Seeing the net pulled straight under the ice by the Drag-Net Device and drawn all the way out, not only Li Long but also Li Qingxia finally felt relieved.
If it had only been their own family there, success or failure would not have mattered. At worst, they could have made another trip, or simply cut ice holes along the way as Li Long had suggested.
But with outsiders present, Li Qingxia did not want Li Long to fail. Succeeding in one go would be best.
Now that he saw it had worked, he grinned, handed the end of the net to Li Jianguo, and called to Li Long, "Let me do the next one!"
People were right when they said the elderly became children again. At that moment, Li Qingxia was like someone who had found a novel toy he liked and simply had to study it and play with it.
Li Jianguo smiled wryly. Dad really was treating this thing like a toy.
Still, that was good. Li Qingxia had been rather unhappy lately, and Li Jianguo knew why, but he did not dare take him north or west. If they made the trip for nothing, would that not leave him even more disappointed?
Seeing this little gadget Li Long had made cheer Dad up was good enough.
The net was in, and they had to keep a firm hold on its end. This was not summer, when they could simply get into the water and find it if they lost it. In the depths of winter, losing it meant losing it; there was no way they could dive through an ice hole to search. So Li Jianguo first tied the net rope to an iron spade, then went to find some red willow branches. Once all four