Chapter 74 Going to the Market with My Wife [5,000 Words]
“Boom boom boom!!”
"Second Dad, get up and hunt rabbits!"
The next morning, just after five o'clock, there was a knock on Lin Heng's door.
Lin Wei, my eldest nephew who is usually late for school, got up earlier than his mother today.
"Hubby, wake up."
Seeing that Lin Heng didn't move, Xiulan shook him.
"Ah, where is my big black carp weighing more than 100 kilograms?" Lin Heng saw a beautiful face in a daze.
Xiulan looked at him in confusion: "Lin Wei asked you to catch rabbits, where did the black fish come from? You must be talking in your sleep."
Lin Heng finally woke up and realized it was a dream. He sighed with regret, "I just dreamed that I caught a big black carp weighing more than 100 kilograms.
I actually caught a fish. I can do anything in my dreams."
He felt that he was probably sick and he even dreamed about fishing.
"Second Dad, are you up?" Lin Wei spoke again outside the door.
"Here it comes." Lin Heng climbed out of bed helplessly, thinking that his nephew was too proactive.
He put on his clothes, yawned, took the bow and arrow from the wall, opened the door and walked out.
"Second father, let's go quickly."
Seeing Lin Heng coming out, Lin Wei hurriedly urged.
Lin Heng smiled and patted his nephew's shoulder: "Don't worry, I'll wash my face and go to the toilet first. The rabbit may not be up this early."
"Okay." Lin Wei was helpless and very excited.
After washing his face and peeing, Lin Heng untied Xiongba's chains and said, "Let's go up the mountain. I'm counting on you today."
“Woof woof!!”
Xiongba held his head high and rushed out. Every time he went out, he would run around for a few rounds before he felt comfortable.
Lin Wei walked in front to lead the way. He excitedly talked about how he saw the rabbit yesterday.
When they arrived at the place he mentioned, there was no rabbit there.
Lin Wei explained anxiously: "Second father, I didn't lie. I really saw it yesterday. It was next to the thatched grass."
Lin Heng smiled and patted his shoulder: "It's normal, don't worry."
After saying that, it squatted down and touched Xiongba's head: "Damn you, Xiongba, find the rabbit hole."
Rabbit urine and feces are both very smelly and not hard for a dog to find, as long as the dog has actually been around recently.
"Woo woo~"
Xiongba sniffed the ground, then drilled into the thatched grass and went up.
Lin Heng and Lin Wei followed behind, and soon, Xiongba stopped in a very hidden place in the bushes.
“Woof woof!”
Xiongba looked up at Lin Heng, indicating that he was right here.
"Second father, Xiongba is so awesome that he can even find this."
Lin Wei squatted down and touched Xiongba, saying in shock.
Xiongba raised his head, as if to say, you know nothing about how powerful I am.
"Don't be too happy, maybe the rabbit is not at home."
Lin Heng said this and looked around for other exits. Rabbit holes usually have two or three exits.
After finding all three exits, Lin Heng turned to look at Lin Wei and Xiong Ba: "You take Xiong Ba to guard here, I'll go light a fire and smoke them out."
"Okay." He ran over excitedly and stood guard at the entrance of the cave, a slingshot in his hand.
Lin Heng found some pine needles and some cypress leaves.
After lighting the fire, adding some dry firewood and throwing cypress leaves on it, there were crackling sounds and thick smoke rose up.
“Ahem!”
Lin Heng turned his head to the side and fanned himself wildly with a leaf. After a few seconds, he saw smoke coming out from some other places.
This time Lin Heng searched carefully and did not miss any exit.
Poor rabbit, there is no chance of escape this time.
On the other side, not long after the thick smoke appeared, a hemp-gray figure couldn't help but rush out from the other end of the cave.
“Woof!!”
Before Lin Wei shot with his slingshot, the rabbit jumped out. With a dog barking, Xiongba accurately bit the gray rabbit.
"I caught it. I caught Erdie. It's the big gray rabbit I saw yesterday."
Lin Wei danced with excitement. Hunting was so exciting.
"It's a piece of cake. It's not difficult." Lin Heng smiled slightly. He had expected this result.
Lin Heng was about to put out the fire when he suddenly heard his nephew's scream again.
"Oh my God, there are rabbits, little rabbits, one just ran out."
"And there's a little rabbit!!"
Lin Heng had never expected such a pleasant surprise and ran over quickly.
"That one ran away. Xiongba tried to chase him with a big rabbit in his mouth, but failed. I was careless." Lin Wei said, pointing at the cave entrance.
"You go and fan the smoke, and I'll catch it." Lin Heng handed the leaf to his nephew and said.
"OK."
Lin Wei ran over quickly and fanned himself.
Lin Heng took a look at the female rabbit that was bitten to death by Xiongba, took out the snakeskin bag and pointed it at the cave entrance. He wanted to catch it alive.
Lin Wei fanned the smoke for a while, and there was movement in the cave again. With a whoosh, a rabbit crawled into the snakeskin bag.
Then there were a few more whooshing sounds, and four more little rabbits crawled in.
Lin Heng was afraid that they would go back into the hole again, so he quickly raised his bag and grabbed the ones he had caught first.
When the smoke in the snakeskin bag dissipated, Lin Heng saw five little rabbits running around. They were only the size of two fists, two were white, one was gray, and two were black and white.
"Second father, did you catch it?"
Lin Wei heard the noise and asked excitedly.
"Now that you've caught me, put out the cigarette."
Lin Heng said with a smile.
Lin Wei picked up a stick and put out the fire, then ran over impatiently: "How many did you catch?"
"Look for yourself." Lin Heng opened the bag.
"Five little rabbits, oh my god, we are rich." Lin Wei couldn't hide his excitement at all.
"Indeed, this little rabbit is a pleasant surprise. Take it home and raise it. It's all yours."
Lin Heng smiled and said that following a novice would indeed bring unexpected gains. He actually encountered a nest of rabbits. He was really lucky.
Lin Wei shook his head and said, "I only need two, the rest are your second father. This time I have to rely on you, otherwise I won't be able to catch any."
He is too fair and has become a qualified little hunter.
"That's all fine. You can raise as many as you want." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"Second Dad, let me see the big rabbit." Lin Wei stretched out his hand with a smile.
Could Lin Heng not understand his thoughts? "Here you go, here you go."
Lin Wei took the big rabbit and looked at it carefully. The rabbit's spine was bitten off by Xiongba. Although its body was still warm, it was already dead.
Lin Wei lifted his ears, looked at it, a smile appeared on his face, and he jumped forward.
"Aunt Liu Lan, look at the rabbit we caught. It weighs four or five kilograms."
"Uncle Yang, this is the rabbit that my second father and I hunted together. We also caught five little rabbits, all alive."
At a young age, Lin Wei understood that hunting was not about showing off. It was like walking in the night in fine clothes, and he did not let go of any adult he met.
Lin Heng shook his head and walked behind. Without saying anything, everyone in the village knew that it was his credit, and their eyes were full of envy and admiration.
Lin Wei deliberately went to the big ginkgo tree where the elderly in the village often gathered, but unfortunately there were not many people there in the morning, so he had no choice but to go home, after all, he still had to go to school.
"Dad, Grandpa, we caught prey!!"
It can be said that the voice came before the person arrived. Lin Wei's loud voice startled everyone and they all looked towards the door.
"Dad, Mom, look."
Lin Wei showed it to them as if he were presenting a treasure.
"Your second father must have beaten you." Lin Yue used the see-through skill.
"I also helped a lot." Lin Wei was not convinced.
“He really helped a lot, and we were lucky today and caught five little rabbits.
Let’s make a cage and keep them there, and then we can divide them up.”
Lin Heng showed the rabbit in the bag.
"This is good. If we raise rabbits, we will always have rabbits to eat at home." Mother Lin's eyes lit up when she saw the little rabbit.
"Thanks to Lin Wei's good luck, otherwise we wouldn't be able to catch these little rabbits."
Lin Heng said with a smile.
"Lin Wei, you've been useful this time and have done a great job, but it's already half past seven, so hurry up and pack up and go to school."
Liu Juan praised and urged.
"Okay." Lin Wei was a little impatient to go to school today so he could brag to his friends about the rabbit he caught.
"This thing is not easy to keep. You need to use a sturdy cage made of iron pear tree or ox-tendon tree, otherwise it will easily chew through the wood and run away."
Father Lin found a deep wooden barrel and asked Lin Heng to pour the rabbit into it.
The five little rabbits huddled together, trembling and terrified.
"Indeed, rabbits have very strong chewing teeth." Lin Heng was also a little worried because there was no iron cage at home.
"I can only make one out of bamboo first. I'll go to the market in a few days to see if there's any barbed wire for sale. I'll buy some and keep it here."
Father Lin spread his hands and said.
"Brother, you can take two of the rabbits and give the rest to dad. I'm too lazy to raise them."
Lin Heng looked at the rabbit and said.
"You don't want to raise it?" Lin's mother wondered.
"Why raise it? There are them everywhere in the mountains. I can just catch them if I want to eat them." Lin Heng spread his hands and smiled.
Mother Lin: “…”
"If you are capable and powerful, we will raise you." Father Lin accepted everyone who came.
"The sauerkraut soup is ready. Eat it and go fix the pig sty and the chicken and duck sty."
Xiulan came out of the house and said that she was cooking breakfast.
After dinner, at eight o'clock, the father and his two sons went to the back mountain to repair the pigpen and chicken coop.
This thing is not difficult. All you have to do is clear a piece of flat ground, nail wooden stakes, build a square railing, and put up a frame to build a shack to shelter from the rain.
Finally, dig two wooden pig troughs and you can raise pigs.
The same goes for chicken coops, which can be made of bamboo or wood. The difference from pig pens is that the top must be sealed, otherwise the chickens will fly out.
It sounds simple, but the workload is not small. It took me a whole day to barely finish it.
And the pig trough had not been emptied yet.
They ate the rabbit they caught in the morning in the evening. The fried rabbit meat didn’t taste very good, and everyone in the Lin family who had eaten meat frequently in the past month felt a little disgusted with it.
The next day was the 29th, the last market day in April.
When she woke up in the morning, Xiulan turned her head and looked at Lin Heng: "Have you decided what to buy today?"
"Just look and buy it. Do you want me to go with you?" Lin Heng reached out and touched his wife's soft face.
Last night, Lin's father gave him and his elder brother fifty yuan each, asking them to take advantage of today's market to buy some furniture for their new home.
Because we are moving to a new house on the second day of May, this is the last market day before the move.
"Yeah, I don't know what to buy by myself." Xiulan nodded and said softly.
"Okay, I'll go with you." Lin Heng originally wanted to clean up the small yard at the back, but he couldn't bear to refuse his wife.
The two got up, changed into clean clothes, and tidied themselves up.
"Brother, pack up now and leave when you are done."
Eldest brother Lin Yue and eldest sister-in-law Liu Juan got up even earlier.
"Okay." Lin Heng nodded.
"Then I'll go and lead the cow." Lin Yue nodded. He borrowed a wooden cart today and used the cow at home to pull it.
Because there will definitely be a lot of things to buy today, it will be impossible to carry them all by manpower, so we have to use a ox cart.
The ox was pulled onto the road and the ox cart was assembled. The eldest brother Lin Yue drove the cart, while Lin Heng Xiu Lan and the eldest sister-in-law Liu Juan all sat on the cart.
Lin Heng did not sell his suede, badger skin, mushrooms and other things. He planned to store more and go directly into the city.
The cow walked slowly, and the copper bell on its neck made a crisp sound.
Lin Heng sat in the car, feeling the cool breeze of the early morning blowing towards him. He looked at the scenery outside the road and listened to Xiulan and her sister-in-law discussing what to buy.
When I get tired of sitting, I lie down, rest my head on Xiulan's legs and look at the sky. This slow-paced life brings an indescribable sense of comfort.
They set out at 5:30 and arrived at the streets of Huangtan Town at 7 o'clock.
Listening to the noisy sounds and looking at the densely packed crowds, Lin Heng had the illusion that he had returned to the time before his rebirth.
"Brother and sister-in-law, you go buy it first, we will watch over the cows and the cart."
Lin Heng took the initiative to speak.
Lin Yue didn't act pretentiously and nodded, "Then you guys take a look. Xiaojuan and I will be back in a while."
The two said something and went out together.
Lin Heng tied the cow to a tree on the roadside and sat on the cart to chat with his wife.
He took a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down everything he wanted to buy. He could then buy them one by one when the time came.
"Let's buy a few bowls." Xiulan looked at Lin Heng and asked.
"Ten bowls and plates are enough. More is useless. After the separation, there are only three people in our family." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"Then buy two more, and I will give birth to two more for you later." Xiulan blinked her eyes. She really wanted to give Lin Heng a son.
Lin Heng took his wife's hand and said with a smile: "Okay."
He is not in a hurry about this matter and will wait until the conditions are better prepared. It will take at least until next year.
Now that she has money, Xiulan will have lower risks in having children and there is no need to rush.
The two of them sat shoulder to shoulder, chatting until they ran out of things to say. Xiulan looked at the people on the street, and Lin Heng looked at her, waiting boredly.
During this period, the eldest brother came back three times. The first time he brought back fifteen chicks, the second time he brought back a series of pots and pans, and the third time he brought back some sheets and quilt covers.
By the time the two brothers came back for the fourth time, it was already eleven o'clock in the morning. They were carrying snakeskin bags full of things.
"Brother, you can go buy it now. We'll watch it now."
Big brother Lin Yue said with a smile.
"Okay." Lin Heng and Xiulan jumped out of the car quickly, their buttocks sore from sitting.
When moving to a new house, the first thing to buy is pots and pans, kitchen knives and shovels. Eating utensils are the most important.
Secondly, you have to buy some basic daily necessities, such as two quilts, pillowcases, sheets and so on.
I spent 12 yuan after selling all these. The pots, pans, and utensils were not expensive, but the main things were the quilts. A five-pound cotton quilt cost three yuan, and two sheets cost another yuan.
But the quality of what I bought was relatively good, after all, it was a new house.
After buying all these, I bought some red paper for writing couplets and a portrait of the Kitchen God, preparing to take him back to worship.
After putting the things he bought in the car, Lin Heng said, "Let's go to the river to see the chickens."
On the river beach under the bridge, there are pigs, chickens, ducks, cows and lambs for sale. They are all bred by farmers themselves. There are very few large-scale farms at that time.
"How much is this chick?" Xiulan walked up to an uncle selling chicks and asked.
"My chickens are black chickens with black legs. These are half a month old and cost 20 cents each. The one next to them is one month old and costs 30 cents each."
A half-month-old chick is covered with down and is the size of a fist. A one-month-old chick’s down has turned into thick feathers.
"Let's buy one-month-old ones. Buy ten. Big ones are easier to raise. Can you give me some bamboo cages?" Lin Heng noticed that there was a simple bamboo cage for chicks behind the old man.
"These are 20 cents each, or if you buy five more, I'll give them to you for free." The uncle grinned.
"Forget it, let's go ask other families." Lin Heng glanced at him and left with Xiulan.
"Don't go. I'm just kidding. I'm giving it to you. This chicken of mine is the best here." The uncle quickly stopped Lin Heng and said with a smile.
"Let's take a look at other things first." Lin Heng ignored him and went to look at several other shops selling chicks.
"It seems that the uncle's is better. Although it is a bit more expensive, the black chicken is delicious." Xiulan looked around and commented.
"Then let's go back." Lin Heng smiled slightly.
"I told you my black chicken is one-of-a-kind, so the price is really reasonable." The uncle smiled and handed the two of them a bamboo cage.
"Other people's one-month-old ones only cost 20 cents, yours is too expensive." Lin Heng shook his head.
"You get what you pay for." The uncle chuckled.
Lin Heng didn't argue. The price was indeed about the same. He turned his head and looked at Xiulan and said with a smile, "How many males and females do you want first?"
Xiulan looked at him in surprise: "Can you tell the difference between male and female chicks like these?"
The uncle selling the chicks also didn't believe it: "Young man, don't brag. You can't tell the male and female of such young chickens. Those who say they can tell the male and female are fooling you. Don't lie to your wife."
Lin Heng smiled slightly and looked at the uncle: "If I can explain the reason, how about you give me an extra chicken?"
The uncle took out a piece of paper, poured a little welding smoke and slowly rolled it up, and said proudly: "If you can really convince me, I will give you one."
Xiulan was also curious. In the countryside, catching chicks, especially those under two months old, is almost entirely based on luck, and it is impossible to tell the male from the female.
Lin Heng smiled and said, "That's what you said."
"I said it." The uncle said proudly.
Lin Heng took a chick out of the bamboo cage, turned it over and looked at its butt, then said, "This is a female. Xiulan, you hold it. I'll catch a male."
After searching for a while, Lin Heng quickly found a male and said with a smile, "This is the male."
"Why do you say that?" The uncle who was selling the chickens looked unconvinced. He took out a kerosene lighter and lit the welding smoke. The smell of smoke and kerosene filled the air.
I thought to myself, I’ve been selling chicks for so many years, and he doesn’t even know whether he can tell the difference between male and female chicks?
It's not that easy to just pick two chicks and try to trick him.
"It's okay, just listen to me and I'll tell you slowly." Lin Heng was not in a hurry.
Yesterday I dreamed that I caught a 150-pound big blue carp. I was so excited, but then I woke up from the dream. Damn it.
(End of this chapter)
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