Chapter 244: Getting up early to milk the cows
Before eating, Lin Heng first took the bathtub to the bedroom and filled it with more than half of water.
Halfway through dinner, Lin Heng went to boil some hot water. By the time he finished his meal, the water was just hot enough to touch his hands. He took off his clothes and submerged his head in the water.
When you can't hold it anymore, come out to take a breath. Repeat this a few times and you will feel your lungs refreshed.
Then he leaned his head against the edge of the barrel, closed his eyes and felt the hot water soaking his body, listening to the whistling wind outside, his daughter's mumbling in the house, and the sound of his wife tidying up the house.
Slowly, the fatigue in my body began to recede, as if diluted by water. This feeling of tranquility also emptied my mind, and I slowly returned to peace.
After soaking for a while, he began to scrub his body, then went to bed wearing his long-sleeved shirt and long trousers.
"Shall I give you a massage?"
Xiulan looked at Lin Heng. Although she was asking, she had already started to take action.
"I'll give dad a massage too."
Xiaoxia climbed onto the bed and massaged Lin Heng's legs like her mother did.
“So comfortable~”
Lin Heng said with a smile, lying on the bed and enjoying it.
After his wife and daughter massaged him for a while, he felt much better and his body was no longer stiff.
Lin Heng got up and went to the main room to look for something. He quickly brought a large bag of things and handed it to Xiulan: "I bought some toiletries for you. They are cheaper there, so I bought a few more at one time."
Xiulan opened it and was stunned: "This is too much. It will take more than a year."
Lin Heng waved his hand: "It's only thirty yuan in total. The more developed the industry is, the cheaper it is. In Taibai City, it costs fifty or sixty yuan."
After that, he patted her hand and said with a smile: "If you want to thank me, just kiss me."
"Let me take a look first." Xiulan blinked and turned the things over one by one. She was not very good at makeup, usually she would just apply moisturizing makeup, lipstick and eyeliner at most, and Tian Yan taught her how to use foundation.
The stuff in here, liquid foundation, vanishing cream, lipstick, etc. are all in two portions, while facial cleanser, shampoo, and shower gel are all in large bottles, and they come in three portions, with different scents.
"Then Xiaoxia, kiss me. I bought you a jumping frog."
Lin Heng took out another green frog, twisted the spring, put it on the bed and jumped up.
“Thank you, Dad!”
Xiaoxia kissed Lin Heng on the face twice and started playing with the frog with a smile.
After Lin Heng taught her twice, she finally learned how to play. She just smiled foolishly as she watched the frogs jump.
In fact, Lin Heng also bought her many small toys such as a ball, a Rubik's Cube, a puzzle, paper cutting, plasticine, etc., but he didn't take them out and would give them to her one by one later.
If she takes it out all at once tonight, she won't be able to sleep.
After looking at the toiletries, Xiulan placed them neatly on her dressing table, then climbed onto the bed and secretly kissed Lin Heng when Xiaoxia wasn't looking.
"It's time to go to bed, Xiaoxia. Let's play tomorrow. The frog also needs a rest." Lin Heng looked at her and said.
"When will the little frog wake up?" Xiaoxia asked curiously.
"When you wake up, it will wake up too." Lin Heng picked up the frog and placed it on the bedside table.
Xiaoxia looked at the frog, held Lin Heng's hand and said, "Then I will sleep with Dad tonight."
"Okay, I'll tell you a story while you sleep." Lin Heng nodded and let her sleep in the middle.
Xiulan turned off the light and habitually rested wearing only her underwear.
Lin Heng told a story for a while and he fell asleep first.
"Shh, go to sleep, your dad is tired."
Xiulan made a gesture to Xiaoxia and whispered in her ear.
"good!"
Xiaoxia looked at Lin Heng who was already asleep, and soon fell asleep leaning against her mother.
Lin Hengyi woke up at dawn and it was just half past six. It was just dawn now. He turned his head and saw Xiaoxia sleeping soundly. Xiulan was also awake, looking at him with tender eyes.
Lin Heng smiled and said, "Do you think I'm handsome, as handsome as Pan An?"
Xiulan chuckled: "It is important for a person to know himself, but it's a pity that you don't have it and you are still conceited."
“Hehe~”
Lin Heng wanted to reach out and teach her a lesson, but he let it go because his daughter was still sleeping.
I got up and tore off the calendar. Today is the 14th day of the first lunar month, which is the 15th day of the second lunar month.
"Let's go collect hay for the cows and squeeze some milk to try." Lin Heng said to Xiulan who had already gotten up.
"good."
She covered Xiaoxia with a quilt and walked out with the kettle.
It was already 7:20 when the two of them finished washing up and exercising. When they opened the back door, the first sound they heard was: "Hiss!!!"
"Damn, you scared me."
Lin Heng and Xiulan were both trembling with fear.
"hiss!!"
Seeing the two of them like this, Hongzao barked again in triumph, as if complaining that Lin Heng had a new love and had forgotten his old love, and had given his stable to the cows to live in.
"It's blaming you!" Xiulan said with a smile.
"You kid!" Lin Heng slapped it. It's just that I let you sleep under the eaves for a night. You won't be frozen.
"hiss!!"
After being hit by Lin Heng, it became even more unhappy. It raised its head high and barked again.
"Okay, okay, I'll give you the stable in a while." Lin Heng was helpless. He still had to take good care of this guy, otherwise it would go haywire when he was riding him one day.
After raising this horse for a long time, it became like a psychic, with emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
The two men first went up to check on the cows, which had also gotten up and were nibbling on the dry corn stalks next to them.
"Let's go cut some wild ryegrass in the field and feed them, and then milk the cows."
Lin Heng said this and walked out with Xiulan, with a sickle and rope in their hands. Xiulan also brought a small basket.
There was nothing to eat in winter, except wild ryegrass, wild buckwheat, barley, and chickweed, which were green. However, Lin Heng also bought some ryegrass, elephant grass, and alfalfa seeds and would find a place to plant them.
"Dad is here early."
Xiulan pointed to the distance and said that Father Lin had already cut a lot of grass.
"Of course, the first meal of the newly bought dairy cow must be fed something good. Today, I also want to try some fresh milk."
Father Lin stood up after hearing the two people's voices and said that it was the first time he had seen a creature like a cow and he felt very distressed.
"No problem. This cow can easily produce more than ten kilograms of milk a day. I will teach you how to milk it later." Lin Heng said with a smile.
As they were talking, the two of them went to cut grass at the edge of the field. Xiulan pulled out chickweed with gloves on, while Lin Heng cut green ryegrass, barley, buckwheat, etc. everywhere.
It’s hard to find in winter, the trees are everywhere.
However, with the three of them working together, they were still quite fast and harvested two large bundles of cow grass in half an hour.
Lin Heng told about his forage grass seeds, and Lin's father said that he would find some corners and edges to plant them in the next two days.
In half an hour, they had harvested two bundles of ryegrass and a basket of chickweed. They carried them back and just as they reached the back hill, red dates started to cry.
"You have really sharp eyes."
Lin Heng shook his head and threw some milk to it. He asked Lin's father Xiulan to feed the cows while he went back to get a bucket to milk the cows.
When he brought the bucket over, he found that his mother and elder brother Caiyun had all come over, and Li Caifeng from next door was also watching.
Dairy cows are very rare in such mountains. Several people pointed at the huge milk-producing organs of the cows and talked about them. They said that they were much bigger than the cattle they raised.
"Mom and Dad, Xiulan, you all have to watch out."
Lin Heng said something and took out a rope to tie the cow's two hind legs together to prevent it from kicking people accidentally.
This cow, which has already produced milk, is very docile, with enlarged udders, and it is obvious that it has a lot of milk.
"Milk milking is very simple. Just milk in pairs. Wash it first and then hold it with your palm from above. Use your thumb and index finger to push it all the way to the bottom. Don't use too much or too little force."
Lin Heng spoke as he started to operate. He kept the liquid squeezed out in the first two times and used a bucket to collect the liquid later.
As Lin Heng continued to exert force with his hands, streams of white milk were squeezed out. After a while, the bottom of the small wooden barrel disappeared and a faint milky aroma wafted around.
The cows lay motionless, eating ryegrass contentedly, having long been accustomed to being milked.
Lin Heng squeezed for a while, looked at his parents and Xiulan and others and said, "Have you learned everything?"
"Let me try." Xiulan walked over and squatted beside Lin Heng. She looked at Lin Heng's gestures and tried to squeeze, but not much milk came out.
"Try a little harder, you're being too gentle." Lin Heng said.
"Okay." Xiulan gradually increased her strength, and soon streams of milk were squeezed out. It was not difficult for people with good hands-on ability.
Xiulan squeezed for a while, and Lin's mother Caiyun, Liu Juan and others also took turns to try, and they all mastered it quickly. Only Lin's father and Lin Yue were not so good, they hurt the cow with too much strength and almost kicked people.
"You worked too hard and used too much force." Father Lin smiled embarrassedly.
"Yeah, it looks simple but I didn't expect there are some tricks involved." Lin Yue also nodded.
"You guys take turns trying once more and today's milk will be almost squeezed out." Lin Heng said as he touched the cow's milk-producing organ.
Holstein cows produce a lot of milk, and they can produce milk when they are pregnant, but not as much as when they give birth to calves.
"Is it enough to feed the cow with grass?" asked Father Lin.
Lin Heng shook his head: "You can't feed too much grass. You have to feed hay, sea cornmeal, wheat bran, bean cakes, etc. You have to feed a little bit every day."
"Is it so complicated? It also requires cornmeal and wheat bran." Lin's mother was curious.
"Of course. If it produces milk every day, it needs to be fed well. But you don't need to feed too much. As long as the grass is of high quality, it won't cost much generally speaking." Lin Heng explained.
"Oh, I see." Several people nodded, and they understood.
Soon the wooden barrel was full. Lin Heng held the milk and looked at his family and Li Caifeng who was still watching him and said, "Come over here, let's taste the fresh milk."
He walked into the house carrying the milk, and Lin's mother and others pulled Li Caifeng into the house.
After entering the house, Lin Heng took out the charcoal that had just been burned before milking from the fireplace and put it into the ceramic stove. He brought it to the main room, put a casserole on it, and poured the squeezed milk into it to cook.
Fresh milk contains a lot of bacteria, so it needs to be boiled at about 60 to 70 degrees.
The milk was ready in two minutes. Lin Heng poured a bowl for everyone and also brought some biscuits.
"Try it and see if you are used to drinking pure milk." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Everyone nodded, picked up the bowl, blew on it and took two sips.
"It's a bit weird." Lin's mother was the one who couldn't get used to drinking it and was ready to put it down.
"Mom, drink a few more sips. No matter how bad this tastes, it's better than Chinese medicine." Lin Heng looked at her and said.
Pure milk doesn’t have much sweetness and it feels strange to drink at first, but after taking a few sips, you can smell the rich milky aroma and the more you drink, the more you want to drink it.
After everyone had drunk half of it, they began to appreciate the charm of pure milk. Xiulan and Caiyun followed Lin Heng's example and soaked some biscuits to eat.
"It tastes good. This pure milk is really good."
Li Caifeng drank a little bit of milk in one gulp and nodded repeatedly. She was envious from the bottom of her heart. Lin Heng's family would be able to drink such delicious milk every day in the future.
"It's really good. This cow is good in every way except that it needs to be fed more." Lin's mother also nodded. After drinking a few more sips, she gradually accepted it.
"It's delicious, so delicious, the best thing I've ever tasted." Caiyun nodded vigorously.
"Then drink some more, there's still plenty." Lin Heng poured some more for everyone.
This cow can only produce more than ten pounds of milk a day. One pound of milk is 500 milliliters. I guess even the eleven people in the room can't finish it.
Lin Heng bought the dairy cow mainly for Xiaoxia and his other children who would be born in the future. If he couldn’t finish the milk himself, he would give it to others and he didn’t plan to sell it.
After drinking this time, everyone said they didn't want any more. Lin Heng estimated that each person drank half a pound at most, so there was still half a bucket left.
"Even if Lin Heng, Xiaoxia and the others drink a little of the rest, they won't be able to finish it." Lin Heng said while looking at the crowd.
"It's okay, keep it and drink it slowly." Lin Yue waved his hand and smiled.
Father Lin pointed to the sapling next to him and asked, "Should we start planting this today?"
Because we had discussed it last year, a lot of land is vacant, so we can do it directly now.
"It's just a question of how to plant this thing. Some lands are good, some are bad, some are far, and some are near." Mother Lin said, looking at the saplings.
Seeing that the Lin family was still discussing these issues, Li Caifeng quickly got up and left, and Xiulan went to see her off.
Lin Heng responded to Lin's mother's question: "I have thought about it. I will plant kiwis and grapes on the relatively flat land near the river, and plant apple trees on the slopes."
"Kiwifruit and grapes cannot be exposed to the sun during the ripening period, and bird-proof nets need to be laid. It is easier to operate on flat ground." After saying this, he explained further.
"Okay, let's go planting after breakfast." Lin's mother nodded.
Lin Yue took out an IOU and handed it to Lin Heng, saying with a smile, "Brother, this is the IOU I wrote yesterday. The 500 yuan for the saplings plus the 100 yuan you asked me to support you in buying a hunting rifle, a total of 600 yuan. I will pay you back within five years, and I won't pay the interest."
After he finished speaking, he handed the IOU to Xiulan. Although he and Lin Heng were blood brothers, they were both married after all, so he had to consider each other's wives' thoughts.
Xiulan shook her head and refused to answer: "We are all family, why would you write an IOU? Just remember it."
Lin Heng took it and tore it up and threw it into the trash can: "That's right, I said no, you can pay it back slowly, I don't need this little money."
"If you do this, Dad won't have any money to give me. Does he have to write an IOU?" Lin Heng said again.
"That's right, as long as the bill is settled, we will all be witnesses. There is no need for an IOU, it will make people laugh if you tell others about it." Lin's mother nodded.
"Okay." Lin Yue nodded.
Father Lin looked at Lin Heng and said with a smile: "Son, Dad can't pay for the saplings, why don't you just give the land to you."
(End of this chapter)
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