Chapter 58

The afternoon sun wasn't very strong. Li Long dragged the simple version of the sled on the way home, feeling it wasn't very strenuous, and even had the mood to hum a song:

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

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

"...Come on, come on, brother, let's go through the water and fire together..."

He only remembered a few popular lyrics for each song. Anyway, he had listened to them a lot before, so if he couldn't sing one, he would just change it.

The Changan car he bought in his previous life had a USB drive full of songs by a certain Lang. Who let him become popular from Northern Xinjiang?

Speaking of which, I really miss the days of having a car, not having to walk on two legs.

Fortunately, this young body, although not exercised enough, was at least 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 even felt a bit light, and his mood was very pleasant.

Because there is hope.

Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to home, Li Long's pace became 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, so safety is the main thing. 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 thing behind him!" A child with sharp eyes saw Li Long and shouted loudly.

Li Long had once distributed fruit candies to everyone, and these children all remembered, so after one shout, they surrounded Li Qiang and rushed to Li Long's side.

"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 longer?"

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

The other children also helped with a smile, and soon they arrived at the Li family's gate.

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

"Alright, go play."

The children scattered happily, comparing whose peanuts were bigger, 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 Yumei and Li Juan opened the door and came out. Seeing Li Long like this, they were somewhat surprised:

"Why did you bring so many things?"

"New Year is coming soon, so I bought some New Year goods."

"Hurry into the room. Your brother is still catching fish with Daqiang at Xiaohaizi, and he should be back soon."

"Then I won't go." 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 my 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 from fishing to going into the mountains these days, and Li Jianguo had also participated, so two meals were changed to three, otherwise they couldn't hold out.

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 secretly said that the Li family was wasteful, saying things like "eating won't make you poor, wearing won't make you poor, but if you don't calculate, you'll be poor."

But Liang Yumei ignored her words. The man works hard, can openly bring things home, earn money, so what's wrong with eating and drinking a little better?

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

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

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

"What are you doing?"

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

"What's there to see? You can see it when Uncle wakes up." Li Juan actually wanted to see it too, but she knew that these were things her uncle bought, and her uncle had to open them himself.

Liang Yumei was busy in the kitchen, heard the conversation between the sister and brother, and smiled without saying a word. Although Li Juan was very stubborn, she was sensible. Liang Yumei was very relieved to have her take care of Qiangqiang.

What was in her washbasin was the "sundries" among the fish that Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang had 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, ready to be sold.

The remaining smaller miscellaneous fish were left for themselves to eat. Liang Yumei looked at a washbasin full of fish and actually felt like she had eaten enough.

She felt that this thought of hers was really quite criminal—how could one eat enough fish? If her younger brother Liang Wenyu, who liked to eat fish, knew this, wouldn't he say she was crazy?

The sun set, and Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang dragged the sled back with three big bags of fish.

Today they took turns using the landing net in four ice holes. The two newly broken ice holes produced a lot of fish, and they got nearly a hundred kilograms of fish in one day, which surprised even Li Jianguo.

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

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

In fact, it's because the ice is frozen too thick, and even where there are reeds, oxygen is not easy to penetrate. The fish below are almost suffocating, so as long as there is a vent, they naturally all come to join in the fun. Fish also want to live.

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

Because before that big flood, every spring when the ice holes thawed, one could see many dead fish floating on the water, 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 woke up and also saw the harvest of his eldest brother Li Jianguo and the others on the sled.

"Eldest brother, caught so many fish today?"

"Yeah! There were a lot of fish today!" Li Jianguo said with a smile, "There were also many big fish. The biggest grass carp was over six kilograms and over a meter long, almost breaking the landing net!"

"That guy..." Li Long thought to himself, "Good heavens, did they catch the fish king?"

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

"Then I'll go back first?"

"Go back where? Drink some fish soup before you go." Liang Yumei had already come out of the room. "The fish soup is ready, you have to eat before you go."

"Right, eat before you go, I still have something 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.

"Yes." He didn't hesitate.

He had given 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 stated his meaning directly:

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

Tao Daqiang's face changed.

He knew that his relationship with Li Long could no longer return to the past.

(End of chapter)