Chapter 137: Looking for Wild Delicacies in Autumn
The heavy rain hits the tiles on the roof, making a dull sound, dripping on the leaves, and making a popping sound when it falls into the water...
There is no purpose in watching and listening to the rain, it is mostly for staring blankly and sighing.
Lin Heng thought of a poem and was filled with emotion: "A young man listens to the rain on the singing stage, with red candles dimming the curtains..."
"You recited it very well, recite it again!" Xiulan blinked.
"I can't remember." Lin Heng laughed.
It was quite cold when it rained in autumn. Xiulan held Lin Heng and watched him for a while. Xiaoxia next to them made a sound, and then they got up.
"I'm taking Xiaoxia to cook. You put on your raincoat and go out to get some food for the horses." Xiulan said to Lin Heng.
"Okay." Lin Heng nodded, put on his rain boots, put on a straw raincoat made of brown wool, put on a hat and walked out.
At the gate, Hongzao was lying on the ground and taking a nap. He was quite hygienic and didn't lie down where he had defecated or urinated.
Lin Heng went back to the house, got a shovel, cleaned it up, drove it away, opened the door and went out.
There are no big trees blocking the view in front of his house, and he can see the Shiban River at a glance.
At this time, the Shiban River had turned into an angry yellow dragon. The water level had risen sharply due to a night of heavy rain, and it seemed as if it was about to come ashore.
He first went to the old house to see that Father Lin and Caiyun were processing the fish they caught last night.
Today is Thursday, but it's raining so hard and the river is flooded, so she definitely can't go to school. Because to get to town, she has to cross the Slate River, and there is no bridge now.
Father Lin looked up at him and said, "If you're going to cut grass for the horses, you don't have to go. Your eldest brother cut three big bundles of grass for the cows this morning. You can just take one bundle back to feed them."
"That's good." Lin Heng quickly turned around and ran outside the cowshed to get a bundle of cow grass.
Part of it was thrown to the red dates, and the other part was fed to the musk deer. The little guy is quite comfortable now. He lies in the pen and enjoys this kind of life where food is served to him.
After feeding the animals in the house, Lin Heng ran to his father's side with the tempered steel dagger. His eldest brother also came back wearing a raincoat.
He was holding a small black dog in his hand, and he looked at Lin Heng and said with a smile: "Brother, what do you think of this small black dog? I plan to tie it up behind the house to watch over the pig and chicken pens."
Father Lin looked at the howling puppy and said, "Look at how many whiskers it has. As the saying goes, one dragon, two tigers, three cats, and four rats. Too much grain is not good."
This dog looks to be one month old, with a chubby body and a baby-like voice.
The five black dogs refer to dogs whose hair, head, tail, soles of paws and tongue are all black.
The beard that Lin's father mentioned refers to the several long, hard whiskers on the dog's chin. Rural people believe that the fewer whiskers a dog has, the smarter it is, but there is no basis for this.
"Three Beards, I just met this dog while walking, and it kept following me. After asking, I was told it was a stray dog in the village, so I picked it up." Lin Yue said as he turned the dog over.
"That's not bad." Father Lin nodded.
Lin Yue played with the dog for a while and then took it home.
"Caiyun, I'll kill him and you take out his internal organs."
Lin Heng took out his own tempered steel dagger to help kill the fish. The knife was so sharp that the fish's belly opened with just a slight scratch.
"Okay, second brother!" Caiyun nodded.
With Lin Heng's participation, especially his sharp knife, all the fish were gutted in more than half an hour.
The largest fish here does not exceed three taels, so there is no need to remove the scales and gills.
Lin Heng separated the fish into one basin each for the stream grouper, yellow catfish, and whitebait.
Among them, the stream grouper is the most numerous, followed by the horsemouth and whitebait, and the yellow thorn third.
I took a beam scale to weigh it, and found that the stream grouper was six pounds, the horse's mouth and whitebait together were four pounds, and the yellowtail was two pounds.
"Last night's work was not in vain." Father Lin said with a smile.
"Weigh the eel again." Lin Heng weighed the eel again.
"12 pounds of eels, not bad." Caiyun looked at the scale and said with a smile.
Lin Heng also weighed the super-large eel separately, and it was not three kilograms, but only two and a half kilograms.
The turtle that my eldest brother had weighed one pound and two ounces, that of Lin's father weighed two pounds and five ounces, and his grass turtle weighed only half a pound.
But all in all, it was my first time going down to the river at night this year and the harvest was pretty good.
"How do we divide it?" Caiyun asked curiously.
"You can divide the fish and eels as you like, but whoever catches the turtle owns it." Lin Heng spread his hands.
After a pause, he continued, "I'll take some yellow croaker and river grouper, and you can share the rest. Keep the yellow eel first, and take it when you want to eat it."
As he said this, he found a basin and poured some yellow thornfish and stream grouper into it. It was enough at first, so Father Lin poured him some more.
"Don't pour it anymore. I'm going to take you over to eat again later, Dad." Lin Heng poured some of the food back helplessly.
"We have already had breakfast. I won't go even if you pull me." Father Lin glared at him.
"Caiyun, are you going? Let's go and have some fish soup." Lin Heng asked again.
"Go!" Caiyun was not polite. She took an umbrella and followed Lin Heng to his home.
"Second brother, this is the horse you bought. It's so beautiful." Caiyun walked into the yard, touched the red dates, and added some grass to it.
"Yes, please close the door."
Lin Heng nodded, took the fish and walked into the house, looked at Xiulan and asked, "Wife, is the meal ready?"
"The rice is already in the pot. We can take it out and drain the water right away." Xiulan said, looking up while holding the fire.
"Then scoop up the rice and use the yellow thorn fish to make some soup." Lin Heng handed the fish to Xiulan and said.
"Okay, go pick some coriander and I'll do it." Xiulan nodded.
Lin Heng went out and picked a bunch of coriander in the yard. That’s the good thing about living in the countryside: you can cook as much vegetables as you want.
Just like this coriander, his family planted several square meters of it, but they couldn’t eat it all even if they tried, so they had to feed it to pigs.
Xiaoxia was playing with dolls and cars on the mat in the house, while Jinbao was watching her and chasing them from time to time.
As soon as Caiyun finished watching, she was pestered by Xiaoxia as soon as she entered the house. Lin Heng picked the coriander and washed it. He did not remove the roots because he thought it would taste better with the roots.
Xiulan scooped up the rice, put oil in the pot, put the yellow catfish and ginger in and fried them for a while, then added boiling water and a pot of milky white fish soup was soon ready. She put the coriander in and blanch it, then added salt and pepper to season and it was done.
"Let's eat!" Xiulan said with a smile. It was almost nine o'clock and she was already hungry.
"Okay!" Lin Heng helped serve the dishes.
The breakfast dishes were quite rich. In addition to fish soup, there were pickled bamboo shoots, spicy and sour potato shreds, stir-fried meat with sour cowpea, and cold shredded cucumber.
"It's so rich!" Caiyun's eyes lit up. The food prepared by second brother was really delicious.
"Mom can't bear to eat it, there's nothing I can do." Lin Heng spread his hands, this situation couldn't be changed in a short time.
"Then you should eat more." Xiulan looked at Caiyun and said with a smile.
Yellowtail catfish, like catfish, has no bones and is all meat except the spine. Lin Heng picked up one for Xiaoxia and she ate it slowly.
"tasty!"
Xiaoxia puffed out her cheeks. Her favorite foods were catfish and yellowtail, and she also liked mullet (Qinling salmon).
All the dishes on the table were good side dishes. Lin Heng ate two large bowls of rice and drank a bowl of fish soup. The fish soup contained whole coriander and tasted very good.
But it's a little hard to chew, so you have to eat it whole.
I eat very slowly, mainly because there is nothing to do even after eating, so I just chew slowly and enjoy life.
It rained non-stop. It was still raining heavily when Lin Heng fed Xiongba after dinner. Xiongba's doghouse was flooded, so he simply abandoned the doghouse and ran under the eaves to eat.
Xiulan cleaned up the dishes and took out her needle and thread to stitch the soles of her shoes. Caiyun took a book and told Xiaoxia a story.
Lin Heng is thinking of getting a fireplace for his home. It will still be very cold in winter. The temperature here is minus ten degrees Celsius and there is no heating. People have to rely on the fire to keep warm.
Of course there was a fire room in the house, right next to the west of their master bedroom, but it couldn't warm the master bedroom, so he thought of building a fireplace for the master bedroom.
But it's just a thought, and I haven't thought about taking action yet.
After reading "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" for a while, Lin Heng flipped through "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". There was really nothing to do on this rainy day.
By the afternoon, the rain had become a little lighter, from heavy rain to light rain. Lin Heng went out to pick some horse grass for Hongzao and also made a bowl of thinner corn paste to feed it.
The rest of the time was spent boredly watching the rain, taking care of my daughter, chatting with Xiulan, etc.
It wasn't until the evening that the rain finally stopped.
"Today is September 21st. There should be Matsutake and broom mushrooms (coral mushrooms) already. Let's look for them carefully tomorrow." Lin Heng said while looking outside.
"I know a place where there are broom mushrooms every year. I'll take you there tomorrow, and we'll bring Xiongba with us as well." Xiulan nodded.
"Okay." Lin Heng nodded.
The next morning, the rain stopped. The sky was cloudless and blue, and the golden morning sun was exceptionally bright.
Early in the morning, Lin's mother knocked on the door and said, "I'm going to herd the cattle. Do you want me to herd the horses for you as well?"
"Mom, where are you grazing the cattle?" Lin Heng asked curiously.
"Right in front of the door, in and outside the fields." said Lin's mother.
Lin Heng immediately smiled and said, "Mom, why don't you take Xiaoxia with you? Xiulan and I want to go to the mountains to pick mushrooms."
"I knew it was no good." Mother Lin rolled her eyes and continued, "Of course I can, but I'm afraid he'll stick to you guys and won't let me take him with me."
"That's okay, just take two bags of shrimp crackers." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Mother Lin nodded and agreed: "Okay, hurry up."
Lin Heng came into the room and said something to Xiulan, and the two of them woke up Xiaoxia and brought two bags of shrimp crackers to their mother.
Lin Heng helped drive the cattle, horses and sheep outside the fields to graze.
"Dad!" Xiaoxia saw Lin Heng was about to leave and wanted to chase him.
"I'll be back soon, you eat first." Lin Heng coaxed her.
When Xiaoxia saw that it was her favorite shrimp crackers, she hesitated for a second and nodded.
When Lin Heng returned home, Xiulan had already prepared breakfast. After they finished eating, the two of them carried Xiongba up the mountain with a backpack.
The two walked along the hillside behind the door for a distance, and Xiulan said, "It is in this forest that I can pick up a lot of broom mushrooms every September and October."
"I've seen one." Lin Heng said, and walked a few steps to the left front, and saw an orange-yellow broom mushroom, the size of a palm, and it would weigh more than half a pound after being picked.
This broom mushroom is the kind that has just grown. The fully grown broom mushroom is really like coral, a large clump of uneven heights, and each mushroom weighs more than one kilogram, but it is not delicious.
It’s best if it’s the size of a fist, with only the main trunk and not many coral branches growing out.
"I saw several too!" Xiulan also picked them up happily.
The orange-yellow color of the broom mushrooms is very conspicuous in this forest. Except for the very small ones that are still under the leaves, the others can be seen at a glance. Xiongba is not as fast as people at this time because he is short and his vision is blocked.
However, if you can't find the mushroom nest, you may not find a single mushroom all day long, because this thing grows in groups.
After picking up the mushrooms, the two poured them together. Looking at the half-filled bag of broom mushrooms, Lin Heng smiled happily: "We have picked up more than twenty kilograms in this moment."
The purchase price of coral fungi is not high, but they taste delicious when fried fresh.
"Do you know other nests of broom mushrooms?" Lin Heng looked at his wife.
"I don't know." Xiulan shook her head.
"Then let's go directly to the pine forest to look for matsutake truffles." Lin Heng suggested. The prices of these two kinds of mushrooms are very high.
Dried Matsutake costs ten yuan per pound, while black truffles are more expensive, with fresh ones costing ten yuan per pound, ten pounds of dried ones costing one hundred yuan per pound, which is extremely expensive.
After all, it is one of the three major delicacies in the world, along with foie gras and caviar, and its price has always been very expensive.
At least the matsutake has a small head sticking out of the ground, but the black truffle is completely buried in the soil, and you can only find it by luck and smell.
Xiulan reached out and pulled Lin Heng up a stone step, nodding: "Okay!"
In the pine forest, Xiongba can make good use of his sharp nose.
The two men walked towards the pine forest and it took them half an hour to reach a pine forest.
"Xiongba, it's up to you!" Lin Heng touched its head.
“Ouch!”
Xiongba started searching with his nose close to the ground.
Lin Heng and Xiulan followed it while picking up some pine milk mushrooms. There were not many pine milk mushrooms in this pine forest, and you could only see one or two after walking more than ten meters.
But it had just rained, and the pine milk mushrooms were all very beautiful, some orange-yellow, and some orange-red. The purchase price of this thing is not high, because only fresh ones taste good.
It took me half an hour to walk around the pine forest on this half of the mountain. Not only did I not find any matsutake mushrooms and black truffles, I only picked up less than a pound of pine lactarius.
"Go to a taller forest."
Lin Heng was not discouraged. He took his wife and Xiongba and continued to move forward. The older the pine forest, the greater the hope.
Without the child, they were still moving very fast. They climbed over the ridge and came to a pine forest. The pine trees in this forest were much taller, and each was so thick that it took two people to hug it.
"No way, we didn't find any pine milk mushrooms?"
Halfway through the walk, Lin Heng was shocked. The forest looked like it was poisoned and there was not a single mushroom to be seen.
"Then we can only find another forest." Xiulan spread her hands. She knew it was not easy to find Matsutake mushrooms.
Lin Heng nodded: "This is the only way. I won't give up until I find it today."
Although there were not many miscellaneous trees in the pine forest and the path was easy to walk on, the pine needles were too slippery and the two of them slipped from time to time.
After leaving the pine forest and coming to the border with the acorn forest, Xiongba suddenly turned his head and roared: "Woof woof!!"
"Any results?"
Lin Heng ran over excitedly, fell twice but didn't care, he stood up and continued walking.
When he came to where Xiongba was squatting and pulled apart the bamboo leaves, he couldn't help but grin. He turned his head and saw Xiulan and said, "It's Matsutake. Come and dig it up."
"Okay!" Xiulan nodded repeatedly. She had never dug up Matsutake mushrooms by herself before.
Lin Heng pulled away all the leaves and found all the Matsutake mushrooms, and then gave the task of digging Matsutake mushrooms to Xiulan.
"There are so many. There are seven in this piece." Xiulan came over and said in surprise.
Lin Heng smiled and said, "Hurry up and dig them up. I still have three here, and there may be more nearby."
Xiulan nodded, used a small hoe to dig up the soft soil, and pulled out a matsutake mushroom. This was the matsutake mushroom in the best condition and had not yet opened.
"It smells so good!" Xiulan was so happy after smelling it.
After Lin Heng found all the Matsutake mushrooms nearby, he let Xiongba watch his wife dig them, so that she could experience the joy of digging Matsutake mushrooms.
"There are eighteen of them in total, which weighs one kilogram. This is a great place!" Xiulan said with a smile as she looked at the individual matsutake mushrooms in the bag.
"I'll make a mark. You can just come directly next time." Lin Heng smiled slightly, restored the ground to its original state, and cut an X-shaped mark on the pine tree. It will be easy to find it next time.
Then the two of them took Xiongba to search along the edge of the pine forest. Not long after, Xiulan exclaimed, "I have it here."
Lin Heng ran over and looked around, and the two of them dug out a total of eight matsutake mushrooms.
"I'm lucky today." Lin Heng smelled the matsutake mushroom, which had a faint fragrance.
Xiulan said excitedly: "Keep looking!"
After searching this pine forest, the two men looked for another pine forest. Before they knew it, they had climbed two mountains.
This third pine forest is very large, stretching across two mountains. Lin Heng thinks that black truffles might be found there.
“There are so many pine milk mushrooms in this forest!”
Not long after entering the woods, the two saw many orange-yellow pine milk mushrooms scattered among the pine needles, which were extremely beautiful.
Of course they would not let go of the Lactarius mushrooms, so they bent down and started picking them up.
The air in the forest was fresh and the silence was deep, but neither of them had time to appreciate it. Their eyes were all on the pine milk mushrooms on the ground.
“So many!”
Lin Heng looked at his bag. He had only walked a few hundred meters, but he had picked up more than ten or twenty kilograms.
Picking mushrooms is like this. If you come across a mushroom nest with too many mushrooms, you will be annoyed. Lin Heng and Xiulan are very annoyed now.
“Woof woof~~”
Lin Heng was picking mushrooms when he heard Xiongba's call in the distance. He looked up and saw that Xiulan had already passed by, so he did not move and continued to pick pine milk mushrooms.
"It's still Matsutake!" Xiulan said.
"Then you pick them up. I won't go over." Lin Heng is now very eager to unlock the black truffle and is no longer so interested in the matsutake mushroom.
Of course, this is just talk. I will definitely not let it go if I see it.
After picking up a few more pounds of Lactarius mushrooms, Lin Heng discovered that the mushrooms were gone. They disappeared so suddenly.
He looked at the watch. It was already two o'clock in the afternoon. Because they had been looking for mushrooms, neither of them felt very hungry.
They brought some dry food in their backpacks and planned to keep picking up food until the afternoon before returning.
After taking a look at the scattered sunlight from the sky, Lin Heng decided to look for a while and then go meet his wife for dinner.
“Well, there are Lingzhi here too?”
Lin Heng didn't find the Matsutake mushroom, but he saw a red Ganoderma lucidum.
I didn't find much Ganoderma lucidum the whole day today because I had been in the pine forest and didn't have much hope of finding one. I didn't expect to find one here.
This one is not small, about half the size of a palm, bright red, and graceful.
"Hey, there's more than just Ganoderma lucidum here!"
When he got closer, Lin Heng immediately found something different; there was something wrong with the ground.
(End of this chapter)
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