Chapter 388: A Stirring of Trouble

Li Long did not expect his second brother and brother-in-law to plan on settling down here.

He had once again altered the life trajectories of some people.

However, Li Long was currently worried about the outside, because the heavy snow had fallen for a full day and night.

As soon as dawn broke and the snow stopped, Li Long left the room at Old Ma's Station and began shoveling snow. He had shoveled once when half the snow had fallen yesterday afternoon, and again before dark, so although the snow outside was thick, the snow in the courtyard was only about a span deep, making it easy to shovel.

Uncle Lao Luo was cooking in the kitchen; hearing the noise, he pushed open the door to take a look, smiled, and continued with his own work.

If one were to live here alone, this snow might not get cleared in a whole day.

Li Long missed the days when his second brother, brother-in-law, and the other two were here; they shoveled the snow so incredibly fast.

He was using a large snow pusher, nailed together in autumn; the ground at Old Ma's Station was relatively flat, making it easier to push, yet even so, by the time Uncle Lao Luo called him, he had only cleared a third of it.

Fortunately, during yesterday's snow clearing, the snow had been pushed outside. Old Ma's Station was situated higher, rising significantly above the surroundings; pushing the snow outside and piling it in the wasteland on both sides was sufficient, requiring no secondary cleaning.

After breakfast, Uncle Lao Luo went to feed the penned animals, Li Long finished pushing the remaining snow, and then headed to his eldest brother's house.

Li Tao Jian Guo's whole family was shoveling snow. Li Tao Jian Guo and Liang Yue Mei used push boards, Li Juan used a shovel, and Li Qiang, being small, used a wooden shovel.

With Li Long's addition, the snow in the courtyard was quickly cleared, and a path was swept at the entrance. Each household pushed the snow on the road in front of their own door; Lu Ying Ming, Lu Tie Tou, and others also came out, clearing the snow from the two houses side by side and pushing it into the ditch by the roadside.

By the time these tasks were finished, it was nearly noon.

Every winter, clearing snow is a major task, not just in the countryside, but in the cities as well.

Li Long thought that Gu Gu Xiaoxia probably didn't have time to clear the snow in the large courtyard right now; he would wait until he returned from selling fish with Tao Daqiang and the others before doing it.

Was Sister Yang Xiulan over there also clearing snow?

His thoughts scattered and then retracted as Li Long heard his eldest brother Li Tao Jian Guo chatting with Lu Ying Ming:

"This snow fell heavily; the wheat next year should be good."

"It should be. This year the wheat is covered by three layers of quilts; next year we'll sleep with our heads on steamed buns. This snow will indeed create good soil moisture for the fields next year."

"Xiao Long, you won't be able to get your fish done anytime soon, right? With a day of snow like this, the ice holes will need to be smashed again?" Lu Ying Ming looked at Li Long again.

Anything happening in the brigade spread quickly; after all, in the dead of winter there was little other entertainment, so any stir would soon spread throughout the entire village. Thus, everyone knew about Li Long and the others catching and collecting fish.

"It's no trouble; a day won't freeze much. We'll go over and take a look this afternoon. With this heavy snow covering the reeds, the fish underwater are actually even more oxygen-deprived. However, in this heavy snow, hunting rabbits is the most suitable thing to do."

"Uncle Xiao Long, are you going to chase rabbits? Can you take me?" Lu Jia's Lu Tie Tou asked immediately, full of hope.

"Not chasing; it's too tiring. I plan to set a few snares this afternoon; that's more trouble-free."

The snares set previously were definitely covered by snow; Li Long planned to set new ones. In heavy snow, most of the food rabbits could eat was covered, so they needed to search for food anew; this was the best time to set snares where fresh tracks were left.

Li Long had lunch at his eldest brother's house. While Li Tao Jian Guo and the others were pushing snow off the road, Liang Yue Mei had already started preparing the meal at home. In winter, the main activity for ordinary families was staying indoors; visiting neighbors was possible, but given the current family situations, houses weren't very large, so visiting depended on the home environment.

The Li family's situation was somewhat special; they also raised pigs and horses, which meant they needed to prepare three extra meals daily for the livestock.

Fortunately, these things were symbols of wealth. Although "wealth of ten thousand strings doesn't count if you can't breathe," a horse, a cart, and a pig represented wealth incomparable to that of later generations.

After eating at his eldest brother's house, Li Long returned to Old Ma's Station to prepare wire snares when Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang arrived together.

"The Zhao family has already gone to Little Little Haizi to continue smashing ice holes," Yang Yongqiang said as soon as he entered, acting like a gossip monger.

"Some people from the brigade went east; they say they're hunting rabbits," Tao Daqiang also shared the "intelligence" he had gathered.

"No rush. Make more rabbit snares; let's go set them first, then clear the snow at Little Little Haizi."

They had collected some fish these past two days, but not yet a hundred kilograms. Li Long didn't plan to go to Shicheng just yet. If they were going, they needed at least a few hundred kilograms; otherwise, the trip wouldn't be worth the trouble.

Seeing Li Long making snares, Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang joined in. Soon, the three of them, carrying dozens of rabbit snares, walked toward the Red Willow Beach to the east.

Just past the plowed fields, before reaching Red Willow Beach, the three of them heard loud shouting from the east, then saw people running out of Red Willow Beach, with a leaping gray rabbit in front. The rabbit jumped very high but with great effort—the snow was too thick; every time it jumped up, it sank deeply into the snow upon landing. Soon, the rabbit was caught by the people behind it.

There were four or five people chasing the rabbit, each carrying a rabbit in their hand; some even held two, a considerable catch.

Seeing Li Long and the others approach, someone shouted loudly:

"Li Long, join us in chasing rabbits! There are so many rabbits here!"

"Da Qiang, come quickly! Look how many we got; these things are really fat!"

"You guys chase; we're going east to set snares," Li Long waved his hand. They were all from the same brigade; regardless of their usual relationship, since they had proactively greeted them, it was only natural to respond properly.

Seeing that Li Long and the others wouldn't join, the other few people felt a bit regretful. This rabbit-chasing activity was not just about catching rabbits; it was also a form of entertainment. The shouting released stress and allowed them to run off excess energy. In this era, amateur cultural life was truly scarce and dull; occasionally chasing rabbits was considered a way to adjust one's mind and body.

Li Long had experienced too much in his previous life; his threshold for entertainment was too high. Ordinary activities rarely moved him; only reading, which had no upper or lower limits in any era, could satisfy him.

After all, he wasn't married yet.

The three of them first went to find the original rabbit snares. To Li Long's slight surprise, not all the snares were empty; three had caught rabbits, which were buried under the snow.

Carrying the rabbits and retrieving the snares buried under the snow, Li Long and the others continued eastward until they reached the far eastern end of Red Willow Beach. There lay a large dry gully, three or four hundred meters wide and stretching for dozens of kilometers. Floodwaters passed through here every year; after the floods, the weeds and shrubs here became lush. Although snow had just fallen, there were many rabbit tracks here, scattered haphazardly and unusually clear, obviously made today.

Perfect timing to set snares.

This place was isolated on all sides; less than a kilometer further east was the Huke Highway, and within several kilometers to the south and north there were no villages. East of the highway, three or four kilometers away, were the regiment's company units; few people came here, making it an ideal spot for setting snares.

It was just quite far from home, nearly three kilometers in a straight line.

Carrying the three rabbits back to the village, the three of them immediately took their tools and headed to Little Little Haizi.

Footprints had already been made in the snow on the way to Little Little Haizi, along with many tracks from rabbits and pheasants.

When they arrived at Little Little Haizi, they found some people clearing snow from the ice holes and smashing new ones, while others had already started scooping up fish.

Li Long and the others also arrived at the south side of Little Little Haizi. The snow accumulated on the ice surface here was at least thirty or forty centimeters thick, very large and deep. The three of them cleared the snow from the ice holes and found that a thick layer of ice had already formed over the original holes.

Time to smash them.

That day, when the sun set, Li Long and the others returned to Old Ma's Station with seven or eight kilograms of fish.

Uncle Lao Luo had already stewed the rabbits and was waiting for them to eat.

Early the next morning, Li Long called Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang to check the rabbit snares.

"Yesterday, they caught twelve rabbits," Yang Yongqiang said on the way. "They also caught a few live ones, tied them up, and put them in the sheep pen, saying they wanted to raise them to eat during the New Year."

"They won't survive; they'll die of stress in a few days," Li Long said. "Wild rabbits aren't like domestic rabbits; they have a huge temper."

Many wild animals have big tempers, including some adult birds; they can't be raised, refusing to eat or drink until they die.

Of course, some can be raised, like that Night Pockmarked Eagle. It's particularly lazy, not even building a proper nest in the wild; it just digs a pit in the barren alkali flats and calls it a nest, lays two eggs inside, and incubates them that way. If it really encounters a fox or something, it becomes food. Its scientific name is the Nightjar; once the sun sets, its eyes can't see clearly, and it flies over ten meters at a time, making it easy to catch. Li Qiang once caught one, fed it fish, fed it meat, forced its mouth open to feed it, and after raising it for a while, it accidentally flew away. Getting off track.

By the time they reached the place where the rabbit snares were set, nearly an hour had passed. Yet the harvest was plentiful—walking inward along the line of snares, they found a rabbit not far in, and another further on, picking up seventeen and a half rabbits in total—a feeling of a bumper harvest!

This area was simply a rabbit warren!

Li Long also had a guess: yesterday, the young men from those few teams had made too much noise while prying rabbits out, driving all the rabbits from the Red Willow Beach here; coupled with the abundant grass in this area, the rabbit population naturally increased.

However, where there were many rabbits, there were also many carnivores. Of the seventeen and a half seen, two rabbits caught in the snares had been eaten down to just a leg; it was unclear whether it was a fox or some other animal.

Seventeen rabbits was no small number, and Yang Yang Yongqiang said with a smile:

"Luckily I brought sacks, otherwise it would have been difficult for us to carry them back!"

With seventeen rabbits, Li Long suggested that each person take two back, leaving the rest to be sold; Yang Yang Yongqiang and Tao Da argued to sell them all, bringing back only what couldn't be sold to eat. Li Long distributed one to each person, storing the remainder in the horse stable to await sale.

Over the next two days, Li Long, Tao Da, and Yang Yang Yongqiang enjoyed good luck, catching thirty to forty kilograms of fish daily.

The Liang brothers' harvest also increased; Li Long guessed that the heavy snow had blocked the possible air holes in the reed marshes on the ice. With the snow thick and air unable to penetrate, the ice holes they had smashed open became the inevitable path for fish seeking oxygen.

Not only were there many fish, but there were also large catches; Li Long observed at least twenty or thirty fish weighing over two kilograms each, mostly carp and grass carp, with fewer Five-Striped Black fish.

He selected five carp of uniform size, planning to take them to Daroushitang when they went to sell the rest.

Since he had promised Manager Zhong, he had to keep his word.

!.

On the afternoon of the third day after the heavy snowfall, upon returning from Little Little Haizi, Li Long went to Li Jianguo's place, hitched up horse number seventy-six, and drove the cart to the horse stable.

They planned to head to Shicheng early the next morning to sell the fish.

The fish accumulated over these days totaled over two hundred kilograms; adding the latest rabbit snare haul, they now had twenty-four rabbits in total, which was quite a lot.

Early the next morning, before dawn, Li Long hitched the cart and began loading the sacks of fish onto it.

He had just started when Tao Da and Yang Yang Yongqiang arrived.

Both men wore thick cotton overcoats and cotton hats. Seeing Li Long start work, they joined in, loading everything onto the cart; after placing two bundles of grass inside, Uncle Luo had also prepared a simple breakfast.

Cornmeal porridge, fragrant bean flower rolls, and stir-fried pickled vegetables.

After eating, Li Long fetched three wooden sticks from the house and put them in the cart; thinking again, he took out his Type 56 half-automatic rifle, loaded it with ammunition, engaged the safety, slipped it into its holster, and tucked it beneath the fish sacks on the cart. Then the three of them drove the cart toward Shicheng.

On the road from the village to the township, the snow had not yet been completely flattened; there was only a single file of footprints. As the cart rolled over the thick snow, it emitted a creaking sound. Horse number seventy-six pulled with great effort; Li Long and the others did not ride on the cart but walked alongside until they reached the turn from the township to the county road, where conditions improved, the snow on the surface packed hard and smooth.

"Come on, let's get on the cart; once we reach the county town, we'll buy steamed buns to eat."

It took over an hour to reach the county town; by then, the sun had just risen above the horizon. They went to Daroushitang to buy buns, and Li Long took the opportunity to deliver the fish to Manager Zhong.

Manager Zhong was not yet present, so Li Long left the five carp at the canteen and asked a waiter to issue a receipt.

The three of them ate their buns and set off for Shicheng; occasionally, they encountered trucks and buses traveling in both directions.

"Brother Long, do you think we can sell our fish?" Yang Yang Yongqiang still felt somewhat worried, after all, things were different now compared to before.

"We can, definitely," Li Long said with great confidence; the market would only grow larger, especially as the population increased. Moreover, with the New Year approaching, stocking up for the festival had become a habit; even thirty or forty years later, whether in cities or rural areas, people would still have the habit of hoarding goods as the New Year approached.

But in reality, by that time, large supermarkets and restaurants would not close for holidays; one could buy whatever they wanted at any time. Young people would no longer have the habit of stocking up, though the older generation would still persist in doing so.

Therefore, selling fish, meat, and the like at this time would basically encounter no issues with unsold stock.

After all, buying meat at a butcher shop still required meat coupons, and no family had many coupons. But buying fish at the market required none; anyone could calculate the value of this trade clearly.

After crossing the Ma River Bridge, passing through the checkpoint, and traveling along a stretch of highway lined with poplar trees on both sides, they finally arrived at the urban area of Shicheng.

By the time they reached Old Street, it was already bustling. Li Long scanned the area and found it difficult to locate a suitable stall inside, so he said to Tao Da and Yang Yang Yongqiang:

"I'll park the cart outside first, and we'll split up. You two: one carries a sack of fish, the other carries a few rabbits, and go inside to find a suitable stall; surely someone will pack up and leave. I'll tether the cart right here on the perimeter and set up; once you've sold out, come back here to get more."

"I'll sell the fish; I'm used to it," Yang Yang Yongqiang volunteered quickly.

"Then I'll sell the rabbits," Tao Da said without contention, then asked, "Brother Long, how should we price the rabbits?"

"Heavier ones sell for five yuan, lighter ones three or four yuan are fine. In the big meat shops, pork ribs are 1.8 yuan per kilogram, and pork belly has reached two yuan. Selling our way, the furred rabbits average one yuan per kilogram, which isn't expensive," Li Long explained.

"What about the fish?" Yang Yang Yongqiang asked next.

"Carp are one yuan; if you pick the crucian carp, they're nine mao, but if you don't pick and just scoop from the pile, they're eight mao," Li Long thought for a moment and added, "Five-Striped Black fish are also one yuan, and silver carp are nine mao."

With the prices set, Yang Yang Yongqiang took the scale, while Tao Da hoisted a sack containing seven or eight rabbits onto his back, and they headed into the market.

Li Long tethered horse number seventy-six to a tree by the roadside, wiped its sweat, then unloaded a sack of fish from the cart, spread a plastic sheet, poured the fish out, arranged a few rabbits nearby, and once ready, began shouting loudly to attract customers.

Li Long noticed that although there were many people in the market, most were hurrying along. There were now two additional market administrators, making four in total; they patrolled back and forth in pairs. When the patrol staff moved away, some shifty individuals would tail pedestrians.

Very suspicious.

The administrators collected a fifty-fen management fee from Li Long and left; before departing, one reminded him:

"Watch your belongings while selling; if you spot anything suspicious, shout loudly, and we will arrive promptly."

Li Long immediately realized the situation.

It was 1983.

He had chosen a spot on the periphery of Old Street, where foot traffic was not heavy; fortunately, Li Long's voice was loud enough, and after shouting for a while, people gradually came over to look at the fish.

Upon hearing the prices Li Long quoted, those people quickly began selecting their purchases.

This made Li Long seriously suspect that he might have quoted his prices too low.

Sure enough, shortly after, Yang Yang Yongqiang returned with his bag, hastily informing Li Long that there were others selling fish inside the market, but their average price ranged from 1.1 to 1.2 yuan; indeed, their own prices were too cheap.

However, since the prices were already marked, Li Long told Yang Yang Yongqiang:

"Let's just sell at this price for today; we won't suffer much loss. Once we're sold out, we'll hurry back. Judging by this trend, there are quite a few people buying fish recently; we can rush to make a profit before the New Year."

Originally, they had come just to test the waters; now it seemed promising, so naturally, they aimed to earn more. He wondered if they could earn enough to buy a television set before the New Year.

The fish sold quickly, and they also made their first rabbit sale; a middle-aged man, obviously well-dressed, picked out two rabbits, promptly paid eight yuan, and left carrying them.

Li Long guessed that this man probably bought one for his own family and one for his wife's family. Of course, such a family was not short of money.

Taking a break, Li Long gave horse number seventy-six a bundle of fodder; before the horse had eaten even half, Yang Yang Yongqiang returned once, and then Tao Da also came back.

Fish were clearly more popular than rabbits.

Still, it looked like they should be able to sell out all their goods by noon.

A while later, when Yang Yang Yongqiang returned, his face was covered in blood; Li Long was startled and immediately asked what had happened.

"Ran into a thief!" Yang Yang Yongqiang seemed somewhat unconcerned. "Got into a fight!"

Hey! (End of Chapter)