Chapter 73 Novice Protection Period
When I walked into the new house, I saw Carpenter Liang at work. He was planing wooden boards to make furniture.
"Do you need my help?" Lin Heng asked with a smile.
"No need. I'm just going to make the boards these two days. I won't assemble them yet. We'll assemble them together in two days." Carpenter Liang shook his head.
"By the way, the wood for the pavilion and corridor you want to build has all been processed. Now all that's left is to install the tiles, and then your corridor and pavilion will be finished."
Carpenter Liang pointed to the wood placed under the eaves and said, "These are all pine wood, pillars and boards made from old pine trees cut from the mountains."
"Okay, wait until my dad and brother come back this afternoon and let them help with the installation."
Lin Heng put Xiaoxia down, went into the house to get some tung oil, and prepared to use it to preserve the wooden boards, as they were more likely to be eaten by insects and rot if left in the open air.
"Beep Beep~"
Xiaoxia saw Lin Heng applying tung oil and stretched out her little hand to try to play with it, thinking it was a game.
"No, you can't play with this. If your clothes get dirty, mom will spank you."
Lin Heng warned her.
The little girl opened her mouth and looked at Lin Heng with her big, pure eyes. She was stunned for a moment: "Mom... hit me, I will hit... her."
After saying that, she reached out to grab the brush. Thanks to Lin Heng's daily teaching of recognizing objects and speaking, her articulation was already relatively clear at only one year and two months old.
Although he still only has one or two words to speak.
"I hope you can say it in front of your mother." Lin Heng was speechless. He was unable to do his work because of his daughter.
After thinking about it, he went back to get the reins for the plow and a basket with a rope.
Pass the rope through a pillar and hang the basket half a meter above the ground.
Xiaoxia looked at him stupidly, and when Lin Heng was about to pick her up and put her in, she suddenly grabbed his clothes and refused to let go.
“Wow…”
The little mouth puffed up at that moment and started crying as soon as it opened.
"Why are you crying? It's so fun."
Lin Heng lifted up the basket and let it swing gently in the air. Xiaoxia cried and found it quite interesting. She grabbed the edge of the basket with her little hands and looked outside foolishly.
“Hehe (=^▽^=)”
All of a sudden, the whole person was smiling again.
"Sure enough, the swing is a must-have for children." Lin Heng shook his head and turned to apply tung oil.
"Beep, beep!" After a while the little girl shouted.
"Here it comes, shake it and fly up to the sky!!"
Lin Heng knew that the swing must have stopped, so he turned around and shook it twice.
After a while, Xiaoxia learned the word "shake" and shouted in a crisp voice: "Daddy, shake!"
Just like that, Lin Heng spent a whole morning brushing tung oil on all the wooden structures.
Xiaoxia fell asleep in the warm sun and the rocking feeling, with a small bubble on her nose that grew bigger and smaller.
"You are really good at taking care of children." Carpenter Liang praised after seeing this scene.
"Haha, the swing is the ultimate move." Lin Heng smiled slightly.
When he was a child, he always wanted to have a swing of his own, so he and his older brother Lin Yue built one in the woods behind the house.
It was just because the rattan we were using got worn out after a while of playing, so we had to make a new one.
It was half past twelve when Xiulan and the others returned from the mountain.
"It's crazy. Zhushao Cliff is full of people picking bamboo shoots."
Father Lin shook his head.
"How much did you get?" Lin Heng looked at his father. His backpack was not even full today.
"Your mother and I didn't get much, maybe 40 to 50 kilograms of bamboo shoots. It depends on your brother and Xiulan's harvest."
Father Lin shook his head and said that the wild bamboo forest was now full of people picking bamboo shoots.
There were too many people on the mountain these two days. Some were picking bamboo shoots, mushrooms and honeysuckle. Even the pheasants didn't dare to get close, so Lin Heng had no chance to hunt.
"Xuan, you prepare the bamboo shoots. I'm going to cook." Mother Lin knew it was already a little late, so she put down the backpack and went into the kitchen.
"Okay."
Father Lin sorted out the bamboo shoots that had already been processed in the woods and put them into a wooden barrel to soak.
These are small bamboo shoots that are as thick as a thumb. After soaking in water, they taste better than the thick bamboo shoots.
Not long after, eldest brother Lin Yue and eldest sister-in-law Liu Juan also came back. They went to pick honeysuckle again today, a lot more than yesterday, and there were only a few mushrooms and bamboo shoots.
When Lin Heng asked, he found out that they had run to Sanyegou.
The meal was almost ready when Xiulan and Caiyun came back from outside, one of them carrying a basket of bamboo shoots and the other carrying a basket of mushrooms.
"You picked some great mushrooms. So many good ones."
Lin Heng saw more than a dozen egg mushrooms and many chanterelles in the backpack, but there were relatively few porcini mushrooms.
"I was lucky today. I picked up all the egg mushrooms. Sister Xiulan picked up a lot of chanterelles."
Caiyun held her chin high, showing the pride of a fisherman who had caught a rare species of fish.
"Then we'll get some good stuff, so hurry up and get the egg mushrooms in so mom can fry them."
Lin Heng felt a little greedy.
The people in the mountains are so poor that they can only survive by eating mushrooms.
For lunch, we had some noodles with mushroom sauce. The sour and spicy noodles paired with the smooth egg mushroom were fresh and refreshing.
Lin Heng added some garlic and chili and mixed it with the noodles. He didn't care about the heat and put it into his mouth in big mouthfuls.
Only that refreshing and satisfying feeling reaches deep into the brain, and the whole person exhales a refreshing breath, and all the hunger and fatigue in the body are instantly swept away.
What follows is an even stronger desire to eat, which continues until the stomach is full.
Lin Heng, who usually doesn't drink the soup when eating noodles, drank all the soup today.
“It feels so good!”
Lin Heng couldn't help but admire.
Mother Lin glanced at him, speechless: "No one is competing with you for it, so you just pour it into your mouth, right?"
The others had just eaten half a bowl, but Lin Heng had already finished two bowls of noodles.
"I can't help it. I was born to eat so fast."
Lin Heng chuckled. Actually, this was a habit he developed when he was very hungry as a child.
After dinner, Lin Heng told his father and elder brother that the materials for the corridor and pavilion were ready.
"Once it's done, help build it." Father Lin nodded. After resting for a while, the three men came to Lin Heng's new house together.
"Lin Yue, don't tell me, your brother's house looks different after being decorated like this."
Father Lin looked at Lin Heng's backyard. He felt it was just average before, but now that it has been renovated it is indeed very artistic.
"Yes, it feels like a pleasure to sit here and drink tea. I will build a pavilion in the yard later." Lin Yue nodded.
"It's okay, what's mine is yours, you can come over anytime." Lin Heng smiled. His original idea of building this house was to have a beautiful farmhouse.
"Okay, let's start building." Father Lin said, and the three of them went to the front to move the wood.
This is a small pavilion of 3 by 3 meters in size and 9 square meters. The four main pillars were buried a few days ago. The pillars are made of pine wood with a side length of 20 centimeters. The parts buried in the soil have been carbonized and brushed with tung oil three times.
"Lin Heng, hold the ladder. Your brother and I will build the crossbeam." Father Lin said, leaning the ladder against the pillar and climbing up holding the crossbeam in one hand.
There are holes drilled on the columns, through which the crossbeams are passed, and the four columns are connected together to form a stable three-dimensional structure.
With a series of knocking sounds, all the wooden beams were passed through. Father Lin added some wooden wedges to secure it completely, and then he sat on the beam.
"Give me the short upright."
Father Lin said again.
The next step is to install columns of different lengths in the middle and on both sides of the beam, with the middle one higher and the sides lower, so that a triangular frame is formed. Then the beams are installed and the rafters are fixed, and the tiles are laid.
Since the carpenters had prepared all the wooden beams in advance, the installation was very fast. It took only an hour and a half to complete a square wooden pavilion.
Sitting in the pavilion facing the small wooden bridge over the fish pond, you can enjoy the gurgling stream and the fish playing in the water. When some lotus flowers are placed in the fish pond, the artistic conception will be even more vivid.
Father Lin stood in the pavilion and looked around, his eyes sweeping across the yard. Having been a farmer all his life, he seldom put any effort into enjoying himself.
Because he carries the burden of a family on his shoulders, what he says most often is that when I get old, I will have a good rest, build a fish pond, be self-sufficient, and travel around.
But this is always just idle talk. He can never rest. Working hard seems to be the fate that his generation cannot escape.
After raising his son, he thought about his grandchildren. When he was unable to do heavy work, he picked up trash. He was busy all his life and completely burned himself out for this country and his children and grandchildren.
"Dad, wait two years and I'll build you a villa. You can drink tea and take a walk in the villa every day. It will be more beautiful than this and more elegant than any other landlord in the past."
Lin Heng looked at his father and said with a smile.
Hearing this, a glimmer of longing first appeared in Lin's father's slightly tired brown pupils, and then turned into a faint smile on his face. He patted Lin Heng on the shoulder and said, "Don't let me worry about you in the future, kid. Don't be unable to afford food and need your mother and me to help you.
After we build a new house, we will live a good life with Xiulan, and we will work hard as a family. "
"Dad, I believe what my brother said. Let's work together to earn money to build a big house for you and my mom." Lin Yue also said with a smile.
Hearing this, Father Lin smiled and said, "Just live your own lives first. Let's go and work on the corridor in the front yard."
Although I know that what my sons said is difficult to achieve, I still can't help but look forward to it in my heart.
Lin Heng was also very happy. The best thing about this family was that everyone was of one mind. Even though his eldest sister-in-law Liu Juan was shrewd and calculative, she was very filial to Lin's father and mother.
It is such a harmonious and warm family that makes him yearn for it and full of motivation.
If it were like in his uncle's family, where the son and the father were just thinking about sucking each other's blood every day, one despised her husband and the other despised his wife, then life would be meaningless.
When we arrived at the front yard, the work was done in the same way: putting up the crossbeams, erecting the pillars, putting up the main beams, installing the rafters, and putting up the tiles.
Lin Heng originally wanted to use straw to repair the roof of the corridor in the front yard, but then he thought it would be too troublesome to replace it every year. Since there were still a lot of ceramic tiles left, he might as well just use ceramic tiles.
"Well, good luck and everything will go smoothly!"
After Father Lin laid the last tile, he smiled and said a blessing before climbing down the ladder.
"Do you want to lay more stones?"
Father Lin asked again, he is always like this and can't sit still.
"Yes, but not much. I can do it myself." Lin Heng nodded.
"Let's go, we will help you to the end." Father Lin said as he was about to take tools to get stones from the mountain behind.
The eldest brother Lin Yue also patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "It's not a big deal. The three of us can finish it in a short time. It will take you a long time to do it alone."
"Okay." Lin Heng wasn't polite.
On the way, he discussed with his eldest brother about putting the pigs in the pen behind the house.
"I don't think there's any problem. It's really too smelly to put it in the yard, especially in the summer, when there are mosquitoes everywhere. I plan to move the pigpen in our yard outside next year."
Father Lin nodded and said that he thought this was a good suggestion.
"Then let's find a good day in a few days and repair the pigpen and the chicken and duck pens together." The eldest brother Lin Yue nodded. It would indeed be better to repair it outside.
"No need to look for a special date. Tomorrow is a good day to start repairing the pigsty. When I asked someone to pick a date, tomorrow was the first date.
But because the carpentry work will definitely not be finished tomorrow, it will be postponed to May 2nd." Father Lin turned around and said.
"Okay, let's do it tomorrow." The eldest brother nodded.
After moving and laying the stones, it was almost seven o'clock. It was dark at eight o'clock these past two days. When I returned to the old house, Lin's mother was already cooking.
Sister-in-law Liu Juan was chopping pig grass, Xiulan and Caiyun were collecting mushrooms and bamboo shoots. The porcini mushrooms picked yesterday were sliced and completely dried in the sun today.
Xiaoxia was training Xiongba, playing a game of throwing wooden sticks. When she saw Lin Heng coming back, she quickly threw the wooden stick and stumbled over: "Dad~"
"Come here, baby, give me a kiss." Lin Heng picked up his daughter and leaned forward.
“Baji!”
The little girl kissed Lin Heng on the face with her pink little mouth. Feeling satisfied, Lin Heng put his daughter on his neck and trotted in the yard.
"You just know how to show off your daughter." The eldest brother Lin Yue was extremely envious. He had three sons but not a single daughter.
Although he was very happy, sometimes he also wanted a caring little cotton-padded jacket. Look at Xiaoxia, she was nothing like his son who only knew how to be naughty and mischievous. She was so well-behaved.
But there is no other way. With family planning policy, you have to pay a fine if you have three children, so you don’t dare to have a fourth.
And it is impossible for him to have a child now because his wife Liu Juan has already had a sterilization IUD inserted.
Lin Heng chuckled: "It's okay, she's your niece too, I'll give you a hug."
"I won't hug them." Lin Yue shook his head. He was afraid that if he hugged them for too long, he would not be able to help but punish his three naughty boys.
"Dad, second dad, I found the rabbit!"
Just as he mentioned his son, his eldest son Lin Wei came running in with his younger brother.
"Rabbit, where is it?" Lin Yue asked his son curiously.
"On the other side of the river, in the thatched pile at the end of the field, I was shooting green beetles with a slingshot when I suddenly saw a rabbit. I wanted to shoot it, but it ran into the grass and disappeared after I took a few steps."
Lin Wei pointed in that direction and said excitedly.
"This is interesting. Let's get up early tomorrow morning and take a look." Lin Heng nodded.
"Can I come with you?" Lin Wei didn't quite believe that his second father would take him with him.
"Of course. Your class doesn't start until eight o'clock. We'll go there at six in the morning." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"Okay, Second Dad, I love you the most." Lin Wei jumped up excitedly. He really wanted to experience hunting up close.
"Is he okay following me? I hope the rabbit won't be scared away by the jumpiness." Lin Yue was very worried.
"Of course not, I'm very quiet." Lin Wei quickly shook his head.
Lin Heng also smiled and said, "It's okay, it's just a rabbit hunt, if he wants to go, then let him go."
These newbies often have good luck, just like those fishermen who are fishing for the first time and can catch big fish just by throwing their fishing rods into the water. There really is some metaphysics involved.
After Lin Heng said this, Lin Wei felt that his second father was even closer to him than his biological father.
"I... go~"
Xiaoxia opened her mouth and waved her dirty little hands, indicating that she wanted to go too.
"Go, go, I'll take you there." Lin Heng threw his daughter up and caught her again, making her laugh.
But after throwing for a while he couldn't hold on any longer because his waist was hurting.
"Bring it to me." Xiulan said after packing her things.
"Brother, do you think we should go catch eels tonight?" Lin Yue suggested while washing his hands.
Because of the delay in building the house, they only caught eels once this year.
"You take dad with you. He's also good at catching eels. My legs hurt." Lin Heng changed the pain in his waist to the pain in his legs.
"It's okay, then let's go together." Father Lin nodded. He was also very interested in catching eels.
"Let's eat first, it's ready." Lin's mother came out of the kitchen and said to everyone.
Dinner was sauerkraut noodles with fried cabbage and some wine before the sauerkraut noodles were ready.
Lin Heng had his meal and went to rest, lying on the bed and teasing his daughter. Lin's father and his elder brother Lin Yue went to the field to catch eels, and Lin's father held an eel clamp made of bamboo.
When the two men left, they vowed that their goal for tonight was to catch 15 kilograms of eels. Lin Heng estimated that they would be lucky if they could get 10 kilograms.
"We have to build a pigpen tomorrow..." Lin Heng lay on the bed and told Xiulan what he had done today.
Xiulan also told Lin Heng what she had seen and heard on the mountain today. They opened up to each other and talked about tomorrow's plans.
Most days in the countryside are dull and ordinary, with nothing more than eating, working, climbing mountains and going down rivers. But if two people get along well, the dull days can also be warm and happy.
At around twelve o'clock, Lin Heng heard the gate of the yard being pushed open, and he got up and put on some clothes.
"How is it? What did you harvest?" Lin Heng asked with a smile on his face.
"Hey, son, you've lost a lot by not coming today. I caught a good thing." Father Lin smiled and said with some suspense.
"What is it? What else could it be besides a turtle?" Lin Heng didn't care. Even if it was a turtle, it wouldn't be bigger than the old turtle he raised.
"It's not a turtle, it's a small grass tortoise." Father Lin shook his head and took out a palm-sized grass tortoise from his back. There were gold lines on the tortoise shell and it was jet black all over, very distinctive.
"Where was this found?" Lin Heng was a little surprised. This thing is even rarer than a turtle.
"It's in the ditch beside the field. I guess it ran in from the river." Father Lin said with a smile.
"That's amazing. Although it can't be sold for much money, it's nice to keep it for fun." Lin Heng was a little envious.
"Where are the eels?" Lin Heng asked again.
"There are not many eels, only five or six kilograms, and some of them ran away." The eldest brother Lin Yue said with some regret.
Lin Heng was not surprised: "Not bad, go take a shower and go to bed."
After saying that, he went back to the room, told Xiulan about their gains, and slowly fell asleep.
(End of this chapter)
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