Chapter 173 'Meisha Ji' and the first snow in early winter [6k]
In the following days, Lin Hengxian rebuilt his own fish pond and well.
The process is not difficult. You just need to get the water and fish out temporarily, and then harden the walls around it.
After the inner wall hardened, he still put the stones that were originally piled on the inner wall back. The cement inner wall was still not as beautiful as the one made of stone.
After completion, you won’t be able to see any big changes on the outside, but the inside has been completely transformed. There will be no risk of water seepage, and the house will not be very humid.
The toilets were also treated in the same way. The fermented materials in the toilets were dug out and poured into the ground as fertilizer, and then a large septic tank was built with cement and stones.
He originally wanted to build a toilet in the house, but since there was no toilet reserved in the house and the project was a bit too large, he gave up.
However, he has already repaired the toilet. From now on, after using the toilet, all you have to do is flush it, and you won’t smell any bad smell in the yard.
His original idea was to build a biogas digester, but he gave up because the project was too large.
He then hardened the ground for his parents and eldest brother, and even paved the walkways outside the three courtyards with cement.
Their respective dry toilets have also been covered and paved with cement. Although they have not been rebuilt, it is a great improvement.
This time, the pigpen in the yard of the old house was moved to the back mountain. Most of the original location of the pigpen was paved with cement, and a part of it was turned into a flower bed.
These projects were completed by Lin Heng, his eldest brother, Li Shiwei and Lin Hai. These were all physically demanding jobs and were tiring, but building them for his own family gave him a sense of accomplishment and happiness.
Li Shiwei and Lin Hai were both extremely envious. Sometimes, money may just be a number, but when it is converted into something real it can be shocking.
The two people became more eager to make money, and the frequency of asking Lin Heng related questions increased.
Time passed by unknowingly and it was December 1st in the busyness.
During the days when Lin Heng was hardening the ground, Lin's father and others were living in the wooden house in Hongfeng Mountain or Lin Heng's home. This morning, the cement had been laid for two days and had been completely hardened.
Early in the morning, the whole family gathered in front of the door.
Lin Heng opened the door, looked at his parents and said, "Come in and feel it."
Lin's father and mother nodded, walked into the yard, and felt a little emotional when they stepped on the hardened cement floor. They looked around the yard and then went into the house.
The whole yard is smooth and flat. There is no more bumpy roads and no need to worry about mud everywhere when it rains.
After looking around the house, the two returned to the middle of the yard, smiling, nodding and saying, "That's great, that's great!"
Father Lin patted Lin Heng on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Dad is grateful to you. I never thought that our family would be able to have a cement floor this year."
Mother Lin also nodded: "You are no longer a rebellious son. You have really grown up."
Lin Heng laughed, put his arms around his parents' shoulders and said with a smile: "This is nothing, I just want you to live more comfortably for the time being. After two years, I will build two small Western-style houses for you to live in."
He didn't plan to plaster the exterior walls of his parents' and eldest brother's houses, so this time when he was laying the cement floor, he also plastered the walls of the first floor of his parents' houses with cement, mainly to facilitate their temporary living.
Because in the future he will definitely demolish his parents' house and build a building, which may only take two or three years, so there is no need to renovate the exterior wall.
The same goes for his eldest brother. He estimates that in two years, when his eldest brother makes money like him, he will definitely build a building out of the house.
So there is no need to do any decoration on the exterior wall, as long as it does not leak rain or wind.
He has no plan to demolish his house. He has decided to build his next house on Hongfeng Mountain. He will keep the structure of this mud house and come back to experience life there sometimes.
Therefore, the exterior walls must be smoothed with plaster and cement. He will do these works slowly in the next few days and has not started yet.
Father Lin smiled and shook his head: "It's fine now. You can talk about the small western-style house when you have hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Mother Lin also said: "Yes, it's good like this now. You have already spent a lot of money to get these for us, so don't bother for now."
In the past, the two elders would definitely not believe what Lin Heng said. But now they are only afraid that Lin Heng will spend money recklessly, and they no longer doubt Lin Heng's ability to make money.
"It doesn't cost much, as long as we live comfortably." Lin Heng said with a smile. He felt comfortable living like this.
After saying a few words, Lin's father and mother went to clean up the house. They had been laying the cement floor for the past two days, and the house was in a mess. The furniture and food were all piled upstairs and in Lin Heng's house.
Li Shiwei and others came over to help move and place the items. Many villagers watched from the yard, envious.
Li Caifeng said enviously: "This cement floor is really good. We won't need bamboo mats to dry crops anymore."
Grandpa Liu nodded: "Yes, we don't have to worry about getting muddy on our feet when it rains, and the mice in the house can't dig holes in the ground."
“It’s great to have money!”
Most of them couldn't even afford to build a mud house, let alone one like Lin Heng's family. The envy in their eyes was so tangible.
If they walked into Lin Heng's house, they would be even more impressed that a mud house could be built so beautifully.
Lin Heng helped his parents for a while and then went to his eldest brother's house.
As soon as Lin Heng entered the house, his sister-in-law Liu Juan poured him a cup of water and brought it over, smiling and saying, "The furniture in the house is not tidied up, it's very messy, don't mind it, come to my house for dinner in a couple of days."
She was a woman who could judge the situation very well, and now she was very kind and amiable to both Lin Heng and Xiulan, because she knew very well that her family would still rely on Lin Heng for a long time, whether now or in the future.
With Lin Heng's strong rise in the village, everyone related to him felt the change in other people's attitudes, and they all understood the meaning of the saying "one person's success brings success to everyone around him."
"It's nothing. I came here to help. By the way, please come to my house for dinner later. My parents will be there too." Lin Heng said.
Liu Juan nodded quickly and said with a smile: "Then we won't be polite."
She knew that Lin Heng didn't like being polite, so she agreed immediately. She planned to help Xiulan more in the next few days and get some wild vegetables and pig grass.
There is strength in numbers, and with the help of Li Shiwei, Lin Hai and his uncle Li Baiquan, the furniture and other items were quickly ready.
Xiulan cooked some pickled cabbage noodles and everyone ate in the yard and then went to the construction site. The rest of the work in the house was left to the women to do slowly.
There are about a hundred people over at Hongfeng Mountain, and someone must be watching them, otherwise things will easily get out of control.
Lin Heng handed the workbook to his father and said with a smile: "Dad, I won't go today. Have a good rest. Let's go home early and have a hot pot tonight."
Father Lin knew that Lin Heng had been very busy these days, so he naturally had no objection and nodded, "Just leave it to us."
After Lin's father and others left, they closed the gate of the yard, the wind died down, and the yard suddenly became very quiet.
Xiongba and Jinbao had just finished their meal and were lying on the bluestone, yawning out of boredom. Xiaoxia was touching the dog's ears beside them, causing Xiongba to shake his head from time to time.
Xiulan was sweeping up some small pieces of garbage on the ground with a broom. Lin Heng came over and hugged her slender waist from behind and held her in his arms.
Xiulan turned her head and rolled her eyes: "What are you doing~"
Lin Heng felt his wife's soft and warm body, put his head on her shoulder, and said with a smile: "Nothing, just hug it, can't you?"
Xiulan puffed up her cheeks and said, "Sure, you can sweep the floor later."
"I'll sweep." Lin Heng didn't care. It was so comfortable to hug his wife's waist, and her hair smelled of conditioner.
Holding his wife in his arms, Lin Heng looked at the house. It would be perfect once the earthen walls were whitewashed with plaster.
After letting him hug her for a while, Xiulan said softly, "Now it's all right. Please help clean the yard and we can plant the vegetables."
"Okay then, I'll listen to you." Lin Heng could only agree. In fact, he wanted to hug him for a while longer. His wife's figure was really comfortable to hug.
Xiulan cleaned the yard and Lin Heng went to wash the dishes. He knew that his wife liked to cook but didn't like to wash dishes.
The kitchen is different now than before. Part of the previous earthen stove has been removed, and a stove with a chimney has been rebuilt using cement and bricks.
I also built a cooking table with the remaining bluestone slabs from paving the floor, and made a rectangular water tank to hold water. In addition, water pipes had already been buried in the house, so once electricity was connected, I could buy a water pump and have running water directly.
The same thing happened at my parents' and eldest brother's house, where water pipes were pre-buried. He bought the water pipes when he dug the first and second fish ponds, and they have been stored for a long time.
After his renovation, the kitchen, although not as good as modern kitchens of later generations, was much cleaner and tidier than most rural kitchens.
"Open your mouth!"
Seeing Lin coming out after washing the dishes, Xiulan fed him a peeled orange.
"Come on, let's grow some vegetables together."
She handed the hoe to Lin Heng and took some vegetable seeds herself.
Lin Heng looked at his wife and said, "You can plant whatever you want. Just cover it with plastic film after planting. It will grow fast even in winter."
There is the film that I bought earlier in the house. Then I cut two bamboos and cut them into strips and put them in the ground. Then I cover the surface with the film and it becomes a small greenhouse.
"Okay, then I'll go get some more seeds." Xiulan nodded and went to the counter to get some more seeds.
The two planted radishes, coriander, bok choy, mustard greens, spinach, garlic, onions, peas and other vegetables. Basically, they planted some of the vegetables that did not need to climb and did not take long to mature.
After planting, Lin Heng went to cut down four golden bamboos and cut them into strips to arch up the vegetable field.
While Xiulan was busy with him, she asked, "Did you plan to make the vegetable garden into this long strip?"
Lin Heng nodded: "Of course, this is both beautiful and convenient. I have thought about it a long time ago."
He actually thought about the planning of the small courtyard for a long time, and it was not something he could just change as he thought of it.
Cover it with a film, and soon the transparent film will turn into silver-white due to the evaporated water vapor.
It was already noon when they finished planting the vegetables. Farming is a time-consuming process and half a day had passed before they knew it.
We had a simple lunch and then started preparing the hot pot for dinner.
Lin's mother and sister-in-law Liu Juan came over to help after cleaning up their own house. They pulled a bunch of vegetables from their own vegetable garden.
Lin Heng chopped up the golden chicken he had hunted before, added some leopard bones and soybeans into the pot to make a base soup.
He had already eaten the bamboo chicken and egrets he had hunted before. The bamboo chicken was stir-fried with hot and sour sauce, which was delicious. The egrets were stewed into a soup, and Xiaoxia really liked the stewed egrets.
This golden chicken was deliberately left behind to make soup as a hot pot soup base.
As for meat, there are only bacon and sausage left, as well as dried fish.
Except for some of the leopard meat that was sent to his grandmother and Grandpa Gao in the town, the rest was almost eaten by the whole family, so they kept three pounds of it and made it into jerky for preservation.
There are only a few bones left, and these are the last two today.
Lin Heng didn't go up the mountain to hunt these days, he was busy with household chores.
The only time I went up the mountain was to look for the musk deer that Wang Kaidian mentioned, but I wandered around the mountain for a whole day and couldn't find any trace of it.
After the soup was boiled in the pot, Lin Heng looked at Xiulan who was picking vegetables and said, "Xiulan, watch out for the chicken soup in the house and make sure it doesn't dry up. I'm going to the village to see if anyone has some freshly picked enoki mushrooms so I can buy some."
"There's no need. The dried mushrooms at home are enough." Lin's mother shook her head.
"I want to eat it myself." Lin Heng said with a smile.
After asking someone in the village, he learned that Liu Lan had just picked some enoki mushrooms yesterday morning. When he arrived at her house, Lin Heng found that Tian Baishun was also roasting a fire there.
"Lin Heng, what brings you here?" Seeing Lin Heng, Liu Lan smiled coquettishly, but her face full of pockmarks looked a little scary.
"I heard that you picked some winter mushrooms yesterday. I want to buy some." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Liu Lan smiled and said, "That's no problem. I picked up eight kilograms yesterday and just cleaned them up. Do you want them all?"
Lin Heng nodded to indicate that he wanted both. When Liu Lan went to get the mushrooms, Lin Heng started chatting with Tian Baishun and Liu Sanye.
After chatting for a while, the topic turned to hunting. Tian Baishun wanted to ask him to go hunting in the mountains again. Now that it was winter, he went up the mountain almost every day and said that he had encountered musk deer.
"You also saw musk deer in Ge Teng Gou? When did it happen?" Lin Heng asked curiously. The musk deer that Wang Kaidian had discovered before was also in Ge Teng Gou. It was a ravine covered with kudzu vines. In summer, there were almost no other trees, only kudzu leaves. In winter, there were also many people digging kudzu roots.
He went there and searched for a day but didn't find any trace of the musk deer. Unexpectedly, Old Man Tian found it again.
Tian Baishun took a puff of welding smoke and said, "I found it the day before yesterday. I was on this side of the ditch and it was on the other side, about 700 to 800 meters away. But I can be sure it was a male musk deer. I heard it howling when I walked past it yesterday."
Lin Heng nodded and said, "Then I'll go take a look in the next two days."
He now had a new idea, and named it "Mei Musk Record". Musk deer are very cunning, so he planned to bring the female musk deer at home and tie it under a tree to seduce it.
Set some traps nearby. If it falls for it, catch another one alive to form a pair. Then you don't have to worry about its reproduction in the future.
If he didn't fall into the trap and successfully mated it with a female musk deer in his own home, and the female musk deer borrowed her sperm to give birth to baby musk deer, he would make a lot of money.
He could even ambush the animal after mating, and maybe hunt it down, which would be a huge profit.
The more he thought about this plan, the more satisfied he became. His only worry was that his musk deer might break free from the rope and run away.
But he believes that as long as precautions are taken, it shouldn't be a problem.
Tian Baishun said: "When you go, ask me to come with you, so that I can get some of your luck."
Just as Lin Heng was about to agree, Liu Lan brought the enoki mushrooms and a beam scale: "A total of eight kilograms, take a look."
"No problem." Lin Heng took out four dollars from his pocket and gave it to her.
Although enoki mushrooms are delicious, they are not as valuable as Hericium erinaceus. Fresh ones are only 50 cents per pound.
After taking the mushrooms and saying something to everyone, Lin Heng left.
On the way back, I was still thinking about the feasibility of my plan.
The mushrooms had been picked and he gave them to Xiulan to clean while he went to cut bacon and sausages for hotpot in the evening.
The bacon was cut, and this time he also made the soul of hot pot sesame paste himself, and added a variety of spices such as chopped green onions, minced garlic, soy sauce, chili peppers, etc. Everyone can choose according to their own taste.
At four o'clock, everyone finally got everything done. Lin Heng wiped his hands and said, "I'll go to Red Maple Mountain to call for help."
On the Hongfeng Mountain side, after so many days of excavation, the ten newly dug ponds are about to take shape, and it is estimated that they will be completed in another week.
After these 10 ponds were built, only 4 ponds were left to be dug. Together with the original 2 ponds, there are a total of 16 fish ponds, covering an area of 16 acres.
There is also some construction work on the storage room and indoor breeding room. With the four fish ponds, Lin Heng estimates that it will be completed by January 15th of next year at the latest.
The villagers are all hard-working and there are very few who are dishonest or cunning.
"Everyone, please leave work early today. Come here and sign, and then you can leave. Your salary will remain at 80 cents, and it will not change." Lin Heng glanced at everyone and spoke out.
"Great, thank you Boss Lin!"
"You are such a nice person!"
Everyone was so excited when they heard this, they finished their work and quickly ran over to sign in and leave work.
After everyone left, Lin Heng looked at his father and the others and said, "Let's go quickly, the hot pot is ready in the house."
"Okay, let's try your hot pot today." Father Lin nodded.
Everyone was looking forward to it as none of us had ever had hotpot before.
After going back to the room and washing up briefly, a dozen people in total sat down around the table.
The hot pot had been prepared long ago, bubbling with activity and filled with a variety of dishes. The strong aroma whetted everyone's appetite.
Lin Heng picked up a piece of enoki mushroom with chopsticks and said with a smile: "Eat it directly, it's already cooked."
"good!"
Everyone then started to pick up their dishes and eat. The dipping sauces they used were all prepared by Lin Heng. They were all eating for the first time and had no idea how to make them.
After taking two bites, they all nodded: "Delicious, hot pot is really delicious."
"These mushrooms are so fragrant, and taste better than the ones my mom and grandma make," Lin Wei praised.
He was too honest, so Liu Juan and Lin's mother glared at him, which made everyone laugh.
"It's such a treat." Lin Heng's father, Lin Xutao, shook his head. He never thought that hot pot was so delicious and he didn't quite understand why.
"This is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten." Lin Heng's uncle Li Baiquan said after taking a bite of the boiled bacon. He had enjoyed enough during these days at Lin Heng's house.
Lin Heng laughed: "We've prepared enough dishes today, so everyone can eat as much as they want."
What we drink today is still rice wine, which has a low alcohol content, sweet taste and is very popular.
Drinking wine and eating hot pot, the house was full of laughter.
Children have the worst fighting ability. After eating for a while, they run out to play, somersaults and play hide-and-seek in the yard. When they are hungry, they come back to eat a few more bites.
The women's fighting power was also relatively weak, with the strongest being a group of men. They finished all eight kilograms of enoki mushrooms, and a total of twenty kilograms of vegetables and meat were also eaten up, with very little left.
We had lunch at 4:30 and it was dark at around 6:00. It was really fierce.
This fresh way of eating hot pot has received unanimous praise from everyone.
Lin Heng felt that beer, cola or Sprite was missing, and it would be even better to have a beer while eating hot pot.
After the meal, everyone left with a satisfied look on their faces, and sister-in-law Liu Juan and Caiyun helped to clean up the dishes.
After everyone left, Lin Heng took Xiaoxia for a walk in the yard to help digestion and count the stars.
It is also a kind of enjoyment to have a meal together with a group of relatives and friends. This slow time makes people feel very comfortable.
After being blown by the cold wind for a while, Lin Heng was pulled into the house by Xiulan, for fear that he would catch a cold.
"Eat some hawthorns, they help digestion." Xiulan took a few washed hawthorns and handed them to Lin Heng.
This thing was given to him by his third uncle. There is a big hawthorn tree in his family’s field.
"Okay." Lin Heng ate five of them. They tasted sour and sweet and were very good. He also fed half a pill to Xiaoxia.
Although she only ate some vegetables, Lin Heng was still worried that she would suffer from indigestion.
These days illnesses are difficult to cure, so he attaches great importance to this aspect and believes that prevention is the first priority.
After eating hawthorn, Lin Heng let Xiaoxia play for a while while he went to take a shower.
Hotpot is delicious but it can easily leave a lifelong smell, so you need to wash it thoroughly.
After washing, he went to coax Xiaoxia to sleep.
After he coaxed Xiaoxia to sleep, Xiulan also came out after taking a shower.
"Lie down quickly and warm me up." Xiulan pointed at the quilt and said, chewing a piece of refreshing White Rabbit milk candy in her mouth.
"I have a way to not be cold, but to get even hotter."
Lin Heng chuckled, picked her up and got her into bed.
"oops……"
Xiulan screamed and Lin Heng blocked her mouth, so she tasted the refreshing White Rabbit milk candy.
She also ate a large white wrapper that was too big for one person to hold, and exercised her waist and abdominal muscles for half an hour, which made Xiulan feel the warmth from the 37-degree temperature in this cold winter.
"It's not cold now, is it?" Lin Heng said with a smile as he looked at his wife in his arms.
"Bad guy~"
Xiulan said in a low voice, and her whole body snuggled in Lin Heng's arms, not wanting to deal with him at all, she was so happy.
"Ha ha!"
Lin Heng smiled happily, put on his underwear with Xiulan, and hugged Xiaoxia over, and the three of them slept in each other's arms.
The main reason is that the weather is cold and I’m worried that she won’t be warm enough and will get cold.
But even so, the three of them still felt a little cold at night and huddled together.
The next morning, Lin Heng woke up and opened the window. He wondered if it was snowing.
When I opened the window, a gust of cold wind blew in instantly. When I looked again, I saw that the ground outside was covered with a thin layer of snow, about two or three centimeters thick.
"Xiu Lan, it's really snowing." Lin Heng said with a smile.
The first snow of winter in 1983 came so quietly, but there was no further snowfall. I guess it would melt once the sun came out.
"It's so beautiful." Xiulan looked out the window. The snow scene was so breathtaking.
"Snow!" Xiaoxia also cheered, full of curiosity about the white world.
Lin Heng closed the window, got into bed and said, "I'm going to go to town today to see if the fireplace I asked someone to bring from the city has arrived."
The weather was getting colder and colder, and it was no longer possible to survive the nights without a fireplace.
Sorry, that’s all the 6,000 I have today. I’ll try hard to get 8,000 tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)
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