After Gu Xiaoxia and the others returned from their exam, Li Long took Tao Daqiang fishing for another two days and made one trip to Stone City to sell the catch. After that, he decided to stop fishing for now. For one thing, the ice was already very thin, and there were fewer fish to catch through the holes. For another, more people were selling fish in Stone City, so prices would not rise. Li Long thought it was best to wait a while.
With nothing to do here, and no desire to head into the mountains for the time being, Li Long checked his rabbit snares every day and carried Small-Bore out to Red Willow Flats to hunt.
He had sold the last fox pelt at the Purchasing Station for twenty-eight yuan, which made him think hunting foxes was a pretty good option too.
Unfortunately, he encountered no more foxes over the next few days. He did come across two rabbits, but his marksmanship was poor. He hit one, and the other got away.
That day, Li Long was reading in the East Room. He had finished The Tang Dynasty Wanderers and moved on to Seven Swords Descend from Heavenly Mountain. He was deeply fascinated by Ling Weifeng of the Heavenly Mountain Sect and the Heavenly Mountain Divine Radiance in his hand. Then Xu Chengjun's voice rang out over the loudspeaker.
"Attention, attention! Pfft, pfft. Attention, attention! I have two announcements to make. First, about the people from our team who took the exam at the County Seat. I'll now read out who passed..."
As soon as the announcement began, eighty percent of the households in the team opened their doors. Men and women came outside, looking up at the loudspeaker from every direction and listening closely.
"...Gu Xiaoxia..."