Chapter 118: Meeting a Classmate by Chance, Dove Leaf Fairy Tofu
At 11 o'clock in the morning, Lin Heng came out of the Tuanjie Brick Factory, carrying a bag with two thick stacks of one hundred ten-yuan bills in it.
The third set of RMB was still used in 1983, and the largest denomination was ten yuan.
Taking the banknotes, Lin Heng went to the rural credit union in the town and deposited half of the money.
Only after he saved the money and made sure there was no problem did he feel at ease.
After saving the money, Lin Heng immediately went to find the uncle who drove a tractor in the town. When he helped him transport mulberry fungus last time, Lin Heng asked him for his home address.
After coming over and finding the door closed, Lin Heng went to the home of the tractor owner. This family specialized in transportation business in the town and had two tractors.
When Lin Heng asked, he found out that both tractors had gone out to transport goods, but one of them came back soon.
"How is the price calculated?" Lin Heng asked.
"A round trip within ten kilometers is two yuan, and a round trip within twenty kilometers is three yuan. Or you can book a whole day, which is ten yuan a day, and the fuel cost is extra." The tractor owner looked at Lin Heng and said.
Lin Heng sighed that it was so expensive, but there were only a few tractors in the town and it was a monopoly business, so he couldn't find any other tractors.
But if you think about it carefully, a tractor can pull at least 2,000 kilograms of things at a time, and 4,000 to 5,000 kilograms on a flat road, so its carrying capacity is indeed strong.
"Can I rent it for half a day?" Lin Heng asked.
"Sure, five dollars, and you pay for the gas yourself," said the boss.
Lin Heng: "Then I'll rent it for half a day."
"Pay first, and you can take it away when the tractor comes back." The boss said, turning the pen.
After taking out five dollars and paying, Lin Heng held the receipt and drank water while waiting.
He waited until one o'clock before the tractor came back. It was not the uncle who pulled the mulberry yellow for him that day, but another young man who was about his age.
After taking a closer look, Lin Heng couldn't help but say, "Wang Zhou, it's you."
"Lin Heng, why are you here!" The greasy-haired young man sitting on the tractor jumped down with a look of surprise on his face.
"I'm here to rent a tractor." Lin Heng said with a smile.
This young man with a 3:7 split hair and thick eyebrows was his junior high school classmate, and he was the type that got along well with him.
Unlike Lin Heng who quit school and went out for a walk, Wang Zhou studied hard, but his grades were still average, even worse than Lin Heng's, so his family stopped letting him continue to junior high school after one year.
They didn't have much interaction in their previous life. Lin Heng only remembered that this person was very down-to-earth and hardworking, and was willing to do any hard work as long as he could earn money.
One thing that Lin Heng remembers most vividly is that when he was in his forties, his wife revealed that their son was not his biological son, and then she ran away with her mistress, taking his hard-earned money.
He didn't know what happened in between, but later I heard that he went out to make a living by carrying cement.
Later I heard that he died in his fifties. It was said that when he died, his body was full of signs of corrosion from carrying cement for a long time.
"Why do you rent a tractor? It's so expensive." Wang Zhou was a little unbelievable. He remembered that Lin Heng's family was not rich either, so how could he have money to rent a tractor? Has there been such a big change after not seeing him for a few years?
"I'm going to buy some things, so I need a tractor." Lin Heng shook his hand and said with a smile.
Wang Zhou’s eyes are now full of hope. He is smart and hardworking, which makes it difficult for him to associate him with the man who lived a miserable half-life in his memory.
Perhaps this is the tragedy brought about by meeting the wrong person, Lin Heng sighed in his heart.
"Then wait for me, I'm going to have a meal, and then I'll drive the tractor for you." Wang Zhou said with a smile.
"By the way, have you eaten?" Wang Zhou asked again.
"I've eaten. I bought some food. You should eat it quickly." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Wang Zhou has meals provided when he works here. His lunch consists of three cornmeal steamed buns and a bowl of sauerkraut soup, which is pretty good.
After dinner, he asked the main owner, then started the tractor and took Lin Heng out.
"Where are you going?" Wang Zhou asked with a smile after getting on the tractor. He was very curious about this junior high school classmate who was rich enough to spend five dollars to buy a tractor for half a day.
"Let's go to the purchasing station in Dahe Town. You know the way, right?" Lin Heng asked with a smile.
"I know. I've been there several times." Wang Zhou said with a smile, his words full of energy.
On the way, the two chatted, and Lin Heng learned that this was Wang Zhou's fourth job since he dropped out of school, and his monthly salary was 16 yuan, which included food and accommodation.
He is three years older than Lin Heng, 24 years old this year, and still hasn't married.
The main reason is that he is afraid of talking to women. Once he sees a woman, he can't say a word. Naturally, no woman likes him.
In the countryside, if you are not married at the age of 22, you will be laughed at. When we chatted, he seemed very anxious to find a wife.
When he learned that Lin Heng was going to buy Coriolus versicolor, his eyes widened: "Ah, you are going to buy Coriolus versicolor? Could it be that the big fool Uncle Li mentioned who bought a thousand kilograms of Coriolus versicolor back home from the town is you?"
"Haha, that's probably me." Lin Heng laughed.
"If you can buy 1,000 kilograms of Coriolus versicolor, you must be very rich. Why take this risk? Coriolus versicolor has fallen to the bottom in price now."
Wang Zhou didn't understand. If he had as much money as Lin Heng, he would never do such a stupid thing.
"Because I have seen through the future development, Coriolus fungus will inevitably usher in a big price increase." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Wang Zhou didn't believe it, he thought Lin Heng was crazy.
Lin Heng patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "When I make money from selling Coriolus fungi, are you interested in working for me?
I'll give you 20 yuan a month, and there will be rewards if you do a good job."
Wang Zhou's heart was moved by these words, but he quickly shook his head: "This owner treats me very well. Even if I want to change jobs, I have to wait until they find someone to take over before I leave."
Moreover, he felt that Lin Heng would most likely lose money.
"Don't worry, if you are willing to work for me, I will find you a wife in our village." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Hearing this, Wang Zhou's eyes lit up and he nodded, "Then if you make money, I can go work for you."
Lin Heng smiled. It seemed that he was very eager to find a wife.
After talking and laughing for more than an hour, the two arrived at the center of Dahe Town.
The tractor parked on the roadside attracted a lot of attention.
Lin Heng came to the purchasing station here and asked about the price of Coriolus versicolor.
Twenty-five cents, a little better than Liu Qichen in their town.
When Lin Heng asked for 55 cents to buy Coriolus versicolor, there were only 300 kilograms available. He had someone take away the previous batch as its price had just dropped, so these 300 kilograms were just collected.
Lin Heng had no choice but to buy the 300 kilograms of Coriolus polyphylla at the price of 56 cents, spending a total of 168 yuan.
"Let's go to another town." After packing the Coriolus versicolor, Lin Heng said again.
"You are really hard to understand." Wang Zhou shook his head.
"You think I'm crazy." Lin Heng laughed.
"Yes." Wang Zhou nodded.
The two drove the tractor to the neighboring Wushan Town. What made Lin Heng speechless was that they only received more than 400 kilograms of Coriolus versicolor and spent 224 yuan.
Almost everyone chose to sell the Coriolus versicolor as soon as possible, and these were only collected recently.
"Forget it. There's probably no hope if we go any further, and time doesn't permit it." Lin Heng shook his head and let Wang Zhou drive the tractor back.
After returning to the town, he gave Wang Zhou one dollar as an allowance for gas and let him take Sang Huang back to Hongfeng Village.
When the villagers saw that Lin Heng brought back another tractor full of Coriolus fungus, they were all confused.
"Why did he bring back the Cordyceps sinensis again? He is really asking for his life."
"Was there no one in his room to stop him?"
"I guess all the money I earned from hunting is spent on this."
Under the huge ginkgo tree, a group of people shook their heads, not understanding who gave Lin Heng the courage to hoard Coriolus polyphylla so crazily.
"If he hires someone to dig a fish pond tomorrow, will he be able to afford to pay us?" someone started to worry.
"Yes, even though the village party secretary guaranteed it, I'm still a little worried," someone agreed.
"What are you afraid of? He is in this village, how can he run away? Besides, we still have the village party secretary."
Lin Heng has already handed over the matter of hiring workers to dig the fish pond tomorrow to the village party secretary, and the candidates have already been decided.
However, when these people saw that Lin Heng had produced so much Coriolus fungus, they immediately started to worry whether Lin Heng had enough money to pay their wages.
When Lin's father and others found out, they were shocked again. Lin Heng bought Coriolus fungus again. He really didn't save any money at all.
But they all knew that they couldn't persuade him, so they just threw up their hands and let him be.
Xiulan was the only one in the family who knew about this in advance, as Lin Heng told her early in the morning.
"Just leave it there." Lin Heng and Wang Zhou moved all the Coriolus versicolor into the house.
After the move, Lin Heng asked Wang Zhou to drink some water. When he saw Xiulan, he was stunned and secretly shocked that Lin Heng had married such a beautiful wife and had a pretty daughter too.
He began to believe Lin Heng's words about introducing him to a wife. After all, he could marry such a dignified and decent wife.
"Lin Heng, I'm leaving. I have to go back and report to my boss." Wang Zhou said this after taking a sip of water and left. No one could stop him.
After Wang Zhou left, Xiulan asked quietly, "Did the owner of the Tuanjie Brick Factory really spend three thousand yuan to buy your plan?"
"Yes, there is a formula on it on how to make the condition better. I learned it secretly in the city." Lin Heng nodded.
"I can't believe it." Xiulan shook her head. It seemed unreal to her that her husband had sold a piece of paper for three thousand.
"Is it real now?" Lin Heng hugged his wife from behind, heart to heart.
"I feel like you're possessed, but you're the same as before, nothing has changed." Xiulan shook her head.
"In fact, during the time I was out and about, I tried all kinds of things. I didn't just hang out with bad friends. I have a good memory, so I remembered a lot of things and gained a lot of knowledge."
Lin Heng smiled and said that this was the only excuse he could use.
There will definitely be many changes after being reborn, and there is nothing he can do about it. He can't just do nothing to avoid being exposed.
And these irrationalities are just minor issues, nothing compared to the illogical reality. There have been many examples of people turning around and becoming rich overnight.
"I'm just sighing. I still don't know whether you are you or not." Xiulan shook her head.
Lin Heng laughed and made a joke: "Of course, after all, we both know each other's strengths and weaknesses."
The next moment he slapped her, and Xiulan glared at him fiercely and said, "You are always so dishonest."
"Then I can tell you whatever I want. I won't tell anyone else." Lin Heng said with a smile.
He was defenseless against Xiulan because this woman's life centered around him and their children, and she didn't even have a so-called best friend.
The other women in the village traveled in groups of three or four, but Xiulan often went alone, either with Caiyun or Lin's mother.
"Stop it." Xiulan glanced at him. This little man of hers had the sweetest mouth, if nothing else.
"Please help me make the turtledove leaf tofu. The turtledove leaves in the basket were delivered by Liu Ciwen this afternoon. He left them here and ran away without even drinking a sip of water."
Xiulan pointed to a basket of small-leaved turtledove leaves on the table and said.
They also call it fairy leaf here. After blanching it with water and mixing it with wood ash water, it can form beautiful green tofu similar to jelly.
It tastes similar to jelly, but has a special dove leaf fragrance and is cooler in nature.
There are two types of fairy leaves: large leaves and small leaves. The large leaves are bitter, while the small leaves are more delicious.
They are rushed to be picked every summer. Lin Heng has no apples in his own fields, so he can only pick them from the wild.
"This young man is so sensible." Lin Heng smiled helplessly. He has learned how to behave at such a young age. He is not as good as him.
I had a meal in the morning and sent back some gifts in the afternoon.
"So you go and prepare the wood ash water to cool it down, and I'll boil some water."
Xiulan stretched out a slender index finger, gently poked Lin Heng's chest, and said with a blink of her eyes.
In fact, she could have done it by herself a long time ago, but she just wanted to do it with Lin Heng.
But she would never say such little thoughts out loud.
"Okay." Lin Heng turned around and did it.
The wood ash water used to make the turtledove leaf fairy tofu had to be thicker. Lin Heng shoveled some wood ash out of the stove hole, poured in water and stirred it once, then filtered it, added more wood ash and filtered it again, repeated this five times, and he got a basin of cement slurry-like liquid.
Putting it aside to clarify, Lin Heng was about to turn around to help. At this time, Xiaoxia, who was tired of playing the stick throwing game with dog Xiongba, ran into the house and looked at the ash water in the basin curiously.
"Don't touch it, or mom will spank you." Lin Heng warned Xiaoxia, who looked like a little cat.
"Don't touch it!" Xiaoxia immediately covered her little butt with her hands behind her back, and shook her round little head like a rattle.
When Lin Heng went into the house to light the fire, she followed him and stood there curiously. When she saw Lin Heng holding something, she asked, "Dad, what is this?"
"This is firewood, made of oak tree." Lin Heng shook it in front of her, threw it into the stove and lit it.
The fire will start quickly, and once the water in the pot boils, the fire can be extinguished and will not be needed again.
Wash the turtledove leaves, put them into a wooden barrel, and then pour boiling water into them. It should be noted that you cannot pour too much water, otherwise it will not work. Xiulan is very sensible about this.
"Okay, I'll hold the bucket and you can pound it."
Xiulan handed the rolling pin to Lin Heng and said with a smile.
Xiulan found a small stool and sat down, holding the bucket. Lin Heng took a rolling pin and kept pounding the turtledove leaves, crushing them so that the substances inside could precipitate. This process was quite tiring.
“I’m coming too!!”
Xiaoxia ran over with a smile and put her hands on the edge of the bucket.
This made Lin Heng slow down, for fear of touching her hand.
It took more than half an hour, but the turtledove leaves were finally crushed almost completely, and the green paste-like green juice all came out.
"You come next. I'll watch. I'm afraid of the heat." Xiulan smiled playfully and blinked at Lin Heng.
"Okay, I'll listen to whatever my wife says."
Lin Heng grinned, it was a very happy experience to be ordered by his wife.
Xiulan found a large ceramic basin and a cloth bag for filtering tofu. She poured the mixture of crushed turtledove leaves and pulp into the basin and pressed it with her hands to filter out the green pulp without any leaf residue.
Lin Heng soaked his hands in cold water, pressed them twice, and when they were too scalded, he soaked them in cold water again.
Xiulan held the basin for him. At home, she dressed casually, in a camouflage short-sleeved shirt with a large neckline, which was held up high by her figure.
The way Xiulan held the basin made it possible to see the half-hidden spring scenery. Lin Heng couldn't help but take a look. This state was always the most attractive.
Xiulan had already noticed her little man's improper gaze. She pouted slightly, glared at him, and signaled him to do his work well.
"Alright, alright."
It took more than ten minutes, and most of the juice was filtered out.
"There's still a little bit left. Do you want to add some water and run it again?" Lin Heng said with a smile.
Xiulan poked him with her finger and rolled her eyes: "You haven't seen enough, right? It's not like you haven't seen it before, and you're still lecherous."
"Haha, it's only natural for me to look at my wife." Lin Heng held his head high and said proudly, "Besides, my wife is so beautiful, I can never get enough of her."
"You just keep sweet-talking me for a day, huh." Xiulan snorted, feeling happy in her heart.
Which woman doesn't want her husband to be around her all the time?
Xiaoxia opened her eyes wide and watched her parents flirting. She didn't understand it at all, but thought the game seemed interesting, so she stretched out her finger and poked her dad.
"What are you doing!" Lin Heng turned around.
"You keep sweet-talking me all day long, huh!" Xiaoxia snorted and turned her head away.
"Hahaha, I didn't lie to anyone, not Xiaoxia nor my mother." Lin Heng laughed, washed his hands, and touched his daughter's little face.
"Hmph!╯^╰" Xiaoxia pretended to be reserved and refused to let him be touched. After Lin Heng left, she trotted over and hugged his legs.
As soon as Lin Heng turned around, she ran away again and snorted at him.
Lin Heng grabbed her and held her up to tickle her: "Is that wrong?"
"Hmph!" Xiaoxia laughed and hummed softly, finding it very funny.
Lin Heng played with his daughter for a while, but was afraid that she would catch a cold by breathing too much cold air, so he had to put her on the ground.
However, Xiaoxia still enjoys playing this game.
On the other side, Xiulan poured the clarified wood ash water into the turtledove leaf slurry, stirred it evenly and placed it in a cool place to stand.
Wait until tomorrow morning, you can eat the turtledove leaf tofu.
"What are we having for dinner?" Xiulan walked over and asked the father and daughter who were still playing.
"Don't say casually." Xiulan added.
"Then let's eat noodles." Lin Heng said after thinking for a while.
"Okay, let's eat rice." Xiulan nodded.
Lin Heng looked at his wife and smiled, "Are you trying to tease me on purpose?"
"So do you want to eat it or not?" Xiulan blinked and looked at him.
"Eat. I'll eat whatever my wife cooks." Lin Heng nodded.
Xiulan smiled, looked at her husband and said, "Go feed the musk deer and the wild hog badger. I'll cook."
Soon, the meal was ready and Xiulan brought out three bowls of noodles, two large and one small.
"You're having fun with your husband, right?" Lin Heng picked up the noodles and looked at her and smiled.
Xiulan gave a playful smile. It was really fun to tease her husband.
(End of this chapter)
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