Chapter 202: An anxious mother and a curious father
The family is sitting in a carriage. Li Jianguo is driving slowly. Li Qingxia has been here once, but it has been many years. Let’s look at it now. , I feel there have been some changes.
Du Chunfang came here for the first time and was curious about everything. When she looked south, she could see mountains dozens of kilometers away, and murmured:
"This is here On the edge of the mountain, this place is so big, there is so much land, why don’t we just start planting?” , he responded to my mother’s words:
"The total number of people in a county in northern Xinjiang is not as large as the town in my hometown. There are many people but less land. Naturally, there will not be so many wastelands."
"If the boss can get married here, he can also Is Xiaolong being too big?" Li Qingxia took over, "There is so much land here, how can I have enough to eat..."
"The boss has suffered too," Du Chunfang muttered after a moment of silence.
Li Jianguo chuckled: "What hardships did you have to endure? That's all over, life is good now."
"If you two brothers work hard together, then life can't be bad." Li Qingxia He smiled and said, "One is farming and the other is hunting. What a beautiful day it is... Xiaolong, are you still catching fish? I didn't see a river last time I came here?"
"There is no river, but there is Xiaohaizi, just like a small lake." When Li Long heard that his father was really playful, he said, "There are many fish there, and you can catch three to five kilograms with just a single net. ”
“Three to five kilograms? That’s ten pounds less?” Li Qingxia's eyes widened, "How many fish are there?"
"Of course. Xiaolong only sticks to the net once he sets it down, and can catch sixty or seventy kilograms at a time, otherwise how can he sell the money..."< br>
Li Qingxia once again showed a shocked expression.
There is a big river next to his hometown village, which corresponds to the lyrics of "a big river has wide waves". Li Long heard from his elder brother Li Jianguo that during the famine years, the villagers relied on that big river to cross. It's just that there aren't as many fish in the river as there are in Xiaohaizi here. In other words, there are so many people eating there, so naturally there can't be that many fish.
The carriage returned home leisurely, more than an hour later, it was noon.
When he arrived in the yard, Li Long smelled the strong aroma - he thought his sister-in-law would be cooking a table of dishes today.
Hearing the sound of the carriage, Liang Yuemei came out of the house, and Li Qiang followed, looking curiously at the two old people on the carriage.
"Dad, Mom!" Liang Yuemei greeted with a smile, "You must be tired from the journey. Come down and have a rest. I've made cold tea and prepared rice..."
Li Qingxia got off the carriage with a smile, nodded to Liang Yuemei, then bent down and looked at Li Qiang:
"Are you Qiang Qiang? Do you know who I am?"
"Grandpa!" Li Qiang doesn't have stage fright. The changes in his family life in the past six months have given him enough confidence, "You are grandpa!" "
"Oh!"
Liang Yuemei touched Li Qiang again, and Li Qiang shouted at Du Chunfang:
"Grandma!"
Du Chunfang was getting out of the car. When she heard her eldest grandson shouting, she got down in a hurry, went to take out a piece of sesame seed cake from the package and handed it over:
"Hey! Grandson, good grandson! Qiangqiang, right? , come, eat, this is your uncle’s favorite sesame seed cake when he was a child..."
Sitting down to eat, Li Long looked at the table, braised pork, braised pork ribs, scrambled eggs with leeks, fried mushrooms... …
The staple food is rice.
"This is too much..." Du Chunfang looked at the dishes and murmured, "How much do you need to eat for this meal...I can't live like this..."
"Mom, what are you talking about?" Li Long knew that it was not easy for his mother to say nice things, so he took advantage of his younger son's favor and said, "Sister-in-law, it's not because you haven't been here for so many years that I made such a table of dishes. We welcome you! Besides, this meat doesn’t cost anything, so you can eat it if you want..."
"No. Spend money? How is that possible? "
"Didn't I tell you, my elder brother and sister-in-law earn work points while I hunt and fish... Let's take you to see the vacant house."
Li Long took his mother to the idle house to see the hanging meat, and Du Chunfang finally believed that there was really a lot of meat in this house.
"Then...the landlord's family didn't have so much meat at that time." Du Chunfang murmured, "Even the landlord can't live this life, right?"
After the interlude, everyone was having dinner. Li Long asked Liang Yuemei:
"Sister-in-law, did you leave it for Juan?"
"Yes." Liang Yuemei said with a smile, "You can do a lot of everything. , put some out for her.”
Li Qingxia has a big appetite, and he hasn’t eaten well on the train these days, so this meal is delicious. Du Chunfang had a small appetite, so she ate less than half a bowl of rice and two pieces of braised pork, and she felt full.
“This meat is cooked so well, it’s so rotten,” she said. “I’ve never eaten such rotten meat... How can I have so much firewood at home to stew this meat? It’s so good here. ! ”
When Liang Yuemei saw that her mother-in-law ate less, she thought she was not used to it or that she was not good at cooking. She laughed after hearing this.
"Mom and dad, you can sleep in this room. I have another place to sleep." Li Long took Li Qingxia to the east room and said, "Take a break at noon. I will take you around in the afternoon. I will also sleep at home." Okay. My elder brother and sister-in-law still have to work in the fields. There is a lot of work in the more than ten acres of land. They are busy with their work..."
" Then where do you live? Is that a good place?"
"Why not?" Li Long said with a smile, "The yard is bigger than ours, and it has new furniture. I can sleep in a big room alone. , very beautiful!”
Li Long left, and Du Chunfang was arranging her clothes in the east room while asking Li Qingxia:
"You said Xiaolong went to live somewhere else. Is it a good place to live there? You won't sleep crowded with others, right? I think there is a room over there in the West House. The two children live alone, why bother? Let's squeeze in with the adults..."
"Stop being so nosy!" Li Qingxia buried Complained:
“Don’t you see? If Xiaolong doesn’t even have any pulp (calluses) on his hands, then he’s not working. Who doesn’t work at home for such a big guy? Look at him doing nothing. Clean and dressed like a city dweller, what does that mean? Obviously his eldest brother and sister-in-law didn’t treat him badly!
We couldn’t afford to keep him, so we left the little dragon here for several years. At that time, the little dragon looked like a bean sprout and could be blown down by a gust of wind! br>Now? He's 1.8 meters taller than him. The eldest brother is tall, looks strong, and has a good face, which means he eats well and sleeps well! The two brothers have a good relationship, there is no conflict, and Xiaolong is sensible, so that's it! You can stop stirring up trouble. Stay for two days and then leave, don’t cause trouble here!”
"Okay, okay, I'm just worried about whether Xiaolong can sleep well..." Du Chunfang muttered, "I also know that they are living well. I haven't seen them in many years, but I just feel... Xiaolong and us We can’t kiss anymore..."
"How can we kiss? We sent him here at a young age. His eldest brother and sister-in-law raised him, so why should he marry us? Just be content with him. His eldest sister-in-law didn’t give you a cold look and even cooked this table of dishes for you. That’s enough. . Can you try it with someone else? Just try it with the whole village. Which wife can do this?" br>
"That's true." Du Chunfang also admitted this, "If I say that life is really good here, boss..."
"Don't talk nonsense when you go back." Li Qingxia thought of Li Jianguo on the way. Those things mentioned vaguely, "Otherwise a bunch of relatives would come here , they can't take care of it."
"I know, I won't talk nonsense, just keep your mouth shut!" Du Chunfang packed up her clothes and suddenly said: "No, I have to go in the afternoon. Check where Xiaolong lives, otherwise you won’t be worried.”
Li Qingxia sighed and let her go.
Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei greeted Li Qingxia when they went to work in the fields. Li Qingxia said they wanted to go to the fields to have a look. Li Jianguo refused, saying that they should have a good rest first and there was no rush at this moment.
In the yard, Du Chunfang looked at the vegetable garden and murmured:
"This place is really spacious. Who has such a big vegetable garden back home? It must be an acre of land, right?" ?"
"Yes." Li Qingxia nodded, "The ration fields we share are not that large."
Li Long and Tao Daqiang came over together. Tao Daqiang was carrying two bottles of wine and two cans in his hands.
Seeing Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang in the yard, Tao Daqiang glanced at Li Long with some restraint, and then shouted:
"Uncle, aunt!" "Dad, old lady, this It’s Da Qiang who’s fishing with me.”
“Okay, okay.” Li Qingxia said with a smile, “You’re so strong, that’s a good name for you to go fishing now!” ?”
"Well, let's go down the net now and get the fish tomorrow morning. Then I will go to the county town to sell the fish, and Daqiang will pick up the net at home."
"That's good, I'll go with you..."
"Mom, then you stay at home." Li Long said to Du Chunfang, "Juan will be back in a while. Anyone who can come to the yard They are all on the team, there are no bad guys, can it be done?”
“What’s wrong with that?” Du Chunfang said with a smile, “It’s your own business, it’s okay.”
Li Qingxia watched curiously as Li Long and Tao Daqiang took away the tires, water deflectors, and sticky nets, replaced them with old shoes, and carried them to Xiaohaizi.
"Why are you still using this?" Li Qingxia was a little confused about the tire.
"The water is deep. If you have to go to the deep water area to set the net, you have to row across two or three meters." Li Long said, "There are many fish in the deep water area."
"There are all here. What kind of fish are there?" Li Qingxia kept asking like a curious baby.
"Carp, crucian carp, Wu Dao Hei, ditch fish and the like."
"Wu Dao Black? I haven't seen that before." Li Qingxia said with a smile, "Over there in my hometown, There are both crucian carp and carp, as well as kudzu (yellow spicy diced), herring..."
While chatting and walking, we soon arrived at Xiaohaizi.
"This water surface... is not small." Li Qingxia glanced at Xiao Haizi and said.
"Uncle, this one is not big. There is a large sea behind, and that one is bigger." Tao Daqiang said, "There is no grass in the water there, and the fish is not delicious."
"This "What's the point of talking about whether it tastes good or not? It would be nice to have something to eat." Li Qingxia said, "It's also because you have a lot of fish here...I want it in my hometown..."
He did not continue.
Li Long put down the tire and took the net to the deep water area to lower the net. Tao Daqiang watched from the shore.
Seeing that there was another bag on the shore, Li Qingxia asked:
"What is there?"
"Uncle, that is a net." Tao Daqiang said honestly explain.
"There is also a cast net? Let me try it." Li Qingxia immediately bent down to lift the bag and took out the cast net.
"It's still a new net." He looked at it and said with a smile, "Can I spread it here?"
"You have to find a place where there are no reed roots below, otherwise it will cause trouble." Tao Daqiang is an honest man Child, before you realize it, this person in front of you can be considered an old fisherman.
Li Qingxia weighed the cast net, tested the weight, and then began to trim the net.
Looking at Li Qingxia’s skillful movements, Tao Daqiang immediately thought, no wonder Brother Long is so good at catching fish, it’s a family tradition!
Of course he didn't know that when Li Long was in his hometown, he really didn't follow Li Qingxia to catch fish. It was not allowed in those days and months.
After the net was sorted, Li Qingxia looked at the water surface, twisted his waist and swung the net. The net spread out like a dark cloud, and then "brushed" down to the water surface, revealing an almost perfect circle.
"Uncle, you cast the net well!" Tao Daqiang admired sincerely.
"It's okay, it's okay." Li Qingxia slowly closed the net and said.
He could already feel the fish moving in the net. The force was quite strong. From the feeling in his hands, the fish must have weighed at least two kilograms!
When the net was mostly out of the water, the fish had already begun to flapping. Li Qingxia was greatly surprised:
"Are there so many fish in the water?"
In the big river in my hometown, I usually cast three or four nets. It is good to have fish in one net. It's a matter of luck.
How can it be like this, where you can gain so much from just one website?
Yitao Daqiang saw that there were five or six kilograms of fish in this net, ranging in size, with the largest number being small crucian carp. The largest was a silver carp weighing more than one kilogram, and a carp weighing less than one kilogram.
“There are many fish in this small sea.” Tao Daqiang explained, “There are reeds and grass, and if there is food, there will be more fish.”
After picking up the fish, Li Qingxia cast the net again. This time the net was still very round, but the fish were not as large as last time, with more than one kilogram of small fish.
This is also very happy, there are fish every time.
At home, Du Chunfang walked around the vegetable garden, looked at the well press, the courtyard wall, and the piglets being fed. Everything felt fresh.
When Li Juan carried her schoolbag to the yard, she saw Du Chunfang in front of the pig pen.
Her parents had already told her the day before that she understood that this was grandma, so she walked over quickly and shouted with a smile:
"Grandma!"
"Hey!" Du Chunfang turned around, looked at Li Juan, and said with a smile: "Are you Juan? You have grown so big... Are you tired of carrying this schoolbag? Hurry up? Put it down and go eat. Your mother has left some food for you in the kitchen. There will be a lot of meat cooking today!"
"Okay." Li Juan went back to the house and put down her schoolbag, filled the rice and started eating. .
Du Chunfang moved a small bench and sat next to Li Juan, watching her eat and asking questions such as what grade she was in, how her studies were going, and whether she had any work to do at home.
“Grandma, I cut the pig grass for the pigs raised at home.” Li Juan said proudly, “Every day I finish my homework at school and come back to cut pig grass to feed the pigs...”
"Hey! Juan is so capable!" Du Chunfang praised, "I can help the family with work..."
Although Du Chunfang is a bit patriarchal, to be honest, the current living conditions of the Li family are not enough for two people. It's not a problem for a child to go to school, and she won't say much.
After finishing her meal, Li Juan packed up quickly. After talking to Du Chunfang, she unpacked the basket and went to cut the grass with a small sickle.
Within half an hour, Li Qingxia, Li Long and Tao Daqiang came back talking and laughing.
In addition to tires and cast nets, we also came back with half-urea bags of various fish.
"Damn Xiaolong, look at how many fish I caught!" Li Qingxia showed Du Chunfang the urea bag, "There are so many fish in the small lake here... you can catch whatever you want!"
Du Chunfang also I was shocked, were there really so many fish?
(End of this chapter)