Chapter 205 Sudden News
After warming up in the house for a while, the two men took the grain and bean dregs to feed the livestock.
Lin Heng fed the last bit of bean dregs to the female musk deer, and brought back a bundle of half-dried twigs. Although the wood was not completely dry, it was no problem to use it for burning.
There were a lot of lotus roots washed by Xiulan in the kitchen, and the lotus root powder he made yesterday had also settled. It only needed to be dried before drinking.
The taste of lotus root powder is better than that of kudzu root powder, and the effects of drinking it are also different.
Xiulan started to cook. Lin Heng glanced at the snowflakes still floating outside, went to the back mountain and got two pieces of half-dried maple wood with a diameter of 30 cm and brought them into the house.
Seeing him bring back the wood, Xiulan, who was cooking in the kitchen, asked curiously, "What are you going to do?"
Lin Heng smiled and said, "I guess I can't go out today, so I'll just make a wooden horse for Xiaoxia to play with."
This thing is simple to make, and he can easily make it without a blueprint.
Hearing this, Xiulan smiled slightly: "Just spoil her."
Lin Heng placed the wood on the 'horse's foot' and peeled off the bark with a knife, revealing the yellowish wood inside.
After peeling the bark, Xiulan had almost finished cooking. Lin Heng went to wake Xiaoxia up, helped her dress and wash, and then the family of three had breakfast together.
The breakfast was a simple sauerkraut sliced noodles, but it tasted good. After eating, the snow outside did not stop, so Lin Heng prepared to continue his work.
He ran to his father to borrow carpentry tools. Seeing his father and eldest brother taking a chain saw and an axe and preparing to go up the mountain, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "Dad, eldest brother, what are you going to do?"
Lin Yue smiled and responded: "Go make charcoal. Even if you don't sell it, you can use it at home."
Father Lin also nodded: "Yes, there is nothing to do these days anyway, and the previous charcoal kiln has not collapsed, so we can use it directly."
"You guys really can't take a break."
When Lin Heng saw his mother, it was obvious that they also wanted to go to the mountain to burn charcoal.
In these days, villagers here would burn charcoal every winter, not only for their own use, but also for selling, which was considered a source of income.
Every morning you can see thick white smoke coming out of some hilltops. That is the smoke from the charcoal kilns.
The Lin family is wealthy now, so there is no need to burn charcoal, but it is obvious that Lin's father and eldest brother are people who cannot sit still.
"What are you doing here?" Lin's father asked. He knew that Lin Heng couldn't have come here to go up the mountain with them.
Lin Heng looked at his father and said, "When you go up the mountain, help me cut a few pieces of wood, and then lend me the wood chisel and wood pusher."
Lin Heng told Xiaoxia everything about how he made a Trojan horse.
"All right then."
Lin's father did not refuse. He turned around and got tools for Lin Heng. He then took a chainsaw and cut a few boards for Lin Heng. Then he took his eldest son Lin Yue and his wife Lu Hongmei up the mountain.
Lin Heng didn't join them as he was not interested in such heavy snow.
After lighting a charcoal fire, Xiulan watched Xiaoxia and knitted a sweater for her. Xiaoxia played with her toys, Xiongba and Jinbao.
Jinbao is now a size larger than the average tabby cat, with golden-red fur. He is about the same size as Xiaoxia as he sits there, looking like a mountain cat.
But it was too lazy. Apart from playing with Xiaoxia, it just dozed off and slept. It was only active at mealtimes.
Jinbao has a good personality. Although his nails are not cut, he never extends his claws when playing with Xiaoxia. If he gets teased, he will hold her little hand in his mouth without any intention of biting it.
It always looks very cold towards Lin Heng, and will only come over and rub against him when Lin Heng brings food.
He is very obedient to Xiulan. Sometimes he would sleep on her legs and let her stroke him. Occasionally, when he was in a good mood, he would catch a mouse to show off his skills.
Lin Heng lowered his head and worked on his carpentry work, occasionally speaking to Xiulan.
He used a wooden clipper to smooth the board that his father had cut, then used fixed-point circles to make two single-row guide rails, and made some cross bars. He spent a whole morning making the arc base and horse legs of the wooden horse.
Originally, the body of the wooden horse could be made of a simple wooden board, but Lin Heng felt that this would not show his skills well, so he decided to use a piece of maple wood to carve a horse body and head similar to the real one.
The snow fell less at noon, and it didn't snow much in the afternoon, but the weather was much colder. The winters in this era were much colder than those in later generations.
In the blink of an eye it was already past five o'clock and it was getting dark. Lin Heng felt a little embarrassed as he looked at the wooden horse that he had spent a whole day carving and had just taken some shape.
But since things had already gotten this far, he had no choice but to continue. While Xiulan went to make dinner, he continued carving the wooden horse.
After dinner, he went to his father's place to get some carpentry tools and asked about their situation.
I learned that Father Lin and his team had sawed down nearly a thousand oak trees today, and they would prepare to make charcoal tomorrow if the snow was not heavy.
Father Lin said with emotion: "In fact, it was because of the chainsaw that I wanted to make charcoal. This thing is so fast that it can finish the work that used to take ten days in one day."
It takes him two or three minutes to chop down a tree, but with a chainsaw it only takes five seconds. The efficiency is much higher. The charcoal burning work, which was originally very tiring, has become very easy and simple with a chainsaw.
"Then you guys burn it slowly."
Lin Heng smiled slightly, he knew that his father was a person who could not sit still.
After chatting for a few minutes, he went back home and continued making the wooden horse. He only stopped to tell Xiaoxia a story when she wanted to take a break.
After going to bed, Xiulan rested close to him as usual. The two of them cuddled for a while and then slowly fell asleep.
The next morning, there was no more snow, but it was white outside. There was more than ten centimeters of snow accumulated on the ground, obviously it had snowed all night last night.
In the early morning when it snows, everything is quiet, even the chirping sparrows are nowhere to be seen. Exercising with Xiulan in the snow feels like dancing together, as if every move is in harmony with each other.
After the exercise, Xiulan went to cook as usual, while Lin Heng continued to carve his wooden horse.
After half a day's hard work yesterday, the general outline has now emerged. It doesn't look beautiful, and it even looks a bit ugly, but at least it looks like a horse.
There was no way. This was Lin Heng’s first time, and it was unrealistic to expect him to do it as well as the master sculptor.
"Dad~"
Lin Heng was carving when he saw Xiaoxia rubbing her eyes and running out of the bedroom in her pajamas.
"Why aren't you wearing any clothes?"
Lin Heng quickly carried her back to the house, fearing that she would catch a cold.
"I wet the bed Daddy!"
Xiaoxia said a little fearfully in Lin Heng's arms.
Lin Heng touched his daughter's pants and found they were wet. He immediately understood why she woke up.
Xiaoxia looked very remorseful, she knew that bedwetting was very bad.
Lin Heng did not scold her. He smiled and kissed her: "It's okay. Just try not to wet the bed next time. When Xiaoxia stops wetting the bed, she will be a little adult."
Lin Heng didn't want to punish her for wetting the bed. He thought Xiaoxia didn't wet the bed because she didn't want to, not because she was afraid of being beaten or punished.
When changing Xiaoxia's clothes, Lin Heng told her about the hardships of washing diapers for Xiulan, the benefits of not wetting the bed, etc.
After changing her clothes, Xiaoxia walked to the kitchen by herself, lowered her head and apologized to Xiulan in a baby voice: "I'm sorry, Mom. I won't wet the bed next time."
Xiulan looked at her and smiled brightly: "I believe you."
While Xiulan was cooking, Xiaoxia followed her all the time. After the meal, when Xiulan was washing clothes and quilts, Xiaoxia squatted beside her and wanted to help. Feeling how cold the water was in winter, she seemed to feel even more guilty.
In the afternoon, Lin Heng finally finished the wooden horse. Although it was ugly, it was completely rideable. Lin Heng tried it himself and found no problem at all.
"Xiaoxia, I have something for you."
Lin Heng called Xiaoxia over.
"What is this?"
Xiaoxia opened her eyes wide and looked at the ugly and silly Trojan horse in front of her, and asked curiously.
"This is the horse I made for Xiaoxia. After she rides on it, she won't wet the bed anymore."
Lin Heng said with a smile as he showed it to Xiaoxia.
Then he put Xiaoxia on it. When Xiaoxia grabbed the wooden handle on the horse's head and started shaking it, she soon burst into joyful laughter like a silver bell.
Seeing Xiaoxia having so much fun, Lin Heng couldn't help but smile and turned to look at Xiulan: "How is it, am I doing well?"
"Except for being ugly, everything else is good. It's amazing that it was successful on the first try." Xiulan said with a smile, and her evaluation was very truthful.
These words made Lin Heng grin and he walked over to warm himself by the fire, watching Xiaoxia play the wooden horse.
After resting for a while, Xiulan called Lin Heng to go sweep the snow in the yard outside. She wanted to do this work with Lin Heng, so she didn't sweep the snow today.
"Why not just pile the swept snow into a snowman?"
Lin Heng smiled slightly.
Xiulan looked at him and blinked: "Look at you!"
"Then do it."
Lin Heng used a shovel to shovel the snow and piled it against the wall. Xiulan took a broom and swept the bluestone floor again, revealing the surface.
Lin Heng gathered all the snow together and simply piled up three snowmen, two large and one small, and used branches to make arms and temples.
"How is it? Does it look good?" Lin Heng turned his head and asked with a smile.
Xiulan blinked and smiled: "It's so ugly."
She went over and adjusted it herself, but it was still ugly. However, she insisted to herself: "It's much better looking than before."
Lin Heng laughed and found it interesting.
After watching the snowman for a while, they went back to the house. After dinner, Xiaoxia still wanted to play with the wooden horse. She loved this new toy so much that she didn't play with the tumbler or the car.
The next day, the sun came out and the ice and snow melted, and it was extremely cold. After lunch, Lin Heng went up the mountain to help carry charcoal.
Making charcoal is very simple. Just saw the firewood into short sections and place them vertically in the earthen kiln. After lighting it, it will burn for a day and a night, releasing thick white smoke.
When the thick smoke gradually dissipates, it means that the wood has been burned and turned into charcoal.
There are two ways to make charcoal at this time. One is to seal all the smoke outlets of the earth kiln to isolate oxygen and wait for the charcoal to cool naturally.
But they generally don't use this method here. Instead, they directly take out the red-hot charcoal and bury it in moist soil. It will be completely extinguished in less than an hour or two.
Because they have absorbed moisture, it is more difficult for the charcoal to burn again and it is less likely to cause a fire.
Father Lin looked at Lin Heng and said, "Lin Heng, you can carry this basket of charcoal back for yourself."
"good!"
Lin Heng usually doesn't use charcoal fire, but he didn't refuse. It is still very good for barbecue.
Back in the room, Lin Heng looked at the calendar. Tomorrow is January 10th, the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Lin Heng remembered what Grandpa Gao said and told Xiulan that he would get up early tomorrow morning to go to Huangtan Town.
Xiulan herself has no objection to this.
Lin Heng looked at Xiulan and her daughter, and said with a smile: "I will take you to the street to play on the ninth day of the first lunar month. The street should be very lively as the New Year approaches."
"good."
Xiulan Arrow agreed, she hadn't been out on the street for a long time.
In the evening, the three of them had a simple meal of cabbage boiled with vermicelli and braised pork and then went to rest.
"Knock, knock, knock! Open the door!"
The next morning, at around six o'clock, before dawn, there was a knock on the door.
"What's going on?"
"The voice seems to be Liu Changgen's. Let's go out and take a look!"
Xiulan and Lin Heng were both awakened. Both of them were a little unhappy and could only put on their clothes and go out to take a look.
When they opened the gate of the yard, they saw Liu Changgen, dressed in mourning, standing at the door. They were both shocked at once.
Without waiting for the two to speak, Liu Changgen knelt down and kowtowed three times: "Lin Heng, Chen Xiulan, my grandfather has passed away, please help me!"
Liu Changgen is Liu Lan’s husband, and his grandfather is Liu Sanye, who often smokes under the ginkgo tree in the village.
"Master Liu is gone?"
Lin Heng was stunned and a little bit unbelieving. He seemed to have been very healthy when he saw this old man a few days ago. How come he passed away suddenly?
Liu Changgen had a haggard look on his face: "He suddenly started vomiting in the middle of the night, and finally stopped at around five o'clock. He said he wanted to drink sweet wine, so we got him a bowl of sweet wine. He took a sip and suddenly passed away."
Liu Changgen had not been very kind to his grandfather in the past, so he felt lost when the old man passed away suddenly.
After understanding the situation, Lin Heng nodded and said, "I'll come over to help later."
As the saying goes, red lions will not come unless invited, and funerals will come without being invited. No one in the village will refuse to do such a thing.
"Thank you very much." Liu Changgen said, and turned to invite people from other families.
"It's really unpredictable."
After the people left, Lin Heng sighed and felt that humans were too insignificant.
Xiulan held Lin Heng's hand, looked at him and asked, "Should we both go and help?"
"One person is enough. There are so many people in the village that there is no shortage of people. Let me go and help, and you can bring Xiaoxia with you to give a gift."
Lin Heng looked at her and said.
Now he was just inviting people, and the real business should be done tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. There was no need to rush, and it would not delay his trip to town.
"Okay." Xiulan nodded.
After discussing it, Lin Heng went to tell his parents and eldest brother, and they were also invited.
After some discussion, Lin Heng and his eldest brother decided to help pour the wine, Lin's father would help boil water, and Lin's mother would help wash the vegetables.
Father Lin added: "As for gifts, it's up to you and your elder brother, Lin Heng, to send them. We won't send any."
Although they are divided into three companies now, there will definitely be only two companies in the future.
"Okay." Lin Heng didn't care about it. In those days, people in rural areas gave grain or sugar as gifts. It was not until the 1990s that people started giving money.
A little food is nothing to the Lin family now.
After finishing, Lin Heng rode his horse to Huangtan Town. He originally wanted to take Caiyun with him, but she said it was too early and wanted to go by herself, so Lin Heng did not force her.
(End of this chapter)
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