Chapter 599: Conscience Isn't Something Everyone Has

As soon as Li Long said this, not only did Li Qing Xia and the others change their expressions, but the middle-aged short man also changed his expression. He grabbed his hat, pointed at Li Long with anger, and said:

"Don't frame people! I'm telling you, this fish was caught in the Baitu Pit Reservoir, what are you talking nonsense there? Where did I go to catch fish in a sewage pit? Where is there a sewage pit here?"

"There is naturally none here," Li Long said unhurriedly. "But there is one in that sand nest. And you ran far—

The sewage discharged by the county leather factory into the sand nest, that big piece has become a sewage pit, there are quite a few fish in it, right? And you were able to endure that smell to scoop the fish up, and even wash it!"

At this time, leather was still a precious thing. Basically, every county had a leather factory, and the main things collected were sheepskin and cowhide, actually other skins were also collected, such as dog skin, water rat skin, rabbit skin, etc.

Pastoral area cities also had mink factories, which would specifically use mutton to feed minks, and then peel the mink skin to make fur coats.

Of course, these leather products were partly used for industrial and military purposes, and partly used for export to earn foreign exchange.

Not many people wore fur here, but there were many on the old Russian side. The weather there was cold, and fur coats had relatively strong cold-protection ability.

The leather factory at this time didn't have professional purification equipment, and the sewage used to clean leather products was directly discharged through pipes into the sand nest in the north.

This pipeline was dozens of kilometers long, and the section closer to the Fourth Team used corrosion-resistant rubber pipes, and what pipes were used later was unknown.

This pipeline was used for decades, until the end of the 1990s, when leather products were slowly replaced by artificial leather, the leather factory slowly lost its former prosperity, and the factory had new purification equipment, so this pipeline was abandoned.

Many families built houses and specifically looked for the location of the pipeline, dug out the black rubber pipes, and used them as drainage pipes for their own self-built houses, which were very easy to use.

The sewage discharged by the leather factory over the years formed a large sewage pit in the sand nest, and other water was also discharged into it, and there were fish in it.

At first, it was local fish species, that is, bighead carp and silver carp, and later there were fish species like catfish.

The reason why Li Long could see it at a glance was thanks to his currently outstanding sense of smell, as well as the experience of his previous life.

In his previous life, this kind of fish appeared in people's eyes openly, and it would be more than ten years later, when someone would specifically set up a stall at the intersection, open a cardboard box and write "Wild Big Silver Carp" on it, specifically to fool outsiders passing by.

The fish looked very beautiful, just like the fish on this horse-drawn carriage, but the locals were very clear that this was scooped out of a sewage pit.

If washed clean, it wasn't very clear to smell, but if not washed clean, one could smell it, that smell of stinky mud.

At this moment, although this horse-drawn carriage of fish had been rinsed many times, to tell the truth, the work was too rough, and the smell was still quite heavy.

As soon as Li Long said this, Li Qing Xia and Li Jianguo, as well as Lu Yingming, immediately crowded toward the horse-drawn carriage. Previously, they didn't look closely because Li Long wasn't there and hadn't decided to buy.

Now that Li Long said this, these few wouldn't be polite.

"Hey, there really is a stinky smell!" Li Qing Xia smelled it as soon as he got close. He didn't feel it before, just thought it was the fishy smell of fish, but now that Li Long said it, he could distinguish it; this wasn't the stinky smell of rotten fish and shrimp, it was the stinky smell of sewage.

Li Jianguo directly lifted the gill cover of a big fish, and the short man wanted to stop him, but was pushed aside by Li Jianguo with an elbow.

If this were thirty or forty years later, you said you saw this had a problem and didn't buy it, and the other party didn't sell it, then that was it.

Thirty or forty years later, everyone was "well-informed," and had seen all kinds of things that cheated people, so the tolerance was also greater; as long as you didn't cheat me, then it passed.

But it was different at this moment. People's general moral requirements were still very high. This kind of fish caught from a sewage pit and passed off as reservoir fish to sell was no different from taking things out of a dung pit, washing them clean, and passing them off as vegetables from a vegetable field for people to eat.

Isn't this harming people?

So Li Jianguo and Lu Yingming weren't polite at all. This guy was also specifically here to cheat Li Long!

Li Jianguo lifted the gill cover of the frozen big fish hard, and immediately saw obvious sewage mud on the gills, he scooped a bit with his finger, smelled it in front of his nose, and that smell almost made him vomit!

Too stinky!

Think about the sewage discharged from the leather factory, that wasn't just dirty things, there were various bacteria breeding in the dirty things, and the various pathogens carried by the animals originally on the leather, that thing was very poisonous!

Lu Yingming also saw it at this time, he lifted several fish and looked at them, and there was also sewage mud on the fins that hadn't been washed clean.

If one didn't think carefully about this thing, it would be explained as the bottom fish of the reservoir and it would pass.

It was truly Li Long who uncovered the matter, and then one could think of more.

"You, isn't this harming people?" Lu Yingming was the first to get angry. "Is this for people to eat? You have no conscience!"

Saying this, he got angry, Lu Yingming went up and slapped this person on the face.

The hat that had just been put on was knocked off, and this person was also in the wrong, so he didn't dare to fight back.

Of course, he didn't dare, there were two strong laborers beside him, plus an old man who looked a bit old but was actually taller.

Li Long pointed to the fish and said:

"Cheating people! You are not only planning to cheat people, but also planning to smash my signboard!"

Li Jianguo reacted and kicked him.

That person didn't pay attention and was kicked over to the ground, rolled twice, and then let out a scream.

Li Long was stunned for a moment, was his big brother so fierce?

"You are looking for death!" Li Jianguo knew how many things Li Long had done in these two years to establish this signboard, and to be able to receive so many jobs in the supply and marketing cooperative every year.

He also knew that these fish were taken to be used as welfare for the supply and marketing cooperative. If he really didn't pay attention, didn't see it, and collected these fish as cheap goods, and sent them to the supply and marketing cooperative, and they were discovered, his younger brother Li Long's two or three years of effort would definitely be in vain!

This person was doing something that would cut off the family line!

The more he thought, the angrier he got, Li Jianguo couldn't help but go up and follow with a few more kicks, and that person screamed and rolled on the ground.

Li Long didn't move. In his previous life, he had seen too many food safety problems, and this one, actually, wasn't too serious.

But this matter, in the eyes of Li Jianguo and Lu Yingming, was very serious.

If the fish were collected, and later Li Long's signboard was smashed, the Fourth Team would probably not get a single big job next year.

Those close to Li Long in the village could earn more than a thousand every year by relying on this big job.

Even those with average relationships, tying big brooms and reed bundles, could earn several hundred a year.

More money than farming.

The whole family could rely on this money to buy new clothes, and the family could add a big item every year, or change part of the furniture.

If these jobs were gone, the life of the villagers in the Fourth Team would immediately fall to the same level as the villagers in other teams.

Already rich, who would be willing to be poor again?

The children in the team wouldn't be willing!

They would eat much less candy in a year!

So Li Jianguo and Lu Yingming hit the hardest, and then attracted many people.

As soon as this matter spread, when Captain Xu Chengjun came over, that person was already covered in blood.

No one hit him anymore, but he didn't dare to run.

After knowing what was going on, Xu Chengjun also almost went up and kicked him.

It was just that seeing this person was beaten a bit miserably, he didn't move.

"Okay, leave this matter to me." Xu Chengjun was also a beneficiary of the big job Li Long brought. At first, he took money in the team, later he also had money to take when he did it himself, and he could also plan some benefits for his cousins.

This person was cutting off the village's financial path!

"Come a few backbone militiamen, tie him up for me, follow me, go to the commune!"

Xu Chengjun was prepared to handle this matter as an iron case. Although he didn't hit anyone, his hands wouldn't be soft at all.

Li Long prepared to follow, but Xu Chengjun waved his hand:

"Xiao Long, you don't need to worry. You rest assured, I guarantee this matter will be handled well! Damn it, cheating people and running to our territory, do they think we are easy to bully?

Hmph, put it in the past, if I didn't squeeze his shit out, I wouldn't be surnamed Xu!"

As soon as Xu Chengjun said it, seven or eight strong young men immediately twisted the person, pulled the horse-drawn carriage, and followed.

There was also one who shouted "the meal hasn't been eaten yet," but the young man waved his hand: "Eat what? This matter is important!"

Obviously, the young men were also very angry, this matter had already approached harming the vital interests of everyone in the village.

It wouldn't work if it wasn't handled well.

Okay, Li Long didn't need to worry about this matter.

The villagers also slowly dispersed.

At first, many people didn't see the deep-seated problem, but when someone analyzed that this sewage fish was to be collected, and Li Long was to send it out to the supply and marketing cooperative and be discovered, it would cut off the village's financial path, everyone suddenly realized.

"What is the supply and marketing cooperative for? They are just for collecting various materials, can they not discover this? Look at Xiao Long, he recognized it at a glance! He just has this ability!"

They didn't feel it before, but when there was a real crisis in front of them, and they wouldn't be able to earn those few sums of money in the future without the big job Li Long brought, the villagers could understand how hateful this person was when they put themselves in Li Long's shoes.

They didn't think that if Li Long couldn't collect the big job, others in the team could collect it.

Impossible.

There were also many eldest daughters-in-law and aunts who went to talk to Liang Yuemei and comfort her, which made Liang Yuemei a bit dumbfounded. What was there to comfort here? And there was no loss?

"Xiao Long, it's fortunate that you saw it, otherwise, we would truly be in trouble today." Li Jianguo also had lingering fears.

Actually, at first, seeing someone send fish over, he was quite happy, his younger brother's reputation spread so far, this was a good thing.

"It's also thanks to Brother Lu," Li Long said with a smile, "It was still Brother Lu who discovered this person first."

Li Long's courtyard was often empty. Although it was a front and back courtyard with Li Jianguo's side, in winter, people in the backyard would just set up a stove.

Villagers wouldn't break in when there was no one, after all, they all knew Li Long wasn't often there.

Just like that sentence, "Without human traffickers, children will never be abducted."

If it were just villagers, Li Long's courtyard wouldn't have any losses.

But outsiders came to the village, whether adults or children, they would have a few points of vigilance.

The Lu family was also like this, actually, it was the eldest daughter-in-law of the Lu family who first discovered the stranger who pulled the horse-drawn carriage and asked about Li Long's courtyard, and then she let Lu Yingming go over to see what was going on.

This matter also sounded an alarm for Li Long himself.

!.

In this day and age, most people were constrained by morality and had a lower limit of human nature, but there were also people who broke through the lower limit. There were bad people in every era, so one couldn't have a filter for strangers in this era.

One should pay attention when one should.

This matter came to an end for the time being, and Liang Dacheng and these people came over to deliver fish later, all looking like they had lingering fears.

Actually, that person sending fish, if it wasn't for Li Long seeing it, the most direct harm was to those who sent fish.

After all, if Li Long collected that person's fish, Liang Dacheng and these people's fish wouldn't be easy to sell.

Li Long didn't say anything on his side, and he also reminded himself.

In the afternoon, he broke ice holes to catch fish as usual, and when he came back for dinner in the evening, Xu Chengjun also came over.

"The person was handed over to the police station. They said that since no

"The director is a veteran who served in the same year as me. I gave him a piece of my mind, saying, 'The fish from the village are meant to be sent to the supply and marketing cooperative for the county leaders to eat. If these fish are sent up and the leaders eat them, and something goes wrong, who's going to be held responsible?'"

"So what happened in the end?" Li Qing Xia asked.

Liang Yuemei served Xu Chengjun a bowl of fresh fish soup. Xu Chengjun didn't stand on ceremony; he took it, drank a mouthful, and said:

"In the end, that person was locked up. After an interrogation, it turned out he had caught several hundred kilograms. He took some to the market to sell, but the fish were smelly and large, so he didn't sell many, which is how he found out Xiao Long was buying fish."

"Did they say how long he was locked up for?" Li Jianguo asked, putting down his fish soup bowl.

"Half a month, I suppose. Any longer wouldn't be possible. I figure half a month is enough. His horse-drawn cart was confiscated, so it won't be easy for him to mess with fish like that again later."

Although half a month in detention didn't seem like much to everyone else, Li Long knew that this guy would definitely suffer quite a bit during those two weeks.

Xu Chengjun sat and chatted for a while before needing to leave. Liang Yuemei took a small willow basket and filled it with two or three kilograms of cleaned crucian carp for him to take. Xu Chengjun declined twice before accepting.

"I'm off then." Xu Chengjun left carrying the basket.

Today's incident could be considered a breath of relief for the whole village. Why were those core militiamen so enthusiastic? Of course, it wasn't just because of his charisma as the militia company commander.

With Li Long around, the Fourth Team wouldn't be short on extra income.

Right now, as team leader and village director, Xu Chengjun had fewer and fewer village affairs to handle, and he was also thinking about how to make money for his own family.

He also knew about Li Long "hiring" Liang Dacheng and the others to use tractors and harvesters to reap wheat, and he was wondering if he could get involved.

Or maybe buying a harvester from Li Long would work too?

If he really scraped together the funds, it wouldn't be impossible for him, Xu Chengjun, to buy a tractor.

Not long after Xu Chengjun left, Li Long also drove the jeep toward the county.

It had already turned dark, and the headlights could shine quite far. Li Long noticed snowflakes slowly drifting down in the air.

It was snowing.

The snow fell quite heavily that night, and it continued for a while the next morning.

Li Long got up early and first cleared the snow in the courtyard. Sister Yang made breakfast early too. After eating, Gu Xiaoxia wanted to ride her bike to work, but Li Long stopped her.

After adding water to the jeep, Li Long called both Gu Xiaoxia and Han Fang into the car, intending to drop them off at school and work.

"I still have to be mindful of my reputation." Gu Xiaoxia was reluctant.

"Mindful of what?" Li Long waved his hand. "I won't drive right up to the door of your unit; I'll just drop you off when we're close. By the way, take it easy when you're shoveling snow at work; don't be so gung-ho."

"I'm not stupid." Gu Xiaoxia was slowly experiencing the mood swings of pregnancy and started snapping back, "You think I'm a pushover?"

Fine, as long as she knew she wasn't stupid, that was enough.

Li Long drove the jeep out, and Sister Yang closed the gate and began tidying the kitchen and cooking.

There were already people on the road shoveling snow, and others were hurrying toward their units and schools; some carried tools in their hands, others carried bags on their backs.

Li Long first dropped Gu Xiaoxia off at an intersection more than twenty meters away from the Education Bureau. Gu Xiaoxia complained that people would still see them at this distance.

Li Long smiled without saying a word. After watching her enter the unit gate, he hurriedly dropped Han Fang off at school.

When Li Long turned back to the compound, Sister Yang was already sweeping the courtyard.

"Sister Yang, stop sweeping, go do your own work," Li Long said. "Xiaoxia will be a bit late coming back at noon; she'll walk back slowly."

The Education Bureau was less than eight hundred meters from the compound; it was only a ten-minute walk for Gu Xiaoxia.

Li Long wouldn't be back at noon because he was going to the team to collect fish, and it was safer for Gu Xiaoxia to walk back and forth than to ride a bicycle.

Sister Yang said she understood and went to sell the meal. Li Long picked up a snow pusher and began clearing the snow in the courtyard.

Since there was a green belt outside, Li Long piled the snow from the courtyard together first, then moved it out to the green belt.

There were people clearing snow over at the police station too. Li Long greeted Officer Guo and then went back to his own work.

His movements were fast and he had plenty of strength; by the time the work at the police station was done, Li Long had already cleared more than half of the snow in the large courtyard.

By the time Li Long finished clearing the snow in the courtyard, the clouds in the sky had thinned, and the snow stopped falling.

This snowfall was about twenty or thirty centimeters deep—not very thick, just a moderate snow.

If this were in later generations, there would surely be many people having snowball fights, but for Li Long right now, it was just a nuisance.

Fortunately, the next snowfall would be colder. The ice on the Little Haizi would be thicker, making the fish inside more uncomfortable and oxygen-deprived, which would make them easier to catch.

Everything has its pros and cons.

When the jeep drove to the team, Li Long didn't see any students along the way; after all, the students were already on break.

Once middle and primary schools were on break, these two building areas suddenly became quiet, which made Li Long, who often traveled back and forth, feel a bit unaccustomed.

By the time he reached the team, the sky had completely cleared, and the sunlight reflecting off the fresh snow was somewhat blinding.

Every family in the team was also clearing snow. Li Long first went to Uncle Lao Luo's place to help sweep the snow, then went to his own courtyard.

His father and mother were sweeping snow in their courtyard with the two children, and his eldest brother and sister-in-law were sweeping the snow in the back courtyard.

Li Long's participation made the snow-clearing process much more efficient.

He had gained another task.

The feed for the livestock at the horse stables was running a bit low; he figured that once he was done with the fish, he would have to make two trips to haul sugar dregs.

Thinking of sugar dregs, Li Long's mind became active again.

These sugar dregs were also a high-quality raw material. Starting an enterprise specifically to process sugar dregs into feed would also be a very profitable prospect. (End of chapter)