Era: Started from raising livestock in the mountains

Chapter 140 Expressing Gratitude with Love [6.6k]

"Let's go up and take a look."

After looking at Xiongba, Lin Heng went ashore and walked upstream.

"Awoo~"

Xiongba found a place far away from Lin Heng to shake off the water, and then ran after him.

"Help!"

Lin Heng walked about a hundred meters and came to a place where women often washed clothes, and saw someone asking for help.

Jin Hai was sitting on the edge of the water, with a snake biting his ankle. The cry for help came from his sister Jin Yan.

"Lin Heng, help, save my brother, she was bitten by a water snake." Jin Yan saw Lin Heng hurriedly asking for help, her face full of anxiety. She was afraid of snakes and didn't dare to get close.

Jin Hai, a man, was also pale and trembling, and didn't dare to look at his feet.

"Water snakes are not poisonous, why are you so scared?" Lin Heng glanced at Jin Hai. This kid was usually very crazy, but he was so scared when he saw a snake.

"No... no poison?" Jin Hai was stunned, and took a look at the snake on his feet, but he was still weak all over.

Jin Yan next to him was also stunned. She was crying so hard, and you told me that water snakes are not poisonous?

"What's wrong?" Yang Zhaotao, who was working in the field, ran over.

"Go and see for yourself." Lin Heng smiled.

Freshwater water snakes make a living by fishing, but the fancy patterns are scary, and some people say that water snakes are highly poisonous. He even opened its mouth to see that there were no fangs at all.

Yang Zhaotao took a look and said with a smile: "What's there to be afraid of? This thing is not poisonous."

He walked over to take a look and smiled: "You have pressed the water snake, it will definitely not let go."

"Xiongba, let's go." Lin Heng smiled, turned around and went back, holding the red dates that were almost dried on his body and walked back.

Not long after, Jin Hai and Jin Yan also appeared behind him. Lin Heng glanced at them, and Jin Hai immediately lowered his head.

It was so embarrassing that he couldn't stand up in front of Lin Heng anymore.

"Lin Heng, thank you!" Jin Yan ran over and said.

Her clothes were wet and she looked a little pitiful.

"I didn't help, don't thank me." Lin Heng waved his hand.

He left after saying that. When he got home, he led Hongzao to the newly built horse pen, which was covered with some straw and chopped horse grass and corn leaves.

Xiulan stayed at home with Xiaoxia all day today. Because she had her period these two days, Lin Heng didn't let her get tired.

"Have you finished bathing Hongzao and Xiongba?" Xiulan asked when she saw him.

"I'm done. The boiling water is gone, right? I'll go boil some water." Lin Heng nodded, lifted the kettle, and poured the remaining hot water into his wife's cup.

"Why didn't you put brown sugar in? Is there no brown sugar at home?" Lin Heng asked curiously as he looked at the red dates soaked in the cup.

"I thought there was brown sugar, but it turned out to be gone. It's not a big deal." Xiulan shook her head softly.

Lin Heng smiled and said, "It's okay. The sweet stalks are old. I'll make some brown sugar for you."

The so-called sweet stalks are sweet sorghum. They grow them here to make wine. Like the sugarcane grown in the south, the stalks of sweet sorghum are also sweet. They eat them as sugarcane.

"Make it yourself?" Xiulan was a little surprised.

"It will be quick. Just wait for me at home." Lin Heng said, and ran out with a hatchet.

Going to his own sweet stalk field, Lin Heng picked up the sweet stalks with the tops of the sorghum already red and cut ten, about 40 to 50 kilograms.

After taking it home, he peeled off the leaves to feed the horses. Xiulan came over and looked at him curiously: "We don't have any tools at home. How can we make brown sugar?"

"No tools, just find one."

Lin Heng smiled slightly, and he removed the outer skin of the sweet stalks one by one, leaving the core containing water and sugar inside. They also ate this sweet stalk core when they were young.

After everything was processed, he found a stone mortar and put the sweet stalks in and crushed them little by little.

If you often make brown sugar yourself, you have a sugar cart and a sugar bed, similar to the one used to press noodles, which is very labor-saving with the lever principle.

If you don't have it, it's not impossible to make it, as long as you can crush the sweet stalks and extract the juice.

The crushed sweet stalk residue and juice are all poured on the tofu cloth, and squeezed to extract the greenish turbid sugar water.

After finishing all of them, Lin Heng felt that it was not enough, so he cut 15 more and spent an hour to crush them, and made about two large basins of 20 kilograms of concentrated sweet stalk juice.

From 4:30 to 6 o'clock, Lin Heng washed the pot, poured the sweet stalk juice into it and started to boil.

Let the sweet stalk juice in the pot boil first, Lin Heng went out to cut two bamboos and sawed ten bamboo tubes to hold the brown sugar later.

In fact, he could go to the village to find someone to buy some brown sugar, and he had money.

But he just wanted to make brown sugar for his wife by himself, and he didn't have any other ideas.

Xiulan has been watching, watching him busy while taking her daughter.

Dry acorn firewood was placed in the pot, and the fire was very strong. The color of the sweet stalks in the pot quickly changed from turbid light green to dark red as the juice boiled. Some foam floated on the surface and needed to be scooped out.

As the water continued to bubble and boil, it gradually evaporated. The pot was big and the fire was big. After half an hour, the water was almost evaporated. Lin Heng turned off the fire, leaving only the burnt charcoal.

He kept stirring the remaining dark red liquid at the bottom of the pot with chopsticks. At first, it was big bubbles, and soon it turned into dense small bubbles.

At this time, it basically did not contain water. Lin Heng dipped a little sugar liquid in cold water and it became very hard. This shows that the sugar liquid in the pot has cooled to this extent.

Immediately, he used a spoon to scoop the sugar liquid into the prepared bamboo tubes, and each bamboo tube was only partially filled, not full.

When the sugar liquid was almost full, it could not be scooped up, so Lin Heng poured boiling water into it and diluted it into sugar water again.

Then he added two handfuls of rice, a few pitted red dates, and two dendrobiums, and prepared to simmer over low heat to make brown sugar, red dates, and dendrobium porridge.

After preparing the brown sugar in the pot, Lin Heng put the bamboo tube in the water and then went to clean the ground that he had made dirty by making brown sugar.

When he came out, Xiulan had already cleaned it up, so Lin Heng poured the sweet stalk residue into the badger pen to feed the badger.

Only after finishing all this did he have time to sit down and rest.

"It's so tiring." Xiulan handed over a towel and said helplessly.

Lin Heng wiped the sweat off his face and laughed: "What's the big deal? I feel very fulfilled. The main thing is to let you see my craftsmanship."

As he said, he got up again to change the cold water for the bamboo. After a few times, the brown sugar was completely solidified.

Xiulan felt warm in her heart watching Lin Heng busy in front of her. If it weren't for the relatives coming, she really wanted to hug him and thank him.

"Okay!" Lin Heng took the bamboo tube to the table, split it with a knife, and took out a beautiful piece of brown sugar.

Ten bamboo tubes and ten pieces of brown sugar, Lin Heng weighed it on the scale and found that it was only one catty and one tael. The sugar yield was really low.

"Wife, this is for you!"

Lin Heng put the brown sugar in a wooden bowl and handed it to his wife and said with a smile.

"Thank you, husband!"

Xiulan blinked and looked at him, her eyes were like water, and there was endless tenderness in them.

She picked up a little brown sugar crumbs and put it in her mouth. Not only was the brown sugar sweet, but her heart was also sweetened by this man.

"Mom, I want to eat too!"

Seemingly tired of playing with Jinbao, Xiaoxia noticed her mother eating, put on her shoes, ran over, hugged her legs, and looked up at her.

"This is what your father made for me, you can only eat this little bit." Xiulan glanced at her and gave her some brown sugar crumbs.

"Sweet."

Xiaoxia wanted to eat more after eating it, and looked at Lin Heng with big eyes full of pleading.

Lin Heng spread his hands: "I gave it all to your mother."

"Mom~"

Xiaoxia hugged her mother and acted coquettishly, and Lin Heng went to stir the porridge in the pot, and the porridge was almost cooked.

The light red porridge was full of sweet smell, and it made people want to eat it just by smelling it.

He turned off the fire, scooped up the porridge and divided it into two bowls, one large and one small, and took two spoons to take it out and put it on the table.

"Eat it, I cooked it myself." Lin Heng said with a smile.

Xiulan scooped a spoonful of food, blew it and tasted it. Her smile was sweeter than the porridge. She blinked and said, "It's really sweet and delicious."

"Dad, feed me." Xiaoxia didn't want to eat it, but when she heard it was sweet, she "consciously" climbed onto Lin Heng's legs.

Lin Heng shook his head and could only pick up the spoon to feed her. During this time, Xiulan fed him two bites.

Not long after the meal, the meal at his elder brother's place was ready, and Lin Heng took his wife and children directly to go there.

The meal at his elder brother's place was still a lot worse than his family's yesterday, but it was much better than other families in the village.

Except for the lack of matsutake and black truffles, there were fried river grouper and stir-fried yellow eel, as well as stir-fried meat with broom mushrooms, which Lin Heng loved to eat.

The river grouper fried in oil was really fragrant, and we finished one by one very quickly. The elder brother's family fried a pot and ate it all.

There was nothing to do these days, and everyone chatted and ate, very leisurely.

"Lin Heng, you and Xiulan are going back to your parents' home together. When are you going to leave?" Father Lin asked after taking a sip of wine at the dinner table.

"August 14, let's go and play for a day, and come back on the 16th. I'm going to get a wooden cart and let the horse pull it, and walk slowly over there." Lin Heng took a bite of mushrooms and replied.

Mother Lin looked at him and said, "This is your first time going back with Xiulan, so you need to buy more things. Have you bought them all?"

In this era without roads, the distance between the two counties is really far, so there is no chance to go back after marriage.

Lin Heng nodded: "I've bought them all. I bought a set of clothes and shoes for the two elders, a bottle of Sanliangye, a box of mooncakes and two bags of sugar."

These things are definitely considered expensive gifts, adding up to almost fifty yuan. In this era, a bag of sugar is considered a expensive gift. Not to mention the countryside, even if you meet your father-in-law for the first time in the city, you may not be able to give so much.

"That's absolutely fine." Mother Lin nodded, she even felt that there was more.

"You don't have to rush back after you go. Spend more time with Xiulan in the hometown. Your mother and I will take care of the livestock at home." Lin's father also said.

The eldest brother Lin Yue also said: "Yes, you can spend more time with Xiulan for a few days. Don't worry about the family."

"Okay." Lin Heng nodded and agreed.

Then Lin's mother pulled Xiulan to tell her some of her inner thoughts. When Lin Heng and Xiulan got married, the family was rather hasty. Xiulan didn't ask for bracelets or rings, let alone the four-piece wedding suit.

Xiulan smiled and responded to Lin's mother. There was nothing to say about the past. She was voluntary. It was enough to have Lin Heng.

The eldest brother's family made sauerkraut noodles in the evening, but it was not too sour or salty. Pour some stir-fried meat with broom mushrooms into it, and it tasted much better. I ate a bowl and a half in a row.

After dinner, Lin Heng took his wife and daughter back home, boiled hot water for Xiulan to wash her feet, and filled the kettle to ensure that Xiulan would have hot water to drink in the evening.

By the time I had read to my daughter and lulled her to sleep, Xiulan had also fallen asleep.

Lin Heng looked at his sleeping wife. Xiulan is fine now and in good health. In her previous life, she didn't take good care of herself during the confinement period when she gave birth to her second and third sons, and later she developed a serious illness.

After covering her with the quilt, Lin Heng also lay down to sleep.

When he woke up in the morning, Lin Heng found that she had leaned against him, sleeping with her little face against his shoulder.

He didn't move, looking at the ceiling and thinking about life, waiting for his wife to wake up.

After half an hour, Xiulan woke up slowly. When she saw Lin Heng, she immediately showed a tender smile and blinked and asked, "How long have you been awake?"

Lin Heng shook his head: "Not long."

"I don't believe it." Xiulan lay in his arms, and she felt a little cold in her stomach.

"You sleep for a while, I'll get up and cook for you." Lin Heng turned his head to tidy up his wife's hair and touched her little face.

"Let me hold you for a while before getting up." Xiulan whispered.

Lin Heng nodded helplessly. It was really hard to hold such a beautiful wife in his arms. He had eaten a lot of eels in the past two days.

Xiulan seemed to have discovered this problem. She let him go after holding him for a while.

Lin Heng got up and poured a cup of brown sugar water for his wife. He went out to wash his face with cold water and went to the toilet.

When he returned to the house to prepare for cooking, he saw Jinbao eating with a snort. A closer look revealed that it was a mouse.

"You are quite capable!" Lin Heng smiled and went to the front yard to pick a few eggplants and some green beans.

He made rice in the morning, and he didn't plan to fry any difficult dishes. He just had a stir-fried green beans, a braised eggplant, and an egg yolk soup.

The mushrooms were already dried, so he didn't fry them today.

"The food is very good today!" When Xiulan got up, she praised the table of food.

She picked up the chopsticks and took a bite of the braised eggplant, and she immediately loved it even more: "This braised eggplant is so delicious!"

"I knew you like sweet and sour food." Lin Heng said with a smile. He can eat anything, but he prefers sour and spicy food.

Lin Heng first held Xiaoxia and fed her the meal. She loved the egg yolk soup with black truffles very much. She drank a small bowl and wanted more.

After the meal, Xiulan smiled and said, "I feel that your cooking is better than mine."

"Then if you don't want to do it next time, just leave it to me." Lin Heng smiled and replied.

"Okay!" Xiulan nodded with brown sugar water.

After the meal, Lin Heng washed the dishes and chopsticks, and went to the back mountain to move some firewood left over from building the horse stable and stacked it under the eaves.

Lin's father and elder brother went to the mountain to pick up Schisandra chinensis. Lin Heng stayed at home to take care of Xiulan and didn't go. He waited for them to pick up some and eat at the night market.

After getting the firewood ready, Lin Heng fed the livestock, shoveled out the horse manure from the stable and piled it aside for composting, fed the chickens and ducks at home, picked some pig grass in front of the door, and picked some lotus seeds from the lotus field.

At noon, he made eight-treasure porridge, adding red dates, lotus seeds, dendrobium, pumpkin, tender corn, dried sweet potatoes, and brown sugar.

After stewing, the taste is naturally sweet and delicious. Xiaoxia ate two big bowls.

On the eleventh day of the eighth lunar month, Xiulan's relatives had gradually left, and Lin's father and his friends could no longer pick Schisandra chinensis, so they all came back.

Lin Heng went to Hongfeng Mountain with them to continue building the wooden house, and built the frame in one day. On the twelfth, they started nailing the wooden boards for the wall.

A circle of wooden boards were nailed horizontally outside to make the wall, and the roof was also made of wooden boards nailed close together, and finally a waterproof gray tarpaulin was nailed.

After all the wooden boards were nailed, the positions of the doors and windows were marked, and the diesel saw was used to saw along the lines, and then the door and window frames were nailed to reinforce them. This square little house was initially built.

"It still looks pretty." Lin Heng said with a smile. Although the wooden boards were not smooth enough, they were pretty.

Because the wet wooden boards were used, they were not painted with tung oil or paint for the time being. He would paint them after the wooden boards dried in two months. He was going to go to the city to buy some better waterproof paint and paint them dark brown.

"Don't tell me, such a wooden house seems to be better to live in than a mud house, but it is not safe for fire." Lin's father said with a smile.

"Do we still need to decorate the house?" Lin Yue looked at Lin Heng.

"No, I will go back to my parents' home with Xiulan tomorrow, and I will do it slowly when I come back." Lin Heng shook his head.

That's it for now, and the rest will be improved slowly in the later stage, so there is no rush.

The overall frame of the house has been built, which can protect against wind and rain. However, another layer of wood should be nailed inside, and some fireproof cotton or foam board should be filled in the interlayer between the inner and outer wood boards, otherwise people can't live in this house in winter.

As for furniture and the construction around the house, these have to be done step by step, and there is no use in rushing.

Just like building in the wilderness, take your time and you will always be able to build it.

If you ask a bunch of people to do all this at once, it will be meaningless.

Lin Yue slapped his head and said, "Oh, yes, I forgot that today is August 13th."

"And I will do the rest slowly, it's not that troublesome." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"Then let's go back, it's getting late." Lin's father nodded.

Holding the tools, the three left Hongfeng Mountain and walked back.

Lin Heng took a look at the twenty acres of land under Hongfeng Mountain. The two acres of wheat fields had become two ponds. The disinfection has been completed, and now they are full of water. From a distance, they look like two small mirrors.

The one acre of peanuts planted here has been dug up, and what remains are soybeans, red beans and corn, which can all be harvested soon.

After all the crops were harvested, Lin Heng was ready to continue digging the fish pond.

After returning home, Lin Heng took a towel and went to the river with his elder brother to take a bath. After soaking for a while and swimming back and forth a few times, he felt very refreshed.

When Lin Heng returned to the house, Xiulan smiled and said, "The meal is ready. Try it and see if it tastes better than what you cooked."

"That must be my wife's cooking skills." Lin Heng smiled.

After eating and cooling off for a while, Xiaoxia clamored to read a story.

"Okay, okay, I'll read you a story." Lin Heng carried her to the bed.

After reading a long story to coax her to sleep, he pulled up the opaque mosquito net for her, and went to wash his feet and went to bed.

Xiulan, who had washed and got on the bed a long time ago, took the initiative to lean against him, with her slender legs covered with white silk that Lin Heng liked.

"Wife!" Lin Heng was a little surprised.

"Don't talk!" Xiulan hugged his neck and kissed him.

The man who had taken good care of her for so many days deserved her deep gratitude.

Xiulan expressed her passionate love for him in Lin Heng's favorite way.

…

…

On the morning of August 14, Lin Heng's family got up very early.

Although Lin Heng said he was a little tired last night, he had to get up early today. Going to Lushui County was farther than going to Taibai City, and it might take half a day to take a horse carriage.

There was no way, the road was not easy to walk, and the horse-drawn carriage was still used, but it was not comparable to a car.

Lin Heng did not change his clothes, and first made a large basin of corn paste and went to the back mountain to feed the red dates.

While it was drinking corn paste, Lin Heng looked at it, and it was a little dirty after not washing for two days.

"It's really hard to take care of it." Lin Heng shook his head, and when it finished drinking, he pulled it to the front yard and washed it with water.

Mainly, the hind legs were dirty, and it didn't take much effort to wash it with a brush.

Lin Heng washed the horse clean, and Lin's father and eldest brother also came over.

"You pull the horse to the road, and leave the wooden cart to us." Lin's father said.

"Okay." Lin Heng nodded.

He pulled the horse out on the road, and his elder brother refilled the tires and installed them under the wooden cart, and then pushed it out with Lin's father.

This is his family's own wooden cart. In order to make it easier for people to sit, it has been modified in the past two days. The cart bed has been raised by 50 centimeters and padded with straw woven mats.

There are also several handrails on the cart bed.

Pushing the wooden cart to the road, Lin Heng and the other two began to put on the horse's lead and reins. These things are available in rural areas, and even if they are not available, you can make them yourself.

This time the journey is relatively long, and Lin Heng also took good protective measures for Hongzao to avoid rubbing its body.

After putting it on and trying it again, Lin Heng went back to the house to wash his hair and change clothes.

Xiulan and Xiaoxia have already changed. Xiulan is wearing the summer clothes he bought for her, but she changed the floral skirt into blue bell-bottom pants, still full of royal sister style.

Xiaoxia was also dressed neatly, like a little fairy.

"You can wear this set." After Lin Heng washed her hair, Xiulan found clothes for her.

White round-neck short-sleeved shirt, black trousers, and a pair of sneakers, simple and handsome.

In addition, Xiulan also took a set of clean clothes for each person.

"Okay, let's go." Looking at Lin Heng, he nodded with satisfaction, with a smile on his face.

"Okay." Lin Heng picked up Xiaoxia, who was not awake yet. It was only half past five and the sky was just getting bright.

Xiulan followed Lin Heng out with a lot of bags.

"Woof woof~"

Xiongba realized that Lin Heng and Xiulan were going to go far away, so he dragged the iron chain over to rub against the two of them and wanted to go with them.

"You can stay at home to look after the house. It's too far and not suitable." Lin Heng touched its dog head and turned away.

The house had told the parents yesterday that they would come to feed the animals at home regularly.

After laying a piece of cloth on the straw mat, Lin Heng helped his wife get into the car first. After she put the things away, Lin Heng carried his daughter up to her.

"Why are you still holding the bow and arrows and daggers?" Father Lin was stunned when he saw the things.

"It's not safe on the road, and if you encounter a pheasant, you can also shoot it." Lin Heng said with a smile. You always have to have something to protect yourself when you go out.

"Okay, you guys pay attention to safety, play for a few more days, and don't rush back." Father Lin looked at Xiulan and said.

"I know, Dad, then we're leaving." Xiulan smiled and nodded.

"Let's go." Lin Heng said, and then whipped Hongzao with a whip, and the carriage started moving immediately.

It was cooler in the morning, so Lin Heng drove the horse faster.

If the sun was too strong at noon, he could only find a cool place to hide.

But if he drove faster, he should be able to arrive before noon.

They are more than 80 kilometers away from Lushui County. Hongzao can reach the destination in about four or five hours at the lowest speed of 20 kilometers per hour.

The premise is that there will be no accidents, such as road collapse.

Xiulan held Xiaoxia and looked at the scenery along the way with some emotion. She didn't recognize the road after leaving Huangtan Town. She hadn't walked for many years.

There are five brothers and sisters in her family, namely the eldest brother, the second sister, the third brother, the fourth brother, and the youngest.

Her parents are also much older than Lin Heng's parents, and they are now in their fifties.

In addition to her parents, the best ones to her are the eldest brother and the third brother. For some reason, the second sister didn't like her since she was a child and often bullied her. The fourth brother treated her just averagely.

When she left, the eldest brother had just got married, and the eldest sister-in-law didn't like her either, and wanted her to get married quickly so as not to eat free meals.

Her second sister got married very early, one or two years earlier than her eldest brother. Now I don’t know whether her third and fourth brothers are married.

She didn’t know what the family situation was now, and she was a little nervous, so she didn’t talk much along the way.

But when she saw the man driving the carriage in front, her heart was warm again. No matter what the family situation was, she had him to rely on.

Lin Heng drove the horse with great concentration along the way, chatting with Xiulan from time to time, and didn’t have so many thoughts in his mind.

*

*

*

PS: Friends, I’m really sorry, there are only 6,600 words today. I was a little stuck in the past two days, and as a result, the neighbors were having a funeral, and there were gongs and drums, so I couldn’t concentrate on typing, so I only wrote this much.