pertwk Chapter 49 Pheasant Nest
Chapter 49 Pheasant Nest
An hour and a half later, the first thousand catties of straw were collected. After loading the cart, Li Xiangyang prepared to take a cartload home.
Before leaving, he called Liu Jianguo into the room to talk:
"Jianguo, here's the remaining 204 yuan. You can keep it. You'll pay for it when people come to sell straw in the next few days. I'll come and pick up a truckload every afternoon. If there aren't many people selling later, you can raise the price to 2 cents per pound."
Li Xiangyang handed the money to Liu Jianguo and said, "You'll help me collect straw in Liujia Village these next few days. I'll pay you 3 yuan a day. You can deduct that from this amount yourself."
"No...no, no need, brother-in-law." Liu Jianguo quickly waved his hand, "I'm just staying home anyway, I'm just helping you collect some straw, I can't accept your money."
"Let's keep things separate." Li Xiangyang disagreed: "This is what we agreed on before. You learn how to do business with me for a day, and I'll pay you a day's wages."
Since Li Xiangyang had said so, Liu Jianguo didn't refuse anymore. He knew that once Li Xiangyang made a decision, it couldn't be changed.
After explaining the straw collection to Liu Jianguo, Li Xiangyang hurriedly drove home.
Li Xiangdong went to check the traps this morning, and we still don't know how they are.
after an hour,
When Li Xiangyang appeared on the village road pulling a cart full of straw, Old Zhang, a herdsman, saw him and went up to talk to him:
"Xiangyang, are you going to get on that truckload of straw?"
What does "ga da" mean...?
Did he think it was like wood, free, and wanted to ask where it was so he could go and get some himself?
"Sigh, we didn't go to pick it up; we bought it from the farm. The winter hay we stored for the sheep at home has all been eaten."
Li Xiangyang gave a perfunctory reply and left.
He and Li Xiangdong almost got into a fight with Old Zhang's two sons a couple of days ago over an ice hole. Zhang Dayong and Zhang Daqiang probably didn't dare to go home and tell anyone, otherwise Old Zhang wouldn't be too embarrassed to ask them now.
A moment later,
The carriage arrived at the pasture. From afar, Zhao Lijuan, who was feeding the sheep hay, saw Li Xiangyang and walked over.
"Xiangyang, you're back!" Zhao Lijuan said, opening the fence gate. "You brought back this truckload of straw so quickly. Your efficiency is impressive."
"The people of Liujia Village are very proactive. As soon as they heard that I was collecting straw, they all brought over their surplus straw to sell."
Li Xiangyang drove the carriage to the area where hay was piled up and began unloading the straw bundle by bundle.
"By the way, where's my brother? Did he find anything when he went to the place where he was setting off the wire snares this morning?"
"Sigh, well... you should just go ask him yourself." Zhao Lijuan's face was a little pale. "He went to Zhahar Lake early this afternoon."
Could it be that they didn't even manage to catch a single rabbit...?
Li Xiangyang pursed his lips, a bad feeling creeping into his heart.
A thousand pounds of straw isn't actually that much; with two people working together, they unloaded it all in no time.
Zhao Lijuan helped pull the carriage back and secure it, while Li Xiangyang rested briefly in the mud-brick house next to the sheepfold, preparing to go directly to Li Xiangdong to ask about the situation later.
"Sister-in-law, I'm going to find my brother. You can go back after you're done, it's cold outside." Li Xiangyang called out to the stable and left.
By the time Zhao Lijuan chased after him from the horse enclosure, Li Xiangyang was already quite far away.
"Sigh, this Xiangyang... doesn't he even go home to rest and warm up before going out? He's bound to make himself sick!"
Zhao Lijuan sighed and complained.
It was simply out of concern for my family.
Li Xiangyang was in a hurry, so he took big steps and soon arrived at Zhahar Lake and found Li Xiangdong.
To his surprise, Li Xiangdong was the only one fishing on the lake today: "Brother, where is everyone else? Have they all caught enough?"
"It's too cold," Li Xiangdong said as he picked up the fish from the ground and put them into a sack. "Many people come for a day or two and then don't want to come anymore. They've probably caught enough."
"Indeed, if they don't catch them to sell, twenty catties of fish per household is enough for them to eat." Li Xiangyang squatted down to help pack the fish into sacks, jokingly saying:
"This awful weather, it would be so much more comfortable to stay home. It's only because I love to make a fuss that my brother has to come and suffer in this freezing weather."
"Haha." Li Xiangdong laughed upon hearing this. "Others may want to make a fuss, but without the skills, they can't get anything done."
The fact that the two Li brothers hauled fish to sell every day was an open secret within the team.
Of course, there were also those who were envious, but Li Xiangqian was caught on his first day selling fish, so they could only remain envious.
"By the way, brother, what was the situation when you went to check on the wire mesh this morning? From what my sister-in-law said, it didn't seem too good?"
"Ugh, don't even mention it!" Upon hearing this, Li Xiangdong was so angry that he threw the fish on the ground and said somewhat aggrievedly, "The wire snare caught five rabbits."
"Isn't that great?"
"Xiangyang, let me finish. You caught five rabbits in that wire snare, but by the time I got there, three of them had already been eaten, leaving only their entrails."
"Ah! This..." Li Xiangyang fell silent after hearing this.
I lost 5 yuan.
"It must be because the bloodstains from yesterday weren't cleaned up, which attracted other predators," Li Xiangyang said, standing up. "I'll move the wire snares to another spot; we can't keep setting them there for now."
…………
Setting the wire snare is a bit tricky; you need to find a good location for the trap and secure it. Retrieving the wire snare is much simpler; you just need to pull it out.
Li Xiangyang spent more than twenty minutes collecting all 50-odd sets of wire snares. He rubbed the ones with bloodstains with snow, and took the ones that couldn't be cleaned properly home to wash.
"These can't be used anymore, otherwise even if we catch prey, it'll just be doing someone else a favor," Li Xiangyang muttered, staring at the wire snares covered in dried blood.
After changing the sack, he went to find the next suitable place to set the trap.
Fortunately, sunny, gentle slopes with large patches of grass are not hard to find here; they can be found with a little effort.
Having learned from his previous experience, Li Xiangyang used even less time this time, completing the remaining forty-odd wire snares in less than an hour.
I packed my things and got ready to go home.
It was already past three in the afternoon, and the sky was visibly darkening.
"I'm out in the middle of nowhere without a gun. All sorts of monsters and demons will come out at night. It's not safe. I need to hurry home."
Li Xiangyang muttered something to himself and hurried home.
Along the way, his eyes darted around, cautiously observing his surroundings.
He didn't want to become some wild beast's midnight snack.
but,
The vegetation here is noticeably more lush than where he set the barbed wire snare last time, with the weeds on both sides of the road growing taller than his knees.
A cold wind swept by, rustling and sending chills down one's spine.
suddenly,
A strong wind suddenly blew in from somewhere, causing the withered grass on both sides to shake violently.
There was a "flutter" from the haystack, and a pheasant, startled, scurried out.
Startled, Li Xiangyang fell to the ground, then lunged forward again.
By sheer accident, he managed to pin him down.
"Wow, this works." Watching the pheasant's warm body struggle desperately in my hand, its feathers getting all over my hands.
Li Xiangyang smiled.