Chapter 345 Tangli, Stepping into Autumn
"Oh, why bring a gift when you're already here?"
Li Xue said polite words, and the happiness on her face could not be suppressed at all.
The gift Lin Heng brought was extremely valuable, worth more than ten yuan, which was equivalent to a normal person's monthly salary. In that era, it was definitely a huge gift in the countryside.
"Lin Hai and my third father have helped us many times. This is what we should do." Lin Heng said as he put the things on the cabinet.
Lin Xutao pushed the item back: "This is too expensive, I can't accept it. We should help each other. If you do this, I won't dare to ask you and your father for help next time."
"Yes, Brother Lin, these things of yours are too valuable." Lin Hai also nodded.
Li Xue was a little unhappy. She glared at the two of them and asked them to talk less.
"You haven't helped out for several days. Take it. Otherwise, I won't dare to ask you for help in the future." Lin Heng insisted. In fact, he would prefer to pay them, but there was nothing he could do if they didn't want to accept it.
The things I bought weren't anything great, just three pairs of rubber shoes, a bottle of Erguotou, a bag of sugar and a box of sugar cubes.
Although Lin Heng thought it was ordinary, it was a precious item to his third uncle and third aunt, as they might not buy a pair of shoes in a year.
"Third Aunt, please take it. If you don't, we won't eat." Xiulan also spoke up.
After a lot of arguing, they finally accepted the items, unable to control their joy. Li Xue also fell in love with her nephew, who was really generous.
"I heard you bought a freezer yesterday?"
When they sat down to chat, Li Xue asked again, the news spread throughout the village in one day, and everyone was envious and jealous when talking about the freezer.
"Yes, it works well after one day of use." Xiulan nodded.
Li Xue held Xiulan's hand and asked her about her life. Her words were full of envy and she felt that she was so happy.
After chatting for a while, his third father Lin Xutao said, "Xiao Heng, we have a field next to Shibadanggou. Do you think we can dig deeper to raise shrimps?"
After Lin Heng sold the prawns, he bought a freezer, which made the villagers guess that his profit from shrimp farming was at least four or five thousand, or even higher, so many people were discussing how to raise shrimp.
Naturally, Lin Xutao was also tempted and wanted to make some money with Lin Heng.
Lin Heng refused: "No, shrimp farming requires high technical skills. Even if you don't use oxygenation equipment, it's easy to lose all your money."
The three of them were silent for a while, and finally Li Xue asked tentatively: "I see that this is your first time raising one this year, it doesn't seem to be very difficult."
Lin Heng looked at the three people and changed his words: "If you want to try it, you can. I can provide you with a batch of shrimp fry for free. You can buy the other feeds and other things by yourselves."
He did not try to persuade them further, because that would only be interpreted as him not wanting them to get rich. There were many things that others said but it was useless, and only by experiencing it personally would one understand that others were doing it for one's own good.
Just like the saying, 'The only lesson humanity can learn from history is that humanity never learns lessons', once human cognition is formed, it is stubborn and hard to change, so don't expect it to change.
Li Xue quickly agreed: "Okay, we'll dig two small ponds this year. We don't ask for much profit, just a little money will be fine."
"If it's on a small scale, raising grass carp would be a better choice. It has a high meat yield and a wide range of diets." Lin Heng added.
Li Xue said: "Dig it out first, and then we'll see when the time comes."
Obviously she didn't hear what Lin Heng said.
After a few words, Li Xue went to cook. Lin Heng chatted with his third father Lin Hai for a few words, then took Xiulan out to the street.
It is cloudy today and the sun is not visible. The autumn wind blows and leaves fall like rain. The scenery on both sides of the river is very beautiful.
"Dad, I think our house is the most beautiful!" Xiaoxia pointed at the Red Maple Mountain and said crisply.
Xiulan was surprised and said, "It's amazing that Xiaoxia can recognize her own home."
Hongfeng Mountain is indeed one of the more beautiful hills in the village, with red maple leaves, golden poplars, and clusters of purple-red cotinus trees that look like flowers, plus other trees to embellish it. It can be said that such a beautiful mountain is rare.
Next year, when the entire hillside is planted with pasture grass, the scenery will be even better.
"I'll take you to Shimen to go fishing in the afternoon." Lin Heng said to Xiulan.
The river over there was right next to the road, so it was easy for Xiulan to walk down.
"Okay." Xiulan nodded. She just wanted to go out for a walk and didn't want to stay at home all day.
After a while, Third Aunt Li Xue prepared the meal. There were nine dishes, some delicious and some not, as long as there was food at home, she brought up all of them.
After eating and playing here for a while, they went back home without staying for long.
As I walked into the yard, Xiongba Fengshou came towards me, welcoming me with his tongue sticking out and his tail wagging.
The three of them walked into the house on the rough bluestone floor. Xiulan opened the freezer, looked at the beef and mutton that had been frozen hard, and nodded, "This freezer is good. It's cold enough."
This was her first time using this thing, and she was very curious about its functions and uses.
Lin Heng said as he packed up the fishing rod: "If you want to keep it cooler, you can just take it out every half an hour or an hour."
"I understand." Xiulan nodded and fiddled with and looked at other things. Xiaoxia lay on the edge and stuck her head out to observe curiously.
In summer, you can make your own milk cakes with milk.
After packing up, Lin Heng drove the sidecar with Xiulan and Xiaoxia towards the junction with Shimen Village. Xiongba couldn't get in the car today, so he ran behind.
There are a lot of golden oaks at this junction, so the scenery is extremely beautiful. A thick layer of leaves has fallen on the road, and the autumn water by the river is somewhat green, reflecting the scenery on both sides of the river.
Lin Heng stopped by a river covered with coarse sand, holding a small stool and pulling Xiulan down.
There is a relatively deep pool of water next to it. It is dark green and you can’t see the bottom, but you can see some large brook groupers swimming to the shallow water from time to time and then swimming back with a flick of their tails.
"You go fishing and I'll hang earthworms for you." Lin Heng looked at her and said. As long as there was someone to accompany him fishing, he would be happy no matter who was fishing.
In such a beautiful scenery, with the gentle autumn breeze, fishing with his wife by the river is the life Lin Heng has always dreamed of.
"Don't be mean to me if you can't catch it." Xiulan nodded.
Lin Heng knew she was joking, so he put the stool on the ground for her to sit on.
She was wearing all black today, with only her inner autumn outfit being white. Her hair was tied up with a jade hairpin, and she looked a little cold, like a snow lotus blooming on a snowy mountain.
Lin Heng filled a small bucket with some water and sprinkled some shrimp feed in front of it. This thing is very effective in attracting fish.
Then he put a black earthworm on the fishhook and gave it to Xiulan to cast it. This purple bamboo fishing rod has been used frequently and has been patinated with a beautiful purple-red color.
“Hurry up!”
Seeing the Seven Star Drift being pulled into the water, Lin Heng hurriedly said.
Xiulan reacted quickly and grabbed the fish. A stream grouper more than ten centimeters long was pulled to the sand behind her.
"Mom is so awesome, what a big fish!" Xiaoxia praised while running to pick up the big fish. The homemade small hook without barbs made it easy for the fish to come off the hook.
The creek grouper here is golden in color, with one horizontal black line and three vertical black lines dotted on its body. Its fur looks simply beautiful.
"Awesome." Lin Heng praised.
"Of course." Xiulan raised her head and threw the fishhook in again, with the small section of five-millimeter-long earthworm still on it.
After a while, Xiulan got the hang of it and started pulling up groupers frequently. Xiaoxia was excited to pick them up nearby, but sometimes Xiongba would swallow them before she could catch them, and then pretend to be innocent and watch Xiaoxia looking around.
When Xiaoxia finds out, she will crawl over and chase it to bully it. Xiongba always walks around in circles, stopping and starting, waiting for Xiaoxia to chase him. They grew up together, and Xiongba dotes on Xiaoxia very much.
"Bad dog, I caught you!" Xiaoxia grabbed it and played with its face. Her movements were very gentle, unlike other children who didn't know the seriousness of the situation.
After playing for a while, she went to dig sand to play. Lin Heng knew that she liked playing with sand, so he brought her a small wooden shovel and a small wooden car. When she saw the things Lin Heng brought, her eyes suddenly lit up and she kissed Lin Heng affectionately.
Lin Heng sat next to Xiulan, chatting with her while watching her fishing and Xiaoxia playing. The quiet and cold river became lively because of their presence.
After playing for a while, Xiulan handed the fishing rod to Lin Heng and said softly, "I'm tired of fishing, you come over, I'll watch you play."
"Okay." Lin Heng took the fishing rod with a smile, threw it into the water and started fishing.
Xiulan sat beside him, watching Lin Heng fishing attentively. Lin Heng's grasp of the fish's bite was naturally much better than Xiulan's. Basically, he could hit the fish with every rod, and he pulled one stream grouper after another out of the water.
"Honey, you're so awesome!" Xiulan supported her chin and shouted in admiration.
"Ha ha!"
Lin Heng was so happy that he didn't know what to say, he just felt that happiness was enveloping him.
They fished for more than an hour and stopped only when most of the big ones were caught. The small bucket was already filled with forty or fifty beautiful brook groupers.
"Dad, I have finished building the house." Xiaoxia showed Lin Heng the results of her construction work during this period.
"Whose house is this?"
Lin Heng leaned over and listened to her explain her achievements one by one, and talk about the small houses she built.
After hearing the compliments, Lin Heng took her and Xiulan for a walk along the road.
"This pear tree is so big." Xiulan said in surprise as she looked at the pear tree on the road.
The pear is a wild pear with brown skin and small white spots. Most of them are only the size of a little finger egg. Like this tree, those as big as pigeon eggs are rare.
This thing has a very strong pear flavor and smells nice, but tastes very astringent, even when fully ripe.
People in rural areas basically don't pick this kind of wild fruit, so it can still exist in late autumn.
"Pick it up and make autumn pear paste. I'll see if I can succeed." Lin Heng picked up one and tasted it. He found that the taste of this big one was just okay, but it was still as astringent as before.
"It tastes so bad, Pah Pah Pah!" Xiaoxia spit out several times after taking a bite.
"Can this thing be made into autumn pear paste?" Xiulan expressed doubt.
"I've never done this before. Pick it up and try it. I'll go get a bag." Lin Heng said with a smile and ran back to get a snakeskin bag.
He gave the bag to Xiulan and asked her to take Xiaoxia away first. He climbed up the tree on the road and shook it vigorously a few times. Suddenly, a "pear rain" fell down, and Xiaoxia danced and cheered in the distance.
"It's raining, it's raining!"
When Lin Heng came down, Xiaoxia ran over first to help pick the pears. Xiulan couldn't bend down, so she reached out to pick the fallen leaves on Lin Heng's shoulders and head, watching the father and daughter busying themselves.
After a while, they picked up half a bag of pears. The fragrance of the pears was so strong that after picking for a while, Lin Heng could smell the fragrance on his hands.
"Go home."
After walking along the street for a while, Lin Heng said, it is already five o'clock.
"Okay." Xiulan nodded in agreement. She had shopped enough today and was a little tired.
After driving back home, Xiulan sat on the sofa to rest. Lin Heng poured the pears into a basin, washed them, and then poured them into a round bamboo dustpan to dry. He was not in a hurry to make autumn pear paste.
In the afternoon, he caught ten of the smallest groupers to feed Xiaoxia's turtle. Lin Heng killed the rest on the spot, fried them in oil until both sides were golden brown, and ate them in the evening.
Lin Heng was frying grouper over a charcoal fire when his eldest brother Lin Yue opened the door and walked in to ask, "Lin Heng, are you going hunting in the mountains tomorrow?"
Tomorrow is Saturday and Caiyun has a day off, so he asked this.
"Go ahead, get up at six in the morning and go to Chestnut Mountain to look for wild boars." Lin Heng nodded. Now that they had a freezer, it was time to add some meat.
"Okay." Lin Yue nodded, then turned and left.
When Liudian Duocaiyun came back from vacation, Lin Heng let her live directly in his house, eat there, and took out the clothes and books he bought for her.
"Second brother, why are you buying me clothes and books again!" Caiyun felt a little embarrassed. Her second brother had bought her a lot of clothes, and what she was wearing now was bought by her second brother.
Xiulan explained, "This is the money your second brother made from selling shrimps. Everyone in the family has some. Just take it. Don't be polite to him."
After hearing this, Caiyun took over and said with a smile: "Thank you, second brother and second sister-in-law!"
After saying that, she opened the clothes and took a look. She liked them very much. Her second brother had a very good taste in aesthetics. Every time she wore the clothes he bought for her at school, many people would pay attention to her.
Then she looked at the refrigerator curiously, and learned that Lin Heng was going hunting tomorrow, so she took the initiative to go to the kitchen to knead the dough and make steamed buns in the evening so that Lin Heng could take them up the mountain tomorrow.
In addition to the fried grouper, Lin Heng also fried him a coriander beef and a winter melon soup in the evening. The steamed bun alone was also very delicious.
After dinner, Lin Heng packed up his hunting equipment, and then the others played a few games of checkers before going back to the house to rest.
When he woke up, it was already 5:30 the next morning. After taking a short nap, he quietly got up.
"Be careful." Xiulan's voice sounded under the quilt.
"Don't worry." Lin Heng waved his hand and walked out of the room.
In the living room, Caiyun opened her eyes when she heard Lin Heng's movement. She got up in her pajamas and helped clean up.
"Go to sleep. I have packed everything yesterday. Please take good care of your sister-in-law." Lin Heng looked at her and smiled.
"Don't worry, second brother." Caiyun retreated back into the bed. It was already very cold in late autumn, more than ten degrees.
After Lin Heng finished, he walked out with a flashlight. It was still dark outside.
(End of this chapter)
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