Chapter 71: Loving Mother and
Filial Son On the 26th day of the fourth lunar month, early in the morning, Lin Heng woke up from his sleep.
Turning around, he found that his wife Xiulan had just woken up. Because there was no electricity and no modern entertainment facilities here, Lin Heng, who was reborn, had completely changed his daily routine.
I went to bed at eight in the evening and woke up at five the next day.
"It sounds like the rain hasn't stopped yet." Lin Heng reached out and put his hand on his wife's waist.
Xiulan nodded: "Yes, but it should be a light rain, not too heavy."
Lin Heng smiled and said, "Then lie down for a while before getting up."
Xiulan looked at Lin Heng's restless hands, and before she could say anything, Lin Yang put his arm around her waist and pulled her into his arms.
Xiulan pressed her hands on Lin Heng's chest, blinked her eyes, and said shyly, "You just came last night. Are you afraid that you won't be able to walk again?"
"What a joke! You underestimate me. I must teach you a lesson and let you know how powerful I am."
Lin Heng pounced on his food like a hungry tiger. He had to let his wife see how powerful he was.
Although I felt sorry for him, this was too provocative.
Having recently eaten deer meat, he is full of energy.
"Alas, heroes have always been tempted by beautiful women."
After half an hour, Lin Heng looked at his wife with her face pressed against his chest and said that he felt a little sore in his lower back.
Xiulan blinked and said nothing, as if listening to Lin Heng's heartbeat.
After resting for a while, Xiulan got up first, and Lin Heng got up afterwards.
It was indeed drizzling outside, and there was thick fog in the distant mountains. The trees seemed to be much more lush in this rain.
There is nothing we can do about the rain, we can only take care of things inside the house.
After washing up, Lin's father and others got up. It was raining so people got up late.
"Let's go and clean up the new house." Xiulan said to Lin Heng.
Lin Heng smiled slightly: "Okay."
He has no future and is happy just being with his wife. After being reborn, he has never thought about going out and changing the world.
Xiulan took the key and told Caiyun to go and call Xiaoxia if she woke up.
Then, Lin Heng held an umbrella, and Xiulan was pulled to his side, and they went to the new house together.
The courtyard wall made of loess is two meters and twenty-five meters high, and the wall is covered with red pottery tiles. There is a wooden gatehouse above the gate, which is made of ironwood and painted with tung oil, which is moisture-proof and corrosion-resistant.
Xiulan took out the key and opened the cedar door.
Creak! A sharp but not harsh sound was heard. This was the sound of the wooden door rubbing against the door pier. Because the door did not have metal hinges, but relied on the door pier. The innermost part of the wooden door grew a round wooden handle, which would be inserted into the round groove of the door pier below.
There is also a wooden handle growing from the top, inserted into a round wooden hole. These two wooden handles act as bearings, allowing the door to be opened and closed.
This creaking sound often occurs when opening and closing.
After opening the door and walking two meters inside, there is a huge wooden screen that completely blocks the view of the yard, making it impossible for outsiders to see inside the yard from the door.
The superstitious belief is that it blocks the wealth and prevents it from leaking out.
Behind the screen is a corridor connecting to the main door of the house, which is nearly 30 meters long. The corridor is two meters wide, which can accommodate two or three people walking side by side. The ground is paved with bluestone dug from the mountain.
Now, only the wooden frame of the corridor is erected. Because of the continuous rain, the rafters above have not been erected yet, and the tiles have naturally not been laid.
On both sides of the corridor are yards totaling 200 square meters, most of which are currently planted with vegetables. Near the gate there are several roses planted by Lin Heng.
There is a pile of firewood sawn into one-meter pieces placed against the east wall of the yard. The cowpeas, green beans and cucumbers planted in the field have already sprouted, and the peppers, eggplants and tomatoes have also grown a lot.
After taking a look, Lin Heng pulled Xiulan and walked quickly under the eaves. The earthen wall in front was specially plastered with a mixture of loess and gypsum.
Therefore, it is flat and smooth, and you won't get your hands dirty when you touch it. It doesn't have the bumps and potholes like ordinary earthen walls, and it seems to have a sense of warmth and tranquility.
After opening the door, you will see the main room, also called the living room, which is where you eat. It is 18 square meters in size. The wooden ladder to the second floor is also on the wall inside the living room.
On the left side of the living room is a 14-square-meter bedroom, and on the right side is the kitchen, which is also 14 square meters.
Behind the kitchen is another bedroom, which is 3.5 meters long, 4 meters wide, and also 14 square meters. This bedroom is located in the southwest corner.
To the south of this bedroom is an aisle leading to the backyard, and a utility room adjacent to the living room, which is six square meters in size.
In the southeast corner is Lin Heng and Xiulan’s master bedroom, which is five meters long and four meters wide, with a total area of twenty square meters. It is the largest room in the house.
As for the toilet, it was located in the southeast corner of the backyard and dug outside the courtyard wall. There were only two squat toilets inside the courtyard wall, so there would not be any smell.
"Let me clean up the floor in the room." Xiulan said after entering the house.
The main room was full of wood and boards, and that was where Carpenter Liang worked. Xiulan was going to clean up the other rooms.
"Okay." Lin Heng nodded. He noticed that Carpenter Liang had already finished his swing chair and all that was left was to install it.
While his wife was cleaning the house, he went out to the backyard and sprinkled some wheat bran into the fish pond. All the small fish swam over at once to grab the food. They formed a huge black group, and now there were at least 10,000 or 20,000 of them alive.
The planted calamus and ferns also came back to life, but part of the moss on the stone died, leaving only a few spots of life on the side near the water.
A small wooden bridge, 1.2 meters wide, has been built above the fish pond. Walking on the bridge and looking down from the guardrail, you will see a completely different scenery.
The wooden pavilion next to the small wooden bridge has not been built yet, otherwise it would be a wonderful enjoyment to watch the rain in the pavilion on a rainy day.
After watching for a while, Lin Heng sprinkled a handful of wheat bran on the fry and went in to help his wife.
"You can paint the wooden bed and the floor with tung oil. I can handle these things on the ground." Xiulan said.
"If you hadn't told me, I would have almost forgotten about this." Lin Heng nodded, but he still felt a little uncomfortable looking at the bluestone floor of the bedroom.
Because there is still yellow soil in the gaps between the bluestones, I thought I would find an opportunity to make them all wooden floors.
As soon as Lin Heng went upstairs, Liang the carpenter came. Seeing Lin Heng, he smiled and said, "The rocking chair you want to make will be finished soon. Come and see if it fits you."
Lin Heng nodded: "Okay, I think there's no problem."
Holding tung oil and a brush, Lin Heng painted the wooden boards upstairs bit by bit. The smell of tung oil was very unpleasant, but there was no better anti-corrosion material. He wanted to buy waterproof paint, but there was no such thing in the town.
But it's okay, it will be fine after a few days of drying.
After painting the wooden boards upstairs, Lin Heng went downstairs and prepared to paint the bottom of the boards as well, so that the anti-corrosion effect would be better.
"Look, what do you think of this swing chair?" Carpenter Liang saw Lin Heng coming down and showed him the finished chair.
This is a 1.5-meter-long chair. The main component of the chair is made of yellow willow (Cotinus coggygria), while the backrest and other small components are made of pine. The backrest is made of a structure similar to that of an armchair, where a piece of wood is bent into an arc-shaped structure.
Therefore, its style looks very Chinese, but when Lin Heng first told Carpenter Liang about it, he described it according to Western structure.
It turns out that what you say may not be the same as what others hear.
However, Lin Heng discovered that compared to the angular Western structure, this rounded and smooth Chinese structure was simpler and more elegant.
"It's perfect, exactly what I thought. It will be perfect if you hang an iron chain on it and it sways slightly when you sit on it." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"I have already drilled the holes for you. You can install it directly when the weather is clear." Carpenter Liang grinned after getting Lin Heng's affirmation.
He arrived on the 8th and has been in the Lin family for 18 days so far. He will probably have to stay for another three or four days before all the work can be completed.
After chatting for a while, Lin Heng continued to work on applying tung oil.
By the time the work was finished, it was already past nine o'clock. Xiulan had also swept the floor. When Lin Heng went to find her, she was looking at the soap on the bedroom windowsill.
The soaps made by Lin Heng have been stored for four or five days and have become very hard. They appear grayish white and have a faint scent of gardenia.
"It's very simple to know whether it's successful or not. Just take a piece and try it out and you'll know." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Xiulan was a little tempted and reached out to knock it. Lin Heng came over, picked up the wooden board, knocked down the wooden strips, and all fifteen bars of soap fell out.
Xiulan took a piece to the backyard, dipped it in a little water from the sink, rubbed it a few times, and immediately small white bubbles appeared.
"You succeeded!" Xiulan raised her head, stretched out her hand, and a surprised smile appeared on her face.
"Of course, you try it and see if it works." Lin Heng said with a smile. After it is formed, there is basically no possibility of failure.
"Okay!" Xiulan nodded, washed her hands, and found them cleaner than ever before, even better than using soapberry.
Xiulan said with some surprise: "It is indeed a soap, the effect is good."
"This soap becomes more useful as it gets older. Now is not the best time to use it yet." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"Then I'll leave it there."
"There's no need. Give it to mom and the others. I'll teach you the technology later and you can do it yourself." Lin Heng said.
"Is it difficult? Can I learn it?" Xiulan took the soap and looked at it carefully. It was amazing.
"Of course you can learn it. It's not difficult at all."
While chatting, the two walked towards the old house. The rain stopped at around eight o'clock and the sun came out.
"The soap you made looks pretty good, but I don't know how it works."
Lin's mother was as stubborn as ever and even smeared some oil on her hands with the rag before coming to wash them.
After applying a little soap and rubbing her hands a few times, she found that the greasy feeling on her hands disappeared.
After washing in water, your hands will become refreshed, free of greasiness, and have a light floral scent.
"Mom, you have nothing to say now, right?" Lin Heng asked with a smile.
Mother Lin curled her lips and said calmly, "It's just so-so. I didn't waste my lard."
"Alas, even after a duck dies, its mouth is still hard." Lin Heng shook his head and sighed.
The next moment, Lin's mother slapped him: "Your mother is too old to hit you, right?"
Lin Heng had already slipped aside and went to hug Xiongba's daughter.
Xiaoxia woke up and Lin's mother was taking care of her.
Sister-in-law Liu Juan looked at Lin Heng and didn't know how to start. She also wanted a bar of soap and wanted to learn the technique of making soap.
She was so envious of the effect of the soap just now. She could use it herself or make some to sell.
But it was difficult for her to ask for this kind of technology, after all, it could make money.
And the family is about to split up.
This made her feel even more that there seemed to be no benefit in dividing the family.
Lin Heng didn't notice these things, and the piece he gave to his mother was also used for experiments.
At around ten o'clock, Lin's mother started to prepare breakfast and lunch. Since she didn't make breakfast today, they had lunch early.
The meal we cooked was a mixture of corn, rice and potatoes. The dish was pretty good, stir-fried badger meat with shredded radish, a perfect dish to go with rice.
The spicy and sour taste was appetizing, and it also had the aroma of fat and meat. He ate it with such gusto, but he still couldn't stop eating. Lin Heng ate two large bowls of rice before he stopped, feeling satisfied.
"Give me your daughter, and you eat." Lin Heng took his daughter and fed her.
After dinner, the hot summer sun dried up the dew. Lin Heng walked over and looked at Caiyun who was dozing off at the door. "Caiyun, please help take care of Xiaoxia. I'll give you a bar of soap in a few days."
Caiyun smiled and said, "Actually, if you just tell me, brother, I will bring it to you, but if you are willing to give me a bar of soap, then I will thank you."
"I don't know you. If I told you to take Xiaoxia with you, you would definitely say you have work to do, and in the end you would still ask me to bribe you with soap."
Lin Heng rolled his eyes. He came to understand his sister.
"Second brother, I'm not that kind of person." Caiyun defended with her eyes wide open.
"Then Xiaoxia is yours." Lin Heng handed Xiaoxia to her. The soap was actually originally for her. This was just a joke between brother and sister.
"Go, go." Caiyun waved her hand. It was great that she was alone at home and could read freely.
"Let's go. Caiyun will stay at home today. The six of us will all go up the hill. After the rain, the porcini mushrooms will come out in large quantities, and the honeysuckle will definitely be beautiful."
Father Lin said with a smile.
"Dad, are we going to Shibadang Valley?" Lin Heng asked.
"Of course. That ditch has the most honeysuckle, so we must have gone there." Father Lin nodded.
After everyone had packed up, Lin Heng and his companions all carried large backpacks that could hold fifty or sixty kilograms of food, and Lin's father carried an extra-large backpack that could hold a hundred kilograms of things.
Each person also took some extra snakeskin bags, just like they were buying supplies.
"Let's go, Xiongba!"
Lin Heng untied Xiongba's rope and walked out with it.
Shibadanggou is in Shanghe, which is on the east side. The ditch is a tributary of Shiban River. Honeysuckle grows in patches on both sides of the ditch, attracting a large number of people to pick them every year.
Dried honeysuckle flowers cost three yuan per pound, and it takes three pounds of wet flowers to dry one pound. The price is not very expensive, but they are everywhere on the mountain and there are more than enough of them.
The streets were filled with people carrying large backpacks, all going to pick mushrooms and honeysuckle.
"It looks like there will be another battle for flowers today." Lin Heng looked at this scene and found it very familiar. It happens several times every year during this time.
"Let's walk faster. Many people are going uphill." Lin's mother said, and her pace quickened.
Lin's father and mother were both experts in the flower-grabbing battle. Eldest brother and his wife were not to be outdone, and they all hurried into the mountains.
"Let's walk faster too," said Xiulan.
"Okay." Lin Heng nodded, and the two changed direction, avoiding their parents and eldest brother.
"It's horrible. These people came in the rain this morning."
When he entered the ditch, Lin Heng saw the honeysuckle flowers on the stone steps whose vines had been cut off. It was too slow to pick the flowers one by one, so everyone just cut the flowers and took them home with the vines attached.
Anyway, this thing can't die. It will grow new vines in a few days.
"We're late. We should have come in the rain this morning." Xiulan said regretfully.
"Let's go up and take a look. Maybe there are some. If not, we can only pick porcini mushrooms." Lin Heng was helpless. The villagers were too crazy to make money.
It had just rained, and the ravines were full of fog, making it feel like a fairyland. The road was filled with the fragrance of honeysuckle, and a breath of it would make your body and mind relaxed and prolong your life.
"Lin Heng, you guys just arrived, let's go to another place, there's nothing up there."
After walking halfway up the mountain, Liu Lan came down carrying a basket of honeysuckle vines with a smile on her face.
"It seems we have no choice but to go up and pick mushrooms." Xiulan seemed helpless.
The two men went up the mountain and only cut a few flower vines on the way. They also went to the corners where no one went. All the large flower vines were cut.
It was not until he reached the top of the mountain that Lin Heng finally saw two clumps of trees that had not been touched.
“It smells so good.”
Lin Heng said as he was cutting.
“Woof woof~”
Xiongba opened his mouth and took two bites of the flower, tasted it, then spit it out in disgust and started to have fun among the flowers.
"Go, get out of the way."
Lin Heng drove it away, quickly cut the vines and put them into the backpack.
He wanted to dig one up and plant it in the yard. Honeysuckle can also be used as bonsai, but unfortunately these flowers grew in the cracks of the rocks and could not be dug out.
"It seems that we can only go up the mountain to pick mushrooms. Let's go over the mountain and see if there are any more."
Xiulan finished cutting her bush and said a little depressedly.
"Let's go, then."
Lin Heng nodded. Before entering the forest, he saw a delicious porcini mushroom.
“There are a lot of mushrooms.”
Lin Heng looked up again and saw four or five more flowers in the distance.
The largest Boletus edulis can grow larger than a plate, with a cap diameter of up to 20 centimeters and weighing two or three pounds each.
There are mushrooms everywhere on the mountain at this season. Lin Heng and others guessed that they are all the size of a palm, with a cap diameter of about ten centimeters. If they are too big, they will not taste good.
There are not many poisonous Bolete fungi, and they are easy to identify. Most of them are gastroenteritis toxins or hallucinogenic toxins such as Atractylodes japonicus, and they will not kill people.
It is very easy to tell whether porcini are poisonous. If you are not sure based on the appearance, just tear off a piece and taste it. As long as it does not taste bitter, it is non-toxic.
"Hubby, I guess I saw the blue hand."
Xiulan suddenly turned around, holding a light pink boletus in her hand, with both its cap and stem being light pink.
Because he was injured by Xiulan, the wound instantly turned blue-green, which is also the origin of his name Jianshouqing.
"What a good stuff! Look for it again and put it away separately." Lin Heng recognized that this was the red onion porcini, one of the more delicious ones he had seen.
Lin Heng quickly picked the delicious porcini mushrooms he had and walked over to help find one.
"It seems that there are no more. We only found four flowers, which weigh one kilogram in total." Xiulan said with some regret.
"It's okay, there aren't many of them here." Lin Heng was not surprised. There aren't many of them in the Qinling Mountains, but there are more of them in Yunnan.
"Let's continue picking porcini mushrooms. I feel like the backpack can't hold them all today." Lin Heng said with a smile.
In the forest today, porcini and red mushrooms can be seen everywhere, especially red mushrooms. You can step on several of them to death with every step you take.
“Woof woof!”
After stepping for a while, Xiongba called out to him.
(End of this chapter)
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