Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

That night, Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia stayed in their own bedroom.

After dinner in the eldest brother's yard, seeing that it was not yet dark, Li Long moved the TV directly to his father's place. The antenna was originally placed in the eldest brother's bedroom. When Li Long was moving the TV, Li Jianguo and Lu Yingming, who came to watch the fun, moved the antenna over there.

Lu Yingming half-jokingly said that Li Long should have done this a long time ago. The other two villages had TVs, and many people gathered to watch TV at other people's homes. It turned out that they could watch TV at Li Jianguo's house. After Li Long got married, the TV was moved to the front yard, so there was no TV to watch.

Now that the TV has moved into the room of Li Qingxia and his wife, the kids can squeeze together to watch TV again.

There are many children in the family, and Li Qingxia likes the liveliness. Du Chunfang doesn't mind it, but with more children, the yard is lively, and she is happy to see it.

Li Xueping and Li Xueqin have now basically integrated into the group of children here. They run around with their eldest sister Li Juan and are very happy.

The TV was tuned up, and when voices came out, the children were the happiest.

They moved stools to grab space, and their eyes hardly left the TV screen.

"Hey, the color one looks better. This person looks just like the real thing! The black and white one just isn't as exciting!" Lu Yingming sighed as he looked at the person on the screen.

"That's right, this one is better than those three or four black and white ones, how can they be the same?" Li Jianguo and Lu Yingming walked out of the house. They did not squeeze to watch.

The relationship between the two families, which was already good, feels even better this time.

"Old Li, how are your melons? I heard they are not available on the market yet, and the Grain Bureau won't accept them. How are you going to sell them after you collect them?"

"How can we sell it?" Li Jianguo was not entirely sure. "I've sold it to food factories before, and seed companies also want some. The yield of this thing is not high anyway, but if anyone wants it, these two places will definitely want it. If it doesn't work out, let Xiaolong drive the tractor and we'll go to Wucheng. I don't believe we can't sell it."

"Okay, let's see how your sales are going. If it's done, we'll plant some next year." Lu Yingming was also very smart. With the household contract responsibility system and land contracting, anyone with a discerning eye could see that although one could make a good living just by farming, it was impossible to get rich in a short period of time.

Therefore, if you want to get rich, you still have to start with cash crops and side businesses.

Lu Yingming, the weaver, earned more than 300 yuan and used half of it to buy a bicycle. Lu's wife said he was a spendthrift, but Lu Yingming didn't think so.

Look at Mr. Li and Tao Daqiang. They caught fish and went to Shicheng to sell them. As long as they sold them, they could earn more than ten or twenty yuan a day.

It’s no less than the money you can earn by making your own bag.

He was embarrassed to join the fishing, after all, there were only a few people in the team who made money from catching fish and selling them. Selling fish in the county would make less money, after all, the market in the county was so small.

He thought that when he had free time, he would either go to Dahaizi to catch fish and sell them, or do something else.

But this is just a side job. As long as he follows Li Jianguo closely, he will definitely be able to participate in any big jobs that Li Long can get.

However, as a farmer, the most fundamental thing is to farm. The prices of grain and oil crops are not rising. Even if you plant 10 to 20 mu of each, at the end of the year, after paying the public grain and keeping some for yourself, you can sell the rest and it may not be as much as half of the money you earn as a porter.

There are many people in the team who want to grow other crops now, but they don’t know what to grow.

Therefore, the melons that Li Jianguo had already planted became the subject of everyone's inquiries. If they could really be successfully planted, then everyone would plant them together, and there would be people to ask about their progress, and they would not have to worry about finding a place to sell them when the time came.

This was basically how farmers farmed. It was not until 40 years later that the cooperative model was restarted, with contracts signed before farming, large-scale cotton planting, and the state's mandatory grain planting, that became the main farming model in northern Xinjiang.

For a long time, farmers, except for grain and oil crops, basically followed the trend. When they saw that others made money from cash crops, they followed suit, but most of them made no money in the second year.

Farmers as a group have less information than other people and belong to the lowest level. They really cannot do it alone.

They were chatting about farming here, and Chen Lirong found Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia.

"Xiaolong, I want to ask you something." She was still a little embarrassed when she spoke.

"Second sister-in-law, you say." Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia talked about letting Chen Lirong live in the spare house in their yard with their two children, and Gu Xiaoxia naturally had no objection. Firstly, Li Long said that it would not be long before Chen Lirong would most likely move to Kuitun, and the second brother would definitely be able to gain a foothold there.

Secondly, the yard is not messy if there are people living in it and it is full of people. If no one lives in it for a long time, the house will be damp and uncomfortable, and the things inside will deteriorate quickly. Gu Xiaoxia also knows this.

"I just want to ask about your second brother. It's been such a long time, and he hasn't called to send us a message, and we don't know what the situation is like over there." Chen Lirong said with a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry, sister-in-law. My brother and his family are probably very busy recently. When I came back, they were rushing to complete a project, and it would take a while to finish. But when it's finished, they should be able to determine whether they can become a formal worker. My brother is a stable person, so it should be no problem for him to become a formal worker. I think you should rest assured. When my brother has a letter, he should have become a formal worker. He will send a telegram here or to his hometown to request a political review."

"Oh, I don't understand this either." Chen Lirong understood a little after listening to Li Long's explanation.

"It should be soon. They need a lot of people and the project is tight. I think the probation period is at most three months." Li Long continued, "In half a month or twenty days, before the wheat harvest, I will go to Kuitun. There are the machines I ordered. I will drive the tractor to see my second brother. If he can come back, I will bring him back. If he can't come back, I will tell him what happened."

"Okay." Chen Lirong nodded vigorously.

"Then why don't you take your sister-in-law and the child with you," Gu Xiaoxia said, "Let the child see his second brother too. He must miss him after not seeing him for such a long time."

"That's right." Li Long clapped his hands and said to Chen Lirong, "Second sister-in-law, if my second brother doesn't come back by then, I will come and take you with me."

"Okay, okay. Thank you for your help." Chen Lirong smiled and said quickly.

"What's the trouble? You clean up our yard every day, and we didn't say it was a bother to you." Li Long said with a smile, "Family members don't say polite words."

As it got darker, Li Qingxia and her friends' house became more and more lively. Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia didn't want to watch TV, so they simply went back to their own yard.

Seeing that the yard was clean, the vegetables in the garden were growing well, and there was no moisture in the house, Gu Xiaoxia said with emotion:
"It's different when someone is taking care of this house. If no one is watching over it, our house will probably be covered with hair."

Pulling back the quilt, he could smell the smell of sun drying. Li Long smiled and said:
"You are the youngest daughter-in-law of the Li family, and you are also a government official. Your family really values ​​you."

"It's all because of you." Gu Xiaoxia revealed the true meaning of Li Long's words, "But think about it, my second sister-in-law's family is really pitiful."

"It's bitter first, but sweet later." Li Long went to pour water, saying, "Don't think it's hard now. My second brother will be a worker in the future. I don't know how many people will envy him. I just don't know how long it will take for them to get a house. I've seen that the houses of the construction company are all bungalows with small courtyards. How can our courtyard be... one-sixth the size?"

Li Long gestured uncertainly.

"So small?" Gu Xiaoxia was a little unconvinced, "How do we live there?"

"Okay, that's in the city. Although it's on the edge of the city." Li Long said with a smile, "Do you think everyone is like our family, with a big yard here and a big yard in the county? Those people have a bungalow in the city, even if it's just one room, it's fine."

Gu Xiaoxia felt a little embarrassed. She understood what Li Long said. In fact, when she was chatting with her colleagues at work, she could also hear about the house.

Nowadays, most people still live in bungalows, and there are not many with courtyards. Most bungalows have two rooms, one inside and one outside, or two bedrooms and one living room. There is no such thing as a large courtyard like the one she and Li Long live in. At most, there is a courtyard like Sister Yang's. The county town of Ma County is large and there are few units, so the houses of cadres are relatively large. If you consider Shicheng or other cities, there are many people in the city, so the houses allocated by the units are relatively tight.

"The yard over there is probably half the size of Sister Yang's yard." Li Long gestured and it was about right. "But no matter what, as long as we can get a house, my second sister-in-law and the children can move in, and then the family will be reunited. My second sister-in-law should be able to find a job after staying for a while, and then everything will be fine. Workers are much higher than us farmers, they are the leadership class."

"Well, that's true. If that were the case, many people would envy me."

"Of course, the most enviable one is you, a state cadre, who is better than a worker." Li Long smiled and touched Gu Xiaoxia's face, "You are the only one in our team. When you came back before, your friends said they envied you, right?" "Yeah," Gu Xiaoxia shook Li Long's hand and said with emotion, "I didn't feel anything when I took the exam, but now I realize that working in the county is completely different from before. I can't talk to them anymore. When they talk about what movies they watch, what clothes they wear, what hair oil they use, and what headscarves they wear, I'm embarrassed to talk with them."

"The aesthetics have changed." Li Long sighed, "The positions are different, the scenery is different, and the horizons are different. There is nothing we can do about it. After all, everyone has his or her own position. Whether you can stand higher depends on whether you can seize the opportunity."

The conversation got a bit deep, so Li Long decided to return to his most primitive life. Anyway, no one would come to disturb them, and this was still their new house, and the feeling was different from being in the compound.

So that night, Li Long was very brave and defeated Gu Xiaoxia several times. But Gu Xiaoxia was also in her prime, and after adapting to the rhythm of repeated defeats, she did not lose too badly.

In the end, both sides ceased fighting, and Li Long still had some strength left. However, because the battle was a bit intense, during their fight, Chen Lirong brought the children to the vacant house to rest, and they were almost discovered, causing Li Long to almost fail.

Although I continued fighting and found that the impact was not significant, I still didn't have much fun in the end.

The two agreed to fight again later, and then fell asleep in each other's arms, still unsatisfied.

The next day, Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia did not sleep in. Young people recover quickly, and when they heard the noise in the yard, they got up one after another.

The room was a bit messy. After finding each other's clothes and cleaning up some leftovers in the room, we got dressed, washed up, and opened the door.

It was a little chilly outside, but I woke up immediately.

Gu Xiaoxia opened the window to let in some fresh air, while Li Long took a walk in the vegetable garden. Before he finished, Li Qiang came running over and called them to eat.

Li Qingxia and Tao Daqiang didn't go fishing yesterday, so they weren't busy this morning. Breakfast was steamed buns, scrambled eggs, fried celery and meat, pickled vegetables and meat, and porridge. When Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia went over, Liang Yuemei was shoveling the pickled vegetables and meat out of the pot, then breaking open a piece of fried steamed bun, wiping it in the pot, wiping the shovel, and then handing it to Li Juan.

There were already three children surrounding Li Juan. She broke off a piece and handed it to Xueqin, then broke off another piece and handed it to Xueping. When she broke off another piece for Li Qiang, there were not many pieces left after wiping with oil. Li Juan gave almost all of the oily pieces to Li Qiang and took a bite of the hot steamed bun herself.

But Li Juan kept smiling and didn't feel wronged.

Just seeing this scene, Li Long felt deeply moved. This is what it’s like to be a big sister in this era.

Gu Xiaoxia was also quite moved when she saw this. She was an only child (in real life, at least she had never seen the other one), and she usually envied those who had brothers and sisters. Now, seeing Li Juan taking care of several younger siblings, she felt even more strongly.

Chen Lirong and Liang Yuemei set the table, and Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang sat down first.

There were two tables, one large and one small. Liang Yuemei and Chen Lirong sat at the small table to eat with the children. Gu Xiaoxia also wanted to go over, but Liang Yuemei stopped her:
"Xiaoxia, just eat there. You only come back once every week or two, so don't let the kids crowd you."

Since the sister-in-law had spoken, Gu Xiaoxia ate at the big table with Li Long.

"Dad, why didn't you get off the internet yesterday?"

"Hey, it hasn't rained in the past few days. There's a flood. Some water has rushed into the reservoir. The fish have been scared away and have fled into the grass nests. We can't catch many with the nets." Li Qingxia said, "I heard from the team that it's a good thing you paid for the team to divert the canal last year, otherwise the flood might have washed away the bottom dam of Xiaohaizi. If it had, we really wouldn't be able to catch any fish."

Li Long chuckled. They saw flood marks when they drove the tractor across the reed ditch yesterday, but they didn't think too much about it.

Flood, this matter seems a bit far away from me.

"I went to Shicheng yesterday and saw my brother-in-law. He's doing well there and said he would bring my sister over in a while." Li Long mentioned this while eating.

"Not bad." Li Qingxia was quite satisfied. This way, all his children would be here. Seeing that they were all doing well, he was happy.

After dinner, Li Long went to the table with the children, took out some money, gave each child a dollar, and said:
"Uncle makes money, so I won't give you much. This is pocket money for you. You don't have to give it to your family."

Last year, the amount of lucky money given to the children was quite a lot, but Li Long knew that the money would definitely be taken away by the adults. Today's money is not much, but it is also a "huge sum" for the children.

Then he took out four ten-dollar bills and handed them to the eldest and second sisters-in-law:

"Sister-in-law, it's Children's Day soon, and the children are celebrating the festival. I'll give them money for the festival."

"How can I accept this?" Chen Lirong refused. Li Long smiled and said to his sister-in-law:
"Sister-in-law, what do you think?"

"Okay, Lirong, just take it. Xiaolong can make money now, he loves his nephews and nieces, just take it if he gives it to you." Liang Yuemei knew from her husband that Li Long made a lot of money this time. According to Li Long's personality, he would definitely do this, so she was not surprised.

Only then did Chen Lirong put the money away.

Li Qingxia, Du Chunfang, and Li Jianguo all looked on with smiles.

It's not just about money. It's so nice that this family is so harmonious.

After the yard was cleaned up, Li Juan and the others went to school, while Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia went to Li Qingxia's house.

"Dad and Mom, this is a gift from Xiaolong and I to you two." Gu Xiaoxia handed two stacks of money to Li Qingxia and Du Chunfang respectively, "Keep this money, and buy whatever you want."

One hundred yuan for each of them, this was Gu Xiaoxia's idea. Li Long naturally did not refuse, and the money came from the share held by Gu Xiaoxia.

"Hey, we have some!" Li Qingxia said, "It's not easy for you to earn money, save it for big things!"

"We have some too." Li Long said with a smile, "Dad and Mom, what you have is yours, and what we give is our filial piety, so it's different."

"Take it, take it." Du Chunfang thought openly, "Wait until they have children, then you can give it back to them."

Well, it’s like saving money for yourself in disguise, right?

Li Long was happy.

No matter what, just accept it.

After chatting with the old man in the yard for a while, Li Long went to Gu Boyuan to help erect the antenna.

In the meantime, Li Long did something important. He went to Lao Ma Hao and left three hundred yuan for Uncle Luo.

"Uncle Luo, I'm so careless. You cut grass every day, and it's hard to carry it. My eldest brother's carriage will be needed soon. Take this money and buy a horse and carriage from someone nearby. We can use it to cut grass in the future."

"Okay." Uncle Luo was very happy. He knew that Li Long had made money, but he never mentioned the car.

Actually, Uncle Luo is quite happy living here. Although cutting grass is hard, why not? You can get paid for it, isn't it better than working in the fields? People who grew up in that era would not complain about life.

After all, life now is much better than before.

Getting stronger every year. (End of this chapter)