I took the fish home. It was still early, just past three in the afternoon.
"You caught so many fish. I thought you wouldn't catch any." Xiulan was a little shocked when she saw the fish they were holding.
"I'm just average, but my dad is the best. He catches more than three kilograms of mandarin fish a day." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"Then Dad, you are so awesome." Xiulan looked at Lin's father in shock.
"We're lucky today. Let's weigh it to see how much it weighs." Father Lin walked to the scale with a smile.
"Three pounds and six ounces. This fish is bigger than I imagined." Lin Heng smiled as he looked at the numbers on the scale.
"Haha, is it easy to make a stinky mandarin fish from such a big fish, Xiulan?"
Father Lin laughed heartily and asked his daughter-in-law.
"It can be made, but it won't be as delicious as the one made from about one pound of food." Xiulan nodded.
"Then let's steam it tonight and invite your uncle's family over for a meal. Then tomorrow we'll go catch some more than a pound to make stinky mandarin fish." Father Lin said after thinking for a while.
"That's best." Xiulan nodded with a smile.
Lin Heng put the crucian carp he caught in a bucket of water first, and then he and his father killed the mandarin fish, small white striped grouper and Makouxi grouper.
Mandarin fish tastes good when steamed, but these small fish are even better than mandarin fish when fried as a side dish. Taking a sip of wine and eating a bite of fried fish can make you feel as carefree as a god.
After killing the fish, Lin Heng marinated all the fish with scallion and ginger water, then burned charcoal and fried the fish slowly in a frying pan over low heat.
Caiyun has been here the whole day. Besides helping to look after the children, she has been reading books and doing housework with Xiulan.
Seeing Lin Heng frying fish, Caiyun came over and said with a smile: "Second brother, can I take a look at the novel you wrote?"
When I was chatting with my sister-in-law today, she found out that her second brother had actually written a novel.
"I wrote it just for fun. If you want to read it, just take a look." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"It's amazing that I can write so many words. It's more than I have written since I was born."
Caiyun smiled and said that no matter what the content was, the number of 100,000 words was something she admired very much.
Lin Heng nodded, turned the fish over and sat on the sofa, poured himself a cup of tea and watched the three children.
His father had just killed the fish and went back to Hongfeng Mountain. He said he would go back to feed the cattle and sheep, and come over with Lin's mother after he finished his work there.
Lin Heng helped Xiulan to dig up and clean up all the onions, ginger, garlic and other condiments that she needed.
An hour later, Lin Heng finally fried the dried fish, and the rich aroma filled the whole house.
The three children had put down their toys and came over, staring at him eagerly with hungry eyes.
"Wife, try one first." Lin Heng fed Xiulan one first.
"The brook grouper isn't very crispy, but the meat is very fragrant and tasty." Xiulan smiled and nodded, her red lips shiny from eating so much.
After saying that, she took another one to eat. Lin Heng tasted one himself to make sure there was nothing wrong with it before feeding it to his daughter and son.
"Because I'll have to fry it again when I eat it, and I'm afraid if I fry it too crispy now, it will burn when I fry it later." Lin Heng explained.
And he thinks this is the best way. If it is drier, the meat flavor will be gone and only the crispy texture will remain.
"Dad, I want to eat more." Xiaoxia ate two pieces in a row and continued to act coquettishly.
"I want more daddy!"
"I want fish!"
Luming and Duheng also asked for it in a baby voice, and they learned very quickly from their sister.
"We have both, we have both." Lin Heng looked at them and said that the children could eat all the dried fish. In this day and age, it was good enough for children to have meat, so there was no need to care so much.
After feeding the child some, Lin Heng called Caiyun again: "Caiyun, don't you want to eat?"
"I'm eating." Caiyun put down the book and walked out. She took a dried fish and ate it while looking at Lin Heng and said, "Second brother, I'm afraid you didn't write this novel casually. Most people can't compare to your writing style."
She has read a lot of books, and she could tell from just a few pages that Lin Heng's book was of good quality. As for the content, she couldn't make any comment as she hadn't finished reading it yet.
"Really?" Lin Heng said with a smile. He didn't feel that his writing skills were that good.
Caiyun nodded repeatedly: "Really? Just some of the descriptions of the environment are very special, just right and deeply rooted in people's hearts."
"I also think it's well written, but your second brother still doesn't believe it." Xiulan also said that she is now much more knowledgeable than before, has read a lot of books, and knows more words. She thinks what Lin Heng writes is very interesting.
"It seems that I may actually have some talent." Lin Heng laughed. He felt that this was because his brain became brighter after his rebirth.
His enhanced memory made him more adept at many things.
"Second brother, you can try to publish it." Caiyun said. Although he didn't finish reading it, he felt it was very promising.
"Let's talk about this later, and don't let anyone know." Lin Heng waved his hand. He didn't want to do this for the time being. He would try it when he had money and time.
"Okay." Caiyun nodded, feeling a little pity. She admired her second brother in her heart. It was really amazing that he put his mind on the main business. Not only did he make money, but he was also good at calligraphy and writing.
If she wasn't sure that the person in front of her was her second brother, she would really wonder if he was a god descending to earth.
"What are you guys talking about?"
As they were talking, Lin's mother and father pushed open the gate of the courtyard and walked in one after another. Lin's mother was holding a basket of vegetables and looked at them with a smile.
"My fried fish is delicious, you should try it." Lin Heng said, holding the fried dried fish.
"Of course it's delicious. Fish is delicious and fried. We didn't have that luxury before."
Mother Lin took two and put them in her mouth while speaking. Father Lin beside her also tasted a few and nodded repeatedly.
Not only is it more lively when there are more people, but cooking is also faster.
Xiulan, Lin's mother and Caiyun came together and quickly prepared the meal. They set up a special large round table that could seat more than a dozen people.
After the meal was ready, Lin Heng called his eldest brother's family and his eldest uncle's family over. Everyone sat together, and the evening banquet began.
The men drank happily and played finger-guessing games, the women chatted about village gossip, and the children ate a few bites and then went to play games.
Steamed mandarin fish is the favorite of women and children, while fried dried fish and peanuts are the favorites of men who drink wine. Everyone eats and chats happily.
It was already past seven o'clock after the meal. It was raining heavily outside, so they got a big umbrella and sent my uncle's family to the old house.
The next morning, it was still raining, and even heavier than yesterday. Lin Heng looked at it and shook his head helplessly. He understood that it was a continuous rainy day, which was common in July and August.
It's hard to go fishing today because of the rain, so I had no choice but to give up.
After breakfast he drank tea at home and studied Capital. Even if he could only read the basics he would still read it. Now that his memory was good he would read it in his mind first and then slowly understand it through the back door.
To survive in this society, it is okay to be without academic qualifications, but it is absolutely impossible to be without knowledge. From small things like chatting to big things like economics and politics, there are many subjects to learn.
Even if you just want to be a leisurely small farmer and live a simple life, you still have to know how to farm, cook, and do all kinds of things.
At noon, the rain suddenly stopped for a whole time. Lin Heng went out for a walk in the village wearing rain boots, watching the angry rushing of the Shiban River, the charming green mountains after the rain, the cattle and sheep grazing on the hillside, the rice fields, the clouds, and everything.
The outlet of the rice field was blocked with wire mesh to prevent the rice fish from flowing out. Lin Heng looked around and unknowingly came to the hillside where Liu Ciwen was grazing cattle and sheep.
He was less than 1.7 meters tall, with a sallow complexion. He was wearing a large bamboo hat, a thick straw raincoat, and a pair of sandals woven from dragon beard grass. His feet were covered with calluses from the rubbing.
He had a pair of yellow rubber shoes, but he only wore them when he went to school. He usually wore straw sandals that he made himself to make ends meet. His family's life improved slightly after his sister got married, but they were still one of the poorest households in the village.
It was no longer raining and the surfaces of many large rocks on the hillside were dry. Liu Ciwen dipped his fingers in water and wrote in boredom.
"It's hard work to herd cattle." Lin Heng walked over and said with a smile.
When Liu Ciwen saw that it was Lin Heng, he said shyly, "Brother Lin, it's OK. It's not too hard."
Lin Heng skipped the topic and asked, "Why don't you come to my house to borrow books recently?"
Liu Ciwen replied: "I am also borrowing it, but because Caiyun and I are classmates, she often lends it to me directly."
Lin Heng nodded, and then asked: "I heard that you did very well in the high school entrance examination. What are your plans now?"
Speaking of this question, Liu Ciwen sighed softly and said, "I'm still thinking about it."
His burden was heavy, and he didn't know what to do.
"Are you thinking of giving up your studies?" Lin Heng asked with a smile.
"Yeah." Liu Ciwen nodded. He was unwilling to give up, but reality forced him to do so. He had to take care of his parents and help grow crops. Although he was only eighteen years old, he had already felt the burden of life.
"Go to school. I will support your tuition and living expenses."
At this time Lin Heng spoke.
"Ah!!" Liu Ciwen screamed, thinking he had heard it wrong, and stared at Lin Heng blankly.
Lin Heng patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "Don't think too much. I am willing to support anyone who has a dream. The money you spend on school is nothing to me."
“Brother Lin…”
Liu Ciwen was a little at a loss, not understanding why Lin Heng, who was not related to him in any way, would help him.
"You've heard of the terms 'a thousand-mile horse' and 'a good horse trainer', right? I now think that you are a thousand-mile horse, and I'm willing to be your good horse trainer." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Then he had a good chat with him again, and finally Liu Ciwen believed this dream and nodded solemnly to Lin Heng: "Brother Lin, I will not let you down."
"You don't have to do this for me, just for yourself." Lin Heng shook his head, and then said, "I will come to find you when school starts, and take you and Caiyun to school together, so that you can take care of each other."
"Thank you, Brother Lin." Liu Ciwen said again, feeling very confused.
Lin Heng waved his hand and left. After looking at the river, he put on his raincoat and went to the mountain. He felt a little bored staying at home, so he liked to take a walk in the woods.
“So many chanterelles!”
Not long after walking, Lin Heng's eyes suddenly lit up. He saw that on the ground of the acorn forest in front of him, many golden little mushrooms had grown out of the leaves. They were chubby and extremely cute.
He quickly took out a bag and squatted down to pick up the fruits. He was in a very good mood. Although a lot of them were rotten, he still picked up a full two kilograms.
Then he continued to move forward and looked elsewhere, and sure enough, he found a lot more. July is the peak season for chanterelles, and it is a pleasure to pick them up.
Of course, there were also many other red mushrooms and boletus, but the bag he had today was small, so he only picked up the chanterelles and checked the other mushrooms.
In the evening, the rain started to fall again. Lin Heng returned home with his harvest and couldn't wait to show off: "Xiu Lan, look, I picked up five or six kilograms of chanterelles."
"I knew you were going up the mountain. I'll fry these chanterelles for you tonight." Xiulan said with a smile, and then went to get him a dry towel. She waited for him to take off his raincoat and wiped his hair and neck with it.
"Fried bacon is delicious." Lin Heng nodded with a smile, and then said, "There are a lot of mushrooms in the forest after the rain. We can pick them when the weather clears up."
Caiyun said, "I hope it won't rain for too long, otherwise it will all rot on the mountain."
"Yeah, I hope it won't rain too long." Xiulan also sighed.
Lin Heng sat down and drank a sip of tea, then said with a smile: "Just go ahead, I don't care, I'm not in a hurry."
After holding his daughter and son for a while, he went home to drink tea. Apart from playing with them, he basically didn't teach them anything unless the children wanted to learn themselves.
The only thing I insist on doing is telling them stories every night to cultivate their reading habit.
The next day the rain did not stop or get lighter as they had imagined. Instead, moderate rain continued for another day. Lin Hengdu went to clean his drainage ditch again for fear that water would enter the house.
It was not until the morning of July 8 that the sky cleared up and the long-lost sun came out. The green mountains and the sky were cleansed and became extremely pure, and clouds spread in the mountains.
After breakfast, Lin Heng and Xiulan went up the mountain to pick mushrooms. The rain had been falling for too long and there were a lot of rotten mushrooms. After picking for a whole morning, each of them only picked up a dozen pounds. After going back to clean and pick, they picked a little more than ten pounds.
"I'm too lazy to go. They're all rotten. It's better to catch cicada monkeys these two days. There are most of them at night after the rain." Xiulan shook her head while drying mushrooms.
"It's really boring now." Lin Heng nodded. He would go do his own thing after the weather cleared up for two days and the road became hardened by the sun. He couldn't delay any longer.
Just one afternoon after the rain, the weather returned to the hot July weather. The mushrooms were almost dried in half a day and the water vapor evaporated quickly.
In the evening, after Lin Heng and Xiulan coaxed the children to sleep, they went to catch cicada monkeys. Because it had been raining, there were especially many of them tonight, and they could be seen everywhere.
There is no need to look for them deliberately. Just take a few steps and you can see the golden cicadas that have just climbed up the trees, as well as many white cicadas that have already shed their shells.
"We have a big catch tonight. I estimate that we can get three or four kilograms together." Xiulan said with a smile. They each caught about two or three hundred fish tonight.
"I estimate it to be about the same." Lin Heng nodded.
When she got home and weighed it, Xiulan burst into laughter: "It's actually 4 pounds and 2 ounces. There's enough in the freezer to last for a long time."
After saying that, she threw the cicadas directly into the freezer to freeze them. They would die in a short time in such cold weather. (End of this chapter)
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