Li Long entered the house and saw his sister-in-law, Liang Yuemei, sorting through the things he had brought back. He asked:
"Where's my brother?"
"He said you might go sell fish again tomorrow, so he wanted to catch some at the lake now. Oh, did you sell all the fish?"
"All of them." Li Long didn't bother changing his clothes. As he headed outside, he said, "Then I'll go take a look at Little Haizi."
"No, no, rest a bit first. You've been working all day. There's no need to rush." Liang Yuemei hurried to stop him. "Have some lamb broth to warm up, then eat something. You two didn't have lunch, did you? Where's Daqiang?"
"He took his things home. He'll be over in a bit."
"Then wait for Daqiang. There's no hurry. You traveled over twenty kilometers there and back and spent all that time freezing outside. What's the rush?"
Thinking it over, Li Long had to agree. The money was real, but so was the exhaustion. He had earned a regular worker's monthly wage in a single trip, but it had been much harder than working a job.
Still, in these times, people weren't afraid of hard work. They were afraid of not making money, of working hard for nothing. Next year, when the land was allocated to individual households, everyone's enthusiasm would become clear.
Li Long had no plans to farm, though. His brother would naturally tend his two mu of land, while he planned to explore the mountains properly. Making money mattered most.
There wouldn't be opportunities this good later on.
Leaning against the heated wall, Li Long watched Li Juan and Li Qiang playing a game with Ankle Bones on the kang. He smiled. This felt wonderful.
Liang Yuemei brought over the lamb broth and handed it to him, saying:
"Why did you buy so much? Save the money you made. You still need to get married someday."
"There's more money to come," Li Long said with a smile as he took the broth. "This little bit won't hurt. We ought to have a good New Year, shouldn't we?"
"That's true. With all these things, our family's sure to have a good New Year."
After drinking the lamb broth, Li Long felt refreshed. Seeing that there were still two or three hours until dark, he put on his padded coat, hat, and insulated rubber shoes, told Liang Yuemei he was leaving, and went out.
Just outside the yard, he saw Tao Daqiang hurrying over.
"Daqiang, did you get enough rest?" Li Long asked with concern.
"Yes." Tao Daqiang gave a sheepish chuckle. "I ate, too."
"Then let's go. My brother's already over there, scooping up fish."
The two strode toward Little Haizi.
Their repeated trips had already beaten out a path, so it took them only twenty minutes to reach the holes in the ice at Little Haizi.
From a distance, they saw Li Jianguo wedged in the middle of an ice hole, straining to drag out the Scoop Net. A huge silver carp, nearly a meter long, was thrashing with part of its body hanging outside the net.
"That big?" Li Long immediately broke into a run, rushed to Li Jianguo's side, and helped haul the fish out.
"Brother, this fish is huge! It must weigh ten kilos, right?"
"About that." Li Jianguo sounded rather pleased with himself. "I just scooped once and wondered why the net was so heavy. It was fighting like crazy, too, so I knew I had to hurry. It's only because it's winter. In summer, one swipe of its tail would've torn the net apart."
Li Long nodded and hooked his fingers under the gill covers on both sides to lift the fish. It was a bigheaded silver carp, otherwise known as a bighead carp. It weighed about ten kilos and was a little over a meter long. Even after Li Long lifted it, its tail kept lashing hard.
"Let's not sell this one. We'll keep it to eat at home," Li Long said with a smile.
"It doesn't taste good. Better to sell it." Li Jianguo climbed out of the ice hole. "Looks impressive, but it's no good to eat. Let's not keep it. How did your fish sell?"
"We sold them all. We charged more for the big ones and less for the small ones. In the end, we sold the remaining pile to that wealthy family northeast of town."
"Makes sense. That family has money." Li Jianguo clearly knew the household.
Li Long set down the bighead carp and looked around. He noticed that Li Jianguo had already caught more than a dozen large fish, along with a pile of small ones.
"Brother, there are plenty of fish today!"
"We opened up an air hole yesterday. Fish from the other parts of the lake must've come over today. The reeds let some air through, but they're still not as good as these holes in the ice," Li Jianguo said.
Tao Daqiang had already taken the Scoop Net and started fishing at the other ice hole.
Every scoop brought up fish. There weren't many, but as long as the net didn't come up empty, everyone remained eager to keep going.
After five or six scoops, there were no more fish beneath that hole. Li Long took the Scoop Net and went back to the first one.
There were fewer fish here, too. Li Long's first few scoops brought up only small crucian carp and ditch fish. He figured they were probably about done.
Just then, Tao Daqiang suddenly said in a low voice:
"Someone's coming."
Li Long looked back along the path and saw three people walking onto the ice.
They were all members of the Production Team: Wang Hongjun, who was about Li Jianguo's age, his younger brother Wang Hongbing, and his brother-in-law He Wei.
They were carrying a scoop net, too. Wang Hongjun came from the banks of the Huai River and had grown up fishing. He had woven this net himself with thread he had found. Li Long remembered that their family seemed to have a netting shuttle at home, too.
"Well, Founding of the Nation, you've caught quite a few fish," Wang Hongjun greeted him with a smile. "That one... must weigh ten kilos or so, eh?" He had spotted the bighead carp.
"Just lucky." Li Jianguo smiled. "You've come to catch fish, too?"
"Yes. Nothing much to do in winter, so we thought we'd get some fish ready for New Year."
Seeing that they had brought only a pickaxe, Li Long knew they had probably planned to use his two ice holes. They just hadn't expected anyone to be here now.
"Founding of the Nation, could we borrow your steel bar, then?"
"Sure. Take it," Li Jianguo said.
The three men from the Wang family took the steel bar to another spot on Little Haizi, more than a hundred meters away. They began clearing snow off the ice, then breaking through it.
Li Long made two more scoops and climbed onto the ice.
There were clearly fewer fish than yesterday.
Tao Daqiang took over and continued scooping at the other ice hole.
"You're going to sell fish again first thing tomorrow?" Li Jianguo asked.
"Yeah. Nothing else to do anyway."
"I reckon by tomorrow or the day after, nobody will be borrowing the team's horse cart," Li Jianguo said. "You could take the horse cart to sell fish then, if need be."
"Forget the horse cart. If anything really happened, we couldn't even get away in time." Li Long shook his head. "For selling fish, we still need the Sled-hmm? A horse cart could work, too. But if we use one, we'd have to go to Stone City."
Stone City was less than twenty kilometers from Ma County, but its urban population was several times larger. People there also had somewhat more spending power.
The three kept working until it was nearly dark. They caught enough fish to fill about two sacks, weighing more than seventy kilos, then headed home.
Li Long glanced toward the Wang family and saw that they were still at it.
He guessed they were probably waiting for his group to leave so they could use these ice holes.
Of course, he didn't mind. He planned to borrow the horse cart as soon as he got back, then head to Stone City tomorrow to sell fish!
Thanks to reader 20170710184530659 for the monthly vote, and thanks to everyone for your support! It's past midnight now, and the recommendation results will be out during the day. Hopefully I'll get a text notification!
(End of chapter)
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