The woman bought two fish and headed into the building, with her child trailing behind, shouting, "We're having fish today!" That drew the neighbors' curiosity and brought Li Long more customers.
The people living in this compound were workers and their families. In those days, most workers lived much better than farmers, so they had a little spare money to buy fish.
Seeing people gathering around, the middle-aged man hurriedly picked out a common carp and a five-stripe perch. As he paid, he said to Li Long:
"Young man, could you come again before New Year? We'll get another wage payment and allowance before then. If you come, you certainly won't be short of customers."
"We'll have to see," Li Long said with a smile. "Whether we can catch any fish in Haizi depends on luck. I can't promise anything."
The middle-aged man nodded in understanding, then left with the fish in his arms.
There weren't many people gathered around, but most bought a fish or two. After looking over the fish, a middle-aged woman asked:
"Young man, do you have any smaller fish? These are too big. I can't get the flavor into them when I cook."
"Yes, I have crucian carp and small ditch fish. Would you like some?" Li Long said. "I didn't bring all my fish in because I wasn't sure they'd sell. I've even got a ten-kilogram bighead carp."
"Bring them over, then. I'll wait here," the middle-aged woman said, stepping aside.
Li Long agreed. Once the others had picked their fish and paid, he saw that no one else was coming and said, "Ma'am, wait here a moment. I'll go get them right away."
In that short time, he had already sold more than half the dozen or so fish in the sack. Li Long was in an excellent mood.
He hurried out carrying the urea sack to fetch more fish from the horse cart.
Some people who had heard the news came downstairs, but couldn't see anyone selling fish, so they asked the middle-aged woman:
"Sister-in-Law Yu, has the fish seller left?"
"No, he's gone to get more fish. I wanted small ones, not big ones, so he's gone to fetch them."
"All right, I'll wait too." Although factories handed out benefits before New Year in those days, supplies were genuinely scarce. With such deep snow in the middle of winter, plenty of goods couldn't be transported in. Coming across someone selling fish wasn't easy.
Tao Daqiang, who had been keeping watch beside the horse cart, saw Li Long come out and hurriedly drove the cart over.
"Brother Long, how are the fish selling?"
"Pretty well. Lots of people want them. Park the cart just outside the family housing compound. I'll take another load in to sell," Li Long said with a smile. "Stamp your feet if you get cold."
"I'm not cold," Tao Daqiang said with a grin. In fact, his eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair were already coated in white frost. The last month of the lunar year was bitterly cold in those days. Even in a padded jacket and trousers, spending too long outside could chill a person right through.
He had lost all feeling in his feet.
But poverty was harder to bear than the cold.
Now that he could see a chance to escape poverty, Tao Daqiang didn't consider this little hardship anything worth worrying about.
Li Long carried another full sack of fish into the compound. The old gatekeeper merely glanced at him and left him alone.
Four or five people were already waiting in the courtyard. Seeing Li Long return with another full sack of fish, they hurried over.
"Everyone, please don't rush!" Li Long said quickly. "Let me lay the fish out first. Otherwise, you won't be able to choose properly, will you?"
"All right, young man. We'll do as you say." They made room for him.
Li Long pulled another urea sack from inside the first, spread it flat on the ground, and began laying out the fish one by one.
The sight of the bighead carp weighing over ten kilograms drew exclamations from several people:
"That fish is huge!"
"It certainly is! I've never seen a fish that big before!"
"Young man, how much for the big one?"
"Nine yuan for this one." Li Long raised the price a little. After all, he had to account for transport costs too, didn't he?
The man fell silent. His monthly wages were less than forty yuan. He couldn't bear to spend a quarter of that in one go.
The middle-aged woman who had first asked for smaller fish looked at the crucian carp and asked:
"How much for these little crucian carp?"
"Ten for one yuan, regardless of size." Even the smallest crucian carp here were palm-sized; he had left the smaller ones at home.
"Then give me two yuan's worth," the woman said immediately, realizing that these were better value than the big fish.
"Give me two yuan's worth too!" someone else said at once.
Li Long hadn't expected the small fish to sell better than the big ones. Delighted, he quickly counted out fish and collected the money. Everyone who had come to buy fish had brought something to carry them in, either a bag or a basin. Once they had received their fish and settled up, some hurried home to thaw the fish and prepare them for cooking, while others lingered, still looking.
In less than half an hour, only the bighead carp and two silver carp remained on the stall.
Seeing no more customers, Li Long simply packed up his stall and hurried out again, bringing back the few remaining small crucian carp and laying them out.
Half an hour later, the small crucian carp had sold out. Just as Li Long thought he might have to haul the bighead carp home, a tall man in his fifties strode over.
Seeing only one bighead carp on the stall, he frowned and asked:
"Is this the only fish left?"
"Yes," Li Long said. "Everything else has sold."
"Will you be back tomorrow, then?"
"I won't be able to." Li Long shook his head. "I live a long way away, out in the countryside in Ma County. The round trip takes most of the day. By the time I get home, there won't be time to catch any more fish. It'll be at least three to five days before I can come again."
"All right." The man hesitated, then pointed at the bighead carp and asked:
"How much for this fish?"
"Eight yuan." Li Long stopped holding out for nine. Several people had asked the price earlier, but all had fallen silent when they heard it was nine yuan.
"Make it cheaper and I'll buy it," the man said. "How about six yuan?"
"Seven," Li Long said. For a fish this big, weighing around ten kilograms, six yuan really didn't seem worth it.
"Deal." The man smiled, readily took out the money, then hoisted the fish onto his shoulder and left the family housing compound.
So he didn't even work here?
Li Long gathered up the sacks and began counting his money.
He had brought plenty of fish that day. Of the seventy-odd kilograms they had caught and brought home yesterday, Li Long had sorted through them that evening and kept the smaller common carp and silver carp weighing less than a kilogram, along with the particularly small crucian carp, at home. The fish he had brought to sell weighed sixty kilograms.
Apart from the bighead carp, there had been nineteen large fish weighing nearly forty kilograms, plus over ten kilograms of small fish. Altogether, they had sold for forty-eight yuan and fifty cents.
That really was as much as a worker's monthly wages!
Fifteen yuan of that belonged to Tao Daqiang-Li Long had calculated the split based on labor, equipment, and the amount of effort each had put in.
He took the sacks back to the horse cart and counted out fifteen yuan for Tao Daqiang:
"Daqiang, this is your money for today. You and your brother are coming out tomorrow. Do you want to hold on to this, leave it with me, or buy things after we get home?"
"I'll take five yuan. Keep the rest for me for now," Tao Daqiang said after some thought. "I want to see whether the supply and marketing cooperative sells fishing nets. If it does, I'll buy one too."
"Then let's have a look here in Stone City. It's a bigger place with more goods."
"All right." Tao Daqiang's eyes lit up with curiosity. He had never explored Stone City before!
The two drove the horse cart to the Stone City Department Store. Tao Daqiang didn't ask how Li Long knew where it was. As far as he was concerned, it was only natural that Brother Long knew everything.
Li Long was curious too, actually. How different was the Stone City Department Store of this era from the one in later years?
Thanks to I'm a Little Ghost for the tip. The first round of recommendations starts tomorrow. I'm a little nervous.
(End of chapter)
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