Chapter 424: Testing the New Bow, Fish Balls and Winter Plums
Logically, my parents should also be here, because we agreed to have lunch together at noon.
"Mom and Dad are cleaning up the old house and sweeping the dust," Caiyun replied.
Although few people live in the old house, it still needs to be cleaned and tidied up during the Chinese New Year, and couplets need to be posted. When guests come, they can be arranged to stay there.
Although the old house was made of slate, the interior had been tidied up and covered with plaster, making it much better than an ordinary mud house.
Lin Heng nodded to show that he understood, finished his tea and went to carry the things into the house.
Then prepare the ingredients for hotpot. In this kind of weather, the copper stove hotpot is too tempting. I want to eat it every two days.
When they finished cooking the hot pot and were about to call their parents, they just happened to come over with a snakeskin bag.
"I bought some sweet potato vermicelli, which weighs thirty-two kilograms." Father Lin said as he leaned the bag against the bench.
Lin Heng came over and took out a bundle to look at it. It was the familiar light yellow color, and it was definitely 100% handmade sweet potato vermicelli: "I'll soak some now so we can have hot pot."
Sweet potato vermicelli, no matter how you eat it, the taste is amazing, there is no doubt about it.
After soaking until softened, put it in a pot and cook it, then dip it in a dipping sauce made from a mixture of sesame paste and other seasonings. It will not only be smooth and refreshing in your mouth, but also taste great.
The only thing that is not pretty is that these are vermicelli noodles, which are as thick as iron wire. It would be better if they could be made into wide sweet potato noodles. However, this is not impossible. A small amount of wide sweet potato noodles can be made at home.
He also has some sweet potato starch stored at home, and he plans to find time to make some, mainly because the wide noodles taste more delicious when eaten piece by piece.
The hotpot meal lasted until three in the afternoon. The eaters felt extremely satisfied both physically and mentally. Their bodies were warm and their stomachs were full, and the taste of the food was still lingering in their minds.
"Dad, have you heard about wild boars or something like that recently? I got my new bow and arrow back, and I'm going to go test the waters."
Lin Heng asked as he brewed tea. His tea pet was very simple, a beautiful little stone that Xiaoxia picked up by the river.
"We haven't heard much about it here. Your eldest brother has also been fighting recently, but he didn't win anything."
Father Lin took the tea and took a sip, then said, "But you can go to Shimen Village and give it a try. I heard that the wheat and rapeseed there have been damaged by wild animals."
"Okay, I got it." Lin Heng nodded and decided to go and take a look later.
I don't want to hunt, but I want to give the compound bow some blood and shine.
And he didn't want to hunt small prey, it would be better to go for something bigger.
After finishing his tea, he took out his bow and arrow, looked at it, went to the backyard to practice for a while before deciding to go out for a walk.
He went over and called his eldest brother to see if he wanted to join.
"Of course. Anyway, we have nothing to do at home in the afternoon. Let's go hunting and come to my house for hot pot in the evening."
Lin Yue smiled and said that he had recently bought a copper stove hot pot, and his wife Liu Juan had also learned how to make hot pot base.
"We just had hotpot." Lin Heng said.
"It's okay, just have another meal." Lin Yue invited strongly.
In the end, Lin Heng had no choice but to agree to come over to eat when the time came. After that, the two of them set off together with their weapons.
On the way, Lin Yue looked at Lin Heng's bow and arrow, smiled and said, "I think your bow and arrow is more handsome than the previous one."
"I think so too. We should find a better prey to consecrate it this time." Lin Heng said with a smile.
They asked Lin's father to drive a sidecar to take the people to the entrance of Shimen Village, then went in to inquire, and went up the mountain along a small path nearby to start searching.
After searching for a while, I saw a lot of wild boar and muntjac feces, but I didn't see any larger prey. Before I knew it, it was getting dark.
"Brother, there is a golden rooster over here."
Suddenly, Lin Yue called out softly to Lin Heng.
Lin Heng walked over and saw a beautiful golden rooster resting on a big persimmon tree not far away.
"Come on, I don't want to fight."
Lin Heng shook his head and said that he didn't want to entrust the first consecration of the bow and arrow to a little golden rooster.
Lin Yue nodded, loaded a bird bullet, aimed and shot. With a bang, the golden rooster fell down.
"Let's go down the mountain along the ditch. There's no need to continue hunting at night." Lin Heng said to his eldest brother.
Lin Yue nodded and smiled: "I thought so too. It's too cold to bear."
Walking down along both sides of the ditch, they didn't find even a small prey. The two just shook their heads and walked towards Red Maple Mountain.
After returning home and warming up, he had a hot pot at his eldest brother's house. He was still a little irritated because he didn't catch any prey, so he curled up in Xiulan's big and soft arms to seek comfort at night.
A woman who loves you is the best mood adjuster. With Xiulan, Lin Heng can let down his guard and disguise. Under her gentle comfort, all the unhappiness will disappear.
"It smells so good." Lin Heng sighed and fell asleep while hugging his wife.
The next morning, they got up and opened the back door. Xiulan suddenly cried out in delight: "Oh, the wintersweets are blooming. They smell so good!"
"It's worthy of being a wintersweet, so beautiful and fragrant," Lin Heng took a deep breath, and walked closer with Xiulan with emotion, then broke off a branch and put it in Xiulan's high ponytail and smiled, "My wife is still more beautiful."
The principle he believed in was "When flowers are ready to be plucked, pluck them immediately." He would pluck them when necessary and had no intention of just watching them quietly.
It’s just like when I was pursuing Xiulan. If you like her, just pursue her, no matter what your own conditions are. Life is only once, all you have to do is be brave to try.
"Such a sweet mouth."
Xiulan's eyebrows curved when Lin Heng said that and her words were sweet.
The two looked at the plum blossoms, then at the swimming fish, and completed their daily morning exercise task without fail. Now they feel uncomfortable if they don't exercise every morning, as if something is missing.
As for Xiaoxia, sometimes she gets up and follows along, and sometimes she doesn't want to get up, so forget it. There is no need to demand so much from children, just be happy.
The two of them went to get milk to make breakfast, and then woke up their three precious children to eat together, enjoying their warm daily life.
After dinner, Lin Heng started to make his own sweet potato wide noodles, using the same method as vermicelli.
Boil water and pour in some sweet potato starch and stir. After it becomes a gel-like liquid, add more starch and stir evenly until there is no lump at all.
The normal next step is to put the mixed sweet potato flour colloid into a colander and drain it into vermicelli. To make wide noodles, put it in an iron basin and steam it.
After steaming, it looks like jelly. At this time, cut it into wide strips with a knife and put it on a winnowing basket to dry.
At noon, when the sun came out, Lin Heng looked at the sliced sweet potato noodles on the dustpan and said with emotion: "It's still more fun to make things at home with my wife."
"Then don't go to the mountain for the time being. We don't need that much meat now, so there's no need to suffer from the cold." Xiulan looked at him and said softly. She naturally felt sorry for her man and didn't want him to go out and suffer from the cold. Sometimes he might get hurt accidentally.
"No, I won't go. Even if I want to go, I'll wait until after the New Year." Lin Heng agreed with a smile.
Yesterday's attempt made him realize that it was difficult to hunt prey near the village, so it was better to stay at home with his wife and children. It was pleasant to drink tea, read books, or do other things with them.
The sun was shining brightly today, and after making the sweet potato vermicelli, they took the children to Red Maple Mountain to bask in the sun and walk around.
Lin Heng held his son and taught them to walk. They could start learning to walk at the age of one, and they also wanted to learn.
"Hehe...wow...Dad..."
Lin Luming was giggling and kicking his little feet randomly on the ground, having a lot of fun.
Lin Heng held him and played with him for a while and then switched with Xiulan to hold the younger son Du Heng. He would not favor one over the other and would treat all the children equally.
"These two little guys can actually take a few steps. It looks like they can learn to walk at one and a half years old." Lin's mother said nearby.
"Yes, they are becoming more and more truthful in their words." Father Lin also smiled. The growth of his two little grandsons is still very lovable.
In the sunshine, Lin Heng helped them walk around in the yard. Xiaoxia sat in a small wooden cart beside them, watching her brother's first steps with curiosity.
After playing for a while, the two little ones were put back into the stroller. Lin Heng went to help his father take out the large wooden barrel from the warehouse, sealed the gaps with sawdust, and then poured water to soak them.
They will slaughter the pig the day after tomorrow, so all these preparations need to be made in advance.
"Dad, let's go catch two more fish. We'll put a few in the stream and I'll catch two more to make fish balls."
After finishing the wooden barrel, Lin Heng looked at his father and said.
"Okay, I haven't fished for a long time." Father Lin nodded and happily took the fishing rod to go fishing.
Lin Heng didn't fish but just watched from the side to accompany his father. The bait he used today was still silkworms. Maybe because the weather was a little colder, the effect was a little worse than before. It took several minutes to catch a fish.
After fishing for a while, Father Lin said, "The fish are not very strong in winter. You can make fish balls. I can catch them by myself."
"Okay, I'll go then."
Lin Heng nodded, walked back and called Xiulan to take a bucket to go to the mountain stream to catch fish.
"This fish seems to have lost weight." Xiulan said as she looked at the fish in the pond.
"They taste better when they're lean." Lin Heng took a large scoop net and scooped all the fish out. The fish were almost grown, so he caught them first and moved them to another place, as he would need to raise the newly caught fish in this pond later.
After some effort, he picked out all the fish. Four of the nine fish were kept in a small pool below, and as for the remaining five, Lin Heng knocked them out with a stick, and he and Xiulan each killed one at the riverside.
The grass carp weighed about five or six pounds. After killing it, Lin Heng looked at Xiulan and asked, "Are five enough?"
Xiulan thought for a moment and said, "In fact, it's okay to make more. They won't go bad if they're kept in the freezer. The fish balls can be eaten by all three children."
"Then kill three more."
Lin Heng walked over, grabbed three of them and beat them to death with two sticks. He quickly killed them all.
Holding the fish, the two of them quickly ran back to warm themselves by the fire. They caught the fish balls here at Hongfeng Mountain because there were many people around and it was lively. Another reason was that there were people to help look after the children, and Xiulan could also take a break.
"You caught eight fish. This is hard to catch." Mother Lin looked at the eight big grass carps and shook her head.
Caiyun also said: "Yes, his hands will be broken, but I will go back to help you, second brother."
"It will take a long time, just take your time." Lin Heng was not worried because his father would definitely come to help in a while.
It doesn’t matter if I can’t finish it. In this weather, the fish won’t go bad even if I leave it out for a day or two.
Cut the fish meat into pieces, remove the large fish bones, cut the remaining fish meat into strips and place them on the chopping board and beat them with a rolling pin.
During the beating process, fish bones and fascia are continuously removed, and finally pure white fish meat fluff will be obtained. At this point, the fish meat is considered to be beaten.
The rest was left to Xiulan. She scooped up the fish meat and put it in a bowl, added some onion and ginger water and stirred it evenly, and then it could be made into fish balls.
After removing the head and bones of a grass carp, the pure fish meat weighs about four pounds. It is much easier to make than beef balls, and Lin Heng makes them very quickly.
Father Lin caught nine big grass carps and put them into the pool below the waterfall. He came back and helped Lin Heng make fish balls. The two of them worked very quickly and finished the job by one o'clock.
Xiulan and the others have also finished cooking the fish balls. They have cooked over 30 kilograms of fish balls in a large pot, enough to last for several months.
For lunch, Xiulan made a soup with fish bones and cooked some winter melon fish balls. Xiaoxia ate a small bowl by herself, and the two sons also ate a lot.
"Is it delicious?" Lin's mother asked with a smile.
"It's delicious." Xiaoxia nodded like pounding garlic.
Caiyun also said: "The fish meat will taste better if it is raised in mountain spring water."
She had eaten fish that were not raised in spring water before, and there was indeed a big difference in taste. The fish balls now had no fishy smell at all.
After eating rice and a delicious meal of fish balls, Lin Heng nodded with some satisfaction.
After playing here for half an afternoon, they returned home. Don't put the fish balls in the freezer in a hurry. Drain the water and put them in the cooking basket. When they are frozen hard the next morning, break them one by one and put them in the freezer.
In a blink of an eye, it is the 16th day of the twelfth lunar month. This day is the birthday of the twin sons Lin Duheng and Lin Luming. According to the lunar calendar, they have just turned one year old, but according to the solar calendar, they still have a few days to go.
At noon that day, Lin Heng invited his parents, his eldest brother and his family to come over for dinner. He had no intention of holding a big celebration for his first birthday.
"It's time to start the one-year-old ceremony." Caiyun called out after the meal was ready.
"Come on, let's start." Father Lin said, taking the tarpaulin and bed sheets and spreading them on the ground, and everyone placed the prepared items for the one-year-old ceremony on the ground.
These things are pen, book, silver coin, seal, ruler and flute.
The Zhou-year-old ceremony is mainly a small family activity, and what items to place is entirely up to the family's ideas.
"I brought my son here." Xiulan said after seeing everything was laid out.
"Okay." Lin Heng nodded.
Xiulan put the child on the bed sheet. Lin Luming looked curiously at the adults around him, and then at the items in front of him.
After giggling for a while, he crawled over and grabbed the book in one hand and the seal in the other.
"Get the books first. Our Lin family will have a scholar in the future." Father Lin said with a grin.
"Maybe he can become an official. Look, he even grabbed the seal. My grandson has a bright future." Lin's mother also laughed.
"Okay, let's take a look at Du Heng."
After the chat, Lin Heng brought Du Heng over again and prepared a new set of items for the one-year-old celebration.
"Ababa!"
After being put down, Lin Duheng did not look at the items, but looked at Lin Heng and wanted to hug him.
"Grab an object and choose a good son you like." Lin Heng said, pointing to the object in front.
Lin Duheng bit his hand for a moment, then grabbed the silver coin and pen.
"They were arrested almost at the same time. Will Du Heng become a businessman or a calligrapher in the future?"
"He must be both a businessman and a calligrapher."
"You're right. Both of my grandsons have bright futures."
Everyone discussed the result of the one-year-old ceremony for a long time. Lin Heng smiled and teased his son without saying much.
After waiting for a while, he said, "Let's eat."
"Okay, let's eat."
Everyone nodded and brought the dishes to prepare for dinner. Before eating, they fed the two little ones the delicious longevity noodles with shrimp and fish balls, which Xiulan had carefully prepared for them.
"Okay, let's eat." After feeding the child, Lin Heng couldn't wait to say that he was really hungry.
…
In a blink of an eye, it was the 21st day of the twelfth lunar month, a good day for slaughtering pigs. Every household slaughtered pigs, and all the relatives of Lin Heng came early in the morning.
Killing a pig is also a kind of gathering. His eldest uncle, third uncle's family all came, three members of his uncle's family came, and together with some people from the village, there were more than 20 people gathered.
Although Lin Heng could kill the pig himself, he still called a butcher because he was very lazy.
Early in the morning, after breakfast, Lin Heng and Xiulan brought their children to Hongfeng Mountain to help. After greeting relatives and friends, he was about to start working when his third father spoke up: "Lin Heng, your calligraphy is good. Can you write a few couplets for us during the New Year?"
"I want one too. No matter what, you have to write a few for my aunt." Lin Heng's aunt also said.
"Give us a few too. I've seen the couplets you wrote last year. They are so elegant and beautiful."
Not only relatives asked for it, but some villagers who came to help also asked for it with a smile.
"Okay, writing five pairs of couplets for your family should be enough, right?" Lin Heng agreed with a smile. He was very happy to write Spring Festival couplets for everyone, which was also a kind of trust.
"That's enough, absolutely enough." Everyone nodded and started chatting happily.
After chatting for a while, Lin's mother came over and reminded: "The water is boiling, you can kill the pig."
"Here we go, let's go."
"Let's go catch the pigs!"
A group of people stood up and started to work, talking and laughing. Chinese New Year is the happiest time of the year for farmers, and slaughtering the New Year pig is the second happiest time after Chinese New Year.
(End of this chapter)
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