Chapter 131: Choose your own reward? There are still nearly two hours before the sun rises. It is now dawn and the coldest time of the day. Li Long wrapped his clothes tightly, but still felt the chill penetrating into his bones. It is still quite cold in northern Xinjiang in early spring. When they arrived at Xiaohaizi, Tao Daqiang said to Li Long: "Brother Long, do you have any advice for closing the net?" "It's nothing. Just gather up the nets like you gather up ropes, roll them up, and put them in a bag." Li Long said, "The main thing is that they don't fall into the trough." "Then Brother Long, don't go into the water. I will just collect the net. Otherwise, I will feel guilty taking the five dollars." Tao Daqiang said seriously. Li Long thought about it and said, "Okay." Tao Daqiang smiled, took off his pants, bent down, wiped a handful of water and stuffed it into his clothes, patted his chest, and then slowly went into the water along the same position as yesterday. After walking forward about thirty meters, he found the head of the net, bent down to untie the rope, and began to pull the net together. Li Long had sharp eyes and soon found that there was a fish hanging on the net two or three meters away from the head of the net. It seemed to be a silver carp. The silver carp that could be caught by the four-finger net must be at least one or two kilograms. The silver carp was still alive, wagging its tail and jumping on the net.

"Da Qiang, collect the net and put it in the urea bag!" Li Long shouted on the shore. Tao Daqiang responded "OK", then took out the urea bag from his belt, put a net in it, and then took another one. Because Tao Daqiang's body was blocking the view, Li Long changed his position, and then he saw the net he lifted, with fish of all sizes hanging on it. Overall, it was good. Although it seems that the catch is definitely not as much as the ones obtained by digging in ice holes, these fish can still survive in the county, so it feels different when you look at them! More than half an hour passed, and Tao Daqiang was dragging the urea bag back. Li Long could see that the urea bag was full. He didn't know whether it was because water had entered the bag or if there was indeed a great harvest. "Brother Long, the biggest fish is a carp, weighing two or three kilograms!" Tao Daqiang said excitedly when they were almost at the shore. "Unfortunately, there was a bigger one that was only caught on the edge, so it ran away when I shook the net..." "It's okay. This is how the net is. If it can't hold, the fish will just run away. Come on up!" Tao Daqiang came up and opened the urea bag to show Li Long. Li Long patted him: "Hurry and get dressed!" He could see that Tao Daqiang's face was pale and his body was shivering, but he was so excited about catching the fish that he didn't feel the cold at all. Tao Daqiang put on his long johns and pants, and only then did he feel the cold. Li Long had already drained the water from the urea bag, and then he carried it on his back and rushed home: "Go, let's talk about it when we get back!" Tao Daqiang snatched the urea bag from Li Long's back and said: "Brother Long, leave this to me!" He was tall and had long legs, and he quickly rushed to the front, as if he had endless energy in his body. The old saying that fish have fire in their bodies is indeed true. Tao Daqiang probably hasn't gotten over the excitement of catching the fish yet. The two men came to Li's house. Li Long took out a plastic sheet from the house, spread it out, and poured the net and fish in the urea bag onto the plastic sheet. Some fish immediately fluttered their arms and legs. "The nets are now in a mess. We need to separate them one by one and then take the fish off each net first, trying not to damage the nets." Li Long said to Tao Daqiang, "Of course, it's best not to let the fish die, otherwise it will be difficult to sell them." Li Long went into the house to get the wash basin and saw Liang Yuemei cooking. Li Juan had to go to school early, so Liang Yuemei had already prepared cornmeal porridge for her on the windowsill outside. "Are you back?" Liang Yuemei asked, "Do you want to eat first or get the fish first?" "Get the fish first." Li Long took out the wash basin, and Li Jianguo and Li Qiang followed him out. Li Juan, who had already finished washing up, also came out to take a look. Although she wanted to continue watching, she had to eat and go to school soon, so she had to take the porridge to the inner room. "Oh, there are big fish." Li Jianguo said with a smile, "It seems that we have a good harvest today." The three adults and the little Li Qiang gathered around the plastic sheet and started to take the fish. Li Jianguo had worked in a fishery before, so he was an old hand and naturally knew to roll the nets together before taking the fish. Tao Daqiang followed suit, but Li Qiang just wanted to catch the biggest fish, so Li Jianguo scolded him: "Qiangqiang, don't take things carelessly! It will be hard to pick up things if the net is messed up!"

Li Qiang was obedient and leaned next to Li Long. When Li Long was pulling the net, he helped to take the fish. Fish were taken one by one, and the yard was filled with a strong fishy smell. The neighbor's wife, Mrs. Lu, went out to get some water and saw this. She shouted across the yard: "Li Juan's father, did your family go fishing again today?" "Yes." Li Jianguo responded, "Xiaolong caught some fish with his net, and will sell them on the street later." "Very good." Mrs. Lu came over with a basin. Li Jianguo picked up a silver carp weighing more than one kilogram and stuffed it into her basin. Mrs. Lu refused to take it, so Li Jianguo put it directly into her basin and said, "Take it and eat it. It's not worth much." Mrs. Lu said "I'm so sorry" and went back happily with the fish in her hand. Li Long smiled and continued to take the fish. Ten minutes later, all the fish on the four nets were taken down. Just as Li Long was about to change his clothes, he heard Liang Yuemei say in the room: "Eat some vegetables! I'm hungry again after only drinking porridge for half an hour!" "I'm too late!" Li Juan shouted, "There's no time." Li Long hurried over, opened the door and said to Li Juan: "Juan, don't worry, eat your fill before you go. I'm going to the street to sell fish now, so I can ride my bike to take you to school." When she heard that her uncle wanted to take her to school by bike, Li Juan smiled and said, "Okay!" Li Long went to the east room to change his clothes and inflated his bicycle. At this time, Li Jianguo had already picked the fish out of habit, packed them into two urea bags, poured water into them, tied the bags together, and placed them on both sides of the bicycle. Liang Yuemei walked out of the house and said to Li Long: "Xiaolong, eat before you leave." "No, the morning market opens early, so I'll go early to check out the situation. I can sell the fish and eat it on the street." Li Jianguo asked Tao Daqiang to have dinner here, Tao Daqiang said his father had prepared it at home, he would come to pick up the net after dinner. Li Long said to him: "After you finish picking up the nets in the morning, if you have nothing else to do, take the casting net to the reservoir and try it out. When I come back, I'll go see if I can cast any fish." Tao Daqiang responded and walked quickly home. Li Juan finished eating quickly. Li Long laid a double layer of sackcloth on the back seat so that she would not get her clothes wet by the urea bags containing fish. Then he got on his bike and rode out of the village. Along the way, Li Long could see many students walking to school. Occasionally someone would greet Li Juan, and Li Juan would also greet her classmates, her voice full of pride. When they got outside the elementary school, Li Long got off the car. Li Juan said goodbye to him and they were about to leave together. Li Long took out five yuan from his pocket and handed it to Li Juan: "If you're hungry at noon and don't want to eat steamed buns, go to the store and buy some. You're still growing, don't starve yourself and become skinny." "Thank you, uncle!" Li Juan said in a loud voice. Li Long smiled and waved his hand, letting her go into the school. Riding his bike along the road to the county, Li Long hadn't been to the morning market for a few days. He was really curious about what changes there would be in the morning market. Would there be more fish being sold? Would it affect him? (End of this chapter)