Chapter 86 Xiulan's Day

"Dad, brother, come and have a drink."

When the food was served, Lin Heng picked up the wine glass and spoke first.

"Come, drink!"

Father Lin and others also raised their glasses. Tonight's dishes were sumptuous and it was a good day for drinking.

The whole family had a drink, and even Xiulan and Lin's mother drank some rice wine and tangxi wine.

Grouse meat is tender and delicious, much better than home-raised chickens.

Lin Heng silently picked up some for Xiulan, and then got two boneless pieces to feed his daughter Xiaoxia.

"Dad, don't just stand there and watch. Eat too." Lin Heng picked up a few more pieces for his father.

"Oh, we're eating, you don't need to take it." Father Lin said helplessly, but seeing that Lin Heng had already handed it to him, he had to take it.

The same goes for Lin's mother. She would have to rely on Xiulan or the eldest sister-in-law to pick up some chicken for her, otherwise she would basically not pick up any chicken. The ones who ate the most happily at the table were the eldest brother's three sons.

It was like bandits entering the village, coming one after another and unable to stop. Lin's father and mother didn't eat it mainly because they wanted to give it to their grandson.

Sometimes, Mother Lin would even pass the chicken that Xiulan gave her to her grandson to eat. She felt that the child was growing and needed to eat more meat, so it didn’t matter whether she ate it or not.

The children didn’t understand these things, they just knew to eat. But my eldest nephew Lin Wei, who was five years old, understood a little better. Sometimes when his mother asked him to, he would take the initiative to pick up the food and put it into his grandmother’s mouth.

Although Lin Heng hunts, he doesn't often get any gains, and his family's living standards have declined again in the past few days.

That's why he thought about making money and doing business early. Having a stable source of income is the most important thing. Hunting and mountain climbing rely on luck and it is difficult to rely on it for a long time.

The adults were a little tipsy, and the children ate up all the delicious dishes, leaving nothing behind. The grouse bowl had been turned over and over, leaving no trace of meat, only hot and sour sauce.

Fortunately, they had noodles for dinner, which was good even without any side dishes. Lin Heng and others poured the remaining hot and sour sauce into the bowls, without wasting any oil.

The longer you live in this era, the more you feel the preciousness of material things.

After dinner, Xiaoxia fell asleep in Xiulan's arms.

"Mom and Dad, let's go." Lin Heng said, and went home with Xiulan.

"We originally wanted to catch cicada monkeys tonight, but now we probably can't go," said Xiulan.

Lin Heng smiled and said, "If you want to go, I can go with you."

"Forget it, it will be the same if we go tomorrow night." Xiulan shook her head.

Lin Heng didn't say anything, just smiled evilly.

Noticing the smirk on Lin Heng's face, she suddenly looked embarrassed: "Don't think too much, I'm not thinking about that kind of thing, I'm just worried that you'll be unsafe at night if you get drunk, and you have to get up early tomorrow to go to the mountains."

Seeing that Lin Heng was still laughing, Xiulan glared at him and threatened, "If you laugh again, I'll punish you."

As she spoke, she stretched out her hand towards Lin Heng, as if she was really preparing to hit Lin Heng in the lower back.

Lin Heng chuckled and held her hand in his: "Whether you want it or not, I do want it anyway."

Xiulan glared at him and quickly walked to the front, not wanting to talk to such a frivolous person.

Back in the house, Xiulan carried Xiaoxia to the bedroom bed, while Lin Heng took a basin and a towel to take a shower in the backyard.

It's so comfortable to take a cool shower in this hot weather.

"Oh, I must get a swimming pool in the future." Lin Heng said to himself. Thinking of playing in the swimming pool with his wife, a silly smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

I don’t know what Xiulan looks like in a bikini. I’m afraid she would never want to wear one in broad daylight, even at home.

After taking a bath, he brought a basin of water into the house for his wife.

After Lin Heng went to bed, Xiulan simply wiped her body, put on clean clothes and went to bed.

As soon as she got on the bed, Lin Heng couldn't wait to reach out his hand.

“Bang!”

Xiulan slapped his hand away and asked in a puzzled manner, "What for?"

"What do you think can be done?" Lin Heng chuckled.

Xiulan grabbed his hand again: "Stop it, tell me about your experience these two days. The wound on your forehead hasn't healed yet."

"Okay then." Lin Heng didn't force it. He hugged his wife and told her about his experiences over the past two days.

"Forget it, I'll talk about it later."

After a while, Xiulan said helplessly that she couldn't listen even though she was being pressed against by an iron rod.

"Hey, that's good!"

Lin Heng chuckled, turned his wife's head over, and kissed her eagerly.

"Hmm~"

As the saying goes, a short separation is better than a new marriage. Even if it is only two days, for a young couple, it will take a fierce battle to relieve the pain of missing each other.

After releasing their energy, the two snuggled together, their chests against each other's backs, and whispered to each other.

When Xiulan heard that Lin Heng had rescued Old Man Tian from the swamp in the middle of the night, she couldn't help but shrink into his arms: "It's too dangerous. You must be careful when hunting, and pay attention to your own safety when saving people."

"Don't worry, I cherish my life very much. I can't bear to leave you and my daughter." Lin Heng smiled and patted Xiulan on the back.

"Yeah." Xiulan nodded, her tone a little tender: "So what did you do today?"

"I was just picking Dendrobium. The wound on my forehead was caused by an accident." Lin Heng said casually, not wanting to tell his wife that he fell seven or eight meters.

"No, tell me in detail and don't lie to me." But Xiulan also realized that something was wrong.

"It's nothing, really." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"The more you say that, the more wrong it is. Something dangerous must have happened while picking dendrobiums. Did you almost fall down?"

Faint moonlight came in from the window, and Xiulan turned and stared into Lin Heng's eyes.

"It's nothing. We have a rope and nothing happened." Lin Heng said with a smile while hugging his wife.

Xiulan glared at him and said, "I knew it. Don't go to the cliff to pick herbs next time. It's too dangerous."

"No, let go..." Before Lin Heng could finish his words, Xiulan took the initiative to kiss him.

After a deep kiss, Xiulan ended it a little breathlessly. She put her arms around Lin Heng's neck, looked at him and said softly, "You are not allowed to go to collect dendrobiums again, or I will really ignore you."

She was too afraid of losing Lin Heng, and she was particularly worried every time Lin Heng went out. Although the dendrobium was valuable, she hoped that her husband would be safe and sound.

"Okay, I won't pick it anymore." Lin Heng was helpless. Even when his wife used her trump card, he couldn't resist it.

Xiulan was still worried, and whispered, "As long as you don't do such dangerous things again, you can do whatever you want when you go home."

When Lin Heng heard this, he did not show his usual smirk, but instead felt a little heavy.

He hugged Xiulan tightly and assured her, "Don't worry, I don't think it will be easy for me to meet her again."

…

The next morning, Xiulan got up at dawn to prepare food for Lin Heng to eat when he went up the mountain. By the time Lin Heng got up, she had already prepared everything and brought it to the table.

Lin Heng washed his face, sat on the bench and started eating, feeling the deep love.

Xiulan didn't eat it. She took out the dendrobium and ganoderma lucidum picked by Lin Heng and put them in the yard to dry, as well as some common Chinese medicinal herbs such as honeysuckle and houttuynia cordata that she had collected from everywhere in the past two days.

She almost never allowed herself to be idle. When Lin Heng went up the mountain, she would take her daughter to herd sheep and pick herbs and mushrooms near the village.

"I'm leaving!" After finishing his meal and packing up the food made by Xiulan, Lin Heng put the backpack on his back and said.

"Be careful, my daughter and I are waiting for you at home," Xiulan reminded.

"Don't worry." Lin Heng waved his hand and walked out.

“Woof woof~~”

Xiongba called out to Lin Heng twice, indicating that he also wanted to go out with him.

"You should take Xiongba with you. It will be safer and it can provide early warning." Xiulan looked at Xiongba and said again.

Lin Heng glanced at Xiongba. After more than a month of growth, it was no longer the puppy it used to be. Now it was about the same size as a medium-sized dog like a rural yellow dog.

However, it is born extraordinary and can still grow a lot longer, and only when it reaches the size of a large dog can it be considered to have grown into its full size.

"Let's go." Lin Heng thought about it, walked over and untied the dog chain.

“Woof woof!”

Xiongba excitedly pounced on Lin Heng, and after Lin Heng dodged him, he circled around him and took off happily.

It looks mighty and majestic, and runs with great vigor, its two ears erect, mouth slightly open, eyes sharp and bright, with the demeanor of a German Shepherd, which makes it worthy of the name Xiongba.

"Walk!"

After calling out, Lin Heng took it and set off. Xiulan accompanied him all the way to the gate of the yard.

After Lin Heng left, she locked the yard door and took the corn crumbs to the back mountain to feed the chickens. In addition to the corn crumbs, she also pulled some grass from the side to feed the chickens and ducks.

After feeding the chickens and ducks, she led the lamb out and found a place with grass to tie it up temporarily.

After returning to the yard and feeding Lin Heng the fish fry, she took out some honeysuckle vines she had cut yesterday and sat in the pavilion to pick honeysuckle.

After her daughter Xiaoxia woke up, she made some sauerkraut soup and had breakfast with her daughter.

"Let's go herd the lambs!"

After dinner, Xiulan hugged her daughter and said.

"Let the sheep go!" Xiaoxia is no longer afraid of the lambs and can even hold the rope herself.

The mother and daughter pulled the lamb to the wheat field. The wheat had turned yellow, and she had to help harvest the wheat today. Although Lin Heng often did not go to the fields to help, she was there every day and was almost never idle.

"Lin Heng has left?" Seeing Xiulan coming over, Lin's mother asked with a smile.

"Yes, we've gone up the mountain." Xiulan responded with a smile.

After chatting for a few words, the family began to harvest wheat. The eldest sister-in-law's second son Lin Tao helped look after his younger brother Xiaoxia and the sheep, while the adults harvested wheat with sickles.

The Lin family planted a total of eight acres of wheat. They had no modern fertilizers and the seeds were left behind by their family. The yield per acre was less than 400 kilograms.

The grain produced each year is only enough to feed 11 people in my family.

They had a lot of work to do these two days. They had to harvest and thresh all the wheat, which was an extremely tiring job.

After a whole day of cutting wheat, my waist feels like it's not my own.

Four women were harvesting wheat and two men were carrying the load. They harvested two acres of land in one morning.

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When she returned home at noon, Xiulan was carrying a basket of pig grass on her back, which she had threshed while harvesting wheat.

"I'll carry her, you just hold Xiaoxia." Lin's mother snatched the backpack away.

Xiulan smiled slightly: "It's not that heavy, mom."

"It's not that heavy, it's the same for me. I told you to rest, but you carried a basket of pig grass. How can I report to Lin Heng if you are so tired?" Lin's mother said helplessly. Xiulan worked too efficiently and she could not catch up with her.

"No." Xiulan said with a smile.

When she got home, she wanted to help with cooking, but Lin's mother sternly refused and told her to rest.

Xiulan had no choice but to take her daughter to rest in the main room, but she was still working with the wheat stalks while resting.

She peeled off the husks on the wheat stalks and cut them into uniform 20-centimeter lengths to make straw hats.

Wet four wheat stalks in water, press and pick them to weave three-centimeter-wide strips, and then connect the strips with thread to make a very delicate straw hat.

Every year she would use wheat stalks to weave straw hats. In addition to using them at home, she would also sell them for 30 cents each, and they were very popular in the village.

"Xiu Lan, please teach me again. I learned it last year, but I kind of forgot it this year." Sister-in-law Liu Juan came over and said with a smile.

Weaving straw hats is a skill that Xiulan brought from her mother's family. Now everyone in the Lin family has learned it. They not only sell them in the village, but sometimes also go to the market to sell them.

But none of them are as exquisite as Xiulan's. Sister-in-law Liu Juan often forgets and has to ask her for help every year.

"Okay." Xiulan smiled and whispered to her sister-in-law how to weave.

Xiaoxia was standing by, holding a wheat stalk and looking at her mother, ready to hand one to her before she finished using it.

“Crunch!”

The gate of the yard opened and Liu Lan, with pockmarks all over her face, walked in from outside with a smile.

"Xiu Lan, I knew you could definitely weave straw hats. I'm here to reserve two. It's thirty cents, right?" Liu Lan asked with a smile.

Xiulan shook her head: "The price of straw hats in town has risen to 50 cents this year. Mine costs 40 cents. It takes me a long time to weave one."

"Of course. I'll also order two. I'll give you 20 cents as a deposit. Give it to me first when they're done." Liu Lan smiled and handed Xiulan 20 cents.

She was a little disappointed. She originally thought that Xiulan didn't know that the price of the straw hat had increased, so she wanted to come in advance and buy it for 30 cents to get a bargain, but it turned out that people already knew about it.

"Okay, sit down and have a drink of water." Xiulan took the money and said politely.

"No, no, I'm going back." Liu Lan shook her head. She didn't want to stay and eat for free.

Not long after Liu Lan left, other women from the village also arrived one after another. They all wanted to buy from Xiulan at a low price because she didn't know that the price of the straw hat had increased.

In the end, I didn't buy it at a low price, and I had to pay the deposit first.

Xiulan received a deposit of 80 cents before her hat was even finished.

"These people are so shameless, hand-made hats are much more labor-intensive than those made in factories.

Ours is better than the factory ones and a lot bigger. Even if they are 1 cent cheaper, they won’t make any money, but they are still trying to take advantage of us.”

Liu Juan said indignantly.

"I think we should sell it for 50 cents, and people will still buy it on the street." Caiyun said somewhat indignantly.

"We can't help it. The wheat straw we use is not as soft as the ones produced by machines. Forty cents is already good."

Xiulan shook her head and said that she also felt that this was not profitable.

But since she had nothing to do, any money she could earn was good. She couldn't just sit at home and wait for Lin Heng to hunt and support her.

She decided that after Lin Heng taught her how to make soap, she would stop selling straw hats and focus on making soap to sell.

"Sister-in-law Xiulan, how did my second brother trick you into coming here? You can do everything, but he didn't know anything before."

Caiyun looked at Xiulan and asked curiously.

Xiulan smiled and said, "I wasn't deceived. I volunteered."

She was indeed a beauty in their village back then, and had many suitors. The rough men in the village would pass by her house several times a day on the pretext of something, but they were too shy to even say hello.

When Lin Heng saw her selling tofu, he came up to her and chatted with her. When he found out that she was not married, he gave her flowers and recited poems to her.

He was interesting in speaking, cultured, and elegant, so she was deeply attracted to him.

She had actually discovered that Lin Heng was idle before she got married, otherwise she would not have run from Nanping County to their Lushui County.

After getting to know him carefully, she felt that she could change Lin Heng because he just had high aspirations but low skills. He wanted to make a lot of money and didn't want to do farm work to earn small amounts of money. This was not a big problem.

Of course, this also has something to do with the fact that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

She felt that it was okay after getting married. Although Lin Heng always wandered around and didn't work, he never beat her or got drunk. He would come home from time to time and bring her small gifts.

This made her feel that life was not so bad, at most she was just a little tired and a little miserable.

Looking at those men who coaxed and deceived their wives and treated them as treasures before marriage, but beat them and got drunk at every turn after marriage, she felt that she had not married wrongly, because at least this man truly loved her.

Although Lin Heng wanted to make a lot of money every day, he never did, which led to a difficult life for his family.

But fortunately, he finally came to his senses recently. Xiulan felt that he might have realized his own worth and was moved by herself, so she finally decided to start from scratch.

Now, she can proudly say that she did not marry the wrong person, and she is even looking forward to going back to her parents' home with Lin Heng during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In fact, Lin Heng had always wanted to get rich and make his family wealthy in his previous life. At that time, he realized that farming had no future and that he could only make money by going out.

It was only because of high expectations, lack of ability to see one's own capabilities, and excessive arrogance that the final bitter consequences were caused.

But after experiencing hardships and realizing how capable he was, he still accumulated wealth bit by bit and became worth millions.

It's just that the price he paid for it was a bit high.

The main reason is that they don’t have the capital. Kids from rich families can spend money as they please and it doesn’t matter if they lose a few times, but he has no capital and once he loses, he will never recover.

Sometimes it is not a bad thing to dare to make trouble. Many people who become rich are those who dare to make trouble.

"It is my second brother's blessing to marry you, my sister-in-law."

Caiyun looked at her sister-in-law and said helplessly.

"It's time to eat, wipe the table."

Lin's mother shouted in the kitchen.

"I'll be right there." Caiyun said, and quickly stood up.

After lunch, the sun was too strong at noon, so everyone rested in the house. We waited until three o'clock when the sun was not so hot before going up the hill.

After eating, Xiulan continued to weave straw hats without taking a rest.

She could feel Lin Heng's determination to make money and get rich. In the past, he would wander around and daydream, but now that he has learned archery, he is down-to-earth and goes hunting to make money and do business.

She remembered that Lin Heng used to be afraid of heights, but he went to the cliffs to collect Dendrobium.

Naturally, she couldn't rest at home. She had to earn more money so that if her husband lost money selling Coriolus fungus, she would have money to support her family.

"Xiu Lan, go take a rest. Lin Heng has made so much money now. There is no need for you to be so tired."

Liu Juan felt that Xiulan was working too hard and that being her daughter-in-law was very stressful.

"It's okay. I'm not used to taking naps at noon. Sitting is also a way to rest."

Xiulan said with a smile.

"Then how about weave some straw hats by noon?" Although Liu Juan's waist hurt a lot, she decided not to rest.

"Okay." Xiulan nodded. She sat there thinking and daydreaming.

"Sister-in-law Xiulan, what are you thinking about?"

Caiyun helped her mother clean up the dishes, then walked over and patted Xiulan.

"Nothing."

Xiulan blinked.

In fact, she was thinking about Lin Heng. She felt that it was so special to watch the starry sky together that day, and she was thinking of finding an opportunity to watch it with him again next time.

I have revised this chapter again and again, but I'm still not satisfied with it. I'll just post it first and revise it later.

(End of this chapter)