Chapter 616

By the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Li family stopped collecting fish. That afternoon, Li Long returned to the brigade and joined his father and big brother in packing the fish into the vehicle.

The day before, Li Jianguo had already notified every family that they would no longer be collecting fish; everyone could keep the fish they caught for themselves to eat, or go to the market to sell them.

The next day, the Tao family, the Liang family, and the Jia family were still fishing.

They basically all planned to fish for two more days. The big fish caught this time, besides being kept for their own families to eat, would be given away to relatives and friends.

The Fourth Brigade had the unique condition of having Little Haizi. To be honest, even in the Third Brigade, wanting to eat fish as freely as the people in the Fourth Brigade was almost impossible.

Yang Pingping's younger brother, Yang Yong, followed Tao Daqiang to catch fish, and the family would often keep some small crucian carp. In the past, after Tao Daqiang caught fish, he would go to give some to the Yang family.

The Third Brigade usually only caught fish in the spring, when the ice had just melted, the reeds in the reed lake had been harvested and new ones hadn't grown yet, and the floodwaters rushed out from Little Haizi into the reed lake. At this time, they could catch some fish from the reed lake.

At ordinary times, they wouldn't go to Little Haizi either.

People at this time were generally quite disciplined; if it wasn't their own brigade, they wouldn't go. No one would argue about it, but if they really did argue, they would be in the wrong.

Therefore, if people from the Fourth Brigade sent fish to relatives in other brigades, people from those brigades were usually very welcoming.

Especially during the New Year, if someone really brought two big red-headed, red-tailed carp to the door, who could refuse that?

While packing the fish, Li Jianguo also asked Li Long if they should send two big fish to that leader at the Prefecture Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Among the fish caught by their own family or sent by others these days, there were quite a few excellent big red carp, with seven or eight of them weighing over three kilograms, looking truly beautiful.

Li Long intended to send some to the leaders of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative as well. Last time, the Supply and Marketing Cooperative ordered a ton of big fish, and there were plenty of such good fish; the leaders definitely wouldn't be lacking.

"Then should we sell them all?" Li Jianguo said.

"That won't do," Li Qing Xia spoke up. "No matter what, we have to keep a few. Even if this fish doesn't taste good for the New Year, we have to keep the auspicious sign. Let's keep four; we don't need more. One for this house, one for your father-in-law's place, one for Xiao Long's father-in-law's place, one for Xiao Long's house..."

"That won't do, we have to keep two more," Li Long said with a smile. "Since it's the New Year, my second brother and my sister and the others will definitely be coming back; we have to give them two to take back, right?"

"Right, right, right," Li Qing Xia was happy. "Don't wait for them to come back for your sister's side; when we sell the fish, you just send them over to her."

"Good, when I go, I'll tell my sister by the way and let her get the meal ready."

"Alright," Li Qing Xia said with a smile. "Then let's pack up as soon as possible and go to the market tomorrow."

There were plenty of big carp, big grass carp, bighead carp, and Amur pike. While packing the fish, Li Jianguo let Li Long take some back.

Li Long wasn't polite either; he picked out a big carp weighing about three kilograms, two Amur pike weighing over two kilograms each, and two bighead carp.

There were plenty of crucian carp to take back home, so he wouldn't take any more.

Actually, when locals eat fish, they eat the two sides of the ribs or the head for big fish, and for small fish, they eat small crucian carp, stewing them until they are soft and chewing them directly.

Of course, they are still willing to eat bighead carp; the head of a bighead carp is truly delicious when cooked well.

Li Long took the bighead carp back intending to make a fish-head hot pot soup or a chopped chili fish head. Such cooking methods didn't exist in the Fourth Brigade yet, and Li Long thought about making them so his family could have a good taste of something fresh.

He also told his big brother about his idea and let his big brother keep two more bighead carp.

"Alright, I'll see how you make this fish-head hot pot for everyone during the New Year," Li Jianguo also said with a smile.

Looking at his big brother's expression and tone of voice, Li Long felt a bit unconvinced, but there was nothing he could do.

Big Brother Li Jianguo's expression and tone were still that of watching a child fooling around—you just do whatever you want, I'll cover for you anyway.

That feeling from a few years ago suddenly returned. At that time, he was like a child fooling around—willful, arrogant, and prone to causing trouble.

But every time something happened back then, it was his big brother who covered for him.

With their father away, his big brother was truly like a father to him.

Li Long vaguely remembered the look in his big brother's eyes after he caused trouble—although he was angry that he wasn't living up to expectations, there was also a bit of self-reproach.

Since his rebirth, he hadn't had this feeling again; after all, he had gained decades of experience and always thought he wouldn't need his big brother to worry about him anymore.

But with just this little thing, he felt that atmosphere from back then again.

His nose felt a bit sore.

Although his big brother watched him grow up step by step, deep down, he was still that big brother who felt he needed a helping hand at any time.

In his previous life, his big brother passed away early, and his impression of him was only in his memories.

This life's journey had already been rewritten; he wouldn't let the tragedy of the previous life repeat itself. His big brother was still here, life was even more beautiful—this feeling was truly good.

Li Long had come driving the jeep. After getting the fish bagged and loaded into the vehicle, and tying the two sleds onto the tractor, he drove the tractor back.

He had to drive the tractor back to pick up Gu Xiao Xiao.

Tomorrow he would take his big brother's tractor to Shicheng to sell the fish together, and then the business before the New Year would be finished.

He had to have a good New Year.

Driving the jeep toward the county, Li Long recalled that this year had been busy and bustling, but the harvest had been quite good.

He had saved quite a bit of money, had a jeep, and next year's plan was basically settled, just waiting to be implemented.

Living life in such a plain and simple way was truly quite good.

After having the jeep, Li Long felt his life was truly very good. Not having a mobile phone for these few years actually felt quite good too.

He drove the car directly to the side of the road less than thirty meters away from the Education Bureau and parked.

At this time, the road wasn't very wide, but there were even fewer cars, so there was no situation of blocking the road, and no traffic police or urban management would come to ask him why he was parking here.

After the winter solstice, the days gradually became longer. When the Education Bureau got off work, it wasn't that dark anymore.

When Gu Xiao Xiao and her colleagues came out of the Education Bureau's main gate, Li Long honked the horn. Gu Xiao Xiao, who was talking to her colleague, looked over, then waved at her colleague with a smile and walked over.

After getting into the car, Gu Xiao Xiao felt the heat in the car and asked:

"You haven't been waiting for long, have you?"

"Not long. I just came back from my big brother's place and brought some fish. Tomorrow morning we'll go to Shicheng to sell the fish, and after we get back, I'll make chopped chili fish head for you."

"Good," Gu Xiao Xiao didn't have much talent for cooking and was often conquered by the new dishes Li Long made.

According to Sister Yang, if Li Long were to open a restaurant, it would definitely be a hit.

Li Long knew his own affairs; those were dishes invented by others or brought from other places, so he should avoid showing off or disrupting the course of history.

Being able to make them for his own family to eat was enough.

Driving the jeep back to the compound, Sister Yang had already prepared the meal. Li Long drained the water from the jeep and unloaded the fish into the storage room. It was almost full here.

During dinner, Li Long mentioned keeping a big carp for Gu Bo Yuan, and Gu Bo Yuan nodded and agreed.

This wasn't the first or second time they had received such things from their in-laws; at first, there was some resistance, but later they got used to it.

How much is face worth? If the other party has that heart, it shows that the family they married into is good and right, so just accept it.

If they have any good things on their side, just keep an eye out for the in-laws when the time comes.

Li Long didn't bring the fish over; the fish would be sent over after Gu Bo Yuan returned to the brigade.

"I plan to go back the day before the Little New Year," Gu Bo Yuan also said. "When the time comes, I'll tidy up the house, put up couplets, and no matter what, I have to spend the New Year in the brigade."

With this idea, Li Long naturally wanted to help realize it, including things like firecrackers.

Fortunately, the house over there was easy to tidy up.

"Then it will just be you two, Sister Yang, here," Gu Xiao Xiao asked while eating. "Do you want to go to the brigade with us to spend the New Year?"

"We won't go," Sister Yang said with a smile. "It's our blessing that we two can spend the New Year in this compound; it's something we never thought of in our whole lives."

"When the time comes, we'll tidy up the courtyard more neatly. His uncle definitely needs to put up couplets, right? We'll put up more 'Fu' characters, and we'll set off some firecrackers too!"

"Alright," having someone help guard the compound, Li Long was naturally happy too.

He could see that Sister Yang and Han Fang were truly happy.

People who have suffered have different standards for happiness than people like him.

The next day, while they were eating breakfast, the tractor outside started up.

"Big Brother and the others are here. You guys eat first, I'm leaving." Li Long had eaten enough, put down his bowl and chopsticks, went to put on his clothes, and urged Gu Xiao Xiao, "Go to work slowly."

"I know, you guys be careful too." Gu Xiao Xiao hurriedly sent Li Long out the door.

Today, the three of them were going to Shicheng. Li Long didn't bring a gun, just two shovel handles tucked into the side of the tractor's cargo bed.

If there was any situation, he could handle an emergency.

Thinking back, after they had fought a battle last year, there shouldn't be anyone blocking the road this year.

After all, the "iron-headed" ones had already fertilized the land.

Li Jianguo was driving the tractor, and Li Qing Xia was wearing a coat and a cotton hat, sitting on the fender. "Xiao Long, are you sitting on the side?" Li Qing Xia asked after seeing Li Long tuck in the shovel handles.

"No, I'll go up and sit on the sled." Li Long climbed onto the tractor nimbly, sat steadily on the sled, and said, "Big Brother, let's go."

Li Jianguo and the others greeted Gu Xiao Xiao at the door, then shifted gears and drove the tractor toward the west.

When the sun rose, the tractor had already reached the Mahe Bridge.

He could see horse-drawn carriages running toward Shicheng, and some people pulling sleds—Li Long saw Zhang Qiang.

He was pulling a horse-drawn carriage, and the carriage was piled with quite a few big brooms.

Watching Zhang Qiang sitting on the carriage and driving forward, Li Long wanted to laugh.

This guy hadn't sold all the big brooms yet.

But he should have earned some money, right? After all, the flow of people in Shicheng was large, and big brooms should still be quite easy to sell.

Now some units had started using bamboo brooms brought from the interior, but ordinary families with courtyards still liked to use big brooms made of reed grass.

!.

Durable and easy to sweep with.

Of course, it was also out of habit.

He didn't know if the tasks from above would be reduced next year.

While Li Long was pondering, the tractor had already passed Zhang Qiang and headed toward Shicheng.

Zhang Qiang looked up, didn't recognize Li Long, and lowered his head to continue on his way.

An old horse knows the way; there was only one road, so the horse just walked forward directly, and there was no need to drive it much.

When the tractor drove to the old street of Shicheng, the stalls here were almost full.

The tractor had to be parked in the parking lot, where there were not only two tractors but also horse-drawn carriages, donkey carts, and bicycles.

"Father, you stay here and watch the tractor. My big brother and I will pull the sled and the fish to find a stall," Li Long said. "We just need one stall; there's a lot of fish, so the three of us can handle it together."

"Alright," Li Qing Xia said readily.

Li Long unloaded the sled. Li Jianguo came over, took the two bags of fish Li Long lowered, and placed them on the sled. Li Long came down, took down two more bags of fish, and then put the scale and the fish on the sled, pulling it toward the market.

The voices of sellers in the market were much louder now, everyone was arguing, and occasionally they would argue about price and quantity.

Li Long had a good eye. After entering the market and turning a corner, he didn't walk many steps before he saw a stall ahead where the people had sold out and were packing up. Li Long shoved the sled rope into Li Jianguo's hand and then rushed over quickly. By the time the big brother selling cabbage packed up his stall, Li Long had already occupied the spot.

Someone selling frozen tofu carrying a basket also took a fancy to this spot, but unfortunately, he was a step late. Seeing Li Long standing there, he asked with some luck:

"Young man, are you helping out?"

"No, I'm selling fish. Look, my fish is coming over."

Li Jianguo saw Li Long rush out and knew he had spotted the location. He took the sled rope and immediately added some strength. By the time the tofu seller finished asking, his sled had also arrived.

Seeing that the Li brothers had already occupied the spot, the tofu seller shook his head and walked away carrying his load.

The cabbage stall was quite large. People on both sides saw the space and wanted to squeeze in, but Li Long immediately said:

"Two gentlemen, we've occupied this stall. The sled is a bit big, so you guys shouldn't move."

He was tall and strong. When he shouted this, while the people on both sides were stunned, Li Long had already taken the sled rope from Li Jianguo and dragged the sled into the stall.

It fit perfectly, leaving a gap of about ten centimeters on both sides; there couldn't be anything more precise than this.

Seeing they couldn't occupy the spot, the people on both sides ignored him and continued to hawk their own goods.

The stall was set. Li Long and Li Jianguo dragged the sled back to reveal the empty space in front, spread out the plastic sheet they brought, and dumped the two bags of fish onto it. Li Long also arranged the fish one by one, mainly to let people see clearly.

As soon as the fish were laid out, they immediately attracted the attention of many people.

"Fresh fish, big fish from Little Haizi in Maxian!" Li Long started hawking. "Just caught from the ice holes, guaranteed fresh, guaranteed clean. If you want some, come and buy!"

"Hey, young man, your fish look beautiful!" Four or five people gathered around, and an old man in his sixties asked: "How are they sold?"

"Big carp, grass carp, Amur pike, and bighead carp are 1.5 yuan, silver carp is 1.3 yuan," Li Long reported the prices familiarly.

Although the silver carp were collected at 1 yuan, Li Long didn't intend to sell them that expensively.

Li Jianguo agreed with this too. After all, there were few people who ate silver carp, and they didn't collect many.

"This price isn't cheap," the old man bargained skillfully. "Look, your fish are so big, a family might not be able to finish them..."

"Old man," Li Long said with a smile, "Look at my fish, properly caught from the Little Haizi reservoir. Look how beautiful these fish are! You'd be hard-pressed to see such beautiful big carp in this whole market, right?"

"If you say it's expensive, I definitely wouldn't sell it this expensively in the summer, but it's mid-winter now, and the New Year is coming soon. I won't hide it from you; these fish of mine weren't all caught by myself, some were collected from fellow villagers."

"I collected these fish at 1.2 yuan, so you can't expect me to sell them at the original price, right? I have to earn some money for noodles, don't I? It's the New Year, so the fish is at this price; I have no other choice..."

Lowering the price was impossible. If he didn't want to get rid of the fish quickly, Li Long even thought about raising the price a bit more.

It was the New Year, and many things had gone up in price.

The old man thought about it repeatedly and still chose a very beautiful carp weighing over two kilograms, and let Li Long weigh it.

"Old man, look, the scale is high. 2.6 kilograms, 1.5 yuan per kilogram, so this 2.6 kilograms is 3.9 yuan. Come, you take the fish..."

The old man took out the money to pay and left holding the fish.

This fish was truly beautiful. Although it wasn't particularly big, the head and tail were red, looking very festive, which immediately attracted the attention of many people. Some asked, and the old man pointed to Li Long's position, which counted as giving them an advertisement.

Once there was the first buyer, there was a second. Li Long saw that carp sold best, followed by Amur pike, and the hardest to sell was silver carp; bighead carp sold faster than silver carp.

Soon, only half of the bags of fish were left at the stall, and there weren't two carp left. Li Long said to Li Jianguo:

"Big Brother, you watch for a while, I'll go and pull a few more bags over."

The New Year was coming soon, and there were a lot of people on the old street. These fish were beautiful and sold fast.

Li Jianguo responded, and Li Long lifted the sled and left the stall, pulling it toward the parking lot.

"Is it sold out already?" Li Qing Xia, who was chatting with the guy watching the parking lot, saw Li Long coming and was a bit surprised. "So fast?"

"No, the carp are almost gone, I'm pulling some over," Li Long explained, took down the fish bags, and loaded them onto the sled.

Li Qing Xia came over to help. Li Long saw that there were six bags on the sled, so he said it was enough, and then pulled the sled toward the stall.

Before he even reached the stall, he heard someone saying there:

"Who knows if your fish are those sewage fish? There's no way to prove these fish. If you don't lower the price, I won't buy them..."

The speaker was a female voice, and judging by the sound, she should be around fifty years old.

Li Jianguo's voice defended:

"These are authentic fish from Little Haizi in Maxian, how could they be sewage fish? Don't talk nonsense!"

There was suppressed anger in Li Jianguo's voice.

"Who knows? Those sewage fish are also from under Maxian, how can you prove your fish aren't sewage fish?" The woman said with some surprise.

People nearby were also discussing it.

Li Long sensed something was wrong; it seemed someone was looking for trouble.

He immediately shouted loudly:

"Make way, I'm the one selling the fish, let me in first!"

Immediately, someone made way, letting Li Long pull the sled over.

Li Long saw clearly the woman who was looking for trouble. She was over fifty and dressed quite fashionably—for this era.

However, she had a sharp tongue and looked mean-spirited.

She saw Li Long coming, glanced at him, and then looked at the stall.

"Are you the one who said these are sewage fish? Bring evidence! Otherwise, I'll go to the police station later and tell them you're slandering me!" Li Long went up and unleashed a barrage on the woman.

Having lived two lives, he had long known that when slandered by others, you shouldn't be in a hurry to prove yourself; you must first refute it, otherwise, you can only fall into a passive position.

He wouldn't do something where others were unscathed while he suffered great damage.

The woman was stunned; this was a bit contrary to common sense.

"Why should I prove it? You said you aren't sewage fish, shouldn't you be the one to prove it? How can you prove it?"

"Heh heh, why should I prove it? You were the one who said our fish were sewage fish first. Since you said it, bring out the evidence! Without evidence, then you are slandering!"

"You'll be taken to the police station! If not, you can just casually call anyone a thief or a murderer, and they have to prove it to you? Who do you think you are?" Li Long sneered.

Li Jianguo felt truly relieved hearing this and followed up with an angry glare:

"That's right, who do you think you are? You say it is what it is?" (End of chapter)