Chapter 8 Breaking the Ice and Catching Fish as a Favor Li Jianguo finally agreed with Li Long's idea, but he wanted to go with Li Long. "No need. Big brother, I can pull more if I go alone. The horses in our production team are not fat enough to begin with. If one more person rides on them, we can pull dozens more kilograms of wood." Li Jianguo was speechless. "Then wait, I'll go borrow a horse later." Li Jianguo made the second best choice. He always treated Li Long as a child and thought it would be safer to do everything himself. Although I felt that what Li Long said made sense this time, I would always feel uncomfortable if I didn't do something. "Captain Kongkou Baiya may not lend it to me." Li Long was confident, "Brother, don't worry about it. I'll take care of it." "You do it? What are you going to do?" Li Jianguo felt a little unbelievable. His brother was like a different person now. He was going to do this "big thing"? How could he do it well? "Xiaolong, do you think it's easy to borrow horses from the production team?" Li Jianguo asked Li Long, "There are only three carriages, three horses, and two donkeys in our team. In winter, you must use a horse-drawn carriage to pull wood. That horse is the main force for our team to plow the land and pull things next year - there is only one tractor, and it is too late to take turns. You also know that you will not lend it to me if you just ask for it, is it possible that... you want to give the captain a quack chicken?"
"I can't deliver the Gua Gua Chicken. I'll get something else." Li Long stood up and said, "Brother, sister-in-law, you guys take care of lunch first. I'm going to be out for a while. If I can get something in the afternoon, then do as I say. If not, I'll see if I can get the Gua Gua Chicken in the evening." Li Long went to the east room. Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei looked at each other. "I think Xiaolong's trip to the factory was not in vain." Liang Yuemei originally felt a little sorry for giving the fifty yuan to others, but from yesterday to today, seeing the changes in Li Long, she felt that it was worth it even if she lost her job. Liang Yuemei didn't think there was anything wrong with raising her brother-in-law for her father-in-law. After all, Li Jianguo was the eldest. But if she raises a wolf that she can't tame, it would be a waste of time, and she is not happy about that. In the past, Liang Yuemei felt that Li Long was untameable, but from last night till now, she truly felt the changes in Li Long. He knows how to care for others, how to love his nephews and nieces, and how to share his elder brother's worries. Since she has a sense of responsibility, Liang Yuemei thinks it's nothing to just raise another son. Li Jianguo shook his head and said: "Let's see what he does first. If it doesn't work, I'll just ask for it. At worst, Xiaolong and I can go catch the quack chicken together tonight." The family had a superstitious pig and the family could not eat meat, which was also a worry for Li Jianguo. When Li Long came back, he was still worried about burning charcoal. But now it seems that all the problems are no longer problems. Li Jianguo also came to his senses and realized that as long as his younger brother became sensible, these problems could be overcome. Why didn’t I think about going to the mountains to pull wood before? He didn't know that this was a matter of perspective. Even if the villagers knew that there was not enough charcoal in the fall, they would only think of going to the sand pit behind the village to dig red willow roots, but would not think of going to the mountains 20 kilometers away to collect fallen trees - except for a few people who knew the situation in the mountains, others did not know what the situation was in the mountains. Therefore, they are naturally afraid of unknown things and are unwilling to try. Those who were willing to try became rich early on. Wu Shufen returned home, feeling a little dazed. When her mother Wang Yuzhen saw her daughter's appearance, she immediately asked: "Shufen, didn't the Li family kid agree to break up? Is he still planning to pester you?"
"No, he agreed to split it." "That's good." Wang Yuzhen smiled when she heard that the breakup went smoothly. "Tomorrow, I'll have someone look for you. We'll definitely find a worker and go to the city to eat the government food! I knew at first glance that Li Long wasn't cut out for city life, and he came back after all!" Wang Yuzhen originally thought that her daughter would be happier after breaking up with Li Long, but seeing Wu Shufen looking unhappy, she asked with concern: "Shufen, breaking up with him is a good thing, why do you look unhappy?" Wu Shufen couldn't help but say: "When I went there, I saw his family plucking the feathers of quack chickens. Mom, do you know how many quack chickens Li Long caught yesterday? Five!" She gestured with a slap: "Five in total! He didn't even think of giving me one - even if we break up, we can still be friends. He would definitely give me one before releasing the quacking chicken, no, two! In the end, he didn't even keep one for me..." If Li Long heard what Wu Shufen said, he would immediately realize that fairies are not unique to later generations. Some people are born with the idea that everyone in the world has to pamper them. If a strange boy doesn’t pay for a meat bun they’d think he’s being rude! Wang Yuzhen didn't think so much. She comforted Wu Shufen: "Shufen, let's not think about the quack chicken. Li Long's brother's family had a superstitious pig, and they had no meat to eat, so they went to get the quack chicken. We've killed the pig, and mom will fry some meat for you at noon!" Although the meat would have to be eaten for about a year - the fat had already been boiled and buried in lard - but since my daughter wanted to eat it, I'd just cook it. "Mom, I want to eat meat, and I also want to eat quack chicken..." Wang Yuzhen turned around and shouted to Old Man Wu who was dozing on the kang: "Dad, Shufen wants to eat quack chicken, why don't you go and catch it for her?" "Go away! Where can I go to catch a quack chicken? I won't go out in this heavy snow and freeze to death!" Wu Shufen pouted and looked unhappy. After Li Long entered the east room, he found a pickaxe and a crowbar, put them in a fertilizer bag and placed them by the door, then put on a cotton hat, a coat, felt socks on his feet, and stepped on a leather shoe - this thing is cut out of a whole piece of cowhide, with holes punched on the edge, and then strung with cowhide ropes. It is frozen hard in winter, but with felt socks, it is at least more resistant to cold than cotton-rubber shoes. He wanted to go to the small lake to break ice and catch fish, but he couldn't do that wearing cotton-rubber shoes. There are several puddles near the village. These days, wherever there is running water, there are fish in them - mainly crucian carp, large crucian carp, domestic crucian carp, as well as carp, grass carp and silver carp. The small lake has existed for a long time. According to Li Jianguo, the small lake already existed when they came here from all over the country, and the fish in it have never been extinct. A few years later, a flood destroyed the dam of Xiaohaizi, which had been transformed into a reservoir, and the fish were washed into the Weihu Lake downstream. The young and strong men in the village all took their homemade harpoons to fish. The largest fish Li Long had seen was nearly meters long and weighed 20 to 30 kilograms. Since then, there have been no big fish in the small lake. He estimated that the ice in the small lake was at least thirty to forty centimeters thick. It would be a strenuous job to chisel a hole in the ice to catch fish. But if you want to show off your virtue in front of others, you must be prepared to suffer behind their backs. Nothing comes without a price. After leaving the house, Li Long went back to the shed to bring the scoop net. It takes at least one or two hours to drill a hole in the ice, and usually the fish will not come immediately after drilling, so you need to wait for a while. But now the ice is frozen solid, and there are already many fish in the small lake. Although there are some reeds that can provide some oxygen to the fish underwater, it is not much. So he thought that maybe after the ice hole is opened, he might be able to wait for fish. The sound of Li Long opening the door startled Li Qiang, or the little guy had been waiting for a long time. He ran out of the west room and saw Li Long "fully armed", and immediately shouted to follow him. "You can't come with me today. The snow is very deep where I'm going and I can't take care of you." Li Long refused Li Qiang, then carried his things and walked towards the south of the village.
With such heavy snow in winter, people usually just clear the roads in the village and then the roads leading to the township. The road leading to Xiaohaizi was covered with thick snow, which was not even up to the knees. He was alone and slowly disappeared in the snow. (End of this chapter)