"What is it?" Lin Heng looked at his mother curiously.
"I saw a golden marble tree over on Chestnut Hill. What do you think of it?"
Lin's mother took out a golden marble tree from the bag by the wall.
Lin Heng took a look and showed surprise: "Are there still golden bullets over at Lizi Mountain?"
This golden ball looks really good. It is only one meter tall, but three or four centimeters in diameter. The trunk of the tree also has some natural twists.
The only drawback is that the root system is not very developed. Apart from a main root, the rest are all small and fine roots.
But this is normal, as bonsai are mostly cultivated artificially, and naturally generated ones are hard to come by.
Mother Lin said, "I didn't get it from Chestnut Mountain. I found it by the roadside when I was going down the mountain. I thought you liked these things, so I dug it out."
"Oh, now I understand. Thanks, Mom." Lin Heng nodded. He guessed that the tree looked like this because it had been cut down by someone who went up the mountain. Now its shape was quite good.
"You can eat here tonight. The children are here anyway." said Lin's mother.
"Of course. I just killed the chicken. It would be a waste if we don't eat it." Father Lin said as he came over holding a big rooster.
This rooster was so crazy a few days ago that it wanted to peck at Xiaoxia's eggs, and today it happened to be eaten.
"The chickens have been killed. No matter what, we have to have a drink with Dad." Xiulan said with a smile.
Naturally, Lin Heng agreed. He looked at the golden ball tree and sawed it into two or three pieces. He buried the top two pieces in the sand and grafted them. Then it would become a bonsai tree.
The small golden ball bonsai is more beautiful, and the three sections of the future will be three bonsai trees.
After sawing the chestnuts, he left them there for the time being and went to help his mother process the chestnuts.
Mother Lin also picked some beautiful porcini and pine mushrooms, which she is now preparing to stir-fry with the chicken.
There is no need to process the big rooster that is raised at home. Just chop it up and put it directly into the pan with oil. Add seasoning soy sauce and stir-fry until fragrant, then add water and chestnuts and simmer it until cooked.
The main dishes for dinner were chicken and prawns, both served in small bowls. Everyone helped themselves to the greasy food.
The chicken is fragrant and chewy, and even the bones make a crunching sound when eaten by dogs.
"Come on, Dad, let's have one!" Lin Heng said with a smile as he picked up the cup after enjoying his meal.
"Come." Father Lin picked up the cup and walked away with Lin Heng.
Mother Lin was looking for meat for Xiaoxia, Luming and Du Heng. She gave them the ones that were full of meat and also peeled shrimps for the three of them.
She doesn't eat much herself, but she is happy to see the children eating. She takes better care of her grandchildren than Lin Heng and his companions.
"Xiulan, take the rest back and stew it for the children. This chicken weighs nine pounds after it is slaughtered, and we only fried a small half of it tonight." Lin's mother said when it was almost time for dinner.
"Keep it for yourself and eat it. We are going to kill another one so that you and my dad can have some snacks too." Lin Heng said while looking at them.
The taste of the chicken is amazing. They raised a lot this year. There are more than 30 chickens in Hongfeng Mountain, half of them are male and half are female.
He also raised twelve of them in the hill behind his house, four males and eight females.
It doesn’t matter if the chickens eat a lot. They mainly raise them in the free range. You feed them a little every day and they can find the rest to eat themselves.
It’s not that the whole grains cannot be cooked, but the chickens raised by Lin Heng in this way taste better.
"We can't finish so much. We can't eat it anymore because the weather is hot." Lin's mother waved her hand.
"As long as you want to eat it, eat it three times a day, it won't go bad." Lin Heng shook his head.
"Silly boy, you can't eat three meals a day even if the food tastes delicious." Father Lin said with a smile.
Lin Heng didn't say anything to them. He scooped some rice and ate it with relish.
However, when they left, they still took the remaining half.
Mother Lin persuaded them to kill a chicken after the prawns were sold and then eat them together.
Since Xiulan agreed, Lin Heng naturally couldn't say anything else.
After returning home, Lin Heng put the golden bullet aside. This thing needed to be repaired slowly, so he planned to plant it again tomorrow.
The next morning, after exercising and having breakfast, he went to get his golden marbles.
The two sections that need to be grafted should be wrapped in plastic film and inserted into the sand.
The one with roots was trimmed carefully and then placed in a ceramic pot he had prepared, placed against the wall and watered thoroughly to provide shade.
Then he looked at the other bonsai in the yard. They had grown a lot after the summer. He would trim them every month and was not worried about their shape changing.
Some of these bonsai have good shapes already and can be called bonsai now. They will become perfect when they grow longer.
Leaving the backyard and coming to the main room, he heard Xiaoxia in the study imitating the teacher teaching her two younger brothers.
"I've already stewed the chicken. Let's have some steamed buns for lunch." Xiulan said to Lin Heng.
"Okay." Lin Heng nodded. He himself liked eating steamed buns very much.
"I also want to soak some soybeans and make tofu in the next two days. My parents also like to eat tofu, but I'm afraid you won't have time because you have to go to the city these days." Xiulan said again.
"Then let's wait a few days. The space will be empty after I sell the prawns." Lin Heng thought for a while and said that it was indeed time for him to go to the city.
"That's fine." Xiulan agreed. She got up to pick some vegetables and then came back to knead the dough to prepare lunch.
The chestnut stewed chicken for lunch is irresistible, and the steamed buns with vegetables and fermented bean curd are also delicious.
The ground was relatively dry today, so they took the children to the fields in the afternoon and picked up all the fruits and vegetables that had grown in the garden.
At this point, most of the vegetables have reached the point of being harvested, and the fields need to be tidied up and replanted.
There are so many fruits and vegetables in the fields, such as autumn cucumbers, pumpkins, winter melons, etc., that it takes many backpacks to fill them.
People cannot finish it all, so most of it is taken back to feed livestock.
"We'll also build a greenhouse here this year to grow some winter vegetables."
After finishing cleaning up the vegetable garden, Lin Heng looked at Xiulan and said.
"This place is close to our home, so it's quite suitable." Xiulan nodded.
Greenhouses play a very important role in winter. With a greenhouse, you will never have to worry about eating green vegetables.
"I'll do it in a few days. This time I plan to directly weld a steel structure." Lin Heng said.
Bamboo is easy to rot, and it is really troublesome to rebuild it every year.
After finishing the work here, they went home early and had dinner with the leftover steamed buns and chicken from lunch.
The next morning, after sending Xiaoxia to school, Lin Heng drove the truck to the city.
Arriving in the city, he made a routine inspection of the production workshop and research institute.
After spending more than an hour here, he finally returned to the office.
Because of the rain, he hadn't come to check for half a month. It took him an hour just to check the various accounts, and it took him another morning to put them together and calculate them.
After counting the accounts, Lin Heng didn't smile at all. The sales of feed increased steadily in the second half of the year, just as expected.
After seeing the effects after using it, most people are willing to use it because the benefits are much greater than the cost.
Some large-scale breeders have also begun purchasing in large quantities, probably hoping to fatten the fish early and put them on the market by the end of the year.
In the afternoon, Lin Heng first went to investigate the market prices of various meats this year.
Overall, there is not much fluctuation compared to last year. There is an improvement, but the magnitude is not large. However, if we extend the timeline and compare it with three or four years ago, it has improved a lot.
The current market price of pork is 1.3 yuan per pound, while it was only 80 cents per pound a few years ago.
The price of freshwater shrimp is not much different from last year, and Lin Heng estimates that the profit earned will not be much different.
He is already considering giving up shrimp farming because shrimp farming is difficult and requires careful care.
Another reason is that it is impossible to raise large shrimp species such as Macrobrachium rosenbergii here, and green shrimp are not as competitive as these things.
Therefore, it is better to use it to raise fish. You don’t have to worry so much and you will get a stable income.
As for special breeding of similar species like giant salamander and Chinese sturgeon, he thinks it is unnecessary. Now is the bonus era. If you do something more popular in large quantities, you can still make a lot of money.
After understanding the market situation, Lin Heng stayed in the factory for one night, and then went to talk to someone about the sale of fresh shrimp the next day. Both state-owned companies and private traders were looking to buy in large quantities, but the prices were different.
Lin Heng has been doing business in Ancheng for several years and knows a lot of people. He is considered a stable supplier and the price he gives is good.
When talking about the prawns, Lin Heng also asked about pork. Finally, he decided to sell the prawns to a private trader.
The next week was mainly spent on collecting shrimps and transporting them. On the first Saturday of November, Lin Heng received all the money.
He had returned to Hongfeng Mountain just after noon, and Xiulan and the children were also here. They had agreed to have a big meal here today, and Xiulan came early to help Lin's mother, and the eldest brother and his family would also come over for dinner in the evening.
When Lin Heng got out of the car, his two sons surrounded him and asked for a hug. Lin Heng picked up the two children and held them up high to play with them for a while before they calmed down a little.
Seeing him enter the house, Lin's mother asked curiously, "Son, you didn't buy anything this time?"
"I bought some useful things and a pair of shoes for you, but I didn't take them down in the car." Lin Heng said.
"That's what I told you. If my son doesn't buy anything at all, then the sun will rise in the west." Mother Lin said with a smile.
Lin Heng sat down and took a sip of water before saying, "I plan to stop raising shrimps at home starting next year."
"You're not going to raise the child anymore, are you serious?" Lin's father spoke first. Lin Heng had told him about this, but he didn't expect Lin Heng to make the decision so quickly.
"Is the profit from shrimps not enough?" Lin's mother asked.
Xiulan didn't say anything. She knew this long ago. Lin Heng had discussed it with her many times. So she went straight into the house to make food for Lin Heng.
Lin Heng nodded and replied, "There are some reasons. The main reason is that raising shrimp is too troublesome and risky, but the returns are not that high."
After taking a sip of water, he continued, "The profit from raising shrimp this year is 13,800 yuan, which is about the same as last year, but if you raise fish at a higher density, you can make more money, and breeding will be much simpler."
Father Lin thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "Raising shrimp is indeed troublesome, that's true. Raising fish is also fine. I'll listen to you, son. You have vision and you can make the decision."
Another disadvantage of shrimps is that they have a short lifespan, so if you don't sell them after they grow up, you'll lose money. But fish don't have this problem, so it doesn't matter if you keep them in the pond and don't sell them for the time being.
"So, son, what kind of fish are you planning to raise?" Lin's mother asked again.
She was not too opposed to this, because she already had fish at home and it was just a matter of expanding the scale.
"Just the four major carps, mainly grass carp, and some crucian carp and carp." Lin Heng replied that these popular fish species are the easiest to sell and there is no problem in selling them.
"Just make your decision. Your father and I will listen to you." Lin's mother said finally.
Lin Heng smiled and nodded: "Okay, let's make this a happy decision."
"Eat and talk while you eat." Xiulan brought him a bowl of sauerkraut noodles and said.
"Thank you, wife." Lin Heng took the food and started eating it with big slurps. Xiulan understood him and knew that he had been hungry for a long time.
After finishing his meal, he took back the things he had bought, and then ate a Hami melon. The Hami melon in late autumn was especially sweet.
After giving the gifts to his parents, Lin Heng walked out feeling relieved, because basically all the big things he wanted to do this year had been accomplished. This was a successful year.
Now it is early November and the leaves have begun to fall. The mountains have turned colorful, and the chill of late autumn has turned the leaves red.
"It's autumn again!" Lin Heng looked at Xiulan and said with a smile.
She sat on a bench picking vegetables, the autumn wind blowing up the corners of her clothes. Hearing Lin Heng's words, she sighed: "Time is passing faster and faster."
The ryegrass on the hillside swayed in the wind, chickens ran around in the grass, and children chased puppies and ran freely in the mountains.
Lin Heng sat down, drinking tea and looking at the red leaves all over the mountains. In a few days, he would be able to pick persimmons and hawthorns again. The events of last year seemed to be still vivid in his mind.
After being stunned for a while, Lin Heng went over to help Xiulan.
Their meal today was very sumptuous. Not only did they have fish and shrimp, but they also had chicken and lamb legs. The chicken was freshly slaughtered by his father in the afternoon, and the lamb legs were from a white goat that Lin Heng bought.
In addition, Lin Heng also squeezed apple juice for the children. There were too many apples at home to eat them all, so the residue was fed to pigs and chickens, and the juice was used as a drink.
In the evening they set up a big round table, and all the family members who could come sat around it together. It was not like a reunion dinner, but it was better than one.
"Come on, let's eat and drink." Lin Heng raised his glass and said with a smile.
“Come here!”
"cheers!"
Adults and children all raised their cups, took a sip and could eat freely.
There are no outsiders, so you can eat whatever you want. The most important thing is that everyone is happy.
Everyone was having a great time eating the delicious cumin lamb legs, the sweet chestnut stewed chicken, the green shrimps and the pickled fish.
"This apple juice is really good." Xiulan praised after taking two sips.
"There are still a lot of apples in the room. Take some back and I'll squeeze them for you." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Since he didn't have a juicer, he used gauze to wrap the juice and squeeze it using a homemade wooden board.
"Okay." Xiulan nodded happily.
At the dinner table, everyone was drinking and talking about their gains this year, and that life was generally getting better.
Lin Heng told his elder brother about his decision, and his elder brother also thought it was very reasonable. Raising fish is indeed much simpler.
It was already past eight in the evening when we finished our meal, and it was past nine when we packed up and left.
The sky was dotted with stars and the autumn wind was a little chilly at night. Lin Heng pulled Xiulan, and the three of them were still in the front holding flashlights and making trouble.
"Would you like to go up the mountain to see the red leaves tomorrow?" Lin Heng turned his head and asked.
"Go ahead. I'll go if you go." Xiulan responded with a tender smile.
(End of this chapter)
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