Chapter 39: Not Afraid of Cold, Only Afraid of Poverty

A woman bought two fish and walked toward the building, with a child shouting behind her, "We're eating fish today," which drew the neighbors' curiosity and brought Li Long new customers.

The residents of this compound were mostly workers and their families; in these times, most workers lived far better than farmers, so some had spare money to buy fish.

Seeing people gather, the middle-aged man quickly picked out a carp and a five-striped black fish. When paying, he said to Li Long:

"Young man, can you come again before the New Year? We'll get a wage bonus before the holiday. If you come then, there'll be no shortage of people buying your fish."

"That depends," Li Long smiled. "Whether we can catch fish in the lake is up to luck; I can't promise anything."

The middle-aged man nodded in understanding, then left with his fish.

Not many people gathered, but most bought one or two fish. After inspecting the fish, a middle-aged woman asked:

"Young man, do you have smaller fish? These are too big; I can't cook them properly."

"Yes, do you want crucian carp or small stream fish?" Li Long said. "I didn't bring all my fish; I'm not sure if they'll sell. I also have a ten-kilogram big silver carp."

"Then bring it over; I'll wait here," the middle-aged woman said, stepping aside.

Li Long acknowledged her, and after others finished choosing fish and paying, seeing no one else remained, he said, "Sister, wait for me; I'll go get it right away."

In that short while, more than half of the dozen or so fish in the bag were sold, and Li Long was in high spirits.

He hurriedly carried the urea bag outside to fetch the cart and load more fish.

Someone who had heard the news rushed down but saw no fish seller, so he asked the middle-aged woman:

"Sister Yu, did the fish seller leave?"

"No, he went to get more fish. I don't want big fish; I want small ones, so he went to fetch the small ones."

"Alright, I'll wait too." In these times, although factories gave year-end benefits, supplies were truly scarce. With such heavy snow in midwinter, many things couldn't be transported; encountering someone selling fish was rare.

Tao Daqiang, who had been guarding the cart, saw Li Long come out and quickly drove the cart over.

"Brother Long, how's the fish selling?"

"Pretty well; lots of people want some. Park the cart just outside the workers' compound; I'll load more fish to sell now," Li Long said with a smile. "If you get cold, stamp your feet."

"I'm not cold," Tao Daqiang laughed. In fact, his eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair were already frosted white. In these times, the twelfth lunar month was truly cold; even in padded jackets and trousers, staying outside too long would freeze you through.

His feet had lost all sensation.

But worse than the cold was poverty.

Seeing hope of escaping poverty now, Tao Daqiang would never consider enduring such hardship as anything.

Li Long entered the courtyard again with a bag full of fish. The elderly gatekeeper glanced at him once and said nothing more.

Four or five people were already waiting in the courtyard. Seeing Li Long return with another full bag of fish, they quickly gathered around.

"Everyone, everyone, don't rush!" Li Long hurriedly said. "Wait until I arrange the fish properly; otherwise, it's hard for you to choose, right?"

"Fine, young man, we'll follow your lead," everyone said, making room.

Li Long pulled another urea bag from the sack, spread it flat on the ground, and began laying out the fish one by one.

Seeing the ten-plus-kilogram big silver carp, several people exclaimed:

"What a huge fish!"

"Indeed; I've never seen a fish this big before!"

"Young man, how much for this big fish?"

"Nine yuan for this one," Li Long raised the price slightly, after all, transport costs had to be covered.

The man fell silent. His monthly wage was under forty yuan; spending a quarter of it at once was too much to bear.

The middle-aged woman who had first asked for small fish looked at the crucian carp and asked, "How much for these small crucian carp?"

"Regardless of size, ten for one yuan." In fact, even the smallest crucian carp were palm-sized; the tiniest ones were kept at home.

"Then give me two yuan' worth," the woman said immediately, realizing this was better value than the big fish.

"Give me two yuan' worth too!" another person said at once.

Li Long hadn't expected the small fish to sell better than the big ones and was delighted, quickly counting the fish and collecting money. Those buying fish held containers—either bags or basins. After receiving their fish and paying, some hurried home to thaw and prepare them, while others lingered, unwilling to leave.

In less than half an hour, only the big silver carp and two white silver carps remained on the stall.

Seeing no one else, Li Long simply packed up the stall, ran out again, and brought over the remaining small crucian carp to display.

Half an hour later, the small crucian carp were sold out. Just as Li Long thought he might have to take the big silver carp back, a tall man in his fifties strode over.

Seeing only the big silver carp on the stall, he frowned and asked:

"Is this the only fish left?"

"Yes," Li Long said. "The rest are sold out."

!.

"Will you come again tomorrow?"

"I can't," Li Long shook his head. "My home is far, in the countryside of Maxian County. A round trip takes most of a day; by the time I return, I won't have time to catch more fish. The next time would be at least three to five days later."

"Alright," the man hesitated, then pointed at the silver carp and asked:

"How much for this fish?"

"Eight yuan," Li Long said, no longer insisting on nine. Several people had asked earlier, and upon hearing nine yuan, they had fallen silent.

"Cheaper, and I'll buy it," the man said. "Six yuan, how about that?"

"Seven yuan," Li Long replied. For such a large fish, around ten kilograms, selling it for six yuan felt like a loss.

"Fine," the man smiled, promptly paid, then hoisted the fish and left the workers' compound.

He wasn't from this unit?

Li Long put away the bag and began counting the money.

He had brought plenty of fish today. Of the seventy-plus kilograms he had caught and taken home yesterday, Li Long had sorted them that night, keeping the smaller ones under one kilogram—carps, silver carps, and especially tiny crucian carp—at home. The fish he brought totaled sixty kilograms.

Besides the big silver carp, there were nearly forty kilograms of large fish, nineteen in total, and over ten kilograms of small fish, selling for forty-eight yuan and fifty fen altogether.

That truly equaled a worker's monthly wage!

Included in this sum was fifteen yuan from Tao Daqiang—Li Long had calculated it based on labor, tools, and the degree of effort exerted.

He held the bag, returned to the horse-drawn cart, counted out fifteen yuan, and handed it to Tao Daqiang:

"Daqiang, this is your pay for today. Tomorrow, when you and your brother come out, do you want to keep this money, leave it with me, or buy something after we return?"

"I'll take five yuan; the rest can stay with you for now," Tao Daqiang said after a moment's thought. "I want to see if the Supply and Marketing Cooperative has fishing nets for sale. If they do, I'll buy one too."

"Then let's look around here in Shicheng; this place is large and has plenty of goods."

"Good." Tao Daqiang's eyes lit up with curiosity; he had never visited Shicheng before!

The two of them drove the horse-drawn cart to the Shicheng Department Store Building—Tao Daqiang didn't even ask Li Long how he knew the location. In his view, it was only right that Brother Long knew everything.

Actually, Li Long was curious too. What difference would the Shicheng Department Store Building of this era have compared to that of the future?

Thanks to the appreciation from "I am a Little Ghost"; the first round of recommendations starts tomorrow, which makes me a bit nervous.

(End of this chapter)