Chapter 70: I am also a rich man [5,000 words]
"Is your face okay?"
After dinner, while taking a break, Lin Heng looked at Xiulan's face again.
"It's okay, it doesn't hurt anymore." Xiulan shook her head.
Lin Heng came over to take a look, and it was indeed nothing serious, but it looked a little scary at the time, with the red slap marks on it.
"That's good."
Lin Heng nodded and lay down to rest. After working all day, he didn't have the energy to do anything else.
The next morning, Lin Heng did not help his elder brother Lin Yue apply the plaster.
Because Lin's mother arranged a job for him, he and Xiulan went to his third father Lin Xutao's house to work.
Lin's mother took the deer meat she had prepared and a small bag of sugar to visit the family of Lin Heng's uncle Li Baiquan.
The things they took were all the same, three pounds of deer meat and a small bag of half a pound of white sugar.
In this day and age, this is definitely a generous gift.
Lin Hengsan's father, Lin Xutao, lived close to the river, with the Shiban River just below his doorstep.
After getting the things, Lin Heng held his daughter in his arms, and Xiulan took the things and set off.
"Beep, beep, run~"
Xiaoxia shook her little head, indicating that she wanted to run and didn't want to be held.
"Okay, there's really nothing I can do about you." Lin Heng put her down and walked forward holding her little hand.
Pulling a handful of gray-gray vegetable leaves, she turned her head and looked at Lin Heng: "Ba Ba~"
Lin Heng understood what she meant and said, "This is gray vegetable."
"This is gray grass~ hehe"
Xiaoxia imitated Lin Heng's words, giggled, showing two dimples, and stuffed the grass into Lin Heng's body.
She still cared about her father as always. She gave all the grass she picked to him and stuffed the candies she saw into her own mouth.
"You're still a good daughter like always." Lin Heng shook his head and pulled her forward.
After several days of Lin Heng's teaching, Xiaoxia seemed to treat identifying objects and speaking as a game.
On the side, Xiulan looked at the father and daughter, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but rise slightly.
While playing, the three of them had already arrived at the door of Lin Heng's third father, Lin Xutao.
"I came to knock on the door, but I don't know if Third Mama welcomes us. She never had a good face when she came before."
Lin Heng said something, walked over and knocked on the door. Even if her third mother didn't like them, they still had to come.
Early in the morning, his third father's family had just gotten up. Of his two sons, the eldest son, Lin Shan, had already married, built a house and moved out.
The second son, Lin Hai, has no wife yet and lives with them. At this time, the couple had just woken up and were washing in the yard.
Boom boom!
"Who's knocking on the door?" Lin Heng's third mother Li Xue put the washbasin on the ground and walked over to open the door with an expressionless face.
"Lin Heng, Xiulan, why are you here?" After opening the door, Li Xue was a little surprised.
"Third Aunt, do you think we disturb you by coming here unexpectedly?" Liu Juan said with a smile.
"No, no, you just come if you want to. Why bring anything with you? You're too polite."
When Third Mother Li Xue saw what the two were carrying, she immediately smiled, realizing that Dao Lao had come.
She had been waiting for them to come, but she didn't expect them to come so soon, and the gifts they brought were even more generous than she had imagined.
Originally, she hated the fact that her husband often went to help Lin Heng's family.
There is already endless work to do at home, and her second son still hasn't found a wife to get married, but he is still helping others, which makes her very angry and they have quarreled countless times.
But in the past half month, she often heard people in the village discussing the Lin family's affairs while washing clothes.
It was no big deal for Lin Heng to catch a wild boar, but she also caught a muntjac, which changed her attitude. The skins of the two animals together were worth nearly two hundred yuan.
Now that Lin Heng is rich, his family can also benefit from it, and they can even borrow some money when their second son gets married in the future.
Look, the gifts for the Taoist priests are three pounds of deer meat and a bag of sugar, which are worth five or six yuan.
"Come in and sit down quickly. Don't be polite. Just treat it like your own home."
Li Xue took Xiulan's hand and welcomed them into the house.
Lin Heng felt a little uncomfortable looking at Third Ma who was so enthusiastic.
He still remembered that when he asked for a drink of water before leaving her house, she would say something sarcastic like water was hard to find.
Now she seemed to have forgotten what happened before and didn't mention it at all.
Lin Heng couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "As expected, you have to be rich and capable to be respected by others."
"Lin Heng, you brought so many things. Are you trying to humiliate me, your third father? I just helped you, but you brought so many things."
Third father Lin Xutao said angrily when he saw Lin Heng.
He helped simply because Lin Heng's father was kind to him when he was a child, not for money or gifts.
"Not much. Third father, you know I hunted a large deer weighing more than 50 kilograms. I can't finish it. Please help me eat some."
Lin Heng chuckled and carried Xiaoxia into the house.
Xiulan had already put the things on top of her food cabinet.
"Drink some water, don't be polite, just treat it like your own home."
For the first time ever, Li Xue poured a cup of sugar water for Xiulan and a cup of sugar tea for Lin Heng.
In this era, sugar was extremely precious and was considered a strategic material in many places. In rural areas, using sugar water to entertain guests was the highest standard.
"Third Aunt, you are so polite." Xiulan was a little flattered. It was the first time that she was treated like this by Third Aunt.
"You guys chat with your third father, I'll go cook for you."
Li Xue smiled and hurried out to cook.
Lin Xutao was a little shocked to see his wife being so enthusiastic towards others, which was rare.
He turned his head to look at Xiulan and Lin Heng. Both of them were wearing clean clothes and shoes, which seemed to have been bought recently.
The two of them were a perfect match, and after they were dressed up, they looked like the wealthy people in the city.
He understood in his heart that his wife changed because Lin Heng was now capable and rich.
He was very happy in his heart. At least he wouldn't be scolded by his second brother's wife when he went to his second brother's house in the future, and she wouldn't say anything.
He is a little confused about his second nephew now. Not only is he good at hunting, but he also beat up Wang Cuilian yesterday.
"Lin Heng, have you finished plastering your house?" Lin Xutao asked with a smile.
"We should be able to finish it today." Lin Heng nodded.
Lin Xutao asked again: "Have you decided on the date for the water? Will you hold a banquet?"
Zhushui means moving to a new house.
"It's not confirmed yet, but it's highly likely that we won't hold a wedding banquet. It's too much trouble."
Lin Heng thought for a moment and said.
Hearing this, Sandie was a little confused: "Such a big wedding, no banquet?"
"I can't do it at the same time as my brother, right? Who will the guests come to? We might as well not do it at all."
Lin Heng spread his hands and said.
As they were chatting, Third Father Lin Xutao pulled Lin Heng to play chess.
"I carved this myself, what do you think?"
Lin Xutao showed Lin Heng a chess set he had carved.
Lin Heng: “Awesome.”
Lin Xutao chuckled: "I'll let you win, but don't lose too quickly."
Three minutes later, Lin Heng hit the iron door bolt with a move that almost burned Sandie's head. No matter how he moved, there was no chance of survival.
He is invincible in the village, how could he be defeated by Lin Heng?
"Cousin, sister-in-law, why are you here?"
At this time, Lin Hai, the second son of Lin Xutao, the third father, walked in from outside.
He was holding a few bamboo eel cages in his hands and was obviously going to collect the cages.
"Come and see third parents. Cousin, did you receive the eels?" Lin Heng said with a smile. Lin Hai is one year younger than him.
"Not many, probably barely one kilogram." Lin Hai poured the eels into the basin. They were all small, with only a few big ones.
"I'm glad you're back. Give me the eel and come and play chess with your brother." Lin Xutao quickly stood up and said.
"Okay." As soon as Lin Hai sat down, he understood that his father had been ruthlessly killed by his cousin.
"Don't worry, Dad. I will fight back for you." Lin Hai said with a grin.
"Go away, I didn't lose. How can I play if I didn't see it? How can I lose if I didn't make it to the last step?"
Lin Xutao slapped his son on the head.
Lin Hai looked up at Lin Heng and said nonchalantly, "His father likes to deny his mistakes, but I have great skills.
The teachers at school are no match for me, cousin, be careful."
"OK."
Lin Heng looked at Lin Hai who was hit again and smiled slightly. His cousin was really honest and liked to make trouble for his father.
After playing for a while, Lin Hai had some respect for Lin Heng. He looked up at Lin Heng and said, "Cousin, have you ever learned chess?"
Lin Heng smiled and said, "I've read a few."
The real reason is that he has a good memory and remembered some layout routines he learned in his previous life. His actual level is not that good.
"It seems I have to show my true level." Lin Hai smiled and became more serious.
Gradually, Lin Heng found that he really couldn't win because his cousin had studied chess very deeply.
"I lost. Lin Hai, have you also read the chess record?" Lin Heng admitted defeat.
Facts have proved that being reborn doesn’t make him awesome at everything. He can just bully weaklings, and he’s still not good at things he’s not good at.
"No, but I often play alone when I'm bored. Brother, your level is very high. The old man in the village can't last more than fifteen rounds when playing with me."
Lin Hai laughed.
Seeing that a person could reach such a level, Lin Heng had some respect for his cousin and thought that he was a promising talent.
Although they had been playmates since childhood, he had hardly played chess before he was forty years old in his previous life, and he had no idea that Lin Hai had such chess skills.
“It’s time to eat!”
Not long after, Li Xue shouted something and started wiping the table and serving the dishes.
We fried six dishes, the best one was fried bacon with sour peppers, all the fat.
At the dinner table, Third Mother Li Xue would pick up food for Lin Heng and Xiulan from time to time, which made him feel a different side of Third Mother.
Even though Lin Heng only hunted a little prey, his income was only two or three hundred.
But this was in the rural areas in 1983, and this was already remarkable. Many families only earned three to five hundred yuan a year, and some even had less.
Lin Heng earned so much money in just half a month, and he could spend it freely.
By 2023, it would be equivalent to a monthly income of 100,000 yuan.
After finishing his meal, Lin Heng naturally did not stay to play any more, and left on the pretext of going home to help.
On the way, Lin Heng looked at Xiulan with a smile: "How do you feel?"
Xiulan shook her head: "I didn't expect Third Mother to have such a kind side."
"Of course. She is the most snobbish. She hates poor relatives and fawns on rich ones."
Lin Heng chuckled: "We are now considered rich relatives."
Xiulan looked at Lin Heng: "It's really unbelievable."
She felt that the past half month was like a dream, yet so real.
When they got home, Xiaoxia fell asleep, so Xiulan held her in her arms and went to sleep.
Lin Heng took out the lard jar from his home, scooped some lard, and prepared to make soap.
Enough materials have been collected.
The so-called soap, the most fundamental principle is saponification reaction. The reaction of oil and alkaline substances will produce carboxylates and glycerin, thus having a good cleaning effect.
In the earliest times, the ancients accidentally discovered that "putty" a mixture of wood ash and grease had a good cleaning effect, and thus invented soap.
It is actually very simple to make it now. Just buy a bag of strong alkali, sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide will do, and mix it with oil to easily make soap.
Since Lin Heng couldn't buy this thing for the time being, he had to make it himself.
The collected shell powder is calcined on carbon fire to convert the calcium carbonate into calcium oxide, then ground into powder and mixed with wood ash water to obtain a strong alkaline solution containing potassium hydroxide and calcium hydroxide.
Lin Heng picked up shells by the village pond and river dam. There were a lot of them, but no one wanted them.
"Second Dad, what are you doing?" When Lin Heng was burning shells, his eldest nephew Lin Wei came over.
"Alchemy." Lin Heng laughed.
"Ah?" Lin Wei didn't understand, but was very curious.
After calcining the shells, Lin Heng crushed them in a stone mortar.
Then pour it directly into the water soaked with straw ash that has been prepared.
Stir for a while and then you can filter it. Filtering it a few times is basically enough. It doesn’t matter if there are some small particles.
Then Lin Hengjiahuo melted the lard into a basin and let it cool slightly, and then began to add the strong alkaline solution prepared earlier.
The first time he made it, he didn’t dare to use too much lard, so he only melted part of it, and only used part of the strong alkaline solution as well.
"It's over. It's soapy water. Too much strong alkaline solution has been added."
Looking at the soap I made for the first time, it can only be called soapy water, but it can definitely be used if it is placed somewhere to be fully saponified.
With the experience gained the first time, Lin Heng added strong alkaline solution little by little the second time and finally got a relatively suitable result.
The dark gray strong alkaline solution will react with lard to form an off-white solid. As long as you can write on it without it disappearing, it proves to be a success.
Lin Heng put the successfully made bowl of soap into the mold box made by Carpenter Liang.
One bowl makes two bars of soap.
"Okay, let's get started."
The ratio has been determined, which is approximately one to three, one part oil and three parts wood ash water.
This time, Lin Heng added the prepared gardenia oil to the lard and then mixed it with a strong alkaline solution.
After stirring for a while, the grayish white fragrant "cream" took shape.
Lin Heng put it into the mold, and together with the previous two pieces, he made a total of fifteen bars of soap.
"It's finally done, but we'll have to wait at least three or four days to see if it's successful."
Lin Heng sighed, picked up the things and placed them in the new house to allow them to fully saponify.
“You’re making soap?”
While Lin Heng was doing it, Lin's mother had already returned, and his sisters-in-law Xiulan and Caiyun were also watching.
"Yes, I don't know if it will work yet. After all, I read it in a book."
Lin Heng smiled and said, it was really uncomfortable that there were not even two soaps for washing hands at home.
"Of course you can, brother, you successfully made lipstick before." Caiyun nodded.
"If you fail, you'll be beaten. You'll have used up a lot of my lard."
Mother Lin snorted coldly.
Many people have heard that lard and wood ash can be used to make soap, but most of them don’t know how to make it specifically. When she saw Lin Heng tinkering with it, she felt a little incredible.
If I really succeed, can I make soap and sell it?
For a moment, she really hoped that she could succeed so that the family would have an additional source of income.
"I think it's no problem either. Lin Heng is very capable." Liu Juan was also full of confidence in Lin Heng.
It’s not good to be without confidence. She has been slapped in the face every time she mocked someone before, and she has learned her lesson.
Xiulan picked some gray vegetables and said softly, "It doesn't matter if he fails. He can just go hunting and get some oil. It doesn't cost much anyway."
She was afraid that Lin Heng would be embarrassed if he failed, so she decided to give him a way out first.
"Dad, can oil be turned into soap?" Nephew Lin Wei didn't quite understand the change.
"Study more and you will understand. It's all in the books." Lin Heng smiled and patted his shoulder.
Lin Heng turned to his wife Xiulan and said, "I'll go see if Dad and Big Brother have finished their work."
"Wait a minute." Xiulan grabbed him and led him into the house.
"Change your clothes." Xiulan found him some old clothes. How could he wear new clothes to work?
"I forgot." Lin Heng smiled, changed his clothes and went to his eldest brother's new house.
When he entered the house, he saw that his eldest brother's house was less than half finished. After all, he was not at home today, there were only two of them, and his eldest brother's house was originally bigger than his.
"Brother, let me help mix the plaster, you go plaster the wall." Lin Heng walked up and said.
Lin Yue smiled and said, "Okay."
But even if Lin Heng joined, we wouldn't be able to finish the work today.
On the 20th day of the fourth lunar month, his uncle finished making ten stools and two small tables, then went back, saying that he would come down with a gun later and go hunting with Lin Heng.
On the 21st, the plaster, doors and windows of the two houses were completed. The earthen walls had turned into yellow earth under the sun and were completely dry.
That day, Lin Heng was mainly moving furniture and taking care of his daughter. In the afternoon, he caught some green crabs at the doorstep for Xiongba to snack on.
On the 22nd, it began to drizzle, and Lin Heng wanted to go out but had no choice. He cleaned up his new home, made a new earthen stove, and Carpenter Liang began to make furniture, mainly desks, wardrobes, food storage cabinets, wooden beds, dressing tables, and several small boxes for storing valuables.
Since I couldn't identify objects on rainy days, I read Romance of the Three Kingdoms to the little girl at home, mainly to pass the time when I was bored.
For the next three days, the 23rd, 24th and 25th were all drizzling. It was already June 12th in the Gregorian calendar, which was midsummer.
During these three days, Lin Heng's life was just eating, playing with his daughter, playing cuckoo, exercising with his wife, and sleeping.
A total of fifteen green-bearded deer were killed in three days, all for Xiongba. The deer meat at home had not been eaten up yet, so there was no worry at all. Even the family members were a little tired of eating it. It was really incredible in that era.
Anyway, there are many green-bearded snakes and they are stupid, so they are the easiest to catch. He just beats a few of them whenever he wants. His eldest nephew Lin Wei also chases and beats green-bearded snakes all day long.
During this period, Lin's father found someone to look at the date and determined that May 2nd was a good day. At that time, the family was officially divided, and Lin Heng and his eldest brother Lin Yue moved into a new house.
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(End of this chapter)
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