn't even change his clothes; he walked out while saying, "Then I'll go check the small lake."

"No, no, rest first. You've been tired all day; there's no rush for that moment." Liang Yuemei hurriedly stopped him. "Drink some mutton soup to warm up, then eat something. You didn't have lunch, right? Where's Da Qiang?"

"Da Qiang took the things home and will be here in a while."

"Then wait for Da Qiang; no need to rush. You ran over twenty kilometers round trip and froze outside for so long; what's the hurry?"

Li Long thought it was true. Making money was real, but the exhaustion was real too. This trip earned as much as a formal worker's monthly wage, yet it was far more arduous than working.

Still, in these times, one feared not hard work, but failing to earn money, or working hard for nothing. Next year, land would be allocated to households; then everyone's initiative would be visible.

However, Li Long had no intention of farming. His two mu of land would naturally be farmed by his brother, while Li Long planned to wander the mountains thoroughly; earning money was most important.

Such good opportunities wouldn't come again later.

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

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

"Why buy so many things? Save the money from selling; you'll need it to get a wife later."

"There's more behind." Li Long took the mutton soup and smiled. "It's not just this little bit. We must have a good New Year, right?"

"True. With these things, our family will definitely have a good New Year."

After finishing the mutton soup, Li Long felt recovered. Seeing there were still two or three hours before dusk, he put on his cotton-padded jacket, donned his hat, slipped into his cotton rubber boots, said goodbye to Liang Yuemei, and went out.

Stepping outside the courtyard gate, he saw Tao Daqiang hurrying over.

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

"Rest is done." Tao Daqiang chuckled sheepishly. "And I've eaten too."

"Then let's go. My brother is already there, fishing."

The two strode toward the small lake.

After several round trips, the path had been trodden clear, so they reached the ice hole at the small lake in just twenty minutes.

From afar, they saw Li Jianguo stuck in the middle of the ice hole, struggling to drag the scoop net outward. A large silver carp nearly a meter long had half its body outside the net, thrashing.

"So big?" Li Long immediately ran over, rushed to Li Jianguo's side, and helped haul the fish up.

"Big brother, this fish is huge! Must be around ten kilograms, right?"

"About that." Li Jianguo said somewhat proudly. "I just scooped once, felt how heavy the net was, and how strong the pull was, so I thought I'd hurry. It's winter; in summer, this fish would have torn the net apart with one tail flick."

Li Long nodded, gripped the fish by the gill covers on both sides, and lifted it. This was a big-headed silver carp, also called a flower carp. It weighed nearly ten kilograms, measured just over a meter, and its tail still thrashed vigorously after Li Long lifted it.

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

"It doesn't taste good; better to sell it." Li Jianguo climbed out of the ice hole. "Looks good, but not tasty; better not keep it. How did your fish selling go?"

"Sold out. Larger ones fetched higher prices, smaller ones lower; in the end, we sold them all together to a wealthy household in the northeast of the city."

"True, that family has money." Li Jianguo clearly knew that household.

Li Long set down the flower carp, turned his head again, and saw Li Jianguo had already hauled up more than ten large fish, with a pile of small ones too. "Big brother, quite a lot of fish today!"

"We opened ventilation holes yesterday; today, fish from other water surfaces should have come over. Although reeds provide some air, it's still not as good as this ice hole." Li Jianguo explained.

Tao Daqiang had already taken the scoop net and started fishing at another ice hole.

Every scoop yielded fish; though not many, as long as it wasn't empty, everyone had the enthusiasm to keep fishing.

After five or six scoops here, the water below ran out of fish. Li Long took the scoop net and went back to the previous ice hole.

There were fewer fish here; Li Long's first few scoops brought only small crucian carp and ditch fish. He felt it was about enough.

At that moment, Tao Daqiang suddenly whispered:

"Someone's coming."

Li Long looked toward the path they had come from and saw three people walking onto the ice surface.

They were all from the production team: Wang Hongjun, about Li Jianguo's age; his younger brother, Wang Hongbing; and his brother-in-law, He Wei.

They also carried scoop nets. Wang Hongjun was originally from the Huai River banks, a veteran fisherman. The net was woven by himself from thread; Li Long remembered their family even had a net-shuttle.

!.

"Oh, Jianguo, you've caught quite a lot of fish." Wang Hongjun greeted with a smile. "This one... must be around ten kilograms?" He spotted the flower carp.

"Good luck." Li Jianguo smiled. "Are you here to fish too?"

"Yes, idle in winter, catching some fish to prepare for the New Year."

Li Long saw they carried only one pickaxe and guessed this family intended to use their own two ice holes, though he hadn't expected anyone else here now.

"Then, Jianguo, may we borrow your steel bar?"

"Sure, take it." Li Jianguo said.

The three from the Wang family took the steel bar and moved to another spot on the small lake, over a hundred meters away. They began clearing snow from the ice surface, then broke the ice.

Li Long scooped two more times, then climbed onto the ice.

There were clearly fewer fish than yesterday.

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

"Are you going to sell fish again early tomorrow?" Li Jianguo asked.

"Yes; anyway, we're idle."

"I estimate by tomorrow or the day after, no one in the team will want to borrow the horse cart." Li Jianguo said. "If needed, we could drive the horse cart to sell fish ourselves."

"Forget the horse cart. If anything really happens, we won't have time to run." Li Long shook his head. "To sell fish, we still need a sled—hmm? A horse cart would work too, but if using a horse cart, we'd have to go to Shicheng."

Shicheng was less than twenty kilometers from Maxian, but its population was several times larger. The consumption level there was higher than here.

The three worked until nearly dusk, catching about two bags totaling over seventy kilograms of fish, then went home.

Li Long glanced over at the Wang family, finding they were still fussing there.

Li Long guessed they were likely waiting for him to leave before using the ice hole on this side.

It didn't matter to him; he planned to borrow a cart upon returning, then head to Shicheng tomorrow to sell fish!

Thanks to reader 20170710184530659 for the monthly ticket, and thanks to everyone for the support! After midnight, the daytime recommendation results will be out; I hope to receive a text message!

(End of chapter)