Chapter 418 Fish and Pearls
Lin Heng helped to add fuel to the fire, and soon breakfast was ready. Now that life was better, the food was delicious and tasty.
After lunch, the winter sun finally melted the frost on the ground, and people could feel comfortable warmth in the sun.
"Let's go fishing at Red Maple Mountain and take the kids with us."
After cleaning up the dishes, Lin Heng looked at Xiulan and said.
"Okay." Xiulan nodded and agreed, she was willing to do anything with Lin Heng.
After a pause, Xiulan asked again, "Are you fishing for grouper, grass carp, or mullet?"
"I want to go fishing too, Dad!" Xiaoxia heard about fishing and ran over.
"No problem, I'll teach you how to fish later." Lin Heng touched her little face and replied to Xiulan, "I'm going to fish for grass carp. I'll catch a few and put them in the stream for a delicious feast during the New Year."
Although the water in the pond is mountain stream water, it is stagnant water after all, and the fish still have a fishy smell.
If you put it in spring water for a while, it will taste much better.
"Okay then, let's clean it up."
Xiulan nodded, pushed out the stroller, put the child in it, and then covered the child tightly with a small quilt.
She has always been very careful in taking care of her children, and tries her best to protect them from the cold wind when she goes out.
Lin Heng just needs a few fish hooks, the others can be found on Hongfeng Mountain.
After finishing, he pushed a stroller and took Xiaoxia and Xiulan side by side towards Hongfeng Mountain. Now the scene was desolate everywhere. The mountains were gray and the sky was foggy. Only the wheat fields and rapeseed fields on the ridges showed a little green.
Walking in the village, many people were very curious when they saw him. Someone asked, "Lin Heng is back. I heard you went hunting. How was your harvest?"
"It's just so-so, didn't hit anything." Lin Heng shook his head and said.
Tian Baishun walked down the slope and said, "Stop lying. If you say less, you must have made a big gain. Tell us so that we can see it."
"That's right, I saw your car coming back with a high score last night, how was it possible that you didn't hit it?" someone said. Lin Heng didn't come back too late last night, so someone still saw him.
"There was just a wild boar, and the rest were pots, pans, yams and other things." Lin Heng said with his hands spread out.
Hearing his words, Wang Bing said with a hint of ridicule: "You can't do that. You've been out for so long and only managed to get this little bit. I not only killed a wild boar, but also a muntjac."
Lin Heng smiled and said, "You are amazing. I can't hunt prey now, so I just raise cattle, sheep and shrimps."
Wang Bing: “…”
The cheerful laughter that came from the side made Wang Bing feel a little embarrassed. He wanted to show off, but before he could start, he was suppressed by Lin Heng.
"No more talking, let's go."
Lin Heng waved and left with his wife and children.
He didn't need to rely on prey to prove how powerful he was. Whenever the villagers passed by Red Maple Mountain, they would sigh in admiration.
After a while, the five people arrived at Hongfeng Mountain. Now they could see from afar a gray-white cement road leading from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain. The outlines of two extra-large platforms some distance below the top of the mountain could also be seen from afar.
"Wife, when will this be repaired?" Lin Heng turned his head and asked.
"It's been repaired about ten days ago. The other side of the mountain has also been repaired and a retaining wall has been built." Xiulan pointed to the place where the soil was dumped before on the roadside at the foot of the mountain.
Lin Heng ran over to take a look. The soil that had been dug for the platform was poured into the pit outside the road, creating a platform of more than one acre. Lin Heng walked over to take a look and found that his father had built a retaining wall on the side outside close to the Shiban River. Now there was no need to worry about the platform being washed away by rising water.
The platform was compacted by the excavator at the beginning, but it was not hardened. They just poured some excavated gravel to cover the yellow mud, so it wouldn't be muddy to walk on it on rainy days.
He was planning to build a composting pit here and pile cow and sheep manure here, but he had not yet made up his mind whether to do so or not.
After taking a look, he turned around and went back. He and Xiulan pushed the child into the breeding base and came to his parents' residence upstairs.
"Come and sit down and have a bite."
Father Lin and his two companions were having dinner at the time. They saw the three people stand up and said.
Because the dogs all knew Lin Heng Xiulan, they naturally didn't bark, and they didn't notice it in advance.
"We just ate. We are going to go to the grass carp pond to fish now. You guys eat." Lin Heng shook his head and said.
Xiulan pushed the child into the house and said, "Yes, Mom, you don't have to worry about us."
Only Xiaoxia was curious about what her grandparents were eating, so she trotted over to take a look. Her grandmother picked out a piece of lean meat and fed it to her. After taking a bite, she shook her head and ran away, indicating that she didn't want to eat it anymore.
"Be careful not to fall, and don't go near the water." Lin's mother warned.
"I understand, grandma." Xiaoxia agreed and sat outside in a small wooden car made by her grandfather to play.
Lin Heng walked into the house and found the fishing rods placed there. They were all intact, even the fish hooks were still there.
Mother Lin looked at her son and daughter-in-law and said, "If you want to go fishing, go ahead. I'll take care of the child."
"Thank you, Mom. The children have just eaten. Just be careful not to let them crawl out." Xiulan said with a smile.
At this time, Lin's father said, "Son, go fishing first. We can get musk from the musk deer in the evening. It's time to get it now."
"I understand." Lin Heng nodded, put the fishing rod aside, took a hoe and went out to dig earthworms.
Xiulan went out with him and took Xiaoxia with her. Lin Heng hadn't been back for a long time and looked around. The top of the mountain was too far away so he didn't go there, so he just looked at the livestock at home.
The lambs have grown a lot, the cows have become full-bellied, but nothing else has changed. The red dates are kept outside, the three white goats are bleating on the mountain while eating grass, the chickens are no longer laying eggs, there are no bugs to eat in winter, so they are not very active.
After looking around, he started digging earthworms beside the compost pit. It was difficult to dig earthworms in winter, but there was a lot of manure in this place, so Lin Heng wanted to try it.
"There are so many silkworms. I think this can be used for fishing."
No earthworms were found, Lin Heng said as he looked at the white silkworms dug out of the soil.
Xiulan blinked and put the silkworms into a plastic bag with a wooden stick: "It should be okay, it's all meat."
"Then go fishing. If you don't catch anything, try something else." Lin Heng nodded and said, even next to the dung pile, earthworms are difficult to dig in winter.
But he didn't think it was a big problem. There were fish everywhere in the pond and he would definitely be able to catch them.
"We can definitely catch it. Dad is the best." Xiaoxia raised her hand, more confident than Lin Heng.
She was pulled by Xiulan, still jumping and skipping, carefree.
After coming down from above, Lin Heng looked inside the pigpen again and saw two big fat pigs eating in the pigpen.
Xiulan said, "You hunted so many prey this time. It's enough for us to kill a pig for the New Year."
“Then kill one and try it.” Lin Heng said with a smile. He wanted to taste the difference between the pork from the acorns he had fed on for two years and ordinary pork.
After saying that, he took Xiulan back to the house, got the fishing rod, fish basket and bench, and the three of them went to the grass carp pond together.
The two sat down side by side and got the hook and line ready. Lin Heng first put a silkworm on Xiulan and then put one on himself and threw them into the fish pond.
"Ah, there are fish!"
As soon as Xiulan threw the fish in, she let out a scream. The fishing rod bent into a big bow in her hand, and a big grass carp was struggling hard in the water.
"Wow, mom is so awesome." Xiaoxia cheered beside her.
"You fish on your own and I'll copy for you."
Lin Heng picked up the scoop net and said with a smile, "Fish don't have much strength in winter."
Lin Heng set up the scoop net, and Xiulan pulled the fish twice and it went into the net. Seeing the fish being pulled ashore, she squatted down and said with a smile, "This grass carp must be six or seven kilograms."
"Of course there are. I estimate the big ones can weigh ten kilograms." Lin Heng nodded. Grass carp can grow six or seven kilograms a year, and these grass carps have been fed very well this year.
The scales of this grass carp are golden yellow and very beautiful, almost the same as the big grass carp caught in the wild river. They put it into the fish basket and continued fishing.
After waiting for about half a minute, Lin Heng found that the float had gone down. He pulled hard and caught a fish. After playing with it for a while, he scooped it up and put it into the fish basket.
"Yeah, I got it again."
Lin Heng had just put the fish in when Xiulan caught another one. She excitedly pulled it over and asked Lin Heng to scoop it.
There is basically no such thing as catching nothing when fishing in your own fish pond; it is all about experiencing the joy of fishing.
"Dad, I want to fish too." Xiaoxia acted coquettishly beside Lin Heng. She thought fishing was very interesting.
"Then you try it." Lin Heng held her in his arms and helped her fish.
"Wow, big fish fish, big fish fish!!"
After a while, a fish took the bait and Xiaoxia screamed excitedly. Even with Lin Heng helping her from behind, she was pulled towards the water.
When she saw the big fish coming ashore, she was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling. Xiulan wrapped a scarf around her mouth, fearing that she would catch a cold from breathing too much cold air.
Then Lin Heng and Xiulan caught several more fish in succession, and they didn't stop until they had finished all the silkworms they had dug. They both really got over their fishing addiction. Although there weren't as many surprises as fishing in the wild, the feeling of catching fish frequently was also very good.
"How many fish does one catch?"
After fishing, Xiulan asked curiously.
"Probably eight or nine." Lin Heng walked over and lifted up the fish basket. Accompanied by the sound of splashing water, fifty or sixty kilograms of fish were pulled up.
"There are nine fish in total. That's enough. Let's go and take them to the stream to raise them."
Lin Heng counted them and said that these fish were definitely more than enough for their own consumption, and they would have to give some to relatives and friends during the New Year.
"Okay." Xiulan nodded and pulled Xiaoxia to follow Lin Heng.
Lin Heng carried the fish to the edge of the mountain stream, walked and stopped, and finally chose this pool of water formed by the waterfall flowing from the small dam on the top of the mountain.
The water in this pool is one person deep and covers an area of three or four square meters. The best thing about it is that the dissolved oxygen content is very sufficient. The arm-thick waterfalls coming down from the mountain are constantly splashing countless water in the water. Nine big grass carps can be raised here without worrying about insufficient oxygen.
Lin Heng put the fish in one by one, watched them swim slowly in the pool, and then moved stones to block the water outlet.
"Okay, that's it. It will be absolutely delicious when we catch and eat the fish during the New Year." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"There are nine fish in total. I can count them clearly." Xiaoxia said with her chin held high, her big eyes blinking. She is very good now. She can count to one hundred, can write a lot of words, can draw, and knows many plants.
The most amazing thing is her speaking ability. She can speak clearly for a long time, and sometimes she is not at all nervous when telling stories to a large group of people in the village.
"My dear is really amazing." Lin Heng praised her, then looked at Xiulan and said, "Wife, do you want to go up the mountain to fish for plum fish?"
He was planning to go up the mountain to play. Now that he was back, he naturally wanted to go up the mountain to take a look.
Xiulan said, "No need to fish. We have frozen stinky mandarin fish in the freezer at home. It's enough for us to eat."
Lin Heng nodded, held his daughter and sat her on his neck, and the three of them walked towards the mountain.
There are some fallen leaves in the small reservoir on the mountain now, and the water is green, so you can't see the bottom clearly, but if you throw something in, you can see the fish coming out to look for food.
"I harvested a lot of Dendrobium this year. The ones you planted on the trees can really survive."
Xiulan said as she looked at the Dendrobium on the tree.
Lin Heng took a look and said, "Dendrobium is too difficult to grow, otherwise I would like to expand the scale."
Now I just keep these for fun, and make some for myself to drink Dendrobium tea or something.
As they were talking, they came to the cabin. Lin Heng looked at the big trees not far away and said, "When I have time, I will build a tree house on the tree here for fun."
A house on a tree was one of the gifts he wanted most when he was a child. I believe both Xiaoxia and Luming Duheng will like it after it is built.
"Okay, Dad, let's build it now." Xiaoxia said immediately after hearing it.
"Let's wait until later. We don't have time now." Lin Heng put her down.
In winter, the scenery on the top of the mountain is not good without snow, and the scenery at the bottom of the mountain is not very good either, but with Xiulan, she is a beautiful scenery. After looking at the house and the ginseng garden, they went down the mountain.
Father Lin and his friends had already finished their meal and were waiting for him to come over and help collect musk from the musk deer.
"Dad, how are those pearl oysters I raised last year? Have you seen them?"
Lin Heng asked as they walked towards the musk deer pen. He just remembered this when he was coming down the mountain.
Father Lin shook his head: "I don't know either. This year they were moved out and thrown into the shrimp pond at the bottom. I haven't seen them since. If you want to find them, I can drain the water in the next two days to see if there are any."
If Lin Heng hadn't mentioned this matter, he would have forgotten it.
"Then let's release the water, catch some shrimps and check the condition of the clams." Lin Heng said, he felt that there must be pearls in these clams.
"Okay." Father Lin agreed.
After waiting for a while at the musk deer pen, his uncle came over after using the toilet. The three of them went in and caught the male musk deer. Two of them held it down while one slowly took out the musk.
Although there is a new male musk deer this year, we still have to wait two more years if we want to collect musk. Musk deer reach sexual maturity at two years old, but it takes a male musk deer more than three years old to produce musk.
After taking all the musk, Lin Heng carefully packaged it. This year there is more musk, so he could probably sell it for a few hundred dollars more.
"Oh, son, you should go to Xiaozhuo Township early tomorrow morning. I have something to tell you."
Put the musk deer back into the pen, said Lin's father.
(End of this chapter)
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