Chapter 58

The afternoon sun wasn't very strong. Li Long dragged the simple version of the sled on the way home and didn't feel it took much effort, even having the mood to hum a song:

"The first snow of 2002, came later than in previous years..."

"... I admit I am that wolf in sheep's clothing, and you are my prey, the lamb in my mouth. I left my companions to wander alone, just not wanting others to share you..."

"... Come, come, brothers, let's go through water and fire together..."

He remembered a few popular lyrics for each song; anyway, he listened to them a lot before, so if he couldn't sing them, he just changed them.

The Changan he bought in his previous life was full of someone's songs on the USB drive. Who let him become popular from the North Xinjiang?

Speaking of which, I really miss the days of having a car, no need to walk on two legs.

Fortunately, this young body, although not exercised enough, is still better than the sixty or seventy-year-old old man before he passed away in his previous life. Even after walking seven or eight kilometers, he didn't feel tired at all, and felt a bit light, and his mood was also very happy.

Because there is hope.

Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to home, Li Long's pace was getting faster and faster. After dragging the plastic sheet for a while, he saw the children in the production team playing on the road.

In this day and age, there are few people and few cars, mainly focusing on safety. If a car passes by, the children can be excited for a long time.

"Li Qiang, your uncle is back! He's dragging a big guy behind him!" A child with sharp eyes saw Li Long and shouted loudly.

Li Long had distributed fruit candy to everyone, and these children all remembered, so after a shout, they crowded around Li Qiang and rushed to Li Long.

"Uncle, Uncle!" Li Qiang wiped his nose with his sleeve, "Why didn't you come back yesterday?"

"Because I went on a long journey!" Li Long smiled and straightened Li Qiang's crooked hat, then asked:

"Are you going home with me now, or playing with them for a while?"

"I'm going home with you!" Knowing that his uncle would bring good things every time he came back, Li Qiang hurriedly turned his head to take his old ox and whip on the road, then turned back to help Li Long drag the plastic sheet.

Other children also helped with smiles, and soon they arrived at the Li family gate.

Li Long took a handful of peanuts from the urea bag, distributed a few to each child, and said:

"Alright, go play."

The children scattered happily, comparing whose peanuts were big, who had one more and who had one less. Li Long took another handful and stuffed it into Li Qiang's hand, patted his head, and entered the courtyard together.

Hearing the movement, Liang Yuemei and Li Juan opened the door and came out. Seeing Li Long like this, they were a bit surprised:

"Why bring so many things?"

"It's almost New Year, so I bought some New Year goods."

"Hurry into the room, your brother is still catching fish with Daqiang at the small lake, I guess they'll be back soon."

"Then I won't go first." Li Long returned to the room, and only then did he feel the exhaustion of his whole body, "I'll rest for a while after changing clothes."

"Alright, I'll call you when the food is ready." Actually, the family used to have two meals a day, but Li Long had been busy catching fish and going into the mountains these days, and Li Jianguo also participated, so they changed to three meals, otherwise they couldn't hold on.

However, the evening meal was at most soup or porridge, plus some leftovers from noon. Even so, after Sister-in-law Lu found out, she also secretly said the Li family was spendthrift, saying that if you don't calculate, you will be poor.

But Liang Yuemei didn't pay attention to her words. The man works hard, can openly bring things home and earn money, so what's wrong with eating and drinking well?

Is it better to learn from those lazy people who stay at home and drink the northwest wind?

Li Long entered the east room and found the stove had a fire, and the fire wall and heated brick bed felt quite hot. Compared to the outside, the room was warm as spring. He simply changed his clothes, lay on the bed, pulled the quilt, and fell asleep unknowingly.

In the west room, Li Qiang secretly went to untie the rope on the urea bag, and was slapped on the back by Li Juan with a "pop":

"What are you doing?"

"Sister, I just want to see... what did Uncle bring back?"

"See what? Wait until Uncle wakes up and he'll show you." Li Juan actually wanted to see too, but she knew this was something Uncle bought, and Uncle had to open it himself.

Liang Yuemei was busy in the kitchen, heard the conversation between the two siblings, and smiled without saying a word. Although Li Juan was very stubborn, she was sensible. Liang Yuemei was very relieved to have her manage Qiangqiang.

What she put in the laundry basin was the "sundries" from the fish Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang caught yesterday and this morning.

Li Jianguo already knew that Li Long sold fish by the piece, so after the fish were caught, the big fish over two kilograms were picked out and frozen in the snow, preparing to be sold.

The remaining smaller sundries were left for themselves to eat. Liang Yuemei looked at a laundry basin of fish and actually had a feeling of being tired of eating them.

She felt that this thought of hers was really quite criminal—how can you be tired of eating fish? If her brother Liang Wenyu, who likes to eat fish, knew this, wouldn't he say she was crazy?

The sun set. Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang dragged the sled and pulled three large bags of fish back.

Today, four ice holes took turns scooping fish, and the two newly smashed ice holes produced a lot of fish. In one day, they got nearly one hundred kilograms of fish, which surprised Li Jianguo.

Are these fish crazy? Knowing there's a lot of movement here, they still come over?

If Li Long were here, he would give a perfect explanation:

Actually, it's because the ice is frozen too thick, even where there are reeds, oxygen doesn't penetrate well. The fish below are almost suffocating, so as long as there is a vent, they naturally come over to join the fun; fish also want to live.

Actually, these venting ice holes can be considered to have saved some fish.

Because before that great flood, every year when the ice holes thawed in early spring, you could see quite a few dead fish floating on the water surface, and they were mainly big fish.

!.

Big fish need more oxygen and are the first to be suffocated.

Hearing the movement outside, Li Long woke up. He felt his head was a bit dazed, as if he wasn't very clear-headed. He rubbed his face, climbed up, put on his clothes, and went out.

Being blown by the cold wind outside, he immediately sobered up, and also saw the harvest of his brother Li Jianguo and the others on the sled.

"Brother, scooped so many fish today?"

"That's it! There are a lot of fish today!" Li Jianguo said with a smile, "There are many big fish too, the largest one is a grass carp, over six kilograms, over a meter long, almost smashed the scoop net!"

"That guy..." Li Long thought to himself, good heavens, this is the fish king scooped up?

Tao Daqiang was also a bit excited to see Li Long back, but then said:

"Then I'm going back first?"

"Eat fish soup before leaving?" Liang Yuemei had already come out of the room, "The fish soup is ready, have to eat before leaving."

"Right, eat before leaving, I still have words to tell you."

Tao Daqiang was a bit uneasy. What would Brother Long say to him?

After eating, Li Long called Tao Daqiang to the east room and asked him:

"Daqiang, do you still want to work with me?"

Tao Daqiang didn't expect Li Long to ask this question so directly.

"Want to." He didn't hesitate.

If he gave up the opportunity once, if he gave it up again, he would really be a fool.

"But I have to tell you, even if you work with me, it's different from before." Li Long directly explained his meaning:

"You work with me once, I'll give you the money for that time. For example, this time, including catching fish and going to sell fish tomorrow, five yuan once, how about it?"

Tao Daqiang's face changed.

He knew that his relationship with Li Long couldn't go back to before.

(End of chapter)