Chapter 80 Liangyu Zizhu
After his parents left, Lin Heng looked at Xiulan again. It was this woman who stood by him even when his parents were against it.
Just like when her parents did not agree with her marrying far away, she still resolutely followed me to Maple Village.
"What are you looking at? Is there something on my face?" Xiulan blinked at him with a smile on her lips.
Lin Heng smiled and shook his head: "No, I just feel that I have a beautiful and virtuous wife."
"I'm so proud that you praise me like this. From now on, I won't cook or take care of the children and will just eat free meals at home." Xiulan said jokingly.
"No problem, I won't let you do anything in the future, just have fun." Lin Heng smiled, but this was what he really thought.
"Okay, okay, you look after our daughter while I go make lunch." Xiulan smiled and stood up with the picked vegetables.
"Let's have something delicious for lunch today, cornmeal and cold fish." Xiulan turned around and said halfway through her journey.
"That's great. I haven't eaten this for a long time. Let me help you." Lin Heng carried his daughter into the kitchen.
Xiulan first boiled two kinds of wild vegetables, shepherd's purse and gray-gray vegetable, and mixed them into a cold dish, using them as a whistle, and then boiled water in a pot.
Cold fish is a delicacy eaten every summer in rural areas. It is simple in ingredients and tastes good, so it is very popular.
Xiulan took out a pound of corn flour (a coarser type of corn starch) and added water to it, mixing it into a paste.
Boil water in a pot and prepare a basin of cold spring water outside. When the water in the pot boils, pour the batter into it and stir it quickly. The corn flour will quickly turn into a light yellow semipermeable membrane colloid when heated.
At this time, use a ladle to scoop up the semipermeable membrane colloid and pour it into a ladle with small holes as thick as an index finger. Under the ladle is mountain spring water.
The colloid will be separated into pointed "little fish" when it passes through the holes. After being cooled in the water, it will be completely solidified and look like beautiful little fish swimming in the water, so they are called cool fish.
In fact, this is jelly, but the production method is different and the tools used are more primitive.
Soon, a large basin of cold fish was ready. Xiulan changed the water again to make it completely cold, because the colder it was, the better it tasted.
After it was frozen, it was divided into bowls. Xiulan picked up some gray vegetables and shepherd's purse, added chili oil, patchouli, garlic and chili, and drizzled a little vinegar. Lin Heng was drooling from afar before he even started eating.
There is no need to add salt. In order to preserve it for a longer time, garlic and chili made in rural areas are usually heavily salted. Chili in oil and vegetables also have some salt.
"Okay, you can eat now." Xiulan prepared three bowls and brought them to the table.
It was so nice to have a bowl of icy and refreshing jelly on a hot day with the temperature over 30 degrees. Just as Lin Heng was about to eat it, a little hand beside him pulled him back: "Hey, eat~"
The daughter opened her mouth and looked at him with her big round eyes.
"Okay, okay, you eat first." Lin Heng picked up her portion without spicy food and fed it to her.
"You eat, I'll feed you." said Xiulan.
"It's all the same. It doesn't matter." Lin Heng shook his head and scooped up a small cold fish with a spoon to feed Xiaoxia.
“Ah~”
My daughter put the spoon into her mouth in one gulp and waited a while before letting go.
"Eat quickly, or I'll spank you." Xiulan glared at her and turned to get a small branch.
"It's so delicious. If that branch hits you, your butt will be broken." Lin Heng threatened while feeding the fish.
Xiaoxia looked at the branch in her mother's hand, put her hand over her little butt, and started eating obediently.
"I'm full!" After eating for a while, Xiaoxia didn't want to eat anymore and ran to the yard to play with the dog.
"What a wonderful taste!" Lin Heng took a sip and squinted his eyes in intoxication.
The cornmeal cold fish is smooth and chewy, and it is simply invincible when paired with garlic and chili. The shepherd's purse and gray-green vegetable are also very delicious, with a special texture and unique taste, and it is really perfect when paired with the cold fish.
No wonder it is so popular in rural areas.
Life is hard, and it is not easy to eat such delicate food.
Lin Heng ate three bowls in a row before he was satisfied.
"There's half a bowl left. You can give it to Dad. He likes to eat this, too." Xiulan said to Lin Heng. She made so much on purpose just for Lin Heng to take to his mom and dad.
"Okay." Lin Heng nodded and came to the old house with the cold fish.
Pushing open the gate to the courtyard, he saw Father Lin and his uncle drinking in the main room. There were only two vegetarian dishes.
"Dad, we made some cold fish and sent some to you." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Father Lin glanced at him and said, "Your mother is downstairs, you can take it back and eat it yourself."
"I just gave it to you." Lin Heng felt that his father was still a little angry, so he put the basin directly on the table.
"Sit down and have a drink," said his uncle.
"Okay." Lin Heng sat down with a smile. He was not angry with his father at all and understood his feelings.
If he had not been reborn and was familiar with future developments, he would not have dared to do such a thing.
After drinking two glasses of wine, Father Lin didn't seem so angry anymore.
"Lin Heng, have you asked Tian Baishun?" After taking a sip of wine, his uncle asked again.
"No, I guess he can do it anytime. He was at home when I went there this morning, and he doesn't grow many crops.
It’s just that Xiulan asked me to help remove the corn straw tomorrow, so I might have to wait until the day after tomorrow.” Lin Heng shook his head and explained.
Father Lin looked up and looked at him coldly: "With your impetuous personality, I'm afraid you will weed the corn seedlings as well.
Your elder brother and I are all you need, you should hurry up and go up the mountain with your uncle."
Lin Heng: “…This is not good.”
"What's wrong with that? After you kill a prey, you share the meat with everyone. It's all the same."
Father Lin said coldly, "The main reason is that I despise the frame you use for farm work. It's so crooked when you plant the seedlings."
Father Lin has a little obsessive-compulsive disorder and still remembers that Lin Heng planted the rice seedlings in an untidy manner.
"Okay, uncle, let's set off early tomorrow morning. I won't drink anymore. Let's go and inform Tian Baishun now." Lin Heng stood up and said.
"Take the turtle in the basin back to the fish pond. It's too small to eat and is useless." Father Lin said before leaving.
"Okay." Lin Heng didn't hesitate and picked up the grass turtle in the basin.
This grass tortoise must be quite old. Its body is shiny black, with obvious golden lines on its belly. It looks quite good.
Unfortunately, people in rural areas only care about how big it is and whether it can be eaten.
First take it home and keep it in a wooden basin with the turtle. Definitely not put it in the fish pond, otherwise it will become a buffet.
"Did Turtle Dad give it to you?" Xiulan walked over with Xiaoxia in her arms to look.
"Yes, Dad also asked me to go hunting with my uncle tomorrow. No need to weed. I'm going to call Tian Baishun now, and you prepare some food for me to eat after hunting.
We will be in the mountains for two or three days at most this time. If we find prey, it may take a week. It will be difficult for us to come back by the Dragon Boat Festival. You can spend some time with mom and the others then." Lin Heng said to his wife.
"It's okay, it's just a Dragon Boat Festival. It will be the same when you come back." Xiulan said with a smile, not caring.
Lin Heng didn't care too much. Nowadays, celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival means eating rice dumplings and frying a few delicious dishes. As long as there is meat, every day is the Dragon Boat Festival.
"Then I'll go find Tian Baishun."
After saying that, he turned around and went out to inform Tian Baishun.
Tian Baishun's family lives on a hillside east of the village. There are quite a few people there, even more densely populated than here, and the village committee is also there.
Tian Baishun is an old widower with no children and very distant relatives. He is not liked by others because he likes to gossip.
Especially when I heard that he likes to hook up with women, he is even more disgusting.
Lin Heng actually didn't want to go hunting with him, but then he thought that this man was an old hunter and it would be nice to learn from him once or twice.
The old man's house was also a mud house. He rented out his land to others for farming and only needed a little food for himself every year. He also raised a sheep and an old hunting dog at home.
When Lin Heng arrived, the old man was napping on the armchair in the main hall, and the sheep were tied outside the yard eating grass.
“Woof woof!”
Under the eaves, a large black and white dog rushed towards Lin Heng, with its teeth exposed, looking extremely ferocious, but luckily it was tied with an iron chain.
Tian Baishun woke up with a start, and when he saw that it was Lin Heng, he couldn't help but ask, "Are you going hunting?"
"Yes, we'll set off tomorrow. Just come and gather in front of my house early in the morning." Lin Heng nodded.
After he finished speaking, he turned around and was about to leave. Tian Baishun quickly pulled him back: "Come and chat for a while, have a drink of water."
"What's there to talk about? Let's talk about the details tomorrow. I still have to go home to pack my things." Lin Heng shook his head and left.
Tian Baishun was a little helpless. He was bored and wanted to chat with someone.
When Lin Heng returned home, Xiulan was preparing food for him on the road. The easiest thing to preserve would definitely be steamed corn bread, and a jar of fermented bean curd would last him two days.
Lin Heng packed the things he needed. First of all, he had to bring more rainproof film, which could be used as a raincoat and as a roof for building a shelter.
Disassemble the lighter and fill it with kerosene. Check the small flint on it. If there is not much kerosene left, replace it with a new one to avoid having trouble lighting a fire when going up the mountain.
The bows and slingshots must also be checked, and the knives must be sharpened. A hatchet is used for clearing the rocks, and a small knife is used for cutting meat.
Several plastic bags, two strands of rope, an old-fashioned iron cup, a flashlight, and two dry batteries.
You also need to bring a pound of salt. When hunting in the summer, sometimes you have to run far away, and sometimes the prey will become smelly before you can bring it back, so you have to process it in the mountains first.
Including the dry food prepared by Xiulan, this is all the things we usually bring.
As for the medical kit, it doesn't exist at all. For minor injuries, use herbs, and for serious injuries, just wait to be carried back.
After getting everything ready, Lin Heng put them all into the backpack so as not to forget them the next morning.
Xiulan used cornmeal and flour to make round pancakes for Lin Heng, put them in a pot to dry, and also made a few steamed cornbreads.
"I've packed you some fried soybeans. They don't spoil easily, so you can eat them for four or five days."
Xiulan scooped up some more soybeans and put them into the pot to fry. After they were cooked, the fragrance filled the house.
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to resist and finish it all on the first day.” Lin Heng said with a smile, fried soybeans are really a delicacy.
"Then you can only hunt well from now on, but no matter what you do, safety comes first." Xiulan said with a smile.
After the soybeans were fried, she left a handful for Xiaoxia and packed the rest for Lin Heng. She tasted two herself.
After finishing all this, it was already past three o'clock. Xiulan carried Xiaoxia out, while Lin Heng went to lead the sheep. The three of them went to the fields to help with the work. When they reached the old house, Lin Heng helped by getting a bag of wood ash.
During this season, farm work can be said to be endless. Basically, corn, soybeans, adzuki beans, and peanuts need to be weeded, and weeds in paddy fields also need to be pulled out.
Today is the 3rd, and the day after tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival. During this period, the wheat is ripe and it is time to start harvesting.
Because their place is at a high altitude, the fruits here mature relatively late. Generally, the fruits in the plains are harvested but they are just beginning to mature here.
Also, the sweet potatoes planted a month ago have already survived and need to be fertilized and the sweet potato vines turned over.
When they arrived at the sweet potato field, their mother, sister-in-law Liu Juan, and her two younger sons were all turning over the sweet potato vines.
"Lin Tao, come here and help me herd the sheep. Pull them to the edge of the field so they can graze and don't run away. Take care of your sister as well so she doesn't fall."
Lin Heng shouted at his second nephew Lin Tao.
"Okay, second dad." Hearing this, Lin Tao hurried over to take the rope. Turning over the sweet potato vines was too tiring.
"If you don't want to work, then you have to keep an eye on your younger brothers and sisters. If they fall, you'll be in trouble." Sister-in-law Liu Juan looked at her son and warned.
"Don't worry, Mom." Lin Tao nodded. Although he was only four years old, he already needed to go down to the fields to help.
"Xiu Lan, you apply fertilizer and I'll weed." Lin Heng said as he picked up the hoe.
"Okay." Xiulan brought some wood ash and sprinkled a handful on the root of a sweet potato.
Lin Heng used a hoe to dig out the weeds first, then loosened the soil, hooked it over to cover the roots of the sweet potatoes, and then turned the sweet potato vines over with the back facing up to prevent them from growing side roots.
This work was repeated until all the three acres of sweet potato fields were finished.
The worst thing is that this is only the first time, because the wood ash is not fertile enough, so usually a second time is needed.
The sweet potato vines need to be turned over three times. If not, the vines will grow lateral roots and the sweet potato yield will be low.
When Lin Heng thought of these things, he missed chemical fertilizers. This is truly the greatest invention. It was with chemical fertilizers that mankind began to get rid of famine.
If you have chemical fertilizer, you only need to apply fertilizer once and then turn the sweet potato vines three times, which will save a lot of work.
Unfortunately, at that time, chemical fertilizers were not yet widely available, and might only be found in some large grain-producing plains.
After working for a while, Lin Heng couldn't help but rub his waist. He was already sore and weak, and he still had to bend down to hoe the ground, which was really exhausting.
"If you can't do it, take a break and take it slow." Lin's mother said with a glance. She knew that Lin Heng couldn't do it for a few strokes.
"That's why I want to make money." Lin Heng shook his head and continued to hoe the ground.
It took four people from three o'clock to five o'clock to finish working on one acre of land. After a break, there was still more than one acre of land left to work.
"Lin Heng, look, isn't that your uncle? Why is he coming down the mountain carrying bamboo?"
During the break, Lin's mother suddenly said.
Lin Heng turned his head and saw that it was indeed the case. A man in black clothes was walking down from the other side of the river, carrying a clump of bamboo on his back. The way he walked was definitely that of his uncle.
"He should be digging purple bamboo for me. I'll go get it." Lin Heng said as he put down his hoe and walked over.
The two met by the Slate River, and the uncle Li Baiquan spoke first: "I got you some purple bamboo. These six chopped pieces are all old purple bamboo and can be used to make fishing rods."
"Okay, I'm ready, let's go fishing together." Lin Heng took the bamboo with a smile. These purple-black ones are indeed old bamboos. The young purple bamboos only have a little purple in the bamboo nodes.
"Where are you planning to plant?" asked my uncle again.
"It's on the hill behind the yard, outside the pig pen. You can't plant this in the yard, or it will be overgrown in a few years."
Lin Heng said that he originally wanted to help his uncle carry the bag, but was rejected.
"That's a good place, but you can't plant it too close, or it will get dirty forever." My uncle-in-law nodded.
Arriving at the mountain behind the Lin family's home, Lin Heng used his hoe to find a piece of fertile land, dug a big hole, and planted the purple bamboo.
After planting, he picked up two buckets of water and watered the bamboo. The purple bamboo dug by his uncle came with soil and three bamboos, so there was still hope for it to survive.
"Uncle, go down and have a drink of water."
Lin Heng said with a smile.
"Okay." My uncle nodded. He was already very thirsty.
After entering the house, without waiting for Lin Heng to pour him tea, he went to the kitchen and drank a bucket of cold water.
"Hey, are you going hunting?" Coming out of the kitchen, the uncle noticed the things placed in Lin Heng's main room and asked.
"Yes, my uncle, Tian Baishun and I will form a team to go hunting and set off tomorrow morning." Lin Heng nodded.
When he heard about the hunting team, my uncle-in-law immediately became interested and said, "Then add me in. I'll get up early tomorrow morning."
"Will my aunt agree to this?" Lin Heng was worried that he would be scolded by his aunt.
"Why would you disagree? I'm just doing the right thing, not doing anything bad. I'm going home now and will come down tomorrow morning. You must wait for me."
My uncle said this and walked out.
"Uncle, eat a tortilla before you leave." Lin Heng took a tortilla and chased after him.
"Okay, remember to wait for me." My uncle said, then left with a smile. He had originally wanted to have dinner here tonight, but now he couldn't care less.
Lin Heng was helpless. What could he do? He couldn't refuse his elder. His uncle-in-law had been running around lately and might not have done any farm work. He really didn't want to ask him to go hunting again.
What if he doesn't catch anything? He will have another quarrel with his aunt when he gets home.
After picking up a bag of wood ash, Lin Heng reluctantly came to the second sweet potato field.
"Is your uncle gone?" Lin's mother asked when she saw Lin Heng coming over.
"Hey, he knows we are going to the mountain to hunt tomorrow, and he insists on going with us. I'm afraid my aunt will beat me next time I come over." Lin Heng said helplessly, spreading his hands.
"It's okay, this is a good thing. If you don't take him hunting, he might still run around." Lin's mother said. She knew her brother-in-law Li Baiquan too well.
He is the type of person who cannot sit still. Although he also works, he just likes to join in the fun and drink everywhere.
But you can't say that he is not doing his job properly. He works, hunts, and runs around the village.
Fortunately, his family has not yet split up, and his two sons and their wives can still help with farm work.
"That's good." Lin Heng nodded. He actually thought his uncle was a very nice person. Maybe it was because they both liked to play and had similar interests.
Instead, he felt that his uncle was too serious and it was not fun to hunt with him.
The farm work lasted until 7:30 and ended when it was almost dark. Finally, all the sweet potato fertilizer was applied.
When Lin Heng got home, he was exhausted with back pain, leg cramps, and a simple dinner of sauerkraut noodles. He took a cold shower and went to bed.
There was no way he could go on any more tonight; he had to conserve his energy for going up the mountain to hunt tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)
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