The sun was sunny in the afternoon. Walking west, the sun was a little dazzling, but Li Long didn't feel much.
In the mountains, looking at the snow every day, he did not suffer from snow blindness, which can be regarded as a special blessing.
The Wuyi Highway is considered a major highway in northern Xinjiang. There are many cars going back and forth, and the snow on the road is packed hard. If a plow is pulled behind the car, it will definitely run very fast.
At this time, children who are going to school, especially those in senior grades, if they are brave enough to encounter a tractor, they will hold the rear door of the tractor bucket and slide away, which is very exciting.
There are not many houses on both sides of the road. Occasionally, you can see smoking bungalows, most of which are illegally built. But no one cares at this time.
Some people built it and lived in it for more than ten years without anyone taking care of it, which is equivalent to having property rights. When the clean-up is concentrated, we can simply apply for the certificate, and then we can compensate for the demolition in the future.
With the reform and opening up, various laws and regulations are gradually being improved. In the process of improvement, many people have taken advantage of loopholes.
Li Long’s hunting can be considered one of them.
When the Animal Protection Law comes out, we won’t be able to hunt like this. Of course, the control wasn’t so strict at the beginning. Wild boars here have never caused disasters like those in the mainland, and until the beginning of the 21st century, no one really took care of wild boar hunting.
Because everyone knows, I don’t know whether this thing can maintain biological balance, but it is definitely harmful.
There are many wild rabbit marks in the ditches on both sides of the road. These wild rabbits reproduce very quickly, and one litter can be born in a month in summer. Li Long remembered that someone once raised rabbits. There were two pairs at the beginning of the year, and by the end of the year there were more than 200 rabbits.
I ate a lot in the middle, and what was even more disgusting was that the whole yard was full of holes from this thing.
Fortunately, this is not Australia. There are natural enemies of rabbits here. Foxes, wolves, and eagles are all good at eating rabbits.
Of course, when leather was valuable, there were people who specialized in hunting rabbits, which were considered one of their natural enemies.
The jeep drove back to Ma County for nearly two hours. Li Long did not go back to the compound directly. He parked the jeep outside the supply and marketing cooperative and took out some things from the trunk.
After receiving a lot of things from Zhoushe, Li Long didn't plan to take them all himself. He felt that he had to give some to Li Xiangqian.
Whether it is worth it or not is another matter. Since it was taken from the state and the relationship was obtained from Li Xiangqian, it can be regarded as "shared by those who met it".
Putting some of the things in a bag, Li Long carried them into the club.
After entering the office, Li Xiangqian had already packed his things and was getting ready to leave work. There is little work in winter right now, and although the supply and marketing cooperative still has sporadic purchasing tasks, he arranges them casually, and he is tired from using them.
Seeing Li Long come in, Li Xiangqian was still a little confused and asked:
"Hey, did you catch the fish?"
"How could it be so fast." Li Long smiled and put the bag on the table and said, "I went to Beiting today, and Zhoushe distributed some I’ll bring you some of the New Year’s benefits.”
“You can just take it if it’s given to you. Do you need to share it with me?” Li Xiangqian said with a smile.
"Then without you, I wouldn't be able to enter the state club." Li Long joked, "The welfare in the state is good, and there are a lot of things given out. I won't give you firecrackers or anything like that. These overseas goods "Take it, okay, I'm leaving, section chief. I'm very tired."
Li Long greeted Li forward, then turned and walked out the door.
Li Qianqian was a little confused, then looked at those things and smiled.
Does he lack these things? There is certainly no shortage of that. Which employee who goes out to purchase goods cannot give him some local specialties?
But someone like Li Long would think of him no matter what good thing he got, which really made him very happy.
At least to explain, Li Long has already connected with Director Qian, but he has not forgotten himself as a leader.
When Director Qian called, he also expressed the idea of taking Li Long to the state club. Li Xiangqian naturally would not stop Li Long's progress. But he also knew that Li Long would not leave.
Li Long drove the jeep back to the compound. The sun had already set halfway. Sister Yang was making dinner. She opened the door and saw that Li Long was going to work in the kitchen after driving the jeep in. Li Long hurriedly stopped her and then put the welfare Moved down.
Most of these things go into the kitchen, so Li Long puts them in the kitchen first.
"Why so many? Are they all bought?" Sister Yang asked doubtfully.
"No, it's sent." Li Long put the things away and said, "Put it here first, don't rush it, it can be frozen anyway, process it slowly."
" Okay, okay, where did this come from?" Sister Yang was also curious.
"In the state," Li Long said, "Let Xiaofang go to school hard, and wait until she is admitted to a technical secondary school and assigned to a good unit. She will also have such benefits in the future."
Sister Yang said with a smile:
< br>"What can she do with her grades? I would be satisfied if she didn't open my eyes and go blind."
Although she said it modestly, Sister Yang still has this vision. In fact, Han Fang's academic performance has now been Slowly catching up. The little girl is very energetic and knows how to take advantage of her. If she doesn't understand something, she will ask Gu Xiaoxia on weekends, and her grades have improved rapidly.
"You can't underestimate Xiaofang, I think she can definitely learn it." Li Long replied with a smile, and then went to deal with other things. For example, firecrackers and the like must be put away first.
The jeep also has to drain the water, which is more troublesome.
After he packed these things, he went to the glass room at the back and took a look. He felt that the temperature was a bit low, so he set up another stove of charcoal, pressed it with coal foam, and let it burn slowly. .
The house is big and has a chimney, so we are not afraid of soot.
After coming out of the glass room, Li Long returned to the bedroom, briefly washed and changed his clothes. When he came out again, Gu Xiaoxia had already come back pushing the bicycle.
She was afraid of the cold, so she wore thick clothes, leather gloves, and a furry hat with cat ears on her head.
These "equipment" were designed by Li Long and then made by his sisters-in-law Liang Yuemei and Sister Yang.
There are ready-made leathers at home, such as rabbit skin and yellow sheep skin. Li Long actually wanted to use wolf skin. Firstly, Gu Xiaoxia thought wolves were a bit scary, and secondly, wolf fur was a bit hard and prickly, so it was useless. .
Not only Gu Xiaoxia has it, but also Li Juan, Li Qiang, and Han Fang.
Gu Xiaoxia still felt a little childish, but she couldn't help but use it because she was wearing warm clothes. The effect was really good.
Li Long smiled and helped Gu Xiaoxia prop up the car, took down the things, and asked:
"How are you today? Is it warm in the office?"
"It's very hot. Take off your coat as soon as you get to the office." Gu Xiaoxia said as she followed Li Long into the room, "I'm busy with writing work during this time. Director Wang knew my situation and gave me a lighter job."
"That's good." Li Long looked at Gu Xiaoxia's swollen belly and said, "I'll take you to and from get off work later. ,Eye The street is very slippery. I'm worried that you might get into trouble while riding. "How can you be so squeamish? I just got off the road when it was slippery." Gu Xiaoxia didn't let Li Long give it away, so she changed. While wearing clothes, he said, "Some colleagues are already laughing at me for this."
"What do you care about them? We can just make ourselves comfortable." Li Long has always felt that most people who say weird things have their own intentions. It's just jealousy, no need to pay attention to it.
"That's not okay, you still have to pay attention to the impact." Gu Xiaoxia smiled and took Li Long's arm and walked out together. As she walked, she said:
"I know you care about me, but I am not a porcelain doll. I will pay attention. . "
Gu Boyuan entered the yard and saw his daughter and son-in-law holding each other's arms. He coughed slightly. He didn't have any objections, but he felt it was not good for his children to see them.
Han Fang has come back, washed her hands and is helping in the kitchen.
“That’s great.” Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile, “It’s so crowded and lively. In the past, it was just the two of us, and sometimes I was the only one. In such a big yard, there were scary people living there.”
"Just be content." Gu Boyuan complained to her, "Many people can't live in such a big and nice yard even if they want to."
Li Long smiled and said nothing.
This is daily happy life.
The next few days will be sunny and the temperature will get lower and lower, especially after the winter solstice. The temperature is minus 20 degrees during the day and has begun to drop to minus 30 degrees at night.
There were ice flowers on the glass of the house. When he got up every morning, the temperature in the house was very low. Li Long had to put more coal on the stove every midnight.
There is enough coal at home, so there is no problem in buying it now. Although the price is higher than Xia Tian, it is not a big problem for Li Long.
He took the time to use the tractor to pull another tractor load of coal to Gu Boyuan's yard. The small courtyard to the south is no longer occupied, and Li Long occasionally goes there to sweep away the snow and clean it up.
On December 31st, when the 29th began, Li Long had dinner early in the morning and drove his jeep to the team.
Today is Saturday, and tomorrow Gu Xiaoxia will have a rest. At the same time, tomorrow is also New Year's Day in 1984, so the two authors have a holiday.
At this time, New Year’s Day falls on the weekend, so we can spend it together and there is no such thing as making up for the holiday.
Li Long drove a jeep to the team. When he entered the eldest brother's yard, the eldest brother and his sister-in-law came out, followed by his wife Du Chunfang.
"Where's Dad?" Li Long took out some things from the trunk. He also received part of the benefits from the state socialist society here.
For example, kelp, shrimp on an ice plate, or yellow croaker, they should be eaten separately.
At this time, many seafood products are frozen directly on ice plates. If you want to eat, smash a piece off and then wash it after it melts. "Dad went to Xiaohaizi. He couldn't sit still and went fishing with Daqiang." Li Jianguo took the things and said.
"Did you break a hole in the ice?" Li Long asked, "Can you catch fish?"
"Yes, but not much." Li Jianguo said, "I went there during the Jiaojiu period. The ice was half a meter thick at that time. , It's thicker these two days.
On those two days, we can catch more than ten kilograms a day, but these two days are better, we can catch twenty or thirty kilograms."
"It's not just the two of them. Really?" Li Long entered the room and asked.
"That's not the case. You said before that you can collect fish for one yuan per kilogram. There are many people fishing for fish. The Liang brothers went there early, the Zhao family, the Zhang family... Now Xiaohaizi is full of light There must be about ten holes in the ice.”
It was a good thing that someone was fishing for it. After Li Long warmed up for a while, he put on his coat and hat and went to Xiaohaizi.
Li Jianguo was fine, so he followed him.
A road has been trampled from the residential area to Xiaohaizi, and you can still see traces of sledges and plastic bags dragging it.
The sun is dazzling, but not warm.
Although there was no wind, the temperature was very low, and my ears and hands were protected. However, my nose felt very sore from the cold, and I felt like I had a runny nose.
It was completely white all around, and the reeds in the reed ditch to the west had been stripped away. Occasionally, a row of poplar trees could be seen standing bare on the edge of the ground.
The only sound was the chirping sparrows in the trees. These little guys are resident birds and stay all winter. Later, cotton was planted in large areas and a lot of pesticides were used, so sparrows were rarely seen.
Only later, with the rise of cooperatives, drip irrigation, and less medication, sparrows came back.
It’s just that when Li Long looked at him in his last life, he felt that the later sparrows seemed different from the old sparrows before.
The reeds that originally grew on Xiaohaizi have also been cut almost completely, leaving only scattered pieces of hairy reeds that have not been removed.
Standing on the North Dam, you can see at least six groups of people digging holes in the ice. Soon he saw his father Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang.
They are still south of where they were last year. There is a deep pit there where many fish gather.
In another twenty or thirty years, Xiaohaizi has become an above-ground reservoir because no one has cleaned it. There is too much mud in it and it can no longer collect much water.
At this time, several deeper functions are revealed. When the water is drained, there are still fish living in these few places. They are waiting for floods or water to be released from upstream, and then swim to other places.
So the most fish gather in deep water areas like this in winter.
At this time, the water level in Xiaohaizi was quite high, and there was not as much silt as in later generations, so fish could run around underwater. However, at this low temperature, the fish are not very active.
The ice is too thick and the reeds are frozen solid. The amount of air that can penetrate downward is getting less and less, so the holes made in the ice are good for catching fish.
Occasionally you can hear someone cheering, that’s because they caught a big fish.
Li Jianguo went directly to Li Qingxia and the others, while Li Long looked at the ice holes one after another.
He is no longer the young man who just started fishing the year before last. At that time, Li Long was very energetic in order to earn a few dollars or more and to feed his family better.
At that time, he knew that there were a lot of fish in this small sea and there were resources that could make his family's life better.
Now the life at home is getting better, but he is not satisfied. This thing is just like studying. As soon as you relax, someone will catch up to you immediately.
"Dacheng, how many days has it been since you broke the hole in the ice?"
"Well, I came over after catching the rabbit that day. But there are not many fish at the moment, and it is not as easy as last year. " said Liang Dacheng. He said, "I have more than 20 kilograms of fish as big as you mentioned. When do you want it?" Collect at the door.”
"Okay, I'll pull you over after dinner at noon."
Liang Dacheng is naturally very happy to be able to collect money while catching fish at home. Someone in the team went to the county or Shicheng to sell fish, but Liang Dacheng had no idea.
Not only did I run far, but I was also very tired. With that effort, I could catch a lot of fish in this small sea.
Right now, he only regrets that he didn't follow Li Long when he caught fish the year before last. If he had followed him at that time, he could have earned a tractor just by catching fish.
After seeing the three Liang brothers, Li Long continued walking elsewhere.
Everyone was very polite to him, no matter they were familiar with him or not, at least they had to give him this little face.
In the past two years, Li Long has brought big jobs to the team every year. Just for the sake of earning this money, he can't help but smile.
After looking over, Li Long was sure that there were indeed fewer big fish in Xiaohaizi.
When we first started fishing the year before last, we could catch at least 40 to 50 kilograms a day. Carp, Wu Dao Hei, silver carp and other fish as big as 3 to 5 kilograms could be caught every day.
As for the one or two kilogram fish, they are the main force, and the small crucian carp cannot be counted as the largest fish.
But right now, in several ice holes, there are the most small crucian carp, especially the kind of crucian carp less than ten centimeters, which are very numerous.
On the other hand, the fish that weighs one or two kilograms are not much that I need.
He estimated that each of these people could fish more than 20 kilograms per day.
As for those who can meet their own standards, if they are all added up, they can collect thirty or forty kilograms a day.
However, except for one family who did not plan to sell to Li Long and wanted to sell it in the county themselves, the others were happy to sell one or two kilograms of fish directly to Li Long.
That's good.
When Li Long reaches his father Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang, he will be happy.
Sure enough, this place is considered a treasure. Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang caught the most fish in the ice caves like Xiaohaizi.
The big and small fish were sorted out, and there were five or six fish weighing one or two kilograms.
If we continue like this, we can probably get twenty kilograms a day.
The task should be achievable.
Li Long is very optimistic.
"Little dragon is here? Come on, come on, come and catch a few." Li Qingxia just picked up a handful of small crucian carp, there are about ten of them, very active, and they are jumping on the ice a few times.
Maybe he didn’t catch any big fish after a few attempts, so when Li Qingxia saw Li Long coming over, he wanted to change people and take a rest.
Li Long smiled, took the net and descended halfway into the ice cave. After stuffing the net in, he did not move, but waited slowly.
Over the past year, his various senses have improved greatly than before. When the net was lowered and moved slightly, he could roughly feel the strength of the fish.
There must be fish down there. After all, such a large surface of water is so frozen that the fish below have extremely insufficient oxygen.
Although they knew there was danger in the ice cave, these fish still risked their lives to come here to take a few breaths of fresh oxygen-rich air.
A slightly stronger collision made Li Long aware. He knew that this fish must be bigger than the small crucian carp.
As for how big it is, it’s hard to say.
He didn't move.
"Why don't you catch it? Do you have to wait?"
"The fish scared you just now, I have to wait." Li Long said with a smile, "Daqiang's side How is it? "
There are two ice holes in this area, about ten meters apart. There was thick snow on the ice in Xiaohaizi. At this time, the snow was trampled out of the path, and Tao Daqiang kept copying it.
"There are fewer big fish and more small fish. Small fish are also good," Li Qingxia said, "The stewed fish soup is very delicious!"
Li Jianguo came over from Tao Daqiang and said:
"There are three weighing more than one kilogram in Daqiang's place, and the rest are small."
Li Long felt stronger than last time again. With a powerful impact, he decisively turned the net and went directly in the direction of the force, and then pulled the net up.
Hefty! (End of this chapter)