Chapter 58 Showdown with Tao Daqiang The afternoon sun was not very strong, and Li Long did not feel much effort dragging the simple sled on the way home. He even felt like humming a song: "The first snow in 2002 came later than usual..." "...I admit that I am the wolf in sheep's clothing, and you are my prey, the lamb in my mouth. I left my companions and wandered alone because I didn't want others to share you..." "...Come on, come on, brothers, let's wade through the water together and face the fire together..." He memorized a few popular lyrics for each song. Anyway, he had heard them a lot in the past, so if he couldn't sing them, he would just change them. The Changan car he bought in his previous life had a USB flash drive full of songs by a certain person. Who said he became famous from northern Xinjiang? Come to think of it, I really miss the days when I had a car so I didn’t have to walk on my own two legs. Fortunately, although this young body has not been exercised enough, it is definitely better than the old man in his sixties or seventies before he passed away in the previous life. Even after walking seven or eight kilometers, he did not feel tired at all, but even felt light and in a good mood. Because there is hope. As he was getting closer to home, Li Long walked faster and faster. After walking for a while, dragging the plastic sheet, he saw the children from the production team playing on the road. These days there are fewer people and cars, so safety is the main concern. If a car passes by, the children will be excited for a long time. "Li Qiang, your uncle is back! He's dragging a big guy behind him!" A child with sharp eyes saw Li Long and shouted loudly.
Li Long had distributed fruit candies to everyone before, and the children all remembered it, so after a shout, they surrounded Li Qiang and rushed to Li Long. "Uncle, uncle!" Li Qiang wiped his nose with his sleeve, "Why didn't you come back yesterday?" "Because I'm going on a long trip!" Li Long smiled and helped Li Qiang put his crooked hat back on, then asked: "Are you going home with me now, or are you going to play with them for a while longer?" "I'll go home with you!" Knowing that his uncle would always bring good things when he came back, Li Qiang hurriedly turned around and went to the road to get his old cow and whip, then turned back to help Li Long drag the plastic sheet. The other children also helped with a smile and soon arrived at the door of Li's house. Li Cong took out a handful of peanuts from the urea bag, gave a few to each child, and said: "Okay, go play." The children happily dispersed, comparing whose peanuts were bigger, who had one more and who had one less. Li Long took out another handful and stuffed it into Li Qiang's hand, patted him on the head, and went into the yard together. Liang Yuemei and Li Juan heard the noise and opened the door. They were a little surprised to see Li Long like this: "Why do you bring so many things?" "The New Year is coming soon, so let's buy some New Year's goods." "Come in quickly, your brother is still fishing with Daqiang in Xiaohaizi, and he will probably be back soon." "Then I won't go for now." Li Long returned to the house, and then he felt exhausted all over. "I'll take a rest after changing clothes." "Okay, I'll call you when the meal is ready." In fact, the family used to have two meals a day, but Li Long has been busy these days going into the mountains to fish, and Li Jianguo has also joined in, so the two meals were changed to three meals, otherwise they would not be able to endure it. But the dinner was at most soup or porridge, with some leftovers from lunch. Even so, after Mrs. Lu found out, she secretly said that the Li family was a spendthrift, saying that they had enough food and clothes but suffered from poverty because they didn't plan well. But Liang Yuemei ignored her. Men work hard. What's wrong with bringing things home and earning money and eating and drinking better? Wouldn't it be better to learn from those lazy cats and just sit at home and starve? Li Long entered the east room and found that the stove was on fire, and the fire wall and the kang were both hot to the touch. Compared with the outside, the room was warm as spring, so he simply changed his clothes, lay on the bed, pulled back the quilt, and fell asleep unknowingly. In the west room, Li Qiang sneakily tried to untie the rope on the urea bag, but was slapped on the back by Li Juan: "What are you doing?" "Sister, I just want to see...what did uncle bring back?" "What are you looking at? I'll show it to you when I wake up." Li Juan actually wanted to see it, but she knew that this was something her uncle bought, so her uncle had to open it himself.
Liang Yuemei was busy in the kitchen. When she heard the conversation between the two siblings, she smiled and said nothing. Although Li Juan was very stubborn, she was sensible. Liang Yuemei was relieved to have her take care of Qiangqiang. In her laundry basin were the "miscellaneous items" from the fish that Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang caught yesterday and this morning. Li Jianguo already knew that Li Long sold fish by the piece, so after catching the fish, he picked out the big fish weighing more than two kilograms and froze them in the snow before selling them. The remaining smaller fish were left for her to eat. Liang Yuemei looked at the wash basin full of fish and actually felt like she had had enough. She felt that her thoughts were really criminal - how could one eat enough fish? If her brother Liang Wenyu, who loved fish, knew about this, wouldn't he think she was crazy? As the sun set, Li Jianguo and Tao Daqiang returned dragging a sled with three large bags of fish. Today, fish were caught in four ice holes in turn. The two newly dug ice holes produced a particularly large number of fish, with nearly 100 kilograms of fish caught in one day, which surprised Li Jianguo. Are these fish crazy? They know it's so noisy here, but why are they coming here? If Li Long were here, he would give a perfect explanation: In fact, it was because the ice was too thick, and even where there were reeds, oxygen could not penetrate easily. The fish below were almost suffocating, so they would naturally come to join in the fun as long as there were air holes. Fish also want to live. In fact, these breathable ice holes can save the lives of some fish. Because before that great flood, every spring when the ice thawed, you could see a lot of dead fish floating on the water, and they were mainly big fish. Big fish require more oxygen and are the first to suffocate to death. Li Long woke up when he heard the noise outside. He felt a little dizzy, as if he was not very clear-headed. He rubbed his face, got up, put on his clothes and went out. When the cold wind blew outside, he woke up immediately, and at the same time he saw the harvest of Big Brother Li Jianguo and his friends on the sled. "Brother, you caught so many fish today?" "That's right! There are so many fish today!" Li Jianguo said with a smile, "There are a lot of big fish, too. The biggest one is a grass carp, weighing more than six kilograms and more than one meter long. It almost broke the scoop net!" "That guy..." Li Long thought to himself, wow, did they catch the king fish? Tao Daqiang was also a little excited to see Li Long coming back, but then he said: "Then I'll go back first?" "What are you going to say? Drink the fish soup before you leave." Liang Yuemei had already left the house. "The fish soup is ready. You have to eat it before you leave." "Yes, eat first before you leave. I have something else to tell you." Tao Daqiang was a little nervous. What would Brother Long say to him? After dinner, Li Long called Tao Daqiang to the east room and asked him: "Daqiang, do you still want to follow me?" Tao Daqiang didn't expect Li Long to ask this question so directly. "Yes." He did not hesitate. He gave up the opportunity once. If he gave up again, he would be a fool. "But I have to tell you, even if you work with me, it will be different from before." Li Long directly explained what he meant: "If you follow me, I'll give you the money for once. For example, this time, we'll catch fish and sell them tomorrow, five dollars a time. How about that?" Tao Daqiang's face changed. He knew that his relationship with Li Long could never go back to what it was before. (End of this chapter)
