That evening, Liang Yuemei made fish soup to go with the rice left over from lunch. Anyone who was hungry could soak a bowl of rice in it. Crucian carp soup needed very little oil, just some ginger and Sichuan peppercorns, with chopped scallions and cilantro sprinkled on before serving.
Li Juan and Li Qiang were both still growing and shoveled down their rice. Li Long was not particularly hungry. He slowly picked the bones out of the crucian carp in his bowl. Even a tiny piece of its meat tasted delicious.
"Xiao Long, when you go sell the fish, if you see anyone selling piglets, buy a couple," Li Jianguo said, wiping his mouth after finishing his soup. "Since the authorities are letting us raise pigs now, we should raise more. Over the next couple of days, I'll fix up the pigpen when I'm not out working."
"Why bother fixing it? We can just keep them at the Stable. It's not far," Li Long said. "I'm planning to buy a few more. Uncle Lao Luo doesn't want to sit idle anyway, so I'll pay him to raise our pigs and graze our horses."
"Will that work?" Liang Yuemei asked, a little worried. "Will the authorities allow it?"
"Why wouldn't they?" Li Long said with a smile. "Uncle Lao Luo can't sit still, and he doesn't want to go to the Nursing Home. While he's raising pigs for us, he can raise one of his own too. We can supply all the grass and feed and everything else. All he has to do is put in the work. Don't worry, he'll be even keener on it than we are."
Then Li Long said to Li Jianguo:
"Big Brother, I think you should go see the village director and ask whether