Chapter 118 New Year's Eve
The day before New Year's Eve, Xu Hexiao started frying various meatballs, including pork meatballs, fish meatballs, taro meatballs, and sweet potato meatballs. He was responsible for frying and Lin Qi was responsible for eating.
Lin Qi's house was filled with the aroma of various meatballs all day long.
On New Year's Eve, Xu Hexiao got up early in the morning and started working. When Lin Qi got up, he had not only prepared breakfast, but also prepared the things needed for burning incense.
Ancestor worship is not a popular thing nowadays, and things like incense, candles, and paper money are rarely seen outside. Xu Hexiao asked Brother Tan to help him find the incense, candles, and paper money.
The two finished their breakfast, then quietly left Lin Qi's house with their things.
Arriving at the planting area, Lin Qi and Xu Hexiao came to the grave of old man Xu. Lin Qi burned incense for Grandpa Xu, then went to see her ducks, leaving the space for Xu Hexiao.
The mountains were frozen over and she was worried that her ducks would freeze to death.
When she arrived at the pond, the ducks were really frozen. They were hiding in the duck shed, huddled together.
Lin Qi added some hay to the duck shed, then started a fire on the spot to keep the ducks warm.
After the fire was lit, she went back to the cave to cook for the ducks. On weekdays, she would occasionally cook some cooked food for the ducks, especially when the ducks were young, she would cook more frequently.
This time she cooked rice with sweet potatoes, and mixed it with rice bran and vegetables.
After Lin Qi cooked food for the ducks, the ducks in the duck shed also became more energetic.
At this time, Xu Hexiao came over.
"If you are worried about these ducks, we will stay in the planting area tonight and not go back." Xu Hexiao said.
Lin Qi was startled, "But the food we prepared is still at home."
"The weather is cold, so those things won't go bad if we keep them. Besides, there's no shortage of vegetables and meat in the growing areas. What do you want to eat? Roast chicken with jujube honey, or roast duck with fruits? Or a roast suckling pig? Or a roast whole lamb?" Xu Hexiao listed them one by one.
Lin Qi swallowed and said, "Then let's roast a whole lamb."
"Okay. I'll catch a sheep right now." Xu Hexiao said and went to the planting area.
"Don't you want me to catch him?" Lin Qi was a little worried.
"No need." Xu Hexiao said without turning his head.
Watching Xu Hexiao walk away, Lin Qi couldn't help but mutter, "Is it my illusion? Why do I feel that Xu Hexiao doesn't want to eat roasted whole lamb, but wants to eat me?"
Lin Qi came to the duck shed every once in a while to add firewood, while Xu Hexiao was busy in the cave the whole time. The cave was cold and gloomy, and the coldness gradually faded after the fire was lit.
Xu Hexiao cooked roast lamb and a big pot of mutton offal soup, and put a lot of pancakes on the edge of the pot.
Some time ago, Brother Tan transported the wine from their cave away one after another. Now the cave was much emptier, with only a few jars of wine, some candied fruits, two jars of jujube honey, some bayberry and cherry jams, and several large jars of grain.
Lin Qi was eating candied fruits and drinking various fruit wines by the fire, while Xu Hexiao was brushing honey, jam, chili, cumin and other seasonings on the mutton.
The mutton was only marinated for a few hours and was not flavorful enough, so he added seasoning more frequently.
"This year's fruit wine sales are good, we can make more next year." Lin Qi said. Wine accounted for the majority of this year's income, and she earned nearly 10,000 yuan just from selling wine. The day before yesterday, when she took out her passbook to count, she found that her deposit had increased to 30,000 yuan. Xu Hexiao reminded her that she went to the bank to deposit money too frequently, and she was afraid that it would attract the attention of someone with ulterior motives. Next time she deposited money, she had to go to the county and deposit it in a different bank.
"The profit of wine has always been very high. Of course, it must be high-quality wine. Ordinary wine does not have such good sales." Xu Hexiao said that Lin Qi's wine not only tastes good and has a mellow aftertaste, but also has various benefits. Not only can it beautify the skin, but it can also help sleep and relieve fatigue. It is called fruit wine, but its effect is comparable to medicinal wine. So no matter how much wine Brother Tan takes out, it can be sold out, and the supply is in short supply.
"The fruit wine is delicious, but the alcohol content is a bit low." Lin Qi took another sip of the mulberry wine and squinted her eyes in satisfaction. "I saw a book about winemaking on the table in the study. Do you plan to make other wines?"
It was an ancient book with yellowed pages, which Xu Hexiao should have obtained from Boss Mo.
"I have this plan." Xu Hexiao said, "I plan to start with the simplest rice wine, sorghum wine, etc. I estimate that a lot of food will be wasted by then."
Lin Qi waved her hand without any hesitation, "It's okay, you can use it. It's not a waste if it goes bad, you can eat chicken and duck."
The mutton was roasted for two hours, and the rich aroma made Lin Qi's mouth water. She had already drunk two bowls of mutton soup to satisfy her craving. Finally, when Xu Hexiao said "It's done", she couldn't wait to reach out and pull down a leg of mutton.
"Be careful, it's hot." Xu Hexiao was startled by her actions and hurriedly asked her to put the lamb leg on the plate.
"Don't worry about me, just eat your own food." Lin Qi rejected his kindness, "You've been busy all day, just take care of yourself."
Seeing that she was eating meat with big mouthfuls and was not burned, Xu Hexiao smiled indulgently, "Okay, I'll take care of myself, and you take care of yourself too."
Xu Hexiao specially selected a relatively tender lamb, but even so, the lamb still weighed more than 100 kilograms. Xu Hexiao and Lin Qi ate until their bellies were full, and there was a lot of lamb meat left.
"That's great. I don't have to prepare breakfast tomorrow." Lin Qi said while rubbing her stomach.
Xu Hexiao hummed, "Let's make some porridge tomorrow morning and eat it with the remaining barbecue."
As he spoke, he stood up and said, "I'll put some charcoal under the bed. You go wash up. There's hot water in the earthenware pot."
By the time Lin Qi finished washing up, Xu Hexiao had already laid a layer of charcoal under the bed.
"These charcoal fires will go out in an hour or two, but I will build another fire not far from the bed so you won't get cold. Don't worry." Xu Hexiao said.
Lin Qi nodded randomly. She didn't know why, but Xu Hexiao's eyes were inexplicably aggressive tonight.
When Xu Hexiao went to wash up, Lin Qi took off her clothes and went to bed. She only took off her outer cotton coat and trousers, and her inner trousers were still neatly wrapped from the neck to the ankles.
The bed was warm. As soon as Lin Qi lay down, she yawned and her eyes became moist. She glanced over the curtain and saw Xu Hexiao was still washing up.
He seemed to have taken a longer time to wash. Lin Qi thought vaguely, and before she fell asleep, she seemed to smell a faint fishy smell in the air.
When Xu Hexiao came back with a puff of moisture, Lin Qi had already fallen asleep, her porcelain-white face half hidden in the quilt and half exposed outside, her amber eyes gently closed, her eyelashes long and curled, giving her a playful and cute look.
In the light of the fire, Xu Hexiao looked at Lin Qi quietly for a long time. When the moisture on his body dissipated, he lifted the quilt and lay down on the bed.
His body slowly moved towards her, and finally stopped when he was close to her. Like a man who had been walking in the desert for a long time and finally found a stream of sweet water, his body and mind sighed with joy.
But that’s not enough.
He wanted to be close to her, wanted her, every moment, and he was almost going crazy!
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