Chapter 593

There were fish in the Little Haizi, and there were also fish in the Big Haizi.

More than a year ago, the water in the Big Haizi was drained, and the big fish were almost all caught; everyone who participated had a great harvest.

But in reality, the fish people caught only accounted for a small half; more fish followed the massive water flow to the three reservoirs downstream.

When the water was released in the summer, these fish swam back up along the water flow and came to the Big Haizi.

Li Long actually originally thought that if there weren't enough fish in the Little Haizi, he would go to the Big Haizi to set nets.

Yes, setting nets under the ice.

First, break an ice hole, put the sticky net in, then break an ice hole every few meters, thread the net through, until the net was fully set.

Breaking ice holes wasn't easy, but since he had accepted the task, he had to find a way to complete it.

Although breaking ice holes was tiring, the harvest from setting nets under the ice was also great. Setting a net for one night could catch over sixty or seventy kilograms of fish.

If he only set large-mesh nets, the kind with four or five fingers or more, then completing the task would be very fast.

Of course, this also required technique.

The kind of net-setting device that could run with a net underwater in later generations was advanced, but unfortunately, they didn't have it now.

So he could only use primitive methods to set nets in the ice holes.

Li Long originally planned that if the fish in the Little Haizi weren't enough, he would go to the Big Haizi to open another hole and then set nets to catch big fish, but it seemed it wouldn't be necessary now.

Feeling very heavy in his hand, he pulled the scoop net up as he got onto the ice surface. Inside the bottom of the net, besides seven or eight crucian carp of various sizes, there was also a large carp with a red head and red tail that looked extremely beautiful.

"Hey, this fish is beautiful!" Li Qing Xia praised loudly. "I'm afraid it must weigh three or four kilograms?"

After being in Northern Tianshan for a long time, the old man had also started using kilograms to discuss weight.

There was no other way; if you went to sell fish and said "jin," the old soldiers in Shicheng wouldn't be happy.

The big carp struggled in the net, its tail slapping the water with a "pop-pop" sound. Li Long used force to scoop the fish out.

It was only because it was winter that its physical strength hadn't kept up due to the water temperature. If it were summer, such a big fish in this scoop net, I'm afraid one tail slap could have broken the net!

Throwing the big carp onto the shore, Li Long turned the scoop net inside out, shook out the small crucian carp inside, and then went back to the ice hole to probe the net again.

Tao Daqiang heard the commotion and came over. Looking at the big carp still flopping on the ice surface, he exclaimed in admiration:

"Hey, Brother Long is amazing, and this energy is good too. I've been at it for many days and haven't encountered such a big carp!"

Li Long smiled and said:

"Good luck, I just happened to run into it. It seems there are quite a few big fish in this Little Haizi."

"Yeah, these two days are better than the previous two, and there are more big fish." Tao Daqiang chatted for a few sentences and then went back to scoop fish.

In winter, most people stayed indoors.

Actually, Li Long spread the news; he naturally couldn't just collect fish from these few families. As long as someone was breaking ice holes in the Little Haizi to catch fish, and as long as they sent suitable fish to him, he would definitely collect them.

But how to put it, many farmers also had a deep-rooted problem: once they had food and drink, they were too lazy to come out and be active in the dead of winter.

Even if they knew that by breaking ice holes and catching fish for a day, they wouldn't have to go to the street to hawk them, and as long as they delivered them to Li Long, they could get five or ten yuan.

That was more than what workers earned.

But they were just too lazy to do it.

This was also why, thirty or forty years later, many people asked online why there were so few people from Northern Tianshan, Inner Mongolia, and the snow regions going out to work.

Rural areas in the interior had little land, and the young and strong all went out to work. In this area of Northern Tianshan, except for a period in the early 2000s when a batch went out to work and there were relatively few young people in the villages.

But later, most of them came back.

Of course, excluding those who got into university.

Those who came back mostly still had their own land—dozens of mu of land. After switching to drip irrigation, they could earn tens of thousands a year, and in good years, earning over a hundred thousand wasn't a problem.

Those with ambition contracted more when land prices were low, and earning hundreds of thousands directly was also normal.

What about working outside? A salary of two or three thousand yuan wasn't enough to cover rent, utilities, and food expenses. After working for two years and finding something wrong, they simply stopped doing it.

So, to put it nicely, it's being content with what one has; to put it bluntly, it's a lack of enterprise.

For example, right now, Tao Daqiang, Liang Dacheng, and the others were breaking ice holes to catch fish, earning a few or a dozen yuan a day, and if they were lucky, they could earn over twenty yuan.

There were definitely people in the village store making snide remarks, saying it wasn't as good as cutting reeds in autumn or weaving baskets in summer.

The problem was that they only did that work a few times a year.

Right now, being able to earn a few yuan a day was already very impressive. On average, workers only earned one or two yuan a day.

Lazy, finding excuses for themselves. Having food to eat, being able to eat their fill, plus the money they earned from Li Long's work, their lives weren't as tight, so they felt it was quite good and didn't want to move in winter.

After all, it was cold outside.

When they went hunting last time, what Tao Daqiang said was the honest truth.

Wanting to live a good life but not wanting to endure hardship, one could only pray for good luck and good opportunities from heaven.

Just like winning the lottery.

Li Long scooped a few more nets, catching an Amur pike weighing over a kilogram, as well as two silver carp, and the rest were small fish.

It was clearly felt that there weren't as many fish as the year before last.

This was also normal. Fishing all year round, no matter how fast the fish grew, it couldn't keep up with the speed of fishing.

He got up to switch with his eldest brother, Li Jianguo. Li Jianguo didn't switch with Tao Daqiang, mainly because Tao Daqiang needed to earn money. The three Li family members catching fish here, it didn't matter how they calculated it; it was fine even without money.

Tao Daqiang needed to earn money. As for resting, he would rest himself when he was tired of fishing.

Even if they were close, they couldn't be treated the same as family.

Tao Daqiang also understood, and he separated the fish he caught into two piles. One pile was prepared to be handed over to Li Long, and one pile was to be taken home to keep and eat slowly.

Stewed fish soup was beneficial for both women who had just given birth and for children; it was extremely nutritious. At least in this era, that was how people understood it.

The family wasn't lacking meat to eat, but being able to eat some fresh fish in the dead of winter was naturally better.

Because Tao Daqiang had a daughter and didn't want to be far away, catching fish in the Little Haizi was just right.

His plan was to catch at least two hundred kilograms of big fish in this month and earn two hundred yuan first.

When Li Long switched with his eldest brother Li Jianguo to catch fish, Li Qing Xia had already brought a pile of hairy reeds, so Li Long took out his lighter and lit the fire.

When the hairy reeds burned, they quickly melted the snow underneath, revealing the crystal-clear ice surface.

The ice didn't melt much. Heat conducted quickly on the ice surface. By the time the hairy reeds burned into a pile of hot ash, the ice surface had only melted a tiny bit.

The sun couldn't rise high; by noon, it was only two poles high in the south, far worse than in summer when it could rise to the top of one's head.

The three Li family members began to tidy up the fish and prepare to go back to eat. Li Long called out to Tao Daqiang, and Tao Daqiang also followed and began to tidy up.

Looking at the two bags, Li Long roughly estimated that he had about seven or eight kilograms of small fish and twelve or thirteen kilograms of big fish.

That big carp had to be set aside. Li Long's intention was that this item was too big, and it wouldn't be worth it to sell it; it would be better for his own family to eat it.

It would be best to eat it during the reunion dinner for the New Year—auspicious and festive.

Li Qing Xia agreed directly, and Li Jianguo didn't care. He wasn't very particular about these things. Ever since he helped build this village with others, he didn't believe in those things much.

Happiness was created with one's own hands.

Tao Daqiang tidied up. The quantity of fish was almost half less than the Li family's. Could he sell six or seven yuan worth of big fish in one morning?

That was fine too.

Seeing the Li family and Tao Daqiang leave, the people in other places also began to tidy up their things.

"Xiao Long, should we send the fish to your house now?" someone shouted loudly.

"Sure, send them over now. I'll weigh them now, and you can get the money now," Li Long said with a smile.

"Alright, we'll tidy up immediately and send the fish to you right away!"

Li Long and Li Jianguo carried the bags on their backs, and Li Qing Xia held the scoop net behind them, looking just like a victorious general.

The three arrived at the residential area, and Li Long first went to open the idle room of his own house.

There was no room at his eldest brother's place. The snow in his own courtyard had been cleared, and the idle room was cool, which was just right for storing these fish.

The plastic sheet was ready, and there was a scale. He first took the plastic sheet outside, poured the big fish onto it, spread them out, and then waited for others to come over.

The first to come over was Tao Daqiang, and Li Long weighed them for him.

Tao Daqiang was still a bit embarrassed, repeatedly saying that a rough weighing was fine and he didn't need the change. Li Long rounded the number down for him, giving him seven yuan for 6.6 kilograms.

"Hurry back, you can boil a soup with the small fish at noon, eat your fill," Li Long said with a smile.

Times were different now. Tao Jian She no longer favored his eldest son, and Tao Daqiang had also married a wife, so it wasn't appropriate to keep him for lunch anymore.

Next was Liang Dacheng, whose harvest was good. Li Long weighed it and gave him ten yuan.

There were three more families behind, with the most being seven or eight kilograms and the least being a little over three kilograms.

Li Long weighed them one by one and paid on the spot.

After people left, Li Long discovered that the big fish he had poured out at the beginning had also frozen.

He wrapped them up with the plastic sheet and took them back to the idle room.

The stove in the master bedroom was set, and the charcoal fire inside was red. This fire was the best for roasting meat—smokeless and with a sufficiently high temperature.

Li Long added a stove of charcoal inside and covered it with coal dust, preparing to rest here for a while after eating at his eldest brother's place later.

!.

Tao Daqiang hurried back with a bag on his back and a scoop net in his hand. He felt a bit regretful; he should have ridden his bicycle over and left it at the Li family's place so he could have gotten home earlier.

When he arrived home, Tao Daqiang saw his father, Tao Jian She, waiting in the courtyard. Seeing Tao Daqiang return, Tao Jian She nodded and turned to walk into the house.

Hmm, he would have to build a house in the spring.

A thought flashed through Tao Daqiang's mind, and then he stood the scoop net by the door and entered the house carrying the bag of fish.

The fragrance of food filled the room. Although he couldn't understand the child's occasional "baby talk," Tao Daqiang's heart was suddenly filled with happiness.

Seeing Tao Daqiang return, Yang Pingping served the dishes from the pot. For lunch, there was rice and two stir-fried dishes, both in quite large portions.

The family ate together. The child was lying on the kang, playing with a cloth tiger in their arms, occasionally calling out, and was quite well-behaved.

The cloth tiger was made by Tao Daqiang's mother-in-law. It didn't look particularly like one, but the child liked it very much.

The three of them were eating when footsteps and the sound of stomping snow came from outside.

Then the door was pushed open. Tao Daqiang looked over and saw it was his eldest brother, Tao Dayong.

"Eating?" Tao Dayong asked with a smile.

"Eldest brother, have you eaten? Together?" Yang Pingping stood up and asked.

"I've eaten, I've eaten," Tao Dayong hurriedly waved his hand. "You guys eat your meal; I'll just sit for a while."

He sat by the fire wall and didn't dare to go near the kang.

Tao Jian She saw that he still knew not to bring the cold air near the child, and his expression softened.

"Eldest brother, is something the matter?" Tao Daqiang asked.

"Yeah... that, I heard Li Long is back, and you guys caught fish at noon. Did you sell the big ones directly to him, and did he give you cash on the spot?"

"He did," Tao Daqiang said. "One yuan per kilogram, given on the spot. Several families sold the big fish they caught to him."

"Then Daqiang, look, can I partner up with you?" Tao Dayong hesitated for a moment, but finally said it. "I'm thinking that staying at home is useless, and chatting with those people at the store has no future. It would be better to go catch fish.

If I can catch big ones, I can sell them for money; if I can't catch big ones, the small ones can be eaten, right?"

"That's the logic," Tao Daqiang nodded. "How do you plan to partner up?"

His question stunned Tao Dayong.

"That... I'll listen to you," Tao Dayong thought for a while and finally said. "You have experience in this work; you tell me how to do it, and I'll do it."

Tao Jian She's mouth corners curled up.

Being able to put down his pride as an older brother and follow his younger brother to work, his eldest son was doing alright.

Actually, in the autumn, Tao Dayong had gotten melon seeds from the Li family. Although they were shriveled, they could actually sprout, so he already had the intention to change.

In the days of the "big pot," it was fine to just muddle through, but in this era, if you didn't work hard, you would only fall further behind. Eating your fill wasn't a problem, but life would definitely be left behind.

Think about the past, before he was married, Tao Dayong was also considered a passionate youth in the team. His work wasn't worse than others, and he was also an expert at farming.

How did he end up like this?

Was it because his wife wasn't good? That was also due to his own problem of being soft-hearted.

If he had his own opinions, could his wife have twisted his arm?

For the past two months, he had been thinking about it. Watching his younger brother's life get better and better, Tao Dayong felt he had really been a bit of a jerk before.

Then he would just live his life well.

Tao Daqiang, Liang Dacheng, and others were pointed out by Li Long to catch fish. Some people were envious, and some made snide remarks.

Tao Dayong was the one who was quite envious. His younger brother was honest but had made a good friend. Li Long being able to lead his younger brother to earn money and get rich was his younger brother's good fortune.

How many people in the team could earn money in winter?

He was unwilling to accept it, but he didn't have that good fortune. But thinking about how others breaking ice holes were fathers and sons, brothers, why couldn't he go?

What was wrong with swallowing his pride and begging his younger brother once? It was his own family; it wasn't shameful!

So Tao Dayong came over, and being able to say that everything would be listened to by Tao Daqiang, he was truly putting down his pride and preparing to earn money and live a good life.

Tao Daqiang was also a bit surprised to hear this, and then he said:

"Let's start from tomorrow. Come over early tomorrow morning. There's still a scoop net at home; take it back later and tidy up the handle.

Tomorrow we have an ice hole, which I broke with the Li family's old man. We'll see then; if the ice hole isn't enough, we'll break another one."

"Alright, I'll listen to you," Tao Dayong nodded vigorously.

With this statement, the Tao family was quite satisfied.

After the meal, Yang Pingping asked Tao Daqiang in a low voice:

"Daqiang, can my younger brother come over and work together?"

"Sure," Tao Daqiang thought about it and explained, "Look, the Little Haizi belongs to our team. By rights, if people from other teams come over, they should be chased away.

However, if your younger brother works with me, the money will be calculated together, and I'll distribute it later, so there won't be any problem."

"That's fine. When you come back to watch the child at night, I'll go back and ask," Yang Pingping said. "It would be best if he could come; it's better than playing cards at home every day."

"Hmm," Tao Daqiang responded, put on his coat, went out carrying the scoop net, and rode his bicycle toward the Li family's place.

Li Long was already lying down and resting in the bedroom of his own house at this time.

It was impossible to sun the quilts in winter, so the quilt he was currently relying on didn't have the smell of sunshine. But the room was very warm and there was no dampness. It must be because the stove was set every day, which was why it was like this.

Li Long felt very comfortable; he didn't even want to get up to go to the Little Haizi until Li Jianguo and Li Qing Xia shouted outside, and Li Long had to get up.

There was no wind in the afternoon, just right for catching fish. Li Long draped his coat over his shoulders, carried the bag, and followed Li Jianguo and Li Qing Xia. He saw people in front and people behind.

"Daqiang has already gone over, and his bicycle is at your brother's courtyard," Li Qing Xia said while walking. "His older brother will scoop fish together tomorrow; there might be more and more people in the future."

"That's good if there are more," Li Long said while walking. "If there are more, my task will be easier to complete."

"What if you collect enough?" Li Qing Xia continued to ask.

"If we collect enough and they still want to send them to me, then we'll haul them to Shicheng to sell. It'll be close to the New Year then, and the market will definitely be short of fish, and many people will want to buy, so we can sell them for a good price."

"That works," Li Qing Xia was happy.

Not only catching fish but also having a harvest—that was the only way to have a sense of satisfaction.

The fish scooped in the afternoon were even more than in the morning. Because the ice holes rested at noon, the fish gathered around. As soon as they started scooping fish in the afternoon, almost every net had big fish.

When the sun was about to set, the three Li family members walked back. When they returned to the courtyard, Liang Yuemei had already cooked the fish soup.

Li Long waited for the fish sent by others to be weighed and paid for before locking the door here, going to his eldest brother's courtyard to drink fish soup, and then driving the jeep back.

Along with the jeep, he also brought back three or four kilograms of small crucian carp that his sister-in-law and mother had already cleaned.

That big red carp had also been gutted and frozen, prepared to be eaten during the New Year.

Whether they could catch such a big fish later was another matter; anyway, keep it for now.

Right now, there were already many more people catching fish in the Little Haizi than last year. With Tao Dayong joining, there would be even more.

Li Long was quite happy. Everyone knew to take the initiative to catch fish and earn money; this concept was already much stronger than that of people in other villages.

He couldn't always lead them forward; they needed to have some subjective initiative.

Xu Sanduo would only move forward actively when he was about to drag Shi Jin to death; Li Long didn't want the villagers to end up exhausted until they had no spirit left.

To get rich, one ultimately had to rely on one's own efforts.

When others give an opportunity, one must reach out and grab it, right? (End of chapter)