Chapter 927: Little Little Haizi from the Li Family is Up to His Old Tricks Again!

The gillnet was made of very sturdy nylon rope, so Li Long boldly pulled the net line back with confidence.

Feeling the tremendous force of the struggle, Li Long had a vague intuition in his heart that this fish might be quite large.

The net was pulled taut; because the rocket-shaped head of the trawl device was stuck in the ice and snow, likely frozen solid, pulling it up now required considerable effort.

Li Long dared not use brute force to yank it, so he could only pull and then slacken repeatedly. His eyesight was excellent; he could see that where the rocket head was stuck, there was both ice and snow, and as he pulled, the snow was falling into the water, suggesting it should be possible to pull it free.

Forcing it might indeed work, but there was a risk the net would snap, or the trawl device itself could be damaged by the strain.

It wasn't necessary.

After pulling and slackening for five or six minutes, he finally dragged the trawl device out of the ice and snow; Li Long felt his hands go slack, and even the fish on the net seemed to have stopped struggling so vigorously.

But he still dared not relax. This single-layer net was different from the three-layer gillnets of later generations; although it could snag fish, if a fish had been caught for only a short time, or if it was large enough, it might still break free from the net.

Whether in his previous life or this one, Li Long had experienced large fish breaking free and escaping more than once while fishing; in his view, this was perfectly normal.

The net was finally hauled up, and Li Long saw the large fish caught in it—a big flower silver carp weighing four or five Jin Zhong was struggling on the net; out of the water, the external cold made it extremely uncomfortable, and though it struggled desperately, its movements grew weaker and weaker until it was soon frozen stiff.

Although flower silver carp were better than white silver carp, in Li Long's eyes, they were not as good as carp or Wu Dao Hei.

He still thought the Mahe should surely contain better fish, such as the Gaoshan Bangzi cold-water fish he had once eaten over in the Ili region, or others.

Flower silver carp were just a bit too ordinary.

However, having a catch was better than having nothing at all.

With a four-finger mesh, small fish couldn't get snagged, so apart from this flower silver carp and a few pieces of driftwood, there was nothing else on the net.

Li Long's hands were wet and freezing terribly; he hurriedly stuffed the net and the fish together into a urea bag, grabbed it, and sprinted toward the Jeep, then drove the vehicle back.

Upon returning to the big courtyard, Li Long got out of the car, picked up the bag, and entered the kitchen.

Sister Yang had already prepared breakfast by this time; seeing Li Long enter, she asked:

"Uncle, did you go to retrieve the net?"

"Mm, caught a big flower silver carp; let's stew fish head soup for lunch." Fish was best eaten fresh; once frozen and then eaten, the taste would not be the same.

"Alright." Sister Yang smiled; she opened the bag and saw the large fish, exclaiming in surprise: "So big? We can't finish it all."

"It's fine; I'll chop off a section to send to Little Sun later," Li Long said. "We'll mainly eat the fish head."

And so the matter was settled.

After breakfast, once Sister Yang took charge of Mingming and Haohao, Li Long carried a small half-section of the fish and headed to the procurement station.

Gu Gu Bo Yuan was inspecting a bag of watermelon seeds brought in by a seller, while Sun Jia Qiang stood beside him, pouring all the seeds onto a round sieve for Gu Gu Bo Yuan to sift through and check.

Seeing Li Long approach, Gu Gu Bo Yuan asked while continuing his inspection: "Did you retrieve the net? How did it go? Did you catch anything?"

"One big flower silver carp, about five or six Wu Gong Jin Zhong. We can't finish it, so here's this section for Little Sun; take it home to eat," Li Long said to Sun Jia Qiang. "Best to cook it today; don't freeze fresh fish."

It was still early, so only two people had come to sell goods; not many. Sun Jia Qiang took the fish Li Long handed over and thanked him with a smile.

"Take tomorrow off," Li Long said to Gu Gu Bo Yuan. "Take two days of rest; have all the regular customers been informed?"

"They all know," Gu Gu Bo Yuan nodded. "I told them, and it's written on the blackboard too."

"That's good then."

With nothing else to do here, Li Long returned to the big courtyard. He was going to the team tomorrow, so he planned to buy some things.

With the New Year approaching, Li Long planned to buy warm clothes and hats for his father and mother. Ready-made garments were available at the Department Store Building, and also over in Shicheng. Li Juan and Li Qiang would soon be on holiday; their grades this semester seemed likely to be good, so he needed to buy some toys to reward them.

As for his elder brother and sister-in-law, he would buy them two pairs of cotton leather shoes. At the team, they wore cotton shoes they made themselves, plus the cotton rubber shoes bought in the township; those things didn't repel water, and once snow landed on them and melted, it soaked right through, which was uncomfortable and stifled the feet.

For his own household here, there was no need; he would just give Sister Yang and Sun Jia Qiang a year-end bonus.

Since it was the weekend anyway, he would take the children to the Fourth Small Team, allowing Sister Yang to rest as well.

Li Long went to the Department Store Building to shop; besides buying the items he had planned, he also purchased some snacks like chicken cakes and Jiang noodles, along with milk candies and other things; these miscellaneous items alone filled a bag.

While shopping, he spotted a somewhat familiar face but couldn't recall the name. Perhaps someone he often saw when buying goods before? It was just that later he had traveled more frequently to Shicheng and Wucheng, visiting the county Department Store Building less often, so he hadn't seen them much and didn't know their name anymore.

It was a woman in her twenties.

As Li Long exited the Department Store Building carrying large and small packages, that woman stared at his back for quite a while.

Driving back to the big courtyard, Li Long put the goods away and then cleaned the net. This new net was easier to clean; the Mahe water didn't have so much debris, so after removing the fish, one only needed to take off the driftwood.

By the time he finished tidying up, lunch was nearly ready; the aroma of fresh fish soup filled the courtyard. Mingming and Haohao were already drinking some—Sister Yang had specially ladled out a portion for the two children to let it cool; once it was warm, the two children couldn't wait to start drinking.

"Hey, this taste is wonderful!" Gu Gu Bo Yuan exclaimed while sipping the soup. "Being able to drink a mouthful of fresh fish soup in the dead of winter—I wouldn't trade it even for a township head."

Hearing this, Li Long wanted to laugh. Actually, given Gu Gu Bo Yuan's education and capabilities, if he had truly started working right at the beginning of the Reform and Opening-up era, becoming a section-level cadre would have been no problem at all.

But to be honest, perhaps because it was winter, or perhaps because they hadn't eaten fresh fish for some time, the taste of today's fish soup was truly incredibly fresh.

He thought that since it was fish from the Mahe, it was naturally different.

Since this single net haul had succeeded, then later when he had free time and wanted to eat some, could he just go directly to the river to get a couple? Whether this trawl device could work under the ice surface of Little Little Haizi was uncertain, but at least in the Mahe, it could function.

The next day, Gu Gu Bo Yuan had breakfast at the big courtyard; after eating, Li Long drove the Jeep, taking him, Gu Gu Xiaoxia, Mingming, and Haohao, and headed to the Fourth Small Team.

Sister Yang and Han Fang stayed behind in the big courtyard, which counted as a relaxation for them.

Upon arriving in the township, Li Long first went to the blacksmith shop to pick up the four customized "convenience shovels" he had ordered.

Seeing that the items were indeed sharpened very keenly, used good materials, and that the sockets for attaching the wooden handles were crafted quite meticulously, Li Long was very satisfied and paid the remaining ten yuan.

"What are those things?" Gu Gu Bo Yuan asked, seeing the string of items Li Long had threaded onto wire and placed in the back.

"Shovels for smashing ice holes; they work better than pickaxes and steel drills."

"Hey, it really is 'if a worker wishes to do good work, he must first sharpen his tools'," Gu Gu Bo Yuan remarked with emotion.

After arriving at the Fourth Small Team, Gu Gu Bo Yuan insisted on going to see his own courtyard first, but Li Long wouldn't allow it; together with Gu Gu Xiaoxia, he persuaded him to go to the Li family first, drop off Mingming and Haohao, and come over afterward.

Li Li Qing Xia had been waiting for Li Long to arrive; this morning, he had gone out to the courtyard to check every so often, prompting Du Chunfang to remark that at his age, he still lacked patience.

Hearing the sound of the Jeep, Li Li Qing Xia darted out excitedly like a young man, then watched as Li Long drove the Jeep into the courtyard.

Once Li Long stopped, just as he was about to speak, he saw Gu Gu Bo Yuan and Gu Gu Xiaoxia get out of the car, bringing Mingming and Haohao with them; the question on his lips instantly changed to, "Mingming, Haohao, be good, come let Grandpa hug you..."

Hearing the children's voices, Du Chunfang immediately came out of the house, and from the west room, Li Jianguo's family of four also emerged.

Seeing Gu Gu Bo Yuan, Li Jianguo looked somewhat surprised and asked with a smile: "Old Gu, why have you returned? How long has it been since we last saw each other?"

"I want to return to my courtyard; Without Without Xiao Long insisted I come over. Just look, now that I'm here, you're acting disgusted with me..." Gu Gu Bo Yuan feigned dissatisfaction. "Clearly, Mingming and Haohao are staying inside the house. I'll just have Without Without Xiao Long take me over there." "Go then, if you must. The snow in your courtyard has been swept, but no stove has been set up yet, so the room probably won't be warm. If you don't want to stay here, why not go to the front courtyard? There's a stove set up there too. Besides, in a little while, my father will definitely ask Without Without Xiao Long to join him at Little Little Haizi to catch fish. Aren't you going?"

"Go, go, go—but first I need to get the stove lit and let it warm up a bit." Gu Gu Bo Yuan made his decision immediately. "Without Without Xiao Long said the acquisition station is closed for two days, so I plan to stay with the team during this time. Doesn't that mean my courtyard needs to be warmed up?"

"Then just light it first. But you should know that even with the stove lit and warming, it will take some time before the room gets properly warm."

"Just warm it up first." Gu Gu Bo Yuan naturally understood this, but since it was his own courtyard, he couldn't leave the fire unlit indefinitely; he still planned to return for the New Year.

Then let's just warm it up first. Li Long thought there was no need for Gu Gu Bo Yuan to go himself; he could drive over to the Gu family home, set up the stove, and be done with it. Why make Gu Gu Bo Yuan make another trip when he could just stay here and chat with Li Jianguo?

Gu Gu Bo Yuan thought about it and agreed, then handed the key to Li Long.

Li Long took out those four "convenience shovels" and gave them to his elder brother Li Jianguo, asking him to find four wooden handles to fit into them.

One look at the tool, and Li Jianguo understood immediately; this thing would indeed be very effective for chopping ice.

Gu Gu Xiaoxia, meanwhile, wanted to go with Li Long. Once Mingming and Haohao arrived here, they no longer belonged to her; Liang Yuemei had intended to take Mingming and Haohao to eat something delicious, but instead, Mingming and Haohao had run off to play with Li Juan and Li Qiang.

Li Juan cared for Mingming and Haohao like a little adult, which put Gu Gu Xiaoxia very much at ease.

So she went with Li Long to their family courtyard. As expected, the snow in the yard had been swept quite clean; only a few snowflakes that had drifted down from the trees when the sun rose early that morning remained on the ground—

In winter in the Northern Frontier, there is a rather strange phenomenon: when the weather is extremely cold, rime ice forms on the trees, and when the sun rises, these ice crystals and snowflakes hanging from the branches drift down.

Yet sometimes, even when there are clearly no trees or rime ice around the courtyard, similar snowflakes still drift down, and this happens on perfectly clear, sunny days.

With the stove lit and the door opened—since no fire had been burning for a long time, the chimney was filled with cold air; the smoke, instead of rising, billowed out through the stove door, filling the entire room.

That was not all; sometimes, if the air above the chimney swirled, the stove could even backdraft. This thing acted like an air cannon; if one wasn't careful and squatted near the stove door, the backdraft could knock a person flat on their buttocks, covering their face in soot.

Eventually, however, the heat from the stove gradually forced the cold air out of the chimney; the smoke began to rise smoothly up the flue and disperse into the sky, and the stove roared to life with a rumbling sound.

Burning too fiercely was not good either; Li Long shoveled a scoop of coal dust onto the fire to dampen the flames. This way, the heat would release slowly, gradually warming the room.

Gu Gu Xiaoxia, meanwhile, took the quilts from the bed in the inner bedroom and hung them on the fire wall, ensuring that at least when Gu Gu Bo Yuan slept that night, his quilts would be warm.

With everything mostly settled, Li Long took a large broom and swept away the thin layer of floating snow that barely covered the ground in the courtyard. Just as he was sweeping, Tao Daqiang, Xie Xie Yun Dong, and Liang Liang Dacheng arrived together on bicycles.

"The three of you certainly arrived together," Li Long stopped what he was doing and said with a smile. "What's up? Any ideas?"

"We heard from Brother Lao Li that you're heading to Little Little Haizi later to catch fish?" Xie Xie Yun Dong asked.

"Yesterday, the three of us chopped ice holes but didn't catch a single big fish; the largest was a large crucian carp weighing less than half a kilogram." Liang Liang Dacheng sounded somewhat depressed. "The big fish in Little Little Haizi have stopped coming out; they've become spirits."

"My father also said that chopping ice holes isn't worth the effort anymore. So..." Tao Daqiang said, "why don't you, Brother Long, lead us to hunt yellow sheep instead?"

Li Long hadn't expected the three of them to think along those lines.

Continuing to sweep the ground, he said, "Didn't you say the yellow sheep couldn't be caught?"

"That was Xu Haijun, not you. If he couldn't catch them, that's his problem. With you leading us, we'll definitely catch some!" Tao Daqiang's tone was extremely firm; clearly, he was utterly convinced of this.

Li Long found himself both amused and helpless; he hadn't expected that this follower of his, who hadn't been with him for a long time, still trusted him so blindly.

"No, whether we hunt yellow sheep can be decided later; this time, catching fish is definitely happening." Li Long finished sweeping the courtyard clean in a few strokes and said, "I've made a net-dragging device and plan to set nets under the ice. Since chopping ice holes isn't yielding fish, let's try setting nets. I refuse to believe we won't catch anything with nets either."

"Set nets?" Upon hearing this, Xie Xie Yun Dong and the other two were somewhat confused. Tao Daqiang asked, "What is a net-dragging device?"

"It's something you lower through a chopped ice hole to drag the net across to another location." Li Long knew he couldn't explain it clearly in just one or two sentences, so he said, "We're heading down to set the nets shortly; do you three want to come along and see?"

"Good!"

"Of course we're going!"

"Alright!"

All three answered together.

Then they headed first to the Li family home.

Li Li Qing Xia had already packed up the nets and tools, including the iron shovels, the convenience shovels, and those several net-dragging devices from Li Long's vehicle.

Both Li Jianguo and Gu Gu Bo Yuan were ready, and even Li Juan and Li Qiang were fully dressed.

Li Jianguo was even pulling a sled, upon which Mingming and Haohao were currently sitting, laughing and playing happily.

What a massive procession this was!

The group marched grandly toward Little Little Haizi, immediately attracting the attention of many people in the team.

Soon, the gossip spread: the Li family was heading to Little Little Haizi to chop ice holes and catch fish!

"Has Without Without Xiao Long of the Li family earned money for two years and now lost all sense of propriety?" Ma Jinbao, who was drinking loose liquor in the retail store, blurted out. "Does he think that because he made his fortune catching fish, the fish in Little Little Haizi can just be caught at will?"

News that no big fish could be caught in Little Little Haizi had already spread, yet Li Long was insisting on going fishing; in the villagers' eyes, did he truly believe himself to be a reincarnated lucky star?

The Li family members should surely know about this situation; why weren't they stopping Li Long?

"Could it be that they just intend to catch two kilograms of crucian carp to make some soup, so it doesn't matter how many they catch?" someone raised the question.

"Would the Li family boy be someone content with so little? He isn't going alone; the whole family is going, including Gu Gu Bo Yuan, his father-in-law, and even the small children."

"I heard Xie Xie Yun Dong, Tao Daqiang, and the others are all going up too. Are these people just going to watch the spectacle, or do they truly believe Li Long is different from others—that if others can't catch fish, he can?"

Soon, new news arrived. Someone who had just come down from Little Little Haizi after encountering the Li family brought fresh information: "Li Long has brought some new equipment for chopping ice holes this time; he claims it will catch fish."

"Even if he strips all the ice off Little Little Haizi, he probably won't catch anything." Ma Jinbao, convinced today that Li Long would make a fool of himself, spoke again. "I'll just wait and see what kind of fish he manages to catch this time."

Some people, however, did not share his view; hearing that Li Long had brought some new equipment, they were quite curious, and some simply headed straight for Little Little Haizi.

Li Long and the others were currently chopping ice on Little Little Haizi. Mingming and Haohao watched for a while but lost interest, so Li Juan and Li Qiang pulled the sled to take the two of them off to play.

The spot Li Long had chosen had no reed clusters within a radius of seventy or eighty meters in any direction; this way, when the net-dragging device cast the net in all directions, there would be no worry of the net getting snagged on reeds and unable to emerge.

"Chop one ice hole in the center, then we set the net," Li Long said. "After setting the net, we'll assess the situation. If the entire net is dragged under, then there's no need to chop a second ice hole. If less than half the net is dragged across, we pull it back. If after two or three attempts it still doesn't work, then we chop another ice hole along that line and send the net-dragging device out with renewed force."

This was his plan. After seeing the structure and power of the net-dragging device, Li Li Qing Xia, Li Jianguo, and the others naturally had no objections.

"Yesterday, Without Without Xiao Long used this net-dragging device on the Mahe to catch a big flower silver carp weighing five or six kilograms!" Gu Gu Bo Yuan couldn't resist boasting. "Today will surely be no problem!"

Tao Daqiang, Xie Xie Yun Dong, Liang Liang Dacheng, and Jia Weidong, who had arrived later, were all very curious about this net-dragging device; after chopping open the ice hole, they began examining the device closely.

It was very simple; any one of them could have made it.

The problem was that no one had thought of it before!

At this moment, Tao Daqiang admired Li Long even more; he believed that dragging the net underwater with this device would definitely catch fish!

For those in the team who wanted to catch fish to sell for money, if they learned this technique, they would never again have the worry of being unable to catch fish throughout the four seasons.

He was hesitating whether to remind Li Long not to tell anyone else about this technique.

At this moment, Li Long had already wound up the first trawl net; after tying the net line, he descended halfway into the ice hole, bent over to shove the trawl net under the ice, and upon seeing Li Li Qing Xia already gripping the other end of the net, he let go.

The net line was rapidly dragged into the water by the trawl net; soon, this forty-meter-long net was fully deployed.

Success!

Success on the very first try proved that this trawl net was indeed useful! (End of Chapter)