Chapter 297 Reasons for Not Buying a TV
"What good news?" Lin Heng asked curiously.
Xiulan first pulled Lin Heng to the watermelon rack and pointed at the largest watermelon and said, "Look, this watermelon is ripe. Is this good news?"
Lin Heng took a closer look and found that both the front and back tentacles of the vine had withered, indicating that the melon was indeed ripe.
"This is indeed good news. We can eat watermelon now." Lin Heng picked the watermelon with a smile, carried it back to the house and weighed it on the beam scale.
"This fifteen-pound watermelon is enough for all of us to have a meal." Lin Heng said with a happy smile.
When Xiaoxia saw the watermelon, she didn’t want to play games anymore and ran over to act coquettishly: “Dad, I want to eat watermelon!”
"We can eat it at noon tomorrow. Let's freeze the watermelon here." Lin Heng touched her face, found a net bag to put the watermelon in, took it to the backyard and put it in the well.
In the summer, when the temperature outside is over 30 degrees, the water in the well is still icy cold. After measuring, Lin Heng found that it was only 14 or 15 degrees, which is very cold.
Put the watermelon in a well and freeze it overnight, and you can enjoy the iced watermelon tomorrow.
After the watermelon was put in, Lin Heng covered the mouth of the well with a wooden frame. This was mainly to prevent Xiaoxia from accidentally falling in, just like the fence beside the fish pond, he isolated all dangers.
Xiaoxia couldn't forget about watermelons. She had wanted to eat them since they were planted. Now that she couldn't eat them even after picking them, she was a little angry and didn't want to talk to her father anymore.
Lin Heng looked at her helplessly but ignored her. He looked at his wife and asked, "Is there another surprise?"
"I don't seem to vomit as often since today, and you see, my stomach has started to get bigger." Xiulan said happily while holding his hand and touching her stomach.
"That's great that you haven't vomited yet. You can eat well from now on. I felt bad seeing you in so much pain before. Let's have a good meal tonight." Lin Heng said happily.
"Okay, I haven't felt full for a long time." Xiulan nodded.
Lin Heng helped Xiulan sit down on the bench in the pavilion, pulled open her clothes to take a look, then leaned over to listen.
Xiulan touched his head and smiled, "This time you might really be pregnant with a boy. It's not even three months yet and your belly has grown a lot. It feels good to be able to toss."
Xiulan's belly is already slightly bulging, and her originally flat stomach now has a small bulge.
"Maybe it's a naughty girl." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Xiulan pulled down her clothes and sighed, "Oh, I really want to know sooner whether it's a boy or a girl."
"Then eat well and take care of yourself, you will know in February next year." Lin Heng said with a smile. According to the date of menopause, Xiulan's due date is February next year.
"There are still seven months left, it feels so long!" Xiulan said with emotion.
"Let's go, it's time to cook." Lin Heng pulled her up and said.
"Okay." Xiulan agreed happily and went to the kitchen to cook with Lin Heng.
The two of them worked together to prepare four dishes and a soup. Lin Heng also caught the last plum fish in the well and steamed it.
"This fish is so delicious!" Xiulan was very happy as she felt the long-lost feeling of fullness while eating the fish.
Lin Heng smiled and said, "I will go to the Black River in a few days and catch some to keep. We will eat one every two days. I will also see if I can catch two mandarin fish and make a stinky mandarin fish."
"I want to eat stinky fish, too."
Xiaoxia opened her mouth and picked up the chopsticks and said that the unhappiness she had just felt had now disappeared without a trace.
"No problem, I'll ask your mother to make it for you later." Lin Heng added a piece of fish to her and said with a smile.
After dinner, Lin Heng washed the dishes and the three of them went out to enjoy the cool air while digesting the food. Xiulan really didn't vomit, and they were both very happy.
Lin Heng told Xiulan about the progress at Hongfeng Mountain. Xiulan was very happy that she could live there soon. She felt a little bored after living in the house for a long time and wanted to change the environment.
After enjoying the cool breeze, they happily returned to the house to rest. Lin Heng told Xiaoxia that he had already reached the Tongtian River in Journey to the West, and the end was not far away.
Xiaoxia's progress is also obvious. She has learned paper cutting and building blocks. She can recognize thirty or forty words, write her own name, and count from one to ten.
Lin Heng didn't force him, it was just that she was interested and they occasionally taught him.
Xiaoxia’s best skill is speaking. She often tells stories to other children, which has improved her speaking ability. She can talk for a long time without stopping.
After coaxing Xiaoxia to sleep, Lin Heng took a cold shower and went to bed to rest.
Xiulan put her arms and legs on him and sighed, "It's so hot!"
"You're hot, but you're still putting your hands and legs on me!" Lin Heng took it back from him. He was also hot.
"Then you should cool yourself down a little and let me cool down." Xiulan moved half of her body closer.
"Okay, okay, go ahead." Lin Heng was helpless, but his hands began to become restless, wanting Xiulan to be unable to bear it and leave.
But he didn't get what he wanted today. Xiulan just whispered something in his ear and he was under her control.
The next morning, the weather was still gloomy. After exercising and having breakfast, Lin Heng went to Hongfeng Mountain to build the unfinished road.
In the morning they mixed cement, sand and gravel and started laying them from the top. After experiments they found that three centimeters thickness was completely ok, so they adopted the three centimeters thickness.
Anyway, this road is not used by cars, only pedestrians, and the ground is paved with a layer of gravel. As long as it is hardened, it will not be muddy on rainy days.
Lin Heng was responsible for smoothing and carving the anti-slip lines, while Lin's father and Lin Yue were responsible for mixing the concrete. The three of them worked together to lay a distance of 300 meters in one morning, and it would be completed in about two and a half days.
At noon, when Lin Heng and his father were planing a wooden board, Lin's mother came running back and looked at them and said, "Something big happened in the village today."
"What's going on? Who is arguing with whom again?" Father Lin looked up and asked.
Mother Lin shook her head and said, "No, it was the village chief Zhao Xiancheng. His son Zhao Hai bought him a black and white TV. It was said to cost four or five hundred yuan. A lot of people went to watch."
"That's great, but I won't buy it." Lin Heng said with a smile. He was determined to cultivate a family tradition of loving reading so that children could understand themselves and the world through books.
Entertainment products such as television should not appear in the home, as children cannot control themselves and are prone to develop bad habits. At least we should wait until their personalities and habits are formed.
If you are already poor and then you are controlled by entertainment and waste your time, then there is no way you can turn your life around in this life.
Just like the short videos of later generations, many adults let their children use their mobile phones by themselves in order to make it easier to take care of them. This does reduce the trouble of taking care of children, but the children are basically ruined.
Later, when the children couldn't concentrate on their studies, the parents turned around and beat and scolded their children, but it was useless. They had no idea that all this was caused by themselves.
Compared to those, he would rather his children indulge in sports, at least they can exercise their bodies.
"I'm just saying, we may not buy it. What's the point of spending hundreds of dollars on something that can't be eaten?" Lin's mother shook her head.
Father Lin was surprised: "It's rare that Zhao Hu actually made money."
"I heard that he made a lot of money. He bought a TV for An Hao and left, saying that he was very busy." Lin's mother said.
Lin Heng explained: "This is not surprising. In this era, as long as you go out to do business, you will definitely make some money."
In fact, there are more opportunities to go out, but he is unwilling to give up his current peaceful and happy life. Besides, as long as his family has no worries about food and clothing, other support can be accumulated slowly.
Isn’t the ultimate goal of making money to enjoy life? We can’t put the cart before the horse.
"Keep working. We don't have to envy others now." Father Lin said with a smile.
"Stop working, I brought some good stuff over here." At this time Xiulan came in from outside with Xiaoxia and said, she was holding half a watermelon in her hand.
"The watermelon is ripe!" Father Lin said in shock.
"Yes, come and eat it quickly." Xiulan put the watermelon on the wooden board, used Lin Heng's tempered steel dagger to cut the watermelon and distributed it to everyone.
Xiaoxia took a bite and said happily, "So sweet, so delicious!!"
Mother Lin took a bite of the watermelon and exclaimed: "This watermelon is so good, it tastes so good, it's the most delicious fruit I've ever eaten!"
Father Lin also said: "This well water tastes so good when frozen. No wonder people say watermelon is delicious. It turns out that it doesn't taste sour at all."
Lin Heng and Xiulan ate the watermelon without saying a word. Watermelon is the only fruit that has no acidity at all. It is not very sweet, but because it has no acidity, it seems very sweet, and the crunchy taste is also unparalleled.
Lin Heng bought the latest watermelon seeds. The price was not cheap, but it was all worth it when he saw the smiling faces of his family.
Everyone's cheeks were covered with watermelon juice, and Xiaoxia's face was even covered with watermelon seeds. It was such a pleasure to eat an iced watermelon on such a hot day.
“It feels so good!”
After eating the watermelon, Lin Heng touched his stomach with satisfaction.
"After eating this watermelon, my whole body feels cool." Xiulan said with a smile. It is really impossible not to love this kind of fruit.
Lin's father and mother also nodded. They finished more than ten kilograms of watermelon together. It can be seen that it was really delicious.
"It's delicious, I want more!" Xiaoxia shouted, with a watermelon seed on her little face.
"Let's eat it next time. There are still plenty of watermelons this year, enough for you to eat." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Xiulan and Xiaoxia did not go back at noon. They ate some cold noodles prepared by Lin's mother here and watched Lin Heng and others repair the road in the afternoon.
In the afternoon they paved another 300 meters, and the road was completely completed on the morning of July 8. It became much more convenient to go up the mountain, even in the rain.
The weather has been cloudy and sultry these past few days. There are obviously many clouds in the sky, but it hasn't rained yet.
Lin Heng took a look at the paved path and felt happy. After the road was repaired, they would go to the cabin on the mountain to stay for a while to escape the summer heat.
"Shall we continue making sofas in the afternoon?" Father Lin looked at him and asked.
These days, the wood needed for the sofa has basically been processed and can be installed soon.
Lin Heng shook his head: "I'm going to town this afternoon, so I don't have time. Let's install it after it rains. Let's take a break for two days."
"That's fine, I'll go do some farm work." Father Lin agreed.
Lin Heng went to help feed the cattle and sheep and then returned home. The watermelons at home had begun to ripen over the past two days. He gave one to his parents and eldest brother, and there were still three left at home.
In two days, the crops planted by Lin's father and eldest brother will gradually mature, and there will still be quite a lot in the back mountain.
“Come and eat watermelon!”
As soon as Lin Heng returned to the house, Xiulan waved at him. She and Xiaoxia had just killed a watermelon.
"Here I am." Lin Heng walked into the house with a smile and took a watermelon to eat.
"Would you like to go fishing in town this afternoon?" Lin Heng asked after eating the melon.
Xiulan took a bite of watermelon and nodded: "Sure, I want to fish a little too."
"Then let's go dig for earthworms later!" Lin Heng said.
After lunch, they waited for the sun to set and then went digging for earthworms at 4:30. They went to the cowshed on the back mountain. What they dug out were big, dark blue earthworms as thick as Xiulan's little finger. This kind of earthworms is especially good for catching big fish.
Then we waited until five o'clock to go fishing in town, and brought a watermelon for Grandpa Gao.
"Second brother and second sister-in-law, what are you going to do?"
On the way, Caiyun, who had just returned from school, saw Lin Heng and the others and asked curiously.
"Auntie, let's go fishing! Do you want to go?" Xiaoxia asked, raising her little hand.
"Fishing? Then I won't go. I want to go back to eat." Caiyun shook her head.
Lin Heng glanced at Liu Ciwen and the other two students, a boy and a girl, who were with her, and said with a smile, "Then you should go back quickly."
Caiyun walked back, and Lin Heng drove to the town quickly. Grandpa Gao did not go fishing today and was still enjoying the cool air in the house.
"Uncle, I brought you a watermelon. Let's go fishing later." Lin Heng said with a smile as he walked into the house carrying a watermelon.
"Hey, this watermelon is so big, how can I finish it?" Grandpa Gao said happily.
"If you can't finish it, you can share it with your neighbors. My family has grown a lot, and I'll give you some later." Lin Heng looked at him and said.
"Why don't we cut it now and let everyone eat it." Grandpa Gao said again.
Lin Heng smiled and shook his head: "We only ate one today, we dare not eat more. I'll find you a bucket to cool it, you can eat it tomorrow."
After chatting with Mr. Gao for a while, Lin Heng talked to Wang Zhou again, patted his shoulder and said, "I have already arranged your matchmaking. You can choose a date and I will take you up when the time comes."
He entrusted the matter to the village party secretary Tian Dongfu, and when the time comes, he and Tian Dongfu will take Wang Zhou there together.
Wang Zhou was a little excited and kept saying, "Thank you, Brother Lin!"
He thought Lin Heng would take a long time, but he didn't expect that he would arrange it for him in just half a month.
"It's a small matter." Lin Heng smiled and waved his hand. He could understand Wang Zhou's feelings and naturally would not use this as a handle to control Wang Zhou. If he wanted people to surrender, he would use fair means.
After discussing this matter, Lin Heng took Xiulan and Xiaoxia to the blacksmith shop.
"Uncle Li, is my knife sharpened?" Lin Heng shouted loudly as he walked into the yard.
"Okay, okay, I'm just waiting for you to come and get it." Li Tie stopped what he was doing and said with a smile.
Lin Heng hadn't come for so many days that he even thought he didn't want the knife anymore and was very worried.
"That's good." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"I'll go into the house and get it for you." Li Tie said and turned back to the house to get the thing.
After a while, he came out with a boning knife and two daggers. The scabbard of the dagger was wrapped with a layer of brown leather, which looked quite handsome.
Li Tie handed the knife to Lin Heng and explained, "I made two short knives. You can choose which one you like. The blades are made according to the method you mentioned, and there are wavy patterns after acid immersion. This thing is not easy to make. I failed five or six times before I succeeded. But it does look good. The handle is made of red jujube wood, and it is fixed with nails and water."
Lin Heng pulled out the knife and looked at it. The blade was fifteen centimeters long, longer than his tempered steel dagger. The tip of the blade was very steep, as if it had been cut off. Wave-like black and white patterns could be seen on the blade, which was very handsome.
"I have to test the quality of such an expensive knife first." Lin Heng said after looking at it. This knife is not cheap, so he naturally cannot pay for it just by looking at its appearance.
"No problem, feel free to experiment." Lin Hai nodded.
Lin Heng first took a prepared deer leg bone to test the sharpness of the machete. With one cut, the bone broke into two. Then he cut three more times and looked at the blade. When he found that it was intact, he nodded with satisfaction.
Then I used the mugwort growing on the roadside outside the yard to test the sharpness. It was also no problem to cut a piece at a time. This boning knife is of good quality.
He tested the dagger first with bones, then cut hard acorns, and finally cut mugwort to test its sharpness. After a round of testing, there were no problems.
"I won't use a useless knife. What we rely on is integrity." Li Tie said, patting his chest.
"It's good." Lin Heng was very satisfied and looked at Xiulan and said, "Give me the money."
Xiulan took out money from her bag and gave it to Li Tie. After paying, she drove away on her tricycle without stopping to look at Li Tie and his family with envy.
Lin Heng is quite famous in Huangtan Town now. After all, it is extremely rare for someone as young as him to have a millionaire's salary of ten thousand yuan.
After returning and parking the car in Grandpa Gao's yard, Lin Heng called Grandpa Gao and took Xiulan and Xiaoxia to go fishing in Huangtan River.
"Xiao Lin, what kind of fish do you want to catch this time?" Grandpa Gao asked with a smile, holding a small bucket.
Lin Heng turned around and replied, "My target is fish without bones, such as catfish and yellow thorn mandarin fish. I have also prepared ground hooks for fishing."
"Then let's go fishing near the water inlet downstream. There are a lot of catfish there," Grandpa Gao suggested.
"Okay." Lin Heng nodded with a smile.
"I love catfish!" Xiaoxia said excitedly beside her.
"Grandpa will fish for you later!"
Grandpa Gao liked Xiaoxia very much and teased her. They chatted and laughed all the way to the fishing spot downstream.
This is a place with shallow green grass growing flat on both sides. There is a small stream next to it that merges into the main river channel, forming a huge backwater bend at their location. This kind of place is rich in humus and is the favorite environment for catfish.
After putting the things down, Lin Heng first took out the fishing line and tied it to the purple bamboo fishing rod, then put a thick and big blue-black earthworm on the hook and threw it into the water.
After he finished his work, he helped Xiulan thread the earthworms, threw the bait down, pressed the bamboo pole with a stone, and then he could do other things.
You don’t need to make a nest when fishing for catfish, just wait.
"Xiu Lan, just watch. I'm going to get some frogs to catch catfish." Lin Heng said to Xiu Lan.
"No problem." Xiulan sat on the stone and nodded in agreement.
Lin Heng picked up the slingshot and looked for a small puddle covered with green moss by the river to look for traces of frogs.
(End of this chapter)
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