Chapter 9: Breaking Ice Requires Skill Too

Li Long heard someone calling his name as he neared Little Haizi.

He turned to look and saw it was Tao Daqiang from the village.

Tao Daqiang was the village giant, a year younger than Li Long, a bit simple-minded, and the village youth rarely included him. When Li Long first arrived, they got along well, but after Li Long started hanging out with Gu Ermao, he drifted away with the crowd.

Yet every time Tao Daqiang saw Li Long, he still greeted him cheerfully, looking quite happy, and still treated Li Long like a brother.

In the future, after the Household Contract Responsibility System was implemented, Tao Daqiang's father decided to let his older brother farm the family land, leaving Tao Daqiang with no land to till. He went into the mountains to work as a secondary occupation alongside those digging for Fritillaria bulbs. At first, he returned once or twice a year, and each time he came back, he would visit Li Long.

Each time he visited Li Long, he would bring some things.

But later, he didn't return for several years. After that, Li Long only heard from Tao Daqiang's family that he had married in the mountains, then had his leg broken by a wild boar. After that, there was no news.

He was an honest kid. Li Long felt that in his past life, he had truly wronged the other's sincerity.

"Daqiang, what are you doing here?"

"I heard you were back, so I came to find you to play this morning. But your family said you went to Little Haizi to catch fish." Tao Daqiang walked up to Li Long, panting, took the bag from his hand, and said, "Give me the bag. You're a worker; you're not as good at this as I am."

Li Long smiled, punched Tao Daqiang lightly, and said:

"Alright then. Once we catch the fish, we'll split it fifty-fifty."

"Hehe." Tao Daqiang laughed.

With a companion, the walk to Little Haizi felt a bit easier.

"Look, rabbit tracks, and quite a few of them." Tao Daqiang pointed to the marks in the nearby red willow bushes.

"If we get some thin iron wire, we could set some snares. Maybe we'll catch something." Li Long looked at the tracks, which were still quite fresh, and said.

"You know how to set snares?" Tao Daqiang looked at Li Long, somewhat surprised.

"When I was at the factory, a coworker was from Qingshuihe. There are many hunters there, and he told me about it." Li Long could lie now without his face even flushing. "We'll try it when we have time."

There was no pork at home; if they wanted meat, they had to figure it out themselves.

Fortunately, there were many wild animals outside, and most people in the village were farmers by origin. At this time, doing such things wasn't like in the future, where phones had all sorts of videos to teach you. Even if there were people with the same ideas as Li Long, most were just starting to figure it out.

So, there were plenty of opportunities.

Arriving at Little Haizi, Li Long chose a large, flat patch of ice near the reeds. He and Tao Daqiang first cleared the snow off the ice.

This was mostly done by Tao Daqiang. After he cleared the snow, he asked:

"Brother Long, why did you choose this spot?"

"Because the water here mainly has carp and crucian carp. These fish are timid and love grass, so when it gets cold in winter, they mainly huddle together for warmth by the reeds."

"So that's how it is!" Tao Daqiang had a sudden realization, looking as if he had just learned something new.

Li Long smiled, picked up the crowbar, and struck the chosen spot.

The ice was frozen solid. The threaded steel crowbar only made a small dent, less than the size of a fist, and his hand shook with pain.

"Let me!" Tao Daqiang took the pickaxe, raised it over his head, and struck the small dent hard.

When Li Long saw him strike solidly, he noticed Tao Daqiang's hand had a loose grip motion and nodded inwardly. At least that way, his hands wouldn't be shaken to pieces.

The pickaxe was powerful. With that one strike, a piece of ice the size of a plate was chipped out. Li Long used this gap to strike again with the crowbar.

The two of them took turns, one strike after another. In less than ten minutes, they had dug out a pit half a meter square and more than twenty centimeters deep.

"Try the size." Li Long stopped, put down the crowbar, took the scoop net, and tested it. He found the opening was still a bit small, so Tao Daqiang took the pickaxe and started widening the pit opening.

In just that short while, steam rose from both their heads, and sweat appeared on their faces.

Seeing this, Li Long turned and went to the reeds. He gathered a large armful of the coarse reeds others had cut and discarded, brought them to the cleared ice, took out a lighter from his pocket, and lit a fire.

Reeds were a good thing in this era. In winter, they could be woven into mats or bundled for roofing. The county paper mill also bought reed bundles for papermaking.

There were two reed lakes around the village, and many reeds also grew in Little Haizi. However, shortly after winter arrived, when the ice was thick enough to support people, the village would organize people to harvest them as a secondary income, counting it as part of the year-end settlement.

Now, the tall reeds in Little Haizi had all been cut, leaving only some coarse reeds that were useless and had been discarded.

This was a typical case of relying on the mountain to eat from the mountain. At this time, people seized every opportunity to make money. Unlike in the future, where reeds were only useful for wrapping zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival, with nothing else to do with the rest. If the reeds weren't harvested that year, it would actually affect the growth of new reeds the following year.

So before Li Long was reborn, the reed lakes around the village had all disappeared, and the old reeds that had accumulated year after year in Little Haizi meant the new reeds were no longer as lush as they once were.

With the warmth, the two didn't worry about catching a cold from sweating, but at this time, the fire mostly burned the front while the back felt chillingly cold. So they didn't stay long before picking up their tools and continuing to work.

!.

In less than an hour, the ice hole was finished.

Tao Daqiang couldn't wait, dropped the pickaxe, took the scoop net, bent down, and scooped into the water.

He lifted the net, but besides half a net of crushed ice, there was nothing.

Seeing Tao Daqiang's disappointed expression, Li Long smiled and said:

"Don't rush. Once the ice is broken, you have to wait for the fish to react."

Tao Daqiang said awkwardly:

"Before winter came, eating fish was quite convenient. But since the ice formed, I haven't tasted meat in a long time..."

Li Long found this strange. Tao Daqiang's family raised pigs too; how could he not get to eat meat?

"Did your family's pigs become superstitious pigs?" he couldn't help but ask.

"No. The pig my family slaughtered, my father sold half the meat, and most of the rest is at my older brother's house. We don't usually cook it; my father said we'll eat it during the New Year..."

Well, every family has its own difficulties.

Seeing Tao Daqiang look down, Li Long quickly changed the subject, pointing to a spot more than ten meters away and said:

"While we have time, let's dig another hole over there."

"Alright, you're the boss."

This time, they were more experienced. Forty minutes later, another ice hole was done.

"Daqiang, let's go. See if there are fish in that one ahead." Li Long said, holding the scoop net.

"Okay!" Tao Daqiang, full of expectation, followed Li Long to the previous hole.

A thin layer of ice had already formed over this hole. Li Long first climbed down to the halfway point where the footing had been chiseled, then gently broke the thin ice with his fist. He saw a fish shadow flash by in the water.

A slight thrill and expectation stirred in his heart. Li Long held the scoop net, slowly extending it into the water, then gripped it with both hands, bent his waist, leaned his body sideways, and stirred vigorously in the water!

Feeling something moving inside the scoop net, Li Long immediately pulled it back, leaned his entire body against the ice behind him, and with force lifted the scoop net up!

"Fish, there's a fish! A big fish! A large crucian carp!" Tao Da's voice cracked with excitement!

(End of this chapter)