Chapter 247 Is the Stinky Mandarin Fish Delicious?
"Don't worry, take a rest first. Planting trees these days is really tiring."
Lin Heng waved his hand and said while looking at the sky.
Looking at the weather, it might rain in the next two days, which makes it difficult to start work.
"That's right. Let's wait for a good day before starting work. It will bring good luck." Lin Yue said with a smile.
"Yeah, take a good rest. My waist has been hurting these past two days."
Father Lin also nodded and said.
Back in the house, Xiulan was shredding radishes. These radishes were dried in a semi-dried state and pickled in jars to make sour shredded radishes, which were delicious when fried with bacon and served with rice.
Xiaoxia was playing with her ball in the house, with two puppies chasing each other.
"Meow~"
Lin Heng reached out and stroked the big cat Jinbao. The voice of this guy was now becoming more and more like that of a domestic cat.
"Is the cowshed built?" Xiulan asked while she was busy.
"Yes, it's done." Lin Heng nodded.
"How do you plan to grow Chinese medicinal herbs?" Xiulan asked again.
"Let's wait until March in the solar calendar and plant around the time of Jingzhe. If you want a high germination rate for these seeds, you have to raise them and can't just sow them in the ground."
Lin Heng sat down, drank a sip of milk tea and said, there was a lot of milk left from the cows in the morning, so Lin Heng taught Xiulan how to make milk tea, and there was still a lot left.
There is no shortage of charcoal at home, and the ceramic stove is always burning, which can be used for making fire and heating some things.
"Are you going to plant them all in Dad's field?" Xiulan asked, looking up after she finished wiping the last radish.
Lin Heng shook his head: "That's definitely not possible. You can just plant some turmeric and astragalus in the field. Forsythia is a shrub, and the medicinal material is its seeds, so it can only be planted on the slope. Ginseng is a shade-loving plant, so it has to be planted under the forest. I think Hongfeng Mountain is a good place, plant forsythia on the edge of the forest, and plant ginseng in the forest."
It is worth mentioning that the flowers of the small shrub Forsythia are beautiful golden, very beautiful, and are often planted as ornamental plants. It is also very tenacious and can take root in cracks in rocks and piles of rocks, and has little demand for the environment.
Plant it on Red Maple Mountain, where the spring scenery will be very beautiful. There are more golden forsythia flowers in spring and red leaves in autumn.
"Just plan it out." Xiulan nodded.
"Can we eat that stinky mandarin fish?" Lin Heng asked.
"It's cold in winter, and it'll take another five or six days."
Xiulan hung the shredded radish under the eaves and walked over to say something.
"Well, I thought it was edible. If it tastes good, I'll go catch some more in a few days."
Lin Heng nodded and said that he had only heard of stinky mandarin fish in his previous life but had never eaten it, but he was very eager to try it.
"Don't worry about what I do." Xiulan said firmly.
After chatting for a few sentences, Lin Heng didn't want to talk anymore and sat on the bench in a daze. Xiaoxia was tired of playing with the ball and asked Xiulan to play paper cutting with her.
The toy ball that Lin Heng bought for him was the simplest, followed by the paper-cut painting, and finally the second-order Rubik's Cube.
Even Xiulan couldn't figure out how to solve the second-order Rubik's Cube, so she could only play paper-cutting with Xiaoxia.
Lin Heng didn't expect Xiaoxia to be able to figure it out, he just let her play around and he would demonstrate it to her from time to time.
After a while, the wind started to blow outside and the three of them went back to the bedroom.
Lin Heng drank his tea leisurely, watching Xiaoxia playing there.
When you get tired of reading, it’s almost time for dinner. After dinner, you can read for a while and then go to bed.
The wonderful day passed just like that, and it was very fulfilling for Lin Heng.
The next day, I sorted out the machines and saplings at home.
There are still quite a few tangerines and pear seedlings left, about thirty or forty of each.
There are not many other apricot trees, peach trees, etc.
The total number adds up to more than two hundred.
Lin Heng went to Hongfeng Mountain to plant about ten seeds, and did not waste the rest. He spread the news in the village that they were fifty cents each, and he would compensate them if they died.
Although the price is relatively high, it is purchased from the Provincial Agricultural Science Institute and is very valuable. With so many households in the village coming to buy two each, they were all sold out.
Two hundred pills were sold for one hundred yuan, and Lin Heng made a profit of more than seventy yuan.
He didn't sell all of them. He just gave them away as gifts to people he had a good relationship with.
This creates a gap. Those who receive seedlings from him will be grateful to him, while those who buy seedlings will only want to maintain a good relationship with him in case he gives them seedlings next time.
In fact, it doesn’t matter if you give them all away, but that would make the seedlings seem worthless.
The weather was still very gloomy, with a cold wind blowing, and it felt like a storm was about to come.
"Am I not very good at making money?" After selling the seedlings, Lin Heng said to Xiulan who was counting the money.
Xiulan counted the money happily, patted Lin Heng on the shoulder and said with a smile: "You are the best, you are good at everything. But I will take the money, you don't care about this anyway."
"You keep it, I'm going to grow the seedlings."
Lin Heng smiled and took out the watermelon and cantaloupe seeds he had bought.
"Isn't noon too early?"
Xiulan looked at him and said.
Lin Heng shook his head. "Not too early, not too early. I'll build a small greenhouse to grow them now. When the weather warms up around the Waking of Insects, the seedlings will have grown. Then we can transplant them and eat watermelons and cantaloupes in June or July."
"Do you want me to help you plant some early pepper and cucumber seedlings?" Lin Heng said after taking a breath.
Generally, seeds grown locally in rural areas will not be used to grow seedlings. They can be scattered at will in large quantities. The main thing is survival of the fittest, and only strong seedlings will come out.
He bought the seedlings so naturally he has to cultivate them well.
"Then spread some out." Xiulan thought for a moment and nodded.
Lin Heng went back to the house and took out another bag of green pepper seeds and a bag of cucumber seeds.
Don't rush to plant them. Pour them all into a bowl and soak them in water. This will allow the seeds to quickly change from a dormant state to a growing state.
After soaking, he used a hoe to loosen and soften the remaining half of the land where strawberries were planted.
When the seeds are almost soaked in the afternoon, they can be planted in the field.
For pepper seedlings, just scatter them directly and cover them lightly with soil. For watermelon, cucumber, and cantaloupe, use a small stick to poke small holes and drop the seeds in one by one.
After sprinkling a layer of water, bend up the bamboo strips, cover the surface with film paper and cover the surrounding areas with soil, and a small breeding shed is formed.
In the afternoon, Lin's father came over and looked at Lin Heng and said, "Son, can the grinder you bought be used to grind corn? We don't have enough cornmeal to feed the cows."
"Yes, you can. Let's carry the machine over tomorrow morning and I'll teach you how to thresh corn."
Lin Heng nodded and said, as the name of the grinder suggests, all grains can be crushed.
"That's fine."
Father Lin nodded, sat down and drank two cups of tea before going back.
However, when Lin Heng opened his eyes the next morning, he heard sparse sounds outside the window.
"It's raining?"
He lifted the quilt and opened the window, and sure enough, it started to drizzle outside.
The wintersweets that were still in full bloom in the courtyard swayed slightly in the rain, like a girl who got wet.
The buzzing sound of the bees is very faint, and only occasionally two are seen flying out.
“It’s raining!”
The wind outside woke up Xiulan who was lying on the bed. She spoke sleepily as she listened to the first drizzle of the year.
"Yes, it's raining, so he'll have to wait a few days before he can come to thresh the corn."
Lin Heng replied with emotion, however, the rain came in time, and the probability of survival of the planted saplings was greatly increased.
The rain wasn't heavy, and it wasn't raining much when the two were milking the cows.
Now when Lin Heng milks, he only milks enough for the three of them. He lets his parents or eldest brother milk as much as they need.
When they finished drinking the milk and were about to make breakfast, the rain suddenly got heavier, and then it became lighter in the afternoon.
The weather was like this for two or three days in a row, jumping back and forth between raining and not raining.
There was nothing to do during this period, so Lin Heng stayed at home drinking tea, reading books, and staring at the rain outside in a daze.
If you are really bored, you can play some in and out games at night to enhance the feelings between each other.
Lin Heng took out all the two sacks of books he bought in Ancheng, sorted them out and placed them in the bookcase in the study.
I just take the books I want to read and put them in my bedroom. When I get bored at night, I read them for a while to pass the time.
After the students started school, Tian Yan would come once a day. While Xiulan was playing, she would teach Xiaoxia to fulfill her promise.
However, Xiaoxia has not been feeling well these days. First, she drank too much milk and had diarrhea, and then she had a runny nose and kept coughing.
Lin Heng bought a thermometer and took his temperature. It turned out that he didn't have a fever, so it wasn't serious.
Lin Heng picked some loquat leaves, boiled them in water, added some brown sugar and gave it to Xiaoxia to drink. The next day, her coughing symptoms were significantly relieved, so there was no need to go to the hospital.
On the 22nd day of the first lunar month, the sun came out again.
After breakfast, Lin Heng peeled off the film and took a look. He immediately shouted, "Xiu Lan, come and see. My seedling cultivation was very successful this time."
He ran over and pulled his wife and daughter over to see his achievements. The vegetables, fruits and melons under the shed had all grown cotyledons.
"Very good." Xiulan smiled and nodded, reaching out to tie Lin Heng's fallen shoelaces.
"Dad is awesome~"
Xiaoxia jumped up and down to praise, saying that whatever her father did was great.
Lin Heng was very satisfied after sharing the results with his wife and children.
Xiulan looked at the strawberries next to her, and there didn't seem to be much change, it seemed that only some leaves had grown.
After checking the seedlings, Lin Heng went to ask his father and elder brother to help lift the crusher.
The three of them worked together to lift the crusher to the old house. Lin Heng connected the wires, turned on the switch and tried it out.
Suddenly a rumbling sound was heard. After making sure that there was no problem with the machine, Lin Heng turned it off first.
"Dad, do you need more cornmeal or cornmeal?" Lin Heng asked his father.
"We use more cornmeal, mainly to feed cows and musk deer." Father Lin said after thinking for a while.
Lin Heng nodded, went over to open the machine and replaced the sieve with a finer one.
"Now just pay attention to the cornmeal."
Lin Heng pointed to the location of the feed hopper and turned to turn on the power. The motor drove the belt to rumble, and as Lin Heng poured shovelfuls of corn into the feed hopper, the sound became louder.
Everyone stuffed their ears with toilet paper, otherwise their ears would keep ringing when the cornmeal was finished, which would cause serious damage to their hearing.
After a while, the crushed cornmeal came out from the feed port along with a lot of dust.
Many people in the village heard the roar of the machines and ran over to watch the fun, and they didn't seem to mind the noise even if they were not at the gate of the yard.
The crusher is very fast and can grind 200 kilograms of corn in an hour.
Father Lin only prepared more than 200 kilograms of corn, and he finished harvesting it in less than half an hour.
"Nothing else?"
Lin Heng stopped the machine and removed the toilet paper from his ears and asked.
"So fast, then beat the remaining 200 kilograms in the room."
Father Lin said that he didn’t expect such a small machine to be so fast.
The villagers standing at the gate of the yard saw the machine stopped, and someone asked curiously: "Lin Heng, how much did you buy this machine?"
"I bought it for 100 yuan at Ancheng Machinery City. I think it's not sold here." Lin Heng said with a smile. The area around Ancheng is relatively developed, and this machine was sold to nearby farmers.
There is not much of a market in a small city like Changbai, and farmers go to the grain station where there are large machines to make beams.
"It's so expensive. I might as well go to the grain station to get it."
Most people were discouraged upon hearing the price, and secretly sighed that it was great to be rich. The Lin family was getting richer day by day.
"I bought it for raising shrimps." Lin Heng smiled. In this day and age, an ordinary family can actually make a lot of money by buying one to grow food for the villagers.
But he was not interested, it was not worth it for such a small amount of money. When someone asked him, he said that he used it himself and did not provide food for others.
Soon, Lin's father brought over two more bags of corn. Lin Heng stuffed toilet paper into the bags and continued to work, beating the remaining cornmeal at once.
During this period, he also let his father and older brother try it out. The machine is very easy to use. Once they have learned how to use it, they can do it themselves next time, and he can also be lazy.
After the machine was made, it was temporarily placed at his father's house and would be moved there after the warehouse in Hongfeng Mountain was built.
"Dad, big brother, let's go over tonight to eat stinky mandarin fish, a famous Anhui dish made by Xiulan." Lin Heng said as he patted the corn flour on his head.
"Okay!"
Lin Heng cleaned himself and went back to the house. Xiulan had already taken out the stinky mandarin fish. The smell was different from that of stinky tofu and felt very strange.
"Very successful." Xiulan took a look at it, cleaned it and put it aside for later use.
She started cooking it in the evening. The method of cooking stinky mandarin fish is simple. Fry it in oil until both sides are golden brown, then remove it and stir-fry the pork belly to bring out the fat and aroma. Add dried chili peppers, ginger and garlic, stir-fry for a while, add mandarin fish, add white wine, soy sauce and boiling water, and cook it over medium heat for half an hour.
After cooking, cook over high heat until the sauce thickens, add starch and water, pour over the fish and add some coriander.
In addition to mandarin fish, Xiulan also fried five or six other dishes. After they were served on the table, Lin Heng was the first to pick up his chopsticks.
Although this stinky mandarin fish has been fermented for more than ten days, the fish meat is still very firm and shaped like garlic cloves.
When you put it in your mouth, the texture is very tight, with the saltiest taste. The taste itself feels both fragrant and smelly, which is very strange, but it is very addictive and you will want to continue after taking a bite.
"Yes, I think it's delicious. It's different from fermented tofu. You can try it yourself."
Lin Heng took two bites and said that he felt the taste was richer when eaten with coriander.
Father Lin took a bite and said in surprise, "Hey, it doesn't stink when I put it in my mouth. It tastes good."
"It's not bad." Caiyun also nodded, finding it very novel.
Everyone nodded, except Lin's mother and Liu Juan, who took one bite and stopped eating, as if they were not used to it.
It's just like snail noodles, some people think it's delicious, while others feel sick and want to vomit.
"Do it again next time to catch two more Xiulan." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"Okay." Xiulan nodded and ate two pieces herself.
Lin Heng scooped a bowl of rice, which he found very appetizing, but he had to brush his teeth after eating it, just like the snail noodles, and open the window because the smell was too strong.
"Son, a good day to show you is the day after tomorrow. Do you want to start work at Red Maple Mountain?"
After dinner, Father Lin asked.
“It’s time to get to work.”
Lin Heng nodded and decided to start the project now. It is estimated that it will be completed by the end of March.
At that time, we can go to the depths of Taibai Mountain to hunt black bears. During that time, they will catch fish to eat after hibernation.
(End of this chapter)
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