Chapter 385: Right or Wrong Does Not Matter, Only Choices Exist

Tao Da helped Li Long twist rabbit snares here, while Yang Yang Yongqiang went out to find those chipping ice holes, wanting to see if they were willing to sell their fish to their side.

He had started to look down on such small-time dealings and planned to do something bigger.

Looking at Tao Da, who had followed Li Long for a year, he now had a bicycle and had taken a wife; his life was beautiful, and he too wanted to strive toward this goal!

After finishing thirty rabbit snares, Li Long took Tao Da and prepared to go set traps in the Red Willow Beach to the east.

Few villagers set snares; firstly, fine iron wire was still considered precious at this time, and secondly, most people did not know how to set them or when to retrieve them.

Those who could successfully trap rabbits mostly possessed experience; some tried to learn, setting over a dozen snares without catching a single rabbit, or perhaps catching one after several days, which quickly killed their enthusiasm.

Catching fish was different; after all, once an ice hole was smashed open, as long as one had patience, one could catch fish. Previously, when they caught too many to eat, they could only store them or give them away, but now that they could be sold for money, everyone's enthusiasm naturally increased significantly.

Just as Li Long and the others walked out of the village, they saw Yang Yang Yongqiang running toward them at a fast pace.

"How did it go?" Li Long waited for him, and once Yang Yang Yongqiang arrived, he asked, "Is anyone willing?"

"Only the three brothers of the Liang family are willing." Disappointment was clearly visible on Yang Yang Yongqiang's face. "Everyone else wants to sell the fish themselves. The father and son of the Zhao family said the price was too low and asked me to raise it; I thought of offering sixty cents per kilogram, but they were still unsatisfied, hoping for seventy cents, so I gave up."

Li Long thought this was normal. In this era, what people lacked was not time or physical strength, but money. As long as there was a way to make money, in summer they could carry baskets for several hours to the family compound in Shicheng to sell coriander worth only one or two yuan in total; despite the long round trip, they did not feel the slightest hardship.

Compared to Qi Jingyue and the others casually spending hundreds to buy a shot roe deer or wild boar, the difference was like heaven and earth.

However, this was normal, after all, this was still a time when the gap between rich and poor was relatively small.

In his previous life, Li Long remembered chatting with young people who had returned to the village about their experiences riding route buses. When four people rode a route bus, the driver would say that if each passenger added two yuan, they could take the highway, meaning the passengers would bear the toll fees; otherwise, taking the national road would be slower.

Young people, valuing efficiency, naturally agreed to pay extra, but the other middle-aged and elderly passengers on the same bus were unwilling, preferring to take the national road.

At that time, Li Long thought that the young people probably did not realize how difficult it was for rural middle-aged and elderly people to earn those two yuan; that amount was equivalent to one kilogram of wheat or one and a half kilograms of corn at the time.

It was just like now. He was applying old experiences from his previous life, but in reality, everyone felt that spending time to make money was not a hard task. If they caught ten kilograms of fish, selling to Li Long yielded five yuan, whereas selling at the market could yield eight or ten yuan; although it cost more than half a day's time, the money was in hand!

Of course, the idea that in that same half-day they could catch another ten kilograms of fish was not something they failed to consider, but rather something they could not wrap their minds around.

Why should I let you earn the money that I clearly could earn myself? The issue of time efficiency was a matter of Ren De Kan Fa for each individual.

Returning to the matter of young people taking buses, the young felt that spending a little money saved time costs, but in the eyes of the middle-aged and elderly, time cost was hardly a cost at all; money was the real money.

It was simply a difference in values.

"Then let's not worry about it; we will buy from whoever is willing to sell." In such matters, everyone has their own reasoning; we just need to see how things develop later. Perhaps after selling their fish to us, the three Liang brothers, no longer needing to run to the county town to sell fish and instead staying by the ice holes, would actually catch more fish and earn more money.

Without explaining this logic to Yang Yang Yongqiang, Li Long took the two men to the Red Willow Beach in the east.

Ma Jinbao, who was herding sheep, was still wandering in the wasteland. In winter, the wasteland still had undisturbed miscellaneous grasses and reeds that the sheep could eat, allowing them to move around, which was far better than staying cooped up in the pen all the time. Ma Jinbao was quite lazy; since he had not cut enough grass in summer and autumn, in winter he had to herd the sheep every day.

Seeing Li Long and the others carrying rabbit snares toward the Red Willow Beach, he fixed his gaze on the spot, planning to come over tomorrow morning when herding the sheep to check all the rabbit snares.

This person's moral baseline was not high, so when taking other people's things in the wilderness where no one was watching, he felt no guilt.

"I saw Ma Jinbao staring at us," Tao Da said to Li Long after they entered the Red Willow Beach.

"Ignore him. He definitely wants to check our snares." Li Long continued walking inward. "But it will certainly be useless. Let's walk further in. The Red Willow Beach is vast; he won't be able to pinpoint the location and will most likely get lost inside."

Usually, only adults entered the Red Willow Beach, and even when adults came, they only stayed in the peripheral areas, mainly to cut Red Willow roots for materials.

Although Red Willow grew slowly, it produced many seeds; when there was enough wasteland, one could see countless small Red Willows sprouting from the ground every year, growing into half-human-height saplings by the second year, and developing thick branches by the third year, beginning to spread out and form a shrub-like shape.

On the beach where Da Little Haizi's water level rose and fell, there was a large area densely packed with Red Willows, but they could not grow large because during high water, they would be submerged; at such times, fish would come to gnaw on their leaves and tender branches. Since there were no reed beds in Da Little Haizi, each time the water rose, it was a rare opportunity for these fish to enjoy a feast.

There were many wild animals in the Red Willow Beach; Li Long had hunted foxes, and villagers had seen badgers, hedgehogs, pheasants, and rabbits. Some swore they had seen wolves, but few had actually seen them.

Hunting was difficult here, so Li Long felt that setting snares was a quite good method, similar to using gill nets to catch fish—he felt hunting was somewhat like fishing. Setting snares and traps was like using gill nets to catch fish, while chasing and hunting game was like angling; each had its own pleasures.

After walking inward for over a hundred meters, Li Long looked around and discovered that there were no longer any human footprints here, only tracks of rabbits and various other animals.

There were still somewhat few Tu Zi Yin; relying on memory, Li Long walked toward the southeast, where the Red Willows were sparser and there was some miscellaneous grass and other shrubs, and the Tu Zi Yin became more numerous.

"Let's set the snares here," Li Long said. "Come, five each for you two, and do not step on the Tu Zi Yin."

Distributing the rabbit snares to Tao Da and Yang Yang Yongqiang, the two accepted them with great interest and scattered to find suitable locations to set their own snares.

Li Long was also searching himself; he needed to find places where the rabbit tracks were relatively fresh and in environments that served as inevitable paths for the rabbits.

Areas where several shrub clusters gathered together were more likely to have rabbits lingering; Li Long even saw a rabbit get startled, then dart out like an arrow before disappearing—the piles of Red Willows and shrub clusters all around were so numerous that they could easily find suitable hiding spots.

Li Long quickly finished setting the snares in his hand, making a fairly large loop to facilitate retrieval.

At this moment, Tao Da and Yang Yang Yongqiang also arrived, panting heavily.

"Finished setting them; shall we head back?"

Li Long looked at the sky; there was still some time left, so he said:

"Let's go, let's get our tools and head to Little Little Haizi."

At this time, Gu Gu Xiaoxia should have already departed for work. Li Long planned to stay in the team for a while this time; making more money was his goal, and other matters could be discussed after marriage.

When Li Long and the others arrived at Little Little Haizi, people were present at several of the ice holes; he specifically went to check the catch of the three Liang brothers.

"Not bad, there's even a big one today," Li Long said with a smile.

"Should we deliver it to the horse station tonight?" the eldest Liang brother asked.

"Good," Li Long replied, then went south to check the ice holes his group had previously smashed.

A thin layer of ice had formed on top, extremely thin.

"Someone has tampered with our ice holes," Tao Da suddenly spoke up. "They must have fished here in the morning or early morning."

"Who?" Yang Yang Yongqiang looked around, quite angry.

"Never mind it." Li Long waved his hand. "Since we were not here, if others moved them, then they moved them. Now quite some time has passed, so it is perfect to check again. With two ice holes, the three of us can take turns. One person can rest in the middle and burn some reeds."

Holding the scoop net, he used the net pole to smash the thin ice on top, then scooped out the broken ice, and next began fishing in the ice hole.

The first net yielded a small harvest, with several small crucian carp hopping happily; the second net was even better, containing a bighead carp weighing over one kilogram. These fish were not tasty when small, but seeing them was still pleasing; big fish always gave people a greater sense of achievement than small ones.

The third net produced only two small crucian carp—there were truly fewer fish underwater now.

Li Long turned his head to look at Yang Yang Yongqiang digging out a hole over there and discovered over a dozen fish on the ice surface beside him.

Tao Da ran back and forth between the two, picking up the fish and putting them into bags; in this short while, the two of them had caught two or three kilograms.

Then, for the next two nets, there were no fish.

Li Long felt somewhat disappointed, thinking back to when they fished last year; how abundant the harvest had been! One net could catch several kilograms!

Of course, times are different now.

Li Long put down the scoop net, intending to wait a moment.

"Brother Long, shall I do it?"

"Fine, you go ahead." Li Long went to gather reed catkins, then planned to build a fire. He wondered if lighting a fire on the ice surface would attract more fish over.

Most likely... probably not?

Li Long made two piles of reed catkins and ignited them at the two ice holes; the fire flared up instantly. Only then did he feel that there was actually wind. The sun slowly tilted westward; some fishers left, while others remained. Li Long swapped places with Yang Yang Yongqiang, who scooped for a while. Li Long felt that by nightfall, they could secure ten kilograms of fish from the two ice holes.

The largest was a carp weighing over three kilograms, scooped up by Tao Daqiang; it looked exceptionally beautiful, so much so that Li Long couldn't bear to sell it.

"Daqiang, take this fish home to eat; who knows, you might even father a chubby boy afterward." Li Long recalled the legendary tale of chasing fish and chasing dragons, joking as he spoke.

"Alright then." Tao Daqiang did not refuse; the fish looked truly splendid, and he too wanted to take it home to show off to his wife.

Zhao Laoshi walked over; his son, Zhao Dagang, was waiting to the north, carrying things.

"Little Long, you folks are also digging for fish," Zhao Laoshi said with a smile.

"Yes, Uncle Zhao." Li Long asked, "How did it go today? How much did you get?"

"About ten kilograms," Zhao Laoshi said. "I only smashed one ice hole; couldn't manage more."

"Not bad at all."

"My son and I will go sell the fish tomorrow morning. If you folks are still catching, you can use my ice hole." Zhao Laoshi pointed to where he had originally dug for fish.

"Alright then." Although Li Long had no intention of using it, he accepted this kindness.

!.

Clearly, Zhao Laoshi's intention was plain: he had not agreed to Yang Yang Yongqiang's proposal to buy fish, yet he did not wish to spoil relations with Li Long and the others.

After Zhao Laoshi left, Li Long and the others continued scooping fish. However, the catch dwindled; the colder it got, the less the fish wanted to move.

Watching the sun set behind Luoshan, Li Long called out:

"Let's go, head back."

"I'll scoop one more net!" Yang Yang Yongqiang shouted, then scooped another net.

This net likewise yielded only a few small fish, quite disappointing.

They packed up and headed home.

The three Liang brothers had already returned, yet two other families were still scooping fish in Little Little Haizi. Just as Li Long and the others arrived back at the horse station, Liang Lao Da and Liang Ma Lao San approached, carrying fish.

"Weigh it, weigh it," Liang Lao Da said.

"We kept the tiny crucian carp for ourselves to eat; what we've brought over are all the larger ones," Liang Ma Lao San explained.

"Very good." Li Long smiled.

They brought out the scale and weighed them; sixteen kilograms including the bag. Li Long took out eight yuan and handed it over:

"Five mao per kilogram; none of us have it easy."

Originally they had said four mao per kilogram; now given five mao, Liang Lao Da immediately smiled with some embarrassment, "This..."

"It's only right. None of us have it easy," Li Long said. "Hurry back; once it gets dark, the road won't be easy to see."

Clutching the eight yuan, the two Liang brothers happily carried their bags back.

Li Long estimated they had weighed the fish before coming; otherwise, it wouldn't have been such a round number.

They separated the fish to freeze. Tao Daqiang hugged the large carp and went home; Yang Yang Yongqiang also carried back some small crucian carp—though he differed from Tao Daqiang, he had parents and a younger sister at home to look after.

Li Long and Old Uncle Luo stayed in the house and began gutting the small crucian carp they did not intend to sell. They added some dried chili peppers, soaked them, and stewed the lot; after stewing for a good while, the fish smelled extraordinarily fragrant!

At first light the next day, Li Long climbed out of bed; he was going to check the rabbit snares.

Rabbits moving within the Red Willow Flats would not be especially cautious; they were active both afternoon and night. Although they had natural predators, there were few people, so they should have wandered into the snares.

He had not walked far beyond the village when Tao Daqiang caught up.

"You, a man with a wife, why up so early?" Li Long joked. "In the dead of winter, not sleeping in?"

"My wife doesn't sleep in! She gets up early to make breakfast," Tao Daqiang said. "My father also got up early to collect manure. I figured you'd definitely be checking the rabbit snares, so I followed."

The two chatted and laughed as they walked toward the Red Willow Flats. The weather was bitterly cold; Li Long occasionally cupped his mouth. He realized he should have worn a scarf or a mask. With his cotton hat, his ears were fine, but he didn't know where the nose flap of his military cap had gone; otherwise, it could have offered some protection.

By the time the two reached the Red Willow Flats, the eastern sky was just beginning to redden. They quickly made their way to where the rabbit snares were set.

A fox heard the disturbance, flashed ahead, and vanished.

"Something's caught in the snare; don't know if the fox ate it yet," Li Long said. Then the two split up to begin checking the snares.

Li Long intended only to check them, leaving the snares in place, so he tread carefully as he walked.

Although he wanted to immediately check whether the spot where the fox had been yielded anything, he ultimately followed the order in which he had set the snares; this made it easier to remember and avoid missing any.

The first three snares held no rabbits; the fourth had one. The rabbit was frozen stiff; there were signs of desperate struggle all around, and many slender red willow branches had been snapped off.

The fifth snare also held a small rabbit. Compared to the previous one weighing four or five kilograms, this one weighed at most two kilograms; there was blood on its neck, where the wire had cut into the flesh.

Then they reached the place where the fox had appeared. Li Long, holding the two rabbits, saw another rabbit there still alive, blood on its ears, a thin iron wire tightening around its neck, foam issuing from its mouth. Upon seeing Li Long, it quickly retreated backward, shrinking into the shrubbery.

This rabbit must have been caught only recently; its struggling had attracted the fox. Unfortunately, before the fox could succeed, Li Long himself had arrived.

That must have been exactly what happened.

After guessing this, Li Long stepped forward, stomped on the rabbit, removed the snare, then lifted the rabbit and slammed it down hard. Once it was dead, he reset the snare in a different spot.

There was another rabbit further on, not small either, around four kilograms. With these ten snares, the effort was worth it!

Tao Daqiang finished checking and came over, holding only one rabbit.

"This one was caught in Yang Yongqiang's snare," Tao Daqiang said, not lying. "Not a single one of my snares caught anything."

"Here, help me carry one," Li Long said. "Let's head back. In a bit, you take one home, and bring one back for Yang Yongqiang to eat."

These rabbits were not intended for sale; they would keep them to eat. He planned to set some more snares at noon and go set them again in the afternoon.

There were quite a few rabbits in the Red Willow Flats. He vaguely remembered hearing that rabbit meat had no fat and wouldn't make one gain weight. But meat was meat after all; surely it tasted better than cornmeal?

The two walked back. When they were less than a kilometer from the village, they saw Ma Jinbao driving his sheep out from within the village.

Ma Jinbao watched Li Long and Tao Da carrying the rabbits, silently cursing in his heart: How did these two kids get out so early? He had planned to check his snares while herding sheep, but now there was nothing left to catch.

Ma Jinbao had intended to go over and ask if he could have a rabbit, but unexpectedly, as Li Long and Tao Da walked along, they turned onto another path. It was a small trail, seldom used, where the snow had not been packed firm.

Ma Jinbao cursed silently in his heart again: Damn those crafty bastards!

He naturally didn't think this was due to his own poor character; he just felt Li Long was too cunning, and that Tao Da, following Li Long, had learned nothing good.

If there's a chance, I must teach these two kids a lesson!

Li Long carried three rabbits to the horse stable, handed one to Old Uncle Luo, then took the remaining two to his eldest brother's house.

Two rabbits were just for a taste of something fresh; nowadays, his eldest brother's household did not lack meat, but rabbit meat was rarely eaten throughout the year. In winter, however, they had the advantage of the season and could enjoy it a few more times.

Li Jianguo was just about to eat breakfast when Li Long arrived at exactly the right moment; Liang Yuemei hurriedly fetched chopsticks for him, while Li Juan and Li Juan made room for their uncle.

Just as before.

Very good. (End of chapter)