“It’s raining!”
When he woke up in the morning, Lin Heng sighed as he looked at the drizzle outside the window. The pillow made by Qiuju made him feel refreshed when sleeping.
"It doesn't look like it will rain heavily." Xiulan walked to the windowsill, took a look and said, then went back to comb her hair.
After closing the window, Lin Heng walked back and said with a smile: "It seems that God has given us the chance to eat mutton today."
Since it’s raining and you can’t do anything, you can only eat some delicious food.
"Are you going to kill the sheep after breakfast?" Xiulan asked, looking up.
Lin Heng thought for a moment and suggested, "Why don't we go directly to Hongfeng Mountain, have breakfast at my parents' place, then kill a sheep for lunch and have a mutton hotpot or just shabu-shabu mutton."
"That's fine." Xiulan nodded and said, there was not much work to do at home now.
"Then let's go." Lin Heng decided.
The two of them got up and finished their exercise first, then woke up the children and went to Red Maple Mountain.
"Dad, why did all the turtles disappear?" Xiaoxia suddenly shouted, ran over and hugged Lin Heng's thighs and asked. She would come to check on the turtles every morning.
Lu Ming and Du Heng were still staring at their sister and father blankly, not knowing what was going on.
"Of course it's hibernating. I'll show you."
Lin Heng walked over to the big wooden tub where the turtles were kept and said that he doted on his children very much, and had someone custom-make a big wooden tub with a diameter of one meter for the turtles. It was painted with tung oil and then left in the open air.
He also created a landscape in the basin with the children, using sand, stones, moss, calamus, etc. There was water and a beach. It can be said that except for him, no one else in the countryside would do this with the children, and it would be a waste of a large wooden basin.
"It's winter now, and the turtles are hibernating. They have all burrowed into the sand." Lin Heng pulled Xiaoxia aside and explained.
As he spoke, Lin Heng dug a sand hole for Xiaoxia to see. He had already put a lot of water in the wooden basin, and the remaining water was only used to keep the sand moist.
"It really hibernated." Xiaoxia was a little surprised, as if she had forgotten that Lin Heng had told her about this last year.
"The turtle's hibernation should not be disturbed, let's go to Red Maple Mountain to play." Lin Heng said, and took some grass to cover the turtle to keep it warm.
Then he changed into rain boots, carried Du Heng on his back, held Lu Ming in his arms, and let Lu Ming hold the umbrella. Xiulan took Xiaoxia with her and carried the seasonings for hot pot and barbecue.
Xiongba followed them, Jinbao "Brother, go kill the black goat, we'll all go over to eat mutton at noon." Lin Heng pushed open the door of his eldest brother's house and shouted.
Lin Yue nodded and agreed: "Okay, we'll go there in a while. Let's feed the cows and pigs and then go."
"Okay, then we'll go first." Lin Heng nodded and agreed.
Next, they came to Red Maple Mountain with their children holding umbrellas.
When they opened the door and walked in, Father and Mother Lin had just gotten up. When they saw them coming, Father Lin smiled and said, "I guessed that you would come here to kill sheep when it rained. I didn't expect you to come here without even having breakfast."
"We came here to have breakfast, I guess you guys haven't eaten yet." Lin Heng asked with a smile.
"Grandpa, I want to eat eggs."
“I eat candy!”
"I eat fruit!"
Without waiting for anything to be said, the children started chattering and trotting into the house like little penguins.
"We have everything. We have everything your dear grandchildren want to eat." Mother Lin came out of the house and hugged her children with a smile. Her two twin grandchildren were her favorites. They were something she showed off to everyone.
"We definitely haven't eaten either. We were just about to go milk the cows." Father Lin said with a smile.
"Then I'll help." Lin Heng nodded.
After a short while, they prepared the milk and eggs. Not only did Lin's mother fried potato pancakes, she also peeled apples for the three children.
After they finished breakfast, his eldest brother and his family came over. The six children were so lively together, running around and couldn't stop.
Lin Heng, his father and his eldest brother went up the mountain, fed the cattle and sheep first, and then selected suitable targets while the sheep were grazing.
"These sheep can actually be sold. They won't grow much if we keep them." Father Lin said while looking at the flock of sheep.
"Then let's sell a batch next year, otherwise we won't be able to keep them all." Lin Heng nodded.
These scalded sheep can indeed be processed. The price of mutton is getting higher and higher now, so it is not a big loss to sell them. Besides, he will need a lot of money in the early spring of next year, and he has a new investment to make.
He was even planning to sell the astragalus next year, as it was not a good idea to keep it for a long time. Although according to his memory, there had not been any large-scale animal epidemics in recent years, it was not certain that things would change.
"See if you can sell it by the end of the year. I estimate the price of mutton will be very good at the end of the year." Lin's father said.
"That's fine. I'll find time to go to Ancheng next month. The prices there should be better than here." Lin Heng nodded in agreement.
Now that he has a car, he can afford the freight costs himself. If he can sell the goods in Ancheng, he will definitely not sell them in Taibai City.
"This one, please."
While chatting, Lin Heng suddenly made a move and grabbed the head of a castrated ram.
“Meh!! Meh!!”
Accompanied by screams, all the other sheep ran away, leaving only the poor guy struggling.
"I'll do it."
Lin Yue jumped up and grabbed the sheep from the pen, and carried it out with Lin's father. The other sheep just watched from a distance, and then continued to eat grass after the sheep was caught, as if nothing had happened.
"This one is quite fat. I wonder if it weighs 80 kilograms." Lin Heng said with a smile while lifting one of the legs of the black goat.
“If not eighty, at least seventy.” Father Lin said with a smile.
"It must be over seventy. This black goat looks very fat." Lin Yue said with a smile.
They took the sheep down the mountain and found a suitable position. Lin Heng took an eight-stick hammer and hit the sheep on the forehead. With a thud, the sheep stopped moving.
After lifting the fainted goat onto the large scale and weighing it, Lin Heng smiled and said, "We underestimated it. This black goat actually weighs 86 kilograms."
"I really can't tell. It seems that this black goat is really different." Lin Yue was a little shocked.
"With this weight, they can be sold." Father Lin grinned and repeated the topic. He didn't know what the future would be like and was worried that if something unexpected happened, all these black goats would rot in his hands.
"Yes, it can be sold." Lin's mother understood this and nodded in agreement.
Then they lifted the sheep aside, put it in a basin, killed it with a knife and drained the blood. After killing it, they hung it under the eaves and peeled off the skin bit by bit.
The skin of the black goat is quite thick, but it is not difficult for three people to kill it.
After peeling off the sheepskin and cutting open the belly, we could bring the meat into the house and do the rest of the work while warming ourselves by the fire. It was raining and the wind was strong outside, making the cold unbearable.
After the slaughter, there were about 40 pounds of pure meat, which was pretty good.
"Come on, let's put some skewers on the spot and grill them to taste." Lin Heng cut off a piece of fat and lean mutton and asked.
"Give it to me, I'll skewer it." Xiulan took the meat, used Lin Heng's tempered steel dagger to cut it into small pieces and skewered it on the iron skewer.
After being roasted on the fire for less than two minutes, a rich aroma of meat wafted out, attracting all the children who were playing to gather around, drooling at the sight of the mutton on the grill.
Soon, Xiulan, Liu Juan and others finished roasting the first batch of meat. After cutting it all into pieces, each person could have about two pieces.
"Mmm, it smells so good!"
"It smells good. I want to eat more~"
"Roasted lamb is so delicious, Dad. Let's raise two sheep at home. I'll take care of them, okay?"
"I'm helping my brother."
The children spoke before the adults even spoke.
"It's really good." Lin Yue tasted it carefully, then looked at his son, "If you really want to release it, I'll buy you one."
"Of course we will. We will." Lin Wei nodded repeatedly. He thought herding sheep was a very interesting thing.
"I'm willing to do that too." Lin Tao nodded.
Mother Lin chewed a little and said, "The black goat's meat tastes pretty good, but it doesn't seem to be much different from the white-bearded goat."
"I think it smells better than white goat." Father Lin said with a smile.
Lin Heng said, "You can't really taste the flavor if you roast it, and our white goats are well-fed, so the taste won't be much different."
After a pause, he continued, "We will definitely be able to taste the difference when we eat them together later. It's a pity that we don't have white goat meat for comparison."
"Then should I continue baking?" Xiulan asked.
"Of course it was roasted, but not much." Lin Heng nodded and cut some more meat over.
Then he cut up all the remaining meat, except for the lamb chops, and removed the meat from all four legs. He chopped the leg bones into small pieces and put them in a pot to make soup.
He didn't have to worry about how to cook mutton hotpot, as Xiulan had made it last year and was very skilled. This year she also studied several cookbooks he bought for her.
He used his finely sharpened Damascus dagger to cut the meat with just a light scratch. He first cut five pounds of mutton slices and waited for the hot pot at noon.
Father Lin and his eldest brother were busy processing the sheep's internal organs. They were going to cook some sheep's stomach and eat it later.
The mutton bone broth was stewed for two hours, and during the stewing period, Xiulan also prepared a dipping sauce for the mutton. Lin Heng roasted some mutton over there.
At 12:30 noon, Xiulan looked at Lin Heng and said, "Wipe the table, it's time to eat mutton."
"Okay." Lin Heng nodded quickly.
After setting the table and cleaning it, they went to get the electric stove. Xiulan brought the iron pot with the broth over and took it off the stove. After getting the other things, everyone sat around and started eating.
The only food on the table besides the mutton was a large plate of coriander. After sitting down, Lin Heng picked up the chopsticks and said, "It's time to eat, everyone hurry up and eat."
When the mutton was served, there was already some cooked mutton in it. Shabu-shabu mutton is very simple, with some ginger, scallions and basic spices in the broth, nothing else.
"Eat them all!" said Father Lin.
Everyone couldn't wait to pick up their chopsticks and grab some, mainly because they could smell the aroma of the broth very early and their mouths were already watering.
Lin Heng kept nodding his head as he ate the mutton: "It's delicious. It's really delicious."
The mutton tastes very fresh and fragrant, with a layered texture. It is chewy but not too chewy, and has almost no fishy smell.
"Absolutely great mutton." Father Lin said with a smile. This mutton is so delicious that it makes people salivate.
Xiulan said, "I think it tastes better than white goat."
Even Lin's mother nodded repeatedly, indicating that it was indeed delicious.
Then Lin Heng picked up a piece of mutton with fat. Generally, this kind of mutton would be very fishy, but it tasted okay. It had the taste of mutton fat, but it was not disgusting.
You have to know that these muttons have not been soaked in water to remove the fishy smell, but they still taste like this, which shows that they are really good.
It tastes good just eaten alone, and it becomes even more delicious when dipped in some sesame paste. Everyone just nodded and hardly spoke a word, and even stopped drinking.
Because this mutton tastes so good, not only does it make your whole body feel warm, but the delicious taste is so addictive.
A piece of mutton with a piece of coriander is so delicious that you can almost swallow it with your tongue.
After a while, the five kilograms of mutton was finished, and everyone finally stopped. Whether children or adults, there was a satisfied expression on their faces.
"Go and cut some more. We'll have enough mutton today." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"I'll help you." Lin Yue also nodded.
The rain outside was getting heavier now. The sound of the rain was accompanied by the whistling mountain wind, and yellow leaves were constantly falling all over the mountain.
Inside the house, they cut another five pounds of mutton and continued to eat. There was plenty of coriander and mutton. No one in their family didn't eat coriander.
After eating for a while, the children hugged it first, stopped eating, and ran to the side to play.
The adults poured a cup of rice wine and continued to drink while they could eat a lot. It was already two o'clock in the afternoon when they finished eating. Everyone leaned back in their chairs with satisfaction, and their bodies and minds were satisfied as never before.
“What a wonderful day!”
Father Lin sighed as he looked at the rain outside, saying that he had never thought that there would be a day when he would be so full of mutton.
"Our whole family ate ten kilograms of mutton, so we can eat a lot." Lin Yue said with a smile.
"We ate the entire sheep." Liu Juan also said with a smile.
Lin Heng smiled and said, "What's the big deal? People should treat themselves well and eat whatever they want."
There is no end to suffering. Those who preach that suffering is a blessing must have never suffered. No matter how much suffering you have endured, most of the time it is of no use. At the very least, you should think about who made you suffer and why some people are born without having to suffer.
Everyone nodded in agreement. Mother Lin also started to think, but no one knew where her thoughts were drifting with the continuous drizzle.
After clearing away the dishes, Lin's mother brought out hawthorns, oranges, apples, a bag of sugar and an iron spoon.
"It's time to eat candied haws. Does anyone want some?" Xiulan shouted to the children. She was afraid that the children would have indigestion if they ate too much meat, so she brought some hawthorns.
"Eat, I want to eat candied haws!"
“I want to eat too!”
Soon a group of children gathered around, happily asking for delicious food.
Xiulan added some water to the spoon, and soon the sugar melted. She took the skewered candied haws and wrapped them up. Strings of candied haws were ready. Every child got the candied haws they wanted to eat. Accompanied by the mountain breeze, the laughter and joy spread far away. (End of this chapter)
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