When Xie Yundong and Li Junfeng drove over to see Li Long, he was rather surprised.
"What made you think of selling fish?" Li Long asked Xie Yundong.
"Well, Junfeng said things sell fast at that wholesale market." Xie Yundong smiled. "We haven't done much fishing in Little Haizi these past two years, and there's nothing to do this winter."
"Just you two, or are there others?" Li Long asked again.
"Daqiang and the others are all in. Daqiang said we've all made some money these past two years. If you asked him to go hawking in people's courtyards like a few years ago, he couldn't do it anymore. But wholesaling is something he can still do."
Li Long smiled, instantly recalling how he and Tao Daqiang had once hauled a sled to Stone City to sell fish.
"Are the fish easy to catch?" Li Long asked as he scraped fat off a Mongolian gazelle pelt. "If you're really going to wholesale them, you'll definitely need at least a few tonnes."
"These past two days, we've chopped seven holes in the ice at Little Haizi and caught over five hundred kilos of fish. It's cold this year, and the ice is solid. We've been fishing both days. I'd say in less than five days we'll have more than a truck can hold."
"All right. Once you've caught enough, call me from my eldest brother's place. I'll drive the truck over to pick them up."
Li Long wouldn't join in hauling fish out of the ice holes. He had work of his own.
Xie Yundong and the others hadn't intended to drag Li Long back to the village anyway. They had only come to ask whether he wanted in. If he did, he could drive the truck. If not, they'd think